Double

Pokémon Kalos Chronicles: Superstars of Friendship Edition

"Wait, now hold on." Kaylan said. But Andre didn't exactly give him a chance to protest. Kaylan hadn't yet agreed to go on this little trip and as of right now he was still intending to decline. So he couldn't just let someone speak for him! "I never said I would-" He tried to protest, but Andre had already moved on and was on his way.

Kaylan followed along, for now anyway. He'd have to travel in the same direction as far as Santalune City anyway, so there was no harm in sticking around for the time being. Besides, he still needed an opportunity to formally turn down the invitation and the only way to do that was to not go anywhere and stay with the group. But this did get him thinking. And while the others might be more concerned with catching up, Kaylan had a thought of his own about all this.

"So why now, all of a sudden?" Kaylan asked out of the blue, "I wanted to do this years ago and ended up going it alone in the end because none of you wanted to come with me. So why the sudden interest in the Pokemon League?" He asked in an almost demanding tone. He didn't mean to sound demanding, but he was genuinely curious about this and wanted to get it out there now otherwise he was afraid he wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise once all the chatting started.

He might have also sounded a bit bitter too, which was also unintentional. Out of all of them, he was the only one who actually did try to become a professional Pokemon Trainer. And of course he still remembered the sting of what happened to him in the end. And that probably bled into his current tone and mannerisms, even if he was desperately trying to keep that buried. But still, it just seemed strange to him that all of them suddenly wanted to go on a journey and become trainers despite showing no interest in doing so back when he originally wanted to do this.

"Besides," he finally said with some marginal reluctance in his voice, "I challenged the League already, what makes you think I wanna do it again."

World of Light

Film Those Freaks - What the Fac-tory I

Blazermate’s @Archmage MC, Roxas and Captain Falcon’s @Double, Level 13 Ms Fortune (150/130)
Word Count: 2849 (+3)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pokémon Kalos Chronicles: Superstars of Friendship Edition

With all the buzz and commotion at the airport, nobody was paying attention to the stranger walking into Vanville from Route 1 to the north. He was clad in a dark poncho, with its hood drawn in order to protect his eyes from the sunlight. This was someone who had traveled a long ways by foot, all way from the mountainous side of Eastern Kalos. Unlike most people he lacked any sort of Pokemon accompanying him and instead appeared to be truly by himself. This was in fact someone returning to his childhood home, as Kaylan had not been to Vanville since he left for Ninja Village all that time ago.

But it was the letter he held in his hand that spurred the former Pokemon Trainer into returning home. It was an invitation from one his old friends to go on a Pokemon Journey with him. Kaylan still had no idea what to make of this or how he was actually going to respond. He remembered Jiraiya wanting to come with him, but Kaylan had told the Greninja to remain in the village and continue training, unsure if he actually wanted to take another shot at the Kalos League yet or not.

He had to guess that Andre was arriving via the airport, hence all the buzz coming from that direction. Which meant that heading there probably wasn't going to be super helpful and he'd just find himself fighting crowds more than anything else. But what else was he going to do? Just sit at a picnic table somewhere and wait? What kind of friend would Kaylan be if he did that. So he kept on walking made his way toward the airport.

Yup, it was a scene alright. Crowds of Andre's fans were everywhere and Kaylan saw no sign of the actor in question. But he did see a trio of vaguely familiar faces he recognized as his other old friends. So he walked his way toward the sign-holding Siloh.

"Oh brother." Kaylan groaned when he finally spotted Andre's pink form. "We'll be sitting here all day if someone doesn't pull him away from the fans." And after a brief pause he rolled his eyes and started walking forward. If no one else was willing to, then fine, he'd be the one to pour the proverbial bucket of ice water onto this little parade if that's what it took. He pushed and weaved his way through the crowd of fans, inching his way closer to where Andre was standing and signing autographs.

"Hey, Mr. Big Shot!" Kaylan finally said when he was finally close enough to address him, "You planning to spend all day here? I didn't come all the way down from the mountains to watch you sign autographs, ya know."

World of Light

The Mountain Top Three

Wordcount: 5135 (+6)
Level 7 Therion (267/70) and Level 13 Ms Fortune (141/130)
Level 9 Midna (27/110) and Level 8 Roxas (36/80)
Captain Falcon and Roland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World of Light

Light and Shadow II

wordcount: 1,040 (+2) (+2 rapport per character)
Midna: level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (25/110) (+1 bonus pending)
Roxas: level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (36/80)
^with
Warp Charges: 1

warp locations

Virgin Victory teleport room
Top of the Split mountain
Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage
Tostarena Town
S.O.U. Building
Seiran Clinic
Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts)
Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel)
Vandelay Campus (Alleyway)
Arahabaki’s entrance
Deep Ground - the Source

Warp Charges: 1

”What in the goddess’ name was-” Minda cried out as something massive exploded back down in the penguin village, only for the curled up form of Rika to come crashing into view, and then tumbling right towards them. With a cry of ”Watch out!” the princess ummed her shadow hand and made to slap the incoming boat ball, knocking it away from them, yet the recoil still took its toll, causing her to stumble backwards towards the edge of the little platform they had been on.

Roxas had instinctively rolled to one side as an immediate reaction to Midna’s warning. By the time he was upright again, she was already stumbling backward. And so he planted his feet, grabbed a hold of the rope tethering them together and yanked it toward him. This would essentially stop her backward stumble and instead redirect her weight forward, ”I got’cha!” he reassured Midna. It probably wasn’t the most graceful way to save her from falling, but it worked nonetheless.

”What the heck was that about?” He asked, looking at the direction the boat ball had flown in from. ”Were attacking us or something?”

Midna made a little ”urk!” as her waist was yanked to a stop, arms pinwheeling for another moment before they spread out as she got her balance back. Then she let out a little sigh of relief and gave him a ”thanks” before stepping away from the edge, only to turn right back around and peering down to follow the flight of this Rika person as she bounced down down down into the depths.

”Not sure, but if she was she looks like she’s smacked herself with her own bowstring because she’s going all the way down to-” Mindwa was saying, only to be interrupted by the distant thud of Rika hitting the ground.

”-to the bottom” she concluded.

And it didn’t look like they were the only ones taking a tumble. Not long after came the flailing forms of Roland and Captain Falcon tumbling down from some place above. "Did you see that?" Roxas asked Midna and added, "If they’re falling down too that means we’re in the lead, right?" That was quite the encouraging development. And he was quick to generate some virtual cubes for them to reach their next platform with.

"Nothing’s stopping us now!" He cheered from the boosted morale.

The princess flashed him a confident grin as her dragon claws gripped the stone and then let her propel herself after him, even as, internally, she was a touch concerned about whatever it was that had knocked those two down a peg. A short time after this, Roxas was the first one to notice another team a bit further below them. It was Pit and Junior. Normally that wouldn’t have been so strange, except they were somehow using virtual cubes, too!

"Huh? How are they doing that?" Roxas questioned. "The Phantom Ruby I have is supposed to be the only one of its kind, so how…?" He squinted his eyes and was able to faintly make out the shape of the little creature responsible for conjuring their cubes. Was it a Pokemon? He couldn’t tell, but maybe the Rotom Phone the Professor gave him could tell him more? So he quickly fished out his silver and white Rotom Phone and held up to try and identify the Pokemon in question. "Mimikyu, Disguise Pokemon?" Roxas said as he read the entry for it. "So it has the power to mimic moves? Is that how they’re copying my virtual cubes? Guess we’ll just have to pick up the pace and not let them get past us."

”neat trick” Midna observed, before reaching out her shadow hand and pulling them up off of their own blocks to a higher ledge and saying it was a ”good thing we have two!”

They certainly needed it, because as they got higher and higher, the dirt walls of the mine were replaced with ice and snow thick walls, which, while it certainly indicated they might be approaching the exit, came with new challenges. Not actual ice, fortunately, but the amount of places to stand started dropping off dramatically, till at one point they found themselves practicing balancing on a pole. Or at least, that was what was needed. Midna nearly instantly crouched down to grab it with one of her many arms for support as she wobbled on the precarious foothold.

Weirdly enough, Roxas was kinda used to this sort of thing. Mostly because of his Flow Motion giving him so much unintended practice with it. But even so, it didn’t hurt to take precautions. And besides, Midna probably needed the extra footholds. So he gave them small virtual platforms to increase their breathing room with the jump distances. He still needed to stand on natural spots in order to instantiate his virtual cubes in other locations as they progressed, so it wasn’t always without an occasional awkward spot. But beyond that, his virtual cubes were almost making this too easy at times.

”We’re… not exactly playing fair, are we?” He only just now asked. But to be fair, several of the other teams had clearly resorted to underhanded tactics as well so it wasn’t like they were the only ones doing this.

Mida simply shrugged, saying ”You take every advantage you can get against your foes, because they’ll do the same” before, with perfect timing, slipping on a blood pool and ending up face an inch from the ground, held up on six spread out limbs.

”See what I mean?” she said as she hopped into a crouch and then stood herself back up.

”Guess so.” The Nobody responded with a shrug.

Still, it was hard to say that, when it came to cheating, they weren't the ones doing the most, and so the pair veritably blazed their way through the rest of the mines and then back out into the fresh open air. The very fresh air, as the wind began to whip through the rather open and airy section of the race. Perhaps the end now was in sight, somewhere up in the icy platforms above.

”Wind, huh?” Roxas said. ”At least we’re out of the dark, I guess.”

Pokémon Kalos Chronicles: Superstars of Friendship Edition

I’m on discord more so I would notice updates and chats sooner. So team discord. But I’ll live if it’s not implemented.

@InnerFlame

Ditto.

Pokémon Kalos Chronicles: Superstars of Friendship Edition

I guess Kaylan's the boring one that doesn't specialize in any one type. Kind of necessary when you're taking on the Kalos League Conference.

World of Light

The Witcher & The Warlord I

Word Count: 2,391
EXP: +3
Rapport: Ganondorf/Geralt (+3)

More portals… Geralt thought as she was transported to a strange, disk-like space with seemingly endless sky beyond them, the other Seekers looking around curiously. Ballyhoo gave a fairly succinct explanation before the platform they were on was spun like a roulette wheel, thankfully leaving the Seekers in place while an attached apparatus randomly determined what activity they were going to participate in. A tandem climb to the top of a snowy mountain while tethered together? Hmm, not necessarily overly difficult, but working that closely with somebody she’d known for, at best, a week or so was not Geralt’s idea of an easy time.

Another teleportation left Geralt blinking away discomfort, but she recovered and noticed that her partner was the same man Midna had been having issues with earlier. “I don’t think we were ever properly introduced. Geralt of Rivia.” She introduced herself simply, and though a part of her wondered what bothered Midna so much about this man, she also didn’t feel too invested in getting involved in somebody else’s interpersonal conflicts.

What was it that this woman was called again? The “Witcher”, whatever that meant? So this was to be his partner for the time being? "Ganondorf Dragmire." He responded and then added, "I hath been called many things. King of Thieves, Demon King, King of Evil. It becomes rather… tiresome… after a while, truth be told." A funny thing to say, when the Warlord’s infamy was entirely his own doing. "But enough about that. I hath just the answer for us to claim a swift victory." It was quite the boast, and he immediately set about proving that he meant business and summoned his Phantom Steed.

"Ha! The fool!" Ganondorf said in celebration, "He hath taken my movement abilities, but not my summons! Come, Geralt, let us mount the horse and be away from here. He shall take us straight to the top of this challenge." Ganondorf mounted the horse himself, and then once Geralt had followed suit he commanded it to gallop upwards. Except… it couldn’t. The most it could do was a form of hovering. The steed could not gain any height with its gallop. So even a summoned creature had its movement capability dampened by this minigame’s magic? "Bah, it seems the ringmaster was not quite the fool I first took him for. No matter."

Geralt gave a raised eyebrow to the self-described ‘King of Evil’ immediately complaining that he was called that. He could have just…not mentioned it, but she supposed he might’ve been getting ahead of the title before she heard it from somebody else, so she left it at that.

The fact that he had a horse he could just summon was interesting, and Geralt climbed atop the Phantom Steed without much hesitation, looking around and wondering if it really would be that easy. When the steed merely hovered over the ground, she made a blank face and nodded. “Well, I suppose it would have been interesting to just fly over everything, but not in the spirit of the challenge.” She dismounted the Phantom Steed and looked towards the first obstacle. “I have a feeling that'll just make this harder on us. Shall we?” She asked, gesturing to the platforms?

”Indeed.” The Gerudo confirmed. He dispelled the horse as soon as they were both dismounted. It wasn’t hard to realize how the challenge was meant to be played. One look at how some of the other Seekers were tackling it told him that the two of them would need to swing one another forward in order to give themselves the momentum. Not much of a problem for Ganondorf given his immense strength, but he did wonder whether or not his partner would fare as well - especially with how much larger he was than she. But in a world like this, appearances meant nothing, really. The only thing that might have worried Ganondorf was his inability to use Bullet Jump for the duration of this little game. That would make the actual platforming itself somewhat… awkward.

He was also just now noticing that his shade cloak had seemingly been shifted into a black fur cloak of some kind. For the sake of warmth in the snowy environment, he assumed. And he also assumed it would return to normal once the game was concluded. As predicted, the jumps were not the easiest thing in the world for him with his size and weight and inability to compensate for it with Bullet Jump. Was he seriously going to be the weak link here? Bah, no! Surely he just needed to keep going until he learned some kind of trick to this whole thing.

Geralt was no slouch in the strength department, easily able to clear jumps and pull Ganondorf up via their tether. She was, however, ever so slightly hesitant in some movements, as she was still getting used to having lost a foot of height from what she had been for a few days. Still, her hesitation lasted only short moments, and she found herself a bit…frustrated with Ganondorf’s lack of jumping prowess. “I’ll admit to being a little surprised, though that armor does look heavy. I imagine if I were still in my chain mail, I’d be having my own issues with these jumps.”

She did her best not to let the frustration she felt show on her face, but her words lingered as she observed their next obstacle, another wide gap that one would have to anchor another to swing across. “I figure I ought to anchor for these.”

Ganondorf grumbled a half-hearted agreement. The supposed “trick" he had yet to figure out was in fact merely to work together as a team. This was something that under most circumstances just simply did not compute for him. It also didn’t help that Ganondorf was mostly only doing this because he was interested in the Orb Machine. As such he wasn’t exactly enjoying himself like many of the others were. But he still agreed to let Geralt be the anchor for this swing in spite of his own frustrated grumbling and made it across in the end.

Of course the challenge was only going to escalate the further they got. This included sections where they would have alternate anchoring for each other to get across gaps too wide for a single swing to make the distance. And yes, Ganondorf fell at one point during this. He absolutely despised not being able to use his Bullet Jump. Otherwise this would have been nothing for him. It didn’t help that he noticed the blatant cheating some of the other teams were doing. ”This ‘minigame’ is beginning to feel rigged!” He grumbled with frustration. He had no other way to interpret this, given that some of the other Seekers clearly still possessed their powers while most of Ganondorf’s felt stripped away from him. Whoever had arbitrated these rules was clearly biased! Or so he had convinced himself, anyway.

“Figure some of them can do things that they either didn’t account for, or are too general to count as a ‘movement’ ability, whatever that even means.” Geralt neither agreed nor disagreed, though she absolutely saw where Ganondorf was coming from. “My strength and speed are intact, and Nadia looks like she’s having a blast throwing her limbs around like they aren’t part of her, but you could easily argue that’s just a part of our bodies.” She seemed less put-off by the vast differences some of them had, though she had noticed. “Not all contests are made for equals, especially in this confluence of worlds, after all.” It was a lame conclusion, and even she felt it, but it was the truth. Some people were just better suited to certain tasks.

Taking a moment to mentally plan their next move, Geralt looked to Ganondorf. “So, heard you and Bowser both remember Captain Falcon. I assume you know Link and Pit then, as well? Peach?” It was simple conversation, but it was better than listening to Ganondorf keep complaining.

”Aye.” Ganondorf confirmed. ”We know all of them. We - among a few others - stood against Galeem when it first appeared, for all the good it did us.” Falling was painless due to the disabled damage of the game’s arena. But falling also meant having to redo previous jumps to make it back to where they initially fell. Needless to say, Ganondorf and Geralt weren’t exactly going to be leading the pack anytime soon at this rate. ”If only I had the full might of my army…” Ganondorf mused, clearly no stranger to war and conquest. But at this point they’d made it back to the place they first fell from. So it was time to give that blasted jump another attempt. And thankfully, he made it this time. Perhaps distracting himself with conversation was the way to go.

”Pray, forgive my curiosity.” Ganondorf inquired not long after the jumps were finished, ”But I understand that thou once were a man before consuming many spirits. Is this true?”

They were at least making some progress, so Geralt didn’t find herself bothered by the conversation. “Back when it first appeared, huh…” Geralt mused, wondering just how long ago that must have been. She knew something was going on involving time, though she wasn’t sure what exactly that was. The World of Light existed long enough for children in their twenties to have been born, but many of them had barely any memories of existing here at the same time.

“But yes, I was a man. Fusing with a few female Spirits turned me into a woman.” Geralt replied before they went over another jump. “I fused with a male Spirit after our battle with the Guardian, but it seems that wasn’t enough to tip the balance. I’d prefer to be a man again before the end of the day, but apparently as long as we play in a few of these games, we’ll get enough tokens for some more Spirits. As long as one is a man, I’m likely going to fuse again.” It wasn’t the wisest of strategies, but upon seeing what she got, she’d make a decision then. A few more jumps appeared before them, after which they had to swing once more. “More jumping. With these gloves, I don’t know if I’d mind actually climbing, but they seem to be enchanted against that.” She mused.

”Hm, good to know.” Ganondorf himself had so far not been aware of that potential side effect of fusing. Now that he knew, though, he could be more wary of it in the future. He, too, preferred to remain a man if he could help it. With how small some of the platforms ahead looked, it was hard to even see them. Would they even hold someone his size? Unfortunately there was only one way to be sure. He made the first leap and nearly fell but for his hand managing to catch the edge of the small block platform that he then hauled himself up onto. So it was at least possible. And the next couple looked slightly easier to make save for them being a bit elevated in altitude. The swing under the overhang was what he dreaded though. Those had been giving him the most trouble.

And this one was no different. He successfully managed to swing himself but he didn’t make the platform ahead. But this time he was fortunate, because unlike him Geralt had made the landing. So all she had to do was anchor down and Ganondorf could use the rope tethered between them to pull himself up the ledge he had initially failed to reach. Ahead he saw the entrance to what looked like a mine. ”That appears to be the way forward.” He said, and then added. ”If memory serves, I believe Ms. Fortune possesses a curious orb device that can strip thee of the spirits that thou possess and return them to original orb forms. Perhaps thou could use that to rearrange thy fusions into a more preferable form?”

Geralt took a squat and made sure to keep her footing steady as Ganondorf climbed the rope to reach the platform. She didn’t offer a hand up, unsure if doing so would undo the work they’d put in and send them toppling below. Once he was up she followed his gaze to the mines, nodding. “Sounds handy. Might be worth looking at after all is said and done and we get on the Avenger. The ship we came in on.” Geralt clarified, moving towards their shared goal.

“Saved us and the Virgin Victory from Z barely an hour or two ago. Brought some old friends from Alcamoth too, so you’ll get to meet some of the Mercenaries we were working with.”

”Hmph, another Consul?” Ganondorf grunted in reference to Z. They’d rapidly become his most hated enemies since his release down in the Under. He also was walking toward the entrance of the mines. ”We fought two of them in the Under. One was slain and the other fled like a coward after we slew his pet Guardian.” Once actually inside the mine, Ganondorf grumbled to himself about what he saw. Moving platforms. As if reaching the stills ones wasn’t enough of a chore. It was also dimly lit, but the glow of Ganondorf’s Triforce could give them some extra light if they needed it.

“Same for us in Midgar,” Geralt commiserated, “Killed Y, and C ran off after having us fight a doppelganger. Apparently it was somebody from Zenkichi’s world, and…he wasn’t happy about that. Looked damned distraught about it, even though it was one of the bastards in charge of that corrupt place. Though, I understand most of the other Seekers are of a more heroic bent. I get that killing folk isn’t always necessary, but there are times where it’d have saved a lot of heartache to just cut a whoreson’s head clean from their shoulders, too.” Geralt didn’t have too hard a time seeing in the dim light of the mines, but she frowned a little at the moving platforms. “Suppose it’s a bit like Witcher training, then.” She muttered, watching the platforms as they moved about the mines. “Just don’t fall off.” Were it so easy.

Pokémon Kalos Chronicles: Superstars of Friendship Edition

There's a certain poetic irony to the fact that for all the wealth and power Dorian has, it's Kaylan who is the one with a shiny Pokémon (Jiraiya). Which goes a long way to explain why Dorian hated him so much.

World of Light

The Captain & The Fixer I

Word Count: 2,022
EXP: +3
Rapport: Captain Falcon / Roland (+3)

A climbing challenge, eh? That was nothing Captain Falcon couldn’t handle. A race to the top through harsh environments? As far as he was concerned that was practically like an F-Zero race only without the machines involved! Of course there was the matter of the rope tied around his waist and the rule that he’d be tethered to someone and would have to work with them. Something like that was a little less familiar to Falcon, but all he needed to do was be able to work on a team. How hard could that be? Speaking of which, he tugged the rope and traced its line to find the man he had been paired up with and spotted Roland.

"Guess we’re in this one together, eh? Let’s win this thing!" Cap said with a smile and a thumbs up. It was when he gave that gesture that he noticed the mittens on his hands. He also realized that his scarf had become longer and its fabric more wooly, plus it was wrapped around his face like a full blown muffler. He suddenly realized that his racing jacket felt a bit heavier too and noticed that it was heavier and also lined with fur for greater warmth. And… wait, where was his helmet? Now he was wearing a furry ushanka hat and black tinted goggles wrapped around his eyes. That was quite the more startling realization, especially when he worried for a moment that his identity had been accidentally revealed. But the hat and goggles combination still managed to mask him, perhaps even more so with his wooly scarf now covering part of his face.

Roland could only sigh as he was paired with the guy they were trying to ‘recruit’, if what he heard before was true. The new guy trying to recruit the new guy, was this how these guys operated? Well that wasn’t unfamiliar to him in a way. Well, either way, he was forced to be a team player again and he’d at least give it a good ol’ fixer try. Especially since the monsters of the group were very interested in the stuff here, and they seemed to know way more than they let on.

”Sure pal. I’ll give it a good try. Although I gotta wonder how this works, do we both just jump together or…?” It was soon shown though as Roland was hesitating to get the lay of the land to Captain Falcon’s annoyance that the rope was very important and the two had to basically swing in tandem, using the rope as a fulcrum, to navigate the course in a timely manner. Rubbing his chin with a ”Hm… Ok I see what this is…” Roland made a move to the first platform and gave a quick explanation to Falcon.

"Roger that." Captain Falcon confirmed. "Now let’s show ‘em our moves!" And as he exclaimed this, the Captain - without warning - broke into a run toward the edge of the platform and leaped. Since Roland was the one who’d figured out the trick and explained to him, Falcon naturally just assumed he’d be able to follow his lead so they could give themselves a good running start before the real trick got going. Aerial maneuverability wasn’t that tough for the Captain. His Raptor Boost and Falcon Dive techniques gave him a way to boost himself forward and upward respectively so that he could put some extra oomph into his jump distance. And as long as he could coordinate with his partner, he saw no reason why they couldn’t easily slingshot themselves forward with that swinging maneuver he had explained.

Roland wasn’t too surprised this guy had moves like a fixer, and while Roland didn’t have his fire based mobility, he had his own stuff with his own skill and agility. While he wasn’t a fan of the initial vertigo caused by swinging on the rope so fast, it didn’t take him long to get used to it. And while the larger jumps were difficult for the larger members of their group that didn’t have hacks, Falcon’s competitiveness and Roland’s cooperativeness were all that were needed. That and the ability to actually hold each other’s weight and everything. Granted Midna and Roxas were cheating, but besides them, Roland and Cap were in the lead.

Frankly, even if Falcon did have any abilities that would allow them to “cheat”, he’d still refuse to use them. The man was nothing if not one who showed proper sportsmanship. And that meant completing games and challenges exactly as they were intended, on his own skill alone and nothing else. It was quite the point of pride for him, and in some situations it might even put him at a disadvantage against competitors more inclined to cheat or use dirty tactics. But much like he had done against the two Koopalings in the Kart race, the Captain had proven multiple times that he had a certain talent for overcoming such cheating with his raw skill and determination.

He didn’t know what kind of a competitor his partner was, however. "Cheaters never prosper." He said offhandedly in reference to some of the other teams who weren’t playing completely by the rules, "A man who overcomes a rigged game gains a lot more bragging rights than the one who does the rigging." Was this mostly just a philosophical belief? Yes. But it was one he had built his entire career on, and Cap wasn’t about to abandon that belief any time soon. Roland could agree with Captain Falcon, but in his mind honor was the choice of the winner.

Their first real platforming challenge came in the form of a wide gap. Too far to jump, even with the swinging technique they’d just lose altitude along the way and not be close enough to grab the ledge at the other end. Instead they’d have to make use of the three awkwardly placed overhangs, by grabbing the wall, swinging themselves underneath it and back up to the opposite side and then use that to launch themselves forward to the next overhang. Cap didn’t find this particularly taxing, but he wasn’t sure the same could be said for his partner. He just had to hope Roland had the same kind of determination to see this through that he himself had.

Roland had determination in spades, although for this he was just winging it. Doing the cliff hang so Falcon could swing over, using his daggers to hold himself until he could follow his would-be partner. While looking like a beanpole, Roland was quite strong. Give it one thing, at least the City had some amazing augmentations. Looking back, after making it through this section, it was obvious those having trouble before were having trouble now as well. ”I guess this course shows who is athletic and who isn’t huh?” Or he figured, who used their superpowers and who was ‘normal’.

"Separates the men from the boys, you might say." Cap said in agreement. Now climbing up to the top of the structure they’d just been swinging under, they could see the next platforming challenge up ahead. A series of precarious jumps with little more than small blocks worth of platforms to land on that elevated upward toward a long overhang that blocked the path to the next platform above. ”This looks like it’ll take a lot more careful aim and precision than the previous jumps." Falcon warned. But rather than look worried, he instead flashed an eager smirk. "Just the kind of challenge I like!"

Roland looked behind them and besides the cheaters in front of them, so far they were far in the lead. ”Well, so far it’s been pretty easy, so this shouldn’t be that bad.” Roland said as they got ready for this crazy jump. Falcon on the other hand, just cracked his knuckles and neck. They’d gotten this far, so by now he had full confidence that they could do this no problem.

The first jump, for Cap at least, was a near miss. In fact he had to use his Falcon Dive to be able to reach the target and not plummet down to the bottom of the climbing challenge. The jumps after that weren’t quite as far apart. And the overhang proved to be relatively simple to deal with. As some of the only challengers actually performing the climb as intended, that had the unintentional side effect of giving Roland and Cap quite a bit of practice in the art of swinging themselves under and onto the other sides of these things. But then there was a tiny pixel of a platform they had to jump to. Now that looked intimidating but the jump still wasn’t quite as far as that first nearly disastrous one was. After that they were in the clear.

"Yes!" Cap chanted with a victorious arm pump. Up ahead the two saw an entrance to what looked like a mine of some kind. So climbing and jumping in a dimly lit or even dark cavern? That was certainly going to be one way to up the ante on this challenge. But Cap wasn’t worried. They’d done excellently so far so what harm could a little darkly lit spelunking do here?

”Wasn’t this supposed to be a ‘mini’ game? There is nothing mini about this if we can't see the finish!” Roland said, a bit annoyed at how long this was taking. They had left the slower pairs in the dust at this point. Well, so far they didn’t see the end, so he guessed the mines were the way to go. ”Well, unless there is some invisible exit or something, I guess that's where we gotta go. Why do I feel like a mouse in a maze?” Roland said, agreeing with the captain.

"Go big, or go home, I say." Cap said, maintaining his fearlessness. He entered the mine and noticed something kind of surprising. "Ha! Look at that!" He’d spotted another team that apparently managed to break ahead of the pack. It was the ones who had been getting around the jumps by somehow creating platforms of their own. " We aren’t the only ones ahead." In addition he also saw moving platforms. Great, so that meant they’d have to have the right timing in addition to everything else. This challenge was just getting better and better.

”I saw those two cheating earlier. Considering the big bee can’t fly here, I wonder how they got their powers working?” Roland said, rubbing his chin while he thought. But then he could summon his weapons from his gloves, so maybe that wasn’t owers, but items or technology or something. Well, either way, these moving platforms weren’t too bad looking at them. The pair had been pretty good working together so far, so Roland was sure they could handle this bit pretty well too. He went to take the first platform, not having really any of the captain’s flashy fire moves but he had kept up with the guy’s moves so far with his natural agility. Honestly Roland was waiting for the rub here, so far it had been pretty straightforward and just required teamwork and basic physics understanding. Was there going to be something to mess them up soon?

In a manner of speaking… yes there was at least one drawback veering its head now. Cap’s darkly tinted goggles were now making the dimly lit mines even harder to see in. And yet for some unspoken reason he was adamantly not taking them off. The first time this cropped up was when he nearly overshot the first moving platform, but was able to correct himself with a Raptor Boost. And the reason he was refusing to take off the goggles? Well that would mean showing his face to someone. And Captain Falcon’s number one rule in all of his career was to not reveal his identity unless he was first beaten in a race. So unfortunately, honor was taking precedence before reason here. But it wasn’t actively slowing them down… at least not yet anyway.