Personality: Rayne is a kindhearted soul, brave if not daring, determined and honest even when it is to her own detriment. Despite having had some self confidence issues, she is no pushover, and will stand up for what she thinks is right even if the whole world is against her. She is notably very much against the idea of killing people, even if they are her enemies.
Brief History: Rayne comes from a world devastated by the byproducts of magitech, and while the regime responsible for that devastation has been overthrown, it was too late for the surface world. The sky was shattered, bathing the land in deadly radiation and the last living souls in the world had to hide away in a series of underground caverns known as Dungeonidas. Rayne herself was an original member of the Knight Witches, the group that overthrew that regime, but was ejected from the group before battle for the fate of the world took place due to branding reasons (her name and that of the leader Robyn were considered too similar).
Despite this ejection (for, unbeknownst to her, very stupid reasons) Rayne still held the power of the link, the power to gain magical strength merely from having people put their faith in her. Thus, when the remnants of the regime's golem armies invaded Dungeonidas, and with the other Knight Witches seemingly nowhere to be found, Rayne was the only one able to stand up against them.
After a series of conflicts, twists, turns, and conspiratorial backstabs she eventually discovered that the new society had simply traded one world destroying magitech powersource for another, one that began to rend reality asunder. She defeated the avatar of this new apocalypse, the fallen knight witch Robyn, and was poised to become the avatar of life itself, Gaia, charged with restoring life to her ruined world.
Then, instead, she found herself here, in this new one.
Universe of Origin: The Knight Witch
Equipment:
Armor: Rayne’s armor is somewhat fashion over form, but the solid plate covering her chest still provides a fair bit of protection
Runedge: An enchanted blade made to be far heavier than its slim form suggests
Abilities:
Flight: Ryne can effortlessly hover through the air, though her jogging pace speed leaves much to be desired.
Dashing: Rayne can perform a straight line dash, teleporting a fixed 3 meters in any direction, which renders her immune to damage while doing it (but unable to take any other actions at the same time). There is only a short half second cooldown between dashes, making it quite useful for mobility as well as dodging.
Weapon Summoning: Rayne can store weapons in her magic, and then pull them out in the blink of an eye to attack, before returning them to storage at the end of her stroke.
Magic Bullets: Rayne can fire large magic bullets from a hovering glyph at a slow but steady pace, and for little to no effort. They have a fairly limited range however, and simply dissipate when they exceed it.
Spell Cards: Rayne can also use mana, which is dropped from enemies she damages (and which then hovers where it falls in the form of football sized glowing blue orbs that she has to get close too to pick up) to cast larger spells. Her max mana pool is pretty limited (and she can only briefly hold over her maximum of 8), but she has incredible versatility in the spells she can cast. The only issue is that it is based on a deck and card draw system, with 10 cards in a deck, and 3 in hand, rather limiting her ability to effectively wield that versatility. (Rather than try and simulate this however, let’s say that once Rayne has cast a spell, she then has to cast a few other, different, spells before she can cast that same spell again). Note that these spells occur around her rather than being fired in a direction.
(mainly for my own benefit (why did I make myself do this, there was no wiki for me to steal from))
(6) Creating a Death Spiral (a shmups worth of bullets for several seconds)
(2) 3 seeking swords (stun enemies)
(3) A giant sword to spin around her for a while
(3) A giant axe to spin around her once
(3) A vertical lighting bolt that strikes down from above her to below her
(4) causes two giant wrecking balls to smash out from either side of her
(4) armageddon, a massive wave of destructive magic
(1) wreckless blasts, which also hurts her
(1) a blast that destroy enemy projectiles,
(2) a blast that reflects enemy projectiles
(2) a blast that stuns enemies
(2) a single touch/damage activated bombs
(4) a rain of several touch activated bombs,
(2) Create a damaging cloud of darkness
(4) 4 orbs of ball lighting fired around her in an X
(3) death ray (does more damage the longer it hits a single target
(2) reload the current weapon.
(3) Summon a permanent ring of (destroyable) floating rocks,
(3) Summon a temporary indestructible floating shield,
(4) Summon a temporary automated turret that copies her current weapon
(5) Summon a temporary accompanying (dragon whelp shaped) that copies her current weapon
(2) Summon a temporary accompanying (raven shaped) familiar that fires seeking swords when she casts a spell.
(5) Give herself ethereal armor, letting her take an extra hit (does not stack)
(0) Restore an 8th of her mana pool,
(0) Attracting all the mana in the area towards her
(2) lets her gain 1 mana for each enemy destroyed for a time
(3) makes the next drawn card cast 0
Momentos: Rayne can gain cards based on the abilities bosses she has defeated.
The link: the more people who feel gratitude and have faith in Rayne, the more powerful she becomes (gained from people directly giving her thanks). Specifically her base bullet damage/rate of fire increases, and her mana generation and spell power/duration increases. These upgrades are noticeable, but not massively dramatic.
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)
”Oh for the goddess’ love, I can’t stop messing up, can I” Midna bemoaned as Hanabi figured out who’d put the hit on them, namely the braincase of a man who she’d knocked out rather than simply ended the life of.
She was not, it seemed to her, on the best streak when it came to her attempts at keeping casualties to a minimum ”This is what I get for not murdering people who annoy me I suppose.”
A lot of the following PSY-OFF intrigue discussed by the group went over her, a flurry of names she did not recognize/remember, but the last part about Raz being in trouble after he’d pursued a suspicious high ranking member of the organization, now that she didn’t need any additional details to know what to do about.
”Agreed, let’s bail the kid out.”
The appearance of the Others was something of a complication, however. It was also somewhat strange how they arrived, namely in bizarre vehicles that Midna mentally labeled as trucks rather than buses, that were suspended by balloons.
”Is that. Normal?” she started to ask, because the Other having transports was certainly pretty different when compared to the weather phenomenon they were often described as, before shaking her head, slipping on her mask, and deciding to do something about the situation instead.
”Vibrava! Fly up there and dragon fire those flying trucks and falling Others!” she commanded, as she portaled in the minion in question, launching it out of said portal to give it head-start.
“Wait, don't!” Hanabi shouted in warning, having overheard her plan, before trying to explain “The Extinction Belt’s way too low, it’s too dangerous to fly up there right now!” when Midna questioned her about it.
The princess took only a moment to heed her warning, unknowingly doing so just in time when the minion was mere moments away from doom, and recalling the pokemon via portal. It vanished from the sky, and reappeared next to her as she asked ”What’s the danger anyway. Other than getting hit by stray bolts being fired up into it.”
“I don’t know exactly, but they always ground air traffic when the belt is low, because no one who goes in ever comes back out,” the psychic explained as they kept moving towards the closest landing zone.
”Got it” the princess agreed, putting the discussion to bed, for now, but internally still wondering what the exact reason was. That question, and the one regarding the out of place air busses, then got shunted all the way to the back of her mind as they rounded a corner and came across a horde of Other tearing up the town and hunting down the populace.
They had places to be, and the other teams on the ground presumably considered them hostile, but there was absolutely no question about what they were going to do when confronted with this situation.
Without a moment's hesitation, the princess shadow stepped into the fray, blinking ahead of the rest of the Seekers whom she’d been lagging behind anyway. In a breath, she appeared in the doorway of one of the buildings along the street, right next to a family of humans in the midst of being hemmed in by a stalking trio of Vase Paws.
”Stand behind me!” Midna called out, echoing a certain lovable defender, as she leapt past them and into the fray. She dropped her Roadblock striker between the family, letting the Exosuit’s massive energy shield be their Braum, while the princess herself was all aggression.
Lunging forwards into battle, she smoothly dodged under a flying kick from one of the Paws before spinning around and quick-drawing her volcano fragment and slashed that same Paws, all in a single smooth continuous motion. The obsidian blade more or less glanced off of the vase of the Other, but that didn’t really matter, because the hit promptly set it on fire, which was ever so effective against the plant portion of the foe.
As the first burned and panicked, the second came in, trying to headbutt her with its thorny foliage. In response she met it motion for motion, swinging her own head forwards as if to headbutt as well, but instead launching her shadowhand up from her hair, slamming her palm against the head and grabbing it. They strained for a moment, till Midna first ditched her axe, before portal launching, catching, and finally unloading both her revolver and musket into it at point blank where even she couldn’t miss.
The heavy rounds wounded and unsteadied the monster just enough for her to wrench it to the side and slam it into the ground, leaving her free to drop the guns back into portals and to close in and give it a flurry of dragon claw swipes with all 4 of her hands.
Speaking of dragons, the third Paw was first blasted with Dragon Breath by her skirmishing Vibrava till paralysis took hold, at which point buzzed in and grabbed the edge of its vase with its claws, from where it began crunching its way through the foliage.
There was a panicked scream from behind them, however, as the third Vase Paw stopped burning and slammed itself against Roadblock’s shield, only for it to be set on fire again as Hanabi came rushing in and delivered a burning beat down, arriving just in time before the striker’s 10 second duration was up.
As the psychic put an end to that Paw, Midna did the same to the other two, the princess slamming a super sized wolves down on top of her one as it tried to rise, before turning and crescent moon slashing her sword tipped spear into the third in one clean motion, landing a final blow for her minion.
”Street’s clear the way we came from” she instructed the family they’d saved, before offering Hanabi a ”Thanks” for her part in it.
There was still plenty for them to do, and the trio rushed forwards to help wherever they could.
A little way down the road a number of armed citizens had either driven or pulled a car off the road and in front of a storefront, using it as a barricade to protect them from the Others. With improvised spears and a few handguns, they had, it seemed, managed to take down a Rummy, but where now being suppressed by a pack of Bile Pools that where hosing them down with their water blasts, allowing more Rummys to close in and start smashing at the barricade.
Midna’s speedy vibrava arrived first on the scene, buzzing straight for the Bile Pool squad, weaving between watery blasts and then slamming down into the ground among them, sending out a radial shockwave that rattled the Others. Then it gripped the earth and began to buzz its wings, somehow channeling the vibration of them down into the concrete and creating more shaking, creating a localized earthquake that threw the Bile Pools into disarray.
That freed up the civilians to start fighting back again, gunfire cracking and spears stabbing, though against the number of Other that were coming after them, it was only buying them time.
Fortunately, a little more time was all Midna and Hanabi needed to catch up with their flying frontrunner and engage the Rummies. Armed with polearms wreathed in lightning and fire respectively, they both avoided slam attacks from their chosen targets, before slamming their polearms forwards, delivering an elemental payload to the chest of an Other.
That’s where things deviated however, as Hanabi flicked her double ended weapon around to bash the Rummy with the other equally superheated end, knocking it to the side, while Midna repeated her opening strike, delivering several swift thrusts with her treespear’s long blade.
The treespear’s own lightning did rather little damage on its own, as unbeknownst to Midna it drew from her faith, of which the Princess ironically had very little due to her direct interactions with the divine, but the additional electrical payload she had charged it with still did plenty. As did her comboing her shadowhand into the mix, the princess ending her stab combo with a mighty punch that sent the Other sprawling.
She pulled the spear to her chest, salvaging some of the charge and recycling it back into her weapon, while at the same time opening a portal and calling out an enlarged Wolfos. The beast pounced on the fallen Other both paws slamming into it and crushing its weakened form, before it lunged forwards and bit another Rummy using its massive jaw, savaging the Other for a few moments before it had to return to the twilight realm.
The savaged Other barely had time to recover before Midna rushed in and delivered an overhead chop with the sword-like tip of her spear, bringing a corresponding lightning bolt crashing down atop it for good measure, expending all the charge she had recycled.
That lack of charge resulted in her follow up stab having far less bite than she wanted it too, the lack of staggering impact allowing the Rummy to recover and fight back, spinning on one of its pointy legs like a top and smacking the spear out of the princess’s hands in the process as the severed Rummy arm it used as a weapon smashed into it.
”You think that’s all I’ve got?” Minda taunted the headless thing as she stepped away from its spin, only for Hanabi to come to her unneeded rescue anyway. The psychic came running over and with precision borne of experience against these foes, ducking low stabbing her staff under the spinning arm to strike the single leg the Runny was balancing on, causing it to tip over and fall to the ground.
”I had that in hand” the princess insisted, before adding ”But thank you anyway” to try and avoid being needlessly abrasive.
Before the psychic could take things one way or the other, there came a loud crunch of metal as a goat like Wither Sabbat slammed its head into the car protecting the civilians, opening the way for the Rummies to try and climb their way into the store.
”Oh no you don’t” Minda said, before summoning Roadblock again, and having the exosuit pound a fist against his shield while the princess called out ”Over here you twisted things, come and fight me!”
It worked like a charm. It also attracted the attention of every single other in the local area, which on top of the Rummies and Sabbat, also included a small flock of Plateau Pendu. The electricity slinging Other swooped in, blasting at Roadblock’s shield and undercutting Midna’s bravado as she flinched away from them, where she’d shown zero fear of any of the other Other.
”Goddesses, not again” she gasped, briefly paralyzed by fear, and prompting Hanabi to ask her if she was ok even as the psychic moved to engage the closest Rummy that had been drawn to their position by Roadblock’s taunt.
”I’m fine. I’m fine” Midna insisted, mostly snapping out of the fear, but still feeling her heart beating faster for a reason she still didn’t understand. Working under the stress, she summoned her initiate strikers and chilfos behind the shield, having them toss psychic/ice spears from behind its cover, while she herself used it to prepare for battle.
Unfortunately, in having successfully drawn the attention of the hulking goat Other away from the civilians, she had prompted it to charged towards them instead, the Sabbat plowing aside one of its fellows before it slammed into Roadblock’s energy shield, cracking it. Midna responded by blasting it with her musket, again using the close range to compensate for her general lack of skill with firearms, even if practical experience was making her slightly better over time.
The heavy metal slug wasn’t nearly enough to dissuade the goat however, which rose up on its hind legs, and then slammed its horned skull into the shield again, shattering it, and slamming into Roadblock in a single strike, causing the princess to yelp and stumble as she suffered recoil damage.
The impact blew apart her little defensive line, all the strikers dissipating within a few heartbeats of the impact, and leaving the pair of ladies alone against almost a dozen Other.
Bur only for a few seconds.
Midna’s vibrava returned in just the nick of time, having slaughtered the last of the bilepools and now immediately laying into the Pendu upon its arrival, even more deadly against them due to being entirely immune to their electrical attacks.
”Yes! You’re a better knight than the darknut will ever be” the incredibly relieved to not be dealing with those princess cried out as her (suitably green) defender tore into the source of her stress. Well, the unnatural source anyway, dealing with the ground based Other was still plenty stressful.
At least their heavy blunt attacks were fairly predictable, and there was space on the long wide road for both Midna and Hanabi to backup and avoid getting surrounded. The princess did particularly well at this, skirmishing back, and blasting Rummies with her musket (and making sure to check what was behind them this time to avoid hitting any friendlies this time) till the goat like Wither Sabbat charged out of their ranks, splitting itself from the pack with its speed.
”There we go” Midna said smugly as it did what she wanted, before calling over ”Together?” to Hanabi and getting a nod in reply.
The two ladies dodged to either side as the goat charged in, before lunging back in to hit it from both sides. As the psychic laid into it with her flaming quarterstaff, Midna (who had ditched her musket in a portal) crescent moon slashed a plain longsword into the world and cleaved it into the Other, not doing particularly much damage with the mundane blade but still redrawing its focus with another taunt.
This prompted it to turn to attack her specifically and rear up to deliver a headbutt, but having expected this she was entirely prepared to dodge away. While Midna had its attention, Hanabi had plenty of opportunity to attack its weaker rear, culminating in her igniting the beast with her strikes.
”I love it when you do that!” Midna praised a little too excitedly, having prepared for this moment by pulling out her sun on a stick earlier when she was taking cover behind the shield. Now that the Other was burning, she ditched the longsword and instead grabbed the bat with all four hands, dodged another headbutt, and then slammed the (rather short because of how she was holding it) weapon’s spiky head into its side.
It produced that satisfying critical hit sound as it did triple damage to the burning foe, a sound that resounded several more times as she went to town on the Other, and ending its life just in time before the Rummies caught up.
Hanabi was already ready for them when they arrived, and swiftly intercepted the front stumbler while Minda caught her breath. Once she had it, the princess stored her sun on a stick, and then glanced up to see that her Vibrava had added all the flying Other to its already impressive kill count for this fight, and was heading back to join her.
”Alright, let’s clean these up” she declared, referring to the five or so remaining Rummies. She ducked past one, and behind the one fighting Hanabi and then raised her shadow hand up in the air as the other three closed in. At her feet, a ring of orange power filled with shadow expanded across the ground, engulfing all of her foes seemingly harmlessly till she had them all inside of it, at which point she snapped the shadow hand’s fingers.
Orange lighting lashed out from the dark energy zone, stunning the remaining others, and marking them for death as her Vibrava swooped in and with lighting fast speed delivered devastating crunches to each and every one, killing the softened up ones in and leaving the few that remained heavily damaged. Certainly damaged enough that Hanabi was able to dash in and finish them off before they, Midna, or her vibrava had recovered from receiving/delivering the devastating attack.
”Good job thing” Midna praised her pokemon as it buzzed over and landed on her shoulder, before offering the helpful psychic some praise too for good measure ”and you too Hanabi. A joy to see you in your element” because she really did love that element (namely fire).
Now that all the foes were felled, she quickly retrieved her treespear from where it had been batted away too (as well as grabbing and crushing a few spirits with her shadow hand, most notably the Wither Sabbat’s) while Hanabi checked on the well-beings of the civilians they’d just bailed out of danger.
Items obtained: Prometheus Torch Type 3 The improved version of the Prometheus Torch bo staff uses the highest quality oil. This increases the quality of the flame and its temperatures. It incinerates weaker enemies in one hit. By adjusting its internal mechanisms, this torch is about two-thirds as heavy as a normal one. The lightweight design is easy to carry and wield. This takes the burden off the wielder's arm saving energy
Power Cell A cartridge loaded with electricity. Its built-in converters mean that it can be used to fully charge almost any device that runs on electric power
Orange Gel A sweet medicinal jelly capable of providing 33% instant healing when eaten
”Oh hey wait, is this…?” Midna began to ask as she caught the item she’d just made, one that seemed nearly identical looking to Hanabi’s own weapon. She gave it a twirl, finding it surprisingly light. Lighter than Hanabi’s? It was hard to judge when she hadn’t held the other one, and hard to know if that was a good or bad thing (and thus whether the psychic would benefit from a trade) without trying it out.
”Plenty more Other to test it out on” she said to herself, as she dropped the gel and power cell into a portal, and then strode forwards into the fray once more.
“Ah yes, the Sinmara, of course” Fae replied to the muscle bound oni of a women’s claim of fame, even as he set a subroutine to look her up on the weave. Said routine rapidly fed him back a picture of the woman that was practically identical to the one he’d gotten already, which was fairly amusing to the cyborg. Truly, he thought, sometimes you really could judge a book by its splendid cover.
“And perhaps I will take you up on that offer a little later darling” he in the meantime replied to the one she had made about sparring, adding that “It’s always useful to acquire relevant combat data, and it’ll give me some practice at stitching your remarkable looking physiology up after battle to boot” something he expected he might have to do a lot if she where as daring/reckless as she seemed
He was rather glad he’d specified later, because the woman had to subsequently take several moments to realize that this was not exactly the place to be thrown down when she misinterpreted a comment from one of the other arrivals about stepping outside.
He was rather less glad that his attempt at initiating introductions only really got him a response from Sinmara, lovely as it was, whereas the other two who he identified by their eccentric garbs seemed more interested in her than him. Still he got a bit of an understanding of them regardless, with the young woman in a schoolgirl uniform clearly being older than she looked (something they shared in common, he mused) whereas the other was of all things, a Jester. He was also, perhaps, an illusion, which would mean this man also had something in common with him, interestingly enough.
As he scanned the room to check for the source of the phantom funny man, he detected something much more interesting, and was as a result quite prepared when their real host popped in behind him to make her little comment.
A camera in the center of one of his mecha-tendril claws leaned in to get a closer look at her as the man in control of it casually replied “Really now? That is quite last century thinking, my dear” and intentionally leaving it quite unclear as to whether it was the assumption that he’d hold back against women or that he’d was only ‘gentlemanly’ towards women that he was correcting.
Naturally, it was both. He was sitting opposite a prime example of why the former was a foolish notion, after all, but was unfortunately bereft of any fine specimens with which to demonstrate the error in her assumption of the latter.
At any rate, after her little hazing game the woman, Acacia, formally introduced herself and filled them in on some extra details that hadn’t been in the invitation. A little presumptuous, he thought, to assume they were all already onboard, but the apparent need for expediency, and lack, it seemed, of many viable candidates, did mean it made sense.
If anyone did back out now it would be pretty disastrous given their low numbers.
Said expediency would apparently see them heading out the very next morning, which did not leave a lot of time for preparations. The self declared Red queen seemed like she was ready to go right this very moment, flashily donning a set of magical armor and summoning a fascinating looking great axe as she declared as such, and Fae was, as it turned out, somewhat in the same camp as her.
“I’m able to prepare whatever we need on the fly,” he informed them, before placing one mecha-tendril claw above the other and having them spin rapidly for a few moments as they printed a living photosynthesizing rose out of thin air. He caught it in one claw, took a moment to breathe in its authentic scent, and then handed it to one of the servers, who he informed that “it would look lovely sticking out of your breast pocket, my good sir” before focusing back on the group.
“Weapons, ammunition, medicine, you name it, I can produce it” he informed them, before adding an addendum that “it does take some time to make the more complicated items however, so I shall endeavor to find out a bit about this island chain we are being sent too and manufacture/acquire a few things accordingly ahead of schedule”
He also had a few affairs to take care of as well. He might be a free agent, but it would hardly be prudent of him to simply up and disappear on his various associates and clients now would it? Plus, no one had sworn him to any kind of secrecy, as much as that has been implied, so he was certainly considering filling in a few trusted members of his movement on a detail or two on the nature of this matter.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
Rika: Electro-swarm Hangers (Dark Magic Lampyre): Rika can now use SP to launch small swarms of insects (that look a bit like fireflies) formed out of pure electricity from her gauntlet mounted hangers. For a small amount of Sp she can launch a diversion swarm, which buzz around a target and flash and blink distressingly, lowering their accuracy. For a larger SP cost, she can create a shocker swarm, which upon closing with the foe discharge their electrical charge in a series of small lightning bolts which can deal a hearty amount of damage if they all manage to go off, while also draining some stamina from the foe as well.
Bowser and Jr: Olympian: The one with this strength has competed in numerous summer and winter Olympic games, and has experience in and talent at all the various sports. They are proficient at any activities that are represented by those events. Notably it does not improve basic skills like running, jumping or swimming, but instead provides an extensive if esoteric list of talents from discus tossing to rowing to skiing, basketball, rhythmic gymnastics, bobsledding, etc.
”Oh phew” Jr sighed in relief when the additional information the travelers had acquired via following up troops lead turned up that he was off the hook due to being a minor.
”That is good. Nine thousand nine hundred less points we need” Kamek calculated, before turning to Rika and asking ”Or possibly twice that? How old are you exactly, young mistress?” and then feeling a little guilty he’d never asked this. Or when her birthday was, which he did ask as well, but unfortunately the answer to both questions turned out to be the same.
”I dunno. Don’t really remember much in detail before a few days ago when I became Rika instead of just another abyssal mook” she replied, before thinking about it a moment before getting an idea, saying ”oh, I know!” before trying to snap her fingers like she’d seen it demonstrated, only to fail to make any sound.
”Oh. Um. How do you…?” she asked while trying it a few more times
”like this!” Jr jumped in to demonstrate, only for Kamek to point that ”Your using your claws young master, she can’t do that, plus that’s not quite how you’re meant to do it anyway”
This seemed to surprise both Jr and his papa (who also just used his claws), and soon enough all three royals were getting rapid clicking lessons from Kamek, filling the air with flubbed clicks till they all got it, all four clicking at once, resulting in only Bowser having a number appearing above his head.
”There we go, well done all of you” Kamek praised the royals, before realizing another implication of the situation, saying ”Ah. I hope no one saw that I don’t have a number” quietly, before more loudly stating ”But it does indeed look like you are indeed exempt, young mistress. Good news indeed”
Rika declared this ”Neat” before adding that ”I’m glad I don’t have to do it. I’m not sure I’d have been any good at it” sheepishly
”I’m sure you’d have done great” Bowser assured her with a reassuring clap on the shoulder before suggesting ”But yeah, being forced to by some rhythmic schmuck would be a pretty crummy way to learn, that’s for sure. You can always try it out for fun some other time instead though? You know, for fun. Because that’s what it's supposed to be”
”That… might be neat?” Rika agreed, a touch hesitantly, before pessimistically adding ”Assuming we can get out I mean. Getting from one hundred to ten thousand is a lot, right?”
”Eh it’s just numbers, and we only need nine more hundreds” Bowser assured her, confidently, before brushing off Kamek’s correction that it was ”actually ninety nine more hundreds, sire”
”Well, whatever. Either way, all we need to do is take on one of those big bosses to get everything we need. Should be no problem for the king of dance!” Bowser declared confidently.
”Perhaps you should warm up sire? Challenge, say, a skeleton or some other undead perhaps” Kamek suggested, already thinking about all the ways this could go wrong. 100 points was barely a margin after all, and if he lost by any amount at all, that would be the end of it.
”Nah” the king replied dismissively, before turning and calling out ”Hey, Cadence!” once again startling the blond woman, and this time putting on guard for a moment to boot, perhaps believing he intended to challenge her, but instead he simply followed up by asking ”Where’s the nearest boss I can stomp?”
Naturally she too, tried to dissuade this course of action, but ended up getting off on the wrong foot when she thought he was being noble (as in not wanting to knock people down to rise himself up) rather than egotistical, and so was near effortlessly steamrolled by the King’s villainous charisma in a matter of moments.
“If you really do want the closest one, then he’s just through here” she nodded her head towards the door she was leaning next too before beginning to exposit about how “He’s the one that knocked me out and cost me my soul-” only for Bowser to give her a thumbs up and a ”Thanks” as he stomped past her to take a look inside the room.
What he found inside was an undead parish, which you wouldn't exactly think made for a good dance floor, if it weren't for the way the pues had been cleared away to make place for a horde of skeletons to get down to the electro-gothic music pumping through the air.
”Soooo who’s the boss?” Bowser started to ask, before spotting the man at the front of the ‘congregation’ and correctly ID’ing him as who he was looking for. No normal person would ever dress like that after all.
Dead Ringer!
The king took a long look at the man and then gawfed ”What kind of getup is that! He’s got a bell on his head?!” which caused the man in question to snap his head to the side and to fix the king with a single eyed but incredibly intense stare.
”Oh yeah, real intimidating” Bowser taunted as he stomped on into the room ”You ain’t got nothing on me, pipsqueak, so bring it! You and me bell head, let’s do this thing. Best dancer wins!”
Rather than give a verbal reply, Dead Ringer disconcertingly jolted his head to one side, cracking his neck and setting the bell encasing his head ringing as its edge hit one of his shoulder pads, a low endless chime that seemed to reverberate through the rest of his brass armor. In response, the dance floor was swiftly cleared, and four large bells where placed around it on equidistant spots on the dance floor.
”What’s this, some kinda gimmick? What have these got to do with dancing?” Bowser asked, right as the dread ringer reached behind the church's pew and pulled out his massive signature hammer. He spun it once, before raising it up above his head, and laughing a deep and dreadful laugh as his music began playing.
And then rather than start dancing the dead ringer began advancing (though his every step was flawlessly on the rhythm), hammer held high and prepared to strike the king down.
”Coming at me? Oh so it’s a fight you want?” Bowser snarled, putting up his dukes even as he bobbed to the beat ”Tough luck with that, I’m even better at those!”
“Wait! You can’t fight back or you’ll void your contract and he’ll eat your soul!” Cadence shouted out from, which for some reason prompted a few shouts along the lines of “hey come on!” and “spoilsport” from the other neutral observers.
”What?” Bowser shouted back as he snapped his head around to double check if he’d heard her right, only to get bonked on the head by the hammer blow as the deceptively quick Dead Ringer reached him. The king stumbled back, head reeling, and just entirely off beat, and getting several boos from the crowd as a result.
Rather than follow up on the blow however, the dead ringer stepped away from the king and strode towards one of the bells. Upon arrival he raised his hammer and struck the bell, causing it to toll loudly, after which then seemed to lose its color, turning from gleaming brass to a dull gray.
It also summoned a hulking green dragon near as tall as Bowser was, towards which it started to stalk (on the beat) while the dead ringer moved in the opposite direction to go ring another bell, which would no doubt have a similar miniboss summoning effect.
”What! Oh come on!” Jr cried out in dismay, before demanding to know ”How is that not against the rules!”
“The bosses aren't contractors, they don’t have to follow the no fighting rule!” Cadence told him, before shaking her head in dismay at their foolishness.
”Wait…. But I’m not a contractor either… so I don’t have to follow those rules either!” which prompted a whole bunch of questions to be shouted by the non troop members watching, all of which Jr answered by shouting ”I’m a kid” as he leaped into the fray.
”Get away from my Papa you overgrown lizard!” the prince yelled as he formed and then hurled an iron javelin with practiced skill at the great beast, striking it right in the eye. It roared in pain and staggered back, only for the roar to be joined by the ring of a bell, as the Dead Ringer summoned a hulking ogre into the fray.
”Hey, stop that!” Rika shouted as she also stepped onto the dancefloor as well, and then proceeded to open fire on the Dead Ringer with all her firepower. The crack of her rifle and thump of her rigging turrets laughing disruption blobs drowning out the music, prompting yet more boos from the audience.
”Oh no no no no no” Kamek panicked, as he realized that the kids off beat actions where not crowd pleasers ”Even if we can fight back, doing so is making it harder for his grooviness still needs to win the dance off ”
Worse, her shots seemed to have no effect, being slowed by some invisible barrier right before striking, and then vibrating in the air for a moment before being spat out onto the floor.
”Uh oh” was Rika’s rather understated response to this major set back, while Kamek proceed to freak out even more, snapping his gaze to the side and beginning to cry out ”Sire you still have to win the dance-” only to pause when he saw he’d been beaten to the punch on that turn of logic ”-huh?”
”What, you think this is the first time I've danced after getting smashed by a hammer while dancing? Compared to last time, this is nothing. Mario’s was ten times that big! Also rocket powered” Bowser replied to the shocked gazes at how smoothly, if a fair bit dadishly, he was getting down to the beat, before blowing a fair few minds as he kickflip out of the way of a club strike coming from the summoned oger.
”I. Well. I suppose that solves that part” Kamek acknowledged, before addressing the kids, saying ”Now we just have to back him up in style, troop! Move and fight to that beat just like the summoned monsters are doing!”
”Argh, this is exactly what I didn’t want to have to do!” Rika complained, before she tried her best to block a hammerswing from the Dead Ringer that was coming her way in a rhythmic fashion.
She failed, and was sent tumbling into the crowd.
As Kamek flew to assist the girl, her brother was having a much better time. Tapping into his rhythm gymnastics experience the prince gracefully stepped out of the slow dragon’s reach, spinning and then jabbing it with a pair of iron spikes he’d formed to use in place of the clubs that performance usually involved. It involved quite a few unnecessary tosses and flourishes of the spikes, but the tumbles and pirouettes he did worked well as synchronous dodges of the dragon’s own slow on beat strikes.
Bowser meanwhile was doing pretty well at keeping away from the ogre’s blows, right up until another bell rang and out sprung a minotaur with harp strings strung in between its horns.
Despite the elegant instrument adorning its head, the bullheaded beast was just as brutish as its brawny body suggested it would be. The minotaur immediately charging towards Bowser upon spotting him, forcing him to slide to the left to avoid the charge, only for him to have to slide to the right to avoid another club blow.
”I could use some backup dancers over here!” Bowser shouted as he was forced to contend with two brawling brutes trying to club and gore him, a losing game if ever there was one.
Fortunately Kamek had successfully retrieved Rika, and the two now re-entered the fray, the first indicator of which was a giant wasp woman who came buzzing across the rooms, crimson ribbons streaming from her antenna, to slam her oversized cleaver into the ogre’s back. The monster roared in pain once, and then again when on the next beat the ichor queen thrust her stinger into it, injecting a hefty payload of venom.
As the striker turned to a mote and returned to its mistress, Rika (empowered by the poisoning) unleashed a second attack, launching a swarm of electrical insects from her gauntlet hangers. These formed a swift moving swarm who’s shape pulsed in time with the music, and then when they got close to the toxic stricken ogre, unleashed their eclectic payloads in a strobe light like series of discharges till the monster.
”How’s that!” Rika asked/taunted, as she bobbed on the spot, still not at all confident enough in her dancing skills to do anything but throw summons out that could feel the rhythm in her stead.
”A good start!” Jr called back in response, as he did a cartwheel out of the way of a lunging dragon snout, before perfectly timing his firing of a shower of iron knives into its brain with a rapid fire drumbeat in the song ”But you’ve got a way to go till your good as me sis!” The prince clearing having gotten over any embarrassment his out of character dancing style was causing and into the swing of things. Employing it for violence certainly helped.
”But I am sure you will catch up in no time, young mistress” Kamek reassured Rika, as he used his magical fist spell to give the minotaur an on the beat beat down while sitting safely out of range of any harm, broomstick rising and falling in time with the music.
AS a result of these attacks, the three summoned monsters were taken care of in quick succession, the minibosses no match for the equal number of boss monsters Bowser had supporting him.
Before he could gloat, however, the fourth bell rang, summoning forth a towering nightmare wreathed in a shadowy aura. Red eyes glowed in those shadows depths for a moment as unseen stagehands jumped in and removed the bells in a flash. When some others tried to bring something on stage however, there was some kind of scuffle and a shout of “Don’t give 'em the gong, the spoilsports don’t deserve it” before they all cleared out of the arena.
”A gong? How would that help us?” Kamek asked, floating up to look for it. Yet when the shadows cleared there was no sign of the stage hands, nor the removed bells, nor any kind of gong.
The rest of the troop where a bit more distracted by what had caused the nightmare’s effect to clear, namely the Dead Ringer slamming forwards at light speed, road killing the monster in the process, and appearing right before Bower, who he promptly slammed with a hammer again.
”Wait what!” Jr called out in surprise, only for the Dead Ringer snapped his gaze around, tensed, and then lunged forwards again, flash stepping in front of the prince and smashing him in the chest, launching him clear into the crowd just as his sister had been a few moments ago.
Then his gaze snapped to that same sister, causing her to give a panicked ”Eek!” as she proceeded to launch herself into the air like a startled bunny using her feather fall rune before he even charged, which the undead audience found hilarious. Thankfully her helmet prevented her from braining herself upon impact with the ceiling, and the slowfall effect of the rune kept her from simply dropping back down into hammer range.
As a result she had time to observe Kamek futility blasting the Ringer, as a barrier of sound caused by his vibrating armor tore apart or deflected any spells before they could hurt him. Worse, with only one target still on the dance floor due to Jr’s ring out, and the other two’s floating, he now only had one target. The hammer bearer moved to line up another charge on the king, who was still dancing even as he looked dazed.
”Don’t you dare!” Rika shouted down at the ringer, as she launched another wave of electrical insects from her hangers. Rather than zap the man she was now pretty sure they could not hurt, these instead flashed and pulsed right in front of his eye, partially blinding him, and throwing off his footing just enough that when he slammed forwards he sailed past the king rather than take him out.
The impact with the wall, and brief stun it caused gave the king the rest of the time he needed to recover, but he was still pretty worse for ware, and, worse, they couldn’t heal him without causing him to cause an explosion of damaging spores (due to a charm he had equipped) which would most certainly count as fighting back.
He managed to dance his way out of the next few flash charges, thanks in no small part to Rika’s follow up swarms repeatedly blinding him, but their luck, Bowser’s stamina, and Rika’s Sp reserves all weren't going to last. Even if the inevitable next blow didn't end him, Kamek was pretty sure that the rule of three would result in a third blow guaranteeing him a loss in the eyes of the audience anyway, which was just as deadly. They needed to end this on their terms, he was quite sure, and so after a few moments he called out.
”We need to find the gong they didn’t give us! I don;t know what it does, but surely it must have a use if they denied us it” thinking it the only chance they had, even if it was a longshot.
”Way ahead of you!” came a hoarse call in response, before said voice announced ”I made us one!” as a massive disk of iron came rolling into the arena, pushed by the last of the prince’s stamina, the rest having been spent using feromancy to form the massive instrument on the fly.
”I got it!” Rika called, as she dropped down from where she had grappling hooked the ceiling to avoid being forced to dance dodge, and prepared to receive their incredibly heavy salvation.
Unfortunately she did so just as she came into the line of sight of the dead ringer. He turned and squared up to charge right as the princess focused on catching the custom made gong on beat, prompting all the other troop members to cry out in alarm.
The Dead Ringer flashed forwards, his hammer crashing forwards like a comet before it struck the gong as Rika thrust it in front of her rather than abandon this linchpin to ending the fight. A final mighty knell tolled through the room, shaking its foundations to the core, and also sending reverberations thumbing into the Dead Ringer’s hammer. Down into his armor. Then finally up into his bell like hamlet that rang and vibrated like mad before it suddenly split in twain, twin halves falling aside and revealing a face that, while gaunt, was by no means dead like his name sake might suggest.
Amber locks fell around his face as he slumped to the ground, and prompted an expected cry of “Dad?” from the crowd as Cadence rushed forwards out of the crowd and towards the fallen man’s side.
“Cadence, I’m sorry” the man who had cost Cadence her soul coughed as he tried to reach a hand out to his daughter “I was under his spell”
The unexpected family reunion was thankfully not cut short by an oblivious to what was going on Rika, as Kamek managed to shout out for her to ”Stop! Don’t kill him!” before she eviscerated the formerly enthralled man with her chainsaw bayonet.
”Oh, ok” she agreed, backing down without any questions asked, before finding an entirely different question to ask, namely ”Soooo, now what. Did we win?”
”Music’s still going!” Bowser pointed out as he shimmied on over, before requesting ”Kamek, give me some dry bones as back up dancers! I want to actually show these ghouls my stuff, and without any interruptions this time!”
”I… very well sire” the mage agreed, before doing just that.
The dance floor was cleared of all who’s souls were not on the line, leaving the king and his horde of skeletal koopas to strut their stuff, and really give the crowd a thriller they’d not soon forget for the remaining thirty seconds of the track.
After those thirty seconds were up, well, there was nothing to do but bask in the candlelight glow of those sweet sweet 10,000 points. For the troop anyway. Cadence and her father were much too distracted embracing and catching up.
“Good morning, Mr Enzoani. I’ll cut straight to the chase: it has come to our understanding that you have been recently contacted by a group known as the Denizens Of The Damned”
So spoke a plain looking man in a plain looking suit, hat and sunglasses who had arrived in a plain looking vehicle, and had then promptly invited himself into the back alley studio-clinic, while remaining undetected by all but one of the security systems, of the person he was addressing.
That person skilled in their work, fingers of ivory and gold pausing their dance across the spinal column of a woman who’s cybernetics he was repairing, before just as swiftly resuming what they had been doing. There where a few small flashes of arcana, and then the hands withdrew
“There, that should resolve the jitters you were having” the man who had been operating told his patient, before adding “Now rest assured, I could suture you back up in my sleep, so I hope you don’t mind if I speak with my ever so rude guest while I do?”
A mere courtesy, given that they were currently anesthetized.
The man turned around, leaving his mecha-tendrils to do the work of closing back up the patient’s back, and in so doing revealing his face to the plain man who had asked him a question. Even in the dim light of his out of the way clinic, and surrounded by the scent of blood, solder and sorcery the man still managed to look like an immaculate picture of beauty, at least if the multiple parts of body that had been replaced with cybernetic components didn’t ruin the view for you.
“Please, call me Fae darling, everyone else does” the doctor replied at last, before promptly pausing to take a small sip from a glass of water, and then continuing “well, everyone I’m on friendly terms with at least. Are we on friendly terms mr …”
“West” the plain man responded simply, before reminding the doctor that “I asked you a question, mr Fae”
“Yes, yes, I know I know, mr west” Fae replied, not at all believing that was his real name, yet also finding it interesting that Mr West had (mostly) bowed to his wish in terms of his preferred address. As a result of that, after setting the glass down, he explained that they had come “A few days ago in fact, attempting to harang me into assisting them with some farcical venture. Dark One this, new world order that. I turned them down, of course. I’ve been working the backstreets long enough to smell trouble a mile away, and those fellows positively reeked of it”
“We know”
“Yes well, spooks like have been trying to monitor me for long enough I quite hope that you know that I know-” Fea began to go on, only for the man to interrupt him by clarifying that what he knew was “That you turned them down”
Fae paused, before beginning to enquire “Then have you come to me to find out what they’re up to? Because I’m not particularly interested in-” before being cut off again by the clarification “We know that as well”
Fae raised a hand in light incredulation, and then sighed, before requesting to know “Then why, my dear, are you even asking?”
In response the plain man reached into his suit and handed Fae a golden envelope. After making a comment about how out of mode such a thing as the written word was, he sliced the letter open with a scalpel tipped finger and then proceeded to scan the contents, remaining eye widening and then narrowing as he did.
“You wish me to believe that not only was everything those delinquents said true, but that the illustrious Unity Organization seeks my help in trying to stop them” he said after he was done, before asking “Is this some kind of a joke?”
“Not at all” Mr West replied, before explaining that “As you know, we’ve been aware of you for quite some time, Mr Fae, and though I, we” he corrected himself “do not particularly approve of your work, we do believe that you are, as they might say, on the level. Your actions a few days ago are additional proof of that. You also have a particular set of skills that can be put towards the cause of keeping a rather … diverse team in one piece, as well as the combat skills to keep up with them” Mr West indicated to a hereto irrelevant carcass of a laser burn riddled and partially dissected nightmare of metal and flesh from the wilds that was taking up a large portion of the room.
“You’re also desperate, if you’ve come to me” Fae filled in “I’m hardly the only combat capable engi-tor in the world” though admittedly it wasn’t a particularly common profession “and if you couldn’t get them, what makes you think you can get me? You should already know I don’t take bribes or sell out, so what could you possibly-”
Mr West calmly pulled out another, much plainer, envelope and handed it to Fae. He rolled his remaining eye at this, and then opened and read the letter inside, this one, it seemed, personally written by a rather distinguished researcher who was now working at the UO. After reading through it twice, he had to conceded that “well then, it seems you have my attention”
"Then we shall inform the Organization to expect your arrival” Mr West replied, before snapping his fingers, and causing both of the letters to spontaneously combust and turn to ash in an instant.
“Yes yes. Now be off with you Mr West, I have a patient to discharge” Fae told the man dismissively, as his mecha-tendrils finished flawlessly stitching the skin of his patients back back together, leaving not a hint that she had been being operated on mere moments ago.
Mr West nodded, and without another word, left the way he came.
“Uniting weapons to bring world peace. Ridiculous” the doctor muttered to himself disbelievingly, but even as he dismissed that, and started to wake what might be his last civilian patient in quite some time, his mind was already wondering at the marvels those weapons and whichever ancient places they dwelled within might hold. The promise of priority access to those had been, he had to admit, the perfect offer to make him.
It was certainly enough to convince him to travel to the center of town to join this little party of theirs at the very least. As such, he took the next train from the outskirts, the magitech marvel cruising along artificial ley lines at a blistering place, and arrived at the venue with plenty of time to spare.
He certainly drew some looks as he entered, striding into the resplendent halls of the HQ, and once seeming to fit right in with his immaculately kept appearance and flowing garments of a classical bent, and yet at the same time sticking out like a sore thumb with his extensive mechanical augments. His mecha-tendrils click clacked on the floor as they walked with him, while his holo projector created a small 3d model of a human with most of their internals on display which the doctor openly tinkered with as he walked.
He did at least have the decency to put the body horror show away when he sat down at the table where people were eating (he himself ordered only some light horderves after flash-forging a mostly illusionary chair he could actually sit in while still wearing his backpack), and instead switching to working on something wholly mechanical. He proceeded to tinker away for a while, openly displaying designs that would put the work of many corporate cybernetics departments to shame, and doing so without a care for who saw what to them would have been top secret information, till the commotion the Chairwoman caused caught his attention.
The entire spectacle was, he had to admit, highly amusing, and had Fae not so subtly laughing behind a raised hand at the chairwoman’s embarrassing escapade.
“Well then, this already seems promising, if I am to have such delightful company in this endeavor” Fae said, mostly to himself but not at all minding if the boisterous woman overheard him, before deciding to speak more broadly to those of his fellow invites who had arrived “Ah, but where are my manners, I’ve been antisocially tinkering away instead of introducing myself”
Upon saying that, he stood and proceeded to do just that “I am Ferdinand Altori Enzoani, humble seeker of the perfection of the human form, but you can call me Fae darlings, I much prefer it. A pleasure to make your acquaintances”
He gave a short but thoroughly theatrical bow, one set of arms held to his chest, the others spread out to one side, before inquiring “Now, if you don’t mind me asking, to whom do I owe that pleasure?” as he sat back down, intrigued to know if the others would turn out to be just as delightfully eccentric.
NAME: Ferdinand Altori Enzoani (Just call me Fae darling)
AGE: Unknown (It’s rude to ask you know)
GENDER: M
APPEARANCE: While Fae may be a cyborg, he has put in the effort to ensure remaining biological features are supernaturally perfect. His marble skin unblemished, his silver locks silky smooth and tangles-less, teeth pearly white and his remaining eye a striking ruby red. Put this all together and he should be teetering on the edge of the uncanny valley, and yet he deftly defies it regardless.
Where his body is augmented, it has been replaced or plated over with a mix of unnaturally warm gold-brass alloy and durable black steel. The most inhuman augmentation can be found on his back, out of which clusters of tool tipped arms and dexterous mecha-tendrils sprout, all powered by a thaumi-nuclar battery housed within the (detachable (and able to operated independently)) backpack. It also comes with an inbuilt oxygen mask for navigating aquatic/toxic environments.
Most of the components that actually replace body parts aren't that much more powerful than their flesh alternatives, but do provide Fae with an extensive life support system that preserve and prolonged his life, and makes him rather resistant to environmental hazards despite his light garb. An exception is his right eye, which has numerous sensors that can see far better, and a far wider spectrum, than the human eye.
He carries with him a tablet computer stylized as a tome oh his hip, one that houses the blueprints for much of his work, and is often seen wearing a set of flowing red robes.
ATTRIBUTES: Mind = 5/10 Body =0/10 Agility = 0/10 Craft = 5/10 Magic = 0/10
WEAPON: Fae does not carry weapons most of the time, but he has plenty built into himself. His mecha-tendrils are strong and swift (and entirely capable of lifting his own body), and are equipped with laser emitters at their tips, while his remaining arms consist of a gravity gun (capable of picking up and launching heavy objects), a combat drug injector, and a hard light hologram projector.
That said, his tendrils are also able to 3D print objects, which means that, if he is given time to prepare, he is able to arm himself as the situation demands. As a result he often ends up producing heavy ordnance such as missile launchers, HMGs, laser cannons, flamethrowers etc. which his additional arms can help carry and stabilize, greatly bolstering his firepower.
MAGIC BRANCH: Dark magic (reshaping and augmenting the flesh is hardly natural, though Fae does resent this designation somewhat) and illusions
Notable Spells/Skills: Repairs: flesh and steel are much the same to Fae, and he is able to repair both, using injections of magical chemicals to stimulate rapid regeneration, or using welding and soldering beams to fix armor and circuitry.
Glamor: Fae predominantly works with hard light constructs when it comes to illusion magic, something he started out doing to make blueprints of metal and flesh to help both plan his work and show what the results of his work would be to those he would be working on. As such he can change people’s appearances with relative ease, as well as create fake objects such as doors, walls, keys, etc. etc. to fool his foes. Said objects can be physically interacted with, but they are relatively flimsy, and become especially so if someone sees through their ruse.
He can also create semi autonomous illusions of people, animals, machines, etc. which follow simple instructions programmed into them at creation. Useful for making distracting doppelgangers, weak disposable minions, scouts (an illusion can hold/be built around a real camera after all) etc.
Synthesis: Fae’s tendrils can be used to 3D print objects from thin air if given time, creating more permanent objects out of more or less anything, be it meat or metal. This has a lot of utility both for more in depth repairs and for creating tools, weapons, combat drones, etc. as the situation demands.
Synthasist Legion (Signature skill): Fae digs out a mass of blueprint from his internal library, and flash-forms a host of ethereal warriors based on the many designs found therein. Despite being illusions, they can still pose a threat with their various weapons if the targets’ minds are weak enough to believe that they are being harmed.
BIO/FUN FACTS:
Fae is a prominent and perhaps founding member of a growing Transhumanist movement known simply as the Synthesists. As a very loosely aligned group, they seek to enhance the human form beyond the peak reached by evolution, while still clinging on to the things that make the human body worth living in.
This certainly puts them at what many would consider the extreme end of augmentation, though they are strictly against going full machine. What the line between having enough humanity left and going too far down the mechanical rabbit hole is, shall we say, and oft argued about point within the community. What they can agree on is that the Mechanists, who go full robot, have gone too far. Naturally there are also biotech-essentialists and non-replationists who think the Synthesists themselves have gone too far, all of which leads to a lot of transhumanist infighting
Fae has dedicated much of his (possibly) long life to furthering the cause, creating many of the blueprints and thesis used by the movement. Relatively well known within it, he has little fame beyond, and certainly little fortune to his name, due to open sourcing a lot of his work.
As for why he specifically seeks the seven? Predominantly, Fea hopes that the weapons will be able to provide at least the inspirational spark needed to push his craft to the next level, having fallen into something of a rut as of late. This may seem like a somewhat selfish goal that would put him in the V’s camp, but the ideals of the Synthesists are, ultimately, a pursuit of a utopian dream that they hope will benefit all. To make a better human, one that does not age, suffer, or wither away. One that has the strength to survive and thrive in an uncaring universe, and, importantly, one that still embodies positive human traits such as empathy, compassion and kindness.
He is, it has to be said, somewhat skeptical about the mysticism surrounding the seven, particularly the idea that the uniting of the weapons brings peace, a thing he thinks is simply too ironic to be true. The rising of the dark one, whatever they may be, has a bit more credence in his eyes. It would certainly be a dark age if those who would do the world ill for their own gains got their hands on the seven, that he can 100% agree on.
His definition of ‘those who would do the world ill for their own gains’ might be a little wider than his recruiters own however.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
The troop had a little bit of a wait at the top thanks to the head start most of their members had on the rest of the seekers. While they waited Jr ended up making a joke about how it was a ”Shame papa sold those massive scissors back in the city, you coulda used those” in response to Nadia’s murmured comment about getting her haircut, before thinking for a moment quickly forming a pair of crude pair of iron scissors using his ferromancy and offering ”How about with these then?” also mostly as a joke.
The cat burglar gave him a dubious glance, pulling her ponytail over her shoulder almost defensively. "Do..you know how to hairdress? I mean, I'm not some snooty purr-incess or anythin', but there's more to a haircut than actually cuttin' hair, y'know? If you hairdo a bad job, I'm hairdone for."
”I’m sure it’ll be fiiiiiiiine. I’ve done all sorts of talents you’d never guess at” the prince replied, before snickering, rather giving the game away in the process.
”and yet I am quite sure haircuts are not one of them” Kamek interjected, before plucking the scissors from he prince’s hands ”and even if you did, I would not advise using these”
”Hey! They aren't that bad” Jr complained, and then after giving the blunt things a second look, instead switched to insisting that ”I can make some way better ones” before attempting to do so.
With the prince briefly distracted, Kamek told Nadia that ”I actually have a little bit of experience cutting hair, though I am by no means skilled at it. Their majesties had something of a habit of scaring off any barbers trying to give them a trim in their earliest years you see, so I might have given them a surreptitious cut or two while they were sleeping” which got a pair of “wait you did?!” from both royal koopas.
Nadia chuckled at the Troop's antics. "That's super on-brand for you guys. And thanks fur offerin', but I think I'll pass. A girl's hair ain't somethin' ya do by trial and error." After another moment spent watching the Koopas, something occurred to her, and she raised an eyebrow. "Aren't there any gals in your Troop? Who's Junior's mom?"
”Fair enough” Kamek conceded gracefully while Jr made a little ”awww beans” in disappointment, before giving the small pile of rejected scissors he had made a light kick.
”Shame, that last pair looks good. I think. Sharp anyway” Rika commented, having never had so much as a trim before, as she took a look at the vicious looking pair of snippers the prince had formed in his last attempt.
”As for ladies,” Kamek then replied, ”well naturally there are, though it should be noted hair isn’t not exactly a common trait in Koopas, nor is it among the various other species that make up our ranks” the hairless himself Koppa replied, thinking most prominently of Wendy O’Koopa and her baldness when compared to the rest of the Koopalings (save the equally bare Roy), before thinking it over and then adding ”and a fair amount that do might be wearing wigs now that I think about it? Possibly? It would be rude to ask”
”And I don't have a mom yet” Jr replied very matter of factly (as if this didn’t raise several questions), his ego having already recovered thanks to Rika’s praise of his craftsmanship.
Nadia blinked at Junior a couple times and decided not to press the issue any further. Compared to all the bizarre things she'd been forced to accept already, this barely even registered.
At any rate, soon after that conversation wound down, the rest of the gang arrived, and they all set off on the next leg of their adventure, which took them into a spooky graveyard which had, of all things, an office desk sitting in it.
The troop approached this desk along with Nadia, and got a front row seat to the unfurling of the massive contract as a result.
”Badness me, that is quite the sea of legalease” the Kamek said as he took it all in, before adjusting his spectacles and starting to say ”if you’ll give me a moment I’ll-” before making an affronted noise as Bowser pushed him the the side and signed right away while declaring ”Yeah, no, we’ve not got time for that so let’s just get it over with so we can move on”
”Sire!” The mage protested, swiftly adding similar exclamations of ”Young master!” and ”Young mistress!” when Jr and Rika also signed without reading.
Well, in actuality Rika took the pen, paused for a moment, and then leaned over and asked Kamek ”Is my name spelled R-Y-K-A-H or R-I-K-A-H?” The princess had never had the need to write it down before after all, or anything else in her life really.
”Oh? I think it’s R-I-K-A” Kamek supplied helpfully, and added ”Oh and put Koopa at the end, as that is your last name now that you are his majesty’s scion. K-O-O-P-A.”
”Thanks! K-O-O-P-A and done!” the princess declared right in time for Kamek to realize what he’d just helped her do with an exclamation of ”Gah no wait!” Yet at that point it was much too late, and so he could do little but sigh and facepalm at their now collective stupidity.
Despite them having already signed, Kamek refused to peer pressured into also doing so, and so doggedly proceeded to slowly read through the contract line by tiny line (which was not pleasant on his old eyes, that he’d tell you) before doing so. Fortunately for Snatcher, Bowser was much too impatient to wait for him to finish, and so the rest of the troop forged on ahead far before Kamek reached the important part.
When he did, he proceeded to exclaim ”Their souls!” before hurriedly scanning the rest of the important part of the contact buried in the smallest of small-text while going ”No, no, no, no” before tossing the whole thing away like it was poison to the touch.
The mage paced to and for several moments as he mulled over what he could do, before snapping his fingers- and promptly getting on his broom and leaving.
A few moments later a tiny shrunken mote of light drifted through the room he had just left, suspiciously sneaking past the demon manning the desk, and then touching the wall beyond. The whips phased right through the material of the crypt, and popped right on out the other side, emerging into the dance party on the other side, where it joined the flashing lights of the dance floor.
A second or so later Kamek joined it, arriving in a puff of smoke, having teleported inside thanks to the remote vision his summon had granted him. The mage had been ever so worried about what fate had awaited his royal masters within, but he was both relieved, and a touch incredulous, that rather than finding them facing certain doom he instead found them in the midst of hosting a pizza party in the crypt’s central hub.
”Hey Kamek!” Rika called over as she gave him a wave ”Did you end up signing the thingy as well?”
”Oh yes of course, how else would I have been able to follow you in here” the mage replied loudly as he drifted on his broom and then landed among them, at which point he leaned in and whispered ”I’m lying, I teleported in here, so I still own my soul”
”What did that even mean anyway? Like, what’s a soul?” the princess asked before anyone could comment on Kamek’s cleverness, which sent the mage floundering for a way to explain that metaphysical concept ”Oh, well, um, see it’s well. It’s what makes you, you. But not your body or your brain, it’s a more, well, a more spiritual thing you see?”
”Oh so it's my spirit? But I’ve got a whole bunch of those in me, so can I just give him one of those instead?” Rika asked, thoroughly confuddling Kamek.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Bowser stepped in at that moment to declare ”Nobody’s giving anyone any spirits, or any souls!” and then explaining that ”All we have to do is beat that necrodancer in a dance battle and we’ll win them back”
”Dance … battle?” Kamek repeated, before asking ”Is this something that was explained, or did you just guess that this is the case sire?”
”I mean it's obvious isn’t it. Guy’s got ‘dance’ in his name, and there’s a bunch of people doing dance battles in here, so they must be practicing to take him on” Bowser explained ”Fortunately for you lot, I’ve been in this situation before. Ya see it all started when Waluwigi stole the 4 magical Music keys, which I think is like the only solo bad guy thing has ever done, and it just got crazier from there” Bowser began, before giving a fever dream like recounting of the single day in which Mario decided to use the power of dance to solve all his problems which eventually ended with ”And that’s how I got my tone deafness cured!”
”Ah yes, that. I tried to forget” Kamek said, not particularly happy to have the memory of those events dredged up, while the two youngsters had thoroughly enjoyed the whole silly story from beginning to end.
”So you can dance real good?” Rika asked
”Yup! Runs in the family too! Jr’s a real good rhythmic gymnast and ribbon dancer don’t you know. Got some Olympic medals for it and everything” the king replied, while Jr groaned ”Daaaaad” just a little embarrassed about people being told about some of the less cool sports he’d done over the years. Or rather that they’d done, because his papa had taken part in the exact same events after all.
Rika at least thought it was ”Neat” as she often did regarding new information, before adding that she ”bet that’ll come in real handy” and then adding after a moment of reflection that ”I’ve never danced before in my life though, so I’ll probably slow you all down”
”Let’s not jump to conclusions shall we. For all we know this is simply how people are distracting themselves down here and we simply need to overpower this necrodancer in a conventional manner” Kamek suggested, before adding that ”If you give me a moment, I’m sure I can find out more by simply asking someone what this place’s whole situation is”
”Oh, right yeah I guess we could just do that” Bowser said, as he stood up to come join in with that (while continuing to eat pizza out of one of the many pizza boxes).
They left the kids behind to keep eating, during which Jr explained to Rika that she could probably dance with her spear, and he might be able to give her a few tips from his old rhythmic gymnastics routine that sometimes involved a long stick.
The two older troop members meanwhile took a little look around trying to decide who to ask, and ended up approaching the blonde woman due to her standing out so much (and after failing to get the attention of a number of undead).
”Good morning. Or is it afternoon? Regardless, hello to you young lady, I don’t suppose you could fill in a few newcomers about the nature of this place?“
”Yeah, like where’s the poser I gotta dance into the dirt to get outta here. I’m a busy guy, I’ve got a whole list of other people who need to get stomped as well after I deal with this speedbump” Bowser added along with a palm punch.
Though Bowser and Kamek's sudden visitation left the girl taken aback, she quickly composed herself to try and give her fellow unfortunates a hand. "Uh, hey. Guess you guys lost your souls too? I didn't even sign anything, I just fell into this place and got mine nicked off me." Though like the Organization girl she happened to speak with a British accent, hers was a lot less high-pitched and cockney. "Well, the NecroDancer's the one you want. He's the one holdin' everyone's souls, that Snatcher fellow's just a legal contractor. But it's not easy as walkin' right up to 'im and bustin' a move. You've gotta work your way up before he sees you as a worthy challenger. That means winnin' points through dance-offs." She wore a stern expression as she delivered the news. "Outdancin' the dead 'round here's piss easy, but beaten them won't get you much points. Better to beat other contractors, but they wanna live just as bad as you do. The NecroDancer's got special minions too, like Fortissimole and King Conga. They're worth even more, but they're tough as nails. So even if you're feelin' yourself, pick your battles. You don't wanna go below zero."
As she sighed, she leaned back, allowing just enough of the fickle firelight to shine on her face that the Koopas saw her sunken eyes and the worry lines etched in your face. "If you wanna know all the details, talk to the Amicassador. She's one of the NecroDancer's cronies, not to mention the best fan dancer in the Crypt. I'm Cadence, by the way." Leaning on her shovel with her left arm, she extended her right to shake.
”Kamek“ the mage replied, taking and shaking, before leaning in close and covertly asking ”Incidentally, what would I look out for if I, hypothetically, had to be worry about getting mine ‘nicked’ as well?“
”This Amicassador they guy who’s being shown up by the tracksuit bro’s over there?” Bowser meanwhile asked, based purely on the fact that said person also had a fan.
"Don't fall unconscious," Cadence told him ruefully. When she looked over at the person Bowser indicated, she raised an eyebrow. "Uhh...no. She is part fox though. And also probably the reason why nobody wants to learn from old Youko there. No point in even trying to fan dance with Tingyun around." She glanced back at Bowser. "That's the Amicassador. Just look for a big, fluffy brown fox tail."
Kamek offered her ”My thanks“ for the advice. Given that he wasn’t going to be doing any dances of his own, what with his age and lack of need, his biggest concern would be any acts of subterfuge on the parts of their host should they find him out.
”Yeah, thanks.” The king echoed, before adding that ”I’ll pay you back by bringing down the house within the day”
”I’m not sure how you being cheered helps h-“ Kamek began to say, before getting it ”ooooooh. I see. Yes, we’ll be sure to raze the roof if we can“
"Good luck," Cadence wished them, a slight smile on her face. Hopefully these newbies would fare better than the last batch
They were certainly convinced they would, and so headed back to the pizza party with their newly acquired information.
”I was right! It is a dance off system!” Bowser declared loudly and smugly
”Yes, yes“ Kamek conceded, before putting in all the work in relaying all the information they’d leard to the others, ending with ”So we should probably seek out this ‘Amicassador’ person next“
”Yup. After you finish lunch!” Bowser declared, which got a ”huh?” from Kamek, before he got a pizza box shoved in his hands by the king.
”Oh, well, I suppose now that we know we’re not in immediate danger I guess I can take a slight beak” he admitted, before flipping open the lind, breathing in the scent of somehow still hot and fresh Italian cuisine and sighing with delight. He hadn’t realized how hungry all the fighting and flying of the morning had left him till just now, and so he was then more than happy to sit down and much away while taking in the scenery inside the tomb in a more relaxed fashion alongside the rest of the troop, and anyone else who wanted to join them for lunch.
NAME: Ferdinand Altori Enzoani (Just call me Fae darling)
AGE: Unknown (It’s rude to ask you know)
GENDER: M
APPEARANCE: While Fae may be a cyborg, he has put in the effort to ensure remaining biological features are supernaturally perfect. His marble skin unblemished, his silver locks silky smooth and tangles-less, teeth pearly white and his remaining eye a striking ruby red. Put this all together and he should be teetering on the edge of the uncanny valley, and yet he deftly defies it regardless.
Where his body is augmented, it has been replaced or plated over with a mix of unnaturally warm gold-brass alloy and durable black steel. The most inhuman augmentation can be found on his back, out of which clusters of tool tipped arms and dexterous mecha-tendrils sprout, all powered by a thaumi-nuclar battery housed within the (detachable (and able to operated independently)) backpack. It also comes with an inbuilt oxygen mask for navigating aquatic/toxic environments.
Most of the components that actually replace body parts aren't that much more powerful than their flesh alternatives, but do provide Fae with an extensive life support system that preserve and prolonged his life, and makes him rather resistant to environmental hazards despite his light garb. An exception is his right eye, which has numerous sensors that can see far better, and a far wider spectrum, than the human eye.
He carries with him a tablet computer stylized as a tome oh his hip, one that houses the blueprints for much of his work, and is often seen wearing a set of flowing red robes.
ATTRIBUTES: Mind = 5/10 Body =0/10 Agility = 0/10 Craft = 5/10 Magic = 0/10
WEAPON: Fae does not carry weapons most of the time, but he has plenty built into himself. His mecha-tendrils are strong and swift (and entirely capable of lifting his own body), and are equipped with laser emitters at their tips, while his remaining arms consist of a gravity gun (capable of picking up and launching heavy objects), a combat drug injector, and a hard light hologram projector.
That said, his tendrils are also able to 3D print objects, which means that, if he is given time to prepare, he is able to arm himself as the situation demands. As a result he often ends up producing heavy ordnance such as missile launchers, HMGs, laser cannons, flamethrowers etc. which his additional arms can help carry and stabilize, greatly bolstering his firepower.
MAGIC BRANCH: A mix of Dark magic (reshaping and augmenting the flesh is hardly natural, though Fae does resent this designation somewhat) and illusions
Notable Spells/Skills: Repairs: flesh and steel are much the same to Fae, and he is able to repair both, using injections of magical chemicals to stimulate rapid regeneration, or using welding and soldering beams to fix armor and circuitry.
Glamor: Fae predominantly works with hard light constructs when it comes to illusion magic, something he started out doing to make blueprints of metal and flesh to help both plan his work and show what the results of his work would be to those he would be working on. As such he can change people’s appearances with relative ease, as well as create fake objects such as doors, walls, keys, etc. etc. to fool his foes. Said objects can be physically interacted with, but they are relatively flimsy, and become especially so if someone sees through their ruse.
He can also create semi autonomous illusions of people, animals, machines, etc. which follow simple instructions programmed into them at creation. Useful for making distracting doppelgangers, weak disposable minions, scouts (an illusion can hold/be built around a real camera after all) etc.
Synthesis: Fae’s tendrils can be used to 3D print objects from thin air if given time, creating more permanent objects out of more or less anything, be it meat or metal. This has a lot of utility both for more in depth repairs and for creating tools, weapons, combat drones, etc. as the situation demands.
Synthesist Legion (Signature skill): Fae digs out a mass of blueprint from his internal library, and flash-forms a host of ethereal warriors based on the many designs found therein. Despite being illusions, they can still pose a threat with their various weapons if the targets’ minds are weak enough to believe that they are being harmed.
BIO/FUN FACTS:
Fae is a prominent and perhaps founding member of a growing Transhumanist movement known simply as the Synthesists. As a very loosely aligned group, they seek to enhance the human form beyond the peak reached by evolution, while still clinging on to the things that make the human body worth living in.
This certainly puts them at what many would consider the extreme end of augmentation, though they are strictly against going full machine. What the line between having enough humanity left and going too far down the mechanical rabbit hole is, shall we say, and oft argued about point within the community. What they can agree on is that the Mechanists, who go full robot, have gone too far. Naturally there are also biotech-essentialists and non-replationists who think the Synthesists themselves have gone too far, all of which leads to a lot of transhumanist infighting
Fae has dedicated much of his (possibly) long life to furthering the cause, creating many of the blueprints and thesis used by the movement. Relatively well known within it, he has little fame beyond, and certainly little fortune to his name, due to open sourcing a lot of his work.
As for why he specifically seeks the seven? Predominantly, Fea hopes that the weapons will be able to provide at least the inspirational spark needed to push his craft to the next level, having fallen into something of a rut as of late. This may seem like a somewhat selfish goal that would put him in the V’s camp, but the ideals of the Synthesists are, ultimately, a pursuit of a utopian dream that they hope will benefit all. To make a better human, one that does not age, suffer, or wither away. One that has the strength to survive and thrive in an uncaring universe, and, importantly, one that still embodies positive human traits such as empathy, compassion and kindness.
He is, it has to be said, somewhat skeptical about the mysticism surrounding the seven, particularly the idea that the uniting of the weapons brings peace, a thing he thinks is simply too ironic to be true. The rising of the dark one, whatever they may be, has a bit more credence in his eyes. It would certainly be a dark age if those who would do the world ill for their own gains got their hands on the seven, that he can 100% agree on.
His definition of ‘those who would do the world ill for their own gains’ might be a little wider than his recruiters own however.
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)
Minda successfully kept Painwheel from going after the others. Unfortunately she did this via triggering Galeem’s influence, and now she had the nightmare of a woman’s full murderous attention. ”She’s gone mad!” she proceeded to shout when things took this inevitable turn, as one last hurrah for her blatant ruse, while pulling her darknut out of a portal beside her. Luckily, some extra help came in the form of Roxas, who locked Painwheel down under a barrage of lightning bolts. The berserker crouched down and blocked them, angrily simmering while her foes healed up prepared their summons.
When Burn Rooster attacked though, she took the fight to him. She sprang up and snatched him out of the air with her Buer Reaper command grab, reeling the reploid into her grasp. When they hit the floor Painwheel slammed him against it, cracking the tile, then used Gae Bolga to grow a gruesome bloody spike for the delivery of a ruthless People’s Elbow. Just as Roxas finished speaking, the transferred damage caught him unawares, nailing him with an agonizing piercing sensation to the chest–enough to keep him out of commission for a few moments at least.
As Painwheel turned toward her for another Pinion Dash, Midna held her spear and single sword to her chest and filling them with a spark of power while she sheltered. She then promptly unleashed it upon Painwheel as the woman came charging in with her Buer Drive spinning alongside her. She took a step forwards before bringing the heavy cleaver down in a chop that pulled a bolt of lighting from the air and down towards her foe, while at the same time she thrust the butt of the spear forwards, causing a brief beam of electricity to zap forwards.
”What a shock, she needs to be stopped”
Before Painwheel’s Pinion Dash could run Midna over and dice her up, a lightning bolt stuffed it, causing the berserker to slide to a stop. As the dust flew she looked up to see the cleaver descend, and with a snarl she crouched down on all fours to brace herself beneath the Buer Drive. Metal met metal in a terrific impact, but despite its impressive weight the oversized machete did not cut through. Instead it caught against the Buer Drive’s blades, and even as enough electricity surged through Painwheel’s body to make her emaciated skin smoke, she did not relent. Instead the power of Hatred Install pulsed through her, its purple tint pushing her well beyond mortal limits, and her eyes blazed with rage. Her blades realigned and snapped shut around the cleaver like the teeth of a bear trap, two on each side, and began to squeeze.
“RrrrrrrrAAAAAAGH!”
With a horrible noise the blade shattered into a dozen big, jagged pieces As the deadly fragments showered down Painwheel span up her Buer Drive once more, and with the giant sawblade held diagonally as an offensive shield, she began to crawl toward Midna.
Midna had already abandoned the blade by the time it shattered, giving her just enough time to bring her second set of arms up to block her body, the magical limbs bearing the brunt of the shards, though she still was left with several actual cuts through her mask and helm ensured her face remained unblemished by blood.
”Even in death you annoy me!” the princess cursed the man the shoddy blade had been made out of as she stepped back, and her knight stepped forwards.
As the princess reinforced the magic of her false arms behind its guard, the darknut swept the flat of its blade around in a low strike, aiming to strike the spinning shield side on rather than head on. That blade boasted far more weight and destructive power than Zanzo’s cleaver, so the same stunt wouldn’t work again. When it swept in Painwheel took a different approach–she sprang off the ground and into the air, easily leaping over the mutant Darknut’s mighty but slow attack. Flying toward Midna, the berserker bent forward and extended spikes from the soles of her feet into the top of her outstretched Buer Drive. Tortured Rose rained down a shower of disorienting sparks as the blades descended.
”What the-” as her light sensitive vision was assaulted by the shower of sparks. In a blind response she summoned all 4 of her chillfos strikers around her, and having the frozen undead raise their spears up above her, the shafts crossing over to form a tank trap like X above her head as she ducked, and prepared to dodge based on the sound of the blade impacting with her conjured defenses, eyes clenched shut to guard them from more flashes.
While their summoner backed off, the Chilfos held firm. Painwheel’s blade cut their ice lances into ice cubes, but together the four of them managed to push her off, and right away they began to regrow their lances. Painwheel dashed in and they rallied together to defend again, but this time the berserker reached out with Buer Reaper, using her blades like a claw to drag the two central Chilfos into her waiting grasp. Her hands clenched around their heads and she smashed them into the ground, communicating a burst of concussive injury to Midna as the Chilfos strikers timed out and disappeared
At that moment though, purple electricity sparked along Painwheel’s body, and she flinched with a pained yelp. Brain Drain’s psychic voice reached out to reprimand her. ”Painwheel, stop this instant, he commanded. ”This one’s not your enemy.” When the berserker clawed at the air in protest, though, his tone became more resigned. ”Urgh, but they’ve both been triggered…the die is already cast.”
”goddesses, my head” the princess hissed in complaint as her just returning vision swirled from the transmitted blunt force trauma to the head. She at least had the darknut in between her and the uncontrollable puppet, and while that might have helped much last time, it did mean the knight itself was in the perfect position post 180 degree pivot to slam forwards with a shield bash while Painwheel was in the midst of being electrocuted.
Her summon landed a clean hit, knocking Painwheel away and onto her back. On landing, however, she performed a ground tech and flipped onto her feet using the Buer Drive as a springboard. She shook her head with a growl, her anger quickly resurfacing as her red-hot glare flashed between Midna and the Darknut. That revenant knight would keep pestering her until it was dealt with, but without vitals it would only succumb to structural damage. As Midna vied to recover, Painwheel revved up her Buer Drive and leaped forward, taking to the air like a miniature helicopter with thrice the maneuverability.
She closed in on the Darknut, planning to pick apart its armor piece by piece if she had to. As she did, Brain Drain made his move. ”Enough. This sideshow must end,” he declared, vivid pink psychic energy swelling as he hovered forward. ”By any means necessary.” A brilliant, rippling beam blazed forward from his skull case, slamming into the Darknut’s chest and applying a boatload of crushing force.
”Son of a-” Minda began to curse, before biting it down and reacting to this unexpected development by opening a portal beneath the darknut and warping it back to her home realm before it was entirely destroyed. As it was, she wasn’t getting any more use out of it without application of a smithing hammer and a whole lot of calcium.
Still, even with her losses and expenditures, she wasn’t close to being out of minions yet, the princess calling out ”Initiates! Vibrava!” as she summoned yet more forces.
On the ground, her trio of psychic strikers took cover behind parts of the central machinery, before forming spears of psychic energy and hurling them at Brain Drain. The princess, still slightly concussed, charged forwards as her minions fired upon the psychic director, declaring ”More like this freakshow must end” before twirling her spear in front of her using all 4 hands, fanning a blast of summoned singing sand ahead of her.
When a new volley of projectiles flew his way Brain Drain went on defense, sheltering behind a barrier of psychic energy, but he grew irate the moment he realized he was under attack by such amateur psionics. ”You dare confront me with such feeble minds?” He could not put them in their place, however, with Midna attacking. Her initiates would soon time out, but the Twilight Princess herself unleashed a sandstorm. As it reached Brain Drain he brought his hand down, using his telekinesis to part the flurry to either side. His brain charged up again, poised to cut through the chaos with another psychic beam.
Meanwhile, in the sky, Midna’s Vibrava took to the air on buzzing wings, and began to harass the propeller propelled Painwheel with blasts of its fiery, and potentially paralyzing, purple dragon breath.
In the Vibrava Painwheel found a match for her aerial mobility, but the two weren’t destined to have a dogfight. Unlike her enemy, the girl lacked ranged attacks, and her finite flight would be cut off when she executed any aerial attacks. In a bid to end this quickly she threw herself at the Vibrava with a wild dive, but the bug managed to evade and scorch her with Dragon Breath. With a frustrated snarl she went down. When one burst of flame left her paralyzed, it got the chance to lend another couple attacks, building its confidence. Still, Painwheel wouldn’t be dissuaded. One hit was all she needed. The moment her paralysis wore off, she leaped into the air. Though she couldn’t attack with her Buer Drive without falling, the berserker had other means. With an agonized shriek she ejected a dozen skewers from within her body, most several times longer than herself. Once her Buer Thresher Blockbuster dug in, the retracting barbs would bring her foe right into cutting range.
Unable to escape from the rising skewers, instead went all in, flapping its wings backwards once and then keeping them folded to its body, divebombing its 1 meter long form into the thorns. With its tail fins it desperately tried to weave its way past as many as it could, while its jaws became suffused with a dark energy in a hope that it could deliver a devastating crunch to its foe before she could rearrange herself back into fighting form.
As the insect closed the distance to sink its teeth in, a fresh crop of skewers burst out from beneath the mask on Painwheel’s face. Surrounded by the inky blood lances, the Vibrava had nowhere to go, and the barbs pierced its carapace. With her quarry stuck like meat on a spit roast, Painwheel brought down her Buer Drive, carving a grisly wound across the insect’s head and all the way down its front. The next moment both hit the ground, but while the Vibrava lay defeated, and promptly dropped into a portal that opened beneath it, Painwheel forced herself back up off the floor. Murky blood dripping off her body from the recoil damage, she began to pop her dislocated joints back into their sockets in order to rejoin the fight.
Back in said fight, Midna’s response to the impending psychic blast was twofold. First she squeezed a free hand, causing the deflected sand to rise up and come at the man again from both sides inorder to wrap the psychic in a swirling sandtomb. Then she kicked herself into the air, pivoting once and transferring a great deal of her charg’s momentum into a spear toss of her own, the butt off the electrified weapon sailing fourth to bludgeon the psychic in the gut.
To Midna, it looked like she’d struck home. Through the whirlwind of sand she could see Brain Drain’s form outlined in pink psychic energy, seemingly doubled over from the kind of body blow that could churn one’s guts and empty one’s lungs. The rhythmic pulse of his brain in its casing offered a clear target, however briefly.
Lacking in the skill or desire to land a lethal headshot, so instead of opting to pull out her pistol she instead resumed her charge, empty hands now bearing dragon claws. Rather than just let him recover however, she portaling in on of her dwindling stock of wooden supply crate she’s stolen off the back of a truck, and then proceeded to grab it with her shadow hand, before whipping it around her head and launching it at the Brainiac to keep him off balance.
The projectile flew at the silhouette, but rather than smashing into it, it somehow passed straight through. As the sandstorm dwindled, Midna could see that her target wasn’t Brain Drain at all–merely a psychic projection of himself, left behind as a decoy while the real Brain Drain flew under the cover of the sandstorm. How could one churn the guts or knock the wind from the lungs of a robot, after all? When she realized this and scanned the area, she found the real director floating up by the ceiling, his hand raised. ”What’s yours,” he said, forming a dozen psychic spears just like the ones her Initiates used. ”Is mind.” With a wave of his hand, the spears rained down. At the same time, Painwheel began to approach Midna, quickly closing the distance with her Buer Drive at the ready.
In response the princess summoned Skywave beside her, the exosuit launching itself skywards in an artful pirouette, one that carried the princess up into the air alongside her, the pair rising up just in time to avoid the spears raining down while she taunted ”No thanks, you can keep them!” There was a slight issue in that the exosuit vanished the moment their rise ended, Midna could not fly any more after all, but instead of plunging back down into the awaiting claw of Painwheel the princess thrust her shadow hand up from her helm, and sunk its dragon clawed fingers into the ceiling. Then she thrust herself forwards with the limb, flinging herself towards the psychic in a flying kick.
When Midna’s dug her dragon clawed feet into the class exterior of the Brainframe tank, causing cracks to spread across its surface and a malodorous chemical fluid to drip from the gaps, Brain Drain was stunned. His sheer astonishment at the pointless damage to something to so important made him an easy target for her kick. His robotic body might be state-of-the-art, but it wasn’t meant for combat. His levitation failed and he flew down toward the ground, landing hard on his back. The jarring impact left his mind reeling, which sent feedback into Painwheel’s, too. “Uuuurgh!” she groaned, staggered but momentarily free of Brain Drain’s hooks.
Though he hadn’t wanted to fight at all, the psychic director suddenly found himself in a bad position, and unfortunately he couldn’t back down, either. Without a word he focused on Midna, but he realized that he couldn’t shoot a beam at her without risking another potentially disastrous hit on the Brainframe. With her too far away to attack her mind directly, his options were limited. ”Doctor. Assist me,” he called out as he attempted to rise.
As it happened, the Doctor was already waiting outside. The doors that led back to the operating room were pushed open, and the inhuman physician peeked his abominable head down from the top of the doorframe. From there however, he went no further. A colleague of Brain Drain’s he might be, but a fighter he was not. He disappeared again and crawled back down the hallway’s ceiling, the telltale rumble of his passage quickly fading away. With no other alternative, Brain Drain quickly reached out to seize control of Painwheel again.
”Oh, so he thinks we can take him. Good to know” Midna commented about the actions of the Doctor, as she dropped to the floor, before lunging towards the rising Painwheel with shadow hand outstretched to snatch her up in her grasp and then hurl her nice and far away.
As she approached, a shadowy phantom of Brain Drain appeared behind Painwheel, and purple sparks goaded her into action. When Midna grabbed hold she attempted to fling Painwheel away, but the girl herself did not let go, instead clutching the shadow hand’s fingers while her Buer Drive began to spin. The blades cut apart the princess’s grasp, and Painwheel dropped to the floor a few meters away rather than a few dozen. She dawdled for just a moment as a psychic beam flew in from Brain Drain in an attempt to get a cheap shot on Midna, but the next moment the berserker went on the offensive again, performing an empty safe jump and then going low with a sawblade sweep.
Minda responded by summoning Roadblock in between herself and the other woman, the striker raising its massive barrier to block the hit, and followed up its black with a rocket bash. Unfortunately she was unable to help with the follow up, as she was sent stumbling by the cheap shot psychic blast from the side.
She growled in frustration as she caught herself, as much exasperated as she was fearful of how this two on one fight was going, which prompted her to shout out ”If you could hurry it up over there, I could use a hand over here!” intending to catch the ear of her fellow seekers, but unintentionally reaching those of a different set of help.
Yuito and Hanabi, having remained on the periphery of the fights with Dexio and Sina to render their assistance if it looked like anyone needed it, heard Midna’s call for aid and replied immediately. “On my way!” the young man called back, using his Psychokinesis to draw his sword as he led the charge through the room. Hanabi followed in his footsteps with a determined look on her face, her staff held at the ready and ignited with Pyrokinetic flames.
Though Roadblock managed to knock Painwheel askew with its shield bash, its disappearance the next moment gave her a clear shot to bombard Midna with Gae Bolga stingers, piercing her skin and even nailing one foot to the floor with the bloody spikes. Before her Buer Drive could start carving, Yutio intercepted it with his blade like a stick through a bicycle wheel, halting its spin and then pinning the blades against the floor with a deft twist. Painwheel immediately unhooked the Buer Drive and rounded on Yuito with a fresh burst of stingers, but Hanabi got in the way and blocked them with a spin of her staff. When Painwheel charged in and seized Hanabi’s guard with a command grab, Yuito was on hand to break his friend free with a Psychokinesis-propelled tub, knocking the berserker down in a blast of water.
He followed up with a flurry of slashes against Painwheel’s guard, his sword leaving his hand with every other stroke, until the poor girl caught him with Disfigure and followed up the quadruple stab with a punishing Malice Clover sweep. As he fell, she turned herself upside down and suspended herself off the ground with long spikes from her hands and feet, her screaming sawblade dangling beneath her like a lawn mower from hell. “DEATH CRAAAWL!” In the nick of time, however, Yuito saved himself by borrowing Gemma’s Sclerokinesis. As he withstood the vicious assault, Hanabi ran in behind him and pole-vaulted up to plant both feet in Painwheel’s face in an impressive dropkick. As she staggered, Yuito jumped up for an air combo infused with Hanabi’s fire, finishing with a flourish of blades slashes followed by an exploding blade plunge.
It looked like they had Painwheel under control, which meant that Midna could focus on Brain Drain. Sensing her coming, the psychic director opened fire with lasers to try and cut her down before she could reach him.
The princess responded by summoning her last healthy minion (that would fit in the room) to her side and then unleashed it with a command of ”Sic him”
The wolfos burst forwards, weaving between lasers and then ducking low to avoid one final desperate blast aimed at it. It slipped directly under the hovering psychic entity, before leaping up, grabbing the back of his coat and dragging him down to the ground, and then shaking him violently to stop him from blasting its master.
Said master approached as swiftly as she could, carrying with her her mace-like sun on a stick, its black metal and orange orb crackling with energy, declaring that it was ”Time to end this”
Brain Drain pulled his right hand back, extending lethal-looking needles from his robotic fingertips. “This is far from over.”
Absurdly, the princess’ response was to lunge forwards with her own hand, the princess grabbing the offending arm and suffering the expected results. Needles sunk into her wrist, digging deep … and finding not flesh, blood, or, importantly, nerves, but instead entirely alien and incompatible magic.
”All those brains and you don’t know when to give up” she told him as she leaned in close inorder grabbed his other hand in much the same way, before lightly thrusting the sun on a stick forwards, pressing it against his chin, and then unloading its charge. Electricity flowed freely, arching through his head, and yet rather than resounding with thunder, the lighting simply buzzed angrily, unloading just enough power to knock the man’s only remaining flesh unconscious without frying the machine keeping it alive.
She pulled the stick back once he was out, and carefully lowered him down to the ground, and turned to take in the fight her reinforcement where in, and to say it was a mess was an understatement. Painwheel was very much on the back foot due to being outnumbered, but the chaotic and brutal fighter had made the psychics attacking her pay with blood for every drop they were getting out of her, and she seemed to have far more to spare than they did.
Upon seeing this Midna commanded her wolfos to ”Fetch!” something and then began striding towards the battle, the frantic fight having taken enough out of her that she couldn’t afford to run back there again.
”Initiates! Roots!” she commanded as she approached, summoning her hooded psychic minions to her side again, and having them unleash their psychic foliage on painwheel. The saw-backed woman refused to be bound by anyone else however, slashing at and into the purple vines rising up to bind her, yet it was enough of a distraction to let the two psychics get their own hits in, sending the fighter sprawling.
”Thanks for your aid, but you’ve done enough! Back up and I’ll end this!” Midna shouted to them as Painwheel readied to retaliate. They moved to comply, clutching wounds as they did. Yet in that same moment Painwheel moved to repay them for her latest injuries, only for her to be struck by one of Midna’s shoddy cleavers, the princess having quickdrawn and hurled the blade in a flash. It did next to no harm, but it did get her attention, the taunted berzerker turning her focus to Minda right as the princess received her fetched spear from her wolfos minion, who she offering it the faint praise of ”Good thing”
The princess then held the weapon to her chest, charging it and the sun on a stick with power while her final hand made a ‘come at me’ motion and verbally taunting her foe with ”I already took down your master, now come and fall to me as well”
Painwheel obliged, bellowing a rage-filled battle cry and bursting forwards with furious speed, before short hopping and using the same Buer Thresher that had taken down her Vibrava, unleashing her own dark vines on the princess for some ironic turnaround.
In response, the princess raised her spear to guard her, but rather than a passive block she twirled it around, lighting arching from one end to the other, forging a shield of lighting that blasted away the vines trying to grapple her, a shocking mirror to Painwhee’s own defense. Then she flicked the spear to a stop, holding it close to recycle a bit of power into it, and at the same time thrusting the sun on a stick forwards, launching a lighting bolt that slammed the flying Painwheel back and knocking her down.
”Stay down if you know what’s good for you. I really don’t want to do this”
The Galeeming fighter ignored this of course, yet after taking so much punishment over the course of the fight from 6 separate combatants, and having to reconstitute her form from her failed grapple, the berzerker was slower to rise from this bolt than she had the one Midna had used in her opening. Her wolfos pounced at this moment, boldly slamming into her to knock her further off balance (and then escaping into a portal when she tried to retaliate) giving the princess the time to surge forwards with her remaining stamina, in order to drive the butt of her spear against painwheel’s spine and then unleashing its remaining lighting discreetly into it.
Brain brain’s pawn convulsed under Minda’s emulation of his punishment system, and then when the charge ran dry she thrust the sun on a stick in its place, while powering back up the spear. It was brutal, she, frankly, the princess hated it, but eventually, with enough charges of lighting delivered, Painwheel went the same way of her puppetmaster, blacking out under the far more intense stun prodding.
The princess was left panting after the exertion, her magical set of arms collapsing and dropping her stun on a stick as she put the butt of her spear to the ground and used it for support, blood and sweat dripping from her body.
Despite this, she forced herself to move forwards, telling the psychics to ”Keep an eye on them incase they wake up” and then moving to either check on or get medical help from Roxas, whichever was appropriate given the recoil he’d taken earlier while trying to protect her.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
While a fair amount of the seekers stayed below and engaged the organization member in a conversation that was equally enlightening and frustrating, Rika forged ahead of them, rising up and up and up with successive boosts. In doing so she discovered that the accent wasn’t going to be quite as active hostiles free as their descent.
The ousted wasp horde had been through here, a few of their number still lingering behind due to either crippling wounds or stubbornness, and in doing so the buzzing mass had stirred up the native threats. Most notable and nasty of these among these were the triple acid shot firing Primal Aspids that where a pain on their own, but so much worse when combined with artcher bugs who had uncanny aim when it came to hitting moving targets. Movement that the Aspids more or less forced with their spread of projectiles, creating quite the dangerous combination.
While Rika herself could slow their shots with her gaze, and got to a chance to try out her new corruption cannons on live targets, Bowser was having far more hellish time, scales and shell ending up covered in numerous acid burns and melted holes as they ate away at his armor.
”Buzz off you lousy bugs!” he roared in frustration at them, as he tried and failed to pick off the nimble fliers with his battleship guns and slow fireballs.
It would have been quite an embarrassing end, or at least an embarrassing state to arrive at the top of the climb in, being slowly whittled away by annoying bugs, but fortunately salvation arrived from below with time to spare, heralded by the sound of rocketry.
Jr, unintentionally aping the movement strategy of a bunch of determination fueled cave men, had in a fit of mad science welded rockets to the bottom of a pogostick, a strategy that had worked surprisingly well. He bounced off of clouds in much the same way as the creature they had been made for using the actual pogostick, and if he ever missed, he fired up one of the zonia rockets he’d strapped to it, blasting him back up and giving him a second shot at landing on the missed platforms.
This did make it a bit difficult to stop, it had to be said, but once he did the prince pulled his paintbrush off his back where he’d pinned it down using his bandolier and duffle bag straps, and used it to restore his papa to full Hp. In doing so they found out what his new vines could do, the full restoring Benediction massively fueling their growth, and giving the king a mass of them to use as green thorny armor, protecting his actual body from acid blasts.
He still couldn't really hit them, mind, but Jr’s noisy catching up got Rika’s attention in a way that Bowser had stubbornly refused to do, and so she came to lend them her far more swift and accurate firepower. Not to be outdone, Jr tried to use his new ferromancy to launch knives and spines from his arm even as he bounced up the clouds, but this proved to be pretty ineffective due to the obvious issue of aiming like this.
Still, quantity had a quality all of its own, and so he did manage to piece the odd wing or eyeball with one in every few dozen launched metal shards, which helped a bit and always got a cheer from the prince.
Working together now, the royals of the troop got to the top just in time for the fliers to catch up, something that put an end to the queen and mage’s conversation before Kamek found himself unable to explain the hole in one of his stories that avoiding explaining the exact nature of the Chaos heart and its full capabilities to a fellow villain was creating.
Jr was a little peeved about how Kamek had “cheated” and then even went on to claim he was the only one who had really played by the rules laid out by the green hopping thing, but Kamek managed to derail that mini tantrum by relaying a quick summary of what they had found out from this latest organization member.
”Ha, yeah, knew they were bad guys. No goody two shoes dresses like that, that is for sure” Bowser laughed, and then grinned at his kin as he said simply that ”and, well, we all know how we do at the end of bad guy team ups, yeah?”
The two koopas got it of course, but Rika had to be quietly filled in by Kamek: after much much much experience, Bowser had finally learned one simple thing about working with other villains. In order to avoid being stabbed in the back by your former ally, all you had to do was be the one who stabbed first.
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