Rayne wasn’t exactly someone of a martial persuasion like the other two separators, but you didn’t really need to know your flourishes and fancy footwork to see how outclassed the mercenaries were when compared to the outer worlders. Given that some of them had seen off a small army only a few days ago, this wasn't exactly surprising, but it was one thing to know that had happened while you were trying to avoid killing a single teen, and another to watch them demonstrate exactly how they’d done it.
Those that hadn’t been a part of that were hardly slouches either. It certainly seemed like their kidnapper had chosen the right group when it came to power, if maybe not when it came to attitude regarding that power.
“Yeah, that’s a bit much isn’t it? Just because they are that strong there’s no need to lord it over people, surely?” Rayne agreed with Anne’s bullying assessment. Some of the mercenaries might have been their own kind of arrogant before that pride got swept out from under them, but that was hardly a reason to repay that attitude in kind in her opinion.
Still, any worry that things might get out of hand with the duels proved unnecessary right up until the last, and even then it was seemingly not even the partaker of the duel’s fault, and instead that of a mysteriously appearing individual in a brown hat with eyes on top.
Rayne herself was somewhere in between the two other spectators when it came to reactions to the women’s appearance and unexpected attack: She was briefly stunned by the turn of events just long enough that when she did start blink dashing forwards to intervene, she only got 1 metaphorical step forwards before Anne had finished her own intervention.
She let out a little relieved breath and then called over “Nice save!” to the heroine, before approaching the ladies who knew what had just happened and asking to be filled in via a little flurry of questions consisting of “So what just happened there? Was that someone from your home? How’d she get here?”
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts) Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel) Vandelay Campus (Alleyway) Arahabaki’s entrance Deep Ground - the Source
Warp Charges: 1
Geralt: 2 Roxas: 2 Ganondorf: -3
Initially the sight of the falling objects made Ganondorf heave a heavy sigh of exasperation. Could they not go anywhere without some kind of incident happening in their wake? His first assumption was that these were forces being sent by F to hunt them down after his escape back in the Under. As such, the Warlord had summoned his trident to his hand so that he could fight off whatever threat emerged from these mechanical objects. The man was hooded thanks to the shroud of the shade cloak he wore, and this initially hid his visage from view.
One of the pods veered too and fro as its occupant tried to get a hang of the ridiculous contraption. Minda, slapping at the pedals, could see the value of this for speedily being dropped off somewhere by the sneaky ship, but she 100% disagreed with its use when it came to dropping down into a city. What if they hit someone!
Indeed this was part of the reason she was veering, the sunny seaside town not exactly playing well with her vision, and thus making it hard to tell what exactly she was going to be coming down on. As a result, as they closed in on the ground, she ended up sharply veering to the right to avoid what had turned out to be a green painted roof, oversteered to avoid doing so, and ended up slamming into a garden a few doors down from the one Sandalphon had crashed down in in the first place.
When the objects began crashing one after another they of course sent out shockwaves of air and dust that blew his hood back to reveal his face - Ganondorf having chosen to leave his helmet behind in Gerudo Town in favor using the hood from his recently acquired cloak in its place. Naturally, though, when other Seekers around him seemed to recognize some of the people that emerged, this told Ganondorf that these were not actually enemies at all. The fact that they all had no trace of Galeem’s influence was the other big hint about this fact. But Ganondorf had noticed at least one of the falling pods veer off away from the others, and decided to go investigate that one to ensure whoever was inside was unharmed. He got there in time to see the pod open and its occupant emerging.
The pod’s doors opened, and 4 hands gripped its side before an equally rattled and exhilarated Midna pulled herself up and out into the grassy green lawn. There she stretched, and had a look around, taking a moment to admire a little rock garden complete with soothing trickle of water flowing over stone, before glancing around and wondering, in no particular order, how to get out of here, where the others had landed, what on earth the owner of the garden would make of their new disposable drop pod feature, and also if they were about to be upset about her trespassing.
As it turned out, they weren't but someone who was a mysterious hooded figure who’d tracked her down.
”Why did thou descend differently than the others?” He asked the emerging woman, ”Were thou injured? Or ill?”
The final question was unintentionally poignant given what Midna had just been trying to cure herself of before heading to the drop (to moderate success) but it wasn’t what had been the issue, so she simply simplified her out of place in the light world nature with: ”Sun got in my eye is all” rather than go into all the details. After all, there was the question of ”and who might you be? A friend I hope?” on her lips, unable to see his face as she was, nor recognising the garb or voice, even if something about both caused an unexplained spike of unease within her.
”Aye.” Ganondorf confirmed. ”I cometh to this place with thy friends.” He said, presuming she already knew the likes of Bowser and Nadia before adding, ”We were just visiting my tribe in Gerudo Town before we came here. Ganondorf is my name.” He had every reason to think that his name meant absolutely nothing to this woman. He couldn't have been more wrong.
Her response upon hearing that name was entirely reflexive, one moment she was standing there only a mot weary, the next she’d gone wide eyed with fear for a split second, before her face twisted into one of pure hatred as she flicked her hand, crescent moon slashing a blade tipped spear into existence from some other place. It sliced through the top of the nearby hedge as part of the swing, slowing it just enough for him to react before the strike hit him.
Seeing as he still had the trident on his hand, it didn't take much for Ganondorf to sweep it upward in order to catch the incoming slice and deflect it away from him. His expression didn’t change much, other than his eyes narrowing a small bit. In addition he made no moves to strike back despite having been attacked first. ”What is the meaning of this?” He demanded. ”Art thou an ally, or not?” He asked of Midna before adding. ”Or let me guess: I hath committed a crime against thee in some world or timeline that I hath no knowledge of.”
Had she not had the revelation about how she had wrongly slain Urbosa because of her hatred of this man she would have tried to run him through regardless of these words and deeds, but as it was, she hesitated. Then, still holding the spear between her and him, she practically growled at him ”It doesn't matter where in time you come from, I’ve seen it all. You never change. Time and time again you bring ruin to everything you touch. To me and my Kingdom. To Hyrule over and over. To time itself” she told him before demanding ”so give me one good reason not to run you through before you do the same thing here”
Ganondorf listened with a look of bemusement on his face. It was obvious they were brought here from the same world. She would not have known the Kingdom of Hyrule otherwise. Of course, the things she spoke of were things he had no knowledge of. Her Kingdom she mentioned? He had no recollection of such a place nor of conquering it. And the notion that he apparently invaded Hyrule not just once, but multiple times? By now Ganondorf recalled the existence of the prophesied Hero, and even stood alongside one of his incarnations against Galeem. He also knew that this woman’s vitriol against him would be a liability unless it was dealt with here and now.
”I shall give thee three reasons.” He said, even holding up three fingers for emphasis. ”One, Princess Zelda and her precious Champion were both willing to stand with me against Galeem when he first appeared, so what is thine excuse?” Ganondorf counted down one finger and continued. ”Two, my sights are on Galeem and his Consuls, as should thine.” He counted down another finger and finally said. ”And three, thou art from the same world as I and as such, whatever grudge that thou have against me can be settled once we hath been returned to our world from whence we came.”
Midna’s eye showed indignation at the first, begrudging acceptance of the second and then a searching look for the third before she caught herself doing so and forced one of contemplation in its place. He could well be deceiving her with that last, but she was pretty confident his team, or at least he, didn’t know there was an intermediate step between his last two points, and that was one very worth keeping him in the dark about.
She shifted back to the first, saying ”Link’s a heroic idiot and Zelda a self sacrificing fool” unable to keep the affection from her tone as she insulted the pair before pointing out ”plus, we have a million worlds worth of heroes to recruit now, only a fool who knew nothing about you would free you over one of them”
”Zelda was wise enough to know that we stood more of a chance with all three bearers of the Triforce.” Ganondorf countered. ”As was her Hero. But perhaps thou art correct in calling them fools.” After this he held up one finger, ”So here is reason number four: I have already been instrumental in the defeat of two Consuls, including one’s death. As well as the destruction of one of their pet Guardians. And after that I alone was able to secure an alliance with the Gerudo Tribe of Gerudo Town, and we hath discovered the source of the Consuls’ power. And I have already begun to formulate a plan for how we shall destroy them. Can you say the same?”
”Yes actually” the princess replied with a spiky toothed grin ”one Consul and one guardian dead, plus two beaten back, and an invisible flying ships worth of people free from the light allied with” while pointedly not adding the bit of info she'd considered to be on par or greater than the Consul’s power source. That and how ⅖ of the victories she was claiming had been Dante’s, and how C hadn’t been going all out.
By that point the dust had settled from the impact of Midna’s hellpod, leaving two dangerous-looking, heavily-armed, darkness-aspected warriors squabbling in someone’s backyard. While the inhabitants of the nearby house stayed inside, quailing in fear, the commotion was attracting attention. Even if Ganondorf of all people advocated for a ceasefire to begin with, the tension still hung heavy in the air, and with the two now competing against one another it was only a matter of time before the sparks flying from this clash of egos would ignite another brawl.
Sandalphon pursed her lips, her gaze -and her aim- steady despite the nagging winds at this altitude. With her Eye of Sol equipped so that she could peer through its scope, the archangel currently hunkered down atop Carnival Town’s biggest, most impressive structure, the Gold Saucer. Claiming a vantage point up here had been the other reason for her redeployment, since after discovering the hellpod’s manual controls too late during her first drop, she’d used the second to steer herself toward this towering structure so that she could literally scope out the city herself. From here it hadn’t taken long for her to notice a handful of people making a beeline for her allies’ landing site, their directionality juxtaposed against the more random movements of the general populace. Not recognizing any of them, she assumed them to be some sort of local defense force, which would make sense given that arrival via hellpod wasn’t exactly subtle. Although mildly alarmed, she held her fire and watched, waiting to see what would happen when the two sides collided. While first impressions were positive, Sandalphon’s vigilance meant that she noticed the conflict brewing between Ganondorf and Midna. Even from here, she could tell that negotiations weren’t going well.
Her golden sigil appeared next to Midna’s head. “Princess, please stand down,” she suggested, her voice audible to Ganondorf as well. “This is neither the time or the place to address such grievances. We have enough enemies without making them of prospective allies. It would reflect poorly on you if your impulsiveness undermines our odds of success.”
”He’s the one that’s going to undermine our success” the princess replied, refusing to be shamed into submission, before asking ”Where are you anyway?” backing up and glancing towards the skyline to see where she was being seen from
“From here, it appears that hasty assumptions are leading you to imprudent conclusions,” Sandalphon responded sharply. She did not deign to answer Midna’s question. While the Golden Saucer stood out as a logical vantage point, it was unlikely that anyone could see her from this distance. “Even if your conjecture holds water, let me remind you that ruination -of the World of Light- is in fact our current goal. If any ally betrays us to Moebius, we can mete out punishment, but not before. All prior grievances are irrelevant to our situation in the Endless Now.”
It was what came after that was her real concern, and given that Sandalphon wanted to trust anyone and everyone it seemed, she might as well play the card herself ”The organization claimed that when we do end Galeem, things won’t just snap back to the way they were. A hand needs to wields that power to remake reality”
She let that little revelation hang in the air for a moment, and all the implications it involved, and then asked Ganondorf rather plainly ”Can you swear to me you won’t make a grab for it?”
”If this be some kind of jest,” Ganondorf said with no trace of amusement. ”then it is not a funny one.” The warlord was rapidly running out of patience for this impudent princess and it began to reflect in his tone of voice. ”And if thou truly believe that I am the one and only “evil” individual among this company of yours, then thou would be wise to reconsider the allies and friends that thou hast placed in thy company already.” Though despite his waning patience, he actually made his weapon vanish from his hand - a sign, not of anger, but of boredom and dismissal.
”What were thy words again?” Ganondorf asked, ”’A million worlds’ worth of heroes’, was it? If such a force is truly incapable of stopping me should I try something, then they are far too pathetic for me to even consider fighting alongside to begin with. Or do thou simply have that little faith in those whom you claim are your friends?”
Midna glared at him, preparing to bite back about how she could even begin to work with him if he couldn’t even pretend to swear for that, before having a thought, grinning with vicious malice even as she conceded ”You know what. You have a point”
Saying that she spun her spear up, planted the butt to the ground, letting him be free of its warding tip once more as she told him that ”You do always lose in the end after all”
And this time, Ganondorf finally let himself smile. ”That’s more like it.” He replied with a satisfactory tone. ”And so this, I shall give thee for free. The Consuls get their power from devices known as Flame Clocks. The life of everyone in this world is connected to one of those clocks, and by sacrificing them the clocks can be fueled and used by the Consuls to extend their own lives beyond their limits. So I intend to find a way to destroy them and cut the Consuls off from their source of power and alleged immortality. They shall be ripe for the vanquishing after that, I think.”
”Now.” Ganondorf then sharply said as he turned around away from the Twilight Princess. ”If we’re done here, there are other things I wish to occupy my time with besides debating with thee.”
”What are you even doing in a place called Carnival Town anyway?” Midna asked from the roof of the building whose garden they were in, having shadow stepped up to it. She wasn’t looking at him while asking this but instead waving to Roxas, who’d landed a few doors down.
”T’was the cat lady’s idea.” Ganondorf said in response. ”Not mine.”
He glanced over at the boy she was waving to. Yet another would-be hero of light. He may have dressed somewhat darkly but Ganondorf could practically smell the stench of Light within him from here. Wonderful. Oh well, it couldn’t be any worse than Zelda and her Champion, could it?
Only time would tell, for the princess, who had already gone to link up with the others and find out who else was with Miss Fortune most certainly wouldn't be.
wordcount: 3,885 (+4) (+2 rapport for each other char) Midna: level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (16/110) (+1 bonus pending) Location: Warp Charges: 1
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts) Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel) Vandelay Campus (Alleyway) Arahabaki’s entrance Deep Ground - the Source
With joining the Lost Numbers, at least for now, being the only logical course of action with their own ship battered and the promise of hope this new one held a frankly irrefutable offer. As such, the seekers hustled on up, only to be faced with another choice: where to go on the ship, and what to do with the time there.
There was a promise of celebration on the line in some ‘carnival town’ which did sound delightful, but Midna didn’t quite feel like she had earned it. She had been driven from battle and realized an awful truth of a deed she had done with her hands, and so she could not rest easy. She didn’t feel like she deserved to celebrate, not until she’d claimed a victory of her own. Improved, prepared for the future, and what better place to do that than a training room.
With a plan in mind, she approached the two people who might be able to lend her a hand, tapping both Geralt and Roxas on the shoulder in quick succession and enquiring ”You two have electrical type powers, right?” thinking she remembered seeing them use them in fights, even if they had never really fought as a proper team before.
“Yeah. From the Orphan, in my case.” Geralt looked at the Twilight Princess, suppressing the urge to ask why, though given that she’d been run off by Z after being hit by his lightning, she could hazard a guess.
”I… guess so?” Roxas replied with a shrug. If by that she meant he had a single spell that happened to be lightning elemental then yes. Although he couldn’t imagine why she would be asking for that specifically. But then he got the answer.
”I know we’ve been through a lot, but was wondering if you’d be able to help me with something? I was sort of a mess in that last fight, I’ve inherited phobias of sword, shield and lighting users, and I’ve been thinking about how to handle the latter better. But I need a user of lightning to test it against, so if you have the time and energy before we get to this carnival place, I’d appreciate the assistance” she explained, aware she was imposing at an inopportune time.
This gave Roxas a bit of a sinking feeling. ”What exactly are you asking me to do?” He asked with a bit of hesitance. In truth he had a pretty good guess at what she was about to have him do, but hey, maybe he was wrong? If this was what he was thinking, then… He really hoped she knew what she was doing.
”This thing” she said, indicating to her flygon that she’d never unsummoned and which was taking up a fair bit of the corridor ”Has a spirit that makes it immune to lighting. Or a whole bunch really. Turns out if you put 10 of the same one into something it becomes that thing, though that is beside the point. The point is that I have that same spirit. So I should be able to become immune to electricity too. I just need to, well, force the issue with lightning that isn’t also infused with light”
”At least I hope that is how this works” she was forced to add after a moment of doubt, but she really really did hope it did.
Roxas’ guess was basically on the money, ”So you want us to shoot some lightning at you because you’re trying to build up an immunity?” It kinda sorta made sense. In a chicken-pox kind of way, that is. This honestly sounded like something a Pscyhonaut like Raz could be a bigger help with. But unfortunately, he wasn’t with them now. ”Well,” Roxas said with a shrug, ”if you’re sure.” Funnily enough, Roxas had no idea that the Flygon was a Pokemon like Scamp was. Although, speaking of Scamp.
”Come to think of it, Scamp here has an electric move or two of his own.” Roxas added with a gesture toward the little puppy dog Pokemon that was following him around, ”So I guess maybe he could help too, if we need it.”
Geralt, on the other hand, was much less hesitant. “If it’s exposure you’re looking for, I have all three, though the shield only comes out when I transform. As long as we’re careful, it shouldn’t be any worse than the training courses at Kaer Morhen.” Though she was reluctant to put anybody else through that, she wasn’t exactly throwing Midna to a group of angry trolls. Just a force of nature known to strike men dead and start blazes that razed homes to the ground. Easy stuff.
Minda gulped at the prospect of going for all three, before shaking her head and then deciding to air on the side of caution with this at least, saying ”We’ll work up to all three. I can even lend you a shield, I suppose”
After that, all that was left was navigating to the elevator, riding up to the 4th floor, scooting past some kind of workshop and then finding the Training Center where they expected to find it. The door slid open after a button push, revealing a variety of equipment, most of which was alien to Midna at least. A beady eyed sandbag watched over typical gear like treadmills and dumbells, as well as a strange statue of all things.
For their purposes however, a small shooting range at the back of the room was just what the psychologist ordered, given the bulletproofed backwall, and so there they went.
Midna herself vaulted the barrier at the front, completely disregarding the safety notice and sat on it the rest of course, followed by her flygon. There she idly flicked one of the targets out of casual interest, causing it to fall back with a click (increasing a score counter in the process) before turning and presenting herself as a target in its place with a request of ”Alright, hit me. Lightly please”
Geralt looked around the training room, fairly impressed. It was well-equipped, that much was for sure. As they headed to the back and Midna took position as a target, Geralt nodded. “Alright. Roxas, not sure exactly what your buddy there can do, but I know your magic is on the more…robust side. I can start out with a few lightning-covered punches, if we think that’ll be the smoothest way to start off.”
”Scamp'll be a good way to start.” Roxas confirmed. He picked up the Pokémon and vaulted over the railing himself so he could put him back onto the floor, ”Midna needs your help, Scamp, so just go on over and hit her with an electric attack. Just use Nuzzle for now, okay?” The Yamper barked and bounded down the range to where Midna was sitting and proceeded to literally nuzzle against her. But he did so while electrifying his body. It was a low-power attack and wouldn't hurt that much, so that made it a good starting point.
”Let me know when you want to go further!” Roxas called out to Midna from where he stood.
Right after he did Midna gave a yelp of ”Ah!” as she flinched away from the zap she got from the shocking nuzzle, before gritting her teeth and growling in frustration, before muttering ”Come on, it’s just a dog” and then forcing herself to present a hand to get nuzzled again.
After two more zaps Midna at least wasn’t flinching as hard from the attacks, but she was still flinching from the light pain, to the point that her Flygon injected its tail into the situation to block the fourth, effortlessly negating the attack with its earth typing.
”Hey, no, I need to take these thing, I can’t just have you block it all if I’m going to get over this” she told it, pushing the tail aside and instructing it that ”Unless you can show me how you are doing that, then stay out of my way”
The mon made two stomps on the ground and then did a sort of crouch that might have been intended to be informative, but Midna read as frustration, giving the display a dismissive ”tch” before insisting that the others hit her with ”more. I need more dangerous lightning, whatever causes manifestation isn’t concerned with these delicate attacks”
”Okay!” Roxas confirmed, ”Go harder, Scamp! Use Spark!” the Yamper barked to confirm the command and then backed up a few steps. After this he charged forward and rammed into Midna’s side while his body was electrified. This resulted in a stronger jolt, more than three times than that of Nuzzle in fact. Now Scamp was hitting her as hard as he was currently capable of doing.
”Anything?” Roxas called out to Midna. He sort of figured Scamp wasn’t going to be enough by himself, but one could hope. Realistically he suspected it wouldn’t be much longer he’d be getting in there to discharge some lightning of his own. Thankfully his spells had three levels each to them, so when the time came Roxas could start a little easier with Thunder before working up to Thundara and Thundaga.
It wasn’t enough. Midna hissed in pain from the strike and actively stumbled back and away from it than the mere impact of the strike would necessitate. Her breathing was also heightened, the princess practically panting through her nose for a few moments, holding a hand to her chest, before hissing through clenched teeth and demanding ”more!” as her own pokemon looked on with concern, barely controlling its impulse to intervene.
Looking at Roxas, Geralt raised an eyebrow. “I think it’s time for you to really hit it.” She quipped, taking a few steps back.
Roxas held out a Poke Ball in his hand, ”Take a break, Scamp! Return!” At this, a thin red line shot from the ball's center button and enveloped Scamp, pulling him back into his Poké Ball. Roxas punched the button which made the ball shrink to pocket size before he put it away in his bag. Then he grabbed the guard rail and vaulted over it. He had to get a little closer before he could do his thing.
”Brace yourself.” He advised Midna as he summoned Oathkeeper, his white Keyblade. He held up the weapon and pointed its tip straight up and, ”Thunder!” He cast the spell and it called down a series of quick lightning bolts around him, but also on Midna as well.
”Thundara!” The second level spell called down stronger bolts over a somewhat wider area. It even had a slightly longer duration than the previous iteration. But Roxas wasn't quite done.
”Thundaga!” The third level spell called down even stronger bolts over an even wider area, and for a longer duration still. This, at last, was as hard as Roxas could go with electrical attacks. ”Well? Anything?”
In front of him Midna was too busy being engulfed in a storm of electricity, her face fixed in a mix of pain, fear and frustration as she shuddered and convulsed as it coursed through her body. Beside her, her flygon, caught in this final wave, stood firm for a moment, and then reached a claw down to bump the princess. She snarled at it through clenched teeth, only to see it sort of squat down, breath in, raising its claws up, and then breathe out, claws flowing down with the exhalation and then sweeping out.
She blinked, and then, with little left to lose with her plan seeming to have failed. Copied it, shaking limbs being drawn up with a breath, drawing the electricity to a spot where she had control of it as she planted herself firmly on the ground, and then with an exhalation she mimed pushing the electricity down into her grounded feet, letting it flow through, down and out of her. In, concentrate, out, disperse. In, concentrate, out, disperse. Till it was as natural as breathing and she didn’t need to think about it any more, and her fear could harm her no longer.
Earth Dragon Resistances (flygon): thanks to her inherited flygon typing, midna is immune to electric type damage, and has 50% resistance to poison, fire and rock type moves
A rather bloody and scorched Minda grinned toothily as the storm ended, before clapping her flygon on the shoulder and then finally replying to Roxas that ”Yeah, that did it”
Geralt looked on as Midna slowly overcame the lightning surrounding her, eventually grounding herself with the help of her Pokemon. She nodded, before replying, “And you mentioned swords and shield before, too? Are you ready to move on to that, or do you need a few minutes?” She’d recently dealt with a weakness of her own, though she shortcutted her way through that with a Fusion. She could respect how important this was for Midna.
”I…” she wavered, before deciding ”yes. Yes,, let’s do it!” with growing enthusiasm. She stepped forwards, a bit unsteadily re-vaulted the barrier of the firing range (who’s reinforced back wall hadn't saved its floor from being scorched by the final aoe lighting storm).
”Just to be clear, we don’t need to go all out and spar or something, I could not manage that right now” she said as she stepped into a small ring intended for that kind of fight training. She flicked a hand, summoning the icy tower shield, and with a kick slide it across the floor to the opposite side, before also summoning her Sun on a Stick. The spiky club looked menacing, but from experience it was very weak when not hitting something that was on fire, making it, in her mind, a perfect practice weapon.
”Alright, let’s see how bad this gets. I’ll at least learn that” she said as she gripped the the bat in two hands and took a defensive posture, before having a thought and saying ”Somehow, the fact that I’ve never actually practiced with a weapon feels so much weirder now than it does when I’m actually intending to fight with them. All borrowed instinct and training, but now that I’m actually thinking about it I’m thinking about it too much” she adjusted her stance a little bit here and there, before shaking her head and then saying ”whenever your ready” because she was as ready as she’d ever be.
Geralt took the shield and hefted it with a grunt of exertion, letting the weight settle before drawing the Sign of Quen in the air, her steel sword coming shortly after. It never hurt to be safe, as she’d learned last time she had a friendly spar with an ally and nearly died during it.
When Midna gave the go ahead, she stepped forward, flourishing her sword in a quick twirl, before taking a very light swing at the haft of the club in Midna’s hands.
For her part, the princess did manage to block the blow, though it was a little bit shaky and she was rather wide eyed while doing so. ”Yeah, that’s a different and still not fun feeling compared to shields and lighting. But. I’m managing. Put on the last of the three, so I can face her death” she requested, referring, in her mind, to both Urbosa’s ends.
Nodding and taking a small breath, Geralt released it as the sword in her hand became cloaked in eldritch lightning, before once more giving a test swing at the haft of the club. Wouldn’t do to catch her by surprise and hurt the Twili.
Midna froze upon seeing the lightning despite her new immunity, her irrational fear response completely ignoring that new facet of herself as she was reduced to a deer in headlights in the face of Thunderblight Ganon’s fighting style. There was no shaky block this time, as the club was simply struck from her grasp despite the carefulness of the test swing, leaving her facing down the tip of the electricity enshrouded blade, panting hard and fast.
Geralt sighed as Midna froze and her weapon was sent skittering across the floor, pulling her sword back and watching the other woman closely. “Midna?” Her brow furrowed as she watched Midna, and Geralt took a step back to give her some room.
The princess blinked, her unfocused eyes unfixing their gaze from the shocking blade, and panting turned to hissing of frustration through clenched teeth. Only after forcing a deep breath did she manage to reply that ”That… was so much worse all together”
”Which is… so stupid. It can’t hurt me any more. It can’t. It can’t!” she told herself, trying to hammer it home as she bent down, picked up the bat and requested they do it ”again!”
As commanded, Geralt lifted her blade, watching Midna’s eyes to be sure she was ready, but relented. “If you say so,” she said, taking another swing, even harder than the last.
Knowing it was coming helped, the extra strength in the hit not so much. Preemptively gripping her weapon tight kept it in her hands when her body froze in fear stopped her from dropping it, and so it was she instead who dropped to one knee. In some ways, however, the forced movement helped; her body automatically reacted to prevent her from going down entirely, feet shifting, a magical hand spreading out to brace against the ground, proving she could indeed move.
Despite this, it was all she could muster to lunge a fourth and final hand forwards, grabbing the blade, its edges biting into her hand and drawing blood even as the electricity was unleashed into her body, only for her to earth it all, killing the cloak of lighting. Then a moment later it flared to light with new electricity, this all her own.
As Midna’s fourth hand appeared and grabbed her blade, Geralt let go of the weapon and stepped back, drawing the Sign of Quen again and focusing on the magic, a bubble of protective energy appearing around her, as she called out to Midna. “Midna! Drop it!”
”Huh?” Minda replied, her expression of delight turning to one of confusion, that confusion and the remaining underlying stress, causing her to take a heartbeat longer than she normally would to let go of the blade and move to step away from it.
Watching Midna carefully, Geralt dropped the Quen bubble and slowly stepped forward, leaning down to pick up her sword. “Well…whatever that was, it seems to have overcome your fears, if even for a moment. Would be worth looking into moderating that manic energy that came with it, though. Still, it’s progress. Nilfgaard wasn’t built in a day.” She affirmed, though part of her, likely the Orphan, was angry that her lightning had been usurped. “If you could use that against Z when he inevitably shows his face again, he’d be in for quite the surprise, as well.”
”Use what?” Midna asked, confused, before thinking she got it and saying ”Oh you mean this?” as she held up the bat close to her chest and charred it with Urbosa’s lighting powers and then explained that ”I’ve been able to do this for a while. It was Urbosa’s thing, along with using a sword and shield. Ironic that I’m both scared of a thing I can do, I know, and that I’d now be terrified of her now”
Geralt blinked, then nodded. “Hmm. Not sure I’ve noticed that before now, though I’ve not used the Orphan’s lightning on my own weapons terribly often, either. Having that fear weighing you down isn’t helpful, I’m sure. Do you want to try again, or is that enough for now?” She asked.
Midna raised her hand to check how the cut she’d given herself grabbing the sword was (bleeding a fair amount), then looked down at her lighting scorched body and decided that ”I think that’s enough. I know I can do it now, and I probably should have this all looked at” and then after a beat, gave a short bow and a ”Thank you both for helping me with this, especially with time that could have been used relaxing after a lighting storm instead of making our own indoors”
Despite herself, Geralt gave a small chuckle. Barely audible, but it was there. “True. I’m sure Blazermate or Sandalphon would be happy to give you a quick fix.” She nodded at Midna, stowing her sword and putting down the shield she’d been given. “And there’s your shield.
Roxas had been watching in silence ever since Geralt. He figured she knew what she was doing and probably didn’t need him getting the way, just as she hadn't gotten in his or Scamp's way. But now that it was over, there was one last thing Midna loomed like she needed. And so Roxas decided to use the last of his MP to do that for her. ”Heal!” He said suddenly, using his Curaga spell to patch the Twilight Princess up. Technically it affected himself and Geralt too but neither of them were injured so they wouldn't feel any difference. ”There ya go. Couldn't just leave you injured like that, ya know?”
”Thank you both” she replied, flexing a repaired hand and then using it to tap the shield, popping it away into the twilight realm, along with her bat. After that she added ”I need to pay you back for this, so hopefully this carnival town will have something worth paying for” offering to cover some kind of expense. It’d be the least she could do to make up for the leisure time she’d just taken up.
“If you insist,” Geralt replied. She wouldn’t say no to a good meal.
With any luck they’d not have much longer to wait till they arrived.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
”A carnival that’s a whole town? That sounds so cool!” Jr of all people replied first to Nadia’s call about popping over to the aforementioned Carnival town. After being able to show off riding their new chainsaw motorbike by riding around the track, the prince had mainly faded into the background as Rika remained the center of the attention of the crowds who’d witnessed her titanic take down of the terrible train, a situation was leaving him rather bored and a fair bit jealous. Getting out of here was very much a good plan in his books as a result.
It was also good in Kamek’s books, because the mage could read the way the wind was blowing mood wise when it came to their hosts opinion of them, quietly adding to the com link that ”Yes, it might be best we skip town sooner rather than later. We may have made a touch of a scene, and while the mood is celebratory right now, I’d rather not stick around to see if things sour once they finish being impressed by Rika’s suplexing of their their demonic train race track feature and go to being upset about it” which was certainly a statement that needed more context than was provided (and which would be on the ride to Carnival town, should it be requested).
As it was, there was still something of a party atmosphere going on, the crowd that had been passively following the troop having both swelled in size due to Rika’s unmissable performance and having then closed in mostly so its members could get a chance to interact with the bemused hero of the hour. Despite not really getting why she was getting the attention and requests for handshakes, she did find she rather enjoyed regaling people with tales of her short life, as well as showing off her moves and skills to the sound of applause and praise.
All this had as a result turned the people watching into something of an impromptu celebration, one onto which clever vendors had descended upon like hawks to pour fuel on the fire. There where a lot of glasses of little fruity drinks called the Noble Pursuit floating around the crowd now, ones that had been the source of another, much less disruptive, incident. Bowser had uncharacteristically stuck his nose up at an offer of free refreshments due to the smell coming off the little drinks that reminded him of Bacchus, which was both insulting to the townsfolk and also resulted in him and Rika’s first argument and falling out over something when she’d wanted to try it despite his misgivings about the beverage.
The offer of the drinks first being on Rika’s side and then switching over to Bowsers when it turned out the girl was functionally mere days old mentally (and they had no idea physically) hadn’t helped either. Witnessing this, Jr’s mood, and the crowd growing a bit more rowdy in response to the drink flowing, Kamek cunningly encouraged the prince to go harangue his family into going along with Nadia’s idea as soon as possible. As such the boy ended up stepping between both of the huffy pair, grabbing a finger of each of their comparatively oversized hands and then chanting ”Carnival! Carnival! Carnival! Let’s go to the Carnival!” while doing his best to drag them along after him by said fingers.
Kamek then swooped in to tell the crowd”Thank you very much for your hospitality, but we’ll be heading of to carnival town now for some RnR” as the prince pulled his family out of it via a mix of stubbornness and and infectious enthusiasm.
“The kid knows it’s not an actual carnival right?” the guard captain who was frankly very happy at the prospect of getting them out of her hair, but was a good enough soul that she felt the need to inform them of this potential disappointment anyway, said, prompting an ”ah” from Kamek
“Yeah but it’s still great! Races and games galore!” one of the sand seal racers called out, prompting her to be flooded with questions about her travels in the world, something that was a good enough distraction for Kamek to hurry on after the prince (who was happily babbling on about what a carnival was to Rika) so he could break the bad news.
A little bit later a slightly less enthusiastic Jr stepped out of the train station and took in the first sight of the town along with the rest of his family, which involved something that was ironically pretty familiar: racers daringly racing over train tracks.
”Wait, so that’s normal? They’re having fun, why are they putting themselves at risk of dying? That’s what having fun is for getting away from isn’t it?” Rika said as she scratch her head with a massive finger, very bemused as she once again casually demonstrated how messed up her life was, knowing only deadly situations interspersed with far shorter moments of down time, and having never experienced anywhere close to a peaceful period of busywork and idleness.
”I mean, getting run over by a cat isn’t nearly as dangerous as getting run over by a demon train. Plus, we have races into oncoming traffic and those are fine too, you just gotta be tough, and have a tough kart and the worst you’ll get are some bumps” Jr replied confident that any racer worth their salt could survive a run in with a big kitty cat no problem.
”Ohhhhh. Ok so the death train was weird. Got it” Rika replied, firmly re-cementing her position that she’d done the right thing picking a fight with a train, before asking ”So what’s traffic?”
”Ah. Well. Imagine lots of larger Karts, all wanting to go to different places instead of just around a track, and doing so rather slowly as they get in each other's way” Kamek attempted to explain, which resulted in Rika swiftly concluded that ”That doesn't sound very fun”
The mage made a little nose exhale of a laugh before agreeing ”No, no I suppose it isn’t”
At this point they’d gotten out of the subway and onto the street itself, interrupting the talk as they took in the town proper, including both the advertisements for recreational activities, and also the score boards. The latter of these prompted an exclamation from Bowser as he saw that ”Oh hey look, Captain Falcon’s up there in the top spot. Me and Junior know that guy. Kinda. One of the people who was with us on the cliff at the start of this. We should go get him, he punches stuff real good” before glancing at Ganondorf and adding ”In a way that’s kinda like you fight, when you aren't swording things anyway. Just faster, and with fire instead of purple stuff. Always thought that was kinda weird”
Then right after that Jr also piped up, going ”Oh oh oh! Look! Morton and Larry are both on there too! We should go get them too” before frowning as he went down the rest of the lists and said ”huh, its just them though. Weird that Galeem didn’t stick all the koopalings together” letting slip a hint of worry in the process.
”Eh, I’m sure they’re fine wherever they are” Bowser reassured his son, prompting the prince to nod, think for a moment, and then shrug by saying that ”I mean, I guess they’ll just respawn if they aren't”
”Oh. Right.” Bowser replied slowly, before grunting that complaining that ”Bah, that is weird to get used too” only to then also think for a moment and then say ”Then again, I broke out of the afterlife once so, you know, not actually that weird if you think about it?” before launching it an embellished tale about how he escaped the Hades like Underware and ‘conquered’ the heavenly Overthere by defeating the totally dangerous and not at all a pushover Bonechill.
Rayna visible wiped her brow in response to the mercenaries taking on her idea of competing rather than fighting, and then gave a silent mime of a scream of frustration when their leader took that idea and turned it right back around to sparing, which as far as she was concerned was basically the same thing. At least it was outside of town and not a mess of a brawl, but she herself was more a practicing vs training dummies than practicing vs people kinda lady, and so the prospect of sparing didn’t enthuse her like it clearly did some of the other ladies.
She hoped just showing off vs some of the left over wreckage would be an option they’d accept. If not? Well, Rayne started mulling over ways she could prove she was strong in a fight without actually hitting anyone with a spell card strike. Maybe dodging in close and ‘tagging’ them to prove she could hit them without doing so?
The thought of not being part of the fights didn’t really cross her mind, probably due to 10 years of impostor syndrome, until she overheard Anne talking to Lewa about overseeing the sparring matches, a thing that would, naturally, involve not actually taking part in said fights, resulting in a little “Oh” of understanding.
With a relieved look on her face she floated over to the other two and said “Hi, do mind if I join the supervising? It’s probably better if the people with non-lethal magic do this stuff. Well and Frankenstine, but she seems to have enough control that even when she go overboard won’t be much of a risk”
True, she’d had to help prevent a few trampling last time Frankenstine let loose, but if she was here to help out again, things should be fine, right. Right?
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
With their mission completed, and their defensive mirror acquired, the troop ended up at something of a loss as to what to do with the rest of their time in town. A brief debate initiated, only to come to an almost immediate end when Bowser decided the answer was his favorite fallback: food.
Thus they made their way back to the market where they’d been trying to find mirrors, which caused a brief moment of exasperation from the merchants they’d previously harangued, and then sighs of relief when they saw the reflective tower shield now strapped to Bowser’s arm. Upon arriving, the King raised his snout to the wind, audibly sniffing loudly, and then declaring ”This way!” before following his nose to what he sought.
At the end of the scent trail they found a garudo women named Estan sitting before a collection of meats, some of which she was right in the midst of cooking for one of her customers, which had, quite obviously, been what had drawn the king’s attention.
The sight of a giant turtle salivating between his pointy teeth might have been a bit intimidating, and it certainly was to the customer, who made great haste in finishing her purchase, leaving Estan staring down the incoming Bowser without flinching.
Kamek then coughed, slipped ahead of his king and said to the shopkeep ”My apologies for his majesty, he gets like this when he’s hungry sometimes”
“Ah, not a problem. I once traveled all over, searching for the best meats ever, so I have seen plenty of people in all shapes and sizes, all of whom like some good meat” she replied, though the vegetarian koopa made a shrug of polite disagreement with her final point.
Bowser meanwhile declared ”No one more than me!” as he too arrived, before telling her to ”now show we what you’ve got”
“All sorts of stake, but for royalty? For you I’ve got a little supply of Gormet Steak, freshly cut from Great-Horned Rhinoceros hunted just to the east of here” she replied with mercantile guile, before reaching over, and unwrapping some paper covering just the most picturesque slab of meat on bone you ever did see. That certainly got Bowser’s mouth watering, prompting a smile from the shopkeep
“You like it, yes? Then I can cook you up 4 cutts, right here right now. Perfectly seared and spiced to perfection”
”3 only, I’ll pass-” Kamek said, only for Bowser to predictably adjusted the number it back up to ”4. I’ll take his”
Kameks sighed, and then asked ”how much ” to which she smoothly replied “600 total” bumping up her usual price on the spot, and just as she predicted Bowser quickly agreed ”Deal!”
Soon enough, the smell of high quality and even higher price meat filled the air, and then a bit after that the 3 royals of the troop where chowing down on the big hunks of flesh, while Kamek chowed down on a much more affordable roasted voltfruit, enjoying its intriguing mix of sweet and sour.
The question then was what to do next, and upon asking around about entertainment in town, they got directed round the back of it, where they caught sight of a familiar set of outcrops and an even more familiar signpost.
Kalimari desert wasn’t all the same however. For one, there were the walls of garudo town to its east, which sported a drawbridge of all things to let spectators up onto the central rock plateau. For two there were no karts to be seen, and instead they caught sight of the Garudo sand seal racing around the former go kart track.
For three, there was no sight of the train running along its track. Whether that was because of safety reasons, resource efficiency reasons, or simply a lack of knowledge as to how to run it, its absence was a disappointment to jr, why bemoaned that ”aww, but that was the only really good part of this one”, rather spoiled as he was by the eccentricities of the later developed tracks.
He came to regret those words.
Fast forwards through the rigmarole of getting the prince into a race (because obviously he wasn’t not going to join in with this) including bench pressing Rika to prove he could handle himself, trying and failing to get his ocean going seal-pokemon Dazzle to pull him through the sand, then resorting to having to use one of the regular sand seals like everyone else and thenshowing a surprising degree of skill during practice thanks to his sporting and minion training experience.
After all that was done however, the prince got right into racing across the sands, blasting off the starting line, taking a fairly skilled turn round the first wide corner, and then effortlessly having his sand seal leap over the first spot the railway tracks crossed over the track (as it couldn't exactly burrow under it and also tow him along).
”Hey, that was a pretty good feature even without the train!” Jr called out in compliment after he landed on the sands on the other side of the tracks, having ramped off them with the shield he was surfing on, thinking the way it had been turned into a test of skill of the towing seal was pretty neat. Strangely, one of the other riders called out “don’t jinx us!” in response to that comment, right in time for a whistle like a banshee’s wail to utter from the tunnel that went through the mountain.
”Huh? What’s going on? What’s up with the train it sounds weird” Bowser asked, the Koopa having been knocked flying by the old locomotive more times than he’d care to admit, only for one of the women to reply “Just a train? No no no, it’s a deadly demon and its soooo cooool!” with a great deal of ecstatic glee.
The surrounding spectators had a bit of a mix of reactions to this deceleration, some seeming very much in agreement, a mix of excitement and open bloodlust in their eyes, while others were disapproving, having come for a good clean race and grumbling about how it was both a stupid and unnecessarily dangerous addition to the track, much preferring the times it didn’t decided to show its face.
Down below them the whistling came to a fever pitch as an armored wartrain burst out of the tunnel, a mighty steam engine with gun turrets and bloodshot eyes attached to its armored form. It blazed across the first crossing, smashing into a racer and sending her body flying off into the desert, and unlike the mario karters, she was entirely unable to withstand that kind of collision. Despite being covered in gun turrets, and giving a delighted whistle upon track-killing one of the racers, it did not turn its many weapons upon the rest of them, instead seeming to act in function just like the mundane steam engine it was replacing, ‘merely’ with far deadlier consequences.
Both the elder koopas tensed at its appearance, but upon seeing it was following the ’rules’ of the old train, both were pretty sure the third koopa had the racing prowess to handle this.
”Show that choo choo chump who’s boss, kid!” Bowser called after his son in encouragement, while Kamek tutted that ”Someone should do something about this mess, it’s a bit much isn’t it?” not at all intending to do so himself. That kind of thing was a hero’s job after all. Focused as they were on the race, it took both of them much too long to notice that Rika had gone missing.
Below then, the train blasted across the second crossing, narrowly missing the middle of the pack of racers much to its chagrin, before slowing as it approached the spot where its track ran alongside the bottom right of the course. Its track’s shooter loop had let it do so ahead of those in first place despite its slowing, after which showed that it wasn’t quite going to stick to its predecessor’s rules as from its side multiple massive meters long chainsaws extended out over the track, forcing the racers to duck beneath them or be sliced in half.
The others had to do that anyway anyway. Jr was short enough to crouch just a little, much to his elder’s relief. That relief ended a few moments later after when they saw the figure of Rika leaping off of the plateau despite the cries of warning from (and more than one attempt to tackle her by) the other spectators, their cries joined by the two elder Koopas as she fired her grappling hook and latched onto the top of the train.
An eye atop the back of one of the turrets swiveled around to stare at her, first with surprise, then in rage as she charged it, and then not at all when she drove her chainsaw bayonet into it, prompting a whistling of pain from the train. Turrets on its back spun, trying to get a bead on the flee on its back, but the princess back flipped over their firing arcs, shots slowing around her as they failed to nail her, and then started unleashing blasts of electrical goop, rapidly coating its surface with damaging over time goop that also let her sail atop it.
In response to this vandalism carriage doors opened in one of the train’s carriages, and a pair of demons leapt atop its back, one armed with a scyth, and the other with a shotgun, both racing to engage the ticketless rider.
Despite being alone on its back, she wasn’t without support, as down below jr formed iron spears using his metal tattooed arm, the projectile's floating in the air around him for a moment before turning and launching themselves in a broadside at the demons going for Rika. The train one again whistled in outrage at this second interference, accelerating after Jr and then tipping to the side, one set wheels leaving the tracks as it tilted its chainsaw down such that the tips scythed into the ground, creating an incoming angled wall of death. It claimed the life of another racer, but jr used a barrage of his own flukefey strikers hitting him to give him the sideways momentum needed to still duck under the blades where they came out of the train, where the space was still wide enough to survive.
Up top, Rika parried a demonic scythe swing with her chainsaw bayonet, traded double barreled cannon fire with the other demon, and then called out ”what took you so long!” as Bowser came leaping in to join the fray. She wasn’t the only one to notice him however, as the train unleashed cannonfire upon the incoming king, only for it to slam into the reflective sheen of the mirror of lost battles as the king used it to block the shots.
The smoke from the blasts cleared a moment later, revealing the intact form of the king still falling towards them, the cracked exterior of the mirror, damaged but not broken, and, emerging from its reflections, a one eye’d witch. This illusionary witch leapt off the surface of the mirror as soon as she had formed, her twice as large as her wiring chainsaw sword primed to brutality exorcize the demon her true self had once bound into this train’s body in the first place.
With a sort of primal and wholly instinctive fear only someone as badass as Bayonetta could have instill, the train swerved, phantom tracks forming beneath its wheels as it rammed its way out of the confines of the mundane train track and blazed up into the sky, taking Rika with it. This swerve let it avoid Bowser, who impotently slammed down into the now empty tracks a moment later, however the copy of the train’s binder had no such issue, slamming it's massive blade into the plateau’s walls and using that to redirect it's momentum and just barely land on the back of the train.
Both demons immediately turned on the reflection, only for it to dodge out of the way of the scything blade, and for the stray shotgun pellet that hit it to simply pass straight through the illusion. It then slammed it's massive sword into the scythe wielding demon, causing it to stumble backwards and cry out in pain, despite both the impact and injury it inflicted being false, and the foe having been fooled into reacting as if it had been hit by a true attack.
Rika’s however were entirely real, the princess summoning her spear and impaling the hammered demon with a one handed strike, then driving a vault breaker into it, knocking it off both the spear and the train itself.
Fortunately for it, the demon could fly. Unfortunately for it, so could Kamek, who nailed it with a close range cosmic spray just after it halted its fall. The slow moving mage should have been a prime target for the train’s guns after drawing attention to himself, but the it was much too busy freaking out as Rika and the train demon’s binder dispatched its other minion together (with Rika, again, doing all the damage while the doppelganger took all the attention). In response it tried corkscrewing its tracks like rollercoasters, trying to tip both of them off with the resulting barrel roll, and then, when they started running around it in the opposite direction to its spin, flailing its chainsaws as obstructions, only for both women to duck, dive, and leap to avoid both sets and ending up right back on top of it.
Left with no other ideas, it then instead hard braked, launching both of them forwards off of it in the process. Rika responded by tapping her featherfall rune, launching herself up into the air and out of the way just in time for the train to let loose with a forwards facing cannon barrage that unleashed all of its ammo into the reflection of its binder. No amount of dodging or ¾ chances to ignore damage would get it out of all that fire power, as in the end a single insignificant fragment of shrapnel ended up being the thing ending the reflection’s existence.
Upon seeing her gone, the train demon revealed its hideoues face and began to laugh a the reflection’s demise, only for it stationary form to get nailed by a beam of concentrated sunlight blasting up from Bowser, the desert sun charged flash canon blast lancing out of his maw. Joining that shot was a blinding flash from the equally solar empowered Peeka, the photosynthesizing paradox pokemon blazing through the sky at the command of its trainer down below. Last but not least from the ranged firepower, Kamek hammer it in the face with a conjured magical fist.
Rika herself could not be ignored either, but rather than shoot at it the princess came buzzing right back into melee on the back of her Vespikan Ichor Queen. The giant wasp woman drove a mighty cleaver strike into the side of the train, at which point the princess leapt off its shoulders and right back onto the back of their foe. In response it craned its long neck up and around, trying to either bite her or stab her with its bladed chin, only for the princess to bullet jump away while unleashing her firepower into its face. Bullets, disruption bolts, electro swarms and splatter blasts struck it, the latter procking All Out Assault as she did so, turning her grizco blasts into a rapid fire shotgun, which in turn charged her Fan of Knives, letting her also shotgun it with a set of seven bleed causing blades into its face.
It screamed, fleeing her and hiding back in the metal of its body, but there was no escape from all the poison, bleed, and burning DoT effects her bombardment had caused. Nor did it protect it from a Rot's Exultation empowered Rika smashing it with her fists 3 times, denting blows weakening that armor further than her passive armor penetration that had been enabled by the 3 ongoing DoTs already was.
It raged, swerved and spun, trying to throw her off as it attempted to flee, and while doing so didn’t notice that she was somehow getting heavier and heavier until it was too late.
As the spectators watched from afar and Bowser and Jr raced after her, Kamek channeled his magic. In response Rika grew and grew in size atop the train till she was riding it more like a motorbike than a mass transit vehicle. Rating a palm on the rear of its engine for stability, she raised the other gauntlet up and then vault breaker she smashed it right down, sending the train careening into the desert while she herself floated down with her feather fall rune.
She touched down next to the demon engine who was now buried face first in the sand, gripped it but the rear, and then hauled it free, only to continue to haul it over her head, tip backwards and then slamming the already beaten train into a nearby rock face, suplexing it into oblivion.
Having lost the battle of ship vs train, the loser disengaged in the hands of the winner as she got to her feet, briefly looming over the desert while doing so. Then a moment later a mana spent Kamek slumped to the ground, exhausted by the distance involved in the spell cast (and turning into a cat demon while doing so), causing the princess to start shrinking back down, leaving on her own out there in the desert. She returned soon enough however, riding with Jr on the board towed by his borrowed sand seal, to the sound of cheers and sight of a few cold stares.
Opinions about the death of the controversial lethal aspect of the race tracks were a bit mixed. Naturally your daredevils and more bloodthirsty spectators were rather a bit displeased with its demolition, some of the previously indifferent to the train crowd were just upset with outsider meddling, while those who had been disapproving of the whole bloodsport thing from the beginning were happy to see it gone.
Ultimately however, the seer spectacle of what had just gone down forestalled what was going to be an inevitable ongoing argument for goodness who knows how long, controversy drowned by the cheers Rika got when she got hoisted up into first a relieved hug and then an overhead lift by Bowser to the sound of chants of ‘train slayer!” ‘train slayer!” ‘train slayer!”
Attempts at quiet chiding words from Kamek to Rika, and also from the head of the guard to the troop on behalf of the town’s ruler, where both also smothered by the resulting celebration that exalted Rika’s absurd daring and the sheer skill she’d displayed. At some point during this Rika ended up crushing the spirit of the train for an item. As if also rewarding her for her casual daredevilry (she’d just been trying to help her brother) it generously granted her two items for the price of one.
Dead End Express A pair of huge, heavy mechanized clubs forged from the remains of Wartrain Gouon, six feet long and a thousand pounds apiece. Each miniature locomotive boasts eleven grinding sawblade wheels that spin at high speed. Though nigh-impossible to wield, they boast terrifying destructive power, and can even be straddled or otherwise ridden and used as a vehicle
Shame they were just, stupidly big. Even Bowser could only use one of the blades, and that was if he was forgoing his new shield and doing so with both hands. Fortunately, Kamek was able to shrink them, though that did somewhat lose the appeal of the ridiculous weapons, especially once they worked out they could be used as motorbikes.
The sight of, and then trying out of, that last feature was just the icing on the cake of the party, Jr getting his own little moment in the limelight while wheelying and donutting the giant bladed motor vehicle around the racetrack, artfully bunnyhopping over the rails while doing so.
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts) Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel) Vandelay Campus (Alleyway) Arahabaki’s entrance Deep Ground - the Source
Midna, slumped atop her invisible to others steed, retreated in shame onto the command deck of the Virgin Victory. It was a prelude to the bad news the commander received only moments later, the still panting in fearful breathless princess pulling herself onto a chair just in time for him to get the call about how bad things were outside.
The next few moments where a rollercoaster of emotions, which did nothing to help Midna’s mental state as the relief escape turned to the despair of being caught, turned to the astonishment, awe, and a feeling of impotence as surprise reinforcements arrived and Dante saw off Z with only a bit of help from the three Cerberus ladies.
That should have been the end of it, but the war still raged within Midna as her body refused to calm down. The brush with death, reminder of her near end, memories of the dream of a Consul striking her down and Urbosa’s actual death all swirled around with the pain of her wounds to keep the adrenaline pumping when it was no longer needed.
Once the excitement subsided, giving way to a mercifully uneventful cruise through clear skies in pursuit of the unknown airship, a couple minutes passed before she became aware of heavy footsteps. Earlier in her adventure through the World of Light, before things got so complicated, she might have expected such footfalls to belong to Bowser, but right now only one member of her team fit the bill. After another moment, Goldlewis poked his head in. He kept his aged face neutral, each crease and wrinkle stern, but not unkind. The way he zeroed in on Midna immediately suggested that he’d been searching for her specifically.
“Howdy,” he grunted after a brief moment. “Figured I oughta check in. Looked like you were in a mighty bad way back there. Don’t wanna overbear or nothin’, but if there’s ever anythin’ ya need, just call me, y’hear?”
”I’m f-fine” she lied, before insisting ”This isn’t me, it’s that traitor’s fear, messing with my head. Her death, not mine, at the hands of …” and here she paused as things suddenly slotted together in her head. What, exactly, had killed Urbosa that now caused so much fear in her now; it was the very thing Midna had then killed her a second time for fighting alongside. The warrior had been killed, resurrected by Galeem and made to unknowingly fight alongside her murderer, only for Midna to come along and in her blind hatred of that man, end Urbosa's life again for a crime she had been made to commit.
”Is this why it's so bad? As punishment for killing her?” she asked reality, asked her soul, before letting out a single sob of a laugh and then slumping, defeated as she declared ”Then I guess I deserve it”
Goldlewis couldn’t speak to what Midna had done, or what she did or didn’t deserve, but he could offer her the same practical advice that he gave Geralt. “What’s done is done, for better or worse. But even if you made a real bad mistake somehow, that don’t mean you can try and make it better. You could try fusin’ with spirits who’re liable to undo your problems.” He paused, thinking. The princess’s irrational fears were a tougher nut to crack than Geralt’s rage. “Or, we could try an’ find a way to defuse you. It’d be worth it to have to back in top condition.” He shrugged, a kind smile manifesting itself on his face. “And to make sure you feel at peace with yourself again. Whaddya think?”
”Maybe, but this” she flexed a hand, causing electricity to spark around it briefly ”is too useful. Besides, Peach isn’t here or herself, and I’m not sure what possible fusion could stop me being deathly afraid of swords, shields, and electricity.”
To that, the veteran couldn’t offer much of a response. Midna’s decisions were hers to make, and her problems were hers to solve. Though he knew he wouldn’t be much help from the outset, as long as Midna knew he had her back, Goldlewis had done his job. He gave her a sympathetic nod, then jabbed a thumb at the door. “Wanna come back up top? The fresh air up here sure does a body good.”
The princess gave the smallest of flinches at the prospect of going back out there, but the danger was over, and so she nodded. She slipped out of the chair, cringed in pain from her untreated wounds, and then mounted back up on her Beast Legion so she could be carried out into the fresh air. It did help, exposed to clean air and a sky free from the storm, though the unobstructed light still made her squint her eyes to protect them. Nothing was perfect.
Well, other than the reliable and effortless healing magic they had access to in spades anyway. Upon spotting the princess and her still wounded condition, Sandalphon casually began to twirl her lance around to bombard her with explosive healing bombs, the angel’s face a complete deadpan as she performed this acrobatic act of aid.
Being noticed like that did make her feel a bit self conscious about having run off while the others were fighting, but Goldlewis’ concern checking in on her, and returning alongside her, made that feeling far less prominent than it otherwise would have been. It also had her thinking more about how she could work around her flaws rather than wallowing in her own fear and remorse.
It was in that state of mind that something rather simple clicked, as, once she was healed, she summoned her Flygon to receive the same treatment, and in doing so reflected on two simple facts. It was immune to electricity. She had a flygon spirit inside of her. She should be able to get that same resistance, yet the question was, how? What, exactly, caused spirits to manifest new power?
It was something to mull over.
At any rate, air and a healed body didn’t exactly wipe away her bad mood, but it did at least perk her up enough to offer a quiet thanks to Goldlewis for his kindness.
Soon after that, they touched down, and were met with an unexpected but most certainly welcome reunion. Incredibly welcome even, given that it resulted in getting hugged by Tora, which was not at all a thing Midna had realized she had needed till she received it, which left her a little stunned. She awkwardly and then enthusiastically shook Poppi’s hand, and then smiled as the pair got scooped up into a bearhug by Goldlewis.
The big man’s heart was very much built to scale, she felt.
With others more familiar with the pair and what had occurred to the mechanical member of the duo closing in for a reunion, she left it to them to find out how the miracle of her return had gone down. She instead had something she had to say to the ‘Lost Numbers’
”Thank you, for your intervention, that was, well, a very bad situation we were in. If you hadn’t jumped in when you did…” she said, trailing off when it came to what their fate might have been. Rather than stick on that point, she pushed forwards with questions instead, such as ”You called yourselves the Lost Numbers? Are you survivors from Alcamoth or-?” or had they not been alone after all in their freedom?
Dawn crossed her arms. “Some of us.” She nodded at Dante and Cerberus. Now that the questionnaire had started, the triplets had wandered off to check out some of the local wildlife spooked by the Avenger’s descent. “As you might expect, everything’s riding on our ship here to keep us afloat, so we usually keep our distance. But the attack on Alcamoth wasn’t exactly low-profile. We swooped in just after Moebius left to lick their wounds. We found Dante, Cerberus, and a few others in the water. When we found out that the rest of the survivors escaped to Markarth, we headed there too.”
“Most of us aren’t from there, though,” Cirrus piped up, getting to the point. “We’re what you might call ‘citizens of the world’, eh? That being the World of Light.”
While she wanted to ask more about who they were and where they’d come from, what was more important right this moment was Midna quietly asking ”How, how bad was it? How few are left?”
Her question troubled Dawn, and she found herself unable to answer. Both Tora and Poppi changed gears in an instant, their joy of reunion replaced by fear and horror. Evidently they knew even less than the Seekers did, despite arriving alongside the Lost Numbers.
Cirrus breathed in through his nose. Compared to his sister, the man looked a lot more downcast in general, like someone going through an interminable rough period with the aid of copious amounts of alcohol. His disheveled hair and gaudy, cheap-looking suit certainly didn’t help the impression. At the same time, though, his cynicism empowered him to say what needed to be said. “A couple dozen. Maybe…thirty?” He gave a mirthless chuckle through his nose. “But don’t worry, the rest’ll be back. Sooner or later.”
“Cirrus,” his sister hissed through her teeth, her face clouded.
A shocked hand went to Midna’s mouth, before being slowly pulled down it in a claw like fashion as she came to grips with just how bad it had been. An entire city, reduced to a mere 30 souls ”That… I knew it would be… how could we…” she tried and failed to enunciate her feelings on this, before blinking in confusion and asking Cirrus ”What?” in regards to his last comment.
He blinked back at her. “What?”
“Nothing you need to worry about right now,” Dawn protested, giving her brother an indignant push. “I’m sorry for your loss. Really. This world is infinitely cruel, but losing people never gets easier.”
At that, Cirrus sighed, staring at the ground.
”I…” Midna began, floundering as to what to do with that strange exchange, and then switched tracks to the other key question, which was ”Who are you? The Lost Numbers?”
Dawn glanced at her brother, but he avoided her gaze. She shook her head as if to say guess it’s up to me. She looked over the gathered Seekers and Centennials. “We’re…we’re new life,” she said simply. “People without records in the Source Engine. We were born in this World of Light itself, the children and grandchildren of people like you, stolen from your own worlds. Who managed to find love in what little time they had.”
As Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, thinking, Sandalphon nodded. As always, the archangel was lightyears ahead. “That explains the vague familiarity I feel seeing you both, at least in part. Particularly you, Ms. Dawn. The resemblance is certainly there.” She knit her brow together slightly. “Yet…I very much struggle to conceive of how this could be. No pun intended. Unless…nobody ages in the World of Light…?”
“No, we do,” Dawn sighed wearily, holding a gloved hand up to her cheek. “Growing older all the time. As to how…well, it’s complicated. No need to get into the nitty-gritty just yet.”
”That all… raises so many questions” Midna said, rather redundantly, before agreeing ”But yes, let’s focus.” before asking ”That’s who you are, or what maybe, but why are you all together? What’s your, well, plan?” in an attempt to gauge what the organization's deal was.
At that point, Dante cut in with a smile. “Why, to take out Moebius, the Guardians, and Galeem, same as you guys.” He glanced at the siblings, then shrugged. “Course, it’s hard to do that when you’re on the run, living in fear of getting caught while trying to survive day to day.” He raised his eyebrows at the Seekers. “But now the Lost Numbers have some heavy hitters, eh? Maybe it’s time to take a stand.”
Dawn nodded, her face resolute. “We have ample resources. Now more than ever. With the loss of Alcamoth, you could use a new home base, right? And what better than one that can fly? Not to mention turn invisible.” She crossed her arms. “I said we’re here to help, and we are. We found those who didn’t want to fight places to live. It’s been a long time coming, but everyone here is ready to fight the good fight.”
The look of relief and hope was plain on Midna’s face was palpable as she let out a breath, and then said ”That is the first bit of good news I’ve heard all day”, before grinning toothily and adding ”and if you want some, we just took down a guardian in Midgar this morning, as well as one of the Consul’s watching over it. Y I think was their name or designation or what have you”
Her announcement seemed to surprise Cirrus, but Dawn looked energized. “That is good news!”
“Meh, meh! Good work everyone!” Tora congratulated the team. “Wish we were there to help. Maybe Tora and Poppi lend hand next time!”
His partner nodded. “Poppi look forward to it.”
”There’s plenty more to go, so you’ll get that chance, I’m sure” Midna replied, not nearly as Sordonic as she could have been with that statement because the lost numbers and their flying invisible fortress where exactly what they needed to get off of the back foot and get ahead of the now waking giants that were the Consuls. No more scrounging for transport, no more being hunted.
Things that had been looking down were now looking back up again.
Rayne’s initial browsing and chatting proved productive, as she first found out that 1, yes, there were people other than humans out there, and that 2, some of them need the same kind of fit that she did. Just about anyway. The cloth seller offered to do just a bit of tailoring to make things fit just right, with which she happily agreed. Naturally this process involved a fair bit of chatting while measuring and sowing, during which the question of who they were and why they were here, one which Rayne answered quite frankly. Unsurprisingly, having not seen them in action (or straight up appear from the sky in one case), the caravaners were a fair bit more skeptical than the villagers when it came to the whole ‘being summoned from another world by a goddess no one had ever heard of’ deal.
Still, it passed the time, and soon enough, Rayne had a small but respectable set of changes of clothes that actually fit her short frame. A welcome change after a week of ill fitting garbs and repeatedly washing the same outfit over and over.
One of these, a simple cream tunic, she slipped away from the caravan inorder to slip into, returning wearing it, some dark stockings, her belt with pouches, her red scarf and a pair of feathers in her hair. It was an outfit which would have made her bend in with the people of this a fair bit more, were it not for her ears, stark white hair, and the way she casually floated above the ground.
She returned just in time to find what seemed to be something of a standoff between the other wordlers and the caravan guards. Or if not a standoff then at least a whole lot of posturing.
She couldn’t say she was a fan. She’d been hoping to have a chance to take a look at some of the books, a dense collection of info about this world could only help, and it could pass the time while traveling, but it looked like they needed to avoid some kind of altercation. She’d missed the why of why this was happening, but she stuck her nose into the problem anyway, as heroes were prone to do.
“Maybe we could give some kind of demonstration? Or have a friendly competition? Outside of the village, where there’s less risk of, ah, accidents” she suggested on the heels of Anne’s goading. She did not want to know what Fran using her powers inside of the village would do to it, and she wasn’t exactly one to talk to either, risk of collateral damage wise. You couldn't exactly cast a spell called Armageddon when anything you cared about was nearby and expect it to still be standing once things were over after all.
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts) Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel) Vandelay Campus (Alleyway) Arahabaki’s entrance Deep Ground - the Source
”Well, I guess that’s one way to do it” Midna commented as Goldlewis uppercutted Roland onto the ship, trying to make light of the situation even as her voice was uncharacteristically filled to the brim with nerves.
Those nerves died down just a little as the Virgin Victory proved itself to be quite the absurdly powerful machine, lifting into the air and then blasting off and away, but, unfortunately, the initial part of their getaway was only a brief reprieve. With little effort the Consul caught up, bringing the storm with him, and setting Midna’s heart beating faster again. The boasting he was doing didn’t exactly help, nor the way he called them ‘mortals’ which lined up with Pit’s identifying him as a god, or at least as someone who considered themselves as one.
Had she been in a more confident state of mind Midna might have shot back with insults and counter boasts about how he’d be their third so called god today, but as it was, all she ended up saying was ”Goddess, this is going to be awful”
She was, at least when it came to her own subsequent experiences, entirely correct in this assessment, as the already pain on the eyes lightshow in the sky started to rain down upon them. Lightning unending, infused with an extra kick that was just perfect to bring her down
Still, she didn’t find this out right away, as when Z targeted the badly spaced pair that were Midna and her Flygon with a bolt of chain lighting they had a way to handle it. The blast arched down towards them, prompting the ground type pokemon to throw itself in between its mistress and the attack. The bolt slammed into it, and then, rather than arching onwards, was redirected into the ground as the dragon earthed the strike. Still, despite its supposed immunity to electrical attacks, the pokemon still hunched in pain, something else other than electricity in the attack clawing at its vitality.
That was concerning.
The despite attack not striking her, it still impacted the princess nonetheless, Midna experiencing a spike of stress from mere proximity, as well as being dazzled by the close proximity of the blindingly bright lightning strike. A rather poor combination that left her retaliation, frantically flicking down the trigger of her Mutagen Shotgun till it clicked empty several times over, incredibly scattershot, all the pellets flying wide, which was an impressive lack of accuracy even for her. At least her flygon’s own retaliation, a burst of spikes who’s damage valued half of that of the chain lightning damage pre-damage-mitigation, flew far more true, lightly homing in on the causer of their release.
Unfortunately, while the Flygon could shut down a lot of Z’s lighting effects, both she and it fared incredibly poorly when a wave of ice washed across the battlefield thanks to the consul’s minions. The blizzard bit deep into Midna’s bones, while also chilling the soul and cracked the scales of her flygon, both of them weak ice due to their shared dragon typing, and the ground typing of flygon making them even more vulnerable, leaving the strikes devastating to endure.
It was her turn to block now, with the princess pulling her new ice shield from a portal, and them both of them hunkering behind it as the storm threatened them with extinction. Given it was merely a medium shield, it only did so much too ward the large beast and now fairly tall Midna from the storm.
It was incredibly fortunate then, that the lack of shooting power in the team led to them focusing a great deal of their strength on cutting down the mooks. Them, and also Midna’s own beast legion which casually ignored everything going on on the battlefield, moving through it like a ghost, claws scything down anything that was in reach like it was a reaper amidst the wheat. If only it could get more than a few meters form Midna, she’d have happily let it play her part in this entirely.
As it stood, it and others struck down the first wave of minions, bringing an end to the storm and a reprieve to those most vulnerable to them… just in time for her flygon to have to earth another chain lightning strike. Already sluggish, wilting, and panting with pain, Midna could see as she hid behind it that it would not be able to protect her from many more strikes, and another surprise ice storm would be its end.
So, upon seeing Z casually sumon a replacement wave of Zeustrikes, she let it flee back to the twilight realm, leaving her alone, frostbitten, holding an empty shotgun and practically cowering behind her shield while her mind stumbled over what to even do to help or fight.
Seeing this, Goldlewis knit his brow together in concern, his teeth gritted. He could read body language just fine, but he reached out anyway. "Hey, Midna! You hangin' in there, cowgirl?"
Had she been herself, she might have insisted everything was fine, but a pileup of her inherited malusis caused the dam to break as she admitted “No! I can’t see shit, I can't feel my toes, and my heart’s trying to rip itself out of my chest in fear!” on the open coms for all to hear.
In that moment, she might have learned something. About reaching out. About asking for help, as spot healing from Sandalphon, a defensive boost from Zenkichi and a hand to rise from Goldlewis helping her get back on her feet. Then the shield came flying and everything she’d been given was washed away.
Midna’s stress went right back to the roof as a bolt of lightning came flying in after the shield, coming face to face ⅔ of the causes of Urbosa’s death, fear leaving her far too slow to try and get out of the way of what came next. The lightning slammed into the shield, causing an electrical denotation that threw Midna back to the floor. Then, with no flygon to ground it, the chain lighting arched onwards, pulsing between those that had helped her and then the princess herself, prompting Jolted to trigger, bringing down a third bolt down on her location.
It was here where she found out what the extra damage that hadn’t been resisted by her flygon was as she tried and failed to push herself up off the ground with strength-less arms, and saw her own skin. Unnatural paleness suffused it, the tan skin she’d gained from several fusions gone as that dreadful familiar sight from her lowest moment starred her straight in the face. The moment where she herself had almost died, exposed to the divine Light Spirit’s radiance by a spiteful Zant.
If there was any doubt about Z’s claim of divinity, it was washed away by this and this alone. Even as the color returned to her skin, the Light spirits’ later blessing of her and Zenkichi's boost having turned what would have been a dead nail to simply a devastating strike, Midna’s spirit was broken. She was worthless in this fight, and if she stayed in it she was going to die, be it from frost, light, or a heart attack.
So, with a weak tug on her astral chain, she brought her beast legion running over to her, where it promptly grabbed her by her collar, threw her over its back, and then started running for the entrance of the ship, a defeated Midna slumped over its back.
“Madness? Berzerker? Oh my” Rayne replied while scratching her head. She supposed the latter explained the impulsiveness (maybe, it wasn’t something she’d encountered other than in stories after all), but calling a speech impediment a product of/type of madness just felt wrong to her. It wasn’t really her place to tell Fran she was wrong however, now was it. Either way, she realized she was being awkward mulling this over and stumbled into a response of “Thanks for explaining. That sounds, well, rough. If there’s anything I can do to help make things easier, just let me know”
There was an awkward moment after, at least on Ranye’s end, which fortunately for her was interrupted when one of the chickens she was carrying started to wake up, and then proceeded to freak out about being up in the air in unfamiliar hands.
“Oh no. Please calm down, I’ll get you to your pen right away!” she told it, before telling Fran “we’ll catch up later” and zooming off to deposit her clucking load.
Once that was all said and done, they were unexpected (for Rayne anyway, she’d have helped out either way) paid for their efforts. She might have turned that down, but her stomach would have none of it, and so she happily accepted some food, and then headed right back to town to cook the first proper meal she’d have had in this world. Guests and co-chefs were more than welcome.
The next few days saw Rayne doing all sorts of odd jobs, and putting more of her mundane farming and house making talents to use than her magic. Salvaging crops, re-sowing fields, cooking meals and so on. She also learned a bit about how magic was different here, finding her mana stores (very) slowly filling up over time, which did mean she could put a little bit of that to work. Felling an entire swath of trees in a single axe spinning spell and then using rundedge to split them into planks in-order to help provide rebuilding materials for example (and then for the sake of this world’s Gaia, making sure to plant replacements in their stead).
Either way, while working there was plenty of time to mull over what the somewhat standoffish Anne had told her about what the goddess had apparently said to Millie. Too much time maybe, given how thin on the ground that info was. At least the child seemed to be doing alright despite her wounds and divine possession.
The days of labor came to an end with the arrival of the merchant caravan, which Rayne was all too happy to check out along with the others. She herself was mostly interested in getting a set of clothes that weren't borrowed or, well, inherited from the dead. Going around wearing armor all the time was silly after all, not to mention uncomfortable, so getting something casual and comfortable that fit her pint sized proportions was a must. Hopefully there were non-human peoples in other places in this world that matched her halfing stature, ones that the merchants might have clothing intended for stashed away somewhere.
Other than that, gossip of all kinds was always of interest, particularly anything related to the capitol, seeing as the goddess that had brought them here being worried about something occurring there being their only lead.
wintersoldier
Snowdrops
LG
Lord Zee
Timemaster
Damycles
Izurich
Villamvihar
FunnierPrez
