Gentlemanvaultboy

World of Light

@Dark Cloud

Just his hands.

World of Light

Hyrule Warriors

Word Count: 3184

Level 4 - (31/40) + 3

Level 9 - (1/90) + 3

---

---

Link

Location: The Edge of Blue ~ Out of the stomach and into the drink

@Archmage MC@Dark Cloud@Yankee

---

Link felt something wrap around him and begin to pull. He wanted to fight it, but in that moment he began to change. He went momentarily blind as He felt himself stretch, like some Hinox had taken him by the arms and legs and started pulling him like a wishbone. It should have hurt. This sensation should have hurt, his mind kept screaming that, but it didn't. Then the weight, like something else had taken his arms, pulled them straight down. It was only when he finally got his sight back, sight that saw clearly through the waters, that he saw the familiar green skin of the man pulling him toward the shining light of the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs Blazermate rested, standing on the floor like the water didn't even matter to her and occasionally flicking her healing beam off the ship and attaching it to him, Glenn, or...

He followed it and it led him to the Cadet fighting his own struggle against the water. Link knew he still needed to breathe, but even as he tried to be rational he couldn't stop himself from wanting to go back for him. Then to his surprise he felt himself begin to move, his body responding to his will. For a moment he felt Glenn's grip on him tighten as Link moved against it.

Then things began moving very fast. With his new eyesight he saw it clearly, Shippy's mouth at the far edge of the hold swing open. A current formed against Glenn as the water began to spew outward. Link wrapped his arm around Glenn and swung the other to grab the wall of the ship but his fingers couldn't find a grip on the newly metal walls still slick with seawater. His fingers slid uselessly against the inside as everyone in the hold was ejected from the ship and into the open sea.

Link tumbled in the water, still clutching Glenn as he tried to get his bearings. The dark abyss of the ocean stretched out before him, teaming with uncertainty. If that wasn't enough to tell him he was upside down spotting the medabot plunging past him into the depths certainly was. Without even thinking he reached out his free hand and willed himself down towards her, grasping. He immediately discovered two things. The first was that he was fast. He shot down through the water like he was free falling through the air, the only thing he could compare it to was the feeling of ascending a waterfall. Moving through the water felt as natural to him as running through a field. Is this what the Zora felt like all the time?

The second thing he discovered, only after he reached Blazermate, was that his hands were huge. He hadn't had time to notice before, and the difference in the size of the hand he had stretched out in front of him threw off his perspective enough that he accidentally open palm slapped the medabot in the chest because he thought she was farther away than she was. Recovering, though, he just wrapped his fingers around her waist like a child would a doll. She was surprisingly light for something made of metal, something he was glad for as he turned toward the surface and forced himself to zoom upward. He veered only once, extending the arm holding Blazermate in order to catch the Cadet in the crook of it during their ascent.

When he pierced through the veil with his passengers the deep and greedy gulp of air he took in tasted like smoke. He emerged surrounded by floating flings and, to his horror enemies. At first he mistook the giant thing in front of him as one, but when Ms. Fortune cat-womaned one of its gun turrets and opened fire on the Abyssals that still choked the water around them he realized that the massive abyssal looking creature in front of him must have been the ship they had ridden in on. Spirit fusion, like he had suspected. Gunfire ripped up the Abyssals that swarmed around them, and when one like the ones that had boarded the ship earlier closed in on them a shadowy Bowser Jr slammed into it saw first giggling like a madman. He even heard Sakura's voice calling out across the water, spotting the girl on her approach.

That wasn't the only help that appeared. As Heinrich swung around and tore a rift of destruction through any abyssal coming from their left side Link confirmed one more thing: that woman's work was even more impressive up close. More so when she ordered a full concentration of fire on some approaching planes, reminding him of just how many of the shipgirls were around. In his current state that was comforting and terrifying in equal measure, especially given the zeal of their commander. She had the presence of mind not to mistake him for the enemy and blow him out of the water, but in the middle of this battlefield he wouldn't blame anybody if that happened. So long as that didn't happen, though, he was forced to accept this good thinking on Cia's part.

He found himself on a whole feeling much better. Even though they were out here in the thick of it, explosions cracking across the sky and enemies on all sides, it felt less oppressive than it had looked in the hold. Shippy was still under viscous attack, but if they were able to work together like this then they just might be able to do. No more ghosts, at least not today.

Of course, the others wouldn't be much use stranded in the water like this. He extended his arms, Blazermate in one hand and clutching Glenn in the other. Anyone on the ship could defend it. Anyone protecting them was less focused on protecting the ship. This wouldn't be gentle, but at least it would be fast. "Man those guns! Fix the ship!" Was all that he said before flinging his arms forward, one after the other, putting all his strength into tossing the medabot and the knight back up onto the safety of the deck.

He turned to do the same to the Cadet, but in that moment he heard something burst out of the water next to him. He turned to face it just in time to have one of the big mouthed To-class slam into him. If he hadn't had that helmet that massive jaw would have crushed his skull instantly. As such he only watched as the helmet began to crush inward toward him. Thinking quickly, Link wrenched his head backwards as hard as he could while simultaneously unequipping the helmet. The monster's jaws snapped shut just inches from his nose, the extra freedom of movement saving him from certain death. Unperturbed the monster pressed onward, driving Link forward and slamming him against the side of the ship. That massive jaw came down again for the death blow, but this time Link reached forward and grabbed its lower jaw as he willed himself downward. Link felt three of his fingers break as it snapped down on them, the armor and padding the only thing keeping them from being chopped off completely, but it worked. Link shot down, flipping it and pulling it upside down along with him.

It was hard to express something when you didn't have any eyes, but the way the thing thrashed told Link enough. Nothing had ever tried this before. Of course they hadn't. Their enemy, the shipgirls, skated along the top of the water. Why would it ever have to worry about an enemy pulling it under? It adapted quickly, pointing one of its shoulder cannons at him, but that moment of confusion was all Link needed. He pulled the To-class in with one arm even as he reared back with the other, slamming the big fist into the things chest. It gasped, letting go of his fingers as its shots went wild, sinking into the black abyss below as the force propelled the monster upward. In a way as instinctual as propelling himself he willed the cannons on his arms to move. The guns rose in place as he held up his arms, and with one last act of will they fired a wild barrage straight. The To-class vanished in a cloud of smoke and dust, and Link propelled himself upward to catch the spirit left in its wake in his uninjured hand. He crushed it for later use.

Here now, back under the water, and looked up and saw the battle raging overhead. He had to admit, some part of Heinrich's speech must have gotten to him. He still had a surprising amount of breath left, and the thought of how surprised those Abyssals up there would feel if they were suddenly attacked from an unexpected direction momentarily overcame his concern for the Cadet. After all, he could breath now, he was resourceful, and he had those zombies that had been attending to Blazermate in the hold up there to keep him safe until he figured something out.

He raised his arms again and took as careful aim as he could before he started blasting at the abyssal firing line focusing on Shippy from underneath. He wondered how long he could go with these things before they wore out and crumbled to nothing?

---

---

Linkle

Merge Rate: 30%

Location: The previous day, in the Frozen Highlands ~ Snowdin ~ Bar Survive

The only reason Linkle seemed so calm was because the woman in the television had triggered some kind of primal freeze response in her, as though she were a rabbit in the sights of some huge predator. She let the song play for around seven seconds before she got control of herself back and pressed the button again, switching the black box off before it attacked.

She reconsidered her feelings on modern technology. Maybe it was for the better that they didn't have it.

Her attention was arrested as Albedo began to speak again. When he said "theoretically possible" she only heard the possible part, and as he pulled out his sketchbook she stepped over to look at it over his shoulder. As he explained, however, her face started to fall. Some of it admittedly went over head but she had picked up the gist, and the gist was...

Well, well, there is your solution. All you have to do to make it a reality is gather enough dust just like you. Oh, but where oh where will we ever get that much dust?

Linkle's fists tightened as the smug voice echoed through her skull.

Let's see what we have in here. There were those men from the badlands, but their dust is long blown away by now. Moving on to other options. That Cid fellow you owe money too, the Junpei boy who made a fool of you, the king of dice if you make sure to cut off his head. I'm sure you could use that man trapped in the frozen hell once you find a method of murder that sticks.

She tried to drown it out with the grinding of her teeth.

Oh, but he'll need to test won't he? Do you have enough enemies for that? Of course, minor sacrifices could be made. The Lumbridge sheriff, even if it would break my heart to leave his poor doggie all alone. The adorable chicken man, he stole from you anyway. Those two men from the lake were Hylian, they would work extra well. Pile on a few heroes too, do we really need more than one running around? I'd suggest Ryu but you would probably just lose again.

Mr. Kashiwagi brought them their bentos, the steam pouring out when Albedo pulled up the lid. It smelled so good. Focus on the smell.

Have you considered that gender matters though? In that case I'm afraid your options are more limited and a lot more familiar. There's that nice girl from the guild. You know? The one the Cadet likes. Annnnd the fortune teller. I guess Dante would count as well. You could use Din, if you could work up the nerve to hit her this time. Or that girl Mina who decided she couldn't hack it after you tried so hard to make friends with her. But wait, you don't want to see her in your state. After all, you promised to be less reckless.

Albedo was talking again. Just listen to him, not this. Just listen to...now he decides to be succinct! No, tell the entire history of Inazuma. A place where people eat with sticks, that's got to be fascinating! Please!

Stop. Shrinking. Away.

Linkle sat at the bar, hand around the cup Albedo had passed her ready to slam the noodles like a shot of whisky in the hopes that taste or pain might work. The last thing it had said wasn't condescension or mockery though. It was scorn, like being scolded by a teacher who had always had it out for you.

You understood the implications when you asked. You understood where the dust would have to come from. How many enemies have you seen collapse? You knew it would take more than just the dust from your own body, why deny it? Not even you're that stupid. Somewhere in your mind you can look at these people and see nothing but resources to be spent. After all, they're not important. Not as important as you.

That was a lie.

Then why consider it at all? It's not as though their sacrifices would be in vain, and you can't deny that your wonderful skills are uniquely suited to creating vast quantities of dust. They would be giving up their lives to save the world as well. It would be a great honor, being mixed into the clay that will become a great hero. That's how you can rationalize taking in spirits so readily, isn't it? They're not really gone, even he said so. You'll just carry them along with you. By your own logic it wouldn't be so wrong.

For just a moment she could imagine it, or maybe it imagined it and showed it to her. Her, normal, standing on the ramparts of a resplendent castle, larger than even the great city of Alchamoth. A noble hero, master sword raised high in the air, surveying the land. Evil vanquished, princesses saved, Hyrule safe. But as the wind blew bits of the castle were carried away with it. It was made of ash, and no matter how far Linkle gazed she couldn't find any people upon the land.


The facts are, child, that now you have a method to save the world from a great evil. All it takes is the courage to carry it out. But, speaking as your heart? I can't feel a drop of the stuff.

Just then Linkle heard something start up. The tinkling of fingers sweeping across a pianos keys. The steady, repeated strum of a string. She looked up from where she had been staring, vacant, down into her noodles and over at the record player but the song it had been playing had long since ended. Nevertheless, she heard it thrumming along in her head.

Ooh
Buckle up tonight
You wanna get away
Forget it, baby
Got you in my sights
They never got
They don't ever learn

Hell, for heaven's sake
In just a moment's time, you'll wonder why you
Ever thought you'd ever look
For more than you've got
'Cause, baby, you
You've got you and me

As the music faded away Linkle was left shivering as though all the cold of the day had finally settled on her. Albedo was asking her something, and she shook her head and took a few deep breaths to try and compose herself and listen. It was about being dead, and she felt herself grimace. "I...uh..." she started, haltingly, looking down. Settling down. Settle down!

She took her hands and rubbed her face with them. Don't show them. Don't be...whatever it was that the Skull Heart wants you to be. Weak, sad, don't be that. Be stronger than that. Be a hero. Be the hero that you are. Linkle suddenly opened her eyes, reached down, brought the noodle bowl up to her face, and began to drink the broth. She felt the liquid course down her throat. It hurt a little, but the warmth settled there in her chest and began to radiate across her room temperature body.

Sighing into the bowl, she set it back down. "That was just what I needed." She said, trying to sound cheerful. At least the shivering had stopped. She turned to Albedo, "I'm going to be as straightforward as I can." She said, just repeating the phrase seeming to give her a little extra resolve. "I told you I hadn't been dead long. What I meant was, I died earlier today. Me and my friends were trying to find...you know the crazy guy who can't die? Every area in the world has a guardian like that and we were after the one in the Dead Zone. We had to fight a girl named Marie to open the way, she was a dead girl with a bunch of skeletons she summoned up. Some of them shot me, that's why I have..."

Linkle stopped and pulled open her cloak, pointing to the bullet holes still in her suit. "I didn't see a lot of the fight since that happened at the very start, but it's not how I died. I got up from that. When the fight was over a lot of the skeletons collapsed. Some didn't. Some became friendly. I never saw her make a "living dead" out of anyone that wasn't a pile of bones beforehand. If you're talking about just the skeletons some died and so did Marie. She left behind a spirit and everything. But she also left behind...an...evil talking skull that was inside her. It was called the Skull Heart, and it offered every girl there a wish so long as the wish was pure. I took it because I thought I could outsmart it. I thought I could make the most unselfish wish possible, but I don't think anyone can outsmart it. I think it will always see the worst in you, no matter what. Now it lives in my chest and it was just now mocking me for thinking I could get rid of it."

"So maybe I'm not dead dead but I was definitely alive before I felt all my blood stop and now I'm something else. I guess back home they would call me a ReDead or a Gibdo or maybe a Stalinkle. You're right, there should be a word for what this is." She reached down and took another shot of broth, slurping up a few noodles this time in the process. "You're a great cook, Mr. Kashiwagi. These are really good."

World of Light

@Yankee@Dark Cloud@Archmage MC

I have an important question. I have acquired big hands.

May I throw you back onto the ship?

World of Light

I forget that just because they work for me doesn't mean they work for everyone else.

World of Light

Submitting for inspection.

The Oracle of the Sodden Raven

Name: Yuri Kozukata
Game Origin: Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Black Water

Personality: No one would ever mistake Yuri for being the life of a party. She's quiet, her reactions understated, giving off a constant air of anxiety. She's politely friendly but tries to keep a safe distance from people. Despite this she is not cold. She is intimately familiar with the pain of loss and possesses an empathy as deep as the abyss. As such she's always found it hard to ignore other peoples problems. It gives her the courage to face death, over and over again, and move past it because no matter how afraid she is she knows nothing is more frightening than losing someone.

Background: Yuri lives with one foot in the afterlife. Ever since her family was killed in tragic car accident she had been able to see things that other people just can't. The doctors all assured her that these visions of spirits and death were figments of her imagination, and for a time she tried so hard to believe them. To believe that she wasn't sick. But she kept seeing them, even after she was given a clean bill of health they kept appearing to her. Kept hounding her everywhere she went. All the while she felt a pull, and inexplicable urge to climb a certain local mountain. With no one to stop her, no one to help her, no one that could possibly understand, she followed it. Up the slopes of Mt. Hikami, to the edge of a lonely cliff. To end it.

Before she could, though, she felt herself being pulled back. A woman named Hisoka Kurosawa, a woman she didn't even know, had come to find her. She wrapped her arms around Yuri's shoulders and asked her to stay just a little while longer. It was such a little thing. She had never really noticed just what a difference a little warmth could make. She could stay if it was for this woman, who took her in when she had no one and treated her with such kindness. Just a little longer became longer and longer, and eventually Yuri could barely feel the call of the mountain anymore. She spent her days with Hisoka, learning how to prepare coffee at her antique shop and how to use her powers to tell fortunes and help find the things people had lost.

Then, one day, Hisoka disappeared. It wasn't that unusual, she did that once in a while when she was working on a case, but then her client, Fuyuhi Himano, showed up at the antique shop looking or her. Hisoka had gone to Mt. Hikami in search of Fuyuhi's friend, and after a moment to gather her thoughts Yuri followed after them.

The mountain was infested with ghosts, and as she searched day after day Yuri was more and more immersed in the mountains blood soaked history, the pain of the tragedies that had transpired there, and the mystery of the strange rituals meant to appease something called the Shadow Spring. She lost Fuyuhi to the mountain, but managed to save her friend Haruka. She lost Haruka, who was lured back to the mountain under the influence of Fuyuhi's ghost, but managed to rescue a girl name Miu from a water filled casket. Multiple times she encountered a powerful, raven-haired spirit, and was saved from the spirits influence by Miu.

Eventually, she fought her way to the shrine situated on the very top of the mountain. There she found Hisoka, prepared to willing become a sacrifice so the mountain wouldn't eventually take Yuri. Unwavering, Yuri managed to pull Hisoka away from the edge and the two of them returned from the Mountain together. That should have been the end of it, but there was one last thing Yuri felt she had to do. One last girl suffered alone on Mt. Hikami and, armed with everything she had learned, Yuri ascended the mountain one last time.

In deepest recesses of the shrine, so far that she had stepped fully into the netherworld, Yuri faced Ose Kurosawa. The raven haired shrine maiden, whose sorrow was drowning the mountain in tragedy. They fought, and as they did Yuri glanced into Ose's soul and engraved her pain into her mind. She embraced the shrine maiden, and let her know she wasn't alone. Ose, her sorrow calmed, stepped away and began to sink. Yuri would have gone with her if she had asked, but Ose didn't. That one moment of warmth had given her the resolves she needed. Ose sank willingly into the shadow spring, sealing it's dark waters forever and lifting the curse on Mt. Hikami.

Afterwards life went back to normal for Yuri and Hisoka, until one day Yuri received a strange letter. It was pretty vague, only stating that her "Assistance" was requested at some tournament. She didn't know what to make of it, but Hisoka encouraged her to go. It would be good for her to broaden her horizons a little, and after what Yuri had faced she had more than proven how capable she was at handling things on her own. Hisoka would always be waiting for her when she got back.

She set out on her bike, following the odd directions the letter provided, to the setting of an utterly otherworldly tournament. Before she could get her bearings on all this, though, she was engulfed in light.

Specialty: Psychic. Yuri's abilities are particularly adept at finding things that are missing or uncovering the history of an area using shadow reading and psychometry.
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10

Powers:

• Shadow Reading: Yuri can find missing or hidden people and objects if she has a token of them. A token can be anything related to a person, such as something they owned, something they held dear, a piece of them, or even a photograph. When she concentrates on the token she sees a ghostly outline of that person wandering in the missing persons direction. A token of someone who is dead can also be used to search out objects that also belonged to them, though searching for the dead person using this method carries the risk of drawing malevolent spirits to the user.

Strengths:

• Sixth Sense (Frontside): Yuri has a very powerful sixth sense, and it able to see and feel the presence of spiritual beings such as ghosts.
• Shutterbug: Yuri's experience using the Camera Obscura to defend herself on Mt Hikami has left her very skilled at photography. She can quickly draw the camera and line up a perfect shot in the blink of an eye.
• Nerve of Steel: Yuri is very hard to fluster in combat. She is able to calmly raised her camera and patiently wait for the perfect moment to strike even in the face of things that are utterly horrifying coming right at her.

Weaknesses:

• Ordinary Girl: Bedsides her sixth sense Yuri is an ordinary, not even particularly athletic, 19 year old girl. No magical superpowers, no amazing feats of martial prowess. Baseline human.
• Sixth Sense (Backside): Stare too long into the abyss and the abyss stares back. Stare too long at a ghost and a ghost will stare back at you. They know that she knows that they're there.
• Wetness: Yuri's spiritual abilities have an odd relationship with water. When she gets wet her sixth sense seems to spike, resulting in her Camera Obscura attacks dealing more damage. However it also make her more vulnerable to spiritual damage and causes her to encounter ghosts more frequently.

Spirits:

Kindred Spirits:

• The Sorrow - The ghost of a spirit medium, a terrifying combination. In life he was able to speak with the spirits of the battlefield dead to gather intelligence for his unit. In death? Who knows what he's truly capable of.
• Lucky - Lucky found that frat boys are a useful source of food, and so decided to become an Alpha Tau. Sadly, their electrical repair skills were wanting, leading to Lucky's electrocution by their warm but malfunctioning pinball table. The spirit of a cat that met an unfortunate end, Lucky has mysterious powers over machines and fortune, both good and bad.
• Hayden Tenno - An agent the CIA sent to clean up it's messes, including other agents of the CIA. He got more than he bargained for when he was sent in the country of Lasria and infested with the Technocyte virus.

Inventory:

• Camera Obscura: A special camera invented by Kunihiko Asou meant to take pictures of things man was never meant to see. While capable of functioning as a normal camera what makes the camera special is it's ability to capture spiritual entities on film and damage hostile ones. Yuri's version is loaded with an infinite amount of Type-O7 Film and currently fitted with with the modified SMASH! Lens, though other films and lenses can be loaded if acquired.
• SMASH! Lens: A camera lens provided to Yuri for use in her function as a Smash Brothers assistant, this one is unique in its ability to effect the living. When someone's picture is taken with this lens equipped the victim will be stunned for a moment and inflicted with a status effect similar to poison signified by a dark aura for a few seconds. Pictures taken through this lens are darkened, and suffer from a significant amount of grain.
• Herbal Medicine X3: A blend of healing herbs that Yuri now never leaves home without.

@Lugubrious

World of Light

Linkle

Merge Rate: 30%

Level 9 - (0/90) + 1

Word Count: 415

Location: The previous day, in the Frozen Highlands ~ Snowdin ~ Bar Survive

@Lugubrious

---

Linkle followed Albedo example before they entered the bar, kicking the snow off her boots and giving herself a good, doggish shake for good measure.

The inside was a totally different vibe than Grillby's had been, what little she had seen of it anyway, and not just because the place was empty. She could hardly even believe this was a place of business. It was more like she was stepping into someone's house. Despite that the serious looking man behind the bar gave off the same professional air as Grillby did. She felt like they could have passed for brothers if he was made of fire instead of skin and meat and stuff. Then again, maybe that was just the vibe a classy guy gave off.

Linkle didn't sit just yet, leaning on the bar next to Albedo as he introduced her. "Hey. I'm Linkle, Hero of Hyrule. Nice to meet you."

As the man, Mr. Kashiwagi according to Albedo, went off to attend to bar business Albedo launched into another explanation that Linkle leaned back and listened to with a smile on her face, turning her head in the direction she indicated. She had already seen some examples of this kind of "modern technology," like the washing machine back in Peach's castle but she never really put much thought into how it worked, only how convenient it was. She didn't even have a cold box like Albedo's world had. So it was electricity that was the key, huh? Like what happened when she kicked sometimes? She looked around. These lights, that cold box, maybe even this song she was desperately trying to ignore the Skull Heart menacingly humming along to. "His whole world is like this? That's pretty cool. I thought maybe just royalty would have this sort of stuff."

Her attention was draw particularly to the black box, and it only took Linkle a moment to realize why. She pushed herself off the bar as Albedo offered to get them something. "We need something warm. Get the warmest bento." She said as she approached the box. It looked like it had buttons below the screen. "You know, near the start of our journey, someone died. Then, later, a friend of ours somehow put her in one of these and attached some arms and a wheel to it so she could get around. I don't think he even used her spirit for that, because it was a while afterwards." She reached up and curiously started hitting a few of the buttons to see if she could turn it on. "That's actually one of the things I wanted to ask you about the dust." She said seriously, watching him in the black mirror of the screen. "If you had enough of it, and the right spirit, could you alchemy them together and bring it back to life?"

Somewhere inside her the Skull Heart fell silent.

"I know you said it needs life to keep it together. But you also said I'm dead, and my dust hasn't broken apart. I'm not the only one either, there's this whole area called the Dead Zone where there's a ton of things there that are dead and still walking around. It's really creepy."

Royal Rumble!

@KillamriX88

---

At least he wasn't mad.

"Yeah." She replied. "Did you not get mine? Ah, screw it. Doesn't matter." She could just tell him. She needed to tell him. She needed to talk like normal. "I got 'em. At least, the ones on our home phone. I don't know what happened to my cell, it's probably sitting in an evidence locker somewhere. Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, I was somewhere no one was going to find me. Thobias ended up pulling me out and setting me and Chrissy up in a safe house with what I'm guessing were the best doctors you could buy with dirty money. They did good work though. All stitched up in one piece, more or less."

That thought led to another, one that sent her as bolt upright as she could in her present condition. In her chest the scar still glowed faintly even after defusing its heat into the pond. "You are in one piece, right? I only learned about what happened days later, you know. I didn't...I was worried at first, not that I thought that those bastards could beat you, but..."

She stopped, deflating a little back into the pool. Relax. Just relax. "Gods, I was so relieved to hear your voice." She breathed out. "Your family's okay, right?"

World of Light

If that's what Frog would do go ahead.

World of Light

Link

Word Count: 1962

Level 4 - (28/40) + 3

Location: The Edge of Blue ~ The Bowls of the ship(girl?)

---

---

The damage was about as bad as Link had expected, but The Cadet was fortunately already making headway. The most apparent threat in the room already had three of those great arrows poking out of it, and so Cadet had its undivided attention. Other Monsters, the blackfish he had spotted earlier, struggled to chomp and wriggle their way through as the wood of the ship in a constant battle against Blazermate's healing. Link watched as one got overzealous, tried to force its way in through a hole not quite big enough for it, and got stuck halfway as the wood reformed around it. It screamed, fired of it's guns randomly, then was reduced to ash and a spirit as its white body was crushed.

For every one like that, though, there was another one that got through and plopped like a dead fish into the knee deep waters of the hold. He could make out the shape of them in the brackish, constantly shifting water, and their heads would rise up out of it to take potshots in any direction. No matter where they shot they'd hit their enemy, after all.

Link gripped his new weapon as he crouched at the top of the stairs, getting a good feel for the heft. The other thing, the metal plate, had an odd adherent property he had noticed almost as soon as it had manifested. He'd found it had stuck to his glove, almost like a shield would, and with a little effort he had pried it off and stuck it onto his back as a little extra body armor. With those he had the makings of a plan of attack, and it only highlighted how woefully underequipped he was. If he'd had his way he would have just helped Cadet get back up on deck then chucked three or four lightning weapons down here and called it a victory. As it stood he was going to have to face the swarm head on.

If you were going to fight something head on, you had to make the first strike count. He spotted what looked like a good cluster of the black shadows under the water, bubbles rising to the surface every time he saw the flash of one of their guns going off. Taking a deep breath Link jumped off the steps into the middle of them, spinning forward in the air and bringing the full weight of the axe slamming down into their midst.

He felt one get crunched under it, the familiar feeling of his weapon biting into armor and flesh instead of wood radiating up his arms, but more important than that was the impact. Water exploded upward like a geyser from the force of the blow, sending three of the blackfish and what looked like a group of smell childlike monsters flopping into the air with it. As they did the axe disappeared from his hands, replaced by the good old sword and shield. He drew back, a sheen of light running all the way up the Soldier's Broad Sword until it reached the tip. With a mighty "HYAAAAAAAA!" Link spun. The sword just chopped through the imps and left nasty gashes on the blackfish as they were sent flying back into the water.

Without missing a beat Link brought his shield up at the end of his spin, crouched, and braced himself. He didn't have to wait long before he felt the shuttering power of the blackfishes counterattack, their guns lightning up as they each in turn turned their attention to him and fired. He had anticipated that he'd get their attention with a move like that, and more importantly draw off that attention so Cadet could handle his prey relatively unmolested.

He waited for the shots to stop like he knew they would. After all, he had been watching them all day. They didn't shoot forever. The last impact sounded and he moved forward deeper into the hold, scooping up the imp spirit floating on the water with his shield arm and crushing it before storing the result without even looking at it. Some of them came to meet him, a pod of four that didn't bother reloading and came for him with their jaws gnashing. They broke off, spreading around him like a pack of wolves before charging in, but it didn't matter. He stopped, reared back, and spun again. The sword cut through the water as it scooped the attackers up and scattered them. He set his shield again and the firing line opened up once more, battering it further but he held his ground. He worried about its integrity, but he just had to hope that he and Cadet could sweep the creatures and crush the majority between them before it broke.

Suddenly he felt an impact on his back, an explosion that almost threw off his arm if not for the metal plate he had affixed there. Had the one coming at him from behind survived his spin attack? No, that wasn't it. As the thunder of the abyssal assault died down again he could hear...buzzing? Like wasps. He felt something else dive into his shoulder, the impact absorbed, but as he looked up he saw what was attacking him. More little flying machines buzzed around the inside of the ship. Had they come in from above. No, that splashing. He cast his eyes downward just in time to see another little green plane burst out of the water. The blackfish had that ability as well?

He dove forward toward another group of lurking shadow as more of the little planes dived at him, the propellers of one trimming a little hair from the top of his head as it did so. They were like wasps, running after him and peppering his fleeing form with their own small machinegun fire. As he charged up his next spin he saw the shadows pin around and begin to retreat out of his range. The planes also broke off pursuit, content to circle above him like vultures. They'd learned, but the ship was enclosed. If they were going to run he would just herd them into an area where they couldn't. Besides, a few weren't fast enough. He spun again, striking the two that hadn't been able to get away, but then did something they abyssals hadn't expected. He jumped, letting the spin carry him up into the air and slicing into the swarm of planes. Green parts were scattered as the biplanes were caught in the tornado of steel and landed about him in the water as he came down and set to readying his shield again.

His pattern was interrupted as suddenly the entire hull was engulfed in a blue light, what looked like electricity sparking off the walls but surprisingly not frying everything in the hold. Even the abyssals were forced into a state of caution by the odd phenomenon. Then all attention was drawn to the front of the ship as a pink light began to build up. Link could see the outline of teeth, then the battlefield itself as the ships mouth opened and Shippy put everything it had into one attack. The entire hold shook, nearly throwing him off balance, but as the light faded there was a moment a peace as each side found their bearing again.

That was when the situation went from bad to untenable. The abyssal attack intensified, perhaps by a desperate fear of what the ship had just done, but from Link's perspective what was once a losing battle against an ever intensifying leak turned into a hopeless flood. Explosions' rocked Shippy, tearing more holes and letting more of the wriggling blackfish in. He felt several more shots hit him in the back and was immensely grateful for that plate. Another took the opportunity to swim up and latch onto his knee with its jaws, but for some reason the pants seemed to hold off its jaws before it broke through. More shots came from the front, which he took on his shield and skidded back through the water as a result. He took his sword and ran the one of his knee through, dusting it just in time to hear the bussing of planes fill the hold again.

"This isn't going to work." He called over to the Cadet, stepping back and cutting through another plane before dodging to the side as another pod of imps that gotten inside jumped at him. "Do you have anything else in your bag of tricks?"

Regardless of any idea the Cadet might have they were faced with a new problem soon. Without warning a new light overtook the hold, a familiar light. Link had seen it just last night, when that Sephiroth character had fused with one of the Cia's. That's when things suddenly got a lot more cramped and a whole lot more wet as the walls closed in around them. The water rose sharply, what was thigh deep in a ship the size of Shippy filling the hold at Shippy's new size. He took a deep breath as the water went over his head, feeling the salty sting of the water in his eyes but he had to keep them open because he had to find what was shoving that gun barrel into his chest. Link felt himself bordered on all sides with abyssals, now fully in their element luckily just as bewildered by what had just happened as he was. Unfortunately not for long as one turned and sank its teeth into his chest. Another followed its lead, grabbing him by the upper arm, and another plunged its teeth into his neck as he tried to pry that one off. Another just shot him in the gut, and he desperately pulled his hand to his mouth in a futile attempt to keep the wind from being knocked out of him. Bubbles sputted through the gaps in his fingers as a plane spun into his face, it's tiny propeller working at his cheek and fingers. Blood began to fill the water as the armored plate on Links back crumbled, seeping out from in between the sea monsters teeth as they began to enter the throes of a feeding frenzy.

Then, suddenly as it started, the Abyssals of the hold were pulled off him. They slammed into the sides of the ship as darkness swept over them, the waves traveling one after another through the now cramped hold leaving no room for escape. Link's eyes focused through blood blooming out into the water to see the blurry form of Cia floating there in front of him, treading water as best she could in that outfit.

Had he...? No, it didn't matter right now. He had to find Cadet and get out of here before he drowned. Link wasn't the best underwater but he wouldn't leave him to the mercy of the abyssals that had lived. They had to get out of here, they all had to get out of here. He wouldn't accept anything else. His chest felt like it was on fire as he looked around. At this rate he wouldn't even find the stairs back to the deck.

A hand on his shoulder stopped his frantic searching. He looked up to see Cia again, close enough now to see what he considered uncharacteristic concern on her face. It was so arresting that he didn't spot the shining thing she held in her hand before she had forced it into his chest. One of the spirits floating around with them in here?

The sorceress faded away into the darkness as the changes began to take hold.

World of Light

Why? Frog didn't create a friend heart, and even if he did it wouldn't cost 7 exp since he's only level three.