Lugubrious

World of Light

LeFwee’s Finest

Location: Sea of Serendipity
Level 9 Nadia (71/90), Blazermate and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @Multi_Media_Man, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Peach
Word Count: 3927 (+4)

Regrouping with the others aboard the Adrian, Geralt found the pirate vessel to be quite the ship. Even most Skelligers couldn’t lay claim to a ship this robust, and it gave the impression that Cortez’s self-imposed title might have been a little more than bluster after all. He had the feeling Cerys and Hjalmar wouldn’t hate having this thing for themselves to take the fight to the Nilfgaardians, had they the chance.

Rubick managed to reach the Adrian with not a moment too soon, as the Toadies spell expired while he was still in the air. The Toadies faded away, and Rubick fell a couple feet onto the deck, roughly landing on his rump. “Oof!" Rubick exclaimed, and the Staff he had pocketed earlier was now peeking out of his robe. Rubick was quick to shove it back in and jump back onto his feet, brushing his robe off for any dust and water.

Soon enough, without waiting for the few laggards, they were off. Peach was right in that they knew the group’s destination and were more than capable of taking care of themselves on the way there, so he didn’t dwell on it himself. Separating when convenient and meeting up later was something he’d done plenty lately, it felt, even before having been brought to the World of Light.

Cortez brought the Adrian out of the lake and out onto the open sea, which spilled forth before their eyes. Geralt took a moment to admire the view before his eyes locked onto the rickety sea town that looked like a stiff enough breeze could take it out. It certainly didn’t stand up to Limsa Lominscuttle Town, not by any metric. As he and the others looked out into the water, Geralt frowned when he noticed Nadia’s focus on something, turning to the strange ‘birds.’

She caught on a moment before him, but when they did, Geralt’s hand made the all-too-familiar Sign of Quen and he drew his bow, not even managing to get an arrow off before the bombs fell.

Rubick took a page out of Geralt’s book and quickly copied his Sign, making a Quen shield to protect himself as well. He then looked around for suitable cover and dove towards it. The bombs did quite a bit of damage to the ship, but at least he’d be fine for the time being.

Blazermate had been chilling on Cortez’s ship along with Geralt, having procured the pirate’s help and it in a way with her cute looks and charm. A bit of self pride that was shattered as they came under attack by no less than 5 different groups of enemies! Apparently this spot was a huge ambush point, and these people would not be reasoned with. Cortez took a fair amount of the opening fire and clattering to the ground. Blazermate started to panic, but stopped when she noticed Cortez was fine. While he looked dead, her Scan ability told her he was okay. Did… Did he just start to play dead? Well, seeing as he was fine, even if his ship was a bit damaged, Blazermate looked to join the others in dealing with one of the groups. They’d need her healing and shields.

Of course once Blazermate left the ship, Cortez got back up and yelled. “We’re being attacked, get to it men!” and his ghost crew sparked back to ‘life’ after having been extinguished. He assumed a more menacing form and began charging up some type of attack, getting ready to deal with those attacking his ship, but with the spirits’ vitality tied to the Adrian’s it wouldn’t be long before both craft and crew went down.

“Oh, what fun! I was beginning to believe this would be a boring trip!” Rubick yelled in delight. Plenty of adversaries attacking their ship, leaving them in dire circumstances. There was nothing better!

His big mouth. Geralt didn’t even have to say the words, the mere thought of being attacked seemed to bring it into being. While his magical shield protected him from the heat and much of the explosive compression of the bombs, it shattered and the remaining kinetic energy pushed him into the deck’s railing, his arms holding on for dear life as the ship rocked.

A pair of ships had revealed themselves in the chaos of the attack, one fused into a titanic snail and the other floating and held aloft by a balloon. It was the latter that Geralt focused on, a savage and sadistic grin forming on his face, even darker and more disturbing due to the physical traits the Orphan had granted him as his cat-like eyes narrowed.

Susie didn’t really react with any kind of shield or anything when they came under attack. But she was also in an area with more cover, having found a place on Cortez’s ship to relax as best as she could. Cannonfire and the sound of fracturing wood brought her to her senses though, and with a battle on the way, Susie was admittedly a bit nervous at the massive amount of enemies in the way. Sure they had a lot of seekers too, but without her business suit, there wasn’t too much she could do. Still, at least she could try to summon it…

And this time it worked! A pink drill shaped robot with massive deadly arms materialized in front of Susie. With a clap of excitement, Susie hopped into her mech, put down her visor, and followed Geralt into battle with her piloting her mech, Susie using its missile launchers to fire basic rockets at their foes as she approached.

Before peeling away to race after Sakura and Karin, Ace left everyone still holding out in and around the Adrian a priceless parting gift. As Pit purged the skies of the Abyssal bombers overhead through clever use of his orbitars, he cleared the way for a fresh cloudburst of vitalizing tonic. “Ahh, that’s quite helpful,” Rubick remarked, noticing how much quicker he had become. “I’ll take the flying one.” Geralt called out as Ace’s invigorating rain fell over him, giving him a boost that would surely be appreciated in the coming fight. “Gonna need some cover!” With that, he hoisted himself over the railing, falling into a roll as the Breaching Bastion appeared below him, and he rose quickly from the recovery, already pointing his guns towards the airship, and more specifically, the balloon keeping it in the air.

Without the threat of bombs falling on her, Nadia clawed her way up the side of the Adrian and vaulted onto the deck just in time to get a burst of energy from the monster hunter’s stimulant. It alleviated the last of her fatigue from the river, as well as the shadow of dread that the naval cannonade cast over her heart. Of course, with the pirate ship disintegrating bit by bit thanks to the withering combined assault of the Raptor, Tinkerslug, and submariners, she didn’t have a moment to lose. Something needed to be taken out of the equation–and with his Breaching Bastion, Geralt had just the ticket.

“We’ll cover you!!” Nadia called to him. “Just give us a sec!”

Speeding toward the Adrian from their airship came LeFwee’s finest, the shipgirls Massachusetts and Ingraham, plus the fearsome Hydroid Rakkam and a tenacious-looking fishman, who managed to keep pace with the wave-riders with the simple act of swimming. Ace’s parting shots made them wary, but none hit, so his attempt at a diversion fell short. All four would be running circles around Nadia if she tried fighting them in their element, but she didn’t plan to leave the piratical gang to Peach. She watched the sky until one of the bombers not yet dispatched by Pit cruised in to rip through one of the Adrian’s sails, then rushed to shimmy up the nearest mast. When the freakish plane-monster burst through the sailcloth, Nadia pounced with her trademark catlike reflexes and grabbed hold of the Abyssal’s rigid wings, digging her claws in. “Here, birdie-birdie!” It shrieked and scratched at her with its talons, but to no avail. The next second both were out over the water. Just as Nadia hoped, this thing could support her weight while flying, and when she yanked on one wing or another Nadia could make the creature turn. Just in time, too; the next moment Massachusetts opened fire on the Adrian, and at Rakkam’s beckoning great tentacles burst from the ocean to encircle the ship and pull it apart. “Hmm, that looks fun,” Rubick said to himself as he observed Hydroid, pointing his staff at him and Power Stealing it for himself. When the information reached his brain, he quickly became excited. “Oh ho ho hooo~ it’s even better than I thought!”

Blazermate, being the medic of the team, had been spending her time buffing those who weren’t too badly damaged with her medi-beam, increasing their effective health and charging her shield and her medaforce. While she would need more time to get her medaforce up, this quickly got her shield charged in the matter of a dozen seconds having such a massive target rich environment to heal.

With Geralt under fire, the Seekers needed to take initiative. Nadia steered the Abyssal toward Peach as Blazermate flew out to join them, healing those on the way, and together they headed out to meet the LeFwee pirates atop the waves. The princess added to Susie’s rockets with an explosive salvo from her own launcher and a handful of torpedoes in the water. Registering the challenge, the enemy squad turned their attention to their opponents and changed formation to engage the threat. Massachusetts turned the six cannon barrels of her rigging on the incoming misfits with a smirk. “I can appreciate a little backbone,” she said, her low but powerful tone amplified by her comms array to carry across the water. “Show me what you can do.”

Rip Tide let out a foamy, guttural chuckle. “Course, we’ll blow you chumps outta the water long before then!” As Massachusetts took aim, Rakkam unleashed his Tempest Barrage, calling from the ocean an artillery onslaught of liquid fury to rain down on the water’s surface, forcing all three Seekers to take emergency evasive action. Peach quickly realized that her umbrella wouldn’t be much help against this deluge as several projectiles punched through the fabric and into her body; Nadia’s Abyssal ride didn’t make for much of a shield either. She, Peach, and Blazermate all took a battering from the impact damage, softening them up for the cannonade from Massachusetts that followed. As it turned out, the Raptor’s chief gunner possessed some serious skills. Two shots whizzed by Nadia close enough for her to feel the heat before one struck the bomber she dangled from head-on, nearly destroying its head. Seeing the first two shots of cannonfire coming to the group as Blazermate recovered from her tumble from the wave, Blazermate used her projectile shield to block incoming shots. She missed the first one that nearly missed Nadia, but was able to fizzle the shell that was heading right for Peach. And all while she could heal herself and the others from the safety of her barrier as they approached, at least from the front.

Susie meanwhile had begun advancing on the location of the pirates from a different direction than the others. She began to spin up the arms on her mech before dashing forward with them spinning like sawblades, moving at incredible speeds as she dashed to crash into all of them. By that time of course, they’d broken formation, and Rakkam, who’d been mitigating the incoming explosives with corrosive shots from his Carcinus Scourge speargun surfed up to take care of the easy target before she started causing problems. He hurled his speargun at the incoming mech, and though it did little damage, the burst of strange energy it released in an area created a bullet attractor field directly on Susie’s head. Rakkam swapped to his secondary weapon, the Akjagara pistols, and hammered the trigger. The precision barrage left Susie in dire straits in a matter of seconds.

Susie figured that this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but boy was she wrong. She never had to deal with this stuff when dealing with pinkie, as even if he turned into a weird rock and came down on top of her in her business suit, the suit would just take the damage. Apparently that wasn’t how things worked in this world, and Susie’s suit started to spin wildly as she was hit and more or less knocked out, the suit’s arms still spinning and damaging anything nearby for awhile before she came to a stop, just floating on the water. At least she wouldn't’ sink unlike some others.

For the moment, however, Geralt was in the clear; it was time to silence the Raptor’s thunder. Geralt took careful aim at the Raptor, a test shot of the Bastion’s smaller guns confirming that he had the right of it. With no fanfare, only grim determination, he fired the main cannon, the massive projectile firing directly at the balloon keeping the Raptor in the air.

“Looks like they need to be taught a lesson,” Rubick said, finally leaving his hiding spot and making his way over to the edge of the ship. While Geralt took aim, he’d pointed his staff toward Massachusetts and begun to charge the ability for a few seconds. Once he was done, he announced, “Tentacle Swarm!” and summoned a large mass of watery tentacles underneath the Shipgirl, intending to restrain her and prevent her from damaging the ship further. Massachusetts neither anticipated nor could guard herself against her ally’s attack turned against her. The tentacles that erupted beneath her ensnared both her limbs and her rigging as they lifted her into the air. Amused, she pit her strength against them in a mighty struggle, but for a moment her artillery assault against the others petered out.

In that same moment, Geralt’s ordnance hit its mark. His shell blew straight through the Raptor’s balloon, in one side and out the other. A chorus of yells rang out as the ship jerked, knocked off-kilter enough to stop its continuous broadside in its tracks and begin its descent toward the water. “What in blazes!?” LeFwee squawked as his crew members rolled around the deck, ignoring the Gill Grunt who got hurled overboard. He glared up at the gaping punctures in his balloon. “How’d they hit us!? Where be the Trophy thingy!?”

Holding on to the railing for dear life, his Blumaroo deck hand yelped back. “But captain, you said to…!”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT I SAID, JUST GET THE DAMN THING!” the parrot screamed. “And someone patch the balloon, before we be dead in the water!”

As the Raptor dipped lower and lower, losing helium fast, the crew scrambled to salvage the situation. Most climbed up the rigging and slap a couple of giant patches on the balloon, while a few fetched a curious device from the hold to set up on deck. For now, no more cannonballs sailed toward the Adrian, allowing the Seekers to focus on the battle at hand.

Hydroid’s Tempest Barrage came to an end just a couple seconds before Massachusetts ripped free of the Tentacle Swarm, using her cannons to blast apart the constructs and give her room to move. She then carved her way loose with a pair of small anchors connected by chains to spools on her rigging, wielding them like hand axes. As Ingraham sped up to top off her health, she pointed her anchor toward Rubick and Geralt. “Rakkam. Take care of those two, will you?” In response the warframe twirled his speargun and began to surf their way.

With the Raptor slowly descending, Geralt turned his guns towards the advancing Rakkam, the smaller cannons opening fire while the larger one slowly reloaded. “Unfortunately,” He called out to Rubick above, trying not to be too loud so that their enemies heard, “This thing can barely move. If it goes badly, can you pull me up and out onto the ship? I also can’t fix this thing if it gets too badly damaged, it needs to be physically repaired. We have an engineer I could ask where we’re going, but it’s a big ask and I don’t think he’d do it for free.”

Rubick tilted his head from side to side as he responded, “Sure, that’s an easy matter. And in the other scenario, I do still have some funds, so there’s no issue there either.” Turning his attention back to the Shipgirls and warframe, he couldn’t help but worry a bit. They were converging towards the Adrian, and he was still sorely lacking in firepower. Even the Tentacle Swarm wouldn’t hold them back for long. Still, it was something to do. Charging the spell again, Rubick once again summoned the mass of watery tentacles under Hydroid Rakkam.

Rubick then pulled out his Magic Wand and activated it, causing the energy stored within to restore a portion of his spent reserves. Rubick did have a large reserve of mana, but he needed to manage his resources efficiently. He would have to work hard if he wanted to survive this. While doing so, he also witnessed Rakkam disappear beneath -or maybe into- the surface of the water with Undertow, effectively dodging the stolen ability and hiding his approach. In another moment, the warframe would be here.

Back out on the water, Peach’s group had managed to gain some ground after weathering the Tempest Barrage and gunfire storm with the help of Blazermate’s shield and healing. Since the medabot prioritizes her allies, a shell to the head spelled the end for Nadia’s ride, but the cat burglar didn’t mind hopping on top of Blazermate instead. Balancing on top of the robot’s pigtails with feline grace, she tensed her muscles for a superjump as the barrier began to flicker. With a final explosive burst from Massachusetts, the shield went down, and it was go time.

Looking to take out the medic first, Rip Tide immediately breached the surface to drive his swordfish into Blazermate’s torso with the whole weight of his body behind it, ensuring that even if he didn’t hit anything vital, he’d essentially tackle both her and her passenger into the water. That is, if Nadia hadn’t already been jumping as well. “Peach, send me!” The feral bailed off of Blazermate and went for the princess, who understood and used her umbrella to bounce the catgirl in the direction of the enemy. A pressurized blood blast did the rest. Nadia launched toward Massachusetts, not really knowing if her daredevil pounce would hit or miss, but either way, the shipgirl didn’t plan on letting her foe find out. Her anchor whipped through the air toward Nadia with a tremendous din of clanking chain, fast and well-aimed enough that the feral barely put up her guard in time to deflect the heavy metal to the side. “Anchor, aweigh! …Nyowch!” Despite her pain resistance, the dent left in her forearm hurt a lot.

Massachusetts grabbed her chain and yanked to reel it back in while throwing her other anchor. Nadia’s first instinct was to airdash out of the way, but going anywhere else would leave her with nothing but the ocean. She made a split-second decision and stayed her course, which meant that the shipgirl’s anchor struck her clean in the head, literally knocking her block off as she reeled backwards midair. Seeing her enemy beheaded, and a little disappointed it was over so soon, Massachusetts took hold of her chain to retract it. To her surprise, Nadia pivoted midair, the muscle fibers that still connected her head to her body -and her toothy grin- hidden by the blood. “Purr-fect!” She snatched the passing anchor and let the surprised shipgirl pull her straight to where she wanted to be. Nadia zoomed in, somersaulting like a vertical sawblade, and slammed her fishtail down on Massachusetts’ head. As her tail curled she kicked off her opponent’s shoulders and into the air, then at the height of her backflip shot both forearms down to grab the shipgirl’s rigging and rubber-band back down headfirst for a skull-rattling headbutt. The impact knocked Massachusetts over backward, and both tumbled across the water.

Blazermate, having seen that her shield was going down, was preparing for more evasive maneuvers. Nadia put a bit of a stop to that for a bit by jumping on her pigtails though in order to attack someone else, which forced Blazermate to have to rely on her suffering shield arm when Rip Tide decided to jump at her from the water. Still, Blazermate could try to deflect the guy so she didn’t go into the water with him, it’d take forever for her to get out of that, so she sidestepped his attack and used her suffering shield to deflect his thrust away from her. The shield, having been attacked, attacked back by biting Rip Tide as he passed by, infecting him with the zombie virus. Of course, for it to have any effect he would need to die first, and for this Aqua-Fighter that was a tall order. The bite stopped his momentum, and he used that moment to twist around and grab hold of the shield’s edge. “Not bad!” Suddenly, Blazermate was supporting his weight, and Rip Tide plunged his swordfish inside the mouth of her shield, piercing through its innards and into the arm inside. He then leaped off her, and from his pocket somehow pulled a large Blubber Whale to hurl down at the medabot like a giant mallet. “But not good enough!”

Blazermate didn’t like this guy trying to shove a sword fish into her shield, and battered away his sword when he was a fair amount in there to reduce the damage and disarm the guy, which he seemed all too happy to lose as he leaped away and tried to throw something at her from his pocket. Blazermate had the mobility to dodge the car sized whale coming at her from this guy, especially considering he had to make that throw while falling being unable to fly himself. Before he fell in the water though, Blazermate could mark all of his weak points, which light glowed through the water when he was near the surface, making his ambush tactics not as effective anymore. The Blubber Whale struck the surface with a mighty slap, sending up a geyser of water, but its target got away just in time.

It had gotten her attention that a few people were hurt, so she had to go deal with that. Susie most of all, who got hit by something nasty. ”Hey, someone else play with this brat, I’ve got work to do.” Blazermate said as she went to go heal Susie, buffing the nearby Peach her with some overheal before doing so. Obligingly the princess skated in to give Blazermate a break and take her place against Rip Tide. The fishman held out his hand for his swordfish to jump into, and moved in to accept her challenge.

World of Light

Ms Fortune

Location: Sea of Serendipity
Level 9 Nadia (67/90)
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet and Pit’s @Yankee, Sakura and Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Omori’s @Majoras End, Nadia Fortune, Peach
Word Count: 2263

For a couple minutes Nadia rested on her rock, allowing the cool freshness of the rain to revitalize her. Ever since her fusion with the Rhodeia, the hydrokinetic Oceanid from Carcass Isle, she found herself endowed with a better sense of purity when it came to water. While not filthy by any stretch, the river couldn’t exactly be called clean either, with all the plant and mineral debris stirred and broken up by the ruthless rapids. Nothing felt purer than the rain, formed from vapor up. in the clouds where water, the source of all life, coagulated and fell far from the reach of earthly foulness and contaminants. And thank goodness, really, because without this newfound appreciation Nadia figured she’d be pretty damn miserable by now.

As the rain rinsed the fatigue built up by fighting against the rapids away, more of her fellow Seekers accumulated in Floria Lake at the bottom of the mountain river. It looked like Geralt, Sakura, Peach, Rika, Bowser, and Karin all made it without any obvious issue. Had she really been the only one to lose her boat? Then again, as she took stock of those around her Nadia began to realize just how many allies weren’t here yet. Of Rubick, Omori, Ace, Pit, Blazermate, Susie, Kamek, and Junior she found no sign. “Where is everyone?” she wondered aloud. “Hope they didn’t wash down a dead end, or somethin’.” She remembered the gigantic bear, and shivered at the thought of poor Junior or Omori disappearing into that horrendous maw. Maybe they should have all stuck together on the way down, after all.

Her reverie came into an abrupt end as a giant robot appeared over the waterfall, which nearly made her lose her head. “What!?” Only her recognition of Blazermate through the downpour stopped her falling back into the drink, and after flailing her arms to regain her balance Nadia got to her feet. It took a few seconds, as well as the sight of Kamek flying around the enormous Medabot, for the feral to put two and two together. “Ohhh!” She scratched the back of her head, looking sheepish. “I totally for-bot about Kamek’s size magic for a spell, huh?”

The arrival of both robo-ladies and the missing Koopa Troop members did a lot to assuage Nadia’s worries–it looked like the others just fell behind, after all. Only one question remained: what was giga-Blazermate holding? In short order Nadia got her answer, as the big healer plopped the thing into the water and Kamek restored both of them to normal. As Blazermate shrunk back down, the wooden thingamajig grew, revealing itself to be the pirate ship Adrian, seized from the ship graveyard up at the river’s headwaters for use on the open ocean.

“Wow, that’s so smart!” she exclaimed, impressed at the others’ resourceful combination of powers. How they somehow made friends with a literal monster like Cortez, she couldn’t imagine. “You’re tellin’ me we ‘arr’ actually gonna set sail on a real pirate boat? That’s some serious gourmet ship!”

Peach shared the feral’s enthusiasm. “Good work, everyone. And thank you, Mr. Cortez, for lending us a hand. They can be a rowdy bunch, but trust me, they’re all worth their weight in gold.”

“Gold, eh?” the skeletal pirate mused, drawing his hook along his jawbone with an unpleasant scraping sound. “I’ll hold ye to it, Princesa.”

A few of the heroes, eager to be out of the rain, in a sturdier watercraft, or both, climbed aboard. Nadia charged up her water pressure and launched off her rock to sink her claws into the Adrian’s exterior. Compared to Shippy, with its singular mast and sail, the Adrian was massive. It boasted three masts, with three sails on the largest of the bunch, and even an auxiliary sail on the prow. With its pitch-black hull and will o’ wisp crew, it looked every inch the haunted pirate vessel, which Nadia honestly found sick as hell. “I’ll take normal ghosts any day of the week,” she murmured. While she could have easily ascended to the deck and walked around like anyone else, using her claws to climb around the hull felt more fun, so she maneuvered herself all the way up to the prow. After stopping to appreciate the horrific skeletal figurehead, she swung up onto the bowsprit, then trotted out along the narrow beam -using her tail for balance- until she could take hold of the rope connecting to the forward sail. “Avast, me hearties!” she cried. “Aweigh anchor!”

Peach, having skated up toward the ship’s front after Rika, gave a nod. “Yes, let's move out!” she called, waving to Cortez up at the ship’s wheel.

“Aye aye!” the pirate replied. At his command the sails unfurled, billowed in the wind, and got the Adrian moving through the waters of Floria Lake.

This turn of events somehow took Nadia by surprise. “Wait, we’re really goin’? What about Ace and the others?”

“They know where we’re going, and they’re more than capable,” Peach replied. She did not look one hundred percent confident herself, but the situation couldn’t be helped. “Besides, we couldn’t very well go back and search the whole mountain range. With how much faster the rowboats are, they can catch up in no time.”

Not totally reassured, Nadia kept looking back over her shoulder as the final waterfall grew farther away, her ears lowered and a worried look on her face. The team had a whole haunted ship to call their own now, bound for open waters and a straight shot to a grand reunion, but the feral couldn’t put aside a sinking feeling.

Cortez steered the Adrian through the short channel to the sea. After rounding the mountainous bend at the forefront of the ship, Nadia was the first non-shipgirl to catch a glimpse of the open ocean, as well as what lay atop it. A ways from the shore lay what looked like a floating city, not unlike Limsa Lominscuttle Town, but as she studied it Nadia found more differences than similarities. While Limsa stood on firm foundations, a seastack city with bastions of stone like a castle, this one looked rose above the waves on stilts and trunks of wood, with tent canopies rather than carven parapets over huts and floors of slapdash, nailed-together wooden planks, their lower reaches thick with seaweed and bivalves. Rafts floated between the sea towers, many rather elaborate buildings in and of themselves. Anchored to the sea floor, they rocked precariously on the waves. Compared to Limsa’s splendor, the place looked shoddy, quaint, and dilapidated. Nadia marveled that such a place could still stand in such turbulent waters, but the World of Light nothing was impossible.

She also noticed that the rain seemed to have thinned. Though the sky remained moody, its deluge fell off to just a drizzle, and with the haze lessened Nadia could see a lot farther. She looked up and down the coastline, finding it mostly rocky and mountainous. The nearby cliffs divulged a flock of black birds, probably emboldened enough by the reduced rain to make their move back to their nests. Maybe it was just the cat in her, but Nadia couldn’t take her eyes off them. They flew in the direction of the Adrian, their flapping ungainly and irregular. Now that they grew closer, she could see that their wings looked rather small, too, with tails that were thick and long, more like a fish’s. Were these even birds at all?

Nadia’s eyes narrowed. Whatever they were, these things were weird, with their stubby white beaks, opening and closing as they glided. They looked more like teeth than anything. “Wait,” she murmured, craning her neck upward to get a better look as the creatures passed overhead despite the rain in her eyes. Black bodies, white teeth. Short, steady wings, and a long body. Almost like a plane. But what were they clutching in their talons? The feral gasped, so suddenly that she nearly choked herself, and at the top of her lungs yowled, “ABYSSALS!”

“Take cover!” Peach cried.

The next moment, the attack began. Several dozen explosive canisters rained down on the Adrian from the bombers, each packing the punch of a fragmentation grenade. The chain reaction laid waste to the upper deck, including the masts and the ship’s wheel, wounding Cortez in the process. As Nadia sprinted down the bowsprit one bomb struck the beam, snapping it like a matchstick. The feral jumped and let out some blood for an airdash, narrowly twisting around another bomb in the process, and latched onto the wood beneath the Adrian’s prow for cover. She fought to hold on by digging her claws deeper when the ship rocked wildly, bashed about by the force of both the explosives on deck and those that detonated in the water beside it. Shards of wood and smoke filled the air, while will o’ wisp crewmen dissipated into nothing with an ethereal shriek apiece.

Still, from her position Nadia managed to avoid the worst of it, and it also gave her a good look at what came next. From the shelter of the nearby mountains emerged an airship suspended beneath a giant balloon emblazoned with the symbol that was the nightmare of every mariner: the pirate skull. It kept its distance from the Adrian as it began to circle around, its deck full of neopets armed to the teeth and harpoon-wielding Gill Grunts, all screaming themselves hoarse in a terrifying throng. At the same time, the surface of the ocean opposite them exploded to reveal a three-eyed leviathan with another pirate ship built into its shell. Some sort of bubble that extended over its deck deactivated, and a horde of scimitar-wielding Tinkerbats appeared. A purple blur shot up from their midst to land in the crow’s nest, and from that lofty perch an uproarious laugh rolled across the ocean.

“Ohohohohohoho!” The lady captain guffawed, extending her sword toward the vessel that had fallen right into her trap. “Well hello there, my pretties!” she called, her voice amplified by her megaphone. “Welcome to the Sea of Serendipity. I, the great pirate Risky Boots, will be your guide today on your grand tour…of Davy Jones’ Locker! Prepare yourselves for the wrath of my Part Omni-Organic, Partially Titanic, Ocean-Optional Tinkerslug!”

Nadia blinked, thrown for total loop by her uncharacteristically quick observation. “P.O.O.P.T.O.O.T.!?”

Risky bared her teeth. “Don’t call it that!”

“RAAAWK!” A shrill scream from the other vessel. Nadia span her head around to see a purple-clad pirate parrot LeFwee on the deck of the airship, flanked by the warframe Hydroid Rakkam with a gunspear and the swordfish-wielding Rip Tide. “Not if we sink ‘em first! Fire, me hearties!”

Determined not to be outdone, Risky fired her pistol into the air. “POOPTOOT, open fire!”

Thunder rolled across the Sea of Serendipity as both halves of the pincer attack let loose. The Raptor fired a triple-fanged broadside, while the Tinkerslug unleashed its four forward-facing cannons. Finally, Port O’ Panic itself opened fire with the only cannon on its solitary Lookout Tower, operated by the marine iguana Reme Lousteau and the nymph Annetta Fish herself, with a tall stranger looking on. Cannonballs hurtled through the air toward the Adrian, none of them on target quite yet, but it would only be a matter of time before the bombardiers dialed in their aim.

“Gahahaha!” LeFwee cackled. “We got ‘em right where we want ‘em! Let’s finish it off quick-like! Get down there, ye scurvy dogs!”

Rakkam and Rip Tide vaulted over the Raptor’s railing and plummeted down toward the waves below, joined by two more fighters that, unlike them, stopped on the water’s surface. The Raptor’s chief gunner, Massachusetts, prepared to join the bombardment, while the medic Ingraham hung back with her healing drones. Rip Tide rose to the surface and began to swim toward the Adrian, backed up by Rakkam as he surfed atop a wave.

“I’m one step ahead of you, featherbrain!” Risky barked back. “Submariners, now!”

In the water beneath the Adrain, the sisters Adie and Elsie got to work. With their arm cannons they laid into the bottom of their target from below, blowing out chunks of hull so that the giant Thumpback could hook his anchor inside and really start doing some damage.

As the first cannonball hit the ship, jarring it almost hard enough to shake Nadia into the water, she grit her teeth and tried her best not to panic. Pirates, rogue shipgirls, loose Abyssals, and heavy artillery. Memories of Blackwater Bay had her stunned. This wasn’t just bad. It was terrible.

Twilight Town

Level 10 Tora (62/110) Level 10 Poppi (62/110) Level 7 Big Band (76/70)
Primrose and Therion’s @Yankee, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Bede’s @Crimson Flame, Roxas’ @Double, Vandham, Shovel Knight, the Phantom Thieves
Word Count: 2018

The moment the subway car’s doors parted to let its passengers disembark, Tora realized that the name ‘Twilight Town’ wasn’t just for show. Orange-gold light poured through the train station’s windows across the polished red granite and beige travertine tiles of the interior, casting long, dark shadows from the benches and counters beneath great arches. Vast, stately, and practically empty except for the new arrivals, it imparted a slight echo to the footsteps and voices of the visitors, but more than that it offered a sense of quiet and peace that neither the open-air platforms at Radlandia, nor the top-security Biodome headquarters, nor the cramped confines of Rapture’s underwater transportation hub, nor the vista at the terrace station amidst Karnaca’s pungent winds could provide.

In Band’s eyes, the place possessed a solemn grandiosity that befitted a cathedral more than a train station. With stained glass and an altar or two, he might have just as well been back at the Grand Cathedral of the Trinity. That place always gave him the creeps, even before he caught wind of the rumored catacombs that lay beneath, where the Skullgirl Marie surreptitiously bided her time until New Meridian faced its judgment day. Did those sepulchral crypts still exist, beneath the city at the bottom of the ocean deep? The detective honestly didn’t want to know, and with how things were headed, he had bigger fish to fry, anyway. He lifted his face to the comfortable warmth of Twilight Town’s forever-setting sun, so much kinder than the cyclopean depths of the earth or sea, and for just a moment’s time pondered the irony of how the apocalyptic threat of the Skullgirl now suddenly seemed so small.

He took a deep breath and hurried after the others, stomping across the open floor of the train station to the front doors. Tora and Poppi led the way, though whether the defensive duo took point to protect the others or just sate their curiosity, Band couldn’t say. The two ended up holding the door open for the others, with Poppi taking stock of who’d made it in the process. Both Octopath Travelers, the entirety of the Phantom Thieves, Big Band, Jesse, her old friend Vandham, and her new friend Bede all stepped out into the eternal dusk that shone down on the Station Heights plaza. Poppi noted a handful of absences, but between the reports of Band and Primrose she didn’t concern herself too much about the missing members of the Black Line or Mountain teams. That left just the Virgin Victory delegation with their ornery escort Asbestos, and the Purple Line crew that Therion made no mention of. If something went wrong though, Poppi assumed that the thief would tell them, so for now she joined her Masterpon in the plaza with a worry-free processor to take in the sights.

“Wow-wow!” Tora marveled, flapping his wings in excitement. “It so pretty! And peaceful!” As she scanned Station Heights, Poppi couldn’t help but agree. It was, in a word, cozy. The whole city seemed to be cast in friendly, homey earth tones of brown, yellow, and tan, accented all throughout by the green of countless potted plants, flower boxes, and rooftop gardens everywhere one looked. The routes visible from here, especially the Market Street, curved and wended in an organic fashion, all awash in the soft yellow glow of lanterns, windows, and shop signs. Places like the nearby cafe featured chalked blackboard menus out front with the day’s specials written out in cursive. Railings and fixtures inevitably featured wrought iron, curled and bent into all sorts of shapes, and the people who ambled around seemed unusually carefree. Pleasant, relaxing music rolled up and down the brick roads from various establishments, completing an unprecedented nice atmosphere. Behind the new arrivals towered the clock tower in all its splendor.

Tora took a deep breath. He got no trace of the pestilence or sea-borne foulness that he whiffed in Karnaca, and none of the weird scents that befuddled his senses in Radlandia. Just the aromas of coffee and baked goods, reminding him that lunchtime couldn’t be far off. “Tora not believe it. Friends actually get spend time in nice spot? No sand, no snow, no monsters? Nothing to do but wait for more friends? Sound like Tora dream!”

“Better enjoy it while it lasts,” the team’s detective chuckled. “After this, we’re back on the beat.”

“Yes-yes, Tora know.” Grumbling, the Nopon brushed his hair back with a wing, only for it to pop straight back up. “So, where to for lunch?”

As it happened, the new arrivals were due for a reunion already. As they milled around the plaza, a familiar inhuman silhouette cresting the top of Market Street caught their eye, and Tora turned to see Sectonia on her way over. “Meh, meh! More friends incoming!” he called, waving. Since her fusion with a certain flowery Spectrobe the bug queen looked more monstrous than ever, but it looked like she and the Scout had made a new friend. Both Tora and Poppi noticed his distinctive outfit right away. “Oh! You…you!”

“Organization 13?” Poppi asked, her memory banks crystal clear on the matter. Though the member who called herself Ram assisted the team several times in the Sandswept Sky, she remembered the hassle that the die-headed one caused them in Lumbridge. “Here to help this time, Poppi hope?”

As the reunified Seekers ironed that out, Tora’s attentioned began to wander. He heard a noise above Twilight Town’s general ambiance, the unmistakable sound of motors and machines, which naturally piqued the engineer’s curiosity. As he listened the noise got louder and louder, coming roughly from the plaza’s north side, and he pitter-pattered over in that direction to look. Suddenly, a bizarre contraption roared around the corner, drifted past a candy shop, and promptly tipped over onto its side with a loud crash. “Dangit!” the boy behind the wheel yelled, seemingly more annoyed than hurt by the impact, before he unbuckled himself. As Tora watched, taken aback, a handful of other makeshift cars hurtled around the corner, each more kludged than the next.

A long buggy narrowly missed the fallen vehicle, giving the monkey Amigo driving it a chance to screech at Alex, followed shortly by a white-bearded dwarf on a trolley. An H-shaped doohickey wobbled along with the graffiti artist Gum in back, and a monster truck steered by a red-suited maniac in a gas mask brought up the rear. The parade of cobbled-together vehicles did a rather low-speed lap around the station plaza, honking their horns to clear the road, then headed for the south road. Multiple collisions occurred, making the reason for the wrought-iron poles around the plaza’s perimeter sidewalk very clear, but somehow the vehicles just bounced off everything in their path, including one another.

Poppi jetted over to make sure her Masterpon was okay as he approached the fallen racer, then landed beside him and turned a furrowed brow on Alex. “What is meaning of this?”

“It’s a race, duh!” the boy told them. “Can you help me here? Pretty please?”

Tora, who’d been staring at the machinery, suddenly gave Alex his undivided attention. “If we help, can we ride with? Tora help distribute weight better!”

“Sure, but c’mon! I’m gonna come in last at this rate!” Alex wailed.

Nodding, Tora turned to his companion. “Please to flip it, Poppi!”

“What? Why? Masterpon, explain.” Poppi questioned him, baffled. She didn’t question the danger of joining the race, knowing that his durability made any accidents at these mediocre speeds a joke, but she couldn’t fathom why.

“Where there funny contraption, there certainly funny mechanic, meh!” Tora reasoned, his eyes sparkling. “While have down time, Tora want learn all about local machines! Plus, after seeing friend Rose-Rose, Tora have many new idea for upgrade Poppi Qt Pi chassis!”

Poppi crossed her arms, a suspicious look on her face. “Poppi chassis just fine as-is, thank you.”

She glanced over to see Band on his way over, having threaded the needle between racers on their way out of the Station Heights plaza. He honked his horn as he slid to a stop. “Hey, if there’s a grease pit nearby, you can finally gimme that tune-up ya owe me, instead.”

“Meh!?” Tora balked, the prospect of one exciting project pulled out from under his nubby little feet and replaced with something totally different. Still, time was wasting, and the pros outweighed the cons. “Fine, fine, yes. Tora make good on word for friend Biggypon Band!”

Poppi nodded, and with one hand flipped Alex’s car back onto its tires. Both he and Tora mounted up, with Poppi and Band resolved to follow behind. The Nopon waved to the other Seekers. “Come on, friends! This look like fun!” Alex put his pedal to the metal, and at a sprightly twenty miles an hour, sped away.

---

The race came to an end in the town’s southernmost point, halfway down the slope, in a lot surrounded by trees with padded bumpers on their trunks; there, the Seekers found a machine shop called Mumbo’s Motors. With Tora as ballast in the back Alex’s rickety contraption only tipped over two more times on the downhill stretch to get here, and as the vehicle slowed to a stop to take last place, the Nopon hopped down with only minor bruises to offset his giddy excitement. This place looked like an inventor’s paradise, with piles of components from nuts and bolts to engines and wheels stacked high. Some of the racers who stuck around already seemed to be tinkering with their rides, pulling them apart and socketing them together like toys. In charge of the place were two chief mechanics whose only point of commonality was their overalls: the skull-headed Mumbo and the formidable Ellie. They alternated between telling the racers what to do and trying to do it themselves, bickering all the while. It was perfect. The fact that the building’s plumed facade looked sort of like a Nopon with a mohawk was just icing on the cake.

It was perfect. As much as Tora loved the smell of food, the odors of oil, gas, coolant, and rubber were near and dear to his heart, as well. He bounced up and down, flapping his wings. “Meh, meh, meh! Tora can’t wait for tinkerings!” When he looked at Band, however, he closed his eyes and gave a stiff nod. “But first, Tora fulfill promise! When done, friend Band feel good as new! Tora learn lots about ancient tech from peeking around insides too, meh!”

“You sure you oughta have said that last part?” Band asked him, brows furrowed, before sighing. “Still, ain’t gonna turn down my first real tune-up in who-knows-how-long. Show me whatcha got, li’l man.”

As the two went inside, Poppi approached the others. “It look like they let anyone use chop shop for free. Everyone allowed to put together own cars and race around Twilight Town perimeter track, or others, but Mumbo Motors not liable if people do bad job. Could learn how drive, too.” She shrugged. “We just need kill time until rest of Seekers arrive from Alcamoth, so can do something else if friends want. If Poppi know Masterpon, he definitely want lunch after this, though. Hopefully finish just in time for full reunion, and everyone get bite together. Meet you all in hour?”

World of Light

The Chalk Prince and the Skullgirl, the Prisoner, and Frisk

Frisk’s @Majoras End, the Prisoner’s @XoXKieroBombXoX

Eager for warmth and rest at long last after a harrowing winter’s night on Dragonspine, Frisk set off with Teba, Joel, Joserf, and the Prisoner in tow. The countless spots of distant light in the cosmos above mirrored the snow-white landscape below, dotted as it was by the azure glimmer of so many blue flowers, the earth and heavens connected by beams of moonlight to make clear the travelers’ northwestern path. Trudging through the earth beneath that starry night felt almost dreamlike, as if this mystical, ephemeral realm might fade away at any moment. At times even the moon itself looked oddly hollowed, as if chiseled away by some celestial carver in a fundamentally unwholesome manner, and for a moment it seemed as though a second moon drifted above the World of Light to keep the incomplete moon company. Yet the moment Frisk so much as blinked her eyes, it was gone, so suddenly and without ceremony that she couldn’t help but wonder if that second moon ever really existed in the first place. Now that her adrenaline had faded, fatigue swept in to take its place, and phantoms sprang readily to a tired mind.

The small party met with Linkle and Albedo on the way, prompting a brief recap of the events already explained to Frisk. For her part the Skullgirl couldn’t be happier to see father and son reunited, and while Albedo agreed, the way he kept looking at Joserf once everyone got moving again suggested a subtle distrust. As the starlit darkness gave way to the stretch of riverbed illuminated by radiant trees and effulgent crystals, and electric lights revealed the angular outlines of the long sought-after port town, the vague feelings of mystery and menace that clung to the travelers melted away. Numb from the cold, they made it through the final stretch and dragged their weary feet into the town together.

True to its appellation, this place looked like nothing more than a humble twenty-first century fishing village, ferreted far away from the civilized world on some remote, frigid Canadian coast. It featured only a couple handfuls of buildings, most of them utilitarian, with the largest compound surrounded by a tall barbed-wire fence. It possessed none of the rustic charm of Snowdin and offered the tired travelers nothing in terms of a warm welcome, but the wooden lodge that sat upon the slope above the town confirmed that people did live here, at least. On one side of the docks sat a promising chalet with great glass windows that betrayed some light from within. Whether or not the people here would be welcoming to strangers, especially at such a late hour, Albedo couldn’t say. One thing was clear, however: the original plan to take a boat from here to Edinburgh would absolutely have to wait until the next morning.

After confirming this with Linkle and Frisk, Albedo approached Teba in the hopes of asking about any accommodations this tiny town might be able to offer. If he and the others were going to spend the night, after all, they’d need a place in from the cold to stay, and ideally food at some point. Short and to the point as usual, Teba recommended the seaside chalet, then bid the others farewell. Joel and Joserf left together, with the boy leading his amnesiac father to their home. Even in the dead of night, the youngster knew well the path. That just left the original group who set out from Snowdin, plus a certain sentient pustule along for the ride. “Let us heed Teba’s instruction, then,” the alchemist stated, and the party started moving again.

As he made his way across town, however, Albedo began to get the impression that there might be more to this place than met the eye–and he didn’t mean the miracle of electricity, incredible as it still seemed to him. While at first he just assumed the village to be run-down and neglected, the cracks, holes, gashes, craters, and burns scattered across the walls and walkways told a different story. It looked to him like battle damage, and recent at that. As he passed, a couple of the spaces that at first glance appeared vacant actually harbored the wreckage of other wooden buildings. Meanwhile, one of the few spots with the lights still on turned out to be a clinic, where the local sawbones seemed to be looking after a good half-dozen wounded men, women, and creatures.

From a distance Albedo spotted a wide, red-haired fellow with a colorful collar and viking hat speaking to a very slender woman in a lightly armored suit, wearing a asymmetric helmet composed of many overlaid, spiraling strips like ribbons, but before his group got close the pair split up. The man, looking very much put-out, shook his head as he made his way toward the clinic. Meanwhile the woman happened to cross paths with Albedo’s group by the docks, as she headed for a curious whale-shaped ship. She glanced at them only once as she stalked past beneath the glare of a dock light, one hand perched on her hip. Only her lime-green eyes could be seen beneath her cherry-red getup, and her gaze lingered for a moment on Frisk. Then she went on her way.

As it turned out, the chalet was open, though the white-furred goat who answered the bell looked rather sleepy. Still, Chevre made an effort to be as kind as she could, and offered the newcomers some spare rooms at a very reasonable price for spending the night if they had no other business to attend to in town. She also mentioned a courtesy continental breakfast to be provided the following morning. “Thank you, ma’am,” Albedo told her. As she hoofed it back to bed, he went on to address the others. “Let’s all make sure to rest well, recuperate, and catch the first ferry to Edinburgh MagikaPolis tomorrow morning. See you then.”

Before going to bed himself, however, Albedo went back outside to do a little extra looking around. Contrary to his initial impressions, this fishing village really piqued his curiosity, and it would be difficult to retire for the night with his urge to learn unsatisfied.

World of Light

I wouldn't object, necessarily, but are you sure you'll be able to follow along and keep up? Generally we want to post once a week.

World of Light

Ms Fortune

Location: Riotous River
Level 9 Nadia (64/90)
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet and Pit’s @Yankee, Sakura and Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Omori’s @Majoras End, Nadia Fortune
Word Count: 2176

The brief siesta at the river’s headwater, watching all the assorted bears help themselves to a fishy feast, gave the Seekers a chance to group up again after their hijinx on the Eryth Sea spread them thin. Nadia hadn’t been alone in her opportunistic perusal of convenient shipwrecks in the Kove, as she found when most of her comrades pulled up to the riverbank with at least few articles in loot stashed in their rowboats. Given more time the feral would have been only too happy to give the ship graveyard a more thorough search, especially after she piddled away the last of her money on that morning’s pancake feast, but even putting aside the time it would take, this mission was about helping the stranded members of Yellow Team–not helping herself. Besides, how would she even carry all her ill-gotten gains? By using rope to tie together barrels of treasure behind her rowboat like a miniature sea train?

…

It took some effort, but Nadia managed to shelve the tempting idea for now, reasoning that such a craft couldn’t possibly survive these rapids. Now that she got a good look at it, it might be tough just to get her rowboat through there by itself, what with all the potentially hazardous wildlife. Still, she hadn’t been joking around when she told Kazooie that this log flume got her excited. When she looked around, she saw that most of her team had caught up, and now crowded around the precipice of the first cataract like sea lions on a wharf. A few lagged behind, but nothing she needed to worry about. “Well, if you’d ask me what our chances are, I’d say they’re a little fishy…but bearable. Eh? Eh?” Nadia grinned at the others, her smile bright even in the murky rainstorm. “Nyeheheh. This is gonna be a boatload of fun!”

With the Koopa Troop at the head of the pack and Sakura and Karin caught up in the flow, it was off to the races. Nadia splashed through the pebbly shallows with her boat in tow, launched it into the current, and pounced in head-first. A moment later she flew off the edge, dropped a good twenty feet to the waterfall’s bottom, and bobbed to the surface in a spray of water with her heart full of exhilaration. “Woohoooo!” she yowled, shaking herself off. With a huge grin she closed her hands in a vice grip around her oars and got swept away on a wild rapid ride.

Of course, she got about three seconds in before the first problem slapped her in the face, literally. Agitated by the arrival of the boats, the migrating salmon went into a frenzy, and threw all caution to the wind in a mad dash upstream. The big hook-nosed fish, its scales a vivid crimson, smacked her face sideways before landing in the beat. “Hey!” Nadia cried, trying to grab the thing as it thrashed and nearly sending her new hurdy-gurdy into the drink in the process. “No stowaways, chum!” By the time she tossed it out, another one flew her way, but this time the feral and her lightning reflexes were ready. Though her nature urged her to filet the fish with her claws here and now, she just batted it away with her hand, her claws unsharpened. No use killing them if she couldn’t make use of their meat, after all. More salmon leaped her way, but no matter the angle Nadia struck them aside. “Hey, not a bad warmup!” she laughed, her mission momentarily sidelined in favor of fooling around with different attacks. One after another she dished out chops, palm strikes, ridgehands, backhands, headshots, and plenty of old-fashioned punches, leaving the dazed fish strewn about in her wake. Finally, a massive specimen hurled itself at her, big as a Labrador Retriever, but Nadia stepped up to the plate with her tail held like a baseball bat. With a mighty WHACK she sent it flying into the air. “And it’s a home run!” After nearly tumbling overboard Nadia sat back down, chuckling to herself. “Or should I say salmon run?”

Her amusement turned to dread, however, when the salmon hurled up and slapped down onto the shelf of rock where the Runebear was napping. Disturbed by the meaty impact and the fish’s flailing, the enormous beast rose to its haunches, blinking down at the interlopers raiding its patch of river. As a number of the smaller bears around the riverbanks and cataphracts turned to run, Nadia shrunk down, her ears flattened and her teeth clenched as she let out a nervous laugh. “Ah…aha…hah. Nice…bear?”

In reply the Runebear roared, and a shockwave of pressurized air ripped through the rain to blast apart the water’s surface like a rogue cannonball. “Holy mackerel!” Nadia yelped, seizing her oars. Up ahead, Peach looked back to see why she’d shouted, only for the princess’s eyes to go wide when she saw the Runebear on its feet. “This is bad, beary bad in fact!” Though maybe still not taking this quite as seriously as she should, she immediately bent to the task of getting the hell out of dodge. The giant beast threw itself from its ledge and hit the water in such a tremendous splash that the resulting wave picked Nadia up and sent her boat shooting downstream. “Didja see that!?” the feral hollered as she zoomed up toward Peach. “It bear-ly missed me!”

“Enough with the damn bear puns!” Peach exploded, letting out a little Mr. Grimm as she went into high gear herself.

What followed was a frenetic downstream chase, involving anyone else unfortunate enough to be in the middle of the pack. Though slow, the Runebear seemed to be nigh-unstoppable, bearreling through any obstacles in its path. At times its incredible bulk just about blocked the river’s flow, creating a swell behind it that slowly grew into a tidal wave as the monster washed downstream. As it turned out, the river itself was nothing to sneeze at, either. The distance it covered compared to the Eryth Sea itself in terms of length, but its path through the mountains was anything but predictable. At times it got very deep, taking the form of a half-flooded crevasse in the stone, but sometimes it got shallow enough that the water washed up around the bends like a giant water slide, where the average person could wade through at knee-height. Here and there the river evened out and widened into a small lake, flat enough that a boater might need to pick up his or her oars again, but as Nadia found out with very little warning the river could also fall away at a forty-five degree angle that left her holding onto her boat for dear life.

All sorts of obstacles presented themselves, too. There were stones in the water, from normal rocks to natural columns to ancient ruins beneath the surface. Tree trunks flowed down stream and in some cases stuck in the rocks to create blockages, and more than one beaver dam showed up at the end of a small reservoir. In the more verdant areas, plants often dangled over or into the water. Not everything in the way seemed natural, though. Sometimes the Seekers encountered ramps, or speed-boosting rings. Once Junior got tired of destroying them, the others also got a chance to take out the minigame targets suspended over the water, with each providing a couple rupees for their troubles.

Just after the second forty-five plunge, the river opened up into a foamy pool where green jungle covered the surrounding crags. There the river split, with one branching path each to either side of the ruined tower right in the middle. Thinking quickly, Nadia went with the flow as it favored the right-hand distributary, but as she passed the central structure she shot out a hand to grab hold, allowing her to swerve behind it to the left-hand path. Unable to fight the current, the Runebear got swept along to the right, and Nadia was home free.

The branches of the river flowed in, out, and around one another, headed in roughly the same direction but different in appearance. They tended to be either rocky, with a smattering of highland timber, or jungly, interspersed by occasional caves. On the rockier path lay the only river town, with solemn huts perched on hardy stilts above the water’s flow, connected by rickety wooden bridges. A few raised platforms featured the ability to deploy rafts, but none of the empty ones would accept one of Steve’s rowboats. The town even included a restaurant over the water, where chefs scrambled to serve their customers from atop platforms suspended by ropes. Elsewhere the overgrown remains of aged shrines sat silently in waterfall gorges, their mystique impenetrable as the Seekers were swept by. On the more verdant branches, there were more peaceful stretches just as often as frothing rapids and enormous cataracts. There were many bridges just waiting to clock the unwary rower in the head, from ladders that a traveler could barely balance across to more solid affairs of metal or stone meant for animal or even vehicle traffic. Speaking of animals, the river had its fair share, from fish and birds to swimming dinosaurs and little monsters camped out in crevices. Nadia’s heart never got the chance to stop pumping the whole time; even if she happened to slow down for a moment in some mountain pool or basin, it would only be a few seconds before the flow picked right back up again.

Often Nadia caught sight of the others on their way downriver, but between the currents, branches, and hangups, the Seekers were mostly on their own. Considering everything she’d narrowly scraped around and bounced off so far, Nadia couldn’t believe her boat held up as long as it did, but it was only a matter of time until her luck ran out. With the bear out of sight and out of mind, the feral got the chance to enjoy herself. Whenever the opportunity arose she jumped out of her boat to hop along pillars of rock, run over lily pads, swing from vines, scurry along the riverbank if there was one, or otherwise just wall-run along the the sides of cliffs as her boat floated beneath her using her hardened, stone-scarring claws. Putting her agility to the test against these makeshift courses, and finishing them off with a giant leap back into her waiting boat, was an absolute blast, and with each excursion she pulled off more daring maneuvers than the last. At one point, however, she got a little too cocky and for her final trick swung a few loops around a vine that hung across the river, launching toward her boat in a quintuple-backflip. Rather than land in her watercraft the feral smacked her head against the side, knocked it off-kilter, and plunged into the water. “Owww!” She surfaced a moment later with a grimace, holding her head, and no sooner did she open her eyes than she saw her boat drift directly into a big rock and smash to pieces. “Oh…great.”

Nadia floated the rest of the way in a huff. A strong swimmer, she pushed through the slower parts without any real issue, and when rapids appeared in her way her quick thinking got her through. Well, sometimes; the feral’s resistance to pain came in handy elsewhere. Eventually the elevation leveled out, and all the branches of the river reunited into one big tributary. As the Seekers drifted back together, most of them still miraculously with their boats, Nadia bobbed along with them in the water, bruised, tired, and soaked to the bone. “Don’t want to talk about it,” she muttered sullenly, her droopy ears flicking at the rain. Not long after, the final waterfall deposited the group in a quiet basin at sea level.

Hemmed in on three sides by red-rock cliffs and featuring a handful of giant green mangrove trees, Lake Floria seemed to be a place of relative peace where everyone could recover from the harrowing, multi-faceted trip downriver. With corals down below and a unique ribbed texture on the rock walls, it announced to one and all that they’d finally reached their destination. Nadia clambered up onto a rock, shivering, and got the hair out of her face so the rain could wash the saltwater sting from her eyes. There lay some overhangs nearby that she could have used, but at this point, she didn't even care about being wet anymore. “Y’know, it wasn't that bad, all things considered!” she announced after a moment, keeping a chin up despite the ride’s disappointing end. The whole river ride had taken about half an hour by itself, maybe even longer, and she was worn out. As she looked to the right, she could see through a short curved channel to the open ocean at last. Just a little further, and it would be a straight shot to Twilight Town! Hopefully she could hitch a ride without looking like an idiot in the process.

Nyakuza Metro

Level 10 Tora (59/110) Level 10 Poppi (59/110)
Ace Cadet and Pit’s @Yankee, Bede’s @Crimson Flame, Tora, Poppi, Vandham, Big Band, Peacock
Word Count: 1339

Bloop!

The pale-green barrier deactivated after Tora swiped his pass, allowing him to waddle through. Once Poppi and Bede followed, all four had made it through the checkpoint, and with Vandham in the lead the four began to make their way through the Mint Line station. Just as with the other stations, this one featured its own thematic decor. Rather than the aquariums, water fountains, potted corals, and teal Prismarine bricks of the Blue Line, or the animal-headed statues, pottery, monuments, and sandstone of the Yellow Line, this one featured a rustic, adventurous flair.

It featured a mixture of conventional brick and different kinds of wood, harvested from dozens of different trees with their own colors and textures to make a mosaic of the land’s bounty. Bulletin boards dotted its walls, well-anchored to withstand the rumble of the passing trains, and on them Tora spotted a huge variety of samples, be they leaves, flowers, crops, insects, hides, or monster loot, all carefully preserved. There also seemed to be plenty of pictures, though the only ones that Tora recognized depicted Lumbridge, the First Town. Beyond that, none of the ruins, hamlets, hovels, or natural wonders rung a bell for him. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that just about everything here hailed from the Land of Adventure, collected from previous cycles and brought here for safekeeping before the region’s weekly regeneration wiped them all away. For the second time that hour Tora felt as though he were walking through a museum, but unlike Glorious Karnaca, he couldn’t just leave when he got bored. He seated himself on a pale beige Jacaranda-wood bench to wait for the next train.

“Hopefully friends not need coming through here too often,” Tora mentioned after a solid two seconds of sitting still. “Finding pons to get train pass every time seem like big-big chore.”

Leaning back in his own seat, Vandham scratched the side of his head. “Yeah, mate. Lucky fer us, the place wasn’t designed with someone like Poppi around.” He gave a grateful nod to Tora’s companion. “Made right quick work of it, flyin’ around like that, eh?”

Poppi QT-π proudly tossed her long, lavender hair and crossed her arms. “Of course. In this form, Poppi thrusters calibrated for maximum speed and pinpoint precision. Pons stand no chance, wherever they might hide.”

“Too bad other friends not have Poppi!” Tora gloated, looking terribly smug.

Vandham nodded. “There’s the rub, aye. If the Alcamoth mercenaries mean to use this place, it’ll take a bloody fortune to get passes for ‘em all.”

“Maybe there someone we can speak to in hopes of coming to arrangement,” Poppi suggested.

Just then the small group heard a greeting from right, in the direction they’d come from the Metro proper, and when they looked over poor Tora’s eyes went as wide as saucers. On her way over was an absolutely stunning woman, whose abundant physique drew attention like a gravitational field, and whose constant, hypnotic motion -an effortless and rhythmic dance of swinging hair, streaming silks, jingling jewelry, and swaying curves- made it nigh-impossible to look away. She stood six inches taller than Poppi and only three shorter than the brawny Vandham, with impressive muscles of her own and an enormous ponytail that went from reddish-brown to blonde. She seemed familiar somehow, but at the same time totally different. Only after a few seconds did Poppi’s processor, currently not short-circuiting like a certain someone’s, make the connection.

“...Primrose?”

The name, along with a hard nudge in the ribs from Poppi, seemed to kickstart Tora’s brain back into working order. He blinked a few times, shaking his head, and looked back at the statuesque dancer with a slightly more objective eye. “It is!” he exclaimed after a moment. “Rose-Rose, what happen? I mean, Tora sort of know what happen, but…meh-eh-eh!” After getting another bonk from Poppi, he continued, wincing a little. “Meeh…Tora mean, Rose-Rose get into fight? You okay? What about friends Midna and Braum?”

“Shovel Knight too,” Vandham added, his focus squarely on what mattered. “If ya don’t mind, tell what ‘appened.”

After a few moments, Poppi’s optics picked up some more non-cat motion to the team’s right, and she looked over to see a handful of more familiar faces on their way over. “Oh!” she said suddenly, uncrossing her legs as she sat up straight. “Looks like Phantom Thieves are back.”

Sure enough, Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, and Necronomicon all arrived in one bunch, having coordinated their arrivals with their comms. Unlike Primrose, Panther had yet to fuse with the Scythana spirit she received the night before, no doubt thanks to the impracticality of standing over seven feet while none of her friends even got close to six. None looked hurt, but Poppi knew that the thieves’ healers could have already worked their magic. After hearing about what happened to Midna’s team, Poppi wasn’t about to assume everyone’s trips went as well as her own.

“Hi-hi!” Tora greeted them, glad for a little extra help in his fight against gravity. “How friends’ trip go?”

“I believe it went well, all things considered,” Fox ventured. “We visited a quaint medieval kingdom by the name of Brightvale, which seemed altogether quite pleasant. It was a verdant and picturesque countryside, with rather friendly and peaceable locals. While there, we happened to witness a cheese-rolling competition. I would’ve liked to set up an easel and commit the memory to canvas, had I the time.”

Mona looked a little less happy. “Yeah, but after that was Tomato Town. We went in expecting a nice farming village, but the whole place was a warzone. Smoking craters, bullet casings, all kinds of ruins and wreckage. Worse still, the war’s still going on a ways off! Turns out most of the region is a gigantic battlefield. And it’s all on the far side of Empty Space from Alcamoth anyway, so we hightailed it back here once we got the word, pronto.” The little thief shook his head wearily, then sipped the juice box he’d gotten from one of the food trucks. “By the way, not that I’m a cat or anything, but have any of you noticed that some of these guys look awfully like me? I mean, big heads and everything!”

“You know I was actually just thinking that? Hehe.” After giggling, Panther delivered her own report. “For us, it was just kind of, like, boring, actually. Just different parts of a big dry area. Not a sandy desert, more like a rocky one. There were some big metal buildings, and one tower that went way, WAY up. Buuut since it was pretty clear, we didn’t need to climb it or anything.”

“I really wanted to though, I’ll have to go back later. For a minute we were totally on the top of Alcamoth’s list, but the other team found somewhere closer, I guess,” Skull added.

“Just snowy cities on our end,” Joker said succinctly. “One normal, one really big but ancient-looking.”

“I’m glad I can’t feel the cold!” Necronomicon chirped.

Vandham nodded, absorbing all the information. “Got it. Since we know Band and Peacock got back from the Black Line, that just leaves the folks who went for Gray. I sure ‘ope that Asbestos bird is keepin’ Nelson and MacGregor safe.”

Less than a minute later, the subway train finally arrived. As it pulled in, Big Band slid up too, using Emergency Break to cancel his Brass Knuckles charge. Poppi couldn’t help but notice that the detective was alone. “Where others?” she asked him, her concern writ on her face.

“They’ve got some other business to mind,” Band replied. “I know it’s a minor drag, but it’ll be just me with the in crowd for the time bein’.”

Poppi nodded solemnly. “Poppi hope they find whatever it is they looking for, then.” After a final glance through the station she turned and boarded the subway car. Big Band followed suit, and after just a moment the train got rolling.

The Chalk Prince and the Skullgirl, the Prisoner, and Frisk

Frisk’s @Majoras End, the Prisoner’s @XoXKieroBombXoX

After arriving in the wintry glade and confirming everyone’s condition, the sledders took a few much-needed moments to try and decompress. All things considered, they couldn’t have asked for a better spot, either. Around them the soft glow of the trees and crystal formations assuaged the fundamental fear and uncertainty that plagued their travails through the gloomy caverns, and now that the storms had subsided, fissures opened in the clouds to reveal a starry night. No worrisome echoes reached them to hint at some nearby danger just waiting for a chance to strike. Even the winds relinquished the relentless fury with which they howled across the faces of Dragonspine, a more dire and inexorable predator than any of the elementals or risen dead Frisk faced.

Still, the shadow of the impostor lay over them. Its specters of doubt, regret, and inadequacy would haunt Frisk for some time, Albedo feared. Though neither he nor Linkle knew exactly what duplicitous events transpired on those dark and snowy slopes, the Skullgirl especially couldn’t stand to see Frisk in a bad state because of them. “I know this is rich, coming from me,” Linkle began. “But…you can’t blame yourself.”

Her eyes fell to the skeletal Spheal, now little more than a curled spine with only a distended ribcage to suggest its former shape. When an idea occurred to her, those same eyes shone blood-red in the moonlight. “I could bring Melony back, if it’d help?” Ghostly flame welled in her palm.

“I strongly advise against it,” Albedo said, his voice somehow soft and firm at the same time. “These sorts of wounds cannot be so easily healed. The best treatment is simply time.” He did not dare lay a hand on Frisk's shoulder, but he attempted to communicate his sincerity nonetheless. “That, and the willingness to look forward. To treasure and protect those who yet remain, then be buried with those who are gone.”

Accordingly, the conversation turned to the living, namely Teba and Joel. “Albedo arrived not long after Teba returned,” Linkle told Frisk. “He was very, very mad, and it was hard to get the details straight, but when he realized Joel was okay he calmed down just a little. Then Albedo showed up, half-frozen, and we started to realize what had happened.”

“Teba is still at camp, looking after Joel. He wanted to depart to a cabin farther down the mountain right away, but Joel insisted that both stay a while longer to wait for word from us.” Albedo stared off into the night. “I think he felt responsible. For sending you and Melony into such danger.” He turned back to Frisk and nodded. “They’re not free, but yes, go ahead and return there.”

Linkle nodded too. “Yeah, let them know we’re okay.”

“We’ll make our way over,” Albedo added. “We’ll be retracing our steps once we get back though. By my calculations, the fishing village isn’t much farther northwest from here.”

With permission given, Frisk could zip back to the campfire in the forest of slain giants. When she approached the fire she saw two figures, but not the two she expected. There was Teba, his snow-white plumage orange in the firelight, but also an unfamiliar man-sized shape. As she grew near, the sound of her footsteps spooked the mass, which split in two. It turned out to be the young Joel, who’d been hugging an unfamiliar man. Though Frisk didn’t recognize him, he looked very similar to Joel, and when the gears began to turn in her mind a bright spark of hope rekindled the burnt-out coals of her heart.

Maybe he mistook her for Melony, or merely recognized Frisk through the changes she’d undergone, but at Frisk’s approach, Joel’s face lit up even more. “Dad! This is that person I was telling you about. Her and the others, they were so brave going up into the mountain to look for you! I’m not really sure what happened, but look, they must be okay!”

The man nodded, his look immeasurably apologetic and grateful. “Joel has told me everything about you. I can't thank you enough for trying to help. My memories of my time up there are a little foggy…everything’s blurred together. My memory has still not fully recovered, but Joel and his mother... they are the only ones that I will not... no, that I cannot forget.”

His son sniffed. “Daddy…”

“Daddy's right here, Joel,” Joserf whispered, hugging the boy tight. “Daddy's right here.”

Wings crossed, Teba motioned for Frisk to step aside to give the two their moment. In a low voice, he spoke to Frisk. “He staggered in from the cold just ten minutes ago, half-frozen to death and a little delirious. Things got better after some soup, though.” The Rito nodded at the steaming pot that hung over the campfire. Then his eyes narrowed. “Are the others okay?” After receiving a reply, he sighed. “Look…I’m sorry I blew up on you back there. After learning that you’d been traveling with a fake, everything suddenly clicked. We were all being played against ourselves, and one another.” His eyes settled on the fire. “If only Melony didn’t need to pay the price. But she knew the risks, and was brave enough to take them, even though she couldn’t fight on her own. That’s one tough lady, in my book.” He presented Frisk with a satchel containing Melony’s belongings, including some basic provisions, items, and two Pokeballs. “Do right by her, will you?”

“Anyway,” he said after another moment. “I’ll help two along to the fishing village nearby, where they can spend the night. You and the others ought to come along as well.” He pointed a wing to the northwest, indicating the direction from which Linkle and Albedo would be coming.

Port O’ Panic

Amidst the tropical downpour, turbulent waves driven by the coming storm lapped at the lashed-together rafts and stout wooden stilts of the ocean platforms that constituted the maritime colony called Port O’ Panic. The algal growths whirled and fluttered like a dancer’s fans in the current, while the competing clusters of barnacles and mussels put aside their age-old struggle to batten down the hatches against inclement weather. Given the chance, Reme Losteau would have liked to do the same, but before he could bunker down he had a job to do. Like any marine iguana, purple-scaled or otherwise, he felt out of sorts whenever clouds rolled in to deprive his cold blood of the sun’s warmth, but it wasn’t the chill of the rain on his wetsuit making him shiver right now. Instead, he braced himself at the sight of the dirigible warship that appeared from the rainy haze, cruising in for an expert water landing at the docks of the Port’s central tower.

A gangplank swung down to clatter against the pier, and a moment later, the ship’s master appeared, peg-legged and purple-clad. He looked to be in a foul mood, far fouler than the weather, with his beak twisted up in a scowl as he ground the three metal prongs of his multi-hook together. The villainous-looking parrot stomped down to the dock, casting about such a fearsome glare that even the townsfolk peering from their windows shrank back behind the shutters. They’d learned the hard way that the captain’s ego far outstripped his patience -along with his stature- and that he would brook no insult, whether real or imagined. And right now, his feathers looked about as ruffled as a bird’s could be.

Reme’s expression tightened. “LeFwee.”

He marched right up to Reme and shouted in his face. “That’s CAPTAIN LeFwee to you!” he squawked, sending spittle flying into the iguana’s face. “What be the meanin’ of this, ye flea-bitten bilge rats!?”

Anger simmered behind Reme’s aged eyes, but he kept an even keel. “Captain LeFwee. Madam Fish has urgent business with you. Please follow me.”

“That so?” The parrot ground his beak, his eyes narrowed in annoyance at the bothersome rain. “Hmph! Very well. But if there be any funny business…Bosun!”

At the captain’s bidding, the sky vessel Raptor’s dreaded second-in-command showed his face. LeFwee’s bosun descended from the deck with a powerful gait, heedless of the raindrops that spattered atop his broad, crested helmet, or on the coat slung with casual confidence across broad shoulders. Nobody really knew if this silent giant, who stood almost twice as tall as the parrot who commanded him, was a machine or a living being. Only that his name was Rakkam, and that he was a warrior without peer. Alongside him floated a tentacled companion, a subtly loathsome sentinel that Rakkam seldom went without. Reme just nodded, and led the way across waterlogged planks and creaky stairs.

A few moments later they stood in the Big Room, the port’s largest structure in its central tower, higher than even the tallest rafts that floated nearby. By far the cleanest, most spacious, and best-furnished residence in the whole colony, the Big Room doubled as its town hall, and at the meeting table in its center Reme, LeFwee, and Rakkam found the town’s leader. While the fairy known as Annetta Fish looked more like the siren who’d lead a boat astray than the captain who’d keep it on course, the people of Port O’ Panic had chosen her as their metaphorical ship’s figurehead, and her efforts to live up to that title were plain to see. Her outrageously long sea-blue hair was frazzled with stress, and there were bags beneath her perpetually-narrowed eyes. “C-captain,” Annetta chirped, her once-bubbly voice pitched with agitation. “Thank you for coming so fast!”

“Aye, that I did,” LeFwee squawked. Reme stepped aside to stand by the door, and Rakkam followed his captain as he stalked over. “But why, pray tell, have I come? That seashell ‘orn of yers…when I ‘ear it blowin’ o’er the briney deep, it means that poor, defenseless Port o’ Panic be needin’ Captain LeFwee to save ‘em. And yet, there be no Marauders in sight. I ain’t one for social visits, wench–need ye a reminder o’ our little agreement’s terms?”

Annetta balked. “N-no, captain! It’s not that, but…”

The parrot slammed his multi-hook down on the table. “But what!? Lest ye forget, the protection money ye pay is for protectin’. If ye mean to stand around flappin’ yer gums, ye better be willin’ to pay fer that, too!”

“Well! It’s a good thing you’re here today to do some protecting, then.” A man’s voice cut in, drawing the others’ attention to the Big Room’s second story. There, they saw a tall figure in a gray-white composite suit, its rubbery texture layered beneath cherry-red armor plates. A purple light glowed within a socket on the chest beneath a facsimile of an ascot plus collar, and an intricate helmet crowned his head. A fine soot-black cape trailed behind him as he made his way downstairs.

LeFwee glowered at the unwelcome guest. The sight of someone who stood at an impressive 6’10”, higher even than his bosun, made him mad instinctually. “And who might ye be, ye bloody eyesore? Speak up now–can’t hear ye with yer head in the clouds!”

“Ohmigosh! I’m so sorry, Consul, sir!” Annetta panicked.

“Now, now. It’s hardly your fault, miss.” The stranger reassured her, an amused tinge to his words. “We’ve had no occasion to meet before now, so it’s only natural, especially for one of his ilk.” He turned to the incensed captain. “As for you…well, I shan’t raise my expectations unduly, but have you any familiarity with the time-honored game of chess?”

LeFwee looked ready to launch himself at the stranger and gouge him with his corkscrew, but Rakkam laid a hand on his shoulder. The parrot glared at him, then back at the stranger. “...Aye.”

The gentleman clapped his hands. “Well, that makes things delightfully simple! As you know, then, the board is composed of various pieces. From the all-important King and his mighty Queen down to the lowliest Pawn. The two sides fight their battles, over and over again, through victories and losses unnumbered. As for me…well, I am neither pawn, nor knight, nor even king. I am not even on the board. Just a shadow that lies across it.” Closing his eyes -the only part of him visible beneath his suit-, he performed a polite bow. “I am your Consul. You may call me S.”

“Hmph! S? What kind o’ name be that?” LeFwee looked nonplussed. He glanced at Annetta, who gave a shrug and a shake of her head, as if to say just roll with it “What’re ye prattlin’ on about? If ye not be on the board, then surely ye be nothin’. I meanwhile, be king o’ these ‘ere waters! What’ye mean by ‘consul’, anyway?”

S straightened up, rolling his eyes. “Ah…nevermind. Twas just an analogy, if you will. Consider me the superior of the lovely Annetta here, which in turn, makes me yours. But fret not, for all I ask is business as usual. As I alluded to beforehand, you’re here today to defend Port O’ Panic against some threats that will arrive in the very near future.”

“...What kind o’ threats?” The parrot ran his fingers through his feathery beard.

“It is a band of powerful and highly skilled fighters,” the Consul replied, approaching the table. “They number less than a dozen strong, but what they lack in numbers they more than make up for in power. They are monsters that make a habit of slaughtering anyone in their way in order to steal their abilities for themselves. I fear Port O’ Panic is directly in their path. Luckily, there is one flaw in their plan: they did not account for the ‘infamous’ LeFwee Pirates. Anticipating no naval adversaries, they come this way in mere rowboats.”

The captain laughed. “Rowboats!? Ye can’t be serious. If that be the case, it matters not how skilled they are. One good broadside’ll blow them straight to Davy Jones’ locker!”

“I’ll thank you not to underestimate these monsters,” S, now seated at the table, told him sharply. “To the poor people of Port O’ Panic, beleaguered by maritime disaster time after time, this is a dire predicament. You must crush them. Do you understand?”

“Fine, fine, says I,” LeFwee told him, sighing. “We’ll ‘it ‘em with all we got. But ye…” he pointed his multi-hook at Annetta. “Owe us double fer this week.”

“Double!?” the fairy squeaked. “We’re just fishers and divers here, we can barely pay you as-is!”

LeFwee turned up his beak. “Sounds like a big fat load o’ not me problem!”

Fingers tented, S spoke up again. “By the way. Not that I harbor any mistrust for the ‘great’ LeFwee Pirates, but to ensure the safety of the whole Sea of Serendipity, I’ve taken the liberty of requisitioning some additional help.”

“Oh, wow, you’re too kind sir!” Annetta made sure to tell him right away.

The parrot drew a different conclusion. “More like lily-livered,” he muttered. “Who be these ‘elpers, then?”

Before S could answer, a cacophony of shouts erupted outside. Reme hurried to open the door, and right on cue a villager burst in. “Madam Fish!” he panted. “It’s the Marauders! They’re here!”

“WHAT!?” the fairy almost fainted, falling backward out of her chair before pulling herself back up to the table, her expression aghast. “They’re attacking now!?”

Reme held his head in his hands. “Madam, I’m so sorry! I should’ve gone back to the watchtower so I could’ve raised the alarm.”

“Back to the ship!” LeFwee roared. “Before they blow us to kingdom come!” He and Rakkam ran for the door, with Annetta flying right behind. S just laughed, stood, then followed at a leisurely pace.

The minute he stepped outside, however, he screeched in dismay, for the villager’s warning had been literal. Parked at the docks right across from the Raptor was the terrifying Tinkerslug, a pirate ship built into the back of a giant, three-eyed sea snail. Its deck swarmed with Tinkerbats, while the bestial crew of the Raptor crowded along its own deck, weapons drawn. Both parties seemed to be in a stand-off, hurling insults and threats at one another over the rain. The elites of both factions stood by, waiting for a signal from their bosses. Finally, perched in the crow’s nest above it all and enjoying every second of it, was the Tinkerslug’s captain: the renowned pirate queen Risky Boots, with her distinctive giant hat and skeletal garb.

LeFwee leaned over the railing, his eye wide. “What in the seven ‘ells’re ye doin’ ‘ere!” he shouted down.

“I was invited here, you chicken-legged clod!” Risky cheerfully yelled back. She aimed a finger gun at him. “Maybe these folks are sick of you protecting ‘em as I am!” When she fired the finger gun, a grappling hook shot from her wrist-mounted launcher and hooked info the sea tower, followed shortly by Risky herself. She landed with an acrobatic flip in front of everyone and leveled her scimitar at LeFwee, eliciting a surprised squawk. He stepped back behind Rakkam as he fumbled for his silver gunblade.

“Invited!? By who!?” LeFwee demanded.

S, watching the ruckus as he leaned against the doorframe, waved his hand. “By me, of course,” he said, pretty nonchalant about it all. “Your additional helpers have arrived.”

Annetta looked dumbfounded. “W-what? You’re saying they’ll help us? But they’ve been the ones robbing and kidnapping us, the reason we had to hire LeFwee in the first place! He and Risky Boots are sworn enemies!”

“CAPTAIN LeFwee!” the parrot roared, raising his blade. “But the wench be right! This sea ain’t big enough fer the both of us. She killed me first mate! ‘Ad an eye for treasure like a ‘awk, ‘e did!”

“And you killed our new healer! You’re the lowest of the low,” Risky snarled.

“Daw, please. We’re pirates, fer Pete’s sake!” LeFwee turned his sour face on the fairy. “What’s this about, some kind o’ bid to knock me off? If ye double-crossed me, Annetta, I’ll gut ye like the Fish ye be! And the beanpole after that! Once I finish off this blue bitch, ‘ere…”

At that Risky laughed. “Ahahahaha! You mean you’ll tell your bosun to, you feathery windbag. Hiding behind his skirts the whole time, too!” She glanced at Rakkam, then back to LeFwee. “Why don’t we just settle this, here and now!”

“Enough!” S pushed off the doorframe, his voice raised. His eyes shone red, as did those of both pirate crews, captains included. Despite the high tension, the uproar began to simmer down, and when it subsided so did the glow. “Lower your weapons,” S told them. “What you’re up against is far greater in scope than your petty rivalry. If you fail to cooperate, you can kiss both Port O’ Panic and the Marauders’ Den goodbye. Once you’re done, and I’ve distributed your rich rewards, you can get back to wanton mutual destruction.” The mention of rich rewards helped to distract them both. He shook his head in resignation holding his temples, then stepped forward to put a hand on both captain’s shoulders, pulling them together. “Now, both of you, come with me. There’s no time to waste. Here’s what we’re going to do…”

World of Light

Around two years at this point, yeah.

World of Light

hello! This still open?

@darkred

It certainly is! Been a little while, hasn't it? I'm glad to report that our merry band of rockstars is forging onward as industriously as ever. How're things on your end?

Infactorium: A New 4Xpansion (Overlord RP) [DISCONTINUED]

With the personnel of the Gorging Trough wholly fixated on their new mission, the days seemed to go by very fast indeed. Of course, that wasn't to say they went off without a hitch. Every day Mae applied herself to the construction of her new floor for hours and hours on end, and though the creative tools supplied to her meant that she could simply skip the otherwise egregious amount of effort it would take to manually throw up all these rooms and obstacles, realizing her vision turned out to be anything but easy. She went in with a brilliant mental image of what she wanted the Full Course to be, complete with all the scintillating suggestions of her Maneater understudies, but translating those ideas to physical space was an altogether different beast.

The headless horror found herself in a constant and frustrating loop of instantiation, second-guessing, and readjustment. Chambers wouldn't line up right, or they'd end up overlapping, and her attempts to patch things up would mess with the overall cohesion and flow. When things felt to sloppy, she'd start over, fiddling with this or that room's layout. Forget solving puzzles--making one was the real challenge. Mae's every movement was burdened under the weight of her own expectations. As the final line of defense before Lady Fatalis herself, her domain needed to be airtight. But how could she account for every possibility? Even when she finally had a particular Course the way she wanted it, the moment she brought in a few Maneaters to test it they would inevitably turn up some sort of loophole, shortcut, or flaw that needed to be addressed, which sometimes demanded another total redo. Mae could only groan and try again.

Progress was slow, hampered further by the range limits of her blindsight that prevented her getting a clear picture of the whole thing, and very often she bemoaned the fact that she'd started without an actual plan in mind. Then again, without any architectural skill or experience, she didn't even possess the faculties to make a proper plan in the first place. Whenever she made real progress and the tests turned out well, Mae locked the corresponding Course down, refusing to re-evaluate or change it further, even if it made future courses harder to work around. The results spoke for themselves. By the end of the week, her illustrious food-themed Full Course was only just over half done. She couldn't even be happy with that, though; how could she account for all possible the abilities and skills that any enemies challenging her floor might have? They might possess invisibility, or flight, or the power to control water or earth, all of which would be disastrous.

Her Maneaters, meanwhile, were having troubles of their own. With their classes decided upon they began the task of training in order to develop their abilities and be more able to fight, both as the minibosses of the Full Course and just in general. Unfortunately, with no actual instructors available in Infactorium for any of their desired classes, let alone all of them, they possessed frightfully little to go on. Using the guides and records available in the guild's files they tried to figure out the rudimentary weapons provided by Cormac, but even the goal of 'not incompetent' seemed awfully far off. While their battles would inevitably involve them casting aside their classes to fight with their natural ability as Maneaters, the prospect of having a joke for a first phase left all of them discouraged to varying degrees.

At the end of the week, Mae -the tired and unhappy head of a tired and unhappy group- attended the Emergency Meeting glad for a change of pace. Even then, however, she ended up being out of her depth. "That big honkin' monster, huh?" She scratched as the back of her neck. "I dunno a great way to take care o' that thing, to be honest with y'all. Couldn't even see the durn thing 'cause o' my vision, but the others filled me in. Even if I could see it, I couldn't fight it, though. Just too dang slow." She gave a long, guttural sigh. "Maybe if I fixed somethin' real nice for it, it'd be happy enough with us to go away if asked? Or...I don't see any reason why Five-Course Meal wouldn't work on it, but if that varmint catches wind of what-all I'm tryin' to pull, my goose is cooked."

Infactorium: A New 4Xpansion (Overlord RP) [DISCONTINUED]

I ought to be posting soon as well, sorry.

World of Light

Ms Fortune

Location: Eryth Sea
Level 9 Nadia (61/90)
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet and Pit’s @Yankee, Sakura and Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Omori’s @Majoras End, Nadia Fortune
Word Count: 2481

No amount of torrential rainfall or murky, overcast skies could dampen Nadia’s mood as she sailed forth across the Eryth Sea. The thrill of setting off on a brand new journey, literally surrounded by her friends, left her beaming almost as brightly as the morning sun before the storm clouds rolled in to swallow it up. In some ways it made her feel like a kid again, bravely sallying forth into the unknown in search of the day’s adventures, and in others she felt like a badass, rolling out with a crew of awesome professionals to get the job done. It was a thrill that quickened her heart two days ago as the Azur Navy sailed north to Blackwater Bay, even though she knew that a brutal naval war awaited her there. It was a feeling she’d sorely missed ever since her last crew departed on their final voyage to parts unknown, convincing her for a time that she could never hurt so badly again so long as she worked alone.

Luckily, such thoughts were very far away, and for the moment Nadia lived wholly in the present. Once she cleverly used her Feral ability to harden her hair, her bob cut kept the water from stinging her eyes, allowing her to keep her head up and track her fellow Seekers of Light as they went along. Much to Nadia’s surprise in particular, owing to her loose familiarity with seafaring, her oddly-shaped rowboat handled like a dream. It less pushed through the water than slid across it, or so it seemed, demanded only low effort to build up speed, and weirdest of all, kept itself remarkably upright despite the choppy surface of the sea. That blocky man really knew his stuff! that, or he and his creations simply worked with a set of physics very different to the one Nadia knew and loved.

After emerging from inside the Alcamoth vehicle bay in a big clump so tightly packed that the wooden boats might have just as well been bumper cars, the group spread out across the water. Without any real formation in mind, they stuck together in twos and threes as they made their way eastward. Bowser, atop his white whale-monster, took up a central position in the heroes’ flotilla with his loyal Troop as escort. Peach skated across the waves beneath the shelter of her parasol. With his souped-up stamina Geralt rowed almost as well as he ran, which was to say, a lot better than Nadia expected. The street fighters bent all their strongest muscles to the task, including their hearts, and cruised right along. Finally, Omori, Pit, and Rubick brought up the rear, the magus being carried by his own versions of Kamek’s Toadies.

The fliers got the chance to stretch their proverbial wings as well, although Nadia worried a little about Susie with that wimpy-looking Transporter. If the pouring rain or buffeting wind got to be too much, the pink-haired robot might find herself in the drink and wishing she took a boat to begin with. At least if Nadia capsized, she could trust in Ace to bail her out. She’d taken him up on his offer earlier, but truth be told she did not relish a piggy-back ride even on his brawny shoulders. While she might not be the most mature person around, Nadia wanted to think she had a little dignity. Never mind that she was soaking wet from the rain. The feral zipped up her jumpsuit and rowed on.

After just a couple blissfully uneventful minutes, the journey across the inland ocean began to get a little interesting. Sakura and Karin stumbled upon a big green patch of kelp, buoyed upward from their anchorage points on the sea floor by gas-filled sacs to gather in a massive carpet on the surface. The pair got bogged down there for a moment or two, but it didn’t look like anything serious, so Nadia continued. At least the rain wouldn’t feel cold to Sakura now that she’d been underwater. Things like the kelp forests or the lilypad islands were easy to avoid without ever realizing the beauty that lay below. By now everyone had spread out enough that they’d begun to have their own little encounters, be they with the creatures of Eryth Sea or the environment itself.

Despite the mild level of wind overall, a handful of cyclones descended across the water, traveling erratically along the surface. Each whirlwind harbored a minor suction effect, and if it happened to pull one of the travelers in, it would spin the hapless hero around before launching him or her hundreds of feet up into the rainy sky. Even then, however, Steve’s uncanny rowboats would not be destroyed, but would splash bottom-down into the seawater before bobbing to the surface. Thanks to her improvised helmet, though, Nadia could see her coming, and despite one close call she managed to steer clear.

In a similar vein were the water spouts, perhaps the products of underwater geysers. In areas with golden coins afloat on the surface and flush with bright red Cheep Cheeps, spumes of water suddenly burst up from below, carrying anyone in the area on top of them. Though harmless for the most part, anyone who got lifted up while going too fast could be sent flying through the air, and hitting one of the protruding mushroom trees nearby at that speed didn’t sound fun. Sometimes a spout brought up a giant purple pufferfish with it, whose immense bulk and vivid spikes looked more than capable of reducing a boat to a pile of sticks. “Yeah, fluff that,” Nadia muttered, and she went out of her way to give the whole affair a wide berth.

While looking overboard for puffers, Nadia did spot something else that looked interesting. A rather alluring specimen sat on a raised pillar of rock not too far below the surface, with five glowing lights around the formation. Four of them would render the valuable, highly-pressurized fleshy orbs known as Hadal Cores, but if a looter chose wrong, an abyssal horror would lunge from its hiding place to snap up its prey. Farther off still, Nadia could see more lights in the depths of the Eryth Sea, but of these she couldn’t make out the most fragmentary detail. Though that submerged luminescence did ignite her curiosity, she couldn’t see underwater and she didn’t want to risk losing her boat if she went under, so she pressed on, never knowing the horror just beneath her, or the wonder further down.

As she tried to make out underwater shapes through the ripples of rainfall on the surface, thoroughly distracted, disaster struck. From beneath the other side of her boat emerged a gargantuan Serprond, so vast that its three-section maw only failed to devour Nadia’s boat because the water it displaced washed her away. Taken completely by surprise and mere inches away from being eaten, the feral collapsed in her boat, paralyzed by primal, gut-wrenching terror. She cowered, her heart just about stopped, as the colossal sea monster passed by, flying into the air to hang over the ocean like a six-eyed zeppelin. It took a moment for her to start breathing again, at which point she clutched at her chest, trying to dull the agony. “...Fuck,” she gasped, fighting to calm her pounding heart. The Serprond soared away at a leisurely pace, unbothered by the insignificant creature it left behind. Had it even been going for her? In Nadia’s mind, absolutely. “It almost got me…it almost ate me…”

Though frightened within an inch of her life, and her lifespan potentially shortened as a result, she thanked whoever came to check on her. “I’m fine. I think?” Nadia wiped a mixture of rain and tears from her eyes. “Go-lly. I didn’t know I could be that scared. For a second…it was like I was back there. On the Maw.” Despite her new phobia, she was still one tough customer, and she composed herself soon enough. “Better get a move on before it’s friends shop up. God…”

Nadia started rowing again, this time with a vengeance. In no time she approached the river that led through the mountains, the water growing shallower on the way. She spotted a few little turtle guys playing with bubbles by some coral shacks among the shoals, but her attempt to find joy in their antics had mixed results because the little ones’ lifeguard watched over them with a sniper rifle in hand. After that her attention lay mostly on the cove that sat at the border of ocean and river, mostly due to the giant stone skull that sat among a forest of spiky crags, complete with glowing red eyes. The whole place was a ship graveyard, piled high with the guttered husks of different vessels. “Whoa,” she marveled, admittedly a little intimidated. “This is some crazy ship.”

Getting through there in one piece demanded that the Seekers slow down and mind their corners. In addition to a head-on collision with one of the rock spires, they needed to worry about running afoul of the wreckage. Looking at it from a different angle, however, the Kove might as well be a wooden playground of masts, sails, decks, overturned hulls, and makeshift rafts of floating debris. Some booty could still be found in the barrels and chests scattered throughout, from provisions like salted pork and bananas that could be eaten underwater, to handy gear like ropes, candles, shovels, and buckets, which would be useful when it came to getting water out of boats. Only one ship seemed to be relatively intact: the Adrian, a midnight-black pirate vessel of fearsome aspect. Its main cabin was well-furnished, with a treasure map and quality spyglass resting on the desk, and in its hold dwelled the piratical monstrosity Cortez, standing watch over a heap of glittering treasure.

Reasoning that anything big enough to eat her couldn’t be hiding in such shallow, cluttered waters, Nadia stopped her boat by one half-wreck to see what sort of loot she could expect from the place. Nothing really struck her fancy that she could carry in her pockets, though she did take a bucket to put in her boat for bail, and after finding a small keg labeled ‘fresh water’ she took that too. No telling how long the team might be out on the ocean, after all. Except, this was empty. Figures. For a moment she stood there, wondering if the Eryth Sea was fresh or saltwater, since it apparently sat upstream of the real ocean. Well, she knew better than to test! If she took this keg, she could gather some rain water, at least. As Nadia turned to go, she spotted one other thing. A humble hurdy-gurdy of wood and metal. Her idle thoughts about instruments from the other day flashed in her mind, and her mouth curled into a 3 shape. “Well now…can’t just leave you to rust there forever, can I?” She retrieved the instrument, and returned to the boat.

A little farther and she passed the skull rock, putting her at the mouth of the river. When she became aware of an increasingly strong flow she pulled over to the pebbly beach, ran aground, and jogged a short way to the start of the riverbank. Sure enough, there were rapids. The whole thing looked like a sequence of small, foamy cataracts, two or three at a time, interspersed by winding sections of river with a fast-moving current. “Honestly, it looks really fun,” she said aloud, and not just because of the excitement in store.

A salmon migration was in progress before her eyes. The colorful fish were making their way upstream to the Eryth Sea in droves, leaping up the rapids in a living barrage of salmon. Nadia pictured her friends trying to sail downstream in them and getting smacked by fish after ten-pound fish, which sounded very funny. That it’d happen to her too she didn’t doubt, but she could think of worse things to be slapped in the face with than lunch. Of course, nothing complimented a fish frenzy better than hungry bears, and from where Nadia was standing the bears had come out in force. She saw normal -albeit fearsome- grizzlies, yellow-ringed bears with their cubs, one in a flannel shirt, white ones with big heads, a number of more timid black bears, and one very big Runebear sleeping up on a ledge after filling his belly, and who else but Banjo and Kazooie arguing beneath a tree.

Nadia did a double take. “Oh, hey!” She waved to Banjo, who waved back, both of them irrespective of Kazooie. “How’s it going?”

“Good!” the bear declared. “We were just grabbing some fish when it started to rain, and now we’re talking about where to go next. I was thinking of Spiral Mountain.”

“All these new places to go, and this knucklehead wants to go back home,” Kazooie said, rolling her eyes. “What about you all?”

“Down to the ocean,” Peach called, having drawn her boat to the top of the river as well. “We’re going to meet our friends in Twilight Town.”

Kazooie snickered. “Hah, good luck with that! This river’s like a theme park ride!”

“Ooh, really!?” Nadia’s eyes shone. “Now I’m excited!”

The bird rolled her eyes again in resignation. “Oh, I should’ve known.”

Once everyone got through the Kove, all the Seekers could do was to row their boats to the top of the first cataract, say any pertinent prayers, and take the plunge.

Nyakuza Metro

Level 10 Tora (56/110) Level 10 Poppi (56/110) Level 7 Big Band (73/70)
Bede’s @Crimson Flame, Tora, Poppi, Vandham, Big Band, Peacock
Word Count: 445 / 2144

With no further business in this place now that their plan had proceeded to stage two, Band’s party waited inside the visitor center until finally a cat dragged in another train. They boarded it to head back to the Metro hub, leaving the dense jungle, steaming marshland, and bizarre creatures of the Aviary Biodome behind. Of course, before cycling back to where it all started, the Black Line subway would pass through two more stops, which according to the electronic thickers in his car were Gutsford and Rapture. Though the detective stayed put both times he did peer out the window for a sneak peek at the location in quest, in case he or the others returned later on.

Judging from the station at least, the place called Gutsford looked rather ordinary. Band saw brick walls, a cement floor, metal benches, trash cans and litter, and vendor booths where they sold drinks, snacks, and cigarettes. Nothing special could be said about the people who milled about, other than most of those not working for the station itself seemed to be about college-age. Since it lacked the size or grandeur of a New Meridian train station, Band’s intuition told him that this establishment might belong to a medium-sized town or small city, nothing too fancy. By all appearances it seemed to be a slice of relative normalcy in this absurd, topsy-turvy world.

At the final stop, however, things got weird again. When the train pulled up to the platform at Rapture, it took Band a moment to become aware of what was wrong. At first the Atlantic Express Depot seemed relatively normal, a little dark, a little confined, perhaps. The other trains seemed more like monorails, with large, yellow-windowed cars that hung beneath their metal rails. Only after he noticed that the windows featured a lot more reinforcement girders than normal did he realize that on the other side of the glass lay a glowing city in the depths of the sea, where whales wandered around the towering pinnacles like blimps and schools of fish replaced the pigeons who flocked around the windows and great neon signs. Even from inside the safety of the subway, two layers of glass and a dingy train station away from the ocean, Band was shaken to the core, and not just by the sheer impossibility of such a place. More than that, he found himself struck by the seafloor city’s unmistakable Art Deco aesthetic, with its glitzy skyscrapers, luxurious materials, its vaguely abstract and geometric forms, the divided facades, the hierarchical floor plans, the lavish mix of styles. It wasn’t just fascinating–it was familiar. His eyes landed upon a casino with a vibrant pink crown, ornamented by the image of a crowned fish beneath a name that Band knew all too well. The River King. For a moment his breath caught in his throat, but then, as the train began to pull away, he deployed a mechanical arm to give Peacock an urgent nudge. “Pea, Pea, look! Just look!” Just before the view receded from sight, replaced by the black void of the Metro’s magic tunnels, the girl got a glimpse, and her eyes went wide. “Sure it’s underwater, and it ain’t exactly the same, but…it’s New Meridian.” Band sank down into his seat, trying to process the information. “It’s home.”

Not long after the two stepped out of the Black Line station into the open air of Nyakuza Metro. Band took a second to look around at the buildings of mortar and brick, and up to the dizzying heights where the black cats made their homes. He breathed in deeply. No more did the millions of tons of water hang over him, but he still felt the weight of what had become of that city. Of his city. That one sight tore open a hole in his focus on the mission and allowed a million questions to flood through him, like sea water through a rupture in a structurally unsound submarine. Was Lab 8 down there, at the bottom of an unknown ocean, with all the young ASG agents for whom he’d endeavored to be a father figure? Was the Medici Mafia ruling that underwater underworld? Did the Skullgirl lurk in those depths, amassing the bones of sea monsters and sailors? He needed to know. But he couldn’t go, not just yet. Benjamin Birdland had a job to do, and as always he would fulfill his duty.

When he and Peacock returned to the information kiosk that Yellow Team ended up using as a rendezvous point, they found a handful of allies already there, getting directions. Tora, Poppi, Vandham, and Bede had arrived on the Blue Line a little while ago, regaled the whole way over by the Pokemon Trainer’s fascinating tales about Pokemon–and of course, himself. The minute Tora spotted some friends -or more accurately, Poppi spotted them and then pointed them out to her Masterpon- he started bouncing up and down, waving his wings to get their attention. “Over here, meh!” he said, beckoning the cyborgs over. Vandham exchanged a brotherly nod with Band as the two groups met up, none of them seemingly any worse for wear, although Tora couldn’t help but notice one difference. “Why friend Band coat so icky-dirty?”

The detective stooped to get a look at his trench, noticed for the first time the mud that coated its hem and gave a grunt of annoyance. “We had to hoof it through a big-ass nature preserve, and there sure weren’t any hikin’ trails. Saw some real freaky critters, too.” He shrugged and raised an eyebrow at the others. “Where’d you folks end up?”

“We visit two spots on World of Light western coast,” Poppi replied. “One seaside town…”

“Hurt Tora poor eyes! Very strange overall!” Tora supplied.

“...And one port city,” the artificial blade finished. “Not get very good look at that one, but seem nice. Very pretty area, but city itself offend Poppi olfactory sensors.”

Vandham nodded. “Aha, I thought I caught a bad whiff of somethin’-or-other on the breeze. Little bit o’ low tide, little bit o’ industry, an’ a little bit o’ rot for good measure. You see those apartments up by the station, mates? Looked bloody infested. Flies the size o’ birds!” The big man shuddered. “If it were up to me, I’d burn the whole buildin’ to the ground, just to be sure.”

The Nopon made a face. “Meeeeh. Tora could not agree more. Hate fighting Skeeters back home most of all. Buggypons impossible to hit!”

Poppi tilted her head. “Well, since we team defender, it not matter if we hit them as long as we keep attention. Still, buzzing hurt Poppi processors, so Poppi exterminate whenever possible.”

“By the by, Bede here’s gonna be stickin’ with us for a bit.” Vandham patted the Pokemon Trainer on the shoulder. “‘E knows a thing or three about ‘is Pokemon, to be sure! Think he’ll be a fine addition to the team. Anyway, we just got done collectin’ some more o’ them crystal things. Pons, they’re called, yeah?” Vandham held up a handful to show the new arrivals. “Fixin’ to head over to the Mint Line station and roll on outta here.”

Peacock groaned, her hat comically deflating as her arms extended to drag the knuckles along the ground. “Ugh, I forgot about that.”

“We go on ahead then. See friends later!” Tora told them. He promptly began to waddle away in the direction that the helpful kiosk cats indicated, and after exchanging farewells, the others followed.

“Guess there’s nothin’ for it,” Band said after Tora’s group made tracks. Around him hustled and bustled the Nyakuza Metro, a scene of ever-present motion both down below and up above. Commuters and cats alike ran to catch their trains or busted their brains trying to figure out their connections, while those waiting for one to show -or already left behind by one they commiserated in small groups all around. On their first run through the place the Seekers cleaned out the nearby areas of all their loose pons, meaning Band and Peacock would have to be a bit more inventive. Hopefully the residential heights remained unplundered. “Ten apiece, by my count. You ain’t gonna make me do all the work this time, right Pea?”

After winding herself up again, his little friend cracked her knuckles. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lest ya forget, I’m the gen-u-wine article .” She pulled out a magnifying glass, held it up to her face, and joined the detective in scanning the scenery, despite both of them knowing that her real eyes were on her arms . “Now, where’s a gal gotta go to score a little dough around here…?”

Her eyes landed on a jeweler at the end of the street–Le Félin. “Howsabout that one, chief?” she asked Band. “Place like that’s gotta have a buncha those macguffins. Shake ‘em down and we’ll be outta this joint in a minute flat.”

Band shook his head as he prepared to discourage her, but before he could say anything he paused. All of a sudden something felt…off. A strange sensation tickled him, making the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and a surge of paranoia flooded through him. Like he was being watched. To anyone else it might have been nothing more than a passing chill, but Band trusted his detective instincts. “Hmm…” he murmured, stalling for time. Covertly he looked around, and the more his eyes darted back and forth, the more he realized that he might be onto something. All around him, whether standing around talking, eating on a bench, or just passing by, the Metro cats were looking his way. They’d turned toward him and Peacock on instinct, and though most now made an effort to act casual, the direction they pointed their ears made one thing clear: that they were listening in. Most worrisome of all, it wasn’t just one or two, or a particular group, but almost all of them. It was as if he’d tripped some hidden alarm, and the whole feline populace was all ears.

“Hah,” he said after a moment. “You shouldn’ joke around like that, Pea. Someone might get the wrong idea. Let’s just check up top again, hm?” Before Peacock could protest he reached out and took hold of her, then blasted off into the Metro’s enclosed sky.

A few moments later they touched down on a rooftop, and Peacock squirmed free of his grasp. “Ey, what’s the big idea, ya goomba?”

“Ssh,” Band hushed her. “Mind what ya say around here, Pea. Just listen a moment. Earlier, I heard some cats talkin’ about the police ‘round here. Mentioned they have a deal with some ‘boss’ of theirs, scratchin’ her back long as she scratches theirs. Just now, when ya mentioned robbin’ that jewelry store, every cat in the vicinity suddenly got real interested in our conversation. I ain’t sayin’ anythin’ for sure just yet, but there might be a lot more to this place than meets the eye.”

Peacock gasped, her six arm-eyes sparkling. “You sayin’ there might be some kinda mob, old-timer? And they even got a fix in? Now we’ses talkin’!” She put on a nasty grin. “If it’s the Medicis…”

“Calm down, kid!” Band interrupted. “Look, there’s no way to know for sure, so don’t run off paintin’ the town red or whatever just yet. Besides, we got a job to do. Much as I hate to say it, this whole Guardians business is more important.”

“Says you.” Peacock told him. “Look, if there’s garbage business afoot, I gotta find out. Whether it’s the Medicis or just some kinda kitty-cat nyafia. We stuck together so far ‘cause it made sense, but we can work seperate too, right? I can check out this place, and that underwater joint too. Maybe even finger this region’s big bad for ya’s. Now that I know, I’ll be more careful, see? Ya know I can handle myself, and I ain’t exactly alone, either.” She raised her hat to reveal Avery, who cocked his shotgun before Peacock covered him again. “Whaddya say, partner?”

The detective took a deep breath, then put his hand on his little friend’s shoulder. “Well…I hate to admit it, but ya ain’t wrong, and I couldn’t stop ya even if I wanted to. If this is really what ya wanna do, then…good luck, Pea. Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself, will ya?”

“Soitenly!” Peacock smiled, her balled fists proudly on her hips. “I ain’t a gumshoe like you, but I’ll have this case cracked wide open before ya knows it, just wait and see!” A cane reached out from nowhere and abruptly snatched her out of existence, which by now was par for the course. “...Toodles!”

Her sudden departure left Band alone on the roof. He narrowed his eyes and looked around. “Just ten pons then, huh.” He spotted a line of them along the top of a big electronic billboard, and stomped off.

Twilight Town

Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Wonder Red’s @TruthHurts22, the Scout

Despite the Scout’s claims, Sectonia immediately took a less-than-friendly attitude regarding the black-coated boy who’d come to investigate their arrival. Without so much as consulting the other members of the ‘we’ she employed in her pronouncement, she stated her intent to take Roxas in, as if she, the Scout, and Red constituted some authoritative force. At least she didn’t threaten him outright, but her chosen course sure shifted the tone of things, and any self-respecting dwarf wasn’t going to let himself get dragged into trouble.

“You wot?” he sputtered. “Hold on a tick, that ain’t what we’re s’posed to be doin’! This might not be obvious to a bug ‘oo doesn’t wear clothes, but people who where the same stuff ain’t necessarily affiliated!” Trying to understand her line of reasoning, however, led the Scout to the realization that Roxas’ coat did look rather familiar. “That jacket is rather similar to that blonde lass’s, I give you that, but…”

At that moment, Roxas made his move. He’d been talking to his own friend while the Scout chided Sectonia, and now he’d teleported up to the clock tower to get in the insect queen’s face, where he proceed to try to turn the interrogation around on her. Now the Scout, still on the ground, couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but he doubted it’d be anything good. And with Red current out of his line of sight, it fell to the dwarf to try and mediate things. “Oh, bugger me,” he groaned, pulling out his grappling hook. “Why’s everythin’ always gotta be complicated. I like it better in the mines.”

A sheer surface with no foothold wouldn’t be feasible for him to climb, so he started looking for windows, or other buildings to use as stepping-stones. Where there was a will, there was a way, especially for an opportunistic Scout, but it would be a minute before he could get up there. And that might be too long.

Riverside Ridge

What started as a sprinkle beneath moody clouds soon became a terrific downpour from the heavenly heights, strong enough to leave any poor soul caught wandering haplessly in the wilderness totally soaked through, but it wasn’t a problem to those who came prepared. For now the rainfall just pattered against the pavilion awning set up earlier by the attendants, then washed down around its edges as curtains of water. It created a rather pleasant and relaxing ambiance, and though a little chilly up here on the bluffs that overlooked the winding canyon river between the enclosed Eryth Sea and the vast Sea of Serendipity, the two men who lounged beneath the awning found the conditions wholly acceptable. They sat in a semicircle upon velvet-lined armchairs, hauled out for just the occasion, silently sipping on freshly-brewed Moroccan Mint Tea as they waited for the empty third seat to be filled.

The taller of the two took a deep sip of the beverage he’d selected, and exhaled deeply. In addition to the classic spearmint, tempered with just a pinch of sugar, the pungence pennyroyal made for an exquisite flavor and aroma, deepened further by the mingling of wormwood, lemon verbena, and -in a twist of irony not lost on him- sage. Its warmth, comfort, and richness perfectly complemented the chill, seclusion, and starkness of this place, high above the white foam of the rapids and far from civilization, yet important nonetheless. A better set of circumstances to relax in he could not ask for, and though they did not blunt the anxiety or anger inside him, they certainly helped.

“Now isn’t this a rare delight,” he said aloud. These words were the first to be spoken since he exchanged greetings with his first guest upon his arrival, and like all his words he spoke them through a slight Indian accent. “Though one would typically smile upon cloudless blue skies, often do I find far greater satisfaction in murky, overcast days, with the low roar of such heavensent deluges as this so soothing in my ear.”

His guest merely grunted, then in his own British accent replied. “Hmph. If you like rain so much, you should pay the island east of the City a visit.”

“That so?” The gentleman stroked his chin. “Known for its rainstorms, is it? Perhaps I should.”

“Oh, aye. I happened to be near when two factions landed there, and stopped to watch them fight. It was a bloody stalemate, until the rains came. Pummeled both armies straight to death, eheheh!” the old man cackled.

Annoyed by the implication that he should off himself, the gentleman returned a strained smile as he adjusted his glasses. “...I see. That sounds a little strong, for my tastes.”

“Good morning, gentlemen,” a new voice came from behind them, accentuated by an odd, almost ghostly echo. They turned to see a third man as he removed his helmet, revealing a well-kept, dusty-brown beard and eyes masked in shadow. Taking a cup of tea in hand he seated himself in the empty chair. “I must render my thanks for your invitation,” he told his bespectacled host, looking down across the canyon. “You’ve selected a picturesque precipice, to be certain. Sequestered between mountains of archaic eminence, above a river that winds along with serpent-like suggestion. So stark a contrast it is with the tenebrous places where I while away my time. Though I have long tired of conventional extravagance, there is still solace to be found in the warmth of fine tea, and capable company. Like a campfire in the dead of night–a brief respite for primitive minds from the hellish abysses of our own making.”

“A fine morning to you as well, esteemed sir,” replied the organizer, his head bowed slightly in respect.

The elder grumbled and nudged the host with his foot in reproach. “And I thought your prose was purple, feh!”

“Now, now,” his target chided him, snickering at the grouch’s annoyance. “A little theatricality suits men in our position, does it not?”

“Suit yourself!” his guest told him curtly, before taking another swig of his tea. “Ugh. What I wouldn’t give for a cup of real English tea.”

For a moment the three sat in silence, staring out at the rain. Then the whiskered gentleman spoke again. “Though this does harken back, in a way not altogether unpleasant, to my vain days of luxuriant decadence, I am a busy man. Many matters of dire importance demand my attention, so despite your present circumstances, S, I do hope my entreaties do not fall upon deaf ears when I say, let us get to the point.”

The tall man he called S tugged at his soul patch in muted discomfort. “Ah, so you are aware, then? I hadn’t dared imagine that any of our cohort might bother keeping up with affairs so far beyond their purview. Then again, forbidden knowledge is and always has been your domain–as well as the reason I called upon you, half a world away.” His guest nodded to accept the praise, and S continued. “In that case, I shall cut short the preamble. Victory, however well-earned, has made our brotherhood interminably lax. I have ample reason to believe that a credible threat has arisen, and that it would be in our best interest to address the issue forthwith.”

“Poppycock,” the elder spat. “Credible threat, my foot. Do you even realize what you’re asking?”

The dark-eyed man, however, stroked his beard as he considered the suggestion. “How many?”

At that, the elder nearly choked on his tea. “What? Don’t tell me you’re taking this seriously, A.”

“Four,” the bespectacled man answered, his expression grave.

“Hmm.” A looked off into the rainy distance, putting his hands into his pockets. “...It has been some time since any upstarts amassed such a figure, I must confess, inconsequential as it may be.” His burning, soulless gaze turned back to S. “Graciously you’ve omitted another of your reasons for summoning me hence, for you doubtless know as well as I that one of said losses occurred within my territory. Some semblance of responsibility do I bear, and in that sense perhaps, we are already united.”

His host nodded, a well-practiced gesture that to him came as easily as breathing. “Truly, your reputation sells you short. If you’re amenable to my plan, then you must already know the request I would make of you. Though some -fools- regard you as a maddened eccentric, you hold sway over the others that I could never dream of. If you were to vouch for me, surely at least a handful would attend a meeting in the Theater.”

“So you can waste our time, again?” the elder derided him, extending a wrinkled, accusatory finger. “You’re always barking up some tree or another, S, and you know it. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you wanted there to be heroes. What makes this time any different?”

S furrowed his brows and crossed his legs. “This group is doing everything right. They’re going about their objective in a clear and focused manner, stockpiling power, resources, and allies as they go. Even split into multiple teams, they overcome every obstacle in their paths, recruiting additional members while sustaining a disturbing lack of casualties. They’re exploiting every flaw we’ve left in the system, and since we all seem content to sit back and enjoy ourselves, they’ve yet to even realize the existence of serious opposition, let alone face it.”

“Maybe if you two did a better job with your forces, these ‘heroes’ wouldn’t’ve toppled a couple Guardians on your watch,” his detractor sniffed, dismissing him with a flick of his hand.

“That is precisely what I’m advocating, O. Besides, you speak as if your own domain isn’t presently a smoking crater,” S told him coldly, trying to keep a level head. “All those monsters in your sandbox to toy around with, and you still couldn’t be bothered to actually stop our friends carving a warpath through the Dead Zone. Like it or not, our circumstances are one and the same. It’s why I called you. And why you came.”

The bearded gentleman turned his baleful stare toward the complainer. “It is undeniable that your damnable reclusivity leaves a great deal to be desired from someone in our position.”

O gained time by coughing. “A-at least my area's Guardian still stands, you imbeciles! And what about the others your heroes took down? Why are those our responsibility? Surely the blame lies with those closer to the action!”

“Their carelessness is what led to this mess. If not us, then who?” Gloved hands tented in front of his mouth, S stared down at the river. “Mayhaps this is another false alarm. But if it isn’t…with how things are, by the time we realize, it will be too late. Ever since the Ender Dragon fell, I’ve had someone on the inside. Alcamoth is no longer a solved problem. From there our friends’ campaign continues. They sail for Twilight Town to unite their disparate forces, whereupon they will make ample use of the Metro to spread all over the World of Light. Nowhere is safe so long as our own associates stand idle.”

The shadowy-faced man stood and strode over to the edge of the awning. He watched the convoy of waterbound dots in the distance, making its way across the Eryth Sea to the canyon river. Then A crossed his arms. “You’ve piqued my curiosity, S,” he intoned. “Before I spread the word, however, I would solicit one further thing from you. A demonstration is in order, I believe, to establish these miscreants as the credible threat you suppose them to be. Mariners and misfortune go hand in hand, as they say.”

“I grasp your meaning, and I agree,” the tall man replied. “The situation is ideal, with our friends grouped up out of their element, and vulnerable. It’s a win-win as well, for if I should triumph, the problem is moot, but if I should flounder, you will have all the proof you need. The only wrinkle is whether or not a sufficient force can be mustered from the Sea of Serendipity on such short notice, but rest assured that I shall pull out all the stops.”

“Sounds like you’d better hop to it, then,” O snapped.

Eyebrow raised, S turned his head the old man’s way, sarcasm in his voice. “Pardon me, but is that encouragement I hear? For a minute there I could have sworn you didn’t believe me?”

“I do not,” the old man huffed. “But if you’re doing this, you had better not hold back just to prove your point. Whatever paltry reputation you have is on the line, understand?”

“Reawaken within them the odious memories of acrid gunsmoke and the concussive report of cannonades,” A implored. “With the weapons of war measure in blood the price of hope in this world. In our world, from which no woebegotten sufferer, tossing and turning in the throes of eternal nightmare, might ever awaken.”

S nodded once more. When he lifted his head, he wore a helmet, the same pinkish-red, white, and gray as the rest of his suit. “I’m on my way.” Then, in a purple flash, he disappeared, and a moment later only the rains drowned out the silence once more.