Current
Wash away the sorrow all the stains of time
3 mos ago
Fusing into the unknown
3 mos ago
Looks like from here it, it only gets better
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likes
8 mos ago
Forgotten footfalls, engraved in ash
9 mos ago
Stalling falling blossoms in bloom
Bio
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
A couple things in common between Marissa and my concept make me wonder if I should take a different route though lol. While there are differences, both would probably occupy the same role, down to approximate stat distribution and combat flair.
Level 5 Goldlewis (111/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (23/40) Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man Word Count: 2512
As the others set off, beginning the rooftop trek toward the obvious point of interest that was the ramshackle colony a good ways off, Goldlewis lingered near the bridge for a moment longer. Part of him wanted to wait for Sandalphon to take up her planned position to ensure that he and the others were advancing through unknown territory with the assurance of the combat coordinator’s support, but that wasn’t the real reason.
“Never seen this part of the city before, I take it?” H’s bright yellow drone drifted over to hover a couple feet away from Goldlewis, its unblinking blue optic sensors fixed on him. “I mean, it’s understandable. Quarantine Valley…well, it’s a lot to think about, right? Nobody really wants to think about what a place like this means for us. Either in terms of Astral Plane corruption, or in terms of how we humans treat one another when the cards are down.”
For a solid couple seconds, Goldlewis didn’t say anything. H didn’t allow the unpleasant silence to linger for too long. Well, at least those should be the last guards for us to worry about,” H declared, his drone performing a high-spirited flip, “I was kind of expecting security on this side, too.” The two of them plus Geralt, who was not in any hurry to test the structural stability of the sheet-metal bridges until his allies put them through their paces, waited a few moments more, scoping out the area and plotting a route to the colony until Sandalphon reached her perch. She gave them the go-ahead, and the Seekers’ rearguard began to move. Still, despite the lack of immediate danger and the all-clear from both Sandalphon and H, Goldlewis kept a sharp eye out. His reflexes simply wouldn’t allow him to relax in a situation like this. You can take the man out of the war, but you can’t take the war out of the man, he thought wryly.
Within two minutes, though, his alertness bore fruit. In a corner of a rooftop with a bunch of metal containers, tucked up and protected from the winds by perpendicular metal sheets attached to the roof’s rusted perimeter railing he spotted a red-and-black machine about the size of a dog. It lay behind a box that hid it just out of sight for the average passer-by, and every few seconds a large gash on its casing spat out a handful of orange sparks. Curious, H followed Goldlewis over, and he identified it immediately. “A busted security drone…it looks like it was working fine up until a little while ago. Hm…usually these accompany Peace Preservation officers.” He hovered a little closer. “Maybe it saw something interesting. Let’s check it out.”
Hacking into the drone, H quickly scoured its memory. After salvaging some footage, H steered his drone back toward the path everyone just came through, then put its onboard holographic projector to work. An ethereal, green, three-dimensional image of a horned woman in somewhat patchy attire, a gigantic sword with teeth like a hacksaw slung over her back, and the drone itself. As Goldlewis watched, H used his drone to recreate the events from the footage. Flanked by her drone, the guard strode down the walkway that led to this rooftop and paused on the raised platform. Then she tensed up, turned, and ran down the steps onto the rooftop to circle around a cluster of barrels and come to a stop just below the overlook where she paused originally with her hand on her sword’s hilt. “She keeps looking around,” H noted aloud as Goldlewis came to a stop behind the projection. “I guess she lost sight of whatever she was after. She sees something again, and then…that’s the last we see of her.” The image abruptly went haywire, the recreated phantoms sent topsy-turvy before vanishing altogether. “And wouldn’t you know it, the drone got wrecked at that exact same moment. Whatever went down, went down right here. The culprit doesn’t show up on camera…are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Goldlewis had been stroking his beard, trying to figure out the sequence of events. Basically anything could have happened, from a simple equipment malfunction to an attack from local malefactors, possibly even the Hermits themselves. Then again, this woman looked way too rough-and-tumble for Peace Preservation, and what would one of them be doing on the wrong side of the restricted zone, anyway? Maybe she was a Hermit, her drone hacked and repurposed. If that was the case, the big question was what happened to her. Given the nature of Quarantine Valley, and the weird omissions from the recording, an obvious answer sprung to mind. “Reckon it’s a chimera abduction?”
“It’s gotta be!” H replied, getting excited. “Judging by the embedded data on the video file, it wasn’t long ago. We may not be too late to save her if we find her fast!”
Furrowing his brow, Goldlewis scanned the area. The others were already getting ahead of him, but abandoning this poor woman to her fate -a fate worse than death, incidentally- wouldn’t sit right with him. After a few moments, H located a concentrated bundle of red matter floating in the open air about twenty feet beyond a gap in the rooftop’s railing. When his drone approached, a blood-red wound split open in reality itself, a rippling crimson vortex of otherworldly energy. “A Gate!” H exclaimed. “With redshift levels as high as hers were, our guard probably saw the chimera. And decided to follow it…but it looks like it found her before she found it, and dragged her in. Oh…” He turned toward Goldlewis, his tone suddenly dejected. “But without a Legion, you can’t even see chimeras, let alone fight them.”
The veteran had already made up his mind. He by no means wanted a repeat of the night before last, but this was something he couldn’t just ignore. “Good thing I got that doohickey of yours to gimme a rough approximation. Can I still get in and out?”
“Theoretically, yes, but…”
“Then that’s what I’m fixin’ to do.” Goldlewis backed up, preparing to take a running leap. “Halo, you copy that? Whoever she is, she might be able to help us. But even if that wasn’t the case, leavin’ her to aberrate would leave a mighty bad taste in my mouth.”
“Understood.” Sandalphon directed her voice to all the Seekers in Zone 09, informing them of the latest developments that she’d witnessed from her vantage point. “Goldlewis is entering a Gate leading to the Astral Plane on the rooftop right before the one with a broken radio tower in order to rescue a civilian. Goldlewis, please keep me updated on your status.”
Without further ado, the veteran sprinted toward the edge, threw himself off the rooftop, and airdashed straight into the Gate. As he vanished The yellow drone did an agitated flip. “Ohhh boy. This is gonna be rough.” H took a deep breath and drove his proxy forward, riding the veteran’s coattails into the unknown.
This time, the transition was immediate–no hurtling through an infinite interdimensional passageway, just a quick red flash before Goldlewis was deposited on a large, uneven plateau of red-tinted obsidian emblazoned with countless golden lines that curved and meandered like rivers on a map. In the distance, beyond the sheer drops at the plateau’s edges, angular towers and monoliths hung in the air between planes of similar material that stretched all the way to the horizon, where a narrow strip of pure white affording only a partial look at a colossal, inverted black pyramid. That much Goldlewis remembered, but unlike before he could see no elaborate landscape or suspended labyrinth extending out into this alien dimension. Nothing beyond this roughly square arena, practically featureless except for some red data distortions, could be reached. Of course, that meant that both arrivals spotted their target right away.
“Ah! Look, there she is, over there! And it looks like she’s okay.” With her here in the flesh rather than an indistinct hologram, Goldlewis could get a good look at the abducted woman for the first time. She looked like one tough cookie, her slapped-together outfit -decked out with sophisticated climbing gear- designed for function over form. From her brown hair extended bovine ears and horns, one of them broken. She’d planted her greatsword in the ground and now lay slumped over it, seemingly hurt and half-conscious as she gasped for breath. “Well, she’s still herself, at least.” Both of them also noticed the dark crystals protruding from the right side of her exposed midriff. “For now, at least. We’d better hurry.”
Goldlewis held up a hand to his glyph as he began to move. Luckily, it seemed like Sandalphon’s miracle could reach him in here. “Come in, Halo. We found the missin’ woman. Just about to bring’ her home.”
The mountaineer spotted them as they approached, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “No way, someone actually came in after me? Somebody pinch me!” She winced in pain, holding her abdomen. Sweat dampened her skin; whatever exertion she’d just performed had worked her core muscles to the point where the lesions hurt more than her fresh wounds. “Urk…you…you are here to rescue me, right?”
“Yes ma’am,” Goldlewis set his coffin down beside her and knelt. “Hold tight now, we’ll getcha outta here in no time.”
“Then you better work fast,” the woman groaned. “‘Cause the chimeras aren’t done with me just yet.” Noises from behind Goldlewis forced him to return, but he couldn’t see anything other than a couple blots of rippling energy that quickly faded away. “Three more of ‘em,” she announced weakly, almost laughing. “Good luck, chief.”
On instinct Goldlewis took up arms, lifting his coffin as he prepared to swing. Of course, H was right. He couldn’t see hide nor hair of these monsters, and blindly swinging at them wouldn’t get him anywhere, either. “Let’s make a run for it,” H advised, piloting his drone over the woman. Four little crane arms descended from its underside to grab her around the middle and lift her into the air. “I’ve got the victim. Focus on reaching the exit!”
A little surprised to find herself hoisted so easily, the mountaineer looked down at the arena from above as H began to carry her out. “Listen up, I’ll direct you!” she called down to Goldlewis. “The first one’s chargin’! Dodge…left!” Putting his faith in the stranger, Goldlewis obeyed, barely avoiding the first chimera in time. “Now the other two, move back! Now…go, go, go!” The veteran ran back toward the gate, converging on it at the same time as H. “Wait, stop!” At the woman’s shout, Goldlewis hit the brakes, and H swerved out of the way. Unbeknownst to either of them, the first chimera had charged back toward them, predicting their path to try and cut them off. Instead it went right between them, severely overshooting. “Okay, step on it, they’re comin’!” At the signal, both threw themselves through the Gate, followed a second later by the chimeras. Remembering where he was, Goldlewis made sure to airdash back to the rooftop to avoid a deadly drop. Less than a minute after he first leaped into the Astral Plane, he skidded to a stop in the World of Light once more.
H flew after him, the mountaineer held safely in his drone’s tethers, but the chimeras weren’t so fortunate. They toppled out of the portal and plummeted all the way down toward the city streets. “Haha, they fell!” The woman exulted, her vindictive glee quickly turning to anguish as H laid her down. “Oof, ow…”
H, meanwhile, was practically overjoyed. “Amazing! We all made it out without aberration. In fact, I’m barely detecting any redshift in you at all, Mr. Dickinson. Less than one percent.”
“Thank God.” While Goldlewis couldn’t enjoy the sight of the chimeras falling to their deaths (assuming that they could even die of fall damage) he could watch as the Gate disappeared from view a moment later. “Huh. Is it gone?”
“No,” H replied sadly. “It’s ‘off’, but it’s still there. We’d need a Legion, or at least a Neuron member with an x-baton, to close it for good.”
“Good luck with any of that. That one’s hardly the first, and it won’t be the last.” The mountaineer lifted herself into a sitting position. “Down here, there’s nobody but the Hermits to look out for us,” she told them wryly. “Though I can’t exactly say that with you around. Not many people out there who’d jump into a Gate to save some stranger. I thought my delivery streak had finally come to an end. You must be crazy.” She smiled. “Thanks.”
Goldlewis nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Over the Seekers’ communication network, Sandalphon relayed the duo’s success. “Looks like the situation is resolved and under control. Please proceed with the mission.”
“If I might ask, how were you fighting those things?” H asked, hovering a little closer to the Astral Plane survivor. When it came to what happened, he’d managed to put two and two together. “Even if you can touch them, those things are inhumanly strong. Plus…well, if you could already see them even before being taken, it’s honestly a miracle you haven’t turned.”
The woman sighed as she weighed her options. She seemed reluctant to answer the question, but after a brief moment her principles won out. “Eh…it’s kind of a secret, but since you saved me, I guess I owe you. I’m a messenger, and sometimes I work with the Hermits. They don’t want their messages gettin’ lost in transit, so they gave me a little bonus a while back. That’s about it.”
“About that…” Goldlewis crossed his arms, his face apologetic. “I wish I could say we helped out purely outta the kindness of our hearts, but we just so happen to be lookin’ for the Hermits. If you could help us, we’d sure appreciate it.”
She looked unsure. After a second or two, H picked up the slack. “We don’t want you getting in hot water or anything, of course. We just want to get in touch with the people really trying to make a difference around here. The current state of affairs can’t continue, and the only way things get better is to fight. This is Goldlewis Dickinson, former Secretary of Defense. If you’ve heard that name, you know he’s been a man of the people all his life. And I’m Hal Clark.” At the reveal, Goldlewis raised his eyebrows, but he kept quiet as Hal continued. “So, miss messenger, if you could even point us in the right direction, we’ll call it even.”
Though the woman thought for another second more, it seemed to Goldlewis like Hal said the right things. “Call me Wind Chimes,” she said, lifting her hand so that Goldlewis could pull her onto her feet. “I haven’t heard of you, Mr. Dickinson, but you guys seem decent. I’m not a Hermit, mind you, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Meanwhile, near the rooftop colony, the other Seekers’ progress had come to a halt when they found a fortified gate and attendant gatekeepers barring their path. The obstruction, combined with their collective desire not to stir the pot more than strictly necessary, bade them take a look at their surroundings. Geralt in particular didn’t need to look far in order to find a person of interest. He found one wearing a ratty, hooded orange coat, dark pants, and yellow galoshes. The irate outcast was practically begging for someone to get him started, and as soon as the Witcher tactically offered himself up for the man to vent to, Geralt got everything he wanted and then some.
“What the hell are YOU looking at?” the outcast fumed. “Mind your own business!” When he got a good look at Geralt, however, his attitude adjusted with lightning speed. “Dammit, uhh…I, I mean, can you believe this? All I did was step out here for one second to pick up my laundry after it fell off the line. But the Hermits said no-one gets into Sector V, and those bozos at the front gate won’t listen to a word I say.” He looked up past the rusty girder scaffolding where the loafing man sat to an elevated walkway that ran along the colony’s outside wall, one end within jumping distance of the roof of the shack by the loafer’s respite. “If I could just get up to the roof, I could get back home. What a pain in the ass. They COULD let me back through the gate–wouldn’t have been a problem with the last guy they had leading the Hermits.”
In the opposite direction further past this spot, across a narrow makeshift walkway above part of the trash-littered rooftop where a bunch of red matter sat, the dingy camp lookout tower stood. Luckily for the Seekers, the lookout hadn’t raised any sort of alarm yet despite the appearance of so many notable newcomers, but if one headed over or looked down from on high they could see that the man responsible appeared to be badly injured. He lay at the foot of the tower itself next to a stack of boxes and a barrel fire, and if anyone approached him he’d call out for help.
“I’m so glad you showed up…” the poor fellow groaned, hope shining in his pain-wracked eyes. “Can you help me out? I fell from the watchtower and busted my hip up real bad. Got anything that might help patch me up some?”
Once healed, he offered his heartfelt gratitude. “Thanks, pal. You’re one of the good ones. Makes it feel like this place is worth keepin’ watch over.” Gingerly he got to his feet. “Whew, I really owe you one. Here, let me repay you with this.” By way of thanks, the lookout offered a Gunner Drone. Though not of the highest quality, it could be activated to help supply a little extra firepower, even if it’d be completely spent after about a minute.
After handing it over, the lookout scratched his stubbly cheek. “Hmm? Hey, you’re not from around here, are you? Keepin’ watch outside of Sector V as long as I have, you learn how to tell when someone’s from this side of the wall or not. If you came all the way here, you probably wanna see more of Sector V than the outside fence, yeah? You seem trustworthy, so I’ll fill you in. There’s a back way in toward the right, just climb onto the walkway, run across the air duct, and drop down. A word of advice, though. The law’s not quite as potent here as it is out where you’re from. Watch your step.”
A high vantage point gave Sandalphon, Blazermate, and Susie a chance both to see into Sector V, and identify a handful of supply crates scattered throughout the area, all tucked away off the beaten path. While the robots could reach whatever ones they saw, Sandalphon began to relay their locations to the rest of the team. If the robots wanted all the items for themselves they’d need to call Sandalphon to get her to stop somehow; otherwise everyone else would learn of the crates.
Pit’s quick action stopped Sina before she could freeze the water over and embed Luka below it’s surface. As she tumbled away, a hefty blow from the Upperdash Arm shattered both ice and tub, the latter much to Brain Drain’s chagrin, freeing the young captain from his brief but terrifying captivity. He filled his lungs with a gasp as he hit the floor, soaking wet. Even if he had the breath to spare, words could not describe the mixture of surprise, anger, and betrayal that shocked him more deeply than the cold ever could; he was truly at a loss. Luckily, Pit put out an urgent request for additional information, and with two words Sakura confirmed everything they needed to know. Regardless of the circumstances, it seemed like Luka’s squadmates had it out for not just him, but everyone here.
At least that left the rogue duo sorely outnumbered, but with Luka recovering and Roxas seemingly overwhelmed, only Pit stood ready to challenge Sina right now. The young woman upended another tub, covering the floor around her in water that she could glaciate on a moment’s notice. Then she steadied herself in a kneeling position in her advantageous terrain and took aim with her arm, firing both blasts of freezing ice and singular piercing icicles as the situation demanded. That wasn’t all, though. Making use of her partner’s power through SAS, she could use Seismokinesis to create splashes in the water that could be frozen into spikes or barriers for offense and defense. No matter the odds, Sina would go down fighting.
Painwheel’s murderous rage found an impediment in the form of Midna once the Twilight Princess inserted herself into the fighting. With her in the way, the berserker couldn’t tear Dexio limb from limb like she planned. For a moment she glared at Midna, wondering whose side she was on as she tried to make her way around the annoying obstacle, but her own frustration plus Brain Drain’s urge to not waste her Hatred Install quickly caused her to boil over. “OUT OF MY WAY!” Extending her cord, she realigned her Buer Drive’s blades into a claw and brought it down on the shaft of Midna’s treespear with unadulterated strength, strong enough to wrench it from the Seeker’s grip. Then she jumped into the air and spun up her blades in fan mode to helicopter forward, forcing Midna to take quick and decisive action to keep Painwheel out of the others’ fray.
Of course, that meant starting one of her own as she triggered Galeem’s influence. “RaaAAAAaaagh!” After being knocked down, Painwheel sprang to her feet, her veins bulging as black blood surged through them. Propelled by her synthetic Gae Bolga parasite, a spread shot of spiky darts burst from her arm in a spray of blood, flying up and then down toward Midna in an arc. Painwheel quickly threw herself after them, spinning her blades like a wheel beside her with Pinion Dash to rip across the floor and into Midna like a living sawblade. From their her assault would consist of wild contortions plus Gae Bolga blood spikes interspersed with frightfully fast command grabs that would punish the Twilight Princess for complacently blocking.
Despite Dexio’s solid frame, Sakura managed to knock him over with her strong flying kicks, halting his seismic beatdown. The lab’s structural integrity might not be nearing the breaking point just yet, but the damage had been accumulating quickly. As he scrambled to get to his feet again the street fighter closed in to pressure him on wakeup. Though clearly brainwashed in some way, the young man hadn’t taken complete leave of his senses, and he quickly shelved his demolition to refocus on his assailant. He defended himself, first blocking and then fighting back, and as the two traded blows Gemma closed in to analyze the situation before lending a hand. Dexio fought with reach, solid defense, and power, his big swings packing a respectable amount of strength even compared to Sakura. He only really lacked speed and technique. Though a new soldier and therefore fresh from several months of basic braining minimum, he scrapped more like a brutish brawler than a well-honed cadet, lacking the efficiency and precision cultivated by countless hours of harsh drills and stringent supervision. It struck Gemma as strange; where had Dexio gotten the power that rendered skill obsolete?
Over the course of a handful of exchanges, Sakura managed to land a few confirms, but her opponent was stubborn, never taking to the air with a risky jump. He refused to be pushed around and backed into a corner, both protecting himself and taking the fight to her whenever possible. Though he didn’t match her either in terms of skill or statistics, Sakura was holding back, and against a former ally -with another’s fate in worrisome limbo- she wasn’t in the right mind. In her nervousness she’d made an assumption that the rest of Beacon’s bottom floor wasn’t precariously positioned over Seiran’s reservoir, like this chamber and the Doctor’s operating room were, but Dexio didn’t give her the chance to find that out. After just another moment, he took her by surprise by using the SAS to borrow Sina’s power. Cryonic power covered his arms, causing his strikes against Sakura -as well as hers against his guard- to build up freezing ice.
At that point, Gemma stepped in. “Sakura! Don’t forget to use SAS!” Setting the example, he tapped into Hanabi’s Pyromancy, coating his gloves in psychic fire, and bulled into the fight. He knocked Dexio away, then ducked while his opponent threw out a wild backhand smash with his left as he steadied himself. Dexio got his right arm in the way in time to intercept what would’ve been a heavy gut punch, but Gemma followed it up with a left-hand uppercut to the underside of his foe’s cestus, opening him up. Rather than capitalize, he used his other hand to guard his head against Dexio’s desperate hook. His unexpected strength kept Gemma in blockstun for longer than he would’ve thought, allowing Dexio to keep him locked down with a right cross, then slide him backward with a kick. With a grunt he slammed his foot down, sending out a seismic wave, but Gemma deftly dropped down to block it low.
There was a brief pause as the two stared one another down through the steam given off by the collision of fire and ice. Then they clashed again, moving and trading blows like heavyweight boxers. Dexio kept going for knockout swings, but Gemma weathered them and laid into his opponent’s arms, damaging his weapons and burning away his ice. After a couple moments Dexio offense faltered, his cryomancy exhausted, and Gemma powered through the next haymaker to seize him with a clinch hold straight into a takedown. Dexio hit the ground hard, but the next second he blipped away, reappearing a few meters away from either opponent.
Luka recognized teleportation when he saw it. “He’s using my power! Hurry and sever your connections!” Just as he finished, Dexio teleported right in front of him to try and shut him up with a two-fisted slam, but Luka was faster. He dodged backward and lifted his Weight Hammer for a counterattack. His opponent blocked on reflex, only for Luka to teleport behind him and take his legs out with a low swung. Knocked off his feet, he could do nothing to stop his captain warping back in front of him and launching him like a golf ball across the room.
Dexio recovered and slid to a stop, breathing heavily. Without hesitation he reached up and yanked the cord protruding from his collar, causing his hood to flip up onto his head. His face disappeared into darkness, and red triangles formed a masquerade pattern in the middle. Simultaneously Sina did the same, her pattern identical. “Brain Drive!” Gemma warned the others. “Get ready for round two!” With Brain Drive engaged, both fighters gained stat boosts across the board and more frequent usage of their powers.
After they paid their respects to the Hive Knight, honoring his indefatigable gallantry and loyalty, everyone turned their attention to the spoils of war earned in the course of their short-lived campaign throughout these amber halls. In addition to the treasures they found in this throne room and the personal effects that both the usurper and reclaimer left behind, the Koopa Troop unveiled a hoard of extra loot seized from their vanquished opponents. Though she’d originally planned to loaf about while the others went about their business, the feral couldn’t just pass up a bevy of items when they were free to a good home, and she walked over to take a look.
She rummaged through the stuff carefully, not wanting to accidentally trigger any more weird effects. Most of it didn’t interest her except in its possible sell value, such as the acorns, magic runes, and snail armor. While she wouldn’t turn down a couple good-looking rings, their arcane abilities made them a much better fit for Rubick, so Nadia elected not to challenge the mysterious mage’s claim. Since she already owned plenty of weapons and couldn’t really use polearms or strength weapons anyway, she narrowed her choices down to just two items. She liked the look of the rugged combat boots, especially since the strangest part of her new appearance had to be the sneakers with the fronts cut off. While she could sort of understand the logic, seeing as her opera gloves and thighhighs both featured cuts around her scars, her new shoes just didn’t work. “I’ll give these a try. No offense to that Banjo guy, but I’ve had enough of bear feet.” After pulling the half-sneakers off and slipping into the Mantreads, she gave a satisfied purr. They might not be the most stylish or ladylike, but they felt pretty nice, and she’d definitely be happy not going barefoot in places like the Womb again. Besides, sometimes it just felt good to stomp around.
Other than that, the cat burglar only took interest in one other offering: the lava eel. Its strong smell made Nadia hungry, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in hours. Surely it had to be lunchtime by now. Luckily, the lava-dwelling fish had been cooked to perfection, and it certainly wouldn’t keep if the team kept carrying it around, so she might as well take it off their hands. Nadia made quick work of the eel, chowing down in a matter of seconds before licking her lips. “Ooh, I love the spiciness! You could even say that’s a-moray.”
Sectonia stepped up to the plate to use the Orb of Undoing next, followed by Therion. After seeing what happened to Nadia, they both made careful, slight adjustments, ending up only a little different from before. The feral almost found herself missing Chibi Therion, but she knew that if their roles were reversed she’d have done the exact same thing. Sectonia went on to fuse with the usurper, and Nadia crossed her arms as she looked the queen over. “You really earned your stripes in that fight, huh?” she asked, grinning. “Well, I’ll try and keep the bee puns to a minimum. At a certain point they’re just too beeasy. Heehee.”
Obtained: Zombie Bullets An artifact that gives a 25% chance to refund the ammunition used to launch a projectile if the projectile misses. The projectile ‘misses’ if it doesn’t hit an enemy, even if the target was not an enemy. This only works for finite ammunition
Obtained: Spell Tome: Annoying BeeA thin tome that instructs in the use of a cantrip from the Illusion school. The spell targets one enemy within 25 feet and inflicts 'Distracted by an Annoying Bee', which hinders the target's ability to concentrate (whether for the sake of spells, technical moves, or complicated tasks) for ten seconds and deals minor unavoidable damage. At levels 5, 11, and 17, the damage is doubledIskal Hunter BandIn the Iskal, you will be free from distraction and find focus in the infinite. Reduces all spread by 40%, increasing the accuracy of projectiles
After that, the main issue wasn’t what to do next, since everyone knew their current goal, but where to go. “Wherever there’s more bosses to fight, I guess,” Nadia told Rubick. Rika suggested asking the local bee population, while Bowser and Sectonia took it a step further, wanting a hero’s welcome and a hand in the Hive’s new government, respectively. Therion mentioned the team’s map, but even before she reached into one of her belt pouches to confirm her suspicions, Nadia had her doubts. “Uh, I don’t think it gets any bigger unless we buy a new part of the map.” Sure enough, to her disappointment the map only went as far as the Home of Tears. “Yeah, looks like it,” she sighed, folding the map to put it away. “Guess we’ve gotta find a way out the old fashioned way.” She glanced at the royals. “For the record though, the Hive isn’t really…ya know, our problem?”
When everyone left the royal hollow, they found no sign of wasps in the Hive. They seemed to have cleared out wholesale, buzzing for the hills, but in their wake they still left a queendom in shambles. Though freed from their oppressors, many of the bees seemed to be at a loss. Their social structure and their very way of life had been decimated by the wasp occupation, and even picking up the pieces seemed nigh-impossible to them. Clearly they were in no position to sing Bowser’s praise or heed a new political consultant. From their inquiries the Seekers did learn one thing, though: this hidden kingdom harbored no other entrances or exits. This was as far as they could go, which meant they needed to go back the way they came.
Eventually, the Seekers managed to retrace the steps they’d taken to reach the Hive and make their way back out of its lustrous golden depths. As they ascended through the tunnels the amber walls and waxy hexes gradually gave way to sedimentary rock and rich, dark soil. While the crimson creeper vines they disturbed on the way down had long since snaked back out to their full lengths, just a little coordination meant that they could be sent packing without any more bloodshed courtesy of their fanglike thorns.
Furthermore, a different perspective brought one other secret to light: followed all the way back to their origin point, each creeper coiled up in a little burrow around a root core. Just a couple hits to the core proved sufficient to destroy each vine at the source. As such, the team could prune the invasive species from the Arboretum’s garden, and for that the Water Lily Siren was exceedingly grateful. From the remains of the creeper vines and a few choice specimens around her greenhouse the larger-than-life dryad fashioned a special charm for her new friends. “Here!” she beamed, offering it. “I call it ‘Thorns of Agony’. I’ve woven them together, but those mean little vines are still alive, and they still really hurt! If something hurts you when you’re wearing it, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise!”
Not too long afterward, everyone emerged into Holograd, bathed in the everpresent radiance of the distant Lightroot once more. It was a far cry from being outside, but Nadia would take it for now. The sooner she got a breath of fresh air though, the better. There were no rules stating that the Seekers needed to finish off the Under’s Guardian before they revisited the surface world, after all. That line of thinking got her wondering about where to go next. Getting a little chilly, Nadia zipped up her jacket and then stood with her arms crossed, staring around at the ruined Termite Capitol as she thought. Grand as it had been, the hidden realm of honey had been a dead end, not just for the Hive Knight’s quest but the Seekers’ voyage as well. Try as she might, the feral couldn’t think of any ways forward except the Stagmer-line Station in Falldown Mall. Sure, there might be other routes that connected to this massive, misty cavern other than Pizza Tower, but even if she could find an exit she wouldn’t know where it led. “Better to have some goal in mind than bumble around, blind as bats,” she murmured. If only her map included these forsaken lands at the kingdom’s edge. “Guess I should’ve kept an eye out for that Cornifer guy. Oh well, surely there’s no possible way he just happened to find his way out here and set up shop nearbyyy~”
She perked up her ears and put a hand up to one dramatically, waiting with her mouth ajar for the faintest hint of any familiar humming that might be wafting through the fallen city’s streets. She turned her head this way and that, her ears twitching and turning, but after a few moments her shoulders sagged down. “Aw. Guess it’d be askin’ a li’l bit much. Wouldn’t want to put the cart-ographer before the horse, heehee.”
“Oooooooooooooooi!”
“Nyuh!?” Somehow taken by surprise, Nadia swiveled her head in the source of the echoed voice, scanning the nearby rooftops. Movement brought her gaze to one a few buildings away, and the feral watched as a short, stubby, darkly-clothed figure -only a couple feet all- parkoured across the domed red shingles. The stranger sprinted, hopped, and slid until she threw herself from one of the domes with a headlong leap. Nadia’s eyebrows shot up, wondering if the kid would be okay, but the little girl landed softly on the ground on her belly, and bounded forward with a front flip onto her feet to land with her arms outstretched as if to say tada!
Now that she got a better look at the stranger in that long black coat, her face completely veiled within the hood, a spark of recognition flickered to life in Nadia’s mind. “You…” She extended an accusatory finger, her brows scrunched together in a guarded glare. “You’re from the same group as the guy that stole Linkle when she became the Skullgirl!” A lot had happened in the last five days, but still, how could she have almost forgotten?
“Wot?” The hooded girl scratched her head, seemingly puzzled. Although what really puzzled Nadia was how she meant to scratch anything through both thick gloves and a hood–was she just acting? “Oo’s that?. Look, miss, we’re always up to somethin’ or another. They don’t tell me diddly-squat, and I’d ‘ave to be mental to keep tabs on everythin’ those blokes are doin’. Doin’ to help you lot, I might add. Didja ever wonder ‘ow that stuffy git Gallo knew to ask ya for help? Well, ‘cause I told ‘im to, didn’t I? And guess wot: it’s your lucky day, ‘cause I’m back to give ya all another helpin’ hand. So gather ‘round, will ya, ‘cause we don’t got all day!”
Though still a little suspicious of this girl, Nadia decided that she seemed important, and she decided to hear her out. Once everyone was ready, the Organization XIII member took a seat on top of an old barrel and continued.
“Well then, I take it you lot got everythin’ nice and tidied up down in the Hive? ‘Ow many’s that, four, five? The little mask bits, I mean.” All together, the fragments from Silitha, It Lives, Asgore, Pizza Head, and Rumor Honeybottoms made five. “Five! Nice job that, eh mates? Four to go, and the Black Egg’s yours to open, innit? But wot d’you suppose you’ll find in there?”
She held up her hands with a shrug as she looked around for an answer. “I’ll give ya a hint. It en’t the Guardian. At least, not exactly. All that’s in there’s a poor sod called the Hollow Knight. Chosen by the Pale King ages ago to seal the Guardian away, but that didn’t work out so good, and killin’ ‘im won’t work. If you lot crack open the Black Egg before you’re good an’ ready, all you’ll do is release the Infection on the entire Underground full-force. Little bits’ve been leakin’ for a while now, sure, but if it all goes at once? You and everythin’ else down ‘ere can kiss your bums goodbye. What you lot need is a way to reach the Guardian where she lurks–the Hollow Knight’s dreams. And for that, you’ll need somethin’ very special.”
The girl pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket. “I wish I could say it’d be as easy as gettin’ the Dream Nail from the Moss Tribe Seer, but even if you lot got it all powered up, it’d only work for one person. So your next best bet is this.” She held up the paper for everyone to see, revealing a strange staff bound with thread and adorned with silvery crescents that shone coldly like winter moons, which she then passed to the Seekers. “The Dreamcatcher. If you lot wanna kill the Guardian and get us all that much closer to a world without Galeem, you’ll be needin’ this little doodad. You’ll find it in Mercy Dreams, an old prison where the Miracle blurs the line between dreams an’ reality. And as luck would ‘ave it, gettin’ there’s pretty easy. All ya gotta do is go…” She lifted her index finger.
“Up?” Nadia stared skyward, through the misty cliffs and floating islands to where the lightroot blazed far, far above. She remembered a handful of what looked like bodies raining down from on high before when she made her way down that morning. “Ya mean, it’s above this cavern? How’s that easy, there’s no way to get up there!”
She got the impression that beneath her hood, the Organization kid was grinning. “That’s where you’re wrong, mate! You just don’t know it is all. Don’t know much of anythin’ I expect. Take that there for instance. Ever seen it before?” She pointed to a random stone tile that lay alongside this Holograd city street. About two feet square, it bore a spiral symbol on its cracked surface.
Nadia narrowed her eyes, thinking. “Uh. Don’t think so, no.”
“Heh, heheh…course you ‘ave, you just don’t remember ‘cause it don’t mean anythin’ to ya. Don’t believe me? Just keep an eye out.” Chuckling, the girl pushed herself off of her makeshift chair to jog down the avenue a short ways, heading toward a long-abandoned flowerbed full of yellowed weeds. In it stood a little pinwheel styled after a four-leaf clover. “Yeah, there’s secrets all over the shop, long as ya know where to look.” Holding out her hand, the child summoned a strange sword that she pointed at the pinwheel. “Aero!”
A bright green wind spell flew from the keyblade’s tip and struck the pinwheel. Instantly a powerful updraft flooded through the windless cave, buffeting Nadia’s hair, ears, and tails. In the surge of magic, a whole host of miniature cloudbanks formed floating in the air all the way up from the red domes of Holograd past the sky islands to the cavern’s highest reaches. As Nadia stared, blinking in amazement, one of the nearby buildings popped open. From the door scuttled a strange, four-legged creature that resembled an upturned yellow bullet with a protuberant, horn-shaped snout. It leaped onto and bounced off the awning of an abandoned market stall like a trampoline, and once it sailed up to the lowest clouds, it began to bounce off them too, climbing higher and higher. Far above, near where the Lightroot grew from the pitted ceiling, a stone promontory made for a likely destination.
“Bam!” The Organization girl grinned, her voice smug. “Where there’s will, there’s a way, eh?”
If Nadia was being honest, it looked like a whole lot of fun. “Huh, and here I was wonderin’ about where to go for lunch. Didn’t realize the answer was a windmeal!” She grinned, glancing from the spinning pinwheel to the black-coated kid. Maybe they really were here to help. “With this, reachin’ the roof’s gonna be a breeze!”
“Innit?” The short stranger crossed her arms. “Once you reach the top, it’s just a little way through the Crypt and past Hollow Bough, and boom, you’re in business.”
“Wait, what?” Nadia went to turn her bewildered expression on the Organization member. She half-expected her to vanish away in the Organization’s customary manner, but no, she was just standing there with her arms crossed, waiting to watch the Seekers make the ascent. The way she stared back at Nadia seemed to say what do you mean, ‘what do you mean’?. Part of the feral wondered if she ought to be asking this black-coated stranger anything, but she nothing came to mind, so Nadia refocused on the daunting climb ahead of her. As she looked upward, the critter she saw before missed a jump and fell, quickly plummeting down until it happened to catch another cloud only a few dozen feet off the ground and save itself from a gruesome death, at which point it started the climb anew. Nadia took a deep breath. “This is gonna be a long day.”
That all sounds pretty good. I'm hoping you gather more interest as well. Right now, I'm thinking mostly about the worldbuilding present and what elements we have to work with for characters. I like the idea of a combination of fantasy and sci fi that pull in all sorts of magical and otherworldly elements. So as a sort of barometer for what sort of liberties we can take with the setting, maybe I could run my current idea by you?
I was thinking about a character stemming from the legacy of an eldritch horror, essentially a Lovecraftian elder goddess that at some point descended upon the world and attempted to propagate itself across the world. However, in its blind instinct to spread itself it quickly got noticed by the people of the nation it manifested in, and before too long its spawn were defeated and its influence beaten back until it was seemingly destroyed, although some of the entity managed to hide itself away.
Closer to the present, the entity would have emerged again with a different strategy, planning not to win by force but by guile. In this manner it would appeal to lonely, broken humans who'd grown disillusioned with love, their lives, or the world, and remake such willing converts into her own Dark Young to go out and seek more souls in need of 'healing', using modern methods like door-to-door evangelism, social media, and dating apps. Essentially an eldritch cult, and my character would be one such person who gave up on herself and was transformed, except in this new state of being she turned out to be kind of a bumbling idiot who's strong and likes fighting but is terrible at being a cultist. So her 'mom' is sending her out on a wild goose chase in hopes that if she actually finds any Weapons, they might help the cult take over the world.
I think this looks like a pretty darn cool and fun concept. I really like the idea of a fantasy Western in an appropriately imaginative setting. I've already got ideas brewing for a possible former scholar / current hermit dedicated to the study of exotic/supernatural life in the desert. My only possible concern is the limit of four players. That means that a lot is riding on every one of them and the loss of one could do a lot of damage. Just out of curiosity, do you count as one of the four?
I think this scenario has a lot of promise. It's been a while since an interest check piqued my interest. I'd be interested in learning more about the world itself and what kinds of rules we can operate within for character creation. As well as what would bring our characters together at the start of the RP. The only thing I'm a little shaky on is the dice. I'm fine with attribute stats governing how good someone is in a particular area, but how would you handle the dice rolls? Are you going to trust the players to roll themselves for every action, or would we have to wait on you for the roll results in order to try and do much of anything?
Level 5 Goldlewis (108/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (20/40) Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man Word Count: 1626
With the brief exception of his surprise pocket sand, Barlow had been on the backfoot against Goldlewis from the outset, but as the big man pushed him farther and farther back with his overwhelming offense Barlow just couldn’t find an opening in his overwhelming offense. Finally Goldlewis steered their one-sided skirmish toward its conclusion with a stomp, coming down on the younger soldier’s foot hard enough to knock him off his feet and face-first into the catwalk’s cold metal. On instinct Goldlewis raised his coffin to deliver a crushing Behemoth Typhoon finisher, but with a conscious effort he managed to stop himself. Instead he dealt Barlow a kick to the ribs that sent him tumbling back into the railing with a yelp.
Figuring that’d be it, the veteran turned to make his way toward the budding brawl between Zenkichi, Geralt, and the Marcias sisters. Things had already gotten chaotic, with Miwa slowing her opponents’ roll with Confusion and Natsuko’s Zoolingualism bringing angry animals out of the woodwork to cause havoc. No doubt they’d appreciate the help, especially if the Closer got into the mix. Goldlewis did not expect for his fallen opponent to come back for more. Even while lying prone with a bloody nose, Barlow used his Sunakinesis to reach out with a big hand of sand to grab his opponent’s ankle. “What in the-!?” Despite his low center of gravity, he’d been in such a hurry to back up the others up that he tripped and fell forward. The walkway vibrated beneath his weight.“Gah, darnit!” He landed on his forearm for support, his coffin slamming down next to him, and he quickly pushed off to roll himself over to get a look at what was happening.He’d been wondering how that shrimp managed to snag him with such force, but a psychic sand construct fit the bill. As Goldlewis tried to rise, the hand yanked on him toward a gap in the railing, but the veteran fought back.
“Need assistance?” Sandalphon asked through his glyph.
“I’m handlin’ it!” He banged his fist on the lid of his coffin. “UMA! Thunderbird!” Obligingly the lid slid open and a cosmic hand slid out with a spiked heligrenade in its palm. The Thunderbird’s rotors spun up as the alien tossed it, allowing it to fly toward Barlow. With a frustrated grunt he let go of Goldlewis to defend himself with the hand, but by the time he struck and detonated the grenade, his foe was on his feet. Goldlewis surged through the sand-riddled smoke and knocked him senseless with a swift kick.
Goldlewis huffed, unhappy with his performance. For such a small fry, Barlow had sure managed to eat into the veteran’s time. He turned and thundered down the walkway toward the central area. Her services declined elsewhere, Sandalphon had come to the aid of Zenkichi and Geralt instead, and when she returned to her sniper’s nest Blazermate showed up to help the men finish the fight. The Marcias sisters fought well, but not well enough. Roland and Susie were just now dispatching two of the others, and when Goldlewis turned his attention in the direction of the guard captain, he found that Karin had skipped straight to the end. By isolating the Closer, Karin cut him off and took him down with speed and power that outstripped even his own. After that, she needed only to cut through the noise that the last private threw at her to render the whole guard force neutralized. Goldlewis didn’t even get the chance to help, and he didn’t mind one bit–victory mattered far more than any personal glory. With an approving nod, he clicked his stopwatch. Ruthlessly fast, and clinically precise. Another successful mission.
“Yeah, you all did great!” H echoed Karin’s congratulations. “Didn’t even know what hit ‘em. Let’s keep moving.”
Goldlewis reached the platform where Karin waited at the same time as Sandalphon, who descended from above at a leisurely pace using her giant, elaborate halo like a glider. When Karin offered to do the honors, Goldlewis nodded, waving his hand at the door. “Go right ahead, miss.” With a swipe the mechanical door unlocked and slid open to grant the Seekers access. Happy to bring up the rear, Goldlewis took a final look at the area and the downed soldiers. Despite his antics with his coffin, guns reigned supreme on the battlefield, and he wouldn’t have minded snagging one if only these soldiers’ sidearms weren’t so piddly. Give me a good sawed-off any day, he mused. At least one of the swordsmen could have relieved Charles of his high-tech greatsword.
Movement at the other end of the area caught his eye. From a distance, he caught a glimpse of two unfamiliar figures, a man in a dark suit beneath a vivid indigo coat, and a woman in brown whose left arm glimmered with golden thorns. Both featured long wolf ears and bushy wolf tails. He and Penance made eye contact. We’re being followed? Goldlewis thought, squinting with his brows furrowed. Unluckily for these two, whoever they were, the Seekers had just snagged the last ticket through to Zone 09. Once everyone entered the passage, Goldlewis followed them in, and the door slid shut behind him.
This restricted zone connected to Zone 09 via a covered bridge, and the Seekers wasted no time clattering across it. Luckily there was no security on this side to complicate things, so Sandalphon could afford to scope out her surroundings to her heart’s content. By now, she and the rest were well and truly in Quarantine Valley. Hundreds of feet below lay the ground floor of the sunken district, awash in redshift corruption so thick even she could see the matter-warping distortion. Those streets, lit only by the faint glow of neon lights from above, harbored no signs of life. Only dust and debris. After a few moments she stepped out from the shelter of the bridge and onto the first building, staring at the lost cityscape that languished in the shadows of Midgar. Just about every living thing that could still be called ‘human’ eked out a living on the rooftops of this modern ghost town, in shacks and shanties cobbled together from reclaimed scrap packed tight enough to form crude semblances of community. Exposure to the elements had turned everything down here a dull rust-orange. Nothing looked reliable or new. Yet people lived here nonetheless, and it was the most entrepreneuring among those survivors that the Seekers had come to see.
Maybe half a mile out, across the rooftops linked together by wobbly sheet-metal bridges, stood the largest of the Zone 09 communities, identifiable thanks to its big, well-guarded gate. To get there, the team would need to make their way across this treacherous labyrinth where anything and everything could very well give out beneath them at the drop of a hat. Little outposts lay here and there, some scarcely more than a few dirty plastic chairs arranged around a fuming dumpster or tire fire. One step up were the rooftop shacks, most in isolation but some grouped together with girder structures or lines of laundry between them. Piles of trash bags and mounds of deposited dirt could be found most everywhere, as well as defunct rooftop AC units and antennae stripped of all useful parts. Within the gaps between buildings lay a hidden lower network of fire escapes, ladders, and catwalks even more convoluted than the restricted area, though perhaps able to offer different routes through this mess than the rooftops themselves. Sandalphon could imagine all sorts of secrets lurking just out of sight in a place like this.
One needed to be careful, too, since H quickly identified a few pockets of red matter lingering around the area. Nothing that would cause an uptick in data corruption, but best avoided nonetheless. Wherever the corruption was higher, the odds of finding a Gate were higher, too. It seemed highest somewhat close to the entry bridge, where At least the handful of haggard-looking locals that lingered around didn’t seem liable to give the Seekers trouble. If spoken to, the men and women here -who seemed to be outsiders among outsiders given their distance from the main community here- might very well yield some information about the shanty-town or even the Hermits themselves.
One exile not far from the gate, doubled over and panting, seemed eager to vent about something. “That guy at the gate’s all, Hermits’ orders this, Hermits’ orders that…screw the Hermits, let me in!” He leaned back, filling his lungs with his hand over his heart. “I gotta get back in. If I don’t, my clothes’ll be ruined!” Not far from him, a man loafed around on one of the low-lying rooftops, trying to soak in what little sun filtered down here on a cloudy day like today. Farther away, a woman leaned against one of the buildings near a long drop, watching the newcomers with her arms crossed when they got close.
Sandalphon set her sights on the tallest structure in the area, a derelict rooftop water tower on one of the higher buildings. From there, she could even look down on the shanty-town. “Go ahead and find out what you can from the locals. I suspect gaining entry to their community will be the first step. I’ll provide support from afar, just like before.”
As she went off to climb up there, one vault at a time, Goldlewis wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. Unfamiliar territory or not, it was time to get busy.
Despite Sakura’s good intentions, there was no way that any of the mind-controlled proxies here would listen to reason. Each had their orders: the Psych-OSF soldiers to extinguish the fatal curiosity of the dangerously inquisitive few who’d borne witness to metamorphosis (burying this place along with them if need be) and Painwheel, to kill Dexio before he could bring Brain Drain’s ambitions down on top of him. With lethal intent the two melee fighters rushed together, but while Dexio could avert his collision course with Sakura’s heavy hadoken, Painwheel’s mindless aggression drove her right into it.
“Rragh!” she snarled, rounding on the street fighter in blind rage. The momentary distraction allowed Sina to freeze her lower leg to the ground with an ice shot from her Refrigerant Coil, and her partner wasted no time capitalizing on the crowd control. Dexio decked Painwheel with a bone-cracking right hook from his spiked cestus that smashed the girl out of the ice and onto the floor. He unleashed his Seismokinesis with a stomp that popped his opponent off the ground and into the air. Reaching out, he snatched Painwheel by the ankle and yanked her directly in front of him to drive his other fist straight down. That withering punch not only pounded her against the floor, but shook the whole room for the third time. Dust fell from the ceiling ominously, and plenty of equipment rattled. A couple vials even fell over and smashed on the ground.
That whole exchange took just a couple seconds. Though Midna had used Roadblock to definitively shield herself and Sakura once she arrived, she’d lacked the context -and the means- to protect what looked like enemies from one another while she talked. Now Painwheel lay on the floor, sprawled out and still, at Dexio’s feet. Brain Drain returned the Seekers an angrier and more malevolent glare by far for their interference. ”What do you think you’re doing?” he seethed psychically. ”They’re clearly not under my control. If that man brings this place down, it’s curtains for you, too.” So saying, he fixed his gaze on Painwheel. “Enough slacking. Get UP.”
Purple electricity jolted through the girl’s body, and with a shriek she rose, holding herself up with her arms as her synthetic parasite Gae Bolg went to work. Black blood burst from her legs and feet in the form of spikes and needles in order to pierce Dexio with Warm Spasm. While he reeled from the pain she inverted herself to take out his legs with Malice Clover. Her Buer Drive blades sawed into his calves in sprays of blood, and as he fell Painwheel snatched him with her command grab Buer Reaper to bring him into her grasp and slam her down onto the ground, head-first. Crack.
Before she could act further, a splash of cryokinesis burst against her body, coating her in ice. Sina aimed two more shots to lock Painwheel down and freeze her in place, then formed a long icicle spike to finish the job. It zipped through the air toward the girl’s head, but she managed to maneuver her Buer Drive in between to block and shatter the icicle. Then dozens of spikes burst out from beneath her skin to break the ice, and with a roar Painwheel took off running. She chased Sina down on all fours, and when the soldier created an ice slick with a freezing spray, the young horror leaped into the air and flew the rest of the distance with her Buer Drive blades spinning like helicopter rotors. In no time at all Sina got command grabbed too. After slamming her into a tub Painwheel turned to go finish Dexio.
At about that time, things got even more interesting. Gemma burst through the doors behind Midna and Sakura. There was no sign of the Doctor other than some echoed moaning from down the hall, and some fresh blood on the soldier’s gauntlets. “Came as fast as I could,” he breathed, trying to make sense of the scene unfolding before him. “What’s going on here!?”
On the other side of the room, the elevator doors opened once more. From within spilled a quintet of familiar faces: Yuito, Hanabi, Pit, Roxas, and Luka. They’d unknowingly followed Dexio and Sina down here on the hunt for Peach or maybe Raz (as Hanabi told Pit that Raz disappeared the moment Anima showed up, giving her the slip) but they couldn’t have imagined what they’d find. Right away Luka recognized all his friends and allies present in the room, though none of them concerned him quite so much as his wayward squadmates. “Dexio! Sina!” In a flash he teleported behind Painwheel, and before she could properly react he drove his Weight Hammer into her like a massive baseball bat. The girl howled as she tumbled across the ground toward Midna, Sakura, and Gemma. Trusting them to take care of the aggressor, Luka then teleported back to Sina. “Sina!? Are you okay?”
He put one hand on her shoulder as he rummaged in his pack for a health-restoring Orange Gel, but before he could find it, Sina jerked awake. She grabbed him, picked the very surprised Luka up, and plunged him face-first into the tub Painwheel smacked her against. After pushing her struggling captain under the water, Sina began to freeze it over, trapping Luka beneath the ice. “No witnesses!” she growled.
With Painwheel distracted, Dexio heaved himself upright. His orders were clear. He began to pound the ground, ravaging the unstable medical ward with geokinetic power. The whole room began to shake and crack; any minute now the floor -the only thing separating Beacon’s bottom level from a lethal drop into the toxic Reservoir- would begin to give way.
Everything was going to hell with terrifying speed. ”No!” Brain Drain poured his psychic power into Painwheel. The moment she could act, she would be granted Hatred Install, amplifying her already impressive power and speed. He would not allow all his work to crumble, no matter what.
By now, Nadia’s adventures with the Seekers had taught her to expect the unexpected, but the feral was still in for quite the shock when Rumor Honeybottoms not only brought down the boss arena that she and most of her teammates had been taking for granted, but deposited them on a stack of magical floating hexagons that quickly proved to disappear mere moments after one of them made contact. After almost falling when the very first one vanished out from under her, and barely clambering up using its neighbors before they timed out as well, she began to jog across the layer’s surface. What began as an expansive sheet of interlocking hexes would quickly erode into a handful of disconnected sections beneath the tread of several survivors, separated by strips of nothingness like rivers in a delta, then diminish further into distant archipelagoes and isthmi. Nadia could make it work, but not for long, and just as she began to get a sense for the timing and dared to look up, the bombs started raining down.
“Damn it, this is stupid!” Nadia yowled as she dodged and dived, hopping and airdashing between the remaining hexes as explosions went off around her. The blasts didn’t destroy the platforms, but they could definitely knock her down, whether to a lower layer or into the honey itself. Down below, that golden tide was inexplicably rising in all its ominous opulence, swallowing everything in its way as it steadily climbed. Nadia knew that the rigging drum still attached to her waist just above her tails would let her skate across water, but would it do the same for honey? She didn’t want to find out; that stuff was so sticky and viscous that if she did fall in, she’d be beyond screwed. Those who’d already fallen to a lower layer might be safer from Honeybottoms’ deluge of bombs, but they could still slip through any vanished hexes. Two blasts grazed Nadia in quick succession as she scrambled, almost knocking her down. With so much to worry about, and nowhere near enough time to pressurize for a rocket jump, the feral couldn’t even begin to fight back against this demented miniboss. As cartoonish as this situation seemed, it was no laughing matter. While some Seekers could take to the sky like Ganondorf atop his nightmarish steed, the rest were in some very hot water.
At least, they were until Sectonia came to their rescue. Only a few moments after catastrophe befell the Seekers down below, the team’s resident queen conjured a giant, shimmering pink crystal in the midst of the hexagons, allowing everyone to jump aboard and finally get some solid ground beneath her feet. Nadia jumped at the chance immediately, and after an extra-strength airdash to go the distance she skidded to a stop on the new platform’s glassy surface. She heaved a sigh of relief, half-inclined to fall to her knees and kiss the crystal like an adrift sailor finally coming to shore. “Bee-utiful!” Nadia knew she had work to do, though, and like Bowser she immediately turned her attention skyward. Up above, Ganondorf galloped through the air with swords in hand to both slash and burn Honeybottoms whenever their paths crossed. Sectonia put her air mobility to work pursuing the bomber as closely as possible to electrocute and skewer her with her swords while avoiding her buzzsaws. Unlike Bowser and Junior, though, Nadia couldn’t take suboptimal long-distance potshots from below. Her only ranged weapon, the Bait Launcher, would summon a tiger where the meat landed, not on what it hit. That left Nadia with quite the conundrum, but luckily she wasn’t the only daredevil around.
Her answer about what to do came in the form of Rika. After a save from Kamek, the abyssal joined him on his broom to gain enough altitude to open fire, but when her ammunition dried up she took a more audacious approach. With a little help Rika closed the distance and grappled onto Honeybottoms herself. She hung on as long as she could to lay on some damage before the usurper queen finally shook her off, but even before Rika pulled off her outrageous aerial stunt, Nadia was convinced. “That’s fanTASTIC idea!” she purred with a grin, crouching down to build up blood pressure within her limbs. “Might just have to steal it!”
As Honeybottoms came around again, Nadia blasted off on a high-pressure torrent of blood. She flew high into the air, leaving Sectonia’s crystal behind, but not high enough. As the cat burglar began to lose momentum, she narrowed her eyes and focused in on the latest batch of dropped bombs. After aiming carefully, she used Charge to dash upward as a bolt of lightning, straight into one of the false queen’s bombs. It blew up, hurting her but more importantly, resetting her air action. Another Charge brought her close enough to launch her arm out and grapple to Honneybottoms by sinking her claws straight into her foe’s undercarriage.
“Ow!” the usurper grunted, but right now she could afford to pay the little sting any more notice. Not with Ganondorf, Jesse, and Sectonia still buzzing around. Even Rubick was in the air, though the odds weren’t on his side for his Web Wrap. But Nadia was far from done. Connected via her hyperextended muscle fibers and flying behind Honeybottoms like a feline flag, the feral pumped out a huge mass of blood that quickly took the form of three Copycats, racing after one another on all fours up the line in toward the bomber’s undercarriage. Upon reaching the top, they grabbed hold of the muscle cord with both hands and began to swing around it in a loop, slashing into Honeybottoms repeatedly with their toeclaws at the top of each one. “Urgh! I cat believe this!” Angered, she dropped another handful of bombs, and as they fell their air resistance slowed them enough that they threatened to hit Nadia on the way down.
“I think ya mean, ‘ya gotta be kitten me’!” Nadia instructed her, a wide smile on her face. Though wackier than ever, this was starting to be a whole lot of fun. She used jets of blood to push herself left and right to dodge the bombs. Unfortunately she was a little low on blood at the moment, and one hit her. It hurt like a bitch, but having stomached worse, Nadia held on. Honeybottoms went into a barrel roll to try and throw her the way she threw Rika, but the feral had seen this coming from the start. Doggedly she held on, slung around in a crazy spiral as the miniboss spun through the air, until at the height of her arc she finally wrenched her hand out. Nadia hurtled upward, dangerously close to the ceiling. It took a couple seconds to snap out of her disoriented dizziness and course-correct, but once she did she snapped her arm back into place, absorbing her Copycats as she did. “Alright, ya big bug. Hate to pun-ish a fellow jokester, but…” Then she jetted downward back toward her enemy with her most death-defying Feral Edge to date, diving toward and sinking Athame right into the top of Honeybottoms’ head. “It’s been KNIFE knowin’ ya!”
The false queen cried out in pain, her wings flapping like a penguin’s flippers. After a moment they morphed into saw-arms to reach over and carve Nadia up, but the feral worked quickly. She grabbed Athame in her mouth as she drew her boxcutter hilts, snapping two fresh blades into place from the case on her back. Then she sunk them into the softened-up exoskeleton and sprinted forward, plowing down the bomber’s back, leaving the saws behind and two deep furrows in her wake. She kept on carving until she reached the living plane’s tailfin, at which point she yanked the boxcutters free. Knowing another barrel roll was imminent, Nadia leaped off into the open air, twisting as she did. When she squeezed the hilts’ triggers, a final parting gift sailed Honeybottoms’ way in the form of the detached blades, and the catgirl began to fall. Carefully she inserted her hilts back into her belt, then boosted herself toward one of the huge room’s walls to bury her claws into the waxy surface and gradually slow her descent. Once she got low enough, she leaped back toward the crystal platform.
By now, Honeybottoms had taken a huge amount of punishment, and at last she could stomach it no longer. “Gyaaaaaaaaagh!” she screamed, morphing back from bomber form to bee form. She fell through the great hollow, only managing to catch herself about a hundred feet above Sectonia’s gemstone island. By now, the honey had risen all the way to the level of the throne room’s entrance, turning what remained of the platform by the arched doorway into a jetty overlooking a lake of honey. Its luminous golden glow plus the bright, almost crystalline glint of the blue wax walls made for quite the spectacular contrast, befitting such a spectacular battle. After slowing her descent, the usurper queen looked haggard, but angry, too. “Enough of this!” she roared, magically summoning her scepter to hand. “GRAVITY!”
Her spell swept over the Seekers, instantly afflicting the Weight status. The fliers dropped from the sky, and those standing on solid ground were floored beneath a crushing force ten times stronger than that of gravity. Nadia groaned in pain, pinned to the ground and unable to do much more than writhe.
“Bahahahaha! That’s right, kneel!” the big bee crowed. “Bow your filthy heads before Her Majesty Rumor Honeybottoms, almighty mistress of magic, queen of all that is golden!”
As she raised her heavy scepter to cast, however, a blurred flash passed before her, and the Hive Knight touched down on the giant crystal. His blade blazed in his hand, its teeth grinding in anticipatory relish. When Honeybottoms began to cast Gravity, Barnabee had recognized the spell in store for the team and warped out of range. “Mine apologies, friends. I failed to warn you. As I’ve failed so many times in the past. But I will not fail now.” He turned his black eyes on the usurper, burning with anger. “Traitor! Betrayer of thy own people! Thou took everything from me! From us! Thou art no queen. Only a pale, pitiful imitator! In the glorious name of Her Majesty the true queen, Vespa, I am here to fulfill my oath!”
“Hah!” Honeybottoms spat, gathering magic around her scepter. “I beat you once, little drone. This time I’ll finish the job!” With a wave of her catalyst, she sent a torrential cascade of pink magic shapes flying toward both the Hive Knight and the Seekers. “BEE-GONE!”
The Hive Knight breathed in deep. Sectontia’s crystal had already taken a beating, and any second now it would shatter, sending the Seekers to certain doom. He needed to be faster than fast, and stronger than strong. His choice had already been made. A prismatic light surrounded his body, and when he opened his eyes, they radiated a brilliant yellow.
“HUZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
From his wide-open mouth poured a flood of hivelings, a tide of brown that slammed into the wall of pink. Immediately the hiveling swarm began to beat Honeybottoms’ sorcery back, sacrificing themselves faster than the false queen could cast. After a moment they blew through her magic and poured over Honeybottoms herself. En masse they gave up their own lives by plunging their stingers into her body, their collective heat so overwhelming that the usurper couldn’t even fight back. Her scepter fell to the crystal’s surface from her nerveless grip. As the hivelings worked, Barnabee bashed the hilt of his blade against the crystal. From the honey lake flew dozens of golden globules, floating up to surround Honeybottoms before growing eight needle-like spikes apiece. By the time his hivelings wiped themselves out, the Hive Knight began to warp-strike between them, both releasing the needles when he reached them and slashing Honeybottoms on the way. He blitzed around her as a fiery blur, dicing her up as over a hundred needles pierced his mortal enemy’s body. Finally, he dashed straight above her, hung for just a moment, and then dropped. His burning blade sang as it carved through the shocked usurper in half vertically, finishing with a tremendous flame wave that sent Honeybottoms hurtling backward over the honey lake.
“IMPOSSIBLE…!” she cried as she flew through the air, desperately trying to hold herself together. “I’M…THE QUEEN! THE QUEEEEEEEEN-!” Her voice cut off as she slammed into the far wall of the hollow, flying apart into halves that soon sunk beneath the lake of ill-gotten gold.
Her Gravity spell ended, freeing the others, and the Hive Knight landed on the crystal. He looked horrible, his body ripped and torn from within by the strength of its own exertion. Prismatic ichor eked from his countless wounds. A sigh of relief escaped him, and he allowed his swordblade to fall to the ground beside Honeybottoms’ scepter. The next second, he warped away.
Nadia stood gingerly, swallowing. That had been one hell of a trump card from Honeybottoms, perfectly tailored to this environment to slaughter anyone she deemed a real threat. But it had nothing on the Hive Knight’s awe-inspiring finisher. He’d dispatched the false queen with style, not to mention hitherto-unseen power, but what had happened to him? By the time the lightshow came to an end, he looked like he stood on death’s door. “What was that?” she breathed, still astonished by the boss battle’s climactic finale. “And…where’d he go?”
With Honeybottoms’ demise, the throne room seemed to respond. Magical hexes appeared just over the honey lake, connecting the entrance to another, previously inaccessible door on the opposite side. These ones didn’t disappear when stepped upon, and Nadia could help but be curious where they led. She jumped from the crystal to the bridge, jogged down its length, and entered the door. On the other side of the passage she found another room, its floor tiled with solid honey like burnished bronze and its ceiling resplendent with hardened honey drips like countless gleaming icicles. Against the back wall, fully visible from the overlook where Nadia stood, rested the long-dead husk of an enormous queen bee, and on the edge of the precipice knelt the Hive Knight. His body slowly dissolving away.
Party: The Koopa Troop, Primrose and Therion, Sectonia, Jesse, Ganondorf, Rubick, Artorias Encounter Reward: +10 EXP Not Just a Phase Bonus: The Koopa Troop, Sectonia, Jesse, Ganondorf, Rubick, Artorias, Ms Fortune Bonus Reward: +5 EXP Loot: Rumor Honeybottoms spirit, Yato, Honeydipper Scepter, Hiveblood, Orb of Undoing, Watcher Mask Fragment
Nadia stood there for a moment in silence, her ears drooping in sorrow. So, Barnabee’s precious queen had been dead all along. It made his quest for vengeance seem a whole lot sadder in retrospect; she thought he intended to return home in glory, a conquering hero, but maybe he’d never planned to live to tell the tale.
Most of the treasures in Queen Vespa’s resting place had been looted by the wasps, but aside from the mask fragment, two still remained. A hexagonal charm that could restore the patient lay on a plinth, and in a pile of ash sat a cloudy, spherical artifact that possessed far greater power–the Orb of Undoing, not claimed because the wasps mistook it for decoration like the charm, but because it would undo any unqualified individual who used it.
Of course, after her moment of silence concluded, Nadia picked it up without doing any critical thinking. Noticing that its insides seemed to move, she held it up to peer within, her eyes narrowed. Then the orb flashed with blinding light, physically knocking the catgirl flat. The arcane power that coursed through her being scoured every upgrade and addition she’d gained since the start of her journey, turning them back into possibilities.
Powers Lost: Claws for Alarm, Dramatic Tension, Infinity Burst, Full Mrow-tation, Fifth of Dismember, Outtake, Nyawn, Water Purr-essure, Copycat, Cat-aract, Shipshape Type L, Purrge of Vengeance, Lightning Stickers (10) Strengths Lost: Tag Team, Swordfaire, Su-purr-conductor (1) Weaknesses Lost:Watery, Lightning Reactions, 2700 Pounds of Justice, Impractical Style Defusions: Rhodeia of Loch, Massachusetts, Cat-5, Kronya (4) Spirits Unbound: Rapturous Cultist, Idea Upgrades Refunded: 11
“Oww, what the hell!” When Nadia regained her senses a moment later, she found herself completely restored to her original state, the exact same vanilla Ms. Fortune she’d been when her journey began. White hair, cat tail, crop top, normal feet. Around her sat her various weapons and the spirits of Rhodeia of Loch, Massachusetts, Cat-5, Rapturous Cultist, and Idea. “I’m…back to normal? Well, hah, normal as it gets for me anyhow.” She gave the orb, laying a few feet away from her, a look of mixed awe and horror. “Wait, does that mean I lost all my powers!?” When she tried to summon a Copycat, all she managed to do was splash a little blood on the floor. “Ohhh, jeez. All gone, huh? Nyahaha...” she chuckled nervously. “Well, uh, that’s some paw-erful magic for sure. I’m gonna need all those abilities though. Guess I’ll try and get everythin’ back the way it was?”
She came to one important realization, though: thanks to the Koopa Troop’s Snacktivator, she could be a little more particular about how she fused. With that in mind she began redoing her upgrades, which took both a little time and a lot of brainpower. Nadia found she could be more intentional with her upgrades, though she couldn't finagle everything when it came to the abilities she gained. Unfortunately, while she fused with Rhodeia and Massachusetts wholesale like before, she got the order wrong and ended up with slightly different results. She also accidentally got Cat-5 and Kronya backwards, using the former with the Snaktivator on her tail, and fusing with Kronya normally.
Powers Gained: Claws for Alarm, Dramatic Tension, Full Mrow-tation, Fifth of Dismember, Water Purr-essure, Copycat, Cat-aract, Shipshape Type L, Purrge of Vengeance, Lightning Stickers, Luna-tic, Preda-torrent (9) Strengths Gained: Tag Team, Su-purr-conductor, Big Mamie (2) Weaknesses Gained:Watery, Lightning Reactions, 2700 Pounds of Justice, Impractical Style Fusions:Massachusetts (Cardiofusion), Rhodeia of Loch (Cardiofusion), Kronya (Cardiofusion), Cat-5 (Tail)
Luna-trick - Nadia can power up an attack she makes with New Moon, adding a dazzling silver aura that treats her strike as if her foe suffered Def/Res-30%. After use, thirty seconds must pass before she can do this again Preda-torrent - After charging up some Hydro energy in her limb, Nadia can create a whirlpool at the point of impact, drawing enemies toward the center, wetting them, and dealing damage over time for five seconds within a six-foot radius Big Mamie - For each ally fighting alongside Nadia, her ranged damage, damage against airborne enemies, and evasiveness increase by 8%, stacking up to 24% at 3 stacks
Upgrades Spent: 11
Appearance: Nadia has gotten slightly shorter, but is much less lanky/scrawny, and more curvaceous. Her scars have a pattern of interlocking diamonds, silver in color like her nails. Her hair resembles a bob cut with side-parted bangs, albeit long, flowing, and messy, reaching the middle of her back and covering her left eye. Its outside is white in color, its inside vivid orange. She has two narrow, bladelike cat tails tipped with metal diamond fins that look like USBs, all black like her ears. She’s wearing black eyeliner and has a black tear drop beneath her right eye, as well as a bright white triangle on her forehead. Her slitted eyes are red. She’s wearing a crop top that connects to her belled collar, spats, a leather belt full of pouches, strapped thighhighs cut around her calf scars, fingerless opera gloves cut around her bicep and forearm scars, sneakers with their fronts missing, and a baggy, unzipped jacket. All her clothing is shiny black with blue highlights and orange accent lines. The jacket has blue swirls all over and a big, flashy white collar, while the sleeves have three ‘fins’ apiece that hang from the wrists. Nadia’s rigging, fused into her blade case, is attached to the back of her jacket, creating what functions as a metal backpack shaped roughly like a guitar Personality: Slightly quieter and less expressive. More concerned with water, particularly its wonders and its purity, and more hateful of contamination/corruption. More sadistic, cheerful, cruel, and crazed
Nadia looked herself over, trying to gauge how she felt after going through the bizarre ordeal of redistributing her abilities. “Uh…I thiiiiink this is how I was before? More or less?” She couldn’t ignore certain differences, like her lack of paws, leather-replete outfit, and novel number of tails. Having white hair again made her happy, even if Massachusetts made it way longer again, but where did that orange come from!? After a moment she shrugged and put her hands on her hips with a wide smile. Sure, she’d have to cut her hair short when she found a mirror, but a ponytail would work until then, and overall she was pretty pleased with her appearance. “Eh, good enough! I sure ain’t fiddlin’ around with that crazy orb again, heehee! Anyone else wanna try your luck?”
She watched as the others looked into it, devilishly curious about what would happen and eager to see from an outside perspective, but Nadia also took a moment to use Sectonia’s Symbol of Avarice on the strikers she didn’t really want. With Cat-5’s electricity expanding her kit even further, she felt compelled to reign her number of options in a little. Just too much to think about. After crushing the first one she pocketed the result, but the second auto-equipped itself the instant she touched it, just like the Night Light she’d forgotten about for over a day. The mutation caused her guts to churn as a second stomach joined the first. “Man,” she winced, holding her belly. “I get all the bad luck.” After that sat back to see what her teammates made of the Orb of Undoing.
Obtained: Ripened Heart On use, provides a quick burst of fast healing (about 20%) provided by a prolonged stretch of slower healing, about 40% over 5 seconds. Only three uses between rests
Second Stomach A gastrointestinal mutation that doubles the health received from health-restoring items
Level 5 Goldlewis (100/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (12/40) Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man Word Count: 1146
Crouching down near the restricted area’s entrance, Goldlewis tugged at his beard uncomfortably as he considered the others’ feedback about H’s proposed plan of action. In truth he more or less knew the score before his teammates so much as said a word, as much as it pained him as a former soldier to admit it; this group just wasn’t made out for stealthy subterfuge. Though Goldlewis was many things, ‘subtle’ wasn’t one of them, between his immense frame and eye-catching outfit. In fact, the braggadocious style he cultivated practically demanded to be noticed, and in a situation where a single glinting belt buckle might catch a guard’s attention, there wasn’t any way on earth he’d be sneaking through this place even with Sandalphon on high to guide him through.
The archangel wasn’t any more optimistic. Even if everyone else could get through unnoticed, she’d been planning to wait the operation out from the rafters so that her bright white attire couldn’t give her away, then slowly descend behind enemy lines. While having more adaptable comrades would’ve been a plus, the confidence with which they selected their preferred gameplan -together with what she’d already witnessed today- suggested that the Seekers would be fine finishing the mission in their own way. “If that’s the case, better to plan for an ambush from the start than scramble once we’re discovered,” she reasoned. “I can still provide support from above. Please keep in mind that, unlike before, these are flesh-and-blood humans. Simply doing their job of quarantine security. Killing them would not be justified.”
While not one to take life without cause, Goldlewis furrowed his brow. “Sure, I don’t wanna take ‘em out if I don’t have to, but we got a lot restin’ on us. When you pick up a gun, you’re signin’ a contract that means you’re willin’ to kill, and willin’ to die. If it’s our lives or theirs…” He let that sentence hang.
“Ohhhh…” Mr. H sounded very unhappy. “W-well, just…don’t do anything you’ll regret, okay?”
Hastily the team split up, keeping a low profile to the extent that they could. Goldlewis didn’t get too far, forced (like Geralt) to remain behind shelter as Zenkichi advanced. Blazermate and Susie could fly beneath the catwalk network and lurk down below where nobody would think to look. Sandalphon used her new ability to vault all the way up to the rafter beams behind the shelter of a pillar, hustled carefully to a near-central position, then crouched down with her gunstaff shouldered at the ready. Her radio glyph glowed faintly by her head, ready to relay her callouts, as she rested her cheek against the cold metal. Her impassive gaze needed no scope in order to scrutinize everything in the area.
“Keep in mind, these aren’t Peace Protection officers,” she whispered to the others through her direct line with them. The telltale red and black uniforms of the troopers here suggested their true origins. “They’re…Psych-OSF. I’m afraid I can’t ID them and get any additional information, but they’re bound to have psychic abilities in addition to standard-issue firepower.”
There were eight rank-and-file guards in all, two squads’ worth. Pvt. Gima Koch, Pvt. Hano Barlow, Pvt. Kou Kaufman, and Pvt. Matsumura Atkinson wielded Chlorokinesis, Sunakinesis, weak Hallucikinesis, and Levitation respectively. Pfc. Fujimori Mosley and Pfc. Kenji McLaughlin wielded Flyrokinesis and Blastokinesis. Finally, LCpl. Natsuko and Cpl. Miwa Marcias -sisters- wielded Zoolingualism and Confusion respectively, the former’s power made more noteworthy by the presence of both black bats up above and, down below, an infestation of crysales that would always attack in groups of three and could use Sleep Scales to pacify opponents. While the privates patrolled the walkways alone, their paths sometimes crossing, the privates first class Mosley and McLaughlin patrolled the same large platform, and the Marcias sisters never strayed far from one another. All had been doing this for a while and seemed more bored than alert except for the sisters, who never suffered a dull moment so long as they were together. All troopers wielded standard-issue burst-fire plasma rifles, a sidearm of choice, and a tool of choice that complimented their psychic abilities in some way.
Then there was the Closer. He stood at the very back in front of the security door without moving, surveying the whole area ahead of him with both hands resting on the pommel of his high-tech greatsword, its tip planted against the metal below him. Sandalphon shared what she knew. “Since I memorized the DespoRHado databanks, I do have some documentation on Charles. His damage output is nothing to scoff at, but he is deceptively fast as well, favoring offense over defense. If an ally of his attacks, he will gain Perception for a short time, which will make his attacks even more punishing according to the target’s lost vitality–hence, ‘the Closer’. Be advised, if allowed to use his ultimate technique, Descent, all of them will gain a temporary bonus: evasion for him, and attack for the rest.” From above, the Angel of Information stood by to lend assistance whenever her allies called for her, or her judgment bid her intervene, once she gave the signal.
Down below, Goldlewis maneuvered himself toward what looked like an opening in the guards’ security, away from where Zenkichi advanced. If the Seekers weren’t going to fight united in a wide-open space that gave gunners the advantage, they needed to split the guards up so that nobody ended up facing a firing squad. When Sandalphon finally kicked things off by shooting a stack of pipes, causing an ungodly clamor that got the attention of everyone in the area, Goldlewis emerged from behind a pillar and charged down a walkway toward the guard he’d selected.
The young Hano Barlow yelped and unloaded his rifle, only for the deluge of red plasma blasts to spatter against his Wall of Light. A moment later his gun clicked empty, and the next second Goldlewis barged in with a shoulder charge into a backfist. Caught mid-reload, Barlow stumbled away, reaching toward the hourglass-like container at his waist. “Pocket sand!” He hurled a handful of stinging grains into Goldlewis’s eyes, then used his ability to command the rest of his sand into the shape of floating spheres. Since the veteran had glasses, however, the pocket sand wasn’t as effective as it could have been, and before Barlow knew it Goldlewis bore down on him once more. His choice of full-auto Recital-17 sidearm handled well, but it lacked stopping power, so with massive swings Goldlewis quickly pushed the sand-manipulating psychic into a corner. Once he overwhelmed the man and knocked him out, he could move towards the area’s center and help someone else against more dangerous opponents.
If Brain Drain’s robotic face could have been construed into any semblance of human expression, the remark Sakura gave him about the Grandfather’s Axe paradox would have resulted in a ‘kill me’ expression of elephantine proportions. ”...I see,” he murmured for a moment, more to himself than to his new acquaintance. ”It seems I find myself in the company of a profound brainlet. I’ll have to remind myself to use smaller words…”
With a concerted effort Sakura might have been able to tap into Brain Drain’s less-than-glowing review, if not for her brief exchange with Gemma. Her news didn’t exactly set the Psych-OSF soldier’s mind at ease, but it wasn’t often that a run-in with someone in a nightmarish place like this ended with an actual conversation rather than a fight. As fortunate as this might have seemed, if this doctor couldn’t offer any information about the soldier who’d been metamorphosed, their operation here would be in serious trouble.
Gemma had other things to worry about, too. Midna reappeared from the shadows to report that she’d actually found someone alive. What she described sounded downright horrific, though, and close enough in appearance to the patients that littered this deranged hospital that notions about some sort of conversation sprang to Gemma’s mind, sending a shiver down his spine. Midna wanted to save the poor person, but before the two could do much of anything, they needed to deal with the elephant in the room. “Got to get rid of that thing before we do anything, I feel like,” he whispered back, tilting his head toward the Doctor. “As for Sakura, she found someone who works here and is talking to him. Said he didn’t know anything about your friend, though. Go ahead and follow her, call out if you need me.”
Back in the STEM chamber, Sakura tried not to wilt beneath the powerful psychic’s accusatory gaze. Though his emotions were inscrutable, the girl got the definite feeling that Brain Drain wasn’t buying her claims of innocence. ”So you say. But while lips may lie, lobes will always surrender the truth. It’s just a matter of prodding.”
Brain Drain did not take any action yet, however, and he did not move while Sakura asked a question of her own. Once she finished, he ruminated on what she said for a moment in silence. ”People into Others. How intriguing. You witnessed this phenomenon when it befell this Peach, then came here in search of answers. I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree. This facility has everything to do with people, but nothing to do with Others. Yet, I get the distinct impression that both share the same tangential connection to Psych-OSF. Those who solicit my services here aren’t exactly chatty, but…” He went quiet suddenly, turning his head to look at one of the other sets of doors leading out from the room. ”Hm. It feels like I have more unannounced guests…and speak of the devil…”
The next moment, the doors opened, revealing a brightly-lit elevator with two dark figures silhouetted against the glow of its harsh incandescent bulb. When they stepped forward and the doors closed behind them, Sakura could see -and recognize- the newcomers, a brawny young man and a full-figured young woman. Their sleek black-and-red outfits, faces, hairstyles, everything was unmistakable, save the strange looks on their faces, and the empty dullness of their eyes. It was Dexio and Sina, and for whatever reason, they did not look pleased to see her.
”You two,” Brain Drain intoned telepathically. Sakura wasn’t the only one who recognized the inseparable pair. ”P-types EPL133902 and HB2797521. Didn’t I already fix you?”
They ignored him, instead zeroing in on Sakura. “Rebel filth,” Dexio spat at her.
“We’re here to cleanse you,” Sina told her flatly. “To wipe this stain from the face of the great New Himuka!”
She powered up her Refrigerant Coil, her Cryokinesis coursing through her arm. At the same time, Dexio plunged his hands into his cestus and smashed the ground, sending a ripple through the building with his Seismokinesis.
”What do you think you’re doing?” Brain Drain demanded, his mental tone urgent. ”No fighting in here. I forbid it. I will suffer no damage to my STEM system. Or my brains. Whatever this is, take it outside this instant.”
A psychic wave rippled out from him, his mental authority practically tangible, but Dexio and Sina seemed to resist. “Don’t stand in our way,” Sina growled at him. “This traitor and all her friends must die!”
“For the glory of New Himuka!” Dexio added.
Brain Drain lowered his head, glowering. His brain began to glow. ”I should have known better than to rehabilitate you the way they wanted. So much for blind loyalty. It’ll get you killed.” He snapped his metal fingers. ”Painwheel”
Another control wave rolled out from him, and the masked girl laying in one of the tubs suddenly spasmed, pink electricity arcing across her body. “Rrrraaaaaagh!” she howled, clutching her temples. “Get outta my head!” Yet she obeyed all the same, climbing out of her resting place with her four enormous blades held aloft above her. Painwheel’s eyes blazed red, and with an inhuman roar she charged toward Dexio and Sina.
The friend heart offered by Roxas to Yuito was not in vain. Upon making contact with the shambling hollow, it instantly restored the young psychic to perfect condition, his life force full to burst and his mind completely intact. “Whuh!?” he gasped, jerking suddenly before going limp as if awakening from a frightful dream. He managed to catch himself before hitting the ground and stabilized himself on one knee, his head still spinning from both the haunting experience and the resurgent memories. Despite the chill in the room, Yuito broke out in a cold sweat. “I…we…”
Before he could cause a ruckus, though, the lilting singsong of Anima that echoed through the mess hall recentered him. Instinctually Yuito crouched down behind one of the tables to hide himself alongside Roxas, narrowly avoiding the deadly gaze of the specter as it roamed their way. While hunkering down he became aware of the intermittent cries and sniffles of Hanabi as she wept, all the fight drained out of her even as Anima drew closer to where she lay. ”Hanabi?” he asked, reaching out for his childhood friend through Brain Talk. ”Are you okay?”
”Y-Yuito!?” Hanabi sounded terrified, as if unwilling to believe that she’d heard the voice of a living being. ’I-is that really you?”
”Yeah, I’m okay. Listen, we’ve got to make a run for it. Can you move?”
Her reply came after another moment, and another couple sniffles, albeit ones from joy rather than misery. ”Y-yeah. Let’s get out of here!”
With Yuito restored, everyone moved with renewed determination and vigor. They snuck around behind the turned-over cafeteria tables to avoid Anima, waiting patiently when pieces of furniture floated up to reposition themselves, and gradually closed in on the exit. Only Luka ran into a spot of trouble. He happened to get cornered right as a few tables lifted up near him, forcing him to dash and slide to cover. Anima spotted him and turned to walk through the air in his direction. When she got close enough, she lifted the table she was sure he’d hidden himself behind, only to find nothing. Bemused, she looked around, floating everything in her vicinity. At that point Roxas, Yuito, and Hanabi realized that Luka had grabbed onto the table to rise with it when it lifted up, using his impressive arm strength to hold himself up without so much as a grunt of discomfort. When he was sure Anima wouldn’t notice, he used his high vantage point to pinpoint a spot by the door he could teleport to, then warped straight there. Anima whirled around to claw at the source of the noise near her, but she found nothing to grab a hold of. A second later the doors clicked shut, and the specter was alone in the cafeteria.
The youngsters ran through the halls of the mental hospital until they couldn’t run anymore. They came to a stop and took refuge in a janitorial closet, out of breath and panting. Hanabi wasn’t completely exhausted, though, as she immediately balled up her fists and started punching Yutio. As the rain of ineffectual blows fell against his chest, the young man put his hands up in surrender. “H-hey, what gives!?”
“You idiot!” Hanabi cried, tears streaming down her cheeks again. “Don’t you dare ever do anything like that to me ever again. I thought…I thought I lost you!”
With a look of pity on his face, Yuito wrapped his hands around his friend’s shoulders and pulled him close. “Hanabi…don’t worry, I promise.”
Though terrifying for a brief moment, the turn of events had not only brought two teams together (sans Raz) but led them a safe distance from the residential wing to a clerical part of the hospital, where records and such were kept. It was safe to say that Anima had lost them. Where to go from here, though, was anyone’s guess. At least, until they happened to hear voices coming from a hall nearby, but as they arrived the last sliver of incandescent light shining from within the elevator got cut off, and whoever just boarded it began to descend to the depths of the Beacon Mental Hospital basement.
Once the battle got underway, things got hectic fast. Although way less cramped and chaotic than the fight against Pizza Head atop his eponymous tower, the confines of the Hive’s throne room made for quite the brawl given the sheer abundance of wasps that showed up to lend their mechanical queen a hand. Once formed into all sorts of weapons and sent forth with some appropriate wordplay by their overlord, the swarm attacked the seekers relentlessly.
“Mind if we cut in?” A gigantic wasp scimitar hurtled forth.
“Try blocking this!” Several swarms grouped up into huge cubes that began to roll around the arena, one loud whomp at a time.
They even took the shape of a giant musical instrument for a monumental guitar smash. “Play them a b-flat!”
Nadia had to hand it to this impostor queen: she could sure belt out puns, almost as fast as she sent forth minions. The minute she touched back down on the throne room’s main platform following her rail ride, three separate swarms assailed her in quick succession. As a super-sized boomerang made out of wasps whirled toward her she dropped to the ground and performed a Cat Slide underneath. Just as her momentum from the slide gave out, a wasp cube tried to upend itself on top of her. Thinking quickly, she unleashed her Fiber Upper, planning to abuse the reversal’s nigh-invulnerability to carve straight through. For a brief moment she disappeared, seemingly crushed, only for her paws to shoot out of the cube’s other side on hyper-extended muscle fibers. Then the rest of Nadia snapped up to join them, tearing through the swarm as she did to burst free in an explosion of bug parts. When she landed she found that the rest of the cube had moved on, but above her loomed a gigantic bow and arrow made entirely of wasps.
“Ready for your shot?” the wasp queen asked.
Nadia crouched down with a cheeky grin, one arm bent with the elbow upward and the hand on the back of her head in a faux-glamorous pose. “Just make sure to get my good side!”
The arrow careened toward her, but the feral had a plan. She used Charge, transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot through the incoming conga line of wasps, blowing through the entire procession in scarcely more than a second. When she rematerialized, yellow sparks dancing across her body as her jacket and hair whipped in the wind, she dove downward with Athame extended in a spectacular Feral Edge. Her dagger’s point punctured the bandaged metal plating on the wasp queen’s midsection, and when Nadia wrenched it upward it left quite the gash. “Just kiddin’,” she quipped as she performed an El Gato axe kick to dent the weakened weak point. “They’re all good sides!” Laughing, she kicked off and rocketed back toward solid ground.
As she landed Nadia got a brief chance to look around, and things looked pretty good. The impostor’s swarms packed a punch, but the Seekers were dishing out way more damage than they were taking. Entire platoons went down to the team’s barrage of elemental and magical attacks, and nothing scattered the swarms quite like Bowser and Ganondorf’s fiery and shadowy explosions, though the Koopa King’s supersonic waves helped ruin the wasps’ cohesion, too. Sectonia could make them easier targets with Slow, then sit back and wait for her endless torrent of random projectiles to work their magic. Rubick and Jesse shot their shots. Everyone seemed to be dealing with the wasps well enough, but no matter how many they killed, more crawled out of the woodwork to join the fight. Nadia realized that targeting the wasps just meant buying oneself safety; only by attacking the queen could the Seekers make real progress.
Luckily, her teammates had been working on that too. When the feral made her initial attack, Artorias quickly followed in her footsteps. Not the most agile knight around, he risked falling into the pit in order to strike the back of the queen’s abdomen, but thanks to their combined efforts the impostor’s rear-bottom section fell away. Not long after the Koopa Troop plus some antlions demolished the front-bottom section, and a Tonberry inserted into the construct’s undercarriage dealt that part of the machine a whopping blow. When Ganondorf used his blades to climb up the part of the thorax Nadia weakened a moment ago, he paved the way for Rubick to finish the front-middle section off with a well-placed counter-shot. That just left the rear-middle section, but Barnabee was on the case. He could warp-strike from the rail to the queen’s back and saw into the sensitive machinery with his blazing Yato blade, which cut through the yellow-painted scrap metal like butter. Before too long, only a head atop a huge, threadbare metal support skeleton remained dangling on that chain.
Still, it took Jesse and Ganondorf to force the issue. With everyone else more or less blocked now that the swarms were exclusively forming floating shields to protect their queen, the FBC director and the warlock were the only ones already in a good position to attack the head. When they did, the impostor gave up her first cries of pain. Jesse’s hypothesis that this giant machine had a pilot was right on the money.
But it wasn’t just any pilot.
“Waaaaaaaagh!” After spinning around in comedic fashion from the damage, the metal wasp’s head swelled up and abruptly exploded, revealing the occupant as she burst from the wreckage midair to stretch her legs–and her wings. Hovering in the air was the true form of the impostor, not a wasp at all, but a giant bee with a coppery crown and heavy scepter: Rumor Honeybottoms. “Urk!” she groaned, glaring down at the Seekers. “You’ve done it now, sugars. This honey is off…” As she raised her scepter, magical pink power surrounded it. “....LIMITS!”
She hurled the scepter down like a giant throwing axe. When it hit the throne room platform, its arcane might sent a heavy shockwave through it, knocking everyone still standing on it off their feet as the interlocked hexes broke apart. Nadia yowled in panic as she fell along with the crumbling platform, plummeting down into the pit. Her eyes widened as the fog parted to reveal a lake of pure honey, glittering gold and as sticky as a tar pit. Before she or anyone else could fall in, however, the shower of Seekers and debris approached a multi-layer stack of yellow hex sheets, half a dozen in total. Nadia jumped and landed on top of one, only for the hexagonal plate to begin to dissolve beneath her feet. “Oh, come on!” she griped, her heart pumping like crazy. It looked like she’d need to keep moving in order to not fall, but as if that wasn’t bad enough, the lake of honey appeared to be rising. The chunks of the platform floated on its surface, so she could stand there if all else failed, but the feral quickly realized that she and the others would need every foothold they could get, because Rumor wasn’t done with them just yet.
“Mwahaha, have fun down there!” the usurper called gleefully, descending toward the hex stack for a better view. For once, though, she came along; after realizing that their ‘queen’ had been a bee pretending to be a wasp all along, the rest of the wasps had quickly made themselves scarce. “Oh, but I can’t let you have all the fun, now can I? After all, why settle for just one pain in the bee-hind when I can…bee…fifty-two.”
Pulling out her spellbook, Rumor performed a quick hex, then began to transform. In grotesque fashion her body morphed into the shape of a striped bomber plane, and she began to fly in circles above the stack of platforms dropping bombs every few seconds to make things as hard as possible for the interlopers who’d dared to intrude on her domain.
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.<br><br>Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.</div>
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