Lugubrious

World of Light

Minigame Roulette - Kooky Cabbies

Level 13 Ms Fortune (164/130) Level 8 Goldlewis (88/80) Level 7 Sandalphon (47/70)
Roland, Sectonia, and the Robot Girls’ @Archmage MC, Midna and the Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man, Pit and the Octopath Travelers’ @Yankee, Roxas and Ganondorf’s @Double, Juri’s @Zoey Boey
Word Count: 3254

With a shake of her head, Sandalphon cleared up the last of the dizziness that accompanied her warp into Balan’s wonderworld. When her pupils blinked back on, she immediately took stock of her surroundings, and the archangel couldn’t help but be impressed. The first minigame began in a cozy penguin village at the foot of a mountainside, featuring a climb that turned out to be much larger than it looked but still fairly self-contained. Then Film Those Freaks deposited her in a vibrant sky garden and demanded that she explore the horrific Old World below, the length and breadth of those murky depths unknown. Now, however, she appeared to be in an actual city. Sure, it seemed to be limited to an island in the middle of the ocean, but its hitherto-unseen scale offered a whole little world to explore–or drive around, as it were.

Right now, Sandalphon stood in a four-way intersection with her designated taxi cab, and around her lay the small, hilly suburban neighborhood of Trophy Heights in Grapital City’s well-to-do northeastern district. She couldn’t help but be interested in a residential area like this, given its sheer novelty to her. Wherever she’d lived, space had always been at a premium, with skylines and sightlines dominated by the architecture of mankind, choked by stone or concrete to the point of claustrophobia. That went for both Midgar and her long-lost City of Grams, differentiated only by their relative heights. Here, though, there seemed to be plenty of room around the houses, with well-kept green lawns, healthy trees, and flowering shrubs. It struck her as rather pleasant, refreshing even, but in the end she wasn’t here to sightsee. Most importantly, this neighborhood lay on a hill, and from here she got a good view of the city. It featured a very irregular layout, the sort that grew over time rather than got made all at once, but the only people she could see were those who stood in color-coded zones awaiting pickup. Already the sounds of engines echoed through the streets, drowning out the breeze and birdsong. It was past time Sandalphon added her own voice to the chorus.

Once Ballyhoo’s thunderous voice announced the game’s commencement, the archangel jumped into her cab’s driver’s seat, light as a feather. Cars had been an inescapable fact of life in Midgar, especially down in Detroit, which as she understood it boasted some history in the world of automobiles. By that same token, though, she’d never owned nor operated her own vehicle, instead relying on public transport. Still, few denizens of medieval worlds could claim to have adjusted to modern life better than Sandalphon, and if she could figure out supercomputers or social media, she could figure this out too. Beneath the hood, it might as well just be magic; what mattered was how well someone could use it. After spotting the manual, Sandalphon calmy flipped through it, speed-reading each page. “Right…right. This should be simple.” With graceful fingers she turned the key in the ignition, put the car in drive, and then pressed her heel against the gas pedal. The taxi cab lurched forward like a hungry beast, eager to tear up the pavement, and came just short of hitting a stop sign before Sandalphon slammed the break. “What power,” she murmured, smoothing her hair. No wonder Midgar suffered so many car accidents. After one more jumpy start, Sandalphon reigned the monster in, and set off at a brisk cruise through the burbs. A green trip would be a good place to start.

If Sandalphon respected the power of an automobile, Nadia craved it. On many of her ‘expeditions’ from Little Innsmouth to New Meridian’s affluent uptown she’d seen motorcars parked or driving around, and a few on the silver screen, but she’d never gotten the chance to so much as ride passenger in one. Such luxury items were elements of a world foreign to her, so far out of her wheelhouse that she’d only ever been able to dream of cruising the city streets herself. Now, however, she couldn’t avoid it. Her very own vehicle lay right in front of her, sitting pretty on a little parkway surrounded by the cherry blossom trees of Mixed Martial Park, just south of the Gainsville Swole Foods Market. And as far as she understood what Ballyhoo said about fares and stunts, she just needed to drive around faster and crazier than anyone else. Plus, it sounded like she couldn’t crash her car, nor injure herself in the process. This minigame really was a dream come true!

The feral practically dove into her cab head-first. While she did see the instructional pamphlet, she proceeded to ignore it. She’d seen people drive these things in movies, so how hard could it be? She twisted the key and pushed the lever as far as it would go, then slammed on the gas. Her cab shot forward, tires squealing, and obliterated a little flower stand in an explosion of multicolored petals like confetti. “NYAAAAAAAGH!” As she panicked, her heart pumping adrenaline-spiked blood through her veins, her vehicle rumbled right across the grass and onto the sidewalk, at which point she took a sharp turn and screeched sideways into the metal poles out in front of Swole Foods. The loud, violent impact jolted it to her core, even if it didn’t actually inflict whiplash, and Nadia’s head flew from her shoulders into the passenger’s seat. For a moment she just lay sprawled across the seat with her fur on end, hyperventilating. Only after a moment did she reach over, grab her head and set it down atop her shoulders, still bug-eyed.

Then a giant grin covered her face. “Wow, I almost ate shit already! That was in-car-edible!” With her head back on her shoulders, though, she could see the big digital display on the dashboard, the yellow numbers counting down. “Oh, right!” She’d almost forgotten the game’s strict time limit, which meant that if she wanted to maximize her fun, she’d need to hurry up and start driving people around. As luck would have it, a pickup zone lay only a few hundred feet behind her, its unmistakable yellow flashes nestled between a burger joint and an apartment with an unused billboard on its roof. “I tax-see you!” Nadia yelled. “Be right there!”

Not knowing how to reverse, she hit the gas and swung around to the left to perform a wide loop. Her path took her down the red-brick street, then back into the park, where she immediately ramped off a rock and flew straight into the trunk of a cherry tree. “GUH!” As the tree snapped in half, her car slammed down right back where it started, on top of the flower cart’s wreckage. Nadia shook off her discombobulation as best she could and accelerated once more, her tires sending splintered boards flying behind her as she zipped down the park path, through the arch, across the street, and into the pickup zone where the power line brought her to another abrupt stop. Nadia’s head spun, her eyes rolling around in their sockets. “Ooh-hoo-hoooo,” she slurred, trying to slap some sense into herself. “Hunka junk…stop when I let off the ‘go’ button, would ya…?”

“Get me to Haymaker Park!” a voice announced suddenly, the surprise helping jolt Nadia from her stun state. When she spun her head around she found someone sitting in the back of her taxi, probably the person who’s zone she’d crashed into.

“But there’s a park right there…” Nadia informed the man, pointing over at the cherry blossom grove she’d partially demolished. When her passenger didn’t respond, her gaze shifted to the numbers above his head, also counting down, then at the yellow arrow above the taxi itself that seemingly pointed her where she needed to go. It looked like her first trip had already begun. “Uhh, you got it champ. Just hold tight!” The feral pressurized and then released two blasts of blood from her arms, just enough to push her cab backward, and just like that she could veer to the left and get moving. Every couple seconds, she looked straight up to check the arrow so she knew where to go.

After a premature right turn at the end of the street that resulted in a destroyed fire hydrant and sky-high water spout, Nadia shook the water from her hair and pushed eastward through a straightaway that included the extra-large parking lot of the Squared Circle Outlets. While she needed to weave around some slow-moving vehicles, the feral quickly found that she could just bounce off obstacles like billiard balls, using each impact to get her back on track. Her passenger started complaining, but Nadia barely heard him. She left the parking lot looking like a junkyard and headed around the Backspin Courts apartment complex, if by ‘around’ one meant ‘straight through’, since she turned the place’s tennis court into her personal shortcut. “Screw it, we ball!” A less ingenious driver might have opted to go through the parking lot, but Nadia went through the complex itself. After squeezing out from between the bleachers, she motored between the apartments, narrowly missing a dive into the central swimming pool. Of course, she clipped the edge of a building on the way out the other side, tearing out a chunk of bricks. “Whoops, left a resi-dent in that one!” When she emerged from the second passage, she found a vibrant green park in front of her, surrounded by a low wall. “That’s gotta be it!” Cranking the wheel, she slid to another stop against it, her heart still racing as she smiled ear to ear. “Whoo, I wheelie did it! And in record time!” She turned around in her seat aglow with triumph. “Here you are, mister-!”

There was nobody there.

“Huh!?” Nadia stood up, peering down into the footroom to see if he’d hidden himself -or gotten lodged- down there. Unfortunately she could find no sign of the man, and she realized that he must have flown the coop. “Come on, what a wimp! Un-cab-elievable!” She plopped back down on the upholstery, dejected, as the car continued to creep forward. Had she been too rough…? “I was just following the arrow.” Well, she couldn’t afford to overthink things now. As she saw with dismay when she looked at the timer on her dashboard, her clumsy joyride had cost her precious seconds with nothing to show for it, so she needed to pick up another passenger, and fast. Luckily she could see another pickup zone in the parking lot for the apartment complex, just down the street and to the right. This one appeared to be red, but the feral knew that beggars couldn’t be choosers. She propelled the taxi down the road, grinding along the wall the whole time, then veered into the red zone where she used a parked car to stop. “Hurry hurry hurry!” Nadia yelled at the dude as she hopped out to shove her taxi away from the obstruction. Once the NPC sprinted over and vaulted into the back seat, she dove back into the front. “Where to?”

Her passenger said something, but the cat burglar didn’t really hear it. Instead her eyes lay on the timer, having noted that she got a few seconds of extra time just for picking someone up. After a moment, the part of her brain responsible for evil deeds connected the dots, and a suitably mischievous smirk spread across her face. “Yeah, whatever,” she told her NPC. “I got a better idea.

By the time Nadia initiated her new strategy, Goldlewis had already hit his stride. Unlike many of his comrades, the veteran boasted plenty of experience navigating a vehicle through tricky city streets, and if he could handle a huge hummer just fine even a large taxi cab would be no problem. While he did enjoy driving his Mammoth around Midgar’s Sector 07, especially the occasional solitary nighttime cruise along its highways, Goldlewis always felt like a bull in a china shop, unable to unleash the beast. Now, with a disposable cityscape and no repercussions, he finally found catharsis in a taxi cab styled like an old Cadillac. Goldlewis sped through the streets with just one hand on the wheel, the other casually hanging over the car door. He commanded his vehicle like a cowboy would a horse, knowing when to speed up and when to slow down, calmly muscling aside other cars when necessary, and almost never broke stride except to pick up or drop off. For the most part he stuck with yellow trips, sometimes spending a couple seconds to pass up reds or greens to do so, since they seemed to be the best blend of risk, reward, and time. Though neither as quick or daring as the likes of Captain Falcon, nor as inclined to do stunts to boost earnings, his rock-solid performance paid dividends in terms of time and money alike.

Goldlewis covered a lot of ground, burning rubber from the Offsides to Brawl Street, from Brawl Street to ABS Tower, and from the Gazebogon to Southpaw Junction. While on the move he focused only on the road, but while waiting for customers to climb aboard he could take a quick look around, and marvel at Grapital City’s many sights. From the incredible Grapital Building, where a giant statue of a wrestler held the highest part of the building on her shoulders, to the ancient-looking bell tower of Old Abseil, this place constantly amused him. Naturally, the antics of his fellow Seekers stood out most of all. Some of his allies turned out to be absolute menaces behind the wheel, like the Koopas and Juri, though they menaced their passengers almost as much. Goldlewis managed to dodge Blazermate not once but twice, and at one point he caught a fleeting glimpse of Sectonia as he zoomed past her. Of course, right after that Captain Falcon zoomed by him. Man’s probably got this in the bag, the veteran reckoned. He saw Zenkichi doing rather well for himself and, judged by his enthusiastic whooping, having the time of his life in the process. Even if he wasn’t as vocal, Goldlewis had to agree: this was fun.

Nothing tickled his funny bone more, though, than what he saw after drifting to a safe stop in Jobber Flats. After spotted the distinctive triple halo of Sandalphon, he noticed the archangel herself as she came to a halt at a stop sign, where she proceeded to wait for an NPC driver to make a left in front of her. The sight left Goldlewis gobsmacked. “Are you…obeyin’ traffic laws!?” he hollered.

Hearing his voice, Sandalphon turned to look his way. “Of course,” she told him, her voice deadpan. Goldlewis could just barely see the timer on her dashboard that indicated just under twenty seconds left. The passenger in her back seat, an old woman, seemed to be sound asleep. “Proper observation of vehicular protocols is vital for the safe and efficient conduct of modern society.”

With neither the means nor the time to respond to that, Goldlewis could only stifle his chortles and drive away. “Bless ‘er heart.” From there he went west, driving around Old Abseil and then into Grapital Central. According to the arrow overhead, his current destination lay somewhere around Payback Square, if he had to guess. With his focus on the road and its obstacles, he didn’t notice the steadily growing roar of an engine -or the increasingly loud yowls- until a taxi cab flew off a stopped ramp track and sailed over the roadway, Nadia Fortune behind the wheel. Shocked and unable to look away from the airborne vehicle until it smashed with a deafening noise into the office building on the other side, where it got completely stuck. “What in tarnation!?” As glass shards rained down Goldlewis instinctively lifted his arm for protection, trying not to swerve into anything. He managed to salvage the situation without any major collisions, but a couple glancing blows left his passenger on the verge of quitting, so he needed to be careful. “Girl’s off her damn rocker,” Goldlewis grumbled, shooting one last look up at the crash site before he sped away.

After a moment, Nadia sauntered out of the hole in the office building and across the body of the car protruding from it. She seated herself on its rear bumper like the edge of a diving board, hundreds of feet above the ground. She exhaled slowly, delighted but battered and exhausted from her reckless journey through Grapital City. Ever since she enacted her strategy of picking up and then squandering passengers as fast as possible to game the system for all the bonus time it was worth, she’d wreaked havoc all over the place. Her number one priority had been to seek out all her friends as they drove around and give each a love tap (or a ‘car-ress’, as she called it) with her vehicle. In short order she’d turned this round of Kooky Cabbies into an impromptu game of bumper cars whenever anyone ran into her, or her into them rather, which happened much more often. All good things must come to an end, though, and her strategy couldn’t ultimately beat the inexorable march of time. Better to go out on a high note, she reckoned.

As she sat surveying her territory, however, one of the competitors currently in Grapital Central piqued Nadia’s interest: a woman with short black hair styled in horns, wiry of build and foul of temper. Back in the minigame lobby the feral got a brief glimpse of this woman, but that hadn’t been the first time. Half-forgotten memories were resurfacing from her time spent in Carnival Town, all centered around a certain aggressive vagrant who always waltzed around town like she owned the place: Juri. “Well, well. Look who the cat dragged in~” Though technically a criminal herself, Nadia always stood up for the little guys, while this churlish martial artist preferred to beat them down, so naturally the two had come to blows. Neither definitively got one over on the other, however, and their rivalry came to an end when Nadia finally skipped town. Now that she’d returned, however, the feral had half a mind to pick her feud back up where the two left off. As Juri’s cab drew near, Nadia gathered herself up on her own cab’s bumper, and when the time was right the cat burglar pounced.

Nadia struck like a bolt from the blue, dropping directly onto Juri’s hood with her Mantreads. With her effective weight nearly tripled by her fusion with Massachusetts, the impact partially cratered the indestructible front of the car in the much more destructible roadway and launched Juri’s passenger straight from the rear seat to the pavement. “‘Scuse me for dropping in!” the catgirl announced, grinning mischievously. Despite her changes in form and fashion, she still looked enough like Nadia Fortune to jog Juri’s memory and reignite old flames. “Well if it isn’t my ol’ pal Juri! It’s been so long since we’ve scrapped, you’ve got me Han-kering for a rematch!”

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Lewa

It didn't take long for the otherworlders to completely exterminate slimes both small and large. The wide open area gave Lewa a good view of both hamlet and surrounding countryside, so when he saw that no enemies remained, he told the merchants and guardsmen of the caravan that he'd be right back and made for the beleaguered village. Gali or Kopaka might have remained cautious in a situation like this, taking time to assess the aftermath of the battle before relaxing, but the toa of air felt pretty confident that no stragglers had managed to slip through his allies' fingers. By the time he drew near, the villagers holed up in the town's center had begun to reemerge, at which point they found no trace of the slow but inexorable horde that had driven them into a panic--only the collateral damage to the terrain left behind by their inexplicable saviors. Fortune really had favored these people today, delivering them heroes that made those menacing monsters look like gnats in comparison. It was a good thing, Lewa reflected, that all these people brought to this world alongside him happened to be altruistic, and not at all the sort to take advantage of the clear power gap in play here.

Of course, now that he arrived, Lewa didn't really know what to do or say. He couldn't take credit for saving these people, so any attempt to follow up on the others' efforts now would be too little, too late. Plus, he couldn't be sure that his appearance would go over well with them in the first place. Gripped by despair at the brink of destruction, the inhabitants of Aventon had been desperate for any help, and they'd witnessed his heroism firsthand. If a big biomechanical warrior showed up out of the blue here, his reception might be a lot cooler. Then again, they seemingly had no qualms putting their safety into the hands of that huge tree monster, so who could say? And right now, nothing interested Lewa more than Maokai. Since his arrival in this world he'd been forced to accept the existence of purely organic people and animals, but plants were nothing new to him. Mata Nui featured plentiful plant life, and nowhere was the flora larger or lusher than Le-wahi, but in all his days Lewa had never seen a tree stand up or walk around, much less fight. If there was an upside to getting snatched away from his island home and leaving his people undefended, it had to be marvelous sights like this.

While the others spoke to and followed up with the townsfolk, Lewa remained at a distance in the vicinity of Maokai, fascinated and bent on further examining the twisted treant. If he and Gwen, as the blue-haired woman introduced herself, harbored some degree of familiarity with one another, he hoped that even if Maokai preferred to remain uncommunicative, the scissor-wielder could shed some light on who the strange pair were and what they happened to be doing here, other than coming to the aid of some helpless humans.

World of Light

For the current challenge, these might come in handy. Sorry that I couldn't find named locations for the eastern part of the map, I guess the game died too quickly.

Full Overhead View

Isometric 3D View

Grapital City with Names

World of Light

Ballyhoo’s Big Top - Minigame Roulette

Level 13 Ms Fortune (160/130) Level 8 Goldlewis (84/80) Level 7 Sandalphon (43/70)
Roland, Sectonia, and the Robot Girls’ @Archmage MC, Midna and the Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man, Pit and the Octopath Travelers’ @Yankee, Roxas and Ganondorf’s @Double, Juri’s @Zoey Boey
Word Count: 995

With a hard time limit in effect, courtesy of the oxygen system, none of the teams who finished their filmmaking challenge needed to wait around for very long. Just after the last quartet’s upload finished and they received their earnings, all of the sky gardens began to warp and dissociate just like the mountainside had in the first minigame. This fascinating new wonderworld, a sharp juxtaposition between idyllic islands and nebulous nightmares, quickly collapsed, and all eighteen Seekers found themselves shunted back to the game lobby alongside their two new acquaintances.

This time, they found Ballyhoo already on the scene when they arrived, eager to deliver the final results. “Welcome back, everyone! Enjoy your time chasing down cryptids in the Old World’s dismal depths? Whenever you’re done playing, make sure to rate our minigames on a scale of one to five stars, so we know what to keep in rotation! And now, without any further ado, THE STANDINGS!” He gave Balan his cue, and the green-haired mystery man sounded off a crisp drumroll from a drum set he’d manifested for just this occasion. “In third place: Bowser Junior, Geralt, Goldlewis, and Midna! In second place: Roland, Sectonia, Therion, and Primrose! And finally, in illustrious first place…Juri, Ganondorf, Sandalphon, and Zenkichi! Congratulations, everyone!” He snapped his fingers and a huge stack of rift tokens piled up atop his palm like pancakes. “And if you didn’t make top three, never fear, ‘cause at least you’re not leaving EMPTY-HANDED! TOKENS FOR EVERYBODY!” His other hand moved at a lightning-fast speed, dealing out rewards like a clay pigeon launcher. After only a moment, everyone had received their just desserts, and it was time to move on to the next step.

By now, everyone knew this song and dance, so Ballyhoo wasted no time in getting straight to it. For a third time the massive roulette wheel spun to life, the ivory-white ball rattling around its wooden circumference again and again until it finally grew tired and began to seek shelter. Nadia watched, a fresh neon green drink from the robotic fridge in hand, as the ball found itself a home in pocket number two. “Wow-ee!” Ballyhoo sang, beside himself with excitement. “Looks like you’re all in luck, because you just won the grand prize: our most popular minigame, KOOKY CABBIES!”

The words exploded in the air behind him as he announced the name of the game. After posing in the air, the gamemaster launched straight into his typical explanation. “This one’s nice and simple! You’ll take on the role of a taxi driver in a big city where LOTS of people need to go PLACES, and FAST! It’s your job to pick them up, drive them there, and drop them off as quickly -and nonlethally- as you can to earn that sweet, sweet MONEY! You’ll start with just ninety seconds on the clock, but you can earn bonus time too, so the better you do, the better you’ll…FARE! AHA! AHA! AHAHAHA!”

Eyes narrowed and arms crossed, Nadia flicked her tail back and forth. “I don’t get it.”

“Passenger difficulty is divided into easy, medium, and hard,” Ballyhoo continued. “Which you’ll see by the color of their markers: green, yellow, and red! Take on harder passengers to get bigger payouts, or do stunts en route to earn extra dough! Whoever’s got the biggest haul when everyone’s out of time, WINS! Ladies and gentlemen, START. YOUR. ENGINES!”

He and Balan began flying circles around the Seekers, posed as if driving invisible cars. As the latter worked his magic, the players’ worlds began to spin as well, and after a moment everything melted away in the surreal centrifuge.

---

When everything finally stopped spinning, the contestants found themselves spirited away once more to a brand new wonderworld. This time it took the form of a sprawling city spread across two islands connected by a handful of bridges, one a sprawling brick-and-asphalt metropolis of elevated highways and highrises, and the other a tropical island with houses not too unlike Carnival Town’s arrayed around a towering volcano. The sun setting on the oceanic horizon cast everything in gold, from the sparkling water to the clouds in the royal blue sky. This time, everyone appeared separated, scattered across the conjoined islands. Unlike the previous two minigames, it looked like this one would be a free-for-all. However, the competitors weren’t totally alone, either. They all received one stalwart companion: a custom convertible taxi cab tailor-made to their dimensions, bright yellow with black and white checkered stripes.

For once, Goldlewis was in luck: out of all the black tech he’d been obliged to use while in Midgar, cars were the only non-magic machines that tended to gel with him. Even in a brand new world, he’d never be able to dispense with that critical aspect of Americana. Figuring it was finally his time to shine, the veteran jumped in to find a key already in the ignition, and when he turned it the engine roared to life. Conversely, Sandalphon surveyed her ride with much less enthusiasm. She tended to prefer public transportation, so even if she could intuit this vehicle’s operation without too much trouble, she doubted that she possessed the skill or the daredevil energy to ace this challenge. Still, the archangel was nothing if not zealous, so she put herself behind the wheel with the resolution to wield this vehicle like a weapon of war.

And of course, Nadia didn’t have the faintest idea how to work an automobile, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying, or failing, or trying again. Everyone in that boat would have to learn as they went, since after just a couple seconds, Ballyhoo’s voice blared through the city’s storm sirens.

“Welcome to Grapital City! Are you ready to RUMBLE? Then put your pedal to the metal, ‘cause it’s ready. Set. GO!”

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Lea

A safe distance away from the thick of the fighting, Lewa continued his efforts to mop up the slimes attacking the caravan's flank. They weren't exactly quick, but the gelatinous monsters spread out in order to try and get past him, so the toa of air kept himself constantly on the move. Fortunately he possessed more than enough speed to keep pace with the oozy onslaught. As alien as these things were to him, both in how they lived and died, his strategy for dispatching the pests worked well, and Lewa's only got better at it as he went. As the prairie winds swelled around him over the course of the fight, making the grasses dance to a tumultuous beat, he found himself in his element. With that wind at his back, he had enough momentum on his side to cleave through his attackers and disperse their jellied masses, rendering them little more than splattered remnants in the dirt and noxious fumes in the air. The handful of blows he'd taken prevented a perfect victory, but they were nothing that his armored body couldn't handle.

With the caravan's flank successfully defended, the triumphant toa could turn his attention toward the main battle for the village, and lend a high-spirited hand if necessary. Right away he registered the presence of new threats on the way, similar to those he'd already helped expunge, but much bigger and stronger. During the battle so far he'd noticed something foul about these amorphous enemies, like a dark stain of unknown origin, and even from this distance he could sense an even deeper sense of corruption emanating from his fallen foes' larger kin. Such was this loathsome dark aura that they could evidently detach and eject pieces of it, lobbed through the air like clumps of magma from the mouth of a volcano. Lewa knew instinctively that he did not want one of those hitting him. Still, he doubted that even these super-slimes would pose any real threat to his fellow otherworlders. After all, to a toa there wasn't much difference between a Fireflyer and a Hoto Bug. They all squashed just the same.

Case in point was Rayne's gigantic explosion. So far the Knight Witch had given a modest account of herself in comparison to those from Gensokyo, working remarkable magics more for helpful and considerate utility than egotistical destruction, but this blast dispelled any shadow of a doubt that Lewa couldn've possibly had about her power level. And from there, she went on rampage, doing much more in seconds than the toa of air achieved in minutes with a jaw-dropping display of magic. Not to be outdone, Anne strutted her stuff as well, wreaking havoc on both distant mortar-slimes and scattered strays. Without much to do, all things considered, Lewa kept close to the caravan as it gave the battlefield a wide berth. If by some miracle an enemy managed to get past Anne, he would make sure that the merchants and guardsmen came to no harm.

With this glorified slaughter all but won already, Lewa's real problem was the war within. Seeing Anne and Rayne go to work made the toa of air realize that he wasn't just last place in terms of ability, but distant last. Still, he swallowed his pride and held firm. He just needed to stay positive and keep looking forward. None of this mattered--only getting home.

World of Light

Film Those Freaks - No Pleasure Cruise I

Midna and Kamek’s @DracoLunaris, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Level 8 Goldlewis (72/80)
Word Count: 4131 (+5)

”Yeah I do!” Jr replied to the question as to if he knew anything about tech and video making, before saying that ”I watch a whole bunch of stuff on UPipe back home when i get internet time. Stuff like Boyadi Piranha plant, MrDorrie, Chomps Jr. and- ” jr began to list off some of his favorite series and creators before remembering ”aaaaaand you have no idea what those are. Right. Obviously”

”But can you work these- Minda waved a hand at the torches rather than the camera as an added display of her ignorance ”-things to make this ‘movie’ with?”

Rather than reply, Jr instead let out a snort of a laugh, pointed at her head and said ”look at your helmet, it's huge!” before slapping his knee and laughing at her some more. As for what was causing his giggling fit, well, the diving bell had been made big enough to fit the princess’s helmet as well as her head, and with how much the top prongs added to her height, well, it was a touch oversized, something the increasingly dismayed twili found out as she patted it down with four hands.

”how… how bad is it?”

”Here, look” the prince replied, before picking up the camera, turning the device upside down, then turning the display around so she could see both it and, upon it, herself, which sent her groaning into 4 sets of hands. Goldlewis, who had been trying to hold in his mirth, broke down at this point and shook with silent laughter.

“It is rather large.” Geralt bluntly added, before looking at Junior. “So, I take it you’ll handle creating the…recording? While we handle defense and anything else you need us to do.” Geralt was more than okay with Junior taking the lead on this one, given that he was the only one here with any exposure to that sort of thing. Whether Goldlewis’ world had the kind of technology or not, if he had no idea how to use it, he was effectively in the same boat as Midna and herself.

”Can do” the prince replied along with a thumbs up as he turned the camera back around in his other hand and got a bit of a feel for how to get at least slightly decent shots on it.

Putting his hands on his hips, Goldlewis gave an affirmative nod. “Sounds like a plan to me. You’re the boss, li’l man.” Compared to the first minigame, the veteran felt a lot more engaged by this one already. Whereas his previous task amounted to little more than a rigorous physical exercise, this demanded expertise and creativity, and would apparently involve braving the ominously named ‘old world’. And who wouldn’t want to see a monster or two? He assumed that the actual scare factor would be low, given the Big Top’s whimsical aesthetic. Granted, Ballyhoo did say that there would be a hit point system involved, but actually having stakes just made things more exciting.

After grabbing a flashlight, which was black tech even he could handle, the veteran turned his attention to the diving bell that hung at the sky island edge. “Well. If y’all’re ready, I reckon we oughta get started.” On the way over, though, he glanced around the verdant garden, and not just to admire the flowers and fruits. He took note of a simple machine with a monitor and a large slot, some sort of receptacle for the camera judging by the helpful indicator. He suspected that was where the team should deposit the device once they were done. In addition to the power station, he spotted a freestanding touchscreen a good five feet or so in height, equipped with a coin slot. Curious, he moseyed over, and after a quick inspection decided that it must be a point of sale system. “Some sort of item shop,” he reported, running a finger over the coin slot. As the gears turned in his head, he pulled out the consolation token he’d been given after Connected Climbing Chaos, one eyebrow raised. “Huh, we’re s’posed to use these? Takes money to make money, I guess.” He looked through the shop’s offerings with greater interest, wondering what could possibly justify the in-game usage of his reward. For the most part, it looked like light sources or filming gadgets. “Anythin’ tickle your fancy?” he asked Junior.

”hmmmm” the prince mulled over the list as he used a knuckle (rather than a claw tipped finger) to scroll through the list of things commenting ”don’t need any defendy items we’ve got that in spades… I can heal stuff so we are fine there” before assessing that it might be worth getting ”a better torch so that we can see the stuff we’re filming, and one of those boom mics would let us get better sound? Would mean people are gonna have to carry those around instead of weapons though”

”I’ve got arms to spare for that at least” Midna offered, waving two hands while holding her currently removed helmet with the other two.

“I can focus on tracking and can try to slow anything down with Yrden if they prove a challenge.” Geralt added, completely lost on the kind of technology they were working with.

“That might come in handy.” Goldlewis shrugged. “As for me, after not doin’ so hot with that mountain climbin’ back there, I only got one Rift Token.” He stroked his whiskers while looking at Midna. “And you got third, but even then you only got three if I remember right. Well, it’s your call I guess. Me, I’m fine with what I got.” He flipped his token, caught it, and pocketed it in one smooth motion. Of course, someone could only look so cool with a big, dopey diving helmet on. “Pretty sure these glasses got a night vision mode anyhow.” He flipped down the tech lenses on his sunglasses to demonstrate, causing the built-in lights to glow red. If this mix of equipment gained from Jack-8 and Hank actually worked, it would be a stroke of good luck, and if it didn’t, well…at least he had that cheap flashlight.

”I can see a lot better in the dark than in bright light anyway, so I can help with spotting” Midna added, before saying ”but given that we only have to avoid coming last to get at least three more tokens, I’m happy to invest one of my winnings into improving all our odds of doing the same”

Following up on her word she opened a little portal on the ground which launched one of her coins up and out of it, before flicking the flying thing with a finger to make it fly perfectly into the slot. Actually buying the item too a little longer as she used the unfamiliar touch screen interface, but in a few moments she had acquired the very long stick with a fuzzy blob on the end

”So how does this-” Midna began to ask as she picked it up by the equivalent of the scruff of the neck and put the fluffy part right up in her face, only for her words to demonstrate how it worked by being a fair bit louder than they otherwise would have been

”I see” she said, before moving her hands down the stick and moving the mic away from her, and then saying, at a normal volume ”So it makes whatever is near the end louder. So we’ll be able to … hear what the monster noises better? Is that a good thing?”

”That- uh” jr began to reply with the information that that was not how microphones were supposed to work, before deciding that ”yeah sure” that was fine.

As for what it is for, he added that ”I mean, it’ll let us pick up anything anyone tussling with a spook says as well. So be sure to say something cool when you punch one. Or act scared? Cuz if we’re filming scary stuff and it's going on ‘spooktube’ then presumably the people watching want to be spooked as well? So we need to sell how spooky the stuff down there is instead of, you know, beating it up” hitting on the conceit of the minigame as he talked.

Goldlewis nodded. “Right, that follows. Guess that means I gotta act the part.” At first he’d wondered how complicated this whole ordeal could possibly be with just ninety seconds of film on the line, but there might be a lot of nuance to it. Regardless, unless Geralt had anything else to add prior to departure, it felt like a good time to head on over to the diving bell and get a move on. “Everyone ready?”

“Think so. So…we should act like these things are scarier than they are? Think I did well enough in that one play…” Geralt mumbled, though acting out a comedic play and acting terrified of something she could likely kill in seconds were two entirely different things.

”Something like that? Or just wary even? Basically let the spooky stuff be the focus rather than kicking its butt which isn’t very spooky” Jr replied, still trying to get the point worked out in his own head as well.

”It wouldn’t be a very good ghost story if the poor soul being haunted suddenly pulled a magic sword out of nowhere and stabbed the monster to death I suppose” Midna pontificate, before agreeing that ”So I think I understand it enough to get started”

Geralt nodded. “Agreed. Don’t kill any of the monsters, try to…show them being scary? I don’t really understand how you’re going to do that, Junior, but I trust you know what you’re doing. And then get back alive. I suppose after we have what we need, we don’t have to worry about holding back, though.” She mused.

With that, Goldlewis gave an officious grunt and turned to head for the diving bell. Even if Junior was technically the boss of this operation by virtue of his technical know-how, the little Koopa would be hard-pressed to keep up with his long stride, or outdo his commanding presence. Still, Goldlewis didn’t get too far ahead. Right now, he felt himself falling into an old pattern: the role of bodyguard. His job would be to protect Junior and make sure he got that footage back here, safe and sound, even if it meant being eliminated in the process. The veteran might not know the ins and outs of filmmaking, but dutiful self-sacrifice was something he was all too familiar with.

Once inside the diving bell, the big man stood by the door to close it and seal it shut once the others entered. While he waited, though, he laid his eyes on the terminal at the vehicle’s back. Its display showed vitals, including hit points and oxygen levels, for all four members of the team, as well as four measures of distance. They decreased as his teammates closed in, indicating their distance from the diving bell itself. Finally, just above the big lever that seemed guaranteed to begin their descent, he saw a selector with three options: the Factory, the Cruise Ship, and the Tunnels. Two of those sounded pretty ominous, but part of him suspected that the second option would be no pleasure cruise. After his last companion climbed inside, he swung the door closed with a squeak and cranked the wheel to lock it in place. “So, where we headin’?”

”A cruise ship? Are those spooky? I kinda wanna know” the prince said as he got up on tippy claws to take a look at the options while Midna shrugged, unsure as to what those were.

Goldlewis crossed his arm. “Why don’t we find out?” Using a knob on the console he selected the destination preemptively, but did not go so far as to pull the lever that would begin the team’s descent just yet.

Geralt hummed. “If it’s a ship, might be old or abandoned, with skeletons around to add to the ambiance. Tunnels are already dark, cramped places, so easy to understand how that might be scary. Not sure what a factory is, though…” She admitted, adding her two cents to the options. She wasn’t particularly attached to any of the three, though, and made no move to pick what she thought would be best, because she was out of her depth.

“It’s a kind of buildin’ where things are made. The same thing I mean, made lots o’ times. Mass produced.” Goldlewis waved his hand. “Don’t matter. If the li’l boss wants to see the ship, we see the ship, eh?” With a grin at the young koopa, Goldlewis reached out and pulled the lever.

---

With nothing to see and not much to hear outside of clunky machinery, Goldlewis and the others could only wait as the diving bell sank further and further down. It was a suspenseful ride, the tension growing each passing moment. The veteran had assumed that the crane would be lowering their vessel from the sky island to the ground, or maybe into the ocean, but from in here he couldn’t tell much of anything. Instead he considered the task ahead, gently stroking his whiskers as he thought.

“I ain’t ever made videos like this before, but I’ve seen my fair share of horror flicks,” he mentioned. “Most of ‘em ended up pretty schlocky. If ya ask me, the most important part of watchin’ somethin’ scary is the build-up. If you cram some critter down folks’ throats, it won’t end up bein’ frightenin’. Same if you keep usin’ jump scares, it gets old real fast. You gotta take it slow. Fleetin’ glimpses. Environmental storytellin’. Maybe somethin’ happens to someone, but you don’t get a good look at it. Then once you got them pins all set up, you can knock ‘em down with a big payoff towards the end.” He chuckled. “‘Course, I hope nothin’ ends up happenin’ to one of us. We could always stage it, though. Guess we’ll have to see how forthcomin’ these monsters are, heh.”

”If we need our own ghosts for the story, I’ve got two of those” Jr said, tapping two pokeballs while Minda offered a ”Skeletal knight on my end”

It wasn’t long after that that the diving bell slowed down. Eventually it stopped completely, but Goldlewis never felt any impact with the ground. Instead the vessel continued to rock back and forth slightly, as if suspended. He swallowed. “Why’d we stop? Is the damn thing broken?” Before messing with the control lever, though, he tentatively moved to the crank on the door. There was no water pressure holding it shut, and when he opened it, he revealed the side of a massive modern-day cruise ship. The diving bell was hanging in front of a huge hole in its side, connected only by its ramp. When he looked down over the edge, off to the side, or even straight up, Goldlewis saw nothing but infinite darkness, even with his goggles flipped down. “Guess we’re here, folks. Careful you don’t fall.”

Rather than test the ramp's integrity, the veteran jumped and airdashed into the hole. He landed in the ship’s interior, in what looked like a cross between a cargo bay and a junkyard, with crates and ruined automobiles stacked all over. Stranger still, everything was gray, completely homogenous in color and texture. It was eerily dark, with only ghostly light balls scattered around for illumination. Before Goldlewis could fully observe his surroundings, however, he spotted movement. With alarm the veteran registered something lurching out from the shadows, its form bulbous but humanoid, its stride slow and ponderous. “Well, that was fast,” he muttered before raising his voice. “We got company!”

A moment later the shape slumped into the light of the diving bell. When Goldlewis got a good look at it, though, he couldn’t help but be a little sheepish about his earlier alarm. It was a snail with arms and legs, exactly the same as the environment in color and texture, and though faster than a real snail it shambled around with such an awkward gait that Goldlewis felt like he could outrun it at a walking pace. Still, it was moving straight toward him, and the immediate encounter made him wonder just what else might already be closing in on his position. Making sure that he had solid ground behind him, he began to back away.

A moment after it came into view of the diving bell, there came the crack of gunpowder from within it and then a thunk as the musket slug slammed into the deck beside the snail man.

”How’d you miss from this range!” Jr exclaimed from behind the, going by the little green light, recording camera, as he pointed at the culprit: a briefly sheepish looking Minda.

That look vanished after a fraction of a moment before she lied ”I Swear I was on target?” to the face of the camera with the skill of a trained politician, before saying that ”Oh no, and now it's coming towards us!” as the snail man turned towards the source of the noise and started coming up the ramp.

”I’ll lead it away!” she insisted, before leaping off of the side of the bridge and into the void, only to land on the back of a summoned Flygon and use it as a platform to jump off of and then onto the ship herself. The slow monster turned to follow her as she led it behind some a stack of ruined cars, something the prince recorded after crossing a bridge of sideways cleaver swords held aloft by his Vespikan striker squad.

Then a moment later she asked ”How was that?” into a too closely held boom mic, causing Jr to whirl around with a little yelp to find Midna back among them again, the princess of twilight having shadow hopped back to them as soon as she led the monster out of sight.

Goldlewis scratched his head. “I dunno. That mighta been…overkill? It wasn’t all that threatenin’.” Just then, though, he spotted the same sort of movement in the shadows behind Junior. “Hold up…it’s back, right there behind ya!” He extended his hand in a dramatic point toward the snailman. When he realized that it approached from the opposite direction, he quickly amended his appraisal. “Wait no, it’s a second one! They got us in a pincer maneuver!” He turned out to be right when the first snailman slouched back into view, plodding toward the four Seekers. Of course, this was by no means a crisis, but Goldlewis was already beginning to see what the others had been on about. All this yelling and making a big, theatrical deal of the situation was actually pretty fun.

”You were saying?” Midna replied, with the kind of ‘I told you so’ tone reserved for when you were now stuck in a bad situation together and there was no positive but the ability to snark about it. She was also doing her best to maneuver the boom mic over whoever was talking to make sure their commentary was nice and clear.

“These things are smarter than they look. Dealt with enough monsters to know that. Even if they’re slow, one moment of distraction could be enough to spell your end.” Geralt gravely warned, definitely hamming it up, but the advice was still solid: Never underestimate your enemy.

Jr, having wildly swung the camera back and forth to get footage of both of them in what was maybe not the best camera-koopa-ship but which did imbue plenty of frantic energy to the footage, now swung it towards the scrap rest of the scrap and called out ”Maybe we can lose them in there?”

“If you got all you need, I got a better idea.” Goldlewis turned toward the snailmen and stood his ground as they waddled his way. “Y’all go on ahead. I’ll clean up.” He waited a moment more, then lunged forward. While the veteran left his coffin outside the scope of these minigames, he still had on the iron fists gained from his Jack-8 fusion. When he drove a mighty left hook into the monster’s ribs, the mechanism fired to add even more oomph to the blow, sending the snailman through the hole in the ship’s hull and out into the void with the sound of a shotgun blast. If these critters were both common and comically inept, the team had no further use for them.

The second snailman marched forward obliviously, and the next moment it met the same fate. With the threat passed, Goldlewis straightened up and dusted off his metal mitts. “There. No sense leavin’ ‘em around to bite us in the ass later.” He glanced at Junior, eyebrows raised. “Uh, pardon my French.”

”But we don’t have a donkey with us?” Jr replied with confusion, before saying ”Also I think I got the camera off before you kicked their butt, but might need to edit it a bit for the stuff you said before. If we can. Must be able to, right? Otherwise knowing when to stop filming and acting is going to be pretty tricky”

”Good idea, making sure we can toss them about though, and that they don’t just take hit points on contact or something cheap”

”Did it feel like you hurt it, or was it more or less the launching it out of here that did the trick?” Midna enquired as she ditched the gun she had indeed flubbed the shooting of into a portal.

Goldlewis scrunched his eyebrows together. “I didn’t feel anything break, to be fair. Like punchin’ a ball o’ dough. Guess I made the right choice aimin’ for the hole, but really I just wanted it outta here.” He crossed his arms as he looked at Junior. “Hey, cowboy. How much film we got left, anyhow?”

”We used just under a third, looks like?” the prince peered down at the camera, while Midna modded in thanks for the information about how to handle the virtual foes, before noting that they had ”about a fifth of our time down here left” after she checked her cheap watch.

“Then we’re makin’ decent progress,” Goldlewis declared. But they needed to do better than a couple of snails.

Though resolved to push further into the bowels of the cruise ship, the team didn’t get far. Barely did they get around a couple twists and turns in the cargo bay then the frontrunners glimpsed a strange shape just close enough to a ghostly light to be seen. Though difficult to make out at a glance, and motionless as its surroundings, its form featured obvious limbs, and other elements of clearly unnatural biology. When someone shone a flashlight on it, its beam revealed a freakish biped with scythe limbs extending from a round body covered in spiky protrusions. Most remarkable were its enormous bulging eyes, and as the light hit them their pupils dilated, shrinking down and then turning the Seekers’ direction.

Geralt’s face scrunched up in a bit of genuine disgust at the creature, which almost vaguely resembled a rotfiend, had one’s eyes ballooned to freakish proportions, and its hands mutated into needle-like stumps. “It’s spotted us!” She warned, stepping forward to put herself between it and Junior. “Ought to run, I don’t think we can fight this one!” Half-turning towards the camera and pointing behind Junior, she waited to make sure the others started moving before she risked turning her back fully on the monster. Ambiguous rules of the game or not, her instincts were fighting her on this the whole time.

With camera and boom mic turned in the monster’s direction, a recording light flickered green, and the show was on.

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Lewa

After stating his plan and resolving to try and stay more positive going forward, there was unfortunately not much more Lewa could offer to the strange band's ongoing conversation. What little the toa knew of society went straight out the window in this world, and he couldn't really speculate about either the nation or its inhabitants. Even with the current circumstances, he knew, one of his fellow toa might have fared a bit better in a situation like this. While Lewa fostered a connection with animals, Gali could connect better with the matoran (and humans mostly likely) by virtue of her keen and empathetic mind. Meanwhile, someone like Pohatu was a real people person, with a likeable personality and a knack for making pals. Among his brethren, the similarly gregarious Lewa counted the Toa of Stone as his best friend. Onua's sensibility and stout heart would have probably served him well, too. Only two toa might conceivably be worse off, given Tahu's aggressive, fiery temper and Kopaka's chilly, solitary nature. One would be more likely to get himself in trouble, while the other would probably isolate himself and go it alone. Regardless of their individual tendencies, Lewa missed them all. If he meant to reunite with them, he would need to stay strong and keep pushing forward.

To that end, he added some questions of his own to those posed by Sanae to the members of the caravan. Though he had a million questions in mind, he stuck to just those that concerned Lavielle. After all, this world's denizens were much less likely to understand his situation than his fellow fish-out-of-water, the otherworlders. And naturally, the greatest question -why me- he would reserve for the 'goddess' herself. Thanks to the merchants' cooperation, Lewa managed to assemble a crude understanding of Lavielle's position in this world and her relationship to the people, insofar as anyone in this world might know. This 'goddess' turned out to be quite the mysterious being, as distant and unknowable as the Great Spirit Mata Nui himself. The more he heard, the more Lewa understood just how unheard of it would be to meet with this being at all. It was a sobering realization, but Lewa kept a hold of himself. The impossible was just something that nobody had managed to do yet.

Gradually, Lewa settled in for the long haul. Days spent traveling agonized him almost as much as the days he spent languishing in and around the village, but there was one ray of hope: the possibility of actually getting somewhere. Compared to his island home, this world seemed immense, with much broader and less varied (not to mention less interesting) biomes. At least the journey spared Lewa one misfortune that it inflicted on his fellows: travel rations. Preserved meats like salted pork, hard tack that needed to be moistened with water or wine, young cheeses, trail mixes of nuts and dried fruits, plain beans, and just downright gruel did not make for fine dining, but that seemed to be how medieval travelers sustained themselves. As everyone journeyed, Lewa tried to foster good relations with the others, hard as it was. Those who already knew one another tended to be a bit insular. Anne interacted with him willingly, but the curiosity in her eyes as she examined him unnerved him somewhat--he wasn't some gizmo to be broken down and studied. The further the group got, the harder it would be for them to reach Millie again if she turned out to be important. Lewa didn't like total reliance on strangers for directions, but he did his best to memorize the lands he passed through. Very little broke up the monotony of travel, but when it rained, it poured.

On that day, things started slow, with a sighting of unusual slimes in great numbers. A quick scouting trip from Sanae suggested that the town had capable defenders in the form of an impressive tree monster and a human with huge pincers, but even capable defenders couldn't be everywhere at once. Lewa decided to help right away, reasoning that the caravan was slow enough that he could catch up easily, especially if the wagons gave the situation a wide berth. Of course, the toa wasn't the only one thinking about the commoners' welfare, and Fran was more than a little faster off the mark than he was. Watching her eviscerate slimes as he moved to insist, he couldn't help but wonder if there would be any left by the time he got there. It was a little disappointing, but there were more important things at stake than his personal pride. Instead of following in her footsteps, the toa heeded Anne's suggestion to help with the flank.

With a much smaller group of enemies, he could do his thing without worrying about Mokou blowing him up. That said, his axe didn't seem to be the best tool for the job; these bizarre creatures seemed to lack vital organs, or even a coherent form, and just chopping them only slowed them down. "Like fighting protodermis," he muttered. These slimes were more viscous than protodermis, though, and that gave him an idea. Working methodically, the toa used both bursts of wind and carving blows from his axe to splatter, then separate the slimes. Once divided up, the individual blobs could be flung even farther by his air currents, effectively negating each threat. Not as efficient as the others just vaporizing them, he knew, but Lewa was glad to be doing something, at least.

World of Light

Minigame Roulette - Connected Climbing Chaos

Level 13 Ms Fortune (150/130) Level 8 Goldlewis (72/80) Level 7 Sandalphon (31/70)
Roland, Sectonia, and the Robot Girls’ @Archmage MC, Midna and the Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man, Pit and the Octopath Travelers’ @Yankee, Roxas and Ganondorf’s @Double, Juri’s @Zoey Boey
Word Count: 2751

After about a minute spent sitting by the penguin’s fire, its radiating warmth balanced against the slow rain of cold flakes against her skin, Sandalphon began to get restless. Of course, she’d only permitted herself to rest in the first place after forcing herself to accept the fact that winning this race really didn’t matter, but the feeling still agitated her. And no matter how much she reasoned that she didn’t need extra rewards from these games, and that they’d be better off in the others’ hands, or that her chances of winning were negligible at this point and only getting worse over time, her fretful nature wouldn’t change. The archangel had lived her whole life not just doing, but overdoing, holding herself to the highest of standards when it came to acts of service. Especially after already allotting herself an exceptionally generous break with Zenkichi today, capitulation at a time like this -game or not- would be nothing short of indolence. As the moments of inaction trickled by, Sandalphon fidgeted more and more, bouncing her leg and drumming her fingers, until she could stomach this slothfulness no longer.

She inhaled sharply, standing. Her sudden movement got the attention of Goldlewis, and he glanced up at his partner. “Well, shall we continue?”

The southerner stroked his whiskers, his lips pursed. “Y’know, I reckon we’re probably dead last. Ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell we overtake any frontrunners, so I don’t mind waitin’ it out right here. Besides, the snow’s mighty relaxin’. Don’t ya think?”

Sandalphon’s pupils turned to inverted triangles. “I am sufficiently rested already. It’s true we’ve encountered many setbacks, due largely to my own regrettable deficiencies. However, I can’t imagine that a man of your strength would be so easily cowed.” The archangel attempted to ply the man’s pride to motivate him, shouldering the blame for their failures at the same time. “Even if we cannot claim victory, let us not wallow in defeat, but put forth an effort we can be proud of.”

“I’m pretty proud we made it this far,” Goldlewis replied evenly. “Though truth be told, I mostly just don’t wanna do any more climbin’. Haulin’ this load around ain’t exactly easy.” He slapped his own belly with a good-natured chuckle. Then, for just a moment, he grew serious. “I don’t mean to say I got no fight left in me, of course. When it comes to doin’ my duty, I ain’t one to hold back, I know you seen that much.”

The veteran shrugged. “But this here mountain ain’t a battlefield–it’s just a game. Sure, there’s rewards for doin’ well, but at the end of the day we’re here to have a good time. If the youngins wanna tire themselves out runnin’ around, that’s their call. Me, I’d rather just sit back and let ‘em.” He leaned back, his palms against the ground to prop himself up. “That’s just how gettin old is. It don’t mean you’re weak–but it means ya gotta ration your strength.” He glanced at Sandalphon, raising an eyebrow. “I dunno how familiar y’are with the process, seein’ as you’re angel an’ all.”

Sandalphon crossed her arms, a thoughtful look on a face punctuated by ellipsis in her eyes. “Although I am several hundred years old, I believe you do have a point. As far as I’m aware, this body does not age.” She tilted her head slightly. “Though we angels can be destroyed, I suppose our lifespans are indefinite. That does mean I cannot truly understand the ‘gravity’ that comes with aging. I can only offer my sympathies. It must weigh heavily upon you.”

Narrowing his eyes, Goldlewis questioned her. “Hey, was that a fat joke?”

Though Sandalphon didn’t flinch, the empty circles that her pupils became said everything. “Not at all, I am quite incapable of humor. I merely meant…”

“Ahh, relax, I was just joshin’ ya,” Goldlewis told her, grinning. Then he let out a sigh. “You’re right, though. It’s scary. As the years pile up, time gets faster and faster. The years mean less. I’m plenty strong -stronger’n most folks my age, that’s for damn sure- but knowin’ I’m gettin’ weaker an’ weaker, ‘til I find I’ve lost my strength some day…it ain’t a cozy feelin’. And then…well, I’m sure I don’t gotta lay out how the story ends.” He looked up at the simulated sky, beyond the fluffy white clouds and violet horizon. “I’m a soldier, though. I looked death in the face many times, and I ain’t scared. But that don’t mean life ain’t worth livin’.” The veteran turned to Sandalphon and offered an apologetic smile. “I don’t mean to get all serious just to avoid gettin’ off my ass. Just mean to say we should enjoy the time we got.”

After another moment, the archangel reached her conclusion. “...I suppose I wouldn’t enjoy pushing forward any more than remaining here.” With elegance she seated herself by the fire once more, crossing her legs. “It would be nonoptimal to finish even lower than this if we happened to fall again, as well.”

Goldlewis nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

Just then, the deep, resounding blow of a horn echoed down across the rocky landscape, prompting both to look up. “Reckon that means someone crossed the finish line?” Goldlewis asked. Without any visual evidence to back up that hypothesis Sandalphon hesitated to offer any conjecture, but a moment later a second noise swept down through the snowy mountainside. Only seconds after that, a third followed it up, but rather than taper off like the first two the third noise grew more intense. All around, the terrain began to warp and fray, first distorting and then collapsing. Everything seemed to squeeze together like a balloon between a child’s hands, and when their reality popped, both Goldlewis and Sandalphon found themselves back on the giant roulette table. All of the other Seekers appeared too, banished from Balan’s wintry wonderworld and returned to the lobby.

“Whoooo!” Nadia cheered breathlessly, her voice more than a little horse. Though seriously worn out, the feral couldn’t look happier. “We did it, we won! I mean, not to gloat or anything, but we killed it!” When Captain Falcon inevitably looked down on her last minute cheating, she waved him off, her grin indelible. “What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of WINNING!” Once she settled down, the armless feral went around to collect her lost limbs, which had luckily been deposited in the lobby just like everyone else.

After about a minute, Ballyhoo poofed into existence, floating off to the side with his typical aplomb. “Aaaaand that’s a wrap! Congratulations to our winners! In first place, A and A! In second place, A and A! And in third place, A and A! Here are your WINNINGS!” Doffing his hat like a magician, he rolled it across his shoulders, then snatched it and held it like a party popper. A glittering gold projectile burst from it, then exploded in the air, raining down the correct number of rift tokens on everyone. Nadia gathered hers up, bit one more for show than anything, then stuffed them into her pouches. “And courtesy of our sponsor Vandelay Technologies, here’s a refreshing beverage! ON US!”

With a snap of his fingers he pulled a robotic refrigerator into the lobby, who promptly opened himself to offer everyone revitalizing green energy drinks. “Help yourselves!”

Far beyond questioning any of this by now, Nadia trotted over to accept a drink right away. “Mew-sic to my ears!”

Anyone else who wanted one would have to move quickly, however, because once Balan showed up again, Ballyhoo got the ball rolling–literally. The gamemaster launched another boo ball around the table, and the maestro made it spin. “Aaaaand your second minigame iiiiiiiis…!” Another few moments passed in eager -or perhaps tense- anticipation before the ball made its home in pocket number seven. When she looked to gauge their hosts’ reactions, Nadia was surprised to see Ballyhoo clutching his head with both hands in dismay, while Balan seemed frightened–though he might be just pretending.

“Film Those Freaks!?” Ballyhoo made a show of fainting, though the second he hit the ground he popped right back up again. “Is that a chill in the air? No…it’s another thrilling minigame, with a scrumptiously spooky bent! For this one, you’ll be split into teams of four and started off in cheerful sky gardens. It’s up to you to grab your camera, take the diving bell down to the old world, and use your precious ninety seconds of film to record as much scary stuff as you can! Once you’ve captured all those horrific happenings, it’s on you to make it back to the surface, upload your video to SpookTube, and rake in the ad revenue! Whoever gets the most moolah wins! Be careful though, ‘cause you’ve only got five minutes of oxygen, and a set amount of ‘hit points’. Run out of either, and it’s a one-way trip back to the island–lose your camera, and you’re out of luck!”

Nadia blinked, surprised. So these weren’t all going to be sporting events, after all? Maybe that was for the best, given how tough all that mountain climbing had been. Some of what Ballyhoo said went right over her head, but she knew that film and cameras had to do with movies. Having snuck her way into a theater or two, she’d seen the miracle of moving pictures for herself, and even if none of them had been remotely scary they were still pretty cool–not to mention black and white. “So we’re gonna be, like, hunting for cryptids? And making our own movies? Sounds fun!”

Ballyhoo nodded. “If you’re not a SCAREDY CAT, that is! Mr Balan? Take it away!”

---

Just as the gamemaster promised, the Seekers wound up scattered across five different sky islands, separated into teams of four. Each one looked like a big, well-kept backyard garden, with vivid greenery, huge hedges, sunflowers, and apple trees. They also came equipped with one little medical shed apiece, and from the porch of each cozy red house (where the camera and four cheap, low-power flashlights could be found) the Seekers could see both a power station for recharging electronics and the diving bell that would take them down to the Old World, suspended by a crane. Inside its spartan interior the Seekers could find a crank for operating the door, a button to initiate travel, and a screen with the O2 levels and distances of every team member. It also housed a selector with three choices for each team’s destination: the Factory, the Cruise Ship, and the Tunnels. Upon appearing in a garden, the soon-to-be amateur filmmakers would find their winter wear replaced by old-fashioned diving helmets, each fitted to their own heads.

The bright, idyllic scenery, surrounded on all sides by nothing but perfectly blue skies and fluffy white clouds, left Nadia blinking as she tried to adjust. “Agh, that hat guy’s gonna give me whiplash, I swear. Huh?” When she became aware of the weight on her head, she started pulling and prying at her new diving helmet until it slipped off, allowing her to get a better look at it. A sort of dark brass in color, it seemed old-fashioned but very sturdy, and it even featured hollow protuberances on top to accommodate her ears. “Oh, jeez. Are we really going swimming? These clothes are brand new! They don’t deserve to be fashion-derwater!”

Helmet in her hands, she looked around to see who’d ended up on her team this time. Right away she saw her true-blue pal Blazermate, which elicited a friendly smile, but her search also turned up Roxas and Captain Falcon, two of the competitors she’d just gone head-to-head with in the last minigame. “Huh, guess we’re falc-on the same team this time. No hard feelings, eh?” She didn’t really know either of them well enough to pun with them yet, but hopefully this minigame would change that. Her gaze landed on the handheld camcorder, the key to this whole challenge, and she jogged over to scoop it up. The feral held it up like a sandwich, one eyebrow raised as she tried to figure this out. After a moment, mostly spent workshopping jokes rather than actually examining the thing, she gave up and swiveled her head around to the others. “...Anyone know how to use this thing? People are always shilling stuff like this, but franc-ly, I can never make ‘cents’ of it. The dime-ensons just don’t work for me. Guess I’m just not tech-nickle enough.”

One island over, at a safe distance from the barrage of terrible puns, Goldlewis was sizing up his own team. It looked like he’d ended up with Midna, Geralt, and Bowser Junior. In other words, for this video-making contest, this crew was two old farts with barely any grasp on technology (though for very different reasons), one woman from a medieval fantasy world, and one little kid–who out of everyone probably had the firmest grasp on what this minigame was all about. Sighing, Goldlewis shook his head. “Figures it’d be black tech. Even after all this time in Midgar, I’m just about hopeless when it comes to figurin’ that stuff out.” The veteran crouched down to try and address the young koopa on his own level. “Well partner, I hope you know a thing or two about this whole video-makin’ business, ‘cause I reckon the rest of us ain’t got a clue.” At least right now they had some time to go over how things worked, since once everyone piled into that diving bell, they’d be on the clock.

When Sandalphon arrived in her own garden, she took stock of her teammates right away. The first she saw, owing to his remarkable size, appeared to be Ganondorf. While his immediate confrontation with Midna did not lead to the best first impression, and his inherent darkness created a natural contrast to her light, the archangel could not deny that he’d been the more level-headed of the two. Naturally, she planned to treat him with the same professional courtesy that she offered everyone else. The other man present interested her much more, since it happened to be Zenkichi. Just the sight of the grizzled detective, and the subsequent realization that they’d be working together, was enough to turn Sandalphon’s eyes into sparkles for a moment.

“Hello again,” she greeted him, bowing her head with a slight but irrepressible smile on her gray lips. “It appears that we’ve been matched together for this challenge. I look forward to working with you.”

That left the last person, who Sandalphon had uncharacteristically ignored in favor of greeting Zenkichi. Now, though, the archangel offered her undivided attention, for player number four wasn’t a Seeker, but someone entirely new. This stranger was a lithe young woman, her black hair done up in two pink-banded horns and her diagonally-cut bangs laid across mismatched purple-and-green eyes, wearing a very small white crop top that left her dignity to the mercy of black body tape, as well as baggy pants. Her appearance evoked the image of a martial artist with an odd fashion sense. Of course, this fighter was sizing up her teammates as well, and her expression made no bones about how she felt.

The archangel did not take Juri’s feelings into account. “Good afternoon. It looks like we’ll be working together as well.” Sandalphon inferred the reason why this stranger might be here. If Captain Falcon could end up in the Seekers’ lobby, it made sense that others could too, especially given how unevenly a roster of nineteen players could be sorted into teams. “My name is Sandalphon. Though we are not acquaintances, I hope you will enjoy your time with us nonetheless.”

Once introductions were out of the way, the team could focus on the task at hand: the creation of a scary short movie. Though unfamiliar with cameras, she felt confident that she could learn in a short amount of time, as she did with most technologies during her time in Midgar. The art of film-making, however, would be a whole other beast.

World of Light

a meanie bo beanie has appeared

Juri Han

Name: Juri Han
Origin: Street Fighter
Appearance:

The Spider

Personality: A cruel young woman who enjoys destroying and dominating. A hedonistic thrill-seeker with a mean streak a mile wide, Juri Han is no stranger to the physical pleasures this world has to offer. And no stranger to death and murder, either. She insults and berates most people around her for their perceived weaknesses. Spend enough time around her and one might discover the gaps in the façade. She finds her life has a lack of purpose and direction. It's her own fault because she pushes everyone away with her hideous demeanor, but she is also lonely.

Juri hates rules and being told what to do. She hates tyrants and authoritarianism. Anyone who is true to themselves and lives for themselves can earn Juri's respect, and she has worked with others in the past to achieve her own ends. Mainly power, or revenge. She has a soft spot for animals, particularly arachnids. She'll kill other killers without a second thought but tends to let other people who get in her way off with a harsh beating.

She has acted selflessly in the past, coming to the rescue of others in need. Ask her why, and risk being insulted, or assaulted should one push their luck. She leaves the truly innocent out of it, and when she spots the truly evil, they disgust her.

Despite her thuggish, short-sighted behavior, Juri is highly educated and well-read.

Juri is no stoic. She possesses an excitable, curious demeanor, if only often to find out whatever the 'problems' are and exploit them. Should something be too boring, she'll immediately discard it and try to find the next thing to entertain her. There's playfulness about her that can make her appear almost innocent. Often times she'll play up the crazy killer role, despite being quite grounded in reality. All this to say, Juri Han is a very complicated woman.

Background:Juri Han was a martial arts prodigy at a young age. Extremely studious, she worked hard to make her parents proud. Even as a young girl she couldn't deny the thrill of destroying her opponents. She loved her mother and greatly respected her father, who was renowned nation-wide in Korea for working as a criminal prosecutor. But when he went after Shadoloo, the evil Dictator M. Bison struck back. In the attack, Juri's parents were murdered, and she lost her left eye. Whatever life Juri Han could have had was over. Juri learned the only real law in this world was the law of violence. Kill or be killed.

Juri sought power, greater strength, and revenge against M. Bison. To this end she joined the rival criminal organization SIN as a researcher. She built much of the technology behind the Feng Shui Engine herself. She worked for Seth, the android. When all out war broke about between SIN and Shadaloo, Juri enjoyed the chaos, and played both sides. Eventually she betrayed Seth, killing one of his last back-up bodies, and took over. She made an attempt on M. Bison's life by herself, but failed. SIN didn't last long under her rule. Despite having actually conned, duped, and backstabbed her way into the power she claimed to be so hungry for, she quickly let it all come to ruin because of the responsibility involved and lack of direction. It's not like she actually wanted to take over the world or deal crazy psycho power drugs or run an army or whatever the hell it was evil overlords did all day. It was way too much work and not her style. After murdering anyone else who worked on the Feng Shui Engine so only she would know its secrets, she left.

Eventually M. Bison's evil schemes caught up to him, and he attracted the attention of the heroes of the world. Juri was no hero but she was an opportunist who took advantage to get revenge. While she did help save the world, and even saved some of the heroes from harm (there's nothing she hates more than brainwashing) in the end the one who got the pleasure of killing M. Bison was that goody two-shoes Ryu.

Part of her chaotic nature is sometimes doing selfless things for no reason. Why she re-programmed and resurrected Seth in a new body and let him roam free, she has no idea. Maybe it was just kinda funny?

No longer having revenge as an excuse for her schemes, she has spent her days since wandering around trying to find something to do, working contract jobs as hired muscle or assassinations. To what end, she doesn't know. There's a sense of tragedy about her, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for her to hide it.

In the Now: Juri is as aimless as ever, but the World of Light has presented her with ample opportunity for distraction. She has been going around stirring up trouble and trying to find ways to entertain herself. Naturally this means finding work to fund her habits. And with Juri almost anything is on the table.

Job: Scout
Specialty: Close-range Rushdown
Inventory: Feng Shui Engine: The artificial left eye given to her by SIN. She can use her ki to empower it for dramatic effect and returns. By itself, however, it is capable of detecting and giving her a general gauge of the power level of a sentient being she scans with it. It's also a universal input and output port for her hacking skills.

Smart Phone: A modern day cellular device capable of long ranged communication, access to networks, currency, a wide host of boring games Juri hates, camera, pictures of spiders, identification, etc.

Sports Motorcycle: For travelling around at high speed. For leisure or business.

Lv: 5
EXP: 0/10
Abilities: (Powers, spells, special moves, an iconic piece of equipment, and so forth)

• Feng Shui Engine - Access to the powerful array of abilities her artificial eye grants her, including scanning for a nearby power levels and hacking, and with further level ups, super attacks and techniques.
• Fuhajin Stocks - She can enhance her special moves by doing a ki-enhanced kick. This increases the utility of her special moves in a variety of ways. She can store up to four.
• Drive Gauge - Six internal 'bars' of energy to be used for various Drive techniques. It is expended on blocking, working as a guard meter. The upside compared to say, Sakura or Karin, is that while she has Drive Gauge, she takes no chip damage, and reduced blockstun. She starts with the ability to spend two bars of Drive Gauge to use a powerful Overdrive Art. Overdrive Arts are powerful versions of her special moves, made even more effective if combined with a Fuhajin.

Skills: (Passive abilities, outstanding ‘stats’, and talents/proficiencies)

• Taekwondo Ki User: - A martial artist of superhuman strength, speed, and skill. Able to easily overpower common force multipliers such as mundane swords, guns, explosives, etc. She can project her internal force and energy out from herself with dangerous close ranged ki projectiles.
• Speed - Juri is incredibly fast and agile, even by Street Fighter standards.
• Skill Name - Skill Description
• Skill Name - Skill Description

Weaknesses: (Practical limitations, detrimental ‘stats’, and deficiencies. Include three)

• Burnout State - Once out of Drive Gauge, she incurs many weaknesses. She takes increased chip damage and block stun, and loses access to all Drive related techniques, making her defense severely weaker and limiting her damage dealing. While in Burnout, a significantly hard impact will Stun her, leaving her helpless for several seconds. Even if she blocks an attack it is possible to Stun her should she hit the environment hard enough as a result.
  
  She loses Drive Gauge when she blocks, when she is hit with a punish counter, or when she is hit with an attack that costs the opponent some of their own resource. Super, mana, energy, focus, whatever it may be, if it is a limited power it will take away some of her Drive Gauge on hit depending on the damage and cost.
• Punish Counter - While Juri is able to capitalize off the mistakes of her enemies with her techniques, there is a tangible benefit from doing the same to her. Catching her in the recovery of performing an attack will sap some of her Drive Gauge and exacerbate the effects of the the attack. For example, an attack that might have normally just knocked her back a few steps may rattle her energy for her to collapse to her knees should it hit her after she missed an attack.
• Short Range - While she has numerous methods of closing the gap that might make her dangerous an opponent who relies on long range, she has no notable proficiency in anything like marksmanship. Her ki attacks are mostly just for controlling space just outside of the range of her hands and feet.

Spirits: (Any spirits your character possesses should be listed here with their type)

• Spirit name - Type

Rapport: (You can keep track of your Rapport here. As you level up Rapports, consider linking the posts here and listing what they give you)

• Character A / Character B - D Rank 3/5

@Zoey Boey

Looks good to me! There's some placeholder list items left over, but that's hardly a big deal. Welcome back Zoey!

World of Light

Minigame Roulette - Connected Climbing Chaos

Level 8 Goldlewis (69/80) Level 7 Sandalphon (28/70)
Word Count: 1493

When the race began, Goldlewis and Sandalphon were of like mind. They stepped back to let the younger and more sprightly competitors charge forward, then set off through the wintry penguin village at the rear of the pack. Pairs like the thieves and Roland/Falcon scrambled up the first little cliff face at a breakneck pace, followed quickly by Junior/Pit and Blazermate/Bowser once those duos sorted themselves out. Goldlewis exchanged a knowing glance with Primrose, whose team had taken a similarly patient tact, while he cast a scathing look at Midna/Roxas, who’d instantly given up on any pretenses of fairness in favor of cheating. “Y’all got no shame?” he questioned, shaking his head. Ganondorf/Geralt would have gotten the same treatment if the warlord’s scheme worked out, but his plan fell flat, forcing the two to proceed normally. They quickly passed Sectonia, whose burdensome and inanimate partner slowed her down a good deal, as well as Rika/Kamek. While Goldlewis was well past his prime, he was no frail old man, and come hell or high water he’d give a good account of himself here today.

Following just after Zenkichi and Primrose, he and Sandalphon took each challenge methodically. The archangel timed each and every jump, even the easy ones, with mechanical consistency and precision in her typical deadpan voice. It came as something of a surprise that Goldlewis could jump higher than she could, even with his double jump disabled, but Sandalphon could slow her own fall and turned out to be so light that Goldlewis could pull her after him with ease. Once they crested the first cliff, they paused to watch other pairs slinging across -or falling into- the first pit, more than one of them demonstrating the ban on movement abilities. Since their large size meant the two took up a lot of space, they didn’t bother jostling for position, but hung back and learned from the others’ mistakes. “Slow and steady wins the race, as they say,” Sandalphon remarked.

Goldlewis chuckled. “The sayin’ that came to my mind was ‘monkey see, monkey do’.” He watched other teams flying ahead, in some cases literally. Already he could see which way the wind was blowing. “We might have a tough time winnin’ this.”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to settle for ‘every dog has his day’,” Sandalphon replied. “Still, let us do all that we can.”

With the crowd thinned, the two got their chance. They jumped to the platform and Goldlewis sat down, ready to serve as the anchor. Sandalphon dropped down and began to swing, building up momentum, then gave a comically stoic countdown as she whirled around in a loop-de-loop. “One. Two. Three.”

Goldlewis barreled forward, and together the two soared over the first gap. As he slid to a stop in the snow, he pumped his fist. “Alright, one down! That was fun, eh Sandy?”

Judging by the spirals in her eyes, Sandalphon was a little dizzy, but she quickly blinked them away. “Indeed.”

The unlikely pair pushed forward, following in their comrades’ footsteps. They worked their way across more tandem jumps, taking them in anything but quick succession, then performed another swing. This time, while Sandalphon could reach the ledge, Goldlewis fell short. Despite her best attempt to brace herself, he dragged her down immediately, and both fell a short way to some planks below. Goldlewis landed on his feet, relieved that Ballyhoo’s comments about fall damage held water, then caught Sandalphon in his arms. “You okay?” Her pupils looked like exclamation marks, but otherwise she seemed unruffled. She nodded, and he set her down, breathing a sigh of relief. “Well, that ain’t good,” he muttered, looking up. “Maybe if I did the swingin’ this time?”

Sandalphon thought it over as the two climbed back up. Even with her above-average size, the weight difference between her and Goldlewis was substantial, to say the least. The man was simply a behemoth. Normally she wouldn’t even consider supporting his weight, but if the strain couldn’t actually injure her, it was worth a try. “That’s our only option,” she decided, kneeling down in the middle of the platform. “I recommend jumping off the back to start your swing with momentum, instead of dropping like I did earlier.”

“Good call. Count me out.” On the count of three, Goldlewis jumped and swung. When his full weight hit her Sandalphon’s pupils turned into skulls, but as he arced forward she rose and jumped. Together they flew through the air, and once the veteran landed he pulled her up like a bucket from a well. “Nice goin’,” he told her, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “You good to move on?”

She nodded, and the two set off. By now Zenkichi and Primrose had left them behind, passing Bowser and Blazermate in the process, but it would still take some doing to catch up to those two. That left just Kamek and Rika down below. While not exactly happy with second to last, Sandalphon ignored the big picture in favor of each obstacle before her. When faced with the first overhang, she understood the intention at a glance–and that she would need to support Goldlewis yet again. He went first, allowing the archangel to swing up to the boards on the other side, and once she braced herself Goldlewis let go. Thankfully he possessed the sheer strength to haul himself up by climbing the rope, since it took everything Sandalphon had just to hold steady. Even then it wasn’t enough, as her own strength gave out before her partner could reach her. She tumbled off the planks, and the two plummeted through the ice-lined pit into a big pile of snow. Goldlewis just lay there for a moment, exhaling. “Dahh, hogwash.”

The snowdrift nearby, aglow beneath a conspicuous halo that floated over it, stirred before Sandalphon popped her head out. “My sincere apologies,” she murmured, her pupils shaped like stress marks. “I didn’t realize my weakness would be such a severe liability.”

Her contrition changed the veteran’s attitude instantly, and he sat up. “Nah, don’t sweat it none. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?” He narrowed his eyes. If he hadn’t left his coffin in the lobby, it might have come in handy, but right now he lacked both it and all the items that the UMA within could provide. For a brief moment he recalled his stunt with Roland in Port Meridian, but even if that would meaningfully increase his chances of winning it didn’t justify hitting a nice lady. “Up an’ at ‘em,” he declared, getting to his feet. “We’ll think of somethin’.”

Luckily it took only a few jumps and one swing to get back to the spot where they fell. “Once you’re up there, try stickin’ them gloves to the wall,” Goldlewis suggested. “If they can hold me, and you can’t get hurt, they oughta hold us both.” He turned out to be correct, and by trusting in the gloves rather than her own strength, Sandalphon held out long enough for Goldlewis to haul himself up. After adding that move to their playbook, the two pushed passed a second underhang, more jumps, and a team swing, only to reach a daunting obstacle. Looking down, Sandalphon could see that the penalty for a fall here would be rough, but not calamitous. Still, the two were already far behind, with only echoed voices from above indicating the presence of competitors.

The archangel steeled herself. “Let us begin.”

Unfortunately, the duo ended up falling twice, once when Sandalphon’s attempted slow-fall from the first overhang led to Goldlewis falling behind her, and once when he missed the jump to the second and dragged an unready archangel along with him. The two climbed and trudged back up from each fall, slower each time. “Nothin’ to it but to do it,” Goldlewis insisted. Even if this was all futile, his pride would not allow him to back down until he’d overcome this hurdle. Sandalphon, impressed by his determination, renewed her efforts. On the third attempt, the two finally made it, hauling themselves up to a little snowfield where a penguin sat by a campfire and spilled blood had frozen into a dastardly ice slick.

They took it slowly, but even then, Goldlewis slipped and fell on his butt right at the end. “Ahh, alright,” he half-laughed, half-gasped. He scooted off the ice to sit cross-legged by the fire. Sandalphon joined him without protest. “Mind if we join you?” he asked the penguin. It shook its head, and the two settled down for a break. Goldlewis chuckled. “We barely got anywhere.”

“Every victory is worth celebrating,” Sandalphon said softly.

Maybe they’d push on in a few minutes, or maybe the race would already be over by then. For now, they sat amidst gentle snowfall beneath lovely purple skies, in peaceful calm.