MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate VG Crossover RP, reborn!)

Edelgard Brings the Fire!

Name: Edelgard von Hresvelg

Origin: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Appearance:

Edelgard

Personality: Edelgard carries within her a deep wellspring of hatred for evil, brought about by the torture she endured under Those Who Slither in the Dark. However, her psyche is twisted deeply by that torture, and she is willing to commit atrocities in the name of destroying evil, fully aware of the irony in doing so. If she sees no better way, she will not hold back for the sake of her own morals or to keep her conscience clean. Edelgard will do anything for the ends that she seeks, which can easily rub others the wrong way.

She is not heartless, but she is more than willing to act the part for what she believes to be the greater good, going so far as to plunge her homeland into a years-long war to rid it of the influence of what she perceives to be evil organizations abusing their power for their own ends. When faced with the hypocrisy of her actions, Edelgard is not afraid to admit that such is the truth, but will not back down from her course of action nonetheless.

Ultimately, the trust and assistance of those closest to her are Edelgard’s greatest assets and most trusted treasures, as without those things, she has lived with nothing but enemies and terrible memories around her.

Socially, she can appear cold to those she is not close with, affecting a refined air befitting her status as Emperor. Secretly, she is simultaneously afraid to trust others, but desperate to find somebody worthy of such trust. If somebody irritates her, she has been known to, somewhat childishly, mockingly imitate them behind their backs. As a friend and ally, she is steadfast and loyal, willing to protect those closest to her at risk to herself, and showing a somewhat unexpected unwillingness to endanger those closest to her for her goals.

Background:

The Emperor Who Plunged a Land Into War

Once a student at the Garreg Mach Monastery Officers’ Academy, Edelgard was secretly working to undermine the Church of Seiros, the continent of Fodlan’s de facto religion, and the dragons that controlled it. Experimented on and forcibly implanted with a second Crest by a shadowy organization, Those Who Slither in the Dark, Edelgard had come to despise the society that the Church of Seiros upheld, and allied with that same shadowy organization to destroy it, albeit reluctantly.

Donning the identity of the Flame Emperor, she fought a shadow war against the Church of Seiros while attending the Academy at its heart and growing close to its newest professor, Byleth. When the time came, she invited her newfound confidant to witness her coronation as the Empress of the Adrestian Empire, which served as the final step in the setup of her plans. She also reveals to Byleth at this time that the Church of Seiros is secretly controlled by a race of immortal dragons who have used the power of the church to manipulate Fodlan to their ends, suppressing advancement and slaughtering dissenters, revealed to her by original copies of ancient tomes that the Imperial Palace held from ancient times.

After revealing herself as the Flame Emperor, Edelgard is able to convince Byleth and her class to join her, and together they attack the Church of Seiros and begin a war that would last years, with Byleth vanishing for five years after an attack from the Archbishop, Rhea.

After reuniting with her teacher, Edelgard is able to renew her offensive against the other nations of Fodlan, subsuming the Leicester Alliance and forcing its leader, Claude, into exile. From here, she defeats the army of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, slaying its king, Dimitri.

With the other nations of Fodlan crippled or under her control, Edelgard leads her army into battle against Rhea, who transforms into her dragon form and sets the city of Fhirdiad aflame to halt Edelgard’s advance. It is fruitless, however, and Rhea the Immaculate One is slain, putting an end to the Church of Seiros’ dominion over Fodlan. In the years that follow, Edelgard and her allies lead a shadow war against her previous allies who had once experimented on her, eventually destroying them and ushering in a shaky but hopeful order in a unified Fodlan. One month after the Adrestian Empire’s final victory, the Imperial City of Enbarr was consumed in a massive light, dragging it and all its residents to the World of Light.

In the Now: Edelgard serves as a Lieutenant in the armies of Skyworld, leading angelic strike forces against corrupted enemies, in an ironic twist of fate that once more has her serving under the command of religious authorities.

Job: Flame Emperor

Specialty: Physical Dreadnought with some magical ranged damage and healing.

Inventory: Steel shield, Emperor’s Armor, Short ax(es) (throwable, 25 uses) 3 doses of elixir (fully heals the user), Large Bouillon (can be sold for 5,000 zenny to the right dealer), Black Eagle Pendant

Lv: 1

EXP: 0/10

Abilities:

• Aymr - A false Heroes’ Relic made specifically for Edelgard, Aymr is an ax of tremendous power. In addition to dealing extra damage to draconic foes, it serves as a symbol of royal power: if Edelgard faces an enemy alone, it will have a demoralizing effect on them, reducing their attack and defense somewhat.
• Basic Magic - Edelgard can cast the basic spells Fire and Heal. Fire is a basic offensive spell that deals modest fire damage, and heal is a basic healing spell that restores roughly one-quarter of a target’s health. Each spell can be used ten times per combat.

Skills:

• Mighty Glacier - Edelgard is an archetypal example of the mighty glacier trope. Each swing of her ax can fell lesser enemies, and she can take dozens of blows from the same without so much as a scratch.
• Hammerspace - Through a clever series of pouches, straps, and a dash of magic from her advisors, Edelgard can carry significantly more than is immediately apparent on her, grabbing useful items and even weapons on her person from seemingly nowhere.
• Dual-Crest Bearer - Edelgard possesses two Crests, a Major Crest of Flames, and a Minor Crest of Serios. The Crest of Seiros grants her Abilities a small amount of additional power, while the Crest of Flames heals her for a small amount with each blow dealt to an opponent, and rarely shields her from an opponent’s counterattack.

Weaknesses:

• Heavy Armor - Edelgard’s armor, while useful in helping protect her from damage, is far from light. It slows her movement down noticeably, leaving her vulnerable to being chipped at by enemies with sufficient power or magic to harm her.
• Magic Vulnerability - While not quite as dramatic as her lack of speed in armor, Edelgard’s armor does little to protect her from magical attacks, forcing allies to engage and take the heat off of her if she is targeted by a magic user with any sort of long-ranged attacks.
• Weapon Trilemma: Axes - Decreases Edelgard’s accuracy against (and increases the damage taken from) enemies wielding swords and sword-like weapons by 15%.

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)

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia & Zenkichi Hasegawa

The Avenger

Lvl 13 Geralt (129/130) +3 +3 +3 +4=13 Collab XP -> Lvl 14 (15/140) (+2 pending)

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (54/70) +3 +3 +4=10 Collab XP -> Lvl 7 (67/70)

Word Count: 1,447

Rapport: 3

With dinner finished, both Geralt and Zenkichi found themselves heading towards the Spirit Chamber once more, determined to find those they had lost. Their paths only crossed near the Infirmary, and with a simple nod to one another, they continued to their destination, Spirits ready to trade.

Entering the Chamber, they looked to the corner that had been pointed out as Vulgrim’s domain and approached. They saw that they weren’t alone here, but instead of the old coroner Deadman, the spirit chamber was home to the very demon they sought. In the corner of the room redecorated into a makeshift fortune teller’s lair with the aid of tapestries, baubles. and cushions lounged a demon that could only be Vulgrim, a specimen of appreciable stature with huge horns, vestigial wings bound in bandages, tinkling trinkets, and a noseless, skull-like face full of enormous teeth and poison-green eyes. When he spoke, he did so in an evil-sounding drawl, chewing the scenery with every turn of phrase. “Well, hello there. I only just now got back, and I already have visitors, hm? As luck would have it, though, I’m already open for business.” He tented his claws, his fleshless face a skeletal smirk at the two men. “So, what can I do you for you gentlemen this fine evening?”

“We’re looking for someone. Or, I am. He’s looking for a few people.” Geralt responded, eyeing the demon somewhat warily. “Take it that would make you Vulgrim?” The Witcher inquired for clarification. “Geralt of Rivia. I’m looking for a woman by the name of Ciri. Ashen hair, has a scar across her eye. Her full name is Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, if that is of any help to you.” His tone was measured but not suspicious. He figured that more detail was better.

”Zenkichi Hasegawa.” Zenkichi introduced himself as well. ”I’m looking for a group of kids, call themselves the Phantom Thieves of Heart. If that’s too vague, their leader goes by Joker. I can tell you his real name if you need it. But only you. Sorry, Geralt, but they take that stuff really seriously. Already blew the lid on my identity, but I don’t wanna betray their trust.” Geralt shrugged, entirely unbothered by the exclusion.

Vulgrim gave the two a condescending, almost admonishing look. “Well, isn’t that nice…everybody’s looking for something, as they say.” He gave a shrug and rolled his eyes. “Even me. Something small, colorful, and very, very tasty. Oh, if only there was someone out there who could trade me for something like that…”

Rolling his eyes, Geralt removed the capsule containing the last Spirit he hadn’t traded away or fused with, and opened it to reveal the Spirit within. “Hope this is enough.”

For a moment Vulgrim peered around, as if trying to find the rest of Geralt’s offerings. Then he grumbled. “Hmmm…soul for a soul, eh? I’m used to more…‘lavish’ offerings.” He glanced over at one of the Spirit Chamber’s furnishings, a conspicuously empty operating table. “Now that was a feast. Haven’t eaten like that in ages…though there’s always room for more.” The demon returned his sly gaze to Geralt. “If your daughter means anything to you, she ought to fetch a high price, mmm?”

Eyes narrowing, Geralt sighed. “Could turn a few Strikers back into Spirits, I suppose. Haven’t used a few of them much. Wonder what kind of deal I’m making here, though…” His tone turned somewhat accusatory towards the end, but he shrugged. “Fine. Give me a minute.” He stalked over to the Spirit Chamber and entered it, while Zenkichi stood there awkwardly.

”I got, like, three Spirits I can give you. So hopefully that’s enough when he’s done.” Zenkichi awkwardly added, standing there while the Spirit Chamber did its work. ”But I’ll let him go first.”

When the Spirit Chamber was finished unbinding the PT Imp pack and Panther Caruso’s Strikers, Geralt exited with them in hand, bringing his total deal up to three Spirits for Vulgrim. “Alright, Vulgrim. Three Spirits for you.” His eyes were a little harder now, though he said nothing more to the demon.

“Hmmmmm…” Vulgrim made a show of thoughtful waffling, cradling his bony chin in his claws. After a moment, though, he relented. “Oh, alright. No use fleecing a man who’s already put down his bottom dollar.” Opening his maw, the demon sucked up the spirits like a vacuum cleaner, then licked his chops with a serpent’s tongue. “Mm, not bad. There were some young ones in there, heheh. As for your dear little Ciri…” He leaned back on his cushions, a smug air about him. “She’s alive. But out of her element. Stuck in a realm of neon lights and broken dreams…Night City. Also known as…Sector 04. Until recently, of course, when the death of a certain Guardian plunged that place into permanent night.” He waved a hand dismissively. “And from there, well…nowhere to go but ‘up’. Though I can’t imagine she’s gotten far.”

Geralt closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Of course. Of course they missed her in Midgar. And Night City? From what little he remembered, it sounded like a terrible place. “Zenkichi, you lived in Midgar. What was Night City like?”

Zenkichi, for his part, kept his cringing to a minimum. ”To be honest with you, Geralt…not good. It’s a dangerous place that even Turks don’t hang around in unless they have specific business to deal with. The gangs are vicious, well-armed, and they live every day knowing it could easily be their last. A lot of them are okay with that, as long as they can leave a mark on the world. I never understood it. But I’m sure she’s alright. Never heard you say anything but praise for her.” Geralt groaned a little, but nodded.

“She can take care of herself, but…it’s still not exactly ideal to have to go right back to Midgar and look through its most dangerous sector to find her, or wherever everybody wound up.” Shaking his head, Geralt turned back to Vulgrim. “Thank you. Good luck, Zenkichi.” And with that, he left to head to the bunks and figure out a plan.

”So, that leaves us, then. Like I said, I’m looking for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and if they’re not together, more specifically, their leader Joker.” For the information, he offered the Spirits of Cecilia, Diana, and Yuanwu.

After devouring his offering, Vulgrim interlaced his fingers and considered Zenkichi carefully. “Your little friends have been busy. They’ve been hiding out in the Forbidden Kingdom. In Shinjuku, right under the nose of one Consul J, steadily growing their numbers…as well as J’s headache. And just today, why, I heard the strangest thing. That the lady Consul herself received a special message–a calling card, of all things. Whatever is the World of Light coming to?”

Nodding, Zenkichi breathed a little sigh of relief, before frowning. ”Going after a Consul directly. That’s about what I’d expect from those kids. Bold…alright. Thanks, then. Even if that just opens up a whole new can of worms…” Waving over his shoulder as he left, Zenkichi pondered the new information. Forbidden Kingdom. I’ll have to head to the Bridge to see exactly where that is, then figure out how to track them down. Couldn’t make this easy, huh Joker?

When he reached the Bridge, Zenkichi headed straight for the Geoscape, looking over the holographic projection of the World of Light. ”Alright, so…how the heck does this thing work?” He muttered, looking around for the Forbidden Kingdom. He found it in the northern part of the World of Light, between the Frozen Highlands and the Dystopiascape. From a high level it appeared to be a blend of temperate forest, wetlands, plains, and mountains, and it bore a handful of names of a style the man could recognize as Japanese or Chinese.

Okay, Hidden Kingdom, in Shinjuku…there. Zenkichi thought, pointing to the spot on the map and sighing. It wasn’t far from Midgar, all things considered, but it was far enough away that they’d never have run into each other without Vulgrim’s help. He was surprised to see a place from Earth on the map, somewhat, but more surprising was the giant hole that was Japan. He remembered Goldlewis seeming surprised he was from there, but…to see it here, without the distraction of a conversation about what came next?

It rattled him. Hard. What would he tell Akane? Did he tell Akane? There wasn’t really a reason to, as it wasn’t even the Japan they knew. If it came up, he’d mention it, he supposed. For now, it was time to settle down and think of his next move.

World of Light

Training Squad

@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN’s Geralt, @Archmage MC’s Roland, Blazermate, Sectonia

Words: 3,397 (+4 EXP)

Rapport: 1

Having left the Spirit Chamber, Geralt made his way straight to the training center. He wanted to try to get an idea of what had changed before going out into battle again. While being a bit later, Roland would end up joining Geralt, as well as Blazermate although the latter came more to make sure people weren’t getting hurt with their new training.

First, Geralt transformed into his Ardor Blossom identity to see how much the dragon Spirits had affected him. The first thing he noticed was that he was quite a bit larger, probably about 7 and a half feet tall. His skin was darker, and felt rough to the touch, like scales. He was still unarmored in this form, though he wondered if his skin would mitigate damage in this form. He could feel horns growing out of his head and wings on his back, and he noticed that his hands were once again clawed, like when he had originally fused with the Harbor Water Demon.

“Not bad.” He nodded, before a ball of flame appeared in his hand and was launched at a target, scorching it. “Seems to function about the same as before. Just to see what those dragons gave me.” After throwing a few more fireballs to get a feel for his new body shape, Geralt followed a newfound instinct and lifted his leg, stomping harshly onto the ground. When his foot impacted the floor of the training center, a series of dark explosions burst forth, knocking out a wide swathe of targets. “Oh.” He simply exhaled, blinking. “That feels like the power of a dragon, alright. At least, what a human could handle of one’s power.”

A few moments after, Geralt suddenly returned to his normal form, a grunt of confusion escaping him. “Huh?” He questioned, focusing on Ishmael’s transformative ability with no result. “Oh, don’t tell me…” He sighed, looking up at the ceiling above him. Could he only handle so much power in his Identities now? Trying the LCCB Assistant Manager Identity, he was pleasantly surprised to see that that transformation still worked.

It didn’t look or feel terribly different from how it had before, though that was to be expected. He fired off a few shots of his pistol to get a feel for how to use the weapon properly, before deciding to take another minute or two to get some target practice in. He wasn’t quite as accurate as he’d have hoped, but his skill with the hand crossbow translated somewhat well to the pistol. He had to adjust his aim lower, as the bullets traveled much faster than even the quarrels of his over-tuned hand crossbow, but otherwise it wasn’t terribly dissimilar.

At around this time Roland and Blazermate came in, with Sectonia instead touring the ship to let others bask in her platinum splendor. Roland had been watching Geralt for a bit of the tail end of his little transformation and skill work, before silently deciding to join him and practice his own new tricks. Granted, unlike Geralt, he didn’t have too many new things to try with his new, blue skinned physique. Blazermate waited until the two boys were done with their fun, since she’d need them to kinda… fight each other a little bit to test out her things.
With some time having passed, Geralt transformed into Ardor Blossom again, breathing a sigh of relief when the transformation occurred without a hitch. “Didn’t take too long to come back, at least.” He muttered, before stomping once more to see if that was the trigger. This time, however, nothing happened. Taking a deep breath to exhale his building frustration, Geralt paused and thought on it. How did that ability work? Last time, he did it after feeling the instinctual desire to do so, though that hadn’t appeared until after he’d scorched a few targets with fireballs. Was that the key? Damaging something, even something as simple as a practice target?

Roland meanwhile tried his new Ink powers. Well, the first one that involved summoning a spirit. What he wasn’t expecting was the spirit to look like Angelica. He did read in that book about Grimstroke’s sorrow over losing his wife, but he wasn’t expecting it to morph to match Roland’s trauma. Although this spirit was more… corrupt wasn’t the right word. Dripping with ink was more accurate. That and just being some sort of ‘summon’. He’d have to get used to something like this, but he for sure wasn’t going to mention anything about what this spirit represented.

For Roland

Phantom's Embrace: Roland summons a phantom that quickly moves towards a target of his choice within 10m, latching onto it when she arrives. Once latched the phantom damages and silences the target while attached. If the phantom lasts its full 5 second duration, she deals heavy damage as she rends the target and returns to Roland, resetting the cooldown of this ability. Enemies can attack and destroy the phantom, ending the effect on them if they manage to kill it. Notable spirits and above deal triple damage to the phantom. It takes 9 attacks to destroy the phantom. 36 second cooldown.

Now’s the time to test these things, Geralt thought, tossing out a few fireballs to scorch up a series of targets. After hitting about five, he followed through on another new feeling, and this new attack summoned a swarm of 14 shurikens, which flew threw the air and knocked over a large swathe of targets. “Huh. Not bad.” On top of that, he somehow felt invigorated, as though he’d had a good meditation session. He didn’t quite know what that was about, but he continued his testing, firing off more fireballs before he suddenly returned to normal once more. “That was about twenty-five to thirty seconds. Must be time related, then.” He surmised, though it wasn’t exactly a well-tested idea. He only had so much time before he needed to be on the Bridge, though, so it’d have to do.

Drawing his steel sword, Geralt twirled it with a flourish before slashing the blade, sparks emitting as it just barely touched the ground, and a battle cry escaped his lips. “Demon Fang!” He cried, and a burst of blue energy travelled along the ground, crashing into another target and sending it crashing back to the ground. “What.” Geralt simply uttered, before scrunching up his face. “Did I just call out an attack? What kind of weirdo did I fuse with?!” He complained.

Still, it didn’t seem to be a bad attack. He attempted to do it again, though this time the irrepressible urge to shout the name of the attack did not come, and he hummed. That could be worse, he supposed.

For Geralt

New Ability/Power: Basic Spells (Paladin) - Grants two basic spells, First Aid and Luminant Scythe. Each spell requires two seconds of uninterrupted channeling to cast, and require about as much stamina as casting a Sign. First Aid heals an ally for 25% of their maximum HP, while Luminant Scythe summons two angled rings of light to surround an enemy, along with four orbs of light which all crash into an enemy, dealing medium holy-aspected damage.

Lifting his sword, Geralt began to channel energy, a circle of light emanating from his feet, and he uttered a chant. “Come forth, sacred spirits! Luminant Scythe!” As he finished the name of the spell, he swung his sword until it was parallel to the ground, and a veritable light show appeared around the target he pointed his sword at, battering it with energy until it was violently blasted back to the ground, clattering loudly against the floor. “Oh. Oh, that was…actually powerful magic.” He wondered what Yen would say to that. At least he didn’t have to face her as a woman.

Roland meanwhile was trying his other inky attack, a swelling of ink around him that… didn’t seem to do much of anything. He’d have to wait for Geralt to back off the training dummy before he went to see what this move did with some ‘targets’ around. It was pretty clear at that point though what this move did, it sucked the life out of whatever enemy was near the ink, causing it to grow and eventually explode in a shower of ink.

Geralt stepped back, giving Roland a nod and a gesture to let him know that he had the floor. “Looks like ink off a quill.” He commented about Roland’s new abilities. “Blazermate. Came here to test your fusions as well?” The Witcher inquired, giving the Medabot a glance up and down.

”Uh huh! Well, that and also making sure people don’t get hurt in here. You never know with these powers and all that.” Blazermate said ”So it seems yours went well. I wanna try mine, but I think mine are more support based so uh… Might need you two to hit each other a little bit.” She continued, looking at the gemstone emitting a warming light from her right hand.

Geralt hummed, nodding in reply. “Makes sense enough, I suppose. With how much I’ve been fighting lately, it’s almost like I’m on the Path again. Or a Skelliger, given how many friendly spars we’ve had so far.” And some of those spars were just as bloody as they were for Skelligers. The only thing he hadn’t done yet was go fisticuffs with somebody, though given how tough the Seekers were, he wouldn’t be an easy champion like he was on the continents. “Roland, when you get a minute, Blazermate wants us to fight so she can try out what she has.” He announced, solidly throwing Blazermate under the proverbial bus, with a ”Hey!...” from the bot.

Roland pulled back from trying out his new ink powers, something that reminded him a bit of what some gangs used for enhancements back in the City, and said simply. ”Well, if the little schoolgirl wants to see two men fight for her amusement…” Roland said, giving Blazermate all sorts of sass due to her request, seeing if that’d make the bot a bit embarrassed. It did a bit, but seeing blush on a bot was basically impossible so he let that sit a bit before saying ”Yeah. I guess we can do something light. Although we shouldn’t go too hard. Who knows then that Consul Z will jump us again.”

”Hey, you know it's kinda hard to test what healing abilities do if people don’t get hurt you know!” Blazermate said, retorting at last. Roland waved her with a “yes yes” sorta gesture before agreeing to do a little bit with Geralt.

“Alright, then. Just something simple, rough each other up a bit, then let her do her thing.” Geralt said, rolling his arms. “I’ve got a few things I could try out, but it seems like some of them take a few seconds to do. I’ll stick to the quicker stuff right now.” Once they were both in position, rapidly crossed his arms in front of his chest and swung them apart, a blade of Hydro energy appearing in each hand as he launched forward into a flurry of rapid blows, fusing them into a large twinblade mid-flurry.

Roland followed in kind, conjuring his twin swords to meet Geralt’s hydro blades. It was clear right away Roland’s new physique made him a bit slower, with him losing a few of his clashes with Geralt. The rapid slashes he could match with, but once the blade was fused that caused him to get hit. He felt like he got hurt more on top of that, but without having fought Geralt before, he wasn’t sure of that. He followed up though by pulling out his hammer and giving Geralt a few defensive swipes with it. It was around this time he noticed himself getting a bit faster, as if his new body just needed to warm up when entering a battle. A bit annoying, but it couldn’t be helped. On his last defensive smash, Roland decided to use another of his new abilities, empowering the attack and bashing through Geralt’s guard to deal some damage. Only Geralt and Blazermate could see the attack was infused with magic, with Roland unaware of that fact.

Well, with the two guys hurt, Blazermate tried her first new move, Divine Star. She shot a holy bolt out at the two which didn’t seem to do anything. However once it reached down the shooting range and came back, it had grown into a giant light wave that washed over the two boys and herself. The healing was stronger than her medigun, but it was more in a burst instead. Seeing that Roland was on the losing end of the exchange, since he tended to take some time to wind up, Blazermate tried another trick of hers and as Geralt went for another blow, she used Disruption on him. Roland now being suspended in a weird black bubble and Geralt’s attack completely missing him. This bubble lasted for 3 seconds before Roland came back, but instead of 1, there were 3 Rolands all going after Geralt now. Two of them were illusions, but they did do real damage. Roland was as surprised as the other two about the illusions, but shrugged.

The Hydro blades were rather quick, but once Roland got back up to speed and pulled out his hammer, Geralt was put on the back foot instead, taking a powerful, magically-enhanced blow to end the exchange before Blazermate intervened with a heal. Once Geralt saw the bubble of energy protecting Roland, he backed off a little, shocked to see three come out, and he dismissed the Hydro blades in favor of his lightning-infused katana. Skirting the blade along the ground, he shot out a pair of Demon Fangs before rushing in, hefting the sword and plunging it into the ground just before the three Rolands were on him, crying out “Guardian Field!” as a field of blue energy appeared to give Geralt some extra healing while keeping the Rolands back with the threat of punishment.

For Geralt

New Power/Ability
Advanced Artes: Grants two more advanced abilities, Guardian Field and Holy Lance. Each ability costs roughly the stamina required to cast two Signs in short order, slightly exhausting Geralt after use and requiring a period of roughly fifteen seconds before he uses any costly abilities again, otherwise he risks severe physical exhaustion and an even longer period before he can use abilities. Guardian Field creates a ten-foot diameter field of blue light around Geralt, which damages enemies and heals himself and all allies within for 10% of their maximum HP over a period of three seconds. Holy Lance requires five seconds of uninterrupted channel time, after which it summons six lances of holy light, five around the target and one above. The five lances rapidly crash into the target in succession, each stunlocking the target in place for about half a second, and the final lance strikes into the target with tremendous force, knocking them up and back.

Roland himself hopped out of the way, making it clear to Geralt who was the real one while the Roland illusions, under the command of Blazermate, dove into Geralt’s attack and took the attack.The illusions had no fear of death, although that was more because Blazermate was testing them out to see what they did, and as such they took the whole holy field. They also didn’t swap weapons or do anything advanced, they just hit Geralt with their hammers until they finally poofed.

For Blazermate

Disruption: Blazermate can use this on an ally or enemy within 10m, banishing them from the battlefield for 3 seconds, making them invulnerable but unable to act. While banished, whatever is banished has their positive buff durations paused, while debuffs will still tick down. When they return, 2 illusions will spawn alongside them that last 14 seconds that deal 60% of their physical damage under Blazermate's control. Illusions take triple damage. 20 second cooldown.

Divine Star: Blazermate fires out a thin bolt of light in front of her. This bolt damages and piercest through enemies that it hits. When it goes 20m, it grows into a wave 10 times bigger than the bolt and returns back to Blazermate, homing in onto her. This heals anyone it passes by including Blazermate with how much it heals on return increased by 25% for every person that gets healed by it. 10 second cooldown.

Before the two could get ready for another go, Sectonia entered the room in a gesture that yelled “Gaze upon my brilliance!”. She was still in quite the good mood and from the looks of things, she had been touring the ship a bit on her way there, making it clear to everyone she was beautiful and wanting their adoration. Blazermate gave her a clap, with Roland being half and half on her posturing. He didn’t know this bee queen much besides the minigames, so he wasn’t sure how he should react to her but gave a polite clap just in case. Blazermate made sure to give the two guys a top off as Sectonia showed off, but once she was done, she said. ”I’m here to test these new powers now that we don’t have to test them in the field. I assume the three of you are the same?”

Geralt nodded, though he was breathing a bit heavily thanks to the beating he took from Roland and the taxing use of Guardian Field. Putting his hand up, he stood to his full height, took a deep breath, and released it, immediately looking much heartier as he regained control of his breathing. “Yes. Roland and I were sparring so that we and Blazermate could test some of her new abilities, and since so many of them revolve around healing magic, it made sense to do it all together.”

As he started to regain some of his stamina, Geralt hummed, another instinct tugging at him. He held his sword aloft, and chanted a new spell. “Divine energy, fill me. First Aid!” As he cast the spell, restorative energy suffused him, restoring a good chunk of the damage he’d taken immediately. “And it would seem one of the people I fused with had something along those lines, as well.”

”Hey, I had you!... but good to know you can do that. If only Big daddy B could do that.” Roland looked at Blazermate and said, a bit worried. ”Who?” with Blazermate giving a bit of a giggle saying ”Bowser. Wait til you see more of him. He likes adopting kids left and right. He even tried adopting a sea monster! It didn’t work out, but boy did he try!”

Sectonia let out a single cough to get attention back onto her. ”Now then, I will give it a go if you could stand aside.” Sectonia said, fiddling with her new abilities. At first she tried her new Reaper’s Scythe ability, but noticed upon the dummy it did barely any damage. She let out a little ”Huh…” when this happened, a bit unsure of what happened. She did note that, as she used the ability, the surrounding death in the area seemed to focus on the dummy so… perhaps it would be something that she couldn’t use in good conscience in a training session. She did note that the dummy was completely locked down before the scythe hit though. Her second ability she decided to try the Death Pulse, which unleashed green skulls that radiate out from her in a limited area, the skulls homing in on Roland, Geralt, and Blazermate, Sectonia just being outside the range of the attack for the dummy.

For Sectonia

Heartstopper Aura: Sectonia has a passive aura that causes all enemies within 12m to lose 1.2% of their max health every second. This bypasses spell immunity, but can be reduced by spell resistance. Stronger category spirits have some innate resistance to this ability.

Reaper's Scythe: Sectonia points at an enemy within 10m and stunning for 1.5 secs, bypassing CC and magic immunity (Strong enemies are interrupted instead.). At the end of the stun, the scythe of the grim reaper comes down upon them, dealing damage based on how much health is missing. This damage can be reduced by magic resistance. 110 second cooldown.

Instead of causing damage though, these skulls healed the three as well as the pulse healing Sectonia herself. She’d have to wait a little bit before getting closer to the dummy, getting an idea of its limited range but finding that it did damage to her enemies, and healed herself and her allies if they were nearby. One very notable thing about these skulls was that they moved kind of slow. Still fast as a projectile, but weirdly slow at the same time as if someone who was fast enough could outrun them.

“Huh, I wouldn’t have expected that to help…” Geralt muttered when the healing skull hit him. A skull felt sinister, though it might have simply been a thematic thing with whoever that ability came from. “I think I’ve gone through everything I’ve gotten.” Geralt mentioned to the others, but he looked at Blazermate. “We didn’t get much done for you, however. What else do you need?” He asked outright. Instead of having her on the sidelines for a spar to clean up the aftermath, they could just whack each other a bit and have her heal them between, perhaps.

While Geralt was asking that, Sectonia was busy trying to figure out how her power from her dragon fusion worked. She’d try a few various poses with no success other than a faint ‘poof’ of glitter which really wasn’t something she was hoping for in an attack. She even took this opportunity to hit the dummy with this short ranged ‘glitter’, but nothing came of it. A bit annoyed, she decided to use a bit of her Radiance powers for once and blasted the dummy with rays of light and skewered it with swords of light.

Blazermate shrugged, saying. ”I’ve got one more I wanna try, but it's a bit weird. I kinda don’t get it, but something tells me it's good.” Blazermate decided that, since she was going to try another support power, moved in between the two boys and behind Sectonia, who was still blowing off a bit of steam on the dummy. She channeled some of the light in her hand, then raised her hand in the air and nothing happened. She did this a couple times until she started to say ”We stand together as one!”. Once she started to say this phrase a giant holy dome encased everyone and healed them for a significant amount and would make them immune to damage, although only Blazermate could notice that last part. It didn’t last long, only 3 seconds, but it looked really cool.

For Blazermate

Holy Word : Salvation : Blazermate raises her hand to the sky and conjures a large, bright dome with a radius of 5m. Blazermate and every ally within the dome is immune to all damage while the dome is up (But no other effects such as crowd control, debuffs, or the like), and heal 30% of their hp over the dome's 3 second channeled duration. 80 second cooldown.

Sectonia meanwhile, after relieving herself of her frustration, decided to focus and try her attack one last time. This time however, as she had charged it up by using light attacks, instead of glitter, a large, very powerful beam of light came from her hand, dealing some heavy damage to the dummy and impacted the back wall, scorching it as the beam collided and eventually fizzled out.

”Huh… why did it only work when I said something?” Blazermate said, scratching her head. When everyone was quiet about it, Sectonia piped up. ”It was probably some verbal spell component. If what you did was magic.” Sectonia said, nonchalantly answering Blazermate.

“Looked pretty magical to me.” Geralt replied, somewhat sarcastically. “Though with some of you, it’s hard to tell machines from magic.” He added in admission. “Still, good progress overall, I suppose. Thank you all.” Nodding at Roland, Blazermate, and Sectonia, he gestured at the exit to the training center. “We should probably get going to that meeting, though.”

World of Light

Zenkichi Hasegawa with Sandalphon

The Avenger

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (51/70) -> Lvl 7 (54/70)

Word Count: 1,642 words

Rapport Gained: 3

While the Seekers piled out of the room housing Spirit Chamber, Zenkichi belatedly realized he'd forgotten one step of the process, shaking his head in annoyance. Can't believe I forgot to do that Striker thing. The capsule containing the Spirit he'd gotten from Kamek sat in his hands, and just as he was about to step forward to get back into the Spirit Chamber, Sandalphon beat him to the punch. He nodded as he leaned against the wall, waiting to see how she'd come out.

Geralt, meanwhile, took the time to leave the majority of his legion of Strikers in the 'dugout', resulting in only the Judicator and Monsoon being available for him to call upon until he chose to exchange them later. He did not wait to see what Sandalphon emerged as, leaving as soon as he was done with a nod to the detective.

When Sandalphon emerged from the chamber, Zenkichi's eyebrows climbed. She was actually shorter than he was now, though he knew better than to mention that directly. "Oh, man, Goldlewis would get a kick out of that." He joked, giving the archangel a small smile. "It looks good. Definitely different from your original look, but also not? I was never really a fashion guy, it's kind of hard to explain." Chuckling as he reflexively rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, he nodded. "Forgot something in the chamber, so I hung back a bit. Don't let me keep you, Sandalphon. See you at the meeting?"

Naturally, Zenkichi wasn't the only one who noticed the newfound height difference. Having previously looking down on the detective, physically if not metaphorically, Sandalphon now found herself peering upward to meet his gaze, then coolly inspecting his altered form. If anything, his changes seemed more radical than hers. One would be hard-pressed to recognize the man as Zenkichi Hasegawa with his new appearance, and Sandalphon couldn't help but wonder what his daughter would think. Regardless, she still possessed her halo, which technically gave her the edge in height.

"Thank you," the archangel told him after a moment, her pupils briefly becoming stars as she returned his slight smile. Even if she didn't mean to emote more, her increased capacity for expression would be plainly evident. "I believe you look good as well," she added, being a little more direct than her counterpart. "It feels somewhat strange to look up at you now, but I don't mind it. There's something almost...angelic about you. I can only speculate, but perhaps one of your spirits happened to be of holy origin."

She ran her hand through her hair, shifting her weight slightly. For Zenkichi, subconscious displays of awkwardness or discomfort were old hat, but this was something new for Sandalphon. "I did consider going to freshen up, but I do not mind you keeping me for a moment longer, if something concerns you. I could assist you in recovering what you lost?"

Oh, that's adorable Zenkichi thought as Sandalphon's eyes transformed into stars for a moment when she replied to him, and a little bit of blush snuck through, even on his now-darkened skin, when she complimented him directly. Conflicting memories flashed for a moment, before being blinked away at Sandalphon's comment about sensing something angelic in him.

"Could be. Can be hard to tell with the Spirits, but one of the ones I fused with definitely seemed to have something like that going on." He replied, nodding slightly. When she offered to help him find whatever he had lost, he shook his head. "Ah, not quite like that. I traded with Kamek for a Spirit, and wanted to bind it to be a summon like some of the others have. Nothing too important, but figure'd I'd get it out of the way before breaking the news to Akane that I look nothing like her father anymore."

Frowning slightly, Sandalphon nodded as she realized her misunderstanding. Still, she wasn't about to move on just yet. Though Zenkichi mentioned the dissonance in an off-handed way, she was determined not to let that slide. Her sense of humor might be highly limited, but she knew that humans didn't just make jokes to make others laugh; they also sometimes joked to mask pain or misgivings. If she couldn't help out in one way, maybe she could lend a hand in another

"I see. If you're concerned, you could always try a different methodology of spirit usage. After observing the Koopa Troop, I am confident in my ability to correctly utilize the device they referred to as 'the Snaktivator' to localize spirit mutations to certain body parts. While our objective demands that we strive for more power, I believe it prudent that we endeavor to preserve what is important to us."

Zenkichi paused for a few moments, thinking it over, before nodding softly. "That's...a good point. Kamek did a quick demonstration on it, but I guess with how hectic everything was, it didn't occur to me to ask about it. Might be a good idea to track them down and see if I can get a redo...though I'll probably do that after the meeting if I do. Thanks, Sandalphon." Smiling more fully and gratefully, he turned his head over to the Spirit Chamber again.

"Definitely still planning to bind that summon, though. As long as we don't do more than two, shouldn't affect anything, at least." He added. "I'll see you at the meeting, Sandalphon. Thanks. For everything you've done for us. For me."

The archangel bowed her head, her halo dipping slightly as she did. "You're welcome, please think nothing of it." She paused for a second, considering her phrasing. Did she want Zenkichi to think nothing of it...? After a beat, though, she straightened up and gave him a tentative wave. "Goodbye for now." Then she turned to go, headed toward the showers. Though uneventful and less efficient than Sandalphon might hope, this exchange struck her as a positive interaction, and if trivial talks like this continued she couldn't imagine herself being too displeased. Her conversations with Zenkichi, Pit, Geralt, and the others had been highlights of her journey as a Seeker thus far. Hopefully, by the time the looming meeting concluded, none of them would think less of her.

After Sandalphon was gone, Zenkichi entered the Spirit Chamber and activated it once again.

For Zenkichi

New Striker Spiritbound
Sosha
A spear-wielding dragoon with a wind affinity, fiery spirit, and short cooldown. She can attack with her polearm, performing rapid stabs or a lunging stab, or perform a high jump followed up a plunging thrust that pierces defense to deal serious damage if she managed to land it. Additionally, she can be summoned to grab and carry her host prior to a landing, which will negate fall damage.

He didn't feel very different once it was done, but he did feel something, so he wasn't terribly concerned about it. He'd have to ask the others how they did it. With his business concluded here, he left the Spirit Chamber’s room and headed to the bunk area where he’d left Akane before, shooting her a text to let her know he was on his way.

Peaking his head into the room she was in, Zenkichi called out to his daughter. ”Don’t freak out, it’s me. I fused with a couple Spirits, though, so…sorry about that. I know I look a lot different.” Stepping into the room fully, he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. ”How’s Maru?”

“Holy crap, dad, you’re dark! And tall!” Akane shot out of the sofa she was sitting on, eyes wide as she looked at her father. “I’m sure Sandalphon was happy about that.” She snarked, turning away a little and folding her arms. So much was changing, and she hated it so much. Even if this ship was kind of cool, she was starting to understand why her father buried his head in the sand a bit. This was all so much, and she couldn’t do anything to help! Unless…she used her streaming skills?

“Umm, forget about her, actually, dad. Do you remember back when we lived in Japan, how I did that Phantom Thief streaming?” She hated talking about her obsession with the Phantom Thieves with her father, or at least she used to, until he tried being a good dad again. Kind of.

”Uh, yeah, I do. Why?” He asked, ignoring the comment about Sandalphon. It couldn’t have been easy for her, so he didn’t let it bother him.

“Well, I wonder if they have anything like that here? Like, to get people to rise up and fight back! Like the Phantom Thieves did with their calling cards!” Akane’s hands where held up to her chest, determination plainly visible in her eyes.

Chuckling, Zenkichi shrugged. ”Dunno, but propaganda is pretty powerful. We could ask the Lost Numbers at the meeting if they have anything like that. If not, maybe you could put that technical know-how to use with Tora and Poppi. Help them build gadgets or program stuff.” He didn’t know exactly what went into streaming, but he knew it had to involve a bunch of tech support and troubleshooting.

“I’m not really a programmer, but I guess?” Akane shrugged. She wasn’t really the engineering type, but if it helped, it helped. “Just lemme know. And, dad? You look…I dunno, kinda weird. But like…cool, too? That’s gonna take some getting used to, so don’t go and turn into a woman like that old grumpy guy did.” Zenkichi chuckled at the mention of Geralt, shaking his head.

”Actually, he just turned back into a man a few minutes ago. We got a bunch of Spirits at the carnival and used this weird super-soldier chamber on the ship to fuse with some of them.” Zenkichi explained, thinking that at least he wouldn’t go fusing with a bunch of female Spirits and risk becoming one himself. ”You good if I head on to the strategy meeting? I can text you when it’s done and we can hang out and look around the ship or something?”

Akane actually smiled a little at that, nodding. “Sure, dad. This place is huge.” Nodding, Zenkichi left the bunkroom and made his way to Bridge for the meeting.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia & Zenkichi Hasegawa

Carnival Town -> The Avenger

Lvl 13 Geralt (123/130) -> Lvl 13 (125/130) (+3 pending)

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (49/70) -> Lvl 7 (51/70)

Word Count: 783 words

As everybody gathered and activated their Fulton devices, Geralt grimaced. She'd already been dreading this, but now that it was time to do it, nearly every part of her wanted to rebel against it. The only solace was the inevitable unconsciousness that blissfully rendered her unaware of the insanity that was this decision. Almost as soon as the fulton pulled them upwards, Geralt blacked out. Zenkichi, following in her footsteps with a gulp and a sigh, was out moments after.

When they came to, it was back aboard the Avenger. Some of the others marveled at the technological masterpiece before them, while others were more focused on the current goal: use some of these Spirits they just got! Neither Geralt nor Zenkichi were opposed to the idea, so they went along with the others without complaint. They'd be gathering for a meeting afterwards, likely to decide the Seekers' next destination(s), but for now it was off to the Spirit Chamber, whatever that was.

Fitting name, Zenkichi mused, when the group arrived at the Spirit Chamber, the strange machine at the center of it all taking most of the group's attention. He wasn't sure what Alcamoth had been like, but hearing this thing be described as like it, but 'creepy' gave him a few ideas, none of which he was sure was entirely correct. Still, as Deadman began to give his explanation, he almost agreed with her. It was a little creepy, but nonetheless extremely useful.

Both he and Geralt hummed ever so noticeably at the mention that the Lost Numbers had no Spirits, though that tracked based on what Dawn had mentioned earlier. They weren't part of Galeem's 'database' or whatever they had called it, which posed some incredibly awkward questions about the people who were a part of it. What, exactly, happened to Spirits when they faded being the first.

Putting those morbid thoughts aside, Geralt and Zenkichi took part in some quick trading before things really got underway. Geralt traded one of his capsules to the dour-looking thief, Therion, and gave one to Goldlewis with an apology, "For what happened in the fight with those Chimeras." Zenkichi, meanwhile, traded a Spirit capsule with Kamek, marking their first interaction. He still had no idea how to deal with his own knowledge about Bowser and his family, though he got the feeling Rika wasn't related to them by blood. With how Spirits worked, though, that was all it was.

With the Spirit Chamber back up and running thanks to Nadia, and some valuable info having been granted by the Magikoopa, all they had to do was wait their turn. Geralt was looking over her capsules, thinking about what to do, while Zenkichi already had a pretty good idea.

Eventually, Geralt's turn came, and she stepped into the Spirit Chamber with a deep breath, ready to see how much she'd change.

Geralt Reset Results

Spirits Fused: Tartaglia, Flynn Scifo, Barbatos (Ardor Blossom), Shinobi (Ardor Blossom)
Spirits Defused: Harbor Water Demon
Powers Lost: Lightning Infusion, Breaching Bastion, and Bombing Flight
Weakness Lost: Big Deal

Tartaglia: This spirit confers the ability Foul Legacy: Raging Tide, which allows the host to enter a melee stance endowed with weapons of pure Hydro energy. This allows him to execute quick attacks with dual blades, or stronger attacks with a joined twinblade. All attacks in this stance apply the Wet status, and critical hits apply Riptide, which deal additional Hydro attacks when triggered. This spirit also confers the Weakness Self-imposed Self-improvement, which makes him much more inclined to choose the weapon he's least proficient with when starting a fight

Flynn Scifo: This spirit grants the ability Demon Fang, which sends a cutting shockwave along the ground to deal unaspected slash damage. This spirit also confers the weakness Disaster Chef, which automatically ruins any food he cooks, making it downright toxic to those without sufficient poison resistance

Barbatos: This spirit grants the ability Ground Shaker, a powerful stomp that unleashes a wave of heavy dark explosions forward, although it must by charged by dealing damage. This spirit also grants the Weakness Shapeshift Limit, which puts a timer on how long the host can remain in his Ardor Blossom Identity before reverting to default, incurring a cooldown before the host can become Ardor Blossom again. While this timer normally lasts 30s, taking damage decreases it according to the damage taken

Shinobi: This spirit grants the ability Shuriken Shower, which summons a rain of 14 shadow-infused ninja stars in an area, though this must be charged by dealing damage. The 14th star deals 58% more damage, and this ability also energizes the host and nearby allies, decreasing stamina usage and boosting stamina regen. This spirit also confers the Weakness Light Bane, increasing the damage taken from the light element by 25%

The host is slightly taller than normal, thought not by much. His hair is a pale strawberry blond, and his armor is now a suit of half-plate, with his legs and arms covered by leather underneath the plates on his thighs and forearms. He looks a bit more youthful, though a tinge of madness still peaks through his bright, blue eyes. From the shoulders of his gear extend two half-capes of a slightly translucent white material that is mistakable for silk when dry. Personality-wise, Geralt is a bit conflicted. He seeks to do what is right, and while he does not agonize over following orders, he has a bit of a rebellious streak in him, and revels in a challenge.

As LCCB Assistant Manager, the host is adorned in riot gear, wielding a riot shield and a pistol. His orange-white hair is voluminous, flowing down to his hips.

As Ardor Blossom, the host has gained a noticeable amount of size, his skin has darkened and become hardened and scaly. His armor has transformed into a heavy tan jacket with a black undershirt, and he wears orange pants beneath it. His eyes are a bright orange, while his hair has become a darker orange. In this form, Geralt has rudimentary draconic wings that can be used to lengthen his jumps and buffet enemies with wind, but not fly. He has grown large horns on either side of his head, and his hands end in vicious claws. His demeanor is more dour and quicker to anger in this form.

Stepping out of the Spirit Chamber with the Harbor Water Demon Spirit in his hands, Geralt looked at himself, gently patted himself down, and breathed a tremendous sigh of relief. "Finally, I have a...I'm a man again." He quickly corrected, not wanting to be too vulgar, especially in front of Junior. Stepping out of the way to enjoy his new identity and get used to his new armor and appearance, he looked at the other Seekers before his eyes paused on Nadia. A quick memory from the Deep Blue Seaside flashing through his mind, he gave the faintest ghost of a smile before approaching.

"Nadia. Seem to recall you having an eye on this." He simply said, holding the Spirit of the Harbor Water Demon out in offer. "I think you'd make good use of it."

As they spoke, Zenkichi stepped into the chamber, anticipation building through him.

Zenkichi Fusion

Spirits Fused: Ike and Tyrael
Ike: This spirit grants the ability Eruption, which causes blue flames to build up on the host's sword when its held with both hands facing the ground. These flames continue to intensify over the course of a couple seconds, during which the host's stance is extremely difficult to break at all, until the blaze tops out. When the sword is finally plunged down, it unleashes pillars of flame that deal heavy damage and guard break. A longer charge boosts the size, damage, and number of eruptions. This spirit also confers the Weakness Weapon Trilemma: Sword which decreases the host's accuracy against (but increases the damage taken from) enemies wielding polearms, including spears, lances, halberds, javelins, scythes, and so forth by 15%
Tyrael: This spirit grants the ability Smite, which calls down a blast of the host's primary element in an area to deal damage. It leaves behind a field that boosts allies' movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds. The field itself lasts for 6 seconds, the same as the ability's cooldown, though it still takes a chunk of SP to use. This spirit also confers the Weakness Mana Hungry, increasing the SP cost of all skills by approximately 10%

The host has gotten taller, standing at about 6 feet, 4 inches tall, in addition to gaining some visible muscle mass. His skin has darkened further, and his hair has turned a dark blue while shortening to reach his ears. His suit has been replaced with a dark blue tunic and gray pants, and he has gained some armor pieces. His shoulders are covered by pauldrons, while his forearms and shins are protected by vambraces and greaves. Personality-wise, the host has become less bound by a sense of duty to order, and more inclined to follow his own personal ideals of honor and justice.

Stepping out, Zenkichi hummed as he looked himself over. "Oh, that's a hell of a tan. Like I spent all summer in Okinawa." He joked. Overall, the appearance change wasn't too bad. He even got some armor out of it. "Oh, wait a second. Oh, I'm taller. Oh wow." Chuckling, he quickly got out of the way of the next person, running his hand through his hair. "Like, I wasn't short before, but now I am tall. I feel like an American." Looking over his other Spirit capsules, he sighed and decided that was best left for later. Maybe that Vulgrim guy would have something for him, or he could try to get the giant Bee lady to let him use that stuff to get better things from his Spirits. And fusing that vest would be useful, just so he didn't have to worry about it...

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia & Zenkichi Hasegawa

Carnival Town

Lvl 13 Geralt (116/130) +6 Collab XP -> Lvl 13 (123/130) (+1 pending)

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (45/70) +3 Collab XP -> Lvl 7 (49/70)

Word Count: 694 words

When Geralt opened her eyes again, it was back on the roulette table, with Ballyhoo getting ready to bring the Seekers into yet another game. Sandalphon, however, interrupted the magical MC, much to the surprise- and consternation- of some of the Seekers. Her quick explanation that they would be charged for the next game and any after, however, got the Seekers' immediate thanks for sparing their wallets such a horrible fate.

When the group was deposited back in the Big Top, Geralt and Zenkichi both took a moment to get their heads on straight. They'd done a lot of gaming, and a lot of teleporting, much to the Witcher's annoyance. At least, for now, it was over. Geralt stepped away from the others and took a series of deep breaths, shaking off the teleportation fatigue. Zenkichi, on the other hand, was staring at the Orb Machine that had been mentioned. It was, basically, a big old Gachapon machine that allegedly gave out Spirits. That would be useful, though Zenkichi hadn't really done anything with any Spirits so far, just fusing with that one guy, and basically crushing everything else, even Konoe. Though, he wouldn't want to fuse with Konoe anyway, either for the megalomania, the delusions of heroism, or the trauma.

While the others lined up to get Spirits, Geralt went to the barber and decided to get her hair cut and styled into a short ponytail, not unlike one she'd used herself as a man back on the Continent. While the color was a bit more vibrant now, it was not terribly different from how she'd previously styled it. "Thank you," Geralt simply offered, furnishing the cost of one token. Compared to the potential of a Spirit, a haircut felt a bit costly, but she also wasn't terribly keen on having to handle a dozen Spirits.

Zenkichi had gone straight for the outfits, grabbing a simple black suit like the one he wore normally, a policeman's uniform, a HAZMAT suit, a smart-looking bowler hat, and a cute little tiara (for Akane). He got a bag for his purchases, and then got in line to get some Spirits from the Gacha machine. "Man, a Gacha machine, huh...been a while since I played with one of these guys." He casually mused, hands in his pockets. "Reminds me of home."

Geralt had also picked up a few outfits, one a refined noble's outfit not unlike she'd been forced to wear to King Bran's funeral. It was more suited for a man, but she could make it work, assuming the Spirits she got didn't tip the scales back that way anyway. She also picked a strange-looking outfit that was described as a "Military BDU". She didn't recognize the random-looking patterns on it, but it seemed interesting enough to take. Finally, she got a more modern-looking semi-formal outfit, consisting of a button-up shirt, pants, and a charcoal gray sports jacket before joining the line to get Spirits from the Orb Machine.

As the others got their orbs and mingled, Geralt thought on what she overhead Sandalphon and Dawn talking about. Another Consul. They've really stepped up their activities against us. Can't say I blame them, with five Guardians already down. Must be worried by now. It was to be expected, she supposed, that Galeem had more agents than the seemingly uncaring Guardians. They did little beyond stay in their domains, as far as she'd seen. Though part of her dreaded the idea that they'd start acting against the Seekers alongside the Consuls. It was no matter. They'd fight them if such a thing came to pass, as they fought them already.

Finally, the pair had grabbed their six orbs each, not taking much time to examine them carefully. They could do that onboard the Avenger. While a few people complained about not standing to fight, Geralt nearly rolled her eyes. They'd all fought a Guardian today, half of them fought two Consuls, and she had a feeling the Under team likely had to deal with one, or at least their schemes, as well.

Running to live and fight another day was the smart move.

World of Light

Witch One - In the Shoppes

^{Geralt, Pit, Zenkichi, Therion, Nadia, Roland
@Yankee, @Lugubrious, @Archmage MC
Words: 2,691 (+3)}

After settling into his hiding place, Therion hadn’t expected the door of the shop to open before their ninety second time was up. He tipped his head back against the wall with a thunk when he saw both Roland and Ms. Fortune enter the potter’s house. Thankfully the latter left as soon as she realized that three would be a crowd, though Therion understood why this was her first pick, just as it had been his. The two of them seemed to have a lot in common in addition to being thieves, and that the similarities kept growing as they took in spirit fusions hadn’t escaped his notice.

Roland though, he could only guess at. He knew almost nothing about him, but from what he’d seen in the minigames so far the man was swift and dark. Maybe he was some type of rogue himself. When it was apparent he was staying put, Therion was initially annoyed - but quickly realized this was a boon for himself. Roland was disguised as a vase, the same as him, but he had gone for a “natural” spot while Therion was hidden even while disguised. The shop wasn’t that large, so if someone came in and found Roland, it was likely they’d leave without a second glance at the rest of the pots. In his little vase form Therion nudged the door so it would close again, then crouched and held still. It had been a few seconds since their time limit ended, so all that was left to do now was wait.

Meanwhile Roland’s plan was… close to what Therion was thinking but not quite exactly what he’d be expecting. Roland would wait for seekers to come in, and if they didn’t discover him, he’d leave and go to their spawn tower and hide there. They’d be very unlikely to discover him there as it's rare for people to look for others in places they think are safe.

Zenkichi, meanwhile, silently awaited the inevitable arrival of one of the seekers in the Ironworks, the ambient sounds of the Halloween-themed town providing a somewhat ominous backdrop to his wait.

About a minute after the game had begun, Geralt arrived in what could be described as the mercantile area of the fictional town, nose drawing him ever closer to the hiders. Her first stop was the Weaver’s House, driven less by the pull of her nose and more by a desire to be sure. If she overlooked places because her senses didn’t draw her to them, she could easily miss the others.

The abode was stuffed to bursting with textiles and cloth, which Geralt frowned at. Most of these wouldn’t serve terribly well to hide the others, but she still did her due diligence, knocking over quilts and blankets on small shelving units, tearing tapestries off the wall, and overturning pieces of furniture. After about a minute, she moved on, satisfied that she’d torn the place up enough to dislodge any hiders that might have been around, and having found none.

Next, she entered the Ironworks, the heavy scent of iron and coal in the air, masking all but the slightest whiff of cheap cologne. Zenkichi she thought, and set about the place, searching for the Phantom Thief with ruthless efficiency. She knocked on anvils, tipped over a few cauldrons, and even stuck her sword into a dummy. When she reached a safe along the wall of the building, Zenkichi struck in a panic, shoving her aside in a moment of surprise, before she went after him. A familiar cry of ”Sukukaja!” had her biting back a curse, as the Phantom Thief suddenly picked up a burst of speed. Her feet thundered as she chased the man into the town.

“Dammit, get back here, you know I’ll catch up!” She called out, every step taking her closer.

”All I gotta do is waste enough time!” Zenkichi taunted, taking a corner and running for his proverbial life.

As they sprinted by the other shops in the merchant quarter, the players inside them moved not a centimeter.

That was fast, Therion thought to himself, listening to the pair of footsteps gradually get further away before turning and coming back around. Every second Zenkichi used up was another in his teammate's favor, so hopefully he could keep it up for a little longer. Roland meanwhile was already looking for his exit as they sprinted through. He waited a bit for Zenkichi to get further away but when he was sure eyes weren’t on him, he noticed a commotion at the spawn point and went back to his spot. Seemed like someone else had an idea similar to his, so it would be a bit before he could make his move.

Geralt’s chase with Zenkichi was quickly becoming a rushdown, so Zenkichi did whatever he could to slow Geralt down. He turned corners, climbed into the Weaver’s House when they ran passed it and tossed a rolled-up carpet Geralt’s way, and slammed the door behind him, pressing his weight against it to keep Geralt out. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten Geralt’s strength underneath her feminine physique, and she kicked the door right off its hinges, sending the Phantom Thief sprawling to the ground. He hardly had a chance to get to his knees before the Unicorn horn plunged into his back, with an ”Ah, dammit” marking his defeat.

With one down, Geralt returned to her search, though she was a bit less methodical now that Zenkichi had wasted so much time. Instead of going places her nose wasn’t directing her, she went straight to the place she could smell the most activity at: the Potter’s House. Opening the door and closing it behind her, Geralt’s smirk belied her brutal, yet effective tactic. Lifting one hand in the air, she cast the Sign of Aard and shattered about two-thirds of the pottery in the place in one fell swoop.

“Well, thats just cheating!” Roland thought. He’d need to slip out when Geralt wasn’t looking his way. Granted if she just kept doing that, doing that might be hard..

With a majority of the pottery out of the way, Geralt took a deep breath and surveyed the room. It’d be at least a few more seconds before she could even think about using another Sign again, and even that’d be pushing it. So, she grabbed the nearest vase and shoved it over into the one next to it, then spun and kicked the one that was now behind her.

The situation wasn't looking great for the two men hiding, since Geralt's magic left only a few pots standing. Naturally, the hiders disguises remained untouched, which was just about the most suspicious thing ever. Thankfully for Therion, since he was nearby the door where Geralt stood, the blast of Aard in front of her didn't hit the pottery alongside his wall. But things were still too close for comfort, especially for him, since now it looked like she was just going to break every vase in this place. And his was just about next. So Therion was of the same mind as Roland - he would escape at the first chance he got.

Unlike Roland though, Therion was putting a plan into action. And throwing Roland under the bus while he did it.

As Geralt surveyed the interior, Therion quickly flicked a dart at the pot Roland was hiding in. Technically they were on the same team, but if given the choice of course the thief was always going to prioritize himself. The clink of the dart against the ground where Roland hid would hopefully draw her attention that way instead.

Geralt’s head jerked to the side, eyes locking onto the sound of the dart hitting the ground as she carefully watched each pot. Slowly walking over, she took another deep breath and decided to go all in. It’d be a pain, but she’d dealt with worse. Once more, her hand raised, and she drew a Sign in the air, launching another blast of telekinetic force at the remaining pots on this side of the room, destroying all but one. “Found you.”

And while Geralt dealt with Roland, as her back was turned, Therion practically slithered up and out of the open window. His disguise broke as crossed the threshold into the outside, at which point he broke into a sprint. He didn't even feel bad about it.

”That little…” Roland said, making a break for it now that he was discovered. He was much faster than Zenkichi and made a run for it like Therion, although in the opposite direction. Now Geralt had to make a choice on who to go for. Although if he didn’t go after Roland, finding him by sound would be difficult as Geralt noted that as Roland moved, even if he stepped on the shattered clay pottery, no sound was made.

Geralt went for Roland, drawing the Unicorn Horn into her hands even as she called out for the other seekers to hunt Therion down while he made a break for it. She wasn’t sure if anybody was close enough to do so, but it never hurt to try. And while Roland was fast, unless he had some serious tricks up his sleeve, this would end just as it did with Zenkichi- the speed boost from continuously chasing him, combined with Geralt’s own natural speed, would inevitably overwhelm the Fixer.

Roland did have a trick though, thanks to his silent movement once he left the building he clearly moved left, with Geralt being able to see him do so. However once he was out of line of sight, he did some fancy acrobatics to hop over the doorframe and instead ran right moving a few dozen feet before finding a new prop to disguise as outside. Although this time it was just a tree, nothing fancy.

Geralt paused when she turned the corner, and Roland was nowhere to be found. She looked around for any disturbances, before sighing and taking another deep breath. The fresh scent trail Roland had left behind filled her nose, and followed it to the outside of the Potter’s House. With how recent and fresh the trail was, Geralt wasted no time in bullrushing the disguised Fixer. There weren’t enough other props nearby for her to run her lives out on, and with two lost ‘tries’ in her haste, Geralt tagged Roland after a moment. “Okay. Who’s left…” She mused, looking around and taking another deep breath to find another trail.

Therion's plan hadn't gone perfectly considering Geralt had noticed his escape, but at the very least it accomplished what he'd wanted: getting the seeker to go after someone else while he escaped. Now, while Geralt was dealing with Roland, Therion was already a few blocks away. He ducked into an alleyway, crouching and pressing his back against the wall of a building. He peeked out around it into the street.

Geralt wasn't the only seeker he had to worry about, just the closest one. He'd heard the shouting from somewhere near their starting point, so someone was likely over that way - leaving two other seekers unaccounted for. He stuck to the ground because the rooftops were just wide open space, way too easy to spot someone moving up there. On the streets, he could find cover a lot easier. Not to mention he knew that Kamek would be flying and the other one, Pit, probably was too considering he had wings.

After a moment to make sure the coast was clear, Therion moved again. He slipped down the alley and took a turn, continuing to put distance between himself and the potter's house. He went in a new direction, keeping under awnings as much as possible while he scoped out potential new hiding places. As he entered another alley, a shadow passed above him. The hairs on his neck stood up and his tail fluffed out. His senses, both naturally honed and the acquired cat-like ones, told him to run.

He dove into an evasive roll just as the shadow dropped down onto the space he'd just been in, the unicorn horn striking the cobblestone instead of its target. "Dang it!"

As Therion popped back up onto his feet, he saw Pit doing the same. Exchanging no words with the boy, Therion broke into a run away from him. Naturally Pit gave chase. Until Pit's speed boost kicked in, the thief was going to put as much distance between them as possible by leveraging his higher natural speed. Ultimately he couldn't lose Pit though, no matter how much he weaved through town, and when accidentally led them into a dead end the angel assumed the jig was up.

"There!" he said thrusting the horn at Therion's back as the thief came up to the wall in front of them. He was met with a retort, and the horn striking brick as Therion jumped up and kicked off of the wall back over Pit's head. "I don't think so."

He took off again, chucking pumpkins and various other items behind him as he ran. More than once he successfully fended off the angel's horn, causing an accidental 'mistake' for the seeker as he jabbed forward. Although Pit would have much rather had Therion take a stand like Midna had, the chase was kind of fun too - until he got a jack-o-lantern in the face. "Bwh-!"

Therion sped off the way he'd originally come from. He zipped around the side of another shop, breaking line of sight, with the intent to quickly find a hiding place and fool his pursuer. Unfortunately when he turned the corner, he ended up staring Geralt down just a few dozen feet away. She must have finished up with Roland already and doubled back!

"Crap," Therion muttered under his breath. He slid to a near-stop and turned in one fluid motion in order to flee - which is when Pit caught up, sandwiching Therion between the two seekers. The angel lunged, finally catching Therion with a poke. When the thief exploded into confetti, he heaved a sigh and flicked his tail in spectral form. The game was against the hiders from the start, so no big deal.

Pit grinned at Geralt, giving her a peace sign with his fingers. "Almost done!" He informed her before running off to continue the hunt.

“Good catch.” Geralt simply said when she saw Pit take Therion down. That distraction out of the way, she returned to her searching by way of nose. Of the three that entered the Potter’s House other than her own, only one remained: Nadia Fortune. Knowing what she was capable of, Geralt wasn’t looking forward to the search. She could have launched herself into some near-impossible to reach spot, or hidden her body parts in random locations all over the town. With only ninety seconds to hide before they started, however, the smart bet would not be to hobble halfway across town to her last spot.

Following the blood-tinged smell of wet cat, Geralt stood outside the Botanist’s House. The scent trail was heavily muddied by the earthy aromas filling this place. Opening the door, Geralt hummed. She didn’t have terribly much time. Igni could make short work of this place, though it risked Nadia being hidden in the smoke, or some actual harm.

Instead, she went back to her previous tried-and-true method: Aard. Clay shattered with the telekinetic burst of force, sending dirt and leaves all over the house. A table splintered against the wall, bags of soil bursting under the pressure and spilling their contents. “Know you’re in here.” Geralt muttered, knocking over one of the remaining pots, part of a leg falling out. “Wonder if this’ll work.” She mused, poking the leg with the Unicorn horn.

With a puff of confetti, Nadia was eliminated from the game. “Huh. Honestly wasn’t sure, but it makes sense. Would hardly be fair to have to get every part, or just one specific one to get her.” Shrugging, Geralt stepped out of the Botanist’s House and closed her eyes.

World of Light

Zenkichi Hasegawa

Carnival Town

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (44/70) -> Lvl 7 (45/70)

Word Count: 449 words

It wasn't much longer before Zenkichi's taxi finally gave up the ghost, slowing to a stop about a quarter of the way from his next destination, and he sighed. "Dang. Well, can't imagine I did too bad." His supposition was answered immediately, as the moment his run officially ended, so too did the minigame.

Appearing back on the roulette wheel, Zenkichi hummed. "Wait, does that mean I came in-woah, oh boy!" He stepped rapidly away from Nadia and Juri continuing their fight, idly noticing Midna fighting a Ganondorf not too far away either. Another Ganondorf was on the roulette wheel, pointedly not fighting Midna, so...he had no idea what that was about but was willing to chalk it up to magical shenanigans, especially when the one Midna was fighting shattered once she got a good hit on it. Okay, that was weird...and oh, guess Nadia was going for the Friend Heart, but why'd she start before the game ended? Did she forget we can't hurt each other?

Musings aside, Zenkichi was pleasantly surprised to find out that the last game they'd be playing was a modified version of hide and seek. Though, this version seemed...somewhat violent, with the seekers having to stab the hiders with a 'unicorn horn.' Cutesy as that was, some part of Zenkichi wondered if the stabbing part would hurt or not. He didn't have much time to think on it before they found themselves in a spooky little town. It reminded him of stuff he'd seen from American media about Halloween, and even at a few parties in Japan in the last few years. "Huh, that's kinda cute." He chuckled, looking around and finding Sandalphon, Ganondorf, Juri slinking off to hide right off the bat, and the others. It looked like Geralt, Pit, and the two members of Bowser's crew that weren't Bowser himself, or Junior, would be hunting.

"Oh, we're in trouble." He mentioned to the others who were still around. "Geralt's job is basically hunting stuff down, and when we were in Midgar, he tracked a lady through a battlefield by scent alone. We're gonna need really good hiding spots if we wanna avoid her." The seriousness of his warning aside, Zenkichi had a small smile on his face as he ran off from the others, making a beeline for the Ironworks. Looking around at all the options available to him, Zenkichi quickly used his Mimic Tear to disguise as a large safe, nestling himself in what he figured was a fairly good spot. With only a minute and a half total time, he would rather pick and spot that might work than be caught unawares.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia & Zenkichi Hasegawa

Carnival Town

Lvl 13 Geralt (115/130) -> Lvl 13 (116/130) (+1 pending)

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (43/70) -> Lvl 7 (44/70)

Word Count: 719 words

Geralt crashed into another car, still not having fully internalized how traffic worked, and her fare threw his hands up and shoved the door open, storming out of the vehicle without paying. She groaned, looking around for a new fare and making her way to the green zone to pick up a new person. Hopefully, this one wouldn't need to go so far. 'Take me to Catbird Grove!' The woman demanded, and Geralt nodded, looking to see what direction that was. It wasn't too far from where they were at, but it wasn't particularly close, either. Further still, she didn't have a whole lot of time left, having taken so long to get a hang of controlling a vehicle. So, she put her foot to the accelerator, and they were off.

A patch of Junior's goop was in the road, and Geralt groaned when she realized there was no way around it without wasting even more time. "Oh, that kid..." she grumbled as the taxi drove over the goop, and for a few moments, completely lost traction, sliding forward without any response to Geralt's attempts to control the car. After those few moments, however, the tires caught the road, and despite a little fish-tailing, Geralt managed to get her fare to their destination with seconds to spare. Unfortunately, those seconds were not enough to reach the next fare, and the vehicle sputtered and halted, leaving Geralt eliminated from the game. "Well...that was miserable." She groaned, before shrugging and exiting the taxi. "Might as well have a look around while those lunatics have at it."

One of said lunatics, Zenkichi, was still having the time of his life, though once he started seeing the other Seekers, things got a little too hectic. He got caught by Nadia on her rampage of crashing into as many of the Seekers as she could find, and between Bowser's massive vehicle and Junior's goop, it was hard not to get knocked a little off track by the Koopa Troop. Zenkichi had one thing most of the other Seekers didn't have, even if they knew how to drive cars: City driving experience. Sure, he didn't drive any crazy places like New York City (he'd heard dreadful rumors of traffic in that accursed place, and not even he would be willing to brave it), but Tokyo was one of the most densely-populated cities in the world, and he made it through just fine. Avoiding the nearly suburban traffic of Grapital City, in comparison, was a piece of cake.

'Take me to Payback Square!' 'I need to go to the Grapital Building!' 'Jobber Flats!' 'Bold Coast!' Passengers called out their demands, and Zenkichi dutifully met them. He cut down on the stunts after the first few rough landings, instead focusing on just getting people to their places, though if he saw a perfectly-placed ramp truck, he couldn't say no to it. It was like being an action movie hero, launching into the air and crashing back to the earth.

He laughed, driving along to get this fare to their destination, when he passed Roxas and Sandalphon sitting down for a chat. He slowed to a crawl as he did, honking quickly and giving the pair a quick wave before jetting back off. At one point, he saw the catgirl, Nadia, fighting with Juri, and sped up to get well out of their way. Far be it from him to butt into a catfight. Nooooo, thank you!

Geralt, meanwhile, was wandering around Catbird Grove, just enjoying the small park, there, when she decided to take a seat in the grass and try to meditate. It had been a while since she'd had the time to do so, and even with the distant sounds of engines, horns, and chaos, she found her mind slowing, until only one thought occupied it: Ciri. The face of her daughter, the long scar on her cheek, and she sighed. There was so much going on, and Geralt felt no closer to finding her than she was when she was first awoken from Galeem's curse. As her eyes opened, and she rose, Geralt swore a silent oath. "I will find you, Ciri, and I will free you from Galeem. And when the time comes, we'll stop it together. It's not my story. It's yours."

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia & Zenkichi Hasegawa

Carnival Town

Lvl 13 Geralt (97/130) +3 +3 +5 +5 Collab XP -> Lvl 13 (115/130) (+1 pending)

Lvl 7 Zenkichi - (23/70) +4 +4 +4 +6 Collab XP -> Lvl 7 (43/70)

Word Count: 838 words

Both Zenkichi and Geralt were pleasantly surprised with their results. Geralt wasn't terribly surprised her, Junior, Midna and Goldlewis didn't pull off a victory, especially given the frosty reception their video got at the beginning. Zenkichi, on the other hand, celebrated a bit, happy to have trusted Juri to direct their film, and he waved to the woman and said as much. "I'd like to thank our wonderful director, Juri, for this award!" He joked, mimicking the style of an American celebrity receiving an award. "But seriously, thanks. I don't think I could've done half as good a job behind the camera."

Rewards and thanks out of the way, all there was to it was to wait to see what was next. When Ballyhoo announced the name of the game, something tickled in the back of Zenkichi's brain. That was...strangely familiar, but not quite right. Almost like a sense of deja vu when you knew that what you were experiencing couldn't have happened before. The explanation only furthered the feeling, but without much time to think on it, they were transported to the next game.

---

"Oh my god it's Crazy Taxi. Wow, I haven't played that game in years. Since college, I guess." Zenkichi sighed at the memory, half-drunkenly playing with his friends on the coveted Dreamcast, yelling at the current player to distract them and try to get the best score. Good times.

Hopping into the taxi, he chuckled a little and shook his head. "Man, this isn't even fair. I bet most of these guys had never even seen a car until a few days ago. I'm gonna smoke 'em." He knew that a local famous racer was around, but other than that, he wasn't afraid of the competition in the slightest.

On another island, Geralt stared at the vehicle in disbelief. Shaking her head, she quickly climbed inside and took a seat. Her eyes widened at the sheer number of displays staring at her, but looking around quickly found her an instructional booklet entitled 'KOOKY CABBIES FOR DUMBIES'. Glaring at the insulting pamphlet, she nonetheless opened it and started scanning for ways to operate this thing. "Turn the key and hold? These things use keys, huh? Simple enough, I suppose." Searching for, and easily finding, the key to the ignition, she turned it, cringing a little as the engine started rumbling. "Okay, now...right pedal accelerates, left brakes. Easy enough. And the wheel steers. Stop at the marks to pick up fares, then bring them to the indicated positions. Let's try this, then." She was resigned to her inevitable fate, but would at least attempt to partake.

Pushing her right foot down on the accelerator, Geralt lurched as the taxi's tires squealed, launching her directly into a palm tree as she attempted to correct course. She grunted at the impact, before frowning. She was stuck. Quickly grabbing the pamphlet, she started flipping through it viciously.

Zenkichi, meanwhile, had picked up a medium fare and was already well on his way. He wove in and out of traffic, though the unrealistic physics of the Kooky Cab took some getting used to. Still, he was having a blast, hooting and hollering as he launched the car off the 'ramp' of a vehicle-transporting truck, just like the movies. His fare let out an enthusiastic 'O-kay!' to signify that he landed the jump right. Oh, man, was this nostalgic! After a short, hectic drive, Zenkichi drifted into the drop-off zone, already looking for the next fare. He barely registered his fare shoot up, the customer offering a tip for 'speedy service.' Nodding gratefully, he decided to go for a real challenge: a red fare. He was going for gold here, and if it didn't work out, he still already had six chips between his win and the first mini-game, so he was pretty okay with that.

This fare, unfortunately, didn't want to go very far, and Zenkichi held back a groan. This was practically gonna be a waste of time. Still, he did what he was here to do, and put the pedal to the metal, crashing into a car that was zooming by in his blind spot. His fare berated him, but Zenkichi just shook his head and focused on the road. It was just a game, and the other car recovered quickly and drove off as well.

Geralt, having finally figured out the gear shift, put her cab in reverse and lightly tapped the accelerator, inching away from the palm tree with a groan. She turned the wheel to the side to extricate herself from the position she was in, slowly freeing her vehicle before looking for somebody to drive. Finding a passenger with a green marker, she shifted back into drive and approached them, going just a little too slow. When she finally stopped, the passenger strode up to the car and got in, asking to be driven to the other side of town.

This was going to be a long game...