Yankee

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Whaaa I forgot to answer last week's little Q&A...

Well the answer is pretty easy: this is both my first OP RP, and the first character I've come up with for one. The reason I went with a mermaid is simply because I love mermaids, and its not often you can actually play one in an RP. Thanks to some chatting in the discord, I was able to nail down the character and now we're here! I don't really do "OCs," just think up and discard characters on a per-RP basis, so not much else to say on this topic.

As for this week's...

A lot of superfluous info I hardly think about, but it sure is fun so I'll think about it now! For Suiten's birthday let's go with March 10th! I think it's funny when readers send bday suggestions to SBS and Oda just goes "sure, whatever, that's fine" so I went with March 10th because it's similar to how bdays are suggested based on the date reading. The first character in Suiten's name is 水, "mizu," which sounds close enough to "mittsu" one of the readings of the number "3." And the second character is 天, "ten," so... in English... 10!

The thoughts in her head are probably something like this: build, build, beauty, light, zeitan. As for animal, is it cheating to say "goldfish"? Once you get past the scent of sea water I think Suiten would smell like peaches. Her blood type is F. Her flower is the Tiger Lily. Bathing habits?! She lives in the ocean! She's vegetarian like most other merfolk, and right now her new favorite food is pawpaws. And of course her hobby is tinkering with inventions.

I'll leave you with a fun fact too... for some reason during character creation after I had decided on her name, I kept spelling it as "Seitan." Probably because I'd named her sister Zeitan? But I'd only written that name once, and "Suiten" tons of times by then, but I still had to go back and find all the hidden Seitans and change them. Weird brain.

Expedition to Isekai

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It was a really weird feeling, almost like an out of body experience. Not that Masato had ever had one of those, but he imagined it might be sort of similar to what was going on. Pain laced up and down his back where the wolfbear was tearing open his skin. Masato could definitely feel the claws sink in and the warmth of his blood well up and out of his body, but as far as fatal injuries went it didn't seem that bad. Was his brain lessening the pain to make the transition to oblivion a little more palatable? Or maybe it was possible that this wasn't a fatal wound. That its claws couldn't get through the back of his rib cage into his more important parts, and that the blood flow wasn't enough to bleed out.

Masato chose to hang onto the second option. Fuck you, I can do this, he told the phantom in his memory. He grit his teeth and endured the rake of the monster's claws, keeping a hold of its legs to keep it in place. Just kill it. His thoughts were loud, as if trying to project them to Kogen. Just kill it so this can be over. It was hard to think past the immediate situation, so what had become of the other students and what to do after dealing with this wolfbear were thoughts that didn't even filter into Masato's head anymore.

Unfortunately the OHKO he'd been hoping for did not come. A monster's skull was apparently much tougher than a dog's or a human's. From his awkward position it was hard for Masato to see what was going on until Kogen was slammed down on top of him.

"Ghk-!" The added pressure on his ripped up back really made it hurt now. He'd finally released his death grip on the monster's back legs in order to try and push himself up or otherwise escape the pin, but it didn't look likely unless the beast ripped the boy on top of him apart first. And was he really going to let that happen? Could he do anything to prevent it?

Things would have been looking a lot more grim than they already were if not for Inaba. How she'd managed to survive Masato didn't know, but if Inaba was alive then Suzuki was alive. They could all get out of this with their lives intact. The kids all seemed to move at once, with Kogen putting his plan into action once Inaba made contact, and Masato scrambling out from the pin as soon as Kogen shifted and gave him enough room to escape. He managed to get his feet underneath him and stand up, and though he was breathing heavily he wasn't sapped of his strength just yet. Now freed, he could go check on Suzuki, or he could make a proper escape. But he really wanted to see this thing dealt with now that he'd had a taste of defiance against the death the monsters represented. Kogen had a hold on one of its front legs, so Masato rushed forward to seize the other before its claws could come down and stop what would hopefully be a death blow this time.

Anxious Introduction

Hey there, welcome!

Greetings fellow roleplayers

Welcome to RPG! If you have any questions just ask, folks around here are generally nice.

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

---

South Blue

Earlier ...

An encounter at sea

It's the something day of the something year, and I'm once again wishing I started some kind of log from the get-go. Since making my way from home I've made no progress in my search, but I did manage to finish something pretty amazing the other day.

It wasn't often that mermaid were spotted outside of the Grand Line, though as it happened no one had spotted Suiten yet today in the South Blue. It was early in the afternoon and she was swimming lazily, making as few flicks of her tail as possible to move her forward. The sea was vast, and there were so many stretches of it that were just devoid of anything interesting. It was either water, sand, or darkness as far as the eye could see. This was one of those sections. If she was lucky, Suiten could catch sight of some fish out there, but for the most part she was just swimming aimlessly and bored out of her mind. During these periods of open ocean travel she tried to entertain herself in anyway possible, which sometimes meant she would work on her "travelogue." It usually didn't help. It certainly wasn't now.

Now I'm going to...

She trailed off in her thoughts, pushing her tail once to turn over and float gently down on her back with her face staring blankly up towards the surface. She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, a cascade of bubbles escaping her lips.

Narrating to myself is so boring! I need some handsome dummy to dictate to.

Eventually she felt her back hit the seabed, and she lay there for a little while to doze. A break every now and then wasn't such a bad thing, was it? She could have chosen a more pleasant area to rest, but so far she'd seen barely anything for miles so she didn't find it likely she'd come across a comfier spot anytime soon. Besides, this spot would have been nice enough if not for some irritating noise that was steadily growing louder. She tried ignoring it until it got too much to brush off.

Flipping around, Suiten's eyes snapped open and her cheeks puffed out into a rather cute looking pout. Her hands were resting on her hips where scale transitioned into skin, and she stared into the dark where the sound of scraping was coming from.

"What's with the noise?! Some people are trying to... to..." A shadow loomed over her, and she let out a strangled "Uwaaah!" as it passed.

● ● ●

"Net's pretty heavy t'day."

"Come off it old man, you say that every damn day."

"What's wrong with tryin' to be opta- optermistic? 'Sides, it really is. C'n hardly lift it."

The man, a sun-tanned elder with a cropped haircut, struggled to turn the crank wheel. He let out a grunt as his companion, a shorter but stockier blondie with a rope tied around his forehead rolled his eyes. Commercial fishing vessels had all but cleaned out these waters a few years ago, but some traditional fishermen remained hopeful that their livelihood hadn't disappeared for good.

After a few minutes of watching the struggle, the younger fisherman stood up.

"Alright, alright, out of the way. Age finally caught up with you huh? Let me do it."

He grasped the crank in both hands and pushed. The look of surprise on his face when it barely moved caused a bout of laughter from the elder. A vein visibly pulsed on his forehead as he put his back into it, gritting his teeth. He made space for his companion to assist and together they hauled the net up from dredging the sea floor. There were fish in it, but not many more than usual. Maybe less even, since so much space was being taken up by one huge specimen. A sleek tail of reds, oranges, and golds about three feet long greeted the men as the crane held their bounty aloft.

The blonde man whistled his appreciation. "I had no idea there were fish this big left around here."

"Told ya it was heavier th'n usual." The older man stroked the patchy stubble of his chin. He glanced at his partner while the fish wiggled. "Wonder what it is, how much its worth. We could be eating well tonight."

"Haha, the whole town could be if we cook it instead!"

"Cook who?!"

The two men screamed and stumbled back as their captured fish finally reoriented herself, sitting up to reveal a human-like body attached to the tail they'd been admiring. She brought her hands up to grip the ropes and glare through the net, but the expression was completely non-threatening thanks to her slightly green face and swirly, dizzy eyes.

"Ugh... s-so rude..." She mumbled. Her head was swimming, and not in the normal way.

The more experienced fisher recovered first while the younger was still staring slack-jawed. He coughed into his hand to clear his throat and then asked, "Er... uh... are you okay, miss...?"

"..."

"...?"

"St... do..."

"Whatcha say...?"

Suiten shook her head vigorously, and though still dizzy she shouted, "s-stand back if you don't want to be cut to pieces! You humans think you can catch me? H-ha! I can free myself in forty different ways!"

At this point the blonde man got himself together and stood, holding his hands up to try and placate the mermaid. "Hold on, you're the one that ran into our net! Calm down and we'll get you out."

The crane began to move again to deposit the net on board, but Suiten either hadn't heard the man or didn't believe him. She rummaged in her bag and produced something that looked like the hilt of a sword. It held no blade and was unremarkable, save for the way Suiten was brandishing it. "I warned you! This thing gathers water and compresses it to be super sharp!"

"We said we'll let you go!"

"Hiyah!" She clicked the button and a puff of air came out of the hilt, but otherwise nothing happened. All three of the people gathered on that little boat held their breaths for a few seconds before letting them out all at once.

"Ehe... right. It only works underwater..."

The blonde sailor facepalmed, while the older man let out a relieved chuckle. "You sure gave us a fright, missy. But we promise not to hurt ya. We're simple folks just lookin' fer some fish, not fish-men."

"Okay... thank you," Suiten said, though she grumbled "mermaid" under her breath. After taking a few moments to relax, she believed the guys didn't have any ill intentions. They worked to lower the crane and open up the net until she was free. She stretched out on the deck of the small vessel while the sailors smiled, a bit mystified by the encounter. Until.

"Yay~" Suiten stretched her arms over her head, and the device she'd kept a death grip on slipped from her fingers over the side of the boat. "Oops." Still powered on, it sucked in sea water and sliced a chunk out of the ship as it tumbled down below the waves.

"THE BOAT!!"

Currently ...

"Treated like a common sea beast..." Suiten lamented, letting out a dramatic sigh. "You two really owe me for this." The blonde sailor leaned over the side of the small ship, both of his hands on the railing and a petulant frown on his face.

"You're the reason we ended up like this in the first place!" he snapped, glancing at the other fisherman as a hand came down on his shoulder.

"Aw let it go Lide, it were only an accident."

"But-"

"S'nothing I can't fix anyway. We'll be back on the ocean t'marra."

The blonde man sighed, just narrowly missing Suiten making a face at him when he looked back to her. After their boat started taking on water all three of them had begun to panic, but with a combination of hasty patching and Suiten pulling the small craft through the water the managed to make it back to the fisherman's home of Ponson Island. During the that time they'd spoken a little, swapped names and introductions, and now they'd pulled up past the dock to let the boat rest on the beach. The men hopped out of the vessel and the older of the two, Silva, turned to Suiten.

"We should be able to rustle something up to repay you, missy."

"Really?" she asked, perking up and swimming up close to the shore. Reigning in her eagerness, Suiten covered her smile with the long sleeve of her clothes. "I mean, if you insist~"

Lide rolled his eyes. Both men headed up the beach toward what Suiten assumed was their village. While she waited, she pulled herself into the boat and nosed around until she found a newspaper. Then she flopped back out and onto the beach, wiggling down the sand until half of her body was lounging out of the water, borrowed paper held high over her face as she read it. She thumbed through the pages, though none of the articles really interested her. A lot of crime and bad business, some grimy king or something in the Blue she found herself in, a dumb comic strip in the back. She tossed the paper back into the boat.

She was curious as to what the two fishermen would bring her. With a vessel small enough that even she could tow it, albeit slowly, Suiten couldn't imagine they were swimming in riches. ...it couldn't be that they were planning to capture her after all, right? She slunk back into the sea and under the dock just in case. When they returned, they were holding a small bundle of green-yellow fruits. Suiten poked her head out of the water.

"Hope ya don't mind bein' treated to some food."

"I was hoping for gold and jewels, buuuuut it'll do~ I'm pretty hungry." She reached out for one of the fruits. "What is it?"

"It's called a pawpaw," Lide answered. "Bet you don't have anything like that underwater. You're in for a treat."

It was true, the fruit was completely unfamiliar to her. The fishermen showed her how to peel the skin away and avoid the seeds when she took a bite. It was delicious, sweet and silky. She asked for another one.

"By the way, yer a long way from home aren't ya? What brings you 'round these waters?" Silva inquired.

Suiten remained quiet for a few moments, thinking about how to phrase her answer. "I'm looking for something. Have either of you ever seen light under the water? Any big bright spots or anything like that?"

"No. But we're usually heading back by nightfall - I guess it'd be hard to see something like that during the day."

Beside Lide, Silva tipped his head up in thought. "He's right. But... I think I do 'member hearin' about somethin' like that."

"Really?! Where? What was it?"

"It's somethin' I was told by my grandfather. Story he used t'tell, 'bout somethin' called a 'Sea Lamp.' Said he saw it while sailin' plenty o' times, deep underwater." Suiten was hanging on the man's every word as he hummed, scratching his stubbly chin. "Lessee... I think it's s'posed to be north o'here. They called the area somethin' different back then, but it'd be a few days travel by ship. Past Shark Reef fer sure, and if ya reach the palm forest y'gone too far."

The blank stare on Suiten's face told the old man that she had no idea what he was talking about. He raised an eyebrow and said instead, "Ye got a map?"

"Yes! I picked up a sea chart as soon as I could." Smiling, the mermaid stuck a hand into her bag and produced a rolled up parchment. She unfurled it, and its strangely glossy surface showed a rough map of the South Blue. Near the corner of the map where the Reverse Mountain stood there were some illegible scribbles and doodles that swooped to the southeast, gradually tapering off around the island they were on now. A record of Suiten's travels, perhaps. Silva reached out to take the chart, startling when the film covering it popped and fell away, leaving him with regular paper in his hands.

"Waterproof?"

"Ehe~ impressed? It's the same special kind of bubble we use back on Fishman Island. It wraps around the paper and—"

"Pffft."

Suiten's head snapped toward Lide. "What's so funny?"

"Your drawings- they really suck."

"! W-well, I...!" Suiten floundered, her cheeks coloring. Her cheeks swelled as they often did when she was embarrassed or pouting and she pointed a finger at the man that dare questioned her drawing ability. "Let's see you do better!"

Lide sputtered in response, trying to find a way out of the challenge, while Silva just shook his head at the younger folks' antics. He spread the chart flat on one of the dock's wooden posts and bent over it, marking the area that Suiten might supposedly find the Sea Lamp with a circle and a question mark. He interrupted the rest of Suiten and Lide's argument by handing the girl her map back.

"There abouts. Remember this is jus' a story I heard, so it could be jus' that: only a story."

Suiten was beaming as she replaced the film over it by dragging what looked like a little wand with an oval at the end of it across the paper. "Even if it's just a story, it's the first real clue I've found in a long time. Thank you."

The elder fisherman nodded, then placed his fists on the small of his back and stretched. "S'been a long day for this old timer. I'm headin' back, think I'll turn in early so I can work on the boat soon as the sun's up. Lide, see miss Suiten off will ya?"

Lide waved the old man off as he departed, moving to the end of the dock. Silva and Lide had been very kind to her ever since they scooped her up from the sea floor (well, mostly Silva), so much so that Suiten turned a little sheepish when she admitted, "Ehe, now I feel kind of bad for breaking your boat."

"You... you didn't feel bad about it before?" Lide asked, exasperated. He a pawpaw of his own in his hands, and he bit into the flesh of it as he nodded his head out towards the sea. "Well, off you go."

Suiten swam out a ways, slowly. "No one's ever this eager to get rid of me," she said, flicking her tail at the man. He shrugged.

"Mermaids are supposed to be lucky, but seems like it's been the opposite," he said. They'd lost most of their fish, damaged their boat, and had to cut their work day short.

"Oho, I'm lucky? Is that true?"

"Obviously not! It's just another story they tell around here, like the one Silva told you about the Sea Lamp. He's a nice guy, but that's probably why he's being extra nice. No way would anyone else get off scot-free for cutting a hole in his boat."

"...hmm~ so what do you think would be a lucky outcome after meeting with a mermaid?"

Lide scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning against one of the poles at the end of the dock. "Something like a treasure chest washing up," he said, and then after a moment followed with, "Or all the fish coming back."

"I'll see what I can do~" Suiten sing-songed, earning another scoff from Lide. He waved her off much the same way he'd done Silva earlier and then turned his back on the sea, making his way back to town. Suiten glanced at the map again, imprinting Silva's mark in her mind before splashing below the surface and darting off.

Old but new

Welcome! Good luck in your partner search and enjoy your stay!

Expedition to Isekai

______________________________________________________________________

It happened so fast. Inaba was ripped right from his grasp, and then suddenly she was thrown against a tree and her body was hanging limply in the branches above. It hadn't even been two hours and another person was dead. Why the hell was this happening? Wasn't time supposed to slow down or something in crisis? The situation was rapidly getting worse, and Masato felt that he couldn't keep up. He cracked the stick in his hand across the wolfbear's face, which did nothing but break his improvised weapon as expected.

He could hardly feel anything but his own blood thrumming under his skin. Could hardly hear the panic and cries of his classmates as they tried to handle the other two monsters. The shout of a girl as she threw herself onto the wolfbear and instructed him to run.

"Suzuki!" Masato's voice was distressed. Now would be a great time to escape, but it would mean watching another girl die. Could he ever face himself or anyone else again if he did that? As the beast thrashed in Suzuki's hold, looking between her and and Inaba's corpse, Masato considered following her advice. He took a step away, then another.

"Just - hold on, okay!"

He chanced a glance in the direction of Kogen to see that while the boy was unharmed, he also wasn't running away. Why? Why the fuck did he have to be so stubborn about stuff like this. Masato turned back to the scene in front of him, pulse pounding. He bit his lip, and he did run, only around the beast to where Inaba's tools had fallen after the bag was ripped apart. In any other situation he would probably feel bad about going through a dead girl's things. The items were strewn around the ground, and Masato's eyes frantically searched the grass until he found what he was looking for. A hammer would be much more useful than a branch so long as he could get a clean strike in. With the monster thrashing around as it was, would he be able to? Could he afford to wait for it to tire, betting it would happen before it was able to buck Suzuki off? There must be a way to stop it moving around so much. An extra pair of hands to help would be nice. There happened to be one nearby, but... ugh, there really was no time to waffle about if Masato really wanted to try and stop this monster from shredding Suzuki apart.

"Ko-kun, here!" Masato summoned the chuunibyou over and tossed his chosen weapon to him before throwing caution to the wind and jumping in to help Suzuki. Unlike her, Masato was no martial artist. His fighting experience was limited to brawling with his brother or other kids in the past. He had no idea how to hold a beast down, so he executed the plan he'd come up with only seconds before based on what he did know - if you went for a person's legs they'd fall over.

"Hold on Suzuki," he said again, diving towards the creature's legs. If she could hold its neck then he could avoid its jaws, and then he'd just have to avoid its claws. If he could trip it up, get it to stop flailing for a moment, then they could access its stomach or its throat or some soft fleshy part of it that the hooked end of a hammer could sink into.

______________________________________________________________________
_{@Cu Chulainn}

World of Light

Word Count: 720 (+1 exp)
Level: 3 - Total EXP: 125/30
Location: Dystopiascape - Sector 7

The Seekers picked up the pace through the slum town after Giovanna explained to Pit the difference between salvage and service, as she'd put it. She was also right that the merchant hadn't been able to help them, but not for lack of trying. In fact he tagged along with the group, looking to do some good. He introduced himself as Partitio, and likewise the angel proudly gave the man his own name and rank.

They continued on their way to the depot, and from there Pit watched Giovanna go off to negotiate while Zenkichi and Poppi spoke with some acquaintances. People they'd met yesterday? For such a huge city it's pretty lucky to run into the same people again, Pit thought, the implication that the Rust Crew were here for the same reason as them flying completely over his head at first. While they conversed, Roxas ran off in a hurry. Curious, Pit's gaze followed the boy until he met with a familiar looking spiky haired man.

It's Cloud!

Truthfully he didn't know Cloud all that well, but he recognized that iconic hairdo. He wasn't able to hear what the three were saying to each other, and Cloud and the woman he was with were off in a hurry before Pit could recover and go over there himself. From his run in with Ken the other day, Pit knew that any of the fighters he was familiar with still under Galeem's spell might not remember their stint in the multi-world tournaments too well, if at all... but it would still be a great boon for them if they could get the man back to his senses. But it could wait, for now. It was enough to know where another fellow Smasher was. After they dealt with the machines they could come back.

When the group boarded the two trucks Pit claimed the driver's seat of one of them, absolutely tickled that it would be driving itself. He'd be kicked out of the spot on the way back, if not even sooner, but at the moment he busied himself with studying how the pedals and clutch were moving as well as the scenery they passed. If this has been a natural work, the mega metropolis of Midgar sprouting from the ruins of whatever this city was would have been like a forest flourishing after a fire, but in reality it was just more ruins cut and pasted into place.

Eventually he turned around in his seat, peering over the headrest at the truck's other occupants. his eyes settled on Roxas. Though he didn't look all that eager to talk, Pit asked him a question anyway. "Hey, what did Cloud say?" His eyes were wide with curiosity, and he didn't even question how Roxas knew the man.

When Susie asked what she thought they'd find out there, the angel turned his attention to her. "By us, you mean us us?" he asked, curious as to what she wanted it for. She then mentioned setting up some defenses for the city behind them, using an acronym that he didn't know but chose to interpret as "hype, wild, and cool." When he imagined the remains of a robot battle, it was antennas and metal lobster-like claws, or big buzz-saws and blinking lights strewn over the ground. Assuming that was the kind of scrap the salvage crews would be collecting, he was confident they'd find some hype, wild, and cool tech for sure!

"If you're thinking about defenses for the city, maybe we'll find some laser guns, or those electro-beam things... or a mega buster!" Any of those could probably be turned into defenses by the technologically inclined. "But if we do our job right we'll be stopping any robots... I mean any enemy robots from getting to the city in the first place!"

And for the record, he was still up for some factory infiltration afterward if they managed to chase them all the way back to their bases. Having been thrown into plenty of situations that could be described as deathtraps before, he knew it wasn't an easy ask. But how were they supposed to stop the Ever Crisis, or this part of it, otherwise? Still, first thing's first - fending the robots off. The trucks continued to rumble towards their pre-set destination.

Word Count: 2667 (+3 exp)(+15 encounter reward)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 197/90
Location: Edinburgh MagicaPolis

After going from the demon attack at the library to running from police to fighting the police to trudging through the snowy city streets, Grammeowster's Kitchen was a welcome change of pace. It was warm and comfortable inside, with a touch of the familiar. It wasn't until everyone was resting that the Ace Cadet actually realized why that was, and a smile formed on his face that wouldn't leave. The rustic living quarters above the restaurant made it really feel like coming home after a rough day; hopefully the others felt the same kind of contentment while it lasted.

The Cadet striped off his large outer coat and draped it over the back of a wooden chair, next to where he'd set his backpack down. From his things he offered Albedo a mega potion for his wound, and Frisk something to defend herself with should they run into trouble again. Which honestly was only a matter of time.

With Sierra still unconscious, the group was left to kill some time. With some pent up energy left in him, the Cadet walked once around the table in the center of the room just to really take the place in and then announced to the others, "I'm gonna go downstairs for a bit."

He descended into the actual restaurant section of Grammeowster's Kitchen. His intent was to chat up the felynes, but his mouth had been beginning to water even from upstairs. Food would come first. He got a table to himself and ordered three dishes, a basted sushifish, marinated carpaccio, and some kind of roast. He hadn't paid much attention to what exactly was being roasted, but it looked great. It tasted even better. He made quick work of all three, with a familiar brandy called Snowmelt Snifter to wash it down.

The open-style kitchen gave the restaurant patrons a decent view of the cats making their food. The Ace Cadet caught sight of the proprietress, and though it was the first time he'd seen her he thought she had to be the same "Grammeowster" that the Meowscular Chef spoke so highly of. He left a pile of gold on the table to cover his bill and approached the counter where the Grammeowster was, and she smiled at the hunter.

"Thanks for letting us stay here," he told the elder cat. "Anything I can help with?"

"Can mew cook?"

If her customers would be alright with kebabs roasted over a spit, then technically yes. "I'm a better taste-tester," he said instead with a wide grin, drawing a chuckle from the Grammeowster.

"Nyat too good too wash dishes, are mew?"

"Of course not!" he said, already beginning to roll up his sleeves. "Just point me in the right direction."

"Oh wondermew. This way."

As she led him to the back of the house the Cadet asked the question that has been on his mind through dinner. "Chef, you were part of the Research Commission right? With the First Fleet?"

The Grammeowster Chef's ears flicked under her head scarf and she let out a long sigh, though it was filled with warmth rather than wistfulness.

"I haven't thought about that in a long time, child. Retired about... twenty years ago meow," she replied, adjusting the small set of glasses on her nose and appraising the young man. "Mew too?"

"Yep, with the Fifth Fleet."

"Me-wow, they're all still working hard aren't they?"

The two of them chatted even after the Cadet took to his volunteer task, diving elbow deep into a sink piled with dishes next to a felyne standing on a stool. The Grammeowster Chef asked after her old fleet companions, and the Ace Cadet told her all about the current Astera. When she had to return to the front of the house, some of the staff took her place in the conversation as they came and went through the kitchen. None of them had been to the New World, so their questions were much wilder in nature, but the Cadet was happy to entertain them with tales of his own exploits - and those of the much beloved Sapphire Star.

When the kitchen's sink was empty and spotless, the Cadet was feeling very relaxed. Still, he couldn't forget that there was a whole other world outside of the restaurant's doors and foreign friends just upstairs. He put another order in and poked through the kitchen for a quick snack before returning upstairs.

When he entered the borrowed rooms it was with two platters in hand; one was an entire roast fowl on a bed of greens, the other a hash of spiced tubers that smelled divine, both the courtesy of the Grammeowster Chef. The hunter himself had a cinnamon roll held between his teeth as he walked in, though when he noticed Sierra was awake he hurried over to the bedside table to deposit the food and finish off his dessert.

"Thought mew guys might be hungry," he said, seeing as Big Band and Sierra hadn't been able to take a trip to the kitchen like the others had. After being filled on what happened to Sierra, the smile that had been on his face all evening finally started to dim. What was with these Consuls, why were they so determined to do harm? For the time being it was probably best for the trainer to stay out of sight too, lest she suffer anymore at the whims of a Consul. I hope the Spheals are alright, the Cadet thought offhandedly.

"So what's the plan meow? Er, now?"

---

The plan for now was rest up, recharge, and lay low. Easy enough, but there was also the matter of skeletons being raised at night. Based on everything Frisk and Big Band had said, the phenomenon was connected to Linkle. Knowing that, the Ace Cadet suited up again and left their hideout under the cover of night to investigate, and he wouldn't be the only one. Those that weren't staying behind split up to cover more ground, intending on making their way back to Grammeowster’s Kitchen after they were finished.

With coats like his a common sight in the winter city, the Cadet wasn't worried about drawing unnecessary attention as he moved about the streets. He pulled the fluffy hood of the garment up around his head and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he wandered. He passed a couple of people still out at this time of night, and he could hear the dull thump of music being played by some establishments open late, but otherwise the start of his investigation was pretty calm.

Eventually he drew to stop and leaned against the brick wall of some building to coax the scoutflies from the cage affixed to the holster on his chest. They slowly began to swarm, little clusters of green light growing brighter and flying around in a loose sphere shape.

"I snow its a long shot, but think you can find Linkle?" he asked the insects. They were really smart critters, but given the large and unfamiliar city and the changes Linkle had probably been through, he wasn't sure if they'd still be able to pick up her scent. The scoutflies swirled upward into the air and fanned out, groups of them moving in different directions before doubling back. When they gathered together again and mingled lazily around the cage, the Cadet sighed. No luck.

"Let's just keep trying," he said, moving to continue his wandering. The scoutflies remained loose, serving as a floating lantern that cast a green glow over the the sidewalk in front of him.

It was a little while more until the Cadet found anything, and technically the flies found it first. They scooted down an alleyway, buzzing brightly, when their green bodies turned to red. The Cadet blinked in surprise. The scoutflies sensed danger and retreated back into their cage. At the other end of the alley was a person slowly walking away. No... on second look it wasn't exactly a person.

A skeleton in a helmet shambled out of the narrow space until it was on an adjoining road. It didn't notice the monster hunter, at least until he ran right towards it. The Cadet didn't really know what he expected when he approached instead of keeping his distance (an invitation back to the skullgirl's location would have been nice), but what he got was a skeleton plucking its own rib from its rib cage and chucking it directly at him. The Cadet skidded to a halt and ducked, the bone passing over his head. The skeleton was standing its ground and readying another rib to throw, so at that point the Cadet equipped his shield.

It won't run if I actually attack it, he thought, so if he wanted to try and find where Linkle was... he would have to scare it away, he guessed. There were so many factors to consider though: whether Linkle was actually in control of she skeletons or they did follow Galeem's rules, whether they would seek their master out or only move away, whether it was even possible to get them to disengage...

The skeleton threw the second bone, which ricocheted off of his shield and went flying. At the same time he felt something crack against the back of his leg, a painful but not debilitating sensation. Glancing down, he found a bone lying at his feet. Looking up, he noticed the second bone bouncing off of the alley's wall and headed right back toward him again. So it was like that, huh? He blocked the bone again and was happy to see it didn't ricochet forever. Shield first he charged to close the distance between himself and the skeleton, deciding that this one could be disposed of - and if there was one, there would probably be more so he must be going in the right direction. A couple of shield slams later and he moved on.

He didn't always have to rely on the scoutflies to alert him to the presence of the skeletons. Sometimes he could hear them, their bones creaking or clattering together as they moved through the city's streets. He found that many of them were just regular old skeletons, some were clothed and some not, and there were a few skeletons of animals among them. They were never in large groups, just as often alone as they were with a partner or two. They also didn't seem to be moving with any purpose, with no indication of where any specific one was going or clues as to where it'd come from.

The Cadet clenched his jaw, coming to realize this was going to be a lot harder than expected. He was currently peeking around a corner and watching one of the reanimated bone bags slowly chase a couple down the street. They had been spooked when they'd seen it and fled the other way so fast there was no way the skeleton would catch up to them, or else the hunter would have intervened. The more dangerous looking ones he had destroyed, especially the annoying ones of the same type he'd run into before that loved to throw bones around, but some he just tried to follow hoping they would lead him to something. It had been a couple hours and so far it just felt like he was just going in circles.

The distinct clattering sound above him drew the Cadet's gaze up. There was a large creature, half illuminated by the city's street lamps. Was that... a flying skeleton? That was new! Without skin or feathers it really shouldn't have been able to fly, but hey. Maybe it would eventually roost close to wherever it spawned from, which would hopefully be somewhere Linkle was nearby. Worth a shot! Wasn't like he was getting very far following human skeletons. As the flying undead moved through the air, the Ace Cadet did his best to keep up with it. Sometimes he had to take a roundabout route since he didn't have the benefit of wings, but with his eyes on the shadow moving through the sky he just about managed it. Eventually it stopped to perch on the edge of a building about two blocks from where the Cadet was. Now was his chance to catch up, so he darted out of the shadow of an apartment complex and across the street, into a little maintenance road—

Fwoosh. Thwack. There was a sharp stinging pain in his side where he'd been too slow to parry the blow of his ambusher, a waterlogged skeleton carrying a large spear. The second thrust was already coming, caught by the Cadet's shield. "Not Ya-cool man," he hissed, and with sword in hand he made to strike back.

Drawn by the noise, the shadow on the rooftops took to the air. It circled the scuffle a few times awaiting its opening, and then the skeleton dove. It let out no noise besides the brief clack of its joints moving, giving the Cadet barely any time to react when he caught sight of it in his peripheral vision. He raised his shield arm to protect his neck and the undead's large jaws closed around it, teeth sinking through the heavy cloth to the skin below. Well there went his best lead, there was no way he'd be getting out of this one without defeating the flying monster. The Cadet shook his arm but only earning himself deeper cuts as the skeleton refused to be dislodged that easily. Trying to take advantage of the situation, the human skeleton drove its weapon toward the Cadet's chest. It was narrowly avoided by the hunter catching the spear shaft with his own blade and forcing the head up past his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I still have a bone to pick with you," he said to the spear wielder. The Cadet braced himself and leaned forward, performing the wide circular spin slash of Round Force to push the two skeletons away from him. The flier was launched up while the pedestrian undead hit the wall behind it. It recovered faster than the other one, stabbing forward once again. This time the Cadet dodged, shoving his sword back into its sheathe and grabbing the spear. He yanked it forward and smashed his shield into the skeleton, forcing it to release its hold. The airborne enemy had gone back to circling, but when it chose to swoop in again it was now met with a weapon with much longer reach. The Ace Cadet hooked the spear through the skeleton's lower jaw bone and heaved it down to earth, slamming it against the pavement. He could hear some of its bones break, but it wasn't dead - or redead, or whatever. It writhed and twisted its body to right itself even while its skull was still upside down, but it struggled to attack like that. A few wild swipes of its claws managed to hit their mark on the Cadet, but they didn't stop him from crushing the bones of its head until it was done for good.

Deprived of its weapon, the remaining skeleton could only try lashing out with its hands. Soon enough it was reduced to rubble, and then again when it tried reanimating again. Silence returned to this part of the city, and the Cadet sighed while leaning against the spear. He wasn't sure how late it was, but he also didn't think he'd find anything more even if he stayed out. Best to get back and clean himself up. There would be time again tomorrow night, and maybe someone else had better luck than he did tonight. He returned to the Grammeowster's Kitchen and went upstairs, propping the spear up against a wall. After a quick wash he retired for the night, unwinding from the unsuccessful investigation by indulging in one of the books he'd picked up earlier by the dim light of the aquarium.

World of Light

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Level: 8 - Total EXP: 120/80 ------ Level: 6 - Total EXP: 60/60
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 1734 (+3 exp)
Location: The Under

Greetings and good mornings were swapped, as well as a great deal of puns. Therion practically hissed at the cheery cat girl while she bounded away to finish making her rounds.

Primrose smiled at most everyone. "Agreed," she said in response to Jesse's comment about keeping in touch. Maybe they could get some of those communication devices that Joker and Fox had used in the Sandswept Sky? She had no idea what they were called, but she wasn't able to bring it up anyway on account of everyone being eager to get going. Perhaps she'd mention it later in the day.

There was also the curious ghost that was following one of their young members, but despite its' unsettling aura it didn't seem to be doing anything more than staring. Omori did seem familiar with it even if annoyed, so it was left alone for now.

Even with all of the "underground team" present and talking over each other, they managed to fill each other in on everything that had been missed. The most pressing matter being the note from "IGV" that Nadia had found.

After the exchange of information, Sectonia approached Therion and offered him some curious looking boots, boasting of their ability to improve the strength of ranged weapons which included his throwing knives. He had no idea how she could tell what enchantment they had just by looking at them, but then again she was a giant magical queen or something.

"Oh yeah? Don't mind if I do," he said, accepting the gift. Naturally, it came with some strings. Accepting the boots meant that he was officially her "minion," so she claimed. He was going to ignore her words, but it rubbed him the wrong way to think of himself as under the thumb of someone else. Again. The shackle on his wrist weighed heavy.

"It'll take more than some new shoes to win me over your majesty," he told Sectonia, "but it's a start." Free stuff was always nice, and it wasn't like most of them were taking the minion thing seriously anyway... He could feel Primrose roll her eyes at him, since unlike the thief she'd been playing nice with the royals and letting them claim whatever roles they liked.

He declined to use the melting pot thing, while Primrose tried it out with the strange helmet she'd picked up. She didn't feel all that different afterwards. Therion also declined to go to the sanctum to meet IGV with the others, saying that he'd just get the important information from them when they got back. It turned out that he wasn't the only one staying behind either.

Once the Seekers heading for the sanctum filed out of the hotel, Therion gave them a cheeky little wave and then stretched back out in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head. Those that weren't going with them gradually left to explore or take care of whatever other business they had in the city. He watched them all go, keeping tally of which people were leaving in what direction. As for himself, he spent a little more time with the breakfast bar. He really didn't want to keep going out in the "rain," but he had some unfinished business himself.

After a little while, being sufficiently warm and fed, Therion made for the door. He popped the green and orange parasol open under the hotel's awning and entered its shelter, heading down the same dark cobble street he'd come from last night.

---

In the Soul Sanctum, progress through the floors was swift thanks to the concentrated efforts of the Seekers. With Nadia taking point to give them a heads up about incoming danger, followed up by the relative powerhouses of Sectonia, Bowser, and Jesse, most of the specters were taken care of almost as soon as they showed themselves. Add to that Kamek, the little Knight, Teemo, and the newest addition Ichiban, and Primrose hardly needed to lift a finger. In fact she didn't until they were already halfway up the tower, brandishing the devout beads in their whip form and entangling the more dangerous enemies for either the others to capitalize on, or for herself to finish off with a blast of magic.

The going wasn't quite as tough as anything the dancer had faced in the desert region, despite the general creepiness. At one point Ichiban mentioned the possibility that this was a trap set for them, and honestly she could see why he would think that. It was a tower seemingly full of horrors in the middle of the city. That being said...

"If he is working against us, then he was a fool to summon us right to him," she responded, a sharp smile on her lips.

Eventually some of the group began splitting up as the amount of enemies increased. There were many routes to the upper floors after all. Primrose stuck with the largest group until they were stopped by a large dog-like monstrosity. At that point while some chose to play with the... puppy, if it could be called that, Primrose chose to follow Nadia's suggestion to Jesse.

"Shall we go find that shortcut?" she said to the red head. Doubling back slightly after Jesse put down a few patients approaching from the way the Seekers had come, Primrose dipped down a side hallway to seek another staircase up whether the director came with or not.

Her chosen path was much less crowded than the one she'd left behind. The little ghosties continued to appear, but otherwise Primrose didn't pass any of the mad patients they had in the floors below. It wasn't until a creepy long-legged bird stepped out from a side room that the dancer was stopped in her ascent. As it stepped closer and closer to her, Primrose prepared a spell in her hand. She was not as willing to seek a peaceful way out as Ichiban and Ms. Fortune.

There was a rush of fire as Primrose pressed her palm to the ground, sending the dark flames of the spell Black Serpent weaving toward the bird amalgamate. Predictably it moved to dodge the fire, but the spell twisted and hit its mark. The bird twisted, seemingly in pain, and when it clenched its eyes shut there were sharpened teeth where eyelids should be. Then with a sweep of its wing a humanoid appeared and headed straight toward the dancer, imposing but eerily silent. Seeing that, Primrose quickly decided not to play around.

"Hippowdon, Makami!" she called, summoning her two strikers. While the Everyman passed them by, the strikers went for the Reaper Bird. The wolf spirit used Rakunda to weaken its defense, while Hippowdon held it down with a Crunch. The bird lashed out by pecking and striking with its wing, its attacks coming off more like kicks, but it would have to work hard to get through the Pokémon's own defense. Primrose herself cast the Vengeful Spirit through the Everyman and the bird behind it, leading to the finale of a Ravaging Confession. Primrose's blade sunk into the amalgamate and her dark magic flared to life in its back. When her strikers faded out of existence, the dancer expected her opponent to crumble to ash. When it didn't, she backed away from it with her dagger still raised. Both stark white monsters turned to move towards her, neither looking like they'd taken a scratch.

How unfortunate for me, she thought. Well, since she was now on the other side of the hallway and close to the stairs... she just made a break for it.

All of the routes up converged into one point, so the Seekers met back up again quickly. They ascended to the top of the tower and found the mysterious "IGV" waiting for them. After a brief introduction he wasted no time telling those assembled about his grudge against the Consul, and the plan he'd thought up for them. Primrose did not get the sense that the man was trying to fool them, but she kept her guard up all the same. She'd run into her share of obsessive scholars during the course of her journey with her seven companions back in Orsterra, plus Gallo's smarmy demeanor set her on edge. However, his plan seemed fine. He made it sound easy, but she was sure that wouldn't be the case once it was put into action.

"You've been planning this for a while," she commented, looking over the diagram he'd given them and the amount of information he'd shared. "It's quite lucky for you that we ended up here."

It was still a mystery what purpose if any the Consuls served in the areas they claimed to lord over. Once Consul P was deposed, would there be a power vacuum that Gallo would gladly fill, or would nothing change in the city beneath the lake? In the grand scheme of things the dancer supposed it didn't really matter, but the thought came to her mind all the same. She hummed her agreement to the plan. "If we go after them, it may be best to split up and take them on at the same time. If any of them were to be warned of this beforehand and group up, it would defeat the point of catching them separate."

Queen Sectonia seemed to be on the same page, volunteering herself for the target residing in the Royal Quarter. Personally Primrose didn't have any preference for which to take on, but going on the information they had she'd probably be headed to the same place.

As for the matter of the man didn't leave his stronghold, Primrose glanced at Gallo and asked, "what kind of place is 'Shambhala,' exactly?"

"Shambhala is the stronghold of the reclusive and secretive Agarthans," Gallo replied. "They have not deigned to extend me an invitation, but I hypothesize that it is where they live, scheme, arm themselves, and do whatever else they please well out of the public eye. It is beneath the Royal Quarter, so it is likely some manner of livable dungeon, but I know precious little else."

That certainly did make things difficult with the leader, though with the Seekers' sheer number they might be able to get away with dealing with Thales and Consul P at the same time. Truthfully in the Consul really was a child she didn't look forward to assassinating him, but as Gallo said of Thales, 'something must be done.' Primrose turned to her companions.

"If need be we can discuss it more outside." That way if there were any objections, they wouldn't have to talk it out in front of Gallo who might take exception to naysayers. Plus there were still a handful of Seekers that should be filled in on the new information.

Expedition to Isekai

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It was no shocker that Inaba didn't respond to him when he called out, nor when he jogged to catch up to her. In some schools the student council's words were akin to law, but in Kuroshio that was not and had never been the case. Probably never would be either. In some ways, the familiarity of being ignored (while still just as irritating) was grounding. Sure they were in the Otherside, but things would be just the same as normal until they were rescued.

It was a futile hope.

Masato was not one of those "Portalheads" that kept up to date with every piece of media about the phenomena, nor did he have any interest in them at all besides the casual. Hopefully he could be forgiven for completely forgetting a staple of those stories... the monsters.

His next words to Inaba dried up in his mouth when he saw those eyes staring out of the brush. He couldn't do much more than stare back, and when it struck it was with such speed that nothing he could have done would have prevented it from disemboweling his classmate.

Miraculously, it didn't happen. There was no spray of blood or cry of pain; Inaba's stick collecting had saved her life, giving her a lifeline, however short. It was incredibly lucky. She was surely blessed by Bishamonten, who'd appeared as an avatar in the form of Suzuki. What the hell am I thinking?

Suzuki's dropkick snapped not just the monster, but Masato into action. "Fuck," he said, and then again, "fuck, fuck, fuck."

Out of pure desperation he threw his shoulder into the beast hovering above Inaba, but it barely even budged. When more wolf-bears revealed themselves he'd tried to grab one of them to stop their charge, but his hands only came away with fistfuls of coarse hairs as they ran by towards the group of students. He didn't dare look over there, but the others had to be in a better position anyway all grouped together near the fire. He focused on the monster in front of him, thoughts racing and heart thundering. Just what the hell was he supposed to do here? The thought of running did cross his mind, but his feet refused to move until a few rocks were pelted at the wolf-bear. His gaze flickered to the source, Kogen, and somehow after meeting the other boy's eyes Masato's headache came back in full force.

"Don't be an idiot!" he shouted at Kogen. The current situation was too dire for Masato feel the slight burn of shame he usually did when he interacted with the chuunibyou, but there was some other heat in his chest instead. Anger, probably, at Kogen trying to act the hero. Portal monsters were a whole lot different than upperclassmen.

After Inaba swung her bag at the beast, Masato snatched the girl by her shoulder to rip her free out from under the wolf-bear's paws. It didn't matter if she got a little cut up, so long as she was alive. If she could get her feet underneath her she could run, and all four of them could regroup with the others and figure this shit out. For what little good it would do Masato took hold of one of Inaba's fallen sticks only because he had nothing else to try and defend any of them with.