Yankee

Expedition to Isekai

______________________________________________________________________

Last night had been rough, but the morning was rougher. After a fitful night's sleep, the adrenaline and paranoia of yesterday had melted away and left Masato to sit with the knowledge of what he'd done. That, and a pounding headache. He sat with his back pressed to a tree, his head tipped back against the bark and his eyes squeezed closed.

Leaving their camp in the middle of the attack was the right choice, of that he was certain. If they didn't move everyone away from the fight there was no telling what might have happened to them - slashed, eaten, trampled, shot full of holes... escaping into the forest was the correct move to protect the most amount of people. But what did that mean for the ones left behind? They weren't that far away, but none of the changed students had come to reunite with them. Did they stay in the area?

Or maybe they really did all die.

Masato let out a long, slow breath. There was the other thing too - Akito and Okumura. When day broke and the full knowledge of what he'd asked Akito to do actually registered in his brain, his stomach had turned several times over. If he'd had anything left in it he might have thrown up again. Was that the right choice too? No beasts had followed them or attacked them throughout the rest of the night. But could he chalk that up to ditching Okumura and not just coincidence? He had to if he didn't want the guilt to eat away at him. It was easier than he thought it would be... in regards to Okumura. But Akito was missing, he hadn't returned. What had become of him? He and Masato had never really been friends, but they'd known each other for a long time. They used to run in the same circles. Even if they had been strangers, if his choice meant that Akito had gotten into trouble and died too then...

He blinked his eyes open, glaring at the sky for a while before looking over his class as they roused from sleep. Everyone was hungry, thirsty. Exhausted physically and mentally. His eyes naturally found Sato as they usually did. There were still students with really bad injuries, and he had no idea if they could recover. That and... wait. Something was off. Was there was another missing?

Masato startled, standing quickly as he raked his eyes over the group again. Including himself, there were twenty. Accounting for Akito and Okumura, plus those they'd left behind (Kogen, Hoshino, Inaba, Todokawa, and Kanamori) there should be twenty one still with them.

...Higasa, he realized. Sato's friend. They were together a lot, so of course he'd notice if the boy was suddenly gone from his vision when he looked at Sato. When did he...? Was he with us before?

The student council president pressed a hand to his forehead. Just how was he supposed to keep everyone safe...?!

"Masato!"

Ah, someone needed him again. He joined the group once everyone was awake, taking in their haggard expressions up close. It had been less than 24 hours since they arrived here.

"Okay, so... plans," he began slowly, massaging one temple as he spoke. "We're back at square one. Worse than that even, since... uh, well. But for now, we're alive.

"Food, water, shelter." Forced to leave most if not all of their meager supplies behind, they had none of those. Though separated by trees and inadvertently echoed Kanamori at the same time, saying, "Even if it was small, we did find a stream yesterday. It might be the best option right now. And I don't think it's a good idea to stay in that clearing anymore. But... we should... see what happened. See if we can find any of the missing people."

He knew that a majority of the students would want to see for themselves what befell their friends and family. But Masato didn't want to see, he was too scared to find a pile of carrion that had once been his classmates. He glanced at Stewart, the only other changed person with them at the moment with his lips pursed. Maybe they could each take a group, one to water and the other the check on the state of the clearing? Though he would hate to separate everyone even further.

With his thoughts laid out Masato spread his hands, offering the floor to anyone else to voice their opinions. His palms were smudged in red and black and this heart thumped dully against his chest. He was certain he could lead them back to the stream, but if the will of the group decided on another option then he'd go along with it for now, provided it wasn't something completely stupid. And if they all wanted to move as one to check on status of the others, then he'd just bury his feelings about it like he always tried to do.

"...we should get moving as soon as we can."

World of Light

Vandelay Campus - Security

Location: Midgar Sector 06, the City of Glass
Pit’s @Yankee, Benedict’s @Dark Cloud, Giovanna, Sandalphon
Word Count: 5995 (+6 exp)

With the Vandelay under siege, the combat-capable machines had come flooding out from the Security division to face the DespoRHado interlopers head-on, leaving entire swathes of the campus engulfed in warfare. While the cyborgs, Unmanned Gears, and assault androids of the attacking force made great headway at first thanks to the element of surprise, Vandelay’s robots rallied to push them back. The two sides fought bitterly, often locking themselves into stalemates throughout the company’s facilities, but through the chaos Mistral and her chosen elites had carved a path. Over the flames, smoke, and sparking wreckage loomed the formidable towers of the Security division, left critically understaffed as its squadrons rolled out in force. That was Mistral’s destination, so naturally Giovanna’s team would be heading there too.

Sandalphon, connected via Gio’s communication glyph, guided them through thanks to the intel fed back to her by her androids. “Come in, callsign Vertigo,” she’d hailed the Seekers at the outset. “This is callsign Halo. In order to reach the Head of Security, you’ll need to take a roundabout path. Enter the forward watchtower, descend to its depths, and catch the L.I.F.T. to access the main tower.”

"Got it!" Pit dutifully responded. He was accustomed to getting directives just like this, but it had been a while. He was energized by it despite Sandalphon's inflection-less voice, eager to get up close and personal with some of Midgar's big players and help them see the error of their ways.

That forward watchtower, stationed strategically at the forefront of the campus, was easy enough to find; the carnage left behind by DespoRHado’s advance led straight to it. Getting in would be a problem, however. The whole area in front of it was a warzone, with squads of DespoRHado soldiers and Vandelay robots duking it out with seemingly no regard for collateral damage. Benedict’s age made high-speed operation a difficult proposal, although he could overcome his slowness with smart use of his abilities. With two sides so focused on one another, however, the Seekers were able to sneak through and into the watchtower. Once Giovanna locked the door behind them, ensuring that the forces outside would stay outside, her team could focus on the tower’s dark, purple-hued interior.

Of course, their troubles were just beginning. Full of floating platforms and security nodes, this place had already been a mess by the time DespoRHado’s advance teams reached it, and now it looked like a disaster. DespoRHado forcing their way down the elevator in the tower’s central yellow node had disrupted the data streams and left the place in lockdown, blocking the way forward.

“There are three data hubs accessible from this main room,” Sandalphon reported. “You’ll need to reconnect and reboot the data nodes in each to lift the lockdown on the elevator and reach the basement. There are Vandelay robots in each, so stay sharp. My androids reported a blade-wielding model that specializes in counterattacks, so beware them in particular.”

Giovanna crossed her arms, charting a course across the floating saucers and bridges to reach one of the data hubs. “We can handle a few each, right? Wanna split up to get this done faster?” Without waiting for a response, she took off, a red-haired blur dashing and leaping past hapless TEC units in order to reach her objective.

"Sounds good! But—" When he looked over Giovanna was already getting a head start on their objective, taking Sandalphon's guidance with her and leaving Pit and Benedict on the ground floor.

Benedict shook his head, sighing out of exasperation as the agent dashed away "Ah yes, a rhetorical question." He looked to the cherub then back to the passage where Giovanna disappeared with a frown. "I may be more a burden to accompany anyhow, run along."

"Sure, but—"

The tactician drew his weapon, already making his way to one of the data hubs the agent had not already run off to.

The angel stared after the both of them for only a second before he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "...but I have NO IDEA HOW TO REBOOT A DATA NODE!"

His outburst drew the attention of a nearby TEC unit, who loosed his hat and wiped his metallic forehead with the back of his hand. “Say whaaat?” He shook his head in bemusement. “Dude. Why’d they send a repairman who, like, doesn’t even know how to fix data nodes? Total bummer, dude…”

Huh? Repairman? Pit blinked at the robot worker, complete with a painted metal uniform. Maybe a big tech company like this would send in people to fix their systems while they were still in the middle of an active raid.

"Um, I'm in training?" It was the best he could come up with. Pit jogged over to the TEC unit, clasping his hands together. "And I don't wanna fall behind! Could you help a guy out?"

“Uhh…” The TEC unit scratched his big chin, running a finger over the chip in his jawline. Then an idea occurred to him. “Well, I guess everyone’s gotta start somewhere! And once you figure it out, I can totally leave everything in your hands. Naptime, here I come!” He crouched down and began drawing lines on the floor with chalk, first creating a big circle. Pit leaned over him curiously to watch his work.

“See this thingie here, li’l man? That’s the main node. Waaay bigger than these ones here. First you gotta, like, resync the ones closest to it.” He drew couple smaller distended circles, then used arrows to illustrate their compaction. “Basically, just shoot the big ol’ buttons, but make sure you time it right. Then smack the main node juuust right, and bingo! Home free.” He raised a mechanical eyebrow at Pit. “You… catchin’ all this, dude?”

"Yeah, totally! Shoot the buttons next to the big main thing, then hit it the... big main thing." The boy nodded to himself like it was the simplest thing in the world. If the robot's explanation was right and he just had to do some manual labor, then he was sure he'd be okay.

"Who knew this tech stuff could sound so easy?" Not wanting to be the last one back into the main tower area, he started towards the final side room and waved over his shoulder to the TEC unit. "I think I got it from here! Thank you!"

Naturally, Giovanna reached her hub room first. With Rei at her back she moved like lightning, and as she went along many of the walkways in her path assembled themselves, magnetizing together out of triangular segments floating in the air with no regard for gravity. When she reached the circular platforms, ringed around the sides be curved rectangles layered to form a sort of peripheral shell, she also found that Vandelay’s reserves tended to teleport into battle around here. The first squad appeared in flashes of electric-blue code, a trio of SBRs led by a BES. She dashed in without hesitation, denting the first grunt’s chassis with a trio of side kicks while leaning on Rei for support, and when it doubled over a knee sent its head flying. While the other two grunts charged into the grinder, the elite put up a blue bubble shield, and when Giovanna cannoned into it with Trovão a moment later it stopped her flying dropkick in its tracks.

She fell to the floor and rolled backward in time to avoid an overhead slash, but the BES thrust his weapon skyward to extend the length of its blade. Gio narrowed her eyes and blocked the ensuing flurry of sweeping long-range slashes, then charged forward. Rather than waste time on the shield she used it as a springboard to repel her up and out of the arena, quickly going where the BES couldn’t follow. Three AIR-1N units flew down to stop her, only to unwittingly become her stepping-stones as she swung off the first two. The last one she held onto while swinging long enough to flip up and land on top of it, and while it flailed in confusion she seized the bomb from its hand. With a grin she leaped into the air, hurled the bomb back to take out her pursuer, then airdashed to bring her right to the ledge she’d been aiming for in the first place.

After dashing down the hallway, and startling a couple SCR-UB units in the process, she arrived at a smaller domed room with a handful of curved platforms attached to its walls. A few normal data nodes floated in the air, but the halves of two of them appeared to be opening and closing sporadically, their interior lights red instead of blue. On the highest platform lay a giant node, its front pointed toward a receiver in the direction of the main room. She spotted a couple technicians here, but none of the robots bothered her, sith some help from Rei and liberal use of her double jump, Giovanna began to climb. Once she got a good angle on the first weird node, she realized that its movements seemed to be out of sync with the general click, click-click-click rhythm of this place. Gio also realized that she had no idea what to do about it.

She approached the railing of her current platform and leaned over it. “Hey, how do I fix this?” she called down to a VA-SER unit.

“Eh? How would I know, I just work heah!” he replied in a light Boston accent, clearly not some sort of technician. “Whenevah I see those TEC guys, they always just end up hittin’ those things.”

With no better ideas, Giovanna tried that next, though without any projectiles of her own she needed to be a little creative. Trovão did the trick, though it took a couple tries to time it right. After repeating the process a few times, climbing higher after each one, she reached the main node and its conspicuous red ‘DO NOT HIT’ button. When she touched it, Rings of light began to move in toward the center, which she quickly learned were meant to indicate when she should whale on the button. This time she got it on the second try, and when she finished the sequence beams of brilliant blue letters and numbers began to flow freely from node to node. “This place must be big with preschoolers,” she muttered before jumping down to the bottom level.

The moment she touched down, a special WA-ES unit armored like a samurai flashed in, seated with his legs crossed. “Protect bosses,” he murmured, rising to his feet and deploying his laser blade with a flourish. “At all costs.”

“Hey, we got a lot in common,” Gio snarked, readying herself for a fight. “Let’s be friends.”

Without a word, the WA-ES adopted an iajutsu stance and stalked around, waiting to strike. Gio dashed forward, but the moment she went to kick it the robot burst forward with a dash-slash that knocked the woman down in a spray of blood. “Ugh.” Jumping to her feet, she turned in time to dodge a series of laser slashes launched by the WA-ES at long range, zig-zagging after the second blade beam. This time she ended her dash-in with a block, and though her foe slashed again, she took only a smidgeon of chip damage. “Hmph.” Rinse and repeat, but third time was the charm. On her third dash-in, she went from baiter to baiter, provoking her foe’s reflexive slash only to bull through it with the invincible startup of Ventania. Her whirlwind kicks stunned the robot and gave her a free combo, allowing her to pile on the damage with a barrage of kicks into Sol Nascente launcher, then finish with her wolf kick Sepultra.

The WA-ES crashed down, then rose surrounded by an orange aura, his spirit aflame. Drawing a second katana, he clashed them together in an odd rhythm, then began to swing. His slashes extended just like the BES unit’s, albeit faster, and they quickly locked Giovanna down in blockstun. She grimaced, not happy about the chip damage dealt to her arms, and charged in only for the WA-ES to parry all her attacks. It then repeated the blade storm from earlier, but this time Gio knew the rhythm well enough to dodge it. Rather than get parried again, she just threw it, using her legs and the twist of her body to slam him down like she did Roland the night before. An angry stop hit him OTG, and when he rolled to his feet he unleashed his final attack. A wave surged out from him that unceremoniously knocked Gio down, much to her chagrin, allowing the WA-ES to plant his swords and pose with one foot up while he delivered a mumbling, unintelligible haiku. Giovanna tensed up, waiting for the kicker, and heard a series of Japanese drum beats echo through the room. Doom, doom, doom, doo-doo doom, doom. Then the WA-ES attacked. Moving by instinct, Gio blocked on the same rhythm, her precise timing turning each into an Instant Block that slid her closer to her target. By the time the sequence finished, she was close enough to Tiger Knee her Tempestade divekick, instantly crushing the robot’s head beneath her heel. “Whew,” she breathed, wiping her forehead. “That was kinda fun, actually.” With the data stream repaired, she went on her way.

At the same time, Benedict contended with a similar gauntlet, but without Giovanna’s agility he would need to forge his own way. Even if the bridges constructed themselves in front of him, the little arenas they led him to would wear him down with repeated run-ins with gangs of Vandelay robots. Though this mostly SBRs and AIR-1Ns, the last platform in his path would ace him with a towering HG-0G, armed with multi-grenade launchers and armor that couldn’t be broken by ordinary means. Past that, provided he even made it that far, a similar set of malfunctioning data nodes waited to be resynchronized inside the data hub, but reconnecting them and rebooting the main node would confront the tactician with a WA-ES of his own if he didn’t manage to give the deadly machine the slip.

On another side of the tower, Pit was doing his part. After getting through the doorway from the main lobby he ran down the hall into the area on the other side, darting over and around what remained of the SBR and GNR guards. He hardly fought them at all, focusing on making up time and getting to the data node. His bow only made its appearance when one of the larger BA-B00 units appeared to block his way. It moved as if to summon a barrier, but the angel was faster. He manifested his weapon as he swung an arm up, spinning it in hand so its bladed edge could chew into the robot's metallic body. It severed the hoses running from the back of its head to its arms, shutting down whatever ability it had tried to use.

"I had plenty of practice smashing machines yesterday, don't even try it!" he told them. With a push the BA-B00 fell backwards and Pit rushed over it into the next room, the other robots in vain pursuit.

Once inside the data hub room itself, he zeroed in on the largest machine he could see. Just as the TEC unit had shown him, there were smaller versions of it nearby. Shoot the buttons, time it right... how am I supposed to know when's the right time? He squinted at the small nodes while he moved up closer to the main one, watching them flicker and flash. He didn't really get what he was supposed to be looking for, but he did find himself bobbing to the steady beat thrumming throughout the room. Strangely enough it seemed a lot of the lights and screens inside blinked to the same cadence.

...oh. Duh! Bow drawn, he let loose his arrows to strike the mini nodes until their red lights turned to blue, then turned to deliver a kick to the main one on the beat. It's like a rhythm game!

He knew he'd gotten it right when a bunch of lit up squiggles flowed out from it. Well, he was pretty sure that was a good thing anyway. Turning to run down the self-assembling walkway, he noticed another robot teleporting in. It wore a kabuto on its head and with extra matching armor, resembling a samurai. Pit's interest was piqued, and when it activated its laser katana the angel let out an ooooh!

"Are you the counterattacking robot?" he asked it, leaping from the higher platform in order to meet it on the bottom floor of the room. The WA-ES might have answered, had Pit not dove right into battle.

He brought his bow down in an overhead slash as he fell, and the samurai bot raised its own sword to block. It easily threw Pit off of it, adopting a lower posture and sheathing its blade, its hand hovering over the handle. In this stance it shrugged off the volley of arrows Pit fired at it, the light constructs plinking off its body. It's tough! Just as Pit was about to switch tactics and engage it in melee again, the WA-ES shifted and shot towards him with its sword drawn. And fast!

Pit blocked in the nick of time, but the speed and size of his opponent bowled him over. He tumbled along the ground, not quite recovering fast enough to avoid a second dash attack. It started its slashing combo immediately after, catching Pit with a few slices before he could get the timing right to block them. Pit hadn't connected the dots that all machines, including the robots made for battle seemed to operate on a specific rhythm. It was mostly instinct that allowed him to strike during the very few openings the WA-ES gave him until it finally clicked. After that it was just a matter of peppering it with his strongest arrows, letting the draw and release follow the tempo.

When the WA-ES changed mode and its second blade was drawn, Pit happily met the samurai robot's challenge and split his own bow apart. They struck, countered, and parried each other all to the background beat, but as the skirmish went on Pit began to find himself on the back foot. He was up against a machine that seemed like it was built to deflect attacks, and simply put it was better than him at it. But he didn't intend to lose. Before the flurry of swords wore him out too badly he made a snap decision.

"Gah, sorry, but I shouldn't waste time with you!" He broke away from the robot for only a second, just enough time to charge back towards it with the Upperdash Arm quick-swapped in. It blew past the WA-ES' guard and slammed into the machine, the impact sending it hurtling off its feet and into the far wall where it left a samurai shaped crater. Sparking like crazy but still functional it struggled to dislodge itself, though its compromising position made it hard to counter the charged arrows shots that Pit sent its way to finish it off.

Okay, all set! The angel turned on his heel and headed back towards the central room, eventually finding himself stopped by the robots he'd run by earlier. With a groan he spun the two blades in his hands and was right back into battle, clearing himself a path in order to regroup with the Benedict and Giovanna.

He arrived back in the tower's central node not long after Giovanna. When she caught sight of him the secret agent gave a nod of approval. "Nicely done."

"Heheh, no sweat!"

Unfortunately, it looked like the divide-and-conquer strategy lost its edge here, since while the trio had divided, not all of them conquered. The third and final hub had yet to fire up, but she couldn't say there was no sign of Benedict. She spotted the tactician roughly halfway to its entrance, his complete lack of agility meaning he got bogged down right away and got stalled out by the HG-0G. Gio put a palm to her head. "Well… crap."

Suddenly, the red lights turned blue, and a brilliant torrent of letters and numbers blasted out of the port above the entrance to the third hub. In quick succession the data stream linked up the rest of the floating nodes, then terminated at the central hub, and just like that the whole tower came back online. Surprised, Gio looked down at the elevator console. It was good to go. Surely Benedict hadn't done this, though. She glanced back in the direction of the third hub. "Who…?"

As if in reply, the doors slid open, and an unfamiliar man hurtled out with a black, cat-eared ball-shaped drone floating alongside him. He looked fairly unremarkable at first blush, with brown hair and a pretty plain face, but his yellow jacket looked pretty cool, and the robotic arm with which he wielded a roughly guitar-shaped bludgeon made of scrap looked even cooler. His red scarf trailed behind him as he dashed along the walkway in bursts of three, quickly reaching the arena where the HG-0G had Benedict knocked down. "Hey, green machine!" He leaped up into the air and launched his robot hand as a magnetic grappling hook, then zoomed toward the four-legged juggernaut. "Why don't you pick on someone a little more your own size?"

The HG-0G whirled around to try and hit him with its arm, but upon landing the daredevil vaulted directly over his foe, leaving the machine utterly baffled. "Uh, hello?" Grinning confidently, the dude tapped the HG-0G on its back leg as scrap flew in to whirl around his bludgeon. "I think what you're tryin' to say is, 'he's right behind me, isn't he?'"

When the robot turned, it instantly took a giant baseball swing full to the face from the enlarged club, strong enough to spin its head like a top. It staggered backward, more disoriented than damaged thanks to its armor, but a moment later the guy strummed his bludgeon like a guitar to unleash a beam of concussive musical power. The Beat Hit pushed the HG-0G just far enough to send it teetering over the brink and into the void. "Whoo!" The dude exulted, pumping his fists as his scrap guitar fell apart. "Finally! Chai one, armored spider bot…well, who's counting, heheh…"

Gio and Pit jogged up to where Benedict and the newcomer were. The agent’s eyebrow was raised. "Hey there. How's it going?"

"Oh, hey!" Chai turned around with an easy smile, happy to have some company. "I didn't expect to see anyone else here! What's up?"

Unable to suppress an incredulous smile of her own at this guy's laid-back attitude, Gio shrugged back. "Uh, not much. Just passing through, I guess."

"Your name is Chai?" Sandalphon's voice echoed from the sigil floating beside Gio's head, which lit up slightly as she talked.

"Yup! Chai's the name, and not getting killed by robots is the game," he declared, probably thinking that sounded cooler than it did. Gio found herself quickly getting a grasp on this goof's personality. He pointed at the cat drone beside him. "Oh, and this is 808! Say hi, 808."

The drone meowed. Something then pinged it, and a girl's voice issued from it. "Chai, you dumbass, you shouldn't just give your name to anyone who asks! They could be the enemy!"

Gio crossed her arms. "Wow, the cat's kind of a jerk."

"Hey! I'm not a cat. 808's the cat, I'm the one who built her. And I'm not a jerk! Chai, back me up here."

He consciously averted his gaze. "Not touchin' this one…"

Sandalphon cut in. "My androids reported an unknown human running around. A swing first, questions later type, they said. And that's the extent, since you swung first."

"Ohh, haha…" Chai laughed nervously, tugging at his color. "Were those…not bad guys? Sorry, uh, it's been a long day. Loooootta robot attacks…"

"Your androids?" 808 gave Gio a suspicious look. "Chai, they're part of the army attacking Vandelay! I knew you were the bad guys!"

"Aren't we kinda attacking Vandelay too?" Chai scratched his head.

"This situation is complicated. I intend to take over DespoRHado to put a stop to this madness, so our current goal is to remediate between them and the Vandelay bosses before they destroy one another." Sandalphon informed them. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Uh, nothin', really. Well, I was locked up for a little while, but no deal. After I busted outta there with my smooth moves, I figured I'd track down Korsica. Kinda need her password for…stuff."

"You mean, Head of Security, Korsica? Whaddya know, we're looking for her too." Gio turned to head back to the elevator, beckoning him to follow. "Wanna go together? We need all the help we can get."

Chai grinned and followed her, joining the group as they returned to the central node. "Heck yeah! I've been fighting all on my own for, like days."

"It hasn't been that long," 808's operator immediately contradicted him. "And I've been helping, c'mon."

"You should all get moving," Sandalphon advised everyone. "You have a lot of ground to cover and not much time."

Giovanna nodded. When she reached the elevator terminal she pressed it, and the floor of the central node began to descend.

Of course, it would be too simple if the elevator could descend in peace. After a few moments, a fresh squad of Vandelay robots zapped in. This included three SBRs, two larger, tougher ES units, and one other: a strange blue machine with a head like a traffic light and two tires for legs, arranged like a motorcycle. With a crazed laugh it planted it's lance in the floor of the elevator, creating a beacon that put every other robot in a bubble shield, then engaged run-away mode.

"Those shields shrug off physical and elemental attacks," Sandalphon advised. "Either burst them with energy or destroy the source. That SEN-C0 will keep making more as long as it's online."

"Got it." Gio got ready to fight. "Let's do this."

"Music to my ears!" Chai grinned.

"Right on!"

A little aching in the joints and winded from getting knocked down by the HG-0G, Benedict simply sighed. "Considering these are machines anything can be broken." looking between them the tactician evaluated that the shield itself wasn't impassable but the danger of being within the enemies reach was…

Without a second thought he went through with the idea he was forming, quickly tapping his cane thrice upon the industrial grade floor "But let us have a shield of our own," suddenly the Seekers and the newcomer Chai felt a strange sort of effect wash over them "That should make you withstand an attack, go for the lance now while you can get safely within distance!"

Benedict sounded a bit tired from using such an ability though he didn't look like he was ready to keel over yet as the apparition of a pale woman appeared by him summoned to cast a quick Media on the party to restore a small amount of health to them, specifically the strategist who needed the extra little bit of vitality to put a bit more pep in his step.

Refreshed and ready to rumble, Pit took up a battle stance of his own. He still had the Palutena Bow equipped and wasted no time in raising it up to manifest an arrow of light.

"I bet I could pop a few of those bubbles," he said while thinking to himself, these have to count as "energy" right? I mean, what else could they be? "Then you can leave wheels to me!"

He was banking on the homing nature of the arrows to chase down the SEN-C0, starting the fight off in the way he most usually did by firing upon their opponents. His plan went south when the SEN-C0 turned out to be really fast, speeding between the edges of the battlefield far quicker than the arrows could possibly hope to adjust.

"Aw, come on! Don't run away!" The angel gave chase, firing as he ran, but the blasts of light couldn't catch up. They crashed against the walls as they tried to swivel towards their target.

While his arrows did put cracks in the blue bubbles around the SBR and ES swordbots, it wasn’t a lot; it’d probably take four to pop just one of them. As per Sandalphon’s advice, Gio elected to ignore the shielded enemies and target the projection lance first thing. She took to the air, reinvigorated by the heal from Apsaras, and advanced using the shields to her advantage–their resistance to physical strikes meant she could bounce off them like a pinball to gain distance and speed. In no time flat she reached the lance and began to whale on it, her fiery divekick followed by a flurry of kicks. One ES tried to stop her, but thanks to the protection bestowed on her by Benedict she shrugged it off and finished the job. The lance deactivated with a staticky burst, severing the links that sustained the other robots’ barriers, then flew back into the SEN-C0’s hands. Of course, the minute it got its weapon back the SEN-C0 went full offense, rushing the nearest Seeker down to deliver a ruthlessly fast flurry of stabs.

Naturally this was Pit, as the boy had been stubbornly pursuing the machine as it darted around the elevator arena. His complaining about the robot running away was finally addressed, but the SEN-C0's sudden change from keep away to assault caught him by surprise. The first thrust was completely negated thanks to the Dragon Shield Benedict had cast, but the second and third found their mark in Pit's chest and shoulder before he could even react. He grit his teeth and quick summoned his own shield in the form of the Guardian Orbitars, withstanding the rest of the flurry.

So now it wants to fight, huh? Which to be fair, if he were to fight he would prefer to have a weapon when doing so too. When the SEN-C0 geared up for another rush and Pit's shield dissipated, he lashed out with a wide slash toward the robot's front tire. "Ha!"

The well-timed cut left a horizontal slice in the rigid, tough rubber of the SEN-C0’s tire, and it began to leak air. Whether the robot cared -or even noticed- was another matter though. Rotating on its axels, it wheeled around to perform a low sweep with its back tire, then brought its lance down in an overhead plunge. Pit leapt over the sweep and caught the spear with his bow, both of his pressing to it as he landed again and the two broke apart from each other.

It wasn't quite as fast on just one wheel so Pit was able to get out its way while denting the machine's chassis with the stronger dash shots. The final dash shot took him inside of the SEN-C0's range instead of out of it as Pit went for the back tire as well, trying to stop it from being able to move at all. He swung the bladed side of the bow forward, a moment too late as the robot bounced itself up into the air on the same tire. It came back down cackling with its spearhead pointed at the angel, but seeing as he wasn't taken by surprise this time Pit met the attack with a cheeky smile. Seconds later the SEN-C0 crashed against the energy shield provided by the Guardian Orbitars and was sent sprawling to the ground. Laid out with a flat tire, there was no way it could recover before Pit turned it to scrap.

Meanwhile, Gio and especially Chai had been working their way through the other enemies. True to form, the secret agent worked with no-nonsense efficiency; if these simple machines weren’t going to force her to layer her offense, they’d just get methodically pounded into pieces. She deflected an attacking SNR’s sword arm away from her as it slashed, grabbed it by the wrist to break its elbow over her knee from below, shattered its knee with a low side kick, and bashed it to pieces with a turning hook kick. One ES lunged at her with a huge thrust that she managed to block, and when it followed up with a wide cleave she flipped over it to deliver a Sol Poente split kick to the head. The ES managed to maintain its footing and launch a rising crescent slash that clipped Gio’s next attack and popped her up, but with no conversion into combo she just fell to the ground the next moment. When she rose she did so with Trovão, blasting into the ES and driving it before her as she took it to the wall. It bounced off the side of the rising elevator shaft, staggered, so Gio grabbed it and rammed its head against the metal until it had been scraped away into nothing.

At the same time, despite his earlier bravado, Chai managed to genuinely style on the rest. He moved with a strange sense of rhythm, beating his enemies to a catchy tune. He nailed the two SBR with a two-handed heavy attack that left behind a cloudy streak of dust, caught them with a quick follow-up, then launched himself upward with a backflip strike. After smashing the bots back down, he hurled his bludgeon down after them, then came down with a stomp on top of its shaft to unleash a concussive wave of sound. The ES joined the party with a heavy swipe, but Chai seemed to see it coming and brought his weapon up to defend himself at just the right moment, parrying the bigger robot. From there he went with light, heavy, then Shred, unleashing a lightning-quick flurry of off-beat hits. Scrap from the environment whirled around him as it went on, finally coming together around his bludgeon for the grand finale, an overhead slam that hit the SBRs too. Though this sent the ES flying in a spray of batteries that Chai picked up, he grappled onto it and zoomed up after it to continue with a midair beatdown, coming to an end only after he returned the ES to earth and nailed it with a super-cool soundbeam.

“Nicely done. That should be all of them,” Sandalphon told the team. “The elevator will be reaching the transport station momentarily. Take a quick breather, then get ready for more.”

Nodding the ex-Turk agreed "Quite, we should ready ourselves then," Benedict sheathed his blade, and while they waited for the elevator he used the moment to both think and have the white lady Asparas sooth the others with another Media "Hm, maybe we can use the element of surprise to get the advantage on the enemy. Yes, on our way down the elevator have your bow drawn at the ready. If there is another of those shield bearing automatons we should strike at it at first chance." the tactician said suddenly to the young angel after a moment of quiet pondering. Pit blinked at the old tactician and then snorted.

"No need to tell me!" he said, bouncing on his feet and shaking out his feathers before preparing to ready his bow. Better safe than sorry.

As for the others he was yet to think of how they could offer more than fighting front and center. He would have to be ready to give the newcomer a slight edge, Chai seemed quite capable of taking on a challenge so the kid could benefit from Raging Beast to up the damage he could dish.

World of Light

Word Count: 372 (+1 exp)
Level: 4 - Total EXP: 159/40
Location: Dystopiascape - Midgar

In the morning, Pit dragged his feet a little in getting up. He was awake and lounging in one of the random bunks he'd claimed late last night, going over all of the information from yesterday again in his mind. It still felt like he had so, so many questions and barely any answers - and not just about Midgar. The Consuls were such a confusing element of the world. There was the nature of that red spirit too, but when he'd checked on it last he'd found it faded away.

The loud, alarm-like ringing that filled the building pushed Pit into instant action. Nearly tripping in his haste he skidded into the kitchen where the sound had come from. "What's going on?!"

Upon noticing the call in progress Pit tilted his head curiously, but didn't say anything else until the conversation was completed. When it was he shook his head in disappointment.

"I can't believe they're fighting each other when there's so much more important stuff they could be doing, like helping people!" He said. Then, after a beat, "...okay, I can believe it but it's still dumb."

He was through the portal with the rest of the Seekers as soon as everyone was ready, back at the venue of last night's debate within seconds. The scene was chaotic and a little ominous, immediately proving the words of the caller true. Said stranger stepped out to greet the group soon after, going over the current situation with two pairs of attendants at her side. She had introduced herself as Sandalphon.

Pit was surprised that this was the person on the other end of the phone line. He was getting a strange read from her, so much so that it almost distracted him from listening to what she was saying. It was probably obvious to anyone with eyes that she wasn't human, but besides that it was hard to tell. Was the halo over her head even real? He came back to the topic at hand when his group started to declare what sections they'd be tackling.

"I'll head to Security too," he decided. Depending on what they found there, maybe it would be possible to put a faster stop to the conflict.

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 185/80 ------ Level: 6 - Total EXP: 124/60
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 532 (+1 exp)
Location: The Under

The round of stories ended with Ms. Fortune, who as promised talked about her experience in the Dead Zone. It was a harrowing tale, but more than that... it seemed that the Feral also remembered more of her life in this world than some others did. Primrose didn't bring it up again, but she did make a mental note of it. The question of why? stuck in her mind, but as she'd already decided to get Asgore to make good on his promise later she pushed the thoughts to one side.

The Seekers finished up their breakfast and took as many leftovers to go as possible - and then some. The newest addition to the team introduced himself as Artorias, though his title meant nothing to the group. The Travelers gave him the courtesy of their names as well, and once everyone was ready they all trudged into the Staff Only area and through the door that would lead to the way out.

Though they knew it to be the way up the tower, Primrose and Therion hadn't expected to take them right to the top. The view from where they were was portentous, similar and yet so different from all of the caverns they'd seen so far. Just how big is this place? Therion wondered, glancing suspiciously up at the dim light above the area. Did the Under, as its name implied, stretch beneath the entire world of light? Were they going to have to scour every inch of it?

Before that, the Pizza Tower's boss came to greet them. It didn't speak, only laughed, but it was hardly intimidating. Some poked fun at it, which Primrose thought was warranted. Having just learned what pizza was, she supposed to boss of a whole pizza themed tower would also be... pizza.

First to the fray was Artorias, swiftly followed by Sectonia and the Koopa Troop summoning minions of their own. With battle already beginning, the Travelers did their part in the ways most typical to them: outside of melee range.

Therion didn't add to the pile of summons, instead staying behind the front line and aiming his throwing daggers at the boss. He had no idea if this thing was an actual food golem or what, but he tested the effects of his blades on it, probing for a weak point. The daggers sank into the cheese of its face, the nose, the pepperoni and pineapple eyes both.

Since Sectonia had already buffed the Seekers' speed, Primrose decided to go on the offensive rather than offer a buff of her own. At the moment, Pizza Face came off as a pushover anyway - had she danced it might have been overkill.

"Luna Λ," she said, raising an arm and pointing it towards the giant floating pizza while casting the spell. The image of crescent moons traced the ground of the tower's roof, and though they were meant for Pizza Face they erupted in small explosions of magic when a hapless monster stumbled into them. With the stage so crowded, friendly fire with the Seekers' own summons was inevitable. The dancer clicked her tongue and switched tactics, changing to the more familiar and controllable spells. "Moonlight Waltz!" The spell surged at Pizza Face directly, washing him in dark magic.

World of Light

Word Count: 823 (+2 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 224/90
Location: Edinburgh MagicaPolis

By the time the Seekers in Edinburgh reconvened on the first floor of the restaurant, the Ace Cadet was ready to go. More than ready, if he could be so bold to say. His equipment was in top condition, sharpened to perfection. His stash of items was topped up too - and though he would have liked to make a few demondrugs or armorskins, or even better their powdered counterparts, he focused on what he had with the limited amount of time and ingredients available. They'd be enough, he was sure.

Big Band's pun certainly worked on the Cadet, who's optimistic expression brightened even further. And with everyone reporting on their preparations, he didn't hesitate to inform them of his own.

"Got plenty of potions and lifepowders to go around if anyone needs 'em. Plus some antidotes, and if I get some breathing room I can make some earplugs or a cleanser for status conditions too." Actually now that he thought about it, would the latter have helped against the Consul? ...oh well, no use thinking about what could have happened. When things calmed down a little, maybe he'd look into getting a lot more support items. Figuring out how to format bowgun ammo for sure in the smaller gun he had would help too, as long as his comrades wouldn't be weirded out by being shot by recovery bullets.

As prepared as he could be, the Cadet met his fist with an open palm and flexed his ship rigging. He grinned at the assembled party as they moved out to tackle what the night had in store for them. "Alright! We'll break some bones tonight, rescue Linkle, and by to-marrow plan our next move!"

For those unfamiliar with how quickly the skullgirl's power could grow, the sudden increase in undead must have come as a surprise. Just last night the Cadet had to really search to find large groups of skeletons in hopes of being led back to Linkle. Now, it was like they were everywhere. He hoped that meant his friend would be easier to find.

He jumped right into combat beside his fellow Seekers wielding the trusty Master Bang. Its versatility would help if he needed to pivot from attacking to defending or supporting, and its shield was the only melee blunt damage option he had. Since the skeletons had no flesh to slice or pierce, it only made sense to bash them. If only the Cadet could get his hands on a properly sized hammer, then he could wreck some real havoc. As it was, he was doing well with just the sword and shield.

Not surprisingly he gave the city's magic users a wide berth and tackled the largest undead in the area. He found it weird how strong the skeletons could be when they literally didn't have any muscles, but even so the hunter was stronger. While his shield did most of the work, his sword saw its share of the battle as well. The broad side of the shield cracked through the bony armor of beasts and giants, and the blade severed vulnerable limbs at the joints after enough damage was piled on. The curves and spikes of his equipment could catch any weapon headed his way before it hit, and the Ace Cadet's sheer power was enough to pulverize the weakest skeletons with one good bash of the Master Bang.

Between his ice-resistant armor and fire-resistant shield, plus Albedo's geo crystal induced protection, the elemental-clad skeletons posed little threat to him either. He'd demolished every undead that had gotten in his way so far. When the number of them increased, he mostly relied on the others to handle crowd control - but he had a few tricks of his own for that when the Seekers ended up more spread out. The anchor and chain swung to crash into groups of smaller skeletons, and Round Force to keep the larger ones away for long enough until he could land a decent shield smash.

As the group fought further and further into the horde, the really dangerous looking skeletons started to appear. While the jetpack skeleton looked like it could be trouble, the darkbeast demanded more of the monster hunter's attention.

"First ribs on the big one," he said, retracting the anchor back into its claw shape on his arm. He waited just long enough for everyone to regroup before he moved to engage. The best way to get a read on it was by fighting it of course, so he went in with a Sword Dance to see how it would defend itself. The sword flashed toward its legs. The Cadet could meet a counter-attack with a parry, catch up to it with his hunter art if it moved, and if it had control of that lightning that jumped up and down its body... well, he'd just have to figure that out if it came down to it.

Expedition to Isekai

______________________________________________________________________

Masato kept his eyes fixed ahead of him. He stubbornly focused on this sense, trying to forget about the prickly, uncomfortable feeling of blood and dirt on his skin. The noise of the monsters they left behind wouldn't so easily be forgotten, and it caused his mind to start racing again. There in the middle of the group of students, he tried and failed to be optimistic about what the howl behind them all meant. It could be a signal to regroup and change tactics. Masato assumed that the creatures were intelligent enough for that kind of thing. Maybe the lasers weren't working, and a stampede would be better. It could also be a sign of retreat, but...

It just as easily could be a cry of victory.

The people they'd left back there were scattered and scared. Their teamwork was in shambles compared to the monsters, and of this Masato was no exception. Based on what Kunio told them as he brought up the rear, a victory howl was the most likely scenario wasn't it?

There were five Changed students back there, and six monsters. If the monsters won... he could imagine that they'd come looking for at least one more human to make a meal of. They'd come after the rest of them.

Fuck. He dragged a hand down his face. Fuck. Fuck. No, god...

He couldn't protect everyone from an entire group of monsters. Stewart was with them, but he was still a little out of it. There was no way they could fight. They had to keep running, since as far as he could see there was no place to hide. What else could they even do? Masato clenched and unclenched his fists, his breath becoming harsher.

"Masato!"

Akito. The other boy calling his name pulled Masato from what would have quickly become a spiral of thoughts. It had always been a bad habit of Masato's, to keep everything bottled up until he exploded. He was getting very close to his tipping point. He was just so overwhelmed with - everything. Fear, duty, anger, and trying to keep everyone alive.

You'll fail, said a voice in his head. You know you can't do it. They're already dying.

Masato slowed to a stop, coming to realize that his unbidden thoughts were true. None of them were doctors, they didn't have any life saving equipment, and help wouldn't be here in time. Not everyone was going to make it home. Endo hadn't woken up since yesterday. Bansen was in bad shape. And...

Masato's eyes slipped over to Akito and Okumura. She was barely conscious and still badly bleeding. If... if the monsters, whether the ones they left behind or new ones lurking within the forest were to come for them, they would be able to track them wherever they fled if they carried Okumura with them. He swallowed a lump in his throat, stamping down the part of him that was filled with growing horror at what he was about to do.

"Keep going," he told the whole group. "Straight ahead. We aren't turning around, the others will catch up to us. There's no danger ahead so just keep on. Ohta, let Stewart help you."

His voice was stronger than he thought it would be, especially since he wasn't optimistic about the others' chances. If they managed to drive the monsters off then they would definitely reunite, but he... he just couldn't rely on that chance. So with his tone as authoritative as he could make it, he ordered the others to move. They actually listened to him for once. He felt sick.

Then, he took Okumura's other side to help Akito carry her. The boy cut him a suspicious look, especially when Masato started to steer them away from the others. In the dark, no one would notice if they were gone for a couple of minutes. All of their heads were sure to be filled with worry, and blood rushing through their ears would stop them from hearing anything.

It was always the blood. Whether his own or someone else's, in his veins or outside of them, it was always the fucking blood.

"What the hell are you doing?" Akito asked him, and Masato just shook his head. When they got a little too far from the rest of the students, Akito and Masato started to struggle against each other - until Masato relented, shoving Okumura toward the other boy so that he had to scramble to catch her and keep his own footing.

"Seriously, what the fuck, Masato?"

"She's bleeding," was the reply. Masato's stare was hard, difficult to see in the dark with how dark his eyes were at the moment. "It's not stopping and she's not - changing. Not healing."

Ah, so even Akito could look remorseful. He also looked perplexed. He was really going to make Masato spell it out for him. Masato curled his fingers into fists.

"We can't take her with us."

"Wha... what? You want to just leave her to die?"

Do you really think I want to? Okumura Tsubaki was a good person. She had siblings, he knew, and she had been the one taking care of the sick and hurting after they crashed through that accursed portal. He would have definitely traded Akito for her. But she was already past the point of saving. Even now her head lolled and she couldn't stand on her own. She didn't resist any of the man handling. She was already half-gone. And still she bled, leaving a trail behind them. The smell of her blood made him feel even sicker now.

"We can't do anything for her. She's already... just take her a little further away and set her down before coming back. You're used to leaving people behind, aren't you?"

"Like you're one to fucking talk!"

Masato snapped forward and seized the other boy by his collar, dragging him in close. To Akito's credit he didn't drop Okumura, even with Masato snarling in his face. Like this, he resembled his brother. Akito didn't dare voice that thought aloud.

"Do it," he commanded. Up close, Masato's gaze was unfocused. He was straining to take control of this situation, listen for the rest of the group, or for any pursuers from the clearing. Straining to come to terms with what he was asking. He released Akito roughly. "...be quick. Unless you can pull a way to save her out of your ass, you know this is what we have to do too."

"...goddamn it," Akito breathed. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, complying with Masato's order. Neither boy felt good about it. They parted, Masato going back to the group first. He took up a position toward the rear like he'd hardly been gone at all.

Okumura's blood was on his hands, literally. Spilled onto his arm when he half-carried her. It felt hot, turned his stomach. He used his already ruined jacket to rub it off. Leaving her was awful, but this was what they had to do. He couldn't let anything lead the beasts right to them, couldn't use up manpower to protect those beyond help, couldn't... make it back from the Otherside without sacrifices.

World of Light

Word Count: 1012 (+2 exp)
Level: 4 - Total EXP: 158/40
Location: Dystopiascape - Midgar

After the debate broadcast cut out the Seekers in Penguin Sniper made their way to the venue to meet up with the other half of their team. Pit was glad to see everyone present and accounted for. Since no one looked hurt, he assumed a fight didn't end up breaking out. With Goldlewis making the decision to get somewhere safer before going over what happened, the angel hustled through Midna's twilight portal along with the others. Once through, Pit flitted around the space given it was the first time he was seeing their new hideout. He had no qualms with raiding the cupboards with some of the other Seekers, not quite sated by the bar peanuts. Though when Goldlewis and Raz started to explain what had gone down at the end of the debate and afterwards, Pit gave them his full attention.

So much information, so quickly! Since coming to the city, Pit felt his brain was working harder than it ever had in his life. What jumped out at him was the fact that they had a Consul's identity, and possible motive - and that Midgar's entire situation was precarious to say the least. Everything controlled by one maniac, under the president's nose.

That Goldlewis knew the Consul, Happy Chaos, on a deeper level than the rest of them surprised Pit. "He's that strong?" he asked, though he didn't sound disturbed by the revelation whatsoever. Instead, Geralt's follow-up made the angel shrink away slightly. Over the last couple days Pit had worked to get over what he'd accidentally done to the Witcher, especially since he wasn't actually dead, but he still felt awkward about it. And the reminder he could have torn apart a family wasn't a nice one.

Giovanna then returned, with a stranger in tow. Another one of Midgar's elites? When the man introduced himself, Pit jumped back into the conversation by returning the introduction with one of his own, complete with his full rank Captain of the Goddess of Light's Royal Bodyguard.

As they continued to discuss Happy Chaos and the Consuls as a whole (and the Organization, of which Pit didn't have a clue so he stayed quiet for once), the angel chimed in here or there with his agreements or disagreements. And of course the area's Guardian was brought up, which was one of the reasons they were even in the city to begin with. It was here. And now, they knew how to get to it.

When Roxas revealed the Keyblade's ability, Pit's face split into a grin. "That's great! Then we won't have to try and get through any weird codes or keys or anything like that! We can get to the Guardian whenever we're ready."

That they'd certainly have to fend off enemies on the way went without saying. Still, basically forcing their way through was a plan that Pit could definitely get behind. As for when to actually do so... well. Pit glanced at Karin when she declared that it was their top priority.

"At first I was thinking the same thing. That all we had to do was beat the Guardian and things would be fine." He turned his eyes from Karin to the group at large. "But now I'm worried about what will happen to the city if we do that without doing anything about the Ever Crisis. If everyone in Midgar is suddenly free, then won't the whole city go into a panic? And if that happens, what about when the Others or Chimeras attack? All the defense forces will be just as confused and disorganized, right?"

The Seekers had been able to handle one half of a machine invasion, and they'd battled against the extra-dimensional monsters before, but they couldn't be everywhere at once. "Maybe we should stop that Konoe guy first, and... ugh, I don't know."

He shared this opinion with Midna, but he didn't have a good answer. Giovanna mentioned the best person to lead the city wasn't up to it anymore. Working together with either Armstrong or Shinra just seemed wrong. Then again, they had Benedict, Zenkichi, and now Roland on their side. Maybe there were good people in the administration they could free and get to help? Pit folded his arms in front of him, annoyed that he couldn't pull the answer from thin air. Or from an all-knowing goddess.

During a lull in the discussion a thought slowly formed in Pit's mind. It wasn't grounded in any evidence, and it was more than a little hopeful, but eventually he gave voice to it.

"I don't know why they'd help Galeem, but they do choose to do it, right? That Happy Chaos guy wasn't under the light's control was he? Do you think the Consuls are so strong that they were never gleaming in the first place?" He paused. No, that couldn't be right. He was there when Galeem took over. When it subsumed everything. Not even the Goddess of Light escaped...

He tried again. "Or maybe they were able to break out of the mind control on their own?"

This was something he hoped might be the case. It meant a lot of very powerful villains might be out there right now, plotting their own take overs, but it also meant that Lady Palutena might have been able to free herself and she just hadn't been able to re-establish her telepathic connection. Regardless of what anyone else thought on the matter, Pit let the thought sink in for them.

Toward the end of the discussion the Seekers began filtering out. Some, like Tora, had left much earlier. As they disappeared, Pit bid them a, "Good night!" He himself lingered in the room, unsure of what to do with himself. He didn't feel up for a spar like the street fighters, but he was too antsy to go right to bed. So for the next couple of hours he familiarized himself with the building inside and out, perching on its roof and serving as lookout until he got tired enough to turn into bed himself.

World of Light

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 184/80 ------ Level: 6 - Total EXP: 123/60
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 926 (+2 exp)
Location: The Under

It was nice of some of the group to go about making pizzas for the trolls even when they had no need to. The Seekers could leave the tower any time they wanted, which Primrose had relayed to them via the Linkshell - and now that everyone was back she went over what she and Therion had learned in more detail, telling the group about the 210 doorway in the staff hall. Anyway, the trolls could make their own pizzas with the ingredients gathered. Neither Primrose nor Therion got in the way of the troll pizza experiments, but neither did they help. Instead they made their own, which turned out less like true pizzas and more like charcuterie boards with baked dough as the serving tray. Freshly cut fruits and cheeses, some with honey drizzled over them, sat on the plain crust. A delicious breakfast for sure. While packing some to-go, Therion added some slices of cured meat to them as well.

They shared their creation with any that wanted some, and they tasted the pizzas slices offered by others. After learning what a pizza was "supposed" to be, some of the slices they tasted were very... unique. But seeing as neither Traveler was picky like the trolls, they didn't mind.

Ms. Fortune brought up the suggestion of telling stories, about themselves or the things they'd seen. Primrose had revealed a little about herself last night and didn't feel the need to repeat herself for those that had been asleep. Instead she thought about the past couple of days after setting out from Alcamoth while others went ahead and talked.

Sectonia mentioned the guardian the previous "Yellow Team" had defeated in the desert, making Therion scoff. He nudged the moon-walking pineapple out of his way with one foot as he finished packing one of the preservation bags with boxes of food.

"You left out the part where we had to climb probably the world's biggest mountain to even get to the worm," he supplied. "Nearly got flattened and frozen, and then we had to get back down the mountain when the thing slid off and almost smashed that town."

Both parts of the journey had been to his consternation. It had happened immediately after Primrose and he had found each other in Tostarena and he'd joined up with the Seekers, so he didn't have any stories to tell that at least part of the group didn't already know. He didn't feel like talking about his past or his haunting dream either. He tolerated letting one of the queen's antillions groom his tail as the others went on to tell their own experiences.

After a surprising demonstration of the trolls' strength (Why didn't they try and stop use when we went to the staff only area...? Primrose thought), the Koopa King took them all the way back to the world's start. It was an interesting tale, including Ganondorf's comment that he'd been there when Galeem had started its destruction and recreation. Primrose, who had long since taken a seat, leaned forward and laced her fingers together, resting her chin on them.

"And that's everything you remember," she said, "but not everything that's happened. Isn't that right?"

That disgraced king, Asgore, had told them that Galeem's world of light had already existed for years at this point. And the people that had been there from the beginning had major gaps in their memories. She, too, didn't recall living in this world for years. In her mind she could remember that burning pain when he had betrayed her - not for the first time, she'd learned. Then a bright, white light. Awakening in the Land of Adventure. Ending up at Smash City Alcamoth, and being freed from the light after the Seekers had finished off the guardian nearby. It had been weeks at most.

"Getting our timeline correct is important. I suspect a visit to Asgore again after we defeat this area's guardian will reveal much to us."

If asked, she would mention the timeline discrepancy brought up by the old king, and his promise to tell all once they finished the job in the Under. As for what Jr. mentioned about Galeem altering time as well, she had to assume that was correct, in some part at least.

With that out of the way, Primrose filled them in on some additional details of the yellow team's adventure.

"After the sweets town, but before the mountain, we made it to a city called Al-Mamoon. That is where we acquired the railway gun. We met Jesse there as well." She glanced at the other woman, happy to let her talk about the art museum they'd broken into with the phantom thieves if she wanted. "The city was in the middle of a standoff between the Grimleal, the queen's advisors currently looking after the city, and rebels that opposed them... I suppose that man, Validar, has gotten comfortable after we left."

Ultimately their job in the Sandswept Sky was completed, so the loose threads were of no import. Would the city, and the area itself be alright with no left to oppose the Grimleal? Would really try to summon a fell dragon as Robin thought he would? And what of that area's Consuls and Flame Clock? The Seekers hadn't seen anything of the sort while in the desert. Primrose didn't say any of these thoughts aloud. Maybe if they wanted to visit that heavenly spa again she would find the answers to those questions in Al-Mamoon, but for now she left them alone.

What Are You Listening To?

World of Light

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 182/80 ------ Level: 6 - Total EXP: 121/60
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 1292 (+3 exp)
Location: The Under

It seemed that Therion wasn't the only Seeker that had a strange dream last night. The thief considered the implications of that while Primrose passed out linkpearls to those that she hadn't been able to prior: Rubick, Nadia, Sectonia, and after a brief moment of hesitation, Artorias.

The dreams - was it just a coincidence? The group had gone through some pretty horrific shit in the last few days. Therion's own dream hadn't reflected any of that though. In fact, now that he was awake, what he remembered of the dream's setting was totally unfamiliar to him save for a few "characters." As well as one other figure.

That woman in the red armor. Had to be one of those Consuls, he concluded. But he didn't remember seeing one with a mask like that. Were there more Consuls than just P and F down here with them? If so were they screwing with the Seekers via their dreams? Therion's tail began swishing back and forth, moving faster the longer he thought about it. It didn't feel like a normal dream, but it was so vivid and personal feeling that he hesitated to bring it up. Maybe he could just cut out the part where all his friends ended up dead if he talked about it before the details slipped away. ...thinking about it now, Cordelia was there but not Heathcote. No Tressa either... weird.

He tuned back in as Ms. Fortune was questioning the Pizza Trolls. Neither Therion nor Primrose could say that they really knew what a pizza was beyond some kind of food, but magic bags that they could preserve all kinds of food in seemed nice. It was a worthy reason to dive into the unknown perils of the tower, and the Seekers did just that with gusto.

Most of the Seekers anyway. The Orsterrans lingered behind. From what they'd gathered, the way out of the tower was through these trolls - namely through their stomachs. They'd mentioned they were particular about what toppings they liked, but didn't give so much as a hint as to what they were. Plus, if the trolls were blocking the exit somehow, wouldn't it be easier to just... go through them, rather than playing their game of guess the pizza?

"So..." Primrose began, casually looking over at the trio of wooden trolls. "What happens if we don't feed you?"

"Huh? Then... we'll be hungry."

"...I meant, is there no way through this tower otherwise?"

One of the trolls grinned and lifted its head high. "That's right! The only way out is through the boss. But if you give us pizzas we like, we'll show you where he is!"

Therion sighed, cracking his neck as he did some stretching. "If he's the boss, wouldn't he be in the staff area right there?"

He indicated the hall, making all three trolls turn to look at it. They seemed to be thinking something over, since they didn't turn back for several seconds. One of them piped up with, "Uh, w-well it's a good guess but, w-we told you to stay away from there!"

The Travelers shared a look, and a moment later Therion was headed toward the 'Staff Only 'area. The trolls didn't move to stop him, but they did start making a racket with their warnings until Primrose stomped her heel on the ground, shutting them up with the sound of it. When Therion peeked into the corridor, he found it much the same as the others: a hall with some doors that looked like they might lead to 'levels.' He relayed what he saw to Primrose, who then crossed her arms and gave the Pizza Trolls a hard stare.

"Which room is your boss in?" she asked. The stumpy creatures cowered until one finally broke under her gaze.

"D-definitely not the 210 door!"

The dancer nodded, walking away from the small group and bidding Therion to join her. The trolls sighed in relief. It hadn't been hard at all to get the information; they almost pitied the tower attendants.

"Well we can leave any time now. I'll let everyone know."

"Sure." Therion glanced at the other halls just before taking a bag of his own and heading towards the hallways. "We're going to have to wait for everyone else to get back anyway, so I'll grab some food too."

"Fruits and cheeses would be nice for breakfast."

Therion agreed, so he took her suggestion and headed for the very first of the levels provided. The dancer herself stayed behind to rest a little longer, though she did raise a hand to the linkpearl in her ear as her friend disappeared through the entrance to John Gutter.

"We've potentially found the way to the tower's exit, it doesn't appear to be guarded.
Once you've all gotten the foods you want we can go from there."

Meanwhile, Therion wasn't surprised at all to hear the door slam closed behind him once he'd stepped through it. Honestly it would have been more surprising if it hadn't happened. It was here for fruits, and it looks like he'd chosen the right place. He could already see some hanging from trees, and smell the sweetness even over the stale water. Those stump things said to make sure to be fast, right? He recalled. Alright, let's do this.

He didn't have much trouble traversing the level. He darted down slopes and up trees, making use of the tallest plants to get over the short but sheer cliffs. The area's monkeys didn't get in his way, save for the banana peels they tossed into his path. Annoying, but nothing more. Most other creatures he saw were living rocks of some sort, both shy and some not so much. Whenever fruit was in easy reach he stuff it into the sack he was carrying.

When he reached what must have been the end of this room he noticed a much larger statue covered in cracks and plasters. It wasn't aggressive, in fact it didn't seem to care at all that Therion was there. It glanced at him tiredly and merely sighed.

"Get on with it..." The statue said, sounding resigned to its fate, which... what? Therion's confusion must have been easy to pick up, as the Pillar John let out another sigh and said, "If you're new, I'm like the exit timer, I guess. Go on..."

It only took a second for what the stone was saying to click in Therion's head. Right, there was a time limit. So after he activated the timer, he had to escape before the exit closed again, was that it? He hadn't noticed any other doors on his way here, so he assumed the exit was the same one he'd entered from. With that in mind he slung the bag over his back and tied it to his clothes, preparing to take on his Beast Form again.

"If you insist," he told the Pillar John, which only looked at him with disinterested eyes. He shifted, leapt at the pillar man and sprung off in a feline kick that sent the statue to the ground. Therion heard a distinct shifting noise which must have been the timer starting, or the door opening. Either way he sprinted off the way he'd come. The path back seemed to have even more little angry rock people looking for a fight, but in his four legged body Therion could sail right over them. The exercise felt good, but he was more looking forward to eating and moving on.

He passed back through the doorway and into the tower's lobby, sporting a bounty of bananas, sweet peppers, cantaloupes, mangos, and pineapples; plus one strange walking fruit that had tagged along on the way back.

Tabletop peeps? Why just 5th edition?

AD&D is quite the far cry from the newer editions but we all have different experiences when it comes to our learning of games. I gave played everything from AD&D to 5th, Pathfinder, even more lesser known games like Dragon Quest, or Dragon Age the TTRPG, d20 Modern, Villains and Vigilantes. I've played em, not every one in existence but quite a few. So my experiences are different and I have always been a quick learner, I can remember more about rules than I can about my school learning. 🤣

@Dark Cloud

Oh yeah I have played quite a few systems out there; fantasy, cyberpunk, superhero games, fandom-based ones, call of cthulhu and its derivatives, nation-building games... stuff like Time Shredders too. I've tried literally dozens of TTRPGs. And I just find like Broken mentioned above, I get more enjoyment out of character creation and actually playing the role than keeping up with stats, feats, and how certain mechanics work. There are one-page RPGs out there that are a lot of fun 'cause they are extremely simple in how to play.