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ᴘᴋᴍɴ : Quest for Life and Death

Even with so many people milling about the spacious lobby, Auguste could tell when he had eyes on him. It was a sixth sense he'd developed as a kid, when pitying stares followed him around after the disappearance of his father. And it was pretty invaluable now in his professional life. So when that dull, prickling feeling started spreading from the base of his neck, Auguste slowly lowered his camera. His own eyes quickly found the flamboyantly dressed man approaching him, and he didn't know what to make of it at first. Had he been found out and this was an intern sent to tell him off or something? Maybe not, since the guy was smiling instead of fuming.

By the time the stranger spoke, Auguste was genuinely curious what he'd have to say.

"...huh, really?"

He wants his photo taken? There was no lack of photographers at the event, but it was just Auguste's luck that out of all of them, he was the one that would be singled out. Well, whatever. It couldn't hurt, and maybe it would help him blend in better. Plus it technically was a party. Auguste held the camera up to his eye, first snapping a quick photo of the stranger and his Flabébé before they even had a chance to pose.

"Are you a local celebrity or something?" he asked from behind the lens. The other man definitely looked the part... or looked like he was trying to look the part, anyway, from how he was dressed.

World of Light: the Endless Now

The First Nephilim

Word Count: 3356 (+4)

Midna, untargeted by Absalom’s projectiles, charged after him upon the back of her Beast Legion, drawing and charging her long tree spear and her gunlance as she approached. Then, once there, she stayed nimble, letting her invisible steed focus on dodging unpredictably while she focused on hitting their foe. She delivered swift lighting strikes calling jabs with her two handed spear, unintentionally fishing for debuff procs in the process due to the enchantments on her blade, while using her final hand not holding onto her mount to pepper the foe with gunlance shots. Her irritations meant that the moment after Absalom flung globules at the fliers, he turned toward her with a heavy stomp that sent a conical tentacle wave her way, then followed up with a big step forward and overhead punch, forcing her steed to back off to keep her safe.

That wasn’t going to help the others much, given they were all trying to not be cut down or corrupted. Edward had an especially bad time of this, the last dreadnought only managing to make an evasive action via backwards wing flap thanks to his new shield’s stat boosts, and even then he got clipped by the tip of the massive ax. He landed, stumbling from the gash on his leg, and had to use another flap of his new wings to stop himself from falling.

It had been long enough, however, that his single striker was off cooldown, and so the feather-staff appeared next to him a moment later, sealing his wound as well as either healing or overhealing Pit and Roxas in the process depending on their status. For Roxas this was kind of complicated. That big slash got him good, effectively having scored a critical hit on him. And even with the healing he got afterward, he was still winded and dazed from the experience.

Edelgard was forced to abandon her aerial mount as tentacles of Corruption appeared, dropping from it with haste, her landing unmistakable due to the thundering boom that heralded it. ”Midna! Call back your beast before the Corruption swallows it!” Her call to action was simple and to-the-point, Edelgard coming in on a right angle to Midna’s own angle of attack, Aymr replacing her much less impressive short axes. The False Hero’s Relic lashed out, and Edelgard even opted to utilize Flickering Flower against Absalom, though she doubted it would be able to keep such an oppressive foe down long.

”Wait no it doesn’t work like that-” Midna started to call back, but it was too late and Edelgard was already dropping, while the princess’s steed was stuck unable to do so to get into a portal. The flygon thrashed in the bindings, claws swiping at the bindings as Midna raced forwards, leapt off of her Beast Legion, and onto the rising snout of her wolfos that launched her up into the air. Her shadow hand reached up as she rose, grabbed the ceiling, and hauled her the rest of the way up so she could hack and slash at the corrupting tendrils till they broke and her heavily wounded steed finally dropped down into the portal to home.

She could only hope that the corrupting influence of her own home would be able to smother that of the corruption attempting to claim her beast as its own.

Absalom's slash came too suddenly for Pit to even think about trying to swapping to his shields for, and though he boldly raised his bow in an attempt to parry the massive axe the size and speed of it overwhelmed him. Rather than let the momentum of the weapon's swing launch him into the wall of the cathedral car, Pit gave up pushing against it and ducked head first, saving himself from getting his whole head taken off by letting the bracers on his arms take the brunt of the damage. The axe passed over him, and Pit was left with bruised and bleeding arms - which Edward's striker was quick to fix up. After a quick appreciative look sent the man's way, Pit turned his attention back to the champion of corruption.

"If you think a few globs of nastiness are enough to beat us, think again!" he said. With the tainted minions out of the picture, Pit was free to let a bunch of Wild Shots loose. Infusing his arrows with elemental light once more, Pit pulled the bowstring back hard and fired with a flourish. The arrow surged forward and immediately peeled apart, splitting into three separate streaks of light that whizzed towards Absalom. Very quickly the air was filled with projectiles once again, even more than before, and each light that split off struck with the same force as a whole arrow.

Sectonia wasn’t much one to be hit by such nasty globes of energy, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do to dodge them with their amount, her size, and the confined fighting area. So instead she summoned her pipe shield, giving herself and every ally around her a shield that’d block magically inclined damage, including explosives which shielded her from this barrage of globules.

With a rumble of anger, Absalom turned to offer his response: another corruption stake, grown from his palm and ready to launch. At that moment, though, Pit’s fellow angel came to his aid. Unable to dodge such a broad salvo of plague bombs, Uriel had been forced to spend some of her energy on light darts to prematurely detonate the pustules sent her way. Such an approach created a momentary deluge of foul yellow-black ichor, but after giving it a wide berth, the Commander of the Hellguard zoomed in. She dealt a lunging overhead slash to Absalom’s right shoulder, then a quick horizontal cut aimed at her helmet. Grunting, he whirled around with a deadly close-range cleave, his grip high on Absolution’s shaft. Uriel lofted over it with a beat of her wings, then delivered a radiant cross slash that provoked an upward swing. Like an airborne ballerina she nimbly side-stepped it, then unleashed her swordplay, but the angel’s speed and focus had confined her inside a pattern.

She could not act in time to dodge one of Absalom’s tentacles as it lashed down and slapped her to the ground, allowing the Nephilim to punt her across the room. When he pounded the butt of his axe on the ground, tendrils burst up around Uriel to grab hold of her, even as her blade burned them, prompting Edward (who’d been backing off anyway) to rush over and hack at the tendrils with his own blade. With that pest out of the picture, Absalom then pivoted to shoot off his stake at Pit, and anchor anyone in the area to the ground.

Thanks to Uriel's quick action, Pit had more time to prepare for the attack they'd both seen coming. Once the stake left Absalom's hand and shot toward him, Pit quickly summoned his Guardian Orbitars. The shields manifested in front of Pit to protect him (and anyone behind him) from the impact - but the size of the projectile and the angle of trajectory made it too tough to bounce back. The stake struck the Orbitars and then crashed hard into the ground right nearby anyway, triggering a spread of tendrils once it broke apart. The corrupted protrusions snaked towards Pit, grasping at him just as quickly as he went about cutting them down.

Sectonia took the angel’s distraction to fire her own attacks at the creature, throwing rings of light that began to fill the area with large discuss rings that had slightly random flight patterns, but were aimed at and would also try to recorrect themselves to hit their main foe. The sheer amount of these rings, even if they missed, would cause damage to the corruption as well.

Edelgard took advantage of Absalom’s focus on Uriel to take her fair share of swings at the monster, using her shield to take the brunt of a strike from the butt of Absolution, teeth gritted.

“Hrrgh!” Angered by Edelgard’s impunity, the former Nephilim turned and extended his arm while she still had her guard up. Rather than bring down his crystalline knuckles in a punch, however, he grabbed the slab of metal in his claws. “Grrrrah!” He lifted her off her feet and hurled her across the room in Sectonia’s general direction. The fact that most of his opponents had yet to take a hit had the Avatar of Chaos aglow with aureolin rage. He brought the shaft of his axe down to send a handful of screwworm clusters rippling across the ground, each writhing mass homing in on a grounded opponent like Uriel and Edward. Then he leaped, reaching out with his tentacles to grab onto and swing from the ceiling’s stone arches. With his axe held in both hands, one above and below the horizontally-turned blade, he dropped into the group of Seekers with all his weight behind the massive guillotine.

With Edward’s help to free her and a heavy dose of corruption inbound, Uriel tore loose from her restraints, then grabbed hold of the man’s arm in order to lift him into the air beyond the screwworms’ reach, and not a moment too soon. The fearsome sight of Absalom on his way over convinced her to abandon offense and make a break for it. Pumping her luminous wings, the angel surged toward the other side of the arena to avoid his withering assault, and still the streaks of corruption from the impact of his axeblade nearly clipped her wings.

They did clip the much poorer flier that was Edward however, sending him crashing down in a barely controlled landing, his sword clattering away from him as he tumbled across the ground. After several rolls the bloodied and bruised Dreadnought came to a stop with a groan, before attempting to heave himself back onto his feet. Uriel helped him both rise and stabilize, her firm-but-not-rough grip a steady reassurance.

On the other side of the arena, Pit had gotten himself free of the tendrils threatening him just in time to respond to Absalom's heavy drop, axe first. He'd already learned that he couldn't contend with the weight Absalom was putting behind his weapon directly, so Pit leapt up high once more, getting up and away from the monstrous champion's attack while he could. The angel spread his wings wide, hanging in the air for a moment so that he could pull his bowstring back and fire another instant-Overload arrow at Absalom as he came down.

As Absalom crashed down, Midna followed him, performing her own ceiling descent. The princess summoned her wolfos, sized up, beneath her, and landed on its back to avoid breaking her legs on landing, and then had it rear charge Absalom. The towering beast pounced on the fallen nephilim, claws slashing at his tendrils back, before the princess leapt off of it. As the wolfos retreated to the twilight realm via portal she came down, smashing an overhead shadow fist down onto her foe while cursing his name. Then she blasted electrified sand at it to cover her retreat as she yanked her astral chain and pulled herself back to her Beast Legion. Her onslaught left the juggernaut doubled over, unable to follow up on his guillotine plunge. One of his four tentacles lay wriggling on the ground, severed by the Best Legion’s fury, but a new shoot had already begun to crop up from the lesion on his back.

Meanwhile Roxas finally managed to shake off being dazed and snapped out of it. When he did he saw a whole slew of things happening at once that he frankly didn’t have enough time to fully register. The most immediate threat was diving out of the way of an incoming mass charging at him on the ground and dispelling whatever it was with a couple good Keyblade strokes. After that? He finally noticed that the ground was less corrupt than it was a few moments ago. At least that meant he didn’t keep playing hopscotch across virtual cubes. And this was in time for him to dive out of the way of getting crushed by Absalom’s crashing attack before watching Midna and her wolfos go for an attack.

Roxas used his StepSword to get up close and bypass any attempt to swat him down before he unleashed a flurry of Keyblade strikes on Absalom. He summoned some virtual cubes at his feet and used them as a launching point to push himself aside in the hopes of dodging what he anticipated would be an angry axe swing and also got off some pot shots with his RockGun as he went tumbling back onto the ground. But now was when he realized that Edelgard had been thrown away a fair distance and got a cheeky little idea. Roxas summoned one of his newer Strikers - Kayano, with the intention of using her power to swap his position with that of Edelgard. What he didn’t realize was that doing this while he himself was so close to the enemy, it would instead shift all his allies to the frontlines while shifting him backward. But with the added bonus of buffing all of their attacks in the process.

This was, frankly, exactly where Edward did not want to be dragged too, to the point he’d have assumed it was enemy action where it was not for the added power coursing through his veins. Sadly he was not in a particularly great situation to exploit this, wounded and disarmed as he was, so instead he acted to aid in the other’s seizing of this opportunity by casting Designate Target upon Absalom.

A blood red aura surrounded the foe, briefly making sure that every strike would be as devastating as a flanking one, and aiding the accuracy of his allies for a bit longer than that. Add that to the way their relentless pressure had left Absalom covered in glowing golden cracks on his armor (not to mention on fire) he was more than satisfied with his contribution to the coming clash. He then went a step further and added one more, that one being getting out of the way of his allies by retreating towards the nearby entrance of the chamber as fast as his wounds would let him.

Luckily he had people to help cover his retreat. Suddenly being pushed up close to Absalom came as a surprise to Pit, especially since he'd been sticking to ranged attacks the entire time so far, but after a brief moment of confusion (and his nose rankling at the proximity to the source of corruption) he used the opportunity to get into melee. With the Palutena Bow separated into halves, Pit went right in with dual blades swinging. So far everyone else that had gotten up close hadn't suffered any major corruption, which emboldened the angelic captain to hold nothing back. He targeted Absalom's physical body, seeing as the tentacles and other masses of corruption on him seemed to grow right back, putting himself front and center so that anyone that wanted to back off hopefully could as he cut deep into the corrupted flesh.

Pit’s fellow angel was of similar mind. Though she didn’t expect and couldn’t explain the vacuum effect that pulled her forward, Uriel made the split-second decision to roll with it rather than fight it, and thanks to Shadow Walker plus Designate Target the angels’ efforts were rewarded. They both landed a flurry of slashes, criss-crossing Absalom’s skin with scars that welled up with ichorous putrescence. He soon rounded on them with a heavy swing, but the two were in the zone. Pit went high, zipping above the curve of Absolution and digging his blades in the champion of corruption's shoulder, carving cover the top and swinging himself around to Absalom's other side to avoid the axe before dealing with the nest of tendrils that found him on his back. Uriel flapped backward and threw a handful of holy darts, her mana reserves getting low, and after they blew up across her foe’s torso she charged in for a risky thrust into one of the eyes of Absalom’s chest. Her blade only pierced a foot or so deep, but it was enough to leave the Avatar of Chaos enraged. Uriel dodged backward again to escape his reprisal, only for his unexpected follow up -a slam that caused long tentacles to sprout up from the ground all around him- to clip her and knock her down.

“Augh…” The angel quickly retreated to assess the damage. No open wounds that could be infected, it looked like, so luck was still on her side. Uriel turned her attention to the battle itself, noting that despite a number of hits from everyone, Absalom still had plenty of fight in him. That tracked, as far as she could tell; his strength and corruptive potential demanded that everyone fight him cautiously. At the same time, though, caution wouldn’t win the day. Her allies only need to mess up once or twice apiece, and Absalom could probably endure until they did. Once the dominos began to fall, there would be no stopping them. The team needed another angle.

Uriel also noted the damage to the arena. By now the floor had been roughed up like a tilled field thanks to all the heavy impacts, magical explosions, and burrowing corruption. The ceiling was in a rough shape too, having strained to support Absalom’s weight. It was easy to forget in the heat of the moment, but this battle was still on a train, and its natural gyration as it moved put the damaged stonework under more stress. In some places it looked like a mycelium of corruption was all that held the dark cathedral together, and it was easy to imagine the locomotive shaking itself to pieces. Maybe, Uriel reasoned, the team could expedite that process.

“Keep fighting!” she called out, taking wing. “I have a plan. When next Palutena speaks, get off the train by any means possible!” So saying, she used the last of her mana to bombard a dilapidated window with darts, clearing the corruption long enough that the angel could slip through and into the sky.

”I’ll inform the troops!” Edward called to the others before he exited the arena. They were somewhat lacking in transport options at the moment after all, and so were going to need the feather’s wings to evacuate.

”Is she mad?” Midna asked, predicting her plan. Still, it wasn’t like they were going to have much choice in the matter, so she started sprinting around Absalom one way while her Beast Legion went the other, aiming to once again bind him so he’d have difficulty chasing after them.

In the same vein, Pit was working to cleave through Absalom's tentacle limbs to try and keep them small enough that they couldn't snag people out of the air as easily. Of course with the tentacles themselves snapping back and forth to lash at him and Absalom himself still moving to strike everyone down, he couldn't stay there as long as he liked. Eventually after cutting them down to size as much as he could, one of them slapped him back down to the ground. Ugh! The corruption felt so gross. He hopped back up onto his feet quickly, glancing at the opening Uriel had left through.

Do you have something up your sleeve, Lady Palutena?

You'll see. For now, follow Uriel's lead.

That was enough for him. He trusted Uriel, and even more so the Goddess of Light, so if their vague plan included getting out of the train at the signal then that's what he'd do. Hopefully whatever Lady Palutena did would wipe Absalom out for good.

"Just do what she says!" Pit called out for any that might be confused or incredulous, putting on his best authoritative captain voice. He took that moment to catch his breath, then raised his swords and dove back into the battle in earnest.

World of Light: the Endless Now

Word Count: 406 (+1 exp)
Level: 10 - Total EXP: 89/100
Monday Evening.
Location: Mafia Town, Deep Blue Seaside
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●

It didn't take Therion very long to work his way back towards Bancho Sushi. The fighting had pulled him from the coast inland towards the center of Mafia Town, but he was quick and the streets were nearly clear. For good measure he struck down any lingering wrestlers that hadn't already taken each other out, ending up with a small handful of what he assumed were lesser spirits. Along with one emerald, which was a random and pleasant surprise that he didn't immediately connect to the scythes he wielded. He pocketed all of it.

His intuition that hadn't find most of the other Seekers back where they'd started the night paid off as he approached the building. When he appeared in front of them, he looked as though he'd gotten away with avoiding the fight all together.

He nodded back to Geralt, coming to stand just outside of the restaurant with his tail swishing behind him. He got the news from the witcher that the Avenger was coming to pick them up soon. It was about time, Therion thought.

Geralt, Rika, Junior... he assumed if the three of them were helping clean the place up that Ms. Fortune was in there somewhere too. One of his ears swiveled back to the city at large to listen out for the missing members. Blazermate and Juri would probably come back at some point, and if Captain Falcon didn't happen upon them naturally then Blazermate could probably fly around and find him before they left. Or the three in the balloon, as they soon abandoned rebuilding and went to get a bird's eye view. Which left Therion to kind of awkwardly loiter around the restaurant, though not so close that he could be easily roped into helping out. He waited on the island rather than the dock.

He didn't have any loose ends to tie up in town as far as he knew. Technically he'd paid... or bribed, or whatever, Nemma to collect more information, but even if he never returned to Mafia Town he didn't think it was a bad decision. It wasn't like he needed a ton of pons anyway. In fact he still had a surplus from sneaking in and stealing a haul from the local mafia that he'd have to find something to do with. Well, whatever. A task for another time. For now it was getting off this island before Consul 𝙸 came back.

Word Count: 677 (+1 exp)
Level: 11 - Total EXP: 162/110
Monday Evening.
Location: Meridi-at-Han ➜ The Avenger
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●

With herself, Roland, Zenkichi, and Goldlewis already in one place, getting picked up by the Avenger was just a matter of getting to a good rendezvous point. And as they walked, Goldlewis dutifully took care of giving their two latest recruits some information about how the world Galeem had made actually worked. That the grim ringmaster and the eerie witch tagged along with them was... a good thing, all things considered. More firepower couldn't hurt, and they still had space on the flying ship. Primrose got the feeling that their magic was darker than most (especially the Witch, whose blatant necromancy would have been a forbidden art in the dancer's home world), but the two of them would be far from the first suspicious, sort of ominous people that had joined the Seekers over the last couple of weeks. Maybe some proper introductions could be made after they got aboard the Avenger. In the mean time Primrose brought up the rear of the group (keeping closer to them than to the zombies), content with listening to the refresher of the Seekers' mission and taking in the city one last time before they left it.

Although Primrose had liked Meridi-at-Han and their stay in it, Sandalphon appearing in a beam of light to collect the Seekers was a welcome sight. It meant they could proceed with making progress on their ultimate goal. She did have to suppress a sigh when she took one of the fultons though. If only there was a way to get up to the Avenger that was easier on the body.

Sandalphon's destruction of the zombies happened while Primrose was preparing to ascend, but the dancer didn't flinch at the sudden shots going off. I suspected as much, she thought. Not many would tolerate the undead walking among them, especially an angel. Primrose looked over at said angel afterward, and the angry witch threatening her. The Witch's response to what she considered her property's disposal was telling - this woman had an ego, or at the very least some sort of complex. Until the Witch backed down Primrose watched them both, her green eyes dark. Just another abrasive personality to be added to the group, she hoped, and not a problem. Though who could say how long it would be before the friction of those personalities rubbing against each other became a spark.

One unpleasant trip into the sky later and the Seekers that had been in Meridi-at-Han, both new and old, were aboard the Lost Numbers' mobile base of operations. Primrose picked herself up and dusted herself off, the small metal coins sewn into her dancing outfit jingling gently as she did. She didn't feel at all uncomfortable in the more exposed clothes, but it would be nice to slip back into her tailor made dress. After she did that she might return here, to the Deployment Bay. It was possible the other Seekers had run into trouble tonight as well and might need a hand before extracting, in which case the dancer would be right there. Otherwise, she'd be one of the first to greet the others as they returned.

Everyone else began to disperse then. Too used to people watching by now not to study them, Primrose noted who'd slunk off and who took their time as she made her own way out. She also watched Zenkichi leave with Sandalphon - she hadn't missed the angel's subtle expression when she'd seen him initially, and on the flip side Zenkichi wasn't subtle at all. They were cute, she thought, even if she was sure that any romance kindled in this world was doomed to fail in more ways than one. She shook her head slightly to dispel the latter thought and tucked the tidbit of information away in her brain. Maybe she'd let it slip on another day of relaxation with the gossip-inclined queen of Floralia, if it didn't become obvious to everyone on board before then. In the mean time Primrose headed towards the room she shared with Midna in the living quarters.

A little hi and some greetings!

Welcome to RPG!

Season's greetings.

Welcome to RPG! Curious to know what that older fandom is. Anyway, hope you enjoy your stay here!

What Are You Listening To?

The Return!

Welcome back!

ᴘᴋᴍɴ : Quest for Life and Death

Lumiose City at night was a very different place than it was during the day. Shops closed and clubs opened up, various kinds of pulsing music spreading throughout the most popular streets as the sun went down. People congregated by the canal, watching the city's shimmering reflection in the water and enjoying more intimate boat rides. Nocturnal Pokémon ventured out, trying their luck at snatching food from trendy pedestrians, and the battle cafes got all the louder once tourists moved on and locals came to really give them a challenge.

It was never truly dark in the City of Light, but come nightfall each and every street was cast in warm yellow glows crisscrossed with stark shadows. It made the whole place look almost like a painting.

Honestly, Auguste had grown to like it.

He only wished that most of his night life wasn't spent tailing people or cooped up in an office checking city records. Or behind a camera lens, which is where he currently was. Granted the brand new Lumiose Contest Hall was a better spot to hang out than the alleys on North Boulevard.

The city had spared little expense in the hall's construction. Its exterior was the same elegant, refined stonework that could be found in may historical parts of Lumiose, though the glittering lights both inside and out set it apart from older buildings. The interior was the definition of opulent; crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling held up by carved pillars, plush armchairs and chaise lounges were tastefully placed in the lobby and hallways, and expensive rugs on marble floors laid paths toward the audience seating in the theaters at the rear of the building. In the main hall where most of the opening's attendees congregated was the pièce de résistance - a gorgeous crystal centerpiece in the shape of a tree, ringed by thick marble around the trunk to prevent anyone from getting too close. The tree reached up tall, its bare branches spread wide over the guests' heads.

It was absolutely beautiful. And instead of admiring it closely, what was Auguste doing?

Following some supposed fraudster around, while trying not to look sketchy doing it. This whole job had started off poorly. Auguste didn't really dislike his client, but the man had a way of appearing meek while being pushy and passive aggressive at the same time. Not to mention even getting into this event had been a hassle. The soiree throw for the contest hall's opening was public in that the general public could attend through lottery. Wealthy funders, local politicians, Kalosian celebrities and contest stars from other regions could and would be attendance, so the average citizen would have to rely on luck to get an invitation. Naturally Auguste hadn't been lucky, so he'd had to jump through some hoops to get a journalist pass to attend once they'd learned his mark was going to be there.

And on top of everything, the upfront pay was pretty low.

Oh well. It could be worse. And at least he'd snapped a photo of the centerpiece to admire later.

What Are You Listening To?