Zoey Boey

World of Light

Level 7: 11/70
Word Count: 815
Location: Dirtmouth
Points Gained: 2 (+4)
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 17/70 (pending)

Jesse took a seat in the metro with the others, brushing a strand of red hair out of her forehead. She did a brief headcount.

Don’t think everyone made it to where they wanted to go. Well, I did all I could. I didn’t make the mistake of going too easy on my opponents this time, at least. I’m interested in seeing more of this beetle-topia situation.

Jesse patiently waited her turn for the lift, observing and admiring the stately architecture of the terminus. Bowser is way too big to be moving like that. It’d be unnerving if it wasn’t so…adorable? He’s like a big dragon cat turtle.

Glancing around, she spotted a sign that gave information about the rest of the Purple Line. MTT Resort and Queen’s Station- how far away were they? There wasn’t much there in terms of usefulness to objectives as far as she could tell, though they both certainly looked like interesting places. This place, according to a dusty sign, was the Dirtmouth Stag Station…which, from what the residents at Queen’s Station had told her, was well, well above Queen’s Station.

We’re gonna have to find the Guardian somehow. But this place is ginormous. It could be anywhere, guarded by who knows what kind of freaky underground monsters. I hope it’s not just keeping its head down somewhere or this’ll be a slog. What the hell would we do if the Guardian was an immortal roach hiding under a rock in miles and miles of cave network? I don’t imagine it’s that, though, if the last Guardian was any indication. Still, there’s gotta be a way to find out what the Guardian is and a rough location. Maybe Organization 13 will help us out again, if they’re so inclined. Or maybe that Master Hand thing I’ve heard so much about will give us a clue again. I’m assuming there has to be some kind of reason for all this, but it could genuinely just be some bureaucratic bullshit in a file somewhere that mandates a certain amount of monologues and clues. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Once they were up the lift, Jesse squinted against the sunlight and peered around at the small, sad bug town. Omori made a grand introduction. Jesse glanced over at him. “Have you been here before, Omori?” She asked off-handedly.

Despite it being so utterly alien on the surface, it reminded her of the many forgotten towns she had passed through and stayed in during her life after Ordinary.

Honestly? The biggest difference is that this place actually has a train line. And, from the looks of it…

She glanced around at the very busy workers. It still has an economy. Bizarre. Wonder why this place is so empty, then? Is there some magnate somewhere pushing all the locals out? Or maybe it’s just a result of Galeem’s little doll house project. Things don’t have to make sense, they just have to look the part. It’s anyone’s guess though- we’re just passing through. Jesse approached the beginning of the quarry and peered over the edge, taking in it’s massive depth with an appreciative whistle. Hearing the word ‘Dirtmouth’ she tuned into the conversation Primrose and Therion were having with the Elderbug.

Jesse waved once to the Elderbug and nodded her head, a familiar gesture like they were old friends. Then she looked at Therion. “My best guess is that the Guardian is somewhere between here and Queen’s Station, since that seemed like the lowest level. But from what they told us there, this place is way, way above Queen’s Station. So we’ve got our work cut out for us in terms of a search.” She said. Then she glanced over at Kamek.

“Yep. I don’t have a flashlight on me. I do, however, have a very tiny car in my pocket.” Jesse said…wisely.

“Be on the lookout for headlamps. I imagine we’ll need our hands in order to fight all the giant monsters that are no doubt eagerly awaiting our arrival. If we brought some heavier duty lights, I could shrink them and carry ‘em with us to expand and use later, too. Though, after that, my jacket will officially be out of pockets.” She admitted. “Need a backpack or something.”

“I’m also a little low on cash…” She said, rolling her shoulder. “So. I probably can’t pay for anything unless we want to stick around to do some odd jobs. Or just…regular jobs. I’ve been told I’m pretty good with a mop.”

Jesse turned and saw Omori heading down a path, with some of the Koopa Troop’s minions scouting ahead. She didn’t mind that the group would spread itself out a little, but she didn’t want any member to be too isolated. From a short distance away she traced Omori’s footsteps, making her way down the sloping surface of the aptly named Dirtmouth.

World of Light

Sakura Level 8: 72/80
Karin Level 4: 19/40
Location: Metro
Word Count: 1,610
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 8: 74/80

Karin Level 4: 21/40 (pending)

Sakura and Karin rushed into the train, with Sakura flinging herself onto a seat and Karin taking a seat. For a moment, both girls flattened out their skirts. It took them both a second to realize they didn’t have skirts anymore and they both chuckled. Sakura rubbed her head and shoulder, and Karin wiped her lips to make sure there wasn’t any saliva on them.

“My goodness. Splendid work, everyone. Geralt, Roxas, Pit, Susie, Blazermate, Tora, Poppi, Midna, Peach, Bede, Raz…Sakura. It seems all of us but Wonder Red made it to their intended destination. Our mission can continue unhindered.” Karin said, straightening her posture.

”I hope everyone’s okay…” Sakura whispered. ”I think we’ll see them all again in a few days, at our next meeting. After we defeat the next two Guardians.” She said, nodding resolutely.

Then, suddenly: ”I’m not going to let this experience ruin my opinion of cats.” Sakura said, clapping a fist against her thigh. ”I mean, I am a dog person. I have a dog. But cats are cute too, y’know?”
Karin nodded sagely. They listened in on Roxas’ introduction to the Seekers. Sakura nodded as he stated his new mission. “That’s right, Mister Roxas. I think a lot of us are looking for our friends and, uh, family. I’m sure they’ll turn up. Besides, nobody covers more ground than the Seekers do, right?” Sakura said optimistically, mostly free of her doubt. Since her time in the World of Light, she’d come to terms with the ‘Gleaming’ situation.
Karin stared thoughtfully at the back of Sakura’s head, drawing the Street Fighter’s attention.
”What’s up, Miss Karin?”

“During our battle you asked to trade opponents. Why?”

”Oh, um.” Sakura shrank into herself lightly. ”I…I dunno. It was…it was weird.” Hesitating, she geared herself up to share some pretty heavy intel.

”Back on, um- there was- okay. There was this really scary ship called the Maw. Remember I told you about it?” Sakura asked. Karin nodded. ”Well, um…on that ship, it was really scary. I was tied up and, I was gonna be eaten and…” Sakura exhaled. ”Wow, this is harder than I thought.”

”And when that Cliffheart girl got my hands together, it was- it was like I was there. It was like I was back on the Maw. I’ve never seen- never felt anything like it before. I can’t describe it, but it was awful. And it caught me so off guard, I just- I just couldn’t fight her.” Sakura finished, rubbing her own arms and suppressing a shudder. A thought occurred to her. ”Now that I think about…I wonder if something similar happened when I was fighting Risky? My memories got a little fuzzy afterward.” She said.

”...I see.” Karin said. “How bizarre. Perhaps you’ve been traumatized?”

”T-traumatized?!” Sakura was alarmed. ””Geez I- I sure hope not! I don’t wanna be traumatized.” She dropped to the floor of the subway and started doing push ups.

”Oh, must you? That floor is disgusting, surely.” Karin said, nudging Sakura’s shoulder with her boot.

”Oh, right, probably.” Sakura jumped up and started doing jumping jacks instead, her hair and bandana bouncing up and down.

Karin watched Sakura, eyebrow raised. ”We’ll have to look into this. You can’t freeze up in battle.”

”I know! I don’t like that idea more than anybody. Just not sure what to do about it.” She said, jumping up and down. ”I really didn’t like that feeling.”

Karinn showed Sakura her wrist-mounted grappling hook weapon. ”Perhaps some testing is in order. Once we have a moment. For now we should focus on the objective at hand- we’ve no idea what’ll be waiting for us at our destination.”

Sakura reluctantly nodded, finishing out her set of jumping jacks and moving onto a series of stretches.

Soon they were at their destination. Yasoinaba Station in particular struck Sakura as fondly familiar. ”This looks like it could be from someplace right where I live! It’s exactly the kind of train station you’d see in my hometown. ” Smiling, she spotted lettering on the wall. ”Yasoinaba station!” She read aloud for everyone, proudly showing off her bilingual ability. Karin smirked and rolled her eyes and made her way outside.

Emerging into the daylight, they spotted not one, but three academies. A trio of them all relatively huddled together.

Karin set her finger on her chin, a bead of sweat running down her head. ”Hmm…I see.”

”Wow, look, Karin.” Sakura said flatly.

”...M’yes, I-” She began.

Sakura jumped on Karin’s back and started pulling on her ear. ”If only someone here had a freakin’ school uniform!!”

”Ah! Unhand me!” Karin, indignant, managed to grab onto Sakura’s arm and dislodge her to the ground. Sakura laughed, facepalming.

”It’s- they’re western schools, anyway, you buffoon!” Karin said, crossing her arms and looking away from everyone.”If anything the track suit makes you blend in more than a seifuku would!”

”I guess you’re right, Karin.” Sakura said, teasingly. ”But hey, yeah, everyone! This almost looks like a place where we’re from. Though the schools wouldn’t be so close together, I think.” She stood up and looked around, scratching her brown hair.

”Huh. It must really suck to still have to do homework. This is kind of confusing to me. Are they just learning the regular stuff and pretending like nothing crazy is going on because of You-Know-What?” Sakura pondered.

She turned and spotted Midna’s magical ability to produce awesome space-vehicles from mid air. ”That’s amazing, Miss Princess Midna! Oh, man! If I had my bike, I could ride that around…I left it at Alcamoth because we had to take those weird, small boats.” Sakura complained. Enviously, she looked around at everyone with their bicycles. ”...I wouldn't have freakin’ bought it if I knew we were coming to a place like this! I could go buy one right now and actually get to use it! Aw, man, this sucks!”

Karin was looking away, and noticed along with everyone else the massive city in the distance.

”Now, that, I imagine…is our point of interest. Midgar, no doubt. If our Guardian is anywhere, it’s either there, or we can learn of its location there.” Karin concluded confidently. ”In addition to battling whatever injustice may be occurring, of course.

Sakura jogged up alongside. ”Wow, that is the biggest building I’ve ever seen! If I were a bad guy, I’d be sitting right at the tippy top and looking over my entire empire, stroking a cat with an eyepatch. Isn’t that right, Karin?” She nudged her friend with her elbow.

”Precisely.” Karin nodded. ”Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Sakura had already moved on. ”Yeah, that place is cool, but this place is also cool. If it really is like where I’m from, then we won’t be seeing any magical monsters or scary bad guys. At worst, just some creeps. But I can happily beat up any creep in the world, so that’s not a problem either.” Sakura said. ”There’s gotta be something we can use here. Not at these schools, though. If there’s a car shop we could buy a truck! I dunno about a coach wagon though, Midna. At the very least, I’m going to go see about a new bicycle. Maybe I can guilt Miss Karin into buying one for me since she’s so rich.”

”...I’m right here!”

Sakura was still talking. ”Come on everyone, let’s go look around! There’s gotta be something useful or fun around here. Like an electronics store full of radios! We can meet back here soon? Like, an hour? Thirty minutes? Something? Thumbs up thumbs up?” Sakura was already backing away, shooting semi-automatic akimbo thumps at her fellow Seekers, hoping to compel at least one of them to follow her. Karin snatched Sakura by the wrist before she got too far away.

”Take this coin purse, if you must. I’ve no interest in keeping up with your wondrous sense of exploration. Practical purchases only.” Karin said, handing her a small bag with the equivalent of 1000 gold inside. Sakura grinned. ”Kasugano ‘Practical’ Sakura. That’s me.”

If all went well and she wasn’t interrupted, Sakura dashed off into town with anyone that chose to accompany her. If she was all alone, so be it! The Street Fighter was on the lookout for bicycle shops, and maybe an electronics shop. To buy walkie-talkies for everyone, an idea Sakura had right at that very moment and was now very excited about. And also, troublemakers. Goons, gangsters, etc. If she ran into any bullies like that, she wouldn’t complain. Or anyone or anything that looked interesting or fun. Best case scenario, she ran into someone strong and she could get into a quick street fighter before the Seekers moved on!

Sakura would freerun up onto rooftops and across them, or she’d take ‘shortcuts’ through any alleyways to cover as much ground as possible.

Karin, meanwhile, would stick with the largest group and continue to strategize. ”Those odd roads look interesting. They’ll lead us to Midgar. Walking would take far too long. If we cannot buy or rent our own vehicles, there might be…public transportation, of some kind.” Karin said, failing to completely hide the distaste in her voice. ”Since that went so well last time. Regardless. Let us begin our search for automobiles, or, any other type of ‘ride.’” With that, she went to find the largest street around. A main street, if you will. Such a place would be a nexus of the town. While Sakura piddled and paddled about in the side streets, Karin searched in search of transportation with, ideally, some of the more non-distracted Seekers.

World of Light

Sakura Level 8: 69/80
Karin Level 4: 16/40
Location: Metro
Word Count: 1,928
Points Gained: 3
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 8: 72/80

Karin Level 4: 19/40 (pending)

Sakura and Karin, having bought their new outfits and chatted for a while, walked excitedly towards the next part of their mission. Karin had purchased a practical yet comfortable adventurer's outfit, sporting a sleeveless waterproof black and blue top over a tank top, and sturdy looking trousers tucked into boots. Her hair, however, still flowed gracefully over her shoulders in carefully maintained coils. For once Sakura was not in her school uniform but a form-fitting tracksuit and track pants combo. They were both white, but the tracksuit had red running up the sides of her body. Karin looked more prepared, but Sakura looked much more mature and prepared. Which Karin argued was the primary point of the new outfit- it would make people take Sakura more seriously. She even had new blue fighting gloves and a pair of durable looking red shoes.

(Writer’s note: Sakura still has her old, shorter haircut, not the slightly longer haircut in the picture. Ok thanks bye)

”All right, Karin.. Here we go. First mission for you. You need to make a good impression.” Sakura said.
”I believe they need to make a good impression on me, Miss Sakura.” Karin said, adjusting her studded fighting gloves. ”Were they fortunate enough to have me from the beginning, there’s no doubt that I would be running the entire operation. I’m just making up for lost time, now.”
”...Nah.”
”’Nah’?”
”Yeah, nah.” Sakura said with a shrug.
”What-”
”I just don’t think so.” Sakura explained. ”And we’ll never know because it didn’t happen that way. So, you’re right, I guess you don’t need to make a good impression. I’m just saying- it’s good to have you.”
”Well-”
”Becaaause you’re my friend. I’ve made new friends but you’re one of my old friends.”
”...Naturally I-”
”I mean not my oldest friend. That’s Kei. She’s my oldest and best friend. She puts up with me the same way I put up with you!”
”What-?”

At THAT moment, an ominous message played over the entire intercom system. Karin and Sakura both turned around to face where they had just came from. A bead of sweat ran down Sakura’s head and Karin’s gaze hardened.
”One million p-per head?” Sakura asked as the eyes of the Metro began to fall on the Seekers.
”ONLY one million?! That’s insultingly low!” Karin exclaimed. She took a fighting stance. ”I’ll not be run out of town by a mob of unambitious, low-minded bounty hunters.”
Sakura, though, was with the others. She grabbed Sakura’s shoulders. Even the blonde’s face fell slightly when she saw just how many cats were coming their way. ”It’s not worth it, Karin- we’re leaving anyway! Let’s just go!” She tugged at her friend.

Karin growled but relented, turning to flee. ”Fine! But it is for their good, not mine. We’ve no interest in killing civilians, no matter how foolish or reckless they are.” Karin said.

”And I don’t wanna get my ass kicked by a bunch of cats! My pride can’t take it!” Sakura yelled over the din, a nervous smile on her face. As the two ran towards the trains, it became clear that Sakura was the more proficient in the two of them at freerunning. Sakura vaulted quickly over a fence while Karin cleared it gracefully by ten feet. In fact, running in generally didn’t really befit a woman of her stature. She looked and felt out of place, especially compared to Sakura, who avoided a small group of would-be cat-captors by hopping onto a wall and then pushing down off of it, smoothly transitioning into a roll and then back into her sprint. Karin faced them head on, using her dash to push through the small squads ranks as they tried to stop their momentum to catch Sakura.
Frustrated, Karin glanced down at the grappling hook attached to her wrist. She and Sakura had practiced it with only a little in their free time. Flying gracefully through the air- that more befit a noble like herself. She prepared to try it, and attached it to the top of a nearby food stand. Immediately the top of the stand was ripped off and towards Karin, who side stepped as she ran, surprised. Out of the top of the stand came several Metro cats- and one cat girl named Cliffheart who was using the place as her hiding spot. Karin pretended this was on purpose.

“Come on! Let’s show ‘em what we can do!” She cheered. Between her hands she held a threaded black rope attached to a sturdy looking hook. It had two ends, one for grabbing, the other for slashing. Sakura went to blow past Cliffheart, but the enemy catgirl whirled her hook over her head and flung it. Even with her midsection now covered, the layer of fabric did nothing to prevent the pain or the familiar feeling. Sakura was yanked back and pulled into a small swarm of metro cats who descended upon her with street weapons.

Karin immediately felt bad and went to interfere, aiming to give Cliffheart a taste of her own medicine by hooking her towards herself. As she did, a massive figure that ought to have been lumbering dropped from the ceiling and interceded. Her hook collided with him instead, and the unwitting heiress was pulled towards her six foot four foe. Once there he treated her perfect face with a clothesline. Karin grunted and span, detaching her hook and landing on her back, rolling to her feet. Where she looked upon the imposing feline named Mountain.

Unphased, Karin took her stance, turning her body perpendicular to his, crossing her back arm in front of her chest and her front arm back down across her midsection. As much as she is interested in battle, there would be no time for a full on duel- she simply had to give Sakura and herself enough time to escape.

Mountain wasn’t impressed. “I’ve met plenty of people who claim to practice martial arts. They’re all just weaklings putting up a front.”

”You stole the words right out of my mouth, sir.” Karin said, narrowing her eyes and dashing forward.
Meanwhile, a crowbar swiped across Sakura’s face, and she had enough. Blocking a knife, she turned with the swing and swept out her legs in a circle, batting the entire squadron away. ”Okay!” She said, exasperated. Just in time to get pulled towards Cliffheart once again, who promptly tossed Sakura hard into the stand, knocking it onto its side with a deep thud that knocked nearby cats off balance. Sakura lay on her back and opened one eye, looking up at Cliffheart.

“Nice to meet you!”

“Pleased to meet you…” They both said at the same time, though one had a lot more exuberance in her tone than the other. Still, it was clear they might be somewhat cut from the same cloth.

Cliffheart when to stomp on Sakura’s face, but the street fighter rolled out of the way as the concrete broke in slightly where she stomped. Sakura dashed in and began firing off a series of light jabs and kicks. Cliffheart was forced into retreat, backing up and using her rope to deflect punches and moving her legs out of the way of the kicks. Sakura overextended and Cliffheart expertly wrapped her wrists together.

Sakura prepared herself for a smooth counter attack involving a kick, but instead, panic seized her heart. For a moment, she could have sworn she was back on the Maw, hands tied above her head, preparing to be made into stew. She stood there, dumbfounded, as a hard metal clamp swiped across her face, once, twice, three times. Sakura yelled and fell backwards as the rope lost its tension, releasing her. Shaken by her vulnerability, she tossed an oncoming cat away and scrambled back to her feet as blood ran from her cheek.


”K-Karin!” She shouted, voice unusually uncertain. ”Trade!”

Karin was on more equal footing with her opponent. He blocked her first series of attacks and returned fire with his own. Karin leaped over his head and kicked him in the back of the skull. He turned and span his fist around, but she dropped under it, supporting her body with one hand as thrust both her feet into his leg, sweeping him off his feet.
“Hmph!” The Mountain noted, back rolling as she approached once again. Hearing her friend call out for a trade, Karin raised an eyebrow. She kicked out at the Mountain but he blocked it, and after a brief exchange of blows he caught her off guard with brutally fast Left Hook to the head. Karin’s head snapped to the side. He caught her shoulder and plunged his fist into her belly.
”Oof!” Her eyes nearly bulged. The next fist came in, but she put a stop to it with her palm and thrust her elbow into his chest with a V-Reversal, causing him to fly backwards onto the ground.

He was up and at her again in moments, but his feline face was crushed into by the steel-like surface of her palm. “Grr!”
”Ressen Ha!” She moved over him and went to attack Cliffheart from behind. Then things truly turned into a brawl. Karin seized Cliffheart by the wrist and flipped the cat girl over her shoulder, sending her spinning towards Mountain, landing on his back as he got to his feet. Sakura leapt a solid twenty feet and brought her fists down like hammers onto Cliffhearts sternum, flattening both her and Mountain onto the ground.

She rolled to a stop and dove out of the way of some cats, who were afraid of getting too close to this whirlwind fight, giving her opponents the chance to get up.

Cliffheart threw her hook again, but Sakura was ready this time. She blew it out of the way with a fireball that hit into both of them, causing them to slide backwards. Riled up, she flung a few more, forcing them into cover. Cliffheart hid inside a nearby building while the Mountain ducked around the corner. ”Hadoken!”
Karin finally got to use her grappling hook. The Mountain turned and burst one of Sakura’s fireballs with his fists, preparing to engage. That was when Karin’s hook attached to him and the food stand was pulled toward him at high speed. “Coward!” He yelled as he crossed his arms in front himself, getting flung backwards.
“Hey!” Cliffheart yelled, offended on behalf of her friend. She ran out of cover and got beaned by a precise fireball. “Gah!” She was knocked onto her back and rolled back inside.

”Ditch 'em!” Sakura shouted, knowing neither feline was anywhere close to being defeated. But she knew they could be outran. Karin cast a brief, hesitant look at Mountain before nodding. ”If they wanted a fair fight, they should have challenged us fair and square. Quickly!” The two turned and ran away to the Black Line.

The gate was in their way, and many Seekers were engaged in disparate battles. But Sakura and Karin had tailed enemies on their own hypothetical tails. Still, the flow of metro cats and din of battle meant that as long as they took a few turns, they had left the pair of felines in the dust. As they got closer to the Black Line gate, they confirmed that their pursuers weren’t making trouble for any of their friends as best they could. They also spent some time knocking away some Metro Cats before the big wave could arrive.
Karin wrapped one arm around Sakura and fired her grappling hook up towards the ceiling near the gate. Once there, Sakura smashed open the window and the two descended, successfully making it to the Black Line.

World of Light

Level 7: 05/70
Word Count: 697
Location: Mint Line- Twilight Town
Points Gained: 2 +4
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 11/70 (pending)

—------

Jesse lingered near the back of the ground, hands in her pockets. She’d been walking around and familiarizing herself with the town, on the lookout for any more spontaneous fights to the death. No such luck. This place was pretty chill, which meant it would be a good platform to launch the next phase of the Seekers plan.

Once there, she met up at the Docks with the others. It was a sizeable operation, with an eclectic cast of characters of all different shapes and sizes, no doubt with just a wide of variety of abilities. Jesse approved. This was good stuff.

Of course, the person delivering the speech and organizing things was Princess Peach herself. You know, the one in another castle? Jesse chuckled, enjoying her bizarre new reality. Becoming Director was the best thing that ever happened to her ever since she was a kid, that was for sure.

Next up was Big Band. That’s one hell of a prosthetic. Guy must weigh a ton or more. And it lets him maintain his passions, too. And, assumably, kick great amounts of ass.

After that was Tora and Poppi, who Jesse had become somewhat familiarized with. Just a furball and his robot against the world. At the very least, I can rely on them to not make any machines that require ridiculous amounts of button mashing…I can, right? Yeah, I think I can.

Third was Nadia, who was covered in scars. So she can break herself apart? Aw, sick. That really would make someone difficult to kill. You’d probably have to target the head almost exclusively, even then it could just fall off and roll around. That’s so grim. Wonder if I’ll get to see it in action.

Fourth was Raz, another member of Yellow team. The kid was an enthusiastic psychic. And…his weakness is water? Was that hyperbole? He’s not made of paper, is he?

Fifth was Wonder Red. Uh huh. Well, shit, he’s done better about maintaining secrecy than I have. Then again his HQ isn’t under siege in some kind of hell zone, probably. At some point I’ll need to get the Seekers up there to help out. Hopefully there’s a Guardian up there, otherwise the Oldest House might just be a distraction from the task at hand.

Sixth was Roxas, whom she’d raced with, and a member of the same organization Ram and others were with. Hopefully he could shed some light on our mysterious ‘benefactors’.

Seventh was Primrose, someone Jesse considered her friend. Or as close as she had gotten to one. Her introduction was just as mysterious and alluring as she wanted it to be, no doubt about it. Assumably. ‘Feminine wiles’ hadn’t really ever been on Jesse’s list of weaknesses. WIles of any kind, really. Eight was Therion, and his introduction was pretty much exactly what Jesse guessed it’d be like.

Ninth was someone named Ace Cadet. His actual name is Ace Cadet? Or is this one of those ‘earn your name’ civilizations? Must be. Regardless, he was plucky and capable, a real hero type in the most traditional of senses.

Tenth was Midna, somebody else Jesse knew. She did a bit of showing off and gave a bit more insight into the world she was from. She’d kind of changed shape a lot since Jesse had known her. It’s going to be even harder to nail down people’s personalities if they keep doing fusions…

Eleventh was the entire Koopa Troop. Bowser and Peach, working together. Who would have guessed? There’s his kid, the wizard and…I don’t recognize the little one from anywhere. She must be new. All four of them combined and they make a formidable, balanced force all on their own. But isn’t Junior- I mean, he’s a literal baby? That’s a baby. A smart baby sure, but that is a baby.

Twelfth was a giant insect queen. Personally I’ve got no problem letting these people call me minions and subjects. It’s funny and makes them happy, and is pretty harmless. As long as none of them start trying to…repress me or whatever.

Thirteenth was a healing robot who seemed friendly enough. She mostly went over her abilities, so Jesse assumed she was very performance focused. Makes sense, given that she’s a robot. She’s probably programmed for service, though with Fusions involved there’s no telling how she could change.

Fourteenth was a robot that specialized in robotics. So…does she build Susie’s? Or just other robots? Maybe she just repairs them or something. It’d be pretty weird if she was making robots, right? I dunno, I guess not, robots gotta come form somewhere.

Fifteenth was a duo of girls, Karin and Sakura. Both martial artists. One spent way too much time practicing talking about herself. Apparently she’d done it a lot. And the other was fairly unremarkable, which in itself was somewhat remarkable. Fourty pounds? Maybe not. That’s…impossible.

Sixteenth was- man there are lot of people. Sixteenth was Geralt of Rivia. I am not going to be able to remember all of these names. Another monster hunter, though far more grizzled and somewhat monsteresque himself. Though she couldn’t guess what was natural and what was the result of Fusions.

Seventeenth was…an angel! Lady Palun-...who? Okay, so, probably not a biblical angel. A video game angel who can shoot lasers or something. Nope, nope, he has a magic bow. Makes sense.

Eighteenth was…a weird child. With emotional based powers. It either made no sense or made a lot of sense that he had mood powers while being…flat. Personality wise. She squinted at the drawing but from where she was she couldn’t make out much. He probably had it figured out.

Nineteenth was…eh. Jesse. Why not.

---

Silently she stepped up onto the picnic table and rolled her shoulders, her dark eyes scanning over the Seekers for a brief moment, making eye contact with several. Brushing her red hair out of her face she cleared her throat.

“My name’s Jesse Faden. I can move things without touching them, and I have a gun that never runs out of bullets. And one that does a bunch of weird stuff. I like horror movies, exploring, and…this.” She gestured vaguely at the Seekers and all around her, indicating the entire scenario they were in, or perhaps scenarios like it.


She produced the Service Weapon, it’s shifting, disconnected black pieces forming the impression of a gun. “This is the bullet one. Don’t try to use it because you’ll probably kill yourself.”

She cleared her throat again, figuring she might as well bring it up. “Since I have all your attention: My people got put into a dangerous situation in a city far North. They’re capable and can probably hold on for the foreseeable future, but I’d like to go help them out at some point when we get around to it. All right. That’s it. Go team.” She pressed her lips together and did a little pump of her fist before stepping down and rejoining the crowd.

World of Light

Sakura Level 8: 38/80
Karin Level 3: 15/30
Location: Twilight Town
Word Count: 2,016
Points Gained: 3 (+20 +8)
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 8: 69/80

Karin Level 4: 16/40 (pending)

Karin arrived dramatically in port, boldly convincing everyone of the Tinkerslug’s harmlessness, and the friendliness of the Seekers. After settling where the Tinkerslug would be kept in the meantime, the two Street Fighters reunited in the docks. Sakura’s spirits had, naturally, rebounded somewhat since nearly being killed by Risky and that whole business on the ship. At the very least she was able to move past all of it to focus on the event at hand.

”This is pretty exciting…I met up with the Seekers right before we picked our first missions. I really feel like I’m one of them, now! Not like before. The team is assembling once again!” Sakura said, clenching her fists and shaking them up and down, a skip in her step.

”I see. I assume you and I will be going on the same mission, then?” Karin asked.

”Yeah, duh! I went through all that work trying to get you back to normal. I’m not gonna give you up after just one battle.”

”...We must have that rematch.” Karin muttered under her breath. She glanced around at all the colorful characters being gathered. ”Is this everyone?” Karin asked, she prepared to clap her hands together to signify everyone should be quiet.

Peach fired off her gun, though, and began talking in a very leaderly way. Karin transitioned into wrapping a blonde ringlet around her finger. ”I’ll go after this one.” She said, pointing to Big Band as he spoke.

”Eh? So soon? No way.” Sakura said. She found herself hesitant to step up onto the little picnic table.

Karin glanced at Sakura but refocused on Big Band. He was big, and he had a band. A one man show, as it were. He seemed like a strong force to be reckoned with. A literal tank. Personality wise, he was on the level, with a distinct noir charm about him.

”Sugoi..!” Sakura said, trying to make a game of his heavy footfalls, trying to maintain her balance on her tippy toes while he walked. Sakura clapped after he finished his speech, but stopped after nobody else did.

Sakura agreed- Tora was cute. She’d seen the two of them briefly before Blue and Yellow teams were created. Nevertheless, if he invented a robot like Poppi all on his own, he was super smart.

When Poppi came up after him, Karin couldn’t help but be grated by the way they spoke. ‘Poppi is Poppi’? What kind of inane sentence is that? Must they constantly speak in the third person? Let alone this ‘meh, meh,’ business.

”Hey, they say their own names all the time. Kinda like you, Karin!” Sakura noted, cheerfully nudging Karin’s shoulder.

”I do not! Not as much as that. Only so my enemies know who they’re dealing with.” Karin said defensively. It was like Sakura could read her thoughts, and it was extremely annoying.

Next up was Miss Fortune, or Nadia, who Sakura liked a lot. She clapped this time even if nobody else did. Karin watched coolly, not sure what to make of Nadia’s moral fiber from the short time they had known each other. And the puns were not nearly as endearing as she thought they were. Or, apparently they were, which didn’t bode well for the intelligence of the rest of the Seekers.

As Raz went on stage, Sakura’s jaw dropped. The kid’s list of abilities were as fantastical as they were outlandish. ”You can enter people’s minds?!” Sakura said. ”That’s so awesome!”

Karin thought that if nothing else, Raz was earnest. Extreme enthusiasm had long stopped getting on her nerves. For goodness sake, her best friend had somehow ended up being Sakura Kasugano, the most sickeningly sweet person on the planet.

When Red stepped up on stage, Sakura grinned excitedly. ”He’s a real life American comic book hero!” She said. ”With a secret identity and everything.”

”I suppose it isn’t an unreasonable precaution. Still, I can’t imagine a scenario in this world where knowing one’s true name would give them away. Especially as a Seeker, a group who essentially declared war on god. We’ve hardly been subtle thus far.” Karin said.

”Ah, bah humboog.” Sakura dismissed Karin’s reasoning with a wave of her hand.

”...humbug.” Karin corrected after a second of attempted restraint.

”Shh, this guy looks important. He looks like those mystery dudes.” Sakura said, patting the air in front of Karin’s mouth and staring intently at Roxas. Her hunch was right- this guy was involved. Infact, he used to be a member. Karin had only heard what Sakura had told her, so this was an interesting development.

”Welcome!” She called out to Roxas as he stepped off stage. He was still all Galeem’d up, which meant he was in need of a friendly beating later on. If he was ever going to find his friends, he’d need the truth of the world revealed ASAP.

Next up was Primrose, who stole the show. ”Wow, dance fighting!” Sakura said, cupping the sides of her face. ”I wonder if she could teach me any of her moves?”

”...I’m not really sure her moves would be your style, Sakura-chan.” Karin said.

Next up was Therion who seemed…pretty straight forward! His speech was precisely the reason Sakura wasn’t exactly eager to get on top of the picnic table herself. Karin was waiting for Sakura to say it was their turn, but at some point they would go up. Normally, Karin would just go up by herself, but she imagined that for the time being the two Street Fighter girls came as a package, as it were.

Sakura clapped as Ace went up, and clapped as he got done. He really was super cool. His weapons were the size of small cars, and he fought giant monsters for a living. And his name was ‘Ace Cadet’. Might as well be ‘Captain Coolguy.’ Or ‘Badass Youngman.’ Plus, he saved her life, so that gives him extra points if somebody out there was keeping score. Karin also liked Ace Cadet, having fought alongside him briefly. Overall he seemed like a brave, on the level type of fellow who could be relied upon in battle. And, he knew his own weaknesses, which was important, and a humble thing to announce in front of everyone.

Midna, the Twilight Princess (Sakura’s facial expressions went on a journey in the sentence where Midna said that part and dismissed the connection immediately) was up next. And she was, yes, a powerful sorceress who had been on many adventures. Her magic show earned vigorous applause from Sakura and polite applause from Karin. ”Man…I wish I could shoot lightning and wolves.” Sakura said wistfully, which earned a withering look from Karin.

”What, fire not good enough for you?” Karin said. So many projectiles had been slung Karin’s way in her life she was loath to imagine the possibility of more. Especially from her rival.

Next up was the koopa troop, who Sakura had become quite accustomed to. Mister King Bowser, Kamek, Junior, and Rika were staples of Blue Team.

Karin was hardly impressed by Bowser’s boasting. To be perfectly honest, he seemed to be the least competent out of all three of them. Excluding Rika, through no fault of her own. He was a big brute who fancied himself a tyrant and was too blind to see how little everyone took him and his little supervillain act seriously. Who wanted to be evil? It was a shockingly immature mindset.

Sakura was still rooting for Rika, and was happy to see her blending in so seamlessly with the eccentric koopa troop. It made her miss Bella, though, though she was glad that Abyssal had chosen a happy retirement

Next up was Sectonia, who’s presence made Sakura’s chin recede into her neck as she leaned away from the Insect Queen.

”There’s two of them.” Karin said, pinching her nose. Bowser and Sectonia. The King and Queen of villainy. ”I can only imagine they’ll pick different missions to maintain their separate delusions. If not then we’ll be in for quite the show.”

”She’s kinda scary.”

Next up was Blazermate, the friendly healing, slightly creepy robot. She was undoubtedly useful in combat, though personality wise Sakura had no idea what to make of her. She figured she had to be a good guy if she was with the Seekers, but she’d barely conversed with the robot and found her zombifying and cavalier nature somewhat off-putting.

Susie came next, and Sakura tried not to squee. ”Ah…kawaii!” She said under her breath. ”A business bot!”

”She’s a girl CEO! Like you, Karin!”

”Quite.” Karin said. ”It’s…not exactly the same thing, but yes, she is.” How many oafish, complacent old men had she crushed in her time…a number not worth remembering.

---

There was a brief pause after Susie’s turn. ”All right, enough. Sakura, I’m going. And then you’re going after me.” Karin said. Sakura was flustered.

”W-wait, can’t I go first so I don’t have to follow you up?” Sakura pleaded, but Karin just ‘Oh ho ho’d’ and flipped up onto the picnic table.

A gust of wind seemed to pick up her golden ringlets as she set a hand on her chest. ”Seekers! Before you stands Karin Kanzuki. I am a grand master of the martial art my family invented and passed down for centuries, known as Kanzuki-ryu Kakutojutsu.”

”I have managed a global business conglomerate since I was fifteen years old. And since I was a child I have overseen the training and deployment of the Kanzuki Family Ninja Army. Though, as any great leader, I lead from the front and by example. I have dedicated the better part of my life to the perfection of my body, my mind, and my skill. My fists and feet are my weapons, and they are deadly ones at that. My qualifications and accolades are too many to be named here in this brief introduction. I hope you shall all prove yourselves worthy of fighting at my side.” She swished her hair back and forth.

”Our task is a great and noble one, dedicated to freedom. In trouncing Galeem and his forces we will prove the strength of the mortal spirit supersedes time, space, and the barrier between worlds.” She clenched her fist in the air and grinned righteously.

”Now I should like to introduce you to my dear friend and rival, Sakura Kasugano.” She applauded and hopped off her podium picnic table.

Sheepishly, Sakura climbed on top of it and looked at all of them. Wow, they were all looking at her. It was her six year spelling bee all over again. She was eager and reticent in equal parts, causing her to fidget for a few moments.

”Pleased to meet you.” Sakura said, moving her hands to her sides and bowing.

”L-like my friend said, my name is Sakura. This is my first time saving the world, and um…I know two languages and ate 40 pounds of hot dogs in a contest once!” She said, nodding. Bowing again, she prepared to step off the picnic table, only stopped by Karin frantically and angrily gesturing from the sidelines.

”O-oh! Right. I’m good at fighting. Punching and kicking and all that stuff!” She did a little hop and punched her fists together. ”You guys are great. We can totally win.” She smiled. ”Okay, that’s me in a nutshell, I’m getting down now, buh-bye.” She quickly descended from the table and hurried to Karin’s side.

There, she flattened her skirt with her palms and exhaled, glancing around. ”How’d I do?”

”You are… Karin began harshly, but her expression softened. ”...an idiot.” She finished. Maybe she didn’t soften that much. As the next person went up, Karin failed to not stew in her thoughts.

”You could have at least mentioned you were a prodigy. If nothing else it would make me look better, being your rival and all.”

”...wanna fight about it?” Sakura asked, grinning.

”I would love too.” Karin said. ”Later. And I’m going to get you out of that school uniform so people start taking you seriously, for goodness sake.”

World of Light

Risky Business

Sakura and Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Ace Cadet’s @Yankee VS the Tinkerslug Marauders

”Ace!” Sakura said happily, briefly glancing over her shoulder. ”You’re here! That’s great!”

The hunter in question skated closer to the two street fighters, finding it humorous that on the way toward a giant enemy creature Sakura was surprised to see him, not the other way around. "Of course! I -"

”From above!” Karin shouted, swerving to the side while the Cadet slid the opposite way. Sakura threw a fireball at the cannon ball, but missed due to Karin’s dodge. Another cannon aimed their way and Sakura focused on it this time. The cannon boomed and the ball swooshed ominously towards their area- not direct enough to hit, but enough to slow them down. ”Hadoken!” She called out. Fireball and cannonball collided, detonating the massive payload early and with a tremendous explosion the shattered pieces of the Tinkerslug’s projectile scattered across the water’s surface.

”Better!” Karin said, still rowing up a storm. It wasn’t exactly a very dignified charge, her upper body zipping back and forth as she worked, hunched over.

As the three drew closer, their frantic efforts to weather the Tinkerslug’s onslaught earned them the attention of Risky Boots, who snickered down at them from the vessel’s crow’s nest. “Oho? You’re coming straight to me? You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that!” She signaled to her gunners to change tact. “Aft Cannons, arc fire!”

”N-not too late for you to surrender!” Sakura managed to say back, watching with wide eyes as a veritable storm of cannonballs be shadowed against the overcast sky.

The top cannons ceased their long-range bombardment of the Adrian’s port side, already mauled and set aflame by the explosives, and pivoted their aim upward. After a moment, both of them fired in impossibly rapid succession, each sending a volley of four explosive cannonballs in a high arc to rain down in the general vicinity of the three attackers. Even if they somehow dodged all the potshots, the effect of the blasts’ concussive force on the water’s surface would wreck havoc on their approach.

The good news was that for now, they'd technically halted the Tinkerslug's assault on the Seeker's ship. That was all well and good, and now they just had to survive the cannonballs being aimed at them. The Cadet's eyes were on the fusillade, considering whether they could outrun the blasts. Then, he swapped his arrow coating to the blast kind - after seeing the hadouken intercept and destroy one right in front of him, he figured rather than running another explosive impact would work just as well to rupture them before they got too close and it was too late.

"Max I can shoot at once is three!" he advised, preparing a Triple Volley. One of the girls would have to clean up the remaining cannonball, assuming he even hit all three. His aim was great, but unstable ground and moving targets in the middle of battle? It was a tall order. Even so he let the three arrows fly, and they rushed upward to meet their targets. Two struck dead on, detonating the cannonballs high above them. The third glanced the projectile on it's side. It ignited the blast powder on the arrowhead all the same, and the explosion pushed the cannonball off course where it splashed into the water.

Karin said nothing, trying to figure out where the best place to move this damn rowboat was. Sakura nodded, making a noise of assent. ”Hadoken!” She cried out, firing another fireball. It missed, and she fired another. This time it connected, and the cannonball exploded over their heads. Karin grunted as she was flattened against the ever buoyant rowboat, grabbing onto the edges as her gold coils briefly dipped into the sea water. Sakura yelped as she was knocked off into the drink once again. Knocked to the side by the concussive force, Karin would have to row back into position to get to where Sakura was. Under the water, the force traveled well, and a big bubble of air escaped Sakura’s mouth as several shock waves hit her. Desperately, she pushed herself to the surface where she gasped loudly for air, reaching out her arms.

She felt the leather and iron of the Ace Cadet's kote as he shifted gears for a quick water rescue, slightly singed by the heat of the explosions but no worse for wear. He grasped her hands and bodily hauled her out of the water and deposited her hastily back into the small rowboat.

Karin shoved Sakura upright, and the coughing brunette brushed the wet hair and bandana out of her face and gave a barely noticeable thumbs up as thanks. Karin, companion collected, picked up the pace to get to the boat where at least they would be safe from cannonfire and drowning.

”Prepare!” Karin shouted, whether that was a threat to her enemies or a warning to her allies was unclear. Either way, she was closing the gap and fully intended to leap onto the ship and scale the slug. The Cadet, part shipgirl or not, felt almost compelled to answer her authoritative tone with an, "Aye aye!"

A big, ugly visage suddenly loomed over the Tinkerslug’s railing, but Karin didn’t get much time to process it before an anchor zoomed her way. ”Oh, wow!” Unable to be blocked, it latched on to her and yanked her straight off her boat like a caught fish, reeling her up to the leviathan ship’s deck. There, a couple dozen Tinkerbats awaited her, eager to overrun the unlucky Street Fighter with sheer numbers. Worst of all, however, was the enemy who brought her hence: Risky Boots’ ghastly quartermaster, the Jolly Reaver. Questionably alive and seemingly one with an octopus whose tentacles functioned as his missing left arm, the piratical ghoul wielded an anchor hook, a heavy cutlass, and a flintlock all at the same time, with a fiery cannon strapped to his back whose barrel was split from overuse. In mere seconds Karin had been separated from her allies and stranded in the middle of a feeding frenzy. As Risky looked down from above, the first wave of Tinkerbats came at her from all sides.

Karin planted her foot against the railing and raised her arms as bladed weapons came down upon her at all sides. Where she blocked one weapon, blue ki sparks spread, guiding the others away from her. Still, her arms were cut into and her jacket started to fray, and around the edges the sharper blades managed to find her side. Fortunately, multiple opponents meant her ‘meters’ filled much quicker, and she felt her fighting spirit well up within. ”Ressen Chou!” Blocking one swing with a satisfying thwack of her arm on wood, she pushed forward into an elbow that carried the wind with it. It collided with the nearest Tinkerbat and shoved him off his feet. The others would feel the impact to a lesser extent, giving her time to prepare a proper defense. Karin sneered at the grotesque quartermaster in front of her. How this lumbering thing could be trusted with any amount of authority was beyond her. Karin sharpened her gaze, and as she cut a smooth movement through the air with her hands, developed a menacing aura. Whatever Tinkerbat took the next step forward would surely encounter the beating of a lifetime. This was an apparent fact, regardless of intelligence or loyalty. One would have to willingly take a step off a cliff in order to continue to overwhelm her.

”Karin!” Sakura called out, bending her knees in Steve’s small rowboat. ”Yoisho!” With an impressive standing high jump, she flung herself upwards onto the third from the lowest rung and began to scamper up the ladder.

"Sakura!" Came the Ace Cadet's voice from below. When she turned back to him the Cadet held a familiar looking device up, one of the things he'd used on her during their spar. "I'm gonna see what kind of damage I can do to this slug, but here, catch!" He tossed the sonic bomb to her, a little support if she found herself and Karin overwhelmed when she made it onto the deck.

She plucked it out of the air, grinning. ”Sweet! Thanks!” For a moment she thought, but then she just shoved it into the side of her bloomers and used the pressure of her waistband to keep it in place.

Up above, the Jolly Reaver broke the stalemate. A foul odor preceded a toxic, choking gas, emanating from his putrid, ever-swelling mass. The misma, gross enough to deal mental damage and noxious enough to deal real damage, affected Karin’s composure enough for the Tinkerbat mob to try their luck. The critters approached four or five at a time, but at least they seemed to be on the slower and duller side. If the perfect victor wanted to get off the back foot, she’d need to break through these goons and get away from the Reaver.

”Ugh! You revolting-” The swarm began to close in, and Karin clenched her fists, frustrating. As the first group of four came in, she kicked one square in the chest. Then she span into a ”Ressen Ha!”, pinwheeling elegantly over the group and bringing her outstretched arms down like hammers onto the Reaver’s grotesque form. Would it connect, she would slide her legs violently into his and push underneath him, launching him head first onto the ground while she switched sides.

The Reaver had a lot of meat on him, but Karin wielded a lot of strength. She managed to shove him and his rot into the Tinkerbats, squashing one flat as the others floundered. In doing so she got a good look at the octopus on his back, which seemed to be multitasking to an impressive degree with its tentacles in order to hold up the cannon, work as the monster’s left arm, and keep a hold of its flintlock. Still, that accounted for only a small portion of the Tinkerbats on board, and now with Karin center-stage the goons could come at her from all sides. They crowded her way, scimitars upheld, to take their chances.

Karin frowned, eyelids at half height, eyebrows low. ”Well, this is just wonderful.” She quipped flatly. ”I shall turn that infernal octopus into a delectable, exotic meal.” As the Tinkerbats came in, she back flipped, dodging an entire group of swings at once. Behind them, she landed and dashed in, bringing her palm gracefully up and popping one single Tinkerbat fifteen feet into the air. Karin froze, having to hold that pose for a second as she recovered her momentum. And that was that- soon the others turned around and she backpedaled, defending herself from the strikes as best she could. She popped one in the mouth, kicked another in the legs, and then narrowly avoided getting one of her coils cut off as she jerked her head backward.

At that point, Sakura leapt from over the railing, arms and legs pinwheeling. ”Karin-saaan!” On one Tinkerbat she landed on his shoulders, before shoving him into the ground as she leaped forward. Two more bandana-clad heads were kicked as she used them like stepping stones to reach Karin. She landed on one Tinkerbat right infront her, driving his head into the ground with her feet. Then she span on his head, extending her leg out and knocking three others clean over and away into their fellows. After that she cartwheel off and launched a ‘slow’ and steady Hadoken rumbling into the crowd, shoving a large group back. She punched her fists together and slapped the side of her head.

”You doin’ okay?” She teased.

”Of course!” Karin responded immediately.

”If it makes you feel better, I’m only this good because of all the practice I got fighting your army of ninjas.” Sakura said, shrugging. That and fighting SIN, Shadoloo, and Yakuza. But she left those three out.The two were shoulder to shoulder, facing down the pirates. Karin smiled. Sakura saying that actually did make her feel better.

A bang from above interrupted the friends’ reunion, follow very shortly by a triple shot of leaden bullets. “Welcome aboard, ladies!” Risky called, dangling from the rigging up there. “Save the teary reunion for later, ‘cause you’ll need them for crying once we’ve beaten the tar out of you! Get them, men!” The remaining throng of Tinkerbats surrounded them and moved in, followed by the Jolly Reaver, who attempted to interpose his rot-addled, blade-swinging mass between the two Street Fighters to separate them.

Both ladies blocked the bullets, dealing not insignificant chip damage. ”Bring it!” Sakura said up to Risky, pumping her fists.

”Indeed!” Karin smirked confidently, adjusting her hair coils.

As the Tinkerbats and the Reaver closed in, the Street Fighters went to work.

Karin stepped towards the Reaver and crouched, shooting her leg out. Striking him there and preventing his forward movement, she shot forward and thrust her palm up into his body to launch him into the air and get him out of the way. ”Tenko!” If anything, she would launch the quartermaster towards Risky Boots above. Instead of Karin having to go on the defensive immediately as before, Sakura covered her friend and socked a Tinkerbat square in the ‘mouth.’ She parried aside a few more strikes and swept out her leg, knocking three over in one. In close quarters, the bodies of a swarm of enemies could be used against each other to decent effect. Like bowling. It wouldn’t get any knockouts but it would trip them up.

One swung at Karin with a bladed polearm, and she promptly shattered the shaft with a strike of her hand and palm thrusted the pirate away. At that point, the Reaver would fall back to Earth and squish one of his allies. Karin moved to the next one, snatching his wrist and flipping him easily over head, crashing him into another one of his allies.

Sakura was brawling up a storm, her bare forearms lined with small cuts from blocking bladed weapons, and an exhilarated smile on her face. ”Whatever she’s paying you, it isn’t enough!” She taunted, firing out two one handed fireballs into two Tinkerbats on either side, before ducking a swing and driving an elbow into their solar plexus. They had worked through a third of the Tinkerbats without really breaking a sweat. Lacking any real AoE attacks meant they had to put the work in though, so it was a matter of consistency and persistence.

If the friends worked together like a well-oiled machine, however, the Reaver was the spanner in the works. Despite Karin’s strength, he’d fallen well short of Risky on account of his bulk, and once back on his feet he made himself as much of a problem as he could. What he lacked in damage he made up for in bulk and disruption; since just getting close to the girls meant dealing damage to them with his Rot, they needed to either deal with him or move every time he got near. He gave Sakura a taste of his hook right in the middle of a finishing attack on a Tinkerbat, saving the enemy and yanking her right into his putrid danger zone. Not long after that, he started doing something even stranger. Whenever the boarding party managed to put a Tinkerbat on death’s door but not quite finish it off, the Reaver would kill it instead, permanently boosting his own health and damage bit by bloody bit.

”What the-?!” Sakura, still coughing as she backed up from the rot, was obviously even more disgusted by the behavior of the Reaver. ”That’s messed up!” She accused the Reaver and by extension, Risky. Obviously they were pirates trying to kill her, but killing your own guys like that?! That was just wrong. Given that none of the Tinkerbats seemed to mind though, she wondered if they were really ‘guys’ at all.

One of the Tinkerbats came in for a swing she grabbed its arm, before tossing it over her shoulder and thoroughly overboard. Then she pointed at the Reaver. ”Yeah, chomp on that you-!” Her undoubtedly clever insult was cut off as she coughed again, eyes watering from the Rot. ”Ew!”

Karin ducked another swing and sent a Tinkerbat puffing into purple smoke with a knife-edged chop. She was growing quite tired of this repugnant abomination. Buckling down, she EX-dashed across the deck of the ship in the blink of an eye, a trail of golden light following in her wake. She turned and smashed her back into the Jolly Reaver’s, crushing into him hard enough to crumple. "Mujinkyaku!” She popped him back into the air with a pair of kicks, and then finally slashed across his backside with her legs, sending him crashing near the railing. Meanwhile, Sakura covered Karin by stepping behind Karin and roundhouse kicking a few Tinkerbats away.

While Sakura and Karin battled on the ship's deck, the Ace Cadet set his sights on the ship itself. It didn't appear to be a boat resting on top of a creature - rather there were quarters and cannons physically built into the snail's shell. So if the snail were to be defeated and turn to ash, its entire crew would be in the drink taking them right out of the battle. Now, how quickly could the Cadet accomplish his self-imposed task? Faster than the Street Fighters could take down everyone on board? Time would tell.

He skated around to the Tinkerslug's face, loosing the giant arrows at it. They struck the slug's skin, sinking into its soft flesh. With no natural armor besides its shell, this wasn't surprising - but even with the arrows embedded into it the Tinkerslug seemed unphased. Undeterred, the Cadet continued shooting, including with his rigging. What damage the slug took was minimal at best.

Okay, so piercing and shots won't do much to it, he figured. Time for a change of equipment. As the hunter switched to his sword and shield the Tinkerslug's gaze finally settled on him, as if seeing him for the first time. Its eyes were covered by the red filter of Galeem, and though mostly ineffective so far the Cadet's attacks had damaged it. The Tinkerslug shifted, using the only weapon available to it: its mouth.

With a lurch the creature closed it's mouth around the Cadet's sword arm. Blunt as they were its teeth were made for crushing, and once it was done with this limb it would be trying for the rest of him next - not that the Cadet was about to let that happen.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, tugging his arm at first and finding that it only worsened the pain. With his other arm he rammed the Master Bang's shield into the Tinkerslug's face. It appeared to do just as little damage as his earlier attacks. He switched his tactics to smashing it in its eye. The creature groaned, wincing, but with two other eyes glaring at the man it did not loosen its hold. The Tinkerslug reared its head back up, taking the Cadet with it. Dangling in the air the Cadet's rigging unloaded its ammo into his captor, and the blades extended to cut at the Tinkerslug, to no avail.

"This is not exactly how I planned this to go!" the hunter complained to himself, struggling in the slug's jaws. His arm was going to be a mess after this, it was already throbbing painfully. Only when his next shield bash struck the slug's tooth and shattered the enamel with a sickening crack did the Tinkerslug let go, wailing its discomfort. Its movement threw off the aim of its cannons, and with the end of their resumed bombardment following the Seekers’ approach, the gutted Adrian was finally no longer under direct attack. Angry now, the Tinkerslug began to move, trying to smash Ace with its head or bull into him and crush him beneath its bulk.

Glad that those fighting back at the Adrian wouldn't have to deal with any more shots headed their way when they already had their hands full, the Cadet kited the slug's lunges. He circled the creature, watching as it followed his lead until it, and its armaments, were turned almost completely around.

"There we go," he said to himself. Now he could really put his full focus into it. The slug made to slam its body on top of him again and he skated just out of reach before making a lunge of his own, sword first. He could tell within the first few strikes that it was more effective than the bow had been, but he was still finding it difficult to get through its skin. What gives? Its body was squishy and it didn't seem like anything else was protecting it. Was it just super thick skinned?

The underside of its head came down again. This time the Cadet blocked it with the shield, but given he was standing on the sea and not solid ground the force sent him directly down into the water. With no better time to try attacking its underside the hunter raked his sword across it, but found no weak spots. When he surfaced again there was an expression of clear confusion on his face, mingled with frustration. There had to be some trick going on, he'd faced armored monsters with less resistance than this thing. He went through his mental inventory, eventually deciding that if nothing else, an explosion could probably soften it up - and he didn't need a cannon of his own when he had a barrel.

The Cadet retrieved the Alchemy Barrel from his bag, and with a button press it rapidly grew to proper size. In went some of the gunpowder he'd gotten from the Alcamoth, along with some of the various things he'd picked up from the ship graveyard like flints. Without many options for attack the Tinkerslug was predictable enough to dodge while he prepared the fireball. Once it was ready and thoroughly shaken, the hunter held the barrel tight as it shot its explosive payload at the monstrous snail.

His homebrewed explosive was just what the doctor ordered. The bomb’s uproarious explosion provoked a violent reaction from the Tinkerslug, delivering such a jolt that it flung a handful of Tinkerbats from its deck and threw Sakura, Karin, and the Jolly Reaver to the deck, while Risky dangled from the rigging overhead. In an almost comedic fashion the Tinkerslug’s head wavered, wobbling from side to side, before slapping down onto the water with spirals in its eyes.

Seemed like the Cadet had stumbled upon its weak point. It was a hardy slug for sure, but now that it was stunned it would be much easier pickings. Hopefully the ship's lurching as the Tinkerslug went down wasn't too much for the girls up top to handle - he expected it wouldn’t be, and besides he was close enough to the action that if they were in real danger he’d be able to hear them. With that in mind the hunter grinned and dove in close to make sure it was really down for the count.

Sakura landed awkwardly on the sonic grenade she was keeping at her side. ”Itai- I gotta invest in some pockets.” She said to herself as she kip-upped to her feet. Karin pulled herself back to standing using the railing, flicking her ringlets over her shoulder. Both of them were rather quick to get up when knocked down, their quick rises taking less than a second. Still, both girls were short of breathe from how much time they had spent in the Rot, but it was worth it if they could eliminate the Reaver early instead of dealing with him the whole time.

”We’re winning!” Sakura cheered. ”As for you-” The Reaver didn’t seem to be the most mobile sort, and he had just gotten knocked down by Karin before the ship exploded. Sakura flashed orange and leapt up into the air, bending backwards and clasping her fists together over her head. She dropped upon him like a hammer, and the impact sent them both upwards.

”Ichi- ni- san! She followed up with one extra hit that popped them both even higher, before the third hit sent the Reaver crashing back into the deck, while Sakura soared above. There she ambitiously landed on the rigging, closer to Risky herself. ”You don’t actually like that gross zombie guy down there, do you?” she asked.

The pirate shrugged. “He does his job, which is more than I can say of most people!” She rolled her eyes as she idly toyed with her flintlock, instead of shooting at Sakura immediately. “Don’t even get me started on the sisters, ugh. Always playing by their own rules.”

Karin, meanwhile, scooped up a downed Tinkerbat with her leg and foot, tossed him up, and slung him over board. At this point their formation was thoroughly scattered, and she dashed from Tinkerbat to Tinkerbat, dealing with them all individually in short order. It wasn’t long before the Reaver was back on his feet, however, and this time he decided to deal with Karin personally. While she dispatched a Tinkerbat he hooked and pulled her in, but instead of a normal hit he unleashed his ultimate, Dismember. Karin found herself completely disabled as the monster drew her in closer still, hacking away with every limb and weapon at his disposal. In just three seconds the street fighter lost a third of her life, and the Reaver healed himself for the same amount. The handful of leftover Tinkerbats swarmed in to add their own pokes and slaps to the mix, as well.

"Aah!” Karin had screamed in pain as she fell onto the ground, yellow sparks of Ki flying from her body as she reeled from the slashes. A Tinkerbat brought a sword down and she caught it in between her palms, before rolling away. Her jacket had been split on the right shoulder. That bastard had drawn her blood!

Sakura turned her vision downwards, away from the Pirate Queen. She wanted to pursue Risky, but Karin was going to spend too much energy and health if she let her fight it out alone.

”Attaaack!” With a battle cry, Sakura jumped from the rigging and launched a heavy fireball to the Reaver, looking to send him and all the Tinkerbats around him stumbling. When she landed, the impact of her rolling fall rattled the floorboards, tripping up the lesser pirates.

”Take this!” Cashing out, she fired an EX-Hadoken towards the Reaver, the blue fireball leaving a pink streak in the air behind it. Even being near the impact turned a Tinkerbat into poofy smoke. As the Reaver flew off his feet, Karin dashed in and under him, launching him upwards with a Tenko. Sakura had rolled forward and jumped up and off the mast, meeting him in mid air. Once again she brought her hammer fists down on top of him, sending him crashing down to where Karin was waiting.

"Ressen Ha!” Karin finished up the tag team combo by becoming a veritable pinwheel of golden destruction, sawing into him with her palms as she rose up like a rocket. The two were making this up as they went along, and as a result Sakura was caught in the crossfire, her athletic fall back to the ground eliciting a surprised ‘oops’ from the brunette as she flailed inelegantly onto the deck. Regardless, at the zenith of her EX-Uppercut she pivoted and crushed the Reaver downward, sending him hurtling back first into the mast.

For as much as he’d boosted his own health from teamkilling Tinkerbats and healed himself up through Dismember, there was a limit to how much punishment the Reaver could take. The mast cracked as his bloody bulk struck it, and though it didn’t shatter or snap, all the amusement left Risky’s face. Between the mast and the Tinkerslug itself, which seemed to be getting the worst of its exchange with the Ace Cadet, the Marauders needed to stop fooling around soon. “Get up, Pudge!” she shouted down. “You’re supposed to be a butcher, aren’t you? Not just some stinking lump of meat!”

Any sane person would have stayed down, but Pudge, the Jolly Reaver, had long since forsaken his humanity. Eking feculent smog, he rose to his feet for one final bloodbath.

Karin tsked, shaking her head. ”Foolishness. A Kanzuki grants no mercy to monsters.” With that she dashed forward, one last time into the fog. Baiting out a reactive swing from the zombie, she stepped gracefully out of the way, and much less gracefully shattered into his kneecaps with a spinning leg kick. She crossed her ankles and lowered her body with something almost like a curtsey, but she brought the back of her fist down into his head, caving in his chest. For the coups de grâce she rolled into the air, spinning. When she was perfectly aligned above his head, she grabbed onto it at arms length and pulled both her knees down. One for the Reaver’s skull, the other for the octopus companion. Both were crushed into the deck with a rattling impact that would scatter them both into dust. Karin span back up into an upright position flattened out her skirt with a flourish.

Sakura grimaced. ”Ouch! Brutal.” But then she cracked her knuckles, turning her eyes upward to Risky.

As Pudge fell, Risky rolled her eyes. “Alright, this game is over.” She swung down from the railing, used her hat as a parachute to break her fall, and landed on the deck. With her giant cutlass shining she pointed her off-hand at Sakura. “Catch.”

Her grappling hook zipped out, a tiny blur at high speed. It latched onto Sakura, be it her body or her guard, with a painful clamping sensation.

Sakura gasped in surprise, looking down at where the grapple had pinched the skin of her bare midriff.

Risky then aimed at one of the Tinkerslug’s cannons right alongside the deck and fired again, attaching the other end of the hook to the cannonball. “Bye bye now~!”

Sakura looked up with wide eyes, gasping even harder. She reached for the sonic grenade in her waistband.

At a snap of the pirate’s fingers the cannon fired. Somehow, the cord and both the attach points held, and as the cannonball hurtled away it yanked Sakura with it–instantly and effectively removing her from the equation.

”Shimattaaa!” Sakura yelled as she disappeared into the distance. The sonic grenade rolled to a stop on the surface of the deck after she had fumbled it.

Risky put on a smug smile and drew her flintlock, assuming a battle-ready stance. “One down, one to go!”

Karin ground her teeth. They had meant to destroy the cannons, but hadn’t gotten a chance ever since Karin was unexpectedly pulled up into the ship. ”Fool. Now you have left yourself alone with Kanzuki Karin.” She said, slicing her hands through the air and getting into her battle stance. ”Allow me to educate you on why that was mistake.”

“We’ll see who’s teaching who after I school you!” Risky fired her grappling hook at a middle target. Karin didn’t plan to fall victim to the same maneuver her uncouth friend had, so rather than try to block it she slid deftly out of the way. It shot harmlessly past her and latched onto the head of one of the few remaining Tinkerbats, who’d been creeping up behind the street fighter, and yanked it off its feet. As Risky’s line retracted it dragged her underling across the deck at a blistering speed, poised to sweep Karin’s legs out from under her with the flailing miscreant.

Elbows poshly bent, Karin sharply back flipped over the Tinkerbat and shot her leg out, kicking it in the back of the head and popping it up so it would fly vertically towards Risky instead.

Without hesitation, the pirate executed an upward slash with her oversized cutlass, easily wielding it in one hand to deflect the minion above her at the Tinkerbat’s expense. The moment her grappling hook reeled in, she took action once more. After jamming her sword into the deck for a moment she took a triple spread shot at Karin with her flintlock, aiming her other arm as she did. It grabbed one of the red barrels beside the cabin doors behind her, and shot forward as another makeshift projectile.

Karin had strode forward in her stance, head barely moving up and down as she advanced on her opponent while they made preparations for their next attack. The flintlock was raised and Karin reacted, deflecting one bullet and zig-zagging her upper body to avoid the next two. For the barrel she stepped forward and planted her forward foot. ”Meioken!” Her palm shot out, her other hand horizontal next to her face. There was a gust of wind from the force of the strike, crushing the barrel into wooden bits. Karin was quickly gaining ground on Risky. Yet Risky was smiling. When Karin destroyed her barrel, a vast quantity of black powder had burst from the remnants. Spread far and wide by her powerful blow, it coated both Karin herself and a few square feet of the deck, harmless by itself. Karin looked down at her bold red outfit, now ruined, and frowned. Regardless, she dashed quickly forward, just inside of Risky’s swinging range to cause her to flinch, and then stepped out of range, looking to capitalize on any ill-advised reactions. And if Risky wanted to retreat, well, she’d just be giving up more ground.

As the fistfighter came in Risky went for a huge cleave of her cutlass in an attempt to stop Karin before she could get in punching range, only for her preemptive strike to be preempted in turn. Her lip curled, and rather than attempt to recover herself she doubled down with a follow-up spin kick. As much as she liked her sword, she was no slouch when it came to dishing out punishment with her legs, either.

Karin received a taste of Risky’s infamous boots, spit spraying from her mouth as she spun away from the impact against her jaw. There was a sound like breaking glass as the counter attack broke through more of her health than it usually would due to the Kanzuki leaving herself open for the attack.

There was no time to quip, but Risky grinned devilishly. For a moment there she thought this girl had her, but it looked like both had underestimated one another. Even if her opponent lacked real skill with martial arts, Karin would find herself in hot water very fast if she thought she had the pirate's number. Risky backpedaled just a touch, one step closer to the cabin behind her, and hurled her cutlass at her foe.

Karin held her jaw with her hand for a moment but shrugged off the blow quickly, eyes sharpening once more. Karin felt her body could withstand less than another full dose of the punishment it had taken thus far before she could carry herself no further. The cutlass sliced towards her and she elected to crouch underneath as it whizzed over, barely missing the blonde ringlets that trailed behind her head. Though she couldn’t imagine the enemy would dispose of her weapon so easily, even after proving she was a decent kicker. Karin also noticed Risky was retreating closer to her cabin- no doubt a place full of tricks and weapons. Doing some calculations, Karin dove diagonally forward before rolling into a standing position. Closer to Risky and keeping an eye on that sword of hers.

As Karin repositioned, Risky moved to cut her off. She threw herself forward into a slide kick, conscious of her scimitar’s position, for her opponent had been wise to try keeping an eye on it. Against all laws of physics, the curved greatsword did not obey gravity as it flew, but slowed down in the air while continuing to spin until it came to a stop. The next second it rebounded like a cartoon boomerang, headed back to Risky with enough speed to slice into anything in between them.

”Gracefully!” Karin proclaimed, dodging backward from the slide, her entire body leaving a dark blue trail in its wake. Still under the effects of the V-Shift she stepped forward and struck Risky with an open hand, knocking the pirate queen away and softening her up for later, dealing grey damage. The speeding sword would also fall victim to Karin’s evasive maneuver as she bent backwards underneath it, eyes closed with a smug smile on her face, before she settled back into her stance.

Rubbing her new bruise on her shoulder with one hand, Risky reached out with the other to catch her cutlass on the way back. She then vaulted backward up to the rear deck, landing next to the wheel in an impressive acrobatic display, and put her grappling hook to work. One after another the pirate hooked a barrel, then attached the other end to a spot opposite Karin, sending three more projectiles in quick succession from a variety of angles.

In a series of dance-like maneuvers and leaps, Karin twisted away from one barrel and leapt over another with an aerial cartwheel, avoiding the third one by being out of position. Karin landed on the railing of the Tinkerslug, looking the picture of prim and proper despite being covered in black powder dust. She dashed to the back wall of the front deck for cover, moved to the side out of Risky’s view, and then wall-climbed and vaulted over the railing of the rear deck to join Risky there from an unpredictable spot. Karin wanted to get a particular distance away from Risky, about 15 feet, so she could punish any more projectile attacks. Thus she walked forward, adjusting her footwork as she went, looking for Risky’s next move.

Rather than face her opponent head-on, the pirate took the chance to escape again. She leaped over the rear deck railing and grappled to the center mast’s yardarm, swinging beneath it to speed to the ship’s prow. Despite her agility she nearly stumbled upon landing, for the Tinkerslug was in motion. After dishing out a lot of damage to the big snail, Ace had seemingly fled to go help Sakura, which meant that his Galeem-struck target could only pursue him. As it wended through the waves it rocked back and forth, which ticked Risky off. “Don’t go TOWARD them, you stupid slug! Ugh!” Taking her cutlass in both hands, the pirate began to run, quickly picking up speed and power as she charged toward Karin, planning to dash up the rear-deck stairs if Karin hadn’t already descended to the main deck.

”My, my, what a poor captain of a ship you make.” Karin said, calmly pursuing Risky beginning to head to the rear deck. When she saw Risky making her charge, she decided to meet Risky at the least opportune spot for her. She dashed and met Risky halfway, right on the top of the stairs itself. Karin jumped the entire length of the stairs and thus, over the charging Risky. Landing with a flourish, she began to make her way back up the stairs to meet Risky once more on the rear deck. Once there she walked to the right, interposing herself between Risky and the centermast she used to escape last time. She arrived in time to see Risky plant her foot against the rear wall in order to wrench her sword free from the wood. Despite her best attempt to stop in time, she’d only slowed down enough to avoid blowing straight through and out onto the ocean. For a brief moment, the pirate was open.

Karin zoomed forward, low to the ground as she closed the gap between them. She twisted and smashed her back into Risky’s, turning all of that momentum to flatten her face first against the wall, right next to her sword. Completing the spin she jammed her leg into the back of Risky’s knee, dropping her, and to finish the combo off she brought that same leg up and smacked it into the side of Risky’s head. As a result her head would bounce harshly against the flat end of her own embedded sword with a resounding ‘ding’. Karin took her stance again and didn’t relent, looking to keep Risky in this disadvantageous position.

After a pained groan the pirate’s eyes flashed open, and she doffed her hat. The sea breeze plus the forward motion of the Tinkerslug combined to blow the hat up to twice Risky’s own size in an instant, like a parachute, and once she grabbed hold she burst into the air. Of course, the next second she promptly flew out over the open water, stopped in her tracks while her vessel continued on, but Risky dropped one hand from her hat in order to shoot her hook again. It latched onto the back of the Tinkerslug’s shell below the opening and pulled her along. Now parasailing, the pirate retracted the cable, coming closer.

Karin took a few steps backward, watching Risky from a distance. She had no interest in shaking Risky off- if Risky wanted to keep fighting, so did Karin. The blonde wouldn’t be happy until the purple-skinned pirate was laying at her feet. Dusting some of the powder off of herself, she stood in the middle of the rear deck and put on a bit of a yawn, like this fight was boring her. As she did, she subtly cast a look in the general direction of where Sakura had been, spotting Ace moving over to her. That was good. It’d put quite the hamper on her victory if Sakura drowned out there, wouldn’t it?

The sight of Karin yawning as Risky reeled herself in left her fuming. She wanted nothing more than to shoot her in her big, dumb, rich face, but in her current situation she didn’t have enough hands. Then an idea hit her. She pulled up her left arm, aimed at Karin, and fired the other end of the grappling line. If it managed to hit her opponent it would pull her straight off the back of the ship, but rather than wait with bated breath to see if it worked, she shot her cable at the Tinkerslug again. This time she aimed higher, at the section of shell that covered the rear part of the deck, and after getting closer she fired the back and at Karin again. She repeated this maneuver to travel over the ship and toward her crow’s nest, continuing to plague her foe with chances to be yanked off the deck until the shell broke her line of sight.

Karin peeked one eye open and side stepped the first hook as she saw Risky aim it at her. They were too fast to react too projectile wise, but all she had to do was outpace Risky’s aim. She huffed, growing tired of this game. ”Do you intend to fight me or not, Miss Risky Boots?” She dashed over to the wheel and wrenched it cleanly off its pedestal, before flinging the entire thing like a frisbee towards the flying pirate queen just before she could disappear from line of sight.

“Ow!” With a bruised calf, Risky landed in the crows nest a little less elegantly than usual, but her adrenaline made up the difference. She shimmied down the ropes with one hand free, which she used to level her gun at Karin from a high angle. “That’s just the thing, princess! Whatever you call a fight, I’ll do the opposite!” Another triple shot exploded from her flintlock’s barrel, the three projectiles spreading out as they flew. Risky reset the hammer just by running the gun along her other arm, then without reloading fired again. And again. “By the way!” BANG! “Nothing of mine ever runs out of ammo.” BANG! “Bullets, cannonballs, ropes and hooks, you name it!” BANG! “Just a little perk of being me.” BANG!

Karin blocked the first shot, bringing in her arms and legs as the impact pushed her backwards. Then she advanced, leaping over and dashed to the side of the other shots, bending her torso away from the bullets to avoid Risky’s aim. ”Yes, I have noticed your quaint little parlor trick.” Soon she was right against the mast, and put it between herself and Risky. Her fingers felt a crack in the mast where the Reaver had hit it earlier, and she drove her powerful elbow into it to see how much give it had. ”But you cannot produce what you do not have. And you do not have what it takes to defeat me.” Karin said confidently.

The pylon wavered beneath her impact, and the crack spread. Risky paused to both see and feel the result, curious about what would happen herself, and the threat to her ship’s most important feature did not make her happy. Yet, her lips curled upward; the wound on her pride accelerated her plans. “If you’re so sure, why waste all that breath on bluster?” She switched ammunition types to one she actually could run out of, and jumped. “Let’s wrap this up!”

Risky attached her hook to the mast’s yardarm and swung down. As she picked up speed she let out the line, swooping down for a giant double kick. In her right hand, however, she held her pistol, and as she zoomed in she unleashed a spread shot of roaring flame–not at Karin, but at the black powder scattered around the upper deck at her foe’s feet. “It’s over!”

Karin let out a breath, having heard Risky switch ammunition types. Seeing all this powder everywhere, either she had a match, or incendiary rounds. Risky swung in for her finishing move and Karin gripped the mast tight as she flung herself around it and up into the air to meet Risky on her swing. She intended to absorb the incendiary shot herself, and slam her palm into Risky’s belly to trade impacts and finally knock the pirate out of the way and into a losing scenario.

“HRRGH!” Taken aback by the self-sacrificing strategy, Risky couldn’t prepare herself before her foe’s palm left her with one hell of an upset stomach. Her grappling line snapped as she flew backward, tumbling across the deck toward the prow in a spray of unspent black powder. Even her grip on her flintlock failed, and the weapon clattered off the boards a few yards away from her. Risky slid to a stop on her back, one hand on her belly as she fought to keep her breakfast down. “...Ugh,” she gasped after a moment, her smirk wiped off her face. “I didn’t think…after all that, you’d still be willing to…” Coughing, she got to her feet. Even at a dead sprint it would take Karin a moment to reach her. Only for a split second did her eyes rest on her gun. Without either of her weapons, she could do little but ball her fists.

Karin also pushed herself up to her feet, coughing. The powder on her own jacket had resulted in most of it being burned away. Grinning widely, she grabbed the shoulder of the red jacket and flung it off, revealing the skintight sleeveless back crop top with a stripe running up the middle underneath. She was hurt, but her injuries hardly slowed her down. If anything her blood only pumped faster, more energy rippling beneath her toned muscles. ”But of course! Of course I am!” She yelled, almost manic. ”Not bluster, no- a warning.” She took her stance and strode toward Risky. Despite her high emotional state her movements were as calculated as ever. Once in range she dashed in and made to snatch Risky’s wrist, pulling and twisting it at an awkward angle before slamming her shoulder into the pirate’s chest, looking to throw her into the deck.

This time, rather than swing early, Risky held back in order to block and get a read on her opponent. No more tricks this time, she thought. But Karin was in her head. The next moment Risky found herself thrown over her opponent’s shoulder, and the impact drove the wind from her lungs. Desperate for a moment to think and recuperate, she turned her pitiable writhing into a sneaky sweep with deceptive speed. The advancing Kanzuki was knocked off her feet, and just as handsprung back onto her feet- but that was all the time she needed for a plan. Risky was angry and in pain, her ego as bruised as her body. This snooty snob kept getting the better of her, even after a scrap with the Tinkerbats and Pudge, and Risky herself had only landed, what, one hit, maybe two? And even if she won this, how many foes stood after her, without her crew to do her dirty work? For a woman who could shatter solid stone with a hypercharge and run faster than most animals, she was doing badly.

But she couldn’t lose her head–not yet. “Not bad, blondie.” True to her name, Risky would bet it all. “Too bad you’re right where I want you!” She released her hat as a distraction to blow up and fly away, but the pirate wasn’t holding on. As she sacrificed her hat, she shot her grappling hook at her pistol, or rather, above it. By hooking onto the railing beyond it she could speedily drag herself across the deck, with all the black powder lessening the scrap, and snag her gun on the way.

”Oh?” Karin asked, raising one eyebrow. Her golden eyes were gleaming in a different way. She glanced up at the rising hat and jumped upward, out of Risky’s view so she could fire her hook and make her play. Alas, Karin did a backjump, jumping backwards away from Risky so she could meet her as she ziplined. As a result, she dropped the heel of her shoe on Risky’s back, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Mujinkyaku!” She hooked her shoe under Risky’s chin and popped her back up into a standing position, before doubling her above with her other leg snap-kicking her in the abdomen.

”Orochi!” Flashing with spent power, Karin twisted and thrust her back into Risky’s body, crumpling her around Karin’s shoulders like she was her replacement jacket

Karin took Risky’s head and rested it on her shoulder. ”Did you really think the hat would fool me? Why would you ever go for that silly hat escape again?” She said, looking straight ahead.

”You wouldn’t. Had you tried, I would have broken the mast once you landed on the rigging or crowsnest. And you would have been totally unarmed, unable to take advantage of the high ground. Retreating would have been guaranteeing your loss, so there was no reason for me to stop it. We both knew this, meaning of course you would try to go for your weapon, guaranteeing your loss. And if you hadn’t gone for your weapon, you would have been forced to take me on in hand to hand combat, guaranteeing your loss.” Karin chuckled, tsking her tongue.

"Do you see now? How your choices don’t matter? How your defeat was inevitable?" Karin sighed, content with her monologue, lightly tapping Risky's cheek. "That is what it means to be a Perfect Victor." While monologuing, however, her foe had recovered a modicum of strength. Her hand lunged forward like a snake to clasp around Karin’s throat, the grappling hook primed to pierce the tender skin, but Karin was already in motion. She drove her elbow into Risky’s solar plexus and then shrugged her off her shoulders and onto the deck. ”Oho!” Karin let out a short bark of a laugh.

Risky Boots crumpled, unable to fight but also fully conscious to deal with the wracking pain in her torso. An agonized scowl twisted her face into a mask of rage, but she could do no more than bubble over with loathing as she lay there, defeated.

Karin took a few steps forward and then turned around, eyeing the captain's miserable state. ”Still awake, I see. Apologies.” She stepped back and swept her foot across the defenseless pirate’s jaw to render her unconscious. She picked up her arm and pulled the grapple hook from it, eyeing it curiously. She fetched Risky’s firearm as well, observing the weapon and wondering if it was Risky who somehow gave the weapons infinite ammo, or if the weapons themselves had an innate, entropy-defying quality. She held the large gun under her arm and attached the grapple hook to her now sleeveless arm. All that was left was to find some rope to tie up Risky and take her prisoner. Perhaps there was a rowboat around she could be stored in. Or perhaps…she looked over the side of the railing at the head of the Tinkerslug. Then over at the sinking Adrian and battle-weary Raptor. The Tinkerslug is a living creature, is it not? Perhaps it could be persuaded to assist the Seekers. If there was any upside to Sakura’s defeat it was that it had drawn the monster hunter away. Karin tapped her chest as Sakura had explained, and considered the Friend Heart. In the distance she glanced up and saw the sinking Adrian. Clearly, a solution was required.

-

The sound of the cannon firing caught the Ace Cadet below off guard. It was pointed the complete opposite direction of the battered Adrian and the other Seekers, aiming only at open ocean - so why in the world would they bother firing it? Curiosity alone would have drawn the Cadet's attention to the weird shot, but the sound of a familiar someone's voice trailing after the cannonball made his head snap up towards it. Was that Sakura tied to the thing and currently sailing through the air into the middle of the ocean?

"Sakura?!" he exclaimed. You gotta be Kirin me! That was just mean. The Cadet abandoned the Tinkerslug, not keen on letting his friend drift stranded out there for any length of time. Stashing the sword and shield, he sprinted over the water after her.

The distant figure of Sakura tried to get her thumbs in between her abdomen and the hook, but to no avail, her legs kicking in front of her. The bomb hit the water and as the explosion sent a huge splash into the sky, Sakura vanished almost immediately into the water plume. A moment later she emerged from the top of it, flailing her limbs as she trailed into the sky. Disoriented, she was helpless to prevent her loud slap of a belly flop, flattening against the ocean’s surface. Stunned and semi-conscious, Sakura began to sleepily slip below the surface, bubbles trailing from her lips.

By the time the Cadet arrived at the splash zone, she had already dipped under the waves. The lack of animated flailing like her previous fall into the water concerned him, so when there was no sign of Sakura besides the bursting of air bubbles on the surface the Cadet didn't hesitate to dive into the water himself. It could be a pain to swim with all of his gear, plus the rigging was less like extra limbs in this case and more like dead weight that longed to resurface, but adrenaline and worry pushed him on. He spotted Sakura slowly sinking and swam over to grab her arm, dragging them both up until they broke water.

"Hey, you awake? Sakura?" The Cadet tapped the side of her face.

Sakura stirred, eyelids fluttering, before suddenly violently jerking in Cadet’s grasp, coughing up water and swinging her arms around, punching the air and incidentally at Ace. The hook was still tight around her midsection. ”Uaa- ah- lemme at ‘em! Get off!” It was clear she was extremely disoriented.

"It's me, it's me!" The Cadet said, ducking his head to avoid the worst of her flailing and only just then noticing the thing attached to her - a mechanism not unlike his own clutch claw. It was tough to hold her up out of the water, weather her random punches and check on her health at the same time. "You got shot out of a cannon or something, and this thing-?" He fiddled with the grappling hook and eventually figured out it's release. Sakura stopped struggling and just held the side of her head, wincing.

"There! Are you alright? We'll get back to that snail ship, clean up and patch up."

He wasn't sure at this point what enemies were left on board, but they'd find out soon enough. He turned back the way they'd come from, momentarily blinking in surprise. "Heh, and looks like we won't even have to go that far!" he said, as the Tinkerslug was headed right for them.

Sakura flinched and held on tighter to Ace, looking at the Tinkerslug. Then Karin appeared over the top, now jacket-less, and looking very full of herself even from this distance. ”What ho, Sakura, Ace Cadet!” She called down.

”Risky is my custody. Now, I shall tame the beast.” Karin vaulted over the side and went towards the head of the three-eyed slug. Tapping her chest she produced a Friend Heart and placed it within. The creature was restored to vitality, memories no doubt rushing back to it. Karin kneeled on its head and went to imprint herself upon it like the animal whisperer she was, using her forceful, dominant personality to cease its disrupted instincts.

Seeing that, Sakura realized the danger had passed; that she had been defeated in a single move. Thus, she hid her reddening face behind her hands. ”...I was used like a cannonball, Ace.” Sakura admitted, dismayed. ”I want to curl up and freaking die. I didn't even use your cool bomb.” Being carried by her back and knees by a friend wasn’t exactly helping her dignity problem, either.

Karin was speaking softly. ”Hush, hush now…my little three-eyed, buck-toothed companion.” The creature was quite ugly, but it had a certain amount of pluck to it that Karin found endearing. Karin had always been a lover of pets.

”Honestly. Your previous name was an insult. You deserve a noble name, like Triumph. For your three eyes, and for my victory.” Karin nodded. ”Now, to them!” She pointed at Ace and Sakura and the Tinkerslug pulled up alongside, coming to a stop.

”Quickly! The Adrian is sinking. We musn’t delay.” She called down to them once more.

Sakura grabbed the ladder from Ace’s arms, still trying to hide her face from him and hunching her shoulders. ”Uhm…thanks.” Then she hurried up the ladder.

There was no time for either of the Street Fighters to collect their previous rowboat, and Karin seemingly had little time to reassure or comfort her long-time friend. Sakura, drenched and aching all over, crawled onto the deck. It was a mess. And off to the side was Risky, captured with rope. Also on the deck was the sonic bomb, rolling uselessly around.

Karin stood boldly on the mass above the head of the creature. ”Turn, Tinkerslug! Turn, Triumph! To the Adrian!” She pointed, and the Tinkerslug followed her line of sight and began to go to assist the allies on board the sinking ship and rally with the rest of the Seekers.

”Ohohohohoho!” The Kanzuki laughed victoriously, and Sakura tilted her head to the side and tapped some water out of her ears. Maybe if she was lucky, the ringing would fall out, too.

Results

Party: Ace Cadet, Sakura, Karin
Encounter Reward: +10 EXP
Additional Reward: Tinkerbat Spirit x10, Pudge Spirit
Wordcount: 9,922 +10 EXP

World of Light

Level 7: 04/70
Word Count: 697
Location: Mint Line- Twilight Town
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 05/70 (pending)

Jesse squinted against the twilight sun, taking in the breathtaking vista. A sprawling yet cozy city of warm colors and happy people.

Suspicious. Jesse thought to herself sarcastically, squinting even harder. She just smiled to herself, quietly stepping off the train and listening to the others rejoice or chatter, comfortably lingering on the outskirts of the conversation as she often did. Happy to take in the view, this looked like the nicest place so far. Al Mamoon was alright but that whole civil was business had left a sour taste in her mouth.

And, of course, Jesse always was on the lookout for evil brewing underneath the surface. She didn’t want to get too settled down, right?

It was about that moment a series of slap-dash yet undoubtedly effective cars came screaming around the corner, one of them flipping over entirely.

There’s a make-your-own-racecar factory in town? For free? And then you do street races also for free? Fuck yeah! We’ll never turn down free shit, would we? Besides, I kinda know how to drive. Even if I don’t know how to drive, a little car crash never hurt anyone. Okay that’s objectively untrue, but I’ll probably be fine anyway.

“Good luck learning how to drive. Right into the deep end, that’s the best way to learn.” Jesse said as Midna took off. So many people here had probably never even seen a car until a few months ago. Jesse felt lucky to be from a universe where she could hazard a guess as to what she could expect to see.

Big Band wanted a tune up, and Jesse began to wonder the true nature of his situation. He hadn’t come out of that thing even one time. Does he choose to be in there, or is he just a cyborg..? Some kind of overtuned prosthetic?

Hah. Ha ha. Overtuned.

Jesse went on down to Mumbo’s Motors. The entire place reminded her of a bizarro world version of a place she used to work. She never did mind the smell of gasoline.

“So anyone can just build anything, huh? Mind if I take something out for a spin?” Jesse thought. Soon a simple vehicle began to take place. A rectangle with four wheels and steering wheel attached. Jesse produced and considered her Tool Gun. She could make it…really big? Or really small.

Hell. I could shrink down a vehicle and keep it in my pocket for later use. That might come in handy, huh? She thought to Polaris.

The colorful pieces came together and Jesse ended up with a spring loaded contraption that she attached a lot of balloons to the roof of. Her plan was, whenever she wanted, she would grab the vehicle with Launch and fling it upwards. Then the balloons would let her drift wherever she wanted. She had a few wacky and/or zany ideas but she wanted to take a slightly smaller risk first.

“Thanks, Mumbo’s Motors. I’d drink from a coffee mug with your logo on it any morning of the week.” She called out to the staff, pleased with how things were coming together so that she could amuse herself.

Jesse palmed the steering wheel only to realize she forgot to add a horn. “...Beep beep.” She said aloud, hitting the steering wheel anyway. “Who's ready to eat my proverbial dust?” Taunting flatly, she pulled into the race track and pressed responsibly on the gas, going at a reasonable pace as she felt things out.

“Man. Fuck this.” Jesse chuckled, and put the pedal to the medal. Almost immediately she nearly skidded into a wall but took the corner just in time. “Hey, Princess Midna.” She said, pulling up alongside her and matching her pace. Balloons trailed from the top of Jesse’s car. Balloon-Car is born!

“I’d ask why they gave you a license this fast but then I remembered they sanction street racing using scrap vehicles. Kind of answers itself. Must be a tourism thing, huh? You need any pointers? I got a B+ in my driver’s ed class so, I’m pretty much an expert.” She said, raising an eyebrow and glancing at Midna over the top of non-existent sunglasses.

---

mentions: Midna @DracoLunaris

World of Light

Sakura Level 8: 36/80
Karin Level 3: 13/30
Location: Sea of Serendipity
Word Count: 759
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 8: 38/80

Karin Level 3: 15/30

Sakura was pleased by the sight of the giant Blazermate with a giant ship and a giant pirate skeleton. Karin just pressed her lips together and thought that these Seekers really did just let anyone join up. A practice that would inevitably betray them at some point. At some point, the giant skeleton monster was going to want to eat them instead of being their friend.

Next up, was a spot of serene serendipitous sailing. The two girls carried their Steve-made boats on deck and sat them down. While Sakura sat on the edge of the boat, happily kicking her sneakers against it, Karin observed the entire thing with a discerning eye. Not that one needed one with how much of a mess this boat was. ”This boat doesn’t have much class. It is quite literally in a state of disrepair.”
”I think it’s cool! Come on, it’s a little cool.” Sakura said. Karin frowned as a will o’ wisp crewman passed her by. No comment.

It was then something caught her attention. She squinted up at the birds that were taking flight. If it wasn’t for Nadia’s keen eyes and warning, it would have taken her a while longer to react. Even still, her only reaction was a surprised gasp and a flailing of her limbs. It was Karin who yanked her off the railing and onto the ground. Crouched over Sakura and raised both her hands. An explosion went off in front of them and defensive Ki energy sparked as Karin deflected the fragmentation blast with comparative ease. Though the sleeves of her red jacket were cut into, and it still hurt. Sakura got up and crouched back to back with Karin just in time for a bomb to land behind them. Crossing both arms, she too absorbed the kinetic energy of the blast. Wood and shrapnel chipped at both girls. Wide-eyed, Sakura looked out to the water as their enemies made their introductions. She didn’t even notice Karin speed off to grab something.

”Oh, man…” Sakura said. ”Is- is everyone okay? We have to do something!” She called out, frenetic.

Then she turned around to face her friend rapidly approaching friend, Karin. ”You saved me! Karin?” Her friend was carrying a single rowboat.

”What’s the plan?” Sakura asked, wide-eyed.

”Our enemy has naval superiority. You and I must get on board an enemy ship as fast as possible, where we have the advantage.” Her eyes, razor sharp, scanned the oncoming forces. There was only one ship to board. Since their enemies were uncoordinated, there was a sizeable gap in their assault that would allow Sakura and Karin to breach through and attack the overlong named Tinkerslung.

”My boat was destroyed, so we will be taking yours. Are you with me, Miss Sakura?” Karin asked.

Sakura nodded rapidly, hyped, her adrenaline pumping. ”Yeah! Let’s go kick some ass!” She said, raising the back of her fist, which Karin quickly met with her own.

”Quite. Let us begin.” Karin said with a small smile. Fear or hesitation wasn’t an option. She tossed the boat overboard, where it landed neatly on the surface. Sakura followed after, crouching and gripping the oars.

”Sakura and I shall be assaulting the Tinkerslug! PROVE YOUR WORTH, SEEKERS!” With that command she vaulted over the edge and joined her long-time battle companion. Karin seemed to want to let Sakura drive, but Sakura insisted.

”You drive, Karin! I’ll use my Hadokens to stop any cannon shells that get too close.” She said. Karin opened her mouth, but then nodded, letting Sakura take her by shoulder as she sat on her legs in the boat. Karin swished her coiled hair and leaned forward, her arms beginning to pump circularly.

One speedy vessel, relying on their small size to not be hit by the enemy. They would leave before the Raptor Elites arrived, and they would be of no notice to the forces attacking the Adrian from below.

”Once there, we shall destroy the enemy's cannons! Then, defeat that scantily-clad, royal pretending pirate queen and seize her disgusting vessel for ourselves, taking it out of the fight. After that is done, we will decide our next move depending on the state of the battle.” Karin surmised between breaths, watching the Tinkerslug infront of them.

”We can do this! Our friends have our backs. They’ll get done beating the other guys before the TInkerslug is ours, I bet!” Sakura said optimistically.

Karin smirked, slyly, eyes narrowing with battle lust. ”Oh, I doubt that very much so.”

World of Light

Level 7: 03/70
Word Count: Teeny
Location: Metro Hub - > Mint Line
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 04/70 (pending)

As Jesse turned away, she wondered if she had said anything to make Therion upset. Despite being a psychic, mind-reading was not on her list of abilities.

Which is weird. Because that’s kind of a big one, isn’t it? Maybe someday we’ll get that one. It’d be neat. Make social interactions a lot easier.

Jesse waited on the train, watching the dark tunnels pass on by.

Wait, oops. It’d be pretty fucked up to just go around reading people’s private thoughts all the time just to make sure it easier to talk to them. Yeah. Glad to know it only took me thirty seconds to remember that crucial detail.

…We also can’t predict the future.

Once back at the Metro Hub, they reunited with other Seekers. Therion and Primrose were some sort of duo, and yeah, Primrose was pretty damn tall now. Generally speaking, Jesse was used to be taller than most of the women around her- even a majority of the men. That and her general…demeanor, meant some people were intimidated or off put by her. That was just one of many reasons why she liked juxtaposing herself against crazy bullshit all the time.

Once again it was Jesse’s job to get more Pons for herself. She jumped up, floating around, hopped and vacuumed some towards herself with her incredible cosmic powers.

Weirdly, some had reappeared in the same place she had just picked them up. So this was definitely intentional. Or just some immutable feature of the world. It’s not like people were going around-

Okay! Enough theorizing with the Pons, alright? We get it. It’s confusing. Who fucking cares?
“I’m back.” Jesse said, landing on the platform with a satisfying ‘thunk’ of her boots. “Let’s do this, people.” Having a clear destination in mind brought her confidence back to the surface. “The Seekers will be a force to be reckoned with after this.”

World of Light

Sakura & Karin
plus Omori

Sakura Level 8: 33/80
Karin Level 3: 10/30
Location: Eryth Sea
Word Count: 1660
Points Gained: 3 @Majoras End
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 8: 36/80

Karin Level 3: 13/30

Sakura lifted her oars briefly out of the water as she felt Rubick start tugging her boat along. “W-woah. Haha- weee! Thanks, Mister Rubick!” She couldn’t help but grin ear to ear. She cast a glance over her shoulder at Karin as she was separated from her and began to say something, but just laughed again. “You guys are too much. That’s so funny.”

Karin, meanwhile, was hardly a stranger to this kind of treatment from people who thought they were superior, or even an equal, to her. She proved them all wrong, in time. ”Hmph.” She hmphed. ”I’ve no issue protecting the rear flank of our troop.” She ended up near Omori’s boat. When she noticed the mono-colored boy, he caught her attention. She wondered what kind of powers he had. He looked the nervous sort, and she wondered why.

Sakura realized she was pretty darn cold. ”Do you have a heating up spell? Like a dry clothes spell?” Sakura asked Rubick after a while, squeezing some more water out of her scarf. She really wasn't expecting an answer, And her socks were wet, too. If she was totally honest, all of a sudden she felt like crying, because getting dunked in the water this early on really sucked. She felt stupid. But the thought of crying because she fell into the water so early on made her laugh again. Covering her mouth, she just kept her head down and kept moving forward. Man, she was all over the place.

A little while later, Sakura was very startled by the nearby giant sea monster, and she instinctively karate chopped the air several times, almost falling out of her boat again. Karin called out to make sure everything was all right, speeding up.

”Oh, my gosh, Ms. Nadia, are you oka- Oh, my gosh, Mister Bowser no!” She covered her ears and leaned away as the koopa troop got dragged into a confrontation with this giant monster fish. An even more giant sea monster came out of Bowser’s spirit arsenal, eliciting another shriek from Sakura.

”Ah! What the heck!” She just rowed away as fast as she could, very eager to get to shore. Karin rowed by, watching the battle with interest. ”...Yes. I imagine I could kill the creature inside out, should it attempt to eat me. It would be easy. And once it died, it would turn to ash.” She nodded to herself, confident in her sea monster slaying abilities. The Biblical Jonah didn’t have the power to punch through an arm’s length of concrete, did he?

Once that was over and done, they ended up on shore. Sakura stayed way the hell away from the giant skeleton monster pirate and his pile of gold. That was just asking for trouble. She liked her body in one piece, thanks. The thought of literally stealing gold didn’t even occur to Karin, being as unfathomably wealthy as she was. If she was going to steal someone’s money, she would do it with wit, paperwork, charisma, and espionage. The correct way. Karin was 14 when she brought her first business competitor to tears.

Karin once again watched Omori with interest, her focused gaze not entirely comfortable for most people. She watched him loot weapons from the shipwreck. The very prospect wrinkled her nose. ”Hold on. You’re not just…some boy whose just now found a gun, are you?” She asked. A warrior would already have a weapon. And surely someone with magic wouldn’t pick up some sand-covered gun.

"Hm?" At the question directed towards him, Omori turned to look towards the source. Oh, she was with that brunette that fell through the mossbed. Karin mentioned the pistol he found the machete with. The boy held up the gun in one hand and motioned his head towards it. "This? Honestly, I wasn't planning on taking it at first. Never handled a gun before, but it didn't feel right separating it from this." He explained picking up the machete in his other hand and showing it to her.

She leaned forward, looking down at the blade with an unimpressed look. ”What skills do you have, if you don’t mind my asking? For fairness’ sake, I shall go first. I am a Grandmaster martial artist and pioneer of Kanzuki-ryu Kakutojutsu.” She said, fingers delicately splayed across the front of her red jacket.

The boy hummed in thought. "Sounds interesting." Omori noted. He pocketed the pistol in favor of his knife. "I'm no martial artist, but I'd say I'm pretty good with smaller blades. That's why I grabbed the machete." He twirled the knife in his hand with experienced dexterity.

Karin squinted. "No martial artist?" She questioned. "You understand we're going into battle. You need to be lethal with that little knife of yours. It does not matter how proficiently you can carve you and your crush's initials into the side of a tree."

For a moment, Karin was met with no reaction. His gaze was almost off-putting. He had even stopped spinning his smaller weapon and lowered his hand.

But then, Omori narrowed his eyes. "You underestimate me." He spoke bluntly. But like a switch, his expression let up. "If you're concerned I'll lag behind, perhaps you can teach me some pointers, given the chance?" He tilted his head.

”Ohoho.” Eyebrow raised, Karin said her laughter instead of laughing. ”What I do cannot be taught. If you're looking for pointers and concern, seek the drenched idiot with the unkempt brown hair.” Swishing one of her golden coils back over her shoulder, Karin turned and strode away. Either he was more capable than he looked, or she could relish in his later failure, knowing that she told him so. Victory is assured, as always, for Karin Kanzuki.

Omori simply watched her walk off, all smug and such. "...Hmph, interesting lady." The monocrhome boy said to no one, putting his stuff back in his inventory, then walking back to the main path himself.

What was her deal, anyways? Not like he couldn't learn how to fire a gun eventually.

Meanwhile, Sakura was looking at some bears. Apparently, Nadia knew one of them. Sakura was just very pleased by the cuteness of some of the bears, and in awe of the power of others. In other good news, her outfit was very slowly drying off. Very slowly.

Later on Karin and Sakura took their boats to the river's mouth, the path forward being a rocky river ride. ”Careful, Karin. That Miss talking bird said the river is like a theme park ride.”

"Of course.” Karin said, rolling her eyes. "Do you often take advice from Muppets?” She asked.

”About as often as you lose boat races.” Sakura said casually. ”When you crash on the way down because you didn’t take my advice, don’t complain to me about your hair being undone.”

"And when you crash, feel free to pretend that you didn’t because you are already soaked in water. ” Karin said, already rowing much faster.
Sakura grinned and sped up. ”I like our banter, Miss Karin. But just because it needs to be said sometimes, you really are one of my best friends. ”

"Ugh. Silence. We are racing.” Karin said, the downward momentum of the water beginning to speed up the boat. Up ahead, the Koopa Troop were taking point.

”My heart is full of respect and platonic love for you!” Sakura called out as the sound of the rushing river muffled her voice. To herself, Sakura snickered, setting her teeth on her tongue. It felt good to say it out loud, though. In the past, Sakura had tried to steer their friendship away from the ‘pretending we don’t like each other’ stage. But Karin was a tough rock to budge on that front. But still, it wasn’t too bad considering once she had shouted ‘compassion is weakness’ and then kicked one of her employees in the face. And that employee was a crucial corner of a human pyramid.

Karin’s shoulders were hunched and she was focused on winning the race, moving between rocks. Naturally, canoeing was something she had lots of practice with as well. Though she found when she thought to pull a particularly skillful maneuver, she realized she couldn’t do it. Like the skill was locked. Hmm. She did the safer route instead, still fast, but not as fast as she would have hoped. Karin would have to ponder on these limitations placed upon her by the world. She had no doubt that with enough focus, she could break through all of them. Or at least, the ones relevant to their pursuits.

Sakura meanwhile, had very little if any canoeing experience. Eyes and mouth wide, she narrated her entire trip down the river with excited, nervous noises. “Ooaaahhh woah woah oaaahhh! Eek! Ahaha- woaaah!”

Karin vanished over the curve of the river and Sakura sped up to catch her. She shrieked as she sailed over the edge of a waterfall, only for Steve’s magic boat to stay fully intact and upright. Once at the bottom, Karin was waiting and laughing loudly.

"Ohohoho! How delightful! Miss Sakura, you really will challenge anyone to anything, won’t you? Regardless of if you win or lose, or if you have any experience at all.” Karin said, smiling.

”Thanks, Karin. That almost sounded like a compliment.” Sakura said, standing up in her boat to stretch her legs.

"Of course. Karin Kanzuki does not associate with mediocre commoners. It is fortunate you picked street fighting to be your hobby, otherwise you never could have been anywhere close to my rival in any other skill.”

Sakura furrowed her brow, really trying to parse that one out. ”Thaaanks?” She tilted her head to the side.

As Karin nodded graciously and began to take a look around, Sakura asked, ”Um. Where are we, anyway? Are we there yet? I hope there’s another waterfall, I think I’d have more fun this time.”