Zoey Boey

World of Light

Sakura Level 9: 01/90
Karin Level 4: 24/40
Location: Kunad Highway
Word Count: 969
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 9: 03/90 (pending)

Karin Level 4: 26/40

Karin took the point in the battle on the surfaces of the trucks, and the minotaur-esque wizard sought to challenge her. She regarded it coolly, in her battle stance. With its attention on her, it wouldn’t be able to attack her allies at range. The battle would continue to rage on around her while she fought.

The mage proclaimed he would have order, provoking a raised eyebrow from the Kanzuki. ”No. I shall have victory.” She said, glaring at him from the opposite side of the truck.

She expected ranged attacks from his general demeanor and staff weapon, and ranged attacks she received. A series of fiery explosions erupted towards her. In her elegant yet now practical adventurer’s outfit, she flipped forward with a jump. The explosions went beneath her. As she landed, she dropped into a defensive kneel, the explosions scorching across her now bare arms. Despite skidding backwards, she held firm, the damage and pain minimal thanks to her technique. She found a gap in the explosions and dashed around and forward, pausing to leap straight up into the air for the explosions to move beneath her. With one last dash she was in range, and Morax raised his staff to summon a close ranged, purple physical type spell.

But she was in range now, and he’d find his magic proudly interrupted by a crushing counter to his femur, Karin’s dance-like spin kick hitting with brutal power. This would also give her a head start on her V-Meter. As she did, her eyes were closed, a confident smirk on her face.

”Tenko!” She dashed forward and jabbed her palm outward as he recovered from her kick, looking to send him flying. The hit connected, but some type of magical Counter took place. Instead of flying away, he was rooted in place. Tenko was a high recovery move, and his Counter was swift, his stave smacking her across the face.


”Mmh.” She lost a step, her head flicking to the side, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. Doing any spell would be foolish now that she was in range. Curious about his magic, she stabbed her leg outward with long ranged, poking medium kicks. This time, when she triggered the counter, she was well ready for it. She caught the stave and the confident smirk returned and with a seemingly small movement of her arms, would do crushing damage to the extended limb.

Meanwhile, Sakura kept riding her motorcycle alongside the trunks, hunching her shoulders. People jumped around and above her, projectiles whizzed over her head, and the only thing keeping her from becoming a long skidmark on the desert road was two wheels and a motor.

Sakura bit her lower lip, eyes wide beneath her green goggles. They kept the sun, dust, and bugs out of her eyes, but they also painted everything an ominous hue. She saw two bikes clatter off the roof of the truck in front of her. ”Midna-san! Come on!” Sakura whined, watching them tumble and break apart with great remorse.

Sakura could only see people standing on the sides of the trucks, and even then usually only their upper halves or less. Pit was flying around, Roxas leapt forward. Raz was almost knocked off entirely. Midna’s great barrage of attacks didn’t seem to come through, and someone- the toilet demon?- cast some horrible spell. For a moment Sakura felt a horrible hunger settle in the pit of her tummy, but she managed to shake the effect off. It was a horribly familiar type of hunger, the kind she never wanted to feel again. It gave her a shudder just thinking about it, and reflexively her strong body deflected the spell with her 50% chance to resist.
Sakura steered her bike so she was in between the two rows of trucks, closer to all of them. It made for scarier driving but she was in a position to help more of her teammates.

Trumpeter made his call, and Karin was affected. A well of devastating energy began to form beneath her feet. ”Oh, my!” She exclaimed. Using the single Super meter she had gained thus far, she executed a Seppo dash. Becoming a brilliant golden blur, she zipped with a loud ripple of energy away from Morax. Unsure of the radius or nature of the spell, she jumped at the end of her dash and flung herself away and off the trunk entirely. She interrupted her speed by attaching a grappling hook to the truck she was just on, and for a brief moment she sailed in mid air as the Trumpeter’s explosions purified several areas of the field all at once.
”What the-?” Sakura watched in awe, and yelped, instinctively driving to the side to dodge an explosion that wasn’t aimed at her. Much to her relief she wasn’t considered a threat by the trumpeter. Just one of those explosions and she’d be toast. For a short moment she thought Midna had been annihilated, but the Princess emerged with some kind of crazy space army car! She unleashed a blaze of bullets as the convoy moved past her, Midna taking up a flanking position at the tail end of this entire battle.

Karin pulled herself back onto the surface of the truck’s roof and rolled forward Morag, sliding to a stop. ”Now, where were we?” She asked, with a confident brushing of her ringlets.

If anyone needed to use Sakura’s bike to navigate the field she’d be within jumping distance of whoever she could. But otherwise the vehicle bound street fighter was just keeping her head down and trying to survive. She was acting like something of a reserve unit at this point- though unintentionally. If anyone really needed her help, she could abandon her motorbike and hop in to help.

The Mercenaries of Mundus - 18+ - Brought to you by METAmucil

"...Woah! Where's all this coming from?" Aya said, looking genuinely caught off guard by their reactions. One guy was being mysterious and aloof, and the other guy was just being plain gross. Victor and Anslem.

"You can't say you don't care who leads while also saying you don't want me to be leader. That means you do care. You stodgy bastards." She cartwheeled over to the frog in the bowl, grumbling to herself about 'complaining'.

"Complaining. Complaining! Wouldn't you agree that the previous management has failed us in some way?!" Aya proclaimed, offended. She squatted over the frog, emphatically gesturing at him. "He's a frog! And we have plenty of money now! I say we go to the nearest town and see if we can pick up any fresh faces! We could pay them so much. They'd be stupid to turn us down. Then we can go around and get even more money with all our new, better people. Or, cool new weapons!" She nodded, grinning.

"And along the way we could find a lovely pond to give our dear Commander Sigurd a well deserved retirement." She pet the frog on the head with one finger.

World of Light

Sakura Level 8: 78/80
Karin Level 4: 21/40
Location: leaving Gutsford
Word Count: 1,308
Points Gained: 3
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 9: 01/90 (pending)

Karin Level 4: 24/40

wordcount: 1,308 (+3)
Midna: level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(110/80)
Location: leaving Gutsford
Warp Charges: 0

warp locations

Virgin Victory teleport room
Top of the Split mountain
Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage
Tostarena Town

It had been quite the kerfuffle indeed, and Karin Kanzuki suddenly found herself in a hurry. The Seekers were on the run from the law. Karin followed the sound of Peach’s recognizable- if unbefitting- gunfire. ”I was hoping to have a little more time to relax but-” Karin fired her grappling hook and pulled herself over an entire row of buildings, landing with a flourish at the loading bay of trucks. ”I find myself relaxed and ready to engage nonetheless. Tally ho, Seekers!” She quickly put together that they had convened with some kind of Seeker cell within the city that had organized their transport.

”Very well. This shall do for a quick escape.” Karin said, a single elegant hop carrying her to the roof of one of the trucks. A few more hops later and she was towards the front of the fleet. Her golden eyes scanned the Seekers. But it wasn’t long before she spotted her friend Sakura on the front of a motorcycle, the Princess Midna there as well. Sakura had found much more success than Karin had in terms of finding transportation, that for sure, but as to where she procured that motorcycle Karin could only assume she beat someone up for it.

”These cops are creepy.” Sakura said to Midna as they rode past them. She followed the havoc, winding between fleeing people and glimpses of fleeing Seekers, blowing past the pursuing G-Men in the process.

Midna had no idea what a ‘cop’ was specifically, but she had to agree. Whatever peril the rest of the team had wound up stirring, it certainly had an ugly face.

”Looks like we’re taking the trucks after all, Midna-san!” She said, pulling to a stop and waiting for them to get moving. ”This is- um, not-” She tried to find the word. ”-subtle.”

”You don’t say”

”But that’s okay. Looks like we made some new friends!”

It was close- the G-Men almost caught up. But the convoy started at the last second and Sakura peeled away from the town and into the wilderness on her motorbike, with Midna has a passenger. The trucks were on the move. Sakura moved with Midna to the front of the pack, though if the Princess wanted to she could move wherever she liked. Sakura wished they had enough time to put some of the motorcycles down, but they were run out of town by the authorities before then.

She pulled up alongside one of the front trucks where Karin was standing.

”Karin!” She shouted up to her, waving and grinning behind her new green goggles.

”Greetings, Sakura! I see you fared rather well. I offer my congratulations. I merely procured some tea in our time apart.” Karin said, her hair blowing majestically in the wind.

”I got six radios and four motorbikes! All of ‘em are in Midna’s magic pocket. ‘Cept for this motorbike I’m on right now.”

”You could have done worse, you could have stirred up whatever trouble this is” Midna called up, before joking ”Really, you can’t leave some people alone for five minutes without them picking a fight huh” before she leapt off of the back of Sakura’s bike, floated up to truck Karin was on and proceed to dump the three remaining bikes onto it to be picked up by the others if they wanted them.

”Oh, and, nice to meet you of course” she turned to the second street fighter to say, before adding ”and I take it the two of you already know each other?”

”The pleasure is all mine. Indeed, Sakura and I, Karin Kanzuki, are friendly rivals.” Karin said. She glanced down at the bikes Midna had placed on the roof of the truck.

”Impressive, no doubt, but…” She looked at the ground speeding along underneath them. ”I’m not entirely sure how we’re supposed to get on one now, unless your magic can accommodate.”

”I could do it like this” Midna said, as she brought out her shadow hand, picked up a bike and then lowered it to the ground carefully, using her magical might to stop it getting ripped backwards upon contact with the ground and instead making it drive sidecar next to the truck for a little bit before picking it back up and popping it back in the pile.

”See, totally safe… anyone want one?”

After the princess made her offer, Karin glanced over Midna’s shoulder and to the horizon, where she spotted the oncoming enforcers. ”Hmph. It seems we have company. I’m afraid I’ll have to pass for now.” She adjusted the grapple gun on her bare arm. ”I’ll be more useful on foot.”

”...So, uh, what are you guys talking about?” Sakura asked awkwardly from her moving motorcycle below.

”It’s a ….. Bus!” Midna said after taking a moment to remember the word while pointing over at it ”And it’s not full of children”

No, it contained something much worse. Demons. Because that is apparently what the G-men truly were. That said, despite looking far more dangerous, many of them still maintained the absurdity of their disguise forms, the most bizarre of which Midna could not keep her mouth shut about ”That one’s riding a toilet? What’s it going to do …” she paused her mockery as realization and unwanted mental imagery flared in her mind and she cried out in a mix of horror and disgust ”oh goddesses, what is it going to do?!”

Sakura glanced over her shoulder, a nervous look plain on her face despite the goggles covering her eyes and eyebrows. ”Oh, man. This is going to be really dangerous. And not in a fun way. Can’t we just get a break? I guess- I guess I’d be more worried about the toilet guy if he wasn’t on a toilet.” She mused optimistically, before looking back where she was going.

”I wish I had your lack of imagination” Midna said as she crouched down on the top of the truck and got herself armed.

Karin jumped herself to the truck closer to the rear, nearer to the fight. ”I shall engage the enemy defensively, preventing them from harming our ranged allies. With my grapple hook I’ll maneuver myself easily, and if necessary, save anyone from falling too far behind should they lose their balance.”

”Sounds like a plan. As for me, let’s see if I can get this to work” the princess said, as she hoisted up a wide barreled musket she had stolen from one of the cat snipers, took aim … and then completely wiffed her first attempt at trying to shoot with it.

”Pfft-” Sakura covered her mouth and averted her eyes.

” … ”

There was a moment of silence as she tried to work out how to reload it, failed, and then just pointed in their foes and commanded ”Beast’s to me”

Two twilight portals opened up, divulging her mecha bear from one, and her Vibrava from the other, the insect increased to a size more befitting of its dragon typing. The massive false bug flew to a nearby truck, gripped it, and unfurled its wings before vibrating them in such a way that it sent a wall of ear bleeding sound as it used bugbuzz on the entire demon horde.

Back on the truck with Karin, Midna hopped up onto the back of the mecha bear, manning its back mounted cannon, swiveled it, aimed and then, before firing, commanded ”Javalins! Take out that toilet!” such that when she let rip with the cyborgs cannon, sending one of Bowser Junior’s fiery goop filled swoopin stu’s blasting out towards the twelve-foot demon, her shot was joined by a volley of 4 icy spears and 3 spears of psychic energy from her assorted strikers

Karin watched, eagerly anticipating the impact. ”An impressive barrage! Let’s see how they handle it.”

World of Light

Level 7: 17/70
Word Count: 1753
Location: The Under
Points Gained: 3 (+5)
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 25/70

—------

With an appreciative thumbs up to Primrose and Therion, and a consolatory thumbs up to the koopa troop, Jesse followed the others onto the elevator. As they went further and further into darkness, a small part of her wanted to hop off the elevator and head down in front of the others. But there was no reason too and she didn’t want to get split off for whatever reason. So she stayed put, leaning against the railing of the elevator and watching tunnels pass by.

A Consul made their grand entrance.

Shit. That’s not good. He’s gonna- yep there he goes.

There were lots of fliers on her team, but not all of them. As the elevator fell out from under her, Jesse tried to act fast. She let herself fall and reached for her Tool Gun, which wasn’t exactly a quick unholster mid flight. After a few misses she managed to get some balloons on her falling teammates, only for some stray magical bullets to pop them.

“Shit.” Jesse swore, and went into a head first dive to fall faster than everyone. The ground was coming up fast- she could see it now. “Sven!” She called out. Landing with a thud that tossed up motes of light, she had the alchemist throw elastic ooze on the bed of flowers she had landed on.

It sank between the petals but it didn’t matter. The first person that fell landed softly and was merely disoriented for a few seconds. The rest followed suit.

Jesse stood up straight, exhaling. Relieved, of course, but also unhappy by how that went down. Holstering her Tool Gun, she peered about the cavernous area and up to the swirling cavern they’d fallen from. “We’ll have to be more careful in the future.” Jesse said. “It had to have been the flowers.”

Their troubles weren’t over. The cackling Consul seemed to have wanted to organize some fun, and a parade of what could only be described as ‘Under-Your-Bed and In-Your-Closet’ style monsters came out of the darkness to eat them.

“Oh, ew. What the fuck?” Jesse said in an oddly enamored tone of voice, almost laughing. Then she was back to business, rolling her shoulder and producing her Service Weapon.

“Let’s separate them.” Jesse said, and sprinted to the left to where the purple, frog-like brute traveled forward. She made eye contact with its main eye and it seemed to follow her.

The Director paused in a brief moment before either made any moves. “Peace in our times?” She offered with a shrug. The frog-like brute, Ang, more than twice her size, responded by lashing out with its ocular tongue. Jesse moved her torso to the side with a non-magical dodge, throwing herself out of the way. She stared at the tongue, and only some of its eyes looked back at her. The ground dissolved, and its sticky nature dragged dirt and rocks back into its gaping mouth that didn’t even seem to have the capability to close all the way. Acid bubbled in the back of its maw, threatening to spill over, and secondary rows of teeth awaited any prey.

“...Yummy.” Jesse said dryly, squinting one eye. Even with her psychic shielding she’d be digested immediately. She couldn’t get pulled in there at all costs- best be hit by any other attack before that one.

I wonder what would happen if it ashed me while I was in its mouth, and if it would get any sustenance. Theory? Maybe eating my spirit and ash itself would provide the creature with enough life energy to eat someone else up. Seems like big purple here is way more interested in testing my hypothesis than I am, though.

Once again it lashed out with its tongue, and Jesse leapt over it and began to float in the air before quickly dropping back down, not wanting to be a mosquito to this creature’s frog. In return, she raked heavy duty machine gun fire across the tongue, ripping into the soft tissue. It made a grating, shockingly high-pitched creaking noise in response, eyes whirling around.

Angered, it leapt to her as a blur, its powerful hindlegs supporting its ferocious jump. It brought its weird little fists onto the ground, kicking up dust where Jesse had just been. She had Evaded away. Even its impressive speed couldn’t match a properly timed dodge- nothing physical could, as far as Jesse could tell. Still, she could only evade six or seven times before she ran out of Energy and had to cool it for a few moments to recharge, and a mis-timed dodge could leave her vulnerable. Still. She’d defeated monsters far larger than this one.

Despite lacking opposable thumbs, it gripped large chunks on the ground within its…paws? Foot? Hand?

It chucked them at her at high speed, and Polaris guided Jesse to react instinctively. She reached out her hand and plucked both rocks from the air. They zipped over to her side, bending to her will.

Nice! I’ve missed that!

Jesse promptly Launched both rocks at high speed right into Ang, shattering its teeth and bludgeoning its tongue, fraying and swelling its tissue. Once more it screeched and leaped towards her. Jesse didn’t want to underestimate its intelligence, but she felt she had no choice but to Evade once more. That was when it used its tongue to lash out of the side of its mouth to where she ended up, its many eyes tracking her movement.

“Damn!” It burned into her and she found herself being yanked back towards her death at break neck speed. Jesse evaded forward, using its own momentum to double her speed and yank herself free of the beast, just barely avoiding its maw as she flung herself hard into the cave wall. “Oof. Yuck.”

Ang kept up the pressure, diving forward once again. Jesse narrowed her eyes and Evade again. The creature lashed out with its tongue, and found purchase. Not on Jesse, but on something much smaller and made of glass. It pulled the Fire Flask Sven had provided right into its mouth, igniting it. Yowling as its tongue and eyes burned, it hit the wall and rounded on Jesse as she fired Grip shots at the inside of its mouth. It closed it as best as it could and raised its hands to defend itself. It swallowed, gurgled, and vomited a shower of eyeballs in her direction. Amazed, Jesse raised a Shield to defend herself, watching them pop like juicy acid grenades against her invisible psychic wall that ripped stone from the ground. They sizzled, dealing damage to the wall, but the acid slid off and pooled to the ground, leaving her barrier mostly intact. Apparently tired of getting close, its eye began to glow as a thin beam of light emitted from the stalk-eye, burning against her Shield as she strafed to take cover behind a Stalagmite. Dropping the Shield, she switched Pierce and wanted to give herself more time to recover her Energy.

It circled around from a distance, trying to spot her while keeping the eye beam focused. Jesse circled the pillar, briefly poked her head out on one side, and then lunged to the other side of the pillar, luring the beam and juking Ang out to let loose a powerful Pierce shot. It blew out the inside of its mouth, spraying acid blood out behind it and leaving a red hot tunnel out one side and through the other. Gurgling with fury, it reeled from the attack, and Jesse switched to Grip just long enough to land a few well placed shots into its eye stalk, severing the connection and stopping the eye beam. Reduced to only a few remaining eyes in its tongue, it furiously threw stone after stone at her, but the Director weaved easily enough between them without using her Energy, placing stalagmites and pillars between her and the stones. Forcing it into action, she outpaced its ranged damage output shredding into it with machine gun fire from Spin. Acid blood sprayed everywhere, but Jesse was well out of range. Forced into aggressive action, it leapt forward through the fusillade, right where Jesse wanted it.

“Sven.” The alchemist shattered an Elastic Ooze at her feet where she used it and a combination of Levitate to be flung high over the creatures’ form. With no eye-stalk, it was forced to tip its mouth up to spot her, opening it. There it witnessed Jesse plucking three stone stalactites from the ceiling of the drip stone cave, her face obscured by shadow.

It raised its hands but she had already flung the deadly stone spikes towards Ang in a blur. They ripped through and broke its arms and one large spike stuck in its mouth, spewing acid like a grotesque fountain. Jesse landed next to it and picked up the health elements it was dropping to repair her psychic Health. The Director had an annoying tendency to come out of fights unscathed.

Rolling her shoulder, she tested her powers one last time on the dying beast. Extending out her hand, she saw in her mind’s eye the white outline that signified her control over the beast's physical form. She prepared to Launch the creature, splattering it against the wall, but she thought better of it. Primrose and Therion had battled against two monsters on their own. With a little more help, they could be done. The heavily wounded, faceless horror named Dizy was looming towards them both, and they seemed fairly tired after their previous fight.

“Heads up!” Jesse called out, and Launched Ang towards its doom. The beasts collided, and Ang practically burst like a balloon with the stone spike acting as a needle. The dizzy was slammed into and knocked over, scrabbling as it dissolved under the corpse of its ally. Jesse revved up Pierce and fired an unaimed shot at Dizy as the acid melted it, the sound echoing throughout the cavern. Still melting and now with a large hole in it, Jesse approached and emptied her clip into Dizy with a series of short range Shatter shots. At that point Dizy’s structural integrity was compromised and the regenerator fell apart and was reduced to ash. All the gore and chunks, gunshots, slung spells and unsettling silence faded away.

Jesse looked up at the Travelers. “Sexy.” She said flatly.

Jesse turned her attention to the rest of the battlefield, switching her Service Weapon to Grip as it reloaded, and maneuvering to aid her comrades in securing the area.

The Mercenaries of Mundus - 18+ - Brought to you by METAmucil

Aya was flicking through some scrap pieces of paper. "All these boo-hoo letters to loved ones. We're not actually expected to deliver this crap, are we? I mean, unlike those guys, I actually have a life. I have things to do." She dropped down into a crouch next to their commander. It was a squat much like a frogs, her elbows on her knees.

"What do you think, Boss?" She cupped her ear. "...Y'know, there's some benefits to him being like this, now. For one: no more shitty ideas. We didn't even get to kill that Phaendor guy. If I ever see another skeleton warrior again, I quit. I mean, that was baloney. How the hell am I supposd to slit the throat of a skeleton? I can't." She stopped picking her teeth with her dagger and holstered it.

She ran a hand through her short brown hair. Then she popped up into a standing position. "I think I'd make a good leader. It can't be Anslem. What, swap out one grumpy 'experienced' merc for another? No thanks. Can't be Oliver, he's completely delusional. It can't be Victor because..." She trailed off. "Well, that one's obvious." She was talking like nobody else was in the room- or maybe she was talking loudly to herself. Or perhaps every time she talked, she was talking to everyone in the room except for the person she was talking about.

"And it can't be Humphrey because- actually, well, hmm." She glanced at the door to the cistern Humphrey had claimed. "We'll put a pin in that. It could be Humphrey. His last name is what he is." Aya mused. Then, she clapped her hands together and galloped over to a treasure chest, picking up some weird looking artifact and occupying herself with it.

"So, that's the vote. Me, or Humphrey. But he's indisposed at the moment, sleeping, so he's a no-show for the vote, which makes me the leader. Yeah, I think that all works out. First decree as leader- no more skeletons unless they're wrapped up in living meat!" She pointed into the air.

The Mercenaries of Mundus - 18+ - Brought to you by METAmucil

Aya Olvera

Name: Aya "O'kaya" Olvera
Age:22
Class: Rogue
Stats:
PHYSICAL- +1
MENTAL- -1
ARCANE- -1
LUCK- +1
Spells Known: Leave blank to start.
Weapon: Long dagger, throwing knives, charming good looks.
Inventory: Leave blank to start.
Catchphrase: "Okayokayokay..."

"Aya O'kaya, professional street sweeper, feet sweeper offer and swiper of loot, at your service! How may I be of service?"

"Magic! That ain't real magic. That's just wizard shit! Real magic is all about misdirection and sleight of hand. Watch, pick a card, any card...no, not that one. Any card but that one. Really just try to avoid any card that my thumb isn't touching and we're golden."

Mercenaries! - A tongue in cheek fantasy roleplay where things often go wrong 18+ language, violence

Here she is. This CS is made under the assumption that PHYSICAL also includes dexteriy roguey things and also that Spain is included in European fantasy which it rarely is for some reason.

Aya Olvera

Name: Aya "O'kaya" Olvera
Age:22
Class: Rogue
Stats:
PHYSICAL- +1
MENTAL- -1
ARCANE- -1
LUCK- +1
Spells Known: Leave blank to start.
Weapon: Long dagger, throwing knives, charming good looks.
Inventory: Leave blank to start.
Catchphrase: "Okayokayokay..."

"Aya O'kaya, professional street sweeper, feet sweeper offer and swiper of loot, at your service! How may I be of service?"

"Magic! That ain't real magic. That's just wizard shit! Real magic is all about misdirection and sleight of hand. Watch, pick a card, any card...no, not that one. Any card but that one. Really just try to avoid any card that my thumb isn't touching and we're golden."

Mercenaries! - A tongue in cheek fantasy roleplay where things often go wrong 18+ language, violence

I've got a dumbass rogue up my sleeve for this.

World of Light

posting in the OOC to notify everyone that my most recent Sakura post has undergone some pretty heavy changes! Lugu has once again made the big edits

World of Light

Sakura Level 8: 74/80
Karin Level 4: 21/40
Location: Metro
Word Count: 849
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 8: 74/80

Karin Level 4: 21/40 (pending)

”Thank you very much!” Sakura had said to Belle, Wise, and Kyle. Happily, she carried all six radios in her arms, though they were contained within a plastic bag. They were short-wave, for long distances but small enough to be used on the fly. If they could evenly distribute these among the group, it’d be easier for them to remain in contact with each other! Sakura felt very clever.

”Tora-san! Poppi-san!” She said, running into them. ”Look what I got; short-wave radios! We can use these to talk to each other from far away. They have different, um, frequencies. You press this button here and you can talk into it and everyone else’ll hear it unless their radio is turned off. And you have to end every sentence with ‘over’ otherwise no one will know when to press their own button to start talking. Pretty cool, huh?” Sakura said, a tinge of hope in her voice. Tora and Poppi both seemed pretty smart, especially Tora, so she was going to be validated by their ‘smart-person’ approval more than she thought.

At that moment, some bikers roared down the street on their vehicles, forcing civilians into cover. Even some kids! Sakura’s mouth worked up into a pout, but she was also, admittedly, a little excited. Frankly, it had been too long since she’d been able to dispense some street justice. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard and saw a familiar face- it was Edge! ”Eh?!”

Sakura and Edge had crossed fists- or rather, she had crossed fists with his knives- a few times in the past. They both knew each other through their mutual friend Akira Kazama, and anyone Sakura had a friendly street fighter with, she considered friendly. There’s few faster ways to bond with people, in her opinion. Moving the plastic bag full of radios to her right hand, she waved one hand over her head and sprinted over to him. ”Edge-san! Mister Edge! It’s me, Sakura Kasugano! Remember me?” She sprinted all the way to him and skidded to a stop on her heels, leaning far back as she nearly blew right past him.

The spiky-haired young man looked her way suddenly, taken by surprise. On reflex he dodged away from the girl when she came at him, ready to pull one of his trademark knives if a Punk had come back to finish the job, but he stopped short. There were a lot of students in Gutsford, but since nobody traveled much everyone tended to see one another around, especially within the same academy. Friends made here lasted for life, however long that might be. Yet while Edge faintly recalled this girl as someone he'd seen before, he couldn't call her a friend or even someone he really knew. He wouldn't have remembered her name if she didn't give it to him. "Sakura...Kasugano, eh?" He eased up a little, his hand straying from his pocket. At the very least, this clearly wasn't a Punk, Jock, or Frat. "What's...?"

”Hey, those guys suck, huh!” Giving one last concerned look to any threatened schoolchildren, she turned to Edge with a resolute smile on her face. ”I think I’m gonna go beat ‘em up and win their bikes off them because I need them and also it’ll be fun.” Her long winded sentence summarized all her goals. ”I’m new in town- do you know a biker bar where all those guys hang out?” She asked.

Edge ran his hand through his iconic 'do. "Nah, not really, they're just..."

”And also, what’s a Clustertruck and can I…rent one? Me and my friends need a way to get to Midgar as fast as possible. And maybe after all this is done you and me can throw down!” Sakura said, excitedly. ”Sorry, I’ve been talking too much- what do you think?”

Eye twitching, Edge carefully opened his mouth to reply.

She waited a beat, and then interrupted him. ”Edgewise!” She pointed at him. ”I haven’t been letting you get a word in edgewise. Ah, crap, it’s too late now. Dang!” She snapped her fingers. With both Nadia and Ace no longer in this group, there was a lack of punnage that Sakura was trying and probably failing to compensate for.

"No kiddin'! You wanna hear it, or not!?" the dude exclaimed. He waited a moment longer to see if Sakura had anything else to say, but since his old acquaintance seemed to have gotten her motor mouth under control for now, he let out his breath. She covered her mouth and gave him a thumbs up. "Nice to see ya again too, I guess. Just listen, those guys are the Punks. They're a pain in the ass but they can't fight for shit, so they just screw around while out joyridin' on their bikes. You wanna beat 'em up, be my guest! Might even tag along. They don't serve alcohol in this town -believe me, I checked- but there's an ol' garage where the Punks hang out down by the place with all the trucks."

He leaned forward conspiratorially, his hands upheld to aid in his explanation with violent gestures. "Speakin' of, ya really are new in town if ya ain't heard about the Clustertrucks. They're like, the whole reason we're stuck here in the boonies while everything's happenin' in the big city. Get a load of this: out in the wastes, there's these giant herds o' wild trucks with no drivers! They cruise around suckin' up oil shale, but if two herds get too close, they all go nuts and stampede, smashin' and slammin' into one another 'til the whole thing's one big cluster-truck!"

Edge then crossed his arms and leaned casually against the brick wall by the storefront. "It's stupid dangerous, and everyone says not to go out there, but sometimes me an' the guys head out and ride on the trucks. If you can run and jump worth a damn, you can cover some real ground goin' between herds. Yeah, basically I guess you could say we're super badass." He nodded to himself, full of confidence. Sakura nodded with him, taken in by his narrative craft.

Sakura paused before responding, not wanting to interrupt again. ”That's insane! I really wanna see those trucks! Thank you very much, Edge-kun! If you do help me find my way there, your reward will be watching me beat up the Punks." Sakura punched her palm. ”Or, y'know, you could fight, too, haha.” Secretly, she was excited to beat up some weak losers who bullied people but were all talk. It was a serious power trip, which was something she tried not to induldge in...but if the bad guys deserved a beating, Sakura wasn't exactly going to become a saintly beacon of restraint. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to bait them into a fight.

---

Karin and Midna had split up at some point to cover more ground. Neither the Bus Depot, Trade Depot, or even the helicopters overhead were easily accessible. There wasn’t even any cars to buy. Karin ended up pacing back and forth in an alleyway. ”Well it’s wonderful that they have such a delightfully walkable city. Truly the automobile can be such a blight on quality of life.” She muttered to herself.

”But must there be not a single vehicle available even for rent?! She complained loudly and almost put a huge dent, or even hole, in a nearby dumpster, but averted her kick at the last moment into the air.

Karin Kanzuki didn’t need to ask for transportation! She had a fleet of private limousines, helicopters, jets, cars! She traveled the world on a regular basis! And now she’s been reduced to a base commoner, asking around! This was not her role! This was not her place in life! Curse that Galeem! Galeem had taken away nearly all of her power and influence. Though naturally she still had far more than most people, it was limited to a single city! Her global reach had been taken from her by some glorified street lamp! Her entire life’s work! Due to the danger, she hadn’t taken her staff with her, which had already proved to be a wise decision. But now she missed them. If nothing else they afforded her the respect she deserved.

Karin ran her hands up her forehead and exhaled, reigning in her temper. ”All right. You’re out of ideas. Let us simply collect our thoughts and go on a walk.” With that, she reorganized her hair ringlets and began to walk around town by herself to relax and get to know it a little better. She stopped at a coffee shop and purchased some tea, and sat down to drink some in peace. She still had some time before reuniting with the other Seekers, and some time alone with her thoughts and some decent tea would do her some good.