Zoey Boey

World of Light

Level 7: 62/70
Word Count: itty bitty
Location: Home of Tears
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 63/70

---

“Just go around-” Jesse scoffed to Nadia. “I’m trying to cover you. You know. All ‘teammate’ like?” She joked.

Regardless, Ichiban prevent a loss of resources and they were all on the move. They avoided a few more weird amalgamations, who seemed as indestructible as they were indecisive. Jesse Evaded and Levitated past all of them.

Finally they made it to meet IGV, who revealed himself as ‘Iguana Gallo Valleto’.

What a name. This guy was destined to be a wizard. Or the owner of a barely-legal exotic animal petting zoo.

Long story short, Jesse saw the guy as a talented visionary with a big ego who got spurned big time by the evil Consul P. Those evil guys creating and enslaving the entire world and keep it in eternal conflict.

IGV gave them the run down of the bad guys they were up against. Storming the castle directly was probably not a good idea, so it made sense to divide and conquer. Going up against the captains and lieutenants first would weaken the infrastructure, making the finishing blow possible to strike.

She didn’t know if IGV was entirely trustworthy. But he seemed genuine enough and this was a lot of info to leak, or pretend to leak, if he was for some reason working with Consul P. With a bit of scouting and caution, they would easily be able to verify if the intel was good. Because if all these targets just turned out to be people this guy didn’t like, that would be big trouble.

But anyone supporting Consul P and thus the Consuls and thus the Guardians and thus Galeem, was a valid target in Jesse’s mind.

Primrose made a good point that matched with what Jesse was thinking. “Bingo. Hit ‘em all on the same day. Same hour, even.”

Jesse looked at the map. “Nice.” She said, rubbing her chin.

The Director tapped the map, pointing to the western district. “This guy’s in a school? That might be weird. Or dangerous. Maybe we could draw him out first.” She said. If no one else would volunteer, she would go. Her fighting style wasn’t exactly quiet, but the Tool Gun meant she could aid in some serious infiltration. At the very least, no conventional means of security could keep her out.

World of Light

Karin Level 5: 37/50
Location: Seiran Tunnels
Word Count: 707
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance---

Karin Level 5: 38/50

Karin pinched the bridge of her nose when her teammates arrived having brought along a homeless man and a terrible smell. She appreciated the thought, and they were competent enough to survive unscathed, so she just shook her head and smirked. Had she been aware of the mission, she most likely would have come along as well, but she kept that part to herself.

After the training and a little bit of sparse interior design was done (this Bridges technology was truly amazing!) Goldewis gave everyone the briefing before the mission. The clearing of the subway had begun, and their infiltrators were on the move. They were to fight their way through the sewers and meet up with their allies, then hit the Others at full force. Made sense to her.

Thus, the Seekers descended. The inadequacies of this city were astonishing.

Karin traveled easily enough above the mirk and mire. What gaps she could not leap were crossed with pulls from her grappling hook. Karin watched a grumpy Midna disappear into her shadow, and watched her leave just as quietly. Not up for conversation, then. She had come to enjoy her grappling hook. When they reached a platform, Karin admired the architecture. It reminded her of the London Underground. But the older tunnels, the ones that got left behind. Were they the very same? More likely they were a similar but disparate reflection. Reflection, mirror image, clone…all of these words implied there was an original. It didn’t strike Karin as likely that her world was the ‘original’ or, rather, if there was an original at all. What to call places like these, then? So obviously familiar yet so entirely alien?

Putting aside the musings that occupied her mind while they descended, they came to an obvious combat encounter. The room began to fill with smoke, and odd flashing boxes and bursting, plant-like wretches began closing in. Vision was low, and the enemies all seemed ready to explode as soon as they got close!

Karin ‘tsk’ed, frustrated with these enemies. ”I can’t damage them without getting close.” She said, backpedaling. How long did they have to act before they exploded? Could she launch them away?

Karin wasn’t eager to find out and be blown to smithereens. When one of the Session Pounds approached, she lined up a shot with her grappling hook. Striking it, she fired off the other end and tethered it to another nearby Session Pound. Ideally, they would explode together. At the very least, the restriction would make them get in each other’s way. Casting her eyes upward before the smoke filled the room, she fired her grappling hook to the ceiling. ”I’m ascending!” There she ascended and landed with agility on one of the beams in the darkness. Midna dropped then just then, clearing the room of much smoke with an impressive stormy maneuver.

As Benedict took the defensive, and Midna was being chased around by the blinking bombs, she realized that they were low on front line fighters. And it seemed they were lacking on ranged capabilities. At the very least, Midna seemed hesitant to fire into the smoke.

”Bah! I’m coming back down!” Karin certainly couldn’t leave Goldlewis to fight off the exploding monsters by himself. As quickly as she ascended to the ceiling, she dropped down even faster, pulling herself in a blur to the floor. She quickly targeted more foes with her grappling hook, tethering them to the ground and each other as they approached. Improvising, she picked up a nearby cinder block with her hook and rather unelegantly chucked it at a stuck Session Pound, hoping her sheer power would make the cinder block a deadly thrown weapon. Enough to damage an unknowable monster?

Karin was always ready to simply block the creatures if it came down to it. Her defensive ki was ready to act. Though how many explosions she could absorb at once without her guard breaking, she couldn’t know. That wasn’t even taking into consideration the chip damage.

Perhaps her last experience with taking on a monstrous, inhuman opponent had left her being overly cautious. Or maybe she was just trying to fight tactically this time. Karin couldn’t learn until the battle was over.

World of Light

Sakura Level 9: 35/90
Location: Clearing Party
Word Count: 675
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 9: 36/90

—

Sakura nodded along as Luka explained the plan. It was going to be a big operation. Somehow, Sakura had found herself in another war. This time, she would be better prepared for what she might see. She would steel her resolve! At the very least, she doubted she would feel any sympathy for the plight of their enemies, lacking emotion and inner worlds. She doubted Raz would find anything in them if he could put a portal into their minds. These were swarms of monsters attacking the town. Sakura was ready to clear them out. She felt more like a firefighter ready to wade into action than a soldier going into battle.

Raz sent a message and Sakura blinked. Right. Infiltrating. She keeps forgetting that.

”Go for it, Raz-kun!” Sakura encouraged with her mental speak.

Soon the platoon was assembled, and the frontline would be sent down after the scouts had cleared the way. Sakura exhaled. This was it! She was as ready as she’d ever be. Plunging into another fight to the death.

If her father knew where she was right now, he would probably kill her himself! Since when did she get into the habit of doing this type of thing? Probably back when she chased Ryu into a fight against M. Bison. And then again when she chased Ryu into a fight against SIN. It was only a matter of time until she didn’t even need the Ryu excuse anymore. She was already used to it.

—

Magically teleported down below, Sakura wrinkled her nose at the sights and smells of the sewers and subways. It wasn’t supposed to be a sewer, but it was.

”Geez…” Sakura said at the disrepair. This was at the bottom of an actual city? No wonder there were monsters infesting this place.

As the OSF agents prepared their weapons, Sakura made a point to show hers off by simply cracking her knuckles. Yeah. They were pretty cool.

Luka explained the advantages and dangers of short range teleportation. ”A nuclear explosion? Wow, it’s not like that where I’m from.” Sakura said with a concerned expression. She thought about Dhalsim and his frequent teleporting. There was no way him and his ‘Yoga Teleport’ (which doesn’t make any sense by the way) would accidentally create a nuclear explosion.

Sakura followed Peach’s lead, doing some jumping and parkour to get to their destination. At least, she tried too, but eventually she synced up with SAS and with a preparatory wince in case of total annihilation, teleported over a particularly large gap she couldn’t jump across.

”Phew. Not today!” Sakura nodded to herself. She also grinned big, having done her very first teleport. Badass. She could see herself using that in a fight.

With her arms out to either side of the tracks, maintaining balance, Sakura took note of the strange plants. Strange! Why plants?

Finally they reached an underground clearing with rain from the ceiling. There were Others, and of the ones Sakura didn’t recognize, Luka gave a quick run down. ”This is it. Let’s go!” She ran in with the others, looking to close the gap as fast as possible.

Sakura decided to focus on the Rat Ruts. He said blunt damage, and she could do that. One of them fired oil at her while another went to ram into her. They moved fast, and they were at least two feet taller than her five-two frame.

”Woah!” Sakura dodge rolled to the side as one blurred past her. Hopefully the one that just missed her would be taken care of by the others as she advanced at the one shooting oil at her.

Leaping forward she nullified the enemy projectiles with mid-air ”Hadoken!” She landed in front of the Rat Rut and began to hammer it with her fists. All of her technique was put into forming as much power as possible. She interlocked her fingers and smashed into the Other with a series of Pendulum Uppers, and then brought said pendulum back down with a mighty drop.

World of Light

Level 7: 61/70
Word Count: itty bitty
Location: Home of Tears
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 62/70

---

By the time Nadia had made her rounds of greeting, Jesse was expecting a pun. When she didn’t get one, she stopped leaning on the wall and gave an offended shrug. “Well shit. Good morning to you too, I guess.” She said with faux-passive-aggressiveness.
As for Omori and his new friend, Jesse watched with interest. Was Bowser right and it was a new member of the team? Apparently Omori was annoyed by the thing, but nothing could be done. It didn’t seem aggressive at least.

“Okay. Just…” She looked at the scarf thing. “Stay out of trouble.” She raised a knowing eyebrow at it, and then at Omori.

After that was the info dump about the flame clocks. Jesse shook her head at the scale.

Does it get much eviler than that?

“So. As heroes, our job is to destroy the world. I like the sound of that. Nice reversal.” She made a ‘reversal’ motion with her hand. After that, she went with the others to go meet IGV. As the letter indicated, she was ready for a fight.

Nadia always took the lead, and Jesse was never far behind. What was she going to do, argue with her?

At first, it was easy, with a room of infinite ghosts that could easily be passed through. After that, it got harder, with angry, bloated looking patients swinging the heaviest things they could find at the Seekers. Jesse’s powers activated and she gunned them down, though she had to spend power defensively to Evade away from them when they got too close to her floating form. The last thing she wanted was to get banged on the shins by a roller thingy. Which ended up happening. She landed with a limp and got her health back from all the nearby slain enemies and their health elements.

Even higher was a floor full of weird looking amalgamates. Immediately, Nadia started communicating with them.

“Uhh..?” She said as Nadia threw away one of her weapons. Fortunately they were relatively new, and Jesse knew Nadia could fight without them. She let out an amused laugh at the situation.

“Are we done communing with the beasts yet?” Jesse asked, hearing the encroaching sounds of more monsters. “The patients want more medicine.” She leaned against the wall nearby the front of the group and aimed her gun in that direction to fire upon any oncoming monsters while this whole amalgamation situation was handled.

Playing fetch with it HAS to be faster than fighting it, right? As long as it gets out of our way.

“This is a hell of a job interview. Can’t wait to see the secret shortcut IGV took to the top.” She complained good naturedly. To be honest, at this point all she wanted was the opportunity to strike back at the Consuls. If this led to that, it was worth it.

World of Light

Level 7: 60/70
Word Count: itty bitty
Location: → Home of Tears
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 61/70

---

Everyday comfort. Broad appeal. Habbo Hotel.

Not exactly Jesse’s idea of fun. But it was what she could afford and being comfortable was good, but not nearly as important as being in the same place as everyone else, which was priority number one at the moment. Still, the sooner they moved on, the better.

“Oh, good.” Jesse said as the other half of their group met them in the lobby. “Primrose, Koopas, Sectonia, you made it here. We’re all together again.” Jesse said, smiling. “That’s a relief. I thought we might have been split up for good with all that crazy shit that went down. Let’s try and keep and touch this time.”

Miss Fortune mentioned the letter she got, and upon learning of its contents Jesse was intrigued. “IGV.” She said. “Great. Well, got nowhere better to be right now and that sounds pretty interesting.”

“Besides. We just got back together. Wouldn’t want this person’s anger about whatever you all ‘treaded upon’ split is up again.” Jesse said.

When Ichiban started stuffing food in his pockets (dusty food?) Omori commented. Jesse glanced over at the boy and saw…

Someone? Some…thing? I don’t recognize it. Is that one of his abilities?

“Hey, Omori.” Jesse said casually. “You, uh…you know this guy?” She indicated at the Something with the cup of orange juice she was holding. Then she took a sip, slowly glancing between Omori and his shadow. As someone who considered herself a professional in measuring bad vibes, this creature was rubbing the Director the wrong way. She was ready to draw, if need be, and it would be all the quicker considering her Service Weapon required no holster.

World of Light

Sakura Level 9: 28/90
Karin Level 5: 36/50
Location: SOU Hideout
Word Count: 650~ each
Points Gained: 1 each
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 9: 35/90 +6

Karin Level 5: 37/50

Sakura had never slept in a barracks before…she wondered how well she was going to get to know the other women, if at all. After all, she was here on false pretenses. She’d never be one for things like this, group activities weren’t really her thing. Unfortunately, Sakura had been cursed to live in a town with a normal high school, instead of the made-up sounding fighting high school.

When days were lighter and more fun, she would stay up all night training and be tired for school. But those days were gone, and Sakura had to be more disciplined. Besides, she didn’t need any training, the experience she was earning on the field was more than enough.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of the alarm in her head, and she instinctively smacked the source of the noise as she had done to her alarm many times in the past. Though in this case it was her own head. ”Ow…that’s gonna take some getting used too.” She muttered to herself.

If Peach’s outfit could be considered impractical, then Sakura’s definitely could as well. She had selected a simple pair of pants tucked into sneakers. She wore her cropped red top underneath a black thick vest that barely covered it up. This meant the entirety of her arms and even half of her midriff were bare. The white of her headband didn’t quite match the rest of the outfit, but it was close enough that when she insisted it be included, she was given a pass. It was close enough to gray. Still, it was a light, maneuverable outfit and body armor wouldn’t be able to surpass the natural armor that was her body. Of course, she still had her signature fighting gloves on as well. Wouldn’t be a martial artist without ‘em! Their red color matched the rest of the outfit nicely.

At breakfast, Sakura had helped herself to a hefty fighter’s serving of protein and veggies and all the nutrients she would need for the day. A lot of it! Fireballs and strength techniques can only come from a full belly.

They had met with Luka Travers, the boy- the man- from the restaurant the night previous. There they met up with Dexio and Sina. Sakura repeated their names a few times under her breath to make sure she remembered them.

In the food line, at which Sakura was helping herself, she introduced herself to Dexio and Sina. ”I’m Sakura! This is my first mission, but, I have a lot of fighting experience.” She said truthfully. ”I’m mostly a fighter, but I have Levitation which is I guess pretty generally useful. I’m looking forward to picking up some cool new psychic powers!” She said, thinking about the SAS system.

Once she had eaten a bit of breakfast, she stood up and started mentally ticking through the various options she had at her disposal. There! She found it. She was going to customize her introduction. That way nobody would see creepy AI Sakura ever again. Now she just had to think of something cool to do. But not too distracting or in the way.

”Yeah.” She said to herself, pumping her fist. Hmm, no, that wasn’t it. She rose her fist into the air and said ”Power up!” But that wasn’t right.

”Power and skill..!” No, that was too personal. That was her thing. She didn’t want other people saying that.

”Okay, wait, I got it.” She looked at the mental ‘camera’, and performed her animation.

She punched her fists together and smiled big. ”Yeah! Let’s go!” And that was it! Now people would see that animation when they used her power. Short, sweet, pretty cool. Had a little more bite than ‘here to help.’

Happy with that she looked back at the others and grinned. Sitting down, she finished her breakfast, eating quickly and with great efficiency. Soon she was ready to go, equipped in her new uniform and ready to get into the action. She was excited to meet back up with Karin and show off.

—

Karin knew that Sakura would be going to battle the Others. ”I wish you well in dealing with the ‘Machines.’ And the retrobates that intend to use them for political gain.” She said, fully intending on crushing the true enemies eventually.

Thus, she joined the others in Seiran. Riding in the dark tunnel, she tried to glare at gawkers to get them to stop gawking at Geralt, but to little success. He didn’t seem to be that upset though, so she let it be. Instead, she had to stew on the wealth disparity as she glanced down at the distant hovels some people were forced to call home.

Karin, of course, had no idea what it was like to be poor. In fact, she was probably the furthest person on the entire earth from poor. Her life of privilege in the face of such poverty made her uncomfortable. Unfortunately, spending time with people that weren’t her staff had forced her to think about these things instead of just ignoring them.

Though Karin still believed that she had earned her wealth by being exceptional. By the trials she as a Kanzuki was put into. Her life had been beyond privileged, but her ego would never let it be called easy. Not as hard as living below the gutters themselves, but easy? No, it couldn’t have been easy. Karin couldn’t allow herself or anyone to think of it like that. She was not spoiled. She was a Kanzuki. It was different.

Karin was departed from her massive amount of wealth and influence now, though. She had left what comparatively little she had back in Limsa. But if she could tip the scales, she would. Hopefully their quest to defeat Galeem would help the people of the city more. If their quest was completed, and Galeem was killed, the World of Light would probably be disbanded entirely. In which case these people would be shunted back to their own realities none the wiser… the alternative was being stuck in the World of Light forever banished from their homes. It made the idea of systemic change something of a dour one. Perhaps she should just focus on finishing the Seekers’ fight as fast as possible.

As for the talk about avalanche, Karin scoffed. ”The city is at war with itself.” She said. ”Shinra is weak. Weak of spirit and will.” She concluded.

”As for your…robotic nature, no, I do not think it will be a problem. There may be certain facets of the battle you will not be able to engage with, but those parts of the battle may not be able to engage with you, either. I am not psychic, but psychics can certainly target me. Your circuits may be immune, or resistant, perhaps? Unless they are similar enough, in which case, you will be in the same boat as myself and many others in the Seekers.” She said.

”Ideally our psychic companions will be able to cover that field of battle for us while we all focus on the more physical threats.”

Once at the workshop, Karin watched with interest and then growing, amused concern as Midna assembled her creation from spare parts.
”Well…congratulations, I suppose, Midna-san.” She said respectfully, smirking. ”An imposing warrior indeed. I am surprised you didn’t name it.”

As for Karin, she spent the majority of her time training. She attached herself to a wall with her grappling hook and began experimenting with different techniques. If she was going to avoid…

The thought of that fight with the chimera made her angry. Damn it all. Such fights were beyond her skill set. She was a novice. And the worst part was, she had no means of improving. Not until lives were at stake and she had another chance to face down such an opponent. Everything could have ended for her right there had she not been saved.

Karin began training on the wall and jumping from corner to corner, practicing her mobility. That was how she occupied herself until the time to reunite came.

World of Light

Level 7: 59/70
Word Count: itty bitty
Location: → Home of Tears
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 60/70

---

“Uh, alright. Bye, I guess.” Jesse waved at the three guys as they headed off. She felt like she was missing something. Really only after they left did the thought occur to her to ask if she could come, too.

Guess it’s just the two of us, then. She thought.

I guess I should turn in. I wonder where Primrose and the others got off too, after all? I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever see each other again. Maybe not until they find their way back to ‘Alcamoth’?”

When she asked around for a place to stay, she was pointed to the Habbo Hotel with a cryptic yet in-character message. So Jesse ended up renting a room at the Habbo Hotel, using some more of her meager savings to do it. Man, she needed a job.

Sleep never came particularly easy to Jesse Faden. Not even when she was exhausted. But it was a lot better now than it was back when things were bad.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Jesse took a moment collect her thoughts. We need to get back to the Oldest House. Jesse thought to Polaris. It’s going to take the Seekers a long time to work their way up there…once we’re done down here we might need to split off. Emily and the others need to know what’s going on. I know they’re fine but, who knows what kind of crazy shit could be going down. And without knowing about Galeem, they won’t know what to look for.

But we work fast. It’ll only be a few more days, tops, before we kill the next Boss. We can all wait that long.

In the morning Jesse would try to find Miss Fortune in the hotel and re-unite with the other Seekers to begin planning their next move.

World of Light

Karin Level 5: 35/50
Location: SOU Hideout
Word Count: Short
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance---

Karin Level 5: 36/50

Karin woke up bright and early, feeling much better. No one paid much mind to her loss, and Sakura didn’t really have to know… so all was well and Karin brushed the defeat under the rug of her ego. Besides. the people of this city needed her. Karin wasn’t going to be bothered by civilian casualties because that would mean allowing more to happen. What Midgar needed was strength, not just of body, but of spirit.

After managing her needs and wants, she sat down with her small breakfast and listened to Goldlewis, Giovanna, Vernon, Midna, Benedic, and then lastly, Roxas, speak. Then the newcomer, Zenkichi, along with Geralt.

”It would certainly help establish us as legitimate.” Karin said. ”But I’m under no illusion it would significantly increase our freedom. In my extensive experience with gaining power, one must rub elbows with those on top and work your way up. You can only crush someone if you’re above them, after all.” She said.

”...Not that we’re planning on crushing anyone.” She added. ”Well, if they deserve it, yes, we would be obligated to crush them.” She added again.

She crossed one leg over the other as Zenkichi made his proposal about Akane. ”Indeed, Alcamoth would be the safest place…but this hideout is reasonably secure, yes? It’s the safest place in the city, at least. We’d need to establish our new ‘brand’ elsewhere by securing some property, if we want the hideout to remain a hideout.” She said.

”Before we make any concrete plans, we’ll have to meet up with the OSF recruits and see how that operation went…” She mused, that part mostly to herself.

Young Justice

The Incorrigible Iceburn!

Interactions
Metamorph: @DClassified

---

Iceburn saluted jovially and followed Metamorph. "C-squad! The C stands for cool."

taking in the intel being put together by the other members of the team. "Hmm hmm. Well, I don't care how fancy their guns are, two of them should be no problem." She said, jogging after Metamorph.

"...I mean, okay, small problem. But what are we gonna do, not engage because they have guns?" Iceburn asked rhetorically. "Of course not! You're good in a close up fight Metamorph, so just let me cover for you while you get close. If you need it, that is. I think my most important job is freezing guns." She said with a confident nod. The most effective way to neutralize any gunman was to make them just a regular man.

But she had learned early on not to underestimate a decently sized guy with a baseball bat. If they really wanted too, they could lay down the hurt and catch a hero off guard. But still, much less dangerous than a guy with a gun, and usually they were too reliant on said gun and could be easily defeated without it.

When they reached the stairwell, Iceburn didn't need to be asked to quiet down. Indeed, she cracked her knuckles and went into Serious Mode™. She was going to prove to the team that she was a badass, professional, and useful asset. Sure, she was nervous, but she was confident they were going to win this and Save The Day. When she heard the distant sound of explosive firepower reverberate through the stairwell, she looked at Metamoprh and raised an eyebrow.

World of Light

Level 7: 57/70
Word Count: itty bitty
Location: → Home of Tears
Points Gained: 1 (+25)
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 59/70

---

Jesse emerged from her doctor’s appointment, sucking on her free lollypop. She paused and looked down at her ankle. Reaching down, she pulled up her pant leg and plucked a leech from her lower leg. “Missed one, doc.” She said, tossing it back into the room.

The doctor said something and she smiled, nodding. “Alright, thanks. I feel like a million bucks! You’re a lifesaver.”

Entering the lobby, she saw her fellow Seekers. The mood was a little sour, and sure Jesse was a little curious just what exactly the nature of her treatment was, but whatever it did, it got results. As long as Polaris was at her side Jesse walked forward with a level of confidence that bordered on faithful.

They re-united with their new friend Ichiban, who Jesse was finding the urge to take into a back alley and shoot him ‘till he was almost dead. Which was a weird thing to think about for the people you liked. She accepted a packet of his unbranded cookies and combined with her lollypop. Jesse Faden was one happy camper.

“Thanks. All square in my book, Ichiban. I think we’re all looking to take it easy for tonight. I’d like to get acquainted with this town, myself. It looks pretty interesting. You a local? If you’re not done dispensing favors you could always show us around.” Jesse said good-naturedly.