Zoey Boey

Arcane Dreams! (Now Open!)

this looks pretty cool, i'm definitely interested. i went ahead and joined the discord

World of Light

Sakura Level 9: 35/90
Location: Seiran Tunnels
Word Count: 1,173
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 9: 37/90

—

Sakura backed up as the Rut began to spin, but the extended prongs, sharp and dangerous, caught her off guard. One of them slashed across her face. Sakura gasped and rolled back to her feet. There was a spark of defensive ki that kept her head from splitting open, but she felt warm blood trickle down her cheek. She was lucky it was below the eye. Gotta be careful.

Just then, the other Rat Rut backed up its buddy, and fired a barrage of oil her way. ”Guess it’s a two-on-one!”

She dove out of the way of incoming oil. It pooled hotly onto the spot where she just was. Coming out of her roll, she launched a hadoken at the base of the spinning Rut. ”Hadoken!” Right for its wheel. The impact launched it up and it had to stop spinning and speed off to prevent itself from falling on its side.

Avoiding more oil with a jump, she advanced on the Rut #2. It charged at her and she jumped over it, slamming it on the armored behind with a hammer swing for its trouble.

Just then the Rut #1 came around for a charge and she avoided it with a sideways leap. Time to adapt. She followed it and slammed her fists into it, focusing it down. She backed up before it started spinning.

Some of the oil hit her in the back and she hissed, jerking forward from the impact. One probably wouldn’t be a problem. But two was a real fight. Sakura, however, was getting a sense for the ranges of the creatures. They were predictable.

Too close, they span. At their ideal range, they did donuts. Avoid that range. Far away, they charged. Close to another rut, they shot oil. It was just a pattern, like in the training arena. All she had to do was figure out when to strike, when to dodge, and when to switch targets. It didn’t take long. Sakura was smart. She knew she was smart. Knee strikes, hammer swings, dodge rolls and leaps. She could play them.

Finally, she found it. Her goldilocks zone. Grinning now, her headband trailing behind her, she skidded to a stop in the center of both of the Rat Ruts. Not quite within spinning range. Not close enough to the other rut to trigger oil barrage. They only had one option- charge. So they did.

At the last moment, Sakura jumped, her arms over and behind her head in victory, pulling her legs in tight. With a tremendous crash the Ruts crumpled their mighty shells against each other. Their front facing prongs snapped and bent. ”Oops!” Sakura taunted as she dropped back down.

Right in the middle of them as they wheeled back from each other, she used her saved up meter to do a super art. ”Here we go!

She turned into a spinning top, her outstretched leg trailing blue energy as she flashed with power and swiped both the wheels out from under the stunned Rat Ruts. They crashed onto their sides. Sakura leapt up on Rat Rut #1, the more damaged of the two, and wrapped her fingers underneath the front of the bent up shell. Fortifying her position with Telekinesis, she wrenched the metal upward, peeling it like an orange! Yelling from the effort, she bent it up enough to hop underneath the bent up portion. What she saw under there skeeved her out a little bit, but she punched at the interior organs of the beast nonetheless. With a wet thud, she struck true several times and the Other turned to dust all around her.

That was when Rut #2, who had, unbeknownst to Sakura, landed at a recoverable angle due to some debris, charged at her. Sakura barely heard it coming and stepped out of the way to avoid being impaled. The heavy metal shell crashed into her and she was sent spinning and tumbling. She fell down the side of the platform and rolled into the water. Breathless and face down in the water, she used the rail to pull herself up where she emerged, coughing and sputtering.

Squinting, she saw the ramaged Rut #2 begin to wheel its way towards her. It was going to come tumbling down that ramp and squish her flat. As it picked up speed, it came at the Street Fighter like an oncoming train. Sakura was angry at this thing and at herself, for thinking she had it in the bad only for her victory to get torn out from underneath her by some unexpected variable.
”Come on.” She said to the Rat Rut, clenching her fist and teeth. ”I’d do it if I were you.”

When the Rut charged at her while she was crouched in the water, it picked up a little air. That was all she needed.

”Kurae!” She cried, zooming forward with another burst of energy. She hooked her fist underneath the spinning eel wheel and rocketed upward once, halting its momentum in mid air. As it began to fall down on her she dropped and gathered even more power into her fist before exploding upwards with a spinning uppercut.

”Midare Zakura!” There was a pop and spherical burst of energy that turned into sparkles and spiraling flower petals. The Other flew upward, spinning, and crashed mightily onto the platform, cracking the tile. Dust fell from the roof. It was on its side thoroughly now, with no way to recover. A strange bulb emerged from its form, ready to be Crushed.

Sakura, now on the platform herself due to the forward velocity of her attack, jumped into the air and punched victoriously.

”Yes! Yeah! The crowd goes wild! Victory for Sakura!” She cheered happily, hyped up.

Then she winced. She her hand on her knee and with the other, held her side, taking a moment to compose herself. Slash across the cheek, hit by oil in the back, and then the left side of her body had been hit with some pretty serious blunt damage. ”I’ll be okay.” She said aloud to herself with a nod and a laugh.

She looked over at Sina and Dexio who had finished their fight against a Rat Rut. She was tempted to ask them to go over and finish the job for her, but Peach and Raz were still cleaning up their active threats and might need the help. So she just offered them a congratulatory raising of her fist.

”Nice. Heh. Y’know I tried to get a friend of mine to do that kind of stuff with me but she wasn’t down for it? I don’t know why. It’s cool.” She rubbed her nose and went over to the Crushable Bulb, doing literally that. They had some kind of practiced duo motto.

No doubt the others had done all the cleaning up at that point. If not, she would pitch in with a few obligatory Hadokens. But all the major threats, be they singular or in number, seemed to be taken care of.

Young Justice

The Incorrigible Iceburn!

Collab Interactions
Metamorph: @DClassified
NPCS: gm @dreamingflowers

---

”Good at–?” Iceburn began with a whisper, but Metamorph was already through the door. ”Aaand he’s gone.” Iceburn said. As for his plan…

”Let’s hope they aren’t trigger happy…” She muttered under her breath with a nervous smile. But she was nothing if not a performer, and she had done similar ‘distraction’ roles before in some of the rinky-dink heists she and her friends in Rhelasia used to pull.

But she couldn’t distract anyone in her superhero outfit. She needed a disguise. But how? Her pink eyes scanned the floor and she peeked around the corner. With the coast clear, she made her way…to the janitor’s closet!

As the roaming guard made their patrol, they would suddenly encounter the young pale woman with a cap and a baggy outfit on, pulling a cart of supplies in one hand and a mop in the other.

”Moppin’ floors, moppin’ floors, that’s what I’m getting pa-id fors.” She sang brightly, adding a croaky rasp to her voice and a hunch to her shoulders. Her head was down, her face mostly obscured.

The guard aimed his weapon at Pei, as if her mop and bucket were some sort of deadly weapons.
“What the hell are you doing…?” The question would have been obvious, but what kind of janitor would continue cleaning the building during a heist? He walked up to Pei with a scowl on his face.

“Do you want to end up like the rest of the people here?”

The guard kicked at the bucket, spreading dirty water all over the marble floors. It looked like there were a couple of people who managed to stay out of sight during their sweep of the floors.

”What’s that, sonny?” She croaked, still not looking up, hoping to use her hat to hide the youthfulness of her face. She cupped her ear in his direction. A lot of her hair was white, after all, she had hid a lot of the rainbow part under her cap.

”My hearing isn’t what it used to be!”

“Either get off this floor, or join the hostages downstairs! Understand?”

He really didn’t have time for this nonsense. There was something going on downstairs. Theo’s message was strange to say the least and he could swear he heard the muffled sounds of a distant explosion.

The guard was waiting for Pei to leave the area and he wasn’t being very patient. It would be less than a minute before he’d resort to violence.

Iceburn was nothing if not willing to take a hit for the team… but she wasn’t looking forward to it. At all. Nonetheless, she pushed forward. ”Hmmm? Oh yes, yes, I understand. Just fine, sonny. But, no, thank you. I’ll just clean this floor and move on, I don’t have any sausages.” She said. Hostages kind of sounded like sausages. That was what she was going with here. ”But if you’d like, you can come over for some homemade cake and iced cream!”

The stalling tactics could only take them so far and the guard was fed up. He grabbed Pei and pulled her away from the cleaning supplies with a rough tug on her left arm.
“I don’t think you’re getting my point….”

”Ooh!” Iceburn said, feigning alarm. She winced, preparing to take a hit, but fortunately, he saw fit to only tug her. Harshly, but, whatever. At the very least, he’s not the type of guy to beat up defenseless old ladies. Iceburn would go easy on him.

During a childhood of picking pockets and close up magic, Iceburn was an experienced student of distraction. It was a subtle thing. But while her arm was tucked, Iceburn stumbled forward, bring her other arm around behind her. All she need to do was tap the trigger of the gun, and leave a little mist behind. A little rock of ice stuck behind the trigger of the gun. If he ever tried to pull the trigger, it would get stuck. Iceburn pressed her lips together in anticipation, and waited for her leader’s mark to act.

---

Meanwhile, within the cubicles, a hunter lurked in search of the hostages on this floor. He could still quite plainly hear his teammate’s interaction with the guard. While he appreciated that she was buying him time, he well understood that the time was quickly diminishing.

The small walled workspaces could be a maze if they hadn’t checked the floors above with similar layouts. Moreover, the young lion knew that the workers wouldn’t be crammed into one of these areas. Instead, he found his way to a corner where he could only assume to be a supervisor’s office.

Peeking around the corner just barely, he could see the hostage taker at the door. There was a bit of distance between the final cubicle and the office, enough so that if there was a wrong turn, their cover would be blown. Exhaling to steady his nerves, Kila put a hand up to his ear as he timed the man’s pacing pattern.

”Now!” His voice cut into the comms as he cut the distance toward his opponent. Just as the man turned his head to face fast-falling footsteps, a heavy shin came down on the back of his head to drop him.

The guard was knocked to the floor before he could pull the trigger on his sound gun. The kick to his head hurt and made him see stars. He squinted and could just about make out a moving shape in front of him. He pretended to have lost consciousness, staying still.

”Squad A, splinter off to the upper floors. Zatara remain in the lobby with the hostages, you are the most equipped for the unexpected. Be cautious Stormcaller, we don’t want—ugh!” His body fell to his hands and knees, as he suddenly felt his body shaking. His dark fading vision made contact with the man he had struck.

When Metamorph turned to communicate with his Team, the guard took the opportunity to quietly change the frequency of his weapon. He fired it at full capacity. The relatively small amount of distance made the effect of the weapon even more potent. The young lion felt waves of shooting pain through his body unlike anything he’d experienced before. Yet, while his ears rang, his exhaled breaths held animalistic snarling beneath.

Unexpectedly he stood up, his posture still somewhat shaky. Even more unexpectedly however, the Metamorph helmet fell to the ground in front of him. A red glow came from above the hostage taker.

---

Iceburn had heard the command. She heard the command and looked up at the man that had her by the arm. At that point he would probably realize that she was seventeen and not seventy. Iceburn grinned apologetically for her deception and got to work. She stomped on the ground beneath his feet, and her Creation Mist sprayed and then solidified into a frictionless, slippery puddle of ice, just for him.

In order to escape, she twisted her her arm in his grasp and pulled it through the narrow gap in his thumb and fingers. In order to get said leverage she threw her shoulder into him. Normally it wouldn’t knock him over, he had height and weight on her. But with the ice puddle beneath him, Iceburn knew it would send him harshly onto his tailbone while she remained standing.

After that he pointed a gun and pulled the trigger- only to find it stuck. Grinning, Iceburn blasted the gun from his hands with a shard of ice, sending it scattering and ruined. After that, she crossed her arms over each other and blasted his ankles with ice, freezing them to the floor. Uncrossing the x of her hands she flattened him against the ground by freezing his arms tight and then attaching him to the floor. The ice was ice cold and uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t leave any lasting damage or hurt that much. She gave him only a moment to consider his predicament before tossing a snowball at his mouth that stuck there, silencing him. The whole thing would melt in a few hours.

Iceburn let the janitor’s outfit fall off of her.”Thwarted by the Incorrigible Iceburn!” She struck a heroic pose, fists against her hips. Then she started running. ”Justice always wins!”

---

Iceburn burst into the room with the hostages in her full superheroic uniform. Bold colors, form fitting, with a cropped and sleeveless top with her logo on the back. Couldn’t be mistaken as anything else. Her open hands were misting and crackling with ice power, ready to go.

She wanted to see Metamorph standing victoriously over her opponent, already in the process of freeing the hostages.

What she got was different.

The guard was defeated all right- but he was laying on the ground with two broken arms. It was terribly violent, and she shuddered. The hostages were untouched- neither freed nor harmed. And perhaps worst of all, Metamorph was gone. The only thing left was his mask on the ground. Iceburn was never big on secret identities, but…that couldn’t be good.

”Metamorph?” She asked, walking into the room and making sure it was clear. First, she made sure the fallen sound gun was totally disabled by giving it a freezing blast. There was no way that guard was hurting anyone now. She was reluctant to look at him and see his arms.

Iceburn activated her communications device and radioed in. ”Metamorph? Metamorph, do you copy? Where’d you go, buddy?” She asked.

No response. Iceburn bit her lower lip.

Then she rushed over to the hostages, knelt down, and put on a convincing heroic smile.

”Hi, my name is Iceburn, and I guess I’ll be saving you today. ” She said.

”You all look right as rain to me, and that’s great to see.” Her smile was reassuring and bright.

”My friend, Metamorph, is a bit anti-social, but he’s got a good heart. Did any of you happen to see where he might have gone?” She asked, like she was asking for directions to the grocery store. No big deal. No reason to freak out.

One of the hostages answered in a shaky voice.
“I….I’m not sure where he went. He attacked the robber and…”

The woman was still rattled from the showdown between Metamorph and the robbers. She wasn’t sure who the good guys and the bad guys were anymore.

A man standing behind put his hand on her shoulder. He was remarkably calm and able to provide Pei with a more cohesive answer.

“I saw him leave the way he came, but I can’t be sure what floor he’s on now. I’m guessing he went after the rest of them. He did seem intent to…to take a violent approach. He didn’t harm any of us however….”

”That’s good, that’s good.” She said, her voice soothing for the benefit of the more panicked hostages. ”Thanks very muchly.”

She stood up and steepled her fingers, placing them thoughtfully against her lips. Placing her finger against her comms device again she said across all channels to her squads.

”A-squad, B-squad, this is Iceburn, of C-squad. I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, the hostages on this floor are safe.” She picked up the mask he wore and gazed upon it.

”The bad news is that Metamorph has gone, uh, AWOL? As in, have no idea where he is. And he apparently,” She pointed the mask knowingly at the man who had told her. ”Is approaching with violent intent. And I got a goon down here with two broken arms which seems like a little much. So. Yeah. For now I’m gonna guide these hostages out of here and…meet up with whoever’s closest?” She shrugged, voice raising an octave.

With her report given, she went to the hostages.

”Okay, everyone. Stay quiet and follow my lead. We’re getting outta here.” Her plan was to get them free of any patrols and then point them to the exit once it was safe enough.

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.