Zoey Boey

World of Light

Beacon Pre-checkout

Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sakura’s @Zoey Boey, Pit’s @Yankee, Roxas’ @Double
Word Counter: 3563
EXP Gained: +4

Quite a lot happened in short succession, leaving the team with new, free, friends, and an explanation as to why they were here, and why Peach was not.

”I think we have a few things we need to resolve here first” Midna said once the newly arrived Crenshaw had said his piece, before listing them off ”Like the monstrous doll maker outside, the person in the next room who’s had their limbs cut off, her” she pointed at the still knocked out Painwheel ”Oh, and also I am bleeding from way to many places and I need someone to fix this thing” she finally added as she summoned her Vibrava (which had a massive gash in its back) from the twilight realm, before belated adding ”Please” to her request.

”Heal!” came the voice of Roxas without even missing a beat. His MP had just finished charging and therefore he was able to cast Curaga again in order to treat the wounds that Midna and her Pokemon had sustained, ”And by the way,” he added afterward, ” I’m still confused over here. Am I the only one?”

"Nope, I am too!" Pit said, looking around at the general destruction of the lab and the people going about collecting brains. While he seemed perturbed at the sight, and Midna’s mention of a limbless victim, he was ready for answers. For now Gemma, Luka, Yuito, and Hanabi stood off to the side for a debriefing of their own, so the Seekers had free reign to sort through the aftermath for themselves.

The princess breathed a little sigh of relief and stood straighter after being healed, no longer having to support herself with her spear, and then offered Roxas ”my thanks”. On the ground, her Vibrava fluttered back into wakefulness and then gave the hero a few chirps of its own thanks before it hopped up to ride on its mistress's shoulder.

”I know enough to say we should 100% burn this place to the ground once we’ve evacuated its victims, though not all the specifics” she then replied to his question, before stashing her spear and going to collect the weapons she’d dropped during the fight.

Sakura had her arms crossed, thinking about the Dexio and Sina situation. Still generally avoiding eye contact with Gemma. ”I’m glad you’re feeling better, Midna-san.” Sakura said.

”Maybe we could give her a Friend Heart?” She said, walking over to Painwheel. ”And the person with all their limbs cut off is…dead? Or alive?” She asked reluctantly.

”Alive. I think there’s some beeping machines doing it. Tubes and things go from them and into their body. Or taking something. Or monitoring. I really don’t know, it’s out of my area of expertise” she explained, before considering the fallen form of Painwheel ”As for her, the coward kept shocking her with lightning to make her obey, so she’s presumably no fan of his. I can’t guarantee she won’t go berserk straight away”

She was silent for a moment before adding ”and by that I mean we should be careful and ready for it to go wrong, not that we shouldn’t do it” before she started to recharge her sun on a stick (having re-collected it while they were talking, along with her remaining clever) preparing to use it as a stun rod again if she had too.

Sakura wasn’t looking forward to seeing what happened to that person in the other room. ”Right, right. Well, it’s like they say: First thing’s first. The Friend Heart fixed Dexio-san and Sina-san. It can probably fix her, too. That brainy guy was being pretty cruel.” She said, to which Midna nodded in agreement.

”Glad you’re up for it, Midna-san. Is everyone up for it?” Sakura looked around at the others.

"Yeah, let's do it. Even if it doesn't fix fix her, it's only right to give her a chance." As he spoke, Pit produced the mentioned friend heart. Now that he'd successfully done this to Sina, he was actually eager to do it again. Of course he didn't know how much of her condition, mental or physical, was due to experimentation done here or what the girl would turn out like afterward. Still, better to be crazy and free than crazy and brainwashed. Probably.

When he bestowed the heart upon Painwheel, it took effect immediately, patching up all her wounds and rousing her from her peaceful oblivion. Unlike Dexio and Sina, however, she didn’t change one bit visually. She remained every bit as bony and scrawny, with blackened veins pumping Gae Bolga through sallow skin, and that ratty mask sewn into her face. This, unfortunately, must be her ‘iconic state’. The eyes that peered out from it were red even without Galeem’s influence, and for a couple seconds they blinked in confusion. When she noticed the people around her, she jerked away with a growl like a feral animal, backing off until she was far enough to safely make a break for the elevator. She evidently had no interest in sticking around.

Pit scratched the back of his head, discarding the idea of going after her. "No 'thank you?' "

”Oh- okay! Bye!” Sakura called out. She gave Pit a reassuring pat on the shoulder. ”Well, we did a good thing, I think. She doesn’t seem to be the social type anyway.”

He smiled back up at her. "Heh, I think so too. Okay, so that's one thing down. Oh wait, two things. So now..." One of his hands was held up, his thumb and pointer finger tucked in showing three more items on the agenda. "...doll maker, patient, and, uh."

The next part he said somewhat sheepishly, glancing between the people remaining in the room. "Maybe a recap of what exactly's going on?"

Splinter factions, Supernatural Life, P-Types, personality reprogramming, conspiracies… He’d come with Luka initially to try and help save Peach, and this was all quite a lot for the angel's brain, especially since he was still trying to make sense of Midgar's other goings on.

”Could we narrow that question down to just what is going on here? I think we’ll get a bigger picture once we head to the rebels’ base camp” Midna suggested as she popped the sun on a stick away now that Painwheel had run off (she hoped the others were right, and they hadn’t just unleashed a monster on the world above), pulled out a musket and started reforming her second set of magic arms, preparing to confront a certain doctor if he hadn’t already run for the hills as well.

”For the record, I agree with Midna.” Roxas chimed in, ”This creepy place needs to be bulldozed or something. How could anyone allow the kinds of stuff going on here?” he added with a small shudder. Some of this was bringing back memories of DiZ’s lab in the Twilight Town Mansion. And those were not things he was all that eager to recall.

”Guys?” He said with a whisper low enough for only the Seekers to hear, ”If they’re snatching up Pokemon and fusing them with people to create recruits, then… Well, am I the only one wondering where Bede is right now?”

”Psychic ones were entirely illegal, so your not the only one worrying about that, trust me” Minda whispered back ”After we link up with these rebels, and see what their deal is, and Peach’s situation, I suggest we track down one of the city’s pokemon control squads and get the location of where they are taking the ones they catch. He might be there. That or wherever they imprison people”

”Sounds good, count me in.” Roxas whispered back with a quick thumbs up. Of course, they needed to sort out the business at this Hospital first. And hear what those rebels had to say, too. ”By the way, what do we know about those rebel guys, anyway?” Roxas then asked, having no idea who those people were and was hoping maybe one of the Scarlet Guardians in the room had an answer.

”They have Peach, to try and help her, not hold her hostage or anything and they don’t like what the main branch of PSYCH-OSF’s doing with turning people into Others, doing whatever they did to those two we just freed, and whatever else is going on here. Seems like a good page to be on, and I haven’t heard anything that would sour me to working with them yet, and given that I spied on them for a bit when they took peach, I’m fairly confident in my read on them” Midna explained, while she started to move towards the door leading back into the giant doctor’s doll making room to see if she could spot him or not.

While she did that, and after making sure there were no sudden surprise enemies that needed taking care of, Pit went over to join the Psych-OSF members in order to get caught up to speed on what they knew and were willing to tell him.

After going back though the smaller, more run-down prototype STEM chamber, Midna reached the operating room, its double doors slightly ajar. A tentative peek confirmed that the Doctor wasn’t present, either on the ceiling or otherwise. It would have been counterproductive to flee from the fight beneath the Brainframe only to stop a couple hundred feet away, after all. Instead the chamber lay in ominous silence, a half-finished Patient sprawled out on the table. This one appeared to be a female torso, shrouded in bandages and a drab green button-up, with what looked like a gramophone protruding from the collar. One arm was missing, while the other had a white plastic prosthetic from the elbow down tipped with two coat hanger hooks. One leg looked like plastic armor, while the other featured a metal peg leg tipped with a plunger.

”Uhhh…” Sakura blinked, staring at the patient. She had no idea what she was looking at. This was either truly terrible, or actually not that bad. ”That might just be what she’s supposed to look like? She’s got a…record player for a head.” Sakura said flatly, gesturing at the patient.

After double checking that there weren't any ambushes waiting to be sprung by the absentee villains, and confirming that they really had just run for the hills, Midna stepped into the room proper.

”It’s certainly … different” she semi-agreed with Sakura, though her main concern was with the actual living breathing person who was still in the hospital, rather than whatever fresh monstrosity had been in the process of being made, and so swiftly crossed the room and re-entered the life support filled room she had been in earlier. She was greeted by the sound of monitor beeps, and still heavy breathing.

”Wha-? Oh, wait, that’s not who we’re saving?” Sakura hurried to catch up to Midna.

The dark room lit up with the pink glow of a heart the princess formed with a tap of her chest, before she approached and pulled open the curtains once more. ”Hey, I’m back, and I’ve got a way to fix you and get you out of here. This might be a bit disorientating, but you’re going to be alright” she insisted, before applying the heart and then preparing to pull the various cables and tubes out if that was necessary. Instead, the heart pinged off the Patient and dispersed, the spiritual cost to make it refunded.

”Wha- what?” was all that Midna could muster for a moment, before she found ample breath to shout ”What? How?! Look how hurt they are, why did that not work?!” while throwing her hands up in the air in a mix of confusion, frustration and straight up horror.

Sakura was having a hard time looking at the poor person, peeking through her fingers and hoping it would all be over soon and they’d be happy and healthy. Instead, all she got was a very frustrated Midna.

”Huh? I don’t- I don’t know.” Sakura said, disappointed. Her shoulders sagged. Putting a hand up against her forehead, she tried to think of a solution.

”If Blazermate-san was here…” Sakura said, letting the thought trail off. She stared at the person and her empathy demanded she draw closer, so she obliged.

”You don’t- you don’t think they’re already not Galeem-y do you?” She asked, pointing at their face that was covered in bandages. ”We can’t see their eyes.” She said. The staticky breathing gave her a faint hope it might be just a Halloween prop, but she dismissed that particular wish as naive.

Now that Sakura mentioned it, they couldn’t, Midna realized, but also ”Isn’t it bright enough that it might shine through?” she asked rhetorically, before raising a shadow hand and covering the light, plunging the room into darkness, and confirming there was none.

”That’s…” she wasn’t sure what to make of that, and so felt compelled to make absolutely sure, forming a single dragon claw and slipping it under a bandage, cutting and pulling to try and expose one of the eye sockets to the light, dreading what she would find. The eye she exposed bore no superficial abnormalities, but on closer inspection it didn’t seem quite right, either. It looked glassy, unfocused and dull, without any reflected light, and it didn’t react whatsoever to Midna’s presence or touch. Though the eye blinked, just as the body breathed, she found it impossible to say whether this body possessed any sort of intellect or awareness at all. Like someone in a coma.

”That’s. Weird” she decided after staring into the eye for a few moments, entirely unsure as to what to make of this.

Sakura fully lowered her hands from her face again and stood on her tippy toes. She was clearly unhappy about this entire situation. ”Maybe they’re getting prepped for surgery?” Gingerly she reached over and tried to draw the bandages back over the eye, grimacing the entire time.

”I really don’t know what to do. We need an ambulance or something, Midna-san. Doctors.” She said, fretting, tapping her fingers together. ”We can’t just leave them here if we’re going to bulldoze the place. But it is still a hospital. We can’t exactly move them! They’re all hooked up!” Sakura said.

”And why aren’t they Galeem-y? No way it’s a Seeker, right?” Sakura asked.
Sakura made sure her connection to the SAS was turned back on. Can we call some doctors or healers or something? Someone here is really messed up, looks like they are on life support. She said to her superiors, like Gemma, if they were still nearby.

After a few seconds the soldier replied to her via Brain Talk. ”I suppose we could call for an ambulance. But given what we went through getting down here, bringing paramedics or other civilians here might endanger more lives than we’d save. Plus, the fact that Dexio and Sina came after us means that New Himuka knows we’re here. Once those two don’t report in, who knows what might happen.” His allusion to the Patients and the danger they presented brought to mind the fact that this unfortunate soul appeared to be another Patient in all aspects except pulse.

Ah.Right. Thank you anyway, sir. Sakura said.

Sakura held her elbow behind her back, and was silent for a few moments. ”The breathing sounds weird. The eyes aren’t Galeem-y. Maybe it’s…too late for this person? Were all those things out there people, once, too, Midna-san?” Sakura asked.

As Sakura had been braintalking Midna had been trying to work out exactly what she was looking at. There was something just, off, about the eye. In doing so, she had ended up looking over the machines again, checking there before started, well, carving off more bandages, and in doing so had come across one that seemed to display an outline of the patient, as well might be their insides (Midna had no idea what an x-ray machine was, but that was what she was looking at), upon which she saw an empty cranium, with no brain inside.

”Maybe but. Just. Look at this” Midna replied at last after staring at the image for several seconds trying to process it, wanting a second opinion.

”Mm?” Sakura peered over Midna’s shoulder. ”Oh! It’s an X-ray.” She tapped the strange paper. ”It looks like they don’t have a brain.” Sakura said with a frown.

”...Anymore.” Sakura said with a horrified little wince, thinking about the many, many brains she saw in the other room. ”Ugh.” She shuddered.

”It’s definitely too late. They aren’t a Seeker, it’s just almost like they don’t even count as a person anymore.” Sakura said.

”Oh good, you know what this is” Minda replied, referring to the machine, before commenting ”I guess this more or less proves that a person is the brain then, but why hasn’t it turned to ash? I mean wouldn’t removing the brain kill…” she paused, then started speaking her thought process out loud several things together at once

”That psychic person you were talking to and I took down was just a brain in a machine… they’ve been removing peoples brains… the bodies are still here, just like how the bodies of the machines which had those black boxes didn’t dissolve … Maybe they used the bodies for … something. Maybe it was the dolls … Hang on … Wait … so are the brains Crenshaw is taking alive?!” she’d just sort of glossed over that when he’d said that they’d been stealing brains, but now she really, really wanted to know what was going on. Because she could not fathom ” What in the world would anyone want or need to reduce people to just their brains for?”

Sakura’s skull felt itchy from all the brain talk. The brunette scratched at her head uneasily. ”Well. He said they were donated but I'm not sure if I believe him. The only way you could do that in this world is if you found a whole lot of comatose people on the organ donor list. For this hospital? Seems unlikely.” Sakura shook her head, looking a little green around the gills.

”Ugh, God.” She put a hand up to her forehead that was slick with sweat.

”And the people who did this are still out there” Minda growled, mentally kicking herself being a big part of that, declaring ”I should have killed him when I had the chance” before punching a random machine in frustration.

Then she caught herself, breathed in, breathed out, and decided ”We can at least make sure they can never use this place again” before drawing here obsidian fire ax in preparation to burn it all down.

”We’ll get him next time, Midna-san.” Sakura said succinctly. She raised her eyebrows at the fire axe. ”Alright. Let’s do it.” She broadcasted over all psychic lines.

We’re tearing this place down now! With that she turned and smashed a random machine herself, crushing into the metal, sending buttons flying and glass shards scattering, instantly rendering the machine useless.

”I hope they didn’t buy insurance.”

As the life support machine sparked and died, the patient convulsed slightly, gasping out his last breath. Although the heart monitor no longer functioned, the two didn’t need it to realize that the patient was flatlining. Overhead, the lights flickered, affected by this place’s barely-functional electrical grid.

”O tto.”

As the lights outside flickered back on, a soft creak issued through the room from behind Midna and Sakura. When they looked, they found a inhuman silhouette, backlit, standing stock-still in the open doorway, with two mismatched legs, a missing left arm, and an unnatural brass head. A moment later, the overhead light flickered again, and when the pair glanced at the hospital bed, the dead patient was sitting up.

Shrinking her head into her shoulders, Sakura sheepishly turned to look at Midna, eyes wide.

”Midna-san, I just had a thought. Do you think these things will escape if the building falls down?” Sakura asked, voice quiet.

”I don’t know but let’s solve this first” Minda replied much more quickly, before slapping the rising patient with her ax, igniting it in flames for seven seconds, and then pulling out and smashing it over the head with a bottle of dwarven rotgut she had been holding onto since their climb of the split mountain. The lethally high alcohol content drink splashed over the doll and bedding it was laying on, offering perfect fuel for an actual fire to ignite, instead of just the on a timer fire her ax created.

Sakura winced, not getting a chance to complete her thought out loud. ”Because if we burn it down- okay. It’s probably fine. Let’s go.” They had to go out the way they came in. Sakura tried to use her telekinesis to move the patient in the doorway out of the way, reaching out her hand and concentrating. If she managed to scrape it along the floor she would slip out, gesturing for Midna to follow her, which she did.

”M’kay, m’kay, good good good. Here we go.” Sakura said uneasily. ”We’re leaving! We’re leaving now!” She yelled, her voice echoing through the halls so every non-psychic nearby could hear her. Then it was just a matter of meeting up with the others and getting the heck out.

World of Light

Sakura Level 10: 11/100
Location: Hospital
Word Count: short
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 12/100

Sakura shook her wrist as she punched into ice, her face falling a bit. It wasn’t good for her ki, the frost. She grunted as her forearms painfully absorbed the freezing impacts. She wasn’t fighting to kill, and Dexio certainly was.

Gemma had to remind her to use her SAS, and as Sakura was shoved away she rubbed her arms. ”R-right!” Pyrokinesis seemed like a pretty good idea to counter the frost. But the fight continued and Sakura had more than enough time to recover from the chill as Gemma and Dexio slugged it out while she remained on the side lines. She walked, hopping over seismic waves and dipping out of the way of stray blows. It would be dangerous to just charge headlong into the fight.

Dexio used teleport to get away, and Luka commanded everyone to ‘sever their connection’. This confused Sakura. She didn’t know what Luka-san meant by that, or why. If it was that important though, she would listen to his orders. ”Um, okay! ” Sakura squinted and turned off her connection to the SAS, leaving her with her telekinesis powers only.

It was going to be annoying, chasing Dexio around the place while he teleported. While the idea of using Luka’s power as well crossed her mind, she couldn’t without reconnecting to the SAS, and that was bad for some reason.

Instead, when Dexio teleported away and activated Brain Drive, Sakura steeled her resolve and chased him down. She spent an EX-Bar, enhancing her Sakura drop to turn herself into a homing missile of a fighter, zipping across the place and dropping down hard on Dexio’s head with her fists. She bounced and flipped over him, trying to kick out his shins and then slam into him with a spinning ”Shunpukyaku!” kick.

Knowing that he could teleport at any time, she tried to keep her options non-committal so she could defend herself or keep up the chase. But she was trying to be as offensive as possible. The reality was, she was probably going to get hit, but she hoped Gemma or Luka would be there to pick up the slack. And vice-versa, should one of them get knocked away. If Dexio was left to his own devices, he would bring the entire room down, so her own health took second priority to stopping Dexio from acting.

When Sakura got the chance, she would withdraw a Friend Heart and use a Focus to tank a swing from Dexio, her body emanating with black, inky energy. ”Yaaah!” She yelled from her Diaphragm as she pushed it forward.

World of Light

Sakura Level 10: 10/100
Location: Hospital
Word Count: short
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 11/100

”Midna-san!” Sakura called out in relief when her ally arrived. ”N-no, I don’t know! They’re my squadmates!” She explained. Unfortunately, there was no way Sakura could keep the two parties from fighting with words. A lot happened in a very short amount of time while Sakura tried to get in while also avoiding getting hit.

”Friend Hearts- of course!” Sakura gave Midna a nod, and then punched her fists together. She would beat the tar out of her teammates without hesitation if it meant saving their lives or minds.

Brain Drain was complaining, and Sakura didn’t understand why. ”Dexio is powerful, but I don’t think he can so easily bring down an entire building.” Sakura said.

As she looked down to make sure she was avoiding shockwaves however, she saw through the grate that that wasn’t what Brain Drain was worried about. ”Wh-what the?! You built your lab over a death pit?! That was stupid!” Sakura shouted, eyes wide.

”Those two!” Sakura pointed at Dexio and Sina to answer Pit’s question as Painwheel was sent flying. Sakura found herself feeling quite bad for Painwheel, but she had no idea what her situation was or how to fix it, and at the moment, she had more pressing concerns.

Obviously Painwheel and Sakura had the same goal- stop Dexio from bringing the entire place down. The problem was that Painwheel looked like she was going to rip Dexio’s arms off to do it. Hopefully Gemma or Midna or someone could slow Painwheel down and give Sakura chance to try it herself.

Sakura ran forward, timing a long step with every slam of Dexio’s fist so she wouldn’t get destabilized before she got there. Her plan was to knock him to the ground first, at least, to hopefully prevent him getting enough force to slam his fists. When he rose his hands up again, Sakura jumped forward and kicked both feet out, the force of the kicks propelling her even faster into him to knock him away and disrupt his next strike.

Considering he was willing to kill himself, she knew talking was pointless. Drawing her lips tight, a bead of nervous sweat trickled down the side of her face as she pushed forward and began to jab and kick at Dexio. If she could counter any of his strikes she would confirm into a ”Shouoken!” That would send him flying backwards towards the door Sakura came in from- the other room hopefully not suspended over any death pits.

Though if she did connect with an uppercut, she would have a last second though and reach out with her Telekinesis to disrupt Dexio’s momentum and prevent him from hitting the ground too hard lest he use her own launching attack against her to do even more damage to the floor.

World of Light

Karin Level 6: 43/60
Location: Quarantine Valley
Word Count: 1,109
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance---

Karin Level 6: 45/60

As the others attacked the guardsman, Karin knew it was up to her to finish off the man in charge of protecting this room. The most powerful of them all. Fitting, of course- otherwise it wouldn’t even come close to a challenge. ‘The Closer’.

Karin descended from her spot in the ceiling as the others began their attacks. He struck her as a competent and brave leader when upon hearing the commotion he prepared his sword and went to intervene. Karin dropped from the ceiling.

”Alas,” Karin said, attaching her hook to Charles’ back. He span and severed the line, turning to face her. ”You’re much too busy losing to me to assist your allies. It’s not too late to surrender.” Karin said, hoping he would turn it down.

“Hmph. You’re under arrest.” He obliged her and stepped forward, sword out. Karin swatted the blade aside and returned with a kick, that Charles dodged. Sweeping his blade out to the side, he surged forward and began swinging.

”Hup!” Karin pulled back fast, the blade slicing through the air. Palms out, she ducked and side stepped swing after swing. With a shower of sparks he cleaved through the metal in the wall, bringing his blade around towards Karin’s shoulder. Karin raised her bare arm and met the blade with a clash of blue. Charles raised an eyebrow and Karin smirked. They exchanged strikes before Karin once again was put on the defensive, Charles’s strikes fast and strong.

A private, Kou Kaufman, went to help his leader from behind, preparing to cast some Hallucikinesis to disrupt her ability to fight. It might have worked, but Sandalphon fired a sniper shot from the hidden rafters that forced him back into cover, unaware that such a threat even existed until that very moment.

Karin spend some V-meter, gliding past a strike and elbowing Charles away, giving her a knock down she used to advance. He surprised her with a sudden burst of speed as soon as he got up, slashing her several times. Karin landed with a shout. ”Simple.” She said afterwards. So. Charles offensive. Karin had ways around that. At this point he was starting to figure out her defensive patterns, the slashes coming dangerously close to striking something other than her arm, leg, or air.

Karin predicted his next horizontal swipe and stopped his high tech greatsword dead in its tracks with her palms, trapping it like a vice. With a flick of her wrists the greatsword was nearly knocked out of his hands. She advanced with a series of elbows, hitting him into a wall so hard it dented. He swung again, but she was faster and had momentum palming his ribs and then chin. ”Tenko!” She shouted as he dented the wall again.

Now she forced him to block. Karin baited his sword low with a snappy kick towards his knees, and then elegantly rotated her entire body to bring her foot down on his head. ”Weak!”

Karin reached to snatch Charles’ wrist and then shoulder struck him into the wall. He didn’t seem happy about this. Karin had detected his weakness: Charles was probably used to overwhelming offense with the support of his teammates. Being, well, a Closer. But instead he was facing off against a duelist who had the support of her own teammate. Another semi-aimed sniper shot from the busy Sandalphon kept the unlucky private behind cover.

Karin caught another strike, wincing as the blade scraped against her arm. Charles kneed her in the gut. ”Oof!” As he raised his blade, she fully sent it with an EX ”Ressen Ha!” Her palms became a buzz saw that lifted him into the air and then slammed him back down.

“Gah!”

Karin wasn’t letting him go. After striking him a few more times he got his back away from the wall and swung. She blocked and used her V-Reversal, a normally defensive technique, to shove him away right back into another corner. Charles dashed to the side, but she predicted where he would end up and zipped forward to meet up. ”Yah!” She balanced on one palm and slammed her feet into his ankle. He tripped and fell. As Karin rose he surged up from ground with a stab. Karin stepped into it, moving her head to the side as the blade moved between her head and shoulders. Moving her front hand upward, she parried his wrists up. With a resounding slam, she buried him into the metal wall with her palm. His greatsword clattered to the ground and she kicked it away, victorious.

”An admirable effort. But we caught you unawares, today.” Karin mused. Reaching for his belt, she plucked the keycard they needed and held it between her index and middle finger, smug.

Pvt. Kou Kaufman peeked around the corner, took a breath, and then pointed his rifle out to Karin. He risked getting shot by a sniper to do it, and fortunately Sandalphon was distracted at the time. Karin back dashed to side, turning her attention to the private as plasma fire ripped across the walls. Zipping back and forth, she kept an eye on the barrel of his weapon and moved with impressive speed that made her difficult to hit.

If the battle had gone another way, he would have earned a promotion for this move. He used his illusion psychic power to create a false stream of plasma rounds from the barrel of his gun. Karin jumped over it and he snapped his rifle to her, blasting her out of the air. Karin landed with a grunt, her belly having a few lines of smoke coming off of it from the heat of the plasma rounds. Karin rolled to the side as more bullets struck the floor. She fired out her grappling hook and pulled him in close, throwing off his aim and sending him stumbling towards her. From his hand materialized a grenade that he threw at her feet. A clever ploy, but unless he possessed a grenade that teleported into his palm, she knew it wasn’t real. Karin span and crushed his chest armor with a powerful straight kick. Then she brought her foot down like an axe onto his plasma rifle, rendering it useless. Karin looked around to make sure nobody saw the fact that she got shot, and she dusted the scorch marks off her midriff to remove the evidence.

Both of her foes defeated, Karin held the keycard aloft, victoriously, and moved to rejoin her allies at the entrance to the next room. Not before attaching Charles and Kaufman to their respective places with her grappling hook, locking them in place now that they were too weak to resist.

”Splendid work everyone. When we’re all ready, please, do allow me the honors.” She swiped the keycard and would be more than happy to lead the way deeper into the facility.

World of Light

Level 8: 09/80
Word Count:
Location: Wasp Nest
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 10/80 + at this point i have genuinely forgotten why jesse would have more exp than this in the first place. Going to have to look into it lmao

---

—

When the pilot was revealed to be a bee, Jesse was surprised that the loyalty of the wasps dried up so quickly.

“They just up and fucked off, huh? Off to seek a new wasp overlord? No hard feelings or anything? Damn.” Jesse said. For a moment she had hoped they might turn on the deceiver in their anger.

When the weird bee lady busted through the platform, Jesse felt bad for how little that affected her. It didn’t seem fair that she should gently float downwards from her position well above the floor while a large proportion of her teammates were suddenly in a life or death situation. The Director would have to compensate by making sure she maximized her usefulness, if she could.

“The fuck?” Jesse asked with a little laugh as the bee turned into an airplane.

As it began dropping bombs, however, Jesse let herself fall faster. She landed and pushed off the ground, getting back into the air as the honey plate dissolved beneath her. Sectonia helped her allies find stable ground, and some like Ganondorf took to the air as well using magic. Jesse got to work on stopping those bombs from hurting her allies and blowing up more ground.

She reached out with Launch, snatching the bombs out of midair. Then she flung them into the bomber queen when she saw other bombs getting dropped, trying to take out the bomb and do damage to the queen in a single go. Though she did have to time it so Ganondorf didn’t get caught up in the explosion. “Oop, shit! Watch out! I’m chuckin’ bombs!”

After doing this a few times she ran out of Energy and started using Spin to shoot the bombs out of the air and shred into the Queen’s chassis as well.

“I don’t mean to jinx it, but unless there’s another, smaller bee inside this one, I think we’re going to win!” Jesse called out. “Just stay the course!”

Young Justice

AAR

---

Iceburn wasn’t happy. For everyone in the base, this was probably a new look on her. Her hair was still temporarily dyed dark blue, though the white underneath was beginning to show through in some places. Wearing an off-shoulder blue t-shirt, leggings, and sneakers, Pei had resorted to pacing after failing to outrun her anxieties.

“D’ohhh…” She groaned.

This mission is over…

What did that mean? Of course the mission was over! We did everything!

This mission is over…you’ve all disappointed me.

Was it like that? It wasn’t our fault, right?! We saved the day. It was just some infighting, it won’t happen again!

This mission is over…as in I’m disbanding the team.

No way! There was no way that was it! The mission was never over, not until we saved all the days that will ever day!

I may have a no-kill rule, but for your hopes and dreams, Iceburn, I’ll make an exception!

“NOOO! Damn you and your perfect jawline!!!” Pei shouted, elbowing herself in the gut out of dismay.

“What happened?!” She shouted, throwing her hands up into the air. “Is this an everyday thing for you guys?! We made ourselves look STUPID in front of BATMAN! BATMAN! I won’t be able to sleep at night until we make this right! What went wrong?!” She finished shouting, breathing heavily, setting a hand on her heart.

Viktor had been seated on one of the couches in the lounge, touching up a small wood carving of a… shipping container. He had only been stealing glances toward Pei and her pacing until she abruptly shouted upon reaching some sort of breaking point. He sighed putting his full attention on his liveliest teammate.

Zach was there too. “Everyone in this group has made themselves look stupid in front of Batman. Even me! I’m pretty sure the only reason he tolerates me is because of my cousin.”

“That doesn't help, Zach. She wants to conduct an AAR. Right, Pei?” Viktor asked with his ever so full expression on his face.

Turning her glare away from Zach, Pei slapped her hands together and pointed at Viktor. “Yyyes. An…” She looked up and to the left. Then back at Viktor. “After Action Report! The Action is over, I wanted it reported! So nobody gets damaged torsos on the next mission!”

“Perfect. I agree with conducting this. We cannot repeat what occured.” Viktor set his carving knife and nearly-finished shipping container between his feet. “Seeing as Pei and I were dealing with the gang and a casualty. I think it's best if we hear of what occured from those that were present, yes?”

“From my point of view, Kila, Ja, whatever he’s calling himself… Went nuts… and started attacking the rest of the team.”

Vincent, after sneaking out of the infirmary, had been walking past the lounge, uncharacteristically lost in his thoughts, and stopped when he heard everyone talking about what had happened. With a shrug, he walked into the room and took a spot near the door as he quietly listened.

“It’s the same thing that happened at the bank robbery. Suddenly, he’s asleep at the wheel and someone else is in charge…” Cora was floating back and forth, laying sideways like she was asleep. She lazily drifted past Pei and over to Zach, and then past him. “Maybe there’s a link there? Metamorph is in the middle of something, on a mission, and something happened on both that caused it. Anyone have a clue?”

“No! Well, I don’t.” Pei crossed her arms. “I left him alone for two seconds in the bank. I think he got shot? Not even injured by the looks of it. How can we count on Kila- on- Metamorph? He attacked two of us!” She held up two fingers. “Two! In front of Batman! Sorry.” She covered her face. “Let’s keep AARing.”

“I don’t know what happened to him, either,” he said, his voice unusually quiet, due in part to his cracked ribs and in part to the unfamiliar doubts now racing through his head. “All I know is that I tried to talk him down, but Cora fell from the sky before I had much of a chance. Then he was on the attack and I…” He winced at the memory, gingerly rubbing his ribs.

“Faltered.” Viktor cut in. “I should have been there. I wanted to be there. This other is a recent change in him. Normally there is ‘Ja’ and ‘Kila.’” Viktor put up two fingers himself. “Two personas inhabiting our teammate that swap with slight effect on the team's objectives.” Viktor then raised his other hand with one finger up. “This third persona is the issue. I'm unsure if it's new or just laid dormant until now… but I believe it makes him unfit for any future missions.”

”I don’t. You make it sound like he’s just downright irredeemable. That’s shitty. Sure, this is a problem, but it’s a problem he’s going through too. Metamorph’s still our friend. I really doubt he just let this third personality out without a fight.”

Pei scoffed. It was a cynical noise so alien to her she put her hand up to her throat and cleared it. “That’s nice, but he can’t be on any more missions. Obviously. Not until this is actually fixed. We can be his friend while keeping him from hurting us. Vincent’s hurt and Will is literally in the hospital.” She said. Then she glanced at Vincent. “...Shouldn’t you also be in the hospital?”

Vincent shrugged at Pei’s question, but didn’t offer anything more for an answer. Instead, he said, ”I agree with Cora. I get wanting to bench him, but punishing him for something he didn’t do is like throwing the victim in prison. And whatever that was, it definitely wasn’t him.”

Pei blinked, and looked at Viktor for reassurance before continuing. “Yeah, but- okay. Inviting him would be like…bringing the perpetrator along. We have to bench him. If we had two twins on the team who were bound at the hip, and one was good and one was evil- I’m not bringin’ em along just to spare the good twins' feelings! In fact, I’m sure the good twin would be understanding! That analogy makes sense, right?” Pei nodded quickly.

”And if excluding him puts him in some weird mental state that makes whatever that was take control, again?” Vincent asked. ”We don’t know what triggers that change, whether it’s tied to his emotions or something else.”

”I'm with Vince. We need to think about how he feels. He’s still a person. It’s not fair to throw Metamorph under the bus just like that, we should at least ask him how he feels before we make some kind of decision.”

“So, what we’re just going to walk up to him and go hey Metamorph, we’re gonna bench you for a bit. How do you feel about that? Can’t imagine that will go over well. I dunno… maybe we can actually help him somehow?”

“Him sitting out on missions is the best option until we can figure out his problem. It doesn't have to be permanent. It's too much of a risk to put him out there in the state that he's in.” Viktor looked at each and everyone present. “If he needs help, bringing him on missions is not the answer.”

“Thank you!” Pei said, having started to look a little exasperated.

“God, I wish my magic could affect people. Then I could actually do something useful.”

“Can’t we just ask him what he thinks is the best thing to do?” Vincent asked, his voice raising as he felt his temper do the same. “We keep talking about this like how he might feel or think doesn’t matter when he’s the goddamn topic!”

“Because it doesn’t matter how he feels!” Pei said, eyes wide. “Why would it? If he says everything is fine and we should just keep going on missions with him, that’s bullshit! I already bought into it once.” Pei pouted and turned away, lowering her gaze. Viktor was looking between Pei and Vincent, silently watching the tension swelling between them.

Vincent could feel his anger rising, his current mental state doing no favors to quell it. ”Fuck this,” he growled as he turned away. ”You guys do what you want. I’m done.” With that, he turned and stormed off to relieve some of his anger.

“Y-you should go to the hospital!” She called out after him.

”I think there’s a misunderstanding here. Kila, Ja, they’re both our friends. The third personality hurting any of us doesn’t change the fact that there’s two other people trapped in there with it. Those two need our help, and I can guarantee KJ feels awful about how this happened a second time. So yeah, Pei. It absolutely matters how he feels. How would you feel if you were hurting people without being able to control yourself? Would you just think your feelings don’t matter? Or would you think something else? And if you do, then what’s the difference?”

“I would feel like I should not go on important missions of life-and-death!” Pei exclaimed, raising her hands.

“Feelings should be considered, yes but we aren't imprisoning our friend. Just removing him from missions until there's a remedy to his situation. At the moment he's unfit. Anyone of us, if unfit, physically or mentally, should not participate in missions that require our level of fitness. We wouldn't take Quiver on a mission right now, would we? It's the same. Ja and Kila need help. Healing. Something. Anything. If he kills someone, then what? How do you think Kila and Ja would feel? I at least have an idea. I saw him at the end of the mission. He couldn't believe what he had done. He was devastated.”

”Right… I guess. Fuck, I dunno. I’m just scared we’re gonna make this worse if we don’t take him seriously when we actually do something. I get that he could seriously hurt someone, but I’m worried about him still.”

“Could seriously hurt someone…pfft.” Pei ran her hands through her hair.

“So what do we do then?”

“Exclude him from missions until his condition improves. If it can't be improved, I don't see him having a place on the team. It's not something I want. It's just what is best. For everyone.” Viktor crossed his arms over his chest, standing on his words.

“Yeah! We either get him fixed, or we get him off the team.” Pei said with a nod.

"What did you just say, Pei?" Kassandra's voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Pei startled, bringing one of her legs up and doing karate chop motions. Kassandra stepped into the midst of the group, the young Atlantean looking downright exhausted.

"Fixed? Please tell me this is just… me misunderstanding the language again." She stared straight at Pei, no trace of the nervous guppy from months ago present. Everyone's attention was drawn to her now.

“Y-yes you, I mean I, That’s not- Wh- um, I mean like, y’know-.”

“Her word choice is poor, Kass. We're thinking it's best for Ja and Kila to sit out on missions until their condition is resolved… If it can be resolved.”

“Y-yeah, that! That.” She nodded at Kassandra and pat Viktor on the arm emphatically. He made a sour face toward Pei's touching but kept silent to listen to what Kass might say next.

"Mm." She made a non-committal noise before slumping onto the nearest empty seat. "I can agree with that point, at least. He's asleep, finally." And hopefully KJ would stay asleep, for longer than an hour or two. "I just wish I knew how to help him."

“You look like you need a nap.” Pei said, scratching her head. “But yeah. There’s gotta be a medicine for it. Or maybe a guru on a mountain somewhere. But until then.” She shrugs meaningfully.

“Now we just gotta see what Quiver thinks, right? Unlike Vince he should actually be in the infirmary.” Pei added. ”I think I need to improve on my meeting calling skills.” She said, a little embarrassed that this whole thing started because she was very frustrated. ”Daphne’s not even here, either.”

“I think your shouting works well enough as a meeting summons.” Quiver was leaning against the entry way of the lounge. It was clear he was in some pain, although he was through the worst of it. A large bandage was wrapped around his torso. The layering of bandage couldn’t hide the dark stain, the sewed up wound sustained from Metamorph’s outburst. Quiver made his way over to a seat and carefully put himself down on it. In spite of the pain he felt humming through his painkillers, he wanted to take part in what his team was talking about.

“There’s no could in this conversation. Metamorph would have killed any of us, had he the chance. That’s less of a hindrance and more of a liability.”

“Oh, good!” Pei said, seeing Quiver. “Wait, you too? We were just about to- I guess you’re already sitting down.”

“Liability is a perfect way to put it.” Viktor remarked as his eyes scanned over Quiver's injuries.

Quiver sat forward and looked at Rain, but was addressing everyone in the room.

“Having said that, people are going too easy on him. He isn’t whillingly doing this, but he’s still infected with whatever it is. If he had a cold, we’d quarantine him. I don’t think it makes sense to walk on eggshells around him. Especially if he isn’t even aware of what his condition is. It shouldn’t be put on us to cater to him.” He felt a light sweat dampen his forehead with the effort he was making to speak.

Kassy looked at "Quiver" with a worried glance. "I apologize, especially considering the extent of your injuries, but… I don't think that's exactly right. If he wanted to have killed anyone in that state, I would probably be as injured as you are." She'd made a target of herself on purpose. And crimson eyed Ja could have taken her down without losing a breath.

“So his targets were intentional and not circumstantial. Interesting… It lines up with the incident at the bank but what do gun carrying bank robbers have in common with Quiver and Vincent? Why would the ‘other’ perceive them as threats?” Viktor was staring right at Quiver. “Hm?” He forced the question.

Quiver smirked at Rain in spite of himself.
“Isn’t it obvious? He’s threatened by us. Probably why he didn’t swing at you.” Viktor let out a low grunt as he raised an eyebrow, refraining from saying anything.

Quiver half groaned at the pain the effort of joking at Rain’s expense did to his injury. He wrapped an arm around his bruised ribs.

“Mirage I understand that you want to give Metamorph the benefit of the doubt. And I appreciate your help in the infirmary last night. But think about it, are you putting your biases aside? We shouldn’t be engaged with a teammate who would aggressively try and kill anyone. Whether that be them out there in the world, or anybody on this team. The fact that he only gutted me, that an expendable move to you? Or anyone else here? Or was I asking for it because I don’t have Atlantean physiology or a cybernetic body?” At this last point Quiver had let his own hurt feelings start to slip. He had heard what the others had said while he was making his way over from the infirmary.

“You say that, but believe he's threatened by you? What's obvious is that he doesn't trust you or Vincent. It's understandable. You're both new to the team. Strangers.” Viktor deduced.

"Well. Vincent's a stranger." She flicked a dull orange gaze at Will before addressing the room in general. "I think Viktor is on to something. I think… I think whatever is within KJ is triggered by…" Her hand ran through her dim curls. There was no way this was going to go well. "Look, I'm sorry for bringing this up now. Instead of… months back." No sense in drawing it out.

"In Atlantis, I saw it happen. We were fighting the Deluge, he and I. I got hurt, and he… changed." She picked at the hem of her borrowed scrubs. "I had to keep him from killing the person who hurt me." Forcing herself into his mind was never going to sit well with her, no matter how KJ felt about it.

Viktor leaned in, almost glaring at Kassy upon hearing her revelation. She knew about this?

"But here's the thing. He only changed when I got hurt. He went for the one who hurt me, none of who hurt him." Pick, pick, pick; the thread started to loosen. "I never put the pieces together until now. I'm not quite sure that I have."

Cora stopped floating around, and looked up over to Kassy. “But at the bank, he wasn’t with you, was he? You were on different teams, he had no way of knowing if you were hurt- Wait. Hold on a minute…”

She floated up onto her feet, “The robbers were using some weird weapons. Me, Quiver and Daphne were together when I got blasted by one of them with some sort of repulsor glove- It shot you with kinetic energy and just sent you backwards. I rounded up at least ten or more of their weapons- Viktor saw a couple of them. They were laser rifles, launchers for electrified bola things, and some weird signal emitter thing. That last one’s the only weird one out of those…I took it apart and learned it could cause someone to get real nauseous and disoriented real quick. Like scrambling someone’s brain. Maybe at the bank, he was hit with that?”

“Pei? Can you confirm or deny that?” Viktor posed to her with raised eyebrows before shooting a glare at Kassy again. He wasn't going to let what she said just seconds ago slip through the cracks.

Pei scratched her jaw. “The robber had a weird looking gun. I wasn’t in the room when he left. Only the civilians were. Not like he came after me or anything- he only went after the robbers. To be honest, I just thought he got really mad. When I walked to him afterwards, he said he could guide his anger. But to turn on his own teammates like that is downright… feral. There’s no way to control that.” Pei said, her voice solemn.

Kassy narrowed her eyes at Pei. "Feral." She pulled her phone from her pocket; the battery was about as drained as she was. Still, she had enough energy to look up the word. "...Are you fucking kidding me, Iceburn?" She spat the curse like a bone stuck in her throat.

Silently, Cora was thinking to herself, Well, she’s dead.

Pei blinked. “What? Sorry.” Sorry that she offended Kassy somehow. “Wh- what word would you use?”

Kassy raised her chin. "Uncharacteristic, perhaps? Unusual? Maybe something that doesn't treat him like a mindless monster?" There was a bite to her tone that only Viktor would have been truly familiar with. The voice of a soft soul at the end of her limit.

Pei was flustered. “Well, geez, lady. He only put two of us in the hospital. They’d be here right now if they weren’t so silly.” She laughed nervously, trying to lighten the mood to get that bite off her.

“Mirage why don’t you give Iceburn half the amount of grace you’re giving Metamorph?” Quiver said, at this point laying back in his chair with his eyes closed. It took an effort to speak up more but he was getting angrier at the situation by the second.

“Whether or not Metamorph was conscious of it or not, he DID those things and he had no control over it. And those actions by definition were feral. Let’s not pretend there’s some high ground in this situation when you’ve kept the fact he’s done this even BEFORE the bank. And YOU-“ Quiver turned to Rain, pointing a bandaged finger at him.

“YOU even knew he had some sort of dual personality. Apparently before even HE knew. Don’t you think you owed it to him to tell him? And now there’s potentially this third person, who has no issue with going into a bloody rage and attacking anyone who isn’t a romantic interest?”

“I'd correct you but I'm sure everyone else knows you have no idea what you're talking about.” Viktor shot back.

"Why are you all treating KJ like a child?!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "HE KNOWS! He's the smartest of all of us, by far, of course he knows!" Her eyes were growing dark with fury. "I thought he had lost his temper in Atlantis! That's all, and given my own fuck-ups, I forgot about it until the bank." Her voice was trembling, as well as her fists. "And do you know why I didn't say anything, hm?" She glared between Viktor and Will. "Because I trusted him to handle himself, more than I trusted any of you to handle it!"

“Um… He-”

“Doubt it.” Viktor's eyes met Kassy's, his expression unwavering. “You didn't say anything because you were afraid. We both know what happened when you lost control. We both know what the League let happen to you. I said my piece on this matter.” Viktor reached down to grab his things before standing up. “It's clear that none of you have additional answers to Kila and Ja's problem, yes?” He asked, swiveling his head around to see if anyone had anything new to add to the conversation.

“Is that what this is? You’re looking for us to give you answers?” Quiver eyed Rain now standing as if to leave the lounge.

“Or is this getting a little too tough for you, worrying you made a bad judgment call? You’re quick to point out lapses in the rest of us, but what about yours?” Quiver struggled to his feet, just about the time when Mirage spoke up again, pulling his and Rain’s attention back to her.

Kassy's fists trembled. "Of course I'm afraid for him, you fool, he doesn't deserve to be treated like…" A barely audible whine from her bracelet stalled her tongue. "...Look. Forget everything else but this. I don't think it's feral, or out of control. He's doing that in response to something. What, I don't know."

Viktor shook his head at Kassy. He couldn't speak to her like this. Not when her guard seemed so high against him. He would have simply left, but Will's words pricked at him enough to bring a response.

“You have no place to talk. Coming from someone who left the team
when things got tough. It's easy for you to discard any one of us. It's who you are, Quiver.” As tense as it was between the two, Viktor and Will's spat was just the eye of the storm that was to come.

Pei glanced back and forth between the three of them, nervous, making some mental calculation. She stepped towards Kass. “Kass, you’re tired.” She said, trying to be helpful. “You should probably get some sleep? We can figure it out.”

”That wasn’t Kila…”

Kass snorted, her ire choosing a new target. "You want me to leave him alone with someone who keeps treating him like he's broken? No thank you."

“No, I just- think you should get some sleep.” Pei said. She glanced at the two guys who were really getting into it with each other and frowned.

”Stop it. All of you- Just STOP IT!” Cora shouted, and her hair started floating as if it had a mind of its own. ”Aside from me, Pei and Vince, you all have known each other for what, a year? Two? Something like that? You’re all friends and you’ve risked your lives together, and you’ve saved each other probably a hundred times, but now you’re all acting like you’re ready to kill each other! Kassy’s just trying to tell you that Metamorph’s not a fucking animal! He’s our friend, so why’s this the time when you guys start hating each other?!”

And now, her hands were shaking too.

Viktor simply sighed before walking from the lounge but deliberately made his way by Kassy.

“We'll talk after you rest,” He declared as he passed her on his way out.

Kassy cast Viktor an icy look, but there was nothing she could say to him at the moment. Instead, she nodded to Cora. "Thank you, Cora. I'm glad someone here has proper hearing." A ghost of a smile played on her lips. "...I need a bath." With that, she exited, not bothering to mask her steps.

“Good talk everyone.” Zach finally said. Then he pulled out his phone and started texting Mateo.

Cora turned and practically balked at Zach for tuning the entire fucking situation out. Between that and the others just walking away… She was a little frustrated.

”Okay. Yeah, sure, good talk. If everyone else is gonna throw shit fits and try to lock their friends up like they’re circus animals, then I’m gonna go and do something productive.” Cora spun around and stormed out of the room. She wasn’t going to talk to Batman about this, her time around Viktor made her doubt the big guy. But she was going to figure this out somehow, for Metamorph’s sake first and the team’s sake second.

Pei tossed her hands up, looking around. It was just her and Quiver now. “That wasn’t a good talk at all!” She sat down on the floor next to her teammate.

“I don’t know why people are getting more worked up about the idea of Metamorph getting benched than the fact of you nearly getting gored.” She laid on her back, setting her hands on her forehead.

“I used to be a firefighter.” She said. ”If I had a teammate who was the most helpful, bravest, most courageous and talented firefighter in the world, but every once in a while he had the chance to burst into flames? It doesn’t matter! It shouldn’t be personal to…do something about that, right?”

Quiver looked down at his teammate. So far, he was impressed with her abilities as a superhero. And her appearance was striking from the get-go. Her pale blue skin, and her ever changing hair color. Team reports described her as loud and brash, but in this moment among the whole team, Quiver felt that she was demonstrating a real maturity, even if she didn’t feel like she was getting her words out the way she wanted to. He was impressed with her as a hero. Using her abilities to do good as a firefighter in a past life? Not all heroes did that. That said a lot about her as a person.

“Maybe his feelings are more important to them. I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes. They know him better than they know me, they are a lot closer. I don’t really know how to say this. I feel crossed up. It’s like I understand why they would feel that way. He’s their friend. But at the same time, it doesn’t make me feel…good?”

Quiver tried to smile, managed what he thought was something of a successful one. Pei smiled back; It came easy to her.

“Yeah, I can imagine that doesn’t feel great. Cora and Vincent are new like me, but I don’t think they’ve been on teams before.” She mused. “Trust is the most important thing. Of all of us, you had that trust broken the most. It’s a really big deal, we can’t just brush that off.” She rubbed her face, sighing. ”This isn’t how I pictured it at all, to be honest.”

“A-anyway. You need help getting back to the infirmary, Quiver?” She stood up.

“Help? Me? You’re talking to the guy who went one on one with Kill-Mode Kila. I can handle mys-”as he tried to stand up he immediately felt woozy, a rush to his head, and had to grab the back of the couch for support.

“You know on second thought, I think I may have opened up a stitch or two.”

Pei went in to grab and steady his shoulders for support. “Whoopsy!”

“Err, I mean…oh, shit!” She laughed a bit. “Let’s get those stitches back in so you can get back to handling yourself.”

“You all done yelling at each other yet? You people need a snickers.” Zach said without looking up from his phone. “I’m concerned about Kila too, but we’re not going to accomplish it by arguing with each other.”

“Well, Zach, we’d get even less accomplished if we just ignored the problem. The arguments’ll happen either way. Clearly!” Pei indicated the now mostly empty room around them with the arm that wasn’t on Quiver.

“Not like I wanted that to turn into an argument…I just had to do a little shouting. That’s not weird, right? Sometimes you just gotta yell your feelings? Ah, damn it.” She murmured to herself, though Quiver could definitely hear her.
beans
Quiver was grateful for the support, both emotionally and physically. Hearing Pei work out her own thoughts and feelings out loud reminded him of himself, back during his struggles for communication and otherwise.

“Shouting is acceptable in this line of work. There’s a lot to yell about. The others were too hard on you for being concerned. For what it’s worth, I didn’t think you were being unreasonable. I don’t even think you were insulting Metamorph himself. The whole thing is just fucked. And a lot of this team is walking a thin line between supporters and enablers. Or don’t know the difference between the two.”

She smiled at Quiver, but at that last sentence her mouth formed a small ‘o’. “Woah…that’s deep.” Pei said, guiding him out of the room to where he could get some rest.

World of Light

Sakura Level 10: 09/100
Location: Hospital
Word Count: short
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 10/100

Sakura raised her hands defensively. ”My lips are not lying! Honest!” She protested. She really did not want this guy trying to pry her brain open. Especially over something she didn’t even do!

Setting a hand on her hip, Sakura scratched her head. ”Psych-OSF…I only joined up with them like, two days ago. They clearly aren’t just a monster-fighting battalion. What are you- they- we- what’s up with that?” Sakura wasn’t asking Brain Drain, she was just thinking aloud.

Sakura turned around with wide eyes, and a confused smile on her face. ”Dexio-san, Sina-san, hey! What are you two-!” The smile quickly faded as she saw the looks on their faces. Something was wrong with them. The words that came out of their mouth made Sakura look over her shoulder to see if those harsh words were being spat at someone else.

Thus the seismic blast made her lose her balance, her arms pinwheeling. ”What the-?!” Shocked, she fell onto her butt. Brain Drain said several things that caused confusion, dismay, and a little anger to flash across her features.

”What happened?!” Sakura cried out, asking Brain Drain and her two comrades. She began to crawl backwards on her palms, wincing as the controlled Painwheel came to life. Doctors typically didn’t make their patients fight for them!

”H-hey, wait! Wait a minute!” Sakura back rolled and fired a heavy hadoken between Painwheel and the two operatives to try and separate them with the pushback of the blast.

Mr. Gemma, I need a little help here! She thought as she rushed in between them both, putting her hands out. She found herself very concerned about this ‘Painwheel’ figure as well, who was just taking a nap and was now seemingly forced into a battle. Though Sakura perhaps wasn’t thinking about what a bad situation she was putting herself in by placing herself between both forces.

”Stop, stop, stop!” She looked over at Sina and Dexio. ”What happened? Did he do something to you?” She then glared at Brain Drain.

”Did you do something to them?!” She asked, trying to put things together. Why else would they be at this hospital? Sakura was a bit distracted by her revelations, and her extreme reluctance to fight these two.

Nomadic Odyssey: Find Your Heart

vs

BRENDA ANDRE

---

Brenda stuck her fist out for Beatriz to bump as she smiled. She was way taller than the girl and she said, “Now that’s what I want to hear. I’m not here for the Power Stone but don’t think I’ll go easy on you…”

Brenda chuckled.

“… Beatrix.”

Beatriz was excited to fight, and reached out her hand to bump the fist of her opponent. But the last word Brenda said caused the young fighter to squint one eye for a moment. ”It- it’s Beatriz. Beatrizuh. With a Z.” She said.

She ran a hand through her hair, chuckling, “…I know,”

That was before Brenda cocked her fist back and charged Bea, sending the mother of all haymakers towards her right cheek.

”Well then why did you-” The words hadn’t even stopped coming out of Beatriz’s mouth by the time her body took over. She leaned back, dropping her leading hand and raising her leading shoulder and chucking her chin into it to protect her jaw. She stepped backwards, the haymaker plowing through the air in front. Beatriz leaned back in and fired a counter straight punch into Brenda’s mouth, stepping into the strike like she was trying to punch all the way through.

Which staggered the boxer, she quickly wiped the blood and chuckled. She countered with a series of lightning fast jabs.

”How’d you like that, RONDA- ohshit!” Bea backpedaled frantically, raising her arms in front of her face and trying to put space between her and the taller woman. Beatriz tried to go for another counter, stopping her retreat and trying to let one of Brenda’s fists slip between her shoulder and tilted head, before zipping forward and shooting another fierce punch towards Brenda’s midsection.

The strike knocked the wind out of her and she chuckled for a second. She staggered backwards before falling to her knees. Holding her stomach.

Bea couldn’t believe it. Her heart was pounding! In her mind, she was thinking that Brenda was being way too aggressive right off the bat. She also wondered what Brenda thought was so funny.

Well, regardless, it was time for a combo. Brenda was vulnerable, and Beatriz never pulled her punches. Beatriz committed to an upward swinging kick to Brenda’s midsection to pop her up, punched her once more in the belly to double her over, and then cocked her fist back for a haymaker over her own. She stepped back and her fist flashed green.

”Gr-r-r-rat!” She shouted with a roll of her r’s. She swung it down like a hammer into Brenda’s cheek to send her skidding across the ground…

“…You’re too cocky.” Brenda muttered with a smile before sliding to the side, dodging Bea’s attack completely and retaliated with an uppercut.

Bea missed her combo string and her haymaker, her eyes widening. She looked over and received the uppercut. ”Grk! Her head jerked upward. Then Brenda followed it up with two more strikes that launched her across the arena.

She had a hand on her hip as she approached, “If you want to survive in the world of Nomads, young blood - not just this tournament… ” Brenda wiped a trail of spit from the side of her lips, “… You’re gonna have to come heavier than that.”

Beatriz rolled to a stop and pushed herself to one knee, groaning. She looked at Brenda, a fire in her eyes. ”Tch.” Clearly she didn’t appreciate the advice. When she hopped up to her feet, she performed Toe Tap, creating a flaming ball of green ki. She dribbled it between her feet and ran forward, taking it with her. When she got close she kicked it towards Brenda’s face and used that as a distraction to Slide Tackle, looking to kick into Brenda’s calf and knock her off balance while getting behind her.

Brenda blocked the fireball and fell for it and fell over for a second as she whipped around and swung wildly… damn near falling over, catching herself at the last second.

This time Beatriz was set on putting Brenda on the defensive. She wasn’t going to take turns anymore. When Brenda turned to wildly swing, Bea was already bearing down on her with a downward punch to the face. The punch would come close, but would stop short. Then she went to kick Brenda’s leg, and followed up with a floating couple of Rolling Kicks to send Brenda stumbling.

”Hay-yah!” Beatriz landed right in front of Brenda and looked to keep up the pressure by sweeping her legs out from under her…. Which connected and knocked her over. The boxer quickly rolled away to get some space from Bea and got on her feet.

“Time to take the kid gloves off…” Brenda thought to herself as she cocked her fist back- it charged with ki - and then launched forward. Sending her forward so fast she was coated in flames.

“… ERUPTION.”

Beatriz was approaching when she saw Brenda get up with a very powerful looking move. ”What’s-” Bea said before crossing her arms in front of her to try and block as much of this as possible. There was no time to dodge. The two of them were sent forward until the attack fizzed out… The flames faded, and they came to a slow stop.

“BLOCK THIS!” Brenda shouted as she sent another wild haymaker to Bea.

Anger twitched Beatriz’s eyelid. That one hurt, but she was tired of Brenda expecting to just overpower Bea with raw force. No technique, no thought! If Bea lost here she would never forgive herself. Instead of blocking the wild haymaker like her competitor demanded, Beatriz opted for a repeat performance. She ducked under the haymaker and shot up with Check It. ”Check It!” She did a mighty uppercut that flung her into the air and would send her opponent flying away, landing a painful but safe distance away from Beatriz.

”C’mon!” Bea bounced up and down, and got Hyped Up, excess green Ki emitting from her hands and feet. With a Toe Tap she created another futbol of energy.

Brenda hopped to her feet after wiping the spit and blood away. She didn’t waste any time bobbing and weaving her way to Bea and unleashing a barrage of punches hoping to get her to miss.

Beatriz guessed that Brenda was going to walk up and start punching. So she kicked her ball into the air with a backspin, sending it floating above them both. This expended Hyped Up, and the ki ball was spinning at high speeds though it moved through the air quite slowly. Then she stepped in and, despite being shorter then Brenda, used her kickboxing techniques to extend her own range. She leaned back and moved forward, kicking her leg out which Brenda blocked, but the spinning energy ball exploded against her and gave Beatriz time to follow up with a pair of Rolling Kicks to Brenda’s ribs. She dropped back onto earth right in Brenda’s face, and Beatriz did more quick jabs guessing again that Brenda would do nothing but offense…

… but this time Brenda blocked the jabs and grabbed Bea’s wrist and swung directly at her face. Bea face jerked to the side, saliva flying from her lips. ”Ugh!” She fired a knee towards Brenda’s gut in retaliation, knocking the wind out of Brenda and creating a blast of spit (that went right into Bea’s face). She grunted, gritting her teeth as she slammed her forehead directly into Bea’s.

”Ew- ouch!” Bea’s head snapped backwards. She leaned into her fall and kicked out into Brenda’s belly which knocked the wind out of her again - sending her stumbling. Bea she let herself fall over, pushing them away from the other woman and transitioning into a backroll. She wiped some blood from her lips and Brenda wiped the spit and blood from her lips and grinned.

“Gotta say, I’m impressed,” Brenda said, “Time to up the tempo a bit and see if you can keep up, young buck.”

Brenda slammed her foot on the ground so hard the ground shook and let out an entirely bestial yell out into the crowd. A flash of fire covered her for a second, before her back and shoulders ignited like a torch. The ground shook and shook and shook… until it stopped and she put her fists up and smiled as she said, “You got me whipping out my super mode, so…”

She threw a punch and it stayed static.

“... Come show me how serious you are.”

Beatriz’s eyes widened at the display, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of her face. She pushed herself to her feet and got back into a fighting stance. Her heel dug into the dirt. Power… Bea wouldn’t let herself get overwhelmed by it. She couldn’t. The young fighter would never put a limit on herself like that.

”M’kay…” She bounced on her feet and got herself Hyped Up again, her green flame-like aura looking somewhat timid in comparison. She took a defensive stance, light and ready to dodge.

As Brenda’s first attack, she raised a fist up into the air and punched the ground hard as she could- causing a tremor to disorient Bea.

Bea lost her footing, surprised. Her arms flailed in the air. ”Shit!”

“Take this!” Brenda shouted as she launched herself towards Bea with a charging punch.

Beatriz would rather fall over than take that punch- so she did. She hit the ground with an uncoordinated thud, hoping Brenda’s momentum would carry her farther than she wanted and the punch would whiff. It wasn’t a very dramatic way to avoid an attack- eating shit, that is,- but it just might get the job done. Which caused Brenda to simply zip past her… coming to a stop a few steps away.

With a somewhat embarrassed laugh, Beatriz stood up again. She was still hyped up. She looked to interrupt Brenda’s approach with Hyped Up Sidewinder. She swung her leg dramatically out to the side and then brought it in like she was trying to chop down a tree with it. A flaming green streak followed it like a comet, and it swung out after her physical foot to strike Brenda in the chest. Launched her yet again and she tactically rolled back to her knee. She grit her teeth as she punched the ground yet again to throw Bea off balance.

Bea wasn’t trying to fall for the same trick twice. Rolling Kick was her versatile move. She remembered teaching it to herself- she wanted to jump forward and do two super quick spinning kicks. But she could never get the timing down. Instead she figured out how to keep herself in the air for longer- long enough for two strong kicks. ”Rolling Kicks!” She shouted, hopping forward as soon as she saw the raised fist. The second kick would be close enough to swipe Brenda across the face, and Beatriz would attempt to follow up with a quick series of gut punches.

Brenda was whipped across the face with the kick and a cloud of spit shot out. She was caught off guard and didn’t see the gut punches coming. She quickly countered with a haymaker to get Bea off her..

Bea saw the wind up, and leaned back to cock her fist a cartoonishly far amount. The fist slammed into Bea’s chest. ”Erk- g-r-r-r-r-rat!” But she prepped for the blow and looked to slam her own haymaker into Brenda’s face, trading blow for blow to get an advantage. Creating a comical moment where Bea’s fist was stuck to Brenda’s face and Brenda’s fist to Bea’s chest. She stumbled as she created space, huffing as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

She shouted as she launched an uppercut towards Bea assisted by flames.

Beatriz painfully absorbed the blow with her forearms, getting knocked backwards and trying to regain her balance. ”Ugh, damn it.” She swore. Brenda didn’t let up, charging Bea and throwing another punch.

Beatriz blocked, but her guard broke and she stumbled to the side, her eyes wide and her expression harried.

“Told ya’, young buck!” Brenda shouted as she threw another punch, boosted by ki to the point where Bea would get launched. “You’ll get eaten alive fighting like that!”

”Ukk!” Bea’s eyes bulged and she went flying upwards into the air with a croak. Brenda jumped into the air and punched downwards, creating a wave of fire with it.

Bea slammed into the arena floor and rolled to a stop. ”Oof!” The heat further tipped her towards exhaustion.

Beatriz rolled away from Brenda, trying desperately to create space between them. Upon her feet she dashed backwards, her hands up defensively. In the moment, she was losing her composure. She had to focus! But Brenda’s offense was so overwhelming. Spit hung from Bea’s mouth.

Brenda hit the ground and the fire disappeared… she let a sigh and wiped her face. “You’re tough, I give you that, young buck…” she said. “Is your strategy waiting for me to get tired or something?”

Beatriz steadied herself, regaining her composure, breathing heavily. Shaking her head, she wiped her lips and clenched her fists. ”Are you? Tired?” She asks. ”Cuz I’m good.”

“You sure?” Brenda asked, “Because I bet one more solid blow will give me the win.”

”Nah, nah nah nah.” Bea replied eloquently, shaking her head. ”I’ve uh…I’ve-” She tried to think of something witty. To illustrate how totally not beat-up she was. But all she could think of was: ”I’m good.”

”Let’s not talk anymore.”Then she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, activating Hyped Up to give herself a little boost. She had to finish this. Beatriz began to advance one step at a time, her fists by her face, her eyes on Brenda. Bea was intent on dodging and countering any more haymakers thrown her way.

“... Then let’s go!” Brenda cracked her knuckles as she mirrored Bea, slowly advancing with her fists drawn. Until the two were in punching range of each other- but instead of throwing a haymaker, Brenda launched out two jabs.

They painfully crashed against her forearms as she was too slow to dodge, expecting slower punches. Predicting that Brenda would push the advantage, Bea burned through Hyped Up immediately by doing a wild out of nowhere Check It. ”FUCKIT!” She screamed, blasting out with a mighty uppercut that sent Brenda flying and she hit the ground with a thud. It was a green blur of a strike that left Bea landing back on the ground with an unstable stumble that she followed up with a sprint towards Brenda.

… But, when she got close, Brenda sprung off the ground with an uppercut of her own, leaving behind a trail of fire.

Quick Step. A simple move Bea hadn’t had a chance to use yet. Which ended up being her advantage. Even as she sprinted forward she was guessing Brenda might try to ‘establish dominance’ with a move like this. All Brenda struck was a brief echo of an after image as Bea’s sprint stopped dead and she dipped backwards. ”Hup-”

Before Brenda could even hit the ground, Bea leapt upon her. She planted a foot on Brenda’s chest and shoved her into the arena floor, while pushing herself upward. For a moment she floated in midair, head over heels, before the top of her foot gathered green energy.

”EEEEYAH!”

She performed Bicycle Kick, doing a full backflip while ripping her foot upwards, sending a burning green ball down onto Brenda that violently exploded. Bea spun away from the impact and landed with a rolling tumble. That was it. If Brenda got up from that, Bea had no idea how she would win. Propping herself up on her elbows, she waited for the smoke to clear and bit her lower lip, praying to Jesus that she had just won it.

Brenda was launched across the room, and slammed against the metal wall with a thud… she slid down, unconscious.

”K.O! AND BEATRIX - ^{with a Z} - TAKES THE WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!”

The announcer screamed.

Bea stood up, feeling the hair on her body raise on end. She did it. She actually won. ”....YEAAAAAAAH!” She shouted, pumping her fists. ”LET’S FUCKING GOOO!” She put her hands on her face and ran them through her hair.

Brenda slowly came too, got up and dusted herself off and walked over to Bea, “That was some good fighting, young buck, I’m impressed,” Brenda stuck her hand out for Bea to shake. “Good luck in the tournament.”

Bea reached out her trembling hand to shake Brenda’s. ”Th-thanks. Y-you too. Good at fighting.” Bea’s eyes were wet with tears. From jubilation and exhaustion in equal measure she collapsed into a hug against Brenda, sobbing.

“... Hey now, don’t get all touchy feely on me now,” Brenda started off, “You got like four more fights!”

”Sorry-!” Bea pulled away like she had touched hot metal, wiping her eyes.

”Sorry- I just- I need to call my family. Thank you so much.” She turned away and started walking. ”Holy shit…yes! Fuck yes, dude!” She punched the air with a mighty haymaker that nearly knocked her over.

”Beatriz! With a Z!” She raised her hands into the air victoriously. Realizing she was going the wrong way, she rushed off the stage with a bit of a stagger. This would always be one of the happiest moments of her life.

World of Light

Karin Level 6: 42/60
Location: Quarantine Valley
Word Count: dasdasdaw
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance---

Karin Level 6: 43/60

Karin kept up her disguise for now, especially when it turned out the area was being watched by G-Men. The plan was an alpha strike- wipe out the entire enemy squad before they could notify each other of the danger.

“Oh, excuuuse me, can you help with me something, sir?” Karin said, approaching a G-man ‘hiding’ inside a building. “There’s something I-” Karin cut herself off and bumrushed him as soon as the signal was given.

There was some crashing and scattered object, and window broke. Karin emerged without her hat and sunglasses. Her outfit had changed dramatically thanks to her disguise. Well, she could always buy a new outfit later.

Karin stealthed into the place with the rest of them. Karin was quite light on her feet, capable of moving much more silently than the average person, having been trained in Ninjutsu. But there was still no way she could sneak through and, say, pickpocket a captain of his key and then navigate everyone else through.

It was usually better to begin an attack than to just wait until you are discovered. Karin went up above with Sandalphon using her grapple hook. It was hard to see her up there, and she made sure to stick to where they couldn’t see her. She tried to get closer to their target so she could drop down on him from above should the battle begin in earnest.

World of Light

Level 8: 08/80
Word Count:
Location: Wasp Nest
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 09/80 + i still havent mathed and i may never will again.

---

Jesse squinted up at the giant wasp ‘queen’ once she was in the same room as it.

This is the thing that commands so much loyalty?

“That’s not even a real wasp.” Jesse commented out loud with a bemused shrug of her hands. Unfortunately the fight got started real quickly. The wasps formed giant weapons and began slamming and slashing around the place. She supposed such a formation made them harder to kill. If they rushed in all at once, they’d probably just die.

Jesse stayed on the ground and jumped over ‘AoE’ wasps when she had too. The other folks on the ground, like Ganondorf, seemed to have themselves covered for now. The intensity of the wasp attacks wasn't enough to put any Seeker immediately on the backfoot. Jesse had Uncle Sven, her alchemist striker, toss out a potion of bouncy goo. Jumping onto it, Jesse ascended high into the air and Levitated over the action, getting a good proper view of the battle. She withdrew her Tool Gun and tried No-Colliding one of the Eyes. Ping! A little blue streak tapped against the eye. Whether it worked or not, there was only one way to find out. Jesse put the Tool Gun away and withdrew her Service Weapon.

There’s gotta be someone in there. Unless it's a Wizard of Oz situation and there's a curtain somewhere I'm not seeing.

The problem was, flying to the thing would take a while, and leave her vulnerable to getting swarmed. If she just sprayed inside, that might not do anything and would only alert a hypothetical pilot to the new weakness.

Jesse briefly landed on one of the metal rings on the outskirts of the large room to re-up her Levitate. She jumped back up into the air and began to rain supporting fire onto the offensive wasp swarms below. If they came for her, she could Shield or Evade to defend herself and then blast them even harder up close. Any particularly wounded Wasps, she could wrench out of formation with Launch and scatter them into their allies.