[center][h3]Edge of the Blue – Pirate's Cove[/h3]
Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Junior's [@DracoLunaris][/center]

The pink mote that Sakura produced held Bella's attention for as long as it remained. She couldn't help but stare at the thing in wonderment, knowing as she did the incredible power it had. [i]Awakening[/i] had been the word that came to mind when she tried to conceive of what the Friend Heart did for her, like her life until that moment was but a bad dream, a haze of distortion keeping her from reality. Could such a thing really be done endlessly? For Abyssals, and shipgirls as well she believed, no matter how big or small the tool it would run out of uses eventually. Abyssals' systems manufactured new ammunition, but it took time or -more typically- a resurrection to get it done. Surely something so amazing couldn't be done without some kind of cost.

And even if it could, the Abyssal Fleet did not deserve such an awakening. All were monsters, with the vast majority seemingly incapable of being anything more than monsters. But that line of thinking came to an end when Sakura spoke to the former Water Princess directly, expressing her happiness. Bella couldn't help but flush a little in embarrassment, although the shared joy of the moment quickly expired. She didn't want to be a burden on Sakura in the slightest, although in terms of responsibility she couldn't ignore the fact that she didn't know the first thing about the world beyond the waves. The Street Fighter continued to outline her plan, although it did have some flaws. “I'm afraid I don't know ze first thing about community. I wouldn't be much help. Even the Abyssals I lead did so only because zey were made to obey me.”

Sakura then got herself heated up about the citizens of Limsa villainizing the Abyssals in some way, which Bella couldn't help but feel was a little strange. “Erm...well, we -ze Fleet, I mean- did strive to kill them. Zat's all we've ever done, well before the light came.” She cast her mind back to her existence before the calamity, its memories now open to her, and recalled different waters but the same old war. “So, I don't think the people are doing anyzing wrong.”

She could only sit back, flabbergasted, as Sakura suddenly called out her paltry legs. Trepidation spread across her features as she looked down at her own pale limbs, and poked her thigh with a slender finger. Soft, weak, never used once in her entire life until today, not even to swim. Surely there couldn't be a solitary fiber of muscle in there. Bella looked up in alarm at the poses Sakura was doing. And she expected her to do [i]that[/i]!?

Panic sirens went off in her head and Sakura made her wobble to her feet. She leaned against the walls for support as Sakura converted the room, then called Junior to get in on the 'fun'. A bead of sweat had already formed on Bella's brow. Her enormous tail writhed restlessly. The girl quickly offered and then rescinded a reward, not that Bella needed any motivation other than the thought of pleasing her know friend, but still. Having chocolate sounded much nicer than 'aerobics' and 'muscle groups.'

Fortunately, Bella was saved by her underling as Rika accidentally dented the Atomos again, forcing Junior to sit down and rectify the situation. The Water Princess took the chance to set down with them and watch the Koopa at work, hoping to avoid exercise. She listened to the little reptile talk about his family and friends, fascinated. A dozen questions sprang to mind, all starting with 'what is', but she chose not to bother him with them. An irrepressible smile took over as Rika was freed of her bindings one by one and began to explore her new sense of touch, although Bella was surprised she actually did have hands under there. Most Abyssals' equipment was built directly into them, unlike the tools that others held. Rika seemed happy at least, although she had to go and remind Sakura about the proposed workout. Not that Sakura would have forgotten, Bella supposed. It seemed like the dreaded exercise couldn't be avoided any longer.

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 1[/b] Nadia (9/10)
[b]Location:[/b] Limsa Lominscuttle Town – Bismarck
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser & Kamek's [@DracoLunaris], Geralt's [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Link's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Sephiroth's [@ZAVAZggg], Frog's [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 646[/center]

It didn't take long for Nadia to regret the degree to which she committed herself. Her technique, of course, went off flawlessly, smacking the nearby sorceresses soundly. One of them, the Feral realized with horror, got shoved straight onto Sephiroth's sword to such a degree that multiple feet of bloodstained steel protruded from her back. Nadia recoiled from the lethal wound, not from its crimson gruesomeness, but rather from its implication of her guilt. Her career as a thief and local heroine back in New Meridian brought her no shortage of scraps, but never once had she taken a life. Before she could do much of anything, Hat Kid appeared in the form of a frozen statue and slammed the floor hard enough to pop Nadia into the air.

She wasn't the only one, however. After landing on a nearby table she noticed two things in quick succession: that she couldn't see the sorceress in green anymore, and that the one in red wasn't coming down. Then a wave of power struck her full in the face, making her tail stand up in alarm, and dark magic surrounded her. “Oh sh-AAAAH!”

For a moment she lost consciousness, her very senses knocked out of her by the freight train of concussive force that slammed into her noggin. Onlookers, however, received a gruesome display: Nadia's entire body blew apart into a dozen pieces and scattered across the restaurant in a rain of blood. Her head landed squarely in a bowl of soup on an undisturbed table near the entrance, circling the rim like a basketball before it came to rest in the broth. In her unconsciousness she couldn't see the Koopa King falling from the sky in a tremendous, terrifyingly upscaled elbow drop. For all her wounds Blue might have avoided death from above if not for Geralt's interference, who reached out for her mind with his Axii sign as he got closer. The next moment Bowser dropped like a tentacled mountain, instant-killing the injured sorceress and abruptly plowing through the platform floor of the Bismarck in a tremendous crash, all inches from the Witcher's face. 

Bowser carried through the hole down, down, down to the water below, where he made such a splash that a few curious onlookers got the drenching of a lifetime. As the Koopa King broke the surface, he spotted a familiar face leaning over the edge of a nearby pier. With one hand Bacchus reached out to help him up, and with the other he offered his jug of wine. “Heeeeeey buddy! You look like you could use a drink!”

Up above, Nadia jolted awake to find her head half-immersed in someone's meal. She smacked her lips. “Ooh, clam chowder?” Blinking a couple times, she looked around, trying to take stock of the situation. “Ahem. I'm okay!” She rolled out of the soup bowl and onto her neck stump at the table's edge, where she could see her scattered components. “Ooh, jeez. Here, just lemme pull myself together.” All at once her parts began to move, wriggling across the ground toward her head. Some rejoined on the way, forming an increasingly complete person as they grew near. Even Nadia's blood flowed across the wood, [i]shlorp[/i]-ing back inside wherever it could. In front of the table her limbs and body came together, and she popped her head back on as if nothing happened. “Oh, thank the Trinity my clothes survived! What a cat-astrophe that woulda been. But man I'm beat.” Her head span a hundred and eighty degrees to face the action, followed by her body turning around. At a moment's glance she could see that only one sorceress remained, with allies all around. She jogged over and glanced through the hole in the floor to see Bowser treading water, but kept her attention focused ahead in case of unwise action on Cia's part.

[center][h3]Frozen Highlands – Snowdin - Grillby's[/h3]
[@Gentlemanvaultboy][@darkred][/center]

With the grill in the background completely forgotten, along with its inhabitants, the stranger watched the Skullgirl's elaborate dodge to escape his ice wave. He looked neither angry nor even interested, just rather disappointed, and when the girl pulled out a flask to down its contents he didn't so much as take a step, let along rush her down. When she finished and began to move, imitating his last attack, he prepared to heavy a misty sigh. He clearly didn't expect her to unleash a wintry tide of her own, even bigger and faster than his own, and with eyebrows ever-so-slightly raised he moved forward. “Run out of ideas already...? Oof!”

As the wave crashed against him he got tossed up a few feet, multiple puncture wounds across his frame, but when he hit the frozen ground a moment later he looked more inconvenienced than anything. He stood just in time to take the first volley of icicles, some glancing off, some shattering on impact, some sinking in a short way only to fail a moment later. “So you've got some ice of your own. Not cold enough though. Not for me.” His noticed his jeers falling on potentially deaf ears as his adversary raced away from the town, and for the first time since the fight began took on a look of anger. “Think you can just walk away?” A moment later he was running after her, not as fast as he dashed before, but still gaining on her quickly. As the two reached the snowfield, the stranger gathered his strength. His tattoos glowed once again, and a chill wind surged visibly around him. With a cry he cannoned into the air in a tremendous leap, becoming a blur against the dreary sky. For a moment before impact a similar flurry danced around the Skullgirl, as if heralding her opponent's arrival, and then the stranger fell like a meteorite. He struck the ground with enough force to send snow flying from the resulting crater, then tore a chunk free from the disturbed earth and hurled it the Skullgirl's way.