Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Deep Ground - the Source
While C might have been happy to sit the rest of this out, and she was frankly thankful for that, she wasn’t going to just sit around after handling him. She still had carrots left in the saddlebag (or, as she might have said if she ever learned how motor vehicles worked internally and wasn’t mostly convinced they all worked like cluster trucks, juice left in the tank if she’d), and she was going to put it to good use.
She glanced around the room, getting an idea of the situation and it was, it seemed, good. Nox really must have been the linchpin of his own pre-reset victory, because things were going well. C’s team was gone, and all that still stood was the guardian, and it looked like it was on its last legs thanks to the team that had been focusing on it while she was busy with C.
”After everything it took to get here, we don’t even need a massive train canon for this one” she noted, before adding nonchalantly that ”Still, a big gun can’t hurt” before getting herself one of those.
Her (slightly bullet peppered now) warthog rose out of a portal in response to her will, and then its wheels touching down as said portal close beneath it. It wasn't going to be using those to go anywhere however, as she was interested in what was on the back: the big gun she desire. True, it was no railway mounted artillery piece, but the chain gun mounted on the back of the reconnaissance vehicle was nothing to be sniffed at.
The princess promptly hopped onto the back of it, grabbed the turret in all four hands, spun it round, and let her rip, filling the air with a steam of lead from a relatively safe distance from their foe, a plethora of tracers making it clear where her bullet stream was even as she did her level best to not put her shots anywhere close to her allies. That plan worked relatively well, at least until Roxas and Tycoon started putting on a competitive laser light show anyway, because that rendered her entirely blind. There was no way she was going to fire like that, the risks of hitting friendlies where just far to great, and so the princess promptly diving off of her turret and into the shadows to recover her sight.
With any luck, by the time it was back, the cause of its loss would have ended the battle in their favor.
Appearance:Midna initially appeared how she did at the end of hyrule warriors. After absorbing Urbosa's spirit has ascended to the approximately halfway between her and Urbosa's height and proportions, combining Gerudo muscle with Twilit shapeliness, and the bluish portions of her skin have taken on Urbosa's shade. Her nose has gotten longer and stronger, with a higher peak, and her ponytail is both fuller and reaches her waist. Her fused shadow is now gilded, and she also gains golden wristbands (resembling the shackle holding her ponytail together), and a gilded belt holding up a black waist wrap.
With the addition of a Flygon's Spirit Midna has gotten taller, reaching four feet. Her waist, hips, and thighs have gotten larger and wider. Her already long hair has turned green and split into two thinner ponytails. She has a striped tail with a fanlike end Her fingers are also more clawlike. Her waist wrap has gained two extra lengths of green lined with red, and she has green slippers atop striped knee socks.
With the addition of Orendi Midna has gotten shorter again. Her limbs darken to black starting at the halfway points and lost one digit each. The green parts of her tail, hair, and waist wrap have turned orange. She’s also gained an orange vest with a big collar, and the eye hidden beneath her fused shadow is a bright scarlet throughout. The result is a much more coherent color scheme.
Upon absorbing the Harbinger into just her torso she has gotten a little taller and her torso has become a bit beefier, bringing it more in line with her hips in terms of size. The skin is somewhat mottled, as if healed after an extensive burn, though it is hidden beneath a black priest’s cassock, buttoned up. There’s also a stole, though its frayed, bug-eaten appearance leaves a lot to be desired.
Finally, she ditched all her new cloths (except the sandles) due to the uncoordinated mess they have become, and has replaced them all with a nice hoodie.
While exploring midgar, she doned a Sennyu Suit to blend in with the general asthetic vibe of the city.
After absorbing Mursame she is now taller than an average woman. She's gained some futuristic red armor plates, most notable on her shoulders, chest, and thighs, all loosely styled after the armor of a Samurai. Her helmet is now adorned by the same material and is mostly symmetrical except for one covered eye, its faceplate, and assosiated psyco mask, fixed in a demonic scowl. Her skin now has an artificial look to it, with seams as if between interlocking parts, rivets, small built-in metal plates, and a few blue light fixtures.
After fusing with a Clone of Akira Howard Midna is a bit more average in all aspects, including height, looks, and build. Her skin (which has lost its artificial feel) is now almost completely flesh-tinted, tan in color, and her hair is both shorter and a less vivid, more brownish red, akin to maroon. Her tail is now completely gone. Her garb has been unified somewhat into a mostly futurustic, slightly fantastical suit of light SWAT armor, mostly black and red with a little bronze.
Personality: Midna is not exactly a picture of princessly grace and virtue. She can be manipulative, mocking, selfish, vengeful and violent to get her way.
Opposed to these negative traits she displays intense degrees of determination and willpower, a deep concern for the well-being of her people which she has learned to apply to others as well, and is more than willing to repay compassion and sacrifice in kind.
After absorbing Urbosa's spirit she has an increased warrior spirit and sense of nobility, although her sense of playfulness is preserved and even enhanced.
With Orendi her personality has become more impulsive and unpredictable, and she’s a faster talker more prone to colorful expressions.
With the Harbringer she is more enthusiastic about burning things
Fusing with a Clone of Akira Howard has left her personality is less strong.
Background: Midna was once the princess of twilight, heir to the throne and future ruler of the Twili, a race of beings who lived in a shadow realm their sorcerer ancestors had been banished to from the light world of Hyrule. Upon the death of the previous ruler Midna was chosen to succeed them, but was soon overthrown by one of the failed claimants to the throne, Zant. Using powers gained from his new “god” he conquered the twilight realm, transformed its people into monsters and cursed Midna with an impish form before banishing her from the realm. Rather than sink into obscurity or die in disgrace however, Midna aimed to rebuild the Fused shadow, an ancient artifact of shadow magic, and use it to reclaim her throne.
She recruited the aid of Link, who had been transformed into a wolf, a sacred beast of her people, and together they embarked on a quest to first reassemble the fused shadow, and then, once its pieces were stolen from them by Zant and Minda is almost killed, the rebuilt the Mirror of Twilight which they would use to take the fight to Zant in the twilight realm.
Together they overcame first Zant, and then (with the aid of princess Zelda) Gandorf, who, as he is want to do, had revealed himself to be the man behind the man of Zant’s usurpation. Midna died in the process of defeating the villain, but was revived by the light spirits into her true form. She then returns to her home to claim her throne, but as she does so she destroys the twilight mirror to prevent the two antithetical realms from ever coming into conflict again
Then some crazy yarander called Cia tares time and space apart because of their crush on Link, re-implifying midna, reviving Zant and chucking her out of her kingdom again. After a brief misunderstanding she teams up with the Hylians to successfully regain her kingdom, beat Cia and then return to her own time, only to come back to Linkle’s time for a final battle against Ganon who pulled another true final boss maneuver and before finally returning to her kingdom for the third time. She did not get her true form back this time however. She was just getting into the swing of being the imp sized queen of an entire dimension when reality got torn apart for a second time and she ended up being dumped in Smash City.
Summon Wolf Mount: Midna can summon up to one of threeTwilight Wolfos, a wolf-like creatures which are definitely not a retextured Wolf Link with an added head decorations. These Wolfos are summoned from the twilight realm via a small portal when Midna is in need of a mount, and can be sent back there just as easily. Fast, agile and armed with sharp fangs and claws, the Wolfos makes an excellent mount for the diminutive Midna. Each of the three is a unique and living being, and thus they are all capable both of absorbing spirits and being killed outright.
Call of the pack allows her to shift the size of her mount to suit nay size changes she herself incurse from Spirit absorption or other sources.
This wolfos has now evolved into a flygon, crossed with a saboquill. The disk on its head has fused with its chitin, giving it a dark metallic crest, one with the wider fronds of the Saboquill. Its green hues are much darker, and the reds on its wings and eye protectors have turned teal. Its arms are more akin to the Saboquill, with wide spiked shoulders (which sport circular teal twilight markings) and larger claws. Its thighs are similarly spiked, and its feet have gained small clawed toes. Its fan-like tail tip sports a metal band/shackle at its base, has been filled with a darker red and has gained several more segments, making it look like a 2d dragon fruit.
Powers: Moves: Dragon Breath: breaths a blast of purple energy that will paralyze the target 30% of the time. Bug Buzz: Buzzes it's wings to create harmful sound waves and will increase vulnerability to non-physical moves 10% of the time. Dragon Claw: The user slashes the target with purple energy wreathed claws Earthquake: The user sets off an earthquake that strikes those around it. Technically a physical attack, as they need to touch the ground to perform it.
Strengths: Hit Reflect: which causes 50% of all damage dealt to the host to be inflicted to the attacker as well, calculated prior to defense modifiers and immunities. This also applies to the vibrava’s owner if both are together. Damage delivered via retaliatory volleys of cactus needles/spikes.
Ground/Dragon type resistances: Immune to electricity, half damage from poison and rock moves.
Levitate: able to fly, and immune to ground type moves as a result.
Physical attacker: Its physical (melee) attacks are 25% more effective than special (ranged) attacks
Weakness Ground/Dragon type weaknesses: quad damage from ice, double from dragon and fairy
Plant Property: increasing the host’s fire weakness to 4x
Appearance: After being fused with a Pendran it has scales as well as fur, with the fur coming out from beneath the scales in tufts. Its tail now arches over like a Shiba’s and the fluff on the end is long, hardened with ice into spikes. Its legs are now splayed outward and it has longer toes, allowing for more precise navigation of rough terrain. Its ears are now longer, fan out sideways like wings, and have three spikes on the ends.
After fusing with the Rampaging Cyborg the wolfos is more bearlike in terms of body shape, with a thicker torso. Metal plates also adorn the legs, head, and lower back. In terms of personality, the host is more brutish and less intelligent.
After fusing with Blodia the summon is now a bulky wolf-bear mech, thirty feet tall but still quadrupedal, completely mechanical in appearance, part bright red, part dull ice blue, and par brown
Powers Rabble Rouse: allows it to increase the attack speed and movement speed of allies that it strikes with its tail.
Metal Wolf Chaos: granting a cannon on its back. The cannon can fire projectiles loaded into it at high enough speed to explode on impact. If not manually loaded with actual ammunition, it will extract a chunk of the host's flesh at the cost of HP to use instead
8 Way Airdash: which allows the mech to dash forward, up-forward, straight up, up-back, backward, down-back, straight down, and down-forward after jumping in the air. This can be performed twice per airtime.
Weaknesses:
Cold-weather: giving it a weakness to fire
Powered: If not powered by an energy cell, the host's cyborg parts remain inert, rendering the gun unusable and lowering its movement speed
Piloted: requiring someone to actually get into the summon to pilot it in order for it to do anything
Equipment
Spit: A sticker that, when applied, allows the user to spit damaging projectiles that fly in a slow arc. They deal damage of whatever single element most closely matches the wearer (in this case shadow/dark)
Deegahla Hide Scale Mail: a set of light, durable armor, that also has a saddle with stirrups to help Midna fight from it's back, as well as two holsters for pistols, and saddle bags modified so it is easier for Midna to open portals in them.
Dark energy zone: Midna projects a growing ring of dark energy around herself and her mount. This ring starts out small but gradually grows to a significant radius. Once activated Midna makes the power held in the ring lash out at enemies within its dark interior, stunning them with an electrical attack and allow her mount to quickly lunge between all targets stunned by the field
Call the pack: Midna can temporarily summon her other two wolfos into combat at the same time as the one she is using as a mount. The summoning window is brief, a few seconds at best, making it optimal to use them as part of attacks that act as permanent troops. The wolves can pinwheel like spinning blades, spin dash like drills and even run circles to create vortexes that draw foes in or keep them in place, as well as use any other abilities they might pick up.
They wolfos can also be larger than the one being used as a mount, though whether this is indicative of their true size or a magical buff is unclear. Whichever is the case, the hulking beasts can be devastating to groups of enemies, careening through them before vanishing back to the twilight realm only to reaper from another angle a number of seconds later.
Passively, this power also lets Midna adjust the size of the wolfos she is riding to suit any shifts in size or proportions she herself experiences.
Dragon Type (flygon): Midna has the capability to learn all Dragon-type moves a Flygon can, as well as the starting moves Dragon Claw and Dragon Dance.
Siren Sands (Flygon): Midna gains sand manipulation abilities that give her the equivalents of the following moves: Sand Attack: Sprays the target with sand, irritating their eyes and reducing their accuracy Sand Tomb: Creates a localized sandstorm around the target. Does not do a lot of initial damage, but remains active for ten to twenty second, slowly sapping the target’s strength and bogging them down, preventing them from escaping. Sand Storm: Whips up a large sandstorm that indiscriminately buffets everyone inside it.
Sand based attacks cannot use naturally occurring sand and instead Midna has to dump sand into the environment from the realm of Twilight. Other than its color this black and silvery sand is mostly normal, except for the fact that it wordlessly “sings” as it flies through the air. Bringing more sand out takes more time: Sand attacks can be hurled out at once straight from a small portal, each sand tomb needs its own brief prep time and a sand storm needs an almighty amount of twilight sand dumped into the environment in-order to be pulled off. Already dumped sand is, of course, reusable, allowing the combining of sand attacks into sand tombs, and then sand tombs into a full blown storm if the princess focuses on using this ability in a fight.
Thunder Blade (Urbosa): Midna can store up to four ‘bars’ of electrical energy in a metal weapon, and then use it to unleash short ranged electrical attacks when swinging that blade. Abilities include shooting a tight beam of lightning, firing out a short ranged but wide thunderbolt, having 3 bolts hammer a small area around a blow, create a vortex of 3 swirling lightning steams, launch an electrical sword beam and so on. (basically everything from the combos section of this video except the last massive 2 combo’s massive aoe lightning.
Using lightning uses charge, which can be regained by charging, which involves holding the weapon close to her body to fill it with lightning once more. Charging generally refills one ‘bar’ per second, but starting to charge right after an attack can steal back some of the used power and charge one bar instantaneously.
Simply hammering on foes with the sword will also build static electricity, but this takes a fair bit longer than stepping back and charging it would.
Midna’s lightning is a limey twilight green, and she and her mounts are naturally resistant to it, or at least enough to prevent themselves from being fried by being so close to the blast zone, but not enough to protect them if they are literally in said blast zone.
Twilight warp: Midna can set down gateways (at her own location) that allow her to fast travel between them by skimming along the boundary of the twilight realm. This hop does not go deep enough to expose the traveler to the mutating energies of the twilight realm, and so it can be used to safely transport light-worlders as well as the princess herself. The creation of each gate requires a charge. She begins with 3, and gains one more each time she gains combat exp.
Twilight volleybomb: Midna can charge up large translucent-green spheres of energy from her shadow hand, the maximum size which can be quite astounding which she can then ‘serve’ and then ‘spike’ at her foes. Most of the sphere can phase harmlessly through solid matter except a solid core. When that core impacts with something, it creates an explosion the same size as the sphere, which can, again, be very large.
There are a couple of downsides. First off, charging to max size takes a few seconds, is incredibly obvious when being done, and has a lot of friendly fire potential due to the size of the explosion. The ball also has a kind of weight, causing larger balls to travel slower, resulting in lower ranges. Finally, the volleyballing attack method is not proclivity to the greatest accuracy or attack speed, also limiting the effectiveness of smaller balls.
Twilight Darknut: Midna adds a reanimated Darknut to her roster of creatures she can summon from the twilight realm. As with the other’s it is its own entity (one cobbled together from spare Midna discovered in the equivalent of a dusty broom closet in her twilight storage room, having used a few of these as captains of her short lived personal army during the time war) capable of both death and fusion.
The darknut itself is a towering figure, close to twice as tall as the average human, and clad in thick metal armor. It is also equipped with a large round shield that it is highly capable at blocking blows with. Combine these defenses with its undead nature, and it is safe to say that Twilight Darknut is an incredibly resilient combatant, at least when it comes to physical damage.
Its main weakness is a very slow movement speed, the armored warrior able to at best advance at a walking pace, although its turn speed is comparatively nothing to be sniffed at. High caliber weapons, electricity, heat, and other types of attack that counter heavy metal armor are also natural counters to the towering knight, as are holy, light and other undead killing damage types.
Offensively, it is armed with a hulking broadsword and a lighter longsword as a back up, which it wields with impressive skill and speed despite its armor. It can be equipped with other weaponry, though it’s proficiency with new gear is related to how closely it matches the starting gear.
Roadblock The host is now a hulking seven-foot titan of yellow and black metal, futuristic in make and fantastical in style. Nigh impervious to slashing, and resistant to practically anything else, it is an immovable object on the battlefield that foes are forced to play around, although its slow speed and short range make it somewhat one-note. This spirit confers the Power Obstacle, allowing it to project a large rectangular energy barrier from the shield on its left arm. Allies can move and shoot through it, but enemies cannot do either, and it can take some serious punishment. This spirit also confers the Weakness Mighty Glacier, making the Darknut unable to jump or run
Crescent Moon(Mursame): This special sword slash allows Midna to near-instantly draw and strike with a bladed weapon and taunts the enemies it hits, making them more likely to target the host.
Mass-produced Legionis (Clone of Akira Howard), which allows her to use a legatus to summon a bound Beast Legion from its core, connected to her by an astral chain. She can also now see chimeric entities clearly. The Beast Legion is an agile close-range fighter and can be ridden or used to track scents. It cannot be seen or attacked by most enemies. The astral chain can be used to send it out, pull it back, pull the host over to the legion, or bind enemies by encircling them. The Legion can also be modified with spirits.
Strengths:
Twilight Princess: Midna has regal authority over the denizens and beasts of her realm such as other Twili and Shadow Woflos. She also has the ability to claim command over beasts or beings corrupted by that realm, like the twilight Kargarok, and some affinity for other creatures of shadow not from her universe/dimension.
Basic Shadow Magic: Midna can float in the air, hide in shadows and teleport short distances. None of these abilities are fast enough to be used for dodging anything but the slowest of attacks but they can be useful for hiding, bypassing obstacles or basic locomotion.
Monstrous Cavalry: Midna has a talent for mounted combat using unusual steeds such as Wolfos and Kargarok. She can easily command her strange steed and fight at the same time and is able to adapt to new mounts with relative ease.
Champion Mindset(Urbosa): increasing Midna's natural authority and charisma and giving her a complete affinity for the Divine Beast Vah Naboris.
Champion Moveset (Urbosa): Midna can draw on the spirit of the Grudo champion’s martial talent, a flowing melding of might and magic that gives the princess increased skill and versatility when it comes to melee combat. It also gives her proficiency with various melee weapons, most notably the Urbosa favored armaments, the ever-reliable combo of the sword and shield.
Skirmisher Style(Orendi), increasing Midna’s agility and acrobatic sense to allow her to better avoid damage through mobility without having to rely on flight or hiding in shadows.
Tempered Flesh(Harbringer), increasing effective HP and bodily defense appreciably.
Earth Dragon Resistances (flygon): Gain the flygon's typing's resistance, resulting an in immunity to electric type damage and effects, as well as a 50% resistance to poison, fire and rock type moves
Weaknesses:
Imp Body: Midna’s imp body isn’t exactly the hardiest of forms, nor is it the strongest. Finding suitably scaled armor or weapons is also difficult. after fusing with Urbosa she is now somewhat larger and notably more muscular, reducing this weakness somewhat.
Light Based Attacks: While mere sunlight is no longer enough to damage her, as a Twili Midna still has a weakness to light based weapons or attacks (lasers, light magic, etc.). On top of this bright light is uncomfortable for her to bear and she is more vulnerable to being blinded/stunned by flashes or high intensities of light.
Fated End(Urbosa): Suffers heavy stress when facing either electric enemies or enemies wielding a sword and shield, and near-paralysis if facing an enemy with both
Dragon Weakness(flygon): Midna takes more damage from both dragon-aspected and anti-dragon attacks and weapons, as well as Fairy-type Pokemon moves and ice
IWHBYD(Orendi):: making her much more likely to compulsively spout off whatever comes to mind, even in combat or potentially awkward social situations
Mighty Glacier(Harbringer): decreasing running and flying speed somewhat
Can't Fly (Mursame): making the host unable to fly under her own power
Born for One Thing Only: disables all of the host's Strikers and spitting out their spirits, as well as preventing the gaining of new ones
Spirits: N/A
Rapport:
Sectonia: 17
Primrose: 7
Roxas: 6
Geralt: 2
Bowser Jr: 1
Ganondorf: -3
Inventory:
Money:
4100 Zenny
Fused Shadow (1/4th) Worn by Midna as a helmet this physical manifestation of Shadow magic gives Midna the ability to transform her ponytail into a large prehensile limb tipped with a large hand. This hand has immense strength, capable of smashing foes aside, grabbing and hurling people or things and wielding large weapons. The force of blows or weight of lifting is not applied back to Midna, which is convenient as otherwise usage of this artifact would likely break her neck. The fully completed artifact is many times more powerful than its component parts. Despite its appearance it does not damage her depth perception.
Spaulders of the Bat - A pair of shoulder guards that bind to the wearer when equipped, meaning they will be destroyed if discarded or given to someone else. They provide extra physical protection and incremental increases to intellect, stamina, and haste (casting / attack speed). With the Andrew Oikonny sticker applied, the wearer is also a little more launch resistant, flying back a shorter distance when launched. With the Maglev mod equipped, the wearer's slide speed is boosted by a notable 30%, but with 30% less friction she's also a bit slower/slipperier both to get started and to stop moving on all surfaces (no effect while airborne)
Mimic Tooth Necklace When worn, any chest the wearer attempts to open will be unlocked automatically if locked, and also be a mimic. The mimic deals more damage depending on the quality of what’s inside it and behaves as if whatever’s inside it is equipped.
Rosary: Rope knot made from the threads of habits of monks deceased in ancient times, crafted by Engracia to whom all other’s works paled to such an extent they were branded a heretical. Holds Beads that can grant boons to the wearer. Beads: Frozen Olive: Summer fruit trapped in an endless winter. Born from an olive tree turned into a prison, its frosted oils bolster the wearer's defenses (by 50%) when their strength is nearly exhausted (at 20% or less hp). Piece of a Golden Mask Piece of embossed gold, part of a mask broken years ago. The nuns of the Convent of the Charred Visage swear never to let the world see their burned faces, and the conviction of its old wearer has permeated the metal. A rosary bead that grants 25% protection against flames
Psycho Mask - a wearable statement of freedom--freedom from society, morality, and sanity, all in one. It has no actual effect on the wearer but features a built-in filter which can purify incoming air, and two ports that gas canisters can be plugged into
Biteturn Charm - a charm of human bone with a touch of the Stranger’s power. Whenever a bladed weapon strikes the holder it will take massive durability damage, enough to shatter conventional weapons. When this happens, however, one of the wearer’s teeth will turn black and fall out. The tooth cannot be regrown via healing.
Cursed Sword - a strange blade imbued with fell sorcery. It deals extreme damage when used as a weapon but is difficult to grasp and use effectively. While equipped, any damage taken by the user will result in an instant kill
Climber’s Bandana:A light piece of headgear that decreases stamina consumption appreciably
X-Naut Uniform: An Alternate Costume that, when applied to a person, near-instantly clothes them in a perfectly tailored version of the comfy red and poofy white suit, gloves, shoes, and hood of the X-Nauts. Includes goggles. In addition to being comfortable and warm, it also pretty much completely masks the wearer’s identity
Sharpnened Volcano Fragment Deals less damage than your average axe on hit, but will light the target on fire, causing the target to take damage over time until the flames are quenched or 7.5 seconds pass
Sun on a Stick Deals less damage than your average bat on his, but will deal a critical hit to a burning target without putting the target out. Also grants 25% protection against flames while in hand
Ammo Synthesis: A consumable device that creates enough ammunition to fully replenishes a single weapon when configured (a straightforward, intuitive process) and used
Clubba Club:A heavy weapon of solid metal. Its weight makes it a pain to use but a whole lot more pain for anyone it’s successfully used against. Just picking it up and dropping it is more practical than actually trying to swing it
Freindship bracelets: A simple metal bracelet sporting a heart shaped emblem made from a red stone. When worn the two ‘lobes’ each gain their own stylised icon representing the two people wearing the matched bands. When the bands are close together (so in the same general area sucha s a room, small building or garden) each half of the stones will glow softly, with the light intensifying the stronger the bond is between the two wearers.
At a base the band increases damage by 5% and movement speed by 6% even when the wearers are not around each other, but it can raise it by up to a maximum of 15/18% respectively for incredibly close friends. This the current owning pair most certainly are not, but they still gain a decent 7.5% damage and 9% movement speed boost, and could easily raise this to a pleasant 10%/12% by spending a bit more time with/around each other.
Comes with an instruction pamphlet that attempts to translate the glow intensity to various stages of friendship (from simple acquaintances all the way up through BFFs and Ace life partners) and effect efficiency, but fails to deliver the above information to the wearers particularly effectively.
The bracelet can also prevent the wearers from being forced to fight each other via various mind control or enrage effects, the effectiveness of this effect again being based on how close they are.
Mordant Dew: A whole vial of the nasty, toxic venom that Stingers inject into their victims. While underwhelming at first brush, it is actually a very valuably magical and alchemical opponent, as well as one of the requisite ingredients of the Grim Talisman, a charm that -when equipped- allows the user to build up his or her special resource with every landed attack
Charr Pirate Musket: A somewhat primitive, somewhat fantastical smoothbore rifle with less-than-spectacular accuracy and reload time, but boasts the property of infinite ammunition. in the form of metal slugs
Therian Viral Rifle: A long-barreled marksman carbine that utilizes compressed air to launch projectile syringes at high speed, long range, and high precision. The syringes can be loaded with a viral compound, which causes bothersome irritation on the skin around the infected point of biological targets, or a a hyper-restorative compound that circulates healing medicine throughout the bloodstream. A cumbersome reload process and the limited number of syringes limit its frequency of use
A boat load of survival rations of various kinds.
A now rather small amount of wooden crates stollen off the back of a truck (empty)
A cheap watch (which she got overchaged for)
A bottle of blood themed shampoo
A bag of smoke powder, which by itself isn't enough to create an effective smokescreen
Smoke Grenade x2: The J4-M35 Smoke Grenade has helped many soldiers out of dire situations. Simply throw the grenade wait for the smoke to spread and change firing positions when the enemy can’t see you
Treespear: Golden spear with tree-like design. Hits are infused with yellow lightning, their strength dependent on the wielder's Faith. Requiring superior dexterity to wield, this greatspear can perform consecutive thrust attacks despite its larger size.
Warthog: a light tactical ground vehicle fitted with a M41 Vulcan turret.
moterbikes x2: stolen, or rather confiscated, from deliquents in Gutsford.
Prometheus Torch type 1: A torch researched thoroughly to allow. a pyrokinesis psionic to unleash their full potential. Damages the taget with fire and bashing. Lakcing pyrokinetic ability, Midna uses this less refined and bulkier version of the torch purly for bashing
Power Cell: A cartridge loaded with electricity. Its built-in converters mean that it can be used to fully charge almost any device that runs on electric power
Orange Gel: A sweet medicinal jelly capable of providing 33% instant healing when eaten
Commando auto-pistol (x2): an auto pistol able to fire off 3 rounds a second, as well as firing a piercing phase round every 6 seconds. Unlimited ammo and no reloads necessary.
Mutagen Shotgun (12 rounds available): a 7 round capacity shotgun with 120 RpM
Erendira‘s Gun-lance: a long lance that, along with being able to be used for stabbing, can also shoot small purple aura bolts, or swept to the side to launch a wide angle projectile. It must be charged by supernatural energy to use projectiles
Eliacube: A mysterious artifact. Under normal circumstances the cube is dark and closed, with a texture like jade, and it never opens. It seems to hold some sort of restorative ability, and it can hold a seemingly limitless amount of energy, but how -and perhaps why- it works is an enigma. It's rather interesting and gives off an important feeling. Probably warrants further study. Could it have some sort of psychic effect on those who own it? Or is it just a mirror, reflecting your own uncertain face back at you, and its magic is all in your head?
Ice Shield: A somewhat cumbersome medium shield, decorative and heavy. It nevertheless provides great defense, especially against ice, water, air, and slash attacks.
Festive Spycicle: An ice-cold spike wrapped in blinking Christmas lights. Though very strange, it's actually incredibly valuable to anyone with an eye for appraisal. If not for the light on the end it could probably kill someone with a backstab, but it still deals critical damage from behind. If the holder is ignited, it will extinguish the fire at the cost of melting for good
Ice Geode: Smithing material that's great for ice enchantments or making ice-themed weapons, though it'll take a master to put it to good use
Psi Stone of Dissonance: A crystalline pyramid that can be used to launch a conical energy wave that deals mental damage, applying high stagger. It takes a long time to recharge, however, and can only be used effectively once every five minutes. It darkens after use and starts glowing again when ready to blast
Kindred Spirits:
The Warlock (Xcom 2: War of the Chosen): master of psionic abilities, the elder’s (self proclaimed) greatest champion who wages a religious war against the followers of the Great Commandy One war against the gorilla resistance force known as xcom who are attempting to retake the earth from the alien lead Advent coalition.
Crow (Nafariouse): “Stop me if you've heard this one before: Bad guy crashes party, kidnaps princess, makes dramatic exit. Plucky, handsome hero gives chase. Epic quest ensues. But, funny story... Yeah, I'm the bad guy”
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
”Well then. I knew I was wise to not go under those clouds, but I did not realize quite how wise” Kamek commented from on high as he observed the void rising up to try and smother the light that was their foe. At least the darkness seemed to be on their side this time, though he was a touch concerned as to what would occur once they won.
At any rate, they certainly hadn’t done so yet, and indeed the Radiance seemed to decide that it wasn’t going to give them the opportunity to be done ever as, after taking a lashing from the dark and then blowing it away, it promptly decided to just leave.
”Wait. It can just do that?” Jr asked, rather dumbstruck, while Bowser roared ”Coward! Get back here and take your lumps like a proper boss!” to no avail. It wasn’t coming back.
”Maybe I can sail on that?” Rika began to suggest, regarding the sea of black darkness around them, but fortunately before she could actually try this help arrived in the form of train based transportation. It was crewed by a friend of Nadia apparently, and their appearance here was apparently entirely unexpected as it had to exposit a bit to explain it, but more than welcome.
Speaking of expositing, given they had a touch of breathing room, Kamek decided to do some of that himself as he flicked open Robin Goodfellow’s book and sought out the Radince’s own page on it, just in case it held some helpful tips.
The Radiance A higher being borne of light, enemy of the Void and all it progeny, who created and was in turn revered by the Moth Tribe. When the Pale King arrived to create the kingdom of Hallownest, bestowing enlightenment upon his subjects, the moths turned their back on the Radiance, and over time she was almost forgotten. Yet the Radiance endured, and through the medium of dreams began to proliferate through the underground kingdom in an effort to undo what the Pale King had wrought. Her timeless wrath, spread as a meme, became the Infection, offering each and every living thing unity at the cost of mindlessness. Unreachable within the dream realm as her plague spread, the Radiance could only be imprisoned, never defeated, never forgotten.
In battle, the Radiance is a fountain of pure power, a beacon of ceaseless light and immaculate metal. She abhors darkness, and if threatened by her ancient enemy, is capable of ascending to her perfect form, Absolute Radiance. In this form her powers are without limit, and yet, no light lasts forever.
While the mage did wonder about who on earth the Pale King was, what stood out at the end was the note about darkness. That, and the earlier comment about the void, certainly explained what the shadow stuff was, and it also gave him an idea about a plan of (magical) attack.
While Kamek did that, and exposited to anyone that was interested in what he was reading, Jr used the moment they had to check on and top up everyone’s health with his healing magic, ensuring they'd all be primed and ready to go for round two.
After that, it was time to climb abroad. Climb being the key word here as they would be riding atop the train rather than inside of it. None of the Troop questioned this however, it was simply the logical place to fight from, and soon enough they were up top and ready for action.
They just had to reach said action first
”Well, this looks like it might take a moment” Kamek commented as they began their minuet long catch up to the Radiance, before he glanced at his green doppelganger and decided ”We might as well make the most of it”
Thus 3 more green orbs were tossed, three more green mages were made, and as they rolled on towards the second confrontation with the ‘end of thought’ they were put to work, giving each and every single of the party a nice little boost to their speed, attack, and defense.
Of course, the Radiance wasn’t exactly content to let them approach, and so proceeded to blast at them with inaccurate laserbeams which, fortunately, had a tell and wind up time that left them perfectly dodge-able. Things started going particularly well when Rika took point and the rest began a game of follow the leader, the troop, Kamek clones included, forming a line that dodged back and forth to avoid getting lasered under the princess’ guidance.
By the time they had arrived, everyone was boosted up by the clones, and Kamek wasn’t the only one who’d been busy prepping, as the front of the first train carriage was absolutely littered with iron knives that had been stabbed into the roof.
”Opening salvo, go!” Jr shouted as they got close enough to attack, having used the travel time to scheme as well as stockpile magic, thrusting a finger forwards and sending a hail of pre-prepared blades stabbing towards the Radiance, forming and launching more alongside the initial volley. He was joined in this by Rika who launched a fresh volley of disrupting shots at the Radiance inorder to debuff the firepower she was throwing back.
The Troop’s final hit came from combo attack from Kamek and Bowser, the king grabbing the mage’s doppelgangers by the broomstick and hurling forwards like javelins, and then, once they got close, Kamek had them cast his explosion causing dark magic beams spell.
The clones were, inevitably, cut down soon after launching, and it was an inefficient way of casting the spell, but it was safe and strong and that was what mattered, even if it did leave the mage rather drained.
Indeed, between them the Troop expended most of their rechargeable resource pools in that opening strike, which could have been an issue had it not been the plan. As a volley of swordblades came hurtling down the train, Bowser grabbed Kamek in one arm, Jr in the other and waited for a moment for Rika to grapple hook onto him before leaping backwards, over the heads of those behind them on the train.
The wind blasting backwards along their path, though nowhere near as strong as it should have been, caught them, sending the entire Troop flying all the way to the back of the train, and in so doing opened up the front-lines for someone else to give it all they’d got.
Just as Jr had planned.
Bowser touched down, thorny vines stabbing into the train’s roof for grip, his and Rika’s heels screeching as they slowed their backward flight, stopping them right before they tipped off of the back of the train, and right before the swordblade volley hit.
It was faster, but, thanks to Kamek’s now destroyed green clones, so were they. With speed he hadn’t had till now Bowser (still holding Kamek and Jr) stepped between the swordblades and received only a light scratch for his efforts, helped greatly by Rika sticking close to and slowing the shots down for him.
After they’d done that however they did have to face the slight flaw in their plan however, and that was that they were going to have to advance all the way back up the train to take another swing at Radiance.
”Nothing for it to get moving. Let’s go, let’s go!” Jr commanded as he was set back, leading the charge back the way they had come.
“And so I told her, we don’t sell that kind of truffle but she just wouldn’t-” "-aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAH!" “-huh?”
Rayne’s retelling of a tale from the happiest and least interesting chapter in her life came to a halt when the interesting times she was currently living in came along and reasserted dominance by taking a boot to the monotonous rhythm she’d gotten into with helping the townsfolk with their scavenging.
And what an interruption it was. It wasn’t every day that you got to see a woman fall out of the sky, let alone find her more or less unharmed when you dashed over to see what was going on.
There was a little moment of tension when the horned person emerged as people, Rayne included, waited to see how this sudden arrival would act, one that was thankfully broken by the awkward greeting and wave the stranger gave them that put them all at ease.
It was enough that Rayne stopped focusing on the distinctive mechanical augments the woman had had done to her head, the equivalent of which she’d seen only once (no, twice now actually with Anne) and took the rest of her in. Other than being generally very pretty the other thing about the rest of her appearance that stood out was her outfit, one that prompted Rayne to to raise her hands to her cheek as she gasped “oh no. She didn’t steal you away on your wedding day did she?” before shaking her head lightly and responding to the situation properly, replying “Hi, hello” (along with her own little wave) to the well, greeting.
As she did so she floated down to hover just above the ground and approached to a distance she deemed close enough to not be standoffish, but not so close that she might worry the stranger with her own strangeness before introducing herself. She did so by tipping her witch hat to the stranger and then saying “I’m Rayne, Witch Knight, and, I hope, a friend” before asking “What’s your name?”
“Representatives, please! There’s no need for all this alarm!” Lilly, secret daughter of Asheel and member of Tricity’s council, called out, attempting to defuse the uproar her clarifications about the nature of the Dominion had caused among her fellow council members.
“Beneath our very feet exists a god chosen civilization ruled by a mind controlling despot, that is most certainly reason for alarm!” retorted a snouter giant in both height and girth as he slammed a fist down onto his sturdily built chair, before pointing a fat finger at Lilly “How do we know you are not compromised right now, and this isn’t some scheme of this ‘Maxima’ you spoke with?”
“How do we know every goblin isn’t compromised?” a young beastkin with the body of a human and head of a tuna added hysterically, jaw flapping at the top of his head while the one eye he was looking at them with wheeled around the room, looking for answers, befre fixing on the closest goblin council member.
“I know my own head you ingrate, and I’ll gut you if you need me to prove I’m not under this peace enforcing princess’ spell” said goblin woman, who had come to the meeting in a set of overalls of all things, and who was the last sitting representative of the greatly diminished miner’s union, bit back at the tuna-kin, before putting one of her boots up on her chair so she could pull a knife from it.
“She’s got her! Assassin! Monarchist assassin!” the tuna-kin shouted in a panic as he rose from his own seat, knocking over his chair, only to fall over it and knock over the representatives who had come to his aid.
It was all Lily could do to hold her face in her hands while her avian companion Seam quietly asked if they were always like this. They were all saved however, when the doors to the chamber were quietly opened, and an aged looking kingfisher wildblood entered the room, his cane and pegleg clacking against the fine stone floor.
The Speaker, a man old as the world, a mortal not from woman born but made by the hands of gods, and thus one of a rare few who could practice the arts of speaking with other’s past lives, took the scene in for a moment. As he did a platypus-goblin attempted to calm the situation, only to be grappled and accused of being mind controlled as well by a muscular croaker, prompting him to try and stab the tuna-kin with his poisoned spurs, at which point the Speaker decided to intervene.
He raised his cane once more, and struck it forcefully into the ground, causing runes on the handle to glow and create a pulse of awe to radiate through the room, while at the same time, he used his actual power to touch every soul found therein for just a moment.
“That is quite enough” the speaker declared, with a voice that, though now withered, still held the command and confidence of a powerful leader. He was, of course, not one, merely a spiritual guide, but still, he brought the council to order and to their senses just long enough for a thankful Lilly to rally a rather simple argument “If she wanted to control everyone and take over, surly she wouldn’t have me tell you what she could do. And especially not that her will could be broken”
“Hmmmmf. Broken by the will of a legendary hero” the large snouter, one Counselor Vontibrath, retorted, clearly unconvinced, though with more of a debative tone now rather than an accusatory one “besides, we had already heard an account of this Dominion from… oh what was that Aardvark-kin’s name?” he snapped his fingers twice, before a pig-kin beast woman whispered something in his ear “ah yes, Desmond. He already told us about how how you, council member, ensnared your companion here while the other goblins held him up and blade and hammer point without a second thought about your prior allegiance”
“Hey, I can vouch for all of this so don’t you dare use me against her” Seam bit back at the big snouter
“Hmm, yes, you say as you wear the gifts of the god who is patron of this land of slaves, a god we may well have misplaced our worship in if he created a land so antithetical to our values” Vontibrath replied in reference to the fancy armor and diamond topped swords Seam had been gifted, prompting several gasps from the more religious among the rest of the council. Only a few however, as Galaxor’s addition to the rota of gods worth veneration was rather recent.
“Galaxor’s worthiness is a topic for another time, but is hardly a reason to distrust Seam” Lilly replied evenly, before pressing forwards with what she hoped would be her winning point “Still, I understand that the council might have difficulty trusting either who’s lives Maxima has touched, which is why I invited the Speaker here”
“Ah, I see it. This Maxima can controle goblins, but you have not always been a goblin, have you, my teacher?” the old bird quietly said as he caught on, despite lacking much of the initial context, before addressing the council at large “If you will allow me just a moment, council members, I shall bring clarity to this situation”
There was some further discussion and a vote on the motion of taking him up on the offer that took a fair bit longer than a moment, but after that, those in their room closed their eyes, followed the Speaker’s steps, and then opened them in a shared vision of sorts. Before them a great serpent-kin, a snake in all but her eyes, one who sat coiled lightly around Lily in a comforting hug rather than a crushing bind, and who spoke in defense of her current life.
“I am here. I am free. I saw all even if could not help when the queen held Lilly’s mind” the serpent-kin said, seemingly ashamed of not being strong enough to intervene, before explaining in her short words that “I saw how god and queen played a twisted game with a hero, threatened to leave him forsworn. Saw too how Lily danced around the queen to prevent that end, and bartered great treasure for home from the god”
The counselors, their own past lives leaning over their shoulders like an ensemble of advisors, nodded along, looking quite relieved, but some, the great snouter Vontibrath Chief among them leaned in with a great deal of interest at hearing one word, and that was “treasure?”
Months in the future, but not many, down in the depths, a wall cracked, and a monster with too many limbs, hardened digging claws and a mouth sloping stone melting acid burst through into a cavern filled with ore, gems and crystals galore. Its arrival was met by a line of armored pike wielding goblins, the miners working this holiest of sites having already long since cleared out after hearing it scratching at the walls.
With a cry of “For the Dominion!” They rushed the beast before it could recover its strength from its digging work, a dozen diamond tipped blades impaling the beast before their owners fell back, and a second row seamlessly charged past them and delivered a second sequence of stabs. These two backed off to get behind a remaining pike wall, preparing slings to continue to contribute to the fight with, but the caution was unwarranted with regards to the beast, reduced to a pincushion, collapsed to the ground.
It was, as it turned out, still warranted however, as no sooner had the beast fallen but 3 figures burst out of the tunnel it had dug. All three were tall and slim, with pointed ears, but that was where their similarities ended. A sea of tawny feathers somehow moving silently on 4 sets of viciously sharp talons that where reinforced with bronze and which starred down the goblins with the massive light drinking eyes of an owl came first, followed by a tower shield carrying humanoid tortoise moving unnaturally fast thanks to the rings carved all over its shell, and a elf with angelic swans wings wielding a glowing trident and covered in shimmering tattoos that hurt to look at.
The shield carrying tortoise-kin immediately put themselves up front, slamming their shield into the ground in a taunt and catching a dozen thrusts and stones upon it as a result while the howling owl started to slip to one side of the pike wall. The goblin commander was no fool however, and she barked two short commands that prompted the wall to start backing up and angling its flank’s pikes after the hulking owl-kin so as to not get flanked by it. A few took jabs at it as it got too close, only to be rebuffed by the most powerful hoot they had ever heard, the sound wave pushing them back with physical force rather despite only momentary deafening them
The third of the bestail figure’s number did not join in this positioning and, rather than attempt to flank the goblins from the other side, the swan-kin called back into the tunnel “someone tell the boss we found the goblins!” before telling the others to “hold you two, hold!” prompting them to back off a few steps.
The goblin commander was quite sure she could take them still despite the unusual abilities they had demonstrated, but she wanted answers rather than blood, and so she was happy to use the space to back up and take an even better defensive position. Once she was situated atop a small ridge and had sent a runner to report the situation with another hyper efficient command, she called down to the beastfolk, demanding to know “Who are you? Who do you serve?” and then regarding the monster they had initially put down “Why are you associating with outer beasts!”
Her answers arrived on cloven hooves that trampled through the blood of the fallen beast, flaked by another such monster, several more beastfolk equally as eclectically armed and armored as the first three, and followed by some kind of plaque that held, of all things, a little garden. “That, is, or was a Chimera made specifically for tunneling. Top of the line and damn expensive” the group’s leader, a certain snouter large of height and girth, informed her as he emerged from the rock dust, lightly brushing it off his fine long coat and tophat, before informing her that “And these fine folks serve me, just as I serve Tricity, and we’re here to stake our fine home’s claim on this god gifted bounty!” as he swept a hand across the caverns the goblin had been protecting
“Any objections?” Vontibrath asked, as yet more beastkin (along with the odd snouter and croaker) peaked out of the freshly breach into the hold site, not a goblin or miner’s union member in sight.
Weeks in the future, but not many, Vontibrath paused in his digging to admire his work. It was a fine patch of land he owned, one he had carefully cultivated only the most fascinating underground plants, all of it growing in soil that had traveled with him from the outskirts of tricity to the heart of its richest district, and now down here into the depths of the world where he might be the first of his kin to stake a claim.
True, it was a touch of a downgrade from his lavish lifestyle up with the movers and shakers on Trictiy’s northside, but his other work made it more than worth it. Setting down his trowel, he stood and looked down from his rooftop garden and out over the burgunning town growing around the entrance to the cave of unlimited bounties. True, there were some hurdles to be found in this new operation. No one made Buggies quite like goblins, and with their banning from the exposition, lest they be compromised by the mind controlling despot they now shared the cave with, they had to rely on newer, more experimental methods of transportation. The only recently tamed Chimeras had resulted in a few unfortunate accidents, it was true, and there had been teething problems with the Runecraft and R’kava modifications made to the miners, but it was all worth it.
With the first outer beast infested and then earthquake collapsed mines restored, and bolstered by the unending ore growth of the cavern, Tricity was once again king of the eastern waterway’s metal trade, and this time it was free from the stranglehold of those dirty unionists. No now it was Vontibrath who had that stranglehold and by Hummus, was he going to milk it for all it was worth.
First thing’s first on his agenda, muscling in on as much of the cave’s bounties as possible. The Dominionites had had a head start after all, it was only fair that they make way for his, or rather Tricity’s, workers for a time. And if that argument never moved back into something more balanced? Well, now wouldn’t that be a damn shame?
Lilly and Seam have finally gotten back to Tricity, and the council is not best pleased by their report that there is a goblin mind control based empire underground. They freak out for a bit, before the Speaker, a first generation kingfisher-kin who can speak to the past lives of others, clears things up.
We are also introduced to the big pig counselor Vontibrath, who proceeds to lead a goblin free expedition down into the underground, and who down there stakes a claim to the city’s promised half of an infinite ore spawning holy site Lilly got out of Galaxor, putting the city properly in contact with the Dominion, and sowing the seeds of future strife.
There is also a small through line about the continued misfortunes of Tricity’s miner’s union, a mostly goblin organization that lost most of its members to the outer beasts, its mines to earthquakes, and now its industry to Vontibrath’s goblin free mining operation. Only time will tell how this will impact the goblins of the city as a whole.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
The came a crack as Bowser punched his own shell, causing a spider web of glowing fissures to form upon his armor lighting his load while also increasing his vulnerability to attacks.
”Good, now you can stop taking hits and-” his son began saying, having been the one to advise this change in strategy for the sake of his mana reserved, before being interrupted when the Radiance summoned a ring of white spears and launched them in all directions, prompting the prince to call out a warning of ”-dodge!”
”Huh? Gah!” Bowser replied before half lunging, half stumbling to the side as a spear came right at him, only for its flight to slow down just enough for him to avoid it thanks to Rika ducking in close to protect him with her shot slowing aura.
”Just a bit faster and you’ll be good” she told him encouragingly, before suggesting ”maybe Kamek can have his minions help with that? The green buffing ones” and then wondering ”Wait, where’d he go anyway?” causing all of them to look around in worry for the mage.
Fortunately the brief spike of fear they had was put to bed when they spotted the mage up and to the left, gradually floating his way back towards the battlefield. That fear was then promptly rudely awakened all over again when the Radiance seemed to follow their gaze, and promptly used her next spell on the mage. A string of three glowing homing disk shots were sent flying fourth towards him, each one casually adjusting its trajectory as the mage attempted to float from side to side to avoid them.
”Oh dear” was Kamek’s somewhat understated response to this as the shots grew closer and closer. Then at the last moment he tilted his broom straight down and went into a nosedive, narrowly slipping under the turning arch of the leading shot.
The second, however, smoothly swung down after him and, worse, the first proceeded to do a complete 108 turn so it could also race down after him.
”Well that’s not good” when a now a fair bit more concerned mage who was at risk of plunging down past the hazy cloud barrier surrounded the platform, which he really did not want to dive into without knowing what was down there.
Rather than panic quite yet, the mage waved his wand behind him, conjuring a doppelganger and sent it careening back into one of the chasing shots, only for it to cleave right through the magic construct and continue to race after him.
”Ah. Well. Here goes nothing” the mage declared as he twirled his wand and, mere moments from impacting the clouds, vanished in a puff of his own, before reappearing off on the other side of the arena. He paused there, indecisive, for a full two seconds, which would normally have been disastrous levels of passivity but fortunately the Randince had since transitioned into a vertical lance barrage and so wasn’t ready to target this sitting duck.
Unfortunately, the shots that had been chasing Kamek simply continued to do so. While one vanished into the clouds, never to return, the other two went racing right across the arena, which was very inconvenient for everyone currently raindancing around the falling spears lancing down onto it.
”Incoming from the side!” Rika called out in warning, having been watching Kamek’s chase out of the corner of her eye, before she bunny hopped over the first shot, and then double jumped to avoid both a spear and the second.
Jr was fortunately already out of their path, but Bowser got clipped, toppling to the floor and nearly receiving a lance to the noggin had he not tilted his head to the side just in time to avoid such a fate.
The shots continued on, only to, moments before they struck the dithering Kamek, dissipating into nothing, their power apparently spent.
”Ah, so it was, 2.75 seconds. Noted” he commented, having roughly timed them when they had been chasing after Ganondorf.
Back on the platform, both Jr and Rika helped their papa get back on his feet, but they weren't going to squander the brief opening between attacks by not throwing out their own.
”Bug strike her! Go” Jr commanded, prompting a shower of flukefey strikers, the toothy winged grubs from the home of tear’s sewers, to appear and launch forth to strike into the Radiance like a hail of missiles. They were followed swiftly by Rika’s vespikan queen striker, flanked by a trio of lesser vespikan berzerkers. Together they struck with the cohesion they had had fighting alongside each other in life, 4 large cleavers tenderizing the Radiance before she received a final titanic swing from the vespikan queen.
In response, the Radiance did her best impression of a bug zapper, a shower of beams lancing out from her eyes, scouring several lesser minions from the skies, and striking the Vespikan queen multiple times as said striker stabbed her spear sized venomous stinger to the claver wounds she and her demon worshiping nieces had inflicted upon the divine insect.
Both Jr and Rika stumbled as the feedback damage coming in from the strikers burnt them, but this time Bowser was the one who helped pick them back up as the Radiance blinked away to one side of the arena where she started another volley of lances. Rather than just let her do this again, Bowser dipped into his own bag of striker tricks, summoning Marie Korbel to form a wall of skeletons across that end of the arena. The barricade bent, buckled, and eventually on the third volley shattered under the spear based bombardment, but it was enough to give the troop time to heal up a bit, and the others to do as they will with the moment of respite the former skullgirl had provided.
Kamek for one used it to summon his dopplegangers, not wanting to be the single target for the Radinces shots again thank you very much. Though in a response to a call from Rika, he did convert one of the distractions into a green mage, which proceeded to pop a speed enhancing buff on Bowser. With that added boost, the king finally got the edge he needed to dodge around the last volley of spears, prompting a cheer from his children.
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic
Midna blinked in confusion at Nox’s sudden and then her mind went into overdrive as Goldlewis and Sandalphon talked to the man, till right as he blinked away she came to conclusion and acceptance of the fact that ”He just came back from 10 minutes in the future. He already beat us” and wasn’t that a dreadful thing to hear when you were about to throw down all over again.
Yet the man had also just taken himself out of the re-running for the rematch, and in doing so disheartened all but one of his abandoned allies, prompting Midna to declare that ”We can do this” just in time for the Consul to inject himself into the proceedings and forcibly transformed one of the people who he’d brought here when they showed no interest in fighting.
”What is wrong with you?!” she demanded to know, as she launched and caught her Boltok Pistol into two of her free hands, leaving one holding the lance and the other the scruff of her wolf’s neck, keeping her on its back as she sent it straight towards Consul C.
Rather than launch into offense like Karen, the Consul held back, making any movement in his direction obvious. Though his helmet obscured his expression, it was easy to imagine the same smug smile on his face that he'd worn back at the debate the night before last, a poorly-veiled grin that suggested a secret known to nobody else. "The problem is, there's too much in here," C asked as he tapped his helmet, his tone teasingly nonchalant even as the wolf closed in. "'More than one hundred percent pure, unadulterated syrup'. You remember, right?"
”More like 100% nuts!” she sniped back as she closed in, only to spur her wolfos into leaping to the side at the same moment as she prompted her Beast Legion to the other. This put them at about 90 degrees apart as both mounted beast and invisible chimera pounced at Midna’s foe, the princess striking with her lance while the Legion slashed with its claws.
"Ooh, burn! But I've heard better." The combined attack thudded against a magic barrier in the form of a glowing teal smiley face, eyes crossed out and ringed by a ripple of murky darkness. Blocking reduced the combined attack to chip damage. "We can skip the formalities, you know. Why so performative?" C questioned the Twilight Princess. "Aren't you the least bit curious?"
Suddenly, the shield dropped, and C moved forward in a blur. He threw himself into an extremely fast combat roll, occupying not even a full second. Even stranger, his roll seemed to take him directly through Midna and her mount, and when he stood up behind her, he turned around near-instantaneously.
”What?”
He drew his left-hand gun with a flourish that launched Midna off her wolf's back. The instant he readied the pistol, a targeting reticle appeared near Midna, floating in space. It quickly floated toward her like a fairy, and the Consul's barrel traced its path. In two succession he struck her with two light smacks, doing negligible damage but keeping her in hitstun long enough for the reticle to land on her. Then C fired, and it was the shot's turn to juggle her while he wound up a big slug to knock her back a couple feet.
C was prevented from following up by Midna’s beasts darting in to claw and bite at the masked man, interrupting his combo and then attempting to dart away before retaliation, wolf pack style. A few feet away, dragon clawed toes and fingers dug into the ground to slow Midna’s (already slowed by a certain sticker) launch. She was, to her surprise, not that much worse for wares, at least compared to where she would have expected such an oversized hand cannon should have left her.
”That all?” she sneered, before retorting ”Try this on for size” as she whipped her lance up in an arch as she stood, launching a crescent moon shaped projectile at C to keep him on his toes. She finished the swing by letting go of the lance, causing it to fly away and into a portal, before preparing her claws and preparing to charge.
She was prevented from doing so as Mephisto, the man transformed by the Consul (did a thing) and caused clouds (of some kind) to spread across the arena, most inconveniently right on top of where the pair were trying to have their 1 vs 1 (or 3 on 1 really).
Midna hissed in pain through her filter mask that kept her lungs safe but did nothing to protect her exposed skin, and promptly back peddled out of the cloud and away from C, her beasts doing the same to get out of the toxic zone all of them had ended up in.
”Alright, this is going to be a slow one” Midna acknowledged as she tried to require her target through the fields of fog ”So if you wanna talk, then talk. What should I be curious about?”
Another smiley-faced barrier flashed in the haze to intercept Midna's projectile. When it faded, C almost disappeared into the toxic gas, his rabbit-eared helmet faintly visible. It looked like he'd holstered his pistol in order to block, but now he drew it again. "Anything and everything. If this world doesn't tickle your fancy, your life must be terribly dull." Under cover of Mephisto's smoke, he adopted a two handed stance. In an instant his targeting reticle latched onto Midna's the legatus on Midna's arm, the device that allowed her to command her new legion. When the Consul fired with Steady Aim, his shot struck with pinpoint accuracy and enough strength to damage the legatus--or crush Midna's guard if she tried to block. The next second, however, C canceled his stance into order to focus and regain concentration. "Once you've seen the script, you can't unsee it," he muttered, holding his hand to his helmeted face. "But who wouldn't want to sneak a peek? That's just human nature."
Rather than lose her guard or risk her new power Midna blocked the shot with the far more replaceable Boltok Pistol. The unfired gun was blasted both from her hand and into scrap in the same moment, but let both her and her Beast Legion go on the offensive.
”Good thing I’m not human, so your going to have to try harder than that” she replied, both to his ‘offer’ and as a taunt, before sweeping a shadow hand slap through the cloud, kicking up a gust of wind that blew it away in the process. Her legion and wolfos both charged into the clear air, followed a moment later by the princess, all three looking to dart in and take a claw swipe at their foe.
With his face covered, C did not need to avert his gaze when Midna tried to waft away the toxic gas. It wasn't completely effective, and Mephisto would soon replace it, but that didn't concern him. "Technicalities, eh? Well, don't kid yourself." As his foes approached, the Consul hopped backward, casting Scapegoat. Two perfect clones appeared in front of him, both using Steady Aim. Meanwhile he hopped back again, tossing an orb of teal-and-black curse energy at Midna like a basketball. "You're human in every way that matters. Now more than ever. This wouldn't be any fun otherwise."
The words caused Midna to falter for just a step, after all how much of her heritage had she drowned in the spirits of others, but after that moment she decided ”It doesn’t matter. Twili is what I am, heart and soul, and you don’t know what I need” before using the artifact of her people she wore on her head to reach up and pulsing magical power into that hand. Curse and proto vollybomb collide, each annihilating the other
She declared his magical attack ”Cute” before offering ”let me show you mine” before pumping more power into her raised hand, forming it into an orb twice as large as she was tall. As she did so, her wolfos backed off, while she opened portals and blasted accuracy foiling sand forwards at the pair aiming at her.
”How about, instead I tell you my world’s script, repeated all across time: primordial evil rises, takes over, and then heroes rise and take him down. Over and over and over” before she proceed to volleyball spike the magical bomb down on top of all three copies of the Consul, be they real and fake.
The scapegoats didn't shoot, or even move, while Midna rained down sand on them. With his curse orb dispelled, the original just watched his opponent charge up an arcane bomb, reloading his pistol as he did. "Yeah, yeah. I know all about it. I bet you wish you were more of a factor, huh? There's nothing in this universe you, or anyone, can tell me." A moment later the bomb descended, and in the ensuing explosion the scapegoats vanished without a trace. C, however, used a little bit of tension to perform Faultless Defense, negating the chip damage he received while blocking. When the volleybomb's afterglow disappeared, the Consul was standing there in the clearing amidst the toxic smog, no worse for wear. He gave Midna the double finger guns. "That's why I'm so interested in what you humans do. The one thing I can't always extrapolate." He drew his pistol, and the reticle appeared to zero in on his foe once more. "Here's a hint. You won't beat me with pure power. Only by using that one-track mind of yours. You better surprise me!"
Midna hissed between clenched teeth in equal parts frustration, fury and fear as she wondered how in the world she was going to deal with him, only to notice a hint of movement behind C. Hoping it was a friend, she spread her hands out cockily and asked ”Why would I listen to your advice on how to beat you? How about we really test how much power you can handle instead?” before she opened a massive portal behind her, one big she began to pull the Blodia fused mecha wolfos out of as an temporarily enlarged summon, meaning that when it emerged, it would be far grander than the thirty feet tall it had already been. There was however, a reason she had never tried this before, and that was that the mecha wolfos which had been rendered more or less inoperable by its first fight, and thus was presently good for one thing and one thing only.
Being a massive bluff, and an equally massive distraction.
The first thing Rayne did when she got back down was hover over to the wall guards, and gave whoever was incharge of them (or just convenient, depending on how ad-hoc their posting up here was) the lay of the land she’d gotten from up high. No heralds in sight, which meant either they were long gone, or hiding somewhere. Admittedly not the most reassuring news, but at least they knew they weren't mustering for an attack just over the nearest ridge line.
“Plus, if they feel the need to hide, then at least they're scared about us finding them,” she concluded, which was a little boon of hope for all.
After that, well, she wanted to make herself useful, but the first thing she saw getting was the body moving and, she had to admit, she was very much in the squeamish camp on this one. It was, frankly, dreadful to see just how many lives had been lost to senseless violence, and she did include the heralds in that, even if they were to blame for instigating the whole bloody mess.
On a practical level she also wasn’t very well suited to hauling bodies two or more times her size.
She could destroy things fine enough though.
As a result she ended up helping by cutting the none corpse based detritus down into more manageable chunks, summoning runedge and then cleaving it down in two hands to split ruined timber into haul-able sections. Her flight also helped out, letting her float up to the roofs and upper floors of damage building to assess the damage, or even letting her act like a crane via rope tied around her waist which she could then use to haul stuff up and out of tough spots, be it bundles of scrap or buckets or rock or whole items.
While doing this, and between calling out reports from her elevated position, Rayne got plenty of time for small talk that would have been a lot more inappropriate had she been body hauling, picking up bits and pieces of info about the world as she did, and distracting others from the previous days with the tall tales of her adventures and strange home world. She ended up learning a whole lot about farming as a result, which others might have considered a bit worthless, but given that she and her husband had been mushroom farmers in between the two world ending disasters that had befallen their world, that was business as usual for her.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
After the Troop stepped away from brawling with the knight, the rest of the team stepped in, leaving the troop to mostly keep out of the way while Kamek watched and waited for his time to strike usng the dreamcatcher. This was easier said than done in the, rather cramped when it came down to it, boss arena. Bowser did his best to block big cleaves coming their way, while the others were small enough to scurry, leap or float out of the way of incoming harm for the most part.
Once the team had done sufficient amounts of harm of their own, the Organization member who’d sent them to get the dreamcatcher dashed in from the shadows, and immobilized the knight with a giant key.
”Open up, open up, it’s our turn to be the dream team” Kamek chanted as he attempted to improvise how to use the dreamcatcher, and fortunately finding it intuitive enough that in a flash, they were away from the dark dreary egg interior, and in the lumouse realm of dreams.
Then in another flash, their true target was there, a great being of light. Ganondorf wasn’t the only one grimacing at that, as Kamek too found himself squinting behind his specs, something about the being burning away at him as a result of his fusion with Cia. Unlike the king of evil however, he was not at all durable so this was going to get quite dicy if he simply tried to take their foe head on.
So while the others steeled themselves for battle, Kamek did the sensible thing and simply left the boss arena. They’d just had a lesson in how much of an issue a lack of spacing caused within the tight confines of the egg after all, and so if he could avoid being caught by attacks targeted at others, he very much would like to do so.
A wise decision, as it turned out, as the Radiance seemed to prefer indiscriminate amounts of quantity over individually targeted accuracy, unleashing a gauntlet that the rest of the troop had to deal with while Kamek exited stage left.
Rika had the least issue as she bullet jumped between dated sunglasses slowed lances, while also treating the platform like a suggestion. At one point she straight up leapt into the empty air to avoid the wall of light sweeping across the platform, before launching herself up into the air with her feather fall rune and then using both it and aim glid to hang in the air close to the Radiance so she could hammer with her guns.
Disruption cannons stuck magic power reducing globules to the being of light, reducing her damage output, while her grizco blaster splattered her pure white form with shocking or flaming goop, and she spent some of carefully rationed bullets to pepper it with her rifle’s venomous rounds.
Then as the light flared from the Radiance's eyes, she let herself drop down to avoid being blasted away, only to grapple back to the platform. Upon reaching solid ground however, she had to immediately leap once more as spikes stabbed up from the ground, cutting the amount of ground in half.
If Rika was near perfectly suited to dealing with all this, Bowser was distinctly the opposite. The big man was a big target and things started immediately going poorly. He’d got blasted by the wall of light, had lanced rain down on his shell, had energy beams clip his wide form even when he did get between them and had even jabbed in the feet by the floor spikes for good measure. Sure, he was also a tough guy, and shell and steel soled boots meant that things had not been half as bad as if someone else had taken all that, but it still wasn’t good.
Fortunately he had Jr to put that right, at least when the boy wasn’t frantically scampering to and fro to avoid all the stuff that would hurt him a lot more than it would his papa anyway. As team healer he had his work cut out for him already, but if there was one benefit to the spikes coming up and shrinking the arena it was that almost everyone was within 15 yards of himself, which meant than when he called out ”Medica” nearly every seeker got a nice bust of healing from the prince’s circular cure spell.
While doing both that, and running about, the prince had generated quite the collection of floating sears and darts, which he took the moment after the melee fighters had taken their swings to unleash. He was not alone in this, Bowser too blasting back at their magical foe, though his choice of using his flash cannons, based on the fact that all the light made them very easy to charge, was perhaps not his best choice of armament.
”It’s like fighting fire with fire, right?” he replied when Jr questioned this choice.
He wasn’t the only to hit the Radiance with light as it turned out, however Kamek’s light was also joined by fire, physical, blight, frost, and electric damage all at once as he unleashed a cosmic spray to test their foes defenses and to try and sniff out a weakness. However, disappointingly, there was none to be found in that smorgasbord of elements, leading him to hope that perhaps the antithesis to this being of light would work better.
Be it in retaliation to this bombardment or simply her next move, the Radiance proceed shot back, forming more spears, but this time doing so at the edge of the arena from which she launched them across it in waves. Doing so forced those upon it to jump and dodge, yes, but it also had the added benefit of being able to target the fliers as the spikes kept going beyond the platform’s bounds, soaring onwards and outwards towards them.
Kamek had little issue with the first wave due to the amount of prep time he had, but the second coming so close to the first was quite the issue. He had to back off to try and gain more maneuvering time, pushing him further and further from the battlefield till he managed to get above the wave and only then started traveling back to it.
Back on it, a rather frustrated and worried about having to burn through so much mana to keep his Papa healthy prince managed to convince his papa to ditch all of his size boosting magic, which at a bear minimum gave them all more room to maneuver without having to worry about the third set of spikes that was the king’s back.
Rika immediately dropped into that new space and together the three prepared for whatever the Radiance was going to throw at them next, while Jr tried to come up with a plan to coordinate their own strikes better than they just had.
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic
Fire rained upon Nox from the side and above as Midna, four hands glowing with draconic claws, charged the Watchmaker, alongside her Beast Legion. With all four of them working together they could strike around the shield, covering each other even if they did get frozen. They could beat him down, get revenge, move on to the smug snake of a swordsman.
Or at least that is what the princess had been thinking.
Then, in an eyeblink, Nox was gone, and there was an immense stabbing pain in her gut. The princess dropped to her knees and doubled over in agony and in doing so bore witness to her death, as blood seeped out from the edges of where a sword was buried in her stomach. It was a deceptively small amount for the carnage that had been wrought on her stomach, yet despite this she couldn’t make her body move. Likely something to do with how the tip of the blade was sticking out the back of her spine
It was without a doubt a lethal blow, but one that gave the paralyzed princess a handful of seconds of life as her vitality drained from her veins and into her digestive tract.
Rather than the sorrow she and hesitation caused by other’s death, rather than visions of her life or loved ones, Minda’s own impending one mainly filled her with rage. Or perhaps it simply caused the rage she had already had to boil over. She screamed with fury as she poured everything she had into the fragment of the fused shadow she wore, tendrils of orange energy engulfing her body as she rose up on a dozen limbs… but for all that power, none of it was going to put the ruins of her stomach back together. Halfway through forming the final smash, the monster's shape forming around her buckled, and then simply impotently collapsed, Midna’s spirit and ashes drifting to the floor.
As Nox had predicted, taking the head of the beastmaster slew her two limbs, though not quite at the same pace. The Beast Legion simply returned to its core, rendered inoperable by the loss of the holder of its chain. Meanwhile the twilight flygon, unable to return to that realm without the princess’ magic withered before any observer’s eyes, becoming deathly pale as the very nature of the light world terminally sickened the creature of shadow, causing it to fall out of the sky and crash into the ground.
Still, the princess’ death was not without consequence, for though her own attempt at revenge had been foiled, the collapsed flyon’s had been entirely automatic. When the lethal blow had been struck, the cactus dragon had practically exploded, unleashing a cloud of spikes and needles which all swung through the air towards Nox and hailed down upon his location.
Whatever the result of that was, it was the last thing the loyal beast saw before Artificial Gravity it had not the strength to even try and avoid went off, and it too was wiped from the face of this world of light.
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