One after another, the various people took Tora's suggestion -to his great gratification- and introduced themselves, though the clueless and apparently nameless gunslinger couldn't be counted among their number. The names Death, Geno, and Agoston flew to meet him, the owners of the latter two offering a bit of insight into their origin. [i]From above?[/i] For a moment, Tora regarded Geno with a curious look. Though unassuming, there did seem to be something subtly fantastic about the animate mannequin. Could this Star Road be in Elysium, and could he be an Aegis, like Pyra and Malos? He put a pin in the idea to peered over and read 'Zer0' scrawled in the dirt, the name of the faceless assassin in black. A nice lady who called herself Din, newly come to her senses, rushed past Tora to accommodate the girl beside him, who turned out to be 'Linkle'. Perhaps more than any of the others, though, Tora perked up when he heard the automaton introduce herself as Blazermate. He had opened his mouth to address her when Bowser started up once again.

Though he did not in particular like being called a mook, even if he did not know what a mook was, Tora listened to the scaly beast with wide eyes. Bowser didn't offer much of a choice when it came to cooperation, but the Nopon wouldn't have objected even if given the chance. Ever since he started working with Rex, Nia, and the others, he'd realized how much more a good team could accomplished, and gotten used to the team's dynamics. Somebody needed to be in charge, and Tora was glad to have someone else take that responsibility.

The rest of the King Koopa's tirade confronted him, with some portions of it passing over Tora's head, but a number of poignant details stood out. Whatever that colorful, splendid thing was that floated so far away, [i]it[/i] was the one responsible for...this. He suspected from the moment he gazed into the distance and beheld no trace of the cloud sea, but he was no longer in Alrest. If Bowser had the right of it, his world -and those of all these others, and likely many more besides- no longer existed in the same sense. To bring it back, to bring his friends back, he needed to fight. To Tora, this was no question. He flapped his wings, hopping up and down. “Once Tora may have rolled over in bed when destiny called, but today Tora stop being rude and say 'hello' back! Am with you all the way.”

A few moments later, Bowser kicked it into gear, picking up Kirby as best he could to carry with him as he followed in the footsteps of the Hunter and the Centurion, who seemingly fixated upon the distant castle. With the moment available to him, Tora turned toward the Medibot and piped up, “Blazeymate! Very nice name, very blushy-crushy! Even if healypon have boring metal face, is obviously very advanced, and Tora happy to learn more about inner workings!” To his chagrin, she started to move away, following the King Koopa. Tora scooted along after her, calling, “W-wait! Friend blade not like Tora? Or maybe just bad time?” She seemed more attentive to Bowser, striking up a conversation as she left Tora behind. “Mehmehmeh...” Dejected but undeterred, he made to hurry after them along with the Courier and make his way toward the bottom of the hill.

Before he could really get going, however, Linkle crouched down beside him to offer a ride. For a second or two Tora couldn't put two words together to save his life, but once composed he gave her a chuckle and his brightest smile. “Meheheh! You too generous. Even if Tora little short, actually quite heavy, probably heavier than Linky-Linky.” He glanced at her hood dubiously. “And definitely not fit in there! Still, many thanks for offer. Even Rex-Rex, nicest human Tora know, never offer to carry me. So that make you new nicest, maybe? Meheh!” For the moment, it seemed that the Nopon even forgot about Blazermate, and contented himself with walking alongside Linkle. Another new face appeared, having missed the introductions and such, and since Bowser designated himself the leader Tora left the exposition to him. He did, however, offer the Lombax a friendly wave.

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The north-facing cliff that lay opposite the direction taken by the misfit group overlooked an endless, barren landscape of dust and rock, crag and canyon. Its influence reached around the knoll itself, making the grass at its foot somewhat sparse, but only a hundred meters or so farther south the grass thickened into vibrancy. Rolling green fields, marked occasionally by flower patches, extended a fair way in every direction until they hit this first area's borders on either side. There, clusters of bizarre hills poked into the sky, cylindrical with domed tops and pale yellow, green, pink, or blue in coloration, with round, white spots all over. 

Ahead, however, the terrain got more interesting. Sudden dips and potholes gradually gave way to gorges and dangerous pitfalls. Some of the pits, too large to jump over, appeared to be spanned by bridges of rubbery orange blocks, and some harbored enormous mushrooms within large enough to build a shack on. There were little plateaus that jutted up from otherwise normal earth, some of which moved up and down on their own, and even hills that appeared to roll as though they were the tops of massive, grassy spheres buried underground. And of course, a number of man-made structures could be seen. Green pipes sprouted up everywhere, whether straight or at angles, and lines of bricks hovered in the air, suspended by nothing. All in all, what first appeared to be a rather ordinary landscape soon devolved into anything but. A veritable obstacle course awaited them, though parts of the land weren't all that moved.

A number of creatures could be glimpsed as well. Most prominently, strange mushroom-shaped [url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ce/Goomba.PNG/220px-Goomba.PNG]things[/url] marched along the ground on endless patrol, their surly grimaces inviting any challenge. They did not, however, seem to mind the [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mario/images/c/c3/KoopaGalaxy.png/revision/latest?cb=20091018051944]turtles[/url] that strode back and forth across the elevated brick-rows, plateaus, and mushrooms. Wherever pools of water could be found, a group of gelatinous [url=https://dragon-quest.org/images/thumb/9/93/DQ_Slime.png/250px-DQ_Slime.png]dollops[/url] invariably oozed nearby, attacking any foes that wandered too close. Animals rustled in the tall grass, which parted occasionally to reveal a chittering purple [url=https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/4/46/019Rattata.png/250px-019Rattata.png]rodent[/url] or scuttling [url=https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/d/d3/664Scatterbug.png/250px-664Scatterbug.png]insect.[/url] Flocks of [url=https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/images/6/6f/Guay-Art.png]birds[/url] and small groups of [url=http://shovelknight.wikia.com/wiki/Fairy]fairies[/url] inhabited the huge, striped-trunk nut [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/allspecies/images/c/c9/Acorn_Tree_%28Super_Mario_Bros%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20130709213311]trees[/url] that dotted the landscape. In the pits and crevices one could catch the odd glimpse of a beady-eyed, somewhat hard-edged [url=https://runescape.wiki/images/e/e9/Giant_spider_%28level_4%29.png?bdc06]spider.[/url] Farther off the beaten path, a couple camps could be seen strewn about the entire area, inhabited either by ratlike pink [url=https://d1u5p3l4wpay3k.cloudfront.net/wowpedia/thumb/8/8e/Fool%27s_Gold_TCG.jpg/200px-Fool%27s_Gold_TCG.jpg?version=bcdc534b2704c570bce63dd3b9563878]kobolds[/url], slack-jawed purple [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/allspecies/images/3/3b/Bokoblin_%28Twilight_Princess%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20131004080417]goons[/url], or bow-legged green [url=http://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1420167790677.png]goblins[/url]. Without fail, each specimen bore a charred exterior and unnerving scarlet eyes.

The variety of the land and its inhabitants presented three immediately-visible routes that a visitor interested in approaching the castle might take. Straight ahead the road lay most clear-cut, bearing the most pipes and bricks as it developed into a smorgasbord of platforming, though tall grass remained plentiful. To the left, the terrain grew far more treacherous, a canyon path stretching downward that promised a few run-ins with the local savages. To the right, neither difficult road nor troublesome turf presented an immediate obstacle, but the unchecked vegetation and plentiful water rendered run-ins with the wildlife inevitable. Of course, to one who could fly, the immediate land and its denizens posed no challenge at all.

Yet, of all this, perhaps the most interesting thing lay at the very beginning. Before even setting foot on the route ahead, a glance to the left would reveal a strange sight beneath the shade of a gigantic mushroom. A few crudely-made tables, covered with makeshift implements, doodads, potions, and samples of all sorts, surrounded the remains of a campfire. Behind it, with one end stuck on a spike in the mushroom's trunk and the other on a wooden post in the earth, hung a hammock bearing a cloaked [url=https://www.khwiki.com/images/thumb/d/da/Master_of_Masters_KHXBC.png/200px-Master_of_Masters_KHXBC.png]figure[/url] a-snooze within.