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[b]Level:[/b] [color=fed428]2 (19 -> 21/20)[/color] [color=orange]LEVEL UP![/color] ---> [color=fed428]3 (1/30)[/color]
[b]Location:[/b] [color=fed428]Charnal Lane, Dead Zone[/color]
[b]Word Count:[/b] [color=fed428]827 (+2 EXP)[/color]

[i](Level up pending…)[/i]
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Following the Tank’s defeat, Nero’s order, and his preceding admonishment of Gene and the royal quartet, the crew set off for the nearest of three Qliphoth roots that they were presumably set to take out. Nothing like the Rule of Three to make that much obvious. They wouldn’t be back on course for long before being forced to reroute around a kilometer wide, zombie infested sinkhole apparently formed from the explosive overgrowth of Hell-born flora. It was equally likely that this was but an incidental setback on the way to their objective [i]or[/i] a machination of living demonic will set on hindering them. Either way, the coerced detour took them through a sizable strip of ruined memorial parkland that lay at the eastern edge of the province bordering space itself. Truth be told, it was closer to a grave [i]field[/i] than graveyard, which, in a city dominated by demons, undead, and who knows what else, made it the place to be… to guarantee running into trouble.

[i]Of course[/i], there were zombies--some new--but they alone weren’t the real problem. Just when Nero was expecting things to be too easy, a more honest threat announced itself in the form of a hulking four-armed demon as it busted out of the doors of a weathered tomb to take control of the horde, followed in short order by an identical second of its like to ambush the demon hunter and his companion, knocking the van headlong into the abyss with Nico still inside. Thankfully, they were both fast in the ways they needed to be, lest she go on an unplanned voyage through the cosmos, but Nero wasn’t quite strong enough on his own to drag the vehicle from the cliff’s edge safely back to solid ground. He could only manage to hold the van aloft, which required all the strength and attention he could spare, leaving him helpless to defend himself. For the moments that followed, he could now consider himself lucky for having brought help along with him on his mission.

Ratchet and Gene went to work whittling away the encroaching horde, keeping them at bay while the monk assisted Nero with recovering/stabilizing the van, and Jak broke away to engage one of the demons one-on-one. This still left the other Suffering unoccupied; a fact that the duo saw fit to change. With Blazermate absently indisposed, Banjo was back at the ‘wheel’, running and batting down undead as he sped toward the demon, and bounded from his kart the second he came within range, leaving the Trolley and everything on it haphazardly parked wherever it stopped. The duo soared in, diving toward the Suffering as Kazooie spent their last three eggs shots before Banjo flipped forward and came down on the beast with wide overhead punch to its head. They hit the ground and immediately left it with a Flap Flip into Wing Whack, and while keeping their momentum going, Banjo slung his backpack upward in a radial arch, completing two rotations to drag his partner’s spinning wings like and elastic buzzsaw across the creature’s chest and face.

The duo’s agility and repeated blows stung the demon, but they lacked stopping power. With a grunt, the Suffering used its two left arms to yank itself sideways, pivoting as it did. The maneuver put it into a perfect position to attack Banjo and Kazooie as they were landing from their attack, and it swept its rights at them with force enough to send them skipping like a rock through a couple or yards of headstones and into the mausoleum that the creature broke from earlier. Banjo impacted with one of the four lantern posts that surrounded it, bending it into a ‘く’ shape and knocking loose two lengths of chain that connected them. The Suffering charged after them in pouncing, animalistic strides, intent on smashing the bear and bird into the stonework until Gene’s taunts drew its aggression away from them. They were lucky for this. If the demon could bat them aside that easily, they weren’t going to be of much use against it by themselves.

Perhaps demon killing was better left to professionals, but said professional was still busy needing help saving his friend, they noticed. Banjo picked himself back up, yanked the chains down from their remaining anchor points, crudely tied them back together in the middle, made wide loops at both ends, and sprinted for the van, twisting into Talon Trot to let Kazooie take over the legwork while he hauled a roll of chain in each hand. As they approached, Kazooie leapt running onto and from the Suffering’s back, and Banjo, still airborne, turned to lasso one of the chain loops around the demon wherever it would find purchase. He hit the ground sliding, throwing the other loop over the wheel around the rear axle before stopping himself against the van’s side just shy of the ledge. Finding his grip on the bottom of the vehicle’s frame with both hands, he grit his teeth and began exerting himself to assist the demon hunter in dragging the van from peril. With enough effort, Banjo’s strength alone could probably suffice without the need to attach a towline to the demon, but it didn’t hurt their chances to trick an enemy into helping correct a problem [i]they[/i] caused.