[center][h3][color=tan]Courier 6[/color] and [color=sandybrown]Jak &[/color] [color=darkorange]Daxter[/color] and [color=red]Cuphead![/color][/h3]
[b]Level7[/b] - (47/70) EXP (+2), [b]Level 5[/b] - (16/50) (+2), [b]Level 3[/b] - (10/30) (+2)
[b]Location:[/b] Spiral Mountain
[b]Word Count:[/b]885[/center]

[color=tan]”Message delivered.”[/color] The Courier looked at his pip-boy’s watch function before adding, [color=tan]”An’ right on time, too.”[/color]

Gaige-Tron diverted her path to make a beeline for the Courier, then gave him a high five, which he reciprocated without missing a beat. “Boss, that was [i]totally gnarly![/i] You showed them what-for! ANARCHY!”

Bugfoot followed up behind, and the Courier smiled and waved, then returned the pokemon to his pokeball. [color=tan]”Couldn’t a’ done it without my posse.”[/color]

Nearby, another duo was quite upset. [color=darkorange]”Jak! What was that?! We didn’t get a single one! Really, poor showing on your part. I’m sick and disgusted.”[/color]

Jak grumbled, but shrugged and let it go. [color=sandybrown]”We can let others be heroes sometimes, Dax.”[/color] He holstered his morph gun then joined the entourage of people heading to the top of Spiral Mountain, Daxter complaining about it the whole way.

Meanwhile, Cuphead stood at the edge of where Sniper and Imani had made their last stand. Two thunderous booms had signalled the end of the sharpshooters, exploding them into red mist which quickly turned to dust, and Cuphead was left stunned. Shocked into place, the dust settled around him, and on him, which he was struggling to process. What had just happened? He was out for most of the fight thanks to be made into a trophy, but then it all just… Ended? And those guys just died right in front of him! They weren’t even walloped, knocked senseless, or subdued. They were just… [i]Gone.[/i] This challenged what the little cup knew about life. Not even the Devil himself straight up [i]murdered people,[/i] even if he did take their souls and force them into indebted slavery…

He looked on the two spirits floating in front of him for a moment and contemplated resurrecting them. All it would take was a quick parry, just a hop on then a hop off and POOF! Back to life, their spirits would take on new bodies and their ghosts would probably give a quick “thank you” before manifesting. Only… It was too late. They weren’t pink anymore, were they? He had stood there in shock, failing to register everything, and the opportunity timed out. Now they were well and truly [i]dead dead.[/i] Was that worth it? They weren’t even trying to kill everyone, just turn them into trophies, right? Could it be that these guys Cuphead found himself allied with were, themselves, the [i]bad guys?![/i] Just because they clobbered that mean ol’ King Dice didn’t necessarily make them good guys. After all, the Devil had a sour relationship with his own henchman/casino manager, right?

There was no time to really process everything. The group was already on the move, heading to the top of the mountain and reconvening. The spirits were already gathered, and Cuphead was drawn out of his funk by a sudden whistling. He turned to see that it was Courier 6, who called for his chocobo, and the grizzled cowboy mailman rode off with his robot running alongside. Huh. Well Cuphead went ahead and followed everyone else to the top.

[hr]

Once up top, Princess Peach began overseeing the dispersal of the spirits as rewards. The Courier eyeballed them all with intense greed, wanting them all for some new gun or gear, but knew it would be better to bide his time. If he overextended his reach now, Bowser might well rescind his agreement to give the boss spirit to him, and that would be no good. Besides, since he had Michael’s anti-material rifle now, there weren’t many guns that would be dealing much more damage.

Jak looked the spirits over as well, and Daxter dove into them in an effort to nab some, but was stopped by Jak grabbing the ottsel’s tail mid-flight and yanking him back. Daxter crossed his arms upset, but Jak shook his head. [color=sandybrown]”I don’t think any of these will be a great morph gun upgrade. They’re all snipers, and we’ve got a rifle configuration.”[/color]

Cuphead tilted his head, a bit of milk spilling out the top comically. He noticed that one of their opponents, the blue shirted elf boy, was among them. So he just changed sides all of a sudden? Well, that gave more credence to the idea that these were the good guys if the swordsman could just join them like that. More to the point though, the spirits still needed to be claimed, and Cuphead felt a bit guilty for missing his chance to bring them back to life. He dashed forward and snagged the Sniper spirit. [color=red]”Gee willikers, I guess it’s time to put this to the test, right?”[/color] He looked at the others who he originally met and explained the whole quest, who also spoke about absorbing spirits. In the head and he gets new knowledge and skills, in the heart and he gets their powers, right? But the Sniper guy didn’t seem to have anything in the way of [i]powers[/i] per say. Welp, no time to test it like the present, right? Cuphead slammed the Sniper spirit right into his chest!

[color=red]”Time to live again!”[/color]