[center][h3]Smash City Alcamoth[/h3]
[@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN][/center]

Isabelle, still busy with her records and documentation, was glad for the brief rest Geralt's distraction allowed. She looked off into the middle distance and tapped her snout with her pen as she considered his question. “Hmm...light gray hair, green eyes, scar...nobody comes to mind on that account, I'm afraid. Corrin has red eyes, after all. But long dark hair, smells nice...that sounds a lot like Ms. Yennefer.” She glanced up at Geralt again, eyes wide. “Oh, is she your wife? I'm so glad! Lots of people haven't seen hide nor hair of their loved ones, so...oh, but you want to know where she is, of course.” The little dog screwed up her brows in concentration. “Ummmm! She's not a fighter, and I don't see her very much, so she's probably in the residential area! Go right until you see a hall, and then up the stairs are all the apartments.” She smiled, waving. “Good luck!”

Spotting an unfamiliar face, she waved a paw. “Hello! Welcome to Smash City Alcamoth. What can I put you down as?”

The boy she'd called out, a teenager with glasses and a mop of black hair approached to view her clipboard with a blonde girl in tow. “The desert,” he declared.

“Oh!” Isabelle said, realizing that he -like a number of other smashers here- had misunderstood. “I meant your name, for the reserves. Only the fighters who came in with Miss Peach are deploying to other zones immediately.”

Ren looked at her askew, making her balk and wonder if she'd said something wrong. “My friends and I aren't waiting in the background while others play the heroes.” He stared down the bridge of his nose. “We're moving out tonight.”

Flabbergasted, Isabelle ran over what he said in her head again. The idea that someone would refuse to cooperate never crossed her mind. Then again, if he intended to go alongside whichever heroes went to the desert, he was still cooperating in a way. “Oh! …Good luck!” she blurted out.

Ren stepped away to rejoin his friend and the pair made for an elevator. “Wasn't that a little cheesy?” Ann admonished. “You could have just ignored her. What if they come after us?”

“They won't,” the teenager assured her. “I took a look around. Other than Mewtwo and Bowser maybe, these are all a heroic or at least law-abiding sort. But if they do, we'll do whatever we need to.”

Ann looked around at the myriad characters as she stepped into the elevator and Ren pressed a button. “None of these people have red eyes, though.”

“But they're not real, like you and me. They're ultimately still shadows. Which means we can't count on them.”

“I guess. Hey, where's Ryuji?”

Ren watched the floor recede as the elevator rose. “I mentioned we'd be getting lunch, but someone wanted to spar, so he went off to check it out.”

After arriving at the second level, the pair followed the flow of people in a semicircle around Alcamoth. It took only a few minutes for them to catch an appetizing smell on the air, and after that they spotted the place easily. They might have kept walking to check more options if not for the name: [i]Monas' Pizza and Pasta.[/i] They shared a glance. “It can't be that easy,” Ann said, but she walked its way nonetheless. Apparently a casual Italian restaurant, it seemed popular judging by all the patrons, including a chummy-looking fellow in elaborate armor and a little guy with an actual cup for a head. She and Ren, however, were far more interested in the feline visible though the kitchen window.

“Mona!?”

The cat's big, round head span around, and his blue eyes went wide. “Guys!” He dropped his cheese grater, sprinted for the edge of the table, grabbed hold of a broom, vaulted across the walkway, and landed on the windowsill. Then, without even a hint of delay, he launched himself toward Ann. “I missed yoouuuuuuuu!”

Ren caught him mid-flight, which turned his look of joy into one of disappointment, but when both his friends squeezed him in a big hug the next moment he decided he didn't mind after all. “Jeez, took you long enough! Where the heck have you been? I've been...uh, well...”

Setting him down, Ann got a good look at his apron. “You've been making pizzas?”

Mona coughed. “No! Well, um, I mean, yeah. But I had a good reason! I...I must have...”

While he tried to think of it, the other Mona appeared at the window. “Mona? What's going on?”

The cat put his hands on his hips. “These are my friends, Mona! The people I belong with. I'm sorry, but I have to do this!” He tugged off his apron, which took a lot more effort than it should have, and tossed it across the windowsill. “I quit! And by the way, you can call me Morgana now. Never knowing who people are talking to is so annoying!”

“But...” Mona looked overcome by it all. “But what about the restaurant? I can't run this place on my own!” She looked out across the tables, anxious. “Nobody around Alcamoth knows anything about pizza!”

One of the customers, a [url=https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffireemblem.fandom.com%2Fwiki%2FCorrin&psig=AOvVaw3LhzgzvgFEUvASNvWMoZ7D&ust=1597363689675000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNjCtpSMl-sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD]long-eared lady[/url] in silver armor, raised her hand. “You could always put in a request with the mercenaries. Once that's operational, I bet we could find someone who could help you. There's no way we're just letting this place, close, after all!”

The other veteran customers put up a murmur of collective agreement. Mona's eyes filled with tears of gratitude, washing away the sudden despair. “Oh, thank you! Yeah, let's do that!”

Morgana approached and reached up his little hand toward Mona to shake. “You were a good boss and a real hard worker, Mona! You're a great human, and I hope that someday I can be more like you. Good luck!” He then turned resolutely and padded away, obliging his friends to follow. When far enough he said, “So! What're we doing?”

“We were going to get food, but...we probably should go somewhere else,” Ann looked around. “Do you know anywhere?”

Nodding emphatically, Morgana pointed down the 'street'. “Sushi Striker! And while I'm eating, you two can tell me what you've been up to, and where everyone else is.”

Ann sighed. “We'll be eating too, you know.”

[center][h3]Dead Zone[/h3]
[@EvilEdd1984][/center]

The devastation of Bathin, wrought both by and against him, left collateral damage across the battlefield. A weighty blow struck the hierophant, first getting its attention, and then knocking it down. It hissed in frustration, but sensing that it wasn't the object of the others' attention and not wanting to get involved in their fight either, it turned its attention back to the Slayer. A good look at the armored man nimbly swinging across the lava stream left the hierophant surprised, and in its haste to ready its trident it stepped back onto a piece of rubble that scraped beneath its foot. The poor footing meant that it couldn't escape the coming wrath. Roaring like a man possessed, the Slayer bulled forward and tore into the hierophant's clattering ribcage with his chainsaw. Its teeth sheared through the carapace like it was cardboard and messily tore into its organs, sending a shower of icky brownish blood to hiss and evaporate on the ground. Screeching, the monster struggled in vain to escape, but for all its effort it gained only a fleeting moment to watch as the Slayer cut its own heart out of its chest. Then the hierophant shuddered and went limp, turning to ash.

Its spirit floated to the ground, but a blue key beat it there. The device clattered off the ground and came to a rest by the lava stream. Together with the red key already in the Slayer's possession and the yellow key left behind by Bathin, he could unlock the barrier walling off a portion of the Gore Nest and get at the sentinel crystal within. Of course, stepping into that putrid hive was just the beginning; to truly eliminate the horrid growth, he would need to put an end to the gruesome heart beating in the facility below, a brief elevator ride away. According to his map, the second sentinel crystal lay down there as well, a just reward for ridding the world of such a malignant growth.

As he headed in, the survivors of the battle marshaled together. From the direction of the van came Nadia, fresh as a daisy and wielding a brand-new [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dantesinferno/images/c/c7/Crusader_Death.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110913073213]scythe[/url] of bone and lustrous metal and tailed by Pandemonica. V, Griffon, and their new acquaintance approached from the upper level of the battlefield, and from the direction of the half-ruined delicatessen strode Nero and Dante. They met near the center of the cleft arena, a comfortable distance from the burgeoning heat of the lava river running through it. Nadia, having sit out the brutal struggle and received a shiny toy for her efforts, was all smiles. “Hey guys, check out what Nico made me! Isn't it just so purr-fectly macabre? It's super adjustable, just like me!” She gave it a few swings, showing off the scythe's pivoting head and extendable spine, before planting its haft to take a look at the newcomers. “Making friends, huh? Well hiya, I'm Miss Fortune, but really I'm one lucky cat.” She eyed the unknown woman in particular. “Hey, another for the white-hair crew!”

Dante chuckled. “Not too far off the mark there, are ya? Well, despite it all, I'm Dante. Nice to meetcha.”

The sharp-looking man with a severe haircut sensed it was his turn and gave a stiff bow of his head. “While I do not have white hair, I am Raidou Kuzunoha.”

Clapping a hand on her nephew's shoulder, Dante explained, “Ol' Nero here's given me the works. I'm all for round two with tall, dark, and smelly hunkered down in the Qliphoth over there, but I don't do daycare. You kids gonna be able to handle yourselves?”

Nadia smirked. “Puh-lease. Nero was the same way when meeting the rest of us. You his mom or something?”

An indeterminate expression lingered on the legendary devil hunter's face before he coughed. “Ahem! Aunt, I guess.”

“Well, you don't need to worry about us. Besides, I'm only going as far as the next root thingy anyway.”

Dante shrugged. “Suit yourself. Just don't haunt me if things go sour, 'kay?” She turned back, giving those assembled a good view of the remarkable sword on her back. Nero waved to get Nico's attention and indicate that she should drive around the Gore Nest and accompanying pit to meet on the other side.

Getting the feeling the people were leaving while he was still under-informed, Raidous spoke up. “Hold on. I do not have these works of yours, I do not know who you are, and I do not know what you are doing. Please tell me.”

Pandemonica adjusted her glasses. “This group's endeavor is to challenge the great monstrosity lurking within monumental flesh tree yonder.” It didn't take any pointing from her for Raidou to guess what she was referring to. “Until such time as all its roots are purged, it remains inaccessible. Each root is connected to a somewhat notable adversary. You understand the chain of events.”

“We're not an organization or anything, just a few people thrown together by chance,” Nero clarified. “Dante, V, and I want to tear Urizen a new one, Nadia wants to beat the next miniboss, Pandy wants to get out of here--”

“Pandemonica.”

“And that guy...” he looked at the Slayer. “Wants to rip and tear. By the way, the whole city's gonna blow some time tomorrow, so you probably ought to scram.”

Raidou made up his mind. “I intend to. If you do not mind, I will travel with you. When we near the border, I will depart.”

Griffon flapped his wings for attention. “We ain't gonna help the crazy guy, right? He's hellbent on diggin' into this meat pile, so we're leaving him to it. Right?"

Thinking about it, Nero looked in the direction that the Slayer left. Logic dictated that he advance, but... "I'll help him out. Won't take long." Though Nadia rolled her eyes, she stepped up to join him, and so did Raidou. V, however, went after Dante, and Pandemonica followed.

Down below, at the bottom of the elevator, the Slayer found what had once been an energy facility. Its demon-filled corridors slowly but surely led to a central hub, where the heart of the Gore Nest throbbed in short-lived seclusion.