[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3] [b]Level 8[/b] Tora (13/80) and [b]Level 7[/b] Poppi (59/70) [b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky Courier's [@ProPro], Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris] [b]Word Count:[/b] 595[/center] The stranger watched Fox approach with a faintly guarded but otherwise blank expression, although she made no motion. Where a gesture sufficed for the others, it seemed, a spoken explanation need be in order for this one. "It is very slow," she told him, her voice flat. "Getting around it is easy." Ignoring the camel, she looked out across the desert. "Expect? Heat, worms, pirates, holes. Dying of thirst. Snakes. Radiation. Bugs. Snakes. Falling off the mountain. Cold. Dying of exhaustion. Got it?" She looked back at fox, her expression begrudging. "I will watch. Intervene if I have to. Get to the top." With that, the mysterious woman floated into the air. She hovered for a moment, gathering energy, before shooting skyward in a blast of wind. Meanwhile, the rest of the group prepared to set out again, banding about a few words concerning the thieves' search and what Poppi found. The blade, standing by the Morgana-car, took solemn note of Midna's request. The manpower and resources of an entire kingdom would, after all, greatly help the campaign, and of course Poppi figured seeing her kingdom again would make Midna happy. “Big circle building, many pillars,” she repeated, committing the description to memory, then smiled at the imp with closed eyes and a tilted head.. “Added to search parameters! Poppi will tell if Poppi sees it.” Joker considered what Sectonia had to say, listening to the oversized bee queen through an open window. While he initially wrote off the mechanical beast as merely a somewhat interesting feature of the desert rather than an objective, Sectonia could be right. Nothing he heard or saw so far really confirmed that whatever Poppi saw circling that far-off mountain was indeed Galeem's champion. Although having one just wandering out in the open with no fanfare seemed a little anticlimactic, he couldn't put aside the possibility. “That's fair. We should check it to be sure. Alright, Morgana?” The car swished his tail from side to side. “Sure, sure. As long as we're going, I've had enough sitting still.” Tora pressed his face against the window, wishing he had a zoom function of his own right about now. In fact, he made a mental note to get some binoculars some time. “Tora is super-exciteypon to see giant mecha-creature. Let's go!” Morgana obliged. [hr] Twenty minutes of streaking across the desert sand later, the Morgana-car closed in on the target. From this range, everyone could see the details of the camel-thing. Its legs spiraled upward into its bulky body like inverted palm tree trunks, and ridges like the tops of keys inserted into wind-up dolls reached out from its serpentine neck in rows. On its back sat two domed buildings in place of humps, their windows lit. Most interestingly, instead of a camel head it sported some sort of horned mask with six round eyes, red as the setting sun. Once the car got within a certain range, Val Naboris reacted. Its face turned to face the vehicle, and from the 'humps' in its back extended metal spires. Electricity arced between them, creating an orb. The eyes of Tora, Skull, and Poppi collectively widened. “Uh, Joker? Maybe we oughta...” “Yeah.” With a grunt of effort the thief cut the wheel all the way to the right, causing the Morgana-car to veer away from the machine. A moment later the electric orb ruptured, and a bolt of lightning dropped from the sky into the sand. The light and ear-splitting sound just about floored the occupants of the car as sand and shards of flash-fused glass flew in every direction. “Aaaaah!” a general yell sounded out, not least of all from Morgana, as the car made tracks to a safe distance. “Are we gonna take it down?” Ann quickly asked, the less-than-sureness in her voice questioning the possibility of it. “That was like, Wild Thunder, and we didn't even get close.” Tora listened for an answer from the group as well, offering nothing himself but a quick examination of Poppi to see if the electric exposure harmed her new form in any way. [center][h3]Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay[/h3] Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Cuphead's [@ProPro], Link's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Junior and Kamek's [@DracoLunaris], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Geralt's [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Isabelle's [@Eviledd1984][/center] After Sakura's brief trip overboard, ensuing rescue, and subsequent tending-to by Isabelle, Brineybeard gave his ship the go ahead to set sail. With all aboard, the living vessel got underway, smoothly cutting through the waves on its way to Limsa. As the ship forged toward the floating city, peppered by the salty breeze and the spraying sea foam, the passengers could get a good look both at the bay and the ocean beyond. Water extended all the way to the horizon on either side of Inkwell Isle. For the most part clear skies prevailed, but clouds massed to the north, casting shade over a stretch of sea shrouded in fog and storm. None could doubt that this constituted the 'Bottomless Sea' spoken of by the mysterious woman in black, but nobody regarded it with particular dread. It made for just another obstacle on the road ahead, soon to join the many laying bruised and beaten on the road behind. Some minutes into the voyage, Brineybeard left the wheel to peer over the side of the ship. “Ahoy!” he called, pointing down to the water. “Yer lucky day, mateys. There be shoals in these waters!” Sure enough, the sparkling waves teemed with fish. Not too far away, a [url=https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/tekken-tag-tournament-2/1/15/Bountiful_SeaTT2.png?width=1280]fishing trawler[/url] full of fishermen -curiously the only other boat sighted by the heroes so far- was awash with activity. Its anglers hooked fish after fish, nonchalantly tossing them over their shoulders to flop around the large center of their craft. Even stranger, two people appeared to by engaged in a battle in the middle of that area: a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/deadoralive/images/8/82/DoA6_2018_11-18-18_001.png/revision/latest?cb=20181118184712]girl[/url] with blue hair and a [url=https://64.media.tumblr.com/1166d63cbd0bd9869e1840c76c50c11f/tumblr_op7rkj6jDt1tu022ro1_500.png]clown[/url]. If this was unusual, however, Brineybeard paid it no mind. “If ye likes, grab me fishin' rods 'n have yerself a fishin'.” He pointed toward a box by the cabin. [center][h3]Dead Zone – Hell-bent City[/h3] Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Banjo & Kazooie's [@Dawnrider], Linkle's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Jak and Daxter and Mag Launcher's [@ProPro], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris][/center] [center][hider=For Bowser]New Spirits Consumed: [b]Tentacruel and Blastoise[/b] Bowser's shell has increased in roundness, both in back and in front, and turned brown in back, with six large, inset red orbs that can flash. He has developed shoulder-mounted shell apertures. Inside are not cannons, but extendable Tentacruel beaks surrounded by extendable tentacles. Bowser's snout has extended and gotten rounder, also gaining a tentacle beard, and he has ear-like protrusions poking out of what appear to be a natural helmet in the shape of a tentacruel head. His green scales have turned blue. These spirits confer the Powers [b]Torrent[/b], which allows the use of water blasts that get stronger in a pinch, and [b]Liquid Ooze[/b], which enables the secretion of venom via tentacles that damage opponents who attempt to drain Bowser's life. They also confer the Weaknesses [b]Electric Bane[/b], causing electric attacks to deal double damage to the host, and [b]Psychic Bane[/b], causing mental attacks to deal double damage to the host and increasing mental susceptibility[/hider][/center] As the heroes struggled to repel both Flood and lerks, the terrain started to change. The shockdozer was rolling into the south-east sector, the territory most affected by catastrophic seismic activity. Collapses and upheavals at some point in the tormented city's past left chunks of earth hundreds of feet above and below typical street level, and everywhere in between. As a result, storefront windows looked out over hideous chasms at isolated apartment buildings across the void, and terminal falls lay between the halves of sundered office buildings. The wide-openness of the scenery was quite the change of pace from the roads clogged with wrecked cars and living dead slogged through by some of the heroes before. [center][img]https://i.insider.com/5c828d6b262898023e27aaa6?width=600&format=jpeg&auto=webp[/img][/center] This did not make for easier going, however. Quite the opposite, in fact. As the heroes persevered into the hell-bent metropolis and city blocks turned into perilous precipices, their options began to fall drastically. After choosing against a street occupied by a pitched battle between Flood and a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/darksider/images/d/d9/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81.png/revision/latest?cb=20171129225628&path-prefix=ru]giant demon[/url] amid swarms of large, glowing bugs, the ground sloped downward. The shockdozer started to pick up speed, outpacing its natural maximum thanks to gravity's acceleration, and leaving behind both the combat forms and anyone unable to keep up or climb on. A slight incline to the right as well as down inched the vehicle closer and closer to the cliff edge, and the upturned earth at the end of the slope suggested the possibility of a jump across the gorge to the other side—and safety. An expert driver would need to take the wheel to even make it to the jump, let alone across. Before the shockdozer got too far, a vile [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/halo/images/d/d0/Flood_bomber_hw.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200307053949]shape[/url] drifted between some buildings. By all accounts a Flood monstrosity capable of floating in the air, it hovered above the slope and began dropping explosive blisters. The fleshy sacs fell to embed in the already-dangerous road ahead, ready and able to explode when the vehicle got too near. Though sturdy, it could only take so many; problems were mounting quickly. [center][h3]Dead Zone – Super Gore Nest[/h3] Doom Slayer's [@Eviledd1984][/center] The Whiplash picked the wrong fight Though it dashed quickly and with a low profile across the ground to keep its distance and strike the Slayer from afar, he'd already bested a much stronger monster with more or less the same gameplan today. A few shotgun blasts wore it down until the pain and damage mounted to such a degree that it could no longer escape the Slayer's clutches and was seized by him. With that dealt with, that left just the [url=https://runescape.wiki/images/thumb/2/21/Abyssal_demon.png/800px-Abyssal_demon.png?b99ee]abyssal demon.[/url] It moved slowly but confidently, heading for the Slayer even at the expense of guarding the door to the lever that would restore power. However, it shrugged off every shot the Slayer put into it, not even so much as flinching. The tentacles atop its head carved through the air like whips, vicious enough to strip meat from the bone. Despite all his travels and travails, the Slayer got a sinking feeling—that this thing was unlike anything he'd faced so far. Still, the choice was his: the demon or the lever.