[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3] [b]Level 8[/b] Tora (17/80) and [b]Level 7[/b] Poppi (63/70) [b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky – Shadow of Vah Naboris Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris] [b]Word Count:[/b] 815[/center] With its heavy slash turned away, Thunderblight presented no defense against Sectonia's magic. Her ring of light raked across its bizarre body, loosening shards of some kind as well as a spray of malefic corruption. The globules of dark magic threatened to spatter across her if she wasn't careful, but her opponent remained a greater threat. Though subjected to a direct hit, the thing barely slowed down. It zipped backward in a blur, faster even than she, then dashed three more times to come at her from above and behind. Its vicious swings came relentlessly, forcing her onto the defensive. Midna arrived during the onslaught to lend a hand. She caught its sword arm mid-swing and held on tight, even as the corrupter uttered a loathsome gurgle and tried to wrench away. Sectonia got her chance to attack, but only for a moment. Lightning covered Thunderblight's weapon, discharging into the imp's hand. Down below, Tora struggled against Urbosa's assault. The champion moved with both immaculate grace and uncommon strength, raining down blows upon him. Her speed and reach far outstripped his, allowing her to attack from every angle. For every harmless clang of her scimitar against his Mech Arms, she landed at least one clean blow, and Poppi could only mitigate so much. Red slices quickly spread over Tora's head, torso, and wings, his clothes gaining more holes than a block of Swiss cheese. His vast store of HP was draining ast. She gave him no window to counterattack or even start thinking of a strategy, forcing him instead to endlessly protect his face and eyes. It wasn't long before she concluded that he presented no threat and ceased respecting him altogether. Urbosa brought her leg up and slammed it down across Tora's Mech Arms, dropping his block, and raised her sword to chop into his head. “Mehh!?” The Nopon's eyes went wide, and Poppi reached out her hand with a scream. At that moment, Joker made his move from his vantage point. “Leena! One-shot kill!” His persona, looking down her sights at the small of Urbosa's back, placed her finger on the trigger. “Affirmative.” Her rifle issued forth a bright yellow blast that drilled into the champion's back, dealing critical damage. “Ugh!” she cried, but before she could turn around Poppi cannoned into her from the front. “Bad lady not kill masterpon!” Though much smaller than Urbosa she tackled her bodily to the ground. Urbosa brought her arms up to block as the artificial blade pummeled away. Tora ran around to the other side to start punching, but the champion would not be so easily beaten down. She rose with a dancer's elegance on her hands, spinning her legs like a sawblade to strike both driver and blade at once. As she landed on her feet she hurled her shield toward the upper section of the chamber, forcing Joker to throw himself from his perch and grapple away. Tora used the precious moment to launch himself into the air with a blast from the Mech Arms, avoiding Urbosa's slice, and deliver a two-handed wallop to her head. Poppi followed up with a strike to the champion's back where Joker's persona shot her, forcing Urbosa to her knees with a gasp of pain. Overhead, Joker swung in with his knife at the ready to deliver a plunging slash. The champion clenched her teeth. “You curs...! Feel my fury!” A greenish-yellow field expanded around her, enveloping Tora, Poppi, and Joker. Unprepared for such an attack, all three went on full defensive. Without being ordered Poppi switched to her Alpha form, allowing Tora to defend himself with the Drill Shield, and Joker canceled his attack to bring forth Leena in front of him. The next second a calamitous blast of lightning shook the Divine Beast, filling the entire cavity of its body. When the light faded, there lay Poppi, down for the count, as well as Tora and Joker, both smoking. Urbosa was on her feet, both weapons at the ready, and she wore a grim smile. “Your death is at hand!” Below, the collective efforts of Yellow Team bore fruit. Pursuing and landing hits on the hooves of the Divine Beast might have been difficult for a lone fighter, but with a dedicated pair of hands on the wheel of the Morgana-car and a slew of projectile-slinging heroes free to let loose, two of the four hooves went red in no time. Fox's maneuver took care of the third, and while he needed to focus on himself to avoid another lightning strike on his way back, his fellows took out the fourth after only another handful of seconds. Once all four hooves glowed red from sustained damage, Vah Naboris let out a distressed rumble before coming to a stop. Its legs bent as it lay down, like a camel waiting for a rider to climb on. [center][h3]Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay[/h3] Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Link's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Junior and Kamek's [@DracoLunaris], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Geralt's [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Isabelle's [@Eviledd1984][/center] Regardless of final destination, the first step on Blue Team's tour of Limsa appeared to be Mealvaan's Gate. Peach led the party as they caught up to Junior where he queued behind Shropshire, Northampton, and a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/assassinscreed/images/c/cc/Char_engineer.png/revision/latest?cb=20101124184259]dapper man[/url] going through customs. The fellow ahead of the three appeared to be finishing up, and after the two ship girls gave the customers officers a look at some loot they evidently collected on their voyage, the kid koopa was up. “Not selling anything?” The officer asked. “No cargo? No fruits or vegetables? Well, if there's nothing to tax, there's no reason to hold you up. Move along, please.” Accordingly, customers went quickly for everyone. Once through, the gate, the Arcanists' Guild the officer came from lay to the left, its learned members well-versed in the sums needed to to their jobs. Ahead lay [url=https://orcz.com/images/thumb/4/45/Westhawkersalleyffxivarr.jpg/400px-Westhawkersalleyffxivarr.jpg]Hawkers' Alley[/url], quite unavoidable even for those uninterested in shopping who walked this route. It bustled with a great many of people, some looking to buy but a great many milling about, chatting and trading among themselves. Some even sat around crafting in the open, putting together products for sale at the market board. Peach found herself looking around as though her neck were on springs, constantly distracted by new sights, sounds, and smells. True to Shropshire's word, just about everything one could possibly buy seemed to be on sale here, from weapons to armor to jewels to materials to monster parts to food to furniture to pets. She couldn't help but stop by the stall labeled 'Minion Mart' and look at all the little [url=https://i.redd.it/wn8ilpq8px921.png]critters[/url] on sale. Beyond Hawker's Alley lay a circular plaza with an uncommon amount of people. There were people talking, arguing, taking pictures, and more. There were humans, people with cat ears and tails, big bulky folk, tiny potato people, reptilians, blocks caricatures, more ship girls, and more. Most interesting, however, seemed to be on the [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/shantae/images/9/92/Shantae_and_the_Seven_Sirens_Official_Artwork.png/revision/latest?cb=20200529023408]young lady[/url] dancing by the giant blue crystal in the center. She put on a breathtaking spectacle, to say the least. Still, the red eyes of every single person present provided a sobering reminder of the reality Blue Team faced. On the opposite side of the aetheryte plaza from Hawkers' Alley, another large bridge led to Bulkwark Hall. Stairs to the right led down toward the main harbor, where fishy smell wafted from on the breeze. It was here that Limsa Lominscuttle Town truly opened up. [center][h3]Dead Zone – Hell-bent City[/h3] Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Banjo & Kazooie's [@Dawnrider], Linkle's [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris] Doom Slayer's [@Eviledd1984][/center] The ground shook and alarms blared as the reactor spiraled further and further into ruin, and those within the Super Gore Nest had no need to think twice about what to do. The four fighters cheesed it with every bit of haste they could muster. Acting on some indiscernible intuition, Raidou's spider demon carried him up a wall and through a patch of loose ceiling tile. Whether or not the unusual path lead toward the surface and salvation couldn't concern the others for the moment. Behind him, Nero could hear the roar of approaching fire. There wasn't a moment to loose. With a yell he shot out his Punchline arm, which extended into a missile that swerved back his way to pick him up. Nadia jumped and clung to the devil hunter's back as he rode down the hall, desperately trying to remember the way the crew came in. “Radiation, hallways, lab, atrium, hallways...whoa!” A Penance demon pounced out of a nearby room, but Nero managed to sway his makeshift rocket-board out of the way. He dared to look back, only to wish he hadn't; the unlucky monster vanished into a wall of flame sweeping forward far too fast for comfort. He rounded a corner, gritting his teeth to make the turn with the unfamiliar weight on his back, and saw to his dismay a dead end. “No!” Not a dead end, but a corridor leading straight to the elevator he rode in on. But even if it worked, it would rise far too slow to escape the deadly blaze. He leaned forward to pick up speed, ignoring the panicked yowls of the feral girl holding on to him, and at the last moment jumped off the arm. His shoulder hit the elevator wall with negligible damage, and he hurried to pop the arm back on. He spotted Nadia staring back at the flame wall, hear ears flattened in fear, and began to charge the arm. “Grab on! We're gonna blast off!” Punchline heated up as he crouched down, its engine's speed and pitcher getting higher and higher. Nadia clamped her arms around his neck, and with considerable effort Nero growled, “Boost...Knuckle!” Punchline blazed upward in brilliant jet, pulling the Devil Hunter and his hanger-on after it. Its fist blew straight through the elevator roof, then rocketed up the shaft, just ahead of the raging firestorm. The duo flew up, up, up like a screaming firework until Punchline struck the top of the shaft and promptly blew up, throwing Nero and Nadia out into the facility's ground-level lobby. They tumbled across the ground in a chorus of grunts and groans, with Nadia falling to pieces, but altogether not much worse for wear. A few moments passed before they picked themselves up, only to find Doom Slayer and Raidou waiting for them. The skateboard in the berserker's hand told them everything they needed to know about how he escaped. And the man still hankered for more, judging by his question. Nero shook his head, trying to catch his breath. “Hey, give us a sec, will you?” An awkwardly silent couple of seconds passed with the others looking on while he and Nadia composed themselves. “...Okay. Well, we helped you clear out this mess, so I guess it's on to the Qliphoth root. Let's just hope that blast didn't get the attention of every monster in the city.” “Hey, kid!” After a moment of confusion, Nero remembered the strange fate befallen Dante and got up. “What is it?” He watched his aunt drop from the half-deli a few hundred feet away -where she'd either been keeping watch or slacking off while the others slogged through the gore nest- and point roughly northward. “We've got a bunch of weirdos headed this way! Animals, robot, ghost, tentacle turtle, you name it!” The devil hunter sighed, and Nadia gave a dry laugh. “Ya just had to open your big mouth, huh?” She tried to stand, only to wince and nearly hit the ground again. Nero caught her just in time. Without his demonic vitality, or Raidou's demon proxies, she'd put a lot of energy into the fighting back there and gotten a few good wounds for her efforts. Whatever kept her alive despite being cut to pieces clearly didn't make her invincible, so if forced to fight again, things could end badly. Raidou seemed low on energy himself, so that left just himself, Dante, V, and the Slayer against any enemies. While on paper that seemed like an unstoppable team, things could still get messy. He looked around for Nico's van, hoping that his friend and Pandemonica wouldn't end up caught in the crossfire. Although Dante wore a cheery smile, her eyes betrayed her concern as well. “We should intercept 'em before they get close. Stay here and look after 'em, huh Nero? You there, with me.” She took off, and the Slayer followed right behind with V in the rear. Less than a minute later, the three crested the edge of a building overlooking the street on the great crater's edge. Sure enough, a ragtag team was moving quickly down the road. Dante narrowed her eyes. “Not zombies or demons. Or those stinking parasites. But if there's anything I know about this city, it's everything's out to get you. Might as well get 'em first. C'mon, tough guy!” After beckoning to the Slayer, Dante jumped down, and at the same time Griffon flew up to flap in front of V. “Hey champ, get a load of this! It's those wackos from earlier!” Squinting, V realized the truth of the demon's words. “Oh, no...” [hr] As Red Team neared the Super Gore Nest, attracted by the tremendous spectacle of it exploding and sending chunks of demonic flesh flying for thousands of meters, a blur fell from a nearby building. It hit the sidewalk without even a suggestion of damage and began to walk forward. She turned out to be a statuesque woman with fluffy white shoulder-length hair plus a short ponytail, with a red headband and a number of short black spikes plus two white horns that blackened toward the tips. She wore a red and black suit with many silver fly accessories plus a black tie and dark red longcoat, although she wore them rather sloppily. Beneath her aviators lay a cheerful smile, brimming with the sort of joy that could never be faked. She would not have been threatening at all if not for the rather [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/devilmaycry/images/2/26/DMC5_Devil_Sword_Sparda.png/revision/latest?cb=20181028111324]ghastly sword[/url]. She held across her shoulder. “Well hey there,” she greeted them, waving. “If I knew the circus was in town, I would've brought some popcorn. So whatcha guys got for me? Elephants? Trapeze? Ooh, how about juggling? Here, let me getcha started.” She wound back and flung the sword, which span through the air like a helicopter blade. It hurtled among the group, forcing them apart. Tess flew up to avoid it, then dove toward the enemies. “Allow me!” She slashed at the Slayer, then swung toward Dante. Her cleaver descended, but Dante pulled a black pistol from her back and fired once, nailing Tess straight in the face. She fell back, shrieking, and Sparda completed its Round Trip as it flew back into Dante's hand. She swung it upward to send the wraith flying away. “Dante!” The woman glanced over to see V descending from the building with Griffon's help. “Stop now! These aren't enemies!” Dante's red eyes flashed. “No dice. These jokers are aimin' to kill me!” “What!?” V looked and sounded baffled. “Have you lost your senses? Only one has even attacked, and in self-defense no less!” Dante ignored him, her eyes blazing. She stood with the Slayer against the whole of Red Team, both of them aggro'd. “You ready? 'Cause it's showtime!”