[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 8[/b] Tora (33/80) and [b]Level 8[/b] Poppi (11/80)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky – Lakeside
Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris], Heavy's [@ONL]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 868[/center]

The heroes and their new allies scrambled, wasting no time. Only Poppi could really say she didn't know what to do as she zoomed up into the sky, then onto the central temple's roof. Find the case? She didn't even know where to look! Her optics scanned Lakeside for some sort of administration facility. Given the symmetrical nature of the area, it would be sensible if it existed in the middle like the rec room, but she couldn't assume that. Even if it did, it probably lay right past where all the loyal soldiers were gearing up to fill the 'intruders' and 'traitors' with holes. She crouched and from her position of safety watched Sectonia make a beeline for Vah Naboris, then Fox lead the defectors a safe distance. If these REDs and BLUs truly were blessed with limitless revives, they could potentially hound Yellow Team forever, and Poppi doubted they would actually drop their spirits if killed. This outlined a definitive conclusion: there was no point to fighting here. No doubt there was some trick to it, but sticking around to find out meant a lot of risk and potential loss. The best they could do would be to escape.

Of course, the REDs and BLUs weren't about to let them walk away. A blaring horn across the remaining megaphones signaled the end of the ten seconds, and the Soldier instantly charged from the rec room, with the Inkling speeding on his heels and the Cunning, the Totem, the Raider, and the Vanguard following behind. In just a moment the two frontrunners would be far enough away from the pack that she could drop down from above and assassinate the Soldier without a thought. It'd be a piece of cake with her speed and the Variable Saber, but...Fox did tell her to look elsewhere. Whatever might be in it, the case definitely sounded important. If there was anything valuable here, it would have to be that.

As the Heavy's covering fire broke out below, she stood and leaped from the temple roof. Jetting close to the ground, she moved through the tunnels and hallways of Lakeside quickly, turning away from any noise and commotion she came across. She moved quickly, but without any knowledge of what to look for, she couldn't help but feel useless. Maybe she was going [i]too[/i] quickly, even. [i]If Poppi were mean old trouble-starting lady ordering shooty men around, where would Poppi be...?[/i] Far removed from the conflict, was her guess. As she zipped around, she began to get an idea. There didn't seem to be much infrastructure here, just fortifications on existing ruins. Unless they contained elaborate puzzles and secret rooms hooked up to electronics, she doubted there would be some secret moderation chamber tucked away somewhere.

She popped up above the ruins again, noticing right away that the divine beast was on the move. It dwarfed Lakeside, and would no doubt cause some real havoc when it started trampling the place. Sectonia was on her way back, and clinging to the displeased insect was a familiar face. “Masterpon!” Tora and Poppi waved to one another, but the clatter of bullets against the artificial blade's body quickly got her moving again. Below, she could see the Spartan aiming at her with a rifle of some kind.  She made for Sectonia, shouting as she approached. “We need to get new friends into little titan and leave! Poppi not find briefcase yet, but keep looking.”

Below, the Dwarf had already gotten to the safety of Vah Naboris using a grappling gun. The little device pulled him up like nobody's business, putting Joker's own grapple line to shame. Braum, Blue Poison, Heavy, and Medic were not so lucky, of course, and were trading shots with the much larger crew of mercenaries as they worked their way across the battlefield. A chain link fence stood in their way. Poppi waited just long enough for Tora to leap into her arms before zooming down. The Nopon held out the Variable Saber as the pair rocketed by, and its laser blade sliced clean through, giving the less mobile defectors an exit.

“So, what going on, meh?” Tora yelled above the rushing wind.

“Red and blue teams locked in never-ending series of fights where they never die,” Poppi explained. “We convince some to come with us, but then rude lady voice tell the rest to get us! Fox tell Poppi to find her or briefcase that maybe has important stuff inside!”

“Briefcase?” Tora ruminated on the word, ignoring the flapping of his hairdo. “Meh, meh. Must be in secure place, like command post. From you saying 'rude lady voice' Tora guess she talk by radio or intercom or something. How she know what going on?” Poppi didn't know, and shook her head. “Tora guess she watch with cameras. In that case we looking for safe place away from fighting, which need power and space for machines.” Poppi slowed down and pulled off a slow spin, allowing her masterpon to get a view of the whole of Lakeside. “Hmm...Tora think it probably underground!”

Poppi sighed. “Then little titan smashing up place best option.” At the very least, that seemed inevitable.

[center]-=[b]Futaba's Palace[/b]=-[/center]

Joker was glad to find Primrose's companion much friendlier than it looked, and got back to his feet in no time. The dancer herself moved to surround the Dunestrider, pivoting atop its oily legs to track her as it thrust those jet-black limbs her way. Her fleeting advance ended with a surge of magic, striking the monster's body and rocking it backward. A guttural, unnatural noise echoed through the room, and its lid opened to unleash a salvo of ceramic missiles. While she got the thing's attention, however, the Thieves got the time they needed to recover, just as Primrose intended. 

“Sweep the legs!” their leader called.

Skull struck first, summoning forth Captain Kid to charge forward and blow his ship through one of the Dunestrider's limbs. Zorro darted forward next, cutting a gash that a followup jump slash from Mona widened further. Using his own Persona as a springboard, the cat then bounced back the way he came, and with his scimitar sliced clean through. With two legs down the Dunestrier sagged downward, its magic-weakened pot wide open. Submachinegun fire from Panther plugged the ceramic surface with holes, leaking oil, before she commanded Carmen to send a raging fireball its way. The blaze set the tar alight, spattering the chamber with burning oil, but Joker coolly switched Personas and let Leena take aim. “One-shot Kill!” A second later the gunshot burst through one of the monster's blazing eyes, and the beast rumbled in pain. 

Its limbs extended, lifting the pot high into the air even as it continued to burn. Tendrils snaked from its open lid, homing in on the party. From the way they twisted and grasped the heroes knew better than to let themselves be grabbed. Rather than guard the Thieves called their Personas to attack the tendrils. “This must be its desperation move!” Mona announced, evading as Zorro pierced the tarry tentacle with his rapier. “But this is nothing for us! Lay on all you've got!” To set the example, he pulled out a slingshot and started unloading.

[center][h3]Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean[/h3]
Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Junior and Kamek's [@DracoLunaris], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Geralt's [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN][/center]

Prismatic light engulfed Sakura as she plummeted toward the ocean, the fusion taking hold. The bizarre and miraculously painless sensation of momentary atomization and reconstitution flooded through her, as sudden and blistering as a crashing wave, and over before she struck the undulating sea below.

[center][hider=For Sakura]Notable Spirit Consumed:
[b][url=https://azurlane.koumakan.jp/w/images/thumb/0/06/Arashio.png/388px-Arashio.png]Arashio[/url][/b]
Sakura has gotten shorter and lost some muscle tone, but gained some mass elsewhere. Her uniform fits better, although the collar is now off-the-shoulder and the sleeves are full-length. A lavender bow around her waist matches a smaller one in her hair, which is shoulder-length and darker. She also has functional cat ears in addition to her human ears, and a cat tail. Her sneakers are more pointed, shaped somewhat like the keels of ships. She's become a touch more composed and modest. This spirit confers the Power [b]Ship Shape[/b], giving her rigging that extends from her back. This rigging is a sleek dark gray, smoothly curved, equipped with a mini-cannon arm on the right, mini-torpedo arm on the left, two super-mini-turrets, and a comms antennae. The rigging functions as an extension of her body, and while it can be taken off, she can't part from it and damage to it is shared with her. As long as its active, rigging allows her to skate across any water surface. This spirit also confers the Weakness [b]Bantamweight[/b], decreasing the host's defense, raw striking power, and stability by 15%[/hider][/center]

Hatakaze and Ranger could only stare in wonderment, shocked some by the inexplicable sight and far more by their mutual near-death experience. The more experienced Ranger, however, could piece things together more quickly. Not only did one of the flying lizard wizards save her bacon with a well-timed push, but reinforcements arrived from the airship. A stranger had leaped from it, but following a lightshow dazzling enough to give the Water Princess pause, someone who looked an awful lot like Arashio landed. Although she knew nothing of the ephemeral orbs left behind by the dead, the sight of one bestowing the features of a deceased comrade onto someone else made her think of modular machine parts. And that analogy would have to serve, because the newcomer hit the waves and faced the Water Princess without fear.

For a moment the Abyssal looked taken aback, but after a second or two a sort of satisfaction crept over her pallid features. Here, it seemed, was an opponent who wouldn't flee and rely on strength in numbers. She would face the slaughter head-on. The Water Princess extended her finger as she began preparing a shot. Three Abyssals arose beside her to open fire.

Ranger and Hatakaze looked between one another. Whoever she was, this girl wasn't backing down. She had to be insane. The latter shook her head and took off, making for the rendezvous point along with the remaining shipgirls, but Ranger hesitated. Even without a weapon, she owed these people her life. She couldn't just leave them to their fates.

With a deep breath, Ranger took off. She gave the firefight unfolding before her a respectful berth, keeping one eye on the enemies and another on the water. After a moment she spotted a spirit, slowly drifting in the direction of the Bottomless Sea, and scooped it from the water. Inside she saw the image of a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kancolle/images/d/db/Torpedo_Cruiser_Chi-Class_Full.png]twisted Abyssal[/url], forcing her to steel herself. [i]Chi class. Could be worse. But I have to help them.[/i] Before she could reconsider, Ranger jammed the spirit into her chest, triggering the fusion instantly. She cried out in alarm as light consumed her, and watched as her left forearm melted into husk of tangled metal, a toothed mouth where her hand ought to be. Below the knees her legs became bulbous steely skates. Her eye blazed with blue-green light as a pure white mask erupted from her face, and her pink hair became streaked with black. Her runway launcher, being part of her essence, re-materialized in black and gray, shaped more like a shield than a ship, and even as she struggled with her composition she took aim and let loose at the Water Princess.

As the planes exploded against her, the Water Princess grimaced, but her aim did not deviate. Just before she fired, however, a dark portal opened up in space before her. A black-coated figure leaped from it sideways, brandishing a pistol. The blast resounded across the water as the bullet struck the Water Princess, staggering her to such an extent that she dropped to her knees on the water. The stranger landed on an Abyssal and plunged a [url=https://infergames.com/data/Consoles/Sony/Playstation_4/Games/Bloodborne/Articles/Items/Consumables/Cure-items/Kostyanoy_Klinok_SHamana.jpg]curious blade[/url] into its hull that seemed to pacify it. “Stupid girl,” the stranger complained, her familiar voice that of the unknown woman waiting on Inkwell Isle. “You'd rather be blown to dust on the water than follow sound advice?” With a wrench of the bone blade, the abyssal beneath her plowed into its fellows, knocking the whole formation out of whack. 

[center][h3]Dead Zone – Final Atrium[/h3]
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Banjo & Kazooie's [@Dawnrider], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris]
Plus Nero, Dante, V, Ms. Fortune, Raidou, Jak and Daxter[/center]

Dante recognized a problem when she saw it. After leaping over Sans' bone wave, Dante moved in. She warped above himwith Trick and came down on his head with Helm Splitter. He slid out of the way effortlessly, one eye dark in a mocking wink, and the devil hunter chuckled. “Swordmaster!” She dashed after him and unleashed the Dance Macabre. In lightning-quick succession she executed a series of sword slashes, canceled into a withering Trillion Stabs, then planted Sparda in the ground and spun around it as an axel. With the momentum of the spin she transitioned into a revolving slice, then a second, and finally a baseball swing hard enough to split the air itself in a wide arc. 

Sans evaded them all, and when she finished, pulled a leering beast skull from the ground whose mouth blazed with energy. Dante switched the Royal Guard just in time to parry the first laser as it surged forth, but not the second or third. At that point Sans began to feel Bowser's vacuum effect, and without losing his smile turned around with four Gaster Blasters to laser the Koopa King square in the tentacle-bearded face. 

Marie did not smile, but it was hard not to get a sense of satisfaction from her. The heroes clearly had nothing on this skeleton. “Do not relent.”

Sans turned his eye on her, burning with scorn. “kids these days...”

Ignoring him, Marie sent Mr. Bones to harry Banjo and Kazooie as they recovered from a brawl with boneheads. One of the [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hades_gamepedia_en/images/4/4d/Skelly.png]skeletons[/url] she'd summoned had yet to do anything but stand around, but she focused on the task at hand—namely, stopping Blazermate healing her downed comrades one by one. The monk, however, was closer, and he was healing Raidou on the ground. Two birds. Marie lifted a hand, and a mob of skeletons rose from beneath Donnie to grab him while others piled on, less attacking and more trapping him beneath their weight. Sans followed up by pulling up his own bones beneath the monk, and in just a couple seconds the killer combination had turned his entire stockpile of HP into Karma. He turned an alarming shade of pink and was allowed to collapse, his reserves ticking away as he lay by the deteriorating corpse of the demon summoner.

A shattering sound heralded the arrival of Nightmare, and V warped onto the demon's shoulder. No matter how many of Sans' bones appeared beneath it, Nightmare shrugged them off. As Marie watched, glyphs appeared in the air before its kneeling body, gathering magical energy. The Skullgirl bombarded the demon with skulls, quickly switching to targeting V alone once she confirmed that Nightmare took no damage of any sort. Though V fenced at them with his cane and Griffon ran interference, too many got through. They hammered him, inflicting bruises and breaking his bones, until the mysterious one coughed up blood. Yet he did not allow Nightmare to stop.

Marie clicked her tongue and started to move. Even if she couldn't fly quickly, it wouldn't be difficult to get out of the firing line. But someone had other plans. Nadia soared up toward her, scythe at the ready, and plunged its blade into her chest. The Skullgirl barely flinched, but before she could counterattack Nadia allowed herself to drop, becoming a weight at the end of the scythe that jerked her downward. When Marie looked down she found a cheeky grin pointed up at her. “Going somewhere?”

“Ngh...!”

Even as blood trickled across his cracked lips, V found his voice. “Face...oblivion!”

Nightmare unleashed Domination, and a thick laser of blinding purple-wreathed white lit up the dark sky. It lasted just a few moments, but as it faded the remaining heroes could see the Skullgirl erupting into explosions, wailing. When they came to an end, all that remained was a loose collection of bones and tatters -including the fragments of Nadia's new scythe- floating around a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/7/78/Skull_heart.jpg]black heart blazing blue[/url]. When it beat, the feminine shadow glimpsed before flickered around it, the dark thing at the figure's heart.

Sans looked up at the thing, a shadow of melancholy flitting about his skull. He then sighed and turned to face the heroes again. Doom Slayer thundered toward him, letting his shotgun do the talking, but both shots missed. The demon slaughterer swung his wrist-blade only to be thrown back by blue force. Two Gaster Blasters appeared right in front of him, only to be summarily punched and shattered. Sans replied by picking the Slayer up and slamming him down straight through the floor of veins. There didn't seem to be many skeletons left, either wiped out by the heroes or Sans' less-than-friendly fire, so not much stood between what remained of Red Team and what remained of Marie other than him.