[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 8[/b] Tora (34/80) and [b]Level 8[/b] Poppi (12/80)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky – Lakeside
Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris], Heavy's [@ONL], Medic's [@Dr Lovecraft]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 342[/center]

Thanks to the combined covering fire of Heavy's unending barrage from below and the Scout's rifle from above, Yellow Team and their new friends made it to the belly of the descended Vah Naboris in once piece. The stairwell Midna helpfully pointed out for them provided entry, and they hurried up it as bullets whizzed off the divine beast's stony exterior around them. By the time a few of the REDs and BLUs made it across Lakeside's borderline, Vah Naboris was already starting to rise to its full height once more. No amount of gunfire seemed liable to make it reconsider, either, but Midna could make sure that nobody would be boarding with a little blast of lightning.

With a cheer Tora jumped out of Poppi's arms and danced around the newcomers, bouncing and spinning. “Hooray! Wherever Tora and Poppi go, always make it out okay, and make new friends along the way!” Pleased with his rhyming, the lyrically-gifted Nopon sprang up to high five Braum with his wing, then Heavy, then Medic, finally stopping in front of Blue Poison. “Meh, meh! Even find super crossbow cuteypon!”

The operator blinked twice. “Please do not feel any need to treat me differently from the others.”

With an awkward laugh, Tora got his last high five and quickly moved on. Poppi jabbed him in the nose with her finger. “Don't go overboard just yet, Masterpon. Even though things go well for us, Phantom Thieves still in pyramid!”

Tora looked over at Midna. “Tora guess we just go over there, then?” He perked up as he remembered something, making his voice into a loud whisper. “Meh, meh! Tora thinks now would be good time to...you know!” He made a heart shape with his wings, then pointed toward the newcomers. 

Poppi looked over. Unfortunately, the Medic had already healed everyone up. “Er, new friends not...susceptible.” She glanced at Fox and Sectonia. “Any ideas?” With Primrose and the Phantom Thieves still out, there were five newcomers and exactly five Yellow Team members. Something could conceivably be done.

[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]

After being hurtled clear of the danger zone by Seaplane Tender's barrage, Ranger managed to recover enough both to hear Sakura and act on it. She threw the girl a worried expression, clearly wary of anyone being able to take on the Water Princess alone, but she couldn't deny that Sakura's results so far spoke for themselves. Besides, she could show her thanks for a second chance better by trusting her new ally rather than throwing that chance away or risking another ally's death. “Okay!” she called after a moment, taking off toward Geralt. Behind she left a furious and hazardous low-altitude battle between her fighters and the Abyssal's seaplanes, but if she thought projectiles were flying now, she hadn't seen anything yet.

Sakura resolved to give the trigger-happy Abyssal a taste of her own medicine. While Seaplane Tender scowled at the girl's taunt, working out her self-inflicted dizziness, Sakura engaged her V-Trigger and started blasting. Hadokens surged across the water, faster than before. The Water Princess' remaining bombers sallied forth to meet them only to be blown out of the sky. More fireballs, and a salvo of cannon fire, shot from the smoke their explosions left behind. Seaplane Tender started to move, strafing sideways. Expected gunfire from the Atomos harried her, further fragmenting her concentration Her tail rose, its vile maw agape and ready to bring the pain, but fire blossomed beneath her. “Hnng!” The torpedoes' detonation ripped and burnt, sending the Water Princess reeling, but she managed to avoid falling as she accelerated sideways.

She tried to get her bearing, knowing that a single solid shot from her tail could reduce this blasted shipgirl to chunks, but Sakura would not let her rest. The Abyssal knew she couldn't fight effectively on two disparate fronts. If she could just focus and get rid of one enemy, whatever the cost...gritting her teeth, Seaplane Tender enraged and began to glide forward. She deployed bombers ahead of her to try and block Sakura's shots, but even if they stopped her cannon fire her Hadokens plowed straight through. The Water Princess pushed through it all. “Sink! SINK NOW!” With a final effort she pushed through, her tail lashing out to tear Sakura limb from limb, but its hideous teeth found no purchase, nor satisfaction greater than a glancing blow. Instead the Water Princess found a rock-hard fist interjected into her abdomen, its force squashing her lungs and making her eyes bug out. “KUH!” Her hat flew off as she sailed through the air, slamming down hard on the ocean's surface.

For a moment the [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kancolle/images/9/9f/Enemy_Full_Seaplane_Tender_Water_Princess_Debuffed.png]wounded Abyssal[/url] lay on the water, her tail writhing as she stared blankly at the sky. “Cold...it's cold...I don't...want to go to...dark places.” Rolling over, she got to her feet with the help of her tail. It lay half-submerged on the surface, like a ship taking on water. “Cold thoughts...and dark thoughts...I don't want them...” The head of her tail croaked as it opened wide, water dripping from its teeth, to take aim at Sakura once again.

[center][b]-=-=Pirate's Cove=-=-[/b][/center]

As she waited, Peach happened to think back to Vandham's explanation of how the newly founded Alcamoth Mercenaries would function, as well as the creature assigned to carry messages for her. Tentatively she cleared her throat, and after making sure Captain Brineybeard wasn't listening, spoke to the empty air. “Moogle! I want to talk about missions!”

Sure enough, a puff of smoke went off before her, and when the sea breeze blew the haze away Peach saw that her [url=https://i.etsystatic.com/19196787/r/il/ef288b/1851085505/il_570xN.1851085505_avdr.jpg]Moogle[/url] had appeared. For some reason it was carrying some sort of drink, which it offered to her. Part of her wanted to make an unbecoming squealing sound at how cute it was, but part of her also wanted to strangle herself for thinking that in the first place, so she settled for crossing her arms and addressing it stiffly. “Can I initiate missions?”

“Yup!” The fuzzy critter chirped.

Peach took a sip of the drink, finding it pleasantly mellow. “What missions are there, again?”

Without delay the Moogle produced a list, as well as a pair of tiny reading glasses. “Let's see...looks like both of the recruitment missions wrapped up, so we've really got a bunch of people standing around! As for choices, you've got 'Main Man', 'New Age of Pizza', 'Territorial Rotbart', 'Connecting the Hamlet', 'Techno Revolution', and a whole bunch of scouting missions all over! Anything sound good?”

Peach sighed, thinking. “Some of those names don't really explain what the mission is about. But 'Main Man' is the one to find Mario, right? And I remember the Hamlet. Those pigs seemed like good people, and the thought of their entire village just...disappearing sometime this week doesn't sit well. Let's do those.”

“Yes, ma'am!” The Moogle did a backflip in the air, sending his glasses flying. They sailed over the railing and into the ocean with a [i]plop[/i] that was scarcely audible. A new pair manifested anyway. “So, who're you sending?”

“Who've we got?” Peach countered.

Her assistant listed out the mercenaries by rank, and it took a [i]while.[/i] “That's...quite a few,” Peach muttered to stall for time, trying to remember who might have the skills for the jobs. Unfortunately she didn't even know them all. “Well...for Main Man, let's do Din, Mym, Junkrat, and Roadhog. Three of them fought alongside Mario at the start. Mym has extra firepower and can fly them around. Well, I hope she will, at least.” She recalled hearing that Mym only let people other than her 'darling' ride her when he insisted. “Maybe Euden instead of Junkrat, then. As for the Hamlet job, we need people who can build...” She spent longer than she would have liked trying to figure out a lineup. “Knuckles, Mewtwo, King Dedede, and...Shovel Knight, I guess. Plenty of strength, able to move materials and shape the terrain. A shame we don't have anyone who really knows how to build around.”

The Moogle scratched his head. “Huh. I heard that Steve guy was an expert builder, though...”

Peach coughed loudly. “Ahem! Of course, of course. I just wanted to make sure you knew your stuff. I mean...I wasn't going to try to get Mewtwo to do menial tasks, anyway! Knuckles, Dedede, Shovel Knight, and Steve. That'll do.” With a cheery nod the messenger disappeared again, carrying away her orders. Peach exhaled deeply. “Ugh. I need to get in touch with the mercenaries. What kind of leader doesn't know this kind of stuff!?”

She turned her gaze back to sea, wondering what was keeping Ace Cadet. Or Cuphead, for that matter. Hopefully they hadn't run into trouble.

[center][h3]Dead Zone – Library Ruins[/h3]
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Banjo & Kazooie's [@Dawnrider], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Sephiroth's [@ZAVAZggg]
Plus Nero, Dante, V, Ms. Fortune, Sans, Mr. Bones, Linkle, Jak and Daxter[/center]

Inevitably, all eyes fell on the Skull Heart, it was unearthed from the light debris that sheltered it initially to all but Nadia, and now its ethereal blue glow lit the faces of all present. It made its proclamations, sparking conflicting thoughts. Having learned from his feral friend the promise of the Skull Heart earlier, Nero turned his attention elsewhere while he let Nadia have her moment. 

He checked up on all the team members as they approached, confirmed with a stone face who did and did not survive the fight. For all the injury inflicted, casualties were low, but low was not enough. He pictured the features of the stolid man who'd aided them, silently lending all his strength to the campaign of strangers. Raidou's spirit lay somewhere among the rubble, he knew. The devil hunter put a hand on V's shoulder, trusting that Blazermate's healing had stabilized him. He didn't know how hard the medibot looked, but he figured the mysterious one could do her one better. “We need to find the fallen spirits.”

V nodded. “Griffon and Shadow are searching.”

Nero's search turned up a couple others as well. In the eerie light emanating from the Skull Heart he spotted the face of the skeleton Marie summoned, sitting on a pile of dust-caked volumes and shelf splinters. He certainly looked harmless, winded and sweating despite being a skeleton, but after what he pulled during the fight Nero wasn't about to let his guard down. He also saw Mr. Bones climb up from beneath the debris, and another [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hades_gamepedia_en/images/4/4d/Skelly.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/225?cb=20181210044425]skeleton[/url] he couldn't remember having actually lifted a finger during the battle. No other dead remained, either around the ruins or beyond, at least as far as he could see. [i]Hmm.[/i] He would have figured that the spectacle would bring zombies running from miles away, but hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that.

He zeroed back in on the dilemma at hand. Bowser looked mad, as one might expect, but for all his threats the Skull Heart looked unfazed. It didn't look like it [i]could[/i] display emotion, even. Rather than respond to him, its resonant voices reached out for the others. “Do not allow this brute to extinguish this flame of hope. Of opportunity.”

A new voice responded. Nero's eyebrows shot up when he spotted the strange man. He said nothing, but seeing Sephiroth's weapon, put a hand on his own. For his part, the long-haired swordsman seemed to shut everything out but the Skull Heart, but what little action he took made his intentions incredibly unclear.

The unspoken question became moot when a hand closed around the Skull Heart, pulling it close. Its light shone upward on a pretty face framed by long strawberry-blonde hair and rabbit ears, her pretty features turned to seriousness. Linkle looked at her teammates in turn. “Now hold on, hear me out. It's pretty obvious that making a bad wish with this thing can mess you up, but what I have in mind is for the good of us all. And even if I suffer, isn't going through pain for the sake of others part of the job? For a hero, I mean.” She put her other hand over her own heart. “I'm not afraid. Even if it hurts, even if I'm forgotten, or I forget myself, I'll shoulder the consequences. Because that's what heroes do!”

Her allies reached out their collective hands, a number of voices speaking out at once.

“Wait!”

“You sure you don't wanna think some more about this, kid?”

“Didn't you hear Marie? She thought her wish was pure!”

“Take it from us, toots: you don't need some macguffin to be a hero!”

“Hold on a second!”

“chances are you're gonna have a bad time.”

Linkle shook them off, flipping away to land atop a collapsed staircase. “Skull Heart!” She called out. “I wish for the strength to save all worlds, and only for as long as it takes to save them!”

A pulse of spine-chilling energy radiated outward, forcing away anyone near her. “Your wish is pure...” the Skull Heart reverberated. “Almost. You wish to bring restoration and peace, yet you also wish for the mantle of the hero. You covet that status, ever the lot of the one you admire. Your charity is stained by greed—your compassion tinged with envy.”

Linkle clutched her heart, stricken with pain. “N-no, I...but...”

“You [i]will[/i] command unbelievable strength, such that could very well bring about the restoration of the worlds, as the next Skullgirl.”

The Skull Heart disappeared, and Linkle doubled over. Her eyes radiated infernal crimson, a far cry from the sunset glow of Galeem, and white spread across her hair. “No...matter...what you say, I'll still do the...the right...thing! Gaaaaaaah-!”

At the height of her scream, there came a white flash, and the whole scene was frozen in time. From the shadows stepped a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kingdomhearts/images/2/27/Cloak.png]figure[/url] in black, a [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/8d/4c/348d4cb84b6477e433f3334b04c216e2.gif]camera[/url] in his hand, who climbed up beside Linkle and motioned for calm. “Good evening, ladies and gentleman!” he called out in the lightly accented English the Red Team members had come to expect. “I know this must be quite the shock, and you want to deal with it, but you must understand this is not on the itinerary. You've got an appointment with the Qliphoth after all, now that the city's conveniently dead-free. No Skullgirl, no shambling undead to trigger an...ah, what was it that man said...a voidout? Well then, I'll just get this young lady out of your hair, hmm?” With a chuckle, he placed a hand on Linkle's shoulder, and a well of darkness sprang into being that swallowed them both. Just like that, Santofex and the new Skullgirl were gone, and the time field dispersed along with the last traces of the dark portal.