[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190924/544c85ab5c75bc61a4bb5ce40dc0caa6.png[/img]
[color=salmon]Word Count: 542 (+1 exp)[/color]
[color=salmon][u]Level[/u]: [b]6[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 29/60
[b]Location:[/b] Edge of the Blue: Limsa Lominscuttle[/color][/center]
As it turned out, what Cadet had found was not the hatchery. Really, Ace Cadet could have sworn the path up past that big fountain on the upper decks was the right way, but instead he'd found himself in a completely [url=https://i.ibb.co/CmGjhkr/Culinarian-guild2.jpg]different place.[/url] Could one really blame the hunter for subconsciously letting his nose guide him around though? It wasn't the first time it'd happened and hey - dragging all those gold coins around worked up his appetite. With a clumsy smile Cadet backed out of the guild restaurant, the lingering aroma of finely cooked food following after him.

[i]I least I know where I can bring the rest of the team when they get back,[/i] he thought. Surely he wasn't the only one hungry. Hopefully the Princess didn't mind going dutch.

Making his way back to the courtyard, the Cadet scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. If he looked up, among the various tall spires and rooftops in Limsa the hunter could make out what he believed was the hatchery, the only question was how exactly to get there. He glanced around, but there were so many passages and alley ways it was hard to tell, especially with the crowd. The hunter reached to his belt, pulling the small illuminated cage that hung there. Inside, the scoutflies were abuzz, their undersides pulsing in an uneven rhythm. 

[color=salmon]"No luck, huh?"[/color] Cadet said, peering into the cage. It seemed like the bustling city would be too overwhelming for the insects. Much like any hound, they were bred for wilderness hunting, and too many strong scents at once confused them. Even if he forced the scoutflies to try and follow a specific scent here, he didn't know how effective it would be. So long as it wasn't an emergency, he'd let them be. 

Now how to go about finding Hat Kid himself? The hunter thought about pushing his way through the densest area of the crowd to see if the pretty purple haired dancer would humor him with some directions, but at about that time a voice reached out to the Cadet from very nearby.

[color=salmon]"...?"[/color] Cadet [i]clearly[/i] heard a voice asking if he needed help, but he didn't see anyo— oh, wait, there was someone! A sort of short and distinctly amphibian-like someone. Cadet blinked at the frogman, pausing for only a moment before he offered a wide smile and quickly tucked the scoutflies back in their rightful place.

[color=salmon]"Hey, speak of the Deviljho! I was just thinking about asking around for some directions,"[/color] Cadet said to Frog. The little warrior's had no need for caution here - despite the Cadet's scaled armor, hammer at his hip, and trio of much larger weapons strapped to his back, the red haired hunter looked friendly and at ease. When Frog's sword did catch the Cadet's eye, it wasn't with suspicion but instead appreciation. Equally so for the gold breastplate the amphibian currently wore. 

[color=salmon]"I'm looking for a girl, about this tall..."[/color] the hunter bent down a little, indicating a short height, but after a moment he raised his hand a little higher. [color=salmon]"...with a big hat. Last we knew she was in the Sky Hatchery. If you could point me in that direction that would be rado-cool."[/color]


[right][sub][@Blackmist16][/sub][/right][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/4DgO1VH.png[/img]
[color=FFC6C6]Word Count: 3655 (+3 exp) [color=lightgray](Collab with [@Lugubrious])[/color]
[u]Level[/u]: [b]3[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 1/30
[b]Location[/b]: Sandswept Sky: Futaba's Palace[/color]
[hider=LEVELED UP!]New Power: [b]Battle Point Boost.[/b] During battle, Primrose accumulates [i]Battle Points[/i] (BP) up to a maximum of 5. BP can be expended to strengthen or "boost" her abilities: either to deal more damage, attack more times in a row, or use more powerful versions of her skills depending on the amount of BP expended (up to a max of 3 in one "boost").
***[/hider][/center]
When the spirit in her hand responded, Primrose could tell instantly. There was a connection between them somehow, warm and solid somewhere at the back of her own soul. Information about the spirit came to her - it's strengths, weaknesses, and of course it's name.

[color=D34C25]"Hippowdon!"[/color] Primrose called the striker's name and it appeared in front of her, staring down the quickly approaching boulders. The sand at the Pokemon's feet swirled upward with some sudden wind, but it's special ability was not why Primrose called it. She shielded her eyes from the sand and raised her voice. 

[color=D34C25]"Bear with the sand,"[/color] she told the thieves offhandedly, before she made her order of Hippowdon: [color=D34C25]"Dig us a way out of here!"[/color]

The Hippowdon set out a loud rumbling grunt of assent, shifting it's red eyes to where Skull and Kidd were throwing themselves against the stone. With a growl and a [i]"Pow!"[/i], the Pokemon turned and used the move it's new 'trainer' commanded.

With a crash and tremendous noise the weighty beast slammed through the wall. Without hesitation Joker threw himself into the team, knocking everyone through the hole to land on the other side in a sandy pile of tangled limbs, surprised but more or less unharmed. The boulder thundered by, but noise from the passage hinted that more would be coming.

After a little struggling the group freed themselves and got to their feet. The chamber they found themselves in was large and rectangular, with a height ceiling, a raised walkway on one side, and two lines of sarcophagi extending down the middle. Mona nodded officiously. “Ah, yes! The binary puzzle, as Oracle called it. I don’t remember the combination, but it shouldn’t be hard to find. Hop to it, Skull!”

The blond boy blinked. “Wha, me? Shouldn’t scurrying around be a critter’s job?”

As the two bickered, Joker made his way over to the line of sarcophagi with blue lights. He thought for a moment, then reached into a pocket. Sorting took some time, as if he was carrying a lot more than the size of his pockets implied he could, but before too long he held a little book in his hand. He flipped through the journal in search of the combination, which he recalled writing down before.

While the thieves got to work, Primrose dusted herself off. She removed her cloak, shaking the fabric out and watching the sand scatter from it. It wasn't the first sandstorm she'd weathered and certainly wouldn't be the last, Pokemon or no. Still, it was much preferable to being crushed under a giant boulder. Hippowdon looked pretty proud of itself too. Despite it's rough looking exterior, the Ground-type creature was oddly endearing when in the flesh. 

[color=D34C25]"Good job,"[/color] Primrose told the Pokemon, patting it's snout. The Hippowdon grumbled appreciatively. 

It seemed the wolfos was alright as well, if not a little shaken up and dusty. The dancer set about running her hands through it's fur, getting it was sand-free as possible while she watched the Phantom Thieves move about and discuss the room. 

[i]Binary puzzle...[/i] The words meant nothing to Primrose, but what Mona said implied once again that the pyramid was more than just a little familiar to them. She thought back to what Joker had said just before they were faced with the boulder trap - about going through all this before. He'd also said something about a "Metaverse," and this being it. That got Primrose's attention. Did the group know more about this patchwork world than they were letting on?

Grooming finished, Primrose let the wolfos go sniff around the area and recalled Hippowdon, already feeling a drain. With  her cloak tucked in her arms, Primrose slunk over to the blonde haired young lady. 'Ann,' if she recalled correctly, but they wanted to stick with code names.

[color=D34C25]"Panther,"[/color] Primrose said softly, getting the girl's attention. The dancer would help them find and rescue their lost companion, but she wanted more information: info the thieves seemed to have. [color=D34C25]"Your friend, they've been trapped here before? Not here in a pyramid..."[/color] Primrose let her gaze drag from Panther, moving to where Joker roamed the room. [color=D34C25]"...Joker called it the Metaverse?"[/color]

Having been mostly occupied with filtering the sand out of her pigtails, Panther gave one final shake before turning her attention to the dancer with a smile. It went without saying, perhaps, that the teenager appreciated a female friend in the male-dominated Thieves, and she only hesitated a moment before replying. “Er, yeah. It shouldn’t be a problem talking about it, though to be honest I don’t really understand it myself.” She held up her hands, more as a talking aid than to make any sort of helpful gestures. “It’s a mental world, formed from people’s collective cognition. Things don’t necessarily work as they should in reality, but how people think, so anything’s possible. Changing people’s cognition changes the Metaverse, and so can major distortions.” She crossed her arms, squinting. “Is...this making any sense?”

Primrose very much wanted to reply with a 'yes,' but instead she gave Panther an apologetic little smile. 

[color=D34C25]"A little,"[/color] she said, [color=D34C25]"but if this is a world of thoughts, would it mean that it isn't... real?"[/color] Primrose felt real. She felt that Ann standing next to her was real as well. Like the Master of Master's crash course earlier, she found the metaverse information to be a bit much to take in at face value.

“Um…” Panther realized she should have thought this through. A cognitive being probably wouldn’t take very well to being told she wasn’t real, after all. “That’s right, yeah. I mean, it’s not the world you came from, right? Or anyone else. Instead it’s a mishmash of everything. Even dreams feel real when you’re in them, right? And we’re here to undo the distortion and set everything back to how it used to be.” She breathed a mental sigh of relief, happy that she thought of a reasonable analogy in time.

The dancer nodded, finding that explanation reasonable for the most part. She couldn't say that her whole experience so far didn't feel as though she were dreaming after all. [i]Although...[/i] 

Primrose looked back at Panther, her eyes narrowing slightly, thinking. She searched the other girl's face... and found that she was hiding something. Not telling the whole truth, despite saying earlier it was fine to talk about. Primrose was no expert, but a decade of watching people, studying them up close and from a distance, she could tell that much at least. But what? Panther's eyes were clear blue, betraying nothing more than what Primrose already knew: she was keeping something inside.

Primrose smiled. [color=D34C25]"Yes, if this is all one big, collective dream... those of us that have woken from it want to see it put right and come to an end. Midna, Sectonia, Fox, Tora, Poppi... Myself, you, and your friends."[/color]

Something about what Ann said bothered Primrose, but she wasn't sure how to go about getting her answers without accusing the girl of misleading her - and that just wasn't Primrose's style. She watched, seeing if the female thief would give anything away even unknowingly before her comrades were finished with the room's puzzle.

Panther beamed. “Yeah, that’s the spirit! Well, we’re darned glad you’re here.” She watched as Joker moved between the coffins, turning a few of them on using their slabs. “By the way, that move back there, during the All-Out Attack? That was super cool, and really cute! No, maybe I should say ‘elegant.’ I could learn a thing or two from you for my modeling. Hopefully we get a chance.”

[color=D34C25]“Oh.”[/color] She changed the subject pretty quickly, to Primrose’s disappointment. Still, the dancer returned Panther’s smile with grace. [color=D34C25]“Of course. If we get a chance.”[/color]

They wouldn’t have one at the moment, however. At about that time Joker finished the inputs, and sure enough, the walls shook as some kind of hidden mechanism went into overdrive. Heading over to the hole in the wall offered a remarkable sight: a parade of giant boulders rolling down the corridor, one after another. It took just a couple moments for the monolithic procession to clog up the pipeline, then the hallway itself, and the whole thing ground to a halt.

Joker climbed onto the raised walkway, then onto a boulder. From there he could easily lead the way across the parked spheres, jumping from one to the next. Primrose’s borrowed wolfos had no trouble there either, ferrying the woman across.

The door at the far end of the trap hallway led the troupe to an elevator. Though their medieval companion boasted no knowledge of such a mechanism, she didn’t take much coaxing to enter the lift and ascend alongside the Phantom Thieves. Skull, Mona, and Panther looked reasonably excited for a rendezvous with the very palace ruler whose traps and mobs very well could have taken their lives, but the ever-cool Joker looked grim. Primrose glanced at him, thought said nothing.

When the doors of the elevator slid open, they admitted the Thieves into a brightly lit room with raised platforms. The density of green glyphs, codes, and runes achieved a record high here, but the Thieves had eyes only for a figure not so far away from them. [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/42/8f/f3428f27c613fc8294042ac4a9948fe2.jpg]She[/url] was a slender red-headed girl dressed in regal if strange attire, whose hollow expression and empty red eyes bored into the intruders’ souls. As for Primrose, she hung back observing while the thieves moved toward their friend. Their happiness at being reunited seemed infectious, but there was one person that it didn’t reach. That person held back as well as the others went ahead and greeted the girl.

“Oracle, hey!” Skull greeted enthusiastically, waving with both hands.

Panther skipped forward. “It’s so good to see you!”

Grinning, Mona put his paws on his hips. “Our trusty navigator! You kept us waiting. Huh…?” His words trailed off, and the sunny demeanor of a few Thieves evaporated like morning dew. The girl before them, Oracle, held out her hand signalling them to stop. Her face betrayed no recognition.

“Come no closer,” she told them. “You’ve come to take something that isn’t yours. I won’t allow anyone to disturb my tomb.”

A nervous laugh issued from Skull. “H-hey, cut the act, Futaba. You haven’t forgotten?”

The girl, whatever her name was, said nothing. Panther put a hand on Skull’s shoulder as Mona stepped forward. “She doesn’t. There’s no mistaking it...this is Futaba before we saved her. Just like the pyramid, she...she started over. Can Galeem really do that?” He stared into the electronic ceiling, as if he could sense the lord of light beyond. “Did it not only splice together space, but time?”

Realization crossed Panther’s face, and she looked back. Behind her, Joker was staring at the floor. As she watched he reached up and removed his mask, revealing a face of anguished pain. “Futaba,” he said, his voice low. “Do you really not remember?”

Panther gasped. Skull looked back, clueless, and for both him and Primrose she whispered urgently. “After we rescued her, he took her under his wing. They were close. [i]Really[/i] close.” The dancer nodded. So that was what he meant earlier by wishing it wasn't the same as last time they found her. This was an unfortunate turn of events then. Her heart went out to the boy.

Nothing but a blank stare met Joker’s gaze. After a moment longer, he forced himself to look away, and after wiping his eyes he replaced his mask. “I see. So that’s the way it is. But...since this is your Shadow, here in the metaverse, I hope that you’re outside this place. That wherever you are, the time we spent together, taking away your pain, has not been wiped away. And that we’ll be back soon.” He turned, his hands thrust in his pockets, and made to leave.

The room was silent for a few moments after that, until it was broken by an incredulous question.

[color=D34C25]"That's it?"[/color]

Primrose crossed her arms and stared after Joker, her pretty face now painted in a scowl. Now she understood why Joker was so worried the whole time, but she never could have expected that he would just leave the girl here upon discovery that they situation wasn’t ideal.

[color=D34C25]"You came all this way to find her, and now you have. She's here. She's [i]alive.[/i]"[/color] As she continued to speak, Primrose's voice slowly filled with anger, righteously so. [color=D34C25]"And you abandon her? Over memories?"[/color]

Primrose gripped her arms a little tighter, bottling her emotions up as best she could. She'd felt for Joker and his crew. Missing someone was hard. But their friend was [i]right there.[/i] Maybe Primrose couldn't understand their perspective and their thoughts about what this amalgamation world was, but it seemed to her that Joker was running away in the face of one setback.

What Primrose wouldn't give to see Yusufa again. Even now the keepsake from her friend resonated with her inside her bag. She wouldn't care if Yusufa didn't remember a damn thing about her, at least the other girl would be alive again. Primrose's scowl grew a little deeper.

[color=D34C25]"You can save her again now. Make new memories. Was she not happy knowing you? Don't you want that for her again?"[/color]

The Thieves looked between Primrose and their leader. After a moment Joker turned back, his face cold. “You’re misunderstanding.”

He extended a finger. “This is not Futaba Sakura. It’s her Shadow. An embodiment of her repressed negative qualities. This is her loathing, her condemnation, her loneliness and despair, all for herself. This is the part of Futaba that blames herself for the death of her mother, who shut herself away from the outside world, and wishes she had never been born.” His eyes fixed not on the dancer, but on the palace ruler. His words came out more as an accusation than explanation as he scoffed, “Shadow selves torment their human counterparts until their true selves succumb, and the shadows takes their place as dominant to spread their negativity through the world. The darkness within us all, if you will.” Joker sighed, returning his eyes to Primrose, and his hands to his pockets. “The real Futaba is not here. Maybe she’s somewhere else. Hopefully she’s outside in the real world. All that’s here is her wrath.” The woman leveled her stare at Joker, though she kept her lips sealed, letting the boy get his frustration out.

Mona stroked his chin. “Mrrrr...but wasn’t Futaba’s Shadow unusual? Sure, she antagonized us for a while. But during the fight with the Sphinx, which wanted Futaba to kill herself, she confronted the real Futaba and helped her out. Helped her realize the truth.”

Skull looked around angrily. “Do we gotta fight that thing again to save her? Let me at it!”

“Even if it is around, we would need her here in order to regain her will to live,” Mona cautioned. “And that’s assuming she got reset, too. If we find her, she could still be her current self. Galeem stole all sorts of stuff to make this place, right? Maybe it just...randomly picked her Palace?”

Joker considered it for a moment, but responded with a correction. “‘When’ we find her.” Though for a moment he seemed defeated, a look of cool determination had possessed him once again. “Our search isn’t over. We just need to keep looking. Let’s not waste any time.”

Lacking the experience the thieves had with this kind of thing, Primrose wasn't so sure that the red-eyed girl wasn't herself. Was that really so? Galeem conjured two versions of this girl, Futaba, one false and one true? Why? This supposed shadow didn't look very wrathful at the moment, her features clear and blank. While the teenagers talked amongst themselves, Primrose approached her. Slowly, carefully.

[color=D34C25]"How can you be so sure?"[/color] She asked, her question floating in the room for any one of the thieves to answer. [color=D34C25]"It looks like she is... under control. Forgive my ignorance,"[/color] she said, voice rather clipped, [color=D34C25]"but don't you want to free this one and find out? Or if she is a 'shadow' as you say, take her spirit with us to your true friend?"[/color] Leaving the girl alone in the pyramid didn't sit well with Primrose, even if what the thieves said was true. If these were the worst qualities of their friend, were they not still apart of her in the end?

Panther shook her head. “From what we’ve seen, Galeem doesn’t change personalities. So freeing the Shadow wouldn’t do anything. And if the Shadow dies, so does the real person. We can’t risk it.” She crossed her arms. “That said, with how this Metaverse seems to work, anyone could just barge in here and take her down. We can’t let that happen either.”

With raised brows Mona glanced back at the ruler. “So...what? Are going to try hearting her? Or just...steal her?”

“Guess we don’t have a choice.” Joker moved forward. “You.” He held out his hand. A Friend Heart formed above it. “You want what’s best for Futaba, don’t you? You wanted us out because you thought we would only hurt her more. But in the end we put an end to her distortion and help her live again. Would you like to find your true self with us?”

The ruler blinked a couple times, thinking. She looked deeply into the faces of those assembled, mask or no, as if she could read them one bit at a time. “It is true that we’ve lost each other. I haven’t spoken to her in some time. Perhaps...she stopped needing me? And she’s grasped the truth…” She crossed her arms. “If that is the case, I want to see her for myself. And if I’m here, of course, her Persona is not by her side.”

Mona nodded sagaciously. “Yes, that’s right...Oracle couldn’t possibly have Necronomicon if you’re here, in this form.” He came to a decision, and boldly clapped his paws together. “Well, what’s one more shadow? Don’t you worry, not-Futaba! We’ll take you to see your true self, and figure things out together.”

Laughing, Panther said, “We can’t exactly call her ‘Not-Futaba’, sushi brain. We oughta think of something else.”

“Ooh, how about that codename she used before?” Skull chimed in.

“Alibaba.” Joker remembered. “The man who confounded forty thieves. And in Japanese, a play on Futaba’s own name.” He sought confirmation from the Shadow. “What do you think? The name, and our proposal.”

“I’ll accept them,” the girl declared, and with a final push she accepted Joker’s hand, as well as the Friend Heart. Somehow, despite suffering no external wounds, the ruler absorbed the heart without issue. Her eyes turned from sunset-red to glowing gold. “Hmm...something feels different. Better? Hm. I think so. Our deal is paying off already.”

The Thieves cheered. “Alright, one step closer to bringin’ everyone back together!” Skull exulted.

While the others prepared to leave, Mona tugged at Primrose. “After what just happened, I can’t believe we were just gonna walk right out of here. You pushed the right buttons just then, even if you didn’t know how things worked.”

The dancer was relieved to see the girl freed and willing to come along. Her tension dropped, and she looked down at Mona, giving the cat a much more friendly face compared to the one she'd been giving the thieves' leader just moments ago.

[color=D34C25]"Well. Glad to help, I suppose."[/color] She looked back at Futaba - or Alibaba, as it were. She knew looks could be deceiving, but the girl didn't seem nearly as bad as Joker made her out to be. If she'd left the shadow behind, it wouldn't have stopped bothering her. She hoped that the two Futabas could reunite soon. Primrose smiled to herself a little, her next words soft and teasing. [color=D34C25]"Mission succeeded, for now, hm? After we return to Naboris and you all continue your search, don't be afraid to reach out for help next time."[/color]

Mona put his oversized head to work giving her the old north-south, as it were. “Fair enough. We’ve been through a lot, but there’s lots more to go. Only an idiot stops learning.” With their new member in tow, the group made their way onward. A route on the other side of the chamber led to the pyramid exterior, dazzling the Thieves with sunlight as they stepped out into the open air. From up here, taller even than Vah Naboris, they could not only see the Divine Beast waiting for them at the base of the pyramid, but across the desert to the north. “Whoa!” Mona gasped. “Across the dunes There’s...some sort of giant wall. Pieces of a bridge. Ruins on the other side. Then...I can’t see.” The breathtaking sight only compounded the sense of tininess the heroes felt earlier.

Alibaba, too, felt very small. She saw for the first time the colossal, foreboding mountain looming many miles away like an uncertain future. Yet for all its frightening grandeur, the peak of the mountain seemed bright indeed.

Skull peered down over the edge. “Hey, it’s smooth! We can slide the whole way down. And man, it’ll be nice not running for our lives this time.” He jumped over the edge and began to accelerate. “Wooooooooo!” It looked like such fun that his friends could scarcely avoid following suit. At the top three remained: Alibaba, Primrose, and the wolfos. With a nudge the beast jumped, sliding down after the thieves, eager to return to it's true master.

Primrose laid a gentle hand on Alibaba's shoulder. [color=D34C25]"Are you scared?"[/color] she asked.

"No," Alibaba said with a small shake of her head.

[color=D34C25]"Good."[/color] Primrose donned her beige cloak once more, and the two girls leapt, sliding down the ancient tomb to join the rest of the group.