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[img]https://i.postimg.cc/L5r26P82/Star-Fox-Final.png[/img]

[i]feat.[/i]

[h3]GM[/h3]
[@Lugubrious]

[color=5edaf6]Level:[/color] 5 (13 -> 16/50)
[color=5edaf6]Location:[/color] Sandswept Sky - Shady Oasis; outbound
[color=5edaf6]Word Count:[/color] [color=5edaf6]1481[/color]/[b]1754[/b] (+3 EXP)
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Minutes passed--possibly an hour--with Fox keeping lookout while everyone else rested and divvied up Spirits and loot, none of which he was particularly interested in or thought he would need himself. His watch and their downtime concluded without a hitch; uneventfully on his end. Perhaps he had been overthinking in his assessment that someone else was there (besides a gaggle of slain hippos that inhabited the oasis ahead of their arrival), but it was better to have one person who could spare it making sure than none. He was doubly glad to have waited anyway when Joker clarified in his assembly call that Necronomicon had plotted a route for them in that time. Had he been alone, Fox might have sooner wandered off with aimless determination until he found something of import; but that, he learned, was where patience and teamwork availed him in ultimately wasting [i]less[/i] time.

She led them through darkness and low-level opposition that spelled little issue for those eager to flex their newly acquired Spirit boons. Their path ended at a sunlit chamber and continued downward through the floor by way of a sloping river of sand that would carry them the rest of the way out. Fox stepped from the sandslide in seamless stride, taking in the landscape as he walked out beyond the temple’s boundary. Appreciably majestic as it was, he was less drinking in the picturesque view than trying to get a lay of the land ahead of setting off for the mountain. They did just that in short order once Necro and Joker refined their heading and took the initiative to lead on, following the railroad to the source.

[hr]

The party pressed on at a steady pace through the evening into the night; long enough for stars to replace daylight and for everyone who didn’t already know that deserts could get just as cold as hot in the sun’s absence. The dark of nightfall made the following phenomenon all the harder to ignore. An entire region away, a grounded, painfully bright white nova spontaneously came into being with a resounding detonation that could be heard--and for some, faintly felt--throughout the World of Light, and for the short time it remained, it had the entire World’s attention… even that of its slumbering ruler.

Galeem--the sun that [i]never[/i] set--took notice of this sudden disturbance in its realm, and sent a surge of its power forth in the same direction to hitherto indiscernible effect before going dormant once more. Fox (as well as a few others) stopped to see this transpire for himself, blocking the wind, sand and shine from his eyes when he could look no more, and reopening his eyes once the blast died down to nothing. He’d witnessed up close no small number of massive explosions throughout his career, between the Subspace Events and and those he had caused himself (even once escaping planetary destruction), but the otherwise desensitizing experiences didn’t make dealing with the unknown (regarding ‘how’ and ‘why’) any easier; especially if it fell within the notice of a ‘god’. Naturally, the question came up of what exactly had happened, and Fox was eager for an answer, calling in whoever he thought might have them. Though long-distance communication with Alcamoth was out, there was still an option of correspondence available to him that involved him putting a hand to his headpiece and simply imagining that he would reach someone.

A moment after he called out, a furry creature popped into existence before him in a little burst of magic. He waved ‘hello’, causing the pom on its head to bob back and forth. In his other tiny hand he held half a donut. “Hiya, kupo! What can I do for ya?”

[color=5edaf6]“Sitrep,”[/color] Fox answered simply before clarifying, [color=5edaf6]“Any idea what that was?”[/color] Given the urgency with which the creature was summoned just shortly following the inquired upon event, he hoped his request for information wasn’t premature; that they knew (or swiftly learned) enough to tell.

“Oh, it must have happened!” the Moogle exclaimed, remembering something with a start. “Boss told us that this nasty place called the Dead Zone was gonna blow up, but I went inside to have dinner, kupo. Guess I missed it? What did it look like?”

[color=5edaf6]“Status on Red Team?”[/color] At the mention of the Dead Zone (which he remembered to be one of the three prospective mission destinations at the start of the day) and its subsequent destruction, Fox immediately thought of those that volunteered for it (without knowing specifically who they were), and threw out his follow up question in the middle of the Moogle’s lattermost thought. Naturally, the well-being of his fellow Seekers constituted a greater concern than a detailed recap of the explosion, which he glossed over out of a sense of priority rather than an unbefitting, unintended lack of regard for the underling.

The Moogle’s little brows shot up as he realized he’d forgotten an important detail. “Fine, fine! They got out of there way in advance. Went over to join the seaside team.” He nodded his little head furiously, trying to make Fox feel reassured.

[color=5edaf6]“All of them?”[/color] Fox added, hoping the entirety of Red Team could be (and was being) accounted for.

“Um…” Even with his eyes pursed, the Moogle looked uneasy. “I don’t think so, kupo. Boss said..um, someone they met there died, a someone named Linkle got turned into a monster and disappeared, and they lost contact with the monk guy.” He fidgeted, his fuzzy face apologetic.

Fox morosely cast his sight down in thought, unable to put faces to the name or descriptor he’d been given. He didn’t remember either of them, for he had only met them while he was still Gleaming, and hadn’t engaged with either one of them since then. To him, however, it made little difference. They still counted as casualties in his mind--any and all of which were unfortunate, if expected.

[color=5edaf6]“The Courier’s missing on our end as well,”[/color] he explained to the effect that they too had unaccounted personal. Had he known the Courier at all, he might have realized the ‘lonesome’ attitude was completely in-character for him and expected him to take off on impulse to do as he may. Perhaps they would find him at the end waiting for them--a thought he entertained hopefully before getting back on track with the Dead Zone report. [color=5edaf6]“So, that’s one more Guardian down, then?”[/color]

Since Fox shouldered the bad news, the Moogle decided to do the same.  “Guess so! Nobody’s gone to check yet, but that Banjo guy seemed interested. Been hanging around Alcamoth.”

[color=5edaf6]“Send whoever else is interested. We need to be sure.”[/color] As Fox put in the order to investigate that would likely have been carried out regardless, he suddenly had another assignment in mind. [color=5edaf6]“Assemble a team to send here, while they’re at it. Tell them there’s a lakeside compound with mercenaries waiting to be picked up, and they should go ready for a fight, because whoever’s left will probably be looking for one. Someone there is putting them up to it--goes by ‘The Administrator’. Keeps reviving them and forcing them to fight. Have them look into that. Find out who and where she is and deal with her, if they can! Might be their best bet at freeing them. They just don’t know they need it yet.”[/color]

The Moogle polished off his donut, patted his stomach, and said, “Alright, kupo! Two missions, one Scout, one Strike. I’ll hop right on it!” He turned away, whispering to himself. “Hmmmm...bet that crazy lady and her friends would wanna check the Dead Zone, kupo. And then for this lake place…” With that, he vanished.

With his call concluded, having done all he could for his part for the time being, he set back on the path alongside the rest of the party. Necronomicon provided them with a report on the terrain ahead, cautioning them of hindering sands before flying ahead to get a more detailed assessment. Soon enough they found out for themselves exactly what she was talking about, sinking to the ankles--then the shins--with every footfall as those grounded were forced to slow their pace to a crawl. That was until they made their collective way onto the railroad proper, finding on it a stable foothold/pathway to proceed as normal, albeit more carefully along the narrow track..

It wasn’t long until Necronomicon hurried back to meet them to make her report more interesting. It wasn’t simply the terrain gradually changing, but the entire biome. As sands began to bleed over into brown sugar syrup, their surroundings started to make less sense to Fox. Perhaps that was the idea; to confound passers-through, be they Seekers or otherwise. To what end, who could say.

More urgent was the matter of the new area’s hostile denizens that quickly became their problem to deal with. Fox drew and readied himself at the first sign of impending enemy contact, and was adequately prepared to respond to the preemptive attack by the trawlers, which Heavy was notably quick to deal with to aid the Medic. In his fury he failed to notice the small flyers on approach, that Fox began to fire upon; at one point even leaping in front of Heavy’s bullet hail to deflect some of it into the machine flock. The combination of enemy and Yellow Team fire going the same way would surely suffice in suppressing the lighter of their opposition, levelled out by the narrow footing they had to work with. Hence the need to rescue the heaviest of their team from the ‘sands’ following the initial ambush.

Then came an enemy they were ill-suited to deal with in their relatively disadvantaged state, uprooting the train tracks in a wave as it plowed through after them. Fox had to silently agree with Joker in booking it rather than staying to fight, even if that meant possibly fighting it elsewhere. Poppi gave them a suitable head start by flash freezing the Molduga, knowing it wouldn’t last long; certainly not long enough to last the rest of their expedited trip, but if they were lucky, it wouldn’t have to. Luck willing, the tracks would eventually cross over into a bridge to lead the monstrous sand whale over and off of. Should that be the case, Fox would happily dare it to keep chasing them. Until then, they could only continue to fight and push on toward the mountain at their now grueling pace.