[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3] [b]Level 8[/b] Tora (73/80) and [b]Level 8[/b] Poppi (46/80) [b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris], Yoshitsune's [@Rockin Strings], Red’s [@TheDemonHound], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud] [b]Word Count:[/b] 816[/center] “Masterpon...Masterpon?” Eventually, Poppi realized that no matter how many times she stroked or gently rocked, such mundane actions wouldn’t cut it. Unfortunately, her other options fell just as short. Tora shrugged off pokes, jabs, and even tentative slaps, snoozing blissfully on. The only other method she could conceive of would be to awaken him with a favorite smell, like frying bacon or fresh-baked pancakes, but if the ambient aroma of this dessert archipelago didn’t do the trick she didn’t know what would. Finally, finding no solution save one, she gave a pronounced sigh and grasped the Nopon firmly by his shirt. “Enough snoozing, masterpon! Get UP!” So saying, she bodily hurled Tora across out of the bedroom and into the living room sofa in a spray of cookie crumbs and chocolatey chunks. Eyes wide with disbelief, she watched him flop to the ground amid the wreckage, still snoring. “Unbelievable…” She knelt by him to get a better grasp in his condition. Naturally, the throw didn’t so much as bruise him, thanks in part to the relative softness of the strange town’s construction. But he was just filthy with the collective candy grime of a night spent in Parnasse. “How in the world is Poppi going to get Masterpon clean…?” she murmured, only for a lightbulb to go off in her head a moment later. She stood and switched, both to Poppi Alpha and to her water elemental core, then spun up her drill shield. With determination borne of the knowledge that she was doing the right thing she pushed aside her doubts and reached for the trigger. “Wakey wakey Masterpon! It time to face the day!” A spiral blast of water gushed outward from the Drill Shield, waking him up instantly. He gave a burbling wail of protest as the torrent washed him right down the hall. After a few moments of bumping and banging the front door of the candy house burst open in a flood of water. Carried by the tide, a perfectly clean and very wet Tora rolled to a stop on the front porch. “Meeeeh…” he groaned, wiping at his face with his wings. Poppi circled around him, her best attempt to not laugh only mostly suppressed, and received an incoherent look. “Poppi…” His tone was one of very slight admonition. “Tora not order wake-up call!” “Masterpon might have slept whole day if Poppi not intervene!” The Artificial Blade teased. Despite his rather rude awakening Tora seemed to be in good spirits, so she was too. “Was Masterpon having nice dream?” Something dawned on Tora, and he closed his eyes and gave a contented sigh. “Oh, yes! Tora dreamed he was eating marshmallow as big as Poppi!” “That not dream!” Poppi smiled. She disappeared into the house for a moment before she returned to join him on the porch, a clump of white sponge in her hand. “Tora had marshmallow for pillow.” Quite unable to argue with her logic, Tora winced. “Mehhhhh...no wonder Tora feel so full.” His dark eyes bugged out. “Oh no! Is Tora marshmallow now!?” Poppi shook her head. “Nope! Check arm!” The Nopon looked at both arms in turn, but found nothing out of the ordinary. A moment passed before he realized that ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ was exactly what he should be looking for. “My arm! It back to normal! Weird donut arm wear off overnight!” He slumped over in relief, making a [i]tong[/i] as his head hit Poppi’s chestplate. “Thank Architect. Now Tora can relax.” His companion put her arm around him and squeezed. “Well, don’t fall asleep again. It about twenty minutes until we get going.” “Aw, we leaving sweetyland already?” Tora stood up, shook himself dry, and glanced around. In the day Parnasse looked completely different, with all the little candy details here and there far easier to appreciate. In the night he couldn’t see all the color and cleverness of the place, like waffle-sided planters with gumdrop flowers beneath sugar-frosted window panes, and wound ropes of licorice as the posts for fudge fences topped by sprinkles. It made his mouth water all over again, but with a whole night’s worth of marshmallow in him he thought twice about eating anything else. With no particular desire to go stand in another circle with everyone and wait for a turn to talk, he turned his mind to his equipment, and the machines from the previous night. He pulled out his toolbox and shook it a few times to get the water off. “Good time to tinker with Mech Arms. Want see if possible to add slide rail without messing up missile pods.” With a nod, Poppi changed to QT mode and manifested a pair of Mech Arms for him. “Poppi go see if friends need help. See soon!” She left without waiting for a farewell, as her Masterpon was already engrossed in his project. [center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3] [b]Level 3[/b] Nadia (15/30) [b]Location:[/b] Black Bay Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Frog's [@Dark Cloud] [b]Word Count:[/b] 1440[/center] In an unexpected turn of events, letting out all of her frustration through a couple hundred pounds of military-grade ballistics equipment turned out to be rather therapeutic. Short of getting sliced into pieces Nadia couldn’t remember a more intense feeling in her life than the bone-rattling [i]thump-thump-thump[/i] of this cannon battery as she wasted monster after monster, emboldened by Heinrich’s passion and her weapon’s visceral kick into a berserk defiance of death. The battle high did not last however, and her adrenaline-fueled rampage tailed off when more reinforcements arrived. First came Kamek and his cloned company, offering encouragement and a little extra firepower. Nadia certainly welcomed the news that the crew of the Atomos didn’t plan to leave her group to die, but couldn’t afford to focus on what he was doing with his minions at the expense of protecting her allies down below. Some Abyssals were already starting to get the idea that coming at the fallen heroes from the sides meant a free ride to the top of their protectors’ hit lists, and were coming from more creative angles. The five-Kamek band lent their varied magicks to the cause, giving the swimmers more room to breath from all directions. To Nadia’s delight one even seemed to be able to enchant her cannon, and the extra punch helped her nail the pesky Abyssal divers. When the Junior clones appeared she nearly turned her fire on them out of reflex, but put two and two together faster enough to prevent any trouble. Even if the extra help didn’t plan on manning the other cannons, they could keep the immediate premises Abyssal-free. Seeing actual, literal magic still dazzled Nadia to a degree, but now wasn’t the time to get distracted. She spotted another familiar face riding the waves nearby as well, mostly when her uppercut carried her above deck level. Sakura stuck around to toss Brineybeard a little something special as well, which the badly injured captain accepted wholeheartedly. Really feeling her wounds now that her adrenaline was fading, Nadia could have gone for some healing herself, but since she couldn’t die the medics’ effort was probably better spent elsewhere. It was probably why the others left her alone on deck. [i]It’s just pain,[/i] she told herself, trying to steady her breathing and distract herself with cannon fire. [i]Just...pain!”[/i] For all her pain, Nadia perked right up as she heard Link shout, signalling that he wasn’t just alive but offering sound advice. A moment later a couple shapes flew up from the water, big and fast enough to scare Nadia off her cannon with a yowl. Her flashing claws found nothing to sink into however, as she realized that somehow Blazermate and Frog had leaped from the water. Her tension eased as she flashed them a smile. “Oh hey, welcome aboard. You heard the man, c’mon!” A sudden noise behind her made her to one side, and an Abyssal bomber darted by. “Me-ow!” She scooped it up and sprang into the air, the explosive held like a football. One of the Dark Juniors had grabbed an Abyssal in some sort of pincer and was bopping it with something that looked suspiciously akin to a squeaky hammer. She hurled the bomb their way and darted over to her cannon once she landed. “Just aim at the monsters using the holdholds and hold down the red buttons!” she shouted at Frog, who struck her as someone from a time too ancient for weapons like these. Naturally, she was glad to provide an example. [center][hider=For Link]You have Acquired: [b][url=https://items.jellyneo.net/assets/imgs/items/57836.gif?170]Maractite Armored Boots[/url][/b] - Protective footwear of a rare metal from a secret undersea civilization, harder than steel that exhibits no water resistance nor equip burden while underwater[/hider][/center] The fighting around Shippy continued, only a little less brutal for the heroes despite the addition of a few more compatriots. Abyssals continued to assault Shippy from every angle, but with Blazermate back to offset the damage with her healing and the various Blue Team members helping out, the situation was feeling a lot less hopeless. Even as Link, Sakura, and the others slugged it out down below, trading blows with their vicious enemy, Nadia found herself with a few much-needed moments to breath and assess before being forced to turn her cannon on the incoming bomber swarm. All in all, the Navy girls had been doing their thing, meeting the waves and waves of black-and-white monstrosities with undaunted courage, and as the battle moved closer and closer to the Abyssal strongholds Shippy remained at the thick of it. With Brineybeard at the help it looked like the vessel would be able to break free from the fight and head for the inlet soon. “I can’t believe we might actually make it…” Nadia breathed, worried that this statement too might evoke karmic retribution, before that cannon’s [i]thump-thump-thump[/i] chased all conscious thought from her head. Diminished by the saturation fire and dissuaded by both Blue Team’s artillery and the change in their ship, the bomber swarm dispersed to fall upon the battlefield in small groups. Getting dive-bombed still presented a constant threat, but not a disastrous one. And thanks to Geralt’s clever application of his resources, everyone could breathe a little easier knowing that the Helmaroc King would trouble them no more. He found the great bird’s mind simpler and easier to coerce with Axii than his pessimism led him to expect, and without too great a strain on his abilities could bend at least the creature’s flight path to his will. Even if Shippy was gradually making her way toward the edge of the warzone, the Abyssals did not let up. The minutes felt like hours. Even with the added support Nadia needed to get up to fight off a boarder rather often, and when her cannon ran out of ammunition she limped to the next one. She found it harder and harder to hold down the triggers, let alone aim straight, as the jarring force of the cannons mounted up to numb her hands to all but a pervasive ache. She even felt her mind growing numb up until the point where a high-yield explosive shell struck her emplacement. Everything went dark for a moment, and she regained her senses in pieces scattered across the deck in time to see the cannon battery fall into the water with a splash. “Man..hohh, it’s getting hard...to pull myself together.” With no small amount of effort she reunited her various pieces, but came up one short. “Um, has anyone seen my left calf?” For a few frantic moments she crawled around on her hands and knees. She tried making the lost leg move, but couldn’t feel any solid objects. Just a cold wetness. “Oh, come on,” she groaned, leaning against the cabin. Her eyes went to a chain explosion in the distance. Some of the shipgirls had reached the imposing seagates of Kwolok Harbor and were leaving their first impressions. Barely had the first few volleys gone off, however, before a calamitous wrenching sound resounded across the waters and the gates were thrown wide. The ensuing wave of water knocked the attacking shipgirls away. Through the opening came a gigantic hand, pale white, with curled black claws bigger than some of the Navy members, and then came an Abyssal that sent chills down Nadia’s spine. Even kneeling on the ocean’s surface, the [url=https://i.imgur.com/z9IRRWu.png]Harbor Demon[/url] towered at least twelve feet tall. A single horn protruded from her forehead, a truly ludicrous amount of voluminous white hair billowed from head all the way down to the water, like a ship’s sail. Her form-hugging outfit culminated in a pair of monstrous, bafflingly huge hands, which seemed to Nadia to be the perfect size for crushing moderately-sized ships with ease, but still more outlandish was the even more oversized weapons platform behind her. Its armored surface features gnashing maws, runways, and even cranes. Over them all loomed a single long cannon, by far the biggest out of all the weapons featured on the Black Bay so far. “Who is that knocking on my door…?” Her voice was not a shout, but it echoed over the distance regardless. Her roving cannons let loose a withering barrage at the nearby sea, killing at least one shipgirl instantly. When she reached into the water with her enormous claw, it came up filled with squirming Abyssals. “Sink them. Sink them all!” She bared her teeth and hurled her minions forward. Over the chaos her eyes fell on the far-away Jackdaw, and when a look of recognition passed over her face, her main cannon started dialing in its aim. [center][h3]Edge of the Blue - Luma Pools[/h3] [@Potemking][/center] The moment Mirage’s hologram even got close to the Wigglers, they shrank back into their burrows like stretched springs. Only after the decoy had been gone for a solid few moments did the bravest among them tentatively jut his nose from his hole, then start to rise back into the air. With varying degrees of caution the rest followed suit, until the whole colony was back where they started. After a display like that, Mirage couldn’t justify any notions about the creatures being dangerous any longer. If he chose to get closer, he could get a better view at the little guys before they zipped back underground, too. While they looked like snakes from a distance, both in shape and size, a better inspection revealed that they had more in common with eels. Neither squamous nor rugose, they had smooth, rubbery skin, as well as rounded heads and eyes that protruded therein like a frog’s. When out and about they did nothing more than watch and wiggle, not moving even when the occasional bug bumbled by, which clarified preciously little about their behavior. Still, it could be concluded that they presented no obstacle of any sort on Mirage’s quest for relaxation. No matter where he looked, it seemed like the intrepid adventurer was bound to find new wildlife. After descending to his current location from the higher waterfall cliff, he could get a better look at the lake and its contents. In addition to the tropical fish, some of which seemed to possess downright alien anatomies, he happened to catch a glimpse of a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spectrobes/images/3/35/Ukabi.png]bizarre creature[/url] floating on the water. Though it looked like an inflatable toy, the way it moved and followed the flitting fish could mean nothing but that it was fully alive. Still, the creatures of the Luma Pools hardly constituted all it had to offer. The lake offered sandy banks strewn with shells and conspicuous mounds, which -to an opportunist- might very well smack of hidden loot. There also seemed to be an odd plant nearby with balloon-like bulbs on its stems, stirred by breezes in such a way that suggested the bulbs really would float away if their anchor were so much as touched. Still, all the diversions in the world meant little to a man if he chose to recline in the shade instead. [center][h3]Snowdin – Survive Bar[/h3] [@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center] A few moments of silence passed as the two ate, with Albedo quite unable to conjure up the gusto with which the Skullgirl downed her food. Instead his eyes lay on her, clouded with concern. Though behavioral studies and psychology lay well beyond the scope of his research, he didn’t fail to recognize turmoil when he saw it, and the conflict he sensed broiling inside his new friend just about alarmed him with its potency. The curious part of him yearned to learn just what troubled her, but at the same time he wondered if it was something that a social amateur could afford to trifle with. If nothing else, at least, he could listen to whatever she deigned to tell him, and when Linkle finished her bento, she had a lot to say. With practiced hands he etched quick, concise notes into his book while giving Linkle his wholehearted attention. If he expected the poignant elements of her backstory to be in some far-off formative years, he quickly stood corrected. Today, it seemed, was quite the day for the poor girl sitting in front of him. She hit him with a number of revelations back to back, and when it was all over gave Albedo a chance to mull over the new information and cool it off to a workable state, like a bowl of piping-hot soup. His categorical mind raced to make sense of it all, but what he said first -after the bartender thanked Linkle for her compliment, that is- came from the heart. “You have my deepest sympathies,” he told her. “To be deceived in such a manner, punished so harshly for your kindness...such soulless machination is nothing short of despicable.” He shook his head. “In Mondstadt, a somewhat obsessed fellow would occasionally describe his idol as ‘too good and too pure for this world.’ If there was ever a time in which such a description was warranted, it would be for you.” He looked back at Linkle, as solemn as ever, and a little sad too. “This world is an unfair one, and an unjust one. It hangs from unfair strings, and it dances to an unjust tune. But I am sure that the rules that define it can be exploited. Certain things are simpler than they should be, too connected, or connected in imperfect ways. Sewn together in a way that exposes the seams.” He poked her hand as if to make doubly sure she was still here. “If you truly died, you would be ash, but you’re not. This corruptive artifact seeks to control you, but if it was so easy, it would have done so already. And if that fate was inescapable, why would it take pains to convince you of such?” His piercing look swept across her, as if his gaze could flush out the Skull Heart from within her. “And in a rather petty manner too, from how you described it.” After a moment he turned away, having realized he was starting to stare, and took a drink of water. “Anyway, I’m sure you don’t need me telling you to not give up. Heroes like you must learn that in preschool.”