[center][h3]Pest Control[/h3]
Level 9 Tora (10/90) Level 8 Poppi (79/80)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Cistern
Red’s [@TheDemonHound], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 4537[/center]

After leaving the Vizier and the queen’s court, Red continued to follow along with the rest of the group. Big Band continued to come along too which she wasn’t really opposed to. The detective was definitely an interesting man from the looks of it and, judging by his comment to Poppi, had a body and soul inside of him somewhere. 

After reuniting with the other members of the group in the market and helping acquire some provisions, they finally meet with Validar’s Grimleal. They entered the temple and it certainly matched the same ominous aura that the vizier himself gave off. At this point it was pretty much set in stone that Validar and his group were not exactly good people, this all seemed very cultish and she’d seen enough of those to know how that goes. The lieutenants didn’t seem to really help with that notion either. A very sinister looking man, a guy that looked like he just crawled out of a grave and a rabbit lady that rivaled Band in size and rivaled Red herself in being ready to take action. 

Now normally, Red would take this job regardless of her employers motives. As long as the money is good she doesn’t care what cause she fights for. But now, she was in a group. And she was planning on sticking with them so she decided she’d go with their decision, whatever that may be or whatever moral compass they followed. She didn’t have much to say in the talks especially after hearing how stingy they were with intel (a very big red flag from an employer) so she let Fox and the others take the lead. Which due to the morals of the group took a downward spiral and they ended up leaving and reconvening at the train station for more discussion on how to handle this fun new problem of theirs. Which seemed to be trying to get the resistance's side of the story after tracking them down, but doing some jobs for more coin in the meantime. 

Red was gonna see about possibly tracking down the mimic or even the strange thief before Tora came up and asked if she’d like to help deal with the rat problem. [color=af1f1c]“Eh, why not? Sounds like it’ll be some good practice till we get going.”[/color] Plus if she was going to travel here she might as well start learning about the other group members instead of just sticking to Midna like glue. What better way to learn about someone than fighting beside them?

[i][color=A30000]'What better way to prove my superiority than fighting with some idiots.'[/color][/i] Laharl thought to himself as he eavesdropped on their conversation, that job sounded like a walk in the park and although he was a prince he would do anything to prove he could handle anything even if he had to get his hands dirty. So he approached the crimson hooded mercenary and the Nopon, clearing his throat to get their attention. But since he hadn't announced his intentions earlier, or even cemented himself as part of the group, Tora and Poppi had already gone, and Red after them.

His mood immediately soured, it was one thing to be left behind once but more than once was annoying despite mostly being his fault. Laharl heaved an exasperated sigh as he watched Red disappear round a bend, but he wasn't going to simply let the three go do the job he wanted to do. No it wouldn't do at all to pass up his chance to prove himself capable to lead or at the very least deserve a bit more respect from the others.

So he set off in the direction he could see them heading as he quickly picked up his pace, following the group from behind at a short distance before finally making himself known halfway to the cistern. Laharl sounded exasperated, panting from trying to keep up with the group as they weaved their way through the streets of Al Mamoon. So after a few moments he shouted to get the group's attention [color=A30000]"HEY! HEY! DAMN IT WAI-"[/color] he was suddenly cut off as his foot snagged his scarf and he tumbled onto the hard ground swearing and cursing his luck, most of his language was quite unpleasant to hear.

Tora and Poppi stopped in their tracks, turning to see the boy that accompanied the group from Parnasse. After sparing her Masterpon a glance Poppi jogged back toward the fallen demon. She came to a stop standing above Laharl and paused for just a moment. This moment marked the first time the two interacted, and Laharl's own ornery nature aside, he was reminded why now more than ever; in her [url=https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/358/222/42f.jpg]third form[/url] Poppi unwittingly managed to cater exactly to several of his weaknesses. Of course, despite her hesitation at his anger she couldn't let a hurt child just lie there, and stooped to offer him her help. "You okay? Need hand?"

He had been about to open his mouth to say something, no doubt rude and derogatory but Laharl couldn't utter anything other than a panicked yelp as he scrambled away from the extremely attractive and heavily endowed robot [color=A30000]"N-no don't touch me!"[/color] he sounded fearful of Poppi, and as Laharl got up slowly he never let his sights off her [color=A30000]"I don't need a hand, I'm a demon!"[/color] he said as though it were enough to dissuade her from nearing him, and to those perceptive enough Laharl's body language was nervous and erratic.

Poppi blinked, confused. "Oh. Okay." Sighing inwardly, she could only conclude that she just wasn't equipped to deal with this kid. For the sake of future interaction she made a mental note that 'demons', whatever those might be, did not need hands, then left Laharl to his own devices. Tora shrugged as she returned to him, just fine with writing the ornery boy off, and the two went on their way.

Laharl brushed himself off, still shaken a bit but able to retain a bit of his composure enough to return to being a nuisance but not as much as before. He took a measure of precaution to stay away from Poppi and Tora, opting to take his place by the mercenary's side without a word between Red and the boy as they made their way to the cistern.

The walk into the cistern was otherwise mostly uneventful. Red walked a foot or two behind while the fur ball, evidently named Tora, and his robot companion, Poppi, talked about a few different things. Mostly it seemed to relate to the world they came from so she listened but didn’t add anything. Though she did start getting a bit closer when Poppi used her ice abilities to cool Tora down. She kept her skin completely covered at all times so while she was used to the heat she’d take any relief she could get. When Poppi noticed, she was only too happy to offer Red some diamond dust as well to mitigate the heat that the mercenary’s heavy garb worsened for her.

As Laharl walked with the mercenary he wondered exactly why Red was garbed so heavily, as it made little sense to wear such things in a place such as this. But he assumed she was likely hiding something under the folds of her crimson cloak, something she had to hide. Undoubtedly she was not human, but she would make a perfect demon if she were one.

Unlike the others the heat didn't seem to bother him, his upper body was bare to the elements and the warmth was a welcome sensation that reminded Laharl of the fiery planes in the Netherworld. He would do anything to feel the fires burning around him and to hear his vassalage grovel at his feet. Laharl sighed wistfully at the reminder of his current situation, it was unfortunate indeed that he was a mere boy to these people but soon enough they would see his true colors.

For now he would just listen to their conversation as it continued down into the sewers below, for now there was simply no point to say anything to the others as it seemed words wouldn't prove anything to anyone.

When they finally arrived she was happily surprised to see that it wasn’t some disgusting sewer like she had assumed it would be. And that it was actually kind of pleasant. [color=af1f1c]“Couldn’t help but overhear you two talking about your homeworld on the way over here and I was curious. I heard you talking about Titans or something? And I was curious what the two of you are since I highly doubt either of you are humans.”[/color] Red asked the basic questions to the pair as they started looking around the sewer systems for the reported rat problem.

The trio made their way through the ancient cistern at a comfortable pace. With the ample lighting illuminating every corner they could see any potential threat coming from far off, unless something happened to appear from the water, so Tora happily took the extra travel time to tell his inquisitive new friend all about his home. “Yes yes, meh. Tora and Poppi from Alrest, a world that’s one big Cloud Sea. Everyone live on of enormous, super-gigantopon called Titans. They come in all shape and size, walking on four legs or two, or flying over or under cloud sea. Tora live on Titan called Gormott, in city of Torigoth. Until Rex-Rex recognize Tora potential and bring on amazing adventure, that is!” He struck a proud, dramatic pose to make sure Red caught on to how cool he was.

Poppi patted her Masterpon’s head. “Tora is Nopon, and Poppi is Artificial Blade created by Tora. Most Blades come from core crystals, but Poppi come from metal, circuits, and hard work of Masterpon.”

“Meh, meh. So many many days’ hard work...” Tora recollected in a hollow tone. He shuddered and shook his head. Poppi raised an eyebrow at him, and he hurried to stick on an addendum. “All worth it, of course! Tora is engineer and inventor, just like daddypon Tatazo and grampypon Soosoo, and Poppi is Tora’s pride and joy!”

“Aww~!” With a big smile Poppi reached down and scooped Tora up to give him a big squeeze before setting him back down again. For his part, her Masterpon looked rather ruffled and indignant. However much he liked Poppi, it seemed, he did not like being picked up.

The trio made their way across a small bridge and down a curved hallway away from the central cistern chamber, which Tora guessed went in a big loop. He couldn’t think of anything else to say about his own world without getting to extraneous detail, so he turned the question on Red. “What about you, meh?” he asked her. “Friend Red not look like human either. Looks cool but fierce and primal. Like Wulfric!” He remembered the monstrous blade Zeke awakened during the course of his group’s journey, before Galeem. Tora chuckled, his tone somewhat teasing. “Maybe Red big softie on inside like Wulfric too?”

[color=af1f1c]“A sea of clouds huh?”[/color] Red could only imagine what that could look like. Endless rolling clouds with apparently giant creatures that acted as countries. [color=af1f1c]“Man all of you guys are making me jealous. You guys and Midna both come from worlds that sound better than mine.”[/color] 

Tora definitely seemed to be the confident type judging from his actions and speech. Very willing to brag, and if Poppi wasn’t here to counterbalance that she might’ve found him annoying. Though it seemed he had some reason to brag as he created Poppi who seemed to be fully sentient despite also being completely robotic. The only sentient machines they had back in her world had to have someone’s brain put in them. Or at least, that she had seen. Of course that ban on human-like machines made the possibility very unlikely. [color=af1f1c]“So you’re a scientist or engineer of sorts? Definitely useful to have on a team, I'll give you that.”[/color]

Eventually the topic transferred over to her which she kind of expected. Though it caught her off guard that he was able to pick up on the fact that she wasn’t human so easily. With his technical skills and now this it seemed that weird speech pattern of his was not indicative of his intelligence and she felt a little bad for assuming so. [color=af1f1c]“You’re right on the mark there. I’m not human, least not anymore.”[/color] She debated for a moment wondering if Tora and Poppi would react negatively to her history but figured it’s best to just rip that bandage off  like when she told Midna. [color=af1f1c]“I’m something called an Abnormality. Which is basically a really vague term used for a bunch of different monsters that they kept locked up in a facility deep underground. And I had the good fortune of being one of those monsters.”[/color] She gave a dry laugh in that last sentence to indicate her sarcasm. [color=af1f1c]“And no, don’t think anyone in their right mind would consider me a softie. Though if you’re comparing this Wulfric guy to me he definitely sounds like someone I’d like to meet.”[/color]

Although not the best judge of emotion, Tora picked up on a little of Red’s surprise at him realizing she wasn’t human. Well, humans didn’t have yellow eyes or that sort of charred-looking skin, did they? They again, it occurred to him that she might just be the victim of some horrible accident, and felt a little bad. Luckily for him the mercenary didn’t dwell on it, but instead shed a little light on her world.

She spoke of a clandestine facility for the secure containment of monsters, and of a nebulous ‘they’. Sounded like classical horror or conspiracy material, and not what one expected to hear as someone’s backstory. Poppi looked mournful. “Poppi sorry Red went through that. Locked up in cell somewhere sound like no way to live.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Tora agreed. “Red not seem bad. Probably just misunderstood. People make judgments too quickly, meh.” He stopped, turned to the mercenary, and held one wing over his own chest. “Take Tora for instance. Lots of people look at me and think, aw, cute little Nopon. Funny little team mascot.”

Poppi poked him. “That inaccurate?”

Red couldn’t stop herself from laughing a bit. These two really were innocent if they assumed she was misunderstood after she admitted to what she was. Though she did give a very vague description and it probably was best not to burst their bubble on that. She liked being given the benefit of the doubt like this for a change. 

Brushing at his companion’s prodding hand, Tora admitted, “Well, it not totally wrong. But point is, people not take seriously. Nobody look at Nopon and think can be hero. But here Tora is!” He raised a wing into the air, clenched in triumph.

Poppi raised her own fist half-heartedly. “...Hunting vermin?”

“Meeeh,” he sighed. “It just small part of hero journey. We almost to mountain, after all. Soon we have three bosses under belt!”

Crossing her arms, Poppi continued onward, and her Masterpon followed behind. It was about time they got down to business, after all. “Let’s not get ahead of selves. Tora not beat big baddypon if get eaten by rats,” she told him as she went.

“Rats?” Tora looked amused. “Tora beat up ratties any day of week!”

[color=af1f1c]“Hey, every job is a job that needs doing.”[/color] Red interjected. [color=af1f1c]“It may not sound particularly hero like but it’s still helping people. Plus we’re getting paid so all the better.”[/color] She spoke as she began poking around some of the tunnels. Who knew a supposed rat infestation would be so hard to track down.

They continued to circle around the loop, finding a number of tunnels that led off in different directions. All were too small to allow easy access, so going down any would be an arduous ordeal even without the water flowing the other way--water that Tora could not guarantee the cleanliness of. Instead he looked at the runoff for any traces of an infestation. He spent a while moving along, focused on the streams of liquid, until Poppi tapping on his shoulder made him look up. “Meh? What is it?” When he looked at her she said nothing, but pointed ahead, and when Tora peered that way he realized his searching had been in vain.

Up ahead a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darksiders/images/7/75/Corruption.png]black, tarry substance[/url] had spread from one of the tunnels to stretch across the main corridor, coagulating into weblike masses and clumps dotted with vile-looking yellow crystals. Near it, [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda_gamepedia_en/images/b/b5/TP_Shadow_Vermin_Model.png]verminous creatures[/url] writhed aimlessly, and [url=https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EZy65bTzHvc/WLmY7na0XqI/AAAAAAAAQFo/YqsdzrQaOu82miikv--Jw5utyi4UsQz6QCLcB/s1600/Crawler.png]a wriggling, crawling horror[/url] suffused by black corruption squirmed on the ground.

Tora blanched. “Meeeh!?” he gasped, disgusted. “What is that? It look infectious!” He pulled out his Variable Saber and turned it on. Its energy beam sprang to life with a vibrant [i]bwowm[/i]. “Poppi, switch to fire core. We burn it right out.”

Seemingly in response, however, the corruption shifted. In the middle of the mess a glowing yellow eye opened wide, and it took only a moment to fix on the newcomers. The entire mass seemed to groan, and both the Shadow Vermin and the Crawler became alerted to the exterminators’ presence. Tora steeled himself, wishing it had just been rats all along, and moved in.

And then Tora and Poppi found some sort of strange corruption of sorts. Red smiled under her mask as she looked up and readied her weapons. [color=af1f1c]“But this job just got a lot more interesting than a few rats.”[/color]

First things first, she noticed that the corruption on the wall seemed to have some sort of control or communication with the creatures around it so she decided to pour a few bullets into the eye that opened up amongst it. Of course that was no excuse to ignore the minions coming at them too. After being satisfied with the several bullets she fired off she ran after the biggest of them, the horror, and leaped up to bring her axe down on what she was hoping was the creature's head.

A guttural shriek rang out, not just from the eye but the whole mass, as Red's bullets plunged into the orb. A putrescent ocher ichor splashed across black corruption and stone floor alike as the eye squeezed shut. Rather than wait for Tora to take point, however, she threw herself past the rotund guardian to challenge the biggest and most hideous of the verminous spawn. Her axe slid into the crawler's big, rubbery, slimy fore-tentacle without much resistance and parted it from the hole, but if this abomination even had something that she could classify as a head, the fore-tentacle wasn't it.

Laharl had been silent the whole time as he had followed the group through the darkness of the sewer system, now however he couldn't contain himself [color=A30000]"Uhahahaha!"[/color] the boy laughed loudly drawing attention to himself, a wicked grin dancing upon his expression [color=A30000]"I've squashed dissenters more despicable than whatever you are!"[/color] Laharl assumed a fighting stance with his fists held forth before the swarm in front of him, then with a flash his fists ignited with the light of burning hellfire before the tide of vermin.

[center][hider=Overlord's Dignity %]
[b]PWR LVL:[/b] +0%
[/hider][/center]

Behind Red, Tora grit his teeth. This was just like back in Parnasse, with the damage-dealers plowing straight into the action before the tank could grab the enemy's attention. This time, however, there wasn't just a single notable foe he could jump in front of and block, but a number of small, potentially contagious monsters that now surrounded his companion. He couldn't spray fire willy-nilly either, lest he scorch Red herself, but he [i]could[/i] quit bellyaching and get to work. Tora waddled after Red as quickly as he could with Poppi right behind to channel ether, sweeping aside the vermin with his flame-wreathed energy blade. Its concentrated burning power torched the little freaks in small swathes, allowing Red to worry about just the wretch in front of her.

Unafraid of the risk, Laharl threw himself at the mass of vermin with a sweeping motion of his fist burning several of the vermin caught in the trails of flame his punch delivered and dispatching the creatures that were struck by his blow. One by one each foe that fell to his attack fuelled his power, drawing strength from the defeated vermin. His flames grew brighter and his eyes burnt with determination.

[center][hider=Overlord's Dignity %]
[b]PWR LVL:[/b] +100%
[/hider][/center]

As Tora entered the fray and covered her from the tiny creatures coming up around her. She nodded in appreciation but wordlessly returned her focus to the battle at hand. No matter what impression Red gave off normally during a fight it was clear she always put in all of her effort.

Though she didn’t anticipate what that creature would pull out next.

The crawler in question had flailed its tentacles like heavy whips in an effort to drive Red back toward its kin so they could take her by surprise, but since Tora and Poppi had her back it made its next attack personally. The [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/bloodborne/images/1/1e/Crawlerr.png]awful thing[/url] reared back into a snakelike position and pulled back its lower membrane, and what Tora saw made him gag. Its [url=https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BleglG4Mj7I/V9pZoDyoqcI/AAAAAAAAN60/jerB-_t7gcYrBXUARfBCrO5lkSfYQP6nACLcB/s1600/Crawler.jpg]entire underside[/url] was a vomitous conglomerate of corruption and small, malformed humanoid bodies, scarcely larger than children, and mushed together like sardines. With empty sockets and twisted, yawning faces they stared at Red, limbs weakly waving, and then from the crawler's underside spewed a cloud of nausea-inducing poison.

Laharl seemed unfazed by the vermin biting him but he had to force himself backwards away from the cloud of noxious poison that suddenly spilled from underneath the crawler, he gritted his teeth annoyed by the sickening smell it created. Kicking a few vermin aside with a low growl the boy, clenched his fists tightly as he readied himself to dispatch more of the smaller vermin.

Fortunately his wounds were minor and he was quite resilient to the poison the smaller vermin inflicted on him, so he kept swinging and burning vermin to a crisp while the others dispatched the bigger threat however one still remained...

The crawler's grotesque appearance didn’t bother Red as much as it did her companion. She’d seen far worse creatures back home for this to bother her but that poison gas was gonna cause some problems if she didn’t get out of there. She laid a few rounds into the bottom of the raised-up monstrosity as she scrambled to back up, holding her other arm in front of her face to try and limit her contact as much as she could and hoped the effects were minor. 

She backed up to Tora as much as she could. [color=af1f1c]“If you’ve got any good ways of keeping its attention I can get around behind it where that gas will hopefully be unable to reach and I’ll lay into it hard.” [/color]

As the mercenary fell back, Tora went in. "That Tora specialty! Here goes!" With the Variable Saber outheld he span around the poison cloud, scorching more of the lesser vermin. Once in range he raked the despicable crawler with a series of fire strikes. He strafed around it to avoid counterattack as he swung, swung, paused, swung, swung, pause, until the foul odor of burnt flesh stung his nose. The crawler did not burst into flame and none of the damage he dealt appeared to be definitive, but he was doing his job. Red could take action unimpeded.

Perfect. Tora was providing just the opportunity that Red needed, plus he was surprisingly good in a fight too. With the distraction In place it wasn’t too hard for Red to get around to the back of the eldritch creature and hopefully avoid the noxious gas. And with this opportunity she practically leaped onto it and started slicing into it as hard as she could, tentacles be damned. If she could get it bleeding then all the better. 

A furious barrage of hacks and chops carved chunks from the crawler, whittling it down piece by piece. Even if the freakish thing could have come straight out of a nightmare, it was still a creature of matter at the end of the day, and not an especially quick or durable one at that. The pieces continued to twitch and squirm long after Red parted them from the whole, but soon enough she'd dealt enough damage that the leftovers could inflict more harm. She got off light in comparison, with only a few lashed cuts and a minor poisoning, and Tora fared about the same albeit with a little extra poison in his system. 

Still, Tora and Poppi remained alert. The small fry continued to attack, jumping at the intruders in their domain to try and pierce them with stabbing tendrils. With her mechanical reflexes and inorganic nature Poppi lent Tora a hand, and when the pair got enough meter, the Nopon passed the Variable Saber. "Burn away corruption!" Tora called, and Poppi went in. Wings extended from her back as she jetted around, transitioning between fiery slashes and shotgun blasts of concentrated heat. Her assault seared the black corruption, which shrieked and shrank back, until the main eye bulged wide from the pain.

[color=A30000][i]'Now it's time to prove yourself.'[/i][/color] Laharl watched the eye, it's pained look a delicious sight for him to take in [color=A30000][i]'I'll enjoy this so much.'[/i][/color] he thought to himself with a malicious grin. Without a second thought he launched himself at the eye with a running start, his fist leaving a trail of flame as he struck the eye with a lethal blow.

The corruption howled as the boy's fist sunk into the eye, his combined heat and strength bursting it in a shower of murky yellow viscera. All around, the black slime scorched by Poppi's efforts retreated. It relinquished the stony ground, stained by its foul presence, foot by foot. A victory--or so it seemed. Tora noticed with furrowed brows that the corruption didn't seem to be dying, but instead retreating. A moment later the oozing darkness fully withdrew into a shelter that lay hidden until now, buried beneath the mass, and as the corruption filled it the heavy stone body began to rise. It heaved itself from the cistern walkway and into the canal with a tremendous splash. A bulky construct of carved stone, dissimilar to the slender metal guardians employed by the Grimleal and out of place with the style of Al Mamoon as a whole, the [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darksiders/images/9/9c/Corrupted_Custodian_(2).jpg]Corrupted Custodian[/url] still loomed over the pest controllers from the canal, corruption weeping from its eyes. Tora's own were wide open in surprise, and he barely rolled in time to avoid an overhead slam that cracked the ground. He slashed at it with the Variable Saber, but the blade of flame did about as much damage as it might to an actual boulder. "Tough customer! Need Poppi Alpha." He warned the others, but as Poppi changed to her defensive form in a whirlwind of ribbons and sparks the Custodian raised its arms to smash the others flat.

[center][h3]Al Mamoon - Palatial Gallery[/h3]
[@Zoey Boey] [@Yankee][/center]

With a clear destination in mind Primrose and Panther made short work of the streets between them and the museum the lady thief now knew to be the one from her memory. Sure enough, as it drew near, she found herself staring up at those decadent blocks with the same contempt she felt back then. “Like that pyramid, this gallery -this Palace, really- was born from distorted cognition,” she explained to Primrose as they jogged closer. “This one belonged to a man with a legendary reputation as a painter and mentor, but we found out the truth: that he plagiarized the works of the young students he took in, stealing away their futures. So if we see an old man in a golden robe, don’t be afraid to beat him up!”

After finding the main gate stuck fast the pair came to a momentary standstill. On either side stood crowds of ordinary albeit panicked-looking people, those within eager to get out and those without eager to help, but no amount of manpower seemed able to dislodge the door. Rather than contend with the throng the two hung back by the wall, where a boost from Primrose’s handy Hippowdon got them up and over into the museum’s side garden. For the sake of mobility Panther changed into her Phantom Thief attire upon landing, then hurried toward and around the main building. 

They reached the central courtyard just a few moments after Jesse returned Mona’s head to its rightful size, and thus arrived to see the masked feline jumping for joy. It set a jovial mood that instantly put Panther’s worries at ease as she glanced around everyone gathered. Mona, Joker, Skull, and Necronomicon all accounted for, though something was a little different about the alien spaceship she couldn’t quite put her finger on. The last person was a redhead, but as much as Panther missed Futaba, there was no mistaking this woman as both an adult and a stranger. She held a device that took Panther a moment to identify as a weird revolver, but if the others didn’t seem to mind, neither did she. “Hey guys!” she called as she jogged up, waving. “How’s it going?”

“Heya, Panth! Prim!” Skull greeted as the Thieves and their acquaintance turned to face the new arrivals, though for now Skull had eyes for Panther alone. “Whoa, I like the outfit. Makes you look like some kinda priestess.”

Panther laughed. “Oh, is that so? Well, if you’ve got any confessions, I’ll hear ‘em out!”

“H-huh? Now?!” All of a sudden Skull looked a little flustered. “Ain’t that something better said, uh, in private, or something?”

“What?”

“Save it. We’ve got a couple things to take care of, including a job to do,” Joker announced, getting his group’s attention. “First, just to get you two up to speed, we managed to catch this criminal-” He tilted his head at the old scientist, who gave a thin smile. “And apparently he’s worth a whopping thousand gold.”

Panther’s just dropped and her eyes shone. “You for real!? We’re rich!” She wiped the stars from her eyes and composed herself. “And I mean, that’s awesome. I think miss Midna mentioned that bounty, but I never thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell we’d find the guy.”

Thanking Panther with a smile, Joker continued. “Second, this is Jesse Faden, and she was just asking about, well, things.” He then addressed Jesse face-to-face. “And yeah, there’s something strange going on. The world has been engulfed by distortion, a spell placed over every soul. I won’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but that includes you, too. If you want to see the light, I’m afraid we’d have to beat the curse out of you. But that can come later.” He turned until he faced the second part of the Museum of Vanity, its much bigger, opulent, and distorted portion. “Before we do anything else, we Thieves need to search this place. I’ve got a strong suspicion one of our own is trapped here. You can take this man to the palace and hold onto the reward for us if you like, or join us inside while Necronomicon keeps hold of him.”

“So that’s why you came here,” Panther ruminated. “You’re trying to find Yu-, uh, I mean, Fox.” She nodded, eyes determined beneath her mask. “I’m in! If there’s even a chance he’s in there, I’ll gladly go through it again.”

Skull pounded his fists together. “Hell yeah! Let’s leave Madarame a few bruises while we’re at it!”

“Looks like it’s unanimous,” Mona announced as he regarded Jesse and Primrose in turn. “How about you two? Coming with, or heading out?”

[center][h3]Sectonia[/h3]
[@Archmage MC][/center]

When it came time to buckle down and solve the conundrum of the mimic, Sectonia used her newly-gotten knowledge of the area, her own unique abilities, and her royal wit to concoct a simple and effective strategy. It was a sound plan, and one that would have met with eventual but guaranteed success if not for one tiny problem she overlooked, which naturally revealed itself mere minutes into the mission.

As Sectonia lounged around at the outskirts of the operation, awaiting results an antlion returned to her with a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dofus/images/1/19/Merchant.png]long-eared merchant[/url] in tow. Even from this distance the irate look on his face was apparent. It took only a moment to spot and identify the big bug that must obviously be in charge of the rest, and the merchant hurried her way. “Hey, these are yours, right? What’s the big idea, sending these things barging into warehouses, hitting all the crates? They’re private property!” he warned her.

Provided the wasp queen promptly went ahead and explained what she was doing, the merchant raised an eyebrow. He took note of both her confusion and her unfamiliarity, taking her to be an outsider, so he crossed his arms and explained. “I guess you must be new in town? Well, ever since the so-called Resistance started pillaging, some Ruin Sentinels got sent over to guard the warehouses. Unauthorized entry provokes them, see? And if the intruder doesn’t leave, they attack. So unless you want your bugs smeared over the cobblestones, you better call them back!”

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (33/40)
[b]Location:[/b] Bottomless Sea
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Frog's [@Dark Cloud], Mirage’s [@Potemking], Mr. L’s [@ModeGone]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1583[/center]

Trying to shake off the dread that crept over her when she thought of traveling deep underwater, Nadia refocused on her surroundings. Like her the others were trying to figure out this unfamiliar structure and consider the options that lay before them. Some, of course, found it tougher than others. By now Nadia knew she should already expect that, since Geralt came from a time totally devoid of modern technology, he couldn’t make heads or tails of the great shaft at the low point of the seabase. After Sakura tested the acoustic qualities of the pit in a rather endearingly childlike way, Nadia gave the Witcher a hand. “Oh, it’s just an elevator, I think. They’re handy devices that can move ya up and down inside buildings. Just stand on the platform, press a button, and down you go!” she told him. “Just make sure ya hold on, ‘cause this one seems pretty dang unsafe and if you fall off, well...you’re shafted!”

Back toward the main group, discussion briefly turned away from the path ahead to who the heroes might leave behind. From the team lunch Nadia knew that neither former Abyssal, or Link now for that matter, could move around that well on land. Logically speaking Peach could just take the Abyssal from Link, but that hardly solved the whole problem. Shippy, of course, couldn’t even leave the water, much less fit down that elevator shaft.

The same line of thinking occurred to Peach, who preceded Bowser back into the rain. She made for the living vessel, who currently struggled to stay close to the dock without striking it, and waved for the attention of her figurehead. “Hey! “Scuse me! Although we really appreciate all the help so far, there’s a chance we might be able to cross the Bottomless Sea by going beneath. Do you think you’d be able to make it back to Limsa on your own?”

Shippy considered the question seriously. “Maybe. I can avoid any danger I come across, but I would have trouble defending myself if it came to that.” After a brief pause she gave a suggestion of her own. “However, I think I can go underwater myself. I haven’t done it yet but I’m pretty sure I can, since I was given an Abyssal spirit. Although, since it’s only a little Abyssal in me it would be pretty slow, and my composition may not be suited to the water pressure.” Peach took the news into account, but did not expand her options. Monster-infested depths were not something to brave with a shoddy submarine.

Meanwhile, the Koopa King and his Hylian helper had approached the zonked-out guards with a mind to wheedle some information out of them. Nadia watched from the threshold of the seabase so as to put off getting drenched again, and could not help but snicker as Bowser went through an increasingly forceful gamut of methods to wake the two up. Finally, right after he resorted to light slaps, the pair jolted awake to freeze in alarm beneath his glare. With the authority of a man in charge Bowser berated them and their performance, then added a threat to report their misconduct to their supervisor. He spoke and acted with utmost genuineness, but when he relented to await their response, he was taken aback by what they said.

Both babbled their replies in totally unknown languages. The Grineer at least spoke in words, albeit alien ones, but the Scuttler just made indecipherable gurgling and honking noises. Neither seemed eager to try and reach for the small melee weapons, a cleaver and a club respectively, that lay at their feet, but what they told Bowser didn’t exactly help either.

After a few moments of this, a mechanical noise sounded out from behind Nadia, making her jump. She glanced over to where Jr and Sakura fiddled with the terminal’s less-than-perfectly labeled controls. “Nice, you got it working?” But the sudden activation came as much of a surprise to them, which put Nadia on alert. It looked like the confusion with the guards would need to be shelved for the time being. “Uh oh. Guys, someone’s comin’ up!”

She took a few steps back from the edge of the elevator and raised her claws in a fighting stance. Peach readied her weapon and got into position. When the lift arrived a few moments later, it leveled with the floor moaning under the combined weight of a bizarre load of passengers. Rather than jump into a fight, or even move forward at all, the group huddled together for safety, naked fear on their flabby faces. The tension ebbed from Nadia’s muscles as she straightened up. These things didn’t look like they could fight even if they wanted to. They were uniformly about five feet in height and almost as wide as they were tall, pitifully obese mockeries of people with sagging, sallow flesh. For more reasons than that, however, she did not feel comfortable calling them ‘human’. Though there were more than a dozen Nadia could only count three distinct varieties, two bald males and one female with a drab brown bun, and those of each variety were all uncannily identical to one another.

“What are you doing here? Who are you people?” Peach tried asking them, but the strange people only grunted and groaned. Like hogs. The elevator platform creaked beneath them.

A whooping noise went up from a device mountain on the wall and a screen lit up to show an [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warframe/images/4/49/TylRegor.png]unknown figure[/url] in molded sea-green armor that matched the styling of the structure. “Whatever is the matter?” he questioned in a deep, bassy voice. “We haven’t got all day, so get a move on, you...oh?” The yellow lenses in his helmet refocused on the Seekers in the hall. “Well, well, well. As if today wasn’t special enough already. Who might you be?”

Peach hesitated for a moment, but kept in mind everything the others had said. She needed to avoid every fight possible and reason with everyone who seemed at all reasonable. “I’m Princess Peach, and this is my crew,” she told the stranger, borrowing a nautical term. “Who are you? What is this place?”

“I am Tyl Regor, and this is my sealab. But my business here is my own. What do you want?”

“We’re trying to get across the Bottomless Sea to challenge its boss.” Peach Peach kept her tone as polite as she could as she asked, “Would it be possible for you to grant us safe passage beneath the waves?”

“Oho, are you now?” Tyl drawled, sounding amused. “Well, that may be difficult. I am but one of the four lords under the sea, and I hold sway only over my sealab. For now, anyway. We don’t exactly get along, you see. Regardless, the things in these waters are rather powerful, so much so that many could be called a boss, but [i]the[/i] boss, hmm...would that I could say it was I, but perhaps you seek the eye of the storm.” His voice betrayed his intrigue. “I...suppose, if you are not here to sabotage my lab or trouble my wondrous Tubemen, it wouldn’t hurt to let you through. In return for a favor, that is.”

Peach put away her weapon. “And what might that be?”

“All in good time. For now, please let my, ah...Guests, pass in peace. I’ve got someone coming to pick them up. Right now, in fact!”

The sound of a horn, long and low, cut through the storm outside. With a glance at Peach and the others Nadia sprinted back up the hallway to stop on the threshold again and peer out across the landing platform through the mist and rain. For a moment she could see nothing but darkness, but a flash of lightning split the heavens, and it illuminated a dark pillar atop a mound--a [url=https://res.cloudinary.com/lmn/image/upload/c_limit,h_360,w_640/e_sharpen:100/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1/gameskinnyc/u/n/t/untitled-120ca.jpg]lone smokestack atop a stony isle[/url], bulling under its own power through the water as it drew ever closer. As baffled as she was intimidated by the impossible sight, Nadia tensed up and watched as the island began to rise. The island became the hat atop a much larger, hulking dome of haphazard metal plates even larger than the sealab’s tower, and Nadia realized it wasn’t an island, but a mammoth ship. As it approached, higher and higher out of the water, a gaping mouth swung open from its front. It came to rest against the sealab’s dock, and within the mouth a portal popped open. Yellow light flooded from within, followed shortly by a narrow bridge extending to the deck. The Guests, as Tyl Regor called them, waddled like herded sheep toward the bridge and made their way up, single file.

“Taken aback?” the sealab’s master chuckled. “It is indeed impressive, though not half as much as my Tubemen. I’ve no doubt that a luxurious stay aboard the Maw would be sweeter -and faster- than plumbing the depths, but my offer still stands. Find me in my atrium below if you’re interested. So long for now~” The screen blinked off, leaving Blue Team to watch the guests climb into the Maw and rethink their options.

Nadia gave a heavy sigh of resignation. “So our choices are, try to sail Shippy through the storm and drown, climb in this weird scary ship and drown, or work our way through four underwater bases and really, really drown. ‘Water’ we waitin’ for, eh?” She crossed her arms and shook her head.