[center][h3]Team Mao[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc.
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Mao’s [@Potemking], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud], Joker, Mona, Fox, Necronomicon, Braum[/center]

Ciella’s radial riptide scattered the entrenched rebels and allowed her newfound allies to surge forth in her wake. To prevent her enemies from regaining their foothold enough to punish the newcomers’ collective headlong sprint into the action, Sectonia unleashed magic of her own to trap the Resistance fighters in a field that cut their speed in half and left them sitting ducks for the greater numbers of her own team. Their attempts to counterattack despite the slow found further impediment from the Vibrava’s Bulldoze and Bug Buzz, and the Seekers could proceed unchallenged. Mao and Laharl bore down on the Dragonborn while Midna charged at Jinx and Fuse to split them up, with Jesse’s super-sized office desk aimed to help put the minigunner down for the count.

At the same time the Phantom Thieves rushed the last two rebels down, with Braum at their front to absorb incoming fire and Necronomicon at their back to propel the whole group onward. “Support incoming!” the Persona called. “Speed up!” At her command the prayer spell Masukukaja took hold, increasing the speed of all four. Though the gunners opened fire and the Dragonborn produced a bow, the combined efforts of Ciella, Sectonia, and Necronomicon allowed their team to score free hits on the opposition. Mao’s thrown sword might have ripped the Dragonborn a new one if not for his bow, which took the hit from Mao's weapon and split on Dragonborn's behalf. Brash as his maneuver was, Laharl managed to land both blazing strikes right afterward, dealing a chunk of damage with each that the final Star strike from Mao turned into a boatload. The swordsman flew backward, as burned as he was battered, and a moment later Jinx joined him, smashed by a chair and then Jesse’s desk in quick succession.

At the same time, a hailstorm of pain from Mona’s slingshot as he rode on Braum’s shoulder culminated in a heavy shield slam from the man himself, followed by a blast of Zorro’s gale winds for good measure. Shadow struck out at Fox but only managed to trigger the swordsman's counterattack, receiving a flurry of cuts from his colorful new katana before Joker followed up. He came down with a spinning overhead slash and an unceremonious kick to send Shadow on his way. The rebels slid to a stop against the back wall to see a wall of enemies advancing toward them, with Sectonia’s minions filling out their ranks.

Amara’s fist struck the ground in slow-motion rage. “We’re toast if this damn slow keeps up!” she belted out as quickly as she could.

Beside her, Shadow rose to his feet, glowering like his life depended on it. “I’ll handle this.” As the dark hedgehog rose into the air the energies of chaos itself swirled and pulsed around him. After one revolution he faced the incoming Seekers in defiance, and growled, “Chaos...control!”

A wave of crackling power expanded outward, Shadow at its epicenter. Unblockable, undodgeable, it washed over the invaders and twisted their time without mercy. The inexorable distortion bogged the Seekers and their allies down to a crawl, making the half-speed Resistance fast by comparison.

With the tables turned, the rebels rose to see their enemies barely moving. Shadow floated above them all, his concentration vital to the time-field's sustenance. “Remember, stasis,” he snarled. “So just patch yourselves up. Then we'll break it together and finish this.” Dutifully the Dragonborn put away his weapons and conjured restorative magic from the palms of his hands to restore his whole team to full, while the rest reloaded their weapons. As infuriating as that was, Joker at least figured that meant the jack-of-all-trades Dragonborn would be deprived of magic, but his hopes were dashed as the warrior pulled out a blue potion and chugged it.

Guns at the ready, the rebels sauntered right up to the Seekers, full of confidence. “Heeheehee,” Jinx giggled, a minigun in one hand and a rocket launcher in the other. “Didja think you were the only ones with some tricks up your sleeves? You jokers musta had it easy 'til now. Shame you'll be too busy paintin' the walls to learn your lesson!”

Amara lowered her own weapon and spread her arms. Magic welled up at her back and took on the form of six tough-looking, primed and ready to let loose one hell of a beatdown. She squared up against Ciella, took in the rabbit lady's enraged expression, and gave the sort of grin only one about to deliver long-awaited comeuppance could muster.. “You've been ridin' our asses long enough, mega-bitch. 'Bout time you took a nap. But you can rest easy knowin' that Spirit of yours is gonna look good on me.”

With a shrug and cocky smile Fuse unshouldered his rifle, then took aim at Midna's head. From his current position, a shot straight through her head would score a collateral shot on Jesse. Evidently he hadn't taken kindly to their thrown furniture. “Sorry, cuties. Them's the breaks.”

“I'll squash the bugs.” Shadow extended his open hand, then clenched it. “Time, resume your flow!”

Chaos Control ended with a bang. Streams of lightning from the hands of the Dragonborn joined the fusillade of gunfire from Jinx and Fuse, while Amara pummeled Ciella with a flurry of blows. Only Shadow acted on his own, teleporting to Sectonia and Necronomicon in quick succession and bringing them with him. A moment later the three floated above the building itself, with the hedgehog dealing his collected enemies a kick to disperse them. He smirked at them, crossing his arms. “Shoulda been more careful. Bad things happen to those who mess with time.”

Necronomicon reeled, taken totally by surprise. “Yipes! I'm not a combat Persona! Sectonia, can you cover me while I get away?”

“It's no use trying to escape.” Shadow pulled out twin pistols, holding them akimbo. “You lost the moment you challenged me.”

The Persona reeled. “Gahhh! He's so edgyyy! Change of plan, let's take him down!”

Down in the office building, things weren't quite as dire as Joker first thought. Unlucky for the local Legend, Fuse's first shot struck Midna's Fused Shadow right in the eye and failed to penetrate. Then she was free from the grip of distorted time, allowing Midna to move enough to stop subsequent shots being lethal. Everyone got a taste of Jinx's minigun barrage, and though the individual shots were by no means show-stoppers, the damage racked up quickly. The Dragonborn's lightning hurt a whole lot, but he couldn't keep it up for long. Knowing that her team's onslaught would peter out, Jinx elected to finish on a strong note and fired her rocket launcher to blow the Seekers to kingdom come. Yet despite all the punishment coming their way, the invaders were far from beaten. Braum's unfaltering shield helped his team weather the storm, and together the Phantom Thieves shadow-dashed back out from cover, ready to help the Seekers fight back.

And fight back they did, starting with Ciella. In the midst of Amara's barrage she brought up a leg as if to knee her attacker in the jaw, which the brawler deftly swerved to avoid. Ciella then brought the leg down in a water-infused stomp that swept Amara's feet out from under her while they weren't planted. The skillful Siren caught herself before she could hit the ground, but a moment's reprieve was all Ciella needed. She swung her longbow like a club, forcing her foe to catch it with her summoned arms, then blasted forward on another riptide that drove Amara before her. She continued until her torrent slammed the Siren against the back wall, smashing through the area an earlier impact had cracked, and both disappeared into the conference room.

With two detachments gone, eight marauders stood against three rebels. As Mao and Laharl rallied to go another round with the Dragonborn, the warrior unleashed another Shout, but the Heart of the Freljord laughed in the face of unrelenting force and planted his shield. With unyielding fortitude Braum withstood the dragon's fury, giving the little Overlords the chance to get past their enemy's magic and go toe-to-toe. Even when backed into a corner, however, the Dragonborn wielded a vast array of talents and weapons that would demand everything his opponents had.

That left five against two, and the Phantom Thieves had no intention of letting anyone else do their work for them. “The crazy lady's ours!” Mona declared as he, Joker, and Fox raced forward through a torrent of gunfire.

His announcement seemed to amuse his prospective opponent. “You wish!” she derided. As the Thieves dashed between cover she reduced the desks and tables to splinters one at a time, eyes and smile wide with livewire energy. A trio of shots rang out from Joker's new pistol and narrowly missed her spindly frame, eliciting another laugh. “Gotta get closer than that, boys! C'mere 'n get Jinxed!”

Meanwhile, Fuse looked uneasily between Midna and Jesse, an ordinary-looking man matched up against two supernatural powerhouses. “Now hold on a second ladies, I think we mighta got off on the wrong foot here...!” He broke off and performed a hero dive behind a row of mostly intact cubical dividers, moving quickly so that Jesse couldn't just snatch his cover away. When he got to his feet he held a [url=https://i.imgur.com/JdakGkw.png]futuristic pistol[/url] in his hands, apparently tucked away there for later, and he ran he wasted no time opening fire to get his opponents' heads down. Several shots struck Jesse, inflicting more than enough damage to get her below the threshold for a Friend Heart. Midna could free her now, but if she did Fuse might make it to a better position, and who knew how many more guns he had hidden around.

[center][h3]Team Kan-Ra[/h3]
Level 9 Tora (27/90) Level 8 Poppi (97/80) Level 3 Big Band (17/30)
[b]Location:[/b] Al Mamoon Northwest - Obelisk Temple
Yoshitune's [@Rockin Strings], Fox’s [@Dawnrider], Primrose’s [@Yankee], Tora and Poppi, Big Band, Kan-Ra, Panther, Skull
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1124 (Band) 1284 (Tora and Poppi) [/center]

Scattered by a surprise explosion and assaulted on all sides, Kan-Ra's team needed to act fast to avoid getting crushed, but they had just the right people for the job. With the protection of Big Band to the north and Tora plus Poppi to the east, Primrose seized the opportunity to perform an empowering dance. Her new scarf fluttered behind her as she pivoted and swirled, filling with enchantment as she did, until every inch of the lovely dancer and her garb alike shone with mystic energy. At her touch Band nodded, readying himself, but even the storied detective didn't quite anticipate what the heroine behind him had in store. With a grace that belied her sheer power Primrose channeled her magnified magic through her pyromancy flame, and as she struck the ground a fount of primordial, oil-black flame burst forth. It lunged forward like a predator on the hunt, a riotous column of abyssal fire, and wound down the corridor toward the petrified rebels.

Understandably perhaps, the rebels wanted nothing to do with it, and as they felt the heat of the dark pyromancy they jolted into action. Daisy ceased fire and bolted through the hidden door, followed by Earthquake squeezing through as fast as his circumference allowed him to. Barely a second later the Stygian blaze careened by, like a subway train past the platform, and the Resistance fighters sighed in relief. Sickle in hand, Earthquake poked his head through the door, and for his troubles took a heaping portion of brass knuckles to the face. With a garbled cry and a bloody nose he tumbled backward, which in turn elicited a scream from the much smaller rebel behind him, and as the two rolled down the stairs Band in the doorway, silhouetted by the torchlight. As surprised as he'd been to see the team's unassuming dancer conjure such a terrifying spell, Band didn't let that opportunity go to waste, and he wouldn't allow this one to, either.

At the bottom of the stairs lay an open room on what must be the fourth floor, and there Earthquake's immense bulk came to a stop, his ally pinned beneath his weight. With a little mechanical arm Band straightened his hat, then stomped down the stairs to finish the job.

“Ughhhh...” the heavy ninja moaned, rubbing his head. As he shook the stars out he saw the trench-coated detective that decked him duck out of the stairway. “You...!”

Big Band deployed a giant pedal that flipped forward and smacked Earthquake right in the belly. “Getcho ass up,” he scolded, and with a growl his foe rolled over. Doing so revealed Daisy partially cratered in the masonry, as unconscious as one could get. Band shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Little sister deserved a better shot than that.” He narrowed his eyes at Earthquake as the two giants squared off, a good old-fashioned showdown in the works. A grinding sound from behind him alerted him to a trick wall sliding shut to block the exit. “You gonna shoot yours?”

“Smug asshole!” the ninja growled. “I'll kill ya!” He hurled his chain-scythe at Band's legs, forcing a crouch-block, then jumped. With uncanny agility Earthquake took to the air, scraping up against the ceiling, then came down rear-first to squash Band the same way he'd done Daisy.

“Well, you needn't.” With Primrose powering him up as she planned, Band got ready to rumble. Earthquake's attack was so telegraphed that Band had no trouble parrying it for a little extra tension, but after hitting the ground the first time the ninja bounced back up for another slam, and if Primrose pelted him with magic she'd reveal a hidden trump card to Earthquake's ridiculous attack: normal attacks could not interrupt it. Armed with this new information along with his ally's buffs, Band opted to bide his time and parry the second butt-bounce. On his enemy's third and lowest bounce Band went in with Take the A Train anti-air command grabbed Earthquake right out of the air with a giant mechanical arm. Its trombone pounded twice for extra damage, then drove home a third impact like a pile bunker. The ninja bellowed in pain as he took another tumble, ripe for a follow-up attack from Primrose.

That extra punishment, however, pushed him over the edge, and with a shout of anger he threw down a smoke bomb. The next second he rolled forward from the smoke at high speed, a wrecking ball of destruction. Band raised his eyebrow, then stepped out of the way. Earthquake shot right by and into the solid stone wall behind him hard enough to send chunks of hieroglyphic-inscribed masonry flying. When the dust cleared he lay there, stunned, no extra work from either Band nor Primrose necessary. The detective sniffed and shook his head again. “Hmph. Jive-ass dude ain't got no brains, anyhow.”

He took a look around. This section of the temple's fourth floor didn’t seem adjacent to the central area, or very temple-like at all, for that matter. It was dark, undecorated, dingy even. It seemed a whole lot more like a dungeon, and since it could only be accessed by secret passageway, Band couldn’t help but wonder if this place harbored a dark history. His examination got interrupted by a sudden magic light and noise from Earthquake, and when he looked over he spotted a golden magic circle around the fallen man's body for a moment before both he and it disappeared. A second later Daisy followed suit. Band turned to the trick wall to go back, but it didn't budge, even when he punched it. “...Don't these usually open once the fight's over? Huh. Guess we'll get a move on and find some stairs deeper in.” He kept implicit his assumption that the other teams had things handled on their front as he turned back to head farther in.

What he found did not please him. The chamber’s solid construction gave way to a [url=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-unFcbpE4t1s/VqqVY0-99cI/AAAAAAAAAqE/rDmYJSAeWTA/s640/Sens_fortress.jpg]perilous bridge[/url] protected by nothing less than swinging axes. When he approached he discovered that the pit beneath went a long way down, though not so long that he couldn’t see the shine of mud at the bottom. He fixed the pit with an annoyed look, for all the good it did. “No way I'm gettin’ through that nonsense.” Even if his timpany boosters were working, he doubted he had enough room to rocket right over the hazards to the exit. To make matters worse, the only exit at the end of the bridge featured an [url=https://tombraiders.net/stella/images/blog/challenge2/TRLR-spike-trap.jpg]honest-to-God spike ring[/url], making the wall all but impassable to someone of his size and agility. He deployed a little arm to scratch his nose. “How'd those fools make it through...?”

[hr]

While Band and Primrose attended to Earthquake and Daisy, the others had their own problems to deal with. After Yoshitsune's first attempt at a charge resulted in a sound pelting by red-hot rocks, Panther took the lead as she and Skull rushed down the west corridor, weathering Charnok's spells with ease thanks to her near-immunity to fire. Once Skull got in range he called forth his Persona to take over. “Captain Kidd! Run 'em over!” At his command the skeletal pirate hurtled the rest of the way atop his floating ship. Despite the rebels' best attempts to stop him Kidd dealt the pair a weighty slam. Charnok and Beast elected to retreat, hurried on their way by the rattle of Panther's new SMG. As their foes disappeared around the corner, the Phantom Thieves gave chase.

On the other side Tora and Poppi continued to mop up corpse spiders, smashing them to pulp one at a time. Kan-Ra lent them his aid by placing sand traps ahead of them, and when spiders scuttled by he called upon his sorcery to bring form scorpion tails and antlion jaws of sand from his traps. The magical constructs not only pierced and crushed the spiders but cursed them, making their jumps slower and floatier, which in turn made them easy pickings for Tora and Poppi. They made short work of the arachnid threat, but not short enough for someone's tastes.

A battle cry sounded out as Red leaped over Tora and Poppi's heads, landed on a spider, then jumped over Kan-Ra's sand traps to barrel down the corridor toward the rebels. Tora waved frantically to try and get her to stop, but the mercenary wasn't even looking his way. “ Meh, meh, meh! Wait, wait!” he implored her. “Didn't friend learn last time!? Let protectors go first!”

If Red heard she gave no sign, which Tora figured he should have expected. They'd worked together before, and it worked out well, but by now it was clear she didn't care much for his ideas of how teams should work—just the enemy before her. As she sprinted forward she fired her pistol again and again, her first shot putting a hole in the Witch Doctor's shoulder. The jar she held fell and cracked open at her feet, but before her spiders could cause any problems the young man behind her sliced through all four at once with a single sweep of his swordblade. “Step aside, old lady,” he told her as he brushed past. “This a job for Dante the Demon Killer.”

Beneath her mask the Witch Doctor must have looked affronted. “I am not so old, and don't you dare speak down to me! I know a thing or two that would leave you crying for mama, little boy.”

“Me?” Dante smirked. “Not in a million years.” As Red ran toward him he nonchalantly dodged out of the way of her shots, then squeezed off a few of his own. The twin handguns he manifested put out a boatload of bullets to soften Red up as she grew closer. He then switched back to his sword and swung it in a reverse grip, releasing waves of red energy that traveled across the ground. The mercenary dodged all three and came down on Dante with an overhead axe swing he only barely intercepted with his sword.

“Oooh,” he drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Nearly got me with-!” A headbutt from Red both threw and pissed him off, and with sudden strength Dante pushed her back. As he spun his sword morphed into a [url=https://i.imgur.com/1SNu9GX.png]demonic axe[/url], just in time for the two weapons to clash in a tremendous impact. Dante’s sheer strength won out, flung Red’s axe away, and followed through with an overhead swing strong enough to throw him into the air. The blow split the floor as a blade of demon energy carved forward, but Red twisted out of the way and leaped over. She grabbed Dante’s head and brought her pistol around to deliver a point-blank shot. As blood flew her wide-open eye blazed with victory, until Dante -very much still alive- grabbed by the hood, punched her in the guts, and hurled her back down the corridor.

Tora and Poppi ran as fast as they could, but in addition to corpse spiders the Witch Doctor invoked Grasp of the Dead to summon zombie hands. Their clawing grip seized hold of the protector’s limps and clothes, stalling until they could tear the hands off. As they struggled Dante jumped up and let loose Flush, bodily flinging Arbiter after the thrown mercenary. The axe’s weight buried it in Red’s chest in a spray of murky blood, provoking an anguished cry from Tora. “MEEEH!”

“Red!” Poppi cried, reaching out as Dante transformed his weapons into twin [url=https://i.imgur.com/oUvLEHj.png]shuriken[/url]. In a sparking blaze that burned away her captors she transformed to QT Pi mode and rocketed forward, Variable Saber in hand. Tora grabbed hold of her scarf as she zoomed past and got yanked free. In the nick of time the two flew over Red and intercepted Dante’s Aquila, returning the cyclone blades to sender.

As Poppi stood in front to defend against incoming shots Tora bent over Red, and to his relief found her still breathing. “Meeeeh...she okay!” Nopon Rescue Service  pulled her back from the brink, but she remained down for the count, and as long as Dante kept gunning for her, she wouldn’t be safe. Tora turned to join his blade on the offensive. “Alright Poppi, time for big revenge!”

“Easier said than done!” his companion warned. In front of her the Witch Doctor had conjured an entire household of horrible things to keep them at bay. Corpse spiders crawled across the walls and ceilings, undead hands reached out amid swarms of poisonous toads, and fire bats fluttered through the air alongside Dante’s gunfire. To say getting to them was a tall order would be putting it lightly.

Behind them, Kan-Ra’s smile did not fade. “I suppose I shall lend a hand.” Swirls of sand and blue magic danced around his hands as he raised them. Shadow seemed to fill the hall. “Mah...SU!” As he threw his hands up a wave of sand spikes sprouted before him, and much like Primrose’s pyromancy his magic raced down the hall towards his foes. The spikes skewered spider, toad, and hand alike in their relentless advance, and together Tora and Poppi charged down the opening they created. Their variable saber’s vibrant hum filled the air as it slashed again and again, dicing the pests Kan-Ra’s Shadow Spike missed. With a final blast they broke through and charged at Dante, but they hadn’t yet come to grips with Poppi’s new power. The swordsman countered with a well-timed upward slash that struck and carried both into the air. He pelted them with three air slashes, then brought them down with a drop slash. A [url=https://i.imgur.com/vawpaKP.png]ebony shotgun[/url] appeared in his hand and unleashed a series of blasts like fireworks, followed by a rising slash that popped them up for another brick-splitting swing from Arbiter. 

At that moment Kan-Ra rose from the sand trap his Shadow Spike left behind and snatched Dante from behind with his bandages. He threw the swearing Nephilim against the wall, then as he bounced kicked him back into it, creating another sand trap as he did. The Witch Doctor leaped from behind, surrounded by minions, but Kan-Ra exploded in a burst of sand that blasted them apart and reappeared from his new trap only a little worse for wear. “Now,” he grinned as Tora and Poppi readied themselves with a switch to the blade’s Alpha form. “Let’s try this again.”