[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], Joker, Fox, Necronomicon, Braum[/center]

When Ciella’s riptide tore across the battlefield, the furious scrap between Mao and the Dragonborn came to a momentary lull. Now that the fury of Mao’s opponent had subsided it could no longer sustain his offense, and fatigue took its toll on him along with his wounds. Nevertheless the Nord warrior composed himself to jump over the wave and deliver a falling attack. Gravity could make up for his waning strength in bringing his sword down like a sideways guillotine blade to split Mao straight down the middle. In a most unexpected turn, however, he never got the chance to try it. Rather than just evade the wave, the opportunistic Overlord used it to his advantage to propel himself forward at high speed.

All of a sudden the Dragonborn found Mao right in his face, a whole host of weapons and magic much too close for comfort. With no other options he planted his foot to withstand the raging water and resolved to bet his life on his shield. He aimed a single thrust at Mao’s head before committing to defense, but the demon’s scalpel narrowly deflected it. Simultaneously the buzz saw bit into its surface, kicking up smoke and sawdust, but Mao had a better idea for overcoming the shield than pushing his saw to the point of getting stuck. 

His magically-charged fist struck the shield in an explosive blast of power. Its cracked almost in half, but even worse for the Dragonborn than that, the force carried through and bodily smashed him into the riptide. Meanwhile, thanks to the law of equal and opposite reactions, Mao popped up safely over the wave. When he landed he could watch the Dragonborn roll to a stop near to the top edge of the arena, the shattered remains of his shield still strapped to his arm. Though battered, bleeding, and close to the brink, the Warrior picked himself up with a Herculean effort. He gripped his sword with both hands and walked forward to meet Mao once again. He possessed no more magic, and no other weapons--save one. A single talent that could turn the tides. “Zuun…[b]Haal Viik[/b]!” His shout rolled forward to strike and disarm Mao, pulling his weapons from his grasp. The axe hurled away, and his machine limbs hung limply. Despite his wounds the Dragonborn broke into a jog, headed into the ultimate round. “Your fist of flame against my steel. Let us end this!”

In the top-right quarter of the colosseum, though, Ciella’s riptide barely made an impact. It just made for the cherry on top of the pile of things Jesse had to deal with, while Oriendi hopped over without issue and it finally petered out before it reached Mordecai. Still, Jesse had been on the back foot long enough to get a grasp on what her foes could do, and it was past time she struck back. With the disruption provided by Sectonia’s magic she launched her own offensive. It began by letting loose a Shatter shot that clipped Mordecai’s hawk and forced it to beat a hasty retreat to its master. Jesse found her angle and hurled a jagged length of floor forward. The flying spear elicited a squeal of panic from Orendi, who scrambled to get out of its way, before hurtling on to force a prompt relocation from Mordecai.

While the sniper got to a new safe spot, taking the chance to reload, Orendi found refuge behind a pillar and readied her magic. Cackling to herself she positioned its area of effect perfectly for Jesse to walk right into as she rounded the column. All she needed to do was wait. After a moment, however, Orendi got the impression she was waiting a little longer than she ought to. Just then there came a terrible wrenching noise to her seven o’clock, and Orendi’s head snapped in that direction to see a chunk of the pillar headed her way. A shriek tore from her throat as she threw herself to her right, barely avoiding the projectile and nearly landing on her face.

When she rose she spotted none other than Jesse, having circled around the other direction. “Guh! Whyaren’tyouonFIRErightnow?!” All four hands shot up to unleash a fusillade of black-purple magic bolts, but Jesse had the upper hand. A concussive flashbang blew through her attack, knocked the imp head over heels, and slid her through the sand for a couple dozen feet before she came to a stop. Jesse approached for a closer shot, but as she leveled the barrel of her Service Weapon Orendi looked up with a wild grin on her scarred face. A row of black rings appeared between her and Jesse, the prelude to an incinerating magical beam. “Heeheehee, gotcha! Showmethemguts!”

In the moment she spent talking, however, before her magic came out, Jesse made a simple observation. While staring down the barrel, so to speak, she could so that the very rings that Orendi used for targeting perfectly framed the caster’s face. A shot aimed through them couldn’t possibly miss, and Jesse didn’t. The Shatter blast rang out, and with a groan Orendi’s head plopped down. One down, one to go.

Speaking of which, a sniper bullet smashed into her right shoulder. In his haste to try and stop her Mordecai had fired off a less-than-optimal shot, and his weapon still did a bunch of damage. With Jesse’s barrier newly restored by the crystals collected from Orendi, however, it was far from catastrophic. Mordecia’s bird circled overhead once more, confirming that her fight was far from over.

Meanwhile, the advent of Ciella’s awakened form on the opposite end of the battlefield garnered an immediate response from the Resistance members nearby. Even a few of the Vandals in the center turned their guns on her, taking potshots on the big target from afar. In a bid to keep Ciella from going hog wild Midna attempted to take Reinhardt, who she figured would be the Agito’s main target, for herself. In a stroke of luck Ciella began by endowing herself with a defense-boosting Karmic Shield rather than attacking, although Midna was at that point too busy with Reinhardt to notice. Her strategy worked flawlessly, and while the new-age knight struggled to pull his hammer from the grip of her hair-hand, she landed a solid blow to his head with her shield. Reinhardt saw stars as he reeled from the impact, but he did not go down, and the next Midna found herself faced with another problem.

A heavy glass flask shattered against her Fused Shadow in a burst of liquid flame. Running toward her like a lunatic, Uncle Sven threw a vial of elastic ooze at his feet and with just a small jump sprang into the air, headed her way. He slammed into Midna’s shield belly-first, bounced harmlessly off it, and hurled two flasks of purple acid from above. She could easily float out of the way, but in the midst of Sven’s potent distraction Reinhardt came around in a revolving hammer swing strong enough to break her guard even if she blocked it. Then, to add insult to injury, Shadow teleported in above her and dealt a two-footed stomp to send her straight into Sven’s acid pool.

With Sectonia still enjoying herself above the firefight in the colosseum’s center, pumping her mana into an abundance of random projectiles of varying usefulness, that gave all three Resistance fighters a chance to face the Agito. The fight began with a furious exchange of water and chaos bolts between Ciella and Shadow, while Reinhardt and Sven quickly set up their next gambit. Ciella could conjure five water arrows for the price of one, and since all ricocheted off any surface they hit, they quickly rivalled Sectonia’s own spells in quantity, but Shadow kept moving. He hurled spear after spear, until finally Reinhardt charged over a new puddle of Sven’s elastic ooze and launched into the air. The titan of a man soared skyward, a breathtaking feat of teamwork, and like a rocket-powered train rammed into the harpy midair. With a mighty downward swing of his faithful weapon he cried, “Hammer DOWN!” and struck Ciella head-on. Her barrier shattered, and she plummeted to the ground.

The Agito was, however, a lot lighter than she looked. Her landing hurt nowhere near as bad as it sounded, and though Reinhardt started swinging, she rose back off the ground a moment later. Ciella wasted no time firing off Bolts From Above, an attack that promised to deal incredible damage if its targets did not escape its telltale AoE. Once out of her acid bath, Midna would need to intervene to spare Reinhardt and Uncle Sven the same punishment that spelled the end for Amara.

Meanwhile, Shadow turned his attention to Sectonia. As if the egomaniacal insect didn’t bug him enough already, she just had to go and start being a nuisance with random projectiles--his least favorite kind of projectile. As her Ice Antlions got into a firefight with the Vandals in the arena’s center, Shadow floated up to face her. “It’s about time I shut you up for good!” he yelled, and as she let loose a lightning bolt he hurled a paralytic Chaos Spear. The two traded blows, and the sudden electrocution made Shadow grit his teeth. “Rgh! Think you’re hot shit, do you? Well, here’s a news flash, weakling!”

With the mission on the line, Shadow could not afford to hold back. He unleashed the power of Chaos Control, freezing Sectonia in time. Flying around her, he deposited the Solar grenades he’d stolen from Nastasia’s Vandals while not being bothered by Ciella’s Riptide. He then teleported in front of her, and with a snap of his fingers kicked time back into motion. “You’re toast!” The final moment of the grenades’ fuses passed before they detonated in a chain-reaction of fiery destruction.

Even as a spectacular lightshow went off overhead, the Phantom Thieves could not distract themselves from their own fight. The number of Vandals Nastasia summoned quickly got overwhelming, and though Braum arrived in heroic fashion to lend the Thieves his shield, so too did Shayne and Aurox crash the party. With Fuse still in the mix, things were more chaotic than ever, and nobody could afford to take their eyes off Nastasia herself for long lest she get close enough to bring them under her hypnotic control.

Chased by mass gunfire from the Vandals, Fox slid to a stop behind Braum shield, joining Joker in the only refuge they had. Laser fire pinged off their ally’s mighty tower shield, unable to scratch it, but they couldn’t exactly launch an offense, either. “We appear to be pinned down,” Fox observed. Rather than reply, Joker looked over his friend’s shoulder to see Shayne and Aurox incoming. He pushed Fox aside and rolled sideways in time to avoid the enemy teenager’s boomerang, but a moment later Shayne reached melee range, and Aurox lashed out with scythelike claws. They sliced into Braum’s torso, provoking a grunt of pain even as the mustached guardian held firm. If Braum fell, Joker knew, there would be nothing between them and the Vandal battalion. They’d be done for.

He slid forward beneath the horror’s arm and lunged for Shayne with his knife extended, only for his blade to be caught by the punk’s own. “Nuh-uh! Get ‘em, Aurox!”

“I will ELIMINATE your physical form!” her companion snarled, lashing out with such fury that Joker nearly backpedaled into the open. As Aurox pounced on Fox, and after Fox helped Joker up they faced Shayne and Aurox two on two.

“Guys!” Necronomicon called. “That monster is an energy being cobbling together a body out of rocks! Max him out and he’ll de-manifest!”

They traded a handful of blows, knife and katana against claws and boomerang. Without any room to work with, the thieves were on the back foot until they called forth their Personas to deliver blasts of Curse and Ice, which left Shayne more incredulous than anything. “You’ve got them, too!?” Joker ignored her and let loose with his new hand cannon. Aurox crossed his arms to defend his host, with each bullet chipping away at his stony arms, but while he defended his front Fox summoned Goemon to deliver a powerful overhead Tempest Slash with his pipe. After getting clobbered Aurox roared out, “Grrrrr! I am a RAGING HATE FURNACE of INFINITE POWER!” and hurled both himself and Shayne forward in a dizzying spin slash, but both Phantom Thieves jumped into the air. Joker plugged Aurox’s head with a charged shot, blowing him back, and Fox fell with a slice down the pair’s front. After landing he followed up with a quick spin slash that faced him away from them, and sheathed his blade. A shattering sound rang out as Aurox unsummoned, and Shayne staggered, groaning, for just a moment before Joker dropped her with an elbow to the head.

He and Fox stood there for a moment, victorious, until they realized that the shooting had stopped. They turned forward again to watch Braum slump to his knees, and when they looked up found Nastasia sitting calmly on top of his shield, one leg crossed. “Yeah, that was cool and all, but you’re pretty much done for.”

A half-dozen Vandals fanned out to either side of the shield, their weapons trained on Joker and Fox. Nastasia smiled politely. “Didn’t you get the memo?”

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (84/40)
[b]Location:[/b] The Maw - the Depths
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Mirage’s [@Potemking], Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 874[/center]

The Mockingbird was toast, its existence nasty, brutish, and short. Yet, despite feeling bad for the thing, Nadia found herself wishing that its end lasted a little longer. With it gone, it put the lives of everyone else on a timer, and those of Junior and herself in particular. When Moreau turned away from the wreckage to roam through the junk-littered Depths, scanning his territory for any signs of life, he quickly picked up on the [i]pang-pang-pang[/i] of little feet on metal. Detected just as they turned the second floor’s top-left corner, Nadia and Junior made a mad dash for the elevator, their weary bones spurred on by panic. Moreau gave a guttural grunt, ponderously rolled himself around, and with a terrifying vigor hauled himself their way. Knowing his prey’s intentions he went not for the runners’ current position but for the elevator itself. A terrible racket resounded through the Depths as he shoved its detritus aside to reach his destination.

Although the stray kitten neither meant nor wanted to serve as a distraction again, the uproar gave Link, Geralt, Ace, and Mirage ample time to both put forward plans and deliberate upon them. Given the enormous, repulsive obstacle that seemed dead set on barring their escape, the idea of confronting Moreau directly held some water. They considered striking at his weak points, weaponizing spirits, and spattering the monster with structure gel. But whatever their options might be, it took just one look at the current situation to realize that they need to do something [i]now[/i].

Nadia saw Moreau him coming from a mile away, but did not divert from her destination. If she could just reach the elevator and get it open, she could take refuge inside until the others arrived. The leviathan couldn’t possibly squeeze inside, after all. As Moreau crashed closer and closer, eyeballs lolling and tentacles thrashing, Nadia closed in on the button. Only then did she realize quite how far loomed above her, so tantalizingly out of her stubby little arms’ reach. Not even thinking about how Mimi might be better equipped to accomplish the task, she sprang up to slap the button with every bit of spring she had left. Her fingertips clapped it, bringing a grin of victory to Nadia’s face, but her elation lived only briefly. The next second Moreau’s loathsome bulk annihilated the second-floor catwalk directly in front of the elevator, crashing through the metal so close to Nadia that the vacuum wave of his passage and the loss of footing pulled her down after him.

The kitten landed on something uneven and squishy. After a moment she realized she was not dead, but opened her eyes to find herself nestled between a bunch of Moreau’s grotesque, gooey eyeballs, which wasn’t much better of an alternative. She looked up in hopes of seeing the elevator doors opening, but no such luck. Nadia just barely kept herself from screaming and tearing her own hair out in frustration. Of [i]course[/i] the elevator needed to come down, and take its sweet time too. At least Mimi and Junior were okay. Maybe the Pokemon could reach down and pick her up. Or maybe…

Moreau was on the move. When Blazermate flew down to scoop Ace up and mend his booboos, the light of her thrusters was just what the fish freak wanted to see, and the noise of her flight music to his ears. Once Moreau turned to track Blazermate Nadia’s bright eyes could see the others on the move too, using the catwalks to cross the formerly flooded base’s center. Nadia spotted just about everyone down on the second floor now, including Sakura, Bowser, Rika, Kamek and even the pets! This was truly the final stretch--all that remained was to bring it home. Unfortunately, the only straight shot across had already been wrecked by Moreau earlier, which left the Seekers with less direct routes. They could either zigzag around the remaining bridges or chance taking a flight of stairs to the bottom in order to climb back up another set closer to the goal, throwing whatever they liked at Moreau on the way. 

From her current vantage point, Nadia felt like she could land a hand. For whatever reason -possibly an existence of constant aches, pressures, and pains, now that Nadia thought about it- Moreau hadn’t noticed her yet. Blazermate still occupied his focus, but for how long she couldn’t say, since he wasn’t so stupid as to chase an unreachable target for much longer. Though still running on fumes, the feral wobbled to her feet and grabbed onto the base of a tendril for support. Then she started jumping up and down on his icky, defunct eyeballs, squashing and squeezing the oozy tumors, even puncturing them with her sharp toenails. Moreau might roll over again or shake her off, but Nadia wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Right now, once the elevator actually arrived and the doors slid open, everyone would be home free. In the heat of the moment she thought only about what she could do to help her friends get there. So she mashed those eyes like her life depended on it, clinging tight even as Moreau bucked in annoyance. “Rrgh! Get offa me!”

[center][h3]Old Mill[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline
Linkle’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center]

When first stepping into the windmill’s bottom floor one could be forgiven for mistaking the place for a barn. Plenty of old grains clumped up in corners and along walls, while various farming tools lay scattered around the place, some of them bent and twisted in odd ways, or embedded into the walls. Albedo imagined the mill’s mischievous feline occupants playing with them, either in mock sword fights or throwing competitions. Either way, the disused place had long fallen into the paws of vagrants. Only the massive grindstone in the center of the floor took away from the impression of a barn, but following the great log upward past the giant gears dispelled the illusion completely.

Albedo craned his neck upward, taking in the awesome spectacle. Rather than being divided into floors that blocked his view, the mill was predominantly open, and its heights alive with motion. The turn of its blades powered a huge array of simple wood and metal machines, including pulley lifts, big gears both vertical and horizontal, transport carts on rails, spinning blocks, and what a more modern observer might have likened to Ferris wheels. Throughout the whole area he could spy more floating pons, too. 

Of the cat burglars he could find no immediate trace, not even the slight distortions that gave away their invisibility. A closer look up above, however, revealed the tricky felines. They appeared to be scrambling upward using the platforms and machines, perhaps in order to reach a hideout up at the top. Coming to terms with the task ahead might have provoked a sigh from anyone else, but the mild-mannered alchemist was no stranger to legwork. In fact, this was a good thing; retreating upward was a gamble that one’s pursuers could not follow, since if they could, there was no place the runners could go. “Impetuous creatures,” he remarked. “Let us get to it.”

Albedo began by calling forth a solar isotoma near the grindstone. Its Geo magic carried him high enough that he could make it into the gear with a well-timed hop. From there he hitched a ride on one of the ropes that conveyed the main shafts’ turn to another gear on the left side, hanging from the length of tightly-braided fibers until he reached the higher loft floor. After dropping he took a running jump and stuck to a vertical board of planks, and just a couple seconds of crawling later he reached the top. A balancing act across a rafter took him close to a spinning wheel, and once Albedo internalized the distance and movement speed he jumped again. He landed softly in the straw inside the bucket and sat down for stability, waiting in silence as the turn of the wheel brought him higher.

Even once he reached the loft floor above that, though, he still estimated himself only about a fourth of the way up the windmill, if that. As he looked around for a good spot to summon another flower he also kept an eye out to see how Linkle was faring. If she managed to focus this time, her energy and creativity could propel her upward a lot faster than his steady, pragmatic progress.