[center][h3]Yellow Team[/h3] [b]Location:[/b] Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc. Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Mao’s [@Potemking], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Primrose’s [@Yankee], Yoshitsune and Sora’s [@Rockin Strings], Tora and Poppi, Joker, Skull, Mona, Panther, Fox, Necronomicon, Braum, the Dragonborn, Fuse, Mordecai, Reinhardt, Shadow, Es, Ciella[/center] Thanks to Midna and Mona both Seekers and former Resistance members were regrouped and restored, allowing the bolstered forces of the heroes to rally while the ranks of the bad guys shrunk even further. Sectonia was still in bad shape, the Twilight Princess herself could be better off, and everyone but the newly healed and hearted sported a couple wounds, but the knowledge that the core group was more or less okay set Joker’s mind at rest. It also allowed him to refocus on the troublesome trio on the other side of the battlefield. With Nastasia and Ciella both down for the count, only one elusive, egotistic edgelord remained--a problem that Mao planned to correct. Leaving the freed Resistance members to their confusion, he led the charge across the arena to engage Shadow head-on, in more ways than one. Joker and Fox took off after him, one to either side, while the little overlord’s new buddy Gunnar joined the charge with an inspirational holler. As they ran a handful of well-placed shots rang out from Jesse’s service weapon behind them, narrowly missing her allies on their way to silence Nastasia for good. Joker could offer no objections on that count; though he got the sense that the short secretary’s story was a sad one, she had so much blood on her hands at this point that the World of Light was better off without her. Together the runners leaped over a rift in the arena’s floor to land on the other side, close enough to Shadow to get his attention. The hedgehog smirked as he adjusted his aim, having held his Chaos Spear for so long that Joker felt sure he’d never meant to execute Ciella with it in the first place. “You fell for it!” he announced, but as hurled his attack forward another bullet from Jesse struck him, throwing off his aim. “Gyah!” The round, aimed for his big head, had only hit his spikes, but it meant that his Chaos Spear missed the incoming Mao by a country mile. He locked onto Jesse with an indignant, furious glare. “You shot m-!” She shot him again. This time he put his super speed to work dipping out of the way, avoiding the attack on instinct while barely actually moving, and the FBC director’s subsequent shots prompted the same reaction. Nevertheless, Jesse kept him busy long enough for her allies to close to melee range, at which point common sense demanded that she hold off to prevent more friendly fire. The rest was up to the Phantom Thieves, the Dragonborn, and Mao. The demon was the first up to bat. He leaped up to come down with a meteoric punch right to Shadow’s dome, and what happened next told Mao a lot about his prospective opponent. By all accounts he could have zipped out of the way just as he did with Jesse’s gunshots, but he did not. Instead he wound up and threw a punch of his own, clashing with Mao’s fist in an impromptu power battle. The arena shook from the shockwave of the terrific impact that left both at a standstill. For a brief moment the two pitted their strength against one another, each seeking to blow their opponent away. This was the first time Mao got this close to the opposition’s number-one powerhouse, and from here could see that Shadow was breathing heavily. He was sweating, and he looked unwell. Shadow wasn’t just tired; he was exhausted. It made sense, too. For the entire battle he’d been showing off as much as he’d been fighting, constantly throwing out teleports, time stops, and chaos projectiles even before he committed to using his destructive Chaos Bursts. Pumping out so much power without any replenishment, or even a break, had clearly taken its toll. And that didn’t even account for the punishment dealt to him by Ciella a few moments ago. Against all odds, the hedgehog was on his last legs. “Jinx!” “Goemon!” On either side of the power battle a Phantom Thief appeared. Energy swirled around Shadow as he prepared to unleash another Chaos Burst as an emergency countermeasure, but his opponents were one step ahead of him. Joker’s new Persona plugged him with a bolt of paralyzing electricity from her stun gun, while Fox’s other self flash-froze him in ice. Somehow Shadow held firm against Mao, pitting his incredible resilience against the double status effects, but the Seekers had one more ace up their sleeves. Gunnar arrived on a sheet of his own ice, and as he slid beneath Mao he summoned the power within. “Fuuuuuus...RO DAH!” A wave of unrelenting force blasted Shadow at point-blank range, finally breaking his incredible poise. Electricity arced and ice spread across him as he reeled back, giving Mao just the chance he needed. With a final mighty effort the little overlord struck true, his star-powered punch beaning Shadow right on the noggin. The next second he smashed into the floor, then flew sky-high in the mother of all ground bounces, flipping end over end until he finally came back down. He bounced once more, then came to a stop on his side, stunned. The fight was over. Joker let out a long, heavy breath as he straightened up, barely noticing as his new Persona vanished with a wink and a wave. Mona’s healing had closed his wounds, but the fatigue of such a chaotic, drawn-out battle wouldn’t be so easily wiped away. It was even worse for Fox, who possessed less stamina thanks to his stick-thin physique and cooped-up lifestyle. Unfortunately, they weren’t out of the woods just yet. That last impact had set the floor of the colosseum rocking, and it had yet to stop. The whole thing teetered wildly, rocking like a boat on the high seas. With the columns and walls all damaged or destroyed by the battle, the task of holding the floor up was split between the architecture that remained, and as continuous jerks and rending sounds suggested more supports were giving way every second. Necronomicon said what everyone was thinking, although she mixed in a little support. “We did it, everyone! I know it sucked, but it was well done. No losses on our side. We’ll have to celebrate later though, ‘cause this place is coming down any second! It’s tough to get an accurate read on everything, but by my calculations we’ve got just a minute or two until the bottom falls out!” “Then we oughta haul ass outta here!” Gunnar suggested emphatically. Not knowing where to go, however, he looked around wildly until his gaze happened to land on Ciella. “Wait, what should we do about her?” Joker had already been thinking about it. With her mask broken, her orange-brown eyes were visible even in her human form, and though half-conscious she kept a prideful silence rather than beg for her life. That extra annoyance made his decision even harder, but he made it anyway. “We can’t kill her,” he advised. “Even though she attacked us. If we do, any chance we have of reasoning with Validar dies with her.” “But she believes we’re all her enemies,” Fox pointed out. “Bringing her back may only make things worse.” “I got it!” Necronomicon announced. “We’ll just tell her that the people who attacked her were brainwashed! I mean, she’s obviously nuts. As long as everyone plays along and toes the line about despair and whatnot it’ll probably work!” Gunnar cut in, his shout a little panicked. “Alright already, we’ll let the long-eared bitch live, but how are we going to get out of here?!” With the group gathered together, plus the uneasy former Resistance members, Mona got everyone’s attention by poofing into car form. “No sweat! You can make me and Necronomicon bigger, Jesse. Then all you’ve gotta do is balloon me and we’re good to go. Hurry, everyone!” Scratching his head nervously, Fuse spoke for the nervous former Resistance members. “Hey uh, hate to make demands after we just, uh, tried killin’ you and all, but any chance you can save us, too?” Joker waved them over from the Mona-car’s driver’s seat. “Yeah, we hearted you, didn’t we? Get in!” The Thieves quickly piled in, and whether from past, present, or future everyone else had little choice but to do the same. Everyone’s survival came down to Jesse, who luckily had a quick trigger finger and a decent feel for the Tool Gun. Though still hurt Midna and Sectonia could fly themselves, so Jesse, Joker, Fox, Mao, Braum, Fuse, the Dragonborn, Mordecai, and Reinhardt all either stowed aboard the Mona-car or climbed on top of the enlarged flying saucer. Necronomicon held Ciella and Shadow tight in her tentacles, but spared one to drag the otherwise directionless Mona-car behind her through the air. All around them the supports started chain-reacting, the weight of the arena floor tearing through vast swathes at a time, until finally the whole thing parted ways and plummeted down into the dark void below. With a sigh of relief Joker withdrew from the window and plopped down in his seat. Nobody seemed to have fallen. “Well, we’ve done it again folks,” he deadpanned, removing his mask to wipe the sweat off his brow. “Let’s get out of here.” [hr] Once back on solid ground Jesse could undo all her emergency modifications. A couple uneasy and cramped elevator rides later, the whole gang was back in the basement of Rocket Inc. By then Ciella could walk on her own, albeit with a lump and in sullen silence, too weak for now to object to the hypnosis-based explanation fed to her. Since Shadow would definitely teleport away if restored, the group kept him unconscious, and once Braum tied him up in ropes produced from the Dragonborn’s inventory and tossed him over his back, everyone was good to go. The tile puzzle that gave the Seekers some trouble on the way down now served to hasten their exit, unpleasant spinning aside, and before too long the weary procession trudged up the final set of stairs and into the ruin that was the office building’s first floor. As destroyed as it was, it was nice to be out of tight spaces for the first time since their sudden flight from the arena, and they found a surprise waiting for them there, too. As they threw open the door to the stairwell the frontrunners just about clobbered Tora, who’d been reaching for the knob right that instant. “Mehmeh?!” he exclaimed, falling backward in surprise. Poppi reached down both to help him up and pull him out of the way of the door, and those behind her followed suit to give the others room. It was the other half of Yellow team, brought here by the unknown swordswoman only Mao recognized as Es following the conclusion of their own raid to help out those who had yet to finish. Everyone spread out over the wreckage, sitting, stretching, and exchanging greetings. Acolytes waiting in the wings rushed in to make sure that Ciella was okay and to bandage her wounds. Yellow Team was reunited. Tora was thrilled to see a full headcount from the other team, plus a number of freed Resistance members to boot. “Hello, friends and new friends!” he sang. “Just as Tora thought, everyone okay! Even when half and half, nobody can stop this team, meh!” If she possessed the means to do so, Necronomicon might have sprawled out tiredly over the carpet. “Hey, it was pretty close, man! We had to fight the boss! She could hypnotize people! And Shadow the Hedgehog with all his crazy powers!” “Yeah, some of our guys had some bullcrap, too,” Skull told her. He and Panther were sitting together on one of the few intact desks. After a moment the Persona’s report sank in, and his eyes went wide. “Wait, you fought Shadow the freakin’ Hedgehog?! For real?” Joker nodded, jabbing a thumb at where their most bothersome enemy had been plopped down. “Yeah. It sucked.” “Dude! That’s awesome!” Fox narrowed his eyes. “It was not in the slightest!” As the other Thieves conversed Es gave Mao a status update on who among the Resistance members survived the raid on the Temple of Khamoon, Mona checked in with Tora. “Hey, buddy. I assume they’re okay since you’re all cheerful, but where’s Big Band and Fox? The other Fox I mean, not ours,” he clarified, indicating his companions. Tora nodded as best he could without a neck. “Yes, yes, meh. They head to palace, keep eye on prisoners and other Grimmypons along with new, very big friend.” “We shouldn’t keep them waiting for long,” Poppi gently suggested to the group at large. Through the broken glass of the office’s front windows reached the yellow tinges and long shadows of early evening. “Once everyone catch breath, we should go there too.” Joker glanced over at Ciella, wondering just what was running through the Agito’s mind right now. Her expression betrayed little, but he felt as though she must be suffering from the inner turmoil of a prideful individual not used to possibly being in the wrong. Given her philosophy, the idea of being deceived by the enemy into attacking allies surely distressed her. Once she realized that others were waiting on her response she gave a stiff nod. If her longbow had not been broken by Reinhardt she might have leaned on it like a staff, but for now she relied on a couple of (much shorter) acolytes to help her along, fighting to scrape together whatever dignity she could. [center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3] [b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (103/40) [b]Location:[/b] The Maw 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] 1639[/center] Rather than foolishly forge onward, Nadia waited by the stairs for her friend, but as the seconds passed her worries mounted. Had he not followed her? Maybe she hadn’t been thinking straight, but she’d assumed that when she started springboarding off the Guests, Ace would simply follow suit. Yet when she’d looked behind her, she found only the slavering feasters who’d tumbled down the stairs after her like live wrecking balls. In the still moments that followed her heart beat palpably, a chill creeping down her spine. “There’s no way,” she hissed to herself, ears flattened against her head. No way in hell that he’d gotten eaten. He would have cried out for her, and even if escape was in her grasp she would have turned to help. [i]...Right?[/i] Her fearful conjectures came to an end when she heard a commotion from above. A panicked shout from a familiar voice made her heart leap into her throat, telling her that her worst fears had become reality. [i]He needs help![/i] In that moment, Nadia didn’t think about survival or heroism; her body moved on its own. Like a tiny bullet she zoomed past one of the fallen Guests, so fast that his gribby mitt closed on nothing to eat but her dust, then leaped onto a stair. At her size she needed to take them one at a time, but she made quick work of them, her bare feet pounding against the wooden steps. The whole time she kept her eyes fixed on the second floor, which meant that when the sound of water reached her ears and Ace hurtled down into the curved stairwell, Nadia was right in the splash zone. She saw nothing of his friend’s strange new power, only catching a brief glimpse of his red hair and surprised expression as he tumbled straight into her. “Oof!” Together the ball of flailing limbs rolled straight to the bottom, landing in a heap on the first floor. Luckily for them, it looked like the guests had already moved off, crawling and flopping like beached seals in search of their next meals. Nadia got to her feet first and quickly regretted it. She was dizzy and sore from the fall, and a little red from landing right on top of her friend. She steadied herself against the banister, watching as Ace picked himself up. Naturally, he was good to go. “R-right!” she agreed, a little breathless. Just one more dining hall, and they were back in the kitchen. She felt a little tug on her raggedy garment, and looked over to see the Runaway Kid. “Oh!” In all the hubbub she’d forgotten all about him, which wasn’t ideal, but apparently he’d done just fine. Nadia found herself wondering where Bowser, Junior, and Blazermate had gotten to; with any luck, they’d found a better route. More than likely they just smashed through a dividing wall somewhere. Well, they could reconvene later. For now she had a mess room to cross, and unlike the cramped dining apartments of the Japanese-themed restaurant above, this room featured actual aisles beneath the tables. Of course, the floor space was replete with windfall and Guests doing what they could to clear it away, but so long as they picked the right path it would be a much faster and less heart-pounding trip than the first leg of their journey. As Ace set off in the lead, Nadia followed, with the stealthy Runaway bringing up the rear. This time the little feral did not separate from her friends, although there wasn’t much need. Ace’s new strategy of collecting food for emergency offerings was a clever one, much less risky and much more sustainable than her Guest-based acrobatics. Even after collecting a few scraps to offload into any gullet that wandered too close, Nadia was glad that nothing excited her hunger. If this gruesome feeding frenzy robbed her of her appetite for the time being, so much the better. With a plan in mind and the wind at their heels the three runners crossed the restaurant, dodging Guest after Guest, until they drew near the entrance. A couple Guests lurched from a nearby table to come after them, but tackling an overburdened Volbonian scattered such a heap of food between the would-be predators and their prey that it would be a while before they got through it all. Ace and Nadia raced through the entrance to find themselves in a four-way junction. To the left a straight hall extended for a long way, traveling beneath the bridge that the kids crossed earlier while on the second floor. Based on the decor, Nadia couldn’t help but wonder if it led to the parlour she and all the others ended up in when first entering the Maw. It was easy to picture a slouched line of Guests trundling down this corridor toward the restaurant, watched from the second floor by that damnable Lady or her ghoulish chefs. That didn’t matter though, since the dumbwaiter that was their ticket into the kitchen lay just ahead. Nadia couldn’t stop herself looking to the right, though, and what she saw took her by surprise. It was a huge, open space, spanning at least five floors, probably more. By her best guess the one this junction connected to was the third. Though unexpected she would have continued if she didn’t happen to follow the pointed finger of the Runaway Kid, aimed at a plaque on the wall. [i]Grand Atrium[/i], it said, and below that, [i]Helm[/i]. “Hang on, paws just a sec,” she punned, eyes wide. “Helm as in, the place that controls the ship?! We might be able to get off this thing after all!” The Runaway nodded, and took off into the Grand Atrium For now though, she needed to worry about the dumbwaiter. A few Volbonians had queued to wait for the next food delivery, but she and Ace jumped right to the front. They jumped and climbed into the dumbwaiter. She slid the front door closed, and like clockwork the second opened to reveal the stretch-faced chef, his arms laden with piping-hot stew. Nadia flashed him a fang-toothed grin. “Soup’s on!” Her leg shot out, kicking the tureen like she would a football, and its contents splashed across the chef’s face and chest. A little extra help from Ace and the loathsome creature staggered backward, wailing in distress. His departure gave the new arrivals a good view of the kitchen’s first floor. In addition to stretch-face, Ace and Nadia could see the mustached Antoine, angry-looking coffee cups, a couple of strange sorcerers with tempura for heads, and a weirdly normal sushi chef. No little boys or girls to be seen, which could be either good or bad. Their attention fell on Antoine as his hair-trigger temper flared in absolute outrage at the new disturbance. “WHAT NOW!?” “Uh, special delivery! We’ve got somethin’ for ya!” Nadia squeaked, flipping him off with both hands. She didn’t have a plan going in, but since she and Ace got detected immediately, she figured there was a way they could help. And that meant getting these guys mad. “I mean, we’re the health inspectors! Heard there were rats in the kitchen, but we didn’t expect them to be balding! Wha-hey!” Antoine sputtered like a grease frying, unable to articulate his anger. Instead he issued a roar of anger, seized two cleavers from the chopping block, and scuttled forward like a cracked-out cicada. Nadia span around fast enough to whip her tail against the side of the dumbwaiter. “Ow, okay, time to go!” She slammed shut the kitchen-side door, and as Antoine’s footsteps thundered closer the other door slid open. Before the kids could slip through the door behind them exploded, the King of Cuisine having lodged himself into the dumbwaiter head-first. Luckily the impact launched Ace and Nadia clear of his knives as he flailed around, with one cleaver taking an inch off the tip of Nadia’s ear. “Yowch!” She and Ace landed in a pile of splinters and looked up to see Antoine pushing himself through the dumbwaiter. “Uh, knife to meat you!” she told him, a hand on her bleeding ear. “Sea ya later!” [center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeCoXaDCO_I&ab_channel=FuchsFeuer22763][img]https://i.imgur.com/dae1GB8.jpg[/img][/url] [i]Click for music[/i][/center] She scampered in the direction the Runaway had gone, crossing into the Grand Atrium and running up to the railing that overlooked the place. The third floor seemed to be a dining area that ringed the lower central area, which itself looked like yet another cooking station, manned by yet another bizarre chef. This one seemed to be a [url=https://i.imgur.com/oGmYBbF.png]big pink bird[/url], which left Nadia wondering how she actually managed to cook anything. Either way, an enormous vent occupied the vertical space above her, an array of pipes spanning the whole space to connect multiple floors and areas. “Even better than I thought!” She turned to Ace, noting as she did Antoine already halfway through the dumbwaiter down the hall. “We’ll take the heat off the others, right? Just like with fish sticks. This place is perfect to run ‘em around. Think we can do it?” Antoine hitting the floor behind them meant that it was time for action rather than words. Taking a deep breath, Nadia gave Ace her fan (even someone from a past age could figure out ‘press the button for wind’) and prepared to run, her half of the magnet still in hand. In a way it was funny, being on distraction duty again, but it was fine. If she couldn’t solve the problem, either through positioning or brainpower, she could open the way for the people who could. [i]Besides[/i], she thought. [i]I’ve been on the run my whole life. This is what I do best.[/i] The killer chef got to his feet, murder in his eyes, and like the wind Nadia ran. [hr] It was more than a little frustrating that even with Larry distracted with elation at the misfortune of his colleagues, the three girls could do nothing to improve their situation. To Sakura’s credit, however, even though beset by both the pain of hanging from her arms and intense hunger, she continued to offer idea after idea. Unfortunately none of them could really think straight in this awful situation, the small street fighter least of all, and Bella had to reluctantly agree with her friend’s self-assessment. “I don’t think we can reach him through talking. He doesn’t see us as people. All we are to him is fresh meat.” She squeezed her stinging eyes shut, causing them to tear up. A moment later they blinked open. “Wait. Zat’s right. [i]Fresh[/i] meat. Both he and the other human chef mentioned it. That’s why we’re still alive.” Suddenly inspired, Bella glanced at the others. “What if I played dead? Zen I’d start going bad, so to speak. I’m also ze biggest. He might take me down to chop me up.” She gave a sharklike, fanged grin, and the teeth of her leviathan tail gnashed. “Zen I can [i]bite[/i] him. Or shoot him right in zat ugly mug.” The most important part of the plan, however, wasn’t hers. “But I need you two, oui? After I go limp, I need you both to start bawling. Really cry your eyes out, and scream at him. Say I died of heatstroke or smoke breathing or something.” Something else occurred to her. “Even if it doesn’t work, ze others will hear us and know where we are, at least. Can you do zat, mon cherie?” When Mirage and Geralt poked their heads up by the railing a few moments later, having used sausage links as an arduous but extremely unanticipated mode of travel from the first floor, a distraction to keep Larry’s attention off his surroundings became all the more necessary. Ready to play her part, Bella went limp, allowing her head to loll to a funny angle. Hopefully the new arrivals would see the ploy for what it was and not go ballistic when Sakura and Rika started wailing. [center][h3]Wildwood Glades[/h3] [b]Location:[/b] Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline Linkle’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center] Just as Albedo hoped, conferring with Linkle allowed the two to consider any potential plan of action from both a pragmatic and emotional standpoint. Though he figured from the beginning that hunting a local animal would draw the witch out, he did not consider the potential extent of her anger. As someone who couldn’t imagine the pain of seeing one’s own child hurt or killed, he believed Linkle wholeheartedly when she cautioned that the witch might be too furious for conversation and skip straight to deathmatch. “I see,” he murmured, more grateful than ever for another perspective. Trying to imagine what animal he’d become lay beyond his abilities, but he did not like the prospect of not being able to use his hands one bit. Still, that meant that the two needed to come up with a different strategy to find the witch of the woods before evening’s shadows started creeping across the scarlet valley. Linkle recalled something Albedo told her earlier, although he didn’t remember saying what she mentioned he did. “Oh, did I say that?” Absently the alchemist scratched his neck just below the ear, his expression mildly bemused. “