[center][h3]Tora and Poppi[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Split Mountain - Redstone City
Level 9 Tora (108/90) Level 9 Poppi (108/90) Level 5 Big Band (47/50)
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Fox’s [@Dawnrider], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Primrose’s [@Yankee], Yoshitsune and Sora’’s [@Rockin Strings], Mao’s [@Potemking], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud], Raz’s [@TruthHurts22], Ellie’s [@Thatguyinastore]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2280[/center]

With nearly two dozen people around who could put their heads together in order to get to the bottom of the team’s bear predicament, Tora decided to give his weary bones some much-needed, much-deserved rest. He found a comfortable pile of leaves to use like a bean bag chair and parked himself there to catch his breath, filling his lungs with wonderfully crisp air. Despite two whole days spent exploring the Sandswept Sky, trudging, trundling, and battling through its sweltering heat, he just couldn’t get used to such an inhospitable climate. Poppi no doubt felt the same, with the hot, sandy environment taking a constant toll on her systems that demanded continuous counteraction, and in truth Tora worried a lot more about her than his own comfort. All said, even the toasty badlands of Mor Ardain seemed nicer by comparison, which was saying something. Sure, it had been an incredible trip and all, especially the whimsical candyland around Parnasse and the majestic city of Al Mamoon, but exposure to a more temperate climate reminded the Nopon just how badly he wanted to call this place quits and go somewhere nicer.

“Ahhh,” he sighed in relief. “Nice, refreshing breeze make Tora big happypon.”

Standing beside his leaf pile, Poppi patted his head. “It nice to give internal regulators break. Still, where we going it going to get very cold, very fast. Please enjoy while Masterpon can.”

Tora sighed again, this one a bit heavier than the last. The obligation of a Seeker of Light meant expeditions into ever more dangerous and unfriendly places, overcoming both terrible odds and conditions for the sake of the mission. He couldn’t see into the future, but he could look up past redwood boughs, swishing fall-color leaves, and snow-flaked crags at the literal mountain of hardships that awaited him. Finally escaping the awful desert heat only to end up missing it a couple hours later would be a stroke of irony. No matter where he went on this adventure, things probably weren’t going to get much better–just a different shade of stressful. “Grass always greener on other side,” he grumbled, but even if the road ahead looked tough, he didn’t plan to pack it in. He’d come a long way from Tora the Hermit, the Nopon who slogged through each day in isolation waiting for his ship to finally come in. Rather than fixate on the future in hopes of a paradise that might never come, he could savor the little moments of peace and company, like lying in a bed of leaves in the dappled sunlight and brisk air of this autumnal forest of colossi. The Nopon’s breathing steadied, and with his wings tucked snugly around his body he listened to the others debate what to do next.

Yoshitsune, who it seemed had decided to persist in accompanying the group despite the exceptional difficulty that the mountain climb promised him, favored fighting the brown-furred behemoth that blocked the Seekers’ path if nobody could communicate with him. Big Band greeted his ideas with skepticism, since they banked on the bear sleeping so deeply that not even direct attacks would wake him, or that someone capable of animal speech could rouse the beast when all other attempts at waking him went unheard. In a similar vein, Sectonia suggested mind control, though that amounted to an attack and came with the condition that the entire group pitch in to stop the creature from moving.

“Fight him? Brainwash him” Tora interjected, horrified. “How rude! How [i]you[/i] feel if you just napping peacefully, and suddenly along come meanypons and attack for no reason? Also, big bear Gleaming, so if we hurt him it become battle to death! It not bear fault he in way, so no need be cruel, especially since friends are heroes!” That statement, of course, rubbed Mao the wrong way, but the demon kept quiet for now.

Sora countered with a different strategy, which unbeknownst to either him or the detective actually saw use by the team when confronted with the wall of ruins two days prior. Since then, however, the group had grown a whole lot, and not everyone could be carried by the gang’s resident fliers. Plus, even assuming generous use of Jesse’s Tool Gun, such a plan still didn’t account for resistance from the mountain itself.

“We gotta keep A, together, and B, a low profile,” Band was saying. “Far as we know, this whole place is one big accident waitin’ to happen, and who knows what kinda enemies we might find. The way I see it, our fliers are like insurance. They can rescue folks who fall or get in trouble, or get us around a problem when there’s no other way. Call me paranoid all y’all want, but we can’t afford to spend ‘em if it ain’t an emergency.”

Joker, having been pondering the situation with crossed arms, gave a nod. “Besides, this is the first puzzle we’ve run into on our way up the mountain. If someone’s taking a test and has to cheat on the very first problem, maybe he shouldn’t take the test.”

“Sho ‘nuff. We oughta try everythin’ we can.” Band declared. He turned to face the bear and began to deploy his instruments. “Luckily, I got rhythm. Let’s see if I can’t make ‘em dream a li’l dream of me.”

The detective produced his [url=https://i.imgur.com/1kZuOmO.png]saxophone[/url] and began to play. With an expert hand he manipulated his instrument’s keys, popping open and shut the little holes all along its length to control the pitch and fill the redwoods with blues. When his audience snored, he merely played over it, putting body and soul into such a lively, motive solo that Tora couldn’t suppress the urge to leap from his bed of leaves, with Poppi right on his heels. They needed to exchange no words to understand that music lit a fire inside each of their spirits that couldn’t be extinguished. As if all their fatigue had been washed away the pair launched into dance, totally unsuited for the music but wholly from the heart. All too soon the performance came to an end, and with it both Poppi’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/iqogR17.gif]jig[/url] and Tora’s frolic. Unfortunately, despite the music and affection shown to him, the bear snoozed on. Band stowed his sax and shrugged. “Ah, well. Not a bad note, at least!”

“Tora thinks he enjoyed it!” the Nopon reassured the musician. To him at least, it looked as though the beast smiled in his slumber. 

The Phantom Thieves, meanwhile, had continued to workshop a solution. Finally, Skull snapped his fingers. “Wait, hold up! Mona, your guy Zorro’s got a spell that can wake someone up, right?”

Mona shook his giant head. “Not wake someone up, necessarily. Patra cures Sleep when it’s inflicted as an ailment.”

“Huh?! Waking up is the same damn thing as not sleeping!” Skull insisted. “Give it a try, at least!”

To the catlike thief’s chagrin, he went through with his ally’s suggestion, summoning his Persona to cast Me Patra on the dormant bear before them. A pillar of gentle blue light shone for a moment, then faded, but when it was gone the creature slept on, blissfully unaware that anything happened. Mona shot Skull an annoyed glance. “There, just like I said, only now I’ve lost more mana. Listen to me next time, dummy!”

Skull spun around to glare down at him. “Hey, get off my back! At least I’m thinkin’ of stuff!”

“You sure that’s what you’re doing?”

Before things could escalate any further, Panther stepped in. “Mona, please. Chill out.”

The little thief’s manner changed completely. “Whatever you say, Lady Ann!”

Hearing it just about made Skull’s eyes roll out of their sockets, and Panther’s weren’t far behind. She directed a helpless shrug Skull’s way, and with a grunt he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

At around that time, a sudden shout reached the group from a short ways off. Everyone turned to see none other than Laharl collapse among the branches and leaves, coated in sweat and dust from his run through the Rider-filled canyons of Redstone City. Tora sprinted over as fast as his little legs could carry him. “Never fear, no-shirtypon! Nopon Rescue Service on the way!” By virtue of nothing more than helping pick Laharl up off the ground, Tora somehow restored thirty percent of his vitality.

Right after the demon found himself blasted with a splash of water from Poppi’s Mech Arm, meant to shock his body into action as much as to quench his thirst. “Poppi thought you abandon team!” the artificial blade mentioned. “It good to see you again!” The same couldn’t be said by Mao, who smirked at his rival as Laharl shivered from his dousing.

While a few team members helped Laharl, Raz and Midna enacted their one plan, a two-pronged approach that involved physical contact. The aspiring psychonaut stroked the giant bear, which by itself did nothing but keep the creature happy, while the Twilight Princess went for his big, black nose. With some leaves she tickled its nose, which again prompted the reaction she noticed earlier, but by itself turned out to be insufficient. Dialing the tickles up a notch with the introduction of some feathery hair, however, provoked a much more notable response. The bear jerked slightly with a series of sharp inhales, then finally unleashed a terrific sneeze so powerful that it not only sent anyone directly in front of him tumbling away, but shot the bear himself backward. He slid a few hundred meters before coming to a stop in a bank of snow even bigger than himself, and through the cave opening poured light.

The tunnel itself proved to be very short, but it precipitated a remarkable change in the environment. Stepping out of it brought the heroes’ feet down upon snow, pillowy and cold, and when they took stock of their new surroundings, they looked upon a white forest bathed in soft, ephemeral pink by sunlight filtered through marshmallow clouds, their eyes wide in wonderment of winter.

[center][h3]Stage Two - Baur’s Reach[/h3]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eha1ruriLSA&t=313s&ab_channel=StreetwiseRhapsody][img]https://i.imgur.com/MgRlW9N.png[/img][/url]
[i]Click for music[/i][/center]

As they watched, the [url=https://i.imgur.com/ayoluyA.png]bear[/url] rose from the snow drift where he lay into a sitting position. He loomed over them, his eyes aglow and his shaggy mane fraught with icicles, but his expression held no malice. When he opened his muzzle he spoke in a strange, booming tongue, but the meaning of his words echoed in the newcomers’ minds.

[i]”I dreamt of your arrival. But you are too late. And this land is too hard, too cold. The spring blossoms sleep under the ice, high upon the mountain peak. There is nothing to do... but sleep.”[/i]

So saying, Baur laid his great bulk back down, and his eyes closed once more.

With the possibility of being attacked gone, the tension faded, and Big Band allowed himself to relax. He let out his breath in a long, low whistle. “Whew. I dunno what I expected, but this sure wasn’t it.”

“It’s beautiful,” Panther murmured, mesmerized. Towering trees arose from the snow-covered slopes as the land inclined further upward, creating rosy light rays of uncommon splendor. Here and there the terrain evened out enough to permit the existence of icy pools, interwoven together by brooks and rivers. The largest among them even featured a mist-veiled waterfall, pouring down from a higher section of mountain. Here and there stood [url=https://i.imgur.com/kU77s8X.png]lantern monuments[/url], mostly unlit except for the one next to the waterfall, which not only burned but also floated above its pedestal like miniature planet, orbited by pieces of stone. It was a magical scene, but with the magic came a strong chill. Though not bitter cold, anyone without insulation would probably want to layer up, and none more than Panther. “Joker, can I have my coat now?”

As he withdrew it from his Inventory, Band gave some advice. “Now’s the time to put on those cloak thingies we borrowed from the sports shop.” He passed them out to anyone who came his way, quickly running through his stock of seventeen. The mantles would work well to keep the cold out, at least at this relative altitude, but without sleeves they would need to be thrown over the shoulder to allow for the use of one’s hands. With everyone clad in their shin-length gray mantles, they sort of matched his trench coat, too. Once everyone was warmly clothed, they could proceed. “Alright, let’s watch each others’ backs now, y’hear?”

The Phantom Thieves set off immediately, not on their own but giving the rest some room to breathe while preserving line of sight. Once Poppi switched to her Fire core, Tora bounced off through the snow as well. Though jovial, he kept his eyes peeled for any potential threats lurking around. Scattered around were grayish-blue plants like giant flytraps, motionless unless touched, at which point they would snap shut with a painful chomp. Tora ended up so focused on avoiding one that he accidentally ran into a bluish globule that dangled from an overhead branch, which he mistook for an icicle. It stuck to him, and with a yell the Nopon got hauled upwards, pulled like a hooked fish toward a triple-jawed plant creature. Once he got his bearings he managed to pry himself free with his wrench and land safely in Poppi’s arms, but the fisher plant appeared to take no damage, and merely let down its line again for next time. Of course, Peacock shot at it anyway.

Confident in the assumption that all kinds of enemies lay in wait throughout this wintry wonderland, the team began their climb anew, seeking various routes up and over the tricky terrain.

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Carcass Isle
Level 6 Nadia (66/60)
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@ArchmageMC], Hat Kid’s [@Dawnrider], Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey],  Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Mirage’s [@Potemking], Delsin’s [@Rockin Strings]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2228[/center]

Though everyone could use a break out of the rain, their collective descent underground along the path that Hatty scouted for them could wait for a few moments while the victors collected their spoils. If every cloud had its silver lining, even in the midst of an ever more torrential downpour beneath storm skies, it was that the most grueling fights offered the most numerous rewards. With the grotto beneath the well about as safe as anyone could hope, common sense dictated that the heroes should hurry to collect the spirits that their aquatic enemies left behind and go down to make use of them in peace, but with more than a couple uncommonly adventurous souls on hand, things didn’t pan out quite so simply.

Bowser took it upon himself to approach the decrepit sea monster jammed into the eastern pit harbor, seemingly unfazed by her many spiked tentacles or elephantine proportions, so that he might better her situation. If the Koopa King expected to become pals with the beast, however, he found himself disappointed. Scylla seemed determined to drag anything and everything she could get her claws on down with her, and in the end took a concerted effort from several Seekers to finally put down for good. Even in death, however, the ungodly thing continued to linger as long as she could, and from her entrails Link managed to harvest a handful of useful items. Then, seeking perhaps to undue the infirmity stamped upon his being by his fusion with Northampton, Link took the spirit of Tidehunter into himself. As the Koopa Troop divided up their own rewards, and a handful of heroes took on brand new Strikers, the Hero of the Wild’s kaleidoscopic lightshow briefly illuminated the drowned village center.

[center][hider=For Link]Notable spirit consumed:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/Rh2Rsr4.jpg]Tidehunter[/url][/b]
The user has gotten a lot taller, growing to 6.5”, and become much bulkier, gaining a more broadly muscular (rather than chiseled) physique, especially around his neck, which is now slightly broader than his head. Green stripes run all the way down his back, and he is now by default shirtless. His mouth is much wider, capable of opening all the way to his ear, and his front teeth are sharper and longer. The host has also gotten less communicative. In addition to physical strength, this spirit confers the Power [b]Kraken Shell[/b], negating a flat amount of damage from each attack (not status) dealt to the host. This is particularly effective against high-quantity but low-damage attacks, which can be reduced to 0. This spirit also confers the Power [b]Empty Pool[/b], halving the amount of magical resources (mana) the host has at his disposal[/hider]

[hider=For Geralt]New Strikers spiritbound:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/T8YTq2M.png]Fizz[/url][/b]
[i]A playful trickster striking with an assassin’s dexterity, arriving in a flash and gone just as quickly. His quick flurry of trident attacks can cause bleeding, and he can also pull of a corkscrew dash attack[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/Mo9uRZM.png]Judicator[/url][/b]
[i]An abominable monstrosity, made all the more horrific for its undeniably human element. Although borne of the lowest depths imaginable, a cursed amalgam of sea creature and doomed mariner, it bears an undeniably connection to the cosmos–specifically the constellation Libra. It is slow and not that strong physically, although it takes up a lot of space, and can be called on reasonably often. Its scales, however, can induce stress in targets in a wide area,pelt them with spectral fire, of grant healing through the act of flagellation[/i]
[/hider]

[hider=For Junior]New Striker Swarm spiritbound:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/ovd1yrA.jpg]Murlocs[/url][/b]
[i]Fishmen bothersome chiefly in numbers, wielding a variety of primitive weapons with which to hack, skewer, and bludgeon their enemies[/i]
[/hider]

[hider=For Kamek]New items acquired:
[b]Souls[/b] x 800
[i]A sort of ephemeral quantity bound to oneself, immaterial and conferring no burden. Souls, sen, runes, echoes, scrap, geo, widgets, haze...whatever you call them, they are a universal currency that, if not usable outright, can at least be exchanged most anywhere. But beware: death will drop one’s whole sum on the ground for others to collect[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/nJ0i9kG.png]Fish Meat[/url][/b]
[i]A fresh filet of fish. Handled correctly it can make a rich dish[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/rDThEx9.png]Pearl Cage[/url][/b]
[i]To the sea people, the bright pearls that Watatsumi's deity once praised are priceless treasures. Only the Divine Priestess had the right to sing the great song themed around those pearls. This artifact grants a notable bonus to water damage and minor boosts to defense, health, and energy recharge[/i]
[/hider]

[hider=For Rika]New items acquired:
[b]Souls[/b] x 500
[i]A sort of ephemeral quantity bound to oneself, immaterial and conferring no burden. Souls, sen, runes, echoes, scrap, geo, widgets, haze...whatever you call them, they are a universal currency that, if not usable outright, can at least be exchanged most anywhere. But beware: death will drop one’s whole sum on the ground for others to collect[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/9Zo9qhE.png]Antivenom[/url][/b]
[i]A dependable cure for poison, if you can get past the taste[/i]
[/hider]

[hider=For Bowser]New Striker spiritbound:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/RlmRksJ.png]Scylla[/url][/b]
[i]An immense sea beast created by a divine curse and set as a guard dog on an eternal watch alongside Charybdis, the whirling abyss. Being very huge and powerful, Scylla can inflict a great deal of damage across a large area, but her usage comes at a price. She can deliver Super Assists like a double-armed slam, a giant flop, or a tentacle raid from below, but doing so exacts an immense half stamina drain on the host spirit, and will take health if not enough stamina is available[/i]
[/hider][/center]

Once the looters finished up, they followed their counterparts out of the downpour and below ground into Hatty’s grotto, trusting in her hat’s sense of direction. After them followed Spinal, for though Link’s attempts to communicate with the skeletal pirate resulted in no more than awkward silence, the possibility of grand riches seemed to provoke some kind of response after all. Even if he didn’t chance upon the Mask of the Ancients in the island depths, no pirate with his salt turned down a chance at loot, and where Spinal went his Dhelmise followed. Rather than climb down he just jumped, and though he burst apart on impact the cackling skeleton wasted no time pulling himself back together.

Another few moments and everyone was down, although not without a little trouble. The ladder, already warped dangerously by the weighty witcher’s descent, ended up snapping halfway through Bowser’s climb and expediting his journey to the cave floor, although a little fall wasn’t going to hurt much more than the Koopa King’s pride. Unfortunately, the grotto offered the weary heroes little in the way of hospitality, and investigation into the offensive, vicious rotten-fish smell that assaulted their noses yielded a good view of a repulsive scene. Nadia didn’t need to look around at her teammates’ faces of profound disgust to know that nobody liked the thought of going down there. After Delsin’s question received an answer by way of Hat Kid’s reluctant point downward, though, there could be little doubt that their future held a whole lot of slugs.

“Eugh…” Nadia winced, finding that when she withdrew her hand from the wooden balcony railing it came with a few globules of unidentifiable slime. Everything about the scene, from the despicably abundant slugs to the weird lights to the almost gelatinous feminine figures oozing from their shells, to the handful of creepy [url=https://i.imgur.com/QnfWMVQ.png]murloc shamans[/url] tending to them, struck her as incredibly, unignorably [i]wrong[/i]. Like some long-buried, primordial secret, never meant for human minds. Still, it couldn’t be helped; it wasn’t like the group could turn back now, or even hang around up here for that matter. The algae-slick boards beneath her groaned beneath the weight of the others who’d come up around her to look down from the second-floor balcony across the tons upon tons of squishy, pale invertebrates, and those sea maggots were probably inching toward them right this minute, along with who knew what else. And thanks to Delsin’s report, the threat of mutative disease loomed over all; the heroes needed to blow this joint as soon as possible.

The feral appreciated Link’s attempt to downplay the situation, but she didn’t know if she could agree with him. The Maw sucked of course, no bones about it, and it was many things, but was it more flat-out gross than this? Nadia didn’t think so. Hatty confirmed for him that the fog-shrouded cave system past this cavern was their destination, which meant that the Parasite Farm below was their way forward, like it or not. Blazermate’s attempt to break the ice, meanwhile, earned her a dubious glance. Was she not happy with the wretched, shambling, smelly minions of debatable use she’d amassed already? A cry from the side made Nadia jump, and she punched her muscles to jump to Sakura’s aid, but the girl was already back up before the feral could reach her. When the street fighter revealed her prank, Nadia let out a dry chuckle as she shook her head. “Ya got me.” Her attention then turned to Kamek and Rika as they sent out a few of their minions to probe the road ahead for any unwanted surprises. Bella deployed a few seaplanes of her own to lend to their efforts, but their reconnaissance failed to provoke anything to reveal itself. “Looks like we’re not getting out of this one,” Peach sighed as the scouts returned, opening her parasol with a [i]fwoomp[/i]. With a final wry smile she vaulted over the railing and floated down.

Nadia watched her go, noting that she’d be able to glide over and skip most of the Parasite Farm. [i]smart[/i]. She couldn’t do that, but she had her own tricks. The feral gave the others a cheeky salute and dove over the railing. As she fell she twisted enough to grab hold of a plank on the balcony floor, after which she allowed her muscle fibers in her arm to extend, lowering her down toward the slug beds. While she couldn’t stretch the whole way down, a few small swings back and forth built up enough momentum for a somersault leap onto one of the boardwalks that lay atop the malodorous heap, and naturally Nadia landed on her feet. For the first time since arriving on Carcass Isle she found that she wasn’t standing in at least ankle-deep water, much to her delight, even if these bone-white boards weren’t exactly dry. Or clean. With a grimace she kneeled down over a slay slug nestled between two of the planks, but not even a curious poke evoked any signs of life. “I think…they’re dead?” She glanced around, wary of the snail women but otherwise unthreatened at the moment. “If nothing’ else, the rest of ya could just jump straight down into ‘em. Like a big ol’ ball pit, hehe…yuck.” She spotted the glutinous wretches beginning to crawl her way, making weird noises a little too mistakable for voices for her taste. Uneasiness put springs in her feet as the feral scampered across the boardwalks and toward the far end of the cavern. The shamans she passed shrank away from her, holding their fishbowl stalves warily. If they didn’t want a fight Nadia wasn’t going to give them one. 

After a minute or two, everyone -even Spinal- had crossed the parasite farm. Aside from the odd lunge from a snail woman, easily avoided and left behind, nothing troubled them. In contrast to the aggression of their village-dwelling cousins, the murloc shamans offered no fight, instead wholly concentrated on whatever they were doing in their little nooks and corners throughout the cavern. Nadia did not dwell on it, but approached the branching path alongside the others. At this point the planks ended, forcing everyone to walk on the invertebrates themselves, but luckily the creatures seemed to be as tightly-packed as they were gummy, which made for better footing than one could have hoped for. Only that one tunnel out of the four present featured that bizarre fog, whose nearly two-dimensional surface struck Nadia as weirdly stable. The others led to the left-front, left-rear, and right respectively. Before she or the others could get too close, however, the slug mound before them began to shift, and a reviled presence made itself known. At first Nadia mistook the shapes arising from the mass as large slugs, but the emergence of the thing’s full body rendered her only more confused. This wasn’t a slug, or even a sea creature, but nothing more or less than a [url=https://i.imgur.com/FMaAdq0.png]giant, disembodied hand[/url] in a featureless white glove.

The response of a few other Seekers, however, was immediate. They attacked without warning, giving cues for the newer recruits to join in on a preemptive strike against what surely must be a terrible enemy, only for their shots and spells to fizzle out against a bubble shield that became momentarily visible with each strike. It quickly became clear that no amount of force would harm the entity, no matter how much the veteran heroes might want it. When the Parasite Farm at last fell silent, the entity gave a wave of greeting, and spoke. It spoke not with words, but with vibrations of the very air itself, twisting and distorting a sound into existence that thrummed into the very cores of the heroes before it.

[i]”Seekers of restoration, thwarters of curses. The depths weigh heavy on your hearts, stained as they are by the darkness into which you’ve plunged, yet still you have risen, bubbling up toward the surface. Yet this world’s curse is as bottomless as the sea, the source of all greatness, all things that be. It is too late now to escape it. All things must come, sooner or later, unto the abyss from which they came”.[/i]

Master Hand snapped its fingers, causing the fog wall behind it to turn black. Nadia felt a sudden pain in the palm of her left hand, and when she looked at it, she watched a pitch-black inscription appear on her skin that read [i]05:00:00[/i]. A chill ran down her spine as the entity continued.

[i]”Before  you traipse blindly onward and succumb to the deep, I will stop you here. If you would break the curse, you must first understand that speed is life. At the end of each of these tunnels you will find a fearsome foe. If all three spirits are not brought here within five minutes, you will die. Three.”[/i]

Nadia gulped, her bright blue-green eyes scanning the tunnels. “Wait, huh? You’re kitten me, right?”

[i]”Two.”[/i]

She looked at the others, desperate for explanation. “What is this? Do you know this thing?”

[i]”One.”[/i]

Peach grimaced as she rushed an explanation. “I’m sorry, Ms. Fortune. This is Master Hand, and it’s appeared right before we fight each region’s boss to try and screw us over with a ridiculous challenge. It looks…”

The air split with the sound of the entity’s command. [i]”GO!”[/i]

The seconds on Nadia’s hand began to tick down, and what was happening finally sank in for her. “Oh, hell.”

Peach clenched her teeth. “It looks like we’re on the clock! Listen, everyone. We’ll split into three teams of five so as to not put all our eggs in one basket. No time for drafts, just pick a tunnel and go, go, go!” So saying, the princess kicked her harness into gear and zoomed back toward the left-rear tunnel.

“Lightnin’ round, huh?” With a wry smile Nadia turned to sprint down the left-front tunnel. “Mew-sic to my ears.”

[center][h3]Trial of Desire[/h3]
[b]Party:[/b] Peach, Bowser, Junior, Link, Mirage

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d8JWq0N-r4&ab_channel=BooGhostie][img]https://i.imgur.com/sxgNQZZ.png[/img][/url]
[i]Click for music[/i][/center]

The left-rear tunnel led Peach to a large cavern that consisted mostly of a bright like, as shiny and still as a field of turquoise crystal. From that body of water and beneath the vaulted cavern roof with its massive stalactites rose a cluster of chiseled ruins dominated by the pillars and arches so characteristic to the temples of glorious antiquity. For a moment the Princess strained to identify whatever adversary that Master Hand placed here for her, even going so far as to wonder for a brief but terrifying instant if this might all be an elaborate trap, but she did not wait for long. She spotted ripples in the tranquil waters before the ruins, and from them rose a shape that Peach only for a moment mistakenly identified as human. Before her lurched a web-fingered, glassy-eyed, purple-scaled [url=https://i.imgur.com/9HuKfBm.jpg]monstrosity[/url], a vile parody of the female form, and the Princess readied her weapons to destroy it. Unfazed, the Siren put her conch to her swollen lips, and filled the cavern with her song.

[center][h3]Trial of Purity[/h3]
[b]Party:[/b] Ms Fortune, Geralt, Hat Kid, Ace Cadet, Delsin

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqjCz496o-Y&ab_channel=Reitsuna][img]https://i.imgur.com/36pC7sh.jpg[/img][/url]
[i]Click for music[/i][/center]

At the end of the left-front tunnel Nadia found a giant flooded cave, its floor bottomless water as far as she could see. The far side featured a few immense stone columns, seemingly natural, beyond which she could see only fog. More importantly, she spotted the roughly triangular stone platform that crested the surface in the cavern’s center, the only foothold for anyone without a shipgirl spirit to her name. Without a moment to lose, she gathered herself and leaped from the mouth of the tunnel, soaring over the water for a moment before she landed and came to a stop on what she assumed would be her arena–the battlefield for her fight with whatever adversary that freaky hand had in store for her. No sooner did she make contact with the platform than her opponent appeared. Out of the water launched a [url=https://i.imgur.com/cPi9Hwt.png]the Oceanid[/url], a living creature of pure Hydro energy. Serenely graceful, the water elemental soared over the platform, her single radiant eye fixed on the intruders.

“An assassin from our homeland? Or a fool who tresspasses upon the waters of the Fishing Hamlet?”

Like a dancer she whirled around, scattering orbs of water. Nadia dodged out of their way, assuming them to be no more than projectiles, but when the orbs took on the shapes of various animals she was forced to rethink her assessment. Boar, crane, hawk, and crocodile borne down upon her, ready to tear the feral limb from limb.

“Coveting the shapes of the living, pure water can take on many forms,” the Oceanid murmured. “In this way shall water deliver your punishment.”

[center][h3]Trial of the Abyss[/h3]
[b]Party:[/b] Spinal, Bella, Rika, Sakura, Kamek

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoNGs_XTEDM&ab_channel=%E5%88%80%E3%83%95-%E5%B0%B8%E5%87%A1%E3%82%A4%E4%BB%80][img]https://i.imgur.com/OyU6zec.png[/img][/url]
[i]Click for music[/i][/center]

Cackling as if he hadn’t a care in the world, Spinal took off down the rightward passageway, sword and shield raised for a fight. Bella reached out a hand after him. “Monsieur, wait!” Completely ignored, the Water Princess looked back toward Sakura. “Well, zat’s as good a way as any. Hurry, mon cherie!” With her leviathan tail in tow, Bella sprinted through the tunnel, her feeting pounding against the bodies of lifeless phantasm slugs. The path led her around a wide left turn and then a sharp right, then abruptly opened up into a new cavern, its recesses dimly lit by phosphorescent sponges and corals. Water pooled in its depths, and from it rose fascinating natural formations of stone, although they didn’t interest Bella nearly as much as the figures perched upon them, who were currently watching Spinal run around the room's perimeter to get at them.

The Seaplane Tender gasped, freezing solid. With wide eyes she stared at the enemies arrayed before her, not for any inherent horror, but for their familiarity. Closest to the water and by far the largest of the three was the [url=https://i.imgur.com/4eRlCK7.png]New Southern Battleship Princess[/url], laying oh-so-casually atop her crab-clawed, cannon-covered monstrosity with her legs crossed and a smile in her eyes. To her right, seated on the stone archway, glowered the stern-looking [url=https://i.imgur.com/lwgP4Yw.png]Abyssal Pacific Princess[/url] in lavender-tinted white, the waters beneath her churned by the presence of a ghostly leviathan who whose gargantuan maw yawned open like a gate to the underworld. Each wielded a spear, be it slung casually over the lap or held firmly in a ready stance, but it wasn’t the attendants that affected Bella so. Instead she gazed at the [url=https://i.imgur.com/oVGvZn7.png]strange figure[/url] above and behind them, wearing fine clothes, an eerie mask, and a ring of gleaming black iron. Seaplanes hovered around her, their eager snapping teeth saying what the Abyssal’s masked face would not.

“It’s [i]her[/i].” she croaked, her voice low and urgent, as her tail coiled into firing position. “The Abyssal Sun Princess. Our master. The Commander of the Abyssal Fleet. And Pacific, and New Southern too?!” As she clutched in fear at her skirt, her tail went limp, and she let out a rattling breath. “M-mon cherie…I am sorry. We are doomed.”