[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Carcass Isle - Where All Things Must Come
Level 7 Nadia (37/70)
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Hat Kid’s [@Dawnrider], Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey],  Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Delsin’s [@Rockin Strings]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1687[/center]

Amidst the chaos of the Orphan’s onslaught, the heroes fought to find their footing and exploit any openings. The monster kept up a near-constant assault, augmenting brutal strength with unconscionable speed and an undercurrent of almost human cunning, and as its attackers found out, that motion made it decently evasive, too. If there was one blessing to be had, however, it was that the newly-birthed abomination seemed to lack either defensive options, or the inclination to use them, instead relying on raw constitution and an unrelenting offense. Furthermore, it more or less obeyed the lays of physics; every major change in direction necessitated a momentary halt to its momentum, be it for movement or attack, and those brief windows made all the difference.

As the Orphan clashed with the melee fighters, its manic aggression put it squarely in control of both the battle’s pace and its location. Rather than stay planted in the arena’s center, it ran, jumped, and circled around its foes in a metal-flashing, flesh-bursting dance of death, and anyone unlucky enough to take its focus would find it in their best interest to prioritize survival over damage. Even that, however, was easier said than done. The disastrous results of Bella and Link’s attempted blocks served as ample warning to the others, but as Geralt found, glancing blows hurt too. A number of the heroes’ blades and blows struck home during the savage exchange, but its reaction proved that no stray hit, however well-aimed, would take this down. The heroes needed to pile on as much punishment as they could before the Orphan’s big hits battered them down.

A lot happened in only a little time, with the whole chronology of events only really visible to the ranged onlookers as they sought to sneak in some spells and gunfire. As a result of deadly underestimation, Bowser ended up ducking out first for some healing from Kamek’s finest. It was in her attempt to cover for him that Bella took a serious injury of her own. Link then charged in with a vengeance, drawing blood with an artful stab that Nadia’s flying guillotine punctuated. In reply the Orphan launched its bloody revolutions, dragging its placental blade through the black sand in a whirlwind of destruction. Doing so blew its close-range attackers back but gave a window of opportunity to the airborne brigade flying in from above. As the horror’s bloody font burst upward, a storm of projectiles rained down, both from the Koopa Troop and Link’s own cannons. With their allies out of the way, everyone who could, including Link, took the precious couple of seconds to open fire. They plugged the Orphan with bullets, shells, spells, even the element, and amidst the downpour the creature’s head wrenched upward with a wrathful scream. Had they enough time they might have kept shooting until their weapons clicked empty and their barrels burned with such heat that another shot might have split them into ribbons, but the next second the Orphan was on the warpath once more.

As the melee fighters converged, its lashed out at the first person to come its way. With dizzying force the Orphan Crush Countered Sakura, and as the Street Fighter soared off, it rounded on the next contestants with a vengeance. Geralt stepped up first to keep it away from Sakura, managing to land slice after slice even as the chip damage from his deflections left him rattled. Link arrived a moment before a distended sweep from the Orphan -plus the crimson blast of Blazermate’s explosive specter- brought the titan of a Witcher down face-first in the sand, and as the Hero of the Wild launched his offensive, Nadia sprinted in behind him.

The feral aimed to get behind it, or at least get around the flank, and as she did she spotted Sakura doing the same on the opposite side. Seeing a bright blue hadoken smack the Orphan in the back did wonders to quell the fear that surged in Nadia’s heart at the sight of Sakura flying off like a home run, but to both girls’ chagrin the Orphan reacted badly. Despite Link’s arrival the monster fended him off with a wheeling slash that ended with it pointing straight at Sakura, its weapon raised as it tensed itself for a lunge, ready to cross dozens of feet in an instant to beat the Street Fighter down. Her prudent choice to stay out of its range, however, meant that when Ace swooped in, the Orphan went after him instead. It bashed its weapon against his shield both with gusto and from different angles, each grievous slam chipping splinters from the barrier upon which the monster hunter staked his life. Nadia took the chance to strike, joined by Geralt’s newest hired hand. As Fizz unleashed a barrage of thrusts at the monster’s legs, and Link lent his blade, Nadia jumped up and them both over to carve a shallow cross into the Orphan’s back with [url=https://i.imgur.com/VY7nSXW.png]X_Scrape Claws[/url]. Her momentum carried through into a somersault, and with a vehement, “Here’s the KICKER!” she brought down a righteous double stomp right into the X-marked spot. Pent-up water pressure from her legs both punctuated the strike and sent her flying away in a graceful backflip–and not a moment to soon.

Just as Ace predicted, the Orphan tired of him, and went for the others. It lurched backward as it unleashed a huge sweep, striking both Fizz and, if he wasn’t careful, Link. The blow struck to the head of Geralt’s striker both banished him and dealt a painful head wound back to the Witcher himself as he recovered from his rendezvous with the ground, keeping him out of the fight for a while longer longer. The distance moved by the Orphan meant that though Ace managed to strike with the fanged end of his weapon, not much force went through. Ace stepped back to mitigate its counterattack, only to run into a problem. With Nadia and Sakura out of the thick of it, Link on the back foot, Geralt struck down, and Bowser one his way back over, nobody was actually fighting the Orphan. Nobody, that is, except Blazermate’s sentry and the airborne Koopa Troop, happy for the another clear shot to shoot the horror full of holes once more.

The Orphan didn’t like that. Not one bit. Screaming, it swerved a few steps in one direction, then crouched down and launched itself into the air. It flew as if fired from a cannon, and before Junior could put two and two together, the howling fiend’s hand latched onto the rim of his ride. The whole Clown Car jerked downward beneath the added weight, tilting dangerously. The Orphan leered, its horrific face much too close for comfort, as it hammered its weapon against the Clown Car like a pinata as its legs scrabbled against the vehicle for purchase. Of course, that also gave Junior and Mimi the chance to hit it in the face, and Rika to shoot it in the back. Not even three full seconds after grabbing on, the Orphan jumped off it and straight toward Rika. It dove right into her, and together the two hurtled back down to the beach. 

They lended with the Orphan on top, its full weight behind the curved edge that it drove across Rika’s midsection. It lifted its weapon to slam down again and finish the job, only to receive a barrage of gunfire from the Seekers on their way over, with Bella ahead of the rest and Nadia not for behind. “Non, non, non!” she cried as plugged the Orphan with her remaining gauntlet before spinning around for a giant tail slam. The monster turned at run, took the blow without tripping, and kept on coming. Bella only barely managed to yank her tail out of the way of its overhead slam, and in the resulting plume of muck she lost sight of the thing, until it lunged forward with an upward slice. Her leviathan tail reacted before she did and put itself in the way, taking the blow in a burst of pale blood and blacksteel armor. As it fell to the side, however, Bella herself wheeled around. Teeth gritted from the pain, she socked the Orphan in the jaw with her gauntlet. From the opposite side, Nadia jumped up and grasped her own ankle to release a jet-propelled [url=https://i.imgur.com/i70bZM8.png]knee bash[/url], unaccompanied for once by any puns.

Both strikes struck true, but they weren’t enough to break the Orphan’s posture. As more Seekers closed in, the abomination wrenched a clump of flesh from its placenta. Recognizing the move, Nadia turned in a panic, and without meaning to blasted out a Copycat. The Hydro mimic skidded back toward the Orphan to take the fall for her, while its expulsion from her launched Nadia to safety instead. The Copycat clawed at the Orphan without fear, delaying it just long enough for someone to potentially save Bella before the viscera explosion devastated the area around it. And naturally, before the blast even settled, the screaming infant was on the move once more, eager for those who’d shed its blood to reap what they had sown.

The whole time, Blazermate found herself faced with a growing problem. Her medibeam, operating on flat health per second rather than a percentage, could restore an ordinary man to full in a few seconds. Even an extraordinary man, however, could be rendered half-dead by even a single one of the Orphan’s heavy blows, and some on her side had even more health than that. Without dedicated attention to those who’d suffered heavy damage, things like Bella’s shattered hand or Geralt’s head wound would go with only minimum treatment. That in turn meant she couldn’t be on the front lines healing fresh wounds as they came in, and the injuries would continue to pile up. She couldn’t outpace the destruction–which meant the Seekers were on a timer. And things could only get worse from here.

[center][h3]The Chalk Prince, the Fallen Child, and the Skeleton[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Frozen Highlands - Snowdin
Frisk’s [@Majoras End], Papyrus’ [@Dark Cloud][/center]

The reunion between Papyrus and Frisk, as well as their less-than-elucidating discussion, came to an end soon after a certain alchemist appeared at the base of the hill they’d climbed upon. After sparing just a moment for a curious impromptu examination of the unfamiliar skeleton and determining that he meant the child no harm, Albedo waved up at the pair from where he stood. “I found you,” he told Frisk matter-of-factly. For a moment he wondered if it could possibly be of any use to inquire as to the kid’s investigation, given the short time they’d been apart, but for the sake of courtesy Albedo decided to go right ahead. “How is everything going? Find anything useful?” He took a good look at the amicable undead at Frisk’s side, figuring now would be as good a time as ever to break the ice. “And who’s your friend here? I don’t recall seeing him around Snowdin before, at least since I’ve been here.”