[center][h3]Tora, Poppi, and Big Band[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Apex of the World
Level 9 Tora (168/90) Level 9 Poppi (168/90) Level 5 Big Band (106/50)
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Raz’s [@TruthHurts22], Raiden’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX], the Phantom Thieves, Braum, the Scout, Peacock, Mao, Robin, Tharja, Ciella
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1680[/center]

The dispersal of Bolsepia all across the locomotive, littering it from engine to Railway Gun to caboose, added a whole new dimension to the heroes’ already hectic struggle. Their suicidal self-destruction not only threatened the wellbeing of the Seekers, but the train itself, and nobody needed to point out that if their well-armed ride went kaput, the entirety of their campaign in the Sandswept Sky would soon follow. Skittering like puffed-up spiders, the oversized bomb bugs swarmed over the exterior of the train, moving as if by instinct to where their death detonations would do the most damage.

Fortunately, Raiden had just the tool for the job. His blade could carve through Bolsepia bodies without hindrance, and the precision of his Blade Mode meant that no matter how much carnage he left in his wake, his targets’ volatile heads went totally untouched. Killed too quickly and cleanly to explode, the Bolsepia that fell before him could do little but blow away in the wind, reduced to unsightly pieces and then, in short order, to ash.

He moved up top to the Railway Gun counterbalance, where the defense against the Akrid was the fiercest. There, the cyborg lent Raz and Ciella a hand against the Bolsepia, alongside Peacock after she popped up to add even more mayhem to the mix. Freshly armed with the knowledge that these things blew up when given half a chance, the little devil used a pair of striped flags to summon miniature biplanes flown by cartoonish bombs. Whether by sawing into Bolsepia legs with their propellers or just dive-bombing themselves, the planes helped send the unwelcome guests packing, but preemptively starting their countdowns and knocking them around quickly proved just as much a dangerous hindrance as a help.

With her own targets taken care of, Poppi joined her allies in their efforts to stop the Akrid sabotage. Cognizant of just how much danger these creatures posed, Midna and her assistants worked overtime to take them out as quickly as possible, while Sectonia cast her speed boosts down to make the most ruthless pest controllers among her allies that much faster. The insect queen kept her eyes on the prize, however, and though that meant she could deal some damage to Red Eye’s soft spots, she left the other Akrid unattended. Not many Trilid remained at this point, but those that did found Sectonia to be a tempting target, and as she slung light rings at Red Eye she got divebombed by a handful of the wretched things.

Down below, the Railway Gun remained in a state of chaos despite the Seekers’ fast action. The defense force by the charging station had splintered as the main cannon turned, with Raiden separated and Poppi -after hearing the cyborg’s shout- abandoning her post to save her Masterpon. With wild desperation she fought her way toward Tora, but in her haste she fell prey to an explosion that flung her down toward the tracks. Only a full-force thruster burn got her out of harm’s way, but it also forced her away from the train, and as she struggled to regain control and catch back up she could see the pandemonium caused by the Bolsepia all across the train. Joker had his hands full with the engine’s defense, relying on Arsene’s long limbs and Jinx’s stun gun to keep the scuttling bombs at arm’s length. One of them climbed up on top of Skull’s turret to blow itself up, and while the panicking thief managed to blast it back with his shotgun in time to save his own skin, his assailant still managed to take his turret with it. While Big Band’s Giant Step managed to knock down the critters on the roof of the caboose, it dealt only minimal damage, meaning that the Akrid were still very real threats. The one-man band went on the offensive, using Overblow, Brass Knuckle, and his patented 5000lb Slam dropkick to send the Bolsepia flying from the train. Even with the Scout’s assault rifle fire covering him, however, he couldn’t clear them all in time. A chain reaction from three of them tore a gaping hole in the armory car’s roof, leaving the remainder of the Railway Gun’s ammunition exposed.

Meanwhile Tharja, distracted by Robin’s injury, did not notice the Bolsepia priming itself behind her until it was already too late. Only one person did, in fact: Ciella. The furious red glow caught the archer’s eyes as she prepared a four-shot spread of rebounding arrows to clear the upper deck once and for all. For a split second the Agito wavered, reconsidering her choice of target. Then the Bolsepia in front of her surged, and Ciella let loose her shot straight ahead, washing the Akrid away in a torrent of maelstrom shots. At the same time, a loud burst on her periphery seemingly heralded the fate of Ciella’s former adversary, but when she glanced back over she saw that another magician had come to Tharja's aid with a well-placed couple of hexes. Ciella sighed, and turned her focus back to the enemy.

Tora’s own emergency, at least, turned out a little better. Midna saved the day at the last possible second, yanking the Bolsepia out of the Railway Gun’s passage in the nick of time and hurling it out to pop harmlessly in midair. Though it would be a minute before his heart stopped pounding, the Nopon breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been on the verge of tackling the Akrid to the floor and using his own super-spongy body as a shield for the machinery, but the Twilight Princess spared him such an unpleasant fate. “Thank you, meeh!” he gasped as he slumped down against the metal, fully aware that the array of red damage alerts on the screen beside him meant that despite his brush with disaster, he didn’t have any time to sit and rest. With a groan Tora wiped his brow, picked himself up, and busied himself with the repair console once more.

A moment later Poppi dashed in, her amber eyes wide with worry. “Masterpon!”

“Here!” Tora said, poking his head out. Though a little sootier and singed, the rotund engineer was none the worse for wear. “Glad to see Poppi okay!”

The sag of his companion’s shoulders suggested palpable relief. “Whew. Poppi also happy Masterpon not hurt.”

“What happen up there?” Tora asked, his eyes on his screen as he continued to work.

“Big slug cover train in bug bombs,” Poppi replied.  “Mostly dealt with now, Poppi thinks.” She ducked back out into the sunshine, determined to stand guard over this section of the train. Thanks to the ingenious idea of Raz, the Seekers had cleaned up the leftover Bolsepia by returning them to sender. With all onboard Akrid eliminated, both the functional turrets and the capable Seekers were pounding the weak spots with all they had. As Poppi watched, one of the red spots, already tenderized by cannon fire, Bolsepia blasts, and projectile punishment, erupted in a visceral shower. When the extra-chunky salsa cleared, only a pulpy crater in the behemoth’s hide remained. The good news didn’t stop there, either. Thanks to Therion and Raiden’s effort spent keeping him safe, the cannon was in position ready to fire once more. This time it packed an energized Devil’s Roar shell instead of a bog-standard Cobalt, so once Jesse dialed in her aim on the sore spot her allies created, she could unleash one hell of a payload.

In that fateful moment, all the work put into that one shot paid dividends. The Railway Gun thundered, but its roar was nothing next to the calamitous bellow of Red Eye as the shell ripped a huge gap into the side of its thousand-plus foot body, revealing skeletal and spinal structure within the scarred, blackened flesh. It was a terrible, grievous wound, and yet…the behemoth did not back down.

Its response was immediate. Amidst its thrashing, Red Eye veered sideways. Its massive body slid closer and closer, keeping pace with its target. Big Band swallowed, the sweat beading on his forehead beneath his hat not just from the desert heat. “Hooh, I got it bad. And that ain’t good.” Unable to do anything but brace himself, and as frustrated as he was alarmed because of it, he hunkered down and watched until Red Eye grew so close that it began to push up against the train. Suddenly the both the track below and the train atop it began to tilt precariously to the right, its immense weight pitted against the incredible strength of Red Eye’s body. Suddenly the smaller turrets were so close to their target that they couldn’t hit anything but armor, though that was still small beans compared to the issues facing the Dragonfire main cannon. As its barrel shifted up, its counterweight shifted down, threatening to pull the entire train off the tracks with it.

“Meeeeh!” Tora cried as he climbed up from below, waving his wings in panic as the Thieves shot uselessly at whatever they could hit. “We going over any second now, meh! Maybe friends should abandon train!?”

“And then what!?” Band shouted back. “We got no chance without this thing!”

Poppi stood by her Masterpon, ready to grab him and hover at the drop of a hat should it come down to it. “If we mean to stay, we need get this thing off, now!” She jumped up on top of the cannon, making sure Jesse was okay. “Can we fire?”

That depended on whether or not the cannon was loaded, which it wasn’t. In the tumult of repelling the Bolsepia, no more shells had been either energized or loaded. It would also be much harder to aim while tilted, both for the gunner within and the Octopath Travelers beside. Something had to be done, and fast. Still, Red Eye being so close surely presented an opportunity of its own, and as Tora looked up, an idea hit him. A way to force Red Eye off, and maybe even save the train. “Poppi? Need boost up top, meh!” he pointed at Red Eye’s exposed spine, not directly aligned with the train but still feasibly close. “Friends! We need give biggy big monster back pain!”