[center][h3]Twilight Town[/h3]
Level 11 Tora (68/110) Level 11 Poppi (68/110) Level 8 Big Band (12/80), Level 10 Nadia (23/100)
Koopa Troop and Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Geralt’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Ace Cadet, Octopath Travelers, and Pit’s [@Yankee], Blazermate, Sectonia, and Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Sakura, Jesse, and Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Raz’s [@TruthHurts22], Omori’s [@Majora’s End], Rubick’s [@Scarifar], Bede’s [@Crimson Flame], Roxas’ [@Double], the Mercenaries, the Wonderful Ones, and the Phantom Thieves
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1770[/center]

With their hygienic detour concluded, the three Seekers made their way down the sweeping curves of Twilight Town’s Market Street. Too big for the sidewalks, Sectonia followed the other two from the air, like a massive guardian angel. Of course, this pleasant and easygoing road offered very little danger; even the trolley cars that occasionally trundled up and down the brick-lined slope on their designated rails moved so slowly that someone would have to be trying to get run over. The only real problem Tora and Poppi found to contend with was that of distraction. All the little shops and storefronts on this winding route presented a bevy of interesting sights, smells, and sounds that all quietly clamored for their attention. They passed bookstores with shelves upon shelves of thick, colorful volumes. The lush flora and sweet-smelling flowers, abuzz with the gentle drone of big, fat bumblebees, provided a feast for their senses. Worst of all, the tantalizing smells of fresh-baked loaves and tarts drifted from the little bakeries, forcing Tora to resist the temptation to take an early lunch on his own.

When Raz found him on the way to the docks, Tora was grateful for a distraction from the scenery. Of course, he also appreciated the chance to talk to someone of the same approximate height and mental age. “Hello!” the nopon greeted him. They’d been acquaintances ever since the telepath joined the group back in Al Mamoon two days ago, which after the trek up Split Mountain felt like a lifetime, but they had yet to really become friends. Tora couldn’t even remember really interacting with him beyond their training session aboard on the Railway Gun, so now seemed like a good time to get to know one another.

As it happened though, Raz did most of the talking. He explained a bunch about his organization and what they could do, trying to keep his giddy enthusiasm for the Psyconauts in check. Most of it went over Tora’s head, especially the rather unfathomable parts about going inside brains, but Tora tried his best to listen. It wasn’t that long of a journey down the remainder of Market Street to begin with, and by the time Raz finished his treatise the group reached the bottom of the hill, where the sunset city gave way to the eastern perimeter road that ran parallel to the water’s edge. Beyond that lay just a meager hundred feet or so of beach, over which the Twilight Town Pier made its home.

[center][img]https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67706c0000bebb95d4ab717a5de70d7e75cf32[/img][/center]

The wharf followed along the city’s entire eastern edge, right next to the straightaway used primarily by the customers of Mumbo’s Motors as they ran their laps around Twilight Town, but directly across from where Market Street emptied out, it extended a good distance out over the water. Though the only portion of the entire pier actually usable as docks, the Pier proper seemed to be employed by the citizens exclusively as some sort of fairground, complete with a small roller coaster and ferris wheel, and not a boat in sight. Tora spotted Band on a bench next to the entrance to the jetty, and after Sectonia flew down to rejoin him, Poppi, and Raz, they used the crosswalk to get to the other side of the street. “Hello Band-Band!” Tora waddled up to the lone detective, an eager smile on his face. “Any sign of friends?”

“Not as of yet,” Band reported. “Might be the buildin’ out on the Pier is blockin’ my view, but I ain’t seen any ships comin’ in.”

Tora looked mildly concerned. “Meh…that mean we early, then? If friends not arrive soon, sun will set!”

“Sun not set here, Masterpon,” Poppi Alpha reminded him, poking him in the forehead with her index finger for emphasis. “Sky always like this here. That why it named ‘Twilight Town’.”

The nopon rubbed his head. “Oh…right. Got so engrossed in tinkering, Tora forget.”

Just moments after that, the Octopath Travelers Primrose and Therion arrived together, with the pokemon trainer Bede right behind the woman who’d freed him from Galeem’s grasp. Tora found himself a little jealous of the pink-clad boy getting to spend time with Primrose, but he did not regret the time he spent forging a stronger bond between himself and Big Band. When Therion gave him a look, Tora mimicked it, and like clockwork the thief buckled beneath the nopon’s indomitable eye contact. Tora smirked smugly as Therion looked away. Without thinking, his gaze naturally landed on Primrose, and he might have remained oblivious for a moment if the dancer did not happen to bring up a subject even nearer and dearer to his heart than cuteness: food.

“Picnic lunch sound like delight!” he announced. “Smells in city make Tora famished, so am looking forward to lunch as much as friends. Oh, uh, Tora mean, almost as much as friends, meh.” He turned his attention seaward, scanning the distant waves for any sign of incoming vessels. “Why not go out on Pier? We see friends much sooner that way!”

“Makes sense to me,” Band replied.

His companion nodded. “Go ahead, Masterpon. Poppi quickly find laundry place and clean clothes so Masterpon presentable for big reunion.”

“Meh-meh? Poppi actually act like maid!? Oh, happy day! Thank you Poppi!”

As Poppi left, more members of Yellow Team arrived, like the Phantom Thieves and the Centennial contingent, and together the gathering group made their way down the boardwalk. They walked by various carnival games, a bunch of hot dog, cotton candy, and roast corn stalls, and beneath brightly-painted roller coaster tracks as carts of fun-loving Twilighters and Poptropicans rattled around them. The flashing lights along the spokes of the ferris wheel dazzled the heroes as it turned lazily around in a slow, endless cycle, but Tora couldn’t succumb to distraction now after coming so far. He and the others reached the extent of the Pier in just a few minutes, which terminated in a spacious square platform partially occupied by an exorbitantly-priced seafood restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating. Once Tora got to the end, one peek at the horizon was all he needed to start bouncing up and down in excitement again. “Look, look!” he sang. “There ship out there! It coming this way!”

Sure enough, a large vessel could be glimpsed a few miles out at sea. Bulky and bulbous in shape, but with the unmistakable silhouetted outline of masts and sails, it grew larger and larger one minute at a time. Poppi arrived with Tora’s clean clothes halfway through the ship’s approach. In just a little while, Blue Team would be here at last.

[hr]

[center][hider=For Nadia]New Power acquired:
[b]Purrge of Vengeance[/b]
Nadia can expend a stock of Dramatic Tension to create a torrential ball of water, 10 feet in diameter, from the palms of her hands. It exploded into a wave on contact with a solid target of sufficient size, dealing a solid burst of damage. Nadia can imbue additional stocks up to her max of 5, each one increasing the ball’s size and damage by 50%, to a maximum of 30 feet and 300% damage[/hider][/center]

Of course, nobody really expected the fashion in which Blue Team finally arrived. Thanks to sitting unusually high in the water, the Part Omni-Organic, Partially Titanic, Ocean-Optional Tinkerslug towered over the Pier and those who waited atop it, its three enormous eyes staring at them blankly. It was a far cry from the rowboats that Vandham had been expecting, but once Yellow Team -and the local citizenry- realized that the massive mollusk was nothing to fear, there was nothing to get in the way of the Tinkerslug as it sidled up alongside the jetty platform to divulge its cargo.

A wealth of friends both old and new crowded the Tinkerslug’s deck. Whether monster or hunter, wizard or warrior, seraph or secretary, felon or feline, they exchanged waves and shouts with those on the docks, and some didn’t even wait for their ride to come to a complete stop. The two teams, their members numbering a couple dozen strong in total, met on the docks in a scene of utter chaos, with so much hubbub that the Seekers could scarcely hear themselves think, let alone hear one another talk. After a few moments, Peach fired her revolver into the air to cut through the din with a signal for quiet–only to be reminded that the projectiles her gun shot were ghostly spirits that screamed like bats out of hell.

“Whoa, that was way too loud, sorry about that!” she promptly called out, her expression sheepish. “I forgot it did that. Still, it got everyone’s attention, huh?” Peach banished the gun and cleared her throat. “Anyway…ahem! I’m so happy to see you all. Both those we parted ways with back at Alcamoth, and all the new faces.” As she smiled at Yellow Team, however, she couldn’t help but notice a couple faces missing, too. Hopefully that only meant that, like Hat Kid and Banjo-Kazooie, they’d found their own path elsewhere. “I’m sure we’re all really eager to meet one another, and I’m all for it! Even though we might be splitting up again in the near future, we’re still one team, united behind one common goal, and I want us all to remember that. So I was thinking of a way to get everyone on the same wavelength, and this is what I came up with.”

[center][hider=Peach’s Meet and Greet]For this week, we have a special prompt. Everyone is going to take turns getting to know one another. To do that, everyone has two things to do.

The first is to [b]acknowledge[/b] everyone who’s already gone. For every character who’s gone, you should include a small paragraph that involves at least one of your character’s responses. This can include impressions, memories, a verbal response, commentary, discussion, et cetera. It doesn’t have to be long, but it needs to be something. It is not required to acknowledge Peach.

The second is to [b]introduce[/b] your own characters. This part is optional, since not all characters might be the sort of participate in something like this. If yours do, they need to say their piece in their own paragraph. They can share whatever details, either on their own or in the same vein as someone who went before. This also doesn’t need to be long.[/hider][/center]

The princess turned and jogged over to one of the picnic tables, which she jumped on top of. She turned around to face the whole group at once. She took a deep breath, both eyes squeezed shut, then opened them. “My name is Peach. I’m the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, and I’ve been acting as a sort of leader for this campaign. A fun fact…” Peach put her hands on her hips. “My passion is sports! Tennis, gold, soccer, cart racing, even olympics. So when it came time to take up the fight, I was actually in pretty good shape.” She smiled. “Alright, who’s next?”

[i]So, she’s the one in charge,[/i] Big Band mused, his expression thoughtful. He didn’t remember hearing her name mentioned by the Seekers ever since he joined, but she’d already taken action that befitted a leader. In circumstances like these, against incredible odds with a staggering amount of unknowns in play at all times, he respected anyone with the courage to take responsibility. Even if it might seem a little silly, something like this meet-and-greet was vital for bringing all these different people together. Band certainly didn’t plan to let this movement fizzle out.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he declared, making sure his rich, deep voice was amped up enough for everyone to hear. The big man stomped over to the picnic table as Peach got down, shaking the Pier ever-so-slightly with each step, and took a position in front of it. “The name’s Big Band, and I’m all there is of the most real. Once upon a time I was a detective, but a twist of fortune led to me becomin’ a different kind o’ brass, fightin’ as a member of Lab Eight against the Skullgirl.” Band deployed a whole host of instruments [url=https://i.imgur.com/hFnThzw.png]at once[/url]. “Sweet jazz an’ moody blues; they’re all I am and what I do. Lookin’ forward to playin’ with y’all.”

[i]Did he say SKULLGIRL?[/i] In an instant Nadia was on alert. The usage of that word could mean only one thing: that Big Band here hailed from the same world as her. Ironic that she would finally meet someone who also called New Meridian home, but it would end up being a total stranger. While not bothered in principle, the admission that that this guy used to be a cop instinctively made her wary, and his usage of a phrase that included ‘fortune’ didn’t exactly help. She didn’t know him, after all, but if he knew [i]her[/i], things could get interesting. Still, circumstances brought them together today as allies. Hopefully the two of them would play nice.

Having just heard firsthand exactly what ‘twist of fortune’ led Band to his current condition, Tora couldn’t help but wince a little. The fact that his friend could hide so much personal suffering in such a casual turn of phrase both stood as a testament to Band’s strength of will, and made Tora wonder just how much pain lurked beneath the surface in this group. Hopefully he could become a real friend to all of them, and lift their spirits, even if just a little.

Poppi listened to Band’s introduction with crossed arms. The fact that the metal musician had once been an ordinary man intrigued her. Living things like people and nopons came about through birth and grew as they lived, while artificial beings like herself had been built, but Band had a foot in both camps. She struggled to answer the questions of ‘why’ and ‘how’, figuring that they’d be better left to Tora. Hopefully he wouldn’t develop an interest in recreating the phenomenon himself. Poppi followed along behind as her Masterpon raced over to Band, eager to go next.

“Am Tora!” the nopon announced to everyone. “Inventor, engineer, and defender extraordinaire! Meh, meh. Am creator of artificial blade Poppi, and there not gadget or doodad that Tora cannot fix or make better! Can protect everyone with Drill Shield too, so Tora is super handy to have around. Very much hope that everyone can be Tora’s friend!”

Nadia smiled at him. “Aww, you’re so cute! You’re like a little mechanic!”

“Am actually big for nopon, and am very much mechanic!” Tora informed her. “Thank you, Gormotti friend! Tora think you cute too, meh!”

That took the feral by surprise. “H-huh? It’s kind of weird, hearin’ that from you…”

Now Tora looked confused. “Meh? Weird when Tora say to you, but not when you say to me? Not make sense to Tora.”

Big Band chuckled. By now he knew just how serious Tora was when it came to both engineering and defending, despite his appearance. Though he often managed to lighten the mood with his antics, the kid was a lot more than comic relief. He trusted that everyone would get as attached to the little guy as he had.

“Poppi is Poppi,” his companion began, following in Tora’s footsteps as usual. “Together Masterpon and Poppi work as driver and blade. He wield weapons, Poppi channel ether. He get in trouble, Poppi bail him out.” She giggled. “Also have three forms. This form is pure defense, Quixotic Tutelar is evasive warrior, and Quantum Technochampion is all-out offense. Poppi like instruments, textiles, art, and smelling food!”

Tora just stood there on the bench next to her, looking proud despite the light ribbing. He and Poppi were a unit, after all. Nothing short of the end of the world could keep the two of them apart.

When it sank in that this girl was not only a machine but one invented and made by Tora, Nadia couldn’t help but be impressed. Maybe there was something to all that boasting, after all. Poppi certainly looked formidable in her armor, reinforcing the idea that the dynamic duo would serve as the team’s defense. That was just fine with Nadia; the more others could soak up punishment and occupy enemies’ attention, the better she could get into the mix and do some real damage.

Speaking of, since she’d already drawn some attention to herself, now seemed like a good time to speak up. She ran over and leaped onto the bench with an acrobatic flip. “My name is Ms. Fortune. I guess I’m what you’d call a dashing rogue. My whole gimmick is that I can split myself up into pieces without dyin’, so when it comes to fightin’, I ain’t kitten around! Puns are my thing by the way, so you’d better purr-pare yourselves.” She treated the whole assembly to the old double finger guns.

Big Band’s narrowed gaze lingered on her for an extra moment, and not due to the girl’s allure. Something about her seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Tora had called her Gormotti, whatever that meant, but to Band she seemed like something between a Feral and a Dagonian, judging by those cat ears (and puns) and fish tail. It wasn’t just that though. Something about her silly attitude struck his detective instincts as less than genuine. She seemed like a tricky sort, someone it might pay to keep an eye on. “A purr-leasure to meet you, Ms. Fortune,” he murmured, returning her pun in kind. Once Nadia got down from the bench, he waited to see who would go next.