[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img] [h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2] [b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1,730 (+3) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 11 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (190/110) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (259/90) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 10 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](168/100) [b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 5 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]//////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (51/50) [b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Sea of Serendipity [/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img] [b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 3668 (+4) [b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 8[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](95/80) [b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] Twilight Town [color=Aquamarine]Warp Charges:[/color] 0 [hider=warp locations] Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town [/hider] [/center] After the troop came her majesty Sectonia, whom everyone but Rika knew. The ship girl’s impression was that she was amusingly similar to Bowser. The king himself meanwhile got a bit of a nasty shock upon seeing that she had the potentially multiverse annihilating chaos heart in her possession. That was going to need watching. By Kamek. Who Bowser handed the responsibility off to immediately. Next up were a pair of bots who were new to Midna. The princess became ever so slightly envious of the excess of magical healing the other party had apparently had (a whole two sources), but that was about all she learned about Blazermate, and a little inkling of her personality from her enthusiastic descriptions of abilities. The second bot, Susie, who sounded oddly similar to Sectonia it had to be said, was mostly all business, as befitting the business bot, but the cute flirt with the oblivious Bowser threw everyone else for an absolute loop. Next up, the pair of street fighters. The first, Karin, gave quite the impressive hype up of herself, while poor Sakura was a bit of a flop in contrast. Well, other than the 40 pounds of hot dogs part, though Midna had no idea what those were, and so she mainly spent the short intro suffering secondhand embarrassment for the poor woman. After that was Geralt, followed by Pit, a pair who could not have been more contrasting if they tried. A grizzled veteran who certainly knew his stuff by the looks of things, and even if he hadn’t been able to talk the talk, Minda would have still assumed he was good based on experience alone. You did not, she expected, grow old as a monster hunter if you did not know your stuff. Pit meanwhile was all youthful energy, and yet he also claimed to be experienced as well, which Midna felt a bit dubious about till she remembered he’d been in the smash tournament, and an old enough hand at that to have been through the ordeal that had apparently happened during the one before she had started taking part. The little display of his floating weapons certainly helped build her confidence in him as well, and over all, by the end he left her with a good impression. Next, Omari, who Jr stuck his tongue out at ever so maturely. The rest of the troop where a bit mixed, Kamek feeling a touch guilty about bringing him along, both for what had happened and the grief Omari was getting as a result. Bowser meanwhile was quietly backing his son’s opinion of the other boy, but mostly leaving his own boy’s budding rivalry to its own devices, while Rika didn’t really get what the big deal was due to a lack of immediate empathy for anyone involved in the grandpa stabbing. If she stopped to think about it, she would have supposed she did not like him because he made Jr angry. But there were plenty more introductions to go, so she did not dwell on it. Midna had no knowledge of said grandpa stabbing, though she would have both disproved of the act and yet would have also noted from experience that you couldn’t save everyone when lives were on the line. Allies first, enemies second. As for the impression she actually got, well, she certainly raised an eyebrow at his alluding to the event, but then let it pass and listened with interest as he explained some kind of emotional combat system, complete with diagram (which she could see just fine in the familiar twilight), which was very thoughtful. After they got Jesse’s short but perfectly informative introduction. Here seemed to be a competent woman entirely in her element, and for whom adventure wasn’t any kind of chore or duty. None of them could argue with that certainly. Kamek and Midna also made little mental notes about Jesse’s people to see if they could work out how to help her with that in future. Last, but not least, was Bede, who immediately caught Jr’s attention with his profession. There were no bones about it, if he could, Jr was going to get the measure of this other trainer in the group, especially after being challenged like that by his boast of superiority. He certainly seemed competent, though the fact that he was entirely reliant on his monsters was a touch concerning to those who cared. He’d have to prove he could handle himself in Midna’s eyes at least, and till then, if they were together, she’d be keeping an eye on the kid. After the meet and greet wound down it was time for the most important part of this meetup: Lunch! And boy, did the Troop need it. Never mind the fact that Bowser and Rika had stopped off for a second breakfast. Or first lunch. Or maybe this was Bowser’s third lunch if you counted the shrimp. Really it was hard to keep track, and the king did not bother, seeing as he had the metabolism to match his appetite, and, besides you couldn't save the world on an empty stomach now could you? Rika meanwhile had the excuse that she had nearly died, which also built quite the appetite, while Kamek had emptied out all of her energy reserves transporting the ship they had immediately lost, and as for Jr, well, bickering with Omari was tiring in its own way. As such the troop went straight for the nearest shop with their allowance, practically cleared it out, and then headed for picnic hill. That food consisted of a wide variety of different things acquired mainly to sate Rika’s curiosity, although it was tricky not to get caught up in her enthusiasm for trying out new stuff. There was everything from chorizo & cheese quiche, BLT sandwiches, fish finger hot dogs, pork pie, sausage rolls, cheese scones, chickpea salads and to top it all off, some donuts. Rika and Jr sampled their way through all of these, while Kamek stuck to the veggies and Bowser hoovered up everything that went spare. Midna meanwhile took a bit of a detour, and just like Nadia, it was done in the name of aesthetics, though unlike the cat girl the princess wasn’t trying to impress anyone specific, just generally being aware of her appearance. Specifically, how kinda messy it had gotten clothing wise. The snaktivator plan had, mostly, worked. She hadn’t noticed any real mental changes, although they would soon rear their head, and the transformation had been quite localized physically too. She was however, it had to be said, a bit annoyed with what had happened to her skin on her torso, though she supposed it could be worse given the inhuman nature of the spirit. Now the outfit she had gotten on the other hand? Yeah, sure, it covered up the minor skin blemish, but otherwise it was quite unsightly, and it really clashed with the rest of her everything. The rest of her outfit was shiny and fun, this? Very droll. So, a bit of clothes shopping was in order. Part of her did consider trying to get armor of some kind to really lean into the shield and toughness combo and go full on knight, buuuut that might be stretching the other princess’ generosity just a tad. So instead she popped into a simple clothes store, and emerged a bit later wearing only her sandals and a warm, green and slightly oversized [url=https://i.imgur.com/nH8M0PL.png]hoddie[/url]. It was, in her opinion, the absolute height of comfort, which is why she had gone ahead and bought a few spares while she was at it. How she had survived this long without having changes of clothes on hand was something she now very much asked herself. She wasn’t ditching all the other garments mind, but they were in an effective laundry pile now (well except for the priest's robes, which was in an emergency only pile all of its own). With that out of the way, the princess rejoined the group for a very comfy picnic under the endlessly setting sun, where there was light food and light chatter to be found in abundance. She moved to and fro, trading words, and fuling her ongoing seafood mood with some tuna pasta. Eventually, however, the time for leisure was over and business came a calling. Specifically it came a calling for, of all people, Jr, who was reminded that he’d said he’d make them all a portal back to smash city by Vandham, who very much wanted to check back in with the place to see what had been up while he was away. The prince did what he had promised after only a bit of complaining, finding a nice central but secluded spot and engaging in a bit of vandalism (though the mercenary captain had gotten permission for that from the relevant city authorities while visiting the town barracks) and away they went. A little bit later, the prince returned… carrying a [url=https://gearsofwar.fandom.com/wiki/Mulcher]crank operated minigun[/url] and a [url=https://gearsofwar.fandom.com/wiki/Mark_2_Lancer_Assault_Rifle]assult rifle[/url] with a chainsaw slung under the bottom of it like a bayonet. [color=SpringGreen]”You guys have got to see the absolute pile of guns and vehicles and stuff they’ve just brought in through there”[/color] he informed the others, before moving over to his clown car, pulling out a toolbox and engaging in a quick tune up session to first install his wind up mingun in his car, before moving on and upgrading Rika’s bayonet into a [url=https://gearsofwar.fandom.com/wiki/Chainsaw_Bayonet]Chainsaw Bayonet [/url] for her. Midna, upon hearing this, also popped through for quite a while, and only returned once Vandham heard she was practically emptying the armory into the twilight realm and forced her to choose a more limited selection. At the very least this got her some instruction as to what she was acquiring. Her new instinct for flames inevitably drew her to the [url=https://gearsofwar.fandom.com/wiki/Scorcher_Flamethrower]Flamethrower[/url] on offer as her main pick of the day, which she complimented with the [url=https://dungeonsofdredmor.fandom.com/wiki/Interdimensional_Axe]Interdimensional Axe[/url] as a light one handed weapon, and a [url=https://gearsofwar.fandom.com/wiki/Boltok_Pistol]Revolver[/url] for some basic ranged capabilities she’d found herself lacking. She also took a pile of aluminum tubes to be used as improvised lightning filled grenades and, last but not least, an entire [url=https://www.halopedia.org/M12_Chaingun_Warthog]warthog[/url] which she tucked away in the twilight realm for later. [hider=other items on offer] [url=https://imgur.com/7HNaHGC]Gears weapons[/url] and ammo of appropriate calibers and [url=https://imgur.com/0QJu9iU]UNSC light vehicles[/url] from the mission A captured [url=https://i.imgur.com/NAhYhAC.png]Reaver[/url], a light biological aircraft Additional locust weapons ([url=https://i.imgur.com/uC2sP4C.png]hammerburst rifles[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/KV0jafW.jpg]Boltok Pistols[/url] and one [url=https://i.imgur.com/FMvCQpg.jpg]Torque Bow[/url] and limited ammo for all from grub spirits. A pile of dubiously useful melee weapons such as Aluminum Tubes, nailboards, a [url=https://dungeonsofdredmor.fandom.com/wiki/Double_Staff]Double Staff[/url] a Peasantly Pitchfork and a [url=https://dungeonsofdredmor.fandom.com/wiki/Dwarven_Wifflemaul]Dwarven Wifflemaul [/url] from the diggles. The spirits of the locust [url=https://i.imgur.com/juDWpVW.png]Captain Jermad[/url], a [url=https://i.imgur.com/mqwN0E5.png]Boltmon[/url], a [url=https://i.imgur.com/5YpYfjg.png]cybereticly enhanced moon bear[/url] and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/NAhYhAC.png]Reaver[/url]. [/hider] The lot of them hung around a bit longer to see if anything didn’t get snatched up, and then, after that, it was off to the trains where danger awaited.