[center][h3]Nyakuza Metro[/h3]
Level 8 Big Band (19/80), Level 10 Nadia (30/100)
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 and Red’s [@TruthHurts22], Omori’s [@Majora’s End], Rubick’s [@Scarifar], Bede’s [@Crimson Flame], Roxas’ [@Double]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2411[/center]

The sheer scope of the Metro mob as it thundered toward the group left even the stalwart stoic Big Band blindsided, paralyzed like a deer in the headlights. In no time at all, the Seekers were outnumbered hundreds to one–even thousands to one didn’t seem too extreme an estimation. Packed so tight that the detective couldn’t see where one cat ended and another began, the horde of bounty hunters moved quickly to surround the info kiosk. When they closed in, escape would be near-impossible for those with neither uncommon agility nor the means to take to the skies.

That realization finally galvanized the vintage virtuoso into action, and he wasn’t the only one. First off the block were Raz and Therion, who called for the others to follow behind as both paved a way through the Metro’s twists and turns, the former atop his brightly-glowing Levitation ball, itself an invaluable guiding light in the indoor city’s perpetual darkness. After him ran Tora, who could really move if the situation called for it apparently, and Poppi, both trusting in the Psychonaut to steer them straight. While someone who actually rode the Black Line might be better qualified to lead the way there, neither Peacock nor Raiden were on hand to help, and Band himself -committed to the Purple Line- was in no position to lead the charge. Besides, he had different plans.

Rather than turn to follow, he stepped toward the feline throng. “I’ll buy us some time!”

As the group split in half to follow Raz and Therion, Peach hesitated. “Mr. Band, no! It’s far too early for sacrifices!”

“Who said anythin’ about sacrifices?” The one-man band deployed an enormous kick pedal, then slammed its terrific weight overhead and onto the ground. “Giant Step!”

The percussive mass beat the Metro’s hexagon-tiled floor like a gargantuan drum, sending out an unblockable earthquake. It rippled through the incoming crowd of cats, dealing no damage but knocking the entire horde off their feet and into the air. Instead of watching his handiwork, however, Band has already turned to slide after the thief. “Alright, let’s boogie!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Nadia took off after the Octopath Travelers in a rocket-assisted sprint, using her blood jets to build up speed before her legs took over. She and the others moved fast, but barely had their race against the clock down the Purple Line path begun than Nadia saw the Metro cats converge ahead of them to block the way. A problem for some, but not for Therion, Primrose, or for that matter, her. Once the thief went crowd-surfing and the dancer took flight, borne aloft by the glow of the glyphs on her scarf; Nadia forged her own path by high-jumping diagonally and extending her arms to grab hold of a balcony railing. From there she swung over the mob like a living trapeze, letting to at the apex of her arc with a flip to airdash, find another handhold, and repeat.

Band sighed. “That’s great for y’all, but I ain’t exactly a spring chicken no more!” As he drew near the cats he jumped into the air and deployed his rocket boosters from his undercarriage, blazing into the air once more. The sight of Primrose fending off Metro cats that either leaped or footstool-jumped off one another to get at her convinced him to fly higher than he needed to, sticking to open spaces to avoid hangers-on, but even then the detective wasn’t careful enough. Mere moments into his flight, a burly figure in white took a running jump off a nearby apartment complex, roaring out a ferocious battle cry. Band turned in time to block a heavy punch, but his attacker’s momentum threw him off course, and together they hurtled over and landed on the fourth-story [url=https://i.imgur.com/gXFKAEJ.png]Green Station plaza[/url]. As they skidded to a stop, Band got his first good look at his assailant -a [url=https://i.imgur.com/YQbWrsX.png]strong woman[/url] with the ears, tail, and coat of a white tiger- just a moment before she went for a mighty two-handed wallop. Clicking his tongue, Band deployed his cymbal to parry the telegraphed blow, allowing him to follow up with a trombone strike from his knee and lean back on a music stand for a strong double kick. From there he powered forward with Brass Knuckle, only to be stopped cold. His eyebrows shot up as he peered around his mechanical arm to see that Lin Xiao actually caught the punch with her muscular arms.

Before she could do anything about it Band extended a pair of super-sized drum mallets to whack her repeatedly on the head. Surprised and disoriented, she got dragged off her feet as Band pulled his arm back and wheeled it around, bouncing her off the ground to land a real Brass Knuckle. Lin Xiao tumbled back a short distance but came to a stop by dragging her gloved fingers through the ground, then launched forward. She swept under Band’s attempt to intercept her and grappled him around the middle. He barely budged. The detective scoffed. “That ain’t gonna work, miss…whoa!” His opponent made him eat his words as she lifted him off the ground and abruptly powerbombed him back down. As he lay flat on his back, Lin Xiao jumped on top of him to start whaling on his head. She beat through his attempt to block with his mallets and landed three skull-rattling punches before his cymbals deployed to crash together with her in the middle. Stunned, she couldn’t do much as Band used Overblow to strike her with his tuba from behind, throwing her off. He rose with a black eye, dazed, only to find his foe already on him. She grabbed him again and, in another feat of Herculean strength, suplexed him into the ground. From there, it only took one terrific Tiger Fist to launch him from the plaza back down into the Metro streets.

Band crashed down near friends, but not the group he started with. He got swept up in the chaos as Red made use of Unite Sword, and along with the Wonderful One got hopelessly separated from either Black or Purple Team. They ended up at one of the lowest points in the city, where just a trickle of pale light and a whisper of wind seemed to cut through the darkness of the Metro. When Red asked if he was okay, bruised and crumpled as he was, Band gave a humorless laugh. “I seen worse,” he grunted. His attention turned as another swarm of cats came his way, with a bright-eyed Lin Xiao right in the forefront. “Just couldn’t say goodbye, huh? We gotta move,” he said, looking around for any sign of a relevant train station, but he found none. With a groan he did an about-face “Let’s follow that breeze, triple time!”

Meanwhile, Nadia was closing in on the Purple Line, but things weren’t looking good. She’d lost sight of Therion, and though she and Primrose ran alongside one another as the latter waited on her scarf, the cats were in hot pursuit. After a moment the dancer peeled away to go down a sidepath, telling the others not to wait on her. Nadia waved her off with as reassuring a voice as she could. “Good luck, see ya in a few!” Now that things had gotten serious, she felt no envy or ill will for Primrose; that lady was just another comrade. A couple seconds later, though, the feral did regret not joining her. The main entrance to the Purple Station, signified by its bright purple gates, was totally blocked. Out in front the street was packed wall-to-wall with Metro cats, and another couple rough customers stood before them. One, a muscular [url=https://i.imgur.com/SYvR3oG.png]cat man[/url] glowered at her with a scary-looking heavy-duty weapon in his hands, part drill and part saw. The other, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/2yQ6uUX.png]catgirl[/url] like Nadia, looked like a witch. Nadia did not like those odds, and she couldn’t get through the purple gates without a pass anyway, so a little detour seemed to be in order.

As she ran in, Nadia clapped her hands together, and between her palms created a swirling orb of pure Hydro with what little Dramatic Tension she’d gathered. “This oughta give you ‘paws’!” It swelled into a frothing sphere ten feet in diameter, making her prospective opponents wary, before she slammed it down right in front of her. It erupted in a spectacular burst of water, and for even more chaos Nadia threw a couple copycats into the mix, only to then hurtle off to the right as her wave washed harmlessly around the fearful cats’ feet. With all eyes on the magical display and her trouble-making clones, none of them noticed her zip off down a narrow alley, hot-footing it past dumpsters full of old tuna cans and worn-out balls of yarn. “Hate to ‘wet’ your appetite and run, but I’m outta here!” she laughed to herself as she ran by a very [url=https://i.imgur.com/wMjfWgS.png]fitting wall mural[/url]. Distracted by the art and her own smugness, she did not detect anything out of the ordinary until she went round a corner and a big boot roundhouse-kicked her head clean off.

As Nadia’s body slumped down and her head bounced down the alley, the leonine prizefighter [url=https://i.imgur.com/JR7P9aK.png]Zelmer[/url] rounded the corner, an almost disappointed look on her face as she nonchalantly adjusted her jacket. “This prey is weak.”

A couple Metro cats sidled out of cover behind her. “Nyeheheh, looks like ya knocked ‘er block…boss!!!”

Zelmer whipped around as Nadia’s headless body delivered a full-force kick of her own. The lioness barely got her arms up to protect her head, only to be driven backward painfully into the wall by the force of the kick. Her attacker flowed into a turning heel kick, but Zelmer dove beneath it, rolling across the stone floor as Nadia’s hardened foot cracked the bricks where Zelmer’s head had been. She got up with a turn kick that struck Nadia’s block, pushing her back. The Metro cats jumped up behind her, but somehow the headless body saw them coming and launched into a blood-rocket lariat -made possible by her new belly scar- that sent all of them flying. Zelmer charged in only to be met with Nadia’s Cat Scratch rekka, taking both swipes before the feral went to finish with a drop kick. With a growl, Zelmer took the blow, but grabbed Nadia’s ankles and whirled her around in a giant swing before throwing her back down the alley.

The body bounced a couple times but came to a stop on her feet, right next to her head. “Nice kicks,” she said as she lifted her head onto her shoulders, then cracked her neck to both sides. The scratches on her face, courtesy of the claws on Zelmer’s boots, healed over before her eyes, leaving her with a competitive smile. “But it’ll take a lot more for me to admit…de feet.”

Zelmer snorted and began to move. Nadia crouched, embedded her claws into the stone, and backed up to stretch out her muscle fibers. After a brief moment she launched forward like a rubber band, zooming her opponent’s way. At the last moment she rolled to send her [url=https://i.imgur.com/Z0CMk7P.png]Fiber Upper[/url], only for Zelmer to do the same thing–she dropped backward to evade and handspring off the ground with a double kick. Nadia narrowly missed, but then snapped up to her lower half in the air, narrowly evading Zelmer’s kick in turn. The two landed at the same time, turned, and came together in a loud clash, roundhouse against tail smack

“I don’t have time for this,” Nadia hissed.

Zelmer smirked. “Then I’ll make this quick.”

The feral attacked fastest, swiping twice with her claws, which the lioness dodged, before using Facepalm to thrust her head forward as a drill. As it cut into her sleeves and skin Zelmer growled, striking with her knee to knock the head away. She carried the momentum into a hop kick to Nadia’s chest, then followed through with a turn kick. Her foe sidestepped it and threw her head, bopping Zelmer’s own as she moved in to provoke a response. She stopped short and blocked as her opponent threw out a double round. As much as she hated blocking, Nadia held her ground as Zelmer advanced, feinting once, then twice, then turning the second feint into a hook kick. This she ducked easily without a head, allowing her to [url=https://i.imgur.com/2yaVE0h.png]Limber Up[/url] with ease. Scratched and angry, Zelmer moved to punish Nadia’s obvious overextension, only to fall victim to her frame trap as the feral’s head counterhit her from behind. “One step a-head!” Nadia crowed as she drove her elbow into Zelmer’s belly, then pivoted around to slap her in the face with everything she had. The lioness staggered, but found her footing, and turned the sideways momentum into a rib-shattered spin kick that came around with enough force to kick up the dust. Unfortunately, it cruised right between Nadia’s halves as she split herself at the midsection. For a split second the two locked eyes, the feral’s teasing and the lioness’s full of rage, before Nadia reconnected and [url=https://i.imgur.com/XXawcVS.jpg]pushed[/url] her into the wall.

As she bounced off, disoriented, Nadia grabbed her in a rear naked choke, her arms fastened around Zelmer’s neck tighter and tighter. The taller woman struggled, driving the cat burglar into the wall once, twice, but Nadia would not be dislodged. After a few seconds Zelmer’s fight left her, and she began to lose consciousness. “Too big for your boots,” Nadia quipped, sensing victory. Rather than wait for the end, she released her grip, grabbed Zelmer by the head, and bonked her noggin against the wall one last time. By the time her foe crumpled to the floor next to her cronies, the feral had taken off running. A back door from this alley, used by janitors to empty the wastebins inside Purple Station, would give her the access she needed.