[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/88KWNj5/OTbanner.png[/img]
[sup]____________________________________________________[/sup]
[color=FFC6C6][u]Level[/u]: [b]7[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 141/70[/color] [color=2e2c2c]------[/color] [color=BC8DBF][u]Level[/u]: [b]4[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 56/40[/color]
[color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color] [color=2e2c2c]----------------------------[/color] [color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color]
[color=lightgray]Word Count: 1122 (+2 exp)
[b]Location[/b]: The Under - Dirtmouth, the Chasm[/color][/center]
The Travelers slammed into the train car, along with their allies. They arrived more or less around the same time, the space quickly becoming cramped with both Bowser and Sectonia squeezing in alongside Junior's clown car, but soon enough the doors closed and the cat attached to the train started running, doing it's thing to get them out of the metro. They'd all made it out in one piece.

...hopefully. As the train was moving and the Seekers could spread out a little, it became clear that the Purple Team were down two members: Big Band and the Ace Cadet. Neither Primrose nor Therion commented on it. During the ride, the former was happy to let someone else do the healing. Both the travelers felt their wounds mend and their pain fade, and they thanked the Koopa prince - one warmly, the other quietly.

When their train stopped, it was not at the Queen's Station, though it looked similar. Maybe it was the same place, but a different area? As one of the only two that had taken the Purple Line before, Therion didn't think it mattered either way. They were underground, or in "The Under" or whatever, so they were where they needed to be. As the group moved on they didn't see much around, save for a contraption made for taking people up.

The Travelers looked up at the lift, letting the more excitable of their group take the first ride while others just flew up the shaft. As they waited their turn, Therion said offhandedly, [color=BC8DBF]"I kind of get it now. The whole fusing thing."[/color]

Seeing the demonstrations, and the boons it had given the others - from the healing, to Primrose's teleportation, and no doubt many more - it wouldn't really matter how freakish they ended up looking. It was all a means to an end. The dancer looked over at him, waiting for him to continue.

[color=BC8DBF]"All of the skills from learning a new job, none of the hard work."[/color]

[color=D34C25]"There are some drawbacks,"[/color] she told him, following with an example. [color=D34C25]"You get the good with the bad. I noticed since my recent fusion that the pyromancy I gained from another spirit seems to have been weakened."[/color]

So it was a good thing that the Seekers traveled in such large groups, they were able to accommodate each other's weaknesses. She did not say this aloud, but Therion seemed to sense the thought anyway if the curl of his nose was any indication. 

[color=D34C25]"But if you want to try it, here."[/color] Primrose produced the spirits she had, that of a few of the metro cats and the one humanoid that had attacked Therion. He took one in each hand, raising a brow at his friend. When had she had time to grab these?

The thief considered the spirits in his hand, where the face of a metro cat and the blue haired man he'd killed stared back at him. In general, he wouldn't turn away from getting stronger. Who would? Besides, it wasn't permanent - he'd seen that princess take the spirits out of people back in Twilight Town, however unpleasant it looked.

[color=BC8DBF]"What the hell,"[/color] he said, pressing both spirits to his chest.

[center][hider=For Therion]Notable spirit and fading spirit consumed:
[b][url=https://i.ibb.co/Y3cXS1q/e54eebbde9a551c3365df1fa7b8c6d370efa2911v2-hq.jpg]Ranulf[/url][/b] and [b][url=https://i.imgur.com/RyZvgus.png]Metro Cat[/url][/b]
The host's skin tone has gotten a bit healthier, his shirt has lost its sleeves, his pants have gotten bluer, and his poncho is now mostly orange with an ochre lining above the fringe. His boots are green-tinged, and so are his new fingerless gloves. His hair goes from white near the roots to blue around the middle to black toward the tips, all low saturation, and it's a bit shorter and straighter. He now has a tail that follows the same color scheme, as well as cat ears. His eyes are now yellow with black slits. In terms of personality, he's gotten friendlier and cheekier. These Spirits confer the Powers [b]Laguz Shapeshift[/b], which allows the host to temporarily assume a strong, agile [url=https://i.ibb.co/WckGGPm/Ranulf-cat.png]beast form[/url], and [b]Cat Sense[/b], which gives heightened senses of hearing and smell. These spirits also confer the Weaknesses [b]Beast Bane[/b], which causes the host to take double damage from weapons that are effective against beasts, and [b]Water Aversion[/b], which makes the host dislike getting wet.[/hider][/center]
When the light faded, he felt the changes right away. The scent of the earth was stronger than ever, and his ears, or rather his hearing, seemed clearer... speaking of his ears... Therion reached up to the top of his head, feeling the new additions there. He felt a tail flick behind him, [i]his[/i] tail, and that sensation was [i]so weird.[/i] He looked up at Primrose - [i]Did I just get shorter?[/i] - who noted his new bright eyes in the dim cavern light. Or, eye - one of them was still obscured even though his hair had gotten shorter along with the color change. From below the bang, a facial scar peeked out, no longer fully hidden. 

[color=D34C25]"Orange doesn't look that bad on you,"[/color] Primrose teased. As expected, Therion rolled his eyes at her, though this time he couldn't keep a small grin from his face.

They rode on the lift next, out of the sunken station and into a dingy town (where Primrose offered the other cat spirits to the rest of the group). It looked pretty sad, but the town itself was only a part of the view. It sat in the shadow of a massive spire, on the edge of something incredible.

There before them was the Chasm, a hole wide and deep into the pit of the earth. The jagged rock around it suggested that some kind of sweeping, powerful blow had carved the Chasm into what it was now. It was quite beautiful in it's own way, the trees striking against the stone backdrop. Even with all of the man-made equipment and structures, it gave off the feeling of raw, powerful nature.

But when Therion looked at it, he had only one thought.

[color=BC8DBF]"Are you serious?"[/color] he groused. He had expected that they would start off underground, but now they had to descend? Whether it was a mountain or a pit, a long fall was a long fall. 

While the Seekers took in the sight and no doubt came to the same conclusion that they'd have to descend, Primrose hailed the hunched, masked figure sitting nearby. [color=D34C25]"Might you tell us the name of this town?"[/color] 

The Elderbug looked up, though his mask disguised his expression he seemed helpful at least. "Oh! Well, this is Dirtmouth. I hope you aren't too disappointed by our little town, travelers."

[color=D34C25]"Not at all,"[/color] she replied. The town's name sparked some recognition in Therion, and he glanced at Jesse. Back at Queen's Station, she'd said something about Dirtmouth. The bugs had told her about it being hours away. The other stations must really have been dead ends, and wherever the train had just taken them was a new place - which meant they wouldn't have to do a grueling climb up before going back down.

[color=BC8DBF]"We lucked out, huh,"[/color] he commented to the Director.

Rika and Kamek then set about scouting the Chasm, a smart idea. She watched the constructs, magical and mechanical, fly out over the gigantic pit and then turn down, scoping the route out. Then came the suggestion of gathering some things to prepare themselves for the descent. 

[color=D34C25]"Just what I was thinking,"[/color] Primrose agreed. She looked at the various miners and workers going about their business, figuring that even in a ramshackle town like this there must be a supplier of equipment somewhere close by, if not in the town itself. Perhaps some safety equipment for those of them that couldn't fly, like the gliders they'd used back on Split Mountain as a protection against plummeting down.