[center][h3]Kunad Highway[/h3]
Level 11 Tora (85/110) Level 11 Poppi (85/110)
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Geralt’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Pit’s [@Yankee], Blazermate and Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Sakura and Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Raz’s [@TruthHurts22], Bede’s [@Crimson Flame], Roxas’ [@Double], Benedict’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 972[/center]

Once the convoy began to pick up speed, even the fleetest G-men soon got left in the dust. Tora and Poppi watched them recede into the distance, standing in eerie stillness and staring with those beady, unblinking scarlet eyes. [i]G-men, huh?[/i] Tora thought. When the trucks went downhill and the team’s pursuers disappeared from sight, he couldn’t help but feel like a weight had been taken off his chest. Those things, whatever they were, creeped him out a little. They did this not by virtue of being inhuman, for this world contained plenty of strange beings completely new to Alrest natives like himself, but by virtue of [i]trying[/i] to be. Those uncanny watchmen seemed to believe that their laughably weak disguises rendered them totally inconspicuous, and yet the people of Gutsford played along, ignoring the imposters in their midst who so clearly didn’t belong. It was that fact that bothered Tora the most. When the G-men first confronted him, looming over him like nighttime shadows, he’d been gripped for a moment by raw fear, as if his instincts had cried out for him to get away. Maybe the citizens abided by these creatures, not because they convinced them, but because the consequences of not doing so terrified them. Tora frowned, and turned from the way he’d come to face the road ahead.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQfuBCb3ux0&ab_channel=EccoMixes[/youtube][/center]

Soon the ride got rough. Not much of the scrubland highway seemed to be paved, with roads of gravel or plain old dirt making up the majority. What roadways did exist turned out to be in pretty poor shape due to a potent combination of use, neglect, and the elements. The result was a jarring, jolting, jostling, and generally unpleasant ride. Easily knocked off his little nub-legs by a rogue bump or pothole in the road, Tora stayed seated, with his wings planted to either side of him for extra support. Remembering the railway trek in the Sandswept Sky, he kept his eyes on the scenery, alert for any hostiles. Of course, the scrubland looked much nicer than the barren, syrupy desert back then; in fact, it was quite pretty in its own way, with the trees, brush, cactus flowers, and sparkling blue rivers. Still, he didn’t care to appreciate it close-up by getting thrown off the truck, so he focused on keeping himself as steady as possible. 

He watched Midna not only put some motorcycles down on top of one of the shaky trucks, but pile them up, and then be taken by surprise when they slid right off. She managed to save one, but the others hit the ground at high speed and instantly got wrecked, causing the driver to panic and swerve the opposite way. “Meh-meh,” he muttered. “What think would happen?.”

While her Masterpon endured the ride, Poppi put her stabilizers to good use and maneuvered around the fleet of trucks. Given the width of a four-lane highway, the trucks could afford to spread out a little for safety, but Poppi confirmed that just a slight added jet boost in her jump would be sufficient to get across any gaps. She made her way toward the front of the fleet to briefly speak with Peach, Giovanna, and the Doctors. Real conversation could wait until later, but she at least confirmed their allegiance and the plan. “Ride trucks until helicopter arrive, then get on that and fly to Special Operations Unit headquarters in Midgar,” she confirmed. “Roger-roger.”

Just a couple twists and turns through the canyons later, the heroes’ good luck came to an end. From behind them the school bus roared into the scene, and the G-men climbed out with their gray-bearded ringleader in tow. As they approached Poppi hurried back to Tora’s side to help him steady himself long enough to bring out the Variable Saber. “We really fighting here?” he asked her, his tone incredulous and a little fearful. “Barely any room to maneuver, and there danger all around!”

Poppi gave him a reassuring pat. “If go to ground, we get left behind. We not have choice.” She produced the spirit she’d swiped from Anaconda, and pressed it to her chest. “...But we do have options.”

[center][hider=For Poppi QT Pi]Notable spirit consumed:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/o63YBDa.png]Jona[/url][/b]
The host’s height is unchanged. Her arms are now reforged into bulkier metal, black with red accents, up to the shoulder. Heat vents protrude from the elbows, and there are six-bullet clusters along the back of each forearm. Poppi is also now wearing a short-sleeved beige shirt, her ‘leggings’ are now more like actual boots, and she has a splash of pink at the roots of her shorter, shoulderblade-length hair. Her personality is more extreme in both directions, both casual and dangerous; she’s more fond of kidding around and less given over to Noponisms. This spirit confers the Power [b]Revolver Convict[/b], which gives Poppi two oversized revolvers only usable by her new arms. They have appreciable power but mediocre accuracy and reload time; ammo has to be produced in and then dispensed from the arms themselves, giving her twelve shots total. This spirit also confers the Weakness [b]Alcoholism[/b], which weakens her Ether Furnace the longer she goes without alcohol up to a certain point[/hider][/center]

The two sacrificed their initiative to secure the fusion upgrade, but the other Seekers got to work. First to step up was Karin, leading by example. Soon after she boarded one of the rearmost trucks, [url=https://i.imgur.com/PuREIHB.png]Morax[/url] slammed down opposite her. The buffalo-headed demon scowled at her imperiously, his lip curled and his tiny eyes scornful. He made a sign with his hand, activating Counter in order to reflect physical attacks 10% of the time and strike back after physical attacks 50% of the time. He then held out his scepter. “...I [i]will[/i] have order,” he decreed, calling on Maragi to send forth a series of fiery explosions. His flame would continue to flow unless given the chance to wallop Karin with Oni-Kagura at close range.

After fumbling more of her equipment, Midna let loose her minions. Together they attacked the seated demon [url=https://i.imgur.com/i2B2rnD.png]Belphegor[/url], barraging him with their various abilities. Psychic projectiles dealt some damage, but the ice spears shattered limply against him. The firebomb that punctuated the volley, however, left the demon reeling. “Aaaargh!” he growled, nearly falling off the toilet before he righted himself. “Blasted mortals…you’d stand against a Duke of Hell!?” He puffed up and unleashed Famine’s Scream to slap Midna’s whole crew plus Sakura with Hunger at a 50% chance, although since an affliction on and of the Strikers would pass to Midna herself, halved attack power was practically guaranteed. “Gahaha! Get a load of this!” Belphegor cackled. With a flush of his toilet, he used Mabufula to crystalize and then burst ice magic in the air around his foes.

When Midna’s Vibrava used Bug Buzz to agitate Benedict’s team, it provoked a reaction from all of them. It instantly got a light Zio bolt from [url=https://i.imgur.com/2ecOLpa.png]Agathion[/url] and much heavier Ziodyne bolts from [url=https://i.imgur.com/I8u0YcN.png]Atropos[/url]. [url=https://i.imgur.com/beLuc23.png]Sandman[/url] stirred up a Garula, creating a wind vortex that just missed the Vibrava, but erupted into an upswell the popped the back of the truck it’d been clinging to in the air. “Oops,” Sandman grunted, glancing over at Benedict apologetically. “My bad.”

As the Vibrava fled, the voice of the Seekers’ number-one problem followed it. “I am Trumpeter,” the harbinger intoned. “The ring of my trumpet signals calamity and death…” Pit’s light arrows struck its body only to bounce right back at him, forcing the angel to cease shooting at Atropos and Agathion. Trumpeter prepared to return fire, only for the angel to fly a little too close to the sun and get clipped by a street sign. “...Justice.” As Trumpeter considered what to do next, it took stock of its allies’ activity. Ippon-Datara narrowly missed a Sledgehammer blow on Raz and got a burst of psy-blasts for its efforts. It did some damage, but not anywhere near enough to give the boy free reign to be distracted by Agathion.

Thankfully, Raz wasn’t alone. “Trovão!“ As Ippon-Datara hopped toward him to pummel him senseless, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/NaYx6mU.png]green blur[/url] hurtled through the air between his truck and one up ahead. Giovanna’s flying kick struck like thunder, tumbling the smith across the truck’s roof to the back. It looked up, its eye flaring with anger, to see the secret agent adopt a [url=https://i.imgur.com/zPRb1Nc.png]fighting stance[/url] with her wolf spirit curled around her. She dashed forward, closing the distance with incredible speed, and met Ippon-Datara in a mighty clash.

At the same time, Pit dusted himself off to help Raz out with Agathion. His tremendous uppercut blasted the little squirt off more like a baseball than a golf ball, and to add insult to injury the demon smashed into a passing tree. There it remained, down for the count.

The sound of light footsteps came from behind the two; Peach had floated over to join them. “You two okay?” she asked, her voice raised over the wind. “Since the three of us can float a little, maybe we can make a push from an angle they aren’t expecting!”

Up in front, Roxas opted to try cutting off the head of the snake by going for the Turk in charge: Benedict. After reaching his quarry he bombarded the old strategist, first with attacks and then with questions, but Benedict’s allies weren’t about to make things so easy. His bodyguard Atropos stepped up to defend him. She flung out her thread to try and bind Roxas, then followed up with Mazionga, a wide-range shower of yellow lightning bolts.

Meanwhile, Blazermate and Susie were setting up shop in the backlines. The constant, violent, and unpredictable motion of the trucks made it tough to get situated, but with a little time and effort they would pose some real danger to the enemies. Sandman, however, decided against it. If these bots wanted to get comfortable, he’d be happy to tuck them in. He approached the backlines, leaping nimbly from truck to truck until he got in range. Of course, the Engineer’s turret -still level one at the moment- immediately opened up on him, but since Gun wasn’t particularly effective, he powered through in order to cast Dormin on both bots before making his escape.

He did not get far, however. A loud gunshot rang out as an oversized bullet zoomed past Sandman, prompting him to whirl to the right. He looked over to see Poppi soaring his way, her new revolvers blazing in her Masterpon’s wings now that she’d finally loaded them both up. While the second shot missed also, the third slammed into the small demon’s shoulder hard enough to just about knock him off his feet. “Gah!” With no other cover he went for the edge of the truck, took another bullet to the back, and vaulted over to hang off the other side. Poppi landed and Tora hopped down to shoot over the edge, only for Sandman to jump back up on the offensive. He struck the Nopon with a furious Dormin Rush using his bag, and Tora got unlucky enough to fall asleep.

As he slumped over and started to roll down the truck, Poppi rolled her eyes. “Gimme a break.” 

She dashed after him to scoop him up, and as Sandman prepared to cast Dormina on her, she threw Tora right at him–both to bodyblock the spell and to knock him back. As the demon teetered precariously on the brink of the truck, Tora sprang up ready for a reckoning, only for Poppi to drag him back. He spun to face her as she holstered the guns she’d given him, his gaze accusatory. “Hey! Tora want pay back for unwanted naptime!” His companion merely glanced to the left in the direction that the trucks were headed, and Tora followed her gaze. A second later, a passing sign whacked Sandman and dropped him to the canyon floor. 

Trumpeter had seen enough; it was time to act. It readied its calamitous instrument and resounded the toll of death. “...Mafreidyne.” Pillars of light fell all across the battlefield, and where they landed ten-foot spheres of nuclear power welled forth. While not one per Seeker, the outbursts occurred where they’d do the most damage. They fell upon Tora and Poppi, the Midna mob, the backline bots, the floater trio, and both one-on-one fights, forcing everyone to move -if they could- or suffer crippling damage. At least the trucks got out unscathed, somehow.

[center][h3]The Ruins[/h3]
Level 10 Nadia (51/100)
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Omori’s [@Majoras End], Rubick’s [@Scarifar], Adventurer’s [@Squashedquatch], Ganondorf’s [@Double]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 429[/center]

Neat as this place was, Nadia couldn’t afford to be distracted for long, but by the time she got a half-dozen steps into the Temple of the Black Egg she was already too late. Her headlong sprint came to an apprehensive stop as the imprisoned man suddenly and violently ripped through his chains, half-hidden in the gloom, and attacked what appeared to be a sword-wielding goat priest from behind. Their struggle lasted just briefly, as Ganondorf overpowered and proceeded to execute Toriel, her end quick, clean, and quiet.

Nadia grimaced with her brows raised, her head pulled back. “Eugh…” She wondered if she should have done something, or even if she could. “I hope that wasn’t someone im-purr-tant.” Her tail curled around her arms and legs as she crouched there, watching the man slowly and deliberately claim the sword stashed nearby. Behind the feral came a couple representatives of the Koopa Troop, Bowser and Rika. She swiveled her head to glance at them, then to the fainted Froggit, then back to Ganondorf. In due course he did turn to face Nadia, peering at the unfamiliar girl across the misty distance that separated them. He did not need to speak loudly to be heard in this place.

“You’re…welcome?” Nadia stood up, her graciousness and expression both tentative, and pocketed her hands. This guy was [i]big[/i], and he carried himself powerfully. With the elaborate patterns on his unusual garb he gave her the impression of some tribal warlord. He also looked…well, evil. Nadia knew not to judge a book by its cover, but that smile was really the icing on an imprisonment-and-murder cake. Bowser referred to him by the name Ganondorf, which sounded both regal and a little silly, but for once Nadia didn’t feel like laughing. Apparently the big lunk knew this guy, and even worked with him? Considering Bowser’s level of villainy, she wanted to think that this fellow might not really be that bad either, but this was one hell of an introduction.

After a couple seconds Nadia decided not to overthink things, and just deal with them as they came. “A favor, huh? Well, since you’re offerin’, might as well. I like settlin’ things straight away. So.” She tilted her head, causing her ears to lean from one side of her head to the other. “We’re here to wipe out something called a Guardian. We don’t know what it is yet, but it’s real strong, probably real big, too. Important to some pain-in-the-asses in red armor called Consuls. Got any dirt on somethin’ like that?”