[center][h3]Kunad Highway[/h3]
Level 11 Tora (91/110) Level 11 Poppi (91/110)
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] 2552[/center]

Belphegor’s Mabufula went off like a set of firecrackers, loudly and messily detonating over the convoy. The icicle-like spikes flew like miniature lances, piercing and sharp as winter itself, but despite the prospect of grievous stab wounds Tora’s body moved like it had a will of its own. The rotund Nopon threw himself over his partner as she wallowed in the pits of despair, squeezing his eyes shut as he clamped his ears down over his head. When the ice fell upon him, however, their tips barely penetrated any deeper than the head of a pencil into an eraser. With Poppi’s Wind Core not currently in use, Tora’s absurd constitution reduced the pointed flurry into ice-cold acupuncture.

Of course, he still wasn’t happy about it. “Ouch, ouch, ouch!” he cried, bouncing back and forth as he flapped his wings. “Get it out, get it out, meh!” After dancing a lively jig he managed to get the icicles out, which clattered to the roof of the truck and quickly flew off to the scrubland floor.

Taken aback by his attack’s ineffectiveness, Belphegor gaped at the silly-looking but tough-bodied creature before him. “What!?” he bellowed. “An immunity!? Of all the rotten luck!”

“Tora not immune!” The Nopon turned and braced himself on the rocking truck with his Variable Saber clutched tight. Poppi still languished behind him, and he wasn’t about to let any of these monsters hit her while she was down. “Tora just super toughiepon, meh! Withstand getting stomp on by giant dragon days ago! Climb freezing mountain higher than clouds just yesterday! Compared to that, pottypon ice feel like bonk with popsicle!” He fixed the demon with the most smug expression he could muster.

Belphegor ground his teeth, completely incensed. “That was just a taste, fuzzball! Let’s see how you like Bufudyne!”

Before he could conjure any more cold, Karin sent a present his way from the truck running parallel to his own. Her grappling hook anchored itself to his right pectoral, delivering a painful pinch that left him howling as he looked over to see the buffalo-headed mage zooming his way. The limp body of Morax slammed into him, nearly yanking his fellow demon from atop his ivory throne. It tilted precariously, and with his other hand Belphegor grabbed onto the rim for dear life as he cursed and yelled, but with Morax barely conscious after getting his ass handed to him it all fell on deaf ears.

Laughing, Tora stepped forward to take advantage of the chaos, but the herky-jerky movement of the truck beneath him proved to be too much for his stubby legs and the Nopon sat down hard. He thought about getting up, but the view of the drop off the bridge to the canyon floor just a couple feet to the right gave him pause. “Meeeh,” he grumbled, uneasily looking back at Poppi as he wondered what to do. In doing so, he realized that one of the trucks just ahead seemed to have an open rear door. Just moments ago, someone had slid it up from inside, and it just so happened to be someone that Tora knew. “You!?” Tora exclaimed at the sight of a sleek, [url=https://i.imgur.com/LGwArMq.png]black-armored cyborg[/url] with distinctive platinum-blonde hair. “Where you been!? We thought you abandon us, meh!”

Raiden sighed. “Good grief. And here I was hoping for a peaceful truck ride to Midgar.”

Tora glanced back at Belphegor, still tangling with Morax as the trucks made their way over the precarious black-drip bridges, then back at Raiden. “Well, it little late for that! But Tora forgive sliceypon if help RIGHT NOW!”

Shrugging, Raiden repositioned his scabbard and drew his signature high-frequency blade, then tensed up for a jump, filling his actuators and artificial tendons with lightning. The halves of his visor clicked shut. “...Might as well.” 

The cyborg launched as if fired from a cannon. With electricity arcing around his legs he performed a ninja run along the side of the truck behind the one in which he hitched a ride, not even using his hands. He sprang to the truck opposite, ran a few deft steps along the sheer surface, then sailed up and struck Belphegor like a bolt from the blue, nailing him with a metal knee to the face with such force that he instantly broke the demon’s jaw. As the monster reeled backward Raiden flipped and came down with a heel drop to the front of the toilet bowl. The blow both took a chunk out of the bowl and tipped it forward, which in turn ejected Belphegor. Raidan cartwheeled backward as the demon belly-flopped onto the roof of the truck, squashing Morax beneath him. Before Belphegor could rise, Raiden dealt a football kick to his head that bent him backward as it lifted him off the ground. He smacked into his floating toilet, and when he fell again his opponent activated Blade Mode. Time slowed to a standstill as the cyborg subtly adjusted his aim, and when his blade flashed forth the perfectly-aligned slash carved through the heads of both demons in one deadly instant.

Tora could only blink in slack-jawed bewilderment as the demons burst into tarry ash, and Raiden returned his sword to its scabbard. To him the whole sequence had been a blur, but one thing was clear: this mostly-machine man hadn’t lost his edge after fighting Red Eye.

At that point Blazermate arrived from the front of the convoy to restore Poppi, having already cured Peach of her despair, and while she worked Tora took a quick look around in case he missed anything else. Roxas and Raz faced off against Benedict and Atropos toward the rear, while above their heads Trumpeter rained down nuclear power on Midna and Sakura in their Warthog in an attempt to run them off the road and into the rocky ravine far below. The street fighter fought with the four-wheeler’s machine gun almost as much as her assailant, but she managed to land a few streaks of bullets, which together with Midna’s sand blasts kept the harbinger from raining down destruction as they pleased. Closer to the front, the doctors, Peach, and Giovanna stood firm. Geralt and Bede were doing their best.

Not a moment too soon, the series of bridges came to an end, and solid ground stretched out before the Seekers. Of course, their troubles were far from over. With the appearance of the wild trucks stampeding toward the convoy, everyone shifted gear in a hurry. Roxas and Raz quickly began to move up from the rear, the latter of whom managed to find an inventive way to bring Benedict along for the ride. They left behind Atropos and Trumpeter, but the two shadows suddenly had bigger things to worry about than a couple of grunts all of a sudden, too. Pit went toward the front as well. On the way up the boys passed by Karin on her way to the back. That exchange struck Tora as oddly funny, though he knew that might just be the adrenaline speaking. Maybe Karin meant to leave the trucks at the front to get wrecked while the ones behind could skate around unharmed, while Raz and Roxas meant to stow away with their captive on a lucky truck that might manage to break through the chaos and leave the carnage behind. “Front or back, front or back,” Tora jittered, scared stiff by the sight of a dozen wild trucks on a collision course with the convoy. “Meh-meh-meeeeh! What Tora do now!?”

Poppi, restored from despair at the brink of oblivion by Blazermate, grabbed his wing in her hand. “Time for Plan C!” she announced, pulling her masterpon into her arms as she took to the sky after Susie. Peach jumped after them, floating through the air with the aid of her momentum.

Behind them, Blazermate unleashed the rippling magnificence of her Medabeam upon Trumpeter. Bombarded by the beam’s unrelenting force, the shadow dove down to grab hold of the bus beneath it lest its flight get cut short, but the grip of its skeletal fingers wasn’t enough. “This isn’t…the end!” With a final cry the harbinger lost its grip and hurled backward through the air. Its giant, bony body narrowly missed Atropos, then Midna’s Warthog right after, its robes fluttering in the wind as it tumbled along the dusty road and got unceremoniously left behind.

Sadly, the Seekers couldn’t savor their victory. The two fleets of trucks drew closer and closer. All at once the Bridges personnel smashed their horns in a nerve-steeling war cry, and like a pack of wild dogs the incoming trucks bayed in reply. Pit bravely took up pole position on the truck leading the convoy, hopefully with some strategy in mind. Looking down at the scene from the safety of his flying companion’s embrace, Tora struggled to come to terms with this actually happening; he counted his lucky stars that he didn’t need to be in the thick of it, unlike most of the others. “Good luck, friends,” he squeaked, swallowing nervously. Just a moment later the two fleets of trucks came together. Despite the drivers’ best attempts at last-second swerves, the result was utter pandemonium. Trucks toppled, twisted, and tumbled. Some of their rear ends lifted off the ground, more than one flipped end over end. For all the staggering forces at work, the trucks on both sides somehow weathered their collisions remarkably well, deflecting or crumpling rather than exploding into scrap metal or compacting into slag, but that same durability led to awe-inspiring sights of truck acrobatics.

And yet, there was a method to the madness. Giovanna led the charge, moving with incredible agility and poise. She could dash, airdash via magic sigils, double jump, use Rei for course-correction, and even slow her fall without compromising speed thanks to jets of air from her shoes. The doctors, being secret agents worth their salt, deployed gadgets. They skated across the trucks and sailed over the chaos on [url=https://i.imgur.com/xyhyAIo.png]sporty hoverboards[/url], using the empty space between the trucks rather than the trucks themselves. Raiden made the disaster into his personal playground, easily ninja running, vaulting, and flipping across and between to the trucks. He and Giovanna not only found what they were looking for, but also actually made it; from the pandemonium emerged two lucky trucks, breaking free from the pileup to carry on toward the ravine. One of them had pushed through totally unscathed thanks to Pit’s intervention with the Guardian Orbitars. Poppi aimed for them, cruising in to land on the one with Giovanna to the tune of the drivers cheering their lungs out both for Pit and just in general. The doctors stuck to their hoverboards, not concerned about running out of power with their objective so close at hand. Peach landed a moment later behind Raiden, and the rest of the Seekers couldn’t be far behind.

A couple other trucks might make it out of the pileup, but the damage had been done to this section of gorge. Any more G-men reinforcements from Gutsford would take a while to make it past that roadblock, if at all. No more enemies, at least for now. Giovanna sighed in muted relief, and sank to the roof of the truck, laying down on Rei once the wolf spirit materialized behind her like a cushion. “Looks like we made it,” she said, her tone oddly nonchalant. Her eyes rested on the cargobob as it flew over the ravine.  She waved her arm, directing it to the side of the road. “No need for any more heroics, eh?”

The chopper kicked up a lot of dust as it set down, its bay doors sliding open, but Giovanna pushed through with her face shielded, so Tora and Poppi did the same. After hopping in, the agent beckoned to the rest of the Seekers, scattered across the ravine slope by their various methods of getting through the pileup. “C’mon!” Then she left the rest of the encouragement to Tora, Poppi, and the doctors, instead making her way to the cargobob’s cockpit. She plopped down in the copilot’s seat and put on a headset. “Don’t get comfy, Duke, ‘cause we’re goin’ the second they’re all in.”

“Now, now, Miss C,” the [url=https://i.imgur.com/rRSxzkp.png]bowtie-wearing pilot[/url] chided her, his voice every bit as unflappable as his appearance. “Shouldn’t you be calling me ‘Mr. U?”

Giovanna rolled her eyes as she dusted herself off. “If not even Goldlewis cares about the damn codenames, I sure don’t. Just get us outta here.”

“Righty-O.” As a series of bright blue explosions went off among the wrecked trucks, the pilot prepared for liftoff. The cargobob rose off the ground and hovered just long enough for the Seekers to get inside. Even if Midna managed to bring her ‘Hog through that mess, she didn’t need to worry about attaching the cargo hook beneath the chopper when she could stash it in the Twilight Realm. In just a few moments more, the helicopter took flight, sailing away toward the city while a handful of G-men, left stranded and leaderless in the scrubland, looked on.

[hr]

As the cargobob flew, the steady whir of its propellers quickly becoming the only sound as the chaos of the scrubland fell away into the distance, the Seekers could finally begin to decompress, giving their frenzied hearts a chance to take it easy. The closer to Midgar the vehicle got, the denser the scrubland became beneath, and the more well-developed the roadway, until finally the paved route gave way to the real Kunad Highway: miles upon miles of [url=https://i.imgur.com/xCoGHMd.png]dilapidated freeway[/url] layered on top of and winding around one another like a nest of gargantuan serpents. Full of rubble, wrecked cars, and disused dividers, the highway had plainly seen better days. In fact, much of it appeared to be overgrown by a curious mix of huge, [url=https://i.imgur.com/BtB90XA.png]bulbous baobabs[/url] and pale pink sakura trees. In fact, one green-blanketed [url=https://i.imgur.com/RfvaEqP.png]sakura tree[/url] towered so high above the highway that it might as well have been a skyscraper, with blossoms that nearly stroked the clouds.

Of course, a big tree was one thing, but the biggest city was another. ‘Sprawling metropolis’ truly did not do the place justice. To Tora and Poppi, it seemed as though if every single Titan meandering Alrest clustered together to form a single mass, it still might not be as big as this metallic colossus. Looking down on it from an aerial approach provided just too many details to make sense of all at once, but one thing Tora could try to wrap his head around was that the whole thing not only seemed to be elevated, but [i]double-layered[/i]. The upper layer appeared to be divided into sections, just [url=https://i.imgur.com/6nUYlDW.png]one[/url] of which could have been a city by itself, but he counted [i]eight[/i], and all sported their own unique flavor. What lay beneath, at ground level, Tora couldn’t see.

The psychics among the group could see one other strange detail, all but invisible to those without any such mental abilities. Above the city floated a jumbled and surreal [url=https://i.imgur.com/AUVZWBV.png]mishmash of buildings[/url] radiating in every direction. The strange projection just hung there, a little distorted as if filtered through television static, beneath an oddly oily-looking sky.

Most remarkable of all, though, was that nothing attacked the Seekers throughout the entirety of their flight.

The group wound up at a [url=https://i.imgur.com/LUwOCnX.png]rooftop helipad[/url] where the cargobob set down. Everyone piled out, Giovanna at the forefront to usher them along. “Inside, quick. No time for sightseeing.” No sooner had the newcomers cleared the way than the chopper took off again, bound for somewhere that it couldn’t be traced thanks to eyewitness testimony back on Kunad Highway. Tora just plodded numbly along, held by Poppi wing-in-hand as she followed Giovanna, a serious look on his face. They went down a flight of stairs and ended up in the hallway of an office building, which in turn led them to a spacious, yellow-tinted [url=https://i.imgur.com/sU8rp0o.png]conference room[/url] with windows that looked out across the city. Upon entering, the heroes also couldn’t help but notice a [url=https://i.imgur.com/TZRTHVg.png]titan of a man[/url] standing there, who to some was an old friend.

“...Mr. Goldlewis!” Poppi exclaimed, her face lighting up. Even if Jesse, Sectonia, and Raz had, like Tora, didn’t quite recall his name, they no doubt remembered him from Al Mamoon. After all, how could anyone forget that splendid beard, that amazing pompadour, his cow skull and horseshoe accessories, or the suit jacket with matching chaps instead of slacks. Sure enough, that enigmatic coffin of his could even be found close at hand, propped up at the table as if it were just another participant in the meeting. Also at the table sat a [url=https://i.imgur.com/MAVDfu1.jpg]well-dressed woman[/url], but she did not say anything just yet.

Goldlewis rose from his chair as if it had a tack on it. “Howdy!” he greeted them, his gruff Southern voice equal parts professional and genial. “Hoo-whee, I was just about hangin’ off the edge of my seat here, waitin’ to see how things’d turn out.” He nodded at Giovanna as she and the twins filtered in, holding Benedict between them. “Mighty fine job ya did, Giovanna. I knew ya’d pull through.”

“It was a pretty close shave,” she admitted casually as she seated herself, then leaned back in her chair. “We got followed out there by a Turk, and he flushed us out right after these people showed up.” She tilted her head at Benedict, who received a concerned glance from Goldlewis.

Whistling, the secretary of defense rubbed his head as he made his way around the table to approach the group. “We’re gonna have our hands full with that one. Here’s hopin’ ya made that right call. I’ll be lookin’ forward to your report later on.”

“Better grab some popcorn,” Giovanna muttered.

Peach approached Goldlewis, a little daunted by his sheer presence but happy to shake hands with him. “My name is Peach. I guess you could say I’m the leader of this group. Mr…what was your name again?”

“Goldlewis Dickinson, ma’am. Pleasure’s all mine.” He shook, his hand so massive that the princess’s disappeared inside it. “Just Goldlewis is fine.”

“Then…are you in charge here, Goldlewis?”

He shook his head. “No ma’am, that’d be Vernon. Vernon Groubitz. Sadly, he ain’t here at the moment. Out with Salvador meetin’ a VIP over lunch. Mr. P I mean, out with Mr. P.” He gave a resigned shake of his head, then held his hand out toward the unknown woman. “This is Jessie, by the way.”

“Jessica McCartney,” the lady corrected. “Pleased to meet you, though I’m afraid I must question the wisdom of speaking so openly in front of an enemy. Or bringing one here in the first place.” She narrowed her eyes, not at Benedict, but at Giovanna. “We’ve only survived this long by flying under the radar.”

As Goldlewis ran his hand through his whiskers, the field agent shrugged. “I’m sure he’s smart enough to realize the kind of situation he’s in. We’ll figure something out.”

“Ah…” Still a little shaky from everything that had happened, Peach put her hand on one of the seat backs. “Sorry, there’s just a lot to take in.”

Goldlewis gestured at the chairs. “Please, take a seat. And don’t you worry, ma’am. Plenty of folks could live their whole lives and still not know a doggone thing about Midgar. Luckily, ya got us here, and I reckon ya couldn’t do much better when it comes to intel.” After seating himself, Goldlewis looked around at the faces of all those present. “So, this here’s yer big chance. If we’re gonna be workin’ together we gotta have everythin’ on the table. So whatever questions ya got, we’re gonna answer ‘em, best we can.”

“Goldlewis is the guy to ask about the government,” Giovanna supplied. “Who’s in power, how everything’s organized, all that jazz. You can ask the twins about the problems the city’s facing from outside, what we call the Ever Crisis. M for what we’re up against, and N for Midgar’s armed forces.”

“Other way around,” one of the twins told her. “Although, we pool pretty much all the intel we get, anyway.”

“Whatever.” Giovanna reclined to the full extent that her chair would allow, her braid dangling below the headrest as Rei lounged beneath her. 

Jessica clasped her hands together. “If you want to know about current events, as well as problems plaguing the city from within, I can be of assistance.”

“As for me…” Giovanna scratched her nose. “Well, I’m not the biggest talker, but I guess I could tell you about the city. Which plates are which, where important stuff is, getting around, you know.” She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, but before anyone asks, no, we don’t know who, what, or where the Guardian is.”

Goldlewis nodded, his expression grave. “That’s right. But once y’all know everythin’ ya need, we can start puttin’ together a plan to find out. And maybe save every soul in Midgar while we’re at it.” He heaved a sigh and leaned forward, putting his arms on the table. “So get askin’!”

[center][h3]The Ruins[/h3]
Level 10 Nadia (57/100)
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 [@Isaac], Ganondorf’s [@Double]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1578[/center]

Therion’s jibe went unheeded as Nadia plummeted down through the bug-filled chamber, her heart racing at about a million miles an hour. She did not fail to realize that this constituted the second time she’d thrown herself into uncontrolled freefall today, and unlike her little misstep in the Alcamoth atrium, this time she could barely see what was going on. Everything passed by in a blur of light and shadow, mostly shadow, with wrought-iron supports and platforms arranged without the slightest hint of regularity in every direction. Just when she managed to compose herself enough to nearly get her bearings, she smashed into and [i]through[/i] a hapless Gruzzer fly, splattering it into a pulp of chitin chunks, squirmy little legs, and malodorous guts that left the poor catgirl’s mental state even worse than it had been before.

“Gaaaaaah!” she cried, desperately wiping at her face as she tried to come up with a patented Nadia Fortune clever solution. Unable to see -or for that matter, think- far enough ahead to throw out her limbs in hopes of snagging a handhold or two, she could conjure up only one other plan of action. Nadia spread-eagled like a skydiver as she built up pressure in her legs, then let it loose to cannon her through the air with rockets of blood. Oblivious to Jesse’s saving throw, she made for the cavern wall in order to dig her claws in and slow her descent. Unfortunately, she barely got a couple meters before a passing strut beaned her on the forehead. “Owww!” she yowled. Her numbness and overall durability reduced what would have been a knockout blow or worse to a painful blow, but it still hurt enough for her to clasp both hands to her head as she tumbled through the air back in freefall. By that point the floor of the vast chamber had gotten too close for comfort, let alone any more harebrained schemes, and with no other options Nadia blasted blood from all four limbs and her neck to slow her fall.

Just a second before she made impact, the vial of Elastic Ooze shattered on the ground beneath her, and rather than go splat the feral rebounded into the air, flailing wildly in confusion but totally unharmed. She turned her momentum into a series of flips, and after a brief moment of hangtime, landed on her feet. Arms outstretched like an acrobatic, she just stood there for a second, hyperventilating with eyes as wide as saucers. “...Hah!” Then she promptly collapsed, dizzy from revolution and blood loss.

Jesse, Therion, and Sectonia appeared a couple moments later, although it took the dazed Nadia a moment to put two and two together based on fur color and mocking expression. “Yeah, yeah, yuck it up why don’tcha,” she told them, pulling herself together as best she could with her head figuratively spinning. “I’m just…woozy from all the blood that got uh…vaporized in that fight.” Once back on her feet she hopped up with her body in a spin cycle to get rid of the partially-dissolved bug muck, her head momentarily detached so as to not get any dizzier. After soaking up as much of her spent blood as she could, she put her hands to her head, rubbing her eyes as Sectonia lectured her. “Ugh. I’m gonna have to be a lot more careful down here, that’s fur sure..”

After finally reaching the bottom in one piece -or in as singular a piece as the cut-up feral could ever be, anyway- Nadia put her sharp eyes to work taking a good look around. Peering around the gloomy lower reaches of the crossroads cavity, she counted not one, not two, but four means of egress, and each offered a vague hint of what might be in store down those different paths. The farther along the eastern tunnel went, the more the mix of purple stone brick and blue-black shells gave way to compacted dirt, grass, plant sprigs, and beds of moss. To the east, meanwhile, the masonry seemed to give way to carpentry, with wooden supports like one might find in a mineshaft. Above the eastern route lay what looked like a tunnel leading back the way the part came through the Ruins, albeit at a more middling elevation. And last but not least, Nadia eventually realized that this crossroads seemed to extend farther down as well thanks to a couple holes in the floor.

She found herself quite spoiled for choice, but since she didn’t plan to make any decisions by herself and go off on her own without the others, she didn’t waste any time agonizing over this way or that. Instead Nadia attuned her ears to a curious sound, quite distinct from the low whine of Gruzzer wings, the clicking of cave cricket limbs, or the pitter-patter of countless feet. Instead, it sounded like someone humming, and in a male voice as well. After taking a few steps in different directions to hear how that affected the sound, she zeroed in on the location in one corner of the huge room. When she spotted a roll of spare paper, she knew she was on the right track. [i]Bingo.[/i] She scampered over, hearing the humming grow louder, and paused at the top of a small flight of stairs to see none other than the [url=https://i.imgur.com/d2hgwwE.png]long-nosed cartographer[/url] drawing in a corner near a clutch of eggs.

“Over here!” she told the others, figuring that the fellow must have been too absorbed in his work to pay much mind to the noise. Nadia made her way down the flight of stairs only to stop short at the bottom, where a gaping pit in the pavement stared back at her. She could see what looked like mushrooms down there in the light of a yellowish haze. “This place is getting ‘under’ my skin,” she muttered. After making a mental note of a fifth direction the team could explore, she carefully maneuvered around the hole and continued on to the mapmaker. “Hey there!” she greeted, coming to a stop a few feet away from him to find that she stood about a head higher than he. She squatted down to talk to him, wearing her friendliest smile. “Are you Cornifer?”

“Hmm?” The bug looked up from his maps, his nose drooping like a great mustache. His voice possessed the same odd ‘insect’ quality as Iselda’s, but he also seemed to affect the tone of a sophisticated gentleman or scholar. “Ah, hello there, and yes, yes. Come down to explore these beautiful old ruins? Don't mind me. I've a fondness for exploring myself. Getting lost and finding your way again is a pleasure like no other. We're exquisitely lucky, you and I.”

After what had befallen her so far, Nadia didn’t feel particularly lucky, but she didn’t mind laughing at herself from time to time. “It’s been purr-etty crazy, I’ll admit!”
Cornifer chuckled. “Quite. I'm a cartographer by trade, and I'm working on mapping this area right now. Would you like to buy a copy of my work so far? Just thirty Geo.”
Nadia grinned and opened her mouth, the words ‘you read my mind!’ on the tip of her tongue, only to realize that she was currently penniless. Her ears fell flat as she clenched her teeth in embarrassment. “I, I’d like to, but, uhhhhh…”

Cornifer’s expression fell. “You don't have enough Geo? Ah, I understand. I'd give you the map as a gift, but I don't think my wife would be very happy if I did. "All our food is made of Geo", as they say.”

Nadia looked over her shoulder at Jessie and Therion. Sectonia hung back, letting her minions handle this like usual, so she wouldn’t be of any help. “Could either of you handle this? I’m sorta broke right now.” Her gaze settled on the thief, now back in human form. “What about you, cat friend? Once I get some money I’ll pay ya back. Purr-omise!”

Therion begrudgingly accepted, forking over the ill-gotten sum to Cornifer. Easy come, easy go, as they say. In exchange he received a map of the Ruins, revealing all its ins and outs as well as any links to nearby areas.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/q3AXWR8.png[/img][/center]

“A map can be a useful thing,” Cornifer told the trio. “But it alone won't show you where you are. If you've not the head for directions, I suggest purchasing a compass from my wife, Iselda. She's just now opening our new map shop in Dirtmouth, selling all sorts of useful things to wanderers like yourself. She'll even sell some of my old maps from time to time. I pop back to see her whenever I finish mapping an area. She's always so excited to see me.”

Nadia waved at him. “We’ll be sure to pay her a visit when we get back there! See ya around sometime!”

Cornifer waved back. “I’ll be happy to sell you my maps of whichever areas in which we meet again if we do!”

Ah, useful. With that, Nadia stepped over to Therion to look at his map. It didn’t seem to show much beyond the Ruins, but it would certainly allow the team to make the most of it. “Well,” she said after a moment. “I guess we’ve got a lot to talk about!”

[hr]

Beyond the Temple of the Black Egg, a short purple-stone passage led to the liminal area between the Ruins and the Hollow Bough, and though already desensitized to the idea of woodlands underground by what Ganondorf said, Primrose could not have anticipated what she found. After exiting the mouth of the tunnel, she bore witness to an open cavern filled with thick pillars like the trunks of primeval trees and carpeted with grass. An ethereal mist filled the place that possessed a subtle luminosity, growing brighter the farther into the distance Primrose looked. It also cast everything in black; even her garb seemed to lose its color when she stepped inside. If she didn’t know better, the dancer could easily have believed that she no longer stood beneath the earth, but the sheer depth of the Chasm convinced her beyond the shadow of a doubt that she must be.

Then again, maybe this transitory space didn’t imitate a forest as well as it first seemed. Something about it wasn’t quite right. It was quiet, and eerie. And so very, very still. There wasn’t any wind at all, and nothing moved, from the blades of black grass below to the leaves of black boughs above that obscured the cavern ceiling a couple hundred feet up. Instead there came a noise more like television static, though Primrose wouldn’t know that sound. It might remind her more of the buzz of insects, a great swarm just far enough away that she couldn’t be completely sure what she was hearing. And the more she looked into the mist, the less it looked like swirling vapor, and more like static tapestries of gossamer fibers, stretched in layers upon layers between the bushes and trees to create a landscape of enveloping softness.

[center][img]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PNzRDMmnjLI/maxresdefault.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][h3]Edinburgh MagicaPolis[/h3]
Level 8 Big Band (33/80)
Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Red’s [@TruthHurts22]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1506[/center]

The monster hunter didn’t have much to report, which made sense. His mission, if it could even be called that, had only been to outfit himself for the chilly weather after all, so Band couldn’t fault him. “Don’t fret none,” he told the Cadet. “Even if I did say anythin’ about keepin’ your eyes out, everyone in our merry band plays to their strengths. Scrapin’ for clues is a detective’s job; we’ll need what you got when the local cops come knockin’.”

Wonder Red kept quiet. Band hadn’t really expected a costumed superhero to turn up a treasure trove of information either. Hopefully he would heed the detective’s encouragement too.

After a server dropped by to give Lucia her beer, the policewoman took a long drink, wiped the foam from her lips with the back of her hand, and chipped in. “Speakin’ of, might as well tell ya know, so ya know whatcha lookin’ foah. Iyahns stuck some real bastahds on the case, so listen up.”

She held up one hand with her index finger extended. “Fahst is Iyahn’s top dog, Kahtis Strykah, and lemme tell ya, that guy’s enough of a problem by himself. He ain’t got any crazy powahs or anythin’, but he’s tough as nails, hits like a truck and keeps on comin’ no mattah how much damage he takes. Look up ‘police brutality’ in the dictionary and you’ll see his pichah. He even says it out loud when he’s on the job, can ya believe that crap?”

Lucia shook her head, took another drink, and cleared her throat before holding up two fingers. “Anyways, next is Byte. He’s a robot, one hundred percent loyal to the foahce, so there ain’t any reasonin’ with ‘em. Fights with stretchy ahms, and his little robot pal, Bahq. Got a tricky tag-team soahta thing goin’ on. If they put theah heads togethah, they can punch through a brick wall and then some, so watch out.”

Finally, she extended her ring finger. “Last is a guy named Nightingale. Don’t know much about him, he’s kinda new. But he’s got a screw loose oah somethin’, a real obsessive and vengeful type. He’s a loose cannon, but the kind Iyahns likes. If he’s comin’ aftah ya, all bets ah off.” 

Band filed away the new information carefully. “Got it. Much obliged, Detective Morgan.”

“Ah, just call me Lucia,” the policewoman smiled, brushing off his formality as she took another big drink.

“That just leaves the question of what to do next,” Band began. “I don’t know about the rest o’ y’all, but I ain’t skippin’ town before I get a read on this whole skeleton-at-night situation. I keep tellin’ myself the odds of it bein’ the Skullgirl, but it just don’t sit right with me; I gotta find out for myself. If we’re gonna be in town for the long haul, though, we’re gonna need a little cash in our pockets. Lucia?”

His fellow detective nodded, and withdrew a paper from the inside of her coat covered in illegible scribbles. “On the way we stopped by a Hello Woahk and checked out some moah o’ those job postin’s ya mentioned, red,” she told Ace. “Figyahed we could kill some time and make ya some money at the same time. Two bahds, one stone, y’know? Most of it wasn’t suited foah a crew like ouahs, but heah’s what I got.

[i][u]Help Wanted:[/u]
[list][*]Mortuary Assistant/s: Help urgently needed at River Fields Mortuary. Must be able to follow simple written and recorded instructions. Not suited for squeamish, nervous, or panicky individuals
[*]Exterminator/s: Signs of Swarm infestation reported in neighboring condo. If left unchecked it could spread to our wine cellar within a day, but pest control is already booked for weeks in advance. Minor combat ability recommended
[*]Demolisher/s: Additional personnel requested for the ongoing demolition of an apartment building condemned for Swarm infestation. The site has already been gassed, so the likelihood of encountering Swarm is low, but applicants should possess strong constitutions
[*]Assistant/s: The ‘All Round’ Spheal Show needs your help! Most of the team ended up getting sick, so we need five people to cover for them during today’s performance: two security guards, and the rest to handle the Spheals. All this means is encouraging them and giving them fish when they do their tricks, so if you have a heart for our blubbery buds, please apply!
[*]Dredger/s: City management has dispatched a dredge barge to the site of yesterday’s bicycling accident to remove all the bikes from the canal before they have a chance to deteriorate and affect the water. Any extra hands would be fairly compensated for expediting the process[/list][/i]

“Hmmm…” Band pored over the list with the others as he listened to Lucia’s thoughts on the options, trying to figure out the terrible handwriting. “Well, I guess I wouldn’t mind most o’ these, ‘cept maybe the first one. Mortuary work ain’t somethin’ I’d ever want to do if I could help it, and given the whole walkin’ dead thing, ehh…might be better to let sleepin’ dogs lie.” He considered the other options. “I’m thinkin’ about the third one, though. I ain’t crazy about animals, but with everythin’ we been through lately, it might be a nice change of pace to take care of some critters. Could do with a smile.”

Lucia nodded, wearing a wide smile. “Sounds like a plan to me! Spheals ah just the cutest li’l things, you’ll love ‘em! I wanted to go see one of the shows this week myself, but I got stuck at my desk.” She gulped down the rest of her beer and stood, slightly red-faced, to beckon the others to follow her. “Let’s go!”

[hr]

[center][@Majoras End][/center]

A short while later, the four arrived at an open plaza, surrounded on three sides by buildings and on the fourth by a canal. In its center stood a [url=https://www.models-resource.com/resources/big_icons/18/17855.png]big fountain[/url], enchanted by magic to stay warm and flow freely even in freezing temperatures. There, they found a parked van, a trio of sublimely [url=https://i.imgur.com/uHu21x8.png]spherical seals[/url] playing in the water, as well as two women, one heavier-set in her mid twenties with longer hair and a caring aura about her, and the other a younger, very slender [url=https://i.imgur.com/gbdGJYP.png]girl in white[/url], seventeen or eighteen years old. As they approached, the girl held out her arms for a fourth Spheal to jump into from the back of the van, which she carried over to the fountain to plop in.

Band approached the other woman first. “Good afternoon. You in charge of the All Round Spheal Show?”

“That’d be me, actually!” the girl called out, jogging over from the fountain. She quickly took stock of the four wildly mismatched newcomers with big eyes the color of wenge wood. “Well, I’m not in charge of the company, but I am running this show. Are you here about the job?”

The detective nodded, giving an apologetic bow. “That’s right. Saw the ad sayin’ your staff took ill, and we didn’t wanna let all your hard work go to waste.”

“Wonderful!” the girl declared, breathing a sigh of relief. “I’m Sierra, and this is Frisk! She’s been helping me for a couple days, and she’s just the best. Everyone loves her, and I’m sure they’ll all love you guys, too!” She introduced the Spheals in turn, pointing them out one by one. “That one’s Glenn, he’s basically a giant marshmallow. If you hold your hand out for him, he’ll come over and put his head under it to be pet! Those two are Happy and Sadie, they’re sisters, and they’re crazy energetic. You’d be shocked at how fast they can roll around while playing tag. And the last one there is Dumpy. She’s lazy and stupid, but she know’s she’s cute.”

Sierra turned back to the newcomers with a smile that quickly faded, even if the shine in her eyes persisted. “Well, the show’s gonna start in half an hour or so. We’re still setting everything up. When the time comes, I’ll need two of you with me and Frisk on Spheal duty, while the other two are security. Both to keep the crowd away, and an eye out. We don’t want anyone distracting the Spheals, and…” she looked around, then lowered her voice slightly. “Between you and me, we’ve caught wind of people saying they want to steal or even poach the Spheals. I don’t think anyone actually would go that far, but it’s best to take precautions.” Shrugging, she put her hands on her hips and looked around again. “So, go ahead and get started helping with the equipment. And get to know the little guys, too! First impressions are everything.”

With that, Sierra returned to the van to haul out a couple heavy-looking buckets of fish.