[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img] [b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 2,543 [b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 8[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](146/80) [b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] Suoh [color=Aquamarine]Warp Charges:[/color] 1 (+1 from fight reward) [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] [center] [color=f49ac2]Sakura Level 9: 19/90[/color] [color=fff200]Karin Level 5: 3/50[/color] Location: Suoh Word Count: 2,543 Points Gained: 3 New EXP Balance--- [color=f49ac2]Sakura Level 9: 22/90 (pending) [/color] [indent][color=fff200]Karin Level 5: 06/40 [/color][/indent] (pending) [/center] Peace, and cleanliness, did not last long. Because almost as soon as Sakura, Karin and Minda stepped out of the spa, an alarm blared through the streets and spread a controlled practiced panic through the people out and about. Several people rushed past the trio as the proprietor of the spa ushered her clientele out of the baths and into a conveniently nearby shelter (when you had to race to get dressed, you also didn’t want to then have to race through the streets as well). Had they not been pointed towards it, the three of them might have missed the shelter, its small unassuming entrance hiding a spacious and well furnished bunker deep within, while [url=https://i.imgur.com/kpHOqiz.png]gaurds[/url] armed with assault rifles and manportable [url=https://i.imgur.com/ECGtoOd.png]cannons[/url] peeked out of murderholes covering the entrance, ready to keep the Others out for long enough that proper help could arrive. The trio declined the directions towards sanctuary however. [color=Aquamarine]”Me and the ladies”[/color] Midna began to explain, as she taped a wall to open a portal to her home realm [color=Aquamarine]”where thinking that the only thing to do after getting nice and clean”[/color] she pulled out her singular pauldron, secured it to her arm over the suit, then tied her green climbers bandana around her neck and donned the twilight hued fragment of psycho mask in place to cover the rest of her face alongside the helm [color=Aquamarine]”is to work up a nice sweat”[/color] [color=Aquamarine]”and what better way”[/color] followed by strapping her spiky shield to one arm, hand holding both it and a rosary with a frozen olive and golden mask fragment [color=Aquamarine]”than to save the day”[/color] she concluded as she extracted obsidian fire axe, and the massive spiked clubba club and charged both of them with electricity. She hoisted the massive statically charged wrecking ball with a glowing shadowhand, while resting the volcano fragment over her shoulder, and finally called out her mecha-wolf-bear-dran for support. The hulking cyborg with a cute Shiba tail brushed said tail against all three briefly, bolstering their attacking and movement speed, just in time for the sky to explode above them as the missiles and pods met in a calvocate of destruction. [color=Aquamarine]”Shall we?”[/color] the princess asked the other two, grinning to herself just a bit too smugly for how dangerous things were about to get. As for Sakura and Karin, the only gearing up they had to do was make sure their fighting gloves were fastened. Anyone who had ever been on the receiving end of one would know that they were not there for the benefit of their enemies. They were only there so that a fighter wouldn’t cut their knuckles- they did nothing to reduce the impact. Sakura and Karin were both serious, but returned Midna’s enthusiasm with a similar pair of half-smiles. [color=fff200]”We shall.”[/color] Karin nodded, watching the skies. [color=f49ac2]”Yeah! Let’s go!”[/color] Sakura pumped her fist. [color=f49ac2]”I’ll just be happy to be fighting on solid ground again.”[/color] A moment later, once they had judged the trajectory of the closest pod, and they were off, sprinting through the streets till they heard the sound of screaming, and rushed into a dimly lit hallway. [img]https://i.imgur.com/A44QEQU.png[/img] The screaming came from inside of a coffee shop that would normally be a little haven of solidarity for various [url=https://i.imgur.com/JCLg9GX.png]fantasy races[/url] tucked away in the heart of human psychic town, but was at the moment a haven mainly thanks to having some impressively sturdy glass window covering much of the front. It would not last much longer however. [color=f49ac2]”Over there! Oh- what the heck are those things?!”[/color] Sakura said, charging into battle, perplexed. A small horde of buddy rummies were wailing on the glass window, cracking it in several places. The only thing after it between them and a meal of minds was a hasty pile of furniture, and behind that a few folks, human and not, who had to be forced to make do with this lesser shelter, who were holding improvised weapons that were all they had to protect themselves should the glass give. Fortunately, they would not need to use them [color=Aquamarine]”Hey, over here you … things, over here!”[/color] Midna yelled at the headless manikin like Others, right before she had her mecha-bear send them a flaming hot dish of goop via back mounted cannon. The slime like Stu splashed down in the middle of the dozen or so Buddies, covering many in roasting goop and coating the window and ground around the front of the shop with a burning hazard. Yet while this did get the buddies attention, they certainly didn't care much about the fire after they had staggered out of it. Regaining their poise after only a few moments, they began to step forwards with a few elegant steps forwards ... which quickly devolved in a kind of swaying drunken gait as they came running at the the trio wielding arms of their own kind as a mix between a flail and a club. Sakura and Karin took point, looking to defend their mage so she could maximize damage without worrying about defense. Both were fighting confidently. Sakura leaped over one Buddy and then another, rolling through the air before she landed in front of the barricade of the civilians. Two Buddies reeled on her with ungainly strikes. Sakura raised both of her hands and absorbed with strike with on arm, before returning fire with a series of jabs and short kicks, light on her feet as she alternated between them. Karin spin kicked one Buddy, sending it crumpling to the floor where it began to squirm and regain its balance. Another one came for her and she dodged one strike, then another, before catching one of its limbs and flipping it over her shoulder. It roiled and nearly caught her with a wild, anatomically dubious attack. [color=fff200]”My word! How uniquely grotesque.”[/color] [color=Aquamarine]”Weirdly durable too”[/color] Midna noted, as she took a moment to process the minor issue of how to avoid blowing her friends up with her magic, let alone the surrounding infrastructure. While doing so she formed up her equally lanky chilfos strikers, the tall frozen undead trading arm smacks for spear jabs. They did not deal much damage but the four durable strikers did helpfully tie up an equal number of their foes. Midna and her Mecha bear then charged some of the rest. The Cybernetic ursine bull rushed one, while Midna jabbed the massive clubba club her shadow hand was holding forwards like a fist, the pair of them knocking back two more Rummies mostly to prevent them from being swarmed by the 13 on 3-4 odds they were facing, before going on the defensive as more came after them. Even with all that tarpitting, the street fighters were still individually facing 3 on 1 odds. Brute strength was hardly the most important factor in a street fighter, but Sakura found if she applied herself she could put down some serious impact. [color=f49ac2]”Shunpukyaku!”[/color] She span around, sacrificing speed on her attack to put as much force into it as possible. There was a gust of wind and the Buddy was knocked hard onto the ground with a bouncing impact that destabilized another one. She charged up a fireball and blasted it into ash. [color=f49ac2]”Hadoken!”[/color] Kicking the third Other away to give her some space, she jumped and brought her hammer fists down on the downed Buddy crushing it into the floor. It’s- psychic brain came out?! It was like some kind of organic lightbulb that popped out of the top of its head. [color=f49ac2]”What the-?!”[/color] It looked breakable. She stepped on it and the monster flashed red and cleanly disintegrated. [color=f49ac2]”They have light bulb- brain heads!”[/color] She called out unhelpfully. Karin glanced at Midna’s work and then at the three Others facing her. Hers was a much more engaged process. She used footwork to get them all lined up. It took her a few moments and she slapped away several strikes in the process. Once they were all lined up and trying to get around each other, she pushed forward. [color=fff200][i]”Guren ken!”[/i][/color] She pummeled them with alternating palm strikes as her legs carried her forward. They were all knocked dizzily aside. On the last one she span and drove her elbow into its back, knocking it into the recovering Rummies. She dashed forward and slid into them, feet like lances, breaking all three of their legs in quick succession. [color=fff200][i]”Mujin kyaku!”[/i][/color] She juggled all three with two quick kicks, the Others like popcorn in a frying pan, and then slashed them in twain with one last spin of her heel. With that, the Street Fighters dispatched the monsters assailing them at the moment. [color=fff200]”I’m sorry- what was that, Sakura-chan?”[/color] Karin asked Sakura. Any attempt at an answer right away was drowned out by rumbling thunder from Midna;s shocking strikes She had started out by smashing two rummies to the side with a wrecking ball of a swipe with her massive shadow hand held mace, bowling them over into a heap, down onto which the charged mace sent three rotating pillars of lightning that juggled them into a fourth central pillar that kept them stuck in place. Mace still held out to deliver its payload into two of her foes, the princess pivoted, blocked a flailing arm with her shield, causing a spray of needles to burst out in response. The hail of spines struck the rummy right as the princess swiped her obsidian axe around to hit it in the leg … which caused it to first burst into flames. She followed up with a second strike as the flames reflected manically in the lens of her mask, found it rather pitiful, and then stabbed the top of the axe forwards and delivered a blast of lightning that knocked the burning foe back. She pulled the weapon back to her chest, quickly charging it back up a stage, and then fell upon the lighting juggled pair as they dropped, the princess swiftly hacking at each as they rose, igniting them as well. Which was all ever so fun, to the extent that she found herself giggling at the flames, but it did present a slight problem, which was she was now faced with 3 flaming rummies coming at her. She dodged back from a strike, not wanting to introduce her plant shield to their now flaming spare arms, before crushing one by dropping her wreckingball of a club on it, tripping another with a crate pulled up from the twilight realm, and finally summoning her an upsized Vibrava to finish with a mighty crunch of its insectile jaws. [color=Aquamarine]”Sorry, what was that Sakura-chan?”[/color] Minda echoed Karin’s question, as she reached out her shadow hand to grab the torso of the final of the three she had been fighting, physically holding it off as it burned to death. Sakura-chan tried to get her voice over the din of battle. [color=f49ac2]”I punched one and a light bulb came out of it, and then when I crushed the light bulb, it- died! It went away!”[/color] She cupped her gloved hands around her mouth. [color=fff200]”A light bulb?”[/color] Karin asked. [color=f49ac2]”Yes! Look for the light bulb! It’s a weakness!”[/color] [color=fff200]”We seem do be doing all right.”[/color] [color=f49ac2]”Light bulb! Light bulb brain head!”[/color] Sakura called out as she ran to support Midna’s summon. She yanked one of the distracted Rummy Buddies and threw it over her shoulder and onto the ground. Out popped the Brain Crush. [color=f49ac2]”See, watch!”[/color] Sakura stomped on it, causing it to disintegrate. Karin had slammed her palm into the chest of one of the Rummies and out the other side. As such her vision was entirely obstructed. [color=fff200]”Oh, I…right! Of course, the light bulb brain head. ”[/color] She said unconvincingly. [color=f49ac2]”Karin! You missed it!”[/color] Sakura held the sides of her head. [color=Aquamarine]”What’s a lightbulb anyway?”[/color] Midna asked as she hurled the burning rummy she had been holding (and who’s flames she had been too focused on to see the demonstration) at the final other one of its kind still in the picture, two two falling together in a heap onto which her beleaguered mecha bear fell with ferocity, raising up on it’s hind legs before smashing its metal claws down onto them. This kept them down for long enough for Midna to rush over and slap the palm of her shadow hand down on top of them both, squashing them flat …. Again without requiring any lightbulb smashing to end them. [color=Aquamarine]”annnnd that’s the last of them”[/color] Midna noted as she casually dusted some ash off her new suit. Exasperated, Sakura’s shoulders sank and she looked around. She raised a victorious fist over to the civilians to give them the all clear for now. [color=f49ac2]”Man…you guys.”[/color] She laughed and ran a hand down her face. [color=fff200]”Terribly sorry. It’s not as if I like seeing you embarrassed- well that’s not entirely true. But in this instance…”[/color] Sakura shook her head rapidly and looked at Midna. [color=f49ac2]”Midna-san, you’ll see it. It’s like a bulb. But it’s got light inside. A lightbulb- it’s exactly what it sounds like!”[/color] [color=fff200]”We have more important matters to attend too, Sakura-chan.”[/color] Karin said, jogging over to the coffee shop. [color=f49ac2]”I know!”[/color] Sakura followed. [color=f49ac2]”I just hope there’s more of them so you can see it.”[/color] That came out entirely wrong! [color=f49ac2]”No, that’s terrible, that’s not what I meant!”[/color] She said, looking at the civilians in the coffee shop. [color=f49ac2]”I don’t hope there’s more of them- I just want to show- no it’s just- oh, what am I even saying?”[/color] Midna had to stop herself from laughing at this as she tapped her dropped box and mace and sent them home for storage. Then she scooped up a shadowhandfull of fallen spirits while she walked over and tried her best to help end her friend’s tripping over herself. [color=Aquamarine]”I’m sure we can find some more [i]after[/i] we’ve escorted people to the closest bunker”[/color] she suggested, [color=Aquamarine]”at which point you can show us these … glowing plant bulb things the Others have in them”[/color] [color=f49ac2]”Right. Thanks, Midna-san.”[/color] Sakura said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling apologetically. The civilians gathered their makeshift weapons. [color=fff200]”Direct us to the nearest bunker, and we, [b][i]The Seekers of Light,[/i][/b] shall escort you there safely!”[/color] Karin said, standing up straight with her hands on her hip. She made sure to put extra emphasis on the group name. A sporty orc and a trendy elf exchanged looks. Midna, steeped up, and, having exchanged bear minion for her Vibrava which she told them that [color=Aquamarine]”My pet here can get some eyes in the sky and should help us steer clear of any more danger, and, well, I’d rather not leave you all with just that protecting you”[/color] she gestured to the cracked window that looked like it might shatter if breathed on. That was certainly enough to convince them to abandon their former shelter to seek out an official one. A few quick mutters and the survivors were in agreement that they’d make the run to safety. “The nearest bunker is there-ish.” The elf said, pointing down the street. [color=f49ac2]”Good enough for me. Let’s go!”[/color] Sakura pumped her fist and led the way.