[center][h3]The Astral Plane[/h3]
Level 4 Goldlewis (19/40)
Goldlewis, Roxas’ [@Double], Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Pit’s [@Yankee]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2210[/center]

Dangerous as a boss battle in these circumstances might be, the Seekers weren’t about to let their new friend bite the dust. They joined the battle, with Roxas taking point. Giant enemies were nothing new, and despite their strength and impressive bulk, their speed and weight could be used against them. When Enceladus discarded its battered former opponent to face the newcomers, it opened fire with sweeping lasers and explosive energy blasts, but Roxas withstood the projectile onslaught and returned some magic of his own. A well-timed counter led into a flurry of attacks that made for a solid opening to the fight, but rather than push too hard the dual-wielder made sure to keep an eye on his allies, starting with Goldlewis. The man badly needed another burst of healing, and once he received it he could breathe a lot easier, even if he couldn’t do much to help the team out unarmed.

Karin's brave attempt did not fare quite so well. This inhuman opponent, massive and packing a small army’s worth of projectiles, was unlike anything the heiress had ever faced. And however skilled one might be, sometimes lady luck was simply not on one’s side. Even worse, Roxas couldn’t help her back up after she went down thanks to his mana expenditure for Goldlewis’ sake, so Karin would be out of commission for a while. That also meant that Enceladus could finish her off at any time if it decided to, but Goldlewis wasn’t about to let that happen. Fighting a chimera barehanded might be beyond him, but protecting someone in need he could do. He hustled over to scoop the young woman up in his arms, cradling her like an infant. No stray shots would be snuffing her out on his watch.

That left the fighting to the other three, but the Seekers were pulling out all the stops. A hefty slab of red matter flew in to smash against Enceladus’ body. It crumbled on impact, but did a chunk of damage, leaving part of the monster’s torso cracked with the same fiery orange that eked out of its eyes and mouth. Angry, Enceladus turned its shoulder cannons in the direction the cube came from and bombarded the area, happily pulverizing any outcroppings between it and its targets. Midna felt some of her strikers’ pain, but they disappeared before too much damage could be dealt, and she could take solace in the knowledge she gave a lot worse than she got. A barrage from Enceladus soon flushed her out, but those Dragon Dances meant her volcanic weapons would pack a serious punch. 

Pit, Midna, and Roxas converged, and a hectic melee ensued. Focusing attacks on a specific arm did not seem any more expedient than attacking it normally, but they could be knocked down like that and forced to return to the body. Enceladus fought with massive strength, causing explosions on the terrain that tended to outstrip its already troublesome range, and it happily attempted to send its enemies spiraling off into the abyss as much as smash them flat, but it had a problem. It was predictable. All three of its challengers were quick on their feet and observant, able to avoid its blows and retaliate with quick, powerful strikes. Meanwhile, the fastest it moved was during its highly-telegraphed charges; otherwise it floated slowly about, and its block was by no means impregnable. Those mighty fists weren’t much good if it couldn’t lay a finger on these people. Enceladus scored some hits, especially when it started belting out loads of fireballs and lasers, but Pit sent its own projectiles right back at it with his Guardian Orbitars again and again. After just a couple minutes, the chimera was in encouragingly bad shape.

It did showcase one tricky new ability, which it tried twice. After clapping its hands together, Enceladus could seal a team member in a dome of red energy that quickly shrank in. Any contact with the dome would lead to injury, and if allowed to close in it might very well crush an unfortunate Seeker inside. Outside it, however, formed three nodes that sustained the field, and destroying them would free the captive. The first time it happened it led to near-disaster, but by the second time someone got trapped the other two broke them out in no time flat. After a bit more back-and-forth, Enceladus fell to the ground with a terrific crash. It tried in vain to reach out for its foes, but after a moment its hand dropped down, and the chimera lay still.

Of course, that wasn’t quite how things worked, but after a long, hectic, and confusing day not all the Seekers might remember that. As Goldlewis joined them with Karin, a final dome suddenly formed around. “What in tarnation!?” the veteran yelled in dismay. “The damn thing ain’t dead yet!” This time, with all of them trapped inside, it was a real problem. Neither their bodies nor weapons nor projectiles could pierce the dome to destroy the nodes. “This is stupid as hell,” Goldlewis growled. “No way our goose gets cooked like this!”

Luckily, the old man was right. In the midst of a sea of red came a streak of blue that shattered one of the nodes in a burst of red matter. Goldlewis whipped around to look in the direction it came from, but the barrier around him made it hard to see. All he could make out were large shapes moving and shooting, connected by chains of bright, ethereal blue. Another moment later and the final node burst apart, dispelling the barrier and saving everyone’s skin. 

Hero and monster alike stared back the way the Seekers had come to see a gang of newcomers, five strong. In the center stood a tall, imposing, stern-looking [url=https://i.imgur.com/pjUQBJA.png]commander[/url], wearing white armor atop a blue uniform and wielding an X-baton in gladius mode. To his right stood a [url=https://i.imgur.com/U5oiXBE.jpg]stoic with spectacles[/url] and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/tV4WaiP.jpg]cap-wearing lady[/url] with an easygoing smile, both officers in uniform as well, and on the left were the twins Akira and Hayato, but like the other three they now sported strange semi-triangular devices on their left forearms with blue cores that rattled and whirred. “You alright?” their leader asked.

“Just about,” Goldlewis called back, hefting Karin so that he could wipe his brow with the back of his hand.

Enceladus tightened its fists and pounded the floor, roaring. The commander nodded. “Then let’s finish this.”

The Seekers could join in, or just watch, as the legionarii both new and old went on the attack. Together they charged Enceladus, and as they approached they summoned creatures to fight alongside them. The entities they summoned looked sort of like chimeras themselves, but blue instead of red, clasped in white police armor, and literally chained to their summoners. Alicia led the charge on her wolflike [url=https://i.imgur.com/JNYUWwF.png]Beast Legion[/url], which pounced on the chimera to bite repeatedly as its rider laid into its head with her blaster. When it flipped off to avoid getting grabbed, the Beast Legion not only lashed Enceladus with its tail, but spat out a final parting shot that exploded on impact. Next went Jin with his burly [url=https://i.imgur.com/tCkYiHz.png]Arm Legion[/url], a legless floating armor like a miniature version of Enceladus itself, but this one countered its counterpart’s punch with a flurry of blows before seizing the monster’s arm to deal it a mighty wallop with itself. Enceladus rained down hell with its cannons, but Davis’ [url=https://i.imgur.com/9vwdzAR.png]Lance Legion[/url] shielded the barrage before driving a deadly thrust into the cracks in Enceladus’ chest that Midna left earlier. As the monster writhed, the twins joined in, putting their new partners through their paces. Akira’s ghostlike [url=https://i.imgur.com/jZukn81.png]Arrow Legion[/url] perforated the chimera with brilliant blue bolds, while the dual blades of Hayato’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/wHIGrjc.png]Sword Legion[/url] carved through its flesh.

With everyone attacking together, Enceladus stood no chance. This time the Seekers made sure it stayed down, and soon all that remained were ashes and its spirit, tinted freakishly red.

“Thanks for the save,” Goldlewis panted, jogging up to the newcomers as they dismissed their Legions.

Davis’ face was stony. “Save it for later,” he told them. “We have to get you out of there.”

With their instruments plus the guidance of a woman’s voice over their radios, the Neuron officers found a nearby exit rift and got everyone out of the Astral Plane. Returning to reality felt like coming up for air from underwater, and Goldlewis didn’t realize just how out of breath he’d been until he could breathe normal air once more. He still felt pretty bad, though. That sense of filthiness on and beneath his skin had yet to cease, and he was beginning to worry.

Before he could say anything, though, the voice reached Davis and the others again. “Those people you found fighting in the Astral Plane. Their data corruption levels are dangerously high. You should take care of it now.”

Goldlewis froze. He’d be so intent on the fight with Enceladus he’d completely forgotten about redshift. After time in the Astral Plane itself, it had to be bad. The only thing that staved off panic was that operator’s phrasing–was there something that these people could do to save his team?

“Right.” Davis beckoned Hayato over. “I know you’re exhausted, but we need you to bring the Sword Legion out again. It can blueshift these people before they aberrate. Quickly now.

The Sword Legion appeared again and visited the Seekers one by one. It laid its hands on Roxas, Midna, Pit, Karin, and Goldlewis for a few seconds at a time, dispelling the redness overtaking them with a wave of blue. All of a sudden it felt like a massive weight was lifted off the veteran’s chest, as if a terrible sickness had gone away at the snap of a doctor’s fingers. He felt much better, although the Sword Legion disappeared from his view the second he did. Had he only been able to see it, and perhaps that chimera, because enough red matter had entered his system to make him ‘like’ them? What a scary thought.

“Really can’t thank you enough,” he told the officers afterward. “For a minute there I was fixin’ to throw in the towel.”

David gave the slightest hint of a reassuring smile. “Nothing to it. We appreciate your desire to help, but please keep in mind just how dangerous and corruptive red matter exposure is. Sad as it is, Neuron can’t be there every time. Just not enough manpower.”

“Those floatin’ things that looked like chimeras, but fought on your side,” Goldlewis asked. “What were they?”

Jin came forward to answer, allowing Davis to step away and handle something else. Judging by the state of the highway, things seemed more or less sorted on this side. No more gates or aberrations could be seen, and the various roadways swarmed with blue-coated officers. “They’re called Legions,” Jin informed him. “Don’t mean to brag, but they’re basically our ace up our sleeves against the Chimeras. The only stuff that works well against ‘em. Fighting fire with fire, you know?”

“Isn’t this all classified or something?” Alicia asked, her hands on her hips. “I mean, not that I care or anything.”

Jin shrugged. “Hey, they say ‘em with their own eyes. Not much of a secret.”

“Can anyone use them Legion things?” Goldlewis asked. “I know this ain’t exactly our business, seein’ as we ain’t Neuron like y’all, but we’re tryin’ to do somethin’ about the Ever Crisis.”

Jin gave a humorless chuckle. “Now wouldn’t that be nice. Well, not everyone. You’d have to be selected for Neuron to even have a shot, but you gotta have an aptitude for it too. What, you wanna go another round with the chimeras? That’d be a first.”

“For now, you all should head home. Take it easy for a bit,” Alicia advised.

Goldlewis looked back down the highway, trying to spot where he’d left the tunnel. It had been back by the tunnel, and he could probably loop around to find another, less chaos-ridden route into Sector 7. “...Right.”

“Here, we can get a chopper to evacuate you,” Davis said as he returned. “They’ll be flying around all night anyway. Might as well get you where you need to go.”

“That’d be great, but…I ain’t gonna leave my hummer behind,” Goldlewis told everyone. “Y’all go ahead, I’m gonna head back and swing it ‘round. Find another way into Sector 7. This ain’t my first rodeo.” Hefting his coffin over his shoulder, the veteran waved farewell.

It wasn’t long before the Seekers, for the second time that day, arrived by air at the S.O.U. headquarters helipad. Five-star hotel or not, they’d be crashing on the sofas here tonight, using the sheets and pillows provided. It had been a long and busy day.

[center][hider=For Goldlewis]New Power obtained:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/cP4NTtM.png]Wall of Light[/url][/b]
After alerting the UMA Goldlewis can crack open his upheld coffin to release a flood of blue light, creating a semicircular barrier of interlaid hexagons that covers a large area, because in the future everything is hexes. The shield can withstand projectiles and magic up to and including concentrated gunfire, but enemies can pass through it. Using it slowly drains his Security Level, and it can only be used at maximum Security Level, so it can only be used in bursts[/hider][/center]

[hider=Results]
[b]Party:[/b] Midna, Pit, Karin, Roxas, Goldlewis
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] 16 EXP[/hider]

[center][h3]Detroit[/h3]
[b]Sector 8 Lower[/b]
Level 11 Tora (136/110) Level 12 Poppi (26/120)
Susie and Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Benedict’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1287[/center]

Just from the look of him Tora and Poppi expected Zenkichi to step back and let his minions take the Seekers on. So far Benedict established the precedent of being mostly talk, while the G-men under his thumb provided the action. They did not expect him, when menaced by Geralt, to completely change his appearance in a surge of azure flame, nor to reveal a spectral partner of superhuman size to stand by his side. It struck the two most keenly not because it came completely out of left field, but because they’d seen exactly the same ritual before during their journey through the Sandswept Sky–that sort of spontaneous combustion plus Persona manifestation had been the calling card of their Phantom Thief allies, at least in a metaphorical sense.

“Poppi see that?” Tora exclaimed as the battle began. Poppi didn’t bother answering; of course she had. “Just like friends Joker, Panther, and others that Tora forget! Must be related somehow, meh!” For right now, though, the man wasn’t their friend. He brandished dual revolvers to rival Poppi’s own, though at the moment it looked like it would be the Witcher, not her, taking the detective on. “Ger-Ger be careful not to kill, just in case!”

“Hee-llooo?” came a shout in a cheerful, childish voice. Its owner, Jack Frost, closed in on the leftover Seekers with the other Shadows. “You should be worrying about yourselves, ho!”

Things kicked off quickly. Blazermate and her sentry got the attention of the chrome terror Chemtrail, distracting it for a few moments. With its buzzsaw-like blades and screaming faces, that thing looked like an absolute menace, so Tora knew he and Poppi needed to take out the trash fast. “Let’s go!” As Susie challenged Loup-Garou with her Business Suit, the dynamic duo moved together to take on Apsaras in hopes of dispatching her quickly, but she put up some sort of magical wall, and Jack Frost started pelting the pair with Bufu from afar. As the icicles flew in, Poppi grabbed her Masterpon to dive out of harms’ way, but the glancing blow she took did so little damage that her wariness melted away in an instant.

“Masterpon, you should push in. I’ll take care of that one.” She squeezed off a revolver shot at Jack Frost to keep its head down, then got to her feet with an ukemi and quickly switched to her Fire Core. Trusting his partner completely, Tora bounced off to challenge Apsaras, while Poppi faced a Mabufu hailstorm from the snowman. Wreathed in flame, her Variable Saber’s plasma blade burned through the onslaught, and from within the diamond dust she let loose a fire-infused round at Jack’s feet.

The ensuing explosion launched him upward, and Poppi jetted in for a diagonal leaping slash. “I’ve hee’d my last ho!” he cried as he fell, and the next moment the artificial blade’s brilliant flare cleaved him into halves that quickly burnt to cinders.

At the same time, Tora swung straight through all of Apsaras’ elemental shields and clobbered her in the side of the head with his hammer. She reeled back, grit her teeth, and slung a spell at the Nopon’s feet to freeze him in place with her ice. A vortex of winds built up between her hands as she charged and unleashed a Cycloburst to knock his back, but Tora rolled to his feet none the worse for wear thanks to Blazermate’s overheal. Apsaras cast an icy wave across the ground that erupted underneath her foe, but Tora managed to block in time and just get launched into the air, where he saw an opportunity. “Meh-meh-meh!” he cried, swinging downward the bash off the tip of the iceberg so that he could somersault onto it and slide down the slope. It worked like a charm, and with a whoosh he closed in on Apsaras, riding her own wave back to her. She managed to elegantly cartwheel back out of the way in time to avoid his swing, and with the Nopon overextended at point-blank range she used Bufula to call forth a crag of ice above him to drop on his head.

Instead Poppi smashed through the ice with a blazing red-hot kick and slammed into Apsaras, pinning her into the ground. Variable Saber ignited, Poppi performed a burning backflip to try and slice the shadow bottom-to-top, but despite appearances Apsaras’ weakness was not fire. She survived the fiery strike, and as Poppi landed by her feet she rose, healing herself with diarama. Of course, she couldn’t then do much to stop Poppi as she slashed twice, then used her new anklet to launch into Rolling Thrash, a forward roll heel drop that ended with her on her back and Apsaras bowled forward. With haste Poppi reversed the motion, flipping backward with an upward kick that popped the shadow up. Finally, Tora used her as a springboard to leap into the air and smash Apsaras to the ground with his hammer. Two down, two to go.

Right away, though, they saw that Chemtrail would be a problem. When it used Riot Gun, its three mouths took turns firing huge bullets like howitzers. It had already destroyed Blazermate’s turret, and it had taken all the Medabot’s speed to stay one small step ahead of its gunfire after disengaging from Tora. Giovanna succeeded in taking the heat of the healer with a couple kicks, but they barely left a dent in Chemtrail’s metal body, and the secret agent quickly found herself on the run instead. After a missing a number of Riot Guns that left craters in the ground or screamed through the air to inconvenience other parts of the city, the chrome demon belched forth a cloud of Fog Breath. Giovanna, Blazermate, Tora, and Poppi all got enveloped, leaving their offense and agility suppressed even after the haze cleared away. Chemtrail didn’t innately nullify fire like it did the light and dark elements, but after Poppi landed a couple ineffective hits on its engine it might as well have. Knowing that she couldn’t press her luck in this state, she superjumped away before Chemtrail could turn and nail her with a Riot Gun, then hurried to Tora’s side just as the shadow unleashed Shivering Taboo, inflicting a seventy percent chance of bind, panic, sleep, sick, or poison in an area around it. This time, Tora lucked out but Poppi collapsed to the ground where she lay asnooze. Giovanna stumbled, stricken by poison, and Chemtrail aimed its next Riot Gun her way. Though it hurt him to leave Poppi, Tora ran in to earn its aggression by hammering away at its leg. Giovanna might not be able to take those shots, but he could.

At the same time, Loup-Garou recovered from Susie’s headshot and began to make the most of its agility. He dashed around in speedy bursts, avoiding as much damage as he could as he racked up hits on his less-mobile target. That Business Suit would be quite the tough nut to crack, but in a war of attrition the wolfman had a few tricks up his sleeve. First he attacked Susie’s mech with Fang Breaker to lower her attack, and then he softened it up with one Damascus Claw after another. The raking multihits as it darted around kept the pressure on, even if it wasn’t a lot of burst damage, but if Susie lowered her guard for even a moment Loup-Garou would pounce to strike the pilot herself with the brutal electric power of Souffle D'éclair.

This was quite the mess. Between the fights with Zenkichi, Chemtrail, and Loup-Garou, Benedict had his pick of who to back up. But who needed his help the most?

[center][h3]Home of Tears[/h3]
Level 10 Nadia (138/100)
Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Omori’s [@Majoras End], Ganondorf’s [@Double], the Knight
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2234[/center]

As much as she enjoyed the vitalizing refreshment of pure water and the feeling of rainfall, Nadia knew she’d tire of being drenched eventually. Luckily, the jacket she’d gained from her fusion with Massachusetts was waterproof, as one might expect from shipgirl attire, so by zipping it up and donning the hood Nadia could comfortably withstand the Home of Tears’ ceaseless, characteristic deluge. Sure it smushed her ears down a little, which along with the constant roar of pounding rainfall made it pretty hard to hear, but it beat catching anything that might put the brakes on her convalescence. And her legs would've gotten soaked anyhow as she splashed through the puddles of the dark city streets. 

Nadia proceeded at a leisurely pace, despite her hunger, thirst, and fatigue, but she kept a sharp eye out. It would be a bit before her map -consulted semi-frequently beneath overhangs and [url=https://i.imgur.com/tPb7idS.png]rain shelters[/url] constructed for the express purpose of a moment’s reprieve- brought her to the Royal Quarter, where she planned to commit her burglarize. She was the kind of cat burglar who much preferred to steal from the rich than from the poor, after all. Still, she couldn’t help her eyes constantly roving around as she retraced her steps from the Sanitarium back through Downtown to Fountain Central. Late as it might be to some, the night was still young for Nadia Fortune, and there altogether too many interesting things to see.

She found herself fascinated by the unique features -and inhabitants- of a city built and lived in by non-humans. It struck her as even stranger than the cat-dominated Nyakuza Metro, a weird but wonderful hodgepodge that continuously stoked her curiosity as she made her way along. Whether walking the streets along with her or behind the glass of various stores and restaurants, Nadia observed a huge number of people that in any other circumstance would have just seemed like monsters. She spotted mudmen, [url=https://i.imgur.com/WgUajib.png]mummies[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/s9RLoR6.png]harpies[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/cSr5Vtt.png]armors[/url], ghosts, goblins, ghoulies, gorgons (not petrifying, thankfully), dryads, [url=https://i.imgur.com/27CTXtv.png]sea horses[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/fhJ5DvJ.png]land whales[/url], a variety of demons from diminutive [url=https://i.imgur.com/VLCnBq0.png]imps[/url] to fiery [url=https://i.imgur.com/r5H6PPO.png]fiends[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/dxCvYKI.png]dragons[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/ihanZLX.png]slimes[/url], and bugs of all kinds. None exhibited any sort of aggression or ill will; they just acted like…well, people. Nadia noticed plenty of beastfolk that would be ferals in her world, and they ran the gamut of beastliness from almost-human like herself to little more than bipedal animals. She happened to glimpse a bunch of [url=https://i.imgur.com/yRMwgc0.png]skeletons[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/ovsc2an.jpg]catfolk[/url] at an aptly-named Milk Bar run by -who else?- a [url=https://i.imgur.com/46Cbd5T.png]milk elemental[/url], but she felt no desire to join them. When she decided that a stiff drink would do her some good, she hadn’t been thinking of dairy. After pausing a moment to let a family of soft-bodied [url=https://i.imgur.com/fFMcpGT.png]slugcats[/url] and a cyclopean [url=https://i.imgur.com/MHWn8sv.png]frog[/url] pass by, Nadia moved on.

After all, interesting and inhuman as the Home of Tears might be, she did not feel at ‘home’, oddly enough. In the end, Nadia knew that for all intents and purposes, she was pretty much a human. Plenty of people in the World of Light had animal ears and/or tails, including some of Limsa’s shipgirls, and nobody batted an eye. Here, she felt like an outlier. In comparison she liked Nyakuza Metro a lot better; it had been cute and fun, leaning wholeheartedly into its gimmick. Limsa Lominscuttle Town spoke to her soul in the same way that Little Innsmouth did, making her hurt for home. In terms of places she’d visited, the undead hellhole known as Redgraccoon City didn’t really count. The couple days she spent trapped there felt like a lifetime. And before that…well, out of all the random spots where the caravan she’d joined stopped during her week-long trek around the base of Split Mountain and through the Sandswept Sky, she only recalled enjoying the night spent in Tostarena Town. It had really been a whirlwind of adventure ever since she left Carnival Town, and she couldn’t even remember how long she spent up there. If not for that caravan, she realized, she might have never run into the Seekers and awakened from Galeem’s stupor. She would’ve never met Ace. The idea of whiling away her days in Carnival Town, happily oblivious to all that had happened, chilled her more than the rain. Nadia shivered, and picked up the pace across the bridges to and from Fountain Central. Those pockets weren’t going to pick themselves.

Eventually Nadia reached the Royal Quarter. Here the streets were spacious, smooth, well-decorated, and bathed in the soft pink glow of ornate streetlights fueled by hydroelectricity. Everything was carefully laid-out and planned, elaborate and aesthetic, and both bugs and beasts adorned themselves with finery. A few of the well-to-do-denizens traversed the tidy avenues beneath umbrellas, but most stuck to carriages, drawn by what Nadia guessed must be less-sentient bugs and beasts. At one point, a particularly fancy carriage rolled by with a [url=https://www.bogleech.com/volfoss/volfoss-darkhorse.png]Dark Horse[/url] pulling it, which elicited a double-take from Nadia. The one she and Sectonia fought early that afternoon had been vicious, but this one seemed tame somehow. “...Huh.”

No stranger to weariness or hunger, Nadia didn’t rush things, but patiently took her time wandering the Home of Tears’ wealthiest districts in search of a target. She’d had enough fighting today. Beneath the glare of Gallo Tower’s clock face she felt like she was always being watched, but security around here seemed relatively light. Did these people generally live in peace and happiness? Well, good for them. Only once did she spy what looked like law enforcement of any kind: a handful of [url=https://i.imgur.com/9Sic2B5.png]mermaid guards[/url] led by a [url=https://i.imgur.com/5IcLuaa.png]tall, one-eyed knight[/url]. Nadia steered clear, and after making her way out of the most active parts of the Royal Quarter, found her mark.

With how late it was, all the fine boutiques on this particular street had closed up shop. Unlike the most upscale shopping center it lacked any awnings stretched overhead to offer shelter from the rain, and no rain shelters happened to be built on it, so there was no reason to linger here in the downpour. Nadia couldn’t see any carriages either, and she didn’t expect anyone indoors around here after closing time. Folks didn’t both live and do business in the same building in parts of town like this, goodness no. The avenue was empty; all she needed to do was take her pick. The feral strolled up the left side of the street, looking in the windows to see what each had in store. A tailor? Probably not. They dealt in pricey but infrequent transactions for services as much as goods, and weren’t likely to have left money on hand. A jeweler? No way. Places like that could be counted on to have extra layers of security, and while she counted herself an exceptional thief, Nadia wanted something easy tonight. A shop with wares that one wouldn’t expect to be particularly valuable, but always turned out to be expensive, especially in upscale areas like this. And one that would see enough transactions throughout the day to leave 

A leathercrafter? Bingo.

Nadia stopped and peered inside, scoping the place out with her keen catlike eyes. She could see boots, hats, belts, straps, purses, pouches, wallets, and so forth. The upper class needed things to carry all their money in, as well as reins and harnesses for their carriage-pullers, and guards needed fixtures for their equipment. On the counter by the door lay what looked like a register, but it would have the bare minimum of cash in it, if any. Shopkeepers weren’t so stupid as to leave their stash where any mook brave enough to smash the glass could snatch it. What she wanted was the safe. Of course, she’d need to get in first, and she didn’t plan to use any brute force herself. A cat burglar’s calling card was her silence: getting in and out without a sound, leaving everything just as the owner left it, except for the prize. Luckily, her skillset was bigger than ever.

Nadia looked up. Through the rain that got in her eyes she could see no open second-story windows. Oh well. She jumped up anyway, sinking her claws into the chitinous outer surface of the building. Inside the shop she’d seen a furnace, perfect for casting an inviting glow out on the street, as well as warming up and drying out any waterlogged customers as they perused the leatherworker’s wares. When she reached the roof, Nadia found not a chimney, but a tiny metal pipe just a few inches in diameter. “Purr-fect.” She pulled off her right hand and dropped it in, then drained some blood into it as well. Once satisfied it was enough, she turned and hopped back down to street level, then stood in front of the glass to watch.

After a moment spent feeling around in there, she unlatched and pushed open the furnace from the inside. Earlier remote maneuvers like this had been tricky, but now she’d come to see them as an art, and this time she had a fresh coat of paint to add to the mix. From within the furnace emerged one of her copycats, formed from the blood she’d deposited earlier, with her real hand in place of its own right. Nonchalantly the doppelganger strolled through the store to unlock the door from the inside. It reached up and grabbed the bell to stop it ringing, and Nadia waltzed right in.

She locked the door behind her just in case, then absorbed her copycat (minus the furnace ash) and began to sniff around. During her search for the safe, she happened to spot a display in one corner advertising Wallets with a capital ‘W’. Turning on her Night Light, she read that these magical Wallets could apparently hold limitless funds, and they boasted a price point to prove it. “Hell of an askin’ price,” she murmured to herself. “Good thing I’m gettin’ a discount.” She swiped one not from the display, but from the supply crate in the back. Looking at all the fine leather on display, however, she couldn’t stop there. “Ah, I shouldn’t, but…I’m easily suede.” Nadia took a black belt and looped it through four pouches to emulate the one she’d lost, then put it on. “Feels just right,” she smiled as she tapped on the clasp. “Let’s hope you don’t ‘buckle’ like the last one.” Giggling to herself, she turned to look around. Now, if I were a leatherworker’s safe, where would I ‘hide’...?”

In no time she found it, tucked away in a corner of the supply room. Inside a cabinet laden with transaction records lay the safe, a bulbous strongbox of the same material as many of the cave floors and walls around her, with a keyhole instead of a combination lock. After thinking for a moment Nadia crouched down, lugged the safe out, and turned it around. “Okay. Let’s hope this isn’t any stronger than it looks, or I’ll have to go through the lock.” She put her fingers together, hardened her nails into metal-hard claws, and revved her forearm like a living drill. Holding her bicep with her other hand, she rammed it into the back of the safe, aiming to bore a hole large enough to fit her arm in. After that, it was just a matter of persistence.

A few minutes later, it was done. It didn’t take as long as Nadia expected, in fact. Maybe all this adventuring had made her stronger. When she plundered the inside of the safe, the cat burglar found several days’ worth of unbanked cash stacked there, mostly in the form of high-value Geo widgets. In total it came to a couple thousand. “Nyaow that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” she purred. She sunk it into her new wallet, then stowed it in one of her new pouches. The weight of money in her pockets at last felt good. “Now that’s what I call a waist of money!” 

Once she put the safe back, Nadia slipped out the front door, then locked it again behind her with a doppelganger arm she left inside. At her direction it crawled back up to and inside the furnace, then pulled it shut. At that point it fell apart, an insignificant sacrifice hidden in the ash to be torched the next time the fire was lit. The feral sauntered away, fleeing the Royal Quarter at a casual pace. It was past time she got a chance to take it easy.

[center][h3][color=red]∞ Activity[/color][/h3][/center]

Few locales in the World of Light could boast a better view of the setting sun than its western shore, and though it made for a beautiful view from just about anywhere along that sandy seaside, Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn liked it best from the highest point in Limsa Lominscuttle Town. From the edge of the lofty airship dock that crowned the seafaring city’s central castle she could gaze out across hundred of miles of glinting water, over Inkwell Isle and the hundreds of colorful little island villages that made up New Horizons Archipelago, all the way to the horizon. The dusk painted the sky with the vivid, warm hues of orange, yellow, red, and pink. Throughout all the horrors of war those sunsets had provided solace for many soldiers, reminding them not just that they’d made it through another day, but of the beauty of the world they’d been fighting for. And now, after all was said and done, the people of this fair port could enjoy the sunsets and the nights that followed them without fear of what tomorrow might bring.

Tonight, though, Merlwyb couldn’t visit her favorite perch. As the townsfolk enjoyed their second evenings in this new season of peacetime, she made haste for the harbor of the Azur Fleet. The sight of their Admiral running was not a rare sight in Limsa, but with the war concluded at long last those who saw her couldn’t help but wonder what concerned her so.

Merlwyb sprinted across bridges, down stairs, and even put some of her old seafaring skills to use zipping down ropes to reach her destination all the faster. Only when she reached the end of the dock past the white sea-stone port did she slow down. Before her stood an imposing figure, seldom-seen around here but very recognizable. She stood taller even than Merlwyb, despite the admiral’s rather impressive stature, but this woman also sported a physique that would put the burliest male Roegadyns to shame. Despite the cherry-red armor she wore on top of it, the form-fitting black-and-gray suit she wore advertised her incredible musculature well enough. It wasn’t often that Merlwyb felt small, or out of breath for that matter, but after a deep breath she composed herself to speak as if nothing at all was awry.

“Good evening, Madam Consul,” she began. “And welcome to Limsa Lominscuttle Town. I trust you had a safe voyage?”

A deep sigh echoed from the stranger as she turned around. Vivid green eyes regarded Merlwyb with a piercing luster from within a round, vaguely skull-shaped helmet within a mane of octopus tentacles. Their dangling lengths swung gently in the wind as she moved. “Uneventful. Sadly.”

Merlwyb furrowed her brow. “I see. Forgive me for not receiving you in the Bulwark Hall, I must have missed the forewarning of your arrival. Will you be staying long?”

“It’s fine. I didn’t send any.” The Consul chuckled, crossing her brawny arms. “I’ll be going again soon, as well. I don’t really ‘stay’. But I hear you have good news for me.”

“Certainly. I am happy to be able to announce the conclusion of our long and bloody fight with the Abyssal Fleet. It was a hard-earned victory, and it came at great cost. But the war is over, and we finally have peace.” Merlwyb did not attempt to disguise the pride in her voice. She’d earned it.

“Peace…” The Consul laughed through her nose, then shrugged helplessly, her palms upheld. “There is no such thing.”

Merlwyb blinked. “Beg…your pardon? Do you mean to imply the Abyssal threat remains?”

Tilting her head, the Consul put a hand to her chin. “Well, not exactly. It’s true that plenty of them remain alive. Enough to cause problems if they rallied under a new leader. But…” She shook her head. “They’re played out. Sure, they look interesting, but in truth they’re boring. As one-dimensional as it gets. Wasted potential. So we’re gonna clean ‘em up, Consul A and I. The Abyssals won’t darken your doorstep anymore”

“I…see.” That bit of news was a relief, despite some odd turns of phrase Merlwyb didn’t quite parse, but she had yet to feel at ease. “Then, what is it you speak of? Some new enemy?”

Again the Consul shook her head. Her reply came in an almost jovial tone. “Oh no, no no. An old enemy. The enemy of every living thing. Of life, one might say.” She looked up at Limsa Lominscuttle Town, putting her hands on her hips. “For living things, there is no such thing as peace. Only stagnation.” Her disquieting gaze settled on Merlwyb. “When running water grows still, all that follows is decay and death. Where you see a city, I see a nexus of countless lives burning bright, a grand bonfire stoked by the flames of war. After all, conflict is the crucible through which life is given meaning. But with no more fuel for that fire, what happens next? It’ll burn out, and only ashes will remain. The countdown to your extinction has already begun.” Smirking, she crossed her arms. “And I don’t mean that metaphorically.”

Merlwyb gritted her teeth. “Madam Consul, please be clear with me. What peril is our city in? What can we do?”

“You can fight!” I pointed her finger at the admiral, then pounded her fists together. “Conflict is the crucible, remember? If you mean to stoke your flames, you must claim them from others! Before they claim them from you. Prove that you have the right to live!”

“Haven’t we proven enough?” Merlwyb pleaded.

Consul I threw her hands up. “That’s like saying, have I eaten enough? Maybe for now. But tomorrow you’ll be hungry again. And if you ignore that hunger you -and all these people- will die. Do not fear, however. As a reward for your efforts, I’m making it easy for you. It’s high time for a change. That’s where [i]they[/i] come in.”

She half-turned to gesture out to see, where a huge, bulky barge floated in the water. Merlwyb had been wondering what that vessel might be since she first glimpsed it, but with the Consul’s alarming words in mind she gave it a closer look. On its [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU-8hrbXsAA6XKs?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]deck[/url] rested a large structure, and though it looked like a circus cannon she’d unconsciously dismissed that possibility. No cannon, after all, could be that large. But as she stood there reevaluating her line of thinking, Merlwyb also noticed a plethora of small figures crowding the deck, running and jumping around, fighting, or just facing Limsa Lominscuttle Town.

Merlwyb took a step back, her face aghast. “By the twelve! Do you mean to say you’ve brought yet more foes to attack us? Consul!?”

“Hey, now.” I took a step forward. “I’m doing you a favor, you know. I’m giving you a chance–a chance to burn even brighter. Normally, once a place like Limsa reaches the top, there’s nowhere to go but down. Ripened crops will just rot in their fields, after all, if they’re not harvested. That’s where we come in. We don’t actually give our crops a chance to wither away. Waste not, want not.” She chuckled.

“What in blazes are you talking about? Is that what my people are to you?” Merlwyb wished she had brought her pistols with her. “Are you in some way responsible for these years of warfare? How much death and destruction is on your head, Consul?” She balled her fists with an angry grimace. “Tell me!”

I did not budge a solitary inch. “Careful now. This place will need its Admiral to weather the coming storm. Just remember, Merlwyb.” She slowly reached up and with the press of her button deactivated her helmet. When it disappeared, it left behind a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Jrtu1kC.png]face[/url] devoid of fear. She stepped closer, pressing the barrel of Merlwyb’s gun to her head. “I do not challenge you,” she intoned in her unfiltered voice. “I merely bring you the test. The chance to avoid the fate in store for the Abyssals.” With a laugh, she licked her lips. “Fail, and I’ll be back for you.”

Then she disappeared in a purple flash, teleporting onto the cargo ship. At her command all forty Rumblers aboard the vessel warped into the cannon. The voice of an announcer rang out across the bay. “Hi folks, I’m Skip Leggerday, coming to you live from beautiful Limsa Lominscuttle Town! We’ve got a whale of a match coming up, so get ready to rumble! In three! Two! One! Go!”

Forty funny-looking wrestlers full of gumption launched into the air, hurtling through the sky to fall upon Limsa like musclebound meteorites, and get their first high-octane match with the shocked city defenders underway.