[center][h3]Sector 5 Suoh - The Otherlobe[/h3]
Peach, Raz’s [@Truthhurts22], Sakura’s [@Zoey Boey][/center]

With introductions made everyone in the newly-minted Luka Platoon could chat together over a hearty breakfast, though naturally given the day’s events official Psych-OSF matters were never far from their minds. When Raz asked for more details about the operation, Luka was only too happy to disseminate them–such was his duty, as this group’s leader. Getting the impression that this would be important, Peach laid her spoon to rest in her bowl of sugary strawberry-laden cereal. After a brief look through the cafeteria’s red-tinted window, her attention drawn by the increasing noise of rain against the glass, she gave her squad leader her full focus.

“Of course,” Luka began as he pulled up the memo he’d received as a Vision for himself to make sure he didn’t skimp out on any details. “Just to recap, Operation Scour is a joint endeavor by over two dozen Psych-OSF squads to exterminate a horde of Others that have taken up residence underground in close proximity to the city. Sasha, Camilla, Seto, Kyoka, and Morceau Platoons are all involved, so as you can see it’s a pretty big deal. In fact, this is an initiative of vital importance coming down not just from Chief Head Zanotto, but from Secretary of Defense Konoe and in all likelihood President Shinra as well, so all hands are on deck. As for the specifics, the area we’re most concerned with is the abandoned subway network that directly borders the Sector 05 and 06 undercities, Seiran and Deep-Paris. Officially, this is in response to reports of recent Other emergences there at unsustainable rate.” He gave a wry smile. “This was announced only a couple days ago, so we’ve been having to move fast, but the basic plan is to split up by platoon and sweep through the tunnels, exterminating every Other we find on the way, though platoons can support one another if need be. We’ll also have radio support from another team’s Psych-OSF telepath, since we don’t have our own yet. Some scout teams will be going down before us to help blaze a trail, and at operation start, we’ll be sent down by mass Transport powers in order to catch the Others off guard and give them as little time to escape as possible. It’ll be tough, but as long as we stick and work together, we should be able to pull through.”

“That many people…? Wow, I feel bad for Crenshaw and whoever else.” A surprisingly simple plan for such a massive operation, but Peach remembered that she, Sakura, and Raz weren’t the only ones who needed to know about it. Luckily, Raz came up with a plan to make sure that Luka’s briefing reached the right ears. He sent the other two a private message saying that he would sneak out in order to contact the other Seekers. Peach nodded, as much to the young Psychonaut as to Luka. [i]”Right. Good luck, and make sure you’re back in time,”[/i] she replied through Brain Talk. 

Using Invisibility, Raz was able to escape the Otherlobe without raising any alarms or anything, but two odd things did happen. At one point, just after leaving the cafeteria, he suddenly bumped into something even though nothing was there. It moved when he struck him, and Raz heard a slight grunt. “Whoops, excuse me~” he heard an easygoing male voice say, although he couldn’t identify the source. Nothing else came of that, but about a minute later, while making his way down a hallway, Raz passed by a particular Scarlet Guardian. Nothing about the [url=https://i.imgur.com/DrH5RaQ.png]dark-haired girl[/url] seemed particularly special compared to anyone else, but when Raz approached her, her gaze followed him despite being invisible. She looked befuddled, and continued to stare in his direction for another couple moments, but she neither said or did anything, and soon went on her way.

A few minutes more and Raz reached the street. Despite the rain, Suoh was every bit as lively -and visually busy- as it had been yesterday afternoon, if not even more so. He looked around, trying to figure out how he could get in touch with the Seekers. After some exploring he located a man in [url=https://i.imgur.com/8lXnh5S.png]yellow and black attire[/url], his face hidden, who caught his interest because of the familiar word inscribed on the cap he wore atop his helmet: Bridges. He remembered the name being mentioned before as that of a potential allied organization in Midgar. It was as good an option as any.

“Who am I?” the archivist asked when questioned. “I am nobody. I am but shadow, and I am but air. Yet air can carry sound, and shadows portray a looming intent. Who knows how far the winds can blow, or how long a shadow might be cast…?”

Despite the obfuscation, Satori the Archivist consented to ‘buying’ a bundle of data from Raz with the intent to ‘sell’ it elsewhere, specifically through the chiral network to the terminal just now being set up in the Seekers’ new Seiran base. Of course, that took time, and when it was done Raz needed to hurry. The time was almost nigh.

[hr]

When the orange light faded away, Peach saw that, sure enough, she’d appeared in a completely different place. Sakura, Raz, Sina, Dexio, and Luka all made it alongside her, as if the whole team simply stepped in an elevator and set foot in a new locale. In this case, her platoon had reached what looked like a flooded subway station, overgrown with roots, moss, and algae, and festooned by garbage. With the water risen to about the second level, the tops of long-abandoned trains, booth roofs, and cross-platform walkways offered ways to get around without getting wet, which would suit Peach just fine. The water smelled rank. There were also plenty of pillar supports, although some of them had collapsed at some point, and with them part of the station’s roof. Rain showered down through the hole to patter against the surface of the water. Looking up through the opening, Peach could see skyscrapers holding up a plate. [i]So we must be just outside Seiran’s reservoir[/i], she realized. That would explain this flooding. For a moment she wondered if the other Seekers might be somewhere on one of those buildings, staring down at the reservoir and wondering where the infiltrators might be. Then she focused on the task at hand.

Peach and the others stood atop a second-story metal-frame platform overhang shelter, under which passengers here might have once waited for their trains to arrive. Red paint had been spattered here, presumably by the scouts, to mark out the zone the platoon would be warped to, but from here on out the team would be mostly on their own. Despite there being no enemies in sight, Luka had already hefted his heavy-looking Weight Hammer, ready to swat anything that jumped out at the team. Dexio’s weapons of choice were big, heavy blue iron cestus with flat heads like ball-peen hammers, but with three metal spikes apiece in a triangle on the fronts. Sina, meanwhile, wielded a Refrigerant Coil on her right forearm, which in conjunction with her Cryokinesis essentially let her use her arm as a cannon. Before anyone could use their equipment, however, they needed to cross the flooded station, and Luka had a suggestion.

“Let’s all use my Teleportation to get over there,” the team leader suggested, pointing out a dark tunnel on the far side. “Once you activate it, you just need to ‘dash’ to where you want to go and the power will kick in. But please be very careful whenever you use it. You must teleport to completely unoccupied space.”

Peach’s eyes widened. “Oh dear, could we teleport [i]inside[/i] something?”

“Yes,” he replied, his tone tentative. “But the main issue is, since two things can’t exist in the same place at the same time, teleporting inside something will cause a reaction comparable to…well, a nuclear explosion.” 

“I’m not going to teleport,” Peach decided that instant. Instead she jumped, double jumped, and floated to her destination with her parasol. Luka followed her in a blink, and after a moment of mental preparation both Dexio and Sina did the same without incident. Once everyone was together, they proceeded into the tunnel.

After going a short way, Luka called the team’s attention to something. “We’re on the right track. Look.” He pointed out a cluster of [url=https://i.imgur.com/7lcFXX5.png]red plants[/url] growing from an island of dirty in the water next to the subway tracks, which Peach saw grew thicker the further the tunnel went. “These pinecone flowers grow in places inhabited by others,” Luka explained. “Brace yourselves for a fight.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/t9i0j7l.png[/img][/center]

Sure enough, after balancing along the tracks or splashing through the water beside them for just another minute, the Scarlet Guardians reached an open area where the gray light of an overcast day, together with the rain, poured through cracks in the ceiling down to fall upon a bunch of Others. The seven [url=https://bogleech.com/vgmonsters/scarlet-rummyrainy.png]Kitchen Rummies[/url], crowned by umbrellas and coral, more or less resembled the Rummies seen before but sparkled with electricity. However, the three [url=https://i.imgur.com/yHDiLpl.png]Rat Ruts[/url] were completely new, featuring thick metal shells that protected a squishy [url=https://i.imgur.com/n1fpfPs.png]papaya interior[/url], all atop a rotating eel wheel. One other strange organism rolled around the tunnel, a one-wheeled, baby-faced bruiser whose slow-charging lightbulb could emit a paralyzing flash: an [url=https://i.imgur.com/HyqUvbU.png]Exonerator[/url].

Luka’s eyes narrowed, and he reached out to the others through Brain Talk. [i]“Ruts attack predictably, but they hit like trucks, and their shells take a lot of punishment, so focus on blunt force. They’ll also shoot bolts of oil at you from those spouts on top.”[/i] He looked between the different Others, then at the terrain. “We’re lucky these Others don’t have much synergy, but don’t stand in water where those Rummies can zap you. Let’s take them out.” 

He teleported forward to set the example, and with her Scatterboom in hand Peach ran in behind him. Though faced with new and unknown opponents, she went to battle with a smile on her face. Maybe it was just her new spirit fusion, or maybe Nadia had rubbed off on her during their time in the Deep Blue Seaside, but she was feeling fired up and ready to show her worth.