[center][h3]Valley of Ruin[/h3]
Level 12 Tora (43/120) Level 12 Poppi (53/120)
Giovanna, Roxas’ [@Double], Pit’s [@Yankee], Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Partitio’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1237[/center]

[center][hider=For Zenkichi]You have obtained:
[b]Kins[/b] x530
[i]The theoretical psionic currency attached to the owner’s personal record in Psynet and usable for all Psynet-based transactions, acceptable in most stores in Midgar’s Plates[/i]

[b]Grenade[/b] x2
[i]A handheld explosive used by (and against) machines thanks to the electric pulse that accompanies its fragmentation[/i]

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/doFonFX.png]Universal Pistol Ammo[/url][/b] x4
[i]Any sidearm that can be wielded and fired in a single hand can accept ammunition from this miraculous pickup for a full refill[/i]

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/Bsj6De4.png]Memory Alloy[/url][/b] x2
[i]Alloy composed of rare metals. Highly sought after by scrappers for its resale value, mostly to adventurers and soldiers who then use it to forge weapons, especially small swords[/i]

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/tFLwkTB.png]Machine core[/url][/b] x3
[i]A damaged fragment of the core of a Machine Lifeform, containing rare elements valuable to merchants. [/i][/hider][/center]

With the proposed plan of action already imperiled by another big problem, the Seekers in the clearing prepared to descend across the water to try and salvage the disastrous-looking situation down by the water’s edge. Roxas in particular launched himself from the precipice with an almost manic ferocity, using flowmotion to speedily navigate his way through the ruined, sunken landscape toward the machine-on-machine action. Despite their fatigue from the drawn-out Spider fight the three members of the Rust Crew set off in a sprint to circle around with Giovanna in the lead, dashing through the rain across the weed-riddled concrete. Tora jumped into Poppi’s arms, and the artificial blade took flight. With their comrade’s life in jeopardy against fearsome odds, the Seekers weren’t going to stand idly by.

Almost as suddenly as the crisis arose, however, it was averted. Enfeebled by the bite of Chillwater, doused with power-scrambling Purgewater, and surrounded by enraged machines that eagerly chomped and tore into the reinforced plate of her Business Suit, Susie bailed out right away. Not knowing where the group would be by now, she flew with her Transporter back in the direction of the parked -and currently abandoned- salvage truck, leaving her mech behind to suffer the machine lifeforms’ wrath. Only then did Roxas reach the fight, allowing him to bludgeon the futuristic creatures’ plated exteriors with the blunt ends of his keyblades. Rather than take all these well-equipped war machines head-on, however, he unleashed a grand parting shot. His Thundaga rippled across the metallic menagerie, electrocuting the Snapmaws with their Shock weakness but barely registering with the Shellwakers and Widemaws thanks to their Shock resistance.

Then, before the battle-ready beasts could bombard him with a fusillade of lightning and Purgewater-soaked earth, he fled. Roxas scrambled up from the collapsed riverbank toward the upper highway cliff where Pit still tangled with with a handful of howling Clamberjaws. A burst of healing out of the blue fixed the angel right up, allowing the pair to take on the last member of the troop without worry. The final machine fought bitterly with tooth and claw, jumping between walls and trees to afflict its opponents with concussive screeches and burns from hurled slag. Still, this was a fight that the boys could -and did- win in short order. Meanwhile, the machines at the riverside could not ascend to give pursuit to their enemies. Instead they regrouped, and with their precious cargo of base minerals, scrap metal, and chemicals secure the Shellwalkers made themselves scarce, dispersing into drains, tunnels, and so forth to return to base through the safety of the earth. The others resumed their processing duties.

“Oh,” Tora murmured, watching from afar as things died down. “Well, that good, at least.” The sooner the team could attend to the real cause for concern, the better. It wouldn’t be long before Giovanna, Marshall, Big Bo, Zenkichi, and Cain reached the remaining salvage truck via the semicircular upper route, where they would no doubt reunite with Partitio, Pit, Roxas, and Susie. With just one truck left, though, it would be hard to transport everyone, even if they could be assured they were headed in the right direction. Tora stared up at the Tallneck, annoyed that he lacked any sort of receptacle into which he could extract the mobile comm station’s positional data, until something occurred to him. “Meh-meh,” he muttered, thinking. “If Tora can gain access to machine mind, why not machine body? If Tora can control, friends have way to make sure everypon reach right spot!” He turned to his companion. “Poppi, take Tora up one more time!”

[center][hider=For Tora]New Strength developed:
[b]PSI Override[/b]
Tora’s staggering hardware and software engineering prowess has allowed him to tap into a vulnerability in certain animalistic machine lifeforms with his toolkit in order to Override them, giving him direct control over them as well as access to their data banks. Only one machine can be overridden at a time and Tora has to be actively overriding it, preventing him from doing anything else. The basic PSI Override means he can only access Broadheads, Chargers, Watchers, Striders, and Tallnecks[/hider][/center]

After a few minutes, the Seekers who’d gathered at the salvage truck found themselves approached by the towering Tallneck. Rather than attack, however, it stood harmlessly over them while Tora waved his wings down from the top. “Hello, friends!” he called. “We need hurry to intercept machines, meh! Anyone want ride?”

[hr]

The Tallneck was surprisingly fast once forced to move at top speed, almost able to keep up with the truck given how often the vehicle needed to maneuver and turn, while the machine itself could make up the lost distance with shortcuts over rougher terrain. Consulting the stolen comm data often, Tora steered the Seekers through the Valley of Ruin, away from the flooded district and half-built neighborhood. Their path took them northeast, not quite back the way they came but close enough to make Giovanna worried–worried that while her team searched, the enemy force had already advanced toward Midgar. Unfortunately, she turned out to be right.

[center][img]https://w.wallhaven.cc/full/kx/wallhaven-kxwol7.jpg[/img][/center]

Tora’s directions brought the Seekers back to the edge of the Valley of Ruin, where the haunting remnants of a vast metropolis gave way to the barren no-man’s-land that formed Midgar’s immediate vicinity toward the south. A massive avenue, coated in rippling, reflective pools of rain, stood between two great rows of rusted weathervanes and derelict skyscrapers, crumbled and tilted off-kilter by the relentless ravages of time. Truck and Tallneck rounded one of these hulking husks and ascended a slope of sediment-covered rubble to crest a hill overlooking the street, and what the Seekers saw took their breath away.

Packed shoulder-to-shoulder as they marched down the avenue were hundreds and hundreds of Machines. Most appeared to be [url=https://i.imgur.com/34OOuu2.png]Bipeds[/url], either Medium (about as tall as the average man] or Large, but there was plenty of variety to be found. There were handfuls of [url=https://i.imgur.com/qkuqvXS.png]Goliaths[/url] over twice the height of the Large Bipeds, with gigantic hands capable of squashing cars flat. Some took the form of [url=https://i.imgur.com/bLjsuj6.png]Legpower Goliaths[/url], faster and more mobile with multi-ton kicks, and others [url=https://i.imgur.com/AyXhNum.png]Reverse-jointed Goliaths[/url] with gun arms, stubby tails, and raptor-like gait. [url=https://i.imgur.com/T3O13eF.png]Quadrupeds[/url] galloped on all fours with bladed legs, while insectoid [url=https://i.imgur.com/qgRbm7q.png]Multilegs[/url] wielded cutters or cannons. Small and Medium Fliers hovered overhead on their single or quad turbines, too, with guns at the ready. Even among the basic Bipeds there existed some variety. Some adorned themselves with armor or warlike attire, and wielded a variety of handmade weapons. Most staggering of all, though, were there numbers.

“By my estimate…” Poppi began, not sure if she even wanted to say. “At least a thousand.”

Tora took a deep breath, shaking slightly. “Meh-meh…unfortunately, fact that they not reach Midgar yet is good news. Bad news is, this not half of it. There other group at least this big headed in direction of Detroit.” He furrowed his brow. “This army headed to Sector 07. Friends there not have DespoRHado to fight for them.”

“So it falls to us,” Giovanna murmured. “Well then. That’s what, a hundred each? They don’t look so tough.” She stifled a wry laugh. “Imagine if these were all high-tech baboons and hippos.”

With a final long breath to steady himself, Tora put on a courageous smile. “Hundred each not so bad!” he declared, wiping rain from his face before posing in a determined fashion. “Let’s give baddypons what-for!”

“We don’t have a lot of choice,” Marshall agreed. “But we’ve gotta be smart. Use everything we got to our advantage. Terrain, teamwork, you name it. Don’t let yourselves get surrounded, and shout if you need help.” Clicking his rifle’s safety off, he climbed up onto the truck. “We’ll stay ahead of them and cover you from behind. Mow down as many as we can, and make sure none of them slip through toward the city.”

Giovanna nodded. “Alrighty then. As Goldlewis would probably say, let’s git ‘er done.”

She, Tora, and Poppi jumped down from the overlook, sliding down the slope until they reached the rain-washed street. They turned to face the vast horde, a sea of clanking metal and glowing red eyes. Tora faced them with a smile, however. If he could do this, there wouldn’t be any more room for doubt in his mind; he would know that he was a hero.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHHPSQ_I3o&ab_channel=BlueKunaiSoundtracks[/youtube][/center]

[center][h3]Abandoned Subway - Infinite Corridor[/h3]
Level 4 Goldlewis (33/40)
Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Geralt [@Multi_Media_Man], Benedict’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 767[/center]

Planning to lead by example, Goldlewis wasted no time bringing out the big guns. A tremendous [i]bang[/i] reverberated across the surface of the L.I.F.T. as the UMA heaved the immense minigun out of the coffin and onto the ground. Goldlewis grabbed hold with his suitably massive mitts and lifted it up to open fire. His bullets flew toward the runaway camera in a withering torrent, but the anomalous doohickey didn’t just idle in place. It floated up and down and from side to side, and though the veteran’s gunfire put a couple dents in the camera’s exterior, a handheld minigun wasn’t well suited to adjustments in aim, and most of the shots ended up missing.

The others followed suit with whatever ranged weapons they had. While Midna managed to pull a revolver out of nowhere, the Twilight Princess was by no means a deadeye, and after emptying every one of its chambers the six-shooter offered nothing more than a complicated and unfamiliar reload process. Geralt took shots with his crossbow, but the rushing air that buffeted everyone in this tunnel either knocked his slow-moving projectiles off course or stopped them in their tracks and sent them hurtling back to sender. Blazermate’s sentry, meanwhile, was perfect for the job. Once built it started plugging away at the ActionMaxx Camera with a steady stream of well-aimed shots, but the arrival of giant signs and alternate L.I.F.T.s quickly spelled the end for that plan.

In fact, this new development forced a paradigm shift out of everyone, obliging them to stay on the move or be battered by tunnel obstructs straight into the yawning abyss. With a magic airdash at his disposal Goldlewis could take to the sky with the best of them, though he still needed to put in extra effort to keep his extra-large and easy-to-hit frame out of the path of oncoming signage. The Session Pounds added even more chaos to the mix, through Geralt and Midna’s efforts to intercept and dispose of the flying bombs lessened the threat they posed a good amount. Still, even with Panther putting in an appearance to swat the camera with lasers, the team’s already less-than-stellar damage output was only further hampered by the shifted focus to constant movement. Goldlewis couldn’t afford to stay put and belt out lead with Skyfish if a giant sheet of yellow-painted metal could cream him any second. His perceptive peepers did notice one thing, though: the ActionMaxx Camera itself inadvertently warned of incoming obstacles through its movement. If imminent signs would block two of the three tunnels within the next few moments, it would fly over to the third.

Noticing this began a strange, high-octane version of Follow the Leader, obliging Goldlewis and the others to race after it from L.I.F.T. to L.I.F.T. whenever it made a move. Doing this gained them some ground and afforded them better opportunities to take aim. Ever the pessimist, the veteran considered the possibility of a feint, but if this paranormal object possessed any intelligence it seemed wholly focused on filming the frenetic chase scene. Making the most of his Security Level when it filled up, Goldlewis unleashed as many level-three bullet barrages as he could. If this whole thing hadn’t happened underground, he mused, this would’ve been a perfect opportunity to Burn it Down with his satellite laser. In the midst of the chaos, the team managed to chip away at the camera’s integrity, reducing it by over half.

At that point, though, things got even more interesting. The trickle of Session Pounds came to an abrupt end, and something else took their place. Sometimes, the abyss behind them would belch out a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Teus5yK.png]chimeric being[/url] of rusted metal, gnarled horn, and sallow flesh, not unlike the Others encountered earlier but just different enough to strike the Seekers as particularly weird. Bathing the tunnels in front of them with the odious yellow glare of their headlights as they raced along the tracks, the Cleansers attempted to take hold of the L.I.F.T.s and physically wrench them off their tracks. Worse still, that awful xanthous glow came with a suppressive effect, hampering the spirit-derived abilities of anyone caught in their baleful luster. Their arrival and subsequent slow but terrifying gain on the L.I.F.T.s turned a salvageable situation into an incredibly stressful one in no time flat–which was about how long the team had left to take down the rogue ActionMaxx Camera.

[center][h3]Home of Tears[/h3]
Level 10 Nadia (161/100)
The Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Ganondorf’s [@Double], Rubick’s [@Scarifar], Omori’s [@Majoras End], the Knight
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1871[/center]

Despite her positive outlook, Nadia had no doubts that the destruction and panic she’d helped cause -however small in scale- would draw the authorities like bees to honey, so she got a serious move on. Even if that piscine policewoman seemed more oblivious and friendly than sharp and authoritative, the cat burglar didn’t want to be spotted by her near the scene of any more crimes. With Omori following along, she proceeded deeper into the vast fairground district grateful for its unusual size. It took no time at all for her to immerse herself back into a part of the park with plenty of guests, where any rumors or alerts about an injured woman and a knife-wielding maniac on the loose met with either mild concern or brow-raised skepticism, and not much farther than that the panic died out completely. Nadia saw only fun-loving bugs and monsters enjoying their weekends with their friends and families. Some news spread like wildfire, it seemed, but others blew away like dust in the wind.

Nadia and Omori eventually wound up at the Amusement Park’s warmly-lit [url=https://i.imgur.com/V7fRYmV.png]boardwalk[/url], jutting out over the waters to the north of the district. Possibly due to its proximity to the Royal Quarter that lay just across the Home of Tears ’northeastern channel, this area possessed a certain air of class. All done up in pristine white, with nice railings and awnings, it offered a distinct vintage feel to many of the city’s modern monsters. To Nadia, however, its aesthetic rubbed her a different way. It almost perfectly matched the art deco era design of the boardwalk park back in New Meridian, and though she seldom got the chance to visit Little Innsmouth’s prim-and-proper, touristy counterpart, this place felt achingly like home. It even had a little ferris wheel! A wave of uncharacteristic melancholy washed over her. New Meridian might be a pretty awful place on the whole, but it was home, and she never thought she’d miss it this badly.

Once she got over her heartache, Nadia got down to business. As promised she bought Omori a cotton candy, freshly spun from the centrifuge. She did not indulge herself however, and she didn’t insist that he accompany her further. The kid could take care of himself after all, and Nadia still didn’t know if he liked her company or not. For a few minutes she just meandered the boardwalk, looking around. She saw plenty of carnival games scattered around, from bottle-knocking to whack-a-mole, but after a little consideration she turned away. The decision almost took her by surprise -who wouldn’t want to take a load off after what she’d been through with some fun distractions, after all?- but the more she reflected the more Nadia knew that she just didn’t feel like it.

As much as she put on a brave face for Omori, and the world at large, she wasn’t smiling on the inside. Not right now at least. Since arriving in the World of Light she’d done plenty of killing, but mostly monsters. Even the Abyssals were basically mindless tools of destruction, regardless of appearances. Always chaotic evil. But not so with Massachusetts or Kronya. They’d been foes that stood in the path she needed to tread, sure. Deadly combatants, and Kronya in particular seemed like a real piece of work. But they were still people. Maybe more of the ‘monsters’ she’d killed were real people too. Hell, if she met most of this city’s inhabitants in a dark alley she might not have thought twice about cutting them down. How much blood was on her hands? How much [i]would[/i] be, by the time this was done? Was it all okay as long as everything went back to normal when the Seekers triumphed over Galeem?

What if it didn’t?

Nadia ended up at a table beneath an umbrella at the side of the water. She nibbled at a footlong coney stacked up with onions, relish, cheese, and ketchup, gazed at the spirit of Kronya on the table before her, and listened to the rain. What [i]were[/i] these things? They were capable of extraordinary things. If Nadia commanded that this spirit fight for her right now, it probably would. She could bring that knife-wielding assassin back into being as easily as recalling a lost memory. But was that really her? Or, like the savage monsters like Idea that now served at her beck and call, was it just a puppet? She knew by now that if she died, she’d leave one of these things behind too. Someone else could take her powers, as well as a pinch of Nadia seasoning mixed into their body or mind. The feral’s eyes narrowed at the thought. Dying had always been a terrifying concept. Probably always would be. If she died before finishing this mission, it would all go to waste. Every drop of blood, sweat, and tears shed on this journey. [i]No. I need to see this through,[/i] she thought. To see the World of Light whisked away, and everything restored just how it used to be. For the sake of everyone, of course, but mostly for herself. So that things could be simple and clean again–all the blood on her hands, rinsed away. [i]Whatever it takes,[/i] she thought. [i]I have to live.[/i]

Lucky, then, that survival came easily to someone who couldn’t die.

Nadia’s mood picked up as she ate her coney. It was a great mixture of flavors and textures, very nostalgic, and the chorus of rain on the ink-dark lakewater soothed her. Jokes, laughter, and noises of jubilation reached her from the nearby guests. It was hard to stay in a dour mood in a place like the Amusement Park. It also wasn’t the best place to be alone, in a strictly positive sense. A couple times Nadia found herself approached by random passers-by, including a group of friends about her age wondering if she wanted to join them and a couple young fellows who couldn’t just pass a comely catgirl by. It reminded her of her impromptu group last night at Definitely Not Fried Chicken; the people here sure were trusting and friendly. Though alternatively appreciative and flattered, Nadia had to turn them down. By now she’d spent more than enough time on herself, and she needed to meet back up with the other Seekers to continue the mission.

With two-thirds of the group plus their final objective in the Royal Quarter, getting over there sounded like the best way to start. Nadia skirted along the fairground’s northern edge until she reached the bridge connecting it to Fountain Central, all the while regretting the spurt of mopiness that tricked her into passing up the fair games earlier. On the way across the bridge, she spotted a couple people she knew headed in the same direction, although she couldn’t call them a sight for sore eyes. After hurrying to catch up with them, she pulled up alongside Ganondorf and Rubick and fixed them with an accusatory look. “Hey, where were you two all morning?” she asked, one eyebrow quizzically raised. “We ran into all kinds of crazy critters in the Soul Sanctum, then we had to split up to hunt down these local bozos called Those Who Slither in the Dark, ‘cept the one I got was slitherin’ in the Park. Kinda bummed me out too, got me thinkin’. Less a-mew-sing and more a-musing, if ya get me, heheh.” She couldn’t help but giggle, pretty pleased with herself for that one. “And now I find you were there too, all fun and games the whole time?  How’s that ‘fair’, eh?”

Unfortunately, while the Great King of Evil possessed a great many remarkable qualities, a sense of humor wasn’t one of them. That led to a somewhat frosty trip for the mismatched pair as they headed toward the Royal District. All Ganondorf needed to know was that with the Agarthans neutralized following the other teams’ success, their target -Consul P- could finally be taught a much-deserved lesson. Rubick, however, left to visit some shops instead.

The majority of the Seekers reconvened before the gates of the garden compound that surrounded the base of the Clock Tower. Beneath the bridge that spanned its large pond lay the underwater pipes that brought several of them here, and the garden’s luminescent fungi illuminated the undersides of the great fragments of masonry that floated overhead, too steeped in magic to heed the laws of gravity. Past the gates, through the garden, and over the bridge stood none other than Iguana Gallo Valetto, shielded from the rain by some sort of charm. Behind him the grand doors of Gallo Tower lay unbarred, ready to receive the guests invited in by its former master. If anyone needed a refresher on the plan they could inquire with him, but after that anyone who wished to deal the final blow to P could follow him to the Consul’s bolt-hole. The rest need only track down and confront P himself, bereft of his Agarthan honor guard and vulnerable to the heroes’ machinations. The Seekers only need ready themselves and enter.

Before going in, Nadia paid a visit to the Koopa Troop. “Hey, could I borrow that thingie that focuses changes?” she asked them, Kronya’s spirit in her hand. “I need to see it in detail. In de tail, literally.” She pointed her thumb at her fish tail. “This big ol’ thing’s just been a giant pain. Figured it’s time I put it behind me.”

[center][hider=For Nadia]Notable spirit consumed:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/WmS1BS1.png]Kronya[/url][/b] (Tail)
The host’s tail has slimmed back down to the approximate size and shape of a cat’s tail, but also split into three. Orange arrow-shaped markings appear down their lengths toward the ends, where the tails broaden and flatten out into shapes somewhere between fish fins and scorpion stingers. These tails are articulate and can be used to grab and hold things, though not to the extent of hands, and when detached and/or hardened they make effective weapons. This spirit confers the Strength [b]Swordfaire[/b], imparting skill with short swords / daggers and a slight damage increase when using them. This spirit also confers the Weakness [b]Impractical Style[/b]. Nadia’s hair now stubbornly covers her left eye by default, lowering her visibility somewhat and occasionally bugging her

Item obtained:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/OOjeU7x.png]Athame[/url][/b]
Increases attack and speed somewhat in combat against a wounded enemy. Temporarily weakens enemies' physical and magical defense on hit. Grants ‘Vantage’: while blocking an opponent’s offensive pressure, Nadia can counterattack with this weapon, essentially functioning as an alpha counter. This attack cannot lead into a combo[/hider][/center]

While the others prepared to storm the tower, Nadia found herself faced with the prospect of trying to get used to two new facets of herself: the feeling of having three tails, and the hair that now stubbornly hung over her left eye. The tails felt more or less alright after a few good wiggles, but her attempt to clip the new covering off led to frustration as her bang immediately regenerated. While doing this, she happened to notice an unfamiliar face among the crowd, breaking her concentration. “Oh, hey,” she said, waving to demon Bowser, Rika, and Therion brought back from Shambhala. “How’s it goin’? I’m Ms. Fortune.”

“The name’s Concetta Caciotta!” the airborne musician announced proudly. “Things could be a lot better to be honest, I’m gonna starve to death any second! The stuff we found in the bad guys’ base was basically tripe. At least I’m free, though. Who are you all and what’re we doing here?”

Nadia winced. “Oof. Sounds like we gotta lot of explainin’ to do.” Rifling through her pockets, she presented Concetta with a couple dozen Geo in loose change. “Here. We’re about to take care of some business, so why not go off and get somethin’ to eat? We can catch up after.”

“Hey, you’re not bad!” Concetta accepted the cash and clapped the catgirl on the back. “I owe you one, Fortune! When you get done here I’ll buy you a drink!”

With the most daring members of the group seconds away from breaching the tower, Nadia turned her attention to the gates after waving Concetta goodbye. “That works out pretty good, ‘cause dependin’ on how things go here, I might need end up needin’ one.”