[center][h2][color=BB2F56]Ichiban[/color][/h2]
[b]Lv. 3[/b]
[color=BB2F56]█[/color]█████████████████████████████

[b]Location: The Under - Home of Tears (but not for long)[/b][/center]
Before everyone got ready to ship off to their next bit of hero work, Ichiban decided to stop by the Sanitarium and, well, resign. He hadn't been an official employee or anything but he had picked up the slack when they needed help and it felt wrong not to tell Dr. Hypatia that he wouldn't be around anymore. Hopefully she didn't ask for a reason why...

When he was given the go-ahead to meet with her, though, Dr. Hypatia didn't seem entirely there. [color=BB2F56]"Hey, doc?"[/color] Ichiban tried to get her attention but Dr. Hypatia only muttered medical formulae to herself and flitted between diagrams and beakers. So Ichiban, not wanting to interrupt what might be important medical stuff, wrote a pseudo letter of resignation on a loose sheet of paper and put it someplace he thought she'd see it. [color=BB2F56]"It was nice helping you and the folks of this city,"[/color] he said, [color=BB2F56]"but I've got more people that need me now. Hope y'keep doin' a good job."[/color]

As he was leaving the Sanitarium he noticed the giant glowing symbol in the sky. Even though his memory of the fight with P was a little fuzzy still and he didn't place the Moebius connection, a big ominous thing in the sky in the middle of the city was probably not a good sign. Ichiban cracked his neck and took off running for the fountain, his Hero getup appearing in a surge of light.

[color=BB2F56]"Another one?!"[/color] Ichiban stumbled to a stop when he reached the fountain, and pointed at F with his bat. [color=BB2F56]"Just how many of these Consul guys [i]are[/i] there?"[/color]

F did his spiel, one Ichiban was raring to interrupt and get the next beatdown started, but being so new to things he decided to follow everyone else's lead. If P was such a problem to deal with then meeting F on his own terms probably wasn't a good idea. But then F's real reason for gathering all in one spot became clear. The denizens of Home of Tears shambled towards them all like zombies. Ichiban's head swiveled and snapped at everyone - he might've had it in him to throw down with F, but the [i]whole[/i] city? And them being mind controlled to do so?

The plan wasn't to fight, though, but to run. Good, running, he could do that. [color=BB2F56]"You got--"[/color] Ichiban readied to bolt for the wall, bat over his shoulder, only to be tackled to the ground at his first step. [color=BB2F56]"Heeugh!!"[/color] Ichiban was pinned down, left behind as the surge of monster folk chased after the others, the slobbering, drippy form of [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EESPTHmWsAELRbO.jpg:large]Endogeny[/url] pressing down on him.

[color=BB2F56]"Wh- hey, you're that dog from the spooky house!"[/color] Ichiban struggled underneath it. [color=BB2F56]"L-Look, boy, I don't have any more sausages..."[/color] Endogeny wasn't there for sausages and Ichiban knew that. The creature loomed over him, its single gaping orifice opening and closing rhythmically. The longer it stared, if it was even staring, the more freaked out Ichiban got. He didn't even know if the thing had teeth or claws, but it was still freaky.

Thanks to its semi-amorphous gooey body Ichiban was able to wrestle his arm free, and used his bat as leverage to heave and turn Endogeny off of him. The whale already began to move by now, so Ichiban had only moments to figure out his next move.

Naturally, he bolted for the amusement park.

Endogeny was quick to chase, and being a dog monster with multiple legs, it was fast. Ichiban tried to juke it out; he made a quick dash sideways into a narrow street, which Endogeny had a tougher time stopping to do, literally tripping over itself to turn, multiple slimy legs knocking into one another. This gave him a decent lead, only for a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ySbOe3b.png]top-heavy skeleton[/url] to block the far end of the street, raising his knuckle bones to duke it out. "Enemy, enemy boyo!"

Ichiban just shoulder charged through him. Skelly clattered into pieces. [color=BB2F56]"Sorry!"[/color] he called over his shoulder. Endogeny was still giving chase, its 'mouth' stretching open, an onslaught of backwards-pointing arrows to shoot out. Ichiban ducked, spun, swung his bat to knock them away, though more hit than didn't, peppering his back with stinging welts. [color=BB2F56]"Ow, ow, ow, quit it! Bad dog!"[/color] Ichiban took another sharp turns between some alleys, but Endogeny was wising up to it now, so the lead Ichiban had was running out. He had to make it count.

The entrance to the amusement park came into view by now. With everyone having gathered to the fountain and most of them ignoring Ichiban to go after the huge freakin' whale, there wasn't a lot of opposition for him. At the park's gate, though, a circle of light shone on the ground, and in a puff of smoke stood... Skelly. "Ain't gettin' rid'a me that easy, boy-nemy!"

[color=BB2F56]"Wha- alright then!"[/color] Not faltering in his charge Ichiban leveled his bat to the ground with both hands, metal and barbed wire scraping along stone and sending up a bit of sparks. With a big karate yell Ichiban swung upwards with a forceful uppercut, sending poor Skelly flying into the air with a Brookyln-y yelp. Ichiban dug his heels into the ground, raised his bat up, and turned to face the approaching Endogeny. [color=BB2F56]"Hey boy... [i]fetch![/i]"[/color] With a solid homerun swing Ichiban smashed the falling Skelly into bony pieces again, the various bones flinging off in different directions. Endogeny, still being a canine of sorts, was momentarily distracted by the multiple games of fetch going on, giving Ichiban enough of a window to rush a [url=https://i.imgur.com/c7viLlk.png]ferris wheel[/url] close to the water.

Even though it felt like it took an hour getting there, the whale was still in reach. Ichiban clambered onto one of the Ferris wheel's cars as it turned, pulling himself onto its roof as it began to rise, and looked to the water. [color=BB2F56]"Alright..."[/color] he muttered, catching his breath, [color=BB2F56]"shouldn't be too hard to just... jump... over to it. Right?"[/color] The Ferris wheel jerked - like the whole structure - with a metal clang. It almost knocked Ichiban off. [color=BB2F56]"Agh, what now?!"[/color] At the base of the ride, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/o7KL8p5.png]figure[/url] had leapt onto the struts, climbing with the speed and nimbleness of a hungry rat. [color=BB2F56]"Shit,"[/color] Ichiban summed up. It was now or never. Not taking a second longer than he had to Ichiban braced himself and took a running leap off the Ferris wheel, over the water, towards the team's escape whale.

[color=BB2F56]"INCOOOOOOOOMING!"[/color] In a move that could only work in a wacky semi-grounded Japanese action RPG, Ichiban hit his mark, though almost missed. The White Whale's blubber meant he didn't pancake on impact, though he did body on of its huge spinal spines. [color=BB2F56]"Uhgh, jeez."[/color] Ichiban clung onto the spine, leaning against it for support. Hell of a jog. It wouldn't be that easy of course. The figure followed Ichiban's move, lunging straight from the Ferris wheel through the air and onto the whale.

"It's been too long since I've had my fill," she said, baring sharp claw-like nails, "and I won't let it go!"

Ichiban, sucking in a breath, groaned. [color=BB2F56]"Lady, I dunno who you are, but the only thing you're gettin' from me..."[/color] She lunged, going for Ichiban's throat, but he ducked, springing back up to sock her in the chin with his head. [color=BB2F56]"...is what I give ya!"[/color]

[center][b][color=#ED2800]T[/color][color=#EB3705]A[/color][color=#EA470A]G[/color] [color=#E76714]T[/color][color=#E67719]E[/color][color=#E5871E]A[/color][color=#E39723]M[/color][/b]

She went stumbling backwards, on a collision course with the Seekers' poncho-clad thief. Therion was darting to and fro on the whale's back assisting where he could, and noting the stranger's approach his stance instantly switched from defensive to offensive when he realized she wasn't attacking so much as reeling from someone [i]else's[/i] attack. [color=BC8DBF][i]Looks like it's my turn,[/i][/color] he thought, embers gathering in his hand. With a wide flourish the flames of Wildfire ignited, engulfing the Crown Killer in a burst of magical fire. The force of the spell turned her away, sending her back where she came from charred and hurting.

Next was Barnabee, dutifully keeping airborne monsters at bay, who noticed the Crown Killer flung his way. Taking up the task of helping to deal with this intruder, Barnabee bashed her with his sword to stagger her even further. The Hive Knight warped the distance between them, striking her with an upward slash to send her up into the air, then dashing up to meet at the apex of her fall. With a graceful spin Barnabee delivered a devastating downstroke, sending her crashing hard back onto solid ground.

Finally was Ichiban. As the Crown Killer picked herself up, wounded and disorientated, Ichiban charged at her. [color=BB2F56]"You're done now!"[/color] He jumped up, pulling his legs in and nailing her right in the chest with a heavy dropkick that sent her careening off of their whale, splashing into the water below.

[b][color=#E1B72D]E[/color][color=#DFC732]S[/color][color=#DED737]S[/color][color=#DDE73C]E[/color][color=#DBF741]N[/color][color=#CCF44F]C[/color][color=#BCF25E]E[/color] [color=#9DED7B]O[/color][color=#8EEA8A]F[/color] [color=#6FE5A7]M[/color][color=#5FE3B5]A[/color][color=#50E0C4]Y[/color][color=#40DED3]H[/color][color=#31DBE1]E[/color][color=#21D9F0]M[/color][/b][/center]

Ichiban picked himself back up, dusting his jacket as he watched the Crown Killer try and reorient herself in the water, but by the time she did she was left in their dust. Their, uh, water dust. [color=BB2F56]"Thanks for the assist, guys!"[/color] Ichiban gave his partners a thumb up and a smile. [color=BB2F56]"Everyone else doin' okay?"[/color] [hr][center][color=bb2f56]1,605 Words
+3 EXP[/color]
(+2 to Level, +1 to [color=07fbfe]Confidence[/color])[/center]