[center][h2]Everdream Valley - No News Like Bad News I[/h2]
Blazermate, Susie, and Roland’s [@Archmage MC], Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], 
Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Pit’s [@Yankee], Roxas’ [@Double]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 3369 (+4)[/center]
After finally getting everyone relayed where they needed to go, Midna had also headed up top side inorder to get some sun which, despite how it nipped at her eyes, was a welcome sight after spending half  a week under the extinction belt, with only a brief interlude under the stars to break it up. 

Those who found themselves there got a chance to listen in/follow along with Sandalphon’s chat with the fuzzy haired inventor of the contraption they were currently aboard

[color=Aquamarine]”I could do with about 17 spa days just to wash the air of that city off”[/color] Midna in response to the incredibly invitation to take it easy for a bit, before feeling bad about none of her prior spa going partners where here, being either in either teams or staying behind in Midgar, before getting a sinking feeling as a bit of her brain tossed back up a mostly glossed over comment by James Shirogane. 

A part of her really didn’t want to find out the answer, but she knew it would eat at her if she didn’t ask, and so she did, even if it was with great resignation [color=Aquamarine]”What was that you said about a ‘whole Alcamoth situation’ you mentioned?”[/color] 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"That's what I wanna know too!"[/color] Pit said. He'd come up out of the interior of the Victory like everyone else eager for a breath of real fresh air, but the mention of Alcamoth had pulled his attention away from the sunny scenery and animals. The word "situation" didn't imply anything nice. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Is something going on?"[/color]

The questions seemed to deflate the old man just as the news about the Guardian lifted his spirits. He hesitated for a crucial moment, his stuttering silence casting a serious pall over the Seekers’ not-so-joyful reunion. “Ohhhh, er, you haven’t heard…? Hoo, nelly…well, uh, y’see.” Shirogane wrung his hands. “After the Sandswept Sky, we got stuck near Gerudo Town for a li’l while makin’ repairs to the Virgin Victory, while the folks who wrangled the last couple Guardians took off on the Metro.”

He scratched his head, very much ill at ease around the heroes, and none more so than Sandalphon, her gaze unblinkingly severe. “It was quiet after that, we didn’t hear nothin’. Figured no news was good news, y’know? Eventually we finished up and headed back to Alcamoth, but when we got there…” The inventor stared down at the deck. “The whole city…i-i-it was gone. Knocked out the doggone sky and sunk ‘neath the Eryth Sea. In the wreckage, we found bits an’ pieces of equipment and vehicles belongin’ to other factions. Our workin’ theory’s that Alcamoth got attacked while we were gone. The Centennials did some search and rescue, both in the ruins and ‘round the shores, but the place was empty. No spirits or nothin’, so we’re hopin’ most of ‘em managed to escape. Some of ‘em had to, at least. But before we could pick up a trail, that dang lightning-chucker showed up and chased us off.” He shook his head. “I’m awful sorry, y’all.”

Goldlewis had drifted over when he sensed the solemn mood brewing, then listened in silence while Shirogane relayed the news. Though he, like Sandalphon, had never seen the floating city for themselves, they both understood it to be the Seekers’ base of operations, not just a hideout but a city in its own right. Figuring he had no right to comment on the matter, the veteran held his peace, and Sandalphon waited for the others’ perspective while she processed the sordid information.

[color=Aquamarine]”Gone…?”[/color] Midna asked disbelievingly before uttering falteringly [color=Aquamarine]”How? It was a whole city of fighters! How could… how… I…”[/color] and then dragging a hand over the exposed half of her face before simply terminating her words with a disheartened [color=Aquamarine]”Fuck”[/color]

[color=0072bc]”I do hope people escaped, but… that is really concerning. Was it an inside job?”[/color] Blazermate said, concerned about what had happened much like Midna. Roland had no idea what they were talking about, but figured it was something with allies of theirs or something.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"No way,"[/color] Pit answered quickly, dismissing the idea that there might have been a betrayal. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Everyone at Alcamoth was committed to helping beat Galeem. Nobody there was still brainwashed either!"[/color]

Zenkichi most of all, even more so than Geralt, looked like the wind had been knocked out of him. [color=BFBFBF]”But…that was…it was supposed to be safe…for Akane…”[/color] Losing the prospect of a safe haven for his daughter made a flurry of emotions cross his face, which settled on a dismal sort of acceptance. He hadn’t planned to just do a job and then sit back with Akane in safety, but losing the promise of a safe haven for his daughter was a big hit to his morale. 

Geralt, meanwhile, was contemplating. They’d likely have to delay their investigation into finding the next Guardian until after they had some clue as to what happened to whoever survived the attack on Alcamoth. Even if they lost the physical space, they could still rebuild the network they’d had before the attack, perhaps even de-centralizing it a bit to make it more difficult to be attacked again. On top of that, the obvious loss of morale for everybody, herself included, meant that their next step had to be getting the Seekers back into fighting shape before moving on.

It was (or, had been) a big place with a lot of people, but it was hard to imagine any one of them would work against the cause. And even harder that such a person would escape the notice of Alcamoth's leaders. So it must have been true that some other powerful group had attacked the city. And they'd been even stronger than all of the fighters living there? Pit clenched his hands into fists, but shook his head to make sure any darker thoughts stayed away.

[color=Gold]”Where I’m from, entire worlds were wrecked or even lost entirely because of the actions of a single man.”[/color] Roxas offered. While this wasn’t directly related to this situation, it did allow him to make another point, [color=Gold]”And from everything I’ve seen and heard of them… the Consuls seem to be an entire group of equally threatening bad guys. ”[/color] Not that there was anything explicitly indicating or proving that the Consuls were involved. But that was the only answer that made any real sense.

[color=Gold]”I mean, if [i]we[/i] can basically break down an entire city and send it to ruin…”[/color] he began to say, but then trailed off as if wanting to stop himself from going any further with that thought. Even he knew that nobody wanted to hear someone make comparisons between the Seekers and the Consuls. But that wouldn’t stop such an implication from hanging in the air.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"...Roxas is probably right! I mean who else could it have been if all the Guardians are stuck in one place, and the rest of the world is all Galeem-ified?"[/color]

And although Roxas' next words could have been interpreted more ominously, what Pit heard was "and we're just as strong." It actually served to encourage the angel more, and he proclaimed his more optimistic outlook. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"I'm sure most everyone could have made it out okay, especially if there weren't any spirits left behind! Everyone must just be scattered around, maybe hiding? 'Cause there's no way those jerks could have taken out every body there!"[/color]

Just off the top of his head, Pit recalled that the ranks of Alcamoth had included Princess Zelda, Mewtwo, Nero, Guile, Falco, Vandham, and Mario. [i]The[/i] Mario! Not to mention countless other heroes! It was impossible they'd all gone down with the city... wasn't it?

[color=d7d7d7]”Well… I don’t know what you guys are talking about but it sounds bad. Sucks to hear I guess.”[/color] Roland said, a bit on guard with this whole peaceful area. Stuff like this didn’t exist where he was from, not to his knowledge. Not with some dark undertone to them at least.

Though they might be in more or less the same boat in terms of their proximity to the event, Goldlewis disliked the indifference with which Roland treated the grim tidings. As bad as the news was, the fact that nobody truly knew the scope of the disaster offered some semblance of mercy. A man of the veteran’s position, encumbered with the responsibility of soldiers’ lives, had heard his fair share of casualty reports. How many stories and memories had he seen aggregated into mere statistics?

Then again, Roland was always making subtly horrific allusions to his home world, painting vague but bleak pictures of commonplace atrocities. Perhaps their experiences had desensitized the both of them. That allowed Goldlewis to consider the silver lining, such that it was. If the Seekers had operated for days without contact from their HQ, and even defeated a Guardian, their success must not be contingent on Alcamoth’s support. Logically speaking, this shouldn’t be a deathblow to the team’s capabilities. Hopefully, it wouldn’t cripple their morale either. Of course, this also implied that the whole operation was held together by duct tape to begin with. Goldlewis glanced at Sandalphon, wondering if the adroit archangel had come to the same conclusions.

For her part, however, the past concerned Sandalphon much less than the future. “A complete vanishment, with no distress calls of any kind…? While I understand that we are merely field teams and not the organization’s leadership, the idea that so much of the organization could act in complete ignorance of such a tragedy is inexcusable.” Her expression contained severity almost to the point of anger. “It is clear that we need a complete overhaul of our communications infrastructure. I will provide whatever help I can to put together a complete picture of the campaign, its personnel, and so forth in order to keep all branches of the organization interconnected at all times, until such a time that a proper system can be implemented.”

She paused, considering what her proposed network would need to achieve efficient interchange of information. “Though I have pledged my support to your cause, there is far too much I still don’t know. To that end, could all of you please provide the names, descriptions, assignments, and last known whereabouts of every known operative not stationed at Alcamoth? If we’re to establish a path forward, making contact with the organization’s scattered remnants should be priority one.”

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"[i]Not[/i] at Alcamoth? Let's see..."[/color] Pit folded his arms, tilting his head up to the sky and squinting at the clouds as he did his best to remember. There were teams that went out to secure areas, gather resources, and the like, but he would be very hard pressed to remember who had been deployed and to where. Much easier would be the other half of the people that had all met at Twilight Town. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Well, there was a whole group of us that split up. We went to Midgar, and the others went... somewhere else.”[/color]

He moved quickly past that less than helpful information, fairly sure someone else could remember while he went on to bring up as many allies as he could easily recall. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"The other group had Bowser and Junior in it. And their grandpa! Oh wait, I think it was their grandma? Anyway they're all Koopas- kinda like turtles, except Bowser who is also kinda like a dragon too since he’s the king I guess. Well he [i]usually[/i] is, but last time I saw him, he had all this other weird stuff coming out of his shell. Also, there was Omori - he’s an all black-and-white kid, literally. And a cyborg detective made out of instruments! His name was easy to remember, it was Big Band.”[/color] 

At this, Goldlewis made a small addition. “There was also that li’l cyborg gal always nippin’ at his heels. Maroon top hat, metal teeth, empty eyes. Peacock, her name was.” Though he’d only been with the Seekers during their stay in Al Mamoon before Midgar, he’d gotten to know a few of them, especially at that dinner with Ram. “Then…well, Tora and Poppi.” He maintained a neutral expression, but the heaviness to his tone of voice said everything. “That redheaded lady Jesse, too.”

After Pit vaguely indicated some heights with his hands and gave a little more in depth information about what a few allies looked like, he glanced back at Shirogane. He did at least remember that the man’s friend had elected to join the Seekers, since departing from the Virgin Victory, so he made sure to bring him up as well. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]”Wonder Red was with us too. We all got split up in that big train station, but he was okay the last time I saw him!

"Actually that was the last time we saw any of the others, wasn’t it? The Nya-Metro. So I guess that’d be their last known location. They were going to go find and beat a Guardian, just like we did. We got attacked in the Metro but as far as I know, everyone ended up alright.”[/color] He looked at Sandalphon. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Red was dressed like a superhero, with a domino mask and everything. Really cool looking! …Is any of this helping?"[/color]

The archangel nodded. “Every bit helps.”

“Red’s one o’ ours,” Shirogane mentioned. “We're still gettin’ his signal, so I figured he's fine. We were gonna pick him up next, but the signal’s comin’ from Edinburgh.” He mispronounced it as ‘eddin burg’ rather than ‘eddin burrah’. “So the ship’s gotta be one hundred percent if we're goin’ that far.”

Sandalphon nodded again. “I see.” Every bit of information went straight into her mental database. Hopefully that wasn't the last of what the Seekers could offer.

[color=0072bc]”There was also the queen bee Sectonia. I think her and Midna were friends?”[/color] the princess gave a shake of the hand in a so-so sort of way in response to this [color=0072bc]”She was almost as strong as Bowser, but a lot more standoffish from what I remember. I know she wouldn’t let me ride her like I do Bowser.”[/color] Blazermate said, mentioning one of the others that hadn’t been mentioned. [color=0072bc]”Oh, and the ship girl Rika. I uh, hope she's doing ok. Maybe they made her work better on land?”[/color]

Roland listened to all of this, and started laughing a bit to himself as he reached a conclusion. [color=d7d7d7]”So let me get this straight. Your group sent the more human and robotic looking members to Midgar, and left what sounds like monsters and animals to go ‘deal’ with a guardian somewhere else? And two of them are ‘royals’? What am I about to get myself thrown into…”[/color] Roland said, a bit of excitement in his voice, masked behind a large amount of skepticism. This would be very new and different from what he was used to, but one doesn’t just shrug off their past so easily.

[color=0072bc]”I wouldn’t call Bowser or Sectonia animals. They are as big or bigger than Geralt ! Bowser usually lets people ride on his shell, he's such a sweetheart. Don’t be intimidated by him when you meet him. Although… that reminds me…. Think he adopted another kid? He seems to try at every opportunity and well… yeah…”[/color]

[color=Aquamarine]”Also a royal”[/color] Midna lightly added, having stewed long enough in grief to get in on being productive, and doing so by adding some more details [color=Aquamarine]”I set out from the city with a dancer named Primrose, who then found and picked up a friend of hers called Therion along our travels. A woman and a man. Human, both of them. Bit roguish but good people under that. Should be with the other team, as long as they didn’t get lost”[/color] 

She also added, though it was a touch tangential, [color=Aquamarine]”They aren't exactly with us, and I’m not sure where they are now, but the Phantom Thieves are a team of masked human teenagers that are free from Galeem who helped us in the desert. Their leader, Joker, has that region’s Gaudian’s spirit. Turned it into a ‘Persona’ which is a bit like a more permanent striker I think. Something from their world”[/color] because that last was probably important to know. Which made her also think that: [color=Aquamarine]”We, ah, haven't exactly kept good track of the defeated Guardians now that I think of it. The two the team got before I joined are on people who went off on their own”[/color]

[color=BFBFBF]”Joker turned a Guardian into a Persona? Yeah, that sounds like him…”[/color] Zenkichi mused.

[color=0072bc]”Yeah, as someone who has been here from the start, there was an evil dragon version of Bowser we fought… I forget who got that one though. Then there was a big black blocky dragon we got, who someone named the Courier got, who then left. He was some cowboy looking guy. And uh… Wait, I don't think we got one from the Dead Zone. Do we have to go back there? The place got nuked but wasn’t there something about the guardian regenerating there since no one claimed the spirit?”[/color] Blazermate said, rattling on herself.

[color=d7d7d7]”Huh? Dead Zone? What's that?”[/color] Roland said, noting that they’d have to go there and that sounded ominous.

[color=0072bc]”Oh, it's a place overrun by zombies, the undead, zombie spawning things, and all sorts of evil things. It's where I got my arm shield here.”[/color] Blazermate said. [color=0072bc]”Yeah, we’ll probably have to go back there and clear out that guardian. But it should be all available, all of its support got nuked so it should be quick in and out.”[/color]

Roland had a disgusted look on his face hearing that zombies were real. Sure zombies existed where he came from, but they were more… puppets than actual zombies. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"I dunno… that demon tree is still there in the Dead Zone, so the boss must still be there too, but maybe some other stuff could have survived. But like, in an undead-way,"[/color] Pit mentioned, having seen the Qliphoth during the recon mission he'd undertaken. That and the "time rain," which… [i]oh, right.[/i] The angel hummed, furrowing his eyebrows and tapping on his head, thinking again. Right, right, the timefall, Bridges, the Chiral Network they wanted to set up... that all seemed pretty important. He'd have to bring it up to Sandalphon, especially if she was intent on coordination now that Alcamoth had sunk.

“Forgot about Ace,” Geralt added. “Red hair, very eager, awful puns. Most of them about monsters from his world, so it just sounds like he's saying words wrong, too. Ironically, I met him once before all this happened. Portals to another world happen where I come from. In fact, our world was devastated by creatures from other worlds appearing millenia ago. Humans don't actually come from the world I do, either. We were left stranded there from another world as well.” Her rambling was a bit offhand, but it served to ask an unspoken question: How much had Galeem interfered in other worlds before this? 

Though almost distracted by the offhand comment about the nature of Geralt's world and people, her mention of puns brought another face to Pit's mind. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oh yeah, and Ms. Fortune! She was telling a lot of puns too! She had ears like a cat and a tail like a fish, but I think she's a human? She looks pretty close to one anyway. She could split herself apart and shoot lasers from her eyes!"[/color] How could he have forgotten that!