Blazermate had no problems getting up the next day, for multiple reasons. Sectonia, having not drank all that much by volume and knowing how to handle a hangover, was an early riser as well. Roland however, woke up with a hangover but surprisingly well rested. While Grimm was around to burn away his nightmares, Roland could get some actual sleep instead of being tortured by the various horrors he had seen or caused. That didn't help him having drank too much the previous night through, and with a groan, he got out of bed, got himself ready and made his way to the cafeteria to get some coffee.

After breakfast, something Sectonia was huffy about with how it was back to the low quality simple things, everyone got their briefings before handed some gear and pointed out to go to their vehicle. Tying a band to their arms wasn't a problem for Blazermate or Roland, not fully understanding the item. For Sectonia though, she had to find a proper spot to tie hers, eventually wearing it as a belt around her slim midsection.

Upon meeting Edward and the others at the Pelican -1, a ship that Sectonia wasn't sure how it would hold all of them without them all squeezing in, it crossed her mind that she was one of the few without any cold gear. While she could use her new fire breath and her red antlers to keep herself warm like she did when scaling that ice mountain, that would still be very annoying regardless. Although she also noticed Edward was wearing a fair amount of new items. One of which was a cold resistance ring? Where did he get that? There wasn't anything in the armory from what she knew like that.

"Well, thats a very useful item for where we are going to go. Where did you get that?" Sectonia asked. Edward explained that he made it himself, using the essence of other magic items to craft the ring. Something like this interested Sectonia in more ways than one, but for now a cold ring for herself, as cold outfits for someone of her size would be difficult to acquire, was something she was interested in. She knew that there were some magic items in the Armory that weren't being used, so she decided to head there for a quick look.

As Sectonia went to the armory to look for things that could be used to craft a cold resistance piece of jewelry for herself, she'd find that Roland had gone there as well. While Sectonia was grabbing the ice wand Dagon and deciding what second magic item for Edward to craft with, Roland was looking over the items himself and picked up the Greed Shield. Seeing as that was one of the magic items, Scetonia asked him why he was grabbing that one, but what came out of his mouth made way too much sense. "This makes gold, and I need to pay off my bar tab." Sectonia didn't argue that fact at all and let him have it. Roland grabbed the item then left, thinking there were some valuable things there, but decided that a weapon that made money would make him a lot of money with how often he clashed.



Although as she looked through the rest of the items, only the shield Roland grabbed seemed to be of a strength requirement of magic that would be needed to make her item. So instead she grabbed the leather jerkin that boasted some cold resistance and left the armory. Before she left though, she seemed to gain a new sense for the various ores and crystals in the armory and an appreciation, evaluation, and properties of them. She noted that the Festive Spycicle, the Morkite oil, and the core stone were incredibly valuable and could be used for many things and decided to grab the festive Spycicle to possibly sell later while informing Susie of the latter two as the Avenger often needed funds. While not entirely sure why she could appraise gems and minerals as well as she could, she did emphasis how valuable a few of the items, including the core stone, were to Susie. Noting the Core Stone could focus the power of a star without much issue. What the bot girl did with that information was up to her.



Heading back to the ship, Sectonia handed Edward the leather jerkin, saying. "Well, I found an item, but that wont be enough for you. Considering how difficult it is to find cold weather clothing for someone of my royal stature, could you trade me that ring? I'll give you a red antler to command and for warmth alongside this item... At least until a time where this ring will not be needed either through finding an item that can replace it, or no longer needing it."

Blazermate, being a member of the same group, didn't say much of anything. She didn't need any weather resistance gear as she was more or less immune to the elements, but if she had to heal frostbite, she'd have to heal frostbite.

The koopa kids, Bowser Junior and his sister (as of about a week and a bit ago) Rika, where, to likely no one’s surprise, last to get their butts out of bed and to turn off their alarm. It was pretty common, especially now that they lacked proper parental supervision. Sometimes it was late night gaming that kept them up, or eating sugar too late. Other times Rika would have nightmares about her many (short) past lives or Jr would have ones where his dad died (grimm's arrival had been an unbeknownst to them godsend in this department). This time however the two had been trying to figure out how Jr could have won the last pokemon battle, and also thinking about what kind of pokemon team Rika could/should make, resulting in lots of team building thought experiments and looking up pokemon tips and tricks on the internet.

While they were groggy coming out the gate, and late to breakfast, youthful energy soon revoke in them after they got some food in them (and topped it off with treats from their rapidly dwindling supply of sugary snacks) and so they were wide awake once they rolled up to the hanger, just barley making up the time they’d wasted to arrive right as thing where starting to be explained.

After having been given the rundown on their mission and their new team members the seekers had been presented with free gifts, and it was perhaps to no surprise that the kids among them had been the least reserved about receiving them, the pair nipping to the front of the crowd to fetch them before finding a spot to actually set about storing them.

Madkits both went into a pokeball themed duffle bag belonging to Bowser Jr, and that wasn’t the only poke-apparel the kid was wearing today. On his head he sported a pokemon ranger cap (along with a tulip hairstick that had belonged to the fallen Omari), while his chest sported a bandolier that was home to 3 pokeballs. This itself was over the top of a light sleeveless jacket of a pokemon ranger, and tucked under a metal pauldron sat above the exposed arm, around which the focus sash was wrapped, intertwined with an existing white ribbon, both now floating supernaturally above the

Other than said arm, which was oddly human, off-hue, and covered with a spider web of runic metal tattoo work, the prince mostly looked the same as he ever had. Well except for the cat tail.

By contrast his Rika was very different from how she’d started out. For one she had an entirely natural human skin tone rather than being deathly pale, and for another, she was shorter than she had been, making her look even like the child she functionally was.

She had been casually wearing a three piece outfit that had probably been cool somewhere or other, but it was in the middle of being covered up with metal. Hull soled boots had already been slipped on, as had her claw and cannon equipped rigging, while Jr was in the middle of helping her don her gauntlets, gauntlets that now sported oversized but fully functional hands rather than maw-containing cannons.

Still to go on was a spartan helmet, one that sported both cat ears and a three pronged tiara that coincidentally aligned with her now royal position, which she had tucked under her arm.

Really, if it wasn’t from the way her eyes still bled a ghostly green aura and the presence of her brother, she might well have been enteral unidentifiable compared to the last time Sakura had seen her.

The same could not be said for the woman in question, to whom the shipgirl gave her a (somewhat awkward given she was trying to avoid dropping the helmet at the same time) wave upon spotting her.

Sakura, pretty much unchanged except for the new digs, recognized Rika after a moment and waved back eagerly. Then she sped over with a few bounding skips. ”Rika-chan! Junior-kun!” She set her hands atop both of their heads with aggressive kindness.

”It’s so good to see you! Where ya headed? Where’s your old man?” She asked.

Rika blinked once at this head hold, clearly confused, before bobbing her head back and forth and looking amused. As she did this she replied ”We’re gonna go to that ‘forbidden kingdom’ place. Mostly that city with the Guardian in it, but we're also gonna check in on Shin-ju-ku” she replied, a little hesitant in her memory of the city’s name.

”Supposed to like cassette tapes over there, n we’ve got a lot out of using these ones to transform and fight so gonna see if we can power up by checking it out” Jr replied, having by contrast not noticed the head hold due to both his hat and the way he was focused on his work attaching Rika’s gauntlets.

”Mmm. That. Also Papa went to go look after P, n Kamek went to keep an eye on him, so just us for this one” Rika then replied to the second question, before tossing her helmet up and catching it in a now gauntleted hand while Jr stepped to her other side to start putting on the second of his sister’s armaments.

”After Peach” the boy added for clarity.

”Oh, right. Sorry.” Sakura rubbed her own forehead. ”So you two are comin’ with us to Esaka, huh? Exciting! That’s where I’m going, too. They have tag team tourneys I’m pretty sure.” Sakura said.

”Neat” Rika replied succinctly if cheerfully to all that information, while Jr finished up locking her other gauntlet in place. As soon as he was done, the girl lifted it up flexed her fingers, and then set about putting on her armor via alternate costume powerup, leaving her fully good to go.

”Hi, sorry, wanted to get that done” Jr apologized as he finally turned to face her, and then adding that it was ”Good to see ya”

”Mmm. It is. I’ve .. missed you?” Rika added, seemingly having to think that last over before she nodded and confirmed ”Yeah” she had.

”I missed you guys, too!” Sakura nodded.

”So yeah, we were kinda thinking it’d be all tournament stuff, but we kinda don’t really work that great in small brawls. I’ve got my pokemon. Rika all her drones. We do battles not fights” Jr explained their situation, before adding more detail to why they were thinking of doing a side thing ”Buuuut during the Under trip we got these cool tapes that let us turn into monsters, and then in the Guardian fight we, like, fused together into one even bigger super strong monster! Somehow. So we were thinking if we can figure out how that works properly, then we can, like, totally use that to take on anyone and everyone 1 vs 1. Got a tip from the weirdo spirit eating demon in the spirit chamber that Shinjuku might be the place for that. So we’ll be doing a little side mission and then come back bigger and better than ever!”

Sakura’s eyes widened. ”That’s amazing!” She said. ”That’d be something to see. Like a fusion!” Sakura widened her stance and leaned all the way to the side, lifting her hands ‘up’ and pointing her index fingers. She held that pose for a moment before she blinked and went back to normal.

”There’s all sorts of fighting styles, though, so you could probably do good even on your own. But yeah that sounds totally awesome! You should name it something bada- I mean, something cool.” Sakura said.

The pair glanced at each other, both correctly guessing that Sakura had just dodged pulling a Geralt, before Rika asked ”What was that pose you did a reference to?”

”Yeah, do you know stuff about fusing people like that?”

”E-eh? Oh, it’s just from a comic-” Sakura said, with a dismissive wave of her hand, blushing slightly. ”Nothing real. I- I think.” Sakura said, though now she slightly doubted it given the circumstances.

”Oh? Oh well”

”I mean we didn’t have to do any kind of silly pose to fuse. Just nearly get eaten by a big toothy Yoshi while using the cassettes. That, and beat up a bunch beforehand too?” Jr said, before speculating ”Least I think it's getting beaten up that let us do it? Kinda why we wanna find someone who knows this stuff, ya know? Like a teacher I guess”

”...It’s not that silly-” Sakura started, before shaking her head, trying to discard the subject. ”Nevermind. Finding a master is a great idea. On first blush, I also get more powerful when I get beat up, but it’s just, um, kind of a coincidence. I can’t just sit here and punch myself in the face until I get a power up. It’s all about the intensity of the fight and the focus of my spirit. It might be the same for you two!” Sakura said.

”I mean we haven't tried punching ourselves in the face yet”

Sakura suppressed a snicker.

”Eh, I mean, even if it's not you getting punched but the monster, maybe let’s not do that” Jr said, well aware that Rika already was probably way to used to getting hurt for a gain given her whale summoning and symbol of avarice hat wearing for the koopas both involved such things ”Besides, yeah, that whole focusing spirit thing sounds right. It feels right anyway. Like, just, uh, um, how do I-?”

”I just kinda refused to die and it worked” Rika said, picking up from where her brother was failing to put the feeling they’d both had into words.

”Sounds like you two were in a real pinch.” Sakura said. ”Adrenaline pumping, life on the line. Prime situation for unlocking a new transformation.” She crossed her arms and nodded sagely.

Then she squared her legs and extended out her palms. ”In a fight like that, it’s practically zen. Your mind is empty of everything except your objective. That’s when the real good stuff becomes possible.” Sakura smiled. ”It’s like, totally awesome.”

”Kinda? Be more awesome when we get how to do it and can use it before being in that pintch” Jr said, downplaying how bad said pinch had been, only for Rika to rather flatly state how bad it had been with ”Doing it without needing to be squashed as a bug’d be nice, yup”

”Uh. It’s ‘like a bug’” Jr pointed out after a moment of awkwardness, only for Rika to herself point out that ”I was a bug at the time though” helpfully.

”Annnyway. Yeah” Jr said after another awkward moment, before asking ”wanna see em? The monsters I mean?”

If there was any awkwardness, Sakura didn’t seem to notice or care. She just nodded sympathetically at the plight of not wanting to be squashed like a pug. At the offer though, she perked up. ”Uh— could I?” She asked. ”Is that okay? Here?”

”Yup!” Jr replied, before thinking and then correcting ”Maybe just Undyne. Not really space for the Beast” to which his sister agreed, with a side bob of the head.

”Alright! Let me just set it up aaaand” Jr said, as she fumbled around in his duffle bag, pulled out a pair of plastic earphones and popped them over his head, before plugging them into a cassette player, loading it up, and pressing play.

As he did, static, like that found on a channel-less CRT, spread across his body, before it changed in shape beneath that fuzzy vail. When the static fell away, it revealed an armored figure of Undyne (former) head guard of the Home of Tears.

”So?! What do ya think?!” the prince asked with the loud bombastic voice of his new form, forming a watery spear and spinning it around, before slamming its butt to the ground and declaring that it was ”Pretty cool, huh!”

Sakura didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t that. ”W-woah!” She said. She reached out and gingerly poked Jr in the cheek, to confirm it wasn’t an illusion. ”You turned into a totally different person! And strong, too, I can tell!” Sakura exclaimed.

”Yeah!” Jr replied, flexing one of Undyne’s arms which bulged with muscles.

”The other good one we’ve recorded is a really big bug with lots of legs, and together they were this twelve foot tall and super angry armored warrior that punched things super hard and got stronger whenever it did. It was exhausting to be that mad the whole time, but during we were just thrashing A’s Mobius form” Rika told Sakura, before looking off to the side and saying ”Wasn’t fast enough to stop him getting goldlewis though” before putting her helmet on to hid her expression.

”Mmm” Jr grunted in agreement, before ending the transformation and saying that ”We’ve just gotta get even stronger, is all”

Sakura looked off to the side. ”We can all get stronger together.” She said. ”To that end…lemme know if you ever wanna run some fights with me! Either of you. To practice with any of your forms or whatever. ” She said. ”We’re gonna have lots of time to do it in Esaka.” She said this eagerly. She had been really itching to take on more Seekers ever since she first joined up.

”Um, could do?” Junior replied, not anywhere near the kind of fighting enthusiast that Sakura was. Not against it, by any means, but he wasn’t exactly someone who’d trained before all this, mostly out of spoiled laziness and natural talent/advantage. It was all about fighting inorder to get or achieve something, be it impressing his papa or self aggrandizement, rather than because of the thrill or love of the art.

Rika was somewhat similar, and indeed, if she thought about it, probably didn't want fighting to be her thing. She’d been created as a disposable weapon, and if she had her say, would want to dedicate her life to something else, if for no other reason than to spite her creators. That said, she had enjoyed training to use her new red baron drones with her brother over their break, and the pokemon battle had been fun, so maybe sparring would be fun too? Plus, she liked Sakura, so maybe she should try and spend more time with her?

”If that’d help? Then yeah. Yeah we could do that” Rika replied, voice now muffled by her helmet. She hadn’t ultimately, just put it on to smother her feelings the funeral had left her with, but also because it was getting close to their time to drop.

Sakura could feel the lack of enthusiasm radiating off them. ”...You don’t have to.” She said. Objectively she knew she was going to get a lot of fighting done in Esaka, but fighting with friends was a special kind of fun! It was like training and fighting at the same time.

”Do they have any video games on here?” She asked.

”I wanna try it at least” Rika retorted, upset that she’d upset Sakura, before pouncing on what might be a way to cheer her up by nodding with agreement to her question and saying that ”We do at least, if you wanna play some some time”

She then rummaged around in a little pouch by her side and with two very careful fingers pulled out a chunky handheld console with some conveniently big buttons and presented it to Sakura to see. Something about the design made it reek of being a knockoff, from the cheap plastic and the tacky branding, but Rika still seemed very happy to have it. She was also happy as she she said that ”We stole a whole load of toys and stuff from one of the Consuls, and even if papa gave away a bunch to kids in the home of tears, we still got a bunch”

”That was sweet of him.” Sakura said with a smile, before looking, amused, over the game controller. ”Um.” She looked the machine over in her hands. ”This is really cool, Rika-chan.” Sakura said. ”I feel like I haven’t played any video games in ages. I’d love to, maybe if we get some downtime while we’re down there. Or once it’s all over.” Sakura said. Then she tried turning this one on to see what it even was.

The consol played a merry little 8 bit jingle before a brief intro played, during which numerous creatures vaguely reminiscent of marsupials battling it out where displayed, before ending on a tidal screen proudly proclaiming the game to be called ‘Pouch Monsters’

”It’s not the best one but it is one of the only ones that I can use while wearing my gauntlets” she explained, before adding that ”Jr’s got some for when we aren't in any danger with him too” to which the Prince gave a nod, unzipping his duffle bag and revealing that a not inconsiderable amount of his supplies for the mission consisted of a cartridge loading home console.

”and yeah, we for sure should play. It’d be fun”

”Puh-” Sakura suppressed a laugh. ”Pouch Monsters! Cute!” She said. It looked like a Pokemon rip off, but she wasn’t going to rain on their parade. ”A strategy game. Surprise surprise, I’m mostly into fighting games, but I could destroy you guys in this too, if we ever find the time.” She said casually.

”Wha! No way! I am, like, the best ever at video games!” Jr insisted, entirely unaware that everyone he’d played against (apart from Rika) had been taking it easy on him due to his royal status/his tendency to tantrum/them being his dad.

”You are?” Sakura said. ”Should be a match, then!” Her eyes gleamed with the spirit of competition. She would not go easy on him.

Rika herself meanwhile (who had just over a week’s experience with them) simply said that ”I’ve been getting better”

”No way to get better than to practice! That’s just true with everything in life. And one way of practice is learning from me by how I destroy you.” She made a few quick karate chop motions with the game controller, turning her voice mystical at the end, before she giggled and handed the game back to Rika.

Rika took it back with her oversized hand, flicked off the power, and put it back in her pouch while saying ”I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m better at fighting than games, so maybe when we do that you’d learn something instead?” finding she had maybe just a little bit of pride for her prowess after all.

Sakura grinned, punching her fist into her palm. That was what she liked to hear! ”Heh!! Only one way to find out. Man, I’m all pumped up.” Sakura said, shaking out her hands and hopping up and down.

”I’m ready! You ready?!” Sakura shook her fists.

Rika raised a hand up, flexing the fingers while, grinned back beneath her helmet, Sakura’s infectious enthusiasm getting to her, only for their hyping up for a match to be interrupted by the call to get ready to drop.

”Aw”

”Gonna be a buncha dummies to punch down there for sure, so you can practice punching each other by beating them up instead” Jr joked, before hopping into a pod.

”See you down there!” Rika said with a wave, before following him. Into the same pod, which was not at all standard issue and only worked because they were both shorties.

Sakura stepped left, and then right, punching the air as she did. ”Yeah! Let’s go!” With that, she threw herself feet first into the nearest pod. ”Uh, so, how does this thing work?” She could be heard saying as the doors slid shut over head.

”Just hit the…” Jr began to call out before riesling it was pointless and shrugging. ”Eh. She’ll be fine”

He was, mostly, correct, although their friend did have to take a moment to recover before launching into her explanation of how the tournament worked. They’d heard the brief of it of course, but the full thing was fairly interesting too.

Jr actually got a little upset that they’d be missing out on it, or at least be playing catchup after their own little detour, but for Rika there was a nagging question that she put out after Juri started guessing that there was something sinister going on beneath Sakura’s optimistic painting of the whole situation.

”So… what’s doing all the dying to keep their flame clock full if this tournament thing doesn't have any deaths in it?” she asked, that state of affairs often on her mind given she had been one of the things doing/causing that dying in the past, before guessing/suggesting ”Is it attacked from outside a bunch?”

As Gold Team geared up to head down to deployment, Nadia couldn’t help but smile at the eclectic bunch she’d wound up with. Just having an ordinary-looking wolf on the team tickled her pink, and while she happened to prefer small dogs, she couldn’t help but be jealous of Pit when Amaterasu let him stroke her. If excessive praise would grant her access to that heavenly fluff, the feral would be sure to inform Amaterasu that she was a good girl whenever remotely possible. She was a little less enthused about Harry, whose smile she returned without it reaching her eyes. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat repelled by him, and after humoring him with a handshake she beat a hasty retreat toward Primrose. She did feel bad about judging a book by its cover, but if he wanted to give out good first impressions he really ought to take better care of himself in the first place.

Of course, Nadia’s proximity to the dancer prompted her friend to prod her about Ace, which earned her an unashamed smile. “Uh huh! We watched this cheesy movie together. That dipstick kept jokin’ about it the whole time, tryin’ to make me laugh. Wouldn’t shut up ‘til I took his breath away~” After that, though, she and the others needed to troop downstairs, which for the most part put an end to the casual conversation. A new adventure was just a drop away.



Neither Nadia Fortune nor Big Band had made a habit of descending to the planet’s surface via hellpod, and neither relished the experience. In fact, Band had no idea how he managed to cram himself into one in the first place, since the detective happened to be bigger than any hellpod. He could only assume that the oversized bullets employed some sort of magic in order to stuff him inside, and as one might imagine, the end result was a very snug fit. So this is how it feels to be a sardine, Band thought, though by his reckoning both sardines in a can and peas in a pod had a lot more space than he did. At least the tight squeeze meant that he didn’t get jostled around inside a roomy can on the way down, but it also meant that he felt every little bit of turbulence. Even for a seasoned beat cop with nerves of steel, dropping via hellpod was a terrifying experience, convincing every fiber of his being that death was imminent. To keep his life from flashing before his eyes Band kept them squeezed shut the whole time, his jaw clenched tight. When the hellpod finally made impact, the surprise just about gave Band a heart attack. A guttural bellow tore itself free from his iron lungs, cold sweat running down his face. The next moment the hellpod’s lid popped off and its floor rose to lift the detective up into the open air, but it would take him a few more moments to stop hyperventilating.

Around him, the other hellpods that slammed down coughed up their rattled occupants one by one. Not far away, Nadia greeted the sunshine with a clumsy stagger and a head literally spinning on her shoulders. After a couple seconds she reached up and grabbed her head to stop it, but even then her eyes were as wide as saucers, and both her hair and the fur on her tail stood on end. Only then did she let out what she’d been sure would be her last breath, a full-body sigh that left her doubled over, her arms drooping down to the ground on cords of red muscle fiber. “Haah…haah…sheesh. My insides are almost outsides…can anyone give me a CAT scan?” The catgirl counted her lucky stars that she’d managed to keep her breakfast down the whole time.

When the new arrivals looked up, though, they would quickly forget about the hellpods. After all, they’d landed in a region of astonishing natural beauty. Around them, sprawling fields of wheatgrass and rice stretched as far as the eye could see, spanning both rolling hills and vast plains. Interspersed among the fields were clannish copses and strands of aged trees, as well as lone dwellings belonging to the humble folk who farmed this land. Some could be seen poling bamboo rafts down the winding, reed-lined rivers that snaked through the countryside, occasionally accompanied by Ashigumo field guards as they took goods to and from market. A strong northern breeze bowed the grains, stretched the clotheslines, and billowed the canopies in rhythmic waves. It caught Nadia’s hair, her clothes, and the bright red armband tied around her left sleeve. Flying leaves and seeds drew Nadia’s gaze southward toward a long, well-traveled path through the fields, and in the distance her keen eyes could catch the faint outline what did in fact look like a giant wedding cake, a tiered city of immense proportions. The presence of a nearby crossroads sign confirmed that this place was indeed Esaka, Gold Team’s destination, and that its members had a fairly long road ahead of them.

That sign also indicated a couple of other destinations in various directions. To the east lay Dihua Marsh, a vast wetland. Above it, much farther away than Esaka, floated what at first looked like a giant bell, but what was in truth the Imperial Palace, a celestial citadel of green and gold whose huge draconic fountainheads continuously replenished the water that cascaded down into Empty Space. Far to the north, the lush landscape gradually grew rockier and more hostile, eventually becoming a wasteland valley flanked by immense, ominous mountains. To the northeast, clear blue skies gave way to a blighted, brownish atmosphere that hung thick over a region of rancid overgrowth, where the line between plant and animal blurred in abhorrent fashion. According to the signpost, the Village of Whispers could be found beyond. An arrow labeled ‘Tyrannian Plateau’ pointed toward reptile-ridden badlands in the northwest, while white clouds blanketed the western highlands.

Before Gold Team could go anywhere, though, Sakura got everyone’s attention and launched into an introduction of Esaka, explaining some of what the city would have in store for everyone. As she listened, Nadia limbered herself up. She stretched her legs and arms, arched her back, rotated her joints, cracked her knuckles, and breathed deep of the crisp, clean air. The refreshingly cool breeze and soothingly warm sunbeams created a pleasant, temperate atmosphere, perfect for adventure. It sounded like the heroes could look forward to a lot of fighting in Esaka, hopefully more organized -and less lethal- than what they’d become accustomed to. “Tournaments, huh? Wonder how’d I’d do,” she muttered to herself. “‘Course, I’d shoot for furst purrlace.”

It also sounded like the city’s fighting culture led to some serious class divides, though. If fighting ability determined one’s place in society, Nadia could only imagine a terribly vicious and cutthroat sort of civilization, even compared to how things were in New Meridian. Hopefully she’d prove herself strong enough that she had nothing to worry about, but coming out on top didn’t make the system right. When Sakura started talking about Yokai, Livestream, and Stream Monsters, the feral started to lose the plot a little -this place really was pretty- but she got the gist: these critters essentially made the whole tournament society possible. When the exposition concluded, Nadia just nodded. People could talk to her until they were blue in the face, but she was a visual, hands-on kind of learner, so the best way for her to really get a feel for Esaka would be to get there and dive in for herself. “Sounds yo-kinda fun. When we get there, you’ll have to give us the grand tour-nament!”

Compared to Nadia, Band listened a lot more intently. Like any good detective, he tended to file away all the information he got, immediately useful or not, in case any detail turned out to be important to his investigation later. Band remembered Gold Team’s main objective, after all, and he wasn’t as easily sidetracked as some of his teammates. “Hate to burst y’all’s bubble, but we shouldn’t get into any tournaments unless it’s a shot at our target. First order of business is to get a bead on that Guardian, wherever -and whatever- it might be. We wanna look into local legends, authority figures, all that jazz. If I learned anythin’ in Edinburgh, it's that the Guardian ain’t always a giant monster.”

He glanced at Primrose, then Pit. “B and R, huh? Well, at least we know what letters we’re up against. We’ll have to keep an eye out. Don’t wanna announce ourselves ‘til we know what we’re doin’. Gonna be hard enough sussin’ out the Guardian without Moebius makin’ things difficult.” Hopefully R stuck to his distant stomping grounds, and B to that stormy mountain of hers. There was no telling what could happen, though, especially if some crony raised the alarm. And who knew how long it would before another J rose to take the dead one’s place? Pit had a point about disguises, but spirits could work just as well. Considering that Band was still his original self, he probably needed to start fusing soon anyway, lest he fall behind the rest.

“Shao Khan, Rugal, Heihachi, Bison,” Nadia repeated. She didn’t recognize them, of course, but they sounded like a big deal. Especially to Juri, who seemed to have some history with Bison. Maybe busting him up would help work out her frustrations? Probably not. Just as Primrose said, villains in power were nothing new. At this point, it would be a welcome surprise if the people in charge weren’t secretly (or not-so-secretly) evil. Being a hero would simply be too easy otherwise. “Knowin’ how this usually goes, we’ll be stickin’ it to the killer quarter be-four long.” When Pit asked who wanted to compete, Nadia gave him a grin. “Me, of course! This kitty’s tourna-meant for one-vee-ones!”

Band was not quite as eager. “Hmm…if I need to,” he conceded. “I can pack a real punch, but I ain’t no spring chicken. I’d be better off helpin’ in other ways.” He considered Rika’s question about the Flame Clock. Her guess made sense, but part of him suspected that these tournaments might not be as nonlethal as Sakura made them sound.

Once Pit, the acting team leader, rallied everyone, it was time to get moving. Reaching Esaka would probably take upwards of an hour on foot, even with everyone running. Of course, some Seekers were faster than others, so while those like Band could only afford to scoot along the main path, the speediest could head off the beaten path and explore a little, investigating various points of interest. Of course, they’d need to be careful to not crush any crops underfoot to avoid the ire of wooden scarecrows and kimono-clad training dummies. Out in the fields, mobs of ducks and a few gi-wearing, territorial Croajiro were on pest control duty, gobbling down any bugs that threatened the crops, but agile insects like the black-and-blue Lokix or venomous, cherry-colored bnahabra were a bit much especially for the waterfowl.

After only a few minutes, Nadia had a brainwave and stepped into one of the area’s many rice paddies. Immediately her rigging unfolded from her pack, the arms extended for stability as she floated on the surface of the standing water, light as a feather. “Alright! Backpack already payin’ dividends!” Able to skate across and leap between different paddy terraces, she could cover a lot of ground quickly. Navigating the waterways led her to spot and wave to a handful of kappa, who did not appear to be hostile, and eventually a small lake where she caught a glimpse of a large demon catfish, decked out in gold-trimmed armor and indigo scales. “Hmm…is this the kind of monster Ace was talkin’ about?” She and the monster hunter and talked about hunting monsters together, but if the Avenger needed food, maybe she ought to hunt it herself. It did look much bigger and stronger than any fish she caught for Bancho Sushi, though, so getting another Seeker or two to help sounded like a good idea, if any of them had the time and strength to spare.

Meanwhile, those sticking into the southbound path had run into a slight snag. From a ways off, they could see an obstacle in their path: a small wagon drawn by a mule. A rough patch in the road, most likely caused by soil erosion, had cracked one of the wheels and left the mule with a limp-inducing fetlock injury, much to the dismay of the long-eared milkmaid. She herself bore a big bruise from the sudden breakdown, as well. The path wasn’t wide enough to slip around the cart easily, and the rice paddies on either side meant that diverting would probably involve getting wet and dirty.



In the course of the general congregation that followed Sandalphon’s briefing, it soon became clear that she’d committed a grave offense. For all the thought she’d put into picking an acceptable and inoffensive name for Amaterasu, it had somehow never occurred to the archangel to ask Amaterasu herself. There were other ways to communicate other than verbally, after all, as the wolf goddess herself demonstrated. Before Pit, Harry, and Amaterasu could depart for deployment and enter their hellpods, Sandalphon made sure to offer the latter her sincere apologies. While she wouldn’t be worshipping Amaterasu any time soon, she was definitely worthy of Sandalphon’s respect, and any angel worth her salt knew how to pay deference to divinity.

She straightened up when Zenkichi approached, mentally scrambling for what to say. She highly doubted that this operation would take a full week, so she wouldn’t disappear while the two were apart, but that cloud would hang over both of them anyway. Still not used to showing affection, she allowed herself to be hugged and kissed somewhat stiffly, but caught Zenkichi’s hand before he pulled away to give it a gentle squeeze. The hearts in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. “Goddess be with you.”

Once Gold Team descended, the eleven members of White Team had a little more time to prepare before Pelican-1 would ferry them down through snowy skies to their destination. Some perused the nearby armory, helping themselves to its contents, or set up additional methods of magically accessing it via Edward’s sorcery. While content with her new Hexagun for now, there was one other firearm that had piqued Sandalphon’s interest, and she hoped to lay claim to it before someone else could snatch it up. Luckily, the damaged and unusable state of the Ice Breaker made it rather undesirable, so Sandalphon had no difficulty taking it with her for a short visit with Lulubi. More interested in down-to-earth technology like guns and engines compared to her counterpart Tora, Lulubi was the perfect nopon to ask about restoring the Ice Breaker to its former glory, but the pink tinkerer informed Sandalphon that she wasn’t about to do it for free. The last of the archangel’s personal savings would be enough to start the repair process, leaving nothing to contribute toward White Team’s winter clothes. Luckily, some Seekers came with cold-weather gear of their own, albeit of varying effectiveness. As for the rest, the team fund mostly made of the proceeds from Susie’s stock trading (plus any charitable donations) would have to be enough.

Once Ace made his request to the team, Sandalphon considered it seriously. Her blessings targeted all allies within an area, and she couldn’t exactly pick and choose who received it. She could definitely call out her miracles beforehand, but at the end of the day, her subordinate’s life was more important than his comfort. Hopefully forewarning would be enough.

Heismay greeted everyone who introduced themselves to him with a polite nod and a handshake if desired, though most Seekers would need to stoop to take his claws in hand. “Thank you for the warm welcome, as well as the warnings. Rest assured I will heed them,” Heismay told them. “I was once a simple swordsman, but lately it seems I’ve come by some transformational magic of my own. In battle, agility and precision are my greatest allies, but I will be glad to count you all amongst them.”

As the Avenger entered the wintry white airspace of the Frozen Highlands, Sandalphon stepped aside to get changed. This was her first time wearing the winter outfit she picked up from the costume vendor in Carnival Town, and it proved to be comfortably warm without being too heavy, but she couldn’t be sure how it would hold up under very harsh weather conditions. Sandalphon returned to the hangar to find the rest of the team ready to go. Pelican-1 would be less crammed full of bodies than yesterday, but with the largest Seekers like Sectonia and Ganondorf on White Team, it wouldn’t exactly be comfortable either. With an entire region to navigate in search of the wandering Guardian, things would only get more complicated after landing, but Sandalphon was ready. The team tingled with anticipation, eager to begin the mission. It was time to go.

Though dawn had already broken, the skies over the Frozen Highlands were uncommonly dark. A blanket of clouds, thick as pea soup, seemed to hang over the whole region, letting in so little daylight that it might as well be night. As such, the myriad lights of Snowdin shone that much brighter, guiding Pelican-1 down. The ship came to rest about half a mile east of the village, and the moment its bay door opened a chill wind filled its belly. Goosebumps spread across the Seekers’ skin, and their exhalations became puffs of mist. Fresh snowflakes were falling, light and fluffy.

Heismay was the first to step outside, the snow crunching softly beneath his little feet. He was instinctively wary, but when his big, ruby-red eyes detected no signs of danger in the surrounding area, the swordsman allowed himself to relax. “Clear.” Though his short fur mitigated the bitter cold somewhat, he would be loath to linger in its chilly embrace any longer than he had to. Hopefully that outfitter Sandalphon identified ahead of time would have something in his size. Either way, there was no sense lingering here in the relative warmth of the dropship. Sandalphon and the others followed Heismay out into the frigid wind, silent and shivering. Ahead of them lay Snowdin; there was no time to waste.



In the dark, the lights of Snowdin shone beautifully bright. The whole town encompassed a single east-west avenue straight ahead of the Seekers, lined by buildings on either side. Warm orange light poured onto the snow from the curtained windows of wood cabins and brick structures. Facilities included the Eastern Snotel, Grillby’s, Morshu’s Emporium, a bar called Survive, the Librarby, and more. Plumes of smoke spiralled skyward from their chimneys, and Christmas lights festooned their eaves, blinking red, green, and gold. Nothing compared, of course, to the great coniferous titan in the very center of town, adorned not just with lights but with glittering baubles, ornaments created by master craftsmen and delighted youngsters alike. Beneath it lay a dozen or more presents, colorfully wrapped, piled atop the circular dais that surrounded the Christmas tree’s trunk. At the eastern extremity of the street crackled the campfire of the blue, sunken-eyed Soulfisher, sleeping beneath the shelter of a giant book, and next to him stood a sign, its handwritten greeting welcoming the new arrivals on behalf of the wintry hamlet’s townfolk: Welcome to Snowdin.

Directly north of the tree, a path led between the buildings to one of Snowdin’s little neighborhoods, the Warrens. There, the front yards of a half-dozen underground homes surrounded an open cul-de-sac, their rabbit-eared denizens very comfortable beneath hills topped by evergreen pines. Opposite that, a twisted path led through a tangle of dead trees around a small mountain south of Snowdin, eventually leading to the abandoned Beneviento Manor, which overlooked the icy southeastern lake from its stately cliffside perch. In the northeastern part of town stood the fanciest cottages, several tiers of them going up the nearby hill in fact, safe beneath the watchful gaze of enormous snowmen while their smaller brethren, clad in scarves and snowpipes, greeted passers-by from the porches. One of the snowmen at the edge of town had collapsed, half-burying a giant, ornate black stagecoach devoid of horse or rider.

Not many townsfolk were out and about this early, but even a cursory investigation would reveal to the newcomers that this town harbored very, very few humans. The vast majority of its residents were creatures or monsters, not unlike the Home of Tears, albeit with a greater emphasis on mammals than insects. None were at all hostile, though. With just two exceptions, in fact, the townsfolk would prove welcoming and friendly. One exception was the rabbitfolk, who tended to be somewhat insular. The other was the two-headed Soothsayer, with two eyes sewn shut and two blood red, who stood warming his hands over a burn barrel with a most unpleasant look on his faces.

He and Heismay maintained eye contact for a few moments. Once it became apparent that the Soothsayer wouldn’t stop staring anytime soon, Heismay was forced to avert his gaze. It swept up and down the avenue as he took tentative steps through the snow. “Seems…cozy.” The eugief didn’t sound entirely convinced.

“Let us begin work straightaway.” Sandalphon nestled her gunstaff in the crook of her arm and conjured a light screen with both hands. “We have several matters to attend to before we can get underway. We need to find some means of group transportation, since travel on foot would be ineffective and few of us are blessed with wings or mounts of our own. We need to obtain at least a few days’ worth of travel rations, as well as camping equipment. While we can probably procure firewood in the wilds, portable heaters would be good as well.” Maybe Edward’s infernal hounds would help, but Sandalphon hoped to avoid keeping demons in such close company if possible. “It may be wise to acquire a base of operations to use while in Snowdin; once it’s secured, additional personnel could join us to provide support. Navigational equipment, such as a map, would be valuable as well. Perhaps most importantly, we need to inquire with knowledgeable townsfolk about our target, Baldur. Any clues about his whereabouts would be vital to narrow down our search range.” She dismissed her screen and took up her staff again. “I myself will obtain winter apparel for whoever needs it, and would appreciate help from one volunteer. In fact, I recommend that everyone work in pairs so that nobody can be picked off on their own.” She blinked. “On that subject, please do be careful, everyone. This town looks benign, but new threats can arrive anyplace, anytime.”

She looked around at the group. Edward, Blazermate, Sectonia, Geralt, the Ace Cadet, Roxas, Ganondorf, Celica, Kit, Heismay, and herself made eleven, unfortunately not an even number. At least half of them could reinforce their numbers through summons, constructs, or Pokemon companions, though, so nobody would need to go it alone. Of course, she knew who she’d personally pick for each task, but that struck her as an excessive amount of control to exert this early, and the fallout would not be worth the minor increase in efficiency. Better that they choose for themselves.

Arms crossed, Heismay considered which of the jobs he’d be best at. “I must confess that I'm not a terribly sociable sort,” he remarked. “If there are any suitable conveyances hereabouts, they should be easy to find. Anyone care to join me?” Any teammates interested in accompanying Heismay on a sweep of the area would need to be fleet of foot and warmly dressed.

”I imagine you might be able to find something in a diverse town such as this” Edward said to Sectonia as they took in the non-humanoid residents, even as he slipped off the ring protecting him from its cold and flicked it to her ”But I will lend it to you till you find a suitable replacement in town. Or suitable compensation”

As soon as he did, the cold hit him fully, and he shivered, prompting him to pull out the tome of pyromancy, flicking through the pages of the book (even as he warms himself from its constant smoldering heat) till he found the passage he wanted.

He then groaned at the contents, before committing to reading them out anyway, chanting: ”Rise front he pit, o hound of flame! Rise to claw and bite and burn! Rise and strike fourth, wash across this world! Howl with breath of flame, and herald the coming of its new master!”

And so rise the inferno hounds did, though not from a pit as advertised. Instead the pair of stone skeletons that had been forming, bone by bone, on the ground as Edward cast the spell suddenly ignited, flames boiling across its body as the pair of beasts rose to their feet, creating an oasis of warmth in the process.

”There we are” Edward concluded, as he snapped shut the book, before he quickly explained that they were ”Constructs. Facsimiles of the real thing” and that there was thus no risk of demonic mauling. Looking between him and the fearsome fiends, Heismay wasn’t sure if he completely believed in their safety, but the warmth that radiated them was an undeniable relief against winter’s chill. Still, best to enjoy them from a distance.

Edward offered to produce 2 more pairs, should others want their own mobile bonfire escorts, and also reminded them that, should they accept the blessing (unlike Ace) their weapons could act as burning torches to offer additional heat, assuming they were not worried about spooking the locals by walking around with their swords (etc.) drawn.

”As for plans, hmmm, I could assist in seeking transport. I can provide some with these, or rather alternate variants with fire proof saddles, but that would only transport a max of four people, and prevent me from using any other magic, including the weapon enchantments” Edward offered, before cementing his motivation by stating ”So an alternative would be preferable”

”If you do not mind me joining you, Heismay?” he added, speaking to the newcomer, with whom he had also, naturally, shared a handshake, though little else in regards to words other than his name so far.

“Be my guest,” the eugief replied. He would not be taking Edward up on his offer, partially because he figured he could outpace the infernal pooches and partially because the laws of thermodynamics made close contact a dangerous proposition, but he did not mind the man himself. If four people did consent to a hellish ride though, and Sectonia could fly herself, that meant only six people would need transportation of their own. At that point, even a conventional horse-drawn carriage would suffice. “Let us see what Snowdin has to offer.”

The two set off together, not to explore the town but to circumnavigate it, since there were no vehicles to be found anywhere along its main avenue. Edward’s demonic hounds moved at a steady gallop, a trail of half-melted snow left in its wake by its radiated heat. In contrast, Heismay barely left footprints, sprinting along with his wings tucked in close and his long ears trailing behind him in a speedy ninja run. Even if the chill wind didn’t threaten to drown them out while moving, the two had no real cause to speak. While both were alert, especially after Sandalphon’s precautions, they found no enemies, or even civilians during their snowy jaunt. As settlements went, this isolated village was not all that big; compared to Snowdin, even Martira seemed like a sprawling city. The more ground he covered, the more Heismay became convinced that the town didn’t even have stables. He paused once when he spotted a strange, boxy red contraption immersed up to its doors in an icy ditch, but not recognizing the truck for what it was, Heismay moved on without making mention of it.

It wasn’t long before the pair’s search led them to Snowdin’s northwestern sector, the rows of cabins safeguarded by giant snowy sentinels. There, his keen eyes spotted the familiar shape of a carriage half-buried in a the belly of a collapsed snowman. “There, look!” He slowed to a stop by the pile, his ever-so-slightly labored breathing coming out in brief, light puffs. Eugiefs were sprinters and not marathon runners, after all. Even partially concealed, the wagon fascinated him. It was much larger than any stagecoach he’d ever seen, and it had extra sets of wheels to support its weight. He counted four sets, maybe even more hidden beneath the snow. “Tis no gauntlet runner, but it’s certainly large enough for our cohort.” He crossed his wings, eyes narrowed as he thought. “Shouldn’t be a trial to excavate, with all that fire of yours. The real question is, how to get it moving? Twould easily take four…nay, six hearty horses to run at a tenable rate.”

”We’d need fire resistant reins for the Inferno Hounds unfortunately, and I can’t craft enough Inferno Steeds to pull it, but perhaps my Bronze Golems or Sectonia’s antlions could drag it along. Likely not very fast, but still, it could be done even if we fail to find native beasts of burden“ Edward theorised, before directing the pair of hounds to start digging, and immediately missing their warmth as they got to work.

Initially, the hounds just ‘attacked’ the snow due to being, as he’d described, simple minded constructs rather than actual creatures. This wasn’t very efficient, prompting him to begin directly Commanding them in how to dig, accelerating their movements in the process. This included some careful positioning before getting them to Vent Flames in such a way as to blast melt a whole heap of snow without scorching their prize.

In between issuing commands to get the inferno hounds to dig out the main body of the vehicle, the man himself pulled out his Illumina Baton and used its ability to shoot flames to work on getting the entrance open so they could inspect the inside of it for its suitability (and maybe also use it as shelter from the cold while they waited).

As the tactician got to work, Heismay observed for a few moments without comment. He couldn’t help but be intrigued by how Edward commanded the constructs, which he didn’t know how to distinguish from genuine creatures. “These monsters serve at your beck and call? Consider me impressed.” Euchronia was home to a great many dangerous and exotic beasts, but few could be controlled without the use of necromancy, which was itself a vile and forbidden art. The hellhounds’ concerted efforts could melt the snow, but given the extremely low ambient temperature it would take a fair amount of time and effort. Edward’s attempts to unfreeze the wagon’s door seemed much less effective. Heismay’s ear twitched as he watched, and after another moment he stepped forward.

“Here, allow me.” Ever since awakening to his new power, he’d been itching for an excuse to use it. He unsheathed his sword, then closed his eyes and focused, taking a deep breath. “O, power of kings!” His heart shone orange, visible through his chest, and quickly the glow spread throughout the veins of his whole body. Then the rest of him turned red and black, becoming pure magla that swelled and spread until a new, much larger body took shape, like steel quenched after the forge. Now looking rather like a golem himself, Heismay lifted his enlarged sword and forcibly inserted the blade into the ice. With a little strength, it bit deep, allowing the blade to slide beneath the hatch. From there, he could use the weapon as a pry bar, helping cracks spread along the ice with a few well-placed talon strikes until the coating finally shattered.

“There we are.” Heismay’s voice had a metallic resonance until he reverted to normal, nodding in satisfaction at his handiwork. “Fire triumphs over ice in theory, but in this realm, ice is king. Better to exploit another weakness: its tensile strength.”

”Should have gone with the scythe then, it seems. Or a gun“ Edward remarked as he put away the baton.

Of course, the little guy still needed help to swing open the heavy hatch, given the stagecoach’s angle, which Edward naturally gave. Once they shone some firelight inside, it would reveal a single huge compartment that extended from the floor to the high ceiling. Both sides featured a single long bench. The sides and roof also featured a cagelike metal mesh, with some hooks and ropes dangling from the ceiling. Heismay tilted his head. “Hanging storage?” He could easily picture himself hanging upside-down from the ceiling mesh as well, rocking back and forth as the carriage rolled along. Overall it seemed rather spartan, but certainly spacious, and the carriage’s construction offered excellent protection. “This could work,” he remarked optimistically.

”Or to restrain prisoners with“ Edward guessed offhandedly, the two bench setup being somewhat reminiscent of a paddywagon, as he inspected one of the hooks.

The widening of Heismay’s eyes suggested raised brows. He hadn’t considered that, but now that Edward said it, it made a lot of sense. “Hm. Possibly.” He stepped back to check on the hellhound’s progress, which was proceeding well. It would only be another couple minutes until the carriage could be dislodged and tilted onto its wheels, which would no doubt demand the strength of his archetype again, at minimum. “I did not see any stables earlier. Did you?” It seemed unlikely that a human could spot something in the dark that a eugief could not, but it didn’t hurt to check. “It may be difficult to find suitable replacements for horses. Perhaps…reindeer?” Heismay was a little out of his depth here, but his attempts to posit a solution suggested that he was trying to be helpful, if not succeeding.

”Possibly. I have seen them used as mounts in a few realms, though it is not too common. I am unsure why. Perhaps they are more difficult to tame than horses? Beyond that, the Frostlings from my home realm used polar bears to pull the chariots of their frost queens, but I suspect they were magicly controlled by said queens rather than naturally tamed. Now a mammoth perhaps, those they used as mounts without any need for spellcraft, and one of those would fit our needs just perfectly“ Edward theorised, but it was mostly academic as ”Unfortunately, as you say, I did not see anything of the sort either, I am not well versed in the natural magics required to tame such beasts quickly“

”We’ll have to see if any of the others have relevant talents, and that is if there is even any native wildlife nearby that would be suitable. If not, Golems it will be“ Edward said, as he took a seat on one of the benches, feathers ruffling as he tried to get comfortable. Heismay followed him inside to take shelter from the biting wind and sat across from him.

Once there, content to let his constructs work away with only passive mental supervision, Edward asked ”That transformative magic you had, you said you were new to it I believe? Is it something you picked up in this stitched together reality, or something from before, do you know? It seems rather useful“

His new acquaintance seemed perplexed. “Tis…difficult to say. All I know is that in a critical moment, grappling with indecision, I heard a voice…’thy long-stagnant stance has finally been broken. O lodestar, whose light reveals the king’s own path’...” Heismay shook his head, flapping his ears. “I understood nothing, but that form, it felt…almost natural. Instinctive. As if I’d unlocked some manner of potential I harbored all along.” He gave a rueful laugh. “Wouldn’t have thought I had it in me. If only…” His head drooped, his eyes on the floor. “If only I wielded such strength back then. For what purpose I have it now…I cannot fathom.”

”Hmmm“ Edward said, polling out a notebook and writing down the phrase, before tapping the quill a few times as he pondered it. He was a little disappointed that whatever this was was some sort of inherent ability, likely from the man’s own world, but he was never one to turn down a conundrum. It sounded rather fanciful, really, to unlock a hidden power in the moment it was needed, but he wasn’t about to naysay Heismay when he had so little to go on, and instead rolled with the concept for now.

”Given that it said that your ‘long-stagnant stance had finally been broken’ I assume you overcame that indecision at that moment? Indecision that was perhaps representative of your prior ‘stance’ or state of being whatever that might have been“ he speculated, before asking ”Might I ask what the decision was? Perphase it was a different one from the ones you made during that somber past event you where alluding to?“

Although he had been thinking about the event, Heismay had not been analyzing it, or how it might relate to his history. The idea of a connection there both perturbed and perplexed him. For a couple moments, only the cold wind and the crackle of flames outside disturbed the silence. “Twas a difficult conundrum. Children had been disappearing from the town of Martira. Initially the town guards lay the blame at my feet, and while I had done no such thing, I languished in such shame and despair from past events that I cared not to refute them. By chance, though, I encountered a creature named Huggin’ Molly. She explained -via puppet show- that she had indeed stolen some of the children away, but only to save them from a far worse fate at the hands of certain guards. Before we could figure things out, the town guard stormed in and demanded the children be returned.”

He shook his head. “We didn’t know who to believe, and I was struck with indecision. In the end, though, I chose to side with Molly, and the guards backed down. Afterward, one of the guards broke down and confessed. We had to leave before the situation was fully resolved, but it seemed I made the right choice.” He crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently. “But I righted no past wrongs, and I fail to see the connecting thread with my past.” Whatever had happened, he clearly did not like dredging up those old memories.

Edward did not press on the past, but he did proceed to speculate on the present ”It is interesting that you say that the power came from within, and yet accessing it also came with a voice from without. Assuming it was genuinely from within, then perhaps this voice belonged to some esoteric observer who, upon seeing you take this stand and approving of it, helped unlock it for you? I could certainly see some self proclaimed patron of heroes acting in such a manner. You where in the presence of one ‘god’ at that moment, who is to say she was the only one who knew your tale and decided to intervene in response to your actions“

The man’s tone made it clear he did not particularly believe in the authenticity of such beings, he’d encountered enough self proclaimed gods to fill a dozen pantheons, but that didn’t mean they, or even less powerful beings, would not act in ways like this.

Not one for staking everything on his first hypothesis however, he also suggested that ”Or perhaps it is the voice of the power itself? Some magical being living within you that approved of your action? It is hard to say. If that were the case, it would not explain why this access to power came only now” before asking ”Have you heard this voice again? Attempted to commune with it? It might be too convenient a solution for it to be possible (Magic is never simple, especially the esoteric sort) but if it was willing to communicate once, it might do so again, and if so might hold the answers you seek”

Heismay’s brow had been furrowed for a few moments now. “The answers I seek? To be honest, I do not share your inquisitiveness. I heard no such voice again, and did not think to ask.” He shook his head. “To me, ‘tis little different from finding a sword at the side of the road. Regardless of the path it took to find me, what matters is how I wield it henceforth.” With that resolution in mind, the hermit pushed himself off his bench and made his way out of the wagon to see how the hellhounds were doing. After stepping back out into the wind, he quickly realized that they’d finished excavation. Heismay waved to Edward to join him. “Tis done. Let us tilt it onto its wheels.”

The man certainly looked a little disappointed with this lack of inquisitiveness, closing and putting away his notebook with an ”ah well” before rising and following the hermit outside, mentally calling the mobile heat source that was the pair of hounds to his side as he did.

They’d done, as he told them casually ”good work”, even though they were incapable of benefiting any way from such praise. It was difficult to not anthropomorphize the constructs, and he had long since given up doing so. Suppressing that polite urge had more cons than pros, in his opinion, lest it bleed over into his dealings with actual people.

The inferno hounds would be ill suited to actually righting the oversize carriage however, same as they would pulling it, which was why he summoned his reaver striker to do this instead, the oversized monstrosity grappling the carriage with its tentacles and hauling it upright with ease before it dissipated. Heismay blinked at the ephemeral aberration, clearly taken aback.

”Strikers. I can highly recommend their usage” Edward said after the moment was done, before asking ”Shall we tow it closer to the center of town? Or rather shall I make some copper golems to do so for us? It won’t be fast, or practical while under load, but it should do till we come up with a longer term solution”

After a quick look at the giant stagecoach in all its glory, as well as an attempt to ballpark its weight, Heismay nodded. “Please.” With that, he hopped up onto the vehicle’s roof to start brushing off snow as he enjoyed the ride.

By the time they were in the drop ship and touching down, Ace had shrugged on the heavy coat properly and buttoned it up. Snowdin was just as frigid as Edinburgh Magicapolis, if not even more so without the benefit of public heaters and warmth conjuring magic circles. None of the cold got to the hunter at all though, between the thick material of his clothes and the latent anti-cold attributes that manifested just by him wearing it. From the way that most of the Seekers' cheeks flushed and puffs of breath formed in the air as they talked, a lot of them must have been feeling the chill. Hopefully by the time the afternoon rolled around the area would warm up a bit.

After he'd made his request and been somewhat reassured by the others, as well as taken various other warnings and recommendations from said others into account, the Cadet was feeling eager to get started. And thankfully that was all he felt for the moment, even with a magic talisman hanging from his waist and a goddess's boon lodged in his chest. The group knew what to expect from each other, and if they worked together on this then with some luck, things would go smoothly - even with the inevitable road blocks sure to be along the way.

So, when Sandalphon laid out what the team needed to get done, the Cadet didn't complain. He agreed with her - better to get started sooner rather than later, especially if they were going to establish a base camp of sorts to return to.

"This'll be a good way to see the town too," he remarked, not that it looked like there was a lot to see. It seemed to be a small town, with neighborhoods on one side and a main street with goods and services on the other. Fairly cute place though, with the wood buildings and the colorful lights. It was a little hard to tell in the dark if there was anything else of interest in the immediate area, but once it brightened up maybe getting a higher vantage point from up on that little mountain would be a good idea.

As for how the group was planning to split up, Ace could already tell that more than a couple of the crew wanted to get a bead on the Guardian as fast as possible. It wasn't like he wanted to drag his feet or anything, but he figured finding one guy somewhere in an entire region wasn't going to be quick. Better to be prepared for a longer haul, so on that note he volunteered to help with said preparation.

"I'll get us some supplies," he told everyone with a smile. He tapped the small green light affixed to the breast of his coat, and then the light scattered as small firefly-like insects swiftly spread around each Seeker to ensure they had their scents before returning. They buzzed lightly around the cage afterward. "Food, gear, whatever else sprouts up... see if I can dig up anything else about that plant too."

That plant being "mistletoe," the alleged weakness of the Guardian they were after. When Ace, Band, and Red got back after the confrontation with L and informed the Avenger crew on what they'd learned, inter-knot research had been carried out (by someone more familiar with the net than Ace). Apparently it could grow in many environments, but seemed more common in colder climates. If they couldn't buy some, maybe they could find it.

"If it comes down to it, these guys-" he gestured to the scoutfly cage. "-will be able to point out anything useful in the wild."

And as Geralt mentioned earlier, once they got a definitive trail for the Guardian Baldur, they could rely on the insects to lead them all right to him. But until then, it was regular old stocking up time.

"After we all branch out, meet back up at that big tree in the center?" the Cadet suggested, as he'd yet to be linked up to Sandalphon's communication network. He gave the hound summoning a wide berth as Edward and Heismay got ready to look for some transportation, and after waving them off he called after them, "see if you can find any popos!"

Despite the fact that most likely neither of them knew what a popo was. Regardless, he raised a hand to the other Seekers as he departed himself, towards the town proper and its shops.

Once they’d finished chatting, the kids took a look around the area they’d landed in, and decided to go with the plan they thought up before coming here, which was to go for a drive instead of hoofing it on foot.

Jr promptly deployed the very on thematically fitting tractor themed metal attacker Kuebiko onto the main track, before popping inside. Jr took the controls and got to driving, while Rika put her feet up, pulled the games console she’d shown Sakura out again, and started beep booping away on it.

This put them comfortably at the head of the pack, though not at all alone in that fact, as after about 30 seconds of driving there was a metal clunk as Amatarasu, indigent of having been stuck behind the fume trailing machine that was taking up the whole road, leapt up on top of the roof.

She ignored the yelling and fist shaking coming from inside and promptly jumped in front of the moving vehicle and then raced ahead.

Slighted, Jr hit the gas, and promptly raced after her, only for this sudo-race to come to a screeching halt as they almost crashed into the back of the milk transporting wagon, the prince having been too focused on the wolf sprinting ahead of him to see the impending obstacle till they were almost on top of it.

After stopping, he promptly honked on the machine’s horn and demanded they ”Get out the road!” despite the un-feasibility of this.

Technically, he could have just tried to jump/hover over her, but it was the principle of the thing (and not wanting to crush them with a bad jump).

It was while he was grumbling about this that Miss Fortune came sailing alone across the rice fields, catching up, and prompting Rika to suggest ”Why don’t we just copy her?”

”Huh. Yeah sure why not” her brother replied, prompting them to pop out of the vehicle, set up a magic circle to send it right back up to the armory, before hopping the fence and touching down on the water, prince and princess both floating above the paddies thanks to inherent or copied ship girl tech.

Zero consideration was given to helping the poor milkmaid out, nor to helping Amatarasu with helping her. Instead they sailed out after Miss Fortune, who was in the middle of inspecting a big fish.



In front of them, in a basin between several hills of terraced rice paddies and wheatgrass fields, lay a large pond. With a couple wooden bridges, piers, and surrounding footpaths, it served as a junction for three of the serpentine rivers that flowed around the Fields of Gold, which would have made it an excellent route for travel via bamboo raft if not for the gilded lunker that seemed to have taken up residence. The demon catfish, longer and girthier than a minivan, had evidently eaten so well since its arrival that it could no longer escape via the waterways, a problem it seemed eager to rectify. As Nadia watched, the fish released a huge fountain of water from its mouth, raising the water level a millimeter or two. By now, two tiers of terraces had been submerged, and the rivers were almost deep enough to swim through again. Not content with the pace at which it was flooding the farmland, it looked like the catfish had used its remarkable bulk to smash up the bridges and piers, and debris from the destruction floated among the reeds.

”Hey Miss! Thinking of making more sushi?” Jr called out as he headed straight for Nadia, while behind him Rika sailed too and fro in a weaving pattern just for fun, taking a small joy from being on her element while she could.

“Oh, hey!” Having heard them approach with the help of her feline ears, Nadia was ready with a cheerful wave when the kids approached. Having braved the Deep Blue Seaside together, she was no stranger to sailing alongside these two. She could trust them to go along with her hijinx, and right now it seemed like the three of them were of one mind. “Yeah, I’ve been pond-ering it. Looks like this thing’s been makin’ a real mess. It’d be a lot better use in our mess…the mess hall, that is!” She crossed her arms, smiling. “We’re all use to fusion by now, but are you ready for some fission?”

”Huh?” Rika replied with a head tilt, before re-righting it as she got it ”ohhhh. Like fishing”

Jr who’d at least given her a nose exhale of amusement for her efforts, before agreeing ”Yeah. We were on the avenger for a bit before we came down to Mafia Town and the less we eat like that the better!” to which Rika nodded in agreement.

“Sweet!” First things first, though; with the big boss’s orders in mind, Nadia needed to do her due diligence. “Gimme one sec.” She leaned forward, skating through the fronds of rice across the the paddy she’d stopped on. With a hop, she landed on the surface of the pond. Thanks to her rigging the impact barely caused a ripple, but it was enough for the catfish to take notice. It turned toward her, glossy eyes bulging from its scaly indigo face. “Hey buddy, do you understand me? Would it be ‘morally questionable’ to fry you with cornmeal and lemon pepper?”

In lieu of a reply, the river monster let out a bellow like a foghorn. Nadia scrunched up her face as the thing’s breath blew her hair and ears back, bits of spittle flying all over. Then the fish threw itself toward her. “Hup!” The feral leaped into the air, propelled up and over her assailant by jets of pressurized blood. Beneath her the catfish slammed down with a tremendous splash, disappearing underwater. After a couple fancy flips, her rigging arms folded up for less drag, Nadia came down on the water in a deft three-point landing. She looked up, grinning, as her rigging unfolded again, her cannons locked and loaded as the catfish surfaced in front of her.. “Gonna take that as a ‘no’.” She straightened up, claws sharpened. “Purr-pare for pan-nihilation!”

Rika and Jr hoped into the pond, both tossing small objects as they did so, and then landed by her side, paintbrush and halberd in hand.

A second later two more allies arrived. From Jr’s pokeball, his ghost-tailed Brionne Dazzle splashed down, and then a fair bit further away and with a much bigger splash Rika’s warship turret toting white whale arrived, having been summoned from her golden spinner.

”Yeah, prepare to get cooked!” Jr called out with a toothy grin, before Rika retorted jokingly that ”no, those both come after we fill-slay it” spacing out the words just a bit too much for the fillet pun to work smoothly.

Nadia grimaced, but decided not to critique Rika’s attempt since the catfish breached the water and slammed back down in a giant belly flop. A big wave rolled outward, interfering with the feral’s shot, so she naturally decided to accelerate forward and ramp off the wave instead. By the time she’d taken to the air, however, the catfish had filled its cheeks with water, and it spat at the same time that Nadia unleashed a salvo. They traded, blood shots for water blast, and like a bug sniped by an archerfish Nadia fell from the sky. “Ack!” She landed a split second after the wave past by on all fours, sprawled out like a water strider as she tried to steady herself. Her cannons fired another double salvo, pelting the catfish with bolts of condensed blood at a minor health cost.

Dazzle executed a Twisting Dive to punch straight through the wave at his trainer’s command, who himself more carefully navigated over the wave, following in the wake of Rika’s whale. Once there, he followed the second command, which was to hit the foe with his disarming voice, the pokemon belting fourth a beam of pink soundwaves that sapped the foe’s fighting spirit, fatiguing them.

Rika meanwhile launched herself up above even Miss Fortune via featherfall rune, before hurling her halberd down like a harpoon at the great fish. The needle pointed weapon cutting through the water blasts while Rika herself used her maneuvering thrusters and double jumps to dodge water blasts that were being slowed by her dated sunglasses.

While Nadia’s blood shells were more insult than injury, the debuffs that followed set the catfish up for a heavy, painful javelin toss from Rika. It sank at least a foot into the fish’s flesh after grazing by its armored helmet. It bellow again, bucking angrily, and at its call spiky red spars of rock burst up from beneath the water in concentric, sequential rings around it. Now back on her feet, Nadia narrowly avoided a spike with an airdash, then fired off another double-blast from her cannons as she slid sideways. Its helmet would block damage from the front, but not attacks aimed at its sides. Of course, the catfish wasn’t going to make it easy. It launched itself at all its opponents in quick succession, threatening them with a crushing belly flop and bite.

Floating up above, Rika was out of leaping range, while down below the others had to make their own dodges. Dazzle simply twisting dived to the side to avoid being splashed, while Jr’s similar Magma Rush left a floating disk of magma that detonated when the demon fish splashed down on it (though given the watery environment, it wasn’t that effective).

Rika’s whale was nowhere near as agile, and promptly got flopped, but given the lesser size difference involved, it wasn’t harmed too badly from being smashed down under the water.

In the scramble to avoid the monster’s lunges, Nadia got clipped by a slam meant for someone else. “Ugh!” As she flew to the side, though, she twisted around in midair and extended her arm to grab onto its dorsal fin. Immediately it yanked her after it, towing the feral along through the water. “Bubububububub! Ububububub!” Once her arm retracted, she fought against the current to stab its upper body again and again with one Athame, which did low damage but lowered its defense. Finally, the catfish came to a stop, reared up, and fired off a dozen water orbs that shot off toward their targets like homing missiles, three each at Junior, Rika, Dazzle, and the white whale. It did not seem to notice Nadia composing herself until she revved up one arm like a drill. “This is NOT a drill!” She plunged it into the wound she’d made, sending blood and scales flying. “I’ve o-fish-ially had it!”

Rila, now touching down, caused her spear to reappear in her hand and then switched it to lance and shield mode, the princess using the latter to block the water orbs while she closed in to use the former. Jr used much the same strategy, raising his wrist towards the incoming projectiles, and rapidly forming an iron shield to block the strikes. It buckled under the strikes, but he managed to reinforce it enough in between that he could endure the volley.

Unable to raise defensive armaments, Dazzle did his best to ”Dodge!” ducking under the water before trying to dash under the homing shots, avoiding two, but taking the third despite this, though the water pokemon naturally resisted this aquatic attack. Rika’s whale meanwhile didn't so much resist as it simply endured, though again its sheer size ment the demon catfish’s attacks were far less of a threat to it than the smallfry fighting around it.

At Rika’s command, the beast then surged forwards, jaws opening to reveal two rows of teeth, the outer sharp and monstrous, the inner uncomfortably human, which it bit into the hit sunned catfish, grappling it in the process.

With the whale in the way, it would be quite tricky to hit it in its exposed flank.

Its commander ran up its back, lept up, and then used maneuvering thrusters to add a burst of speed to a downward thrust with her lancet, one which made the foe more vulnerable to her ranged attacks, which she aimed to land near where Miss Fortune was already drilling.

Jr meanwhile got around this by painting electrical goop around his battered shield, before flexing and shattering it into metal shards that were promptly launched at the head. Rather than uselessly hammer it however, an orange glow to surround the shots, causing them to orbit around the whale and then strike it in its opposite side

As his shots flew, the prince commanded his pokemon to attack from ”Underneath!” with ”Bubblebeam”, prompting his pokemon to swim down and left fourth a stream of highly compressed bubbles through the water, ones that burst with quite a bit of force upon impact.

While the bubblebeam hurt the catfish even less than its water orbs hurt Dazzle, the strong impale and electric flechettes from the Koopa Kids hurt the beast a great deal. It bellowed and leaped from the pond with a powerful sweep of its tail, pivoting around to come down in a tremendous upside-down crash. Nadia managed to disengage and narrowly avoid getting crushed between the monster’s bulk and the water’s surface, though the ensuing wave did bowl her over as the catfish dove down. “Whew! Close one!” When she rose and tried to spot her foe underwater, though, all she saw beneath the surface was a ripple of red light. Then the spikes burst up from below, several of them piercing the underside of Rika’s whale. One spike struck the feral with such force that she flew upward, blood flying from fresh gashes. “MRROW!” She landed in the water on her back, stunned by the ungainly impact with her rigging arms splayed out in every direction.

When she spotted a shadow rising beneath her, though, Nadia took action. She used Charge to blitz straight upward as a bolt of lightning, just in time to avoid getting swallowed hold. “Seriously?” she growled through a smile, her teeth gritted. “You look at me and seafood?” As she fell, she airdashed toward one of the little piers, where she would take a second to compose herself and straighten out her rigging. “Need a second!” she called.

Of course, by then the catfish was already going after the others. It breached beneath Junior, trying to chomp him like it almost chomped Nadia, then plummeted toward Rika in a tremendous belly flop. Once back in the water, it whipped around to follow up with a giant tail slap.

The prince Magma Rushed away, leaving the catfish a lovely mouthful of magma. Rika meanwhile fired her maneuvering thrusters as she bullet jumped forwards, avoiding being smashed but not splashed as she was sent tumbling by the wave kicked up by the big fish’s impact with the waters. That left her in prime position for the follow up, the tail slap, that sent her flying over to where Miss Fortune was, the ship girl crashing down into the rice paddy beside the pier.

Thanks to her ship-girl levels of durability, she was more banged up than busted, pulling herself up unsteadily out of the stalks.

She straightened, when Junior called out ”Afflatus Solace!” and expended the freshly grown blue lily on his healing gauge to restore her, before the prince also cast ”Cure!” to heal up Miss Fortune for good measure as he sailed over.

Behind him, Dazzle continued to pelt the fish with ineffective bubblebeams due to a lack of additional instructions, while the heavily bloodied whale opened its maw and spat a triple volley of skull and crossbone tagged bombs at the opposing sea creature.

Though Nadia’s regeneration had already begun to mend her wounds, the magical heal from Junior sped up the process considerable. In a flash, the feral was right as rain, blinking at the whimsical green wisps and sparkles that swirled around her. “Oh hey, thanks! Always knew I’d look good in heals.” After seeing that Rika had been helped as well, she turned her attention to the catfish. It returned fire while swimming away from the bombs, its water orbs sailing toward Dazzle and the white whale. Their shootout looked inconclusive, but it did give the Seekers a chance to jump back into the action.

Nadia’s mind raced as she tried to consider all the paw-sibilities. If the trio did too much damage to the beast, or outright killed it, there wouldn’t be any meat to send the Avenger. They needed to subdue it, but how? With a skull that thick, knocking it out would be impossible, even if they did pry the armor off. Then she remembered Junior’s electric paint–maybe, with enough lightning, they could zap it into submission? Either way, it was hard to get a hold of this thing while it was in its element. That, though, could be changed.

“Hey, conch sucker!” The feral jumped back onto the water, her rigging activated. A couple blood shots aimed right at the catfish’s eye got its attention. She then span in place, taunting it. “Water you waitin’ for? Come and get me!”

With a bellow, the monster briefly submerged, then launched itself out of the water in a full-body tackle, its huge bulk poised to smash the catgirl flat. Instead, the Harbor Demon manifested around Nadia, her huge clawed mitts raised around Nadia to block. The catfish slammed into the striker’s guard, but with her ordnance platform at her back, the Harbor Demon held fast. She grabbed the big fish by the jaws and pried them open as Nadia jumped up to grab the crane hooks from the ordnance platform, and before the beast knew what was going on, the feral had it hooked. “What’s the matter?” She teased. “Cat got your tongue?” With a tremendous heave, the Harbor Demon yanked the demon catfish from the pond. It flew through the air and crashed down in a much shallower rice paddy, out of its depth.

”Nice catch!”

Nadia waved goodbye to the Harbor Demon as she disappeared, then turned to her target. Yellow electricity crackled around her scars as she grinned ear to ear. “Fish on!”

Beside her, something else cracked with electricity, as Rika had summoned her Vespikan Ichor Queen, and the crimson scaled wasp was raising its towering cleaver to the sky, causing it to crackle with electricity, before it thrust it forwards to blast their foe with a lighting bolt. As it did so, the princess herself was busy tossing her spinner out to retrieve her wounded white whale, preferring to take it out of the fight rather than having to have her brother focus on healing it back up.

Freed from that concern, Jr called Dazzle to his side, prompting the seal to dive up onto the pier. Once there, he commanded his pokemon to ”Sing!” while he doubled this up with ”Repose!”, intending to put their fishy foe to sleep for a bit so they could close the gap after Rika’s striker’s lighting blast.

The lightning bolt shocked the catfish into action, prompting a flailing fit that would have walloped Nadia if she tried to go in, but the double sleep spell put an end to its tantrum. Overcome by sopor, the beast went limp. “Wow, nice!” Impressed by the pair’s teamwork, Nadia skated forward and hopped up the terrace tiers toward the fish. It had been enough time since her last Charge that she’d recovered her energy, leaving her fully juiced. “We wish you a merry fish-mas…” In a lightning-quick lightshow, she used Charge five times back-to-back, creating an electric star that left the catfish spasming. “...And a zappy new year!”

”Flank and zap!” Jr called over to his sister, as both surfed through the shallows, each priming a paint brush covered in electric goop to bring in more shocking power.



With her newly switched up weapon, Rika began swiping away with the brush in one hand, the other was held palm up to fire more shocking goop from her grizco blaster. On the other side, Jr slashed away with his own brush, while commanding Dazzle to use ”Disarming voice” to further fatigue the fish.

Although the catfish struggled mightily, its frenzied thrashing very dangerous, the Seekers’ strategy seemed to be working. The Koopa Kids coated it with electric sludge faster than it could wash or rub it off, and as it spent its strength, the damage kept piling up. Making the most of her limited lightning-aspected arsenal, Nadia kept up the pressure with a series of Smacks, Charges, and Batteries, all gleaned from her fusion with Cat-5. With her target stuck in waist-deep water and increasingly overwhelmed, both physically and mentally, the fight had become one-sided. If anything, the Seekers needed to take care to make sure they didn’t go overboard at this point. It wasn’t long before the demon catfish, too sore, exhausted, and numbed by electricity to keep fighting, finally gave in. It flopped down in the mucky rice paddy, alive but defeated, with smoke streaming from its scales.

Nadia slid to a stop and wiped her brow with the back of her hand, grateful for the temperate breeze. “Whew! Now that’s what I call a warm-up! High fives all around!” She skated around to Rika and Junior to slap their hands with hers, even giving Dazzle the chance to boop his snout against her palm (it made an amusing clown nose honk). Then she slapped the catfish for good measure. “The Lost Numbers are gonna be eatin’ good tonight! Now that we’ve done our good deed for the day, we can slack off to our hearts’ content, eh?” She chuckled as she pulled out a fulton, then stared at the briny beast with pursed lips. “Uh…might take more that one to airlift this guy, though.”

“Wait we’re not gonna eat it? Awww,” was Rika’s reply to this news, but she didn't actually nay-say the plan as she set about taking a Fulton from each of them and rigging the fish for it's first and last flight.

As she did that, jr healed everyone up back to full (including Rika”s whale) while he suggested “maybe they'll send us specifically some if we ask? we could send the armory lady a note or something?”

“Um…purr-obably!” Nadia hadn’t actually thought about how to get in touch with the Avenger if need be. If it came up, she’d probably just call Sandalphon and let the archangel figure it out. That’s what leaders are for, after all!

Once all three fultons were attached, one to the tail and another to each horn of its helmet, the packs popped open together. Their balloons inflated in an instant, heaving the heavy fish off the ground, and after another moment the beast shot skyward. Nadia watched it go, hands on her hips, until it disappeared from sight. Then, a couple seconds later, the smile faded from her face. “Oh, carp! We’re gonna be so far behind!” Her rigging activated, and the catgirl sped away across the rice paddies back toward the southern path. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

“You're on!” Jr called after her, before starting to magma rush after her, while Rika was briefly confused, before calling out “wait for me!” And then putting her pile of mobility fusion to work, bullet jumping, manuring thrusting and grapple hooking after them, giving both of the other two a real run for their money despite their headstarts.

The area was more than deserving of its name, with aureate rice and wheat nearly as far as the eye could see. It was made all the more beautiful by the still-rising sun that scattered speckles of light on the small streams that separated fields and paddies from each other. Though the Fields of Gold were far from the most outlandish areas Primrose had seen during her time this world, it was still quite the sight to take in. If anything, the more similar a place was to what was familiar to her, the more she could appreciate how lovely it was by contrast.

After hearing Sakura's explanation of everything, giving her own run down on what she knew, and making a note of Juri's input on one of Esaka's kings (as well as the way she'd delivered it, as the dancer was pretty sure she caught a hint of emotion all too familiar to her), the team got moving towards their destination per Pit's rallying. Naturally chatter loud and soft spread throughout the group, though unlike back on the Avenger (where Primrose had let Celica know there would be no hard feelings in taking over her previous roommate's bunk, and wished the other woman luck in her own mission as well), Primrose did not continue teasing Nadia or Zenkichi about their love lives. Neither seemed particularly easy to fluster, not that she would truly want to make them uncomfortable in the first place. Their relationships were cute to see, even if Primrose still didn't truly believe much good could come of it, regardless of what she'd learned about the nature of the Lost Numbers and the world. Of course she didn't tell either of them that - though she had made sure to playfully inform Zenkichi that if anything 'saucy' did happen, no one would know about it. She would certainly do a much better job keeping it a secret than most. Him especially.

She did chat a little more with Nadia until the feral got the bright idea to sail on the water, after which her conversation partner switched to Therion. That was more than fine, since the two could get a head start on their own plans.

"I figure we spend a day or two in Esaka at least, and if it's a bust head north again," Therion mused quietly. The signpost they passed mentioned a 'village of whispers,' and that probably had as much chance of being a wellspring of rumors and information being passed around as it did of being some haunted town... on second thought, with their luck, it was probably the latter. Maybe northwest, then.

"I agree." By sticking around for a little bit they would be able to tell, hopefully, if their time would be better put to use in the city or by chasing down any other leads outside of it. With both Sandalphon's communication sigils and the dainty long distance linkpearls, even if the duo split up from the rest they could be called back if needed. Though on that note... "We'll have to see about arranging some faster transportation if we leave, however."

If any emergency came up, it wouldn't do to have to run back on foot. Therion nodded his head, though he didn't seem all that concerned. "I'm sure there's a few horses we can 'borrow' around here."

Primrose's mouth curled slightly in amusement. "It would be a little harder to keep a low profile when taking something that big." If Esaka was anything like Meridi-at-Han and the rest of the Forbidden Kingdom so far, then a horse would be an expensive asset anyone would hate to lose. Of course, after their angelic co-captain brought up disguises, that would be an option to avoid unwanted attention. She knew that Therion was fairly good at them, and she'd always somewhat enjoyed the thought of acting the part of a dashing rogue herself.

Another thought came to mind regarding another place mentioned on the post. "Did I mention to you that I made an acquaintance that lives in the plateau in this region? Perhaps we could pay her a visit."

There was allegedly a wealth of food in that area, and Kayna's raptor had been extremely swift. It wouldn't be a bad idea to see what they could find out there, or else stock up on a few things and procure a monster like that for travel.

"..."

After not getting a response, Primrose turned to glance at Therion. Either he had chosen not to reply or he hadn't heard her - and based on the slightly pinched expression on his face and the way his feline ears stood tall and alert on his head, she guessed it was the latter.

"What is it?" she asked, voice a little louder. One of her friend's ears twitched in her direction, but he kept his eyes on the landscape ahead of them. The more civilization they encountered, the more the houses and dirt roads seemed to stick out to Therion. It was hard to tell why, though. There didn't seem to be anything sinister about them, and as far as he knew he'd never been to this area before.

Something about it bothered him, and Primrose could tell that too. And yet all he could say in reply was, "...it's nothing."

Because it really was nothing. The simple clay and wood houses, the crop fields and the scarecrows that protected them, the misty mountains in the distance, the garments of the few friendly people they passed... it should all mean nothing to him. But it did, somehow. There was something familiar about them, in a bad way. Like he'd had some kind of premonition about them... or a dream.

Or a memory.

Therion's jaw tightened. That was it, he remembered now. The nightmare of blood and lightning, which he'd learned had most likely been a vision of a past life. The scenery wasn't exactly the same, but it was similar enough that uneasiness radiated off of the thief when he realized it. The fur of his tail bristled out slightly before smoothing back down as he worked not to alert the rest of the group to his sudden tension. At best they'd shrug it off, and at worst it would set the Seekers on edge for no reason. If something more substantial happened he'd warn them, but until then he was going to keep the fact that he'd apparently lived and died in an area like this before to himself.

Primrose had been the only one he'd told about the dream before, though she wasn't a mind reader. She looked at him with a questioning gaze, but Therion gave her a minute shake of his head. For now, it really was nothing. She took the hint and didn't inquire any further.

Oblivious to his comrade's uneasiness, partly because he'd been alternating between walking at the head of the group and trying to get a higher vantage point then gliding back to the rear of the party, was Pit. He'd taken note of everyone who expressed interest in Esaka's tournaments, and everyone who hadn't. Once they actually reached the city he'd get a better sense of what actions the group could take, and what orders he'd give to who. He was also aware enough to realize that a few Seekers would most likely blatantly disregard anything he said to them even as a suggestion, but he'd deal with that when it came up. There were also other things to think about, like where they'd stay, how'd they pay for things, how they'd try and move around and do everything they needed to without drawing too much attention to themselves... or at least to their real identities, since being sneaky wasn't really Pit's style. Plus there was the whole public hierarchy thing.

"If everyone in Esaka's as fighting-crazy as Sakura says, there's no way we're gonna be able to avoid joining in some tourneys," Pit said after Band mentioned it would be better not to get involved if possible. For one, they had their own fighting-crazy Seekers, and for two if they were recognized as powerful participants then they'd probably have more sway in the city, and could find things way easier! It would be two birds with one stone, ranking up and making their way to the top while getting access to more information and money at the same time. At least, that was what Pit assumed.

Plus he thought tournaments were fun.

For now they still had to make it to Esaka. On the way there, though Pit kind of wanted to explore some, he decided to be at least a little responsible and stick with the larger group on the beaten path. He also figured that there couldn't be that many hidden goodies or dangers around since the area was so wide open for miles and miles. He could see pretty far, and even farther if he leapt as high into the sky and got an aerial view. Which he did, a few times, his stronger wings taking him up higher and holding him in the air for longer before he inevitably drifted back down to the earth.

This place would have been great to fly around over, Pit thought. He could have gotten a lay of the land much more easily, better scout ahead for the rest of the Seekers and keep an eye on the ones that split up, see anything suspicious coming for them sooner... but, he couldn't. Though he hoped he would be able to soon enough, even if it was just waiting for whenever his goddess figured out the logistics.

"Everything seems pretty clear for now," he remarked after his latest look ahead from the air. "Except I think someone's broken down up the road?"

Though his warning came too late for the few that had decided to jet forward on vehicles or their own legs. Eh, they'd see it soon enough. So would the main group as long as they stuck to the path. He didn't think it would end up being much of an issue. After a few moments though he broke into a jog so as not to be too outpaced by those that had gone ahead.

Amaterasu looked rather pointedly at Harry while her true name was explained by Pit, hoping he’d get that she very much preferred it over the silly fake name he’d given her. Or snowball. Honestly Dog Mullens had been better than Snowball, at least it was just sort of nonsensical instead of incredibly ironically antithetical to her nature.

The rest of the info given out was popped away for later analysis, as was making any judgments on the others. Actions spoke louder than words and appearance, and so she’d wait to see what kind of people the rest of the Gold Team were before passing value judgment.

At least one pair quite quickly got said value judgment, however, namely the shortest members (possibly children??) who deployed a large metal machine, and promptly took up the entire road using it, the grumbling metal thing dumping vial smog out of the back of two metal pipes on its back.

She tried to put up running after the tractor shaped metal attacker (not that she knew what any of those things were) for a bit, before swiftly getting frustrated and vaulting the thing, much to the chagrin of its driver, who yelled and shook a fist at her.

She ignored him, only to then find herself being chased by the machine and forced to either get off the road or race ahead of it lest it simply run her over.

Very rude and childish.

Naturally she kept one paw step ahead of it, up until they nearly collided with the broken down cart. Amatarasu herself skidded to a halt, and then, worried that the children were simply going to ram into the back of the stuck vehicle, prepared to try and sundisk parry the incoming machine.

Fortunately, it stopped just in time, preventing an accident, after which the kids promptly abandoned their machine to go sailing on the water instead.

As Amatarasu fumed, she heard a polite voice softly calling “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, but could you help me out? The wheel’s broken and-” after the children, only for them to ignore her and race off to meet up with the cat lady, resulting in an addition of a sad “oh. Never mind”

The source of this voice turned out to be the owner: a pointy eared woman clutching her side in clear pain as she leaned around her stuck cart and over the low stone walls flanking the road she was blocking.

She sighed, and then started as she saw the white wolf peering at her between the thin gap in between the wall and the cart’s back wheel.

“Oh. Ah. Hello? Nice doggy?” she said, clearly just a little nervous about this large predator, prompting the goddess to give her some intentional tail wags to dissuade these worries as she inspected the wheel. About a quarter of its circumference was off, and several spokes broke entirely, which would be a pain to fix.

For mortals.

The divine wolf simply paused the world, and painted in what was missing, carefully and methodically completing the circle before adding back in the spokes, and then let time resume as her miracle came to fruition.

In a blink and a swirl of ink, the broken cartwheel was whole once more.

The amazed milkmaid placed a hand over her mouth as she gasped, before glancing around in confusion as to the source of this miracle, before turning back Amatarasu’s way and asking “was that you?”

Not to the wolf, but to the dancer who’d appeared just a moment before the miracle when the armory return sequence the kids had left on the tractor finished, sending it away and ending its own blockade of the road.

Indeed, while some Seekers found alternate paths and wasted no time in following them, Primrose kept to the simple straightforward path. She'd been content with a steady pace, though once Pit had mentioned a breakdown ahead of them and Therion had seemingly noticed something that made him less inclined to talk with her as he'd rather remain quiet, she had given the latter some space and quickened her steps.

And now that Primrose stood before the woman and her miraculously repaired wagon, the dancer blinked at the wheel, the milk maiden, and the wolf at her feet. Pit had said the animal was a goddess, and though she hadn't totally believed him, well... She was fairly sure no one in the group had the ability to instantly fix things like that, so it had to have been one of the new recruits. And in that case, why not it be the allegedly divine canine?

"I believe that may have been our wolf here," she said. If it hadn't been, she was sure whoever was really responsible would correct her. She did glance down at Amaterasu to see if she could tell though.

The wolf, after a moment, barked once for yes. Then she hopped up into the air, and then double jumped over the low wall and landed on a meter wide lilypad floating in the rice paddy that had not been there a moment ago.

It supported her weight without issue, as did the two others that sprung up one after the other, creating a handy path around the stuck cart wish she traipsed along and then leapt off of to get to the other side.

“Oh my” the milkmaid said, having seen all this due to still having been leaning over the wall, before stepping back just in time to let the entirely dry wolf plop down beside her. Convinced of Ammatarasu’s supernatural nature if not of any kind of divinity, she gave a short bow as she said “Thank you so much, miss wolf”

Primrose followed after Amaterasu, though she opted just to float up and slightly over the wall until she was also at the front of the cart with the wolf and woman. Her gaze slid to the latter's side where she was favoring it with a hand gently pressed to her abdomen. "You're hurt?"

She raised a hand to beckon the stranger closer. The flame of Warmth blossomed in that same outstretched hand, emitting a soothing glow as she gently pressed it over the girl's injury.

Once the healing was complete, a fairly quick process, Primrose withdrew her arm. "You're part way to getting back on the road already, so why don't we see what else needs fixing up..."

She glanced at the wolf again, as if to ask for her to inspect the wagon, its cargo, and the mule's harness with whatever power she'd previously used.

“Oh my goddesses, thank you so much! That was really smarting” the milkmaid replied, rubbing the magically healed injury as if to double check that it really was all sorted. “I hope it isn’t too much trouble to ask, but my poor mule sprained his leg too. I don’t suppose you could also...?”

Said mule was looking a tad bit nervous about the wolf, even if his owner seemed fine, and Amaterasu had backed off a bit in order to give it space, even as she padded to and fro to check that everything was in order with the cart, just as Primrose had suggested. The dancer herself approached the beast of burden once it had calmed down some, placing her hand on its shoulder to push the healing spell into it.

"Hopefully this gets you moving again," she said, both to the donkey and the milk maid. The statement was only half altruistic - after all, there was a fairly sizable group that needed to take the road... though to be fair, with the giant lilypads still floating on the water, a few had already gone around once they'd arrived on the scene - such as Therion, who nimbly hopped from one to the other and then vaulted the wall to continue on.

Pit had opted to simply leap over the cart with his wings, landing lightly on the other side with only a glance back at the girl and her wagon. Since it seemed like Amaterasu and Primrose had helping out handled, he gave the two of them a wave and then sped ahead to act as a scout.

“It will it will, thank you so much, let me just get old Grumblers back in the harness and we’ll be on our way” she replied with an appreciative nod, before setting about doing just that.

"...Amaterasu?" Primrose questioned once she was finished, carefully pronouncing it the first time as she'd done with a few of the other Seekers' names.

The wolf’s ears perked up at her name before she glanced over and up at the helpful healer.

If Amaterasu really was a goddess, then likening her to animals like Linde was probably blasphemous. But that was Primrose's frame of reference. Linde was such a smart creature that she could understand most human speech, and so Primrose just spoke to the wolf as she would another person.

"I trust everything else is in order?"

The goddess gave a (not very enthusiastic) bark for yes, having done some little patch jobs that weren't really noticeable, but otherwise found everything just fine.

“It is, yes. Only a little bit of spilled milk,” the milkmaid, who had assumed she was talking to her, not having really internalized that the wolf was magic. Rather than correct and potentially embarrass the poor girl, Primrose smoothly nodded to Amaterasu and then turned a small smile on the woman they'd helped in one fluid motion.

Sat atop the seat of the wagon, reins in hand, she seemed ready to go. “would you care for a ride, miss? It's the least I can do.”

"How could I refuse such a kind offer?"

The dancer climbed aboard, taking the seat beside the maiden. Though she may have healed the girl and her mule, she had hardly done all the work... so after a glance back down at the white wolf, and some of the other Seekers nearby, she asked, "would you mind giving a lift to a few more of my group as well?"

Not enough to overload the cart, of course, considering how heavy some among the Seekers were let alone the sheer number of them... but since they and the girl were all headed the same way... well, given that she wouldn't even be able to go anywhere soon if not for the helpful passersby, the milkmaid was more than happy to extend the offer to her saviors' friends as well.

"Sakura, Juri?" Primrose called as she turned around to invite them for a ride as well. She didn't know the two of them that well, but since Nadia and Rika had gone off on the water they were the only other women in the group at the moment, and so the only two that the dancer extended the offer to. Well, besides Amaterasu, though whether the wolf preferred to walk on her own paws or hop into the back of the wagon was her choice. Of course it wasn't Primrose's cart, so if its owner didn't complain then she could hardly stop any of the men from hitching a ride if they were so inclined.

After a moment Primrose turned back to their new acquaintance and casually inquired, "where are you headed?"

“Esaka,” she replied, flicking the reins and getting the accidental roadblock moving once more “It's a hungry city. Those fighting fanatics need their protein and our farm is happy to provide”

"How fortunate," Primrose replied lightly. It likely wouldn't come as a surprise that anyone traveling this road would be headed to what appeared to be one of the largest cities in the area, so she didn't disguise the fact they were traveling in the same direction.

As the two ladies talked, Amatarasu had been busy fixing the road beneath them as well, scribbling away with her ink to repair the local public infrastructure to prevent any repeat incidents, leaving the pair, and any who joined them, with a smooth off ramp and begin their journey. Only then did she join them for a ride, settling down behind the pair, curling up for a rest, though keeping one eye open, watching the road and periodically filling in potholes and other minor hazards with her brush as they traveled forwards.

As Pelican-1 touched down within the Frozen highlands, Geralt made his way out of the ship after a few of the others. His padding would help keep the chill off his skin, but the metal armor he wore over it wouldn’t do him many favors in this environment. A few of the others had their ways of keeping warm, but for Geralt at least, Edward’s flaming weapon enchantment would keep hypothermia at bay. He’d manage the discomfort for a while, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up a scarf or an overcoat of some sort. Sandalphon was already working on that, so after her briefing on their objectives, Geralt piped up.

“I can try to get some information from the locals. Local tavern ought to at least have an idea on how to avoid Baldur if he wanders around this frozen hell. Then we just do the exact opposite of what they say to do.” It was a fairly simple plan, but if it proved insufficient there was plenty more he could do. “As for the mistletoe, it’s fairly distinct. Small, teardrop-shaped green leaves with tiny white berries. It’s parasitic, growing typically on trees in areas with good amounts of sunlight. On the Continent, it was fairly commonly grown by herbalists for use in medicine and poisons, even dyes. Don’t be surprised if you get a funny look asking after it.”

His part done on informing the group about their proverbial silver dagger, Geralt gestured his head over to the town. “Gonna ask around about Baldur. See if anybody is willing to help a poor, weary traveler avoid the dangerous madman wandering these parts.” He smirked as he turned away from the group, slowly making his way towards Grillby’s and leaving plenty of time for a second to join him. He had no illusions that the locals would see him as dangerous as he was, carrying four swords and wearing half a suit of plate mail. Still, any warrior worth his salt ought to know a fight worth avoiding, and one against an immortal man who slew all he fought was that if any was. He could wear one of the outfits he’d gotten, but they all looked even less pleasant to wear in this weather, so he’d risk it.

Opening the door to the pub, Geralt stepped inside to looks from the locals. He paid them little mind, making his way to the barman, a dapperly-dressed humanoid made entirely of fire. He’d seen plenty of strange things in the World of Light, but…a person literally made entirely out of fire was not one of them. “Morning.” He greeted simply, taking an empty seat. “Just a coffee, please. Though, could use a word of advice if you have one to spare.” He set down twice as much gold as was needed for the drink before continuing. “Heard there’s some madman wanders round these parts, fighting and killing folk that get in his way. What would be the best way to avoid running into him, aside from just staying indoors the whole time? Got places to see, and can’t afford to wait too long.”

Sectonia wasn't a fan of needing to be squeezed into a ship that could barely fit everyone, but the ride was short and they found themselves on the outskirts of a town named Snowdin in the hinterlands. Much like Sectonia asked, Edward traded for his ring so Sectonia didn't have to worry too much about the cold. At least until she found a more permanent solution. Regardless, to help everyone else as people started to break off into pairs, she summoned her fire antlers to follow Edward, Roxas, and Celica. They'd offer an aura of warmth around them to help stave off the cold, although they were pretty slow.

Alongside Geralt, Sectonia offered to look for information about the area, perhaps even some rumors on the guardian. She wasn't entirely confident she'd find anything about the latter... The people here were welcoming but probably unaware of what that thing was. So at first Sectonia decided to check out the mislabeled library. Maybe there were some things about the local area but after checking out a few books; having her ice antlers bring her books as she couldn't fit comfortably in the building before returning them; she found they weren't all that useful. Well, they WERE useful, but not for their current mission.

She learned a lot about some of the various worlds that got fused, including one that verified one of the outlandish stories Bowser had been bragging about which more... spooked Sectonia more than anything. Defeating the Dark Star that could destroy the world and take over the galaxy? That felt more like a hero story than anything, but that did confirm one of his stories to a T and it was clear he didn't write it so... what else was true? hm...

The second book was about some myth about an angel coming to save or destroy the underground. Considering they had already dealt with that 'angel', Sectonia only skimmed this book. She had absorbed that 'angel' after all, so she was living that legend. The third book she picked out was another vague mythological tale about 7 powerful emeralds that if brought together could change the universe and make thoughts real. Being as vague as the second book, Sectonia took it with a grain of salt but she figured that perhaps these were things to look out for. Wait, that being said, didn't she see one of those once?

The final book she picked out was another legend, but much more detailed than the others almost like a midground between the first and second. It mentioned a hero of time clad in green that struck down the king of evil, born from the wrath of an ancient demon. Eventually that king rose again leading to the gods drowning the world. Considering the pictures in the book, that king looked like Ganondorf but different. Perhaps what Midna had been going about was true, but what she said was vastly different from what was in this book, and even different from how Ganondorf acted so... Were there multiple versions of him running around?

If she had more time, she'd read more and more of these books. She had gained some interesting insights, but time wasn't on her side right now. Instead she decided to ask one of the two people that were outside in this cold. Seeing how one of them was at the edge of town, under a book, perhaps he had a lot of knowledge about the comings and goings of the area? While she didn't care for his looks, Sectonia knew a town of monsters wouldn't have many good lookers.

Moving to the campfire at the edge of Snowdin, Sectonia went to get some information from Soulfisher. Upon reaching him and his book hut, Sectonia let out a cough, that cough that noble ladies knew how to do to get attention in order to wake him. Unfortunately, her exhalation seemed to brook no response. For the moment the strange fellow, with his tall pointed hat and skeletal blue face, remained as cold and lifeless as the dying embers of his campfire.

Since his campfire seemed to be going out, Sectonia figured that, perhaps he'd react to her lighting it again? Using her fire breath, she spit a few fireballs at the campfire to relight it. The tinder caught fire readily, almost greedily, bursting into a bright, dancing flame. Its warmth radiated into the Soulfisher's body, and right away he raised his bowed head. "Uuuuuuooooogh...." he yawned, stretching creaky, spindly limbs. "Fire?" His voice was dry and aged, with a distinct southern twang. His empty sockets marveled at the little inferno by his feet. "Well, hey! I'd almost forgotten how it felt." Looking over at Sectonia, he seemed to read her at a glance, and tipped his hat in respect. "And salutations, good lady. Fancy meetin' someone like you here."

While he looked a bit ghastly, he had proper manners so Sectonia would reply in kind. "Hello. I am new to town. I see that you live here outside town. Any particular reason for that?"

"Oh, I don't live here, ma'am." The Soulfisher shook his head. "Matter of fact, I don't live much of anywhere. I just wander down the road from place to place, 'til my spark dies down and I put up my feet. Can't even rightly say where I'm headed. The Midnight Walk has a mind of its own, see. And a mind to teach its walkers a thing or two, to boot!"

"Hm... I see. In your travels, have you run into anything noteworthy? Anything around town I should know about?"

The wanderer glanced over at Snowdin. "Noteworthy? Of course. More than I could tell. But around here?" He scratched at his neck. "Warm beds. Hot cocoa. Open doors and hearts. Nothin' more and nothin' less. Simple and everyday things, but in a world like this? Worth more than gold." His gaze returned to Sectonia. "If you ain't from around here, I reckon you'll be movin' on soon too. Headed to Moon Mountain, where everyone's Midnight Walk does lead."

He extended a bony arm. Miles and miles and miles away, in the northwest, a lone mountain loomed over the landscape. A splash of gray silhouetted its pointy peak against the night-dark sky, as well as the enormous, pitted sphere that floated, motionless, above it. It possessed an ominous, abnormal menace, even from such a great distance. "Some folks call it Dragonspine, mind you. Others, just 'the mountain'." The Soulfisher shrugged. "Course, not everyone walks the walk. And not everyone who walks it reaches the end. Nevertheless, there it is. Waitin'." His empty sockets blinked. "Waitin'..."

"I see... What is waiting? a creature?" Sectonia asked. She also wouldn't be against hearing what other things he said. A traveler who makes it their mission to travel were often wellsprings of information.

"Why, Moon Mountain itself!" The Soulfisher chuckled. "A sight like that...if that ain't an open invitation, I don't know what is!" He crossed his arms. "If you're curious what you'll find there, well. Sounds like you better start walkin'. Or...flappin', as it were." After breathing in, he extended his hands toward the fire. Evidently this wanderer was in no rush to move on.

"If you have any other stories of what you've seen, feel free to share. I've got some time."

"Hah! Better listen up then," the Soulfisher replied. He began to ramble, spinning a long yarn about various stories he'd seen and heard during his travels, from the tale of the Nobodies' schism after their conquest of the Molgrims to the tale of a giant craftsman who created his daughters from clay. His stories lacked connective fiber, or clues about the Seekers' mission, but if nothing else they were rather entertaining. Sectonia made sure to keep the campfire lit and warm as she gathered this information. Sure she knew some would be useless, others wouldn't be coherent, but much like the books, there would be nuggets of proper information within the rambling nonsense.

Blazermate meanwhile went with to look for stuff for everyone. Although she was a bit without direction as outside of healing or fighting she really just went with the flow. As she lazily flew through the air, she saw an interesting thing, an abandoned manor up on the hill! That might have something! Although she'd need to find someone that'd be up to going up there with her as she wouldn't feel comfortable doing it alone. Maybe she could ask around and see which seeker would be up to going there with her?

---

Roland was indifferent to the hellpod drop. It was weird, but it wasn't unpleasant. Although his body shape was the prefect type for these pods, unlike say Band who just barely fit. They were dropped a bit away from their destination, so they had some time to go. Being a city person, such a wide area really wasn't something he was used to. It was... nice... though, all things considered. Roland didn't really do all that much but take a look around, following Nadia around as she seemed to know a bit more about what was going on maybe? That or she was just as lost as Roland was.

Having a bit more trouble getting around the water than the girl with boat powers, Roland was a bit late at her idea of taking down a giant fish for food. Maybe it was for the best, they didn't' need his help and he got time to relax. Well, as relaxed as you can be trying to move around so many water features.

---

Ramattra was no Omnic who was afraid of the cold and the harsh winter of the humble area he had been wading through for hours. After all, a lifetime of training under the Omnic Monastery had gotten his circuits accustomed to freezing temperatures. Spending your entire consciousness atop a freezing mountain would do that to anyone. His artificial breath, the heat from his wires and electronic core, permeated the steam as the shuffling sound of snow and slush mushed and mashed underneath his robotic footprints. How long had he been travelling for now? While Omnics were entirely self-sustaining machines, he began to feel tired from the long distances he had been traveling, and there hadn’t been a single soul for miles and miles. He needed a break, after all, as a roaming monk, he didn’t know when his next one would be.

This was no longer the Omnic discontent with human existence; in fact, he seemed to encompass more of his previous ideology than anything else. It appeared in his gleaming form that he served more purpose as a monk than as a liberator of Omnics. Ramattra was, of course, entirely unaware of this change to his core values, his memory a muddled mess of stitched-together experiences shaping this fragment of the omnic he used to be. He looked backwards from his path, examining the direction he had just come from. A flurry of snow brightened the deep-colored cloudy landscape, giving him some visibility across the harshness he had faced the days prior. If it weren’t for the fact that he was gleaming, the crushing realization that he had been traveling endlessly in a straight line through snow would have hit him harder than any OR14 unit could punch him.

The Omnic was clad in a Traditional Omnic Monk Robe, which, while for him only served cosmetic purposes, definitely appeared more on the comfortable and warmer side for any fleshier individuals. This robe was gifted to him by the Omnic Monk Mondatta, who was the leader of the Shambali, the order of Omnic Monks that Ramattra studied under. It symbolizes his attachment to the order and serves as a reminder of his indoctrination in this unusual world.

Although his travels seemed long and drawn out, they were not without an end objective. Ramattra had heard word of a Monastery near these parts, though had only been given guidance through word of mouth and basic directions to landmarks nearby. He had been unsure of where else to go. With no other current motives, it only seemed natural to try returning to a lifestyle he felt was natural, and maybe in some way, that would return him to the path he had walked before losing his memories and becoming a shell of the Omnic he used to be. With nowhere else to go other than forward, Ramattra returned his gaze to the path ahead, hoping to see some sign of civilization soon.

After what seemed like an even longer travel distance, and passing by what appeared to be a crumpled wordsearch for children, it seems Ramattra’s silent prayers were swiftly answered, because the minute doubt lifted into his head, he found a small area of residence in the near distance, a sort of Christmas town by the appearance of green and red lights among assorted colors. The Omnic sighed in relief. Rest was soon to come his way just as he had wished, and maybe he could find some directions towards the nearby Monastery, or perhaps find some other call to action until he sorted himself out. With some newfound motivation, he held his head high, now having something to look forward to.

Ramattra’s main concern was not with finding food like any living person would, but rather to find quick and suitable lodging to rest from his long journey. There was a silent doubt in his mind that this town seemed too small to consider lodging, however, the looming manor in the distance certainly served to prove that maybe this town had been some point of interest other than just a small landmark. What kind of nobility would require such a grand building, and why did it appear so unkempt? His gaze turned to the sky as a large carrier of some kind approached from the opposite direction.

The Omnic had arrived in town conveniently at the same time as a large vehicle had released a small group of about a dozen passengers varying in size and shape, some human, some not. Unlike the group that arrived, Ramattra did not have the honor of knowing the town’s name, courtesy of the town sign being only on the western side. It occurred to Ramattra that he could gather information from this crew and figure out the layout of the area around him. After closing in on the small village, Ramattra sighed in disappointment, as it quickly came to his realization that this was some sort of recon team- looking for something rather than knowing where to find it. They asked around and collected resources, the same as he would be doing very shortly. Lodging seemed more important than interacting with this group at this realization, then, when he stood still to examine the group from a safer distance, something caught his attention: a figure, robotic in appearance. Was this… Another Omnic? In this part of the world? Or was it simply a human servant, the same as many non-Omnics found themselves to be?

With calm haste, Ramattra approached Blazermate along with her two other companions. “Excuse me for a moment. A word if you may.” He announced to the group in a stoic and staticky voice, just loud enough for them to hear from his current location. The snow made it hard to see, but as he closed the distance between the two, perhaps too late in the matter, he realized that this was no Omnic model he recognized, and therefore was likely not an Omnic in the first place. It was great that Ramattra was not the type to get embarrassed by an error like this, and he cooly corrected the mistake. “Er. That would be my error. I had mistaken you for somebody else.” His voice seemed to radiate heat despite being a machine, as the air around his mouth steamed with each word. Ramattra felt lucky he could lie due to his sentience, though it probably made little difference given the circumstances.

The Omnic seemed collected despite having approached a stranger and lied through his teeth to them. Maybe he could still make the most out of this situation. It wouldn’t hurt to at the very least figure out what the group was doing in Snowdin. “You wouldn’t… Happen to know where I am, would you? I’ve been searching for a Monastery for weeks with only failure.” Ramattra seemed… lost. Not just in the physical sense, but it appeared like his… well… everything was lost, a clear side effect of the gleaming. While sentiments were never something Ramattra particularly cared for, he knew that kindness could get him what he needed. “My apologies. I haven’t properly introduced myself. I am the monk Ramattra under the Shambali Monastery. While my motives here are my own, it is a… pleasure... to be in your acquaintance.” His hesitancy of kindness would be easy to note. Ramattra always seemed to have a sour tone towards those he distrusts. The Omnic would offer a low bow to the group, which almost seemed more automatic rather than out of respect. If there were doubt a robot could be a monk, the gesture certainly put that idea to rest…

Thankful that nobody pressed him further about J, Zenkichi ambled along the path, taking in the sights. It was a nice, peaceful place that was reminiscent of rural Japan. The gentle breeze was nice, too, though his new tunic was thankfully more breathable than his suits were. The focus sash, which he’d tied to his wrist under the tunic, was a bit uncomfortable at first, but already growing on him. The constant sense of reassurance was like a wedding band. Took a bit to get used to, and once you were, you never wanted to be without it.

The thought meandered back to Sandalphon, and her adorable heart-eye reaction to his peck on the cheek. The feeling over her cool skin against his hand still lingered, as if his skin wouldn’t let him forget the feeling before they met again. His mind meandered from there to what was said about Amaterasu, and the implications of that. As far as he was aware, the sun god had never appeared in the form of a wolf, but then again, as far as he was aware, Bowser and Pikachu were fictional characters so he wasn’t gonna think about it too hard. Amaterasu was a Japanese sun god. That was…

A little brain-melting, to be frank. Yes, he’d heard of Pit’s goddess, Palutena, but they were from a straight-up fantasy world, just like Sandalphon. He wasn’t sure how active her goddess was in her world, but on Earth, kami were…usually not physically present anymore. If you even truly believed in them, their influence was historical or ephemeral, not…literally there and making miracles happen in front of your very eyes. For heaven’s sake, a cat that hung around a train station had been elevated to kami status! Not that he was insulting the great and venerable Tama-san, but…it was extremely strange to him to see a goddess in person, in the flesh, even with how common they could be in Japan. The fact that he could feel something from Amaterasu didn’t help. It was the tiniest inkling, the littlest light in his soul, but part of him was drawn to protect her. And it wasn’t just because she was a wolf (not a dog, she was very much too large to be a mere dog) or a fellow Seeker.

No, he felt something more than that. There was some kind of natural bond drawing him to her, which found him walking carefully at the back of the group and contemplating it, while he could keep the others in sight. One of those Spirits had given an angelic vibe, but he hadn’t contemplated their appearances too much before fusing with them. The only negative side-effect he could think of so far was that his abilities felt more draining, but that wasn’t a terrible price to pay.

So it was that he watched the divine wolf chase after Bowser’s kids (And that was still so weird) in their vehicle, eventually hopping over it and stopping with Primrose to assist a cart that had broken down, repairing the vehicle in the blink of an eye while the dancer stopped to heal her horse. He stood back, looking back down the road they’d come from for any threats or fellow travellers so he could stop them before they hit the cart.

Once the repairs were complete, he continued along, silently walking a short distance behind the ambling cart. He hoped he didn’t give the woman driving the cart too many nerves, though he was sure Primrose or the others would explain him away if she did. If she grew accustomed to the presence of a wolf, it was unlikely she’d be more nervous about a quiet man who appeared unarmed walking towards the city known for people engaging in recreational combat.

Juri had her arms lifted, hands together behind her head as she looked unaround, unimpressed, by the ‘Fields of Gold’. It was a muddy farm. Like, whatever. The path in front of them was narrow as hell. She thought about going around, as she didn’t care that much about getting dirty. Then again she didn’t care much about getting there fast right now, either.

Juri was in one of her more apathetic moods, apparently. Long walks never did her energy levels any favors. So she started walking. When she came across the broken cart, she casually parkoured over it without so much as a glance towards the milkmaid. On the other side, she saw the path ahead was rather unobstructed. A long narrow runway. It was hard to resist. Juri started running, speeding down the path towards Esaka.

As she did, she decided to let her Stealth kick in. Her natural sprinting speed gained a considerable speed boost, and it became a little game to avoid tripping over the walls. The power of invisibility was surprisingly liberating. Juri had the thought to seek out more forms of it, maybe one that wasn’t as noisy to people nearby. Juri smiled to herself, pleased at being a whispering ghost, skimming across the dirt trail. Maybe she should take up haunting as a new hobby.

---

After explaining everything she could, Pit, the leader, took over. Sakura gave Pit-kun a little salute. He looked a little young, but wasn’t he also an angel? That definitely counted for something. Regardless, if he was the leader, he was the leader.

Sakura was eager to get to the city, so she wasn’t going to let herself get distracted by who knows what. Besides, she wasn’t that interested in walking around in a field anyway. She waved Rika, Junior, and Nadia off. Then she hefted her backpack over her shoulders and got to jogging.

They came upon a broken cart, which their new giant wolf companion promptly fixed. When Primrose said the wolfs name, Sakura blinked a few times. ”Mm!” She made a harsh humming noise, and looked over to Zenkichi with wide eyes.

”...Nooo. No way.” She said, shaking her head and smiling. Someone just named their magical wolf after the sun goddess, that was all. Or she was from another world. If they had an actual goddess on their team, this whole journey of theirs was going to get way too easy. Besides, the real Amaterasu probably wouldn’t have gotten scooped up by some false sun, Galeem.

Sakura followed behind the ambling cart, a skip in her step.

”Do you think I could learn a dance like that, Primrose-san?” Sakura asked, though the way she asked it was just into the very air itself, like she didn’t even expect an answer. The thought had just occurred spontaneously in her head, and so she said it out loud. ”A healing dance that really heals creatures and people. That’s really cool.”

As she spoke, her eyes were drawn to the various people near them, and the incredible vistas in the difference. Like some kind of crazy floating palace. She had said this before- one thing to the World of Light’s credit: It was beautiful and full of wonder.

Word Count: 754
Level: Lv: 6 EXP: (3/60)
Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Fields of Gold

“Aye aye, Captain Armpit.” Harry said, saluting Pit. Following the others into the pods being prepared for the next mission. He started to feel claustrophobic getting into the pod and travelling to the next location. He started to sweat profusely and was screaming at the top of his lungs. After they had landed, Harry joined Band outside of the pod. He got on his knees trying to regain his bearings. “Oh god…that was terrible..” He said in a whisper.

Harry looked around and started scanning the surrounding area, feeling overjoyed by such a beautiful field. This was a better change of pace than being in a dank cave and spooky monster-filled mansions. Harry’s hand moved along the grass that was around him. Being reminded of when he was a child and would play outside at a nearby field. Slowly standing up and joining the others. “A tournament? Sounds like fun.” He said, hearing a voice add to the conversation.

“You’d kick everyones’s ass and win that tournament. You should join.”Physical Instrument said.

Harry rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and dress shirt to reveal his muscular arm, showing off by flexing it. He thought highly of his fighting prowess. He had gotten into fights many times before, half of which he had won. However, he would always say he won these fights if people asked. However, Band made a good point about not being distracted and focusing on the mission. Harry rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and dress shirt.

“Ah, you're no fun. We could run into these guys if we join this tournament.” Harry said. The names of the people didn’t seem familiar to him. “We can start snooping around for information. And see if we find anything. Does that sound like a good plan, Commander Spits?” The detective said, turning to the angel. Once he got an answer from Pit, he followed the others. At most, he thought he could find some alcohol to help with his withdrawal. A voice speaking to him, telling him to stop drinking and to soldier through the withdrawal. His eyes noticed the wagon, which was broken down on the road. He was always inclined to help someone in need.

The sloppy-looking detective walked over to the side of the wagon with whoever was going to assist, listening to them and the reason their cart was parked on the side of the road. A broken wheel is a common enemy for commuters driving to work. He often had to fix a wheel or the engine of his Coupris Kineema. “Hi, kid, I know something about fixing a car wheel. Let me have a look at it.” Harry smiled at the children. Flashing his yellow teeth at them, the smile, although friendly, could be perceived as scary. He walked towards the cart and studied how to solve the problem. But it looked like Amy had used her godly powers to place another wheel on the cart.

“Yeah, kid, she’s a goddess with many cool powers. She’s got this brush that can create stuff out of thin air.” Harry said, correcting the kid and pointing towards the wolf. “She’s also my partner, ain’t that right Detective Amy. Sorry i forgot to introduce myself. I'm Detective Harry Dubois. But you xan just call me Harry.” Harry smiled at the wolf, saying this as a mild jest. Smiling as Primrose performed some healing. Whistling loudly while placing his hand on Primrose’s shoulder. “Good job, kiddo.” He said, patting her shoulder before sliding it down to his side. Walking along the wagon, he spoke up when the subject of hitching a ride was brought up.

“I don’t mind walking along the wagon. I’m sure the rest of ya would want to trek to Esaka.” Harry said, thinking of him being prepared for a fight based on what the milkmaid had told him about the city's inhabitants. With whatever they decided, he would start walking towards the city.

He looked at the quiet man. After a bit of walking, he started talking to him. “So what’s your deal bud?” He asked, studying Zenkichi with his eyes. He was curious what his ablities were.

It was a hot sunny day in the Tiered City of Esaka. The sun casted its scorching light, while our hero Terry worked in a construction site. There was a heavy bag of cement burdening his shoulder, as he carefully approached a corner of the barely built structure where the bags were meant to be stowed. His face and toned figure were covered in dust, and the tip of his cap was probably the only thing that prevented the fiery sunlight from touching his face. The extreme weather left him thirsting, yet thankfully, he was durable enough to endure the physically demanding task while trying not to roast himself alive. This was one of the odd jobs he’d been taking since his arrival to the World of Light, though he treated them more like side quests to keep the cash flowing. Fighting was what he did for the most part, and knowing the people of Esaka, he knew he’d never run out of competitions. It was almost like a dream city for a fighter as passionate as the storied Legendary Wolf himself. At least, for the most part, it was.

Just as the hat-wearing bruiser was about to drop the bag, suddenly, somebody shouted in his direction. “Hey, you!” He turned around, tracing the source of the voice. Eventually, his eyes laid upon a younger man with a look of awe and a distinctive outfit—a white sleeveless gi, red wristbands, black tights, and a black karate belt tied around the waist.

“Who, me?” Terry asked with an oblivious look, pointing his finger at himself.

“A baseball cap and blonde ponytail… You must be the Legendary Wolf they were talking about, aren’t you?” the younger man asked.

Terry nodded, his gesture friendly. “Yeah, that’s me! And you are, kid?”

The younger man slowly nodded. “So, it is true. Master Warren told me everything about you,” he answered, then added: “I’m Joe of the Power Athlete dojo, and I’m here to confirm if the legend is true.”

Terry raised his eyebrows, sensing the slightest hint of familiarity. He smirked. “Hah! I see… Thought you were just another Shotoclone goofing around,” he quipped. “So, Power Athlete, huh? Isn’t it ‘Power Moves’? Or is it ‘Deadly Moves’?” Terry had heard about the Power Athlete dojo before. Run by the mysterious ‘Ranker,’ Power Athlete was one of the struggling low-tier dojos situated in the rural, unregulated area of Esaka. Not much was known about the dojo other than its ever-changing name, as well as the fact that its members only knew two special moves and zero super moves. “But either way,” Terry continued, “I can see the power in your eyes, kid. Looks like you’ve been training for this moment, haven’t you?”

Joe nodded again, his spirit lighting up. “Indeed. I’ve been training vigorously since I was just a small boy living in a small American town,” he elaborated. “I’ve grown impatient to put my skills to a test ever since. Graduation is near, and it’s only a matter of time until I’m ready to become a true warrior. Until then, I’m still looking forward to gaining more experience from different masters of martial arts like you.” The karate practitioner bowed, then clenched his fists, taking his ready stance. “So, come, Terry Bogard!” he urged. “Fight me!”

Terry’s smirk spread even widely. He dropped the cement bag on his shoulder across the dusty soil, then tightened his gloves. “Well, that’s the spirit! Let’s see how far your training has taken you. I’ll show you the ropes!” After he was done fixing his gloves, he whistled at Joe, then gestured at him with a waving hand. “Hey, c’mon, c’mon!” he exclaimed.

As the fight was about to explode, the construction workers gathered around Terry and Joe, stopping in the middle of their work hour. Initially, the crowd’s reaction left Joe nervous. They seemed to be rallying behind Terry in unison. Hopefully, this would change once Joe managed to perform well.

I can do this, Joe assured himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. I’m going to win this. For the dojo, for the old man, for everyone…

And so, as he opened his eyes, Joe swung his knuckles, aiming to attack Terry with a jab while he was still within his reach. The move was easily avoided. “Close!” Terry shouted, the moment he dodged the jab with a sidestep. The crowd roared in exhilaration, even louder now that a number of approaching pedestrians joined them. “Not so shabby, kid. Don’t give up!”

Joe was uplifted. Hearing the encouragement from Terry reminded him of Warren and the other masters back at the Power Athlete dojo, as they were always appreciative and encouraging to their students. Feeling more assured, the karate practitioner threw even more flails, utilizing both fists alternately. Though the Legendary Wolf still managed to evade each and every one of them, he was getting closer and closer to knocking the more seasoned opponent.

“Yeah, keep it up! That’s how you do it!” Terry motivated, doing a bit of footwork as he maintained the distance between himself and his opponent.

Joe only smirked. He felt a sense of challenge. After his flails failed to fruit anything, he tried a different approach. He spun and slammed his leg forth, aiming to attack the three-time KOF champion with a devastating roundhouse kick. Much to the crowd’s anticipation, Terry quickly leapt past Joe, his limbs spreading. Just like that, he dodged his opponent again, now remaining behind him. With a finger, he patted his opponent’s shoulder.

“Over here...” the hat-wearing bruiser quipped, his voice quiet and playful.

Despite the deafening crowd, Joe still managed to pick up what Terry was saying, albeit vaguely. He turned around, and much to his surprise...

THWACK!

...Terry greeted him with a spinning back kick, instantly knocking him towards a nearby brick wall. His back hit its solid surface, but barely caused a noticeable crack. By the time he tried to pick himself up, Terry had just flailed the ground, sending a shockwave in Joe’s direction.

“POWER WAVE!!”

The shockwave crawled closer and closer across the ground. Much to his surprise, just inches before it could connect, Joe had countered it with a fireball that flew out of his palms.

“KIKOU KEN!!”

The two projectiles collided, but neither one overcame the other. They dissipated, decreasing into burning particles moments before petering out.

That move… I think I’ve seen that before, Terry said to himself, his eyes widening in awe. He can’t be the katera guy’s student, can he?

Unfortunately, his awe would soon become a distraction. Once he looked overhead, his opponent had greeted him with a leaping kick, his barefoot grazing against his face. “Gwahhh–!!!” The kick managed to leave a bruise across his nose. Terry toppled immediately, but it wasn’t long until he stood back up. By the time Joe’s feet touched the ground, Terry ambushed him with barrages of hook punches, utilizing both fists alternately. Much to his surprise, however, the rookie managed to dodge each of them quite well.

Jesus… He keeps on stepping out of the way! Terry muttered to himself. Looks like he knows there’s more than one line around here. This kid is awesome!

When the flails barely connected, Terry ended the sequence with an uppercut, aiming to graze Joe’s mandible with his knuckles. Unfortunately, before the knuckles could connect, Joe leaned himself back, narrowedly evading the uppercut. The crowd reacted in surprise, their noises a mixture of awe and disbelief. More surprisingly, though, Joe managed to capture Terry by the wrist. He pulled the more seasoned opponent closer, barely lifted his heavier figure over his shoulder, and then...

THUD!

...he slammed his opponent against a dump truck. Terry rolled down, his cap flying out of his golden head. The former KOF champion grabbed his own forehead, dazed and unsteady as he weakly kneeled up. The hip toss made quite a powerful impact on him, managing to stun him on the spot.

“Dammit...” he muttered. “You got me.”

Seeing the bout working in his favor, Joe put on a confident smile. It seemed that he might just be close to winning against the Legendary Wolf, which would allow him to boost his abilities and reputation after the bout. With a small fraction of the crowd now rallying behind him, the Power Athlete rookie took a charging stance, letting the energy within gathered around him. A bright aura shrouded him, then shortly, he hovered forward, his hands thrusting in Terry’s direction. A Super Nova was executed.

Unfortunately, just as the Super Nova launched Joe closer, Terry had finally regained consciousness. He shook his head, then rubbed his eyes, gasping when he learned of just how close his opponent was from him. Instantaneously, Terry struck a brief charging pose, which in turn, triggered a flashing energy to surround him. Advance Mode was activated! With it, the three-time KOF champion rammed forth with a shoulder tackle, clashing against the much greener opponent.

“POWER CHARGE!!” he shouted. The two grazed against each other for a moment before Joe was, unfortunately, overcome. The shoulder tackle instantly sent the rookie crashing against the scaffoldings.

THUD!

He fell headfirst to the soil, his face kissing dust. Joe crawled and crawled, closing in on Terry while attempting to stand back up. The roar of the crowd was only a concoction of rambling noises to his ears. The only voice he could hear was the uplifting offer from the more seasoned opponent, as his hand reached out to help him stand.

“Don’t give up!” he told the Power Athlete rookie. “Down for one more?”

Joe weakly nodded, stuttering. “Yes… yes… I can’t… give up… just yet…” Part of the crowd was rooting for him to continue, yet he failed to catch anything that they were saying. The stinging pain across his ribs was too great for him to be able to mind his surroundings. He continued to push through the pain, trying to ignore the impact of the shoulder tackle. Carefully, he attempted to lift himself off the ground, slowly extending his hand to reach Terry’s. Unfortunately, just when Joe was close to grabbing his hand…

THUMP!

…he collapsed. The pain had overcome his will. Thankfully, nothing too major happened, as he continued to lay still on his stomach, a low groaning noise making its way out of his lips. Terry checked on his opponent, yet despite his effort, Joe had already become too weak to move a muscle. He was simply knocked out. Once again, the Legendary Wolf prevailed, and the crowd rejoiced!

“Phew…”

As he sighed, Terry snatched the cap falling out of his head, using it to wipe the dust covering his jeans. He then tossed the cap in a celebratory fashion, letting it fall across Joe’s back.

“Okay–!!” he exclaimed, firing up the excitement of the crowd further. He turned to face his prone opponent, a hint of empathy across his face. “You did well, kid! Next time, maybe vary your moveset a lil’ bit.”

After giving Joe a piece of advice, Terry placed his gaze back to the celebrating crowd, their noises a music to his ears. His eyes moved from one person to another, taking notice of their bright facial expressions. Yet, despite the thrill of the bout and the crowd that almost certainly rallied behind him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. His smile began to falter, the overbearing sense of longing seeping through.

Gosh… I never thought I’d be so bored by this endless wave of fights, Terry told himself. What’s wrong with me?

It was true that, for weeks, Terry hadn’t been feeling like himself, like something was missing from him. The promise of endless fights that the city offered did excite him at first, but as time went by, he began to lose his enthusiasm, holding himself back most of the matches. Sure, he did receive new competitions every day, but without the presence of his loved ones, every fight had become dull and empty. There was nobody to accompany him down the road, nobody to congratulate him personally, and most importantly, nobody to count on through thick and thin. While he was, indeed, a core part of the highly prestigious KOF dojo, he often found it unusually hard to connect with anybody in the roster, as a lot of its members either belittled him or barely reciprocated his kind intention. Even within the city of his kind, Terry felt alone and alienated. Not even his admirers could help him shake away the feeling—he never even knew them to begin with.

Andy, Joe, Rock, Mary, Mai, I wonder where you guys are right now. It just doesn’t hit the same without you guys, he added, then sighed. I can’t do this any longer. I can’t pretend like I’m having the time of my life in front of these peeps while I’m not. I need something to clear my mind.

As he grabbed his duffel bag and cap, Terry left, his swift steps moving through the sea of roaring crowd. Along the way, he’d accidentally bump shoulders with some of the attendants he happened to cross by. It wasn’t a harsh bump, sure, but was enough to raise some eyebrows.

“Is Terry okay?” an admirer asked.

“I don’t think so. He looks pissed,” the other admirer answered.

“I don’t think he even cares about you guys,” a different person told the two, visibly exasperated that Joe lost.

Terry continued to draw his strides farther and farther from the construction site, trying not to mind his surroundings. He wore his cap back across his golden head, his gloved hand holding onto the straps of the duffle bag burdening his shoulder. The thoughts of his loved ones and the many memories he made with them in the KOF tournaments still clouded his mind, as he aimlessly walked down the sidewalk at rapid pace. His face was devoid of expression, his sharp, blue eyes staring ahead. He’d often hear other passing pedestrians talk about a new big tournament possibly being held in Esaka. While it sparked the slightest bit of interest in him, he shrugged it off, eventually.

A big tournament? Heh. A big tournament, my ass, he mumbled to himself. Probably just some underground competition like the ones I’ve already been to.

As his strides reached the farther north of Esaka, something caught his attention. His steps halted. Terry turned to his right, noticing a familiar sight standing proudly in front of him. It was a small café by the bustling corner of the city, decked with a colorful neon sign. With narrowed eyes, he made sure that he read the sign right because it said…

“Pao Pao Café 7?” he asked, then widened his eyes. He was in disbelief. Pao Pao Café—at least, the original one from South Town—used to be the hangout spot that Terry and his loved ones used to visit after every KOF tournament. No way… I’ve been traveling this place for so long, yet why did I only get to find a Pao Pao Café just now? he asked himself. This has to be their newest outlet. Maybe if I pay it a visit, I’ll find somebody I know.

He could only wish at the moment. After moments of hesitation, Terry pushed the front door open, his free hand holding its handle. As he stepped inside, he’d be welcomed by familiar scents of alcoholic beverages and club sandwiches he tended to order every time he visited the original. Similar to the Pao Pao Café he used to know, the interior was decked with a mixture of East Asian and South American decorations. There was even an enormous dragon statue perching by the heart of the café, close to the stage where a Capoeira performance was hosted. It might not be as crowded nor spacious, but it had the same cozy vibe as the original.

Man, this feels right, he mumbled to himself, eyes scanning the mostly bronze-colored interior. This feels like home…

It wasn’t long until a familiar voice called his name. “Hey, Terry! Over here!” Despite the melodious drumming noises playing in the background, Terry could catch the voice rather easily. He turned to face the source, only to be surprised by a face he hadn’t met in a long while.

“Richard?” he asked, eyes widening and eyebrows raising. A smile spread widely below his bruised nose. “No way… Richard! You son of an ice cream maker…”

The familiar face laughed at the corny nickname, giving him a big wave. Richard was one of Terry’s close acquaintances, as well as the owner of the original Pao Pao Café. As Terry approached his counter, he dropped his duffle bag across the floor, then greeted his old friend back with a firm handshake that turned into some kind of an arm-wrestling contest.

“What’s the matter, Richie? The customers got you pushing too many wine bottles?” he quipped with a confident smirk.

“Make it easy on yourself, boy,” Richard reciprocated, snickering.

Their hands continued to wrestle, trying to overcome one another. Richard’s movement was gradual and composed, as he started to outwrestle Terry in this arm-wrestling contest. However, before he was close to winning, Terry retaliated with a huge comeback, as he surprised Richard by lifting his hand and pinning the latter’s across the counter.

KNOCK!

“Alright, alright! You win, Terry,” Richard stopped with a grin, patting Terry’s shoulder with a free hand. He loosened his grip on the bruiser’s gloved hand.

“I see, you’re getting stronger than ever, huh?” Terry quipped, then released his grip around Richard’s hand, only to give him a friendly hug. “Man… It’s so damn good to see you again, Richard.”

“Been a long while, sure,” Richard answered, slightly taken aback by the sudden friendly gesture. He patted Terry’s back like he was his son before pulling away. “What’s with the bear nose?” he quipped, pointing at his bruised nose.

“Aww, c’mon! Forget about my nose, man. Y’know the deal,” Terry quipped back, then laughed aloud, instinctively covering his nose with both hands. “And you, too, what’s with the gray beard, though? You gettin’ old, grandpa?”

Richard only snickered and shook his head, subconsciously caressing his thick goatee. He’d been looking older since the last time he met Terry, both his hair and beard starting to gray. “Old habits die hard,” he muttered, a smile spreading across his wrinkled face.

Terry chuckled, then took a seat right across the counter, taking his cap off. “So, how’s the new outlet, Richard?”

“Business is doing well,” Richard answered, wiping the glass he’d cleaned earlier with a towel. “Just opened Pao Pao 7 this week. Not as crowded as it used to be back in South Town, but still, we’re making profits.” He turned around for a bit, then placed the glass back into the cabinet behind. “You’re still fighting, aren’t you, Terry?”

“Oh, you guessed it,” Terry answered, playing with the fabric of his cap.

“You win all the time, don’t you?” Richard asked, then turned back to face Terry, tucking the used towel under the counter.

“Yeah…” Terry nodded, smiling slightly. “Of course, I do! I won a lot, actually.”

“I knew you would,” Richard answered with a smirk. Eventually, he couldn’t help but feel that something was off with the way Terry spoke about his fights. Usually, he’d overshare them. “What’s the matter, son? Just lost a match?”

Then, Terry stopped his fingers from pinching the back of his cap, sighing. “No, actually. It’s just that…” he halted mid-sentence, lowering his head. “It hasn't hit the same since we got separated. Without you and our buddies? I dunno… It’s barely as exciting. Feels like I’m getting lost in the woods or something.”

Richard’s face softened. He felt the same sentiment, losing contact with Bob and the other South Towners since the city got wiped out of the map. “I feel you,” he reciprocated. “I was in Mafia Town before I came here. I thought by opening a new outlet here in Esaka that I would’ve been able to reunite us all. Turns out, I’ve yet to meet any of my regular customers.” He grabbed a large glass and a bottle of beer, pouring the alcoholic beverage into the glass. “Maybe a glass of beer and a club sandwich would do?” he asked, then slid the glass close to Terry.

“I guess…” Terry weakly responded, then grabbed the glass, chugging the beer vigorously. A sigh left his mouth, and he settled the glass down, leaving it half empty. “You sure you’ve never seen any of our buddies?”

“No luck yet,” Richard answered, while preparing all the ingredients needed to make a club sandwich. “I heard Mai’s part of the KOF dojo, but I’ve never seen her around here. Is that true?”

Terry nodded. “Yeah, true. Mai’s been leaving Esaka for a whole month now,” he elaborated, chugging the beer again. “Told us she’s gonna search for Andy. I just hope they’re gonna be okay…”

“Yeah, hopefully,” Richard responded, “but I do believe we’ll figure out something anytime soon. Well, maybe sooner. You’ve heard the rumors?”

Terry’s eyes lit up, a sense of hope exuded. He shook his head. “Nah… I don’t think I have. What about them?”

“It’s about a new KOF tournament,” Richard answered, stacking the breads, bacon, cheese, and fresh vegetables in the right order. “The rumors had it that KOF XVI might be held in Esaka. I thought you might’ve known it already.”

Terry’s eyes lit up even more, his curiosity peaked. Then, he was reminded of all the talks he managed to eavesdrop along his path to Pao Pao Café 7. “So, it is true…” he muttered quietly, then raised his voice. “I had no idea, honestly. Not like I’ve been invited, yet. Tell me more about it.”

“Exactly,” Richard said. “The thing is, nobody would be receiving invitation letters from what my new customers told me. Anybody from any dojo is welcomed to join—even those from outside of Esaka.” He shrugged, then delicately chopped the sandwich into quarters.

“Ah…” Raising his eyebrows, Terry pulled his head back. “No wonder. Do I still need to form my own team to join? And who’s the sponsor, anyway?”

“Heard you don’t have to. It’s going back to one-on-one,” Richard said, adding a cocktail stick to each of the chopped sandwich quarters. He then handed the plate to Terry. “As for the sponsor? No clue, just yet. All I kept hearing was that it could be one of the Four Kings.”

“Four Kings?” Terry asked, then took the plate of the club sandwich Richard was handing him. He gave one of the quarters a taste, gripping the cocktail stick as he bit the delicacy. “Which one of them?” he asked, his voice muffled by the delicacy under his mouth.

“Heard it could be Rugal,” Richard answered, cleaning his hands with a new towel. “Who else do you think it could be? It’s probably Rugal or—at the very least—Geese.”

Terry widened his eyes, chewing another quarter of his sandwich slowly upon hearing what Richard was telling him. Just hearing those familiar names being rumored to sponsor this ‘new KOF tournament’ was already worrying. Rugal would just turn the finalist into a statue if they lost, while Geese? Geese would still be Geese—the power-hungry megalomaniac who desired to bend the World of Light to his will.

“You serious?” Terry asked, only narrowing his eyes slightly. “That doesn’t sound so good. I mean, we’re talking about two insane maniacs who wanna play God.”

“Indeed,” Richard said with a nod, “but on the bright side, who knows if you’d get to find somebody you might know? The guys who used to be my regular customers…” He mused at the notion, tilting his head up.

“Right, who knows?” Terry agreed, quickly finishing the last couple of sandwich quarters. “Y’know, Richard, I guess I need to keep going.” He finished his beverage, put on his cap, then carried his duffle bag over his shoulder.

Richard was taken aback. “Leaving so soon?” he asked, to which Terry answered with a nod. He stood up. “Yeah, I need to find out more about this KOF XVI tournament you’ve been telling me. Maybe the guys back at the KOF dojo could tell me more about it.”

“Ah, I see…” Richard answered, pulling his head back. “Before you leave, Terry, I just want to let you know that if you need anything, I’m right here to help.” He then gave Terry a pat to the shoulder. “If you need a job, y’know you can always work in my place as a bouncer. I know life’s never been easy on you since your old man left you, so you don’t have to pay the bill for today.”

Terry raised his eyebrows, taken aback. Usually, Richard would mind it if he left without paying. “You… sure about that?” he asked, then rubbed the back of his head. “Erm… I mean—”

Richard quickly shushed, cutting Terry’s words. “And I mean it. Just like Bob, you’re almost like a son to me too, y’know that, Terry,” he reassured, then joked: “But remember, it’s only for today. If I catch you leaving without paying the next time you come here…” He raised his fist. “...you’re a dead meat!”

Terry chuckled, finding amusement in Richard’s playful caution. He slightly turned, readjusting the duffle bag atop his shoulder. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he answered, giving Richard a two-finger salute. “Thanks a lot, Richard! Take care!”

Richard responded with a raised hand. “You, too. Take care!” He watched, as Terry left the counter, his toned figure becoming more and more distant as he approached the front door. He pushed the panel outward, finally stepping out of one of the few places in Esaka he could consider his home. As Terry left, Richard shook his head. Ah, that kid… he mused, drawing a smirk. He’s never changed.

And so, for now on, Terry had to begin his investigation, hoping that the rumored tournament was true, and that it could reignite his dying fighting spirit.

FIN.

Celica peeped out of the dropship into what she could only describe as a frozen wasteland... it looked like the inside of the barracks freezer and that was not a place she was excited about spending a lot of time. This was the first time she had ever experienced snow, but she had a mind of what to expect. It wasn't like she didn't know what something frozen was like. Someone had told her that snow was like everything was covered in white puffy sand, only instead of sand it was tiny grains of ice... they did not explain further about how it was not actually grains or any such thing, but it certainly seemed an apt description to her now that she was looking at it.

Stepping out finally, she felt her leg sink into the snow until it was buried up past her ankle. She had forgotten they said snow was also a lot less sturdy than snow, and easy to fall through. And now standing in a patch of deep snow, she could already feel the cold taking over. Her outfit was a weave of an advanced civilization's technology. It was meant to keep one comfortable from a cold misty morning into a hot summer day. This however was too much, and it was not able to keep up with such intense cold. Puffing her cheeks out, she rubbed her hands together and wrapped them around herself, all the while forgetting to actually pay attention to what the others were saying and doing.

It was only when one of Sectonia's Antlers appeared next to her giving her warmth, that she finally started paying attention, and right about the same time she heard the all for a volunteer to go looking for, clothes? Well if it meant getting out of this cold, and she would be one of the first to get properly dressed for all this, Celica waited to make sure nobody else more, qualified volunteered. But then, realizing it was shopping for clothes not something specialized like Skell Repair, after taking a moment to thank Sectonia for the help, she raised her hand with a little "I'll go with you to find clothing..."

And with that, the different groups split off to do their own things, having their own missions and exploration to do. And soon Celica was off with Sandalphon to the only place they could imagine might have what they. A place with a big bold sign... and a second sign nailed onto the first that read 'BIG SUMMER SALE'

MORSHU’S EMPORIUM — If you want it, I got it!… Probably.

The moment Celica pushed open the door, a bell clanged overhead—not a simple chime, but a full-on gong that resonated with absurd drama. Warmth covered her instantly, accompanied by a waft of smells both inviting and unidentifiable. The interior was a fever dream of cluttered wonder, and an absolute unidentifiable mess.

Shelves, stacked haphazardly to the ceiling, sagged under the weight of a thousand mismatched... things. One shelf was lined with all kinds of weapons, mostly blades, though some of them were very unique to say the least... Another shelf across from it was lined with an arrangement of firearms. None of them were loaded, but Celica took note of the range of weapons there were, from a Golden Pistol to a much more menacing Revolver. Not to mention some weapons that seemed much, much more... gruesome.

In the far corner stood a very cold-looking sword, and from it soft whispers could be heard giving anyone with enough sense reason to not even go near it. Nearby it was an odd blue turtle shell, with spikes and wings, with a sign that read 'Guaranteed to only ever target those better than you'.

Celica’s eyes were drawn to an entire motor-bike sitting on its own display, with a disclaimer sign near it reading: "Don't tell Shinra unless you want this town burned to the ground. You didn't see this here!" which was, needless to say, quite the bit of trust to put in random customers.

In a corner was a flickering fireplace, and hanging above it was a grouping of very odd masks. Celica could have sworn she saw the eyes of the one in the middle following her, but she turned her attention away quickly, pretending she had never seen the mask to begin with.

Just as Celica was about to comment on the place, a puff of smoke exploded from behind the main counter. From the cloud emerged a stumpy man with a twisting mustache, thick eyebrows, and a beaming face lined the widest grin imaginable. His round form bounced with every movement, and his voice rang out with practiced theater.

"Hmmmmmm... Customers! Ohhhh! Come to Morshu for warmth, have you?"

He leaned across the counter with wide, expectant eyes. Behind him on the wall, a display showing off a Broken Staff labeled 'STILL WORKS'. "You need... CLOTHES?" If nothing else, he was certainly able to discern exactly what someone was looking for without much thought... or maybe they truly just looked that cold. Even with the Antler following her, Celica could still feel the chill of the air from outside. A fireplace and a warm cabin weren't exactly as warm as she had hoped they would be. Maybe that was just life here in a frozen place like Snowdin.

Morshu grinned theatrically. "We have many options!" He pointed to a stand with a coat on it. Apparently the coat was on sale if bundled with one of the blades from the shelf Celica was looking at earlier. "So noble, so flammable—eh, flammable? I mean! Reliable!"

He continued to talk up what he had to offer, as he ran through everything he could think of. "I have coats made from dragon hide, yes! Capes woven from spectral wool, scarves that sing lullabies... very cozy, very hard to shut up!"

Morshu leaned in again, waggling his eyebrows. "Now then... what’s your budget?" He clasped his hands together with a sparkle in his eye. "Rupees? Rings? Credits? Golden bananas? I can work with whatever you have, just remember... No Refunds." He raised a hand to tap a wooden sign that read in bold red letters the very same he just said.

Celica let out a long sigh. She had hoped they would just have a simple winter section that didn't involve magic or anything over the top. None of this stuff seemed quite like what they were looking for. Everything seemed incredibly unique, special, but that probably wasn't what you were looking for to equip a whole group of people. And most of all, she doubted this man, with the way he acted, was willing to part with a large stock of outfits for any sort of reasonable price. But, she simply clasped her hands together, and looked to Sandalphon. She was the leader so, she would just keep quiet and let her do the talking... Celica was no good at talking to such eccentric people as this man.

She couldn't help but think back to the market in NLA. Things were more simple there. You had a weapon storefrone, an armor storefront, and everything else was very niche. But it was so simple to find what you needed. Most everything could be found through the terminals, you didn't have to deal with these shop owners who wanted to talk your ear off, and she didn't feel like she could really trust what this man was saying. Then again... he hadn't really said anything so far that could be taken as a lie, right? Except maybe that reliable part.

A breezy race through the fields back toward and along the southern path quickly dried Nadia off from her bout with the demon catfish. While it wasn’t quite the same as sailing the open ocean, with salty seaspray in her face and the cries of shorebirds over the rhythmic waves, it was always a blast to use her rigging. Junior and especially Rika offered the feral stiff competition in their impromptu race to rejoin the others, but Nadia was built for speed. She lost and retook first place a couple times until the rice paddies happened to peter out, forcing the three to sprint across solid ground. At that point, the race was effectively over; Nadia’s high base speed and pressurized long jumps quickly gave her a big lead, and the Koopa Kids were left in the dust to figure out who’d be the rotten egg for themselves.

By the time the trio reunited with the main group, tired but elated, the other Seekers had finished giving Malon and her mule a much-needed hand. They continued their trek to Esaka with the milkmaid’s gratitude ringing in their ears, making steady progress toward the tiered city. Out of excess energy for the time being, Nadia settled in at a brisk jog to match the mob’s slower members, and together they forged through the pastoral countryside. The workers and wanderers with whom they shared the road all slid to one side as the team tramped along, exchanging polite greetings or simple nods. Occasionally some Seekers would shoot snippets of chitchat back and forth, or glimpse something remarkable out in the fields like a strange farmhouse or an unusual beast of burden, but for the most part the trip remained relatively quiet and peaceful. The minutes flew by as Esaka slowly grew larger and larger in the distance, anticipation building all the while.

About twenty minutes away from Esaka, though, the Seekers ran into another roadblock. This took the form of an outlying rural village, its thatch-roofed huts elevated on sturdy timbers to guard against the perils of the fertile floodplain. Its market ran alongside the main path, and normally its merchants would be there showing off their fresh produce in expertly-woven hand baskets, but even from a distance the Seekers could see some sort of ruckus unfolding in the town’s center. Band slid to a stop at the town’s perimeter with his eyes narrowed, squinting at the commotion as he tried but failed to make either heads or tails of the belligerents. Some of the townsfolk seemed to be watching the disturbance from a safe distance, so Band stomped over to the nearest villager -a colorfully dressed weaver woman- to inquire. “‘Scuse me, ma’am. D’you know what’s goin’ on? Is the town under attack?”

“Oh, uh, not exactly,” Asiri gave him an apologetic look, seemingly more embarrassed than threatened. “It’s just a seethe. Should quiet down in a little while.”

“Seethe?” Band raised an eyebrow.

The lady looked him over. “You’re new here, hm? Well, not to worry, dear. It’s just some yokai from the city, throwing a fit. They’re fickle beasties, always excited or mad about something or other, but usually they just stick around and complain in the spirit world. Piss them off bad enough, though, and they’ll show up in the real world to make a fuss. Yelling, throwing things, carrying on. It’s a real hassle.”

Band nodded, remembering what Sakura said about the yokai. She mentioned that they’d give high-performing fighters donations if entertained, but it stood to reason that spirits who loved watching fights could get violent themselves if displeased. The important part was that the people here didn’t seem to be in serious danger. “Interestin’. D’you know what’s got ‘em riled up?”

Shrugging offhandedly, the lady shook her head. “One of the Four Kings’ tournaments, no doubt. Maybe a favorite lost, or someone they didn’t like won. Could be anything.”

“Sounds like they’re yokainda a nuisance,” Nadia supplied. “If they’re botherin’ the villagers, maybe we oughta break it up.”

With that, the catgirl jogged down the road into town. The closer she got to the hubbub, the easier it became to make out the strange forms of the cantankerous yokai rioters. Most populous were little green gremlins that the villagers scornfully called Gaki, which crawled around, stamped their feet, and used their big mouths to yell about all kinds of stuff. Only about as big as children, they seemed much more annoying than dangerous. The same could not be said for the one-legged Ippon-Datara. It wielded a huge hammer that it brandished in a threatening manner, mostly hitting the ground as it raised a hullabaloo. It evidently had some sort of beef with the largest and most threatening yokai, a centipede spirit the size of an ambulance, which had overturned a cart and smashed it to bits. With a handful of other yokai in attendance, more for an excuse to cause trouble than anything, things looked pretty chaotic. It didn’t help that most of them were constantly yelling vitriolic, nigh-unintelligible jargon that made it just about impossible to get a word in edgewise, much of it outright disingenuous, if not outright fighting one another.

“Yokai who bet on busted-ass, cheesy-ass Choi love to pretend that spamming mixups makes him good. Mixups are crutches for bad fighters! One hundred anti-guard tools in this tournament and he’s too bad to use them, so he spams unpunishable RNG mixups because he’s BAD!”

“All the moves Leroy does are punishable by sidestep or hop kick! Spamming random strings doesn’t work for real tournament fighters!”

“This version of Tager is by far one of the smartest fighters I’ve ever seen! Honestly I think Tager’s game plan is such a majesty. I think he’s honestly one of the best trained fighters in any dojo I’ve ever seen. He’s just a walking casino. It’s so nice!”

“The Heavenly Principles HATE Manon! How could they break her legs while Rashid’s dumbass Yssar continues to run amok!? You’re all CARRIED!”

“Ermac is so cheesy! Just handing out braindead sixty percent combos like it’s nothing!”

“Combos like Beowolf’s are clearly an exploit! Most tournaments have preventative measures to make infinite stun loops impossible! To ensure there is actual counter play! So sure, he won, but he won by cheating. A very very dull way to win.”

“RPS is just the dumbest thing in the world! As an honest low-tier Ky main, I just hate it so much! I’m sick of him losing to these goddamn coin flips!”

“I’m sick of fighters who use rage art to win rounds. They’re scrubs! I can’t respect those who use rage arts in the first place, but to win a round!? Different kind of trash. Get better and stop going for cheap wins!”

“I don’t care how salty I sound! As long as Omen exists, I will never respect these tournaments as competitive. There is no such thing as being ‘good’ at a fight with Omen in it. This tournament is the exact same thing as Balan’s Big Top until Omen is removed!”

“How could they gut my character like this!? It’s an actual slap in the face to us Helena mains!”

“WTF? That cash-out damage from Stronghoof was disgusting! What are the Heavenly principles on!?”

“I don’t enjoy betting on pussies who spam crouch and block, or spam armor! I place bets to enjoy them! You’re all insecure cheating cucks!”

“It should be illegal to complain about zoners! You’re just showing how scrubby you really are!”

“Get cancer, you little prick! Let’s throw down for real!”

“You top tier lovers don't know or understand, or actually better yet, comprehend what the fuck it means to suffer, what the fuck it means to lose over and over and over and fucking over!”

Nadia hesitated on the periphery of the mayhem, scratching her head and not sure where to begin. “Holy smokes, what is with these guys?” For a few moments she just watched a couple Gakis ineffectually flailing at one another, trading insults that would make a sailor blush. She knew that tempers could flare between tournament fighters, but between the stream monsters that spectated them? Sheesh!

A mild tremor announced Big Band’s approach, and after he stopped beside Nadia he let out a sigh. “I wasn’t gonna get involved, but after seein’ these yokai goin’ at it, I’m gonna have to change my mind. Only a matter of time ‘til someone gets hurt.” He breathed in deep, then deployed an enormous saxophone to shake the whole square with a blast of sound. “Hey, punks!” Band bellowed. “Break it up! Before we break YOU up!”

The Gakis recoiled from the noise, their claws clamped over their ears, but bigger yokai like the Ippon-Datara recovered quickly. “Shut your big ass up!” the one-eyed brute snarled, raising his hammer. “We yokai have every right to complain! The Heavenly Principles treat us like garbage! And no matter how much suckups like you suck ‘em off...” With a roar, he leaped forward. “They won’t save you, either!”

Already stanced up, Band burst forward with Brass Knuckles, tanking the hammer swing to plant his enormous fist in the Ippon-Datara’s center mass. It flew backward with a yelp, landing in a daze, and all around it the Gaki stared. “That guy…” one of them said. “That was super armor!”

“That’s cheap!”

“He’s a fighter?”

“One of those no-skill neutral skippers!”

“Get ‘em!”

As the yokai mob bristled, Nadia stepped up alongside Band. “He’s not the only one! Run home to mama, or you’ll cat-ch these hands, too!” The belligerents did not back down, but that was fine by her. These stream monsters were about to learn that there was a big difference between watching fights and being in them. She sharpened her claws and assumed her fighting stance. “Okay then, let’s see if you’re up to scratch!”



Once Edward assembled a troop of rudimentary golems, the artificial regiment got to work. As one might expect from a giant metal box the size of a small bus, the stagecoach demanded both power and coordination to move effectively, but the tactician’s constructs were up to the task. The hellhounds’ labor had revealed two sturdy lengths of chain attached to the front, and though that seemed like an unusual arrangement for horses based on Heismay’s limited experience, those chains allowed the golems to pull the carriage past Snowman Row and back to Snowdin’s main street. Edward stood on the promontory at the wagon’s front, coordinating his crew, while Heismay paced around up top. Progress was steady, but slow; if forced to make do with beasts of burden like these, the Seekers might actually be better off walking.

If nothing else, though, the vantage point allowed Heismay to get a good look at the surrounding area. He could have scaled a snow-capped evergreen or the little mountain to the south for a better view, but this worked well enough, especially with eyes adapted for low-light conditions. Though the cloudy veil over the Frozen Highlands made it as dark as night, the landscape was almost as clear as day to Heismay. Of course, few Snowdin residents were out and about at this hour so there wasn’t much activity to observe, but the eugief did spot one thing that he might not have otherwise. Until now the village seemed to Heismay like a total sitting duck, completely vulnerable against any prospective attack, but now he noticed two riders returning from the nearby forest. They appeared to be two dogs, each armed with a hatchet, dressed in a warm black hoodie, and astride a fluffy blue caribou with impressive cerulean antlers. They could be Snowdin’s defenders, or maybe just woodsmen out to stoke the villagers’ hearth fires, judging by their choice of armament. What interested him most wasn’t the dogs themselves, but their mounts. Large, solidly built, and clearly tame, the caribou struck him as an excellent (and maybe the only) alternative to horses when it came to hauling the stagecoach. “I’ll be right back,” Heismay called down to Edward, and just like that, he was gone.

A moment later, Dogami and Dogaressa found their path obstructed by an arcane golem that appeared out of nowhere, his gleaming armor reflecting the red-and-green holiday lights of Snowdin. Their mounts skidded to a stop, and the dogs -anticipating danger- reached for their axes, but Heismay quickly shed his archetype form and returned to his much smaller, less threatening self. “I beg your pardon for getting your attention in such a manner,” he called to them, bowing apologetically. “I feared that you might trample me elsewise. I am a mere traveler, short of stature and sore of foot. I wanted to ask, if I may, how you came by these magnificent beasts of yours. Such creatures would be invaluable to myself and my travel companions on the long road ahead.”

The dogs informed him that their mounts were called Reindrix, and they could be found all over the Highlands in small herds of three or four, especially around juniper and evergreen huckleberry shrubs. Though dangerous if provoked, with antlers that could freeze almost anything with just one touch, they could be broken in and tamed with arcane items called Pal Spheres. Unfortunately, the dogs had forgotten where they got their Pal Spheres. Heismay thanked them for their time and returned to Edward, with whom he shared what he’d learned.

---

While Heismay and Edward braved the wintry winds outside, Geralt settled into Grillby’s, with his eyes on the diner’s fiery proprietor. Grillby gave the Witcher a wordless nod and set about fetching his coffee, heating the water simply by holding a metal cup of it in his hand. When Geralt asked him about Baldur, though, the elemental gave him a curious look.

“The tattooed man?” Grillby’s voice was raspy and dry. “That thug…he doesn’t feel heat, cold, pain, or much of anything. He cares about just one thing: a worthy challenge. Any big lightshow draws him like a moth to flame. So just lay low, don’t go looking for trouble, and that tattooed hooligan will pass you right by.” Grillby slid Geralt’s steaming mug across the counter, then adjusted his glasses. “Of course, he doesn’t come by this place much. No worthy challenges ‘round here. Snowdin’s probably the safest place you can be.” With that, Grillby went back to cleaning. Right now he had only a few patrons besides Geralt, all quietly minding their own business over bowls of hot porridge and sweet, wild-grown bilberries.

---

Meanwhile, Blazermate’s aerial wandering had led her to several discoveries, of which the stately mountainside manor was only the first. On the way there, she happened to make the chance acquaintance of a fellow machine, the itinerant monk Ramattra. His appearance was unexpected but welcome, since the medabot didn’t have any other company at the moment, and once introduced the two could proceed along the southern path together. On the other side of the twisted deadwood tangle, an old path led upward along the precipice that loomed over the half-frozen southeastern lake. At the end of the well-worn steps stood a tall, creaky wrought-iron fence, and past the withered gray garden within lay the ]mansion itself, veiled in misty spray from the waterfall behind it.

The two robots would find the door unlocked, and inside lay a once-lavish estate, ravaged by time and looters alike. Winter’s chill had taken up residence in the dusty halls and parlors that bore traces of relatively recent habitation, but no signs of life, not even mice. The place was as eerie as it was drafty, not helped by the dozens and dozens of dolls that inhabited its shelves and moth-eaten futons. When they visited the basement, they found evidence (such as a modern sleeping bag and a number of discarded wrappers and water bottles) that at least one person had been living there for some time, in large part thanks to a peculiar installation identified as a Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace, according to the logo that marked it as a proud product of Tomorrow Corp. A handful of random burned items could be found therein, some with a gold coin or two hidden among the ashes.

Of course, it was only a matter of time until things went south. The old house itself creaked and groaned unnervingly often, but eventually the creaking directly beneath Ramattra and Blazermate became too loud to ignore. It was at that point that clawed metal hands ripped through the floorboards, and a handful of robot zombies made their presence known. Eager to sup on oil and sink their teeth deep into circuit boards, the ambushers went after the uninvited guests, their metallic screeches quite horrible. Though they numbered only five strong, they could continue to function without their limbs or even their heads, and their claws could cut through iron like butter. If they could clear the manor out, though, it would be perfect to use as a temporary base.

---

One Sandalphon requested assistance, Celica volunteered with understandable speed. Knowing that the rather lightly dressed gunslinger would be eager to take shelter from the cold, the archangel agreed right away. Without a moment’s hesitation Celica then sped toward Morshu’s Emporium with Jack Frost nipping at her heels, and Sandalphon followed behind at a more measured pace, her expression one of mild amusement.

An elaborate gong announced the visitor’s presence as they entered. Inside the aptly-named emporium the Seekers were treated to an intriguing cross between a general store, pawn shop, and private gallery. Alongside every batch of everyday goods was some one-of-a-kind artifact or trinket, many of debatable value but unquestionable visual appeal. Such was the sheer quantity and disorganization on display that Sandalphon -who happened to be more than a little OCD- found herself baffled and quite overwhelmed. Ironically for the team’s newly-minted leader, she defaulted to following Celica’s lead through the store. It took the bombastic entrance of Morshu himself to bring her to her senses.

Of course, by that point the challenge became getting a word in edgewise as the salesman showed off his wares, putting his powers of deductive reasoning to work. Unfortunately, many of his offerings were well outside the Seekers’ means. Once Morshu’s verbal avalanche came to an end, Celica glanced expectantly at Sandalphon, indicating that it was time for her to take charge.

“You’re very astute, Mr. Morshu,” she began. “We are indeed here for apparel, and we can pay with zenny. However, our funds are limited, and we have eight people in need of winter clothes. We require no special gear effects beyond insulation against the cold. Do you have anything more affordable?”

Morshu did not hide his disappointment, but after a moment he tapped his nose twice with a broad, knowing smile. “Ah, not to worry, not to worry! I cater to even the…mmm, HUMBLEST of clients. Right this way, ladies!”

Trying to stay focused amidst all the visual chaos, Sandalphon followed him as he shuffled a few shelves down to where more ordinary outfits dangled from clothes hangers in bulk. “Behold!” Morshu gestured proudly. “These parkas are everyone the average winter wonderlander could want! Soft as silk, lined with _synthetic Topi fur, and highly adjustable, with hoods and complimentary mittens. They’ll keep you as warm as a summer’s day, satisfaction guaranteed! And as you can see, available in a wide variety of colors! All for a su-PREMELY affordable price–why, I dare you to name me a better bargain in all the Highlands!”

Sandalphon zeroed in on the price tag and calculated the total cost instantaneously. “These are suitable. Would you mind giving us a few minutes to make our selection?”

“But of course!” Morshu bowed his head and backed away. “And if you have any questions, you have but to ask!”

Once he disappeared, Sandalphon let out her breath. She stepped to the other side of the parka rack in order to look them over with Celica, then glanced at the other woman with her pupils in the shape of carets. “Thank you for your assistance. I find clutter extremely distracting…the urge to organize in here is almost overpowering.” Her pupils became stress marks. “Vociferous people can be difficult to deal with as well, so a quiet presence is comforting. That said, this is quite the conundrum.” She looked between the different parkas, just a little bit distressed. “What color would everyone want? Sectonia might want purple, the color of royalty, but she could want gold, or perhaps even pink like her crystals. Would Ganondorf want an ominous black, or aggressive red…?” Celica might not be any better equipped to solve this problem like Sandalphon, but sometimes, difficult choices had to be made.

Outside, all of the Seekers had split up to spread throughout the town and accomplish their various tasks. All but one. Accustomed to a world of ruined and long-dead civilizations, with only a handful of sane people to talk to and only monsters inhabiting its decrepit hamlets and keeps, Kit was probably feeling a bit overwhelmed himself. Not everyone had declared aloud their intentions before going their separate ways, so he didn’t know what still needed doing.

Kit wasn’t alone, though. The Soothsayers still stood by their burn barrel, and with nobody else around, they had been staring at Ki for quite some time now. Eventually, they turned toward him, and though a couple dozen feet away, began to speak. Both heads took turns talking, completing one another's sentences in identical reedy, garbled voices.

“Dreadful was the day…that the sun vanished. The waters…dried up. The birds…went quiet. And the darkness itself…seeped, unchecked, into the Highlands.” Their necks suddenly twisted sideways, both heads separating at ninety-degree angles, before twisting upright again. The night that followed…would be long. As long as…the Midnight Walk.”

The Soothsayers’ crimson eyes seemed to bore deep into Kit’s being. “You…chosen one. Destined, it seems…to be kindling. The days…are getting colder. If the night continues…the cold will be our doom. Your fate awaits you…at the end of the Midnight Walk. At the top…of Moon Mountain. There, you must do…what need be done.”

Having said their peace, the Soothsayers returned to their fire, but they continued to stare. And stare. And stare.

As the group ambled along the path, Harry came to Zenkichhi and started making some small talk. While the man’s general demeanor wasn’t exactly high-brow, Zenkichi certainly would be one to talk if he turned his nose up at his fellow detective, as Sandalphon had introduced him.

”Oh, hey, Harry, right? I’m Zenkichi. Zenkichi Hasegawa. In my world, I was actually a sort of detective too. Though I worked for a national intelligence agency. If you mean, here, I can do some pretty crazy stuff. I have this, sort of…inner spirit I can summon to aid me in combat, making me stronger and tougher. I can summon weapons, though I’ve only ever really done swords and revolvers, I do have a pair of handguns I picked up last time we were out, too. It can also do magic. Like big blasts of energy, make people tougher or faster, and one of my swords shoots blasts of energy. Don’t ask me how that works, I got it from a Spirit I got a while back. How about you?” It was only courteous to return the favor, especially if they’d be working together.

”Oh, and I’m pretty sure Amaterasu is an alternate-world version of a goddess from my world. As far as I’m aware, our sun god named Amaterasu never manifested as a wolf, but people also can’t do what Sakura does normally. I only have my abilities due to a long-winded and convoluted series of events that Galeem orchestrated to make this place more exciting. Technically I’m only able to do that stuff inside other people’s minds, or something.” He poorly explained as a follow-up.

Further down the road, the Seekers came to a smaller town that was currently having a little bit of a Soccer hooligan problem, basically. Angry sports fans, their team or fighter or whatever did poorly, riot and burn down the city, yadda yadda he’d seen this a thousand times on TV. It wasn’t long before Band decided to interfere, and Zenkichi shrugged. ”Alright, guess we’re doing this.” He sighed, rolling a shoulder. If it were just the little guys, he wouldn't even have needed Valjean for this. As it was, that big hammer would hurt like hell.

His outfit transformed into his Phantom Thief attire as he summoned his Greatsword, hefting the oversized blade and walking forward menacingly.

”You don’t scare me!” one of the Yokai yelled, pointing at him. ”Just a big stupid sword, can’t fight for real without a weapon, can you?!” He stopped, amused, then looked at the yokai that had called him out. It was like an anthropomorphized stag beetle, wearing a scarf and some sparring gear.

”Oh, this?” He asked, dismissing the sword. ”I don’t need this to kick your ass.” He smirked as he said this, lazily cracking his neck. ”I can do that with my bare hands.”

”Bet!” The Beetler scoffed, rushing forward to try and grab him between its pincers. Zenkichi wasn’t a fighting game nerd like these guys, but he’d played some Tekken as a kid and a teenager. And the way these guys were talking, they were serious about it. Time for some trash talk.

”Disjointed hitbox grab. Yawn.” As he taunted the Yokai, he stepped forward past the grab, pulling the monster forward by its pincers and tripping it as it stumbled, then slamming his foot down onto its back. ”And you lose.” Of course, with Galeem’s curse in effect, the Yokai did not take that lying down, and performed a spinning kick to try and knock Zenkichi off balance. He hopped backwards, letting the Beetler get up and seethe a little.

”Oh, so that’s how you wanna play it, huh?! Take this!” It cried as it let off a quick combo of jabs and hooks, Zenkichi deflecting each of them with a roll of the eyes.

”Dude, my job was literally maintaining public order. You don’t stand a chance.” To punctuate his taunt, he caught the Beetler’s punch and landed one of his own in the Yokai’s stomach, doubling it over. He grabbed it by its robe and hurled it away, the beetle rolling off a short platform and getting caught by another Yokai’s backswing, redirecting its aggression. Zenkichi just rolled his eyes and summoned his Greatsword again, running in swinging to the brawl. He was careful to pull his proverbial punches, not wanting to turn this into a bloodbath.

He smashed a Gaki over the top of the head, with his sword, kicking it away with a huff as it groaned, and spun to block the oversized proboscis of a mosquito-like Yokai, backhanding it and slamming the pommel of the Greatsword into its gut before grabbing it by the abdomen and tossing it into a pair of approaching Gaki, bowling the group over. He dismissed the sword and grabbed the two gremlin-like creatures and crashed their heads together comically, dropping them to collapse beside each other. ”Not gonna lie, this is kinda fun!” He called to the others over the sounds of the fight, crouching and flipping a charging Beetler over his shoulder, slamming the flat of the Greatsword onto its prone body once it landed.

@Lugubrious @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

Word Count: 418
Level: Lv: 6 EXP: (3/60)
Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Fields of Gold

Harry watched Nadia running around the field. He was reminded of his youth when he would run and play with his friends. He wished he were younger so he could run along with them. But more than likely, he would trip and fall or be winded only a couple of seconds into running. Walking with the group, he hoped to find Kim or someone he knew in Esaka. Again, he took in his surroundings, feeling refreshed being surrounded by nature. This was something he didn’t get in Revachol.

“Nice to meet ya. That is interesting. I guess you deal with supernatural issues.” He said, feeling jealous that he couldn’t manifest weapons out of thin air. Nor was he able to have weapons that had supernatural properties. “So you got your own Dog Mullens too, eh. I wonder if you got an alternate version of me.” The thought of another Harry having a better life than he did was pretty depressing.

Harry became more excited about running into anyone he might know as they approached the city. The detective also noticed the commotion. Harry would have to try to keep the peace if there was trouble. Listening to the villager explain that some spirits were causing the disturbance, he was unsure how to deal with creatures that could not be defeated by conventional means. Harry followed Nadia and thought an authority figure could help quell the argument. Watching them and studying them, wondering what he could say to get them to trust Harry.

“Hello, fellow Sigma males. I noticed you guys are crashing out about the tournament. I’m sure your slime will be able to win the next fight, no cap fr fr. So instead of being salty Karen, you should take the L like man.” Harry said, trying to use the lingo to communicate with them. But really, this had the opposite effect. And it would feel strange to hear these kinds of words from a middle-aged man’s mouth. But thankfully, Band and the others seemed to try to intimidate the yokai into leaving.

The spirits were sizing up Band, and if they weren’t intimidated by him, they would need to use force to solve this problem. Harry pulled out his prybar from the plastic bag he was carrying. “YOU WANNA GET NUTS, LET’S GET NUTS!!” Harry yelled out, swinging it around like a madman. He charged towards the closest yokai that was near him. Swinging his prybar at them to try and hit them in the head.

Miss Fortune's assumption that once they left the water that she’d have the advantage over the kids initially proved false, because once the water ran out they simply hopped the fence and started painting their own, leaving a trail of goop as they went.

What actually stopped them from keeping pace was a certain divine wolf being most displeased with them making a mess of the road she was trying to fix. Said wolf hopped off her cart ride and promptly barreled after them. Hypocrite that she was, she stopped them via drawing trees onto the road, which they both crashed into.

Kids had to be tough to have made it this far was her logic for not minding hurting them, and they promptly proved this in the resulting physical altercation, which only ended once the milkmaid and her passengers caught up, whereupon the kids were verbally admonished for their vandalism of the road by those who could use words.

And then made to clean up their mess, which was a first.

Fortunately a shoulder riding Dazzle made for a suitable standin for F.L.U.D.D. as his bubble beams scoured the road clean, which was then dried off with fireballs.

Despite the ease, however, the pair of equally rotten eggs were sulking as they trudged into the little town and showed little enthusiasm for getting involved with the commotion like some of the others.

Ammatarasu was naturally among those others, and her hackles raised as she beheld the Yokai for the first time, only to mentally admonish herself. These were not the demons that had plagued her on her travels back in her world, but instead entirely different beings with the same name.

Not that they were harmless in any sort of way, it seemed, but on the chart of immorality being a mindly destructive and very noisy nuisance was certainly a lot lower on the scale than spreading diseases or attacking travelers indiscriminately. Thus she stood back and let the others attempt to talk things out. When this failed, however, she stepped up beside them, unleashing a howling battle cry to the heavens, before shifting her equipment, bringing her Devout Beads to the fore, lashing them together to form a whip, while her disk shifted into place to be used defensively, and the sword was moved to the back, intended to be unused.

They were not, she interpreted, trying to kill these beings, merely knock some sense into them, or to send them packing, so a light lashing was what she needed to deliver, not the cleaving blow of an executioner’s blade.

She might as well have brought one out however, because the Yokai were certainly a bit frazzled by her presence, her divine aura causing them to be more wary than they otherwise might have been.

It didn’t stop them entirely however, and with a cry of “cheap counter-picker!” one of the green gremlins charged forwards, prompting a few more to join in with similar cries that made just as little sense to Amatarasu as their prior ranting.

They quickly came to regret this move.

The wolf made a minor flick of her snout that sent the chain of divine beads flicking out, striking swiftly but not at all softly, delivering a punishing lash of divine retribution that set the front runner running off while howling in pain. Then a half second later the beads flicked fourth again, slashing at a second, then a third, then a fourth, as the wolf directed her weapon with small movements, and backed away only a step or two as she turned aside the tide with her rapidly striking weapon.

It didn’t take much to convince the runts that they’d lost this fight, the stings of defeat she was inflicting clear for all to see even if her attacks where not, and in short order those who had worked up the courage had been turned aside, and the others thought better than to challenge her.

All except for two fighting fanatics.

“Cowards the lot of you!” barked a beetle shaped yokai in samurai armor known as a Rhinoggin, as the green gremlins fled around him.

The goddess tilted her head to the side upon seeing this yokai stand against her, given that he was about the same sizes as the gremlins, especially when the little beetle declared boldly that “Looks like I’ll have to show you all what a real fighter looks like!”

The absurdity of the moment didn’t end there, as a Beetler stomped over and yelled at the other bug Yokai “You couldn’t beat a casual scrub! Leave this one to me!”

The Rhinoggin whirled around, and then laughed “You!? Don’t make me laugh! Run along like the greenies and leave this to a pro fighter!”

“You're nothing but hot air! All bark no bite!”

“I’d never stoop to biting like you, ankle biter!”

“We’re the same size rock for brains”

“Your horn’s are titchy!”

“No yours!”

“Noob!”

“Scrub!”

At this point the pair of beetles had locked horns and were yelling insults at each other’s faces while the divine being they had challenged looked on with bemusement. Clearly those who had issues to resolve, and so while they were busy with that, she promptly wandered off to go fight something else while their shouting match continued.

While the wolf wanted nothing to do with the two’s antics, Bowser Junior wasted no time in poking fun at them ”Pfffff hahahahaha, look at those two idiots!” just loud enough for the pair to break their shouting match just enough to glance over is the prince’s general direction.

He and his sister had not gotten involved in the brawl, having little in the way of interest in enforcing civil obedience, and had instead sat themselves down on one of the wooden platforms to watch the show. Jr did have his paintbrush on hand, just in case someone needed urgent healing, but he was pretty sure they had this in the bag.

Unfortunately, when combined with his mockery, his tossing out of a ”Cure” caused the beetles to switch targets.

“Stop interfering in those fights, cheater!”

“I call hacks!”

”Urrgh” Jr groaned as they two came running towards them (and the villagers who’s porch they were sitting on slammed shut the door behind them). Rather than fight himself, he half tilted his head to Rika to ask ”could you?” only to go cross eyed as she reached a hand to his chest and plucked a pair of pokeballs from it using 3 oversized fingers

”Go, Mimi and Peeka!” she called out as she hurled the pair down into the street and summoned Jr’s two ghost pokemon to the field to square off with the two yokai.

”Huh?”

”I wanna practice” Rika said, before calling out for the pair of mon to ”Electro Ball and psybeam the closest to you!”

The pair were briefly confused by this change in dynamic before following the command when their trainer gave ”fine fine” of agreement with this.

The opposing pair began to shout some more, but only the Rhinoggin got off his of “can’t even fight your own battles you wimps!” off as the earth typed yokai shrugged off the electrical attack, while the beetler stumbled and clutched his head as the psychic attack struck him.

“Ha, let me show you how it's done!” The Rhinoggin further taunted his fellow/rival as he leapt forwards, reeled back a fist, and then tried to deliver a full swing strike to Peeka, only for his blow to phase right through the ghost type pokemon.

”Knew it!” Rika said with delight as her strategy of using ghosts vs martial fighters paid off. Unfortunately, the beetler immediately adapted as he kicked up a random pebble, and then roundhouse kicked it towards Mimi, the earth attack landing just fine and busting her disguise.

“That’s how it's done, idiot!” The Beetler mocked Rhinoggin who was still flailing at Peeka who was busy blowing a raspberry at him.

“Shut it you!” he reported, only to cry out in pain as he got the blinding flash of a ”Dazzling gleam!” to his face much to his rival bug yokai’s amusement.

Said amusement was put to an end as he got back stabbed by Mimi’s ”Shadow sneak!”

“Alright that does it!” he yelled, flicking up three stones and then kicking them fourth in three spins. Following suit, even if he’d never admit it, Rhinoggin dug his horns into the ground and hurled up a chunk of earth that hardened and then came down like a rockfall on top of Peeka’s head.

”Mimi, copycat the red horn!” Jr suddenly interjected, prompting a ”Hey!” from Rika, only for Jr to insist ”It’ll be funny” and to then add ”Peeka, confusion ray blue horn!”

The Beetler stumbled as the ray hit him, stumbling and missing his next pebble, which bonked him on the head, which Rika had to admit was kinda funny. That wasn’t the end of Jr’s gambit however as he then got Mimi to use Rhinoggin’s rockfall move on Beetler, and then yelled ”Oh wow, red horn’s trying to take out blue horn! What a shocker!” at the confused Beetler.

“Trying to steal all the glory! I knew it!” the blue beetle roared, charging the red beetle and delivering a one two punch to the other yokai. Said yokai immediately turned on the other one, the two’s enmity meaning their Galeeming nature was barely a factor in the initiation of the subsequent brawl.

”I mean, it was kinda funny, but I did wanna win that one on my own” Rika complained as she called back Jr’s mon and handed them back to him.

”I mean, why don’t you catch the winner then? Then you can practice whenever” Jr suggested, right before the Rhinoggin smashed the confused Beetler’s face in with a punch.

Rather than bite the dust, however, the Beetler simply faded into a mostly translucent form and promptly picked himself back up to demand “get back in here so I can kick your butt without a broken controller!”

”Huh” Jr said with a head tilt, before yelling ”Hey, goody two shoes, they don’t die when you kill em! Just poof into ghosts or something!” at the rest of the seekers.

A moment later Rika hucked Jr’s last regular pokeball at the victorious Rhinoggin, only for it to bonk off him and its front nub to blink red in error due to the Yokai not being a pokemon. She and the Yokai were both angry about this, and while the latter got the first laugh by crushing the pokeball, the former got the last as she swiftly took her frustration via just gunning him down. Rhinoggin was promptly banished back into the spirit realm, where he became embattled with Beetler, though the pair seemed to be only able to futilely tussle when they lacked a physical form.

Ammataratsu had glanced over upon hearing Jr’s yelled information, and upon seeing the evidence of this fact promptly switched her tactics. The punishing lashing beads were put away, and the executioner's blade was brought out.

She gripped the blade in her maw, charged up a strike, and then lunged forwards and delivered a powerful cleave that reaped a harvest of green gremlins, banishing a host of hooligans and leaving them capable of only heckling.

This blow was invisible to most onlookers, while the three inkblots she put into the blockhead lookalike Noway where invisible to all, the wall shaped yokai simply cracking in 3 spots and being banished in a blink of an eye.

She howled again to intimidate the yokai, to let them see how she was no longer holding back, and then stormed forth to cut down any who didn’t flee from her glorious light.