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[img]https://i.imgur.com/ziR5Pse.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/kNmO8zV.png[/img]
[b][color=DarkOrange]wordcount:[/color][/b]  2785 (+3) (+1 rapport)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Amaterasu: level 8[/color][/b] EXP: [color=DarkOrange]/////////////////////////////////[/color]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (36/80)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 15 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](243/150)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 11 [/color][/b] EXP:  [color=Aqua]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](189/100)
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[color=lightgoldenrodyellow][b]Pit[/b] - [u]Level[/u]: [b]8[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 262/80[/color]
[b][color=white]Location:[/color][/b] Esaka
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[color=Aqua]”Oh? He is? Ok I’ll help him find us”[/color] Rika replied to Therion’s linkpearl message as Jr continued to badger the wooden man who was the clerk of Clean Hits for info he did not have.

She then stepped outside, and raised a hand to the sky, before thinking better of just opening fire, and instead decided to send herself up there instead. Thus promptly wall jumped up the outside of the store, before tapping her featherfall rune and flying up sky high before calling out between two cupped gauntlets [color=Aqua]”Hey captain Pit! Over here!”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”For someone who didn’t like all that attention before you sure did get a bunch more of it”[/color] her brother said to her when she came back down, the boy having hurried out after her the moment she’d left line of sight of the front of the stoor (much to the wooden man’s relife).

[color=Aqua]”Oh uh, oops”[/color] she replied, only then noticing the stares coming her way, and promptly shying away from them. The fact that this was not helping the whole intent to stay low profile didn’t even cross either of their minds.

Still, it had been effective, though rather than Pit it was Amatarasu who came running over first, the wolf nimbly darting through the crowd to reach them. She’d been trying to track down the scent of the others, but it had been tricky in the city, and so she’d gladly take this shortcut to regrouping even if she and these children were very much at odds.

[color=SpringGreen]”what do you want, huh?”[/color] the prince asked, but naturally she could not answer, and instead immediately began glancing around for the others, this plan having not quite worked out as well as she had hoped initially. Then she caught sight of Pit in the crowd and turned her nose and body to face him.

[color=Aqua]”Oh there. Hi Pit!”[/color] Rika called out upon following the snout of the unintentional pointer dog to its target.

Sure enough, the aforementioned angel pushed through a small group of curious locals that had come to see what the shouting was about. He spotted his fellow Seekers quickly and was standing in front of them in a blink, his fist closed tightly around the new communication devices.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Hey Rika! Junior- oh, and Amaterasu!"[/color] 

Whether the goddess had tagged along with them to keep them out of trouble or had just been drawn to Rika's airborne call as he was, either way it was lucky for Pit to find them all here together! That would leave just one more person to find after this.

Before that though, Pit glanced up at the store they were gathered in front of, a little distracted.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Huh, were you all looking for theme songs for the tournaments or something?"[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Huh? Na. I mean. Why’d we want someone else's music anyway?”[/color] Jr replied, while his sister sighed and said that [color=Aqua]”Plus the ‘record players’ where like, way more expensive than the cassette players we’re using anyway. So no music for us”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Yeah. I don’t get why anyone would use those dusty old things”[/color] Jr added, before finally actually explaining that [color=SpringGreen]”I thought the guy running it might know about Shinjuku’s whole tape craze, and if it’d be like, just tapes, or also using tapes to turn into beasts as well, but he didn’t. So we’re just gonna have to go allllllllllllll the way over and hope we get lucky I guess”[/color]

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oooh right, those,"[/color] Pit replied after a moment of confusion. He hadn't been around when they had obtained those special tapes nor heard how exactly they worked, but he'd seen them in action even if only once. The power to transform into a tough monster was pretty cool on top of being useful, so he got why they'd want to get more of them.

Pit tilted his head at the mention of going to Shinjuku though, as [i]when[/i] they planned to get them was another thing. He tried to picture the world map they'd been shown before and said, [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"How far away is it? 'Cause we got here right before all those tourneys start, there's only a couple hours left to sign up!"[/color]

That caused surprise to run through all three of the others, followed by three quite different reactions.

The prince sagged a little in disappointment, while his sister looked relieved, leaving only the divine wolf to maintain the energy of her initial reaction, transitioning it right into urgency.

[color=SpringGreen]”Probably further than that, and then we gotta spend a bunch of time snooping around and stuff so no tournaments for us I guess”[/color]

[color=Aqua]”We’ll be back to beat up the guardian though, once you’ve done all that attention getting stuff”[/color] Rika added, before also adding [color=Aqua]”probably”[/color] a tad uncertainty and then finally asking [color=Aqua]”how long are they anyway? And, like, is the guardian at the end of them or something as, I dunno, the last boss or something?”[/color] so they could properly gauge that.

When Rika asked this, Amaterasu’s snout flicked to her, and then to Pit, in a display of distinct interest.

Unfortunately Pit didn't actually know the answer to that, he could only guess. His wings had drooped upon learning Bowser Jr. and Rika wouldn't be sticking around Esaka, as even if he'd butt heads with the former a few times he still considered both to be his friends, but as long as he knew where they were headed and that they'd be back it was alright. So, he didn't comment on their plans besides that brief show of disappointment. Instead he tilted his head up towards the city's highest tiers while he replied to Rika's question.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"That's usually how it works. You go through like a mini boss rush and the biggest, baddest one is at the end - or you fight through a whole roster of fighters and after you beat the champ, the secret last boss is waiting behind them!"[/color] he said. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"If a lot of people sign up I guess the tournaments would be at least be a couple days long, so unless we find the Guardian first you two have time to get back. And if something changes we'll give you a call anyway."[/color]

He blinked, looking back to the three in front of him. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oh right! Here-"[/color]

Pit held out his hand and opened his fist to show the remaining golden pearls. If they looked closely they could see one already nestled in the angel's ear. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Primrose gave these to me. We can all use them to keep in touch!"[/color]

He glanced at Amaterasu, realizing that the wolf goddess might not be able to bark back through the linkpearls, but at least she would be able to hear people talk through them? [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"If you want one I can help you put it in?"[/color]

The divine wolf padded forwards and presented a raised up ear to receive the stud while the little royals took theirs and inserted them into the opposite ear of the ones they already had.

[color=SpringGreen]”We’ll keep in touch and be back before you're done then, yeah”[/color] Jr agreed, before adding [color=SpringGreen]”If these things have that good a range anyway. Wherever papa went its was far enough these weren't good enough any more”[/color]

He then thought for a moment, before retrieving and flicking through his Rotom phone’s menus for a few more moments. Then, once he’d found what he needed, he turned it to face the angel and said: [color=SpringGreen]”Here. My phone number. I got a hacked sim of those maffia goons and then re-hacked it to get all their tracking junk off of it. Text or call me if we’re out of range. Should work. I think”[/color]

The goddess cocked her head in response to all these words, confounded by 90% of the technical jargon. Pit was better off at about 40% he wasn't totally sure on, but he studied the number regardless to commit it to memory since he didn't have anything to write with or on. If nothing else he could probably risk annoying Lady Palutena to recall it for him.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Got it. Good back up plan,"[/color] he said, and then blinked when he remembered something important in order to use said back up plan. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"...but I don't have a phone!"[/color]

The angel smacked a hand to his forehead, held it there for a second or two, and then let it drop to shake his head. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Well, whatever, I'm sure I can find a place that sells them around here. Maybe. Should have plenty of money on my card still..."[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Eh, gotta be somewhere in this place that has one”[/color] Jr said, while Rika pointed out that [color=Aqua]”We could use Sandalphon too, right?”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Oh. Or that, yeah”[/color] her brother replied with an awkward scratch behind the head.

Pit nodded. A decent backup-backup plan. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"You can call us too if you guys run into trouble. Maybe the Guardian's in a different part of this region after all, but... I'm still pretty sure it must be here."[/color] Though there was all sorts of trouble one could get up to that didn't involve Consuls, Guardians, or Galeem to be fair. 

He then glanced at Amaterasu. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"And I guess the rest of us will find some dojos? There's probably some that allow wolves, there's all kinds of animal fighters and stuff."[/color]

It was at this point that Amaterasu revealed the unasked for reward for her latest good deed, namely the signed letter of recommendation from one of the top fighters of the city, one Jun Kazama. Not that Pit would know who that was, of course, but the fancy handwriting and official looking nature of the letter had a fair bit of legitimacy all of its own and so she hoped the gist of its significance and door opening nature would come across none-the-less.

At first Pit thought that the goddess had just come up with a better way of communicating with all of them and had found a notebook somewhere, which would have been nice (and then he would have borrowed it to write down Junior's phone number), but upon closer inspection the document was definitely something else. Pit squinted at it, deciphering the script slowly until he got the gist. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"What the heck, you already got somebody to vouch for you!"[/color] he said with surprise. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Well that makes things easy, maybe you won't have any problems with finding a dojo even in the shape of a wolf!"[/color]

Which meant that Pit would have to catch up, no way did he want to be the last person signed up and everyone else was already ahead of him, even Amaterasu!

The divine wolf certainly looked pleased with her acquisition. Now all she needed to do was find out how joining a dojo even worked. She had, indeed, missed a lot of info wandering off as she had.

The kids had too, but they weren't really in need of it, going off on a self empowering side mission as they were.

[color=SpringGreen]”Welp, you have fun with finding a teacher whatever you need a dojo for, we’re bout ready to blow this joint I think”[/color] Jr said, while Rika added [color=Aqua]”and when we’re back we’ll definitely be ready to blow it up. We’ll get a teacher to help us get handle on those tapes and fusing together, and be ready to smash the hand, the consuls, and the guardian into paste”[/color] before punching a gauntleted fist into an open palm with a satisfying clunk of metal on metal.

Amatarasu turned her gaze to them, obviously a little concerned, which Jr interpreted about her being concerned about them being a nuisance rather than concern for their safety, saying [color=SpringGreen]”Don’t you start. We’ll be on a mission, and any trouble we get into we can get out of just fine”[/color]

The divine wolf wasn’t so sure, glancing at Pit for his leaderly input on all this.

Pit had been grinning at Rika, her enthusiasm for beating the ultimate bad guys infectious, though when he noticed Amaterasu looking over at him he blinked, taking a moment to gauge what she wanted.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Don't worry, I think they'll probably be fine if they stick together! Junior's been on a ton of adventures even back in his own world, and Rika's really tough even if she was just born like... a week ago!"[/color] he said, nodding sagaciously. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"And if anything bad does happen, we can go help them in Shinjuku."[/color]

If it was hours away then how to get over there quickly without the use of the Avenger might be an issue though. Pit himself could just ask the Goddess of Light to use her Warp to teleport him, but as for everyone else... he looked back at the Koopas. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Can you still make those painting portals?"[/color]

The prince nodded simply, after which his sister snapped her fingers [color=Aqua]”Oh. We can set one up to come back right away, right? And then one from here to there. That way it’s just the trip where we’d be far away, and after that we can just portal over to whoever needs backup”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Uh. Yeah. Obviously. I was already gonna-”[/color] Jr started to blatantly lie, before his face scrunched up and looked pained before he instead told Rika [color=SpringGreen]”good idea”[/color] which got a smile out of her.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Even better!"[/color] So really their side trip wasn't going to split them up for as long as initially thought. Pit grinned and looked back to Amaterasu, one fist on his hip and the other generally gesturing to Junior and Rika. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"See? Shouldn't be a problem now!"[/color]

Amatarasu wasn’t entirely convinced, but he did know them better than she did, and so she gave their little adventure her blessing, primarily indicated by no longer staring them down.

[color=Aqua]”Oh. You were worried”[/color] Rika cottoned on, before asking her brother [color=Aqua]”Why was she worried? We were fighting earlier”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Coz she thinks we need babysitting, which we don’t”[/color] Jr huffed like the child was, before turning to leave with a [color=SpringGreen]”Now let’s go already!”[/color]

[color=Aqua]”Ok”[/color] Rika replied, before turning to follow him, only to turn back after a few steps to call back [color=Aqua]”Good luck!”[/color] and to then continue on, the pair of them eding off towards the west of the city, seeking a road heading out and onwards towards their destination.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"You too!"[/color] Pit called after them, waving his arm in their direction as they left. Even with just a simple plan in place, he wasn't really wasn't worried that the Koopas were splitting up from the rest of the group. 

Which left goddess and angel standing in front of the retro music shop, the small crowd having dispersed at some point. Pit looked down at Amaterasu once again. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Wanna go meet back up with everyone else?"[/color]

The divine wolf, very much eager to get on with things given the time limit, still only gave her bark of agreement with reluctance, still not at all a fan of acting like a dog who had been taught to ‘speak’.