[center][h3]Esaka’s Low Tier - Pao Pao Cafe[/h3] Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (138/150) Level 11 Big Band (38/110) Amaterasu’s [@DracoLunaris] Roland’s [@Archmage MC] Zenkichi’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] Pit’s [@Yankee] Sakura & Juri’s [@Zoey Boey] Captain Falcon’s [@Double] Harry and Kim’s [@Eviledd1984] Terry’s [@Terry Bogard] [b]Word Count:[/b] [/center] As the unannounced Organization member probably should have expected, the Seekers had a lot of questions for him. Nadia wasn’t one them, though. Interrogating him was no concern of hers, especially since the delivery of his pizza heralded the imminent arrival of the other orders. To her delight, her roast duck happened to be one of the first meals brought over, so while the others grilled the man in black Nadia got busy chowing down on succulent, crispy waterfowl. True to its name, the dish was both wonderfully aromatic and fiercely spicy, not to mention deliciously fatty. In order to eat with gusto, Nadia found herself obliged to guzzle cola in equal measure, both to quench the flames and offset the savory, somewhat greasy mouthfeel. After gruel and trail mix aboard the Avenger this morning, and a healthy amount of exercise on the way to Esaka, the feral had known she’d be hungry, but not until the duck hit her tongue did Nadia realize how famished she really was. Still, despite enjoying her food, the catgirl didn’t completely tone out the others’ conversation. Her allies questioned the Organization member and received their orders one by one, then digested whatever information he’d divulged as they ate their lunches. Roland got almost nothing out of the man, then settled for talking about himself instead. His mention of angel wings struck Nadia as a little tactless with Pit in their midst, and judging by the team captain’s reaction, he probably felt the same way. Being a little behind, Harry asked what Organization XIII was, seemingly directed at her and Band. Busy with her food, she shrugged to tell him [i]I don’t know[/i], which honestly wasn’t far from the truth. She knew that the Organization existed, and that they seemed to be interested in helping the Seekers beat Galeem, but that was pretty much it. Band didn’t know much better than her, either, but at least he offered his fellow detective an answer. “From what I gather, a third party faction opposin’ Galeem, like us. Been around a lot longer than we have, though. Seems like they show up to steer us in the ‘right direction’, but whether that’s right for us or them, I can’t say.” Not the most glowing endorsement, but considering what he’d heard about some of the Organization members, his description was actually rather charitable. While Harry ate and drank, Kim asked something else. “Nothing that you couldn’t look up yourself,” the stranger told him. “The Kings’ fighting styles are very heavily documented. You can find all sorts of videos, and even supposed counterplay, on the inter-knot. Be warned that knowing counterplay and putting it into practice are two very different things, however.” Band kept up only the barest pretense of being interested in the meagre lunch he’d ordered as he listened to the questioning. Sakura managed to wheedle more from that man than Band would have expected, including his codename. [i]Xilgrev,[/i] he mused. [i]That scrambled-up hoo-ha ain’t like any name I ever heard. Ramaxi, Gneidxick, Hallextram. Do all these clowns have ‘x’ in their names, or what?[/i] Pit got some clarification about the circumstances in which the Four Kings would need to be beaten, while Zenkichi probed Xilgrev, trying to get under his skin only to wind up a lot more rattled than he was. Band couldn’t blame him for looking into the ten-year problem, since that was something hanging over everyone’s heads. If Band had a kid or two in that same boat, he’d probably be even more desperate. When the questioning came to an end, Band mulled over what he’d wanted to ask. As Roland proved, Xilgrev could be quite tight-lipped unless someone appealed to his reason. He’d more or less already told the team that the Organization intended to help them defeat Galeem, which tracked with what Band knew of the Organization members in the Sandswept Sky and Deep Blue Sea. Unfortunately he’d been stuck in Edinburgh MagicaPolis while the Seekers conquered the Under and Dystopiascape, so his intel could easily be outdated, but the lack of outright hostility told him that his teammates were at least amenable to the idea of an alliance. All his thinking must have shown on his face, since after Xilgrev pushed out his chair and got to his feet, the darkness within his hood turned Band’s way. “You look like you have something to ask me.” Band exhaled slowly. “Just one thing. You say y’all wanna help us beat Galeem. I believe that. But lemme ask you this. When we do whoop its ass, will that restore everythin’ to how it used to be?” To the detective, a second of hesitation spoke volumes. Xilgrev knew the answer; he was just deciding how much of it to reveal. After a moment, he replied. “Not…automatically. That’s why we must take a passive role. Organization XIII is biding its time, so that when Galeem is finally gone, we can give this world the push it needs to get the ball rolling.” Band snorted. “How vague.” “Indeed.” Xilgrev waved wryly. “With that, I bid you farewell. Fight, win, and take every ounce of power you can get. You’ll need more power -much more- than you think.” He turned to go. In the silence that followed, the slurping sound from Nadia’s straw revealed that her glass was now empty. “Uh, whoops,” she said unconvincingly, crossing her arms. “So…now that’s over with, and we’re all signed up, I guess we got the rest of the day to ourselves.” She grinned. “Could do with somethin’ sweet, though. Anyone got the ‘scoop’ on whether or not Esaka’s got ice cream shops?” Band removed his hat and began fanning himself with it. “First order of business oughta be findin’ a place to stay,” he remarked. “I’m guessin’ we can’t crash at our dojos, after all.” Metal Revolution, of course, happened to be a lot less hospitable than the average dojo, but he couldn’t imagine any dojo offering lodging. “Plus, we got a lot to learn about Esaka and how things work around here. Might be worth it just casin’ the joint for a while. Y’know, gettin’ a feel for everything.” With enough experience, any cop worth his salt could tune into the very soul of a city, obtaining an almost preternatural awareness of how, when, and where things went down. Whether through the whispers in one’s ear or the shivers down one’s spine, a city could have an awful lot to say. Of course, that sort of understanding took years, and Band probably didn’t have a week. Still, having one eye open would be better than going in blind. “Uhhh…” Nadia not-so-discreetly checked her magic wallet. “That reminds me. I ain’t exactly flush with cash right about now. Havin’ sushi every night in Mafia Town kinda ate into my savin’s.” She looked between Sakura and Terry. “Hey, I bet you guys know everythin’. How’s a girl make a quick buck around this town, huh? Are there, like…” She lowered her voice. “Underground fightin’ rings?” A sigh issued from Band. He was not at all surprised. He couldn’t necessarily argue with her, though. In a city where everything revolved around fights, the Seekers’ options were limited on such short notice. [center][h3]Krat Zoo[/h3] Lvl 8 Sandalphon (67/80) Level 5 Heismay (34/50) Edward’s [@DracoLunaris] Blazermate & Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC] Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee] Roxas & Ganondorf’s [@Double], Ramattra’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX] [b]Word Count:[/b] 2515 [b]Nameless Stagecoach[/b] 𖥞: 8/8 | 🛡️: 7/8 | [b]Equipment:[/b] Stewpot/Windchime/Lamps/(None)/(None)/(None) | [b]Companion[/b]: Ratshaker[/center] As it finally began to roll forward out of the Hall of Adventure, Sandalphon retired to the stagecoach for a few moments. She didn’t need to rest or anything since Geralt and Ganondorf did the bulk of the work when it came to pushing open the heavy metal door, but she did want to check on the stew pot, which seemed to have started bubbling shortly after the Seekers arrived at Krat Zoo. Sure enough, the pot appeared to be slowly filling, even though nobody had added any ingredients as far as she knew. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the archangel chalked it up to some sort of magic, and estimated that it would be full by the time the team found a way out of the sprawling zoo complex, just in time for a midday meal. Sandalphon remained in the stagecoach just long enough to exchange a few words with Ganondorf, whose newest quirk demanded that he replenish his biomass well ahead of lunchtime. Their brief discussion bore no fruit, so by the time the stagecoach reached the Endangered Species Zone, she was back outside in the wintry wind, her boots crunching the snow with each step. Just as planned, Roxas and Heismay had gone ahead to investigate the mysterious blaze in the Rainforest zone, and if its source proved to be half as ferocious as it sounded, even from this far away, Sandalphon suspected they’d need backup. Until then, though, the rest of the Seekers could contend with the carcasses roused and flushed out by the scouts’ sudden passage. Though uniformly grisly, most of the mutants were of no consequence, since few of the area’s endangered species had been particularly large or dangerous creatures to begin with. The exception was the cassowary carcass, the flightless bird twisted into a vicious facsimile of its distant ancestors, the primeval raptor. Sandalphon lent a hand with that one, creating a blue tile she crouched over before setting her sights on the monster. Two well-placed shots were enough to put it down, though she took no pleasure in it. A fate like this struck her as especially terrible knowing that these beasts had been rare and precious in life. “What a waste,” the archangel murmured. With the carcasses taken care of, though, the Reindrix could be coaxed forward, and the stagecoach could inch further into the zoo. At the same time, Geralt had devoted himself to studying one particular specimen. Even if the team hadn’t already seen a mangled giraffe corpse out by the main gates, the sight of one in good condition and barely bothered by its macabre surroundings would have invited suspicion. Sure enough, it wasn’t long after the Witcher entered the giraffe’s enclosure, and both disappeared from sight, that Sandalphon began hearing a series of warped, unnatural roars, accompanied by the telltale sounds of combat. She couldn’t climb the exhibit fence like Geralt did, but she could Vault over or warp inside if needed. Still, she decided to hang back and let the man do his job unless he called for her. The Seekers needed a leader, not a helicopter parent, and Sandalphon felt it necessary to demonstrate her faith in her team. When Geralt did contact her, she made the call without hesitation. Her comrades weren’t here to study whatever plague had befallen Krat Zoo, and it was all too easy to imagine the disaster that excessive scientific curiosity could invite. This place was too far gone for any cure; only scorched earth would set it to rights. By the time the stagecoach fully rounded the Endangered Species bend and reached the boardwalk of the Rainforest Zone, the battle against the advanced elephant carcass had reached a fever pitch. The monster squaring off against Mokou, Roxas, and Heismay was a true abomination, even by Krat Zoo standards. It had been dangerously strong and durable before its nightmarish mutation, so the addition of almost a dozen assorted animal heads, all spewing freezing vapor, made it a foe to be reckoned with. The same could be said of both the Seekers and their fiery new acquaintance, though, and the three were making progress. Heismay concentrated on keeping the nightmare’s attention, his longsaber gleaming in the overcast darkness as he slashed, dodged, and leaped. Outside of the occasional Mudo, the hermit was an obligate melee fighter, so he kept himself tantalizingly close to the monster’s snapping jaws while the others barraged it with elemental magic from a safer distance. It was a very risky business, since just one mistake could easily prove fatal, but the former Shadowguard knew what he was doing. “How simple!” he taunted as the horror’s crocodile jaws, twisted vertically, snapped shut mere inches from his red greaves. He delivered a quick slice to its jowls, his blade barely biting into the scales, then kicked off the monster’s snout. “Hyah! It’ll take more than that!” He landed on the wooden railing of the boardwalk roundabout, staying only long enough to tense his legs and then spring again as the monster smashed through the fence. He narrowly somersaulted through a gap between Mokou’s pinions, noting that her fiery feathers were really starting to pollute the arena. This fight was too fast-paced to keep track of both the horror and whatever safe spots she left for him. After latching on to a dead tree for an instance, Heismay leaped away from an icy blast, only to clip a couple flying feathers. “Ack!” He extended his wings to catch himself as he fell, only barely managing to glide before he hit the ground. A quick pat-down assured him that his fur hadn’t caught fire, and the next second Heismay was off again before the carcass could catch up. [i]Better to suffer the girl’s not-so-friendly-fire than a blow from that monster,[/i] he reasoned as the horror snapped at his heels. His distraction gave Mokou the opportunity she needed. After diving in, the girl set off a tremendous point-blank blast that scattered sizzling, foul-smelling chunks in all directions and left a smoking crater on one side of her target’s upper body. “Can’t argue with results, I suppose,” Heismay muttered. Orange magic streaked across his body as he transformed, darkness roiling within the Thief’s palm as he prepared a follow-up. “Some darker arts!” His Mudo struck the carcass’s main head in its midst of its thrashing, knocking its bulk neck askew. Hoping to open the wound left by Mokou even further in hopes of severing the trunk completely, Heismay dashed in with the Thief’s curved greatsword at the ready. “How about this!?” Too late, he realized that this area wasn’t the blind spot he thought it was. While Mokou’s detonation destroyed several of the horror’s heads, it had left others mangled, but still operable. As Heismay slid in for a huge slice, the head of a hyena split open to disgorge a freezing torrent. “Bah!” After disappearing for a moment in the blast, Heismay reverted to normal covered in frost, his movements slowed as the cold coursed through his bones. The next second, the monster’s neck swung back toward him. He was lucky to avoid its heads, but the sinuous bulk still batted him away. “Blast it!” Heismay slid into a snow drift at the base of the railing, where he languished for a moment, numb. That misstep, however, gave Roxas the push he needed to pull out all the stops. A moment after the mutated colossus finally sagged to the ground, defeated and disintegrating, Heismay got to his feet, shivering but free from frost. “...Well done,” he managed after a moment, unconvincingly reassuring his ally. “I’ll be fine, but I would not decline some healing power, either.” Heismay rubbed his hands together, then tucked them into his armpits to try and warm them up faster. As Mokou approached, the hermit looked your way. “Greetings, miss. I hope you do not mind our interference. Your firepower is most impressive, and you no doubt had the beast in hand, but I could not allow myself to stand idly by.” He looked around, scanning the snowy gloom of the once-verdant Rainforest Zone for other dangers. “So, what brings you to this accursed menagerie? Its no place for children, no matter how powerful.” Once Mokou set him straight, and informed him why she was here, Heismay held up his hands in sheepish placation. “Ah, forgive me. Where I’m from, elda are very rare, so I am a poor judge of age.” Of course, she probably wasn’t an elda, but hopefully she’d accept the excuse. He cleared his throat. “Ahem. As for your mission, I believe it’s one-third complete already. I was fortunate enough to find one viking, Erik, hiding in the Hall of Adventure.” After stepping forward, Heismay held his little hand up to shake. “If you’re amenable to joining forces, at least for the time being, we can continue the search and rescue together. My name is Heismay Noctule.” In a realm gripped by winter, Mokou’s firepower would be a welcome addition to the team, but she didn’t look hurt enough to be friend hearted yet. With any luck, the chance would come soon. At the clatter of hooves and creak of heavy wheels on wood, he glanced over toward the boardwalk to see the stagecoach approaching. “Ah, here they are now.” With the advanced elephant carcass out of the way, and the zone’s mutant kangaroos cleared beforehand, the Seekers and their new acquaintance could continue. The staff center opened by Mokou could be seen and accessed by anyone else before they pressed on, as well. The Rainforest Zone harbored no other enemies of note, so only dreary, leafless trees and dead, frozen plants confronted the team as they moved. Though the winding, narrow boardwalk kept the stagecoach’s speed down, its pattern still distinguished it as the Midnight Walk, so Sandalphon judged that they were on the right track. Toward the end of the Rainforest Zone, they did run into another small problem at a fork in the boardwalk. On the right side was a dead end, another roundabout that surrounded the area’s largest tree. A few normal-looking birds still huddled on its branches, and a sign at the base of the tree read [i]do not disturb the wildlife - no shouting or whistling[/i]. To the left, a bridge leading over a frozen river and out of the area had collapsed, but thanks to Sectonia and her crystals the problem was easily solved. Up next was what seemed like the central location of Krat Zoo, a large [url=https://i.imgur.com/1RSB7Tx.png]food court[/url] themed after the nearby Safari Zone. In addition to a variety of food and drink stalls, as well as covered tables, it featured four small glass exhibits in the center, formerly the homes of tarantulas, scorpions, snakes, and turtles. Now, though, the whole food court lay in frightful disarray. No doubt something like the elephant carcass had rampaged through it. Sandalphon was tempted to request that the others loot the place, but she was skeptical of any food found therein being safe to consume, especially after the discovery of parasites. She did see something curious, though, and asked Edward to stop the stagecoach for a moment as it passed by. “Best to check to see if another viking is hiding here,” she told the team. She herself did not search the buildings for any vikings, though. Against one of the reptile exhibits leaned the half-frozen corpse of a [url=https://i.imgur.com/KS8fGko.png]strange man[/url], his pale, stony skin festooned with strange tubes and brass apparati. Her keen eyes spotted an odd canister half-hidden beneath his body, as if he’d died protecting it. Leaning on her gunstaff, Sandalphon stooped and retrieved it. “Some sort of storage device,” she murmured as she shook it, hearing something rattle around inside. A quick study of its workings led her to an intriguing conclusion. “Encrypted. Curious. I am tempted to puzzle out whatever secrets it might contain.” With one last look at the body and the food court, Sandalphon returned to the stagecoach and climbed inside. “It should not take me long to decipher it. Please notify me if anything requires my attention.” Just beyond the food court lay the Safari Zone to the left and the Aquatic Center, but even a cursory examination was enough to reveal the problem that concerned both. At some point, the enormous tanks inside the aquarium had suffered enough damage that the thousands of gallons of water had broken through the glass, washed through the ruined building, and flooded the neighboring Safari Zone. After ascending a small, squat flight of stairs to the Safari center, the Seekers could step out the double doors and witness a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ssNewn1.png]large area[/url] with its entire central exhibit submerged. Now, the second-story wooden walkway was more like a boardwalk encircling a lake, and all the trees and towers meant for the primates that once inhabited this place protruded from the water. In order to make it to the zoo’s final area, where that huge greenhouse towered above the complex, the stagecoach and its Reindrix would need to circumnavigate that boardwalk. Of course, that was easier said than done. A handful of mandrills remained, using the suspension bridges to run between the towers and pelt the Seekers with projectiles. If they triggered the gleaming Reindrix, the team would definitely have a problem on their hands. That wasn’t all, though. [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb9qoHtdGHU[/youtube][/center] After about thirty seconds, the water began to ripple, and a copse of trees in the water began to shake. Sandalphon, unbothered by the clank of projectiles against the stagecoach’s armor, immediately looked up from her cryptic vessel, then set it down and swept out of the vehicle. “Immense life signal detected,” she reported, her pupils in the shape of radar scanners. There wasn’t enough room for the coach to turn around. The only way was forward. “Get ready to move.” The trees rose from the water, but the island beneath them wasn’t rock or dirt. It was scales–enormous, heavy, snow-white scales. The scales and ridges kept coming and coming, until a gargantuan, primeval head finally emerged from the water, the head of an unnaturally enormous [url=https://i.imgur.com/xRr5SB8.png]albino alligator[/url], with just two toes on his left front foot, and a snout wounded by some prior battle. His glassy, colorless eyes locked onto the Reindrix, and his jaws hung open, drool running out between his terrific fangs. A low, rumbling bellow issued from his starving belly, followed by a deafening, hollow roar. He flailed his muzzle and tail, destroying the primate towers and bridges in mere moments. As shrapnel -and mandrill parts- flew everywhere, Heismay stood atop the stagecoach, his longsaber couched and his teeth gritted. “What in blazes is THAT!?” Sandalphon vaulted onto the roof and landed beside him, her Hexagun in hand and her voice much more commanding than usual. “Edward, go!”