[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220729/023912a75a8a9b16c801799640a60148.png[/img]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 928
[b]Level 10 Roxas:[/b] 86/100
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] +2
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 88/100

[h3]Spire 04 ~ Orca Space Complex[/h3][/center]

Roxas had kept pretty quiet ever since his team among the Seekers had rejoined the others. Truth be told, the Nobody was still plenty embarrassed about his blunder in the Security Room with Vauban. Thankfully, nobody had asked that team for specific details about what happened back there. But even then, there was still some evidence of the singes in his clothes from all those electric shocks he suffered, even if the injuries themselves had all been healed up by now.

Roxas tilted his head as he observed Eve’s demonstration for how to use the Hypertube. Surfing on a blade was certainly unorthodox, and yet somehow even that was something Roxas was vaguely familiar with seeing. Thinking back on it, there were definitely a lot of crazy feats of skill between all the various Keyblade Wielders and Organization Members when they fought at the Keyblade Graveyard. And yes, Keyblade surfing had been one of those feats at certain points.

And so, taking a page out of Sora’s and Ventus’ playbooks, Roxas decided he would use the Hypertube in exactly the same way Eve had demonstrated. He summoned Oblivion to his hand and tucked the Keyblade under his boots as he jumped into the Hypertube. [color=gold]”Wh-Whoa!”[/color] Roxas cried as he struggled to balance himself. This was definitely more Ventus’ thing, that was for sure. But the Nobody was determined to successfully mimic his fellow Keyblade Wielder’s style as he slowly and surely figured out how to maintain balance and control. Flow Motion helped a lot in that department, too.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr5qbOfAC0w[/youtube][/center]

Roxas was starting to get the hang of this by the time the obstacles started to become a problem. Thankfully, he’d had enough experience with Flow Motion to get himself through them. Dodging the debris and storage containers were a simple enough matter. The Naytibas were a bit more involved, requiring Roxas to occasionally slash through them with his other Keyblade or shoot through them with his RockGun. But overall it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

At one point a whole cluster of Naytibas tried to get in his way. Roxas responded by leaping off his Keyblade and using Flow Motion to launch himself from droid to droid, slashing through them with Keyblade strikes until the Nobody emerged on the other side of cluster where he safely put Oblivion back under his feet again to resume his transit through the Hypertube.

Honestly, slowing himself down at the end was probably the hardest part about Roxas’ transit through the Hypertube. He didn’t manage to skid himself to a slowdown but had to tumble forward to keep himself from faceplanting on the ground on the other end once he was actually out. Not seeing any Naytibas around, the Nobody breathed a sigh of relief.

Sandalphon suggested some tasks that needed doing, but Roxas was still feeling pretty down about his failure in the Security Room. A short break like the archangel had mentioned would probably do him some good right now. As such, Roxas found himself a spot to sit down and let his Pokemon out of their Poke Balls to stretch their muscles.

Scamp stuck near to Roxas, resting his head on his trainer’s lap while Turbo took advantage of the open space to drive herself around in circles and figure-eights for some exercise. Larxene just did some mock practice attacks with Titan as if anticipating some battle that might be coming. And then there was Shocker, who buzzed around playfully before noticing that Roxas had gotten the Catalogue out of his pack and was looking at its pages.

[color=gold]”Wanna try it out?”[/color] Roxas asked the Rotom, who buzzed with approval. [color=gold]”Okay, how about… [i]this[/i] one?”[/color] Roxas asked, holding up the Catalogue with its pages open to a certain picture. Shocker looked at it quizzically before literally flying into the page with an eager buzzing. Moments later, the Ghost type emerged from the Catalogue sporting [url=https://www.pokemon.com/static-assets/content-assets/cms2/img/pokedex/full/479_f2.png]a whole different form[/url] that made him take the shape of a floating toaster oven sporting a red line aura.

[color=gold]”Heat Form…”[/color] Roxas murmured to himself, using his Rotom Phone’s Pokedex to look up information on Shocker’s current form, [color=gold]”Fire Blast instead of Blizzard, from the looks of it. Sounds good to me. Oh, that reminds me.”[/color] Roxas fished for the Swift TM from his bag, [color=gold]”Interested in learning a new move?”[/color]

Shocker buzzed excitedly, clearly eager to try out a new move. Roxas nodded and booted up the Technical Machine. [color=gold]”Let’s see… uh oh, looks like you’ll need to forget one of your current moves to make room for Swift. But which one…?”[/color] Roxas looked over Shocker’s current moves thoughtfully. He certainly didn’t want to lose Electro Ball or Fire Blast since those were Shocker’s hardest hitting attacks. So that left Double Team and Confuse Ray. Giving it some thought, Roxas realized that Turbo also possessed a means to confuse opponents, so most likely Shocker wouldn’t be missing much by forgetting how to use Confuse Ray.

[center][hider=Shocker’s Updated Moveset]
Electro Ball
Double Team
Confuse Ray -> [b]Swift[/b]
Blizzard -> [b]Fire Blast[/b]
[/hider][/center]

[color=gold]”One, two, and… done.”[/color] Roxas said, [color=gold]”Let’s see the new move, Shocker. Try to use Swift!”[/color] The Rotom nodded and with a buzz fired off a small volley of yellow star energy projectiles into the air. [color=gold]”Nice! Now you’ll have a neutral option in case we’re battling something that Fire and Electricity won’t work against!”[/color] As for the Technical Machine, Roxas now noticed that it was cracked and broken apart. [color=gold]”Guess that Poke Mart guy wasn’t kidding about them being one-time use…”[/color]

[hr]

[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/221005/7d7c778891f3387ab231a2bbd26f2d1e.png[/img]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 514
[b]Level 8 Ganondorf:[/b] 31/80
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] +1
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 32/80

[h3]Spire 04 ~ Orca Space Complex[/h3][/center]

Ganondorf grunted when he saw how the Hypertube actually worked. Frankly, the warlord wasn’t particularly interested in trying to play a balancing act on the blade of his sword. So that made his decision for him, the Gerudo would be riding in the stagecoach. He figured it would probably be more comfortable anyway. Of course, he couldn’t possibly have known how incorrect that assumption would turn out to be.

While riding through the Hypertube, Ganondorf had to cling to the meshes of the stagecoach’s inner wall like everyone else inside. And if that wasn’t enough, the ride became bumpy and jostled their extra equipment around, including some of the spare weapons that he himself had helped gather. But luckily for Ganondorf, he did have at least one unique advantage for riding out this trip.

He was able to use the tentacles on his back to serve as extra limbs to steady himself against the stagecoach walls as well bat away objects that bounced or were thrown his way without needing to loosen his grip on the meshes. So this made the trip substantially easier for him to sit through than it otherwise would have been. But it did nothing for the Gerudo King’s mood as he seethed with irritation and annoyance.

Needless to say, Ganondorf was glad to get out of the blasted stagecoach as he climbed out with grunt and harumph. [color=797979]”Hmph, bah…”[/color] He muttered to himself. Despite looking otherwise fine due to the advantages his back tentacles afforded him during the ride, he clearly didn’t look like he was in a pleasant mood for it. He grunted a sigh in response to Sandalphon’s instructions to the Seekers and the tasks that needed doing.

He more or less assumed he was about the only one capable of clearing away the vehicles to open a path. Thanks to Sectonia’s minions and his own Moblins, Ganondorf didn’t have to work alone. But even so, there was still some debris that only he was strong enough to move out of the way. What it all amounted to was that Ganondorf was not able to find time for a break like some of the others had. He did take a moment to scarf down his second and last slab of meat so that he could more speedily recover from the damage he’d taken from Belial earlier. But otherwise Ganondorf’s time was spent almost entirely on helping clear the path.

Belial was something else he was seething about. Ganondorf had hoped for an opportunity to try infecting the Naytiba with his new powers but unfortunately the fight had ended in a way that prevented him from being able to. Part of him was actually hoping Belial would show up and strike again. Not only so that Ganondorf could finish what he started, but also so he could finally have a chance to try infecting something into becoming a new minion.

So far, Ganondorf had little chance to use any of his new powers. And the King of Evil was almost itching for an opportunity to finally change that.