Grima doesn’t say a word as she follows Dragunov out of the building, but she doesn’t try to shoot Dragunov in the back immediately. Instead she simply drew her sword, lifting it up to gaze upon the metal, “This city is quite the curious place. Handling practically everything with whoever is stronger. It’s truly a breath of fresh air; A simple argument for the simple mind” Grima commented, running a hand across the flat side of her sword,

“Now then… I think your severed head will prove a good message to your employers at G-Corp. Whatever will be left of them-” Grima stated, suddenly snapping up her hand and firing a ball of dark magic at Dragunov, barely waiting for her own line to finish before starting the fight.

At the woman’s voice, the silent Russian peered back over his shoulder, his almost glassy gray eyes regarding her like a dead man’s as she threatened him. He got a good enough look at the start-up of her spellcasting that he could swerve to the side without too much effort. As it cruised by he turned to face Grima, his expression something close to mild contempt. Then he smoothed back a stray lock of raven-black hair and adopted a fighting stance with his left foot forward and both hands open, one further away than the other, and awaited his foe’s next move.

“Oh, spare me the look. I can respect worms that stick to their business… But have a policy of crushing any that dare stand in my way” Grima says with a shrug, twirling her sword in her hand before dashing forward, thrusting her sword directly at the Russian’s torso.

Dragunov hunkered down and put up his guard, his arms and winter coat sufficient to blunt Grima’s stab to barely any more painful than the prick of a needle. Then from a crouching stance, as Grima recovered from her highly committal advancing extension, he twisted around with a quick upward chop. His Razer was deceptively fast, and while it didn’t do much damage or lead to a combo, it did strike low and interrupt his opponent. In that brief moment of advantage, he rose, then landed a surprise low kick into turning hammerfist and hook kick, the tried-and-true Separator. When his foe hit the ground, the man departed from his defensive stance to dash her way with explosive speed and launch his Chernabog Sweep to try and catch her with yet another low, this one meant to flip her into the air.

Grima only had the time to widen her eyes for an instant before Dragunov struck at her legs, the blow causing her to stagger before being left completely vulnerable to his followup attack that sent her flying into the floor. Yet she did not stay on the floor for long, instead rolling to the side as Dragunov went for his Chernabog Sweep. The casual dismissiveness was gone, replaced be a look of anger towards the Russian as she swung her hand up, a row of dark spikes erupting from the ground to spear her foe, with the vessel leaping into the air shortly afterward to slam down upon him with her blade.

The dark spikes struck Dragunov unmitigated, his prone position worsening the damage as they stabbed into him from beneath in sequence. Without so much as a grunt of pain, however, the man managed to right himself in time to roll to the side and avoid Grima’s descending slash. He tumbled off the curb, onto the street, and rose smoothly just short of a head-on collision with an oncoming car. Its horn blared as it rushed by, the displaced air fluttering Dragunov’s coat, but he only spared the vehicle a brief unamused look before he returned his attention to Grima. If she thought she’d catch him with an aggressive follow-up attack, and maybe drive him further into traffic, she’d have another think coming as he bundled one hand around his other fist for his Bloodhound Strike, an overhead pound that could armor through a single hit.

Grima slowly rose to her full height, twirling her sword in her hand as another wave of darkness spread from her hands, coating the street with walls of shadow. It did not stop anything from leaving or entering, but it served as a deterrent for anything that could be coming by, such as more cars. She wouldn’t leave a variable she couldn’t control on the battlefield… And more over, she wouldn’t let random chance rob her from her victory. Her calm approach let her see Dragunov’s Bloodhound Strike, stepping to the side to dodge it, jabbing at his side with the hilt of her sword before following it up with a rising slash that knocked him into the air, subsequently sending him flying a fair distance with a short ranged blast of dark magic from her hand.

With about as much grace as one could muster, Dragunov hit the road and backrolled to his feet. His face bore a fresh lesion from point-blank black magic, but no expression as he charged forward. He closed the distance quickly but slowed down a few long strides away from his target. More carefully he began to poke at his foe from mid range with a mix of long kicks and quick punches, no longer committing to anything launch punishable. Grima's magic and her sword gave her the range to contest him, but they achieved little if he blocked them.Could they strike fast enough to keep him on defense, or connect combos off of stray hits? Once the analytic Russian found out, he could change his tactics accordingly.

Grima herself was no slouch, now that she was in the groove of the battle. She restrained herself from her usual flashy wordplay, instead matching Dragunov's speed and light attacks. But, as the two engaged in their deadly dance, it became obvious that Grima was not truly used to this style of combat, and whatever hits she managed to sneak in could not be capitalized on properly.

Finally, the Russian made his move. He feinted whiffing the Razer move he’d used earlier, far enough away that the spinning chop would fall short. That gave Grima a chance to punish him with a longer-range, horizontal sword slash, nothing too fancy or committal, but a solid bit of damage to push her closer to victory. Instead, Dragunov cut short his spin and took a step away, as if turning tail to run. The deadly tip of Grima’s blade scraped by the back of her foe’s coat, tantalizingly close, and the next second Dragunov completed the revolution with a lunging high downward punch.

It counterhit in a burst of purely visual ice lightning, bouncing Grima off the tarmac. As she fell Dragunov caught her with a back leg snap kick, then continued with a jab, back leg roundhouse, spinning hook kick that sent Grima into a corkscrew, upward low chop, back leg snap kick, and then a revolving uppercut that spiralled his target into the floor in a whirlwind arc. Yet Dragunov was not done, and even as Grima’s back hit the ground, he tacked on a hefty parting shot with a shoulder bash as the combo ender. Now, as she skidded beyond Dragunov’s reach, the combo was overwith. Until Grima failed to rise, though, the soldier would continue. He charged forward to apply more pressure so she wouldn’t have a moment to rest.

Grima herself rolled back, managing to get to her feet as she looked up at Dragunov with a look of pure venom, swinging with her blade in a wide arc to catch Dragunov’s charge. Naturally, the Russian stopped just short of the attack… But this time Grima was prepared, using the motion of her swing to snap her hand forward, tendrils of dark magic snapping out and grabbing Dragunov before yanking him forward. The sudden pull threw him off balance, and Grima used the opening to launch Dragunov into the air with a rising slash. Once he was off the ground, she followed up with a swift jab to juggle him, then spun around with her blade in a two-hit motion that ended with a downward slash, slamming her foe back into the ground.

Now with Dragunov on the back foot, and with Grima sufficiently annoyed, the Fell Vessel chose to end the fight there and now, the telltale sign of her ‘true form’ beginning to manifest in the air behind her. The man’s skill was, annoyingly, undeniable… But she would just wipe out this entire street with Expiration.

As her magic swelled, Dragunov surprised her by rolling forward, straight toward danger, instead of back. Time seemed to slow down as the soldier glared impassively, raising one arm with his middle and index fingers extended to point out his target. Then time resumed as he walloped the swordswoman with a withering gut punch. She rolled to the ground sideways, allowing Dragunov to scoop her up off the pavement with one leg, then smash her down with a strong punch. As Grima struggled to pick herself up, her vision flickering, a frigid wind seemed to blow across the street. Powder snow billowed across the ground, and the cold air stung her face, as Dragunov bundled his fists together. Was it some power of her opponent, or just a hallucination? Either way, the result was the same. He brought his fists down on Grima’s head as she rose, a blow that shattered her mental energy like ice on a winter lake.

As Grima slumped down, the street was back to normal, the illusion of winter gone as suddenly as it came. Dragunov let out a misty puff of breath and stepped forward, ready to extend the Fell Vessel the same sort of grace she would have given him if she won. When he saw Lucky Chloe fleeing from Infinite-tea, however, the soldier paused, then turned to go. By the time Grima came to her senses a few seconds later, the mysterious mute was gone.

It takes a few moments for Grima’s eyes to clear, but when they do, she saw… Nothing but a street filled with the onlookers from before, her foe having vanished. She was alive; wounded but alive. And that fact alone enraged her. The Fell Dragon was not spared, it was destroyed. To be spared was to be seen as too weak to be a threat. She could rage war against the gods, and yet this man had chosen to-

The Fell Vessel took a deep breath, ceasing their spiral of wrath before it got out of control, pushing herself off the ground with a small stagger, a hand holding the side of her head as she deserted the scene herself. Chloe was gone, as were the Seekers. This outgoing had proven to be a nuisance… And while Grima was not one to drown her sorrows, she had the overwhelming urge to get a damn drink.

While Blazermate didn't need to sleep, Sectonia was sleeping as well as she could in her tent. Well, as much as you can when its freezing outside. However once the ground fell out from under everyone, being the two resident fliers of the group, Blazermate and Sectonia were different degrees of ok. Blazermate was totally fine, more surprised than anything while Sectonia had to start flying as the fall woke her up, flying with a tent around her and taking some time to untangle herself from the mess and pack her tent back up.

Blazermate went into her usual motion of healing people, but once a large group of bugs showed up she'd throw out Armstrong to blow them all away with his explosive charge. Sectonia meanwhile took some time to get herself ready as she was so rudely awoken. As she was getting her stuff all ready and packed up and such, Blazermate's sentry which had fallen with the other defensive stuff like the golems and antlers was being mobbed and destroyed by the sheer amount of enemies heading towards its loud, motionless, and tiled to the side self unable to really defend itself from the hordes of enemies. The Antlers couldn't help at all, as they had poofed from the long fall.

As the rest of the team was dealing with the chaff, Sectonia was free to deal with the larger enemies. as the Blowhog was freezing the golems, a savvy seeker managed to use the canonbeetle's snowball to close one of the holes the bugs were pouring from. Seeing that one as the threat that she could actually handle and deal damage to, she casted Slow first on it before throwing void globules at it. While it was a defensive powerhouse with its hardened shell, the void projectiles ignored that and just dealt damage to it allowing Sectonia to ignore what she'd normally need to do in order to deal damage to it. Although that left the blowhog free as she dealt with the canonbeetle.

Seeing as the blowhog only had one way of attacking it seemed, Blazermate, seeing that there was little in the way of healing needed as the others were handling themselves pretty well, decided to use said blowhog as an uber battery by flying up to it and stabbing it over and over with her ubersaw. Maybe it being a very sharp needle poking a balloon would do more than other attacks but Blazermate wasn't concerned with that as she poked it, then as she got her uber full and it tried to shake her off she banished it to kritz Sectonia in an attempt to help her annhilate the cannonbeetle so she could turn her sights onto the blowhog which was now dealing with two of its illusionary contemporaries trying to give it a taste of its own freezing medicine.

The rumbling and cracking that awoke everyone naturally included Mokou, but unlike the others she actually only cracked one eye open moments before the ground itself gave way… A fact that hardly bothered Mokou as she simply floated in midair, only going down to make sure the others were okay. The actual fighting that was going on as she floated into the cave chamber was unsurprising, and most of the bugs that were around her were quickly pelted with fiery feathers like so many before them. But more importantly, Mokou ended up floating next to where Sandalphon lay, a sight that caused Mokou to float over and check up on her angelic companion.

… Only two find a variety of problems.

One, Sandalphon was unconscious. Two, there were a variety of blue stones that Mokou recalled from that accursed zoo. And three, Sandalphon was looking positively sickly, with blue crystalline veins running across her face and blue blood leaking from the wounds accrued from the fall... And more importantly, a stony grey rash spreading across her skin, already having half petrified her face.

With the swarm of bugs, a normal person may have panicked. But Mokou herself didn’t, simply narrowing her eyes before hooking her arms underneath Sandalphon’s sleeping back and floating back into the air, “Hey! Sandalphon’s not looking too hot” she called out, smoothly weaving out of the way of a ball of acid without missing a beat.

Sakura had earned some cash, here and there, as she made further and further progress into the tournament. So when she was invited to go out to eat at a restaurant, she figured she might, maybe, possibly, be able to afford something. To be honest, though, she was hoping a party member more flush than she would be able to afford a big dish of communal food she could partake in, if only a smidgen.

If only Karin was here. Then again, accepting gifts and food from Karin was a surefire way to be gloated at. For Kasugano Sakura exclusively, anyway. Karin was a most gracious host to anyone else in the multiverse.

As Sakura approached the meeting spot restaurant, and saw Pit outside it after listening to his direction, she discreetly pumped her fist. Yes! Hot Pot! The perfect party food! Sakura would be eating good today! If everyone pitched in, they could get something great.

”Pit-kun!” She waved over at Pit cheerfully. She jogged over. ”I mean, heh, uh. Hello, Gold Team Lead.” She bowed a little with a grin.

Sakura glanced in through a window at the restaurant, her mind clearly already on food. ”Our meeting spot is…in there, right? Not just outside of it?” She ventured.

Hearing the peppy, familiar voice perked Pit up immediately, and he turned in Sakura's direction with a wide smile and an enthusiastic wave in return. And of course when she changed up her greeting, even just for fun, the angel couldn't help but preen. The Seekers were all pretty individualistic, and the nature of this particular mission meant they couldn't work together much, but Pit still took his nomination to heart.

"Yeah, of course! Just waiting for a few more of us to show up first. Then we can all sit near each other." At least that was the plan. He shot a hopeful look at the hostess, Udon, who smiled serenely back. There had been a brief discussion about it before Sakura had arrived.

"You're the first one! Besides me. I hope everyone else finds it okay..." it was pretty tucked away, but obviously not impossible to find. And hopefully the others would find it soon, because the scent of the steaming broth and cooking meats was really tantalizing. Pit joined Sakura in peeking inside. "Have you been here before?"

”Yes!” Sakura said with a punchy nod. ”With some of my World Warrior and Tekken friends, a while ago. Hot pot…” She put her face against the window.

She blinked, pulling herself back into reality. ”Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll find it. If it all goes poorly, I could always jump up on the roof and start shooting fireballs into the sky like a flare gun.” Sakura said, not knowing where that sentence was going when she started it. Though to be fair, Pit looked rather keen about that idea.

"That'll work! There's no way they'd miss it!"

He recalled that Sakura mentioned earlier she didn't know how to explain how she shot the fireballs, but seeing her do it up close might give him some hints - then he'd give hadouken a try too. Now he was kind of torn on wanting the rest of the gang to show up sooner or later... though he quickly decided on sooner, because he was getting hungry.

"The big pots of soup smell sooo good, I can hardly wait!"

Sakura nodded, rocking back and forth on her heels with her hands behind her back. She turned her eyes away from the sky and back towards Pit.

”You ever play Janken in Heaven with the other angels, Pit-kun?” She asked. ”Or Red Hands?”

He blinked at her, and it was immediately obvious even before he replied that he had not.

"I've never even heard of them. They're games?" he guessed. Then he furrowed his brow, looking around Sakura like she might have hidden a portable console on her somewhere. "What kind? Red Hands sounds like a fighting game but I have no idea what Janken in Heaven could be! Personally I like platformers and collectathons!"

Sakura raised her hands as if to begin explaining. ”Red hands is- eh?” Sakura looked at Pit and giggled. ”N-no, the game’s name is Janken. I was asking if you played Janken, in Heaven. With the other angels. My bad.”

”Maybe you know it. Janken goes like this: ”Saisho wa guu,” She raised her fist, and then put it down three different times in front of Pit: making a fist, a V sign, and then flattening her hand. ”Ja Ken Po!”
”Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock.” Sakura said.

At first Pit still seemed confused by something she'd said, but it must not have been that important as he just looked at her hands and listened to her explain. By the end of the first game's description, there was some recognition on his face.

"Oh, yeah, I've seen this one before! I never got why paper beats rock though?"

”Paper covers rock.” Sakura continued. ”And Red Hands is where you put your hands out palms down, and the other person puts their hands out palms up underneath them. Then the other person has to try and bring ‘em around and slap the top of your hands before you can pull them back. If you get slapped or flinch and pull away too early, you lose that hand.” Sakura explained.

”Janken is pure strategy and mind games. Red Hands is more execution and reaction, though it has some strategy too.” Sakura nodded sagely.

"Huh, really? Mind games? Strategy? They both seem easy though," Pit said, tilting his head. Unlike Janken (which he knew as simply rock-paper-scissors), Red Hands was completely new to him, but Sakura's explanation was clear and simple so how hard could it be? He glanced up at her, electric green, blue, and gold eyes filled with curious anticipation.

"Do you play them to pass the time or something? I wanna try! Let’s do Janken first!"

”Very well. But just so you know, I don’t hold back.” Sakura said jokingly, though there was something in her eyes that indicated it wasn’t just a joke.

She widened her stance and put her fist into her palm. ”We go on the po in Janken po.” She instructed.

”Saisho wa guu, Janken po!” Sakura cheered, before throwing down a ‘paper’ symbol with gusto. She was guessing that because Pit mentioned he didn’t understand how Paper could win, he would throw down rock due to unconscious bias. Alternatively, he would throw down Scissors due to seeing Paper as weak, but that might be something that someone who liked to pick on the weak would do, and Sakura didn’t think Pit was that kind of person.

This kind of demented thought process is the result of losing at Janken fifteen times in a row to Karin Kanzuki.

It served her well now, because she was right on the money about Pit throwing Rock as soon as she'd shouted the last syllable. He blinked at both of their hands, seemingly surprised by the result, and then squinted at his fist like it had personally betrayed him somehow.

Sakura pumped her fists, very pleased. ”Yes!”

"Okay, but it's like a one in three chance to win, so...!" He pulled his hand back, ready for another round. "Go again! Best two out of three?"

Sakura was eager, but instead she pulled back, rubbing the back of her head and sighing. ”Sorry, Pit-san. We only get to play Janken Po once per lifetime. Rules are rules. We can play again if we both reincarnate as ducks.” She said with a resigned shrug. Waited a beat.

Sakura broke with a giggle. ”Only kidding. Best two out of three! Then someone gets a point.”

She had happened to hit on one of Pit's core flaws, his gullibility, and for a moment he looked almost distressed at the fact that they wouldn't be able to play the simple game again. The reincarnation bit did a lot to dispel that though, and he'd cottoned on as she revealed the truth.

"Alright! The first point's gonna be mine!" he said with a grin.

No way would Pit pick Rock again so soon, Sakura guessed. But he wouldn’t be so obvious as to pick Scissors to beat her Paper, either.

”Saisho wa guu, Janken po!” Sakura said, putting down Scissors to defeat a Paper pick from Pit.

Her V-shaped fingers indeed met Pit's palm. The angel sucked in a breath, though he was less frustrated with the losses and more interested to keep going and figure out her trick.

"Okay, never mind, the first point's yours! You're like a mind reader! Go again!" He waited just long enough for her to get ready before he counted down himself. If I use a Rock to beat the Scissors... but she probably won't use Scissors again, right? But if she thinks that I think she will then... wait, no, if she thinks that I think that then she'd just use Paper! So then I should use Scissors, but then what if she thinks that I think she thinks that I... Agh, I'm getting confused!

"Saisho wagyu, Janken po!"

In the end he ended up just throwing another Rock.

Sakura saw the look on Pit’s face, and figured he would just put the first thing that came to his head. But she thought it would be Scissors, so she put down a Rock, too. ”Tie!” Sakura shouted.

A tie wasn't a win, but it wasn't a loss so it was progress! A short laugh bubbled up out of Pit. For as simple as it was, this game was surprisingly engaging. And he was sort of understanding now what Sakura had meant by the mind games. She probably had been reading him before, but if he didn't think about what he was going with until the last moment then she'd just have to guess! ...which brought it back to just being a random one-in-three chance, but even that was a little exciting.

"How many points do you usually play to?" he asked.

”With Karin? Two hundred.” Sakura said. She looked up at Pit and blinked, because when she said it out loud it sounded insane. ”But, uh, how about, uh, ten?”

The two of them continued their game until the agreed upon point threshold was reached. The nature of Janken meant that because each round took only a few seconds, the whole game only took minutes. Sakura still had a lead for a little while, at least until Pit had really committed to his 'strategy' of having no strategy, after which point it came down to luck for the rest of it - save for a few times when they attempted to psych the other out, with varying degrees of success there before randomness took over again.

In the end, though, Sakura’s early lead carried her through. ”Nice! That’s ten!” She said. ”Hey, you’re pretty good, Pit-kun!” Sakura said.

”But now we’re moving onto the real challenge. You’re pretty fast, right?” Sakura said, locking her fingers together and stretching out her arms.

”Depending on how good you do at this, I should get you into fighting games.”

Pit didn't feel bad about the narrow loss, though his competitiveness did make him want to suggest going for another ten points. But with another game to try Pit let it go, especially if Sakura was more eager for this one.

"I am! I know I'm gonna be good at this one, so start making your list of fighters to play!" he said. He shook out his hands in front of him and then stuck them straight out, both palms facing down. His expression was a blend of confidence and determination. "I'm ready!"

”Back where I’m from, they actually put me in a couple of fighting games. Too bad it didn’t make me rich, though.” Sakura said, putting her hands under his, palms up.

”Okay, let’s go all out! First to ten! Three, two, one, go!” Sakura waited a beat, and then went to bring her hands around and strike out at Pit. Now, this is the battle of speed and reflexes!

Pit's eyes had been open wide, trained on both of their still hands, but as soon as he saw the start of Sakura's movement he pulled his back and watched her slap the open space between them. A life of battle and archery, where spotting, reflex, and speed were necessary, definitely made him better equipped for this kind of game. At least at the start.

"Heheheh!" he grinned at Sakura, cheeky. "Now we swap, right?"

”Hai!” She had already put her hands in the correct position, focused.

With her hands hovering over his, Pit did not wait more than a breath to flip his up and try to tag each of Sakura's.

Sakura pulled hers back against her. ”Both at the same time? A bold strategy.”

Soon the two were locked in battle. Sakura drew first blood against her novice opponent by flinching her elbows but not drawing her hands back, causing Pit to draw his hands back too early. After that, though, the floodgates were open. Sakura said hardly a word, her attention fully locked on the battle. She forgot all about the restaurant and waiting for the other Seekers to show up.

The two picked up in speed and thus intensity of strikes. Sakura drew her hand back, shaking out the pain, before delivering a counter strike of her own. No way was she going to give up. The time between plays grew. The time it took to get from five points to seven points equaled the amount of time it took to go from one point to five points.

"So this is why its called Red Hands," Pit said with a chuckle. Both the tops of his hands and his palms stung from slapping and getting slapped, but it wasn't actually that painful. It was fun, even if the game was just trying to whack each other. Pit fluffed out his wings once (he'd realized that the extra pair of limbs tensed up during this game) before placing his palms out again.

"There aren't any other angels," he mentioned. "You meant the heavens before, right? Like Skyworld? I'm the only one. Sandalphon's the first angel I've ever met besides me."

The Centurions that lived there were a different species entirely, and as an organized army they might play simple games like this amongst themselves (though he'd never witnessed it if they did) but not with their commanding officer.

"So it's my first time playing this kinda stuff." He glanced at Sakura. "So, uh, thanks! It's fun!"

Sakura only hesitated a moment. No other angels in ‘Skyworld’? ”Well, hey, no problem! I’m glad to hear it.” She smiled, refocusing on the game.

In the end, they would probably still be playing by the time someone else showed up. Though Sakura certainly wouldn’t notice.

Luckily, for Professor Layton if no one else, the climb up the mountain thus far had been lax. It gave him time to sift through the thoughts he was having, the weight of this venture, and where his place in it might be. Fighting against a supposed god that had enslaved whole worlds was a bit loftier than what he usually dealt with. Though that might be true for his companions as well.

Maybe there'll be a time to swap stories later.

It wouldn't be today at least. The further up the Midnight Walk they got the colder and darker the environment grew. Soon it was too cold to travel, and they had to find refuge in a cave, where spirits weren't so high after the climb and the worsening conditions. Layton had started a pot of tea by the fire, but by that point most everyone else retired for the night. They'd been up for quite a while he supposed. Perhaps he was just used to late nights.

Layton left the kettle of tea on the fireplace in case anyone decided to have some during the night and retired to his own tent. After the day's events, a nice quiet sleep would be good for them all...

He only really woke up when he was already falling.

The immense cracking of the cavern jolted him out of his rest, but the Professor's faculties didn't truly return until there was no more ground beneath him. Now scrambling in freefall, Layton shimmied most of what he could manage out of his sleeping bag - he didn't chance a safe fall from this height, so in the chaos he snatched his collapsed tent from around himself, knotted the ends around one of its posts, and had rigged himself a makeshift parachute. The fabric caught on the air of a warm vent he'd managed to tumble over, turning Layton's plummet into a much slower drift.

"Everyone, get to higher ground!" He shouted as the bugs started pouring through holes, threatening to surround the Seekers in their disarray. Well, not on his watch, if he could help it. Layton angled himself towards a part of the horde on the fringes, kicking his sleeping bag the rest of the way off, and followed suit not long after, dropping onto the back of one such beast. A swing of his arm draped the tent over the bug's head, a tug to get it stuck on the thing's mandibles, and a dig of his toe into one of its spinal ridges; now the Professor was practically rearing it like a horse. It bucked and tossed, trying to get itself free, which is what Layton wanted as its furious thrashing knocked into its fellow insects.

Anything to level the playing field.

In the midst of it Layton spied a couple stalactites that looked unsecured from the rest of the ice formation. Waiting for a lull in the monster's movements, he threw the tent spike still in his hand as hard as he could (-1 ◉), landing true. The spike pinged off one and into the other, cracking both with enough force to send them both hurtling down into the crowd. Whether they crashed on any of the bugs or broke and shattered, surely it would be disruptive enough to give everyone an edge.

---

At long last, Big Band had reached Gold Team’s chosen meetup spot for the evening of the first day of pools, alongside the weathered warrior Yayama Yama. The two found Pit and Sakura waiting outside, accompanied by Bowser Jr, Rika, and Therion, who’d all evidently made their way back to Esaka independently of the lalafell they’d braved the bamboo forest with. That wasn’t everyone on the Forbidden Kingdom contingent’s roster, far from it, but it was enough for the hostess to beckon everyone inside to be seated.

Grateful that there was no conventionally-sized doorway he needed to carefully wedge himself through to not cause damage, Band stepped inside, pushing through the hanging cloth gingerly. Once in he was greeted by the sight of a bustling, lively chanko restaurant, full of sumo iconography from the decked out walls to the elevated dohyō that dominated the floorplan’s center, complete with regulation-size ring of rice-straw bales fifteen feet in diameter atop a platform of hard-packed clay covered by sand. Sumo wrestling was completely foreign to Band, so he could only imagine what kind of combat went down in such an arena. With how close many of the tables were to this elaborate centerpiece, he had to hope that the sand didn’t get kicked up too easily.

That wasn’t the only problem presented by these tables, though. At first glance Band thought that they were simply situated very low to the ground, with mats to sit on rather than chairs, which would have been bad enough. On closer inspection, though, the gumshoe discerned that the tables were actually recessed into the floor, with the customers’ legroom technically underground. “Uh oh,” he muttered, a little embarrassed. Even if he folded in his legs and lowered his bell-shaped body all the way to the ground and sat there like a gigantic salt shaker, he’d loom so far above the table that his smaller mechanical arms might not be able to reach it, no matter how ridiculously huge the sizzling clay hotpots here were.

Ben Birdland wasn’t a complainer, though, and if the restaurant didn’t mind him being here he’d try to make it work. As it happened, Chanko House Edomon catered to huge men all the time, with some of the clientele so bulky that they couldn’t fit at their special tables either. After directing the Seekers to their extra-long table, the obliging hostess brought out a small table with a stool sturdy enough to support Big Band’s immense weight. Very grateful, the cyborg seated himself next to the others, close enough that he could still join in the conversation.

More Seekers, including those who’d spent most of the day fighting and those who’d undertaken the United Nation’s missions, arrived bit by bit. Heroes placed their orders, and one by one the bubbling hotpots of seafood, meat, and veggie stew arrived. There were a couple interesting additions to the group in the form of two teenagers, both golden-haired and impeccably dressed, who showed up alongside Captain Falcon. Anyone as observant as Big Band could tell at a glance that these were no ordinary kids thanks to the lack of Galeem’s sunset-red light in their eyes, which would’ve been especially apparent now that the real sunset had finished. The two Lost Numbers introduced themselves (in perfect sync, no less) as Bartholomew and Marguerite Bogard, a name instantly familiar to everyone here. In fact, they were the paternal grandchildren of a previous Terry, one who predated the one some Seekers met at Smash City Alcamoth by several cycles, and they'd braved the surface world in the hopes of meeting the newest incarnation of their forebear.

Unfortunately, it seemed like that would be easier said than done. Terry himself was curiously absent from the gathering, and neither of his King of Fighters teammates had the slightest idea where the Hungry Wolf had gone. Harry, Kim, and Zenkichi didn’t show up either, reducing the number of detectives on the team to one, and they also failed to answer Pit’s attempt to contact them.

These absences, and especially their radio silence, worried Band a great deal. The Seekers’ enemies had already tried to take them out once, and in spectacular fashion. Maybe when that didn’t work, G-Corp’s operatives (or worse, the agents of Moebius) had resorted to picking them off one by one. With them gone, and Juri still truant, Gold Team was down to seven active members. Roland might be the only finger the Seekers still had in the Tekken pie, and how they’d continue to compete in King of Fighters with only two fighters had become a burning question. Funnily enough, Ms Fortune of all people seemed to be the easiest lost member to find, as Captain Falcon reported seeing her before he picked up the twins. At least the heroes still had a strong presence in World Warrior and Mortal Kombat.

After all the tabulating and speculating, the main objective of tonight’s gathering was ultimately to provide a status update. When his turn came around, Band did his due diligence. “Fought four matches today,” he began clinically. “Rasputin, annoyin’ wizard type, two-zero. Rhajang, roided-out tiger, two-zero. Chel, peppy robot lady, two-one. Balrog, dirty boxer with a mean strike a mile wide, two-zero.” He let out a long sigh. “So, still in Winners’ side. I did get a couple new upgrades under my belt, but I’m beat. Gonna rest up and do the best I can tomorrow.”

Once his hotpot arrived, a far littler portion than the average sumo wrestler might consume, Band took a moment to savor the smell. Then he carefully manipulated one spindly mechanical arm to ladle stew into a smaller bowl held by another. It was a tasty, very hearty dish, nothing too special, but an excellent meal nonetheless. As he ate, Band idly watched the restaurant workers in Edomon’s delivery section while listening to the others’ reports. Sumo wrestlers all, they took their to-go parcels in insulated backpacks, then climbed up a flight up stairs to the restaurant’s second story, which consisted solely of an outdoor balcony. Then each wrestler launched himself off the balcony in a Sumo Headbutt, soaring through the air as straight as an arrow. It was a bizarre method, but if it worked, who was Band to argue? It took substantial effort for him to tear his attention away and fix it where it ought to be: on the words of his fellow Seekers.

Meanwhile, a certain someone kept tabs on the team from a nearby spot, not so close that she could spy on them or listen in, but close enough that she’d know when the Seekers of Light left. Nadia’s disguise wasn’t good enough that she could get any closer without being recognized, especially now that Falcon had identified her (with frustrating ease, as well). That made her particularly sad because the aromas wafting out of the restaurant were pretty incredible. The smell of chanko stew made Nadia hungry enough to reconsider her plan of finding some high-class eatery to splurge in later, but for once in her life the feral fought off the temptation. Instead Nadia tried to relax at a table outside a pub across the street, her furry tail flicking idly as she people-watched.

…Why was she doing this, again? It mostly just felt right. Why separate from the group and go into hiding to begin with, if not to watch mysteriously from afar? Plus, she wanted to see how the twins situation would develop. That could be interesting.



Adrenaline inspired by the very real danger that now confronted the Seekers coursed through Heismay’s veins, banishing whatever bleariness the light sleeper might have felt at the conclusion of a fitful night’s rest. He’d stalled some of the glyphids for a moment by taking the fight to them, but the half-dozen kills he’d speedily racked up were but drops of water in a lake of skittering, screeching alien arachnids.

Completely disorganized and taken off guard by the sudden and terrifying fall, his allies were desperately trying to put together a defensive line so that the heroes could watch one another’s backs, to middling success. Heismay joined their efforts, putting his back to the damaged but mercifully intact stagecoach, but after a few frantic moments of nonstop combat the eugief was forced to rethink his strategy. His fighting style required a lot of room to maneuver, and against such a massive horde, there was nowhere to dodge or leap to where there wouldn’t be more bugs just waiting to sink their teeth in. Moreover, all his attacks and abilities were single-target, specialized for precise critical damage. He could dispatch a glyphid quickly, but not quickly enough to stem the tide washing over him if he stood his ground, and just swinging his blade in wide arcs practically guaranteed it’d get stuck in the carapace of a bulkier glyphid guard.

All this he figured out in mere moments, leading Heismay to make a necessary decision. “...Good luck!” He flipped onto the stagecoach, took his longsaber’s hilt in his mouth, then leaped into the air and stretched out his wings to glide over the hoard. Bugs clambered atop one another to snap at him, streams of frost billowed upward from frigid Praetorians, and salvos of corrosive acid shot down from a Glyphid Menace, but he nimbly swooped and swerved to avoid the attacks until he could land on a cryogenic bulb.

The strange plant wobbled beneath his weight, the pressure within its bulb palpable through its strained skin. A number of glyphids quickly turned to pursue him, but for a moment Heismay got a chance to look back toward where most of his allies were making their stand. The first and most encouraging thing he noticed was that the tide of glyphids wasn’t as infinite as it first looked; their numbers were great, but they did not blanket every inch of the cave’s snowy floor and walls. Instead reinforcements streamed in from a few specific directions, so the horde would thin out sooner or later as long as everyone kept fighting, and especially if those routes could be sealed off as Ramattra guessed.

As for the others, it looked like they were managing. Those who relied on powers, like Mokou and Sectonia, needed little preparation to begin raining destruction on the team’s insectoid assailants. Others collected themselves and fought back admirably, trying to control the chaos with their weaponry. Once the Seekers established a perimeter, the main threats would probably be the special bugs wielding more dangerous abilities. In the middle of the mess lay the stagecoach, still in one piece despite taking some damage from the fall thanks to its massive weight. The exterior furnishings, like the lightning rods, windchime, and lamps, were all destroyed, and the dangling cage had been busted open, allowing the ratshaker rat to run free and scream to his little heart’s content.

Of course, thanks to his tactical reposition, Heismay was on his own right now. When a couple dozen glyphids and two Praetorians converged on his frost bulb, this became a reality he could no longer ignore. Heismay figured he could trust the others to pull through while he saved his own skin. As bugs surrounded him, the eugief leaped into the air again. “Very well then.” In midair he transformed, becoming his Gunner archetype. “Have at you!”

He fired a well-aimed shot downward at the bulb, popping it like an override tomato. In an instant the cryogenic gas within surged outward, flash-freezing the mob of glyphids. “Aha!” Quickly reverting, Heismay spread his wings again and glided toward a Praetorian. It spread its fanged maw wide and let loose a torrent of icy gas, but it couldn’t crane its head high enough to keep up as the hermit flew closer, then descended in the form of the Assassin to stomp on the monster from above. His curved greatsword failed to fully penetrate the armor atop its luminous abdomen, but as the Praetorian roared in pain with its legs splayed out by the impact, he gripped the chitin plating with one metal hand and methodically peeled it. A moment later he could shove in his blade and use his archetype’s weight as the leverage needed to lop the big bug in half.

Freezing fumes began to spill out of its body, but Heismay was on the move. He smashed through frozen glyphid grunts as he circled around the other Praetorian, only mostly outpacing its frost spray. Unfrozen glyphids harried him on the way, including a slasher that scored a nasty hit on Heismay’s right thigh, but they were few enough in number that he could fight them off or even springboard off their backs. Unfortunately this Praetorian kept turning to protect its backside, so Heismay had a harder time. Relying on the cold to numb his wound, he settled for slicing at the creature’s unarmored leg joints. One severed leg at a time he reduced the Praetorian’s movement until he could hack away at its weak spot as he pleased, with plenty of time to deal with any grunts that scuttled up for a sucker punch.

After mortally wounding the second Praetorian, Heismay kept moving to keep one step ahead of the horde. Though the bugs were mostly focused on his comrades, they’d quickly get wise to the flanker’s act if he fought in any one spot for too long. Quick on his feet, and leery of facing too many foes at once, Heismay made sure that didn’t happen. When he happened to sneak a peak back at the main force of Seekers, they seemed to be doing well, just as he assumed they would. Many commanded terrifying destructive abilities, enough that their main challenge wasn’t so much annihilating their enemies as not hitting their allies. It seemed like the biggest danger, that being the bugs’ initial assault, had passed. Still, anyone who got too complacent could easily get gunked up by a Mactera Frost Bomber, severed by a Terminid Hunter, or worse.

In skirting around the edges of the conflict, the sharp-eyed Heismay both tried to get a sense of the huge cavern’s layout and also hopefully find a means of egress. More often he found side tunnels just big enough to admit more bugs, and lacking any way to close them, he gave them a wide berth. Stragglers he could dispatch easily, but nobody needed more hordes of these things. Both of the main breeds of bugs infesting this place seemed to be strong diggers, leading him to wonder if the expedition had been undermined while they spent the night in that cave.

Heismay found more interesting things during his round trip than digging bugs, though. In a dark recess of the massive cavern, he spotted a strange figure lurking in a makeshift camp. At first he thought it was a human, and he almost called out to him, but when he caught a better glimpse of its face in the golden glow of the greatsword in its hand, his hails froze in his throat. It bore a monstrous, almost leonine face, a mane of wild red hair, and a withered, wiry body naked but for tufts of similar fur. Most oddly, two rudimentary and vestigial wings protruded from its waist, much too small for flight. Though that sword in its grasp glimmered with the tantalizing allure of a legendary artifact, Heismay held his tongue and resolved to return with more allies, if the opportunity arose.

He also found a weird structure that didn’t seem to belong here at all: a concrete bunker with strips of weathered yellow paint, built into the floor with a dug-out depression to provide access. Once Heismay sliced up the terminids loitering in the area, curiosity compelled him to troop down and push the button on one side of the heavy metal door, but after a couple seconds it blinked red. So did another button obscured by ice on the opposite side, which suggested to him that both would need to be pressed together. Unfortunately, he had no way to melt or break through the ice in the way, so this was also something that would need at least one more warm body.

Finally, Heismay stumbled upon some heavy-duty machinery with tank treads and an enormous drill, the serious damage visible all across its frame courtesy of the pests that called this place home. The eugief hadn’t a clue about how to make it work, let alone operate it, but that drill on the front looked like it could make mincemeat of bugs and solid rock alike. The only problem was the Frosty Bulborb in the area, a creature that would have looked comical if not for its imposing size. All monsters had a weakness, though, and the bulborb’s impressive bulk seemed to be held up by rather spindly legs. If he could sever one or both, or at least some important muscles, Heismay reasoned he could gain the upper hand.

When he moved to enact his plan with a surprise attack, though, Heismay ran into an immediate problem. The Mudo he flung as the Assassin did its job of catching the beast off-guard, but when he ran in for a deep cut, the mere act of touching the bulborb froze Heismay solid. Oh no, he would have said, if he could move his mouth. Without a moment’s delay, the bulborb reached down to grab the frozen treat and swallow him whole.

Meanwhile, the Seekers were making their own discoveries. For one, once the horde thinned a good bit, Layton happened to run into a strange, present-shaped ice cube sitting in the snow, with a real present (complete with white wrapping paper and red bow) frozen inside. In the powder beside it lay a little card, and when opened the professor could read a mischievous gift-giver’s birthday wishes, alongside the hint that five one hundred and fifty milliliter cups of hot water could be used to melt thirty grams of ice. Someone as astute as the professor could eyeball that the ice block weighed about two kilograms, so if he had the time to spare from bug-wrangling, it was up to Layton to determine how best to thaw out the glacial gift.

What Mokou discovered, though, was a lot less pleasant. When she opened Sandalphon’s sleeping bag she found the Seekers’ leader crusted over with some kind of stony growth, studded with crystals reminiscent of low-quality lapis lazuli. This was no mere coating, either, as experimentation would prove that it seemed to be part of her body. Since there was nothing but soft snow that could have struck her head to render her unconscious on impact, this affliction probably had something to do with her state. It seemed likely she’d need some sort of treatment before she could regain her senses.

"I've personally got a couple more matches tomorrow; I'll be turning in pretty fast after this meeting. I don't know much about the next guy, but assuming I get through him, the next name on the list is Azrael. I unfortunately haven't had much time to research either of them, owing to today's events, so if someone wanted to catch me up, that would be much appreciated." Yayama gestured vaguely to the table around her where she stood. There was a certain irony in her and Band having near opposite issues with seating, but almost always arriving at the same sorts of results.

"And speaking of those events, we intercepted a vehicle full of Jack units. No losses other than some maintenance on my Chopper, but our friend Anji got roughed up quite a bit. Most of them were the smaller ones, but there were a few big bastards that presented some issue. The kids did most of the heavy lifting in taking out the chaff. They didn't self-destruct like the ones that came after the last place." She paused to think for a moment. "We might wanna be careful if we run into more of those. They didn't dissipate like things here normally do until we pried open what I assume is some kind of core. G-Corp might be able to retrieve information from wrecked Jacks if they happen to recover them."

She then glanced towards the rest of the team present who had participated in the convoy attack. "Feel free to fill in the blanks if I missed anything important." With that said, she propped herself against the table and started going after a significantly-closer-to-sumo-portioned meal, a hearty mix of meat and vegetables with an eye-watering amount of spice.

The restaurant had a cozier vibe than one might expect, though that might have been because the sumo ring that most of the tables surrounded was currently empty. Of course the food itself was the main draw for the Seekers (actually it was catching up with the day's events, but still), so most didn't mind the absence of entertainment with their meals. Pit was seated at one end of the Seekers' table, opposite the one that both the group's largest and smallest members sat, but was currently standing - though with the lowered floor it hardly looked like it. He hovered over a huge pot of fragrant soup broth intended for multiple people to share (or as an individual meal if you were a sumo wrestler bulking). Soon it would be hot enough to start throwing more ingredients into, or at least he was pretty sure that was how it worked. He could hardly wait!

Before that, there seemed no better time to start the meeting than now. Pit straightened up and cleared his throat. It was going to be a casual affair, so the angel kicked things off by getting the bad news out of the way first. That of course being their missing members. Including all the new recruits they'd picked up since arriving in Esaka in the Gold Team's total number, then they were down six whole people - with four of them totally unaccounted for on top of not answering their calls.

Pit crossed his arms as he spoke. "I'll have a lot of free time between matches, so I'm gonna do some of my own detecting to make sure our no shows are alright. I'm sure they're just... getting cold feet! I'll find them and send them back to base if that's what they wanna do - and we can figure out a fill in for KOF if we have to. We've still got plenty of manpower to take on the tourneys with, so no worries!"

It was hard to say if he actually believed his own words or was just trying to reassure the team. He glanced at the Gold Team's guests then, offering them an apologetic smile. "Sorry we can't introduce you to Terry right now, but I'm sure you'll get to meet him soon!"

The twins had definitely been a surprise, but the more the merrier at this point.

"And then there's Juri," Pit said, moving on. Here his conflicted feelings were easily read on his face, but he figured it was best if the group knew what had happened... though even after deciding that, he still waffled for a few moments on what exactly he was going to say. They should get the truth, but they didn't need the whole truth, right...?

"She's already back on the Avenger. She, um... got up to some trouble in the Top Tier last night," -assassinating one of the Four Kings- "and wasn't really in the condition to fight her matches," -because she'd lost her drive and then apparently her common sense when she'd learned she'd technically failed- "so me and her had a good talk," -with their fists, and he still wasn't sure if she had been actually trying to kill him or not- "and we decided it would be best if she spent some time away from Esaka," -as in Pit had knocked her out and attached a surface-to-air recovery balloon to her.

He blinked, taking a second to decide if he was satisfied with that explanation. It pretty much covered everything, so the angel nodded to himself and summoned up a smile.

"Yep, so she's safe, dunno if she's gonna join up with us again anytime soon though."

Perfectly put, Pit.

You think so, Lady Palutena?

Oh yes. Nothing weird or suspicious about it at all!

Pit's face scrunched up slightly, for just a moment, as he got the feeling the Goddess was making fun of him somehow. He really did think the explanation was fine though, stiff and vague as it was. Nothing to do but move past it regardless.

"And Ms. Fortune is okay too, still around the city somewhere," he said. "Right?"

With the request for confirmation he looked to Primrose who he'd entrusted the feral's arm to before, and who'd shown up neither early nor late to the meet up. The dancer had taken in the restaurant's aesthetic when she'd arrived, and its menu of course, politely listening to the chatter at their own table and the surrounding ones until their team leader got started. Now she raised a brow at him, having read between the lines while he talked about Juri. When he moved on to Nadia she leaned back slightly, regarding the table as a whole.

"That's right," she said.

...and it seemed like that would be all she said, but given there was a drawn out moment of silence following her confirmation, she figured they expected something more from her. She smiled, a slight thing, but not disingenuous. "I ran into her earlier, gave her a hand. She's fine."

Across the table from her, Therion poorly stifled a groan.

Still, it was nice to know for sure that at least some of their missing members were okay. Bolstered by that fact, Pit spread his hands out in a gesture for the group to get to talking for themselves. "Alright, report time! What's everyone been up to? How'd the G-Corp stuff go?"

One by one the Seekers laid out their experiences. Those fighting in the tournaments recounted how their matches had gone, which Pit, Primrose, and Therion all knew the results of beforehand for a couple of different reasons. Of course it was more interesting to hear each fighter's account over just reading numbers on a bracket. As the conversation circled back to Pit, he eagerly talked about his own day too.

"I only had two matches, the first one was a hitman and a hitmonkey! The timer ran out in the first round, but I won the other two! And then there was this ghost-demon guy and... a zombie, I think? They didn't take any stocks off me! Two-zero!" In the middle of patting himself on the back, Pit recalled what had happened at the end of the match with Omen - and then pulled the demonic entity's spirit out to present to his teammates, half shielding it from view of the other diners with his free hand.

"I actually have his spirit. I wasn't gonna use it, but I didn't want to leave it behind either... so I guess it's up for grabs!"

If no one else wanted to use it either then he'd just smush it into an item. Besides that though... "Other than the matches, I just trained and explored. Oh! I found some places to stay too if anyone still needs one!"

Unfortunately Lady Palutena had said that he "could not use Skyworld's treasury funds to bankroll the team," so they'd still have to pay their own way if they planned to rent a room.

Compared to most of the other Seekers, Primrose's day had been uneventful - which was exactly what she'd wanted. She also spent time familiarizing herself with the city, quietly learning the culture and keeping up with the others' progress, and as such she didn't have much to report... though that didn't mean she had nothing that she could talk about. After sipping from a small bowl of mushroom soup she took a turn to speak.

"Personally, I continued my tour of the city. It doesn't seem to be any more -or less- dangerous than yesterday, though the security in the top two levels appears to have tightened." It wasn't surprising, given everything that had happened between last night and this morning. "I did happen to overhear a few interesting things; criminal elements, a few nefarious laboratories in and around the city, that sort of thing."

Esaka had all the same problems that any other did, and maybe even more so, with fighting being its main commodity. The dancer took another sip from her bowl. "Nothing we need to look into though, we're hardly the town guard."

With that Therion definitely agreed. It was a tall ask, but if possible it would be best not to draw any more attention to themselves than they already had, bar going after that bounty. Though on that note, doing it more subtly was preferable. The thief himself had kept things pretty low key during the day other than accompanying the group out of Esaka on the mission to destroy the robot resupply, which Yayama summed up well. He caught the lalafell's eye and then dipped his head lightly, a wave of his hand dismissing her call to add more.

"Nah, you got it all," he said. Anything else would have just been extra details.

Pit chimed back in here when Yayama mentioned the Jacks not disintegrating right away. "Oh, the robots in Midgar were like that too! You really had to bash 'em before they turned into spirits, and sometimes they still didn't even when they were just bits and pieces."

It had been annoying when fighting waves of them, but it had also probably been the reason that Poppi had been recoverable, so even if he had no idea why that happened he was glad that it did. Maybe because a robot's heart was just made of different stuff, and the ability to reinstall it into another body just made them a lot tougher?

Sensing the unspoken question, Therion gave a half-hearted shrug. Speculating on stuff like that was out of his wheelhouse. He had started picking cooked chunks of meat and veggies from the communal pot and piling them on a dish in front of him.

"They're a pain even after beating them," was all he added to that part of the conversation. Though there was one other thing he thought to mention, and he again looked over at the dark knight.

"Your guy Azrael's expected to go pretty far. Can't help you with what he can do, but as far as betting goes... if he wins his next match, his odds of taking the whole thing shoot way up." There had been something of a buzz in the gambling den that Therion had picked regarding the Pools matches for tomorrow, not because of excitement over the fights but because of how the brackets had shaken out. Some fighters that normally might have been seeded higher were clashing early in all four tournaments, Mortal Kombat included, and Therion had been paying attention to the odds. It wasn't much as far as advice went, as all he could really tell Yayama was that she'd be up against someone strong enough to be a favorite for champion.

Before the team leader could pipe up again about not worrying too much, that he'd be sure to clinch MK for them, etc. etc., more of the group's foods orders arrived. Soon the whole table was laden was delicious soup, noodles, dumplings, and all kinds more tasty things which the group dug into with varying levels of gusto.

As for what to do with the rest of the night, turning in early did seem like a good idea. Therion mentioned going to sort out his slips, and Primrose implied that she'd be out and about a little later before turning in. As much as Pit wanted to see the upgrades Big Band mentioned, he could do that tomorrow. For tonight there was little he had left to do besides plan for the day ahead of them.

Having blocked the caves from which the flying bugs had been spilling, Edward had fallen back to his fallen gear and retrieved the pal-spheres from holding the four Snoruyo. With them on the battlefield, the dreadnought could create an actual battle line. Behind it, he deployed the Thoroughbred Reindrix behind it (with plenty of space so that its aura would not freeze the front-line).

The Iceberg it sent crashing into the swarm of bugs put a significant dent in the numbers his force was facing, while a Blizzard Spike slamming up into the soft underbelly of the praetorian ‘leading’ their push thoroughly crippled the assault.

This gave him enough space that he could spare the time to inspect the state of Sandalphon when Mokou dug her out of the tent. At the back of his mind the absence of their elected leader had been a concern that he did not have the time to focus on, but now that her state was revealed he did his best to take command of the situation.

”We’ll Get her into the stage coach" he called up to Mokou, before putting two fingers between his lips and whistling shrilly for attention. The target of this attention was the Sheildrix, which he commanded to come ”To me!" with the intent of righting the stagecoach.

In quick order he used his Ravager striker to haul the roof of the coach just a bit upwards, enough that steel armored heads could be shoved into the gap, and used to shove their transport onto its wheels.

By the time this was done, the situation was stabilized enough for Edward to inspect Sandalphon’s state, something he would do with her resting on one of the stagecoach’s benches if possible. It looked somewhat familiar, and a quick inspection of his journal notes revealed its likely source.

”She seems to have contracted a ‘Petrification Disease’ from Krat Zoo’s realm. It shouldn’t have knocked her out however… hmm, unless the solidification made the fall considerably more painful" he theorized. In the late stages the condition could apparently cause organ failure, but given the woman was still breathing (they could all see it in the cold air) it had presumably not reached that point as of yet.

As a result his recommendation was that of conventional healing, in the hopes that it would stir her to consciousness. As for what could be done about the disease itself, however, he had no suggestions, as the notes they had found were far more interested in the using the Ergo crystals forming on her body as a puppet's power source than how to cure her condition.

Sectonia's barrage of kritz boosted void globules did a number on any of the armored bugs in front of her. Before her was the crushed carapace of the snow beetle she had been throwing them at, and now she was working on the praetorians. Although the kritz was short lived, the praetorians had much weaker armor than the snow beetle. With everyone's coordinated efforts, eventually the horde started to clear, and the seekers had some breathing room.

Heismay, having discovered something, informed everyone of what he saw nearby. While Sectonia was busy continuing to make herself look proper after such a rude awakening, summoning some Antlers to help defend against any straggling enemies, Blazermate began to take a look at what he found. The person at the campsite would probably need a few others to follow her with as he didn't look very nice, but the tank machine thing with the big drill looked fixable. She saw that it wasn't fully destroyed on her scanners, but was damaged and needed some repairs. Thankfully one of her strikers could fix machines with a whack of his wrench, and summoned the engineer to fix the drilldozer. AT first he deployed a dispenser and sentry like normal, but was told quickly by Blazermate to just repair the drilldozer which didn't even seem to take him any metal to do so! Nor did it take him all that much time to get it up and running again.

It was then Edward started to make a fuss around the stagecoach about something bad happening. Flying over to the stagecoach and Edward, Blazermate saw the frozen in... something that Sandalphon was under. "I've got something for this, I think." Blazermate said, using her healing beam on her and using her cleansing power to try to dispel the debuff off of her. She could provide healing regardless, but hopefully this would just work.

-----------------------



"You ordered hotpot? Thats very friendly of you Band." Roland said, filing in like the silent ghost he was. Band and everyone would see that now that he wasn't investigating G corp, he wasn't wearing his mask which might cause a bit of trouble with the person spying on them but they'd only know Roland from him participating in Tekken. He listened to everyone else giving out what they had been doing for the day, waiting until it was his turn to talk. It gave him time to enjoy the various hotpot dishes on the table so it didn't bother him any.

"I had to fight a muscular fisherman and some guy dressed in... I don't know how to explain it but he was this lanky guy that made a buffoon of himself while fighting. They weren't really all that strong, but I guess thats what low tiers are. " Roland said. "After that we tried to get some info on the guys who attacked us last night, but I couldn't find much that was useful that hasn't been said outside of there being lots of internal strife inside that place." Roland was being very careful not to mention G corp by name, keeping things as ambiguous as he could as to not arouse suspicion.

"Speaking of tomorrow, I have a few matches tomorrow as well. One of them might be a challenge though. Apparently One of my opponents tomorrow is a high tier Tekken champion that is said to 'finish things in one shot', whatever that means." Roland said. "All I could tell was he used some kind of flintlock pistol which is incredibly low tech so I don't know how he got such a high ranking with such a useless weapon."

"Seeing as I'm the only one in the Tekken line now from who is gathered here, I should focus on my matches first. I hear the CEO of G Corp is also in Tekken. I wonder if hes one I'll run into?" Roland continued, now making a mention of G corp like he hadn't heard of them to further deflect his information he relayed beforehand to any would be listeners. As he didn't have that much extra info to give, he listened to everyone else give their additional information. And unlike many of the others, he was one of the few that seemed to enjoy all the puns made by or at Nadia's expense.

Tearing through glyphids and terminids eventually brought Ace in line with the rest of his comrades, and with the defensive line established and the nests the ice-adapted monsters scurried out from sealed off, the tide was swiftly turning in the Seekers' direction. When it became less practical to attack with his melee weapons Ace retreated behind said line near the stage coach, switching over to the Breechshot to help shoot down the remaining fliers and dispatch distant bugs that hadn't already been taken out by what allies remained on the fringes of battle. By the time Layton's icicle drop disrupted one of the last remaining groups of glyphids by crushing most and scattering the rest, it looked like the Seekers were now on clean up duty.

The Cadet stayed on his duty while Mokou flew over with Sandalphon in her arms and Edward's beasts got the stage coach upright. The vehicle's accessories revealed to be strewn about and broken was a pity, but it was the least of their concerns. They got their leader into the coach, and once the number of enemies had been reduced so much that the various minions could deal with them Ace stowed his gun and went to check the situation himself.

He wasn't a healer of any stripe, his contributions to team health limited to field first aid, so he gave the more qualified Seekers space to examine the angel. It wasn't much space though, as he hung from the back of the righted coach and leaned into the interior to get a look at Sandalphon as well. If there was anything he could do to help he wouldn't hesitate to go ahead and do it, but he wasn't familiar with whatever kind of affliction she seemed to be suffering. It seemed much worse than just a bad rash. If it was some sort of infection then maybe they could cut it away and heal over it, but if it was saturating most of her body...?

Though if Edward was right it was maybe even worse than an infection: a full blown contracted disease. The dreadnought wasn't a doctor, but Ace trusted his diagnosis all the same.

"Petrification Disease?" he repeated, his gaze snapping back to Sandalphon. He'd assumed that the growths on her skin had been scaly, but on second look they did seem to be even rougher. Then she was in danger of turning to stone?

He watched Blazermate attempt healing her, and though he was sure that would work on any injuries she might have sustained from the fall or the stampede of hostile nepoterons he wasn't so confident that it would take care of sickness. In fact, in the worst case scenario the disease could end up being a much bigger problem.

"...do you think it's contagious?" Ace asked the group that had gathered around the archangel. "We were all at the zoo too. I mean, any one of us could be infected, right?"

Sandalphon being secretive with her own experiments meant that the Cadet hadn't a clue how she might have developed the disease. In his eyes, almost all of them had tangled with those zombie-like beings, and a good handful had entered the humid green house where viruses could happily survive even in the frigid landscape surrounding it. Even if the other Seekers were clean, if there was a chance that Sandalphon could spread it then they couldn't even risk sending her back to the Avenger for treatment from more professional healers.

Something like this was actually scarier than most monsters, but even if their worst fears turned out to just be nothing, it still was a bad situation for one of their own. On the off chance that maybe some internal healing might help more than the medibeam, Ace passed one of his potions over to Sandalphon's current attendants for when it was possible for her to drink. Then he hopped down from the carriage, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"This giggisux," he said before attempting to add some levity to the scene. He pointed up to where they'd fallen from, where no doubt the winter wind was still howling. "At least we're all under the weather together?"

Actually speaking of the outside, after a moment Ace said, "we're gonna have to find a way out of here. I'm gonna take a look around, see if I can find anything."

He hoped that Sandalphon would be alright, but there wasn't much he could do for her at the moment. Plus he noted that a few other Seekers had already departed for probably the same reason. He started down one of the tunnel paths, confident that with the bulk of the neopterons taken care of that he wasn't likely to be swarmed. He swapped back to the dual blades, the spiky claw-shaped weapons holstered at each hip as he followed along one wall. His own swarm of insects, the scoutflies, began to spread out from their cage as he did. They left a thin trail to follow back to the stage coach while partly illuminating the way forward.

The koopa kids had made the road trip back to town without incident with their silver quest reward in hand, and were now in the process of blowing it all on their (arguably) fifth meal of the day. Given their small frames it was a marvel they could stomach it all.

Admittedly, they weren't just eating for themselves, as Jr’s trio of pokemon had joined them for the feast, with Dazzle the Brionne in particular absolutely devouring the seafood bowls on offer. A meaty selection was meanwhile being chowed on by Jr himself, along with Mimi and Peeka, while Rika had gotten herself an everything bowl from which she was picking individual pieces to try them out one at a time.

When it came time to report, Jr did so in a fairly rambling fashion ”Yeah, I guess we mostly just watched some matches in the morning, n then Rika helped sort out that meeting afterwards. Then we beat up the bots n had an explore after. Turns out quests are a thing? Like we helped out a kid beat up some fruit, n then the word’s ‘quest complete’ showed up in the sky and it rained silver on us. It was weird, especially coz it didn’t happen when we helped a bird do some cooking earlier”

It was a lot of words with very little consequence found within, given most of their useful reporting had already been done by others, or during the afternoon pre-UN meeting.

While the others reported in, Amaterasu visibly sulked in the corner, staring into her food with little appetite. There were a fair amount of important things she had to report, but she had no way of doing so in the level of detail she wanted, and she had no Harry to do it for her because she’d lost him.

Not in the way that other seekers like Terry had up and vanished however. No, instead after she’d dragged him away from the Consul they’d got into an argument over her doing so. He was mad at her for ‘interrupting his investigation’ and she at him not recognizing that she’d saved his life or how it was only the Consul’s indifference that meant that the whole thing had not been a disaster for their team.

Perhaps they could have calmed down and come to a resolution to the disagreement despite the language barrier between them, had a number of Yokai who’d taken issue with the divine goddess decided to take their harassment of her beyond mere heckling. They didn’t pick a fight however, that could have been resolved easily enough. Instead they’d inserted themselves into the argument, and then exited it with Harry in tow, with whom they subsequently engaged in an extended bar crawl around the city.

It wasn’t like she could just pick a fight with the Yokai either, given that there was way too much risk of others, or even the city’s giant mechanical authorities, joining in. After the third joint Amaterasu had grown sick of trying to get Harry to come with her instead, and had simply given up on the man, loath as she was to admit it.

Which is why she wasn’t going to admit it.

Instead the summary which she had been painting with careful calligraphy on a napkin four words at a time and then pestered Rika into reading went as follows:

”Won our tournament matches
Defeated demonic auto vehicles
Azucena now against G-corp
Terry vanished while convincing
Went to g-corp base
He was not there
Consol was, saw Harry
We escaped from her
Didn’t care to chase
Lost Harry while fleeing”

”That right?” Rika asked after she was done, having had to read rather slowly to sus out the meaning of the divine wolf’s cursive calligraphy.

Ametarasu barked once for yes, and then twice for no when she also asked ”So is Harry dead?” more out of curiosity than concern given her complete lack of interacting with the man.

”Well he sure was stupid, being spotted like that, but I guess it's good to know she doesn’t care so we don’t have to freak out if she sees us?” Jr commented, before noting that ”I mean she was gonna see you a lot sooner or later once you get high up in the tournament, right? You’ll be getting out of the scrub tier and into the big main fights that’ll get seen by more than five people soon enough, wasn’t gonna be any avoiding being spotted then”

The divine wolf supposed that was correct, but it didn’t make her feel any better about her fumbling of the incident. ‘That turned out fine so it didn’t matter that you messed up’ was retroactive thinking. She needed to be proactive to avoid getting into such a mess in the first place because their luck would not hold forever.

”Wait so you went to G-Corp then? How was it?” Rika then asked, before reading the answer from the napkin which said, simply: ”was attacked, now quiet”

He followed the question, ”Guess you had to run off before you figured out if there was any treasure left in there?” got two barks of no from the wolf, prompting the ship girl to sigh in disappointment.

”Well, if someone got get the head of the guy that way it’d have been all over the news, so guess that options still out there.” Jr said, and then added ”Which is good, because it's basically our only one now that Seekers of Fight you’re down a team member”

It was a statement that was bookend with a thump as a dejected Amaterasu's snout slumped to the table, the divine wolf’s self perceived failure now fully hammered home. The team could endure dropouts from other tournaments, but from theirs? Terry’s disappearance had singularly torpedoed their entire plan.

Mokou calmly placed Sandalphon within the stagecoach, once the vehicle had gotten itself properly upright, “No idea on if it’s contagious or not. I suppose once any of you start turning to stone, let the rest of us know. Not something I have to worry about” the phoenix comments with a shrug, floating out of the stagecoach before ultimately sitting atop it, “Shame one of my old acquaintances isn't here. They’d hear ‘disease’ and have a cure for it in no time. Alas, medicine never interested me”.. The white haired girl then turns her attention to the vast cavern before them, a small frown on her face, “I’ll stay around here for a bit, make sure that nothing tries to sneak up on Sandalphon here. Holler if any of you need help with pest control.”

With that, she leans back, laying down on top of the stagecoach and closing her eyes, folding her arms just above her head. She was resting, but she was also capable of easily keeping track of the area around her even with her eyes closed. And with her danmaku, it would be short work for her to take down practically any bugs that tried to approach.

---

---

Among the chaos of the slowly dispelling swarm of ice-ridden pests, Ramattra battered and diced as many of the insectoids attacking the group as he could reach. He attracted a lot of attention, mostly because of his large stature and the array of quips he spouted on his slain foes. There was enough room to move about the cave now, that much was clear, but how much longer would they need to fight their way through armies of bugs before the breach ended? There were quite a few routes within the cave to take, and many other members had already scouted ahead while the rest played their defenses safe.

It sounded like, from their exploration, the other Seekers had managed to find equipment and other avenues to explore, but with the threat of another possible invasion, whatever options they managed to find in the cave itself would have to do. Along with Blazermate, the Omnic traveled deeper, where their Eugief companion had discovered a large drill contraption, which Ramattra hoped could be directed towards the outside of the cave systems, and back on track to their destination. The spirit Blazermate summoned seemed to be doing the job on its needed repairs, when Ramattra spotted the Bulborb gulping down a chunk of ice containing their companion.

The creature was colossal and certainly capable of doing the same to Ramattra and his allies if he wasn’t careful. His options were limited, and running head-on to attack the insect would not be the brightest move.

“Grumpy Pants!!” A familiar voice shouted from a geographical crack above. Tenna had been chased by the Praetorian-class bugs along with Kashmir, offering a valuable distraction to their offensive players. However, with many of them assisting in matters geared towards pushing the Stagecoach forward, he had been acting more aggressively, using his Puppet of the Future's Welder to focus more on the ice-based enemies that were weak to high heat. “Try using this to POP! those bugs! Some of them just shrivel up!”

With that, Tenna clumsily tossed the heavy lance toward the Omnic from the adjacent cavern. Now with his Comedically Large Spoon, the TV-host and two of his minions paraded around, wacking and shooting any bugs. Ramattra, who clutched it in his singular palm, gave the weapon a twirl to feel its weight before using it to attack. After hiding his staff away, the Omnic was quick to turn his attention in the direction of the Bulborb. It had its eyes set on Blazermate and her summon, stalking as if its humongous form was entirely concealed.

It was distracted, and more importantly, those icicles on its back gave Ramattra a hunch about what the beast was weak to. Clutching the new blade with confidence, now that he had been trained to wield more weapons, the Omnic deployed his Mimic Tear in its inactive form, allowing Ramattra to bounce upon it like a trampoline. Propelled high in the air, the odd creature finally took notice of Ramattra and snarled alien-like as it snapped its snubby jaw into the air, attempting to swallow the Omnic while he was midflight.

He slashed with the blade of the lance, torquing the handle to release red-hot heat into the Welder. In a matter of seconds, the blade carved through the ice rocks spiked on the beast's back, resulting in a dramatic flail from the blue menace. It was enraged now and set its sights on Ramattra, gaping its maw to spew a storm of icy breath towards the Omnic. Having seen the Bulborb’s trick earlier, however, allowed Ramattra enough time to roll left out of the way and quickly pierce through its weakened flesh with the searing point. It didn’t take long for the beast to begin fading to ash, leaving behind an ice-blocked Heismay, who Ramattra was very VERY careful thawing the Eugief out, making sure the hot metal only touched ice until Heismay could free himself further.

---

After crashing his way through more patrols and breaches of insectoids, Ramattra was finally able to investigate the frozen-over bunker Heismay alerted the group to. While two warm-blooded companions might be able to thaw the frozen-over buttons with enough pressure, there was no telling how long they would need to wait before the ice gave in. Thanks to the tool Tenna gave to the Omnic, however, Ramattra was able to easily melt the crusted ice off of each button individually, then summoned his Mimic Tear once again to copy his form, and reach down together to unlock the dual controls. Once both buttons were pressed, a short alarm played, opening the iron wall to reveal a supplies cache.

Although the food and atmosphere here were enjoyable enough, Big Band did not ravenously dig into his chanko like some of the others did. On one hand, the stew was rich and dense, jam-packed with enough protein and calories to build up the trademark gigantic guts of strong-fat sumo wrestlers, if consumed in ample enough portions alongside ample portions of rice and beer. Band did not have much of a body to fuel these days, so he did not require much sustenance, and he wasn’t too familiar with bok choy or daikon radishes either. On the other hand, his main focus was on what his fellow Seekers brought to the table, whether they had insight on tournament matches, G-Corp activities, or missing team members.

As far as Esaka’s four tournaments went, everyone here seemed to be doing well. All seven of them stuck it out in Winners so far, with many two-zero victories reported. As it turned out, Band’s string of strange opponents hadn’t really been anything unusual; all of them had been matched up against a weirdo or two, including a monkey. Just how many animals did they let into these competitions, after all? Just as Roland pointed out, though, things wouldn’t be easy going forward, especially with a reduced headcount. Losing track of several registrants in Tekken wasn’t good, but at least the Seekers still had a horse in that race. Losing Terry, on the other hand, might mean forfeiture from King of Fighters. If Rugal went unchallenged, the team’s campaign in Esaka would be dead in the water.

Luckily for everyone else, though, Big Band was the type of man to do his homework. “I checked up on the rules, actually,” he began. “In any other tournament, no-shows are disqualified. But in King of Fighters, ‘cause every participant’s a team of three, a substitution can be made if one member can’t make it.” He narrowed his eyes. “Only problem is, findin’ a replacement for Mr. Bogard.”

As he spoke, the twins Bart and Marg glanced at each other, then crossed their arms as smiles spread across their faces. “How about his grandkids?”

Responses to their suggestion were predictably mixed, but for his part, Band didn’t shut them down immediately. He did, however, reply with all the incredulity they were due. “You ain’t serious?” the detective asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’re just kids. And Lost Numbers, to boot. Unlike us, you two are one-of-a-kind. Once you’re gone, you don’t get another chance.” Before they could speak, he deployed a spindly mechanical arm to help him speak via gesticulation. “And one more thing! The folks aboard the Avenger, they know about this? If I’m on the money, they probably don’t even know you snuck out, let alone that you’re gonna risk it all in a tournament!"

Although the twins remained levelheaded, there was enough irritation in their body language that Band knew they’d been questioned like this before. “Everyone in this city’s a fighter, right?” Barg questioned him back. “We saw plenty of kids on the way here, some younger than us. I bet they compete all the time.”

“Case in point!” Marg pointed at Junior and Rika.

Band shook his head. The twins had made an erroneous assumption. “Those two ain’t competin’,” he corrected them. “And even if kids do, that don’t make it right. And…wait. Which one of you’s takin’ the spot, anyhow?”

“Both of us,” they chorused.

When Band stared at them blankly, Marg elaborated. “This city’s got duo fighters, too. Saw some on billboards in the Low Tier on the way up.” At that point, Yayama, Captain Falcon, and others could potentially chime in to corroborate the existence of duo fighters as well, like Ferra/Torr and the Ice Climbers.

“Plus, we’ve got the power to make it happen,” Bart insisted as Marg nodded. “Each of us have half a Geo Vision and the Aventurine of Stratagems Cornerstone from our grandparents on our mom’s side.”

“Might not mean anything to you, but they’re crazy strong artifacts,” Marg added. “When we’re together, our stratagems are unstoppable.”

Her brother did not miss his chance to shoot a sidelong glance at Falcon. “As long as you trust us enough to enact them.”

His sister put a calming hand on his shoulder before making a final appeal. “For us, every day is a gamble. The Avenger could malfunction, someone inside it could turn on us, Moebius could catch up with us at last, or we could get food poisoning. The only freedom we have is the choices we make.”

“Preserving our lives has no value if we don’t use them,” Bart chimed in. “We don’t want to sit idly by and be saved. We are the will of the Lost Numbers, and we’re going to help save everything.”

The debate would continue a little longer before petering out, the question ultimately left without a definitive answer. Band didn’t approve, but he also acknowledged that the team might not have much of a choice, as well as the fact that the twins’ lives were theirs to live. After that, the dinner conversation continued. Band glanced briefly at Primrose when she mentioned nefarious laboratories, wondering if Lab 8 fell into that category. For a wolf who couldn’t speak, Amaterasu had a surprising amount of insight, though even she couldn’t be sure where one of the missing team members went.

Eventually, people ran out of things to discuss and the meal came to an end. When the check came around, Band popped open his wallet with a groan. “That’ll just about be the last of my spendin’ money,” he remarked glumly.

“Low on money, eh?” Especially now that they’d now seen that most of the Seekers were broke, the twins speaking at the same time couldn’t be good news for anyone.

“With a city this big, there’s gotta be a casino!” Bart reasoned with gusto.

“Come with us, and you’ll see our granddad’s best inheritance in action,” Marg declared mysteriously.

Other than trudging back to Lab 8 for the night, Band didn’t really have anything planned, and it seemed like the twins would need a chaperone. “If they even let y’all in,” he muttered, heaving himself up onto his feet. “I gotta see this.”

Once the team got outside, a little consulting of random civilians confirmed the existence of a casino in Esaka’s high tier: the High Rollers’ Club. The twins wanted to head there right away, but as the Seekers sorted out whether or not they’d be accompanying the youngsters or doing something else, a familiar face showed up. It belonged to Anji Mito, the bespectacled and muscular Japanese gentleman who’d accompanied the team both during and after lunch. A couple of bandages revealed that he’d gotten the medical care that Yayama recommended, and he came bearing news.

“Good evening, everyone!” Anji began. “I wasn’t expecting to see all my new friends again today, but something came up. A matter of interest to Mr. Chevalier, trivial really, scarcely even a proper mission, but something he figured one or two of you might be perfect for.” Reaching into his sleeve, Anji drew out a paper receipt, just like the ones given to the Seekers after their meals at Chanko House Edomon. “When Mr. Chevalier learned you were eating here, he was curious enough to place a to-go order for himself. Unfortunately, the employee flying via Sumo Headbutt to our HQ seemed to have been struck by a stray Yoga Fire and dropped his parcel while soaring over Rugal’s Panther Zoo. Raven reported that the staff recovered the parcel, but he and Ms. Dolores had some matter to attend to together, so he was unable to retrieve the parcel himself.”

Anji failed to suppress a smile. “So if it’s no trouble, we would beseech any do-gooders among you to fetch the parcel for him. This is your chance to visit the United Nations Headquarters, and rest assured you won’t come away empty-handed.”

Once that was sorted out, the Bogard siblings, Big Band, and anyone else who wanted to join them could proceed another tier upward and the High Rollers’ Club.



As one might expect of a casino in the well-to-do High Tier, the suitably named High Rollers’ Club had all the larger-than-life glitz and glamor that one would hope. Its spacious circular interior, with a high ceiling veiled in deep red cloth like a carnival’s big top and gold decor everywhere one could look, offered poker tables, roulettes, slot machines, and more. It also featured a large circular arena stylized like a giant, flat roulette wheel where duels could be conducted, which seemed to be par for the course for notable Esaka establishments.

The twins encountered no obstacle when they tried to enter, and the moment they set foot inside, Bart and Marg were grinning from ear to ear. As if this gamblers’ paradise of flashing lights and sounds were a fruitful orchard, ripe for the plundering. After entering, the two were (unsurprisingly) of one mind. Once they visited the counter to exchange their zenny for betting chips, they made for a roulette table chosen seemingly at random. Band followed, increasingly worried not about the twins’ finances, but that the devious kids seemed to know what they were doing. Well, win or lose, it seemed like he’d be in for a show. He or any other Seekers who’d joined him on this excursion could try their luck themselves, visit the in-house bar, or simply entertain themselves by observing all the colorful characters who patronized this place.



Inside the shelter of the armored stagecoach, the situation identified by Edward looked rather bleak. If Sandalphon’s affliction was indeed the Petrification Disease, as it appeared to be, the malady had ingrained itself with fearsome speed, severity, and selectivity. Even if the archangel was the only Seeker so far to be visually sick, the sight of such alarming calcification would probably convince the team’s Dreadnought to recheck the team for any sign of infection. Edward was not yet privy to how the illness spread, after all, so Sandalphon could very well become -or already be- a disease vector herself–an alarming prospect, given her importance to the expedition and the Seekers’ campaign as a whole.

Right now, though, the priority was treatment. Blazermate, whose inorganic form feared no disease, affixed her Kritzkrieg’s medibeam on Sandalphon’s center mass. After quickly whirring to life, the machine hummed as it dutifully streamed blue vital energy into the archangel, its restorative power spreading throughout her body. Right away the cracks in her skin (mostly hidden beneath her clothes) began to close, knitting themselves shut until only the stains of blue-tinged blood remained. The medigun proved thorough and fast enough that there was no need for Ace’s potion, as generous as the monster hunter was to offer it. The good news ended there, however, as once the healing finished and the cleansing kicked in, neither the stony rash and bluish crystal scabs looked any better. This disease, it seemed, was not simply some statistical debuff that could be purified by the medabot’s Revive Protocol. Instead, it seemed to be more integral to her patient’s body.

A few moments after Blazermate gave up on her attempted dispellation, Edward’s theory about the cause of Sandalphon’s unconsciousness would prove correct as she began to stir. She flinched with furrowed brow and tightened face, her lips firmly pressed together, a moment later she tried to open her eyes. Only her right eye opened, however, as the petrification of her face’s left side seemed to have robbed it of muscle control and allowed it to mostly scab over. When she awoke and beheld the grim look on Edward’s face, Sandalphon carefully, gingerly lifted her gloved hand to her own to get a tentative feel for the dire situation herself. Pursing her lips, she inhaled sharply through her nose, then delivered her report in a strained, somewhat creaky voice.

“The Petrification Disease,” she confirmed. “Caused by Ergo exposure, according to my notes. It shouldn’t be directly contagious.” It should come as no surprise to the others by this point that she prioritized their own wellbeing over hers, but faced with such concerned, inquiring looks she would need to be more thorough about her own experience. “I feel stiff. Brittle. Every movement is more or less painful.” Summoning her gunstaff, she propped it against the stagecoach’s black steel floor and tried to stand up. The maladroit motion held none of her typical ergonomic grace and looked painful. Nevertheless, she stood without whimper or complaint and glanced at the two before looking toward the back door. “I briefly remember falling before I blacked out. What happened?”

Within a few moments, Sandalphon had received her brief summary of the bugs’ onslaught. Determined to see the situation for herself, she stepped out of the stagecoach and into the knee-high snow, the unparalyzed half of her face tense from the grainy jolts of pain in her sockets that accompanied each motion. The gigantic cavern was hauntingly beautiful, the ice-blue rock of its walls, pillars, and branchlike bridges bearing infinite crystalline facets that reflected the myriad lights of battle. It was also bitterly cold, untouched by the sun for eons, with only the natural heat of those vents to sustain life down here.

Evidently this icy subterranean realm was also the refuge of innumerable giant arthropods, who’d assaulted her fellow Seekers in droves and been slaughtered by the dozen. As she scanned the area, Sandalphon couldn’t help but instantly tally up the number of burned, blasted, and bisected corpses, many of which were still intact enough to twitch their bladed legs in ghastly fashion as they slowly turned to ash. There were still some bugs around, but the ravenous, territorial horde had been reduced to wary, prowling squads. Everyone had done an admirable job salvaging the situation and defending themselves, and Sandalphon was proud. “Good work, team. Is everyone accounted for?” While she had only one working eye, it was as sharp as ever, and one person still eluded her gaze: Heismay Noctule.

In his hour of need, however, Heismay had been rescued by Ramattra, who’d visually identified the special bulborb’s icy carapace and taken advantage of it through clever application of intense heat. The Puppet of the Future’s Welder was up to the task, and once the Omnic deftly destroyed the monster, he could free the Eugief trapped inside. Once thawed, Heismay shook himself off, shivering. “A flash-freeze on contact was not my expectation,” he admitted, annoyed that he’d been played for a fool by the bizarre creature. Nevertheless, he made sure to give Ramattra his gratitude before heading back toward the main group. “My thanks, friend.” Ramattra would then go on to uncover quite the rich supply cache, containing a dangerous-looking handheld railgun, several shiny golden medals, and a pair of chemical stimulants designed for injection.

Once everyone was accounted for, the main question on everyone’s mind was how to get out of here. Without the stagecoach, it would still have been difficult, but perhaps the team’s fliers could have airlifted the others back up out of the cavern and through the cave mouth they first entered through, two or three at a time. With the stagecoach, though, it seemed impossible, until Blazermate revealed something else she’d been up to. Her Engineer striker had been able to completely repair the drilldozer Heismay discovered on his exploratory solo run, so while it lacked the armor to take any serious punishment, it seemed ready and able to drill an escape route through the solid rock of the cavern wall. The dozer had no visible controls, but the repairs seemed to activate some sort of onboard intelligence housed within the rotatable head unit atop its. It couldn’t seemingly communicate in anything but unintelligible robotic warbles, but hopefully carving a path would be as simple as pressing the big red button on the back and letting the automaton do its thing.

Heismay looked around at the handful of Seekers who’d followed Blazermate over to see her latest project. “Anyone care to do the honors?”

Of course, as the one technically responsible for the drilldozer fix, Blazermate had every right to the fun of pressing the big red button.

With a loud, irritable grunt, the engine roared to life. Smoke belched from the machine’s pipes as its heavy treads propelled it forward, slow but steady. Heismay climbed atop it for a ride, although he found himself needing to grab on in order to not be shaken off by the drilldozer’s constant, jarring vibration. Once the dozer’s giant drill hit the wall, it bored through the blue rock like butter, carving a tunnel even bigger than the drilldozer itself. It was just tall enough to admit the stagecoach, so once Edward got the anxious but healthy shieldrix harnessed, he could drive them forward into the upward tunnel. Before long, the expedition was headed for the surface. Fortunately, despite its icy appearance, most of the terrain around here wasn’t nearly as slippery as it looked.

Unfortunately, the noise and vibration would soon begin to draw in the locals. In addition to squads of terminids and glyphids scuttling over to investigate the tunnel, additional groups could burrow out of the walls of the tunnel itself, popping up without warning to launch a surprise ambush. More surprises would confront the drilldozer team in the form of additional caves, much smaller but home to different points of interest and nests of alien wildlife. In one, a huge, angular outcropping of valuable pink-and-blue quartz formed the basis for a crustacean community of krabs and krawlers, wearing or encased in blocks of crystal. The older specimens, with automatic counterattacks and the ability to give attack-blocking quartz armor to their allies, would prove sturdy and stubborn enemies for anyone attempting to loot the effulgent Deep Focus charm. In another cave, luminscent blue fungi lit up the dark where morphean mushrooms prowled, their spore breath able to put even the most wakeful heroes to sleep. Especially if said heroes were distracted trying to nab magical buoyant blowfish, feathered gelatin, or watchdog daisies from around the subzero slush rivers for use in potioncrafting.

And even if the Seekers would rather leave these caves be, the drilldozer was a hungry beast of a machine, and it needed to be fed. Oil Shale would need to be extracted and flash-refined by the laser canisters on the dozer’s rear in order to keep it running, lest the bugs close in on either the stagecoach or its noisy escort.

–
Sakura ate into her allotted food. She was mostly quiet, taking in the ambience and apparently thinking to herself, or perhaps thinking very little. She was mostly distracted by the Sumo Wrestlers travelling technique.

”I’ve tried so many times to do that technique. The flying sumo headbutt? I think the farthest I’ve ever gotten is three meters.” Sakura commented off-handedly to no one in particular.

Pit gave a sit-rep. Sakura wasn’t too boastful about her own accomplishments as of yet. After all, she hadn’t taken first place. ”I’m four fights in. All going well.” She said, being low key about it. ”Like, y’know, I think I’m gonna win. I also met someone named Ei. Ei-san. She’s nice.” Sakura said, fondly recalling the chance encounter with the noblewoman. Well, she seemed like a noblewoman, anyway.

When Pit reported about Juri, Sakura furrowed her brow. ”Juri-san is a questionable person. If I was being totally honest, I’d probably categorize her as evil.” Sakura said. ”Like, don’t get me wrong, I like fighting too, but I definitely don’t want to end up like her.”

Moving on, there was the disappearance of Terry Bogard. Sakura was sure he wouldn’t be taken down so easily, and thought he must be doing important business elsewhere. Maybe distracted by a quest. Wandering warriors were like that. As for the twins, Sakura supported their involvement. ”Just try your best, okay?” Sakura said. ”And if it gets too tough, pull out. I’m sure we can figure something out if we don’t all win our tournament matches.” Sakura said, though, honestly, she wasn’t sure about that. The best she could figure was just declare all out war on Esaka and hope for the best. That would be messy.

When the meal came to an end, Sakura learned that Big Band was indeed out of money. ”Ahh…I’m such a mooch. The last quest I did paid me in cabbage. Not that it wasn’t an amazing reward all things considered, but, man.” Sakura glanced over at Amaterasu, recalling the memory. The last time Sakura had gotten paid felt like a lifetime ago. Sakura had spent a lot of her earnings on a bicycle. One that was currently sitting uselessly onboard the Avenger. Once upon a time she recalled being in charge of transporting literal wagons full of gold for Princess Peach. Why hadn’t she stolen some coins?!

One ‘opportunity’ for ‘money-making’ presented itself. ”The casino? Are you sure that’s such a good idea? I’m pretty sure those places are all a scam.” Sakura scratched her head.

As they went outside, though, a real opportunity presented itself. A courier job! ”That sounds perfect! Rich people sometimes give big tips for no reason.” Sakura said. Plus, Sakura had been around Esaka long enough that she figured she could find the way. The United Nations?! How cool was that! There probably wouldn’t be any danger at the zoo, right?

While she was about to ask Pit for some advice on where to stay, Sakura wasn’t going to suffer making no income any longer. For too long she had been scared to pony up her last few coins. ”Alright! Let’s go!” Sakura clenched her fist. ”I’ll deliver that food!” Sakura announced her intention, and looked around to see if anyone else wanted to join her instead of going to the casino.

Once that was settled, she took off into a jog that ramped up into a run, heading off towards the Rugal Panther Zoo. She suddenly skid to a stop on her heels, arms flailing, before she turned around back towards Anji. ”We probably need that receipt, right? Heh heh.” Sakura smiled sheepishly. Then, she would head off for real towards the Panther Zoo to get the parcel and hopefully earn some cash. Any little bit helped!

Blazermate, being a flyer that could fly with the fuel tank in toe, put herself on Oil Shale collecting duty. Since the gas tank could mine it without her needing to do anything but point and push a button, it wasn't all that difficult to fill up the drilldozer, only just a matter of time if anything.

Sectonia meanwhile sensing the Deep Focus decided to go after an item giving off that amount of magic. However being guarded by what seemed to be the strongest enemies in the area meant she couldn't take things lightly. As such, she summoned her Chaos Shield as she went in to engage with the crystal guardians to claim that item. Sensing her hostile intent, they started their assault by blasting Sectonia with the quartz crystal lasers they had, Sectonia retaliating with her own blasts of holy light. As the lasers hit her chaos shield, what sounded like water impacting glass resonated through the area as her blast injured a guardian and her being slightly injured with the shield absorbing most of the damage.

Her second laser would be blocked by the guardian she targeted, as it wasn't attacking and was able to defend itself. She'd find her next attack, a barrage of dark lightning, would also be blocked by these things. It seemed their defenses were very high when not attacking, but she had something for that. A few methods of fixing this problem actually. She'd take the one with less risk to herself overall and using her death pulse to heal herself and force them to go back onto the defensive, she used their time spent blocking her blast to summon a few red antlers to cause chaos. Having blocked her attack, they went on the offensive blasting the Antlers, but as they attacked them, Sectonia used this opportunity to throw void globules at them which their defenses did nothing about. Even those blocking them found the blocking did nothing, and as they unleashed one last laser blast that broke her shield, she finished them off with her own dark projectiles to claim her prize.

-----------------------



Walking into a high end casino reminded Roland of District J, and well, how crazy things got there. People would just end up missing if they ever tried to do anything but play the losing game with the house, and maybe even if they won against the house. As such, unlike some of his compatriots, Roland wasn't in much of a gambling mood. Although if he wasn't so stuck with his initial disposition of casinos, he could make a killing here with his skills and how easily he could use them to cheat at the various games.

As such, Roland decided to look around the casino at the various people walking around. Maybe he'd find something or someone interesting as the others gambled.

The delicious, partly communal dinner was wrapping up amidst the last of the Seekers’ reports, most actually pretty mundane all things considered. Special attention was paid to Amaterasu’s tale as read by Rika, since it was an outlier among the rest; not only had the goddess seen where one of their missing members had gone, but she’d also seen -and been seen by- the Consul that presided over the city. They’d all witnessed the armored woman through the Principles’ vision broadcast that morning of course, but in the flesh was different. Therion’s ears stood tall on his head when he heard it, twitching in Rika’s direction. The fact that they were all eating peacefully here in the middle of Esaka must have meant that the Consul hadn’t recognized the newer Seekers though, right…?

If that brief meeting turned out to be a problem, it would be one for the future. There was another, a little more pressing issue, which the twin Bogard grandchildren offered to take care of right away. Band made some good points in his argument against their joining the fight directly, but the twins themselves were much more compelling with their words.

If the table wasn't chock full of small plates and large pots, Primrose might have drummed her fingers on it as she considered the two teenagers' proposal. She wasn't in a leadership position, and she wasn't even a participant in any of the four tournaments, but the little speech did resonate with her. After all, she had been younger than they were now when she’d thrown herself into a dangerous world.

"I say give them the chance," she said, glancing from the twins to the other Seekers. Perhaps learning the truth about their unique existence had altered the group's perspective, but this kind of thing could hardly have been new to the group. How many of them had risked their lives when they'd thought that they wouldn't be reborn, or even beforehand in their original worlds when they absolutely knew that the one life was all they had?

"If they want to fight, let them fight. It'll be good to let them stretch their wings rather than stay cooped up in a bunker all their lives."

Across the table Therion agreed, though he didn't chime in more than just nodding his head. If it was Mortal Kombat or something then he probably would have been more on Band's side, but they'd have a team to work with on top of having each other to rely on. Ultimately though the decision had little to do with him.

The dancer leaned over towards the twins, giving them a small smile and tapping the side of her face near her emerald colored eyes. "Though you should consider a mask of some sort either way. Masquerade style would suit you both, and it will give you a little more protection while you're here."

The rest of the competing group should have invested in that earlier, but many already had some coverage to obscure their eyes in the first place so it was most beneficial for the Bogard siblings. It wouldn't be at all out of place in the city either.

At the end of the table Pit had stood up again after passing his credit card to the waitress. His arms were crossed and his head was dipped in thought, chin nearly touching his chest. While he listened to everyone's thoughts on the matter he nodded at times, considering all the pros and cons of letting the twins take Terry's place… and likely communing with the Goddess of Light.

When it seemed that everyone that would say their piece about it had, he looked up at everyone first, and then Bart, Marg, and the remaining members of Seekers of Fight themselves.

"I think… it's not a bad idea," he said, tentative but growing more confident as he continued. "I don't wanna abandon Terry, but if we can't find him by the start of the next match then you guys are gonna need a new teammate anyway. And this way you two can stick close to the rest of us. Once we make it to the Kings and the Consul you'll go back to the Avenger, but until then I don't see why you can't help us get there!"

The angel was smiling, his own non-metaphorical wings wide at his back, though he did look to Amaterasu and Captain Falcon. "I mean, as long as you don't mind it! It's your team."

And so the Gold Team leader had spoken. He was unwilling to budge on sending the twins back before the final confrontation, as unfair as it might have seemed to the two of them given that Pit looked to be their age if not younger. It was anticlimactic for them sure, but that was his compromise if the Seekers of Fight consented to allowing them on the team.

Once everyone had eaten, paid (or mooched), and started to get a move on, exiting the warm restaurant and feeling the cooling air hit their skin, as usual they all made to split up. Only, before some could get very far, Pit flitted towards the front of the group.

"You, you, and you!" he said, pointing at the other pair of siblings and the sun goddess in turn. "One sec, I gotta talk to you guys."

Amaterasu paused her padding out the door and turned her snout to Pit, before tilting it to one side. She’d intended to try and get to know her new teammates a bit (having quashed any objections she might have with that due to how hypocritical they were when there were already children on the team), but she was happy to spare a moment or seven for whatever it was Pit wanted.

What in the heavens it could be that it needed her and the problem children was beyond her however.

The kids were in the same boat, confusion wise, but given it was Pit, they were willing to give him the time of day on whatever it was, with Jr replying ”What’s up?”

It would soon become apparent that it was not one thing he needed all of them for, but two separate things to sort out - and that Pit just hadn't wanted to go tracking down any extra people once the Seekers had separated for the night. First he fished two small, identically wrapped boxes out from somewhere and handed them to Rika and Junior at the same time.

"Here you go. One of the members of me and Amaterasu's dojo said he got these from the White Team somehow? Anyway, they're for you guys!"

”Huh? What are these?” Rika began to ask as she accepted the box, only for Jr to answer with a delighted cheer of ”Presents!” as he snatched his own from Pit’s hands

She gave an ”Ohhhhh” in response to this, followed by a ”neat”. Then as she held the gift in one hand and did her best to undo the ribbon with her gauntlet’s oversized fingers asked ”But why though?”

Amaterasu had to admit she was a little curious too as she sat down to observe the scene.

"Uhh..." Pit himself still wasn't sure why. Had the other team sent them just for fun? And why only a small handful and not enough for the whole of Gold Team? The only reason he knew it was from the Seekers across the continent was because of the "from" labels on the gifts themselves. "When I gave Sakura hers, she said something about Santa Claus. It kinda seemed like she knew what it was? I thought you guys would know too, 'cause there were only four of them."

So basically, he had no idea. They'd probably have to ask someone else if they wanted the answer. Pit himself was unconcerned, and after having swiftly gotten over his disappointment about not receiving a gift early now he just leaned close to the two royal siblings to see what was in their presents. "What'd you get?"

Jr opened his gift first, having practically ripped the thing apart, before lifting the contents up in the air and into the light to examine it. In response to this jossling, the mini shyguy whirred to life, feet stepping and arms swaying from side to side.

The prince declared this ”Coooool!” before crouching down and setting the little clockwork minion down onto the ground in order to watch it saunter along.

Rika meanwhile had more carefully opened her gift, and was left holding a Lil Smile that had been squeezed inside. She turned it this way and that, before giving it a squeeze with her metal hands (which revealed the thing to be a plushie of all things) looking rather confused as she did so, as if she didn’t know what to do with it.

Seeing what was in the last two boxes -simple toys- wiped away any lingering disappointment Pit might have felt about being left out. He was, after all, much too mature for things like that... even if his eyes did trail Junior's wind-up shyguy with childlike interest. After a moment he caught himself staring and coughed lightly into his fist.

"Sakura got a stuffed animal too, maybe the other team found a giant toy store or something?" he said, turning to Rika. Noticing her confusion he chuckled and added, "it's for cuddling! 'Cause it's soft and feels nice to hug. People sleep with them too!"

Which he knew from watching humans only and not because he used to have any!

The ship girl tilted her head to the other side, and then proceeded to cuddle the plush against herself, touching it now with her upper arms and chest rather that her feelingless metal gauntlets. She binked, confirmed ”Oh. It isss soft”, and then pressed her face into Lil Smile’s own as she cuddled it tighter

She was going to treasure it forever.

It was quite the cute scene which left Pit smiling as if he'd picked it out himself, but it would not last forever. "That's all I had for you two, just the delivery. You're dismissed!" A beat later he added, "I mean unless you wanna stick around, but now we gotta talk about like, secret Seeker plans and stuff."

Then he looked towards Amaterasu, opened his mouth to ask her something, then promptly closed it and glanced up into the sky for a moment. A nod later and he looked back again. "Okay Amaterasu, Lady Palutena said she'll translate for you for now! So... what do you think about beating up all of our dojo-mates?"

The question, as out of nowhere as it was, seemed completely sincere.

It was the divine wolf’s turn to tilt her head in confusion, before glancing over at the pair of children who were staring at Pit in confusion. They had not, after all, been given time to leave before the secret plan started to be discussed.

A beat later Jr did a panic scramble for his mini shyguy that had been about to wander into the street due to his initiation.

”That seems silly” Rika commented, before telling the angel ”Try not to die doing whatever that is Pit, because I think you are pretty neat”

It was the first time in recent memory that he'd been directly complimented like that, so Pit was at a momentary loss, only replying, "oh. Thanks. You too."

”Yeah, uh, you have fun with that I guess?” Jr added, after he’d snatched up his toy.

The two then moved to go, only for Rika to pause and add ”Oh and say thank you to the gift giving guy before you beat him up please” before they headed over to join the rest of the group.

The divine wolf watched them go for a few moments, and then only once they were gone inquired as to why they would do such a thing, and why it was some sort of secret.

"Not a secret from the team, just like in general," Pit clarified. Still, now that it was just the two of them he crouched down to Amaterasu's eye level so that he could lower his voice slightly. They weren't in the middle of the street, but they were still technically in public after all. "I wanna free all of the members of Fight of Gods and really get them on our side! 'Cause there's so many tough fighters in the city, we can de-story a bunch and fight together with them if things go off the rails! I know a lot would help out if they only knew what was really going on. Plus if we run into trouble in the tournaments, we could free some of the people still fighting in it to make sure we get up to the Top Tier no matter what!

"I freed my kameo partner -and some other guy- already, and then she freed the rest of her dojo, then we were talking with Sakura and... well that's how I came up with the plan. I thought that we could start with our dojo tomorrow... if you think it's a good idea?" He did want the goddess' input, both as someone involved with the same dojo and as a wise deity with boots (or paws as it were) on the ground.

The divine wolf thought about this for a bit, and then pointed out that this went a bit against the idea of them keeping a low profile. She would admit that in some ways the moment had passed, the local Consul did know there were ‘unstoried’ here now after all, but there might be more of a reaction if there were large amounts of them. After all, hadn’t something happened to the last city of free fighters that the seekers had been aligned with?

The mention of Smash City Alcamoth did put a damper on Pit's enthusiasm. He frowned, drawing his wings up close against his sides and shifting his gaze to the cobblestone below them.

"Yeah... there were a lot of strong fighters there too, but it still got wiped out by Moebius. There weren't as many people there though, and nobody knew something like that could happen."

It sounded a little like he was making excuses, so Pit sucked it up and looked back at Amaterasu. "Now we know what to look out for though! I mean Terry was one of the people at Alcamoth and now he's back here, so it's kind of like a sign to try again, right? And- and it doesn't have to be a whole lot freed at once! Just the ones we know we can trust. Once we beat the Kings everyone will be free anyway, so its gonna end up the same whether we start freeing people early or not."

And now it sounded like the angel had already made up his mind about it - or at least mostly, as he still must have been hung up on something to seek the goddess' opinion.

"If you still think it's not a good idea and don't wanna help, we can leave the other gods out of it for now," he said, scratching his cheek. They all seemed kind of nice to Pit, and so he'd wanted to free them if given the chance, but it was Amaterasu's dojo too even if they'd only joined in order to take part in the tournaments. There was no way to tell what would happen, and he wasn't going to go through with it if his fellow Fight of Gods member wasn't on board. At least with the freeing of these specific fighters - other friends that the Seekers already knew were definitely still on the table.

The divine wolf tilted her head to the other side. Righted it. Got up. Walked in a circle. Sat back down again.

Only then did she acquiesce that he had a point regarding the inevitability of the freeing, and how it would, indeed, be good to get a headstart on that. If nothing else, having people spread around the city who knew what was going down when the moment came would be quite valuable. There was, after all, the issue of the yokai to consider. In her home they were malevolent spirits, and she suspected that in others it would be much the same. The amount of chaos these beings regaining their original natures would, she predicted, be quite devastating.

That was also a point that Pit had not at all considered, though he nodded vigorously in agreement when Amaterasu brought it up. "You're right! Wow, this might be a better plan than I thought...!"

Since it seemed that the goddess was in agreement, Pit sprung up to standing and smiled at her. Just as he'd said, they didn't have to go on a friend heart spree or anything - just having a few people in their corner in case they wound up in a pinch, or to help keep order once Esaka as a whole was freed would be good. The Seekers did have a track record of showing up to a populated area, turning it on its head and then bailing immediately once the bad guys had been dealt with... but maybe with some groundwork already in place, Esaka would be a little more stable after the group left.

"Then when you have some free time tomorrow, let's take Fight of Gods on for real! You can bring Cap and whichever Bogards you end up with too- oh! That's right!"

Pit snapped his fingers as he was reminded of the next item on his agenda. "since I'm gonna be looking for Terry and the others if they don't show up tomorrow morning, you'll have to tell me where you saw 'em last - unless you don't mind lending your nose to track them down?"

The divine wolf wasn’t quite sure how much aid her nose could really lend, it hadn’t achieved much when Terry disappeared, but she owed it to the man to try. She owed slightly less to Harry, but could only hope that having Pit on her side might mean they’d be able to handle the inevitable altercation with his new Yokai buddies better than she could have done alone. As such, she generously offered him her aid in that quest.

"Awesome." That would, hopefully, make things a lot easier. Of course Pit hoped that the no-shows from tonight ended up becoming... uh, shows, tomorrow, he still wanted to prepare in case he had to go looking for them. With the goddess of the sun's help secured on two fronts, Pit was left feeling pretty good. "Thanks for hearing me out, Amaterasu!"

The divine wolf told him he was more than welcome. She could only hope things would turn out as he intended.

With her opinions stated and her bill paid, Primrose had the rest of the night ahead of her. There were plenty of things to get up to in a city like this, though she did not plan for trouble to be one of them tonight. She could catch a show at one of the many entertainment halls around Esaka, hopefully a non-violent one assuming the citizenry had their fill with the start of the tournament series, but that was doubtful. She could also put on a show herself, put her dancing to use since she hadn't here yet; she already knew at least one place that would be receptive to it. And of course she could spend more time with her fellow Seekers as she'd spent most of the day on her own.

Primrose turned her head, catching her fellow Orsterran's eye. "So where are we headed?"

With his opinions mostly unstated and his bill non-existent thanks to just picking from everyone else's plates and pots, Therion narrowed said eye at her.

"I'm headed to settle my bets like I said - you are not coming with me."

"Why not?" Primrose asked, feigning hurt in her voice.

"Because you draw attention wherever you go," the thief replied flatly. He didn't blame her for it, it had been her job for so long and she was a beautiful woman on top of that. He just didn't want to deal with it at an unscrupulous semi-illegal gambling den. She'd been there once already, twice was just asking for trouble. She would be much better suited for heading to the legal version in the possible casino that had been brought up.

She seemed to pick up on his thoughts, dropping her little act and humming lightly. She had passed something that looked like what might be that while in the High Tier before, but she wasn't totally sure. It was much bigger, brighter, and more luxurious than what she normally imagined of such places, but of course that didn't rule it out in a world like this. It did sound like it might be a fun, though... maybe another time. Her day had been pretty stress-free and low key, and ending it with high stakes games of luck didn't seem right.

The twins seemed like they would be a handful for any volunteer guardians, and though she had to admit that she was also rather curious to see them in action Primrose decided not to accompany the casino group. Instead she just gave Band a light pat on his arm, followed by an amused smile and a, "good luck, detective."

As the group really began to split, some held back by the team captain and others making their way to try their hand at chance, a familiar face to some stopped them with a request. No, not even that - an errand.

If the experience fighting the Jack units in the bamboo forest together had endeared Anji to Therion a little, there was no trace of that to be found when the thief raised an eyebrow and stated, "seriously? Perfect for fetching food? You don't seem busy, why don't you just do it?"

Ah, it seemed that intentionally or not Anji's words had pricked at Therion's pride. They hadn't signed up to be personal assistants to the UN leader, plus the thief hadn't missed another particular word choice that the muscular glasseswearer had said: learned that they were eating here. So the organization really was keeping tabs on them.

The phrasing hadn't escaped Primrose's notice either. She gave Anji a dubious look, mostly for his choice in clothing given this was her first time meeting him. With a group as large as theirs it would certainly be easy to keep track of them whenever they met up together like this, and it was safe to assume that this 'United Nations' wasn't the only group with a vested interest in keeping an eye on them. In that case would it be wiser to split up, stay as far from notice as possible like they'd originally planned? Or... perhaps get in good with another large group if it would offer a little more protection?

Primrose's expression was unreadable, though she had slipped into serious thought. She really had planned for her night to be an easy one, and perhaps it still would be if Anji's request was as simple as he made it out to be, but now that she was thinking on it...

"Why don't we help him out?" she said, flashing the man a charming smile. She felt Therion bristle beside her, but at the same time a much more enthusiastic member of their group piped up with her intent to get the job done.

While Sakura drew some attention with her spirited eagerness to get paid, the Orsterrans looked at each other.

"Why bother? What are you thinking?" Therion hissed under his breath, and Primrose matched his volume when she replied.

"It'll give me the chance to meet with our new allies... and judge them for myself. You must still be curious about them too, so why not snoop around their headquarters? That, and we had already planned to look into the zoo more closely... It seems to me we can kill a few birds with this stone.

"And we can't just leave Sakura to go all by herself, can we~?" The dancer raised her voice at the end, putting a pleasant spin on her tone as she turned back to the group at large. She winked at the street fighter, declaring her intent to accompany Sakura on the errand.

After the girl ran off and came back, Primrose motioned for her to follow along instead of rushing ahead. She made it clear that she knew exactly where they'd be headed. Behind them, Therion could easily have declined and taken off in another direction. He was still thinking about doing just that until a few long moments passed and he let out a deep sigh, shoving his hands into his pockets and flicking his tail behind him as he trailed after the two women.

It was a relief that Sandalphon was both able to be awakened and, as she reported, noninfectious. The reason for this however raised the question as to why/when she had been exposed to the ergo substance.

He had to sit on said question however, as there really was too much to do. First things first was to gather what they could salvage from the battlefield, be it dropped gear, fallen stagecoach equipment, genetic samples from frozen bug goop, scattered camping equipment or, of course, the spirits of the fallen bugs.

Edward put his golems to the task, while retrieving the symbol of avarice and crushing the collected spirits of the Icy Blowhog, Arctic Cannon Beetle, Glyphid Menace spirits, along with two Glyphid Praytorians and a few of the lesser grunts and hunters for good measure.



An eclectic mix for sure, but then wasn’t it always? The Bowgun however stood out as something immediately useful as it matched a description their resident monsterhunter had once given him of such weapons, and so he’d call out ”Ace, you might be interested in this one” with regards to it.

Other than that, there was some more useful items like the bug meat and malt for the stew pot (leftovers were all well and good, but hot food did wonders in this climate), some sort of gas grenade that Edward loaded into his launcher for future use, and a pile of coins that Edward set aside for group sending.

Less immediately useful were the giant novelty lock (which like the giant spoon was actually made of metal for some reason rather than being a painted prop) and chitin armor (the seekers who cared about such things had better) which would be selling fodder.

That left the scrip and beard, the former of which was presumably currency somewhere, the latter of which was just... strange.

One thing led to another, and by the end of it Edward needed his morning shave more than ever.

There was, however, no time for such things, and so the only part of his daily routine he could do was getting dressed for the day, namely by strapping on his gear and doffing his armor. Without the Balahara Alpha not only had he been more vulnerable, but without its evasion extender boon he had to actively remember that his portal dodges did not go anywhere near as far rather than act on built up instinct, so it was good to be suited up once more.

With that out of the way, he assembled a rearguard for the carriage, consisting of two squads of iron golems flanked by coppers golems and with a squad of bronze golem pairs in between them, creating a variable wall of animated metal. This wall was positioned behind the stagecoach and neatly filled the tunnel that the drilldozer dug for them, ensuring none of the bugs that came up behind them could slip past.

Well. On the floor anyway. The coppers had some reach to keep the walls clear, and the towering bronze golems could poke at ceiling climbers, but they’d need some more shooters if they wanted to keep the wall from being circumvented. Taffy, hunkered atop the stagecoach’s roof, could only flame blast so many bugs.

During the slow climb out of the earth, Edward occasionally glanced back through the window into the stagecoach to check on Sandalphon. As much as wanted to ask questions while they drove, the thunderstorm worth of noise the drilldozer outputted as it dug their way to freedom made him decide against it. The strain of needing to shout over it was not something he wanted to put her through.

Instead he focused his mental energy on coordinating the hunting pack he’d sent into the fungal caverns, which was engaged in a very snooze filled battle with the local morphean mushrooms. Between Loona the lunerpup’s hypnowaves and the SomnaDrix’s sleep gas the pack was as likely to put the fungal stalkers to sleep as said stalkers were. More likely, even, given that a swarm of inferno pups was a construct rather than flesh and blood, and thus unable to sleep. This meant its job was to nip at any sleepers to wake them up.

There had, admittedly, been a small flaw in this plan, namely that it triggered Loona’s galeeming aggression, but a quick baiting of her back to the stagecoach followed by a friend-hearting resolved that issue.

Once it was, the predators got back to hunting down blowfish and flying slimes to fill their bellies, somewhat diminishing the potion ingredient supply on offer.

When it came to oilshale gathering, Edward kept the minions out of the way of the operation itself and instead formed a perimeter to keep the two vehicles safe. He also took it upon himself to coordinate their departures, his many eyes letting him keep an eye on the seekers and ensure that everyone was ready for the next wave of bugs that the drill starting up again would summon.

With any luck, they’d not need to take many stops, but Edward very much worried that they’d have lost the road due to this collapse, and did his best to track their direction traveled underground relative to where they had descended into it. It was something he was familiar with doing, as the worlds in the astral sea often contained extensive underground realms full of all manner of their own skittering horrors of their own.

Of course, the surface sported those as well, but Edward could only hope that here and now they would find at least a moment respite wherever they emerged.

He was, after all, in desperate need of a shave.