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[img]https://i.imgur.com/kNmO8zV.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/ziR5Pse.png[/img]
[b][color=DarkOrange]wordcount: [/color][/b] 772 (+2)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Location:[/color][/b] Forbidden Kingdom - borderland badlands
[b][color=DarkOrange]Amaterasu: level 9 (1 level up stored) [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DarkOrange]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]// (88/90)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 15 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](362/150)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP:  [color=Aqua]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](201/110)
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The kids had to admit, they’d been wrong to doubt Pit, marveling as they did at his display of power as Rika’s scout plane watched on while they hid in their cave. Once the Consul was down however, they charged out, with Amatearsu hot on their heels.

Despite the early win, their plan quickly hit a bump in the road.

Jr and Rika, charging in on their hovercraft, hit the devolution field spell at speed, which caused a great deal of trouble as the bumpercar looking craft warped beneath them into a canoe that went sliding across the sand uncontrollably towards R.

The siblings shifted too. 

Jr had it better off. Appearance wise the dragon-turtle’s physiology was entirely unimpacted, while his minimalist outfit transformed into furs while the iron tattoo on his right arm turned to stone. His tech meanwhile had more issues. The pokeballs on his bandolier into acorn based balls that still served their purpose, but his brush became a wooden affair with hair for a brush that no longer produced goop, and, worst of all for their plan, his cassette player turned into a panflute while the headphones turned into a set of earmuffs.

The idea of starting out with a cassette beast fusion was, as a result, right out the window.

Rika was however far, far, far worse off. 

Around her her scout planes, Red Baron orbital machines and Col. Droneman all transformed into a swarm of [url=https://i.imgur.com/miIMylf.png]mauldrones[/url] that buzzed around her in confusion. Meanwhile her armor and helmet became a sabertooth tiger pelt, her rigging a simple belt, her helbard became made of actual bone, cassette player changed like Jr’s  and, worst of all, her gauntlets became small Brachydios skulls strapped to her arms. 

Why this last one was so bad became very clear after their out of control cameo hit a rock and spilled them to the floor close to R, because the ship girl struggled to push herself to her feet without the use of her gauntlet’s antigrave technology, managing only to just barley to do so using her helbard for support. 

Weeks on land had somewhat reduced her lack of land legs, but it was still nowhere near good enough for her to be able to fight without support.

Her brother took one look at his beached sister, another at the looming form of R that could so easily crush her underfoot if he chose to, and made the only sensible choice. 

With a shout of [color=SpringGreen]”Strikers! Buy time!”[/color] he lunged for her, hauled her up over his shoulder, and started to make a run for it back across the dunes they'd slid over, heading for the rocky outcrops sounding the impromptu arena.

The ship girl didn’t argue. Technically this could have been the moment where they faced a crisis that could let them interlink, but neither had the heroic lack of survival instincts to try and stand their ground here. She did however toss her helbard up at R as they fell back, getting something in on her own efforts.

Then she followed through with his yelled plan

Behind them, Jr and Rika’s strikers all materialized, titans one and all, even if none could quite challenge the sheer size of R. Yet even as they formed and moved to strike, they too were devolved by the Consul’s power. 

Rika’s Vespikan Ichor Queen was impacted least of all, the giant insect woman’s iron blade devolving into an obsidian shard studded mace. Said blade would likely still do hefty damage as she slammed it down in an overhead cleave, and her venomous stinger was still just as deadly

Jr’s mechanical strikers were far more affected. The fist of Blodia slammed out of thin air, turning to stone even as it swung. It fully solidified into a statue about two thirds of the way into its swing, but that still left a hunk of stone slamming towards R. Kaw-Man meanwhile solidified in a similar manner during a downward chop, its chainsaw hand transforming into a large Sawfish skull.

As all these attacks closed in, Amaterasu rushed in too, pushing the world as the two slashes landed and drawing lines down the path of the strikes, intensifying the damage of the strikes with her Power slash brush technique. 

She then did her best to harass R’s legs, her divine retribution disk weapon entirely unaffected by the change due to its form being that of a stone tablet, its strength drawn from pure divinity. Nimble on her paws as she was, she would dodge and weave as best she could while slamming the burning stone into R and trying to draw attention away from the fleeing children.