DracoLunaris

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 867 (+2)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (35/80)
Location: The Dead Zone - Hell-bent City

Flanking round Bowser, the two motorbike riding flood revved their bike's handlebar mounted chainsaws and gunned for the shockdozer as it was in the middle of being swarmed by goddamn bats. In unison, they tilted their bikes to the side, bringing their sawblades low to the ground, aimed squarely at the vehicle’s large construction vehicle tires and, also in unison, they were each blasted by a torrent of water from behind. Losing traction and balance, the pair both lost control of their bikes, and hit the deck. Hard. One rammed its chest mounted infectors straight into one of its own chainblades, eviscerating itself in the process. The other survived its crash, didn’t last much longer than its compatriot.

The transformed Bowser, who’d pulled off his lucky bell to avoid the sprite’s effects sticking to the power-up’s form, came thundering down the road. His suit jacket buttons were straining thanks to his now rounder shell and small patches of damp had marred its shoulders underneath his new hydro shooting beaks(though with how much gore the battle had produced this was barely noticeable), but the king did not seem to mind. Instead he was laughing raucously, his new tentacle beard jiggling jollily on his chin as he crushed the surviving flood bike rider under foot and caught up with the Shockdozer. From the two ports on his shell, the twin Tentacruel beaks (two pairs of large blue pincers) emerged and tasted the air for a second time and found it fouled by the poisonous gases of the lurks. Two splintered reflections of the creature's mind ruled the new additions to the king and, now that they lacked their species usual poison resistance, they found this blight most fowl.

To Bowser’s delight, more than a dozen tentacles lashed out of his shell and began to assault the annoying bats assailing him and his minions with little input from his own focus. Where he was much too slow to catch the fragile speedsters, his new additions had no such issue.

”GAHAHAHA. POWWWWWER! I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS SO MUCH SOONER” Bowser cheered as tendrils smashed and grabbed the Lurks around him, beating them down and causing their battered bodies to careen onto the ground or wrapping them up and dragging them to the Tentacrule’s maws, where their screeching was silenced with a deadly pincer snick. The alien bats scattered away from the king now that he was no longer an easy target, but the Crules weren't going to let them get away that easily. As their tendrils retracted back into Bowser’s shell their beaks swiveled skywards, twin tips acting like aiming reticles, and started blasting.

While the water wasn’t exactly a deadly substance, the high pressure streams were incredibly disruptive to the nimble. Just as it had totaled the bike riders, the twin Torrent’s smashed into the Lurks, knocking them off course and waterlogging their wings, causing several to crash and others to simply fall behind. Such too was the fate of the rest of the flood, as (after collectively and silently agreeing not to try to drive through an active flood vs demon titan warzone) the shock dozer hit a downwards slope and started ramming towards a ramp that they might be able to use to jump a ravine. Or use to plummet straight into it. Whichever event occurred, it was in the hands of those onboard and out of Bowsers, as he was also in the process of being left behind.

”HEY! NO! WAIT UP!” he yelled, but there was no stopping the car as it careened down the slope.

Bowser glanced behind himself at the flood hord, and found himself their only target. He also found himself no longer having to worry about friendly fire thanks to the Dozers rapidly increasing lead on him. As the swarm surged down the rap behind him, Bowser, instead of following the car directly, headed straight for the edge and then leapt. Once, twice and then three times in a hop, skip and then jump. His first two landings caused shockwaves, one of lighting and then one of fire. Each one rolled out across the ground, the rings ripping through the flood who were too tightly packed to all jump over them successfully. His third of the triple jump launched him up and over the chase towards safety. With lethargic pace, the Koopa king sailed through the air towards the other side.

”GAHAHAHA, LATER LOSERS!” Bowser laughed at the Flood as he left them behind on their own bank, before turning and actually looking where he was going, ”OH NO!”

There was a thud and jingle as the king impacted with the opposite side of the cliff wall, followed by the ear bleeding sound of cat claws scraping through solid stone. ”Phew. Close one” the Meowserified King said to himself, before slowly climbing his way up the sheer rock face and hauling himself up onto the flood free side of the gorge. There he unhooked the bell, wiped his brow and exhaled in both action and relief before turning and headed for where the shockdozer would have landed after its jump or, failing that, for the final root of the tree.

World of Light

wordcount: 814 (+2)
Midna: level 1 EXP: ////////// (8/10)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert)

There was a bit of talking to do before they set out again.

”Midna appreciates Poppi helping Midna” Midna told Poppi, while mimicking the unusual self referential speech pattern she and Tora had for the fun of it, when she agreed to use keep her fancy eyes on the look-out for the Arbiter's Grounds.

”Unless you're from Hyrule or some place in the same world as it, it’s kinda unlikely that it’s the same mirror. Least if I’m getting the gist of this whole world tapestry situation right.” Midna told the large bee queen when she suggested that she might have been in possession of the mirror at one point ”And I’m fairly sure it spent all of its existence in the Arbiter's Grounds anyway.” she added with a shrug.

She also gave the queen some limited pointers on who’d be good for the missions, mainly endorsing Zelda (even if she wasn't a Zelda Midna knew, the two she had were an indication that the Hylian royal line had a good track record of producing affluent, wise and popular rulers if they’d lasted so long, and so she expected this one would have no trouble talking people into joining the fight). Unfortunately, most of what she knew about the other smashers was how far she could toss them.

Before they set off, the vulpine looking lad decided he wasn't satisfied with pointed directions and instead ran off to speak with the mystery woman in the dunes. There was a bit of tension, Midna was worried she might pick a fight when brazenly approached, but the lack of any panic, screaming or sounds of violence gave the impression that everything was ok, and even she couldn’t miss the lady blasting off into the sky shortly afterwards.

”Bold aren't you? Can’t leave a lady alone to stalk people in the desert nooo, ya gotta go talk to her and ruin the mystery” Midna said once Fox returned, mostly to hide the fact that she was embarrassed she hadn't thought to do that very simple thing.

”So... What’d she say?” she asked, genuinely curious.

---

After a bit more traveling the yellow team approached the giant camel, which meant Midna got to actually see what it was they’d all been gawping at earlier. The giant construct truly was a marvel of magical engineering, a wonder that put everything Midna knew about magic, and even what she had seen made by the ancient Oocca, to shame. She wanted to tear it apart to find out how it ticked, and simultaneously knew all she’d achieve in doing so would be to ruin the awe inspiring machine and be unable to affirm anything from the act due to the gulf in wisdom between her civilization and whichever one had built the Titan.

Before she could really take it all in, or start to recognize any of her own world’s magic system peeking out from her under the layers of sophistication, the titan took notice of them and things rapidly took a turn for the worse. The camel powered up some kind of lighting weapon and, after a few moments, let loose a thunderbolt to punish them for daring to get even slightly close to it.

The flash of light from the thunder strike obliterated the shadows in the car, dumping Minda back out into the light world and dropping her surprised form to the floor of the car. Her helm prevented any head injuries from the fall, and her low position prevented her from being exposed to any shrapnel, but this was little consolation for the Twilight princess ”Ahhh! My eyes!” she screamed, covering both her exposed eye and the Fused Shadow covered eye with her hands while letting out a long string of unintelligible Twili curse words.

After barely avoiding being obliterated by the titan’s lighting control the Morgana-car rolled away from the machine, which fortunately did not attempt to pursue them. The initial mood was grim, with Panther expressing doubts that they could take on the machine.

”I am (string unintelligible curse words) mad at this thing!” Midna complained angrily as she sat up on the floor. She pulled one hand away from her eye, then waved it about in her blasted vision before grimacing and putting it back over the eye again. ”Stupid walking temple. If anyone thinks they can get up I could hitch a ride… Or maybe we can wait till sunset and I can sneak up its shadow once it’s stretched out of its lighting range?” Minda suggested, before growling in frustration at the lack of easy answers, her former awe having been replaced with righteous fury and a lust for vengeance against the camel.

How long that anger would prevail remained to be seen, but for the time being Midna was 100% onboard any plans anyone could come up with to strike back at the Titanic machine, no matter how foolish the prospect of fighting it was.

World of Light

wordcount: 720 (+1)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (101/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (36/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

And they were off. The second leg of Kamek and Jr’s journey truly began as the captain’s vessel set sail out on the endless sea. While the aged Kamek quickly hunkered down in a spot away from the seaspray and wind, Jr initially rode the front of the ship, claws holding tightly to the banister of the ship as the wind and saltspray blowing in his hair. Mimikyu was forced to hold on tight lest her cloud-like body be blown away, looping one arm under and around jr’s neckerchief/bib to do so.

Despite the wind, both boy and mon eagerly took in the sights of the high seas and the refreshing sea breeze. It was a pleasant change from the Land of Adventure, though the dark clouds hanging over what had to be the Bottomless sea reminded any who saw them that this land likely held as many if not more dark terrors hiding out here than they had found in the shifting fields of the land they had just cleared.

Just when the sights of the sea and the islands floating atop it were starting to grow stale something new swam into view. Jr pulled himself upwards and hung over the edge of the ship a little in order to watch the myriad of fish schooling around the ship swim to and fro. At the mention of fishing from he captain Jr pushed himself back down onto the deck, causing Kamek (who had been about to pull the dangling boy back to sensible safety) to stumble back and away from him in surprise.

”oh! oh! I’ve got something just for this” Jr said as he quickly brushed past the mage, who was in the process of picking himself back up, and headed for his clown car. After rummaging around in its hammer-space interior for a few moments he pulled out a fishing spear he’d gotten on their first day in Lumbridge from a loot box.

”Bet you i can fish way better with this cool thing than you can with those rods!” jr said, as he hefted the spear and strode towards the edge of the ship.

”May I make just two suggestions young master? One, you might like to get a rope so you can get that thing back,” Kamek said, causing jr to pause right before hurling the spear into the ocean.

”Yeah, I knew that. I was just testing the weight is all” Jr replied, before going and borrowing the same rope that had been used to haul Sakura out of the ocean.

As the boy tied the the rope through a hole at the end of the spear Kamek continued ”and might I suggest that we turn this a game?” he suggested, thinking back to several fishing minigames he’d had people play while running Mario parties ”see who can catch the most, biggest and most interesting fish?”

”Sounds good. Coz I bet I’d win” Jr replied, despite having never spearfished before.

”Anyone interested? Perhaps to make it more interesting the winner could have the first claim on the spirit of the region’s boss once we acquire it?” he added. Prizes always made contests more fun and exciting in Kamek’s opinion, and what better a prize than one he didn't have to personally finance. A lot of the troops’ remaining money had gone into grocery shopping, which was, Kamek realized, still sitting in the Bowser mobile which itself was still sat on the approach to where the End used to be. A somewhat inconvenient location for a bunch of perishable goods.

”I’ll have to deal with that in a bit” Kamek muttered to himself, before putting the issue to one side and turning his attention to the bit of the ship being used or fishing, where Jr was lining up his first throw. With little finesse he hurled it at the sea the sploosh startling the fish and failing to hit anything.

”Perhaps you should stick to the rod young master? I think you’ve used one before after all” Kamek suggested, only to be brushed off by Jr, who hauled the spear up and had another failed go at it. The mage left the young prince to it with a shrug, and instead turned his attention to the other fishers to see how they were doing.

More Than Human: superhumans fighting evil in a post-modern fantasy

v cool stuff

Not set on it by any means as a char basis, but would tech looted from Pendulum allow the creation of a kind of human, or more than human, steampunk gadgeteer? Based on the clockwork animals and other bits of the description steampunks what I'm assuming the aesthetic is, or would it be more futuristic looking?

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,289 (+3)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (33/80)
Location: The Dead Zone - Sundered Avenue

While there was some resistance, from Linkle of all people, to the idea of bailing in short order the gang was out the door and retreating from the tower and towards the region’s third miniboss. Contrary to what Bowser was hoping, getting outside did not solve the flood problem.

”IS THERE NO END TO THESE THINGS!” He roared while using his non spirit carrying hand to pick up a flood combat form in-order to use its body as a mace to beat several others over the head with.

The fact that their new ride had smashed into the building should probably have given away the state of the outside world, but then the king was never the smartest, and he had had a lot to deal with indoors with the undead swarm and the utter pain that had been the two fireproof Pokemon combat forms. Their spirits were now his, clutched in one hand and still unused, mainly because the King could not hear himself think to decide how to use them over the sounds of battle and the blaring siren attached to the top of the stolen shockdozer. The siren was so annoying that it somehow acted as a weapon, knocking warrior forms and infectors off of the car whenever they tried to clamber on top of it.

While some of the gang could squeeze inside the vehicle, Bowser stayed outside. Even shrunk down it would have been cramped, and his spiky shell would be something of a hazard as the machine veered to and fro thanks to Blazermates erratic driving. So he stayed outside and sized himself back up to make himself as tough as possible. Fortunately, the vehicle was slow enough that he could just about keep up on foot. Unfortunately, that meant that theirs was a rather slow getaway, one that the hordes of flood found outside were able to swarm them during the start of their escape. While the front of the dozer made quick work of anything standing right in the way, it was the sides and rear that were where the danger lay, as skittering infestors and clawed combat forms tried to grab on to the vehicle as it passed them by and climb on.

These Bowser was more than capable of helping clear, the King periodically pausing his advance to bathe each flank of the vehicle with his firebreath, before rushing to catch up again. The fire torched infectors and combat forms alike when they tried to get onboard, reducing them to burning corpses and then ash in quick succession, leaving a trail of spirits in the wake of the team as they plowed onward and outwards.

There were others behind them, but for the most part, the monsters left in the vehicle’s dust could not keep up with the King or car. Those that did had to face Bowser’s armored and spiked shell, which shrugged off both attempts to strike him and the small arms fire coming from the flood’s ranged forms that had found vantage points and where trying to gun down the retreating Heroes.

While he was mostly safe from direct harm from the foes that could catch him, there was still the threat of being left behind. Even Bowser would be in trouble if left alone with the swarms, especially if some of their bigger, meaner, forms could catch him. Seeming to recognize this, the flood’s combat forms quickly switched from trying to claw or stab him to grabbing hold of him, claws clasping onto his short tail, legs or shell rim in an attempt to slow his retreat with their combined weight.

”GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF!” Bowser roared, shaking violently, tossing some of the hitchhikers asside but being slowed in the process. This brought a moment’s respite, but the flood came at him again, surging forward to ensnare him and drag him down. Unable to afford turning to fight them head on, as this would result in him being left behind anyway, Bowser needed some rear weaponry. Fortunately for him he had just the tool for the job.

Acting quickly, the king hooked a Lucky bell to his spiked color and transformed into Meowser. While now fur covered his body might be more vulnerable than his scaly skin, his shell was just as tough and, importantly, he now sported a long cat tail in place of his stubby normal one.

”HOW DO YOU LIKE ME MEOW! I MEAN NOW. HA!” Bowser yelled back at the flood, swiping his long, heavy, feline tail around like a flail, smashing combat forms aside and crushing infectors to a pulp.

Stomping forward on three paws, the massive cat King caught back up with the vehicle, just as it looked like they were clearing the worst of the flood. The masses of combat forms were being outrun, and the appearance of regular Zombies, controlled by Blazermate, seemed to indicate that they were getting back out into the regular zombie apocalypse blighted Dead zone.

This didn’t mean they were home free just yet. The zone had many other dangers (that blasermate couldn’t simply take control over like the zombies) one of which consisted of a swarm of weird bird bat creatures that came in to attack them, biting and dumping toxic gases on them. Bowser swatted at or toasted any that came close, but he wasn’t well equipped to deal with the agile beasts in the slightest, and so had to mostly grin and bear their onslaught and hope that others could handle the situation.

The Flood menace also clearly wasn't done with them as out of the left behind swarm roared three motorcycle riding combat forms, their motorized mounts equipped with two deadly looking side mounted chainsaws.

As the motorbikes closed in, Bowser inhaled deeply and then turned to let loose a new kind of fireball. Instead of the large or massive slow moving fireballs that the vehicles could easily dodge, Bowser launched dozens of smaller hot shots, which dropped to the floor instantaneously after they left his mouth, before racing across the ground towards their pursuers. To make sure they wouldn't just swerve to the side, he shot the flames in a spread pattern, each fireball sent to the left of the next so that it created a rolling wave of fireballs that he was sure there was no way to dodge. The flames streaked under the leading bike as it failed to react quickly enough to the new threat, igniting both its rider’s legs and the tires of the vehicle, causing it to lose control and crash to the ground.

”YEAH BUZZ OFF” Bowser roared, certain of his victory right before it was defied by their other two foes. Rather than barrel straight into the flames, the second flood form deftly bunny hopped his over the fire, gaining only light scorches for its troubles, while the third ramped off of a nearby car wreckage, launching themselves briefly skywards and soaring clear over the flames without a scratch as a result before hitting the deck again. The wave rolled onward, the fire fanning out as it spread, leaving gaps that the still pursuing Flood horde could squeeze through, resulting in only some casualties to its seemingly endless bulk.

The king clenched his fist in frustration, but eased up the pressure right before crushing the two spirit's he'd gotten from the confrontation in the ardent tower. Reminded of their presence, he knew what he should do with them.

”MORE POWER, LETS GO!” he decided, before slamming the spirits of the Blastoise and Tentacruel into his chest to absorb their powers as his own. As the transformation took hold he turned and thundered after the Shockdozer while the two remaining slicecycles wheeled around him before coming in too pincer strike the slow moving vehicle, chainsaws roaring and aimed for the more vulnerable tires.

World of Light

wordcount: 703 (+1)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (100/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (35/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

Jr did not appreciate being talked down to by the hooded figure. Not one bit.

”Ah buzz off you twerp. You don’t know me! You don’t know what I’ve done or think. Go eat a spiny!” Jr yelled at them, before storming up onto the boat in a childish huff. Rather proving the Nobody’s point in the process, Kamek noted to himself as he stayed to hear out the rest of the conversation with their unwelcome advice giver.

It was mostly push and pull, the heroes arguing against this unethical method of getting transport to the region boss, while the hooded figure arguing it was the only way, with some unexpected backup from the grizzled swordsman with the yellow eyes. Geralt gave them a speech about how doing what was necessary did not always involve doing what was good. That doing the right thing could and would require bloody sacrifices. This perspective was a rather alien one for a hero to have from Kamek’s perspective, and that it did not go down well with the others who showed the traditional desire to put themselves at risk before even considering putting innocents in danger.

Indeed, the team mostly seemed to like Jr’s idea of storming the place, which the boy appreciated knowing once Kamek mentioned it to him later, saying ”Heck yeah! Who does this lady think she is, saying we couldn't even take on one spooky woman on her ghost ship! If she doesn't think we can take her, how the heck does she think we’re gonna be able to take down whatever the boss is? Stupid.”

There was a little more to be gleaned from the figure’s words. Further warnings about the dangers of the sea were given, and what Kamek noted was probably a rather important detail about the Maw, namely that eating was a poor thing to do upon it. Certainly, the implication had been there already that the food was dangerous, but it was rather useful to know for sure that the Maw’s bait was poisoned. They also learned that the only other danger listed in the maw other than the food was its mistress, a silent masked woman.

Despite the team’ general dislike with the strangers plan, the initial trip across the sea was agreeable, and so the majority of the gang sauntered onboard the (apparently living) ship without much fuss, which meant there were fewer people around when the hooded nobody made a grab for Peach. Kamek was taken by surprise by this move despite his distrust of the members of the 13, and so was only just pulling his wand out in reaction to her aggressive move when the figure let Peach go, but not before delivering one final dire potent of what would occur should they try a different path. Her final missive left, the Nobody departed via a dark portal that seemed to be a shared skill of the 13.

”What a grim woman she was. Are you alright your majesty?” Kamek asked Peach as he followed her aboard the ship.

Most of the squad were onboard when they arrived, including a still slightly huffy jr, who had parked his clown car and was now out on the deck. The boy was cured of his mood shortly afterwards however by Sakura’s tumble into the water, running over to the railing to laugh at the schoolgirl rather than help like Geralt was.

”Jr, don’t be rude to the poor woman,” Kamek admonished the boy for his mockery.

”Come on. She can’t even stay on a ship while it’s sitting in port. How bad do your ship legs have to be for that to happen?! Maybe we’ll have to tie her to the mast to stop her falling off again!” Jr called back, before hopping up onto the ship’s banister and deftly balancing walking along it and managing to avoid falling off even when the living ship moved unpredictably beneath him, a testament to having spent plenty of his life on Koopa Troop airships.

After jr had been convinced to stop tempting fate to deliver some well deserved comeuppance and was safely back on the deck, they were ready to set sail for danger and adventure.

World of Light

wordcount: 473 (+1)
Midna: level 1 EXP: ////////// (6/10)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert)

So. they were being watched. Or so Primrose told her. Once again, Midna had to watch Primrose’s reaction to what she’d seen rather than observe it for herself thanks to the light. The imp tensed as the dancer went for her knife, priming herself to bring her magic to bare if they where attacked, only to relax once Primrose did. If the cautious women thought it wasn’t a threat then Midna was inclined to agree with assessment for the moment. It wasn't as if she could make her own with the harsh sun beating down and leaving her long distance vision blurry at best.

”Mysterious watchers in the desert? How fun. Let me know if they do anything stupid,” Midna commented, before drifting away when Primrose directed her to go first, returning her mischievous smile as she did before re-approaching the vehicle. She couldn’t see the machine the others were discussing as anything but a smudge in the distance, and so mostly ignored its existence, but was when the gang of masked teens said they were looking for a pyramid she took interest. The thing they were looking for in and of itself wasn't that interesting (though the gang’s lack of interest in sharing additional details about it was adding to a trend with them that she did not appreciate) but the not quite human Poppi’s search for their goal, giving the impression that she could see much further than the others could, definitely was.

”I maaaay have a similar kind of ulterior motive as these guys one for coming here. I’ve also got something I came here to find. A powerful artifact. A mirror, one that creates a portal to my home realm. Having the aid of an entire kingdom would be a great help don’t you think?” Midna asked Poppi, making an effort to be more informative than the teens as to why she was looking for the mirror of twilight and also in the process added an incentive that might get the team onboard with helping secure it, before laying out what the palace it could be found looked like.

”It should be in a massive circular open topped building with lots of arches in its walls. Got six massive columns surrounding it, bigger than the building, with golden poles atop those pillars, at the top of which there's symbols of an eagle with its wings spread and round mirrors in place of their heads,” Midna said, as she described the less straightforward design of the Arbiter's Grounds as best she could before adding ”also anything with this symbol could also help,” before sketching a quick Triforce in the sand with her massive hair hand.

After she’d gotten her answer, Midna would get back onboard (ducking back into a shadow as soon as she was inside) rather than hold up their journey any longer with sightseeing things she couldn’t see properly.

World of Light

wordcount: 1,457 (+3)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (30/80)

And Blazermate
Level 8 Blazermate - (6/80) +3

Location: The Dead Zone

Bowser’s command for medical assistance was answered happily by Blazermate, who sailed above their foes and landed on his back, using his body as a shield as she healed his injuries. Broken scales where regrown and his cracked shell begin to close, crushing an infector that was trying to creep its way inside in the process. With Blazermate’s medibeam wiping away his wounds, the king went back on the offensive, rapidly roasting the lesser flood that had charged him in an attempt to take advantage of his wounded state. Yet the alien virus still had plenty of tricks up its sleeve they had to handle.

First, a sneaky flood with an energy sword tried to stab him in the back. Fortunately for him, he had someone watching it. Blazermate activated her ubercharge, engulfing the pair in a metallic shimmering invulnerability. As the king made additional mincemeat of the swarm the healer got her hands dirty, confronting the stealthed mutant, disarming it and then, adding insult to injury, stabbing it with its own sword.

”Yeah I noticed, seeing as they keep SHOOTING ME!” Bowser called back in response to her comment about the undead being armed, having taken a couple of shots while the uber was down. Now that it was back up and he’d had enough he decided to get the cowardly shooty flood hiding behind the flood of melee troops ”EAT THIS!” he roared before taking a deep inhale and blasting out a mega fireball. The massive car sized fireball plowed through the hordes of foes, passing though their masses, demolishing and incinerating everything in its path, before finally smashing into the ranks of ranged flood harassing the team, vaporising a significant number of them.

There was little time to celebrate however. Adding to the swarm of lesser creatures were a few particularly nasty foes in their ranks. The first came plowing through the wall of the building in some kind of improvised lighting firing armored car, which proceeded to vaporize the teleporter, closing off any hope of either escaping with it or bringing in more reinforcements. The pair of water pokemon were also still on the loose, the invincible Bowser having to physically hurl them aside as their bodies could not simply be incinerated like the others, meaning that even when their infectors were killed they’d simply rise again moments later.

They were like the physical embodiment of the Flood’s unending nature, for the flood just kept on coming like, well, a flood. The team wasn’t getting anywhere, just holding back the endless tide with their dwindling reserves of stamina and firepower and littering the floor with meliciouse spirits that they weren't really in a position to collect.

Which made it a good thing that one of them knew where they were going. Daxter spelled out their goal, while the kid with the big hand started trying to direct the squad towards an exit from the infested tower.

An exit that had been formed by the ambulance digger combo vehicle when it had smashed through a wall of the building. A vehicle who’s lighting spewing cannon was still active.

Once he’d figured out this very big problem there was little hesitation for Bowser as to what he had to do. With the last of his invulnerability king charged the vehicle head on, with Blazermate coming along for the ride on his back. Bowser barged combat forms aside and roaring loudly as bast after blast of the electrical cartoon harmlessly glanced off of his ubered shining body. He smashed into the reinforced scoop and the front of the vehicle, clawing forwards over it to grab it and hold the machine in place as it tried to back away. The king reached over, stabbing his mecha-mitt claws at the driver, who moved to avoid them, the metal bars welded over the window gap stopping him from just reaching in and crushing them. In retaliation it pushed a button inside the vehicle, causing the front schoop to smash forwards on a set of pistons, shoving the invincible king back only for it to drag him back in thanks to his hold on the bumper weapon. While this tactic was ineffectual at actually harming Bowser, it did further hindering his attempts to murder the driver.

As the king fumbled his attack time began to run out. The invisibility started flashing, indicating that it was about to run out, and the Blastoise and Tentacruel Warrior forms were rapidly closing in along with more common flood.

Blazermate, doing her duty as Bowser’s back protector and medic, tried using her new sword to help Bowser slash the car open, seeing as he was trying to get into it himself. With a hole big enough for her to fit through, and Bowser pointing at the driver, Blazermate got what he was saying, she thought. Moving through the hole she had cut through with her nifty plasma sword, she attacked the driver with it, a bit more nimbly than Bowser due to her smaller size, but also destroying some of the interior of the vehicle due to the sword offering almost no resistance and her unfamiliarity with it.

”Great now let’s” Bowser began to say, before the flood caught up with them, hurling themselves at the king, they assailed his back. Growling, the king shoved back, pushing himself off of the front of the Shockdozer, spiked shell slamming into the lesser flood before the king turned, and slashing his mecha-mit claws through them till they struck the armored and heat proof Blastoise. The hostile turtle knocked Bowser off balance, and got a few good hits in the process, but its smaller frame couldn't stand up to the king in a 1 vs 1. Unfortunately, it didn't have too as the Tentacruel crawled its way towards the brawl, the massive squid Pokemon’s tentacles grabbing for the king, trying to wrap him in its grasp and once more draw him towards its crushing mandibles to crack him open like a shellfish.

With finishing off the driver, Blazermate noticed Bowser was getting all tied up and in trouble. Seeing as she was in the car, and the only way to help Bowser was through Bowser, she got an idea. “Hey Bowser! Take this!” She said, handing Bowser the plasma sword, knowing that if she threw it, bad things might happen.

Holding the Blastoise back with one hand while the Tentacruel grappled him, Bowser reached back for the blade, rapidly shrinking as he did so so he could actually hold it in his hand. The enemy turtle’s puppet master might have thought this new even scale gave it an advantage, but it was sorely mistaken. Kicking off of the car, Bowser suddenly retracted into his shell and spun rapidly with the sword the only thing sticking out of his armored shell. Like a deadly spinning top, he hurtled towards the Tentacruel, scything through its tentacles with the blade like stalks of wheat before slamming the blade down though the top of its head, through the eye the infector was hiding in, and then down through the base, cleaving it in twain with the energy sword.

The twin halves of the mon slowly slid in half as the king landed on his stomach, before bursting into ash as he popped back out of his shell, a hand catching the monster’s Spirit, its image depicting a purified form of the poisonous sea beast.

The Blastoise meanwhile was dealing with the car itself, stepping in front of it to stop its new inhabitant from escaping. Seeing the zap cannon used before however, Blazermate figured that there had to be something in here that made it fire, and after haphazardly hitting various buttons, causing the vehicle to do all sorts of different things until finally Blazermate found the button to activate the cannon. Funnily enough, one of the buttons Blazermate hit was the one that activated the forward plates, knocking the Blastoise off of the vehicle and in a perfect line with the cannon, allowing her to zap it. The combined force of both attacks caused it to careen over towards Bowser, heavily damaged, as the koopa king finished it off by impaling it on her nifty plasma sword.

The king caught this Spirit as well and, while giving blazer a thumbs up roared ”WAY’S CLEAR LET’S MOVE TROOPS!” before stomping quickly back towards to Blazermate, handing back her blade as when he got close enough.

”Thanks Bowser!” Blazermate said before thinking. ”Guess I’m driving. Ok…. Medabots don’t drive so…what can go wrong?” Blazermate said, knowing only very basic information on how to drive. She shifted the gear shift into the R position before hitting the proper pedals to get the car to move, although hitting them a bit harder than one would normally do, due to not hitting the clutch until after hitting the gas pedal. This caused her and the vehicle to blindly drive backwards through the hole it had plowed and out into the unknown dangers that lurked beyond with Bowser following hot on her trail on foot, stopping only to huck a fireball or two at their pursuers.

World of Light

wordcount: 1,015 (+2) (+1 from Primrose colab)
Midna: level 1 EXP: ///////////// (5/10)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert)

Having abandoned her former shadow ride for the sake of introductions, Midna rode along the trail atop one of her loyal Wolfos. She creature’s fur made for a decent cushion for her royal behind, (though riding all day would eventually take its toll no matter how comfy the mount) so the worst thing about the experience was the sunshine. It might not be lethal for her anymore, but as a creature of shadow being in the light still made her skin crawl, and it was only going to get worse.

As they crested the hill and reached the end of the trail Minda was forced to raise a hand to shade her straining eyes from the almost blinding glare emanating from the crack they had to traverse. She sent her ride home for the time being and floated her smaller form through the crevice others were having to squeeze through before making it to the other side where the deserts of the Sandswept Sky spread out endlessly before them.

”Eyugh, It's not only too bright and hot but and its huge too,” Midna complained, still shading her eyes. Still, if the mirror of twilight is going to have landed anywhere, it would be here, she thought. She’d gladly bare the heat if it meant there was a chance to find her home and ensure it was intact. As if to add insult to injury, not only was the sun beating down, but so too was a light glaring down from atop a distant mountain. The round creature that would later introduce himself as Tora pointed towards the light and suggested that there was a great beast circling it that must be the guardian they sought. She took his word for it. The shining beacon was unbearable. As was the heat. Which made the masked teen’s cats’ bizarre transformation into some kind of self powered cart a massive relief. She didn’t bother questioning how it worked, if it offered shade she didn’t care.

”So seeing as I’m floating and not flying you don't mind if I” Midna said, not bothering to finish her sentence before slipping first inside the vehicle, and then straight into the shadow cast by one of the vehicle’s sun visors, vanishing from view in the process. Her disappearing act allowed her to hide in the cool shadows without cramping the vehicle even further, but she did miss out on the personal cooling ant’s offered by the giant bee queen in the process. Midna didn’t mind this too much, the fact that both she and that ant-like minions were similar sizes would have made cuddling up to one rather awkward looking, or so she thought anyway.
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Now that they, or rather the rest of the vehicles riders, weren't focused on walking they started to make some proper introductions at the prompting of Tora. After introducing himself and his flying machine woman companion Poppi, he told them of the remarkable world they came from, where people lived on the backs of colossal titans who waded through an endless ocean. It was an absurd concept and yet with all the insane things that were going on in the world of light it seemed that none thought it deserved comment. For all Midna knew that was an entirely normal way for a universe to be.

The cheerful fluffy creature’s openness was repaid with name only responses from the masked teens who’s ride they were using while Primrose’s guarded response continued to show her to be a lady of few words. It was somewhat funny to watch Tora’s attempt to make friends get shot down by the jaded bunch, or so Midna felt. It didn’t mean she needed to continue the trend. What, really, did she have to hide from these people? Her people's dark past had little meaning to people to whom their crimes had no meaning and her cursed form was no-longer a mark of shame, simply a nuisance.

”Kinda a dower bunch aren't you all” she said mockingly as she appeared once more in the light. She drifted in the center of the van near the shady ceiling as if it was filled with a shallow pool of water, hands resting behind her head ash she looked down at them.

”I’m Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, which is the... a” she corrected herself, who knew how many worlds had their own dark reflections, ”shadow realm parallel to Hyrule. The same Hyrule Link and Linkle are from, though they are both from a different time than me, and each other I suspect.” She directed this last comment at those who had arrived in Alcamoth alongside the Hylian heroes and as a result would have any idea what she was talking about.

”I can do shadow magic, and this fourth of the fused shadow I’m wearing lets me do this” she told them, before her hair transformed into a massive orange glowing arm tipped with an equally large hand. She used the vast power power granted from the ancient artifact of her people to offer to shake one of Tora’s equally large ear hands, ”Pleased to meet you,”

”Well that’s me” she said once she was done, her hair returning to normal, before concluding with a ”I’ll see you later,” before popping back into the shadows to avoid the heat and light. From there she listened to any introductions that followed hers to pass the rest of the time.

She didn’t pay much attention to the world outside, there was little to see but harsh sunlight and monotonous sand in her opinion, so instead of noticing the figure watching them from the dunes she first saw Primrose's reaction to spotting her and decided to investigate what had caused it.

”What’ve you seen?” she asked as she appeared from the shade above the woman before drifting down behind her once her presence had been noticed to squint out the same window. As much as she had played it off at the time, Midna did not want to have the woman’s knife pointed her way for a second time and so made an effort not to spook her again when doing this.

Into The Depths!

In the end everyone accepted, and the group was led to the place that would be their home for the next month. Little more was divulged as to why their mission was a secret, instead they were given explanations as to what they would be doing, namely, training. Training that among other things would allow them to form a bodily shield that would protect them from the fog of the abyss, a prospect that interested Ioxeia greatly. Anything that could ward against corruption was another tool to her arsenal, and a skill that would interest her order a great deal.

After a bit more information from Virgil about their rooms, financial situation and schedule for the coming month the group was left alone together and were able to introduce themselves to one-another.

“My name is Ioxeia, a Disciple of Panacea. I’ve come here from a monastery a day away from this city, though my family and order both originally hail from the city of Constantinople,” She informed the others when her turn came to introduce herself, feeling little need to hide what she was and perhaps oversharing in the process “As I mentioned before, I am first and foremost a doctor, and I will do all I can to ensure Petra’s prediction does not come true,” The masked doctor spoke with conviction despite knowing how all to possible such an end was.

She followed suit with the gender split of the rooms. Despite the obvious occupancy discrepancy this created, it was likely for the best. People who were about to face death sometimes desperately tried to find intimacy and even though a month was not long enough for this to cause an issue, and so in her opinion it was best to reduce the risks. The corruption of the abyss was not somewhere a new soul should be developing.

The first thing the doctor did was put her bag down on her chosen bed, and, after rummaging around in it for a few moments, retrieved a stick of incense and a jar to place it in. These were put on a nightstand near the bed she claimed and then lit. “For purity,” she explained succinctly if questioned as the pleasant scent slowly filled the room. Once the smell was suitably suffused into the air of the room, Ioxeia carefully removed her hat, boots and long gloves. The fabric covering her face was pulled down, and the mask was clipped to her belt, keeping both her most vital protection close at hand just in case. The rest of her protective ensemble remained on, but she would change out of it to sleep.

After her various other belongings were packed away, securely in some cases (you did not leave any kind of alcohol, even that intended for medical purposes, unsecured around soldiers, even the chosen of god) Ioxeia found herself at a loose end as to what to do, which made the Priest's offer to lead an evening prayer a reliving bit of familiar structure in what had been a rather tumultuous experience up until that point.

“I would be glad to join you, Brother Alistair”, she replied with an appreciative nod when the offer was made, unwilling to entirely drop the honorifics of the priest. Partially because she was a true believer and partially because her order had a complicated relationship with the church’s orthodoxy (their focused reverence of Saint panacea and their opinions about the nature and threat of demonic corruption rubbed some of the faithful the wrong way), and so it always paid to be polite to it’s Inquisitors. The last thing this expedition was arguments about minor doctrinal disputes.