Sepheroth broke off from the group and vanished into the city. Was he done with them? Did he know where they were going somehow or would he just get lost again? Bowser didn’t know. That left him and two still slightly wet ladies (weren't cats and robots supposed to hate water? You wouldn't think so based on how both had thrown themselves into the water. Then again, Miss Fortune did basically explode into pieces when she hit it and Blazermate had sunk like a stone, both of which had worried Bowser till they’d ascended back out like nothing alarming happened) following after peach and Cuphead's mad dash through the labyrinthine city, during which Bowser’s hulking form once again acted as a convenient way of spotting friendlies among the masses of the Influence.
”Good to have you Geralt. Another set of eyes should help in tracking down her majesty and the others a fair bit easier,” Kamek said to the Witcher. Unfortunately the old sea captain couldn't give them much more specific directions than the general direction they’d set off in, ”Might be too high class kind of place for the old pirate captain to have frequented it I suppose? Sounds like one certainly, and I think one of the ship girls we met at the start was very taken by it when she gave us a run down of the city?” Kamek said, thinking out loud as they set off.
She had certainly thought the food was delicious even if he could not remember the exact wording of her praise or, unfortunately, where she’d said it had been other than the fact that it was up somewhere. He had to agree with Geralt, if they people who had stuck around had had time to book dinner at a fancy restaurant while they were out risking life and limb it was only right that they covered the bill, though functionally it would be peach’s funds either way. He raised an eyebrow at the Witcher's joke at first, but then with an ”oh wait,” he remembered that the gruff man had mentioned being far older than he looked, which left him free to enjoy it with a swift cackle.
”I’ll accept nothing less than an incredibly late grave I’ll have you know,” he retorted with humorous aggrandizement ”it’s something I’m proud to say I’m making excellent progress on”
”Also yes, I’m a little surprised the old captain decided to join up, but then again us old relics do need to do what we can to avoid being left behind. Who knows, with the right spirits that living ship might become a terror of the ocean. At the very least it will be better than having all our eggs in the Atomos’ basket. There where far to many close calls back there, those abyssal ships are nasty. Still, we have two on our side now, and we know that we can add more while shrinking their own numbers, so that should also help. We’re getting quite the fleet together aren't we?”
The mage hovered alongside the Witcher as they made their way through the city for the most part, occasionally flying up or away to get a better vantage point for their serch but always making sure to not lose the ashen haired warrior in the crowds. It was on one of these flights that he spotted the familiar and yet unfamiliar form of Bowser stomping his way through the city. The mage had to adjust his spectacles to be sure, but even sporting several new bells and whistles the king’s hulking spiked dragon-turtle form stood out as unique, and the presence of a few other distinctive and familiar faces in his presence confirmed his identity.
”There they are” he called to Geralt, pointing his finger towards the group, who were ”heading for the central tower, and in quite the hurry too” Top of the central section did sound like the kind of location for a fancy restaurant to be found. Maybe it was even the fancy restaurant in the city. Definitely not the kind of place you wanted to be late too if you had a reservation.
The mage could have rushed over, but instead stuck with Geralt, floating to and fro to find him the fastest route while also not trying to lose sight of the party.
Said party wound up in a palace that was distinctly the opposite to their intended final destination, as far as dining establishments went. The massive circular bar was more of a food court than a single shop and, if taken together with the hawkers alleyway sitting smack dab in the entryway, it continued the city’s habit of forcing you to go through shopping areas to get anywhere. Bowser vaguely remembered markets like the alley, though smaller, in places he'd visited/conquered, but he’d definitely never seen a road run straight through a bar before, much less a central intersection of a city. Long story short, it was kind of weird, or at least that's what Bowser thought as they took a breather while Cuphead, who had clearly gotten lost (and who could blame him the city realy was a maze), was asking for directions. Unusual as it might have been, the setup was working as well as the alleyway was, because where Bowser had been kind of hungry when they got here, the sight, sound and smell of food and drink being prepared, served and eaten in the place was making him salivate.
”Yeah maybe” he kind of agreed with Miss fortune’s idea of coming back here, it would certainly fit everyone, but something in the air smelt odd to him, though he wasn't sure what it was. Not until they were leaving and the king got harangued by a large, bearded and toga wearing man who thought he was a sea monster (or a god or both) clapped him on the shoulder and shoved a source of the smell in his face.
”WOW HEY BUDDY WATCH IT. I’M NOT JORDANMANG... CTHLOOLWHO. WHOEVER THOSE GUYS ARE” Bowser replied as he tried to push the surprisingly strong man away, unable to pronounce the divine names but also assuming they were wrong anyway as part of the god’s slurred speech. In this he was wrong, the pronunciations had miraculously been perfect, but he had no way to know that.
”I’M BOWSER, THE KOOPA KING. AND YEAH, I AM PRETTY GODLY. AND BUSY” The King continued as he made another attempt to pull away and push past the man ”SO BACK OFF. I’VE HAD A BAD DAY AND I’VE GOT A KIDNAPPED HERO TO SAVE SO I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU OR WHATEVER THIS IS” he tried to shove the wine jug back into the self proclaimed god's hands.
Princess Daisy raced out of Peach’s castle, an excited expression on her lips. Following her were Wario and Waluigi, who sauntered out with her, and finally, bringing up the rear, was the ever-nervous Luigi, sporting a quick fix medigun strapped to his back in place of the poltergust 9000 he’d been using the previous day. Moments ago they’d all been tasked by Bowser Jr in scouting out the area south of Peach’s castle to work out what had happened since the original party had passed through there and to find the source of the robot menace that had assailed the castle only a few hours prior.
“Oh this is so exciting! Hey, hey Holly! Guess who’s going on a mission!” Daisy cheered excitedly before calling out to the leader of a group of goblins who were finalizing an impromptu defensive wall protecting the arrival spot of Jr’s warp Graffiti. Where the drawbridge to the castle met the cart junkyard beyond there now existed a small barricade. It was made primarily of the torn down stone arch the engineer and bastion had used as a fortification, along with a few bits of scrap that had been easy to aquire. One of these was immediately recognisable to the Wario bros.
“Waaaaah! My ride. Whaat have you done to it!” came a cry from Wario .
“What?” Hollythorn, the goblin warchief who’d escorted Daisy out of the dark woods to the west and then taken it upon herself to fortify the, in her opinion worthless, castle watched in bemusement as the wario bros booths sprinted up the the butchered remains of the wario car “Oh that’s yours? That was like that when we got here. Hey. No stop. You’re going to break the barricade you weird elves!”
“You haven't even used that thing for ages” Daisy reminded them as they fought of a number of perturbed goblins and tried to pry the vehicle, which had been tossed on a scrap heap, riddled with bullets while being used as a shield by bowser and finally hacked into pieces by the goblins, out of barricade.
“Well. Yeeeeeah.” Wario said, pausing his anguish to disagree but clearly feeling a bit silly about the display now that he’d stopped it, “But still. It’s mine”
“Yeah! And you thieving little green things best give it back,” Waluigi added in support.
“Not thieves, stupid elf!” retorted one of the goblin watchwomen, who was joined by several others in heckling the pair from their barricade. The incredibly heavily armed nature of the goblins, who’d acquired the majority of the run-of-the-mill weapons gained from the spirits of the invading robots, got the bros to back off, while a brief conversation between Hollythorn and her troops in their native tongue got the goblins themselves to back down.
“Right. So. Peace? Peace? Good. You’re not getting that wreck back, sorry. Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted it in the state we found it in either,” Hollythorn said, the capstone the whole affair, “Now. What’s this about a mission Daisy?”
The goblin woman was clearly sceptical about the prospects, and got even more so as Daisy quickly explained that they were heading out to go explore the land beyond the goblin’s barricade.
“You lot? Scouts? No offense, but you lot do not look like you could handle that,” she looked over the fancily clad princess and her crew of 3 brightly colored plumbers with a critical eye before concluding that, “You lot look about as sneaky as a human artillery regiment in a swamp.”
“Hey” “Wah!”
“Look, Holly. I knoooow I didn’t give the best impression getting here, but that’s because this whole Galeem thing caught me off guard, but I’m prepared this time!” Daisy told her, before pulling up the hem of her skirt a bit to show the half dozen aluminum baseball bats she'd somehow concealed under there.
“Hey, that's where those went! You can't just hoard them!” Waluigi, who had a similarly unconventional taste in armaments, complained.
“Hey, you’ve got your racket, and it’d be bad form to borrow Peach’s gear so a girl has to take what she can get”, Daisy retorted, shoving him away.
“Wario’s got plenty of experience for everyone,” the massively overweight man added, flexing a muscular arm. He might not have been too interested in the mission at first, but he was not about to have some slip of a girl tell him he wasn't up to the challenge.
“Plus Luigi’s saved the mushroom kingdom a dozen times, right Luigi?” Daisy added, bringing attention to the smallest and quietest member of their party.
“W-well, I mean that was mostly my bro. Maybe she’s a right and a we should call this’a whole thing off.”
“He’s just modest,” Daisy insisted.
“Sigh, you’re really set on this?” Holly said, palming her brow.
“Mmm hmmm” “yeah” “well uh” “yeah-heh”
“Fine then, we’ll let you though. On one condition: I’m coming with you,” Hollythorn asserted.
“Yeah!” Daisy cheered before processing the condition “Wait what? Oh no that’s okay you really don’t need to...”
“Oh no, I really do. You lot have one chance to prove to me you can handle this. Slip up and I’m bringing you all back, at bow point if I need to,” she insisted “Got it?”
The plumbers’ reactions ranged from nervousness to “you can try” but Daisy was happy to have her friend along, “Okay then, let’s go!”
“Before we do, you lot might want to take some extra firepower” Hollythorn told them, before calling out to her goblins in their own tongue and getting them to present an assortment of lethal looking firearms to the squad. “We’ve been figuring these out, and some of this gear is really advanced.” The goblin told them, and considering that her crew’s most advanced weapon before now was a couple of carefully maintained flintlocks, she really meant it, “Wouldn't last a month in the jungle mind, but here and now it’ll level the playing field against those bots.”
“Wario doesn't need anything but these guns!” The brute insisted, flexing again before stomping past the proferred arms
“Oh, uh, no thanks, this thing’s enough,” Luigi piped up, already overwhelmed by the Quick Fix on his back, skirting around the proffered guns and following after the dismissive Wario.
“Hm. These don't seem very lady-like. And they look pretty heavy,” Daisy complained, looking them all over, especially put off by the hulkling rocket launchers and miniguns that the goblins were having to carry two apiece.
“Hmmmm. What gives Waluigi the biggest advantage?” The lanky scoundrel asked, always up for anything that could give him a leg up on the competition.
“These things doesn't fit my women’s wrists, but its powerful and I think it might work perfectly for you” Hollythorn told him, handing him a wrist mounted plasma pistol built to fit on an equally lanky creature’s wrist. As Waluwigi tried out his new weapon and blasted random bits of dirt and water with tight beams of superheated plasma Hollython turned her attention back to Daisy, having second thoughts about giving the woman a gun.
“You know, maybe it’s not the best idea for a human of your, ah, standing, to be using one of these. I imagine you’ve never had an expense with-”
“Oh no I’ve used one of these before,” she informed the goblin as she picked up a pump action shotgun “We did skeet shooting at the Olympics, remember Waluigi?”
“Waht?”
“So don’t worry about it. I know the rules. Treat it like it’s always loaded, don't point it at anything but a target, keep your finger off the trigger when not firing it, that kind of thing,” she explained, before seeing the surprise and touch of confusion on Hollythorn’s face and explaining. “Skeet shooting is like archery, but the targets are frisbees... discuses? It’s a sport, and I’ve played basically every sport that exists. We all have.”
“Tennis is the best one!”
“You only say that because you’re not good at anything else.”
“...Weh.”
“I see...” Hollythorn replied, surprised but not entirely taken aback by this revelation. She’d vaguely heard of human nobles doing that kind of thing back on their home continent after all.
The princess stored away her new gun alongside the bats and put some spare ammo for it in one of Peach’s handbags (that apparently she didn't have any concern about borrowing) and with that they were ready to go.
“You’re not taking anything?” she asked Hollythorn as the three of them moved out through the gateway of the barricade, (which was made of the Wario car’s doors among other things).
“No. There wasn't anything that fit my style. I’ve got one of the pistols as a backup, but I do my best work at a distance with my bow” Hollythorn replied after bidding farewell to her troops and assuring them she’d be back soon, safe and sound.
“There you are, wah, Wario was getting bored. Nice bracelet you got there” Wario said, hauling his ass up from the grass while Luigi gave them a polite wave.
“Yeah, it is. With this, Waluigi’s gonna win big time!”
“So, Holly, seeing as you’re the expert, where do we start?” Daisy asked the goblin warchieftain.
“I suggest we get some high ground. That scrap heap looks stable enough. Plus, it’ll be good to know if it’s safe, so we can scavenge from it later”
“You heard the lady, let’s go.”
With that, the quintet set off on their scouting expedition, quickly jogging across the open ground between the barricade and the nearest scrap pile. When it came to climbing it, the quartet of kingdom goers quickly demonstrated why they were actually quite a good choice for this kind of thing, for all it had been an impulse on Jr’s part and how much Hollythorn had doubted them, as their platforming skills let them bound their way up the pile of scrap with relative ease. By contrast, the goblin had to scramble up the side of it, and while her movements were swift and efficient she couldn't complete with the unnatural abilities of the princess and her plumbers.
“Hurry it up Holly, hehehe!” “Yeah, move it or lose it!” the Wario bros, who’d had time to sit down and relax while they waited for her to catch up, heckled the goblin as she reached the summit of the scrapheap.
“That’s Hollythorn to you, elf.”
“Well that's what she called you, weh” Waluigi replied.
The goblin merely stared down the lanky man till he dropped the issue
“What’s an elf anyway?” he asked instead.
“You are. Aren't you?”
“Uh, no.”
“Then what are you?”
The Wario bros looked at eachother and collectively shrugged. “What kind-a question is that? We’re the Wario Bros!”
The goblin stared at them for a moment, baffled by this lack of species self identity before moving on “Forget it. Daisy, Luigi. Seen anything interesting?” she quietly called up the last bit of the slope to where Luigi and Daisy were crouched behind a few pieces of scrap and peaking out at the land beyond. Luigi’s experience with rabbids having taught him the value of cover against the kinds of foes the Rabbids themselves had been fighting not too long ago, which, again, surprised Hollythorn.
The plumber in green pointed shakily across the scrapyard. From atop a strategic bluff, exactly as it had a few days before during the first real battle of the free, loomed an enormous armored vehicle clad in thick slate-blue plating and crammed with communications arrays. Robots milled around its base, ever watchful.
Wario grunted. “Bah, it’s a whole stinkin’ army of the suckers. It’s gotta be their base, but no way we’re gettin’ near that thing.”
A spindly finger pointed out the Carrier Tank’s roof. “Weheheh, but nobody up there! We can jump off junk heaps straight on roof and bust inside!”
A moment of silence passed as the others stared. Waluigi glanced furtively between them. “...Waht?”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Daisy forced herself to admit, loath as she was to give the beanpole any encouragement.
“Hah! Course it is,” Waluigi leered, crossing his arms in a self-satisfied way and instantly affirming Daisy’s doubts. “Waluigi actually good at what I do. People just don’t give me a chance.”
In another moment the four were on the way, their less-spry goblin companion in tow.
Hollythorn followed after the brightly-clad bouncing mercenaries, her heart lurching into her throat every time it looked like the band looked was going to be spotted by the robots below. The land they were passing through took them away from the route traversed by the original team, taking them from cart graveyard to a more general junkyard, filled with mundane refuse of all kinds, a few vehicle skeletons and, bizarrely, giant toys. These lead to once very tense encounter with a huge jack in the box but mostly the odder bits junk were just a curiosity, one more thing to hide behind out of sight of the robots mustered in the valley housing their giant mobile base.
Thanks to luck and some actual sneaking skills from various minigames the squad of mushroom kingdomers's weren't swarmed by bots and instead reached the roof of the giant machine in good time and without incident though, not without a few close calls. Hollythorn once again brought up the rear, but if there were awards for most sneaky the goblin woodswoman would have won every one. There weren’t however, so instead all she got were some snarky looks from the Wario bros and a long-lasting gap between the top of the junk pile and the roof of the massive robot carrying machine.
“I’ya can give you a boost? If you’a want?” Luigi offered quietly, cupping his hands together to offer up a team jump, having seemingly waited while the others hopped onboard. She looked at him, then at the wario bros and then silently took out her bow and an arrow, tied a rope to the arrow and pinged it across, narrowly missing Wario’s hat with it before it tangled itself around one of the strange dishes sat atop the machine. Then she secured the other end to a secure looking piece of junk and then nimbly tightrope walked, or rather ran, across her improvised bridge before pulling it back down in another swift motion.
Lugi sketched the back of his head awkwardly, a bit embarrassed to have had his help turned down and then hopped up to join the rest of the team.
“Found anything informative up here?” Hollythorn asked Daisy, who was the only person who had waited up top whose opinions she actually cared about.
“Mostly a roof,” the princess admitted. Certainly there were a load of radar dishes and other devices up top to look at and be baffled by, but being up there didn't make seeing inside all that much easier. There was still one more step they needed to take.
“Heyyy. There's these spiny things and windows and things down the sides we could look into if you went so chicken,”
“You do it then!”
“No. Waluigi likes his head attached to his body, where it belongs.”
The goblin shook her and then asked, “Do any of you have a mirror? Or something reflective?”
“Oh sure, here,” Daisy replied, rummaging around in her borrowed purse and retrieving a small makeup kit, bright pink and with Peach’s brown emblazoned on the back, which she flipped open to reveal it had a mirror inside along with the various beauty products.
“That works,” the warchief replied, forcing herself not to ask why she had that on her during a scouting mission after that decision had revealed itself to be useful. Then she quietly moved over to one side of the ship that was most shielded from view by junk, There she slipped a rope around the base of a radar dish again, and then the other end she tied around her waist.
“Oh, I get it. We’ll lower you,” Daisy said as she followed her over.
“I can… yes. That would be easier,” Holly admitted.
The team made their preparations, pausing a cautious moment as a contingent of machines marched by below and into the belly of the beast. Then the kingdom denizens began to lower their goblin friend. It wasn't far, only a few feet, but with Daisy and Luigi’s help (and the Wario Bros keeping watch) the rappeling went smoothly. Hollythorn carefully inched closer to the chosen window and then, after listening to make sure no one was right next to it, poked the mirror out so she could use it to spy inside, the small makeup kit more inconspicuous than her whole head would have been.
Within, she beheld the carrier tank’s spacious interior. The large central area, accessible by the main ramp and where the robot legions waited for deployment, contained a number of the machines idling. A level up on the side closest to the vehicle’s front lay the spacious command center, with an elevator connecting the two a wide walkway stretching either direction along the interior walls. Those same walls featured racks of equipment, fueling stations, and hi-tech pods for the secure transport and tuning of troops a step above the rank-and-file. In the sea of dull, mechanical blues and grays, Holly’s eyes were instantly drawn to a splash of red, and the bizarre man who wore it.
Standing in front of an extremely elaborate workstation on the upper deck and facing the vehicle’s rear was a bald, mustached man hard at work. His red coat, with its golden buttons and four coattails, failed to disguise his portliness, but in sharp contrast to his sizeable midsection were long, spindly limbs. With goggles, circular spectacles, and strange shoes, the disproportionate man cut an almost comedic figure, but the look on his face was one of intense concentration as his hands moved like lightning over the keyboard of a plug-in control pad before him. It attached to a mine on legs, which lay alongside the whole or partial remains of a number of other robot mercenaries. He looked about as far from pleased as one could possibly conceive.
As Holly watched, the squad she and the others spotted earlier made its way up the ramp and into the carrier. Most of them peeled off to stand at attention in an empty corner of the bay, but the leader entered the elevator to reach the upper deck. Holly took note of its greenish-blue material and blue-trimmed outfit, strangely topped by a head of yellow hair. Its belt buckle bore a single word -ennui- etched into its surface, which the goblin assumed to be its name. “Any luck, sir?” The robot swordsman asked, prompting the engineer to shake his head. “These hunks of junk are so frustratingly archaic,” he growled. “Infants could scratch out better code. And stick together sturdier chassis too, with their play-doh! The idea that I of all people should have to put up with this garbage is just...unconscionable!” He angrily pressed another few keys in quick succession, then ‘enter’. The Sentry Buster in front of him immediately started slamming its legs on the table like a child throwing a tantrum, noisily jostling tools and spare parts around. With a snarl the engineer brought his fist down, then yanked the cable from the Sentry Buster.
The swordsman watched the machine go limp, its face blank, as his superior picked up the control pad in disgust. “Sounds pretty miserable, considering all you’ve told me. A genius shouldn’t have to flounder in a dump.”
“Damn straight!”
Brushing his metal chin with his fingers, the swordsman continued. “IIf you’ve hit a dead end, you should take a break.” He produced a small bundle and laid it on the worktable. “Here. Picked it up near the forest.”
“Hmm?” Raising an eyebrow, the engineer deposited the control pad and unwrapped the bundle. After removing the last layer of brown paper he inhaled deeply, relishing what must be a pleasant small. “Oho, what do we have here?”
“Steak and Kidney Pie,” his assistant recited. “From a shop called Exotic Foods. The owner, a Mr. Bang Ersenmash, recommended it highly.” “Well...I suppose I could take a short break.” The engineer paid a visit to the onboard lavatory, taking only a few moments. While he was gone, the swordsman glanced in the direction of the window, forcing Holly to withdraw her hand quickly. If he noticed anything amiss, however, he gave no sign, and casually turned back to the workbench. Soon the mustached man returned, digging into the pie with a sterilized tool in place of a fork. “Not bad!” After satisfying himself, he resumed complaining. “Really reminds me what I’m missing out on! It’s really such a farce, having to scrounge in the wilderness like this. Making do with the bare minimum. And just when I’m finally getting somewhere, that meddling scum comes along and trashes the only decent machines I had! Why would they turn to dust in this world, leaving no spare parts?! It boggles the mind!”
The swordsman reassured him idly, speaking so clearly that Holly didn’t need to strain to hear. “Still, you’ve done a lot for what little you have, Dr. Eggman. Getting this army working, figuring out a way to manufacture them in your base to the east.”
“Of course. I am a genius, after all! The greatest mind to grace this brave new world!” The engineer called Eggman rose to his feet. He looked out through the carrier’s bay doors across the junkyard to the parapets of Peach’s Castle beyond, rubbing his hands together. “And tomorrow, after I’ve finished rigging the command modules, I’ll finally be able to overrun that oh-so-cheery citadel. No more token forces and data gathering for me, oh no! Think they saw the end of the robot hordes, did they? By this time tomorrow, the sun will be shining on the new Eggman Empire!”
That was, she felt, enough. Holly pulled her long ear away from the cold metal and tugged at the rope to get herself pulled up. Once up she put a finger to her lips and indicated that now would be a good time to leave. No point standing around on top of the enemy base while talking. Together the quintet rushed away from the mobile fortress before finding a safer, more secluded spot in the junkyard to listen to what Hollythorn had seen and overheard.
“Ohhhh. Eggman. Yeah I thought it sounded like him.” Daisy mused once Hollythorn got to the part where the blond-haired robot mentioned the bad doctor’s name.
“You know this megalomaniac?” Holly asked.
“Yeah. We play olympic sports with him and Sonic’s pals something like twice a year.”
Hollythorn was silent for a few moments and threw her hands up in the air with exasperation when the others all confirmed this.
“Well I guess he’s like Sonic’s Bowser. He’s a bad guy, but not so much that they can’t play sports or team up when the going gets tough you know. If we talk to him I’m sure we can figure things out.” Daisy tried.
“That bastard's robots killed some of my people!” the warchief was seething, yet she maintained noise discipline all the same.
No one had an answer for that.
“He’s got a base to the east and he’s going to attack the castle again before this time tomorrow and that place isn’t even close to being defensible.” She said, breaking the silence, “We’ve wasted enough time here. You need to report back, I need to prepare.” Hollythorn told them, before turning away and practically vanishing into the junk field.
“Holly!” Daisy called after her, to no avail.
“You really screwed that one up, weh.” Waluwigi began to snark before the princess punched him in the long, pink nose. “Owww, what was that for!?”
“She’a does have a point. We’a should head back and tell Vandham and the others” Luigi suggested carefully “They’ll know what’a to do”
Daisy sighed before agreeing. “Let’s go”
With that the four set off back through the junk field, heading for home.
Standing in front of the Carrier Tank’s ramp, Robo-ky watched the blips on his scanner disappear. If not for his rigid, metallic features, he might have been smiling as he gave a slight chuckle. He retracted the device into his body and stared off into the creeping pinks and oranges of a sky pierced by toy-block towers, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Message received--loud and clear.”
New mission: STRIKE - Assault the base of the nefarious Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik in the area east of the 1-1 junkyard to put a stopper in his plans to invade Peach’s Castle. Forces unknown, presumed robotic but fairly primitive. Unique robot swordsman identified as potential threat. Structure unknown. Rewards unknown
wordcount: 853 (+2) Midna: level 2 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (10/30) Location: Sandswept Sky – Great Barrier (in Vah Naboris)
Looked like airlifts was their plan. It was simple so probably for the best. Midna moved Vah Naboris to the base of the cliff to act as a takeoff point and then watched as the first group were hauled up into the sky, the group remaining blessedly unmolested by any of the flying wildlife. Naboris probably scared them off, or so the princess guessed. Speaking of Naboris
”Alright. I’ll be sending this thing back after we get up, so if you want out, now’s your last chance,” She told the remaining group, not really expecting anyone to take the offer seeing as they hadn’t expressed any interest in doing anything other than going with the group’s main objective but making it explicit nonetheless.
Warning given, she took a moment to summon up a Moogle to handle the other end of that delivery.
“Ohh. It’s hot out here kupo” it complained, before asking “So, want to start a mercenary mission?”
“Oh. hmm. Kind of? See this thing we’re on? It's called Va Nuboris and I’m going to be sending it marching back to the palace we came into the desert. Through that crack in the mountain north of the city. I want someone to secure it once it gets there. It will make any other missions in the desert a lot easier”
“Oh. That is a new mission, but that's fine. Who do you want to do it, kupo?” the moogle asked
“Doesn't matter, just get it done” Minda waved her hand dismissively, but when the moogle made a face that pretty clearly expressed the fact that it did not work like that she relented
“Fine fine. Hmmm. Zelda might work, it was made in our world maybe she knows about it, and. Uh. who else is there again?”
“Lots of people kupo, buuuut if you want suggestions then she worked with Wii fit trainer, Dr mario and the nintendog before” the moogle suggested, their ilk rather prepared for the mission giver's lack of knowledge about who they had available at this point
“Yeah sure them. Wait. nintendog. Isn't that just a puppy?” Midna said, surprised that someone had sent it on a mission at all.
“Yup. It was mostly a recruiting mission, though there was a bit of a fight at the end. I heard they helped a bunch. Want them on the team?”
“No no. They need someone. Strong. And tough. Someone to keep them save just in-case something goes hideously wrong”
“Hmmm. How about Caesar? Strong, loyal, dependable. They’d be perfect I think” the moogle replied
“Sure that sounds good” Midna agreed, entirely unaware that he moogle had deliberately suggested the other dog on the list as its own personal joke.
“Thats that all sorted, I’ll get them ready right away” the moogle said while finishing writing all this down on a little piece of paper. then, for some reason, it got an envelope and put the note in it, ready to be delivered by it's writer.
“Give it hour, it won't be back right away” Minda told it after looking at this strangely. She was almost incensed when it added a stamp and a wax seal for good measure.
“Sure thing. See you later kupo” it said in farewell, before vanishing and leaving Midna wondering what a ‘Kupo’ was.
That left the business of her suggested dragon hunt, the volunteers which currently consisted of the Medic who managed to wander off onto a tangent about how to scientifically define what made things cute which wasn't unnerving at all, especially when he finished and rapidly switched back to the topic of dragon hunting.
“Yes. Dragon hunting.” Midna reiterated, hoping it would prevent him from switching gears back again. This was going to be fun she thought to herself, though for two entirely separate reasons.
She gave it a little more time to see if there would be any other takers who didn't want to just hang around in the camel while waiting for a ride and then saddled up on her mount. It wasn't immediately clear whether it was the same one that had helped Primrose, but anyone who cared to look closely would see it was both clean of sand and looked too energetic to have been part of that piece of action.
The princess shifted about to get nice and comfy on its furred back and then spurred it forward out into the late afternoon heat, cringing a little at the lower angle of the sunlight. Despite the blazing heat and the unhinged company Midna was looking forward to getting in a fight which was, she had to note, a little unusual for her, but not completely without precedent.
Speaking of company, once the Medic joined her she asked “So, how does that device of yours work doctor?” she asked, indicating to the tube-like device attached by a flexible tube to the medic’s backpack. She’s seen it heal up the others, but if it was going to be used on something of hers (specifically the wolfos) or goddesses forbid her, she’d like to know what she was dealing with.
wordcount: 868 (+2) (Kamek -5 for heart last round) Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (74/70) Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (67/70) Location: Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean -> Limsa Lominscuttle Town
”Sounds lame to me, like being grounded, but sure, whatever, be that way” Jr muttered when his suggestions about disguises or shape changing weren't taken on. If they wanted to stay cooped up inside the ship that wasn’t his problem and he wasn't going to bring them dinner either. Sakura could do that, seeing as she was being so pally with them.
”Perhaps that is for the best? It’s a less risky plan that is for certain.” Kamek admitted carefully (it did made things easier not having to worry about smuggling to enemies of the city through its streets) before confessing to the Seaplane Tender Water Princess that ”Also, I have to admit, it was, in hindsight, something of a way of avoiding saying your full name. Shame it doesn't make a good acronym. STWP doesn't work as a name, or at least one that suits you”
When they arrived at said city they received an unexpected welcome from Brineybeard who seemed to have been successfully recruited to the cause while they were away, though he seemed a little down when comparing his own ship to their new flying ride when Kamek headed down and greeted him. Jr followed after, parking his car and walking around their landing spot to stretch his legs after having spent the last hour or so tensely grappling with the Atomos’s controls.
When they asked about Princess Peach they found out she and Cuphead had recently had to rush away to a restaurant called the Bismarck ”That is odd. Perhaps they made reservations and were running late? Or Link’s causing a scene? Well, we need to go get her anyway so I will head out and investigate. Does anyone want to accompany me?”
Sakura had already decided against it and soon after so did Jr ”You’ll just be coming right back and then after we’ll go down again and that’s so boring. ‘sides, said I was going to try and fix the ship” the boy said, before glancing up at the vessel’s bruised exterior and cringing.
After waiting to see if Geralt would be coming and then getting some directions, the old mage set off for the Restaurant at a brisk pace, leaving the prince to get too work fixing the ship while Sakura went to go hang out with/keep an eye on the ship-girls. The boy got a few more stretches in before turning around, remounting his clown car and retrieving his toolbox from within it. With this he hovered about, trying his best to repair the damage the battle had done to their new vessel while not really keeping an eye out like Sakura had asked. With the captain about that wasn't really necessary as far as the prince was concerned.
”Hey. Cap. Know if there's anywhere I can get some junk or metal or anything to help fix this with?” he called over to Brineybeard before pausing between necro-smasher swings and also asking ”also do you know where they even make these? There a shipyard or something in the city?”
The Heavy Cruiser Ri-Class sat awkwardly on the floor, having instinctively not retaken the bed due to the presence of the more deserving princess. It wasn't a comfortable spot, and indeed she’d been a fidgeting shuffling nuisance trying to find a way to sit till she ended up with her legs crossed and a small pig boat sitting in her lap. Now she was trapped by Tyrant's napping form (part of her she didn't quite understand wanted to pat his head but she couldn't without squashing him) and sitting quietly with her (former?) boss and one of her (former?) enemies who now looked like one of her (former?) allies.
Into this strange atmosphere and slightly cramped confines burst Sakura like a ray of sunshine, who began bombarding the former abyssals with positive energy and confusing questions and suggestions. The ship glanced down at herself when he was singled out for needing to improve her clothing situation. She supposed there wasn’t a lot to see. In fact she had very little compared to the other 3 women. Or most people in fact, baring the turtle hovering around outside who was wearing only a strip of cloth around his neck. And a shell. Did that count?
It made her feel. Different. Out of place. She should fix that.
“What is punk?” she asked. Tough sounded good, it would make being shot hurt less. She wasn't sure why clothes being cold was good. Was it because the cold was blue, like her eyes? She hadn't known they were blue.
She also hadn't had to think about how she was dressed before. She had been made wearing what she wore, but now her mind was quickly flipped through what she would look like if she was wearing the other people she’d met’s clothes, only to be challenged by the prospect of having a name. Her choosing her own name. Or a nickname. An ‘important decision’. She hadn't made one of those before. It was a lot of pressure.
“I. um. Ri? Or Rika?” that one sounded nice, but “how do I know what one is the right one? How did you choose yours?”
The remaining red team trekked up towards the gates of Limsa Lominscuttle Town, and now that he wasn't distracted by Miss fortune’s bloody antics he could actually take it all in. The city was sprawling, a myriad of bridges connecting dozens of small stone pillars that housed various white stone and gold domed buildings. Definitely a nice change of pace from the drab and broken Dead Zone. While Bowser admired that it would make for some excellent obstacle courses if you blew up a bridge here or there and added a few spikes, minions and floating platforms he expected, incorrectly, that finding anyone in the city was going to be a pain in the tail. In this he was completely wrong because it took less than a minute.
Bowser had to agree with Miss Fortune, finding Peach had turned out to be incredibly easy. It helped that the king, and his now thoroughly battered top hat, both stood out and over most of the crowds in the bustling market they found themselves in after getting through customs and so it was more she who found them than the other way around. The king was happy to see her safe and sound, but she seemed to be in a rush and also surprised to see them. The latter wasn't exactly surprising, they had unexpectedly put their given goal on hold to avoid being exploded and were lacking a number of prominent faces after all, but the former did not bode well.
”We-” Bowser attempted to begin explaining why they were there, only to be presented with a hand to talk too. He shushed and then stomped after the princess. His royal presence, or more accurately his immense bulk and the threat of being rammed by it, parted the crowd as they rushed through the unfamiliar, to Bowser, City. As they ran Peach filled them in, telling them that Link had been kidnapped by some lady and taken to a restaurant of all places, which was very convenient.
”Yeah! We’ll crack some heads and then eat some dinner!” Bowser punched his palm as he agreed with Miss Fortune, who clearly had her priorities straight, at least in Bowser’s opinion.
”It’s just Link that's in trouble right? Everyone else good? he asked, hoping to get a response before they arrived. There wasn’t much time for it, their quick pace bringing them to the fancy looking restaurant. It would be the perfect place to cool down in the evening, but if it remained that way for long enough for them to enjoy it remained to be seen. Quick and clean most certainly did not describe Bowser’s fighting style after all, but he was pumped up and raring to go. They weren't going to lose another green clad Hylian youth to bewitchment today, that Bowser would guarantee with devastating force.
wordcount: 1859 (+3) Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (72/70) Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (70/70) Location: Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean -> Limsa Lominscuttle Town
Kamek gave a little sigh of relief when the SeaPlane Tender agreed to help them. That had been a lot more tense than any kind of pep talk he had ever given and he was glad it had worked out, especially in a way that would help them get information about both their current and penultimate goal in the region.
”We’d be grateful for your help, and of course you can come aboard,” Kamek said, directing the white mage clone to begin healing her while Sakura, who had recovered pleasingly quickly, practically dragged the ship into their vessel, leaving Kamek outside with their last loose end.
He glanced at the gauntlett’ed ship, still asleep, and then at the heart still floating in his hand and then put two and two together, flying close and then applying the heart to the ship girl’s own. Asleep, she offered no resistance to the power and the read wisps coming from her closed eyes shifted from red to teal-blue.
”Well now, isn’t that interesting. Certainly a much less violent and risky way of going about that” Kamek commented, making a note to himself to inform the mercenaries about that along with everyone else, before directing his toadies to carefully bring her aboard as well.
”Is that everyone? Finally, Sakura’s talking on and on about food has left me starving!” Jr commented from the controls of the ship as everyone settled down and the sleeping ship was put to bed.
”That’s everyone accounted for. Please, take us back to port if you could, young master” Kamek replied after he saw too the sleeping ship-girl’s safety and then he took a seat and strapped himself in, happy to finally get some rest after the hectic sea battle. The prince was more than happy to leave, hauling the ship skywards and sending it sailing though the sky back towards town.
”Ah yes, you were both worried about what people’s reactions back in the city would be weren't you?” Kamek said, turning to the abyssal and abyssal looking ship girls, ”As Sakura and Gertalt have said, thanks to princess peach you shouldn’t have an issue with that Miss Ranger, but your situation is a bit of a conundrum your majesty. We may be able to collect a disguise for your appearance while fetching Peach? A new, less distinctive, outfit perhaps? Though the tail is something of an issue with that plan”
”We could give it a new paint job?” Jr suggested ”Make it obvious that she’s converted to our team instead of hiding her?”
He thought for a moment more before also suggesting ”Or if you wanna be sneaky maybe we can find some spirits to fuse her with like a bunch, really mess with her appearance. For a bit anyway”
”hmm, but how would we acquire more spirits?” Kamek asked, somewhat rhetorically, as he thought about the possibility
”Well there's this place where they fish or something right? Get a bunch from there, make her look like a harmless haddock”
”Or we could lend her some of ours. Have Peach pull them out, put them in her and then take them out again once we don't need the disguise any more?” Kamek said. Peach had turned powers into strikers before, she likely could do the reverse, though it was unclear whether that would have some kind of negative impact on the strikers or not. Alternatively Jr could lend his Brachydios to her, though he wasn't sure if jr would be up to the idea.
They’d have time to think about it on the mostly uneventful flight back to town. Emphasis on mostly.
The Heavy Cruiser Ri-Class slowly flitted back to consciousness and found herself laying in a strange room on an foreign but comfortable surface. She scrolled back in her memories and found that she had been fighting for her princess, and then there had been nothing and now she was here. When this had happened before, that was because she had died. Yet she also had not gone through the highly unpleasant process of being not dead, and also this was not where she had woken after those times.
That was strange. Also, though she did not consciously recognize it, the Ri-Class felt different. Calmer mostly, but also the new heart beating away in her chest made her feel the kind of safe and secure someone would feel when knowing that they had a friend nearby who was keeping watch for danger. As a result, she did not panic, and instead deduced that:
The new way she’d woken up was good.
This palace was also new.
Therefore this place was also good.
The Ri-Class nodded to herself, happy with her logic, and that was the end of that. Then she sat up, leaving the pillows and blanket (that had been carefully arranged so she could lie comfortably despite the metal and tubing welded onto her back) behind. A little part of her hadn't wanted to leave, but good soldiers didn’t lay about or slack off. She glanced around the room and found it bare and spartan, stripped of any personal belongings. She also found a dozen odd skeletal turtle creatures, working in two teams of six to hold her gauntlets up in a position that had her let lay comfortably on the bed despite having two destroyer sized weapons irremovable strapped to her arms.
She stared at one of the dry-bones for a while till it waved awkwardly at her briefly before resuming its given task of supporting her armaments. This was strange, the Ri-class thought, but probably fine. She felt no innate urge to attack the things, no one was telling her to attack them and they weren't attacking her. So this was fine.
What else.
There were voices coming from the other room. That’s probably where the other ships were. Now that she was not dead, she reasoned, she should go and report her ready status.
She got up, hauling the massive gauntlets up with her and instinctively activating the anti gravity mechanism in them, the same one that let destroyers float, which made moving around and fighting with them a breeze. What it did not make a breeze was operating doors, like the one that led to where the voices were. After awkwardly scrambling with the door for a few moments one of the dry-bones carefully walked up and opened it for her, revealing the bridge beyond.
There she found a ship girl, a human and two creatures that looked a bit like the helpful bone creatures if they had still been alive conversing with two, no three (there was a small legged destroyer in the lap of the spiky turtle creature) abyssals. She stared at this scene utterly confused, and then only after creating an awkward silence for several moments realized in a panic one of the abyssals was her princess.
”ah you're finally awake-” the blue robed turtle began to say as the Ri-Class stumbled backwards and then jerkily saluted the princess, her gauntlet'ed hand smashing into the low ceiling of the ship in the process, causing the whole vessel to lurch ever so slightly. She stumbled and then recovered, not carving a massive gash in the ceiling this time
“Heavy Cruiser, Ri-Class, reporting!” she announced like a good soldier.
”You! Sit down and strap in before you break more stuff or make us crash!” the spiky one, who was seemingly controlling the building they where in, yelled at her.
She froze up. He wasn't abyssal. But he was ordering her around. Only people who were in charge of her ordered her around. Also he had an abyssal sitting in his lap. Also the princess was sitting already so was he in charge of her? She was taking too long. If she looked like she was disobeying she’d get in trouble. So she sat and then tried to buckle herself in a few times before the skeletal turtle helped her do that too. That was useful. She hadn't really been annoyed about having her arms locked up like this till now, so it was nice that the turtle thing was helping. This meant she was rather startled when it poofed into a puff of smoke and a bunch of rapidly fading colorful shapes.
”Ah, my apologies for the alarm. They’re just magical constructs and I don't want them tumbling about while we fly. Are you alright?” The blue robed one asked
“I” she’d never been asked that before. “I don’t know?” She was confused. Incredibly confused. Nothing made sense, but this one, this one was a friend? What was a friend? She didn't know.
”I understand that this might be confusing. But let me try and explain” the creature, that later introduces himself as Kamek, said, and then try to explain he did, speaking of other worlds and a creature called Galeem, of her controlled past, her possible future and of more simple things when she asked about them but it was hard. She was a grunt. A drone. A soldier. She wasn't supposed to think, she was made to fight and obey and die, but now those unquestionable impulses had died on the battlefield while she was still here, still alive. But she was still loyal wasn’t she? Wasn't she? She was supposed to tear Kamek apart. But he was her friend, and the princess wasn't ordering her to kill him. So she let him talk.
”But why do you fight for them?”
“I was made to. It’s what I’m for”
”But why for them. Do you believe in their cause?”
“Their cause?”
”What does the fleet fight for”
“I. I don’t know?” She hadn't needed to before
”Do they treat you well? Do you enjoy being one of them? Or do you suffer?”
“I” she tried to think of something, but she only remembered the pain of waking up every time before today
”Does your leader inspire you? Do you admire them?”
She glanced over at the princess. The princess who had already tuned her back on the abyss due to the same ‘friend heart’ that had been used on her.
”If you get nothing out of being part of the feet, then why fight for it?”
“But. I was made to. It’s what I’m for” she repeated
Kamek forced himself not to sigh. This was turning out to be a lot more difficult than dealing with the princess, but he thought he was getting somewhere ever so slowly. She was, he was releasing, a minion, and he knew how to handle those.
”Hate to break up your therapy session,” Jr butted in as Limsa Lominscuttle Town came into view. ”but we’re here”
”Ah well. We’ll come back to this at a later date. For now you three should hide yourselves till we get Peach and work out what we’re doing about this whole situation” Kamek gently waved his hand at the pair’s abyssal nature.
The three ship girls, and for added safety one abyssal pig, were moved into the back bedroom so no one could spot them if they happened to look inside the ships windows, and then the Atomos was carefully brought down to land in the spot it had left from.
”Right then. Hopefully finding the princess won’t be too hard. Shall we all go, or does anyone want to stay behind? Might be wise, just in case there's any trouble”
”I’m staying behind. Someone damaged my ship, so I’ll fix it while you're wandering aimlessly around town looking for Peach.” Jr replied, before also releasing there was a bunch of external damage too. The trip had not been kind to the cargo hauler, but despite that the fact that they'd flown the glorified flying van into a warzone and gotten back in once piece was impressive.
”Very well. Anyone else?” Kamek asked before heading out to track down the princess.
wordcount: 414 (+1) Bowser: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (92/80) Location: Smash City Alcamoth -> Limsa Lominscuttle Town
”UGH. YEAH NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT“ Bowser said, looking down at his formerly white suit and trousers. Formally being the key word, as they had been stained by ash and soot and where most certainly not the pristine white they once had been. He briefly pulled the jacket off and tried to shake off the worst of the dust, shook his trouser legs to do the same and then buffeted the hat. It didn’t improve things too much.
”I CAN GET PEACH’S TOADS TO LOOK AT THEM LATER. RIGHT NOW YOU’RE RIGHT, I AM STARVING. HAVEN’T EATEN SINCE WE LEFT AND IT’S GETTING TO BE TIME FOR DINNER. WE CAN PROBABLY GET SOMETHING WITH THE BLUE TEAM IN THIS LIME SCUTTLE TOWN OR WHATEVER IT WAS CALLED. SEAFOOD SOUNDS GOOD RIGHT ABOUT NOW. YOU LOT LIKE SEAFOOD?“ Bowser asked, his thoughts wandering to thoughts of fish, lobsters, oysters and all the other meats of the sea for a bit before listening to Fortune’s explanation of what she was. Most of it made sense, though he wasn't sure why anyone would ever settle for only nine extra lives.
”YEAH NOT REALLY YOUR STYLE HUH. YOU’D END UP A CATFISH. OR SQUID. THERE USEFUL THOUGH. PROBABLY GONNA BE HANDY IF WE STICK AROUND THE BLUE“ Bowser said when she started talking about spirits ”YOU SHOULD TRY IT, FEELS GREAT AND WITH PEACH AROUND IT’LL BE SAFER TO EXPERIMENT, COZ SHE CAN PULL THEM OUT AGAIN IF THEY DON’T END UP SUITING YOU“
After a quick stop over in Peach’s castle and being yelled at by toads who’d need to clean up after them the team arrived in Limsa Lominscuttle Town. After the oppressive and gloomy Deadzone it was a breath of fresh air. Literally. The king drank deeply of the sea air and stretched while Miss fortune clambered up onto the railing. Then she jumped. He was a little surprised, but assumed she knew what she was doing right up until some bystanders started freaking out. He stomped over to the railing just in time to see her pulling herself together. He cringed at the sight and then stumbled back when she blasted herself back up to the catwalk they were on jets of blood which made him gag a little.
”KINDA RUINED MY APPETITE“ Bowser complained after she asked them if a cat had their tongues, only for his stomach to loudly rumble and prove him wrong ”OR NOT. LET’S GO FIND THE OTHERS“
As it turned out, they weren't actually going to have to take any risks, because they apparently had a giant floating disk in the form of the Thieves' latest member, Alibaba.
”That. Alright. You lot really are full of surprises aren't you” Midna said, after recovering from witnessing the sight of watching the mousy Alibaba transforming herself into what looked like an upside down sake bowl. Or a saucer. Yes, Mida thought to herself, it was like a flying saucer. While Midna was trying to work out how to contextualize what she was looking at, and how they were supposed to get inside, Primrose expressed concern that she might not be able to turn back. After thinking about it, Midna herself had the exact opposite question.
”If you can turn back, will there be a point at which we have to due to fatigue or anything else? Because it would be useful to have more transport than just Mona once we get up there” she asked, hoping this might remove or at least reduce the problem Primrose had foreseen. Unfortunately the fact that she wouldn’t be shipping everyone up at once meant she almost certainly wasn't a replacement, but maybe she could help. The back and forth also meant some of them had time to kill down at the bottom of the cliff. Seeing as Midna could go at any time and not take a seat by shadow lurking, this meant she could take all the time they had without worrying about slowing them down.
Tora suggested treasure hunting, which could be fun and useful although the ruins didn't look the most prosperous, as well as hunting for spirits. Not for the purpose of power however, which is what she had suggested, but for food.
”If you want to try and eat some giant bugs be my guest” Midna said, finding the idea rather unpleasant and beneath her royal standing, before her stomach quietly grumbled at her and she changed her tune, amended her statement with ”You can taste test them for us.”
She was also now wishing she’d thought to get water from the oasis. Thirst might be an issue down the line, especially for those who hadn’t spent a lot of their time hiding in shadows away from the blistering sun.
”If we want power, the most interesting looking thing out there is those dragons,” Midna said, pointing off towards a ruin which they seemed to be using as a roost, only being able to see them thanks to Vah Naboris' own vision. She was going to miss that maybe most of all. Where everything else in the canyon consisted of horrid looking monsters (baring the just strange looking stone head creatures that she dismissed as silly and useless), the dragons were majestic emerald hued beasts that the princess thought might match her style rather well. Certainly more than the awful looking monstrous humans that Primrose had offered up.
That little itch for combat was still lingering at the back of her mind too, and what better opponent to sate it with than a battle against a dragon?
”I’d be interested in seeing if we can acquire one of them for my manageri, or just a spirit or two.” they certainly looked useful, and picking a fight would let them find out for sure. It would also prevent them from interfering with the transportation process if that was something they where inclined to do ”Anyone else up for a dragon hunt?”
wordcount: 1,463 (+3) Midna: level 2 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (7/30) Location: Sandswept Sky – Great Barrier (in Vah Naboris)
The trip proved to be relatively uneventful in terms of external events. The camel plodded on, the desert rolled by, and the heat and light bore down relentlessly upon everything outside their cool sanctuary. If there was anything alive in the sandy wastes it gave them a wide berth. Inside there was time for talk and personal development.
When Sectonia approached her to have a whispered chat about the Medic, Midna partially agreed with the queen’s assessment of the strange doctor. As some of the most ‘scientifically interesting specimens’ onboard they certainly had reason to worry that the doctor would be interested in experimenting on them, but as he seemed to be a mere, if useful, human Midna, perhaps foolishly, dismissed the threat ”I don’t think he’d be so reckless as to try something because if he does,” Midna jerked her neck violently in a pretty unsubtle hint as to what she intended the doctors fate be should he mess with her, ”but if it helps you sleep at night I’ll watch your back if you’ll watch mine”
”That said, I don’t suppose you have any experience dealing with working with those under the influence before now? Anything I should be careful about” she asked, realizing that if they were having a whispered conversation about this it would be good to check that question she’d been sitting on off the list.
”It really will,” the princess agreed with Primrose that it would be incredibly inconvenient to leave the divine beast behind, and she hadn’t even though about the fact that that they’d have issues with transport once they got on top of the cliff.
”Maybe someone would need to go back with it. Keep it safe? Could solve the issue of how cramped Mona’s machine form will get up top” Midna said, unknowingly repeating Primrose’s line of thought. She had time to think it over. They’d have to deal with getting up the cliff in the first place after all.
”Oh? That’s good,” Midna said, slightly surprised by Primrose coming to thank her for lending her one of her Wolfos during her trip into the pyramid as she’d gotten the impression that the woman was usually the standoffish sort, ”I hope you enjoyed the royal ride” she added cheekily before taking a breath and then saying ”your welcome, I’m glad it was useful” It had taken a few moments to work out that if Primrose seemed to be going against her nature to be nice or polite or sociable then it was incredibly unproductive to not try and meet her halfway.
Minda tilted her head to one side when Fox first ignored her question about why he’d not looked as happy with the raid as she thought he would have, and then briefly looked annoyed when he pushed forward to more immediate concerns, but then shrugged lightly to herself and let it go. Maybe she’d misread him, he did have a fox’s face for a face after all, or perhaps he just didn’t want to be pushed into talking about whatever had gone down and this was his way of doing that. She could have needled him about, it would have been cathartic to know that the idea she’d been against hadn’t gone perfectly for him, but she decided to drop it and answered his question instead.
”Still heading the right way yes, if that’s what you mean” Midna had never seen a ship larger than a canoe, much less the ocean, so using 'heading' in the way fox had was unfamiliar to her ”and I can’t see much more than what Mona described. Vah Naboris is able to see a lot further, and i think shoot a lot further, but the swinging of that sight makes me want to throw up while we’re moving. Don’t think stopping to take a look will do much good compared to the time it’ll waste. The way looks clear so we’ll see what there is to see when we get there”
The rest of the journey was unremarkable. When not thinking about what to do with Naboris or engaging in small talk, Midna tried out her new, more muscular physique, actually gracing the ground with her presence when she found a quiet spot inside the titan to practice walking again. The princess had never really had physical strength before, the princess having been more on her magic, politicking and looks when it came to avenues of power. So it came as a surprise to her just how good it felt to not just be fit but muscular. After finding walking actually possible instead of the absolute pain in her base imp-form she did a little bit of running too and even went and hefted up one of the gears Sectonia had found for good measure.
The niggling new desire to fight was starting to make a lot more sense to the princess and it completely clicked when she took time to call up one of her other Wolfos in-order to play around with her magic finding the perfect size to make it. A bit of leg muscle made a world of difference when riding, with Midna finding that she might be able to use her arms freely rather than using them to cling to the wolf’s fur and leaving everything to the fused shadow’s arm, opening up a whole realm of new possibilities.
”If this is what I can do with one spirit, think of what I could do with more” she told her now slightly larger wolfos mount, before having a thought and adding ”or what you could do”
The possibilities where dawning on her, time would tell how far she'd go.
Plodding onward, they eventually found their way to the cliff Mona had warned them about and it was, as he’d predicted, going to be impassable for the Divine beast as the cliff face towered twice as high as their beast. Broken bridges littered the area around it, none reaching all the way up either thanks to their deprecated state or because the top of the cliff wasn't their original destination, one side having risen or sunk due to reasons unknown. Either way, this time Midna was unlikely to find the rest of the bridge laying around for her to bring back, and without twilight breaking into the realm of light it was unlikely she’d have had the strength to do so either, so those looked like they were going to be mostly unhelpful.
She of course could get up without to much issue. It would have been a pain to float up under the blistering sun (he couldn't see any objects at the top who’s shadow she could jump too due to the sheer height) but she could just ride up in Sectonia’s shadow again. It was getting the others up that would be the problem.
The heavy and the medic both had suggestions. The heavy’s to throw people, which Minda could help with but thought was a bit ambitious and risky. The odds of someone going splat were worryingly high. The medics was to have the Divine beast act as a ladder by standing it up on its hind legs.
”Let me just see if...” Midna said before the beast began to move in spot as unseen to the others the giant camel raised one of it's hind legs and tried to stretch it out behind itself ”No, sorry. It’s not flexible enough to stand upright like that. We might be able to get some added height by claiming the front legs up the wall, but not all of it.”
The titan settled back down as she pointed at the Heavy and the Medic ”If we stick your two ideas together it could work, but it would be very risky. Naboris might tip over, you or I might miss a toss. It’s a plan, but maybe a last resort? Also Medic's idea could make carrying people up less of a pain for Poppi and if your up for it, Sectonia, by making the distance shorter”
After weighing in on the proposed plans she offered up her own ”Maybe instead we get some spirit sourced mobility. I’d describe some of the ‘wildlife’ out there as monsters instead, and some of it can fly or maybe climb, so if we get spirits from them we can use their power to lift us up. Or we can tame something? Me and Link once used a Shadow Kargaroc (it’s a big twilight corrupted bird) we beat up to fly up a massive dried up river canyon. Maybe we’d be able to ‘convince’ something out there to help carry you instead if you don’t want to worry about fusing with ugly monsters?”
wordcount: 398 (+1) Bowser: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (91/80) Location: Smash City Alcamoth, heading for the blue
”LOOK I JUST. I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT IT TILL NOW WE WERE KINDA BUSY” Bowser retorted about him being slow on the uptake on Miss Fortunes’ blatant pun of a name. ”AND THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE'S NAMES TO REMEMBER” he added. There were now, however, less. Just him, the ever reliable Blazermate and probably the bear and bird duo were sticking around from the starting group, while everyone else who'd gone out with them (and come back) went for some R&R. Bowser wanted some too, but he was hoping he could catch some out with the Blue team if they were all OK.
Adding to the long standing members was Miss Fortune, or so he assumed based on the fact that she didn’t wander off, and, judging by snippets of Blazermates’ chatting he caught with his new blastoise ears, Sephiroth might be about to be convinced to come with them. He just groaned loudly when Blazermate talked about him being the 'bestest of bestest friend' of anyone who was nice to him, but it was probably telling that he didn’t butt into her conversation till Sephiroth agreed to come with them.
”YOU STICKING WITH US THEN?” Bowser said, addressing both newcomers and then the old timers as well ”ALRIGHT THEN WE’RE HEADING...” Bowser looked at the map and then talked out loud as he charted the course they’d be taking ”From here” he pointed at the city they were in ”going via painting to peach’s castle” he pointed at the home of the princess he was looking forwards to seeing again ”and then we warp from there out too” he pointed vaguely out at the ocean in the south west and failed to find anything that might be their destination ”somewhere out here” he scratched the back of his head ”or maybe it's this?” he pointed at a city on the coast that he'd assumed was the inkwell isles, ”ANYWAY YEAH. OVER HERE. SOMEWHERE. MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN. PROBABLY JUST WATER AND FLOATING PLATFORMS. FOLLOW ME!”
”SO WHAT’S YOUR DEAL ANYWAY?” He asked Fortune as they started to head down to the lobby where they’d warp to peach’s castle and then out to the place the Blue team where at ”YOUR A CATLADY AND YOU COME TO PIECES,” he vaguely remembered seeing it ”HOWS THAT ALL WORK?”
wordcount: 636 (+1) Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (69/70) Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (67/70) Location: Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean
The Atimos dipped down, jr carefully lowering its open bay doors down towards the water, trying to get them low enough to be stepped into by the injured ladies and only getting the deck of the cargo bay a bit wet in the process. The white and red clones moved in and took the girls off the Seaplane Tender’s hands, acting as support and bringing them aboard, where a team of Koopa Troopa strikers took over. They’d try to help the pair up to the flight deck where they might be able to sit down in one of the chairs or lay down on the bed found between the bridge and the back exit.
”You could at least help them get upstairs” Jr grumbled to Geralt as he focused on countering the waves lapping against the airship’s side.
The white mage clone went with them, providing light healing that quickly stabilized Skaura, and then began to slowly build both women back up to full health. The toady carrying Tyrant went too, depositing the pig who quickly ran back to its master. The red clone, however, returned. Not as a threat, but to change roles. As Kamek began to speak with the ship girl, he started to conjure a white globe of energy, which he would use to turn it from killer to healer.
The mage didn’t healing upon her once the change was complete however. Forcing her to live wouldn’t help in the long run, he was fairly sure. She had to want it.
”I’ve been where you are now. In Galeem’s world like everyone else, yes, but also before. I was once mind-controlled by the Smithy Gang and bound to their cause. In the end I was even forced to try and kill my own son for them. It was horrible. Sometimes I wake up sweating remembering it. But I know that wasn’t me, and I know that what you were a few minutes ago isn’t who you are now either. Yes, you killed, but it was a fake version of you, or perhaps it’s a version that is now dead and you have replaced it. Either way. You are alive now, free, maybe for the first time. You don't need to forget what you did, or accept forgiveness for it, but you have choice now, to decide who you will be from now on” The old mage said, speaking in a kind grandfatherly tone very few had heard pass his beak ”Please don't throw that away”
He let that sink in as he completed the spell and transformed the clone from red to white, before he spotted something out of the corner of his eye that caused him to try a different approach.
”I will admit that, selfishly, we could use you. To give us information that could help end this war. To use your power to help us fight to the depths of the Bottomless Sea to kill Galeem’s guardian. But we’re not the only ones who need you” Kamek gestured a hand over to the side to where the sleeping abyssal Heavy Cruiser was being unsteadily hauled through the air towards them. The toadies ended up stopping to hover just to the side of where they were speaking
”That heart, that freedom that she gave you? You can do that too, like this,” the old Koopa placed a hand to his shell and drew out a friendheart of his own, demonstrating the ability ”So if you can't find the will to live for yourself right now, then perhaps you can live for them. Your people, who you can set free”
He lowered his hand and returned his focus entirely to her ”Live for them. Live to repay Sakura’s kindness. Live free and for yourself. Do as you wish, but whatever you do, please don’t ever offer up your life like it's worthless again”
He'd said his piece, now it was up to her to decide.
Fetzen
Frettzo
teenangstlife
Lord Zee
Neziul
Ariamis
rush99999
Simply Not Real
Shadowheart
