DracoLunaris

World of Light

wordcount: 1,372 (+3)
Midna: level 2 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (31/30)
Location: Sandswept Sky – Crown of Sand - Sphinx Temple

at dinner

”The Twilight Realm consists of islands of stone floating in a void with a burning amber sky filled with clouds of shadow. There’s no moon, nor stars. Instead we use ‘Sols’ which are orbs of pure concentrated light to power our technology and light everything. Without them the realm is filled with a darkness that warps people into beasts“ she explained when asked about her sunless home and, when she described it like that, she realized it didn't sound very appealing ”I know it doesn't sound like the best place, and it certainly must have seemed like a nightmarish prison to my ancestors when they were banished there for their crimes, but using magic and technology their descendants turned it into the beautiful, prosperous and peaceful kingdom I am honored to rule, and proud to call home.“

She also was rather little proud that her suggestion, that of calling those still under Galeem’s influence, be referred to as Gleaming, smiling wider and wider as people agreed it was the best option. Even as a princess it was always nice to get some positive affirmations that your ideas were good ones. Maybe even especially as a princess.

post transformation

The light faded, and fortunately for her eyesight being inside it wasn't near as bad as being around someone when they transformed for some reason. Midna did not reflect on the fact that it might be because she got dismantled and put back together as part of the transformation process and thus didn't have eyes while inside and instead focused on her new body. Or her new, new, body if you were to be specific. First she looked at her hands and found them a little more claw-like which wasn't exactly surprising given what had happened to the medic’s. Then, looking down, found that her bottom half had gained yet more cloths (she’d gotten dressed after bathing) consisting of some very cozy slippers and a lovely pair of stripy stockings. Said thigh high stocking massively emphasized the gains she’d well, gained down there. She sashayed her hips, causing the now longer waist wrap to sway, and then noticed something was hiking it up at the back. When she looked behind herself to find out what it was that was doing that she found was a long flygon tail.

”Oh. Ok that’s a bit more than what the doc got...“ She wasn't sure how to feel about gaining a new appendage like that. It wasn't ugly or anything, just a little strange for some like her to have a tail. She also worried it might make riding and sitting down a bit trickier. Then she gained a thoughtful look on her face and brought the fan-like tip up to her head and gave it an experimental wiggle, before grinning as it worked perfectly, wafting a cooler breeze towards her face.

”Ok your good tail“ she might need to modify the back of her sash a bit to accommodate it but it was definitely sitting comfortably in the positive column thanks to its temperature control capabilities.

The most obvious additional features found she hovered over to the drinking pool, her new twilight Vibrava following after her to give itself a look too (the beast seemed surprisingly comfortable and well adapted to using its wildly altered body already), and examined her reflection in its clearer waters for any new additions. The first thing she found was that the fused shadow now had two red bauble accessories hanging down on either side of her head next to the also dangling earrings.

”Ok that kind of stings. I ask for eye shields and you put the dragon’s goggles over there as accessories instead. Rude!“

Her hair was now a dark green and tied up in twin tails. ”Wait can I still?“ she asked herself before forming a shadow hand just fine despite the cosmetic change resulting in two shackles on its wrist rather than one. ”ok good“

As an added bonus, she was also taller again, which was in some ways the best news. She only needed another foot to be human height, and an added foot on top of that to be her true height once more. Progress was being made.

It was only after examining and admiring her new appearance that she remembered this hadn't been the point of this whole thing. ”Wait. I did get some kind of power out of this right? Draggony Powers?“ Considering the way Tora was looking at her she might not have been alone in this.

A quick bout of meditation and magical self analysis found something new burning vigor suffusing her new draconian form that she, like the academics of the pokemon world, decided to call dragon energy. With a quick pair of swipes of her new more claw-like fingers she slashed at the air, digits blazing with purple energy, and then she brought out her third hand, rending the fused shadow’s hand through the air with its fingertips bearing purple talons before slamming it into the ground and leaving puncture wound in the stone.

”Ah, hah, yes! This is perfect“ not only as her fused shadow enhanced, but if something got close her own body wasn’t defenseless anymore. Although technically speaking she wasn't quite so frail after two fusions, and frankly her thighs could probably be considered a deadly weapon on their own now, but it was still a good bonus.

Attempts at breathing fire or infusing power into her new tail failed. There was just something missing that would allow her to be able to use those powers she’d seen the Flygons and their offspring use. The claw thing had been a guess, but a re-examination of the power she found she in fact intrinsically knew how to use it as a claw attack. There was a technique to it that she didn’t have for the tail or breath attacks.

There was also something else there with it, another technique that was a way to make the power burn hotter to empower her body. And the way to do that was to dance. The princes thought this was somewhat silly but considering they already had Primrose in the party it wasn't going to look entirely out of place.

The princess landed and, after tapping her foot a few times to try and get a rhythm going, started to move. She’d had lessons, what kind of princess didn’t know how to dance after all, but the kind of moves used in the royal court went exactly fit for the primal power of dragons.

She danced futility till she finally got over her own conceptions of what dance should be and got in sync with the technique was actually telling her to do. Slow graceful moves became faster, more powerful and vigorous as the princess danced to a song she’d never heard. Her waist wrap twirled, her feet pounded the stone in rapid succession and then the power flared, each step sending bolts of red and purple energy bursting out of the ground at her feet before they all surge into her and, finally with the last step of the short dance, exploded outwards. The explosion looked dangerous, but the princess was completely unharmed, as was her Vibrava that had been buzzing around her while she danced.

Minda felt so incredibly alive with the power coursing through her, but she knew she could do more. She wanted to do more! She kept going, exploding with dragon power once, twice, thrice, four and then five more times in total (each iteration of the dance only talking about three seconds each) and at that point she was at her limit. Power coursed around her, a static energy of purple and red lighting buzzing across her skin. She felt faster. Stronger. Exactly four times faster and stronger to be specific. She was also left breathing heavily with exhilaration in an almost inhuman way.

It was slightly problematic that she didn't have an outlet for all this power right now.

She darted back and forth across the small room, her pace absolutely blistering, but it wasn't enough, ”You, I don't know you are but you have wheels for feet now so race me. Race me! I wanna see how fast I can really go!“ She jabbed a finger at Yoshitsune who she hadn’t been introduced to but who she was quite sure would give her an outlet for the power coursing through her veins if they raced around the area the hippos had lived in before they had been butchered.

World of Light

The Koopa Prince

featuring Rika
wordcount: 835 (+2)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (13/80)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Pirate's Cove

”I. Uh. I mean you’ve won over these three really quick so it goes without saying doesn't it?” the prince replied, a touch embarrassed by Sakura’s gleeful reaction to being described as likable. It wasn't his fault she was. He turned his focus away from that and back to the discussion they were having about how you would go about freeing all the fleet’s ships.

”But uh, I mean it would be kinda dumb of some weaker minion to try and take over leadership when their boss just got beaten up and joined us, coz now they have to face both you and their old boss. I mean we can also punch through and free some of the minions while going for the boss? The ones around them. See I’m kinda assuming it’ll be like that fight we found Bella in where her minions where all spread out fighting the navy, and then we go in and free the Bella of that lot, but this time see if we can get that boss to tell her mooks to surrender?” Jr tried something of a fusion of his plan and Sakura’s because she had a point. If you just went in on the boss straight off the bat you’d get dog-piled before you could explain things and that would not end well ”and then once you have her army, then you can get them to help mass free another fleet, and then another and another and soon enough you’ve got the whole fleet alive and free. Hey, maybe we could even free/get the thing that resurrects them? Think about how good that would be!” It really would be.

“Oh. Ok I won't over do it boss!” Rika replied when told to lay off the exercises before she hurt herself before immediately wandering over to the bed and falling face first onto what little space remained on it. Thanks to the antigrav on her back she didn't hit it very hard, “Better” she said into the sheets, the cruiser happy to have her legs off of the ground and not supporting anything at all. She’d enjoyed herself despite the eventual pain, and the way people had been concerned about her well being was both novel and made her feel all warm inside. Unfortunately it also was the straw that broke the camel's back on the whole Spirit back and forth.

Jr was happy to be proven right about spirits being the way to go, but he felt a little bad about how his winning caused the schoolgirl warrior to become rather embarrassed and down on her whole idea now that Jr had torn it apart. ”I mean it wasn't the worst. You could still do exercise when fused and then maybe it’d carry over for if or when you unfuse?” he said, trying to soften the blow a bit.

“If I ‘fuse’ with something does that mean it’ll be less painful to do the exercise and I only get the fun bit at the start?” Rika asked, turning her head to one side so she wasn't speaking into the blanket this time.

”Uh yeah probably? Or at least takes longer to go sore?”

“Cool”

Fortunately, Sakura’s mood quickly improved when she heard that the local fight club had sailed into town, the same one they’d seen duking it out on on the way there. While she initially said she wasn't going to bail on them, everything changed when she spotted her rival among them. There was no stopping her going down there and challenging her to a bout apparently, and this attitude Jr understood far more than anyone else onboard so there was no way he was going to stop her.

“Oh. yeah! I wanna see that! Wait, but can we? Aren't we supposed to be hiding?” Rika was also enthusiastic, partially because she was highly vulnerable to being infected by Sakura’s own enthusiasm but also because seeing someone who beat a princess duke it out with someone she considered a worthy opponent had to be impressive.

The idea of having everyone else watch was slightly problematic. After all, if they could see the fight then anyone else watching could see them. ”Shame we don't have any spirits to let you try that walking thing, it’d work as disguise too um. Do you think if we hide the metal bits you’ll not be recognized as Abyssal?” Jr suggested

“Will you need to take those off my back?” Rika asked, referring to her gauntlets “But if you take these off then I won’t be able to walk. I don't know if i can walk anyway. Legs still sore.”

”I’ll carry you”

The cruiser rolled her had to the side to look him up and down, not particularly confident in this statement.

”What. I can. Done it before easy. If i can pick up Peach I can pick up you” Jr insisted. Whether he would or not depended on whether the others thought they could get away with this.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,256(+3)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (22/90)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (87/70)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Outside The Bismarck

After a close call caused by Sephiroth’s brazen self transformation, which consisted of him shrinking and getting a makeover into a more summary look. Humans were lucky in that there were so many of their ilk about that they could gain power from without too drastic a transformation, Kamek thought. He wasn't sure if absorbing his own Cia copy would go down quite as well. It would have to wait either way, unlike Sephiroth the mage wasn’t about to go fusing while things were going down that he might need to deal with. It just seemed a rather rude thing to do in the middle of a negotiation, so he tucked it away to use later.

Said negotiations were going well, Geralt’s delivery of the information they had discovered about how the fleet was regenerating getting the admiral to begrudgingly stand down her forces. The ability to win the seemingly endless war they were fighting was worth the damages they had caused. To the town as a whole at least, it left the poor chef to pick up the pieces of his ruined restaurant without any immediate compensation.

Bowser’s attempt at fobbing off the cost of those damages onto Peach got at least one reaction, namely from Blazermate who teased the king about it.

”What? Hey!” The king replied to the ribbing in a fluster. A small part of him wondered what baseball had to do with this and in what version of the game you ran to the bases with some else, but the rest of his mind rolled over to the tradition of the guy paying for dinner. Or in this case an entire restaurant. He immediately scrambled for an excuse and what he found was, to be fair, a pretty decent if somewhat undignified one. He was flat broke. ”Look. She has her castle, I don't have mine. When we do find mine, or when we get back, I'll cover the costs or something? Kamek, write the princess an IOU”

Behind him Kamek notably cringed at the prospect. Their various Princess-nappings and kingdom/world/galaxy conquering schemes were expensive, and what they didn't spend on the preparation was lost as the man in red merrily stormed through everything they could throw at him, hoovering up coins as he went. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how much of Peach’s treasury consisted of money the plumber had taken directly from them over the years. The mage quietly decided he wouldn’t ever remind the king of this IOU if he could avoid doing so.

Fortunately the princess had gotten over her stupor and enthusiastically offered her own finances to aid in the reconstruction of the restaurant and while the frog warrior’s offer of all his fiances had been pushed back people where all to happy to take Peach’s funds, especially because it was now a compassionately offer of aid rather than compensation. It definitely helped that unlike the honorable warrior the princess wouldn't be bankrupted by this bout of generosity. That said, it would be best, Kamek thought, if they tried to avoid wrecking places they might end up having to pay for to rebuild in future, lest they drain the royal coffers. It was the army’s only source of funding after all.

A conch held to the ear

While Peach hashed out some of the specifics of how to pay for things with the restaurant owner and how the navy was going to repay them for the information Geralt had supplied Bowser was left with a bit of time to fill. He’d left Kamek to keep up with the details, the mage could fill him in on the actual important bits later, and instead he went to have a look and see if there were any spoils to be had. Unsurprisingly, no one wanted anything to do with the spirits of the bystanders (be it for emotional or practical reasons) and the copies of the mage had all been snatched up, but that did leave a little floating emblem which drew the king’s attention much as they had the Ace Cadet. He approached the spinning trident and then gave it a curious poke with a claw.

The moment Bowser made contact, the sound of a ship’s bell rang in his ears, followed by the crash of a wave on the shore. Beneath his touch the orb rippled and expanded, and a wave of turquoise light or fog engulfed his vision. From its surface, undulating like the ocean waves, an unfamiliar shape was made manifest. After a moment longer the waters parted to reveal a broad-shouldered man with wild, sea-green hair and a goatee like a length of kelp, adorned with a seahorse crown and easygoing smile. His twinkling eyes held a profound depth, although they didn’t quite seem to focus on Bowser himself.

“‘Hoy there!” he called out. “Who’s this now, washed upon my shores? Never before have I seen your like, but there’s no questioning that you’re the very picture of oceanic might! We’ve got a lot in common then, haven’t we? I’m Poseidon, the God of the Sea, and since you’ve managed to earn one of my blessings it’s only fitting I grant you a little water power, hm?”

Bowser looked at the god, his mouth agape in surprise at what had just happened, then glanced back and forth at the turquoise void, realised dealing with whoever this was was probably going to be the only way out, then looked back at the (self proclaimed) god. Still rather beset by confusion at what was going on he raised a finger, lowered it, raised it again and found himself asking ”You’re not like Bacchus are you? Coz the first guy who’s called themselves a god today’s ‘power’ just made everyone dumb and dizzy, and that was not a good time”

For a moment the sea god looked perplexed himself, but Poseidon quickly recalled his fellow divinity with a smile. “Ohoho, you’ve met our Roman friend? Watered down he may be compared to Dionysus, but watered down his wine is not! He certainly knows how to have a good time, and while I consider myself no slouch in that department, we are neither equals in responsibility nor strength! You’ll find what I have to offer a far better catch!” He held out his hand, and three diamond-shaped glyphs appeared before him, each with a scroll beneath it offering more explanation.

Poseidon’s Aid - Surge forward on a crashing wave while impervious for 1.2 seconds. Must be charged over the course of a fight
Breaking Wave - Slamming a foe into a barrier creates a blast of water in the area
Razor Shoals - Nonphysical moves with knock-away effects also Rupture foes (Rupture deals damage to enemies as they move, increasing with their movement speed)

Bowser didn’t exactly understand everything that had been said, but Bacchus being confirmed to be considered a god by someone who definitely had the vibe to be one (Bowser’s understanding of the word lined up much more with the greek’s version of divinity than it might with, say, the Phantom Thieve’s) wasn’t great news. Fortunately Poseidon’s boons spoke for themselves in terms of his wisdom and sanity, each offering up potential synergies with the King’s power and fighting style.

”Hmmmm. This one.” he said after some consideration, pointing at Razor Shoals. While the other two would make him more powerful in places he already exeled, the king knew his weaknesses. Fast things were incredibly annoying, so being able to give them a spray down AND punish them for running around afterwards? Even an idiot could see the worth of that. Maybe too worth it

The king paused right before touching the scroll and asked ”Wait, what’s the catch?” Both the king’s own experiences, and the incident with Linkle earlier today, had instilled a mistrust of using the powers of others. There was always a price.

For the second time Poseidon looked bemused. “Catch…? Oh!” He realized the other definition of the word. “Zeus’s beard, you’re skeptical one!” the sea god laughed. “All I ask is that you use it well, as a sign of respect to both myself and the power granted you. Not everyone comes by my blessing, after all!”

”That it? Yeah I can work with that. Also look man... God, stuff’s gone wrong in the past with this kind of thing... and less than an hour ago too. Don’t suppose you know what a Skullheart is and how to get it out of someone?” Bowser explained and then asked. You never knew.

The sea god shook his head. “Not me! All I know is that with me in your corner, you’ll be sailing with the wind at your back! Prove yourself worthy of another boon and I’ll be happy to make you stronger still. Until then...I’ll sea you later!” The chosen glyph zipped into Bowser’ chest as the other disappeared, and the vision faded away like smoke on the water, leaving Bowser standing back in the ruined restaurant as if the whole thing had never happened.

”Sea you later. Realy? … Pffff. Ok that’s actually pretty funny”

With the big problems out the way, there was only the minutiae of the arrangement to handle, and once that was all settled the team all wound up back in the Drowning Wench.There Peach suggested everyone take a load off after a long, long day. That was all and good for some, but not everyone’s work was done. No sooner had they arrived in the bar than Kamek and Geralt were summoned to give a briefing to the heads of the city’s navy on everything they knew. Before they headed out, the mage approached Peach to get her up to speed with the one part of their airship ride that they hadn’t told the admiral about.

”I’m afraid there's one more thing that needs doing tonight, your majesty. We have a, hmmm, a new friend that is in need of that spirit removal ability you have. They’re with the young master and Sakura back at the airship, which is parked in the cove with Briny-Beard’s ship. If you could let her know we’re meeting with the Admiral and that it might help us introduce two other new friends if she were to vouch for them in that meeting. That is only if they are all up for it, make sure they know that,” Kamek told her, hoping she could put enough of what he meant together that she wouldn't be surprised and need Sakura and Jr to explain everything on the spot, while also using candid enough language that he wouldn't worry the other people in the public setting they were in.

”If you think that last is a good plan, Geralt?” He asked the Witcher, not wanting to be on a different page from the person who was going to be the key half of their briefing/negotiation team.

”If you're going to where Jr is, I’m going too. Also someone’s gotta make sure no more kidnappings happen today,” Bowser asserted, partially wanting to see his son, partially wanting to avoid Bacchus if he came back to the bar, before sucking air in through his teeth as he remembered he had bad news to deliver. He sighed, and then laid out the situation as best he could ”So uh. Linkle. She was a brave idiot and used this cursed wish granting thing called the Skullheart, which turns people into crazy dangerous monsters called a Skullgirl if their wish isn't ‘pure’. Big problem is the heart’s super blatantly evil and nitpicks every wish to find something, anything, that isn't pure and so. Yeah. Skullgirl. Then before we or she could do anything she got nabbed by one of those hooded jerks, this one could stop time, and dragged off to who knows where through a portal,”

”That. Oh dear,” Kamek was at a loss as to what to say to that ”A monster, really? Can’t anything be done?”

“People with a strong will can resist, especially if they are trying to stay focused on their wish” Marie told them, the former skullgirl summoning herself to give a better explanation than the King could “and her wish was simply to become powerful enough to fulfill your quest, which is straightforward enough. She might have her mind for a while, but in the end the skullheart will win, take control, and rain down destruction upon everyone and everything. And no. there is no undoing it. I’m sorry. I’m speaking from experience here.”

”Where you’re from maybe. We have every world’s power all shoved in here. Maybe your soul thing can fix it? If not, the mercs are looking out for both her and a way to fix it” Bowser retorted. He was absolutely sure that something could be done. If they were home there’d be a way out, be it true love’s kiss or folding 100 paper cranes or something else that would undo the curse and wash away the harm it had inflicted.

The former Skullgirl shrugged apologetically and left them to it.

”Well. I suppose all we can do now is hope and keep our eyes and ears open?” Kamak said. It was dower news. The mage knew that Bowser had actually liked Linkle and he suspected part of the king’s self assurance was a coping mechanism for dealing with what had happened.

World of Light

The Koopa Prince

featuring Rika
wordcount: 734 (+1)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (11/80)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Pirate's Cove

”How does that work? What happened to them? Where they weak and got beaten up? Who’s in charge instead?” Jr asked when he was told about Sakura’s (mostly) post monarchy world. The idea was fairly alien to his own world of kings, queens and princesses, ”Are you all ruled by mayors who got their own Marios jumping around doing their butt kicking for them or something?” he asked, trying to understand that using what he knew. A world with dozens and dozens of simplistic, happy go lucky unstoppable plumbers, each one working for a different nation. What a terrifying thought. Truly, his own world was blessed that there was only one man in red.

”That’s basically my plan but you're nibbling on the edges of em rather than going for the head honcho. Friend the big girls first and then hopefully they can just tell their minions to stand down and accept being hearted? Coz it’ll be tricky to heart and like, explain the deal to, every minion while you’re in the middle of a fight.” Jr said when Sakura tried to clarify her plan, before correcting himself

”Well maybe not for you and your ‘get in and punch people and being super likable and stuff’ deal, but it means we can't rely on shooting em from a distance or blowing lots of them up at once unless we try and make... some kind of... Heart cannon launching thing. Huh.” Jr scratched his cheek thoughtfully and then added, mostly to himself ”Like a big friend heart slingshot or something”

Jr added to the ‘ideas to tinker with’ pile, which only kept getting bigger.

As for the exercise, well, first Bella was not doing so great, managing only six seconds of standing up and feeling like it had taken an age which did not bode well for her prospects of being useful on land any time soon. She seemed to be onboard with jr’s suggestion she just use a spirit and get it over with, but Sakura was adamant that taking shortcuts was no good and she did have a point when she suggested it might diminish her water walking ability. Tyrant had gotten notably slower trotting about on land after he’d become part monster boat after all.

Still, there was one big issue ”Sure, she might get there eventually, but when is that gonna be? Weeks? Months? Being stuck not being able to move around without help sounds like a pain in the ass” it was too late, the humans not watching their tongue had once again struck Jr’s impressionable young mind and he seemed very pleased with himself about that fact ”Besides. If it doesn't work we can just have Peach remove the spirit again. But what if we use something anphiber-. Anphabor-. Something that goes on land and water already then that’d increase the odds of it working and not messing up her water walking ability? Ranger can walk, and so can the other navy ships, so maybe if you fuse with one, like the lady Geralt found who had cards for some reason, then maybe you'll get that same land standing leg ability thing?”

It took him saying all that out loud and a few moments more to recognize that maybe that specific fusion wasn't going to go down well with a lot of people and so he instead suggested that ”oooor we could just help her cheat like Rika is doing,” before putting the jar back down.

“9... and 10!” At that moment the ship girl in question finished her toe touching, stood back up and immediately wobbled on her overworked legs “Oh. Oh cool. My legs hurt a lot, but that’s good right? Now what do I do?” she asked, steadying herself and eager and willing to do more despite not being in the best condition to keep going. The girl clearly did not understand the concept of limits, to an alarming degree.

”or maybe not” Jr said, a bit perturbed about Rika’s lack of regard for her own well-being ”but maybe a walking stick. Or crutches. Least let her move about on her own on land even if she cant fight or something?

World of Light

wordcount: 1,583(+3)
Midna: level 2 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (28/30)
Location: Sandswept Sky – Crown of Sand - Sphinx Temple

”This is a blissful change of pace from the desert I’ll give you that, but Sectonia’s right, it's nothing compared to propper royal treatment” Midna agreed with the Queen. Being able to bathe and drink and eat was highly relieving after the stress, heat and dust of desert, but a slightly overgrown pool and some, admittedly very nice, birds to look out wasn't exactly the pinnacle of high society. However, unlike the queen she’d had to go without before, and she’d had to earn the position of princess three times over. First by vote, then by duel and then, finally, through war. What was one more violent interlude when added atop those experiences. Also, she had to admit, the company, chatter, pleasantry (and some nice views) while bathing in the cool waters did have a charm of their own even without it being contrasted with the desert beyond.

She was in the middle of mentally reinventing the idea of the public bathhouse and trying to work out if she’d be able to commission the construction the construction of one when she got home when the queen started explaining the state of the world to the pair of freed mercenaries.

”Sounds more like a lot work to me,” Midna commented when Sectonia mentioned liking the idea of ruling over the mishmash of worlds ”Not that Galeem’s seems to be actually managing things down here. No armies or administrators controlling anything, its just their guardians camped out in their own corners of this huge mess right?” it did make her wonder what the point of it all was. Pure vanity and a god complex was the best bet she had at the moment.

”Thank you, your majesty,” the princess then replied when the results of her transformation where compliment, before adding some additional details ”I used to be even shorter and didn’t have this gerudo skin tone before. Or any clothes which was probably the weirdest change to receive. I used the spirit of the former, treacherous, owner of Va Nuboris to gain the knowledge to control it. Haven't had many side effects so far. Maybe a bit bolder? More direct? Hard to explain it but my mental headspace has shifted a bit in ways that are tricky to quantify from my own perspective” She added, not being particularly helpful with her explanation of the mental side effects of absorbing a spirit into the mind, but still giving a glance into what the results of what kind of non visible changes could occur. She hadn’t experienced the actual major consequences of that spirit had in store quite yet after all.

After a fair bit more relaxing in the pool the smell of cooked meat filled the room. Hippo, apparently, which whatever it was had to be better than the bugmeat they would have gotten foraging at the bottom of the cliff. Still, the princess was all too happy for Braum to test out the teen’s (and you could definitely tell they Joker and co where teens mow that they weren't dressed up like stylish masked bandits) cooking. After the chiseled titan of a man had declared it more than satisfactory the princess padded over and, after re-donning her helm, got herself a healthy serving of the meat. Due to the lack of plates and cutlery she held it with the fused shadow’s hand and occasionally brought it down to bite a chunk out of. Technically she could have gone and tried crushing spirits until she got a knife to let her eat more dignifiedly but the princess was now much too hungry to waste time on such things. So while her eating couldn't be described as feral, no matter how much she wanted to go wild and devour the flesh as fast as possible, it wasn't exactly dainty and princess-like either.

As they ate, the topic of what to call those influenced by Galeem, a slightly awkward topic considering there were still three people in the room who were in that state. Fortunately it didn't seem to cause any issues though she did have to wonder what it was like for them. How much of this was actually going in and how much was going over their heads without them even noticing

”Daybroken’s pretty good, though we don't have a sun from where I come from so the whole ‘it’s good actually’ doesn't really have any context for me. Sundown doesn't really work as an adjective for describing someone. If we wanted, then shortening ‘under the influence of Galeem’ to just ‘Influenced’ would be a rather simplistic and straightforward one. However I suggest saying someone is ‘Gleaming’ or calling them ‘the Gleaming’ referencing the light of Galeem, the light in their eyes and, obviously, Galeem’s name, even if it is muddled a little for the wording to work.” was Minda’s take on the topic.

What remained to be dealt with after relaxation, talk and substance was the loot of their various battles. When it came to the items, Tora later turned out to know what the two broken boot devices were for, though she didn't know what a jet was either so his exclamation upon finding them didn't clear this up very much. The rest of what they had were some sticks that contained magic, although what kind she did know, and an (also) magical pipe, which lacked anything to smoke in it. Not that she knew what lighters smoked anyway. Also there were the cubes and money.

”So is this paper stuff actually worth anything? Doesn't look it. Certainly nothing compared to the rupees we use, though I guess it is more practical to carry than a whole load of crystals.” She asked, briefly considering the notes. How on earth would they even work, they had no intrinsic value. Were they basically just IOUs? Madness.

Midna shook her head and then decided to leave looking into that stuff more later.

”I’d suggest people pick out stuff for fusion or strikers fist, and then we crush what’s left and divide that up as well? Sound good?” Midna suggested. She had some ideas as she looked over the pile of dead, but wasn't the first to implement them. Instead the good doctor took one of the dragons and absorbed it within his heart, which was a new type of transformation to her. She was going to suggest a demonstration with her Wolfos as the exhibit, but the man revealed himself to be just as bold as she had been when it came to spirits. Midna approved. The actual result was debatable in terms of aesthetic, particularly compared to her absorption of Urbosa, but the benefits were likely worth it. Though she imagined he wished he had had the ability to levitate before the obstacle course they’d had to bypass to get here rather than after.

”If you need floating lessons just let me know doctor” she told him as she drifted around, inspecting him, only to be briefly blinded by a second flash of light. When her vision was only fuzzily back she saw the vague shape of a sword and shield welding knight with a red glowing eye who had suddenly appeared among the group. The princess flinched away from the transformed Poppi and then, when her mind and vision caught up with her instincts, was perplexed as to why she’d been so alarmed.

”oh, ahaha. Uh, that red eye, kinda looks like she’s still under the influence huh?” she said awkwardly, trying to brush off the whole affair, but it kept nagging her even while she set it aside and got to work. First things first, Midna wanted to see if she could improve her Wolfos. She called over the one she’d ridden in, who'd been allowed to relax with them and chow down on some meat despite the incident with the pool and then set to work, plucking a vibrava spirit from the very large pile of deceased ground pokemon and pressing it into the beast’s heart. There was another burst of light (Midna had gotten used to that by this point and blinked in advance) and then Midna had a chance to see the results of the transformation.

”Huh, that’s not much of a change is it?” Minda said scratching her head when the faded spirit didn’t do much to the Wolfos’s appearance as the other spirits had to her or her allies. In fact it had barely done anything. Confused, she pushed another in. Again, very little changed. She tried a third time and then noted that: ”Ok. So. only small changes. Well if we want you to get stronger we’ll just have to go all out won't we?” Do that she did, as she scooped up a fused-shadow sized handful of the spirits and shoved another eight into the beast. That most certainly had an effect, reaching some kind of threshold and almost entirely changing the wolf into a vibrava.

”Well that worked. Maybe a bit too well? Ah well. Now then” It was Minda’s turn. Like the doctor she sought out the remaining Flygon, coveting the power of dragons. There hadn’t been an easy fight yet, so more power, more strength, where required. There was a certain amount of sunk cost there of course, (she’d hunted it so she should use it) but the beast had lived up to its draconic heritage. It had fought with strength, cunning and conviction, part of her thought it was fitting it be used so she could do the same. Plus, maybe she’d get eye protection like the medic had. That would be nice, she thought as she pressed the beast to her chest and let the transformation take hold.

Diluting yourself in the pursuit of power got a lot easier after the first time.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 706 (+1) (+10)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (19/90)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (84/70)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Outside The Bismarck

”Wow” Bowser was about as surprised as Geralt was that he caught the falling Witcher, the speedy tentacles once again acting like they had mind of their own, and much faster running ones than Bowser at that, and grappling him before he could plummet down into the water and then pulling him into the King’s arms.

”Uh, hi there” Bowser greeted him as they ascended with Bowser awkwardly holding the gruff man in a princess carry due to lacking the space on his transport to let him stand. Once they did arrive Geralt quickly extracted himself from his grapes and got on deck, after which Bowser followed suit, their carrier minion poofing into nothingness now that their job was done.

The battle, they found, was over by the time they arrived back on the scene. Bowser did a quick headcount as Kamek flew down to rejoin him and was relieved to see everyone was in one piece. The same, unfortunately, could not be said for the building, nor for a small number of bystanders that had been caught in the crossfire at some point. The king grimaced for a moment upon seeing their spirits, but for the most part wasn't overly concerned at the carnage that had been wrought.

”Here, you might want this?” The King said to Kamek, retrieving the spirit of the woman he’d smashed to pieces along with the floor ”magic, matches your robes, that kind of thing,”

”What? Oh yes, thank you sire but perhaps we should consider moving on before-” Kamek replied as he accepted the spirit of the blue Cia, but was prevented from hypothesizing on what kind of trouble this mess would bring when said trouble started to happen all at once.

First the chef came out and he was, unsurprisingly, rather angry about the state of his restaurant. What remained of it anyway. Bowser’s hole managed to only be one among a number of damages caused mostly by the giant explosions the sorceress had been dishing out. After him came the law, who seemed all too happy to come in in force now that the fighting was actually over. Bowser thought very little of the spear welding goons and instead focused his attention on the woman in charge and her escort. who seemed to be a fusion of woman and warship. Bowser, like his son before him, was instantly a fan of the idea though he did not appreciate the way they were pointing a dozen cannons at them. Not that they could avoid doing so, but it was still pissing the king off regardless.

”WHO DO Y- oh” Bowser began to demand before getting urgently tapped on the knee by his advisor who then hurriedly gestured the Blazermate and Ms Fortune (Sepiroth clearly didn't care about anything other than his new power so the mage didn't even bother trying to fill in the last member of Bowser’s reinforcement party) over and then whispered them a quick rundown of who they were dealing with while some of the others tried to answer for their crimes

”She has a large and powerful navy and we need their help to get to the bottom of the deep and storm wrecked part of the ocean where the region's guardian is. We have information she needs to help her win a war against an ’abyssal fleet’” At that point Geralt started helping provide some of that information. Kamek silently agreed with his decision not to make a mention of the abyssal turncoats they had stashed in the ship because that would not, he expected, have gone down well. ”So please, try to be diplomatic”

”Right right got it,” Bowser said, before standing up clearing his throat. It was important that he, as (self declared) leader, take charge and responsibility of the situation. ”I AM BOWSER, KOOPA KING AND LEADER OF THIS HERE ARMY AND I SAY,'' the king swept both his hands both hands down towards the (unrequited) love of his life who looked to be in a state of shock over the whole affair, and who was the only one of them who hadn't gotten involved in the fighting/trashing of the place, ”THAT PEACH CAN COVER THE COST OF THE DAMAGES'

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 593 (+1)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (8/90)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (73/70)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Outside The Bismarck

The king descended like an anvil upon the bewitchered sorceress and then, like a wrecking ball, smashed both her and the floor to pieces.

”SHODDY WORKMANSHIP!” the king cried as he descended, followed by a shower of debris. Fortunately for everyone the fancy restaurant was built on a large balcony rather than as part of the tower proper and so the worst collateral damage that happened to the local bystanders was getting wet from being in the splash zone of the king’s mighty belly flop.

Then the king vanished beneath the waves. Then his hat appeared, upon which the spirit of blue slowly drifted down and landed atop of. Around the hat a stream of bubbles started bursting and then, after a few moments, the king himself burst to the surface of the water, gasping for air and also back to his usual size.

”Uuuugh. Well at least the dust’s off, but I’m definitely going to have this suit fixed” he muttered to himself as he tread water. Then, upon hearing the shout of Bacchus and looking over to see the man offering to help him up, and trying to get him to drink again, the king let out a long groan and let himself sink under the water again.

A moment later he burst from the ocean, his dripping form born towards the heavens by Carrie the Trowlon striker. The part towel, part trowel creature rapidly ascended, carrying the king on its back up towards the hole he’d smashed in the restaurant’s floor.

”SILL BUSY” he yelled down at the god, only for the light tilt of his head he made to do so to drop the spirit he hadn’t known was on his head down in front of him. A tentacle whipped out and caught the remains of the blue woman faster than the king’s hands ever could, after which he stored it away in a bottle. He was in a position to similarly catch anyone who happened to be dropped down the hole as he ascended back towards the battle.

---

And there 100% went any possibility that they’d be able to eat here ever, let alone after they’d finished with this skirmish, Kamek thought to himself as his master smashed through the floor of the restaurant. He wasn't overly concerned about Bowser himself, King had survived far worse drops and if the blue one had not simply been splattered by the king’s drop then it was probably her, not the king, who would be in trouble down wherever they landed. What remained up here was the last, red, mage who was horribly outnumbered by the heroes. For about 3 seconds.

Seeing her disadvantaged state she dodged towards the hole Bowser had smashed and summoned reinforcements, a quartet of dark doppelgangers of the Hyrulian Hero who all raced to strike down several one of his allies. The two that caught the mage’s gaze raced towards Sepheroth and Blazermate. The silver haired swordsman clashed with one, but, either due to ineptitude, selfishness or lack of ability (or at least those were Kamek’s guesses), ignored the other going for his healer. Free from being targeted, thanks to either his elevated vantage point or because he hadn’t done anything to be an immediate threat till now, Kamek found himself perfectly situated to intervene.

He jabbed a finger towards the Dark Link as it engaged the healer bot and called out ”Quiet!” summoning the silent skimpy sniper to his side, who raised her rifle, took quick but careful aim, and then fired at the doppelganger. Which resulted in her shooting it in the head right as the ace cadet cleaved it in half.

”ah, well, better safe than sorry” the mage said, earning a shrug from the sniper before she vanished back into the ether

---

The Koopa Prince

featuring Rika
wordcount: 1,457 (+3)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (10/80)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Pirate's Cove

”If you think that’s good, you just wait. I have so many ideas on how to improve it” Jr said, Rika had gone from nuisance to potentially super cool project in his head as he’d gotten a better look at her workings. It took him a few moments to realize that treating a person like an engineering project probably wasn't a great look.

”uh, her. If you're cool with that?” he added, very belatedly

“If I’m... cold with that? I’m not sure I understand. So sorry” the cruiser-girl asked apologetically. This one was certainly a bit bossier even though he was helping. Also he was royalty, meaning she trod a little more lightly around him than he did the ever friendly Sakura.

”.... It’s another way to say ‘good’. But in a... Cool way?” Jr scratched the back of his head and tried and failed to explain the nuance ”look, you can't really describe what makes something cool, you just know, you know?”

“I don’t think I do? But I like what you did already, so more would be ‘cool’” Rika replied after a moments thought

”Great,” Jr said, before turning his attention to Sakura’s somewhat vague understanding of her home’s political system, and countered with his own immature take on how things worked in his own ”Also royals are better than everyone else. Otherwise they wouldn't be in charge because someone better would come and kick their butt! I mean sure, Kameks says you gotta be compassionate and good at inspiring people and stuff but like all royals are mainly just bigger and better versions of their people so that’s the most important bit. King Bob’omb is a big bob’omb with a mustache, the goomba king’s a big goomba with a… mustache,” weird that ”also it's not just a bad guy thing either, those weird pea guys who live next to the mushroom kingdom’s prince is pretty strong apparently”

Jr realized no-one had any idea what he was talking about and tried a different tact ”Look. This, ' he snapped his fingers and summoned a koopa troopa, ”is a regular Koopa. Look at me with my cool spikes and horns and awesome butt kicking skills. Look at the plain Koopa whose main strategy involves walking into things to hurt them. Who do you think is in charge here?”

“you are boss” the minion helpful supplied

”right you are,” Jr said ”Seriously who votes to decide their leader?”

“We do that for picking the head of our union” the Koopa also supplied

”... Your what?”

“The wukmoo? The Working Koopa’s Minion Union?” From Jr’s expression it was clear had no idea what his minion was talking about, “it's this organization that negotiates our working conditions and things. All the minions have one and then there's a big ‘Minion of the Koopa Kingdom’ one for all of us?” still nothing “Uh... I don't think I have enough time to explain, but they mostly deal with Kamek I think so you could ask him? Times up gotta go sorry boss!” the troopa quickly tied to explain before running out of time and rejoining his kin in striker limbo, leaving Jr looking very confused

”uh. Right.” Jr shook his head and quickly dismissed it as one of those boring admin things his dad always fobbed off on Kamek and moved on ”Look, the point is, the person who can kick the most but is in-charge of anything that counts. We work like that, Abyssal fleet works like that, and I bet the navy works like that too?” he glanced at their resident navy girl for confirmation.

Jr’s mostly self indulgent line of conversation did end up having a point in the end, and that was for him to use it as a basis to give a more simplistic and violently practical suggestion on how to fix the issue abyssal fleet without grinding every last ship to dust. Or into items. ”So if you, Bella, want to do Sakura’s thing and take over the Abyssal fleet and stop them from killing you don't need to talk’em all round, you just gotta get strong enough to beat them all up and then they’ll follow you instead of who the current boss is. Probably don't even need to free everyone if you do it that way, just the bosses and then people like Rika will just follow suit? Oh, or you can get the bosses to free their own minions for you once you free them? Yeah! Delegating is something else Kamek says is important too.” he suggested, nodding proudly to himself at remembering that last bit. True, he mostly remembered it because it let him justify fobbing off stuff on his minions as a good thing actually, but still. ”You find another fleet, punch their princess in the snout to assert dominance. Then do that again and again till you’ve got a big rebel army going and then you take down the queen. Or the flagship? I guess she’d be both?”

Again, Rika had no idea what was being talked about, so she was very happy that exercising became the core part of the conversation again, and listened with rapt attention as Sakura answered her questions, complete with demonstrations of what sit ups and pull ups where. Even Rika could tell that this was something Sakura was both especially passionate about and more knowledgeable about than some of the other things she'd been talking about which made the ship girl even more enthusiastic about trying it out.

It was a bit weird that she could walk better than the princess, she thought as Sakrua switched to giving Bella standing lessons. She thought royalty’d be better at everything than her.

Jr assumed it was because Rika was built to be a brawler whereas the princess was more of a long range shooty girl, though he also didn't really understand why standing would be difficult at all. Surly they still needed to hold themselves upright while ‘standing’ on the water, or so he thought as he watched as Rika walked over to the door frame to try a pull up, her poise noticeably less stable now that her gauntlet strapped to her back rather than to her hands. But clearly enamored enough with anything that would let her use her freed hands that she wasn't going to let that stop her.

She gripped the sides and with surprising ease, pulled herself up and then set herself down without any issue. There was something a bit off about the pull though, or so Jr thought.

”Now do it without using the anti gravity you’ve got on those gauntlets. Or at least turn it down a bit.” Jr called over.

“Oh? Ok” nothing changed for a few moments, but then the girl suddenly let out and an “eep” as the giant gauntlets based backpack stopped supporting her weight and she almost toppled over, wobbling and flailing and then clearly turning the anti grav way back up to avoid completely collapsing while Jr snickered to himself.

He wasn't laughing for long, as all too soon Sakura moved on from trying to get the princess to stand on her own two feet to directing the prince and heavy cruiser into doing more advanced exercises.

”uuurg, fine” Jr said before bedding over, attempting to touch his toes, taping the deck with his explosive goo tipped wrist horns instead. After getting clear of the (fortunately very small due to only getting residue thatcher than a fresh dose of goo on the ground) explosion he tried again ”see? Easy and boring” he said. Indeed it was easy, mainly because the boy had legs that were very incredibly stubby when compared to a human’s proportionally speaking. Indeed his arms were actually a bit longer than them which was the opposite to most human’s proportions. All this meant he didn't need to bend down anywhere as much as the others would to achieve the same effect..

Rika meanwhile followed her instructions without question, partially out of habit, partially because it was Sakura but mostly because this was another thing she would not have been able to do before a few moments ago, bending over and tippy tapping her booted feet with her newly freed hands, her antigrav gauntlets not helping her cheat this exercise like they did the push up or even just standing. “Oooh. Oh I feel something? A lot of something? It’s a little burning feeling? That's cool. Or it isn't cold, but it’s still cool? I think. Is that how that works Jr?”

”Sure.” jr replied (prompting a smile from the ship girl who proceeded to start loudly counting to 10 under her breath as she held the pose) before asking ”Look wouldn’t it just be faster for the princess to fuse with a spirit that can walk anyway?” aware that that had its downsides but also being 100% the kind of person who’d take shortcuts like that.

”Also how long are you gonna stand like that? You’re just showing off at this point.” he added trying to copy Sakura’s pose with her standing with her leg over her shoulder while they talked, the prince only really able to tap his chin with the tips of his clawed toes thanks to his inhuman proportions.

World of Light

I mean what self respecting hero doesn't completely wreck a place in the course of dispensing justice?

World of Light

The Koopa Prince

featuring Rika
wordcount: 1,975 (+3)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (7/80)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Pirate's Cove

Sakura scooted out of the room after he knocked, which was a little risky he thought, to thank him.

”Yeah yeah I was pretty” he began to brush it off/gloat before he was suddenly hauled into the air, quickly spun around and put down again right where he’d been standing, left blinking and a little disoriented by the sudden rotation. He was going to complain before being bombarded by a quick rundown of the Abyssal's progress in self identity, namely their names, and a quick reassurance that he wasn't the only one who’d forgotten the ship girl who had introduced them to the city. Stopsire? Shophire? jr realized he had forgotten her name already. He blamed the spinning.

At least Bella and Rika were shorter and easier to remember so he made an effort to not be embarrassed again, repeating them over and over as he wandered over to the command console of the bridge and then found the bay door controls, thumbing the button and then waiting for them to slowly close back up.

---

“Oh ok” Rika replied simply when told that they would have to keep hiding, but also that they wouldn't have to hide like that, (what would you call that, double hiding? She wasn’t sure) again which was a relief. She didn't really follow a lot of what was talked about next. Bella’s speaking about being alone among the legion did make much sense to her. She would be with people, how could she be alone, the ship though not understanding she was talking about how it would feel to go back rather than what the physical reality would be. Then she nodded automatically when the princess, even though she had a name now Rika still thought of her as a Princess, someone she should follow, said she wanted to go/stay with Sakura despite the danger that would entail.

It wasn't like she didn't want to follow Sakura either. Baring the gradually more uncomfortable feeling confinement and the brief bit of stressful hiding things had been nice so far. It was just that if the princess had decided to do anything else she would have done the same.

She didn't get what Ranger and Sakura’s conversation about spirits and using them being disrespectful meant in the slightest so she just rocked her torso back and forth, which relieve the boredom for some reason, admired the pig boat resting in her lap and listened without trying to hard process what was being said, just letting the sound of them talking was over her. One thing did stand out however and that was that they were talking about ships as if they stayed gone after they were killed which didn't sound right to her. She’d just kind of assumed that when she or someone else sunk the navy’s ships they came back the same as she had. But then again, had she ever seen any of the ones that had died again? She wasn't sure, she hadn't exactly had a reason to keep track, but she was not enjoying this line of thinking, which made Sakura’s call to exercise very welcome as it meant she could focus on that instead of her own thoughts. She eagerly got up to join in in this ‘exercise thing’, which caused two things to go wrong in quick succession.

---

Outside junior was just finishing shutting the door when he heard Sakura’s call to get in on something. Having nothing better to do, he turned to go join the girls when he hear a squeal from Tyrant, who was not happy about being dislodged from his resting spot on Rika’s lap when she got up unexpectedly, followed by some apologizing from the girl who’d forgotten about him in her urgency to stop reflection on the nature of death. Then, when he was about to open the door, there was another almighty clang as the cruiser tried to copy one of Sakura’s moves and banged a massive gauntlet into the ship again, this time hitting a wall instead of the ceiling.

Jr wrenched the door open and glared at the girl then the dent in the wall, then at the girl again ”Stop breaking my ship! What are you even doing?”

“Oh. um. Sorry. I was exercising? Like Sakura was?”

Jr’s eyes went a little wide at this, before he glanced over at the schoolgirl warrior, put two and two together and then made a quick decision to avoid being pressured into doing an exercise routine.

”Look. Those are stuck on right? If I help you get those off will you stop breaking my ship?” he asked

“They don’t come off” She wiggled a hand around but there was no escaping the fact that the metal coating her forearms was welded to the gauntlets. Her hands were sort of free, but all she could do with them was tap the top of the weapons, her palms and wrist held down by more metal. “I’ve tried and they’re just stuck like that. It's just was how I was made, so I don't think you can help”

”Not with that attitude you won't. Wait here” the boy asserted, before darting out and returning moments later with his tool box. ”Sit down again. You lot can exercise, I.. We are going to get... Rika? ” he got an enthusiastic nod from the girl who was still very please about having a name ”Me and Rika are going to get these off”

“I did want to exercise though. It sounded good. Or well, it’s Sakura suggesting it so it has to be good right?” Rika said, more stating facts rather than complaining or resisting.

”You can do that when you won't break the ship in the process. Now. hold still,” Jr told her, which as he retrieved a hacksaw from the GDI tool kit he’d acquired at hammerhead a few days ago ”and this won't hurt a bit. Probably”

With that he started sawing away at the metal binding girl and ship parts together, occasionally resorting to using a file, a hammer or little blobs of explosive goo to help him get through the tougher bits. While he worked both listened to/watched as Sakura kept talking about this and that and responding to or asking questions when they wanted too.

”I’m a koopa” Jr explained shortly when asked what kind of people he was ”and I have no idea if anything you said is right for my people. Haven't paid attention to fitness stuff since the Best Fitness Friends tricked me… tricked my minions into gathering the ingredients of a mind control formula and then sicked my own minions on me after they controlled them with the mind control medicine stuff.”

”I mean i didn't really care before anyway. Like. Why do stretches and stuff when you can run around and have fun instead? Seems boring,” He admitted

“I think getting stronger sounds good?” Rika suggested. There was a pinging sound as jr hacked the last of the metal holding one of her arms to the massive gauntlets. She brought her hand up and examined, turning to and fro making little “ow” when it hurt a little, the wrist and arm stiff from never having moved that way before, but it got better quickly. She likely looked a bit weird, as she went about touching things with her fingers that had felt nothing but cold steel since they were made just to see what it felt like. Jr ignored it for the most part and went to work on the other hand

”Why work for something when your born with it, I’m gonna be big and strong as my dad one day anyway” jr replied, before realising the ship girls hadn't met him and clarified a bit ”he’s huge and cool and strong and the best dad and king. trust me”

“So like how Bella was made stronger than I was?” Rika asked while poking her own nose with a freed finger.

”... maybe? Royals are just better than your average member of a species. Except peach maybe. She’s kinda just another human. Or well she’s way better than the useless toads she rules so maybe it’s just we’re stronger than out minions I don't know” there was another snap and jr freed the other hand from the gauntlet ”haha, there we go, all free”

“Oh” the ship girl brought her newly freed hand to the other one, clapping them together and then tippy tapping one set of fingers against the others. New sensations! It was very good. She got up, Jr assuming she wanted to exercise now only to be picked up and spun around again, this time by Rika, who had just barely seen Sakura do this through a little window in the door.

“And now I put you down again, right? And say thank you? Thank you” Rika told him, having gone through the motions in the way she had thanked him but also meaning her thanks with 100% sincerity.

”That uuuugh, you get one but that's not how you should be thanking people. Its not cool. Also, you seem a little tied up there” jr saids after shaking his head clear.

“Oh?” Rika looked down and found that the long pipes linking the gauntlets to her back were still there, and had wrapped around her waist when she’d done the twirl. The gauntlets themselves floated freely in the air, the antigrave that made them lift-able still working and now holding them up on their own. It was good she’d only one one spin, any more and she might have tugged them around and hit someone.

“What are we going to do about those? And how am I going to hold them now?” she asked, when she tried to grab them in the same spot where she used to ‘hold’ them and found nothing to keep them with her, suddenly worried about that now that it was actually an issue.

”uuum,” jr replied, also having not entirely thought this through either, before quickly walking around her and checking out the pipes ”yeah no of course those are welded rather than screwed on back there. Ok. Look. I need to go get parts for the ship later anyway, we'll figure something out then. Grips you can get in and out of, some kind of way of transporting those around when you're not using them, a way to disconnect those pipes... We’ll figure stuff out, but for now I’ll just... ” he pulled the two weapons behind her and after a few moments had duct taped them together into a single more manageable unit which he then taped to her back unit. ”Ok yeah that’ll work. We’ll do something better later. For now just try to remember they’re back there like some massive backpack, and enjoy having hands”

“Oh Ok” she was definitely enjoying that. She could move her fringe out of her eyes without wiggling her head around. That was great. Also she could just touch her hair in general and other things and. Yeah. It was excellent. She went over and petted Tyrant, who had claimed part of the bed, like she’d wanted to this whole time and it was just as good as she’d expected.

“Oh. right. Exercise” she suddenly said when she'd finished petting the pig on the head. She’d almost forgotten, distracted by the whole ‘having hands she could actually use’ thing.

”ugh” jr groaned as he packed away his tools, still not enthusiastic about the thing.

“So. Sorry. What is a sit up? Or a pull up?” Rika asked, potentially the only person other than Sakura onboard who was enthusiastic about the concept, “do I just do the stuff you were doing randomly? Is there a pattern? How do i know what to do?”

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 532 (+1)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (7/90)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (72/70)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Outside The Bismarck

They never did find out what alcohol was.

Instead more important issues were focused on, like getting inside. Kamek went to go and try and tinker with the wall to see if he could poke any holes in its magics, shuffling over and giving a few taps with his wand ”Hmmmmm” and then pressing an ear-hole up against it.

”Yes, perhaps.” he muttered to himself, but his brief efforts turned out to be a pointless endeavor, as Misfortune did some out of the box thinking and found that whoever had put up the walls hadn't put their own roof on the place, instead relying on the existing building to act as part of her defense. Considering this included a cloth roof, this was perhaps not the best plan.

”Ah, a classic mistake” Kamek commented as the cat snuck in through her self made ceiling cat flap, covering the fact that he would have likely spent hours tinkering away with the magical wall while not even contemplating breaking through the mundane one ”This kind of thing would never keep Mario out” he added as he shook his head and tutted.

”AND IT WON'T KEEP US OUT EITHER! LET’S RIP THE LID OF THE CIRCUS AND GET IN THERE!” Bowser roared, before leaping up on the side of the building in a single floaty bound, boot landing on the solid roof of part of the building, which probably held the kitchen beneath it. He grabbed the awning and tried to rip it off, tugging at the cloth, a few of the connecting points break with each motion.

Then the awning was blown off by the multi mine explosion, hurling the cloth up in the air with Bowser still holding it. The King looked at this goggle eyed for a second, then recovered and whipped the cloth around and tossed it aside, revealing the chaotic mess below. On top of the people he’d been expecting there were a whole bunch of multicolored ladies. Also a frog man. And Sephiroth who hadn't gotten lost or wandered off this time but actually ended up where he needed to be which was a definite improvement on his last attempt.

”UUUUUUUH” Bowser raised a finger as it would get everyone to stop running around and exploding so he could work out what was going on, during which he was joined by Kamek who rode up on his broom to join his king.

”I think we can cross this one off the list” he muttered to himself. They were never going to be allowed to eat here even if they did recover from the carnage

Not the sharpest tack in the box it took Bowser a touch longer than it had Ms Fortune to work out that the colorful clones were the kidnapper(s?) in question, and thus the enemy. He brought down the raised finger and pointed it at the Blue one. Then, in his infinite genius, he decided to try and elbow drop her, leaping up in the air once again and then dropping down towards her like a ton of bricks, while she was charging up some kind of super spell. Kamek had little choice but to aid this airstrike, because the play could only end excellently or terribly and more mass helped in both cases, focusing his enlargement magic upon the king and boosting his size of the truck he was going to hit like by the time he was about to impact.