Midna’s slippers papped against the ground in rapid fire as they carried her through the woods, broken occasionally when the princess reached the top of a slope and the princess took advantage of her new sliding power to scoot down it for extra speed, then using a slam of her shadow hand into the ground behind her to rapidly push herself back to her feet. While part of this was for efficiency and getting to the distressed person as fast as possible, some of it was to keep ahead of the other so they didn't see her getting used to being so slippery on the ground.
Two close encounters with trees later and a bit more experience in handling like she was on running on ice later and the princess skidded out from the candy woods and found herself faced with a town. Not just any town, no in this land of sweets it was, of course, built to be tantalizingly edible. Midna supposed that if everything else was made of food, you kind of had to build your home out of it, but it still didn't seem like the best building material. If you tried to heat your home you’d just melt it and-
The princess’s analysis of the viability of living like this was cut short when she noticed the actual occupants of the town and they, in turn, noticed her.
The first was an unwilling guest and the source of the distressed calling: a fairy, or so Midna assumed based on her wings. Possibly a rather powerful one, if the rules of Hyrule applied elsewhere. Then again, she was stuck in a cage, so perhaps not.
Her captors were also hard to miss. Two titanic robots, who had been patrolling the town square and guarding the caged fairy, paused their wandering when the woman started shouting and turned to look at her. Just. Looked at her. Which was odd considering they where designed like the other robots who had been very aggressive. Maybe, Midna thought, it was because they just didn't want to leave their posts to come attack her. The princess stared back at them for a few moments, then glanced over her shoulder and realized that she’d left her allies in the dust. If they were coming at all. Taking on those titans was something she thought she could do if she had too, but she also really didn't want to find herself sliding right into the path of one of their human sized fists if she could avoid it.
She could simply wait of course, the fairy was distressed but not actively in danger locked up like that, but that level of inaction didn't sit right with her after she’d put the effort in to hurry over here quickly as she had. Still charging right in to fight them wasn't the be all and end all of what she could do in this situation either, so instead she decided to take a sneakier approach.
Without a word she stepped back into the shade of the candy forest and then vanished from sight, leaving behind a few rapidly decaying square motes of twilight magic. She reappeared in the shadow of a chocolate straw chimney on one of the houses on the far side of the square, putting her behind the robots that had been looking at her, and then sliding down the back of the roof so she was completely out of sight of them even if they turned around. From there she’d make a quick scout of the town to make sure there weren't any surprises hiding in all the houses, like, say, lots of little bots lying in ambush, and then wait to see if a ‘distraction’ was going to show up or not before she made a her move.
If they were a no show, then, well, she could always make her own.
(and Rika) wordcount: 1,981 (+3) Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (33/90) Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (26/80) Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (94/70) Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay
The Atomos took to the skies, the long range courier ship turned battle wagon cruising at a casual, for it, speed above the massed fleet of ship-girls. It had been something to behold when coming in to dock, but to see them all in motion was a wonder to behold. Still, there was only so long you could look at the vast array of colorful and creatively designed ladies till you got over the initial amazement. Fortunately there were other sights to behold, so many that Jr had to sometimes see people back who were crowding his pilot’s chair too much.
Along with plenty of gorgeous coastal scenery and the odd man made curiosity, all sorts of marvelous creatures could be seen as they sailed across the waves, though most understandably gave them feet a wide berth. The Abyssals who ran into the fleet did not have that luxury, and they were either too simpleminded to run at the first sign of trouble or too slow to escape the fastest navy ships if they did. From their slightly elevated position, the airship was flying low to avoid acting as a giant, “we are here” beacon to their enemies, those onboard got a perfect view of this slaughter, something Rika had to stop watching after the third time. Even if they weren't really awake, alive and thinking like she was, because a lot of that had effectively been pushed into her by the friendheart, it was still hard to shrug off that the more human among them could have very easily been her had things gone even slightly differently.
The weird sea monsters and annihilation of abyssals got a bit samey after a while too, at which point Kamek decided to check in with a Moogle to get a status report on the other team and the mercenaries. It was good to know that the yellow team where still in one piece and making progress towards their goal, that fox had assigned a team to double check that the deadzone’s boss was indeed dead and to learn about Midna’s discovery involving the fusion of 10 weak spirits, though they all generally agreed it wasn’t the most versatile of capabilities.
”I guess we could use it for a bit to do something specific and then have peach undo it. Oh, or I could change Tyrant into something stronger for a bit. Keep the training I’ve given him but turn him into a shark or something, like what that princess did” Jr suggested. The still part gunboat pig shifted a little in his lap at the sound of its name, but otherwise did not comprehend the possibility of being further shape shifted by his owner.
What was unexpected news was that the person in control of the robots back in the kart scrapheap around peach’s castle was: ”Eggman?” ”Eggman?”
”My apologies, but who is this ‘Eggman’ again?” Kamek asked
”Oh he’s this robot building badguy. You know when me and jr do the Olympics with Mario and Sonic and stuff? Well Sonic is Eggman’s Mario. There was this whole thing where me and him and Sonic and Mario where we got sucked into a games console last time round. It was weird, but I think I know the guy pretty well as a result.”
”Yeah it was weird. Like you show up expecting to just leave some fuzzy animal people in the dust while winning a bunch of meddles, and then instead end up with this whole sports based quest thing going on instead. Ended up having to work with Luigi, this fox called Tails and Eggman’s, like, great great great grandson or something to help get pappa and the rest out of the console,” Jr added
”Yeah just one of those things. Bit like that thing with the cursed tennis racket. Anyway. Long story short. Guy’s got that whole, ‘I’m so smart look at me’ thing going on but otherwise decent badguy. They can probably go talk some sense into him,” Bowser said, before addressing the moogle who’d been giving them the update ”hey, you, fuzzball, go tell them to go talk to Eggman”
“Who should go, kupo?” the moogle asked
”Ugh, I don’t know just send whoever around or something, just get them to go talk some sense into him and it’ll all work out”
“Talk some sense into him?” Hollythorn was incredulous that they were also of a mind that they could just talk to the murderous robot builder “What is with you humans?!”
“Bowser’s a Koopa actually,” Princess Daisy helpful pointed out, before explaining further that “he's like a big dragon turtle”
“... isn't that the guy who you said kept invading your kingdom and who you also go play sports with all the time?”
“Peach's kingdom, not mine, but otherwise yeah that’s the big guy” she confirmed
The goblin stared up at the ginger haired princess with a mix of astonishment and horror, before declaring “Your world is insane”
“Hey!”
“Besides. That guy’s army’s could be here any minute now! This has come in way too late”
“If it's speed you need” came a shout from Eddie Riggs “Then the old druid plow’s got you covered!”
The roadie had been helping set up defenses for the coming invasion, augmenting his multitude of muscles and technical expertise with a vehicle he had summoned via guitar solo called the Deuce, which had been demoted from awesome killer ride to tow truck as it hauled scrap in from the scrapheap to help build what was growing into a rather sprawling set of defensive ramparts and barricades guarding the approach to Peach’s castle.
“Wait. So how fast does that thing go?” She asked, having gotten used to it being sued as a hauler
“Oh she can burn up the miles no problem” the roadie told her “you want to get out there and launch a preemptive strike on this egghead? Then the Deuce is the vehicle for the job, no question”
“Now you’re are talking my language human” The goblin told him with a grin
“Eh, only half but.. ah that doesn't matter” Eddie replied, not going into the specifics of his ancestry.
“Wow. hey. No. No one is going to do any striking. I say we talk, and the orders back me up” daisy insisted
“She’s got you there” Vandham, who’d come to check on things and find people who’d be willing to do the sortie agreed.
“This guy is a dangerous, murderous egomaniac. You didn't hear him talking, I did. He is coming for us and we have to take him down or he’s just going to keep throwing robots at us over and over and over”
“He’s also Gleaming,” the slang had made its way back via report “so he’s not in his right mind right now. If we just explain what’s going on we can talk some sense into him and bring him onboard. Guy like that, bet he’d be a real help”
“He. Needs. To. Pay” the goblin retorted
“Wow wow wow. Ladies" Eddie inserted himself between the two former friends who would have been butting heads if there hadn't been such a height difference between them “There’s a solution you aren't seeing here. We go and beat the sense into him”
There was a long pause, and then both Hollthorn’s and Daisy’s features softened “Yeah I can work with that” “agreed”
“Then let’s ride!” Eddie announced
“Hang on hang on. You still need a fourth member of your party.” Vandham reminded them as the trio turned to head for their ride.
“Oh. Right.” Daisy replied before calling out “Hey Luigi!“ prompting a “ohhhh, mama mia” from the plumber who had been slowly edging his way away from the entire conversation and had been moments away from being in the clear.
The team was assembled, and ready to go face down the doctor and his armies of robots.
Back in the Blue, the purple team was about to face down an army of their own.
The Atomos crew got their update from Ranger’s radio: They were going to have to run a gauntlet, but weren't necessarily going to have to help them take on the two local abyssal princesses themselves. Unless, of course, they sortied out to face them. They did still have an army to go through however. Onboard the airship the troop nodded to each other. They had a plan in place already. Now that was the time to pull out all the stops, punch though as hard as possible both so they had to spend as little time as possible in the firing line and as a little thank you for their help to the ship girls.
Holding back would really just be rude. It also wasn't the troops style.
Bowser shoved open the back door and then, with a leap, landed on the roof of the bridge and took a seat. Below him, Kamek brandished his wand while opposite him Mimi did the same with her stick tail.
”Boil and bubble, here comes trouble, watch out frightful ocean princesses, To our king's power, you’ll become witnesses!”
The mage intoned, accompanied by many a “mi, mimi kyu kyus” in the same rhythm as Mimi copycatted the mage’s spell.
As they banked around the bend the king grew. And grew. And grew, till he straddled the bridge of the ship and slipped his feet into the straps on either side specifically placed to hold a supersized someone there.
”GAHAHAHAHAHA! BEHOLD, THE KING OF AWESOME'S COME TO SHOW YOU WHAT TRUE POWER LOOKS LIKE!” The King roared out in boast, wasting valuable seconds at the start of the battle with villainous gloating, before drawing in breath. As he did, the tentacruel beaks of his back took independent aim and screamed out a supersonic cry, the grand but tight beams of sound that they swept across the masses of Abyssals, bringing confusion and disarray to their ranks.
Then, as the shipgirls proved themselves to be the worst line-holders ever (though the navy’s lack of melee combatants did make avoiding friendly fire a lot easier however) and the abyssals pushed right past them he unleashed a mega fireball at the incoming troops . The slow shot cleanly missed the cruisers that ended up boarded Shippy, but vessels behind them had to deal with the super heard giant fireball as it hit the ocean and exploding in a wave of steam as the ball of fire struck the surface and then just kept on going, borrowing down into the ocean till it hit the seabed below. Or rather, phasing through it and disappearing down to who knew where.
The King wasn't close to done with just one mega fireball as fire breath, acid, supersonic blasts, torrents of Razor Shoal infused water and yet more fireballs bombarded any parts of the enemy fleet that weren't close to friendlies, showering chaos and destruction upon anything and everything that couldn't get out of the way.
There were a few problems with all this of course.
One. Bowser was ultimately doing nothing about the immediate threats to the party as he instead wreaked havoc on more distant foes.
Two. The chaotic air brawl between micro seaplanes was a swarm of foes and friends that bower couldn't safely intervene with without doing equal or likely more damage to their allies as he did to the abyssal air force, leaving them free to bully him like he was king kong on the empire state building.
Three, the extra weight of the king made their ship less maneuverable and also made it dip down towards the water where it too became at risk of boarding.
Four. It attracted attention like nobody's business.
Finally, it tied up basically all the troop’s resources in one titanic show of power. A titan of arrogance and hubris the purple team had best hope not topple down on top of them.
Blue robes, hemmed with gold and a face guarded by a beaked mask hauled themselves forth onto the stone. Great steel talons, weapons and instruments both, that covered the figure’s hands scraped at the floor in a slow flex and then a flurry of motion as it pushed itself up. The figure remembered the hunters. Had only it escaped from the darkness, then perhaps it might have taken this moment as one of respite, but it was not. There where others, and if they had escaped, then so too could the hunters. It had to move, it had to run, had to flee before they caught it.
They rose, and as they did so a pendant around their neck caught the light and shone back with a pale cold distant light brighter than a mere reflection. The figure stumbled to it's knees once more as visions and sensations assailed it's mind, too numerous and dense to comprehend (but always the birds, oh the birds, they hounded it still!) until after an age that lasted a heartbeat it saw the end: the sight of the pendant, shining bright the light of moon and endless stars high, high above and the rush of elation and power that came with that moment.
It gasped, awakening for a second time in the same room. A clawed hand grasped for the pendant that it had not seen but now knew all to well was there, pulling it up before her. The pale light still shone, weaker now, from a sapphire held within a crescent moon of purest sliver. The front of the arch was studded with the anchors of a framework that threatened to build over the gem, while the reverse held runes, letters and words in minute script. Some seemed to be nonsense, letters arranged in meaningless unpronounceable words. Somewhere worn and gone. A rare few were wholly alien, and yet they stimulated the mind in fascinating and maddening ways. The only thing that stood out among the words that it could understand was the word:
”L-Luna”
A voice came from behind the beaked mask as it read the word. A woman's voice, wizened with experience and wisdom now long since lost. The figure grasped the pendant tight in it’s hand, squeezing it in its grasp, causing sparks and currents of lighting to pulse and sputter across the steel gauntlet, before suddenly letting go.
She had what she needed.
Luna stood and turned to face the pool and the strangers that had emerged from it as well of blood, her posture slightly hunched, her claws held at her side, fidgeting in restless agitation. She could see their faces. All but one, who seemed to have risen first, who was clad in purple and black, with bandages around her limbs and a white mask protecting her face. She held a cane over her shoulder, taken most likely from the armaments that littered the room, and had an almost casual air about her. A strange thing to have, when the hunters could so soon be upon them.
Then she spoke, in words as strange and foreign.
”I am afraid I do not speak your tongue, child” Luna replied to the stranger, and then asked ”Pray tell, do you speak mine?”
Spaulders of the Bat - A pair of shoulder guards that bind to the wearer when equipped, meaning they will be destroyed if discarded or given to someone else. They provide extra physical protection and incremental increases to intellect, stamina, and haste (casting / attack speed). With the Andrew Oikonny sticker applied, the wearer is also a little more launch resistant, flying back a shorter distance when launched. With the Maglev mod equipped, the wearer's slide speed is boosted by a notable 30%, but with 30% less friction she's also a bit slower/slipprier both to get started and to stop moving on all surfaces (no effect while airborne)
After she’d pulled the two big guys from the sand Midna wasn't done babysitting them, as she then had to also help pull the Heavy out of battle as well. The big guy definitely got into a single minded mindset when fighting started, one that wound up being rather unhelpful to them as he refused to pull back until Braum started to physically drag him out of the battle. Midna joined in, grasping his other shoulder with a shadow hand so that they could haul him off his feet and pull him backwards between them until he got the message and started moving on his own.
They were aided in this by Primrose’s enchanting footwork bolstering their speed, which gave them just enough of a lead on the frozen fish that when it broke out Braum had the time and space to give it a second and then a third dosing of icy cold stopping power with a icy blast and then an avalanche of frozen power.
”Brrr, I could feel that from over here” Midna said, her new draconian aspect making her more sensitive to the cold as part of her new weakness to ice attacks. That she was weak to ice was something she only just now realized as a result of an instinct of the flygon’s barking in her mind to stay as far away from the icy attacks as possible. That was rather concerning, but it wasn't like there was going to be any ice or snow in the desert, even if the nights where a bit nippy, so Minda wasn't overly concerned.
Though the big boy had been left behind to cool off, that still left the fliers and Trawlers harrying their retreat.
Midna’s wolfos put on a burst of speed to Dodged out of the way of a trawler that had been trying to dash over the tracks and grab it, leaving Midna to independently swipe at it, purple clawed shadowhand shredding its side in one swift motion as it passed behind them. The princess had opted to sit backwards on her mount which, while incredibly uncomfortable, did make covering the rear incredibly easy as unlike others who would have to backpedal and lose speed, her wolfos could focus on moving forwards while she dealt with the rearmost threats.
The only flaw was that it meant she couldn't do threat detection for it sitting like ths, and while the wolfos was more than able to hop over the flaming patches left by the red grenades it didn't put two and two together to realize the beeping things where a threat quickly enough, running straight over a white one as it detonated, launching both of them skywards.
Woflos leg flailed and the princes cried out in alarm, yet their flight was not nearly as bad that inflicted on those those dunked into the sand at much the same time as the sticker applied to Midna’s new shoulder-guard somehow increasing air resistance for her, causing the ark of her and her mounts flight to be shorter than it should have been. Not that smashing down on the embankment was going to be a harmless impact Instead of smashing uncontrollably into the dirt Midna slammed out her shadow hand, pounding the embankment with a mighty palm and stabilizing the tumbling fall they were taking enough for her mount to land with sure footing mere inches form where the quicksand effect started.
It didn’t need Midna’s admonishing remark to know not to make the same mistake again. She made them anyway.
The princess retaliated against the fliers by bringing out the super sized twilight Vibrava again, the titanic buggy dragon hurtling out of a twilight portal and buzzing up above her. The bots had gotten wise though, and rapidly exited the area round it to avoid being bug buzzed like their fallen comrades had been. Instead of buzz angrily at thin air the Vibrava unleashed a gout of dragon breath, the tight streak of purple power lashing out and roasted a bot or two. Deadly, but distinctly less of a swarm killer than the sound based aoe had been. Still, at least it didn't give Midan a headache.
The team’s meager AA capabilites was making dealing with the swarm a real pest but fortunately the end was in sight and, after an excellent combo move from Mona, Poppi and Tora where they careened through an army of bots who had dared to try and stand in their way, the gang pile into a tunnel moments before their sand shark pursuer caught up with them, the voracious beast getting stuck in the entrance of the tunnel.
”Ha! Stupid fish” the princess mocked it, giving it a punch on the snout (from as far away as she could) usng her shadow hand to asset dominance (as a cathartic insult rather than an attempt to actually finish it off) before hurrying onward to catch up with the ramming crew, just incase they had run into more trouble at the end of the line.
Fortunately, they were not in the process of being swarmed or hemmed into the other end of the tunnel and had instead found the land of a candy fiend’s dreams.
”Probably make you sick even if you hadn’t been running. There's just. So much everything” Midna said as she approached, catching Panther’s comment about it not being a good idea to try eating the sugary land’s multitude of temptations after having run so much.
Indeed, the princess marveled at the unending decadent delight of a land, the comparative rarity of sweets, even for royalty, in her more primitive time period when compared to the Thieves’ making it even more amazing.
”Hey, no. You'll get sick too stop” she told her mount as it started licking the station’s delicious construction.
One telling off and dismissal later and the princess floated down to the ground. Unlike the others, she hadn't run a marathon and thus wasn't quite as exhausted as they were, but she was incredibly saddle sore from riding backwards and so where the others probably wanted to sit down she wanted to very much be on her feet.
She touched down and then stretched her stiff muscles a bit while taking in the strange landscape, and stranger still wildlife. Here were bugs that looked far more appetizing than the ones they’d considered eating back at the mega cliff. There was also more dangerous fare in this seeming paradise. Vicious mimics in the form of a striped sweet snake hat devoured an unsuspecting bug gave away the fact that not everything here could be trusted to be as it seemed. The bots were nearby too, though these seemed to not be as aggressive as their kin, or hadn't noticed their presence yet. Finally there was the small cream creature that a new instinct drawn from the flygon labeled as incredibly dangerous despite its innocuous appearance.
The smart part of her wanted to avoid it, the curious and daring part of her wanted to find out what the big deal was. Maybe later, she told herself. Right now there were bigger concerns, such as the report Poppi gave that there was someone in trouble nearby, putting a damper on their recovery time.
Midna sighed and then volunteered ”I haven't done as much running as you all, so I’ll go investigate what’s going on over there” Midna wasn't the pure heroic type who’d run to someone's aid without a thought like the dear Links of the world, but having given it one she’d decided that it was probably not a good idea to ignore someone in distress in an unknown landscape, less the source of the their distress became one for you as well.
Also she wasn't without a conscience. It was rather difficult to rest and relax when there was someone in trouble nearby who you should be bailing out of trouble.
If no one stopped her the princess took off a moment later, her slightly slowed acceleration out of the stops looking a lot like a certain green plumber’s slidy controls. She tossed a pair of dragon dances into her run, doubling her speed as she jogged forth to see what the matter was. Well, she actually put about five in, but she was still getting the hang of doing them on the fly and so three of the five had failed to follow the right steps to produce dance’s the explosive empowerment. Two would have to do.
wordcount: 4,668 (+3) Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (30/90) Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (23/80) Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (91/70) Kasugano Sakura 30/40 Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay
”Ok. Now try this out” Jr said to Rika, as he stepped back from the work he had been doing on her arm gauntlets. He’d taken a break from trying to upgrade the ship to, well, upgrade a different ship in a sense, though this modification was making sure Rika could use her armaments again rather than shoving armor and weapons where they had no right being like was happening to the Atomos. Not that the cruiser girl hadn’t undergone an even more drastic transformation of her own. Indeed the ship looked very different, because she was now wearing actual clothes as opposed to a mat black bikini. A sturdy pair of black buckled boots adored her feet, while her legs and waist were covered in a red knee length skirt (she’d liked Sakura’s so it was more like hers than Peach or Bella’s) and a number of satchels (which contained mostly snacks at the moment), while her upper half was wrapped in a black jacket studded with brass buttons.
This last fine piece of fashion had had to be slightly mutilated to accommodate the metal component on Rika’s back that connected her to her gauntlets, but a bit of sewing by Kamek and an addition of some clasps welded to the steel let the edges of the hole in the jacket hook onto the side of the metal contraption in a relatively elegant manner, keeping the ensemble in palace despite it missing a chunk of the back.
The ship herself was in the middle of trying to decide whether she should wear a hat or not to go long with this when the prince got her attention. He’d finished welding/bolting a pair of clasps and grips to where her hands used to be bound to her gauntlets, and now wanted her to try testing them out.
”Ok, so you put one hand here and then close the case like this” Jr began to explain, only for Rika to triple check that “These will come off again, right?”
”Uh, yeah duh. That’s kinda the point? Look I’ll show you in a moment don't worry. Ok so you snap it shut like that” Jr closed the padded wrist guard sized clasp over her arm while she held a new handle bolted in front of it. ”and then do the same over here and hey presto, you're in fighting shape again!”
It was true. The girl hauled her weapons up, the sensation both familiar and a little strange due to the difference between the old set up and Jr’s new one (mostly the padding on the inside of the wrist guards and the cloth of her jacket keeping the metal off of her, which was very nice. The handles would probably give her more control which was good too) and the fact that she’d been free before, so this wasn't all she knew anymore. It now felt uncomfortable where once it had been completely normal “Ok. Cool. But how do I-?”
”Just turn one to the side like this'' Jr guided the massive floating gun gauntlet into position so her palm was facing up, ”then just reach over the other one and you see that lever? Pull it and-” there was a click and Rika’s arm came free again ”yay, it worked! ... I mean see? Easy.”
“Yes. I do see. Or well. I didn’t. Was a bit hard to with the gun in the way but I got it” Rika said as she freed her other arm again. It was so easy! She’d feel less bad about having them on again in future knowing came off that was for sure.
”yeah you did. So. Now that we’ve gotten that working, you wanna try-?” Jr began to suggest, but Rika nodded before he could finish. They both knew what the plan was once they’d gotten everything mundane sorted.
”Cool.” Junior found Peach inside the Atomos with Bella, who’d just changed into her own brand new outfit. With a blue floral summer dress, fancy sandals, and a pleasantly quaint straw hat bound in blue ribbon, she looked good, and if not for her stark white skin and the toothy leviathan curled behind her, rather normal. Still, that bashful, self-conscious smile did wonders for making her seem approachable. The way she leaned on her new umbrella like cane, knees shaking perilously, also put her somewhere between adorable and pitiable. Peach seemed pleased. “Well, you might not be able to leave just yet, but you’re something, alright! If we ever manage to square you being an Abyssal with the townspeople, I bet you’ll have dudes all over you.”
Bella looked wary. “Um. I think I’d rather not…”
"Forget the dudes, then. You look beautiful, Bella!" Sakura practically squeed. She had already lauded Rika with similar compliments and was over all beside herself with joy the entire time.
It took just a moment for the Water Princess to turn red. “P-penses-tu vraiment cela?”
"What?"
Junior called over to the princess in pink ”Hey Peach, you got a second? We wanna pull the Brachydios outa me and see if it helps Rika”
Peach gave Bella an apologetic glance before turning to face the kid’s way. “Sure. Hold still.” After taking a breath and getting serious, she knelt and plunged her arm into Junior’s chest, just as she did with Ranger before. A few moments of rummaging passed before she seized on something deep within him, and in a burst of light she yanked the Brachydios right out of him. With his only spirit defused, the young prince was back to his normal self. Peach deposited the spirit of the blue dinosaur in his waiting hand, remembering the night she helped fight it with a shiver. If she was lucky that awful, inexplicable color wouldn’t factor into her dreams tonight, sending her sailing across alien vistas and unfathomable voids, but she didn’t bet on it.
”Wow. That. Was really weird. I mean it was one thing to see it but to have it happen? Super weird,” Was Jr’s response to having the princess rummage around inside his chest, the boy left a touch dazed by the bizarre experience. Then he shook his head and got over it and, after saying a quick thanks and goodbye, headed back to find the ship. Sakura followed him, wanting to see this.
He found her where he’d left her, the woman now doing the feathered captain's hat and with a lollipop in her mouth as she tried to balance on her legs while using the gauntlets’ antigrav as support. It wasn't working nearly as well as it had when they had been strapped to her back but it was still better than not having them at all.
When she saw Jr had returned she plopped back down on the ground, and then quickly uncoupled her hands from the gauntlets and removed the lolly from her mouth before she spoke (the ship was a big fan of them already. You could enjoy sweetness for a long time and you could take it out to talk without people being weirded out). “Oh. you look different. Less purple,” she commented before asking “That it?” pointing at the spirit with the pop.
”Yup” Jr replied, holding it out to her.
The cruiser tentatively took it from him and, after a brief reminder of how this worked exactly, pressed it against her own chest.
Great Spirit Consumed: Brachydios The host has gotten taller and more muscular, with more pronounced fangs, a large and bright green tongue, and red eyes. Her hair is dark blue and very spiky, enough so that it’s hard to wear hats, and from the left side of her forehead rises a single, thick horn, flanged like a mace.The black parts of her outfit now feature blue scale padding, and the skirt exhibits equidistant blades. Her gauntlets resemble Brachydios heads, complete with slime horns for punching, inladen mouths of freaky human teeth, and built-in cannons within the mouths. Her personality has gotten more assertive with a hotter temper, and an always-outdoor voice. This spirit confers the Power Blastscourge, allowing her to exude a slime from her horns and gauntlets. Once activated by her saliva, the slime will explode after a few seconds if parted from her, or if she’s very angry, on contact with a target. It also confers the Weakness Aqua Bane, giving her a mild weakness to water-based or aspected weapons and attacks plus a more severe one to ice
The first thing that happened was that her ewn spiky hair caused Rika’s hat to fall off, never to be donned again. The second was she looked down to examine her adjusted cloths, (the scaly pattern was certainly unique and stylish. The blades on the skirt looked a bit dangerous but also quite cool in her opinion.) while giving her lollypop a lick. Then she paused at noticing things were different there and then sticking her tongue out fully to try and look at it, wiggling it about sillily as she did.
Sakura took a step back. "Woah. Is this punk?"
The ship paused her wiggling. “You tell me” she said
”Huh, you got a different kinda horn bump from me,” Jr noted ”also your eyes are red again… You still know who Galeem is right?”
“The sun that took lots of places and squished them together” Rika replied, distinctly louder and more confident in her words than she had been before. She reached up and patted the horn on her head before parsing what he’d said and happily saying “Oh! Cool. I ranked up!”
”Huh?”
“Oh, so. Regular cruisers have blue eyes, elites red, flagships gold and then Kai Flagships have one gold and one super blue.”
”Oh ok. So you're like a stronger variant now? That’s good.” Jr was more than used to that being a thing.
“Definitely stronger,” she said as she gave her arm a feel. Her muscles were a lot more prominent where she’d been rather scrawny in places before, at least for someone who hauled massive cannon gauntlets around. There really was only one way to find out if this actually helped “let me try-” she said as she carefully tried to stand without support “ow ow ow” and yet despite the obvious pains he was able to get up on her own two feet, abit shakily. “Its. ok. It works but ow.” she said, holding her arms out for balance.
”Here. With these?” jr suggested, picking up both cannons and holding them out for her. The ship grabbed for them, and then the prince helped secure them. With the gauntlets acting as supports, the shipgirl was still a bit unsteady but “Ok. Ok. I think I can” she took a step, and then another and another. The extra arm muscle was helping just as much as that in her legs as it made supporting herself with the gauntlet easier, letting her take a step, and then another and another. It was, she realised, mostly the motion that was the worst. The ships didn’t actually walk on water after all, they just glided across it. So it was still tricky, but step by step, she felt like she was understanding how to move properly where before she’d been relying on the gauntlets being strapped to her back to hold everything up. They were still supporting her, but she found that it was easier to force her legs to support her than it was to hold her whole body up with her arms.
“It’s working!”
”Haha, yes I knew this was a good idea!” Jr said, and Sakura clapped. ”Shame it didn't do anything about the teeth, their still weird and flat,” the dragons-turtle’s idea of what teeth were supposed to look like was a bit skewed after all ”but do you think people would still recognize her?” he asked Sakura
Sakura had been circling around Rika, examining her like she was some kind of fashionista.
"E to..." She said to herself, thinking. "I dunno. She doesn’t look like any Abyssal I’ve ever seen anymore. But, I’ve only seen two. Her and Bella. I think the horn and the hair makes her look very different. And Abyssals don’t like lollipops, I think." Sakura said, smiling at Rika.
“Th-” Rika began to say, then awkwardly removed the pop from her mouth again, the gauntlets still made that a bit tricky “they should! Or. I mean, I bet they would if they could try them.”
Having seated herself again some time ago, Bella concluded her own observation. “Compared to the shipgirls and other Abyssals, I would say you’re closer to ‘normal’, Rika. Colorful clothes and hair help a good deal.” She held up and looked at her own hand, then stroked the head of her leviathan tail. It gave a contented if somewhat scary sigh. “Compared to me, you’re not so obviously Abyssal at all now. Just your pallor and your cestus, the latter of which you could leave behind. Plus, you look rather cool. It is not hard to imagine you walking among people on land. Amazing...” It was hard to hide the undercurrent of envy that ran through her voice. “I suppose the most vital aspect would be confidence? You already sound different. If you act as if you have nothing to hide, maybe they won’t suspect you.”
“I do?” Rika hadn’t noticed, but now that it had been pointed out, maybe she did sound more confident? Now that she thought about it, it had assumed it had been a natural extension in her gradually growing confidence in, well, everything, but maybe she’d gotten a boost from the spirit “Was this bal... Bal... what was it again?”
”Brachydios”
“This Brachydios confident?”
”I mean it was a big stompy dinosaur monster. I guess it has a kind of confidence in a ‘rawr I’m big and strong and scary’ kinda way?” jr said, comically baring his claws and putting on a voice while he gave his impression of the creature.
Riak shrugged “Well. Ok. I don’t know about that, mostly I just feel more like. Me? Like a me who is me who isn't all the other cruisers?” where normally she’d have left that question hanging, now she launched right into answering it herself “Yeah! More like Rika. So I’m gonna say it’s all me even if it’s the big stompy dinosaur confidence, because I can... What's a dinosaur anyway?”
”Like a big lizard.”
“Sure. Don’t matter if the big lizard is helping or not, I feel more like me and I feel great!” the ship girl declared, riding about 3 separate highs (one of which was a massive sugar rush) all at once was doing wonders for her ego.
Bella smiled herself, infected by her underling’s enthusiasm. “That’s wonderful! Are you going out to see the city, then?”
“Yeah!” Rika was on a roll and nothing was going to stop her at this point “I’m gonna see people and buy clothes and no wait you did that already but we can go get that hot chocolate thing and.. Other stuff? What other stuff is there?”
”Well there were lots of shops and restaurants. Maybe there's a concert or band playing? Oh or an arcade! That would be cool. Oh. Oh wow. There must be soooo many video games from... Everywhere!” Jr said, both to her and to himself, getting a little stary eyed at the end. The boy had set himself work to do on the ship, but he deserved a break after this big success, or so he decided.
“I don’t know what those are but I’m gonna find out. Are you two going to come, Sakura and, oh, um” she paused before asking Bella if she wanted to go with her. She wasn't all disguised like she was. Well the outfit was definitely different, but the big monster tail was all the same and she still couldn't walk too well. Rika finally caught on that maybe her success was making Bella feel bad and that didn't feel good to her.
“Sorry. I. um. hmm” the ship girl floundered, not really knowing how to handle the situation.
Smiling patiently, Bella waved her hand. “Oh, do not worry about me. I am still not too mobile after all. You have fun out there. Oh, but if you do end up getting something tasty, would you mind bringing me back something, too? I have only ever had fish, so I am very curious.”
Rika let out a little sigh of relief and then told the princess “I’ll get you the tastiest thing i can find!” before glancing at Sakura to see her response.
Sakura put out another peace sign. "Sure! I could use a distraction." She looked over at Bella. "Try not to have too much fun without us," She smiled. "We’ll be back before you know it."
"You play video games, Junior-kun?" She asked, looking towards the boy. "Maybe we should see if they have an arcade!" She put her hands on her hips proudly.
"I’ll have you know I’m a top one hundred Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter II: Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition player in the world back where I’m from! "
”Wooow really?” Jr said, amazed by the rank alone.
“Less talking, more going! I want to see the things you're talking about not hear about them more” Rika insisted excitedly before confidently, if a touch unsteadily still, striding forth to go take the town by storm.
”Hey wait up!” Jr called, scrambling after her, catching up with the ship girl on the docks.
“Oh. sorry. I'm just. I want to move!” Rika replied after she held up as asked
”Well now, that’s quite the transformation you’ve gone through, ah, Rika was it now?” Came a call from Kamek, who along with a gang of toadies and clones, was continuing to work on the ship’s modifications from the ‘blueprints’ the prince had provided, which consisted of a series of paintings he’d made in his signature energetic and explosive, if a bit childish, style. The mage had undergone a transformation of his own while away:
Cia (Blue) The host has gotten a little taller, with slightly longer, more humanoid limbs, and has gotten younger as well. His hat's peak has split into two, and his glasses become a beaked mask with lenses inset. His skin tone has become less yellow, more like Cia's. One sleeve is gone, with golden bands on the arm, and his robe is more elaborate, with pale yellow stripes. This Spirit confers the Strength Shadow Craft, bridging the magical gap between dark magic and summoning. Now, all Kamek clones and toadies can be Shadow Kameks and Shadow Toadies, which are stronger by default. Shadow clones of beings important to the host can also be summoned, at greater or lesser mana cost depending on their power. This Spirit also confers the Weakness Light Bane, causing the host to take more damage from light-based or light-aspected spells and weapons
But was adapting rather well. Very well in-fact. As far as Jr was concerned Kamek had always been old, so seeing him suddenly be younger and more limber was bizarre. Indeed the same impression was shared by his father, who was helping with some of the heavy lifting but stopped to come over and say hello “Ah, back you your old self again son”
”Yup. Totally worth it because I mean, look” the boy gestured to Rika’s new look ”so cool”
The king nodded while Kamek said ”The new look does suit you rather well”
“Yeah it does” Rika (who, depending on who you ask, either did not or absolutely did know how to take a compliment) replied.
”We’re going out into town to show Rika around and have some fun, I’ll see you when I get back”
The prince’s guardians shared a glance. The town wasn't quite as safe Kamek had initially though, his new fusion was a testament to that. “You mind if your dad tags along son? I gotta find a place to get this clean anyway” the king said, referring to his rather messed up suit that probably needed more than just a spot of dry cleaning..
Sakura crossed her arm and scratched her head, not sure if hanging out with a dad and son duo was conducive to having a good time in the town. "I mean-"
”Sure!” Jr replied, the boy blessedly not old enough to be embarrassed by being around his old man. ”That’s ok right g-” he began to ask before realising Rika had gotten impatient and was boldly strolling off towards town already.
”Not again, hey Rika!” he shouted before sprinting after her, followed by Bowser stomping after him too while Kamek chuckled to himself. He stopped laughing when he realized he’d been left well the majority of the grunt work for fixing up the ship. He sighed.
”Well I suppose that's what minions are for. Chop too it!”
Rika awoke with a start as the world suddenly moved, flailed about a bit in the dark for a few moments before funnily untangling herself from the nest of blankets she’d been sleeping in (keeping Bella company instead of going to the hotel had been here way of making up for going out without her, along with a lemon meringue pie) and then having to shield her eyes from the light glaring in through the small window in the door to the cockpit of the Atomos.
Morning it seemed, had arrived and so too had the seekers of light, back from their rooms at the inn, judging by the yapping going on behind the door. And the fact that they were moving, the dull roar of the engines confirming that it was just the ship and not the whole world shifting beneath her feet.
More important than both these facts was the smell also coming from the cockpit. Following her nose the ship girl got (a touch unsteadily still despised, or perhaps because of, an evening’s with of practice) to her feet and then made her way through the door to find the Koopa troop all sat or stood around in the cockpit of the ship.
”Ah, good morning Rika. Apologies for the rude awakening” Kamek said to her, turning to look at her as she joined, ”but the young master was quite insistent we got under way as soon as possible”
”Coz we’re gonna be late if we didn’t! You let me sleep in!” Jr complained from the pilot’s chair as he took them up out of the cove and around towards the navy’s harbor
“You needed it after being up so late last night” Bowser told his son. The king was lacking his suit and top hat, having left both to be cleaned and repaired. Considering he was likely going to be going swimming at some point, whether he wanted to or not, this was probably in the suit’s best interest.
”I mean yeah, but… ok sure” the combination of Rika wanting to see and do, well, everything, followed by a last batch of changes to the ship, had left precious little time for a full night's rest. Jr much preferred yesterday’s schedule of them setting off to fight the boss at noon, but the navy’s schedule was a military one and that meant using all the daylight they had available.
“What’s that smell?” the ship asked, not entirely bothered by how she’d awoken, or pleasantries, and more interested in the scent she’d caught from through in the bedroom, which was coming from a small hamper Bowser was carrying.
“Breakfast of course,” the king told her while holding the basket out for her to take, “Pancakes specifically”
Rika didn’t feel the need to ask what those where as she eagerly got to work, tough she did receive a few pointers on how to use the jam and cream properly, and to not scoff everything before Bella joined them and got her fair share.
The newly refurbished ship docked with the Navy’s harbor next to the two other ships just in time for the troop to disembark and join the briefing. Well. refurbished was perhaps being generous. Hackily retrofitted was more accurate. Sheets of metal and sturdy wooden planks had been welded onto the important parts of the ship like the cockpit, engine and wide sides as impromptu armor. Weaponry, in the from of four scorpion sized harpoon guns was bolted just over the the railings on the back of the ship where people could use them to fire on enemies or, if rope was used, create ziplines to board other vessels or drag them closer to the ship.
A large pair of large straps had been attached to either side of the bridge to help secure an enlarged seeker to the ship. Finally, the hull had been emblazoned with the troop’s logo, a stylized depiction Bowser’s face, on either side of the cargo bay doors.
Inside the holds had been gutted of all non essential items and now held a series of ropes that could be used for repelling down two, or climbing back up from, the ocean and a ballista size harpoon turret capable of firing not only dangerously large bolts but also weighted nets, ropes or (if you were especially daring/stupid), a person a long distance. If they risked opening up the bay doors and exposing the insides to enemy fire that was.
This ungodly contraption looked rather out of place among the stylishly designed ship girls and their captain’s well maintained sailing ship, but it was the best the troop could do with the mostly civilian grade wares on offer. Having a military consisting of ladies with inbuilt guns did rather reduce the demand for weapons larger than personal small arms, and so the troop had resorted to going to the local fishermen of all people for their needs, hence the arms and armament consisting entirely of sea monster hunting equipment.
It remained to be seen if anyone other than the troop would opt to board the hack job of a ship when two more conventional vessels were available.
The troop joined the others just in time to hear Peach questioning the fact that the navy had child ship girls among their ranks.
”What’s so weird about that, huh?” Jr asked, helpful reminding everyone they weren't above it all and that, indeed, unlike the Navy’s child soldiers he’d not only be coming with them but would be transporting some of them into battle. ”Also has anyone seen that hat kid recently?” he added, further twisting the knife.
There wasn't that much time for discussing that however, as the admiral stepped up to give a speech, announcing their new method of dealing with the Abyssal fleet’s respawning ability once and for all. The ship girls were roused by this news, as well they should. It was a new war, one they actually could win instead of simply endure. There was, of course, a few exceptions, one of whom had just finished her pancakes and wandered over to the window just in time to overhear/see the speech.
There were a lot of ways Rika could have responded to this, or ways she could have felt about the implications of all this if she’d stopped to think about this, but instead she was reminded that “Oh is that the admiral lady? Weren't we supposed to talk to her at some point?” She said, talking to both herself and to Bella (if she was still on the ship).
Down below the team where talking strategy.
”I would recommend that those without water or aerial mobility divide themselves up evenly between or two vessels so that, if/when we need to peel off from the navy to go find the guardian we don't need to rendezvous with the admiral’s ship first” Kamek suggested ”I believe we three will be sticking together, right sire?”
“That’s right!” Bowser agreed, before getting everyone attention and launching into the start of his own speech “ALRIGHT LISTEN UP TROOPS-”
“Hi. Hello!” came a call from Rika, not directed at them but at “Miss Admiral Merlwyb! I think I need to talk to you!”
”Ah, oh dear. Well I suppose this is when we’re doing this then. I’ll be right back” Kamek said, hurrying over to where Rika was approaching the admiral while saying cheerfully “Hi, I’m Rika, I used to be part of the Abyssal fleet and I want to talk to you about that”
Personality The heretic is haunted by their lost faith, and seek to reclaim it, whatever it might be. A higher power calls them, and the Heretic is bound to it despite not knowing its name. They are as a result spiritual and superstitious but also not very pushy about the faith of others. A person who does not know their own faith should not question that of others after all. She has a great deal of curiosity and is more than willing to meddle with things she doesn't understand. When presented with mysteries or new information she will attempt to learn just about anything on the odd chance it comes in useful or give some insight into her faith.
Luna is also inquisitive/nosy when it comes to others, easily distracted, and has a tendency to mutter to herself without realizing she is speaking her thoughts out loud. She has a scholarly disposition, and will try to record new information physically if she can, partly for re-use higher up the spire, partly in a fruitless attempt to leave herself documentation for future runs.
She tries to keep others at arm's length, though she is unlikely to succeed.
Along with the summit, she also seeks the god of the cult, wishing to discern if it is her master that is simply testing her, or if it is a false idol.
Blessings
The Stars will aid in her escape: A higher power has blessed the Heritic with arcane abilities. She has, of course, forgotten how to use most of them, but yet more are either locked away or are yet to be granted by her nameless benefactors, who may give new knowledge or power should the be pleased in some manner.
Eldritch Electricity: The heretic has the power to produce electricity from her talon like gauntlets. At the moment she can only use this ability to electrify her punches and scratches.
Curses Foe of the Cult: “This one has been branded a heretic by the cult of the awakened one, who will stop at nothing to bring their end.”
Did she make a minor slip up in doctrine? Did she balk when the time came to sacrifice someone she cared about? Did she become disillusioned with the cult and abandon it willingly? Was she never part of the cult and simply wore the wrong clothes the day she entered the spire? Did she see a truer, higher calling than the cult, and proclaim the awakened one a false idol? Did she have personal enemies who had her branded for selfish reasons?
Luna doesn't know why she was branded a heretic, and the cultists aren't interested in explaining why they despise her as they are too busy trying to kill her for her heresy. Indeed the cultists will stop at nothing to end her life, being driven to higher fervor when fighting her and ignoring other targets in favor of attempting to gain the honor of personally slaying the heretic or, better yet, capturing her so she can be offered up as a sacrifice.
Forgotten Pact: All the Heretics supernatural power is drawn from a source that is not their own, and that source can be fickle in strange and inhuman ways, granting or withholding power based on criteria the Heretic has long since forgotten.
Relics Lunar Pendant: A crescent moon of silver surrounding a sapphire hanging from a chain around the Heretic's neck. On the reverse side are words in an unknown tongue, with the only one recognisable/pronounceable one being the word Luna, from which the Heretic has taken her name. It longs to bathe in the light of its true self high above at the top of the spire. To do so it draws the Heretic ever higher, guiding them ever upwards, allowing Luna to divine a way she should take to reach the top. Unfortunately the pendant’s method of discerning which route is the best seems like it is running on moon logic, rarely giving the fastest, safest or most profitable route to the summit, at least in the eyes of mortals. Still, a route it gives nonetheless and the Heritic has often followed it without question in her past runs.
The way it works is when confronted with the choice of what way to go to try and reach the top of the spire the Luna may be shown a vision of her own future down that road, one which includes on top of sight all the physical sensations of what she would feel, hear, smell, and taste, down that path. This is a sensory bombardment done in rapid fire which leaves much of the specifics unclear, though certain key actions or events that lead to the best outcome, at least in the pendant’s multitude of eyes, will be highlighted or simply stick in the Heretic's mind after the vision subsides. The pendant also only guarantees Luna’s own safety, and seems blind too (or more likely disinterested in) the fate of her traveling companions. It is the best path for Luna. Whether anyone else makes it seems to be considered irrelevant.
Alright, Luna is awesome. With the pendant, I'm not entirely on the same page as to how exactly it helps Luna. The way I'm interpreting it, it seems like a tool used for some foresight? I imagine I will have a lot of agency on how relic behaves. I'm imagining it being used at crossroads and diverging paths where, if one path is looked down, Luna is shown very quick flashes of her own future down that path, along with all the physical sensations of what she would feel, hear, smell, and taste, down that path. Perhaps the other climbers are completely absent in the images even if they are there, so she can't divine how the fate of her fellow climbers will unfold. Perhaps the pendant will always show flashes of what must be done, or what will happen, in order for the BEST outcome to be achieved down that path.
Yeah basically anything talking about gods or other worldly powers mechanically means you. Though I reserve the right to fuck Luna over for dramatic "oh no, a power stopped working in the middle of a fight, oh god why, what have I done to displease you?" purposes or just as narrative flavor added on top of however we're going to be doing the new blessings/remembering past skills thing.
As for the pendant, I was mainly thinking it would be a glowing compass kind of thing that would point to which tunnel at the crossroad she should go to go up, but all it would be doing is verifying that it wasn't a dead end and not that it was in any way the best. Your idea of confusing and cryptic sensation overload precognition visions is way better IMO, though it does sound like more of a workload on your end. If your down to do that I am completely onboard as well.
Personality The heretic is haunted by their lost faith, and seek to reclaim it, whatever it might be. A higher power calls them, and the Heretic is bound to it despite not knowing its name. They are as a result spiritual and superstitious but also not very pushy about the faith of others. A person who does not know their own faith should not question that of others after all. She has a great deal of curiosity and is more than willing to meddle with things she doesn't understand. When presented with mysteries or new information she will attempt to learn just about anything on the odd chance it comes in useful or give some insight into her faith.
Luna is also inquisitive/nosy when it comes to others, easily distracted, and has a tendency to mutter to herself without realizing she is speaking her thoughts out loud. She has a scholarly disposition, and will try to record new information physically if she can, partly for re-use higher up the spire, partly in a fruitless attempt to leave herself documentation for future runs.
She tries to keep others at arm's length, though she is unlikely to succeed.
Along with the summit, she also seeks the god of the cult, wishing to discern if it is her master that is simply testing her, or if it is a false idol.
Blessings
The Stars will aid in her escape: A higher power has blessed the Heritic with arcane abilities. She has, of course, forgotten how to use most of them, but yet more are either locked away or are yet to be granted by her nameless benefactors, who may give new knowledge or power should the be pleased in some manner.
Eldritch Electricity: The heretic has the power to produce electricity from her talon like gauntlets. At the moment she can only use this ability to electrify her punches and scratches.
Curses Foe of the Cult: “This one has been branded a heretic by the cult of the awakened one, who will stop at nothing to bring their end.”
Did she make a minor slip up in doctrine? Did she balk when the time came to sacrifice someone she cared about? Did she become disillusioned with the cult and abandon it willingly? Was she never part of the cult and simply wore the wrong clothes the day she entered the spire? Did she see a truer, higher calling than the cult, and proclaim the awakened one a false idol? Did she have personal enemies who had her branded for selfish reasons?
Luna doesn't know why she was branded a heretic, and the cultists aren't interested in explaining why they despise her as they are too busy trying to kill her for her heresy. Indeed the cultists will stop at nothing to end her life, being driven to higher fervor when fighting her and ignoring other targets in favor of attempting to gain the honor of personally slaying the heretic or, better yet, capturing her so she can be offered up as a sacrifice.
Forgotten Pact: All the Heretics supernatural power is drawn from a source that is not their own, and that source can be fickle in strange and inhuman ways, granting or withholding power based on criteria the Heretic has long since forgotten.
Relics Lunar Pendant: A crescent moon of silver surrounding a sapphire hanging from a chain around the Heretic's neck. On the reverse side are words in an unknown tongue, with the only one recognisable/pronounceable one being the word Luna, from which the Heretic has taken her name. It longs to bathe in the light of its true self high above at the top of the spire. To do so it draws the Heretic ever higher, guiding them ever upwards, allowing Luna to divine a way she should take to reach the top. Unfortunately the pendant’s method of discerning which route is the best seems like it is running on moon logic, rarely giving the fastest, safest or most profitable route to the summit, at least in the eyes of mortals. Still, a route it gives nonetheless and the Heritic has often followed it without question in her past runs.
The way it works is when confronted with the choice of what way to go to try and reach the top of the spire the Luna may be shown a vision of her own future down that road, one which includes on top of sight all the physical sensations of what she would feel, hear, smell, and taste, down that path. This is a sensory bombardment done in rapid fire which leaves much of the specifics unclear, though certain key actions or events that lead to the best outcome, at least in the pendant’s multitude of eyes, will be highlighted or simply stick in the Heretic's mind after the vision subsides. The pendant also only guarantees Luna’s own safety, and seems blind too (or more likely disinterested in) the fate of her traveling companions. It is the best path for Luna. Whether anyone else makes it seems to be considered irrelevant.
The Bowser obliged Peach's request after a few moments of confusion and mime from Jr of a tossing style boost rather than simply holding her up in the air boost. The king had been on vacation and then mind controlled for the entirety of the Rabbid fiasco, so it came as something of a surprise to him that the princess could create healing waves when landing after being tossed.To Jr, of course, it was no surprise, but he had almost entirely forgotten she could do that till she suggested it. It had been one of those abilities that got used in one adventure and then he’d never expected to see again, yet here it was.
With a few pulses of power the princess fixed up what the Vulnerary hadn't, but even with that Sakrua didn't wake up. It looked like they were going to have to wait and hope that Briny Beard’s belief that she needed to let her mind rest and recuperate along with her body was correct. While they did they ate, munching their way through Bowser’s take away bounty.
“Ish sho good” was Rika’s response to how the food was, not stopping her munching to answer, before asking “Ish ther mo?“
”Hungry lady aren't you? There is, but save some for the heavy sleeper,” Bowser told her. Indeed the group, along with a little help from Marie who’d been summoned twice to quickly enjoy two halves of a meal. All that was left was a small assortment of gradually cooling foodstuff that had been set aside for Sakura ”Also don’t talk with your mouth full”
The cruiser swallowed and looked down with a combination of embarrassment and disappointment.
”Hey don't look like that. Maybe after we’re done with this disguising introduction thing we can go for-” he was going to suggest ice cream before realizing it was getting pretty late and changing it to ”Hot Chocolate? Yeah. Hot Chocolate.”
Rika didn't know what that was, but the idea of trying more new, hopefully tasty, things perked her right back up again.
”Can we?! Oh oh, I’ll have mine with cream, and marshmallows and sprinkles and-” Jr pounced on the possibility
”If they have those kiddo”
”They better!” Jr replied seriously to which Bowser gave a small good natured chuckle before ruffling his son’s hair
With Sakura still not up when they were done Bella, possibly to fill the air and avoid them all awkwardly sitting the staring at the street-fighter till she woke up, turned the conversation back towards Spirits, wanting to use one as a way to walk on land and as a way to change her appearance, both as a disguise and as away to distance herself from her Abyssal nature.
“I’d also like to be able to walk around and not have to hide from people, I think” the cruiser didn’t actually feel any guilt like Bella did, mainly because she didn’t really understand the negative impact of her actions as part of the fleet in the same way the princess did, but she did understand that if she didn't look like an enemy, then presumably people wouldn't attack her, and she could walk around and go places freely. Like whatever everyone else was going, or to wherever the food had come from. Both excellent places to go, in her opinion. “And if a spirit lets me do that that sounds good. So does being stronger. Which Spirits do too?”
”Yeah. So. Thing is there’s a lot of monsters out there. I mean like actual monsters, big angry beasts. Taking down one of those could give us a spirit, and nobody’s gonna complain if we do. Also even if you free em, they’d still be dangerous animals so killing em wouldn't be a big deal. Kinda tricky to find one that goes on land out here though I guess? Sea monsters might make good disguises and will make you stronger, but they ain't gonna let you walk. Probably.” Jr said, suggesting how they could get a Spirit without killing any people. Didn’t solve the problem that getting spirits always involved killing all together however.
”But I mean, if you really don't want any more deaths then, uh, there's stuff that’s already dead. Seeing as Peach can pull spirits people have out you could, you know, kinda, borrow ones we already got?” Jr suggested, before hurting onwards
”Like, maybe Rika could have my Brachydios spirit? I mean it's cool and all but see I’m going to be doing a lot more flying and it kinda gets in the way when doing that. I almost blew up the ship’s dashboard, like, three times! Also I’m not using it as much as I could” Jr said, feeling like he had to justify his generosity ”Plus, think of how cool she’d be with it. She’d turn those gauntlets into Brachydios themed ones and then get like, giant explosive punches! How awesome is that!” because it was ultimately a slightly selfish suggestion. The ship girls were cool, jr thought, and using this he they could make Rika even cooler.
“That does sound cool. But what's a Brachydios?” Rika asked, sensibly wanting to know what a thing was before it got put in here
”It’s like a stompy purple dinosaur with horns on its head and wrist that make explosive goo. It was really scary, or well it was the thing that was scary but anyway it’d make you big and strong and scary too. Scary in a good way though. You’ll get to see it in the spirit if Peach does take it out.”
“Cool,” Rika replied, “If you think it's a good idea then it's a good idea.” Rika agreed simply
Before they could go through with it however, Sakura came too, rousing slowly and, understandably, asking if there was food left for her.
”Yup,” Bowser replied simply, directing a large clawed finger at a bag sitting within arm’s reach of her from which delicious smells were emanating.
Despite no doubt being hungry (comfort food was an excellent way to try and get over another loss in Bowser’s opinion) instead of going straight for the food Sakura instead became dejected and offered an apology. For losing? For worrying them? Possibly both, the Koopas both concluded. Rika didn't think about why and instead awkwardly scooted over to Skaura’s side and, ever the mimic, wrapped her up in a hug like she’d seen Jr do to Bowser.
Unable to properly articulate the relief to the end of the complicated, painful, feelings she’d been repressing in regards to Sakura’s continued unconsciousness in as meaningful a way as she wanted, Rika just put her heart into crying “Your OK!” as she awkwardly embraced her friend.
”You good?” Bowser asked. He hadn’t seen the fight, but from what he’d been told it had been bad, both physically and likely mentally, although not for the reasons he and Jr thought.
”You want help getting revenge?” Jr asked, punching his palm, perfectly illustrating the pair’s collective misunderstanding of Karin and Sakura’s rivalry.
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