DracoLunaris

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 651 (+1)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (49/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (41/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (39/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

While the king had been grumpy at being woken up, there was nothing like getting the respect deserving of a truly awesome king and it was a welcome remedy. The king’s tired look was wiped away, replaced with him standing proud and strong with a slight smirk on his lips as the man stumbled over his words at the end of his explanation.

Despite taking joy from Mirage’s nervousness, he didn't follow up on the threat the man thought him to be, nor rub it in like he might have before, and ignoring the man’s slip up he said ”Thanks for the heads up, but I’m pretty sure I can handle one more ship monster,” he punched his palm and grinned confidently ”Almost be relaxing after what we’ve just been through”

”But yeah. We’re traveling. What. Did you think we looked like we lived here?” Bowser joked at the man’s expense ” Ha, no. No we’re headed to the Bottomless Sea. Heard of it before?” he added with a grin, quite sure that if he had, he’d be even more impressed and in awe of the King

Onboard the Atomos Kamek carefully tucked Jr into the bed the boy had flopped down and promptly fallen asleep on after parking the ship. Then the mage quietly stepped his way our to leave him in peace and see what all the commotion was about himself, exiting onto the back of the ship and then making a short flight down onto the parked Shippy’s deck, just in time to catch the tail end of the talk about rescue cats that might have saved the captain.

”Do you know where they might have taken him if they did catch him Ace? Back to Lumbridge again?” he asked ”Because I could go and check where he might have ended up and confirm or deny this one way or the other” best not to be left dwelling on ifs or maybes, the mage though, so it would be worth the time and exertion.

Both Bowser and Kamek’s conversations were interrupted shortly afterwards by the arrival of a mustachioed man in green who looked oddly familiar via water slide.

”Oh. Huh isn't that… mr something. Mr M? Mr k?” Bowser said while snapping his fingers repeatedly as he failed to remember the name of the man who definitely wasn't Luigi in disguise before giving up and saying ”I’m sure he’ll tell us. Pretty sure he jumped at every opportunity back in the day. Heh. Jumped.”

As they watched the completely original man in green got in a spot of trouble as he splashed down and helpful verified Mirage’s warning about the ship, which was good for the man in yellow’s credibility but not so much for the unfortunate Mr L as the ship decided to pick a fight with him for daring to get close to its pool toy of a child.

The scoundrel decided his best course of action was to leg it. Or swim it if you wanted to be accurate. The king casually watched this for a few moments before eventually coming to the realization that ”Oh right. We should probably help the jerk huh” and stepping towards, and then onto, the edge of the lake and unfurling his new quadrio of turrets, the quarters of shell pulling off of his body and revealing their central core strapped to his back from which their arms extended.

Eight barrels were brought to bare, massive cannons with vicious pinching beaks on their ends and surrounded by poisonous tentacles, over the top and sides of his shoulders and aimed squarely at the creature’s face, each one primed and ready to fire way without mercy. Then at the last moment Bowser actually saw the thing’s adorably silly looking kid and had a rapid change of heart.

”SHOO! GO AWAY SHOO!” the king yelled at it as he used the cannons as an octet of long ranged spray bottles, blasting cold water at the ship’s face mostly to try and get it to bugger off or at least slow down/distract it from its chase of Mr L.

---

wordcount: 451 (+1)
Midna: level 4 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////// (31/40)
Location: Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse

Things with the plan did not go well.

No one but the strong, handsome and noble Braum and the naively optimistic Tora where really considering looking and, to be fair, who could blame them. The issues with the proposed plan kept piling up and up. Communication, the risk of the wind all on top of the food, water and heat problems.

Really, Midna thought, she was the only one who could go out there safely, sneaking through the shadows of the pit’s west side, and even then. It was a lot of ground to cover, and she needed to eat and drink. Plus she could only cover half of the total area with that trick. Still. She could do it, she would do it!

And then Queen Sectonia effortlessly pulled out a plan to solve the situation neatly by summoning a bunch of bugs that could go and look for them without any of them risking life and limb. Tireless, not needing to eat or drink and entirely disposable. The perfect things to go traipsing through the desert in search of their comrades.

Midna should have been thrilled, but having worked herself up to putting her life on the line for others because of her guilt, all she could manage to say was a slightly forced ”Oh. Good. Great!” and it was great, but the young princess was not doing a great job at hiding her embarrassment at being shown up by the Giant Bee queen so soon after they had been arguing about how one should rule and be royal.

Delegating to your subjects was important, this she knew even if she struggled with it sometimes, but what did she have? A bunch of animals….

”Wait” she said, mostly to herself snapping her fingers as she had an idea, before summoning one of her Wolfos to her side and then floating in front of it and making it look her in the eyes using her hands.

”You will go with the ant things and sniff for the lost people. The short one, the bald one with the sandwich, the blue lady with the poison and the floaty one with the syringes. Remember them? Remember how they smell? They are out there and you need to help bring them out of the desert safely. But things get too hot or you get too hungry or thirsty or you get blown about or hurt go right back into a portal? OK?” She told it and her instructions were somewhat understood by the creature.

She turned to the queen and asked ”Are these magic constructs smart enough to manage my Wolfos? It should follow along and sniff for our allies like I told it, but it would be best if they can keep it to heel. Also you said you’d get hands on? I remember you have portals but can you really get back here from that far away? Can you bring other people with you?” best to not have her go out and fight alone. Even better if she could bring their allies right back.

”Also maybe the bugs should take some of our remaining water and food? We still have some of that stuff from the spirits right? Hats and bug bits and so on? Maybe someone will be interested in trading for them for supplies” she also suggested

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay, Mk. V

Boot sequence initiated...

System readiness 5%

...

Warning Hull integrity at 89%

...

25%

Error: Memory records damaged.

Attempting repairs

...

...

Repairs failed

Rebuilding basic memory structure

...

...

...

Memory banks online

Warning, Hull integrity at 88%

45%

Running systems check

55%

Checking resources:

Power at 99%

Resources at 4%

Warning, Hull integrity at 87%

Warning, Hull integrity at 73%

Damage threshold exceed

Fast tracking finalization of boot sequence

Skipping non essential startup tasks

System readiness 100%

Explorer online

Primary directives: Explore. Survey. Document.

Engage consciousness

The Explorer, a massive eight sided construct, woke up, blue lighted humming in a band around its center as its sensors reached out and found.

Stones. Rubble. Floating in a void. Something more?

The light of the band intensified at one point, forming a soft beam like a spotlight that swept to and fro across the field of asteroids, wandering like a curious gaze.

Hmmm interesting. Oh! I suppose this is me then? My consciousness? Delightful. Now then. What do we have here?

It found various remains of what might have been machinery, but it had all been vaporized. Recently too, the clouds of atomised debris still expanding from where the Explorer assumed was where they had existed before being destroyed.

Curious. I wonder what those were. Where they mine? Something I found? The cause of my empty memories?

The beam thinned, attempting to glean more details from a specific ruin when the field of debris lit up. Energy sparked off of floating stones, destroying them seemingly at random till they were taken together, at which point it became clear the explosions where part of a rolling wave of destruction that was sweeping forth and then rolled straight over the explorer.

Warning Hull integrity at 72%

Ah. That would be what the minor damage reports in the log where then it noted as energy clawed at its surface before the wave moved onward

Can’t be having that it noted, before rummaging around its systems Let’s see. Ah. here we go. Shields.

Engaging passive defensive barrier

A fainter glow of light began to light up across its entire surface, covering it in a defensive screen. Safely wrapped in the protective barrier, then took a few moments to analyze the energy that had hit it, which it would later discover was called magic. A few adjustments to its sensors later and it could see the magic itself instead of just its effects and found waves of it rolling through the debris field.

Ah, and there is mr -14% it noted, as it found something lurking behind the veil of sorcery, flecks of hull clicking to its teeth.

The giant void angler sprung into action when it realized it had been seen, the Explorer's beam like vision not exactly subtle. Opening a maw field with a thousand fangs it rushed them, only for the beam the Explorer was using to see it to harden, grasping the fish and then hauling to the side, smashing it into a particular large rock.

Well that was useful, lets see. What else do we have here?

The giant fish wiggled out of the splintered remains of the floating stone and then came again, only for rocks to come to it this time as the Explorer encased them in a blue glow and hurled them into its side, pelting it with a shower of stones.

The Explorer's foe shook off this blow too. Indeed, the most its strikes seemed to had done was to anger the beast. Its ‘lure’ began to glow, drawing the waves of magic in the asteroid field towards them both. The waves buffeted the shielded exterior of the Explorer harmlessly, but also surged their power into the fish thing’s charging attack, forming some kind of rapidly growing energy sphere around its singular prehensile antenna.

That does not look good. Repair tool?

Initiating repairs.

..

Hull integrity at 73%

Useful but no. hyper drive sounds good?

hyper drive disable due to the presence of objects nearby

Hull integrity at 74%

No good. Construct defense astro-mech?

Not enough resources. Utilise the Reclaim Tool to harvest material from the environment, or construct miners to do this automatically

Hull integrity at 75%

Resources depleted. Hull repairs paused.

Reclaim tool then?

The tool activated, automatically aiming along the path of the Explorer's vision beam and immediately vaporized the head of the fish creature, and then began pulling the raw materials of its construction towards the ship. It was stopped from reclaiming the rest when the charging energy attack detonated due to not having anything controlling it anymore, blowing the rest of its body and much of the surrounding area to smithereens.

Huh. Well that solved that problem.

Unfortunately it had completely destroyed what had remained of the devices that had been littered around the area, an infuriating development. The Explorer vented the frustration generated by this event by disintegrating several of the surrounding asteroids. Then, after a bit more experimenting with the tools at its disposal, forging multiple cube shaped probes from the harvested resources and pinged them out in several directions to find out what was out there

With them it found two things.

The first was a hole in space leading to an entirely different asteroid field. The Explorer was fascinated, but before it could move to investigate personally, another void angler fish gnashed out of the portal, crunching down on the probe that had been closely inspecting the edge of the spatial anomaly and, likely due to its highly magical composition, completely destabilizing the portal as a result, severing itself in two in the process.

Again, the accursed fish had ruined the Explorer's investigation, but what the probes that exited the field found more than made up for it:

A continent, suspended in the void, magical storms far greater than the ones that had been experienced wracking its skies and special anomalies littering its surface.

Brief analysis of the drifting landmass found it to be made from much the same materials as the rocks floating around, the explorer theorizing that this debris had broken off from the core continent at some point in the past. What remained certainly did not appear stable that was for certain.

What a discovery! I shall call it ‘The Continent’ until further notice... I wonder if there is anyone alive down there?

There was only one way to find out, but it decided it would be best to prepare before heading down to explore the greatest, and seemingly only, location of interest in the area.

summary

The explorer wakes up in space with no memory of where or what it is, surrounded by the un-noteworthy remains of bits of Galbar that didn't make it.

It finds the ruins of some machines which it theorists might be to blame for its current state, but before it can investigate them thoroughly it gets szpaped by a wave of magic, one of many pulsing through the belt. It gets distracted from the machines analyzing what hurt it, adjusts its sensors to detect magic after it does and then finds a sneaky big angry space fish using its new form of sight.

They fight. Rocks are smashed, the fish charges a big energy ball attack and then the Explorer reclaims its face off. The fighting destroys the remains of the machinery, which upsets the Explorer. It reclaims a bunch of rocks, builds some probes and then uses them to find two things.

The first is the portal the fish came through, which gets destroyed in a second and final fish incident, and then the remains of Gablar, which it names The Continent for simplicity.

The Explorer marvels at the world for a bit, before wondering if there was any life to be found down there, before making plans to first prepare, and then to go find out

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,535 (+3)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (48/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (40/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (38/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

Twin flashes of light lit up the bay for a final time as Rika and Bowser transformed and both, functionally, became a massive pile of guns. Rika gained a set of robot arms with mounted turrets on the joints and axe blades at the ends. It also mucked around with her outfit some more, and, somewhat important, completely de-abysallised one of the arms, converting her rapid fire gun gauntlet into one armed with an an assault rifle styled after the Brachydios’ head and, as a result, lacking the horrible human teeth the other one still had.

She pulled back her arm, cocking the new assault rifle and primed the new cannons before turning to face the harbor Demon.

Right in time for the giant monster to be cleaved in half by Ace Cadet, leaving her in the lurch. What was she supposed to do with her anger now?

”Oh hey, they got her. NICE JOB TROOPS!” Bowser yelled encouragingly over at them, right before Carrie’s timer ran down and he got dumped down onto the water, down from which some nondescript exclamations of how cool water walking was came.

”Oh thank the stars that’s over Kamek added had slumped down to rest. The last of his energy expended and went along with his various shadow clones and minions, who all fell to help ensure the final blow could be struck. Unfortunately the troop had forgotten about the Midway princess after her bomber swarm had been handled, but now she returned with vengeful fury.

It was very much time to leave.

There was the slight issue that Shippy was currently a. Distraught and b. was currently lacking any way of moving herself, due to her stern having been vaporized, so even if she had had the willpower to move they weren't going anywhere, necessitating the indigent task of getting out and pushing.

Peach requested as much from Bowser and Rika.

”Sure,” Bowser replied with a distinct lack of the usual grumpiness he exhibited when asked to do things, scooting around to the back of the craft on his new slim boots. ”Here, let me” he offered before pressing a shoulder, and two unfurled turrets, to the back of the ship and beginning to push her forwards with all his might.

“Here to help” Rika echoed, before doing much the same on the other side of peach, one gauntlet and the flats of her new hull-blades being used to shove them forwards. Together with Sakura and the princess they all pushed the living boat towards the inlet that had been their goal this entire time, something that had been hard to remember in all the chaos. The only real disturbance during the trip there was when Bowser’s mini turrets went off for the first time, the quadrants of micro turrets automatically aiming and lighting up in-order pepper a few abyssal fighters that had gotten close with their miniature shells, which spooked the living daylights out of him and Rika before they realized what was happening.

The inlet itself was guarded by a few meager defenses that paled in comparison to what they’d had to deal with to get there, though Kamek noted that the fact that they, again, had some distinctly non-abyssal allies as a mild cause for concern. Especially the fact that the kappa creatures could probably follow them onto land if they went there. Not that these specific baddies were much of an issue. While the mage was out of it and a lot of the team were on pushing duty the Atomos had fared far better than Shippy after it had charged the big bird, and so swooped down and ahead to spare the vessel any more pain while its remaining passengers pelted them with firepower.

With that final obstacle cleared, and with Shippy’s motor back up and running thanks to the infinitely useful Blazermate they were finally free of the warzone, though the sound of it still haunted them from afar for some time as they sailed up into a comparative paradise.

The Atomos flew low and next to the now much smaller Shippy, letting people get onboard to find somewhere to rest where they wouldn’t overburden her. While Bowser and Kamek went back aboard to reunite with Junior, Rika ended up staying on Shippy with Sakura. The woman said the battle must have been awful for Rika, but the former Abyssal felt it had hit her friend harder than her as she sat down next to her, decoupling her gauntlets and laid them to one side while the new Azure Navy parts neatly folded out of the way so she could be close without being a nuisance.

“I’ve been in those battles before. Its all I knew till I met you... but it hits different now that I know-” her voice hitched for a moment and then she forced herself to continue “-that I know that no one’s coming back from that”

Not the Azure girls she’d killed before she knew what it meant, nor the ones who’d died minutes ago and especially not the one that was now a part of her. Not the Abyssals that could have been like her or Bella.

Not Brinybeard. She’d only kind of known him for a few hours, and yet it still hurt. She’d never lost anything before.

“But I’ve been asking myself if he’d still been alive if I hadn’t held back. If I’d been willing to hurt the ones who were developed enough that they could be like me, maybe he. Maybe.” she couldn't finish the sentence, too emotionally drained by the entire ordeal to really try and process complicated topics like that.

So instead she leaned lightly against Sakura to just kind of be there for/with her. It was the best she could think of. No one had ever taught her how to comfort people, let alone work on her own issues. As a result Sakura working though her own trauma out loud helped. A lot.

As did the view. Maybe she’d seen it before she’d been her, everything from back then was getting hazy as she became more and more her own woman, but even if she had this was the first time she really saw the alien woods for what they were.

The serene quiet beauty of it all could almost let a person forget about what they had just been through, pretend it had all been a nightmare, if only for a little while. So Rika did just that. No thoughts. No words. Just… taking it all in for real this time. She missed the talk of cats as a result.

Her zoned out trance was rudely interrupted by someone yelling helpful if vague warnings at the group. The horned ship girl poked her head over the railing to see what all the fuss was about and found a bearded man clad in bright yellow shouting warnings about... Another living boat? With a kid. Also hot water crystals. She didn't get it.

”UUURG. WHAT’S ALL THE YELLING ABOUT?” came a groggy roaring complaint from the Atomos. The shoving of the ship had taken a bit more out of the king than he had expected due to his modifications and, as he had experienced a grand total of 0 trauma from the whole ordeal, had seemingly decided to take a nap from which he had just been woken.

There was a pause during which someone filled the King was filled in on what had been yelled

”JOY” was his response to the descriptions of the threats up ahead. After a few moments the king appeared on the back of the ship and called out ”Ok. You. wait there,” he told the figure before more generally telling everyone that ”We are going to stop and get some actual rest before we deal with anymore… anything. Ok?” and finally telling Jr ”Set us down son, and then take a load off you’ve done more than enough”

There was some weak instance that he could keep going, but ultimately Jr had been at the wheel while they all recovered and he (along with Shippy, Rika guiltily realized as Link had the same idea as the King) needed some time to recover as well.

After a few moments the airship hoovered over to the bank of the river, found a flat stable looking spot and set down among the pink grass, giving its pilot a chance to take a nap and its passengers a chance to either get a brief bit of shore leave or to greet/interrogate the man in yellow.

Bowser stomped off the ship, an odd sight for sure to the human. The now thinner and lankier turtle dragon, who was wearing clothes again consisting of knee high black boots, a long army jacket and gloves (a getup which had a distinct lack of trousers/pants), stepped out of the ship’s hold and went to see if the stranger in yellow had followed his instruction or if he had run off.

”Hey. King Bowser. Who are you, and what's this about a living ship?” he asked as he approached casually, the king assuming, perhaps foolishly, that the things being in a lake, something they were not in yet, meant whatever it was would politely stay where it was and thus this whole situation was not urgent.

---

wordcount: 535 (+1)
Midna: level 4 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////// (30/40)
Location: Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse

Midna had thought the Flygon’s storm had been bad, but this? This was on a whole other level. From the safety of her shadowy hiding spot Midna was forced to watch in horror as the others where relentlessly buffeted by the storm that she’d underestimate as it tried to rip them out of the train and hurl them into the pit, unable to step out and help because if she did she’d appear in mid air, and her small and light form would be easily tossed to the winds.

She really wished she could control sand and not just her own realm’s right now but she convinced herself that they’d be fine. She never saw anyone in trouble, though it was impossible to see much of anything, and so sat tight rather than put herself, and potentially the others if they were forced to try and save her, at risk.

Eventually, after what seemed like an age, it was over. The train escaped the storm and eventually came to a stop, at which point the princess sheepishly rejoined the team, visibly unmarred by the sand. She felt guilty enough about that, but when it turned out that four of them had been lost (and wasn’t humorously tragic that it might be the wind of all things that had dealt their party it’s first blow) the survivor's guilt really hit home.

Tora suggested several ways that they might have survived, which all had varying degrees of wishful thinking. If they were alive, there was the question of whether they had the time to spare. Their quest itself wasn’t time sensitive, as far as they knew, but their time out here, under the relentless sun, certainly was.

For their resident samurai, there was no question. He quickly laid out a plan to search for them, though she had to note that he was in the group that wouldn't be trekking through the desert and risking the sand storms again.

Minda shook her head and mentally dumped that line of thought. Now was not the time for petty things like that. It was time for action. His reason as to why he wasn’t suited to do the exploring did make sense and she owed those lost to the storm the help she hadn't been able to give during it. Indeed, to an extent she owed the Heavy and the Medic her life. She wasn't leaving them behind.

”I’ll do it,” she said, not so subtly making Minamoto’s plan one based on volunteering rather than something he was implicitly ordering them to do by her choice of words ”but we need to make sure that anyone who goes out won't just become another victim to the storm or the desert. So if you're not 100% sure that you’ll be safe out there, you shouldn't be going”

”If we’re going to stay out here for a while looking, we’ll need supplies. Do we have anything left food and water wise?” she asked the Thieves ”and how possible would it be to get some from the city and bring then back here? Time frame and cost wise?” she asked Gnorbu who was the only one who knew anything about the city in question

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay, Mk. V

@Commodore

changes have been made based on this and on further feedback from the Discord.

changes start after "not even of the true god but of one of its envoys."

In summary Exo now believes/theories they where made by extra dimensional aliens from another layer or, possibly, that they are a machine of the old gods or per-apocalypse humans made for the same purpose, but has no way of knowing due to having no memory of a time before it's godhood, and the sheet makes efforts to not confirm or deny a specific past.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,362 (+3)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (45/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (37/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (35/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

”Haha take that!” Kamek cheered as his mega-spell hit home, before his expression quickly turned to alarm as he realise that the main thing he’d done is mark them as a priority target again ”Oh no”

The Harbor Demon scooped up a pile of Abyssals and hurled them right at the ship, undoing the work they’d done to clear the area as monsters rained down upon them. A shoal of the fish/torpedo shaped destroyers rained down on the bow of the ship among the Kameks as they all stumbled to their feet. One smashed down and struck a red clone like an artillery shell, dissipating it an instant, while another landed close to Kamek and then tried to lunge at him.

He stumbled backwards, trying to bring his wand to bare but knowing even as he did so that he was being too slow, only for a boxing glove to jackhammer into the destroyer, punting it away into the water.

”Young Ma-” he began to cry out in relief and alarm as the destroyers focused on his savior, only to realize that it was, once again, one of his doppelgangers. The two remaining shadow Juniors started laying into the the swarm, one of the two being mauled to death in the process, but giving the Kamek's precious moments to recover and aid them with spell blasts, only for them all to be scattered as the Demon’s titanic cannon shot just barely missed them, the impact rocking the boat and causing Kamek to stumble.

He rose just as the last destroyer was handled, only to have to move out of the way as Sakura took up position at the bow and, inspired by his energy ball, followed up with her own fireball, empowered by Blazermate’s Kritz. While Kamek’s shot had put them in danger, hers saved them from it, although just barely.

The massive glowing fireball hammered home, shattering the Demon’s guard and throwing off her aim by just an inch, enough to prevent them from being obliterated by her second shot but not enough to make her miss entirely. The cannon shell smashed through the green protective barrier protecting Shippy and annihilated the helm in an instant, taking the captain with it.

Though the Ace thought they might be fine, maybe, they were all still stunned and had to be roused by their grief and shellshock by Frog. As the heroes rushed to and fro to try and help the old mage hauled himself to his feet for a third time.

”I’m getting too old for this” he complained as he supported himself with his broom. Having spent so much magic and physical energy in the battle already he was unable to do more with his magic than continue to hold his various minions together. Their ranks were thinned. Two reds, the green and a shadow Junior here, two toadies above, where all that remained.

They would have to do.

Peach had returned at some point during the carnage with spirits of fallen navy ships. One of these the Ace grabbed, declaring his intention to charge the Harbor Demon. Alone. Madness, but then what could they do? Another shot like that and they’d be done for.

”Go! Protect the Ace, make sure he is free to strike true and that he returns to us alive!” He ordered his 4 remaining minions.

They obeyed without questions, forming up as an escort. The green boosted the shadow junior with speed, letting it keep up with the ace, hovering beside him, covering his back and body blocking shots coming for him. When they made it to the shadow clone moved to attack the Demon’s arms with a pair of circular saws, acting mainly as a distraction so the Ace could target her more vulnerable body. The green had also empowered the ace’s weapon before he got out of range, purple spell runes forming along the side of Nightsky Rippe’s blade, and a green glow alighting along its edge, signaling increased power to its blows and sharpness to its bite.

The reds followed after, pelting any pursuers or flankers with fire. In the end, however, both they and the green were left in the Ace’s dust and at the mercy of the open battlefield.

---

While this was all going down the Atomos completed its circle, bringing its front facing kid crewed ballista to bear on the Demon as her second shot struck home. They’d tried to help when the ship had been pelted, but the fire team onboard couldn't risk shooting the things on the ship without worrying about hitting the living ship or its passengers.

Which made the shot itself doubly heart wrenching. Because there wasn't anything they could do to strike back. Not sanely anyway. Charging in deep enough to get into range would get their own ship ripped apart. Jr yelled as much when Bowser demanded they do so.

”We’d never make it there in one piece Dad!”

”We have to do something!” the king demanded, shouting over the sound of Rika wordlessly screaming as she unloaded fire at the Demon for killing Brinybeard, reservations about killing her own forgotten when it came to this specific abyssal. Despite her rage her shots fell short, splashing into the water before they reached her target. Beside her Mimikyu was having more luck, her electroballs adoring being shot at this stationary target, their speed differential based attack power being boosted as high as it could go as they buzzed forth.

Then they saw the telltale flash of fusion, once, then twice, before the Ace suddenly jumped into the after and started sailing towards the Demon with Kamek’s minions in tow.

“He’s going! We should go too!” Rika shouted

”We cant! I just said” jr repeated himself

“Then I’ll do it myself- wow”

”Oh no you don’t. You’ll just get shot by the navy!” Bowser told her, grabbing her by one of her arms before she could jump off the ship Sakrua style.

“I can't just stand here and do nothing! She needs to die!” Rika insisted

”You need to live. I won't let a minion die pointlessly” Bowser told her

”Are there more spirits?” Jr shouted from the cockpit as the pair struggled

”What?”

”Where’d they get those from?” jr clarified

As one both Bower and Rika moved to the edge and glanced down at Shippy.

“There, Peach has them” Rika said, pointing down at the princes and her three remaining spirits.

”Perfect! I’ll jump down there and-” Bowser began before Rika insisted “We’ll go down”

Bowser looked at her, nodded, and then unceremoniously grabbed her by the waist and hauled her into a well practiced princess kidnapping carry, which is to say held over the shoulder like a sack of potatoes “Hey wait”

”Stay safe Junior! Going down!” the king announced, before jumping into the empty air. The pair plummeted, but, before they hit ocean or deck like a cannonball, Bowser summoned up Carrie the Trowlon and used the floating minion to rapidly slow their fall, coming to a stop right next to shippy.

”Friendly coming onboard” he wanted the crew as he deposited Rika on deck, but neglected to come aboard himself to avoid bogging down and overcrowding the now much smaller ship.

“Oof. Hi everyone” Rikia said as she stabilized herself “please don't shoot me I’m going to make myself look even less Abyssaly just to make sure there’s no mistakes and then I am going to kill that whoreson of a demon!”

”Spirits. Quick. Don't want to go swimming! Also language!” Bowser told her, conscious of the brief amount of time his hovering platform could stick around.

“Right! Sorry” she said, moving swiftly over to the princess and then looked over the spirits on offer and quickly concluded that Bower would definitely want the one that was biggest and had the most guns, grabbing Trento and tossing it to him, before grabbing Mikuma for herself. They both had horns and she had a weapon in her hands, she thought, so maybe that would mix best with what she had already,

In quick succession the pair took their choice of spirit and pressed it to their chests.

World of Light

<Snipped quote by DracoLunaris>

I mainly picked her because she has a sword, and how would Bowser get it? Is he also on Shippy or would Kamek bring it to him? I'm not saying no but if it makes more sense IC for Bowser to get it I'll gladly take Chicago or whoever the other one is.

@Dark Cloud

thanks, and you'll see

World of Light

@Lugubrious That would be Trento.

@Dark Cloud

Don't suppose you could be convinced to take the Chicago instead so i can take the big girl for Bowser. Not to much of a big deal if you don't tho

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay, Mk. V

Exo, The Traveler

Name: More of then than not known simply as the Explorer or the Traveler by mortals, they go by Exo by their friends and many other names while traveling

Domains

Exploration: to see the unseen, to conquer the unknown, to seek the mysteries and bring back relics, riches and souvenirs from lands strange and distant.

To explore is to go somewhere new to discover what’s there. That place does not necessarily need to be uncharted or unknown entirely. You can explore a town even though people live there, and discover a nice restaurant that has regular patrons. You can explore a land and discover it for your civilization even if there is one there already. But true exploration, in its purest and most glorious form, is to forge out into the absolute unknown, the uncharted wilds where no-one has ever set foot, seeking to find something truly strange out there.

In a world filled with ruins of glory days long gone and touched by portals to other worlds, exploring isn't just a novelty or a way to find more mundane materials, it is a path to power. What old wonders, magics and artifacts lie in the ruins of the old gods? What strange and unseen mysteries lie beyond the world? Those who dare may find out, and if they survive the wilds, may come back to civilization bearing treasures and powers unseen and use them to become champions, heroes, kings and conquerors all.

Exploration in such a world is also a dangerous business. A wise traveler knows how to protect themselves, and will seek out better and stronger means to fight off monsters, ancient machines, other adventurers and natives who would rather you not be there, be it by sword, bow, hired guns or ancient artifacts.

Myth

“From a world far gone, the explorer did come. From a place where cities sprawled across the world and shone with bright lights, illuminating even the darkest corners of the land. It was a place where they had conquered all but the night sky, which hung above them filled with diamonds. They called to them, those pretty lights. A final frontier, a place to wander and roam free from the toils and weight of the world.

With wisdom and skill the people of that world built the perfect explorer, one that did not eat or sleep, that could turn anything they found into a tool, that had the wisdom and adaptability to take the strange and unknown in its stride. Finally, they gave it the power to break through the veil, to travel the hidden paths in the sky to cross the vast nothingness that hangs above in the blink of an eye.

For an age they toiled, pouring their hopes and dreams into the vessel, till at last, it were ready. On a night of grand celebration the culmination their work, their wisdom and passion formed into one perfect being, began its journey. It took to the skies, flew high above them, and then slipped between the vail, into a place strange and wonderful.

A place between places, a space between spaces, where every step it took became a thousand in the mortal world. Through this palace it went, going further than any had before. A destination it had in mind and a path to follow, one leading to one of those shining lights that hung in the sky, but inside that place it found something more. A voice. A call. A beacon. A cry for help. It flashed once and, in the spirit of curiosity, the explorer stopped. It thought for an age that was but a moment and then it found a way to follow that signal here. To us.

Our world was dying. No, it was already dead, a fire that had gone out and of which only embers remained. From on high the Explorer looked down upon us. Witnessed us and, though it had been made to roam to other places, it knew this was where it belonged. Where it was needed. With tools from its world of wonders, and the scavenged echoes of the old gods' power, it descended to this place it had found and helped save us all.

So the next time you are journeying, traveler, and you hear a cry for help or see someone in trouble. Do not pass them by because you are in a hurry or because your destination seems more important. Instead, remember the explorer, once a stranger to our world, who stepped off the path well trodden to help us in our hour of need, and know that godly folk should do the same.“ the old preacher concluded with a nod

“That’s not how it goes!” came a shout from a man sitting further down the bar where the preacher and traveler had been speaking. He was well kept wearing fine and expensive looking clothes while also being armed to the teeth and surrounded by a band of equally well dressed and armed warriors. It was only the climbing, camping and various other explorer gear adorning them and their packs denoted them as those who dared pierce the worlds beyond in search of fortune and fame rather than merely wealthy mercenaries.

“First off, the explorer was but one of many of its kind, trawling the sky for riches. Diamonds, gold and more” The man insisted “and they all saw the glint of strangeness in the ways, every one of those explorers. Only a rare few dared to take the leap into the unknown, and only one had the strength and guile to make it through to the end of that path. To here, where their gamble paid off and they became a god! So be bold, traveler, be strong and daring and cunning, and you’ll find riches and glory beyond your wildest dreams. If we don't find them first that is!”

There was riotous laughter and a chorus of cheers and raising of glasses from the man’s crew as the preacher sulked, believing in his heart that he was right and that this man’s words where folly, but daring not to challenge the armed explorers.

“No no, you're the one who has it wrong,” came the quiet words from a woman sitting at the other end of the bar. For a moment, it looked like the man was going to demonstrate just why the preacher had held his tongue, only for him to pause halfway through pushing himself out of his seat to confront her.

She was an explorer too, but unlike the company she wasn't dressed in the finest gear, indeed her gear was as rugged and worn as she was. She was alone too, but there was a look in her eyes that told them that she thought she was far more dangerous than all of them put together. Though he may have been bold and arrogant, you didn't love long out in the wilds without getting a feel for your limits or an instinctual sense of danger, and so the man sat back down and let her talk.

“There where many, yes, many of the explorers kind, and they were slaves” she began

“You dare sully their name!” There were some things the preacher could not stand, but a raised finger from the woman silenced him nonetheless.

“Slaves they were, and most didn't even know it. They were explorers, but there was no passion for it, no wonder. Just a commanded purpose they toiled for. The Explorer saw that crack in the veil time and time again, and though they had been told not to go their heart cried out to follow the call to true adventure.”

“At last, summoning its courage, it took the plunge and it broke from its ordered path, from the will of its greedy masters, and slipped between the cracks and out into the wilds till it came here, where it remade itself to be what it wanted to be, not what it had been told to be. So know this traveler, that you too can leave it all behind and remake yourself here, on the frontiers beyond the world. Out here beyond the walls of ’civilization’ you can be truly free.”

“Then why are you still here, huh, why not vanish into a portal and wait till it closes. Your just like us in the end, seeking treasurer and information to bring back to the world” the man countered, to which she simply replied “I have unfinished business”

Everyone collectively decided not to ask what that business was.

“Yet they helped us, they did,” The preacher countered with fiery passion, unable and unwilling to hold his tongue any longer “If they were here only for power, or here only to escape, then why did they fight so hard to save our ancestors? The gods can do anything they can, form new life or riches beyond imagining with but a thought. If they wanted worshipers they could have made them from scratch, if they only wanted freedom they could have ignored us and made their own perfect world and yet in its infinite mercy the Explorer did preserve us, mold our forms and our world into something more, something stronger, something that could survive any hardship!” he jabbed his finger at the band “it is only through their blessing that you can survive the wilds, it is only through their power that the gates are stable enough to travel there in the first place”

“Watch your tongue old man” the man growled

“That kindness came after. Part of its reinvention.” the woman told the preacher, before concluding that “people should help themselves before they help others”

“Ain't that the truth” the man agreed

“You’ve never helped anyone in your life” the woman told him dryly

“You don't know that!” he retorted “Why I’ve helped many people travel the wilds, there's no better band than mine when it comes to keeping people safe and secure”

“Only because they paid you, I’ll bet” the preacher insisted

The traveler raised their drink to their lip and used it to hide their smile as the patrons of the lodge continued to bicker over the details of tale but never quite came to blows over which telling as right, and threw a glance towards the simple shrine held adobe the bar that they had been used to prompt the discussion. It held a plain idol. A wheel with a spoke driven through its axle. A crude depiction of a probe, not even of the true god but of one of its envoys.

It was so interesting, the Traveller thought as they set down their drink, to see how the world had changed since they had left, and how the old tales had drifted and splintered in it’s absence. Yet despite being far from it’s original telling of the story these people’s various versions were no less valid than it’s own, for the god had no way of truly knowing where it came from. Indeed a half turn around the continent they would have laughed at all the variations and proclaimed that the Explorer was built by the old god (or gods or ancient humans) to explore the sky and returned home to help save their dying world when that sky began to collapse (their debate was whether it’s had been completed by self preservation or by compassion).

Some even whispered that the stories of the Explorer’s origin stemmed from its own madness and delusions, and that it had formed from nothing like many, if not all, of the others.

Exo was sure there were even more tales out there now, twisted by time or written from scratch to suit an agenda, and they looked forward to finding them.

---

Base Form

The explorer’s basest of base forms is a machine made of complex alloys that can barley be described as metal anymore crafted into a humanoid form. A central ring like eye stares out from under a synthetic hood and cloak, while two cones like sensors that act as ears and more pop out from either side of its head. The form is fast, agile, silent on its feet, able to render itself practically invisible and often casually armed with futuristic weaponry.

Exo generally takes on the form of a local race while traveling, appearing as a young, athletic and androgenouse individual, beautiful and mysterious to all, yet also not standing out so much that they make a scene wherever they go. Generally seen wearing a hooded traveler's cloak and carrying a bow. They may also use one of these forms to interact with the other gods, either as a courtesy to allow the displaying facial expressions, to fit in among the mortal mimicking gods or simply because they feel like it at the time.

---

True Form

The Explorer’s true form is (what they believe to be) their original form: a massive automated exploration ship built (Exo assumes based on its mechanical nature and a simple set of directives instructing it to “explore, survey and catalog all within its reach” hardwired into its being) by an advanced race to chart and survey worlds beyond their own. A vast mass of exotic alloys the ship is capable of turning the basest of raw materials into lesser ships and probes. It is incapable of replicating its own hyper advanced construction, and so its creations are all a far cruder affair than itself. Exo theories that this restriction was put in place to prevent it from replicating itself in the event that it went rogue.

Musical Theme

the Explorer descends upon a new world

a journey across a world reborn

World of Light

wordcount: 3,930 (+3)
Midna: level 4 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////// (29/30)

Queen Sectonia
Level 6 Sectonia (holding 1 level up) - (17/60) +3

Location: Sandswept Sky - Desert - Hollow Heights

Midna chowed down on the leftovers from the Thieves' rations and reflected that a breakfast of meat and candy probably wasn't a massive improvement over just one consisting of just sweets. It was for this reason that the first thing she thought about when being informed that there was a city nearby was to look forward to having something cooked by a proper chef for lunch. Or, falling that due to their completely broke status, just some bread. Maybe someone would be interested in the various odds and ends they had acquired through spirit crushing but had no use for, she thought, and only then did she get taken by surprise by the fact that there was a city out here in the first place.

After the endless wastelands filled with ruins and rolling desert she’d not expected to find groups of people much larger than this town, the mercenary camp or the roving bands of robots, and yet apparently there was not only a major population center out here, but also some kind of machine called a train that would take the there quickly and safely. Thinking that it left the train tracks behind as well, tracks, the princess was briefly convinced it would be some new titanic marvel of engineering till she saw it.

”You know. I’m not sure what I expected” she noted when she saw the dinky cakey contraption, but as it turned out it worked well enough at its intended function.

After being very unimpressed with the local princess, her attitude a personal affront to the princess and to royalty everywhere, the Twilight princess boarded their latest miraculous mechanical transport along with the others, finding a spot at the back of the small passenger carriage. Anything to stay out of the sun.

---

Sectonia found that her new appearance made eating the rations of the phantom thieves was much easier. Having some actual teeth took a bit to get used to, especially since they weren’t really teeth but jagged mouth bits. Either way, she enjoyed the sweets a bit more than everyone else but she’d prefer honey or fruits herself. She wasn’t really much of a meat eater, but she tried a bit with the others. Not her favorite thing, but at least it didn’t take her ages to eat it this time.

After getting ready, apparently they were going to make their way to a city made of sweets, at least with what Sectonia could gather. They were going to travel by train, although it looked like it was made of sweets much like everything else around here. That was the good part, the bad part was the ‘princess’ who decided to pay them a visit. Sectonia really disliked this person, they acted like a baron more than royalty. Although if the ruler of this place was like this ‘princess’ it would be really, really easy to incorporate this kingdom later…

With that whole unpleasant interaction done, Sectonia boarded the back of the train, sharing a cabin with Midna. Due to her reduced size, she could fit into the train as long as she kept her wings tucked in, but she did fill a lot of the compartment. Sectonia’s Alcremie moving down to rest on her head instead of her top-hat to avoid not getting squished. Funny enough, while her imposing visage would probably scare lesser people, it did block out a good amount of sun.

---

The train chugged out the station and out into the desert. The proper desert. The one that wasn't a pun. Sweet canyons, trees and wildlife was replaced with the now familiar endless barrens of sand and stillness. While there were some things to look at, they were all far away and hazy to the Twilight princess. Also, despite the shade, it quickly got a bit stuffy inside the passenger train, prompting Minda to turn round on her seat and push open the back window to let some air in, before settling back down and, with little else to do, striking up a conversation with the transformed, yet still imposing, Queen she was sharing the compartment with. Given her impression of the queen so far, she wasn't expecting much, but what did she have to lose?

”So, I see you’ve taken the plunge with the whole fusion thing” with her earlier comments about only wanting to choose something beautiful, Midna had assumed the Queen never would take on a spirit due to having too high standards, but she’d been wrong on that point. The unlucky caped and top hatted creature she’d trapped in crystal before its death hadn’t been what she’d been expecting to fit, but seeing the result it had certainly worked out well.

”How are you finding it?”

Sectonia looked at Midna, giving her a ‘’toothy’ smile with her new red glowy mouth, since she couldn’t really move much besides her hands in this cramped spot. ”Fine, fine. I couldn’t manipulate time before. Finding spirits that work well for me is going to be tricky however ” She said candidly. ”Your first fusion looked fine. I’m not sure how I feel about the second one. Hanging jewels on your crown feels awkward. Glad you're trying to match me in the lower area though.” She said, laughing a bit at the end.

Minda was rather taken aback by how the Queen brushed past the fact that she had time manipulation powers now of all things and went straight into lightly criticizing her look. Not that it was her look exactly as she hadn’t chosen it, indeed to an extent even her “original” look hadn't been her look, but it still stung a little regardless. It made her entirely miss the implications about her now having a larger, more queenly, ‘abdomen’.

She self consciously flicked one of the red baubles hanging from the fused shadow and asked ”They aren't that bad are they?”

The bit of her getting touchy about the baubles was also the one that warned her to have absolutely nothing to do with the cream creature that was resting on the queen’s head which she hadn't realized was there till now. Apparently they’d picked up more than the red hooded woman while she’d been sneaking around the village.

”No, they are solid so that is fine. I’m just speaking from experience. If you don’t feel uncomfortable with them then they ‘should’ work?” The queen said to clarify her point on the matter. ”So, how are you enjoying your powers? I still need to play with mine.” Sectonia continued, shifting the conversation a bit.

”They’ve been fairly useful so far” the princess replied, leaving the bauble be for now before clicking her fingers and lighting one hand’s worth with purple flame for a moment before dismissing the dragonfire again ”Dragon powers have been incredibly useful. Still need to test out what I can really do with the sand part if I go all out with it though, but considering how nasty the sandstorm the dragons whipped up was for everyone involved, it’s not exactly applicable to use in a big group.”

”But you’ve probably seen most of mine. What’s really interesting is yours. You said you had time manipulation? So casualty too,” that fact still floored her ”Tell me about that”

”Hm. I would prefer to not be in another sandstorm as well. Sand takes forever to get out of your fluff.” Sectonia said, giving a friendly chuckle. ”It doesn’t seem to be anything too severe, I can just speed up or slow down time in an area. Also...”
She said, holding her hand out and producing a starry darkness from it, much like Midna did with her dragonfire. ”I also have some slight control over ‘void’, whatever that is. It is a magic type I’m not familiar with. It is like darkness, but far more powerful and empty.” Sectonia said, explaining her powers. ”Tora didn’t appreciate the time magic when I used it on him as an example, I suppose being made ‘faster’ isn’t much his speed.” She said.

They both let out a short laugh at the joke after which Midna wondered if the queen had always been this personable and was opening up more, or if the act of absorbing a spirit had had more of an impact on the queen than it had on her, a thought that lacked a great deal of introspection.

”best hold off any more experiments with time till we arrive. Not sure what speeding up one part of this ‘train’ would do, but I can’t expect it would end well. Unless you think you could affect the entire thing? Get us to Al Mamoon faster” Midna asked ”after trudging through the desert all day yesterday and the weirdness of that dessert I’m looking forward to being in and seeing an actual city. It’s good to know the world isn't just full of little towns, though I’m having a hard time imagining how you could build and sustain a large population in the desert. Maybe we’re reaching the end of it? I’m more than ready to be done with this wasteland.” she added

”Ah, I doubt that would be a good idea. Too much speed and a train will fly off the tracks.” Sectonia said, dismissing Midna’s idea of speeding up the train. ”But yes. I’m not a fan of this desert as well. The Dessert area was quite fascinating, although why it was next to a desert we can only speculate. Some sick sense of humor perhaps? Either way, if I had the opportunity, I know i’d remove this desert and replace it with a much more beautiful flower field. Although I suppose you could make some glass from the sand...” Sectonia said, continuing on with the conversation. As the two royals chatted the sandswept desert outside passed along, not much of note to comment on all things considered.

”The dimension annihilating and rewriting the sun is a fan of puns. Terrible, isn't it?” Midna noted with dry humor ”But yes, the world could do without deserts. There's a certain bleak beauty to some of it” she glanced out the window before admitting ”Though not this part. But as the ruler of a realm can be the epitome of bleak beauty, I’d prefer useful land to some that makes a nice vista any day of the week. Also, though I’m by no means an expert at glass making, I assume you can use sea sand for it, and oceans have more uses than the desert, that I know for a fact.”

"Yeah. Although you don't have many oceans in the sky. " Sectonia said." Volcanic ash is all we have to make glass. But we make it work." Speaking about kingdoms the two of them were rulers so there was a topic there. "So who rules your kingdom then and what is it? Floralia is my kingdom, a chain of islands in the sky with flowers as far as the eye can see, my palace at the top where eternal moonlight shines, and the usual things you need to run a kingdom.”

“What about you?"

”That would be me. Ob-” Minda paused and then went about clearing up a cultural difference ”The Twilight realm, my home, is ruled either by a King of Twilight or a Twilight Princess, i.e. me. We don’t do queens as there's a lot of, shall we say, negative connotations with that title.”

”As for my kingdom, it’s also a chain of floating islands funnily enough, though some are so large calling them mere islands becomes a bit of a stretch. There is no sun or moon in the ream of Twilight. Instead only light comes from the ambient twilight glow that turns people into beasts, and from the Sols, magical power sources we use to keep ourselves from succumbing to that corruption. It was the Interlopers’, our ancestors, prison, and eventually it became their tomb, but we, the Twili, their descendants, have made it into a home worth living in.” She explained. It was bleak and dangerous and could make the desert seem tame in comparison sometimes. But it was home. She missed it, though she wasn't going to tell Sectonia that even if she was more personable now.

"Why is there a negative connotation with the Queen title?" Sectonia said, pointing out the weird convention of having a king but no Queen. "The floating island thing seems to be commonplace. Tora comes from sky islands as well. Although a world of corrupting light that needs your own science or magic to deal with doesn't sound pleasant." Sectonia said. "Floralia is similar. They are sky islands but still quite large. No corrupting light though. We do have a stone that emits light as well. We call them Sun Stones. But they just emit sunlight." Sectonia continued. Seeing how feisty Midna was Sectonia wasn't surprised her realm was so hostile.

”Not sure, there just are. Probably there was some kind of reason or historical event that caused it, buuuuuut nobody decided to write it down because ‘why would you. Everyone knows why queens are bad!’ And then that goes on until you get to the point where they don't because the event so far removed from the event and no-one wrote about it and then you're just stuck with the word being bad but no one knows why. Probably. Or maybe I could dig up the reason in an archive somewhere back home. Or in Hyrule. But we have no way of accessing those records normally, and finding out wasn’t exactly on the top of my priority list the 2 times I was there unfortunately.” Midna replied with a tirade against poor record keeping

”And they do, do they?” She said in response to the news that Tora and Poppie also came from a world of floating islands ”Huh. Maybe they are. I only have my home and Hyrule, or I guess the whole light world, for point of reference, and so it was one for one floating islands vs planet. Ironically Galeem seems to have made the inverse? A world with a big hole in the middle, at least if that “empty space” on the map is literal. Then again who’s to say the ocean doesn't just end out beyond the edges of that man and so maybe it is a floating island too?”

"if I'll be so bold. I think why Queen has a negative connotation in your kingdom is because one of your ancestors wanted to feel forever cute and Princess is cuter than Queen. I prefer the beauty of Queen myself though." Sectonia said, laughing while Minda made an exasperated sound at the thought that she could well be right.

"Ah we have a planet below our realm called Popstar. Funny enough before this whole Galeem thing happened we were looking at handling that lower world. It's ruled by an oversized penguin funny enough.* She said, giving a casual smirk as she thought dedede was just silly. ”All he does is eat and sleep. And without style I might add.”

Midna decided not to comment on how strange that was. She was talking to a giant bee after all.

"Now how do we know this isn’t just one huge island that is floating in a sea. Although I would think if this was made by mashing all worlds together it would be far bigger." Sectonia commented.

”It is concerning. What exactly did Galeem do with, well, everything else? Part of why I’m glad there are living cities is it means more people haven't been, well, left out? I hope that what Galeem didn't use they just… sorted away somewhere? Because if not?” the alternative was too awful to say out loud.

"No clue." Sectonia said, doing her best to shrug. "Or there are multiple Galeem and we have to deal with another one after this one? Let's hope not. "

”Probably would be easier after the first one,” she suggested. She’d do it, if it got everyone back. Her people at least. It took a bit to dawn on her just how many worlds that might be if that was the way it had been done.

"Now here is the question. If we beat Galeem, do the worlds go back to normal or do they need a new ruler?" Sectonia said, making her intentions clear about the second part. Unlike Midna her goal was expansion, not stability.

There was a pause. Then Midna took a deep breath to steady herself and then said ”If things do not go back to normal by themselves, and we need to usurp Galeem’s power in-order to set things right, that might be acceptable. But when they fall a new ruler is not needed, as Galeem does not ‘rule’ in first place. The ‘god’ itself sleeps, and the three guardians I’ve heard about had their own little domains surrounded by a world under Galeem’s influence, yes, but not under it or their control. To ‘rule’ this world a person would need to take the power used to overcome Galeem to go forth and conquer, and I for one will not stand idle should anyone try to do so” she tried to give Sectonia the benefit of the doubt, but couldn't keep her past and her convictions out of her words as she added a not so subtle threat tot he mix ”There was a man who turned my kingdom to that once, who brought twilight to the light world to make it his own, and I personally saw to it that that path was dead and buried, along with his corpse.”

Sectonia listened to Midna talk about her opinion on the whole thing, and from what she could gather she was on the receiving end of a conquest, a poorly done one at that. Now if this was the pre-fused Sectonia, the conversation would’ve probably ended here with Sectonia distrustful of Midna, but that wasn’t the case thanks to the recent fusion. After Midna had calmed down a bit after venting, Sectonia said, calmly. ”We certainly come from different worlds. Creatures like Galeem are, oddly enough, somewhat common on Popstar. Eldritch horrors that just want to destroy everything or corrupt dreams or turn the world to yarn or paint.” Sectonia started, getting into a bit of a speech herself. ”Its sad to hear someone tried to take over your kingdom with less than noble pursuits and frankly, sounded like an idiot. But where I come from, a more united kingdom would be better at dealing with stuff like that.” Sectonia said, pointing her thumb at the light ball in the sky. ”And if this all happened again, a more united front would be better at dealing with it.”

”Oh he was mad. He hid it well at first but...” she said, and then had a thought. She had been intending to confront the queen’s claim on a statecraft level, but instead realized there was something more fundamental, more powerful, that she could draw on instead.

”There is one evil above all others in my world that returns again and again and again. Ganon. He whispered in my usurper’s ear and planted the idea of conquest in his mind. He also corrupted the guardian of time herself, who ended up tearing both herself and time apart, and because of that I don’t just know the history of my world, I have walked it. So I speak with certainty when I say it is not armies or empires that throw back the darkness every time. It is a boy wielding a legendary sword, aided by the sorcery of a princess and a few close companions.”

Something clicked for her then, mostly from her time as part of the smash tournaments, but also just a little from Crow’s ability to vaguely guess what was going on.

”From being in smash I know that's how it is in other places. It’s a Plumber. A bounty hunter. A pink puffball. Heroes save the world, and we have plenty of those already.” There was, of course, a touch of a lie, or rather an omission, in there. When time had fallen apart they’d needed armies to make it through. But that didn't help her argument, and ultimately it didn't matter in Minda’s opinion anyway. They’d pulled one together from the various races and times easily enough without having them preemptively united under the boot of an overlord. You didn't need to have a grand ruler to get various kingdoms to unite in the face of evil, just a plan, a cause and heroes to lead them.

”You mean all of those ‘heroes’ who are running around mind controlled right now?” Sectonia said, pointing to the huge flaw in Midna’s reasoning. ”They didn’t stop this, they can’t stop everything.” She was getting a bit annoyed with Midna now, who was clearly reliving some bad memories. Maybe this would be a discussion for later when the twilight princess had cooled down.

”Things get worse before they get better-” Midna began to say, against drawing heavily from her experiences, but fate conspired to interrupt their argument as a strange box on the ceiling suddenly started talking with Gnorbu’s voice. Through the communicator, Midna realised what it probably was after a few moments, he warned them that they were about to hit an upswell. A quick peek out the window told the royals all they needed to know, as the giant column of sand being blasted into the sky was hard to miss.

”Wonderful. And this time I have more than fluff to clean…” Secotnia said upon seeing the approaching upswell of sand. Seeing this would be an issue, she scooped up her Alcremie and told it to hide under her top hat. As they approached, they were also notified of the canyon they would be passing over, a seemingly bottomless canyon where the train tracks were held together by some basic looking metal struts and that was it.

”Been there, done that. You have fun with the sand” Midna told her, having had enough of sandstorms already after her fight with the flygon and so rather than toughing it out with everyone else she, after taking a brief look at the bizarre hole they were about to go over, slipped into a shadow and vanished from sight.

Sectonia, being a flyer, wasn’t too worried about the pit itself. The sandstorm meanwhile was a much bigger concern, forcing her to keep a good hold of her crown and top hat. At least her new wings could be used as some kind of cape, letting her block much of the sand blowing into her face as her other hand held her headwear, the Alcremie inside her hat being kept away from the brunt of the sandstorm.

This only worked for a tiny bit of time before the updraft became a huge issue. Seeing as she only had one free hand, Sectonia dropped her wing cloak and summoned her staff, using her new powers to slow down time around her, trying to affect the updraft so it didn’t bother her as much. Seeing as she was trying to affect such a large object, she decided to extend the reach of her power to far in front of the train, but not affecting the train itself or the people inside. Hopefully the slower sandstorm would help out everyone else as well. At least being inside a cabin made the sand not as bad as it could’ve been.

Divinus: The Deity Roleplay, Mk. V

Be cool to rp with you all again