DracoLunaris

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

wordcount: 482 (+1)
Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Esaka’s Low Tier
Bowser Jr: Level 15 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(334/150)
Rika: Level 12 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(170/110)

As they awoke to the sound of the pitter patter of rain against a windscreen, kids reckoned might have gone a little too far when it came to avoiding a repeat of the bombing incident that the others had suffered the previous night. They’d skipped out on it last time by shacking up in the Avenger, but the sensation of being yoinked skyward at high speed was not worth it, and that was before you got to the hassle of getting dropped off somewhere again in the morning.

As such, they’d camped out in the wilds, or, rather, more specifically, parked the green tractor shaped Kuebiko in a random cluster of bamboo outside of town. The adult sized seats in it made better bedding for the kids than they would have for others, with Jr curling up in his shell and Rika snugging into her two plushies, but the minor aches they had after waking up put this down as an idea best not repeated.

Still, it was nothing a good breakfast couldn’t fix, and so the pair signaled their agreement with the plan to meet up for breakfast before hitting the road and rolling back into town. Therein the kids and jr’s pokemon all went to town on a whole load of rice porridge and dried fruit, which was a nice enough way to start the day.

When it came to plans, they didn’t have anything as concrete as the match schedule in mind like those competing in the tournament did, so they’d have to come up with something to do to help out.

”Guess we can see if those UN guys have any other bright ideas about dealing with G-Corp” Jr suggested, while Rika thought that they should maybe focus on more basic needs, suggesting that they ”Might want to hunt down some treasure, otherwise we’re gonna be running out of food money”

The two chatted back and forth about this a bit, including speculating that maybe they could get the UN to pay them for food, before being interrupted by Amaterasu presenting RIka with another finely inked note that had been written on a napkin

”Found Kim and Harry. Kim looking after Harry. Out of tournament running” Rika read out loud, which wasn’t exactly great news. That was two more shots at winning this thing out the window, which was not as disastrous as Terry’s loss had been (before his replacement) but it still wasn’t good.

”shame they probably don't count as ‘monsters’ or else we could have snuck in as em using a tape recording” Jr commented, before adding mockingly ”though given they both already got knocked down to losers, I’ll bet it’d have been next to impossible to win with their move-sets”

”Wouldn’t want to do that anyway. Will be way more eyes on the fights today” Rika muttered, to which Jr nodded and agreed ”that too”

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Words: 1,338 (+3)
Edward Portsmith: Level 9 (22 cells) (2 level ups stored) ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (28/90)
Location Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk

Edward groaned as he awoke, before blinking once and leaping to his feet with an assistive flap of his wings. He drew his nanite-infested katana in one hand and magelock pistol in the other as soon as he was up, before taking cover behind the barrels.

Only after claiming the defensive position did he take the time to fully observe his surroundings, and only once he identified them as clear did he step back out of cover, holstering his pistol but keeping the sword dawn just in case.

”Teleported. Wondeful” he said to himself, before setting about investigating the area for signs as to where he was, and where the others might be.

Despite the sudden transportation and unfamiliar surroundings, Edward forced himself to remain calm. Most of the others could handle themselves, and even for those that could not, there would be no gain from rushing into danger when he was on the lower end of the ‘being able to handle things’ spectrum. Instead he focused on trying to make sense of the situation, and to discover any clues or items that could aid the team.

First things first, he checked the barrels by lifting up their lids with his sword. In doing so, he discovered that he had made a very poor choice when taking cover earlier, given they were filled with black powder. Still, he wasn’t one to turn down the offer of high explosives, and so these were swiftly sent to the armory for later use.

He then took the time to examine both the dead bats and the living ones. The latter seemed perfectly healthy, rather than perhaps starved or sickly, which would have explained the presence of the dead but uneaten ones on the floor. These were in varying states of decay, including infestation by unusual large maggots.

This all struck Edward as quite odd, especially the corpses. There were clearly decomposers at work here, such as the maggots, so the fact that there was any flesh at all implied that the area must have been created (or copied in) rather recently, else they would be nothing but bone now. After all, no fresh ones would ever be joining them in Galeem’s version of reality where the dead turned to ash.

There wasn’t much to do with this information however, other than vaguely worry that what had been recently made might soon be unmade, and so Edward descended the stairs in search of something that was of use, where he found the alcove with its writings. Perusing them, he discovered that the side room was dedicated to the study of a cadre of powerful beings known as the Daedric Princes (worshipped by some as deities) as well as the planes associated with each one.

Perhaps, he speculated, they had been drawn into one of those realms, though given the mundanity of the bats compared to some of the daedra described in the documents as being the residents of those planes, this was not a theory that had much evidence at the moment.

It was only after he was done reading, and having bound all the writing together into a halfbaked Tome using his magic, that he began to inspect the bell. I did not seem particularly magical in any way, which was a shame, but he was naturally quite curious as to its purpose. Perhaps it would summon someone willing (or able to be ‘convinced’) to explain the situation he was in.

The man wisely fortified his location with summoned golems before sounding the bell. Unfortunately this did nothing to dissuade the three gargoyls that swooped down from a hole in the ceiling in order to grab him and haul him back up into their hiding spot.

Said spot turned out to be a vertical tunnel, and, after hauling him up past a secondary tunnel leading deeper into the rock, emerged out of the top into a Perilous Hallway via the pit in its center. They then deposited him at the top of the flight of stairs before returning back down the way they had come.

After a moment to steady his breath, Edward glanced back down into the pit, but found nothing down there but the dark.

”What a wretched transportation system” he complained, before setting it aside for now. With a quick few mental commands he dismissed most of the golems he’d summoned down below, but left a squad of bronze ones who began hacking away at the walls to extract any coal or lapis they could with their helbards. Not exactly the perfect tools for the job, but they could keep at it effortlessly for as long as he sustained them.

Then he flexed his wings and with a flapping leap crossed the gap to the balcony opposite the staircase. He’d seen that the gold filigree decorated black doors there were ajar, allowing a bright light to creep through into the dim corridor, and was intrigued to investigate the source of that light.

Past the black doors Edward found a spacious and elegant bathroom, its white tile floor studded with small black diamonds, and a pattern like a curtain or half-folded fan on the off-white walls. To the left, a huge latticed circular window let light shine across a pristine bathtub that sat atop a raised dias, its arrangement of faucets intriguingly intricate. A rug occupied the center of the room, and opposite the tub stood the bathroom countertop with mirrors and sinks. Towels, soaps, and potted plants could be found in abundance, as well as some other furniture. It was luxurious without being opulent, very clean, and a comfortable refuge in an unknown location.

Edward still moved through it with sword in hand nonetheless, but once it was confirmed clear he breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. Certainly the sunlit window was somewhat suspicious, given there was no sun outside and the frosted over texture made it impossible to see what was actually out there. However, after releasing the Snoruyo from their pal-spheres, he felt secure enough to experiment with the bathroom.

He tested the bathtub first, purely out of curiosity, and found that its elaborate faucet was capable of streaming out several different colors of perfumed water to create a rainbow bath. A quiet novel setup indeed.

Much as it was tempting, however, this was not the time. What he did however have time for was the sink. After the morning’s rude awakening and the whole beard incident, the man was feeling pretty rough and unkempt despite his best efforts. More so than he might expect, even, as despite the fact that he had simply been examining the rooms he was in, he found that he felt somewhat fatigued.

As such, a bit of self care was more than welcome. He also took the opportunity to fill a small drinking flask with water that wasn’t made from snow that had been melted using a simulacrum of hellfire.

He wasn’t entirely idle while he did this, as the man had a scout drone he’d made before his wash launch itself down into the pit in order to investigate the side passage he’d been flown past while being carried by the gargoyles.

It wasn’t a particularly long investigation, as after spotting an interesting blade that crackled with lighting, the drone was promptly destroyed by a grotesque Green Hunter that lurked within the otherwise mostly bare cavern.

An unfortunately unsurprising confirmation that danger did indeed lurk within these halls.

He decided to leave it be (for now) and put his re-energized state into further exploration, recalling the snoruyo and heading back out to the Perilous Hallway. Here he glanced left and right, before leaping back to the stairs with a flap of his wings, and then heading down towards the left door in order to continue seeking answers.

---

Elsewhere in the maze, the Somnadrix presented itself to Roxas, awaiting his commands, while Taffy the traffikrab hunkered down under its neon traffic cone in response to the confusion brought on by suddenly appearing inside of an observatory. Finally, the infernal steed carrying Edward’s grenade launcher lay itself down in a room filled with seated cage wearing corpses at its general’s distant command, lacking as it did thumbs needed to either open doors or investigate the main body more closely.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Words: 960 (+2)
Edward Portsmith: Level 9 (22 cells) (2 level ups stored) ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (25/90)
Location Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk

It was a relief to get to the surface again in some ways, and a pain in others.

On the positive side, the mind rattling sound of the drill finally came to an end, as did the bug attacks, meaning they could finally get a moment of true respite. On the negative, there’d be no more coach riding and their rest spot was the most barren and cold spot the frozen highlands had yet to offer.

Also, really, there’d be little respite to be found for Edward in particular, as there was a lot that needed dealing with before they set out again. The impossible creatures needed feeding first off, and that involved them going through the last of their leftover supplies because there was not a lick of vegetation to be found. The only reason they did not run dry was the hunting expedition he had sent out during their drilling accent.

Then there was the question of what to do with the sheildrix now that they were no longer useful for towing the stagecoach. Technically they still had value as troops, but their combat abilities had been mostly neutered by the specifics of their fusion and they’d have to be herded across a narrow bridge before being put to any use. The Chillanth and SomnaDrix were already going to have enough trouble with that path as it was, and they, he hoped, could mostly slither across it.

The unkind option was butchery, but that was a terrible waste in Edward’s opinion, and that wasn’t merely sentiment talking. If only they had more pal spheres, but alas, they were all out. They did have the ingredients for some, and Edward had (while dealing with his requests about the vegetubes) coordinated the request of the smelting of the massive padlock into ingots that could be combined with Ganondorf's ore, but they would not be done any time soon.

Still, if they couldn’t make use of them, perhaps someone else could. Not the other team, or the Avenger, mind. They simply represented too many mouths to feed. The lost numbers had a city somewhere however, that he knew, and surely they might find some value from their reliable beasts of burden.

Thus after going around and collecting Fulton devices from the rest of the team, it was time to bid farewell to their reliable stagecoach pulling companions as they were sent off into the sky. The coach itself was also offered, given the thing was frankly far too bulky for its own good.

The same went for their savior from the deep, as the Drilldozer was not something that would really fit on the avenger long term, but surely would have value either to the lost numbers, be it for mining or as something to sell/salvage.

By the time it was all sent away, the white team’s force looked positively tiny compared to where it had been before, even if most of what had been lost was the bulk of the coach. Still, their presence in the barren snowfield had diminished greatly, causing the cold desolation of the frozen highlands to loom just a little larger in comparison.

It also brought a serious problem to the forefront, that being Sandalphon’s condition. She was no longer able to be transported within the coach, and was also, naturally, in no condition to walk. Edward approached her about this and, after testing the waters and finding no appetite for abandoning her position and heading back to the Avenger, they set about finding a solution.

His inferno steeds were an option, but beyond just their anathema demonic (imitating) nature that would put her life entirely in his hands due to the nature of their control. After some consideration they ended up selecting the Chillanth as a suitable carrier for her, as the Chillet section on the rear spotted an almost natural saddle upon which she could ride.

The need to solve that problem caused him to entirely forget to question her about her condition.

Well, that and the need for a break himself, little of one that he would get. The little stew that they had would have had to have been eaten up before the coach went, leaving only a smattering of cold leftovers for himself and Taffy to eat while squatting next to an inferno steed for warmth.

Belly filled (somewhat) and body warmed (somewhat), Edward finally had the time to complete his morning routine. He checked his equipment, he combed his hair, and, at last, shaved off the ridiculous beard he’d accidentally given himself down in the caves.

That was all the rest he could squeeze in before needing to make ready again.

He organized his forces. Construct wise he sent scouting drones ahead while dissolving the rest so as to avoid clogging the bridge. The only exception was an inferno steed they’d be using for warmth and light (and transport of Edward’s grenade launcher).

At his side were the somandrix, along with Taffy and Loona, while several palsheres holding the more situationally useful snoruyo and Reindrix rested in his bags and pouches.

It was a reduced force, but with the narrow approach to the castle it was preferable to an expanded one. Indeed Edward had put aside the thought of creating fresh impossible creatures, despite the possibilities the bugs from the caverns represented in terms of samples. The Glyphid Menace in particular would have provided excellent firepower. It also would have provided another mouth to feed, and another body to clog up the bridge, neither of which were a good thing.

With his affairs in order, he and his own formed up facing the stairway that represented their only way forwards, and reported to their leader that he was ”Ready to depart.” before commenting ”Let us hope we will not need to siege the castle. Our fliers might make it less defensible than its builder might have hoped, but I still suspect it will be a tough nut to crack if we encounter any resistance”

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

wordcount: 1,149 (+2)
Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Esaka’s High Tier
Bowser Jr: Level 15 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(333/150)
Rika: Level 12 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(169/110)

The Koopa siblings had planned to go into the casino and maybe get to know the new kids on the team, but they got just a little sidetracked on the way there. Specifically Rika (with her new appreciation for plushies) ended up holding them up upon spotting the soft and cuddle-able prizes on offer for one of the carnival games.

It took her a bit of time to get the hang of the ball chucking game the prizes were for, but once she got the weight of them figured out, the girl won herself a second cuddly friend. Not a bear, mind, but instead one resembling a certain streetfighter that was called Blanka-chan.

Given they had already been left behind, Jr (who’d been tinkering with his Mini-shyguy while waiting) then dragged his sister (and her two plushies, one held under each arm) over to get a closer look at the performers. Unsurprisingly, the clowncar piloting boy had an appreciation for the real thing, as did his Brionne Dazzle, who he released from his pokeball so the mon could join them in enjoying the shows.

Of course, having an appreciation for clowns didn’t mean all clowns were appreciated equally.

T.H.I.S. was definitely trying too hard with the danger of the saws, while at the same time missing the point that clowns were meant to be funny not creepy. Any slapstick that was going to happen would just be gory too, which was not something they wanted to see. Besides, the two couldn't get close because the cordon of fighters were actively dissuading any kids from getting close anyway.

The one who had a mask that looked a bit like a phanto did seem to be quite the acrobat and capable of a few card tricks, but there was just something off about him, beyond just his inappropriately serious demeanor. He also seemed to be paying far too much attention to the third performer and was clearly very frustrated at her comparative rip-roaring success.

Indeed she was so successful that some of the kids crowded around her were clearly fans specifically of the clown girl (who went by Lola) herself, given their matching attire.

Others meanwhile were clearly fighters; Two were escorted by larger companions who presumably did the bulk of fighting, namely an increibly young girl with her hand drawn big brother and a feral girl with her brute of a mount, while the others, a school girl, care free boy and a disciple, where entirely apt at doing the brawling themselves.

This proficiency in violence didn’t prevent them from laughing along with the clown girl in childish glee, and it didn’t stop the koopa siblings from joining in either. Well, Jr was all in right away, whereas Rika took a bit of warming up to it. Even she, however, couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of a puffed up Lola.

Her juggling also was way more fun than T.H.I.S.’s and was also actually more impressive once she started really using her stretchy arms, tossing a multitude of things this way and that and then reaching out several arm-lengths to catch the sweet treats. She even made a game of it, challenging the kids to beat her hands to the ‘punch’ when it came to catching the candy. Rika managed to win this game thrice thanks to her warframe granted agility, double jumping into the air to catch sweets, and if she hadn’t already been won over this free food would have gotten her 100% onboard.

After chowing down on one of her prizes (she gifted her other two to Jr and Dazzle) she found herself saying ”She’s really cool, huh? I think… I think I’m getting how to use the sword drones a bit more just from watching her even? I wonder what she’s like in actual fights?”

”Probubly like this one fighter we had in smash. Some human lady with hair like noodles” Jr commented, which didn’t really answer things, but it did prompt Lola to ask “Oh? You know Min Min?”

”Know here? I mean kinda? We fought some times but that’s about it? She’s pretty good though, that stretchy arm thing is pretty weird” He replied, before adding, after a moment ”in a good way, you know?”

“A.R.M.S. are pretty unique, that’s for sure, but that’s what makes them so fun!” Lola replied, taking the somewhat backhand complaint in her stride with cheer, before starting to say “if you want to see how we fight with them, you’ll just need to watch the-” to Rika, but before she could name drop a tournament with an A.R.M.S fighter still in the running they were interrupted by yelling followed by cries of disgust.

All attention in the area suddenly went to T.H.I.S. who’d responded to one of the fighters trying to get physical by spewing a purple fluid at the unfortunate fellow. Before their eyes, this purple fluid solidified into a meatmoss that rapidly grew over the victim, before sloughing off and revealing a new clown with mouths for eyes.

Panic spread among the bystanders, but the fighters took this as the signal to jump the killer clown and the clownified victim. Both fought back with chainsaws, resulting in a loud and bloody mess rapidly developing, especially as fighters got in each other's way and hit each other, causing their galeeming nature prompting active infighting.

Most of the kids scattered at this, but the fighters among them clearly wanted in on the action. Lola tried to stop this, naturally not wanting the children to get hurt, but unfortunately the the feral girl’s meathead of a mount violently barged past her attempts at this, which triggered Lola’s galeeming aggression, causing the clown girl to strike back. That triggered the brute’s aggression, and when he turned back to attack her, the jealous masked clown jumped into the fray too, seemingly wanting to seize this opportunity to pick off competition.

Naturally the other fighting kids wouldn't have this either and so jumped into the fight as well. Punches, kicks, and projectiles went flying, some of which sailed into the beatdown happening to T.H.I.S which triggered aggression there and caused the fight to merge together and grow even bigger and more chaotic.

While initially wanting to help Lola, both of the koopa siblings rapidly changed their minds and decided to cut their losses as the situation rapidly devolved into a directionless brawl, mainly because neither of them wanted to risk their toys being broken.

Thus they hightailed it out of there and into the casino where they knew some of the seekers where, only to arrive just in time for things to get complicated there as well. Given their hands were currently busy carrying two plushies (Rika) and a clownish sea lion (Jr), neither was particularly ready to jump right into whatever brawl was about to break out in here either.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Words: 1,213 (+2) (-6)
Edward Portsmith: Level 9 (22 cells) (2 level ups stored) ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (23/90)
Location Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk

It was a relief that Sandalphon was both able to be awakened and, as she reported, noninfectious. The reason for this however raised the question as to why/when she had been exposed to the ergo substance.

He had to sit on said question however, as there really was too much to do. First things first was to gather what they could salvage from the battlefield, be it dropped gear, fallen stagecoach equipment, genetic samples from frozen bug goop, scattered camping equipment or, of course, the spirits of the fallen bugs.

Edward put his golems to the task, while retrieving the symbol of avarice and crushing the collected spirits of the Icy Blowhog, Arctic Cannon Beetle, Glyphid Menace spirits, along with two Glyphid Praytorians and a few of the lesser grunts and hunters for good measure.

Items Obtained

Secured Satchel It looks like a giant padlock. It is no doubt valuable, either when sold or for melting down as material, but it is very heavy and takes up a lot of space
Crab Buster A heavy bowgun crafted from the materials of Daimyo Hermitaur. It boasts straightforward power and high durability
Pheromone Canister When thrown, the canister bursts and showers all enemies within its radius, inflicting them with unique version of the Pheromone status effect. Enemies who are painted with the spray become targets for each other to attack, which will cause mass infighting. Each effected creature will attract up to 4 other creatures to attack them.
Chitin Chestpiece x2 Durable armor crafted from the carapace of an oversized arthropod. It provides pretty good defense (more so against slash damage, less so against impact damage), but has low durability and can get a bit warm
Scrip A kind of colorful hexagonal currency issued by Deep Rock Galactic mining corporation in lieu of actual compensation. Can be spent only at the company store and is worthless elsewhere. Coveted by dwarves for the cosmetic options they can purchase
Tremendous Wave It appears to be a beard. If it's touched to someone's face, they'll grow an enormous triangular beard to match it, in their own hair color and texture of course. It cannot be unequipped as easily and must be shaved, although it will not leave regrowable hair follicles behind that weren't there before if it was removed
Bug Steak A cooked slab of juicy bug flesh. It's...not great, but it is satisfying and will restore the stamina of the consumer
Malt Star x3 Alien flower-like plants that contain extremely high concentrations of malt, excellent for the creation of high-quality beer with a variety of different effects
Zenny x 3200

An eclectic mix for sure, but then wasn’t it always? The Bowgun however stood out as something immediately useful as it matched a description their resident monsterhunter had once given him of such weapons, and so he’d call out ”Ace, you might be interested in this one” with regards to it.

Other than that, there was some more useful items like the bug meat and malt for the stew pot (leftovers were all well and good, but hot food did wonders in this climate), some sort of gas grenade that Edward loaded into his launcher for future use, and a pile of coins that Edward set aside for group sending.

Less immediately useful were the giant novelty lock (which like the giant spoon was actually made of metal for some reason rather than being a painted prop) and chitin armor (the seekers who cared about such things had better) which would be selling fodder.

That left the scrip and beard, the former of which was presumably currency somewhere, the latter of which was just... strange.

One thing led to another, and by the end of it Edward needed his morning shave more than ever.

There was, however, no time for such things, and so the only part of his daily routine he could do was getting dressed for the day, namely by strapping on his gear and doffing his armor. Without the Balahara Alpha not only had he been more vulnerable, but without its evasion extender boon he had to actively remember that his portal dodges did not go anywhere near as far rather than act on built up instinct, so it was good to be suited up once more.

With that out of the way, he assembled a rearguard for the carriage, consisting of two squads of iron golems flanked by coppers golems and with a squad of bronze golem pairs in between them, creating a variable wall of animated metal. This wall was positioned behind the stagecoach and neatly filled the tunnel that the drilldozer dug for them, ensuring none of the bugs that came up behind them could slip past.

Well. On the floor anyway. The coppers had some reach to keep the walls clear, and the towering bronze golems could poke at ceiling climbers, but they’d need some more shooters if they wanted to keep the wall from being circumvented. Taffy, hunkered atop the stagecoach’s roof, could only flame blast so many bugs.

During the slow climb out of the earth, Edward occasionally glanced back through the window into the stagecoach to check on Sandalphon. As much as wanted to ask questions while they drove, the thunderstorm worth of noise the drilldozer outputted as it dug their way to freedom made him decide against it. The strain of needing to shout over it was not something he wanted to put her through.

Instead he focused his mental energy on coordinating the hunting pack he’d sent into the fungal caverns, which was engaged in a very snooze filled battle with the local morphean mushrooms. Between Loona the lunerpup’s hypnowaves and the SomnaDrix’s sleep gas the pack was as likely to put the fungal stalkers to sleep as said stalkers were. More likely, even, given that a swarm of inferno pups was a construct rather than flesh and blood, and thus unable to sleep. This meant its job was to nip at any sleepers to wake them up.

There had, admittedly, been a small flaw in this plan, namely that it triggered Loona’s galeeming aggression, but a quick baiting of her back to the stagecoach followed by a friend-hearting resolved that issue.

Once it was, the predators got back to hunting down blowfish and flying slimes to fill their bellies, somewhat diminishing the potion ingredient supply on offer.

When it came to oilshale gathering, Edward kept the minions out of the way of the operation itself and instead formed a perimeter to keep the two vehicles safe. He also took it upon himself to coordinate their departures, his many eyes letting him keep an eye on the seekers and ensure that everyone was ready for the next wave of bugs that the drill starting up again would summon.

With any luck, they’d not need to take many stops, but Edward very much worried that they’d have lost the road due to this collapse, and did his best to track their direction traveled underground relative to where they had descended into it. It was something he was familiar with doing, as the worlds in the astral sea often contained extensive underground realms full of all manner of their own skittering horrors of their own.

Of course, the surface sported those as well, but Edward could only hope that here and now they would find at least a moment respite wherever they emerged.

He was, after all, in desperate need of a shave.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

After Dinner Affairs

Pit - Level: 8 - Total EXP: 338/80
Amaterasu: level 9 (1 level up stored) EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (67/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 15 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(331/150)
Rika: Level 12 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(167/110)
_{Thursday Night}
Word Count: 3149 (+4 exp)
Location: Esaka's Mid-Tier, the Forbidden Kingdom

The delicious, partly communal dinner was wrapping up amidst the last of the Seekers’ reports, most actually pretty mundane all things considered. Special attention was paid to Amaterasu’s tale as read by Rika, since it was an outlier among the rest; not only had the goddess seen where one of their missing members had gone, but she’d also seen -and been seen by- the Consul that presided over the city. They’d all witnessed the armored woman through the Principles’ vision broadcast that morning of course, but in the flesh was different. Therion’s ears stood tall on his head when he heard it, twitching in Rika’s direction. The fact that they were all eating peacefully here in the middle of Esaka must have meant that the Consul hadn’t recognized the newer Seekers though, right…?

If that brief meeting turned out to be a problem, it would be one for the future. There was another, a little more pressing issue, which the twin Bogard grandchildren offered to take care of right away. Band made some good points in his argument against their joining the fight directly, but the twins themselves were much more compelling with their words.

If the table wasn't chock full of small plates and large pots, Primrose might have drummed her fingers on it as she considered the two teenagers' proposal. She wasn't in a leadership position, and she wasn't even a participant in any of the four tournaments, but the little speech did resonate with her. After all, she had been younger than they were now when she’d thrown herself into a dangerous world.

"I say give them the chance," she said, glancing from the twins to the other Seekers. Perhaps learning the truth about their unique existence had altered the group's perspective, but this kind of thing could hardly have been new to the group. How many of them had risked their lives when they'd thought that they wouldn't be reborn, or even beforehand in their original worlds when they absolutely knew that the one life was all they had?

"If they want to fight, let them fight. It'll be good to let them stretch their wings rather than stay cooped up in a bunker all their lives."

Across the table Therion agreed, though he didn't chime in more than just nodding his head. If it was Mortal Kombat or something then he probably would have been more on Band's side, but they'd have a team to work with on top of having each other to rely on. Ultimately though the decision had little to do with him.

The dancer leaned over towards the twins, giving them a small smile and tapping the side of her face near her emerald colored eyes. "Though you should consider a mask of some sort either way. Masquerade style would suit you both, and it will give you a little more protection while you're here."

The rest of the competing group should have invested in that earlier, but many already had some coverage to obscure their eyes in the first place so it was most beneficial for the Bogard siblings. It wouldn't be at all out of place in the city either.

At the end of the table Pit had stood up again after passing his credit card to the waitress. His arms were crossed and his head was dipped in thought, chin nearly touching his chest. While he listened to everyone's thoughts on the matter he nodded at times, considering all the pros and cons of letting the twins take Terry's place… and likely communing with the Goddess of Light.

When it seemed that everyone that would say their piece about it had, he looked up at everyone first, and then Bart, Marg, and the remaining members of Seekers of Fight themselves.

"I think… it's not a bad idea," he said, tentative but growing more confident as he continued. "I don't wanna abandon Terry, but if we can't find him by the start of the next match then you guys are gonna need a new teammate anyway. And this way you two can stick close to the rest of us. Once we make it to the Kings and the Consul you'll go back to the Avenger, but until then I don't see why you can't help us get there!"

The angel was smiling, his own non-metaphorical wings wide at his back, though he did look to Amaterasu and Captain Falcon. "I mean, as long as you don't mind it! It's your team."

And so the Gold Team leader had spoken. He was unwilling to budge on sending the twins back before the final confrontation, as unfair as it might have seemed to the two of them given that Pit looked to be their age if not younger. It was anticlimactic for them sure, but that was his compromise if the Seekers of Fight consented to allowing them on the team.

Once everyone had eaten, paid (or mooched), and started to get a move on, exiting the warm restaurant and feeling the cooling air hit their skin, as usual they all made to split up. Only, before some could get very far, Pit flitted towards the front of the group.

"You, you, and you!" he said, pointing at the other pair of siblings and the sun goddess in turn. "One sec, I gotta talk to you guys."

Amaterasu paused her padding out the door and turned her snout to Pit, before tilting it to one side. She’d intended to try and get to know her new teammates a bit (having quashed any objections she might have with that due to how hypocritical they were when there were already children on the team), but she was happy to spare a moment or seven for whatever it was Pit wanted.

What in the heavens it could be that it needed her and the problem children was beyond her however.

The kids were in the same boat, confusion wise, but given it was Pit, they were willing to give him the time of day on whatever it was, with Jr replying ”What’s up?”

It would soon become apparent that it was not one thing he needed all of them for, but two separate things to sort out - and that Pit just hadn't wanted to go tracking down any extra people once the Seekers had separated for the night. First he fished two small, identically wrapped boxes out from somewhere and handed them to Rika and Junior at the same time.

"Here you go. One of the members of me and Amaterasu's dojo said he got these from the White Team somehow? Anyway, they're for you guys!"

”Huh? What are these?” Rika began to ask as she accepted the box, only for Jr to answer with a delighted cheer of ”Presents!” as he snatched his own from Pit’s hands

She gave an ”Ohhhhh” in response to this, followed by a ”neat”. Then as she held the gift in one hand and did her best to undo the ribbon with her gauntlet’s oversized fingers asked ”But why though?”

Amaterasu had to admit she was a little curious too as she sat down to observe the scene.

"Uhh..." Pit himself still wasn't sure why. Had the other team sent them just for fun? And why only a small handful and not enough for the whole of Gold Team? The only reason he knew it was from the Seekers across the continent was because of the "from" labels on the gifts themselves. "When I gave Sakura hers, she said something about Santa Claus. It kinda seemed like she knew what it was? I thought you guys would know too, 'cause there were only four of them."

So basically, he had no idea. They'd probably have to ask someone else if they wanted the answer. Pit himself was unconcerned, and after having swiftly gotten over his disappointment about not receiving a gift early now he just leaned close to the two royal siblings to see what was in their presents. "What'd you get?"

Jr opened his gift first, having practically ripped the thing apart, before lifting the contents up in the air and into the light to examine it. In response to this jossling, the mini shyguy whirred to life, feet stepping and arms swaying from side to side.

The prince declared this ”Coooool!” before crouching down and setting the little clockwork minion down onto the ground in order to watch it saunter along.

Rika meanwhile had more carefully opened her gift, and was left holding a Lil Smile that had been squeezed inside. She turned it this way and that, before giving it a squeeze with her metal hands (which revealed the thing to be a plushie of all things) looking rather confused as she did so, as if she didn’t know what to do with it.

Seeing what was in the last two boxes -simple toys- wiped away any lingering disappointment Pit might have felt about being left out. He was, after all, much too mature for things like that... even if his eyes did trail Junior's wind-up shyguy with childlike interest. After a moment he caught himself staring and coughed lightly into his fist.

"Sakura got a stuffed animal too, maybe the other team found a giant toy store or something?" he said, turning to Rika. Noticing her confusion he chuckled and added, "it's for cuddling! 'Cause it's soft and feels nice to hug. People sleep with them too!"

Which he knew from watching humans only and not because he used to have any!

The ship girl tilted her head to the other side, and then proceeded to cuddle the plush against herself, touching it now with her upper arms and chest rather that her feelingless metal gauntlets. She binked, confirmed ”Oh. It isss soft”, and then pressed her face into Lil Smile’s own as she cuddled it tighter

She was going to treasure it forever.

It was quite the cute scene which left Pit smiling as if he'd picked it out himself, but it would not last forever. "That's all I had for you two, just the delivery. You're dismissed!" A beat later he added, "I mean unless you wanna stick around, but now we gotta talk about like, secret Seeker plans and stuff."

Then he looked towards Amaterasu, opened his mouth to ask her something, then promptly closed it and glanced up into the sky for a moment. A nod later and he looked back again. "Okay Amaterasu, Lady Palutena said she'll translate for you for now! So... what do you think about beating up all of our dojo-mates?"

The question, as out of nowhere as it was, seemed completely sincere.

It was the divine wolf’s turn to tilt her head in confusion, before glancing over at the pair of children who were staring at Pit in confusion. They had not, after all, been given time to leave before the secret plan started to be discussed.

A beat later Jr did a panic scramble for his mini shyguy that had been about to wander into the street due to his initiation.

”That seems silly” Rika commented, before telling the angel ”Try not to die doing whatever that is Pit, because I think you are pretty neat”

It was the first time in recent memory that he'd been directly complimented like that, so Pit was at a momentary loss, only replying, "oh. Thanks. You too."

”Yeah, uh, you have fun with that I guess?” Jr added, after he’d snatched up his toy.

The two then moved to go, only for Rika to pause and add ”Oh and say thank you to the gift giving guy before you beat him up please” before they headed over to join the rest of the group.

The divine wolf watched them go for a few moments, and then only once they were gone inquired as to why they would do such a thing, and why it was some sort of secret.

"Not a secret from the team, just like in general," Pit clarified. Still, now that it was just the two of them he crouched down to Amaterasu's eye level so that he could lower his voice slightly. They weren't in the middle of the street, but they were still technically in public after all. "I wanna free all of the members of Fight of Gods and really get them on our side! 'Cause there's so many tough fighters in the city, we can de-story a bunch and fight together with them if things go off the rails! I know a lot would help out if they only knew what was really going on. Plus if we run into trouble in the tournaments, we could free some of the people still fighting in it to make sure we get up to the Top Tier no matter what!

"I freed my kameo partner -and some other guy- already, and then she freed the rest of her dojo, then we were talking with Sakura and... well that's how I came up with the plan. I thought that we could start with our dojo tomorrow... if you think it's a good idea?" He did want the goddess' input, both as someone involved with the same dojo and as a wise deity with boots (or paws as it were) on the ground.

The divine wolf thought about this for a bit, and then pointed out that this went a bit against the idea of them keeping a low profile. She would admit that in some ways the moment had passed, the local Consul did know there were ‘unstoried’ here now after all, but there might be more of a reaction if there were large amounts of them. After all, hadn’t something happened to the last city of free fighters that the seekers had been aligned with?

The mention of Smash City Alcamoth did put a damper on Pit's enthusiasm. He frowned, drawing his wings up close against his sides and shifting his gaze to the cobblestone below them.

"Yeah... there were a lot of strong fighters there too, but it still got wiped out by Moebius. There weren't as many people there though, and nobody knew something like that could happen."

It sounded a little like he was making excuses, so Pit sucked it up and looked back at Amaterasu. "Now we know what to look out for though! I mean Terry was one of the people at Alcamoth and now he's back here, so it's kind of like a sign to try again, right? And- and it doesn't have to be a whole lot freed at once! Just the ones we know we can trust. Once we beat the Kings everyone will be free anyway, so its gonna end up the same whether we start freeing people early or not."

And now it sounded like the angel had already made up his mind about it - or at least mostly, as he still must have been hung up on something to seek the goddess' opinion.

"If you still think it's not a good idea and don't wanna help, we can leave the other gods out of it for now," he said, scratching his cheek. They all seemed kind of nice to Pit, and so he'd wanted to free them if given the chance, but it was Amaterasu's dojo too even if they'd only joined in order to take part in the tournaments. There was no way to tell what would happen, and he wasn't going to go through with it if his fellow Fight of Gods member wasn't on board. At least with the freeing of these specific fighters - other friends that the Seekers already knew were definitely still on the table.

The divine wolf tilted her head to the other side. Righted it. Got up. Walked in a circle. Sat back down again.

Only then did she acquiesce that he had a point regarding the inevitability of the freeing, and how it would, indeed, be good to get a headstart on that. If nothing else, having people spread around the city who knew what was going down when the moment came would be quite valuable. There was, after all, the issue of the yokai to consider. In her home they were malevolent spirits, and she suspected that in others it would be much the same. The amount of chaos these beings regaining their original natures would, she predicted, be quite devastating.

That was also a point that Pit had not at all considered, though he nodded vigorously in agreement when Amaterasu brought it up. "You're right! Wow, this might be a better plan than I thought...!"

Since it seemed that the goddess was in agreement, Pit sprung up to standing and smiled at her. Just as he'd said, they didn't have to go on a friend heart spree or anything - just having a few people in their corner in case they wound up in a pinch, or to help keep order once Esaka as a whole was freed would be good. The Seekers did have a track record of showing up to a populated area, turning it on its head and then bailing immediately once the bad guys had been dealt with... but maybe with some groundwork already in place, Esaka would be a little more stable after the group left.

"Then when you have some free time tomorrow, let's take Fight of Gods on for real! You can bring Cap and whichever Bogards you end up with too- oh! That's right!"

Pit snapped his fingers as he was reminded of the next item on his agenda. "since I'm gonna be looking for Terry and the others if they don't show up tomorrow morning, you'll have to tell me where you saw 'em last - unless you don't mind lending your nose to track them down?"

The divine wolf wasn’t quite sure how much aid her nose could really lend, it hadn’t achieved much when Terry disappeared, but she owed it to the man to try. She owed slightly less to Harry, but could only hope that having Pit on her side might mean they’d be able to handle the inevitable altercation with his new Yokai buddies better than she could have done alone. As such, she generously offered him her aid in that quest.

"Awesome." That would, hopefully, make things a lot easier. Of course Pit hoped that the no-shows from tonight ended up becoming... uh, shows, tomorrow, he still wanted to prepare in case he had to go looking for them. With the goddess of the sun's help secured on two fronts, Pit was left feeling pretty good. "Thanks for hearing me out, Amaterasu!"

The divine wolf told him he was more than welcome. She could only hope things would turn out as he intended.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

wordcount: 885 (+2)
Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Esaka’s Mid Tier
Amaterasu: level 9 (1 level up stored) EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (63/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 15 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(327/150)
Rika: Level 12 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(163/110)

The koopa kids had made the road trip back to town without incident with their silver quest reward in hand, and were now in the process of blowing it all on their (arguably) fifth meal of the day. Given their small frames it was a marvel they could stomach it all.

Admittedly, they weren't just eating for themselves, as Jr’s trio of pokemon had joined them for the feast, with Dazzle the Brionne in particular absolutely devouring the seafood bowls on offer. A meaty selection was meanwhile being chowed on by Jr himself, along with Mimi and Peeka, while Rika had gotten herself an everything bowl from which she was picking individual pieces to try them out one at a time.

When it came time to report, Jr did so in a fairly rambling fashion ”Yeah, I guess we mostly just watched some matches in the morning, n then Rika helped sort out that meeting afterwards. Then we beat up the bots n had an explore after. Turns out quests are a thing? Like we helped out a kid beat up some fruit, n then the word’s ‘quest complete’ showed up in the sky and it rained silver on us. It was weird, especially coz it didn’t happen when we helped a bird do some cooking earlier”

It was a lot of words with very little consequence found within, given most of their useful reporting had already been done by others, or during the afternoon pre-UN meeting.

While the others reported in, Amaterasu visibly sulked in the corner, staring into her food with little appetite. There were a fair amount of important things she had to report, but she had no way of doing so in the level of detail she wanted, and she had no Harry to do it for her because she’d lost him.

Not in the way that other seekers like Terry had up and vanished however. No, instead after she’d dragged him away from the Consul they’d got into an argument over her doing so. He was mad at her for ‘interrupting his investigation’ and she at him not recognizing that she’d saved his life or how it was only the Consul’s indifference that meant that the whole thing had not been a disaster for their team.

Perhaps they could have calmed down and come to a resolution to the disagreement despite the language barrier between them, had a number of Yokai who’d taken issue with the divine goddess decided to take their harassment of her beyond mere heckling. They didn’t pick a fight however, that could have been resolved easily enough. Instead they’d inserted themselves into the argument, and then exited it with Harry in tow, with whom they subsequently engaged in an extended bar crawl around the city.

It wasn’t like she could just pick a fight with the Yokai either, given that there was way too much risk of others, or even the city’s giant mechanical authorities, joining in. After the third joint Amaterasu had grown sick of trying to get Harry to come with her instead, and had simply given up on the man, loath as she was to admit it.

Which is why she wasn’t going to admit it.

Instead the summary which she had been painting with careful calligraphy on a napkin four words at a time and then pestered Rika into reading went as follows:

”Won our tournament matches
Defeated demonic auto vehicles
Azucena now against G-corp
Terry vanished while convincing
Went to g-corp base
He was not there
Consol was, saw Harry
We escaped from her
Didn’t care to chase
Lost Harry while fleeing”

”That right?” Rika asked after she was done, having had to read rather slowly to sus out the meaning of the divine wolf’s cursive calligraphy.

Ametarasu barked once for yes, and then twice for no when she also asked ”So is Harry dead?” more out of curiosity than concern given her complete lack of interacting with the man.

”Well he sure was stupid, being spotted like that, but I guess it's good to know she doesn’t care so we don’t have to freak out if she sees us?” Jr commented, before noting that ”I mean she was gonna see you a lot sooner or later once you get high up in the tournament, right? You’ll be getting out of the scrub tier and into the big main fights that’ll get seen by more than five people soon enough, wasn’t gonna be any avoiding being spotted then”

The divine wolf supposed that was correct, but it didn’t make her feel any better about her fumbling of the incident. ‘That turned out fine so it didn’t matter that you messed up’ was retroactive thinking. She needed to be proactive to avoid getting into such a mess in the first place because their luck would not hold forever.

”Wait so you went to G-Corp then? How was it?” Rika then asked, before reading the answer from the napkin which said, simply: ”was attacked, now quiet”

He followed the question, ”Guess you had to run off before you figured out if there was any treasure left in there?” got two barks of no from the wolf, prompting the ship girl to sigh in disappointment.

”Well, if someone got get the head of the guy that way it’d have been all over the news, so guess that options still out there.” Jr said, and then added ”Which is good, because it's basically our only one now that Seekers of Fight you’re down a team member”

It was a statement that was bookend with a thump as a dejected Amaterasu's snout slumped to the table, the divine wolf’s self perceived failure now fully hammered home. The team could endure dropouts from other tournaments, but from theirs? Terry’s disappearance had singularly torpedoed their entire plan.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Words: 436 (+1)
Edward Portsmith: Level 9 (22 cells) (2 level ups stored) ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (27/90)
Location Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk

Having blocked the caves from which the flying bugs had been spilling, Edward had fallen back to his fallen gear and retrieved the pal-spheres from holding the four Snoruyo. With them on the battlefield, the dreadnought could create an actual battle line. Behind it, he deployed the Thoroughbred Reindrix behind it (with plenty of space so that its aura would not freeze the front-line).

The Iceberg it sent crashing into the swarm of bugs put a significant dent in the numbers his force was facing, while a Blizzard Spike slamming up into the soft underbelly of the praetorian ‘leading’ their push thoroughly crippled the assault.

This gave him enough space that he could spare the time to inspect the state of Sandalphon when Mokou dug her out of the tent. At the back of his mind the absence of their elected leader had been a concern that he did not have the time to focus on, but now that her state was revealed he did his best to take command of the situation.

”We’ll Get her into the stage coach" he called up to Mokou, before putting two fingers between his lips and whistling shrilly for attention. The target of this attention was the Sheildrix, which he commanded to come ”To me!" with the intent of righting the stagecoach.

In quick order he used his Ravager striker to haul the roof of the coach just a bit upwards, enough that steel armored heads could be shoved into the gap, and used to shove their transport onto its wheels.

By the time this was done, the situation was stabilized enough for Edward to inspect Sandalphon’s state, something he would do with her resting on one of the stagecoach’s benches if possible. It looked somewhat familiar, and a quick inspection of his journal notes revealed its likely source.

”She seems to have contracted a ‘Petrification Disease’ from Krat Zoo’s realm. It shouldn’t have knocked her out however… hmm, unless the solidification made the fall considerably more painful" he theorized. In the late stages the condition could apparently cause organ failure, but given the woman was still breathing (they could all see it in the cold air) it had presumably not reached that point as of yet.

As a result his recommendation was that of conventional healing, in the hopes that it would stir her to consciousness. As for what could be done about the disease itself, however, he had no suggestions, as the notes they had found were far more interested in the using the Ergo crystals forming on her body as a puppet's power source than how to cure her condition.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

It wasn’t until the body hit the floor, sans head, that the Kobold, Ent, and Naga Worker realized that the dwarf they had been laying into with righteous fury was dead. Even after that the Kobold stabbed it a few more times for good measure, while the others glanced to the side where the other adventurers had been, wary of retaliation for this death.

When they saw only more headless corpses, they breathed a sigh of relief, and when Zogi burst into a victory cheer they were the ones to join in. The ent drumming on its wooden chest with its great fists, the Kobold yipping with delight and the Naga giving Zoppy a tight squeeze of a hug before chanting ‘meat meat meat!” in anticipation of the feast that they’d be having tonight.

It was this raucous celebration that informed the Oracle that things had come to an end, because it was still trying to recover from its double discombobulation. It withdrew its head from its sky high view and back into the corridor its body was in.

This helped with its sense of position a lot, and so by the time the others were reviewing the battle it had enough of its senses together to join them.

It was in agreement with the whole watch idea, adding that “Our faithful servants must be spared from such a duty, tired as they were from their time under the hateful sun”

“Yes, those wretched invaders will know our tricks now, so we must swiftly expand our defenses once more with the boons we have gained from their demise!” It also agreed with Schnupfen before approaching the guillotine shrine and laying a hand upon it.

“You have done well, o sacred executioner, but I fear you shall not take them by surprise again” it said with quiet reverence. On top of being, well, a shrine, it also had the highest killcount out of anything in the dungeon and it was entirely questionable if they would have succeeded without it.

The Oracle held its hand for a long moment, before withdrawing it and returning to its bombast as it declared “Still, if they have learned to fear you, then we must take advantage of that fear! They will cower beyond your reach, where we may strike from afar, and then they will rush through in a panic, where they shall blunder into your fellows!”

Of course, they’d need more traps for that, and so the Oracle prepared to head into the dungeon core to start rolling for resources once again.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

wordcount: 3107 (+4) Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Verdant CanyonsBowser Jr: Level 15 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(329/150)
Rika: Level 12 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(165/110)

The noodles they had gotten from the crane had been yummy, but there had only been so many of them, and despite now having the recipe, neither of the kids actually knew how to cook to make use of it. So, even less unsurprisingly than last time, the second scent of fruit had them heading up to the thatched cabin atop the largest plateau. They took a brief look at the thatched cabin, before heading around into the flowering orchard to see why it smelled so much of staff smashed fruit.

In front of the lone house, they found a makeshift training area, fashioned from simple wooden materials. An elevated balance beam stood among weighted fulcrums, positioned so that they could be struck from the beam’s vicinity to catapult loads of fruit into the air. Unfortunately, the rudimentary construction meant that the impromptu training device wasn’t very efficient, which made it especially hard to use for the spiky-haired young man attempting to hone his staff skills. Though he looked a little like Sora, if the keyblade wielder happened to be from Korea, he certainly lacked Sora’s proficiency. Most of the time the launched watermelons, apples, and oranges sailed right past his clumsy swings to tumble away from the beam’s opposite side. And after a round of near misses, continuing requires a healthy dose of downtime to reset all the catapults before the youth could go again. Nevertheless Zinnervale persevered with stubborn determination, not even noticing Junior and Rika as they approached.

After watching for a few moments Jr put a finger to his lips and shhh’ed towards his sister. She responded with a confused squint and a questioning spread of hands, given that clearly the boy wasn’t paying them any attention anyway. Jr didn’t clarify, and instead just did what he wanted to do, which was to quietly approach and then, right when an orange was flying right at the Sora-alike’s face, loudly say ”Hi!”

“Wagh!” Zinnervale flinched, lashing out much too early. He overswung and went off-balance, the orange flying over his spiky hair as he bent over and backward, arms flailing, in an effort to try and save himself, before finally losing control and falling off the beam. His shoulder struck one of the levers as he plummeted to the earth and launched a grapefruit skyward. “Aaaaagh…” the young man winced, opening his eyes only to find the scaly face of a young koopa grinning at him. “Whoa, hey! What was that for?”

”What was what for? I just thought you looked like you could use some help is all” Jr replied in his best ‘gosh did I do that?’ kind of tone, which was, frankly, pretty bad.

Rika meanwhile watched the Grapefruit fly up sky high and declared ”I got it” as she warped her spear into her gauntlet, lined it up, and stabbed the fruit out of the air. She’d meant to skewer it through entirely (and then pluck it off to eat it), but unfortunately her aim was just a bit off and so she struck the side instead of the core. This cleaved a dash through it, and knocked it off course such that it spiraled through the air spraying juice before it splatted down on Jr’s head, much to her brother’s dismay.

All he got in return for this mishap was a pretty flatly toned ”Oops” followed by the excuse that ”It’s harder than it looks”

Indeed, though she’d initially thought of the whole operation as a waste of good food, she had a little more respect for Zinnervale after having fumbled an easier version of his training. Enough that she offered him an (oversized) hand up.

“The point isn’t to destroy the fruit!” Zinnervale informed the two as he got up, his intended indignity mitigated by the amusing spectacle of Junior’s instant karma. Hard to keep a straight, annoyed face with something like that happened. Trying to salvage his dignity, the young man dusted himself off and planted his staff. “It’s for me to get better! I need to learn speed, power, precision, and most of all, self-control. The ability to defeat bad guys without…well, pulping them.”

He glanced down at the fallen fruits that he had managed to strike, most of them split open or splattered in a pile of their own juices. Evidently he even considered his hits to be failures. With a sigh, he shook his head. “I’m a long way from where I need to be.”

The girl who was absolutely covered in murderous weapons and holding a spinal column styled halberd tilted her head in confusion at this. Then she looked over the ruined fruit and then, sort of, agreeing by saying ”I mean I guess it would be better to not waste all that food”

Jr gave her a bemused look in response to this takeaway. He then looked thoughtful for a moment before saying ”Y’know you could probably get better at that too” because, for one, it would make any future friend hearting less dicy and for two it’d make stuff like their nonlethal fight with the ninja kids a lot cleaner if his sister was better at using her arsenal safely.

As such, he offered to help out for real, mostly for their own benefit ”Want me to rig up those catapults better? Look like they take forever to setup.”

The offer made Zinnervale’s brows rise. “You can do that? Hey, if you’re willing, I’m all for it! Lemme know if you need a hand.” He stood off to the side, resting his staff on one shoulder as he wiped off his brow. “You guys the heroic type? You know, wander around, help people in need, all that stuff? That’s what my master Shandi and I do. Well, once I learn a little discipline, that is.” Sighing, he gave a sheepish smile.

”Hmm? No, we’re badguys” Rika replied incredibly nonchalantly as she scanned the fruit for some that was busted enough to not be worth flinging again, but not so busted that it wasn’t good eating any more. Her reward for this was finding an orange that had been bashed in such a way that it split open into unharmed slices, which she picked up and began to much on while her brother worked.

”I mean we’re kinda doing the hero thing right now though. Ya know. Fighting the bigger bad guy stuff” Jr added as he sat down to tinker, using his ferromancy to form new parts when he needed them, adding several clockwork mechanisms to the catapults that could reset themselves a few times once wound up.

“Bad guys!?” Zinnervale looked alarmed for a moment, although his worry turned to bemusement as Junior continued to toil away helping him -a self-professed hero- with no apparent compunctions. He rubbed the back of his head, his lips pressed together. “Well. I guess Master Shandi always says things aren't black and white.” His eyes widened as he made a sudden realization. “Wait, if you're up against a bigger bad who can make even villains do the right thing, Shandi and I ought to be fighting it too! Or at least in the know.” He beckoned to Junior and Rika. “Who is it? Where? C'mon, spill the beans!”

Jr gave an ”Uhhhh” after accidentally stepping on that information hurdle that was Galeem, but his sister just went on and said ”Well there’s a lot of them. There’s the four kings over there in Esaka who we’re trying to deal with, and also G-corp who tried to blow up our friends. Then the Consuls who are like, wider scale jerks, and finally Galeem who you don’t even get to know about” which worked just as well.

Thankful for the save, Jr agreed that ”Yeah. This world's full of the kinda bad guys who you’d never play tennis or go-kart with, its lame” as he got back to work with his tinkering.

Scratching his head, Zinnervale gave a heavy exhalation. “Sheesh. Guess the odds are against us. Wouldn’t have it any other way, though!” He turned away, walked a few paces, and began to perform a drill ith his staff in an effort to spend his restless energy. “I’ve heard of the Four Kings,” he mentioned. “They sound like real scumbags, according to Master Shandi. Apparently you have to win their tournaments to face them. Sounds complicated. And dangerous. Hmph!” He executed a staff-spinning jump slam that kicked up some dust. “That isn’t the half of it, though. Get this. Shandi said that even if three are defeated, if one king’s still standing, the others will just show up again the next day. My master’s good, and I’m…well, okay, but we can’t be in two places at once.”

”Yup, heard that too, which is why we’ve got people going after em in every tournament” Jr replied as he clicked the last fresh parts into place on the improved catapults, which started whirring away as clockwork mechanisms pulled back, ready to fire. Now all they needed was ammo. Jr had added magazines to store several fruits, which would roll onto the catapult once it wound back, allowing the fruit flingers to fire again and again.

”Now let's fill these up!”

As they prepped for launch, Rika got curious about the man Zinnervale seemed to look up to so much, and asked ”Where is this Master Shandi guy anyway? Shouldn’t he be helping you train?”

Impressed by and a little wary of Junior’s contraption, Zinnervale began to load fruit projectiles. When Rika questioned him, he seemed taken aback. “Oh, no, he’s got much more important things to do. I mean, we’ve trained together plenty, but someone like that can’t spend all his time on me, you know? I wouldn’t dare ask that…”

The kids traded looks at that, but let it lie, for now.

Once the machines were fully prepped, the young man climbed back onto his balance beam. He gripped his staff in both hands, took a deep breath, and nodded his head. “Ready!”

”Then! Here! They! Come!” Jr replied, each exclamation coinciding with a flick of a switch that set the clockwork fruit-a-pults into action, flicking forth their delicious projectiles in a staggered volley before winding back, reloading and repeating the process, over and over.

Now that there were people watching, which put Zinnervale’s dignity on the line, the young man did his darndest. He struck at the flying fruits with gusto, managing to strike two or three in succession, although no streak lasted too long. The mechanical devices worked well enough to create a dependable launch rhythm and flight pattern, which made Zinnervale’s job easier. The main challenge, especially with an audience, became keeping a level enough head not to reduce the bigger fruits to tiny bits or leave him wobbling off balance if he whiffed a harder target.

Nevertheless, the trainee seemed to get the hang of it pretty fast. His smile grew as dented but intact fruits piled up, until after about a minute all of Junior’s devices were clicking empty. Zinnervale, breathing heavily as he rocked atop the balance beam, wiped his brow and then shouldered his staff with a grin. “Whew! That it? Had to be a sixty…no, seventy percent hit rate! At least!” Of course, with more hits, the orchard’s supply of spare fruit was about half used up.

”Sixty seven point five percent!” Jr replied, sounding pretty smug about the accuracy despite the fact that he was just quoting a statistic supplied by Seek, the NetNavi Ai installed on his Rotom Phone (with which he’d recorded the whole performance).

He was a little disappointed there had been no more slapstick.

Rika meanwhile gave Zinnervale a clanging clap with her gauntlets and then a thumbs up as she said ”That sounds pretty good. Definitely looked pretty good, compared to earlier”

”Think you can do any better?” Jr chimed in, still wanting to have her learn to be less lethal when need be

”Hmmm? Oh. Guess I could give it a go, sure” she replied after a bit of thought, before asking Zinnervale ”If that’s ok with you?”

The boy nodded. “Knock yourself out!”

Of course, doing another run of fruit firing meant reloading, and rewinding the catapults. While they were doing so, as much to fill the air as to actually find out, the ship girl asked the Zinnervale if he had ”Any advice?”

“Uh…” Although he was helping to prepare the mechanisms, more actively helping someone he was secretly hoping he’d do better than didn’t make much sense to Zinnervale. In the end, though, his answer was honest. “Well, it doesn’t look like you use a staff, so probably not.” If this girl wanted some of Master Shandi’s wisdom, she ought to put in the time as his disciple herself!

In short order the three had Junior’s machines ready for action once more. Zinnervale helpfully gave the rather short Rika a boost to the balance beam before stepping back. “Okay, good to go. Let’s see whatcha got!”

Atop it, Rika donned her helm, the three pronged tiara of Titania Prime glinting gold in the late afternoon sun and then summoned her halberd into a gauntleted hand. It might have had a stabby and a shooty end, but the long shaft was somewhat staff-like. Certainly so when she flipped it round so the spinal column shaped axe blade was facing away from the impending fruit-valanch.

”Ready?” Jr called up, and, upon getting a nod set about triggering all the fruit flingers and beginning the onslaught.

Things, it had to be said, did not start well, as the shipgirl violently pulped the first orange with a mighty thwack, and then had not recovered by the time an apple bounced off of her helmet, but after that she started to get the hang of things. An apple caught in the hook that the reverse of her axe blade caused first, then a melon batted away with the wide flat of the gun barrels. An orange slapped by the flat of a hullblade. Then, after that, she found herself entering a flowstate, less attacking the incoming fruity shots, and more parrying them at a pace that accelerated faster and faster till she was moving so swiftly she could have intercepted bullets.

The control issue was still, well, an issue, and the boy was definitely ahead on non-lethal take downs, but in terms of actual hits? The girl’s score was at 99%

Once the trial concluded, Zinnervale couldn’t make any bones about the fact that he was impressed. “Wow. Maybe I should be asking you for advice!” Of course, even if Rika did a good job, he didn’t want to learn from anyone but his master. Maybe a small part of him was jealous, thanks mostly to Rika looking much younger than he did, but Shandi had taught his disciple well enough to recognize and respect skill when he saw it. Plus, Zinnervale found a little inspiration in Rika’s moves. Her reliance on parries turned the whole exercise from one of offense to one of active defense, and maybe that was a better way to go about it. After all, if he missed a projectile in a real fight the consequences could be much worse than a stained shirt and hurt pride.

“Well, thanks for your help!” Zinnervale laid down his staff and began to gather the remains of all the fruit into a couple of baskets he’d set aside beforehand. “I’m off to feed the animals with all the fruit we softened up. See ya!”

”See ya” Rika echoed after they’d helped him out with that a little, while Jr just gave the trainee a simple ”Bye!”

As Zinnervale left to go do some chores, his (and his visitors’) task finished, a short, two-note victorious fanfare played out of nowhere. Golden letters appeared in the air, not too unlike those manifested by the Heavenly Principles, which read ‘QUEST COMPLETE’. A hundred and eighty silver coins unceremoniously fell from the sky and landed at the koopa kids’ feet, and the mysterious text faded away.

There was a moment of stunned silence when this occurred, complete with Rika taking her helmet off to make sure she wasn't seeing things. This silence was broken when Jr threw up his arms in disbelief and yelled ”Wait. What. That is a thing?! Since when was that a thing!? Why did this count and nothing else!?” up at the place where the text had been.

Rika, who had a little silver glint in her eye, had a much more practical response to all this, which was to delight in the unexpected rain by crouching down and trying to pick/scoop up all the coins (which was easier said than done, given how fiddly the little things where).

Eventually Jr gave up yelling and bent down to help her out.

Even working together (and with a little extra help from Mimi) it took them a while to get all the coins gathered up, and it was only then that Rika realized that ”Oh. We used all the fruit…”

”We’ll just go buy summin then with all this cash back in the city” Jr replied, right on queue for dinner plans to start being discussed over the link pearls.

Jr chimed in with ”Yeah. Got the G-corp bots n then had an explore. We’ll meet back up at the karts n then drive on in.” after Therion commented about them being outside the city, expanding on it a bit to report their mission as complete.

Rika meanwhile was just looking forward to whatever eatery Pit had found. The captain hadn’t steered them wrong when it came to food yet, that was for sure.