Gentlemanvaultboy

World of Light

Hyrule Warriors

Word Count: 1219

Level 5 - (46/50) + 2

Level 9 - (33/90) + 2

@Potemking

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Link

Location: The Bottomless Sea

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Link only had time to catch Ms. Fortune's acrobatic return to the skip out of the corner of his eye, his heart skipping a beat in the heat of the moment when she collapsed into chunks before remembered what her situation was. She was the only one to return, either. The abyssal girl also came back, maybe to reload considering she went right to Blazermate's ammunition machine, but she didn't seem to have the time to reload her weaponds again before the bonefish was upon them once more. Undeterred, she threw herself at the thing and landed a solid punch to the head which, after the withering fire it had received from Shippy's crew, was sufficient to scatter the thing to pieces segment by segment.

With that thing gone, and the sound of thrashing water and gnashing teeth now a ways away from them, Link had time to catch his breath and look around. The Atomos was still in the air, which meant the kids had done something to get it stable during the effects of stasis. Around the deck it didn't look like anyone had gotten seriously injured. Even his fish bites weren't bleeding, an effect of the overhealing Blazermate had performed before the start of the battle even if he didn't know that. About the only one who looked bad was Ms. Fortune, and that was only if you didn't know her deal. "That looks way worse than it is." He called out reassuringly to Mirage and Mr. Green. If Ms. Fortune and Rika had decided the come back, though, it stood to reason that the fight with the sea monsters must have been winding down.

He was half right. As he turned to check he saw Bowser with his hand wrapped around the little monster, the thing screaming something he could tell just from the tone was absolutely obscene. That should keep them from having to worry about the eel like tendrils at least. The big one, though, was still primed and ready to fight. It slammed its whole bulk into the spire the two rested on, and with a heart shaking crack the rock broke and began to tilt into the sea.

Link desperately whipped out the slate again, watching wide eyed as the bar refilled. It was around 3/4th of the way done, but every single pip that lit up to indicate the cooldown process felt like an eternity as the spire continued to fall. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, it was ready to use again. He swiped out with the slate, summoning forth the gold chains to wrap what was now essentially a giant boulder and arrest its fall before it could plunge into the depths with his friends on or under it.

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Linkle

Merge Rate: 30%

Location: The Frozen Highlands - Snowdin ~ Grillby's ---> The Cold Monastery

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Linkle nodded, downing her entire drink in one single go while Albedo made his dog a nice little place by the fire. As he came back and they started out the door and down the street she expanded on his thought. "I guess it is kind of strange. I think most worlds must be more alike than different. Like, have you ever met someone here that didn't know what you were talking about when you told them what, say, a bird was? I'm not sure what a Katzlein is, but I think I have a pretty good picture since I know what a cat is. Also I've met a cat woman before, but she was from the same world as the Skull Heart."

Before they set out on their expedition to the temple Linkle asked for a quick pit stop at the hotel, where she set most of the non-essentials in her room. She kept the strange card in her pouch, along the the berries in case they needed a snack later and the bloodstained leaf because it weighed nothing at all. She also kept the gun-sword on her back, because who knew when the extra range might come in handy. Mostly she wanted the sled free in case they found something interesting to drag back.

As they set out across the snow toward their destination Linkle also found it made for a fine sled. Whenever they crested the top of a moderate hill Linkle would hop on and, gripping the bar while standing, ride the thing to the bottom. It was faster, and it was more fun. As they contained she couldn't help but notice the lack of real animal life, or the old encampments that were in the process of freezing over. They spotted what were possible the culprits, a multitude of creatures that seemed to be made of various forms of ice. "I should hunt some of these on the way back. They might know more about ice than me."

As they stopped atop the knoll, Linkle turned to him. "How cold is it here, do you think? It must be worse that yesterday with all the ice monsters floating arouAAAANND!" She hadn't noticed the tree moving, and now she thrashed while it grasped in its splintery grip. She managed to turn herself to face that...woman? There was a certain feminine aspect to the tree, mostly in its long "hair." Linkle only had a moment to be taken in by it before it opened its mouth and sprayed a wave of frozen air over her that left a layer of frost covering every part of Linkle's body. It was the birch woman's turn to be surprised, though, as Linkle didn't appear to be in any pain from the attack. Just annoyed, an annoyance the expressed itself it a flaming kick right to the woman's chin. She dropped Linkle, the woman suddenly bursting into flame like an oil soaked rag and letting out an ear splitting shrike, but as Linkle landed she pulled out her new crossbows. The tips flared red as spread out her aim, launching a bomb arrow at both the one that had grabbed her and the one Albedo had just escaped the clutches of, blowing them apart and putting a stop to the fireballs that one had sent seeking after Albedo. More trees were moving on this hill though, so Linkle grabbed her sled, scooped the tree women's sprits as she passed, and sledded down after him. A she reached a place safely out of any trees reach, she crushed the spirits in her palm.

After that it wasn't long before the pair arrived at the Temple, a sight Linkle was blown away by. She guessed those waterfalls were where the rivers she had seen flowing before came from, and as they dumped water from between the towers they through up icy mist that seemed to permeate the air around the old place. It looked less like a temple and more like an entire settlement, or a...

"Are you sure this isn't the dungeon?" She asked in awe. "Because if it isn't, give it a hundred years and it'll definitely be a dungeon." This was the sort of place her grandma had explored. She started forward eagerly down the cliff path, wondering if she would even be able to get the sled across the narrower parts but continued unperturbed.

Guide: How To NOT Be A Sue

[X] [Write In]

@DDVicky

Throw a pillow at it and go back to sleep. They can't love you if you never leave your room. Our NEET life begins now.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

"Oh dang, you can both do that?" Luna asked as Yuri flittered down ono Gou's shoulder. Next time she saw Guru she was gonna have to get him to spill the beans on how to turn into an animal. "Lucky." She said, pressing the accelerator and riding back the way they had come. Luckily for Yuri her driving was as relaxed as everything else abut her. Fast enough to take in the scenery and get a good breeze blowing through her hair.

"Good thing that evacuation order came." She said as she leaned down and snatched her oar up off the street without stopping. "Usually this is a pretty popular road. A lot of people come here for the beaches, especially around this time of year. I was actually on my way back when the alarm sounded." She came upon her duffle bag and extended her oar, hooking in through the straps. She lifted it up and let the whole thing slide down her oar onto her arm and over her should. Satisfied, she took the oar and reached her arm behind her to slot it into one of the three white tubes attached to the back of the scooter.

"You should check it out so long as you're here. There's tons of stuff to do in the city." She sped up slightly as she spotted her sandals, reaching out with her foot to grab them through the straps and pull them back onto the scooter. "Even if ya' aren't on vacation it never hurt to take in the local flavor. Where are you guys from, anyway? Is it pretty far? What's it like?"

As they came up to the gas station she expected to see the big robot, Grizzly, but to her surprise it was already long gone. Not only that, a trickle of cars was now making its way into the city as people navigated around the wreck way up the road out of site. A few past them as she pulled into the station parking lot and killed the engine. Hopping off, she started looking around for a black shape on the street. "We get your stuff before it gets run over."

World of Light

Hyrule Warriors

Word Count:2191

Level 5 - (43/50) + 3

Level 9 - (30/90) + 3

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Link

Location: The Bottomless Sea

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Link looked on warily as the tentacle sank back under the waves, driven back but not defeated. Mirage gave voice to his own concerns, advising everyone to get to the middle of the deck so as to avoid getting grabbed when, not if, that thing decided to make another move. It was a good idea, but as Link heard a satisfying THUNK from the gun in front of him he had another solution in mind. "I'll stay here. If I'm the only one at the side it'll probably come for me. If we know where its coming from...," He pulled back on the controls, the gun barrels rising slightly into the air. "We can give it everything we've got when it pops up."

Staving off the predatory fish wasn't as much of a priority anymore. Just looking at the clouds of blood and ash in the churning sea it was clear that nature was taking its course. Why try to chew through metal or throw yourself at the meat you smelled on top of it when your neighbor was just as red and juicy as anything you would find? At this point it seemed like shooting the fish was just going to attract fish all the faster. The feeding frenzy all around them was doing a good enough job attracting more danger as it was.

He was proven right again as a massive bone behemoth emerged from the waves, flying through the sky like a dragon as its segments spun. He ducked down in his seat as it whirled its way across the deck, throwing up wood and sparks as it went before coming around for another run. Mirage had dodged out of the middle of the deck and was already basting away again, and Link only hesitated long enough to take a quick picture before pulling out his bow. Both he and Mirage had immediately identified what they though of as obvious weak points. If something had a big eye you aimed for it, that was a tried and tested tactic that had felled many a beast in the wilds. He drew back and let fly at the eye of the first segment behind the head, hoping that this would stun the creature and make it flop onto the deck for a good walloping.

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Linkle

Merge Rate: 30%

Location: The Frozen Highlands - Snowdin ~ Grillby's

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The twos battle plans for the day were, it turned out, set just in time for them to eat. Linkle thanked Mr. Grillby again as she licked her lips over the scrumptious, freshly cooked egg. She took a deep whiff of the steam coming off of it. "Ohhhhh, that's a good egg." She judged. Linkle was hard to beat when it came to judging the quality of an egg dish. Eggs made up the majority of her diet. She reached down and picked up the entire slice of bread, blowing on it to cool it down a little before taking a big old bite out of the thing. She had been right. "Very, very good egg." She mumbled, mouth full. Whatever laid this was well taken care of.

She finished much faster than he did, and went right back to giving the dog the attention it craved while she enjoyed the warmth spreading through her and gave Albedo the time he needed. While he ate, though, he complimented her hat. She tipped it to him. "Thanks. It's from under the tree. It was kinda like destiny suggested it." When he added that it reminded him of his missing assistant that only added more fuel to that magical thinking. Synchronicities like that didn't just happen for no reason in Linkle's world. Just appearance wise, though? "She has rabbit ears too?" Linkle said, surprised. "I'm not surprised she enjoys the quiet when she can, loud noises are torture with these things."

"I'll bet she's smart too, isn't she?" Linkle said with a small smile. You had to be smart if you got this alchemy stuff enough to be an assistant. "It's probably that you don't have to explain everything to her. It sounds cozy."

Her interest in this mysterious girl was only rivaled by Albedo's interest in her own world. He set himself to finishing his meal, which gave Linkle the perfect opportunity to fill him in. "I'll admit, most of the things I know about Hyrule I learned from the old legends my Grandmother would tell me. My village is pretty small and I'd never been that far from it before my adventure started, so I guess I'll start from the oldest legend."

Linkle leaned back in her chair. When she spoke next, she did so with the sense of pride and grandiosity of someone much older than herself. She had heard these stories so many times, over and over again by the light of the fire. She knew them by heart, and she knew the way the old woman told them by heart as well. "Once upon a time, so long ago that time hadn't even got its boots on yet, there was no world. Just an endless, formless chaos that stretched as far as the eye could see. No one knows how long it churned and bubbled away like this, but that all came to an end when the the Three Golden Goddesses suddenly appeared in a burst of light. Din, Nayru, and Farore. The three sisters looked upon the mess that was the world, looked to one another, and decided that they couldn't be having with this."

"Din dove toward the chaos, and with a single mighty blow...!" Linkle clapped her hands together. "Just like that, the Chaos was given form. Earth and water. Air and Fire. Light and darkness. Every gem and ore. All of it mixed up, but solid. Then, with her great power, she pulled up the mountains, dug the oceans and the channels for the rivers, shaped the plains and hills, and shoved all the precious stones under the earth to be found."

"Next came Nayru. With her divine wisdom she brought order to the land Din had created. She created the horizon, to separate the land and the sky. She took most of the fire and threw it into the sky to make the sun and the stars to provide light to the world. She gathered luminous stone and made the moon so that the heavens would show the passage of time by its wax and wane, then she kicked time in the pants and set it running forever. Every natural law that exists, from weather to gravity, Nayru put in place."

"The last, Farore, came down and in her unconquerable courage she decided to create something that none of the goddesses could ever control. She breathed across the land, and everywhere her breath touched life came into being. All the plants, the beasts, and the people of the land are Farore's children. Then she breathed into the empty air and from her breath came other beings. Fairies, spirits, and other gods to watch over the land that she and her sisters had wrought."

"Their labors complete, the three of them departed for the Heavens but not before they left behind a gift. Three golden triangles, fragments of their infinite power. An relic that can grant anyone's deepest desire. The Triforce. Here, look." Breaking character, Linkle removed her Compass and flipped it around to show him. The three golden triangles, embraced by a bird. "That's the symbol of the royal family." She told him. "Originally the Triforce was entrusted to the protection of the Goddess Hylia, because only mortals can use it. The legends get fuzzy around here because this all happened a long time ago, but from what Grandma was able to understand dark monsters emerged from the earth that coveted the light of the Triforce and wanted it for themselves. The goddess Hylia fought against their king and managed to defeat him with the aide of a hero of the people, but was gravely wounded. To save her life, and so she would be able to use the triforce to fight against the darkness should it ever return, she gave up her divinity and was reborn as a mortal girl named Zelda but she kept some of her power. This sacred power is passed down through the Hyrule Royal Family from mother to daughter, and the Goddesses beloved hero incarnates again and again and again and again whenever some calamity comes to trouble Hyrule. Collectively, those storied are called the Legend of Zelda. So I guess our gods do have a more hands on approach than Mr. Barbatos."

She slipped her compass back over her neck, and flicked her regular ear for good measure. "Hyrule is mostly made up of Hylians, like me. My grandma said we have these big old ears to make it easier to hear the voices the gods, but no one I know has ever heard anything. A lot of the people in my village are humans too. There's not really that much of a difference, they just have round ears like you do. Hyrule is big, but the way grandma tells it there are mostly small villages like ours. We mostly farm where I'm from, vegetables and livestock. I raise Cucco's for their eggs. They're tough little white birds. I have tons of them." She said, looking particularly proud. "We send most of the stuff we raise to Castle Town via wagon as taxes and to sell at the market, and if you put what you want on a list the wagon will come back with, say, bombs, fancy dresses, honey, just stuff we don't make or grow ourselves. The wagons get an escort of knights to and from the castle in case they get attacked by monsters, and all the kids in the village gather around them when the wagons roll in. Every little boy in Hyrule wants to be a knight if he doesn't want to be the Hero."

The nostalgic smile on her face faded as she pivoted natural from the knights to what the knights were supposed to fight. "Monsters are a constant problem. Sometimes its better, sometimes it's much, much worse. No matter what they're always there. Especially at night. At night wolfoes come out. Mostly they kill livestock. Not mine, nothing messes with cuccos. They're really aggressive against predators, and if one lets out a cry for help every cucco for miles around shows up for the fight. Other people that just had goats or chickens? They could have their entire life wiped out. I spent a lot of nights sneaking out into the fields to hunt wolfoes, but they're not even the biggest problem. Long dead monsters will pull themselves right out of the ground at night, a Deku Baba is an evil plant that can grow like a weed in your garden, old Mikk from the general store died hating his daughters husband so much he came back as a Poe and haunted the village until they moved away."

"Not everything that isn't human is a monster though." She said, shaking off the malaise of the previous topic. "Goron's are these huge buff guys who I think are made of rock. Grandma told me that they can curl into a ball and roll around, and also they eat rocks. They live in this massive volcano called Death Mountain that's always spewing smoke and boulders out of the top. I met a few merchant Goron's after I left home. I don't think they know what girls are because they kept on calling me brother. The Zora are like the complete opposite. They're fish people, but not ugly fish people. They're slim and beautiful and they live in the crystal clear waters of Zora's Domain, but they can climb up onto land if they want. Grandma says they like to keep to themselves. I've met one and she had a really haughty attitude, but I think that's because she might have been an actual princess. None of them are subjects of Hyrule, they have their own leaders, but we've been friendly with both groups for centuries. I heard the Gorons even help out our army sometimes."

Linkle looked up, wrecking her brain for any other interesting topic. Her eyes lit up. "We have dungeons too. My grandma used to explore them. She was kind of like an archeologist before she had to come take care of me. They're usually ruins or ancient temples meant to protect something, full of monsters and puzzles and traps. They play a huge role in the legends, the hero usually has to go through a bunch of them. They're so old nobody even remembers what they used to be most of the time. My Grandma got my compass for me out of one, but that was as far as she got before she was forced to retreat. If you're not the Hero you're really not supposed to be poking around in one of those."

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

"Nice to meet ya, Gou. Yuri." Luna said as the boys introduced themselves, nodding to both in turn. That was the most of a bow either were going to get out of someone as informal as she was. "I'm just a local who knows some magic kung-fu, so seeing the real stuff in the wild was a trip." The way Gou talked about being a disciple of some kind of sect stirred a little memory in the back of her head. Those terms had come up a lot during some rant her Guru had gone on once on a day he'd been feeling considerably less groovy than usual, a rant that also involved a whole lot of obscure expletives, an entire section where he had unconsciously dipped into what sounded like Mandarin, and repeated reference to "the squares." She had mostly been able to tune it out so as not to let the old man harsh her vibe, which had apparently been the entire point of the exercise. She wasn't so sure about that. It had sounded way too close to legitimate venting.

Whatever it was though, Yuri seemed to understand what Gou was talking about so it was probably a big deal she was just ignorant of. From the way he stopped himself from speaking he might have been more of a Monarch Butterfly, but she didn't see any reason to press that. He also gave her than name of the robot to go along with Gous reminder that they had left him all by his lonesome. That, her stuff, the bag Gou had left behind when he turned into a wolf, and the fact that Yuri wanted a Slurpee of his own, were all little tributaries that combined to draw her back to the gas station. "I'm free right now." She said, throwing one leg over the seat to straddled the scooter properly. "There's pretty much never a time I'm not free."

Gou, though, noticed that she was injured and jut his hand out toward her and Yuri. A soft tingle ran up her entire body as the green light swirled around her seemed to blow away all the cuts and bruises forming on her body. She shivered a little as it dissipated before pointing both her fingers at him. "See what I mean, that's the real deal!" She said, pressing the pedal and turning the wheel to spin the scooter around so that the side car came to a rest in front of Gou. "Hop in. We'll get your stuff, my stuff, we'll check for Grizzly, and we'll all get something to snack on. My treat."

World of Light

Hyrule Warriors

Word Count:1338

Level 5 - (40/50) + 3

Level 9 - (27/90) + 3

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Link

Location: The Bottomless Sea

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As Link followed the progress of his plane he gasped in horror as the giant tentacled beast rose from the waves once more, seemingly fully restored from the damage that had been done to it. It's newly regenerated eyeball broadcasted the reason for this to anyone who cared to look at it, and even if Link hadn't seen the actual moment the creature had been friend hearted the trail of unconscious abyssal's he had seen in the last battle gave him a reasonably good idea of who was responsible for this. That girl was too kind hearted for her own good.

At least for now, though, it didn't seem like it was a totally boneheaded move. Admittedly, that was because the little monster was only too happy to have an opportunity to bully the bigger one again. She lashed out with one of her tentacles, sinking its teeth right into the big monsters moob and drawing its attention right back to her. The way she laughed uproariously as she took on all comers couldn't even be called bravery, more like the mindless hyper-aggression that was the trademark of a true monster. That aggression made them and the big one allies of convivence for the moment. They would have to see how how the big monster felt once the little one was dealt with.

The ones left guarding Shippy had to deal with her right now, as one of the tentacles rose up out of the water and snapped down on he clone Mirage had thrown up. That man had almost asked for it to happen, but he responded quickly enough. He pulled out that weapon of his and started blasted the monster in the face. As he did Link started mentally cycling through his inventory, specifically looking for weapons that had taken the most punishment today. Nodding, he pulled out the Fork and drew his arm back like a Olympic javelin thrower. He didn't need much time to aim because the thing was both big enough and close enough to be terrifying, and after a second he let the fork fly. It sailed across the ship and landed prongs first in the tentacles forehead, but it didn't stay there for long. The force of the impact was enough for the spear to give up the ghost, and it detonated into blue fragments a millisecond later.

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Linkle

Merge Rate: 30%

Location: The Frozen Highlands - Snowdin ~ Grillby's

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Outside

Linkle took a moment to look over what she had gotten while organizing in on a sled. She didn't know what the pink thing was, other than totally adorable. If she had to guess she'd say it was some kind of Pokémon. There was also a card. At least, she though it was some kind of card. When she picked it up it was thicker than a normal card, and heavy like it was made of some kind of metal. It almost glineted in the morning sun. What drew her attention more than that, though, was the picture on the front. She brought her hand up to the top of her head, stroking one of her own ears. The ears the girls in the picture had were all taller and wider set than hers, but she could still imaging someone making the mistake of thinking she was one of them. Were these the...sylvestamen? Syrvarion? Slytherin? Whatever, Euden's friends! She slipped the card into one of her pouches for safe keeping until she could get back and show it to him.

She couldn't really tell what one of the prizes even was, but when she placed it next to the gun it sort of latched into the thing and metamorphized the entire weapon into a...sword? No. She bent down to pick it up, turning it over in her hands to examine the thing. As she did her rabbid instincts told her that, fundamentally, the weapon hadn't changed. The blade was spilt in two, with the barrel nestled in the space between. She put it on her shoulder and got a feel for aiming it before setting it back down and grinning. She couldn't wait to tell the Master of Masters that she had just discovered Weapon Spirits.

The next thing was three similarly designed hats, each one bearing a logo on the front. She hadn't talked to the fox guy much since he had tried to kill, essentially, her but she figured he wouldn't mind two out of the three of these. The FOX and FOXHOUND hats might be a little on the nose, but she still liked them more than the hat with the skull plastered on it. She grimaced as she picked it up, but at the same time there was a feeling in the back of her head that she should really put this one on. That it would look really good on her. That she should commit to the theme.

She was uncomfortable with how reluctantly she set it on the sled next to the other two. It was also why, when destiny gave her its own version of that hat in the box wrapped in the hero's color, she set it between her ears immediately. The glasses she stored in a pouch.

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Grillby's

The way the bartender took her apology made her feel a little embarrassed at being so formal about it. If her blood had worked she would have gone red, but instead she just looked chuffed. Her eyes did narrow at the barmans mention of the Stranger killing other people in the village that messed with him, but that slight unhappiness was brushed aside when he pointed out Albedo and offered to make them breakfast. Thanking the fire man, she made her way over to his table.

She flopped down into the chair the Alchemist pushed out for her. The dog almost immediately popped up, Putting its front paws on the edge chair to get closer, and Linkle obliged it by grabbing its face in her hands and giving its cheeks a good rub. As she did Albedo commented on her new crossbows and complemented her on her shopping. "I'm not that savvy, I just promised to do Sal a favor." The adoration comment made her smile a little wider. Unfortunately he also said the man she was looking for wouldn't be here until nighttime, but that just meant they had a whole day to do their own research into the subject. Albedo had already noted a number of options in his notebook, marked on a crude map of the area that she leaned forward to check out as he pointed them out.

Three seemed promising. Mystic's were a great source of information for heroes, Dungeons were always important, and considering that they were working under the assumption The Stranger was divinely protected the Temple could be a great place to start. Although, if he was graced with divine favor than maybe all that was waiting at the temple was a fight. That could be enlightening in its own way. While she was looking at the map she was also trying to find the spots she had seen while out and about. She pointed somewhere past the coast, and ask Ablbedo about the weird structure out past "Penguin Beach" that was shooting light up into the sky.

"I think we should stop by the temple first." She said after some consideration. "If it's not for the goddess protecting him than maybe we could appeal to the goddess it is dedicated too. Get some divine power on our side."

Inside her chest she heard the Skull Heart start chuckling.

"Does anyone actually know this jerks name?" She asked suddenly, a little more loudly than necessary to drown it out. It was a question inspired by her short conversation with the barman. "The way you and Mr. Grillby talk about him it seems like nobody knows who he is. If he's keeping it a secret it must be for a reason."

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

@Gentlemanvaultboy Working on a post rn! is Luna planning on heading off somewhere after Yuri and Gou introduce themselves?

@mantou

Nah, I should have clarified. She not at the wheel, she's sitting side-saddle on the thing. Just using it as a seat. She's got nowhere in particular she needs to be.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Same as Mantou said, fun times everybody!

Inspired by the way monsters are being handled, I updated my character sheet a little bit to reflect what I've "learned" about Luna since I started playing her.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Looks like she was getting that road rash after all. It was either that or get feathered.

As the alien approached she unhooked her feet and let go just like the voice in her head told her too. Luna tried to just start running really fast once her feet touched the ground, and she managed it for a step or two before forward momentum sent her tumbling ass over teakettle across the road. She landed splayed out on her back, sitting up just in time to see the arrows plow into the alien. She was lucky he was right in front of her, but when the arrows finally tore through she had to lie back down as they flew overhead.

As the alien slowly came to a stop Luna picked herself gingerly up off the ground, her upper body covered in bright red scrapes. She got to hear the aliens final words, and signed at the thing tipped over onto the ground. Then she quickly covered her ears in anticipation, but removed them when the alien became a bean of light and shot off into the sky. Disappointed, she clapped her hands together in front of her and shut her eyes. "Thanks' for the fight, alien. I really wish I had gotten your name." She said respectfully. That vanished when she continued. "I also really wish you had exploded like on tv. That would have been wicked."

Despite everything that had happened there was no malice in the woman's body language at all. Not now, not when she had been fighting. She neither relished nor regretted having a hand in striking the alien down. Like the ocean she pronounced no judgement on those that had been lost to her. It had simply been a fight, an excursion. Nothing more than that.

She was brought out of her prayer for the fallen when she heard something slowly roll past her. She opened one eye and smiled with delight as her scooter rolled to a stop a few feet in front of her. No more sign meant no more prohibition against motor vehicles, so it had reappeared and kept chugging along with no one to apply the break until it reached them. "Yes!" She said, hopping up onto the seat and cringing all over from how the movement disturbed the scrapes and the ache. "Ow-owowowow." She muttered. She was going to be feeling this in the morning. She was also going to have to swing back and pick up her shoes, her bag, and Walrus Whisker.

Now, though? Now she looked between the butterfly guy and the wolf guy, leaned back in her seat, and gave them both a thumbs up like the big guy. "Suuuuuuup?" She said. "Nice moves. I'm Luna, but you probably already heard that back in the cube. What's your names? Unless you guys want to take off like mysterious coolmen usually do. I ain't that cool, but you guys could pull it off easy."

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Luna drove the tip of her oar into the ice, cracking it and bringing her spin to a stop so she could watch as her attack was joined by two others, two raging swarms of light. Hornets and butterflies and sharks all sped after the same prey, cutting off the aliens options of escape. At least, that was what she thought. Like lots of clever prey species he had a burrow he could slip down into for safety.

Luna sighed as she watched her Greenland Shark hit the edge of the aliens hole and launched into the air, being scattered apart by its own rotation into a harmless splash. The butterflies are the only ones that kept hunting, but as her eye caught movement outside the cube she saw that only a few reached the alien before it closed up the tunnel it had created and started sprinting off toward the city.

She let herself drop back down, scratching her head. "So, I guess we win huh?" She said. The alien had run off, that was definitely a sign you were winning even if it didn't feel like it. Maybe it was because she hadn't gotten the proper punch up she wanted, or that they'd gone four on one with the thing, but there was a lack of catharsis to the fight that was starting to eat away at her relaxed state of mind as Yuri dropped the cube.

At least one of them was as unsatisfied with things as she was. Hang Guy stripping off his top earned him a pair of raised eyebrows, but dramatic transformation sent a wide smile across her face. A werewolf. Like, an actual werewolf! The newly christened Werewolf Guy set his nose to the ground, picking up the scent of the alien, before howling and taking off down the road after it. The hunt wasn't over yet!

Luna sprinted, not after the wolf and the alien, but across the road to the gas station parking lot. There was only one vehicle left there since the evacuation and it didn't take a genius to figure out who it's owner was. A motor scooter painted navy blue, a duffel bag sticking up out of the attached sidecar. On the side of the sidecar the words "Wave Body" were printed in black under a depiction of a cartoon dolphin mid jump. The dolphin had its fin extended, giving anyone who passed it on the road an entirely anatomically incorrect thumbs up.

She leaped, clearing the sidecar and landing right on the seat before turning the key and putting the pedal to the metal. She turned out of the parking lot, zoomed between the robots legs, and set off after the alien and Werewolf Guy. With how fast the alien was moving she wasn't sure she would be able to catch up, but that didn't really matter. She was caught up in the current now, and she would only sap her strength fighting against it. It was like her Guru had said: when you're caught in a current like this the only thing to do was relax your body and let it carry you to where it terminates. Whether that was an island paradise or a barren rock surrounded by sharks, trust in the Wavebreaker Style to see you through safely.

It actually surprised her when she spotted them running along the road, but as she got closer she saw that Werewolf Guy had clamped his jaws around the aliens hand. No wonder she had caught up. Though the aliens' gorilla-like body was undoubtedly strong, the Werewolf Guy was wrenching and tearing and jerking him around. It threw off his running form, not to mention the fact that he practically had to drag the giant wolf as he went. That would slow anyone down.

She spun her oar up, holding it up and facing the broad side forward as she approached. As she did a glossy sheen of water began to cover the paddle, her chi grabbing and knitting together the moisture in the air into a thin glove of water for it. It wasn't a lot, but it began to spin all the same like before. A weaker version of Sailfish. She didn't have time to gather more before she was pulling up beside him.

"Hey!" She shouted at the alien. "Remember me? We met in the cube? I'd still really like to get your name." The alien's only answer was to lash out with its sign pole, an attack that was met with her oar. The two weapons clashed, the muscles on Luna's arms bulging with the strain, but this time with the two on relatively equal footing there was no clear winner. The two broke off, Luna's oar coming for the aliens helmet, but he spun his own pole up to block her swing again before sliding his sign pole down the shaft of her oar towards her. Luna was forced the retreat to get out of the way, breaking slightly to slip out of range but was still only saved from a braining by a well timed wrench by Werewolf guy pulling the alien aside just enough so that the pole only scraped the tip of her nose.

She couldn't do this only one hand free. Luna kicked off her sandals, letting them bounce away behind her. She kept one foot on the accelerator and brought the up onto the steering wheel, gripping the brake plunger with her toes getting two hands on her weapon she steered back towards him. "Wavebreaker Style: Swordfish!" She said, striking at the monster with a series of swings and thrusts. The alien, to its credit, did its best with one arm and a gothic horror monster doing its best to disrupt its offence. It blocked or deflected one out of every three attacks Luna threw its way, always striking the shaft of the oar to avoid its weapon being eaten through by the water saw on the oars end that opened up a new scar on his body every time it struck. It was a losing battle though, and the alien knew it. Luna was having the time of her life, finally getting the kind of insane clash of weapons she had been dreaming of since the fight began, but to the Alien she was only an annoying and dangerous obstruction that had to be dealt with. It cared nothing for the fight itself, so it changed tactics.

Deflecting one last strike it banished its weapon end summoned up a new sign that it presented to Luna. It took her a moment to process, but in that moment she found herself flying through the air carried forward only by her previous momentum. The scooter was nowhere to be found. All Motor Vehicles had been Prohibited. Her duffle bag fell to the road, flipping end over end as it struck the asphalt and fell behind them in a morbid preview of what was about to happen to her. She was not dressed to deal with road rash, and so in a hail Mary effort she swung her Oar down at the road. The oar pushed her just enough, but she was forced to drop it as she wrapped both her arms around the aliens neck and held on tight. She locked her legs around the aliens torso and started punching him in the side of the helmet, doing almost nothing damage wise but really making an annoyance of herself.