The Heavy's inquiry gave Poppi something to say at least. She couldn't help but smile as she pictured the big man's amazement should he ever see a real Titan. “Oh, titans very, very big. Many so big, they carry entire country on or in body. Poppi made on titan Gormott, in city called Torigoth on shoulder. Plains stretch for miles and miles.” She trailed off after a bit, embarrassed that her chatter wasn't very helpful.
Those gathered, however, showed no hesitation to give their reasons for why they fought, but their responses left Poppi in wonderment. How did this mock battle contribute towards helping humanity? What about Nopon, anyway? If they'd been fighting forever, wouldn't the Raider have plenty of plunder? Out of everyone, however, the Heavy gave the most abstract answer. This was apparently a struggle over some resource called Gravel, which Poppi assumed must be distinct from value-devoid pebbles, and he worked for money to help his family. Although Poppi wanted to respond, she couldn't exactly deny these people. If they all had their reasons and seemed satisfied with them, who was she to tell them they were wrong? Then again, the supposed 'enemies' were awfully chummy...
Where Poppi fell short, her teammates more than came through. Sectonia wasted no time delivering a magnanimous -even pompous- speech, but she struck on good points. Surely, the artificial blade reasoned, these people lacked purpose? They'd been fighting 'forever' after all, and their individual ambitions remained unsatisfied. Maybe they were really trapped in a futile struggle? Back in 1-1, an eternal war between rabbids and robots waged on behalf of the region's incandescent tyrant, whose excuse of security his land poorly masked his shameless desire to see his subjects suffer. Here, there seemed to be no authority keeping things in line. To her it seemed like some sort of 'natural' phenomenon, like the regeneration of the Land of Adventure.
Surprisingly, a small tidbit of what Sectonia said seemed to strike a chord with Heavy. From his tone Poppi gathered that he was talking about lost comrades, and the prospect of bringing them back seemed to be enough to change his mind. The conviction he displayed earlier must not have been that strong. He went on to surprise her by referring to Galeem. “Oh! That interesting. So far, nobody we talk to remember end once freed. Maybe...getting killed over and over again here loosen Galeem influence?” While the strangers' eyes shone red, including those of the Heavy and Medic, that memory was still a good thing. The others, however, seemed less convinced. Going off her own theory, Poppi wondered if Heavy died more than the others. Big, slow target, no visible armor or shielding, gung-ho attitude...maybe!
Oh, yes; Fox was speaking. Poppi pulled out of her processes to catch his own contribution.
The real war is out there. Poppi could scarcely have said it better. Fox truly carried the mantle of leadership, possessed of the knowledge of how to interact with people and get them in gear. She could see the murmurs among the soldiers begin to swell. The Dwarf had gotten to his feet, the Knight seemed close to reconsidering what actions of his would best serve humanity, and the Priestess looked ready to follow Heavy. In the span of only a moment the number of recruits went from two to four as the Shield and the Poison came over.
“Here I'm called the Shield, but if I'm going, you may call me Braum! It's good to meet you, and I'm sure we'll be fast friends.”
“Good day. I too am most pleased to make your acquaintances. I am Blue Poison, should it please you. Many keep their distance, but if you'll have me, I'll join your campaign.”
Just as things seemed to be going well, a nearby loudspeaker blared to life. “What. Is. THIS!?” a stiff female voice practically screeched. “Intruders! Unknown assailants, in the rec room! Mercenaries, destroy them!”
Instantly the mood changed. Everyone went on alert, all eyes on the newcomers warily. Even those who'd come over took a step back, as if they'd learned their visitors were sick. Poppi held up her hands, eyes wide. “Wait! We not intruders. No intention to fight at all!”
“What about the briefcase?” the Soldier questioned her. “Here to keep us distracted while some buddies steal the intelligence?”
Poppi shook her head emphatically. “No, no! Not even know what briefcase is. Friends just want to see if anyone willing to join, maybe help in process.”
“Aha!” The Administrator exclaimed. “They're here to steal
you, my mercenaries! But whatever for? According to my data, all of them are far, far stronger than any of you. So why are they here? With a walking war machine that can 'rain lightning' waiting innocently outside? They're here for your spirits!” Poppi could practically hear the woman's smirking confidence. “All they see when they look at you are weapons and powers. They're here to destroy you!”
The heroes found themselves faced with a number of weapons. Not everyone seemed ready to attack them, however. Braum raised his shield, facing the REDs and BLUs. “Hold on a moment friends, we can't assume intentions like this. Let's talk things out.” Poppi gave a vigorous nod.
Blue Poison looked up at the speaker, as if it could hear her. “Be reasonable, Administrator. Do you have any basis for these claims?”
“Basis!?” The unseen lady howled. “Does my word mean nothing to you?! My authority?! Thanks to me, you have comrades at your back, a reason to live for! You're all immortal!”
The Dwarf spat. “Aye, a never-endin' loop of shootin', dyin', and more shootin'. I ain't touched a pickaxe in so long my mitt's gone smooth. I miss adventure, the unknown! I'm done here.”
He took a step toward the visitors, only for a warning shot to fly in front of his face. The Soldier glared at him through his menacing visor. “So, you're abandoning us? Traitors...all of you!” He swept his hand at Blue Poison, Braum, Heavy and Medic. “We're soldiers. We follow the orders of our superiors, like it or not.”
Scowling, the Dwarf turned to face the Soldier. “I'm gonna like clonkin' yer empty head, ya arsewipe!”
A laugh rang out from the speaker. “Hohohoho! Teams are being scrambled! Anyone not on RED or BLU when mission begins will be considered an enemy and lose respawn privileges, followed shortly by their lives! Mission begins in ten seconds!”
In front of everyone present, little red and blue doors appeared. It was time to decide. Poppi ignored hers in favor of summoning her Variable Saber, then turned to Fox. There wasn't time to ask or outline the options, only the time to heed the leader's decision.
[-=Futaba's Palace=-
Soon after Primrose and her lupine mount moved into the pyramid, she found the thieve's trail. It took the form of solved puzzles and defeated enemies, and with ashes in place of encounters she could make quick progress indeed. Only the pyramid's traversal and platforming challenges remained, but Midna's conjured creature possessed no small amount of leaping ability. The way forward took Primrose through dusty, dark corridors and over sandy sinkholes, circling around intricate statues and deadly-looking spikes alike. As she went she passed by the discarded spirits of a
Hippowdown, a
redead, and
Arcmine.. She encountered only one major roadblock: as her wolfos made its way over a sandtrap, Primrose could her a strangely ethereal squeaking noise, and her mount began to struggle. Some sort of weight weighed it down, hindering its movement. Noises from a room ahead, however, signaled that she hadn't far to go.
The next chamber housed a familiar spectacle: the Phantom Thieves in battle. The four of them stood in a rough spread formation facing a
behemoth clay pot with tentacles of oil. As she watched, it opened its lid and fired urn missiles that soared on inky black jets. Mona dodged out of the way, but Skull and Panther took the hit.
Joker looked over his shoulder at his allies. “Mona, heal them!” He stood alone before the Clay Dunestrider, and called a new Persona. “Ghûl!”
An
emactiated horror materialized beside him, and it unleashed a hideous cry. The Dunestrider, however, exhibited no effect. Joker winced. “Immune to Fear. Should have guessed.” He braced himself as the monster lashed out and struck him, sending him skidding toward Primrose.
Strangely for the right-hand man of an archetypal villain, Kamek acted the consummate hero and leaped with his clones into danger the moment he saw the shipgirl in peril. The magikoopa swarm descended over the waves in formation even as the Atomos rocked from the impact of artillery fire. The healers began attending to the fallen immediately, patching her wounds as she floated, sprawled, on the surface. Though rattled by the blasts, she recovered quickly thanks to the clones' care, looking at the lizard wizards with bafflement. “Oh...! Thanks...?” As strange as this was, she couldn't argue with the results as her damage faded away. She watched, amazed, as even more Kameks bombarded the abyssal with explosive flame. “Whoa. We've never had air support before.” They kept up the assault, well out of reach of the abyssal's brawny arms and vile teeth, preventing it from being able to launching a counterattack. It wasn't long before it gave a guttural cry and sank beneath the waves, burned to a crisp.
Kamek cruised over, asking about her condition. “I'm fine, I think.” Shakily, she got to her feet, her shoes somehow repelling the water to such a degree that she could get back into a standing position, like a fallen ice skater. Her plane launcher helped her up, but judging by its condition it wouldn't be doing any more damage today. “Drat, my weapon's toast. I need to help the others...”
Her voice trailed off as Junior's primids opened fire, unleashing a fusillade of energy pellets from the deck of the Atomos. They rained down around the turret-pile abyssal, sending smoke up from the water, but even those that hit didn't dissuade the unnatural creature from taking aim. It unleashed a mortar that sailed into the primid crowd, blowing several to smithereens and probably making the heroes realize a fatal flaw of this attack plan: with the bay doors open, an assailant could shoot straight into the tender, occupied guts of the Atomos itself.
Meanwhile, the battle was shifting closer. Two ships crested a nearby wave just before it hit its peak, followed shortly by a long abyssal that shot out into the open air and landed heavily, slowed to a crawl. “Yes! Open fire!”
one of the shipgirls called, before the pair hammered the abyssal from opposite sides. It broke in half with a guttural moan, and the ships peeled off toward the Atomos. They assumed the airship to be friendly and zeroed in on the turret-pile before letting loose. Their light armaments forced them to circle it while firing constantly, but the turret went down as well. The pair made their way over to Kamek and their wounded ally. “Heya!” the
black-haired one greeted. “C'mon, we all gotta go. A Water Princess popped up right in the middle of the fight. She...she got Ooshio just like that. We're regrouping by the Admiral.”
All around, shipgirls were fleeing in the direction of Limsa, with a number of abyssals in pursuit. From his height Geralt could see the spirits below the water slowly starting to move in the opposite direction, as through drawn by some current. The pair that helped the heroes, Hatakaze and Arashio, remained in place to help cover them. Moving as one, they engaged an abyssal taking aim at the Atomos. Arashio waved at the ship. “What're you waiting for, you guys are sitting d-!”
A blur struck her in the back, turning everything above the ankle to red mist, then ash. Her spirit sailed through the air, blown away by the force, and Hatakaze froze, speechless. Across the water skated a
shipgirl of pure white, her features blank, her rigging black and monstrous like a nightmarish sea serpent. Its head zeroed in on Hatakaze, and energy began to gather.
“We don't stand a chance! Move!” The pink-haired girl cried, but Hatakaze didn't move. Although fear dominated her face, she zoomed forward nevertheless, clearly intent on pushing her ally out of the way to save her. Kamek found himself faced with a dilemma, the stakes suddenly high.
[-=Limsa Lominscuttle Town=-
After his pleasant exchange with Shantae, the Ace Cadet proceeded along with Peach and cuphead to the harbor, although he left a lasting memory behind. Even after the dancer got back into the swing of things, she found herself thinking about the stranger, and about herself as were. It was as if things hadn't been quite right for a while now, and she'd simply not realized until someone pointed out that things could be different. Well, not to worry—the extra few moments she'd spent with the redhead left some other attendees feeling jealous, and she needed to liven things up.
Although customs gave Peach and her entourage the stinkeye as they passed through with loads of gold, the trio arrived back at their landing point without trouble. Sure enough, there rested Shippy, and the smoke drifting upward from a pipe above the cabin suggested a certain someone was busy cooking lunch. Peach boarded without hesitation, leaving the wagons behind, and knocked on the door. “Hello? Mr. Brineybeard?”
After a few moments and more firm knocking the portly captain himself opened the door. “Oh, it be ye. What brings ye back? Wantin' to go already? Well, I ain't runnin' a charity here, so ye knows.”
Peach crossed her arms. “As it happens, we've brought some money. Care to look?”
Brineybeard did care—in fact, his eyes literally bugged out. “Blow me down! Thar be enough doubloons to set a poor scallywag fer life! What's it here for?” It was hard for him to hide the hope in his voice.
“We'll be upfront with you. We're trying to collect vessels in order to traverse the Bottomless Sea. We were hoping -it being a ridiculous amount and all- we might be able to buy Shippy from you.”
The conflict spreading across the former pirate's features told her that she wasn't looking at a done deal. “Oogh...I...I dunno. I mean, I'd be a fool not t'take the deal, but still...Shippy's got a special place in me heart.” He ran a hand along the railing, and the ship shuddered happily as if tickled. “It's like she's a part o' me. Even if I can't pirate no more, 'n spend my sorry days ferryin' landlubbers 'n catchin' fish...I can't leave 'er. The last legacy o' my good old days. My last matey.” He looked out across the ocean, his gaze full of longing.
Even with the typical ineffectiveness of cutting weapons against hard bone, Shadow wrecked havoc among the skeletons as a whirling saw of death. V planted a foot on top of a fallen Skeleton Lord and drove his cane through its skull. “Reap what you sow.”
Griffon blasted a bony rider with Blockade, keeping it stunlocked just enough for the v-shaped bolts of Royal Fork to close on it and annihilate its undead horse. “In other words, suck it, shitasses!”
Raidou grunted in agreement, more focused on aiming his shot. His bullet struck Sir Daniel square in his empty eye socket, spinning his head around in a comical manner. After a moment the bone knight grabbed his head, stopping the revolution in its tracks, but he continued to stagger about dizzily.
Laughing, Dante shook her head. She took a moment to crush a scimitar-wielding skeleton with a crescent kick from Balrog, then faced Sir Daniel. “Man, for a bonehead you seem like a fun guy. Why you gotta fight us like this?”
Muttering unintelligibly, Sir Daniel glanced at Marie, then back to the fighters before him. Somehow, Dante seemed to understand. “So, this monster maid not only revives the dead but controls them? That's tough, buddy.” The knight stepped forward, sword at the ready, and Dante raised her own. “Maybe you'll be free if we take her down. Guess I've got another reason to shoot for the top. Keep him occupied, huh guys?” Without another word she teleported away.
She appeared above Marie to drop a Helm Breaker on her head, but the shadow that flickered out to attack Bowser intercepted the blow and punched Dante square in the gut. The Devil Hunter looked more surprised than hurt, even as she fell to the ground. “A new trick! You're already better than Cerberus. What he wouldn't give to chew on you...” She hit the ground and rolled, watching Bowser's kritz-empowered flame annihilate a number of skeletons, including another Skeleton Lord. A colorful burst of eco from Jak's morph gun, meanwhile, heralded the end of the final Skeletal Lord. “Gunslinger!” Dante switched styles and unleashed Honeycomb Fire into Marie, then rolled to avoid the strike of her shadow.
She pivoted left to sweep the head off an undead fishman with Sparda, which did not alleviate the pained expression on Nadia's face. The feral looked haunted as she squared off against her former family, unable to do more than evade. After a moment's study Dante realized her ally couldn't solve this problem alone. “Lead 'em over to the rest and pass 'em off,” she advised. “No need to force a bad fight.”
Although she'd been thinking of taking responsibility for these undead, Nadia accepted the suggestion gratefully. “Okay.”
Dante returned her focus to the Skullgirl just in time to avoid another sideswipe from her shadow. Although Blazermate and Bowser possessed no more kritz, they would arrive in just a moment to make the assault on the Skullgirl three-pronged. Marie knew it too, staring at the pair balefully as they approached. “Don't think me cornered. This city has all sorts of undead, and I can control each and every one...” She raised her hand once more, and from the floor of veins rose
one more skeleton..
He looked around, a hollow smile plastered on his face. “welp, sorry folks. this is gonna suck for everyone.”
With a flick of his wrist, everyone in a hundred foot radius floated into the air, then slammed down into the ground. A wave of bones erupted from him to roll across the entire arena, each one rising and then falling vertically. They did no direct harm, and indeed seemed incorporal, but every sixtieth of a second a living body overlapped with one they did a singular point of True Damage. In a matter of moments, Raidou, Jak, and Shadow took critical injuries, their bodies' molecular integrity dangerously degraded.
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