“Meeeeeeh…” With a groan Tora hauled himself to his feet, his muscles too shot by the sudden, rattling burst of exertion on top of everything else to do much more than move him around. Poppi lent him a hand, of course, for which he was incalculably grateful despite being too busy wheezing to thank her. He got to his feet on the less-than-perfect gingerbread flooring of the rail station in time to see Midna zip off on her own, putting her strengthened legs to work running rather than floating, although she slipped and slid a little on the icing and cakey ground. She went so fast that Tora’s eyes could scarcely keep up, as much as he wanted them to. After she disappeared he turned back toward the group. “Tora...not want to go,” the Nopon straight-up admitted, making no bones about another fight being the last thing he wanted right now.
“Poppi ether low,” his artificial blade diagnosed. “Could also investigate, but risk likely too high for Masterpon allowance.”
Tora snorted as if it were even a question. “Course not, meh! Tora, Poppi, and friend Mona just pull off amazing stunt. Only natural others take turn now that we pooped.”
The pride on Mona’s face took a quizzical turn. “...You know, leaving out certain words can sometimes give the wrong impression. Why do you talk like that, anyway? You clearly know how to talk right.”
“Pssh!” Tora blustered, dismissing the cat with indignation. “Meh, meh! Mona not know first thing about Nopon culture.”
When Poppi leaned down for a conspiratory whisper, however, Mona listened intensely. “They do it to seem cute,” she told him. “Their cuteness only way they get away with anything.”
Mona’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “That makes SO much sense! Maybe I should try?”
Brows narrowed, Tora waddled closer, trying to hear what the two were saying. “Hey, what you two muttering about? Tora want in!”
Poppi straightened up, her expression innocent. “Mona mention trying. Didn’t Tora want try dessert?”
Her Masterpon’s eyes sparkled as he bounced in anticipation, his energy suddenly restored. “Oh, yes! But let’s find bit that nobody step on!”
Before he could find a suitable portion of the landscape to chow down on, however, Tora found himself stymied by Primrose. She suggested that everyone ought to follow Midna, in the same selfless manner with which Rex would often jump to others’ aid, and Joker concurred. “This is a high-traffic area,” he explained. “Does us no good to stay here. If we earn some local help, we’ll be able to rest easier.”
Tora moaned, but he complied. If nothing else, he could stand around in a fight with his shield up while the others took action. As the group gathered to move out, however, a stranger made her presence known. Her sudden arrival out of the darkness put everyone on guard, but they held their ground without attacking--their numbers gave them little to fear, and despite her ferocious appearance this newcomer wasn’t attacking either. Tora in particular jumped in surprise, realizing that she’d been hiding mere feet from the cookie bugs he’d been staring at longingly. “Meh-meh?!”
But since she addressed the group in a casual, non-confrontational manner, Skull showed little in the way of trepidation. After Sectonia revealed how little they knew, he jumped in to help. “Sorry dude, we just got here. But it’s probably called ‘Dessert World’ or ‘Cake Land’ or something, right?”
Yoshitsune, however, reacted aggressively. The newcomer kept her weapons close at hand, but the swordsman drew his, advancing as if happy to get into another fight already. Tora gawked, wondering what his problem was. If someone didn’t want trouble, it wasn’t just foolhardy to seek it, but plain rude. Besides, you never knew when some rando possessed surprising strength, and Tora had the bumps to prove it. “Wait, hold on one second!”
Perhaps interpreting his words as an order, Poppi laid her hand on and took hold of Yoshitsune’s shoulder. “Fighting should be last resort, not opening tactic!” she told him, her voice resolute and her expression stern. “Poppi bet friends didn’t come out swinging when you showed up in ruins.”
Joker stepped in front of the older man, putting out his arm to stave Yoshitsune off. “Sorry about my associate. He’s new,” he explained. “We were just going to investigate a local disturbance. If you have no bad intentions you’re free to come with us, and see if there’s any answers to be had.” He could think of a couple other well-armed girls in masks he would have preferred to see, but he still saw something of a commonality in this stranger, and extended his invitation without hesitation. The other Thieves, of course, would know to be on guard. If anything went south, Joker resolved to deal with her personally. “Let’s go.” Skull took point again with a reluctant Tora shuffling beside him, and they made their way through the candied vale.
Midna’s run took her up a winding flan path through sugar-frosted woods that gave her a good look at the bizarre realm she found herself in. The direction of the voice took her past lollipop patches, tall shrubs of candy straws, and trees of mint chocolate bark bearing gumdrop fruit. There seemed to be no end to the confectionary bugsnax, but there were also plenty of
flans hopping around. However fantastic the scenery, however, she kept up a good pace until she emerged from the treeline to see a moonlit town of wonders.
Before her stood a village of cream, cookie, fruit, swirled fudge, and -for once- a straightforward answer. In the center of the village towered a licorice streetlamp, and from its top dangled a cage with a fairy inside. Her extravagant blonde hair, reptile hide hat, and uncommon figure marked her as an unusual fairy, but her wings and diminutive height left little doubt. Upon seeing Midna
she seized the bars of her cage and rattled them. “Oh, thank goodness! Please, get me out of here!”
It was a task easier said than done, however. Also in the village center milled two
towering machines, goliath bipeds taller than most of the buildings and sporting arms each almost as big as themselves. At the disturbance they paused in their lumbering circuit and looked Midna’s way. Even provided that her party followed in her footsteps, she’d left them in the dust with her speed.
Before yesterday evening Nadia only knew Blazermate and Bowser, but even a couple of hours with the rest had already gone a long way toward making the others feel like friends, and now there were even more. She remembered some mention of even more allies elsewhere, but didn’t register Sakura as anything more than one of the many shipgirls until the street fighter spoke up like she was part of the team. Nadia smiled when she saw a pair of cat ears sticking up from Sakura’s dark hair, and a matching tail trailing behind her among her rigging. While the chances of her being a Feral like her seemed awfully slim, she couldn’t help but feel an instant connection with her fellow cat.
When the Cadet appeared shortly after, greeting her with a pun of his own, Nadia’s heart practically soared. “I’m ready!” she announced, returning his chummy shoulder bash. Crossing her arms, she leaned against him for a moment before he moved on. “In fact, I’m ‘feline’ purr-etty darn good! Wha-bam, two fur one! You shouldn’t encourage me.” She chuckled, more amused at her own absurdity rather than her puns being funny. The matter of Sakura jumping from the ship she left for the others to wonder about, since how was that strange for someone who could zoom across the water? Instead she focused on Link, who her keen eyes spotted soaring in on an awesome-looking glider before he made his way over to the group. Apparently not one for idle chatter, he observed the airship bias present among the Seekers before volunteering his own melee-oriented skills aboard Shippy.
So that’s what it’s called, Nadia thought, looking again at the living vessel. Suddenly it seemed a lot less scary. As much as Nadia wanted to ride aboard a flying ship herself, Link had a good point. “Makes sense,” she said aloud, mostly to herself. “Guess I’ll go on Shippy then, since I’m a close-range fighter too.” That said, she shared his curiosity as to what exactly an Abyssal was, and listened for a response to his question.
Their reply came as yet another ally appeared from the floating ship, although her emergence seemed to spark a reaction in a few of the other heroes. With no context she could only watch, bemused, as Rika presented herself and moseyed over to the Jackdaw to confront Merlwyb.
Crewhands sprinted back and forth across the deck of the Jackdaw, making ready for the ship’s imminent departure. Merlwyb remained on the prow, no small amount of pride on her face as she watched her Navy deploy. Any worry that this ceaseless struggle had ground down the resolve of her ships troubled her no longer. A brutal day lay ahead of them, about which the Admiral maintained no delusions. An assault on the strongholds of the ruthless Midway and Harbor Princesses would require sacrifice, and that wasn’t even the worst of it. In heavy whispers she had made plans with her Commanders for what to do should their lurking fears be realized. The ships who lost friends and sisters surely realized the situation as well as her, yet they sailed forth anyway. For victory today meant a brighter tomorrow.
The Armor Division with their bulbous bundles of netting were just setting out, and the Jackdaw’s mooring fully undone, when an unfamiliar voice hailed her. Merlwyb looked to see a remarkably pale girl with spiky dark blue hair and a single horn in an outfit known by many of the city youths for its style, albeit modified. Several of the newcomer heroes hurried behind this stranger as she approached, declaring that she was once part of the Abyssal Fleet. The brazen announcement turned a number of eyes her way, some incredulous and some hostile, including those of ships yet to cast off. Merlwyb looked ‘Rika’ up and down again, noting the heroes that comfortably accompanied her.
“You’re the defector then, hmm?” The Admiral’s voice was severe, but not unreasonable. “I have never known an Abyssal with its own will, nor one that employed this sort of subterfuge. I have many questions, but you’ve caught me at a precarious time, which is surely no coincidence.” Her eyes bored holes into Geralt, Kamek, and Bowser. “We’ll deal with this later. For now, we’ll just keep an eye on you.”
”Ah- Well then” Kamek said, rather taken aback by how the encounter had gone
”See, told you you were worrying too much about all this!” Bowser yelled at him. The king really hadn't gotten what the fuss was about, and for once he’d been right.
”I. Well. I Mean. there’s still-” He stuttered, still floored by the situation
“Excuse me, ma’am!” A
shipgirl with long pink hair approached. “I volunteer to join and monitor the Seekers during this raid!”
Merlwyb nodded immediately. “Very well, Ranger. Just make sure you don’t put those upgrades to waste.”
With a salute, the newcomer joined the Blue Team. “Hey there! Recognize me? It’s Ranger! I got retrofitted last night after giving my reports. Don’t I look amazing?” She put one hand on her hip and winked, posing proudly. “Stuffy third-rate carrier no more!” Giggling to herself, she relaxed. “Guess I have you guys to thank. By the way, I mentioned that you guys got help from a former enemy, so this wouldn’t be a surprise!”
”Well that explains it,” Kamek said, relieved that the world was making sense again.
Rika meanwhile had other priorities, telling Ranger that ”You do look amazing, and I really like your hat! I had a hat before but I can’t get them to stay on after I got this spirit upgrade. Bella got a hat too, and this pretty blue dress. She still has the same tail and stuff that she doesn't like and wants to deal with using a spirit like I did,” she cruiser babbled excitedly, before adding “She’ll be so happy to hear we’re all cool.”
The punkish Abyssal’s infectious enthusiasm distracted Ranger for a moment. “Wow, that’s great! First your own names, now your own styles? You’ll be living it up with everyone before you know it!” Suppressing her smile, she cleared her throat to get serious again. Still, if I were you guys I’d stay on board the ships. In the heat of battle the girls won’t be able to tell friend from foe, even if the Admiral’s decision fully disseminates.”
She glanced over as another
ship approached, this one wielding a huge, elaborate fan. She bowed to the heroes before saying, “Good morning. My name is Chao Ho, and I’m supposed to join you as well. Admiral’s orders. By the way, Commander Heinrich will be taking care of you. When she calls, please heed her words.”
By the that went down, increasing the size of the Seeker’s team yet again, it was undeniably time to leave. The harbor sported only a couple remaining contingents of ships, and the Jackdaw cut from the piers toward the open ocean. Peach wanted to know what exactly happened yesterday as much as Link did, but it would have to wait. Having finished his own preparations, Brineybeard rang the final bell. “Aaaaaaaall aboaaaaaaaaard!”
“Talk on the way,” the princess told the group. She beckoned to Link and Nadia as she made for Shippy. “I’ll join you two. Chao, was it?” The fan-wielding ship nodded. “Since Ranger is minding the Atomos, will you come with us? Mister Frog, Hatty, Blazermate, you as well?” It being less a question and more a request, Chao acquiesced graciously, leaving the others to follow suit. Peach glanced at the somewhat dubious modifications to Junior’s airship, thinking over the idea of child soldiers once again. Junior was Bowser’s responsibility, and Hatty could take care of herself, but did that make her feel any better about them risking their lives? Not at all. “Stay safe you guys!”
Nadia waved at the Cadet as she followed Peach over. “Hey, wanna come with us? If there’s gonna be sea monsters, we need an expert monster hunter on deck!” Nimbly she double jumped over Shippy’s railing and landed on board. The others arrived as Brineybeard bustled up the staircase toward the aft and took hold of the ship’s wheel.
“Avast me hearties, away we go!”
With an agreeable rumble the living vessel pulled away, turned faster than any boat had a right to, and cruised after the Jackdaw. Nadia ran toward Shippy’s prow, where the salty wind whipped at her hair, ears, and accidentally stolen bathrobe. Her normal attire beneath the robe allowed her to feel the cool spray on her skin along with the morning sun, and despite the battle ahead, in all her life Nadia couldn’t remember feeling more alive. “Woohoo! Let’s kick some ass!”
As the fleet swept across the ocean blue, the cheers of well-wishing civilians gathered to see them off faded into the backdrop, followed shortly by the multitudinous waving of their arms. Even Limsa Lominscuttle Town itself vanished as the fleet rounded a coastline promontory. Nadia spotted a handful of figures atop its rocky heights, having traveled as far away from the city as this to bid farewell to their protectors, and perhaps even catch a glimpse of the coming battle. The enormous force moved quickly, with the Jackdaw and Shippy managing to avoid holding the shipgirls back thanks to a few modern upgrades to the former and the unique physiology of the latter.
Never did the fleet stray too far from the coast, using the contours of the land and nearby islands to avoid being seen too soon from across the open ocean. As they traveled north Nadia watched the land breeze by, from tropical groves to beauteous bays. Further inland it looked like the picturesque scenery gave way to a misty, shadowed swamp, but the feral preferred keeping her attention on the
pristine beaches, towering palms, and glittering inlets. Her eager eyes found a number of curiosities, like an
enormous beached creature, a
derelict ship nestled snugly in a cove,
staring horrors beneath the waves, and
ponderous sea beasts drifting through the shallows.
When the fleet encountered the first Abyssal patrol, the encounter lasted all of a few seconds, utterly annihilating the monsters before they could so much as fight back, let alone get away. The Armor Division dutifully gathered up the spirits in their nets, destroying them afterward to procure additional ammunition, weapons and armor plating. Along with the various trinkets and doodads they were delivered to one of the supply rafts as they were pulled along, where an attendant appraised the items to determine and then approve their usage. Steamrolling through the patrols gradually increased in frequency as the fleet neared their goal, and while a few of the frontrunners took wounds and needed to be cycled out, progress was good. So formidable was the Navy’s force that even a
whale and its accompanying swarm of
mantas gave them a wide berth.
On the way, Nadia happened to remember what she picked up in the harbor, and called an impromptu meeting with the other Seekers. “Hey, did you hear the gossip?” She asked. “If what I heard was true, there was a murder last night. One of the shipgirls was killed in town. No witnesses or anything. It was clean. Too clean to be an Abyssal that slipped past the guards.” For once her face was totally serious. “I didn’t see Sephiroth either this morning or last night. Did any of you? He could have just decided to leave, but…” She shivered, and not because of the seaspray or ocean breeze. “The way he just killed on the spot..and that was
before he fused with that crazy stalker.”
Peach looked grave, but said nothing. Without proof she couldn’t say anything for certain, but she hadn’t seen Sephiroth either, and she hadn’t slept easy last night. It had been Bowser rather than she who brought him in, but being able to point fingers elsewhere didn’t make her feel any better--not when an innocent defender of the town might have died at the swordsman’s hand.
After more than an hour of travel, Chao Hu’s radio buzzed with the signal that Nadia had learned signified a Commander-level message, and she jogged over from the railing to listen. Peach appeared from below deck as well, just in time to catch the start of the announcement. “Okay, newbies!” came a strident, gung-ho voice. “I’m Heinrich! I’ve been told to make sure you guys don’t get blown out of the water during the battle, so listen up! In a couple minutes we’ll reach the tip of this cape, where the Abyssals have a lookout. We’re gonna blast it to stop an early alarm, but the moment we pass the tip, we’re in Black Bay, and the fight’s on.
Our objective is the other side, where Kwolok Harbor’s sittin’ pretty across from Midway Island. Two tough nuts to crack, and the Abyssals have the whole place locked up tighter’n a drum, so tryin’ to push through ‘til we’ve cracked ‘em both is suicide.
You should get across the bay. There’s a big river leadin’ inland that loops all the way around through the Luma Pools to the coast on the other side. Once you make it out, it’s straight on to the Bottomless Sea. Sound like a plan?”
For her part Nadia had some trouble visualizing the whole thing, so she kept quiet until she could see for herself. True to Heinrich’s word, she soon spotted a
lonesome tower rose from the trees. Commander George’s majestic voice sang through the radio, “Artillery Division ready! ...Fire!” A tremendous noise rang out as a whole host of shipgirls opened fire with their cannons, turning the tower and the land around it for several hundred feet into a maelstrom of dust, scrap, and wood chips. The burning building sagged downward and collapsed. A moment later, the head of the fleet rounded the end of the cape. Nadia waited with bated breath as the whole of the Navy gradually advanced, until the view finally opened up and she too could see Black Bay in all its glory.
The feral strained to take it all in at once. Almost the entire shoreline of the bay featured some sort of development, thoroughly colonized by the Abyssal Fleet as its prized staging ground. She searched the northern shore for an inlet and found one, albeit blocked by some sort of fortified bridge. Even on the cove she could see a few towering trees with enormous, vibrant pink fronds, turning into a canopy as the river proceeded inland.
That must be our goal.It was a much nicer sight than what lay in wait for the Navy. On the other side of the bay lay a pitch-black port of spires and steel that could only be Kwolok Harbor, and across from it rested a looming island of dark stone where the anchors of sunken ships dangled like titanic trophies.
Naturally, the bay was swimming with Abyssals. Nadia had no idea what they did when they weren’t fighting -maybe they didn’t do anything- but when a piercing alarm resounded from both Midway and the Harbor the hordes of monsters roused themselves to action. In reply the Navy started fanning out. As her hair rose Nadia took a deep breath. “Whew. Okay, this is where the fun begins.” Shells, bullets, missiles, and torpedoes began to fly. Above the firestorm seaplanes filled the air. As the Abyssals started pummeling the shipgirls with weapons fire and their melee units closed in, the Navy’s forces scattered. Almost none wielded close combat weapons of their own, and couldn’t contend with their enemies’ vicious melee strength or angles of attack, so they countered with their own mobility. That left Shippy and the Jackdaw in a unique position of vulnerability.
As the battle began
Commander Heinrich pulled up alongside Shippy, riding a fearsome mechanical shark outfitted with canons and with fiery eyes that gleamed almost as brightly as Heinrich’s own. “Here we go! Once we’ve thinned ‘em out, we’ll push you Seekers through!”
Nadia leaned over the railing, waving down. “Sure thing. Love your shirt by the way!”
For a moment Heinrich was confused, until she noticed the feral’s similar taste in fashion and grinned. “Hah, likewise! Let’s give ‘em hell!” She surged forward, followed by a contingent of Iron Blood shipgirls, into the thick of combat.
“You ‘eard ‘er, lads ‘n lassies!” Brineybeard thundered. He stomped down from the steering wheel, sea dogs at his feet and a pink squid clutched in his hand like a rifle, and whistled. From the ocean rose a
squid with an inkwell, and a crane extended from Shippy’s rigging holding a
living barrel Up ahead, Heinrich’s squad sank a pack of Abyssals, but another slipped through the ships’ blockade to attack Shippy. In reply the vessel spat out a cannonball, clobbering one monster in the face, and the dangling barrel crushed another, but even as the destroyers started shooting the hull a handful of
He-class cruisers leaped onto the deck.
Wisely Sephiroth elected to keep a safe distance from the marshland’s vile, overgrown waters and inhabitants, instead ascending to move among the trees. Having not seen the Navy in action, after all, she possessed no firsthand knowledge that her new rigging would have allowed her to skirt along the swamp’s dubious surface. She made her way forward while maintaining as great a distance from the buzzing haze as she could. Inevitably, however, the scarcity of trees springing in belts rather than groves from the mire drove her steadily northward. As the mists pooled below the branches of increasingly tall and feeble trees, and the whir of insect wings become more than a murmur, and great clumps of hanging moss wavered like ghosts in the gloom, the dark skyline seemed to tinge with red.
All too soon, a branch broke beneath Sephiroth’s foot and she dropped from the safety of the swamp’s choking canopy. An odachi plunged into a nearby tree for support would find little resistance, instead carving straight through soft, unwell wood with an accompanying fetor of decay. Her natural agility permitted her a safe landing, albeit one in damp, sticky underbrush, but a nearby clearing allowed her a quick exit from the marshland slime. There she found the decrepit, slime-crusted masonry of neglected ruins, scattered around a pitifully leaning fountain that reeked with a sickly sweet smell. Skulls piled in its upper basin, and fresh, crimson ichor pooled inside. On one side of the fountain she found a mound of putrilage--an insectoid corpse the size of a sheep, alive with hideous maggots. Strips of a red fleshy webbing were strung between the body, nearby bushes, the fountain, and the ground.
Then the whine intensified once again, and through the trees floated three of the mosquitoes. Behind them, like a houndmaster after his beasts, trotted a
shrunken servant in dingy attire, a certificate clutched in one hand. Gibbering mockingly, it extended its finger, and the great mosquitoes flew in to attack.
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