Lugubrious

Persona - Soldiers of Fortune

Barney Rynsburger

Given the available space Barney’s dramatic run into battle for round two lasted only an anticlimactic couple seconds, and just like that he was back in action. His remaining enemies seemed to be no less tenacious for the loss of their comrade, and both took their shots at him as he drew near. The lion-faced leg wheel surprised Barney by spinning in place to build up and shoot a rippling fireball, and since the young man did not fancy his new clothes going up in smoke he swerved sideways to evade the flare. That dodge put him right on course for a chop from the long, sharp beak of the Shax, and remembering the pain of being hit by its magic, Barney instinctively flinched. When the monster’s head whipped out on the end of its long neck, however, its scything strike barely scratched him. Unlike the bloody gash left by a Shax beak earlier, it dealt only minor damage through Barney’s priestly garb. That puzzled him; if this demon stork’s magic was so much stronger, why would it use anything else?

No time to think about it--this was still a fight, after all. He followed the Shax’s head as it retracted and delivered a solid wallop with his wheel, enough to send it reeling. Then he focused on the bigger threat, willing Gregor Samsa back into existence to lunge at the Buer before it could come at him. “Get him!” His Persona obliged, leaping forward to crunch down on one of the monster’s many legs and elicit a fiery roar of pain. Still a little giddy with excitement, Barney ran forward through the dissipating flame of his partner to capitalize, only to clash with his enemy mid-swing. Propelled by some unseen force, the Buer threatened to sweep the young man off his feet, but Barney pushed back with all his might. For a moment he was face-to-face with the monstrosity, so close that he could make out the fur on its nose and feel the heat of its fury. The intensity of the moment ignited a surge of strength within him, and with a triumphant grunt he began to push the monster back.

A sudden voice cut through the excitement, banishing Barney’s tunnel vision. “Behind ya, look out!”

Trusting in Spindle completely, Barney didn’t even turn to look, but dove to the side. Sure enough, a dark blade of magic sliced across the ground where he stood just a split second prior, cleaving through one of the Buer’s legs before it shrank away. As he regained his footing Barney glared at the Shax for taking a cheap shot. He did not let his anger get in the way of good manners, though. “Thank you, ma’am!”

“Don’t ma’am me, mister!” Spindle shot back. “Just be more careful! From the way ya went down earlier, I’m guessin you’re weak to Curse, and that birdbrain’s dishin’ it out by the bucket!”

“Weak?” Taken aback by the worrisome revelation, Barney quickly moved to put the Buer in between himself and the Shax. With just two opponents, he could use the bigger one as a shield, and if it took any more damage from its ally, so much the better. Having a weakness was alarming; normally one’s shortcomings were things like foresight, or cooperation, or reaction time. Not certain attacks.“Like a video game?”

“Say what now?”

That conundrum could wait. As he maneuvered himself Barney found himself standing side by side with Dakota again, with the other guy’s Buer reinforcing the leftover enemies. For a moment there was a standoff, with the monsters re-evaluating the opposition somewhat, and in that lull Barney noted with some surprise that his ally had already dispatched both of his storks. I’ll chalk that up to this weakness thing, he decided, although that thought provoked a more productive one right after. “Hey uh, Spindle?” he asked the airborne police girl. “Do those things have weaknesses?!”

“Them Shaxes seem weak to wind,” their guide affirmed. “Probably why Dakota’s goin’ off on ‘em. Can’t say for the others though. Don’t be surprised if ya don’t got the right element.”

Element, Barney repeated inwardly. He opened his mouth to ask Spindle if she happened to know what his was, since the blue energy Samsa pumped out didn’t ring any bells, but before he could say anything his foes began to move. Rather than let them have their way, Barney ran forward, and with his wheel held by the rim in both hands let loose a colossal strike to try and hit both Buers at once. His attack connected, although one roasted him with an Agi in return. Luckily his clothes didn’t instantly burst into flame, and he hefted his wheel by the spokes to strike again. This time, however, he kept himself alert enough to notice the Shax’s Agi incoming and get out of the way. It’s targeting me, he observed, irritated.

Spindle noticed it too, and reached out to Dakota. “Hey, try hittin’ that thing with another one o’ yer Garus,” she advised. “You’re way better off fightin’ that dang thing than Barney there.”

Once his ally got the Shax off his back, Barney could focus on the Buers. Though ferocious and quick, they boasted little in the way of range, making their attacks telegraphed enough that Barney felt confident in dealing with them. One charged up an Agi while the other flew out to strike him in a cunning display of cooperation, but even with Dakota otherwise engaged, Barney could show off some team work of his own. He remembered how his Persona emerged earlier, and without any time to experiment decided to run with this idea. “Samsa, catch!”

”I’m up!” Gregor Samsa emerged from the dirt in a spray of soil and flame, latching onto the Buer with his vicelike jaws and pedipalps before dragging the monster to the ground with its weight. Although he vanished once he sank back down, Barney used the opportunity to jump off the demon like a spring board and slam his wheel down on the other Buer by the rim. The monster had other ideas, and ceased its fire to spin out of the way instead. It kicked Barney in the shoulder, and with a cry of mixed pain and anger he wheeled around with a heavy bash. It connected to great effect, but the overswing left Barney wide open.

Without missing a beat he extended his other hand. “Samsa!” A screech rang out as his Persona surged forward from beneath him and drifted sideways to slam the Buer with his tail. It skidded to a stop by its ally, leaving both much worse for wear. Victory was within Barney’s grasp. “Hah.” He took a step and fell to his knees. “Agh!” Even with the adrenaline of battle, everything hurt. “Why…” he gasped, “Does it hurt...so much?!”

“I was tryin’ to say earlier, quit usin’ so many Persona skills!” Spindle warned him, her voice a little panicked. “They cost your own vitality t’use!”

No wonders, Barney groaned, too beat up to spend much energy on being frustrated. “Then...what do I do? I can’t get close like this, they’re comin’ any second!”

He did not expect what Spindle told him next. “You should have a gun!”

“What?!”

“Jus’ trust me! Try makin’ a motion t’pull out an imaginary gun, quick!”

With no other options, Barney obeyed. He let go of his wheel, not even watching as it disappeared, and reached up as if to pull down a rifle he’d slung across his back. When he brought his arms down, however, it wasn’t a gun he held, but a ramshackle flamethrower. His eyes went wide, but with no time to be boggled, he aimed the flamethrower’s nozzle at the incoming Buers and held down the trigger. A spray of caustic blue energy rolled out to engulf the monsters, stopping them in their tracks. Teeth clenched, Barney kept the trigger held until his enemies were reduced to tar and seeped into the ground.

There was a quiet moment before Barney collapsed, breathing heavily. Dakota received Spindle’s message the next moment. “Heal him up, quick! If you’re gonna spend your spirit on anythin’, make sure it’s on healin’ yer buddies. I’m guessin’ your Thamyris fella’s a supportin’-type Wind persona, and creepy-crawly Samson’s an attacker through and through. Nuclear-powered, t’boot!”

“Nuclear..?” Barney muttered aloud before realizing how much like a parrot he must sound. The power of the atom in the palm of your hand was no small thing, though. [i]Hopefully I don’t get radiation poisoning.

“Once he’s fixed up, y’all gotta move,” Spindle told them. “There’s more o’ them bozos comin’ fast. Better hustle after the others, pronto!”

And so they did.

---

Considering the overall state of the Prison of Indictment, the basketball court behind the jailhouse was pretty tolerable, although to call it ‘normal’ would be to tell a lie. The prisoners playing there lacked the helmet devices used to drain the other inmates dry in the Proving Grounds, but they weren’t wholly human. A closer look as Vincent, Caelum, and Nick hurried to scoot the dumpster through their arena would reveal that the players’ skin appeared to be the same rubbery orange leather as the balls they dribbled and shot with, deflated enough to create unsettling creases and folds. This affected their faces the most, where they formed warped mockeries of eyes, noses, and mouths stretched and distorted in expressions of perennial torment. They played like their lives depended on it, ignoring the intruders to the point of running straight into them if the three weren’t careful. Still, the lack of outright hostility meant that the ghastly players didn’t trouble them too much, so with a little luck and a lot of elbow grease the trio got the dumpster over to the chain-link fence. With it in place, climbing was not a problem, and both could leave the freakish spectacle behind.

Going north behind the jailhouses prompted a lot less anxiety than the Proving Grounds. It was simultaneously more open and more cluttered, offering better sightlines and more places to hide thanks to the wealth of objects lying scattered around. There appeared to be many articles of luggage and personal belongings piled high among parts and materials for the prison’s upkeep, and maybe because the staff did not believe that any escapees would get this far, the two encountered almost no security. Still, the uncountable pairs of glowing eyes peering down from the barred windows of the jailhouse meant that neither were without scrutiny.

The farther the two went, the bigger the heaps got. Soon there weren’t just household objects but bits and pieces of households themselves, entire sections of rooms and furniture, all discarded and neglected. One could only guess, looking at it all, that they represented the lives that the university’s students left behind. Of the three, it affected Nick the most, and as he went on the young man couldn’t ignore a steadily worsening tugging sensation that pulled him along through the place, and not just in the direction that Spindle said an exit should be. His wandering eyes searched for something, unwittingly, until they found it.

Half-buried in the heaps of junk was part of a house--an ordinary suburban home. And though there were many like it, this one was Nick’s.

World of Light

Evening in Al Mamoon

Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon
Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Primrose’s @Yankee, Yoshitsune and Sora’s @Rockin Strings, Fox’s @Dawnrider, Mao’s @Potemking, Raz’s @Truthhurts22, Tora, Poppi, and Big Band
Word Count: 2034 (+3)

”Ahh, well I’m glad that's over. Looks like the sneaky guy wasn't as good a spy as he thought huh?” was the first thing Midna said when they left, stretching as she did so in an attempt to get the stress and tension out. It didn't really work, much to her disgruntlement. ”urgh… I don’t know about you lot, but I could use another bath.. And a foot massage. And dinner, and a drink” she said, before pausing for a moment and at least solving that last problem by flicking a finger and summoning a bottle of water from the twilight realm. It was lukewarm, but after the fighting and the talking it was still a relief on her throat.

For the second time in just a few minutes Tora leaped into the air with a cheer, seemingly even more enthusiastic than when Validar rendered his verdict on the prisoners’ fate. “Dinner, dinner, dinner-dinner-dinner, meh!” he sang. “Tora could eat Tasty Sausage the size of Poppi!”

”Better. So, how about you all? Do you have any ideas for the evening now that it looks like we have to spend the night here” she asked, before adding ”Not that I’m complaining, better here than halfway up a frozen mountain, yes?”

”Dinner and a spa date to get rid of this combat grime are my plans. “ Sectonia said. ”The lack of fruits here is a bit disheartening but we haven’t experienced the fine dining here, which should be interesting.”

"We're trading sand for snow once we're out of here?" Mao questioned, regretting his own words insulting sand before if that was the case. A mountain didn't seem like a problem, but he didn't blend with cold terrains very well. "Feh. The cold'll hinder my physical abilities, but I bet whatever's creeping around up there could use the handicap anyways!" As much as Mao wanted to go ahead and express his weaknesses, he couldn't let himself look too weak, so a boast following it was a classic form of balance.

Primrose rolled her eyes at the demon's posturing, but at least this definitely confirmed that Mao would be continuing on with them rather than striking out on his own. Primrose brought her bag around and reached into it, pulling out a certain item she'd purchased from the Starlight Memories shop earlier that day. Now that she looked at it all the closer, it was more of a circlet than a tiara, but she could feel the warmth emanating from the ruby - which was the important part.

"Here," she said, presenting the jewelry to Mao. "We bought it earlier for situations like this. It is enchanted to protect the wearer from the cold." It was as much of a "welcome to the team" statement as any.

One might expect after such a sudden burst of bravado that Mao wouldn't accept a piece of jewelry to add to his person, some point of pride about maintaining an image. Fortunately for him, his image was more about strength than appearance, but despite this it was quite a nice piece as he quickly discovered upon accepting it. Even though he was not 'royalty' by regular means, a ruler deserved his headpiece, right?

He decided to try it on, the darker desert night not exactly being the warmest now that his clothing was more barren. The effect even here was obvious, making this invaluable for the mountain trek ahead and providing a return to his usual red-colored fashion, which he enjoyed more than he’d admit. "Well now anything up there has no chance." Mao acknowledged, obviously pleased by this. Not to mention Primrose was potentially saving him from a lot of embarrassment up there if he got into trouble from his weakened state. He couldn't express it in such a way, but he tried to show appreciation nonetheless. "I'll make sure to get it back to you once we reach somewhere warmer. But until then, I'll repay the favor by making this hike a cakewalk!"

""A fair trade," the dancer replied with a small smile, "it suits you perfectly.”

”Sure does” Midna agreed with dubious sincerity. Sectonia wasn’t as subtle as Midna, shaking her head before laughing quietly.

Mao took the compliments at face-value, using them as a small boost up the ego ladder. "Of course it does." He responded, playing it off as an obvious fact. Much safer for the image than getting embarrassed, which remained crammed in the back of his mind where it belonged.

”As for evening plans..." Honestly, everything Midna had mentioned sounded heavenly. Whatever could relieve the tension of the day, and remove all the built up sweat and grim from running throughout the city. They'd been through a tornado, a museum heist, an underground battle, and generally hustling back and forth between the palace and various places of interest. A little down time would do them wonders. Primrose let her shoulders droop slightly and sighed, "All of the above."

”Then you and me, at least, should go have a night on the town and put these” Midna flicked her gold pass up and then caught it again ”to good use. Maybe the spa first? As long as Mr Gibdo was just making a lame joke and they aren't a literal deathtrap that is. Anyone else want to come with?”

Heaving a heavy sigh, Goldlewis rolled his shoulders. “You go ahead, li’l miss. I ain’t whatcha’d call the public bathin’ type. Much rather get some grub in me--I barely had a crumb since breakfast!”

The news seemed to excite Tora even more, if that were possible. “Woohoo, perfect! Big feast for big boys, meh!”

“Sure thing, pardner,” Goldlewis chuckled, unbothered by the innocently-made comment and instead just happy that Tora wanted to hang out with him. Though he towered over the Nopon in terms of stature, the Secretary of Absolute Defense knew from the raid on Khamoon Temple that Tora was a formidable little guy, and anyone who could take it easy whiling enjoying life’s simple pleasures was alright in his book.

“Mr. Goldlewis know place to go?” Poppi asked. Although unable to eat herself, the artificial blade relished the thought of savoring the aromas of whatever the others might get. Although she knew little about the big man, he seemed more knowledgeable about Al Mamoon than either her or her Masterpon, so she looked forward to his recommendation.

Stroking his whiskers, Goldlewis gave a slow nod. “Reckon I do. Not the fanciest joint in town, but it’ll fill ya up somethin’ fierce. Been itchin’ for an occasion t’go.”

Mao, drawn in by Tora and Goldlewis' topic of food, couldn't help but find the large man's description enticing. Mao recalled that he'd skipped lunch, instead allowing for Baz and Klee to tear that pizza of theirs apart. Having been beaten to near death twice in the span of a day, Mao's stomach definitely wasn't surviving off of whatever he crammed away while raiding Rocket Inc, either. "If the food's that filling, I've got to try it myself." Mao commented, seemingly inviting himself though he actually managed to vocalize his request a little less rudely. "Room for one more?"

"I heard something about food?" Sora asked, approaching Goldlewis, Tora, Poppi, and Mao. "Mind if I join you?"

“Always!” Tora assured him, although a mischievous air overtook him. “As long as skinny friend can handle it!”

Mao's eyes squinted behind his glasses, feeling challenged despite being painfully unaware of the potential the rotund little Nopon had. "I might not be egg-shaped like you, but I can pack it away all the same!"

”Just show some beauty when you eat. It would be unbecoming if you just shoveled food down your gullet like a barbarian.” Sectonia said, wagging her finger.

The Phantom Thieves, meanwhile, had naturally gathered on the periphery of the group, and in the midst of their casual conversation Panther popped over to wave at everyone. “You guys go ahead! Although a spa sounds, like, crazy nice, we’re gonna go off on our own to catch up.”

Given that they'd had very little time between rescuing their friend Fox and diving right back into the thick of battle, that made sense. Though Primrose had planned to invite Panther along with them, getting some time to relax with just her close friends would probably be good for all of the young Thieves. "Try and get some rest," she told them.

Ever on his ladyship’s heels, whether wanted or not, Mona added, “We’ll see you all tomorrow morning! Just remember to get to bed early, and don’t drink yourselves into hangovers or anything!”

The cartoonish cat’s advice brooked a smile from Big Band. “Just you try an’ stop me, big chief,” he joked, but his joviality faded as he took a sweeping look around at the city painted pink and orange by the desert sunset. “Sadly, my work ain’t done for tonight. Gotta see about this little girl o’ mine after all. Once I grab me a long drink of the blues its back to searchin’.”

Goldlewis put his hands on his hips, concerned for his new friend’s acquaintance, but he got the feeling that if Band thought he could be of help, he’d say so. “Alrighty then, good luck. If ya need a hand make sure ya let me know.”

Hoisting his coffin, the big man prepared to lead his company to dinner. Tora followed along eagerly, but Poppi thought to look back at the others. “Anyone else want come?”

“I could eat,” Jesse said, following team dinner.

”I will try some fine dining. And some minion bonding time over dinner doesn’t sound bad either.” Sectonia said.

“Can I come too?” Once again trying awkwardly to wedge himself into the pre-established group, Raz quite literally wedged himself into the group, needing to push his big head past a couple of them to join the conversation. “I know I’m not, y’know, officially a part of, uh…” he gestured around. “Whatever it is you all are doing, but I think I was pretty helpful with Validar in there, right? Enough to tag along to a celebration dinner?”

Yoshitsune watched as everyone grouped up to get food, a spa trip, or whatever jobs they were doing. Each one sounded enticing. Deciding food could wait a bit longer, he approached Midna's group. "Mind if I come along?"

”By all means,” Midna agreed pleasantly, adding muttering ”at least someone has some hygiene around here” unkindly, very much expecting/hoping that said spa would have/be around a place where she could was of the grime of battle. The other spa-goer was not as quick with her assent. Primrose looked purposefully down at Yoshitsune's metal legs and the wheels attached to them with a raised eyebrow. How exactly that would work in a bath she didn't know. When she looked back up to meet the samurai's eyes, her expression was somewhat guarded. Ultimately, she ended up agreeing with Midna, giving the man a small nod of approval.

”Also, before you run off to eat, your majesty” she said to Sectonia, ”You and I really should check in with your minions and my ride’s search of the desert. Not to put a damper on things, but they’ll either have results or have failed at this point, I would think?”

Yoshitsune sighed. Either they'd have their allies back or they'd be lost forever. "Any more time spent on the search is wasting resources, right?" he asked the Twilight Princess and the Bee Queen.

”Unfortunately once I’ve given my antillions a task that’s it. I don’t have any long range communications. Although once they’re done, they tend to search me out or expire. ” Sectonia said.

Yoshitsune turned to Midna, "Didn't you send some wolves too?"

”One. And I’m bringing it home once the sun sets one way or another. Not that it can tell us if it found anyone really, but we’ll at least know if they all expired or not.”

"Then we'll know soon enough," the samurai sighed in understanding.

With everyone decided on a course to take, be it alone or in a group, the Seekers bid the others farewell and were on their way.

World of Light

Ms. Fortune

Level 4 Nadia (116/40)
Location: The Maw - Kabuki Theater
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate’s [@ArchmageMC], Hat Kid’s @Dawnrider, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet’s @Yankee, Sakura's @Zoey Boey, Link’s @Gentlemanvaultboy, Mirage’s @Potemking
Word Count: 1738

Even on its own the giant, vaulted space filled to the brim with pitch black was a daunting sight. Its sheer empty vastness, quiet as the grave, lay heavy across the shoulders of its newest visitors, a sheer force of oppression targeting the most primeval instincts inside them. After already bearing witness to a host of monsters big and small, the intrepid children couldn’t help but imagine terrors innumerable clinging to the walls and ceilings on high, or a single nightmarish behemoth waiting just out of reach. So needless to say, with the added pressure of five imposingly enormous Guests of Honor, the frontrunners hunkered down by the entryway for the rest of their team to arrive.

In hushed tones the Seekers exchanged a few quick words, daring not to raise their voices loud enough to disturb the blanket of dead silence that tucked the Kabuki Theater in. Mirage seemed to take the Lady’s departure in stride, but Nadia couldn’t find it in herself to see it as a good thing. If the pitiable dweller in the Depths was to be believed, the Lady was much more than just a distributor of curses, but the mastermind behind the whole damn Maw. That made her not just a step above the likes of Bongo Bongo and Moreau, but the one to blame for the captive children, the cannibalistic cooks, and the whole grisly cycle of gluttonous consumption. Nadia had a hard time believing that she or her new friends would be getting out of here without getting through her.

While running through her thoughts Nadia kept her eye on the stage. She could make out no active threats, but with such a threatening scene it hardly made a difference. As the others kept whispering, however, her gaze shifted toward the suite of special Guests. Apparently, the koopas recognized one of them, who happened to be the nearest one. Looking at him again, Nadia could see that he did seem to be the smallest and least vile of the bunch, being more or less a big crocodile with a cape and a crown. Kamek spoke true, though; however good an ally the croc might be, recruiting him lay beyond their means. As Geralt rightfully pointed out, the team still wasn’t well-suited for combat. Against the chefs they’d been lucky, and Nadia wasn’t so foolhardy as to think her crew could now take on whatever new opponents that might appear to block their way. Stealth was the best, and probably only, option.

Back on the subject of the Lady, though, Ace took Mirage’s confidence to another level. By now Nadia figured that was just his positive outlook, putting on a brave face to keep everyone’s spirits up, and to be fair it almost worked. Just in case anyone went and got any ideas, though, the feral gave voice to her suspicions. “No way in hell is that Lady a normal person,” she hissed, using the name that Moreau called the masked geisha. “She runs this place. The monsters we fought all work for her. If she ran away, it can’t be ‘cause she’s scared. It’s probably so that when we do face her, it’ll be right where she wants us.” Sighing, she laughed softly to herself. “Man, this place is really gettin’ to me. I can’t even think of any puns.”

Sakura seemed mortified too, and for a similarly tangential reason. Apparently this area, as well as the Lady herself, borrowed elements from the little street fighter’s culture. Naturally, Bella hastened to her friend’s aid. “Oh no,” the Seaplane Tender assured the smaller girl in her arms. “I’m sure your homeland is nossing like zis twisted place, mon cherie!”

“Yeah, jus’ cause the kitchens back there didn’t pan out well doesn’t mean we’re gonna hate chefs forever,” Nadia added, way too pleased at coming up with her joke given the gravity of the current situations.”

Though Bella had more to say on the subject, it was at that moment that her height afforded her -and her cherished cargo- a view across the theater. “Wait...look!”

Gulping, Nadia followed the pudgy Abyssal’s gaze toward the theater. Where before even her keen cat eyes couldn’t make out anything still shrouded in darkness, she could now see a little spot of light near the stage. It was flickering on and off, being off more than on by a good margin, or perhaps being blocked by what Nadia assumed must be weirdly shaped theater seats, with narrow backs featuring high central headrests. Taking a deep breath, Nadia left cover to dash across the shadowy aisle and to the rearmost row of chairs. She hopped up, sank her claws into the seat back, and climbed, trusting in the darkness to hide her as she tried to figure out the source of the light. Only once on top did the feral realize exactly what she’d scaled. Right beside her, about half as tall as she was, was the masked face of a geisha, and Nadia was crouched on her shoulder.

Frozen with terror, unable to so much as squeak or even drop back down to the ground, Nadia stared into the white mask’s black eyes. One second passed, then two, then three, until it dawned on the kitten that the geisha wasn’t moving. With a tentative finger she poked the mask, gouging a small line with her claw. Then finally, feeling like she’d lost years of her life, Nadia sighed in relief. It was just a mannequin.

As she looked out across the theater, however, she realized that this heart-stopping moment was just the beginning. This was the sort of theater that did not have chairs, but cushions or mats, which meant that each of the hundreds of slender shapes catching the nearest hint of light from the stage was a mannequin, too. A deep chill rolled down Nadia’s spine, and she swallowed. Her team’s assumption that the Lady wasn’t here had been wrong. In the smallest possible voice, Nadia quavered, “She could be any one of them.”

By that time the distant, bobbing light reached the stage. A small shape jumped up and climbed on top of it, revealing itself to be none other than the Runaway Kid, a flashlight in hand. The moment he stood atop the stage he took off at a run across it, headed for the back, and his flashlight illuminated a set of big, important-looking double doors against the wall. Over it Nadia could make out a welcome set of words. Helm. The kid was booking it across the well-lit stage, no opposition in sight, the command center of the ship within reach. Nadia’s ears perked up. Please, she prayed. Please make it!

A second passed. Then two. Then a thunderous slam resounded through the theater, sudden and loud enough to tear a short scream from Nadia’s lips, as the stage lights went out. All the elaborate Japanese scenery disappeared into darkness, and only a single spotlight shone down upon the wooden stage. If the sound of the shut-off was scary in the back, it had been far worse up front; the Runaway dove to the ground, arms tucked around his head as if he’d been shot at. The flashlight slipped from his grasp and rolled toward the darkness on his right. Quickly the kid got up again and sprinted right at it, but before he could reach the things a crimson glare split the pitch. Facing the boy from the darkness was a sinkhole of concentric scarlet diamonds, all collapsing inward to a central point in a hypnotic manner Nadia found hauntingly familiar. Red arms of demonic energy reached from the Resentment’s hood, but the kid leaped back toward the center of the spotlight, and forsaking his flashlight prepared to swerve the other way. Like clockwork the second demon appeared to the left, its grasping hands eager to grab and pull the child in with them. That left the poor child just one option: the center. But even as the kid ran forward, braving the danger to either side to forge into the shadows ahead, his feet parted ways with the ground. A black aura surrounded him, lifting him into the air, and from the stygian dark in front of him emerged the Lady.

“No,” Nadia breathed, tears forming in her eyes, wishing she could help, but it was too late. The Runaway was too far. She could only watch as the Lady held out her hands toward the miasma that floated the boy off the ground, and something vital flowed from him into his assailant’s body. He writhed and shook violently, like a piece of paper crinkling up at the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner trying to suck it inside, getting smaller and smaller until all that remained was a shrunken, featureless husk, its skin the color of clay. It plopped down to the stage alongside its former clothes, and with the violence over with the oppressive silence resumed. The Resentments backed into darkness, hiding the light in their hoods, but the Lady remained a moment longer. Slowly she raised an arm and beckoned toward the theater’s back right corner, where the Seekers resided. Then she disappeared, leaving the room empty and black save for the boxes of the honorable Guests and the sole spotlight on the stage. Or so it looked, anyway.

Worse still, several of the Guests of Honor began to clap or laugh, clearly enjoying the macabre show. It was all a bit much. Fighting to control her ragged breathing, Nadia dropped to the ground. Horrified by the totality of the situation, she steadied herself against the mannequin, her laughter humorless and despondent. “Heheheh. Isn’t she nice, treatin’ us all to both dinner and a show?” She sniffed and looked at the others, her tears of despair replaced by bitterness and rage. “Well, anyone got any ideas for how we kill this bitch?”

If the heroes looked around the theater, putting their eyes and/or scanners to work perceiving alternatives to facing the Lady and her minions head-on, they would see a couple different doors other than the pair that would have promised salvation if not for the enemies hidden around them. In fact, it appeared as though the theater offered a secondary function as a sort of hub, with various other rooms branching around it, including the Washroom, the Storeroom, the Smoking Lounge, and the Lady’s Chambers.

Wildwood Glades

Location: Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline
Linkle’s @Gentlemanvaultboy

At the witch’s bidding Albedo and Linkle moved to make themselves comfortable. Understandably eager for warmth, the Skullgirl placed herself by the fireplace, and the Alchemist was not far behind. Though the lush, beautiful valley known as the Wildwood Glades harbored a refreshing coolness that Albedo could appreciate after the bitterly cold winds that rolled off the frigid mountainsides far above, actual heat was long overdue. Lacking any compunctions about pulling up a chair or joining Linkle on the bed, he seated himself on the floor by the witch’s hearth with crossed legs, but rather than watch the tantalizing dance of the flames he fixed his attention on his gracious host.

Linkle ended up breaking the comfortable silence with a remark that made the witch of the woods laugh. “I’ll happily accept your compliment,” she told the girl, an easy smile on her face, but when her guest led into a polite request for introduction, she did not appear quite so forthcoming. “Excuse my rudeness, but I’d rather not say. Names have a lot of power, and you surely realize that there must be a reason why I live in solitude, my little house a well-kept secret.” She turned between Linkle and Albedo with an imploring expression. “I trust that it’s one you’ll keep? Though my magic would make its rediscovery difficult, I would rather no-one know to try.”

The alchemist nodded to accommodate her request, but his thoughts were elsewhere. A reason, hm? It made sense, naturally, but it also begged the question of just what that reason might be. If one did not wish to be found, that could only mean that there were those out there whose attention meant danger. A certain vicious stranger, for instance, who Father Guerra described as a man on the hunt, whose warpath across the Frozen Highlands was the result of this relentless search. Since this witch appeared to be in her late thirties, she couldn’t possibly be the daughter Skadi mentioned, but she had to know something. Perhaps this lady was the girl’s aunt, or some other guardian. Or…

No. Albedo’s eyebrows furrowed. I’m making foolish assumptions, and it’s made me wrong. She’s-

“Here.” Albedo blinked, his eyes focusing on the mug of steaming tea before him. The lady held it in front of him, her expression curious and a little impatient. She must have been standing there for a moment or two.

The alchemist tried not to take the cup too quickly. “..Thank you.”

As he feared, however, his host did not move on. “You seem rather restless for a sightseer. Absent, even,” she remarked, her voice soft but cold compared to the heat of the fireplace. “Is a house call on the Witch of the Woods not sufficient to capture your interest?”

“Forgive me, I meant no offense,” Albedo apologized, his own face blank. “I tend to...daydream, sometimes. Lost in thought.” He glanced at Linkle for support.

The witch gave a slow nod. Much to Albedo’s chagrin, it looked like her guard was up. She was beginning to wonder if letting these strangers into her home was a good idea. For now though, she said, “I see. My apologies. Please, think nothing of it.” She too looked at her other guest. “Was there something else I could help you with?”

Persona - Soldiers of Fortune

Barney Rynsburger

Going through the motions was easy enough, since how many times had he seen some stalwart hero stay behind to buy time for his team in movies and such? When Barney actually turned away from the alleyway to face the incoming guards, however, he couldn’t suppress a nervous swallow. Here he stood with just one ally by his side against a small horde of enemies, the same whose ruthlessness had left the group bloody and broken not even half an hour ago, and whose strength could crack solid concrete, to say nothing of their abilities once transformed. Never in his life had he chosen to fight; instead he’d avoided conflict like the plague, quietly taking pride in himself as he ceded others their meaningless little victories. That meant that opposing his Shadow had been hard enough, but in a way that fight felt destined. This first real battle would be an entirely different beast.

Barney took a deep breath and steadied himself. He wouldn’t back down, but he couldn’t muster Dakota’s bravado, either. As invigorating as this new power was, he knew better than to think that it was the end-all be-all. His problems wouldn’t be solved in a day, and he couldn’t afford to be reckless. Even an ordinary knife had the power to kill, and anyone could wield one. It wasn’t power alone that determined success, but knowledge, competence, and experience. Right now, even as he brought out his wagon wheel and stood tall beside Dakota, he knew he had none of those things.

“But you have me.”

That voice again. Scratchy. Growly. Monstrous, but in the way one might expect of a villain in a kid’s show. Like groundwater it welled up to Barney from deep below, or maybe deep within. He watched, spellbound, as Dakota unleashed his Persona. The same feathered virtuoso that appeared to heal the small group’s wounds manifested with a flourish, revealing Dakota’s fighting spirit to the gathered crowd of prison guards in a grand display. Even the air itself seemed to move at Thamyris’ command.

“What are you waiting for?” the voice of Barney’s Persona grouched. “Let’s go!”

“R-right!” the bearded student stammered, quickly clearing his throat. “Let’s go, Samsa!”

A plume of blue flame erupted from the ground beneath him, and as if crawling out from the earth, Gregor Samsa appeared in all his verminous glory. He lifted Barney up beneath him, fangs and claws bared, his many eyes flaring with nuclear power. The prison guards responded in kind, contorting before releasing geysers of black smoke that unveiled the monsters within. Four of the creatures that Shadow Pondwater named Shax, and two of the leonine wheel demons he called Buer. Three each, if things broke down evenly. But Barney didn’t get time to strategize.

Immediately two of the stork monsters returned Thamyris the favor by beating their own wings. Crescent-shaped dark blades sped toward the defenders, and Barney knelt to get out of their way. Kneeling down for balance he called out, “Left!” and Samsa veered sideways, out of the path of one of the Eiha. The second was already too close to coordinate another dodge, however, and it struck the pair head-on. “Ouch, dangit!” It hurt a lot more than it should have, eliciting a splash of blood as he was knocked down. He only got to his knees before the Buer swung in like a flaming boomerang, smashing into his wheel with cloven feet before flying back to its original position. Blocking mitigated the force, leaving Barney still intact, so even with a fresh wound he was beyond ready to dish out some damage of his own. “My turn!”

Except it wasn’t. Rather than wait for him to come and smack them with his wheel, the demons attacked again. One Shax unwound its serpentine neck and lashed out like a bladed flail, putting Barney on the defensive long enough for a narrowly missed Eiha to prompt an emergency dodge, which ended with another spin kick from the Buer. “Gah!” he growled, paralyzed by indecision. These monsters were already having a field day with him. What was he going to do?!”

“Hey!” Spindle’s voice blasted his ear through her loop of thread. “That ain’t a shield, dude! Stop tryin’ to block ‘em and hit those stinkin’ varmints!” Barney grimaced, barely suppressing the urge to complain that he was trying. This isn’t working! he fretted, starting to panic.

“Because you’re fighting on their terms.”

Barely avoiding another attack, Barney took a swing at the marauding Buer, but it got out of range before he could make contact. Desperate for guidance, he listened as he continued to fight.

“You are no knight in shining armor,” Samsa hissed at him. “I am not your steed. And we are not defenders. We’re meant to ATTACK!”

A herculean effort from Barney turned a near-certain laceration into a glancing blow. “Then attack!”

“I move at your command!” his Persona growled. “You can’t just stand atop me, take your turns, and expect me to do all the work for you. Have me cover you, then in there and mess them up!”

“How!?” Barney hissed through gritted teeth.

“Stop overthinking and do it! You know the word!”

“I…” Barney’s wide eyes watched the Buer spinning up, ready for another burning revolution. Then his brows furrowed, and his muscles sprang into action. “Frei!”

Samsa buried his claws in the ground to steady himself, then unleashed a wave of frothing, sizzling, flesh-eating nuclear energy. It swept across the dirt like a wave over the shore and erupted beneath the Buer, stopping it in its tracks. The Shaxes attacked, sending forth their projectiles, but rather than dodge or try to block, Barney leaped forward, using Samsa like a springboard to soar through the air with his coattails flapping in the wind. He fell upon the Buer with his wheel upheld and smashed it into the dirt beneath its edge. As it roared in pain the nearest Shax prepared another spell, but this time it was the one getting stopped before it could start. A bash with the wheel threw it off balance, and then Barney aimed a kick to topple it just as Vincent had done earlier. By that time the other Shax unwound its neck for another scything swipe, but Barney turned with his hand extended. “Nail it, Samsa!”

With a snarl his Persona appeared beside him, swinging its bladed pedipalps to skewer the stork like a Thanksgiving turkey. Something odd about the heavy blow seemed to strike fear into the creature, and never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Barney followed up with a hearty battle cry and a vertical overhead slam of his wheel. He kicked it in the head while it was down for good measure, and with a shrill cry the demon melted away into shadow.

“Nice!” Spindle called down through the wire. “One down, five to go!”

Barney watched the demon die for a moment, ecstatic, before turning back to the others. If offense was the ticket, he’d keep it up. To avoid being surrounded he backpedaled toward Dakota, but not so much as to leave his effective range. One down, five to go, he repeated in his mind, and ran forward.

World of Light

Ms. Fortune

Level 4 Nadia (113/40)
Location: The Maw - Main Kitchen
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate’s [@ArchmageMC], Hat Kid’s @Dawnrider, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet’s @Yankee, Sakura's @Zoey Boey, Link’s @Gentlemanvaultboy, Mirage’s @Potemking
Word Count: 2290

For a brief moment the arrival of the Tempura Wizards seemed to spell total disaster, as in a single stroke they reduced the Seeker’s biggest and strongest member to a helpless food item, moment away from a messy end. But when the shock wore off, the kids were left with a couple of rather less formidable specimens in the long string line of monsters they’d faced today, and they’d had their fill of torment. Even as Sakura fretted about an escape route, she could see everyone else on the warpath. Long before the wizard’s slobbering tongue got anywhere near the long-suffering Seaplane Tender, a defensive line formed in front of her courtesy of Peach, Bowser, and Junior. The princess used her parasol to protect her fallen comrade, reasoning that it could block at least one doughy hex, but the koopas placed themselves directly in danger as they used their own spiky backs. Under normal circumstances Peach might have marveled at what a twist of fate it was to be fighting alongside her old kidnapper and his petulant son in such a manner, but right now she cared only for the fight in front of her, and for her allies it was just the same.

As Mirage flanked around the side, snatching some cookware with which he planned to batter the wizards’ fried limbs, and Sakura worked to drag the shrimp that had been her friend away, the koopa troop readied their own projectiles. They all took action too late, however, to stop their enemies from reaching Peach’s defenses. The farther wizard launched his hex straight into Peach’s umbrella, disarming her in an instant right as his partner reached the shield wall. Blocked from his original target, the hungry wizard opened his eye to aim his rod, and with a globule of batter on its end clocked Bowser over the head. The koopa king transformed and fell to the floor as a tempura, but just when the wizard bent down to scoop up his prize, a volley of pans sailed through the air. The hefty metal disks, proficiently lobbed, smashed into both enemies in a series of highly amusing bongs and clangs, staggering them. A couple even hit the farther one’s bowl, spreading cracks across their dark surfaces, and when Rika loosed her shots at the farther wizard his bowl shattered beneath him. He fell to the floor atop a heap of his own rice, and he couldn’t fight the kids while fighting to stay upright.

While his allies treated the wizards to a projectile onslaught, Link made use of the trump card his and the flagging Geralt’s mercilessness had won him. When he reached out to the spirit of Larry Chiang it gave no response, showing no sentience let alone concurrence, but nevertheless it latched onto him. Like a tick to a passing deer the butcher’s soul adhered to him, using the young to manifest once more. A ghostly Larry appeared in a flash, an ephemeral carcass already in hand, and with remarkable abruptness hurled the hulking hunk of meat right at the Tempura Wizard poised to devour Bowser. The Striker’s projectile bowled Link’s foe right over, but as if that wasn’t enough, the butcher followed up with a cry of “MEEEEEEEAT!” and bulled forward in a headlong charge. He knocked down and trampled right over the wizard before finally disappearing, leaving that enemy, too, at the mercy of the children.

At that point, about ten seconds had passed. Sakura’s heroic, albeit extremely unhappy, attempts to drag Bella out of danger garnered few results when the tempura was only a little smaller than Sakura herself. At that ten second mark, however, her struggle came to a sudden end. The fried shrimp poofed back into the Water Princess in an instant, and with both taken by surprise, neither could do much to stop Bella landing right on top of Sakura. “Eep!” Though totally baffled by what had happened to her, Bella understood straightaway the danger her new form presented, and quickly rolled to the side before she could hurt her friend. She rolled onto her back, bringing the little street fighter with and on top of her, then held her tight to shelter her from the chaos all around. “Are you okay? I’ll protect you, mon cherie! Zos blaireaux will pay!” she vowed, craning her neck as she lay on her back so as to aim her leviathan tail.

Before she could accommodate Peach, Junior, and Tempura-Bowser being between her and her target, the situation took another turn for the better. A familiar set of giant metal twintails rose up from behind the second floor railing, announcing her presence with a cheery, “Eldritch eye hand things floating on rice, of course.... I'm here everyone!”

“Us, too!” Along for the ride were none other than the Ace Cadet and Nadia Fortune, and when Blazermate tossed them they sailed through the air to tackle the farther Tempura Wizard just as he was raising his staff. They brought him down beneath their combined weight and started mashing straightaway with their makeshift weapons. Nadia in particular made use of the empty tin whose sardines she’d replenished herself with on the trip back to the kitchen, although it did a lot less damage than the frying pans of Mirage and the Koopas when they swept in to beat the fallen Tempura Wizards down. The whole pack of kids fell upon the sorcerers like a school of piranhas, made even worse a few seconds later when Bowser’s own polymorph came to an end, and in just a few cathartic moments all that remained of their enemies were spirits.

When it was done Nadia stood, breathing heavily, and dusted off her hands before putting them on her hips. “Looks like we were a li’l late, but you guys made it through, anyway,” she observed, happy as could be to see everyone safe and sound. “We gave that other guy the ol’ run-around. There was this big bird, too. Hopefully neither of them are gonna bother us any more.” Her eyes landed on Bella, standing much taller than everyone else and much plumper than the feral remembered, holding Sakura like a teddy bear and probably needing to be asked to let her go. “You’re different. What happened to ya?”

“Don’t eat anything!” the Abyssal warned her and everyone else. “When ze big man fell, I lost control. I couldn’t stop myself...so don’t have any more zan you need, or ze curse will do zis to you!” She looked down at herself sadly, traces of tears still in her eyes despite Sakura’s encouragement earlier. Her eyes then fell on Geralt, and she did not hesitate to walk over to pick him up too. With one four-year-old on each arm she turned back to the group. “He’s still alive. Only fainted.”

Nadia breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, phew! I was wonderin’ for a sec there. Really had me worried.” She narrowed her cat eyes at him, brows upturned in concern. “He didn’t eat anythin’, right? Well, I had two cans of sardines plus a roll, and I’m still fine. Hell, it was the only reason the two of us were able to keep runnin’ from that fur-reak.” In solidarity with her fellow food-eater and founding member of Ace Decoys she clapped a hand on the Cadet’s shoulder. “Maybe Gerry oughta have somethin’. We can’t have people droppin’ like flies one by one for the rest to drag along, right?”

Peach seemed to agree. “Bella came to her senses, and there’s still food around everywhere, so the hunger must have a trigger,” she reasoned. “Even if the food is cursed, we can work based on what we know. Everyone needs to keep their strength up for the road ahead.”

At the princess’s words Nadia’s ears pricked up, including the one shorted a half-inch by Antoine’s knife. “Oh, about that! Downstairs there’s this hole in the wall that leads into the restaurant. We saw a sign on the wall for the Helm. That’s where ships are controlled from! It should be just on the other side of the atrium!”

“Then we can’t waste time,” Peach replied. “Everyone okay to move on? Eat something if you’re on your last legs. Not meat, obviously. We should take those spirits too. Those powers could be useful.”

When the kids were all good to go, they set off down the stairs. Taking a right at the halfway point and another right at the first floor landing brought them to the main area of the big kitchen, half of it still a terrible mess from Mirage and Nadia’s efforts earlier. Out of all the cooks and monsters that occupied it, only the scalding coffee cups and the sushi chef remained, with Stretch-face nowhere to be seen. The cups were not, however, spoiling for a fight; maybe the rather large party storming into their midst was more than their instincts told them they could handle. When everyone shot an assortment of wary and angry glances the chef’s way, meanwhile, he held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, don’t look at me! I only do seafood!” He nodded down at the prep station and hibachi grill in front of him, laden with an assortment of sushi and seafood stir-fry. Fujimoto gave no signs of hostility as the intruders made their way through and out of the kitchen. Though he had little to share, he planned to answer whatever the kids asked of him should any stop on the way.

In no time at all the Seekers entered the third floor of Grand Atrium and assembled before the railing that overlooked the expanse of stew that was its sunken first floor. To their right was the long dining table to which Antoine lay waste during his pursuit of Ace and Nadia, and on the other side of the creamy lake the bulbous form of Cookatiel could still be dimly seen through the hole it left in the wall. Nadia couldn’t make out Antoine among the wreckage he’d caused upon landing on the fourth floor toward the Atrium’s upper-right side, but even if he’d already recovered, he’d have another think coming if he thought he could take the kids now. Luckily, the sign for the Helm pointed in the opposite direction from where the fallen Guests languished, so they didn’t need to deal with that either. Nadia saw no trace of the Runaway Kid, though. Hope he’s doing okay, she thought.

Now that she wasn’t on the run from a plate-slinging lunatic Nadia could actually get a good look around the gigantic room, and it was honestly pretty impressive. Spooky, atmospheric, and posh, it offered a lot of routes for nimble escapees during a game of cat and mouse. If Blazermate hadn’t come along she and Ace could have probably kept Antoine in their dust for a while. Still, better to be safe than sorry. With her keen cat eyes Nadia peered up into the room’s upper reaches, trying to get a handle on where to head next.

Instead, she saw her.

There she was, up on the fifth floor, standing on a balcony, lit from behind, and staring right down at the uninvited guests. Nadia’s blood froze, her heart pounding, unsure if she was seeing things until the ladylike shape slid quietly back out of view. “Th-that was her! The woman we saw in the beginnin’!” she exclaimed, pointing upward. “She’s up there, on the fifth floor!” With wide eyes she turned to face the group. “Uh, for lack of a better plan, let’s get her?!”

This time Nadia waited for Ace before rushing off, and together the kids went left and made for the staircase. Wide and long, it conveyed them up and then past the fourth floor of famished diners, although not without a cost. Even fighting and running for one’s life wasn’t so taxing as a long flight of stairs, and anyone without the energy (or physique) for the ascent was soon left wheezing. Those better suited for the task reached the top first, and with a large enough group to inspire confidence in at least some reconnaissance, they entered through the eye-marked doorway at the top.

There they went down a short hallway and found themselves in another large room, although this one looked much more like a theater than a restaurant. Most of the room was shrouded in darkness, with the main floor empty but for cushions upon which the audience might kneel. The long wall on the side that the frontrunners entered hosted five large gallery boxes for the Guests of Honor. Her eyes drawn by those individuals, Nadia couldn’t help but glance at each one in turn. Nearest was King K Rool, little more than an oversized crocodile laying about in the lap of luxury. After that, however, was the ghastly angel Jamerah, the scribe seated in a floating throne, his folds of corpulence stained with unknown juices, and his box lined with shelves full of scrolls. Next Nadia could see, reclining against a porcelain-white winged lion upon a lavish bed, the royally garbed Lord Vauthry attended by angels of living marble. On his other side was the green-skinned Zora Queen Oren, her face angry and impatient despite the pretty water features arranged around her. Finally, Nadia’s angle could just permit her to catch a dreadful glimpse of The Evil Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-Butt.

Her attention quickly wandered, however, to the kabuki stage situated on the theater’s far side, clearly the focal point for the Guests of Honor and any other attendees, herself and the other Seekers included. A number of dark, disturbingly Lady-shaped mannequins stood atop it, barely visible in the darkness beyond the sole spotlight.

Infactorium: A New 4Xpansion (Overlord RP) [DISCONTINUED]

The hiss of sputtering oil, the roar of flame, the chop-chop-chop of fresh vegetables, and the clang of tools against sinks, pots, and pans melded with the barked orders and status updates of the Maneater crew to create a fantastic symphony of frenetic activity--a riotous cooking frenzy most befitting of a five-star kitchen newly restored to its former glory, and all the more splendid for its brief absence. Of course, the kitchen lacked the professional polish, eye-catching ornamentation, and immaculate luster it once proudly displayed, and though not in shambles anymore by any stretch the dining hall featured just the barest essentials, but at the end of the day the Gorging Trough had one purpose: to make unforgettable, fashionable, and functional food. If her domain could do that, Canology Mae was happy.

Of course, she had no time right now to marvel at how just a week ago she and her staff had been huddled around a single cookfire. Just standing there in quiet appreciation of everything that Infactorium’s reconstruction efforts could come later. Right now, the master of the Gorging Trough was on overdrive, directing her pride and joy through a rigorous trial by fire of its capabilities. Gone was the affable, sanguine behemoth whose larger-than-life presence filled any room to burst with bombast. In her place was a domineering taskmaster, an relentless force of nature committed to complete and utter victory against the eternal adversaries of inefficiency, miscommunication, accident, and time. Out there the other Overseers led their minions in military campaigns, and the supreme commander Faetalis reigned over all, but here Mae was the boss. Like a drum of war her guttural belows resounded through the Gorging Trough, spurring her tireless Maneaters onward in the creation of a grand celebratory feast.

Naturally not one cook among them could spare even a moment for the dragoness sneaking around the premises, but that did not mean that Levia’s intrusion encountered no trouble. Instead she quickly found herself slithering through the trenches of what could easily be mistaken for active warfare. Ingredients harvested both from the wilderness and a variety of creatures both mundane and extraordinary lay scattered around like goopy or crunchy landmines. A few of the more exotic ingredients like Basilisk Glands, Dryad Hearts, Rock Lobster Geodes, Thunderbird Drums, and Stygian Shrooms even presented magical hazards for unwary handlers. Add to that the many boiling-hot splash zones around stovetops, fryers, and cauldrons, plus the constant hustle and bustle of the staff, and Levia had quite the obstacle course to contend with. It did, however, allow the dragoness to witness the passion of each and every chef firsthand.

“Need someone to pull the pot roast off ‘fore it overcooks!” Mae was saying as she plated a Beast Cheese Lasagna. After plopping the finished dish down on the already-crowded delivery counter, she pulled out a large basin for the roast and started arranging colorful sliced carrots around the rims for presentation. “Right this way! Chuck, need more Deeproot Carrots! Flank, that cheese is for the burgers, get ‘em on the grill before slappin’ ‘em on there. Heart, ya dingus, get those doggone sausages off the grill to make room! We want ‘em simmered, so juicy they’ll burst in yer mouth!” Finishing the roast, the headless horror plodded over to the line of stovetops and their bubbling pots, unbothered by any hot spatter. With her blindsight she could keep track of the whole kitchen at once, and though not observant or ingenious enough to micromanage every detail, she could address each issue as it presented itself. She inhaled deeply through her neck, taking in the smell of the sauce, before going over to the nearby sink for a colander of pasta to stir into the sauce for the Chimeric Bolognese.

An acrid aroma caught her attention. “We’ve got a balsamic glaze that’s done reductin’ over here!” she announced, prompting Tender to rush over for the critical ingredient to her Feygarden Salad dressing. Chuck followed right behind to give her Watercress Soup a taste, then flew off to fetch more white wine. Shank sprinted by with a basket of freshly-baked loaves, and Mae waited until she passed to avoid a collision before flipping the Stygian Shrooms in their saute. WIth the toxins properly neutralized by the accompanying garlic, soy sauce, and butter, they promised a rich, earthy dish that could provide a potent boost to Dark elemental attacks. Next Mae stomped over to the big cookfire to retrieve a handful of fragrant Bugbear Kebabs from over the flame and set the next batch up to roast. Before going, however, she stopped by the night’s prize dish, the Suckling Manticore, where it turned on its spit. With a knife from her toolbelt she prized a sliver of its flesh free, then extended an enormous purple tongue from the darkness within her hood to slurp it up. For a moment she stood there in contemplation, while Round watched in fearful suspense, until Mae gave her the thumbs-up. “That’ll do nicely!” Before Round could celebrate too much, however, the Overseer poked the Maneater right in her belly. “But why’s that tail still there!? That ain’t edible! Hack it off and pull out the venom!”

With a squeak the chubby cook hurried off to fetch her cleaver and pipette. Mae laughed and returned to her own duties. She helped Rib cut up and honey her cornbread, showed Shank how to tie up her dumplings, and stopped by Roast’s pizzas to offer topping suggestions. After sparing a moment to chuckle at Heart for getting a faceful of steam from the shoots for her consomme Mae heeded the ring of her timer to pull a trio of plate-sized cookie dishes from the oven. She scooped freshly-made Mint Slime Gelato from the bucket to heap upon the chocolate cookies for a dual hot-and-cold desert, then drizzled chocolate sauce on top. After a quick taste Mae couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hoho, nelly. The gals’re gonna looooove this! I bet even stodgy ol’ Head’s gonna crack a smile after he gets a bite o’ these bad boys!” Sensing that preparations were wrapping up, Mae allowed herself to heave a contented sigh at last. “Man if it don’t feel good to be back in the swing of things again,” she mused aloud as she began slicing pears to accompany hibiscus for garnish.

World of Light

Circling the Throne

Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Palace
Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Mao’s @Potemking, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Primrose’s @Yankee, Yoshitsune and Sora’s @Rockin Strings, Fox’s @Dawnrider, Raz’ @Truthhurts22, Tora and Poppi, Big Band, the Phantom Thieves, Braum, Shadow, Ciella
Word Count: 10452 (+11)

Before the newcomers even reached the Palace’s impressive doors, the swarm of buzzing Grimleal acolytes descended upon them. The cultist enforcers of the Grimleal were out in force, their robes mages, grim legionnaires, horned cavaliers atop frilled, reptillian bipeds, and masked overseers operating not only under the watchful visors of the towering Ruin Sentinels that could be found on guard duty throughout Al Mamoon, but also a hitherto-unseen heavy suppression automaton: the giant Ruin Grader. Though they fanned out around the group with their weapons close at hand, they made no overt signs of hostility. Still, the show of force did not go unnoticed, and after a tense moment the overseer in charge approached Ciella as the long-eared archer moved to the forefront.

“Lieutenant Ciella?” he asked by way of confirmation, given her altered appearance. After receiving a stiff nod he continued. “We’re under orders to escort all Resistance members to the prison block.”

The Agito gave a sweeping gesture as if confused why her underlings weren’t already. “Then get on with it,” she snapped irritably.

Sweating beneath his mask, the overseer bowed his head. “Pardon me, ma’am. Despite our intelligence we never identified every last one of them. Who should we be taking?”

Ciella sighed, rubbing her temples, then one by one indicated Resistance members one by one for collection. “Him, him, him, and him. Her too,” she pointed out Reinhardt, Fuse, the Dragonborn, Mordecai, and Es. For a moment she locked eyes with Shadow, sparing no effort to mask her hatred, but what he and Mao mentioned during the trip over made her think twice about shipping them off. “...We’ll bring those two before Validar. They possess valuable information.” The overseer bowed and gave a hand sign to his crew while Ciella quietly seethed in Midna and Sectonia’s general direction.

Despite being left well enough alone, Mao was still feeling tense. His gaze fell on Ciella as he tried to figure out if he dodged a bullet, or if she was setting him up for something worse. Assuming the latter, he simply kept quiet and watched for the moment. If they were to have any chance to talk this out like most of the group wanted, starting a fight now wouldn't work. He shifted his look over to the Resistance members, nodding to Gunnar, in particular. They'd all group back up soon enough, one way or another.

After just a few moments the delay came to an end, and everyone left over could proceed. Only about half of the Grimleal parted alongside the five Resistance members, leaving a sizable contingent to escort Ciella and the others inside. Most notable, the Ruin Grader kept up the rear. Collectively uneasy but prepared for the meeting in store, the Seekers and their newfound allies marched into the titanic Palace interior. Before them lay the long hallway, brazier-lit and bordered on either side by rows of pillar archways in front of masses of verdant ferns that faded into darkness. Just a few minutes of walking separated from Validar now.

”Couldn’t spare anyone for the strike against the resistance, but, oh now escort duty, now there's something we can lavish troops on!” Midna groused sarcastically

“Since your company never informed us of your intention to participate, and to minimize casualties, we dispatched only elite operatives against our largely unknown foe,” Ciella informed her, her matter-of-fact tone tinged by snark. “Perhaps you didn’t notice, but I’m rather suited to fighting alone.”

”Not well suited enough” Midna pointed out, before adding ”Also you know you didn’t join them by choice right? You got plopped here by a malevolent light god after it ripped you from whatever you were doing and then told you that you belonged here all along. You don’t need to cover their butts if you don't want to. You don’t owe them anything.”

The Agito’s look was a withering one. “You are as presumptuous as you are small and tiresome. It is none of your business, but I came here well after I arrived in this world. I cooperate with the others because they too feel disgust for the hypocritical, despair for false justice, and desire for a world without deception.” She focused forward again, flipping her hair with indignation. “I do not need you to respect my ideals. Only to abstain from afflicting me with yours.”

Als she got was a shrug in response from Midna

Click for music

Their trip took them past the mammoth four-poster bed where her Moojesty, Queen Lowlah the Cowlipha, continued to snooze in perpetual anticipation of her next taste of cheese, and into the throne room proper. There, streaks of evening sun poured in from high windows to land on the faces and wings of immense stone sphinxes, while across the way Validar himself could be seen, seated comfortably upon the golden throne, shaded by immense lengths of hanging crimson cloth, and attended by his lieutenants on either side. The trappings of the ancient sorcerer Kan-Ra identified him even from the distance that separated the vast chamber’s ends, and though his face couldn’t quite be made out from so far, it was a safe bet to assume that he grinned at them even now. Opposite him stood the pompous ‘researcher’ Azwel, whose sashes swayed in the hands of some ethereal breeze. Like Kan-Ra he carried no weapons, but anyone who witnessed him fight in the Temple of Khamoon knew that a veritable arsenal of crystalline weaponry was only ever a flick of the wrist away.

Rather than proceed directly across, the newcomers found a handful of allies both new and old by the entrance, and stopped there for a moment. Fox, Big Band, Goldlewis Dickinson, Raz, and Robin had been exchanging details there whilst waiting for the others’ arrival, but they seemed less than thrilled about the unfamiliar face in their company. The stranger sported long pink hair, a slinky, fanciful dress, and two revolvers worn at her hip. Just about everything about her screamed the stereotypical femme fatale, prideful and beauteous, but she wore an ugly look on her face--a smirk of totally shameless cruelty. “Well, if it isn’t the big bunny!” she exclaimed, her voice a low, throaty growl. “You look shorter. And all those wounds, hah hah, look at you!
What happened, trip on your hair again?” Hands on her hips, she circled around Ciella, looking her up and down. “Don’t tell me those Resistance idiots gave you a hard time? After all your endless bleating about the weak and crap?”

Scowling, Ciella huffed off across the throne room to join the other lieutenants, the click of her heels against the stone echoing through the wide-open space. Cinderella laughed as the Agito retreated, taunting, “Don’t worry, I’ll get all the juicy details from your little friends!” She turned to the new arrivals with her arms crossed under her chest, grinning from ear to ear. “Man, isn’t Flopsy just the worst? I can’t stand people like her, always acting like they’re better than the rest, when they’re really the filthiest of all on the inside. So, we sent in you dopes to help her, right? Was she really that pathetic? C’mon, out with it already, I don’t have time to be bored!”

Though interested at first for totally superficial reasons, Tora had quickly gotten about as repulsed by this woman as Poppi, and both ended up looking to Big Band for help. The detective, however, had none to offer, and just gave an exasperated shake of his head as he explained, “Cinderella here’s one of Validar’s enforcers. Asked her to keep us company ‘til y’all arrived.”

“Hey, I’m nobody’s lackey, Sax!” the gunslinger corrected, her mood shifted from playful to pissed in an instant. “I don’t give a damn about him, his dragon, or any of the wackos runnin’ around here. All their justice, politics, ideals...meaningless! The more serious they try to look, the more moronic they are. Isn’t it just a crying shame?” WIth a giggling sigh, she shook her head, her hands held up helplessly. “So it’s up to me to keep it real, and really, I’m just here to have fun picking wounds.” Crossing her arms again, she looked between the Seekers. “So, are you gonna spill the beans?”

Having withstood this woman’s gormlessness for a while already, Band looked weary. “Any brave souls wanna keep her busy? The rest of us can compare notes real quick before Validar calls us over.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cinderella chipped in. “I don’t give a shit, go nuts. He’s gonna kick things off right after Flops gets done trying to salvage her reputation. Just someone help a girl out, I’m literally dying here.”

"Well, first, there was the warehouse," Yoshitsune began, "and most of what happened in there is a blur to me. I know we won and that's where we found Mao. Next thing I remember is rushing to the temple." He chose to wait to see if anyone else would give more details. Cinderella looked confused, wondering who he was talking to.

"Found and brought to a draw against." Mao piped up, not wanting to sound like a chump. No need to mention the damage Band took prior to their fight, right? He thought so. "Ciella was at Rocket Inc, the third Resistance base, with a group of these guys I led there." He added to try and keep Cinderella's attention as to not have her in everyone else's hair. He waved a hand back at the group, wanting them to formulate their plan since they were the peaceful types. He could talk crude with this woman for a while. "I don't know what the hell her deal is, but she went from attacking the Resistance to attacking just about everybody. She's lucky to be able to go whine to her boss at all, I could've let her bite it when she ended up beaten and on her knees." He still wondered if that was a bad decision or not, leaving Ciella alive. The frustration of having nearly been killed by her twice was seething inside of him.

”She really needs to be taught manners and be a team player. She just wants to attack anything that moves, and before that, well… She didn’t do too well.” Sectonia said, not really happy with Ciella’s performance, laying into her as tactfully as she could.

”She’s a crazy arrogant bitch that got taken down an entire ladder's worth of pegs by this very dangerous guy over here” Midna said, jabbing a thumb towards the injured Shadow, who she had had the time and energy to actually put together the fact that she somewhat knew who the black and red hedgehog was. But only somewhat. Enough to consider him an ace, or maybe a wild card, up her non-existent sleeves.

The news seemed to delight Cinderella, and she wore her sadistic pleasure on her sleeve. “Ooh, no kidding? That’s good, real good. I mean, I’d hoped she’d bumble things, but nearly getting killed and hanging on the mercy of people she just about team-killed? Hah. She’ll be stewing over it forever. Oh, this is gonna be so much fun.” She did give Sectonia a sly look, however. “You, Bugs. That how you really feel? I get the sense you’re more pissed than you let on. Won’t do you any good to bottle it up, you know. Gotta indulge yourself, from time to time. Or hell, all the time. Works for me.”

Mao smirked, finding amusement in Cinderella's worldview. It almost aligned with his own, though the current matters had left him being pretty compliant to achieve his own goals. "Definitely give her hell over it. Just the thought is a starting remedy to the arrow she put through my shoulder." He remarked, despite that whole ordeal being easily healed off by the cat earlier. "Maybe it'll help you to know she only managed to kill someone that already got beaten down prior." He offered, before thinking of his own brutality in the fight. He didn't have much more Ciella information, but if he had to keep her from disrupting the others, maybe some general discussion about the violence during the fight would do. Predictably the gunslinger relished the news, none-too-subtly sharing in return that her own battles tended to be abject slaughterfests. And so the delightful conversation went on.

The full story of what went on below Rocket Inc. was of interest to Primrose as well, so she kept an ear out for the conversation with Cinderella even as she turned away from them, facing the other Seekers with a serious expression. Hours ago the dancer had been willing to give the Grimleal the benefit of the doubt, but throughout the course of the day they'd proven just as unscrupulous as they seemed. The sight of Validar sitting pretty on the throne with the air of a man who had the utmost confidence that they were one step ahead of everyone around them practically made Primrose's skin crawl.

"Well," she said, exasperation edging into her voice, "I don't suppose you might have gained any insight on what Validar plans to do next, with the Resistance or the city, what with your chaperone there...?"

Goldlewis’s expression surfaced the same sort of consternation that Primrose was feeling. “Well, we sure didn’t get anythin’ outta miss Cinderella here, that’s for sure.” He removed his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose, exposing for a moment the eye always kept hidden beneath the darkened lens of his glasses. “Just a headache somethin’ fierce. No word on any big plans either. But this Robin fella shed a li’l more light on the big man hisself.” After replacing his glasses the titan of a man glanced over at his former enemy.

“Right,” Robin said, taking the baton. “I already mentioned that in my world, he attempted to revive his god, the Fell Dragon Grima, by using me as a vessel for its resurrection. In both that world and this one he lead the Grimleal cult and eventually came to rule over a desert nation, Plegia there, and Al Mamoon here. Unfortunately, none of us were here when he came to power, so we have nothing to go on except Drippy’s hypothesis.”

“That bein’ that he came outta the night an’ used dark magic to part the Queen from her restraint, right?” Big Band cut in.

Robin nodded. “Since then, he has reorganized the government and engineered many public works projects, overhauling entire sections of the city. His greatest push has been for the incorporation of ‘modern technology’, as it’s become known, and trade with other cities and settlements. Essentially, he’s seized hold of anything that he perceives as gain. To achieve all this, he and his Grimleal mages have been using Risen labor.”

“The undead,” Band remarked, an unusual bitterness in his voice, borne from animosity gained during his long campaign against the Skullgirls. “Dressed like normal workers, their heads all wrapped up in bandages. You’d never look at ‘em twice, seein’ em out on the streets.”

The tactician looked grave as he continued. ”Of course, I had my suspicions. Raising undead, changing the city, possibly working to resurrect Grima. When some friends and I learned about a Resistance, we climbed aboard, and only discovered its real purpose too late.” Sighing in frustration, he held a hand to his head. “Nastasia is her name. The one who spellbound us. Under orders from her boss, Count Bleck, she recruited people to spread chaos under the guise of revolution, ostensibly opposing the corruption of the crown. How much of it is truth and how much is falsehood, we have no idea.”

”Why does that name sound familiar?” Sectonia said, having never heard the name of the spirit she had taken.

“And this ‘Grima’ is…” Jesse piped up, reluctantly. “...bad? Good?”

“A cataclysm that would plunge the world into darkness,” Robin supplied.

"Another Taira Kagekiyo," Yoshitsune sighed, trying to ignore the new arms he'd received from the last spirit he'd absorbed.

More than a few eyes went wide at the revelation. “Goodness!” Braum exclaimed, wheedling the end of his mustache in worry but quickly covering it with a joke. “It would be nice to foil some more everyday schemes, for once!”

“Then I wonder why he bothers with the infrastructure.” Jesse said. “...but like, literal darkness?”

"One could only assume so. The gods of my world could wield such power, so it would not be a surprise if the gods of others could too." Primrose paused to consider Jesse's other point. It was a good one, why bother improving the city if Grima would just wipe it out, but perhaps Validar just wanted a cushier life while he set his plans into motion.

”Even I could do that. It's not exactly a divine feat” Midna added casually. A whole lot of attention momentarily turned her way. Where or not they believed her, her offhanded declaration made nobody happy.

Robin crossed his arms, thinking. “The thought occurred to me as well. It could be a necessary step. Gathering the necessary resources, for instance. Because of this world’s nature, it’s possible that he’s missing vital elements from our world’s history. They could be scattered around, or...well.” He shrugged, crossing straight into the realm of conjecture. “It beggars belief to assume that everything from all worlds is here. Although it is a little idealistic to assume that enough just doesn’t exist so as to render the resurrection impossible, and all he wants is to rule over a prosperous kingdom. But who can say for sure?”

"As you say, there is no evidence... might it be possible that Galeem suppressed his knowledge about summoning the dragon?" Primrose asked, "to prevent any kind of threat to itself. Is it even capable of that kind of discretion...?" Subconsciously she looked to Fox, who always seemed to have more information then he let on since they'd left the Alcamoth, but perhaps the strategist held some insight.

Visibly in thought, Fox shook his head at Primrose’s conjecture. “I don’t know… seems more like something it would conscript to protect itself. The last of its ‘Guardians’ fit Robin’s description,” though not to the letter, and he wasn’t sure if they were the same. “That no one else can tell it exists rules out the need for discretion,” he supposed, as an answer to the second half of the dancer’s line of questioning.

“We won’t have to worry about any of this once we beat Galeem.” Jesse stated. “Destroying the cause of the AWE- of the problem- will undo the effects. That’s priority number one.”

In the midst of the gathered group of oddballs, prisoners, and mercenaries, a gloved hand was raised. “Uhm, excuse me?” Raz addressed the group at large, a bit of hesitation to him what with being a veritable rookie compared to the rest. “Hi, I’m Raz,” he began, clasping his hands together, “and while I don’t really get what you all are talking about right now, I think there’s some more pressing matters we should focus on?” He glanced up to Big Band, who seemed to have more weight to throw around here. “Validar is planning to, uh, execute all the resistance members, isn’t he? Maybe we should stop that happening before getting into whatever he’s up to around here?”

“That’s our next step,” Fox declared plainly. “We have a bigger goal ahead of us, but we’re not going to leave things unsettled here,” he clarified, looking expectantly at Robin, who now shared with him a restored memory of lightfall. Meeting eyes with Raz once more, he continued. “We mean to help out whoever we can, however we can, along the way, and bring on whoever will join us for the fight.” He added a softer tinge of severity to his tone at the end, emphasizing to the junior psychic their overall intent to recruit for the campaign against a real calamity, as well as what it meant for him should he elect to take up arms with them. He would have his chance to consider what they were truly up against, and whether he was up for facing it with them or not… as soon as he was cured of his Gleam and could fully come to terms with Galeem’s existence.

“Right, right! That heroes’ number-one goal, meh!” Tora piped up. Glad to have someone around more his height, the Nopon waddled over and clapped a wing on the young man’s shoulder conspiratorially. “Current plan is throw hypnotizey blockyhead under bus and hope that work. As for other strategies...meh...”

Luckily for Poppi, keeping an encouraging composure was something she could do quite well. “We still working on other ways to convince Validar to let them go.”

“‘Hypnotizey…’ You mean the Resistance leader? The one who hypnotized everyone?” Raz scratched his chin. “It could work. But I’ve been working for these guys for long enough to know that they’re pretty stubborn. If they think that everyone’s at fault even with the brainwashing…”

Wait, he did work for these guys. “Oh, actually, I am technically part of the Grimleal’s criminal division. Criminal rehabilitation! It, uh, hasn’t really worked out so far, but maybe I could ask for a stay of execution? Say that everyone’s been, you know, rehabilitated?”

While Tora puzzled over the unfamiliar word, Robin rested his chin in one hand to contemplate the boy’s appointment. “I still don’t quite understand that. Validar’s administration, famous at this point for heavy-handedness when it comes to crime, really set up such a department?”

“Yeah…” Joker chimed in, just as put off by the idea. He didn’t doubt what Raz said, but rather, Validar’s intent. Even after all his experience with the Metaverse by now, the Phantom Thief was still a teenager, and it boggled the mind to imagine a teen would be given such a critical role, let alone a preteen child. “Not to insult you or anything, but maybe Validar set the whole thing up to fail? Why do you think he did it?”

“Well, it definitely wasn’t because I kept bothering him to have me help out in an official capacity or anything,” Raz said with a soft chuckle, failing completely at sounding convincing. “Although it was a big deal when he ‘appointed’ me. Honestly I think part of it was to keep people from getting mad at him and the Grimleal. Good press. And hey, it wouldn’t look too great for him if he just dealt with all the poor, innocent brainwashing victims without giving them a chance, riiight?”

No stranger to publicity stunts, Big Band caught on quickly. “Good thinkin’, son! If he pulled somethin’ like that tryin’ to improve his image, but word gets out he fried the Resistance right off, he’ll lose all them brownie points an’ then some.” He deployed a little mechanical arm giving Raz a thumbs-up. “When we get up there, make sure ya mention it’s his chance to make good on his rehab scheme and start actually gettin’ the public on his side. Show ‘em he cares an’ all that jazz.”

Midna clapped her hands once and said ”Sounds like we have a plan then, unless anyone else has any bright ideas?” before taking a quick glance around for any takers.

Her gaze ended up falling on Cinderella, who was waving at the group at large to get their attention. “Hey, hirelings! Looks like Flopsy’s done covering her dumbass, so Pointy’s just about ready to congratulate you on doing all our dirty work for us. Come on.” Beckoning the rest to follow her, the gunslinger strutted across the hall. By instinct Tora and Poppi followed right behind at the head of the group, while Big Band and Goldlewis moved to bring up the rear so as to not block any of their smaller acquaintances’ views during the proceedings. Feeling a bit better collectively about their odds thanks to their last-minute discussion, the Seekers of Light approached the throne.

Validar sat straight in full Grimleal regalia, golden and spiky, his elbows planted on the armrests of his throne and his fingers tented together, their overlong nails crisscrossed. His eyes flickered with Galeem’s light, not too different from the early rays of sunset starting to tease the domes and parapets of Al Mamoon. To his left stood Kan-Ra and, once she took her place, Cinderella, while Ciella stood tall to his right alongside Azwel. They watched Yellow Team approach in silence, more or less impassively, until the seekers came to a halt. With a snakelike smile Validar untented his fingers, clapped his hands on his knees, and began.

“On behalf of the great city-state of Al Mamoon, the glorious flower of the eastern desert, I offer you my sincerest gratitude.” Placing a hand on his chest, he gave a small bow of respect, closing his eyes as he did. Then he laid both on his knees again. “I must confess, your exchange with the Grimleal earlier today he had worried for a time about your intentions, but I can see now that I was wrong to harbor such doubts. Whatever your reasons, you too came to realize that the foul crimes perpetrated against the people of my fair city by the counterfeit Resistance could be endured no longer, and chose to act. In bringing their reign of terror to an end, you have not only done my people a priceless service, but gained my trust. You returned to me my only son, safe and sound. The Railway Gun is yours.” He clapped his hands twice. “Conductor!”

A door opened over to the right of the throne, in the shadow cast by the hanging cloth. Out husted a yellow-feathered bird in a dark coat and purple tie, sporting a wide, jagged mouth but lacking any visible eyes beneath his cap. He slid to a stop before the throne. “Yessir, Validar, sir?”

“See to it that the train is operational by tomorrow morning, and ensure that it has everything it needs to both traverse the Eastern Desert and to engage any foes our friends might come across.”

“Aye, sir!”

“In the meantime,” Validar continued. “I intend to offer you all our every hospitality. Lieutenant Kan-Ra?”

The sorcerer’s everpresent smile did not turn away from the Seekers. “Yes, my lord?”

“Supply each of our new friends with a Gold Pass.”

“Of course, my lord.” The sorcerer waved his hand, and through the same door as the Conductor entered a mummy bearing a platter heaped with gleaming golden badges. He shambled toward the Seekers and stopped a short way off so that all could take their passes at their convenience. “These passes will grant you free service at any restaurant, hotel, or similar facility for the remainder of your stay,” Kan-Ra explained, bowing his grinning head as he ignored Tora’s eyes sparkling in anticipation. “I recommend the public baths. I have yet to partake myself, but I have heard it’s...to die for.”

Mao's eyes fixated on the badges for a moment, the gleam catching the attention of an overlord who was feeling a little more happy than usual to take what he wanted. Being a bit too far away meant he had no real opportunity to pinch one of the badges at the moment, figuring there wasn't exactly one meant for him to begin with. That didn't stop daydreams of trying to sell one off before taking that train out of here, however. A bit of service would be nice, but he felt he could get anything he needed plus keep a little pocket change if he snooped around enough to find someone that'd want one of those passes. Sure, there'd probably be hell to pay if he ever came back, but that wasn't in his plans. Plus, whatever fool would actually take it probably knew the problems that potentially came along with having it unofficially. So whatever trouble they fell into after he left wasn't exactly going to weigh on his conscience.

Jesse didn’t hesitate. She plucked a golden badge from the mummy’s platter and twirled it between her fingers. “Sweet. Thanks.” She placed it into an internal pocket of her jacket. She’d been living in cars and shelters for too long to not accept free housing when it was given.

Yoshitsune moved up to the platter next for his own badge. Looking it over, he decided he'd probably keep it long after it was needed. Thinking back on earlier that day, he remembered his swords again. "I think leaving in the afternoon would work better so I can reclaim my father's swords from the smithy."

Sora watched the others grab their badges, wondering if there would be one for him. They looked like something he'd seen before but couldn't quite place it. I guess all that crafting with the moogles has some disadvantages.

All of this congratulatory ceremony felt a little familiar to Fox, and in more, less so. The contrast between this and his first mission (being what he thought back to momentarily) almost made him a little sick with guilt. Namely, he unequivocally knew who the enemy was back then, and hadn’t been forced to provisionally, inadvertently side with a less certain enemy to save a friend. He had hoped, and still believed, that it would be worth it. Chances were, however, that any due objections this time would likely call for a more drastic interruption, in the foreseeable event that it came to that, as he had been anticipating it might.

When the tray came Sectonia’s way, she grabbed her badge without much fanfare. She guessed this made her a VIP, free food and housing was what she should have as a Queen anyway, maybe when they were done with this town, she could get something useful with this pass afterwards, but some spa time would be nice. Wait… did Kan-Ra take Sectonia’s advice from earlier? She might need to send an antlion in first to make sure the spa didn’t make her look like a mummy.

“Alas,” Validar spoke up, tenting his fingers once more. “Before I turn you loose to avail yourselves of my fair city’s comforts, it would seem we do have rather serious matters to discuss.” He leaned forward, his expression even. “I have been led to believe that there are some...grievances, which you may be inclined to share. Is that correct...Investigation Captain Reptile?”

Right next to the throne, the air shimmered. A crocodilian ninja, masked and clad in bone, became visible beside Validar. Even with slitted, saurian eyes, it was difficult to hide a sense of smugness, as if he knew something that the Seekers did not. “That’s what I heard,” he replied, his voice a reptilian grumble.

Mao's eyes shot from the badges to the uncloaked reptilian, glaring as the new issue presented itself. He managed to keep his reaction internal, though he was visibly irritated by Validar revealing his hand ever so slightly. 'How frustratingly clever.'

To the revelation, Fox had nothing to say, though his attention lay more sharply now on Validar and the scaly ninja that answered to him, and by extension the matter presented. While the vulpine harbored no bigotry, it would be a difficult admission to make that he hadn’t the best history with lizard folk, so naturally, Reptile’s presence under the circumstances made him feel instinctively more uneasy--enough to raise his internal alert level ever so slightly higher. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, depending, it reminded him of the similarly capable rogue woman (formerly) of the Resistance he had freed of influence earlier in the day, who was now left to her own devices, as far as he knew. Had anyone else realized the same, he wondered? Suddenly he couldn’t help being curious as to her current whereabouts and goings on… and started to wonder the same about Sly...

Minda first looked shocked, then gave an exasperated sigh and finally launched into an illconcived response based partially on her new spirit, and partially on the fact that the entire global darkness threat was deeply personal to her due to her history ”First of all, rude. Second of all, yes, we do have concerns like the fact that you apparently want to smo-”

Jesse stepped forward, raising her hand in front of Midna. Though her voice wasn’t loud, it was very sharp. The message to Midna was clear: Stop talking. “Grievances like what?” She asked Validar and his spy.

Al Mamoon’s ruler gave her a curious look. “Why, that’s for you to decide, I should think.” He stroked his long, narrow goatee. “Simply put with our business having come to what should be a satisfactory conclusion, I would be mortified if we parted ways with bad blood between us.” He gestured with an open hand toward Reptile. “As such, I’ve spoken only the bare minimum with my Investigation Captain. Just enough to know that there is anger and suspicion among you. When bad blood is left to pool, it will fester and rot. What good, I ask, does this do any of us? So, I took initiative.” Validar clasped his hands together in his lap. “It was indeed underhanded of me to use the Investigation Captain to force the issue. For that, I must ask...forgiveness. In the end, my only goal is that we have an honest conversation. That you may speak your troubles plainly, so that I might address them, and set all our hearts at ease.”

This time Midna physically caught the words she had been about to bark back, biting and grinding her teeth together. It wasn't a good look, but gave someone else time to speak more carefully than the Princess would have. There was a light pressure on her shoulder as a hand came to rest there, just as much meant to reign the imp in as it was to reassure her. The long dark glove told the imp it was Primrose, and following the dancer's arm up to her face showed that her expression had darkened with the reveal of an invisible agent, and all that that implied.

“Well, all right.” Jesse replied evenly. “Our main concern is the fate of the Resistance prisoners. All of them were forced to commit crimes against their will by mind control. We went out of our way to take as many as we could alive. We don’t want them executed or treated harshly. I think we’d prefer if they were let go, to be honest. They’re victims of the perpetrator, Nastasia, who we eliminated.” Jesse explained.

"Those of us that could still fight aided them against the Resistance leader when our minds were freed." Mao added, being one of the few voices the prisoner group had aside from Shadow's half-conscious self, and Robin. "Whatever her cause was, it wasn't something shared with us."

Big Band took the stage next. “As you probably guessed, the so-called ‘Resistance’ was a false flag operation. Nastasia’s boss jus’ wanted her to stir the pot so he could make a move on the throne. So she brainjacked every poor soul she got her hands on, from adventurers to vagrants to normal city folks to li’l kids.” He made no bones about showing his bitter disgust at such a callous act. “Neither she nor her boss gave a salt peanut about anyone but their own damn selves.”

"Some of us were even just their prisoners and we were still under mind control!" Sora added loudly, very much angry at the resistance leader.

For reasons that could probably be guessed, the information did not sweep Validar off his feet. The sorcerer merely sat in contemplation, considering both the minute details and the bigger picture. “That tracks with some of our prior knowledge, including the identities of several members. Even though there are known criminals and revolutionaries among the Resistance members, there were also those with no track record of illegal activity.” He rested his arms on his throne, brow furrowed. “So, the blame rests entirely upon this ‘Nastasia’, does it? Would that she were still here to provide a confession. And would that the killing, theft, and destruction committed by the Resistance were so easily explained away. Even if it amounts to involuntary manslaughter and not murder, the hands of the accused are stained with the blood. What evidence could we present to an angry, distraught public that might exonerate them?”

This was something the detective had been afraid of. Even if Nastasia was ultimately to blame for the terrorist campaign, it had been the Resistance members who robbed people of their lives and livelihoods. With Nastasia already dead and not so much as a trace of her boss to be found, would the public be able to accept the crimes’ perpetrators walking free? It was easy to imagine fear, resentment, retribution, and riot, not just against Nastasia’s victims but against the government that seemingly let them off scot-free. Band recognized that Validar probably just wanted to save his own neck by attempting uproar, and the simplest way to achieve that was capital punishment. To sacrifice them to satiate the public. But that outcome wasn’t just pessimistic; it was flat-out heartless. There had to be another way.

“One truth prevails,” he told Validar. “If it’s the truth, they’re gonna have to accept it. We jus’ gotta hit ‘em with the facts. Have the victims testify what happened, and get anyone who’ll attest to their character. Friends and family. And above all, we can prove that Nastasia brainwashed them.”

Interested, Validar leaned forward. “How?”

"Like this," Jesse said with dramatic lead in, stepping aside and opening her hand towards Sectonia.

The Keybearer looked at Jesse in confusion. "What?" She gave him an annoyed look.

The samurai smirked as he realized the plan and nodded his approval.

Sectonia didn’t feel much of a need to express her grievances with the Grimleal. After all, unlike the others, she wasn’t all that bothered by their more shady or evil ways. Her dislike of them was mostly just due to general suspicion that a queen would have for her rivals. ”Well, how about we just show you?” Sectonia said. With a wave of her hand much like summoning a single antillion, Nastashia materialized out of nowhere. Nastaisia gave Sectonia a very casual look, asking her what job her boss needs from her. ”Before you ask, a Queen has her methods. Now... Sectonia said, flaring out one of her cape wings in a show of flourish. do any of you want to volunteer?”

For a few moments a mild but undisguised impatience built while the Seekers passed the ball around in a needlessly theatrical manner. When Sectonia conjured the perpetrator of the ill-fated Resistance from thin air, however, Validar raised an eyebrow at her. “So, you decided to take the villain’s dangerous power for yourself, did you?” he asked rhetorically, not bothering to dignify the question with a response. A thin smile haunted his face. “How very pragmatic. After all, when it comes to such an ability, the sky is truly the limit. I cannot say I blame you, for who would have not done the same? Even if just to keep it out of the wrong hands, as I’m sure such heroes as you are wont to do.” Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on his knees and his clasped hands in front of his mouth. “Although, such a will to power makes me wonder if you are not an insect after my own heart. If you are a queen, then surely you must desire to rule…?”

With a nose laugh the smirking sorcerer leaned back, relaxing once again. “But I digress. Since you all seem content to let this one speak for you, I will take your word for it. Rather than waste everyone’s time in the present, we can arrange a demonstration later. With an impartial subject, useful neither as a hostage nor pawn…” Validar’s calculating gaze saw the possibilities hidden inside Sectonia’s suggestion for volunteers, and would not allow the possibility of a trick. After a moment he looked over to the resident researcher. “Lieutenant Azwel, would the recording of not only such a demonstration, but the testimony of the victims, not make for a prudent use of your technological research?”

Azwel smiled humorlessly as he toyed with his beard. “You know, I was just thinking the very same thing. Video is such a phenomenal medium, as powerful as it is fascinating. If the public will not trust in our word, they may trust in their own eyes and ears instead, hmm? I would need only some time for preparation and then filming…” He crossed his arms, looking between the Seekers and former Resistance members. “And, of course, a little help from a few trustworthy outsiders, both to show and to explain all that’s happened.”

With a nod Validar announced, “Very well. If the demonstration of Nastasia’s power proves the point built up by all three parties’ testimony, I will take the chance that you are correct as a show of good faith. It will be your responsibility, via Azwel’s videos, to both inform and convince the public of the victims’ innocence--as well as to face the consequences should you be wrong.” The ruler of Al Mamoon wore a solemn, severe look, one meant to instill the full gravity of the situation in his petitioners. “If you agree to these terms, then I will allow the former Resistance members to go free following a short transitional period. What do you say?”

"No." Fox piped up following the call for consent to terms, making tersely clear that he didn't. "Not agreed." With the eyes and ears of the court now (likely) on him, he proceeded with his statement. "If you want a demonstration, we won't be staging it. We do it live." Per his intent, he was hardly subtle in voicing his skepticism with the idea of presenting the public with a video presentation, for those in charge of distributing it could show whatever they liked and push an according narrative. As frustrating as it was, he wanted to eliminate the possibility of an unfair trial wherever he could see the potential for it. “If the people should be our jury, let them see for themselves, and not waste time showing them. Gather the crowd, pick our volunteer, and go!”

He moved to make one more preemptive addendum to the proposal, looking to get ahead of the question before it was asked. “If you’re looking for an impartial judge, someone to choose a subject, I nominate Razputin, your own psychiatric consultant,” he said, gesturing to the aforementioned.

Raz, on being singled out, straightened up at attention. “Oh, yes, hello! That’s me.”

“Since he’s already been in your employ for a while now, you can safely assume he’s not with us, OR the Resistance. I trust him to be fair if you do.” His brief rationale, he hoped, would convince the court likewise. Either way, it was clear, if nothing else, that balanced, agreeable terms needed to be met before they could move forward with anything at all.

Big Band sniffed. “I ain’t happy either. I get it that you’re lookin’ out for yourself, not wantin’ to put your administration in jeopardy, but pinnin’ everythin’ on us don’t look good either. Bein’ a leader ain’t about passin’ the buck to someone else and lettin’ them take the fall. It’s about takin’ responsibility.”

At that point, the Secretary of Absolute Defense stepped forward to add to what Fox laid out already. With his arms akimbo, Goldlewis said, “Mister Validar, speakin’ as someone who’s worked for the United States government my whole doggone life, whether the president’s tie is blue or red, I can tell ya that somethin’ most everyone wants from their leaders is transparency. They wanna be told what the deal is straight-up, no hidin’ behind videos, no borrowin’ other folks’ credibility. Maybe the problem ain’t so much that the public’s thirstin’ fer blood. Maybe it’s thatcha ain’t givin’ ‘em enough credit.” Raising his arms, he made a sweeping motion as if to indicate a big crowd. “I say, hold a press conference. Instead of dealin’ with all this behind closed doors, announce to the whole city ya got somethin’ big to tell ‘em. Then jus’ like Fox said, tell ‘em yourself, show ‘em what’s what. You’ve had Razputin stuffed away doin’ nothin’, so why not bring him out to evaluate ‘em? I reckon once everyone sees you bein’ forthright, things’ll turn out a damn sight better than ya think.”

While the others were talking, Midna floated/leaded over to Mao and asked the question that was probably on a lot of minds for pre digital eras and that was, ”Do you know what a ‘video’ is?”

Overhearing the question, Sora pulled out his Gummiphone to begin recording a video of Mao's explanation.

"Of course," He answered, finger edging his glasses ever so slightly upwards. He hadn't considered the idea of differing time periods, despite the utter differences of individuals in this mish-mashed world, but now that Midna had brought up something so obvious, it made him reflect back on the whole 'internet' thing from earlier and put the pieces together. "Think of it like an event in time that's documented in such a way you can rewatch it whenever you want." He tried to think of an example, grazing his own chin in momentary thought. "There's such devices in some worlds that can take 'video' of something ongoing to be replayed later. Like if we had a video of Nastasia's idiotic speech this all might be less of a headache."

”So like a... Like a perfect illusion spell copying duplicating everything in an area?” she said as she attempted to contextualise it within her own worlds framework

"Kind of." Mao gave her some credit for grasping the concept. "It's more of a technological marvel than magical. There's developed machines that can play back 'videos' and there’s other machines to display them." As he thought of technological developments, a thought crossed his mind sparked by the word 'illusions', eyeing Fox momentarily. "If they have the means to make video, though, they might also have the means to edit it." He started realizing part of perhaps why Fox refused in the first place, as the video could definitely be spun in however way they wanted if they had the correct assets. Working along as they directed could potentially lead to a trap. Looking back at Midna, realizing he probably needed to add some context, he did so. "'Editing' is basically an illusion in video, I guess. Things can be changed, or put out of context to make certain people look bad." He laughed a little, thinking of home. "The humans back home use it all the time in politics and general life, to slander others. It's quite entertaining when you're the spectator!" Being the one on the chopping block, though? It didn't change his view towards suffering humans or anything, but it was indeed a foul situation.

Moving to the pair, Sora held out the Gummiphone to begin playing three videos with a smile. "Does that help?" he asked with a smile.

Although some of Validar’s lieutenants greeted the sudden mixture of refusal, renegotiation, and reproach frostily, to say the least, Al Mamoon’s leader did not discount what his petitioners had to say. He considered their points with a clouded expression. “So you would have me meet the people face-to-face in a manner of public declaration, rather than hide behind spurious recordings and speak through you hirelings. To ask for the commonfolk’s trust rather than take action assuming I’ll never receive it, which in itself invites suspicion. It’s a bold strategy. Hmm...” Validar leaned sideways, resting his head on one fist.

For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, Ciella spoke up. “Deceit is an enticing pitfall for some. The urge to show only what one wishes and to hide the rest. The temptation to bend others to one’s will. The belief that others cannot handle the truth, or will not accept it. But no matter how one might spin it, there is only reality. The deceiver is powerless if one expects deception.” Arms crossed, she sent a sidelong glance at Validar. “If you espouse honesty, then you must be honest. To do otherwise is hypocrisy.”

“People don’t want to believe that their friends and family suddenly fell to insanity,” Kan-Ra reasoned. “Telling them what happened, and showing that the victims are well, will put their hearts at ease. Considering our admittedly well-earned reputation of secretiveness and harsh punishment, this course of action would do wonders for our reputation, as well.”

Hearing his name, the researcher waved his colleague’s way dismissively. “Yes, yes, I’m sure.” It wasn’t hard to tell that he was losing interest in the matter at hand, or that Cinderella never had any to begin with, for that matter. When Azwel realized, however, he treated Kan-Ra to a withering death glare. The sorcerer, of course, merely grinned.

With a small cough to get some attention, Raz stepped forward out of the crowd, taking a few steps closer to the throne than the others, putting a bit of distance between them as a gesture to talk employee to employer. “And, if I may, sir? I would hope that this arrangement includes the Resistance members that are already in custody. I’ve evaluated them earlier today and they seem to be reformed to me, so if they could be released, as a sign of good will to the people of the city, I’m sure that’ll help the cause.”

”While we’re out doing a public display, we could simultaneously give them their stuff back” Midna suggested”I found a whole load of stolen goods just sitting behind a bunch of lasers you see. Maybe we could even convince some of the Resistance..’s victims to help in the returning of items? Really hammer home that they were not onboard with the resistance’s whole deal?”

Sectonia just sat back and watched things unfold as her minions made plans this way and that. A public showing would be the most flashy, it was good to see that this was considered instead of having to rely on video, not everyone in dream land had televisions so it wasn’t the most effective thing out there. Still, it was amusing watching her minions debate with the Grimleal. If things got bad or she had a point, Sectonia would step in.

At this point Nastasia chimed in. “So uh boss, do I just stand here or..” Sectonia had to think a bit, since Nastasia wasn’t really doing much of anything. ”Well, they want an example of you later, so I suppose do whatever it is you do when you're not mind controlling people.” Sectonia suggested to her own striker, who nodded and pulled out a clipboard. The moment her pencil touched paper, her time expired and she poofed away.

Just after that, Validar seemed to come to a decision. “After considering the points of both your group and my own trusted advisors, I agree to your proposal. I will immediately circulate the announcement of this public address, scheduled for tomorrow morning. We will offer the facts and demonstrate proof, both of the victims’ wellness and the ringleader’s ability. Then we will return both them and the public’s confiscated belongings. Your sound counsel will, I’m sure, pave the way to a brighter future for my illustrious Al Mamoon.”

The news was a cause for festivity. Though Big Band and Goldlewis sighed in relief, and Midna restrained herself to a toothily pleased grin, Tora bounced up and down with a cheer before commencing a celebratory dance, and even in her mature QT Pi form Poppi spared no expense in following his example. Sora, though confused as to what exactly was going on, saw the others celebrating and smiled. Yoshitsune nodded and gave the Grimleal a small bow before moving to stand by the door, thinking it was time for him and his allies to depart. Jesse rolled her shoulder and joined him.

Shadow certainly looked pleased, although he looked irate at the same time. “Finally!” he announced, pushing himself free from Braum’s grip. The Freljordian let him go, knowing that the hedgehog was a free man (so to speak), and Shadow glared around at everyone. “Looks like you know what’s best for you after all. Just know that I’m letting you off easy. Watch yourselves.” With that, he teleported away.

'Tch, what a flashy bastard.' Mao internally reacted to Shadow's departure. But if he could do something so obnoxious without trouble, Mao considered his first taste of freedom from control-- Galeem or otherwise, to truly start tonight. With a little more confidence because of those around him, he decided for now to just pick up one of the badges rather than press his luck and get thrown into whatever prison was below. He didn't make a scene of it, rather the badge simply being stuffed away like anything else to avoid problems. He did think about the potential conditions down there however, and vowed to return tomorrow to see Klee, Baz, and Gunnar released. The others too, of course.

Fox had a hard time sharing his cohorts’ outward enthusiasm. Though it was good to see the Validar and his council budging toward a more agreeable consensus, he didn’t know how good he felt about giving them the night to comfortably prepare for anything. However, that made for time that they, too, could take advantage of to do as they needed before the next day’s demonstration. In consideration of this, he elected this time to hold his tongue on expediting it to tonight, lest he cost him and his own a valuable timetable, and further push their luck with the acting administration in doing so.

That... went much smoother than expected, Primrose thought. She'd let out her own sigh of relief, a quiet little puff of air, though there was still a tension in her body that wasn't likely to leave anytime soon. She glanced at the golden badge in her hand, turning it over a couple of times as she contemplated what was next. Their battles had been hard fought to be sure, but somehow the confrontation they'd all been preparing for seemed... all too easy.

After a short time spent watching in silence, Validar raised and clapped his hands for attention. “With that matter settled, were there any other matters that you wished to bring to my attention?”

”So, what’s the plan now that your only opposition is taken care of and you have total control of the city aaaanyway?” Midna felt compelled to ask, leaning in and resting her chin on interlocked hands, having gotten control of her anger regarding the world of darkness rumor, but not being anywhere near willing to let it go.

"Not the time, I think." Primrose's voice came hushed by the princess' ear. While she could understand where Midna was coming from, the fact was that while things seemed to be going swimmingly now the Grimleal still had the captive Resistance members in their possession. Validar could change his mind at any point while he still had them, and the Seekers could always come back to investigate afterward. Besides, they all knew that was a loaded question she'd asked - and no doubt the Grimleal could sense her suspicious intent even if they deflected with vague lines about continuous improvement. "Let us make sure we have everyone out safe and sound before provoking anyone, hm?"

Validar looked at Midna as if she’d asked a foolish question, or perhaps a question he chose to interpret as foolish, and shrugged with an idle wave of his hand. “Back to business as usual, running Al Mamoon,” he replied in a curt, succinct manner that made it obvious that there was nothing else for her to glean from him.

Midna bit her lower lip, clearly holding something back thanks to primros’s warning/tampering of her now looser lips, before flipping back in the air into a casual recline and shrugging and saying ”We’ll see” and leaving things at that. For now.

The response was about what anyone could expect. Mao's eyes shifted towards Reptile as he wondered just how much he'd overheard. Had he been outside? Or had he only heard what they talked about once they entered the palace proper? Given Validar's simplicity regarding his answer, and how things were going rather smoothly, he assumed their opposition had no information regarding the Alcamoth discussion Midna had opened up before. He simply looked towards her, nodding as if to just accept the answer for now. On one hand because it could risk their current agreement, and on the other, these politics just meant nothing to him with the scale of the situation they were dealing with outside of this city.

”Well now that that has been taken care of...” Sectonia said, watching Midna have some kind of fit with how things were done around here. ”At some point in the future I would like to discuss a trade deal with your kingdom and mine.” Sectonia said, changing the topic entirely. Although first she’d have to find out where Galeem sent Floralia, but she could use that tower as her ‘kingdom’ for now. Although she wasn’t sure if their chief export of mercenaries and treasure hunters would even be useful here now that she and her minions had dealt with their resistance problem.

Intrigued, Validar tented his fingers. “Your kingdom? Color me interested. I have already forged connections with most settlements in the eastern desert, so your own domain must be further afield. I can only imagine that you have trustworthy advisors indeed to leave them in charge while you range far and wide.” He treated Sectonia to a slight smile. “We can negotiate further in private, but I’d be interested to know what resources you can offer. Just to whet my appetite, if you will.”

”Unfortunately the main exports I’d offer, flowers, fruits, honey, machines, textiles, volcanic ash, and clowns are not available at this time. A little ‘rebellion’ of my own caused a nasty magical incident that cut me off from those aspects for the time being...” Sectonia said, clenching one of her fists. ”However mercenaries and magically created gemstones are still available if you are so inclined.” Sectonia finished.

“I see…” Validar looked almost disappointed. “Well, we can talk later.” He glanced over the others. “Will that conclude our meeting? I take it everyone is satisfied?”

As one might guess, not everyone was. Securing the futures of the former Resistance members was a triumph, but Robin still feared for one future: his own. As the others considered both their victory and their next step, the tactician approached the throne under his father’s expectant gaze. “Validar,” he began, his expression grave. “I take it you did intend to treat me the same as the others? What do you intend to do with me?”

A sorrowful look clouded the sorcerer’s face. “You’re quite right, of course. While I would be overjoyed to have you by my side on the road to a brighter tomorrow, alas, I fear that the bond between us has all but been severed.”

“That’s putting it mildly…” Robin muttered under his breath.

“As they say, if you love someone, you must let them go. So my son, though it grieves me to part I shall trouble you no longer. Instead I shall leave you to your affairs, and you may leave me to mine.”

The tactician crossed his arms, maintaining his composure. “How charitable of you. I’ll hold you to your word, then.”

Validar nodded stiffly, then addressed the group at large, several members of whom had already begun the trip across the throne room to leave. “In that case, it would appear that we’ve come to terms, and our negotiations are concluded. How glad I am that we could all part as friends, with no residual ill will among us. Safe travels, my friends~”

---

Al Mamoon’s illustrious ruler watched as the remaining Seekers filed out, gold passes accepted and ready for a night on the town. His advisors mostly kept their composure, although the last of the crown’s petitioners wasn’t even near the door before the gunslinger broke character..

“Okay, anyone else sick of standing here?” Cinderella asked suddenly, bored as she was annoyed. “I’m gonna go grab a drink. How about you, Flopsy? Bet you could use a couple.”

Ciella sighed, allowing her demeanor to shift from imperious coldness to weariness. “Yes, I expect I could.”

Laughing, Cinderella crossed her arms. “Points for honesty! You know, for how pissy they were all getting about all your goddamn friendly fire, they really didn’t even complain to Pointy about you.”

“Or bring up anything your son told them about you,” Reptile rumbled as the women walked away.

Busy writing in his notebook, Kan-Ra added with his trademark grin, “That little fairy fellow tossing around accusations of you cursing the Cowlipha must be disappointed.”

Validar waved his hand, smirking, as he leaned on his arm. “Oh, come now. Water under the bridge, I’m sure. Such heroes would never act rashly upon hidden misgivings. Were both parties not fully satisfied?”

Crossing his arms, Azwel sniffed. “Shouldn’t you have made it just a little more difficult for them to persuade you about the prisoners?”

The sorcerer looked offended. “Goodness, what are you implying? Any intention to render the death penalty was merely hearsay to begin with.”

“Hmph. Banking on them believing in your good intentions, are you?” Shrugging, Azwel turned to leave through the rear door, and Kan-Ra went after him.

Only Reptile remained as Validar himself rose to his feet. “Sir,” the spy rasped, his voice low but strained. “They were muttering about invasion. With all they left unsaid, do you really think they’ll leave us be?”

Validar sighed, his face one of mild annoyance. “They can believe whatever they like, but they can prove nothing. All they have for certain is that my retainers treated their enemies without mercy and that we use undead for labor. I, meanwhile, gave them every opportunity for diplomacy. If they choose to oppose us, it will be not just unprompted, but unjust.” He frowned at Reptile. “So we’ll keep all that we’ve learned to ourselves, won’t we?”

Reptile bowed. “Of course, my lord.” He waited until Validar rounded the throne, caressing it as he did, to rise. Then the two departed, and the throne room was empty once more.

World of Light

Own Little World

Level 4 Nadia (110/40), Level 8 Cadet (27/80), Level 9 Blazermate - (42/90)
Location: The Maw - Grand Atrium
Word Count: 6244 (+7)

Click for music

To the right lay a long, heavily burdened dining table, fully occupied by Guests under the watchful eyes of the green, orange, and blue-tinted paintings on the wall above. Though the last thing Nadia wanted was to deal with the more of the stomach-turning gluttons, and she expected that her friend felt the same, this way provided at least a little potential shelter from their vehement pursuer. Having been on the run more or less her whole life, the little thief had a knack for sizing things up during a chase. Over open ground Antoine’s longer stride and greater stamina would win out, but if she and Ace could stay out of reach and hop down to those ventilation pipes, they stood a chance. “This way!” she cried to Ace as she took off running, the boy on her heels. ”Okay!”

Her intuition paid off almost immediately. Barely had the two gotten moving before a frying pan, hurled like a discus with Olympian strength, smashed into two of the railing posts right behind them. Taken by surprise by both the sudden, noisy explosion of wood and the realization that Antoine must be able to pull cookware from nowhere, the duo split very briefly. Nadia instinctively launched herself in an emergency hero dive. Very much like the dives frequently employed by hunters in the Cadet’s world, it spared her a handful of splinters, but it did not quite bring her to safety beneath the dining table. Antoine grinned, pulling another pan from hammerspace. “Aha! Order up!” As Nadia scrambled to her feet, panicking, she witnessed her enemy’s second pan not just flying but arcing through the air, turning mid-flight to bear down on Nadia like a stainless steel frisbee.

"Nadia!" Ahead, the Ace Cadet had made it to cover. His eyes were wide with worry for his friend and he instinctively reached out to her. Having decided to use the 'curse' for good, he had perhaps intended to wash Nadia away from the impending danger of her skull being caved in by the cast iron cookware - but the intent conflicted with his want to bring her in to the relative safety of the table. When the holes started forming again and water erupted from the arm he held out toward her, it took the shape of a tentacle that wrapped itself around the feral and pulled. The Cadet was just as surprised as Nadia was, but when she came to a halt and the water dissipated, he was quick to help her up.

The heavy pan slammed into the ground, once more sending little chunks of the restaurant flying. At the point of impact where Antoine expected to find a Nadia-shaped splatter was instead a puddle of water - and a wet trail leading underneath the table to two annoyingly, perfectly intact children.

Nadia, splashed with water but otherwise unharmed, glanced at Ace with wide eyes. “Whoa!” Though taken by surprise, she wasn’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth. “Thanks!” With her friend’s help she got back to her feet in an instant and turned to follow him at a run beneath the table, where Antoine and his physics-defying projectiles couldn’t reach them. Wider than the booths encountered earlier, this table provided a perfect route for the children to escape without worry of Guest interference, but Antoine wasn’t about to let them get away so easily.

A terrific crash and continued ruckus above them suggested that the King of Cuisine had turned the table into his own personal highway. He trampled platters of food and kicked side the grubby mitts of the Guests as he thundered down its length, only ever hesitating when his shoe drew near a dish he remembered making himself. If the sight of his hard work slovenly slopped around upset him, he gave no sign, but remained hellbent on catching Nadia and the Cadet. As his footfalls thundered overhead Nadia slowed down, wary of him waiting at the other side. “Damn, he’s gonna cut us off,” she hissed. Looking back the way she came, she wondered if she and Ace could make it through the open area going the opposite direction before Antoine both caught on and caught up.

After another moment Antoine hit the floor at the table’s other end, kneeling to peer under the table expectantly. “What’s the matter, kids?” he called, his voice taunting. “Indigestion?”

“What’re we gonna do?” the kitten whispered urgently to the monster hunter. “All my plans were sorta based on parkourin’ around the place. Gettin’ to the pipes is still our best bet, right?”

"I don't know," he said honestly, "but unless we come up with another plan quick it's gonna have to be."

The Cadet went as close as he dared to the edge of their cover, peering out from under the table to get another look at the piping. If they could get down there then Antoine wouldn't be able to follow. Sure he could still hurl stuff at them, but the more distance they put between the chef and themselves the better. It could work. It would work. He looked where Antoine was pacing at the other end of the table, having scrambled atop it with pure anger fueling him. Guess he really didn't like Ms. Fortune's soup joke. Shame, Ace Cadet thought it was pretty good.

"We just gotta get this guy off our back." The Cadet scrunched his brows together in thought. One of his arms was curled tight around the fan, the other came up to rest on his chin, just about back to normal after the use of the water ability. What was it going to take to lose the man hellbent on catching them, short of killing him? Or were they going to have to resort to that?

Down at the far end, Antoine was getting impatient. “Grrah!” he snapped after a few moments. “If you will not come out, how about some company, huh?” Empowered by his rage, he dealt a driving kick right into the nearest Guest’s corpulence. With a startled cry the flailing blob tipped over sideways in his chair, his weight carrying him straight into his neighbor on the other side, causing an immediate domino effect. The whole row of Guests teetered and fell one after another, turning an entire side of the table from security into danger. Nadia sprang into the air in alarm, bumping her head on the table, as more of those accursed Guests hit the deck close by and started dragging themselves her way. And as if that wasn’t enough, Antoine went over to topple the other side the same way, getting the gluttons to do his dirty work for him.

With danger much too close for comfort, Nadia started running. She headed directly toward Antoine, planning to take refuge in audacity with a surprise attack despite her disadvantage. As she scampered toward him she held out her magnet to collect fallen silverware, most of it unused thanks to the Guests’ hands-on approach to eating, and after discarding the spoons she had two fistfuls of sharp points ready for use. Ace had a few moments to put the tools at his disposal to use, with a better solution than Nadia’s by no means out of the realm of possibility. The ventilation pipes lay just below the railing just beyond and to the left of Antoine; the kids just had to fight their way through.

With so many guests all packed together there on the ground crawling over each other and toward them, the Cadet doubted he'd be able to wash them away as easily as he did back in the sushi section of the restaurant. He hurried after Nadia away from the guests' gaping mouths, dodging all manner of items that had fallen to the ground along with the guests themselves. Food and plates they'd dragged down with them, glasses, silverware, and some salt and pepper shakers that very nearly tripped him. The Cadet glared at the offending shakers - then did a double take when an idea came to mind. When you face an enemy bigger and meaner than you, it was always a good idea to try and blind it!

"Bring his face down lower," he whispered harshly to the feral, hoping that the commotion of the guests crying out and the dishes that clattered to the ground would prevent Antoine from hearing his words. "Just a little, if you can get him to stoop or kneel then we just might catch a break!"

He let her go ahead then, well aware that the full heat of Antoine's attention would be on her. Only temporarily, but still. Hopefully his plan would work. He made a hasty u-turn to snatch up the pepper and start unscrewing the cap as he ran to follow his friend. For good measure he scanned the ground, grabbing a handful of sliced pepper fruits and squishing them between his fingers before shoving them into the small container and giving it a little shake.

Ready to put her friend’s plan into action the only way she knew how, Nadia sprinted straight toward the southern end of the table. To the untrained eye desperate for freedom it looked clear, but while the kitten couldn’t claim to be unafraid, she was no fool, either. She could see Antoine waiting right by the side, ready to bring his frying pan down on anyone who raced heedlessly through. If she stopped just out of smashing range beneath the table, however, he’d need to reach down and grab her--just what Ace needed. With that plan as good as it was going to get as she neared the end of the table, slid into the endzone like a baseball player to the plate, hoping that this didn’t backfire on her. Sure enough, Antoine -perhaps thinking that she’d spotted him last minute- swooped in to help her the rest of the way. As he knelt he extended his arm like a lunging snake, clapped his hand around her ankle, then dragged her out of hiding with a jarring yank. “Aha! Now you’re-!”

His declaration of victory turned into a pained grunt as Nadia thrust two fistfulls of metal cutlery into his hand. The unexpected attack hurt, but barely drew blood thanks to the kitten’s meager strength, and before they could sink too deep Antoine withdrew his hand. With his target out of cover and flat on her back, he already had her right where he wanted her, and with his face twisted into a vengeful snarl, raised his flying pan to batter her.

"Over here, you hack!"

Having gotten into position a little further away, the Ace Cadet pointed the fan in Antoine's direction and switched it on. He dumped the powdered spice out from it's container in front of the appliance's blades, and as he'd hoped it whooshed forward carried by the wind the device generated.

Just as he hoped, the powerful airburst from his new toy launched a veritable whirlwind of stinging particulates straight into the King of Cuisine’s baleful eyes and bare-toothed grimace. “Pfeh! Gaaagh!” he sputtered, his cry of pain and rage lost in a fit of coughing. When he instinctively went to stand up, he bumped his head painfully against the edge of the dining room table, eliciting another howl and putting a momentary dampener on his hands’ efforts to rub the pepper from his eyes.

“Hahah, purr-fect!” Nadia cheered, springing to her feet. By the time Antoine aimed a wild, blind kick in the direction of her voice, she and Ace were already gone. They sprinted the last couple dozen feet to the railing overlooking the wide-open area that occupied the Grand Atrium’s first and second floor and clambered right over, one at a time.

Blazermate chased the chef chasing her kid allies fish in hand, but once she saw how he just bowled over the guests, Blazermate took a moment to look for another weapon, just in case this fish wasn’t enough. Seeing Nadia grab some sharp objects to use gave Blazermate an idea, with Blazermate grabbing some of the unused silverware near one of the guests who was shoveling food in their face. After finding her backup weapon with, frankly, smaller range than the fish, Blazermate continued the chase as the kids continued their escape.

The next second Nadia landed on the double ventilation pipes with a dull clang, freezing momentarily as it wobbled beneath the impact. From here she could also get a better look at the area below her, and she quickly realized that her earlier assessment of the Atrium’s interior, done extremely quickly and from an imperfect angle, had missed a couple details. The kitchen area that Cookatiel presided over, comprising the Atrium’s entire first floor, was completely flooded in a creamy white stew replete with floating ingredients. The bubbling broth and constant flow of steam made the whole thing look like a sizzling swamp, taking ‘the floor is lava’ to a whole new level. A number of pipes attached to the walls sucked up stew to fill what Nadia uncharitable identified as ‘troughs’ around the restaurant, keeping the ponderous patrons well-fed. A little shaky, the feral got to her foot. “This is fine,” she observed. “No change in plan. Better, even, if he tries to follow us.” She glared at the giant pink bird stirring the stew with a super-sized spoon. “Just gotta watch out for that thing.”

"Hey, catch." Once he had her attention the Cadet tossed the fan to Nadia across the gap so that he could make a better jump. He landed next to her, steadying himself with a hand as the pipes wobbled but ultimately held up. He found himself grinning, glad they'd made it this far. He took the useful object back from Nadia and followed her gaze to the huge pink bird dressed in a chef's outfit. It's eyes moved independently of each other, lolling back and forth as it went about it's work, but the children had to assume that just meant it would have an easier time spotting them given their luck.

"I'm surprised it can fly with those little wings," he commented. It sort of reminded him of the humanoid guests they'd just left behind, but goofy rather than gruesome. "But... it looks big enough to ride on, if it comes over you can use your 'paw-kour' again."

As the pair moved through the atrium, Blazermate saw that the lower floor was covered in a boiling stew, giving Blazermate an idea if fighting this guy head on didn’t work, even if the pink bird chef above was using this pool of stew to add new ingredients to it. Frankly out of everything here, the pink bird chef was kind of adorable, if a bit doofy. Blazermate hoped they wouldn’t have to fight her, she was too adorable to have to kill.

Behind the kids, Antoine reached the railing, his eyes red, watery, and full of rage. He held a stack of plates in his hand, ready to throw, but at that moment Blazermate made her entrance. She soared in and whacked him with her newspaper-wrapped fish, meatily smacking him again and again, but after the initial shock wore off the King of Cuisine quickly evidenced a surprising resistance to physical trauma. “What’s this?!” he roared, rounding on Blazermate. He grabbed hold of the fish mid-swing, his fingers digging deep into its scaly flesh. “Toasters should stay in the kitchen!” With a powerful tug he tore a big hunk of fish free, coming around at the same time to smash the stack of plates meant for Nadia and Ace against Blazermate’s chassis. Before the shards of china even hit the ground he was gobbling down the fish, healing up the damage he’d taken so far.

Eventually Blazermate caught up to the chef chasing her kids and began to smack him as he was climbing the railing, with an intent to throw the plates he was holding at them. Blazermate’s fish-like weapon… didn’t do the damage she was expecting, being a bit more of a distraction than anything. And this chef healed whatever damage Blazermate did to him with the fish as he retaliated, grabbing the top half of her makeshift club and eating it! While throwing the plates at Blazermate, well then…Thankfully the plates themselves weren’t really super good weapons, much like her fish, so their damage overall was low thanks to her armor, and she could keep her healing beam on herself so this guy would have one heck of a fight on his hands.

The commotion drew the kids' heads back toward their pursuer, and their unexpected ally. Given that the Cadet couldn't exactly go back and help Blazermate fight Antoine off now that he'd made the jump to the pipes, he tried to reach out with the cursed water like he had with Nadia. If he could grab the chef, hold him in place or even pull him over the railing... but all of his ideas vanished when he reached out his arm and the water didn't come. The pores on his arms expanded, pulsing slightly like gasping for air, but no mist formed.

"Huh? This...?" Cadet flexed his fingers, trying to will the water into existence, but what little formed sputtered out just as quickly. "This curse power is running out...?!" Was it because he'd used it all up? Was it dependent on him continuing to eat? Gah, that's annoying! Just when he was really coming to terms with it too.

He turned back to Nadia, somewhat conflicted. "Should we - keep going? I think she can take him, she's tougher than she looks," the Cadet said of Blazermate. She already looked plenty tough too, given she was made of metal.

Though Nadia fretted over the same decision, she managed to come to a quick and sensible decision. Well, by her standards, anyway. “We don’t need to run if we’re not bein’ chased,” she reasoned, adjusting her footing on the pipe. “As long as that pan-chuckin’ psycho’s not in the kitchen, we’re doin’ our part. She’s got this...I think.” As her second-guessing suggested, Nadia wasn’t totally sure that the kids’ medabot friend had a cake walk ahead of her. If manifesting cookware and kicking the Guests over was anything to go by, this Antoine was no ordinary human. She held her position for now, waiting to see how things panned out.

Blazermate, now fishless with this guy having EATEN IT and healed from it, pulled out her backup weapon, a slightly larger than average fork she picked up from one of the guests from earlier. Depending on the damage this did, she might have to go with her backup plan with the stew. Still, she had this cook’s attention, and while he was a tough boy, his weak points lined up to the basic human ones.”Don’t mess with my kids!” Blazermate said as she started attacking by doing a fork thrust at his eyes, with a followup knee to his crotch region and a few hits to his chest to wind the big boy. He might be tough, but unlike her kids, Blazermate was both adult sized and even stronger thanks to being a robot.

“Gah!” Antoine sputtered, taken by surprise by Blazermate’s hidden weapon. She managed to land a few hits, throwing him off momentarily, but her advantage quickly wore out its welcome. The fork she’d snagged to wield against him, still quite small despite being a little bigger than normal, didn’t so much as register with him unless aimed for his eyes, which took more than a little precision. When Antoine whipped out a frying pan easily twice the size of his head, his giant swings made getting in a tricky proposition. Again and again he whacked at the medabot, happily targeting whatever he could, but when it became clear his pan wasn’t leaving a lasting impression, the situation quickly began to dawn on the both of them: neither could effectively damage the other.

That did not sit well with Antoine. He knew that if he let this blasted machine lock him in a stalemate, those detestable kids would get away. As such the moment the opportunity arose, he used a nearby stool to jump at her like a mad dog. He aimed to bring her down beneath his weight, driving her through the end of the dining table and into the floor. There, the Guests that Blazermate wrote off as non-threats could reach and grab her, holding her as Antoine went to return the favor from earlier by bashing at his attacker’s face.

Blazermate wasn’t going to let this man grab her though, not that easily anyway. Using her jets, she jumped up into the air, using them to launch herself rather than fly and watch as this mad cook missed her entirely as he leaped at her. Now, neither side had much of a chance of hurting the other Blazermate soon realized, and if this guy was going to tr to crush her, maybe she could make use of that reckless abandon…

Hovering around a bit, she faced her back towards the railing that lead to the platform below which was full of bubbling hot stew. Physical blows didn’t seem to work, but boiling hot cookeries could cause some damage, hopefully.

“You think I’m stupid, eh?!” When Blazermate backed off, Antoine responded by hurling things at her in quick succession. Cups, plates, knives, anything that came to hand hurtled toward the machine with surprising speed and accuracy. His salvo finished with one of his patented miracle pans, arcing through the air in an impossible manner to bean Blazermate right on the noggin if she dodged any time earlier than last-second. While she dealt with that, he seized a ham shank from the table and bit into it, tearing off mouthfuls of meat to get rid of the injury to his face.

Well, this guy could change between ranged and melee fairly quickly. Kind of made Blazermate sad she didn’t have a machine gun arm for her other arm. His barrage found its mark thanks to his accuracy, but only the final hit, the frying pan, did any real damage. An audible sound of metal hitting metal could be heard from his frying pan hitting, causing Blazermate to reel backwards a bit, but her healing arm soon repaired the damage dealt. ”I can outheal any projectiles you throw at me.” Blazermate said, stating the fact that the two had low damage and high healing on each other, although his healing was food related so it’d run out eventually. It’d take forever to do anything though if he stood at range. It did give the kids to run away, though.

When the fight intensified beyond the railing, Nadia stood on her tip toes to try and get a better view, a grimace on her face. Although common sense told her that Blazermate should be able to withstand whatever this crazed chef threw at her, she couldn’t help but worry. Until they broke the curse, after all, the unaging medabot was the only one among them who could actually fight some of these horrors. Nadia did not, however, focus so rigidly on the brawl in front of her that she failed to notice the giant pink bird rising to her right. As Cookatiel flapped into view the feral forgot all about Blazermate, instead turning to face the new threat with her ears flattened against her hair and her little fangs bared. Considering everything she’d seen in the Maw so far, from a headless shadow beast to the twisted Moreau to the bulbous faces of the Twin Chefs, she wasn’t afraid so much as angry--angry at the prospect of having to deal with yet another giant enemy right now. “Scram, you big chicken!” she yelled at it, shifting her glare between the big, goofy eyes that googled in different directions. “We’re not on the menu!”

In reply, Cookatiel opened her beak and spat out a big, yellow bell pepper right at her. Seeing it soaring toward her made Nadia want to die a little inside. “Come ON!” she yowled, jumping straight up to avoid the oversized vegetable. It struck the pipe beneath her with a clang, denting it and shaking the whole thing back and forth. Nadia landed on her feet, paused just a moment to steady herself, and took off at a sprint for the central ventilation unit to hide behind.

The bird flew lazily after her, bobbing up and down with every flap of its wings as it floated along in pursuit. When it soon became apparent to Cookatiel that the feral was faster than her, she slowly turned to the other child on the piping. The Ace Cadet had regained his footing after the metal's shaking came to a halt, and now he stared at the bird as it lifted it's head and opened its beak up.

"Don't—" A spiky yellowed fruit came flying out of her mouth towards him. The little monster hunter ducked down, letting it pass overhead. A large apple was spat up next, though the Cadet was more willing to take the wholly less dangerous fruit head on. He caught the offending food in both hands, wobbling only a little. The Cadet hefted the fruit over his head and chucked it right back at Cookatiel - but it bounced rather harmlessly off of her big feathered body. She squawked in a mixture of disbelief and surprise, unhurt by the boy’s projectile, but as comical as they were the flying chef’s eyes still shone with the antagonistic glimmer of the Lord of Light. With an angry cackle she hawked up a tomato to spew Cadet’s way. He very narrowly avoided it, dropping low to the piping to duck under the giant fruit. There was a joke about tomatoes and comedians somewhere in the back of his mind, but he chose to focus on his escape routes rather than make it - glancing between the lower walkway, the ventilation, and the bird trying to pelt him with food.

The series of noises stopped Nadia in her tracks. In the span of just a few short moments she’d leaped from the dangerously swaying pipe bridge and climbed onto the grate that ringed the central ventilation duct, ready with her magnet in hand to put even more distance between herself and the big, pink bird. Now that she looked back, however, she realized not just that Ace was in danger once more, but also something worse.

I’m doing it again.

A wave of guilt and loathing swept across Nadia as she became aware of the fact that she’d already just about left her friend behind once more. How many times did that make it? Three? Five? Whether in the Belly, the Depths, the Kitchen, or out on the open ocean, she just kept forging onward on her lonesome, leaving even those closest to her to fend for themselves. Sure, maybe it worked out before, but sooner or later her luck was going to run out. Her heedless self-interest was going to get someone hurt, maybe even killed, but still she kept rolling the dice. Nadia bared her fangs, not at Cookatiel, but at herself, and jumped back down. She pitter-pattered back across the vents to where Ace had fallen, even as the bird scrounged up another projectile from within. “Hey, you okay, pal? Here, let’s swap!” Reaching down to help him up, she handed him her magnet and grabbed the pepper-speckled fan. Now he didn’t have as much extra weight to put him off balance, and he could use the magnet to steady himself atop the metal, making up for his lack of feline surefootedness. “We’ve gotta get goin’, c’mon!”

"Right!" Nadia's reappearance made the decision of which way to go a lot easier, and the Cadet was glad for it, although it put her back in harm's way. She seemed very troubled even though they'd both been in worse spots, just earlier that day even in the Cadet's opinion. It's gonna be alright! he wanted to tell her. They could definitely get by this big bird. It was two versus one. Just as long as—

“Little rats! Hold still!” came a frenzied shout from the direction of the ruined dining table. Nadia turned to see Antoine, no longer beset by Blazermate, back to hound his old targets. The gray-haired chef vaulted over the railing and landing on the double pipes, rattling the whole thing a lot worse than either Ace or Nadia had. Cookatiel turned toward him with an annoyed squawk, but Antoine merely pointed his knife at the runaways. “Shut up and get them, you oversized poultry!”

Nadia tugged on her friend’s arm. “Okay, now we’ve really gotta go!” Heart pumping, she looked wildly around for a little help. “Blazer, where the hell are you!?”

Blazermate meanwhile was flying high, higher than Cookatiel and the kids, formulating a plan to deal with the crazed cook and save her kids who had gotten the ire of a second cook, the pink bird. A large pink bird, who was getting ready to charge…. There was an idea. Swooping down, Blazermate got on top of Cookatiel as she was preparing to charge and guided her charge by tilting her head, forcing Cookatiel to dash into the pipe network that Antoine was using to climb up to them in a way to disable both chefs.

Taken by surprise, Cookatiel struggled noisily against Blazermate’s interference, but her efforts turned out to be totally in vain. With such small wings the giant bird made for a slow, ponderous flier, with even a small shift of her weight in any direction enough to throw her completely out of whack. Once the medabot tilted her, there was no stopping her, as Antoine soon found out. Like a wrecking ball she careened straight toward Antoine as he hot-footed it across the pipe bridge, and no amount of hurled kitchen objects (or colorful expletives) would change that. Realizing what was about to happen, Ace and Nadia made themselves scarce, and the next second Cookatiel plowed through with enough force to crush them like soda cans, wrenching them free from where the ends were bolted in the process.

As the kids leaped onto the central vent’s grate the bridge fell away behind them, taking a yelling Antoine with it. The chef hurtled downward toward the steamy surface of Cookatiel’s creamy, boiling stew. He splashed down rear-first and promptly soared back upward into the air, howling with his pants on fire. In comedic fashion he bounced two, then three times, each leaving an arc of smoke from his burning backside as he flew, until the King of Cuisine finally came down on the third floor’s opposite side. On the way down he smashed right through the dinner table -and dinner- of another pack of Guests, sending food and splinters flying in a messy explosion. And whether knocked unconscious, too hurt to move, or just plain sick of it all, Antoine stayed down for now.

At the same time, Cookatiel’s disastrous flight path brought her straight into one of the walls, slamming googly-eyes first into the sheer surface. The tremendous impact, powerful enough to shake the whole restaurant, left a crate. Squawking miserable, the giant chicken reeled back, stunning and just barely keeping aloft. For the opportunistic medabot, this was a chance to put this evil chef out of commission, too. Depending on which way Blazermate struck Cookatiel, she could very easily tumble backward into her own stew, or potentially bash through and be lodged inside the wall. Blazermate, in a combination of having her job done and not wasting an opportunity, used Cookatiel as a platform to begin flying, jumping off her back with great force to get back in the air again and follow her kids. Shunted forward once more, the bird bowled into the wall again, and this time it didn’t hold. She smashed through and into the adjacent wing of the restaurant. Through the wreckage and darkness it was tough to make anything out in there, but judging by all the crashes and many cries from the Guests, it was a total wipeout.

Nadia sprang upward and landed with a mega fist pump, her cheer of celebration mixing with the Cadet's exclamations of how Rad-alos that had been, both echoing through the whole of the Grand Atrium. “Nyahahaha, that’s right! Not so fun when you’re the one bein’ made dinner! How’s your own medicine taste, ya psychos?!” Exhilarated both by the victory against the chefs and the feat of surviving yet another near-death experience alongside Ace, she gave into her urge from earlier and swept him up in as big a hug as the little feral could muster. Only after a moment did her head catch up to her heart. “Oh...sorry.” She withdrew quickly, running her hand through her hair in embarrassment. “And, uh, sorry about earlier, dude. Really. I mean, I almost left ya again.” With a sigh she plopped down on the grate, her legs dangling over the edge. After another big chase she could use a moment to catch her breath, but that wasn’t the only reason why her ears were drooping. “I’m honestly shocked you’re still okay teamin’ up with me at this point,” she told him, resting her head in a hand. While they chatted, Blazermate hovered nearby, listing to their conversation until they noticed her.

Not one to shy away from physical affection, the Cadet had regarded Nadia curiously after her apology - and then her further apology.

"Aw, is that all?" The Cadet looked away briefly and scratched his cheek, thinking about how to to phrase his thoughts. "Sure, sometimes you do get ahead of the rest of us, and without any of my equipment it can be kinda hard to follow you..." he said, relenting her point at first, "...but you came back, didn't you?"

The boy smiled, crouching down beside Nadia and putting a hand on her shoulder. He could regale her with stories of the times he'd gone off on his own back in his home world and how disastrously they'd gone, but that wasn't what she needed. Nadia was still coming to terms with being part of a group again it seemed, after having her gang ripped away from her. So the Ace Cadet gave her reassurance instead. "I'll always find a way to come and back you up, otherwise what's a team for? Hell, what are friends for?"

He moved to stand again, his hand lingering on her shoulder before it slipped away as he stood. "Besides, even if we got split up a couple times I think we make a pretty good team!" Not mentioning the fact that other Seekers had jumped in to help each time, but hey - they were all part of the team too. The Cadet crossed his arms and put a hand to his chin dramatically, cutting a sideways look at Nadia. "What do you think about the Ace Decoys?"

Smiling despite her inner conflict thanks to her friend’s infectious positivity, Nadia couldn’t help but give a slight laugh. “Sounds good to me. And...thanks. Really. I guess I was wrong to worry aboutcha bein’ fed up with me. It’s just...” She look down into the bubbling stew, enjoying the heat of its steam on her skin after the chill of the Depths. Her expression reflected the turmoil below. “I’ve been on all on my own such a long time now, I got used to just thinkin’ about myself. Lookin’ out for number one, right? But if somethin’ bad happened to you while I was bein’ selfish, I’d just hate myself for it. I don’t wanna lose any more friends. That’s why I’ve got to do better.” Feeling a good bit better, she got back up and offered Ace a fist bump. “For what it’s worth, I think we make a great team, too!” she added with a wink.

"It's pretty much impossible for me to get sick of you - and hey, I'm tougher than I look, so don't worry!" He spared her the indignity of trying to flex while still stuck in his boyhood body and readily returned the fist bump. His cheeks were a little flushed from her candid words, but no one needed to know it wasn't from all the running and the heat rising from the soup below. It felt really nice to have someone trust in him enough to tell him their true feelings, especially when they were being down on themselves, so that he could try to lift them back up. "And you will do better! I'm gonna do my best not to let anything happen to you or me, or any of us - and I'm kind of a professional team player, so you can count on me."

”Ahem...” Blazermate said with a mechanical cough seeing as this conversation was going on and on. ”We really should get moving kiddos.” Blazermate said, grabbing Ace and Nadia before either could question how much she heard, scooping Ace up in one arm and Nadia in the other to fly them back to the kitchen. Well, more glide with the occasional jump, but still.

World of Light

Blue Team

Location: The Maw - Main Kitchen
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Sakura's @Zoey Boey, Link’s @Gentlemanvaultboy, Mirage’s @Potemking

In the darkness that flashed briefly across the kitchen, the flames beneath Sakura and Rika cast Bella’s savagery in a terrifying light. Her leviathan tail seemed to have awakened to its monstrous nature, snapping shut on mouthfuls of still-living flesh at a time before twisting to wrench them free and swallow whole, like a hagfish on the carcass of a whale. All the while Bella herself lay splayed across Larry’s body, motionless but for the tugs of her tail as it did its work, her glassy eyes wide and her salivating mouth ever so slightly agape. For all its awful intensity, however, the moment quickly passed. Link and Geralt’s simple but lethal attacks on the brain and spine ended the hardy butcher’s agony for good. His corpse quickly disintegrated, and the hero and abyssal atop the heaping pile of ashes sank to the ground. The vicious struggle was over.

Bowser and his Koopa Troop quickly convened with Mirage, catching up on the situation that had developed in the brief time they’d been blocked off from the kitchen. Bella, however, remained still, staring down at the ashes and the spirit of Larry Chiang without any reaction to the grip on her wrist or the words in her ear, hostile or otherwise. After a dreadful moment the Seaplane Tender blinked, inhaling suddenly, then turned to Link. “I…I’m sorry, I don’t know what...agh!” She doubled over, her breathing heavy but ragged, clutching her stomach. Her tail slid through the ashes across the tile floor, its mouth open and tongue lolling in satisfaction as if to say do what you must, for I have already won. As Link watched the armored appendage visibly grow in both size and length, and when his attention turned back to Bella, he found her changing as well. In only a few short moments she’d reached the size of a ten-year-old at least, her black-striped white hair waist-length.

As her discomfort wore off Bella jerked awake, staring in confusion and fear down at herself and the much shorter hero of time. “Merde!” With a yelp she backed away into a sitting position against the table, shrinking from Link’s gaze. “Don’t look at me! I’m fine!” she told him shakily. “W-well, whatever got a hold of me is gone, at least. But now…” She sniffed, tearing up, and buried her face in her hands to escape from the looks of the others. “I guess ze food was cursed after all. At least...zis won’t happen to anyone else.”

While she did her best to come to grips with her new situation, the rescue of Sakura and Rika was in progress. Bowser, Junior, the newly-recruited koopas, Mirage, and even Peach -having been too weak from hunger to do much more than follow the Troops for a while now- worked together to extinguish the flames slow-cooking the girls from beneath, then stack whatever came to hand to build a platform beneath them. An idea struck Peach, and she hurried over to where Bella had sequestered herself. “If you’re still in your right mind, give us a hand!” she urged. “You can put your height to use rescuing the others!”

“Ze others?” Bella looked up, eyes wide. “Sakura!” In a flash the Water Princess was on her feet, and just a moment later was towering above the other rescuers. “I’m sorry mon cherie, I’m here!” As she watched, her allies severed the binds that tied the other captives to their hooks, allowing them to drop down onto the makeshift platform the Troop provided. Before they could fall or even totter, Bella swept them up in her arms, holding them tight before depositing them onto the ground. Then, more self-conscious even than when she’d absorbed the shipgirl Chicago’s spirit, she backed away and crouched down. Her leviathan tail coiled around her ankles as she clasped her knees to her chest, trying to make herself seem smaller. Her friends being safe sent such a pang of relief through Bella that tears sprang from her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, everyone!” she sobbed. “I couldn’t control it! I just...I just…”

Right then, of course, the Tempura Wizards reached the top of the staircase. The cyclopean eyes on their long, fried heads went wide as they discovered the source of the disturbance from upstairs: a slew of children and monsters, many wielding weapons. Floating up from the landing on their purple-patterned bowls of rice, they readied their staves and slung forward one globule each of enchanted flour. Bella’s attention shot in their direction in a spray of tears, and without so much as a thought for her own well being -perhaps believing herself to be doomed anyway by the curse- the abyssal threw her body in the way of both hexes. Instantly she poofed away, turned temporarily into a shrimp tempura. One of the Tempura Wizards blinked, exchanging its eye for a slavering mouth, and zoomed forward to eat it while the other readied another projectile.

“Come ON!” Peach pretty much screamed. “This place is the WORST!” Opening her parasol for use as an emergency shield, she ran forward. Cursed or not, Bella was part of the team, and the princess wasn’t going to let her die.

Wildwood Glades

Location: Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline
Linkle’s @Gentlemanvaultboy

As the three made their way through the blossoming wildflowers and scarlet-draped trees, both of Linkle’s companions listened to her stories with rapt attention, although Albedo lacked the older woman’s encouraging smile. Although the average person might enjoy it as a heartwarming tale of one’s use, the alchemist couldn’t help but to look at it more clinically, trying to understand it all.

Losing one’s parents was a truly horrible affair--even Albedo knew that much. It was the sort of wound, imperceptible and immune to the miracles of science, that he could have no hope of being able to heal. Yet the beloved grandmother that Linkle spoke of seemed able to achieve such an incredible feat, taking a little girl too hurt and afraid to so much as interface with the outside world and turning her into a beacon of hope so irrepressible that not even a parasitical avatar of death could hold her down. All that from a wizened old woman with nothing to her name but her heart and mind. For all his lifelong research into the wonders of alchemy, accomplished to the point of being viewed as its foremost authority across several nations, Albedo could not do what Linkle’s grandmother could. Alchemy could create life, level mountains, and transmute the elements themselves, but with it Albedo could not reach into a broken creature and take away its pain. It was a sobering realization.

All too soon, Linkle’s story came to an end. Its foremost listener joined her in her laughter. “She sounds like a truly exceptional woman. Parenthood really is one of life’s greatest challenges. We all want what’s best for our children, yet so many of us fall short.” Her smile turned softer, more contemplative. “Even I could learn a lot from this grandmother of yours. Life twists and turns so often that it really is lovely to hear a little credence to that old saying, that love conquers all.”

Albedo’s consideration of his new acquaintance’s words led him to speak up. “You have a child of your own then, I take it?”

“Yes,” the lady replied, her face a mixture of muted love and pain. “A beautiful baby boy. I loved him with all my heart, and I still do. I only ever wanted to keep him safe, but in the end, my overprotectiveness drove us apart.” Wistfully she gazed off into the trees, breathing deep of the pure valley air with a deep sigh. “Still, I will never give up hope, that even though I might not deserve it, he will someday forgive me. And we can be a family once more.”

A few quiet moments later, she glanced at Albedo curiously. “Now, what about you, young man? Neither of us have heard your story, have we?”

The alchemist narrowed his eyes, perturbed by the woman’s intuition. “I am Albedo, Chief Alchemist of the Knights of Favonius of Mondstadt,” he told her. “My role is the investigation of the world, turning the ‘unknown’ into the ‘known’ one day at a time, so that I might discover the world’s truth.”

“Quite the task,” the woman replied, stepping around a thorny bush. “But I was more curious about your family.”

Albedo breathed slowly as he thought, the question not unanticipated. “Family? Although Alice has always asked me to call her mother...when I think of the idea of ‘family’, my master comes to mind first. My earliest memories in life are of going on adventures with her. She taught me the art of alchemy and much knowledge about the world. Perhaps... even the words ‘family’ and ‘master’ are incapable of fully expressing her meaning to me.”

After a moment he continued. “She disappeared a while ago. In the letter she left me, her last words were ‘show me the truth and the meaning of this world’. And so that has been my mission, whatever that might entail.”

“You say that like you’re discussing the weather,” the lady remarked. “But I know you’re telling the truth when you say your master meant a lot to you.” She gave a brief laugh, eliciting a confused look from Albedo. “Well then! It looks like I have two rather special children on hand, both raised by very special women. It’s endearing, but somewhat humbling, as well. I’ll have to try my hardest to compare. Here...”

The woman came to a stop in a small clearing walled in on all sides by land and trees, a mat of vines knotted together in front of her. She bent, scooped up soil from the ground, rubbed it between her hands, and cast it at the vines in a plume of pink and orange lights. “Greiða.” Obligingly the vines came to life, slithering backward like snakes to reveal a passage through.

“You’re a witch,” Albedo stated, his own intuitions proved almost certainly correct.

Nodding toward the opening, the witch of the woods wore a knowing smile. “This way.”

Another few moments of walking brought the three to a much bigger clearing. In its center stood a lone, ancient tree, its long boughs curling like sea serpents. Even in a place of unmatched splendor, it made for quite the beautiful scene, and Albedo hoped that Linkle’s camera hadn’t run out of power. Though it must have been a familiar sight for the pair’s escort, she looked happy to see it, too. “We’re here. Heimili!”

No sooner did the unfamiliar word leave her lips than a great rumble sounded out, and the tree began to rise. Albedo watched with raised eyebrows as an enormous tortoise rose from the ground, hauling beneath it what appeared to be a house. “Welcome,” the witch said, “To my humble home.”

She led the way to the door and opened it for her guests. “Won’t you come in?”

Inside was a cozy, well-stocked abode. The witch moved around its familiar space, fixing to prepare the tennagers some tea. “Please,” she said, gesturing toward seats by the fire. “Make yourselves at home.”

Persona - Soldiers of Fortune

Barney Rynsburger

@SilverPaw

As much as Barney wanted to plonk himself down, nice new clothes be damned, and refuse to move until this Spindle chick answered at least a few of the countless questions buzzing in his mind, that conversation could wait. He would have honestly expected by now that he’d been too exhausted and brain-fried by all this baffling overstimulation to walk another step, but whatever just happened left him feeling pretty good, all things considered. It was like a weight had been taken off his shoulders, the sort of burden that piled up so slowly over time that he never noticed how heavy it had grown until it was gone. As long as he had gas in his tank, he could keep on trucking.

Before they proceeded, though, Spindle addressed Caelum’s very reasonable concern. Halo effect or not, Barney had gained a lot of respect for the younger man, and was a little worried about how he’d fare without this power too. Spindle, however, was nothing if not cheerful. Being a few inches taller than him, she gave a sympathetic smile and clapped her hand on his shoulder with the air of a big sister. “Hey, chin up! Ya already done a mighty fine job, even without a Persona. Chances are you’ll get yours purty soon, but until then you’re fine t’hang back an’ let us do the heavy liftin’. Jus’ make sure you don’t lollygag behind, now!”

He gave the police girl a nod, and together he, Caelum, and Spindle jogged over to the cathedral doors, their footsteps the only disturbance in the calm silence that had overtaken the place. Barney set down his wheel to apply his strength, and working together the three pushed the doors open and stepped out into the smoky dusk of the war-torn world. Going back out into the Prison didn’t delight Barney by any means, but after the change that had overtaken him, he felt much less fearful about it than before. He still planned to avoid the beacon he saw roving over the Proving Grounds, but it no longer struck him as the beam of certain doom it did before, and his days of cowering from the guards were over. After all, he’d overcome that repulsive creature -with some serious help, of course- and somehow turned its strength into his own. It was empowering, and with power came courage--the determination to do others the good turn that had been done for him.

After taking a deep breath, Barney reached down to grab his weapon. When he did, however, he found that it had disappeared. “Hey, my wheel’s gone!”

The news did not seem to take Spindle by surprise. She was in the process of pulling out a few ephemeral strings from Odradek, making them into loops. “Uh huh, that’s normal. Same with my needle, see?” With a flourish and a subtle flash her own weapon appeared in her hand, and when she let it go it vanished, like a flicker in one’s peripheral vision. Then she handed the loops of thread to Barney and Caelum. “Here, put these doohickies on your ears,” she told them. “Odradek’s power is connectin’ things no matter the distance between ‘em, so with these we can chitchat even when I’m flyin’ high up.”

“Oh, cool,” Barney said, pretty nonplussed by such a claim at this point. He accepted the loop, noting both its softness and its strength, like spider silk. The thread trailing off it towards Odradek seemed to disappear, and when he poked at it he could barely feel the ghostly line. “So, where do we need to go?”

Spindle took hold of her Persona and climbed on, ready to fly. “Last I saw was three guys hoofin’ it over yonder.” She pointed toward the entertainment center a few jailhouses away as she started floating upward. “That thing’s someone’s Shadow’s Territory, sure as sugar. Y’all oughta hustle.”

As the beacon swept closer she shot up into the sky, quickly reaching an altitude where she could look over the whole prison without having to worry about being spotted. Barney and Caelum waited out the spotlight in cover before getting a move on. The Proving Grounds’ perimeter road, which divided them from the arc of jailhouses, provided a quick means of navigating the mazelike array of pens and prison lines, but it wasn’t without its issues. After just a few moments of running the young men ran into a guard. The sentry stood at the entrance to the jailhouse north of the one with the cathedral, and even without a face managed to seem surprised at the two intruders running free. “What? Hey!”

Still angry about the guards from earlier, and now in a position to do something about it, Barney decided to put Spindle’s word to the test. He reached out and grabbed at an imaginary wheel as if to heft it behind his shoulder, and just like that his weapon appeared from nowhere. Suddenly exhilarated by the magical feat, Barney nearly laughed aloud, but instead he put his energy into an all-out swing. With a strength he didn’t know he had, he bashed the guard with his wheel before it could so much as bring its baton up to defend itself, toppling it backward over the brick sidewall of the jailhouse stairs. At that point Barney couldn’t help but laugh, and after letting go of the wheel again he continued onward without missing a beat. A moment after he and Caelum passed, the fallen guard blasted a geyser of darkness from its face-hole to call forth a demon, but by the time the Buer appeared the intruders were already gone.

Before he knew it, Barney stood in front of the music hall. He prepared to charge inside, but stopped in his tracks when he nearly plowed straight into a few guys coming the other way. It was Dakota, Vincent, and Nick, all looking a little worse for wear, but Dakota in particular looking altogether different from how Barney remembered him. A new, striking outfit, a comparably confident bearing...had he overcome this Shadow, too? “Thank God you’re all alright,” he breathed, lifting his new hat a touch to wipe sweat from his brow.

“They made it? Heck yeah!” came the voice of the police girl through his new accessory. “I can see ‘em now. Looks like that dude got his Persona too! Sa-weeeet!” Spindle’s cheer came loud enough that the other guys could hear her, too. “That’s real good, y’all. The more ya got, the better chance ya have of makin’ it outta here.”

At that point, with the others’ safety confirmed, Barney couldn’t help but give voice to the general confusion. “That’s great and all, but what are they, Miss Spindle? What is this place?” he said, making sure to drop her name for the sake of the newbies. “We’re totally in the dark here!”

“Yeah, I know, hmm…” She spent a moment thinking, trying to come up with a quick but decent explanation. “Well, they’re like your gumption. Or your fightin’ spirit, yeah! Ya see, this here world’s made from everyone’s cognition. It ain’t the real world, but...uh, think of it like your shadow. It’s not you, but its there anyhow, and even though its based off you, it can get all weird an’ messed up dependin’ on the other stuff...around it?” Spindle cleared her throat nervously, knowing her explanation was less than ideal. “But uh, the bottom line is, your Persona is a part of you. The strong part that can face down anythin’ in your way.”

Over the line there came the sound of a slight gasp. “Aw hell, I got all distracted tryin’ to explain things. Ya got bozos incomin’. A whole bunch.” Suddenly tense, Barney wheeled around to survey his surroundings, and sure enough he could see guards coming from three directions. “Listen up y’all, your trusty navigator’s gonna getcha through this. Our goal’s the prison entrance, way up on the north side. I need both ya guys with Personas to hold them guards off. The rest of ya need to skedaddle down the alley by the music hall and take a left onto the basketball court. It’s fenced in, but y’all can slide some dumpsters up against ‘em to climb over. Keep an eye out for the inmates though, they might play rough. C’mon, hop to it, folks!”

Barney took another deep breath and pulled out his wheel. Even though he and Dakota were still pretty much clueless, it looked like they’d be put through a trial by fire. “Listen to Spindle and go ahead, guys!” he told the others, gearing up to fight. “We’ll be right behind you!”