Lugubrious

World of Light

Aviary Biodome

Level 7 Big Band (65/70)
Raiden’s @XoXKieroBombXoX, Big Band, Peacock
Word Count: 1135

Though Band couldn’t deny that the idea of a safari through a dense, exotic ecosystem housed in the frozen arctic intrigued him, his team wasn’t here to sightsee or picnic. As the the technorganic tour guide Ivara led the group of visitors away, the detective scanned his surroundings, doing his best to ignore the various botanical wonders endemic to the man-made rainforest and instead find a suitable spot to do his job. “This buildin’ oughta be high enough,” he told the others before zeroing in on Peacock. “...Any chance you pop up there to call in one o’ those Moogle things?” The little cyborg shrugged, which prompted a sigh from Band. “C’mon, give my ol’ bones a break!”

“What bones?” Peacock questioned while squinting at him, as if trying to answer her own question visually. “And when am I gonna get a break, huh? It’s been days of walk-walk-walk, talk-talk-talk, climb a mountain, beat up some schnooks, yada yada yada.” She gestured with her hands to accentuate each point, then brushed one arm across as if sweeping everything off an imaginary table. “When’s the cartoons, for cryin’ out loud?”

Band shook his head in resignation. “See, what’d I tell ya about too much TV? Now ya can’t live without it!”

“Hey, I need my fix, doc!” she replied, sticking out her tongue. “Otherwise I’m liable to get bored, and you know what happens theeeeen~”

“Ugh, forget it,” Band grumbled. He looked over at Raiden. “Just keep her out of trouble while I’m gone. Won’t be a minute.”

After a quick reconfiguration the detected blasted off, boosting up to the roof of the base to land on the reinforced metal roof. From the outside, the place almost looked like a citadel, and Band couldn’t help but wonder why. Did the people running these tours anticipate some sort of major threat? Needled by the thought, he got a good look at his surroundings. Nothing but forest, swampland, and craggy outcrops in all directions as far as he could see, and though a sizable portion of the flora and fauna seemed rather alien, no perils jumped out at him. Band made one last pass, breathing in sharply through his nose, then gave a long exhale through his mouth. The coast was clear. “Kay then, uh. Moogle?”

A puff of smoke promptly went off in front of him, like a particularly violent cough after a long drag on a cigar, and from the haze the koala-like creature fluttered. “Hi there, kupo!” he said. “Mission control’s pinging us right now, so just hold tight a minute!”

“Ping-ing?” Band repeated, unfamiliar with the word. “I figure it ain’t important or anythin’, but that word doesn’t ring a bell.”

The Moogle scratched his head. “Oh, well…I’m not one hundred percent sure how it works myself, kupo. They said it’s some kind of big wave that comes out from Alcamoth and hits us. Or maybe it comes out of this thing they gave me, and goes back, kupo?”

“Sound a little like radio, I guess,” Band replied. He could feel a bead of sweat forming on his forehead thanks to the ambient humidity, and deployed a couple mechanical arms to doff his hat and wipe his brow.

The Moogle did not seem to be following. “...Radio?” A moment later he got a beep from his little device. “Okay, it’s done. I’ll be right back.” The next second the creature had disappeared.

Band didn’t move, but continued to wait, fanning himself with his hat. That is, until a terrifyingly sudden and ear-ringingly loud alarm went off without warning, only a few feet away from him. The man’s panicked yell got drowned out, and with the source of the clamor so close, he had no choice but to leap back down to the earth, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Peacock hurried on over and slid to a stop, an appropriately confused and alarmed look on her face. “Whaddya do now, pops?”

“Nothin’ I did,” he barked back at her.

The question on everyone’s mind received an answer as the base’s front door slid open in a rush, and from inside barreled a camoflauge-patterned SUV with the well-armed squad from earlier in the back, and as the red-haired driver floored the gas pedal the vehicle’s engine roared to life. “...Already stage two, don’t know how it evaded our sensors so long,” she was yelling at the others.

“Which means by the time we find it, it’ll be stage three for sure!” the gruff-looking trapper with mutton chops spat. “You softies’re finally gonna see what a real hunt looks like.”

Band frowned as the squad passed by, watching it speed away across the dirt and grass until the Moogle appeared beside him again. “Hello again, kupo! Um, unfortunately, there’s a slight problem. Mission control couldn’t get a lock on this place, might be something to do with the dome, kupo. If you can get out, it’ll work, though. Probably…kupo.”

Peacock blinked twice, then looked up. “You means we gots ta get all the ways up there?”

“Or just out the sides, wherever they are.” A quick search for any sort of signage that might indicate where such exits might be turned up nothing, not at all to Band’s surprise. “Could ask the nice folks ‘round here, but I’m guessin’ they have more pressin’ matters right now.”

As if on cue, the doors slid open again, and a second emergency response vehicle rolled out. This one sported only two passengers though, with Sir Hammerlock behind the wheel and Beckett in the passenger’s seat. When they spotted Band, Raiden, and Peacock, the Warthog slowed down. “Hey, are you three fighting the monster? Need a ride?”

“Oh!” Peacock realized, tugging on the hem of Band’s trench coat. “We could go with them! All we gotta do is mulch some monster, and we’ll get all the help we need! It’s poifect!”

While Band’s first instinct was to flat-out deny the idea, he caught himself just before he could shoot Peacock down. “...Y’know, that ain’t half bad. We can give it a shot, and beat it if things get too bad. After all, no way it’s worse than what we faced yesterday. C’mon, then.” With Beckett and Hammerlock beckoning hurriedly, Band stomped over to the Warthog and climbed on the back. While it sank a little, it held beneath his weight, and in short order the new team was on its way through the Biodome, most of its members totally ignorant to what lay ahead–or even on the way.

The Chalk Prince, the Prisoner, and Frisk

Frisk’s @Majoras End, the Prisoner’s @XoXKieroBombXoX

Albedo paused as a hushed cry issued from behind him, and looked back down the snow-coated bridge he’d begun to climb to see Frisk half-running, half-sliding down a slope going the opposite way. Looking puzzled and annoyed, he retraced his steps, then followed in Frisk’s at a cautious pace to see what exactly she was getting into. The alchemist stood at the top of the slope with his arms crossed and watched as the woman zeroed in a wild animal that lay at the side of a mostly-frozen pool down on the bottom level of the cavern.

Her sudden approach pleased the Spheal itself even less, and as she grew closer it gave off a cry somewhere between a whine and a growl, warning her to keep her distance. After a moment, though, her sympathetic murmurs and nonthreatening body language seemed to get her intentions across, and the Pokemon didn’t struggle when she lifted it up in her arms and embraced it lovingly. While normally the creature would have been snug and warm beneath layers of insulating fur and blubber, even after a dip in such frigid waters as these, this Spheal felt cold thanks to the injury that acted as a vector for the cold to seep in. Said wound was quite the laceration, which didn’t quite fit with the perpetrators that Frisk blamed for it, given that the enemies within this cavern seemed to use a mixture of projectile weapons and drills. Though it must have hurt, the Spheal snuggled close to Frisk’s body, craving security as much as it did her warmth.

Without her hands to steady her during the climb back up the snowy, uneven slope, plus her rather heavy new burden, Frisk took some time to reunite with Albedo. No particular empathy stirred within his eyes when he saw the beast, although he did feel somewhat impressed that Frisk managed to detect the Pokemon from all the way up here and recognize its need for help. Some insight borne by the memories and expertise of Melony, maybe? She approached, offering a sort of apology, and though Albedo didn’t mind the delay, what came next did concern him. The moment Frisk carried the Spheal close to him, the little creature’s eyes went wide, and it began to thrash around as much as a limbless living orb possibly could, crying as it did. Growing nearer to the alchemist made its struggle all the more intense, threatening to reopen its wound.

Albedo backed off, his expression murky. “How bizarre,” he said flatly. “I’ve never seen this animal before, yet it appears to be highly distressed by my presence.” He thought for a moment, then stepped back. “Here, you go on ahead, while I follow at a distance. It wouldn’t do to raise such a fuss that the monsters are alerted to our presence.”

With that plan in mind, the quartet made their way upward across the natural stone bridges through Starglow Cavern. By the time they crossed the third, they’d ascended a couple stories in terms of vertical distance, and they stopped at an open area that branched in several directions. One doubled back, one led straight toward some goblin-infested ruins, and another rounded a huge formation of ice into unknown territory, but the one that caught Albedo’s attention was a high-up stretch only accessible via a drop from a side-path that led above it, which harbored an outcove partially obscured by fallen rock and ice. Going over there took some more time, but it turned out to be well worth the team’s while. Through the opening one could see the remains of a campsite among the fallen rubble, and though it might have once sat at the mouth of a cave itself, that other entrance seemed to have collapsed entirely. After a little inspection, however, it would turn out that the contents of the abandoned campsite itself appeared to be rather recent. Eager seekers could turn up some wood, some cloth, torches, a compass, a bowl, even flint and steel. Most telling of all, when the team’s forerunners discovered a well-worn pouch among the items, it held inside of it a handful of scribbled notes, crumpled but largely unharmed.

The snowstorm from the summit came too quickly. I barely had enough time to duck into this cave. I lost half my supplies in the chaos, too...I don't know why, either, but the rocks above the cave collapsed suddenly, sealing the entrance with the falling gravel. This is very bad...But... I believe that there's another way out for me. The other end of this cave is a cliff, yes, but there's nothing below but thick snow. If I try climbing a certain distance down and then jumping the rest of the way...My supplies won't last more than a few more days. I have to act soon...I promised Joel that I'd take him to see the snow. I won't break that promise. Oh, yes. If anyone sees these notes, please put some food into that feeding bowl for those foxes. They kept me company the entire time I was trapped in here. If I get the chance, I'd love to bring Joel back here to see them…

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

You know, a couple weeks ago I happened to wonder about the state of the Overlord anime. I didn't even know at that point if there would be a fourth season, since I hadn't been keeping up or anything, and not only did I find out that there was, but the first episode had just aired! It was a pleasant surprise. It had me looking back at the Overlord RPs, and man, with a little tinkering I think Graft was a really strong character. I just needed to dial it in and focus more on the best parts of his character.

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

How're things looking?

World of Light

Ms Fortune

Location: Smash City Alcamoth
Level 9 Nadia (50/90)
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet and Pit’s @Yankee, Sakura and Karin @Zoey Boey, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Omori’s @Majoras End, Nadia Fortune
Word Count: 1616

The moment that Hatty veered toward the Ark Mall’s central spiral staircase, Nadia began to get the impression that this trip would be a highly vertical one. Without breaking stride the kid zoomed up the stairs as fast as her stubby little legs would take her, so both Nadia and Omori followed suit. While she could go a lot faster in theory, the feral didn’t want to leave her new acquaintance in the dusk, so she made sure to glance over her shoulder every so often to make sure that Omori was keeping up. With Hatty in the lead, the trio breezed past the fourth, fifth, six, seventh, eighth, and finally ninth floor landings, at which point they really had no choice but to head across the bridge to the Mall’s topmost publicly accessible floor.

From up here, a peep over the railing offered a glimpse of a dizzying nine-story drop all the way down to the bottom floor, as well as an overhead view of Ark Mall itself, with its neatly tiered construction and futuristic finery. Furthermore, this lofty vantage point overlooked the dividing wall that ran across the grand atrium’s center, which allowed a keen-eyed observer to see the grass, sidewalks, and trees of the vast indoor park on the other side between its pillars. In short, this spot revealed the whole of Alcamoth’s biggest indoor space, in all its glory.

Nadia counted herself lucky that her tour of Limsa Lominscuttle Town’s highs and lows, both with and without Blazermate, had desensitized her somewhat to heights. Back in New Meridian she’d seen the glinting, glass-sided skyscrapers of the towering inner city each and every day, but only very seldomly did she ever get the chance to scale one, even for business. Still, it boggled her mind that all this wasn’t only contained inside a single, gargantuan superstructure, but also not even close to the highest point inside it. For the first time Nadia turned her gaze farther upward still, to where the domed ceiling converged in the center of the dividing wall, which separated the roof of glass from the roof of metal. There, a circle of beams extended downward to the parapet, connected by horizontal support rings. Although she couldn’t claim to have spent much time here, she’d certainly allowed her eyes to wander while enjoying breakfast earlier, and she’d never imagined that something might be up there.

Spellbound for a few moments by the incredible architecture of this mystical place, Nadia stirred from her reverie when a small hand tugged at her own. She glanced down to see Hatty, pointing down the curved walkway to the right. The feral followed her little friend’s gesture to see that this path actually wound around the entire perimeter of the Ark Mall’s ninth floor and connected to the dividing wall on both sides. “Oh, ya wanna go over there?” she realized. When Hatty nodded, Nadia broke into a smile. “Sweet! Race ya there?”

The suggestion seemed to take the young one by surprise. A smug grin spread across her face. “Hmph!” she snorted in derision, as if to say the very idea! The treatment of the possibility of her winning a race as preposterous just made Nadia want to show the kid a thing or two all the more, however. That said, there was a certain someone she didn’t want to leave in her dust.

Nadia knelt down and extended a hand to Omori. “Here, hop on my back!” she told him, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll give ya a ride over! I’m purr-etty strong too, so don’t worry about fallin’ off or anythin’, as long as ya don’t pull my ears!”

Once everyone was ready, the cat burglar got into a track-starter stance, ready to rumble. After another nod from her opponent, she counted down. “Three. Two. One. Go!”

She launched forward, sprinting on all fours. It was a long way to go at full tilt, especially with a passenger, but with Nadia’s oodles of stamina she felt pretty confident about going all-out the whole time. Unfortunately for her, barely a second passed before Hatty zipped by her, riding a banana-yellow scooter. “Aw, come on!” Nadia laughed. Hatty just looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out with a wink, then cruised on ahead. With her defeat a foregone conclusion, the feral decided to relax a little so she wouldn’t wear herself out, and stood back up to jog along the walkway with Omori still on her shoulders.

After a few minutes Nadia came to a stop at the center of the parapet, breathing heavily. There she discovered a outdoor cafe sort of thing, the sort one might expect to find in a museum, with tables and chairs amidst potted plants in a rough ring around the central shaft. Having arrived well ahead of her supposed competition, Hatty had made herself comfortable at one of the tables, sipping on a juice box from one of the little stands scattered around. Nadia rolled her eyes and gave the kid a golf clap, after which she hopped down and scampered over to join the others. The cafe struck Nadia as a rather funny thing to have in such an extraordinary place. The parapet of the dividing wall measured about fifty feet across, although it bulged substantially in the middle here. On one side visitors could look down at both the atrium’s sprawling park and the promontory above it, about halfway up. On the other lay the totally artificial Ark Mall, although Nadia now viewed it at the complete opposite angle she did earlier. After Omori got off, she could crane her neck upward to look up the central shaft, which went so ridiculously high that she couldn’t even see the top.

Nadia, Hatty, and Omori approached the shaft. At its bottom, a very interesting platform rested upon the parapet. It seemed to be mostly glass panes connected by a supported web of metal spokes and concentric circles, but at the end of those spokes were larger hubs, and from each hub extended a large, mechanical limb. Taken together, the whole thing looked like a weird, giant spider, and while that plus how incredibly alien it was to Nadia made her a little uneasy, she couldn’t help but be curious. Gingerly at first, she stepped onto the platform, the glass cool to the touch against her bare feet. Now more than ever, this Smash City felt like something beyond her comprehension, the hallowed halls of some ancient civilization

The sudden introduction of a nearby voice might have made her jump if not for her feline hearing–and for its telltale familiarity. “Heading to ze top?”

Nadia turned to see a welcome sight: the pale, pretty face of Bella, curtained by the ringlets she’d gained from her fusion with Chicago during their voyage through the Bottomless Sea, which now poked out beneath her cute, tooth-patterned beanie. “Bella!” she exclaimed. “I was wonderin’ where ya’d gone! I was fixin’ to worry a-boat ya!”

“Ohoho, I am sorry to ‘ave worried you, mon amie,” the Seaplane Tender giggled before sobering up. “Just needed some peace and quiet, is all.”

The feral offered a sympathetic nod, speakin as she watched Hatty jump up into Bella’s lap to give her a hug. “For sure, yeah, don’t blame ya one bit. We all went through hell back there, but you got a raw deal even compared to most, what with the whole Abyssal thing and all. So take as much time as ya need, Bell!”

Bella squeezed Hatty against her chest, and a gentle moment passed in silence. Then the kid sat down on her lap, and with a hand on Hatty’s shoulder Bella looked back at the others. “I am grateful for your well-wishes, Miss Fortune. In truth, I am getting along well enough.” She looked out over the parapet, taking in the sights. “I figured zat, even zough I do not wish to fight anymore, I could be of use as an explorer. You know, make ze unknowns, known? And maybe see all ze things I missed waging my life of war. So I decided to get a head start and explore zis city. Isn’t it incredible?”

“Oh yeah, it’s crazy,” Nadia agreed. “Speakin’ of, you asked if we were goin’ up a minute ago. Don’t suppose ya know how this weird thing works?”

“Mhm!” Bella nodded. “I made sure to ask when I came up here earlier! It is a lift that goes all the way to ze very top of ze structure. Just press ze up button on that console over zere, and ze arms on ze sides will go to work, carrying you up to ze very clouds!”

Nadia blinked. “...Wow. And they just let anyone use it?”

“I believe so. There’s nothing up there other than ze view, as far as I know, so nobody really uses it. Alzough, I hear zat sometimes it turns itself on, but when it comes back down zere’s nobody aboard.”

“That’s su-purr cool!” Nadia grinned. She turned to Omori and Hatty. “We’ve gotta try this thing, right?” Then back to Bella. “Ya wanna come?”

The invitation seemed to take the Abyssal by surprise. “Oh! If you don’t mind, zen…certainly, I would love to! Zat is, if you three are finished looking around ‘ere.” She also turned her gaze to the kids, to make sure it was okay.

Radlandia

Level 9 Tora (239/90) Level 9 Poppi (239/90)
Bede’s @Crimson Flame, Tora, Poppi, Vandham
Word Count: 829

So far, Tora’s newest friend-to-be had maintained a taciturn silence, both during the trip over to Radlandia and during the team’s examination of the strange little town so far. While the Nopon wanted to get to know Bede better, especially if he planned to join the group for the foreseeable future, the boy’s somewhat chilly disposition made him hard to approach. He seemed like he wanted to be left alone more than anything, and since by now Tora knew that being overly outgoing would not win him points with everyone he ran across, he ended up focusing on Poppi, Vandham, and his new surroundings instead.

Still, Bede could only remain stoic up to a point, and after a few moments all the bizarre things he’d seen and heard pushed him over the edge. His sudden question took Tora by surprise and left him scrambling for an answer, especially since the rotund inventor didn’t really know what Moogles were himself. “Meeeh…” he muttered, trying to buy time. “They uh, well, small, and…they fly, and…”

“Think of them like fairies, the sort ya might hear about in myths an’ such,” Vandham supplied, having seated himself on a nearby bench. Having overseen the implementation of the Moogle-based communication system, he came much better-equipped to satisfy Bede’s curiosity than Tora. “They’re fuzzy li’l critters, with white fur and teeny bat wings, who live peacefully away from ‘umans in forests and the like. They’re also magic, and can poof around wherever they wanna go. Right now, for lack of anythin’ better, we use ‘em for communicatin’ across long distances. Back in their worlds, they ‘ad a sort o’ system called the Mognet they used for deliverin’ mail all over, which is what gave us the idea.” He smiled as he crossed his arms. “They're kindly folk, so if ya see any, make sure you’re nice to ‘em, mate. Soon as we come by a supply of Kupo Nuts, we can start to thank ‘em proper.”

At that point he looked up at the tallest building to check on Poppi. She’d flown up and landed without issue, her appearance apparently nothing out of the ordinary to the local kids, and proceeded to call in a Moogle as planned. The big guy pointed up at the two. “See, there’s one now. Cute li’l bugger, eh?”

As Vandham and Bede spoke together, Tora had gotten steadily more bored, and started to wander away from the train platform. No matter which way he turned, a little scrutiny turned up something weird to keep him engaged. For almost a full minute he entertained himself by dancing around in front of a sewer drain with eyeballs in it, watching them turn to follow his erratic movements. In a nearby public restroom he found a hand protruding from a toilet, whose owner begged for paper, which Tora sadly lacked and could not offer. When the curious Nopon opened another stall he got screamed at by a hidden ghoul crouching on the seat, prompting him to run screaming from the bathroom himself. He came to a stop in front of a small farmer’s market whose stalls also served as supports for the skate tracks that ran above it, where he quickly became enthralled by such unusual fruits and vegetables as cube-shaped strawberries and swirly tubers. The vendors, who appeared to be from the nearby countryside, almost all had fascinating pet slimes with them too, which Tora couldn’t resist petting. Before the Nopon knew it, he’d wandered far from the train platform and gotten hopelessly lost in the quaint little town.

It wasn’t too long before Poppi returned to Vandham and Bede, her Moogle contact hovering right behind her. “Mission accomplished!” the artificial blade told them proudly. “Headquarters now know exactly where we are!”

“That’s right, kupo!” the Moogle told them. “This area is the Deep Blue Seaside, and it’s actually very close to Limsa Lominscuttle Town, out there!” She pointed her little arm toward the big city out on the water. “I hear that the other team had a lovely holiday over there yesterday, kupo!”

Poppi’s brow furrowed. “Unfortunately, we very far from Alcamoth. Opposite side of continent, in fact, so we need keep going.” She looked around the train platform, scanning for Tora, only to turn up nothing. “...Where Masterpon?”

“You mean Tora?” Vandham searched as well, and when he didn’t find Tora, stood up to his impressive full height for a better look, but still found no sign. “Huh, I swear ‘e was ‘ere a second ago…”

Poppi sighed, shaking her head. “Masterpon must have wandered off thanks to goldfish-size attention span. Poppi better go look.” She shot Bede an apologetic glance. “Poppi not suppose Bede help search for him?”

Queen's Station

Therion’s @Yankee, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Raz’s @TruthHurts22

Upon his group’s arrival, it didn’t take Raz long to intuit one very important detail concerning his surroundings, derived from the walls and ceilings of stone beneath the beds of budding moss and vermillion clovers: that the subway he, Jesse, and Therion had taken left them somewhere underground. While the implications of that discovery might be lost on the thief as he summoned a Moogle, Jesse and Raz could probably guess at the results that the white-furred creature soon provided: when Mission Control sent out its signal to ping the little device that the Moogle carried, it never received anything in return. Evidently the team had no reception in the Queen’s Station, and probably wouldn’t as long as they remained underground.

With that in mind, the messenger’s recommendation sounded like a good plan, but one easier said than done. While no maps could be found on the premises of the Queen’s Station, a quick look around did turn up a crossroads sign, albeit one with only three pointers. It featured the same strange, white script that adorned the hanging plaques throughout the station, and though it seemed totally foreign at first glance, but with a little focus it seemed strangely legible, as if the readers were able to understand what it meant. One direction indicated the aptly-named Fog Canyon, which rolled onward and upward beyond the station’s balcony, another suggested a realm called the Fungal Wastes down a tunnel to the right of the balcony, and the last pointed toward the Salt Pits on the left.

Fog Canyon appeared to be a highly vertical cavern. While its bottom level resembled a rolling countryside of verdant hills and acid pools, great columns of overgrown rock rose from those mounds, and the higher up one went the more the open space closed in, quickly becoming more narrow shafts that led upward in different directions. Stone bridges carpeted in greenery and curtained by loads of dangling vines underneath both branched between the pillars and criss-crossed the shafts, providing plenty of spots to jump and climb, but no actual paths could be seen. It was anyone’s guess which way might really lead to the surface, if any truly did. The carved totems and posts seemed to rise from the foliage around the canyon without rhyme or reason, and throughout the whole place the lazy jellyfish floated among the bubbles.

Conversely, the caverns that lay at the other end of the right-side tunnel were a completely different story. True to their name, the Fungal Wastes were wide-open and rather barren caves, brownish-yellow in appearance, where almost every surface seemed to be covered in different kinds of mushrooms. Very few traces of the actual walls, floor, or even ceiling could be seen. Some sections seemed to be higher than others, giving rough routes up or down throughout the environment, which bouncy purple mushrooms might aid. The light given off by the multitudes of bright yellow spores floating in the air allowed any visitors to see quite a ways, which meant they could also make out the Wastes’ denizens. Floating spore sacks and sentient shrooms could be found alongside carnivorous toadstools, the occasional bulky behemoth, and plodding fungal powerhouses with their young. Unlike the crisp, cool Fog Canyon, which felt like a misty spring day, the air in here seemed to be warm, humid, and itchy.

Meanwhile, the left-side tunnel opened up to smaller, branching caves of angular red rock dusted in a coating of natural rock salt. The Salt Pits lacked the biodiversity of the other two regions, but made up for it in interesting rock formations, like fields of tiny, pointy crystals. Plentiful evidence of past mining ventures could be found here, where some scaled workers and single-minded bugs still labored to extract salts and other ores from the rock.

In short, a long journey awaited the trio no matter which way they decided to go, and none provided any indication where -or how far away- the surface might be.

Haven

Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Wonder Red’s @TruthHurts22, the Scout

As the train’s passengers dispersed throughout the encampment that partially surrounded the derelict station, the Scout kept an eye out, his expression furtive and distrusting. It wasn’t just the capable sorts around him seemed to be on edge, their weapons and munitions close at hand despite the bravado with which some of them talked and joked, or that the medical tent seemed to be very busy, or that the sniper standing guard atop that old water tower seemed to be very heavily armed. It was because this place had lots of big trees, and wherever you could find lots of big trees awash in the mystique of fantasy and nature, an unlucky dwarf could expect to find them.

Elves.

The trio’s resident superhero got up on a large root to scope out the surrounding area, taking note of its peril. Though the Spirit Tree loomed over all like a silent and watchful guardian, maintaining balance between the area’s elements, malfeasance persevered in its realm. Red asked the others thoughts, to which the Scout replied with a grumpy harrumph. “Let’s get this over with,” he told the others. “This place’s liable to be crawlin’ with bloody leaf lovers, and if I never see another prissy long-ears again, it’ll be too soon!”

Sectonia apparently agreed, and her plan to personally fly up to a suitable height to call in the Moogle sounded fine. The Scout didn’t object to her leaving him and Red alone, either. There were some bugs around, including a goddamn glyphid or two, but above ground those bugs posed even less of a threat than usual. Other fighters around the encampment treated them with a similarly casual attitude, not evening bothering to waste any ammunition on the glyphids that wandered toward the staging ground for the most part. Still, Sectonia saw fit to leave her allies with some reinforcements, which naturally took the form…of more bugs. The Scout rolled his eyes. “Reckon we’ll be sittin’ pretty for a minute then,” he muttered, plopping down on an overturned bucket to wait.

Up above, the insect queen summoned her Moogle as planned. The little guy waited a few moments, then gave a nod. “Okay, that should be long enough! I’ll be back in just a moment to tell you where you are, kupo!” He then vanished in a poof of smoke.

True to his word, the Moogle appeared another thirty seconds or so later. “Hello again, kupo! It looks like we’re in luck! According to the map, this spot is along the southern edge of the Land of Adventure, which means it’s decently close to base! But the boss wants you to try the other spots on this train line just in case there’s one that’s even closer, kupo. Good luck!”

While this was happening, however, a stroke of profound bad luck struck the group. Red and the Scout were just waiting patiently down below, idly watching a squad of kitted-out fighters head out through the main gate, when suddenly a hideous screech arose from the overgrown street beyond. A Howler popped up from behind cover, screaming with its gnarled maw, and at its signal a platoon of Shrikes popped up from behind roots and long-dead cars. Braying like elk, the Root monsters unleashed a torrent of crimson bolts at the outgoing squad. Taken by surprise, they scrambled to find cover for their gunners to return fire and their warriors to close the distance, a couple of them falling in the process. The Howler’s head suddenly exploded courtesy of the sniper on the water tower, who yelled, “We’re under attack!”

A mage ran over to ring the alarm bell in the center of the camp while everyone else jumped into action. One lady knight ran straight for the crossfire, putting up a shield for a straggler to hide behind. “Behind me! I’ll get you healed up!”

“No, behind me!” the group’s main tank, a big man with an equally big shield, yelled as he ran in from the armory. “It’s up to me to keep everyone safe!”

“Form a defensive line!” a suit-wearing jackal commanded. Sander then glared up at the sniper. “How did they surprise us!?”

The huntress threw her hands up. “They must’ve used the trenches–agh!”

A Shaman triggered an explosion of root rot at her position, throwing the sniper from the water tower. At the same time, one of the encampment’s side walls burst apart, and a Hulk pushed through, a hefty bruiser of knotted wood reinforced with bolted-on metal. A Lawbringer knight, clad head to toe in steel armor and wielding a weighty halberd, charged the brute and landed a handful of hacks and stabs, only to mis-aim a block and get chopped almost to the spine by the Hulk’s fearsome cleaver. “Do not engage it in melee combat!” Sander ordered the militia. “And we need a medic over here!”

The Scout was already on his feet. “On your feet red, we’re in for it now!” He hurled an Inhibitor-Field Generator at the Hulk to bog it down, then opened fire with his assault rifle both at the behemoth and the handful of shotgun-wielding Rippers that came in behind it. "Gotta hold out 'til that overgrown Mactera's back, then we can make a break for it!" Sectonia’s electric antlions joined in, and the fight was on.

World of Light

The Chalk Prince, the Prisoner, and Frisk

@Majoras End @XoXKieroBombXoX

For Frisk

You have acquired:
Bone Arrows x7
Are these really from animal bones...? When they deal 40% more damage than a wooden arrow, maybe it's worth the indiscretion

and
Stone of Yesteryear
A strange gem recovered from Dragonspine. When you touch its vibrant surface, you're overcome with nostalgia, without really understanding why. They say diamonds and regrets are forever, so maybe you'd better stop stroking this pebble if you don't want to sink into depression

Albedo met Frisk’s decision with an approving nod. “Very well, inside it is.” Accordingly the three moved into the mouth of the cave, with all the urgency and awareness that the situation demanded. They did not plan to make any sort of stand in that tunnel, since its narrow confines limited their ability to maneuver and swing weapons, but the Prisoner did think of something he could so to further discourage the team’s pursuers.

He laid a trap for the demon wolves, so perfect for the situation that it might as well have been tailor-made for the purpose. It was a smart move, the alchemist conceded, but he could not condone the overconfidence that it seemed to impart in his undead ally.

“Our goal is not to exterminate every last creature on the mountain,” he reminded the Prisoner drily, his face partly veiled by the darkness. “Wearing ourselves thin as we fight unnecessary battles will only sabotage the real task at hand. Instead, let us concern ourselves with it no longer.”

As Albedo raised his hand, a bright blue light glowed, taking on the form of a snowflake. With his other hand he beckoned for the Prisoner to come away from the entrance and get behind him, and after he did, the alchemist tossed it forward. It burst like one of the ice grenades that could be found on the diseased island that the Prisoner knew too well, but rather than just freeze enemies in the vicinity, it created a boulder of ice that physically blocked the tunnel. With that entrance sealed, the wind blew no longer, and its whisper in the pines could not be heard.

Yet the three were not engulfed in the darkness, since aside from the light given off by the Prisoner’s head, a soft, cold blue glow shone from deeper within the tunnel. “This is only one entrance,” Albedo reassured the others. “And if we must use this again, I can remove the blockage later on. Let us proceed with as much peace of mind as we can muster…given the circumstances.” So saying, he led the way downward, into the core of Dragonspine Mountain.

Within they discovered a terrific cavern, awash in the luster of the blue flowers that bloomed among the same grasses as up on the surface, from drifts of snow that seemed to exist despite the lack of sky. Not all the flora was familiar, however, such as the greenish growths perched up on the walls. The light reflected off the crystalline surface of huge icicles, rising from the ground in clusters like hurled javelins. Where the rocky walls gave way to crags of ice, the effect was even more pronounced. How high the ceiling went none of the explorers could rightfully say, since the darkness held domain up there, but they could see the rocky natural archways that spanned the open space. Ancient ruins dotted the ledges and walls, illuminated by glowing crystals set inside the eroded structures, while here and there cobbled-together wooden structures like rope bridges could be glimpsed, all patrolled by handfuls of goblins, both short and tall. Albedo even saw the skeleton of some great beast, which sparked an idea. “I’ve never seen the like,” he murmured, squinting at the bones from afar. “Should I get the chance, I’d like to sketch it in my book.”

The more the three looked, the more it became clear of some recent seismic activity. Sections of ground, as well as the frozen lake at very bottom of the cavern, sported both winding fissures and debris fallen from the ceiling. Albedo’s eyes traced a path up the stone bridges. “There should be another exit up there,” he whispered. “Let’s move quietly, and not disturb those automatons.”

If Frisk’s eyes happened to wander on the way over, however, she might notice something the others did not. A faint echo reached up to her from the depths of the cavern, but unlike the other ambient noises of the cave’s monstrous inhabitants, this one inexplicably tugged at her heartstrings. While the others either didn’t notice or didn’t care to pay it any mind, that strange cry drew her to the edge of the precipice to look over. If she stared down at the frozen lake long enough, a flicker of movement would catch her eye. From a previously-unseen hole in the ice, a friend-shaped creature bobbed up, a fish in its mouth. With a great effort it dragged itself out of the hole, revealing a large, untreated cut wound in its side, and in a woeful degree of both misery and pain it forced itself to eat its catch. Swallowed before it could dissolve, the morsel served its purpose, but the Spheal felt no better. It just turned back to stare at its hole, hurting for more food, but afraid that another dive would be its last.

World of Light

Tora, Poppi, and Big Band

Location: Edinburgh MagicaPolis - Nyakuza Metro
Level 9 Tora (237/90) Level 9 Poppi (237/90) Level 7 Big Band (63/70)
Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Primrose and Therion’s @Yankee, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Raiden’s @XoXKieroBombXoX, Bede’s @Crimson Flame, the Phantom Thieves, Braum, the Scout, Peacock, Vandham, Wonder Red, Asbestos, Commander Nelson, Alice MacGregor
Word Count: 1111 + 1049/725

Far above the streets, alleys, and stations where his allies hunted down enough pons for their train passes, Big Band explored the upper levels of the Metro superstructure. Up here it seemed as though the vast majority of the Metro cats, as well as a number of other denizens, made their homes in the tenements of the residential area. Up here, even compared to the lower levels with all their profundity of cat iconography, the apartments seemed even more tailor-made to the feline lifestyle. Entire sections looked like ultra-elaborate cat towers, with large columns supporting myriad rooms split up by platforms for their sure-footed tenants, with plenty of communal scratch posts for a casual clawing and even a couple playgrounds where cat toys and tunnels give the kittens a chance to play.

It was all very cute. Being about as agile as a refrigerator, however, Band stuck to the more conventional skyscrapers. Just a few minutes spent looking around confirmed that even those offered their fair share of navigational challenges, though. Rather than pollute the open space with tons of bridges and walkways, the publicly-accessible areas seemed to be connected by zip lines, slide rails, grapple points, and stretches of sheer wall perfect for ninja-running, none of which Band could take advantage of. Some of the giant billboards could even be rotated to open up new paths for parkour masters, he found. That bizarre design philosophy made it nigh-impossible for the average cat to get around the buildings’ exteriors, as the abundance of pons all over the place suggested, but Band came equipped with an ace up his sleeve: the miracle of flight. With just a handful of well-aimed takeoffs and well-timed afterburns, he could bypass the veritable obstacle course the cluttered rooftops presented and lay claim to all the pons he needed. Of course, it really helped that just bumping into the crystals seemed to be enough to put them in his pockets. And since he just needed air pressure in order to generate his sound-blasts, the only limiting factor was time.

After collecting a bounty of thirty pons, Band found himself feeling a little light-headed, so he took a breather at a rooftop restaurant, where some chefs were chopping and grilling up food for the customers, hibachi-style. Five pons bought the detective a coffee, and while he expected it to be black, he couldn’t help but smile at the happy little cat face in the cream of the latte he received. It almost felt a shame to destroy it, but destroy it he did before sipping as he relaxed in the sturdiest-looking seat the radial tables had to offer. He listened idly to the chatter of the nearby metro cats as he drank, which at the moment seemed to be concerning the mind-boggling series of transfers one of the poor guys needed to get through in order to get to work that day. A different pair of kitties talked about the vacuums all over the place, specifically one of them bouncing off and hitting his head on another restaurant’s ceiling recently. His eavesdropping did happen to turn up one interesting exchange though.

“You know, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a police cat around here,” a squat cat with a big head mentioned.

“Nah, you won’t,” his lanky friend told him. “I think you-know-who has a deal with them.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, they don’t come in here, and she doesn’t go out there.”

Cops and corruption–a sad story as old as time, Band knew. Naturally it piqued his interest, and given how focal the Metro might be to the Seekers’ continued operations it might be worth looking into. Either way, it was a matter for another time. Feeling jazzed up, Band left five more pons as a tip to round it out to an even twenty and hit the bricks.

Using his rocket to control his descent, the detective made it all the way back down to the Metro’s bottom floor, not far from the information kiosk where everyone planned to meet back up. Unsurprisingly due to his method of traversal, he was one of the last to arrive.

Tora looked at him curiously as he approached. “Friend Biggy-Band actually went way up there? Tora heard it dangerous!”

Band shrugged his massive mechanical shoulders. “Sky’s the limit, kid. ‘Sides, there ain’t nobody who can strongarm this armstrong.”

“Fair point, meh,” Tora admitted before looking around. “So, this everyone?”

Commander Nelson had been wondering the same thing. “I believe so. I trust that everyone managed to procure their train fare?”

Everyone turned out their pockets, whether they contained pons or train passes they’d already purchased, or in a certain someone’s case, ‘acquired’. Band raised an eyebrow at the butterfly that fluttered out of Peacock’s pocket. “Nothin’? What were you doin’ out there, kid? I know you ain’t bisbehavin’.”

“Relax, gramps!” Peacock drawled, waving her hand dismissively. “I was just checkin’ out the local jewelry store. You shoulda see the puddy-tat behind the counter! Decked out like some wannabe mob boss.”

Band sighed, offhandedly wondering if his charge happened to be referring to a certain cat burglar he happened to know. Probably not though, unless the enigmatic Ms Fortune had really scaled up the scope of her crimes. He split his share of pons in half and gave them to Peacock, who swiped them with a steely grin. “Now you’re speakin’ my language, nyeheheh!”

What followed was a back-and-forth about who would be going where. For the sake of the plan the team needed to cover as much ground as possible, but Nelson reminded everyone that with the sheer amount of unknown territory in play, they also needed to beware spreading themselves too thin. After a few minutes, based on who’d already procured what pass and the reported ease of accessing the correct ticket booths to get more, the group came to a consensus. “Roight then, with that settled, let’s go over our mission one more time,” Vandham began, crossing his arms. “Each train passes through multiple locations. We’ll be stoppin’ at the lot of ‘em to scope out the area, find a secure spot with good reception, and call Moogles from HQ to get a bead on where ya are. Rinse and repeat. And remember, your safety is our primary concern. Stick to the plan, and she’ll be right.”

“Good luck everypon!” Tora exclaimed. “See friends soon!”

The decided-upon duos and trios then went their separate ways, to board the trains that would take them off on a brand new adventure.

Radlandia

Tora, Poppi, Vandham

After boarding the Blue Line subway with their old Urayan friend, the three sat in a row, united in both fellowship and silent anticipation. The black void outside the train windows betrayed no hint of what their destination might be, but the trio wasn’t completely without a clue. Even without Big Band’s investigative prowess, they could glean a couple leads from their fellow passengers. Whether bound for work or pleasure, the people headed to Radlandia and other Blue Line destinations further beyond wore and carried things suitable for the day ahead. Hawaiian shirts, masks and snorkels, sunscreen and beach towels, fishing gear, sailors’ uniforms…maybe the aquarium being so close to the station had been no accident, and maybe the railway’s color code carried symbolic meaning. Although focused to get hyped right now, Tora couldn’t help but get his hopes up. With the torturous heat of the desert behind him, was he really headed for the ocean blue?

Contrary to expectations, the first color Tora and Poppi saw the moment the darkness of the mystic subway tunnel came to an end wasn’t blue, but more of a salmon. Their train came to a stop at an open-air train platform in a town utterly saturated in the hues of the sky at dawn, all pale reds and pinks maroons. “Meh…” the Nopon marveled as he looked around, taking in the town’s bizarrely all-encompassing color scheme. The more he gawked, however, the more he realized that salmon overload might be one of the least weird things about the place.

His eyes were naturally drawn to the skate tracks that ran around the place, the bright blue of their wooden boards -which appeared to be their natural color, strangely enough- offering a stark contrast to just about everything else in the place. Nailed and in some cases taped together, and held aloft by some the flimsiest-looking sticks and scaffolds either Tora or Poppi had ever seen, they curved and sloped throughout the town in circuitous, absurd paths up the sides and over the tops of various buildings. It looked incredibly dangerous, but Tora would be lying if he said he didn’t think that riding something along those tracks might be a lot of fun.

“Masterpon,” Poppi murmured, nudging him. “What think?”

Tora tore his eyes away from the vivid, distracting blue of the track to follow his companion’s gaze, at which point he could really start to appreciate just how strange the place they’d come to was. For starters, everything looked grungy. The buildings, the sidewalks, and the streets themselves were all cracked, blotched, and in some cases slimy. Pipes leaked a fluorescent green substance, and tilted trash cans eked out what could only be described as ‘sludge’. Unusual shapes and creatures moved in the shadows of second-story windows and the sewer drains, not necessarily scary, but things that Tora would be no means expect, like a giant floating eyeball and disembodied octopus tentacles. In fact,Tora saw strange creatures no matter where he looked. A bear was nothing too freaky, but sitting calmly in an inner-tube in a puddle on top of a building? What were those gremlins eating the giant display donut above the pastry shop? Did that man, currently serving an animate banana at a food cart with text on its canopy that read ‘EAT TRASH’, have a donut for a head? Tora rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yep, definitely a donut.

“Very…” Tora searched his lexicon for the appropriate word. “...Odd. But sort of cool, meh?”

Vandham shook his head with a shrug. “It’s surreal, ‘s’what it is. Crikey.”

At the very least there were normal people around too, and they didn’t seem to mind all the strange, dreamlike phenomena around them. As the party moved away from the train platform they got their first good look at the nearby shore. Radlandia stood at the mouth of a river that opened into an enormous bay, and way out in the bay stood a much larger city of castle parapets atop white stone seastacks, surrounded by a web of piers and wharves stacked on top of one another. When Poppi zoomed in using her optics she could make out additional details, like the airship dock that sat atop the biggest, highest tower, the mammoth sports arena at the edge of the city, and a gargantuan vessel on the far side that sat beneath an even bigger, rotund whale-like creature that floated above it like a hot-air balloon.

She blinked as the gears in her head turned, and after a moment of wracking her brains, something clicked. “Goldmouth!” she shouted suddenly, her expression one of shock and elation. “M-masterpon! It, it’s its…!”

“It’s what, meh!?” Tora exclaimed over her awestruck stuttering, frightened by his creation’s sudden outburst. He craned his nonexistent neck trying to see just what set Poppi off.

“It Goldmouth!” Poppi reiterated as if that should explain anything. “Masterpon not remember!? Goldmouth name of Titan of Argentum Trade Guild!”

Tora’s eyes widened. “Argentum!? You mean, from Alrest!?”

“Yes, from our home, it right there, just beyond city on water!” Poppi told him excitedly, pointing with a metallic finger.

Vandham squinted, shading his eyes with his hand. “Well, I’ll be!” he laughed. “About time, eh? Not Uraya, but I’ll bloody take it!” He cleared his throat as he crouched down to pat a hand on Poppi’s shoulder and Tora’s head. “Don’t go loony on me just yet though, mates. Before we run off we’ve got a job to do, right? And not just ‘ere either. Gotta call in the Moogles to all three stops.”

“But, but, this special occasion, meh! Surely we can make exception?” He turned to Vandham to see a stern shake of his head, and sighed. Tora knew the old mercenary was right, so much so that he didn’t even attempt to sway him with unflinching eye contact. “Okay, okay, Tora know. Let’s finish it quick!”

Poppi nodded, even more determined than before. “So, we just need get to high point in town.” She looked up at the tallest building, where a couple local kids were taking turns racing down the precipitous beginning of the track on their skateboards. “Hold tight. Poppi be right back!”

Aviary Biodome

Raiden’s @XoXKieroBombXoX, Big Band, Peacock

One of the last to pick a train line to ride, Big Band ultimately chose to accompany his fellow metal man Raiden on the first leg of his journey, lest the swordsman wind up unaccompanied and, if anything should go wrong, unaccounted for. A sense of gratitude compelled Peacock to tag along, which made a total of three cyborgs standing beside one another in Black Station as the latest subway that a cat dragged in came to a stop.

Though from entirely different eras, Mr. Lightning Bolt and the USG soldiers actually had a lot in common. In terms of human flesh, not even one full person could be made between the three of them; all were more machine than man, and little more than scraps of their original organic bodies remained. They’d been rebuilt in the wake of terrible brutality and custom-engineered to fight for a cause. Raiden and Peacock shared the twisted fate of being child soldiers, but while those days were long behind the former, the latter would seemingly never escape her campaign. Yet here they all stood, despite untold pain and suffering, brokenness and betrayal, and the wars that raged on without end. Band, Raiden, and Peacock shared an unspoken connection, united by the conviction to fight for what they believed in, and the strength to face whatever tomorrow might bring.

One after another the three living weapons boarded the Black Line subway train, bound for parts unknown.

Their trip through the darkness of the tunnel brought them to a train station with an industrial appearance, all concrete and metal, more like a bunker than a public facility. While a couple metro cats and other passengers joined them as they exited the train, the younger crowd identifiable as students and the more well-dressed passengers stayed put to ride on to the next destination. Band scrutinized those who disembarked alongside him, trying to figure out the common denominators among them that might forewarn him about what exactly he and his allies might be stepping into. Some appeared to be very heavily-equipped, as if going to battle, or maybe on a big game hunt, while an augmented gentleman and a gorilla looked more dressed for a safari, and still others sported the coats and research equipment of botanists or zoologists. Together with the name of the place, he began to draw some conclusions.

As the others split up to head to different wings of the building, Band’s attention went to the front entrance thanks to its distinctive style. It featured a vines-and-wood jungle aesthetic and looked like some kind of tourist attraction, complete with brochures and a gift shop. After giving a dubious glance at the racks of stuffed animals for sale, most of which didn’t resemble any kind of normal creature, he approached the highly reinforced main door. A small crowd of other visitors had gathered there, their faces a mixture of eager and nervous, and in front of them stood a strange-looking staff member. Alien in appearance and at least partially machine, which kept up the fun trend Band was noticing, she nevertheless spoke in a perfectly understandable -if slightly electronic- voice. “Alright, hey everyone, excited to get out there?” she asked, leaning casually on her longbow in a very human manner. “Good, good. I’m a forest ranger here, you can call me Ivara. Stick close, listen sharp, and you’ll all make it home in one piece, with some new memories that’ll last you a lifetime. Let’s get to it!”

She punched a terminal, and the giant doors began to open. A surge of warmth, humidity, and natural light hit Band as the gates receded to reveal an enormous and extravagant environment, all lush rainforests and overgrown swamps, all under the expansive protection and climate control of a glass and metal dome big enough to house a city. Beyond, Band could just about see the icy crags and towering glaciers of an arctic skyline, making him wonder just where the hell he’d ended up.

“And there you have it,” Ivara said theatrically, holding her arms wide. “Welcome to the Aviary Biodome!”

Queen’s Station

Therion’s @Yankee, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Raz’s @TruthHurts22

When the Purple Line train finally ground to a halt, its doors opened to reveal not a bustling complex of transportation, but a peaceful and quiet hall of carved blue-black stone, moist and cool, sprinkled by patches of thick, budding moss, lit by the pale electric glow of lumaflies in glass lanterns, and the unintelligible sigils carved onto hanging slates. The columns in the walls and the converging arches in the ceiling gave the whole place an air of solemn antiquity. After the new arrivals proceeded past the benches where weary travelers could sit themselves down to rest, they entered a four-story room of wrought-iron fences and leafy creepers, which served as the hub of the Queen’s Station.

A central spiral structure allowed them to ascend, and starting from the second story upward, they could approach the intricate railings between tall, spindly pillars at the station’s back in order to look out at a grand, spacious underground canyon, awash in the gentle, lavender light of countless bubbles. There, among the hanging tendrils and drifts of fog, Uoma and Ooma floated lazily over verdant hills and sizzling lakes of mint-green acid. It was a dreamlike view.

Very few passengers had gotten off the train here, and the station seemed mostly empty overall. Every step taken across its floors echoed over the bloopy, bubbly ambient sound. What few people the new arrivals did find appeared to be bugs, or at the very least bug-related. One such girl could be found having a picnic in a little alcove near the overlook, where she shared a meal with two ladybugs the size of chimpanzees, Leby and Dib. The siblings had recently arrived from the Metro with a number of souvenirs, and after receiving a courteous invitation decided to join the strange but kindly Agitha for lunch before the long trip back to Bugaria Outskirts. A Pinsir had dozed off in one of the corners, scary-looking even as it slept. Other than the noises of someone eating that could be heard down one of the halls, the only other sign of life appeared to be a small gang of Migosp arguing about where to go next in low tones. Therion, Jesse, and Raz had wound up in a strange place indeed.

Haven

Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Wonder Red’s @TruthHurts22, the Scout

Through a mixture of luck and coincidence Sectonia and Wonder Red wound up being the odd pair who’d be riding the Mint Line to see where it took them. With most of the other teams of three made up at that point, the Scout ended up joining them, which definitely made their team a contender for the strangest. Then again, they also happened to be the wealthiest; since the Scout had made quick work of pon collection with his trusty grappling hook and a bit of dwarven greed, his stash plus all the pons pulled out of vents and gutters by Sectonia’s antlions meant that they could afford their pases with cash to spare in case they ever came by here again. Together with Red, fresh from his curious encounter with the sack-people, they climbed aboard their train and were promptly whisked away.

In quite the departure from the gaudy liveliness of the Metro, the first stop on the Mint Line turned out to be a derelict station, long since ruined and given over to time, then rebuilt and repurposed as a base of some sort. Though partially flooded and quite overgrown, it nevertheless brought forth a sizable crew of passengers from the subway once it opened its doors, all of them either warrior types or treasure hunters. Some went to relieve the weary guards of their posts, allowing them to board the train and get out of here, while others made for the exits. When the dwarf, superhero, and wasp followed suit, a stunning vista opened up before them.

At a glance it was clear that this place had once been a city of man, a steel-and-concrete jungle of big, blocky office buildings and highrises, but that had been a very, very long time ago, enough time for an apocalypse to have come and gone. In the wake of ruination, nature had reclaimed the city in a big, big way, with mammoth trees growing straight through the sky-scraping husks, and twisting roots that snaked in and out of the terrain like sea serpents. Over time the great cracks in the earth turned into canyons, creating a network of low-lying rivers in the fault lines. Flocks of birds called the place home, as well as many less benign creatures, like Karkinos-spawn, the bomb bugs, the glyphids, and the Root, whether they stalked or flew. The most incredible thing on display, of course, was the cathedral in the canopy. Among the uppermost branches of the area’s tallest, most venerable tree, which now crowned the former cityscape’s loftiest edifice, there stood a safe haven far above the perilous streets. From within streamed a pure, spiritual light, white tinged by blue, that practically radiated goodness far and wide.

Dwarves!

As the uproarious singing of cheerful drunks and fire-forged friends shook Thrillem's beloved feasting hall of old, only one dwarf seemed able to resist the infectious atmosphere of camaraderie. On any other day, one would expect to find Norburr Deepslate minding his own business over in a corner away from the other dwarves, with only a plate of roasted bitterroot, well-seasoned mushrooms, and salty cave fish fillets for company as he pored over ledgers of charts, records, and supplies. While the others stuffed their faces and got back to work, he could spend hours picking at his meal as he checked and rechecked the books to make sure that every lesson from the last expedition had been learned, and everything was in order for the next. After all, failure to do so -as Norburr loved to remind anyone who doubted his methods- could mean the difference between life and death. And yet, that fastidiousness and his exacting standards meant that for as long as anyone could remember, Norburr Deepslate -young in body but old in spirit- ate alone.

Not so today. For out of everyone to brave the myriad and unknown dangers of the outside world on this terrific quest, of all the stout-hearted warriors and celebrated heroes, it was Norburr who they picked. Nobody, they reasoned, was better prepared to tackle unknown territory and dangerous terrain than him, the prospector whose preparedness, perception, and perseverance saved who-knows-how-many lives down in the deep. And therein, Norburr realized, was the problem--the reason why even now, in the midst of a celebration for him, he sat slumped on one hand at the dinner table, a dour look upon his wan face. It was because he knew what both opportunity and danger looked, sounded, and smelt like that he could overcome the underground so well! The idea of being thrown to the wolves on the surface world, a place devoid of documentation and research, terrified him. What even were wolves, for instance? What did they eat, and how did they hunt? Were they afraid of fire, like a number of subterranean predators down here? Did they make some distinctive sound that could be used to steer clear from them? Norburr just didn't know. And knowing wasn't half the battle; it was everything. And because this was such an honor, he couldn't possibly refuse.

He was so lost in thought that he jumped in his seat when Beorthric slammed down a new round of drinks onto the table. He blinked in mixed bewilderment and annoyance Beorthric leaned into the group to make them aware of the gauntlet thrown down by their neighbors. Norburr glanced over at the Orebreakers. Surly, burly, broad, and dust-speckled...they were miners through and through, the very salt of the earth, and tough as nails. Of course, no typical dwarf would take any such challenge lying down, no matter how stout the competition. Kragg Stonefist, however, was an exceptional dwarf, as strong and honorable as they come. Alongside him, Brazmere Granitebrew eagerly rose to confront the competition, going as far as to rouse the others to join him. Even Norburr was no exception, which the prospector actually didn't mind that much. If he was stuck going on this expedition, he really ought to try to improve his standing with the others in the long term, and he could certainly stand to distract himself from his misgivings for now. With a roll of his eyes Norburr downed the last of his mead (that being just his second cup) and got to his feet. "Let's just try not to break anythin', eh?" he groused, massaging his shoulders. "Don't know about you chaps, but I'd rather not start off tomorrow in a cast!"

Dwarves!

Good stuff. I'll get Norburr started tomorrow at the latest.

World of Light

The Chalk Prince, the Prisoner, and Frisk

@Majoras End @XoXKieroBombXoX

In quite the contrast to Albedo, Frisk seemed very happy to see the festering, malign pustule once more, even in a crippled and practically helpless state. Under these circumstances, with both the rawness of disaster and the inhospitable environment of Dragonspine looming overhead, perhaps any face -figuratively speaking- was welcome. The three spoke briefly, with the Prisoner relating the reality of his current circumstances. Despite his admission to being good for just about nothing in this form, the Prisoner seemed determined to be a burden on Frisk and Albedo’s already arduous climb. Maybe he saw no qualms with keeping their company, but the alchemist looked none too pleased. For what he meaned to accomplish on these frigid slopes, the Prisoner would only get in the way. Still, he wasn’t so inept that he couldn’t stomach a slight change of plans. When it came to accomplishing his goals, anything could change.

He considered the idea of carrying the Prisoner in a sack. The strange being mentioned that the camp now lay at a distance, prompting Albedo to give a curious look at the half-buried wreckage of the camp just a few meters away, not for at all from the singular ledge that Frisk managed to clamber atop with his help. Maybe it seemed a long way for someone so small, but the alchemist could see a worn rucksack that he could -and would probably have to- pull from the snow with relative ease. Not ideal, but it would have to do. Before he could make his way over, however, Frisk bent down to offer something to the Prisoner: a bright pink heart, so cheerful and innocent as to be completely at odds with the misfit trio’s bleak surroundings. He watched with furrowed brows, his expression betraying the intrigue one might expect of any empirical mind, as the Friend Heart popped against the Prisoner’s head.

He then tensed in surprise at the sudden burst of light from the Prisoner’s being, which in an instant both cleansed Galeem’s influence from his spirit, and fully restored him to a pristine state. As it turned out, this meant fashioning a brand new body for him from nothing, which the feculent snotwad naturally couldn’t infest fast enough. In a flash the Prisoner was his ‘normal’ self again, fully ambulatory and fighting-fit. As he strove to collect himself mentally, Albedo blinked a couple times in muted surprise. “Well,” he said after a moment. “How delightful.” The alchemist glanced up at Frisk. “Good thinking. I’ll have to remember that for next time.”

Yet the good news didn’t stop there. After a few moments that Frisk and Albedo spent climbing up the ledges toward the top of the cliff, the Prisoner followed in a hurry, demonstrating both an impressive jump height and an unfamiliar item newly returned to his possession. He offered it to Frisk, saying that it could fix her broken ankle. Given the hard road ahead and the pain such an injury would cause, she’d be a fool to refuse. Once the draught worked its healing magic and Albedo verified the effects, he seemed to perk up, and with a neutral expression reached out his hand for Frisk to pass it to him. “If you don’t mind. I suffered some…rather severe, internal wounds back there.” After briefly inspecting its contents, the alchemist helped himself to two drinks of its remedial contents. While he did not visibly change, he gave a sigh of relief as he returned the flask to the Prisoner. “Much better. I am grateful. Please forgive my brusque manner; all told, I’ve spent far more time on Dragonspine than among the world’s peoples.” He then turned to the cliff face to resume his climb. “Now then. Onwards and upwards.”

Once atop the cliff, the journey continued. While the lower levels of the Dragonspine featured helpful stairs here and there carved into the stone of the mountain to aid in traversal, the higher reaches offered no such niceties. It got rockier, rougher, and more steeply sloped, and in short order any semblance of an actual path upward disappeared. Its absence left the trio to make their up way up snow drifts and stony cliff faces. Patches of a hardy, thick-stemmed, blue-white grass poked through the snow to suggest where firm footing could be found beneath the powder, and as the dark of night descended over the winter-bound mountain, it became easier to notice the light of pretty little flowers growing among the grass. Their bells shone a soft, almost melancholy blue light across the snow, but it did not reach far. It wouldn’t be long before visibility became an issue.

Still, it would have been a peaceful nighttime trek, if not for the monsters that followed the advent of dusk. Least of the trio’s worries were the bats, which offered Frisk, Albedo, and the Prisoner only a taste of combat, especially compared to the Draugr from before. Li’l Brrs, meanwhile, just slid around obliviously, threatening to freeze anyone who touched them solid but lacking direction. The sudden appearance of ice elementals did come as a cause for concern though, forcing the three to expend some effort to put them down. The most worrisome creatures, however, kept their distance, watching with bright red eyes from the snowy shadows and vanishing into the white if approached. The wolf-demons Freki and Geri were still stalking the group when they chanced upon a large cave opening among the rocks. Albedo sighed. “Without Teba to guide us, our chances of finding more camps are low. Perhaps we should explore in here.” He glanced at Frisk. “Could be that Melony’s Pokemon thought the same.” Movement in his peripherals caught his attention, and he looked over the see one of the wolf demons disappear behind a snow drift, much closer than he’d seen them before. “Or we could attend to our…unwanted guests.” Tensing himself for action, he left the decision of where to go to his comrades.

World of Light

Tora, Poppi, and Big Band

Location: Sandswept Sky
Level 9 Tora (234/90) Level 9 Poppi (234/90) Level 7 Big Band (60/70)
Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Therion’s @Yankee, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Raiden’s @XoXKieroBombXoX, Bede’s @Crimson Flame, the Phantom Thieves, the Scout, Peacock, Vandham, Wonder Red, Asbestos, Commander Nelson, Alice MacGregor
Word Count: 2573

With the help of the friendly Metro Cat and his considerate advice in mind, the heroes proceeded out from the Yellow Line toward the main station, leaving the train platform and its bizarre subway behind, although not before Tora jumped up to scratch the giant tabby cat under the chin. Luckily, the color-coded signs and arrows on walls and floor alike made navigation easy, and the path brought them to a row of translucent, neon yellow gates. Through them Band could see the ground level of Yakuza Metro proper, at least for a little way, and as he watched a couple of the black-furred Metro Cats ambled straight through the barrier. Those exiting on the right side, ahead of the Seekers, made it through without having to lift a finger, while those who entered on the left side needed to produce and then scan a little plastic card whose color matched the gate. After a beep the gate dimmed slightly to let the incoming cats through one at a time.

Band noted all this down mentally, nodding to himself as he did. Though a little fantastical with the one-way gates and intelligent barriers, the whole thing worked on much the same principle as any old turnstyle, so it made sense. Identifying the cards the cats used as the metro passes his team got warned about prompted him to realize one other thing, as well: that despite already being in the Yellow Station, he and the others didn’t actually have free access to it. The moment they stepped through the gate, they would need to get passes of their own if they planned to come back in, unless they could find another entrance somewhere. As luck would have it, Band also spotted a ticket booth recessed into one of the walls right next to the gate, but a stroke of fortune it was not, since a cursory examination confirmed that the half-lidded clerk at the counter would be accepting only one currency: the cheap emeralds that the Metro Cats called pons. Even if he did manage to get back into the station without a pass, it looked like he’d need one to board the train again, anyway. So close, and yet so far, the detective thought to himself, glancing around at the Yellow Station one last time before he stepped through the one-way exit and into the main station.

It didn’t take long for the Seekers and their new acquaintances to find the Metro’s help center, especially given Sectonia’s lofty point of view as she led the party through the main area. It took the form of a circular kiosk situated right in the middle of the open area, and as everyone made their way over, Tora followed on autopilot, since his awestruck eyes were looking anywhere but straight in front of him. Zipping along through the open air along the holographic yellow track gave him one perspective of the Metro, but being able to see everything clearly was a wholly different beast. Only the distinct memory of boarding the subway five minutes ago, uncomfortably hot in the Sandswept Sky’s potent light of day, kept the Nopon from now believing he stood in the middle of a huge, neon city at night. Things looked relatively normal, albeit not to an inhabitant of Tora’s native Alrest, if one kept their eyes at ground level, but looking upward revealed buildings stacked on top of one another like massive building blocks of brick, metal, and glass, continuing up and up and up for tens and then hundreds of stories. Even Poppi, with the aid of her specialized optics, couldn’t zoom in far enough to make out where the altitudinous upper levels of the Yakuza Metro finally gave way to some sort of ceiling. “Forget train station,” the artificial blade murmured. “This practically indoor city.”

“Meh, meh…” her Masterpon agreed, somewhat astonished by all the sights and especially smells, as if he hadn’t just stuffed himself silly with the best grub the Wild West had to offer back at Tumbleweed Saloon.

Once at the help center, the whole crew could examine the extra-large monitors at their leisure, taking in all the tips and tricks the kiosk had to offer about navigating the Yakuza Metro, and requesting additional details from the helpful attendants as needed. After scanning list after list for a place that he recognized, Tora couldn’t help but agree with Sectonia. Gutsford, Radlandia, Clock Town, Wugachug? Rot one location in the entire registry, save Al Mamoon and Gerudo Town, rang a bell for him. He hadn’t really been expecting to see a name he recognized from his own world, but a small part of him felt a little let down, anyway.

Band shared the Nopon’s disappointment. “Looks like it’s gonna be trial and error after all, folks,” he observed. Before that process could even begin, however, everyone present needed to buy at least one metro pass each, and as Sectonia pointed out, that meant they needed pons. Luckily, that task looked refreshingly simple, for a change. While pons didn’t necessarily grow on trees, they weren’t far behind. A quick look around confirmed a bunch of them all over the Metro, whether sitting pretty in some out-of-the-way place, or forming trails up walls and across jumps. Naturally, Sectonia planned to delegate the task, but without any such luxury himself, it was time for Big Band to break a leg. “Y’all heard the big bug,” he said. “Let’s boogie.”

“Just don’t get careless, mates,” Vandham told everyone. “There’s a lotta places to fall, and it’s a long way down.”

Asbestos chuckled. “Yeah, don’t come cryin’ to us if ya getcha pockets picked, oah run ovah by one o’ those trains!”

The group quickly split up. Big Band set his sights on the heights and blasted off toward the Metro’s upper reaches. While everyone climbed around on food trucks, fire escapes, and in some cases the trains themselves down below, he’d scoop up some easy pickings where those without the gift of rocket-powered flight couldn’t hope to make their way. Tora and Poppi stood together as they watched Raz and the others go their separate ways, peering around for any good spots where they could make a quick and easy pon. At least, Tora kept an eye out, while his companion stared at him expectantly. After a few moments he returned the look. “Poppi want say thing to Tora?”

“Oh, Poppi just wonder when Masterpon ask Poppi to pick up and fly around and nab pons, easy-peasy,” she replied.

“Tora did think of that,” her Masterpon admitted. “But also have second thoughts, meh. It…too easy. Tora always rely on Poppi to get around fast. Poppi very good at it, of course, but carrying Tora like beach ball…it rob essential Nopon dignity, meh.” He glanced at Poppi as if expecting a sarcastic interjection, but this time she kept quiet. “Plus, this place look like biggy-time fun, in all honesty. So Tora want try run and jump around too, for once!”

Poppi smiled. “That does sound like fun. Masterpon not want Poppi help at all, then?”

“Well, no,” her inventor laughed. “Tora jump barely get off ground on own, and not very agile shape, meh. But if Tora have Drill Shield, can use to jet over gaps, midair boost, and even high jump. That make up difference for sure!”

In response, Poppi constructed a new Drill Shield for him, spinning it out of the ambient ether. “Roger, roger!” she agreed, putting her hands on her hips. “Now, let’s go before all good ones get gone!”

Tora took off at a run, flailing his wings a little as he bounced along, and Poppi clanked behind him. He ran up an escalator, saw Asbestos stomping around the scaffolding of an active construction zone for what looked like a statue of the Metro’s founder in the middle of a shopping center, and hooked a left. A second set of escalators brought him to a third-story landing, and while the currently-inaccessible entrance to the Blue Line stood right ahead, he spotted a corner with paw-print phones and a really cool piece of wall art to the right, and the open area stretched on a ways to the left. The glass outer wall of a giant aquarium took up the entire facade along there, and Tora ran past the assembled Metro cats who watched the fish with wide, bright eyes. Ahead lay the bridge that spanned the path he and the others came down earlier in order to reach the help center, but rather than hustle across, Tora turned his attention to a balcony on the aquarium’s second story, where a handful of Metro Cats were lounging around on deck chairs beneath a beach umbrella. Since the Metro lacked both rain and shine, their furled parasol served only a decorative purpose, but at its tip Tora spotted just the bright green glint he was searching for. A pon, out of reach for a casual kitty, but not for an industrious Nopon such as himself.

“Okay, it go time!” He held down the button for the Drill Shield’s thrusters, charging them up for a moment, then released to blast up toward the balcony. At the apex of his flight he snatched the pon, then landed nearby. While the cats looked up for a moment from their phones, they didn’t seem to care, and after Poppi rocket-jumped up to join him, Tora ran inside. The building’s second greeted him with the sight of a large perimeter walkway that ran around the edges of the aquarium, allowing visitors to look over the railing at the fish swimming down below. Some of the cats even wielded rods to catch a meal with, but Tora was more interested in the pons that trailed along the narrower walkways over the tank.

“Meh-meh, perfect!” Without a second thought he hopped over the railing, paused for a terrified moment as the catwalk shook under his weight, then proceeded along it. Two, three, four, five, six. He went back and forth across the catwalks and climbed the occasional vertical grate, accidentally spilling a few buckets of fish food as he made sure to collect them all. A couple rafts drifted around the surface in set patterns, and with a little timing Tora could use them to get across otherwise excessive gaps. Tora did slip and fall in once, but getting soaked wasn’t about to dampen his spirit. With a final daring boost over an open area to nab pons seven and eight, the big fishing tank was cleaned out, and the duo ended up in what looked like a blend between a maintenance area and an alley, all reflective and gray. There seemed to be back doors to a couple restaurants, possibly used to offload leftovers to the fish tank, as well as some half-finished graffiti depicting a tiger. An orange splotch lay on the ground from the rupture of an abandoned paint can, but a cat vacuum seemed to be on the case. Tora steered clear and went to bounce off the dumpsters in order to collect six more pons. That left just eight before both he and Poppi could afford a pass.

After that, the two considered their next move for a moment. They could go back out through the aquarium, or down the only other open route from this alleyway, which resounded with the loud, telltale rattle of a nearby subway train. Tora could see some more pons up high on the restaurant’s fire escapes, but the dumpsters couldn’t spring him high enough to reach them even if he boosted up with the Drill Shield midair. Out of curiosity he tried jumping on the rubbery, domed top of the cat vacuum, and bounced even higher, only for the hapless Nopon to land face-down in the paint. “Meh-meh, of course!” he groaned, annoyed, before turning to see the cat vacuum speeding toward him with an angry, electronic MEOW! “MEH!?” Poppi charged in to protect him, but before she or her Masterpon could do anything, the machine ran him over. In an instant Tora not only got cleaned off, but also bounced sky-high, soaring high enough to grab hold of a fire escape. He held on for dear life, barely breathing until his heart slowed back down, at which point he managed to wrap his head around what happened. “Heh…heheh!” After swinging around to deposit himself on the landing, he put his wings on the rail and leaned over. “Up here Poppi!” he called down. “See, Tora always manage to reach new heights, meh!”

As she looked up Poppi removed her fist from the destroyed remains of the vacuum somewhat sheepishly. “G-good! Now…Masterpon can collect rest of pons!”

He did, and once he finished he jumped back down into Poppi’s waiting arms. While they’d gathered more than enough, Tora was too curious to leave before taking a peek at whatever lay beyond the alley’s other exit. Together he and Poppi followed the path through the maintenance area, and after just a couple moments they came upon a ledge that overlooked a Blue Station train tunnel, wide enough for two subways to run alongside one another in opposite directions. “Whoa!” Tora marveled. “How this work? We supposed jump down and run across when trains not coming?”

“Poppi think opposite. Would be more practical to jump across tops of trains when both come by together,” the artificial blade reasoned. She pointed at the pons that floated in the tunnel at the perfect height to scoop up if one happened to be standing on top of a passing train.

“Oh!” Now that Poppi said it, it seemed so obvious. “Well, we just zip-zoom across anyway,” Tora remembered, hefting his Drill Shield. The two jetted across to find themselves overlooking none other than the Blue Station itself. Metro Cats milled around throughout, hanging out and chatting in their little groups, and after jumping down Tora could see the very same row of blue gates that confronted him at the top of the escalators before, complete with a matching ticket booth. “Meh-meh!” he sang, looking pleased. “So there are ways in without pass. It probably same for other stations. So they more like shortcuts than actual obstacles, meh.”

“Well, we still need buy pass to ride train,” Poppi reminded him. As she spoke she produced her share of ten pons. “Since we here, why not get ours before go back and meet others?”

Tora nodded his agreement, and the dynamic duo did just that. A few moments later they stood back out in the open Metro, not far from the glass front of the aquarium. As the Nopon watched, a trout got snagged by a fishhook, and yanked up toward the catwalks he’d explored earlier on the building’s second floor. “There very much more to this place than meet eye,” he observed.

“Mhm. I wonder how others get on,” Poppi mused. She turned to go, prompting Tora to join her, and the pair began the short trip back the way they came.

Ms Fortune

Location: Deep Blue Seaside - Limsa Lominscuttle Town
Level 9 Nadia (37/90)
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet and Pit’s @Yankee, Sakura and Karin's @Zoey Boey, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Omori’s @Majoras End, Nadia Fortune, Peach, Yennefer, Rika, and Cerberus
Word Count: 1245

The voice of this strange fetus beast in her head made Nadia a little uncomfortable, so as she listened to its attempts to get everyone on the same page, she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible in her chosen chair at the Garfont Center’s fancy roundtable. As if its map wasn’t already crazy impressive and nigh-magical enough to someone who essentially hailed from the early twentieth century, the fact that its holographic surface started changing itself as Mewtwo explained things boggled Nadia’s mind even further. Utterly fascinated, she couldn’t possibly avert her gaze as little dot-trails snaked across the map to trace the teams’ approximate paths, or when areas flashed and displayed additional information, like the guardians that her buddies had already taken down. Both the Ender Dragon and Red Eye looked like terrifying monstrosities, and the mention of Megadragonbowser intrigued her, but considering everything she’d been through she didn’t even stop to question it.

As more new information trickled in Nadia mulled it over with narrowed eyes, her chin resting in her hand. She delighted in HQ's exciting plan to secure both far-off friends and a world-wide travel network, then absorbed the details of their dealings with the Forlorn Factory, both through Dedede’s distressed account of the initial raid and Peach’s summary of that problem’s thorough resolution. With everyone caught up to date, that just left the matter of where to go next. Nadia glanced at each region on the map as Peach described them, and like the princess her attention came to rest on Midgar, represented as a very large city up in the Dystopiascape. For now it possessed only a vague but very large outline, which left Nadia all the more curious. Part of the reason she chose to brave the Dead Zone in the first place was its staggering enormity, far surpassing her only frame of reference, that being New Meridian. The thought of a live megacity in this strange new world set her imagination aflame, inviting her to go see it for herself. And if the Seekers had allies there that needed a hand, all the better. Geralt wanted to help too, so Nadia knew it wasn’t just bias on her part. Then again, Midgar seemed to be about as far to the northeast as one could go on this continent. Yennefer was right: if the Seekers did plan to head over, this Metro would need to hook them up.

While she and the other members of the so-called Hero Teams were out hunting down guardians, Alcamoth and its Mercenaries had been very busy, and not just when it came to sending people off on missions. From the beginning Nadia had struggled to wrap her head around such an enormous campaign, and what it took to make such a venture possible. Luckily, the people at Alcamoth seemed to have accepted the responsibility to handle all the logistics and stuff themselves, meaning that Nadia and the other Seekers could focus on what really mattered: go place and kill thing. Still, she didn’t plan to turn a blind eye to important developments around here, especially when they concerned Galeem’s chosen. When Kamek mentioned a return to the Dead Zone to finish the job, Nadia grimaced. Blown up or not, she hated that place with every fiber of her being, and as it turned out, things were far from over. The young Pit hit the team with a double-whammy of absolutely disastrous hazards for any prospective clean-up crew in the form of an age-accelerating rain and a kind of invisible entity that could trigger more explosions like the one she saw all the way from the western coast.

She puffed her cheeks out as she exhaled, eyes wide, then shook her head. “That’s a no from me, bud.” Hopefully Ace was correct in thinking that time was on the Seekers’ side. If the guardian was holed up somewhere in the crater of the former Dead Zone, the team could wait until the eggheads around here came up with some sure-fire way to beat timefall and turbo-ghost alike. Something Pit said did pique her interest though. “Beached things,” she repeated, scratching her head. “Y’know, it’s probably nothin’, but hearin’ that makes me think of that freaky beach beneath the island. With that slug monster washed up on shore, and that nightmare that crawled out of it.” For a moment her eyes rested on the image of the creature that haunted her dreams, the one Mewtwo called the Orphan of Kos. She shivered and looked away.

Not far away from her, Cerberus had been leaning on the table, oohing and aahing over all the new information they were given and probably retaining none of it. The Triple Demon had continued to follow Blue Team around today just as they did the night before, so for better or worse it looked like the dog girls would be along for the ride. Even if they seemed rather carefree and dim-witted, they were fun to have around, so Nadia didn’t mind. When a lull in the conversation followed Pit’s tale about what became of the Dead Zone, Cerberus seemed to get bored. “So what now?” they chorused. “Everyone just waits until the other team calls for us to come pick them up?”

”Good question,” Mewtwo replied. ”I did think of a way to spend the time. An activity that will not only get all of you warmed up for the day ahead, but also broaden your skills and horizons. As it happens, this is also the activity that Alcamoth is built around.” Some of those present could already begin to figure out what that meant, but for everyone else, Mewtwo went ahead and explained. “I want all of you to engage in some special training. One-on-one sparring matches, held within any of Smash City’s many arenas. As time goes on the adversity you face out there will doubtlessly increase, so you must not only know one another better, but be able to face enemies with a variety of powers and skills.” He reached a hand out toward the table. “Now, let us match you all together.”

Blazermate <-> Rika
Karin <-> Rubick
Ace Cadet <-> Sakura
Geralt <-> Pit
Kamek <-> Bowser Junior
Susie <-> Ms Fortune
Bowser <-> Peach

As everyone got busy reading to find their opponents, Mewtwo addressed the others in the room, namely Omori and Cerberus. ”You two -four?- I am unfamiliar with, and you are not currently signed on with the Hero Teams. If you wish to participate, I might be able to arrange something for you as well. Would that Link were still here…” Mewtwo looked over at Dedede. ”As for you…be ready for your next assignment. Dismissed.”

The big penguin sighed and turned to go. “A dyed-in-the-wool king, talked down to by a doggone test tube baby, don’t that just beat all,” he muttered to himself.

Nadia, meanwhile, was scanning the room. “Susie, huh?” Her eyes landed on the little pink-haired secretary bot, currently little more than an acquaintance in her mind. More to the point, the feral knew nothing whatsoever about Susie’s abilities. “Well, this should be interestin’!” With a smile she hopped out of her chair. “Wanna take this outside then, li’l miss?”