Although quick to call out for the yokai mob to ‘get them’, many of the smaller creatures were less eager to charge at the group of newcomers than their bluster made it seem. Once Nadia realized that most of the Gaki were all talk, she rolled her eyes and seized the initiative herself, diving down on all fours to sprint straight into the thick of things. Other Seekers followed her example, spreading out to tackle three or four of the miscreants at a time, but Big Band stood his ground. The Ippon-Datara didn’t stay down for long, after all. A few seconds after he hit the deck, the one-legged metalworker rose with the aid of a couple Gaki cronies, his cyclopean eye glaring with the same light that pulsed through the veins of his brawny arms.
“A cheap trick,” he snarled, shrugging off the smaller yokais’ helping hands.
”Easily countered.”“Maybe on paper. Let’s see if you got what it takes.” Without warning, Band bulled forward again, faster than anyone his size had a right to. That burst of speed lasted less than a second, but that was enough to close the distance to his opponent–yet not enough for the Ippon-Datara to enact anything beyond the most basic countermeasure. Knowing an attack would trade with the Brass Knuckles at best, he resorted to blocking with his hammer. Brass met iron in a weighty clang, and though neither yielded, the impact pushed the yokai back a few inches. Though technically at an advantage, he wasn’t ready for a proper punish, and Band got off lightly with a panicked backhand. By the time the Ippon-Datara lifted his bludgeon for a real counterattack, Band had already backed off.
Wham! Falling just short, the hefty hammer smash struck only the ground, and as its shook the earth Band returned fire with a little tremor of his own. The detective deployed his
massive pedal, belting out, “Giant steps!” as it swung in an overhead arc to beat the dirt like a drum.
The pedal slam fell even shorter of Ippon-Datara than his own attempted wallop, but the yokai’s confusion came to an abrupt end when the ensuing shockwave swept his leg out from under him.
”Gyah!” He hit the ground with a surprised grunt, and right away Band closed the distance with another Brass Knuckles. His huge fist whiffed, blowing through the air above the Ippon-Datara’s head as he tried to get up, but before the slow yokai could capitalize with a whack from his hammer, Big Band managed to recover and grab him with his
big bell. A good shake left the yokai with ringing ears, but rather than combo off the throw Band went for another knockdown with
Low Rank, hoping that a row of organ pipes to the knee would be enough to end the fight. Instead the Ippon-Datara sprang into the air with a roar, his maul raised for a meteoric smash.
Band, though, stood firm in the face of the deadly impact, eyes up as he bided his time. His first instinct was to snatch his foe out of the sky with Beat Extend, but he knew it would be dangerously tricky to time right on the first go. At the last moment he settled for blocking instead, and just in time. The huge smash blasted the ground, sending fragments of earth flying, but Band’s stalwart guard mitigated the damage. Left in a very unsafe position by its frenzied haymaker, the Ippon-Datara received another faceful of Brass Knuckles that sent him tumbling backward.
”Aargh!”He came to a stop in time to see Band slide forward again, and rushed to compose himself. This time, the yokai told himself, he would not fumble the punish. He narrowed his eye and put up his guard, only for Band to cut his ride short with
Emergency Break and grab the yokai with his bell yet again. This time the ringing took a heavy toll, and when Band released him the Ippon-Datara could barely stand. He leaned on the handle of his planted hammer for support, head spinning, and Band took a half-step back to gauge his foe’s condition.
By that point, the Gaki who had the metalworker’s back earlier had a few choice words instead.
”Dude, he keeps grabbing you!””Why aren’t you breaking his throws?”The Ippon-Datara slapping his hair face with his palms, trying to clear the dizziness.
”I’m trying!” he growled, his frustration growing alongside the sensation of helplessness.
”There’s a lot going on!”One Gaki shook his head mournfully.
”The mental stack! His brain’s broken!”With insult added to injury, the Ippon-Datara roused himself with a bellow. His inner fire surged as he channeled his power into his hammer, igniting it. When he whacked the earth, the impact sent forth a slow flame wave that crawled toward Band along the ground. He waited a moment, then flung himself forward, leaping over the flame to deliver a bombastic somersault slam.
Steeled by his many years of fighting, Band was ready. He stood to block the blazing wallop, then parried the predictable flame wave with his cymbal for good measure. “Uh-huh,” he drawled, not impressed. The next moment the Ippon-Datara’s eyes went wide as Band clasped him in
Heat Extend, then shook him like a tambourine. Dazed, he could do nothing but drop limply, and for the grand finale Band sent him packing with a final Brass Knuckle. The punch snapped his opponent’s tusks, and after flying a couple dozen feet the yokai failed to rise. Instead, he burst into blue spirit flame. He burned quickly, and after a moment only a ghostly outline remained.
”Damn…knowledge…checks…ugh,” he groaned.
The Gaki around him stared in astonishment. When Band strode toward them, the little yokai quailed at his footfalls. “Y’all hearin’ me now? Beat it! Unless your ears need a good cleanin’, too!” Stammering apologies, the Gaki returned to this spirit world in a series of ghostly blue flashes. The disembodied spirit of the Ippon-Datara took a little longer, glaring at Band balefully, but ultimately disappeared as well. Band let out a weary sigh. “I’m too old for this crap.”
He turned to watch as the bout between the Centipede Guai and Pit came to an end a few moments later. Band nodded in respect at the angel’s victory, noting the little guy’s ability to hit way above his weight class. “Nice goin’, captain,” he complimented him with a friendly smile. Neither Sakura nor Harry made as much of a spectacle with their own brawls, but then again, there was only so much fight a couple Gaki could put up in the first place.
Not far away, Nadia had been having some fun of her own. No matter how big they talked, the Gaki were seldom ready when she ran at them, and few put up much of a fight. The first one she swept up in her rekka, landing two cat scratches before hopping up to floor it with an
El Gato axe kick. That seemed to be enough to keep it down, so she went straight for the hapless yokai’s closest friend. A roundhouse kick to the chin spun it away, stunned, and a hyper-extended follow-up turn kick to the back sent it sprawling. The third Gaki put up its arms, shielding its face, so Nadia promptly swept it off its feet with a
cat slide. It hit the ground with a winded grunt, clutching its abdomen as its tongue lolled out, and Nadia moved on to the next.
With the 16% speed boost from Clockwork Apple refreshing constantly, the feral fought like a woman possessed, but rather than go overboard on the little guys she found herself showing off instead. She prioritized short, snappy, cool-looking combos, performing acrobatic feats more for the fun of it than anything. One Gaki she flexibly launched into the air with
Limber Up, then followed into the air to smack back down with
Flying Screen Door, her reverse upside-down kick. Another she grabbed and toyed with in a
giant yarn ball wound from her own muscle fibers. For every yokai she knocked down, another one remained at the periphery of the fight, content just to watch the spectacle unfold.
”Whoa, she’s pretty good!””Cool combos!””That rushdown is crazy!””Looking respectfully!”Increasingly giddy, Nadia happily pulled her punches -her claws barely even sharpened- so the yokai could come back for more. Of course, not finishing any foes off led to a half-dozen coming after her at once, but luck was on the feral’s side. When she planted her ears in the ground to perform
Wheel of Fortune, the extra hits were enough to trigger Maddening Voice. Multitudinous laughter burst from her lungs, and the multicolored soundwaves blasted the yokai away, returning all of them to the spirit world in one giant spectral fireball. Nadia came to a stop resting on her side, and there she lay, grinning at the excited spectators.
”Was that her super?!””Her attacks are borderline unreactable!””How have I never seen her before?!””It should have been me!”Savoring all the attention, Nadia reclined there -a little short of breath- until another Gaki stepped forward from the crowd. This one was a little bigger than the others, and he wore a black baseball cap. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he groused, arms crossed. “What, you guys never seen a catgirl before? You seen one, you seen ‘em all. They’re fast and flashy, sure, but at high level? The game plan falls apart. That’s rushdown fighters for ya: all style, no substance.”
Sensing a chance to really wow the onlookers, Nadia rose into a crouch, her smile taunting. “Oh yeah? I bet I could still make your head spin, little man!”
The Gaki sniffed. “Hmph! Come and impress me, then!”
With the crowd’s eyes on her, Nadia got into a ready stance with a smile, wiggling her tail. Then she sprinted forward and leaped into the air. The Gaki lifted his weathered hands in a defensive stance, his body tense. “I’mma block this whack-ass mixup.”
Nadia’s jump arc carried her over his head. Then she released her pressurized blood, airdashing backward over his head again. Then she
spiked her head downward, which halted her momentum enough that her head shot behind him. Finally, her neck blasted out blood and shot backward again, hitting the Gaki low. He hit the ground with a surprised yelp, and the onlookers burst into a frenzy of hype, hooting and hollering as they jumped up and down.
”That was cheesy as hell!””I ain’t blockin’ that!””Well, I got mixed.”“Nyehehe~!” Nadia stooped to lift up her head, then span it on one finger like a basketball. “What can I say? I’m always one step a-head!”
Thoroughly entertained, the Gaki started a cheer.
“Catgirls rule! Catgirls rule!” Even the one she knocked down found it in him to laugh at himself. By that time, the rest of the fighting had come to an end, so the Seethe was officially over. The remaining yokai disappeared back to the spirit world, and the Seekers were left to regroup as the villagers began to clean up.
Nadia looked pretty pleased with herself. “That was fun! Well, one guy called me cheesy, but I had a gouda time.”
Band raised an eyebrow at her, wondering how in the world the feral managed to turn a riot into recreation. “Glad someone’s enjoyin’ herself at least. Anyway, now that’s over with, we better get a move on. The city’s just up ahead.”
Twenty minutes later, the Fields of Gold finally came to an end, the long and winding path through the hills of waving wheatgrass terminating at one of Esaka’s many gates. Its white outer walls extended around its entire perimeter, about two stories high, topped with distinctive steep green roofing tiles despite their lack of interior space. Beyond those walls lay the first of the city’s five tiers. Though the least well-off and the least built-up by far, with few buildings tall enough to peek over the exterior walls, the brief glimpse afforded to the approaching Seekers through the gate suggested that the Low Tier was a far cry from the slums of Midgar; it looked clustered, cheap, and somewhat unclean, but there were no muddy dirt streets or ramshackle junk shacks in sight. About one city block in, the second tier towered above the first. From here nobody could see any of the titular pools that gave the second tier its name, they could see the decorative stone waist-high railing that surrounded it, and a few places where water flowed down into the Low Tier, becoming channels that one could probably cross via traditional arched footbridges. Farther still the newcomers could see the Mid Tier, which resembled a more typical modern Japanese town, and the High Tier, with enough large buildings that it looked like a real city. Above it all loomed the Top Tier, with its tall, imperious towers. If the Guardian was up there somewhere, the Seekers had a lot of climbing to do. For her part, Nadia couldn’t wait to get started.
Of course, the first order of business was to get inside. Though the gate was open, an impressive-looking
Aurumaton stood at either side, dutifully watching every person who went in and out. Since there weren’t many travelers, that meant that their ominous gaze rested on the Seekers the moment they arrived, the Aurumatons’ enormous cudgels vaguely threatening as their mechanical bodies vibrated restlessly. They weren’t the only ones around, though; Band also spotted what might be a kindred spirit in the form of a
green alligator in an olive detective’s trench coat and a red tie, silently pacing in front of the gates with a phone to his ear, evidently on hold. He noticed the Seekers as they approached, and when Band tipped his hat the reptile gave up on his phone call and pocketed it along with his hands. “Good morning,” he greeted the strangers in an even, slightly nasal tone.
“Good morniiiiing!” Nadia replied cheerfully. “How’s it goin’?”
He shrugged. “Oh, not bad, it’s just…say, you’re coming from the direction of Ashwat Village, hmm? I got a report about a Seethe going on near there, but details are scarce. Don’t suppose you folks saw anything?”
“Took care of it!” Outspoken as ever, Nadia happily jumped at the chance to speak for everyone.
“Oh!” The alligator looked surprised, then relieved. “Well then, that sure is good to hear. The spirits don’t cause trouble often, but when they get going, they can do a lot of damage.” He smiled, which looked a little goofy given his protruding fangs. “Guess I owe you folks one, eh?”
Band stepped forward. “Think nothin’ of it. Though, if you’re offerin’, I guess we could use a little direction. We’re new in town, gonna be here a while. See the sights, join the tournaments, you know. Don’t s’pose you know anyone who’d be willin’ to show us around?”
The team’s new acquaintance straightened up and jabbed a thumb back toward the city. “Well shoot, I wouldn’t mind doing it myself. If the Seethe’s dealt with, I got an hour or two to kill anyway.” He cleared his throat and put a scaly hand on his chest. “Scuse me, where’re my manners. I’m Investigator Azuma, with the Kyanta Dojo. Pleasure to meet you all.”
Nadia scratched her head. “You’re an…oh! Investi-GATOR! I get it!” She gave him the double finger guns with a wink.
“Hm?” Azuma gave her a blank look, then cleared his throat. “Ahem, well, come on in.”
As Band stepped forward, he gave the Aurumatons a wary glance. “You sure these guys don’t mind?”
“Oh, the Gatekeepers? I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Azuma turned and led the way through the gates, his scaly tail trailing behind him. “As I’m sure you’re already aware, this is a city of fighters. The Gatekeepers make sure that the wrong people don’t get in.”
Nadia raised an eyebrow at the menacing machine. “Wrong people?”
At that, one of the Aurumatons spoke in a mechanical grumble.
”Those who do not respect Esaka’s traditions. Who would change things to suit their own purposes.””If the fighting community does not gatekeep, the integrity of its dojos and tournaments will be ruined,” the other Aurumaton chimed in, chugging assertively.
Sounds like a good way to slowly die off over time, Nadia thought, but in light of the Aurumatons’ massive cudgels she kept her thoughts to herself. With Azuma in the lead, the Seekers finally stepped into the bustling interior of Esaka, the Tiered City.
Already shivering more than he thought he’d be, Heismay rejoined Edward on the stagecoach with a hop. While he didn’t have high hopes, the strategist did mention seeming something akin to the Pal Spheres before. “Roxas?” Heismay didn’t know who that was. As much as socialization wasn’t his forte, it would be a good idea to find time to talk to all his new allies today, a few minutes apiece. For now, though, he cast his eyes around as the golems lugged the stagecoach eastward. When Edward set his sights on the Snotel, Heismay remained by his side, curious to see just what the strangely-named building would offer them.
Inside the duo found a bespectacled pair of monsters, identical except for their coloration. They seemed friendly enough, but Heismay was happy to let Edward do the talking. Either Clark and Stanley were too nice for their own good, or just very bad salesmen, but they somehow seemed amenable giving away some of their stuff for free. True to his word, Clark even shuffled off to see what else he had to offer. Taken aback, Heismay couldn’t help but wonder just how far they could push this, even before his comrade attempted to address him. “Him…Himsley?” the Eugief grumbled with an incredulous look, as if to ask how in the world Edward got that wrong.
After a moment he cleared his throat, and met Stanley’s inquisitive gaze. Faced with that innocent, oafish expression, Heismay allowed his conscience to get the better of him. “I have to ask…why give us perfectly fine goods for nothing in return?”
Stanley pushed up his glasses. “Why, holiday spirit, of course! We Snowdin folk love giving gifts. And getting them!” He nodded sagely. “Those presents, out under the tree? They’re for whoever needs them. And if you got more than you need, you should leave presents there for others. With business being the way it is, Clark and I end up needy pretty often. Just think of it as us giving back.” He crossed his arms in a very righteous manner. “Plus doing it this way just means saving on wrapping paper!”
As Heismay’s expression softened, Clark returned, followed by the sound of bells. “You said you got a carriage, right? Well, I got good news!” he announced. “Whenever people come to live in Snowdin, they break down their wagons for building material, but we take all the travel stuff they don’t need any more. We’re keeping the griddle ‘cause it makes us flapjacks, but there’s a stew pot, carriage lamps, and this!”
He held up a
crude windchime, which he jingled. The sound was festive, and oddly soothing; Heismay couldn’t help but smile. “In that case, we’ll be truly in your debt.”
“Just give us a chunk of whatever goodies you find out there when you get back, and we’re even!” Stanley said. “And tell all your friends: if you’re snowed in in Snowdin, the Snotel’s the place to stay!”
Heismay nodded, and received the wind chime from Clark with gratitude. With their new furnishings in hand, the Seekers returned to the stagecoach to install them.
Despite her usual fixation on expedience, Sandalphon waited patiently as Celica considered the options at hand, knowing that she had posed a difficult -and in all honesty, unfair- question. After all, how could the Seekers’ most recent recruit be expected to know the other team members well enough to pick out appropriately colored parkas? Statistically speaking, it was unlikely that she’d managed to commit their appearances to memory yet–or that she even knew who did and did not already have a method of counteracting the Highlands’ chill.
As the seconds ticked by, the archangel considered giving Celica a reminder, or perhaps pulling up pictures of her new allies on light screens for her to see, but before she could her new acquaintance began to speak. With pupils shaped like inverted triangles, Sandalphon listened attentively as Celica replied, outlining her rationale and different perspectives on the matter of form versus function. She even offered a little insight into her homeworld, maybe a little too much, but before her response could be considered long-winded Celica produced an answer that the archangel hadn’t expected: that the Seekers should forego individual colors in favor of unity, both with one another and with the environment.
It took no more than an instant for Sandalphon to recognize the truth of Celica’s recommendation, her pupils flashing exclamation marks as she suddenly realized where her own thought process had fallen short. Her laser-focus on the matter of satisfying her teams’ individuality had prevented her from seeing the bigger picture, and her lack of field experience blinded her to the possibility of camouflage. It made much more sense to opt for any possible tactical advantage, and if the Seekers never found out that the parkas came in any other color to begin with, what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Plus, having everyone in uniform white (herself included) with matching red Focus Sashes promised to satisfy her inner compulsiveness.
When Celica glanced at her to gauge her response, Sandalphon nodded vigorously, her expression one of utmost solemnity. It didn’t take long for the self-conscious psycorruptor to start walking her recommendation back, but by then Sandalphon was already sorting through the parkas to find all the other white ones the team would need. “No need,” she answered Celica’s question, her voice firm. “Your advice was well considered and made complete sense. Excellent work.” For some reason, part of her (probably the nascent human part) felt compelled to explain away her shortsightedness as best she could. “Although I have many years of leadership experience, I have spent very little time in the field, so you pointed out something I had not considered. Such insight was, and will no doubt continue to be, invaluable.”
Once the two ladies collected enough pure-white parkas for the whole team, they paid a visit to Morshu at the front desk and completed the purchase, albeit barely. With only a literal handful of zenny to her name now, Sandalphon waited for Celica to don her new duds, then led her back out through the pandemoniac pawn shop. Just before she reached the door, though, the familiar voice of Geralt resonated through her angelic sigil. Sandalphon paused at the threshold to listen to the Witcher’s report. As expected of a master hunter, he’d been looking into the Seekers’ quarry, and already turned up a possible lead. “Roger that. Thank you.” Her sigil disappeared, and after a glance at Celica to confirm that the girl was ready, she stepped back out into the wintry winds.
The archangel briefly considered what Geralt had said. All things considered, it was very good news. If the Guardian craved the excitement of a real challenge and would aggressively seek out any potential sources of one, the Seekers could definitely use that against him. A magnificent display of destructive power, from as high a vantage point as possible, would probably be the team’s best bet. Her pupils became crosshairs as she scanned the horizons, searching for any possible locations. The Highlands were highly mountainous, with ranges in pretty much every direction she looked, onyx-black against a murky gray horizon. One mountain towered above them all, though, and above it
a gargantuan sphere hovered higher still, eerily motionless. “Hmm…”
After a moment, Sandalphon returned her attention to her current situation. Looking up and down the Snowdin’s main street, she spotted a couple other Seekers either already returned or on their way back to where they started. Sectonia was impossible to miss, but after a second she also spotted Geralt as he crunched through the snow from Grillby’s. His call would quickly prove unnecessary, but it did remind her that she’d need to pick the brains of everyone else, who hadn’t been as forthcoming with what they’d learned. It took longer to recognize what was going on at the street’s west end, from which direction a team of golems were slowly but steadily tugging a massive stagecoach through town. Once she saw Edward and Heismay, though, the pieces fell into place. Though Kit, Ace, Roxas, Ganondorf, and Blazermate were nowhere to be found, it was worth getting started with just six people present.
Easily identifiable thanks to her glowing triple halo, Sandalphon waved the overs over. “Here,” she stated, passing out parkas to Geralt, Edward, Sectonia, and Heismay with Celica’s help. Anyone who’d planned to rely on a frost resistance ring would no doubt be especially thankful, since practically speaking, there was a world of difference between elemental ice and ambient temperature. Though simple in appearance, these clothes still conformed themselves to their wearers’ shapes, which was a rare blessing. Most everyone would still need periodic exposure to a fire or other actual heat source to recover lost heat, but for now the parkas would be enough to weather the cold climate.
Sandalphon studied the stagecoach, mentally calculating its inner dimensions. “Quite the find.”
“Indeed.” Looking snug in his little parka, with his huge ears poking out from his hood, Heismay nodded from atop the wagon. “Our only problem is moving it. Tis very heavy, and quite unable to move itself. And as helpful as Edward’s summons may be, they lack the speed to cover the leagues with haste.”
Sandalphon’s pupils became loading rings as she considered the predicament. “Noted.”
After jumping down, Heismay continued. “I inquired with some local Paripus, who I witnessed riding large, deerlike creatures. Evidently more of them can be found in the wild, and they can be tamed with artifacts known as ‘Pal Spheres’, but I know no more than that. Would that Roxas was here.”
Sandalphon looked around at the gathered Seekers. “Any other updates on expedition supplies or equipment? More vitally, have we managed to find out anything else about Baldur or his whereabouts? It would also be worth noting any significant Highlands events or locales you may have heard of.”
Member
RPM
CabbageAngel
TruthHurts
Eviledd1984
DancesWMonsters
Archmage MC
Dyelli Beybi
FujiwaraPhoenix
Bingelly
