TruthHurts

World of Light

Level 4 (XP: 12/40)
Level Up!

Edinburgh MagikaPolis - Grammeowster’s Kitchen

"We did our best," Wonder Red offered once everyone came to their senses, "and we've learned valuable intel. As far as I'm concerned, we haven't failed yet." Wonder Red had doubts, such as how their encounter may have marked them as a larger threat to the Consuls and could bring harsher retaliation than they've already faced, but he didn't want to dwell on them or put them into the team's heads. "Plus we didn't leave empty handed." He raised a hand to Mewtwo. "We saved those two civilians from Consul L's collection. Albedo," he addressed the geomancer, "you're an alchemist, correct? Do you think you'd be able to bring them out of their frozen state?"

All this time Wonder Red was thinking 'if only'. If only the Virgin Victory was there with them to provide support. If only Professor Shirogane were here to concoct a solution to Consul N's Latency. But... no, it would be selfish of him to wish Commander Nelson and the VV were with them. They were of much more use to Alcamoth, especially after its destruction.

"I've heard some information about Linkle," Red commented on the new goal they had. "Though I wasn't fully debriefed on her situation. If you think she'd be open to talking with us, it's worth a try." He straightened his gauntlets, checking them over for damage, then going over the rest of his suit. The other downside to not having his usual support was the upkeep of the CENTINEL suit. For now it held, but scratches and cuts exposed its pulsing neon circuitry. It was engineered to maintain power in spite of heavy damage, though Red made a mental note to be more cautious in the future.

"We may need an advantage if we have to fight her," Wonder Red noted, "as much as I hope it doesn't come to that. She seems exceptionally powerful."

---

323 Words
+1 EXP

World of Light

Ichiban

Lv. 3
██████████████████████████████

Stats

Passion Lv. 1 (1/10)
Confidence Lv. 1 (1/10)
Charisma Lv. 1 (0/10)
Kindness Lv. 1 (0/10)
Intellect Lv. 1 (0/10)
Style Lv. 1 (0/10)

Pizza Tower - Lobby

Ichiban was easy to wake. He didn't sleep in a tent, instead sprawled out on his bedroll at the fire's edge. He was already pretty scruffy-looking when he went to bed, between his cheap dirty suit and wild hair, so he wasn't any more bedraggled as before he conked out. "Guh, huh? Mornin' already..?" He sat up and stretched so slowly you could almost hear his muscles creak. "Had one helluva dream last night. I woke up in some hot and bright place, surrounded by people that I couldn't really understand, and I was totally naked. It felt really... real." It was just a dream, he told himself, but a part of him deep down told him it was something more. Somehow.

He helped to pack up all their camping supplies, folding bedrolls and collapsing tents, so once Nadia got the lowdown from the trolls, they were ready to get moving.. Going back was definitely out of the question, and the only way forward was, apparently, through these pizza lovers. These very picky pizza lovers. "We can keep as much pizza as we can make?" The prospect of near endless 'za was too good to pass up, and made Ichiban's stomach rumble. Since the last stuff he ate was poisoned breakfast pastries and tea, he was going on empty too. "Hell yeah!"

In traditional video game fashion, there were a few steps along the way to complicate things. Ichiban took a moment to count out the number of levels, then how many of them there were. "13, 14... alright, so that's about 15 of us and 14 levels. If we split up we can nab a whole lotta ingredients at once!" Ichiban took a couple burlap sacks for himself and made for the first hallway, stopping between the doors for Ancient Cheese and Bloodsauce Dungeon. Cheese & sauce, two of the most important components of pizza, and ones they would need a ton to work with. "...I'm goin' for cheese," Ichiban decided, "all that sauce is gonna get real heavy and, well, I ain't anything special like the rest of 'em." (+1 Intellect!)

Tucking his bags under his arm, Ichiban stepped a couple feet back and braced himself to run. Knees bent, head forward, he took a deep breath... then broke out into a sprint, letting loose a wild, "Hooouwah!" like some kind of battle cry as he crossed the level's threshold.

It was go time.

---

419 Words
+1 EXP

World of Light

Beneath the Mask II

Location:The City of Glass - Vandelay Campus
Attendees: Susie, Raz, Goldlewis, Zenkichi, Roxas, Midna, Karin
Viewers: Blazermate, Tora, Giovanna, Geralt, Sakura, Pit, Benedict, Partitio
Word Count: 2028 (+3)

As the uproar from the candidates’ ferocious opening exchange died down, the moderator shook his head and reached out for a sip from his drink. It was a simple glass, half water and half syrup. Before drinking he made sure to swirl it around a few times, mixing up the bland water and saccharine sludge into something diluted and palatable. Once he refreshed himself, he straightened his rustling papers, and launched into the debate’s second question.

“As we continue to address topics related to the Ever Crisis, please focus on the specifics of your policies. Gentlemen, the common conception is that the Psychonaut Other Suppression Force, known more commonly as Psych-OSF or the Scarlet Guardians, are Midgar’s greatest weapon against the Ever Crisis. How do you plan to leverage and if necessary change this organization moving forward? Mr. President, you first, please.”

A question on the Psych-OSF for the man currently in charge of it? Raz couldn’t miss the opportunity. He focused his psi-energy on Shinra, prepared to read whatever thoughts passed through his mind on the subject.

Shinra straightened up his posture slightly. “Under my administration, Psych-OSF will continue to grow in strength, scope, and range of deployment. While some might deride the organization as a tool of the elite confined to Sector 05, the reality is that Psych-OSF is frequently deployed to other Sectors, and to the undercities as well. The operation I previously mentioned is one such example, and we’re going to ramp up such deployments by establishing bases in as many sectors as possible. This is possible thanks to the OSF’s ongoing recruitment campaign. We’re seeing record numbers across the board, and planning even more expansion down the line, with a special focus on offering opportunities to the disadvantaged. I’m confident that Psych-OSF will be fighting not just against the Others, but on all fronts of the Ever Crisis within my first year of reelection.”

When Raz cast his mind toward Shinra, he was able to lay his psychic touch on the right tracks to feel the rumbles of his train of thought. Working a treat…commendable results…Hojo’s project…all thanks to Zanotto…don’t suspect a thing…soon they’ll be…won’t stand a chance…total control.

Armstrong had been waiting almost eagerly for his turn. “Throwing more people at a problem won’t always get you better results, faster. If my opponent saw a woman who’d give birth in nine months, he’d assign eight more women to have the baby out in one. The higher you build on shaky foundations, the sooner everything comes crashing down. What Psych-OSF needs is reform.” He shook his fist for emphasis. “Right now it's a colossus of different platoons, committees, and divisions, all spiraling out of control in different directions, leaving countless loopholes and blindspots where corruption seeps in. Its Septentrions are celebrities with their own fashion lines and action figures, dedicated more to their public image than solving the Other crisis. It’s not professional, and it’s not right. And who’s in charge of all this power? The same man in charge of General Affairs, Neuron, and Peace Preservation, Akira Konoe. That’s too much power -and responsibility- for any one man, even if he thinks he’s some kind of superhero. Where are the checks and balances? There’s only one entity not eating out of the government’s hand, and my opponent has already stated his intention to replace it with one that is.” He threw up his hands. “Once Psych-OSF is course-corrected by my comprehensive reforms, it can really start helping people, and not just those in Suoh!”

Circling back to a point that Shinra already felt he defended against made the man massage the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Putting aside my opponent’s patently wrong metaphor, tasteless and crude though it is…his argument is merely another attempt to tear the Administration down without offering anything concrete of his own to back it up. Regardless of how the media portrays them, the Septentrions are strong, and fighting each day to ensure the safety of Midgar’s citizens. As for the consolidation of power, is it not more important now than ever to stand united against our common threats? It is rogue elements that operate behind the Administration’s back that offer the greatest threat to internal security, not any imagined phantoms of corruption within Psych-OSF.”

“‘Imagined’?” Armstrong scoffed. “Give me a break. Sure, many of the psionics are fighting the good fight, but how much goes on behind the scenes? The sheer lengths that Grand head Zanotto has gone to cultivate the facade of the heroic Scarlet Guardians is telling. These cheap diversion tactics…the people aren’t fooled, Shinra! When I’m elected, I promise to investigate every inch of the Otherlobe, and bring every last trespass to light. The people deserve to know!”

There was, Midna knew, quite a lot to find. From Other creation capability to the legacy of the Psyfish experiments and dumping. It was also interesting that the president seemed entirely aware of the dissidents, and thus, most likely what they were fighting against. Points in Armstrongs favor certainly, if such things were being tallied, though given he was on the attack, he certainly had an easier time scoring those.

”Uh… is it bad if I’m starting to agree with that Senator?” Roxas asked the other Seekers with a soft whisper. Granted, he was a bit biased on this topic considering the feelings he displayed yesterday in Suoh. But, at least for the time being, Armstrong sounded like the one who was making the most sense. Which was kinda eerie, since moments earlier Roxas himself had been the one to suggest that Armstrong might have had some kind of spy network throughout the sectors. Really, the only good point Shinra seemed to have was that Armstrong didn’t offer any specific suggestions for how he would change things.

”Ah, man.” Roxas rubbed the sides of his head, ”Thinkin’ about this stuff is giving me a headache.”

"...Huh. Yeah, he's…actually one hundred percent right about Konoe. Guy thinks he's the only real hero left, or he did in my world. I don't know if he's the same here." Zenkichi shook his head. It was really easy to get swept up in the rhetoric, especially when you knew the guy had a damn good point. But it was still very much rhetoric. Armstrong talked a big game of change, reform, and rooting out corruption, but between the deep roots of the corruption, his own attachment to DesporHado and brutes like Khamsin, and the general resistance of large organizations to radical changes to their function and structure, Zenkichi wondered how much of this was just the political equivalent of two drunks in a bar saying how they could do a better job than their boss.

”Of course you’re agreeing with him.” Karin said. ”He’s a charismatic speaker. People are unhappy with how things are, so he promises change, with a fiery demeanor.” Karin brushed a coil of golden ringlets behind her ear.

”It’s boring to argue for the status quo. Fortunately, being the incumbent means most people will vote for Shinra on name recognition and stability alone.” Karin said. ”All he has to do is not perform some kind of blunder. Best case scenario, he gets his opponent to flub, to damage his optics and make himself look better.” Karin smiled.

”Politics are politics. I’m just hearing ‘complaint complaint complaint’ from Armstrong with only vague ways of fixing things. He might be a hulky man, and his charisma does carry him, but he's said nothing of substance so far.” Susie said, replying to the others.

"Exactly." Zenkichi followed up, shaking his head. "Armstrong talks a big game, and he might at least have a good eye for people, but that doesn't make him a strategist or a commander that can win a war on three fronts. And if Konoe has as much in his pocket as I think he does, he might just be making himself a target…" There were pretty obvious problems with both candidates that Zenkichi could see, though the average citizen in Midgar had no idea whether either of them were telling the truth or not. Some part of him wondered why Shinra was willing to admit to 'rogue elements' in the ranks, however. That felt like something to keep close to your chest.

”Well, President Shinra is definitely running the Turning People Into Others plot,” Raz said after a while of silence, just trying to process what thoughts he picked up on. ”Something about it being this ‘Hojo’ guy’s project, and…” He hesitated, afraid of what the next part meant. ”And it sounds like… like Grand Head Truman Zanotto is involved too. But he wouldn’t be a part of something like that!”

That earned him a glance from Goldlewis. Had the little psychic really gleaned a direct confirmation from Shinra’s mind? If that plot went all the way to the top, no-one was safe. Just the thought that there might be snipers with metamorphosis cartridges in this very room made the big man shiver.

---

Sakura blinked slowly, watching the TV. Her cheek was pushed up on her palm now, her fingers drumming on the table. This was her toughest challenge yet. Sakura might be nearing her limit. ”Limbs…failing…consciousness…fading…” Sakura said dramatically, thunking her head against the table.

Her theatrics earned her a glance from Giovanna. While the secret agent might be better at hiding it thanks to the demands of her profession, she felt pretty much the same way. Neither of these men represented a bright future for anyone as far as she could tell, much less all of Midgar. That just left two old brutes bantering back and forth in a punchy exchange of barbed words, which didn’t exactly make for enjoyable television. After another moment, Giovanna strode over to the street fighter and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey. Wanna play a game of darts?” She jabbed a thumb at one of the machines along Penguin Sniper’s far wall.

Sakura shot back up to sitting and blushed, feeling immature. But it was clear the offer intrigued her greatly. ”Could we? I mean, can we? I mean, is that allowed?” Sakura asked, already standing. She had tried to stay focused on the debate, on account of all the trouble they went through and its alleged importance. So the guilt of just goofing off after all that had kept her trying to remain focused on politics. But if Giovanna, who seemed like she knew what she was doing, offered her an out…she’d take it!

Giovanna nodded, slightly amused by Sakura’s tentative response. “Yeah, that’s what this place is for. C’mon.”

Sakura clapped and then bowed, before eagerly following Giovanna to play a game.

”Man… This is why I don’t care for politics. I just wanna see them fight each other. That’d be way more entertaining.” Blazermate said, still hovering near Tora to make sure he didn’t do anything silly, but since he ate she was’t hovering over his shoulder anymore.

Pit watched Sakura and Giovanna wander off to play a round before his gaze floated back to one of the large wall-mounted TVs, glancing at Blazermate along the way. "Are debates always like this? Seems like they're just arguing without really saying anything." If he wasn't occupying a stool he would have started slumping in his seat. Instead, he took to swinging his legs.

"Wouldn't know." Geralt replied simply. "Politics isn't exactly a matter of public opinion where I'm from. Even the tribes of Skellige elected their king from among the nobility rather than passing it down by blood, but it was feats of strength and bravery that showed your aptitude, not talking at each other. And no, they didn't fight each other for the crown." Geralt added to keep Blazermate from getting the wrong idea.

World of Light

Well let's see how this one goes over.

P I Z Z A T I M E

(for the proper reading experience, drink as many energy drinks as you can manage, drink one more, then play this song)

Y'all ready to get funky?!

Toppins cost extra

Name: Peppino Spaghetti
Game Origin: Pizza Tower
Personality: Manic. Anxious. Short-tempered. Italian. These are some of the words one can use to describe Peppino Spaghetti, and if we’re being honest you don’t need many more. Peppino is a simple man, a hard-working business owner that merely wants to keep doing what he loves: making pizzas! Anything that stands in the way of this dream (and anything that stops him from making money) is nothing he wants part of. Peppino is jumpy and fearful, but that doesn’t make him a coward. If anything it spurs him to action, as if the instinctual finger was always pressed down on his ‘Fight’ response. No matter what gets thrown at him he simply does not quit. Because whether in panicked anguish or blinding rage, Peppino is driven by one emotion that burns brighter than the rest: passion.
Background: Peppino Spaghetti, owner and proprietor of Peppino’s Pizza, wasn’t seeing amazing success in the realm of pizzeria management. He was in debt and had bills to pay - what else to do but keep plugging along? One day when he was lamenting his wealth woes, a gigantic floating pizza that looked like a face appeared, and claimed that he would destroy Peppino’s Pizza with a big laser atop the nearby and eponymous Pizza Tower. Despite how huge of an insurance payout that was sure to net him Peppino wasted no time in rushing the Tower, determined to claw his way to its top and save his struggling business from laserfication.

And, yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Specialty: Battering ram, Mook masher, trap checker, free pizza!
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10
Powers:

• Mach Run: Peppino can really run a mad dash, reaching insane speeds so long as he’s got the room to do so. It’s generally divided into 3 stages, with stage 3 being the fastest of speed and stage 1 being the wind-up into stage 2. The Mach Run lets Peppino bash through metal, mow down enemies, and scramble up walls.

Strengths:

• Wrassling Man: Despite Peppino’s noodly limbs he’s actually quite strong and dense. He’s capable of grabbing and lifting things even bigger than himself and carrying them around, tossing them with ease, pulling off spinning piledrivers, you name it.
• Lifeless: Peppino comes from a game all about speed, less about platform mastery or combat expertise, and so (typically) lacks the conventional health bar your average protagonist has. He can be beat, bashed, tossed, burned, smacked, stabbed, and he’ll keep on kickin’.
• Squash ‘n Stretch: Peppino is at the mercy of the universe, and usually this means getting into wacky antics that cause him pain, grief, or general annoyance, all in the form of transformations. These can be varied, such as being flattened turning him into a literal pancake or gaining control of a big snowball he got swept up inside of, but for the most part involved a physical change to Peppino and altering his capabilities, often replacing raw speed & power for situational assistance.

Weaknesses:

• Fear of Adversity: While Peppino is more-or-less invulnerable in regular circumstances, there are times when even he has to rise up to the challenge of a big, bad boss battle. When in a “significant” encounter (like those which provide EXP to its participants or involve a prominent baddie such as a Consul) Peppino “gains” the “ability” to succumb to damage dealt, and he’s not very resistant to pain…
• The Wind-Up: A lot of Peppino’s heavy-hitting moves require momentum and time to build them up, such as Mach Run only working when he has the space and ability to pick up speed. In a situation where he’s not able to work up to effectiveness, he’s pretty hapless.

Spirits:
Guest List:

• Gustavo & Brick: Gustavo - Peppino’s shorter, squatter companion - and Brick - a stupid giant rat - are a tag-team on par with Peppino himself. Overall nicer than the pizzaman, Gustavo & Brick are always there to lend a hand, or help point to the exit.
• The Noise: a demented, pizza-hating rapscallion with his own TV show and has it out for Peppino (don’t ask). The Noise has a variety of zany themed devices and weapons he uses to ruin pizza deliveries wherever they may be. Or sometimes he’ll just flip Peppino off. Whichever works best.
• Peppino…?: this oozy, shape-changing, freaky thing dubbed ‘Fake Peppino’ is modeled after a warped version of Peppino for some bizarre reason. They say imitation is a form of flattery… It can morph, melt, produce clones, throw its head, and other such unsettling nonsense. Probably best not to question it.

Inventory: The clothes on his back, and a fun little chef hat.

World of Light

Ichiban

Lv. 3
██████████████████████████████

Location: The Under - Home of Tears (but not for long)

Before everyone got ready to ship off to their next bit of hero work, Ichiban decided to stop by the Sanitarium and, well, resign. He hadn't been an official employee or anything but he had picked up the slack when they needed help and it felt wrong not to tell Dr. Hypatia that he wouldn't be around anymore. Hopefully she didn't ask for a reason why...

When he was given the go-ahead to meet with her, though, Dr. Hypatia didn't seem entirely there. "Hey, doc?" Ichiban tried to get her attention but Dr. Hypatia only muttered medical formulae to herself and flitted between diagrams and beakers. So Ichiban, not wanting to interrupt what might be important medical stuff, wrote a pseudo letter of resignation on a loose sheet of paper and put it someplace he thought she'd see it. "It was nice helping you and the folks of this city," he said, "but I've got more people that need me now. Hope y'keep doin' a good job."

As he was leaving the Sanitarium he noticed the giant glowing symbol in the sky. Even though his memory of the fight with P was a little fuzzy still and he didn't place the Moebius connection, a big ominous thing in the sky in the middle of the city was probably not a good sign. Ichiban cracked his neck and took off running for the fountain, his Hero getup appearing in a surge of light.

"Another one?!" Ichiban stumbled to a stop when he reached the fountain, and pointed at F with his bat. "Just how many of these Consul guys are there?"

F did his spiel, one Ichiban was raring to interrupt and get the next beatdown started, but being so new to things he decided to follow everyone else's lead. If P was such a problem to deal with then meeting F on his own terms probably wasn't a good idea. But then F's real reason for gathering all in one spot became clear. The denizens of Home of Tears shambled towards them all like zombies. Ichiban's head swiveled and snapped at everyone - he might've had it in him to throw down with F, but the whole city? And them being mind controlled to do so?

The plan wasn't to fight, though, but to run. Good, running, he could do that. "You got--" Ichiban readied to bolt for the wall, bat over his shoulder, only to be tackled to the ground at his first step. "Heeugh!!" Ichiban was pinned down, left behind as the surge of monster folk chased after the others, the slobbering, drippy form of Endogeny pressing down on him.

"Wh- hey, you're that dog from the spooky house!" Ichiban struggled underneath it. "L-Look, boy, I don't have any more sausages..." Endogeny wasn't there for sausages and Ichiban knew that. The creature loomed over him, its single gaping orifice opening and closing rhythmically. The longer it stared, if it was even staring, the more freaked out Ichiban got. He didn't even know if the thing had teeth or claws, but it was still freaky.

Thanks to its semi-amorphous gooey body Ichiban was able to wrestle his arm free, and used his bat as leverage to heave and turn Endogeny off of him. The whale already began to move by now, so Ichiban had only moments to figure out his next move.

Naturally, he bolted for the amusement park.

Endogeny was quick to chase, and being a dog monster with multiple legs, it was fast. Ichiban tried to juke it out; he made a quick dash sideways into a narrow street, which Endogeny had a tougher time stopping to do, literally tripping over itself to turn, multiple slimy legs knocking into one another. This gave him a decent lead, only for a top-heavy skeleton to block the far end of the street, raising his knuckle bones to duke it out. "Enemy, enemy boyo!"

Ichiban just shoulder charged through him. Skelly clattered into pieces. "Sorry!" he called over his shoulder. Endogeny was still giving chase, its 'mouth' stretching open, an onslaught of backwards-pointing arrows to shoot out. Ichiban ducked, spun, swung his bat to knock them away, though more hit than didn't, peppering his back with stinging welts. "Ow, ow, ow, quit it! Bad dog!" Ichiban took another sharp turns between some alleys, but Endogeny was wising up to it now, so the lead Ichiban had was running out. He had to make it count.

The entrance to the amusement park came into view by now. With everyone having gathered to the fountain and most of them ignoring Ichiban to go after the huge freakin' whale, there wasn't a lot of opposition for him. At the park's gate, though, a circle of light shone on the ground, and in a puff of smoke stood... Skelly. "Ain't gettin' rid'a me that easy, boy-nemy!"

"Wha- alright then!" Not faltering in his charge Ichiban leveled his bat to the ground with both hands, metal and barbed wire scraping along stone and sending up a bit of sparks. With a big karate yell Ichiban swung upwards with a forceful uppercut, sending poor Skelly flying into the air with a Brookyln-y yelp. Ichiban dug his heels into the ground, raised his bat up, and turned to face the approaching Endogeny. "Hey boy... fetch!" With a solid homerun swing Ichiban smashed the falling Skelly into bony pieces again, the various bones flinging off in different directions. Endogeny, still being a canine of sorts, was momentarily distracted by the multiple games of fetch going on, giving Ichiban enough of a window to rush a ferris wheel close to the water.

Even though it felt like it took an hour getting there, the whale was still in reach. Ichiban clambered onto one of the Ferris wheel's cars as it turned, pulling himself onto its roof as it began to rise, and looked to the water. "Alright..." he muttered, catching his breath, "shouldn't be too hard to just... jump... over to it. Right?" The Ferris wheel jerked - like the whole structure - with a metal clang. It almost knocked Ichiban off. "Agh, what now?!" At the base of the ride, a figure had leapt onto the struts, climbing with the speed and nimbleness of a hungry rat. "Shit," Ichiban summed up. It was now or never. Not taking a second longer than he had to Ichiban braced himself and took a running leap off the Ferris wheel, over the water, towards the team's escape whale.

"INCOOOOOOOOMING!" In a move that could only work in a wacky semi-grounded Japanese action RPG, Ichiban hit his mark, though almost missed. The White Whale's blubber meant he didn't pancake on impact, though he did body on of its huge spinal spines. "Uhgh, jeez." Ichiban clung onto the spine, leaning against it for support. Hell of a jog. It wouldn't be that easy of course. The figure followed Ichiban's move, lunging straight from the Ferris wheel through the air and onto the whale.

"It's been too long since I've had my fill," she said, baring sharp claw-like nails, "and I won't let it go!"

Ichiban, sucking in a breath, groaned. "Lady, I dunno who you are, but the only thing you're gettin' from me..." She lunged, going for Ichiban's throat, but he ducked, springing back up to sock her in the chin with his head. "...is what I give ya!"

TAG TEAM

She went stumbling backwards, on a collision course with the Seekers' poncho-clad thief. Therion was darting to and fro on the whale's back assisting where he could, and noting the stranger's approach his stance instantly switched from defensive to offensive when he realized she wasn't attacking so much as reeling from someone else's attack. Looks like it's my turn, he thought, embers gathering in his hand. With a wide flourish the flames of Wildfire ignited, engulfing the Crown Killer in a burst of magical fire. The force of the spell turned her away, sending her back where she came from charred and hurting.

Next was Barnabee, dutifully keeping airborne monsters at bay, who noticed the Crown Killer flung his way. Taking up the task of helping to deal with this intruder, Barnabee bashed her with his sword to stagger her even further. The Hive Knight warped the distance between them, striking her with an upward slash to send her up into the air, then dashing up to meet at the apex of her fall. With a graceful spin Barnabee delivered a devastating downstroke, sending her crashing hard back onto solid ground.

Finally was Ichiban. As the Crown Killer picked herself up, wounded and disorientated, Ichiban charged at her. "You're done now!" He jumped up, pulling his legs in and nailing her right in the chest with a heavy dropkick that sent her careening off of their whale, splashing into the water below.

ESSENCE OF MAYHEM

Ichiban picked himself back up, dusting his jacket as he watched the Crown Killer try and reorient herself in the water, but by the time she did she was left in their dust. Their, uh, water dust. "Thanks for the assist, guys!" Ichiban gave his partners a thumb up and a smile. "Everyone else doin' okay?"

---

1,605 Words
+3 EXP
(+2 to Level, +1 to Confidence)

World of Light

Rank 6
42 / 60 EXP

Before the newly-reunited crew set off for the next step of their "Stop Midgar From Imploding" plot, Raz borrowed some spirits off of Midna. He was so focused on clearing out the Other that he forgot to snag any himself, and with the way things were shaping up, his brand of endearing acrobatics and psy-abilities might end up falling short. There were these ones that exploded, and Raz was pretty sure that could be a fastpass to the fabled head explosion power!

For, you know, safety.

As he held the spirit in his hands, ready to fuse with it, his head jerked to the side. "Whuh!" It happened again, then again, and on the fourth time, the source of it revealed itself: the head of Ford Cruller. He popped out the side of Raz's head. "Hold it, now jus' hold it!" Ford shouted, needing to shake himself to get reoriented.

"Ford?!"

"Yeah I know, been a while since we seen each other. Maybe if yer head wasn't so empty I'd be gettin' out here faster!"

"Heeey!... that's not nice."

"Razputin, whatever idea you had that you were about t'do, it was a really, really bad one." The disembodied head of Ford gestured towards the spirit in Raz's hands. "That thing's givin' out some major mental juju. The kind y'wanna avoid, you see."

Raz looked down at the spirit, a little dejected. "Aww man, was really hoping it was something cool and, uh, not bad." No point in letting it got to waste tho. Raz stashed it. "Say, Agent Cruller, since you're here and all we should really touch base. Brief and debrief. There's been a lot going on here, I even met this world's version of the Psychonauts, and- hang on, where are you exactly?"

Ford didn't say anything for a moment, staring off into the distance, before springing back to life. "Ope, sorry there, Razputin, but this was more a don't-blow-yerself-up check. Gotta be gettin' back to, uhh, important psychic stuff, old man mumblin'. As much of a distant hope this is, don't be doin' anything stupid while I'm gone!" And just as quick as he showed up, Ford pulled himself back into Raz's head before Raz could even utter half a word.

"Huh. Kinda weird." Putting that into a folder for later, Raz fell in line with the rest as the crew headed out once more.

...and soon enough (relatively speaking) everyone managed their way into Sector Six. Seeing that they teleported into a restroom, Raz piped up, "oh, uh, gimme a sec," before ducking into one of the stalls. Back when he made the excuse of using the restroom to sneak out of Psych-OSF that morning, he actually really had to go, but things just got too out of hand after that to really... go.

With it taken care of Raz stepped out into the city proper, once again in awe at the sight of the world. "Geez, and all of this isn't Visions? Pretty impressive." He fell in with the others discussing how to get across the water, watching Sakura go ahead with her own, bold, simple plan. "If it's any help I do have my Oarsman patch," Raz offered, "so if we managed to get a boat I can sail everyone across. Iiii'd really rather not swim if I can help it."

Once a lull formed, Raz cleared his throat, hoping to get everyone's attention. "So... there's a company called Cyberlife here, right? That sounds an awful lot like Supernatural Life, the place that..." He glanced around and lowered his voice. "That those soldiers who took Peach use as a hideout. And so far this place doesn't seem to have a lot of coincidences. Do you think they'd be related somehow? If we can find where Supernatural Life is, maybe we can trace it back to wherever they took her and the other Others?" Raz balled up his fists close to his chest. "I know that if I can get close to her again I can help change her back! Some... way."

---

704 Words
+1 EXP

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 987 (+2) (B and K only)
Bowser: Level 12 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (201/120)
Bowser Jr: Level 12 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (89/120) 59
Kamek: Level 12 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (74/120) 42
Rika: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (85/70)

featuring Ichiban: Level 3 (Level Up!)

Location: The Under - Home of Tears

warp locations

Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth
Accessible locations:
Peach’s castle
Limsa Lominscuttle Town
Lumbridge
Twilight Town
Kosm’s Beach

Nadia’s guess that the old koopa would be the one to explain things to Ichiban turned out to be entirely correct ”Ah yes. My apologies for not doing that sooner, but, well other things where weighing on my mind” he said, before clearing his throat and beginning

”So, if you will look up into the … ah, well, I suppose that won’t work down here” he faltered almost immediately, before thinking and re-adjusting ”If you were to look up into the sky, you would see a great ball of light. It is not the sun, for it has wings of every hue, and it is the source of your confusion: Galeem”

”If you think back, to a time before you were here, and at the end of when you were in this ‘Japan’ place, you might recall a bright light before everything changed. That was Galeem, ending your world. Ending all worlds. Stealing them away, ripping them apart, and then once it had done that, it stitched them all back together into the world we are in now. A world made from many worlds, perhaps all worlds, and home to people from them all too” he explained, painting the tapestry of what had been done, before turning around and talking about how things where now.

”Those people are all like you were before today. Blinded by Galeem to what it has done, ignorant, and thinking that this is all that has ever been. We call them the Galeeming, and you can spot them, clear as day, all around us, with Galeem’s red ‘lifelight’ filling their eyes. On top of making them blind, it also makes them unwilling to back down from a fight until they are beaten, so ah, try not to provoke any of them unless, because only strength will get them to back down, not words.”

”We, meanwhile, are the ‘seekers of light’ according to some, and ‘de-storied’ according to others, but, well, in my humble opinion we are simple the ones who are free” the mage concluded, a bit smug in his simple refutation of the other two groups terminology.

”and what we are gonna do with that freedom is crush the 9 left over guardians who are still stopping us from getting to Galeem, and then we are gonna ride up into the sky and smash that stupid glowball like the cheap baubles it is! It's a jumped up nobody! Doesn't even have a unique gimmick! Some guy called tattoo already did this whole making your own world out of bits of other ones while controlling the master hand jazz, and I punched him in his stupid face for that, just like I’m gonna punch Galeem!” Bowser declared confidently, while again misremembering Tabuu’s name.

”Wow, that’s…” Ichiban didn’t finish his sentence, not sure how to really sum everything going on in his brain. ”Whatever ‘world’ I’m from doesn’t have anything like this,” he continued, ”back what I remember I was just tryin’ to figure out who killed my boss. Now it’s all, world collidin’, Galeeming, guardians?”

Ichiban paused, staring at the made of the under they had on the table, and took a sip of his tea. ”.......that’s freakin’ awesome!” In a sudden change of mood Ichiban stood up, hands planted on the table, toppling his chair over. ”I mean, it’s super terrifying and I’m sure once I have a moment to process things will feel even weirder, but- man, this has been my dream for years! Becomin’ a hero, fightin’ bad guys, saving the world and shit!” (+1 Passion!)

There was a little moment of silence caused by the unexpected hard right turn in the man’s reaction, which was broken by Bowser giving a single ”Ha!” and knee slap before declaring that ”Now that’s the kinda spirit I like in a new recruit” despite the whole hero part of it, and then offering a raised handshake and a ”Welcome to the team!” to the newly filled in member.

Ichiban wasn’t one to leave a guy hanging. He took Bowser’s hand, despite how much it dwarfed his, and shook with all his might. ”Yeah!” Then he looked around the group and his excitement diminished a little. ”I mean… if it’s alright with all of you. Savin’ the world, fighting some huge powerful god thing, sounds like you need a lot of good muscle. I’d be happy to lend a hand, though I’m not sure I could stack up with what’d be needed…”

”Hey, any extra hands are a help” Bowser insisted as he released the man’s own (and silently approving of his hand shaking skills), before explaining that ”Plus, there’s this whole spirit power stuff that can help you stack up” before turning to his mage and telling him ”Hey Kamek, explain the whole fusion thing again”

”We really do need a pamphlet or something for this, but yes, I shall quickly cover it” Kamek agreed, before swiftly outlining the 4 uses of spirits, namely fusions for power or skills, cruising for items, and recruitment for strikers.

”All of these can be used to increase your power. Plus, with this little device” he showed him the snacktivator ”we can limit the fusions, which are normally full body, to just a certain body part. That can help mitigate the, ah, side effects somewhat, or at least the visual ones. It is not quite clear if the downsides are also reduced, but we can only hope and gather evidence I suppose”

”Usin’ these, uh, ‘spirits’ of other people to make yourself better? Huh… that’s kinda like XP.” Ichiban rubbed his chin. ”Maybe I’ll fit in around here better than I thought…”

”Dunno what you mean by that, but yeah, that’s the spirit!” Bowser declared giving the new member a thumbs up as his initiation/catch up session came to a close.

Ichiban raised his styrofoam cup of tea in a mock toast. ”So, where to first?”

World of Light

Ichiban

Lv. 2
████████████████████

Location: The Under - City of Tears, Terminal Cafe
(@DracoLunaris / @Archmage MC)

"Yo, can I ask, just what the hell's going on?"

Revealing himself on the fringe of Nadia's, Sectonia's, and the Troop's discussion, Ichiban leaned over the table, a cup of hot tea in hand, though he was quick to stash it inside his jacket, however that worked out for him. Whether he followed them to this point or merely happened to be in the same location due to the comedic laws of the universe, who knew.

"I'm pretty sure when I woke up this morning the world wasn't full of freaky skeletons or pig monsters." He gestured vaguely at the undead-filled cafe. "Now though, it's all here. Feel like I just got over a head cold and everything's like, clear in my head. And you guys seem to know a lot about what's goin' on."

Ichiban pulled up a chair from an empty table, slotting into place between Nadia and Bowser. "Know I'm just some guy you all met today and you probably don't need to explain anything to me, but Iiiii'm... kinda really freakin' out right now."

To help make his point, Ichiban jerked a finger up at Bowser. "Like, this guy's Bowser! The real one! An' the P kid we just beat up, I'm like, seventy percent sure he was from a game too. We're in a world full'a video game characters!!" Despite the nervous breakdown he was bordering on, Ichiban dug around his pocket for a mini muffin. He took a bite, opened his mouth to continue talking, stopped, then spat it out onto the floor. "Uggghh, right, poisoned." He looked at the muffin with disappointment and disdain before stowing it away again.

"I'd just, I'd really like to know what kinda thing I'm dealin' with here. 'cuz it obvious I ain't home in Japan."

---

296 Words
+1 EXP

World of Light

Rank 6
38 / 60 EXP

Midgar
Underground Nexus

A sharp pain seared through Raz's skull. In hindsight, maybe trying to read the mind of warped psi-adjacent creatures was a bad idea. If only Raz had completed that correspondence course for gaining Foresight, he wouldn't need the hind part at all.

"P-Peach?" Raz called out, the sense of familiarity hitting right before he cut their connection. It really was her. "Wait, don't, it's definitely Peach!" Raz shouted further, raising his voice, though between being literally invisible and the din of battle his words fell on deaf ears.

A bit of backhanded luck struck, with the Peach Other (ohh, the Other Peach!) getting contained in a psychic box of some kind. That's the scientific term for it. The box blinked out of sight, revealing a new group parked by one of the entrance tunnels, having arrived during the fight most likely.

"Wha--" Raz started to say, then stopped. His active Brain Drive was extending the usual bounds of his Invisibility, meaning that even with the clearing smoke he couldn't be seen - or even sensed, since these were other psychics they were dealing with.

So Raz made a choice.

He made a mad dash for the truck, not wasting much time in standing around being gobsmacked, and reached it just as it started to peel out. Raz leapt onto the back of the truck, clinging along its bumper as it sped away. It wasn't the best of places to be, especially since his Brain Drive conveniently powered down at this time. Knowing he'd become a visible boy any moment Raz, as quickly as he could managed, clambered down under the truck's bumper, scrambling through its undercarriage, clinging to bars and axels and whatever else the underside of a truck had.

It'd be a bumpy ride, but he'd been through bumpier.

---

304 Words
+1 EXP

World of Light

Rank 6
37 / 60 EXP

Midgar
Underground Nexus

Raz's tactics yielded pretty good results, effectively helping his teammates - Sakura the most, it seemed - dealing with the monster on the ground. Of course the thing would wise up to their attacks, as the Others so far have been pretty adept at counter-play, so while it did look down for a moment Raz didn't let his guard down. He did let himself down though, floating until he touched the concrete.

"Be careful everyone!" Raz said to the others - err, the other Seekers that had joined, not the capital-o Others - as he and the rest watched. "This thing is... Peach? Not the weirdest thing I've seen," he muttered. Battering it might not be a good idea moving forward, in case the Peach they knew was still in there.

Lucky for them that they had a psychic on hand to figure that out.

The Peach Other sprang up, flipping on its head(s) and unleashing a new attack. Fog fell over the battlefield, totally obscuring vision for everyone. Raz nearly avoided getting skewered by a ribbon, and in a panic, cloaked himself in Invisibility. "Oh drat, I didn't mean to do that one! Mentally fat fingered it..." Seems this Brain Drive was a little touchy. Raz didn't have the wherewithal to decloak at the moment, so he had to go unseen, doubly so, diving away whenever he sensed a tremor underneath.

"Peach!" Raz sent a Brain Message out, hopefully directed at their transformed friend. "It's me, Raz! You know, the short kid with the big head! Please tell me you're okay in there!" Rather than hoping to hear back exactly, Raz reached out with his personal mind-reading capabilities, also using it to try and pinpoint just where in the fog the Other was at. He made his way towards it, slowly fishing out his Psycho Portal from his bag as he neared the beast, still in its head to try and find Peach. If need be, he'd have to go in, in a more literal sense, to get her out.

---

345 Words
+1 EXP