XoXKieroBombXoX

(Don't) Look Outside - small-scale survival horror in a mutagenic apocalypse

I’ve stated my interest before, but I’m re-adding it here! This is a great DM taking care of us!

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

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Level 9 - EXP 28/90
Level 8 - EXP 46/80
The Midnight Walk

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Puzzling Recruitment

Midnight Walk - Christmas Village

Featuring: Ramattra, Tenna, and Layton
Word Count: 1204 // +2 EXP

The evening of festivities finally came to a natural conclusion as the larger gathering of crowds of townspeople began dissipating later into the evening. Ramattra and Tenna, like other members of their squad, had no purpose to eat, but joined the others in company, as the larger number of Seekers gathered at one large round table. Ramattra listened to the chatter amongst his allies in silence, trying his best to find a relevant conversation point to his interest. Tenna, however, was among the loudest at the dinner, boisterously singing along with nearby choirs and practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

Once Sandaphlon had exchanged her farewells with Christmas Villages’ lead representative, Ramattra felt a strange sensation in his mainframe. It was odd for the stoic commander to explain, but somehow he felt oddly content and calm alongside his fellow adventurers, and with the storm finally having passed, he chalked the odd feeling down to some weird magic that had altered his mind.

“Bah. The longer we wait here, the more chance of running into an actual storm.” The Omnic protested his internal jolliness, being the first at the table to help get the Stagecoach back on the road. While there was no point in the inexperienced Omnic repairing any faults aboard, he knew that reigning in the Shieldrixes would be a welcome task.

Then, another realization hit him. Looking at the faces among the Seekers, one in particular stood out with the faint red glow of his eyes and fog-patched skin. Tenna, as nosy as usual, saw the hesitation in the Omnic’s face as he connected his stare towards Layton’s ongoing possession. A silent exchange happened between the CRT and Ramattra before the stoic robot called for his attention. “Professor. A word with you.”

As same as the rest of the day, Layton found himself once more in the company of the Seekers, with any questions on his mind left unasked in the face of the holiday celebration. No point bringing down the mood by grilling his new acquaintances. As he was enjoying the food and company, he followed Ramattra’s call, a cup of peppermint tea still in hand.

”Merry Christmas to you,” he said in greeting, holding his teacup in a mock cheer. ”Was there something you wanted from me?”

The Omnic turned his gaze to Sandaphlon, almost as if indirectly asking ’what do we do about him?’ A stern nod was all that could be communicated between the two, before the Archangel’s attention was directed at the town’s chatty Christmas pixie, a silent ‘do what you need to’ exchanged. Tenna pulled at the loincloth-like tentacle appendage on Ramattra’s waist. With an annoyed gaze, the Omnic was surprised by helpful information. “If this newbie needs to be added to our party, just knock some sense into him! That’s what that bug lady did for me!”

The commander scratched his chin, still putting together his plan to “recruit” Layton. It seemed like, without any nearby threats, naturally befriending the Professor with a Friend Heart would be inconvenient. He gestured for Tenna and Layton to follow him in the direction of the Stagecoach, as he began collecting the Shieldrix's rope, collecting the steeds and mounting them to the vehicle. “I was curious about what your plan was, seeing as you’ve helped us across the village today. Did you want to take the journey to Moon Mountain with us? Truly? There is a lot to consider. The road will be harsh in many regards, but you’ve earned some trust among our ranks.”

Tenna tailed behind the Omnic, a huge grin spread across his display as he brought two well-wrapped gifts to Ramattra’s attention. “There’s one for all of us! Even you, detective! I uh… Forgot yours, though. You should grab it later!” The commander accepted the gift, begrudgingly; however, he was curious about its contents.

”Ah, thank you,” Layton addressed Tenna, somewhat offhandedly. He considered the question Ramattra posed, arms crossed and eyes closed. After this moment of deliberation, he said, ”if I may ask a question myself… earlier you called your traveling group ‘the Seekers’. From what I’ve read, Moon Mountain is quite a desolate place. What is it, exactly, that you are seeking there?”

Ramattra observed the professor with a cautious size-up, still having to withhold his opinion on humans. He considered his next words carefully as Tenna sat to the side, offering hay into the mouth of the impossible creatures mounted to the Stagecoach. “We’re investigating a large-scale threat to the region. We’d like to put an end to our target for personal reasons, although the road ahead won’t be purely fight after fight. Your skills could be invaluable to us, but we travel under harsh conditions.” Honestly, the Omnic was more skeptical about the man still Gleaming rather than being human. The nature of Galeem’s curse was still confusing to him.

The Professor wasn’t blind to the tension in the air, though he had no way of telling where it was coming from. Was the Omnic just being protective of his group and their goal? Layton was a stranger, after all. ”I see.” Trying to lighten the atmosphere, he smiled and let out a small chuckle. ”I can’t promise I’d be as invaluable as you claim. I’m simply a professor of archaeology. But if what you say is true, I can’t in good conscience turn down a chance to help.”

“Don’t let the PARTY-POOPER scare ya off! I’ve been here about as long as he has, and I’m doing just fine!” Tenna chipped in, tucking his thumb under the collar of his coat proudly. Ramattra’s cold stare turned to the chipper Television Set as he sighed under his breath.

“The choice, of course, is yours. So long as you’re capable of fending for yourself when the moment calls for it, there shouldn’t be any significant threats. You could see some more of the world?” He suggested, unsure if more traveling was in the Detective’s agenda, as he had only known the man for a few hours.

”I can hold my own if the need arises,” Layton answered, ”so if you’ll have me, then I would like to join you on your journey to Moon Mountain.” He couldn’t help but feel like there was something more left unsaid… but he knew not to pry, not this soon into their ‘partnership’ at least. If it was important, the details would come to light eventually.

The grip on his staff tightened. For a moment, Ramattra pondered how to handle the new Seekers’ dilemma with Galeem’s curse. It would be easy enough to just quickly incapacitate Layton, though the thought for needless violence seemed off-putting. He released the tension from his staff, now directing Tenna to wrangle the group of beasts to a side road they could later take. “Then of course. Welcome to our cause. I’m unsure when we’re set to travel, but I’m sure the townsfolk could use more of our support.”

”I suppose we’ll have plenty to occupy ourselves with, then.”

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Level 8 - EXP 24/80
The Frozen Highlands

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Jumpaholics!

Midnight Walk - Christmas Village

Featuring: Ramattra, Layton, and Roxas
Word Count: 1761 // +2 EXP

Needing to adjust the antlers atop his head from how they hung lazily loose around his skull. While he was at least pleased the outfit did not disrespect his more “neutral” appearance, he was fortunate that he could shed these clothes after the festivities. As the kitchen employees began growing insistent that they could take matters into their own hands, Ramattra now found himself alone with Professor Layton in the cold festive scenery that some of the other Seekers had helped decorate. “Well, I suppose I wouldn’t have been much help anyway. Seems like they have more important preparations to tend to.”

The Omnic looked as though for a moment he was going to stride off from the professor, before suddenly halting to speak to him again. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, maybe you could help me solve this ‘jumping puzzle’ the townies need assistance with. I’ve taken glances from the distance to scout it out, but it both perplexes and raises caution in me.”

At the mention of this ‘puzzle’, the Professor lit up, raising his head from his journal where he’d been collecting his thoughts. ”I had my eye on solving this jumping puzzle as well,” he answered, ”so I’d be happy to assist you.”

Ramattra scratched his chin, trying his best to cobble together a plan of action before embarking towards the isolated puzzle area. “Perhaps we should recruit some assistance from one of our rank’s more agile members as well… but who…” The Omnic gestured for Layton to follow him towards where Maeve’s task-list was written, hoping to find any of the more nimble Seekers looking for tasks.

As if answering the Omnic’s question, a certain dog Pokemon came bounding by, barking happily. And of course, the Boltund in question was being chased down by his owner. ”What’s up with you today, Scamp?” Roxas rasped when he finally caught his Pokemon and practically tackled the hound to the ground. He’d put away his usual silver jackal mask in favor of a red and white Santa-hat, and a Christrmas Tree-green scarf wrapped around his neck with snow white trimmings that made it look like it was covered in a Christmas Tree forest.

After a moment, the Nobody finally managed to get Scamp to calm down a bit. And only now did he look around and take stock of where exactly he and his Pokemon partner had ended up, ”So uh, what’s going on around here?” Roxas asked, curiously.

The Omnic looked toward the festively-clad Nobody, never having had the proper opportunity beforehand to introduce himself. “Ah. Roxas was your name, yes? I don’t believe you and I have worked together before. Say, me and my friend here were going to take a look at that puzzle towards the foot of those hills. Would you mind accompanying us in case it is outside our mobility?” The Omnic gestured to the towering snowmen in the distance, barely visible minus the string lights wrapped around the obstacle course they were to soon tackle.

Ramattra looked down at Layton beside him, offering an introduction between the two. “This is another one of ours. I’m not quite sure how long he’s been apart of the Seekers, but it was longer than I.” The storm in the distance whipped harder, almost teetering the Omnic off his three mechanical legs. “Not much time for introductions I fear. With this storm we need to be moving to the puzzle.”

”No need for introductions. Roxas and I met earlier, when we collected letters for Santa.” He offered the kid a handshake, filing that name away in the back of his mind for later: Seekers.

The three traveled against the wind of the storm, pushing against drifts that brushed their cheeks as they climbed up the massive erected candy canes and snowmen. “I managed to take a small look at it earlier, but the first jump is out of my range, even in my Ravager mode.”

The jump would easily be accessible by any agile Seeker, only requiring a simple ‘double jump’ or mobility ability, which is why Ramattra recruited the blonde Nobody. “Human, if you could tag along with Roxas, maybe you could help guide him through up close?” The first jump seemed unstable, a large snowflake-shaped ice sheet that was sure to shatter after a moment of applied weight. The snowflake was quickly followed by other fragile platforms of the same shape.

Layton took his time taking in the many platforms and angles that formed their paths to the goal. ”Are you unfamiliar with Puzzles, Roxas?”

”Depends on what you mean by ‘Puzzles’.” Roxas answered, deciding to recall Scamp into his Poke Ball while he was performing the necessary jumps that would be required of him, ”We played a minigame a little over a week ago that involved climbing up a mountain by traversing lots of platforms. Although I don’t remember any of them being this… fragile looking.”

In the end shrugged and figured he could get through this with flow motion. And if something did happen to go wrong, then Roxas still had his virtual cubes he could generate to save himself from a fall. He didn’t have anything that could be considered a double jump to make the first snowflake, but that didn’t mean he would be stumped either. Roxas simply used his Phantom Ruby necklace to generate an intermediate platform of virtual cubes between the starting ledge and the first snowflake so he could skip across.

”Don’t try to follow me!” Roxas called back behind him, ”Those cubes will damage anyone who touches them other than me!” And while Roxas could traverse the snowflakes with little trouble, actually finding the correct path was another story. For that he would just have to trust the Professor to watch his moves and call out proper directions when it was needed.

Ramattra, unable to either make the jump or cross with Roxas, took to shouting directions from where the starting point was. The pathway Roxas followed the cubic bridge atop had relatively little deviation, however from a lower perspective, the Omnic could see hazards before they crossed Roxas’ mind.

The snowflakes quickly lead to two safe peppermint platforms, which could give Roxas a chance to see the environment ahead. More snowflakes, however these ones led upwards towards one of the many ice towers, where a particularly unfriendly snowman looked ready to rip bullets into any puzzle-goers. Ramattra noticed that the Snowman was sentient, and was quick to alert the Nobody. “Keep your head up Roxas! You’ve got trouble!” Ramattra thought about using his staff to snipe the snowman down, but with the low visibility and height, Roxas could easily get hit by accident.

Roxas’ response to the threat was to simply vanish before he could get hit by any bullets. And a second later, the Nobody reappeared behind the Snowman having used his StepSword to teleport to it for a quick tag strike. That by itself didn’t do the Snowman, but the Firaga spell that Roxas followed up with did, ”Simple enough so far!” Roxas called back down to Ramattra and the Professor. Then he took to the next snowflake and traversed further upward.

The snowflake platforms began to transition into peppermint ones, which, while not fragile, were smaller and harder to navigate around. A small leap between each sweet platform was easy enough; however, Roxas found himself having to secure his footing to cross the floating treats. A small flea could be found shivering, looking up at the Nobody like a small child trapped atop a diving board. It seemed like it attempted the puzzle in it’s lonesome. “Fwwooo?” Roxas greeted the small creature with a wave, offering it to mimic his movements to the end of the puzzle.

The next obstacle, however, was more complicated to scout for, as it involved present-shaped platforms exploding into confetti at irregular intervals. It was spontaneous and unpredictable. From afar, Ramattra was unable to give much advice on how to climb over the staircase of imploding Christmas gifts; however, he noticed that, “There’s a wide window before they start disappearing! You should be able to cross them without having to make large dodges.”

The Nobody swiftly bound from present to present once their positions reset, making for a couple of longer leaps, but the obstacle was otherwise passable. A small patch of ice and snow would allow a winded Roxas to recover for a moment before observing the future terrain.

The final obstacle was the most daring, an uphill climb where a troublesome snow-hurler perched at the peak, throwing large snowballs that grew in size as they traveled downwards toward Roxas who had limited safety thanks to the nearby peppermint platforms. In fact, there were a few along the side of the hill that could provide safe travel with good timing. Ramattra noticed this, but decided that his input wasn't necessary when he noticed the enemy producing the obstacle.

The Omnic tried his best to take aim from afar and snipe the snow-menace from the bottom of the hill, but it required an insane amount of concentration to hit his mark. Some of the nanites from his staff skidded the enemy's head, knocking its concentration off, mindlessly hurling snow down the hill before succumbing to damage. The balls of snow ceased, allowing Roxas easy passage up the hill.

The Nobody was greeted with a large floating treasure trove of presents that served as a makeshift pathway into the mouth of a large glowing present, which Roxas assumed needed to be crossed. Bravely, he dove into the mouth of the glowing gift, the small flea following suit. Suddenly, Roxas and the flea teleported back alongside Layton and Ramattra, where a festive fanfare played as a present suddenly appeared alongside the Omnic. “What was at the peak?” Ramattra asked, as Roxas grabbed at the present next to the Null Sector Commander, opening it to reveal a second flea to return to town.

”Nothing really. But don’t things feel… lighter?” It was impossible for Ramattra to ignore his uplifted mood. While he chalked it up to feeling accomplished for completing the puzzle, it felt like the whole crew felt jubilantly uplifted.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Level 8 - EXP 44/80
The Midnight Walk - Christmas Village
Word Count:43922 +5 EXP

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Snow-Laughing Matter

Featuring Sandaphlon and The Ace Cadet
Word Count: 3922

Unable to contain his excitement, at the beginning of the evening, Tenna had been absent, partaking in Christmas-like festivities. The last the Seekers had seen of him, he charged off to explore the fantastic village as soon as Maeve said the words “Christmas Village”. He went off sprinting into the small crowd of townsfolk mingling in the cobbled streets of Galeem’s festive village, shouting “CHRISTMAS!!!!!” into the distance. Apparently, he was fond of the holiday.

Any Seeker who had grown wary of his whereabouts quickly could have their worries set to rest, as the CRT quickly became entranced in holiday games with many of the (possible URL if there's a good one) children residents of the village, who quickly radiated toward Tenna’s child-like personality. Every time a different Seeker came to inquire about the TV host's location, he was always in the same spot, playing a different game every single time someone checked on him. Though now things had grown oddly quiet in the plot of snowy land that Tenna and the children were playing in, save for a steady and repeating “THOOMP!” noise.

Now the amount of townkids spending time with Tenna had decreased, as they hunkered down amidst a snow blockade across from a group offestively dressed delinquents who continued to, way too violently, mind you, hurl snowballs at the opposing fort. The children who stayed no longer looked like they were having fun, and Maeve’s warning about playing safely was ignored. Some of Tenna’s henchmen helped to form a counterattack of snowballs, but were quickly pelted in the face.

The leader of the group could finally be made out as he steadied his buzzcut head and leveled a weaponized snowball launcher that easily left bruises on skin towards Tenna and his henchmen. “Ok. I reloaded. Now hit that stupid TV-Face.” The boy commanded his clique in a stoic and almost careless tone. It almost looked like he wasn’t having any fun doing this, if it wasn’t for the twisted smirk that curled on his face whenever he hit somebody with the snowball gun.

It was only a matter of time before the spectacle happened to draw the eye of someone in search of something to do. Of course, Sandalphon had pictured herself assisting with decorations or gift-wrapping rather than engaging in a physical activity in any capacity, but the archangel had a keen eye for the analysis of warfare, be it conducted with swords or snowballs. It didn’t take an expert to be able to tell that the snowball field was in a rather sorry state. With only a couple rudimentary barricades and rather meager caches of snowballs, it reminded her of the dreary public playgrounds scattered among the residential areas of the Sector 08 undercity in Midgar, Detroit. Yet even a playground like this seemed to have its share of bullies.

Sandalphon was not experienced with children, but the disparity between the two factions in this frosty conflict was plain to see, and it seemed obvious that this shouldn’t continue. The archangel began to approach, considering what tact she ought to take to resolve this matter.

She was also not the only Seeker who had stumbled upon the scene, though this one took a much less calculated approach. Whether it ended up giving Sandalphon a small opening or interfered with her budding plan remained to be seen.

"Hey, Tenna! You want any help?" the festively clad Ace Cadet called from the edge of the snow arena, opposite the archangel.

After making the rounds giving out clothes he'd actually intended to head right back to the village's central workshop, but his return route had taken him by the snowy play-battlefield. It'd been a long time since he'd participated in a snowball fight himself, and while he would have been happy to leave the village kids to it he couldn't help but notice his fellow Seeker among them, with his while group pinned down.

Ace cupped his hands around his mouth to shout out again, but ended up having to duck a snowball that was pitched at his head. "Whoa!"

"No outside help!" one of the holiday hooligans yelled.

"Alright, alright! Snow easy on me!" the Cadet yelled back. Rather than leave, which is probably what the opposing snowball forces wanted, he charged into the arena with an arm thrown up over his head to protect from the rain of snowballs that followed. He slid behind the crumbling wall of Tenna's side's fort, shooting the entertainer and his entourage a grin.

Tenna nodded to Ace’s offer to help. With many of the leftover kids hunkering down in the safety of the small fort, the resistance against the bully’s barrage of snow was three to five, excluding Ace and the nearby Sandaphlon, who the CRT and the delinquent boy had not yet noticed. “We started having a normal snowball fight but then that teenager started talking to some of those dressed-up bullies about this fantastic weapon he found specifically for hurting people in snowball fights.” He tried his best to point to the cannon without peaking over his cover.

“Honestly, they’re RUINING THE SHOW!” Tenna pouted playfully, before using a squash and stretched enlarged hand to ball an oversized lump of snow in his palm. He chucked it over the makeshift blockade towards the rowdy ground at the opposite end, causing a couple of heads to duck down to avoid being pelted. The assault of snow slowed down for a moment as they hid their heads, giving one of the Shadow Guy goons an opportunity to nail the teenage leader square in the face, staggering his aim.

“Okay, new rule.” The boy shouted from his fortress. “If you hit me again, I’ll beat the shit out of you later.” The threat seemed empty from the inflection in his voice, but it was pretty clear this kid was the root cause of the snowball fight catastrophes from years prior.

Tenna sat back down next to Ace, forming another ball as he said, “I thinks that if we disarm that gun from him, the kiddos can go back to their snnnnnnowwwday! I’ve been using my employees and Darkner powers to hold them back without hurting anybody…”

The Cadet peeked over the snow mound to see the opposition, muttering a "sheesh" at the ring leader's reaction to a taste of his own medicine. Ultimately it came down to a kid (and his pack of adult underlings?) taking the game far too seriously, so his promised retaliation wasn't intimidating. Taking his advantage away did seem like the best option for getting him to quit the game so the rest could continue more casually though.

"Sounds like a plan!" he said, packing a fresh snowball in his hands.

Still far enough away from the one-sided snowball fight that nobody had really taken notice of her (despite looking even more angelic than usual thanks to her new outfit), Sandalphon paused as one of her fellow Seekers jumped into the action. She’d hoped that Tenna and his mooks would have the situation somewhat in hand, but even the monster hunter’s assistance didn’t seem to be enough to turn the tide against the little hellion and his gang, especially with that snowblaster of his. What really convinced Sandalphon to intercede, though, was the curmudgeon’s threat, especially given his foul language. That evaporated any sympathy the archangel might have had for him and his cohorts, painting them as delinquents in need of correction.

She moved in, walking in an arc toward her allies’ snowy citadel. Used to precise measurements in far more dangerous and stressful situations than this, she had all the time in the world to calculate the necessary trajectory as she manifested an icy cluster in the palm of one gloved hand. “All units, prepare for all-out bombardment, targeting enemy emplacement,” she ordered. After a moment, she wound up to throw, her blank face subtly menacing. “Here’s a snowball for you.” With that, she hurled the Frost Lock straight at the bully’s snowball cannon. On contact the machine froze solid, leveling the playing field for five crucial seconds.

Her dynamic entrance had Ace and Tenna glancing at each other, and then throwing matching grins the angel's way.

“Action time baby!”

The mean teenager looked at the malfunctioning gun in confusion, not suspecting the support from Sandaphlon. The tides of the struggle had been leveled out more, now that the crew had an opening to counterattack! Tenna and his henchmen began rapidly forming and throwing snowballs towards the clique, forcing them to duck and weave while throwing in messy succession.

After her tampering with the snow-launcher, the group seemed to be aiming mostly in her general direction now, seeing her as a threat to their troublemaking. “My launcher may as well be useless with her protecting them!” The leader shouted over his holiday henchmen.

Tenna knew that once the Frost Lock ended, the cannon would be aimed at Sandaphlon. “Doesn’t this bully have a parent to reel him back in!” The CRT complained under the cover. The henchmen had managed to land a couple of hits on the henchmen.

Even before the freeze ended, Sandalphon could tell from how the gunners pointed their weapon that she could expect a cold-hearted reprisal for her interference. Rather than try to join in her allies’ barrage, or attempt to defend herself with her strings, she made for their snow fort as fast as possible. Unfortunately it was slow going, and with neither the strength nor speed to push through the powdery drifts, the archangel would probably not reach cover in time… which meant her allies would have to find a way to protect her from the horror of being pelted with packed snow.

Even in his holiday outfit, there were some things that Ace wasn't going without; his pack with all of his equipment for one, the scoutfly cage for two, and of course third was the trusty slinger. Though he would be able to pull Sandalphon with its chain... Tenna could probably reel her in the same way he'd done for the Cadet in yesterday's battle, and it would be a much less jarring experience versus being yanked with the hunter's own clutch claw. Ace patted the television-headed man on the shoulder and suggested it. "Think you can pull our commander in? I'll try and draw some fire- actually, I guess draw some ice!"

It took Tenna a moment to connect Ace’s train of thinking; the cadet wanted the CRT to divide again into a Tennaling rope to retrieve Sandaphlon, though it seemed like she had some sort of intent to charge toward the enemy fort. “You got it! Just give me a small opening and lasso me on over there!” If Ace could remove even one attacker, that would distract the foes for long enough to retrieve their commander. Tenna waited nearby, now a stretched-out rope of miniature Tennas linked hand and feet to one another.

Though Ace'd just been throwing normally before, now he pulled the catch of the slinger back to manually adjust it, loading it full of snowballs from the fort's slowly dwindling stash. Using the sling shot mechanism wouldn't have been considered cheating back in his world, and considering the bullies were using even stronger propulsion, he wouldn't have felt bad about doing it here even if it was.

Ace rolled out from behind the snow fort opposite the side Sandalphon was approaching from, coming to rest in a half kneel with the slinger raised. It fired a snowball at the gingerbread-faced delinquent, nailing them square in the nose. The hunter did play fair - no rocks or chunks or ice in these snowballs, and with the gear's power tuned a little lower it wouldn't be any more painful than just getting struck by someone just chucking them. But it was fast and accurate, the second snowball already following up the first. It burst against the same underling, the next two aimed at the sock headed guy right next to him.

"You guys are pawsitively out-chilled!" he teased, swinging the slinger's aim to the next in line of the opposing forces.

With two of the snow-hurling neirdowells disposed of temporarily, Ace then had a good chance to wrangle Tenna by the midst of his makeshift self-rope and swing him towards Sandaphlon, whom he grabbed and quickly wrapped around her arm to reel her back towards the group. “Whoa there! My! Aren’t you popular!” The CRT quipped. “But seriously though, if you have a plan, you gotta speak up!”

While the three huddled in the safety of the snow fort, the boy on the opposing side had managed to get his snowball cannon functioning again, the steady rhythmic noise playing against the battlefield again. With that gun in commission, they weren’t going anywhere, and while Sandaphlon had tried to take initiative in disarming the annoying boy, the opposing attack’s focused effort proved too dangerous. Piecing himself back together, Tenna looked at his teammates. “If you need a distraction, I make an excellent one!”

Having not engaged in a snowball fight before, Sandalphon was taking this a little too seriously as well–from her expression and labored breathing, one could easily believe she’d just narrowly escaped real machine gun fire. She held up her gloved left hand and stared at it until her fingers stopped shaking from a combination of numbing cold and nerves. Then an idea occurred to her. Floating overhead, her halo served as a beacon to reveal her exact position to her opponents, so any move she made would be betrayed to the opposition in advance. Even now, snowballs pelted against her halo’s metal, causing powder to shower down onto her head. And even if she could get a good angle on the delinquents’ position, it would take twice as many Frost Locks to freeze the cannon again.

With her new power, though, she need not poke her head up from behind cover. Sandalphon narrowed her eyes, extended ethereal ergo strings from her fingertips, and then angled her left hand downward. The luminous wires dove down into the snow, burrowing like worms. Her mental snapshot and previous calculations should be enough to guide her strings toward the teens’ emplacement. “In approximately ten seconds, I can disable their machine again,” she informed the others. “I’ll try and knock it down, half-bury it in the snow. The rest is up to you.”

It wasn't a lot of time to come up with a plan, and she'd left the details up to team members that maybe weren't the most well suited for doing that in the first place. Wartime strategy, even if just for pretend, was definitely outside of the Ace Cadet's wheelhouse. Then again, it wasn't like the stakes were all that high. In the middle of packing more snowballs he glanced at Sandalphon, noting her rather serious demeanor, and then peeked over the fort again. His eyes slid over the enemy position, the open the field, and then back to their own base. Then, he glanced back at the rest of his allies with a smile and a shrug.

"How about the rest of us charge in, then?" he suggested. "I bet they won't be expecting that! Plus when they see us coming, without the snowball cannon they might get cold feet and abandon their fort." Such was the way of a lot of these kinds of bullies after all.

Not long after, ether strings sprang up from the snow around the snowball cannon on the other side of the field. They quickly wound around the weapon, pulled taut, and then yanked it downward as Sandalphon tugged on the strings with all her strength. It wasn’t much, but with the element of surprise, it was enough.

With the pull of her threads the signal, the archangel's troops jumped into action. Ace vaulted the short snow fortress wall with one arm laden with snowballs, the other with a freshly reloaded slinger that pelted the opposing team's fort and its defenders while he charged. And when it inevitably ran out of ammo, well, his pitching was still pretty good.

Tenna remained at the ready for her signal, divided into twelve miniature clones of himself once again, this time for better evasion. The tiny CRTs scattered wildly, dodging any attempts to hit him with thrown snow, and with a three-person charge, they could easily rush the fort. The leader boy frantically attempted to retrieve his weapon from the clutch of the strings dragging it into the snow below. Once Tenna had surrounded the foot of the bully’s defenses, he waited for Ace to group up with him, offering a valuable distraction to disarm the wintery weapon by climbing up the sides of the fort, drawing any immediate fire.

In panic, one of the bully’s teammates turned toward a nearby snowman. It was an odd-looking sculpture, especially the head, which had what looked like gossamer ears poking out the top, a couple beardlike strands sticking out the bottom, and a single hole in the very middle of the face. The teen pulled it off, then lifted it up to hurl at Tenna like a giant snowball. As big as a soccer ball, it definitely had enough mass to knock him down if its thrower hit his mark. Unfortunately, he never got the chance. A moment after the kid raised it up, the snowman head popped, revealing a fluffy flea hidden inside. It let out an excited babble, then zipped away with a playful “Awoo!” Taken aback, the teen was a sitting duck - and quickly covered in snow as the mini-army overran that side of the field.

As expected, once it became clear that they no longer had an overwhelming advantage the majority of the team of bullies turned tail and ran, less they ended up becoming snowmen themselves. It left only their stubborn ring leader to defend the base, but the odds were not in his favor. At some point the deluge of snowballs from the Seekers' side had resulted in the bully releasing his grip on the tangled cannon to shield himself with his arms, and when he turned to look for it again the weapon was buried under a half-crumbled wall of the snow fort.

"Dorks! Cowards!" he called after his fleeing crew. "Hafta do everything myself. Alright, my turn now."

He scooped up a hand full of snow and roughly shaped it into a sphere, pitching it like normal at one of the multitude of little TV heads running around. As they were quick and small he ended up missing, but rather than trying in vain to take out the Tennalings he instead aimed his next shot at the larger target.

Ace was in the fun-having mind set, so when he turned to catch a snowball right in the center of his chest -one not launched by the snowball cannon and instead by the boy's own arm- he blinked once and then a grin split his face as he dramatically flopped over onto his back in the snow. "Aaah, I'm hit!"

The bully paused, evidently not having expected that reaction at all. And was that a little satisfied smirk that formed on his face after a moment, rather than a cruel one? He formed another snowball, but he was still alone and surrounded, and the simple stick and cloth flag of his base was sagging where it had been stuck into the snow.

Ace’s performance was commendable, especially to the optimistic TV-host, who effortlessly dodged the mean kid’s last-ditch barrage of quickly crafted snowballs, scaled all twelve miniature copies of himself to the top of the snowy building that the bully hunkered himself down in. They rematerialized into the TV’s full glory, now posing dramatically over the boy as he glared down at the half-snow-submerged weapon, half-tempted to make a last attempt to retrieve it from Sandaphlon’s Ergo Strings. Tenna stepped down from the ramparts of Jimmy’s snowy base, now face-to-face with the cause of so much sourness on a jolly occasion.

The TV-host reached down with a gloved hand, grasping the weapon by its stock, and would signal for Sandaphlon to release her strings from the weapon by snapping his fingers over the barricade. Once they had detached from the gun, Tenna was quick to toss it over the fort and towards Ace, whom he trusted would be ready to receive it. As it was flung over, the hunter's arm reached up to snatch it from the air before flopping 'lifelessly' back onto the ground with a poof of white flakes. “Your reign of terror is over, you little MAGGOT.”

The boy scoffed at his fun being foiled, disappointed not only by that but also by his group of delinquents bailing out on him. Children began to emerge from the fort, ready to pelt the poor sport who tried his best to play nonchalantly. “Whatever, man. You people are a bunch of freaks.” The boy flipped the trio off before spitting on the ground and storming off at a brisk march towards a nearby caroling performance, where he proceeded to heckle the man’s terrible singing.

“Well… At least he isn’t bothering the village kids anymore.” Tenna sighed dramatically, looking back at Ace and Sandaphlon. “Now then! Would you two be interested in learning the proper rules of the game?”

Sandalphon, having been watching the conclusion of the curmudgeon’s saga from the sidelines, considered the proposal. Her talents would be much better used elsewhere, efficiently pursuing the maximum possible contribution toward the upcoming festivities…but from what she understood of Christmas and the ritual’s goals, being part of this holiday was about more than fastidiously working a job. If enjoying oneself was part of the point, then it would be counter-productive to work herself to the bone. And if nothing else, maybe a proper snowball fight would broaden her horizons in terms of strategic possibilities.

“I would like to participate,” she confirmed, her pupils shaped like carets.

The Cadet sat up and brushed some of the snow out of his hair, his face touched red from the cold but otherwise still feeling fairly merry. Though he hadn't known Tenna for long he knew the strange man was good for a lively time, but he was particularly pleased to see the team leader having some fun. "I'm game too," he said, already forming yet another snowball in preparation.

With the battleground reclaimed for the participants who would play more appropriately, Tenna would show the two how to build a snow barricade, gathering up groups of snow to wall off from oncoming threats. Once the two were more familiar with the game, the show began, as snowballs flung through the air. After the game had finished, Tenna and Sandaphlon returned to where Maeve had been checking off tasks they had completed! After reporting the bully to her, they handed in the weapon, trusting that the pixie could return it to its rightful owner.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Level 8 - EXP 21/80
The Frozen Highlands

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The Worst Case Scenario

Midnight Walk - Christmas Village

Featuring: Ramattra, Edward, and Ganondorf
Word Count: 2988 // +3 EXP

The Omnic stared at the sky as featureless clouds blizzarded in the near distance. As the landscape of a particularly… festive town came into view, the Omnic was the first among the group to recognize the aesthetics of the new village to explore. “Christmas? The human holiday?” He scratched his chin for a moment, contemplating the ridiculousness of living in a town entirely festive. Sighing, he decided to entertain the idea of playing along with the town’s residents' jolly moods. Best to not fight this wave…and to go with the current.

Ramattra, in particular, was not fond of Maeve’s childlike enjoyment of the holiday, especially how aloof she spoke about the horrific storm in the near distance, and the town’s even more ridiculous plan to make it disappear through Christmas Spirit. Ever the nihilist Ramattra was. But it dawned on him that the nature of Galeem’s World could very well have created an environment influenced by festivity. Groaning in mild bemusement, the Omnic found himself wishing to be in like-minded company for a while. Normally a solitary robot, Ramattra knew that the world he found himself in was full of dangers that blocked their path (metaphorically and literally), and forming new alliances would be the foundation of eliminating the guardians and freeing their worlds. The Omnic was at least glad that Sandaphlon spoke about her negative beliefs on the pixie’s plan; it was nice hearing someone among the group sounding sane.

One of the benefits of passing through such a merry civilization was the particularly strong hospitality its Christmas-y residents displayed to the Seekers. Ramattra did not follow the Stagecoach through the small town at first, choosing to scope out objectives and landmarks before regrouping with whichever of the group’s tacticians he could meet with. While there was no designated area to post the posse of Shieldrixes for the afternoon, they had been allowed to park alongside arustic horse stable that had been repurposed to house reindeer, with troughs empty of feed. They almost seemed frustrated at the nearby sight of impossible creatures grazing on the last of the berry reserves Ramattra had gathered the night prior, though it seemed that whoever had fed them recently had left towards the barrier-like blizzard in the distance of the town, indicated by two large sets of footprints in the snow. Ramattra followed them with clattering triple steps, the grey flesh adorning his cybernetics entirely senseless to the biting cold.

”Thinking of taking a closer look at the blizzard?" Came the voice of Edward from behind as he approached with a lengthened stride, having just finished securing their vehicle (via a perimeter of summoned golem guards and resting somnacanth derivatives). The man clearly had no desire to trust the residents of the town, regardless of their representative’s cheerfulness.

This was also why he was somewhat quieter when he got closer and derided their whole plan ”a preposterous notion, is it not? I’ve seen a dozen different of winter festivals on a dozen different realms, it's practically a constant on ones with seasons, and they are all ultimately about keeping up moral rather than whatever mystical purpose they claim to serve"

They were followed by Edward’s new Trafficrab companion. The plastic creature mostly indifferent to the cold, while the still mostly human Edward moved with his angelic wings worn like a cloak over his cold winter gear.

”Depends on the ritual.” Came the gruff voice of Ganondorf. The man hadn’t been very social since the defeat of Belial, primarily because he was getting himself used to the updated nature of his fusion with the spirit in question. But here he went ahead and decided to throw in his own two Rupees. ”If there’s actual magic attached to it, then maybe. But I couldn’t guess what kind of magic exists in this town’s rituals, if any.”

“Yes. The humans of my world are quite fond of the one that this village is named and decorated after.” Ramattra didn’t see Edward approach initially, his face turning to the commander as his body continued to face the nearby storm. “I am skeptical of their approach to clearing this blizzard. However, I am convinced we have no better alternative since the whole population worships the holiday.” The Omnic hoped they were out of earshot while foulmouthing; however, he enjoyed the sight of bright town lights over the vast nothingness of the Frozen Highlands.

“Though it appears that braving the storm itself seems futile. I dare not cross the threshold myself.” The Omnic’s sensors blinked as he surveyed the land. There was no visibility whatsoever, and if it passed over the small town, it was sure to spell doom for the townsfolk. Magic did indeed seem to be at play here.

”Well, that is what summons are for after all. So let’s confirm before we jump to conclusions" Edward replied, as he retrieved the tome of Enchantment from his hip and opened it up before him. Orange runes glowed upon its pages as he began to forge a squad of copper golems before them.

”Hmph, quite the pragmatic suggestion.” Ganondorf said, though he had no actual objections to the idea.

Soon enough the squad was complete and, with an accompanying thrust of a finger, Edward sent them forwards into the storm. Frost immediately began to form on the surface that the Dreadnought reported was ”Cold enough that it's damaging them" at a steady rate. Then after a few seconds he blinked in surprise and then informed them that the golems had ”Frozen solid" mostly due to having just been given a reminder of what that ‘felt’ like by PomPom

”That is not traversable without proper protection. I could make such protection if I had the resources and time, but getting enough for everyone would be difficult to say the least" Edward said, holding up the hand wearing the Frostkin ring as he said this to show them it as he explained this.

”So we are stuck relying on this town and its festival, then?” asked the Gerudo Warlord, looking none too pleased, ”I can’t say I enjoy the idea of being delayed, even less so the idea of being delayed because of something this… ridiculous.”

“No.” Ramattra interjected the conversation, immediately understanding the situation in hand. “This is no natural ice storm. Something- or someone is causing this.” The Omnic looked over his shoulder at the two warlords. “Perhaps some benevolent spirit to haunt the village” Ramattra teased, emphasizing how preposterous the idea was with the inflection of his tone. Though… the thought was not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

“Well. Regardless, I’ve been meaning to meet with you two for quite some time.” The Omnic stepped backward from the snowstorm, approaching the other two seekers. “I believe that the general consensus is that we three are the most capable of leading armies into battle, yes?” The Omnic would leer metaphorically with his sensors at his allies. “I think some of our friends are beginning to fear us, so to say.”

Edward raised an eyebrow at this statement, it didn’t particularly line up with his own present self image, then failed to stop himself from glancing at Ganondorf. The man’s reputation had been rather dragged through the mud, and he imagined his own association with one of the major contributors to that (before her untimely demise) might not have endeared him to the man. It had been hard to gauge how much of her naysaying of him was vendetta driven and how much was legitimate, and in hindsight he had been foolish to not make his own impartial assessment of the veteran seeker.

There was, he supposed, no time like the present.

Rather than look away and appear guilty at his glance, he leaned into his expressions and tried to give them a positive spin, saying to the king that ”Well, I’m not so sure about myself, but the way you did away with that regenerating Naytiba was an impressive show of power, especially after the rest of us struggled to take it down” Ramattra nodded in agreement, it was impossible to ignore the Gerudo king’s impressive feat. More than anything, it was their added strength that made the trio more threatening.

Ganondorf simply nodded, trying not to let too much of his personal pride show. ”You’re referring to Brother Moon…” He clarified, ”It’s easily the strongest power I’ve added to my arsenal yet. But came with a steep cost, being attached to the Gravemind spirit. That blasted fusion prevents me from being healed outside of my own internal regeneration. It’s… troublesome, to say the least. Hopefully that Naytiba’s spirit will mitigate the problem, if only a little.”

“The Naytiba possess a unique array of… disabilities, along with their strength.” If anyone among the trio understood, it was Ramattra, whose body was now predominantly the side effects of spirit fusion. The storm raged further, giving no attention to the group who idly stood, now staring at ice crystal-coated golems in the belly of the storm. “Regardless, this world does not appear content waiting for us. Maybe we should tend to some of the village matters. Even if their planned festivities fail to dissipate the blizzard, it’s best for us to keep busy while we have matters to discuss.”

Ramattra pointed towards the large pine trees nearby, plentiful for the harvest and tall enough to be cut into multiple logs. “It should be easy enough to gather more wood, right, Edward?” The Omnic didn’t see Ganondorf as the ‘toy-crafting’ type of Gerudo, and neither was he. Honestly, a lot of the tasks on the list were too celebratory for Ramattra’s taste, especially with the looming threat of annihilation by a giant ice storm.

”One of the more practical uses of our time on the list, certainly. Oh and one well suited for my golems” Edward replied with a nod, before flicking the tome of enchantments to a different page and forging a squad of bronze golems. Standing tall above them all, the ax blades on their towering helbards would be well suited to the task of tree felling.

Ganondorf summoned some Moblins with an almost dismissive gesture. They could stack and organize the wood as it was chopped by the golems to speed the process up a bit more.

A high elf peasant was already busy hacking away at the local woods with impressive gusto, but he was only one man. Or elf. Despite this, as they approached and interrupted his muttering of “two plus three times-” he turned around and demanded to know “what do you want?” in a tone of rather sophisticated arrogance.

The Omnic raised a dismissive hand for a moment, sensing the mild tension in his voice. The last thing they needed was confrontation. “We’re here to lend a helping hand with the wood gathering. We saw Maeve’s to-do list and are merely trying to busy ourselves.” The Omnic hoped their sudden appearance on the elves' worksite was not unwelcome, especially considering they had asked for help in the first place.

The elf raised an annoyed nose at the three commanders, recalling his request for extra hands to bring wood back to the village for the festival. “It’s about time she sends help up here. Fine, make yourselves useful, but I’ll be keeping a loose eye on you.” Ramattra gestured for the duo to follow him deeper into the thick of the woods.

Once just out of earshot of the wood-working elf, Ramattra drew his blade from the crevice in his chest, opting to use its enhanced size in Nemesis form to cut trees in brutal, singular strokes. “I propose we form a small alliance. Should we be trapped in this world against our will, I would at the very least prefer being in the company of like-minded individuals. Not to exclude our allies, of course, but I’m what you might call a ‘results-focused’ Omnic.”

Ganondorf, meanwhile, had chosen a more directorial role in getting work done. His Moblins were better suited for menial tasks, but occasionally needed direct oversight from him to keep them on task and prevent any unnecessary distractions. ”An alliance…?” He grunted. He’d be lying if he claimed this sort of thought had never entered his mind. Of course it had. But so many in the Seekers were the heroic sort who would be frustratingly picky about the methods of achieving results.

”I suppose it was always inevitable.” The Gerudo added, ”So many people with often clashing personalities. I’m surprised nobody has created any internal alliances already, frankly.”

”That we are aware of anyway. Any moves needing to be made now would be rather subtle, I suspect” Edward noted. As they worked his bronze golems used cleaving strikes to take down trees, while he himself got to the more precision work of removing branches and such with one of the available axes.

”What, might I ask, would be the overall goal of this alliance?”

”My goal is toppling Moebius and overthrowing Galeem.” Ganondorf said simply. ”How I go about achieving that is no object to me. You’ll find I have little qualms about using subterfuge and other less savory tactics if it means getting us closer to Moebius and Galeem.”

“I’m still quite a rookie when it comes to travelling with you lot, so for now my goal lies in either returning to my world or, alternatively, understanding this world more. With that, I do not request this alliance for null or simple reasons.” The Omnic had always thrived in solitude in his world; however, the magnitude of this world appeared to be infinite, and there were certainly ways to expedite the process. “Do we really believe that we are going to defeat a world-creating god only with a ragtag group of survivors carrying out isolated missions?” The question was clearly hypothetical, as he let silence hang in the air for a moment.

Raising the large scimitar, Ramattra delivered a one-hit KO to a particularly tall tree, gravity drawing it to the group opposite the trio. “No. We need an army. Maybe not a huge one like what I am used to commanding, but…” He looked out at the ice storm, curious about what threats lay in its snowy veil. “Look at how many bodies it takes to fell stronger foes. Who knows what strength the guardian of this area may hold alone?”

Ganondorf said nothing for a moment, and instead just hmphed in thought. Then he finally offered a reply, ”I’m no stranger to war and battlefields.” He said, ”An army at my command would no doubt be a boon. But if that’s your plan, then it begs the question: From where would you call forth this army you're suggesting? Soldiers and minions don’t exactly grow on trees. And we lack the force necessary to levy conscripts, not to mention how little approval we would have from the Archangel and the rest of the heroic sorts among our ranks.”

”If we can acquire a sufficiently powerful source of mana, I could forge us legions of golems” Edward replied, though he was aware that was no easy task. Plus, it did put all the power in his hands, and he suspected neither would be best pleased with that.

As such, he instead directed their attention to the army building abilities that they did have.

”We do have Dr. Willing’s machine for forging impossible creatures that only requires coal. Plus the pal-spheres to tame wild beasts. The issue is more that beasts cannot lead beasts. If we want an army rather than a rag tag band, we need to organize ourselves as such and delicate the commanding of our forces”

Ramattra nodded. He was glad to see that Edward shared a similar plan of thinking. “We are unfortunately stuck with the resources we currently have, however in the meantime, we can focus on improving the quality of leadership as our numbers increase.” The idea was hopefully simple enough; the three of them had experience commanding armies, and should the time come to lead one, he saw the three of them as most fit.

Edward gave a half smile, but internally noted that Ramattra had not taken the hint. If they wanted to make use of the resources they had, then the others would have to start using said resources.

Perhaps Ramattra was being overzealous in this matter. Or perhaps his irrational wariness towards his new allies was a fault he needed to work on. Either way, there was no denying the fact that he valued these two and their ability to command large groups. “Either way, the matter of an alliance is simply a formality. I value your contributions to the group and the roles you two fulfill. I see similarities in us.” He admitted, now configuring into Nemesis form as he picked up a couple of large logs at once.

“Do consider my offer. I believe we can brainstorm great things together. Again, nothing official by it.” The Omnic reassured, hauling the bundle of wood over his shoulder as he followed the marching golems away, back toward the village. The three worked together in great cooperation to chop logs and prepare them for the festival, with rumors of the three warlords now becoming friendly surely circulating among the other Seekers.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Level 8 - EXP 39/80
The Midnight Walk - Remote Outpost
Word Count:2213 +4 EXP

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Capturing the creatures was the easy part, but heeding Ramattra and Heismay’s warnings about the large Bunnymen and their smaller likenesses might be difficult for Tenna and his two henchmen. While the creatures weren’t the brightest, they more than made up with the number of eyes peering out of the abandoned village, and the CRT’s stealth capabilities were not to be desired. His best bet was some sort of distraction, and with two complacent bodies at his disposal, it wouldn’t be impossible to sneak away with the rabbits in tow. One of his minions would have to volunteer; however, since this wasn’t a formal dismissal, there was no guarantee of the Shadow Guy's return. “Make a ruckus! Whatever you need to do so that we can make off with these little guys.” Truthfully, Tenna felt bad about killing rabbits, but that was the circle of life.

The braver of the two summons chipped in with a saxophone noise, announcing that he would take the task as he picked up a long stick and walked away. It wasn’t very long before the Shadow Guy’s plan had come to fruition, a Bunnyman with a notable welt now roaring angrily as it rallied nearby bodies to chase after the minion wildly. Luckily, the shadow guy was just small and fast enough to outpace them, but with a Stagecoach now rapidly making its way down an ice track, and time being ever-so precious, there was no way to retrieve his employee. A large tear rolled down Tenna’s face dramatically. “I’m gonna miss that guy.” Without another moment of waiting, the TV Host and his remaining minion fled with the four - still alive - rabbits in his clutch.

It wasn’t difficult for Tenna to cross the icy racetrack that took the rest of the Seekers across on his own, fashioning himself a makeshift sled out of a large burned plank. The ride was mostly automatic, the propelling tracks speeding the TV Host and minion through difficult jumps and turns. Tenna, of course, put his hands in the air, enjoying the air time he managed to make, encouraging his company to do the same. “Wheeeee!~”

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With his safe return to the Stagecoach and four live rabbits to prep and serve, Tenna had his work cut out for him. Since nobody in the crew was a seasoned chef, Tenna was the closest they had to prepare the stew for the remainder of their travels, since he had hosted an array of cooking shows in his Dark World. With the abandoned campgrounds making for an excellent stopping point towards their destination, the CRT was certain he had more than enough time to set up food for the other Seekers while deciding what to do among the abandoned mine.

Excitedly, Tenna recalled an important item from his pocket, reaching deeply inside it as if it had no end. Finally, after a couple of seconds, the TV Host found the item he was looking for: a simple and white chef’s hat. Any spectator at first glance would assume it was a plain, simple hat; however, Tenna truly believed that the hat was essential to preparing the meal for the other Seekers. He placed the hat neatly atop his head in a dramatic fashion, feeling invigorated and ready to cook! Now came the hardest part.

The rabbits were very much still alive, though they now seemed exhausted from struggling for so long during Tenna’s return. It should just be a simple matter to crush the small creature’s neck, but some part of the CRT’s consciousness wouldn’t let him. He was able to fight alongside the Seekers against horrific crimes against nature, but couldn’t muster the courage to hurt an innocent creature. The longer he dragged his feet on the topic, the less time he could have later to explore this creepy place. Delegating the task of slaying the small animals to his minion, Tenna turned toward the stewpot, the crew’s only proper tool for cooking, unsure if they even had condiments or spices to work with. While the stew before had shown the ability to produce something mediocre tasting at the very least, with few ingredients, though it seems the pot had been in the Seeker’s possession for quite a bit now.

Making the “infinity stew” as it was described in passing to Tenna shouldn’t prove difficult, simply a matter of preparing the food and cooking it amongst its now empty contents. The TV Host also took notice of Edward’s haul of bovine meat and planned to prepare it as well. Just as he was preparing to toss the cuts of meat into the cauldron, a chirpy saxophone chimed in, announcing that the Shadow Guy had done the messy work of skinning, gutting, and deboning the rabbits, and now was left with four headless, fresh meat to work with.

While he wasn’t about to prepare ALL of their available food, there were only so many shanks of food to work with, and they would require time to cook in the pot. There were seven mouths to feed in total, excluding the non-organic members of the group, and eight pieces of meat to work with, along with the wild berries gathered by Ramattra. There was no easy way to plan this; while no members would necessarily go hungry, they would have to be content with half-portions of meat and berries to ration the food out the easiest, and put the rest away in the stew to cook for later.

Tenna nodded. A plan was indeed a fine start, and now that he knew where to allocate food, he dropped two slabs of mutton and two skinned rabbits into the bare pot, hoping that the stew’s “immortality” was not a fluke he misunderstood. Tenna also made use of Edward’s armory, tossing in four of the boiled prawns for extra substance. By the end of the day, the group will be treated to the contents, hopefully more flavorful than before, with the combination of higher-quality meats and Tenna’s chef hat. He finalized his “recipe” with a big stir from his cartoonishly sized spoon. “Bon Appétit!”

Cooking the rest of the meat for immediate consumption wouldn’t be a difficult endeavor, so long as he had access to fire. Luckily, the campsite they rested at was occupied by a coat-clad monster, who huddled around a dimly lit campfire and appeared friendly enough to loan the flame. “Excuse me, but might I cook some of these, friendly fella?” The host held up eight small skewers made up of the four remaining pieces of food.

The creature didn’t respond, at least not vocally. Only smirking as it hurled a glass of hot cocoa at Tenna, the CRT was unable to sidestep the item as it crashed and stained his red tailcoat. “Oh.” Tenna moped slightly; however, it did not seem the gleaming entity meant any significant harm, as the hot-cocoa attack ceased after the initial cup. Tenna tried his hardest, whilst being extra dramatic about it, to strain whatever of the liquid from his coat. “Well. If you don’t mind, I’ll uh… do that quickly.”

Tenna straightened his hat as he crouched down next to the fire and began slowly turning the meaty skewers over the flames, cooking them as evenly as possible. It didn’t take long for the meat to go from raw to medium rare, with a nice woody singe on each piece of meat; some extra smokiness was also guaranteed. Tenna wasn’t sure if the group had any actual plates, but he offered each organic Seeker a skewer and a large handful of berries, which were surprisingly well-cooked, which was unexpected from the CRT.

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Once news of Edward’s strike team failure reached the rest of White Team, Tenna delegated himself to play collector for the treasures mentioned being in the belly of the mining facility. No one else was brave- or stupid- enough to go on their own, and bringing a clutch of treasure back to the Stagecoach might give Tenna some much-needed attention from the other Seekers.

However, Tenna couldn’t help but shake that he was grossly underprepared to fight the large monstrosity that supposedly lurked in the contents of the largest room. Realistically, he knew there was no possibility of him and two minions defeating the threat. This would need to be a run-and-gun into the facility to grab whatever valuables he could get his hands on.

Once again, making use of Edward’s armory, Tenna equipped himself with the Dragon's Fury flamethrower, smacking a long-gun magazine into the stock. His precision with it was certainly questionable, but without any other flame-producing weaponry at Tenna’s disposal, this was his best option for dealing with the Frostbitten that Edward missed.

As prepared as he could be, Tenna finally took the plunge into the mouth of the mine, accompanied by two newly created Shadowguys. Immediately, Tenna took note of the valuable metals lining the walls down into the belly of the facility, and commanded his two Shadow guys to begin excavating it with nearby rusty pickaxes as he collected pieces of scrap metal off rusted shelves and minecarts.

But that couldn’t be all that Edward left, could it? Tenna squinted down multiple utility halls and barracks nearby, and some notable equipment that resided on abandoned equipment hooks nearby would include a simple gas mask. Other than that, it was just picks, shovels, hammers, and mining helmets. Once the Shadow Guys finished harvesting the metals, clay, and coal from the walls of the cave, they set deeper into the mines, where the threatening PomPom now rested among piles of ash.

Tenna knew that the second he entered the room, the monstrosity would be alerted to their presence and begin attacking, so he needed to think this through. The CRT wasn’t much of a strategist, but even he knew now was the time for all the gears to be firing at max output. Scouting out the room revealed that the Frostbitten had not entirely faded to ash, but rather left behind articles of their clothing, almost like they had lost their form and collapsed. Without much hesitation, Tenna dashed in with his cronies. “Go for the warm gear! It’s about to get CHHHHILLLY!”

Hearing the voices and footsteps of the trio, PomPom uncurled out of itself, returning to its centipede-like shape of gloves and coats. It began skittering towards the TV Host after recognizing Tenna as the largest target among the three. Unfortunately for the large creature, Tenna clutched his Dragon’s Breath and began lobbing large fireballs one after another at the largest part of its body, expending a fourth of its flames. The monster was gearing up to swing its tail end at Tenna just before he fired a last, lucky shot that staggered the beast for a moment, giving the CRT a chance to dash away and collect pieces of gear to stay warm.

By now, the Shadowguys managed to equip two and three pieces each, respectively, as Tenna made way toward a larger pile of clothes. With one of the tattered balclavas in his hand, he stretched the fabric over his face, where his nose erected a lump in the mask and his face off center. Other than that, he chose to wear a thick coat, earmuffs, and a pair of gloves. He couldn’t necessarily feel the difference, but with Edward’s intel, he knew the large threat was able to freeze over a massive area of effect. The CRT hoped that he and his entourage, wearing thicker clothes, would help to weaken the frosty attacks.

After returning its attention to the escaped TV and his henchmen, Tenna commanded his Shadow Guys to rush around PomPom and grab whatever valuable gear they could from PomPom’s protection. “GoGoGo! There’s much to loot here!” Unfortunately, Tenna’s plan didn’t work out perfectly, as PomPom, upon realizing the three were beginning to scatter around, began freezing a large area of effect, frost slowly crusting at the feet of the Shadow Guys, faster so on the one that was equipped with less snow gear. Tenna, however, remained immune to the frost, being the most bundled of the group, and with how much downtime the attack created as it blasted his minions with frost, now was the best time to grab whatever he could and leave.

With the flamethrower mounted on his back and his two henchmen now suspended in ice, he could afford to grab two larger pieces of equipment and retreat. Now he had to outrun PomPom, who had finished its attack and now made chase to Tenna, who without much consideration, grabbed a odd-looking greatsword and a large scythe-like weapon that appeared to be multi-purpose.

Luckily, the large creature was stupidly clumsy, slinking along walls and running into sharp corners as Tenna turned them, unable to slow down its momentum in time. Before the beast could have even followed Tenna further, it lost him down a stray corridor in the mines, where Tenna safely waited for the creature to pass, and hoped its gleaming nature would not curse the rest of the Seekers later.

For Tenna

Gas Mask
Puppet of the Future's Welder - A two-piece greatsword that can be dismantled at the handle to combine with weapons of similar construction. The large blade of the sword is capable of conducting high heat, while the handle produces said heat. The sword consists of two parts when dismantled: blade and handle.
Church Pick A sword capable of transforming into a war pick. When the sword is in its base form, it deals low damage, but has a devastating stagger attack upon landing strikes in rapid succession. When transformed, the weapon deals thrust damage, which provides the weapon with a 20% damage increase.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

+

Level 9 - EXP 21/90
Level 8 - EXP 35/80
The Midnight Walk
Word Count:856 +2EXP

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When the noise of settling Seekers finally struck Ramattra’s sensors, his spider-like red lights would slowly blink online, ending the meditation he had taken during his rest time at night. While the Omnic had no proper sleeping function, he often found good rest when he meditated in solitude. The leader of Null Sector felt that today was going to be a long day for all of the Seekers, especially at Sandaphlon’s mention of her hopeful wishes that White Team make their destination by the end of the day. “Great. Let us make haste this morning, then.” Ramattra was among the first to regroup outside the stagecoach, his three metallic legs clambering odd footprints into the snow behind him.

Meanwhile, Tenna, who had delegated the task of pet-sitting the horrific dog (as he came to learn it could become when being ignored for too long) to himself and two of his Shadow Guys. It was in everyone’s best interest to occupy this dog while they made distance so that it was unable to follow them, so Tenna spoke to his minions, requesting they stay behind while he and the rest of the Seekers progress forward. While Tenna would prefer to be somewhere with more people and opportunities for performing, the company of the White Team was the most lively action available for miles, and following them was his only hope of going to more interesting places, so his travelling spirits were at an all-time high!

With the note to keep an eye out for higher-quality food out, Ramattra knew what his morning would consist of immediately. It was almost ironic that the first notable place they reached was some ruins occupied by rabbits of varied sizes. Unfortunately, Ramattra’s amateur knowledge of survival told him nothing about how to approach the man-sized rabbits. Tenna, who quickly realised the large rabbits were of non-sentient intelligence and did not care about him, took no immediate interest in the small village until he saw the Omnic attempting to converse with one of the large “rabbit-folk”.

As soon as the Omnic got a couple of meters close to a single Bunnyman, it began smelling the air, almost as if it sensed something coming close. However, unlike running away from the large robot like its smaller counterparts had done when he got too close, the large rabbit-man began chasing after the Omnic, its motives unclear at first glance. The Omnic was prepared to draw his weapon in case the creature was feral, like he suspected; however, since it was not immediately attacking, he wanted to entertain the idea of discovering whether or not these creatures had any higher intelligence. “Err- Hello. I am the Omnic Ramattra. May you tell us where we are?”

The creature continued to sniff around, not really paying any attention to Ramattra’s words. It almost looked like it smelled something on the Null Sector commander, but with fairly empty pockets, there was only one assumption to be had. “Ah. Hungry? Here you go… Freakish thing.” The Omnic offered it a scarce helping of berries to avoid expending what little sustenance the living members of his team needed. The creature took the food without a thought behind it, not appearing grateful or even considerate that he had shared it, further concluding his odd experiment.

“I’d really like to avoid conflict with these creatures as they seem drawn to food. Try to keep them away from the stagecoach and whatever provisions we have left.” The Omnic suggested, now contemplating a method to hunt the smaller antenna-adorned Rabbits. Hoping to avoid making the large beasts angry, Ramattra assumed he would need to capture them without harm and would need to use the resources available to him either via Edward’s Armory or whatever he could find naturally.

Tenna, nearby, had already been boredly picking up loose pieces of stray grass, with no conflict or group of people to entertain; this was the best use of his time, seeing as the smaller rabbits would’ve been simpler to collect with some sort of makeshift trap. Two of his Shadow Guys, freshly summoned, were already assisting as well. Impressed by his ability to pay attention and help out when needed, the Omnic would gather odd sticks and twigs around as well, helping the collection process with an additional body. “Great work. Glad to see you using some backbone.” The compliment cheered Tenna up slightly.

Once they had gathered enough resources to build a handful of traps, the two seekers and Tenna’s minions got to work before they passed the area. There was no going back if they didn’t capture the rabbits now. The traps were hastily crafted and were woven amateurishly, but could certainly succeed at capturing small prey. The Omnic gently placed small amounts of berries in each trap to lure the small, odd mammals to their doom. It would take a small wait, but with how many were residing in the abandoned village, as well as their seemingly below-average intelligence for a rabbit, not long enough before the stagecoach would depart down the ice raceway nearby.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

+

Level 9 - EXP 19/90
Level 8 - EXP 33/80
The Midnight Walk - Abandoned Lodge
Word Count:716 +2EXP

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After his light training with Edward, Ramattra retreated back to the safety of the room he had claimed, choosing to scratch the chin of the odd dog that had followed the Seekers around since they arrived. Hopefully that would be enough to keep the creature content for a moment so that he may meditate on his day for a moment before returning to the woods for more resource hunting. Finally concluding his game with the other Seekers, Ramattra had asked in passing that Tenna collect the logs that the Omnic had been using for practice to fuel the fireplace, and keep all the organic members warm. There was no rebuttal from the CRT host, as he ordered two of his remaining Shadow Guys to stay and clean up the mess of confetti and rearranged furniture.

The logs were neatly sorted in a pile from bad cuts to better cuts, showing how Ramattra had improved throughout the evening after his discussion and sparring with Edward, the better cuts more even and easy to relocate inside, where Tenna tossed them into the fireplace to burn for the rest of the night. That would be a good task for him to delegate to his Shadow Guys, but for now, Tenna focused on going around the cabinets and closets of the building, collecting any extra bedding and pillows for the rest of White Team.

After reflecting on his day, Ramattra finally left his lonesome in the room he stationed himself in to go gather more necessary resources for the team’s survival. Sandaphlon had shared that the soup was losing quality and that restoring it with other nutrients would help in the travels to come. Venturing out into the woods, the Omnic kept an eye out for any threats and treats for the rest of the team. Fortunately, it seemed the squad had put enough distance between them and the Spire that Skulling threats were no longer a concern; however, on his exploration, Ramattra did come across a large spider and what he assumed was its younger counterpart. While the Omnic was certain that nobody wanted to eat spiderflesh in the Stew, maybe the creature’s DNA would be viable for the fusion machine that Edward had assembled.

The spiders seemed neutral to Ramattra’s presence, only getting aggressive if he got too close to the nests they wove in webs amongst the trees. He was certain they would prove useful later, however, and should gather up samples for later fusion use, which would unfortunately mean having to slay one of each to collect vital components they could use for fusion. Maybe some of its legs and venom glands would suffice. Regardless, Ramattra challenged some of the spiders with his blade, now more familiar with its weight in his hand, by cutting a giant spider and a spiderling down from where they dangled on their webs. They hissed and bared their venomous fangs at Ramattra, attempting to pierce the Omnic’s metallic leg, only to get a mouthful of hard metal.

The Omnic battered the smaller creature away first with the blunt side of the blade, before drawing it through the head of the spiderling. Quickly, Ramattra slashed the sword at the legs of the larger spider, beating them up to weaken the beast's stamina. It put up a good fight, using its heavy legs to push Ramattra backward, but was a lesser mob and fell with a couple more swings to its vital areas. He claimed whatever parts were viable for fusion or resources from both creatures- whether that had been fangs, hairs, or glands. “Well, if we ever need spider-like monstrosities, we have the samples now.”

Finishing his collection, the Omnic went deeper into the woods, searching high and low for any food. His haul was modest and largely comprised of winterberries, snow cherries, and other assortments of berries. Ramattra filled his inventory to max capacity with whatever little food he could scavenge up for his fleshy companions.

Returning to the lodge to retire for the night, it seems Tenna’s Shadow Guys had taken to managing the odd dog during their stay, petting its large body and using yarnballs as makeshift balls for the creature to play with.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Level 8 - EXP 25/80
The Midnight Walk - Abandoned Lodge
Word Count:4389 +6 EXP

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TV TIME!! #1

Featuring Blazermate, Sectonia, Roxas, and Mokou
Word Count: 4389

Amidst the commotion of White Team establishing a base for the night in the abandoned lodge, Tenna and a small group of his Shadow Guys he summoned throughout the night, will have transformed a corner of one of the bedrooms into a makeshift show stand. Nobody was entirely sure where he was able to find the camcorders that surrounded the rearranged stand made of tables and chairs, draped with an ominous carpet that radiated bad juju to any magic users for decoration. There were also more statues of his likeness.

While many of the Seekers chose to rest for the night in the confines of the abandoned lodge or hunt out for valuable resources to make the base more operational, it seemed that the TV Host was preparing to put on some form of impromptu entertainment. With a joyous grin, he danced merrily as his shadowy minions threw handfuls of confetti over him, inviting the other Seekers to come closer. “If you’re looking for fun! YOU FOUND IT! If you’re looking for NOSTALGIA! YOU. FOUND. IT!!!!” He cheered as many of the seekers walked past him.

This was going to be an awful mess to clean up, and little did the eccentric TV host know that he and his wacky cronies were going to be responsible for that at the end of the night.

Sectonia was responsible for cleaning up the place, although she delegated that task to her Antlers, only directing them instead of partaking in the cleaning action itself. She wasn’t going to sleep in an ugly building if she could help it. Once the Antlers had their jobs, she looked bored and hearing Tenna talk about entertainment decided to lazily buzz over to observe and see what was going on there.

Mokou herself had been mainly delegated with lighting the various fires that would keep the seekers warm throughout the night, additionally creating a few feathers for folks to hold onto for a nice bit of warmth should the fires go out. Her eternally bored eyes simply washed over Tenna for a moment as they shouted and gathered their onlookers… But, in a surprising twist, she actually came over to the corner where Tenna had set up, holding her hands in her pockets, “Nostalgia huh? Not sure if you can replicate what I would consider that, but I’m down for a bit of entertainment” she states as she pushes a chair out with her foot, quickly sitting down and folding one leg over the other.

Blazermate meanwhile was using her little tinderbox to light the main fire while Mokou lit everything else. She didn’t know what was so impressive about this skill, but once she lit the fireplace, some harmless fireworks went off around her and she knew she was ‘level 2 firemaking’, whatever that meant. With that done, she heard people gathering with Tenna making a big announcement and decided to fly over and see what that was all about, as no one really needed heals at the moment.

Nearby, Roxas had been busy making sure his Pokemon were all fed - a task that was getting increasingly big now that he’d acquired as many as he had. But most importantly, Scamp’s ears perked up at the sound of the gathering and he suddenly left the bowl of stew he’d whoofed down and started bounding over to satisfy his curiosity.

”Huh? What the- Scamp, where are you going?” Roxas called as he scrambled after his Boltund, not wanting Scamp to get himself into any trouble. So naturally he wound up around the camcorders and CRT alongside a few other Seekers in time to hear Tenna’s offer of “fun and nostalgia”. The Nobody didn’t have anything better to do, so he shrugged his shoulders and stuck around.

Once everybody had grouped up at the edge of the table (adorned with that awful rug), Tenna would pose happily, gleeful that there were SOME PEOPLE with a knack for fun. Oh… it was getting awfully boring. But once people had started questioning what Tenna’s plans for the evening were, he chipped up, more than eager to explain.

“Why! I’m preparing for a show! Where you lot will be my CONTESTANTS!” Oh. Well, it seemed like now they were being roped into Tenna’s plans since they had the bravery to be curious around the CRT. “You see! I can make fun anywhere, and today I have a SPECIAL program ready, just for you guys!” A gloved finger would stretch out toward the tiny crowd. Did those camcorders even work? Everything here had bad vibes, but maybe it was just the stress of being on the Midnight Walk getting to the mental fortitude of the Seekers.

“IT’S. T. V. TI-” Tenna sat close to the edge of the table, directly in the center of the spooky rug, which, upon feeling his immediate weight, would clamp around him, just as his screen turned off.

”Uh, is he ok?” Blazermate said, noting that he hadn’t taken any damage, but unsure about how he felt after trying to do something cool. Sectonia meanwhile gave a joyful cackle, she loved fools making fools of themselves for the entertainment of others.

”Beats me.” Roxas said, tilting his head. Scamp, meanwhile, leaned forward and sniffed at where Tenna was standing and gave a curious bark of his own.

Before his allies could begin to worry about his well-being, The CRT’s screen would flash back on, displaying a program of an odd character walking on a beach littered with random objects. Little white orbs could be seen appearing on the camcorders as the screen on Tenna’s face began displaying text.

“A sentimental wheel partially indulges the skeletons. The people consider with a spirit. It is a mandible amidst an offending mirror. It is a vacuum. Amidst spirit. Meanwhile, the TV becomes under another’s will. Thus, your story begins.”

Suddenly, once the small, oddly-shaped character walked over and flicked a large button on the machine below the car, Tenna’s screen would flash to static before displaying a series of mishapen sigils. Without any time to react, Tenna’s screen would begin rapidly digitizing the bodies of the Seekers in attendance, slowly teleporting them inside his screen.

”Hey, whoa, what-!” Roxas started to exclaim in startlement before his digitization cut him off. Scamp gave an alarmed bark in concern for his trainer but ended up getting digitized right along with him.

Mokou didn’t even seem to react as she was digitized, remaining in her comfortable position despite the scene unfolding before her. Whatever sound she would have made was quickly cut off as the digitization quickly dragged her into Tenna’s TV Screen.

Blazermate was more confused than anything. Not the first time shes been digitized, but why was Tenna doing this and for what reason? He was nice right? Uuh…. well they did fight the Consul that ate them that one time, was this going to be something similar? Well, they had Sectonia, so they had firepower if they needed it. The bee queen herself only stopping her laughing when she started to be digitized, also a bit mad since this just happened out of the blue.

As the Seekers finally, as if in a deep sleep, began waking up, the sound of crackling thunder in the near distance disturbing them from their unnatural hibernation. The room they found themselves in appeared to be a suite room library, where three golden cheerful statues of Tenna were erected. The five seemed to have been separated from Tenna entirely, the cheerful CRT statues behind them being the only clue that the TV Host was somewhere to be found nearby.

The room was dark, and reeked of wet carpet from years of neglect. While it certainly seemed safe, there was an odd air about the place, along with oddly shapen ghostsfilling the lightning storm outside with a constant eerie sensation of being watched.

Other than the statues, and a large array of books, there was a large door, a globe of what appeared to be a generic planet, a painting of a hat laying on the floor, along with another painting (this one rectangular) of a cello, and a fireplace, opposite parallel to the door. There was also a pile of low quality flashlights to help the seekers with visibility in the dank statue room.

Upon closer inspection, the door was locked with two unique locks, one bound by magic, and the other nonspecial, seemingly easy to lockpick to the eyes of any experienced thief. The task at hand was simple for the group, seeing as they were locked in a room with no immediate exit.

”OK, what is even going on? Did he just teleport us into a dark room? What kind of game is he playing?” Sectonia was a bit mad since this whole thing blindsided her, but she wasn’t into smashing everything just yet. She’d wait for a response or something.

”Uhh…. Looks like its just an escape room sorta deal. Although I didn’t know he could do stuff like this. He didn’t seem to be that combat capable compared to you or Ganondorf, so… I don’t think we’re in any real danger? Uh still though, very confusing. Just look around for like, keys or something to open the door. They'll be in the globe or in the painting or a book or something.” Blazermate said, having done one of these for fun before. Although without anything to Scan, she might take a bit to find anything.

“Hm, ‘escape room’... I think I heard about this kind of stuff before. Never actually went to one myself” Mokou comments, strolling through the room as an orange feather floated next to her, illuminating the area around her without the need for the flashlights nearby, “But if we’re looking for something, the best method I find is to just tear everything up. They wouldn’t leave the keys in plain sight” with that, Mokou begins doing just that, grabbing various items from the room (mainly the paintings from the walls and the rug on the floor) and casually tossing them to the side to look underneath them.

On closer inspection of the paintings, there were rectangular and oval-shaped chalk outlines on the wall adjacent, that began to fade with the test of time. A nail was smashed into the top-center area of each outline; nothing was suspended from either nail.

It didn’t take long for Mokou to connect the dots with the chalk outlines and the paintings, mainly letting out a sigh of annoyance at the prospect of doing proper physical labor for this, “Roxas, help me move these to the other wall. Put the rectangular painting with the rectangular chalk” she says, already carrying the oval painting to its designated position.

”Um… okay.” Roxas replied, moving to pick up the rectangular painting as asked. He glanced for a fraction of a second at the locks. He was pretty sure his Keyblades could open them without any trouble. But then… this was supposed to be like a game, right? He supposed it wouldn’t be as fun if he just cheated the locks open. Not after Tenna had gone to the trouble of setting this up. So he may as well stick to the rules here.

Aligning the paintings with the spots of chalk on the wall would make a series of clicking noises from within the foundation of the building. Suddenly, the fire rising from the fireplace would be quelled, giving the trapped Seekers a chance to investigate it. Looking up the fireplace’s ventilation unit revealed a large upward opening with a bright red light leading to an odd cave that formed quite a ways up. The cave was only big enough for one party member and required some agility and/or mobility to get upwards. Some rock formations protruded that could be grabbed.

”I’d rather not try to fit myself through something like this.” Sectonia said, having the mobility, but not the proper size to fit through the area.

The sight made Roxas glance between his fellow Seekers, ”Uh… looks pretty cramped up there.” He said, even as Scamp sniffed at the vent. ”I can make the climb if no else can…” He added, essentially offering to be the one who made the ascent. He assumed he was probably best suited for such a climb, given his agility and Flow Motion. But for all he knew, Blazermate might have wanted to make the ascent by simply flying up.

Looking at Sectonia who didn’t want to do anything and Roxas who was looking at her, Blazermate said. ”Yeah yeah, I’ll be right back.” and made her way upa dn through the tunnel.

Following the bright red light and entering the odd cave, it seemed to be emanating from, revealed a passageway, which opened into a cave of horrific stone faces all illuminated by an odd glowing red cube in the distance. While the vibes were certainly disturbing, there didn’t seem to be any threats lurking, so progressing through was easy for the strong-willed.

The cave seemed to wind aimlessly and nonsensically, though, and progressing towards the cube revealed a maintenance ladder leading over the next room, which appeared to be a large boiler room decorated with waterway pipelines. There was only one door in the room, which had a latch and a deadbolt that could easily be unlocked from this side of the room to allow teammates to regroup in the same room. Blazermate opened the door to let the other seekers through.

From a corner of a room under a blanket, an odd television set with four legs began to walk around aimlessly into walls and the Seekers. Its screen was turned off, although it seemed to have a power button on the backside, which was, if it could be caught. It walked around so aloof that it sometimes inadvertently avoided the grasp of those who chased it.

Sectonia, wanting this farce to either get to the point or be over, turned on the TV. Blazermate would’ve done it, but she didn’t know how CRTs worked as everything where she was from was flatscreened and needed remotes and everything. Meanwhile for Sectonia, CRTs were still in fashion in Dreamland funny enough.

Upon the power button being activated, the TV’s once staticky screen now froze, before turning off, then immediately turning on again, the two antennas suddenly appearing a lot more cartoonish. A familiar face appeared on the screen, as if suspended in animation. “IIIIME!!! Whoa, wait hold on? Where did my SWAGGER go?” Tenna resumed, immediately taking note of his odd new form.

The CRT had a lot to answer for, though it was pretty quick to notice that he was just as disoriented as the rest of the group. In his current form, he wouldn’t be able to offer support for the rest of the group.

“Well, welcome to your first mini game!” A loud crash of lightning would ominously strike as soon as he finished the sentence, an odd, old timey logo reading “Mr. (Ant)Tenna’s Marvelous Mystery Board” would appear as if they were in some twisted game show

”What is even going on? Are you even in control of your own power here?” Sectonia said, annoyed so far with the lack of clarity or entertainment as it were at the moment.

“Have to agree with the Queen here. While I appreciate the decor, no instruction on what to do is a bit annoying” Mokou herself states, her eyes scanning the room around them rather than staying on Tenna.

Tenna, understanding the confusion of the situation, nodded to the best of his near-useless form’s ability. “There’s no reason to be alarmed. My minigames are fun and harmless! Oh wait! I have an instructional video to play! Hmm…” His reassurance would’ve been more appreciated if he had explained that there was no physical threat to the Seekers, and that everything they were The screen went staticky for a moment, a spooky jingle playing.

The video seemed to demonstrate ghosts being eliminated with an offscreen light source. While there was no audio accompanying it, the text on screen explained well enough what their objective was: “Defeat the most ghosts and earn the most points! Saves are worth double!”

“Well. That's all I have. There's normally a lot more preparation time and I get to review my plans, but this caught me by surprise!” While it wasn’t immediately clear what a save entailed, the Seekers knew they would figure it out soon enough, as before they could ask, a horrifically mauled ghost of a young woman suddenly appeared from thin air as she teleported next to a generator adjacent to the maintenance ladder they had just entered. “But you have to trust me. We are not in any danger.”

Mokou glanced over at the woman who appeared next to the generator, her eyebrow rising a fraction of an inch as she took a hand to point at them, “I’m certainly not, but I doubt they would agree with that statement” she says, not doing anything more to engage with the ghost in question.

The ghost seemed to eye the seekers for a moment, as if eyeing their motives for a second, before returning her gaze to the generator, slashing her rusted weapon widely at the machine, before disappearing again. The lights shut off immediately, only the faint light of their flashlights, Tenna’s screen, and Mokou’s feathers serving as sources. Sinister laughter filled the room as a loud clatter in the darkness revealed an unscrewed maintenance ladder, immediately followed by the door Blazermate had just unlocked, slamming behind them.

Tenna’s screen now had a 2-minute timer on its display, along with miniature icons sharing the tallies of each Seeker present. “GOOOO!!” Tenna shouted, initiating the count of the time. Ghastly voices began appearing in the room around them, an odd purple ghost appearing behind Roxas, its long tongue flailing in an attempt to make a scary face.

Of course, it didn’t exactly account for Scamp’s presence. The Boltund had been sniffing around the room suspiciously ever since they got there, and the moment the purple ghost appeared he barked a warning at Roxas who turned around and fired a mostly-harmless shot from his RockGun at the ghost. ”Thanks, Scamp.” The Nobody told his Pokemon gratefully. Of course, he wasn’t sure the RockGun would be particularly effective here. Based on the video, he probably needed some kind of light source… then it hit him.

Roxas fished around in his backpack and found the butterfly lamp he had found while scouting with Heismay earlier that day. Maybe that would do the trick? The ghost became frightened by the swinging lamp, the light revealing its monster-like face, before it let out a cry and disappeared. On Tenna’s screen, the miniature icon of Roxas would increase by one point.

The phoenix herself didn’t move for a moment. Then her hand suddenly snapped out as a yellow ghost appeared on her left, intending to scare the white haired girl… Only to have a flash of harmless but blinding fire thrust into their face, sending them screeching and flying away with a hand over their eyes “One. You all better start working, I don’t lose when I’m challenged” she says, already walking forward, the feather that floated next to her glowing brighter as it helped her hunt down the ghosts that were now in the room.

Suddenly, the room began filling with ghosts of various shapes and sizes, most keeping a cartoonish, or odd look. They hid amongst the dark in each corner of the circular room. It wouldn’t be difficult to claim one and capture a bunch of ghosts with one flash of light from any of the Seekers' sources they held onto.

Suddenly, Tenna’s 4 legged form began ascending randomly, something clearly manipulating him to float. “Woah! Who turned OFF the gravity!?”

A translucent purple ghost would reveal itself to the seekers, lifting Tenna in his oversized arms. The ghost cackled menacingly before attempting to make out of the room with Tenna in his hands.

He wouldn’t get far. Roxas vanished from sight only to teleport into the ghost's path and tag him with his StepSword. Probably not that harmful to a ghost, but maybe enough to free Tenna from its grip. Of course, Roxas also set about aiming the lantern’s light at the ghost as well, since by now he knew that that was the surefire way to defeat one and earn a point. ”Ready to do some herding, Scamp?” He then asked, eliciting a bark from the Boltund. Roxas’ strategy became abundantly clear: utilize his Pokemon’s nose to sniff out hiding ghosts and to help herd into the path of Roxas’ lantern light.

The ghost kidnapping Tenna would seem surprised at the light after being tagged, slinking away into the wall. Tenna’s screen would play a cheerful fanfare upon his safe return! The number next to Roxas’ name would increase by two points, putting him in the lead at three. The Boltund directed Roxas to the northwest corner, where two distinct laughs could be made out among the darkness.

The last three corners of the room hid more ghosts, if Roxas was fast enough, he could possibly get the ghosts in his current corner, plus another if he could beat his allies to the punch.

Well, that would be until Sectonia understood the goal and started throwing her multiplying projectiles around, filling the area with vaguely homing random split projectiles flying all around, bouncing off the walls, aiming for the ghosts as they passed by, and just causing the general chaos she caused on a battlefield in a localized area. Even her smaller rings of light were only barely smaller than Blazermate, and being fired in triplicate made them much more difficult to deal with. Add on a rain of swords in one area and well…. Wait, it was clear that Tenna hadn’t actually seen her unleash her rain of projectiles yet has he? She had been more playing minion master when fighting with him before.

Sectonia, unleashing a hellfire of light projectiles, was able to hit ghosts in half the room, specifically four, and blind the rest for the duration of the round. The timer on Tenna’s screen face was at the minute mark, which meant the Seekers were running out of time to secure more points. The number next to the tiny icon of Sectonia chimed four times and rallied her total to four. She was in the lead, just barely one point ahead of Roxas, while Mokou remained at one.

Blazermate meanwhile really didn’t have all that much she could do. Sure she could send Armstrong at a spirit or summon her engineer to make an automated sentry gun that’d get rid of any spirits that got close, but without anyone getting injured nor kritz being useful in a game like this, most of her kit wasn’t all that useful here.

The clock was running out. Only one corner remained for the Seekers to clear, any light source viable to reveal however many ghosts remained in the ominous game. While Tenna’s face blinked to the last half-minute of time, the disfigured ghost lady would appear behind him, shrieking as she wrapped her sliced arms around the small TV, beginning to carry him away. Tenna’s screen displayed a video of somebody blinding the ghost lady with a flashlight in the eyes, forcing her to drop the victim she was carrying away. Maybe the video was a hint to release Tenna from her grasp, the final corner still cackling with undead life.

But before the disfigured woman could make off with the television set that made up Tenna’s current body, an alarm would play from the screen, directing the Seeker’s attention to him.

The woman set the CRT man down, as if obeying a direct command from him. The screen showed the miniature version of Sectonia with a first-place icon next to her name. After a victory tune accompanying a short results screen finished playing, the Seekers would be able to see where they placed, along with possible rewards.

Results Screen

1st - Sectonia: 4 points REWARD: S Rank
2nd - Roxas: 3 points REWARD: A Rank
3rd - Mokou - 1 point REWARD: B Rank
4th - Blazermate - 0 points REWARD: C Rank

While at first glance it was unclear what the possible rewards and their associated ranks would grant the group members, that would need to be something they found out later, because a couple of minutes after the screen played, the Seekers would begin to digitize again, rapidly materializing from Tenna’s screen back into the real world.

Tenna blinked at them, dazed, the rug no longer clung around him, and the camcorders now behaved as intended. Rather than trying to play off what happened as another part of the game, Tenna explained to the Seekers, who were trapped inside his screen that the rug which had clamped around him forced him into the minigame without any offering of an explanation of what they were in for, and that the ranks would be important for the next time in the minigame’s attendance.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Level 9 - EXP 17/90
The Midnight Walk - Abandoned Lodge
Word Count:5041 +8EXP

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Putting Aside Differences

Featuring Edward
Word Count: 5041

Coming to terms with his new powers, Ramattra had made himself quite a considerable monster to achieve new strength. This had been a consequence he accepted since Edward had first explained fusion to him, though, as he stared at his missing left appendage, only then did he realize the repercussions of which Edward had warned him. While he did not regret his choice to accept the Democrawler or the Alchemist Boxer’s fusion, there was an obvious toll it had begun to take on him; his body was weak from the nearly dozen doses of the Alchemist Cocktail he had administered to his body throughout the course of the day, and his entire left arm was missing from his body, and his right arm weilded both the heavy Enchanted Buckler and his Nanite Staff. Not to mention, he now had three spider-like appendages for legs.

During the course of the night, Ramattra had worked with Sandaphlon to establish a comm link between the two, so that if he and the Archangel were out of range of one another, they would still have a line of communication.

And although he was tired, Ramattra did not want to waste the little amount of energy he had left before retiring for the evening. Throughout the night, Ramattra found himself alone in the woods around the housing, destroying trees with the Democrawler’s Scimitar into clumsily chopped logs. The Omnic grew frustrated with his lack of progress in precision with the new tool he acquired by fusing with the Democrawler. If Ramattra had learned to properly use the blade most effectively, he could serve another role to the group. He was self-aware enough to recognize the change the fusion made to his aggression levels, deciding to return to the lodge with his poorly dismembered logs from a further part of the woods.

The Omnic had chosen to take refuge in one of the smaller rooms available in the abandoned lodge, having taken quite the beating throughout their route out of Spire 04. While he wasn’t keen on having company in moments of solitude, the Omnic had recalled Edward mentioning speaking with him to Sandaphlon. After meditating on his thoughts of the events that transpired during the day, Ramattra stood up and abandoned the room he used, taking note of the odd dog that was following Heismay around. “Odd, that it seems to grow aggressive when you stop giving it attention.” He spoke behind Edward, resting his metallic hand on the commander’s shoulder, knowing he would be more than alert not to be startled by Ramattra’s sudden approach. His appearance with the Democrawler was immediately apparent; more than half his entire body was now modified by the fusion spirit.

The man, whose vision was presently split among just under 40 drones scattered around the forests (and whose stomach was carefully digesting giant spider leg after the previous meal went down… poorly) was a little less alert than the Omnic had assumed, but a wide eyed blink and a littoral ruffling of feathers was the only indication he gave of this. The traffickrab sat on the sofa beside him meanwhile very much ducked under its cone in surprise. It was still getting used to all the people its enlightener traveled with, especially with how they kept changing shape.

”Ah, Ramattra, good evening. Have you finished practicing with your new... adjustments?” the man with too many eyes asked as he stood and turned to face the machine man who, he speculated, was going to have issues using typical furniture designs due to his new lower limb arrangement.

He hesitantly pet the top of the traffickrab’s cone once he was up, not entirely sure if that would be reassuring or not, and then a moment later gave the (clearly a jealous) dog some as well.

The Omnic sighed, standing on his tripod legs as he clattered gently into the most comfortable sitting position on the floor. “Without much progress, but yes. I do not intend to be as unwieldy with my new strength as that monster was.” One of the benefits of his robotic form was his ability to modify his body later down the line. “Though I do not expect my lack of an arm to cause me trouble for the long term, I really would like to discuss with somebody whether a replacement is possible or not.” There was a lot to consider; if he accepted a new arm, it would not be compatible with his Nemesis form- If he fused with another enemy to gain a second arm, there would be different repercussions to face- and obviously, if he left his arm as is, he would need to learn how to fight with one arm.

Resting his staff on the ground, the Omnic, normally steeled and collected, seemed worn. It was true that his battle prowess was not one to be underestimated, but after a long day of trekking through an infested facility, there was little energy left in his reserves. The Omnic was also more of a strategist than a fighter; his leadership of Null Sector placed him in various “diplomatic” roles rather than directly fighting. “It seems I may have taken off a little more than I can chew!” The Omnic wasn’t known to be humorous towards those he didn’t hold in decent regard, so on that front, there was some level of mutual respect between the tacticians.

Edward looked briefly confused, then gave a short laugh as he got the play on words.

He then replied with ”Perhaps, though if it is a stable problem it could very well be addressable like you suggest. I believe we may even have parts in the armory for such a replacement? Or simply removing one from one of the winged puppets that have been stored away” while opening up an armory screen and locating the Legion Plug which he had been referencing, along with the two copies of the arch queen’s puppet they had acquired.

The Omnic raised his hand to the commander, refusing his suggestion from the screen. “While the arms of those puppets may work if integrated with my cybernetics, their size would impede my combat ability. Though, that odd mechanism may prove useful if we find somebody who can make sense of the amalgamation that is my body now.” He gestured to his disfigured form. While the Omnic was still mostly machine, most of his body was now comprised of side effects of fusion. This was not where he was planning to end his alterations either, and Edward knew that. “Perhaps, however, Sandaphlon could help me pilot one of those puppet shells. I used to command an army of Omnics. Maybe I could command machines from this world as well.”

”It may be possible, though I believe there is something of a magical element to the puppets that might get in the way of that. I got a good look at the actual mechanisms involved, but the interstices of the power source eluded me. Sandaphlon, I believe, had the research notes on the topic, and thus would indeed be the right person to go to when it comes to finding out if this is possible” Edward replied/agreed, before also suggesting ”As for the amalgamation, perhaps Ganondorf could be of help? I am not quite sure of the extent of the abilities he gained from absorbing the guardian of the dead zone, but its underlings also had a tendency to be both flesh and steel much like the Naytiba. He may have gained some insight as a result”

The Omnic nodded, taking mental note to later discuss these matters with Sandaphlon and Ganondorf. If he would be able to control even one of the puppets from Krat Zoo, the Omnic would very well be able to rebuild the foundation of Null Sector in Galeem’s world. But these were just thoughts for later. Ramattra returned his attention to the commander.

“Well, I suppose it would be best to gain a better foothold of what my ability to command in this world is. There’s no chance we’ll defeat any guardian without a small army behind us.” The amount of minions that White Team was now able to produce had increased since Ramattra and Tenna had joined their ranks, and with the inevitable battle against this region’s guardian getting closer with each passing day, the additional numbers would surely prove to be beneficial.

“Ah. But I’m getting ahead of myself. There was something I was meaning to speak to you about.” The Omnic’s stone gaze was fixated on Edward, who had been listening to his fellow tactician’s monologuing. Ramattra never hated humans, but often found it easier to befriend humans who proved themselves valuable assets to a greater cause. “You spoke of enchantments to me once when we spoke prior. Tell me, how does a human cast an enchantment in your world?”

”Same as anyone else, which is to say myriad of ways” Edward replied with a little bit of a grin at the trick answer, before answering more seriously ”Which is to say that there are numerous magical traditions that have been invented independently over the years. Still, there is a common baseline, or so it seems, likely drawn from the traditions of the beings who forged the worlds in the first place. Giants, dragons, acheons, and so on”

”As such, all magic is drawn from six comic forces which come in three sets of opposing pairs. Chaos and order. Nature and Shadow. Materium and Asteral. At a baseline, magic taps into one or more of these forces, draws out lesser aspects (such as say, fire from chaos) and then hammers them into a specific mold” he explained, ”Mana is then poured into that mold, taking on the desired shape while also granting fuel to sustain the shape, which would collapse without it”

As he explained, Edward demonstrated, retrieving the tome of pyromancy and drawing the runes on the page into the air as a demonstration. ”It should be noted that the ‘shapes’ are something of a metaphor. Hence the chanting you may have heard me do while casting these spells. The shape is more of an idea that we form with words, written or spoken, as well as intent. This can be formalised to a significant extent, but a certain amount of flair and force of will is still required”

The Omnic raised a hand. He thinks he understands, there was plenty of fiction in his world that described worlds similar. “Come with me outside and demonstrate. You can make allies stronger yes?” Ramattra stood from the ground, beckoning the commander to follow him as the two stepped outside. “And bring your… erm. Friends?” He didn’t quite know what to call Edward’s subjects of command. The world was still very new to him, and from his perspective they were simply monsters and minions from other worlds.

As it turned out, many of the creatures under Edward’s command were currently outside already, the spacious lodge not quite spacious enough to host more than a dozen hulking hybrids. Fortunately the Sheildrixdes and Snoruyo, with their predominantly ice type creature sourced parts, where perfectly at home out there, and were busy grazing away on the foliage.

The Traffikrab was quite comfortable where it was, thank you, and did not dain to join them.

As Edward followed Ramattra’s lead outside, he jutted his staff outward, before turning it sideways, offering the weapon to his ally. with the way the Omnic puppy guarded his belongings that they held great value to him, so this gesture was not to be taken lightly. “In my world, technology is where we flourish. Nanites, which I’ve explained before, are the technology that acts as a conduit in which I create barriers, transform my body at instant speed.” He hoped Edward was able to follow his explanation. There wasn’t a hint of demeaning tone in Ramattra’s voice. He was explaining this to Edward as an equal.

“Omnics are not the only people in my world who can utilize their ability. Humans use them for medical purposes, for cybernetics, for research and development.” By now, Ramattra’s motives for talking to Edward were clear. He wanted to teach the commander how to control nanites.

”I had indeed been wondering about those” Edward said, having graciously accepted the staff and now trying to be as courteous as possible while also indulging his curiosity, carefully turning the weapon over while inspecting it with a clinical eye.

”they appear to be similar to magic in appearance, in a way, yet as I understand it you are using an entirely technological basis for the ability?”

Suddenly, after a couple seconds of inspecting the staff, the purple aura radiating where the large orb was suspended in mid air disappeared, the ball and small fragments of its cracks tinkling sadly to the snow. For a moment, it almost seemed like Edward had broken the staff, as the silence between the Omnic and human extended.

Ramattra would burst into boisterous laughter, hoping that the expected result did not frighten the commander. “Unfortunately, one of the things about being human is that your body is not a machine, and cannot naturally harness Nanites. That staff was given to me by the monk Mondata, the late master of my monastery.” There seemed to be a hinge of sorrow in his voice explaining this, the staff’s intricate technology mixed with motifs of monk martial arts in its design. This was intended to be a multi-use weapon, for masters of its niche uses.

“Now, you’ve seen the way I wield my staff, correct? You’re a commander, so I’m sure you’re familiar with some martial arts stances. Just try your best. Aim for any target in these woods, like erm. A tree.”

”Let’s see” Edward said as he moved the staff to a one handed grip, then shifted the grip as he moved it out of the sort of halfway up the shaft grip used for magic staves, and to an imitation of Ramattra’s own grip up near the head of it. A moment after that he shifted the grip again, holding the weapon like a spear tilted upwards to meet the charge of a mounted foe. Holding it like this and then aiming the opening of the C shaped head rather than the nonexistent tip of the weapon took a moment for him to adjust too, but soon enough he had the foliage in his sights.

”There. Now. The activation method?”

Ramattra’s eyes turned off for a moment, as if in deep focus. He raised a open hand, his palm facing towards Edward as the purple energy surged around his hand. The Orb of Destruction began levitating and rotating in its regular position once again, suspended in the middle of the staff.

The staff began vibrating violently, as if being powered by bunch of moving parts within the confines of the weapon. From the tip Edward had worked diligently to focus sights on erupted a stream of purple energy, tiny particles and fragments launching at bullet-like speed. The wood of the tree began to splinter as Ramattra charged his staff manually from a distance.

That was certainly a task, the weapon being rather unorthodox in its construction after all. No actual sights to be seen. Once he stopped trying to aim the staff, and instead focused on aiming the stream, that was when he got control of the weapon, and began boring into the wood of the unfortunate target tree. Once he had a sense of that, he tried to get a sense of what Ramattra was doing to charge the staff. It was, he assumed, simply a form of energy, and turning mana into energy was, ultimately, one of the simplest magical tricks there was.

The Omnic ended the projection of nanites from his hand into his staff, the orb taking its stationary position in the snow once again. Ramattra walked up to Edward, his palm extended open, requesting his staff back. “While you are not a machine, you can use tools, cybernetics, or tinkering as a conduit for nanites, and delegate them with a variety of purposes. It wouldn’t take us long to create something like that, if you have anything that can ‘cast’ or shoot.” He recalled his conversation with Edward about enchantments. Maybe there was some way to blend high tech with magic.

Edward carefully handed the staff back with a nod of thanks, and then withdrew his magelock pistol from its holster, moving to hold it by the barrel as he explained ”This, in a sense, does both. One set of spells generates the round of this pistol, and then another set is used in place of gunpowder to propel it forwards. Hence why you will have never seen me reload this weapon, nor the rifle at my hip” he patted the Smiting Bishop presently store in a heavily modified quiver at his side.

The Omnic nodded in fascination, examining the weapon Edward held out for him to inspect. While the weaponry was archaic in comparison to the firearms used in his world, the ability to cast with the weapon meant, perhaps, that it could be modified to cast a spell that used nanites as a power source. It would be impossible to reprogram his own nanites to serve a specific purpose without the guidance of an expert in Omnic robotics, but Ramattra’s ability to withstand damage was already strong enough.

“I believe I can imbue your weapon with nanites, though there is a high likelihood it may corrupt it with some unknown power since we are fusing magic and technology from two different worlds.” His gaze returned back up at Edward, looking for his permission to tamper with his firearms. “Not that the results would be bad, just… probably something you wouldn’t be used to.”

The man raised an eyebrow at this. To him, the idea that mundane technology could produce unexpected results was strange indeed. These nanites were sounding more and more like magic as he learned more about them. But then, maybe that was a good thing, and the principles for controlling magic could be applied to these nanites to control them too.

There was, ultimately, only one way to find out, and that was to gather more empyricial data. As such, after that moment of thought, Edward offered the Omnic the magelock pistol, saying ”It’s lacking in additional enchantments, so it will be relatively straight forward to produce a replacement” as he did so, despite the fact that he’d probably not be able to do so till he had access to the avenger again.

Rammatra received the weapon carefully, his large hand almost engulfing the weapon in his grip. The Omnic looked back at Edward, as if checking one last time if this decision was okay. Fortunately for Edward, nanites being entirely technological meant their abilities always had a scientific basis, and could be separated and combined with magical abilities without any interference; at least that was the theory Ramattra had been working on, seeing other Seekers blend abilities from other worlds.

Clutching the Magelock tightly in his hand, a strong purple energy crackled from Ramattra’s hand, more intense than any ability he had used in combat, his blank robotic face directing every single ounce of focus to transform Edward’s weapon. A couple of seconds passed before Ramattra released his tight grip on the pistol, not yet unveiling the creation. Slowly, the Omnic held out his hand to return the weapon, no immediate changes present.

Suddenly, as Edward retrieved his weapon, as if from thin air, a thick black wire began rapidly materializing around a purple energy, where a magazine would go if the weapon took ammunition. Completing its transformation, not much seemed to change about the weapon, other than the wire, and the gentle vibrations purring inside the weapon, almost as if it were alive. Nanites were capable of self-replication when necessary, so “reloading” them would never be an issue. “And now, there are billions of microscopic machines within your firearm.” His voice hinted at the untested waters ahead of them. Ramattra had no idea what would happen if Edward tried to cast a spell with his modified weapon equipped.

The Dreadnaught carefully turned the weapon this way and that, before raising it and aiming it at the tree, only to pause halfway through pulling the trigger.

”On second thoughts…”

About three minutes later, both mage and machine were hunkered down a safe distance from a squad of copper golems. At Edward’s direct command, one of these released one hand from its spear grip, crouched down, and retrieved the nanite-infused magelock pistol. It then raised it, aimed (poorly) at the test tree, and squeezed the trigger. Now, with a basic understanding of nanites, Edward would be able to spectate the results of his weapon safely to gain a better understanding of its new changes.

A single firing of the weapon showed that it, for the most part, behaved normally, propelling a single projectile, which now radiated with ominous energy. One notable change now was that the weapon also fired a small spread of nanites, which could make for useful crowd control, but held its usual precision as a pistol. The golem also missed the tree completely in the process. “How interesting! Not too different, at least.”

”Fascinating. But why the magazine like structure?” Edward asked, as he raised it up to the Golem’s monocular eye to inspect now that the weapon had been discharged.

“Well, I assume it’s some integrated feeding mechanism for the nanites, since your weapon lacks any proper way to store and utilize them. It may sound complex from a world-view like yours, but I distributed nanites from my body to reconfigure your weapon, similar to how they allow me to reconfigure into Nemesis mode. Nanites are almost like single-celled organisms, in a way. They have one purpose: they carry it out, then reproduce through energy. There is no lifecycle, however, because they are machines without will.” Ramattra seemed frustrated at the end, as if remembering his world where Omnics were still treated without will as well.

The lengthy explanation was necessary to further Edward’s understanding of Nanites. “Now. This is the experiment I wanted to get to. Spells in your world, to what extent are their utility?” He inquired, wondering if there could be any way to integrate Nanites into spells and enchantments as well.

”You’ll need to explain what a ‘single-celled’ organism is some time, but I think I get the rest of the picture” Edward replied, all the magic in his world having not yet, it seemed, produced an equivalent to the microscope. Despite this he then went on to claim that the extent of magic’s utility was ”theoretically limitless”

”That said, it is mostly restricted by mana requirements, as these mana fuel cells I use can only do so much. With access to enough crystalised mana, a well constructed wizard’s tower and the right recorded wisdom a mage could, say, transform this snowy forest into a desert, freeze time in a small area or resurrect all the fallen on a battlefield”

Ramattra stood silent in wonder. Feats like that were only possible in worlds of fiction. In his world, they had only scratched the surface of time manipulation before deeming it too dangerous. Even having fought alongside magic-users, it all still felt like fantasy. “Ha! Maybe I could learn magic while I’m trapped here.” He half-joked, knowing it would be impossible to learn magic without fusion, or some other influence in this world giving him the ability to.

Edward was of the opinion that this would be entirely possible, if not for the likely rather short timeframe of the ongoing campaign. Within the month they’d have won or lost it, he suspected, and that was hardly enough time to learn more than the very basics.

“Now, nanites are also capable of healing, creating barriers, and acting as ammunition, like you saw with your pistol. All of the things you’ve seen me do on the battlefield are because of them. If you could, say, cast a spell, or what-have-it that works, that makes us stronger? Like a rally?”

”Entierly possible, yes, though I do not have such a spell in my repertoire at the moment” Edward replied, before thinking for a few moments and saying ”I believe the Tome of Rock had one that would briefly give a squad stone skin, for example”

Ramattra turned to Edward, hoping the commander was following his chain of thinking. “Would your pistol, now that it is powered by my world’s technology, be able to use nanites as a source for spells like that?” The anticipation was killing the normally stoic Omnic. Despite his collected demeanor, wondering how technology would work as a magic source was simply impossible in his world.

”I… Hmmm... hmmmm” Edward replied, before moving to retrieve the weapon and inspect it with his own eyes. He turned it this way and that, before forming a spell circle around the nanite clip which weakly glowed several colors till a yellow one seemed to agitate the nanites. Then he added more, one every inch, before forming another set around the chamber of the gun itself.

Both of these began to spin rapidly as energy was mana and information was pumped into the nanites, which rapidly forged a round into the magazine, which upon being completed was teleported into the gun itself.

After Edward discharged the weapon, the nanites rapidly built a replacement round, far faster than the weapon itself did, which Edward fired again, and again, weapon heating up until it singed the man’s hand.

He dropped it into the snow, shaking the injured hand, only to hold it up in amazement as nanites swirled around his palm and fingers, the tiny machines mending the light injury in mere moments.

”Fascinating. I wonder if…” he began, before forming a magic circle in his palm and requesting Rammeta fill it with nanites.

The Omnic would’ve raised a brow at the man before realizing what he was requesting. Resuming the stance he had taken prior, he focused nanites into the palm of Edward’s hand, allowing the Commander a surplus of nanites that he could use with magic. This time, however, Ramattra used his staff, giving a more precise stream of nanites into the magic circle.

The circle filled with the purple technological haze, which was in turn filled with mana and data. The swarm multiplied, strained against the binding circle, and then finally burst outwards, washing over the golems, Edward, and Ramattra with an impossible spell that granted them enhanced abilities. The Omnic could feel the unstable energy strengthen him, mending some of the wounds he earned from the journey behind them. “I believe we may have discovered something.” The Omnic looked at his hands as he focused nanites into the radius of the spell, expending nanites to strengthen its effects, immediately allowing Edward to fire more projectiles without reloading.

Tag Team: FLESH, STEEL, AND GUN-POWER

Ramattra and Edward Rapport C Rank Level Up Tag Team -
FLESH, STEEL, AND GUN-POWER -
All allies in combat are impowered by a commanding shout which imbues them with a nanite technology-fused enchantment. Nanites empower allies projectile-based weapons for 10 seconds, giving them unlimited artificial ammunition. In addition, robotic and humanoid allies feel inspired by the strength of the shout, giving them a passive 2.5% health regen over the course of the enchantment separate from other allies every second. Ramattra expends nanites for this tag team ability, forcing it into a 3 minute cooldown.

For Edward

Ramattra and Edward Rapport B Rank Level Up Skill Share -
Nanite Mastery - Edward, thanks to the modifications made to his Magelock Pistol, now has an amateur understanding and control over nanites, a powerful Technology from Ramattra’s world. Being a human, Edward must use tools or cybernetics to utilize their power effectively.

”It could likely do with some refinement, but it truly is remarkable” Edward said, while taking in their surroundings. The forest had taken quite the beating between the gunshots and Ramattra’s early sword work. The latter could do with some refinement as well, truth be told, and the process of refining it would be far less disruptive to those trying to rest inside than continued firearm discharges.

As such he holstered his pistol, and then half drew his Rainfall katana while offering ”Would you be inclined to practice your swordsmanship again? I might be able to give you some pointers. It's the least I could do after all you’ve taught me”

The Omnic chuckled heartily at Edward’s offer. “Some light sparring ought to get me the basics in, at the very least.” Ramattra reached into the cavity in his chest, revealing the long scimitar from within his own body. He challenged his blade at the commander, ready to follow his lead and learn how to best utilize the Democrawler’s blade. “It’s a little unwieldy, on top of unsightly; however, I do not plan to waste my fusion.”

After that, Edward and Ramattra had a couple of rounds of friendly spars, with Edward giving tips and tricks on wielding a blade shaped like a scimitar. Through these casual fights, Ramattra was able to gain a better hold on using his weapon and planned to use it in the coming battles to improve.

For Ramattra

Ramattra and Edward Rapport B Rank Level Up Skill Share -
Martial Expertise - Through friendly training, Ramattra has the foundation of what made Edward a skilled combatant, and has since learned to be more adaptable with different kinds of equipment.