Yankee

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

Word Count: 2259 (+3 exp)
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 273/80
_{Wednesday Morning.}
Location: Esaka, Forbidden Kingdom

Having been teleported quite a few times by a variety of means, Pit could tell that despite the new surroundings he hadn't actually gone anywhere. He and his opponent, the warrior goddess called Athena, must still be within the dojo, even if it seemed like the area was now a wide stone platform with matching carved pillars circling the edge, forming an amphitheatre in which only the two combatants squared off against each other.

Athena twirled her spear in hand and then slammed the butt of it down onto the stone floor. Pit summoned his bow to his hand at the same time that Athena thrust her shielded arm out towards the angel to declare the start of the battle. "Prepare yourself, servant of light!"

A self assured smile was on Pit's face as he separated the weapon into halves and kicked things off with a flourish. "Let's go!"

Pit dashed towards Athena, and she let him come. Utilizing the longer reach of her own weapon she struck out as soon as he was within her range, looking to catch the angel with a series of powerful forward jabs. It was easy to see coming, though the first attempt at dodging made it clear to Pit that this arena, illusory or not, was narrower than it appeared. That was fine, though - he could fight like this just fine! Avoiding the spear, Pit leapt up and over a sweep aimed at his legs and brought his swords down in an overhead chop. Athena's shield was there to block the blow almost instantly, and the clash ended in a stand off before the two went at it once more.

Not long at all after the trial began, Pit felt a much more preferable divine power reach out to him as Palutena's remote viewing fell over the dojo as a whole. She looked in on both of the Seekers' matches with keen interest, but unsurprisingly her attention was more focused on her ward's battle.

It's been a while since you've done a divine trial, hasn't it, Pit?

Yeah, besides the work you give me! He responded, ducking under a high, quick jab from his opponent's spear. Of course he was just joking around, as he was happy to do anything his own goddess asked of him. Palutena chuckled.

Looks like this time you're facing Athena. She's a famous and powerful figure in her home land. Most often she takes a guiding role, but it looks like this one's decided to fight.

If she's more of a backseat driver I should try and overwhelm her with my battle experience!

He'd already been on the offensive, but at that revelation Pit ramped up his attacks. He threw himself at Athena again and again, a flurry of blue and gold blades that glanced off of the goddess' shield or armor, eventually breaking through little by little and cutting into the woman herself. At least until she began to get a feel for the angel's patterns, and with a grunt shifted her stance and caught the next swipe in a perfectly timed block. Her body flashed for just a moment, less than a second, and she suffered no damage whatsoever even to her equipment. Then she did it again. And again, until even Pit realized that strategy wasn't working. He parried her next strike and took the opportunity to hop backward and rethink his plan.

Not so easy it seems. Her godly guarding -which I think is more often called 'perfect guarding' around here- will be a challenge to get through. Speaking of that face on her shield looks awfully familiar doesn't it?

Uh, yeah! It's Medusa! I was wondering about that! Do you think she found her way into different worlds, or that there's more than one of her? I don't know which is worse!

Either way is a bit concerning. Let me check my encyclopedia...

While Palutena's attention faded slightly, Pit's was increasingly focused, especially when Athena launched her shield right at him. His eyes widened and he raised his swords to block, and though the shield crashed into them without touching Pit himself he could feel the sting of the impact. What was that called? Chip damage, or something like that? The shield bounced back onto Athena's arm and she rushed forward with her spear leading her charge.

Ooh, here it is. Some trivia won't distract you, will it Pit?

She'd returned when the two combatants were in the midst of trading blows, locked in an awkward melee. Athena's apparent strategy was a traditional, straight forward battle - whittle down her opponent's health until they simply could no longer stand. Pit fended off the spear as best he could while trying to get in closer. He just needed to down Athena for three seconds, so if he could get in one good knock down...!

Maybe- he started thinking back to Palutena, catching the tip of Athena's spear on the flat of one of his swords and swiping the other up to knock the weapon away. -but I feel like- As he moved in the face of Medusa came right for him, a shield bash that he took to the chest and forced him back to square one, contending with the spear again. -you'll tell me anyway!

Only because I know you're curious! Athena and her Medusa's stories are tightly woven. In her world, Athena sponsors a young hero to slay Medusa, a monster of her own creation. During his journey the hero obtains divine treasures and, with Athena's guidance, ultimately triumphs over Medusa. At least it's good to know she's thwarted in every world.

Pit managed to catch Athena off guard with a well timed quick summon of his own shields, the orbitars producing a vibrantly colored barrier that completely deflected the goddess' spear. The angel sprang forward, twisting his blades into a Spiral Sword technique and cutting into Athena's exposed form. It was a decent strike, enough to make the goddess stumble back, but she recovered quickly.

"Not good enough," she told Pit, swiftly backing up and sweeping her spear in a wide arc strong enough to send a wave of energy sailing towards her opponent. Undeterred, Pit gave chase. He slid beneath the spear wave and was back on his feet, and in Athena's space, right after.

I dunno why, but I kinda think I've heard that story somewhere before.

Really? Doesn't ring a bell for me.

It seemed that the internal conversation with Palutena really was distracting Pit, as he failed to notice that he'd been baited into his current position. He didn't have the benefit of any kind of meter, but Athena did - and with her Divine Power Gauge full she used her Warrior's Faith. Energy swirled around her limbs and body, increasing her strength. She knelt down and then swiftly brought her shield arm up into Pit, breaking through his hasty guard and launching him up. From there she flipped the grip on her spear, holding it like she was going to throw it like a javelin, and stabbed out at the angel in order to bring him forcibly back down to the ground.

Ugh! I forgot how strong those meter moves can be! Lady Palutena, can you give me a super meter too?

It would be pretty fitting while you're in the city of fighting. Hmmm, I'll think about it.

For the most part Athena's plan worked, but Pit was determined not to let his back hit the floor even once during this trial. He splayed his wings out, and just before impact he twisted, pressing his palm to the ground and flipping up onto his feet once more. Athena narrowed her eyes at Pit, appraising the maneuver, while he shot a cheeky grin at her.

"I've got my own techniques I've learned! That one's a tech!" he said. "And this one's...!" He slammed the hilts of his swords together, reassembling the bow once more and leaping straight at Athena. He spun the bladed bow in a sharp windmill in front of him, making Athena hesitate momentarily as she thought on whether to block, attempt to dodge, or strike out to interrupt his attack. She decided on blocked, and as the bow sliced into the gilded image of Medusa Pit used his momentum to push himself up and sail over her head, landing right behind Athena. "A cross up!"

Athena spun around, under the assumption that Pit would try and put at least a little space between them to begin his next attack and hoping to use the reach of her spear to whack Pit with the either the shaft or head as he moved. She was still working with the very last of her divine power up, so any successful hit from her was sure to hurt. However, Pit did not move. Instead he instantly summoned his orbitars again, and spear and shield collided. In the short moment that Athena recovered, Pit's free hand shot out and took hold of her arm. "And a shield grab!"

He yanked the goddess forward and then slammed her into the ground. Her chin collided painfully with the stone and her breath was very nearly knocked from her body. She's down! Now I have to keep her down for three seconds!

It was easier said than done, as in the heat of battle three seconds could almost feel like three minutes or longer. There was no way Pit was going to fail this trial though. He slashed at the goddess' back to complete his throw, keeping the pressure on while Athena attempted to get to her feet. She managed to roll over onto her back, putting her shield between her and Pit's blade. She could probably overpower him and rise at any time - she was a goddess after all. But she was in a low ranked dojo, with surprisingly mundane power showed off so far. She could be holding back, or... she could actually be pinned down by Pit's sword. A memory started to bubble up in Pit's mind, causing him to hastily disengage and hop backward once, twice, three times, away from Athena.

She rose, elegantly despite the situation she'd been in. Pit lifted his weapon in preparation to continue the fight, but Athena shook her head at him. "Enough."

"Oh." He blinked and lowered the bow, confused for just a moment. "Oh! Was that three seconds? Did I pass?"

He hadn't had a doubt that he would succeed, but it was nice to hear the confirmation from Athena as she let out an amused sigh. "You did. You fought well."

The arena shifted around them, fading back into the dojo's interior. All of the spectators reappeared too, and both Amaterasus were there, notably not battling each other. "Your companion has passed her trial as well."

"I knew she would!" Pit said, extending the same confidence he had in himself to his friends, of which he now counted Amaterasu among.

Pit smiled brightly at the wolf goddess, and at Sakura who'd stuck around to watch the whole thing. With the trials over with, they'd joined a dojo! Now all that was left was to sign up for a tournament and meet back up with everyone else! Sensing the boy's eagerness to get going, Zeus strolled over to give Pit a hearty slap on the back while Cupid made the rounds a second time to heal up the fighters. "Flying colors indeed, lad! We're happy to have both you and Amatera-two as part of Fight of Gods!"

Zeus then peered over at Sakura just in case the rousing matches actually did happen to make her consider swapping dojos. For Pit's part, after recovering from the good-natured smack and snorting a laugh at Amaterasu's new nickname he was already making his way back toward the door.

"Thanks! Glad to be part of it, I guess!" His gaze flicked to Athena, giving her a nod. "Now we've gotta go get registered!"

Sakura would probably be able to lead them towards the registration area, but even if she didn't know (the high tier probably had their own registration area after all) a call happened to come through from someone who was already there. So Zenkichi was the first to sign up then? Not surprising, he did kind of seem like a responsible guy. Once the trio of Seekers were all set at the Fight of Gods dojo and were ready to leave it behind for now, Pit pressed a hand to his ear and called out on the linkpearl in return.

"Pit here! Good going Zenkichi! Me, Sakura, and Amaterasu are on our way there now!" He could have left it at that, but after a moment he called the group again. "Which tournament did you sign up for? I think if we're trying to make it to the top it'd be better if we didn't all join the same one. That way there's more chances for one of us to win in all of them, right?"

It would also mean less fighting each other, since being part of the same tournament in different dojos must mean they'd be competing against one another. Normally Pit wouldn't mind, and even found the idea to be fun, but if they wanted to face the Heavenly Kings at the top of each tournament to get information on the Forbidden Kingdom's Guardian, it made more sense to him if at least one person was part of each tournament. They could chase down four leads at once that way. If everyone else agreed, they could split up what tourneys they all registered for to ensure they didn't all coincidentally join just one or two.

Mahz's Dev Journal

I think maybe it's just me but I kind of... miss the horizontal scroll in tables? Without it, I'm unable to see entire tables on mobile whether I use mobile or desktop view on my phone. Part of the table will always be chopped off and unreadable. No idea if it's my device or if other people have this problem too. It's perfectly fine on my laptop but, yeah, just makes reading full tables impossible for me on mobile now

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

wordcount: 2785 (+3) (+1 rapport)
Amaterasu: level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (36/80)
Bowser Jr: Level 15 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(243/150)
Rika: Level 11 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(189/100)
&
Pit - Level: 8 - Total EXP: 262/80
Location: Esaka

”Oh? He is? Ok I’ll help him find us” Rika replied to Therion’s linkpearl message as Jr continued to badger the wooden man who was the clerk of Clean Hits for info he did not have.

She then stepped outside, and raised a hand to the sky, before thinking better of just opening fire, and instead decided to send herself up there instead. Thus promptly wall jumped up the outside of the store, before tapping her featherfall rune and flying up sky high before calling out between two cupped gauntlets ”Hey captain Pit! Over here!”

”For someone who didn’t like all that attention before you sure did get a bunch more of it” her brother said to her when she came back down, the boy having hurried out after her the moment she’d left line of sight of the front of the stoor (much to the wooden man’s relife).

”Oh uh, oops” she replied, only then noticing the stares coming her way, and promptly shying away from them. The fact that this was not helping the whole intent to stay low profile didn’t even cross either of their minds.

Still, it had been effective, though rather than Pit it was Amatarasu who came running over first, the wolf nimbly darting through the crowd to reach them. She’d been trying to track down the scent of the others, but it had been tricky in the city, and so she’d gladly take this shortcut to regrouping even if she and these children were very much at odds.

”what do you want, huh?” the prince asked, but naturally she could not answer, and instead immediately began glancing around for the others, this plan having not quite worked out as well as she had hoped initially. Then she caught sight of Pit in the crowd and turned her nose and body to face him.

”Oh there. Hi Pit!” Rika called out upon following the snout of the unintentional pointer dog to its target.

Sure enough, the aforementioned angel pushed through a small group of curious locals that had come to see what the shouting was about. He spotted his fellow Seekers quickly and was standing in front of them in a blink, his fist closed tightly around the new communication devices.

"Hey Rika! Junior- oh, and Amaterasu!"

Whether the goddess had tagged along with them to keep them out of trouble or had just been drawn to Rika's airborne call as he was, either way it was lucky for Pit to find them all here together! That would leave just one more person to find after this.

Before that though, Pit glanced up at the store they were gathered in front of, a little distracted.

"Huh, were you all looking for theme songs for the tournaments or something?"

”Huh? Na. I mean. Why’d we want someone else's music anyway?” Jr replied, while his sister sighed and said that ”Plus the ‘record players’ where like, way more expensive than the cassette players we’re using anyway. So no music for us”

”Yeah. I don’t get why anyone would use those dusty old things” Jr added, before finally actually explaining that ”I thought the guy running it might know about Shinjuku’s whole tape craze, and if it’d be like, just tapes, or also using tapes to turn into beasts as well, but he didn’t. So we’re just gonna have to go allllllllllllll the way over and hope we get lucky I guess”

"Oooh right, those," Pit replied after a moment of confusion. He hadn't been around when they had obtained those special tapes nor heard how exactly they worked, but he'd seen them in action even if only once. The power to transform into a tough monster was pretty cool on top of being useful, so he got why they'd want to get more of them.

Pit tilted his head at the mention of going to Shinjuku though, as when they planned to get them was another thing. He tried to picture the world map they'd been shown before and said, "How far away is it? 'Cause we got here right before all those tourneys start, there's only a couple hours left to sign up!"

That caused surprise to run through all three of the others, followed by three quite different reactions.

The prince sagged a little in disappointment, while his sister looked relieved, leaving only the divine wolf to maintain the energy of her initial reaction, transitioning it right into urgency.

”Probably further than that, and then we gotta spend a bunch of time snooping around and stuff so no tournaments for us I guess”

”We’ll be back to beat up the guardian though, once you’ve done all that attention getting stuff” Rika added, before also adding ”probably” a tad uncertainty and then finally asking ”how long are they anyway? And, like, is the guardian at the end of them or something as, I dunno, the last boss or something?” so they could properly gauge that.

When Rika asked this, Amaterasu’s snout flicked to her, and then to Pit, in a display of distinct interest.

Unfortunately Pit didn't actually know the answer to that, he could only guess. His wings had drooped upon learning Bowser Jr. and Rika wouldn't be sticking around Esaka, as even if he'd butt heads with the former a few times he still considered both to be his friends, but as long as he knew where they were headed and that they'd be back it was alright. So, he didn't comment on their plans besides that brief show of disappointment. Instead he tilted his head up towards the city's highest tiers while he replied to Rika's question.

"That's usually how it works. You go through like a mini boss rush and the biggest, baddest one is at the end - or you fight through a whole roster of fighters and after you beat the champ, the secret last boss is waiting behind them!" he said. "If a lot of people sign up I guess the tournaments would be at least be a couple days long, so unless we find the Guardian first you two have time to get back. And if something changes we'll give you a call anyway."

He blinked, looking back to the three in front of him. "Oh right! Here-"

Pit held out his hand and opened his fist to show the remaining golden pearls. If they looked closely they could see one already nestled in the angel's ear. "Primrose gave these to me. We can all use them to keep in touch!"

He glanced at Amaterasu, realizing that the wolf goddess might not be able to bark back through the linkpearls, but at least she would be able to hear people talk through them? "If you want one I can help you put it in?"

The divine wolf padded forwards and presented a raised up ear to receive the stud while the little royals took theirs and inserted them into the opposite ear of the ones they already had.

”We’ll keep in touch and be back before you're done then, yeah” Jr agreed, before adding ”If these things have that good a range anyway. Wherever papa went its was far enough these weren't good enough any more”

He then thought for a moment, before retrieving and flicking through his Rotom phone’s menus for a few more moments. Then, once he’d found what he needed, he turned it to face the angel and said: ”Here. My phone number. I got a hacked sim of those maffia goons and then re-hacked it to get all their tracking junk off of it. Text or call me if we’re out of range. Should work. I think”

The goddess cocked her head in response to all these words, confounded by 90% of the technical jargon. Pit was better off at about 40% he wasn't totally sure on, but he studied the number regardless to commit it to memory since he didn't have anything to write with or on. If nothing else he could probably risk annoying Lady Palutena to recall it for him.

"Got it. Good back up plan," he said, and then blinked when he remembered something important in order to use said back up plan. "...but I don't have a phone!"

The angel smacked a hand to his forehead, held it there for a second or two, and then let it drop to shake his head. "Well, whatever, I'm sure I can find a place that sells them around here. Maybe. Should have plenty of money on my card still..."

”Eh, gotta be somewhere in this place that has one” Jr said, while Rika pointed out that ”We could use Sandalphon too, right?”

”Oh. Or that, yeah” her brother replied with an awkward scratch behind the head.

Pit nodded. A decent backup-backup plan.

"You can call us too if you guys run into trouble. Maybe the Guardian's in a different part of this region after all, but... I'm still pretty sure it must be here." Though there was all sorts of trouble one could get up to that didn't involve Consuls, Guardians, or Galeem to be fair.

He then glanced at Amaterasu. "And I guess the rest of us will find some dojos? There's probably some that allow wolves, there's all kinds of animal fighters and stuff."

It was at this point that Amaterasu revealed the unasked for reward for her latest good deed, namely the signed letter of recommendation from one of the top fighters of the city, one Jun Kazama. Not that Pit would know who that was, of course, but the fancy handwriting and official looking nature of the letter had a fair bit of legitimacy all of its own and so she hoped the gist of its significance and door opening nature would come across none-the-less.

At first Pit thought that the goddess had just come up with a better way of communicating with all of them and had found a notebook somewhere, which would have been nice (and then he would have borrowed it to write down Junior's phone number), but upon closer inspection the document was definitely something else. Pit squinted at it, deciphering the script slowly until he got the gist.

"What the heck, you already got somebody to vouch for you!" he said with surprise. "Well that makes things easy, maybe you won't have any problems with finding a dojo even in the shape of a wolf!"

Which meant that Pit would have to catch up, no way did he want to be the last person signed up and everyone else was already ahead of him, even Amaterasu!

The divine wolf certainly looked pleased with her acquisition. Now all she needed to do was find out how joining a dojo even worked. She had, indeed, missed a lot of info wandering off as she had.

The kids had too, but they weren't really in need of it, going off on a self empowering side mission as they were.

”Welp, you have fun with finding a teacher whatever you need a dojo for, we’re bout ready to blow this joint I think” Jr said, while Rika added ”and when we’re back we’ll definitely be ready to blow it up. We’ll get a teacher to help us get handle on those tapes and fusing together, and be ready to smash the hand, the consuls, and the guardian into paste” before punching a gauntleted fist into an open palm with a satisfying clunk of metal on metal.

Amatarasu turned her gaze to them, obviously a little concerned, which Jr interpreted about her being concerned about them being a nuisance rather than concern for their safety, saying ”Don’t you start. We’ll be on a mission, and any trouble we get into we can get out of just fine”

The divine wolf wasn’t so sure, glancing at Pit for his leaderly input on all this.

Pit had been grinning at Rika, her enthusiasm for beating the ultimate bad guys infectious, though when he noticed Amaterasu looking over at him he blinked, taking a moment to gauge what she wanted.

"Don't worry, I think they'll probably be fine if they stick together! Junior's been on a ton of adventures even back in his own world, and Rika's really tough even if she was just born like... a week ago!" he said, nodding sagaciously. "And if anything bad does happen, we can go help them in Shinjuku."

If it was hours away then how to get over there quickly without the use of the Avenger might be an issue though. Pit himself could just ask the Goddess of Light to use her Warp to teleport him, but as for everyone else... he looked back at the Koopas. "Can you still make those painting portals?"

The prince nodded simply, after which his sister snapped her fingers ”Oh. We can set one up to come back right away, right? And then one from here to there. That way it’s just the trip where we’d be far away, and after that we can just portal over to whoever needs backup”

”Uh. Yeah. Obviously. I was already gonna-” Jr started to blatantly lie, before his face scrunched up and looked pained before he instead told Rika ”good idea” which got a smile out of her.

"Even better!" So really their side trip wasn't going to split them up for as long as initially thought. Pit grinned and looked back to Amaterasu, one fist on his hip and the other generally gesturing to Junior and Rika. "See? Shouldn't be a problem now!"

Amatarasu wasn’t entirely convinced, but he did know them better than she did, and so she gave their little adventure her blessing, primarily indicated by no longer staring them down.

”Oh. You were worried” Rika cottoned on, before asking her brother ”Why was she worried? We were fighting earlier”

”Coz she thinks we need babysitting, which we don’t” Jr huffed like the child was, before turning to leave with a ”Now let’s go already!”

”Ok” Rika replied, before turning to follow him, only to turn back after a few steps to call back ”Good luck!” and to then continue on, the pair of them eding off towards the west of the city, seeking a road heading out and onwards towards their destination.

"You too!" Pit called after them, waving his arm in their direction as they left. Even with just a simple plan in place, he wasn't really wasn't worried that the Koopas were splitting up from the rest of the group.

Which left goddess and angel standing in front of the retro music shop, the small crowd having dispersed at some point. Pit looked down at Amaterasu once again.

"Wanna go meet back up with everyone else?"

The divine wolf, very much eager to get on with things given the time limit, still only gave her bark of agreement with reluctance, still not at all a fan of acting like a dog who had been taught to ‘speak’.

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

Primrose, Therion, & Pit

Level: 11 - Total EXP: 276/110 ------ Level: 10 - Total EXP: 334/100
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 259/80
_{Wednesday Morning}
Word Count: 1910 (+3 exp)
Location: Esaka, the Forbidden Kingdom

It didn't look like anyone had much trouble with the yokai they'd chosen to take on, and the ones that had hung back to watch the fights weren't about to jump in the avenge their kin's losses. The spirit creatures chattered excitedly, some still upset and some hyped up, as they discussed the mysterious new group of fighters. The Seekers should probably give up on any plans of going incognito at this point, Pit thought, because if news of their actions and descriptions got back to the wrong people then their presence in Esaka would be discovered pretty quickly... but maybe anyone that didn't plan to make a public spectacle of themselves in the tournaments anyway could still keep their cover.

The angel regrouped with the rest of the Seekers, grinning at Big Band and Harry and flashing them a peace sign as he did. "We took care of that pretty fast."

Which meant they could get back on the road all the sooner. Their destination was so close that it made Pit all the more eager to get there. Before they took off, Amaterasu took the (very little) time to repair the parts of the village that had taken damage. Since she could fix broken things... it was going to make going all out in a fight a lot easier, since they wouldn't have to worry about collateral damage too much! Not having to worry about that was going to be great!

Still full of energy, Pit let out a "Come on, let's keep going!" even while some of the villagers tried offering words of thanks to the newcomers for putting an early stop to the Seethe. He led the way back out to the main road to find those who'd not fought waiting for them.

Malon and her carriage had moved on, Primrose having told her not to bother lingering when she had perishable goods to sell in the city. The rest of the walk wouldn't take very long anyway. And, if the milkmaid was was down a few bottles than she'd thought was when she did inventory thanks to a certain Seeker of Light, she would probably assume she counted wrong when she disposed of the broken ones.

As the group closed in on Esaka, Primrose occasionally glanced at the divine wolf while it kept an eye on the kids. When she'd briefly gone to see the commotion, she'd caught a glimpse of Amaterasu wielding a familiar weapon - one that she herself used from time to time. It piqued the dancer's curiosity, but not enough to bring it up. After all, Amaterasu couldn't talk, so there wouldn't be much of a discussion beyond playing twenty questions... and it wasn't like Primrose planned on giving up the useful Devout Beads anyway.

Once they were in the shadow of the massive tiered city, some of Therion's earlier tension bled away. He'd done a good job concealing it, and though logically infiltrating Esaka - the city of constant combat - would probably still prove to be dangerous, it was a danger easier to grasp versus the ghost-like nature of what he felt earlier. As the Seekers stood before the gatekeepers, Therion craned his neck up to take in as much of the city as he could from there. Actually, since there were tournaments and fights supposedly going on all the time here (which he didn't believe for a moment were all non-lethal), maybe Esaka was safer from random destruction by Consuls than most other places.

Greeted at the threshold by an alligator by the name of Azuma (with Pit not bothering to stifle his laugh at the pun Ms. Fortune pointed out), the group was swept inside past Esaka's apparent watch with ease. Before the tour really kicked off, a man who appeared to be a very friendly local greeted the group.

He was completely unfamiliar to Therion, and to Primrose he had only a vague familiarity as though she'd seen him in passing a few times. For Pit though, he recognized the muscular blonde almost right away.

"Oh! Terry!"

They'd lived in Smash City Alcamoth together with a ton of others, and Pit recalled that the man was super strong! Pit himself didn't look the same as he had back then -he was a few inches taller, his hair featured blonde and white patches at the tips of his locks, his blue eyes had gained brightly colored neon green and gold, and even his outfit was different- but his silhouette was still easily recognizable, especially when considering his wings and laurel wreath.

At first Pit thought that Terry must have survived the assault on the city. They'd been told that the number of survivors had been... well, low, to put it nicely. But Pit knew that with so many powerful people gathered there, there had to have been more that escaped and just hadn't been found yet. However, just a look at Terry's face told the angel that this was not exactly the Terry he knew. The Legendary Wolf seemed to recognize a few of the Seekers' faces, sort of, but he didn't really know them. And, of course, he wasn't "free" anymore.

"You came back- I mean, you ended up here? Er... okay, starting over, yeah, we used to know each other!" Pit stumbled over his words, excited to see the man and potential returning ally again, but unsure how to bridge the whole 'you might have just respawned and forgotten entirely about your past life' thing.

And with Terry's appearance the splitting up coincidentally began. Therion had already passed the gate, intending to find his own way around hopefully without being lumped in with the large group beforehand, though he turned to look at Primrose expectantly when she wasn't as quick to follow. Moving around Esaka and the Forbidden Kingdom as a whole without an easy means of communication would be troublesome in more ways than one - getting separated had led to trouble almost every time before, after all. Luckily while back in the Under, Primrose and Therion had acquired the means to circumvent being stuck without being able to contact their allies. Five of the Gold Team members were already connected by rosy pink pearl earrings (if they hadn't removed and lost them of course), but in the interest of making sure everyone had a way to speak without using Sandalphon as a middle man...

Primrose withdrew a device that resembled a clam shell from her bag. It didn't take long to fiddle with it and change its indicator color. Shimmery gold linkpearls began to form soon after.

"Captain Pit," she said, having already observed the angel liked being called as such. Pit turned, and when he saw Primrose waving him over he glanced back to Terry and said a quick, "Sorry, one sec!" before flitted over to the dancer.

She gestured for him to hold out his hands, which he did with a tilt of his head and curious look on his face but without question. Primrose poured the pearls into his cupped palms. There was enough for all of the Gold Team and then some, even after she delicately retrieved two of them from the pile.

"Linkpearls. Affix them to your ear and they allow the wearers to speak to each other over great distances," she explained. Then, with a slightly teasing tone she said, "I figured you would want an easy way to keep in touch with your team."

Before she'd filled him in on what exactly they were, Pit had stared wide eyed at the linkpearls, assuming they were just pure golden spheres and she'd just handed him a small fortune. There was, perhaps, just a little disappointment when he learned their true nature, but they were still valuable - just in a different way. Pit nodded vigorously, looking up at Primrose with a smile.

"Yeah, good idea! Thanks!" So he'd just have to pass them out to everyone--

Ah. Looking back at the group as a whole now Pit could see that some Seekers had already taken to exploring on their own without waiting for a grand tour. In any other circumstance Pit wouldn't really have blamed them, but now he had to find them. The angel let out a groan. They couldn't have gone that far though, right? They should all still be around the Low Tier. I'm sure I can find them! ...wait, is Juri still invisible? I haven't seen her for a while... ugh!

Juri would have been the first he forced a pearl onto if only he could find her. For all he knew she might still be with them right now, just unseen, but with all of the new sights, smells, sounds, and even auras he probably wouldn't be able to spot her even if she was. Alright, so finding everyone might be a bit of a pain, but he'd do it!

Pit got started right away, zipping over to everyone that was still gathered together and pressing a gold pearl into their hands, along with an even more abridged explanation than Primrose had given him. When Roland (who had been one of the people that left the group) returned, Pit said a quick "Got it," to him without even really listening to the report, and of course giving him a pearl and the same hurried explanation. He did the same with Harry (and Kim, since he was apparently Harry's friend? Pit was sort of rushing now), and then finally made his way back to Terry - presenting the earring to the fighter.

"To talk with us," he told the man. And then, to the Seekers he'd just gone all around to he said, "I'll be back soon!"

Pit took off, hopping up high onto the roof of a veranda for some higher ground before disappeared into the city. He had some comrades to find and make sure they got a nifty walkie-talkie earring before anyone could get really lost!

Primrose had watched the whole thing with amusement. She'd put the new gold earring into the ear opposite the rose colored one, noting that together the pair were similar to the focus band colors. Fitting, she thought. Technically she could have just have had the linkshell make more of the pink pearls, but maybe it would be better to have separate frequencies. Well, even if not, what's done was done. The dancer slipped away from the Seekers afterward, meeting up with Therion so the two could get started on their own intelligence gathering. She handed the thief the new earring, and he fit it next to the other without complaint.

After a moment, as they steadily got farther from the others, Therion pressed a hand to the original linkpearl. He knew it still worked since he'd been able to call Ms. Fortune with it the day before, so this time he tried Junior and Rika. It seemed to connect just fine.

"Hey, prince and princess," he said, "team captain's got something for you, keep an eye out for him."

His tone had briefly turned facetious when he mentioned the team captain, but the heads up worked even so. Assuming the Koopas actually played nice and didn't use the call as a warning to avoid said captain or something, that was "Team Player" Therion's attempt at being helpful for the morning. Of course without anyway to contact the other disappearing acts, Pit would just have to look around on his own.

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

Word Count: 1696 (+3 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 350/90
_{Wednesday Morning.}
Location: Snowdin, the Frozen Highlands

Ace didn't know how 'populated' the manor Kit mentioned was, but as it turned out the population of this one was dwindling pretty quickly. When they'd pushed open the door and were greeted with the harsh noises of smashing, scraping, screeching, and metal on metal, the Cadet was quick to go deeper in and see what was going on. It didn't sound like machinery operating, but instead like a battle was going on. A battle that involved a whole lot of metallic somethings. When the familiar blue light of Blazermate's shield abilities shined through holes in the walls, a fight was all but confirmed.

The hunter expected the sounds to get louder as he got closer, but they actually grew fewer at a steady rate until he came upon the source: Blazermate of course, and another person, along with a handful of hostile robots... and a few of the pieces of the defeated, which were still intent on attacking them. Though Ace had no idea what had triggered this fight, he didn't hesitate to jump in to lend a hand. With a thought to seek out a nice impact type weapon for that good blunt damage in the future, the Cadet drew his sword and shield and made a beeline for the nearest zombot. En masse the robots might have been a problem, but since most of them had already been made into scrap metal the remaining few had no chance, especially now that reinforcements had arrived. Ace slammed his shield into a steel cranium, sending the robot's head spinning as he searched it for a weak spot. Since they could still move when decapitated and de-limbed, they had to have some kind of power source that had to be targeted instead - or, as Blazermate was doing, grinding them into small chunks worked. The Cadet couldn't quite do that with just the Master Bang though, so targeting the power source it was.

The glowing circles on their chests were pretty likely to be it, so Ace drove his blade into it. The zombot twitched and stuttered before dropping, and though its limbs continued to make minute movements akin to the final firing of nerves, it was no where close to the severed arms clawing their way over the ground. While the others took down the final zombots, the Cadet made sure those that had already fallen definitely wouldn't be getting back up by smashing their cores.

It hadn't ended up taking very long at all.

"Wow," the Cadet started once it was over, stowing his weapon and looking around at the mess of metal and busted up fixtures in the rundown manor. "Everything from the house to the residents have been decommissioned, huh?"

He grinned at Blazermate after the lame attempt at a joke. Then he looked at the stranger they'd been fighting together with. He was humanoid, but also very obviously a robot too. Ace wondered if he'd been here whenever Blazermate had arrived - maybe this manor was actually some kind of science lab...? And speaking of the manor, it might have made a decent base of operations if a lot of the floors and walls hadn't been ripped to shreds. The house still had decent bones despite the heavy draft, so maybe it was usable? It certainly wasn't fit for royalty or anything, but it was better than the abandoned mine. Actually, maybe we should look into that hotel after all...

Shaking the thought from his head, Ace approached the two robots still standing. "Another new friend?" he asked of Blazermate while holding a hand out towards the taller of the two for a handshake if they accepted.

"I'm Ace," he said simply as an introduction, followed by, "uh, sorry your place got wrecked, if it is your place."

To be fair though, it had definitely already been pretty rough looking.

Ace then looked back to Blazermate, pulling at the straps of his square pack. "Kit and I got a bunch of stuff for all of us, we were gonna check out this area before heading back but since you got to it first - what do you think? ...minus the robots rusting in peace."

As in, would it fly for a temporary base of operations, and especially if her new acquaintance already claimed it would he be willing to let them use it if so?

"Uh... I guess... I mean I haven't checked out the mansion itself since we got attacked by the robots. So I don't know if its a good spot or not? But maybe the others could take a look? It's a mansion so maybe the more picky members will like it?"

Fair enough. Ace nodded, then motioned with his head back towards the door. "Let's go meet up with them and let 'em know then."

The Cadet threw a friendly enough smile at the omnic, clearly not excluding him. He led the way back out of the manor back into the crisp cold outdoors. Since Snowdin wasn't all that far away, the lights and the tall tree at the center of town could easily be seen from up on the hill as they were. They could also see a massive carriage made of dark steel parked there too, as tall as some of the buildings if not taller. It definitely hadn't been there when the Seekers had first arrived. Ace pointed it out and then set a brisk pace back - either there were more newcomers to town that had shown up right after them, or the others had already found their mode of transport around the region!

Descending the dead pine hill and making their way back to the rest of the White Team didn't take long all things considered. When they did reunite with the others, the Ace Cadet was glad to see that the stagecoach ended up being the second option. It was truly huge, probably big enough to fit the whole team into, so it was a nice find. Now they only had to find something powerful enough to pull it. Even though it was on wheels, the fact it was made of metal made it look really, really heavy - and it'd also have the whole crew and all their equipment inside too. Forget a popo, they'd probably need a gammoth. Or a whole team of draft animals.

As Sandalphon, Edward, Geralt and Sectonia repeated their findings and filled the recently arrived Seekers in on what they'd learned, the Cadet committed the information to memory. And took a parka when offered to him, finding it kind of funny that it just covered up the big coat he was already wearing, basically turning it from dark material to white. Ultimately he chose to forego the white, since the stagecoach wasn't exactly stealthy in the first place. If a fight came up, might as well leave the camouflage to others and draw danger away from them. When the issue of moving said stagecoach came back up, Ace blinked in mild surprise.

"I actually got some of those. The pal spheres," he said. He flipped his bag around and dug through it before producing one of the blue crystal balls. "Talk about a lucky coincidence, I almost didn't bother buying them."

He also let them know what the mysterious marketeer had said, that they were made from energy crystals. Now that the Cadet got an even closer look at them, their design seemed... fairly simple. If they found an energy source similar enough to paldium, he or any other crafty Seeker could probably make more basic pal spheres if they ended up needing them.

"We also got a lot of equipment, hopefully covered everything we need. Torches, lanterns, tents, tarps, sleeping bags and pads, a bunch of dried rations, hunting traps, cooking spits, water filters, pretty much whatever we could think of. Still looking for mistletoe though."

Thankfully since Geralt was familiar with it already and had described it, they'd at least be able to spot it in the wild. As for everything else Ace would pass out the equipment to whoever wanted some before they got moving, or else stow it in the carriage so it wouldn't take up space in his bag. It already held way more than it logically should, but the space inside was still finite.

He'd let Blazermate or someone else give the report on the manor, after that it was up to the group if they wanted to try and bunk down there or move on from Snowdin and find another place. Before that though, there was one other thing that Ace had to bring up. He cleared his throat to get the attention back on him, and with a more serious tone he laid out his final finding.

"So we were talking with one of the locals, and she told us something really... incredible," he began, not sure if that was even the right word to use. "Apparently there's some Holy Order here in the Highlands that know how to make things die for real."

He didn't pause for long before he tried explaining more, a mix of eagerness and slight apprehension on his face. "Like, normally, leaving a body behind. No turning into ashes, and I'd guess no spirit either but... anyway, I think we should try and find them."

On that the Cadet sounded firm in his suggestion. "If we can learn how they do it, it'd solve some of the food problems for us and for the Lost Numbers. And if it means that no spirit gets left behind, then... I mean, maybe we could even try using it on Guardian."

Ace glanced at Geralt briefly. There were three Seekers present that had fused with Guardians, some of them pretty nasty pieces of work, but only the Witcher had mentioned a drawback as serious as potentially losing himself in a rage. If an option like this was available, and they could destroy a Guardian without needing to risk fusion with it, they should at least consider it.

Kit could chime in with his unique circumstances and the prospect of gaining Humanity too if he wanted, as it wasn't Ace's business to tell. Regardless, the hunter added after a moment, "unfortunately the Order travels around the region though, so finding them might be easier said than done."

Still, he knew it would be worth seeking them out.

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

Primrose, Therion, & Pit

Level: 11 - Total EXP: 273/110 ------ Level: 10 - Total EXP: 331/100
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 256/80
_{Wednesday Morning}
Word Count: 1992 (+3 exp)
Location: Fields of Gold, the Forbidden Kingdom

Besides the troublesome but ultimately harmless antics of the Koopa siblings on the road, the ride towards Esaka was a fairly pleasant one. Primrose could even relax a little next to Malon on the wagon's seat, enjoying the warm sun and slight breeze while taking in more of the landscape. It was mostly the same deep yellow crop lands, though the small settlements they passed here and there broke up the solid colors. With as many people as they had walking together with the wagon and its cargo, it was almost like they were armed escorts for a milk merchant that took their business a little too seriously... but if there were any bandits out in the fields thinking that maybe they were transporting something other than milk, they knew better than to challenge such a group.

Primrose glanced down at Sakura when she'd asked about dancing, even if the tone of the girl's voice made it sound like it wasn't a serious question. The dancer herself gave Sakura a small smile before settling back into her seat. "Of course you could," she answered, "for you, I don't think it would be any trouble at all to learn."

Sure Primrose could try and teach her, but in this world? Learning a skill like the empowering dances Primrose employed would be as simple as absorbing the spirit of someone that could already do it.

Her response to Sakura was much friendlier than it had been to Harry earlier, when just before they'd gotten the milkmaid back on the road the man had laid his hand on her shoulder. She hadn't expected it from anyone, let alone some who was basically a complete stranger, and though he might have considered it a kind gesture she didn't forgive any ignorance on his part. She had fixed him with such an icy stare that those watching might question whether they were actually on the White Team instead of the Gold.

"Don't touch me again," she'd told him, a flash of her teeth promising that he really wouldn't want to try testing her.

Otherwise the trek onward to their destination was a calm one for once, so it was no shock when as they got nearer there was a commotion on the path ahead of them. Once they were close enough some of the Seekers wasted no time at all going to check things out, which also did not come as a surprise.

"Oh dear..." Malon murmured, though she was less fearful and more anxious, as though she was familiar with what was going on. To Primrose that was a good sign - at least they weren't dealing with something totally unexpected.

With the majority of the Seekers now going to investigate, Primrose gracefully slipped out of her seat in the front of the wagon and rounded the back of it to go see what was going on for herself. She saw that Therion had taken the spot that Amaterasu had vacated earlier, after apparently having already seen what the state of the small town's center. He reclined on the cart with his tail curling up and down to lightly thump the wood every now and then, not quite lounging but not appearing on alert either. And he filled Primrose in before she even asked.

"Bunch of monsters making trouble," he said flippantly. It was clear he wasn't interested in the scuffle going on in the slightest, so rather than join in he'd returned to the road. "No clue what they're yelling about, but I'm sure they'll be shut up soon."

Primrose didn't doubt that, since there was no question that the Seekers would put a stop to such nuisances. Still, she continued into the town proper to find various battles already in progress. She also found that when Therion said he didn't know what the monsters were yelling about, he had meant literally - it half sounded like gibberish to the dancer's ears too.

"...well then," she sighed to herself. On the peripheral of the town square she did a little performance, not anywhere close to as flashy as she normally would dance. Once she was finished with the bold but short steps she smoothly transitioned out of her final pose as her magic took effect on the rest of the Seekers. The mole dance, boosting their defense so that even a lucky hit from one of the yokai wouldn't hurt them too much before their arrival to Esaka.

She left her allies to it, waltzing back down the road she'd come from. She didn't wait around to see the results of her dance, as she knew it would work. Even the yokai could tell that their opponents had toughened up all of a sudden.

"Grragh! More! Cheating!" the massive centipede spirit grunted as it stomped forward and slammed its chitinous head down, pulled it back up, and slammed it down again thrice, trying to squash the little angel it was currently embattled with. First the healing, now a stat increase? It wasn't only annoying, it just wasn't right!

"It's not cheating! It's called teamwork, bug brain!" Pit replied, easily hopping backward to avoid each impact and retaliating with a stroke of one of his twin blades across the yokai's exoskeleton as he did.

"Disgusting. A pure one-v-one is the only real way to fight!"

Pit had arrived in the town only a little before the others, and having learned much the same as everyone else -that the yokai's pitching a fit wasn't uncommon and would blow over soon enough- he'd originally opted just to keep an eye on the situation while he waited for the rest of the group to catch up. The little spirit monsters fighting amongst themselves was kind of funny, though the big ones might eventually pose a problem. Of course once the other Seekers did arrive and promptly got themselves involved, Pit wasn't about to let them go at it without jumping in himself.

The centipede guai had burst out into mean spirited laughter when its apparent rival the Ippon-Datara was thrown backward by Big Band. It threw out a slew of demeaning remarks at its fellow yokai and went to pick up pieces of the cat it had smashed to really add injury to insult, only to find a winged boy blocking its path and declaring something along the lines of their temper tantrum being put to an end.

How insulting! And yet, for Pit, being left with the biggest and nastiest looking enemy was just perfect.

After its head slams the centipede swiped a long, sharp arm at Pit, though the angel narrowly avoiding its claws once more. Pit felt one his heels tap against something, glancing quickly over his shoulder to find some kind of stall abandoned by the villager manning it as the yokai advanced. Wanting to prevent more of the town from being damaged, Pit leapt up and directly towards the centipede. He let his weapon de-materialize for a moment as he grabbed its antennae in either hand and continued sailing over it. With strength that didn't seem to fit his small form, Pit yanked the centipede back as he fell on the other side of it. It hissed in surprise and annoyance as it was pulled off balance, and when he landed after releasing the insect yokai Pit brought his bow back to bear.

"Haha-" he started, spinning to take advantage of the opening he'd thought he'd made, but the centipede made no move to try and right itself. Instead it flexed and fell all the harder, aiming to crush the angel with a heavy back slam. "-waah!"

A quick swap into the Guardian Orbitars shielded Pit from the impact. The centipede curled up and sprang onto its feet once more, snarling about "cheap gimmicks!" as its opponent darted right for it. Pit, bow back in his hands, slashed the bladed weapon across the yokai's front. He sheared the weaker legs from its segmented body as it twisted this way and that to block. Every cut it suffered seemed to incense the monster more, and eventually it just lashed out with both claws at once. Pit parried one easily, the other took hold of the angel and lifted him into the air. With an angry shout the centipede guai turned and hurled Pit away from it - only for the boy's wings to snap out and stop his airborne movement with one strong wing beat. With another he was back in the yokai's face with a cross slash, made all the stronger by way of Pit still being in the air. The centipede reeled back as Pit flipped to land on his feet, giving the yokai a cheeky grin before he kicked off for another go at the thing.

They clashed, and it soon became obvious that the angel had the upper hand. He was nimble, but if he did get struck it never resulted in a down. The centipede was quick with its attacks but slow on its defense, having relied on its natural bulk and armored backside - so when faced with an actual warrior its chances of winning were growing slimmer and slimmer by the second.

The centipede curled up into a ball suddenly, rolling backwards away from Pit as the latest swipe of the latter's sword glanced against the chitin. Instead of standing back up the centipede spun in place for a moment, a motion very familiar to Pit. It was revving up, and sure enough it sped towards him as a ball of destruction.

Since he saw it coming, Pit easily leapt out of harm's way. The centipede barreled past him, and Pit didn't realize his mistake until it failed to turn in the relatively small space. The yokai crashed into the post of a building and snapped the wood in half. Though the whole thing trembled it remained standing for now, but further damage might cause to to collapse.

"Hey!" Pit called after it, wide-eyed, running towards the centipede to head it off before it could roll again. He wasn't fast enough - it zoomed back out at him, and this time when it missed it purposefully curved towards another shack on stills, more or less forcing Pit to leap into the way instead of out. "Come on! Now who's cheating?!"

Pit snapped the bow apart and caught the centipede ball with his two blades crossed, holding it back as it spun and pushed against him. Dirt flew up, but neither combatant budged. After a certain point the centipede uncurled and lurched forward, snapping its claws on the angel's swords. Its mandibles began to wiggle and foam, a greenish gas beginning to leak out from it. It stunk of something toxic, making Pit wrinkle his nose. "And using gimmicks!"

He twisted his wrists, spinning the blades and breaking out of the centipede's grip. With a flick the hilts were back in his hands and he raised his arms up high, slamming his fists together and bringing the pommel of both swords down onto the yokai's head. "Ghhk-!"

It was temporarily dazed, its poison petering out before the cloud could spread. Pit's boot came up in a kick to the underside of the yokai's jaw, snapping its head back. He followed up with the bow blades, a cutting combo to the vulnerable parts of the centipede's thorax. He kept up with his attacks, wearing the centipede guai down with a flurry of slashes. It was over with a powerful horizontal double cut, one from the left and one from the right. The centipede staggered backward a few steps and then flopped over, twitching and fading into unconsciousness.

"There! How's that for mid tier?" Pit said after a breath, dismissing his bow and dusting off his hands.

Another town protected, even if was just from some minor threats. It wasn't the most inconspicuous thing they could've done, but at least interesting first look into Esaka's yokai.

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

Exploring Snowdin

Ace Cadet & Chosen Undead Kit
Word Count: 5113 (+6 exp)

From the onset Snowdin hadn't seemed like a large town, and upon getting a closer look it turned out that was very much true. There were certainly smaller settlements out there, but this place was cozy and clustered together enough that a lap around the immediate area didn't take very long at all. The town's only real inn, the aptly named Snotel, separated the shops from the residential section, and besides the large emporium which appeared to perhaps be Snowdin's main shop for general goods, there were a number of other, smaller storefronts tucked away that could be found.

A couple of store signs jumped out at those walking the business strip for different reasons. One was a simple wooden placard, its condition suggesting it was newer than the building it was affixed to, which read only 'Eugenie's.' There was another with a brighter, bolder look, one that intentionally drew the eye to it: 'Boutique Marketing.'

It was to the latter that the red headed monster hunter of the Seekers was apparently on the way to, crossing the snow lined street away from one of the early open cafes with two steaming hot cups in either hand. When he happened to see one of the Seekers' newest recruits, Ace smiled and called him over. "Hey! Kit!"

Kit had been wandering down the main thoroughfare, still trying to shake off the words of the Soothsayers. He had intended to set out to find a suitable base of operations for the Seekers, but so far had little luck. The knight continued walking along the road when he heard a voice call his name and turned to see a fellow Seeker, one whose name he hadn’t yet gotten. ”Oh! Hello there… I’m sorry, I don’t believe I got your name?”

"Everyone calls me Ace," the hunter replied. After a beat he offered one of the coffees to Kit. "I'd give you a full rundown, swap some stories and stuff, but gotta get this back first."

He gestured with the remaining drink to the shop, then glanced back Kit's way with a curious look. "Unless you wanna come along?"

Kit took the cup cautiously, opening his visor to take a sip. His head snapped back a bit as he tasted the coffee, blinking rapidly as the drink went down his throat. ”My, this is… Something. But yes, I’d like to accompany you if you’d have me. Didn’t really get the chance to grab a partner before everyone left.”

The reaction to the drink prompted an amused grin from Ace. It was hard to tell who was familiar with what, but if Kit was as medieval as he looked (which might be the most out of any of them) then he was in for many more surprises.

"Yeah, we're a bunch of eager caeserbers," Ace said, leaving out the fact that a few of the man's new teammates were just less socially inclined than others. "Radalos. C'mon!"

The two men covered the rest of the short distance to Boutique Marketing, trading the hard cold for the building's less-cold interior. The heat was on, but it was still early enough that the chill hung around. It was also late enough that the proprietor, a short, slim, bespectacled moth person was up and around. Well, 'around' wasn't quite right. She yawned, raising one of her several hands to cover her mouth while she waited in front of her office's coffee maker with her wings draped at her back like a cape. The pot wouldn't be done for a while yet, and so when the soft bell of her business' door opening sounded, she spun slowly around and was delighted to see her new acquaintance return.

"Oh good!" She said, reaching out to take the other coffee Ace had been carrying back for her and taking a deep drink from it. She let out a satisfied sigh afterward.

"This is Kit," he told the woman, and then turned to the knight to follow with, "and this is Luna. Just met her right before running into you. She's a... promoter?"

"Mm. Trying to put this place on the map. Plus anyone who hires me!"

"Right. So I figured she'd be the one that could, y'know, shed some light on the town for us and the best place to find stuff."

Kit took another sip of his coffee, more used to it by now, and hummed to himself a little in contemplation. ”I suppose the biggest thing I want to know about is whether there’s any sort of place our group can hole up in while we’re here. Any abandoned buildings or the like. Do you know any place like that?”

Luna blinked at him as if trying to piece together if she'd heard him right or the early morning grogginess was getting to her. "Abandoned buildings?"

She glanced between the two men, although Ace had nodded his head with Kit's question like there was nothing weird about it at all.

"If you're going to stay for a while, wouldn't you rather hear about some of our amenities? We've got a perfectly good hotel, three stars but on the rise!"

She'd moved to pull out a pamphlet for the 'Snotel,' but Ace chimed in with, "nah, who knows if we have the zenny for an extended inn stay for all of us. I think some place out of the way is a good idea too."

"Uh." Clearly Luna had not expected to be telling visitors about hovels around town that day. "Okay then. Well, there's the old manor up on the hill, just south of town. You can't go wrong with a stately place like that, even if you're just... squatting in it? There's also an old mining tunnel between that and the Warrens, if you're looking for... a more natural, rugged experience?"

She was trying her best to make Snowdin's abandoned places seem appealing, marketing the town as best she could apparently. Which was tough when the people she was talking with weren’t interested in traditional draws. She took another long drink of her own coffee before adding, "I'm not going to promise they'll be the coziest places, but you could do worse! ...a lot worse."

Kit tapped the chin of his visor, thinking on Luna’s words. He turned his head to Ace and asked, ”What are your thoughts? I believe that manor would be suitable but it’d probably be best to check out the mineshaft as well just in case.”

"Sounds good to me! If the mine is nearby we'll at least make sure there's nothing dangerous hiding out there, and sleigh it if there is before moving on."

A flawless plan really. Though before they left, there was another thing the Cadet wanted to ask about. He turned back to Luna. "We're also looking for gear. Camping supplies, general goods... oh! And... would you happen to know how the restaurants in town source their ingredients?"

This was something that he hadn't actually thought much about until the day before, when the hunter was gathering materials for the girls at the forge. If every animal and monster turned into a spirit, how was any food establishment able to buy meat in bulk? If they even could. And on that note how could they secure enough for the Lost Numbers? Fruits, vegetables, that was easy to understand - but cuts of meat, bones for broth, fish or hooves for aspic and gelatin...

Luna thought about it. This was more along the lines of what her business actually catered towards, knowing the ins and outs of establishments in order to best market them. The first line of questioning was easy enough to answer, and she did so with two of her four arms gesturing. "You can get almost anything you can think of from Morshu's Emporium right in the center of Snowdin, from the simple to the sophisticated! Even armaments, when Sal delivers them.” The sharp-eyed moth took note of Ace’s arsenal as she spoke. “Of course, if you’re really into weapons, Eugenie’s is the place for you. And if you’re planning to venture out into the winter wonderland…well, there’s always Trap Room. Near that old tunnel I mentioned. From snares to substances, it’s got everything you’d need to tame the wilds. Fair warning, though: the owner’s a little…" Luna searched for the right word, trying to split the difference between honest and off-putting. “Quirky.”

She crossed both sets of arms. “As for the food question, well, we’ve got a little secret that keeps Snowdin better supplied than most places! Might even say it’s the reason we’re the safest haven in the Highlands!” She stepped closer, her voice dropping to an exaggerated conspiratorial whisper. “We know some Holy Order clerics that have a way to make both monsters and game animals _uh pass away normally. No ashy morsels for us; we get to use every part of the beast!”

Ace's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He'd never heard of anything like that before, as far as he knew the only exception to the whole spiritfication thing was in those specific individuals they were fighting against, but to hear there was actually a way for regular people to prevent it...!

"Where can we find them?" the hunter asked, more enthusiastic than what was probably appropriate for the hour.

“Uh…” Luna seemed a little taken aback, breathing in through her teeth with her brows raised. “Not…here?” She tittered with an apologetic look. “Sorry, but there’s no set plan for their travel plans. It’s a big region, and they could be just about anywhere.”

"Oh... right, okay, makes sense," Ace responded, somewhat sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. He recovered quickly though. "Well thanks for your help, Luna."

The Cadet turned to Kit. "Good to go?"

Kit nodded. ”Yes, let’s get moving. Don’t want to waste daylight.”

One look out of the office's small front windows at the overcast sky and Ace cracked an amused grin as he said, "you call this daylight?"

After leaving the one man marketing firm, its owner calling after them to 'tell your friends about us!', the two men made their rounds of Snowdin. With a goal in mind it didn't take long to find what they were looking for in a couple of the establishments the town had to offer. The hard edged, cube shaped backpack that the Ace Cadet sported fit even the bulkiest items like sleeping pads, bags, and bundled up tents, miraculously so. The smaller items, rations and the like, could easily be carried in complimentary bags, though anything that could still fit in the square pack got thrown in there regardless. Even if the Seekers didn't end up using everything, it was better to be prepared than not, and so with that in mind what money they had went toward the team.

...although when they did pass Eugenie's, it turned out to be a very strong temptation for spending there instead. The Cadet had suggested peeking inside after Luna's recommendation only to find a very, very odd looking owner, but also an attractive looking short sword for sale that instantly drew his eye. The golem-like shopkeep, who gestured to himself and said "Cruler" (which the two Seekers took to be his name), gave them a run down of his services in as few words as possible - which meant there was a little guesswork involved but they got the gist: he could do some work to improve weapons for some materials and a fee, as well as create new ones by combining different parts of weapons together by their heads and handles, possibly passing down their attributes.

It was definitely a place that the monster hunter wanted to visit again.

However, the next order of business was locating a base of operations. The hill that the manor was allegedly situated on stood outside of the town, and from where Kit and Ace had ended up after getting their haul part of the residential area was between them and it. That worked out just fine, since they could make quick work investigating the abandoned tunnel beforehand like they'd planned.

"You and... Heismay, came back with Big Band, right?" Ace asked as they walked through the snow. Unlike with the short distance between shops, they had time to fill now. "I thought the whole Dead Zone was a wasteland. What was the place you guys were in like?"

”When I first arrived in the World of Light, it was in a desolate forest outside of a large manor. Barely any animals there, just undead and bandits roaming around. I took it upon myself to keep the roads clear, even if barely anyone used those roads. The manor was filled with even more monsters, I would have entered it myself had the front gate not been locked. Then Big Band came along with Harry and the wolf and blew the gates right open. I helped them out and we raided the manor together to find Heismay.”

Kit stopped speaking for a moment to take a sip from his water canteen. ”After we all left the manor behind, we moved past it to a place much more lively and beautiful. A great lake surrounded by forests and big mountains. I would’ve much preferred to have been dropped off there, personally,” Kit chuckled to himself. ”What about you? Where did you find yourself when you first woke up here?”

It was a little hard to imagine a beautiful place alongside the desolate mud and tar pits that seemed to make up the rest of the area. To think there was a part of the Dead Zone that wasn't, well, dead. It sounded nice.

"I was living in this town called Lumbridge, in a region they call the Land of Adventure. Did you see any of the maps they have in the Avenger? Its south, towards the bottom. Groovios little place with a lot of different people, plus new landscapes to explore would pop up every week or so outside of it." There was a pleasant undertone to Ace's words as he spoke. He had genuinely liked Lumbridge, and he did still think about it and its people often. "Forests, plains, mountains, hills... and weirder places too! Actually, when I 'woke up' one of the regions from my home world had appeared.

"Maybe that's why I ended up there, since it was pretty close to what I was already familiar with." He'd never really thought about the reasons why before, since they didn't seem all that important. Still didn't really, so Ace shrugged casually. "Maybe not though. I mean, which was closer to your world? The zombie area or the lake area?"

Kit laughed a bit at that question, shaking his head. ”The zombie one, most definitely. My world is a desolate place, no civilization, danger around every corner. There’s very few people still around. Mostly undead like myself, the ones that haven’t gone hollow at least. But there’s beauty in it as well, a magnificent city high above the rotten world below it… I had just arrived there when I found myself in this world.” The knight sighed and cast a glance towards Ace. ”You said your world was pretty similar to the Land of Adventure. Do you have anyone there that you care about?”

Undead 'like myself' - did I hear him right? the Cadet thought, so surprised by the statement that he'd hardly caught the rest of the description of the other world. But if the revelation that Kit was a zombie himself had surprised Ace, it was the man's next question that really caught him off guard. "Er-" he started lamely as a few faces from the town flashed into his mind, with one standing out strongly from the rest, circling back until it was the only one he could picture. A soft face, with warm, light skin, dark hair pulled into a bun, and inquisitive eyes behind a pair of elegant glasses.

A pink blush that could have easily been dismissed as the cold weather getting to him spread on Ace's face. "I, uh, I do, yeah."

He might be with Nadia now -and he really liked Nadia- but... it wasn't easy to get over the woman he'd been in love with for so long a time. He certainly still cared for her, one way or another.

Ace scratched at his cheek, not quite embarrassed but just thrown for a little bit of a loop. "She's from the same world as me. I've met a few from there. I'd tell you that you'll probably meet a few from yours too, but if there weren't many people living there in the first place..."

Kit's world sounded kind of grim, honestly, which made Ace appreciate that he'd still turned out to be a friendly guy - at least so far as he'd been talking with him.

"...wait, go back! You said you're undead? You look so normal!"

Kit laughed heartily at Ace’s surprise. ”Yes, I suppose it must come as a bit of a shock. In my world, the undead curse has struck most of the lands. Those who lose their humanity become hollow, just husks of what they used to be. Humanity isn’t just a concept, it is a physical part of the world, one that you can hold in your hands and embrace into yourself. But if you die while your humanity has been restored, you will begin to grow hollow, and your features will grow gaunt and sickly. I was lucky to be human when I crossed over into this world. In fact, I have some humanity here in my pack.”

Kit stopped to open up his pack, producing a small black orb with a glowing white outline in his hands. ”I kept a stockpile of them in case I ever died and went hollow again. I’m sure the same rules apply to me here as they did in my own world, so it’s useful to have. So if you see me fall in battle, don’t fret! I’ll be coming back as strong as ever.”

Since being freed from Galeem's influence, the Ace Cadet had learned a lot about different worlds, technology, cultures, species, and tons of other things. What had once been totally foreign to him had just become something he'd see on a daily basis, and some of these things he'd even come to understand well. And then there was the concept of holding humanity in one's hand!

"Kut-kurazy," Ace said, staring wide-eyed at the orb, then back up to Kit's face, and back again. He didn't cringe away from the physical humanity like he thought he might, but he also made no move whatsoever to touch it. He was so curious, but he'd leave the man's humanity to him.

"You see something new every day here." A small grin had made its way back onto the Cadet's face. All the exciting new things were something he liked about this patchwork world. "That's good to know. I wonder how we could get more of it if you end up using yours, though..."

Kit’s smile fell from his face at that. He shoved the humanity back into his pack. ”Hmm… That I haven’t thought of. Humanity could mostly be found on corpses in my world, but with the way that dying converts one into a spirit in this world, I’m not so sure how it’d work. We’ll have to find out.”

The hunter snapped his fingers and pointed to Kit, a gesture of agreement. "One more reason to find those Holy Order guys too."

The conversation carried them most of the way to their next destination. After passing through a large part of the Warrens (judging by the shallow snow mounds with little paths leading to front doors that suggested burrows), Kit and Ace arrived at what must have been the abandoned mine. From the outside it looked pretty normal, a large tunnel carved into one of the hillsides with wooden support beams starting around the opening and leading deeper in. Long extinguished oil lamps hung from nails driven into these supports or sat broken and frozen over on the ground beside the entrance. There was a fresh layer of snow that had piled up at the mouth of the tunnel, and icicles hanging from the roof.

There were no barriers that would prevent their entry nor signs warning of danger, although there was a small weathered posting displaying a gold coin with an arrow beneath it pointing away from the mine shaft. Besides that the dim sunlight only reached so far into the tunnel, preventing the two men from being able to see past a certain point - unless, of course, they went in themselves.

Kit crossed his arms as he examined the mineshaft, humming to himself a bit as he thought on it. He turned to Ace and spoke, ”I’m not sure this place is what we’re looking for. It seems pretty undefendable compared to something like that manor.”

Ace was inclined to agree. He didn't spot any signs of creatures coming or going, but just because it actually was empty didn't make it a good spot for a base camp. "Here's hoping we don't have to do much defending since we're gonna be the ones out hunting, but yeah, I know what you mean."

The Cadet knocked on one of the beams, dislodging a chunk of snow. There was no telling how sturdy this thing really was either, and reinforcing it to ensure it didn't collapse on top of them while they disturbed the place would take more work than anyone wanted to put in for a temporary shelter.

"Wanna check out the last shop before heading up the hill?"

Kit nodded. ”That sounds like a plan.”

After ruling the mineshaft out, and a quick scan of some of the interior to confirm there really was nothing hiding out in there that could cause problems for them, the two moved on to one final store to get supplies from. There was only that single beaten up sign giving them a vague direction, but as it turned out the location of the shop -if one could even call it that- wasn't actually that far from the mine. At one point in time it might have even been connected to the mine itself, because to call it a hole in the wall would be extremely accurate. The Trap Room was signified by a duo of torches at the mouth of another narrower, shallower tunnel and a crude wooden name board hanging above it. Just inside the opening was a heavy wooden and iron door, closed to separate the elements from the room behind it.

Inside was a carved out space with a natural stone ceiling, though the floors and a few walls featured planks to make the place a little more inviting. There were one or two electric lights connected by wires through a separate doorway at the far end marked "employee only" where some some strange muted noises could be heard, but most of the lighting inside was from oil lamps or torches like the ones outside. It gave the shop a somewhat threatening feel, especially with the... devices lined up everywhere. There were many iron cages, some larger than Kit and Ace themselves, as well as humane steel animals traps... and less humane ones, ranging from small to large. More simplistic traps stood around the area as well, along with smaller, more high-tech looking nexo traps and capture spheres. While all of those were more or less regular hunting implements, there was also a couple of stockades in the far back, as well as a literal guillotine - though the latter had a few barrels piled around it, as if it hadn't seen use any time recently.

"Ah, customers..." came a deep voice from the figure standing just behind a makeshift checkout counter. The man was huge in width and height, easily a foot or two taller than both Seekers, and he puffed happily on a pipe as he regarded his visitors. In fact, that wide and off putting grin on his face barely changed even as he spoke, pushing a weird machine he'd been fiddling with off to the side. "If you're looking for something... specific, let me know. Otherwise, take a look around..."

Kit would allow Ace to speak to the shopkeeper while he wandered around the store, examining the traps and cages with morbid curiosity. As he did the man kept one bright eye on him, examining Kit in turn. His expression never changed even while he took stock of the weapons and armor the men had on them, attempting to make some determinations about what kind of clientele they were.

Ace had approached the counter, though not without casting doubtful looks around the place first. It was the traditionally human captive devices that gave him pause, and so when he looked back at the Trap Room's owner it was with a suspicion and a lowered voice. "Just what are you trapping here?"

"All types of dangerous critters," the shopkeeper replied easily. "Monsters take all kinds of shapes, so enterprising tamers need all kinds of traps... which I'm happy to provide."

"And that?" the hunter asked, nodding his head towards the guillotine. The large man's pipe quivered as a soft rumbling chuckle escaped him.

"Separating the big pieces, from the bodies of big monsters. Sadly no one's come by for that service in a while..."

At some point the Cadet had crossed his arms, and he didn't unfold them as he thought to himself. This guy was definitely 'quirky,' but it wasn't like Ace could call him out on anything. He'd seen for himself the various forms monsters took here, and even the scholars of his world had special devices for harvesting monster parts if there weren't any hunters around to assist them. He was getting a weird vibe from the shop keep, but for now that was all it was. Plus... well, traps were always a handy thing to have around. Ace hadn't gotten a chance to make any more after he'd used what he had, so this would be as good a time as any to stock back up with what money he had left.

After a moment spent thinking, with the shop owner patiently standing by, the monster hunter relented. "...alright, let's see what you got."

"Heheheh, excellent. You won't be disappointed..."

The man rounded the counter and led Ace to a section for lower tech traps. Kit's own tour of the shop's interior would see him end up near small bins of various items, from pungent baits to metallic discs that spun when opened. There were also vials on small shelves, labeled as poisons, tranquilizers, and paralytics, and a few raw materials too.

"You know..." the deep voice said from close by Kit's shoulder. While Ace was picking out what he wanted, the shopkeeper had come over to check on his other possible customer. His voice was not quite a whisper, but it was certainly lower than it had been a few minutes ago with a tone that suggested he was implying more than what he was saying. "If you want to skip the trapping process, I do trade in any kind of creature, Pals or otherwise... even kinds you wouldn't normally see around here... if you're interested."

Kit wasn’t quite sure what the trapper was implying but still felt rather uncomfortable as the man spoke. ”Uh, thank you, but I don’t believe I’m interested.”

The man stroked his chin, mumbling, "I see... pity."

He ambled back to the counter with the grin still in place, soon meeting the knight's companion there. Ace's arms were full of a few smaller, pre-made hunting traps and trap-making mechanisms. Before the Cadet even spread it on the counter the shopkeeper tallied it up in his head, though before giving a price he did what any merchant would and went for an up sell. From beneath the counter he produced one of the blue crystal spheres, setting it before Ace and gesturing for the man to go ahead and pick it up to look it over.

"It's called a Pal Sphere... made with crystalized energy," he said, with a short motion of his head towards the bin of paldium fragments. "It'll catch anything you want, heheheh... well, it'll give you a chance at it at least. Real useful devices... "

"Ehh..." Ace's face scrunched up, not sold on them yet. He had a vague idea of how they worked thanks to similar items a few of the other Seekers used and Sierra back in Edinburgh had transported her living iceberg. It wasn't something he was particularly interested in, and frankly might be on the edge of poaching, but then again he could imagine a few use cases for them. Maybe some of the other members of White Team would be interested too.

Sensing a sale just needed a little more of a push, the large man took another puff of his pipe and added, "it's more convenient to buy them than make them... and a bundle of them would be discounted with the rest of your purchase, so why not?"

Ace was pretty much the opposite of frugal, so he gave in soon enough and let the shopkeeper wrap up a few of them with the rest of the traps. He shoved everything into his backpack, gripping both straps around his arms as it was getting rather heavy. He still got a rather off-putting feeling from the place, but if the things he bought worked then he wouldn't complain. Maybe a more thorough investigation of the place was warranted, but for now, it was almost time for Kit and Ace to meet back up with everyone else.

After one last item on their list, of course.

"Ready?" Ace asked Kit, already heading to the door.

Kit nodded. ”Ready.” The pair exited the shop and began walking through the snowy streets of Snowdin, leaving the town behind and walking through a shriveled forest on their way up a hill to Beneviento Manor. Standing in front of the cliffside manor, it was eerily silent save for the blowing winds. A chill crawled up Kit’s spine as he made his way to the front door.

The knight looked to Ace. ”Not sure what we’re gonna find in there. Hopefully it won’t be as populated as the last manor I visited…”

The door was ajar, and the sounds of scraping metal filtered out from the inside, suggesting that Kit's hopes were about to be dashed.

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@Ynys Afalon Aww, but to be fair not really surprising to hear. I've gone back a few times to read old RPs (and cringe honestly), it was good times while it lasted haha.

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