3397/Investigating Lake Hylia

Investigating Lake Hylia
Date of Scene:	15 November 2015
Location:	The Hylian Mainland <LoZ-5>
Synopsis:	A monster appears at Lake Hylia, and the third Tear of Light is found.
Cast of Characters:	73, 385, Blurr, 513, Sanary Rondel, 789, 864
Tinyplot:	Clearing the Twilight

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Agahnim (864) has posed:
     Lake Hylia was passed earlier in the quest, though only seen from a distance, from Lon Lon Ranch and Spectacle Rock. It's a large lake just south of Castle Town. Today's journey takes the party dangerously close to Agahnim's stolen territory. It's some distance from Hyrule Castle and the Castle Town, but still visible. At least, it's far enough it's unlikely to be an issue.

     The mission today is a favor to Princess Ruto of the Zoras. She has been wanting to visit the grave of her Father, built near Lake Hyrule. It was revealed that she has visited the Lake recently, despite protests from her mother. She wasn't able to get far, though. Some strange monster was in it. An insect like monster, possibly connected to the missing Tear of Light from Zora's Domain.

     The lake sits quietly in the afternoon light, a light wind causing ripples to go over the surface of it. The meeting area is on south side of the lake, close to Lon Lon Ranch. It's also relatively close to the location of the grave. A number of piers and wooden bridges make a strange path forward, towards a small island just about one hundred yards into the water. This island is where the grave is supposed to be.

     It's as good a place as any to start investigating whatever strange insect creature has been hiding in the water.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary almost feels bad showing up at the lake. Almost. After all, it's partially her fault why some things have been so bad in the area lately. Not that she lets it show or anything, even going as far as to disguise herself by wearing her coat instead of that armor she's been stomping around in the past few times she's been in Hyrule. It'd be hard to investigate the place if any locals recognized her in that armor!

     It's actually somewhat nice out there, even. Standing at a pier, watching the water, just taking a moment to relax while being armed to the teeth just in case a monster does show up. If she had a spear, she'd probably be in that lake right now. Alas, there's a job to do, and the healer's going to have to be on her best behavior.

     For now, she waits.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
As usual for visiting this version of Hyrule, Yuna's in her Light Suit already as she heads to the rendezvous point. Elner is currently a ways up in the sky, ready to reduce altitude if Yuna needs it to take a closer look at something; Jiina, Marina, and Erina are sticking fairly close to Yuna, in their respective combat forms.

Which is too bad, in Yuna's belief. If it weren't for the monsters roaming around in some spots, it's a fairly peaceful day and the landscape is fairly pleasant to walk through. The Light Suit is fairly comfortable (as armor goes, anyway), but she'd prefer a dress or something and comfortable shoes rather than the armored leotard, boots, and gauntlets which she's sporting.

On the other hand, this way she's safe is a ravening monster lunges out of the lake and tries to swallow her whole. Or at least, somewhat safer.

Yuna is keeping a modest but respectful distance from the water's edge right now, although she does wave to Sanary, calling out a greeting to the (armed) healer.

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Though she hasn't always been part of the Hyrule expeditions, Frederica's heart has been with the nation and with those who have come to her aid. She's able to make it to this mission however, and sees no reason she can't contribute. Fighting giant insect monsters, after all, is something she's been doing for longer than she's been part of the Multiverse.

    She comes in from nearby, having been in the area a short while. "Yuna!" she waves to the blonde warrior cheerfully, approaching. She doesn't really know Sanary, but has no reason to fear her. "I hope we don't have to go swimming today." she notes, gesturing out to the lake. "I didn't bring beachwear, sadly. But..." she sighs. "I suppose we'll just have to see, won't we?" she says with a grin.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah predicted water stupidity, and here is the first part of it. She stands on a pier looking out over the water with her arms folded. "This is going to be wet and terrible." She predicts gloomily, turning away and looking to the others present. "Well, we'll see what happens. So who's taking point on this?" She looks around. She doesn't see the usual tanks. "I'm not going first. I am entirely too bite-size for aquatic horrorterrors." She asserts.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr has been scouting the area for a few hours beforehand, searching for any sign of this creature Ruto was talking about, or for anything suspicious. He's identified the position of the grave in question, but has stayed off of any piers, because...well. They don't look like they'd hold up his weight, exactly.

    "I'll go first!" he volunteers, as Sarah calls Not-It.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "No reward without risk!" Exclaims Finna, the foxgirl from... JUST BEHIND FREDERICA. She claps both hands on her shoulders from behind and LEEEEANS in over one of them. "Would you like to be a dolphin?"

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     A surging in the water can be seen. The wooden piers and platforms in the lake suddenly begin to break. Large crashing waves occur, as something moves within the water. Some bubbles come up from under the surface as well. It's hard to tell what exactly it is. The lake, while fairly clear, is still somewhat murky. A large, bus-sized shadow seems to be moving through the water.

     Suddenly, it bursts through the water. The bridges break apart completely, a number of wooden logs and planks throughout the area. They are, most certainly, sturdy enough to support the weight of most people present. The broken bridges are likely not the first priorty, though. Unless you are Sanary or Sarah, who are standing on the piers. For everyone else? The monsterous bloated insect certainly is likely first priority. It glows a soft yellow, like the Twilight. It's black body is a hard bloated shell, with various tentacles in place of arms. A set of tiny wings come from its back, barely capable of helping it hover in the air. It sinks back to the water, sparkling with electricity as it dives.

Feeder of Darkness
Twilit Bloat

     Things instantly become worse, sadly.

     The sky darkens, despite the time of day. With the strange insect, the Twilight has moved into this region. It seems most will have to fight transformed.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Wet shouldn't be a problem," Yuna replies cheerfully to Sarah. "As for 'horrible' ... that's a matter of perspective, isn't it?"

She starts out onto the pier .. JUST before the giant waterbug starts breaking the pier apart. "Ack!" yelps Yuna. "Marina, I could --"

She falls in at roughly the same moment that the Twilight descends. Elner lets out a startled exclamation as the robo-faerie transforms into a quasi-mechanical dove. Yuna's three mechanical 'doubles,' on the other hand, turn into different animals - the green-and-white armored one winds up as a canid-looking quadruped, possibly a fox or a wolf or some version thereof; the purple-and-white figure winds up as a falcon (larger than Elner's dove), and the reddish-orange-and-white one winds up as some sort of fish. "Hang on, Yuna!" replies the now-robo-fish, trying to flop its way towards the water's edge ...

But Yuna doesn't have anything that she CAN hold onto, having been dumped away from any of the floating footholds. And the calico cat into which she's been transformed by the Twilight is thrashing about in utter helplessness. She's going to need help, and Marina isn't going to get to her in time at this rate.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     And there they are! Yuna gets a quick wave and grin from Sanary, and Frederica and Finna both get curious looks. Friends of hers, perhaps? "Hey, Yuna! Er. Let's hope we can lure it out without going in. Even if we can all swim..." The healer trails off and fiddles with her eyepatch, raising an eyebrow at Sarah moments later. The notion of swimming just had to keep coming back, didn't it?

     Blurr gets an odd look as he volunteers to go in first, although she does eventually shrug and give the Autobot a wide grin. "Sounds like a plan. I'll head in after-"

     And then she sees the movement in the water. Her eye widens as that shadow draws nearer, and she about-faces quickly to just bolt right off that thing. "It's coming!" She barely has enough time to dive away from the pier as it breaks apart behind her, and the Twilight reaches her shortly afterwards, turning the healer into...

     ... A canary. Right. That happened last time, too. "Oh, son of a...! Yuna!" The tiny black and yellow bird flutters towards the flailing cat, not seeming to remember her significant decrease in size until she's already next to Yuna, uselessly trying to pull her up with those tiny bird feet.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
EVERYTHING GETS WORSE.

Sarah yells as the piers and bridge shatter and she's left clinging to a wooden plank. "YOU SON OF A- AAAAAA HORRORTERROR!" Sarah yells. "SOMEONE BEAT IT UP!"

And then IT GETS EVEN WORSE. Even as Sarah yells, she is engulfed in the blackness of Twilight, and becomes a very soggy, very angry black cat clinging to a plank. It would be prime Youtube material were it not actually life-threateningly dangerous. She scrabbles onto the plank, and glares up at the beast, but immediately leaps away to another plank as she sees the electricity. "THIS THING IS BULLCRAP!" The now feline Sarah yells. "Someone do something about this before it eats me! I'm even /more/ bite-sized now!" All she can do is wait for it to surface, regardless. It's not like she can swim.

Have you ever seen a cat try to swim? Cat-paddling is a terrible thing.

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica is more or less relaxed by the various presences, even the caustic teenager. Perhaps surprisingly, it's the mechanical form of Blurr that give her... not fear, not exactly. Discomfort. In a place where everyone becomes animals, a giant robot is a little jarring. Then again, everyone else seems to transform. Perhaps it's not so strange after all.

    Frederica jumps as Finna speaks from out of nowhere. She whirls on the foxgirl. "HEY!" she cries, shaking her head. "YOU be a dolphin. I'm not even used to being a hedgehog yet!" she complains with unconscious irony. "I'd rather not be a fish, not with some stupid sea monster around!"

    The arrival of the Feeder of Darkness catches Frederica a bit off-guard, but fire is never far from the surface for her. She scowls and lofts fireballs into the air, arcing them down around the big bug. Considering its hard shell, mobility and the water all around it, those early fireballs are unlikely to do anything to it. She's getting a bead on it though, and preparing an extermination attempt.

    Unfortunately that's headed off by the arrival of the Twilight. While Frederica's powers solely require her mind, not her body, the form does shape how she tends to fight. As a woman, she can loft fireballs and direct them. As a terribly-nearsighted hedgehog, she can't really fight at range. She can HEAR though, and the sound of screaming and freaking out have her running on stubby little legs towards the water.

    Of course Frederica IS a hedgehog right now. It's not like she's the best person out there for someone to grab hold of. Or for her to grab hold of them. Oh well, at least she'll be a good target.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Oh. Nope, no dolphin time for Frederica! Finna finds herself turning to look at the approaching creature just a few moments before it's fully surfaced. Did she hear its approach? Quite probably. "Or nooooooot!"

    Other people transform as the creature's Twilight aura engulfs them. For Finna... the thin veneer of normality that is her illusionary protections is peeled away as her Moonsilver Tattoos glow in response to the Twilight magic. These mystical wonders have fixed her form so that only her own will can change it, but they reflect STRANGE THINGS of the Twilight nature when one looks too closely at them in this environment. Normally silvery-blue, they take on a strangely yellowish patina here.

    "Oh, it's this thing again!" Feigning amusement to cover up her flash of PANIC, Finna just GRINS at the distant monster. "So this is why Ruto couldn't approach."

    She takes a step forward, jabbing a heel into the ground and taking a stance with a hand on her hip.

    But her eyes immediately turn towards analyzing the surroundings for anything she can use against such a large creature!

    "Hey, didn't Rutela say something about bugs? Maybe this one ate the Spirit of Light!"

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     There is a small bit of luck for everyone. The Twilit Bloat is a massive hulking monstrosity. The small animals before it? Two cats, a hedgehog, and a canary who is getting suicidally close to a cat? These are not things that will make a giant beast like this sweat. It does seem to eat, though. It coughs up a little, some fish bones spitting out of its mouth. The obese insect, at least, doesn't seme to plan on making a meal of the people around.

     One of the party members remains humanoid, though. Finna draws its attention. It moves in towards her fast. Despite its size, the creature can move incredibly fast when it wants to. It tries to outright rush into her in a tackle, its body surging with electricity as it tries to impact the Exalt. Hideous cicada-like noises come from its mouth, along with the gnashing of its exoskeleton.

     This leaves it somewhat open to the others for the moment. It doesn't expect the animals to be any level of threat, and so they are ignored. Finna has several different impromptu weapons nearby that she could use if need be, as well. The most obvious are the planks of the piers that just shattered. Some large rocks are also present, along with some large chunks of driftwood that have washed up onto the shores.

Finna (513) has posed:
    A FLAT-OUT CHARGE. Finna blinks, but reacts with the kind of speed that only a Lunar of her sort could pull off. It's evident to her that this creature is pure malicious instinct, and she is a Lunar, master of beasts.

    She simply beckons with a twitching finger, taunting the creature and vaulting backwards JUST quickly enough that the creature can look forward to catching her. She is a tasty morsel, a challenge, a shiny thing that's worthy of its full attention for a brief moment!

    All of its attention, through that charge. Leaving hopefully NONE for the thing to realize it's charging straight for a ****ing BOULDER.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Sanary-canary would find that she has some help in fishing Yuna out of the water; once Sanary's managed to pull the calico up a little ways, the purple-and-white falcon descends next to her, slipping a talon through Yuna's collar and helping to haul her to safety. "The log there!" the falcon calls out.

Meanwhile, the 'dog' mechanoid has gotten the 'fish' into the water - and a couple of microtorpedoes start cruising through the lake to home in on the Twilit Bloat, aimed to detonate along its flank just beneath the water's surface. Hopefully that'll help keep the monstrous insect from turning its full attention on anyone in the party while they're getting their footing back; the attack might even help to weaken it a bit.

Yuna herself is going to need a bit longer to recover, once Erina and Sanary have gotten her onto a piece of driftwood that won't dump her right back in the drink.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Even though it's probably better for her survival that she's being ignored by the Twilit Bloat, Sanary can't help but feel a little... Slighted. So what if she's smaller than everyone else around here? She can still do some damage if she wants to!

     Once Yuna's brought to safety (probably due mostly to the mecha-falcon) and no longer at risk of drowning, the one-eyed healer turned one-eyed-bird flies up to give herself some room to build momentum. A little while later, and she dives right at the giant insect! And once she's in range, she...

     Well, she'll probably just bounce off the thing if it doesn't swat her away first.

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Freddie The Hedgehog only realizes her mistake as she reaches the water. She can't jump particularly well, and even if she could she couldn't grab Yuna or Sarah to help rescue them. Fortunately she isn't really needed for that. Yuna seems to be safe. Sarah... well, hopefully someone can get to her. Frederica decides her best approach should be to engage the giant disgusting bug.

    There's no subtlety in her attack, not right now. She charges the beast, trying to take advantage of Finna's actions to line up an attack. At the last moment she bursts into flames, tucking in her vulnerable face and rolling the last few feet at top speed.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
The massive hulk spits out some fish bones, and the black cat seems to turn a little green at the sight. "Gggh..." Sarahcat emits, and clutches the board for dear life as the horrible insect begins rushing around trying to eat Finna. "Come on people, coordinate! Hit the thing after the foxgirl gets it to slam into boulders! Stun it and hit the weak point for massive damage! It can't be armored /everywhere/! Look for an eye or something soft! Go go go!"

The cat is trying to coordinate their offense among the generally inoffensive animals. It's something, after all. There's no way she can use her tools like this.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     Finna is lucky that the creature is particularly mindless, driven only by instinct. It makes it significantly easier to mentally affect, and abuse. With wreckless abandon, it flies towards Finna again, moving in towards the gigantic boulder in front of it. As it hits the boulder, the boulder flies all over the battlefield. The stone has broken into pieces, scattered across the landscape. The creature itself came out injured, but not terribly so. Some dents are in the front of its hard exoskeleton, even some cracks. It's close to the ground, close enough for Frederica to move in. Frederica hits it immediately, while it is still somewhat shaken. The fire burns at the creature, causing it a bit more pain. But, it is still capable of flying, and it is still looking around the battlefield as it moves back up. It moves to dive back into the water.

     Sadly, the return to the water leaves it vulnerable to the torpedoes. They fly towards it, exploding at its side. More of its thick shell breaks, revealing some of the flesh inside. It's still doing well, though. It bursts its head out of the water, just in time to see Sanary coming in.

     As the small Canary that is Sanary comes in? It bounces off, but not before getting a bit of a shocking surprise. The body of the creature bursts with electricity, sending a jolt through the woman's body.

     The creature dives back down into the water. The water is quiet for a moment, before it bursts up again. The tentacle-arms on it spread out, each one trying to flail at all of the animals and Finna. It roars in pain, angered at them. The fleshy tentacles fling around like whips, trying to impact into everyone.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah continues to surf the board for all she is worth as the water churns and bubbles, but there's only so much one can do. With a yelp, Sarah tries to leap away as it emerges, but a tentacle strikes her and sends her flying into the water. "STUPID! TENTACLES!" She yells as she does her best to try to cat-paddle to the nearest bit of flotsam or jetsam.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna finishes recovering from her dunking just as the monster finishes recovering from ITS abuse - and the Calico of Light just barely manages to leap off her chunk of driftwood before one of those tentacles reduces said driftwood to so much soggy kindling. Rather than splashing into the water, Yuna manages to seize hold of one of those tentacles, sinking both claws and teeth in; she fully expects the monster's 'flesh' to taste UTTERLY VILE but she's willing to sacrifice her taste buds in the name of saving Hyrule.

As before, her claws glow brightly as she tears at the exposed tentacle with it; she can't see it, but so - apparently - do her *teeth*. That probably helps keep the anticipated awful taste at bay.

Yuna's allies mechanical pitch in as well: Marina's fish form launches another salvo of microtorpedoes, the firecracker-sized 'missiles' actually jumping out of the water to pepper the nearer side of oversized bug's belly. Erina, in her falcon body, flies above and flaps her wings down hard, flechette-styled pulse blasts showering down at its head, or what seems to pass for it. And while Jiina's canid shape remains on dry land, her tail arcs forward, armor panels peeling open to expose an emitter - and a beam cannon blast is fired to rip further at the bug's armored belly.

If they had their normal bodies, this fight would probably be over in a hurry; as it is, though, their animal forms are substantially smaller than their humanoid bodies, and their firepower - even Yuna's - has been scaled down to match. As it is, though, Yuna's also worried about hitting any of her allies, so the Matrix of Light HAS to hold back for their sake, too.

After that second salvo of miniature torpedoes, Marina swims over to Sarah and tries to give her a helpful boost.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna perches atop one of the rock fragments as it sails through the sky, riding it to the ground. But she frowns, quite dismayed at this thing's endurance and tenacity. A normal animal would have RUN OFF TO RECOVER. This thing's still on the attack!

    "Gotta leave these freaky magic beasts from other worlds. But if they wanna-- WHOAH!"

    A tentacle comes flying close to Finna like a whip. Her body contorts and twists weirdly through some insane gymnastics as beads of perspiration roll down her face. She zigs and zags and eventually gets clobbered across the side of the face and sent tumbling to the ground, bleeding from a cheek. Oh hey, blood.

    The Lunar grins. EVILLY.

    "Hey, birdie, c'mere! No arguments!"

    Finna's hands shimmer, fingernails shifting to claws. she RIPS OPEN ONE WRIST when the little canary nears and holds out the wounded hand, blood dripping everywhere. "DRINK."

    Oh boy. Where is this going?

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica is a flaming hedgehog. Anything flailing at her is going to leave with a limbful of spikes and on fire besides. It doesn't even cause crippling damage, given the nature of the girl-beast's armour and her protective shielding of flames. This form has its limitations, but it comes with some pretty solid advantages too.

    Of course, she's also been knocked into the water. That's a bit distressing. Frederica uncurls from her armoured ball, the flames extinguished, and she begins paddling towards the shore. Fortunately the hedgehog form is a fairly decent swimmer. Fortunately for Frederica, though she did end up in the water, it wasn't while wearing her usual outfit. This form's arguably better suited for it than her human form would be.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     That shock draws a series of pained chirps from the bird, and the impact itself didn't really accomplish what Sanary was hoping to. Her flight is somewhat haphazard as she struggles to get her bearings, and by the time she sees those tentacle arms coming in?

     Well, at least she's small enough to only get hit by one of those instead of several. She's batted out of the air easily, landing right next to Finna with a weak chirp. The healing magic flowing through her is the only thing keeping her conscious, and she's fairly certain that she's not taking bird anatomy into account while fixing herself up.

     "Stupid insect asshole. Stupid bird body. Fff... W-wait, is that what you..." Of course it had to be blood. It couldn't have been some kind of alchemical brew or space booze or... Something! Well, it's not like Sanary has many other options, so she goes to drink some of that blood from Finna's wrist!

     And then she starts changing (again). It's not even a subtle change, either. She grows rapidly in both height and mass, eventually turning into a massive t-rex. Screw subtlety, she's going to charge right at the Twilit Bloat to try and body-slam the insect!

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     Marina's help most likely is what helps get Sarah onto a dry board. Sarah is attacked by one of the tentacles /just/ as she gets onto it, though. The smack is placed at the center of the board, while Sarah is near the edge of it. This leads to the cat being flung through the air, towards the beach of the lake. There isn't a lot of sandy beach, but at least Sarah is going near a pile of grass. Also it's a good thing cats always land on their feet.

     The taste of the tentacle is surprisingly present. Though it is raw, the currently animal body at least helps Yuna handle the taste a bit more. It tastes somewhat like crab, possibly surprisingly. It shrieks in pain as its tentacle is bitten into, and eventually the tentacle is even shed. Her allies' attacks tear at the creature even more, leaving a number of broken parts on its body due to the explosives.

     Frederica is ignored for now, even though she is a bit more prone in the water. Something else has drawn its attention. The giant T-rex running at it. It is slammed back, going flying. It takes a moment in the air to right itself, before it rushes straight at the T-rex again, its tentacles moving forward to try and push at it. Somehow this has become the Hyrule equivalent of a Kaiju Battle.

     Of course, while it is distracted with the T-rex, it is probably a good time to attack. Its shell has broken a bit, especially on the back.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary's feeling very good about herself right around now. For starter's, she's probably taller than everyone else in Hyrule by a large margin, and she's also got the physical bulk to just fight against the insect without having to resort to any sort of weaponry or special techniques or anything like that.

     This must be what powerful people feel like. It's an exhilirating feeling, and she's actually laughing even as she wrestles with Twilit Bloat. She puts her whole weight into it as the massive insect pushes back, pitting strength against strength and trying her best to keep the thing occupied!

     "Come on, you wiggly asshole! I've taken down bigger things than you on my own!" The t-rex bellows out a loud roar as she struggles against it, eventually remembering that's she's got a significantly bigger head and massive teeth. A quiet giggle later, and she'll aim a big ol' chomp right at it!

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica makes it to shore, automatically shaking to spray droplets in all directions. It's not as uncomfortable as it might be for her to have fallen in the water fully-clothed, but it's still a little uncomfortable. Not to mention undignified.

    Getting her bearings, Frederica orients on the battle of the two titans. "Oookay." she says, more or less to herself. She's not sure who's who, but she can probably tell the difference between a giant bloated insect and a lean mean kaiju killing machine like a T-Rex. She didn't see the transformation, but she doesn't need to. "If you're an ally, stay out of my charge path!" she yells out in warning, breaking into a fast waddle as she heads for the melee, trying to aim for the bloated tick-like insect form. When she reaches ramming speed, she ignites and tucks in for another flaming spike slam of doom.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Crab is certainly a lot more tasty than Yuna expected; she keeps clawing, clawing, and biting at the tentacle as long as she can - but when the tentacle is discarded, the cold darkness of the lake surrounds her again before she can recover any kind of solid footing.

Fortunately, she doesn't have time enough to start flailing before a familiar presence is close at hand. All that's visible above the surface is a brief green glow ...

... and then a mer-calico with a mechanical fishtail leaps out of the water.

Yuna had been wondering how her variant armors would adapt to functioning in the Twilight; she seems to have her answer now. She launches a few more of Marina's microtorpedoes, aiming to widen one of the newly-opened cracks in the Twilit Bloat's shell - and then gravity puts an end to her leap, and she practically burrows inside the monster, ripping at its exposed flesh with gold-lit paws and their claws, occasionally tearing a chunk off in her teeth - but only spitting it out. It may *taste* like crab, but in no way does she trust it to be healthy if eaten.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Hell yeah, help! Sarah can almost feel appreciative for a moment as she finally starts grabbing onto a new plank... And then the tentacle beast launches her. The yowl of indignant rage is /real/ as she spins end over end for the shore, but thankfully some instincts seem to be inherent to being a cat and she splops (Yes, splops) onto the beach with a mrrrr of irritation. She scrambles away from the water, and looks back over the tactical situation, noticing it has in fact GONE FULL KAIJU.

"That /does/ look kind of awesome." She says quietly, as if afraid of ruining her sassy demeanor or something.

However, she is right back to yelling again as she notes the big breaks on the back armor of the bug, and starts yelling into the radio some more. "GET UP ON THE HORRORTERROR'S BACK!" She yells. She figures the reason why would be pretty obvious, but you never know. In the meantime, she flops over into that pile of grass, hiding in it and poking her head out as she engages STEALTH CAT MODE. There is no way someone will see a black cat sticking its head out of a pile of grass. Nope. No way.

Finna (513) has posed:
    AND THERE GOES SANARY THE TYRANT LIZARD. "Woooooo! Yes! Now THAT's more like it!" Finna's NEVER SEEN a clash like this, but she EAGERLY joins in. As the T-Rex crashes into the bug and otehrs damage it more and more... its exoskeleton is cracking.

    All according to plan. She pulls out a plethora of KNIVES from seemingly nowhere and jsut starts HURLING them at prodigious speeds with an eye on those cracks.

    Because there are few problems you can't solve with enough knives.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     The force of the T-rex against the Twilit Bloat keeps it at bay. The thing has one advantage against Sanary: Its limbs are longer. Even as it is being bitten into, its tentacles move forward to jab at Sanary's underside. It aims to hit hard, enough to pierce skin. It cries out in pain constantly despite its continued assault, due to the bite upon its body.

     The rushing hedgehog only makes things worse. This time, she manages to hit straight into a nice soft spot in its cracked shell. It cries out again, bleeding. from the crack in its body, a hint of light can be seen. It's shining brightly, much like a Tear of Light. More of hte light shines as the torpedoes fly in to strike at it, even louder cries. This causes the Twilit Bloat to stumble, giving the Sanary-Rex more of an advantage.

     Finally, Finna's knives move in. As the blades press in, the creature lets out a roar of pain. It's body begins to swell, light bursting from its body. It's soft insides have faded away, replaced completely with light.

     Suddenly, the creature bursts. Its exoskeleton breaks into pieces, spreading across the landscape. All that remains is a Tear of Light. It slowly moves down, floating above the water and waiting for people to claim it. The Twilight in the area begins to fade as well, returning everyone to their normal forms.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna's practically in the water already when the Twilit Bloat explodes; the dispersal of the Twilight leaves her reverting from mer-cat form to the more conventional 'armored mermaid' shape of her regular Marine Form.

And a moment later, she surfaces with a leap out of the water, grasping the Tear of Light on her way up and holding it aloft at the peak of her jump. She doesn't 'pose' for long with it, though, holding it close as she turns and dives back into the water; if any of her allies need help getting back to dry land after the boss fight's end, she's prepared to lend a hand.

(Just one, though; the other hand is full and she's *not* letting go of that precious treasure.)

Frederica (73) has posed:
    As the twilight recedes, Frederica transforms back into her normal form. She's slightly dizzy, somewhat wet, and irritated to find her wet skirt clinging almost indecently to her thighs. Happy though, pleased that they defeated this monstrosity, helped out the Zora Queen, and... what's this? A Tear of Light! "Most excellent." she murmurs, watching Yuna claim the prize. Very appropriate, given she's the Warrior of Light.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
It's over.

"FINALLY." Sarah grouses as she flops back into the pile of grass, wet greens stuck all over her as she just lies there messily, staring up at the now-cleared sky. "No one's dead? How about the T-Rex? Everything fine? Great." She doesn't even bother looking, she seems exhausted. "Got the tear? Cool. Now we can get the princess and let her visit the grave provbided it wasn't smashed up. It's not smashed up, is it?"

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Maybe it's just a side-effect of being a huge carnivore, but the stabbing at Sanary's underside draws furious growls from her even while her mouth is full. It definitely doesn't help that her arms can't do much to stop it at all, but she just needs to hold out long enough for the others to finish the insect off!

     And finish it off they do. Just in time, even, as the transformation making her taller than she's ever been wears off. It's probably for the best that she's wearing sweatpants instead of something thinner, or else she'd be just as indecent as Frederica! That wet t-shirt of hers would almost be so if not for the fact that the end of that transformation leaves Sanary face-down in a daze.

     "... Nguh. Good work, team. I'm alive! Uh. We should do that again some time. Anyone need healing or..?" She's not even bothering to get up, instead just letting some healing energy loiter around her in a green light cloud while letting it work on her own injuries.

Finna (513) has posed:
    RESULTS! Of the best kind. Finna YANKS at the air... and all those knives come flying back to her. Only really sharp eyes can see the glistening silvery silk lines like puppet strings that facilitate this. She snags them all out of the air and tucks them away back to... wherever they were stored before, huh.

    "Well, that was a thing! Go team! We scored a Tear of Light! ... is this the only one though?"

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     The grave, for reference, is on the island that was across from the pier. It'll be a swim to get there now, but the stone monument to the King of the Zora still stands, albeit a bit covered in moss due to the time it has left alone.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
"We're going to need to take it back to the Spring to find out. If nothing else, it should buy us enough time to get others if we need to." Sarah says, finally sitting up and shaking grass out of her hair. She stands up and lookc ovver the wreckage. "Ugh. Good thing the Zora know how to swim, because that thing isn't getting fixed anytime soon."

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna does a rather odd thing. She just takes a flying LEAP and... sails onto the lake's surface... and just...

    KEEPS RUNNING across the surface straight towards the lonely royal grave to go investigate. And make sure nothing WEIRD is over there.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     "I.. I think I'm good over here. Just gonna." Sanary finally pushes herself up to get her face off the ground, wobbling a bit while reorienting herself. She's up just in time to see Finna running across the water, blinking slowly at the sight of the white-haired woman just bolting across the lake.

     "... So! Uh. I'm gonna go, then. Any of you need a pick me up before I go, or..?" She claps her hands together and, without really waiting for a response, just throws out some healing bursts at each person in turn. Wound mending, energy boosting, and magic recharging all in one conveniently green package!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna is kind of torn at this point. On the one hand, she's well-equipped for swimming across the lake right now, and she wouldn't mind checking out the grave. On the other hand, she has that Tear of Light and does NOT want to waste time or take unnecessary risks doing recon when there's somewhere the Tear needs to be delivered.

... and then Finna just runs across the lake's surface as if it were a comfortably paved track.

Yuna stares for a moment, then heads towards shore with the others. The healing magic from Sanary prompts her to stop where she is and 'accept' the spell; once her healing's been completed (along with the other benefits), Yuna finishes getting up on dry land, disengaging from Marine Form once she's safely out of the water. Marina rematerializes fully next to Yuna once that's done.