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9169/Sigh... Saving Sundew

2026-06-27T19:47:55Z

TwilightSparkle: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2026/01/19 |Location=The Sundew Kingdom |Synopsis=After taking a few Tribbles home, Sarra accidentally causes an ecological disaster! Madeleine, Ai..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2026/01/19
|Location=The Sundew Kingdom
|Synopsis=After taking a few Tribbles home, Sarra accidentally causes an ecological disaster! Madeleine, Aidan, and Alexis come to assist in containing the fuzzy menace!
|Cast of Characters=446, 459, 7373, 7608
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Welcome to the Sundew Kingdom!      The visitors today have all been here before, but it might still be impressive to see. It is a lush, thick jungle with trees the size of skyscrapers and underbrush that could hide houses. There is only one road that leads from the nearest crossroads between kingdoms through the jungle to the castle town, and despite it being a nearly straight road one cannot see the city until one reaches the shores of the lake it was built into. A broad, heavy drawbridge spans the lake so people can reach the city by ground.      But, the easiest way to reach the city is by air! There is a bustling airport made of several levels of floating platforms that support various wooden airships and other aerial vehicles. Despite being dozens of stories tall, the airport still does not reach the tops of the trees. And neither do the towers of the castle.      When the incoming tribble trackers arrive, there are two places of interest. One is the princess's chambers, which are in the highest room in the tallest tower of the castle. There is a balcony if anyone wishes to fly up, but the entrances into the room are sealed both there and inside the castle halls.      There are four towers in total, with a hexagonal middle area that likely contains the throne area and dining hall. The other point of interest is the next tallest tower of the castle, judging by the flow of soldiers toward it and the flow of servants away from it. Something is happening in there, but talk from those moving to and away is that they can't get into it for some reason. The doors are either jammed or locked. Apparently that tower is where Sarra's stores of food and power-ups are kept.      Those passing through the jungle road may notice large bug people on their way. Mantis-like in appearance, complete with scythe-like front arms except they all stand at least 7 feet tall. They are clearly tribal people judging by their lack of real clothing. What they do wear is things like flowers and bones, and they tend to carry long primative spears. They are watching the castle town warily and their antennae are wiggling, as if they can sense something is wrong. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Look, Alexis can understand the facination with small cute fuzzy things. She knows how Sarracenia gets. Hey she has her own moments, when with people she doesn't feel the need to keep up all the tough tomboy attitude. It's how other people reacted to hearing about the things that got her a bit concerned. Sure, sure, Madeleine may not be on the best of terms with her friends right now. But she's still an experienced hero, and if she's concerned there's probably something worth being concerned about, a little bit. So Alexis isn't wasting much time, making only a brief stop at the airport platforms as necessary for arriving in the Kingdom. By this point she's well known to be one of the Princess' best friends/ladies-in-waiting and it only takes a brief check before she's ushered on her way, once more taking off upon her Flygon towards the castle. As they pass through the portion of jungle the tribal mantoids gathering near it's bounderies is hard to miss. That's... maybe nothing. But she's been told before they don't gather like that so visibly unless there's something important. But thoughts on the matter are quickly swept aside as Mirage pulls up to land on the familiar balcony outside Sarracenia's room atop the tall tower. Alexis slips down from her back, a green colored cat sitting atop her head as she walks over to the door... and of course finds it locked. Okay, now she's a little worried. Sarra typically doesn't lock that door, as it is the way Alexis usually comes and goes on her visits to not have to trudge through the entire castle. As if sensing the tension forming around them Catnip bristles a bit with a small mewl of concern. "Yeah... I'm hoping everyone is just overreacting too," she mutters up at the Sprigarito, then knocks on the door. "Sarra, you in there?! What's going on girl?" 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' Despite the worry of Captain Thorn, Aidan is firmly not worried. This is fine. Sarra has locked herself up in her room before, right? What trouble can she get up to? What was the last time Sarra did something c- Oh yea. THAT. Still, Madeleine is worried about this. So, rather than take his time to look as prim and proper to at least mirror some of the work Sarra puts into herself, Aidan is here from his exercise. A tank top that says 'Powered By Nuts', jogging shorts, a hastily holstered gun, and his shields as he leaps out from the warpgate and starts running. He grabs the first guard he can, pulling him close, "Heya, so there's a little thing going on, can you tell me where it is going on?" He is all smiles waving at the giant bug-people, nothing wrong here. Rather than going through the castle itself, Aidan takes the straightest course, gripping the sides of the wall and scurrying up. He expertly revolves around the tower, climbing up to join the guards at the top. 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     On a good day, Madeleine might stop to compliment the insect people's spears - though of simple make, the designs are efficient and well-maintained - or maybe grab some ice cream. But today is not a good day. Madeleine is looking haggard, with bags under her eyes and hair that's hardly touched a brush in days. And her present condition aside, she's here on urgent business.     The first thing she does is look for the captain of the guard who'd reached out over radio earlier. When she finds him, she has a barrage of questions. Where is the tribble crate? Has the princess said why she isn't opening her door? How many tribbles are in there with her? Have the tribbles had a chance to feed since they were located and secured? Assuming one tribble, multiplying with an average litter of ten producing a new generation every twelve hours, how many tribbles could be in that tower right now? 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      The guard captain is found at the front gate of the castle itself, talking with a few other officers. The piranha plant officers are all in slightly fancier armor than the usual soldier or sailor with man-o-war hats that have a red feather, so they are easy to find. He turns as she approaches, standing slightly taller than most other piranha plants.      Where is the crate? Locked in the dungeon. Has the princess answered them about opening her door? Only to say she is busy. How many tribbles are in there with her? They have no idea. Have they had a chance to feed? Again no idea. How many tribbles? Still no idea, but the tribbles were recovered over three days ago. The guards aren't the best at math, but that doesn't seem like a lot to them. It should be manageable, right?      Alexis's knock on the door is met with silence. Even the curtains are drawn over the large intricate glass doors that form the balcony entrance. After a few moments, the side of one is pulled back enough for just Sarra's eyes to be visible. They widen when the princess sees it is Alexis, then what sounds like five locks are undone in an almost cartoonish fashion before she finally opens the door and quickly pulls Alexis in. "Forgive me, Mirage!" she says before closing the door again. Inside...      ...tribbles are popping one by one out of Sarra's purse one at a time. She quickly runs to hold it closed again. "Alexis! Please, you cannot tell them! I only took one, but...somehow this happened!" There are at least a couple dozen already in the room, and judging by how the purse keeps bulging every now and then they are still trying to escape.      Aidan is met with a different perspective. The tower he is climbing is pretty well secured from the outside, but there are windows every now and then that he could slip into. If he does climb all the way to the top he might notice...that the top of the tower is bulging upward.      Suddenly, an alarm starts going off. Similar to an air raid siren. It is very loud, and moments after it goes off people and plants start pouring out of the tower. One of them is stopped by the guard captain as he is talking to Madeleine.      "Soldier! What is going on in there?!" Thorn asks.      "We broke open the door to the weapons room, and it was filled with...those things! And they must have eaten some fireflowers because-"      He does not get to finish the sentence before the top of the tower explodes upward like a volcano. Or...really more like a popcorn machine. Tribbles go flying everywhere! Whatever their reproduction rate is supposed to be, there must be hundreds or even a few thousand flying outward. And nearly all of them seem to be under the influence of power-ups! Some fly away using raccoon ears and a tail. Some heroically fly off using capes. Some Bullet Bills fly out over the forest before exploding into tribbles that rain down on the jungle. Some are firing fireballs or ice bolts, some have on shiny black helmets and are somehow holding small hammers that get thrown about.      The high power of the explosion suggests bob-ombs. They must have set off Sarra's stock of them. The height and arc means that the city only has a light amount of tribbles landing around, which the soldiers will easily be able to mop up.      The real problem is the jungle. As tribbles rain down, chirping and buzzing fills the air. A chorus that most anyone would recognize as 'this means war' which is easily tracked to the bug people.      "...the chief is really not going to be happy about this." Captain Thorn says, and runs toward the front gate of the city. Already there is an even larger bug with an ornate headdress of bones and feathers and piranha plant teeth. And she is glaring at the Captain and whoever else emerges. 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     Madeleine is just about to enter the storeroom tower when the alarm sounds to evacuate. She finds herself caught up in the rush and carried away from her objective, just far enough to have a perfect view of the explosion, and the catastrophic swarm of tribbles it unleashes. This is *really bad*. Seeing the outpouring of tribbles into the jungle, Madeleine rushes for the city gates, ready for war (against tribbles) even before she realizes the possibility of war (with the bug people). She skids to a halt right in front of the insectoids' leader.     "Okay so! Yes, this is bad, and yes, it's the Sundew Kingdom's fault. You handed a problem over to them and they made it a lot worse for you and for me. But right now isn't the time for blame! That can come later, and I promise it *will* come, but right now we have to deal with this emergency. There's, uh... oh LOOK OUT!"     The huntress dives, barreling through and over the bug chief before dragging the mantis-woman with her into cover as a swarm of high-velocity tribbles bounces along the coastline. Though still soft, they're moving upwards of ninety miles an hour, having built up some serious velocity in their long fall from the exploding tower. "Damn it..." Madeleine curses, before spotting Aidan among the emerging fray. "HEY!" she shouts to get his attention before waving him over to where she shelters alongside the mantis chief.     "We need to stop those awful bouncing ones! And then... probably the fire-flowers should be our next priority, we can't let them start a blaze in the jungle! Any ideas?" She glances between the squirrel and the bug expectantly. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis lets out a sigh of relief as Sarra peeks out, then the clicking of locks opening is heard. "Oh good you are up he--Ack!" Sarra grabs onto her and yanks her through the door before she can finish saying anything. Or before Mirage can realize what's going on, leaving the Flygon just to look confused for the moment. Though at least she got an apology! Poor Mirage may of been left outside, but Catnip is still sitting on Alexis' head so he gets by proxy pulled inside, and gets to see the same fuzzy apocalypse that has been forming in Sarracenia's room. "Myaa." Which is enough to still get Alexis to briefly pinch the bridge of her nose and muttering under her breath. "Yeaaaah, about that Sarra, your staff already saw you sneaking out with one." Okay monster trainer, time to do damage control. First Alexis notes Sarra holding the purse shut, and recalls what people were saying about the critters earlier when the crate was reported. "No, no! Let them out. Get them outta your purse, they're just eating all the snacks you keep in there and multiplying faster than a Ditto in the Daycare!" Of course there's already the ones loose in the room. Alexis flicks open her Pokedex in one hand and starts skimming through the mobile storage boxes app looking for certain Pokemon. "Catnip, I need a moment, do something to keep them from spreading." "Myaa!" The ivy colored feline leaps down from her head to land in front of Alexis, fur still bristled. Small glowing shapes almost like thorns burst from his form, launching at a few tribbles. Where on impact they quickly sprout out, spawning into a tangle of roots and vines in an attempt to bind the small fluffballs in place via Grass Knot. 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' Hm. Aidan flexes backwards from the tower, using his legs to hold himself in position and peer up at the bulging roof of the tower. In a movie, this is where the camera would zoom into his face as he murmurs 'what the' to himself. A furry little spheroid hits Aidan in the face, using his face as a launching board to fly up into the air on the cape. Another three in buzzy beetle helmets crash into him, pushing him down with each blow until he grabs the tower upside down, letting more tribbles fly away from him. A puff of air blows a hammer off course. A quick scuttle across the tower helps him avoid getting blasted by a fireball. He tilts his head downward as Maddy calls up to him. "Oh! There you are!" Aidan flips back down, facing the tower again before WOOSH. He blows out at the tower, flying into the air. Squirrels are exceptionally good at falling. Aidan spreads his arms and legs wide, like a skydiver, and his tail flutters out in the wind. He lands some way out in front of the group, landing into a loping run and then a skid to a halt in front of them. "Oh! Hey chief! Hey Madeleine!" He waves at the mantis with a grin before turning towards Madeleine. He turns towards where she is pointing. Hurtling like bullets, the tribbles are coming towards the group like a fusilliade of plush toys. A 'squeak' chokes out of Aidan's throat before he steps forward. White roils out of his mouth, tendrils of air lacing up into his fingers as he weaves a wall. With a rush, he pushes it forward. It's like passing through mud, the air barrier thick enough to slow down bullets. "Uh, ice! Can you do an ice wall?" He pulls the pistol out from his side. "You block them off, I'll glue them down." 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     "Uh, ice! Can you do an ice wall?"     Madeleine nods sharply and takes a deep breath of her own before blowing out a large cloud of misty vapor. Guided by Madeleine's will, it flows around the wind barrier and forms a wide ring of ice around the bounce-imbued tribbles. Their ricochets back and forth around the circle would eventually punch through the ice, were it not for Aidan's wind-wall. Instead, each time they pass over the center of the ring they lose more and more speed to the aerodynamic interference, until they drop out of the air to be left huddled at the base of the wind barrier. Without their initial burst of literal explosive speed, the superball tribbles will be stuck inside the ice arena for easy clean-up later.     Unless the fireball-spewing tribbles get to it first. They appear to have little control over when or where they spit fire, instead coughing bursts of flame seemingly at random. Already a small patch of jungle is ablaze, and one of the big trees has been set alight. Madeleine has little recourse against wide-area threats like that presented by the Fire Flower-gorged tribbles, and doesn't seem inclined to risk her eyebrows today - instead she hustles off into the jungle, to handle tribble threats yet unrevealed. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      'Yeaaaah, about that Sarra, your staff already saw you sneaking out with one.'      Sarra's expression sinks. "Oh...I see." she says. As the Sprigatito traps the tribbles in the room...the explosion rocks Sarra's room and the pressure in Sarra's purse disappears as she stumbles onto her bed. "What was that?!" Sarra exclaims, then opens her balcony to look outside. She sees all the tribbles raining down, then yelps and dives for cover as a Bullet Bill comes rocketing into her room. It explodes, sending more tribbles raining down on Alexis and her cat-mon. Sarra whines plaintively as several pieces of furniture are shattered. Most notably her luxurious bed. "Let them out...might have been a good idea..." Sarra says, peeking over her balcony railing at the scene outside.      Captain Thorn skids to a stop alongside Madeleine, and the chief is just about to start talking when Madeleine intercepts the mantis's concerns. Then, tackles the chieftain! They tumble, and the chieftain rolls to catch her momentum and ends up with a scythe clamped down around Madeleine. Dangerous flying tribbles rocket by, leaving the mantis leader blinking (which consists of the dark area visible through the translucent lenses of her eyes appearing and disappearing) and she lets Madeleine go. "So, you know what you are doing? Unlike these interlopers?" she says, having a rather smooth and human-like voice despite her appearance.      Aidan lands nearby and the large mantis regards him curiously. "...that is a rather casual way to address a chief." she comments, but does not seem too upset by it. "We will help where we can, but we are ill-equipped to deal with something like this. We do not use these curse-ed power-ups that the city dwellers use. They are false power, lost when one takes any sort of harm. And we would rather not harm these creatures if possible. However..."      She raises a hand, and a couple dozen mantises wearing pitcher plants as large as themselves as backpacks emerge. "...we will assist you by containing them once their powers have been taken."      The mantises start catching tribbles and throwing them into their plants. As pitcher plants are filled, they are sealed up and taken back to the lake's shoreline. As Madeleine dives into the jungle, the chieftain watches curiously. "I hope she does know how to handle herself. There are much more dangerous things than these fluffy creatures out there." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' The initial eruption also gets Mirage's attention as she's still sitting on the balcony. So she's also the first to see the chaos following it, and promptly launches herself into the air. So thankfully not on the balcony when the Bullet Bill comes hurtling up. But also not in a position to do anything about it. While Alexis is busy recalling Catnip and diving for cover as there's explosions and living projectiles. It takes a moment before everyone can regain their wits and Alexis steps over to the now open balcony. "... That's the tower the crate was locked in, isn't it?" she asks, although the answer is already kind of obvious. Then looks around. "Mirage?" Fortunately the Flygon reveals that she escaped the Bullet Bill bombarding as she flies around the other side of the tower. However she's still a bit paniced, pointing out where a part of the jungle has caught fire. "Sunnova... Com'n, lets go." She hoists herself onto the Flygon's back as she lifts off the balcony. This is exactly why she doesn't bring very many Fire pokemon out when she's in Sundew. But for the moment as Mirage dives towards the fire outbreak she switches track, grabbing two more Pokeballs and tossing them out. "Go, Mudslinger, Slosh! Get that fire contained before it spreads to more of the jungle!" The two pokeballs releases, and the larger form of her Swampert lands near the fire... while the Quagsire just bellyflops face first into the ground. Only to stand up afterwards, swaying a little for a moment but his derpy blank expression undaunted. It's Mudslinger that points at him, then points up at the air, before turning towards the fire. Slosh proceeds to cock his head back, mouth opening almost disturbingly wide as he makes some gurgling, gargling noises, and then spews out water high into the air. Which starts to fall down around them and the fire like a light rain. In addition to damping the fires from spreading Rain Dance also boosts the power of Water based abilities. So when Mudslinger starts playing firetruck by spewing Hydro Pump at the burning trees it's with even greater flame dousing capacity. But if she's dousing the fire someone else is going to have to worry about wrangling Tribbles for the moment. 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' There's always a certain joy in Aidan's eyes as he watches someone else's powers at work. A bit of 'the grass is always greener'. The arena of ice, a solid bowl for the bouncers to steadily work their inertia out in is a great trick. "So, you know what you are doing? Unlike these interlopers?" As Aidan pulls up his pistol, his ears flick backwards and his tail freezes. "You mean the fuzzy animals, right?" He says, hopefully. Please let her mean the fuzzy animals. The possibility that Aidan is going to need to sit down Sarracenia to talk to her about her kingdom incroaching on indigneous people's lands as WELL as the Ritescu talk sits on Aidan's shoulders like a ton of bricks. "Well, no." He pulls out a DRUM MAGAZINE from his bag and snaps it into the pistol. A shield slides over his free hand. "Usually I just figure things out as I go along. Just keep them gathered up and safe!" Wind doesn't go well with fire. And neither does fur. Besides, Aidan is a bit sensitive about his fur, there's a lot of it and he likes it to look good. Wielding a pistol with a drum magazine looks cooler than it is. White globs of sticky GLUE FOAM fire out from the pistol, slamming into soft fuzzy bodies, arresting movement with an unfortunate obeyance to the laws of inertia. He builds up into a healthy jog, rushing them down with the gun. Two quick shots at a time, not bothering to be stingy with the ammo. Fire bounces off his shield, splattering into the grass, over his head and face, threatening to singe his ears and eyebrows. Just as a lob of fireballs comes at him, coming painfully close to blowing off some of his hair, the water comes down in a light rain, quickly matting down his fur. "Thanks for the rescue!" 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     Aidan's glue-foam proves rather effective at both pinning down the tribbles to prevent them from spreading out, and dampening their flames. With a whole lot of non-flammable material coming from his direction, and both a constant sprinkle of water and some focused torrents from Alexis's Pokemon, the fires begin to die out. In a matter of minutes the area is safe enough for the mantids to start collecting the de-powered, soggy tribbles in their backpacks.     Then a great crashing is heard from the treeline, and Madeleine emerges from the jungle at a full sprint. The roar of something truly immense rings out among the chaos. A tribble the size of a large house rumbles out between two of the giant trees, crushing smaller vegetation under its enormous bulk. But that's not Madeleine's main concern. Without looking behind her, she cups her hands around her mouth and shouts:     "They're coming out of the ground!"     It's just enough warning to get the mantids scurrying for solid terrain - outcroppings of stone or freestanding boulders - as the earth begins to shake. Then, dozens of tribbles with wide, conical drill-heads bore their way up from underground, wandering aimlessly and heedless of the destruction they're wreaking on the soil. "We have to keep them away from the trees! If they chew through the roots they'll come down on us - and the city!" Madeleine points to one of the towering jungle trees, easily tall enough to cross the clearing between the jungle and the Sundew Kingdom and wreak havoc on both were it to fall. What's more, it's hard to get an accurate idea of how many drill tribbles there are, or where they are, because they keeping digging down in one place and popping up in another. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      '... That's the tower the crate was locked in, isn't it?'      Sarra shakes her head. "No. That was the tower with all the food and power-ups stored in it." she says gravely. The fire starts up and Sarra gasps! As Mirage takes off, Sarra grabs on to the Flygon's tail. "Hey! You cannot leave me he-EEEEEEEK!" The Flygon takes off, dragging Sarra off the balcony and waving her up and down as it flies. Sure, Sarra is used to flying but it is usually under her own power-up or in a vehicle, not dangling precariously from a fan-shaped tail!      Sarra climbs her way up to a more stable position, wrapping arms and legs around that tail, then pulls out an ice flower and joins in the fire-fighting. Ice bolts rain down, but are only a drop in the bucket against a growing forest fire. Alexis's water pokemon are much more effective.      'You mean the fuzzy animals, right?'      "No, I mean the Sundew Kingdom. While it is true they have left us alone for the most part, they built in our lands against our will." the chieftain answers Aidan. "We have had a tense peace, but they are considered interlopers by my people."      Captain Thorn grunts and folds his leaf-arms. "That was decades ago now, and the kingdom has paid your people handsomely." The cheiftan frowns. "Which is the only reason there was not a war in the first place."      Tribbles are collected quickly by the mantids, so no one has to worry about them escaping to cause more trouble. The crashing in the forest draws the chieftain's eyes, and mantids are out of the way long before the tribble emerges.      The drilling tribbles though, those are going to cause some problems. Not just with the trees, but if they make it to the city the foundations of the buildings would also be at risk! "Guards! Form ranks!" Captain Thorn calls out, and piranha plants in steel breastplates wielding long spears gather just off the end of the bridge to fend off incoming drills. "Lift the bridge!" he calls out. There is a heavy clank as the lock is presumably released, then the draw bridge starts to lift to try and ensure no tribbles can make it back into the city. Mantids help as well. There are not enough of them to stop the tribbles, but they catch and depower those drill tribbles that get close to them.      "Mega tribble?!" Sarra exclaims from her spot hanging on to Mirage's tail. "That is one of the few power-ups that does not simply disappear if you are hit! We have to wait it out! Try and force it away from the city! Maybe down the main road!" 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' "That was decades ago now, and the kingdom has paid your people handsomely." "That's no okay! It's not something you can just pay out, you have to pay for your past crimes!" A sore spot for Aidan. Fantasy guns don't have dramatic quick releases. It takes Aidan a second to grab the drum off the gun and drop it to the side. With a fluid motion, he pockets the gun in the holster, using the other hand to start wiping water from his face. His ears stand up tall as his hand comes across his eyes. The slow painful CRACKING sound of trees, the rumbling of something massive moving forward. "They're coming out of the ground!" As everyone scatters, Aidan is already moving up towards a tree to get away from where he might become paste on the ground. The first sign of drills appearing gets another low whistle from Aidan as he comes back off a branch. "Wow, I didn't know you had THOSE, Sarra!" His hand fits comfortably into a cloth strap as Aidan leaps off from the top of the tree. A neat somersault to the ground turns into a back hand swing, bringing the shield down with a loud CLONK against one of the tribbles, batting it away into a harmless ball. A leap back from one drilling up into the air, then another CLONK. Ear flick flick. He can hear the ground rumbling. Aidan pulls the shield off his hand, snapping it out with a shot to clonk another trible at range, snapping it back with a rush of wind. He turns the other direction, hurling his shield like a warrior princess(and showing about the same amount of 'skin') at another, before whipping it back. "Alexis! I need you to take care of the big one!" 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:'''     "They're coming out of the ground!" That's enough of a warning for Alexis, use to dealing with all sorts of creatures with strange powers, to work with. Fortunately she's still on Mirage's back and the Flygon is mid-air, so they're safe. The pokemon on the ground, not so much. Even if the Tribbles aren't really directly trying to attack anything or anyone, collateral damage is still collateral damage. "Defensive measures!" she shouts at the two of them even as the ground is being burst out of and rubble flung about from it. Mudslinger steps back, holding his broad forearms up to shield his face as his fins spread fully. This generates some manner of aura -- Protect -- to shield himself from stray tribbles bursting out of the ground. While Slosh... just stands there, looking dopey. It's not until a drill tribble smacks into his face, almost comically, and he's totally unphased or undamaged by it as the tribble falls away is it more apparent what he did. Used Curse. Which boosts his offensive and defensive abilities at the cost of speed... which Quagsire already doesn't really care much about. Now they need a bit more oomph. But the Mega Tribble just makes Alexis smirk a bit in response to Aldan directing them at the big menace. "I have just the thing. It's time, Mudslinger." Alexis slides back one sleeve, revealing the glowing orb set into the back of her trainer glove, that she presses her other hand against to activate. Energy engulfs Mudslinger, crackling as what appears to be a DNA helix shaped like a flame briefly flashes upon the engulfing force, and then it shatters away. As Mudslinger roars, now looking more like a buffed bulked up gorilla-like amphibian in his Mega Swampert form. "Go get the big guy, big guy! Liquidation!" As a bonus the Rain Dance is also activating his Swift Swim ability, making the Mega Swampert more than fast enough to launch himself at the Mega Tribble with his massive fists forward, and all the force of a crashing tsunami wave, to push the giant furball away from the city! Meanwhile Slosh waddles seemingly indifferently over to Aidan, and starts spitting globs of frigid Chilling Water at the tribbles bonked by his shield throws to help incapacitate them by making them too cold to move. 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     "Mega tribble?! That is one of the few power-ups that does not simply disappear if you are hit! We have to wait it out! Try and force it away from the city! Maybe down the main road!"     Madeleine shoots a thumbs-up in Sarra's direction, then puts that hand back on her spear and turns to prepare herself for the mega tribble's approach. It's almost upon her - and she's starting to realize this may not have been wise of her - when Mudslinger slams into the enormous tribble. He braces his feet on the ground and the two behemoths grind to a halt. The mega tribble appears to have hardly noticed the opposition, and even though it's stopped moving toward the city it's taking all of the Mega Swampert's strength to keep it from doing so.     "Let me give you a hand!" Madeleine calls, and pounces toward the tribble to join the assault. Rather than shoving and hoping strength is enough to steer the colossus away from the city, she lunges with her spear - it's unlikely that she'll inflict more than flesh wounds, but her real goal is to just inflict enough pain that the tribble even notices its opposition! Eventually, with Mudslinger keeping the creature in check, the huntress's goading begins to pay off as the mega tribble shifts its bulk and begins rolling down the main road, away from Madeleine's precision jabs.     Meanwhile Aidan batters down the drill tribbles with his shields, and with the help of Slosh and the Sundew Kingdom's defensive line is able to corral and surround them, where they are easily hemmed in and stripped of their power-ups. With Madeleine and Mudslinger pushing the mega tribble back away from the city, it seems like another lull is impending, when-     CLANG     Aidan's shield strikes solid metal. A new swarm of tribbles, impossibly heavy, begin rolling out of the open tunnels left by the drill tribbles. Each of the new arrivals bears a cap with a "T" (for Tribble) embossed on it, made of the same reflective metal as their bodies. With their mass and iron-hard composition it may take something other than brute force to deal with this wave... 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      'That's no okay! It's not something you can just pay out, you have to pay for your past crimes!'      The guard captain is not a politician, so he just says, "Look, I am not here to argue the past or what fair compensation is. I am just here to defend the kingdom and its people!" he says as he smashes an incoming drill with his spear and sends the tribble bouncing into a nearby pitcher plant basket. "Talk to the royals if you want to hash that out!"      'Wow, I didn't know you had THOSE, Sarra!'      Sarra finally drops down from Mirage's tail. "Thank you for the ride!" she calls up to Alexis and Mirage as she falls. She lands beside Aidan and huffs. "I do not have those. If I go drilling into the ground I would get my dress dirty! Those are for the construction and landscaping workers." Sarra says as she starts helping bat away drills with that hammer of hers, then prepares to help repel the Mega Tribble.      That seems to be handled, though. Sarra blinks, then stands down. At least until tat heavy CLANG from Aidan's shield. "What in the-...metal caps?!"      Sarra swings her hammer, and it similarly CLANGS against a tribble, bringing it to a stop but only just and sending the princess into a spiral from the backlash. She ends up looking a bit rattled and dizzy by the time she stops.      Meanwhile, Guard Captain Thorn looks pale. "We can't fight these! Metal caps are nearly unstoppable!!" They almost made it through an entire ordeal being heroic, but...faced with an enemy they know they can't beat, the rank and file soldiers start fleeing in every direction, just trying to avoid getting squashed by a flying cannonball of a tribble. Even Thorn can't do much besides run, but it isn't just random. He at least tries to run in directions that if tribbles can chase him they will chase him the same direction as the Mega Tribble.      "W-we...just have to hold out until the caps wear off!" Sarra says, still looking a bit woozy. She reaches into her purse to pull out...she blinks and reaches deeper...then slowly pulls her hand back. "I...am out of power-ups..." she says, something that has obviously never happened to her before. It isn't too hard for her to avoid the tribbles, but what is she going to do about them?      The mantids let out shrill warning chirps as the metal tribbles emerge, then spread their wings and fly up to perch in the trees. "I am afraid we will be no help against these. It is best to just get out of the way of a metal cap." the chieftain says before she joins the others in the trees.      "I just hope they wear off!" Sarracenia adds. "People cannot stay metal forever, but...these things are quite small! There is no telling how long the metal power will last! We need some way to trap them!" 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Rollin rollin rollin, keep the tribble rollin... Once the Mega Tribble is moving it isn't hard for Mudslinger to keep it moving, so we will let that just roll off-camera for the moment and let the Mega Mushroom eventually wear off. Besides, there's other things to worry about, as there's now several metallic tribbles. And this is a power up she's seen used before, so she knows how durable it can make things. "Just great..." But then she remembers something else. The metal powerup also makes the user heavier, and slower. "Mirage, to the ground, or you're gonna be vulnerable for this." The Flygon nods and hovers down, also making it a shorter drop for Sarra, while letting Alexis off her back. So she can recall both her and Slosh. "Good work you two, but we need a different approach for this. A... catty one." Poor joke, but it fits as she brings the Sprigatito back out, and her female Meowstic. It's the latter that makes a face at seeing the metallic furballs, and drolls telepathically "Oh, what encrouching doom is this? Metallic zombies? At least that is somewhat different." Alexis rubs her face. "Catalyst, don't start. Just help slow them down." Trap them is exactly what she intends to do. "Catnip, just like you did before." And then takes a few steps back herself. "Very well." Catalyst plants herself, spreads her dual tails for balance... and uncurls her ears. This might not seem like much at first, but it reveals the organs that channel her psychic powers, allowing her to use it's full potential. And what does she do with that power? She uses Gravity. Which does just as it suggests, increase gravity in the area to the point that it drags down and slows others. Especially ones that are already heavier, like being metalized. It also makes those slowed forms easier to hit, allowing Catnip to again spawn the thorns that sprout into Grass Knots to grappled onto the Metal Tribbles, farther restraining them until the power-up wears off and they can be collected. "Sometimes you just gotta play the stall game," Alexis comments to no one in particular. 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' Bouncing on his foot pads, Aidan brims with energy. A flutter of his tail with every swing. And then- CLANG! The shock rolls up his arm, causing Aidan to stagger back. Soothing the pain in his wrist, he whips his head around to see the be-hatted tribbles. Every movement makes a loud clang, like a hammer striking an iron. A shield comes next, hurled like a discus at the nearest tribble. It bounces off, whipping back towards Aidan and his hand. "Sarra! I want one of these! The hat, I mean." Oh, there's Sarra. A grin splits his face, "Sometimes you gotta get dirty to do the good stuff, Sarra. Just think how surprised someone would look if you could burrow up from underneath them." Watching her almighty strength unable to blast one of the tribbles even off the ground, Aidan takes one worried foot back, then another. Make it up and hope it works. Aidan flicks his hand out towards one of the mighty jungle trees. White wind lashes around it. Wind forms in his mouth, milky white tendrils shaving off little lines of energy. Little lines of white slam into the tree's trunk, tearing more and more out of it. The air fills with those gunshot sounds of wood CRACKING, chips of it flying off as Aidan pulls with air. His chest heaves with the strain of so much magic, his body twists against itself, straining to pull with the wind. "Watch out!" The tree finally snaps free, a horrible jagged line of a break. Wooden shrapnel fires in every direction like a mine going off as Aidan brings one of the jungle trees down into the Metal Tribbles. Not as a weapon, but simply as an annoyance. 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     Catalyst's gravity does just the trick, playing off the only real weakness metal tribbles have - their own weight. Some of the larger ones can barely move under their enhanced weight, and even the littlest are slowed by a fair amount, making them easy pickings for tying up with vines. Then a tree comes down, its own weight enhanced significantly by the gravity effect. It slams into the ground - and causes the drill tribbles' tunnels to collapse under the tremendous weight. A great cloud of dust blows into the air and loose soil sprays everywhere, and the cacophony of the burrow-ridden earth collapsing under the tree's weight is deafening. For a moment that great impact may as well be the only thing in the world, because seeing and hearing beyond the immediate surrounds is impossible.     After what feels like a full minute, but what must have been only a dozen seconds or so, the dust grows thin enough to allow vision again and the ground stops shaking. The metal tribbles lie huddled in a heap at the bottom of a sinkhole. The roots of the greater trees bulge like enormous snakes around half of the pit, with the other end of the roughly circular depression reaching out into the clearing between jungle and shoreline. That's one way to contain them, certainly. And they appear to be the last of the powered-up tribbles released in the explosion - that is, until Madeleine hurries back up the road, pursued by... boots? Green boots with wind-up keys on the sides, and little bits of fluff sticking out the top.     "Where did they get shooooooooes..." Madeleine complains aloud as she hustles toward the battlefield, stopping just short of falling into the sinkhole. She looks at the other elites in shock. "What did you..." Then the tromping of two dozen individual boots catches up to her. She turns, sets her jaw, readies her spear. "Very well. If here I am to make my stand, then so be it. I shall face my end with dignity." As she prepares to be overwhelmed, the boot-clad tribbles stamp right around and past her and fall into the pit.     "...Oh." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarra watches with mild awe as Alexis's mon slow down the tribbles, then...Aidan tears a tree down. "Holy mushrooms! Be careful, Aidan!" Piranha plants are still running in fear, but as the tree comes down they all flee down the road. Getting bounced on by a giant fluff ball or a metal one seems better than getting crushed by a tree!      Only to come running back right behind Madeleine. "Oh sweet shiitakes! This is it! We are done for!!" the piranha plants are saying as they run.      "...where did they get shoes?" Sarra wonders aloud. She doesn't seem particularly worried about the shoes, though. Compared to Mega Mushrooms and Metal Caps, Giant Shoes are easy as pie to deal with.      Especially when they just fall into the pit. Sarra watches them hop around ineffectually for a few moments, then hees and a devilish smile appears on her face. She hops down into the pit...and onto the 'head' of one shoe, then bounces upward and comes down on another...and another. And another! She continues the chain until every tribbled has been bopped out of its shoe. For some reason at one point a green mushroom appears over her head before she grabs it and stuffs it into her purse. Only for a tribble to pop out, causing her to growl in annoyance. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Okay, you can release the gravity Cat, there's no way they're climbing out of that." Then there's Madeleine running back, being chased by a pack of Tribbles in stompy boots. Which makes Alexis look down the road. "But where's Mudslinger?" To which Catalyst reachs out to sense for him... Shift view for a few moments, and we'll find him crouched in middle of the road, arms covering his head. See, when the stampede of Boot Tribbles charged them, and he no longer had the rain to boost Swift Swim and outrun them, he instead hunkered down and shielded himself with Protect again. But as he didn't take any damage thanks to Protect... "he hasn't realized the horde has passed yet." "Well at least he's not hurt." Alexis releases Mirage again to fly over and retrieve him. "So, what do you think of all this Catnip?" she asks, but instead of an answer notices a flicker of light off to the side... Sarra stomps the tribbles out of the boots. But then one last of the pest pops out of her purse. Oh no, is this going to be one of those comedic endings when the whole chaotic shebang starts over again?! ... Fortunately not, as before the tribble can get into trouble what appears to be a ovoid barbed bud on a vine zings past Sarracenia, snags the tribble, and yanks it away from her while wrapping it up in the vine. And comes to a stop thumping against a paw. The tied up tribble is dropped, and the barbed bud is pulled off. By a 3 foot tall, ivy green lynx that clips the bud onto the collar of the foliage that now hangs over his shoulders and chest like a poncho. The dark markings on his face that resemble a mask don't hide the playful smirk he gives Sarra, and a salute with one paw as a 'you're welcome'. Alexis laughs, and pats her hand atop his head. "I guess helping restrain all those tribbles was enough experience for you to evolve!" 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      With the tribbles seemingly all handled, the Mantids come back down from the trees. Some look annoyed at Aidan for his stunt with the tree. There had been a few Mantids in that tree, after all.      The chieftain lands near the pit, watching Sarra bounce between shoe tribbles for a few moments before looking toward the others. "It seems disaster has been averted. But, these creatures seem persistent. We will expect the Sundew Kingdom to ensure that every single one of these creatures is collected and removed. If they caused this much of a disturbance merely infesting the town, then I do not want to know what it would be like if they escaped into the forest."      She looks to Madeleine. "You showed the skills and bravery of a hunter and warrior." she says, then looks toward Alexis and Aidan. "As did you two." Then...she looks at Sarracenia. "How did this happen, Princess? We entrusted the case of strange creatures to your people and this is the result." It is clear the chieftain does not think highly of the royals.      Sarra winces lightly. "I...um..." Sarra takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "It is my fault. I kept one, thinking them completely harmless. And...while I still believe that is normally true, they got into my food stores and...other things" Sarra sighs again, then bows to the Chieftain. "I am sorry, Chieftain Sahira."      The Cheiftain's wings flitter and she watches Sarracenia for a long moment, as if deciding how she should proceed with the princess. Both are distracted by that flick of a vine and retreival of the tribble, and end up looking toward Alexis and Floragato. "Oh! It evolved!" Sarra says excitedly, forgetting for a moment that they are in a potentially tense situation. "Congratulations!" 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' The WHUMP of the tree on the ground sends Aidan nearly an inch up off of it. Amid the shower of rocks and dirt, he leans against the tree. Madeleine's cry causes him to heave in a great lungful of air, grabbing one of the branches. With a mighty vault, Aidan lands on the other side of the tree, just as the shoes drop into the pit. "Oh. Well! Good job!" The grin on his face shows that he clearly believes Madeleine had pushed them into the pit trap. "So," he looks over at Madeleine, "How do you do stuff for this?" He looks over the pit. And at the various little fluffballs moving around and just sort of vibrating, shuffling in place, and carefully moving out from underneath the tree. "Get them ALL back home, I mean." A sheepish grin accompanies the Mantids glaring at him. "Figure it out as I go along." "You showed the skills and bravery of a hunter and warrior." An eager puff of the chest, "Thank you, Chieftain... Sahira! And for your help, as well." Aidan makes his best regal bow. When he stands back up, his eyes dart over towards Sarracenia. Then back at the Chieftain. "Are you happy-" he waves his hand towards the castle, "With this? Is there more they could do?" 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis wouldn't make a big deal about wrangling a bunch of weird critters, it is kind of her lot in life. Instead she gives a short bow to the mantids in response to the compliment. "And we appreciate the help, Chief." Knowing they and the Royal Family don't entirely see eye to eye, she's not going to make a big fuss of the matter. Catnip also mimics her bowing by doing so. "We'll make sure this gets cleaned up with no more.. shenanigans." At least Sarracenia fessed up to the mistake. Though Aidan's comment gets her to eye him for a moment. What's he getting at? Then there's a *thump* to reclaim her attention as Mirage returns and plops Mudslinger down, who's reverted back to his still tough but less bulked normal form. "Good job tonight bud." She gives him scritch behind one of his sets of whisker-esque gills before recalling him. "And don't worry about the big ass hole, I've got more than a few Pokemon that can fill something like this in, no prob. Just need to wrangle the fuzzballs out of it first." 

:'''{{#var:7608|Madeleine Cadrasteia (7608)}} has posed:'''     Madeleine nods and smiles at Sahira's compliment. "Heh, thanks. Just doing my job." She brushes some dust from her jacket as if she wasn't just whining about a bunch of tribbles wearing shoes. "You're right, though - this is on the Princess, both personally and as a figurehead for her kingdom. I can stick around, call in some more people to help with the cleanup, but she'll have to - and she *should* - assume most of the burden here." A pointed look at Sarracenia accompanies that 'should'.     "How do you do stuff for this? Get them ALL back home, I mean."     "We don't," Madeleine says, her expression turning grim. "First, because that calls for knowing where 'home' is. Swindle hasn't been forthcoming about who he got them all from, let alone where that merchant picked them up. Tracing the line all the way back to their homeworld would require astronomical good luck and cooperation from a lot of people with no reason to not hide in the woodwork."     "And second, because we have to prioritize the ecosystem under threat over the well-being of the invasive species. If we're *lucky*, some of the native predators will like tribble and some of the native plants will be toxic to them. If we're not, which is more likely, we'll probably have to find a chemical agent that either kills tribbles or stops them breeding, and which does minimal harm to the rest of the ecosystem. They reproduce too quickly and hide too easily in dense foliage for manual removal to work on its own."     "In short, the time to send these critters home is past. We need to focus on curing the problem they present here, because it's also too late for prevention." Another subtle glare at Sarracenia. "This is going to be an ongoing effort, both in monitoring and in deploying control methods. I will expect the crown's cooperation every step of the way." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      'Are you happy- With this? Is there more they could do?'      Sarra joins Alexis in giving Aidan a look of 'what are you doing?' and Sahira turns her head to him in curiousity. "Hmm. What more would you suggest they do" she asks. There is no judgement or suggestion, nor is there a tone that she thinks they should do something more.      'You're right, though - this is on the Princess'      Sarra winces again, just listening with a downcast face to what Madeleine says. When Madeleine reaches the end, Sarra is trying not to cry. Of course, she used to make excuses and do everything she could to avoid responsibility. These days though...she's come to understand her responsibilities a bit more and takes pride in being heroic. And this was anything but heroic. She's embarrassed and not happy about it. "Of course. The Sundew Kingdom will do whatever is needed to ensure that the tribbles are removed from the region." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "She's right. If their 'home' can't be found, they're going to have to be isolated or something to prevent them from throwing the entire ecosystem out of wack. Without a natural predator and how fast they can apparently reproduce?" She makes a face. "As much as I don't like the idea of 'neutralizing', sometimes it's... necessary." Her branching and dabbling into ecology has shown a few things she kind of regrets knowing now. That said, she walks over and puts a hand reassuringly on Sarracenia's shoulder. Her friend was going to take this rough, but she did the right thing by emitting the mistake. And it's a spot Alexis has been in herself many times, abiet not at that high of a social-political responsiblity. Doesn't change that the hardest part of being responsable is often just admitting that you're the one that FUBARed it. "Not that she'll have to do it alone." 

:'''{{#var:7373|Aidan Proudpick (7373)}} has posed:''' Aidan looks at Sarra, then back at the Chieftain. "Hmm. What more would you suggest they do?" That seems answer enough for Aidan. He shakes his head, "I'm not gonna start a fight or a war. That you gotta ask is enough." For now. He can look into it later, but if there's no PRESSING issues, he won't add to Sarracenia's already full dance card. Madeleine explains how to deal with invasive species. She gets a bug eyed stare from Aidan, who tries to wrap his head around that. He frowns, trying to mull that over. A clear trust that Madeleine knows what she is doing. A sidelong glance at Sarracenia, trying to gauge her reaction to it. When she starts to cry, there's just a bit of relief that Aidan tries to hide. The barest hint of a sigh. He nods along with Alexis, "I'll help ya clean up." But most certainly not hand out poison. 
}}

9675/The Princess and the Promises 4

2026-06-08T00:22:23Z

TwilightSparkle: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2026/06/06 |Location=Pipeland |Synopsis=The dark fairy, Lila, has surrendered to Sarracenia and her allies. In an attempt to reduce any punishments..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2026/06/06
|Location=Pipeland
|Synopsis=The dark fairy, Lila, has surrendered to Sarracenia and her allies. In an attempt to reduce any punishments headed her way, Lila offered up the shards of her broken dark crystal orb. She claims it was the conduit through which the Darkmancer syphoned energy from her world to wherever he is. Using this, the group should be able to track the residual flow of energy directly to the Darkmancer's lair. Sarra is hoping a certain gamer and a pair of investigators can accomplish this task.
|Cast of Characters=446, 7652, 7573, 7683, 33
|Tinyplot=The Princess and the Pau...Princess?!
|Tinyplot2=The Princess and the Promises
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      The time has come. All indications are with just a little more work, Gregory will be avenged. Despite the number of those supporting the effort dwindling, Sarra has two she trusts implicitly with her and a pair of investigators that have proved how capable they are in her eyes.      The meeting today will take place in a war room. But, not the war room inside the castle. This time, the group is being taken to the Sundew Sovereign, Sarracenia's flagship. The reason is simple. Once the tracking has begun, they will use the Sovereign to move quickly to wherever the Darkmancer is hiding. The large wooden airship's engines are already primed and humming as the party rides the elevator of the Sundew Airport. It is a towering (yet rather thin) skyscraper of alabaster stone with a spiral of platforms along its sides, each one able to hold something the size of the Sovereign.      The platform at the very top is their destination, where the regal wooden vessel that is some 200 feet long awaits the party. Sarra leads them inside. The princess is already clad in her battle dress, a long dress of hardened black leather on top and thick, broad strips of leather making up the skirt. The chest piece has an additional breastplate of polished red steel bordered in gold, and a quartet of triangular pieces form a second skirt around her waist. Beneath the skirt, sleek, elegant, armored and heeled greaves of the same design can be seen peeking out. They clack as she walks along the stone to the lowered ramp of the airship. Soldiers and sailors mill about, making pre-battle preparations.      Sarra continues to lead the group up through the levels to the deck of the ship, and from there into the royal quarters that has been refitted into a proper war room. The room is dominated by a large table in the center, where the pieces of Lila's crystal have been laid out. There are no chairs in here, ensuring everyone is ready to move at a moment's notice.      Once everyone is gathered around the large, round, polished wood table, Sarra looks around at the others gathered. "Thank you all for staying by my side throughout this ordeal. Money and favors do not seem enough to express my gratitude, nor enough to compensate for the risk involved. So, again, thank you all."      Sarra turns her one blue eye to Arthur, Marcus, and Gretta after that. "I am counting on the three of you to guide us to the Darkmancer. If Lila was telling the truth, that is." There is little else to be said, since everyone here knows what they are here to do. But, Sarra does spare a glance to Love. "...be prepared to unleash beams of destruction once we arrive." she says, then to the group. "I do not intend to take it easy on the Darkmancer. But, I still must insist he not be killed." She is quiet a moment. "...if it can be avoided."      The shards sit on the table, ready to be picked up. Thick pieces of a dark purple crystal, dull in appearance now that it is not glowing with its own dark light. 

:'''{{#var:7652|Riku Asakura (7652)}} has posed:''' This is the second time Riku's been on the Sovereign; the first time was a trip around his hometown after Sarracenia visited Nebula House to deliver much-needed cooking and supplies to Riku.  He's still a bit excited to fly in the airship, but does his best to keep his enthusiasm contained because of the seriousness of the reason they were here.   Riku follows Sarracenia up to the War room and takes a seat near one side to stay out of the way of Marcus, Gretta, and Arthur.  They'd be doing the heavy lifting of finding their target, the Darkmancer.  He knew what he was here to do, and that was to fight the murderer.  Though given that he was able to fight Sarracenia before, he should expect anything to be thrown by this guy.   'But, I still must insist he not be killed.' Riku nods once to Sarracenia.  "We'll bring him to justice, I promise," he says firmly and with a tone that says he means it to her.  He looks to Love and gives her a supportive smile.  "Guess we're going to be depending on you to break any defenses he might have in the way before we can make good on that promise.  We're counting on you!" He pulls his own tools out: the Fusion Riser and two ultracapsules, ready to transform into Ultraman and support the people here with finding and beating the Darkmancer.  "I wonder where he's put down, anyway?  It'd have to be somewhere pretty far to make it this hard to find him, right?" 

:'''{{#var:7573|Angela (7573)}} has posed:''' ''I still must insist he not be killed'' Love blinks a little, "Why's that? He's a total bad guy, isn't he?" She knows that her lasers can accidentally blow people apart, if she does it as an accident it's probably okay, but it's not really very proper of her to pretend she accidentally defeated a youkai lieutenant when she could have said she intentionally defeated the bad guy and saved the day. "You beat him before and didn't kill him and now he's going around harassing innocent dark fairies and tricking them into supporting his villainous schemes." rBut she supposes, at least, she does get to blast things for the sake of a positive goal and that is pretty encouraging. She does sort of kick at the floor a bit though. 

:'''{{#var:7683|Storm Investigators (7683)}} has posed:''' With tracking devices tucked away in a portable bookcase, Greta and Marcus are both present in the Sundew Sovereign. If either of them are nervous about anything, the taller one is certainly better at hiding it. Greta truly does look like she's as used to standing in an airship as is she is on solid ground, and Marcus- "Ugh... Have we landed yet?" "No, Marcus. We've just boarded the ship." "Oh... Shoot. I hope it's not a long flight." -looks like she wants to be anywhere but here. Sighing softly, the senior investigator grips the juniors arm lightly to help steady her while the meeting begins with Sarracenia's explanations. "Thank us after we've found the Darkmancer. Until we've neutralized the threat they pose, we still have work to do." "I th.. I do not think Lila was trying to deceive us after all that. There would be little to gain after our last meeting." Looking over at Arthur, Marcus inhales lightly before breathing out softly and taking the tracking devices out of her bookcase. "Are you more comfortable using these or your own abilities, Mister Lowell?" She asks, handing one to Greta before offering one to Arthur. Greta, meanwhile, nods lightly in agreement with Riku and Sarracenia regarding a non-lethal resolution. "Use your best efforts. Just do not endanger anyone's lives to prioritize his if the situation calls for decisive action." She pauses, eyeing the Fusion Riser and then Love before letting out a vaguely disbelieving noise. "Although considering everyone present, there's a strong possibility we may not get the chance." Love's questions get a brief nod from Greta afterwards. "That is how it sounds. There's more to the situation than what we've seen and heard, but I have not seen any proof that eliminating the Darkmancer would create a worse result than what's happened already." Marcus, meanwhile, doesn't look quite so comfortable about the possibility of icing the Darkmancer. Instead of speaking up about it, though, she's far more comfortable focusing on the immediate task: Tracking! Eager to focus on work and helping get the airship ride over with, she activates the device, stares at it closely, then starts rattling directions off to those flying the ship. 

:'''{{#var:33|Arthur Lowell (33)}} has posed:''' > Arthur: Get to the meeting and TRACK!     Arthur's here and he's got *all kinds* of interesting things going on. The minute Marcus starts, he sort of bobs his head in assent. "Get what you got." He cracks his neck, stands, then floats forward, projecting along the wall and letting the devices float in a ring below him, for Marcus' ease of use. The bright green shimmering energy that displays his spellcircles and suchlike are showing... a massive spirographic wheel, perpetually and indefinitely picking apart a multicolored light.     "I'll get you to him." Arthur says, arms clasped behind his back in a moment of startling gravitas. "Slipery fuck like this, I'm ready to put a real grab on him." He's not explaining what he's doing, but Marcus, maybe even Greta, would be able to tell.     He's *sorting*.     Someone with dark magic has all kinds of misdirections. All sorts of dead-ends and failure systems. Wordlessly, Arthur forms navigational programs and systems for certainty. And his knowledge of constructed reality magic is finally put to use. Decoy Darkmancers might suddenly find themselves winking out of existence, even though they never knew they weren't the original. False dimensions constructed out of un-geometry may collapse with a sputtering "splat". One of Arthur's hands clenches.     Marcus can read the data and know where to go, easily. Arthur *makes* the data. Tracing that dark magic backwards up the veins of the Darkmancer's magical oeuvre with a mass of "counterprograms" and "antiviruses" and "decoy-killers" and other magical systems, Arthur brings raw starlight to darkness. He doesn't explain what he's doing -- "nerd shit" -- but he doesn't have to. Riku's got a being of light from space who might easily identify a violently-anti-hazard space magic system,  and Marcus certainly has the data-feed.     His energy flows into the ship. Not just directions, but energy. Arthur aligns wavelengths, boosts velocities, reinforces machinery with his generalized "living power-up" nature. The Sundew Sovereign is nuclear-powered and ready to cut through any dark-magic in the world right now. It could jump light-years if they tried. That's not even starting on what else he brought for when they arrive.     It's a bit overdone. He's doing it to keep his mind off something. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Whether through story power or magical tracking, the trail is faint now. No energy has been drained in a while now. Faint...but not faint enough. Sarra pulls over the bell-shaped end of a communications tube, ready to relay directions to the captain of the ship.      Those gathered can feel the Sovereign rising as they start on their way. Sarra assumes that the destination will be off-world, and so the Sovereign starts toward the warp gate before the tracking has even begun. But...as Arthur and Marcus start getting information it doesn't lead them off-world. Instead, it starts pointing them to the west...right here on Pipeland?! Sarracenia seems dumbfounded at first, then becomes quite angry. "HE IS HERE?! ON -MY- WORLD?!" she shouts with a growl to her voice.      The airship banks rather suddenly and sharply thanks to Arthur's buffs, and the ship starts to glow softly around them as the energy infuses it. The propellers speed up, and the airship moves faster than it ever has before. And it was already pretty fast.      Sarra looks on in awe as she watches Arthur and Marcus do their thing. But, Love's question distracts her. "Why? It is quite simple. I do not kill people. And I do not make exceptions. In this case especially, To do so would honor this vile being." she says. She nods to Riku. "Justice is our goal. Not revenge." Though, her tone suggests she would not complain at all if the Darkmancer did meet his end.      Sarra shouts the directions through the speech tube loudly enough that it is probably hurting the ears of whoever is on the other side. The airship soars at breakneck speed over the tops of the massive trees, somewhat visible through the large windows of the royal quarters. The ocean soon comes into view as they follow the path of the magic trail. Which, despite Arthur's preparations is...rather straight forward.      It would have been a fairly long ride to where the Darkmancer is hiding if not for Arthur's empowerment of the Sundew Sovereign. As it is, it still takes a half hour or so of flying over the ocean. When they reach their destination, it turns out to be a fairly large island. Even from a distance is it obviously tainted with dark magic. Dark clouds hover over it, and a faint shell of dark energy swirls slowly around it. In the center is what appears to be an old, ruined castle. Presumably where they will find the Darkmancer.      As they get closer, the clouds start to swirl as well before familiar giant monkey bat creatures starts swarming out toward them. A warning bell is soon being sounded by one of the piranha plant sailors, and the rest form up lines on deck as the panels along the side of the ship open and the cannons are run out. The bottom of the airship opens, lowering the Banzai Bill cannon while the first salvo of Bullet Bills are launched, curving their way from the cannons toward the incoming horde.      Sarra growls in annoyance as she sees the incoming enemies, then reaches into her purse and pulls out cloud power-ups for the group. "Here. You may need these if you wish to engage them in the air." she says before she heads out on deck, pulling out a missile launcher larger than she is and filled with shark-faced missiles she then fires into the incoming enemies. "How dare you come to MY world?! Of all the stupid, arrogant, evil things to do!!" she shouts into the air toward the castle.      Despite all the Bullet Bills and Missile Megs, there is barely a dent made in the incoming horde. The captain, a piranha plant in a tricorn hat, barks at the other piranhas to prepare their spears and use their fire flowers in preparation to repel boarders just before the wave of dark creatures practically engulfs the Sovereign. 

:'''{{#var:7683|Storm Investigators (7683)}} has posed:''' Even without express words, Marcus is actually able to keep up with what Arthur's doing! Eventually. It does take her a bit at first, of course, since she's never seen his specific way of doing things, but just watching what he's doing and reading what he's putting out soon makes it all just make sense before the airship can go far enough that it'd ever be considered a detour. Having the raw data-feed certainly helps. Greta picks up on it after a longer while, too, between Marcus calling out directions and giving her mentor some explanations on the side when she isn't entrenched in just absorbing everything Arthur's giving her. She's in her element like this, focusing entirely on what's presented to her between his tools and her own, not having to spare much thought for more complicated things like 'holding a proper conversation' and 'remembering when and when not to maintain eye contact'. Any extra high-speed jumps and turns still have her squeaking and losing her focus, though. Even Greta's not immune to the sharp turns and rapid speeds, but she's far better at hiding it with idle-sounding coughs that could easily just be coming from a light or former smoker. They do eventually get used to it, at least, and Marcus even gets acclimated enough to actually look out over the edge to enjoy the sights of an ominously darkened island! One that's being defended by awful flying creatures, no less, and that has the investigators both drawing their main weapons: Marcus' lantern, and Greta's pistol. Despite having ranged weapons, however, Greta takes two cloud powerups for herself and Marcus. "We'll remain on the ship until it's time to descend. If they attempt to board, we'll have an easier time shooting them off." "But there are so many of them...!" "Aim carefully, then. Marcus, prioritize the ones closest to the ship, we'll be fine." "Y... Yes, Madam Hofmann!" And so, the pair of investigators do exactly as they've practiced before for most kinds of battles with high target volume: Park themselves behind cover (or just the other sailors on deck in this case), and then start picking off anyone they can. Marcus' lantern illuminates the monkey bats at once, sweeping her arcane magic across a few of them at a time to weaken them before Greta makes targeted shots to bring them down. That's probably also why Greta wanted to stay on the ship: It's easier to shoot the monkeys coming towards her if she's not also trying to steer a cloud. 

:'''{{#var:7652|Riku Asakura (7652)}} has posed:''' Riku, for his part, doesn't recognize the energy Arthur is putting into this as anything other than a light show that he can see.  He's still a young Ultraman, so he'll need time before things like sensing other light-based energy become second nature to him.  Though he does watch this unfold with wide eyes.   'HE IS HERE?! ON -MY- WORLD?!' "Wait, really?" he says, having been prepared for a long journey, but now it's just a literal hop, skip, and a jump away from the Sundew Kingdom.  "I guess the best place to hide is right under our noses... and maybe he needed to be closer to the book to get its energy?" he asks, not really sure himself.   'Justice is our goal. Not revenge.' Riku nods at this, "It must not be easy to say that, after what happened with your loved one, so... I'm glad you're this clear-headed despite things," he says with a smile.  To Love, he gives a sort of frown.  Killing people isn't something he likes, and she kind of makes it sound like it's normal.   When the island is in sight, and the monsters pour out from it, Riku starts to walk out. Though not before taking a star power up.  He really didn't NEED power-ups, but... well, this one had cute little eyes on it.  Standing around doing nothing won't get them anywhere, as he likes to say.  He pulls up the Fusion Riser, after taking a breath, especially because of the large number of monsters before them... "You go," he says, activating an Ultracapsule and sliding it into the holder used to scan them.  Beside him, a giant of light appears.  "I go," he says again, activating a second Ultracapsule, before sliding it into the same holder.  This time, a giant of darkness appears next to him.  "Here we go!" he continues, scanning each capsule, and the Fusion Riser, in the double helix part, changes colors to one side being white, and the second being a dark red.   "Time to get ready!" he shouts, pulling the Fusion Riser up into the air, before bringing it down over his chest, and pulling the trigger on it.  White and blue fire pour out of him as he makes one final shout, "GEEEEEEEED!" and his form blurs as it changes into that of Ultraman Geed.   FUSION RISE ULTRAMAN ULTRAMAN BELIAL ULTRAMN GEED PRIMITIVE From the spot on the ship, Geed flies out, growing into the large giant of light that's become familiar across the Multiverse.  There were so many enemies, and the first thing that he did was bring his giant hands together before swinging them out.  Crescent energy beams rip out, attempting to cut through as many monsters as they can before disappearing.   Anything he can do to give the crew of the Sovereign a little breathing room.  The monsters had to be finite, and then they just had to get through that barrier. 

:'''{{#var:7573|Angela (7573)}} has posed:''' Love beams at Greta. She doesn't really seem to know about what to do with Greta, who is, like--what--in her thirties? And isn't raising a magical --oh wait, she is isn't she. Marcus is right there. Okay, she thinks she understands Greta. Be respectful, though, she might not know Marcus is clearly a blue type magical girl. Though considering they are going on a mission together, she probably does and Love thinks it's really sweet to see. She thinks Marcus is a teenager. Love's expression gets a bit blank when Sarracenia says her goal is justice not revenge like it's flying through one ear and out the other but, well, this is Sarracenia's quest. She doesn't HAVE to kill, the important thing is that she gets to express herself as a hero to all magical girls. And in pursuit of that, she reaches into her pocket and offers Marcus a brightly wrapped gummy treat in sparkly packaging. It tases like watermelon flavoring! She then spins her staff around in a circular motion and chants, lets face it, a full on incantation that is really too long. "Heed me, thou that are more azure than justice and more crimson than love! In the name of those buried in destiny, I shall make this oath to light! Mark the hateful beings who stand before us! Let your strength merge with mine, so that we may deliver the power of love to all!" A hefty blast of pink energy erupts out of the staff and towards the shell of dark energy. This is so in her vibe that she's really glad she came! 

:'''{{#var:7683|Storm Investigators (7683)}} has posed:''' Marcus gets a sweet treat from Love! Remembering her lessons on handling this sort of occurrence quite well, she keeps the surprised smile from growing too much (even if it's clear she's totally pleased to get it) and bows lightly to Love. "Oh! Thank you, Miss Love." It's a modest morale boost going into the battle! Greta also looks on at Love with a bit more approval than before, although she's still not quite sure how to feel about someone that might be as willing to kill the Darkmancer as she is. She'll have to keep an eye on that one to make sure she's not secretly a bad influence on her own blue-type, but she can worry about that after the fighting is over. 

:'''{{#var:33|Arthur Lowell (33)}} has posed:''' > ==>     Here. Here in her world... > Arthur: Remember     He thinks back. Back to a confrontation in a clocktower. Back to a little noble who suffered in anguish as the group returned home to a tense, painful encounter in their own home. The talerot hadn't come from outside the library. The thing that had torn up her happiness was from inside her. From her past, from her self.     "I'll do what it takes, Mimi." He had said to her, then. He had lied. > Arthur: Stop remembering     He shakes his head, trying desperately to clear it. His search program coalesces, collapses, and, now useless, is recycled for its energy. The spellcircle crunches to a single point, spins until it whines and then until it screams, and fills the barrels of the cannons. He joins Sarracenia out on the deck, staring at the incoming darkness. From talerot to this... > Arthur: Strife!!     He braces himself, and claps his hands. His kill-nav program discharges. All those unused countermeasures and unspent barriers come out of the Sundew Sovereign's muzzles in a bullet-hell flurry of white light in the dark, arcing like the arms of a galaxy and measured in equal by the redoubled boost to the Sovereign's systems to cut through the horde physically as well, bracing the recoil of Love's and Geed's beams with more thrust and trusting them to have the heavy attackers covered. Arthur's millions of bolts should shred the smaller stuff. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      'It must not be easy to say that, after what happened with your loved one, so... I'm glad you're this clear-headed despite things.'      Sarra offers a slight smile of appreciation, but then it turns a bit dark. "I will enjoy visiting him in prison, forcing him to hear my voice and hear just how well I am doing."      'We'll remain on the ship until it's time to descend.'      Sarra nods to the pair. "Very good. I would not expect any of you to rush into that horde." she says, then motions to large treasure chests dotted about the deck. "If you find yourself in need of more firepower, those chests are filled with various power-ups. Use them as you see fit."      'Heed me...'      Though Sarra does not really like the tragedy that often surrounds magical girls, she quite enjoys Love's encantations. It brings a confident smile to the princess's face as she waits for the magical beam. When it finally fires, it cuts a swathe through the horde, helping to clear a path for the ship.      The Sundew Sovereign barely slows down as the wave of enemies crashes over it. Sarra commands the captain to push forward with everything the engines have. With the light energy infusing the hull, the shining ship breaks through the horde like a dark knife through butter. Many monkey bats let out ear-splitting monkey roars as they are vanquished back into smoke-like darkness. Many others bounce off and catch themselves before moving to attack from behind.      Marcus and Greta take up position to fire from cover. A sound strategy overall. Marcus's weakening beam helps but small arms fire can only do so much against a horde. Although, it turns out to be more than might be expected as falling monkey bats collide with others in chain reactions that at the very least slow groups of them down.      'Arthur: Strife!!      The Sundew Sovereign, already adorned in much gold over its wooden hull, starts to glow even more brightly. The crew watches in bewilderment as the cannons all start firing those beams of light alongside the Bullet Bills. Additional thrust pushes the ship even faster through the horde.      Then, the ship lurches powerfully as the shining hull impacts the dark field around the island. It shudders and rocks as the barrier around the island fights to keep them out. Love's beam and Ultraman Geed's crecent waves smash into it as well. The barrier holds for a few moments before shattering like glass while the horde of monkey bats is all but eliminated.      Sarracenia laughs with combat-fueled delight as she sees this between swings of her hammer and tosses of bob-ombs. "Captain! Fire the Banzai Bill!" she yells into the comm while her piranha plant soldiers fight valiantly beside her, their thick armor chestplates and man-o-war helms helping them stay in the fight. Their spears keep a perimeter mostly clear around Sarra, while their fireballs bounce across the deck or over the sides to assist the others as best they can.      The Banzai Bill fires, empowered by Arthur's magic into a rocketing golden bullet the size of a cargo truck. It screams toward the castle, but as it goes it starts getting hit by dark beams from giant dark turtle-looking creatures with cannons on their backs. It explodes before reaching the castle, leaving a growing exploding fireball right in the path of the Sovereign. "Incoming!" Sarra exclaims before hitting the deck. The soldiers all do the same as the ship sails through the final shockwave and mushroom cloud left by the Banzai Bill, burning its way across the deck. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      The ship shudders as a few of the propellers are knocked off the tall masts. The ship starts losing altitude and the captain yells out, "Brace for impact!" a few moments before the Sovereign strikes the ground and slides for a good distance, leaving a deep furrow in its wake and lurching as the underside cannon is ripped away.      Although rough, the landing can be walked away from. Sarra gets back to her feet, the ends of her long red hair sizzling a bit. The large turtles (about the size of Bowser actually) are already turning to fire on the downed ship. "I guess the Darkmancer did learn at least a little from before! We have to take those creatures out before they can fire again!" she exclaims, and leaps off the ship while pulling out a Bullet Bill power-up. She is engulfed in an explosion before rocketing away as a Bullet Bill toward one of the five anti-air turtles. 

:'''{{#var:7652|Riku Asakura (7652)}} has posed:''' 'I will enjoy visiting him in prison, forcing him to hear my voice and hear just how well I am doing.' Before Riku set out, he looked at Sarracenia after she said this.  "I guess the best way to live when someone wants you down is to just live a good life," Though this might be a TOUCH mean girl. As Ultraman, Geed is attempting to cut through the field of enemies, but the Sovereign cuts its way through the horde and towards the castle.  Geed flies with it, striking out where he can.  When the Banzai Bill is fired, when the ship breaks through the barrier, Geed attempts to fly to the head of the ship.   He notices the shots from the turtles and turns his maneuver into a sudden one.  He forms a barrier, aiming to try to protect the Sovereign and himself with it while they charge through the mushroom cloud.  It's not much, but it's at least something for the ship and her crew.   On landing, Sarracenia points out the dark turtles with railguns for weapons.  While Bowser is a large creature, Ultraman Geed is larger right now.  He aims to pick up one of the turtles, spin it around in a large arch, and then launch it at a second turtle before they can fire again.   

:'''{{#var:7683|Storm Investigators (7683)}} has posed:''' "There's toom any of them... Will the ship hold?" "If we focus, yes. If something explodes, no. Keep the cloud ready if you see something about to explode. And..." "And?" "... Princess. Do consider the opportunity cost of gloating over the Darkmancer in prison compared to aiding your people, or going on vacation. Asakura is not far off there." At first, Marcus and Greta aren't too worried about that happening. Arthur's doing all sorts of things to the ship that Marcus only sort-of grasps and Greta barely so, Riku's providing a bigger target for the defenders to focus on rather than the ship itself, and Love is aiming safely far away from the ship. The shaking is worrying, but it's not panic-inducing yet as long as they keep a good grip on the situation. Marcus is the first of the pair to see the Banzai Bill's explosion being way too close for comfort, and she shouts "Incoming!" just a second after Sarracenia does. With both investigators diving, they hide besides those soldiers on the deck to minimize how much they get singed from crossing through the explosion. The heat's worse than expected, but using the other soldiers as cover helps enough that they can get back up easily enough to see the damage to the ship. "Madam Hofmann... The propellers are coming off, and teh ship's dropping!" "Get on your cloud, Marcus, and stay close." Somehow, flying on a cloud ends up feeling safer than being on the airship at that point, and they're both floating along just moments before the airship makes its crash landing. They lower their altitude to stay closer to solid ground, but they're not coming off the clouds just yet as they continue doing what they were doing before: Marcus on illumination and weakening duty, and Greta making the shots. Realizing that the revolver and Marcus' lights might not be enough for the sheer volume of incoming assailants, however, Greta takes a brief detour to a chest full of power-ups that Sarracenia mentioned earlier. Not fully understanding the difference between the orange and blue flowers, she just intuits that Something is different enough about them before swinging back around to Marcus and tapping her with the blue one. "Madam Hofmann?" "Field testing. Just keep doing what you were doing." "Y... Yes! Understood." And so, the ice-flower'd Marcus and the fire-flower'd Greta continue shooting at the flying monkey bats in tandem with their new temporary powers! Neither of them are quite so adept at chucking fastballs, though, so they do a little experimentation to see if they can get the lantern's light and the revolver's shots to take on the properties of those flowers instead. 

:'''{{#var:7573|Angela (7573)}} has posed:''' Unfortunately, Arcana Slave has a cooldown period. It wouldn't really be fair if it didn't. Frankly, Love is lucky that it isn't a once per battle thing, even if it often effectively is. Usually if your finishing move doesn't work as a magical girl you're THROUGH you're DONEZO and you have to wait at least ONE WHOLE EPISODE before you can challenge those that defeated you once again. That may not sound like a lot, but she'd basically be stuck twiddling her thumbs for the rest of this battle! Love, of course, is told to hit the deck so she kicks her foot real hard into the deck. She doesn't seem to get what's meant. But she does understand 'brace for impact!' and she says, "Oh!" As she reaches for a railing to hold onto-- --but instead gets flung away before she can reaches it and bounces across the deck before sliding off it. When she rises once more, she's in her winged serpent form. This isn't a story mode so she can spooky mood all she likes! She opens her mouth and sends another wave of energy there and about, though this time it's magenta colored energy which is way more CORRUPTED than pink energy. But it's fine. It still blasts about the same. 

:'''{{#var:33|Arthur Lowell (33)}} has posed:''' > Arthur: Force the progress forward     No matter how much he boosts the engines that remain, he can't replace faltering hull. When it slams into the ground, he's got his hands white-knuckled firmly on the railing of the deck, but he doesn't lose his footing. There's more to fight, and bigger targets to take the shots at.     He doesn't rise this time. He's staying, pace by pace, with Sarracenia. He flies when she does and lands when she does. Geed has raw force and size to move things. Love has her winged serpent body. Arthur puts both to work. When corrupt bolts stun the monster, Arthur readies, shimmering green lines of energy rushing around. When Geed's classical ultra-grappling moves the titanic turtles, smashing one into another, Arthur is ready: A portal is there, sized enough to move a mountain if it were properly wrestled. Once the giants of love and light topple the turtles, any of the less-alert ones will find themselves with the limbs bracing on nothing at all -- falling through huge gates that lead to some empty shoreline, twenty worlds away. Ring out.     Took one of the powerups with him. But we'll get to that in a bit. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      'I guess the best way to live when someone wants you down is to just live a good life.'      '.. Princess. Do consider the opportunity cost of gloating over the Darkmancer in prison compared to aiding your people, or going on vacation. Asakura is not far off there.'      Sarra, being quite the mean girl herself, mmphs in slight annoyance at the tone, but also at the words. "...you are both right, of course." She admits, but then mumbles, "...it is not as though doing one precludes the other..." quietly.      A bit of experimentation proves that...yes! They can embue their weapons with the fire and ice powers! Monkey bats hit with ice first are frozen in a solid, sort of cartoonish block of ice. If shot after, they shatter along with the ice they are in. Those hit with fire first then ice are better off, since they either are killed by the fire shot or are caught on fire then frozen solid.      Love unleashes another beam of destruction, and Geed practices shotput with a turtle cannon. Between the two of them and Arthur's efforts, all but the cannon turtle that Sarra is after are dealt with quickly. Bullet Sarra explodes against her turtle, then the princess emerges from the explosion with a forward somersault, bringing her silver hammer down with a resounding CLANG atop the turtle's head.      All the cannon turtles disappear in dark smoke, vanquished. The piranha plant sailors and soldiers meanwhile are clearing out of the ship just in case more of those things appear and are finding cover positions. They help Marcus and Greta battle monkey bats in the meantime.      They are within running distance of the castle now, and the front gate lowers with grinding creaking of old chains and gears. And Sarra does just that, taking off at a run. She is a bit surprised that Arthur stays so close, and it finally dawns on the princess that there might be more to this than just helping her. He had mentioned a few times that he had dealt with such things before. She doesn't say anything about it for now, but files it away as something to ask him about while offering him a smile of appreciation. "Once we are done here, I look forward to more lessons, Sir Arthur!" she says before pulling out another Bullet Bill. "Onward!" she exclaims, then is engulfed in another explosion and rockets off again.      For some reason, the lowering of the gate does not unleash another wave of enemies. Bullet Sarra rockets through unhindered and straight into the castle, and the others are only impeded by whatever few remaining monkey bats there are. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      There, in the ruined castle's large throne, sits the Darkmancer. Sarra's Bullet Bill power-up explodes before she can reach him, and she skids across the ground to a stop, facing him and giving the others a chance to catch up.      Sarra looks around, suspicious, then looks to him. He looks...pretty average, really. Just a guy with suitably dark grey skin sitting on a throne in a black robe, fiddling on his cell phone. He looks up as the group arrives, then frowns and stands up. "You know. I figured after you lost your favorite manservant you would just...give up this hero business. You weren't a real destined heroine before, you failed to be a heroine for him, and you thought you had finished me off just because your fiery and much MORE qualified friend destroyed my shadow."      He regards the group. "Guess that friendship didn't work out, huh? Actually, none of the 'friends' you had last time are here now. Kind of sad, really. Are you even a heroine at all? Or just a blustery princess with delusions of grandeur?"      Despite looking pretty average in build and appearance, his voice booms like it is coming from the very air around them. "Well...here I am, fake hero! What are you going to do about it? Once I take care of you here, I will move on your kingdom and turn it into a land just like in that story! Hahahaha!!"      He raises his hands, and dark portals open all around them. Sarra growls and rushes forward without thinking, hammer raised, ready to smash him into the ground.      She swings, and the Darkmancer...explodes in smoke before she even hits. The smoke surrounds the princess, and she yelps before crying out as it starts to soak into her. Beams of darkness fire from all the portals, most focused on the princess but enough spread around to try and distract the rest.      Sarra cries out again, but it doesn't really look like the beams are hurting her. Finally, they stop, and Sarra drops to a knee. She is still for a moment, then slowly stands up again and turns to face the others as she reaches into her purse and pulls out a bob-omb. "Well well..." she says, her voice and the Darkmancer's broadcasting in unison. "...that was easy. She really is so stupid."      She then grins. "You all won't mind dealing with her for me... RIGHT?!      The portals resume firing, and the possessed princess starts throwing bob-ombs with glee. 

:'''{{#var:7652|Riku Asakura (7652)}} has posed:''' Geed, once done with the giant turtles, moves towards the entryway for the castle.  This forces him to reduce his height so he can get in, which isn't a problem for the giant of light.  However, what is a problem is that Sarracenia rushes ahead of the group.  "Wait, don't go on ahead!" he calls out, too little, too late.   Rushing behind her, all he can do in that moment is listen to the Darkmancer taunt her. Stopping once they get there, he listens to the Darkmancer.  Riku grits his teeth inside the giant of light's body, knowing it's not true.   Portals open all around them. Without a second thought, Riku brings that shield up again, trying to provide cover to his allies.  However, Sarracenia rushes off without thinking.  "Wait!" he calls out to her, but he can't reach her in time, the beams fire.   Holding his own against the beams, though some that aren't directly in front of him strike him across the back.  However, Sarra is caught in the shower.  For a moment, it looks like things are alright, until his and her voices start speaking in unison.  It doesn't take Riku long to figure out that he's manipulating her through his 'darkmancer' powers.   "Get him, I'll handle Sarracenia.  I got something for this situation..." he says firmly.  He reaches his hand up into the air... Inside Riku is already scanning two more Ultracapsules.  Scanning each in turn, he holds up the Fusion Riser.  "I'll show you something shocking!" Once the trigger is pressed, blue flames pour out from the encased Riku, before... Ultraman Geed is covered in blue energy before stepping in front of the bomb and using a blade of light to deflect the explosion away.  Instead of his usual colors, he's now silver and blue.  The blade of light fades, and he takes a more strategic stance to handle Sarracenia.   "I know you're in there, Sarracenia, don't let him control you like this.  Fight it," he says.  He brings his hands down, crossing them in deliberate motions.  Slowly, he raises them again, as what looks like bubbles and blue energy form on each hand.  They start to form a halo of rainbow lights on the center of his chest, where the hands come on either side.   "Smash Moon Healing!" he calls out, before releasing a soothing wave of light and blue energy.  It's specifically made to soothe things that have lost their sense, and remove evil influence from those under dark control.   

:'''{{#var:33|Arthur Lowell (33)}} has posed:''' > Arthur: Break the mood. Lessons soon!     Lessons... Right. Sarracenia will need teaching. She's going to know her Aspect, isn't she? She's going to get to *be* what she needs to be, unimpeded by all of this. Cast off all this cruft that has been holding her down. Live, live truly, the way she ought to. Greedy for kindness and wealthy in it enough to live like an embodiment of mercy and harmlessness. The way it's supposed to be.     But he's blasted back by beams. He's slammed away by waves of power. He doesn't know the magic happening here enough to interrupt it. And when it's done... > Arthur: Follow the script, re-enact the play     Arthur is atop the clocktower.     She turns on him, finally, elegant rapier in one hand, dueling revolver in another. Her pocketwatch shines as it dangles loosely. Her eyes shimmer. Not a speck of blood stains her elegant dress, unlike Arthur. He draws his broom, he... > Arthur: Fight her again     Arthur is in a throne room.     She turns on him, finally, elegant gloves on explosives. Her crown shines as it sits firm on wild hair. And her eyes shine with another power too. Today, nobody will know if blood is on her dress. He draws his broom. He... > Arthur: Do it again > Arthur: Over and over > Arthur: and over and over and over and over > Arthur: and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER     A bomb blasts across his face. It disperses the tears that were streaming. He slams onto his back, dazed, staring up at the ceiling of a throne room. Spread-eagle, ears ringing, wounded a hundred times more in his horrible little heart than in his body, but not for lack of wounding his body. "Why," He whispers. "Why, why is it always like this. Why..." His eyes are welling up with tears again. "This story. Again. Again. Again, always, always again, and I always..." 

:'''{{#var:7683|Storm Investigators (7683)}} has posed:''' Did Greta hear Sarracenia mumbling? As usual, she doesn't let it show by looking at the princess after the mumbling or even raising an eyebrow. She totally did, though, but she's remaining quiet about it for now. With the way to the castle cleared out, the investigators finally get a chance to catch their breaths. Marcus is still looking somewhat shaken, but moreso over getting attacked by flying monkey bats than the killing of said creatures. She even glances around briefly before leaving the ship, hoping to snag another one of those flowers before disembarking. Alas, Sarracenia runs for the castle before Marcus gets a chance to, so she and Greta give chase at a relatively safe distance. "We will return soon, I hope! Ah... Do keep an eye on the castle if it starts to move!" She calls out to the soldiers remaining with the ship, then yelps painfully for some reason before continuing to run alongside Greta. With Sarra moving faster than either of them would have expected or preferred, the two continue running/jogging briskly and catch up in due course. Neither of them are going nearly fast enough to skid, though, so they're both (even Marcus) are looking pretty okay even after getting singed and battered around by those flying monkey bats earlier. Hearing and seeing the Darkmancer for the first time, they exchange brief glances as they both realize there's still plenty of details they're missing about what happened between him and Sarracenia. "Should we... Stop him from saying...?" "No need, Marcus. They have some bad blood to air out, and we might hear something useful." Indeed, they certainly hear something from the Darkmancer, but none of it is immediately useful in the moment. There's even an awkward silence practically radiating off both of them when he taunts Sarracenia about her friends. Marcus very much isn't one to shout in response to things generally, and Greta is just keeping her hands busy counting the bullets in her pockets in preparation for what's sure to be some kind of battle against Sitting Guy. Something about that is still bothering Greta, but it doesn't start clicking together until after Sarracenia is already running for him. Someone sitting and waiting like that would need confidence in some kind of overwhelming advantage, or perhaps overconfidence in their own power. Considering what kicked this all off, she can only predict it's the first one, meaning... "He has something planned. Don't run off on your own!" Greta calls out a bit too late, and she's forced back along with Marcus when the beams start coming out of the portals. Pulling Marcus back behind herself, Greta grimaces as a beam rakes across her side before they finally start running away and around as a unit. "The Princess, she's been possessed! How do we...?" "Do what you've trained for Marcus. I'll keep us covered, so hurry." Yanking Marcus up under one arm, Greta takes them both behind a convenient cover pillar, then peeks out to see where Sarracenia's throwing those bombs. She looks out at just the wrong time for one of them to explode and send shrapnel cutting across her face, too, then ducks back again to weigh her options. It only takes a second before she fires at the projectiles, first at the ones soaring through the air, then at one just as it's being hurled and well within blasting Sarracenia some in the process. Marcus, worried that Sarracenia might get caught up in too many of those explosions just like the Darkmancer would want, skips right to reading the air in the throne room while shining her light around in broad sweeps. She winces as more of those bombs burst nearby, shielding her head and her lantern with her free arm while looking for the densest concentration of magic in the room that matches the portals and what's around Sarracenia. "He must be somewhere in all of this...!" 

:'''{{#var:7573|Angela (7573)}} has posed:''' Love's transformation fades as she flops down back onto her face in human form. Looks like she couldn't...maintain it for long? Or she doesn't want to be in this form for the last big fight which she's largely guessing as being 'nowish' at this point. Also it looked like falling right down on her face probably hurt. She crawls up to her feet, a shadow over her face as she hobbles forward. "No killing. No killing this time. We agreed. Ahahah... Happy endings... That's how it should be. Since there's an endless amount of happy endings out there to make reality. An ever expanding Kingdom of Happiness..." She drags her magical staff behind her until... Her eyes widen slightly as Sarracenia is corrupted by the darkness. She blinks twice, as if snapping out of it. She blinks again a few more times as understanding slowly hits her. She isn't really Sarracenia's friend, but the situation is one that feels ... almost designed almost... She imagines the Servant of Wrath, bleeding acid. She imagines the King consumed with greed crushing the world in her hands. She imagines a knight alone, consumed by sorrow. And she remembers a girl who... Ruined everything to hold onto having meaning and purpose "You're the dummy." Love says, the tenor of her voice shifting. "What is all this for, exactly? You're acting like you want to torture her, but it feels like you're trying to hurt us..." She brings her staff forward, pointing it at Sarracenia. "The way to deal with magical possession is well documented. You blast them until they are healed." The purple light gathers in her staff and explodes outward towards Sarracenia, this time without an incantation at all. 

:'''{{#var:33|Arthur Lowell (33)}} has posed:''' > Arthur: Do you know her well?     "We keep meeting. I hadn't bothered to get to know her much." Arthur says, placidly, to apparently nothing in particular. A giant foot slams into the ground near him. > Arthur: You knew her well, though     "Fucking obviously. Idiot. We knew each other better than anyone has ever known anyone else. An eternity of it. Lilian wishes, man." > Arthur: Why compare the two? They're not alike. She's much less well-read     "Seen the dress?" Arthur mutters incoherently, under the momentary protection of a giant of light. > Arthur: They dress similarly? You're that shallow, now?     "Kiss my ass. You aren't even real." > Arthur: Is that true? > Arthur: What voice do I sound like, to you?     "...You don't. You're written. You're text." Arthur's breath heaves, softly. "Just like..." > Arthur: Get up, young man > Arthur: There's still a case of talerot to fix     "..." He gets to his feet.     "Maybe I won't be here next year. Maybe the next time you're struggling with some great problem, I won't be around." He mutters, softly, cracking his neck and deflecting a beam with one harsh motion. "But you keep what you take, and you take what you give. We lose these things. We always do. And we get new ones. Worse in some ways, better in other ways. We just keep going forward. It's never the same names and the same faces, but it'll always be the same scripts. Maybe in ten years, when you fight another dark guy like this, I'll be there. But if I'm not, there's gonna be someone like me. And he's gonna carry what you give him, once I hand it to you to keep."     "The stories deserve better than rotting." He clenches both fists, grips his broom, and takes a stance. "Rotting with the same fucking guy going in the same fucking circles. It's time for a fresh take. Blow the dust off and see what it's like when we've moved on from cycling again and again."     "Let's reimagine Sarracenia's story without a Darkmancer in it."     The Darkmancer made one key mistake: Combat by way of portals. When Arthur rockets forward... he trusts Geed to heal Sarra. He trusts Marcus to decode things. His magical systems link to her mental view of the books, Arcanum and Aspect tying together tightly. Where her scan looks for dense magic, Arthur infuses it with a geometric perspective, treating each portal as a point of access for its counterpart and allowing the scan to flow deeper. It's a simple tactic, meant to let Marcus locate him. But wouldn't it only allow her to locate him on the assumption that someone would have to go through the portal? The one densely filled with dark magic blasts?     Arthur rushes headfirst through the best portal Marcus' magic can find, slamming facefirst through the beam. He... won't let Sarracenia regret harming him. The damage he suffers will be all, or at least most, at the hands of the Darkmancer. Her wish is to not harm, but still to strike with strength; well, Arthur will grant it. Smashing forward through the portal, broom's bristles spinning wildly and violently, he swings and pulses magic, intent on finding the Darkmancer... on the other side of the gates!! After all, that's where the beams are coming from, right? So he must be *THERE*! Or, at least, a nexus of his power has to be there! 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      The combined maniacal laughter of Sarracenia and the Darkmancer fills the room as dark beams lance about and bob-ombs explode. Those who know Sarra know she really enjoys her bombs, so it might just seem like regular Sarracenia if not for the deep voice of the Darkmancer mixed in there.      Bob-ombs explode...some right as Sarra throws them. The first one stifles her laughter, and the second sends her stumbling back. She growls, then starts shooting fletchettes of Silver at Greta. Arrow-sized projectiles of gleaming metal seek to skewer her, though the pillar does its work of covering her while Marcus also works.      Few seem to consider Sarra's elegance since it is often overshadowed by her loudness, but it is there when you look. Her dresses, her carefully styled hair, the way she dances when she is using her hammer. Arthur sees it, even if it is a mixture of his past and present shading things a bit. She likely looks elegant even now, standing tall and proud in her corrupted state, looking down on him. Dark Sarra laughs as he is knocked prone and sends more bob-ombs his way.      Love speaks to Dark Sarra, and she turns to look at the fallen magical girl. "I want to hurt everyone, really. I was content to just hurt a few, but then this brat of a princess decided she wanted to try being a hero. So, I figured may as well go big or go home. You know?"      Given how many beams the magical girl has fired, the Darkmancer really wasn't expecting another so soon. It blasts Dark Sarra back, landing her in the throne.      Ultraman Geed powers up, and several beams move to converge on him. Too late. The Smash Moon Healing engulfs Sarracenia, and she screams in pain and in stereo with the Darkmancer. His voice crackles in the air as he is forced out of Sarracenia, who lets out a weak groan before going limp in the throne similarly to how Gregory fell when the dark power was forced from him. Her eyes are open, but just barely      Betting that the portals lead to the Darkmancer and are not merely portals to a plane of darkness or just energy conduits is a big bet. Sarra watches Arthur race into a portal, her one good eye tracking him as he goes. It is indeed dangerous, since that beam keeps firing even as Arthur dashes through. He manages to slip into it just before the portal winks out.      Thanks to Marcus's aid, Arthur chooses the right portal.      He emerges...at the back of the throne room. The others might not be able to see him, but he can see them. And, he can see the Darkmancer, staggering back from the impact. He looks just like the shadow of himself that was sitting on the throne. "What the-how did you do that?!" he exclaims, then tries to power up another attack.      Wait, it isn't an attack. It's an escape spell! The false wall disappears, revealing him to everyone else in his haste to escape. There are likely only seconds to spare to keep him from fleeing and starting the cycle over again. "Her story would be completely boring without me and others like me in it. She's a worthless princess. The rest of the Multiverse knows it. I'm surprised she scammed you all into helping her!" he says, trying to buy those last few seconds. 

:'''{{#var:7573|Angela (7573)}} has posed:''' Love slowly brings her hands forward in a V-sign as her staff collapses to the ground She's out of juice. "I'm not doing this for Sarracenia." Love says. She's easily the type to trick by getting her to say words instead of finishing the job but, like, there's Greta and Arthur around here so really if he gets away it's not going to be her fault because people who are much smarter than her are here so she doesn't have to worry about being smart herself. Love lives in paradise every day. "But think about it." Love says. "If Sarracenia is so worthless and pathetic and who cares about her, doesn't it make you even more worthless and pathetic for killing and hurting and betraying people just to make her suffer? I noticed the names you picked, the themes you chose. It's really sad, that Mr. Gregory--someone who did nothing but try to raise her into being a good person--died because you were obsessed and couldn't just let go of your hate and your grudge." She looks towards Sarracenia for a moment and then lets her arm drop. "That's the magical girl lesson of the day. Sometimes, Junior Magical Girls, you just have to walk away." 

:'''{{#var:7652|Riku Asakura (7652)}} has posed:''' Sarracenia falls into the throne.  The similarities to what happened to Gregory quickly flash in Geed's mind.  However, there was no rest for the weary, as the Darkmancer sought to escape.  Split off from Sarracenia, and drained... but not enough to stop him from escaping.  He had to choose right then and there, if he'd try and treat Sarracenia, or try and go after the Darkmancer.   'She's a worthless princess. The rest of the Multiverse knows it.' "She's not worthless!  Nobody is worthless!  Shut your mouth, you selfish jerk!" Geed has already made his choice, as the Ultraman fades and Riku appears next to Sarracenia.  He's got a medical kit and his medical training from the Paladins.  He's no doctor, but it should be enough to keep her from passing as Gregory did.   He looks up at Love, at Greta, at Marcus, and finally at Arthur.  He can't stop the Darkmancer AND treat Sarracenia, so he trusts them to put an end to this cycle.  The one thing that Riku can't do is leave someone to die to capture the bad guy. 

:'''{{#var:33|Arthur Lowell (33)}} has posed:''' > ==>     Silent, now of all times? Fine. Arthur, stop him.     "You...!" He shouts. A rocket-blast sends him forward again, false wall falling away, eyes wide and focused. His fist clenches around his broom, but when he swings, it's holding the haft aside. He never punches anyone, right? But...     Fist braced around the haft of his broom, he swings a brutal slugging strike at the man's face, forceful enough to break his nose or jaw, and send him off his feet. And then he slams his broom into the ground, and all of a sudden, this throne-room chamber is somewhere else. Outer space. A desert. Careening towards an ocean. Half-sunken into a swamp. A beach. A savanna. Windswept plains. The interior of a titanic beast. The depths of a dyson sphere. The middle of a mile-wide raceway. Cities. Villages. Exotic places. Mundane places. A space-scramble so fast and so aggressive that no exit could ever be calculated.     "*I'm* doing this for Sarra. I don't give a shit about 'worthlessness'. I want to be her friend. Not even the close kind! Just the kind that *helps*!" He says, shaking fist slowly unclenching its white-knuckled grip. "And that means I get her some space from you, you hateful fuck. Let's see what the next guy does for her. And you, you're gonna *find someone else*."     The space-scramble finally tones down, hopefully depositing them somewhere near the Sovereign. "Someone get him somewhere he can't ask her to visit him." Jail? Magic jail? Who the hell knows. Arthur only thinks about things up until the point that he slugs someone in the face, he doesn't think about anything after. 

:'''{{#var:7683|Storm Investigators (7683)}} has posed:''' Getting into an unexpected firefight against someone that Greta is fairly certain herself and Marcus combined is... Actually something of a relief for her. She's unfamiliar with the Silver, so many of those flechettes still scrape by and punch into her limbs and sides, but none of them land in vital areas she needs to worry about right away. Still, one lucky shot could still take her out of the fight or even one of Marcus' eyes, and bleeding out is still a possibility if things drag out longer. "Status?" "Working on it! We have... We have a match! There, Mister Lowell!" Right after Marcus identifies the portal leading right to the Darkmancer, she shines her light on it to make sure Arthur's aim is true and to buy him enough time to get through. Hearing the possessed Sarracenia addressing Love, she lets out a discontent noise before cranking the light up on her lantern. "Living for vengeance is... Not great, but taking it out on others who haven't done anything is too cruel and irrational. Would it really make you feel any better if it's not even the person that hurt you first? Walking away-" She glances over at Love with a slow, somewhat hesitant nod. "It would be better than all of this." Greta, meanwhile, doesn't speak up. Instead, she peers out from behind cover to watch Sarracenia, still cautious about whether or not she'll throw more of those Silver projectiles even after seemingly separating from the Darkmancer. Once the false wall is revealed, however, she moves to aid in subduing him while Marcus hurries over to join Riku in checking on Sarracenia (mostly to offer moral support). "Is she alright? Ah... You're wrong, Mister Darkmancer, sir! I...  I would not mind being her friend after all this. Although I do not know her enough to s-" While Marcus is busy speaking her own thoughts on the topic of friendship, things move quickly between Arthur taking him through who knows where, and then familiar-sounding gunshots ringing out afterwards. One is aimed at the Darkmancer's left leg, one is aimed at his right shoulder, and the third is aimed just shy of his kidney. "Friendship is irrelevant here. We are being paid, and you've proven yourself to be a threat to everyone's safety." Greta states, reloading her revolver calmly before keeping it trained on his chest. "You'll survive longer if you stay. How long depends on them." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      When Riku and Marcus move to check on Sarracenia, they find that...well, she is quite injured in addition to whatever side-effects from the dark possession are. It is good that Riku has a med kit, since Sarra hasn't been popping green mushrooms today. Their words do her as much good as the medkit, giving her hope that she has or could have friends here. She offers them both a weak smile. Arthur adds his friendship fuel to the fire, too! Even though Sarra was pretty sure they were friends (but not totally sure because the princess has a hard time believing anyone is her friend), and her eye tracks toward him and the Darkmancer as a few tears form in her eyes from his words.      Then widens just a bit as the castle starts darting through space or dimensions or something! She didn't realize Arthur had this kind of power! The Darkmancer's spell is disrupted by the shifting, staggering him and keeping him from trying to recast it until finally he is smacked across the face with a...broom? Greta's shots soon follow, disabling the Darkmancer completely. He falls to his left knee, his leg no longer able to hold his weight and holds his left hand over his barely missed kidney.      He growls as he looks around at the group, then is quiet a moment before a slight smirk forms on his face. "Fine. Have it your way." he says just as the clattering of armored forms can be heard. The piranha plant soldiers have made their way inside, with one squad flying in quickly using clouds. They land by Arthur and the Darkmancer while the soldiers on foot move to Sarracenia to help with her first aid. The captain of the ship moves to the Darkmancer, large and heavy cuffs in hand...er, leaf. "Darkmancer. You are under arrest by the authority of the Sundew Kingdom." he says, then claps the irons on. Another set is put on his ankles. And another cuff, likely one that was acquired off-world, is put around his neck. It seems to be an anti-magic cuff.      The captain looks up at Arthur. "The creatures all disappears suddenly, so we headed in. Excellent work, all of you!" he says, then grips the chain on the neck cuff before he and the rest of the troops head back to the ship. It might take an hour or two to get it running again, but it is in good condition thanks to the team!. "Come on. You are going in a very deep dungeon for the rest of your life, I have no doubt." 
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Multiverse Crisis MUSH - New pages [en]

9169/*Sigh*... Saving Sundew

9675/The Princess and the Promises 4

9169/Sigh... Saving Sundew