[Cielmira]

She entered the plains warily, unsure of her direction and even where to begin looking or, as per the previous two, set down and wait. Her altitude was rather low as she didn't want to draw any extra attention to herself while proceeding. Indecisiveness wracked Cynder, her head darting back and forth and general travel rather slow. Was this really the place? It fit with at least part of the third riddle she had spied on the crate in the hospital. Briefly she had glanced over previous mission records and found something that edged her over to this area opposed to others on her mind... but still her approach was careful and unsure.

Eventually the dragoness descended and her claws dug into the earth as she stopped, folding in her leathery wings. Cynder continued to glance around even though she had scanned the visible area whilst above and found nothing knowingly hostile, and moved about the wrecked plain lightly. Images of what the actual crash site looked like littered her thoughts every time she passed a fragment of the ship; splattered and flung miles away from its whole.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The barren lands offered very little to any that sought it out, but those interested in Samus’s ship may say otherwise. Given that the lone adventurer had no back up, it was easy to say that she had no plans on raiding the ship unless she was prepared for some heavy lifting. The lands were quiet as usual. The infected spent most of their time elsewhere since the crash site tended to be void of any prey and if they had a taste for space junk the meteorite field had so much more to offer for them.

As Cynder’s claws dug into the ground when she landed she should feel a strange vibration sending back up her leg, almost like something underneath her was digging right back. The ground was stable for a good while, but the sandy dunes within a couple yards radius began to shift and sink. It almost felt like an earthquake, but the surrounding land didn’t seem to be affected by whatever it truly was. Whether the dragoness chose to move or not didn’t matter, a red beak began to peak out of the ground like a whale surfacing from the water. Soon after the beak was fully arisen four sets of eyes shot open and glared directly as the trespasser. It should also be noted that this giga-lizard lacked the aura that radiated off most infected. In fact, the thing looked to be very healthy.

The creature’s spindly arms sprung out of the sand as its torso became more visible and it locked its grip at the shifting lands around it to attempt to pull itself further from the ground. It became vocal and unleashed a bellowing battle cry to the puny reptile in front of it. It had no doubt it could take on this tiny scaled beast.

Held Items: N/A

Reward:

HP: 0%

[Cielmira]

She may have some regrets. The dragoness hastily clawed herself away from the emerging form. At first she though it was some bizarre spider with the spindly arcing legs that were pulling a massive body behind. In her retreat from its immediate area she kicked off the ground and began ascending into the air trying to keep out of reach of the beast. Cynder scanned the thing over, noting that at least it wouldn't be hard to spot... if it stayed above ground. She hoped the thing wasn't a burrower. Didn't look like it would be too efficient a digger so that was in her favor.

Cynder eyed the hulking mass in consideration. It's reach would be long and she'd have to keep in mind the tail... but was she up for the combat? The screech of the being tore through the air and told her no, but a part of her was curious. Curiosity mixed with the wonder of whether this place would hold the link to the next riddle bid her to stick around. For a few more moments anyway.

She dove. A mild spiral as she cut through the air at its head, coming a bit to its right side. the pearly white mass composing its several eyes made her wonder if it could even see like she could. Obviously with eight eyes it had some sort of vision, she was just unused to creatures without pupils. Maybe it was like some weird version of a bat. Cynder's intent was not to strike at the lizard like thing but to observe how it moved and also how it watched her, ready to pull off varying directions. Of course, if she discovered it was a bit slow there was no reason not to smack it with something in her tiny arsenal.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Held Items: N/A

Reward:

HP: 0%

As the crumbling sand swept underneath the girth of his body, Crocomire planted all of his feet into the ground and took a wide stance. The titan began to stamper about as he tried to get a better understanding of his surroundings. Given the lack of rebellion from the creature it detected to be in the area, he knew he’d have enough time to set up for his own strike. The reptilian beast cried an ear wrenching screech once more, though this one didn’t seem to be directed to any specific location.

Its roar echoed for quite a distance, but the call was heard by beings nearby. A circle of oddly green coloured Pokeys shot out of the ground and began to scuffle around while keeping their spherical sections in balance. It hardly turned the tides of the battle since Cynder had the advantage of flight, but they were the only minions the creature had to summon. Just like the abominable lizard beast, they lacked any aura that would suggest the Starvia infection. Curious that the beast had Pokey allies and green ones at that.

The creature blared another bellow toward the skies, using the sound waves to track the enemy that entered the territory. It took the creature some time to turn himself around, but once he did he finally got a lock onto the Dragoness. She was in the skies, so she was out of his reach despite the length of his arms. Perhaps that could be rectified though. Crocomire scooped up some of spherical cactus balls that walled him in and tossed them directly at her. It jagged jaw was still propped open as it did this almost like it took some twisted enjoyment out of attacking this enemy.

[Cielmira]

The airborne cactus required a break from her dive at it, the thing moving just quick enough to catch her dive at its side and now it faced her fully; which was not ideal. With a quick spin she exited her small spiral and broke off, though now in a smaller radius that was likely just out of reach of the beasts long arm if it stayed where it was. However the closer range would also allow her to skit around the thing faster. Cynder only hoped nothing went horrifically awry with her decision to stick around, the thought passing her mind when she noticed the little green things popping out of the ground following the hulking screecher.

She had an idea. It may be a long shot considering she wasn't a master at echo location, and only had vaguely conceived ideas about how this thing was locating objects, but it was worth a try. The dark dragon ascended slightly and mustered a distortion of her wind element around her. As the whirlwind began to form she waited to time her move with her opponents screech. The moment it began to open its mouth she dove and changed the waves of air around her to be more of an ever shifting amplifier. Cynder then released her own howl, the area immediately around her tinting a slight red as her siren scream echoed in varied contortions around her form. Her hope was her own screech would mildly conflict with Crocomire's, and the variance in its tonal shifts being torn and shifted by her whirlwind would make her exact location difficult to pinpoint. A sort of double team, if one was around to make the comparison. The thing could still get lucky and whap her a good one though.

Whether this worked or not she was already in a dive toward it, aiming at the middle of its back should it not twist and turn itself around trying to discern her location. Cynder watched for any flailing arms trying to snatch her as she descended, hoping to latch onto its neck and get a good poisonous bite into its flesh. The greenish solution beginning to wet her teeth.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The beast’s attack nearly nicked the trespasser, but it had no way of learning such information on its own. A change in her flight pattern may suggest whether or not Cynder had been injured. When the creature attempted to search for her though, it became confused from the amount of feedback that was returned to it. It suggested that either the dragoness had grown in size during the course of their currently short lived encounter or she was able to manipulate the air around her. Being a creature of low intelligence and having very little life experience, it couldn’t determine anything and confusion had grown over its mind.

During its state of daze, it couldn’t do much to rebel against Cynder’s strikes so her fangs did rip into the hide of the scaly and slightly slimy creature. It probably wasn’t a very nice texture in her mouth, but odds were she wasn’t thinking Crocomire to be a tasty meal anyway. The top section of its head leaned backwards as it cried in pain. Odds were it also was susceptible to the poison dripping off the dragoness’s fangs.

Held Items: N/A

Reward:

HP: 23%

Despite the damage it took from Cynder, at least Crocomire knew where the winged reptile was. It released another shriek to command its minions once more and have them converge on their common enemy before she could try to take flight again. The creature’s tail then whipped against its body, lashing at where the pain had been arising from. As for the strangely off-coloured pokeys, they began to crawl up the lizard’s body like caterpillars in pursuit of the one inflicting pain on their overseer. They weren’t quick enough to swarm the dragoness in a matter of seconds, but if she lingered longer than she should one or two might be able to get a good swing at her before she took off into the skies again.

[Cielmira]

A shiver of excitement, and mild pain in her ears from her close proximity to the source of the screech, moved down her spine when Cynder raised her head from biting. In an attempt to avoid accidentally slipping off the grossly slimy creature she had her claws dug in as well, though they were just latching onto the bit of scale of this beast. The dragoness cringed at the sound and couldn't help but take a moment to swish some of her poison around her mouth and spit it out. Mostly for the disgusting taste and texture of this red thing but also a just in case there was any part of the Crocomire that may be infected. Can never be too careful in that respect.

Unfortunately whilst she was busy holding her ground and dealing with this she was met with a rather nasty slap from a long red tail. The whip like weapon lashed across her side and pushed her along with it a ways. Instinctively she curled her long talons deeper into the Crocomire's body when this happened and thus left a nice varying trail of her four sets of claws along its body. Now her head really ached, as did her impacted wing. Suddenly her escape plan didn't seem as full proof. For a second she wished it had hit her from straight above and found itself skewered on her man horns and spikes. But that thought was quickly retconned as then she would have also been squished under its weight and likely be hurting a bit more than her current situation.

Her position now nearing the red screecher's front right leg she glanced the little green things almost at the top. An incomprehensible grumble escaped her as she mustered a very quick burst of her shadow fire to linger for a few seconds on the knee of Crocomire's nearest leg. Then she moved, the collected slime from her slide across the thing's body forcing a slower movement or find herself slipping. Her plan had been to begin attacking a limb after this but that was foiled by the little minions crawling all over them... though there were still the arms... There was an idea.

Cynder clambered to the neck of Crocomire, taking a glance back to watch that tail which would likely be coming around again soon, and hopped up with some help of her wings. Her left one ached uncomfortably causing a wince and having her fall a bit shorter than she'd like but it was better than being on its back. If it wanted to slap her again with the tail she'd just have to hop to the middle of its neck and snicker as it slapped itself. Her real worry were the arms and those green bugs.

28%

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The titanic beast soldiered through the pain inflicted by the creatures crawling around it, which also included its own troops. The pins of the cacti were incredibly less painful than that claws of the dragoness, probably because the creature intended the pain and the pokeys didn’t. Its tail went flaccid once more when Crocomire felt Cynder move around its body. Being that the creature was incredibly stocky and its tail’s length wasn’t impressive, it’d be useless unless the enemy was directly on its back.

The fire spat from the reptile’s mouth did singe the creature’s knee, but a lot of the damage was absorbed by one of the many sentient cacti that were honing in on the spiky dragoness’s location. It didn’t go unchecked by Crocomire though. The fact that the trespasser had clung so closely to its body confused it when it had the advantage of flight, but it seemed to be working well for her regardless. The blind eight eyed creature was irked by the fact that Cynder was still on its body and succeeding in taking pot shots around its body.

Held Items: N/A

Reward:

HP: 42%

The annoyance found her way to an awkward position on the monster’s body, its neck. With how spindly and lanky the creature’s arms were, doing anything in close range was strange to it. Given that it lacked such close combat training, it hardly knew what to do in the case that a tiny creature latched onto it. It swung its own claws at its neck to attempt to scratch its opponent off. In the manner that it was preforming this maneuver, its elbow was towering high in the sky.

The pokeys continued on their trail since they weren’t commanded to do anything else otherwise. They shimmied up the scaly red body of their commander and began to waver as they came closer to the beast’s moving limb sockets. Only two were in a close vicinity of the invader, so they attempted to lash their pokey bodies at her. Their distance was nothing impressive, so it wouldn’t be a shocking surprise that their strikes had missed, but they wanted to try before the dragoness could flee to another section. A couple from the back began to toss sections of their bodies at the reptile to attempt to ward it off.

[Cielmira]

Cynder had found herself in a stroke of luck, the beast doing very little to shake her off as it flailed its own claws around its neck to scratch her off. Of which the dragoness was finding her own movements around the neck working in her favor, glancing giant hands scraping by her with only inches to spare. One swipe seemed like it was going to connect with her head straight on as Cynder shuffled herself to the right side of Crocomire's neck, but the giant's claw swept by the dark dragon's horns instead with but a slight nick down her back. It stung, but wasn't deep enough to hinder her movements much. She just made sure to dig her claws in more harshly as she moved around.

So focused on continuing to move herself away she misjudged how quickly the little green things were moving. However she quickly became aware when one of them flung itself at where she had just been. Her head jolted to view the sound, taking note of the others and pausing her crawl around the right side of the neck. This allowed the second one to connect with Cynder's tail. Dozens of pins pierced her scales, causing the instinctual reaction of thrashing her bladed tail in an attempt to rid herself of the thing before it could properly latch itself on.

Hurriedly she made another leap upward and to the right, Crocomire's claw tearing a small portion of the membrane on her right wing as she did so. Apparently it was figuring her movement pattern. Still she ascended in a quicker fashion, aided a bit with use of her wings and still thrashing her tail about when possible between jumps. She didn't want to spend much time in this area as it would be easier for the Crocomire to get at her, but when she was near enough she changed tactics.

Once close enough Cynder made another, much larger, jump upward to the larger of the row of eyes on the Crocomire's right side. As she began the process of keeping to the air this time she aimed herself toward the sensory with a poison slicked mouth. The plan was to bite the large eye, then launch herself off of it or the immediate area and dive downward around its front. She preemptively cringed on the inside.

32%

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Crocomire lost sight of the tiny reptilian female once more as she returned to the air. His head bobbed everywhere in search, but it found nothing with his other senses. The pokeys continued to crawl all over his body, so in that regard he felt safe from yet another viscous attack from the dragoness, but that feeling of safety was pre-emptive. He felt the being cling to his head once again and the creature quickly panicked at the feeling while flailing its limbs around in hopes to hit the annoyance with one of his stray limbs. Unfortunately it was too late, Cynder took a good chomp at his slimy eye and it could feel the poison seeping into his eye sockets. A final roar erupted from the creature’s mouth before it vanished out of existence.

Held Items: N/A

Reward: Crocomire Assist Trophy, Tiny Paper

HP: DEFEATED

The green pokeys fell apart as their commander evaporated, their ball-like sections of their bodies scattering around the battlefield, some even sinking into the sand once more in retreat. There were two other objects that were noticeable as everything dropped to the ground. An assist trophy with the beast she just fought trapped inside and a small paper note fluttering down elegantly. Anyone who has spent an extended period of time on Li would know that people transformed into trophies after being defeated, but never Assist Trophies. They were created for a different purpose entirely, which also meant that the Crocomire she had faced was not actually the real Crocomire. Another thing to note, if she was familiar with the line of Assist Trophies she would have the knowledge that Crocomire was never developed as one. An odd factoid that only real enthusiasts would know, but perhaps she wouldn’t question such a thing.

Should she retrieve the paper, Cynder would notice the writing on it. It was in the same hand writing as the rest. Should she choose to read it, it would say:

‘You’ve come this far and proven yourself, I’ll say that much.
It is time that we get to introductions and such.
I grow tired of rhyming, so come find me.
My minions should be your first hint as to where I would be.
The second is that my base is not hidden under a tree.
Gah, still rhyming!
No, it is hidden under a mushroom, the biggest around.
Come find me, I wish to face you now.’

[Cielmira]

Her enemy disappearing oddly in a puff of smoke, the dragoness was caught aback and hovered in place after breaking from her dive. She watched the little green critters fall to the ground as well as the other two objects of interest. At first she didn't notice the little sheet of paper until she began descending for the trophy. Snatching the page out of the air she landed to collect the other item and read what she hoped was the next clue; and she wasn't disappointed.

"Yes," she quietly cheered to herself, her bladed tail flicking around happily. Cynder then departed the wastelandish area for a better place.