The command center thrummed with a low, anticipatory hum, as if the Meridian's Edge itself were holding its breath. The Six stood in a loose circle amid the pulsing glow of their Toy Frames, the air thick with the scent of ozone and heated circuits. Faint echoes of the crew's celebrations still lingered from the decks below—laughter, the clink of ration packs turned into makeshift toasts—but up here, the mood had shifted to something sharper, more electric. The ancient code had stirred, and now it whispered promises of power that none of them fully grasped.
Lacey's HUD flickered with residual data streams, her analytical overlays mapping the new connections between her and the Clockwork Knight. Her frame stood beside her, a sentinel of childhood wonder in its own right—brass plates etched with filigreed gears that ticked in subtle counterpoint to her heartbeat. "Partnership," she'd called it earlier, but the word felt too small now. It was symbiosis, a dance of intents where her tactical precision met the frame's unyielding resolve.
She glanced at the others, her enhanced temporal senses threading faint probability lines through the room: Bunk's massive Blockbuster frame flexing with restrained power, Pip's Storybook armor fluttering pages like eager wings, Hexi's tesseract weaver plates sliding and shifting along her frame, Tumbler's twin phasing in and out like a glitch in reality, Zozo's Bubble Pop Warden quickly shifting between solid form and clouds of bubbles . And she herself, the anchor, the commander who suddenly felt the weight of five other awakened souls pressing against her own.
"We need to level up before whatever the hell is out there in the void acts again." Lacey quickly purchased the 'Clockwork perry" skill for 2 SP.
Hexi nodded, her eyes distant as she interfaced directly with the ether light projections hovering before them. The Schools of Focus had unfurled fully now, each sigil a living mandala of potential: crimson fangs for Resolve, swirling cyan vortices for Flow, golden lattices for Dominion, soft blue weaves for Synergy, harmonic waves for Resonance. But beneath the Initiate Node—Co-op, now a glowing nexus—new branches pulsed, demanding skill points. The system's note lingered in her mind; "Choose wisely. Your Focus determines not only your methods, but your intent."
"It's non-linear," Hexi murmured, her voice laced with the calm precision of someone unraveling a theorem. "The nodes interconnect across schools. My Zetrah Tuk path offers a Healing Amp skill—something called 'Regen Waves' my amp will propagate healing waves to linked allies. But if I unlock the Resonance skill beside it..." She trailed off, her fingers tracing invisible lines in the air. A holographic weave bloomed between her palms, threads of blue and silver intertwining. "It could amplify Pip's buffs by 15%."
Pip's eyes lit up, her Stitch dragon frame responding with a cascade of illuminated script—snippets of tales where heroes rose not alone, but in chorus. "Like a round in a song! Everyone's voice building on the last." She flexed her fingers, and her Panzer Amp chimed softly, iridescent notes rippling outward. The bracer on her arm hummed in harmony, Toy Force coiling like melody made manifest. "I've got a node here, it's a music based AoE that damages enemies and buffs allies, a songstress ability. ' Mystic Serenade.' Granting all allies in the area a 25% Defense up buff and a 15% Resistance buff.
Hexies eyes flashed, " With my Resonance skill those buffs would gain a 15% blessing, bringing their new values to 40% and 30%." Pip and Hexie both nodded their heads at one another, "Consider it done, she said as she invested two points into 'Mystic Serenade.' "Hope you're all ready to hear me sing" Pip giggled. Hexi invested her remaining 2SP into the 'Resonance' skill.
Bunk grunted, crossing his arms over his Blockbuster's broad chest. The frame mirrored the motion seamlessly, its photonic eyes flickering with what might have been amusement—or pride. "Sounds pretty. Me? I see siege works and engines." His HUD overlaid the Orrak Gharn sigil with schematics of towering drone constructs, ready to be brought to burden by shaped Toy-Force energy.
The next node gleamed, Forge Sentinel—a 2 SP summon that birthed a pack of autonomous drones from ambient materials. "I could drop a squad of these bad boys anywhere. Turn the ship into a fortress mid-fight. Or..." He paused, glancing at Lacey. "Link it to your Resolve? Make 'em parry on command." Bunk purchased the drone summon skill for 2 SP.
Tumbler laughed, his duplicate blurring into existence beside him—a perfect echo, down to the manic glint in their carnival masks. They moved in tandem, one flipping backward while the other leaned forward, their voices overlapping in eerie sync. "Fortress style? Camping? Nah, that's static. Flow's about the rush of what's coming, not what's here. I'll teach you all the need for speed!" His Turok Ta paths spun like eddies; Tumbler invested 2 SP into a team support speed skill 'Toy-Force Quickening' that granted a 18% Speed buff to all allies.
But the 3 SP node called to him deeply which was an equipment node! "Speed shoes. Bet I could lap the whole ship before you blink."
Zozo tilted her head, bubbles of refracted light drifting from her Warden's vents like curious fireflies. The frame had settled into a watchful stance beside her, its once-pastel surface now veined with molten purpose—joy tempered by edge. "Show me the bubble works," she echoed softly, her Xun'dral Fang interface however was seemingly tailored differently than Lacey's which boarders was outlined in crimson and gold fury. Zozo's was aqua marine blue and seemed to be tailored to her build and specifications.
Offensive Adaptation subroutine thrummed, recalibrating passion into precision strikes.
The two remaining tier 1 nodes shimmered before Zozo, the first tier 1 skill node was her 'Toy-Force Panzer Amp' the second node contained an alternate fire mod for her Panzer amp 'Bubble Bombs.' A 2 SP equipment node, that give her panzer amp kinetic bubble bomb alt fire.
The next skill was 'Debuff Spread' for 2 SP. A three-strike melee attack that had a chance to spread any debuff at random to an entire enemy group. Zozo smiled her eyes lightening up "This is devastating." Zozo quickly purchased the 'Bubble Bomb' alt fire equipment node, her Tor-Force Panzer Amp instantly adjusted as it reconfigured the alternative fire mod, granting kinetic bubble bomb burst fire.
The ideas collided like sparks on flint, the group's HUDs linking involuntarily through the Collective Link Protocols. Probability matrices of team combos bloomed in theiy're shared vision: Bunk's sentinels, Tumbler's speed boosts, Pip's songstress buffing, Hexi's mends into unbreakable choruses, Zozo's Bubble bomb alt fire, and Lacey's clockwork parries into fields of lethal geometry.
Team Synchrony level: 33% → 47%. The ancient code stirred again, deeper this time—a resonant thrum that vibrated through the deck plating, as if the ship approved.
Dagger burst into the center, her ponytail swinging like a metronome of barely contained energy. She'd shed her command harness for a moment, orange locks catching the etherlight in fiery halos. "Zut alors! You are plotting world domination wizout me? Non, non—show me!" She waved a hand, and her own rudimentary interface flickered to life—not a full Toy Frame link, but a bridge admin access that let her glimpse the weaving paths. "Fifteen hundred souls below, dreaming of home, and you six are become gods of string and fang. Magnifique, but... what next? Ze corruption—it does not sleep."
As if summoned by her words, the ship's alarms trilled—a soft, insistent chime rather than a klaxon wail. Lacey's temporal threads snapped taut, pulling data from corridors ahead: faint corruption blooms in the outer hull, tendrils snaking through forgotten vents, drawn perhaps by the surge of hope from the rescue. Not an invasion, not yet—but a probe. A test.
"Outer decks," Hexi confirmed, her weaver plates unfolding into sensor arrays. "Section 47-B, near the auxiliary drives. It's... adaptive. Already mimicking our new frequencies. Like it's learning from the level up."
Bunk's fists clenched, golden light coiling along his frame. "Then we hit it first. Forge a breach team—me, Tumbler for flanks, Zozo for the burst."
Pip shook her head rolling and cracking it, bangs rustling. "Fork it, let's turn their probe into our story."
Tumbler grinned as the thought of earning the 'speed shoes' equipment set tore at his soul, already wanting to rush away to find the next level up.
The command center sang—a deep, harmonic resonance that made the walls vibrate, lights blooming in synchronized waves. Their Toy Frames stepped forward as one, a phalanx of twelve: pilots and partners, flesh and ether entwined.
"Breach suit up," Lacey ordered, her voice steel wrapped in silk. "We take the fight to it. Show this corruption what resolve looks like when Joy is shared."
The team moved as a single organism, descending through access shafts to the outer hull. The corridors narrowed, air growing thick with the acrid tang of fraying reality—corruption's breath, black veins pulsing like infected arteries along the bulkheads.
Section 47-B opened before them: a cavernous drive chamber, auxiliary engines idling in low purr, but now infested. The probe was no mindless blight; it was a construct, a writhing mass of
Monsters. The Horde had returned.
But the Six, who were now twelve was ready.