Summoner Quest (Celestial Menagerie) Crossover - IC (2024)

You'll see that Dimensional Travel isn't included in this chapter. That's because I couldn't fit it in anywhere. It will be in the next one, hopefully.
The chapter is pretty short for once, (Yay) but it's an important setup for the future. Enjoy.
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I found myself standing on a stage with the members of the Triumvirate by my side. Eidolon was on my left, Alexandria was on his left and Legend was on my right. If this wasn't a clear way to include me among their ranks I didn't know what was.

An assortment of other heroes from all over the country and even the world were also present with us on stage, mainly leaders like Armsmaster.

At our back was the commemorative monument. Basically a blank marble wall with carving at the top and columns on either side. And with only one name in the middle. It was elegant without being overbearing.

For less than two weeks of work, this was a fantastic result.

In front of us, the Mayor was making a speech, a speech that showed no sign of ending. Oh, it was dignified, full of cheer for the victory that was the death of Leviathan but at the same time not dismissing the loss previously caused by the monster. The writer was clearly talented.

But it was still a long and boring speech as we stood behind him not doing anything.

I used the opportunity to watch the public. It was composed of a vast majority of civilians but scattered among them were capes. The atmosphere was festive, it wasn't every day that one got to celebrate the death of an Endbringer after all. There were a lot of fingers pointed toward Eidolon or I.

While I would have appreciated to have with me the partners that participated in the battle, it wouldn't have been practical and it would have drawn even more attention my way so I was only accompanied by discreet partners. I was already the target of far too much attention as is. And various people keep commenting that they like my new costumes, or my new haircut, or my mask. And I still didn't know why. Though I had some suspicions.

At the edge of the crowd stood the Wards, acting as security for the event. Though I seriously doubt anyone would dare attack such an event, both for the significance and for the presence of so many strong capes.

The Mayor was finally winding down. After him, Legend would say a few words, then Eidolon, and finally myself. I wasn't looking forward to it at all. My speech was written by the image department so there was that.

Just as the Mayor stepped away from the podium under the applause of the crowd, my enhanced hearing allowed me to hear multiple crackles of earbuds from all around, though not mine.

Legend paused in his step for a fraction of a second before he resumed his walk. I heard Alexandria whispering while Eidolon twitched as he resisted moving while he listened to his own earbud.

"What now?" There was a pause as she listened. "An attack? Elisburg! Damn it!" Another pause. "Fine, we'll come as fast as possible. Tell them to hold on."

Still whispering, she addressed Eidolon. "Can you whip up a teleporting power to get us to Elisburg?"

The man grimaced. "I can but it will take a while to spool up if I want to bring more than one or two people."

"f*ck!"

Eidolon turned my way and spoke up. "Compendium how fast can you take us to Elisburg?"

All my Minds converged to find the best possible solution and a second later I whispered back.

"Less than a minute, once we gathered everyone you want."

"Perfect, let's go."

They didn't give me any more details than that but I watched as Legend, who's been listening, interrupted his own speech and theatrically put his hand to his ear and pretended to listen to something.

Then he addressed the public. "My apology folk, there's an emergency that we need to deal with. We need to go. Don't worry however we will handle it as swiftly as possible." He turned to the Mayor and nodded to him. "Mister Mayor, I trust you to take things from here."

I must give credit where credit is due because the man barely hesitated before stepping back to the podium.

The crowd was clearly looking confused and frustrated but I didn't have time to focus on that. Already I was following Eidolon and Alexandria, they were pointing at various heroes present and gesturing for them to follow. This includes Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Chevalier, Myriddin, Narwhal, and others.

Once we were behind the monument, Alexandria gestured to me. "Go on."

Without fanfare,

appeared in front of us with only one car attached, and I gestured for everyone to get into it. I heard the quiet murmur of discussion between the heroes, wondering what was happening. However, they were all consummate professionals so they didn't direct those questions to the Triumvirate, aware that they would get their answers soon enough.

I watched as they hurried inside and Eidolon approached me. "Are you sure this will be fast enough?"

"Don't worry about speed, that's the least of our problems. It will take longer to orient ourselves than to reach our destination."

He gave me a look of contemplation before nodding seriously. He was the last to enter the car, the door closing behind him.

I teleported into Bruce's head, which served as the cab.

I gave Bruce the ability to fly with Grant Movement. Soon we were levitating in the air as the Denshark oriented himself following

's mental instruction. My robot did the necessary calculations to reach our destination in the shortest time possible.

A few seconds later Bruce's head was pointing toward the northwest at a sixty-degree upward angle.

I yelled back. "Brace yourself, this will be a short but bumpy ride." I waited for two seconds just to be sure that everyone was ready and I slapped the

on Bruce's pseudo-control console.

In defiance of all laws of physics, we didn't generate a sonic boom as we departed Brockton Bay. To an outside spectator, we moved fast enough to not even leave an afterimage. For those inside it looked like teleportation. A millisecond after our departure we reached the upper atmosphere.

Screams of shock echoed from the car behind me.

Again I yelled. "Don't relax. We have one more maneuver to perform."

Still following Clank's instruction Bruce reorient himself once again, this time aiming downward. I had no wish to remain this high up for long. There was one being orbiting the Earth that I didn't want to confront right now. Not yet and not in her domain.

With another application of the Rabbit Talisman, we disappeared.

A millisecond later we reached our destination, flying at the edge of the walled Elisburg. Without waiting any longer I teleport into the car.

"We're here."

"Excellent. Have us land near the command center." Alexandria nodded to me before turning to address everyone.

"As of five minutes ago Nilbog's monsters have gone berserk and started attacking relentlessly the walls surrounding Elisburg. They appear to be stronger and more deadly than all our previous estimations suggested."

Despite all the resources at my beck and call I couldn't help but repress a shudder, Nilbog was a boogieman for a lot of people in the region. A looming menace that we tried to not think about.

And I wasn't alone in feeling that way, I could see similar feelings being reflected in the face of my fellow heroes.

Alexandria pushed on. "We do not know what triggered this sudden surge but for now it matters little. Our priority is preventing them from escaping and spreading. Full lethal measures are a go."

We landed just as she finished speaking and we all hurried out of Bruce's car.

Outside I could hear the staccato of the submachine gun on the walls, the repeated explosions of mortar, and the screams coming from both the monsters and the soldiers.

Alexandria shouted to overcome the noise. "Avoid making direct contact with the monsters, there's a high probability of biological agents at play. Dragon will coordinate our actions."

And indeed Dragon's voice came out of my earbud. "Compendium you are to…"

[] send non-biological partners into Elisburg to search and destroy Nilbog.
[] remain on healing duty.
[] spread your partners around the wall in support of the soldiers.
[] all of the above.

Wordcount: 1380
Excess words: 128
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Did anyone bet that Elisburg would play a role during this arc? Hopefully, I managed to surprise you. This one has been in the planning phase for a good while.

For the roll, 200 (Banked) + 120 (Chapter) + 120 (Excess words) = 440 points.

[] Creature

[] Power

Voting will be closed Thursday at 3 PM GMT[/SIZE]