Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 244: Furious Fleet Fighting
Date: October 30th, November 2nd & 3rd, 2005.
Editor's Note: This log, like the previous, nearly got lost. This one in particular, was almost eaten by a bizarre logging command snafu. An old log containing this entire chapter had no date attached to it. As you might expect, that made it hard to find it again several years later. But the backup had it, so here it is!
Metal Man (GM): ~Season 6 Continuation~
Metal Man (GM): The Questers had just finished saving their headquarters's ruins from Denon's infantry. However, the insidious Denon would have none of this. Wanting to wipe the Questers off of the face of Nintendus, he sent all of his ships to destroy them, and all of his infantry to ensure it. The Questers are currently in the ruined Big Room. A portal is open. Metal is receiving communications through it using a ruined computer he reactivated. A very distorted picture of Mewtwo is on the monitor.
Julian is riding in the Mech.
Aribar looks at the screen.
Metal Man: "We have secured the Stadium, but Denon's forces outnumber us vastly. We have no way to engage his infantry, and his ships might be able to attack without getting too close."
Mewtwo: "Hmmm..."
Julian: "And I totally hijacked this mech!"
Aetos: "...What?"
Charles: "I am ready for alternatives to kamikaze."
Aribar: "So in other words, we're doomed."
Mewtwo: "Things may look dark... but we have a trick they don't. ...You may... laugh at me for this, but..."
Julian: "...What? What do you have?"
Mewtwo: "We've put together the ruins of CACs and the sort to make a makeshift squadron."
Julian: "..."
Mewtwo: "They're good enough to... uhh... err... fly..."
Julian: "I wonder if this thing can fly..."
Aribar: "So we can die in death traps instead of in the stadium?"
Mewtwo: "...You might explode if you try the weapons."
Metal Man: "No... we can fly into their ships."
Charles: "I'm willing to laugh when you die by a certain someone's hands."
Metal Man: "Remember how Charles destroyed the infantry with one communicator? Our detectors show that those ships are controlling those infantrymen. If the ship is disabled... the infantry must retreat."
Julian: "So we fly into separate flagships, and tell them to blow up?"
Mewtwo: "Not enough of you to raid all of them."
Aribar: "Ah. So this is just vastly impossible instead of completely."
Mewtwo: "Take your pick..."
Metal Man: "We have acquired basic information about each ship."
Metal Man points to drawings on the wall. The largest of four, first.
Metal Man: "That is the Archelago II. Denon's greatest flagship... and the strongest ship of the four. If we crash that, we drive a hole into his ego as well as his pocket... but it must be the hardest one to deal with. It is escorted by two other ships."
Metal Man walks over to two mirrored blueprint-esque drawings of cruiser-sized ships.
Aribar frowns, trying to remember which one he was on ten years ago...*
Metal Man: "The Valkyrie and Knight. Both are mirrored, both of medium firepower. If you take one out the other will serve as a backup. We'd have to take them both out to have any considerable effect."
Julian: "Maybe crash one of them into the Flagship?"
Metal Man: "Possibly. And finally... the least of them all."
Metal Man points to a rather small ship, a Specialized one at best.
Metal Man: "We have no clue WHAT this is. Approach with caution."
Aribar: "Do they all have shields? And how many CACs do we have?"
Metal Man: "...All of them, yes, however their shields are down... weapons can't fire through them, there is."
Julian: *checks to see if the Mech he jacked can fly.*
Metal Man (GM): It cannot... whatever may have allowed you to fly is busted.
Julian: *kick.*
Metal Man: "We have one CAC for each of us. They are minimally armed, if at all..."
Aribar nods and awaits his second question to be answered, a plan formulating in his mind.*
Metal Man (GM): *WARP* *WARP* *WARPWARPWARP.*
Aribar: "So we can't really spare a single one?" *looks towards the warp sounds.*
Metal Man (GM): A bunch of blackened CACs that look like they rose from a junkyard appear in the rather large, ceiling-less room.
Julian: "I'm taking this back with me..." *exits the mech.*
Metal Man: "One for each of us... but each can fit four people. Take your pick... they're all the same."
Julian: *takes the one on the right.*
Metal Man: "So then. What should we attack first?"
Charles: "Without the escorts, our attention can be focused on the flagship."
Aribar: "... Would packing all of the plastic explosives into one and doing a suicidal run on the Archelago do anything you think?"
Julian: "The Knight. Maybe we could crash it into the Flagship."
Metal Man: "...Would you die if a fly with a blast cap flew into your right eye? Although... if we got inside... those explosives would ruin it."
Aribar shrugs, unsure.*
Aetos thinks.
Charles: "We take out The Knight, then we strike The Valkyrie."
Metal Man: "Each of you get a plastic explosive with your car, then."
Metal Man picks up a plastic explosive for himself from a nearby pile.
Julian: *grabs one.*
Aribar: "Should we try to capture one of the ships?"
Aetos picks up one of the bombs.
Aribar picks one up and starts towards one of the CACs.*
Charles: "If we did, the firepower by the others would be overwhelming."
Metal Man: "...If you could capture the Archelago II... well. You get the idea. The Archelago II outranks all three of them by far. Unfortunately this means it is defended much more. But if we got into it and took over we could blow all the others up."
Aetos: "I'm all for taking on the little ship though."
Julian: "You do that, then."
Metal Man: "...But... each ship is sure to be filled with those infantry dudes."
Julian: "We'll throw 'em out."
Charles: "The Young Ward will take on the gnat of the fleet. Julian and I will board The Knight."
Aribar: "Aetos and I should try and take on the Valkerie then?"
Metal Man: "I shall ensure the stadium is safe. And manage paperwork."
Metal Man pulls out some blackened paper.
Charles gets inside one of the empty CACs.
Metal Man: "...A shame... so many chapters in the official history burned..."
Aetos: "I'm going to the unknown ship."
Julian: "Who's the ward again?" *gets in the rightmost CAC.*
Metal Man: "I don't see any nearby medical places."
Aetos points to himself.
Aribar enters one of the CACs and puts the C4 in a safe place.* "Aetos, do you mind if I with you for backup?"
Charles begins procedures of activation.
Julian: *Starts it up.*
Aetos gets into the far left Ship, "I'd rather you DID come with me Aribar."
Aribar: "Excellent." *The elf frowns and starts up the CAC, muttering curses about having only one arm.*
Aetos will act as Aribar missing arm.
Aribar: "... Oh, you want me to come in the same ship?" *gets back out, grabs his C4, and heads to Aetos's ship, heading into the back seat of it.**
Metal Man (GM): Okay. This shall be your first vehicle battle. In other words, it shall be rather complex and ornery the first time.
Aetos bets the tiny ship will have nukes and indestructable shielding.
Julian looks for a CD player or something as he starts up his CAC.
Metal Man (GM): You all get in your CACs, of course.
Julian: *Did that.*
Metal Man (GM): CD player? You hardly have an ignition key.
Julian: "Damn... I was hoping for music..."
Metal Man: "Good luck. You may lift off now."
Aetos: *Aribar and Aetos lift off the ground and into the air.*
Aribar hrms and attempts to open up the sun roof and stick his head and arms out of it. He then calls down to Aetos.* "I should be able to provide some extra fire power with my magic."
Charles: "YEEEEEEEEEEEEHHAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW!"
Julian: *After flipping all the switches and such, Julian activates his engines and lifts off.*
Charles yells this as he begins to lift off after activating the fuel processors and power on this hunk of metal.
Julian: "Let's do this!"
Metal Man (GM): *VOOOM* Off you go. *Insert generic Star Fox music.* Your radios DO work, thankfully... or not. That is, communication radios.
Julian: *comms.*"Alright, everyone clear on the plan?"
Denon: "Turn back immediately or you will be annihilated by long-range laser fire."
Julian: "Up yours."
Denon: "Very well then."
Charles wishes he had an airhorn.
Metal Man (GM): The main cannon of the Archelago II points at Julian.
Aetos mutters some words.
Denon: "Open fire!"
Julian: "...*censored.*."
Metal Man (GM): Only that cannon is in range for now. Your crafts have 1500 health. Only that cannon is in range for now. Evasion checks: (1/2(SPD mod + INT mod)) You'll need them... The deathray is fired at Julian. You spin out of the way.
Julian barrel rolls to the side.* "Hah! You can't hit nothin'!"
Denon: "Curses! Charge laser for another firing!"
Metal Man (GM): This is where you choose how to attack. Archelago II, Valkyrie, Knight, ??? And say in what manner you're doing it, like, what direction.
Julian: "Charles, on me!" *Julian pulls off to the side and boosts towards the Knight.*
Metal Man (GM): You don't really have any built in-weapons.
Aribar narrows his eyes, trying to size up the distance between between them and the nearest ship.*
Metal Man (GM): Well, uhhh... it's 15 power unit's worth, or in other words, you can get right to the ship the minute you turn towards them... save for the ???, which is an additional 15 away. So far: Julian is going towards the Knight.
Charles turns the CAC far to the left and right. Although his target to turn to is The Knight, he can't very well control the CAC!
Aetos steers low to the ground trying to stay out of the way while he heads for ???.
Metal Man (GM): Charles swerves towards the Knight as well...
Charles is spinning in barrel rolls, diving at 45 degrees, raising 50 feet at a curve, and a straight line!? Never heard of them!
Metal Man (GM): Aetos goes low and towards ???.
Julian: "...Charles, what the HELL are you doing?"
Aribar frowns and debates whether any of his spells could even reach the other crafts. In the end Aribar votes for attempting to cast Barrier on all three CACs before Locos's and Julian's are out of range.*
Charles: "WWrrrr-aaahh-ahh-ahh-ahhhhh-ahhhh alll oovvveerr thhee traaaain."
Metal Man (GM): All three gain barrier. Aribar, however, did not slow down... He's driving straight at the bridge of the Archelago II!
Julian: "Goddammit... Just don't crash into me or the Knight!"
Metal Man (GM): Erm. Right. Aetos is heading towards ???.
Denon: "Open fire at those insects, my fleet. Spare nothing."
Metal Man (GM): Charles and Julian are attacked by both the Archelago and Knight simultaneously--side lasers.
Charles: "I'lll geeet you a treeeaaat."
Metal Man (GM): The Archelago hits Julian three times with its powerful lasers damage Then the Knight misses four times. Charles himself dodges everything from the Archelago, then takes three hits' damage from the weaker Knight.
Julian: "Gah!" *Julian gets knocked around a bit, but stays on course.* "Is that all you got?!"
Charles swerves and does 5 barrel rolls, the fourth nearly hitting Julian's CAC.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar and co. drive under the Archelago, putting themselves in range for only a few laser guns.
Julian: "Whoa! Watch where you're flyin', man!"
Metal Man (GM): Aribar, for sticking out, is likely to take damage personally. BAM BAM BAM.
Julian: *BLANG.*
Aribar: "Watch out! Left! Right! Another right!" *Aribar's back seat driving is rewarded with being blasted. While the CAC would only take 30% per hit, Aribar's pretty much dead.*
Metal Man (GM): Aribar and Aetos: There's a hangar under the Archelago.
Aribar slumps down into the CAC, severe burns all over his face, shoulders, and arm.
Metal Man (GM): However... it's got a big metal plate blocking your way in.
Aetos: "Hey Aribar... whats that spot there?"
Aribar doesn't make a sound, 'dead'.*
Aetos still looks up at the plating. "...Aribar? ARrrriiibarr..??!"
Denon: "Curses. They're driving rather bulky vehicles with powerful thrusters..."
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile...
Aetos: "Sigh... Oh well, maybe he fell out of something."
Metal Man (GM): Julian and Aetos veer towards the Knight's side... also are near the bridge. Right.
Julian: *looks for weapons while he has the time.*
Metal Man (GM): Nothing but laser batteries in this area... well, you could try out the bridge, but it looks heavily armored. You discover a panel labeled 'Machinegun' And a joystick to aim it with... must be hidden under the hood.
Julian: "Woo! Machinegun!" *Looks for stuff to shoot.*
Charles looks for something for a power slot or weapon as well.
Metal Man (GM): Charles discovers a button that is red and says 'DANGER' You feel like pressing it. A lot. It is a weapon for sure. But you can't tell what.
Charles, having an urge of curosity, buzzes in to Julian.
Julian: "Charles, you find anything in your cockpit?"
Charles: "Found a weapon with the word 'DANGER' on it."
Julian: "Use it."
Aetos: "Arrriiibbaarr..."
Julian: "It'll be kick.*censored.*!"
Charles risks using it... he swerves to the right to avoid hitting Julian with any possible explosion and... punches it with a fist.
Metal Man (GM): A HUGE thruster appears on the rear end of that CAC. It begins spinning out of control and a primitive armor plate studded with spikes appears on it.
Charles: "HHOOOLLLLYYYY LLOOORRMMMAAACCC!"
Metal Man (GM): It homes in on the bridge of the Knight.
Captain: "Sir! An incoming ship has unexpectedly deploy----"
Metal Man (GM): *BOOOOOOM.*
Julian: "Woo! Ramming Speed!"
Aetos blinks after hearing a loud explosion. "Aribar?"
Metal Man (GM): Charles crashes into the bridge of the ship, taking out the commander and most of the controls.
Julian: "Kick-*CENSORED*!"
Metal Man (GM): He is unharmed, but his vehicle is totalled.
Denon: "Come in. Knight? Knight? You're losing altitude."
Julian: "*Censored.*." *flies after Charles, realizing he needs a way off.*
Metal Man (GM): Alarms go off through the 'Knight' and you hear 'Abandon ship' yelled through the crackling speakers on the bridge.
Charles waves his hand in front of his face as he begins to cough rapidly. He attempts to open the door of the totalled CAC.
Metal Man (GM): No one takes the time to fight; they all flee to escape pods. Charles gets out... he sees the obvious: Destroyed magitek everywhere. 'All hail Lord Denon and Kuja' 'Magitek is God' And stuff everywhere.
Julian: *Tries to get close enough to the bridge so Charles can get in his CAC.*
Charles cackles maniacally as he sees the magitek destroyed.
Metal Man (GM): Julian flies towards the cockpit... and goes for a controlled slowdown... He tries the brakes, and discovers they were 'Nonessential.'
Charles: "Wonderful! Simply splendid performance to see such things not existing anymore!!!"
Metal Man (GM): You do an even more awesome maneuver than before. You fly, at an angle, into the Cockpit... Then time it to grab Chales, fly through a shattered window, and escape just before the rest of the cockpit explodes.
Denon: "Curse you, Questers!"
Julian: *Opens his door and grabs Charles.* "GET IN!"
Aetos: "Aribarrrr...???"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: Aribar is not responding.
Charles: "HAhahah---eerrwehhhah?!?"
Aetos: *Comm-radio.* "Guys, there is a hangar for the big ship on his bottom side."
Charles gathers his senses.
Julian then makes his way outta there.*
Denon: "...Attack! Attack! Attack!!!!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): The Archelago turns to put Julian's vehicle in the main beam cannon's crosshairs. *BOOOOOOM.*
Julian: *Uh-oh.*
Metal Man (GM): The beam engulfs your vehicle and knocks you out of the air, dealing damage You're now falling to the ground...
Julian: "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" *dink.*
Metal Man (GM): You barely manage to avoid the ground... Meanwhile, Aetos/Aribar take more fire from the Archelago's rear cannons and the ??? ship's... homing exploding stuffed gophers?
Julian: "...'Ey Charles, you okay?"
Denon: "Valkyrie! Deploy shields!"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos gets lucky and dodges all of the lasers from the Archelago. That's right, the barrier halved that beam's damage.
Julian: "Charles?"
Charles: "Alright, but make sure to react faster if I'm like that."
Julian: "Hey, not my fault you kamakazied into the Knight. But atleast that's one ship outta the way. You wanna land back so you can take the spare CAC?"
Metal Man (GM): Gophers blast your ship around.
Aetos cringes, knowing he can't dodge homing gophers as they fly straight at him.
Charles: "Avoid a button marked Danger if you want to avoid repeating my ignorance... no. We must make with what do."
Julian: "Alright... To the Valkeryie, then?"
Charles: "To the Valkyrie."
Metal Man (GM): Julian is flying alongside the falling Knight.
Aribar groans as the elf comes to. A white glow that begins to repair his wounds becomes tainted with red energy and the elf growls, coming to his feet and sticking body out the sun roof, electrical energy crackling in his hands before the red glow vanishes, his unnatural appetite for vengeance vanishing as well as the unleashed energy when he notices they're out of range of the Archelago. Aribar then ducks back down and groans, still hurting.* "Gah... I've got a splitting headache. ."
Julian: *Flies away from it.*
Metal Man (GM): The Archelago is getting in the way... gonna take one action just to fly over it.
Aetos: "THERE YOU ARE! Go look back for some weapons, we've got homing gophers to dodge so be careful."
Aribar looks about the CAC for weapons.
Julian: *Heads for the other Cruiser.*
Metal Man (GM): You find a gas pedal... that could be used, maybe. The ??? ship goes to fly away from you. ZOOM why... dang... it's like a thruster on wheels. Err, rockets. You're not gonna be able to chase it for long, unless you shoot it down or damage it. Something odd about it for sure.
Aribar: "Aetos, look for something I could put my Chaos Emerald into!"
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, the Archelago literally goes to ram into Julian's craft. *BLAM.* Plus it knocks you down out of the air again. ...But... wait! The CAC is part car... This part of the Archelago is flat...
Julian: *Extends the landing wheels and drives!* *Honk honk!*
Metal Man (GM): The Valkyrie flies up... you have no clue what he has planned. Julian and co: You're gonna reach the edge of this ship, where you'll be able to lift off... but one problem. The Valkyrie is shielded now. And... heading towards you?
Julian: "..." *Turns.* *heads for an ondeck landing bay or something.*
Aribar stands up and out of the sun roof and hopes they're within range. The elf raises his hand above his hand and snaps his fingers. The roar of thunder drowns out his snap as bolts of lightning shock the engines of the unknown ship.
Charles equips the Star Rod to his back as his first action. He prays to the Star Rod and does points to Julian. He uses Power Boost on Julian.
Metal Man (GM): ...You hit the ship's engine systems. The damage is far too low to destroy anything... But it shorts the engine, causing it to lose power. It starts falling. ...Well, yeah. It can't go anywhere but down, really.
Aribar ducks back into the CAC and takes out his Yellow Chaos Emerald while looking for a place to put it into machine. "I did something to it, Aetos..."
Charles: "Use this enhanced power I gave you to heighten your senses."
Metal Man (GM): You think jamming it into the dashboard will work. Or possibly Aetos's mouth. You decide that maybe jamming it into an electrical system obviously under the center console will do something.
Aetos: "You find anything, Aribar?"
Julian: *So Julian's driving around the Archlago, looking for an entrance point.*
Aribar: "Yeah! Open up the panels under the control system if you can! I've an idea!"
Aetos pops them open.
Metal Man (GM): *Pop.* They're... open. Julian sees some various hatches. Hatches... vertical ones. So if you drive at them they'll just be like the floor. Despite them being there, no soldiers come out to attack, and they look sealed.
Aribar gives Aetos the Yellow Chaos Emerald.* "Stick that in there somewhere! It'll either super charge this thing... Or make us go boom." *The elf mutters the second option.*
Julian: "...Charles, open one of those up."
Metal Man (GM): The Valkyrie is flying closer, shields threatening to punt you far away.
Aetos: "Well, I'm certainly one for taking risks!"
Julian: "Hurry!"
Aetos shoves the chaos emerald into the electrical system.
Metal Man (GM): *BZAM.* The vehicle takes off.
Aetos tries to steer it right to ???.
Julian: "...man..." *fires the Machinegun at one of the hatches while he drives at it, hoping to open it up before he hits it.*
Metal Man (GM): So fast... it hits the ??? from behind, smashing it open.
Aribar: "Gah!"
Charles: "As soon as I pop my head, I'd be shot at."
Aetos: "Ow..."
Aribar: .oO(Worked too well! Worked too well!)
Metal Man (GM): It's now flying at high speed out of control... but you can walk into the ??? craft.
Aetos: "Aribar, lets go!"
Aetos runs out and into ???.
Aribar: "Wait! Chances are this thing will fall and explode!"
Aetos: "We've gotta take our chances!"
Metal Man (GM): ...An ace shot nicks one from ahead... it explodes open, revealing a ramp down into it. *Cinema.* Julian and Charles's car drive down the ramp, seconds before the force field of the Valkyrie woulda punted them.
Julian: "Woo! I'm awesome!"
Metal Man (GM): Instead, it scrapes the top of the Archelago.
Denon: "Gaaaaahhhhh! They're inside! Kill them!"
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile... Aetos leaps into the back storage area of the ship, Aribar warning him from the car stuck in the back of it. 15 Infantrymen, also in there, get up, ready to defend the machinery inside the ship.
Aribar takes his Chaos Emerald from the CAC and jumps ship!*
Metal Man (GM): As an afterthought, Aribar takes the emerald, making it move at normal speed. Julian and Charles crash their way into the Archelago II, down many, many bumpy stairs. Alarms go off. The sterile, metallic staircase finally ends. You guys crash into a large room full of computer terminals.
Julian: "Hoo-yah! Now let's see if we can take this thing odwn... Charles, do you have your C4?"
Charles: "I did no such thing."
Metal Man (GM): There's doors in all four directions.
Julian: "...Crap."
Metal Man (GM): ...The room... it is eerily empty.
Charles: "Did you bring one?"
Metal Man (GM): Alarms go off. Computers buzz. Nobody responds...
Charles: "...Think there are spikes that will pop up when we leave this car?"
Metal Man (GM): The four doors are also open and unlocked.
Julian: "Nah. Alright, everybody out... Charles, you can fly, right?" *Julian says as he gets out of his CAC.*
Charles gets out the other way, stretching from side to side. He meets Julian at the center. "I wish I could, but I do not have that ability."
Metal Man (GM): Nothing happens when you get out... it's safe. You hear a voice echo... sort of ethereal in sound.
Denon: "Leave my ship while you can... or you will never be heard from again..."
Julian: "Alright, I think I could carry you if we have to bail out..."
Metal Man (GM): The voice breaks into laughter. The computers flicker and flash, and the ship shakes a bit.
Julian: "Beh." *Julian grabs the C4 from his CAC while he's at it.*
Charles is quickly caught off balance for one second but grabs a hold of the CAC before he falls. Charles then pushes himself up a bit.
Metal Man (GM): You have the C4... now which direction do you go?
Julian: "Let's go!" *Julian heads east.*
Charles: "Since you don't seem to respond well to orders by others, I'll follow your lead."
Metal Man (GM): You go to the East door, which is labeled 'East Wing.'
Julian: "Huh?" *walks.*
Charles does as such.
Metal Man (GM): The door slams shut right before you reach it. Laughing issues from the walls again.
Charles stops and licks his teeth.
Julian: "...Damnit..." *Julian tries the South door.*
Metal Man (GM): The other doors open and close in rhythm with the laughter.
Charles: "Okay, let's try North."
Metal Man (GM): The South door closes right before Julian reaches it.
Charles observes the doors and goes "Uhhhh-huh."
Denon: "I do not need my soldiers to kill you... no... not even my body needs to be here..."
Julian: "...Goddammit!"
Metal Man (GM): The laughing continues to echo.
Julian: *Checks out any of the computer terminals for door controls or somethin'.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian walks up to a computer... which tears itself out of the ground and flies away from him.
Julian: "DAMNIT!"
Denon: "Oh yes... I think I might test your minds a while..."
Metal Man (GM): You hear even more laughter... an entire control panel rips out, as does a second one. They spin in a circle and catch on fire.
Julian: "This isn't funny, man! Let us out!"
Denon: "Okay..."
Metal Man (GM): The East door opens up. ...Then it rips itself off of the wall and begins floating around. A wall is in its place.
Charles: "We should've reacted when we had the chance."
Metal Man (GM): It flies through the hoop of fire. Then the hoop of burning control panels fly at Julian in formation. damage. They explode regardless.
Denon: "Who knows... perhaps everything is just an illusion?"
Metal Man (GM): Reality seems to invert colors now.
Julian ducks rolls and dodges his way out of the path of flaming projectiles.*
Denon: "You cannot evade your mortality."
Charles: "It feel like I've just had Magic Kool-Aid."
Metal Man (GM): The floor Julian is on rips out of the ground... but a new piece of floor appears to replace the hole it makes.
Julian: "..."
Metal Man (GM): The floating floor tries to crush Julian into the ceiling.
Julian tries to dive off and barely makes it before it crashes into the ceiling.
Denon: "Kuja demands I kill you. Nothing you can do to stop me... A sly one... perhaps I should even the score."
Metal Man (GM): ...Three ghostly Denon appear around Julian. ...And Charles is entrapped in a prism.
Julian: "...Goddammit..."
Denon: "I'll kill you myself, fool. En guarde!"
Charles: "Fine. If you are going to be this rude..." *attempts to push on a side of the prism.*
Denon: "Silence!"
Metal Man (GM): Charles and the prism blur... frozen in time.
Julian: "How long are you gonna keep this up?"
Denon: "Forever. I want to make you feel... what it was like to be stuck in null space for all eternity."
Julian: "I wasn't even involved in that!"
Metal Man (GM): *BATTLE.* Julian vs. Denon Phantoms.
Denon: "You are too powerful. I must take you out before anyone can help you."
Metal Man (GM): All three raise their hands up, forming a triangular wall of electricity around Julian.
Julian: "...Aw hell."
Denon: "...TRIAD THUNDER!!!!"
Denon2: "...TRIAD THUNDER!!!!"
Denon3: "...TRIAD THUNDER!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): It spins around, then collapses on you. You take an instant damage Your turn.
Denon: "Ha..."
Denon2: "Ha..."
Denon3: "Ha..."
Julian: "GAH! Cheap..." *Tries a Dex.*
Dex: "...Error. Target is in another dimension."
Denons: "Oh ho. Silly machine. You cannot comprehend mememe! Fight me, bully!"
Metal Man (GM): All three get into defensive stances.
Julian: "...Son of a!" *Julian removes his Fedora and tries to hit all 3 of them with a normal throw...*
Denons: "I will give you a nice present if you beat me..."
Metal Man (GM): They all stand there as the Fedora goes THOUGH them.
Denons: "HaHaHa!"
Julian: "...Goddammit, stop cheating and get back on THIS plane."
Denons: "Weakling! We cannot be hurt by corporeal instruments!"
Julian: *Catch.*
Denons: "Lord Kuja wants me to WIN... fool."
Julian: *Replace.*
Denons: "I know what you are going to use against me... do it!"
Metal Man (GM): All three make a beckoning gesture.
Julian: "What, the saber? What, the saber?"
Denons: "Why of course! Gerald Robotnik wants me to evaluate his work! You have no choice."
Metal Man (GM): They all three point at you.
Julian: "If you say so..." *Julian reaches into his back pocket and pulls out Vendetta's hilt, and ignites it, sparking the orange blade to life.*
Metal Man (GM): The blade seems to cleave through this weird distortion Denon is using.
Julian: "Alright, let's see if this works!" *Julian charges Denon 1 and cleaves upwards with a curving strike.*
Metal Man (GM): You hit him, and the entire room flashes black and white. The prism is unfrozen in time, and the doors reappear on the walls, though locked.
Julian: "...Whoa. "
Metal Man (GM): Denon becomes one... collapsed on the floor.
Charles continues right from where he left off.
Metal Man (GM): He gets back up, wiping blood from his mouth... and drawing out a dark saber of his own.
Charles: "...Then I'll simply have to leave."
Metal Man (GM): ...It has Gerald Robotnik's insignia on it.
Julian: "...Where the hell'd you ge that?"
Denon: "Gerald Robotnik made this blade... the Destroyer of Hope. I hope you like it."
Charles looks to these sabers... oh crap.
Metal Man (GM): It looks... more advanced than yours. *SWORD FIGHT.*
Julian: "That's a *censored* name. Make it one word! Charles, watch my back!"
Metal Man (GM): Denon rushes at you, trying to stab you with the blade.
Julian: *Stance.* *FAIL'D.*
Metal Man (GM): You're stunned; this blade outclasses yours. You take damage. You're pushed back... but now you have an action to attack back. Charles may also try to break out of the prism for his action.
Charles: "...Oh... my... god."
Julian: "Gah!" *Julian recoils, then lunges back with a swipe at the knees.*
Denon: "Gerald told me you'd be using that outdated weapon. He wants it back."
Charles: "If Denon can outclass Julian... then there is no hope!"
Julian: "He's dead! ...Unless Kuja revived him. He did, didn't he?"
Metal Man (GM): He arrogantly deflects your attack, then goes with a vertical slice upside the face. *CRIT.*
Julian: "YEARGH!"
Metal Man (GM): Damage.
Charles does a woot woot woot! with his left arm, cheering on Julian... but secretly charging for a Meteor Smash.
Metal Man (GM): Julian resists being corrupted.
Denon: "Soon, you shall be dead... or worse. All because you stole that weapon... a pity."
Metal Man (GM): http://rpgamer.com/games/ff/ff7/sounds/mp3/AngelofDeath%28NeoS%29.mp3 <-- Battle music.
Denon: "Try your best... you're just not able to win."
Julian's now got a nice cut running up the length of the left side of his face. His blue-lensed shades are now pieces on the floor.*
Denon: "Gerald Robotnik... I can't tell you about him, now can I?"
Julian spits off to the side, it being visibly red.* "You gotta stop talkin' like you've already won!" *Julian charles, going for a horizontal slice across the chest.*
Charles is done 'cheering.' He puts both fists together and uses a METEOR SMASH on the prism.
Denon: "Oh, but haven't I?"
Metal Man (GM): You hit him dead in the center of the chest. The room flashes some more. He looks down with dismay, but only laughs.
Denon: "Very... clever. Holding back on me."
Metal Man (GM): Charles hits the prism. *BLAM* The prism shatters...
Denon: "Very well... how about I try this?"
Charles merely watches... not saying a word as to upset a powerful follower of Kuja.
Metal Man (GM): He shoves his hand in your face and fires a giant spray of dark lightning which even threatens Charles.
Julian: "What the-" *BZZZZZZZZZZTRRRRRRRRRGH!*
Charles very life is threatened as he screeches in pain.
Julian's knocked the *censored* off his feet.*
Metal Man (GM): You do notice something, though. Denon is sorta wavery now. That saber does something really bad to him.
Julian tumbles backwards a bit, then comes to a rest facedown, not moving blood pooling. A white light flashes and Julian stirs, groaning but alive as he staggers back to his feet, 1 life down. 2/3.
Denon: "Attack me, and suffer the consequences..."
Charles: "And to steal from you would leave me in a worse situation."
Denon: "Steal? From me?"
Charles: "Go on... laugh at the thought."
Metal Man (GM): He begins laughing.
Charles: "But... do not attempt to laugh at this!" *invokes the power of Attack Boost... on Julian!*
Julian's face is now lightly colored red from laying face down in that blood, but it doesn't seriously impair his vision. His green eyes flare with anger as he eyes his opponent.* "Big mistake!" *Julian charges Denon and aims a downward strike on his shoulder.*
Charles turn is over as the Star Rod encircles Julian and he glows with the blue and yellow as Bowser did.
Metal Man (GM): You hit him. HARD.
Julian makes it a diagonal cut, going down to the right hip.*
Metal Man (GM): He's struck, and then blasted into the wall, which is blasted down by it. The lights flicker. It's some sort of video library. He gets up, blood from that cut as well oozing.
Denon: "Child's play."
Julian: "Round 2, *censored*."
Metal Man (GM): He begins glowing an unholy aura. Unholy runes form in the air and begin flowing around him.
Denon: "DARK ENERGY WAVE! DARK ENERGY WAVE! DARK ENERGY WAVE!"
Charles: "!!!"
Denon: "RrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHH!!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): A GIGANTIC wave of dark energy is unleashed, which literally shreds everything in its path.
Metal Man (GM): The lights go out. Stuff is picked up... and it continues coming. Even worse... he releases three waves, one after another. Charles, unable to resist the power of them, takes damage and instantly dies.
Charles falls down.
Metal Man (GM): Denon is panting now. You guys really did a number on him.
Denon: "I... MUST... KILL ALL OF YOU..."
Metal Man (GM): He's even more wavery now. One... two... You fail on the however, getting nicked by the last wave, your white aura failing. No instant death, luckilly.
Julian stands tall, weathering the first two waves, but it knocked back by the third.*
Metal Man (GM): You take damage. Denon himself is stunned from his own attack.
Denon: "I must... destroy... you all... forever... Kuja... will never know..."
Julian remains on his feet, though, but looking significantly worse for wear, at his damage limit.*
Denon: "Gerald... price... light saber..."
Metal Man (GM): He gets up from the floor, still breathing heavily. No death, of course.
Charles gets up, shaking his head. He gets up and yawns, as if he didn't die... but did temporaily. Charles then looks to Julian and growls softly...
Julian goes down on one knee to catch his breath.* "To paraphrase... a famous boxer..."
Charles: "I will give this to you, but from now on, you will not chatize me when I do something non-Questerish."
Julian: "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT, DENON?!" *Julian suddenly rises to his feet and leaps, aided slightly by his Rocket Boots, and comes down on Denon with a downwards Sword Thrust ala Link, going for the head.*
Denon: "You give me no choice..."
Metal Man (GM): He's hit in the head. The room flashes violently yet again.
Charles: "...Never mind."
Metal Man (GM): He's now nearly gone... and looks vaguely familiar to something else. He's all fadey and misty.
Julian: "...Now what?"
Denon: "It's about time I finished this."
Metal Man (GM): The entire place begins shaking.
Denon: "...ARMAGEDDON!!!"
Metal Man (GM): A big hole explodes through reality around Denon as all of the attacks ever done pour out and... at both of you. You even see some of your own attacks... There are but seconds before they hit you. You have a few seconds to react.
Julian: "...Shit." *Looks for something to hide behind or something to save himself from the oncoming wrath.*
Metal Man (GM): You realize Armageddon can hit you anywhere, anytime. It goes through everything. Unless you have some countering time-space distortion.
Charles: "I will not hide against everything... for there is nowhere to go! I AM CHARLES!"
Metal Man (GM): Denon himself is unhittable, mainly because he's got all of Armageddon in front of him.
Julian: *Tries to remember if he has anything that can do that.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian: Not really. Though you remember Charles having many relics.
Charles uses his Red Chaos Emerald and pours all anger into it he can think of and begins use it to channel chaos around him.
Julian: "Charles! Do you have aynthing that can distort space-time?!"
Metal Man (GM): You say that just as time explodes. *Cinema.* A view from outside the Archelago. It's flying as normal; the previous chaos was contained within. *Archelago II. ...Then, first, the Armageddon goes off, annihilating the entire ship... A giant red aura covers the armageddon... Then it all freezes in time and explodes like glass. A grayish-static cloud is left... the X-zone, of course. ...Charles and Julian black out from the explosion... but wake up shortly. They're still on the ship... it seems still. Denon is gone... *+5000 EXP to Charles and Julian.*
Julian: "...eargh..." *Julian sits up.*
Metal Man (GM): +10,000 coins each. You're both okay, however it seems as if time has stopped. For everything but you two.
Julian: "...Man... what the hell was that? Charles, you okay?"
Metal Man (GM): A red haze is in the air. Charles is firmly clutching the emerald.
Charles has his eyes wide open... he's gasping like something extremely frightening happened. Charles then brings the emerald down slowly... he's shaking.
Julian: "Charles?"
Charles looks to Julian, his voice stuttering... "Www-w-www-aaasss--sss thaa-thh-thhthth-thatt... Chh--chhChaos Ccc-cc-ontrol?"
Julian: "I have no idea, man..." *stands up.*
Charles is a bit more calmer... he looks to the left and right. "...We have to get out of here."
Julian: "Good idea..." *looks at the doors.*
Metal Man (GM): All but the door to the North is closed. Upon looking twice, you notice a black-and-white outline of Denon. A shadow. Literally burnt into the wall behind him. Is he dead or alive? No one knows.
Julian: "...Whoa..."
Metal Man (GM): Though that door being open suggests it was opened by someone.
Charles runs to the North, noticing the outline, the arm carrying the emerald extended all the way.
Julian: "Hold up..." *Julian reaches into his back pocket and fishes out a PEZ Dispenser with a Max Shroom as the head.* *pops a tablet out and downs it, healing himself to the max, then replacing the PEZ Dispsenser back in his pocket. He then heads north.*
Metal Man (GM): You go North... You walk down a narrow hallway, which seems twisted. Foreboding fills the place. And then you enter a library.
Julian: *Replacing that big cut on Julian's face is now a small scar that extends from the bridge of his nose diagonall to a little past the end of his eyebrow and up.*
Charles, still a bit of anxiety of what happened, looks all around, breathing heavily.
Metal Man (GM): It's torn up. At least, there's books all over, and video discs.
Julian: *checks it out.*
Metal Man (GM): There's also a TV with a DVD drive under it... it's got a disc in it. You can also just continue on your way.
Charles looks for ANYTHING out of ordinary.
Metal Man (GM): Well, those books and video tapes suspended mid-air are obvious. As is the fact that everything is tilted.
Julian: *turns it on.*
Metal Man (GM): It turns on...
TV: "The Apocalypse Group: A Documentary."
Metal Man (GM): It begins showing the original Archelago attacking Toad Town.
Charles watches the Documentary.
Metal Man (GM): An endless and boring monologue continues... But since time doesn't work well here, you're able to watch through all of it quickly. To the interesting part... It goes towards the end. 'The Evil Smithy annihilated Apocalypse Group's secondary ship, with the help of Charles Magellean.' '...The Void annihilated our headquarters in Toad Town 2.' 'The Void also brainwashed many of our members, making them 'The Thirteen Gentlemen'...'
Charles growls softly.
Metal Man (GM): '...Denon was sent into Null space by the Questers/SIMBER/Smithy's satellites...'
Julian: "Knew I had nothin' to do with that..."
Metal Man (GM): '...The Archelago was sent to Turion by The Void in the process.'
Julian: "Huh?"
Metal Man (GM): '...Quest Hunters destroyed by chaos.' It then ends. The documentary seems very annoying. In fact... extremely annoying. The door ahead is open.
Charles: "...Pop open the disc drive, Julian."
Julian: "...Alright..." *looks at the floating disks to see if they hold any valuable information.*
Metal Man (GM): Nothing... only the DVD. Erm. DVD player. The others are all just regular movies.
Julian: *Opens the player then.*
Metal Man (GM): Like 'It Ate Toad Town' 'I hate Toad Town' 'Toad Town: A documentary' You open it. Apocalypse Group: A Documentary. That's the name of the DVD. There's a case for it too. It might be useful.
Julian: *Yoink.*
Charles: "Who in their right minds would take something as annoying as that?"
Metal Man (GM): Julian acquires: Documentary DVD.
Julian: "Me?" *pockets it.*
Metal Man (GM): Secret 1 Acquired.
Charles: "We both don't have right minds."
Julian: "Eh."
Charles: "Who knows; might be subliminal advertising on it. I'll look in here some more."
Julian: "You do that..." *Glances around the room for a window or somthin' that'll allow him to look outside.*
Charles looks around for non-floating thingies.
Julian: *Glances around the room for a window or somthin' that'll allow him to look outside.*
Metal Man (GM): Charles: entire bookcases, DVD cases. Plenty... most of it useless,though. It's propaganda. 'Kuja is your God' 'The wonders of Magitek' Julian: No windows here... but there is through the open door ahead... there's the bridge, which MUST have doors. Err. Windows.
Charles: "..."
Metal Man (GM): The carpet is plush and blood red.
Julian: "...Hey, the bridge! C'mon Charles, let's go! I wanna see what's goin' on outside..." *Heads towards the Bridge.*
Charles RIPS APART 'The wonders of Magitek.' Charles then whinnies the sound of a horse and snorts as a bull and looks to Julian. "Sorry, what did you say?"
Julian: "LET'S GO!" *keeps walking.*
Charles: "..."
Metal Man (GM): You walk onto the bridge.
Julian: "Jeez..."
Charles steps on the pages some more and follows Julian.
Metal Man (GM): Charles follows. It's a massive room that's a semicircle. The large window which looks out 180 degrees... shows the dark skies of the X-zone.
Julian: "...Where the hell is this?"
Metal Man (GM): The controls are where they were last set.
Charles: "Xs flying around... constellations..."
Julian: *Checks his Dex to see if it's still showing.*
Charles: "I'd say we're in the X-Zone."
Julian: working.*
Metal Man (GM): It still works.
Julian: "...That's bad, right?"
Charles: "You remember that mission to find Metal in the X-Zone when we were back on Turion, right?"
Julian: "Nope."
Charles: "Trust me... It's bad. The main logic of the X-Zone is chaos. Reality would equal shoe in this place. This would be my... third time entering it... if we're actually here at all."
Julian: "...Yeah, that's bad alright..."
Charles: "Enough gazing. Let's get out of here."
Metal Man (GM): The ship's controls look promising.
Julian: *Checks out the controls.*
Metal Man (GM): Charles: a button labeled 'Shoe' looks fun to press.
Charles: "Okay, something is definitely mocking me."
Metal Man (GM): Julian find a sub-panel labeled 'Interdimensional Controller' that's full of very complex but... possibly helpful switches and buttons.
Charles resists the impulse of a Gibby guy and backs away from the button.
Julian: "...The hell is this?" *scans 'em with the Dex.*
Dex: "DING! That is some sort of magitek machine, used to warp from place to place. A warp drive."
Julian: "...Okay, how do I work it?"
Dex: "Its normal use is to teleport between places at high speed through sub-space in one realm."
Charles whinnies as a horse and snorts as a bull as he prepares his fist.
Dex: "...It is of no use in its current configuration, unless you want to explore the X-zone. It may be your only escape from here."
Charles: "I would sooner be cursed here than let magitek be a savior!"
Dex: "If reprogrammed correctly, it could warp you out. Or shred you to smithereens across all of the dimensions made."
Julian: "So how the hell do I do that?"
Dex: "Unknown."
Charles prepares a Meteor Smash...
Metal Man (GM): Looks like Charles is about to smash it.
Charles' face twitches.
Julian: "Great..." *tries to pull up a map or something...* "...CHARLES! If you do what I think you're about to to, I'm gonna throw you out the airlock."
Charles: "Give me one good reason why I should let this ABOMINATION exist."
Julian: "Because it's our only way out of this damn zone!"
Metal Man (GM): You're at the mercy of your intelligence, since you've never used this thing before.
Charles: "That's not good enough; I said I would rather destroy it than let it save me."
Julian: "I ain't kiddin' Charles. You *censored* this up, I WILL kill you."
Metal Man (GM): *Crit.* Julian pulls up a map all right.
Charles stops charging... hanging his head in shame.
Metal Man (GM): It's of Nintendus, and split up into six even pieces.
Julian: "...Well, this kinda helps..." *looks it over.*
Charles: "I pity your obliviousness to such... a mockery to reality."
Julian: "Shut it." *continues looking over the map.*
Metal Man (GM): Well... you try to read it... but obviously all it has is six shapes, and a bunch of terrain info.
Charles: "Ignoring your distaste, what do you have there?"
Julian: "Some kinda map. You have anything I can download this onto?"
Metal Man (GM): It looks vaguely like the old Nintendus.
Charles: "Nay, but a dex can scan a picture of something."
Julian: *Uploads the map to the Dex then via scanning.*
Dex: "...Unknown landform resembles Nintendus. Heavily encrypted. Names and other information were deleted from this version, apparently to keep it from the Questers. All land is controlled by Kuja, but six pieces here... must be subordinates."
Julian: "Atleast it's something..."
Dex: "Stored for later use."
Julian: "Great..."
Charles: "Something an infantry told us earlier, if I'm not mistaken."
Julian: "Now what..."
Metal Man (GM): Well, you can always go back to that library, or perhaps play with the fancy control panel.
Charles: "Use the wretched magiscience piece of garbage and let's get out of here."
Julian: "You go look at the Library some more... I'll try and get us out of here..."
Charles: "...It would be better that way."
Julian: *plays with the fancy control panel some more.*
Charles coughs blood in the direction of the panel, but nowhere close to hitting it, and leaves to go back to the library.
Julian: "...Can you do that on cue or something? Like those lizards?"
Metal Man (GM): Julian presses some buttons and discovers that a disc is needed to finish the reprogramming.
Charles left the room before he could hear Julian. He looks in an area of the library he hasn't checked yet.
Julian: "...Hmm..." *Julian inserts the documentary disk.*
Computer: "..."
Metal Man (GM): Suddenly... BLOZT! You are both warped.
Julian: "SHI-" *WARP'D.*
Metal Man (GM): You appear behind Denon, while the Armageddon attack flies at... yourselves, who are on the other side? Must have gone back in time.
Julian: "..."
Metal Man (GM): You see Chaos control go off... and realize it had no chance against Denon's attack. However his back is to you... and you have your saber out again.
Julian: "..." .oO(Doesn't take a genius to figure this out.) *STAB.*
Denon: "No... it can't be... you're dead... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): You stab him in the back... *FLASHFLASHFLASH.*
Julian: "That's what you think!"
Metal Man (GM): He turns into pure mist and dissipates away.
Denon: "This is only the beginning!"
Julian: "...What the hell was that?"
Charles: "I say we should move and get out of here..."
Julian: "To the bridge!"
Charles: "That would restart everything, Julian."
Metal Man (GM): ...there is the Armageddon and yourselves in the past disappear with the flash.
Julian: "We have to take this thing out somehow."
Metal Man (GM): The ship itself is now relatively peaceful.
Julian: "And the bridge is the best place to start." *Northward ho!*
Metal Man (GM): Well. For two messed up rooms and all of that madness you witnessed.
Charles looks for an alternative way to go.
Metal Man (GM): Charles: The doors South, East, and West are open.
Charles: "Like I'm going to play follow the leader who wants to repeat time." *goes South.*
Metal Man (GM): Charles goes South. Not the bad kind, but the kind with direction. He enters a large, refrigerated room.
Charles enters a large, refrigerated room.
Metal Man (GM): It's got very many tubes, machines, and... blinking lights. It's like a sci-fi lab... you can almost hear the electronica music.
Charles sees the very many tubes, machines, and... blinking lights in the large, refrigerated room. "...I'm hungry."
Metal Man (GM): The tubes are fogged over. A single computer is nearby, and is deactivated. It has plenty of buttons too. Well. A keyboard and a mouse. What do you do?
Charles approaches a fogged tube. He rubs his sleeve in a circle on the glass to increase visibility.
Metal Man (GM): You see... gasp! An infantryman! ...Wait... no... you've seen this before... it's just like those Quest Hunters were stored back in the old, old days. Either way, it's obviously in storage, otherwise you'd be hearing the evil defrosting special effects.
Charles: "Grumble." *approaches the computer.*
Metal Man (GM): The computer is fogged up, but you can turn it on.
Charles uses sleeve and turns it on.
Metal Man (GM): It turns on. You start seeing various commands fly by. ...It finally boots up, with a password prompt. 'Please type username and password.'
Charles uses his Dex to scan and attempt to hack into the computer after seeing if it can be hooked up.
Dex: "...Attempting... failure. Computer is Magitek, unable to interface."
Charles: "..."
Metal Man (GM): ~MEANWHILE~ Aribar and Aetos, in a last-ditch attempt to capture the ??? ship, or at least keep it from escaping, crashed into it with their CAC. They are in the main cargo hold, where about 10 Infantrymen are guarding... well. Everything inside.
Infantry1: "Cease and desist. Surrender to the superior might of Denon's army! Anything you do will be held against you when your trial before Kuja is done."
Aribar: "We've slaughtered your troops on the ground. Stand aside and let us go to the bridge."
Aetos nods.
Infantry1: "That is not to happen. The doors are sealed shut, and if you do not desist, I will have to make it so."
Metal Man (GM): They all aim at you guys. All 10 of them.
Infantry1: "As leader of this platoon, it is my job to silence intruders."
Aetos sighs... remembering the pain of being blasted when they are upset when you talk about Kuja.
Infantry1: "I'm not about to let you waltz into this top-secret military vehicle."
Aetos: "So what's it do?"
Aribar: "Then you choose death." *The elf takes out Moonlight and holds it ready against the militia.*
Infantry1: "That is classified information."
Aetos: "Whatever..."
Infantry1: "You give us no choice."
Metal Man (GM): BATTLE. Questers vs. Infantry Platoon.
Aetos taps his spear to the ground... *Special mode.* *Tornado tip... wind mode.* Aetos then smirks. Aetos then activates his Item Finder.
Metal Man (GM): It goes off like mad. You are in a cargo bay, after all.
Infantry1: "What, do you think we fly an EMPTY cargo ship around?"
Aetos goes to one of the boxes/crates/whatever and attempts to open it up.
Metal Man (GM): You are blocked by one of the 10 men.
Aetos growls... Move!
Infantry7: "No entry!"
Aetos drills into Infantry 7.
Metal Man (GM): *Block.* *Block.* He knows how to use a shield all right.
Aribar brings Moonlight in as if he's going for a wide arcing swing. The blade begins to glow with white energy before the elf slashes out at the milita, a wave of stars pounding into them. Next the wizard pulls Moonlight back as energy gathers on the blade and takes a step forward, thrusting the shortsword towards the crowd of men. A wave of stars washes over the milita, cutting them as badly as the first barrage.
Aribar finally points his sword at Aetos, a transparent blue barrier passing over the spear-user before it fades away.
Aetos smiles at Aribar, "Thankee."
Aribar nods.
Infantry1: "Feeling tough, elf? Men. Destroy him."
Metal Man (GM): He points at Aribar. Five of the infantry open fire with their laser guns at him.
Aribar is the envy of swiss cheese everywhere.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar is annihilated by a cloud of lasers.
Aetos: "Aribar!!"
Infantry1: "Now the jerk with the force field!"
Aetos looks to the sides, "Me?.. eh..."
Metal Man (GM): They get ready to attack Aetos.
Aetos: "But... I'm... uhh... your friend! I'm Bob! Don't you remember me?!"
Infantry1: "It is against regulations to have friends. You'd know that, if you were Bob. And you'd be in a suit."
Aetos growls. Aetos then holds out his hand and light shines from it... Soon a gust of bright wind flows out and towards them all.
Metal Man (GM): All hit. Your attack bounces off of their armor.
Aetos growls. "Stupid Armor!" Aetos then runs up and tries an impale now... on #1.
Infantry1: "Denon's finest. Standard equipment. You could have it too, if you joined us and killed the elf."
Metal Man (GM): Hit. You blow him away. Into the wall. Which prevents him from being blown from the battle.
Infantry1: "Doesn't work in close quarters, I'm afraid."
Metal Man (GM): He does, however, take some in damage. Which is negated by his DR.
Aetos uses his last action to futilely .. defend.
Infantry1: "Killing you is as fun as Denon told us it would be. I must commend him for his training, otherwise you would have killed us all by now. Ten years gave him the time to pay for all the expensive armor we wear."
Aribar 's body shines with a white light, repairing itself. Soon the glow is overwhelmed with red fury as Aribar floats back up to his feet, growling at the first soldier. The elf fires a Level 1 Terrorbolt in an attempt to vaporize the soldier that dared to kill him before unleashing another wave of stars upon the troops.*
Aetos taps his foot... waiting for himself to be attacked... he grins though.
Infantry1: "Argh!!!"
Metal Man (GM): He explodes. ...Infantry 2 walks in his place.
Aetos: "Argh!!! Your exploded face."
Infantry2: "Brain data downloaded."
Aetos: "Wh-a..what??"
Aribar: "Does anyone else wish to face me? Kill me and I shall come back with a vengence!"
Infantry2: "Good one, destroying my original body. I'll just be able to respawn using these slaves. Not so tough now, elf?"
Aribar: .oO(... Stupid! That will draw their fire to you!)
Aetos yells "Hit me! Punk!"
Metal Man (GM): Clearly, something is wrong about this person. He's not a slave, or at least he doesn't let on to be one.
Aribar: "Why are you opposing us? You work for Denon, but why? Does he truly give you all you want and need?"
Aetos: "Aribar... their stupid suits brainwash them."
Infantry2: "I am not brainwashed."
Aribar lowers his voice just a bit. "This guy seems a bit different... At least a little bit free."
Aetos: "Liar."
Infantry2: "Would I be able to do this?"
Aetos: "Yes."
Metal Man (GM): He turns around and punches one of his other men.
Aetos stares at him.
Infantry2: "No. Only Denon's favorites are allowed will. Enough babbling. I have a funeral to attend. Your funeral."
Aetos: "Psh... duh... A person with true WILL-POWER would kill them all."
Metal Man (GM): They all aim, and fire at Aetos. Well. Not so much aim as leap up and try to stab his throat out with laser sabers.
Aetos falls to the ground and dies for now.
Infantry2: "Do not take it personally or exceptionally, though. There are many like me. It's just that we like our job and joined of our own mind."
Aetos revives in a flash of chaotic light... he slowly gets up... grinning like a madman. his eyes glow red... "Fool! This is the power you shall fall to! Haha! Eagle's Fury!!" Wind starts rushing off of Aetos' body, forming a small hurricane, encircling all the infantry men... they all take damage each, except Infantry 5, who takes more damage. "Ha... ha..." He starts panting when it is gone... "Ow..."
Infantry2: "Excellent attack... but I shall survive."
Aribar: "Gah... Why won't you die?!"
Metal Man (GM): They all are killed. The ship, owing to its exceptional build, is NOT ripped apart. Thank goodness for Magitek... The ship is continuing. Odd.
Aribar frowns as he looks at the soldiers... They exploded?
Metal Man (GM): They're all dead. 2500 EXP to you two. Exploded. Annihilated. There's a large bulkhead door ahead, which is sealed shut.
Aribar sheaths Moonlight and pants.* "That was nigh-beyond us... ." Aribar then downs a Blue Potion. It may be used in excess, but the elf needs a pick-me-up.*
Metal Man (GM): There's a lot of computery stuff in here.
Aetos looks much less... wind-powerful-based-y.
Metal Man (GM): And there's weird handle-less doors all about... super-safes. They're safe-sized doors.
Aetos: "So..." *taps on one of the doors.*
Aribar looks all about at the safes and then at the bulkhead.*
Metal Man (GM): Nothing.
Aribar: "We need to make that go boom..."
Metal Man (GM): They're all secure-looking. Even the computery stuff looks tough. No interfaces back here... Those Denon people know how to make a secure ship.
Aribar looks at their CAC to see where it is at in relation to the bulkhead.*
Metal Man (GM): It is jammed in the rear exit.
Aetos sighs "We need to move on... to unlock the princess from this castle."
Metal Man (GM): Wind blows in; and it's precarious down below. It sticks out a bit. You notice you're flying quickly towards somewhere. The front of the CAC points inside the Cargo ship.
Aribar: "Hrm..."
Metal Man (GM): But it's jammed. It's even still on. It can't get in any further. This ship is of remarkable toughness.
Aribar walks over and tries to get back inside the CAC.
Metal Man (GM): You get back inside it easily.
Aetos: "Aribar! What are you doing?!" *taps his foot.*
Metal Man (GM): Just climbing over the hood and through the windshield. A bit covered in safety glass.
Aribar: "If I can find the weapondry I think I can just blow through the walls of this place... And hopefully into another room!"
Aetos: "Um..."
Aribar does just that... Attempt to find weaponry stronger than the Arwing Lasers. "What?"
Aetos: "We should just search about this room instead of blasting our way through the door... You might... probably WILL damage the computers here."
Metal Man (GM): Eh... you just find more lasers.
Aetos searches the room top to bottom for anything take-able.
Aribar: "Bleh." *The elf climbs out and walks over to the bulkhead.*
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: Nothing. It's all glued down and without any place to grab.
Aetos then searches for anything pushable.
Aribar looks around for computers or something similar that would make the bulkhead open or close.*
Metal Man (GM): No pushing things either. There's computer stuff, but it looks tough, and not control-type either.
Aribar takes out his Dex and points it at one of the computers.* "Scan the function of this computer."
Aetos shrugs. Aetos then takes out his ring. Aetos then looks at the safe-doors, and then the huge door. "Which one to open..."
Dex: "Magitek computer. Heavily encrypted. Used for unknown purpose."
Aribar: "... I still say big explosions is the only way to get through... Hrm...'
Aetos: "Maybe we should just move on... before this gets to wherever it's going. Wait..."
Aribar: "I'm open for suggestions on how we do that. "*
Aetos: "Does this... Magitek... keep me from opening it with my ring?"
Aribar: "What's that ring do?"
Aetos tries anyways... last use, Door opener 3000... on the bulkhead door.
Metal Man (GM): You press the button.
Aetos squints.
Metal Man (GM): The door opens... one person is behind the ship's controls.
???: "Who iiiiiiiiis it?"
Aetos: "...Bob."
???: "Bob? That's odd. You were killed by the Questers."
Aribar stands back and watches the scene play out.*
Aetos: "No no, I killed them... and then took their clothes... and made this robot here in my spare 5 minutes before coming back. "
Aribar: .oO(We're doomed.)
???: "Do you know who you're speaking to?"
Aetos: "Anyways... they... uh... stole my armor... yeah... and used some dust on me which made me forget everything... so who are you and what is this ship?"
???: "DO YOU? DO YOU? DOOOOO YOU KNOW?"
Aetos looks out the front window to see what is ahead on the ship.
Aribar takes out the Wand of Wonder and attempts to get into a position where he wouldn't be immediantly seen by this person.*
Metal Man (GM): You try to look, but you can't quite tell from here. ...The windshield isn't very reflective, even for your eyes. Aribar hides easily.
Aetos: "Yeah... so... no I don't know you... but all I wanna know is the questions I asked... I'm not looking to send my killer robot to slaughter you... sir?" *is indeed, bad at lying.*
???: "Yeaaaaah. You know, I'd believe you, buuuut..."
Aetos: "But?" *walks up to the man.*
Metal Man (GM): The chair turns around, smacking you in the face.
Aetos: "Hey! Watch it!"
Metal Man (GM): And in it... is Skyhigh.
Aetos: "...You remind me of someone."
Skyhigh: "Hahahahahahahahah! It is none other than I, Skyhigh! You may have defeated me last time... forcing Kuja to demote me."
Aetos: "What?... Last time?" *blinks.*
Metal Man (GM): He shows his wrist communicator. It shows Julian fighting... Denon?
Aetos: "I've never met you bef-- what is that? Woah!"
Metal Man (GM): And a whole mess of explosions in it too.
Skyhigh: "This ship... is VERY important. So important, not even I know what it is for. It was built entirely for me to fly. And only me to fly."
Aetos: "Skyhigh? I like your name. Mine is Aetos."
Skyhigh: "And only I must fly it!"
Aetos: "I still fail to remember you at all... when have I defeated you? I'm extremely confused... My psycho robot slaughtering magic-casting robot I call Aribar might know you though. He only has one arm. And he's tall to many people."
Aribar: .oO(Note to self: Don't take Aetos on missions requiring stealth or secret identities.)
Metal Man (GM): First thing's first. Before the battle even starts... he makes a dramatic gesture.
Skyhigh: "Heheheheheh. Remember this?"
Metal Man (GM): He's surrounded by a red shield.
Aetos: "No."
Skyhigh: "Now then, you punks have two choices. Leave now and let me do my job, or be killed utterly."
Aetos: "I like options."
Aribar walks out to face Skyhigh.* "Two problems. One, our ship is jammed into yours."
Aetos sighs.
Aribar: "Two, we really should try and stop you. ."
Skyhigh: "What harm can I be? Kuja demoted me after that fiasco. Nevermind. You're just going to have to die."
Metal Man (GM): *BATTLE.* Questers vs. Skyhigh.
Skyhigh: "I always hated you... your fame, your honor... your face. Now I shall get my revenge WITHOUT that meddling man and his sabers. Now, to dust of an old chestnut... Falcon Punch! Punch! Punch! PUNCH!"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos dodges one and gets toasted thrice. Same to Aribar.
Aetos: *Scorched!*
Aetos: *Auto-deathdified.* *Auto-Undeathdefied.*
Aribar falls down, a burnt corpse.*
Skyhigh: "That was easy. I forgot how many times Aribar would die. Heheheheh... in your face."
Metal Man (GM): He kicks Aribar's corpse.
Aetos: "Heh..." *stands there.* "So..." *blows on some burns.*
Skyhigh: "You don't have a chance."
Aetos: "I... don't think I'm going to take any chances with that silly red thing." *backs up... hopefully into the previous room... into the CAC... to fire an Arwing Laser at Skyhigh's Shield! NAR!
Metal Man (GM): He flies out of the way. You hit the control panel... which is so heavily armored, it doesn't take too much damage.
Skyhigh: "What, do you think I'm THAT easy to kill? I'm insulted! Even Kuja doesn't think so lowly of me!"
Aetos taps his chin... then aims for one of the safe-doors. "I can DREAM can't I?!"
Metal Man (GM): You hit the control panel again instead. More nothing happens.
Skyhigh: "You give me a good idea, though. You're too weak for me to bother killing."
Metal Man (GM): He picks up Aribar's corpse and hurls it into the CAC.
Skyhigh: "Bon voyage."
Aetos twitches.
Metal Man (GM): He punts your CAC off of the special ship. Which just happens to be out of power/stalled. For some reason he flew over close to your HQ prior to dropping you. Something odd about him... he just isn't a Kuja-worshiper. *END OF AETOS/ARIBAR MISSION.*
Aetos: *Thud.*
Metal Man (GM): *Skyhigh gains 5000 EXP.*
Charles was last facing down... magitek.
Metal Man (GM): Charles was facing... magitek.
Julian was last seen heading north.*
Metal Man (GM): A computer with a password and username dialog up on it.
Charles calmly turns off the computer.
Metal Man (GM): Charles: Not much here, it seems. It's a dead-end, too. You're high up on the ship.
Charles whinnies like a horse and grunts like a bull. Charles then gets an evil anger grimace as he backs up... Charles then hops back five feet, he somersaults backwards 4 times, and glides forward using an Alpha Meta Glide!
Metal Man (GM): You slam into it. Since this ship was never meant to be attacked from the inside, it explodes. In fact, the entire room explodes. Busted. You're alive, of course. But the room is not. Exploded. Anyone in them is dead too.
Charles spits blood where the computer was. "Rot in hell."
Metal Man (GM): You're satisfied with destroying one of the sources of those evil soldiers.
Charles leaves the room and goes back to the hallway.
Metal Man (GM): *Meanwhile...* Julian, walking North, encounters the same book place he was before. It's messed up, but he took the DVD BEFORE time reconciled itself and the room exploded. Thank goodness. The door ahead is locked. Locked, triple-locked, heck, it's got locks all over it.
Julian: "This shouldn't be too hard..." *looks around.*
Metal Man (GM): Burnt books and stuff, and the door itself is sealed shut. Nothing interesting, because it was all exploded.
Julian: *Anything that looks like it might open the door?*
Metal Man (GM): Nope... that door was intended to be not opened. Well. It's not gonna open easily. It's like, Ultimate Door 3000.
Julian: "*Censored.*..." *looks for another way in, like cutting through the wall or something.*
Metal Man (GM): The walls look solid too. The people here know well of Quester tactics. It looks almost as if this room self-destructed, even.
Julian: "Damnit..." *heads back to the hub and goes East, looking for another way to the bridge.*
Metal Man (GM): East open the door, and discover an elevator. There are 10 other floors. You're on the 10th one right now.
Julian: "...Huh."
Metal Man (GM): Perhaps this is why this area was empty... small, easily sacrificed, and not terribly useful.
Julian: *Checks the West room before activating Elevator Wackiness.*
Metal Man (GM): That's... also an elevator. Which goes to the other side of the same 10 floors.
Julian: "...Don't have much of a choice, then..." *heads East and goes down a level.*
Metal Man (GM): The elevator beeps oddly. The doors slam shut.
Julian: "?"
Metal Man (GM): You hear an endless tape track of Kuja going 'Na-ah-aaah' at you. The elevator begins falling very fast.
Julian: "...*CEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENSORED*"
Metal Man (GM): What do you do? Time is of the essence. Mainly because if you take too long you'll be a-flying to your doom.
Julian: *Looks for a emergency stop or open door button. Failing that, he tries to open the door of the elevator car.*
Metal Man (GM): There is an emergency stop button. And an open door button. Both are in traditional red hue, as most emergency buttons are.
Julian: *presses the Emergency stop button first.*
Metal Man (GM): Explosives go off inside the elevator. You take damage.
Julian: "GAH!" *OPEN DOOR!*
Metal Man (GM): More explosives go off. You take another bit of damage. I guess they don't use the Open Door button either.
Julian: "*Censored!*" *Tries to open the roof of a car, or failing, cut it open with his saber.*
Metal Man (GM): You go down another floor as you barely miss... accursed gravity. You can try again. Oh! So close. You just barely fail, cutting a gash into the ceiling. Swing and a miss. You cut yourself in the foot instead.
Julian: "*Censored!*"
Metal Man (GM): You slice off part of the elevator control panel. Then you stab it into the door. If there were any more explosives, you'd have exploded again. You can try other things, of course, but your time is short. ...I hope your head has insurance. The acceleration would be enough to do some serious damage. You stab a hole in the wall. These guys are pros, you know that much.
Julian: "This is *censored* impossible..."
Metal Man (GM): If you find a way to so much as slow them down you can expect to have wounded them badly.
Julian: *Think think think...*
Metal Man (GM): Wow... Well, your amazing luck with thinking... let's see. You know slicing out the ceiling is hopeless from where you are. However... the floor... you can easily slice that out. It'd float upwards, thus requiring some way to destroy the ceiling... OR you could try to make it go down and outpace the elevator.
Julian: "...I got an idea... only one shot... GOTTA MAKE THIS WORK!" *Julian throws into action the plan describe above, starting by cutting out the bottom of the elevator.*
Metal Man (GM): It is cut out. You have a split second to react. Though sticking to the plan should work.
Julian then activates his rocket boots, flips himself, and boosts downards, pushing the floor along with him.*
Metal Man (GM): You begin flying down, only increasing the gravity on you. You're only gonna be able to make the bottom floor... Do you go down to it, or opt for some outside action? You can blast through it, using the floor as a shield. Pretty much open, yeah.
Julian: *Tries that then.*
Metal Man (GM): BLAM! You crash into... the hangar.
Julian: "...Woo! I'm awesome!"
Metal Man (GM): The elevator flies out of the ship behind you, and you hear it explode when it hits the ground at high speed. That was CLOSE.
Julian: "Got outta that alive..." *looks around while popping another Max Shroom PEZ tab.*
Metal Man (GM): Well... you certainly did. There's lines and lines of nice-looking ships... however... Hordes of Infantrymen pour out of nearby ships and elevators. I mean. It's like being attacked by an army of supersoldiers. What do you do? They're already firing wildly at you. Soon they will be in range. Alarms are going off, too.
Julian: "..." *Escape route search!* *tries flying back up the elevator shaft.*
Metal Man (GM): ...No dice. Metallic plates block the way up. Thankfully, that elevator stunt broke the bottom one. Otherwise you'd be trapped. The only other way out... well, you'd have to dodge hundreds of lasers, get into a ship, and fly though hordes of supersoldiers.
Julian: *Size of ships available?*
Metal Man (GM): All of these are specialized ships. All the same model. A sort of 3-person fighter. With twin lasers. Well... you think a lot, but those Infantry guys are only getting closer.
Julian: "Gotta do somethin'... ...But what... ...CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" *Julian jumps up as his Rocket Boots activate and tries flying over the heads of al lthe infantry, trying to get to a ship.*
Metal Man (GM): You fly at last. The infantry people open fire, riddling the sky with lasers.
Julian: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" *And so on.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian flies into the air... *BZAPBZAPZBAPABAPZBNAZAPADBPWPCVW .* Meanwhile... Charles is in the main hallway. The West door has just slammed shut, and the sound of an elevator falling can be heard. The East door is open, and the North door remains jammed open. alarms are going off.
Charles: "!!" *goes to the West door.*
Metal Man (GM): The door opens... it's an elevator.
Charles dexes the elevator... he doesn't trust elevators.
Dex: "DANGER! DANGER! Statistics from Julian's dex show that the elevators are booby-trapped. That was before some sort of jamming device took out his ability to communicate. Advice: Avoid elevators."
Charles: "Okay, so... I gotta destroy the consoles in the north. *smiles biggly as he goes north."
Metal Man (GM): You enter... the ruined library. Nothing there, save for a super-locked door. And I mean super-locked.
Charles: "Open Sesame."
Metal Man (GM): Nothing.
Charles: "... Open Sesame. ..." *knocks on the ultra-locked door.*
Metal Man (GM): Nothing, save for the occasional laugh from behind the door.
Charles grows a vein in the left side of his forehead. "OPEN THE *Censored.*'IN DOOR!!" *jumps back five feet, somersaults back four times, and uses an Alpha Meta Glide.*
Metal Man (GM): BOING. Yup. The door isn't budging. These people have some nice doors.
Charles prepares a Meteor Smash.
Metal Man (GM): You charge it up.
Charles shakes his left fist. It begins to glow white. Charles then pushes the left fist foward. The fist moves in slow motion, making after images of it. It may connect with one of the locks.
Metal Man (GM): You hit... nothing. Yes. You have plenty of time. The door is heavily locked, but no physical locks to bash.
Charles bulges his muscles so they are focused into his left arm and prepare for another Meteor Smash. Charles's left fist glows again and this time he focuses on the door itself!
Metal Man (GM): The door is too tough.
Julian: *KER-SMASHERO!*
Metal Man (GM): And your arm is somewhat pained from trying to smash it.
Charles hisses as his arm becomes numb.
Metal Man (GM): It appears this door is special. Special in that it cannot be broken by mortals.
Charles looks in his room for a key; he uses his non-numb arm to scourage through stuff.
Metal Man (GM): No keys... nothing. It's an empty room. All that's left... is your own items.
Charles: "...! Items... items... that's it! So... you won't open? Very well... I will do this ...the Samus way." *steps back some feet.*
Charles gulps down... the Phazon Potion.
Metal Man (GM): ...*PHAZON POWER.* You start glowing... oddly.
Charles charges up Samus's Charge Shot.
Computer: "Radiation alert. Radiation alert. Danger."
Metal Man (GM): *Charged.* PHAZON CHARGE. 5x damage on top of charge for this shot.
Charles charges it to the max level. Charles then fires the shot from his hands.
Metal Man (GM): No need to... *BLAAAAAMMMMM.* The door... well. It no longer exists. You destroy it with phazon. Alarms go off.
Charles gets out his Red Chaos Emerald.
Metal Man (GM): You can see into the bridge... massive two-tier place. You're gonna need something special; it's stocked with Infantry guys with guns.
Charles: "Tell me, who's in charge here? I will not ask again. You saw what happened to the door. If you value your lives, I strongly suggest that you put down your weapons in case you don't want to see Phazon coming from me again."
Metal Man (GM): They all aim at you.
Infantry1: "It is against orders to value our lives. The ship self-destruct will be engaged if we are compromised. We are ready to defend our ship with our lives for Lord Denon. Had he not been injured earlier he would be mopping the floor with you."
Charles: "Apparently, the present situation does have your 'Lord' here, so I suggest that you ...back... off."
Metal Man (GM): They all aim at you.
Charles: "All right, all right. I apologize for that antagonist remark."
Infantry1: "While we are fully aware of the danger we are in, we cannot rebel our orders. We have a higher chance of being reincarnated if we fight you to the death."
Charles: "And I am aware that I cannot defeat all of you at once. I cannot bluff that I am stronger than all of your guns that are aimed at me."
Infantry1: "Perhaps we should have a truce. We will let you off of the ship and destroy your headquarters. You may also proceed out of here and back to whatever you wanted to do. Although the elevators are booby-trapped."
Charles: "This... conflicts what the Quester leader wants... this puts me in a very... difficult choice."
Infantry1: "The ship is to remain in Denon's hands, or be destroyed. We will brook no violation. There would be reinforcements, but they were sent to annihilate one Julian Sawyer."
Charles: "I will agree to a truce pending that three of my questions be answered."
Infantry1: "As long as they do not conflict, we will answer."
Charles: "Question one: Who controls the other 5 sectors of this world?"
Infantry1: "Hmmm."
Charles secretly records this on his dex.
Infantry1: "Gruntilda the hag, E Li Three, Dr. Robotnik, Kappa, and Skyhigh."
Charles: "...I would've known that Ivo would be Emperor one day."
Infantry1: "Anything else?"
Charles: "Question two: Other than I myself being a Quester, has your God, Lord Denon, or any of the 5 other Lords have some kind of a 'personal vendetta' against a Charles L. Magellean? I am wanting to see if it is a Quester priority... or a personal one."
Infantry1: "Dr. Robotnik hates your guts, and so does Skyhigh and Grunty."
Charles: "I have made some enemies during my reign of the Magellean Military... so those three are understandable."
Infantry1: "It is most understandable."
Charles: "You have only answered partly of my second question. I would appreciate knowing about the remaining four powers."
Infantry1: "They do not mean anything. They just don't care."
Charles: "Now for my final question." *must make this a good one.* "If you were to open fire within the next 10 seconds... do you believe you would kill me?"
Infantry1: "Very, very quickly and efficiently."
Charles gets a smug look on his face. "I'd like to see you try."
Metal Man (GM): You hear the sound of 20 lasers powering up.
Charles: "Everyone now: What is my name!?"
Infantry(All Together): "Charles L. Magellan."
Charles focuses the anger of that name into his emerald... it glows with energy. "FIRE IF YOU DARE!" *laughs maniacally.*
Metal Man (GM): They all open fire.
Charles: "CHAAAAOOOSSSS... CONTROOOOL!" *invokes the power of the hatred of that name to use this power!*
Metal Man (GM): Time slows down for you, as the infinite hordes of lasers that look like miniature balls of lightning seem to stop. However... you notice something wrong..You feel watched.
Charles creeks his neck... he runs away from the laser fire down into the main hallway.
Metal Man (GM): Well, easily done. But now what?
Charles looks over at the other elevator... the east hallway.
Metal Man (GM): Main hallway. Well, the door can't open, time is still frozen.
Charles revokes the power of Chaos Control.
Metal Man (GM): You hear a loud explosion, then a bunch of rubble falling. All those lasers managed to seal the way to the bridge shut. Errr... weld it, almost.
Charles: "...Amazing. I've... I've invoked a power I never thought I could do."
Metal Man (GM): Now what? The ship's careening towards Quester HQ any moment now. They don't seem to have been stopped in any way. Despite losing a ship... and another ship... and part of the Archelago II.
Charles tries to open the east door since the west is booby trapped.
Metal Man (GM): It is destroyed. The door hangs open.
Charles: "...Hmmm..." *looks for wires or clamps that he can climb down on.*
Metal Man (GM): There's guard rails which helped guide the elevator before it was destroyed.
Charles climbs down those.
Metal Man (GM): To which floor? Time is short. They'll be able to attack in full force in a few minutes. Triumphant PA stuff blares in the background.
Denon: "All hail Lord Kuja! Prepare to annihilate the Quester's only stronghold!"
Charles gets out his dex with one hand.
Denon: "Prepare main cannon! Prepare soldiers! Attack immediately!"
Charles: "Dex: Display deck by deck schmatics of the Archalego II."
Dex: "Error. Jamming signal. You are on floor 10. There are 9 floors below you. that is all."
Charles goes down one floor and tries to open the door.
Metal Man (GM): You open it. It's a large-scale soldier-making factory, staffed by hordes of them.
Charles immediatetly tries to close it with one hand!
Metal Man (GM): You close it.
Charles breaths out a huge sigh of relief. "That was too dern close." *climbs down to floor 8 and opens that.*
Denon: "We are in range at last! All we need to do is charge the cannons."
Metal Man (GM): You climb down... and open a floor full of power generators, which is staffed by many soldiers and charging up... the static electricity makes your hair stand on end. This must be it. Or at least, the only thing you can reach in time.
Charles opens this door as opposed of going all the way down and trying to take out the cannons.
Metal Man (GM): You have one shot before the lasers and soldiers unleash their fury on the ruins.
Denon: "Those fools had no chance against me in the first place. At last... the Questers shall be dead!"
Charles goes through this door and looks to everyone.
Metal Man (GM): The Infantry people immediately turn and attack. Lasers everywhere.
Charles: "Mecchha meccha hi mechhha hiny hiny ho!"
Infantry: "Kill him now!"
Metal Man (GM): *TSEERTSEERTSEERTSEER.*
Charles: "CHAOS CONTROL!"
Metal Man (GM): You 'control... and are feeling weak.
Charles is getting a little dizzy.
Metal Man (GM): These are exposed generators, mainly because of the heat they must be expelling.
???: "Oh no... you're not about to destroy those, ARE you?"
Metal Man (GM): Denon fades in, laughing.
Charles: .oO(Must be using it too much.)
Denon: "I will stop you from so much as touching it... I will win... I cannot lose."
Metal Man (GM): He is very blurry... much like yourself at the moment.
Denon: "I may have been injured... but you won't survive."
Charles: "So you are the one that was watching me from the bridge."
Denon: "I was going to stop you. You were so very close to stealing the ship. Now then. Die."
Metal Man (GM): He whips out the saber and runs at you. One shot... words echo in your mind. Wolfman... telling you to do your best. The laughing of... The Void? Doopliss, showing off his traitorous side. Obviously Chaos control is taking a toll on you, regardless of Denon's about-to-stab-you attack.
Denon: "At last... I shall destroy the Lunarians."
Metal Man (GM): This is... well. your move.
Charles: "!!...I will not let HIM be awakened!"
Denon: "Oh... Kuja can handle him. Don't worry... you shan't be around to experience it. My blade... destroys souls."
Metal Man (GM): The idle noise of a clock is in the background. You hear lasers beginning to fire.
Charles: "...I dare you... I dare you... I dare dare dare... DARE YOU..."
Metal Man (GM): Vision... blurry. Time... almost gone. Blade... inches from you.
Denon: "Dare me? I have no choice but to take you down!"
Charles anger rises... he sidesteps... and attempts to GRAB the handle of the saber!
Metal Man (GM): Everything blurs. You unexpectedly move; Denon isn't in top condition either. You move out to grab it... You grab it from his hand.
Denon: "Gahhhhhhhh!!!!"
Charles: "...AS LONG AS I LIVE..."
Metal Man (GM): It immediately ignites with your rage.
Charles glows a black aura...
Metal Man (GM): ...And helps you glow that nifty black aura sort of way.
Charles: "I WILL NOT LET HIS SLUMBER BE INTERRUPTED!"
Metal Man (GM): You feel time speeding up. The generators. Laser noises. Do you kill Denon or save Quester HQ?
Charles: "THE FARPLANE WILL WAIT FOR THEE!" *uses the power of the destroyer of hope to destroy the generators.*
Metal Man (GM): You hurl it into the main generator. As this is happening... Julian is about to be killed by lasers... Aetos is in his CAC, falling, with Aribar's corpse in tow... And a million lasers are about to destroy HQ.
Julian: .oO(OH SHI-)
Metal Man (GM): Suddenly... ANOTHER red explosion erupts. The lasers on the ship explode in-place, and several explosions rake the Archelago II. The soldiers, about to open fire, instead are KO'd. The Valkyrie, having already begun fleeing, flies out of sight. Meanwhile, the red chaos control sphere engulfs the ship.
Julian: *closes his eyes tight, bracing for lasering... but then nothing happens.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian, 1 second away from being lasered... is instead sucked into the chaos control.
Julian: "..." *Julian opens his eyes and stands upright in midair.* "What the f-" *SLOW"D.*
Metal Man (GM): The CAC freezes seconds from the ground, giving Aetos time to jump out with Aribar and run away.
Aetos blinks.
Julian: "..." *Julian opens his eyes and stands upright in midair.* "The hell?"
Metal Man (GM): A lot of weird sounds issue as time begins to unravel itself and then right itself as Kuja's divine whim saves Nintendus's time space continuum from exploding.
Aetos opens the door and grabs Aribar, then jumps out onto the ground to the HQ.
Metal Man (GM): The end result, however, is NOT favorable for Denon. The Archelago II is crippled; the men, while awake, have no choice but to flee, the distortion disabling their laser guns and communications.
Julian: "...YEAH! That's right, you better run!"
Metal Man (GM): In fact, they are recalled by Kuja's own magic. Julian and Charles reappear just outside HQ, with Aribar's corpse, Aetos, and Metal. And Azure. The Archelago II loses altitude... but then turns around and flees.
Julian: "Uh! Who da-" *WARP* "Man? I da man!"
Metal Man (GM): You hear but one last thing from it.
Aetos narrows his eyes and looks down at the ground.
Julian: "...What the hell?"
Denon: "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I'lll GET YOU ALL, QUESTERS!!!"
Metal Man (GM): Time straightens itself out completely... and Quester HQ is barely saved. Metal pulls out a stopwatch.
Aetos clenches his right fist.
Metal Man: "One tenth of a second later, Charles, and we'd all be dead."
Aetos: "Congrats."
Metal Man: "Cutting it a bit short, I guess... oh well."
Charles smiles. Charles then puts his emerald away.
Julian: *scratches his fedora where his head would be.* "What the hell just happened?"
Metal Man: "You were the only one who succeeded out of the others in saving our hides."
Azure: "I knew it all turn out ok. You can only look up in those final moments. My eyes... hurt from all the colors..."
Julian's still in Midair at this point.*
Charles: "Allow me to explain."
Aetos glares at Metal.
Charles: "I was finally able to use Chaos Control... By the third time I used it, Denon caught up to me... and we were both weary."
Julian: "That's what the whole red thing was?"
Charles: "Yes. We were both weak... time blurred."
Azure: "I believe I've seen one of the hedgehogs use it once. Useful..ability... faith brought it to you just in time it seems."
Charles: "I was able to grab his saber from right out of him."
Julian: "...Day-mn. I could just block 'em..."
Metal Man (GM): Everyone: +3000 EXP. Charles: +10000 EXP.
Aetos: "Hmm...? You got to Nintendus less then a day ago and already got yourself two new weapons."
Charles: "I wanted to kill him right there... but that would cost you guys your lives."
Metal Man (GM): Everyone: +20,000 coins.
Metal Man: "It would have made you worse than he was."
Charles: "You see, no matter how angry we Lunarians get, we always retain a tiny bit of logic and can see our consequences."
Metal Man: "Perhaps even... enslaving you to Kuja. You never know."
Charles: "Instead, I throw that weapon into his generator. The weapon is gone, Denon got away... but we live another day."
Metal Man: "...It certainly did a number. That ship won't be terrorizing anyone for a while."
Aetos: "I see... So... by the way..."
Julian: "Huh..."
Aetos: "Skyhigh."
Metal Man: "We can talk about him later."
Julian: "..." *twitch.*
Metal Man: "Let's all get ourselves some rest before this time confusion causes our brains to melt."
Charles: "One problem. I interrogated who the other five leaders are."
Metal Man falls over from stress, as he had watched them about to annihilate everything and then got saved seconds before death.
Aetos nods to Metal... forming a personal vendetta against Skyhigh forever into his mind.
Metal Man: "Zzzz... evil Denon... zzzz... Skyhigh... zzzzz... Kuja..."
Julian: "...Say, Charles, how do you go about gettin' one of those Emeralds?"
Aetos: "No kidding." *CoughOrange!Cough.*
Charles: "We'll talk about that later. Gruntilda the hag, E Li Three, Dr. Robotnik, Kappa, and Skyhigh are all leaders equal in power to Denon."
Julian: "That mother*censored*'s still alive then... Not for long."
Charles: "Can you believe someone as crazy as E Li Three works for somebody else?"
Julian: "Who?"
Aetos: "Skyhigh... is going to die."
Julian: "Get in line."
Charles: "...Nevermind.You ran into skyhigh?"
Aetos: "How about we don't have a line."
Julian: "How about I MAKE a line, pal?"
Charles: "Good luck defeating a guy who controls 1/6 of Nintendus."
Aetos glares at Julian.
Julian: "Seeing as how I'm the only one here that's actually taken him down, that puts at the front of it, clear?"
Aetos: "We ran into him... Aribar got... killed. Just like Jina."
Julian: "Big *Censored* deal."
Aetos raises his eyebrow at Julian.
Julian: "Aribar dies all the time."
Azure: "Let's not worry about such matters for now. You've all been through what seems a great deal of pain and back. Rest and recovery would be good for you all." *he says calmly.*
Julian: "...Azure? When the hell did you get here?"
Aetos: "Death doesn't seem to be much of an issue to you Julian."
Julian: "It shouldn't be for you, either, seeing as how often we get wasted."
Aetos: "We never get wasted... like that."
Julian: "What? What'd he do?"
Charles looks to his emerald with curiousity.
Azure: *looks to julian.* "I've been down here for awhile. I just can't fly those dang contraptions... I would have crashed before it lifted off."
Aetos: "One attack slaughtered the mage... he doesn't revive now. He used Aribar's corpse to take me out too."
Julian: "What'd he do to Aribar that's so *censored* horrible that now you've vowed to kill him?"
Aetos: "I don't vow to kill him alone, fool."
Charles looks to Aribar's corpse.
Aetos walks off... to sleep.
Charles: "...Do you have to keep dying!?" *uses the power of the Star Rod's Revive to get him back to full life.*
Metal Man (GM): Aribar is made alive again, but remains unconsious.
Julian: "You don't make any damn sense!" *He yells at Aetos as he walks off.* "Disrespectin' son of a-...Now then, how do you go about getting one of these Emeralds, Charles?"
Azure: *sighs.* "Well... one wouldn't expect a perfect ending."
Julian: "And you haven't answer my question, Azure."
Metal Man (GM): Charles is still looking dangerously radioactive. Sorta.
Charles: "Not just anyone can use them, Julian. They're powers are... powerful..and---what?"
Julian: "Huh?"
Charles quizically says that while Julian looks at him with the radiation going on.
Julian: "Go on."
Metal Man (GM): It'll take a bit to wear off.