Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 257: Cellphones and Laser Battleships
Date: February 24th, March 2nd, 3rd, and 9th 2006.
Metal Man (GM): You guys are, for the billionth time, at HQ, and in the big room, which has been fully rebuilt. Metal is there, currently putting up some sort of map.
Julian: "Lookin' better Mets... So what's goin' down now?"
Digifanatic still has a hold of that shield from his previous endeavor, and probably will be holding onto it for a while...
Metal Man: "Uhhh... hello, everyone. I've managed to pinpoint the location of our next target."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, Julian. It's looking real nice." *walks over to Metal.*
Aribar: "That's good to hear."
Metal Man looks around the map using some sort of pointer. "We've discovered some sort of electromagical disturbances at... the bottom of what is now called Lake Kuja."
Digifanatic: "Lake Kuja...*scoffs.*"
Julian: "...Did he make it, or just rename Lake Hylia or somethin'?"
Digifanatic: His eyes roll after saying that name... "Probably renamed it."
Nodal walks into the room. "What's everyone doing? The noise woke me up."
Metal Man turns on some other displays, which shows a map of Nintendus, and then a large spectrum of magitek energy in the middle of what appears to be Hylia Lake.
Digifanatic: "Looking at our next destination."
Spyke: "So, the big bad guy named a lake after himself... Narcissist..."
Metal Man: "He named everything after himself."
Nodal: "If we're lucky he might look into it see himself and drown."
Metal Man: "Kuja field, Kuja Vally, Kuja Mountain, Kuja Saturn Valley, you name it."
Julian: "That's usually what you do when you take over a whole planet..."
Digifanatic: "What's next? A giant KUJALAND sign outside of HQ like the Hollywood thing?"
Spyke: "...Why do I feel the need to spraypaint all of the signs for these places or something..."
Julian: "Magitek... 2 to 1 we find Grodus there."
Aribar: "It sounds like we'll need some good swimmers this time around. I swim like a rock."
Metal Man: "I'm not exactly sure why everything is named like this, but we'll probably find out eventually. Well, there's the problem, Aribar."
Digifanatic: "The item shop has some oxygen canisters if you need them." *2 tiers of Adaptedness.*
Metal Man: "The disturbances are underwater... deeply so. Whoever did it wanted more security."
Julian: .oO(Do Rocket Boots work underwater? Maybe they sprout fans on the bottom or somethin'...I dunno.)
Metal Man: "Knowing Kuja, and his commanders, they probably can work underwater knowing that we can't do so... at least, not normally."
Aribar: "I doubt I could even afford to buy some..."
Metal Man: "But there's a way in-between... if you, errr, want to go under cover, so to speak."
Spyke thinks to himself .oO( Great... The one reploid who can't work underwater... And I can't afford those Air things... )
Julian: "What?"
Metal Man: "You can get something related to underwater stuff in a nearby port named Port Destiny. It's one of many newly built towns in the wake of Kuja's restructuring of the planet."
Nodal: "Not Port Kuja?"
Julian: "Maybe there's already a Port Kuja."
Spyke: "Wow... That surprised you, too, Nodal?"
Digifanatic: "And I take it those are rebels of his rule?"
Metal Man: "He only names uninhabited or enemy places after himself. What? No. They're all brainwashed into accepting it. I think."
Digifanatic: "Oh. That'll work."
Metal Man: "You're going to all have to act normal and get a hold of some underwater equipment."
Spyke: "Define... normal."
Metal Man: "That means no smash dexes, no weapons, nothing. You'll have to go into the area totally unarmed and unequipped."
Digifanatic: "Dang."
Aribar: "Thank goodness I've my magic."
Metal Man: "If you even so much as drink a potion, they'll probably attack you from all sides."
Spyke: "... Fun!"
Aetos: "Can I bring my toothbrush?"
Nodal: "Or my rock?"
Julian: "No one's gonna notice my Gear... But I'm gonna have to leave my fedora behind, huh?"
Digifanatic will return his shield to his room after... however, his Digivice is small enough to be concealed in a pocket...
Metal Man: "No rocks or toothbru--... why do you have toothbrushes and rocks?"
Digifanatic: "And I take it no items, either?"
Julian: "Aetos picked up that toothbrush somewhere on Turion... And I got no idea bout the rock."
Nodal: "Why do you have a rock?"
Metal Man: "...Yes. Our items are considered to be evil."
Aetos: "I found it in Grunty's shack back on Turion..."
Digifanatic: "Alright. I'll make sure to drop all my stuff back in my room after."
Metal Man: "Well... that's awfully odd. Why would Grunty have a shack on Turion?"
Aetos: "You don't remember?.. it was outside the tower you saved us from Zorn and Thorn in."
Aribar: "I thought that was Metal's bedroom..."
Aetos blinks.
Metal Man shakes his head. "That couldn't have been... yeah. Aribar's probably right."
Julian: "Can we stop talkin' abot the damn toothbrush and get ready?"
Metal Man: "Anyway, you can take a Warp Pipe direct into the town."
Spyke: "...Agreed."
Azure is once again off to the side of the room with his arms folded on the wall just taking in the information here and there.
Digifanatic: "Alright. I'll be back in a minute or two..."
Metal Man: "They still use them, especially since Kuja found all the oil in the planet, used to to precipitate development, and then it ran out. No cars for these people. That's also why the skies are always dark."
Julian: "Huh... Kinda like The Matrix..."
Aetos: "...Pollution?"
Nodal walks to his room. He then drops off his weapons and his armor in his bag and hides it in a chest under his bed.
Spyke: "Hmmmm... Primitive..."
Metal Man: "Yup. It's been years since any cars actually were used, but the skies are still clouded up."
Nodal walks back.
Aribar: "I need to deposit my stuff in my room..." *The half-elf heads to his room and deposites all of his collections in their various spots before heading to the Warp Pipe and waiting for the others.*
Digifanatic quickly returns to his room, leaving behind all of his items, his Digivice, shield, and anything that would give his identity away, then heading back to the Big Room.
Metal Man (GM): The warp pipe is blue, like most of the ones which lead to areas near water.
Aetos wonders why everyone left before Metal was done talking.
Spyke: "Aribar has the right idea..." He, too, goes to his room, and dumps his amazing TWO items... Oh, and his Dex if he has one...
Julian drops the conversation there and heads to his room, and leaves his fedora on his bed. He also pulls a brick of C4 out of his back pocket and lays it beside it. Julian returns to the big room, his short dreadlocks exposed.*
Spyke then returns to where everyone else is waiting...
Aetos just drops his stuff in the room and stands near the warp pipe.
Metal Man salutes all the people that leave. "That's all I had to say."
Azure heads to his room and deposits the smash dex. Wait a go monk! He turns and returns to the main room shortly after.
Metal Man (GM): You're all by the warp pipe, and can jump on into it.
Julian: "Right so... We're off." *Julian enters TEH PIPE.*
Digifanatic decides to doink-doink-doink in...
Azure: "I still stay true to my statement. I will never... get use to this." he enters the pipe.
Aribar jumps in.
Aetos: "...This is my first time... should I be worried?" he crawls in..
Spyke follows soon after the others... "...A pipe... Beyond weird."
Nodal flips into the pipe.
Metal Man (GM): You sink into the pipe, and instantaneously appear en masse at the middle of a large town square. Port Destiny.
Spyke looks around slowly once the group has arrived.
Aribar: .oO(Perhaps we should have disguised ourselves beforehand. Ah well. Too late now...)
Metal Man (GM): You see a bunch of small shacks with various names listed on them. A few grimy longshoremen stare at you before going on with their work.
Julian: *cracks his neck and looks around.*
Metal Man (GM): There's three main streets out of here, but the entire town is foreign to you.
Aribar pops up out of the pipe and onto the town square, hoping their entrance wasn't too outrageous.
Metal Man (GM): Off to the East, you can hear the waves of "Lake Kuja."
Digifanatic exits and takes a look around, hoping nobody notices him...
Metal Man (GM): The streets themselves are confusing.
Azure: just walks concentraiting on the path.
Metal Man (GM): One goes north, and is named "Kuja Boulevard." To the East, "Kuja Street." And South... "Kuja Road."
Nodal jumps off and begins to follow Aetos.
Aribar looks at some of the names above the shackes and wonder how hard it will be to attain SCUBA gear.
Spyke .oO( More narcissism... ) He looks around at his allies to see their reactions.
Julian: "...So where can we find some Kuja SCUBA Equipment?" *tries Kuja Steet...*
Metal Man (GM): You see things like "Electronics Store" "History Shop" "Ye Olde Tavern." Julian walks down Kuja Street, which is paved with large and smooth stones.
Digifanatic: "No idea..."
Nodal heads into the History Shop. "This will be interesting."
Metal Man (GM): He reaches a long line of fishing equipment stores, as well as... boating stores.
Julian: "Sweet..."
Metal Man (GM): Julian finds some weird shop named "Dave's Underwater Supplies."
Oceanblaze: Azure heads into the history shop. In hopes of finding light reading if any at all.
Julian: "Looks like the place..." *heads inside.*
Metal Man (GM): Azure enters the history shop.
Aribar looks about as the group splits up. He saw two people head into that history shop and Julian head off alone... The elf decides to follow Julian.
Metal Man (GM): Inside, millions of things about Kuja, the Commanders, and how many glorious things they've done are inside.
Spyke follows the others into the history shop, rather than be alone...
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, Julian enters the Underwater supply shop.
Digifanatic also follows Ari and Julian.
Aetos goes into the electronics shop o.O
Azure: his light blue orbs scan the room unimpressed. He just looks around assuming this was all a bunch of babble about there greatness. He turns without so much as a deeper investigation and walks toward the underward supply shop.
Digifanatic doesn't enter though, for fear of a mass of people entering the same shop together might attract attention and suspicion.
Metal Man (GM): *PAUSE* On everyone but Aetos. Aetos enters the electronics shop.
Nodal wonders if anything useful could be in here. He searches the shelves for any talk about Kuja's recent exploits or things that happened in Grodus' base.
Metal Man (GM): Inside, he sees rows of cell phones, DVD players, and highly powered laser guns. The clerk is a normal guy, who's currently on the phone.
???: "Great. And you're getting an extended warranty on your disposable camera too? Good. That'll be 10,000 coins."
Aetos blinks.
???: "You never know when they might fail... now then. You may want an extended plan on your box of batteries. They might explode too."
Metal Man (GM): His conversation trails off into gibberish about "Saving money" by "Investing in warranties."
Aetos shrugs... .oO(I wonder who he's scamming...)
Aetos examines the cell phones.
Metal Man (GM): They are made in three major brands; Kujatel, Geralzon, and Maxakia.
Aetos: "These names seem familiar."
Metal Man (GM): The Kuja ones look sorta normal. Gerald's look like they can shoot lasers, and Maxakia ones are bizarre. They all cost at least 5,000 coins and reach into the 30,000 range. Service costs around 1000 coins a month. The store is deserted.
Aetos "Hmm, I wonder if these could be useful..."
Aetos examines the DVD Player next..
Metal Man (GM): You see two different brands, each of which look the same. However, they use two different technologies. The Grody version uses Magitek-ray technology, while the Denonon 3000 uses Ultra-Super-Amazing Definition technology. They both cost 90,000 coins each.
Aetos looks back to the clerk..
???: "Hmmm... you could use a warranty on your electric piano too."
Metal Man (GM): You could probably interrupt him, if you wanted.
Aetos looks back to the merchandise and picks up one cell phone of each type, and the Grody DVD Player.
Metal Man (GM): He suddenly puts down the phone.
Aetos whinces.
???: "Huh... that's a lot of merchandise. How much money you got?"
Aetos: "Uh... enough... say, is your phone ringing?"
???: "No, I was just sending voice mail messages to everyone who has ever shopped here ever."
Aetos nods... "Well... uh... Maybe you forgot someone, you should check the contact list, if you miss anyone, you might get smote by Kuja. I'm just looking out for you, sir."
???: "Okay then." *Continues talking on cell phone.*
Aetos quickly darts out the door with the stuff.
Metal Man (GM): You run into a force field.
???: "Yes, yes. You can't really shoplift, but now that you've made it obvious, I think it's time to call the police."
Aetos: "Oof, uh... well... you got your anti-theft working... good job... I was just checking it, honest..!"
Metal Man (GM): Apparently founded by the remnants of the original people of Eisnaught, though they accept Kuja as their master. They are known for their high-quality fishing industry, though lately strange fish have been caught...
Nodal puts the book down. He then heads outside the shop.
Spyke hrms to himself softly and looks for a bit more information on the subject, either references to Eisnaught, or why the port wss named as it was.
Metal Man (GM): The point was named Destiny, after an ancient sight-seer proclaimed it was destined to be a part of some world-changing event. Thus it was renamed from "Kuja Town", which many people found boring and annoying.
Spyke agrees with that point.
Metal Man (GM): Especially since there are currently at least five Kuja Towns and mail between them is constantly lost and/or sent to the wrong people.
Spyke looks for more information on the ancient sight-seer.
Metal Man (GM): You look at it, and discover his name was Dave. He had one red eye and wore a weird cloak...
Spyke: "Dave?..."
Metal Man (GM): And apparently walked around carrying... poes in cages.
Spyke keeps reading.
Metal Man (GM): He was a survivor of the great destruction. It is rumored he appears in times of great distress.
Nick Caligo (GM): It also states that he sold them as energy drinks and made a tidy little fortune until Kuja busted him for tax evasion.
Metal Man (GM): Then it goes silent on him, apparently because its somewhat outdated.
Nick Caligo (GM): Why a god needs taxes we'll never really know. He's all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present, but he just can't manage money... Hmmmms...
Spyke hrms... And looks up what a poe is for the heck of it, if there's any info on them.
Metal Man (GM): Oh, there's plenty of it, buried in-between the rubbish. They're weird little ghosts with lanterns. Many of them have been sighted in areas around former Hyrule.
Spyke looks up from his knowledge-diving for a moment... .oO( Where did... Nodal go?) And then looks back at the almanac... and then over at the half-asleep and buried clerk...
Metal Man (GM): The clerk appears to have read one too many "Kuja and Peace" chapters. An old cup off coffee sits next to his head. It's been left there for days... is probably stone cold.
Spyke checks the ceiling for cameras, and then the back of the almanac for any device that might trigger an alarm unless removed.
Metal Man (GM): Well, there's one security camera, and there's no device on the Almanac, but it's only 100 coins anyway. You can see people's money stacked up next to the clerk, who apparently paid without waking him up. It's covered in an inch of dust.
Spyke hrms... Cameras are a bad thing... He walks over to the desk and slaps down 100 coins, as quietly as he can, and then walks out with the Almanac. Never know what it might be useful for later.
Metal Man (GM): You walk out, unopposed. Pause on you, as we go to the people going into Dave's Underwater Supply Shop. The shop looks somewhat weird. Instead of being lit up by electrical lights, it's lit up by torches.The walls and floor are made of stone, and weird looking cages full of Poe spirits line the walls. A weird man in a brown cloak with a single red eye stares at you as you enter.
Julian: "...This don't look like no SCUBA shop..."
Dave: "Hello there. Welcome to my shop. How can I..." *Looks left and right.* "Help you?"
Aribar nods as he walks in after Julian.*
Azure: "Exactly how does a scuba shop look?"
Julian: "Not like this... Yo! You got anything we can use to breathe underwater?"
Dave: "Why, yes I do... just 1000 coins for some of... the... underwater stuff."
Metal Man (GM): He looks around some more, eyeing the door.
Aribar: "Could we see the gear?"
Metal Man (GM): A poe spirit attempts to escape a cage above him; he whacks it with a stick.
Dave: "Oh... the gear... yes. Here it is."
Azure's eyes slant at that for a moment.
Metal Man (GM): He reaches up and pulls out a cage from a shelf. A poe is stuck in it.
Dave: "You'll need a bottle for it... yeah."
Julian: "...Whuzat?"
Aribar: "... You're selling a... Ghost with a lantern as underwater gear?"
Dave: "...You don't actually plan on going under water, do you?"
Aribar: "Why do you ask?"
Dave: "Well... uhhh... you see, usually I sell stuff to people which want something altogether different... who are you people, anyway? Just curious."
Julian: "Treasure hunters. Figure there might be some relic or somethin' beneath the lake."
Aribar: "Aye."
Dave: "Oh. Treasure hunters... under the lake... you aren't from around here, are you?"
Metal Man (GM): He puts the cage back and closes the door behind you, apparently to keep other people from overhearing things.
Dave: "Well, I can help you... but it isn't exactly in the way you may have thought I would."
Azure: "Go on..."
Aribar frowns, wondering if they've been caught...*
Julian: "What'chu got in mind?"
Dave: "The bottom of Lake Hy--I mean Kuja... has some rare fish underneath it... but I can't swim very well, and I found that out after I bought every single thing that could be useful underwater I could find."
Metal Man (GM): He goes over to a cabinet, and begins rummaging through it, tossing out a snorkel or two, a pair of cement shoes, and even a strange, rusted key.
Julian: *catches the key, if he can.*
Metal Man (GM): You catch it. He turns to you and the others.
Dave: "I, errr, don't know how to use any of these things, but the man who sold it to me said that the History Shop owner knows what they're for. But you need a secret password... that only I know... and it'll cost you."
Julian: "How much?"
Digifanatic: "Sorry guys, I was unsure that if anyone had seen me in there and everything..."
Metal Man (GM): You all meet up. Save for Aetos. You hear the sound of sirens, and then a bunch of policemen walking towards the Electronics store. Aetos is trapped inside, by a force field.
Azure: "If they had they would have done so by now. We havent exactly..." sighs.
Metal Man (GM): They don't notice you guys, or Dave's store.
Nodal: "Wow. Way to screw up 'tos."
Aribar: "That was useless..... What's all this? I think one of us was seen..."
Metal Man (GM): The cops are about to walk in and arrest Aetos; they, too, have laser guns.
Julian: "...Well, we gotta go to the History Store. C'mon." *heads for the store, apparently not paying attention to Aetos.*
Metal Man (GM): There doesn't seem to be any way out... Julian walks towards the history store.
Aetos thinks quickly, and attempts to turn on the DVD player he picked up.
Julian: "Aribar! Azure! C'mon!"
Metal Man (GM): The fact it isn't plugged in poses a problem.
Aetos: "Run by Magitek... please please don't be false advertising."
Aetos growls..
Policeman: "You! Mysterious Electronics store person! Drop the merchandise!"
Aribar follows Julian, wondering if there's anything he could do to help Aetos without making the situation worse.*
Digifanatic continues to follow everyone in...
Azure: "Yelling our names... doesnt help things..." -.- just enters the history store thought he detested what he saw in the reading there.
Aetos holds a Gerald brand cell phone... trying to figure out how the laser gun works.
Nodal watches, ready to help if he can get through the barrier.
Aetos: >.<
Metal Man (GM): Aetos finds a large button labeled "DEATH RAY." Does he press it?
Aetos looks to see if there is a retractable antenna, if there is, he pulls it out and points it at the door/barrier.
Metal Man (GM): You point it. The policemen demand you put it down. They're gonna do something sooner or later.
Aetos: "Nothing to lose..." he pushes the button.
Metal Man (GM): It shoots a powerful laser--- *PAUSE* on Aetos. Meanwhile, the others enter the History shop, hearing a loud explosion outside. Nodal watches the action outside, and is thusly also paused.
Julian: "...Eh. Hey! Shopkeep!"
Azure: "He's asleep Julian."
Metal Man (GM): The guy who's sleeping under the books mutters about "No tips" and then remains asleep.
Julian: "So why do you think I'm tryin' to wake him up? HEY! We got some questions for you!" *walks over to him.*
Digifanatic: "So, did anyone find anything interesting about this place in here?"
Azure sighs.
Aribar shrugs at Digi and wonders how they'll pull this mission off...
Digifanatic: (somewhat quietly) "As a proud tourist, I want to know a bit more about this place..."
Metal Man (GM): He continues sleeping.
Aribar: "Look! The books are catching on fire!"
Julian: "..." *plunks him in the forehead.*
Aribar: .oO(Any self-respecting librarian...)
Metal Man (GM): He mutters, "Thank goodness." You hit him over the head. He doesn't notice.
Digifanatic: "Whoa... Weird." *flips through that almanac...*
Julian: *leans in real close, face to face with the shopkeep.* "The word 'Aribar' mean anything to you?"
Metal Man (GM): He suddenly wakes up.
Digifanatic: .oO(Oh great... and in Ari's presence, too.)
Shopkeep: "Wha? What? Huh? Oh. You're just some people who paid Dave a million coins."
Aribar frowns, thinking he heard Julian say his name...
Shopkeep: "Walk off Pier 1 wearing those shoes and that snorkel, and with the key in your hand."
Digifanatic: *ahem?*
Julian: "And then what?"
Shopkeep: "At least, that's what Aribar's family creed is."
Aribar: "..... It is not! Errr..."
Shopkeep: "Walk in a straight line until you lose an arm. I mean find something... ehhh?"
Julian: "Don't mind him. He's not right in the head, yeah? So I just put on a snorkel and the shoes, hold the key, and walk off the pier?"
Metal Man (GM): Digi sees all the stuff about Dave and stuff.
Digifanatic hold the book and takes a quick walk to Julian...
Shopkeep: "Yeah. That's the thing."
Digifanatic: "Hey, you don't suppose this is the same guy, do you?"
Julian: "Great. Thanks for your time. ?"
Digifanatic: "The seer's name is Dave, the fishing store... what did he say about you-know-who?"
Julian: "Yeah, same guy."
Aribar: "Eh?"
Digifanatic: "I would suspect as much..." *goes to put the book back.*
Julian: "So we'll be off then... Azure, I'll be taking those shoes and that snorkel."
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile... Aetos shot a laser with the weird cell phone. It blasted the barrier of the store out of the way... but three policemen packing Magnums were in the way.
Policeman1: "You know your rights! Give up or be killed!"
Metal Man (GM): BATTLE.
Aetos: "Actually, I don't know my rights!!"
Metal Man (GM): They just wave their guns at you, rather than listening.
Aetos: "Go away!" he bolts out the door and at them, but he just concetrates and raises a full suit of armor made of circulating wind energy over his body.
Metal Man (GM): You provoke an AOO from all three of them at once. They open fire on you.
Nodal chuckles.
Aetos stands there, and the bullets collide into the armor of wind, and twirl off him. "Since when is the law, 'Shoot first, ask questions later'!?"
Policeman2: "Since 10 years ago, punk."
Aetos slaps his forehead.
Metal Man (GM): They all raise their guns, execution style, and are powered up by magical energy. They use the energy to open fire at Aetos with increased speed and power.
Aetos remains watching them, 3 bullets get past and pierce through his armor.
Metal Man (GM): Nodal joins the fight.
Aetos: "Ow, man!"
Nodal: "Aetos! Do you have any more of those cells!"
Aetos recalls what the brand names of the cellphones he grabbed were.
Metal Man (GM): Kujatel, Geralzon, and Maxakia.
Nodal: "Aetos? The explosiveness?"
Aetos throws Maxakia at Nodal.
Nodal fiddles with it a bit after pointing it at the policemen. He tries to get it to shoot a laser at them like before. "How do you work this stupid thing?"
Aetos: "You seem quite skilled with that one..."
Metal Man (GM): You get lucky and discover the phone... contains a core of magitek, which can be overloaded easily. Once this is done, it makes for a nice bomb. However you don't find this out directly... You start pressing buttons and it starts beeping and shooting sparks. You instinctively hurl it at the policemen.
Nodal: "What is it doing?"
Metal Man (GM): It hits one policemen in the head, exploding and dealing damage to him. The other guy goes to evade it... He's hit by the ensuing explosion, which deals damage to him. And the third guy dodges the explosion.
Policeman3: "Terrorists are in our midst! Call for backup!"
Nodal: "I guess they couldn't afford the service."
Aetos: "I guess fighting is all we can do..."
Aetos charges up to Policeman 1 with his arm tearing the wind and making a trail of clear force behind him... he swings it at the policeman with a great force.
Metal Man (GM): He blocks your arm with his riot shield.
Aetos backs off.
Metal Man (GM): Policemen. They all continue shooting at Aetos.
Policeman1: "You have the right to die!"
Aetos: "Well, yes I knew that one." he speaks as the first two bullets reflect off the wind armor, but the last one smacks him hard.
Metal Man (GM): They go to fire again, but they have run out of magical energy.
Nodal: "You people have nothing on King. The line is I'm going to kill you."
Metal Man (GM): But they have enough time to do a slow, normal shot each at Aetos.
Nodal: "Although the right to die was defended in the 70's..."
Metal Man (GM): Spyke and Digi would exit the store and see Aetos. And Aribar.
Aribar exits the store with the others, frowning as he sees the commotion.* "What's going on?"
Spyke: "Hey, Ae--..." He looks around. "I don't know you... Sorry, my mistake..." He looks like he's going to ignore the battle, but hangs around...
Digifanatic peeks in the store, sees the situation, and enters.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar and Spyke would see policemen aiming at Aetos, who has his hands full of obviously stolen merchandise. Since people don't usually buy three types of cell phone at once.
Aribar rushes towards the battlesite. Hey, what's going on?"
Spyke stands there, pondering... "You know what?... Might as well go down with the crew..." He moves closer to engage.
Digifanatic talks to Aetos, "Sir, what in the world are you doing with that?"
Aetos: "Blowing things up."
Aetos seems a bit distacted..
Nodal runs towards the enemy that he blew up with his cell phone. "Bring it ugly." He streams forward with a punch to his gut. He then streams upwards and with a flaming uppercut he slams into his jaw. Finally he backflips into a kick with streams of wind coming out of his foot to land with his arms up in a defensive posture.
Metal Man (GM): Hit hit crit. He is brutally torn to shreds.
Policeman2: "We have a code 22 on our hands. Bring in the tanks."
Policeman3: "You'll pay for this!"
Aetos: "Oh jeez..."
Digifanatic: .oO(Oh man...)
Spyke: "Oh boy..."
Aribar frowns, knowing this isn't going to end well, but he's not going to interfere with the law either since he has no idea what's going on. The half-elf backs away from the site.
Nodal: "Hey get over here you fey coward!"
Aetos 's eyes widen and he holds the Kuja cellphone, he begins tampering with it, wondering what it might do.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar would see that the pier south of here is a nice, isolated place to go. And it's where that guy said for everyone to go.
Aribar narrows his eyes at Nodal and tries to think of, unsuccessfully, a spell that solve this matter. Perhaps some diplomatic strength is needed.
Metal Man (GM): Aetos manages... to call the police.
Aribar frowns, realizing that if he tried to calm down the cops and Questers he'd probably end up as Swiss Ari. The elf finally decides to lean on a nearby building, arm crossing his chest and gripping a loose handful of his robe, waiting for the fight to end.
Aetos: "...Help! These rogue cops are trying to kill me!"
???: "Hello. This is police headquarters. How can we help you? ...Voice recognition software detects you as subject AETOS."
Metal Man (GM): The call is disconnected.
Digifanatic: .oO(*BLEEP*)
Aetos: "...Uh, ..."
Policeman2: "Subject AETOS? Oh no! The Questers are here!"
Spyke: "What?! Where?! Let me at them! I'll do my duty as a citizen!" >.> <.<
Policeman3: "Right before you, sir." *Points at Aetos.* "Help us kill him and you will net a million coin bounty."
Aetos sweat drops.
Policeman2: "My scanner confirms subject Nodal is here too. We better scan everyone else around here... they always travel in packs..."
Spyke: "..." .oO( Dangit... Was hoping they would go away and leave us alone... ) "...How strong are these Questers? Is it wise to attack them unarmed without a weapon?" He holds out his hands to show the police that he has none.
Policeman2: "It is no matter. Anything to distract them while the tanks arrive is enough!"
Digifanatic decides to just stand there for now, trying to look as innocently as possible without trying to give any hint of his identity away.
Aribar finally thinks of a way to help. The elf scans the area for an easy way onto the rooftops. Narrow spaces to walljump up... Raised platforms... Perferably something out of the way.
Metal Man (GM): Policemen. The remaining Policemen go up to Aetos and start trying to tackle him.
Aetos: "Eack!"
Spyke hrms softly and looks at Aetos. "..." .oO( I don't know which would be better... Save myself and make tons of money or save my newfound allies... )
Metal Man (GM): They miss, but try to grab him again.
Aetos jumps up into the sky to avoid everything.
Metal Man (GM): Policeman 2 trips and falls. They shoot at Aetos as he flies. Now then; you're in the main square, and... the pipe is there... Aribar sees that most of the buildings are short andthere's not many places to hide. Garrick pipes on in and joins the battle.
Garrick: "...yeah! I finally made it--WHOA NELLY!"
Policeman2: "We're being invaded... bad sign, but our tanks shall be here soon."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick wouldn't have his weapons or anything.
Spyke: "..." He looks up as Aetos jumps up... oO( You know what?... Maybe I should just... ) He moves a bit behind the police officers. "Do you mind if I sit this one out. I'm all for Kuja and all, but I can't afford to pay any medical bills if I'm killed."
Policeman2: "Get out of here, then, before our tanks blow it to pieces."
Aribar jogs towards one of the short buildings and tries to jump towards the roof and climb up to get a better view.
Spyke: "How far away should I run?"
Policeman2: "If I need to tell you, you won't live long enough for me to tell you anyway."
Spyke: "...Well, then... I guess I should just stick around and enjoy the show." He raises his fists.
Policeman2: "Then you clearly don't care about your medical bills."
Spyke: "Life's too short to worry about bills. And if I help you guys out, I won't have to worry about either."
Nodal runs over to the second Policeman. His fist becomes wreathed in flames as he punches straight into the Policemans chest. He then jumps up in the air and double-kicks it in the face. Falling from his jump he spins in the air and with a foot emanating wind he kicks him in the shin before pushing out with both feet in the Policeman's chest to flip himself back to the street.
Aribar struggles to climb up that building... But he may possible make it.*
Metal Man (GM): Lesseee... 3 hits there... Policeman 2 nearly dead.
Aetos can concentrate again, enough to magically cover his body with wind, forming a tough shell that is tough to get through.
Aribar struggles to climb up that building... But he may possible make it.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar slowly climbs up the short building. The policeman hold defensive positions, themselves; the other Questers flee the area. Lucky for them. Aribar also flees the area, at least he's safe atop a building. Spyke does not flee; he watches.
Aribar looks about, trying to find out where the tanks may be.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar see them come in right now... one red, one blue. They both attack the main square with Magitek cannons. BOOM! BOOM! Aetos tries to leap out of the way like in Die Hard. Instead, he gets burnt for two hits.
Aribar dives down onto the rooftop, cursing being too slow to delay them.
Metal Man (GM): Nodal attempts to run away, but he gets burnt as well. Spyke gets burnt. Both policemen bite the dust. The tanks pull up, pointing their cannons. One at Aetos, one at Nodal.
Aribar frowns, thinking they should pull out... There's no way this one can be accomplished... At least that's what the elf thinks.
Aetos stares, with a spot of fear, into the barrel of the cannon.
Metal Man (GM): The hatches atop each one open up; on the left, a blue jester... on the right... a red one. Wait a minute, you might have seen these guys before...
Nick Caligo (GM): o/` Jesters of the Moon o/`
Aetos: "...Zorn!?"
Aribar: "... Zorn and Thorn."
Zorn: "It's the Questers! Revenge at last!"
Aribar begins to charge Terrorbolt... This would be the ideal time to zap those two.
Nodal sighs. "You people fight Jesters now?"
Thorn: "They're back! They will taste our vengeance finally!"
Metal Man (GM): The tank turrets charge up. They've got some fiendish weaponry. In fact, they have writing on the sides... "Quester-Killer 2000." And... "Meddling Person Destroyer 2 times 1000."
Nodal: "Original."
Zorn: "Shut up, you! There is no chance for you to escape this time..."
Thorn: "Cease your speech! You will never get away!"
Aetos: "Try us..."
Metal Man (GM): They fire again, this time at the only street out, which leads to the pier.
Nodal: "This time... There was another?"
Metal Man (GM): A building collapses into it, making a wall of burning mortar in the way there. Meanwhile, Aribar charges his terrorbolt. Nodal and Aetos vs. Zorn and Thorn.
Zorn: "We have already acted. Now try and hurt us now!"
Thorn: "Our act has been completed for now. You should attempt to attack us again!"
Metal Man (GM): The jesters continue to stand atop their respective tanks, clearly vulnerable targets. One has to wonder why they'd still be standing there...
Nodal says "...No thank you. I'm set for now. The confident are always planning something." Nodal attempts to leap to the top of a near-by building (Not Ari's.) and if he can't reach the top to latch onto a wall.
Metal Man (GM): Noda leaps high and into the air...
Zorn: "Activate the surface to air missiles!"
Thorn: "Attack with metal tubing that have explosive things in them!"
Aetos stares at him blankly.
Nodal: "No! Bad jester!"
Metal Man (GM): Zorn's tank opens up and fires a rack of... nasty looking missiles... right at Nodal. They home in on him like nothing else...
Nodal: "Gah!"
Metal Man (GM): ZOOM. Man, that's painful. Luckily, he wanted to blow up Nodal before he could escape. It's pretty hard to tumble while on fire, I might add. Aaaand Nodal just barely fails to get it right. He falls and smashes his leg into the rain gutters of the other side of the building, taking damage and losing some running speed for a while. But he's "Safe". That eats up his turn.
Aribar fires the fully charged beam of electricity at Thorn, hoping to knock a good deal of wind out of him.
Metal Man (GM): Well, Thorn stands there as the attack flies at him, and does nothing. The reason why appears next; It hits a red force field.
Zorn: "Foolish elf-man! We have force fields!"
Aribar: "Crap..."
Aetos blinks.
Aribar: "Everyone run to the pier!"
Thorn: "Silly half-human idiot! Barriers of energy surround us!"
Nodal: "Having trouble running!"
Metal Man (GM): Okay. The field is mildly weakened by it... you'd need about five more of those to really hurt it.
Aribar frowns, realizing the only way out of there is blocked... The mage decides to flee to the waterfront. Perhaps he can seek cover there.
Metal Man (GM): Aribar runs, which allows him a nice head start.
Aetos: "Force fields? the last force field I blasted with this... was destroyed... Die scoundrels!" He holds the Gerald-brand cellphone outright and aims the antenna at Thorn, he fires it again.
Metal Man (GM): You press the button... the phone beeps. "Low Battery" and turns off.
Zorn: "Your device has inadequete energy!"
Thorn: "The plastic object you worship lacks sufficient electrons!"
Aetos growls and surrenders.
Aetos tosses the used up cell phone behind him. "Listen... there, is no hope I can ever beat you alone... I don't want to fight you... I surrender... because my allies fled..."
Zorn: "??? What is this tomfoolery! Questers fight to the death!"
Thorn: "What sort of Tom Sawyer-inspired lack of sense is this? Random people with weapons who hate Kuja do nothing but fight!"
Zorn: "It is a trick! We must kill him to be sure!"
Aetos: "Not this Quester... I know when I'm beat, and I'm no use to them dead."
Thorn: "Difficult idea this is! He must cease living for us to feel safe!"
Zorn: "...! He can no longer be useful if we kill him! Let us make it so!"
Aetos rolls his eyes. he puts his hands up. "How can I prove I wont hurt you?"
Thorn: "So, let us make it! If we kill him, he will no longer be useful!"
Metal Man (GM): They both revv up their tanks, back up, and... come at Aetos from both sides simultaneously. Zorn flies dead-on at Aetos, while Thorn drives off and levels a supermarket. Aetos, instead of being crushed, is punted over a building and... far away.
Zorn: "Rats! Instead of killing him, we have catapulted him!"
Aetos: *Zoooomm..*
Thorn: "Catapulted he has been, instead of killed! Rats!"
Metal Man (GM): *ZOOM.* *Image of Aetos flying smack dab into a mountain.* Meanwhile, the rest of the Questers are running to the pier, with Zorn and Thorn chasing them in tanks.
Zorn: "You cannot escape us! You run down a dead-end path!"
Digifanatic: .oO(Shut up...)
Thorn: "Down a dead-end path you run! Escape us you cannot!"
Digifanatic: "We get your speech pattern!"
Metal Man (GM): The pier is -just- wide enough for their tanks to drive down.
Zorn: "What is there to get? How dare you insult our speech!"
Julian's standing at the end of the pier, holding the snorkel, pair of cement shoes, and the key. He's tapping his foot, apparently impatient. "Where the hell are they..."
Thorn: "Our speech you insult, how dare you! To get, what is there?"
Metal Man (GM): Julian notice them running towards you, with a blue tank and a red tank chasing them. The whole pier wobbles, as it wasn't made to hold two Magitek tanks.
Julian: "About damn time! Who's your company?"
Digifanatic: "Julian! Hop onto safe ground!"
Zorn: "It is us! Zorn and Thorn! You will die soon!"
Thorn: "Soon you will die! Thorn and Zorn it is!"
Julian: "...You two jokers? What the hell are you doing here? Did the cops call you in on Aetos?"
Metal Man (GM): One of the tanks opens fire; it just barely misses Julian and takes out a small hill ACROSS THE LAKE.
Zorn: "No! Aetos called us with a cell phone!"
Thorn: "Cell phone he called us with!"
Julian: "...Goddammit."
Metal Man (GM): Everyone is now at the edge of the pier; the two tanks take aim.
Zorn: "Any last words?"
Thorn: "Last words, any of them?"
Metal Man (GM): You're all at the edge of the pier; you hear their weapons charging up... whatever they are, I doubt you want to stick around and find out what they do...
Julian: *Eyes go wide at the sudden removal of the hill.* "Day-mn! ...Uh, hold on." *Julian puts on the snorkel and the cement boots real quick, then holds out the key in front of him, turns about face...* "Later suckas!" *and walks off the pier. Just like that nice historian said...*
Digifanatic also dives into the water (two tiers of Adapted don't hurt...) and hopes to follow Julian...
Metal Man (GM): Julian walks on off the pier and disappears into the water. Digi leaps into the water and tries to dive down, but there is one problem... there's a current that pushes upwards. However, he is off the pier. Azure? Aribar? Are either of you here?
Digifanatic: "Glub glub blargle glub blub glub?"
Julian: *sinks.* .oO(...This better work.)
Zorn: "Those two cowards abandoned ship! We must get them... somehow!"
Thorn: "Somehow we must get them! Abandoned ship those two cowards did!"
Metal Man (GM): *PAUSE* on everyone but Julian. Julian hits the bottom. The snorkels seems useless... but there's a small, one-man cave dead ahead.
Julian holds his breath as best he can and moves as FAST as he can underwater towards the cave.
Metal Man (GM): Julian enter the cave, and realize there is an air pocket approximately far enough above your head that your snorkel reaches it. You soon realize this isn't any normal cave.
Julian: *BREATH* .oO(Yeah!) *looks around the cave.*
Metal Man (GM): The floors and walls are of stone; there are places where torch holders used to be.
Julian: .oO(Some kinda temple?)
Metal Man (GM): You walk ahead, until you reach... steps. Guess you can take off your shoes now.
Julian: *does just that, shakin' those cement shoes off and up, grabbing them in midair incase he needs them later.*
Metal Man (GM): You float up to the top of the steps, and can see a rather wide-open room. This is definitely a temple.
Julian: .oO(Right again...)
Metal Man (GM): One that has long been disused, too. Possibly buried in an ancient cataclysm... The old key you have is obviously to the large safe in the middle of the room.
Julian: *Does so.* "Man... This must be somethin' left over from when Kuja reconstructed the planet... Wonder who worshiped here... Hey! A safe!" *moves on over to it, and uses da key.*
Metal Man (GM): You turn it, and... the safe begins to open, but it takes a bit more than a key turn. An ancient mechanism is activated. Lines appear on the walls, and soon, images of ancient... people... appear on the walls. Some sort of runes appear around the safe. They look vaguely English, but... more advanced.
Julian: "Guess that's an answer." *DEX.*
Dex: "...DING! Unknown runes. Dates from Solarian period. Related to runes found on the Chaos Maker."
Julian: "The what?"
Dex: "Some sort of advanced machine is in use. It may have translation capabilities."
Julian: "So where is it?"
Dex: "The entire ruined area you are in is integrated with the machine, which has been dormant for many, many years."
Julian: "...Okay, so how do I get it to talk?"
Dex: "Unknown. It may have an access panel."
Julian: "Huh..." *checks around the safe for said panel.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian looks for a panel, but instead finds seaweed.
Julian: "This ain' it..."
Metal Man (GM): Yet more time goes by... but you eventually find a panel which you can flip open.
Julian: *Flippy!*
Metal Man (GM): You flip it open, and find... a keyboard made out of the same symbols, a sort of strange hand-shaped depression next to it, and inside the crevice, a screen covered with muck.
Julian: "Ick..." *wipes the muck away with his left hand, and places his right hand in the depression.*
Metal Man (GM): You put your hand in the depression, and feel a slight electrical current. A weird beep is heard, and then the text translates itself. The text, now in English, and rotating around the safe, says... "You are surrounded. This liquid substance. It controls money. Destiny is here. Find the meaning now. And win a weird prize."
Julian: "...Dex, mind translating this into a coherent sentence for me?"
Dex: "That would require heuristic functions which cannot be affordably packaged inside a compact format. You are better off trying to get the computer to change it."
Julian: "Alright..." *types the gist of that into the computer.*
Metal Man (GM): The keys are weird and made up of those strange symbols. You type up a bunch of strange gibberish, and the computer puts up "Error 42: Your message is bad. Please try again now. Or else it is gone. Have a good day please."
Julian: "... Dex, can you translate these keys? Did the runes being translated help?"
Dex: "I'm sorry. The runes are too complex to translate in the sort of time you'd need. The other Questers are probably fighting a losing battle as we speak."
Julian: "So what the hell did the message say? Throw a coin into the water? ...That might work..." *tries it.*
Metal Man (GM): You hurl a coin into the water. The message changes.
Ancient Computer: "You throw away stuff. It is not answer. Say the word needed. It is all around."
Julian: "What? Water? Rune? Stone?"
Metal Man (GM): It changes again.
Julian: "Dumb.*censored* computer that won't *censored* work?"
Ancient Computer: "You lack intellect. Solarians old. Go find a big hole."
Dex: "It cannot understand you very well... it may be a Solarian computer."
Julian: "Well no *censored* duh! It's only said Solarian about 5 times!* "
Metal Man (GM): The message changes again. "For enhanced speech. Insert power source. Into key pad left slot." Ya still have that emerald, too...
Julian: "...Duh." *reaches into his back pocket, pulls out the Purple Emerald, and inserts it into the depression.*
Metal Man (GM): You insert it into there; the lines glow, and a hologram appears. And the ground rumbles. What appears to be an ancient Solarian, who is a ghostly hologram, appears above the safe.
???: "Thank you for the power. I was speaking very poorly. What is it you need?"
Julian: "How the hell do I get this safe to open?"
???: "The safe has a code. It is the name of water. When in planetary count."
Julian: "H20? Aqua?"
???: "Close, but not close now. It is continental, see? The thing with great lee."
Julian: "Sea? Ocean? Puddle?"
Metal Man (GM): When you say "Sea", the vault suddenly swings open, and a bunch of weird-looking Magitek necklaces fall out.
???: "Ancient wisdom here. Use to destroy the bad one. Long live Solaria."
Julian: "...Y'know, that was an awful lot like that damned Magitek factory... Score!" *picks them up.* "Thanks for your help, man."
Metal Man (GM): The hologram winks out.
Julian: *Exit's the way he came in*
Dex: "It appears it was a sort of program left behind... a hologram with a limited amount of responses and heuristics."
Metal Man (GM): Don't forget the emerald!
Julian: "Whatever it was, it helped..." *Grabs the emerald before he forgets it and has to come back down here.* "Now, where's the exit?"
Metal Man (GM): Well, you can only see the way you came in here in the first place... Those weird necklaces might have some use.
Julian: *Puts one on...*
Metal Man (GM): You put it on, and suddenly it extends upwards, to cover your entire neck completely.Then it glows and... disappears under your skin, save for one point where the "Pendant" of the necklace was. Very odd.
Julian: "...Freaky..."
Metal Man (GM): Either way, a weird icon appears in your vision itself... it says "Aqua-Breather Equipped." It appears the ancient Solarians were more sophisticated than anything of these evil ones you've been killing. Too bad there's precious little... or maybe good. You heard some nasty things about the original Solarian weapons Denon used...
Julian: "...Visor effect... Alright, let's see if it's telling the truth..." *dives into the water, then starts swimming towards the surface, while checking the Dex to see if he can use his Rocket Boots underwater.*
Metal Man (GM): The dex's screen says "Unable to light rockets underwater." You go under-water, and... are able to breathe as if the water was air. The only unfortunate thing is that the water still slows you down. You go to surface.
Aetos (GM): Garrick, Aetos, Nodal, and Azure were just staring down the tanks at the end of the pier.
Zorn: "We've got you cornered now!"
Thorn: "Now you are all cornered!"
Garrick: "...well... this isn't paticularly good..."
Metal Man (GM): They arm their tanks, and prepare for battle.
Zorn: "Any last words?"
Thorn: "Words of finality, you have?"
Garrick: "...can you... stop rhyming with each other during the fight? Just that, it's all I want. Not too much to ask, I shouldn't think."
Azure: "If I had last words to speak of they wouldn't be now. And they don't really rhyme as much as the second reverses the words of the first."
Garrick: *sigh.*
Zorn: "I'll tear you to shreds!"
Thorn: "To shreds you will be torn!"
Metal Man (GM): Zorn presses a button, and a big gatling gun points out of the top of his tank. He then takes aim for Garrick... and strafes him with a TON of bullets.
Garrick: "Awww, why do you got to keep talking in rhyme? "
Metal Man (GM): Then he pulls out an odd pistol and takes a quick shot at Nodal with it.
Garrick gets completely smashed with bullets... not enough to hurt him terribly though..
Metal Man (GM): Nodal uses his seeds... whatever that means, exactly.
Garrick leaps forward to the tank Zorn is in, Jabbing it, the following with a Forward Boot, and then finishing with a Heel Drop.
Metal Man (GM): You hit all three times, however you hit a force field.
Zorn: "We don't even need to use tactics against you!"
Thorn: "Against you, tactics we don't need!"
Metal Man (GM): Thorn sets his tank into 'Drive' and drives right at the two of you. Nodal trips on a board and gets knocked backwards.
Garrick: "Aww jeez..."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick is run over as well; or I should say, knocked back. Nodal is knocked off the pier and is now out of harm's way; however Garrick is now (mostly) alone at the tip of the pier.
Zorn: "A fine prospect indeed! None shall defend him!"
Thorn: "Him, defended by none! Indeed, a fine prospect."
Garrick: "...okay... gonna need to really turn up the moxy on this one..."
Zorn: "Turn up... this!"
Thorn: "This... turn up!"
Garrick: "Shut UP with the rhyming!"
Metal Man (GM): Zorn aims and fires another rack of SAM missiles at Garrick.
Garrick gets NAILED by the missiles... "Okay, okay, think... hmmm..."
Zorn: "Yes! With the last moments you have a functional brain..."
Thorn: "A functional brain you have with these last moments, yes!"
Garrick cracks his knuckles, hoping to fight brawn with brain... he rears back his fist, using every last bit of energy that Nodal gave him with those seeds, then HAULS OFF with a charged Cross Hook into... the wooden dock!
Metal Man (GM): *CRACK* *CRUNCH.*
Zorn: "...Did you think of reinforcing the dock, Kuja?"
Thorn: "Kuja, reinforcing the dock, did you think of?"
Kuja: (Comms) "I didn't even design them, you buffoons."
Metal Man (GM): *CRUNCH.* They both fall through and into the water.
Zorn: "We'll get you for this, you flaming and disgusting gar!"
Garrick: "That's GarRICK."
Thorn: "Flaming, disgusting gar, we'll get you for this!"
Metal Man (GM): *SPLOOSH* They sink underwater. Safe, but not able to hit you. However, you have some choices now. You've got yourself Aetos, which is up North... And Julian, who vanished underwater.
Metal Man (GM): Spyke's probably hiding around somewhere. You hear the sound of an incoming... fleet. I wouldn't dally if I were you.
Garrick: "...great..." *douses himself with a pair of healing sprays, then heads North to back up Aetos.*
Metal Man (GM): You run north, through various alleys. The ships are overhead, and probably scanning for something...
Garrick tries to stay somewhat hidden..
Metal Man (GM): After a few minutes, you run (at last) to a crater, where Aetos is laying. He's just woken up, it appears. Aetos wakes up from when he was KO'd that time. He's in a burnt crater, and Garrick's running towards you. Ships are flying above.
Garrick: "Aetos!"
Metal Man (GM): A fleet of white ones, equipped with what appears to be lasers an' tracking devices.
Garrick makes to grab Aetos and haul him off to a secluded area so they won't be spotted straight away..
Aetos wakes up slowly, looking rattled up... "Whhaa..?..."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick pulls you out of the hole, which seems good enough. You hide behind a building, but that doesn't seem to be good enough to hide from all the ships. One of them descends, and suddenly opens fire on the broad area you're in. Buildings explode; you're just barely out of the way of that attack, and it's coming closer...
Garrick tries to maneuver to a better location. He needs to get his butt out of the open..
Aetos feels woozy still, but hanging on for the wild ride.
Garrick: "C'mon, give me something to work with here..."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick runs ahead, dragging Aetos. It isn't fast enough; the ship flies THROUGH two brick buildings behind you, shredding them. Then it opens fire on your back. Garrick leaps outta the way, at least. Okay; you bought yourself some time. You're nearing the docks again, but another ship flies on down and blasts a building in front of you, forcing you to go around or try something other than running in a straight line.
Aetos shakes his head. "Alright... I think I'm fine now..."
Metal Man (GM): Once again; you must do something. There's alleyways in all directions but forward.
Garrick: "Good, move on your own. I'm tired of dragging your butt, just move!"
Metal Man (GM): Two to the left, two to the right...
Garrick books off to the left.
Metal Man (GM): Four to the back... You go off to the left; both ships open fire.
Aetos charges into a right alley.
Metal Man (GM): Garrick barely dodges a burst of lasers again. Both of them continue pursuing him, though; and he's soon in the main square again. One alley south, and another continuing in the direction he's going. Aetos walk onto some sort of main street, with stores up and down it. The street goes North and South; there's many, many alleys (and buildings) in the direction you're facing, too.
Garrick: "C'mon, gimme somethign to work with..."
Aetos continues along the street, reading the store signs as he comes to them.
Metal Man (GM): You determine hiding underneath a grocery cart to be wise. Aetos is on "Kuja Junction Road." The street you just exited from is "Kuja Road 22." There's nothing but alleys off in the direction you're facing, unless you go north or south further.
Aetos goes south... reading the store signs as he comes to them.
Metal Man (GM): "Kuja Grocery" "Kuja Hair Salon" "Kuja Ice Cream Parlor" "Kuja Auto Mechanic." Garrick runs South... in plain view. A third ship joins chase; The three all fire at him from all directions.
Aetos runs into the Auto Mechanic building, and searches for some kind of battery.
Metal Man (GM): Not quite good enough; they're EVERYWHERE, especially since you didn't try to use a less direct route, Garrick. The debris (and explosions) burn you.
Garrick yells out as he's sent flying by the lasers..
Metal Man (GM): Aetos runs into the building. Inside, he sees cars... cars with their hoods open... and batteries in those cars. And mechanics working on them. Spyke gets to enter the madness in a moment. First; Garrick: You gotta climb out of the rubble before they realize you're buried in it.
Aetos runs up to one of the mechanics, "Urgent Kuja business!! I need you to hook one of those batteries up to this Gerald-brand cellphone!"
Mechanic1: "...I'll do that if you pay me. 5,000 coins."
Aetos: "Roger." *Gives him 5000 coins.* "The future of this town depends on it, citizen."
Garrick: "...I don't even know what's going on... c'mon... MOVE!"
Aetos gives him the Gerald-brand cellphone... which flashes "Battery Depleted" on it's screen.
Metal Man (GM): Garrick struggles in the wreckage. He's safe for another moment; which he can try to do something else in.
Mechanic1: "Thank you! I'll be right on it."
Garrick: "...there's got to be something I can do..."
Metal Man (GM): He takes the cell phone, opens it up, hurls the old supply over his shoulder, and then jams some wires into it. Which he jams the other end into the battery, but also adds a voltage regulator in-between.
Garrick heals his wounds as best he can with another three healing sprays..he tries to get a look of the surrounding area, if he can.
Mechanic1: "Just be careful... these phones are prone to exploding if used incorrectly."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick: From your half-submerged head, there is scorched buildings... and ships about to open fire with lasers. On you.
Garrick: "Oh, come ON!"
Aetos: "... Thanks for the warning." .oO(I hope I can remember how I fired it off before...)
Garrick puts every last bit of strength he can into the next burst... gotta really do something here.
Metal Man (GM): Garrick squirms again... they aim at him. Aetos hears loud explosions in the distance.
Garrick: "COME ON!!"
Metal Man (GM): BOOM! BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOOM! EXPLODE!!!!!
Aetos: "Oh no!.. Gar-- The Questers, they are attacking this town with Kuja's ships!"
Metal Man (GM): Garrick takes damage from the laser barrage, and is blasted, flaming, on off into the next street... in front of all the dock stores. Good, now if you can haul your burning body to the water, they might have a hard time hitting you.
Mechanic1: "...Right. You take care of them."
Garrick: "...today is not my day... What I wouldn't do for a MTA right about now..."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick lament his fate, and the ships appear to pick up on it. They're flying towards you. Spyke, meanwhile, is on the same street: He sees a charred Garrick and three space ships flying at him, ready to open fire from above.
Aetos bows to the mechanic "Thank you. Wish me good fortune!" he runs outside to the street and looks at the ships..
Metal Man (GM): The ships are about the size of 2-story houses and look sorta like flying insects.
Spyke gazes up and then over at Garrick, and then back up to the ships. "Why am I feeling suicidal?" He tries to judge just how high up they are..
Garrick pushes himself to his feet and books away from Spyke, not seeing.
Metal Man (GM): They're hovering not more than 50 feet off the ground, just over the rooftops of the tallest buildings.
Spyke grins to himself as he makes a run for the tallest buildings closest to the flying ships, trying to stick to the shadows as he moves.
Aetos: "... I can't do this alone... I know Garrick has the best electronic skills, I've got to find him."
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: The fleet appears to be hovering at around 100 feet, with the three ships chasing Garrick at 50 feet, and Southeast of where you currently are.
Aetos: "No matter... how much I'll get blown up."
Metal Man (GM): Spyke moves for the shadows rather quickly; a ship chases after him and through the roof of a tall building.
Garrick: "What ARE these things?!"
Metal Man (GM): The debris blocks its view of Spyke; it loses him quickly.
Aetos jumps up to the top of the mechanic shop, and jumps from rooftop to rooftop in the direction the ships are firing at.
Metal Man (GM):Aetos leaps on up like a natural.
Garrick jukes to the right and tries to hide in some rubble, going dead still.
Metal Man (GM): He's now at the same level as the hovering ships... they don't notice him yet. He can see the ships are firing at a person on a street just a little south of here... Garrick's direction.
Spyke looks up at the roof the ship just flew through. He looks for footholds or places to jump along its side... Anything to help him get to the top... If it looks too tough, he'll just jump for it.
Metal Man (GM): Garrick actually hides effectively; they fly by him.
Garrick lets out a large sigh of relief...
Aetos makes a spot check to find Garrick, and if he succeeds, he would go after him.
Spyke goes for the climb.
Garrick: "...now... I need to figure out just what's going on..."
Metal Man (GM): Aetos would see Garrick... then Garrick would disappear under some rubble of some of the Dock road buildings. His good hide check makes him hard for anybody to spot.
Aetos scratches his head and hops over to the rubble.
Metal Man (GM): Spyke climbs on up; the ship is flying nearby. This is the roof of some old-timey inn. It's sorta treacherous, but usable. as you have to fall a decent amount to get there.
Spyke takes a close look at the ship for any external hatches, and if the ship is facing him, and if there's a windshield or some semi-transparent front.
Metal Man (GM): Aetos hurts his ankle a bit, slowing himself down a little.
Metal Man (GM): Spyke notices a glow... it's force field-protected.
Garrick spins on the spot at the thump of someone landing on his left and aims both his wrist lasers in that direction...
Aetos: "Garrick, where did you go? I need you!"
Garrick: "...Aetos?"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: somebody's sprung out of the rubble and has Denon-class laser machineguns aimed at you! It's an Infantry!
Aetos: "!! Lo!"
Garrick: "...Aetos. Quick, under here."
Spyke: "Dang!" He had started to crouch to jump at it... "Now what do I do..." He looks around the rooftop he is on for some sizeable debris to throw at it...
Garrick grabs Aetos by the collar and drags him under the rubble, back into his hidding spot.
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: The infantry-appearing person is dragging you under the rubble.
Aetos: "Gack get off me!!"
Garrick: "...what? Aetos, it's me!"
Metal Man (GM): Spyke see a nice big hunk of timber... it'd be distracting.
Aetos aims the cell phone antenna at the infantry. "Wait... Garrick? huh?"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos aim at the guy whose face you can't see (too dark)
Spyke hefts that up and throws it towards the front of the ship near him.
Metal Man (GM): Garrick: Someone's pointing a cell phone at your face.
Garrick: "Garrick! You know, gunner Garrick? Kung fu Garrick? Boy, oh boy, I wish I had a bazooka Garrick?"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: The guy begins to talk... but then you hear a loud CRACK! And you can't hear it.
Aetos: "...Huh!?"
Metal Man (GM): You hear... "Death to... *CRACK!* DEATH!!!"
Aetos blinks.
Garrick: "..."
Aetos: "He's an insane Infantry." ;.;
Garrick blinks in return.
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, Spyke's timber bounce off of the shield.
Garrick: "I'm NOT AN INFANTRY!"
Metal Man (GM): The ship turns to face him, with all of its firepower. Aetosr ears ring, and you hear something about... Ice cream?
Aetos: "Let go of me!! ...No I do-- I have to go back to the Ice Cream shop I saw! Maybe Garrick is there!" *Struggles.*
Metal Man (GM): Aetos breaks free.
Aetos starts running back to the street with the ice cream shop and the auto mechanic.
Metal Man (GM): He then runs on off to the Ice Cream shop... guess you hid yourself too well.
Spyke grins and leaps off the roof at the flying ship, curling up around himself tightly and trying to slam into it, crackling with electricity. He's nuts. @_@.
Metal Man (GM): Aetos' running attracts one of the ships after you.
Garrick runs out after Aetos... "...AETOS! On your left!"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos' being chased by someone... and a ship. Nasty.
Aetos: "Huh?"
Metal Man (GM): BLAM BLAM BLAM.
Aetos looks upward to the ship. "Crap..."
Metal Man (GM): The road explodes as lasers fall. Garrick and Aetos. Garrick just has to duck away from... He runs into the blasts, flying into the air like a rocket. The ship stops when it sees Garrick fly above it and atop another building.
Spyke tries to grind into it with his quills, thus the multiple strikes.
Aetos wonders who just got flung up into the air, as he was flat on his back after the blast hit.
Metal Man (GM): Okay then. Spyke, meanwhile, flies at the ship like some manaic.
Garrick is sent flying... AGAIN...
Metal Man (GM): He hits it twice, but then falls at the ground...
Aetos: "...Was that Garrick?"
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: The scream sounds like Garrick. I should say, Gaaaaaaaarrrrrghhhhhrick.
Garrick: "OF COURSE IT'S ME, YOU BLASTED IDIOT! I'M NOT SOME DAMN INFANTRY!!!" *slam.*
Aetos gets on his feet... looks at the ship, then leaps away toward the Garrick-crash-site.
Julian: *Meanwhile...*
Metal Man (GM): You land on the ground, only mildly injuring yourself.
Julian finally reaches the surface, magitek necklaces in-tow... Only to find the dock is gone.* "...What the hell happened!* "
Metal Man (GM): Julian sees the town being blasted apart by ships.
Spyke grunts as he lands and looks up at the ship to see if he even phased the thing or its forcefield, briefly of course, before making himself scarce for the nearest thing to hide behind.
Garrick is still laying among the rubble... out for now... groaning..
Metal Man (GM): Spyke: The force field flickered a little, but it didn't really seem to have been damaged.
Julian: "...Goddammit." *Julian gets out of the water, then takes off towards the town, hoping to bump into a fellow Quester so he can enquire as to what the hell happened, and maybe give them a necklace.*
Metal Man (GM): Aetos, meanwhile, reaches the top of the building; two ships advance upon him and Garrick.
Spyke: "Where's a tank cannon when you need one..."
Garrick slowly picks himself up out of the rubble... "...I'm about to give up..."
Aetos: "Crap... my turn!" *Picks up Garrick.* *Runs.* "No time for giving up!"
Garrick: "Gah! What... oh, Aetos, the BLIND AS A BAT Quester!"
Aetos: "My eyes are better then yours, thank you."
Garrick: "Then why couldn't you SEE ME IN THAT BLASTED RUBBLE?!"
Aetos: "...And what do you mean?" *Shoves a max mushroom into Garrick's mouth.*
Metal Man (GM): Aetos: The only way to run is... down.
Garrick: "I mean you--GHFF!" *chew.* *Swallow.* "What's going ON here?!"
Metal Man (GM): The ground's probably safer, avoiding laser-wise. But more dangerous, falling-wise.
Aetos: "Time to jump!" *Slips the Gerald Cell phone into Garrick's pocket then tumbles down to the ground.
Spyke gives up for the time being and makes a break for it, searching for his allies... He hopes they have a plan.
Garrick: "What's with all the shiiiiiIAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): Tumble it is... you tumble well, and manage an exceptional tumble, onto the ground. The building you were previously on is destroyed by intense laser fire.
Aetos: "Oh jeez..."
Garrick: "What is with all the ships?! Why don't we just hightail it out of here?!"
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, Julian finds himself Spyke, who was just recently running through some alleys.
Aetos: "... Time to split up again, I'm headed for some ice cream!" *Jumps off back to the ice cream shop street place.*
Garrick: "What?! No, wait, tell me what's goi--damn it..."
Julian: "One down... Hey! Spyke! Where' the others?!"
Garrick watches Aetos run away... "...well, now what?"
Spyke: "Hey... No clue. Was just about to go looking for them... Know how to take down a flying ship that has a forcefield?"
Metal Man (GM): Garrick notices a large amount of rubble falling at him from above. I guess that's why Aetos ran.
Garrick: "...DAH! *runs!"
Julian: "Jump in a lake. Here, take this, put it on, and head for the docks. We'll meet up there." *tosses Spyke one of the necklaces.*
Metal Man (GM): Garrick is buried in flaming wreckage. Again,. damageo PAIN.
Garrick: "...why won't someone tell me just what's going on... that's all I want to know..."
Spyke looks over the necklace for a moment, and then at Julian. "How does jewelry help us right now?"
Garrick: "...why the hell these ships are trying to BLAST ME INTO ATOMS!!!"
Metal Man (GM): Your screaming attracts the ships.
Garrick: "...oh, well, crap... wait... what's this..?" *reaches into his pocket... and finds a cell phone.*
Metal Man (GM): You appeared to be dead, at least until you started screaming at the rubble. You have an odd thing in your pocket. A cell phone with a car battery plugged into it.
Garrick: "...what the hell? ...dah! Ships! Again!" *makes to hide again!*
Metal Man (GM): You're buried from the torso down... and can't get out yet.
Garrick struggles, pushes at the rubble..
Metal Man (GM): All you have is a cell phone with a big red button on it connected to a car battery.
Julian: "Just put it on and head for the docks! I gotta go find the others!" *Julian takes off, in search of Garrick and Aetos.*
Metal Man (GM): And two ships flying down at you.
Garrick: "...please let this be a sign from god or something..."
Metal Man (GM): Do you still decide to struggle... or... use the cell phone?
Garrick looks at the cell phone... "...and this better not call E Li Three!"
Spyke sighs and puts the necklace on, and then runs for the docks. @_@.
Garrick: "Or, so help me, I'm going BLOW SOMETHING UP!"
Metal Man (GM): Spyke escapes from the madness.
Garrick sighs, then hits the red button.
Aetos: *Fleeing to the ice cream shop.*
Metal Man (GM): Garrick: The phone goes berserk and fires a gigantic laser at one of the ships. The ship's force field is penetrated, and the ship in question is shot down. The battery's power is drained, though.
Garrick: "HOLY..."
Metal Man (GM): Julian see a big fat laser take out one of those space ships. Aetos run into the ice cream shop and close the door, and hear a ship exploding.
Julian: "DAY-MN! That must be where Garrick is..." *heads for the origin of the laser.*
Metal Man (GM): Garrick: The other ship seems stunned by the occurrance. Make a move.
Garrick: "...*whisper.*...when all else fails... bluff..."
Metal Man (GM): You notice the ships above starting to... descend.
Garrick points the cell phone at the other ship and grins a hideous looking, insane grin. Basically, like Metal.
Aetos searches this room and takes note of any people inside that he can talk to.
Metal Man (GM): This doesn't look good... at least, until Julian reaches him. Julian see Garrick, grinning crazily and clutching a cell phone attached to a car battery. He's half-buried in bricks. Aetos: Nobody's here, save for a very scared shopkeeper.
Garrick: "...wait."
Julian: "Garrick! Glad I found you... what're you doing in bricks?"
Garrick: "...I... don't know." *tries to pull himself out.*
Metal Man (GM): You crawl on out, covered in dust.
Aetos examines his remaining stolen goods, the DVD player and the Kuja-brand cell phone. "Do you have anything I can plug this in to?" *Holding up the DVD player.*
Julian: "Whatever. Take this, put it on, and head for the docks. I'll meet up with you when I find Aetos... You wouldn't have happened to have seen him, would ya?" *tosses another necklace to Garrick.*
Shopkeeper: "...Just use whatever outlets you want... if it means my shop isn't exploded..."
Metal Man (GM): There's a nice big outlet next to the counter.
Aetos: "...Sadly, I don't know."
Garrick: "Said he was going ice cream shop... and what is this?" *fingers the necklace as he puts it on.*
Spyke is waiting at the docks now, or is still running towards them...
Metal Man (GM): Garrick: It looks... magical. Almost... magitek.
Julian: "Necklace. Put it on, and head for the docks. MOVE!"
Aetos plugs it into the outlet. "Please be something... good?"
Metal Man (GM): Spyke're safely at the dock.
Garrick: "...magitek... where do you get magitek?"
Metal Man (GM): The player turns on. A little holographic screen pops on up.
Julian: "Bottom of the lake. Long story... Why are you still talkin'?! Go! I gotta find Aetos!" *heads towards the Ice Cream shop.*
Garrick shrugs and books it toward the docks.
Metal Man (GM): Garrick runs on off to the docks... as it becomes apparent this place won't last very long.
Digifanatic runs over to where Spyke is..."Man, this is crazy--hey Garrick..."
Metal Man (GM): The ships begin firing at the entire town; only the edge near the docks seems safe.
Garrick: "Don't you 'hey Garrick' me!"
Digifanatic stares at the piece around Spyke's neck. "Where'd ya get that necklace thing?"
Garrick: "I've been blown to bits every way till Friday here!"
Metal Man (GM): Julian runs on into the Ice Cream Shop.
Aetos watches the screen...
Metal Man (GM): There, he sees Aetos staring at the screen... it says "Insert Disk."
Julian: "...Aetos! C'mon, this place is gonna be obliterated!"
Garrick: "And here you two are, looking fine and dandy and chock full of spirit! Now, I've got some weird cell phone, some magitek necklace, and NO PATIENCE!"
Aetos: "I NEED A DVD DAMNIT!!!!!" he screams.
Spyke: "Hey, Digi... and Garrick... How are you two hanging? I'm a bit tired, but nothing serious..."
Digifanatic: "Not bad... this is just pure insanity."
Julian: "NO *CENSORED* TIME! C'MON!" *moves to grab Aetos and haul him off if needed.*
Digifanatic: "Where'd Aetos and Julian run off to?"
Aetos: "We can save this city! I just need to freakin get a DVD! *Scratches nails along the floor as he'ds being dragged."
Spyke: "Ummm... Julian gave me a necklace like the one Garrick has now... And ran off to find you guys."
Digifanatic: "I see..."
Metal Man (GM): *Cinema.*
Julian: "Forget the city! I'm concerned about saving MYSELF! Now take this, and stop being a little *CENSORED*!" *hands Aetos a necklace.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian flies away from the town as Aetos claws at everything he can grab. Behind him, the town is exploded by laser fire. The ships shred the town to bits, leaving nothing but a few lucky buildings.
Julian: *Arrives at the docks?*
Metal Man (GM): The group gets to the pier; the necklaces, once put on, expand to cover their entire necks, and then absorb into the skin, leaving nothing but a pendant they can touch to de-equip them. *Cinema II.*
Julian: *tosses a necklace to Digi.* "In the lake NOW!" *dives in.*
Metal Man (GM): And *Pause on the Questers.*
Garrick shrugs and jumps in as well, clearly sick of this.
Metal Man (GM): Cue the camera flying on up, across a wide field, and then into the top of a giant tower. There... Kuja is on his throne, as usual; he's overlooking the devastation using his holographic monitoring screens. The ships are also there; he apparently was commanding them personally.
Kuja: "...Like flies avoiding a missile... those pests don't know when to give up."
Metal Man (GM): He punches in some codes into an armrest keyboard; another screen opens, this one showing Grodus.
Grodus: *Hologram.* "What do you require of me?"
Kuja: "Your security is miserable. The Questers just walked right into one of your towns, took some priceless equipment, and are now heading towards your chief magitek plant."
Grodus: "...! ...I am afraid... it is exactly as I predicted. There was nothing I could have done."
Kuja: "Then do not be surprised if I am inspired to destroy you MYSELF."
Metal Man (GM): He sends away the comms, and then sticks one of his hands to his chin.
Kuja: "I'll just have to resort to auxiliary help, then."
Metal Man (GM): He dials another number, and a different comms screen appears. This one is in the dark; only a silhouette can be seen.
Kuja: "Once again, a commander has been failing me. This time, though, you can make things right."
???: "Why don't you just smite them with your all-powerful godliness stuff, eh?"
Kuja: "...I have not the time to play games. Kill the Questers and you might just be a commander yourself."
???: "...Whatever you say, Slick."
Metal Man (GM): The comms turns off, and Kuja then crosses his arms.
Kuja: "How I loathe these fools... but the worthless ones will be destroyed soon enough."
Metal Man (GM): *END CINEMA II.*