Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 277: An Official APN Introduction
Date: 5:00:18 PM, June 1st, 2006.
Metal Man (GM): SUPER SMASH QUEST
BOOK 1
Digifanatic: *YAAAAAAAAAAY.*
Metal Man (GM): Season 7
Trigger: *WOO HOO!!*
Editor's Note: Wow, people cheering for an SSQ Season. I don't recall that happening before.
Metal Man (GM): Chapter 277: Introductions
An old-style black and white film-like picture appears. On it, is a bad ripoff of the SSB:M logo, except now it says 'Super Smash Quest.' An image of the first five Questers is shown. An announcer speaks over the primitive video.
Announcer: "Welcome to Super Smash Quest. Back when it all began, the original Questers were hired to protect the Stadium from bad guys. It was all very simple and nice back then, wasn't it?"
Metal Man (GM): Old-timey Honkey-Tonk piano playing Super Mario Brothers theme can be heard.
Announcer: "The first Questers were mostly former fans and staff of a place that existed in a parallel dimension. They did it mostly for the money and the moves, and things were mostly good."
Metal Man (GM): Video of the original Questers, soon joined by many others, fighting the likes of Bowser, Ganondorf, Dracula... and Bowser again.
Announcer: "Some were bad, some were good, but things went smoothly... until..."
Metal Man (GM): Insert dramatic 'evil' variation on the music here.
The video shows Zio, and then an image of the Stadium exploding.
Announcer: "Zio, the Slytock, and a whole ton of bad things blew everything up. The original Questers were busted back down to their original selves by this; but, they still wanted their money. So they forged on...
Metal Man (GM): The music cuts and instead a very old, tinny, but orchestral version of the Dark World Forest from a Link to the Past plays. The picture gets better; sounds can actually be heard now.
The Questers can be seen fighting Zio again, and then eventually encountering the Quester Hunters.
At various times, the film shows Locos leading the Questers against what looks like a grumpy lady, Metal biting one of the Dry Bones enemies under the vanilla dome, a montage of Aribar dying at least 5 times, and Skyhigh leaping into magma.
Gibby can also be seen, though faintly, in several of the shots. He's a Kirby of sorts waving around a sword.
Announcer: "But... the evil didn't quite go away. A shame, really. Things blew up again."
Metal Man (GM):
You can see a large, evil version of the Quester's headquarters exploding.
Then, a bunch of Questers can be seen outside the wreck, staring at what appears to be... a ghost.
Past Ghost: "You have always been under my control... everything you have done is my will... now bow to it, or die!"
Metal Man (GM): The scene is obviously altered or computer animated, somehow.
Past Aribar: "Never!"
Past Gibby: "Why would I listen to you?"
Past Star Steel: "Let's kill him already."
Metal Man (GM): The ghost powers up, and then appears to be... well. Kuja. The music cuts to a rather demonized version of his theme, as he laughs and literally blows up the entire area on the video.
Announcer: "Kuja was the most powerful enemy the Questers would have, save for themselves. He tried his best to destroy everything, but got trapped."
Metal Man (GM): The video shows Kuja being sucked into a transformer; and thus... into what is called 'The X-Zone' (A subtitle on the video)
Announcer: "The surviving Questers rebuilt; but the old power structure was broken. Greed faded fast in the face of a new enemy.
Metal Man (GM): A giant sword is seen crashing into Peach's castle; the Questers destroying Smithy's troops can be seen.
The camera pans around, and something new is seen.
In the shadow of Exor, Sardis Mongul is seen doing the last modifications to a device.
Announcer: "This random Solarian survivor would turn out to be the key in a massive mess, resultant of the very thing which saved the Questers originally."
Metal Man (GM): The whole Exor-thing is seen being destroyed by a massive black hole-effect; the music changes to a more Star-warsy sort of sound.
When the explosion fades, the camera is seen on the inside of the bridge of the Archelago II, a massive flying battleship.
The Apocalypse Group repeats their oft-mentioned speech.
Announcer: "Even though the Questers had killed Smithy's dark side, more and more jerks kept on coming. To protect the Stadium, the Questers would soon lose sight of the very world they lived on."
Metal Man (GM): Color images now; this of Charles's massive pyramid-base thing, the Thirteen Androids, and a great battle between a satellite, large, flying mechas (MTAs), and also a panning view of the fake floating Angel Island, piloted by Ivan Robotnik.
It all blurs together in the form of The Void, a monstrous being made out of dark energy, then zooms out, showing him being annihilated by all the Questers of the time attacking him.
Announcer: "The Void also proved to be very powerful. His destruction set the pace for the next battle..."
Metal Man (GM): The long, boring show shows another segment, this one moving even faster.
Montages of Lumis beating people, Kuja returning, and mass destruction of Nintendus flash by.
Announcer: "Kuja returned and exiled the Questers."
Metal Man (GM): The music is now fully normal-sounding; sort of a slow rock music-style as the Questers explore what looks like an endless maze of caverns.
Announcer: "After escaping Turion, they finished off their foes once and for all..."
Metal Man (GM): Three pictures: a lizard-man being hit by a cat cube, Kuja falling to his death, and The Void being absorbed into Metal.
The film fades out entirely... switching back to an old Black and white picture of the planet, with 'Nintopia' written over it.
It then fades into... a new one.
'Nintendus'
The whole planet can be seen now, with a single moon orbiting it.
It looks like a massive green planet, with a few spots of water, and a pink scar-like area near its north pole.
The camera zooms in to show us... Hyrule Field.
The grass is back, and the whole place is clean of debris.
A historical sign, which is overshadowed by the real sign used now, reads 'Kuj's F eld'
The camera zooms down along a path, past a rebuilt (and MASSIVE) Hyrule Castle, to what appears to be a totally destroyed iron hulk about three stories tall.
A sign, half-buried in the dirt, says 'Kuja Tower'
A random Toad walks up to it and kicks the sign in two.
The camera then zooms along, this time up into the mountains.
A white city of sorts can be seen; with miniature skyscrapers and all. This is where Zora's domain was, as water comes out of its Southern gate.
It, the mechanical cave city, is named Valhalla Domain.
The camera turns around and flies downwards, turns a couple times, and then stops at a blue city of sorts.
Glittering skyscrapers are seen here; also, a massive tower, which is about 10 stories taller than the other buildings.
At the top is a glass pyramid-roof. The camera zooms in, showing Ivan Robotnik at work behind a pristine wooden desk.
Ivan Robotnik: "My work is never done, I guess. This one bill was quite a doozy to get passed."
Metal Man (GM): He's looking at a bill which says...
'BILL #202: Appoint Questers as official APN taskforce.'
He signs it, then hands it off to a secretary who takes it and walks off.
Ivan Robotnik: *Sigh* "It's nice to not have to put up with Kuja any more. Now I can fully realize my dream... to build a utopia."
Metal Man (GM): The camera flies into a red phone on his desk.
It zooms along some wires, and then pops out of another phone... a red one on Metal's desk.
Metal is in a new office, one he obviously designed; there's file cabinets in THE CEILING.
He's sitting in a red office chair, reading 'APN Weekly', with his legs crossed.
Metal Man: "Boring... boring... boring. Just a single day like this and it's been nothing but boring."
*He thrusts the paper down, and then gets a call. He picks it up.*
"Who is it?"
Ivan Robotnik: "The bill has been approved. In record time, I might add. You may brief whoever you have and begin work now."
Metal Man: "...Excellent." *He hangs up the phone, and walks out, through his door. To the left of the door is a picture of Wolfman; to the right, is Klumsy. He walks through the hallway near his room, which is actually one large octagonal room with an elevator in the middle. Many people are milling around--just no Smashers. He steps on the platform in the middle, and speaks.* "Floor one, please."
SIMBER: "Floor 1 confirmed." *Elevator floats downwards.*
Metal Man (GM): The elevator goes down to the bottom floor, where a large briefing room is. Metal steps off the elevator; as it floats back up, a large, octagonal desk rises from the ground where it was. It has only one seat. Metal sits in it, then types in a series of commands.
END CINEMA
... Meanwhile....
R&R
Both the still remaining Questers and new recruits would be in this massive, circular lounge, which surrounds the outer edge of the octagonal HQ building.
SIMBER would appear in the room. It's a blue holographic man wearing blue robes... mostly one-colored. It looks somewhat dated by the current time's technology.
Julian Sawyer would be in his usual place on the couch, most likely watching a cooking show. Don't ask why.
Metal Man (GM): It speaks in a way that fills the entire room.
SIMBER: "Attention: All Questers and recruitees are to proceed to the Big Room."
Metal Man (GM): Arrows on the floor pointing to the myriad of exits which lead there would appear.
Digifanatic: *The new folks would be staring at a blondish brown-haired male in his upper teens, probably somewhere between 17.5-19. He is about 6' tall, give or take, with a medium to large build. He is wearing vary casual clothing and either has a good sense of concealing items or just doesn't carry much.*
Aribar looks up from the TV at SIMBER thinking about how they rarely ever get any rest. He gets up from his seat on a couch and starts towards the Big Room wondering about what's happening now.
Julian Sawyer: "...Man, they was just about to pull the roast outta the oven!" *Julian gets up and heads towards the Big Room.*
Charles Magellean: "Indeed it would have." *He follows Julian.*
Trigger is still playing on his DS not really paying attention to anything.
Editor's Note: Wow... this was back when the DS was still sorta new... I feel old.
Digifanatic: *Times for the guy have been very interesting since Kuja and The Void's defeats. He has since made a stop to Earth and his home area for a few days, where he was warmly welcomed by his friends and family (considering Metal'll let him get away with that). More than happily, he has finally gotten himself a computer again in his room (not owning one during S6 for not wanting to use Kuja-endorsed products, of course), but more on that*
"Well, time to go..."
*He follows the others.*
Editor's Note: Don't worry, Digi, I just expanded it to Metal also sneaking away to Erastia as well, so you can have that be canon, it doesn't hurt anything... just sending letters to Earth without any explanation really confused me, long ago.
Trigger: "Huh, hey wait up!"
*He scrambles to catch up with Digi.*
Aribar enters the Big Room and goes over to the table in the middle of the room. He is a teenage boy who is about seventeen years old. His light body, angular features, and slightly pointed ears suggest he has some non-human blood in him. A light blue shirt with the Quester insignia over the left breast and a pair of blue jeans along with a pair of new tennies clothes the elf.
The most startling feature about the blue-eyed and sandy brown-haired half-elf is the fact that his right sleeve is folded and pinned to itself near the shoulder suggesting that either he's hiding his right arm in his shirt, or he doesn't have one.*
Editor's Note: "Tennies Clothes the elf" ? I don't get it, and there's no additional context. But I'm leaving it here so you can be as confused as I am.
Digifanatic looks back at the guy following him. "I think I remember you from somewhere..."
"Don't worry, in a good way."
Dragoshi: A black and grey Yoshi with dark blue dragon wings who stood at a height of 6' 1", with hair that's a mix between brown black and blonde, brown/orange eyes, wearing grey and black armor that covered him entirely (Minus the head). He then gets up and runs towards the room. "Gah. Curse my slow reflexes!
Trigger: "...okay, I'm still kinda drawing a blank trying to remember you."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, hang on..."
Julian Sawyer: .oO(I better get an explanation for 'dese guys at the meetin'... 'Cause I got no idea who they are.)
Digifanatic: "Hmm... you look familiar... what was your name again?"
Trigger: "Trigger, what was your name again?"
Digifanatic: "Ian, but, of course, you may remember me more as Digifanatic, a nickname of sorts."
Metal Man (GM): Y'all wander on in to the massive Big Room through a side hallway. It has wood paneling on the walls and a small circular metal cover in the center of the ceiling, where the elevator goes.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, that's right... you're from that factory or base or whatever it was... I think."
Metal Man (GM): Metal sits in the center of his desk, overlooking the room, which has seating for up to a hundred people around his desk.
Julian Sawyer: "...So this' why the doorway was covered with police tape..."
Metal Man: "We did a bit of remodeling somehow. I think it was caused by that whole dimensional explosion thing we went through."
Digifanatic: "Ah, yes."
Metal Man stands up, clearing his throat. The PA system in the room turns on, possibly being rather echo-y.
Julian Sawyer: "Whatever. Wha's goin' down, Mets?" *Takes a seat.*
Metal Man: "The reorganization of the Questers has been completed."
Charles Magellean takes a seat next to the former New Yorker with an attitude.
Metal Man: "As of now, we no longer guard the Stadium, which is an obsolete entity now."
Digifanatic: "Reorganization?"
Metal Man: "The Majority of the Smashers have gone back home; those who are still here fight in the Championship Arena League, which is... rather far upstairs from here."
Julian Sawyer: "...Wha?"
Trigger takes a seat far away from everyone else.
Digifanatic: "Oh."
Metal Man: "We are now in a far bigger league now, as we are the protectors of this very land."
Digifanatic likes the sound of that.
"Guess I'm not out of business, then."
Metal Man hits a button, showing the planet... only a small portion of it is mapped and 'identified', but all that is identified has been visited before.
"There aren't too many problems around now, but the idea is on prevention."
Dragoshi: "Ah."
Metal Man: "But before I can go any further, I'll be requiring all of your signatures."
Aribar frowns as he listens to Metal. He's a bit uncomfortable about something. "Our signatures? Why?"
Digifanatic: "Okay..."
Julian Sawyer: "We got a contract now?"
Wolfman is somewhere outside in the world, trying to get his radio working... he wants to see if he can reach the old Stadium...
Metal Man presses another button; signature-writing screens pop out, along with little pen-thingies.
Dragoshi looks confused. "...Huh. Why do ya need my signature?"
Metal Man: "...The past Questers were half of the cause of all the bad things that happened in the first place."
Wolfman: *Static* "Sters---an---ere?"
Metal Man: "Here and now, we have a contract which can..."
Trigger is still somewhat confused about whats going on.
Metal Man: *Smacks the microphone* "Stupid interference."
Dragoshi: "...Makes sense..."
Metal Man: "Which can prevent such recurrences."
Julian Sawyer: "...So what're the details of this here contract?"
Wolfman: *Static* "An---ling? Thi---fman."
Dragoshi: "Yes. What are they, pray tell?"
Wolfman smacks his radio. .oO(Must be interference)
Editor's Note: I know it's childish, but I'm just cracking up laughing imagining Wolfman swearing up a storm on the radio, while Metal Man (actually Illian or seems like it's him) sits in a mostly-empty Senate Chamber filled with a handful of Questers, pronouncing his imperial plans and looking like a weird dork because it's so empty.
Metal Man shakes the microphone. "Right after I get the interference... good."
Julian Sawyer: "And who 'these new people?" *Gesture.*
Aribar: "Hrm... How can we keep these promises if we're influenced by... Err... Evil things similar to the Sword of Darkness? That's just an example, mind you..."
Metal Man: "New recruits and the like. Well, the Questers treat all such things personally... just get a look at this."
Dragoshi: "...'Kay."
Metal Man presses a button; various screens projected near the chairs show the following document:
Metal Man (GM): http://www.smbhq.com/users/ssb_rpg/Manifesto.htm8
...Without the 8
http://www.smbhq.com/users/ssb_rpg/Manifesto.htm8
Julian Sawyer: "Then we come hunt your ass down, and beat the evil out of you..." *Reads.*
Metal Man (GM): ...Still without the 8
http://www.smbhq.com/users/ssb_rpg/Manifesto.htm
Editor's Note: SMBHQ is dead so don't bother going to those links. However, you may go to this one... ...without the 8 on the end. *Chuckles nervously* http://archive.metalman88.com/Manifesto.htm
Metal Man: "That's the idea. Rather than tolerate traitors, they will be... dealt with."
Dragoshi starts reading the Manifesto
Trigger: "Does this come with a good dental plan?"
Dragoshi: .oO(Man, a lot of shihart must've happened, huh?)
Metal Man: "...Dr. Mario provides free dental."
Trigger: "Sweet."
Editor's Note: Now I'm wondering if I should pronounce the official reason he vanished was 'death by Dr. Mario's 'Dentistry''...
Aribar looks over the document, nodding at various things. He stops and reads carefully at the Limitations on Magic section.
Julian Sawyer: "Mets, speaking of traitor, I wanna talk to you after the meetin'."
Metal Man nods to Julian. "Will do."
Dragoshi continues reading
Metal Man: "...Almost all of these rules were violated at least once by the original Questers."
Aribar: "A Mage Council? Where are they based at? I ask this because I'm not sure if some of my more potent, undeveloped spells are outlawed. Checking up with them later is probably a must for me."
Metal Man: "So, rather than have ourselves another Void..." *Chuckles nervously* "There's this."
*He turns to Aribar after spinning in his chair.*
Digifanatic takes a look at the contract. Making sure to be extremely formal with this, he signs it under "Ian 'Digifanatic' Hoffman" instead of just the more well-known alias.
Metal Man (GM): Digi's signature is noted; he is listed as 'First Official APN Quester'
Editor's Note: Such a dorky title... present me might even hesitate to sign based on that, heh.
Julian Sawyer: "...So what's mean to Garrick?"
Dragoshi finishes reading. then quickly rereads.
Metal Man: "I don't know much about the council... it may or may not even exist. It's really confusing."
Julian Sawyer: "...An' what's the APN?"
Metal Man turns to Julian.
Charles Magellean raises a finger but puts it down.
Metal Man: "Alliance of pro-Nintendus nations. Also, Garrick is technically not a Quester anymore unless he signs this, so he's mostly off the hook. The other one, however..." *Nods at Julian.*
Trigger looks over the contract closely making sure to read the fine print and signs it under "Trigger".
Dragoshi stops reading after the quick reread "...Okay. Had to make sure I read this correctly." He then looks at the contract and, making sure to be formal he signs it under "Dragoshi Leucrocuta Helldusk."
Metal Man (GM): Trigger is listed as #2.
Dragoshi then #3.
Metal Man: "Assuming most of you sign it, I'll be able to inform you about the missions."
Aribar: "Hrm... Doesn't seem too restricting for most places..." *The elf signs his name.*
Julian Sawyer: "So instead of bein' a mercenary group, we more of a world police? I can dig that." *Julian grabs the pen and signs it as 'Julian Sawyer'. Julian apparently has very poor handwriting.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian is #4 now.
Digifanatic notes the third guy's impressive name.
Metal Man (GM): Oh... #5 for him, #4 for Aribar.
Metal stares at Charles in a rather odd way, and appears to be curious.
Charles Magellean gets up, breathes deeply, and exhales deeply.
"I can tell without you even hinting at that that I am the other one."
Metal Man: "...Huh? Nope. The other one" *Nods at Julian* "Is not even a Lunarian."
Digifanatic quickly heads over to the Yoshi who signed the third contract.
"Hi. How are you doing?" *He extends his hand.*
Julian Sawyer: "...The hell was that? What'chu talkin' about, Mets?"
Charles Magellean: "I see."
Digifanatic: .oO(Gary Coleman better not be watching.)
Editor's Note: Stole my comment right out from under me.
Metal Man: "...I hate innuendo. I meant someone... who liked to yell about shoes..."
*He appears to be trying to be subtle, or possibly is being weird. Hard to tell.
* "Unless... uhhh... Charles yells about shoes... then that's totally wrong too."
Julian Sawyer: "You still ain't answerin' me."
Metal Man: *sighs* "Aetos."
Dragoshi: .oO(...What the fuzzy, Julian?)
Charles Magellean: "...That pa'tahk."
Editor's Note: I've learned entire new dimensions of Charles after I watched all of Star Trek. ...He's calling Aetos some version of a terrible traitor/horrible person.
Aribar tries to piece the conversation together, and then remembers about Aetos. "Oh, yeah... I can't believe I forgot what that traitor did."
Metal Man looks to Locos. "You, on the other hand, are perfectly fine."
Julian Sawyer: "Oh... him..."
Charles Magellean: "I would not be if I had become worse."
Dragoshi: "...Huh, Not gonna ask."
Metal Man: "Well, the contract holds you innocent of your previous spree. Because if it didn't, heck, I'd also have to face trials for causing a large Skeleton monster to destroy stuff and accidentally becoming the world's worst enemy. Our deeds at the end of Kuja's reign have been held as decent compensation for whatever we did do wrong.
...So. I'm not exactly pressed for time here, but I don't want to leave the others hanging. Anyone who hasn't signed yet might as well do so, if they agree to the contract."
Charles Magellean: "It leaves only me."
Metal Man: "Yes."
Charles Magellean: "...I will not sign the contract."
Metal Man: "Any particular objections?"
Trigger: "Yeah?"
Charles Magellean: "There are reprimands I have to do before I can consider signing this binding legal document. There is the matter of the Star Rod, and more to the point, those that were blasted by Kuja on my orbital home."
Julian Sawyer: "...So you gonna leave to?"
Metal Man: "Anything to do with attacking the APN? If... uhh... the answer is no, I can sorta let you stay here through a loophole."
Charles Magellean: "There are Nintendians still on my world, and it's my responsibility to return them here. Wouldn't you want them here, too?"
Metal Man: "Well, that definitely is the opposite of attacking the APN. So, sure."
*He clears his throat again.* "For the next portion."
Charles Magellean nods. "Thank you."
Julian Sawyer: "...Man, we losin' ranks all over the place."
Metal Man: "Not surprising, Julian. I expected it."
Trigger: "Hmm..."
Metal Man: "Those of the past administration are distinguished for staying; I'm surprised most of you stayed."
Charles Magellean: "I said I had chores to do before considering signing it. Call it a temporary leave."
Metal Man: "Now... for our goal."
*He presses a button, showing a map of Nintendus, and a small icon... it's Dr. Light's head as an icon, with a box that says 'not done yet' over it.*
Dragoshi: "Go on..."
Metal Man: *Sweatdrop* "Uhhhh..."
Julian Sawyer: "..."
Metal Man: "You pick your own missions and go on them as you please."
Dragoshi: "..."
*He blinks
* "...What the-Oh, right. 'Kay, then"
Metal Man: "Assuming I can sufficiently motivate Dr. Light to finish this, then you can select it based on location."
Julian Sawyer: "...Tha's new."
Metal Man: "...I'll just give you a taste of what there is right now, though it should be working... very soon."
*He takes out a piece of paper, and begins reading.
* "Let's see... here we are. The first mission to come in for you to choose... it's named 'Computer Error' and involves Eisnaught."
Metal Man (GM): The map zooms in on a building in Eisnaught. Text displays.
'A computer has gone awry in an antiquities shop, locking it up tight. Break in and disarm it.'
Metal Man: "Then... let's see what another mission you can choose is... Stowaway... in the station... huh."
Metal Man (GM): The hologram zooms off of Nintendus and into space.
Trigger starts to twiddle his thumbs.
Metal Man (GM): An image of a square-ish space station is shown.
Text is displayed under it.
Dragoshi: "...Whoa, dude. ..."
Metal Man (GM): 'Someone has snuck aboard the Gaia Defense station. Find them and arrest them; they may or may not be packing weaponry.'
Julian Sawyer: "Breaking and entering? Easy."
Trigger: "Huh, what?"
Metal Man: "No... not breaking and entering. This mission involves arresting some sort of stowaway. ...Hmmm... this one is fairly disturbing. 'Skullkids in the Ranch'."
Metal Man (GM): The hologram zooms back to Nintendus, to the location... of Lon Lon Ranch. It shows a little portal in the middle of it.
Dragoshi: "...Huh. Tough choice."
Metal Man (GM): 'Skullkids have invaded from some weird portals! Send them packing and investigate the strange portal which has arisen in the center of the ranch.'
Aribar: "Hrm. That last one seems the most dangerous... Are we going to attempt a mission today?"
Metal Man: "This one is a mission some person gave us at random... for a lot of money. It is called... 'I only stopped time a little!'"
Julian Sawyer: "..."
Metal Man (GM): 'Please help me! I only stopped time for 30 minutes to give myself some time to sleep, and now this woman is threatening to kill me!'
Metal Man: "Not quite yet, I have a few kinks to iron out in this map system. Then you can select it from there."
Trigger: "I'm good with computers I'd could do 'Computer Error.'"
Aribar: "I see..." .oO(Lots of weird missions...)
Editor's Note: Possible Season 7 title: "Lots of Weird Missions."
Charles Magellean: "Can you locate Star Haven, Metal?"
Metal Man: "Those are the four currently selectable ones, though more could pop up between now and when I fix the thing."
*He types it in. 'ERR Not found'*
Dragoshi: "...What the fuh-!? What kind of psycho barch would kill a guy for stopping time for 30 minutes!?"
Metal Man: "...We don't have a complete map yet, as this Nintendus is fundamentally different from Nintopia."
Julian Sawyer: "Man, you don't even know. Lotsa crazy stuff goes down."
Charles Magellean: "It's all right. I'll be heading there to return the Star Rod before I go to Atlantis. I know the road, but not where it begins... Toad Town, I believe. The original one, that is."
Dragoshi: "...And I'm having a hard time deciding between the four since I'm pretty good with computers so I coudl do the first one. The second and third sound too interesting for me to not check on, and I'm really curious about the fourth as well. Decisions, decisions"
Julian Sawyer: "Me? I vote for the 4th one."
Metal Man: "That's about all there is for now. The missions persist for a little while, regardless of whether you take them."
Dragoshi: "...I vote for the fourth as well, now that I think of it."
Metal Man: "It only takes three people to do a mission, more if you want a higher success rate."
Trigger: "I don't care which one we do, I just wanna see some action."
Aribar: "I think the second is the most urgent... After that, I'll go with the majority."
Julian Sawyer: "Man, I'm goin' for the one with the best payout."
Dragoshi: "Quite."
Metal Man: "...That would be the ones you do best on. Otherwise, the APN pays the following:."
Julian Sawyer: "An' all I gotta do is get one of you to take a crazy chick outta killin' someone."
Dragoshi: .oO('Sides my wallet's looking a little empty, anyways)
Metal Man: "-10,000 for defeat, 0 for failure, 10,000 for completion, and 20,000 if you somehow manage to exceed the expected outcome and improve things significantly."
Trigger: "Need... money."
Metal Man: "You will, eventually, be able to hire mercenaries to help you, but they demand various things."
Charles Magellean: "Illian, is it all right for me to take my leave by using a warp to the first Toad Town? I want to leave as soon as possible so people won't be curious as to why a non-Quester is being here."
Julian Sawyer: "All I need it me, myself, and Vendetta."
Metal Man: "For example, I want an equal cut of the pay everyone else is getting... but the APN refuses to pay me it, so it'd have to be split between whoever else is on the mission. 3 people, 10,000 coins payment, each person owes me 3333 coins."
Editor's Note: Gee, I wonder why they don't want to pay "Psycho Killer, Illian Macgregor". Could it involve the Skeleton King, or causing Nintendus to be destroyed to put his Questers in power, perhaps?
Aribar: "Is this for the HQ, or your own pockets?"
Dragoshi: "Fair enough."
Trigger: "Okay."
Julian Sawyer: "Whatev."
Charles Magellean: "I would deal with that."
Metal Man: "You may go to the first Toad Town, though I can't help you the minute you leave the grounds."
Charles Magellean: "This is understandable, but fear not for my safety. You know me as an accomplished person with resourcefulness."
Metal Man: "Make sure to look out for the traitor. And say hi to Garrick for me if you see him. That's about all for now; the mission-choosing machine will be online soon, then you can go ahead and do some work."
Charles Magellean: "Yes. Goodbye, Metal, Aribar, Julian, and good luck new recruits."
Dragoshi: "Ah, perfect."
Aribar: "See yah, Charles... Err... Don't be a stranger here."
Charles Magellean: "...The arrows, Metal. I don't know my way around here. I was nearly caught going into a new bathroom not designed for males."
Trigger: "See ya around."
Metal Man hits a button; a bunch of arrows on the floor point back out to the R&R and then out one of many doors.
Julian Sawyer: "Get the hell out."
Trigger: "...little harsh?"
Metal Man: "I'll be around, in case you want me to be on a mission before you can even hire any other mercenaries... but who would be so nice to do that?" *Walks out of the desk, which sinks under the floor; an elevator floats on down, and he walks onto it, vanishing back upstairs.*
Metal Man (GM): A weird-looking computer podium appears, with eight sides on it.
Charles Magellean: *Says a singsong "Thank you!",
Getting out a comb and brushing his brown and slightly silverish hair, he combs it, snickers at Julian's comment, and goes the way of the arrows. He goes down an elevator or two, goes other arrow paths, then to the warp room.*
Dragoshi: "...Right."
Metal Man (GM): It has a holographic replica of Nintendus on it, and the 'Not done' thing too.
Looks like you'll be able to choose missions on this soon.
Now for a short intermission.
Wolfman does more wandering, hoping to get his comm line working again...
Julian Sawyer: "Right... so who the hell are you two?" *Points at Trigger and Dragoshi.*
Aribar mutters some stuff to himself and decides to read over the Quester Manifesto a bit more.
Trigger: "Well, I'm Trigger. Well... who the hell are you?"
Julian Sawyer: "Care to elaborate?"
Trigger: "Yeah, I entered this world from an odd portal in my friend's TV at a LAN party."
Julian Sawyer: "...Right... So what can you do?"
Trigger: "We were in the middle of a heated Smash Bros. match, and I would have won too. Stupid portal."
Dragoshi: "...And I thought getting punched into a portal by some giant occult god that's reminiscent of an oversized lobster monster on steroids was weird.*
Editor's Note: It used it's eldritch power to eat the rest of that sen--*sentence cuts out suddenly*.
Trigger: "I'm pretty good with computers."
Aribar listens to the newcomers' and Julian's conversation while rereading the magic section. The elf begins to think that these are some odd rookies, but then he realizes that there's never been a normal person in the Questers.
Julian Sawyer: "...I meant fight-wise. Can you fight?"
Trigger: "Oh, yeah I can fight. I might be small, but I pack a powerful punch."
Julian Sawyer: "Tsch. You gonna get a chance to prove that later if I can find Mets' office..."
Dragoshi: "...Heh."
Trigger has a nervous look pass over his face.
Dragoshi leans against the wall, bored
Trigger walks over to the TV and turns the channel to G4.
He walks around in circles in the R&R room with nothing to do.
Editor's Note: Wow, a LAN Party gamer who watches G4... if this gets any more dated and ancient computer bro-ey, I'm going to have to leap out of this log in terror.
Julian Sawyer: *As Trigger leaves* "HEY! GET BACK HERE, WE STILL GOTTA-...Whatever. He dont' get to help pick then... So what do YOU do?" *To Dragoshi.*
Trigger: *While walking down a hallway* "Hmm, I wonder what all there is to do here besides walk?"
Dragoshi: "Simply put I kick the crap out of people. Well, that and I have some skill in a few areas, but aside from that nothing else."
Julian Sawyer: "Again, you gonna get a chance to prove that later."
Trigger walks back into the R&R Room.
"I couldn't find anything to do."
.oO(I JUST WALKED BACK IN THERE!!)
"Hmm, I guess I'll go back into that big meeting room."
*He leaves R&R and heads for the Big Room.*
Gibby stares face to face with the entrance to SSQ headquarters. "Hello, old gal. Long time no see." Grinning, he adjusts his tiny feathered hat, and proceeds to make his way back in. "Time to go to work..." He knocks on the door three times with his sword.
Trigger enters the Big Room.
Gibby grumbles as he continues banging on the door, though now with less enthusiasm than usual. "Grrr... come on, Metal... open up!" He kicks the door... which proves to be rather stupid of him. "OW! Stupid door..."
Metal Man (GM): A retinal scanner of sorts appears on the door, and it scans Gibby.
Gibby grins as the doors open. "That's better..." He once again adjusts the tip of his hat and makes his way down the hallway. "Boy will they be glad to see ME again."
Julian Sawyer: "-And that's why I'm better than you. So we all decided where we're goin'?"
Editor's Note: Since he didn't say why on screen, I'm going to assume he was explaining how his greatness at Uno makes him the best Quester.
Metal Man (GM): Gibby waltzes into the big room.
Trigger: "I don't care what we do, I just wanna see some action."
Metal Man (GM): It's a weird-looking room to him, though familiar: The red carpet, really.
Dragoshi: "Huh. Makes sense. Well, yeah, I'm prolly' gonna take the one with the big payout."
Julian Sawyer: "...I don' -CENSORED- believe it, GIBBY? Where the hell have you been?"
Gibby blinks and looks around. "Hey! What did you guys DO to this place? It's all... different now." He didn't like change.
Aribar reads over the Quester Manifesto a bit more, but looks up when he hears Julian say 'Gibby'. "Eh?"
He turns around and sees the little blue puffball. "GIBBY!"
Gibby chuckles and waves to Ari and Julian. "Hey guys. Good seeing ya again."
Aribar: "Finally decided to check up on us?"
Trigger: "Who is he?"
Julian Sawyer: "The mascot. And you ain't answerin' my question. Where the HELL have you been?"
Trigger: "I was just wandering around."
Aribar: "Gibby's one of the best Questers we had in the old days."
Julian Sawyer: "Wasn' talkin' to you."
Trigger: "..."
Dragoshi: "...He was asking Gibby, not you, Trigger. Sheesh."
Gibby: "I came to bring back the Smash in Super Smash Questers!" *He looks to Julian.* "Oh you know... around. Getting stronger, crafting my skills... you know the drill, right?"
Julian Sawyer: "...Well, it's jus' that the planet's been occupied by Kuja for the last 10 years. Wondered if you was dead or somethin'."
Gibby: "Psh! Me? Dead? You're dreaming. I don't die THAT easily you know." *He gives his hat another tilt for added emphasis. *
Julian Sawyer: "Man, you the squishiest-lookin' thing I ever seen. But that don't matter now."
Metal Man pops out of a hole in the floor. "Boo!"
Julian Sawyer: "Check it out, we got a choice of 4 place to g-AH!"
Metal Man: "I love this new building. All of the secret passageways... ah. Gibby."
Aribar jumps a bit when Metal pops up. "H-hey, Metal... Look, Gibby is back."
Metal Man backhands a chair, causing a signature thing and a copy of the Quester Manifesto to appear in front of Gibby.
Trigger falls over in fear.
Metal Man: "You'll need to sign this... see? There's even a sign here sticker."
Gibby: "GAH!" *He falls over and drops his hat.* "Metal! What are you up to now?" *He gets up and dusts his hat off before putting it back on. *
Dragoshi: "...You aren't a ball-shaped ghost that fat turtles who's names with 'Flubba shrubba' eat, dude" *Dragoshi points at Metal.*
Julian Sawyer: "...Mets, next time you think about doin' that, DON'T."
Trigger: "...yeah, ow my head."
Julian Sawyer: "A'ight?"
Trigger: "Who me?"
Gibby: -_- "What is this, a membership drive? Bah..." *He walks over the manifesto, takes the feather off his hat, and starts signing his name on the manifesto.*
Metal Man: "Flubba... shrubba... guh? Well, I've been reorganizing the Questers--sure thing--and stuff. You, Gibby?"
Julian Sawyer: "For the second -CENSORED- time, I WASN'T TALKIN' TO YOU!"
*Smack.*
Dragoshi: "No. Metal is who he was referring to."
Trigger is starting to get freaked out.
Dragoshi: "...Forget I said anything."
Trigger: "Please... stop hurting me."
Editor's Note: I'm kinda having a hard time paying attention to the narrative when Julian should have probably been told not to do that and fined under those millions of rules 'Metal Man' (actually Illian) made him sign.
Gibby puts his feather back on and shakes his head. "I'm telling ya, this place never changes..." He looks around again. "Well... maybe a little bit."
Julian Sawyer: "Stop assumin' you're the center of attention then."
Trigger becomes depressed.
Metal Man: "Well, we're no longer random dudes with guns who shoot stuff."
Julian Sawyer: "That guy left."
Metal Man: "We're random dudes with guns who shoot stuff that people and the APN pay is to shoot."
Gibby: "Wait... we get paid now? Paid as in MONEY?" $_$
Julian Sawyer: "Yeah... An' right now we're trying to decide which mission to go on."
Metal Man: "...We choose which mission is... with... buttons. And... yes... money. Lots of money. 10,000 coins for a decent mission."
Trigger: "We should maybe do an easy mission first?"
Dragoshi: "...Yep."
Julian Sawyer: "An' we gonna choose the one with the biggest payout, which's the 4th one."
Aribar takes a few steps back from the table... And the buttons... And Gibby's path to the buttons.
Metal Man: "...They all have the same payout."
Dragoshi: "And, so far the majority of us are choosing this mission that has a 10K payout."
Metal Man: "It just depends upon how well you do."
Gibby: "Isn't it obvious? The mission---" *He freezes in place. He twitches occasionally from time to time.* "...did you say... b-b-buttons???" o_@
Julian Sawyer: *Blink* "...They do?"
Metal Man: "-10,000 for defeat, 0 for failing, 10,000 for success, 20,000 for extra good stuff."
Dragoshi: "...They do?"
Aribar: "We're paid by the quality of our work."
Editor's Note: Ah, so that's why the Questers didn't get paid very often...
Julian Sawyer: "Gibby, don't make me step on you. An' if that's the case, I 'pose I pick the 3rd mission then."
Metal Man: "Same goes for all missions."
Dragoshi: "...Man."
Gibby quickly slaps himself in the face. "GAH! I'm ok now... twitch..."
Dragoshi: "I guess I'll do mission... Three then. Sounds a lot better than the fourth"
Aribar shrugs. "As long as we choose a mission I guess I'm happy... Anyways, you wanted to talk about something, Metal?"
Trigger: "I'll do mission 3 too."
Gibby: "You know me... I'll work any mission you give me." *He gives a 'thumbs' up to the gang. *
Metal Man: "Not much, just signing Gibby on up. So, you're going for number three?"
Gibby: "Seems that way."
Aribar: "Pretty much unanimous."
Metal Man: "Well, then you'll be able to go... soon." *He wanders back to his office.* "I'll get things set up in a jiffy."
Metal Man (GM): MEANWHILE...
*Warp Pipe Sound.*
Aribar: "...Which reminds me. I must gather my equipment." *The elf rushes off to his room.*
Julian Sawyer: "Hold up, Mets!" *Walks after him.*
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Metal Man (GM): MEANWHILE... +1
Charles pops on out of a warp pipe in Toad Town. The only real one, of course.
It has been recently rebuilt, and as of now, appears nondescript.
He's in a small little open area in the middle of the town, which is surrounded by huts.
Charles Magellean looks to the town. He goes up to one of the huts.
Metal Man (GM): Like most Toad dwellings, the front door is unlocked.
It's simple, made of stones and has a thatched roof.
Charles Magellean looks around for an outside resident. He starts in the central locale of his current position.
Metal Man (GM): You see one Toad wandering in the square.
Charles Magellean: "Um, excuse me." *He talks to the Toad from a distance.*
Toad: "...??? It's a strange sight to see a Quester out here. Or... right. Charles Magellan, famous traverser of seas in some past Wolfman told me about."
Wolfman is still doing his radio fixing and whatnot.
Charles Magellean gets a hidden throb in the back of his head. He pats it and walks up to the Toad. "Pardon, but it's Magellean, but I would like to ask you something."
Toad: "...What do you ask?"
Charles Magellean: "I wish to return the power of the Star Spirits to its rightful place. Do you know where Shooting Star Summit is?"
Toad: "...It's not quite a summit anymore, and it's all the way in Port Destiny. This is just a common town."
Charles Magellean: "It used to be nearb---whoa, things have changed. Which direction is Port Destiny?"
Toad: *Points off to the East* "You can just take the warp pipe."
Charles Magellean: "Thank you." *He smiles and walks away. He goes East. If the warp pipe is indeed there, allow us to skip the description of where it is and just jumps into it.*
Metal Man (GM): *Jump* *Warp Pipe*
Port Destiny
Charles shows up in the town plaza, which, surprise surprise, is also a large, open area surrounded by stores.
However the signs no longer say 'Kuja Road' 'Kuja Place' 'Kuja Avenue'
Charles Magellean looks around more to see what is different to what was recorded in the dex's logs.
Metal Man (GM): Not much; no Kuja-related stuff, but... Dave's stuff is still there.
Charles Magellean goes south, looking for the next nearest NPC to look for.
Metal Man (GM): You see yet another Toad. Man, they're everywhere!
Do you talk to him?
Charles Magellean: "Excuse me." *He is about 3 meters away from the toad.*
Another Toad: "...Yes?"
Charles Magellean walks about 1.4 meters closer. "I was told that a summit called "Shooting Star Summit" used to be around here. Would you know where it would be?"
Another Toad: "Not very far. Just north of here."
Charles Magellean: "Thank you for the information." *Gives the toad 100 coins.* "This is for the info."
*He heads north in Port Destiny, looking at the various buildings.*
Metal Man (GM): You walk north, right by a row of buildings recently rebuilt.
Then you reach the base of a rather tall hill.
A path leads on up, far into the clouds.
Charles Magellean looks up, taking a great breath of amazement. He looks to the right and left.
Metal Man (GM): Nothing much else to see, besides the lake off to the right, and the field to the left.
Charles Magellean smiles and does a little sightseeing first. (that okay by you guys?) He goes to the lake off to the right first.
Metal Man (GM): The lake is pretty much pristine; it's got a beach around it and seems similar to an... ocean.
Charles Magellean breathes, takes a mental picture, and returns to the path. He goes to the field next.
Metal Man (GM): The field continues onwards for a while, before finally having a path of some kind crossing it.
Then it continues onwards... huh... large field.
Charles Magellean stops.
He makes a mental note of this field, looks around, and goes back to the path. He begins going up Shooting Star Summit.
Metal Man (GM): You begin to walk up the summit, up a winding path.
Charles Magellean begins to breath harder. The higher altitude has less oxygen.
He feels the Star Rod some more, as he continues up the longer path that Mario didn't seem to take. How was he able to climb this summit so fast?
Metal Man (GM): You climb it without much problems; the place looks deserted.
Charles Magellean reaches the top of the summit. It is nighttime here, even though it was afternoon when he was at the bottom of the summit. He reaches the peak, staring to the center of the flat piece of land.
Metal Man (GM): It's pretty much a ghost town. A single large building with stars engraved on it sits at the top, with an empty pedestal in the middle.
Charles Magellean: "..." .oO(I'm not in the middle of star haven?)
*He notices he is in space now. Wondering why he was in a trance, he goes inside the building. He looks to the places where the Star Spirits Eldstar, Mamar, Skolar, Muskular, Misstar, Klevar and Kalmar would sit. He gets out the Star Rod.* "Stars of the skies, hear my cry! Allow the people of Nintendus to wish and hope again!" He puts the Star Rod on the pedestal.
Metal Man (GM): You stick it on in, and it touches the pedestal.
Only one star, Eldstar, appears. He appears somewhat worried.
Eldstar: "...The years and years of which it was missing cannot quite be repaired so easily... it is safe now, but it is but an inanimate carbon rod for reasons unknown to us... Perhaps work to bring hope into this world is required."
Charles Magellean: "..." *He kneels to the Star Spirit in respect, wondering why only one is here.*
Eldstar: "The lack of the rod has drained our powers... only I have the strength to manifest in this realm for now. It has saved Nintendus, but also the lack of it has drained our powers to the quick."
Charles Magellean: "Because Kuja has fallen, hope can return to the planet, helping Star Haven return to the paradise it once was. The Questers can see to this."
Eldstar: "So be it; it shall take time for the rod to recharge. I, too, must rest... is there anything else you need?"
Charles Magellean: "Merely to wish one last time. To reach Atlantis on the world below. Is this possible?"
Eldstar: "That wish is probably one of the few that can be fulfilled. It sits, mired in Lake Atlas, old and crumbly. The fact it is surrounded by water would have made it difficult... have here, a portal to the place itself." *A portal of sorts appears.*
Charles Magellean: "Between you and me, I'm hoping that it actually HAS power to send me home. I'd rather not want to swim for miles to reach the surface." *He goes into the portal.*
Metal Man (GM): I'll have to pause on you there, Charles.
Another short intermission, then Aetos, possibly Garrick, and possibly other stuff.
Charles Magellean (OOC): What's wrong with your hand?
Metal Man (GM): ...Quite a bit. I'll give you an idea of it after I get back (in a few moments)
My right hand displayed warning symptoms of Carpal Tunnel recently, though a brace appears to helping it. Thus my hand has only recently been able to do near-peak performance in typing without resulting in terrible injury.
Captain Aetos. Are you here?
Charles Magellean: Okay, I'm gonna look up... carpal tunnel syndrome.
Editor's Note: Normally I remove this, but this does have important implications for how I probably slowed down my GMing and later pared back the system complexity, so that I wouldn't destroy my hands. The braces did help, but I wore them during the day, which was incorrect and made more problems for a while until I figured out how properly to use them. Also a personal note, but one I don't mind including here... if YOU have Carpal tunnel symptoms, bring it up with your doctor today!
Aetos: *Captain Aetos on the bridge.*
Metal Man (GM): Okay then.
Aetos, meanwhile, is... far away from the others.
He is... lost in Saturn Valley.
He lost Skyhigh somewhere along the road, and the Mr. Saturns in the valley seem unhelpful.
He's in the middle of a small, weird city full of pink houses.
Aetos: "The ugliest houses I've ever seen..."
Mr. Saturn:"BoInG! YoU iS sTuPiD! OuR hOuSeS aRe GrEaT!"
Aetos: "Why is that?"
Mr. Saturn:"ThEy HaVe ElEcTrIcAl FiRe ExTiNgUiShErS!"
Metal Man (GM): The weird thing hops up and down once.
Aetos: "...Hm. That IS impressive... Can you even HOLD THEM?"
Mr. Saturn:"...I tHiNk So. WhAt AbOuT yOu?"
Metal Man (GM): You see a Mr. Saturn drive by on a lawnmower. Odd.
The sun moves slowly in the sky, as dust settles on your forehead.
Aetos: "Well, I've got 5 fingers... making it quite an easy task for me. By the way, have you seen an insane creep come by? ... I'm hoping you can answer. unlike the others... ... You creatures are the dorkiest things in the world. I don't think I can be seen with you... it will ruin my social status."
*He slaps his forehead.*
Metal Man (GM): Dust flies about.
Aetos: "I think it's time I move on. I'll see you around."
Metal Man (GM): You see three ways out:
One was the way you came in, and there's a fork in the path: One leads to the right, to "Valhalla Domain"
To the left is 'Magnetic Wasteland'
Aetos: "Valhalla... that place... I wonder how they are keeping it powered now that all the chaos emeralds are gone... and the Magnetic Wasteland was where Metal took us in that CAC I think... deathrays... mm..."
*He looks for the Mr. Saturn.
* "Where'd you go?..."
Metal Man (GM): The Mr. Saturn appears to have walked away while you gathered dust.
Aetos: "Punk."
*He clunks to the direction of Valhalla.* "I hope Skyhigh went this way... Why didn't he listen to me and put that radio communicator on him??..."
Metal Man (GM): You walk onwards to Valhalla... aaand we should really pause here. I'm bushed. Not so much from GMing but because I did school today.
Editor's Note: And so ends the first chapter... abruptly! Pause, I guess?