Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 325: Why Are The Questers Chasing Dracula On The Second Moon?

Previous

Next

Date: 4:38:49 PM, September 11th; 8:57:01 PM, September 13th; 6:23:35 PM, September 14th, 2006.

Metal Man (GM): Con^tine&ue
Last time we left the Questers, they chased Dracula from Kakariko town into his lair, and from there through some odd portal to the Second Moon.
Up until now things have been fairly simple, and lacking any real confusion; even though Julian and co. had a short trip through the Astral Realm.
But now, chasing Dracula on the Second moon, things are about to get REAL strange; the other Questers who weren't already there are warped in as backup, as is custom.

Digifanatic suddenly is thrown into the scene; apparently, he's been missing a bunch of stuff...

Dracula: "Vhat... you... can't vhegt me!"

Julian Sawyer chase, chase, chase the evil vampire.

Metal Man (GM): Running into the cave, he vanishes; following him into it, you see something strange.

Trigger lands on Digi.

Julian Sawyer: "...Vhegt?"

Metal Man (GM): It's a mechanical cave.

Digifanatic: "I believe that's 'Forget'."

Trigger: "Thanks for breaking my fall."

Metal Man (GM): The walls are steel, plated one, with little lights everywhere.

Julian Sawyer: "...Goddammit, vampires and robots shouldn't mix!"

Digifanatic: "'Get,' sorry."

Scott Gibson (assuming nothing has majorly changed) is still with Julian's group.

Digifanatic: "It could easily sound like either..."

Metal Man (GM): Machinery is there; and it's working non-stop, building some sort of soldiers.

Julian Sawyer: "That just don't make no sense!"

The Ninja: "...What is place?"

Digifanatic: "No idea... strange things..."

Metal Man (GM): You run right past all of the machinery, eventually cornering Dracula at the end of this factory, which seems to be one long room.

Dragoshi: "...Okay, end of the line."

Metal Man (GM): At this end are the controls, and a large number of signs and such.

Julian Sawyer: "Where the HELL you get all this stuff?"

Metal Man (GM): Dracula backs up against the wall, and waves his wand again; it fails to do anything.

Scott Gibson: "I've no idea."

Metal Man (GM): He drops it; then he looks at you dead-on.

The Ninja: "...Something wrong here."

Dragoshi: "...Yep."

Digifanatic: "I have a feeling Charles has more than just something to do with this. He's been away from us for a while... And this was/is his home."

Dracula: "I guess vhis is vhere the truth must come vhout."

Trigger: "...Are we gonna be cursed again?"

Julian Sawyer: "...We're on the Second Moon, chasin' Dracula, who has access to robots. No KIDDIN' somethin's wrong here!"

Dragoshi: "...I suppose so, Drac. ...So, what IS this truth...?"

Julian Sawyer: "What you gonna say next, the sky is blue?"

Scott Gibson: "Looks like you're cornered leech."

Metal Man (GM): He discards the metallic junk on him, putting on a different headset of sorts; it filters out his accent for some reason.

Julian Sawyer: "Fish can swim good?"

Dragoshi: "Birds can fly well?"

Trigger: "Can I breathe air?"

Digifanatic: "Exactly... I suppose."

Dracula: "I repeat myself. Did you think I would really beat you the same old way? I lost that way... an unfortunate side-effect of being so primitive!"

Dragoshi: "...Right."

Dracula: "It may be too late for me... but for this... it's already too late for you."

Trigger: "...Whatever."

Digifanatic stands in between Julian and Trigger... anything starts up, they'll have to deal with him before they get to the other.

Julian Sawyer: "What the hell you talkin' 'bout NOW?"

The Ninja: "So is your plan now, Dracula? Are you surrendering?"

Dracula: "The future. It can make my voice more understandable to you uneducated mortals, and build machines unlike your own."

Metal Man (GM): He puts a hand on a nearby lever.

Trigger: "...Hmmm?"

Scott Gibson: "..."

Julian Sawyer: "...So now you're jus' like everyone else?"

Dragoshi: "Heh. Mortal? Hardly." >_>

Julian Sawyer: "Well that makes things alot less fuckin' complicated. Now I can beat on you REGULAR."

Trigger: "Heh, funny."

Scott Gibson: "Whatever... I still owe Drac here a good bash to the face for the last time."

Trigger: "Same here."

The Ninja: "I think It would be good idea to step backwards."

Scott Gibson readies his guitar in hand.

Dracula: *Waves a finger* "Allow vhou, a non-Belmont, to vheat me? Never!"

Julian Sawyer: "I thought you got rid of the accent."

Trigger gets his buster gun ready.

Scott Gibson: "Belmont-shmelmont..."

Dragoshi: "...Pfft." *Readies scythe.*

Trigger: "I bet even Mega Man could kill you."

Dracula: "I shall return."

Scott Gibson: "Before long you'll be lickin' the zombie shit off my shoes, jackass."

Dragoshi: "...Return to get killed again?"

Metal Man (GM): He pulls the lever and is reduced to ash, which is sucked into a portal. Definitely down to the underworld.

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Dragoshi: "..."

Julian Sawyer: "Well... so much for that."

Dragoshi: "...Yea."

Metal Man (GM): Then a wall behind where he was opens up.

Scott Gibson: "Fuckin' coward."

Trigger: "He... killed himself?"

Julian Sawyer: "An' I was all worked up too... Hey, wall."
*To the SECRET ENTRANCE.*

Digifanatic: "Who knows..."

Dragoshi follows Julian.

The Ninja: "We should have attacked and not let mouths fight for us."

Trigger follows Julian as well.

Metal Man (GM): Some sort of shiny new robot model is there.
You walk right on up to it, and get a close look at it.

Digifanatic: "Well, this is most strange."

Julian Sawyer: "...Ninja, you throw out some crossed fuckin' signals, you know what?"

Metal Man (GM): It has a smooth head, with a sunglass-like visor.

Dragoshi: "...I've seen stranger."

Scott Gibson: "?"

Julian Sawyer: "You seen everythin'. We get it."'

Trigger: "Hmmm..."

Metal Man (GM): Its entire body is made of smooth, polished armor. It has a general setup of some sort of backpack, as well as some strange gloves which are made of the same material as the sunglasses.
It is hunched over a little bit, as if deactivated.

The Ninja: "Signals is clear, mind isn't."

Metal Man (GM): An unknown voice is heard over the PA; definitely female. In fact... it sounds like...

Julian Sawyer: "Nah, first you say we should hold off 'fore we attack, now you sayin' we shoulda jumped him. Make up your damn MIND."

4: "Activate The Destructor."

Dragoshi: *Listens* "...Ker-Zuh?"

Digifanatic: "Hey, minds can chan--oh boy."

Julian Sawyer: "...Oh godDAMNIT."

Dragoshi: "...Oh, bleeding HELL."

Trigger: "...We're dead, aren't we?"

The Ninja: "...Hi Four!"

Metal Man (GM): The robot's visor lights up, two orange lights for eyes in it. It stands up straight, looking at all of you very carefully.

The Ninja: "Do we get to resume challenge?"

Metal Man (GM): The way out's door lowers down, clattering to the ground and smashing into it, preventing it from being opened.

Julian Sawyer: "...Y'know, technically, we already accomplished the miss-DAMN."

4: (PA) "No." *PA cuts out*

Metal Man (GM): The Destructor raises its hands, and prepares to do... something.

Trigger: "..."

Dragoshi: "..."

Aetos: "I tried telling you that 2 hours ago, Julian."

Julian Sawyer: "We hadn't finished two hours ago."

Destructor: "Version 0.1 Alpha online. Destroy all enemies."

Julian Sawyer: "The mission was to clear the zombies, an' we couldn' do that without Drac dead."

Trigger: "...Not... good."

The Ninja then tries to sneak into the wall.

Julian Sawyer: "But it don't matter now."

Dragoshi: "...Ah, hayell."

Metal Man (GM): It raises its gloves, and then prepares to fight.

Aetos: "I think we coulda gone without fighting Dracula... set up a sentinel base in the town to protect it from more redeads... easy... Ok then."

Julian Sawyer: "A'ight, looks like we got a battle goin' on! Get ready!"

Trigger trys to find something to hide behind.

Metal Man (GM): BATTLE; Questers vs. Destructor v.1 Alpha

Julian Sawyer: "Sentinel base? You wanna split up our already stretched team?"

Metal Man (GM): SPD checks; it's currently 0 units away, as most of ya walked right up to it.
YEOUCH. That thing's got the drop on you.
Order: Destructor Alpha, Julian, Digi, Gibby, Ninja, Dragoshi, Trigger
Order: Destructor Alpha, Gibby, Julian, Digi, Ninja, Dragoshi, Trigger

Destructor: "You are the enemy. You are to be eliminated for unit 4L--other letters and numbers hidden due to confidential information."

Julian Sawyer: "Shut up an' get scrapped." *Puts up his dukes.*

Dragoshi: "...Whatever."

Destructor: "You will regret saying that. I am not made of scrap metal."

Julian Sawyer: "You 'bout to be!"

Trigger readies his gun.

Destructor: "No data available on targets. Random target selected. Target Name: Trigger."

Julian Sawyer: "...yeah, shoot him."

Dragoshi: "...Shoot im."

Trigger: "..."

Digifanatic: .oO(One more anti-comment from any of you and I will report it...)

Destructor: "Testing accuracy of Attack 1. 3... 2... 1... fire!"

Trigger: "...Dammit."

Metal Man (GM): 6 damage per hit.
How many hit?

Destructor: "Accuracy rate against Trigger is 66%. Moving on to next test subject. Next Target is: Dragoshi. Preparing next attack."

Trigger: "I hate it when I'm the test subject for shit like that."
*He dusts himself off.*

Metal Man (GM): He holds out a hand and fires lightning from it at Dragoshi.
50 damage and stun if that hits.

Destructor: "100% accuracy with test subject Dragoshi."

Gibby suddenly warps in via traditional game warpage. "Fear not! For I have returned!" He turns to the robot, and points a fin at it. "And now to slash this robot to pieces!" He raises his sword up high and it shines bright within the room. "Swords Dance!" Once charged, he dashes towards the robot and sword slashes at the torso twice.

Metal Man (GM): Use the plus sign, Gibby! The plus sign! *Hit by brick.*

Dragoshi: *Killed. Dammit.*

Metal Man (GM): Anything else?

Julian Sawyer: "Let's see what I got for you..." *Julian reaches into his Vest... SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDGEHAMMER!*
"...Oh yeah. This'll do nicely." *Julian grasps the sledgehammer with both hands, one at the head and the other at the end, charges the robot, and tries to slam the sledge into it's face!*

Metal Man (GM): He is hit. His visor flashes.

Julian Sawyer: *CRUNCH He then Mugs the poor robot! Gimme yo' stuff! Daze means I don't have to roll for this, right?*

Metal Man (GM): Anything else?
No roll. Damage/Whatever?
You attempt to mug an item, but he doesn't have any.
No.

Julian Sawyer: *Darn. EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): It's firmly stuck in there.

Digifanatic is looking at all of this and is, of course, loving this offensive output. He starts off the turn with a Fire Punch and moves on with a whack of the Golf Club. Afterward, he hands Trigger one of his Mushrooms.

Trigger: "Thanks."

Metal Man (GM): He's not still dazed, Digi.
Roll for them.

Digifanatic: *EoT.*

The Ninja decides to make use of himself and tries to Dex the robot.

Smash Dex: "Error: Cannot detect enemy."

Metal Man (GM): -2 TP; unable to dex the robot.

The Ninja tries to uses his senses to see if anything else is nearby.

Metal Man (GM): Your spider senses are tingling! Erp. You don't notice anything.

The Ninja suchs and ends his turns.

Metal Man (GM): Oh, right.

Trigger eats the mushroom.

Metal Man (GM): -2 TP

Trigger: *Then fires a force wave at the robot.*

Metal Man (GM): Your knockback... does not move the robot at all. He's pretty heavy.

Trigger: "Damn..."

Metal Man (GM): Aetos' turn

Aetos drinks an Ivantek Recovery Vial and ends his turn.

Metal Man (GM): NEW ROUND

Destructor: "Data processed. Adjusting abilities appropriately."

Julian Sawyer: "Aww hell..." *braces for relentless attacks again* D:

Trigger does the same.

Metal Man (GM): The robot changes a little, summoning a hammer and then charging it up. Anyone want to AoO it?

The Ninja is out of TP.

Julian Sawyer: *Horjah!*

Metal Man (GM): First person to attack gets it.

Aetos uses this time to quickly move his hands and summon a large gust of wind which whirls around the robot... if it weren't too heavy... it would lift it up and toss it

Julian Sawyer: "Hol' up right there!" *Julian rears back and launches a powerful Haymaker at the robot, trying to disrupt the charge!*

Metal Man (GM): Roll the attack, Julian.
Oh, right.
Aetos got it 1 second earlier.
You roll it, Aetos.
Yes. You do like his roll. Don't you?
XD
One problem: This robot is heavy. STR check.
You fail to even lift him up.

Digifanatic: "Hey, the guy's heavy..."

Destructor: "You are out of your league."

Metal Man (GM): It was a throw attack; your failure makes the rest of the attack nothing more than a breeze.
Then he swings at Julian.
With h-oooooorible- accuracy.

Julian Sawyer QUICKLY switches up his Haymaker to roll under the Robot's swing.

Metal Man (GM): If that, say, hit somehow, it would have dealt 100 damage.
The hammer fades, and it shoots rapidfire glove beams at Julian instead.
6 damage per hit.

Julian Sawyer follows the momentum of the Haymaker to roll around to the Robot's side! He pops back up... only to get peppered with lazors!
3 of 'em. Hah! I laugh at you.

Destructor: "Laser Mushroom: Engage. Laser Mushroom: Engage."

Julian Sawyer: "...Lazor mushroom?"

Trigger: "I think you really pissed it off Julian."

Metal Man (GM): It takes out a laser mushroom, then hurls at Julian.

Gibby: "He tends to piss off a lot of things..."

Julian Sawyer: "What, fo' duck-AGH!" *LAZOR SHROOM'D.*

Trigger sighs.

Metal Man (GM): 20 damage.
Then it bounces off of him and hits the robot... healing 20 damage off of it.

Julian Sawyer: "...Oh that is It! Now you jus' had to go an' piss me off!"

Trigger: "Oh, it's like drain."

Julian Sawyer: "No, it's like shut yo' goddamn face an' fight the robot!"

Trigger: "Just sayin'..."

Gibby decides to start things off with a big drop. He inhales some air and lifts up into the air. He then hovers directly over the robot, and points his sword down at it. He then exhales and dives straight down on top of the robot for a sword drop.
He somehow missed a giant robot from straight above... fair enough. He makes up for it by putting up some heavy defense. He leaps back to the group and brings up his Gibby Shield thus ending his turn.

Julian Sawyer: "Now you gonna get it!" *Julian moves to grab the Robot! What's he thinking?*

Metal Man (GM): You get him all right. But only after wasting a lucky.

Julian Sawyer: *CLICK. CLICK. Click? Julian steps away right after he grabs the robot, two small blue spheres where his palms were... They suddenly go off, engulfing the robot in an EMP Sphere that extends only to itself! Low Blow! Low Blow!*

Metal Man (GM): Unless you were just... putting those on him.
He's hit by the EMP; but unaffected.
However, the shockwaves from the devices themselves temporarily daze the robot.

Julian Sawyer then reaches into his Vest to pull out...
*It's a beer bottle! Julian smashes it over the Robot's head while he's Dazed!
EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): Back

Digifanatic decides to continue attacking the robot with pleasure... he starts off with a Hyper Beam Matrix and finishes with an Icy Kick...

Metal Man (GM): The robot is hit by those attacks, and then malfunctions.

Destructor: "Testing complete. Self destruct in 2... 3... 1..."

Aetos: "Wuh."

Metal Man (GM): *BLAMMMMMM* Before you can do anything, the entire place explodes.

Gibby: "...Did it just say 'self destruct'? GAH! It did!"

Julian Sawyer: "...I'm thin-" *EXPLODED.*

Metal Man (GM): You fly through a portal and land, slightly crispy, back at Quester HQ.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
+20,000 coins
+1000 EXP

Julian Sawyer: "...Mutherfuckin'...OW!"

The Ninja coughs. "Someone be a dear and rub my legs until feeling comes back?"

Gibby: "...Yeah, that doesn't sound weird at all." -_-

Julian Sawyer: *Level-UP!*
"...I'm not touchin' that one."

Dragoshi: *Gets up* "Same."

Trigger: "I hurt in my everywhere..."
*He gets up and dusts himself off.*

Julian Sawyer: "Good for you..." *Julian gets to his feet as well.*

Gibby: "Why must things always explode when we beat them?!"

Valentine Kilmer: "Look on the bright side. You all did survive."

Trigger: "Yay..."

Julian Sawyer: "...Y'know, for bein' our 'tactician', you sure do avoid goin' on missions wit' us alot."

Aetos: "I thought that's a good thing."

Julian Sawyer: "I'm jus' sayin' she ain't earnin' her keep."

Trigger: "A tactician plans. Not attacks."

Gibby: "Eh... she does her thing, and we do ours."

Trigger: "Am I right Val?"

Julian Sawyer: "An' how we supposed to get those plans when she ain't even WITH US?"

Gibby shrugs.

Valentine Kilmer: "I'm doing a lot more than you think. But I'll keep that to myself." *She then hovers away.*

Aetos: "I'm sure."

Trigger: "See, I told you. Tacticians do more than you think."

Julian Sawyer: "...Trigger, shut yo' damn mouth. I'll believe her when I see her do somethin' other than show up after we done at the end of a mission an' make comments."

Dragoshi: "And, I really don't care..." *Heads back to R&R.*

Trigger sighs.
"I'm gonna go back to my room."

Gibby: "Well, I'm going to fill my belly with delicious chemical treats."

Julian Sawyer: "...An'?"

Aetos: "Um... so where exactly were we?"

The Ninja runs off.

Julian Sawyer: "Base?"

Aetos: "When we followed Dracula... where did we end up?"

Julian Sawyer: "Oh, were... Second Moo-...Wait a sec', the moon don't got any air!"

Aetos: "Second Moon...? The one that showed up in the sky suddenly a little bit ago? And you have a good point. How were we able to breathe there?"
*He taps his head.* "You know... I never thought much about it when that moon came up. Do you know how it happened?"

Julian Sawyer: "How we got to the moon? We ran into that warp Drac opened up."

Aetos: "No... how did the moon appear? It wasn't there when we first came (back) to Nintendus from Turion."

Julian Sawyer: "Charles did somethin'...I 'unno."

Aetos: "Charles did something?... Well then... Why?"

Julian Sawyer: "'Cause he was homesick! I told you I don't know."

Aetos shrugs.
"I wonder if we can pinpoint that cave's location with a telescope or something... Maybe something else is hanging out around there?"
*He whistles...* "Simber??"

Metal Man (GM): 3... 2... 1... Start
Late Mission
You're all in the big room, with Metal looking over the specifics. He starts very hard at them, before then setting them down.

Julian Sawyer's in his usual seat "What's the word, Mets?"

Gibby: "Hi fiddlede-de, another mission for me!"

Metal Man: "Today's mission... is to take a good, long look at the basement of Gerald's old lab. People have been sending in reports of all sorts of noise down there. We never did confirm if Gerald, Xorn, or Thorn all died. Merely that they never were heard from again."

Scott Gibson tunes his guitar a bit.

Gibby: "Hmm... so it could be one of them down there?"

Julian Sawyer: "...But that's what all the reports said, ain't it?"

Scott Gibson: "Sounds like a place for me to get some tech."

Metal Man: "That's all they wrote. Nothing else. There's tech down there, but... not particularly tech we want to disturb. Too much. He was an insane genius."

Gibby: "Indeed."

Scott Gibson: "...Aw, man."

Julian Sawyer: "So we jus' go there an' check our what's 'causin' the ruckus?"

Metal Man: "Yes."
*He activates the warp out.* "Not much else to say. It's simplistic."

Scott Gibson shrugs a bit then stands up and slings his guitar over his shoulder. "I'm game."

Gibby: "Well we can do that easily!"

Julian Sawyer: "Too easy. Let's roll!" *Julian gets up and heads for the warp.*

Gibby tips his hat and steps into the warp after Julian.

Scott Gibson walks over to Metal before he jumps into the warp, "Are the instruments we ordered in yet? We were hoping to get some band practice in finally."

Metal Man: "They've arrived, in several crates. You can open them after the mission."

Valentine Kilmer: "Indeed. Let's focus on the more important task."

Scott Gibson: "Sweet!" *Jumps in.*

Valentine Kilmer hovers in shortly afterwards.

Metal Man (GM): *WARP* *WARP WARP WARP*
You all appear at the forefront to the ancient Dimensional Cannon. It is... a mess, to put it lightly.
The door to this massive tower lays open; it was destroyed long ago.

Editor's Note: Oh no! It's the horrible Dimensional Cannon, a place that was thoroughly overused later in SSQ 1!

Gibby: "Why can't we warp to somewhere clean for once?"

Julian Sawyer: "A'ight, let's get in, check it out, an' then GET out." *Julian heads in.*

Metal Man (GM): Kuja's sayings and such adorn the tower, although they are graffitied with 'KUJA SUCKS' and such.

Julian Sawyer: "I 'unno. Baddies like the whole wreck thing, I guess."

Valentine Kilmer: "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Metal Man (GM): The first room you see is the Dimensional Cannon control room. Control consoles are thrown about everywhere, and the cannon itself has a massive hole in it, and several burns, from different calamities.
A set of stairs that lead down lies near the middle of the room itself; a massive cracked glass wall overlooks the empty fields where Kuja's city once was.

Gibby: "The noise was coming from the basement, right?"

Metal Man (GM): No ruins, though, besides this tower, remain.

Julian Sawyer: "What's there to get ahead of? It's an open an' shut mission." *Julian heads down the stairs.*

Valentine Kilmer: "Use the brawler as a shield if something happens."

Gibby: "A two step process if there ever was one." *He follows Julian down the stairs.*

Metal Man (GM): Heading down the stairs is easy. They're sturdy, and perfectly safe.

Scott Gibson: "Whoa, so this is the former Kuja's pad, eh?"

Metal Man (GM): However, what's downstairs is downright frightening.

Julian Sawyer: "Yeah. You shoulda seen it when it was up an' runnin'. Like God hisself played with a Lego set."

Metal Man (GM): Massive, green towers that appear to be computers are toppled all over the place. Holes are everywhere, as is debris. The ceiling, while staying strong, is cracked everywhere.
A path conspicuously cleared through it goes all the way to an... untouched center console.

Scott Gibson: "Damn."

Metal Man (GM): The former elevator is impaled into a huge mainframe tower next to it.

Gibby whistles loudly.

Smash Dex: "This now destroyed supercomputer once ran the entire world."

Julian Sawyer: "...Looks like we got ourselves an infestation a' somethin' bad."

Scott Gibson gets a chill running down his spine. He trembles visibility for a brief moment.

Gibby would walk down the clear path towards the center console.

Metal Man (GM): The only visible landmark here is the walkway and the console; the rest is nearly impassible due to the skyscraper-sized computer units all thrown about like dominoes.

Valentine Kilmer looks around the area for anything else out of place.

Scott Gibson: "Ugh, I think somebody just walked over my grave."

Metal Man (GM): Nothing else out of place here; it's rather stark and concrete-filled a place.

Scott Gibson: "My impending doom sense is tingling... and it's not from this place."

Julian Sawyer: "Well duh. Obviously someone's here 'fore us... Jus' hope it ain't the Clown Patrol. C'mon." *Julian heads down the walkway.*

Valentine Kilmer: "Which means we should be careful. This person could be doing this to set up a trap."

Metal Man (GM): Gibby reaches the control panel. Astonishingly, all the controls are intact.

Gibby: "I wonder why -this- console is in such good condition?"

Metal Man (GM): Besides a spherical shaped place for some sort of device, there's also a cryptic keyboard which includes hundreds of symbols, a number of switches and buttons, and it also features a quaint but still visible power button.

Julian Sawyer: "'Cause someone been here before us, Gibbs..."

Valentine Kilmer hovers towards the control panel as well.

Metal Man (GM): On all sides of the circular console (it goes all around the user when the little half-size door to it is shut) are glass plates, meant to be used as computer screens.

Julian Sawyer: "Well, let's start it up. Nothin' else we can do..."

Gibby: "Don't look at me. I'm not the computer whiz."

Valentine Kilmer: "Weren't we warned not to disturb this technology?"

Editor's Note: Never tell Questers to not disturb technology Val! Heh... Technology Disturbers... that's probably a better name for the Questers of this era sometimes.

Metal Man (GM): It is very quiet down here. Your voices echo.
Either way, there's not much in the immediate area besides this little console. The one that once controlled the entire world.

Valentine Kilmer looks to see if anything else is in the room.

Gibby: "So... make it work."

Scott Gibson: "Hm."

Julian Sawyer: "...Gibbs, there's a start button."

Metal Man (GM): Search check, Valentine.

Gibby: "So start it!"

Metal Man (GM): Your senses detect some sort of wreckage on the East wall of the room.
One can simply press the on button, should they want to start the console.

Julian Sawyer: "Hol' up..." *Julian searches for anything else too. Metal did say not to use any of the tech...*

Valentine Kilmer: "The control is not our concern. Let's not touch it."

Metal Man (GM): Julian finds his shoes, but nothing else.

Gibby: "But maybe it has information on whoever's around here."

Julian Sawyer: *Shoes! Finally!* "So what you got in mind, Miz Kilmer?"

Scott Gibson: "Place is pretty decrepit... ugh..."

Julian Sawyer: "It's been rottin' for 'bout 2 years. It better be."

Valentine Kilmer hovers over to the east wall to examine the wreckage.

Metal Man (GM): Hovering over, you discover the wreckage of two of the most advanced tanks you've ever seen, both of them mercilessly blown to pieces by some sort of empty armored exo-skeleton. The remains of the exo-skeleton resemble Gerald himself, and appear to be nanotechnology, for they are paper thin but almost impossible to damage.

Valentine Kilmer: "...We have a problem."

Scott Gibson: "What?"

Julian Sawyer: "What?"

Gibby: "Gee, what a shock."

Valentine Kilmer: "Besides the fact you're not looking over here and wondering what a useless generator can do, I think I found something that could be one of the sources."

Julian Sawyer: "...Val, that's wreckage from when we stormed the place."

Scott Gibson takes a look..."Whoa! Nice tanks! And a mecha of some kind! Kick ass!"

Julian Sawyer: "Don't touch. An' how do we know this computer's worthless? This thing controlled the whole planet at one point in time!"

Metal Man (GM): They appear to be still deadly, however they lack crystals. How can you tell this? Several crystal-shaped holes where its power source used to be.

Valentine Kilmer: "Sad to say, but even your thick skull couldn't break this exo-skeleton, Julian."

Scott Gibson: "Heh..."

Metal Man (GM): The console makes a few clicking noises, then stops.

Scott Gibson: "?"

Metal Man (GM): Hm. That must be at least one of the strange noises.

Scott Gibson's musician's ears perk up and try to track the sound emanating from the console. All he sees is a console.

Metal Man (GM): It sounds like three long taps, followed by 3 short ones, followed by 3 more long ones.

Scott Gibson: "Guys! I think I found one of our noise makers."

Valentine Kilmer: "...Hmm. So it seems."

Gibby starts cleaning his "ears".

Scott Gibson: "...!... Wait, stand back!"
*He backs away slowly.*

Gibby: "...Huh? What gives?"

Scott Gibson: "S.O.S if my ears are right."

Gibby: "...We have to go clean something?"

Valentine Kilmer: "It's a code for help, Gibby."

Gibby: "Oh... right... of course."
.oO(Curse my constant TV watching.)

Scott Gibson steps over to the console carefully...

Valentine Kilmer: "Something is calling for our help."

Metal Man (GM): Again; same controls, and power button.

Gibby: "Then we should help!"

Metal Man (GM): The controls are mostly outta your league; even if they are in your league, they don't do anything when turned off.

Valentine Kilmer: "Let me see if I can trace it without powering up the system."

Scott Gibson: "Good call."
*He swings his guitar in front in case he needs to do some hacking... unlikely but still...*

Valentine Kilmer hops off her platform and moves close to the console, looking for a port.

Metal Man (GM): Valentine: There's ports of all kinds all across the console. This was made by someone who used nearly every computing standard.

Valentine Kilmer reaches under the coat neck of her lab coat and pulls a wire out from under it, plugging it into the computer to begin accessing it.

Metal Man (GM): It makes another set of clicks.
Same message.

Valentine Kilmer times it right when the clicks begins, she would follow the source of where it's coming from.

Gibby starts to get rather sleepy. He leans against the console and closes his eyes for a little. Ahh... rest.

Metal Man (GM): You hear it coming from some sort of component inside the actual machine. You can't see it from here, you'd have to open it up to find it. It sounds vaguely like an audio transmission.

Scott Gibson stands still while waiting for an analysis.

Valentine Kilmer: "We must get inside this machine. Find a way to open it." *She unplugs herself from the computer.*

Metal Man (GM): It seems relatively mundane, despite happening every 3 minutes.
The case has seams on it, seams which seem rather tough to pry on.

Scott Gibson: "Hm... I've got nothin'."

Valentine Kilmer: "Carefully. It could still be a setup."

Gibby: "Zzzzz..."

Valentine Kilmer looks for another way to open the console.

Scott Gibson: "Anybody have any ideas?"
*He sighs...* "I'll take that as a no."

Metal Man (GM): You find no other way. It's almost like the on button is taunting you.

Scott Gibson: "Should I bash it open?"

Gibby suddenly wakes up.
"Huh? Wha? We bashing things?"

Scott Gibson moves his guitar into his hand.

Metal Man (GM): You could attempt to bash it.

Valentine Kilmer: "Turn it on."

Scott Gibson sighs.
"Fine, I'll press the damn button."
*He presses it.*

Valentine Kilmer has her force field up as well.

Metal Man (GM): You press the button. A bunch of text scrolls across the screen, followed by 'Incoming communication'

Scott Gibson sighs with relief that it didn't explode.

Metal Man (GM): The weird SOS message clicks are played back as audio, then an image of a strange looking man with a gray mustache who is tall and wearing blue-and-purple clothes appears, prefixed by 'N0v4'

Nova: "Sever. Damag. To. All systems. Plea... ... ... error. 52."

Metal Man (GM): The image fades in and out rapidly.

Scott Gibson: "Huh!?"

Nova: "Back... Dauntless. Load... base. Desert. Import---" *The communication is suddenly disconnected.*

Metal Man (GM): The weird green towers shoot sparks and flicker, as the system fully boots up. Lights turn on, and sparks fly all about. The sound of a backup generator is heard.

Scott Gibson: "What the hell?!"

Valentine Kilmer: "Alright. Turn it off."

Computer: "ControlComp 4.99 loaded. Error: 10% power. Error: Unable to obtain administrator status. Error: Eye of Kuja offline. Error: Dimensional Cannon Offline. Error. Error. Error."

Gibby: "Oh dear..."

Computer: "System bootup complete."

Metal Man (GM): It sits there and does nothing.
The screens show the entire world, and a lot of red !s, indicating disconnection and/or destruction of what it labels 'mission critical' facilities.
It also shows a ? mark on its local storage area, on a very mission-critical component. Some sort of odd sphere with writing on it.
It also shows where that communication came from.

Scott Gibson stares at this a moment...

Metal Man (GM): 'NOVA CENTRAL @ Magnetic Wastelands. Status: Destroyed.'
It shows it on the map, and then shows... ten red dots, a blue dot, and an ? in the middle of the desert.

Valentine Kilmer: "Something isn't right."

Scott Gibson: "No kidding."

Computer: "Off-site systems @ NOVA CENTRAL attempt to linkup. 401 Unauthorized. Linkup blocked."

Metal Man (GM): It continues scanning, eventually picking up Gunicard and the Neo-Earth ruins.

Gibby scratches his head.

Computer: "Unknown enemy devices. Danger: Capable of destroying this base. Consider rebuilding the damaged defenses."

Metal Man (GM): Several ! marks appear, the Questers listed as blue dots.

Computer: "Intruders detected. Error: All defenses disabled."

Scott Gibson: "Well now we know what those are."

Metal Man (GM): That is, ! marks on the building you're in.

Valentine Kilmer: "Turn it off!"

Computer: "Current estimates show 1% of Nintendus controlled by Kuja, down from 100%. No further messages."

Metal Man (GM): It sits there, completely silent; the area is lit up by the green lights and the like, but otherwise it seems inconspicuous.

Scott Gibson: "I opt for figuring out what the fuck is going on here!"

Valentine Kilmer: "Hmm. We know where to go to next." *She attempts to turn it off now.*

Computer: "Computer Systems Powering Down."

Metal Man (GM): A short 'power down' sound is played, then the computer (and the towers) fade into their off mode.

Gibby: "Whew... glad that's over with."

Scott Gibson: "What's the word, Val?"

Valentine Kilmer: "To follow the S.O.S."

Metal Man (GM): Indeed; simple enough. You just need to get there first.

Scott Gibson: "Ok, then let's get to it. I've got a weird feeling that something's headed our way."

Valentine Kilmer: "We'll just get SIMBAR to get us some information of the area and get a warp."

Gibby: "Oh joy, more warping..."

Valentine Kilmer: "You can walk if you want."

Smash Dex: "You may contact SIMBER from here."

Scott Gibson: "Let's just take care of that S.O.S. Something tells me those guys on the monitor were in need of an escape route."

Gibby: "Err... what I meant to say was... Joy! More warping!" ^_^;

Editor's Note: Pacing clearly is a bit off in this mission, given they did all this setup just to turn a computer on, now have to go somewhere else. It would have been much better if there were a warp here or somesuch...

Valentine Kilmer opens up her DEX. "SIMBER. Are you online?"

SIMBER: (DEX) "All systems operational."

Valentine Kilmer: "Tell us about the Magnetic Wastelands."

SIMBER: (DEX) "A devastated area full of strange magnetic frequencies, it hosts ruins of all kinds and is highly dangerous."

Gibby: "Again with the danger..."

SIMBER: (DEX) "I can open a warp, but it may do... unpredictable things."

Julian Sawyer: *Hey Hey! Julian's back!* "What's there to know? It's a place of purple sand, with a huge magnetic field surrounding it to block out invaders. NOVA's main base was housed there."

Gibby: "As long as my legs don't wind up where my head is and vice versa, I'm all for it."

Valentine Kilmer: "NOVA sent the S.O.S. We must go check it out."

SIMBER: "Interesting. Nova was supposed to be dead. Attempt to recover him if you can; he knew something important before Kuja's fiends destroyed his base."

Julian Sawyer: "I'm not sayin' that we shouldn't go help NOVA, but the Magnetic Wasteland's a bad place to go. Hell, it's probly take us an hour to locate the entrance, while surrounded on all sides by sandstorms."

Metal Man (GM): A warp appears, to that very same magnetic wasteland place.

Gibby: "We'll try our best."

Scott Gibson: "And I'm going to guess that that's where we need to go. So let's do it. Warp problems be damned."

Gibby slowly makes his way into the warp.

Valentine Kilmer: "Are you saying you want to stay behind, Julian?"

Julian Sawyer: "I'm sayin' it's a bad idea. But it's all part'a the mission, so I gots'ta go." *Julian heads into the warp.*

Metal Man (GM): *WARP* Distortion to the max! Warping is weird, as you fly by the white realm and then bounce off of something. Before landing into purple sand.
Then you notice some other guy on the ground too. (That being Benjamin Cain.)

Julian Sawyer: *After warp* "See what I me-...Oh lord."

Scott Gibson heads into the warp, he's in full blown focus mode. Lives are on the line here.

Benjamin Cain: "Eh... who are you?"

Julian Sawyer: "Question is, who the hell are YOU?"

Benjamin Cain pulls out guitar defensively.

Valentine Kilmer: "It would seem we picked up a hitch-hiker."

Gibby: "...Nice manners, Julian." -_-;

Benjamin Cain: "I asked first."

Julian Sawyer: "An' we got more numb-...Great, you got a guitar too. You can hook up with Scott."

Benjamin Cain: "You don't mean Scott Gibson do you?"

Julian Sawyer: "...You two know each other?"

Gibby: "You know Scott?" *He looks at Scott.*

Julian Sawyer: "Great, this be workin' out greater than I imagined..."

Benjamin Cain: "Where is he, I have a little score to settle with him!"

Julian Sawyer: "...He's on yer left."

Metal Man (GM): While you're here, you may have noticed how barren this place is. Purple sand in all directions, not to mention the wind blows wild here. And it's daytime here, even though it was night down at the tower you left.

Valentine Kilmer: "You can kill him after the mission."

Benjamin Cain: "Well well well, Scott we meet again..."

Gibby: .oO(Oooo... a rival? Scott never said anything about having one. Interesting...)

Benjamin Cain: "Never mentioned me?"

Julian Sawyer: "I got no idea what the hell's goin' on, an' I don't care. Save the rivalry for later, we got a mission to finish." *Dex doesn't work in the wasteland, right?*

Benjamin Cain: "Course why would he, I was the only other that could match his playing skills."

Valentine Kilmer: "Ask you empty boasting for the real fight."

Scott Gibson: "Ben!"

Benjamin Cain: "Scott..."

Gibby: "Gibby?"

Julian Sawyer: "What the hell did I just say? Talk LATER. We got an AI to save... Now where's the entrance hatch..." *Searching for entrance.*

Scott Gibson: "Ho-ly... shit..."
*He has his eyes deadlocked on Ben and his jaw agape.*

Valentine Kilmer: "For once, Julian has the right idea. Ben, you can join us if you want but only if you assist us."

Benjamin Cain: "You said something about saving someone? There is nothing out here. I have been wandering for years looking for a way out."

Julian Sawyer: "...An' you ain't dead?"

Benjamin Cain: "I will help, but only if you get me out of here."

Julian Sawyer: "Or worse?"

Gibby: "Sounds like a fair deal to me."

Benjamin Cain: "I can more than take care of myself."

Julian Sawyer: "I'm jus' findin' it hard to believe you been trapped in a damn DESERT for years without lookin' the least bit emaciated."

Scott Gibson: "Yeah, right, Ben."

Benjamin Cain: "You mentioned someone that you were trying to save?"

Valentine Kilmer: "We're on borrowed time. Storytime is later, and maybe you can punch each other to your heart's content."

Scott Gibson: "Right." *Snaps back to reality.*

Julian Sawyer: "...Geez, what's the problem with people we meet? They jus' don't LISTEN."

Gibby: "Sand in the ears perhaps?"

Benjamin Cain: "So what do you know of this person you are trying to save?"

Julian Sawyer: "It ain't a person. It's an AI that used to run the whole fuckin' planet. Now you gonna look for a hatch or you jus' gonna stand around askin' me questions?"

Scott Gibson: "This is big, Ben. We've gotta act now."

Benjamin Cain: "I'll help."

Gibby: "Huzzah! A new ally!"

Julian Sawyer: "...See what I mean? They don't LISTEN."

Benjamin Cain: "Any knowledge of where this hatch might be?"

Julian Sawyer: "...In the fuckin' ground?"

Metal Man (GM): That is... a bit of a problem. You're in the middle of a featureless desert.

Gibby: "If only I brought my shovel and pail..."

Metal Man (GM): You can't even tell direction, except for the sun, which is to the south.

Julian Sawyer tries to remember where NOVA's hatch was in the past...

Scott Gibson: "Anyone ever though to mark this hatch?"

Metal Man (GM): Wherever it was located, your electronics magically worked again.

Julian Sawyer: "You ever think to place a big glowing neon sign over a secret base?"

Scott Gibson: "Seem's like it'd help right about now!"

Gibby: "That's just stupid."

Julian Sawyer: "What I remember is that when we found it, our gear started workin' again. So we jus' gotta wander around 'til the Dexes start workin' again, an' dig."

Gibby: "It'll be like finding treasure!"

Scott Gibson flips out his dex.

Julian Sawyer takes out his dex and flips it open. Nothin' but static, right?

Scott Gibson: "Mine's working."

Benjamin Cain: "What are those?"

Scott Gibson: "Smash Dexes, I'll tell you about them later."

Metal Man (GM): Nope.
They don't turn on, they don't react; nothin'.

Julian Sawyer: "Is it?"

Scott Gibson: "Damn, false alarm."

Julian Sawyer: "Well you jus' start diggin' here then. Rest of us'll go an' LOOK."

Valentine Kilmer decides to do something different. She decides to analysis the the area to see if there's a difference in the sand to see if there close or far away, or if they can even follow the right path.

Metal Man (GM): Pick a direction: Then you may wander aimlessly through the desert. Wheeeee!!!!
Valentine: No difference anywhere; you feel like you've entered the world of empty sameness.
You may roll it, Benj, but it's usually a check used to 'fudge' bad situations involving checks rather than finding things with no visible trail.

Julian Sawyer: "I'd suggest splittin' up, but then we'd ALL get lost... I'm thinkin' Southwest."

Scott Gibson slings his guitar and thinks to start digging, but he's in a sandy wasteland. No use here.

Metal Man (GM): Benjamin thinks of randomly moving through the desert; standing still is rather toasty, and the blowing winds throw sand everywhere.

Valentine Kilmer tries to remember the map she saw to see if that is helpful in any way.

Julian Sawyer: "Hello? Anyone?"

Metal Man (GM): Well, it would have helped, but you have no clue where you are inside the massive purple void it showed for this area.

Scott Gibson: "I'm listening Julian."

Gibby wipes the sweat from his forehead.

Benjamin Cain: "Okay, if there are no points of reference on this desolate void, how are we to find anything?"

Julian Sawyer: "I said I think we should go Southwest."

Gibby: "Why Southwest?"

Valentine Kilmer: "What gives you that idea?"

Scott Gibson: "It's better than nothing. We just walk until our Dexes work again."

Julian Sawyer: "You got a better idea?"

Gibby: "Well if we went in separate directions, we'd cover more ground."

Julian Sawyer: "And we'd get fuckin' lost."

Benjamin Cain: "How about we space out and walk in one direction, more likely to find something that way."

Scott Gibson: "Police evidence walk..."

Gibby: "Well if it works for the police, it should work for us."

Scott Gibson: "GSPB standard practice. Again, it's better than nothing."

Julian Sawyer: "I jus' said that... Whateva. I'm goin'." *Julian keeps his Dex infront of him as he heads roughly Southwest.*

Valentine Kilmer: "Since I can travel faster, I'll go the opposite way. If I don't find anything, I'll head back."

Scott Gibson forms up on Julian's left about 10ft of space between them. Dex out.

Benjamin Cain: "So... how am I going to help on this one, since I don't have one of those Pex things?"

Gibby: "Wait up Julian!" *He scurries his way behind him.*

Scott Gibson: "C'mon, let's stay in one group. If you have anything electric then that's all you need. Now get in formation, Ben!"

Gibby goes on Julian's right side with 10ft of space so he's symmetrical.

Valentine Kilmer: "Do not worry. I'll find you with the help of the sun."

Metal Man (GM): Moving outwards is pretty easy.

Benjamin Cain lines up to the left of Scott Gibson by 10ft.

Valentine Kilmer uses her devices as she starts to move northeast.

Metal Man (GM): You all wander through the desert... discovering something very strange. The minute you move out of a certain range, you're all... suddenly there. Magical. ...But it's not a hatch.

Scott Gibson: "Huh!?"

Benjamin Cain: "What was that?"

Metal Man (GM): It's a giant burnt pit, covered in dead Kuja soldiers, with a single console (that has been maliciously destroyed) and foot tracks leading somewhere.

Julian Sawyer: "...Right, forgot this place got blown the fuck up..."

Metal Man (GM): The console is sparking. Hoo boy... you'll be having a hard time to fix that.
(((((( Mission Pause - +1000 EXP for RPing so far (Including to Gibby) ))))))

Scott Gibson: "Looks like we're here."

Julian Sawyer: "No fuck'in duh."

Benjamin Cain: "I want to follow the tracks, but have a feeling it won't be a good idea."

Metal Man (GM): Continuation
Agape, the Questers (and any reinforcements sent in recently, if they weren't there originally) stare upon the massive pit, in which lies the twisted metal and broken mainframe which once controlled the world.
*smacked for the horrible punnage.*

Alexia warps in.

Julian Sawyer: "...Righ', forgot this place got blown the fuck up."

Metal Man (GM): All around is purple sand, and dead men in suits of armor, all of the color silver.

Alexia: "...What the..."

Metal Man (GM): Footsteps lead from the console into the desert.

Julian Sawyer: "Big time..."

Alexia: "What's our mission this time? I had to warp in without a briefing."

The Wraith: *The spirit slowly forms in the air next to the group, closing his dex.* "...We are not the first to come here since its destruction..."

Julian Sawyer: "...Not a damn one. Originally, we was 'sposed to go to the ruins of Kuja's dimensional cannon/tower/whatever an' see what was makin' some noise. 'Parrentty it was NOVA sendin' out an SOS, so we came here... an' I jus' remembered what happened the LAST time we was here."

Valentine Kilmer: "I don't think everything was destroyed either."

Metal Man (GM): The console looks busted. You may need to fix it.

Alexia: "You had to go to Kuja's tower? Damn, I missed it."

The Wraith: *He drifts over and inspects the footprints, to see where they all lead from...*

Julian Sawyer: "Look, when Kuja destroyed somethin', he didn't half-ass it. It got BROKE."

Metal Man (GM): They lead pretty far away from here, into the desert.
They lead from the mainframe to out there. Some of them come from indentations where... ... ... it looks like there were once dead soldiers.

Alexia: "So what now?"

Metal Man (GM): Seeing as there's no other things that could leave those bootprints out here, it's obvious some of those seemingly dead people got up and walked away.

Valentine Kilmer: "Let's get to work. I need someone to watch over me as I repair the console."

Julian Sawyer: "Like anyone's gonna jump us in the middle of the fuckin' WASTELAND."

The Wraith: "...More undead, it seems..." *He follows the set that leads from the console, comparing that set to the others, as it doesn't seem to come from a body imprint...*

Metal Man (GM): It seems to be somebody else; it follows alongside the bootprints.
Computer or console check, whichever is higher, to try to make it run again.
However it looks rather tricky to fix; its screen was smashed brutally on the ground.

Valentine Kilmer: "Since Julian is as thick headed as ever, could I get your assistance?" *She looks at Alexia.*

Metal Man (GM): Wall, ground, whatever. I don't have the hard drive storage to remember it all without taking extensive notes.

Julian Sawyer: "Yeah yeah yeah, you about 5 minutes away from gettin' 5 across the face..." *Julian heads over to the console.*

Alexia: "Computers aren't really my area of expertise."
*Thinking* "Especially since I was around before they were even invented."

The Wraith: "...It seems someone, or something, has come here and resurrected several of these long-dead soldiers..."

Valentine Kilmer: "Not in computer, just make sure no one sneak up on me." *She begins her work on the console.*

Metal Man (GM): You shove the computer so it's standing up, and mess with the wires... but... you have no monitor.

Julian Sawyer: "...Looks like you got a problem already." *Julian scans the area for a monitor that could be hooked up...*

Metal Man (GM): You find one monitor which was smashed. A lot.
Bits and pieces of it litter the entire area.
There's thousands of little pieces.

Julian Sawyer: "...BIG problem."

Alexia thinks for a moment... "Idea."

Metal Man (GM): It's almost like a thousand little lies. *Hit for another pun.*

Scott Gibson: "Could we wire it to my guitar, it has an LCD screen for my hacking stuff."

Alexia: "Could one of the Dexes be hooked up to it?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Where'd the other guitar guy go?"

Valentine Kilmer: "Both will work."

Metal Man (GM): You can't tell by talking to the console; someone will have to search for it.
That is, a display port.

Scott Gibson: "Hell if I know. Not that I care."

Valentine Kilmer: "Scott. You have the floor now."

Scott Gibson: "Time to get to work."

The Wraith: *He looks out in the direction that the footsteps all lead out to... Anything within sight, or a mass of purple haze?*

Valentine Kilmer looks at the computer to see where she stands without having the need for a monitor while the others search for one.

Metal Man (GM): Search check for others; Valentine sees it looks more or less functional, although glitchy.

Julian Sawyer: "You find it?"

Metal Man (GM): Scott discovers Julian's shoes.

Scott Gibson: "Nothing. You stepped in sand by the way."

Julian Sawyer: "Lemee look..." *Julian looks over the computer for a port where they can hook up a dex* "...No kiddin'. What you gonna tell me next, I got hair?"

Valentine Kilmer would like to fix it to the point of non-glitchy-ness, by finding the best way to fix the problem first.

Metal Man (GM): Computer use check, as Julian and Scott notice a VGA port on the back of the console.
You can plug most stuff into that.

Julian Sawyer: "Got it. Hook us up, Scott."

The Wraith: *Searching into the distance for any notable figures...*

Metal Man (GM): Valentine: You see that Kuja was more thorough than whoever just tipped it over. It appears to have been magnetically corrupted. Extensively.
John sees nothing.

Alexia covers the others while they search, just in case.

Julian Sawyer: "...Scott, the port's right here. Why you still lookin'?"

Metal Man (GM): Alexia: Nothing. This place is a wasteland.
That's why these dead guys haven't been robbed of their expensive and insanely powerful Magitek rifles.

The Wraith: *He rubs his chin, deciding to pursue those footprints later, once the others are more keen on leaving this crashed computer behind. He turns to the others, and looks over the mauled mainframe...*
"...Any luck, kids?"

Metal Man (GM): Plug in a display device and turn it on; then you can check it out. Simple.

Valentine Kilmer: "Hmm. this is going to be more complex." *She sees to see if there's a way to save the computer. or what's left of it.*

Julian Sawyer: "We got us a port to plug in Scott's guitar, and Val don't know WHAT the hell she's doin'."

Metal Man (GM): The computer is bootable; just that it's likely to... not work very well.

Alexia walks over to one of the corpses and looks at it to try and find an obvious cause of death.

Metal Man (GM): To fix it would require extensive repairs, including some which may not be possible with current technology.
Alexia: Death by massive death ray from above.

The Wraith: "...Then plug your dex in, man. Mine's incorporeal, won't work very well."

Julian Sawyer: "We gonna use Scott's guitar. It's got a bigger screen... An' it's built for this kinda stuff."

Alexia: "..."

Metal Man (GM): That's the only way you could kill these dudes. They look like they could beat up Dracula and then have lunch without any wounds.

Alexia Mindblasts the corpses suddenly.

Metal Man (GM): You try to harm them, but... alas; they are too tough.
They seem nearly invincible.

The Wraith: *He lofts an eyebrow as he hears the ker-thud of the Mindblast, looking over at Alexia.* "...Having fun?"

Julian Sawyer: *Hears it* "Whoa whoa whoa, where's the fire?" *Julian heads over to her.*

Alexia: "Damn them... they took away my life..."

Metal Man (GM): The console sits around, waiting for someone to plug in a monitor and turn it on.

Valentine Kilmer: "Well, I'll explain it simply then, Julian. Computer is fried. We'll work with what we got. Plug in and start it up, Scott."

Julian Sawyer: "...Huh. An' how they do that? ...Heyyyy..." *Julian goes to pick up a Magitek rifle* "These look like they could still work..." *Looks it over.*

Metal Man (GM): *For the purposes of sanity, Scott plugs in the guitar and starts the computer up.*

The Wraith: "..." .oO(She has no idea... Best to stay quiet, though.) He just silently turns back to the computer.

Metal Man (GM): It has several magitek-shaped holes in it.

Alexia: "They genocided my village, kept me in a cage and TURNED ME INTO A HUMAN? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"

Editor's Note: Oh no, here we go again, the player making up weird plot I would not have ever approved back in the day or now. Well, it is what it is, so I leave it here for the reader to judge, but I'm glad I curtailed such 'surprise plots' added in in future parts of SSQ...

Julian Sawyer: "...I got no idea what the hell you jus' said. You used to be NOT human?"

Metal Man (GM): The mainframe turns on and beeps. Oddly.
Scott's guitar displays a buncha strange messages, before projecting a distorted image of Kuja.

Valentine Kilmer: "Not until the mission is over. Now please don't yell. I wish not to let every enemy know where we are."

Alexia: *Through gritted teeth* "Yes. And I can't change back..."

Julian Sawyer: "...Val! How many times I gotta tell you WE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WASTELAND! Ain't no one creepin' up on us!"

The Wraith: *Pointedly ignoring the nearby conversation, he watches the screen...*

Kuja Hologram: "World-control program online. All hail Kuja." *Some sort of trademark melody to designate it as his software.*

Julian Sawyer: "People jus' don't listen these days... So what's you use to be?"

Metal Man (GM): The hologram fades; some static, followed by random high-pitched screeches from the computer, eventually display (with difficulty) a man wearing strange clothes, who looks old... and also is glitched up.

Nova: "Err. Error. Damage. Kzt."

Valentine Kilmer: "The same one."

Alexia: "Dragon. And, uh, there's something else... I'm 1500. Not 15."

Nova: "Daunt... less. Dauntless. Dz. Dauntless. Daunt... less. Dauntless. Dz. Dauntless. Daunt... less."

Metal Man (GM): It repeats that over and over again.

The Wraith: "Rgh... Damned noises." *He continues watching, paying close attention...*"

Scott Gibson: "..."

Julian Sawyer: "...Je-ZUS! Everyone be older than they look these days! You, John, Val, Drag, Gibby, pretty sure the Ninja..."

Nova: "Daunt... less. Dauntless. Dz. Dauntless."

Metal Man (GM): Bits and pieces of the hologram are glitched out.
Must be meaning something... but what?

The Wraith: "...Now if you kids will pay attention, we've got somethin' over here."

Valentine Kilmer: "Do you two mind?" *She then tries to see if she can tune the glitch out with Scott's assistance.*

Scott Gibson: "Gimmie a sec and I'll try to boost the signal."

Metal Man (GM): Computer use check.

Julian Sawyer: "So if you used to be a dragon, how come you got TK? An' a laser gun?"

Aetos ...um... appears?

Metal Man (GM): Warped in as backup, yes, Aetos.

Alexia: "There's more than one kind of dragon, you know. I was a white dragon. They rely on psychic powers instead of brute force."

Metal Man (GM): You mess with it. Even with maximum signal, it doesn't seem to do much.

Julian Sawyer: "...Well that kinda defeats the point, don't it?"

Nova: "Dauntless. Dauntless. Dauntless. Dauntless. Dauntless."

Julian Sawyer: "Dragons be big for a reason an' all."

Alexia: "Well, we still had a full set of claws and teeth, y'know."

Valentine Kilmer: "It's the programing. Help me out, Scott. The ghost will tell of us any changes."

Julian Sawyer: "Christ... so these dragons, where they come from? Nintendus? Some other planet?"

Alexia: "Nintendus. They're very good hiders."

Editor's Note: Yeah uh... no. Oh, but there is an actual canon dragon planet in SSQ named Chark, so... if anyone is actually researching dragons in SSQ and happens upon this, just keep that in mind.

Julian Sawyer: "...An' Kuja showed up like 13 years ago."

Aetos: "So... a hubbub about the Dauntless. What are we going to do about it?"

Valentine Kilmer gets the rocker's assistance as she tries to figure out how to get the program functioning.

Metal Man (GM): More computer use checks.

Julian Sawyer: "So why'd he kill everyone BUT you, an' instead change you into a Human? Seems kinda wasteful to me."

Scott Gibson: "Damn... Now what?"

Metal Man (GM): Valentine smacks the computer, like one smacks a skipping record. It works. Amazing!

Alexia: "It's a long story, but we seem to have a lot of time, so..."

Nova: "Dauntless is the location of the information you need to complete the program."

Alexia: "We used a special crystal to supply our village with energy. It basically siphoned off energy and turned it into a form we could use."

Nova: "Obtain the information Garrick made in order for full A.I. function. Most systems disabled. Unknown errors in security systems."

Alexia: "Kefka heard about it and wanted it to power his machines. A long and bloody battle was fought which ended with me being captured and my friend Deloth fatally injured... I never saw him again..."

Valentine Kilmer: "Hmm. So where is this Dauntless?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Alexia, we're talkin' about KUJA!"
*To Val* "It's at base."

Alexia sighs and stops. "I'll tell you later. For now, we should focus on the mission."

Editor's Note: I mean, Julian is entirely correct. Kefka did not serve Kuja, nor probably would he. He was one of the 13 Gentleman / Apocalypse Group weirdoes... and would have considered Kuja a peer, not someone he would serve.

Valentine Kilmer: "I see. Unless there is something else to this, our purpose here is no more."

The Wraith: "...How about those tracks?" *He thumbs over his shoulder at the trail leading away.*

Julian Sawyer: "It's jus' soldiers that 'pparently weren't killed in the blast. An' if Kuja couldn't kill 'em, we can't."

Metal Man (GM): The footsteps are recent; you can tell because the winds woulda blown them away otherwise.

The Wraith: "If they weren't killed back then, then those tracks would've been covered by now."

Aetos: "Nova, how may the errors be fixed?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Good point."

The Wraith: "That, and another person has been here. Seems to have warped in like we did. Or maybe they flew, I can't be sure."

Valentine Kilmer: "Would it be a good idea to follow an unknown, John?"

Julian Sawyer: "WE got anythin' better to do, Val?"

Valentine Kilmer: "We have plenty to do."

Metal Man (GM): You can contact HQ here; electronics still work.

Aetos points to Nova.

Metal Man (GM): In this area.

Nova: "This is a recording. It cannot respond to your question."

Aetos: "Don't you wonder what the errors are?"

Julian Sawyer: "No, what we got to do is go back to base. Might as well get somethin' else done out here."

The Wraith: "Would it be a good idea to remain completely unaware of how or why damn near a dozen long-dead supersoldiers suddenly got back up and started waltzin' away?"

Alexia: "Wraith does have a point..."

Aetos: "Not much of a problem if they don't rise again."

Julian Sawyer: "Problem is, they already rose."

The Wraith: "...As far as I can see, they're still walkin'."

Valentine Kilmer: "I could easily argue that point. However, it does have light interest to me."

The Wraith: "That trail leads out of sight."

Nova: "Dauntless is the location of the information you need to complete the program. Obtain the information Garrick made in order for full A.I. function. Most systems disabled. Unknown errors in security systems."

Valentine Kilmer: "Very well, John. We'll take your lead."

Aetos: "Know what? I'm more interested in getting Nova back... and recovering the security of those errors."

Julian Sawyer: "Good for you. We'll check it out after these foot steps. In the meantime..." *Julian places a call to HQ.*

Aetos: "As in... I'm going back to the dauntless now. With or without you."

Metal Man (GM): You may contact HQ from the dex.

Julian Sawyer: *Does so* "Hey! Metal! I got a buncha Magitek weaponry out here. Think you could send someone to pick it up?"

Metal Man: (Dex) "Magitek... weaponry? Not only is that dangerous, but there's nothing powerful enough to make it work these days."

Aetos tries to speak into Julian's dex. "Can you take me to the Dauntless?"

Metal Man: (Dex) "What's the status on the mission, anyway? I'm getting a rather distorted video feed from out there."

The Wraith: *He continues eyeing the footprints, paying close attention to that odd set...* "...I never paid attention to boot sizes before now. Can't quite figure out who that is..." *He ponders, mulling over several guesses in his mind...*

Metal Man: (Dex) "Take you to the Dauntless? I could do one better, but what do you need?"

Nova: "Dauntless is the location of the information you need to complete the program. Obtain the information Garrick made in order for full A.I. function. Most systems disabled. Unknown errors in security systems."

Julian Sawyer: "Better we have it than someone else. An' it's goin' good. 'Parently that noise was NOVA sendin' an SOS... an' there you go."

Aetos: "That."

Metal Man: (Dex) "...Huh... so that's what all that extraneous data was for."

Valentine Kilmer does Scott a favor and unplugs the guitar.

Metal Man: (Dex) "Garrick said something about it before mysteriously vanishing."
(Dex) "I'll give you his backup, you do the rest."

Julian Sawyer: "...That works."

Metal Man (GM): A disk labeled 'Nova - Backup - Property of Garrick' appears atop the mainframe.
You can stick it right in, if you want.

Julian Sawyer: "An' there you go. Anyway, Mets, about sendin' someone out here to grab all this weaponry that someone could find an' use against us..."

Aetos grabs the disk and tries sticking it into the mainframe.

Metal Man: (Dex) "It's of no use to anyone. Even Ruvyn's Phoenix army had to abandon their old weapons."
(Dex) "And they, if anyone, knew exactly what power requirements it had."

Julian Sawyer: "We could sell it."

Valentine Kilmer: "You the the someones you claim aren't around, Julian?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Huh?"

Metal Man (GM): The disk clicks in. Nova suddenly becomes normal looking.

Nova: "... ... ... ..."

Aetos: "Nova!"

The Wraith: "...Good morning, Nova."

Metal Man (GM): As in, he literally projects from out of nowhere.

Aetos: "Can you respond now?"

Metal Man (GM): As he (and SIMBER) would normally do.

Valentine Kilmer: "Let it go. They're no us- And we have a guest."

Nova: "I can respond... but not for long. It seems my systems have been compromised. ...When I was backed up, the Gerald Virus was also backed up."

Aetos: "Then I will fix it! What must be done?"

Julian Sawyer: "...That ain't good."

Nova: "...You cannot fix the Gerald Virus. That is why Kuja's control evaporated."

Valentine Kilmer: "A pity."

Nova: "If I stay active for more than an hour or two, it will activate and destroy all of the world's computers again."

Valentine Kilmer: "Then tell us what you can."

Julian Sawyer: "Hmmm. Does that count with your AI? 'Cause I was thinking we could port that over to OUR system."

Nova: "...Kuja had me destroyed because Garrick and I worked together to create a number of things against him. --The virus is everywhere in me and my files. When Kuja redesigned me, it was made a central piece of me."

Scott Gibson: "I think my guitar could handle it."
.oO(Thanks for the unplug too, Val.)

Nova: "It is only because of that, too, that I do not turn red and proclaim myself to be Kuja's heir... so even if Gerald had been loyal, that would have made me evil."

Julian Sawyer: "Scott, trust me, it can't. Gerald was a fuckin' GENIUS. Crazy one, but still a genius"

Nova: "I have been comprehensively disabled... which leaves me only a few words... for the future... and people I do not recognize alongside the old. I see SIMBER has properly taken over my functions... ...anyway.
Gerald's virus also escaped from my mainframe when one Charles L. Magellean turned it on by accident. Knowing I would destroy it, even my magnetically corrupted version, it fled through the shared memory of 10 Kuja Supersoldiers and ran away to an unknown spot. Charles chased them."

Scott Gibson: "Dammit!"

Julian Sawyer: "...So this ALL Charles' fault. Great. Gives me an excuse to finally kick his ass."

Nova: "Acting out of caution, Charles wrecked this mainframe further. But it was too late; the virus escaped with those bodies, which are indestructible compared to today's weapons."

Julian Sawyer: "So how we s'posed to stop THEM?"

Scott Gibson: "Before Garrick left he asked a favor of me. Now's my chance, that's what I'm getting at."

Nova: "You turned this console on after he wrecked it. Logically, it would have been your fault instead if he hadn't turned it on first."

Julian Sawyer: "It's still his fault."

Nova: "Also, thanks to that, I managed to send an SOS to Gerald's mainframe, and now warn you of that virus, which has been embedded in many ruins across the world."

Julian Sawyer: "So what we 'sposed to do about it?"

Nova: "Gerald originally planned to destroy the world; The Void accidentally saved it when he shredded it to bits and sent it to the X-zone."

Alexia: "K'thak..."

Nova: "You must somehow destroy the 10 Supersoldiers and help Ivan make an antivirus."

The Wraith: *He looks at the odd bootprints again, noting who they belong to now. He then looks up to Nova.* "...Now we'd do well to find a way of isolating and/or destroying the virus."

Nova: "An antivirus would render the virus a joke, but Gerald was ahead of us all, even the Magitek mongers feared him."

Julian Sawyer: "...An we gonna do this HOW? Didn' you say these guys was INVINCIBLE?"

The Wraith: "...If that is the only way, then we've got our work cut out for us. A task like that won't be easy."

Nova: "You've fought them in the past. Just that they have that level of power still, and you, no longer filled with chaos, don't. ...Odd...
There's... Gerald's device... to send things to the null zone... next to the supersoldiers."

Julian Sawyer: "...Null zone?"

Nova: "You must act quick. Get to these ruins I've noticed, and send them there using it."

The Wraith: *He lofts an eyebrow...*

Nova: "Nobody can escape the Null Zone."

Julian Sawyer: "...K. Point it out for me again..." *Julian looks over to the supersoldiers for Gerald's Device.*

The Wraith: "...He means out there." *He points out where the footprints lead.*

Valentine Kilmer: "...That ones walking, Julian."

Nova: "Be... careful, though. The device itself is even deadlier than the virus, if misused." *Glitches and looks sort of like The Void for a moment.* "One button and all of existence explodes."

The Wraith: "Of course... ...How would we safely disable it?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Like I said, Crazy, but a genius."

Nova: "Launch it into the sun."

Julian Sawyer: "We can do that."

Valentine Kilmer: "This will take very careful planning."

Nova: "Otherwise, it is indestructible. And/or would destroy existence if improperly disposed of, liquids poured into it, or it is left out in the rain. And for the love of existence, don't set it on fire either.
And don't put the batteries in backwards!"

Julian Sawyer: "What's there to be careful about? We just gotta find this device, find the Supersoldiers, an' send 'em to the Null Zone"

Nova: "That causes it to create... junk."

Valentine Kilmer: "Don't let Gibby near it. Got it."

Nova: "That is all I have to say, but do not fear... I am not dead, even though I will have to leave soon."

The Wraith: "...So we can't set it on fire, but should send it into the sun?" *He turns to Julian.* "And... we probably don't want that thing to send ANYBODY to the Null Zone. Remember your conversation with a certain high-ranking individual earlier..."

Valentine Kilmer: "And you know how to work it while fighting of the soldiers, Julian?"

Nova: "I shall hibernate deep within the planet's systems for 1000 years, after which the virus will have been completely eliminated from me."

Julian Sawyer: "...Ghost, NOVA just SAID to send 'em to the Null Zone."

Nova: "The sun is able to destroy it instantly and crush it. Fire just would release everything inside."

Julian Sawyer: "An' how hard can it be? Point, click, bam."|

Nova: "These are operating instructions written by Gerald. As of such, be careful, as he likes to put pieces of his soul into his machines. The virus itself, once active, causes everything it effects to act like him."

The Wraith: "Sounds about right..."

Nova: "I believe, in Kuja's case, it even took over the organic bodies of cybernetic warriors, from there it became like a disease. The Void saved you from having to fight that."

Julian Sawyer: "So we got to fight HIM. Wonderful... That all?"

Valentine Kilmer: "Looks like you'll be operating it as well, Julian."

Nova: "Everything I can think of."

Alexia: "Then we must hurry."

Metal Man (GM): A warp appears... a Nova warp... to the location he named.

The Wraith: "Very well, then..." *He nods to Alexia.* "Aye--... Thank you, Nova."

Julian Sawyer: "An' we're gone. Lata, NOVA!" *Julian heads into the warp.*

Valentine Kilmer: "We'll need to work with each more than ever."

Alexia walks into the warp silently.

Julian Sawyer: "Blah blah fuckin' blah..."

The Wraith: *He bows to Nova as he moves to the warp.* "Rest well, Nova... I'm sure we'll meet again someday."

Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile...
Charles is with the machine, right 'dere with the 10 supersoldiers.

Leader: "If you need... anything else then... we may supply... it to you."

Charles Magellean is examining the machine.

Metal Man (GM): It's about the size of a file cabinet, covered in fancy looking controls and boxes with glowing matter inside.

Charles Magellean begins to study the machine.

Metal Man (GM): With a few switches, you can probably set where to go. It's currently set to the Null Zone. It also has a fancy-lookin' 'WARP' button.

Charles Magellean examines the switches to see if they can be read.

Metal Man (GM): You see strange writing. 'Tab' 'Snck' 'Ock'
They're all technical meanings, possibly variables.

Charles Magellean: "Can you help me set the controls for this machine for dimensional coordinates for the Null Zone?"

Leader: "It is already... set to that. All you need... is to press... the 'warp' button."

Metal Man (GM): A button which it does have.
As you say that, though, Aetos walks on in.

Aetos comes up from behind Charles, quickly. "No Charles!"

Charles Magellean: "Can it be set so that only one person is sent?"

Metal Man (GM): Aetos: you've run down some steps in a weird tower into this area, where Charles, 10 Supersoldiers, a bunch of old blue buildings are wrecked in the background, and Kuja's fake cryo-tubes lay about.

Leader: "It is already... set to that. Used on Yurie."

Charles Magellean: "Very well. Ivan, here I come!"
*He presses the warp button.*

Aetos: "You can't open the Null Zone! CHARLES!"

Metal Man (GM): Charles vanishes before you can stop him.

The Wraith: "We can't let you do that, Charles..."

Metal Man (GM): However the machine is still there, as are the Supersoldiers.

Aetos stomps the ground.

Metal Man (GM): The other Questers appear; the Supersoldiers reflexively flinch.

Leader: "What are you... Questers doing here? We mean no... harm to you."

Julian Sawyer: "YOU!"

Aetos: "Did he go to the Null Zone?"

The Wraith: *He looks at the soldiers, seeing no 11th figure...* "...Where is he?"

Leader: "He went there... by his own... choice you see."

Alexia: "Lies."

Aetos walks up to the speaker. "I need to go after him."

The Wraith: "I'm afraid I cannot allow that. He is to be brought back."

Leader: "You cannot hope... to defeat us... if you wish... to fight us."

Metal Man (GM): One of them grabs the machine and begins to walk away with it.

Leader: "It was his... choice, you cannot... make him come. It is a... one-way trip."

Aetos: "Stop! I am GOING after Charles!"

The Wraith: "I'd rather keep things simpler than that, you see..." *He drifts forward, vanishes into thin air, and reappears in front of the one with the device.*

Metal Man (GM): He walks right through you.

Leader: "You wish to... also go to... that zone now?"

Julian Sawyer decides to help "Hey! Put that back!"

Metal Man (GM): The one moving stops, sets it down, then faces Aetos.

Aetos: "Yes!"

Leader: "As you wish."

The Wraith: .oO(Cocky little...) "...You would be well-advised to cooperate with us... It would make things much simpler. But first... Is there any way to retrieve a person from the Null Zone without sending another after them?"

Metal Man (GM): The guy with the machine presses the button. Aetos vanishes, too.

Julian Sawyer: "...Thanks." *Julian moves over to the console to look it over and seee how it works.*

Leader: "There is no... escape from there. They are as... good as dead."

Alexia: "...K'thuru."

Leader: "It was their... choice you see. We wish to... not use this... because it is... too powerful for... all of us."

The Wraith: "..." .oO(...Think, then act.)

Metal Man (GM): The machine is very complex, and feels warm.

Julian Sawyer: "An' I couldn't be happier." *Can Julian work it?*

Metal Man (GM): It has a 'warp to' button, one which the supersoldier carrying it has carefully shielded from Julian and anyone else from pressing without moving his hand forcefully.

Leader: "We come in... peace for you. What do you... want from us?"

Julian Sawyer: "You guys is carryin' strains of the Gerald Virus. That's bad... An' you could move your hand? It's in the way."

The Wraith: "Mmm... I don't quite believe that..." *He slowly begins circling around the group.* "I'm sure there's -some- way of returning those individuals..."

Leader: "The Gerald Virus? We do not... know what that... happens to be."

Metal Man (GM): He turns to The Wraith.

Julian Sawyer: "Somethin' BAD. Gonna shut down ALL the computers on this planet."

Leader: "Then why is... Yurie still gone? She hated us... just like you."

The Wraith: "I am not the one with all the answers, good sir... And I carry no hatred, only caution."

Leader: "She failed to... come back now. The other who... was sent with... this is also... gone forever today. The Gerald Virus? That makes no... sense to us. We are merely... humble pilgrims coming... to meet our... holy land today."

Julian Sawyer: "An' your holy land would be..."

Leader: "The last Solarian... settlement on this... old, tired planet. Where Gerald left... his last legacy."

Metal Man (GM): Note: These are empty suits of armor, not people.

The Wraith: "I do not like liars... If you please, this can be sorted out much more simply..." *He circles on around the machine, examining it for himself...*

Metal Man (GM): The machine... is a testament to Gerald's creativity.

Julian Sawyer: "Sorry, can't let you do that. Threat to the planet, you see."

Alexia: "There must be a way to bring them back..."

Metal Man (GM): It has a buncha weird stuff in it, controls, buttons, and seems to have infinite power.

Leader: "You cannot bargain... with us today. We have the... most powerful weapon... ever made here. He presses button... you all become... nothing forever and... we win then."

The Wraith: .oO(Such power, such versatility, yet they claim it cannot return things to where they came from?...)

Alexia: "And what is that weapon?"

The Wraith: "The one I'm looking at, Alexia..."

Julian Sawyer: "The Null Zone thingy."

Leader: "We are peaceful... unless you want... to become Gerald."

The Wraith: "We have no such intent. We simply want some security for our well-being, you see..."

Julian Sawyer: "An' that means sendin' you some place where you ain't gonna hurt nobody."

Leader: "Talk to the... Null Zone then."

Metal Man (GM): Julian vanishes.

Leader: "Anyone else want... to join him... in that place?"

Metal Man (GM): The armor laughs... just like Gerald.

The Wraith: *He continues studying the device, looking it over, trying to place a rhyme & reason to the controls... He lofts an eyebrow as Julian vanishes.*
"Nea, I'll pass..."

Leader: "Even if you... can save them... it will take... too long to... do so, you... see, I never... finished that research."

Alexia: "..."

Leader: "The machine is... a prototype unable... to return matter. You have two... issues for now. Pick your destiny."

Metal Man (GM): The one carrying the machine bows, then begins carrying it down into some sort of catacombs.

Leader: "The virus can... be stopped but... the same energy... is needed to... save your friends. The null zone... is full of... great evil from... all of time.
We are going... to destroy that... machine because of... what he said. The virus cannot... afford to be... nulled from here."

The Wraith: "So they can be returned, hmm...?" *He drifts alongside the machine.* "Please, I'm interested... Tell me more."

Metal Man (GM): They look at the people left, and then all but the leader begin walking into the catacombs under the city.

Leader: "You wish to... make a non... threatening bargain with... me? I have... one want for... there is a... sphere with the... true data of... Gerald which The... Void has many... copies of here. Get me that... and I will... give you the... last research free."

The Wraith: "And just what do you plan to do with this particular sphere...?"

Leader: "Gerald wishes to... watch his virus... destroy the world. Even if he... can never live... he has not... been absorbed by... the Lifestream yet."

The Wraith: "I appreciate this honesty... It's a pleasant change of tone. However, I must be sure that you really can bring them back... Have you any proof?"

Leader: "The Star Fox... team escaped from... the Null Zone... due to The... Void's interference then. He apparently harbored... no such like... for Yurie, though."

The Wraith: "McCloud and his crew, hmm? This brings me to another note, though... You say he was able to do it. But that doesn't answer my query: Are you?"

Leader: "I am an... imperfect copy of... an android program. Kuja's own men... cannot do his... work, and neither... can I do... Gerald's old work."

The Wraith: "But perhaps your incomplete program and my mind may be able to piece things together, hmm...?"

Leader: "If I did... that then you... would have to... also deal with... the complete Gerald's... old personality, see? Not good for... any of us."

The Wraith: "Moderation, my friend... I seek only one uncovered function of this device. Surely that wouldn't require a complete uncovery of Gerald himself?"

Leader: "I cannot be... entirely sure, for... I cannot think... even like a ghost."

Metal Man (GM): THE NULL ZONE
Aetos, Julian, and Charles... none of you ever thought there could be anything worse than The X-zone. But even The Void engineered... SOMETHING... into his land.
Appearing in here... you're just in a featureless gray land, which is slightly darker than the featureless sky.
It's flat and goes on infinitely in all directions.

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Metal Man (GM): Time, at least, the kind related to planetary rotation, does not exist here.
There isn't even any chaos.

Aetos: "..." *Runs up to Charles.*

Metal Man (GM): It's so bland you almost wish a Dan would run up and stick his tongue at you.

Julian Sawyer also runs up to Charles! Albeit he has his fist reared back and ready to punch Charles in the face...

Aetos: "WHY DID YOU WANT TO BE HERE?!"

Metal Man (GM): Charles: Hmmm. Not a good way to join a realm. Both Aetos and Julian appear angry at this place.
Hmmm... That's the problem with this realm...
Julian hits Charles... and it doesn't do any damage. At all.
In fact it is stopped entirely by Charles' face.
Not even that works.

Charles Magellean: "...Nice to see you, too."

Metal Man (GM): And yet... the fist being stopped doesn't hurt either.

Julian Sawyer: "...I'm gonna go fuckin' crazy here..."

Metal Man (GM): This place must get boring in a hurry.

Charles Magellean looks around more.

Metal Man (GM): Charles: Endless grayness.

Aetos twitches.

Charles Magellean looks to Aetos.
"Ivan appeared on my homeworld."

Metal Man (GM): Sure, you could have fun watching knives and bullets bounce off without harming anyone, but that'd get old after a trillion years.

Charles Magellean looks to the beyond.

Metal Man (GM): By the way, you also never get older or younger, get hungry, etc, in here.

Charles Magellean: "He called me to here. I have accepted his challenge."
*He goes to walk forward.*

Julian Sawyer: "...Wait a sec... That Yurie chick's supposed to be here."

Aetos: "What could you gain from this challenge that the astral inhabitants don't want you to have?"

Metal Man (GM): In fact, you can attempt to use your items, but they never get used, nor do you run out of ammunition.

Aetos runs up in front of Charles.
*...and faces him.*

Charles Magellean stops as Aetos walks in front of him.

Aetos: "WHY would they want me to stop you, Charles??"

Charles Magellean looks to Aetos, calmly raising an eyebrow.

Julian Sawyer: "Oh, yeah, right. You got a price on your head, Charles. Businessman wants Aetos to kill you... Good luck doin' that in here."

Metal Man (GM): Then, indeed, there is a light. Something not entirely boring here.
A man... Ivan? Wearing outdated clothes, and a blue sword.
He speaks. You all hear.

Julian Sawyer: "...Christ."

Charles Magellean: "All I know is that Ivan wants to test me to see if I am still evil."

Ivan Robotnik: "At last, at last! You have come to the land I have been exiled to since The Void switched me back and forth and forgot about me! ...But who are these... non-Questers? ...What? This can't..."

Metal Man (GM): He looks at Julian.

Ivan Robotnik: "The master of Issen IV? HERE! In... those rags! And..."

Metal Man (GM): He looks at Aetos.

Julian Sawyer: "...What... the... fuck..."

Aetos looks to it.

Ivan Robotnik: "...Do you still sell hotdogs?"

Julian Sawyer: "What the HELL is the Issen IV?"

Editor's Note: I agree. What the HELL is the Issen IV? (And I GMed this! And totally forgot!)

Charles Magellean moves around Aetos, looking to the Ivan that accuses the Lunarian of being allied with The Void. He spreads his legs apart, raising his arms in the air.
"IVAN!!"

Aetos: "No." .oO(I thought Ivan was on Nintendus...)

Julian Sawyer: "...An' who are you, anyway? You certainly ain't Ivan...'least the one WE know."

Ivan Robotnik: "A great planet inhabited by fighters, all of whom are ruled by you, your majesty."

Charles Magellean: "Your business is with me! Use the Lawbreaker to test me to see if your claims of me being part of The Void!"

Ivan Robotnik: "And him..." *Points at Aetos* "Allied with The Void, who happened to win. He gave him the power to manifest hotdogs out of thin air, and his own hotdog corporation. Ah, yes. Well, that is the strange thing about my test."

Julian Sawyer: "...This is fucked up."

Metal Man (GM): He swings, and misses Charles.

Julian Sawyer: "Yeah, we kinda already discovered that."

Ivan Robotnik: "You came here, proving you would uphold the law, not even caring for your life... even Sir Gawain cared about that! ...Whereas..."

Julian Sawyer: "Gawain?"

Metal Man (GM): He pokes Julian with it, nicking him.

Ivan Robotnik: "This sort of person cares only about his life and beating me up, like the one from my realm. But we can still have a proper fight, for entertainment's sake. We're all doomed here forever, after all."

Julian Sawyer: "...The hell?"

Aetos: "I'll pass."

Ivan Robotnik: "Me, you... you... you... Zodius... Bob Dole..."

Charles Magellean: "I came here to face my dark past... of my doubts about you, Ivan. Now you tell me that your challenge for me to come here was all for naught?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Bob Dole?"

Ivan Robotnik: "The challenge was to come here. One who fled from that challenge such would automatically prove themselves evil. And I would, eventually, get my revenge.
Give me a couple thousand years and I'll be able to get you back out."

Metal Man (GM): Hmmm. Looks like this Ivan, in addition to illogically hating you, lacked sound planning.

Charles Magellean: "Ivan... about saying you that you were allied with The Void... and going as far as saying you *Were* The Void..."

Ivan Robotnik: "If I were The Void, I would have busted myself outta here like he could."

Aetos: "Ivan, I am going to ask the same thing I asked Charles..."

Julian Sawyer: "...Gimmie a sec here..." *Julian takes up residence on the floor, takes off his hat and shades, and covers his eyes with his hand.*

Charles Magellean kneels before Ivan. "I'm... I'm sorry for calling you The Void."

Ivan Robotnik: "Ah! ...I'm sorry for insulting you, back then, myself. I had no clue my other self had prior dealings with you. ...Yes, Mr. Hotdog man?"

Aetos: "Why would the astral realm want me to keep Charles from coming here?!"

Charles Magellean has a tear shed down his eye. "I... I thank you. It took me courage to face this particular past."
He goes to stand up.

Ivan Robotnik: "What? You mean those demons who live in a realm before mine? They're so dumb, they can't even spell the word 'dumb.'"

Charles Magellean flicks the tear away from his face before looking to Aetos...

Ivan Robotnik: "Like... The Boid. He's much dumber than your The Void. Because his name is misspelled. And then there's The Furby.
..." *Shudders*
"The Furby is nothing anyone wants to speak about."

Charles Magellean briefly looks to Ivan. "Don't forget about The Noid."

Aetos: "A realm of astral beings such as an angelic one with flaming swords, and a business man."

Charles Magellean: *He looks back to Aetos* "Young Ward, I believe you owe me an explanation."

Ivan Robotnik: "...No, no, in my world, it consists of fire, demons, and demons with swords made of ice... oh! And the Noid. He's an annoying sucker."

Aetos: "SO DO YOU."

Ivan Robotnik: "We have a long time, so feel free to talk. It's more entertaining than poking Zodius with this sword."

Charles Magellean: "Julian yells that The Businessman sent you to kill me? You follow your mentor based on a whim?"

Julian Sawyer: "...So, Mr. Non-Ivan, you seen a chick called Yurie anywhere around here?"

Charles Magellean: "Please... begin explaining."

Ivan Robotnik: "Oh! Her." *Shakes his head* "The Void himself came in and sent her to sleep with the fishes. Not so much death but, I wouldn't want to be sent into the middle of the universe, you know? The gravity there is horrible."

Aetos: "He didn't send me to kill you. He sent me to stop you from entering the Null Zone. A command I received as payment for his help."

Ivan Robotnik: "She's probably alive out there, but nothing we can fix easily. And I invented the safety gun!"

Julian Sawyer: "...Damn. She sounded hot."

Editor's Note: On behalf of Yurie, I shall emote -.- and remind everyone that Yurie was one of the more capable fighters of the past... and so probably would have sliced Julian good or just punched him out for that.

Aetos: "And I was willing to do anything for a way to find you finally."

Charles Magellean: "Scuse me, Aetos."

Ivan Robotnik: "What I wouldn't do just to get Barney Robotnik to help me... even though he had a fixation with the color purple and children's rhymes..."

Charles Magellean walks up to Julian.

whisper: "Just between you and me... ...she was a very fiinnee piece'a work."

Ivan Robotnik: "And... then there was Captain Robotnik... Joe DiMaggio Robotnik... Ivo Robotnik... Olive Robotnik... even Alan Smithee Robotnik!"

Aetos: "Ivan! Why was it you assumed I sold hot dogs?"

Ivan Robotnik: "The family used to run a mean business, until The Void busted us up with death ships."

Charles Magellean: "This is just between you and me, okay?"

Julian Sawyer: *whisper* "DAMN... Got it."

Editor's Note: I lament that I didn't trap all these boorish men in the Null Zone forever.

The Void: "...The Void made you able to summon them at will, and also gave you a business. The other you, I mean."

Charles Magellean winks slowly, then goes back to talk to Aetos.

Aetos: "That sounds profitable... but Was there no other person I could have received the ability from?"

Ivan Robotnik: "The Boid, by exchange, had a chance to give you something... he slept through the morning, though, and then became lost in an alleyway."

Charles Magellean: "Now as for... what you were saying..."

Aetos: "Charles... Why did you vanish!?"

Ivan Robotnik: "The Void did all sorts of strange things in both our realms. In our place, he's basically destroyed all continuity. I mean, all of a sudden we were under attack by Maricians. Who are our ancestors. Who warped three times in a row through time, bought burgers, then danced on our capital city."

Aetos: "After you left, I only had Aribar!... and then Aribar left... and my only friend became Julian... you can imagine the trauma I've built up!!"

Julian Sawyer: "You EARNED that."

Ivan Robotnik: "I'll be your friend, kid. Just trick The Void into getting us out of here and we talk."

Julian Sawyer's still lying down, hand over his eyes.

Charles Magellean: "Young Ward... why didn't come search for me in the Light, then?"

Ivan Robotnik: "Ah yes... the Light Doughnut. My first invention."

Aetos: "I tried to find you... but there were 0 traces or leads... anywhere but The Business Man."

Ivan Robotnik: "99.9% air."

Charles Magellean: "As for what The Businessman said to you..."

Ivan Robotnik: "Looks like a doughnut on the outside... tastes like nothing on the inside."

Charles Magellean: "All I know is that this goofball here *Points to Ivan* came to my homeworld on his satellite, and saw me. He killed my Nobody, which I appreciate, then told me to come here to prove that I'm not evil."

Julian Sawyer: "An' here we are."

Charles Magellean: "Being from another dimension, the Ivan on Nintendus saw the breach and sealed it up. My only clue to get here was that Bob said that the machine Gerald used was sealed along with the other Solarian menaces."

Aetos: "I don't get why it wanted to stop you... but I suppose we have a lot of time to think about it..."

Charles Magellean: "Well, my job here is done, so now I can head back to the Light, find the Yortsed, and go to the Nintendo Temple about this 'key of greatness' that I am or somethin'. Robed hologram told me that in Robotnik's undersea base. I can only assume that you guys encountered something similar to it by now."

Julian Sawyer: "...Hol' Up. Nintendo Temple?"

Aetos: "Wherever you go, I'm going too Charles. You know how much some of those people bug me."

Charles Magellean: "Hang on... lemme see if I remember its exact words..."

Ivan Robotnik: "Hmmm. Your world is strange. In my world, we must constantly run from the Saga temple, which fires lasers at all who encounter it. It flies around and eats people."

Julian Sawyer: "...Our world. Right."

Aetos: "So you will take thousands of years to return us, Ivan?"

Charles Magellean: "You have come far... but yet you do not understand your true purpose. It is time that you would accept your own destiny. You have tasted the fine wine of the light side. You have lost the bitter drunkenness of the dark side. Positioned between both sides of the coin is your existence. What you hold is the key to greatness. All you must do is use it. The chaos energy in your body is the last chain to this forsaken world of today. After the chaos within is gone, return to the light side and request the holy artifact of Yortsed. Replace the encrypted control cube with this primitive doctor's own, and say the magic words of creation. Then all shall be revealed."

Julian Sawyer: "...You're bein' set up."

Charles Magellean: "Probably, but I don't have anything else to do now."

Ivan Robotnik: "The artifact of destroy? That thing killed Samus with one hit where I come from. Oh. Right. Yortsed. Probably does the opposite, then."

Julian Sawyer: "...Like I said, you're bein' set up."

Aetos: "Anyways... should we return now?"

Charles Magellean: "After facing Sephiroth face-to-face, I knew I wasn't safe in the Dark OR the Light."

Ivan Robotnik: "That's the problem. None of us has any rides out of here."

Aetos sighs and reaches under his cape, then slides out the teleporter to Turion.

Julian Sawyer: "...'Reckon I'll jus' take a 2000 year nap the-...That works."

Aetos: "I got this for you, Charles, before you left... from the Businessman."

Charles Magellean looks to Julian. "Be as it may, I might as well see who it was that tossed the lure."

Julian Sawyer sits up and puts his shades and hat back on.

Ivan Robotnik: "That is strange. Do not press it, though. It must be modified to work here."

Charles Magellean looks to Aetos. "What is it?"

Ivan Robotnik: "Otherwise you will go to Turion's location... the Turion of this dimension, which would also be nothingness."

Julian Sawyer: "It's a one-way to Turion."

Charles Magellean: "...Ahhh... so you did get it!"

Aetos: "You requested from his a transporter to Turion. You did not pay the price for it, but I did."

Ivan Robotnik: "Not to mention infested with a bunch of undead monsters. Who also fail to die when shot."

Charles Magellean: "Good, good. I can still administer that test for you when we get back."
*He looks around.......*
"Uhhhh... assuming we " *Find* a way first.""

Julian Sawyer: "SO how we gonna fix it?"

Charles Magellean: "I've been here before... but I don't remember how I left."

Ivan Robotnik: "I must use my repair abilities to make it work." *HE begins working on it.*

Julian Sawyer: "...You do that."

Charles Magellean looks around in the grayness. "Ivan, if evil surrounds us, then why hasn't it come yet? Is it on lunch hour?"

Julian Sawyer: "It's the Null Zone, Charles. Nothin' her but boredom."

Aetos: "Wouldn't you believe the Null Zone is null of everything?'"

Charles Magellean: "Then... wait..."
*He thinks... hmmm...
He bonks his head.* "NOW I remember!
The Thirteen Gentlemen's satellite was in null "Space", not the Null Zone."

Julian Sawyer: "...Who?"

Aetos: "Surprised this place isn't called the Void Zone... it means the same thing, doesn't it?" *Said that just to irritate people.*

Charles Magellean gives a quick swift to the noggin of Aetos.

Ivan Robotnik: "Well, that's simple, Charles."

Aetos twiddles his thumbs.

Ivan Robotnik: "The evil of boredom is here. Everywhere.
Why, most of the people here become boring after the first encounter.
Ah. And you named the right place, Charles. Evil is in Null Space, on the fringe of your realm. Boredom is here.
Both evil."

Charles Magellean: "The Thirteen Gentlemen were a group of villains that were under control by an evil computer. The original AI that was S.I.M.B.E.R."

Ivan Robotnik: "This machine... you said some anti-evil astral people made it? It reminds me of Professor Skyhigh's inventions."

Aetos: "As aliens to a boredom land... couldn't we break those rules? Couldn't we find a way to have fun?"

Ivan Robotnik: "You can, for a while. But the problem is, nothing is infinitely fun. And life and this realm are infinite."

Julian Sawyer: "...Whoa whoa whoa, PROFESSOR?"

Aetos: "He's god now in our realm... I think Turion is our realm..."

Charles Magellean: "Realms... hmm..."

Julian Sawyer: "Christ..."

Charles Magellean snaps his finger.

Julian Sawyer goes back to lying down.

Charles Magellean: "Hey. Do you guys think that the Time Calamity has something to do with the dimensional barriers beginning to tear?"

Ivan Robotnik: "Professor Skyhigh. The only man smarter than me and Barney Robotnik."

Julian Sawyer: "No."

Ivan Robotnik: "The Time Calamity? We already had that. It involved all the trains running on time.
That was frightening."

Editor's Note: The non-threateningness and yet implied threateningness of that combined makes that statement perfectly psychologically horrifying.

Charles Magellean: "I did not ask you, Ivan."

Ivan Robotnik: "Oh. Sorry."

Aetos: "Time Calamity? But wasn't that ended?"

Charles Magellean: "I asked The Businessman that same question. He said that all that Ivo did was made a little tear in time.
I'll be assuming that you Questers haven't averted the disaster yet."

Julian Sawyer: *...Zzzzzzzzzz...*

Charles Magellean looks to Julian... hmmm... something's missing.

Aetos: "Probably not... I can remember you leaving... me leaving... fighting shadow... leaving Turion to Nintendus... and then fighting on The Second Moon with some woman named Four's robot."

Charles Magellean: "Isn't Julian minus a lightsaber---"

Aetos: "No one else seemed to notice. I'll just say... he left it to another being, for it was losing value."

Ivan Robotnik: "Shadow. The mild-mannered preacher? Hmmm."

Charles Magellean looks to Aetos, a very menacing grimace on his face.
"W.h.a.t... w.e.r.e... d.o.I.n.g... o.n... m.y... h.o.m.e.w.o.r.l.d.?"

Aetos: "Um... We were somehow (apparently) warped there in pursuit of Dracula... who still escaped."

Charles Magellean: *Annoyed* "I would definitely remember if Lord Bahamut gave you Questers or that vampire his blessing to roam on his domain and my homeworld, but... seeing as how you got rid of him from The Moon, I'm... willing to let this incident slip by."

Aetos: "Do you know the moon well?"

Charles Magellean: "...What you call the Second Moon, I call my home."

Aetos: "Do you know what that big dome was for, around the cave?"

Charles Magellean: "..." -_o "What dome?"

Aetos: "We were warped within a large dome and instantly pursued Dracula within a cave inside the dome..."

Charles Magellean: "Hmmm... that may explain how you were able to survive the lack of atmosphere but... Was it... Dracula that had that dome that defiled the ground of the Lunarians?"

Aetos: "We are unaware. The agent Four was within the cave, and attacked us with her machine after Dracula escaped."

Charles Magellean: "Agent Four? Who the hell are you talking about?"

Aetos: "Then we were sent back to the Quester's HQ... I'm fairly certain we don't know much about the dome... which is why I asked you."

Charles Magellean looks to Aetos. "You had better not be making excuses to cover up your reasons for being on The Moon. Such an unwarranted action would result in open hostilities."

Aetos: "Four... some... lady? She's a new enemy, I think... the Quester's loss against her triggered Ivan-- our Ivan... to send some snobby robot priss to boss us around."

Charles Magellean is now interested in this tidbit. It overrides his feeling of anger and personal offense.
"Where did this loss occur at?"

Aetos tries to remember... "Underground... I think... it had civilians... hundreds died... But I can't remember it's location..."

Charles Magellean irises shrink... he gasps in fear.
"...THE MAGES COUNCIL HQ?!?!"

Aetos: "That was it!... But... isn't."

Charles Magellean looks away in disgust, both away from Aetos and Julian.

Aetos: "It was definitely named the Mages Council Headquarters... but I do not believe the Mages of the Council mainly resided there."

Charles Magellean: "I should've known that you people were responsible in that act of carelessness."

Aetos: "You people? I never got a chance to help. Everyone has to do their own plans before Aetos has a chance to come up with the right one... I had nothing to do with the defeat."

Charles Magellean: "Be as it may, too many innocents died that day. The Questers are still the beings of the Dark that I described in my goodbye letter."

Aetos: "In fact... I'm sure if Ninja didn't try to fight Four one on one... and then most everyone else... oi... Ugh... If only I could function without them."

Ivan Robotnik: "Without the organization you have, though, what happened at my realm happened. People everywhere. Total chaos.
I moved here on purpose."

Charles Magellean: "This... person that Ivan sent to you after the fiasco..."

Aetos: "Valentine... something."

Charles Magellean: "Doesn't sound like a robot. What is her purpose in your group?"

Aetos: "She claims to be a tactician... however... anything she came up with was just as good, if not worse than things myself and you could have thought out. She even was the cause of some mess-ups, I hear."

Charles Magellean: "...Young Ward, I am only to say this once."
*He looks to Aetos in the eyes.* "I want facts from you, not gossip.
I assume that Julian does not get along with her?"

Aetos: "I failed to see her in action. I avoid joining the questers on missions that being attends. Correct. And I never spoke to her."

Charles Magellean: "Seems to me you've formed first impressions before even speaking to her."
*He looks to Julian... he sighs and shakes his head.*

Aetos: "I've seen her introductions, and I've seen her arguments with Julian."

Charles Magellean: "Someone gives you a helping hand to come out from the Dark, but you slap it away."

Aetos: "Valentine? Her help is futile, in my eyes."

Charles Magellean: "Young Ward, after being away from the Questers for so long and cleaning up my own act, I've come to realize something about you people. Julian, I hope you're listening to this, too.
This applies to all of you.
Including me."

Julian Sawyer: *...Zzzzzzzzzz...*

Charles Magellean: "Why do you think Ivan sent a tactician to help you people better understand teamwork and thinking with your minds and hearts instead of your reflexes?"

Aetos: "She doesn't!"

Charles Magellean looks to Aetos. "Even if she doesn't, why do you think Ivan sent her in the first place? To help change you people."

Ivan Robotnik: "I could change you people, but then again, I couldn't change my people. All I can do is repair hand-me-down electronics."

Charles Magellean: "Listen closely to what I have to say, Julian And Aetos. Do you remember the Divine Rebellion? Where we, the protectors of Nintendus, waged war against the false God of Nintendus and his cohorts?"

Aetos: "Yes."

Charles Magellean: "Power is what we needed then, and it worked. We could afford mistakes because the entire world was filled with evil.
However, since The Void and Kuja are both defeated and can never cause havoc again, the world has changed.
The world changed from a decrepit evil to a world of good and peace.
Yes, we are the champions of Nintendus.
But we, too, have to change."

Aetos: "Then why don't you come and be the 'tactician'? Valentine's actions are not any different than the ones they've made before."

Charles Magellean: "To do now what we did in the past will bring nothing but more harm than good to the new Nintendus. There are people and buildings that are not evil. Change is hard, I know. But unless you don't change like the world has, then fiascos like the Mages Council HQ can happen again. I do not want to have that on my conscience again and again because we did not do anything else but act with our fists and natural tendencies.
Because I could not change, I left the Questers.
It was too much for me. Call me a coward, but this is the truth for you.
If you people don't change the way you do things to protect the world, then you might as well step down and allow someone else who can.
You saved Nintendus when it was consumed by evil... but can you honestly say that rushing in head first is the right thing to do anymore when you have to protect the world when friendlies are in the crossfires?
From the bottom of my heart, I know that I could not change so long as I was still with people who never change the way they fight. That is why I stepped down.
Aetos... what is your answer?"

Editor's Note: If only he applied this logic to himself, he might still be around today.

Aetos: "I agree that the Quester's methods are... stupid. It's not like I wanted to stay with them."

Charles Magellean: "Answer... my question. Will you change... or won't you?"

Aetos: "I already have, Charles."

Charles Magellean: "I want you to say it, with no hesitation in your eyes. Will you change your ways of fighting and protecting Nintendus so those that are not involved do not get harmed?"

Aetos: "Those not involved to not be harmed is important to me."

Charles Magellean voice bellows.
"YEEESSS OR NOOOOO?"

Aetos: "If it takes more effort to protect the innocents, then yes."

Charles Magellean: "Then relay my message to the other Questers, and to Metal, so they finally understand... and can finally be beings that I can say are not of the Dark. Tell them that this is why I left."

Julian Sawyer: *Snrk... That yell must of woken Julian up.* "...Yes or No what?" *He's still laying down.*

Aetos: "Charles, the last thing I need is everyone treating me how Julian treats Valentine. It's all hypocrisy. While we could change... they still judge based on the past."

Charles Magellean: "Then show that you can put that past behind you and think differently for the betterment of the planet."

Julian Sawyer: "...What the hell you jabberin' on about now, Charles?"

Charles Magellean: "A revelation. Nothing that You would consider listening to."

Editor's Note: Ouch! Burn!

Julian Sawyer: "Oh jus' go on ahead, Charles. I got nothin' better to do while we wait for Ivan to fix the teleporter. Go on, tell me how bad you think the Questers are."

Charles Magellean: "If not to the Questers, then to Metal, The Void, SOMEONE. Please... do this for someone who figured it out, but was too late to do anything about it."

Julian Sawyer stands up to his feet, and walks over to Charles "HEY! Pompous BITCH! I'm here, I'll listen. Lemme tear down each an' every one'a your arguments. 'Less you scared of gettin' shown up by ME."

Charles Magellean looks to Julian. "Already you know how it'll end. I explain my part, you stick to yours, and then the whole conversation is pointless."

Julian Sawyer: "No, I'm serious. Let's do some honest, open debate here. 'Cause I'm gettin' tired of you badmouthin' us while you sit on the other side of the fuckin' planet, makin' a little reform school for villains."

Charles Magellean looks to Julian with a raises eyebrow. He can't be serious... can he?
"You're right. I used to do that. Now, I all I see are facts and the fact that I left the Light because the guy that cursed that side of Nintendus with neverending burning light gave me an encounter and gave me the scare of a lifetime, making me run over 1/2 of Nintendus like the coward I am.
And the fact that I've been trying my damnedest to stay out of your way as well as the freaks that want to wreak havoc on the planet.
Course, look where that got us. Look where my damn pride lead us!
All because I couldn't accept change.
Accept? No, I just Wouldn't change, period.
I guess this is the fate of those that don't change."

Editor's Note: I just wish he had the depth of a proper Shakespeare flawed character though, rather than saying a bunch of inane bullshit that tries to sound deeper than it is followed by doing generic JRPG villain things and then going "Oh me oh my, I am flawed, but what can you do about it?" But you know that lament well, given all my Commentaries complaining about it. Just funny to see Julian also understands it here, in this mission.

Aetos stiffens.
"It... sure appears that way...
Now... all three of us are known for being stuborn in some aspects..."

Charles Magellean: "Trapped here... just to argue eternally with each other while professor nutty over there tinkers endlessly."

Aetos: *It's... too true... Charles with his never-ending quest for his answers and destiny led him there... Aetos' 'chaotic' following of whatever he thinks will be best led him there... and Julian's unchanging disrespect toward all-kind caused him to be sent there.*

Editor's Note: And the GM had a good point in doing this. If only they were actually trapped there forever... but that's a story for the next chapter(s) to tell.

Previous

Next

All properties belong to their proper owners; any copyrighted information is being used under fair use.