Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 337: Projects n' Professors n' Paintings

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Date: 7:29:48 PM, October 20th; 5:20:06 PM, October 21st, 2006.

Metal Man (GM): BLARGHTASTIC
Metal is, once again, in the Big Room, looking over yet more documents.

Charles Magellean is at his spot outside Big Room doors.

Metal Man: "This... is not good. I've read the intelligence reports on Gerald's fortress."

Scott Gibson sit's on Roxy strumming a tune.

Metal Man: "Of course, I must qualify my statement; Gerald died. This is a program. Dr. Light's analysis shows that it cannot make choices, and is only doing pre-set commands. When it runs out, it will cease to be."

Scott Gibson: "Whoa! Gerald? That dude that racked my brain last mission?"

Metal Man: "...Yes. Unfortunately, he is a virus. The program recruits other devices and people to aid in whatever goal it is he had programmed. ...I don't know what it is, but he's gotten a hold of some serious hardware, possibly of his own make."
*He turns on the projector; it shows a massive space ship on a launch pad.*

Scott Gibson: *Cringes* "That guy's one sick mother..."

Metal Man: "This is a fully functional, although isolated, battleship, from Kuja's time. Power readings are too low for it to launch, though."

Dragoshi: "...Huh."

Metal Man: "This is why it was fortunate you got the power source. Had he gotten it... well. That would have launched. Into space. I can't tell what it would do out there, and, frankly, never want to find out the hard way."
"You are to go in and sabotoge it, and stop the virus entirely, if possible. But... let me, again, qualify my statement."

Scott Gibson: "So we head in, bust him up, and pray to the gods of rock that we don't get zapped with this virus." .oO(Or in my case, not get zapped again.)

Metal Man: "Stopping him is something that will require something tricky, as the facility is guarded by every single piece of Kujan technology that survived the war. And it's only one launch pad."
"There are guards every foot on the outside and inside of the fence, blocking doorways and on top of roofs and even hanging on the outside of that space ship."
"All of them are typical Kuja supersoldier suits, which means that in those numbers fighting them head-on is lethal."
"I would offer a space ship, but they could shoot it down from that distance."

Scott Gibson has a bad feeling about this mission.

Metal Man: "Your mission is to get past them, inside the base, and probably try to get a self destruct, before running away. Fast. The destruct would take them all out and end the whole situation first-hand. While there may be some stragglers in that rumored Lost Solarian City I've heard about, he's got all his hardware over here."

Scott Gibson: "For the most part though this'll kill the head of the beast."

Metal Man: "Yes. I find it odd that he has his operations like this, though. Those soldiers could technically invade and fight us on a war scale, like the old days."
"Naturally, we don't have the weapons from back then anymore, for fear they be used against us. But, even with the weakness exposed, he chooses empty, dead space."

Scott Gibson: "They lack the production facilities to make more. So they'd have to be really careful. Seems to me that that's not how they operate."

Metal Man: "Gerald doesn't really operate carefully. His last actions include kamikaze attacks, being a host to The Void, nearly destroying the world, and probably figuring greatly in the cursed X-zone project."

Scott Gibson: "It's all good... I'm game."

Metal Man: "Yes. The warp elevator is ready."
*He flicks a switch; it opens, displaying the warp glow, as usual.*

Charles Magellean now extends his left arm so that Metal can see his hand. He moves his index finger up and down, as well as curving it a bit, to indicate for him to "come here."

Roxy: *BeeP!*

Scott Gibson: "You got that right, kiddo. Time to take care of business."

Metal Man walks over, noticing the relative inactivity of the Questers. "???"

Scott Gibson heads to the warp elevator with guitar in hand and Roxy following close behind.

Dragoshi: "...Right." *Slowly walks into the elevator.*

Charles Magellean puts his hand back to his arms crossed.

The Wraith: *The spirit drifts in through a side wall, and floats straight into the warp... He apparently heard it all.*

Charles Magellean: "I have important news to tell you. It cannot be delayed any longer."

Metal Man: "Yes?"

Charles Magellean: "I have made a rather large decision that regards to the former Light Side of the world. It was made after your brigade successfully drove out the instigators in my part of the lands."

Metal Man: "What would that be?"

Charles Magellean: "Because Nintendus has begun to place its paws on the Light Side, within 36 hours, Valhalla will be evacuating the crater that it floats over and the vaults that it protects."

Metal Man: "So I would see. But we lack the power to protect all of those vaults and the 'Dark Side'."

Charles Magellean: "Then have someone else do it. I have my reasons for pulling out. That's all I have to say."

Metal Man (GM): *shrug* "Nice to know, but ultimately out of my hands."

Charles Magellean: "Relay the information to Ivan. This conversation is over."

Metal Man returns to his desk; the Questers arrive at the destination.

Metal Man (GM): At the base
You all appear behind a couple of boulders, just otu of sight of the the massive base.
You see an electrified chainlink fence all around it, completely guarded by hordes of suit-machines.
There's a single building inside; it, too, is surrounded by them, as is the entire area inside. Some stand atop the shuttle and on the support structure for it, too.

Julian Sawyer appears, kind of woozy. "Ugh... Somethin' 'bout these machines when I'm in the middle of nap... What'd I miss?"

Scott Gibson looks at the fence to see if he can fly over it and unlock it, blow it up, or what have you.
"Just got here. Nothing yet."

Julian Sawyer: "So what're we doin' now?"

The Wraith: *The spirit pokes his face through the nearby boulder to overlook the base, scanning the area for potential weak points... Generators, perhaps something that could be overloaded to effectively EMP the base...*

Metal Man (GM): The fence could be unlocked, but there's too many guards to get by unnoticed.
As for the base, it lacks any real generators; in fact, that's probably why that ship's still there.

Scott Gibson: "Hm... Well my idea's a bust."

Julian Sawyer: "What the hell's your idea? What the HELL are we doin', man?"

The Wraith: *He backs out of the boulder again, stroking his chin. He looks to Julian.* "We are to take out that base, destroying as much of that Kuja technology as we can in the process."

Scott Gibson: "We need to get in there unnoticed." *Nods to the building.*

Dragoshi: "Pretty much."

Scott Gibson: "Trust me, my plan wouldn't work so it's best not voiced."

Julian Sawyer: "...So what's stoppin' us from EMPin' all the suits? We already know they weak to it."

Scott Gibson starts thinking again.

The Wraith: *He strokes his chin, looking to the side.* "Metal suggested a self destruct... Problem is, we've gotta get in there first." *He looks to Julian again.* "Would we have enough EMP grenades and be able to throw them fast enough to keep them from taking us down first?"

Scott Gibson: "Got any EMP nades? Or is there anything that'll zap em' from here? I can fly em' in but we'd risk getting noticed."

Julian Sawyer: "I got 6, an' I can call in 10 more. If we had some kinda mortar thing, this'd be a snap."

The Wraith: "I'd advise against that, Scott... Unlike those Koopas, these guys would be able to take you out of the air rather quickly."

Scott Gibson: "Yeah, I was worried about that."

Julian Sawyer: "Or a grenade launcher... that'd be awesome."

Dragoshi: "...'Ell yea."

The Wraith: "As it is, the best we'd have for that tactic would be our own throwing or launching abilities... Though that wouldn't be effective enough, I'm afraid."

Scott Gibson: "Wishful thinkin' isn't getting us any closer. Unless you know how to call one in then I'd suggest we get thinkin' about this critically."

Julian Sawyer: "Why wouldn't it be? You got a better idea?"

The Wraith: "They can probably shoot farther than we can throw."

Julian Sawyer: "Like I said, you got a better idea?"

Scott Gibson: "Toss you in close enough distracting them with that song 'I Like Big Butts' so you can toss nades at them for awhile..."

Julian Sawyer: "An' suck it up. You can take a lil' damage, Mr. Intangible Ghost."

The Wraith: *He just lofts an eyebrow at that.*

Scott Gibson: "John, could you be able to get across there and shut off the fence?"

The Wraith: "Possibly. But what would we do after that?"

Scott Gibson: *Snaps fingers* "Damn logic..."

The Wraith: *He peers around the boulder again, checking for any activity, or any opportunities he might not have noticed before...*

Metal Man (GM): You look around, seeing mostly patrolling machines.
You can tell that Gerald knew you were coming; this defense being only practical against a small group of people.
A large group could probably overwhelm them due to their proximity and relative lack of space to use to evade.

Julian Sawyer: "Maybe we should use the Master Egg."

The Wraith: "That should be used as a last resort only... It's not something we can use several times, and we might end up needing it much more later."

Scott Gibson: "Looking at our odds I don't think we have much choice but to chance it."

The Wraith: "Perhaps I could do a bit of recon, staying within walls whenever possible... Might come up with a plan. Any objections?"

Scott Gibson: "We don't seem to have much choice unless we can get those supersoldiers out of the way."

Julian Sawyer: "Still don't see why we can't just EMP the hell out of 'em..."

The Wraith: "Because it would be suicide."

Julian Sawyer: "And this isn't?"

Dragoshi: "...You know someone's just gonna sa-Yea, that." >_>

Scott Gibson: "For the time being let's keep the explosions to a minimum. Again, we'll use what Julian said as a LAST resort."

The Wraith: *He just shakes his head, deciding not to take the argument any further.* "Anyway... Like I said, I can go in and scout the place out. Who knows, maybe we'll get a better plan than charging in and tossing a few EMP's around."

Julian Sawyer: "You gonna die, an' I'm gonna laugh. Then I'm gonna EMP some robots."

Dragoshi: "...You do know how slim the chances of THAT are, right?" *To Wraith.*

The Wraith: "Then you're gonna run out of EMP grenades, and you'll die too."

Julian Sawyer: "Who says I'll run out?"

Scott Gibson: "And when that happens I'll be the one dragging you all back, lifeless, to base."

Julian Sawyer: "By the time you die an' give us away, I'll have enough grenades to take all these muthafuckas out."

The Wraith: "I've had enough of this... Alright, Mr. Invincible. Have it your way. Go ahead and charge in."

Metal Man (GM): The PA crackles. It's Gerald's voice. 'Raising powerlevels to 10%. Prepare for launch.'

Scott Gibson: "Oh for fuck's sake... *Sits down* ...Let me know when somebody comes up with a plan that doesn't involve SUICIDE!"

Julian Sawyer: "Nah, if you so confident that my plan should be used as a last resort, Cap'n Condecending, why don't you go ahead an' scout?"

Metal Man (GM): You hear some suits moving around; but the base remains guarded as before.

The Wraith: *He just shakes his head.* "Afraid to do it after all, hmm? Alright, then." *He drifts down into the ground, and goes to 'burrow' forward toward the base, if not interrupted.*

Julian Sawyer: "Hey, I'm not the one who wanted to back out first, bitch."

Scott Gibson: "Just drop it, Julian."

The Wraith: *That just rolls off his back; onward he goes.*

Metal Man (GM): The Wraith vanishes into the ground and begins moving towards the base.
Nobody sees him; not having any defenses or sensors pointed there, he's able to move at will.

Scott Gibson puts in some headphones and accesses his music data base in his guitar. Turning on his tunes he pulls up some Hendrix and AC/DC tracks and listens to them on a fairly low volume setting so he can hear anything important.

The Wraith: *Precisely the point... He goes to move into the base, staying underground and treading carefully, expecting to come across basement levels soon enough...*

Metal Man (GM): You soon reach the actual building; and, indeed, there is a single basement level. It, too, is filled to the brim with suits; so much so you're best off not even 'entering it', just peeking through the wall a little.
Inside it is a singular hologram, apparently of Gerald, accessing equally holographic computers.
And even then, none of them appear to operate in a language you'd understand.
He speaks to himself while doing this.

The Wraith: And that's exactly what he's doing. .oO(16 EMP's... Not nearly enough, unless you can get 'em all gathered in one spot...) He eyes around, cautiously peeking through the walls, keeping so that Gerald's back is to him whenever possible...

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: "The program will be complete soon. The Questers will kill themselves on my guards. Success is probable, but I must be careful."

The Wraith: *He listens to Gerald's words as he eyes around the controls, looking for anything that seems like it may hold a self-destruct function...*

Metal Man (GM): All of the buttons are the same, and you see one of his own henchmen walk through it as if it isn't there.

The Wraith: .oO(Those won't do me any good unless I could hack into Gerald himself... Not happening...) Is the maniac saying anything else of note?

Metal Man (GM): Not much; he's mumbling vague 'Keep to the plan' and 'It will be finished soon'

The Wraith: .oO(Good to know, but nothing practical yet...) He checks around; if this is the only room down here, he goes to drift up to the surface floor and check for any control hubs there; again, always peeking through surfaces rather than coming out fully...

Metal Man (GM): Up on the first floor there you see... yet another Gerald, with yet another holographic set of controls, doing the same thing.
And again, his henchmen everywhere.
There is, however, the vague hint this room used to contain consoles.

The Wraith: .oO(...Groundhog Day, anyone?) *Used to? He checks for what evidence there was of those consoles...*

Metal Man (GM): Old conduits and hunks of metal. They must have been torn out by force.
The PA goes off again; the hologram speaks.

The Wraith: .oO(That's no good, either...) *If he sees nothing else of use, he goes to check for an F2...*

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: "20% power and climbing."

Metal Man (GM): Floor 2: No such thing. Merely guard robots and a large, weird-looking satellite dish.
It's the roof instead.

The Wraith: *Knowing his time is limited, he drifts over to that satellite, trying to look at it from what angles he can to see if it has a notable purpose for him...*

Metal Man (GM): It appears to be hooked up to a number of wires, which are connected to another transmitter; one which then transmits information to the holographic computer he has.
It must be broadcasting or receiving some sort of transmission.

The Wraith: .oO(...He's operating this remotely...? Then he's elsewhere... This isn't good, but this base needs to be taken out anyway.) He tries to see if there's any method of input that he would be able to trigger a self destruct through...

Metal Man (GM): While it is hooked up (in a vague way) to the holo-computer, there's nothing short of some sort of hack-attack that could come near to that here.

The Wraith: *He doesn't spend a lot of time searching, though; and yep, that's what I figured... He drifts back down to the walls where those consoles once were, to see if the wiring back there is still active...*

Metal Man (GM): Nope; anything there is just a buncha wires to nowhere.

The Wraith: .oO(Damn...) *He checks the outside of the small building, to see if anything of note is out there that couldn't have been seen from the distance of the little quasi-camp.*

Metal Man (GM): Only the launch tower itself, which has some machinery... oh, yes, and the massive space ship.

The Wraith: .oO(I wonder... ...! Ding-dong... If this place has a self destruct, then obviously it must have something with which to destruct itself... Perhaps...) Getting an idea, he burrows straight down, underground, and begins searching for explosive charges...

Metal Man (GM): There appear to be no such thing, but there are a massive amount of rocket charges under the ship... to launch it with, or, if misused, blow everything up.

The Wraith: *And that was Plan B. He checks those out next, looking for an effective method of ker-booming them all rather than launching... Stealthily, of course.*

Metal Man (GM): Well. It looks like a premature electrical charge would set off all of them at once. Unfortunately, you have to be corporeal to really touch them with such.

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: (PA) "30% and rising."

The Wraith: .oO(Found the target... Now I just need a way of getting a good shock in here... If the embodied ones tried to just walk in, they'd get shot. But perhaps...) He returns to the ground, and heads back to the group, with a plan. A shaky one, but a plan nonetheless... He emerges from the ground, and looks to Julian. "...Set an EMP grenade on the ground. Pin still intact."

Scott Gibson: "Eh? Back so soon? He's only at 30 plus percent."

Julian Sawyer: "Blah blah blah..." *Julian drops it.*

Dragoshi: "...Wonder where he's goin' with this..."

Scott Gibson pops his headphones out.

The Wraith: .oO(Let's hope this works...) He goes to possess the grenade, and start drifting back toward the base with it, planning to keep the small target up & out of clear sight...

Dragoshi: "..." *Blnk-ku, rubs his eyes.*

Metal Man (GM): You fly with the grenade; nobody really seems to notice it, expecting other things.

The Wraith: .oO(So far, so good...) He goes to bring it down at the ship, keeping close to it, and next to any parts that share the same or similar colors whenever possible... And on whichever side has the least guards. If he successfully reaches the bottom, he pulls the pin, extracts himself from the grenade, and goes to flee through the ground again...

Metal Man (GM): *BLAM* The grenade goes off. The guards begin to fall a little--before then standing back up again.
The grenade goes off with its electrical pulse next to the explosives, though.

Alexia warps in next to Julian and the others.

Metal Man (GM): Before anybody can react, the base explodes, destroying everything and anything inside.

Julian Sawyer: "...TOLD YOU my plan would work."

Dragoshi: *Would prolly' notice el' base-o asplode*
"...YOUR plan?"

Editor's Note: *Looks up at earlier lines in the log* Yeah, it was totally his plan to use The Wraith, right? Right? ...No. It wasn't.

Alexia: *Silently looks at the exploding base.*

Metal Man (GM): Nothing is left of it but the crater; The Wraith's head pokes out from it, despite having tried to fly as far away as possible. (A close call)

Scott Gibson looks out onto the exploding base.

Metal Man (GM): The rocks are, themselves, melted in two.

Scott Gibson: "Well looks like that worked."

Dragoshi: "...Nice one."

Alexia: "...I think I missed something here."

The Wraith: "...I liked how that worked out. Don't you?"

Metal Man (GM): Any close and the Questers themselves would have been annihilated.

Dragoshi: "Liked it? Yes. Teaches them to exist with viral power an' whatnot"

Metal Man (GM): And then... you hear something else.

Julian Sawyer: "An' Julian's right again. We done here." *And not a moment too soon. Julian's player needs to go find some Alka-Seltzer... Julian calls up a warp portal from base.*

The Wraith: "However, while there, I made a bit of a discovery..."

Dragoshi: "...Knew it was too easy. ...Zuh?"

Alexia quickly pulls out her laser pistol.

Julian Sawyer: "...Belay that." *Julian cancels the call before it can go through.*

Metal Man (GM): *BLAM* The sand begins sinking nearby.
*BLAM* ...And in another area, also nearby.

The Wraith: "..."

Dragoshi: "Oooohhh hayell."

Metal Man (GM): *BLAMBLAMBLAM* 3 others, as well.

Julian Sawyer: "You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me..."

Metal Man (GM): You hear syncopated rumbles from deep within the ground.
Rising, from deep underneath the ground, you see not one, but five of those massive Kuja battleships raise from the ground.

The Wraith: "..." .oO(...The hell is goin' on now?)

Metal Man (GM): A relatively loud PA broadcast is heard, broadcasted by the one called 'Kuja Two'

Julian Sawyer: "JESUS CHRIST!"

Scott Gibson: "FUCKIN' HELL ON A STICK!"

Dragoshi: "Ah, cosmic hellfire."

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: (PA) "You fools... I set that up as a distraction while I launched the functional ships. All of that time you spent to destroy that base was wasted!"

The Wraith: .oO(Oh, bloody hell...)

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: (PA) "I would have never been able to pull it off had you not thwarted Sephiroth, the one being attempting to stop me, the only one with access to Kuja's technology left, from doing this!"

Julian Sawyer: "...You're tellin' me you saw NONE'A this while you was foolin' around underground, Ghost?"

Scott Gibson: *facepalms* .oO(Great... Outsmarted again...)

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: (PA) "But do not fear... I have no interest in destroying your pathetic planet."

Dragoshi: "...Glad to know that."

The Wraith: "Must have been far deeper than the decoy base..."

Gerald Robotnik Hologram: (PA) "I will fulfill my final goal... in outer space!"

Alexia mumbles something in Draconic roughly translatable as something to do with Gerald, his mother, and a dirty sheep.

Dragoshi: "..." *Backs away from Alexia.*

Metal Man (GM): The ships blast off, finally vanishing into outer space itself... cueing yet some more action!

Alexia: "Let's KILL."

The Wraith: "...Yeah. Let's all fly up into outer space and chase down five skyscraper-sized ships."

Scott Gibson: "...Okay... I'm literally so pissed off now I'm at a loss for words to describe it. Man, I so wish I could wire through to Boston: Third Stage and Jefferson Starship right about now."

Julian Sawyer: "Alexia's free to do so. We picked up some space suits last mission."

Metal Man (GM): The crater itself holds only one thing of interest.

Dragoshi: "...If this leads to the type of insanity from the incident involving Ivo and the Time Stones, I damn well better be g-Ah, right. Those."

Scott Gibson looks toward the crater.

Metal Man (GM): But you don't really notice that, as... another space ship launches, far to the north!

The Wraith: "...Good lord."

Metal Man (GM): Your dexes beep, immediately.

Dragoshi: "...Gaw damn."

Julian Sawyer: "It never fuckin' ENDS."

The Wraith: *Dex open!*

Alexia: "...ANOTHER?"

Dragoshi opens up El dexo.

Scott Gibson grabs his dex..."What!?"

Julian Sawyer already had his open from trying to call up base...

Alexia grabs her Dex and opens it.

Dragoshi: "Yo. I presume you already know bout the spaceships?"

Metal Man: (Dex) "...It appears Gerald altered his launch to correspond with the launching of the Valhalla."

Scott Gibson: "Fuckin' perfect..."

Dragoshi: "..."

Metal Man (GM): (Dex) "Somehow he knew... exactly when we would come... when it would launch... and also our tactics."

Julian Sawyer: "Good. Either one'a my main annoyance's gets killt then."

Alexia: *Grimly* "So what now?"

Metal Man: (Dex) "Unfortunately, we won't be there in time. I can only show you what's happening."

Charles Magellean raises his head. His eyes open.

Dragoshi: .oO(...Psychic nutball, anyone?)

Julian Sawyer: "Charles dies or Gerald's finally erased. Either way, I win."

Metal Man (GM): Valhalla is seen, launching into space, alongside the Kuja cruisers. It looks similar, but isn't entirely so.
They appear to be heading for one of the moons; you can't tell, though.

Dragoshi: "...Actually, I tho-Oh, fuck it." *Just watches.*

The Wraith: "Does he have a dex or something...?"

Alexia silently watches the Dex's screen.

Dragoshi: *Just watches, muttering.*

Alexia: "Grim situation here..."

Dragoshi: *Nods*.oO(...I've seen grimmer, kid. I've seen grimmer.)

Metal Man (GM): Valhalla, alongside the other cruisers, at first looks like it is about to attack, or be attacked... ...As it then suddenly leads the fleet of Kuja ships, all of which cloak and vanish.

Scott Gibson: .oO(Well this is a fine kettle'o'fish we've got here.)

Metal Man: (Dex) "What the? We just lost contact of all kinds with the ships. There's no trace of them."

Dragoshi: *Blink.*

Julian Sawyer: "...Jesus." >_

Metal Man: (Dex) "And... uh... Valhalla wasn't attacked OR captured. I have no clue what that was all about."

Alexia: "...What if it joined voluntarily?"

Julian Sawyer: "Then I got ANOTHER reason to kill Charles."

Metal Man: (Dex) "Can't tell. The virus can infect and make them act in accordance with it; it could have 'captured' the other ships. It could have joined voluntarily. But... I don't know."
You see the object again; it's a data disk, lying at the bottom of the crater.
Labeled on it, in Kuja's own handwriting, is 'Project Prometheus'

Dragoshi zooms towards the bottom of the crater.

Metal Man (GM): You could probably plug it into your smash dex.

The Wraith: "..." *He glances up to see that disk, and drifts behind Dragoshi...*

Julian Sawyer walks towards it...

Charles Magellean: (Dex) "Don't be ridiculous, Metal. I ordered Valhalla to jettison to my homeworld."

Dragoshi takes the disc.

Charles Magellean can only hear Metal's side of the conversation.

Metal Man (GM): (Dex) "Ah. Uh. Right."

Dragoshi: "Project... Prometheus? ...Fuh?"

Metal Man (GM): The disk would fit inside the dex.

Alexia takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, then walks over to the others
"Data disk, huh..."

Dragoshi: "...Think I should put it inside the dex?"

Alexia: "No."

Julian Sawyer: "What else you gonna do with it?"

The Wraith: "...He could take it back to base, where it could be checked to make sure it's not a virus."

Metal Man (GM): (Dex) "I could scan it remotely."

Dragoshi: "...Hmmm... Go for it, boss."

Julian Sawyer: "Blah blah muthafuckin' blah..."
*He scans it.*

Dragoshi uses the Eye of Truth on it to see if there's anything peculiar...

Metal Man (GM): *Beep.*

Smash Dex: "Virus free."

Julian Sawyer: "There. Now slot it in."

Dragoshi: "...Well, that's good enough for me." *Insert disk A into Dex B... Errr... Inserts the disk into his Dex.*

Metal Man (GM): The dex beeps, and then, suddenly, a grainy, interlaced bluish image of Kuja appears outside it, ala R2-D2's hologram in Star Wars.

Kuja: "I have predicted that the X-zone project will fail. Therefore, I have decided that the only way to truly succeed would be to allow Gerald Robotnik to be the true holder of the power. By the time you are reading this message, it is too late. Gerald has succeeded in his object, and what he does next won't be known until it is too late, assuming I successfully destroyed those certain documents..."

Alexia: "I hate it when videos get vague..."

Kuja: "I am dead. But you can rest assured I hate you. I also hate Sephiroth. I predict he will somehow stop me from ever coming back again."

Dragoshi: "...Smartass." >_>

Kuja: "Of course, such success is not without sacrifices; my beloved supersoldiers are no more, to be replaced by the prototype model you saw in what I think is what will be a ruined research facility. However whoever is hapless enough to get to be the prototype is to have no success and live in eternal emptiness. In that I can be safe from such a model rebelling and stopping Gerald."
"This, I also predict, is the last you will hear from me. With good reason; you've already reached near my throne room in this tower."

Dragoshi: "...Wonder if he predicted it'd be possessed by M-...Wha?"

Metal Man (GM): He sighs deeply, holding a small model of one of the ships you saw escape.

Kuja: "I only wanted to rule everything... but since you went out and destroyed my glorious utopia, this madman will destroy you all. I look forward to meeting you." *He laughs, and then the hologram vanishes.*

Alexia: "ONLY wanted to rule everything?"

Dragoshi: "...Only? Right."

Julian Sawyer: "Whatever."

Metal Man: (Dex) "Well, that was nice and vague; but I'm afraid that's all we have to go on for now. The portal home is open, Questers."

Metal Man (GM): Mission Completed---

Julian Sawyer: "I'm not gonna dwell on it, that's your job, Mets."

Metal Man (GM): Bonus for The Wraith: +6,000 EXP
Julian: 4000 EXP
Others: 3000 EXP
Coins: +10,000

Julian Sawyer: *LEVEL 81!*

Metal Man (GM): The portal appears. Metal looks strangely uneasy near Charles.

The Wraith: *LEVEL...54...*

Alexia enters the portal.

Dragoshi enters the portal.

Julian Sawyer enters...

Metal Man (GM): *WARP* You're sent back to HQ, where you may downtime.

The Wraith: *Le warp!*

Metal Man (GM): You're in the big room now.

Alexia: "I have the feeling that I'm a jinx..."

Charles Magellean has his head down, arms crossed, and eyes closed. Outside the door to the Big Room, as usual.

The Wraith: *He looks to his side at Alexia as she says that.* "What makes you think that?"

Scott Gibson: *Portals.*

Julian Sawyer: *And Julian immediately goes to his room, feeling the need to lie down. His player too. He casually chucks a live grenade at Charles as he passes him upon exiting the Big Room.*

Alexia: "Ever since I joined, there's been fireblasting doors, openings to the vacuum of space, raging skeletons, and now a fleet of ships on the warpath."

The Wraith: "...That's nothing new."

Alexia: *Counting them off on her fingers as she says them.*

Dragoshi: "...Eh. Could've been worse"

Scott Gibson goes and grabs a beer really quick but heads back with a couple o'brewskies in hand.

Metal Man: "You missed the time reality exploded..." *He counts on his fingers* "Once... twice... three times?"

Dragoshi: "You could've unleashed horrors that'd make one's sanity slip into decline just by looking at them"

The Wraith: "And lemme tell ya, insanity isn't very pleasant." @.@;

Metal Man: "You shoulda seen the Dans. Two cheese danish eyes... 10 foot long tongue... and an inability to die."

Dragoshi: "...The wha?"

Metal Man: "They eventually spread out and colonized the entire X-zone."

Alexia has a deer-facing-oncoming train look on her face.

Dragoshi: "Sounds more like a bad cartoon come to life than an insanity-causing horror. Then again... Eh."

The Wraith: "Oh, I saw several things of that sort. At least, imagined I did." O.o

Alexia: "I suppose there is one big perk from me joining the Questers."

Dragoshi: "Any of 'em giant, three-headed monstrosities?"

Charles Magellean speaks so all the people in the Big Room can hear him. "This is a note to all of you. Valhalla has left the Light Side at my discretion. For it to to jettison at the same time Gerald's ships left are merely a timing coincidence."

The Wraith: *The spirit hears this, and looks to the doorway.* "Or a plan on the behalf of Gerald's virus."

Dragoshi: "...Or some odd combination of the two. Who knows?"

Charles Magellean: "The Quester supposition. It never fails to rear its ugly head."

Alexia: "...By the way, Metal, I sent a document detailing some of my knowledge of dragons to the library's computer."

Dragoshi: "Regardless..."

Metal Man: "Ah. I see."
*He relaxes after what Charles said; he continues paperwork.*

Scott Gibson: *Snaps his fingers* "Oh, before I forget to remember and forget that again..." *Goes back to his room and comes back with an evil book "How to Destroy the World: Infernal Realm Edition" and three discs he snatched from the snowman episode and puts them on Metal's desk.* "Forgot to get these to you."

Alexia: "In a related question, is it bad if a computer plays a beep sound and turns the screen solid blood red?"

The Wraith: *He looks to Alexia.* "...Most likely."

Alexia: "...Doubly so if it mentions a fatal disk error?"

The Wraith: "...Yep."

Dragoshi: "...Yar."

Alexia: "...Am I in trouble?"

Scott Gibson sips back on a brew and decides after handing that stuff off to Metal he should go to bed or something.

Dragoshi: "...Prolly."

Scott Gibson: "I'll take a look at it later if you want. Meantime, I'm sackin'."
*He turns to leave and heads for bed.*

Alexia: "One final question. Would someone mind taking my Dex and uploading the 'Dragon Info' document to the computer the right way?"

Dragoshi: "Oh. Sure thing."

Alexia hands her Dex to Dragoshi
"Thanks."

Dragoshi: *Takes it* "No prob." *Walks over to wherever the computer is to upload the Dragon Info document. Sees that it's finished.*. "Done n' done." *Walks back to where Alexia is and hands her her dex.* "Here you go." *Walks out of the Big Room and heads toward R&R, muttering under his breath* "Bleh... Should've expected this, but no..." *Mumbles.*

Metal Man (GM): Maniac's Log 3.1.92.28291. It's all about the Pentiums.
You're in the big room, where Metal, again, is sitting. But Professor Oak is there alongside him.

Metal Man: "For this mission, I shall not brief. Professor Oak will."

Digifanatic: "Hey, Oak... long time no talk."

Alexia: "..."
*Mumbling* "Harbinger of doom..."

Redwind Jim: "Who be da geezer?"

Metal Man stands aside, as Oak assumes a similar position.

Professor Oak: "I am Professor Oak, PHD in Pokemon Science... and I have called you all here for an important mission!"

Digifanatic turns around to this new face...
"And who are you?"

Metal Man: "He's another new recruit. They come in from the cities and other dimensions all the time."

Digifanatic: "I bet, Metal."

Redwind Jim glances over to the guy talkin' to him. "Namez Redwind Jim."

Digifanatic smiles and waves at the new guy, hoping to gain a new ally at this place.
"Ah... cool name."

Alexia: "Look, if it's about the pull-out cup holder on the computer, I honestly didn't know it was a CD drive."

Professor Oak: "...*Clears throat* I have recently located a relic of great importance, one which may explain Mew, and thus, all pokemon!"

Redwind Jim: "Yezzir, I knows it."

Gibby: "Sounds like more treasure hunting."

Professor Oak: "The problem is, it was a meteorite which landed inside Saturn Valley... they don't like me, mainly because of an unfortunate incident when I mistook them for Pokemon."

Redwind Jim: "Trezure? I thank I likez dis idea."

Digifanatic: "Saturn Valley..."

Charles Magellean is you-know-where in you-know-what pose.

Professor Oak: "Even worse, they worship it as an idol, alongside a white fire hydrant and a box of box springs."

Alexia just kind of stands there for a second, then...

Digifanatic: "Such a great place."

Alexia: "Oak, what did you do to them?"

Gibby: "Oy... not -that- place again."

Professor Oak: "..." *He adjusts his glasses.* "I only tried to capture a few... for science!"

Redwind Jim nods. "Understanable..."

Gibby: "Not to them."

Professor Oak: "Now, you must somehow take it. I don't know how you would, but you're the Questers."

Scott Gibson walks into the big room with Roxy floating behind him.

Alexia: "Question two. Why the hell are they worshiping a box of springs and a fire hydrant?"

Redwind Jim: "Well yeah... if ye wanna getz all technical."

Scott Gibson: "Oh, guess I'm a bit late."

Professor Oak: "I am a Pokemon Scientist, not a Mr. Saturn one. Sorry. I have a few gadgets to assist you in your mission."

Metal Man (GM): He takes out an voltorb (pokemon)

Gibby: "Anyone wanting to understand the Mr. Saturns would have to be crazier than them."

Scott Gibson: .oO(Hm! Gadgets?! I'm there!)

Alexia: "...A fishing bobber?"

Professor Oak: "Throw one of these and it will distract all nearby people by exploding."

Redwind Jim: "Boomz be fun, dey do."

Professor Oak: "You only have three, to use as a group. I'm trusting this to... uhhh... Gibby."

Scott Gibson: "Eh?!"

Metal Man (GM): He hands Gibby 3 of them.

Gibby: "Sweet!"
*He takes them.*

Digifanatic: *Turning back to Jim* "So your name is Namez... okay, for me, my first name's Ian, but just about everyone else calls me by a nickname I somewhat gave myself--'Digifanatic'. Commonly 'Digi' for short. But how that happened is a long story."

Redwind Jim: "Ye give da blob dem?"

Professor Oak: "Yes. Now, to add to that, you must be able to fool them into thinking they have not lost their idol. For those purposes, I have this." *He hands a pokeball to Alexia.*

Scott Gibson: "A new guy's joining us too, eh?"

Professor Oak: "DO NOT LET IT OUT UNTIL YOU HAVE TAKEN THE RELIC."

Alexia takes it and looks at it.

Digifanatic: "Another one."

Alexia: "What's in it?"

Redwind Jim: "Uh... what? I said my namez Redwind Jim..."

Professor Oak: "I can't say. It's special."

Digifanatic: "I don't think he wants us to--yeah."

Professor Oak: "And finally..."

Alexia: "Uh, how do I open it?"

Redwind Jim: "Az long az I getz me some trezure I dun care whatz in it."

Professor Oak: "I'm giving all of you, as a souvenir of this mission, these binoculars." *He points to a buncha weird red-lensed binoculars, which are wheeled in by a Toad pushing a table.*
"Throw it to the ground after pressing the button."

Alexia: "Gotcha."

Scott Gibson glances at Rewind Jim..."Scott Gibson... rocker and computer specialist." points to Roxy "And this is Roxy, my scooter."

Professor Oak: "These binoculars do not allow you to see distances; instead, they detect latent energy. It comes in handy for detecting explosives, relics, and the occasional powerful madman."

Alexia then takes a pair of the binoculars and looks through them curiously.

Gibby: "Neat..."

Roxy: *Beep!*

Digifanatic: "I like that."

Professor Oak: "With that said, I must get back to my lab. The Smash Dex 3.0 needs more tweaking. It blew up the last time I turned it on."

Redwind Jim takes one of the binoculars and examines them before dropping it into his longcoat.

Gibby takes one and puts it away for later use.

Metal Man (GM): He takes out a screwdriver and walks off.

Metal Man shrugs, and pulls a lever. "The Warp elevator is active."

Digifanatic: "Hmm..."
*He takes binocs.*

Alexia then puts the binoculars and Pokeball into her pack before entering the elevator.

Gibby: "This should be an interesting mission..."
*He steps into the elevator.*

Digifanatic: "Yeah."

Redwind Jim walks into the elevator, idly examining his carbine rifle.

Digifanatic heads into the elevator.
"And Jim... let me tell you something."

Redwind Jim: "Do tell."

Digifanatic: "If any of the inhabitants of Saturn Valley offer you coffee... refuse it."

Redwind Jim lights a cigarette. "I only drinkz me sum good grog."

Digifanatic: "If you drink it, it makes you so hyper for such a long period of time it's just insane. Ah."
"I only know because I've seen others go nuts on it..."

Alexia shivers involuntarily at the memories brought up by that
"Could we change the subject, please?"

Charles Magellean: .oO(Above all else, I desire the patience that the rest of my race has.)

Digifanatic: "Oh, sorry, 'Lex."

Gibby: "Hey 'lex... BoInG!" ^^

Digifanatic: "GIBBY, NO."

Gibby: "Relax, I'm just kidding."

Alexia casually points her gun in Gibby's face.

Metal Man (GM): *WARPZ* *WARP* You appear in front of a massive fountain of a coffee cup, which has streams of water pouring out from it, and eventually flowing north and south via various rivers, with bridges over them.

Gibby: o_o; "...No more kididng."

Redwind Jim with a cigarette between his lips reveals a bottle of rum, which he drinks from out of the corner of his mouth.

Digifanatic: "Oh my goodness."

Alexia: "Good. It'll be the death of you."

Redwind Jim: "Letz get ta work."

Alexia puts her gun away.

Digifanatic: "These Saturns love to screw around with us!"

Metal Man (GM): Out here, there's a couple weird pink houses, and also a few Mr. Saturns walking around. They, being nothing more than little weird tan-head-shaped things with bows and little feet, look at you as if you were a normal occurrence.

Gibby: .oO(Yeesh... nobody can take a joke these days.)

Redwind Jim: "Hey. Lookz at da goofy 'ittle guyz!"

Alexia: "Peaceful without key-wielding maniacs running around."

Saturn: "Kay-o. BoInG! HeLlo tO yOu!"

Digifanatic: "Hi."

Alexia: "Hello."

Redwind Jim: "Yo ho."

Gibby: "Hello again."

Saturn: "WhAt NeEd YoU?"

Metal Man (GM): The Mr. Saturn jumps up once for no reason.

Redwind Jim: "Got any good grog?"

Digifanatic: "Uh, Professor Oak sent us here."

Redwind Jim: "Oh rightz... da mission."

Saturn: "YeS, wE dO. It CaLlEd SaTuRn BrEw!"

Redwind Jim: "Sounds tasty."

Digifanatic: "Watch out..."

Saturn: "BuY fOr OnLy 750 CoInS!"

Gibby: "Fair warning... don't drink it."

Metal Man (GM): Then it looks at Digi... and runs up and bites him in the shin!

Digifanatic: "I think that stuff probably has the hyper ingredient... HEY!"
"I was warning the guy!"

Redwind Jim: "Uh... from what da crew sayz, I thank I will pass."

Saturn: "YoU wAnT tO oWn Me? NeVeR! oAk Is BaD MaN!"

Digifanatic: .oO(We should still try some of that stuff on Pichu sometime.)

Gibby: "Yeah... we wouldn't want you biting our shins, now would we?"

Alexia: "'Course, we told Oak off and went here on our own."

Digifanatic: "I'm sorry."

Gibby: "No no, not owning."

Alexia: *Casually* "We'd like to see the big rocky-thing that landed here recently."

Redwind Jim: "You guyz would get on me nervez... no offense..."

Saturn: "ReLiC? PaY 10,000 CoInS tO SeE!"

Redwind Jim takes a big puff from his cigarette.

Saturn: "...PeR PeRsOn! BoInG!"

Redwind Jim: "We could jus' kick ye outta da way..."

Alexia: "Redwind, shut up."

Saturn: "KiCk Me? FoOlIsH."

Redwind Jim: "Jus' a thought."

Alexia: "You'll have to ignore him. He's insane. And drunk, I suspect."

Saturn: "I oNlY dRaNk TwO!"

Redwind Jim: "Takez a lot more grog than that ta getz me drunk."

Saturn: "So. PaY oR nO sEe!"

Alexia: "How long will we get to see it?"

Redwind Jim: "Howz about I give you a bottle o' grog instead?"

Gibby: "Yes, just what we need... a drunk Mr. Saturn."

Redwind Jim: "I fail ta see da prollem..."

Alexia: "NO. NO GROG."

Digifanatic: "He'd be drunk and he's already hyper."

Saturn: "FoR aS lOnG aS yOu WaNt. GrOg? I oNlY dRiNk SaTuRn BrEw!"

Redwind Jim: "Dis stuff is better dan Saturn Brew. Prolly mixes with yer brew perty easily too."

Saturn: "10,000, oR nOtHiNg."

Alexia: "Redwind, NO."

Gibby: "FINE!"

Digifanatic: "Yes."

Gibby gets out his 10k of coins and hands it to the Saturn.

Digifanatic: "To the Saturn. Not to Jim."

Gibby: "Here!"

Digifanatic hands the Saturn 10,000.

Redwind Jim: "But me gold..."

Gibby: "Don't worry, you'll get more."

Alexia pulls out a bag of 10,000 coins and hands it to the Mr. Saturn.

Redwind Jim: "Fine."

Metal Man (GM): The Saturn takes the coins, and gives Gibby and Digi weird and golden hand bracelets to wear.

Redwind Jim gives up 10k.

Metal Man (GM): And the same to Jim.

Gibby: "...What's this?"
*He doesn't have a hand, so it slides halfway up his fin.*

Saturn: "WaLk InTo CaVe." *He points, with his nose, to a cave labeled 'PlAcE oF WoNdEr'*

Metal Man (GM): He gives them to everyone who pays.

Redwind Jim: "An' further more, how much be dey worth on da market?"

Saturn: "GoLd? GoLd Is UsElEsS! Kay-o! BoInG!"

Gibby: "...Right. Lets be off then."

Alexia puts it on her wrist and heads into the cave.

Gibby starts heading towards the cave.

Redwind Jim heads to the cave, grumbling.

Digifanatic puts on his bracelet.

Metal Man (GM): Walking inside, you pass up various surreal paintings of clocks melting and pyramids made out of ice cream.

Redwind Jim: "I had a dream like this once..."

Metal Man (GM): UV light is everywhere. Eventually, you wind up facing a massive pile of treasure, with velvet rope around it.

Digifanatic: "Whoa, man..."

Redwind Jim: "...guys... pinch me..."

Alexia: "...Holy cow."

Metal Man (GM): At the top is a massive hunk of shining diamond, with a bunch of strange symbols carved on it.

Gibby pinches Jim in the leg.

Digifanatic: "Okay, this looks promising."

Redwind Jim: "...IT ISN'T A DREAM!"

Gibby: "Cool."

Redwind Jim appears to be drooling.

Alexia: "Shhhhhh."
*She takes out the binoculars and looks around the room.*

Gibby notices Alexia and does the same thing.

Metal Man (GM): The meteorite is glowing red hot with energy. ...And so are the paintings... and your own manacles.

Redwind Jim: "If I takez jus' a couple of trezurez... no one will notice..."

Metal Man (GM): Thsoe weird bracelets, that is.
The velvet rope also glows with energy.

Digifanatic: "Whoa..."

Redwind Jim utilizes his binoculars.

Digifanatic checks out the necklace...

Alexia: "Redwind, touch one thing in here and I will force a Mindblast down your throat."

Gibby: "Strange."

Redwind Jim: "Well then..."

Digifanatic also pulls out his binoculars...

Gibby: "She'll do it..."

Metal Man (GM): There are a number of little rocks on the floor, too.

Redwind Jim: "Sounds like a date."

Metal Man (GM): Ones for throwing, of course.

Alexia puts the binoculars back in her pack, takes a rock and throws it at the rope.

Gibby: "So now what do we---"

Redwind Jim: "Hmmm..."

Gibby: "...What was the point of that?"

Redwind Jim throws the rock at the diamond.

Metal Man (GM): It bounces off of the rope, causing the mound of treasure to waver.
The rock flies through the diamond and to the other side, bouncing off the wall and landing inside the treasure.

Redwind Jim: "Itz not real?"

Alexia: "...The little CROOKS!"

Digifanatic: "Well, nothing deadly yet."

Alexia: "This isn't real!"

Redwind Jim: "I'll kill dat little bilgrat!"

Gibby: "It -did- seem too good to be true."

Digifanatic looks to see if there's anywhere further forward to go.

Metal Man (GM): Nothing else (Seemingly) in this room, and nowhere further to go, although you glimpsed something under the strange hologram.

Alexia tries pulling the glimpsed item out with TK.

Redwind Jim, with a one track mind, heads toward this strange thing he sees.

Metal Man (GM): You hear a rattling, and nothing else.

Gibby: "Hmm..."

Redwind Jim: "Hmmm..."

Metal Man (GM): Jim walks up to the velvet rope, and tries to go past, but the manacles magnetically repulse, preventing him from moving one inch across the ropes.

Alexia drops her concentration on the item and flings a Mindblast at Redwind's skull.

Scott Gibson walks in being a bit late again.
"So, what's up? I got lagged back at HQ for a bit."

Alexia: "New guy's being an idiot." *Watches the Mindblast fly towards him.*

Gibby: "I do believed we were tricked by a Mr. Saturn."

Digifanatic keeps his binoculars out and looks through them, trying to find anything notable.

Scott Gibson watches Jim get slammed with the mindblast... O_o;"That had to hurt..."

Alexia: "I gave him fair warning, believe me."

Gibby: "Yeah, yeah..."

Redwind Jim stumbles forward from the blast.
"Ye stupid little bitch!"
*He turns around, grumbling.*

Alexia: *Cooly* "I told you not to touch anything."

Metal Man (GM): Regardless of inter-Quester fighting, there's still paintings in the previous corridor, which also glowed with energy.

Gibby: "Alright, enough of that. No sense in attacking each other."

Redwind Jim: "If'en we weren't on da same crew, I'd half a mind ta blast ye."

Digifanatic: "Okay, enough of the cheesy puns as well."

Scott Gibson walks over to Jim and puts up a hand..."Don't let her get to you. We all have our moments." He hands Jim an Ultra Shroom.

Metal Man (GM): Not to mention you could get even with Mr. 'Sell you Manacles'

Digifanatic goes back to check the paintings.

Gibby: "SOME more than others..."

Metal Man (GM): There's two, which have mirrors that make it appear there are more than there really are.

Redwind Jim: "I say we go get dat coinage back..."

Metal Man (GM): One is 'The Persistence of Memory' and the other is 'Attack of the Icecream Pyramids'
Both have UV lights lighting them up.
They, also, seem to hum for some reason.

Gibby looks over at the paintings.

Digifanatic checks out the Pyramid one through his binoculars.

Gibby: "...And why are we looking at these?"

Metal Man (GM): They look inexplicably smooth, far moreso than ones with real paint.
Digi: You're nearly blinded by the energy readings it picks up.

Redwind Jim removes the carbine rifle from where it is holstered at his back and brings it to be held, resting on his shoulder.

Scott Gibson walks around trying to get a good look at the room before people start trying to kill each other again.

Digifanatic: "Whoa!"

Alexia: "..."

Digifanatic pulls his binoculars away.

Roxy motors slowly behind Scott.

Metal Man (GM): A short corridor with the two paintings, which are lit up by UV lights.

Digifanatic: "Wow, that thing is emanating something!"

Redwind Jim: "I still say we get our coin back..."

Alexia: "Think we could take off one of those paintings without generating an alarm?"

Metal Man (GM): To the north is a holographically projected pile of treasure; to the south, the main area of Saturn Valley.

Digifanatic tries to feel around for anything hidden...

Alexia: "Fine. You go get our cash back. We'll stay here and figure this out."

Metal Man (GM): You 'feel' the painting; your hand sinks into it.

Redwind Jim: "Dats odd..."

Metal Man (GM): It feels like there's another world on the other side, as it ripples like water.

Digifanatic: "Okay... maybe something on the other side..."

Metal Man (GM): The clock painting, especially.

Gibby: "Someone stick their head in."

Redwind Jim shrugs and sticks his head in.

Digifanatic takes his hand out and sticks his head in--he was going to, anyway.

Scott Gibson: "So anybody have any theories yet?"

Digifanatic: "Well, at least the Dali has a bunch of that energy coming from it."

Alexia: "I don't think theories apply when you're looking at paintings of ice cream structures."

Gibby: "See anything, Jim?"

Redwind Jim looks around.

Digifanatic: "I'm saying that cause the Pyramids do as well. It's a good assumption."

Metal Man (GM): Jim sees a clock-world behind the clock painting.
Digi also sees it.
There's a small city made of melting clocks.

Redwind Jim: "Clocks."

Metal Man (GM): There's something shiny far-off over in there, too.

Redwind Jim: "And dey be meltin."

Digifanatic: "Ah yes... like the painting..."

Redwind Jim pulls his head out.

Digifanatic does as well.

Redwind Jim: "I say we go in."

Digifanatic: "Hang on. Mind if I check the other one first?"

Gibby: "What? Good call. Go ahead."

Redwind Jim: "Go for it."

Digifanatic: "Thanks."
*He sticks his head into the other painting...*

Metal Man (GM): You suddenly can't see, and feel as if you stuck your head into frozen icecream, which also means you can't breathe.

Gibby: "Now -that's- using your head."

Metal Man (GM): Ack! Banana chocolate chip in your eyes!

Digifanatic tries to pull his head back as fast as he can...

Redwind Jim pokes Gibby with the butt of his rifle.
"What are ye supposed ta be, ya little blob?"

Gibby is poked.

Metal Man (GM): Digi pulls out his head; icecream splatters everywhere, and covers his hair and face.

Alexia: "He's a Kirby. Don't poke him."

Gibby: "Hey now! No poking."

Redwind Jim: "I'm gonna."

Gibby: "And I'm -technically- human, but became a kirby because of a wizard and blah, blah, blah."

Digifanatic: "Ohhhhhhhhh... kay... That was odd."

Redwind Jim: "Sounds... odd."

Gibby: "What'd you see?"

Redwind Jim: "Apparently, ice cream."

Digifanatic: "Nothing but dessert. And nothing past it."

Gibby: "...LET ME AT IT!"
*He dashes straight into the painting.*

Digifanatic: "Anyone have a bowl--ah, too late."

Alexia walks over to the clock painting and leans into it.

Gibby: "WAHOO!"

Digifanatic: "I could have managed this in a civilized manner..."

Alexia: "Oooh. Dimension door."

Redwind Jim: "I say we go in the clock world..."

Metal Man (GM): Gibby gets into the painting, or I should say, his mouth goes into it.

Digifanatic keeps wiping off the ice cream, taking a rare lick here or there...

Alexia leans out.

Metal Man (GM): He tastes every variety of ice cream he could possibly want to eat.

Gibby: *_* "...So... good..."

Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, the others vanish into clock-land.

Alexia: "...Why are these clocks melting?"

Gibby contemplates living like this.

Digifanatic follows the others back into the clocks.

Redwind Jim: "Maybe because they are hot."

Alexia walks over to one and lets it drip through her fingers.

Metal Man (GM): Upon entering, you see a street paved with counterfeit rolexxxxes.

Alexia: "Ewwww. Time is sticky." *Wipes her hand on her jeans.*

Metal Man (GM): It leads through a torn of melting grandfather clocks, and a bunch of clock people.

Redwind Jim: "Hmmm... I coul' seel dos for a perty penny."

Digifanatic: "Now this is screwed up."

Metal Man (GM): Most interesting, though, are a bunch of angry-looking clock guys with swords holding a cardboard sign that says 'Nevada or Bust'

Redwind Jim: "Well... they look nice."

Alexia: "..."

Redwind Jim: "Alexia... go say hi."

Digifanatic: "Nevada or bust... Riiiiiight."

Alexia: "After you."

Redwind Jim: "Nay, you're more of a peoplez person."

Metal Man (GM): You also see a tall clock guy walking around sweeping ditches.
He has a huge clock for his chest and is red and blue in color, and has an odd mustache.

Alexia casually forms a Mindblast in her hand and spins it on a finger
"I insist."

Scott Gibson finally makes his way over to the group looking at the paintings.

Metal Man (GM): Up ahead, the shiny object appears to be near a bunch of clock-shaped towers that are also upside-down... but all the other clock people are too intriguing to just walk by.

Redwind Jim lights a cigarette and brandishes a bottle of rum.
"Nopez, you should do it."

Metal Man (GM): The angry clock guys see you, and suddenly float over.

Scott Gibson: "Good lord... I'll go..."

Clock Guy1: "Hey! I think I remember you! You're... uhh... uhh... Razor?"

Metal Man (GM): And then he looks at Alexia.

Alexia shrugs, absorbs the Mindblast, and walks over to the clock guys.

Scott Gibson goes toward the clock peoplez...

Clock Guy1: "And Yurie... you've really let yourself go!"

Scott Gibson: "Yo... How ya doin."

Clock Guy1: "Is that you, Nojiri? I always hated your whiny speeches."

Redwind Jim: "What are you guyz talkin' 'bout?"

Alexia: "Yurie who?"

Scott Gibson: "Eh?"

Clock Guy1: "Anyway, we're waiting for a desert bus to take us to Nevada."

Digifanatic: "They're older Questers..."

Clock Guy1: "Ever since we got fired when The Void erased us from history, things have been bad. Real bad."

Scott Gibson: "No such people by those names here, man."

Clock Guy2: "It appears he erased them from history too. Dang!"

Redwind Jim: "I dun thank a bus'll be comin'."

Alexia: "Uh, I don't mean to depress you, but I don't see any buses coming."

Clock Guy1: "Uh..."

Clock Guy3: "We have nowhere else to go."

Redwind Jim swigs some rum.

Alexia: "I don't see any bus stops, either."

Clock Guy1: "So... what are you doing here, in Clocksville?"

Redwind Jim: "Hey... drink enuff o dis stuff an' ye might just happen ta see a bus or two..."

Clock Guy1: "We don't usually get visits from people in your world. Ever since that painting exhibition was blown up by Solarians."

Scott Gibson: "Hm... Wish we could help, dudes."

Alexia: "...Are you aware that you're in an art gallery run by the Mr. Saturns?"

Clock Guy1: "...Wait... the lost painting was found? Excellent! Tell us where you entered from and we'll gladly escape this painting."

Alexia: "I take it that that's a no."

Redwind Jim: "Des guyz confuse me..."

Digifanatic: "Okay..."

Clock Guy2: "Hm... that would explain those weird people bringing in a shiny object."

Alexia suddenly looks up
"Weird people?"

Clock Guy1: "We'll get you to it if you just show us which direction you came from."'

Digifanatic points the direction that they just came from.

Alexia: "Little pink guys with big noses, whiskers and bows?"

Clock Guy2: "Ah. So you know them too... and... excellent."

Clock Guy1: "There is... only one problem. The way in is guarded by a jerk. That one."

Digifanatic: "Yeah..."

Metal Man (GM): The Clock Guy points at the other Clock Guy with a big clock on his chest, sweeping the streets.

Alexia: "A janitor?"

Redwind Jim: "I suppose we have to kill him."

Clock Guy1: "You've gotta beat him down. We tried, but then he suddenly reappeared in a sequel to the battle."

Digifanatic: "Oh, yikes..."

Redwind Jim: "Figured as much..."

Clock Guy1: "Then go straight ahead. Here's a compass if you get lost. It'll melt if you take it outside."

Alexia: "So, what? We go up to him, tap him on the shoulder and say 'Excuse me, but we're here to kill you'?"

Redwind Jim: "Yeah."

Metal Man (GM): He gives you a weird-looking clock which points to the shiny thing; then all three of the clock guys flee outside of the painting, yelling 'FREEEEDOM!!!!'

Alexia: "...Sounds good."

Digifanatic: "Wow."

Redwind Jim: "Those guys seemed nice."

Digifanatic: "Yeah..."

Redwind Jim takes a long drag from his cigarette then drops the still burning butt to the ground.
"Lets get dis over wit..."

Digifanatic: "So... I guess we gotta fight to get to the goods."

Alexia: "Litterbug."

Redwind Jim sticks his tongue out at Alexia.

Metal Man (GM): The clock guy remains in the way; feel free to walk up to him.

Redwind Jim: "So we gonna go kill dat fool or what?"

Digifanatic: "Rule number one: We have another Quester that loves to incite stuff like that."

Alexia: "...Oh cripes, Julian's gonna self-destruct."

Digifanatic: "His name's Julian and right now, he's not in our party."

Alexia: "I want pictures of that."

Redwind Jim begins to wander up to the clock man, no longer listening and lighting up another smoke.

Alexia: "Wanna hang back a bit and watch him get smeared?"

Redwind Jim stops a bit short and loads a few rounds into his carbine rifle.
He then turns to face the rest of the group.

Metal Man (GM): The clock Man turns to you, his mop suddenly gaining two mop heads on the end, made into a u-shaped... two-pronged... thing.

Redwind Jim: "He ain't gonna be beatin' himself is he?"
*He glances over his shoulder.*

N. Tropy: "Who dares disturb the mopping of N. Tropy? Is it you, Void? I told you my rent was in the mail!"

Redwind Jim: "Hang on clocky... gotta talk with da crew."

N. Tropy: "Or is it that other person... the one who stole my title as 'Master of Time and Space'? How I loathe him."

Redwind Jim: "Nope... just a pirate."

N. Tropy: "Hm. No. There are too many of you to be them. Well then, I have no choice but to kill you all! ...So I can sell your bodies and earn enough to eat more than crackers for lunch."

Redwind Jim: "Well that is rather rude."
*He turns around to face the clock man again.*

N. Tropy: "I am without a penny, sir. Wouldn't you kill for a snack or two?"

Alexia walks over to the clock guy.

Redwind Jim: "As long as I gots me grog and smokes, I be fine."

Alexia then without a word drops a bag containing 30,000 coins on the ground
"Will you accept that instead?"

Redwind Jim: "But I want to shoot at him!"

N. Tropy: "...Huh?"

Metal Man (GM): He looks at the coins.

N. Tropy: "I'll do anything for money!"

Metal Man (GM): He takes them and runs off like a madman.

Redwind Jim: "Will you let me kill you for money? ...or not."

Metal Man (GM): One less enemy in your way... although the prospect of a demented hunk of garbage with money like that IS frightening.

Alexia: "Shall we move on?"

Metal Man (GM): Your way to the shiny object is open.

Redwind Jim: "Ruin my fun..."
*He walks off toward the object.*

Digifanatic moves on with the others...

Alexia heads to the shiny object.

Metal Man (GM): You reach... another fountain.
This one appears connected to time; melted clock goo comes from it.
Atop it is a giant key.

Digifanatic: "Now that looks promising..."

Redwind Jim reaches for the key with more single minded desire.

Alexia simply observes.

Metal Man (GM): As you move towards it, time seems to slow down, until you notice your hand unable to move any closer than 1 inch to the object.

Redwind Jim: "Odd."
*He steps away from the item.*

Metal Man (GM): Looks like you'll need something to get the object with.

Digifanatic: "Alexia?"

Redwind Jim: "Lemme try sumtin..."

Digifanatic: "You are the telekinetic one here..."

Alexia tries pulling the key out with TK
"Say no more."

Metal Man (GM): The telekinesis appears around it, then turns to... glass.

Redwind Jim: "Time for me idea."

Digifanatic: "Holy crap."

Redwind Jim settles his rifle against his shoulder and takes aim.

Digifanatic: "I thought that that was foolproof."

Alexia: "One heck of a security system."

Digifanatic: "Jim..."

Redwind Jim: "Yeah?"

Digifanatic: "Those bullets are gonna stop just as much as anything else."

Redwind Jim: "Its worth a try."

Digifanatic: "Alright. I'm just warning."

Metal Man (GM): The shot hits the TK, and the TK explodes.
The key, for some reason, is freed by this.

Redwind Jim: "Well, the glass is gone..."

Metal Man (GM): It flies onto the ground.

Redwind Jim: "Yezzir!"
*He proceeds to gloat.*

Metal Man (GM): You now have the key... hmmm... but where does it go?
The way back out of the painting is open.

Alexia follows Redwind to the gate.

Redwind Jim walks up to the gate and proceeds to then pass through.

Scott Gibson is still outside the painting, waiting for news.

Digifanatic moves with the others...

Redwind Jim: "Sometimes you jus' gotta trust in pure brute force, ye knoz."

Digifanatic: "I understand."

Metal Man (GM): Outside, you see a hole in the painting Gibby ate. It appears to reveal a snow land.

Redwind Jim: "I guess that is destination two..."

Scott Gibson: "Any luck?"

Digifanatic: "Man, that has GOT to be one serious case of brain freeze."

Redwind Jim: "If by luck, ye meanz trezure... den no."

Scott Gibson: "More like, 'did we find anything of use that can get us elsewhere?'"

Redwind Jim: "I got a key."

Digifanatic: "Yes."
*He points to the key.*

Redwind Jim shows said key to Scott.

Scott Gibson: "Cool, man. Now we just gotta find where to put it."

Redwind Jim: "Methinks it is through the other picture."

Digifanatic: "Same here."

Scott Gibson has his guitar out and in playing position sitting on Roxy. He nods and then goes on to pick up on some Eagles' "Hotel California" where he left off.

Digifanatic: "Ah, nice tune. Didn't know you like more... refined stuff like theirs."

Scott Gibson: "I though so too. Seemed fitting, y'know..."

Redwind Jim: "Um... how so?"

Scott Gibson: "If it's rock then I play it. I also do blues and a bit of jazz but it's not my favorite."

Redwind Jim points his gun at nothing in particular, for no particular reason before returning it to be resting on his shoulder.

Digifanatic: "Ah... so you could get away with doing Elvis if you had to? I'm not telling to to start doing any riffs, but I'm just wondering."

Scott Gibson: "Yeah, a little... I'd have to brush up on it but I can do some."

Digifanatic: "Ah."

Scott Gibson: "Jailhouse Rock, of course... and others down the line."

Digifanatic: "Of course."

Scott Gibson finishes "Hotel California" and thinks of another tune to play...

Digifanatic: "Now..." *Looks at that painting again and sees that snowscape Gibby helped display*
"That could be peaceful or downright ruthless."

Alexia: "I'll go first." *Enters the painting.*

Redwind Jim follows Alexia, pocketing his key.

Scott Gibson gets up with guitar in hand. He looks over moves next to the painting.

Digifanatic heads with the others...

Scott Gibson: "C'mon Rox."

Roxy: *Beep!* *Quietly motors over and follows Scott and the others into the painting.*

Scott Gibson: "Hm... Looks snowy..."

Editor's Note: I originally erroneously thought the log ended here and posted it thinking the next half was in the next log. It was not. I had to go and fix the log annotation, and, et voila, here is the other half of this log.

Metal Man (GM): Wraith warps in; the way into ice-cream land is clear.

Redwind Jim: "Good ta know."
*He heads into the picture.*

Digifanatic takes a good look around.

The Wraith: *The spirit appears in his usual fashion, shadows seeming to draw together to one spot in the air and form arms and a head, then the seven colored stones light up in his torso.* "...What have we here...?"

Metal Man (GM): You can almost hear the Mario Snow land music from this painting. It consists of the top of a snow-covered mountain... but the snow is flakes of ice cream.
It melts for you to step into it.
Ol' Gibby ate a hole in a massive wall of icecream normally preventing entry.

Digifanatic: "Riiiiiiiight."
*He keeps heading forward.*

The Wraith: "This... is interesting." *He drifts forward...*

Gibby is down on the ground a few feet away holding his stomach in pain.

Redwind Jim: "'Ey! It be da blob... oh and lookit dat. He gonna blow."

Gibby: "Ugh... I think the rocky road did it for me... or was it the mint chocolate? I forgot."

Redwind Jim proceeds to poke Gibby with his gun.

Metal Man (GM): You have the key; and up ahead, a nice cottage with a big keyhole in the door.

Gibby: "Ow!"

The Wraith: *He stops, and turns around to look at Gibby.* "...You alright, Gibster?"

Redwind Jim holds up the key.

Digifanatic: "Well, that's easy."

Gibby: "Don't poke! I'm... just too full."

Digifanatic: "I'll just carry him."

Redwind Jim: "Guess dat does away wit da need to knock."

Digifanatic: "If you want me to, Gibby..."

Gibby: "But it was worth it... so worth it. Sure. Might as well."
*He burps loudly.*

Digifanatic picks up Gibby and holds him in his arms.

Redwind Jim walks up to the cottage with single mindedness and shoves the key into the lock.

Gibby: "Ugh..." *_*

The Wraith: *He chuckles, then returns his attention to onward movement; specifically, that cottage.* "...Anyone got a--..." *He sees the key in Jim's hand.* "...Good."

Metal Man (GM): The door opens up, revealing a large room; a painting on the wall shows a man with a strange mustache, and below it, 'Mr. McBasket Pan'
In the center of this room, is a table, with three jars. One gold, one red, and one purple.
There's a riddle in the middle of the table.

Redwind Jim pulls the key out and pockets it, just in case. He then lights up a smoke and walks on in.

Scott Gibson: "Yo, John."
*He walks toward the cottage and looks the door over.*

Digifanatic heads in.

The Wraith: *He nods to Scott as he drifts into the cottage, looking around and reading that riddle...*

Redwind Jim: "Cosy place."

Metal Man (GM): 'Open the jar of the middle to get a little tickle, in the form of the way to remove the protection of the treasure. Pick the wrong and become ice cream.'

Gibby: "Is there a bed? I could use a nap."

Metal Man (GM): There is, indeed, a bed; and a fireplace.

Redwind Jim walks up to the table and examines the riddle.

Digifanatic puts on his binoculars again and looks at the jars.

Metal Man (GM): The jars are arranged in a way so as to make no one of them in the middle of the table or otherwise for one to be in the middle in an obvious way.

Gibby: "Digi, drop me on that bed over there."

Metal Man (GM): Digi sees they all have low energy readings.

Redwind Jim: "I wonder..."
*He holds his bracelet up to one of the jars to see if something happens.*

Digifanatic: "Hmm... these don't give anything away..." *Places Gibby on the bed.*

Gibby: "Ahh... much better."

The Wraith: *He strokes his chin, pondering as he looks at this.* "...Gold, red, and purple... None of them are directly between the others on the spectrum, either... Hrm..."

Metal Man (GM): Nothing happens when you hold the bracelet up to the jars.

Scott Gibson: "Well, guess that's the Republican way of doing things..."

The Wraith: *He lofts an eyebrow and looks at Scott for a second, then just shrugs, shakes his head and looks back to the jars.*

Digifanatic looks to see if there are any more visual clues or aids... after putting the binoculars back.

Redwind Jim: "Ima drawin' a few blanks on dis one."
*He wanders over to the fireplace and examines the fire thoughtfully.*

The Wraith: "...Hmm." *He drifts around the table so that it is directly between him and the painting... What order are they in from that perspective?*

Scott Gibson walks in.
*Gives the riddle a quick read* "From my experience with computers I'd say that 'tickle' is a reference to a shock."

Metal Man (GM): They overlap and appear to make a perfectly oriented line there, making it hard to tell if any one is in the middle.

Redwind Jim turns around to look at the jars from the fireplace. What order are they in now?

The Wraith: .oO(Gwar...) "Hmm... Alright, but what we need is which one won't turn us into ice cream..."

Metal Man (GM): They form a weird overlapping line of sorts, diagonally.

Scott Gibson: "What? So I grabbed the wrong wire once, so what?"

Redwind Jim: "Dis un is confusing."

Digifanatic: "Yeah... no giveaways or anything..."

Redwind Jim: "I'd just shoot all three jars, but I dun wanna risk being ice cream."

Digifanatic observes the jars and tries to sniff them...

Scott Gibson: "Knowing me I'd be turned into pistachio... I hate pistachio..."

Metal Man (GM): They all smell like ice cream.

Redwind Jim: "Maybe if we rearrange them..."

Digifanatic: "Hmm... all of them are the same... Good idea..."
"But lemme think for a second..."

The Wraith: "Pistachio ice cream? Doesn't sound very good..." *He looks to Jim.* "I'd advise against it... Either they'd be unmoveable, or a bad one would trigger when you go to move it..."

Gibby: "Stop talking about ice cream!"

Digifanatic: *Luck check to see if that's good or if there's something better He slaps Digifanatic around a bit with a large trout.*

Metal Man (GM): Digi hits himself with great accuracy.
Where he got the trout, though, nobody knows.
This makes him think about the alphabet for some reason.

Gibby: ...oO(I must be having hallucinations. I could've sworn I saw Digi hit himself with a trout.)

Digifanatic: "Hmm... ABC... Gold, Purple, then Red..."

Redwind Jim: "ABC?"

The Wraith: "Mmm... G is early in the alphabet, P and R are damn near right next to each other... Long gap between the first two; kinda hard to say they're in the middle."

Digifanatic: "Yeah... But that's no real telling of what's the good one."

Redwind Jim: "Hmmm... maybe the middle letter... P."

The Wraith: "With that sort of contrast, you could say that Red is the 'middle' spectrum-wise; Gold, which is functionally just yellow, is on the complete opposite end from purple..."

Redwind Jim: "Youz can try dat theory den. I ain't touchin' dem jarz."

The Wraith: "Heh... I can't." *He waves his hand through the table.*

Redwind Jim: "Make Gibby do it..."

The Wraith: "I wouldn't make him do something I wouldn't be willing to do myself. And at this point, I'm not certain enough to choose just one..."
*He ponders for a bit... Luck Check.*

Metal Man (GM): You believe the answer could be found in the bottom of a rum bottle.

Gibby sighs.
"If I must... I'll do it."

Redwind Jim takes this moment to enjoy a drink of rum.

The Wraith: *He mutters very quietly, almost inaudibly to himself.* "But I don't have any rum..."

Redwind Jim: "Rum you say?"
*He reveals his rather large collection of rum bottles.*

Gibby: .oO(Great, more drunks.)

The Wraith: *He looks to Jim, eyeing the rum bottles with gusto.* "...We'll need to have a 'chat' after this is over. But for now... Is there anything in the bottom of that bottle o' rum you've got open there?"

Digifanatic: "So, anyways, about this puzzle here..."

Redwind Jim empties the bottle into himself then looks inside.

Digifanatic: "The binoculars don't work... they all smell the same and it looks like they're comprised of similar things."

Metal Man (GM): You see a strangely tinged glow on the purple container.

Digifanatic: "There are no clues on any walls or--hang on."
*He looks at the purple on.*

Redwind Jim: "Well lookit that."

Metal Man (GM): Jim sees it, that is; Digi sees just another container.

The Wraith: "...Find anything?"

Redwind Jim: "The purple one is... glowing."

Digifanatic: "That could be your mind playing games... I see nothing strange?"

Redwind Jim: "See for yourself."

The Wraith: "...Is that so...?" .oO(...Good lord... That actually came up with somethin'?) "...How ya feelin'?"

Redwind Jim offers the empty bottle to the others.

Digifanatic takes a look at the bottle and tries to gaze through it at each of the containers...

Metal Man (GM): The same container, purple, has a green glow.

Digifanatic: "Whoa... purple container... but it's glowing green. Screwed. Up."

Dragoshi: *Warps in, hood of this cloak up* "Yo."

Digifanatic: *Waves.*

The Wraith: "...That's interesting. Anyone with a body bold enough to try it?" *He looks to Dragoshi.* "Hey."

Redwind Jim: "Gibby... open the purple one."

Digifanatic: "Wait..."

Dragoshi: "...So, what's happening?"

The Wraith: "Hmm...?"

Digifanatic: "Let me do one more thing."
*He tries to rearrange the purple and red containers.*

Metal Man (GM): They don't budge.

Digifanatic: "Ah... crap."

Gibby goes over to the purple one.

Digifanatic: "I was wondering if that green was just strange prismatics, something from beneath the container, or an actual clue."

Gibby: "Well I suppose I should try it at least."

The Wraith: "Have at it."

Gibby grabs the container and tries opening it up.

Metal Man (GM): The purple container opens up, and all the manacles you got from the Saturn vanish.
Then an arrow points back out... to exit the painting, of course.

Dragoshi: "...Huh."

Gibby: "...Success?"

Digifanatic: "Okay..."

Redwind Jim: "Hmmm... Let's go then."
*Redwind walks back towards the exit.*

Gibby: "Seems rather pointless though."

Digifanatic walks back...

Dragoshi: "...Right." *Uses Eye of Truth on the jars, just in case...*

Redwind Jim: "You're not ice cream though... so I wouldn't be complainin'..."

Digifanatic: "He's right."

Metal Man (GM): The eye is deflected... the jars are made of lead.

Gibby: "With how much I ate, I'm probably -made- of ice cream."

Digifanatic: "I am not complaining either."

Gibby sighs and heads to the exit.

The Wraith: "Well, you are what you eat..." *He drifts out the door, motioning anyone remaining to follow.*

Gibby: "...I'm ice cream?"

Dragoshi walks towards the exit.

Gibby licks his left fin.
"...No, definitely not."

The Wraith: *He chuckles...*

Redwind Jim: "Don't confuse the guy... I thank he be a bit dumb,"

Dragoshi: *MASSIVE FACEPALM.*

The Wraith: "Ahh, Gibby... You're priceless."

Gibby: "Huh?"

Metal Man (GM): You reach back to the corridor. You can walk to the 'treasure'... but a great deal of Mr. Saturns are currently worshiping it!

Digifanatic: "Yeah... you're awesome."

Gibby: "And I'm not dumb! I just don't know too much of stuff."

Redwind Jim drops a burnt out cigarette butt onto the ground.

The Wraith: "...What have we here...?"

Digifanatic: "Yeah. A lot of us do come from different times, you know. Ohhhhhhhhhh man."

Redwind Jim: "Lookit em all..."

Dragoshi: "Huh."

Gibby: "Wait! I got a plan!"

Redwind Jim: "Ima listenen."

Gibby takes out one of those explosive things he got from Oak.

Dragoshi: "...Yes?"

Gibby: "Distraction through explosion, correct?"

Redwind Jim: "Go fer it."

Digifanatic: "Ah yes..."

Redwind Jim: "Now when did da geezer say I was supposed ta use dis?"

Gibby chucks it close to the Saturn, but not too close... wouldn't want them exploding as well.

Redwind Jim holds up the pokeball.

Scott Gibson: "I'm totally lost..."

Digifanatic: "I believe he said after everything's been taken care of."

Redwind Jim: "Right."
*He pockets the pokeball.*

Metal Man (GM): The explosion causes the Saturns to run around, confused; you can walk right into the treasure, now.

Gibby: "That should do it."

Redwind Jim walks right up to the treasure and tries to take it.

Gibby proceeds forward to the treasure.

Digifanatic: "Looks so to me."
*He waits for any signs of problems.*

Dragoshi follows the other two.

Scott Gibson waits with Digi.

Metal Man (GM): There's a weird trapdoor in the floor in the middle of the hologram.
It has a keyhole.

Dragoshi: "Anyone got a key?"

Redwind Jim shoves the key he had kept into the hole.

Dragoshi: "...That was oddly convenient."

Redwind Jim: "I figured we might need it."

Metal Man (GM): The trapdoor opens up, revealing a pathway underneath the ground.

Gibby: "Huh..."

Dragoshi: "...Nice. Down we go..."

Gibby shrugs and goes down the pathway.

The Wraith: "Onward and downward."

Redwind Jim pockets the key yet again, just to be safe. The pirate then heads on down.

Dragoshi motions for any other stragglers to get a move on.
*Then proceeds to follow the others.*

Scott Gibson: *Shrugs and moves toward them.* "Guess I was wrong."

Digifanatic continues.

Metal Man (GM): You head downwards, eventually reaching a very strange area.
There's a number of ancient ruins, apparently of ancient Saturnians.

Dragoshi: "...Zuh?"

Metal Man (GM): Strange devices purify and regulate the water.

Redwind Jim: "Bleck... water. Gimme sum grog any day."

Metal Man (GM): To boot, however, near an obvious crashed space ship (a sort of UFO), you see the real pile of treasure, white fire hydrants and all.

Dragoshi: "...Fire hydrants?"

Gibby: "Water is good for you though."

Metal Man (GM): It appears nobody goes down here often; they prefer to worship... a hologram?

Redwind Jim: "The hydrants!"

Digifanatic: "Yeah, this is a bit odd."

Redwind Jim: "That's what we came for right..."

Scott Gibson: "Just when I thought I'd seen it all..."

Redwind Jim walks up to the treasure.

Dragoshi: "...Wait. I've still seen weirder." >_>;

Gibby: "Sadly, my shock value isn't as high as it used to be these days."

Metal Man (GM): You walk up to it... and a click is heard.

Scott Gibson: "So let's get the swag and bust outta here, guys."

Metal Man (GM): A weird statue rises from the ground... in the shape of Waluigi.

Redwind Jim: "That don't sound good."

Gibby: "...Waluigi?"

The Wraith: "..."

Redwind Jim: "Do wha?"

Scott Gibson: "I smell a fight comin' on."

Dragoshi: "...If that's a statue o-...Yea"

Gibby: "But why a statue of him?"

Digifanatic: "This is one screwed up place..."

Dragoshi: "...Simple. The universe is fucked up."
"That's why."

Scott Gibson has his guitar in hand ready for attack.

Redwind Jim readies his rifle.

Metal Man (GM): Its eyes turn red, before it suddenly breaks free. Hm... it IS Waluigi!

Dragoshi: *Readies his scythe* "..."

Scott Gibson: "Doesn't matter to me... I'm here for muscle and muscle only."

Waluigi: "Hee hee hee! It is you, again, Questers!"

Gibby: "...Wait... why are you here?"

Dragoshi: "...How'd you get there anyway?"

Redwind Jim: "My you're ugly."

Waluigi: "Many people ask-a that, even Wario... with good reason!" *He laughs.*

Dragoshi: "Pffft. I've seen uglier."

Scott Gibson: "I'd say you're ugly but they pretty much beat me to the punch."

Digifanatic: "Even Wario?"

Gibby: "And that reason is..."

Waluigi: "I originally existed in the X-zone, and came here to rule the Mr. Saturns in this valley, while you were busy fighting some Kuja fool."

Dragoshi: "...So, you're the lord of the Saturns? ...What the HELL do they put in that coffee anyway?"

Redwind Jim: "Can't have that now can we..."

Scott Gibson: "Less talkin' and more 'get the fuck outta our way', man!"

Waluigi: "They took my mascara and yellow hockey stick to mean I was God... and, indeed, in my name, I stole all of this beautiful treasure... so that I could kill Luigi!"

Redwind Jim: "Can I kill you first?"

Dragoshi: "...That's pretty petty. And pathetic."

Gibby: "Oh yeah, that makes -a lot- of sense..."

Metal Man (GM): He pulls out an upside-down L made of a yellow material, resembling a hockey stick. He pats his left hand with it.

Dragoshi: "It's, like... Iunno, pathetti or somethin."

Waluigi: "I'm-a gonna break your kneecaps! You're never gonna touch my treasure! Waluigi is numbar wan!"

Scott Gibson: "Nice mafia stereotype reference."

Redwind Jim: "Not if I shoot you in the face."

Metal Man (GM): He raises it over his head and charges at you.

Dragoshi: "...Yea. Nice one."

Digifanatic: "Okay then..."

Metal Man (GM): His face is so hideous, it may become nicer looking with bullet holes.
BATTLE
Roll Init.

Dragoshi: *Mutters under his breath* "...ridiculous."

Metal Man (GM): Waluigi moves with uncanny speed... he must have gained experience from his years of fighting with Questers.
Order: Waluigi, Wraith, Dragoshi, Gibby, Scott, Digi, Jim

Waluigi: "Waluigi numbar wan! Forevarrrr!!!!"

Metal Man (GM): He runs up to Scott and tries to bash him over the head with his demonic hockey stick.

Scott Gibson gets nailed by the stick and staggers back with little stars...

Metal Man (GM): 45 damage if that hits. He's also 1 unit away from everyone, and for the sake of convenience, can't be shoved more than 4 units away.
Then he looks at John, taking off his sunglasses ala MIB (Men in Black) people.

Waluigi: "Eat eye-lasers, ghosty!"

The Wraith: *He lofts an eyebrow... And puts up a Reflect!*

Dragoshi: "...Eat bad luck!"

Metal Man (GM): It appears BOTH OF HIS EYES are off today... and probably hit the reflect, too!

Scott Gibson shakes his head a bit... "That fuckin' hurt, asswipe!"

Metal Man (GM): Indeed, they reflect back into him, dealing 70 damage to him.

Waluigi: "Ow-a! My eyes hurt worse than before!"

Metal Man (GM): He puts his glasses back on.

Dragoshi: "...How the hell are you firing eye lasers anyway?"

Waluigi: "I come from the-a X-zone, you moron!"

Dragoshi: "...Ya didn't have to answer it like THAT:"

Metal Man (GM): He brandishes his otherworldly beating stick.

Waluigi: "Never! Waluigi numbar wan! I am the weiner!"

Gibby: "You sure are."

Redwind Jim: "You sure are."

Scott Gibson: "Yep."

Dragoshi: "You're a hot dog? ...Eat 'im, Gibby!"

The Wraith: "Looks like you need a bit of demonstration on focus..." *Those stones spin rapidly around the center...* *Revenant's Roulette!*

Gibby: "Give me a break, Drag. I -just- had a mountain of ice cream."

The Wraith: *WOH-WOH!* *Two small purple flares fly out from the spirit, to collide on Waluigi's face.*

Waluigi: "You-a copycat! I hate you more than Luigi!"

John: *EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): The spindly man ducks under the first one, only to be hit by the second.

Redwind Jim: "Gibby... you're a kirby... are you like a a ball surrounding a black hole?"

Gibby: "We -do- have stomachs... and limits."

Digifanatic: "He basically is."

Dragoshi: "..." *Attempts to reap Waluigi of his possessions. Twice.*

Metal Man (GM): You hit him twice. However, his unearthly infernal cursed weapon sets you on fire, dealing 15 damage to you twice.
It cannot be handled by bare hands.
Upon closer look, it appears to be a Tetris piece.

Dragoshi: "...Ow. Somewhat" *EoT. Either way, he still deals 44 damage.*

Metal Man (GM): He is, however, beaten up by it.

Gibby decides to start the beat down immediately. He raises his sword up and shouts "Swords Dance". It shines brightly with power. Once charged up, he dashes towards Waluigi and gives him two good horizontal slashes with the sword.

Waluigi: "Come and hit me, ice cream lover! I am thee best of them all!"

Metal Man (GM): Miss, miss, as he ducks and dances around them with the reflexes of a tennis player.
As well as that of a dancer... how many talents does this maniac have?

Gibby leaps back and ends his turn. "Humph... he -has- gotten better."

Waluigi: "You look like a musician. I will dance to your music so well, you will never hit meeee!!"

Redwind Jim lights up a cigarette whilst he waits.

Scott Gibson stares down Waluigi. He nods at what he says and smirks kicking into a solo creating a heavy static buildup creating a massive set of four energy balls he shoots forward at Waluigi. "Payback's a bitch... YOU'VE BEEN THUNDERSTRUCK!"

Dragoshi: "You've been Thunderstruck!"

Metal Man (GM): Waluigi gets hit by one, but then disco dances around the others, having picked up the beat after the first smacked him in the face.
He is now 3 units away.

Dragoshi: "What's next, the polka?"

Waluigi: "Why, yes!"

Scott Gibson: "The next one is going to make you wish you hadn't mocked me." *EoT.*

Digifanatic decides that with the proximity to Waluigi, he can go somewhat all-out. An Icy Kick starts his turn to get himself in range, and a Fire Punch ends it.

Scott Gibson: *Mutters* "I'll crack your skull open with my guitar next time you fuckin' loser."

Metal Man (GM): He leaps over both attacks, laughing.

Dragoshi: "..."

Waluigi: "You can't touch me, I'm Waluigi! Waluigi power for numbar wan!"

Digifanatic: .oO(And you're number one in arrogance, too.)

Dragoshi: "...Whatev."

Redwind Jim smiles and plucks the cigarette out of his mouth then flicks it behind him before raising his hand into the air.
"Heat the guns, me hearties." *Que the appearance of a ghost ship that opens fire on Waluigi.*

Gibby: "I wonder why he sounds like a pirate all the time..."

Waluigi: "Gahow! You are almost as bad as Locos!"

Redwind Jim: "Hmph... ye did well me hearties."
*He lowers his hand and the ghost ship vanishes.*

Metal Man (GM): And another 2 TP is left, for whatever other attack you wish to do.

Redwind Jim takes a knee and aim. "Lets try for a head shot."

Metal Man (GM): Another crit. You shoot off his glasses.
This reveals exactly how angry he is, as a big ol' vein is in his forehead.

Dragoshi: "...Good fucking GOD, man."

Redwind Jim lights up another cigarette.

Scott Gibson: "Save some ass kicking for the rest of us. We wanna pound this asshole too."

The Wraith: "Well, well... Looks like we have a formidable combatant on our side."

Redwind Jim: "Have at 'im."

Waluigi: "How dare you mock me? I'll tear you to pieces!"

Gibby: "I think you've gotten him mad."

Metal Man (GM): Waluigi hops into a futuristic go-kart and tries to run Jim over.

Redwind Jim: "A little. ...oh my!"

Metal Man (GM): *Zoom* *CRASH* 75 damage from that.

Dragoshi: "...Where'd the go-kart come from?"

Metal Man (GM): After that, he gets out a tennis racket and tries to shoot a tennis ball at Jim's head.
*THWACK* 30 damage. -1 life. (You have 3 lives, now 2 left)

Gibby: "...Ouch."

Redwind Jim stands back up and empties a bottle of rum.

Dragoshi: "...Damn."

Redwind Jim: "Ow..."

Scott Gibson: "Ok, after that I'll let you have a brewsky from my personal, homebrewed, stock."

The Wraith: "...Well, then." *He waves his hand, and a dark barrier forms around him. He then vanishes from sight... And reappears a few feet to Waluigi's left. With a kerboom.*

Metal Man (GM): Waluigi ducks under it, quacking at Wraith in a mocking way.

John: *EoT.*

Dragoshi: "...Hey, that's my shtick when I'm bored! Son of a..." *He concentrates, slightly agitated... Well, either way, a tarantula appears, uses Dragoshi's scythe for extra reach, and attempts to bite Waluigi.*

Metal Man (GM): Hit!
He's looking pretty weak... and your first attack will auto-hit him!

Gibby is starting to feel a little better from the ice cream snack attack, and decides to give Waluigi a good inhaling. He opens his mouth and starts sucking in everything in front of him.

Metal Man (GM): You inhale his beating stick. You gain a Waluigi hat and a big stick to hit people with.
What's your level?

Gibby: "Wa-ha-ha! Gibluigi numbar won!"

Redwind Jim: "Heh."

Dragoshi: "...Heh."

Metal Man (GM): d20+16, 27 damage, reach 1, knockback 1, horizontal movement 1; this lasts from this mission through the next one.

Digifanatic: "Just because you copied his moves..."

Metal Man (GM): The name of the attack is 'Waluigi beating stick'
You can probably now use it against him for massive damage.

The Wraith: *The spirit laughs out loud at this...*

Dragoshi: "Digi, shush. It's funnier this way" *Follows Suit with John.*

Digifanatic: "Fine!"

Gibby: "Time-a for you to get-a beating!" *He dashes towards Waluigi and smacks him upside the head with the beating stick.*

Waluigi: "Wha? No! Waluigi is numbar one! Gibluigi is numbar 1.5! Gah!"

Metal Man (GM): Hm... a close one. He parries with his own stick.

Waluigi: "That was-a close!"

Dragoshi: "No! You're-a number pi!"

Gibby: "You're-a no match for Gibluigi!"
*He leaps back and copies Waluigi's stance. EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): Scott Scott Scottscott Scott's Nott Hereee

Scott Gibson whistles and jumps in the air. Roxy snags him midair and he throttles toward Waluigi suddenly jumping off high up. He lands and swings a hit at Waluigi to try and stun him.

Metal Man (GM): Waluigi spins on his head and out of the way of that attack.

Digifanatic pulls off a Fire Punch and them finishes with a whack of his golf club (the one thing Waluigi doesn't seem to have). Afterwards, he runs back 2 units to finish his turn.

Metal Man (GM): Waluigi dances around them, somehow taking heart in this unluck.

Waluigi: "Waluigi is numbar wan in dodging!"

Metal Man (GM): New Round
He takes his sunglasses, puts them back on, and then takes them off and fires his eye rays at Digi.

Digifanatic is obviously lase--err, lazored twice.

Metal Man (GM): 35 damage per hit.

Digifanatic: *DZZT DZZT* "YOW!"

Metal Man (GM): Then he decides to hit Gibby with one of his golf clubs.

Waluigi: "FORE!"

Dragoshi: "...TWO!"

Metal Man (GM): 4 knockback; 40 damage.

Digifanatic: .oO(I know I'm not the thief of moves!)

Redwind Jim examines his finger nails.

The Wraith: "Mmm... Enough of this." *He points his right palm at Waluigi as those stones of doom spin round and round... A dark blue beam bursts forward, aiming for Waluigi's throat...*

Metal Man (GM): Another close one, as he ducks under it.

Waluigi: "I will survive, for I am... Waluigi!"

Dragoshi: "Right, right, whatever."

The Wraith: *He then follows up by getting up in Waluigi's face, that center, larger stone coming forward and wailing on the lanky sonofagun.*

John: *EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): Crit miss miss miss miss hit.
He's pretty close to being defeated, but his high dodge rate makes that relatively bothersome a proposition.

Dragoshi unleash the hounds of hell! A Black Dog attempts to knock down Waluigi like a church door.

Metal Man (GM): Miss!

Redwind Jim: "Wraith... when this is done, we need to share a drink."

Dragoshi: "...Right. Those things never really DO hit anything, anyway." *Lets try that again... Ker-molotov cocktail!*

Scott Gibson: "I already offered you a beer... Mind if I get in on the drinkin' fest."

Redwind Jim: "Da more da merrier."

Scott Gibson: "Rock on, m'man."

Dragoshi: "...Ah, what the hell? Mind if I join in as well?"

Scott Gibson flashes some metal and smirks.

Redwind Jim: "Hehehe... we gotz ourselves a bit o party to do then."

Gibby: "Finally, I can take-a down Waluigi myself and be-a numbar won!" *He dashes towards Waluigi and attacks with two more smashes from his beating stick.*

The Wraith: "I'm likin' the sound of this..." *He procures an ethereal bottle o' vodka and takes a hearty swig.*

Metal Man (GM): Miss and miss!

Scott Gibson: "Al-right! Let's drink til we can't feel feelin's anymore."

Gibby: "...This stick must-a be broken."

Redwind Jim: "Whoooo..."

Gibby leaps back.

Waluigi: "Drinking is bad! I prefer-a to drink galaxies!"

Digifanatic: "Drink... galaxies."

Dragoshi: "...If only we had a galaxy bazooka."

Redwind Jim: "How... how do you drink a galaxy..."

Dragoshi: "Simple. Carefully."

Scott Gibson bounds at Waluigi and makes a stunning swipe at him.

Metal Man (GM): Miss!

Waluigi: "I have a forcefield of bad luck around me. Hah!"

Digifanatic: "One of us besides Jim has just got to get in a good hit, I swear..."

Scott Gibson growls and leaps up to bring down a hit.

Metal Man (GM): Miss.

Redwind Jim: "It is almost sad to watch..."

Gibby: "Almost, but we're-a used to it."

Metal Man (GM): Anything else?

Scott Gibson is getting extremely pissed off that he can't seem to even HIT the fuckin' guy! He counts up that he has 4 TP left and unleashes a four electricity ball blast again. "You've been... THUNDERSTRUCK!!"

Metal Man (GM): Crit hit miss miss.

Dragoshi: "You've been Thunderstruck!"

Metal Man (GM): He's hit heavily, but still standing.

Digifanatic while obviously not trying to be self-biased, tries to be that Quester to get in a good hit; running in his first TP, he figures that a Fire Lunge and two swings of the golf club should all be fast enough to where he should hit at least once.

Scott Gibson: *EoT* "Eat that you sunnova bitch."

Metal Man (GM): Miss

Digifanatic: *EoT.*

Scott Gibson: "Nail em' Jim!"

Redwind Jim lights a cigarette and takes a few puffs then lunges forward. "Burnin' yer deadlight!"

Metal Man (GM): You miss; he ducks under it... then runs into a fire hydrant and falls over.
He stands up again; you'll have to try again, then.

Redwind Jim grumbles and turns to face Waluigi. "Fine then..."
He raises his hand into the air again. "Heat the guns me hearties!" Que ghost ship.

Metal Man (GM): He's blown away by the ghost ship; defeated.
Boss defeated
+3000 EXP

Redwind Jim: "Sheeeyeah."

Digifanatic: "Finally!"

Waluigi: "I'll get you lateerrrrrr!!!" *PING.*

Dragoshi: "Heh."

Scott Gibson: "WHOO! OH YEAAH! Nice one, man!"

Metal Man (GM): And, with that, the treasure is there to steal; but... you must use the pokeball!

Gibby: "Wow! He-a flies really far."

Digifanatic pretends to faint, though it's obvious he's joking and lets out a "Phew"

The Wraith: "Excellent... Well done, Mr... Jim?"

Redwind Jim smiles and tosses the pokeball to the ground after pressing its button.
"For sooth, da name be Redwind Jim, mos' call meh Jim though."

Metal Man (GM): The pokeball opens up; a Ditto appears, knocks the weird meteorite with strange symbols to the ground, and morphs into an exact copy of it.
A warp home appears, too.
Mission completed - +10,000 coins

The Wraith: "Th'name's John. Though many call me The Wraith... or similar."

Metal Man (GM): The meteorite conveniently vanishes into the portal for you.
And now... I must go AFK. Feel free to downtime, though.

Digifanatic: "Oh, a Ditto..."

Gibby leaps into the warp home.

Redwind Jim: "I do believe we have a few drinks to down..."

Digifanatic: "Those things are cool!"

Redwind Jim walks into the warp.

The Wraith: "Yes, of course!" *He holds that vodka bottle up as he drifts through the warp.*

Digifanatic: "Well, you guys go do that. I'm not one of those types, as you can probably guess?"

Redwind Jim: "Wimp."

Digifanatic: "Yeah..."

Dragoshi nods, then heads into the warp.

The Wraith: "Ahh, leave 'em be. Dey don't know what dey missin'." *He takes another swig.*

Digifanatic: "Heck, I'm not legal age..."

Scott Gibson: "I'm all there for the drinkin'!"

Digifanatic: "At least from the time and place I come from."

Scott Gibson heads to the warp with Roxy motoring behind.

Digifanatic heads into the warp as well.
"Well, it was good to finally do something for once."
"I've suffered way too long of a drought..."
"So, anybody want to chat about anything?"
*He decides that, since nothing's going on, he might as well talk to Jim a bit more. *
"So, what got you interested in coming here?"
"I hope it was an actual motive and not just 'Some outside force sucked me into this place one day'."

The Wraith: "Well, that's usually how it happens..."

Dragoshi: "Pretty much."

Digifanatic: "Though I know there is an exception or two, myself included. Eh, don't want to talk? That's not a problem. I don't mind..."

Redwind Jim: "Hmmm... I wonder if I can sellz dis key I kept..."

Digifanatic: "Oh... Ah... I dunno. Ask Metal about it."
"But I say don't put it up to sale yet."

Redwind Jim: "I alsoz dun have much use fer dez binocularz."

Digifanatic: "Again, ask Metal... or Oak. Oak's the one that gave us those, so maybe he's a better person to ask about it?"

Redwind Jim pops open a bottle of rum. "Metal seems to like those kind o thingz though."

Digifanatic: "By the way, I don't know about the others, but after the shaky beginning, you, for the most part, impressed me."

Dragoshi: "...I realy need to ask someone 'bout this thing..." *Pulls out the strange pistol* "And find some way to enchant this..." *Pulls out the letter opener/shortsword.*

Digifanatic: "I like to see that in people newer to this place."

Redwind Jim: "Jus' doin' wut it takez ta get da trezure."

Digifanatic: "I imagine. So, what do you think of this place?"
"Think it's something you can get used to?"

The Wraith: "At any rate, I believe that display of prowess deserves... A toast!" *He raises his bottle.*

Redwind Jim raises his own as well. "Yeah, wellz. Jus' a few lucky shotz."

Dragoshi: *Pulls out a bottle of his own, and raises it in a toast* "Ah, don't be so modest."

Digifanatic: "Well, you two enjoy your alcohol and I'll just... be the bland guy that doesn't want to get wasted just cause I really shouldn't."

The Wraith: "Same difference!" *He takes a swig.*

Digifanatic: "I only kid about you folks getting wasted!"

Dragoshi does the same.

Redwind Jim promptly empties his bottle.
"Aaaah... datz good grog."

Digifanatic: "Just drink responsibly."

Redwind Jim: "Rezponsibleh? Wut be dat?"

Digifanatic: .oO(And speaking of drinks, we weren't offered coffee! Yay!)

The Wraith: "Ahahah... A heavyweight, I see!" *He laughs heartily.*

Dragoshi: .oO(...Too bad we weren't offered coffee. I would've used it to spike someone's drink. >_>)

Editor's Note: As a coffee enjoyer myself, I agree that there needed to be some coffee in this boozefest.

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