Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 405: Saga, Continued
Date: March 22nd, 2007.
Trivia: That IDS robot in this log predicted the future. Creepy.
Metal Man (GM): The group, having fought their way through to an underground passage, were just about to enter Armon's castle, with the help of Conrad, a knight in somewhat shiny armor.
Conrad: "So... uh... sorry about that, but here's the way in. I have to check on some things myself."
Alexia: "Like what?"
Dragoshi: "Eh."
Metal Man (GM): He flips open a door on the wall... revealing a metallic staircase up.
Conrad: "My ship, of course!"
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Digifanatic: "Ah, thank you."
Alexia: "Ah."
Conrad: "I crashed it somewhere near here... with these people burning things, I can't let them destroy the only functional Region Ship left."
Dragoshi: "...Region Ship?"
Conrad: "...It has been a long time. ..." *sigh.* "Saga was once a grand world, full of trade and prosperity. I mean Genetia."
Dragoshi: "...I see."
Digifanatic: "I imagine it was."
Conrad: "Broken up into many regions, you know... and these ships... Region Ships... shipped goods between them."
Dragoshi: "Though I wonder what caused it to degenerate into... This."
Conrad: "Tridus."
Digifanatic: .oO(AGAIN.)
Alexia blinks.
Dragoshi: "And why does that name keep popping up, anyway..."
Conrad: "Smithy came and destroyed a large portion of the world, but a good half survived him. Yurie said you killed him, too. But then Tridus came and killed all of our Masters, and thus destroyed the Three Powers government. Smithy's butchers took advantage and over the whole planet. It was so bad we had to rely on a Robotnik for our next governor... of our whopping two cities left. And one of them got toasted... our world is not going to last very long at this rate. What did you come here for, anyway? I don't care if you're a Smithy friend... they can't hurt us anymore anyway."
Metal Man (GM): He hangs his head, looking at his dented and burnt armor. Also, since nobody apparently remembers what happened to lead up to here, I shall mention it here.
Dragoshi: "...Hmm..." .oO(Curse my bad memory...) *Tries to remember what they came here for anyway...*
Metal Man (GM): Ricky took advantage of the fact the Questers had been fighting all the other people and not him to build up a massive force. He attacked with a massive army, taking over 75% of Genetia and then marching at the Questers without the Questers having time to react. They had to abandon the Seeker and fly to the Capital City with their vehicles, which all of the Questers did. Anyway, George Robotnik told them to go down and use the tunnel under Capital City to find Armon's palace and get his help in fighting Ricky and his newly renamed "Imperial Collective. ' And the Questers are now at the end of that tunnel, speaking with Conrad, aka Sir Donocle, who attacked them due to a mind control chip in his helmet until he was hit by his own sword. And he's shown the Questers the way to Armon's palace."
Digifanatic: *Basically relays a summary of what Metal stated to Conrad.*
Metal Man (GM): Now I hope that's enough for the players to go on, or else I'm gonna have to rename this Brain Age Quest.
Dragoshi: *And, on the hit by his own sword part, you can thank Dragoshi for that.* >_>;;
Conrad: "So... are you here to see Armon? Are you lost? Huh? I'd like to know."
Digifanatic: "Yes."
Dragoshi: "...Pretty much, yea."
Conrad: "...I'll take that as yes to both."
Metal Man (GM): Traon et Julian et anyone else would catch up just now.
Conrad: "This here pretty tunnel is a part of the Ori--I mean Mobian city back here."
Dragoshi: "Hmm."
Alexia: *listlessly.* "Hi, Traon."
Digifanatic: "Ah."
Conrad: "Armon's palace is supposedly above those stairs."
Dragoshi: "...Supposedly?"
Conrad: "And my ship is up there." He points up a slope that leads out of the cave. "Supposedly, because none know where he comes or goes."
Dragoshi: "Ah."
Traon catches up, and just looks at Alexia, he doesn't do much at all for acknowledging her, he just slightly nods. He then turns his attention to Conrad, listening.
Julian: *Julian's walks in from the beginning of the tunnel, having presumably stayed up front a bit to assist in vehicle repairs, muttering under his breath.* "Mess up there... Who's this joker?"
Digifanatic: .oO(Well, anything to stop Ricky...)
Conrad: "I am no joker. I am Conrad, the Master of Blades."
Dragoshi: "...Well, you really can't say that, considering you KO'd yourself with your own weapon, hm?" :/
Conrad: "Did you really think these mind control chips are all that great?"
Metal Man (GM): Conrad points to the destroyed chip.
Dragoshi: "...Eh."
Julian: "Whatever. What's goin' on now?"
Conrad: "My abilities are nothing to joke at, but... that is another issue." He shakes his head.
Dex: "Ricky attacked the Q.S. Seeker with his soldiers, forcing everyone--including you--to flee. Don't you remember?"
Julian: "Yeah yeah yeah, I got that. I meant what's goin' on NOW, Friendly-Fire. As in right this minute."
Conrad: "Well, you can go to Armon or you can go to my ship. Yurie put in a good word for you... Questers... although she hasn't reported back in ages. Probably dead."
Julian: "The hot chick?"
Conrad: "Whatever you call her."
Dragoshi: "Well we could always catch up to you later, either wa-" *FACEPALM.*
Alexia: "..."
Conrad: "It was the previous Master of Blades who knew her. I just picked up his will before his corpse and house were burnt down by Tridus."
Dragoshi: "Ah."
Alexia begins heading up the staircase.
Conrad: "I am not as good as the man who was killed, but I still have unrivaled knowledge amongst the survivors of Saga... All twelve of them."
Digifanatic: "Whoa."
Dragoshi: "...Twelve? Hmm."
Metal Man (GM): *CLACK* *CLACK* *CLACK* Alexia heads up the stairs.
Dragoshi: "Must've been hellish, considering... But, sadly, it seems we'll have to talk about this subject later."
Conrad: "I'll be heading to my ship now... don't want to be caught by those idiots and their cyborgs." He walks away, up the ramp to the outside.
Dragoshi: "Adios." *Walks up the staircase.*
Julian: "...Hate this planet an' everythin' on it..." *Julian heads up the stairs.
Digifanatic: *follows.*
Traon just follows up the staircase.
Metal Man (GM): The Questers head up it... and wind up in Armon's throne room. ...Well. Not quite so throney anymore. There's been a huge explosion in here. Armon's pieces are thrown about.
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Metal Man (GM): Suddenly, one of them moves.
Armon: "About time you got here!"
Dragoshi: *Walks over to the moving piece.*
Metal Man (GM): His head rolls over to face the Questers.
Dragoshi: "...Yeesh. ...Want me to pick up your pieces first?"
Armon: "The King came here and blew me up. And now there's goons overrunning my precious land!"
Digifanatic: .oO(Okay, now this is just a bit creepy... And there's that King again.)
Armon: "Even worse, my second-in command, Erzez, is dead."
Dragoshi: "...Again with The King."
Julian: "Yeah, our bad."
Armon: "He could have disintegrated these jokers... but now his land and factories are theirs! As are Eggman's! Not counting their own factories... or the one they made out of that ship you exploded..."
Alexia: "..."
Armon: "They create soldiers faster than Smithy ever did. You couldn't kill 'em fast enough. Our higher quality Machine Mades are almost entirely dead. The last of them are holding this palace."
Alexia: "How can we help?"
Julian: "So what's the plan?"
Armon: "Help? Help! Plans? Are you mad? There's nothing left..."
Julian: "There's ALWAYS somethin' left. Now what's the plan?"
Dragoshi: "...Yea."
Armon: "Just take my head and my soldiers and find us a way out of here."
Julian: "See? That's a plan. Digi, grab his head. I ain't touchin' it."
Armon: "We have enough to hold our own and rebuild in a safe place..."
Digifanatic: "Heh... alright."
Armon: "...You do have at least one safe place, right?"
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Digifanatic: "I don't mind having to." *walks over and gently picks up Armon's head.*
Julian: "Think we do."
Armon: "Oh! Oh! I forgot. How dumb of me!"
Dragoshi: "...Yes?"
Armon: "The... master controls to the satellites..."
Dragoshi: "...satellites?"
Armon: "Over here." He sticks out his tongue and points at his throne.
Julian: "Keep goin'..."
Dragoshi: *Walks over to there.*
Digifanatic: "This sounds like we're going somewhere." *heads over to the throne.*
Armon: "Smithy was adamant about filling the space around Genetia with them."
Julian: *walks over, expecting Digi to follow with Armon's head.* "NOW you're thinkin'."
Alexia heads to the throne.
Armon: "He said never to use them, but this is sort of a time to use them..."
Digifanatic: *Yes, with the head.*
Dragoshi: "...Why'd he say to never use them?"
Metal Man (GM): There is a... it's an exact copy of that control panel back from Nintendus.
Armon: "He never told me. He... was annoying like that."
Julian: "'Cause it'd be used 'gainst him, I'm guessin'..."
Dragoshi: "...Ah."
Digifanatic: *notes the panel.* "Deja vu..."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers can see the entire planet of Genetia on it... the satellites are under attack.
Dragoshi: "Yea. People like that suck sometimes." :/
Julian: "...Fuck."
Armon: "Press... the big red button."
Digifanatic: "These satellites better not be killing any civilians."
Alexia hits said button.
Armon: "...Civilians? You care about them? Let's just nuke the planet from orbit!"
Dragoshi: "..."
Julian: "FINALLY someone agrees with me..."
Dragoshi: *FACEPALM.*
Computer: 'DESTRUCTION PROGRAM ACTIVATED.'
Digifanatic: "And you told us this NOW?"
Alexia: "...Oops."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers hear explosions outside. Everywhere.
Dragoshi: "Oh, for crying out loud..."
Metal Man (GM): The camera shows red lasers raking the planet uncontrollably.
Alexia hits the button again frantically.
Dragoshi: "...I see why he told you not to use them."
Digifanatic looks for any possible way to stop that sort of program.
Julian: "...I was thinkin' this whole 'nuke the planet from orbit' thing would happen when I'm not ON the planet, though."
Computer: 'ERROR: CONTROL SATELLITE HAS BEEN DESTROYED.'
Dragoshi: "It'd pretty much RAZE the damn plane-..."
Alexia: "AW HELL NO."
Julian: "Look on the bright side. 'Least everythin' ELSE is blowin' up too."
Alex frowns.
Armon: "Great. Now let's get to the safe place!"
Alex: "Back in the city?"
Julian: "What he said." *To the safe place! Where is the safe place?*
Armon: "This was the failsafe. We nuke the planet's surface and rebuild everything."
Digifanatic: "Huh..."
Alexia: "We have to stop these lasers first!"
Armon: "...Yes, Central City does appear to be safe... but do you have a ship?"
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Alexia kicks the control panel.
Traon: "Good going..."
Digifanatic: "We have one, but it's not in the city!"
Alex: "Central?.. Isn't it called Capital?"
Armon: "...We can't stop the lasers, Alexia. The control satellite was destroyed. Central City was its original name."
Dragoshi: "...This is why you build a BACKUP control satellite."
Julian: "I got a SUV that can take us to the ship. Now we gonna get movin' or not?"
Traon: "This is why you don't push buttons until you figure out what they do."
Armon: "Where is this SUV?"
Digifanatic: "He didn't know what it would do, Traon."
Alexia: "No... all those people..."
Dragoshi: "...Can't we just the passage we used to get here."
Julian: "Back at the city... think the flight's knocked outta it, though. Pretty sure it can still drive."
Dragoshi: *Looks over to it.*
Armon: "...You opened it up, though. Once it's open, anybody can go there."
Alexia: "...Uh-oh."
Armon: "In fact these sensors show... it's full of soldiers already!"
Digifanatic: "Well, that's good. Let's just--oh, skip the backtrack for a minute."
Dragoshi: "...Then we just have to close it." :/
Alexia runs back to the tunnel and tries to block the entrance.
Julian: "...Fuck. Looks like we ain't gettin' back to the city then."
Metal Man (GM): Alexia runs to the stairs, and see hordes of soldiers down below.
Armon: "There has to be a ship... anywhere!"
Alexia: "..."
Digifanatic: "Nuts, nuts, nuts..."
Armon: "Er... near here."
Metal Man (GM): *BLAM* *BLAM* *BOOOM* A big laser cuts through the ceiling nearby.
Alex: "Is it too late to catch up to Conrad?"
Alexia: "Whoa!" *ducks back to the main room.*
Dragoshi: "...Oh! I know! There was this one guy... Conra-Yea, that was i-Ah, man."
Julian: "He's probably long gone by now..." *think think think... Luck check.*
Armon: "Conrad? I didn't know Saga people still existed! Quick! Get me to him!"
Digifanatic: "Twelve."
Alexia begins swearing while beating on the control panel.
Dragoshi: "Yea."
Metal Man (GM): The panel can't do anything.
Julian: "ALEXIA! Forget the control panel!"
Alexia: "DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN."
Armon: "Do you know where he last was?"
Alex: "Erm. Which way did he go?"
Julian: "Only thing I got is to run to Conrad's... ship..." *facepalm.* "How the hell'd I forget 'bout that."
Armon: "I could probably locate hi--" *BLAMMM* "...If we hurry."
Alex: "He was with us just before we came in here."
Julian: *Tries to find the way to Conrad.*
Metal Man (GM): Armon rattles a bit and points at a control panel.
Digifanatic: "Sounds like a good idea, Julian."
Armon: "Click the screen! We can use that to find which way we must go."
Julian: *Clicks the screen?*
Dragoshi: *Does so.*
Digifanatic runs over and tries to help as well.
Metal Man (GM): There is a giant green dot, indicating 'Region Ship'... it's right outside... but there's no way down, all the staircases are shot.
Alexia runs over and looks at the screen.
Traon: "This is why I hate machines. It seems every single one is out to get us." he mutters other things under his breath, but goes back to focusing at the situation at hand.
Metal Man (GM): However... there's a window leading across the top of an arched roof... treacherous, but usable.
Alexia then glances at the window...
Dragoshi: *Points at the window.* "How 'bout that?"
Julian: "Hit the window! It's our only way out!" *Julian heads for it.*
Alexia: "...Screw it, we're outta options..."
Dragoshi: *Zooms over to it.*
Armon: "I take offense to that, but now isn't the time..."
Digifanatic: *goes for the window.*
Alexia runs over to the window.
Metal Man (GM): The window is not meant to be opened. Smashing time.
Julian: *Julian breaks it out, and climbs out.*
Digifanatic: *Fire Punches the window.*
Dragoshi: *Pulls out machinegun and shoots it the hell down.*
Metal Man (GM): *SMASH* Julian climbs outside. There are soldiers everywhere outside. Several go to aim at him, only to be lasered. Meanwhile, Dragoshi and Digi psychotically blow up the rest of the window, the wall, and everything else.
Dragoshi: *Okay, put machinegun away.* *Time to exit!*
Armon: "Save your killing instincts for later! We must go..."
Julian: "...The hell you people doin'?!"
Metal Man (GM): Julian sees a strange, triangular bronze ship right nearby... *TSEER* A laser flies by. The ship is about the height of this roof.
Julian: *Book it for the ship!*
Digifanatic: *follows.*
Dragoshi: "Woah!" *FOLLOOOOOOOOW!*
Alexia follows at max speed.
Traon follows.
Alex scuttles for the ship.
Metal Man (GM): The Questers leap for the ship, as the building behind them (and the troops that were chasing them) are vaporized by a massive red laser.
Digifanatic: "Always at the last second."
Metal Man (GM): The soldiers shoot at the Questers as they reach the ship. A big door opens in the roof of the ship.
Julian: *Enter!*
Dragoshi: *Follow!*
Digifanatic: *hops in.*
Metal Man (GM): Aboard the S.S. Gen, the Questers drop on into the bridge of the ship itself. Conrad is there, looking out the main window.
Alexia: *jumps into the ship.*
Julian: "...Hey."
Conrad: "About time you came here. I wasn't expecting you until those lasers came on."
Alexia: "BOOK IT!"
Dragoshi: "...Yo. But, yea."
Metal Man (GM): There's a one-tailed, dark brown fox Mobian at the wheel. A somewhat old one, too.
Julian: "Get movin'! What are you, crazy? They're lasers outside!"
???: "I'm going as fast as this air-yaucht can go. If you want to see this ship explode, just keep on yelling. We're perfectly safe, anyway. I analyzed the laser firing patterns. They avoid... Armon... " He turns around and eyes Armon for a moment.
Julian: "...Oh."
???: "...By just enough room for us to fly unobstructed."
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Digifanatic: *looks at the head he's still holding.* "Nice one."
Alexia leans against the side of the ship, taking deep breaths.
Julian: "That's good... I guess... How the hell they do that?"
Alexia: "...I just blew up a planet..."
Julian: "It's what shoulda been done in the first place. Woulda avoided ALL the trouble we went through since we came here."
James: "I am James Prower, one of the last Saga people left. Of course, there are far more Mobians like me than Saga humans... though your little stunt may harm them too. And those lasers... aren't very effective."
Dragoshi: "...How so?"
Digifanatic: "Aren't very effective? The text said 'destruction program'!"
Julian: "Seem to be. Blowin' everythin' else BUT us up an' all that."
James: "So far they've blown up several tons of debris, occasionally hitting soldiers, usually hitting random, non-dangerous targets."
Alexia: "No..."
Digifanatic: .oO(CRAP.)
Dragoshi: "...So, it's really just random aiming. ...How long 'till they stop anyway?"
James: "Smithy's math was off by several powers of ten. In fact..." He points outside.
Metal Man (GM): The lasers cut off.
Julian: "...Fuck."
Dragoshi: "...Oh."
Digifanatic: "I see."
James: "The batteries lost a lot of charge from sitting out there."
Dragoshi: "...I see."
Alexia slumps against the side of the ship and finally loses it. She begins crying.
James: "On the plus side, they have given us time to proceed to the hideout."
Julian: 'That ain't good."
Alexia: "What have I done..."
Dragoshi: "...Yes, very much so."
Julian: "The hideout is. The laser's cuttin' out ain't, I mean."
James: "...You're upset about destroying rubble? All the civilians are in that guarded Three Powers city... the one with the force field."
Conrad: "Capital City."
Julian: "She's like that. Keep goin'."
Alexia: "..."
James: "Right, right..."
Dragoshi: "...Yes. Please."
Digifanatic: "All of them? Wow."
Alexia: "I... just..."
James: "...After Tridus killed off the Masters, that left me and a few other figures as people went nuts and blew up the other region ships."
Alexia sighs and wipes away the tears, standing up.
Digifanatic: "That's a bit of a relief. But even still, we shouldn't be."
James: "We built a hideout in the ruins of the Magic Kingdom... not so magical anymore, I'm afraid."
Dragoshi: "...The magic ran out, huh?"
Digifanatic: "But even still, we shouldn't be told things like this after all these things have started--and in this case, ended."
James: "You are... the Questers, right?"
Dragoshi: "...Aye."
Metal Man (GM): The ship flies over those sharp mountains the Questers fought in earlier. Factories dot the area where that ship was.
Dragoshi: "...Hm."
James: "Nice to meet you... wish you didn't have to come around at this time."
Alexia: "...This may seem odd, but you remind me of someone."
Dragoshi: "...I see what you mean by that." *Looking from wherever he could see the mountains... A window prolly'. In response to James.*
James: "No, it's probably not all that surprising at all."
Digifanatic: "Well, James, we hate the being responsible for taking that 75% of this planet."
James: "..." He chuckles. "Only 1% of this planet is habitable anymore."
Dragoshi: "Heh."
James: "What good is a bunch of land that is deadly? And with all those soldiers to feed..."
Dragoshi: "And I presume we have that 1%?" *Chuckles.*
James: "Not all of it, but their soldiers are thousands and the land only supports a little..."
Digifanatic: "Oh... that still doesn't matter when that annoying little runt tries to think he can rule the world."
James: "I have better interests. We need to rebuild the world for it to even be worth taking over."
Digifanatic: "Gather a whole mass of soldiers and plow down the land like a steamroller."
Dragoshi: "...Yea, I suppose so."
Digifanatic: "And I see what you mean."
James: "The rubble is the combined destruction of all the region ships, past ships, and... an important thing..."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a previous map of Saga. It shows almost all of the planet being filled with water.
Dragoshi: "...Important thing? ...Wow."
James: "...Most of it was formerly a seabed, where old ships sank or crashed."
Digifanatic: "Whoa."
James: "Now, for our hideout." The ship flies over to a small city atop a mountain.
Metal Man (GM): It's a massive ship, it easily outsizes the Seeker. It lands at a very high-class landing pad... probably one from back when it first was in service.
Dragoshi: "...Hrm."
James: "I welcome you to... the invisible city nobody knows exists."
Alexia: "I know the feeling..."
James: "The last living Magic Kingdom resident enchanted it to be invisible to all but true residents of Saga. ...And whoever they wanted to see it."
Metal Man (GM): *Clunk.*
James: "Good, we've landed. I'll show you around." He opens the door out, and walks out.
Metal Man (GM): Armon finally speaks.
Dragoshi: "..."
Armon: "Heh... he's only half right."
Digifanatic: "Half?"
Dragoshi: "Half?"
Armon: "That 99% that is uninhabitable is perfect for machines like Smithy's gang."
Dragoshi: "...Of course."
Alexia heads out of the ship.
Digifanatic: *walks out.*
Dragoshi: "Either way..." *Exits and follows the others.*
Armon: "People used magic and technology to live in those areas, too... that's why we took over originally... but for now, leave me here... er. Outside this ship. I can rebuild myself using the surrounding ore."
Digifanatic: "Ah."
Dragoshi: "...Okay, then."
Julian: *Exited, whistles as he looks around.* "Nice little set-up you get here..."
Dragoshi: *Nods.*
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, the Questers walk out, onto the paved city. A sign says 'Welcome to Elendo.'
Dragoshi: .oO(Elendo, huh?)
James: "Yes, if I say so myself." He walks with you past the main street, which has several small shops.
Digifanatic: "Definitely."
Metal Man (GM): Donuts, swords, guns, food, electronics, and also three general goods stores. All in direct competition.
Alexia looks around.
Metal Man (GM): He turns left, to the only other street in this tiny area: It is dotted by houses.
Alexia: "Boy, I bet Tails would have had a field day in this place..."
Metal Man (GM): There's the houses and shops, the brand-new paved road, and a little bit further, fences at the end of a cliff.
James: "Of course he has. He's trying to decipher how the magic works to build one in a deserted area."
Digifanatic: *lowers voice a bit.* "For a city this concealed it's well worth it for folks like us to be seeing it."
Julian: "Bet this whole planet looked like this 'fore it turned into a desolate hellhole..."
Metal Man (GM): He then leads the Questers to the base of a completely burnt-out tower, made of hovering stones.
Digifanatic: "Wouldn't be surprised, Jules."
Metal Man (GM): There's a couple people around, too. Some wave, others stare, and still others continue selling things.
James: "Yes, that is what this place was once like. This here tower... thing... is all that's left of the Magic Kingdom's main tower."
Alexia: *thinking.* "Nice to see a little bit of normality after what's been going on..."
James: "Tridus incinerated the top floor of it, and then Smithy's gang demolished most of it..."
Julian: "So now all you've got is some hoverin' bricks."
Traon: "Looks about right..."
Dragoshi: "...Eh" :/
James: "You haven't seen the inside." He walks inside.
Digifanatic: "Oh..."
Dragoshi: *Follows.*
Digifanatic: *heads in.*
Alexia heads in.
Julian: *Inside!*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers enter; inside is a semi-massive room, with magical walls. Transparent ones, even.
Digifanatic: "Impressive."
Alexia: "Wow..."
Dragoshi: *Just looks around.*
Metal Man (GM): At a desk, a very blackened, charred desk, is the leader of the settlement. It's a general-guy, who wears a tattered black military uniform. Faded badges inform the Questers that he is the 'G.U.N. Commander'
???: "Who is this you have brought today... James..."
James: "The Questers."
???: "..." He stands up and rubs his eyes. One green, one blue.
Dragoshi: "...?"
Alexia blinks. Never seen THAT before.
???: "I am the only remaining official of the original government, and even then I was only a military commander in one province... The Masters WERE the government before, but now the Guardian of the United Nations is the only thing left. I am the commander... what can I do for you... or you for me? James must have thought of something if he brought you here. We haven't had visitors in years."
Dragoshi: .oO(Well, this has gotten interesting...)
Julian: "Good question."
James: "These people represent the Capital City government. An alive government. The Questers, too... whom Yurie mentioned once."
Commander: "Is that so? Well, you may be useful after all. We must unite this settlement with the one you came from, and all the soldiers we can muster, to fight this menace."
Dragoshi: "...Yes. But, how?"
Commander: "All of these fools who came to take our land are newcomers... we know them like the back of our hands. But we'll need to secure The ARK to take them back."
James: "The Ark? But sir! You know Gerald! His programming..."
Dragoshi: "...Huh. Ark..."
Commander: "Is powerful enough to destroy the mechanized foes who plague our planet."
Dragoshi: "And, again with Gerald... Interesting."
Commander: "You forget he did most of his work there in his right mind... and Sonic disabled his failsafes."
James: "I still don't like it, but it's all we have."
Julian: "...the ARK? Gerald's giant laser cannon in space?"
Dragoshi: *Looks at his machinegun.* "Apparently, even if the guy IS dead, I guess some stuff that references to him is still around. ...Huh."
Julian: "That's got this huge-assed nose?"
Commander: "Yes, that and more. It contains the secrets to immortality... nanotechnology... Cures to many diseases..."
Digifanatic: "Wow."
Dragoshi: "...Interesting."
Commander: "The X-zone... force fields... even more."
Julian: "Fuckin' HUGE nose."
Commander: "We are interested in the teleporters and presence it has. Also, Sonic and company are hiding on there. It's still dangerous, of course. Mainly because Gerald's machines are set to shoot to kill anything they see. But... you got here. And none of you are dead."
Dragoshi: "...Yea."
Julian: "Lucky us. Let's go re-take us a space-face-base then."
Dragoshi: "We have this refusal to die, anyway, so, eh."
James: "And how will they get there?"
Commander: "Your ship."
James: "But... it's in pristine condition! I don't want to burn the paint on re-entry!"
Commander: "You have no choice..."
Digifanatic: "Screw the paint job."
Dragoshi: "...Who cares about the damn paint, man? ...Really."
Julian: "So we gonna go or we gonna go?"
James: "...It's the only Region ship left, and besides, the Commander has that one ship for himself he doesn't let anyone touch."
Julian: "My leg's fallin' asleep." *shakes it out.*
Commander: "My ship is off limits to off-worlders. Doesn't that make perfect sense?"
Digifanatic: "I imagine..."
Dragoshi: "...Maybe."
James: "Fine... but I'm going to find some way to get the paint fixed... without a loan."
Commander: "That is none of my concern."
Digifanatic: *back to Armon's head, quietly.* "Now about that magical rebuilding thing..."
Metal Man (GM): James walks out.
Digifanatic: *Oh.* *walks out and then sets Armon's head down.* "There."
Julian: *After him!*
Metal Man (GM): Digi sets it down.
Traon just follows.
Dragoshi: *Follow!*
Alexia follows as well.
Armon: "...Why did you not set me down earlier?"
Digifanatic: "I'm sorry..."
Armon: "The GUN Commander hates people like me. It's a miracle he didn't see me."
Digifanatic: "I was just curious about the place. Now that we've got some info..." *makes sure he's set down and steps away a bit.*
Armon: "Just as well, I guess." The Questers would see him slowly reform, wearing a cowboy hat and equipped with a big magnum.
Metal Man (GM): James boards the ship.
Alexia: "Um... sorry for what happened in the ship."
Armon: "I shall stay here... I do not want to be found by anyone. Let them believe I am dead." *Wanders off.*
Alexia: "I'm just really scared right now..."
Digifanatic: "Alright..." *heads into the ship.*
James: "No, no, that's fine. In reality, having seen most of my relatives die has destroyed most of my emotions."
Alexia heads into the ship slowly, head down.
Dragoshi: *Heads into the ship.* "...Ah."
James: "Especially when most of them were younger than I... In fact I'm almost entirely alone. I knew the Masters, who died, and the elite people around them, who died, and Yurie, who is likely dead..."
Traon follows onto the ship, showing no emotion, oddly it just seems he is distant, barely even there.
Digifanatic: "Yikes..."
James: "Now. Let us go." He sets the ship into 'fly' and it begins flying towards the ARK.
Dragoshi: *Apathetic, as per usual.* :p
Alexia: "Believe me, I know the same feeling..."
Digifanatic: *Nothing to talk about yet.*
Dragoshi: .oO(...Well, this situation has gotten... Curious, to say the least. Either way, there are still some rather agitating annoyances to deal with. Oh well.)
Julian: .oO(Wonder how the Escalade's doin'...)
Dragoshi: .oO(Also... I really need to get around to getting myself a custom vehicle.)
Traon: .oO(Let me out Traon, I must be free of this imprisonment for a little while. 'No, I will not risk anything, I do not wish for any harm to come of these people around me. Learn your place demon, you are in my body and my mind, therefore you will abide by my ways.' You say that now, but a time will come when you will call upon me, and I will be more than glad to come out.) *He sighs and leans against a wall or something, crossing his arms.* "What did I do to deserve this..?" *He said mainly to himself.*
Metal Man (GM): The ARK is now in view, as James begins muttering under his breath.
Alexia: "...Something wrong?"
Dragoshi: "..." .oO(Hmph, if anything he's prolly' worried 'bout the paint job.)
Traon comes out of his trance and looks towards the ARK, he then looks at James, perking a brow.
James: "The ARK is, in some ways, where everything began to go bad. Gerald went nuts when ol' GUN commander there tried to stop his experiments."
Dragoshi: "...How so?"
James: "His gem created a bunch of evil, and Tridus somehow got here thanks to it, not to mention it awoke Smithy originally. And his lab has been rumored to contain the key to the madness that destroyed our planet."
Metal Man (GM): The ship docks with a 'CLUNK', and a door to the right is pressurized.
James: "That's your stop... count me out. This station gives me nightmares."
Digifanatic: "Huh. I see..."
Alexia nods and heads out.
Digifanatic: *calmly walks out.*
Traon: "Nightmares... I live with nightmares." he walks out as well.
Alex shrugs. "It can't be as bad as that undead kingdom..."
Julian: *And we're walking.*
Alex exits.
Metal Man (GM): The door ahead opens (It is two halves, just like all other doors on the ARK) and reveals a dusty hallway. ...It smells dusty too.
Dragoshi: "...Okay, then." *Calmly follows.* .oO(I would've asked the "The sanity-breaking ones, or the regular ones", but that would've been rude)
Metal Man (GM): Not 3 feet into the hallway, the Questers encounter an enemy. *SPLOOSH.* It's... a... puddle.
Alexia takes out her gun. "..."
Julian: "...Wait a sec..."
Dragoshi: "..."
Julian: "Seen this before in the archives. It's one of them... water-things. Chaos."
Dragoshi: "..." *Pulls out machinegun.*
Metal Man (GM): True to its name, it morphs... into a weird chaos-like creature with a helmet.
Julian: "Let's beat it to death, yah?" *punches fist into palm.*
Digifanatic: "Might as well."
Azure ports in.
Julian: *PUNCH TO THE FACE.* >:O
Metal Man (GM): Hit. It rebounds like one of those dolls you punch over and over again.
Julian: *WEAPONS!* *It's a beer bottle! Let's smash it over the thing's head, what what?*
Alexia: "So we're fighting an evil blob of jelly?"
Dragoshi: "Pretty much, yea."
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: "Shut up an' beat it to death." *Aaaaaand... Grapple!*
Metal Man (GM): Miss.
Dragoshi: *Okay, Drago starts off this turn with an Ice Tornado shot, following up with a Swipe, and finishing off with...*
Metal Man (GM): Hit hit hit Bad luck. Jinx! The Artificial Chaos goes to slap Julian, and then Dragoshi.
Julian: *Ow.*
Dragoshi: *Dancing outta the wa-ha-hay!*
Alexia: *Charged Heat Beam! She then tries to forcibly separate that helmet from the rest of this stupid Jell-o mold with TK!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit. But it just bends with the helmet.
Digifanatic starts off with a powerful yet swift Icy Kick--definitely a fine balance of the two. Rebounding from the potential impact, he segues into another head-on impact via Running Charge, and finishes off with an Aerial Strike.
Metal Man (GM): Hit hit hit. It explodes.
Alexia: "...That was easy."
Dragoshi: "...Yep."
Metal Man (GM): The way ahead is open. Another double-door, only this one is locked. There's a simple padlock on it you can break, though.
Digifanatic: "Eh. At least it keeps us in tune."
Dragoshi: *Shoots down the padlock.*
Traon: "... Worthless."
Metal Man (GM): ...Bad idea. *BLAM* The padlock explodes, and the doors rip open, and then a big girder swings down, long enough to hit Dragoshi--it had the idea of people shooting/breaking the padlock in mind.
Alexia: *Splatter.* "Ow..."
Metal Man (GM): The hallway gets wider out here. *SMACK* Azure is hit.
Traon is hit with the girder, but he seems not to care about the pain. "Let's go..." He walks on ahead.
Julian: *Julian's hit by a girder... Oh no. Onward!*
Dragoshi: *...What? Me worry? Onward!*
Alexia pushes herself up and continues. "Talk about nasty..."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk up to another door. This one is dead. No power to it. The panel next to it has been tampered with.
Digifanatic: *smacked but he should be fine.*
Alex ducks under the girder and follows.
Metal Man (GM): A red wire has been cut in two, and a yellow one hangs out... leading to nowhere.
Digifanatic: *Doesn't think he'll need it for now.*
Julian: *Julian goes ahead and downs two Ultra Shrooms then. Hurray for items.*
Dragoshi: *Doesn't feel the need to use items right now, so eh. :/*
Traon takes one of his own ultra shrooms and downs it.
Metal Man (GM): The hole in the wall is still there. The wires are hanging out. The door remains dead.
Julian: *Julian does not have much experience with electronic repair. Do the math.*
Traon doesn't know this kind of stuff, so he just hangs back and waits.
Metal Man (GM): The hole in the wall is the size of a fist.
Alexia: "I'm guessing that's where the power supply was..."
Digifanatic: "Dang, whoever tampered with this thing..." *Checks out the panel anyways to see what it would have done.*
Metal Man (GM): Probably opened the door... as there's no other way to open this door. The two red wires are long enough to reach one another.
Digifanatic has no idea how to fix these without getting electrocuted...
Alexia: "Need anything?"
Digifanatic: "Unsure. Does your Mend work on wires?"
Alexia: "No. Only on human tissue."
Digifanatic: "Dang it..."
Alexia: "I have tape, though..."
Dragoshi: *Pulls out duct tape.* "...Think this'll work?"
Digifanatic: "Yeah, so do I... But I'm just worried about any shock therapy."
Alexia: "Hrm..."
Digifanatic: "Oh, what the heck, we're Questers. Let's try it. I've got three lives."
Alexia takes off her backpack and looks at the leather straps on it...
Dragoshi: "...And no one thought of getting rubber gloves? ...Meh."
Alexia: "If I cut off one of these, maybe you can wrap it around your hand..."
Digifanatic: "Leather? I dunno."
Alexia: "Seems like it'd work."
Dragoshi: "...It doesn't look sufficient though."
Digifanatic: "Yeah."
Traon: "I say we just put some C4 in that hole, or maybe a grenade in it. You know, make the hole bigger..."
Alexia: "... Traon, WHY?!"
Digifanatic: "Yeah, exactly."
Alexia: "We're trying to fix it, not blow up the place!"
Dragoshi: "...That'll prolly' make things worse or cause something weird to happen."
Traon: "If this doesn't work that is."
Digifanatic: "I dunno..."
Digifanatic pulls out a roll of tape anyway and goes for it like a man! "Better to try than not."
Traon goes quiet again. .oO(Good going... 'Shut it.')
Alex goes about and checks for any more possible traps that may be waiting to be sprung, while they do their things.
Metal Man (GM): Digi touches the bare wire! ZAP! ... It's... slightly more powerful than static electricity. Alex believes there are traps everywhere.
Alex stays perfectly still.
Metal Man (GM): Digi then easily tapes it together.
Alex: "Guys... Don't. Move..."
Alexia: "Why?"
Metal Man (GM): The door lights up... but it glows red. Still locked.
Alexia looks around.
Alex: "There are traps EVERYWHERE."
Dragoshi: "...You're paranoid."
Alex squints.
Traon hasn't moved for awhile now, he then looks at Alex. "You think we would know that by now."
Dragoshi: *Checks to see if Alex is suffering from a case of unfound paranoia.*
Digifanatic: *sees if there's a yellow light.*
Metal Man (GM): No yellow lights. Yellow wire though. Dragoshi sees... no traps in the immediate area. Red should mean 'locked', as the padlocked door was also red.
Dragoshi: "...Yep. Unfound paranoia. No traps here as far as I can see."
Digifanatic: *Tries to peek through the other end of the hole to see if the other end of the yellow wire is there.*
Alex frowns. "I don't know. Maybe."
Metal Man (GM): Digi peeks into the hole. It's too dark... the yellow wire goes down, then takes a turn underneath the door. The end of the yellow wire is hanging out of the hole.
Digifanatic: .oO(Wish I had a flashlight.)
Alexia takes out the ol' energy-seeking binocs. "Maybe these'll help."
Digifanatic: "Good idea."
Alexia hands the binoculars to Digi.
Digifanatic: *he has his own but takes Alexia's for now.*
Metal Man (GM): Digi sees mild energy about. The yellow wire has no energy. He sees the red wires... more like green (energy-wise) as they connect to the door.
Julian: *Waits for Digi to connect the damn wire.*
Digifanatic: "Hmm... yellow wire isn't acting up. Red one, though, is..."
Alexia: "Allow me to try something stupid." *knocks.*
Digifanatic: "Eh?"
Metal Man (GM): No answer.
Julian: "'Course the yellow wire ain't actin' up. It's split in TWO."
Digifanatic: "I'm talking the strange energy thing. Anyways..." *gives binocs back to Alexia.* "Thanks, by the way."
Julian: "Split in TWO. Hook 'em up."
Digifanatic: "Yes, yes, I'm getting there."
Alexia: "No problem."
Digifanatic: *tries to pull the yellow wire out from under the door.*
Alexia puts the binoculars back into her pack.
Metal Man (GM): It continues hanging out, its bare terminal looked like it once plugged in to something.
Digifanatic looks to see if there is some place for it to be plugged into.
Metal Man (GM): Digi finds... nothing. Somebody took it. But perhaps it'd fit in his dex.
Digifanatic: *plugs it into his Dex.*
Dex: "Door operation system detected. Open door?"
Digifanatic: *enters 'Yes.'*
Metal Man (GM): The door opens up.
Julian: *Onward!*
Metal Man (GM): This is one of those larger rooms, with a trippy translucent floor which shows space below.
Dragoshi: *Follow!*
Digifanatic: *Lets them go first and then takes out the wire, just to make sure nothing screwed up occurs.*
Alexia: *Onward!*
Dragoshi: .oO(Nice floor...)
Metal Man (GM): A computer terminal sits in the corner, continually reading coordinates.
Digifanatic: *walks in.*
Computer: "XY5 damage. XY2 damage. XY2 Damage. Widespread laser damage to Saga."
Metal Man (GM): It repeats this over and over again. There's also a door straight ahead, which is unlocked, and one to the right, which is smaller and locked down.
Alexia: "Another locked door? Geez, secretive bunch..."
Julian: *Anything near the right door?*
Metal Man (GM): The right door has a sign. 'Core Access Pathway.'
Julian: "...We'll check that out later." *To the Unlock one.*
Traon follow as well.
Alexia first gets out an EMP, just in case more of those bastiche experiments show up. Then she follows Julian onwards.
Dragoshi: *Follow...*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk to the unlocked path. Indeed, Alexia thought right; this hallway is blocked by three of those slapper-Artificial Chaos... and an advanced-looking humanoid robot. The advanced robot points at the Questers.
Alexia: *THROW.*
Robot: "Stop immediately." He sees the EMP grenade coming and generates a shield as it explodes, negating its blast.
Dragoshi: "...Somehow."
Robot: "Very well, you shall be destroyed."
Dragoshi: "That was to be expected."
Metal Man (GM): He and the three Artificial Chaoses charge!
Alexia: "At least I tried..."
Dragoshi: "Also... I see you have a shield. I'll have to get rid of that for you."
Alexia: *thinking.* "Okay, let's hope this new technique I've been working on goes correctly..."
Dragoshi: *Decisions, Decisions... does he deal with G 100 or the ACs... Hmmm. Ah, flak it. First... Three darts at AC1 and, ignoring that fumble...*
Metal Man (GM): Hit hit hit.
Dragoshi: *A mech! It takes Drag's machinegun and fires at G 100!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit indeed.
Alexia: "Ooh, that's gonna leave a stain."
Metal Man (GM): The shield takes the hits for it, of course. Still, damage. The shield disintegrates, though the robot itself is still unharmed.
Dragoshi: "...Hmph." *Fires off a Tidal Blast barrage at it.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit, hit. Its arms form into machineguns, which then fire an endless hail of projectiles at Dragoshi.
Dragoshi: *Tries to evade...*
Metal Man (GM): The first Artificial Chaos slaps Dragoshi twice. The second one does the same. The third one attacks Alexia.
Alexia survives by... a sliver of health. Yeow.
Dragoshi: *That second one actually connected with it's second attack, so KO!*
Alex heals Alexia with two cure spells.
Alexia: "Phew, thanks..."
Alex nods and shrugs.
Alexia creates a Mindblast... but instead of throwing it, she smashes it against the ground, making psychic energy split out in a Spread Attack! *Aiming Shot to AC 1.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit, miss, then hit.
Dragoshi: *Drag decides to quickly revive... THIS time, then fires off an Ice Tornado shot at G 100.*
Metal Man (GM): The bot responds by hurling a grenade at all of the Questers.
Alexia: *BLAMDEAD.*
Dragoshi: *Meh.*
Julian: *GET THE WEAPONS.* *Stab the robot in the FACE with the Switchblade!* *Nope.* *Try PUNCHING.* >:O
Metal Man (GM): Hit hit.
Julian: *GRAPPLE! CHARGE IT!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *Running STOMP!*
Metal Man (GM): The Artificial Chaos turns its attention to Julian with its slaps. This one attacks Alex. And this one attacks Dragoshi. Lotsa misses.
Dragoshi: *Dancing outta the wa-ha-haaaaay.*
Alex dies.
Alexia revives and defends.
Dragoshi: *Okay, first, let's see...* *An amethyst shard. Decent result. Let's see if it hurts G 100's optics at all!*
Metal Man (GM): Crit. Dragoshi takes a huge chunk out of its health. The robot is two feet away.
Dragoshi: *Moves a foot forward and flip kicks 'im.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, miss.
Dragoshi: *And, then... An Indignation shot! Pretty lightning... Let's see if it fries the bot's circuits!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit. G-100 explodes.
Julian: *Summon Weapon!*
Dragoshi: "...Huh. Well, at least there goes one annoyance."
Julian: *Light Tube? Damn. Smash it over Chaos 1 anyway.* *Grapple!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *Get yer CRIT GRAPPLE ON! Julian grabs Chaos 1 by the throat, hoists it high into the air, then SLAMS it back to the ground with a Chokeslam! The power! Then Julian tries to pull the thing back up! Nope.*
Metal Man (GM): Miss. He goes to slap Julian around. He slaps at Julian too. He slaps at Alexia.
Julian: *Julian's out.*
Alex holds his hand out and concentrates, quickly, psychic energy emits from his forehead and manifests into a psy-sword which he slashes the Articial Chaos 1 with... After he revives!
Alexia: *OW OW.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Alexia: *Mends the others for some health recovery. And then...* "Overload!"
Metal Man (GM): Luckily, it doesn't effect anything. Except the dexes. And Dragoshi's Machinegun. Those go out immediately.
Alexia: "...Eh, could have been worse..."
Dragoshi: *Clickclickclick goes the out of order machinegun.* "Uhhh..."
Alexia: "...Uhhh... Oops?"
Dragoshi: "...Whatever." *Quickly switches out for his pistol.* *Shoots out an Indignation shot at AC 1 with it.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Dragoshi: *Proceeds to strangle said AC...*
Metal Man (GM): Hit. It explodes.
Dragoshi: *And shoot AC 2 with a Flame Blast. Yea.*
Julian: *Julian's recovered from his brief spell of KO-itis and is back and ready to PUNCH CHAOS 2 IN THE FACE >:O*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit. It slappa da Julian twice. CRITZ. It-a slappa the Dragoshi. CRITZA.
Dragoshi: *Ow.*
Alex slashes AC2 7 times with his psy-sword.
Metal Man (GM): All hit but one.
Alexia whips up 4 Psy Needles and flings them all at AC2!
Dragoshi: *Indignation shot at AC2!*
Metal Man (GM): Ouch... then hit. Dragoshi kills AC2.
Dragoshi: *Then, he flip kicks AC3. And, then... Another mech! It takes Drag's pistol and blasts AC3 with it.*
Julian: *Weapons? Another beer bottle! That's going into AC3's head! MORE WEAPONS. It's a brick! It's heading for AC3!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *It did. Julian then tries to grab the little thing...*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *Julian grapples it, gives it 6 quick kicks to the midsection, pushes it away, aaaaand... Damn near takes its head off with a finishing roundhouse kick to the head!*
Metal Man (GM): Nope.
Julian: *Aha! So Julian DID take its head off.*
Metal Man (GM): Having destroyed that horde, the way ahead is completely open... it leads to another wide-open room.
Julian: *Onward!*
Alexia: *Onward!*
Dragoshi: *Onward! ...eth!*
Metal Man (GM): In there, is... Sonic the hedgehog, relaxing besides the TV, which shows the destruction. He suddenly gets up and points at the Questers.
Julian: "Yo."
Sonic: "Who're you guys, and what are you doing here?"
Dragoshi: "..." .oO(Time for accusations Or not, apparently)
Julian: "Didn't we meet already?"
Alexia: "Yeah, we saw you a while back..."
Sonic: "I've met a lot of people. Life goes by too fast for me to remember all your names."
Dragoshi: "...Ah. Makes sense."
Sonic: "I already can tell you are the Questers, if that's important to you... but I don't know exactly why you're here..."
Julian: "We need help takin' this place."
Sonic: "Taking this place? Are you crazy? Tails tried it once. The automatic security systems destroyed everything we threw at them."
Alexia: .oO(Hrm... voice my suspicions and risk looking like a paranoid idiot, or say something and risk just looking like an idiot... Those water blobs?)
Sonic: "I saw a glimpse of that posse you were fighting. That was the average attack force it sends out."
Dragoshi: "...Ah."
Sonic: "It can generate near-infinite numbers of those."
Dragoshi: "What's the higher-end of it, though?" :/
Sonic: "...Prototype weapons of mass destruction."
Julian: "Yeah, but we kinda need this place. Anyway we can get that to shut off?"
Dragoshi: "...Ah."
Sonic: "That's why I hide here. The Smithy Gang people won't attack us. ...Shut them off? We need them for defense, though. I think you'd need Gerald's own passcode."
Dragoshi: "...Hm."
Sonic: "Do any of you have anything made by him, by chance?"
Julian: *Vendetta!*
Alex ponders for a moment. "No... I've got nothing."
Dragoshi: *Vendetta Machinegun!*
Julian: "I got this."
Dragoshi: "And, I... Have this."
Julian: "His don't work."
Dragoshi: "...It prolly should in a short while though." :/
Sonic: "That should work just fine. Juuust let me borrow it for a moment." He snatches Vendetta from Julian and hits it on a wall. A small piece chips out of it... he looks on in. "Woah. He used that girl's name as his all-important code? No wonder why he went insane!" He hands Vendetta back to Julian, and then types it in to a nearby computer.
Julian: "..." *K.*
Dragoshi: "..."
Metal Man (GM): Alarms go off.
Dragoshi: *Just looks at the machinegun.* "...Okay. What now?"
Sonic: "Hrmph. That crazy doc wasn't as dumb as I thought."
Computer: "System alert. Attempt to use password denied by AI unit 52."
Alexia: "Uh-oh..."
Dragoshi: "...Of course."
Computer: "Dispatching special destruction unit to the core."
Julian: "...Another AI unit. Whodathunkit."
Sonic: "Sounds like your only way of controlling this space ball is to secure the core. You guys do it, though--I'm too comfortable to waste my time fighting Gerald's machines." He lays back.
Alexia: *To the locked door behind! MAX SPEED!*
Julian: "So you mind openin' the door for it? Or can you?"
Dragoshi: *FOLLOW! MAX SPEED!*
Sonic: "Oh, that." He types something into the keyboard. "That was the master code. You should be able to enter it now."
Alex slowly follows..
Julian: "Good." *heads for Ze Door.*
Dragoshi: *Oh. Right. Takes a Phoenix Down for the impending battle. There. Max lives AND fully healed.*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk into the dusty core area, which has been damaged repeatedly. Gerald's programming code displays on all the windows. Gerald's old voice plays back over and over again.
Gerald Robotnik: "You disrespectful humans will feel my pain... and despair..."
Julian: "I'm sick'a this already." *looks for the Special Destruction Unit.*
Dragoshi: "...Hmph." .oO(...Right. Pain and despair.) *Assists Julian.*
Metal Man (GM): Exactly that: It opens the door on the other side of the core... it is a modified E-100 unit, which hovers off of the ground ala E-101 Beta MK2. However it possesses multiple Vendetta systems.
Julian: *which are of course better than our own.*
Dragoshi: *Of course.*
Metal Man (GM): Two Vendetta sabers, two Vendetta mechguns, a rocket pack of unknown designation, and most importantly, it appears to possess unheard of Vendetta rocket boosters.
Julian: *We'll have to loot the corpse if it doesn't blow up.*
Alexia: "Want me to throw another EMP?"
Dragoshi: "...It'll fail."
Metal Man (GM): It announces its name to the Questers loudly, brandishing its weaponry.
IDS: "I am unit IDS. You are intruders. Why are you here?"
Julian: "No reason."
IDS: "That does not compute. Activating Quantum Logic Accelerators. You are lying."
Julian: "An' you're a-" *sneak attack kekeke.*
IDS: "This base is to be protected at all costs. Gerald Robotnik lost enough from the first two breaches."
Dragoshi: *Pulls out machinegun.*
Metal Man (GM): The machinegun works now.
Julian: *Sneak attack PUNCH TO THROAT.*
Metal Man (GM): Miss. It blocks Julian's punch uberquickly.
IDS: "You are in haste."
Julian: *Okay, OTHER PUNCH.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *PUNCHA PUNCHA PUNCHA.* *CRIIIIIIITICAL!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, crit, hit.
Dragoshi: *Either way, Drago shoots that bastache up with a tidal Blast, then follows up with...*
Metal Man (GM): Hit hit miss.
Dragoshi: *Mech takes machinegun, mech attempts to shoot up IDS.* *Drago takes machinegun back, and then...* *Amethyst shard!*
Metal Man (GM): It has taken a massive amount of damage. It is deeply embedded into the wall.
IDS: "You are powerful." It rips a hand through titanium. "But you are not powerful enough."
Dragoshi: "...Hmph."
Metal Man (GM): It floats into skirmish distance with Julian and Dragoshi. It then flies at them like a berserk tornado of Vendetta energy, first flying at Julian and spinning in a circle with its Vendetta blade.
Julian: *Julian amazingly dodges two of those! Finally he's getting some good rolls!*
Metal Man (GM): It turns to face Dragoshi and shoots at him five times.
Dragoshi: *Three hit.*
Dragoshi: *Stayin' alive...*
Metal Man (GM): Then it finishes off by flying up, and then crashing, blades down, into the ground, creating a shockwave that threatens everyone.
Julian: *Needs some... revivin'. That killed him.*
Alex saves his time and passes the turn.
Dragoshi: *Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive...*
Alexia: *IMMUNE.*
Julian: *Not killed him, KO'd him.*
Alexia does something rather odd for this turn... she Dexes both of Hop's gadgets to find out what they are!
Julian: *Asshole. He was going to use a Phoenix Down on my next turn and everything.*
Dex: "A strange magnet, and a bomb."
Metal Man (GM): Stick is the bomb. Curvy thing is the magnet.
Alexia: "Hmm... Hey! Demolitions expert!"
Dragoshi: "...?"
Alexia tosses the stick to Dragoshi.
IDS: "You must be erased for the good of this dimension."
Dragoshi: *Takes it.* "Heh. Thanks. ...What do you know is good?"
IDS: "This dimension existing."
Julian: *Demolitions expert? He's offended. Julian gets back on up... and uses a Phoenix Down and punches IDS in the face.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Dragoshi: "...That is not what I meant. Let me specify. What do you know is good for this dimension?"
IDS: "This dimension existing. Existence threatened by you. Your power levels are off of the charts. If you continue to exist, you will destroy everything."
Dragoshi: "...No I meant how... Oh, nevermind." *Throws the bomb at IDS.*
Metal Man (GM): Miss. ...Dragoshi didn't push the button either.
Julian: *Whoops.*
Metal Man (GM): So it just lands on the ground. Next to IDS.
Dragoshi: *Scoops it back up.*
Metal Man (GM): AoO. He stabs Dragoshi in the face with his vendetta weaponry!
Alexia facepalms.
Dragoshi: *...Dick.* *Yea, Fuck you. Quick revive.*
Julian: *facepalms.*
IDS: "Come up and take the device you dropped again. It would be optimal."
Dragoshi: "..."
Metal Man (GM): IDS goes to fight with Julian, spinning at him. It then shoots twice at Alex.
Julian: *Julian dodges... one of those. Fuck.*
Metal Man (GM): Then it goes to stab Alexia once.
Alex holds his palms out and calls out 8 small orbs of force energy that whiff into the robot almost instantly.
Alexia: "Can't hurt to try, I guess..." *She takes out the magnet, hits the switch, and tosses it at the robot.*
Metal Man (GM): It flies right by IDS... then magnetically homes in on him anyway. *BZZZTTTT.*
IDS: "Get this thing off of me." He reaches at it, but it's on the back of his head.
Metal Man (GM): No other known effect... yet.
Dragoshi: "...No."
Alexia: "'Ay, one of Hop's inventions finally helped!"
Dragoshi: "'Cause, really. You're expecting us to be dumb enough to help someone who's trying to kill us?"
IDS: "Yes, I am. You fell for the stick trick."
Dragoshi: "...That hardly qualifies as a trick."
Alexia: *How about a Gatling?*
Metal Man (GM): All miss.
Alexia: *Damn.*
Metal Man (GM): He's moved away from it.
Julian: "Lesee if this still works..." *Julian reaches into the LEFT side of his vest... pushes a button... and spontaneously disappears! The IIF Cloaking Vest makes its first appearances since the finale of Season 7! And then Julian grabs El Stickbomb.*
IDS: "That does not compute."
Metal Man (GM): Julian grabs it.
Dragoshi: "...So?"
Julian: *Press the button... and launch it at IDS. Woo!*
Metal Man (GM): Julian hurls it at him. However! It exploded the minute Julian touched the button.
Julian: *Oh Fuck.*
Metal Man (GM): It's a useless invention. So... *BLAM* damage to Julian.
Julian: *Of course, it's HOP.* >:O
IDS: "I should mimic you doing that."
Julian: *That's okay, I was going to use another Pheonix Down anyway.* *and then SUMMON WEAPON. It's a Switchblade! Let's stab IDS with it. Fuck.*
Metal Man (GM): Boop. IDS watches it fly over the side.
Julian: *Punch him in the face then.* >:O
Metal Man (GM): Maybe Julian should try a fishing rod next time.
Julian: *Fucking HELL.*
Metal Man (GM): The magnet falls off of the IDS.
IDS: "...What kind of person makes malfunctioning non-permanent magnets?"
Alexia: "...Shiz."
Dragoshi: "..." *Just shoots an Ice Tornado shot at IDS.*
IDS: "Let's see what you've got." *He shoots up Julian, Old School.*
Alex fires several Bolt magic spells at IDS. The electricity arcs from his fingertips to the robot.
Alexia: *Charged Aiming Shot, Mindblast.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *Okay, weapons. He's getting a Sledgehammer this battle. Fucking hell. Throw the brick!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Julian: *Baseball Bat! So close... Smash over IDS' head. ARGH. Punch to Face.*
Metal Man (GM): *Charleybrown.*
Dragoshi: *Okay, Tidal Blast, Ice Tornado shot, and...*
Metal Man (GM): Miss hit hit miss.
Dragoshi: *Darts. Darn it. Checks how far away the IDS is.*
Metal Man (GM): 2 feet away. Crit hit miss. IDS is heavily damaged. He goes in for the kill... and then falls down face-forward and explodes.
Alex blinks. "Did it trip?..."
Dragoshi: "...Wow."
Alexia spins her pistol around and re-sheathes it. "Alright!"
Julian: "...It's dead. All that matters." *And once again a Clean Win evades the Questers.*
Metal Man (GM): The system is the Questers' now, mostly because it has no more 'Special Destruction Units' to attack them with.
Dragoshi: *Yep.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian gets brief images of a person screaming in anger whenever an enemy escapes in his head. Hm... must have been that person named Tetra... :p Anyway, station is in the Questers'... what this entails shall be seen later. Meanwhile, in a debris field... the Seeker ruins. Hop is surrounded by the burnt-out wreck of the Seeker.
Glyph: [Hop] "I'm useful..."
Metal Man (GM): The cube is right nearby, and Mewtwo is too.
Mewtwo: "Ugh... if we hadn't have ricocheted off of those mountains we'd be dead now."
Glyph: [Hop] "Use... ful..." *Hop faints.*
Mewtwo: "Better get to work... Garrick isn't here to repair things, and Hop is apparently no longer able to make anything useful."
Metal Man (GM): Mewtwo himself begins repairing stuff. Odd, but functional, as he slowly puts the ship together... and writing on the side psychically begins making a running tally of some sort. But, again: What happens next... we'll find out next time!