Super Smash Quest² - Story - Chapter 35: Crimson Echoes


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Date: January 14th & 17th, 2009.
Metal Man (GM): The Questers blew up their ship on the first day, therefore they had to go back to Robotnik HQ to get it repaired. While they waited, they explored a weird base which revealed a new (not terribly canonical) Metal Man to them. Just exactly who or what he is remains a mystery. The group is now back at their ship. Robotnik glances at the group.
Dr. Robotnik: "So. Before you go... are you going to try to infiltrate that weird island again, or not? I won't shoot down the two ships which guard it if you're not going to encounter them. Myself, I'm unsure exactly how valuable it is... your logs indicate two things: one of those weird things like what controlled the Mavericks, and some possible allies who are trapped there..."
Deloth: "That would depend on if we can get there without being nearly shot down."
Digifanatic: "Yeeeahhh..."
Aribar: "The Vol Opt there has some sort of item that could be given to the reploid at the Maverick Hunter base to allow him to produce magical merchandise, but I don't know if we could face that machine again and live; I certainly couldn't shoot it with a Terror Bolt."
Dr. Robotnik: "Well. I can crash my way to victory against those... ships... with the Egg Carrier... but for a price. You say it has some magical item? And it can be used to make magical devices? I would want a piece of it myself. Because..."
Metal Man (GM): He shows the Questers a computer screen. It shows a number of red and black dots.
Deloth looks suspiciously at Robotnik. "Yes, I expect you would."
Dr. Robotnik: "My scans reveal that we're trapped between two chess players who are about to go into all-out war. On the right side is the Red Text buffoon, and on the left is the non-talkative 'darkness' which employs these... Vol Opts. I'll need to reverse engineer the wreckage so that the darkness person doesn't get any ideas about taking us over. I'm afraid Red Text has tried to make us look like we're on his side."
Aribar: "I know little about the item; the craftsman and salesman at the Maverick Hunter base told me something from Vol Opt could help us acquire magic items from him. That machine -did- conjure up the elements against us."
Dr. Robotnik: "Ideally, you will also need your own base." He points to his buildings. "I remind you that I am nothing more than a temporary ally; once these two... major... aberrations are gone, we shall probably be rivals."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, we're a complete third party here, and likely well-outnumbered."
Dr. Robotnik: "While on the topic, we have immediate access to two pieces on this chessboard. We can take out this Rook-like Vol Opt thing. Or we can fight one of Red Text's knights... Jack... over here. Well. It's not so much fighting him, but rather, dissuading him. He's fighting James Bond. Intercepted transmissions indicate James Bond did some hearty damage to that dumb clanking machine Red Text has up in space."
Digifanatic: "Well, it probably becomes very fun once you steal his Staff of Smiting."
Dr. Robotnik: "But he eventually wound up back on the surface, and Jack is apparently tasked with killing him. And these transmissions indicate James Bond cannot be killed with the spell alone. Something about 'It doesn't recognize him as organic.'"
Digifanatic: "...Huh?"
Dragoshi: "...what."
Dr. Robotnik: "It gets stranger. This man, James Bond, has been reported flying with a jetpack, launching missiles from cars, and killing people with exploding pens."
Digifanatic: "Oh, Bond's a superspy. That's nothing amongst his peers."
Aribar: "Personally, I believe we should strike against the Red Text's foes."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, cause Text isn't going to kill us until it's down to him/her/it/whatever and us anyway."
Dragoshi: *Nods.*
Dr. Robotnik: "There is a third option." Robotnik swallows harshly. This option is not his favorite. "...Metal Sonic once marshaled an army and required a vast amount of resources to be stopped. We could destroy the entire chess game by letting him into it, while carefully hiding that I'm alive and you exist from him. But at the cost of the Mobius continent and many probable casualties. He would probably derail Red Text and draw the darkness into a stalemate."
Digifanatic: "Oh no..."
Dr. Robotnik: "I am keeping it on standby in case I have no other option."
Dragoshi: "...Yeah, let's not do that one."
Dr. Robotnik: "Let's just say no one will mess with this base."
Digifanatic: "In our past, Metal Sonic has not been kind to us. I highly doubt swapping out dimensions will change that."
Dr. Robotnik: "In my past, Metal Sonic has been probably my most useless invention." He shakes his head. "But he makes for a great distraction."
Aribar: "I am sure we could stop Metal Sonic, but I would rather not bring in another potential enemy when we already have countless things to do."
Dr. Robotnik: "Well..." He shrugs. "Just keep in mind that ace in the hole. I'm sure you'll find a use for it some day."
Garrick: "We should destroy him. Immediately." *moves into the area where the others are talking, looking squarely at Robotnik.*
Digifanatic: "I'm listening."
Dr. Robotnik: "I would, if I could." He looks down. "He's made of super-resistant nanites. Blow him up and he could respawn... anywhere."
Digifanatic: "Yuck."
Dr. Robotnik: "Much like that Vylch person, whom vanished a while ago..."
Garrick: "See, all of the people we called enemies and rivals seemed to have a habit of popping right back up every time we destroyed them."
Digifanatic: "Indeed."
Garrick: "Metal Sonic, Zio, Kuja, Bowser, Ganondorf... just to name a small few. I'm personally like to be able to finish them off DIRECTLY so we don't have to worry about them again ever."
Dr. Robotnik: "Bowser... Bowser." He looks through his files. "...It says here Bowser met with you, and actually was helped by you. It also says he is living peacefully with the Mushroom King... no... Republic. Not that I ever cared about that continent anyway. So. Going to the island, then? I better prepare my ship."
Garrick: "Mm." *sighs and rolls his neck.*
Metal Man (GM): He prepares his ship.
Deloth: "I've got a baaaaaaad feeling about this."
Dr. Robotnik: "Okay. You can get in your ship... I'll launch the Egg Carrier and take care of those goons."
Metal Man (GM): He walks off. The way to the newly repaired ship is open. It has the same two turrets, and a full set of 30 missiles.
Digifanatic: "Okay, then..." *takes the typical pilot's seat in the repaired ship.*
Dragoshi: *Shotgun!*
Metal Man (GM): The Egg Carrier lifts off.
Deloth takes a seat in the back, again.
Aribar goes to enter the ship. "What are you people going to do differently this time to prevent another failure?"
Dr. Robotnik: (Comms) "I've... improved my ship's weapons. Naturally, for my GENIUS has improved on the other scientist's work. You may wish to put on your goggles this time. Mwoo hoo hoo hoo!"
Dragoshi: "...I don't have any goggles." :x
Digifanatic: "Me neither."
Dragoshi: "...I think."
Metal Man (GM): His ship finishes taking off.
Digifanatic: "Unless he put new ones in for us..."
Metal Man (GM): It moves a bit slower than the Questers'
Garrick goes to enter the new ship... it seems...
Digifanatic takes off a bit later than Robotnik so he can allow the big guy to start the job, and hopefully they can bat cleanup.
Metal Man (GM): Digi takes off... the ship reaches the island. There are two large space ships decloak from the island, appearing out of nowhere to face the Egg Carrier.
Vol Opt 3: *Comms.* "Do not proceed."
Digifanatic: "Business as usual so far."
Dr. Robotnik: "Don't worry, I'm stopping right here. Oops. I hit the red button."
Deloth: "So... anybody have any ideas on why I suddenly don't need food, water, or oxygen?"
Metal Man (GM): *ZHBLAAAAAAM.* The ship rocks violently. The sky is filled with hundreds of small lightning bolts.
Aribar: "I have no new ideas." *The half-elf says this stoically as the ship rumbles about. He wonders if they will survive this suicidal mission.*
Dragoshi: "..." *Bah-link.*
Metal Man (GM): The vaguely burned onto one's eyes appearance shows that... around 100-150 of them were aimed and shot into the enemy ships. The one the Questers had previously attacked falls into the ocean and explodes.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, okay..."
Vol Opt 3: "You have impressive weapons, but you do not impress me."
Metal Man (GM): The large laser is fired from the other ship. But on a ship as large as the Egg Carrier... it is nothing.
Dr. Robotnik: (Comms) "You shouldn't have brought a patrol ship to a capital ship fight. Hah!"
Metal Man (GM): The Egg Carrier flies forward and rams the damaged remaining ship. It crumples up and crashes into the water.
Vol Opt 3: "..." *End comms.*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers can now land.
Digifanatic: "Guess we don't need to bat cleanup, then." *lands it on the island.*
Metal Man (GM): The group has now made their way to an island, after two tries. They're on the island to investigate a downed ship, and yet another pesky Vol Opt colony. The Vol Opt being the servant of a mysterious 'darkness' which is in outer space and on its way to the planet. Coincidentally, Red Text has announced that he does the questionable things he does in order to stop this mysterious darkness. The group opted to deal with this area rather than mess with Red Text, so for the moment Red Text's plans are on track... Or are they? As this goes on...
Metal Man (GM): Jack is out on the Mobius continent, in the Emerald Coast. He's sweaty and has been running.
Jack: *huff.* "Damn it, those Questers aren't going to help me. And Red Text isn't going to help me after I refused to kill the Questers for him. Now I'm trapped! And why won't this work?"
Metal Man (GM): He bangs the white staff he stole from the Echidna. Closing in on him and emerging from a nearby jungle is James Bond, who shoots at him twice, one shot nicking him in the shoulder. He begins running away again.
Jack: "Look! Killing me won't fix the fact you're stuck here! I have no clue how to get back to your world!"
Metal Man (GM): *Bang.* *Bang.*
James Bond: "It doesn't matter to me. What matters is that you know something, and you aren't telling me." He suddenly stops.
Metal Man (GM): Jack is nearly to his boat, with which he could ostensibly escape.
Jack: "Hah, fat luck you know. I'm just as lost as you. Once upon a time I was a prestigious military man, then everything went to hell. The Questers know what you want, I've heard rumors they're behind the technology that got you here!"
Metal Man (GM): He then goes running for the ocean.
James Bond: "I've already checked that lead. It's a dead end."
Metal Man (GM): He reloads his pistol and shoots Jack in the leg. He falls over, and has the misfortune of being unable to move while in deep enough water to potentially drown.
James Bond: "I'm afraid you will be, too, unless you tell me about this." He shows Jack an image of the Super Death Egg.
Jack: "...Weren't you just up there?"
James Bond: "That information is... classified." He steps on the bullet wound.
Jack: "Ow! Argh! Okay... okay... This Red Text guy runs the show from up there, like you should know."
James Bond: "I'm not looking for that information." He shakes his head slowly. "You were communicating with him directly. I need the communicator you used."
Jack: "But... but he will kill me if I give you that!"
James Bond: "A pity. Because if you don't, I will kill you."
Jack: "..." He takes out a strange communication device and goes to hand it to Bond... then Jack sees a glint on the horizon and hurls the communicator into the ocean.
James Bond: "Hmph." He goes to shoot Jack...
Metal Man (GM): A laser nearly misses James Bond himself! It's GUN, and their soldiers. And Marley is with them.
Marley: "Hey! What do you think you're doing? This is GUN territory, and we're in charge of this man!"
James Bond: "Then you're very poor at keeping him on a leash."
Metal Man (GM): James scowls and steps on Jack's ankle so much it breaks, then turns to them.
James Bond: "Don't get in my way; you don't know what is going on."
Marley: "I'm afraid the same could be said of you."
Metal Man (GM): James walks up to them slowly.
Marley: "Don't get any closer!"
James Bond: "Fine."
Metal Man (GM): He's within about 5 inches of their guns.
James Bond: "If you must know, this man is in with the person who has sabotaged your organization all this time. He is a traitor, and apparently a wealthy one. I suggest you kill him."
Marley: "The courts will see about that. Now..."
James Bond: "Now nothing."
Metal Man (GM): James Bond suddenly kicks the gun out of one guard's hands, then takes it, shoots the other guard, and runs into the forest. Marley, left with one functional guard and himself, can't give chase.
Marley: "...I will make a note that agent is killed on sight next time..."
Metal Man (GM): The device continues to float out to sea...
Metal Man (GM): ...As we return to a scenic island where the Questers have just landed.
Aribar gets up out of his seat and checks his equipment while the others get read to head out.*
Digifanatic: *gets out--well, he doesn't have much to gather.*
Dragoshi: *Gets out as well.*
Deloth: *Let's see, two swords... yep, that's all of it.*
Metal Man (GM): It's a... scenic tropical island.
Deloth: "Not a bad-looking place, huh, guys?"
Metal Man (GM): And after Eggman destroyed those two ships... the Questers are pretty well safe. Weird.
Flaeyn slowly gets up from his seat, looking around and nods back to Deloth. "Aye."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, especially after we hopefully clean up shop here."
Aribar unsheathes Sunlight and exits the ship. He glances skyward and wonders if Vol Opt has any more guards.
Metal Man (GM): None. Aribar soon finds out why. In a 5-foot radius, around a crashed ship about 30 feet away, is a massive dead robot graveyard. The people who crash landed appear to have rather incredible weapons, as the damage to the robots appears to be explosion and possibly plasma-based. The circular burns in the sand are weird.
Deloth runs over to the ship and investigates it.
Metal Man (GM): The door was left ajar.
Dragoshi: *Walks over to the ship and does the same.*
Metal Man (GM): A dead robot's arms are still on it.
Digifanatic: *goes a little bit slower, but is just as interesting.*
Metal Man (GM): The door will require some pushing to get out of the way.
Digifanatic: *he'll help.*
Deloth: "Gimme some help here." *He leans against the door and starts pushing.*
Flaeyn: "Alright." He goes to do the same.
Metal Man (GM): It slowly is pushed open. Inside, the Questers discover a single dead man. It's Metal Ma--... oh wait, no.
Aribar follows after Deloth at a slower pace. He tries to keep wary and on the lookout for their target. He doesn't want the group to be caught by surprise in the robotic menace's territory.*
Metal Man (GM): It has a much larger, square glass visor. It's a segmented suit of sorts. The person has a plasma gun in one hand. Oh, if one could only steal it; it's melted itself into scrap from overuse.
Deloth: "Who the hell is this..." *He tries to take the helmet off of the man.*
Metal Man (GM): Deloth takes it on off. It's a generic human. White man, black hair. So nondescript that one stops caring. Although it's horrible he's dead.
Deloth puts the helmet back down. "Weird. I wonder what this suit was for..."
Digifanatic looks for emblems or whatnot.
Metal Man (GM): Digi sees a stylized GF logo. Girl Friend? Giant Finger? What could it stand for? There is also a computer... it's the main piloting console. It has been left logged in, and is warning of 'severe damage.'
Digifanatic: *examines the controls but doesn't touch anything so far.*
Deloth: "Digi, you're the techno-nerd. Can you get anything out of that computer?"
Digifanatic: "Well, I don't want to blow it up... I'll give it a shot, but it looks vulnerable." .oO(If nothing else, they can blame the cautious veteran.)
Deloth: "You do that."
Metal Man (GM): It has been left on, possibly on purpose.
Deloth leans against one of the inside walls. He looks worried about something.
Digifanatic: "Hmm." *walks over and eyes the control panel before browsing around.*
Metal Man (GM): Digi eyes it, and finds a message, labeled 'URGENT, PLEASE READ.'
Digifanatic: *reads it.*
Metal Man (GM): A video pops up.
Video: 'We here at this command post crashed a little while ago, due to some giant enemy space ship.'
Aribar simply stands outside of the ship, keeping watch.
Video: 'We came here to render assistance due to a distress call we got.'
Digifanatic: *nods and listens.*
Metal Man (GM): The man on the video points to the very console the Questers are looking at. It has red text on it.
Deloth: *groans.*
Red Text: 'An unknown lifeform like the one you have encountered is attempting to colonize this planet in the same way your enemy did. Please render assistance.'
Digifanatic: "This... sounds like test number three."
Video: 'We got here, but the presence was worse than expected. We had a plan to radio back, but they attacked moments before our home-made radio could be operated. Now we've just been fighting them endlessly. I'm afraid I might not last much longer. The ship can't hold 'em and my buddies have gone and hidden in some caves. Please tell my wife I love her, and that I love my children. Good bye.'
Metal Man (GM): The message turns to static.
Digifanatic: .oO(Yeah, who's your wife?) "Okay folks, it looks like we'll be working for Mr. or Ms. You-Know-Who again."
Metal Man (GM): The ship is otherwise empty, besides a small map. Hm.
Deloth: "One second."
Metal Man (GM): The map has the location of the hideout on it.
Digifanatic: "Hopefully we can find caves before Vol Opt finds us..." *looks at the map.* "Yes, Deloth?"
Deloth kneels down next to the dead man and silently mouths a few words. Then he stands back up and sighs. "Sorry. What's on that map?"
Flaeyn: "Hm?" He raises a brow when Deloth does that.
Digifanatic: "Probably where his buddies fled to."
Metal Man (GM): The map shows a simple map. Walk left 100 feet, then straight ahead 300 other feet.
Digifanatic: *gets out of the ship and does it.* "Well, follow me."
Deloth jumps off the ship and starts following Digi.
Flaeyn starts to follow along Digi.
Dragoshi: *Casually follows behind.*
Aribar falls in line with the others.* "Did you find much in there?"
Digifanatic: "A video message and a map."
Aribar nods and follows.
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk around, seeing several more dead robots. Then they make their way to another side of the island. There is a large building of sorts... but it has been mostly destroyed. ...Right in front of it is a hatch that leads down.
Digifanatic: "Ah." *climbs down the hatch.*
Deloth: "There's our invitation down." *He starts climbing down as well.*
Metal Man (GM): Deloth climbs down and see a peculiar sight. Several of the men from before are operating some machines underground... And across a large chasm from them and Deloth is the Vol Opt machinery itself. A soldier sees the Questers and walks over.
Soldier: "Ah, someone not a robot. Excellent."
Deloth: *Swords out, just in case.*
Soldier: "We've been waiting... for a little while now. You got here rather fast."
Digifanatic: *sees the VO, the soldiers and the chasm.* *mouthing out.* "Ohhh."
Soldier: "The Red Text was correct when he told us help would arrive. But they didn't sound as distressed as we first imagined. And why is he helping us, when he's the one in trouble?"
Digifanatic: "Yeah, well, we have a strange relationship with whoever's responsible for the red text."
Soldier: "Anyway. You had to have seen the message. Poor Joe, rest his soul... We've been able to cripple this colonization ship which landed here a while ago. But those ships they disguised nearly killed us all when we went out to enter the destroyed ship. ...Could you do something about their guard ships?"
Metal Man (GM): He seems to not know what happened earlier.
Aribar: "Do you happen to mean the twin ships that blasted anything that came close to this island?"
Soldier: "Yes. They were what shot us down in the first place. One ship vs. two? We had no chance."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, those two have been..." *Mafia type voice.* "Taken care of."
Deloth: "Taken care of."
Soldier: "Really? Then we shouldn't waste any time."
Metal Man (GM): He looks to the others.
Soldier: "Let's prepare to invade the broken colony ship."
Digifanatic: *normal voice.* "Yeah, so who you folks and what does the GF stand for?"
Soldier: "Galactic Federation. What, the Red Text didn't tell you?"
Digifanatic: "Actually, it did not."
Soldier: "Hm. I may have to downgrade this situation... it seems this Red Text wanted something other than just help."
Digifanatic: *muttering to the other Questers.* "That was Caldon's organization, wasn't it?"
Soldier: "He told us to land here. And we got shot down."
Aribar: "He has left us in similar situations; he wants to protect this world, yet he has seemingly caused massive problems for us to solve."
Digifanatic: "Okay, so what happens now?"
Soldier: "Well." He crosses his arms. "We don't play games." He begins walking. "Follow me, you'll need to watch."
Digifanatic: "Okay, then." *follows.*
Soldier: "Tell me what you know of this person."
Aribar: "The Red Text? Not much."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers begin walking across a narrow bridge, which leads into the wrecked Vol Opt mines area--now referred to as a 'ship.'
Dragoshi: *Follows behind...*
Aribar: "He manipulates people to suit his needs. He wants to stop some great darkness coming towards this planet; the Vol Opts seem to be its vanguard."
Digifanatic: "Yeeeeah, he is very cryptic, it seems."
Deloth: "So what's our plan?"
Digifanatic: "He wants us to complete seven tasks for him. I believe this will be our third."
Soldier: "Well, we used our superior technology to destroy the weapons of this Vol Opt, except for those ships, which you destroyed."
Digifanatic: "And then after number seven, he'll show his face to us, and then we have to fight him."
Soldier: "It turns out these colony ships have large communication arrays."
Digifanatic: "How large?"
Soldier: "The entire colony ship is one massive antenna. Why? I don't know. It's all pseudoscience to me. Especially when we realized their main intelligence core defied physics."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk into similar metal hallways to the ones they walked earlier. YThey're heading towards the same area they did back in the Maverick Continent.
Soldier: "We're going to call for a pickup, and maybe have Samus Aran deal with this Red Text. Any idea where he is?"
Digifanatic: "We have no idea where he is... somewhere in space, orbiting this planet, I think... As for Samus, I'm not sure how familiar she is with him."
Soldier: "So, he's a fool, then." He dials something on his wrist. "We have giant space destroyers which could wreck an orbiter in... 15 seconds."
Metal Man (GM): He walks into the area where the Questers went down before, and presses a button. the way down is now... a way up?
Digifanatic: "Trust me, there's going to be some loophole that'll prevent this from being this easy."
Metal Man (GM): A gleaming circular energy staircase leads up to the ceiling.
Digifanatic: "I have a strange feeling about it."
Soldier: "That's what Samus is for. We'll need to be sure there's no trickery involved."
Digifanatic: "Ah."
Soldier: "Not after the pirates infected our AI..."
Deloth: *tiredly.* "There's ALWAYS trickery, sir."
Soldier: "Well then, all the better. See, we've had a similar enemy before, which is what makes this very... strange. In our galaxy, a sentient being infected our AI network, and several of our people. The being plotted to infect us all with phazon, a radioactive poison which is... alive."
Deloth: "...Alive?"
Soldier: "Yes. It could take over beings and replace their blood, making them into psychotic, radioactive, super-killers. We checked some bodies of these robots. They have a similar infection pattern. ...And just like our enemy, this being sends out small ships to invade."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers finally, finally reach the top. It's a massive control room. Some men place a bunch of devices in the room.
Aribar: "So you have experience that could potentially help save this planet."
Soldier: "Yes. But now I hear of this Red Text..."
Metal Man (GM): He shakes his head.
Soldier: "It's all dangerous, like you said."
Metal Man (GM): He types some commands.
Dragoshi: "Yep..."
Soldier: "Okay, this is where you come in handy."
Digifanatic: "Well, let's see it."
Soldier: "The Red Text sent you as his representatives. So you seem to know where he is."
Metal Man (GM): He turns on the machine, and a 3D map of the galaxy you're in appears. It's sparse, filled with debris. Just one sun, this planet, and a half-destroyed moon. He zooms in on what looks like a ton of debris around the planet. Remarkably, one can't make out any continents.
Soldier: "Constant interference makes it real hard to tell where everything is, but..."
Metal Man (GM): He shows the Questers several orbiting things. The first one is two halves of a sphere. It's relatively intact on the outside, but burnt black on the inside.
Soldier: "This it? It seems... dead. Hellooo?"
Metal Man (GM): He pokes some Questers.
Digifanatic: "Yes?"
Soldier: "Is this the orbiter?"
Metal Man (GM): He points to the two broken halves of a large sphere. It's burnt out on the inside.
Aribar: "Ahh..." *He looks at the object and tries to figure out if that's Red Text's 'lair.'*
Digifanatic: "It might be... if it's the only man-made object circling this planet, it probably is."
Metal Man (GM): He shows next to it, another thing, which is like a segmented mass with a shiny component floating, attached to it.
Digifanatic: "Oh, hang on..."
Metal Man (GM): And a third one, which is a sphere in fragments with a lot of weird stick-like elements.
Soldier: "Only the segmented and sticky-filled ones have any active radio feeds."
Aribar: "I do not know about the others, but I can't recall what the Red Text's hideout looked like."
Deloth: "Well, guys, what do you think?"
Soldier: "We have universal radio capability, so if you know someone else, you could call them from here."
Digifanatic: "Oh man, I didn't even realize there were three of these circling the planet. Let me think about it."
Soldier: "I'm sure you haven't seen much in space..."
Deloth: "...Incidentally, I'm not casting a vote yet, but do you know anything else about the halved sphere?"
Aribar: "Eggman would know, wouldn't he?"
Digifanatic: "He might."
Soldier: "Okay... Eggman." He looks around. "What's this? An open frequency which periodically..." He turns it on.
Dr. Robotnik: "You are listening to Robotnik Radio! All Robotnik, all the time! Broadcasting from Eggmanland! Remember, if you see Sonic in the street, do not brake! Hit him as fast as you can!"
Digifanatic: .oO(Ohhhh kaaaaaaaaaay then.)
Dr. Robotnik: "Pollute and trash the land around you. It's there for you to control!"
Deloth: "...Welp. He's snapped."
Dr. Robotnik: "And now we'll take some callers! At this phone number... Hmmm..."
Metal Man (GM): *Click.*
Dr. Robotnik: "Hello, what's your name?"
Aribar: "I don't think Robotnik can ever be as bad as the ones we've faced before."
Old Man: "I am the Old Man. Do you want to learn how to catch pokemon?"
Dr. Robotnik: "What? No! This show is all about me!"
Old Man: "First you take a pokeball, and next you..." *CLICK.*
Dr. Robotnik: "And now, for our next caller!"
Deloth facepalms. "Give me strength."
Metal Man (GM): There is a moment of silence...
Daniel Carrington: "This is Daniel Carrington, of Carrington Institute. Why are you blasting your radio and interfering with radio in Continia? It's really annoying!"
Dr. Robotnik: "I assure you, I am not in your land, and therefore, do not need to abide by your loathsome radio regulations."
Daniel Carrington: "Five people dead because you blared over the emergency radio! I want an answer!"
Dr. Robotnik: "Uhhh... Sonic did it!" *CLICK.* "And that has been our segment of 'Shout outs to Robotnik.' Now, for some music!"
Metal Man (GM): The Eggman theme begins playing... nonstop.
Soldier: "Okay, I think we can call him now."
Metal Man (GM): He presses a button. Robotnik appears on the viewscreen.
Dr. Robotnik: "What? Who's calling me now?"
Soldier: "Some friends of yours. We have a question."
Metal Man (GM): He shows the three space orbiters.
Dr. Robotnik: "Okay, what do you want to know about those... Questers???"
Deloth: "You need caller ID in the worst possible way. Anyways. Which of these three orbiters is Red Text on?"
Aribar: "These people were used in a similar manner as we were."
Dr. Robotnik: "Oh... the Super Death Egg, of course!"
Metal Man (GM): He points at the middle one.
Dr. Robotnik: "The left one is my first one, and the one on the right the Death Egg 2. It appears the Death Egg 2 is less damaged than I thought... perhaps I will try to send signals to it now. Er... thank you." *Click.*
Soldier: "Okay... that makes sense, the 'Death Egg 2' is nothing more than a mass of hardware floating around. Now. We'll send our call back to the Federation, and everything will have been dealt with. Easy, right?"
Deloth snorts. "No."
Aribar: "Probably not. The Red Text might have been listening in to all of this."
Digifanatic: "Well, like he's probably alluding to, there's gonna be some loophole, most likely."
Dragoshi: "Yeeeaaaa..."
Metal Man (GM): He dials up the radio.
Soldier: "Attention Galactic Federation. We are trapped on a hostile planet. Please send help; we are answering a distress call. Code 20512. Over."
GF Radio: "We hear you and are sending ships. Please stand by."
Metal Man (GM): He turns the radio off and turns to the Questers.
Soldier: "We simply give the appearance of doing what he wants to do. The code, however, stands for 'I am being listened in on and require special ops support.' Now... before we go to meet them... I need to know something."
Metal Man (GM): He shows an image of Vol Opt, who they have cornered.
Soldier: "How do you get at this guy without being frozen solid???"
Digifanatic: "Well, make sure your group's kinda large. And what do you mean, 'frozen solid'? We've fought one of those before and I don't recall any ice beams."
Dragoshi: "Yeah..."
Soldier: "It casts clouds of ice."
Aribar: "I do, Digi. He cast a very powerful ice spell."
Digifanatic: "Just launching debris and such."
Soldier: "Out of thin air."
Digifanatic: "Ah, I forgot about it."
Dragoshi: "Oh. Right, that."
Soldier: "Our suits can't take it."
Aribar: "In fact, he nearly froze me to death."
Soldier: "One guy nearly died while we were busy talking..."
Metal Man (GM): He goes to walk outside.
Soldier: "I'm sure you've been bored stiff by all this talk."
Digifanatic: "No, not yet."
Soldier: "Don't worry... we're almost done with this situation." He is walking back to the ship.
Aribar: "The only suggestion I can make is that it appears vulnerable to electricity."
Metal Man (GM): A radio message is heard in the background.
Deloth keeps his swords out, looking around suspiciously. If anything's gonna go wrong, it'll be now.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, definite weakness to electricity." *listens in.*
Vol Opt 3: "You cannot make a mockery--KHZTTT mockey for long KZHTZZZ do not..." *BOOOM.*
Soldier: "The Vol Opt exploded. Apparently it disliked being controlled."
Digifanatic: "Whoa." *gives the O_O look.*
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Aribar: "... What?"
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk outside, and the ground rumbles.
Soldier: "I don't know what that is, however."
Digifanatic: "Me neither."
Metal Man (GM): *PHST* *PHST* *PHST* *PHST.*
Dragoshi: "...Same."
Metal Man (GM): Four pillars of light appear around the Questers. They fade out, revealing... Weird, hunched over fish-like armored beings with long halberds.
Dragoshi: "..." *Bah-link.*
Soldier: "...It summoned help with that explosion???"
Deloth ducks into battle position, because he does NOT have time for this shit.
Metal Man (GM): They go to attack...
Deloth: "All of you. Leave the area now or we'll be eating fish tempura for a week."
Metal Man (GM): They respond in indecipherable gibberish, that sounds sort of like screeching.
Aribar raises his sword defensively and looks about at their foes.*
Deloth: "Okay, your choice."
Dragoshi: *Draws out his scythe, then goes to spit some acid into one of the Ill Gills' eyes.*
Metal Man (GM): It parries with its halberd. One of the "Ill Gills" swings at Dragoshi, twice, with its sharp halberd. Another goes to stab the Soldier guy in the face.
Soldier: "Gah!"
Metal Man (GM): The other two charge up and are surrounded by darkness.
Deloth: "What the hell ARE these things? Atlanteans?"
Metal Man (GM): *Stab.* *Stab.*
Soldier: "Take this!" He fires at the Ill Gill. With enough plasma and at such a speed one would think he had a turbo controller.
Dragoshi: "Urgh..."
Metal Man (GM): The Ill Gill's halberd heats up. He continues shooting at it. The halberd gets so hot the Ill Gill drops it for a moment and gets shot over and over again.
Deloth: "Wow. Nice shooting."
Metal Man (GM): He continues shooting at the Ill Gill. It is now on the ground, being pummeled over and over again by plasma.
Soldier: "They're tougher than the robots, but nothing can take over one hundred plasma shots and dodge them all."
Aribar rushes over to a different Ill Gil and jabs it twice with Sunlight!*
Metal Man (GM): His plasma rifle smokes as he waits until it becomes cool enough to use again. Aribar hits both times. The darkness in its soul catches on fire, causing it to take yet more damage.
Digifanatic decides to go for one of the Ill Gills WHOSA CHARGIN THUR ORA (preferably the one that's most beat up)! So he goes for two Fire Punches.
Metal Man (GM): None of the charging ones have been hit. Miss, miss.
Deloth goes for the one that's already been knocked down, aiming to stab it with the ages-old double sword combo.
Metal Man (GM): Its flesh still sizzles. Down on the ground, it can't dodge as effectively. It gets stabbed while on the ground. Deloth stabs it to death instead.
Deloth: "Mmm. Sushi."
Metal Man (GM): It melts into purple aether.
Deloth: "...DAMMIT!"
Digifanatic: "That... is an odd death sequence."
Deloth: "Might wanna try knocking them over, Drag."
Dragoshi: "...I can only do one at a time." :/ *Goes to attempt to ram his scythe into one of the Ill Gills that are charging up.*
Metal Man (GM): Dragoshi knocks its scythe out of its hands, screwing over its charging sequence. The remaining charged Ill Gill goes for the Soldier with a weird aura of darkness slash!
Soldier: "Gahhhh!" He falls over. Dead. In one hit.
Metal Man (GM): The one that was interrupted begins charging up again. And another one goes to stab Dragoshi twice.
Deloth: "Oh, dammit, not another casualty..."
Digifanatic: "Well, that just ramped up the stakes."
Metal Man (GM): One, two hits.
Dragoshi: "Get rid of the one that's charging up!"
Aribar rushes over to the charging one and tries slashing it to pieces with Sunlight.
Metal Man (GM): It blocks it once. The second time, it gets stabbed, then knocks Aribar's sword out of his hand. It's still charging. Aribar's sword is on the ground. It takes damage due to the sunlight oriented properties.
Aribar: .oO(Blasted thing!)
Digifanatic: *Goes for the one charging up and tries to smack it down with the golf club!*
Metal Man (GM): Digi smacks it in the head. It still has its charge... but a good hit would mess its charge up for good. Deloth would notice... The dead man's plasma gun. It's still on the ground.
Deloth: *Another sword combo to the charging fishy because he's terrible with firearms. He'd probably wind up accidentally shooting Ari in the eye or something.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit. Deloth chops its head clean off. It fades into darkness.
Dragoshi: *Proceeds to attack the weaker of the two Ill Gills by shooting out beams of light from his scythe! Light Ele x2! And stuff.*
Metal Man (GM): It burns! It burns! More damage as arrows of light burn it.
Deloth: "Ready to give up YET?"
Metal Man (GM): They've had enough of being burned and shot at. Ill Gill 2 goes to stab Dragoshi twice. Ill Gill 4 goes to stab Deloth. Stab n' slice.
Dragoshi: *Takes one hit.* *Is, like... barely staying alive here.*
Metal Man (GM): Both of Deloth's swords are knocked from his hands as he takes more damage.
Deloth: "Aw, shi--" *DISARMED.*
Aribar: "Knock the fiery sword out of my hand, then you face the fiery magic!" *The half-elf unleashes wave after wave of intense heat upon the Ill Gill that assaulted Dragoshi! Fire Ele x 5!*
Metal Man (GM): It burns in a giant cone of fire. Burning balls o' fire. It melts into darkness.
Digifanatic decides to take a more calculated approach this time: Icy Kick to Fire Punch. Trying to finish this a bit more conservatively.
Metal Man (GM): It dodges only once.
Digifanatic: *Ice damage.*
Deloth: "Alright, you jackass fish, I've carried that sword with me for years. You mess with it, you are going DOWN." *Triple Light Pillar to the face!*
Metal Man (GM): It gets hit by a light pillar. 2x damage. Shiny plasma gun sits on ground.
Dragoshi: *Which Dragoshi will pick up when the battle ends!* :V *But for now, Dragoshi shoots the Ill Gill in the face with more light beams! Light Ele x2!*
Metal Man (GM): The Ill Gill gets up and then begins... rocketing around, going to knock everyone down. He brings new meaning to Garland's 'I will knock you all down.'
Deloth: "Oh, what the HELL."
Metal Man (GM): Since it is a hit-all attack.
Dragoshi: *KO'd.*
Metal Man (GM): It also knocks everyone over.
Deloth: "Uhn!" *gets knocked onto his back. Oww, he landed right on his tail!*
Metal Man (GM): It then goes to stab Aribar while he's down. And hits the dirt next to him.
Deloth: "...My tail has been shoved into a place where a tail should not go..."
Aribar flinches away from its blade... And the holds up his hand towards the Ill Gill and summons up five points of light; each fires a beam of fire at the soon-to-be-dead foe! Fire Ele times five!*
Metal Man (GM): It hisses as it melts into nothing. Deloth's possession meter goes off.
Aribar: "Never mess with a Jentanian wizard."
Digifanatic: "I have not heard that phrase in a while."
Deloth stands up and brushes himself off. "Allow me to absorb this delicious dark energy." *He holds his hands out and absorbs the life essence of the dead Ill Gills.*
Metal Man (GM): Deloth is fully healed by the life essence... what? Then the meter turns off. The Questers hear a voice echoing from the soldier's suit.
Aribar smirks and gets up to his feet. However, it turns to a frown as he watches Deloth. The half-elf goes to retrieve Sunlight, dusts himself off, and sheathes his blade.*
Deloth blinks in surprise. "Didn't I have a blade wound through my stomach about five seconds ago?!"
Vol Opt 3: "You... you... you cannot... cannot... resist the dark... darkness..."
Deloth then shakes his head and grabs his swords again.
Vol Opt 3: "Dieeeeeeeeeee..."
Aribar: "Yes. And then your possessed self seemed to... I thought that thing was dead!"
Dragoshi: *Would tell it to shut up, but... He's down. So yeah.*
Metal Man (GM): The dead soldier is engulfed in darkness.
Digifanatic: "Well, here we go again."
Metal Man (GM): He stands up, as weird line patterns like the Ill Gill appear all over his suit. Some markings similar to the Vol Opt machine appear on his armor as well.
Metal Man (GM): Weird radio noises issue from the suit.
Radio: "Area is not secure. RrrrRRRrrgh... Unknown presence in area. Gggghh... dieeeeee..."
Deloth: "Alright, guys, time to kill. Again."
Digifanatic: "Probably them in the caves."
Metal Man (GM): His left hand shakes as a large purple spear-sword appears to complement his gun, which is now surrounded in darkness. BOSS: Griftforr (Apparently, the evil translation of 'Galactic Federation Soldier???')
Aribar: "Now is about the time that I wish I didn't waste my energy on those four enemies."
Deloth: "Less talk, more stomp."
Garrick skids into the room. "Guys, you wouldn't BELIEVE what--oh hell, what did you guys do now?"
Metal Man (GM): Garrick skids into the sandy beach... where an evil, corrupted Dark man in a suit is facing the Questers.
Deloth: "Never mind. See that dark guy there? Shoot him until he stops moving."
Garrick: "...did he do something... bad...?"
Deloth: "Should be a plasma rifle somewhere on the ground."
Garrick: "Wait... what?"
Aribar: "He's about to kill us. Technically, he hasn't done anything bad YET."
Garrick: "See, you shoulda said that to begin with."
Deloth: "We sort of assumed you could figure it out from context."
Garrick: "Deloth, think. Can anyone in this group take anything seriously straight away?"
Metal Man (GM): The Griftforr points... the plasma rifle... at the Questers. Apparently he picked it up.
Deloth: "...This is why we can never have nice things."
Metal Man (GM): He points it at Aribar and fires continuously.
Aribar: "Oh, piffle!" *Diiiiiiive.*
Metal Man (GM): *BLAMBLAM* He then points it at Deloth and fires. Deloth takes damage as he is peppered by shots. Then he aims at Digi and fires. Some more damage as Digi is only skimmed. Man, that thing can fire a lot.
Deloth promptly gets shot full of holes. "Son of a bitch..." He takes a deep breath. "Cover me, guys." *Gathering Smash Energy...*
Aribar steps in front of Deloth to act as a shield between him and Griftforr. The mage then points Sunlight at the soldier. Specifically, his plasma blaster. He casts Kinesis to try and steal the weapon away from the soldier!
Metal Man (GM): The soldier makes a number of radio noises and tries to hold onto it. Aribar rips it free, but it's still consumed by darkness. It sits on the ground, smoldering.
Aribar then points at the spear of darkness. He flicks Sunlight and the spear would mimic the move; being torn out of the solider's hand! Kinesis!*
Metal Man (GM): Aribar rips his entire hand off.
Deloth: "...Wow."
Digifanatic: "Nice."
Garrick: "...well... that's... fun."
Aribar then pulls back on Sunlight and thrusts it forward; trying to push the soldier down to the ground! Kinesis x 3! "Fall down and stay down!"
Metal Man (GM): Aribar pushes it over onto the ground. Deloth looks sort of silly right now. It's stuck in the ground. An easy target.
Digifanatic: *With plenty of health to spare, he also charges some Smash Energy.*
Garrick grunts as he glances to Deloth and Digi, standing there sweating and looking weird. "So... you're just going to stand around and let me and Ari do the work... very nice..." *sigh.* "..."
Deloth: "..."
Garrick draws his pistol easily, raising it with one arm and unloading a rapid fire series of shots at the fallen dark robot man thing.
Metal Man (GM): It is hit over and over again. The Griftforr/Dark Trooper is fatigued. Smashed into the ground. And about to be hit by two Final Smashes. And has no hands.
Metal Man (GM): The corrupted mess shoots sparks and then turns off. The dark energy from it floats up and solidifies into another pillar of energy. After a moment, the Questers feel a dark presence, then there is no more darkness. It appears they totally trashed that there boss.
Deloth: "..."
Metal Man (GM): Looking at the corpse, the Questers would see that, full of bullet holes, handless, crushed into the dirt... it really couldn't have done anything further against anyone.
Deloth disperses his gathered energy and sighs. So much for the Ti'Fiona Spectral Sword Summoning Technique.
Metal Man (GM): A ship lands nearby. Several men come out. They look and shake their heads.
Soldier 2: "Man. Look what happened to Dan."
Dragoshi: *...Yeah, that's good and all, but could someone pick him up or something. Or... like... give him the plasma rifle then pick him up?* :V
Soldier 3: "I knew we shouldn't have let them send soldiers out here! Darkness is here!"
Deloth grabs Dragoshi's corpse and slings him over his shoulder. Happy?
Aribar looks about and see the soldiers and sighs in relief.* "At least there weren't... More casualties."
Dragoshi: *Yes. Thank you.*
Soldier 2: "..." He walks up to the Questers. "We were called for a special ops situation involving someone tapping the radio signals."
Garrick holsters his gun, looking the soldier over.
Digifanatic: "Oh."
Aribar: "Huh. You arrived rather quickly."
Soldier 2: "Yes... we have hyperdrive. It's no problem to teleport vast distances... but only through empty space."
Garrick: "...hyperdrive, you say...?"
Soldier 2: "So. What's going on? Since you were the last people to... see... Dan..."
Metal Man (GM): He picks up Dan's broken chest computer and shakes his head.
Deloth: "Vol Opt took him over. We had to defend ourselves. I'm sorry..."
Soldier 2: "Yes. Our suits are made to warn of possession after the phazon incident."
Aribar: "These people were lured down to this planet by a being known as Red Text."
Digifanatic: "He got killed by an odd fish creature, and then, well, everything went downhill."
Aribar: "Once here they were attacked by a powerful mechanical menace known as Vol Opt. I think that Red Text assumed they could defeat Vol Opt, but they failed."
Deloth: "..." *grabs the plasma rifle too for Drag.*
Metal Man (GM): It is totally useless, corrupted into nothing more than dead metal.
Aribar: "They were trapped down here, but we managed to destroy two ships that were keeping them pinned down. We talked to them briefly before being attacked."
Metal Man (GM): Without the darkness flowing through it, it seems to be powerless. The darkness spear requires a handle.
Deloth: "Want me to carry that, Ari?" *nods towards the spear piece.*
Metal Man (GM): Unlike the Sword of Darkness, it's just dark element--a harmless crystal as long as one is not on the wrong end of things.
Deloth: "I have a little more experience with darkness, and after the Sword incident..."
Soldier 2: "So, who's the person tapping the radio? And where are they?"
Aribar: "I know that I am not touching it, Del."
Deloth reaches down and grabs it.
Soldier 2: "We'll take care of... this person for you."
Digifanatic: "I really don't want it either."
Soldier 2: "All we need is to know where. The message specified the dead man would tell us... but... you seem to have been with him, do you know?"
Aribar: "Red Text was listening in. He is on the space station orbiting this planet known as the Super Death Egg." *The half-elf gives the physical description of the orbiter that they were given earlier.*
Soldier 2: "Hm. Really." He crosses his arms. "Well, Dan may have saved us all. Rest his soul." Some men take Dan's body away.
Aribar: "It won't be easy to take him down. And, to tell the truth, he probably shouldn't be taken down yet."
Soldier 2: "Well, I'll let you talk to Samus about that, though she'll take a little bit. Just tell us where your home base is."
Garrick frowns as he watches them take Dan's body away, sighing and shaking his head before looking over their ship from afar.
Soldier 2: "Also, you saved all the other men with your bravery, so..."
Metal Man (GM): He hands out 10 coins apiece to each of the Questers.
Deloth: "Thank you."
Garrick: "God, Samus... it's been ages since I talk to her... hell, saw her."
Soldier 2: "It's not much, but it's what we have."
Garrick pockets the coins, nodding a thank you to the man.
Digifanatic: "Thanks."
Aribar accepts the coins and sheaths his sword.
Soldier 2: "We'll discuss a proper connection between us and you, since this Red Text is somewhat problematic and it appears you are the real trustworthy people."
Deloth looks at the crystal he picked up.
Soldier 2: "So... where are you headed after this?"
Metal Man (GM): It's a dark purple thing in the shape of a blade.
Digifanatic: "No idea."
Garrick: "Most likely to where ever we can find some more work, or at least someplace where we can hurt Red Text."
Soldier 2: "A communication device we could talk to you with? We need to meet you again once Samus arrives."
Aribar: "That reminds me. If possible, I want to find out where the Vol Opt here was. I want to see if there is anything salvageable here."
Garrick: "We have a basic radio we carry... nothing fancy, but it gets the job done."
Deloth shaves a bit of fur off of his arm with the crystal and whistles softly. "This thing's honed. Whatever created it, they did a good job."
Garrick: "We used to have some burst transmission devices that carried signal off some relays, but those are long gone by now. But if you can get a signal to these things..." *he holds up the minmal radio he has, which he's guessing is like a walkie talkie sorta thing.* "...the frequency is 176.55."
Soldier 2: "Okay. We'll see you soon enough. Off we go." The soldiers walk away.
Metal Man (GM): They leave the Questers to rest on a tropical paradise... well, the part that isn't covered in robot pieces and ship pieces.
Garrick looks all the pieces over... then nods appreciatively. "...hey guys... wanna build a ship of our own?"
Deloth: "Normally this is where I'd start brooding, but I'm still rather angry at not getting to use Papa's technique to finish that thing off."
Metal Man (GM): Mission Ovah, wah.
Aribar: "I could possibly help melt things together with my magic, but I'm not exactly good at technological stuff."
Garrick: "I have enough tools to get me by, and I can probably make a few basic things out of the stuff I find..." *kinda easier this way.*
Deloth places Dragoshi back down on the ground and grabs a seat on a piece of scrap metal.
Garrick: "I'll have to do most of the calculations in my head... maybe find some modeling paper in a bin somewhere... or a basic computer..."
Deloth: "Or etch marks in the dirt."
Garrick: *wanders around while he plans, looking to one of the bigger ship husks and heading toward it.*
Digifanatic: *He boards the ship again.*
Deloth: *Well, with Garrick off over there and Digi in the ship, only one thing left to do. Torment the elf.* "So, Ari, wanna know another reason why I'm anxious for Alexia and I to meet up again?"
Aribar: "If I say no, are you going to say it anyways?"
Deloth: *picking his teeth with the crystal point.* "Of course."
Digifanatic: *from the pilot's seat.* "This could be entertaining."
Deloth: "See, think about it."
Aribar: "Go ahead, Del." *The half-elf draws various images on the beach with Sunlight.*
Deloth: "Tentacles. Shapeshifting. Fur. Wings."
Aribar: "She isn't going to be the same, is she?"
Deloth leans in. Time for the killshot. "When we decide to have kids, we're going to have so very much fun. We may never get a child, but we're sure gonna have fun trying with all the equipment at hand." *evil grin.*
Digifanatic: *sets the autopilot on so he can laugh without crashing the ship.*
Aribar narrows his eyes, thinking of something for a moment. "Does that mean that she was technically cheating on you?"
Keikyoku: *Shoots some more seagulls.*
Digifanatic: "Nice shot, Kei."
Deloth: "No. She wasn't and won't."
Keikyoku: "WEEEEEE."
Deloth: "And I rather think that it'll be a fun relationship anyways."
Digifanatic: "How did you two meet, anyway?"
Deloth: "I got beaten up and sort of staggered into their village since I wouldn't make it back. I believe her exact words were 'You're cute. You're going to be my boyfriend.'"
Digifanatic: "Hey, girl makes the first move for once."
Aribar: "As long as you two just keep to yourselves and she never comes near me, I don't quite care what you do." .oO(Creepy little person, Deloth.)
Digifanatic: "Aribar, I just take it you don't care for romance?"
Deloth: "I'll be sure to warp us to the middle of your house in the middle of it, then."
Digifanatic: "No offense, but... Yeah, what house on this planet?"
Deloth: *chuckling.* "Oh, I'll find it. Anyways. I tried to tell her that we wouldn't really hit it off and she shouldn't make snap judgements. She didn't listen."
Digifanatic: "I can see why she wanted Aribar so badly."
Aribar: "I'm married to my art, Digi. That, and Alexia... There is something a little scary about her."
Digifanatic: "Ah."
Deloth: *casually.* "Yep."
Keikyoku: *Wonders if he can meet some girl echidnas.*
Deloth: "She's not really mean, she just... how should I put this... she doesn't listen. When she sees her goal, she will not let up until it's reached."
Digifanatic: "I mean, I wouldn't mind relationships or whatever, but I couldn't take one seriously, especially when I have a job like this."
Deloth: "Plus, she could kill a deer with her bare hands, which has to count for SOMETHING, y'know. And that's without opposable thumbs. What have YOU done today?"
Digifanatic: "Like during that big old lull we had, you know, before what led up to the Book and all, I had a few casual relationships, but I knew I couldn't make anything intentionally long-term cause you never know when some crazy crisis pops up again."
Aribar: "I set monsters on fire with my mind. Does that beat killing a deer with one's hands?"
Deloth: "Only if you also dragged in ten cords of firewood every day."
Aribar: "I -could- do that as easily as I took away that soldier's weapons."
Garrick: *meanders back out, frowning as he flips through some papers.* "Ten to the power of one-fourth squared, divided by the sum of sixteen and the square root of ten fourths..."
Deloth: "Can you do it every single day, along with catching your own food, mixing your own medicines, and caring for someone who was stupid enough to try to take on a monster that was way over his head and dislocated both shoulders and broke a leg?"
Digifanatic: "You know, Deloth... I just realized something. Humans... and dragons... and whatever you are... I can only imagine what those kids are like? And would Alexia lay eggs or something? I dunno, man. I need to see a biologist."
Garrick: *pauses as he walks by the others, slowly turning his head.*
Deloth: "We'll just dance across those bridges as we reach them, I suppose."
Garrick: "...what in the blue hell are you guys talking about??"
Digifanatic: "Deloth's life."
Garrick: "...Deloth lays eggs?"
Digifanatic: "Which seems rather decent until, well, random vanishings and winding up meeting the Questers. No, he doesn't."
Deloth: "...If you're wondering, all of this happened BEFORE all this transformation crap, by the way."
Garrick: "...what?"
Digifanatic: "He had a relationship with Alexia. Yes, that one."
Deloth: "Have."
Garrick: "...just... but... wait... you and Alexia were together?"
Aribar: "I hope your possessed self doesn't ruin it if we ever meet her again, Del!"
Digifanatic: "I know, with the coffee and stalking Ari and whatever else, it sure wouldn't seem like it, but yes, they were together at some point."
Deloth: "Mmm-hmm. She won me over with her feminine wiles and skills. Like biting through the throat of a captured animal to kill it. You just don't find many people that can do that anymore, y'know. You gotta grab them as they come down the line."
Digifanatic: "Especially your opposite sex."
Deloth: "Granted, I've heard that she calmed down after shacking up with you guys for a while. Apparently Miss Manners says that it's not polite to butcher livestock in public. Imagine!"
Digifanatic: "Well, aside from that... one incident... she was alright. I told you before about her being possessed or something, though... we never got to the bottom of that."
Deloth: "Remember any names? Maybe I can shed a bit of light."
Digifanatic: "Oh man, lemme think. I mean, this goes back several years, so... I remember when it first happened. We were having a friendly tournament, and she was facing one of those short-term Questers. There were too many back then. ANYWAYS. The fight started rather normally for her but by the end she lost a bit of sanity and it was obvious it wasn't her fault. I can't recall any specific lines, but she was talking about what sounded like some prophecy about her, supposedly saving her race or her village or what. It had to be some sort of prophecy, and regardless of who said it, it was coming out of her mouth."
Deloth raises an eyebrow. "I don't recall anything about that. Are you sure?"
Digifanatic: "Like how you've been possessed--sometimes, you're not the one who's talking."
Deloth: "Like I said, a name would be a big help."
Digifanatic: "So a similar idea might have happened with her. Well, if you let me think about it, I might be able to help. ...no, no, can't think of it yet... I'm not even sure she or the possessor ever said its name. Wait a minute... I remember her veins changing colors, and I think her hair as well. Now, as for a name... we looked into the library we had while we still had an HQ about this..."
Deloth leans back and thinks. "Sounds like something went screwy in the process, then."
Digifanatic: "The name was something really weird and possibly ethnic, like it started with an odd sound. A Q or a Z or something worth a lot of points if we were playing Scrabble."
Deloth: "Well, let's see... I know that no names there started with Q, so I could probably rule that out. For Z, there's only one thing I can remember."
Digifanatic: "Okay, like I said, it was an odd name, so if you say it, it might leap out at me."
Deloth: "And that was Zelkfa. I remember him because he visited Alexia a lot; apparently her and him and two others were part of some close friendship."
Digifanatic: "That... is kinda familiar."
Deloth shuts his eyes tighter, trying to dredge up old memories.
Digifanatic: "Did he seem like a seer or prophet or one of those types?"
Deloth: "Yeah. He was working on the mental side of psychic powers over there. Alexia got the matter-based ones, like telekinesis. So it's a definite probability."
Digifanatic: "Well then. Did he ever say something about how Alexia might have had a crazy fate attached to her from a young age?"
Deloth: "I don't think so... I keep trying to remember the names of those other two guys and I keep missing... Airon. I know that was another one. He was a lot younger and a lot wilder."
Digifanatic: "Huh."
Deloth: "Kind of the annoying-yet-lovable little brother."
Digifanatic: "Right."
Deloth: "Third one... can't remember his name, but I can picture him. Big. BIG. About twice as big as a normal dragon. Really quiet and sort of withdrawn. That prophecy... what was it again? Saving the village?"
Digifanatic: "Something stereotypical like that. I wasn't writing it down, but it was your typical 'only hope to save your people' type thing."
Deloth: "But that doesn't make sense. They got ravaged when some nut decided to attack because they MIGHT have been a threat. Not much of a savior if fifty percent of the population gets killed."
Digifanatic: "Well, it is fifty percent of the population, and probably most of her race, too. If not all of it."
Deloth: "It wasn't. Trust me."
Digifanatic: "Huh."
Deloth: "Bodies in trenches. Mass and hasty cremations. It was terrible."
Digifanatic: "Oh... maybe it was something stranger that would have happened after you lost contact with your planet. But something that might have happened before she lost contact."
Deloth: "I don't know. I just don't know..."
Digifanatic: "Or maybe it was a false prophecy."
Deloth: "...If you don't mind, I'm kind of worn out from today. Mind if I try to at least rest a bit?"
Digifanatic: "No, go ahead."
Deloth gives Digi a tired thumbs-up and reclines, closing his eyes. It's not sleep, but it'll do.
Digifanatic: .oO(I need a biologist, a dimension-warping machine which won't malfunction, and an expert on Pokemon technology... only two of those will probably be easy to find.)

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