Super Smash Quest² - Story - Chapter 43: Shady Deals


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Date: February 26th, 2009.
Metal Man (GM): A Little Recap. The group went to the evil Red Text's satellite, almost intent on ending him. What they found instead was some British Gentleman bent on protecting the world. However, they also found something quite nasty possessing Deloth... indeed... it was Ivan Robotnik, who was bent at restoring the twisted reality of the past in this one. Some comments were hurled about, and in the process Red Text revealed that the world was in fact its own dimension rather than a book; hence Ivan's great machine and even his powers failed to make a lasting imprint on the realm. The Questers discovered that their leader had been sighted, as had some strange being made entirely of metal who looked like him. But neither left a lasting photographic impression, and the group thus went back to the planet with Eggman after it was healed by Red Text's master machine. The group is now in Eggman's base, having rested up a short bit and basically fit as they will ever be. Eggman is hunched over a computer panel. He's... trying to get an image of some sort...
Dr. Robotnik: "While you were resting, I figured I'd get some intel from Red Text... he gave it to me, but I'm having a hard time decoding it."
Digifanatic: "Oh, may I take a look?"
Dr. Robotnik: "If you could help me... this information is in a strange format."
Metal Man (GM): He moves out of the way. Why would he need Digi's help?
Garrick is leaning against the nearby wall, frowning as he pushes away and moves over to take a look at this 'intel' that he's talking about. "Probably something involving riddles or colors or something..."
Digifanatic: "Alright then..."
Metal Man (GM): Indeed. There is a riddle.
Red Text: 'Answer this one question: What destroyed your world?'
Metal Man (GM): Eggman stares at it, perplexed.
Dr. Robotnik: "My world has always been here, so I suspect it refers to you."
Garrick: "...well, shit."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, I'd say so."
Aribar: "This is information he only wants us to see."
Digifanatic: "What destroyed Nintendus... well... I'm pretty sure it wasn't destroyed when we left."
Garrick: "Alright, well... it's kinda hard to answer that question in our case. There's a lot of answers."
Digifanatic: "The first thing I can think of is Kuja... But eventually Nintendus restored."
Garrick: "Kuja never destroyed the world. He just enslaved it."
Aribar: "Digi, the world was destroyed when we left it."
Deloth slips in, looking a lot happier now that he's not sharing mindspace with anyone.
Digifanatic: "Oh, sorry."
Aribar: "At least, if I recall correctly it was."
Digifanatic: "Hello, Deloth. Welcome to peace again, I presume?"
Deloth: "Oh, man, it's awesome."
Metal Man (GM): It appears that he wants information in exchange for giving the Questers information.
Garrick: "Do we have some way of getting the answer to him?"
Deloth glances down at the infomabob. "What's this?"
Digifanatic: "We can probably type it out."
Dr. Robotnik: "Why yes." He points... it's a text box. And it can be typed into. "A map of the portion of the planet immediately visible to Red Text's satellite."
Aribar goes over to the computer and types in "The Questers".
Garrick: "...WE didn't blow up the world. At least, not intentionally."
Digifanatic: "Yeah."
Dr. Robotnik: "It won't unlock without some... answer... I believe it's not so much a question of being right or wrong, but satisfying the question. As my traces on the program indicate it will decrypt once the information has been sent AND he sends a signal back unlocking it."
Deloth: "...I think just general dimensional breakdown wrecked things, finally."
Digifanatic: "Probably."
Dr. Robotnik: "Drove me mad trying to crack it."
Garrick walks over to the gizmo information thing and looks it over. "Care to let me give it a shot?"
Digifanatic: "Yeah, go ahead."
Dr. Robotnik: "Go ahead."
Garrick glances to Ari, who was at the thing last...
Digifanatic: "If nothing else, he'll ask for a bit of clarification and we can give him our take on it."
Aribar steps aside. "That was my guess."
Garrick goes and starts typing.
Deloth: "...I swear, I feel so much better now."
Digifanatic: "Oh, I imagine... I think the whole group has been liberated a bit not having to worry about you." *muttering to Deloth.* "I know I am... so according to the ex-voice, Ivan said Garrick was responsible for destroying his world..."
Deloth: "Yes, Digi, but Ivan's a nutter."
Digifanatic: *m* "...yeah." *Normal voice.* Now all we have to do is figure out your transformation. Obviously, with what we know, this is not a result of dimensional anomaly."
Deloth shrugs. "Hell if I know. I never really even paid much attention to cats."
Digifanatic: "Ah. Of course, I still want to look for a biologist."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick continues typing away.
Kenku walks over to the group "Hey all."
Metal Man (GM): Robotnik stands by.
Aribar: "Greetings." *Stands to the side as well. He's reading Robotnik's Activate book, so far the spellbook that's given him the most trouble.*
Digifanatic: "Hello."
Deloth: "I dunno, Digi. I honestly can't thing of anything in nature with fur, feathers, and wings on the head, along with tentacles."
Digifanatic: "And there are those who have never seen humans before."
Deloth: "Just pointing that out, Digi."
Digifanatic: "True."
Garrick finishes typing. "There. I think that'll do it. "
Digifanatic: "Okay..." *walks over and reads.*
Dr. Robotnik: "Hmmm." *Looks... not that it means much to him. He's hoping that map opens.*
Garrick: 'Answer this one question: What destroyed your world? The question is a large one. You can take many different ideas and combine them together into giving an answer for this one. Some people think that it. was the Questers that blew up Nintendus, and that might have been so in the long run, but they never intentionally blew up the planet. They were put there, in the beginning of it all, to SAVE the planet.'
Garrick: 'The base reason the Questers were brought into existence is to keep terrorists from blowing. up the stadium in the first place. They just kinda expanded out from keeping the stadium intact to keeping the world intact. Did the Questers destroy. Nintendus? No. At the very, very least, they were used as a Cat's Paw.'
Garrick: 'The Void is another answer to this. But the Void can be used in the opposite way of the previous statement. The Void was created by the Questers. unintentionally as well, but then he brought the whole thing to a close by doing stuff the Questers never thought of him doing in the first place. So, you could say that, once again. it was the Questers caused the destruction of the planet. The Void was his own entity, however, so it's quite. a valid statement to say that the Void did it.'
Garrick: 'You could come up with a variety of reasons for this. Charles Magellean, the X-zone, Kuja, Metal Man. All of these have some valid reasoning behind it. to explain how the planet was destroyed. My final answer is this: It wasn't one thing that blew up Nintendus. It was a combined effort of the unintentional mistakes made by the Questers, the. stirrings of the Void, and the actions of several different enemies that, when combined, caused the foundation to crack and made it easy for key events. to set the destruction in motion.'
Digifanatic: "Yeah, that'll impress him."
Garrick: "At the very least, it'll do something that'll shut him up."
Dr. Robotnik: "What a strange, funny, confusing world you must have lived in."
Deloth: "Yes. It was."
Digifanatic: *turns to Robotnik and smiles.* "Yeah."
Garrick hits the enter button, wondering if that'll do it.
Kenku blinks, half understanding what Garrick said.
Aribar: "If I recall our history correctly, the Book which we fought before coming here was... Our story. That includes the setting: Nintendus. I believe we ended Nintendus when we ended the book."
Digifanatic: "Well, once again, it's one of many things that led to it."
Metal Man (GM): It clicks, and the program pauses a moment. Then it beeps and opens up, with a response.
Red Text: 'It is a shame I missed that when it happened. I needed to know so I could verify you were the Questers opening this... and I'd like to know what to watch out for. Thanks.'
Metal Man (GM): http://ssq.metalman88.com/partmap.PNG
Digifanatic: "Hello again, world."
Red Text: 'This map highlights the places I have seen you go and the larger places. It is by no means complete.'
Digifanatic: "And thank you very much..."
Deloth: "Any way we can fill more of this in?"
Dr. Robotnik: "Well, you could go to the empty places and check them out. I would warn you, however, this scale notes that to go outside of this, you should bring... a fully outfitted adventure rig. Food, supplies..."
Digifanatic: "Oh, wow..."
Dragoshi: "Hoo boy..."
Digifanatic: "I suddenly miss warp pipes and tiles. "
Dr. Robotnik: "Strange things exist beyond and inside this area. My GENIUS is how I see that... it is to be explored carefully. Now. You wanted a Stadium,... in Westopolis."
Garrick: "Well, we'll need something a bit more solid than that little ship we have. Something that has some kick on it. Some weapons, some more room..."
Dr. Robotnik: "If I remember correctly..."
Garrick: "Aye, Westopolis. Nice, centered place for it."
Dr. Robotnik: "Well, the first thing that needs to be done is... to visit it."
Aribar: "Unfortunately, I can not help finance this mission; my studies demand all of my gold. I can provide water, heat, electricity, and other elemental forces, however."
Dr. Robotnik: "Nobody has really checked it since Borne blew it to smithereens. Anything could be there now! ...Probably nothing, but... important."
Garrick: "Well, let's get moving."
Deloth: "Right. Let's rebuild our home already."
Garrick: "Fire the ship up, doc."
Digifanatic: "I'm cool with it."
Dr. Robotnik: "I will be staying here; so..." He points to the slightly smaller ship. "You may fire your ship up now."
Garrick: "Ah, well... let's get moving."
Deloth hops into the ship.
Dr. Robotnik: "I am researching a most fascinating phenomenon related to what Red Text did and said. Good luck!"
Kenku nods and follows the others.
Digifanatic: "Alrighty, then." *follows.*
Dragoshi: *Enters da ship.*
Garrick heads to the small ship, then. He wonders how it is flown.
Metal Man (GM): It has a flight stick.
Garrick goes ahead and takes the pilot's chair, flipping a few switches and making to get this thing up and moving. "Alright, let's see if I can still do this..."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick presses a button. Nothing happens.
Kenku sees Garrick fail horribly, and walks over. "Move over and let me a try."
Garrick: "...that wasn't it." *He completely ignores Kenku, flipping a few more switches.*
Metal Man (GM): You barely get it running, but you manage to get it to take off, a bit slowly.
Garrick: "Ahhh. There we go. Little shaky. Been a while. Alright, strap in."
Kenku checks the area of the cockpit just in case there is stuff to check or run before going to sit down.
Digifanatic: *does so and settles down.*
Metal Man (GM): Nope, it's a one-seater. For the cockpit. There's two side-turrets... they can be controlled entirely from the cockpit though.
Garrick flips open the navigation system without too much trouble, going through the data with a knowing eye before nodding and turning the ship around, heading east. He gives the thrusters some juice, flying at a nice steady speed. There's no real rush, so they might as well take things slow for a while after having to speed everywhere in the Red Text debacle.
Deloth: "Figures that I can't seem to fly well with these new wings. Otherwise I'd be tailing you and freeing up a seat."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, some strange reason, Questers and self-generated flight never seemed to go hand in hand."
Garrick: "It's not like we're strapped for room, but if we do go exploring for materials, scientists, and fighters, we're going to need a better ship by far..."
Metal Man (GM): The data from Red text makes it easy to figure out where to go, so the ship slowly flies towards its destination.
Garrick: "Nothing like the blasted flying fortress that Eggman uses, but something at least somewhat more solid. We'd need some bunk rooms, work rooms, a good storage area, better weapons and armor, maybe some shields... definitely some better thrusters..."
Deloth: "...Garrick, it'd be easier just to buy a new ship."
Garrick: "No one SELLS anything like that, as far as I know... besides, don't you want a ship made for us?"
Metal Man (GM): The ship is nearly there. Currently, it's almost past the Mario continent. Below is the castle and many sub-lands as the ship flies by them.
Deloth: "I'd like one that doesn't take six months to upgrade."
Garrick glances back to Del and gives him that spark grin he does from time to time. That eye he has whenever he was building something new. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crumpled pack of cigarettes, pulling one out and placing it between his lips before looking over the area for a good landing spot.
Kenku: "That would definitely be cool. Who do you think would make us a ship?"
Garrick glances back at the OTHER newbie, shrugging. "I could do it, if I had the materials and the time. Robotnik would probably be a lot faster, though."
Deloth: "...oh, geez. Fine, sparkplug, you do what you want."
Garrick: "Hey, I could make us something badass if I had the stuff..."
Digifanatic: "And I would endorse it."
Metal Man (GM): The ship flies over the emerald coast and is nearing the Westopolis area.
Aribar: "Personally, I believe that we should use the power of trade to get what we want; offer our services to the Carrington Institute, GUN, or someone, get materials and labor in return."
Metal Man (GM): It looks like an old warzone. Dead, filled with craters.
Digifanatic: "Because I know that kind of thing is Garrick's specialty."
Garrick: "We're going to need a ton of stuff to get the Stadium working, anyway... so we might end up doing that."
Kenku: "I see... I would talk to Tails if we can then. He probably can help get plans together."
Deloth peers down at the Westopolis area. "We may need some good plant seeds as well. This place is a wasteland."
Garrick: "Yeah, sounds like--"
Digifanatic: "Oh, Tails, yeah."
Garrick pauses, glancing back to Kenku... "...Tails is... no. No. Just... no."
Aribar: "Why was Westopolis chosen to be the site of our base?"
Garrick: "Because it needs it."
Kenku: "Alright, never mind."
Metal Man (GM): The ship finally reaches the city. The city is burnt and battered. A few buildings still stand, along with a handful of residents.
Kenku: "I guess ummm... uhhh... is this the place it used to be guys..."
Metal Man (GM): There's a nice smooth area to land in outside the city. A filled-in crater.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, it is."
Garrick: "Hm."
Aribar: "Aye, that is true. I would imagine that this corrupt ex-city would not be my first choice."
Garrick shrugs, bringing the ship down to land on the crater nice and gentle like.
Metal Man (GM): The ship lands. There's a man watching the ship. Nobody else seems to care.
Deloth gets out, keeping a hand near his sword hilt, juuuuuust in case.
Digifanatic: *walks out and takes a glance at the guy watching.*
Dragoshi: *Exits the ship, and just glances around.*
Kenku: "I'm guessing the knowledge I thought I had is junk..." Kenku says as he steps out.
Garrick unstraps himself, moving out as well, lighting his cigarette as he goes, taking a nice deep breath in and sighing before looking to the man, then to the area. How much empty space outside the city? "You thought right, newbie."
Metal Man (GM): Tons of empty space.
Kenku sighs. "Right, right."
Metal Man (GM): There's also debris of old GUN war machines. In fact... there's a large, four-legged war mecha in pieces outside the city limits. It's on the other side, though.
Garrick: "Hm. Well, at least we can make a ton of scrap with this stuff..."
Digifanatic: "Oh, for sure."
Dragoshi: "Definitely."
Aribar follows the others while hoping their own flier isn't scavenged for scrap.
Dragoshi: *Just looks at the war mecha and chuckles.*
Man: "Who are you guys?"
Garrick: "Not sure just how much we can get outta all t--"
Metal Man (GM): The man is balding and a little bit short. He walks with a limp.
Garrick glances over to the man, his eyebrow arching slightly.
Man: "We haven't had many visitors. GUN refuses to do anything about what their psycho Commander did. And even the old thugs... they aren't doing us any good. The echidnas left too. We've been left to rot."
Digifanatic: "Well... we're thinking about recycling this land and turning it into something that doesn't resemble the gang-filled slums and wastelands this place used to be."
Dragoshi: *Waits for the guy to scoff or something.*
Digifanatic: "Give Westopolis some optimistic publicity for a change."
Man: "Heheh. You say, don'tcha? Well... maybe." He holds his hands out. "No road links this place... nobody runs it... It's just a wasteland right now."
Garrick: "That's why we're here."
Digifanatic: "Well, we could put a couple of ferry ports around here or something..."
Dragoshi: "You can say that again." *Shuts up and keeps looking around.*
Garrick: "We're gonna link it up, get the town back and working. Clean it nice... and set up the Stadium."
Digifanatic: "Maybe consider some heads up at Central City to add a freeway or so to link the cities, and a stadium like he said."
Aribar: "Who are the leaders of this place now?"
Man: "Nobody."
Garrick: "...just how many people are living in the city, anyway?"
Man: "I mean. The thugs ran it, but they're standing about all quiet-like these days."
Digifanatic: "Huh."
Man: "About... thirty-five, that's it. Mostly old people and shell-shocked survivors. A few thugs hide here, but they don't rob anymore... afraid of something else."
Garrick: "Think you can round them up?"
Kenku: "They probably are done fighting amongst themselves, and set their own territories... and protection rings..."
Dragoshi: "What is it that they're so afraid of, though?"
Man: "Eh..." He turns around. "Y'all come here, people!" He shrugs.
Metal Man (GM): A man in a tattered black thug getup walks over.
Thug: "Wha... the Questers have come back here?" He laughs. "Well. What a surprise. Showed these people who's boss, didn'tcha. Letting a guy like Borne bomb it into oblivion."
Garrick narrows his eyes at this thug, blowing a breath of smoke at him.
Thug: "I'm sure the few people who know you were here will be interested to see you."
Metal Man (GM): Some other tattered thugs walk over.
Thug 2: "It's them! Those Echidna-lovers!"
Garrick: "We're here and try to fix the town, buddy... the last thing this place needs is more conflict."
Thug 3: "Man. I thought our hard days were over."
Kenku: "They can be over if you work with us."
Thug: "Well, nobody runs this here town, or at least, not officially." He chuckles. "You had a rather hard-line hatred for our kind back when. So. If you want to have peace and quiet, just let us do our normal activities and... make sure GUN doesn't blow the place up again. Otherwise, you'll have ta fight... us."
Aribar simply stands back and says nothing. He doesn't quite believe this place deserves anything better than it has right now.
Kenku rolls his eyes.
Garrick: "...listen, slick."
Metal Man (GM): A fourth thug appears. He slips on brass knuckles.
Digifanatic: "I'm willing to say GUN has learned their lesson."
Garrick: "The thing we're gonna undertake here will make this city into something a lot more than what it was to begin with, even before GUN took this place to hell and back. We're not wanting to fight, we're wanting to turn this place into something great."
Dragoshi: .oO(And then Borne took it on the demonic reunion tour.)
Thug: "That's good. 'Cuz we need us some rich tourists to rob." He coughs. "So if you just let us do that... we'll let your silly plan proceed unopposed."
Dragoshi: .oO(Or something like that. Hell, I don't know.) *Just thinks to himself as the others talk.*
Garrick: "Ah, see, there's the catch... There isn't going to be any robbing."
Thug: "Says you." He coughs. "You seem ta forget... there was a full scale war goin' on here with Borne... we learned a lot very quick."
Garrick: "And you still don't know enough. But we'll make you a deal. Honest, man's man kinda deal."
Thug: "Oh really? Shoot." He snaps a finger. "...Or we will."
Garrick: "Heh..." *He glances at them, then shrugs.*
Thug: "Don't get me wrong." He points to the people around him. "It isn't them who will. We're the politicians of our lot. Can't fight so well. But we know how to get a deal."
Garrick: "Work for us. Help us clean up the city, salvage the parts left behind by GUN, get to work rebuilding and making stuff new. You'll get paid, the city will get clean and back up and running."
Thug: "See... the clean part I'm fine with. But... if we can't rob these here tourists you want..." He unfurls a deck of cards. "Perhaps you could work in a casino, then? Fair's fair... we can't live off of a janitor's salary."
Garrick: "You're not going to be LIVING off a janitor's salary. See, turn around and look at this place. This city is HUGE. Imagine living here without having to stay out in the cold, with little food and drink. Comfortable living, no problems or worries. You can work a real job and not have to steal or rob. No more fighting, save for the stuff that's gonna happen in the Stadium, and that'll be some of the best fights you've ever seen."
Thug: "We have our place to live." He puts a hand to his chin. "We merely ask for a fair deal. You give yourself rights to eat up a bunch of land for your concern, we get ours in exchange for not making life here for you hell. Because if you were just passing through, then I understand. We can't hope to fight you off if you can just run and return."
Garrick sighs... "Alright, let me make it crystal clear for you."
Thug: "But..." He points around him. "If you build... we can spend all the time we want taking it apart."
Digifanatic: .oO(What are their problems?)
Deloth mutters under his breath. Negotiations are indeed going downhill...
Thug: "And killing us, who have done what little we can to help these people... would simply increase our numbers."
Kenku makes a low growl at the thug with a rather annoyed look on his face "Look... there are two ways we can go about this, the peaceful way, or we can kick your butts and force our way, as I believe your guys silly mobs are much of anything at all when it comes to strength."
Garrick closes his eyes and sighs, looking to Kenku.
Thug: *Smirks at Kenku.* "Go ahead and kill me."
Garrick: "Okay, someone shut the newbie up."
Deloth: "You're really not helping the discussion."
Thug: "I'm a politician, as I said..."
Garrick: "We don't WANT to kill you. We don't want to hurt you! We want to HELP you."
Kenku looks over. "Sorry."
Garrick: "But you can't go around stealing crap."
Thug: "Neither would we want to waste... expensive bullets... on you."
Dragoshi: .oO(Talk about your impasses...)
Thug: "...But we have our way of life, and we aren't cut out for construction work. We can run a casino, that's about it. Save... stealing."
Garrick: "If you HELP us with this, make this place into something great, then you get to LIVE here, IN this great place."
Aribar: "Garrick, you are going to have to... Talk in an uphill battle to get this scum to live honestly in a reputable city."
Digifanatic: .oO(I guess listening doesn't fall into the 'that's about it' category.)
Julian: *And Julian's here now.* "What's wrong with a casino? Long as they ain't breakin' people's knees it's jus' another source'a income."
Dragoshi: "Yeah."
Kenku: "Heh... a Casino isn't a bad idea. Probably could use stadium betting through it."
Garrick: "...I guess... But the idea is for ALL of us to chip in and get this going."
Thug: "If we got a casino, see..." He spins the cards. "Then reputation will be a part of our job..." He smirks. "And anyone who harms it will... disappear. With your little stadium we could even have betting on the winners... a very profitable business."
Garrick glances to Julian..
Digifanatic: "As long as you can allow us to have fair matches."
Julian: "And what you mean you ain't out for construction? Long as you got arms an' shit you're set."
Thug: "Fair matches would be important for getting people to bet." He looks to Julian. "Let's just say... we don't all have arms."
Kenku: "Uhh... No... we don't want people disappearing cause you don't like them. Kick em out of the casino is fine, but no doing that."
Metal Man (GM): One of the men looks to Julian. Missing an arm.
Thug: "Borne shot us all up. We're all injured people. We got enough to fire a gun, but... that's about all. Heavy lifting would be bad for our... spines."
Metal Man (GM): Brings new meaning to "One-armed bandits", eh?
Digifanatic: "Ohhh, wow..."
Julian: "An' you're threatenin' to run us outta town when you ain't even got all yo' limbs. Somethin' don't add up."
Garrick chuckles softly, taking another breath of his cigarette.
Thug: *Smirk.* "You landed here out of nowhere... do you think that adds up either?"
Garrick: "We picked this place cause we know it needed some help."
Julian: "As long as you ain't sendin' enforcers into the locker rooms to fix the matches, I ain't got a problem with bettin' on matches. An' it's prime development territory. We could get a fully functioning city here with enough resources."
Digifanatic: "Really, yeah... there's a lot of potential here."
Julian: "And we want y'all to be apart'a that. Legit money's better than non-git money, trust me. Bein' a gangster? Fun, but do it pay? No. As you can see." *gestures to the shit-hole Westopolis currently is.*
Garrick: "This place could be fantastic, but we can't do it by ourselves. If all of you help, even in some small way... we'll be set."
Thug: "Enforcers? No problem. We'd make the money off the matches bein' unpredictable. Clearly... A deal is a deal."
Julian: "An' all you gotta do, is promise to let us get done what needs to get done an' help out. Then youl'' go from livin' in a hole in the ground to livin' in a place with, y'know, WALLS."
Dragoshi: *Just looks at the wreckage of the quadrupedal deathmech that's prolly' been there for a couple of months now, wondering how much of the damned thing is salvageable.* :x
Julian: "So do we got one?"
Digifanatic: "I hope."
Thug: "Well..." He looks to Kenku. "The only thing I would want for us besides our lil' casino is the ability to ice people who mess up our fair little town. See, the guys have been feeling guilty about letting those Echidnas and then Borne burn down the place. We don't want to be in a position where the pigs just fall asleep or become taken over by crazies again."
Digifanatic: "Guilty? Borne was an almost-unstoppable madman."
Garrick: "Well, the idea behind the Questers is that they are the guardian of the Stadium, but I wouldn't say to a police force for the town."
Dragoshi: "Borne was several different kinda of nasty."
Julian: "No one could'a seen what Borne was doin' comin'. Ain't yo' fault."
Thug: "The pigs didn't even try to stop him due to the chain o' command. I know it well, they have one almost the same as us gangsters."
Garrick: "You just gotta keep in mind that there is some shit out there... like Borne... that you can't handle. That's where we come in. We're built for that sorta combat."
Julian: "If we build somethin', we're gonna have some investment in keepin' it safe."
Thug: "We'd have the same police force as the Central City... but we'd also be there to try to stop any repeat of the Borne mess. See... I may as well show you what's goin' on."
Metal Man (GM): He flips open some doors. Some thugs carrying SAWs walk out and lean on the buildings. Squad-assault weapons. Think large machineguns with tripods.
Deloth: "...That'd help, all right."
Dragoshi: *Nods.*
Thug: "The military people walked right on in and left this behind when it all fell apart. We managed to bribe ourselves some... friends..."
Aribar frowns as the thugs come out. He sees them as potential enemies, not guards.
Garrick: "...do you think you can stop Borne with all this?"
Julian: "Didn't we already stop 'em?"
Dragoshi: "Garrick. Borne's been stopped."
Garrick: "And?"
Dragoshi: "Can't stop what's already been exploded, yanno." :x
Garrick: "Just because he's been stopped doesn't mean something can pop up just like him."
Julian: "So we'll kill 'em again."
Garrick: "Yes, yes, I understand how we handle things. I mean about them."
Garrick nods to all the thugs.
Julian: "...Why is this even comin' up? We ain't built shit yet, why are we talkin' 'bout hypothetical bad guys?"
Dragoshi: "Because we can never stop being paranoid about nonexistent people."
Garrick sighs. "Fine, fine... I just don't want people to die needlessly because they think they can do anything and everything cause they got a big ol' gun or five."
Thug: "Of course..." He crosses his arms. "We have more. We just aren't going to show you. Unless you'd just show us where you got that shiny ship from. I don't think you do." He nods. "With good reason. I understand you like to fight people." He leans on the wall besides the other thugs. "But you can't be everywhere. And sure, we might lose against another Borne. But we'd rather lose than stand still because only you are allowed to fight super villains."
Deloth: "...Makes sense to me."
Julian: "Did I say we were?"
Thug: "No. He did." He points to Kenku.
Julian: *Thwaps Kenku.*
Thug: "And I know you ain't the one to listen to him. But... that's what I wanted right there."
Digifanatic: "We're not allowed or enforced to do it... it's just our choice."
Kenku: "Ow... I didn't say that!"
Garrick: "He's new. He's in the same boat as you are, right now... fine. You guard the city, we'll guard the Stadium. We'll help each other out if the time comes for it. And together we'll turn this place into something a shit ton better than it is now. Deal?"
Thug: "Deal."
Metal Man (GM): Another thug walks over and hands him a piece of paper. It has what the Questers agreed on typed on it. A lawyer walks outta nowhere.
Deloth: *thinking.* "Where'd HE come from?"
Thug: "We're... not your ordinary thugs anymore... so we want to have you sign on what you said."
Kenku: "Understandable."
Digifanatic: .oO(Okay, THAT was weird.)
Thug: "No one ruled this place... but we were preparing ourselves to rebuild it like you were."
Metal Man (GM): He signs it and hands the Questers the paper and a pen to sign it with.
Garrick glances it over it before signing it himself.
Julian: *Reads the fine print.*
Aribar doesn't sign. He doesn't even accept the paper.*
Dragoshi: *Also glances it over before signing. Gotta be careful 'bout these things, yanno.*
Digifanatic: *takes a very close look as well.*
Kenku glances over someone shoulder to read it.
Metal Man (GM): It says 'The Questers build a stadium and we, the 'People of Westopolis', build a casino. We the people of Westopolis will defend it in the case of a Borne-style attack or otherwise some sort of attempt to ruin both our businesses. We will not fix any matches or cause any crime either. This treaty is only valid once signed by the leader or a representative fraction of each side.' He signs his signature onto it.
Thug: "There. Now I just need to make sure most of you sign this..."
Julian: "Seems good to me."
Digifanatic: *sees if he can make out the lead thug's name. *
Metal Man (GM): 'Art Donatello.'
Deloth takes the pen and signs "Deloth" onto it. "There."
Digifanatic: *signs it as 'Ian Hoffman.'*
Garrick signs as well. 'Kyle Hayter.'
Julian: *Signs it as, well, 'Julian Sawyer.'*
Kenku signs "William Swiftfoot."
Aribar doesn't sign. "It appears as if this is settled?"
Dragoshi: *Dragoshi gets on the signing bandwagon as well. 'Dragoshi L. Helldusk.'*
Garrick: "...and why aren't you signing..."?"
Art: "Of course, if you want to help speed your little plan, we've had a bit of a problem." He motions as the gunmen walk away. "You aren't the first person to come here looking to get a piece of the pie."
Dragoshi: .oO(Not surprising...)
Julian: "Who's the first?"
Art: "Some other people."
Metal Man (GM): Incredibly descriptive. Then... He takes out a piece of cloth with a red R on it.
Deloth: "..."
Dragoshi: "Oh, great. Those jerks."
Digifanatic: "Ohhhhhhkaaaaaaay."
Deloth: *deep breath. Deep, cleansing breath...* "Not TEAM ROCKET AGAIN..."
Art: "We don't know where they come from. You'll have to stake it out..."
Digifanatic: "Well, what did the Rockets want out of the land?"
Art: "They apparently can't get a break in their home land."
Garrick sighs... rubbing his temples gently.
Julian: "Prob'ly build a new base. So we're gonna have to stop 'em."
Digifanatic: "Of course not, nobody likes them but themselves."
Art: "The 'Elite four', they say, is after them, so they want our territory." He points to you guys. "So if you could stick around... when they come tonight."
Garrick: "We'll wreck them."
Digifanatic: "Alright, so it's us and the Four versus Team Rocket."
Julian: "Should be easy enough."
Digifanatic: "Well, I do know the Elite Four have very good fighting and commanding skills."
Dragoshi: .oO(Should. Somehow, I have a feeling it won't be as such...)
Digifanatic: *trying to use vocabulary that doesn't directly involve Pokemon because obviously the thugs have no idea what Pokemon are, etc.*
Dragoshi: .oO(Though, if it was too easy, then it wouldn't be much fun, I suppose.)
Art: "It'll be a while, so... ...Want to pick a place to stick your Stadium?" He chuckles.
Julian: "Got any cards?"
Art: "Of course." He shuffles the ones he had out earlier.
Julian: "I was thinkin' like... the center."
Art: "Center of town now, or center of town when it was larger? Them's two places."
Deloth: "The present center might be best."
Julian: "Present center, which is gonna be the center fo' when we start rebuildin'."
Digifanatic: "Yup. Like I said, hopefully we can ask Central City for some better infrastructure and make it easy for people to come in and out."
Garrick: "We'll have to clear out the junk around the city... it'll have some good materials to make the stadium with, as well."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, and anything that fits better for a ship, we'll use for that."
Art: "Well then." He walks about five steps to the left, and points at a crater filled with debris. "That's it."
Digifanatic: "But for now, putting in the Stadium is the significant concern." *takes a look at the debris.*
Julian: "Hot damn."
Art: "You'll need a real construction company. It's a mess out here. Maybe those GUN jerks have some people."
Julian: "They owe us, yeah..."
Kenku: *nods.*
Digifanatic: "I have a question to ask about the Rockets, if you may, Mr. Donatello--is that title alright? Who was or were the representatives that wanted their deal? Did you see just one tall man, business suit, deep and formal voice--" (Giovanni, of course) "Or did it look like some flunkies trying to scrap something together?"
Art: "Yes, that title is fine." He brushes his tattered outfit off. "Well, yes, a man just like that."
Deloth: "Anybody else with him?"
Digifanatic: "Okay, he'd definitely be the boss of the organization."
Art: "Part of the reason I didn't just shoot you on sight is when he told me how you busted him and his attempt to control some super-freak. They said you'd come after us. Idiot." He brushes his sleeves off. "The enemy of my enemy is my potential friend."
Digifanatic: "Oh yes, I remember that incident quite well. And as my friend asked, anybody else there?"
Art: "No, just some suits with him. So, you go get some construction guys, and then we settle his hash."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a pistol.
Art: "I've been wanting to stick a bullet in his nasty smile."
Digifanatic: "Hehe..."
Art: "Partially why I asked for the part in the deal." He leans over. "Wouldn't want to miss out on that."
Deloth: "I'm sure we won't deprive you of that joy."
Dragoshi: *Nods.*
Digifanatic: "Now... what did they want the grounds for? Do they want a new headquarters, or some auxiliary base..."
Art: "They didn't tell me. They just said, 'Let's switch places.' Claiming their police wouldn't mind." He laughs. "Yeah right. He's some rich suit who hasn't seen war like us."
Dragoshi: "Glad to see they're still as dumb as ever."
Art: "I think he just wanted to save money on bribes."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, definitely."
Dragoshi: "Wouldn't be surprised if that was the case."
Art: "So... you may go on whatever you're going to do." He puts his hands in his pockets. "I've got to tell the folks not to accidentally injure you. They... are hard of hearing."
Metal Man (GM): He wanders off.
Digifanatic: "They're being cryptic and we know they're screwy... they've got no good reason to ally with Team Rocket."
Julian: "A'ight, so we're headin' to GUN HQ, hirin' contractors, and then headin' back here to wreck the Rockets."
Digifanatic: "Sure thing."
Julian: "Let's bounce." *TO THE SHIP!*
Kenku: "Sounds good to me."
Deloth heads back to the ship and jumps in.
Digifanatic: *gets to da ship... pa.*
Dragoshi: *Enters ze ship.*
Kenku gets onto the ship "Alright... can someone please clue me in a bit..."
Deloth: "I wonder if this thing has a radio..."
Digifanatic: "Well, if you give me a few questions, I can help."
Kenku: "Well... first... outside of robobrain, whats our position when it comes to most of the Sonic-verse?"
Digifanatic: "Uh... very limited. We've only talked to Tails a few times, and I don't think we've had a conversation with Sonic."
Deloth: "Knuckles seems to be MIA."
Digifanatic: "However, our situation with Robotnik is nothing more than a truce right now."
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Digifanatic: "Yup, Deloth's correct."
Kenku: "I see... what about Angel Island?"
Julian: "What Island?"
Deloth: "Still there. I saw it on the map."
Digifanatic: "The floating one. Been a while since we've been there, but we're in a positive stance with them."
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Kenku: "Ok, was curious from the talk of Echidnas."
Metal Man (GM): The Questers are in ze ship.
Digifanatic: "So, yeah. We'll admit, we're not fans of Robotnik, but we had a common enigma in Red Text at the time, and we were a bit peeved at his mysterious persona. In fact, we were supposed to part ways if we decided not to kill Red Text."
Kenku: "I see."
Digifanatic: "Haven't met enough people. Just Red and Professor Oak."
Deloth: "The whole place is a mess."
Digifanatic: "But we don't mind them, and hopefully it'll be worth visiting now that it's supposedly purified. "
Deloth: "Was, I guess."
Dragoshi: "Yeah... and we usually don't like to go to that place due to our... surreal experiences with it."
Digifanatic: "Let's hope 'was' is the right word."
Dragoshi: "Though, considering that it's been purified, we won't have to worry about that, now."
Kenku: "I see... uh... stupid question, is catching a poke allowed?"
Digifanatic: "Well, good question, actually."
Metal Man (GM): Of course, it has been purified, so, it wouldn't be quite as glitchy. The Questers can go where they please; the world is their oyster.
Kenku: "Glitchy?"
Metal Man (GM): http://ssq.metalman88.com/partmap.PNG Good list of places.
Kenku: "So... where are we off to... central city?"
Metal Man (GM): That data is in fact on the ship.
Digifanatic: "I believe so."
Deloth: "The Echidnas might be able to help us out, too, but we should probably hit GUN's place first."
Digifanatic: "Yeah... let me think. Oh, yeah, we're good with Mario and Princess Peach, too. Shouldn't forget them."
Deloth: "...I still wonder if this ship has a radio."
Kenku: "Hmm... that's true, although I if my memory is right, they aren't the most technologic of people."
Metal Man (GM): It does have a radio. The kind used to communicate with people.
Deloth: "...dang. No music."
Digifanatic: "Anybody have any more questions?"
Kenku: "Nothing I can think of, unless there is something I don't know about the other worlds here I need to know about."
Digifanatic: "I think everything else we've encountered, you already know about."
Kenku: "Alrighty."
Digifanatic: *sets controls for Central City, I guess?*
Deloth leans back and shuts his eyes. "It's weird, not being able to sleep nowadays. I mean, I'm grateful for the extra 8 hours, but I'm still getting used to it."
Kenku: "Interesting." Kenku says "How do you get your energy back then?"
Deloth: "I dunno. Seems like it only works when I'm around other people, though, for some reason..."
Kenku: "What does?"
Deloth: "Not having to eat, drink, or sleep." *He suddenly stops breathing, eyes still shut.*
Metal Man (GM): The ship heads to Capital City.
Kenku: "I see."
Deloth opens one eye and starts breathing again. "Of course, talking is kind of hard without air in your lungs, so that is one thing that I do still do. Plus, y'know. Old habits die hard."
Metal Man (GM): Deloth would look alive all right. Just... weird. The ship flies over Capital City, moving to the GUN building.
Digifanatic: *Lands on the rooftop landing pad as usual.*
Kenku blinks. "That's some nice talents you got there, probably could out-survive most of us when it comes to endurance."
Deloth: "Probably, yeah."
Metal Man (GM): The ship lands; the building can be entered now.
Digifanatic: *enters.*
Dragoshi: *Ker-enter!*
Kenku steps out of the ship, and enters behind Digi.
Deloth hops out of the ship again and heads in.
Metal Man (GM): Yeah, good time to pause, I get pulled away a lot.

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