Date: 8:22:29 PM, February 26th to 9:46:02 PM, February 26th;
10:38:36 PM, April 5th to 11:41:43 PM, April 5th, 2013.
Metal Man (GM): Recap
Last time... Garrick went to warp home from the Moon. He touched his warp device, and, as expected, got warped.
However, Alsa had been sealed off, and not warpable to.
For some reason, he ended up... in the world of SSS.
Garrick Fy`aar: --What the AAAA?
Digifanatic: Whoa!
*Garrick and Digi fall on the arena together.*
Garrick Fy`aar: This is... the stadium. The warp got redirected...
Digifanatic: Where did you come from?
Garrick Fy`aar: I was on the moon, talking to--
Xavier Ridgecrest: That's it! It's Garrick! Kill him, Garrick! No, wait. People I hired! Defeat Garrick! No, wait... ...What did I want to do again?
Things continued from there. A bizarre battle emerged.
The Metal of SSS, while claiming to be Xavier, did not appear to be acting like him.
Eventually, Dr. Mario died.
See the SSS match and then the next SSS match for details, too much to recap. What's relevant here... is...
Xavier Ridgecrest: No! You're going down next! *Points his gun at Garrick*
Garrick Fy`aar: C'mon, then. Let's do this. *Takes his gun and fires at Metal, blasting a hole in his visor*
*He shoots sparks. Some sort of weird gadget decloaks. *
Garrick Fy`aar: Wait a minute... What IS that? *Scans it*
Xavier Ridgecrest: There's nothing here! Now die!
Garrick Fy`aar: No, I'm serious. You aren't acting normally, Metal. Not even for Aaaaing Xavier.
Xavier Ridgecrest: I'm just FINE!
Garrick Fy`aar: "...Son of a AAAAA. It's one of HIS devices. All right... I'm going to just have to shoot it off of you."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier Ridgecrest: "There's nothing wrong with me!"
Iron Man: "Actually, that device is what's wrong with you."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Says you!"
Off to the side is Digi's KO'd body, which nobody seems to care about.
Continuation
Xavier Ridgecrest: "You... can't... tell me what to do!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "The hell I can't."
Iron Man: "No, but that device on your head is."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I won't... let you!"
Metal Man (GM): He throws more sparks... and we have a battle! With no system! Oh well... you know freeform, Garrick?
Simple enough. You make the attack, I GM the reaction. Since SSQ is usually used to me GMing the damage, I'll GM what kind of damage attacks do you too, if they hit at all.
I'll be doing turn based. Garrick goes first. One attack (or at least, the equivalent of one attack) per round.
You may move around, take out items, whatever--that doesn't matter in freeform, so you do it as needed.
Xavier, or at least this Xavier, seems bent on killing you. While Digi's KO'd body might be tempting to boot into the abyss, it'd place you in the line of fire of Xavier.
Iron Man is sort of a question mark, as he seems to not be in any real attack mode.
He seems to be... watching?
Iron Man: "To be entirely honest, I don't even really know either of you. I'm just going to make sure you don't destroy this arena, because I have a contract with it I would like to see completed."
Garrick Fy`aar starts off by getting a full scan on Xavier, wanting to get a general read on him. If he can get a signal lock on that device, he might be able to trace it to a source.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Don't worry... Iron Manny! I'll shoot this weasel and we can drink the floor polish!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "He's out of his damn mind and this place is nothing but an eye sore. I don't even entirely know where I am. Personally, I'd love to see it blown to kingdom come, and this isn't my neck of the woods, so whatever."
Metal Man (GM): Ah. For this turn, then, your action is a scan. You get the following data:
X A V I E R R I D G E C R E S T
-Insane Time Traveling Cyborg-
Known mostly for warping through time, screwing up reality, and making a mess. Highly dangerous. Do not meet near flammable gasses, explosive devices or at all.
Abilities: TT33 Pistol, Wing Fortress Laser, Thrown Object, Deathmachine 2: Now It's Even More Absurd
Current Status: Mind Controlled.
Unknown probe is directing actions though a zero-day vulnerability in his suit. Destruction of the probe should clear his condition. If you can hit it.
End-entry.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "You don't know that! Maybe this is my favorite Christmas ornament and I carry it around with me everywhere I go?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm. Well, guess I'm going to have to rip that probe off you."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "You're gonna--"
Metal Man (GM): He throws some sparks and then his hand starts moving towards the probe.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "No... body... is going to... CONTROL ME!"
Metal Man (GM): He rips it off, then falls over, sparking violently.
Now you ask... why did this happen?
...I rolled a flat d100 to see his resist for it, right?
Guess what.
[20:36:19] [@Metal_Man88] d100
[20:36:19] •• @Metal_Man88 (d100) 100
Garrick Fy`aar: "...huh."
Iron Man: "That is... something..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "It sure is."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Urghhhhhhhh." *KOFF* "Damn... control... devices... trying to make me into a computer..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Welp, he appears to be taken care of. Time to take care of other business."
Iron Man: "Ah, yes. That other business." *He stands in your way.*
Garrick Fy`aar walks on over to Digi... annnnnd is stopped.
Iron Man: "You wish to kill this Digi, do you not?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Kinda."
Iron Man: "I have detected that, if you were to kill him now, absurd energies like the one on the other man would bring him back to life. However, I also know how to kill him for real, if you are willing to do a little bargain."
"You see, your realm... and you... have very fascinating technology."
Garrick Fy`aar: "No. I'm not giving it to you. Or letting you scan it. Or letting you look at it for more than a few seconds."
Iron Man: "...I was afraid you might say that. I--"
Metal Man (GM): He is interrupted by Xavier slowly standing up.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Garrick! You've been--"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Brought here against my will. Explain to me why I'm not shooting you?"
Metal Man (GM): You see the world suddenly warp away, and you're suddenly standing in front of... Sloan.
Sloan: "...This would be why."
Garrick Fy`aar stares for half a second before raising his pistol, his other hand slipping behind his back.
Metal Man (GM): You're in an all-white room of some kind, like a holo-room. Although, it was a bona fide warp.
Sloan: "Go ahead, shoot me. It won't do anything."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm... yeah, you're probably a hologram."
Metal Man (GM): He sticks his own holographic hand though his head.
Garrick Fy`aar sighs and holsters his pistol, folding his hands over his chest.
Sloan: "I intended for you to make a mess, but Xavier's will was too thick for my device to work. A one in a hundred chance, and he succeeded. Damn it."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Look, Sloan, I don't have time for this."
Sloan: "But that doesn't matter. I wanted you here, so that you knew the score."
Garrick Fy`aar: "What score? There is no score."
Sloan: "The game you are in. It's set up by me. And you've been playing just fine... except for one thing."
Metal Man (GM): He would open a window of sorts.
40k, Imperium of man ships would be seen... fighting Sloan ships.
Garrick Fy`aar: "..."
Sloan: "You brought interlopers into this battle. And they want you back."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...they brought themselves into this battle."
Sloan: "...And I'm not going to let them."
Garrick Fy`aar: "You can't blame me for this shit, they did all this against my will."
Sloan: "Mind you... your exceptionally poor decision to warp to a planet with no warp field... has given me an opportunity. You see, I agree with what you did. Destroy Smash Energy."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...no warp field?"
Sloan: "Yes. Borne and Red Text have blocked it from Alsa."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Whoa, hold on a minute. What's this about no warp--oh, for fuck sake..."
Sloan: "No one can warp in and out. They did it to stop people like me."
Garrick Fy`aar: "So you grabbed my signal and threw me to--right, right... And what about Red? Where did he get off to?"
Sloan: "I sent him to a friendly ship. He is probably back where he belongs. I have no interest in causing more chaos."
"But rather, bringing an end to the madness."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Like I'm going to believe that."
Sloan: "You aren't. That's the best part, however. Because you advance my goals, whether you know it or not."
"Overtly using you failed--because Xavier was too bullheaded. But it doesn't matter. I will release you again... with a precondition."
Garrick Fy`aar: "No. I won't be doing your damn dirty work."
Sloan: "One that you can't deny, because it isn't anything you sign. It's merely information. You're free to ignore it, but it won't do you any good to."
Garrick Fy`aar scowled...
Metal Man (GM): He would show an image of Xavier, and his device. Then a glowing line of chaotic energy, leading to a hole in the universe.
Then an image of Borne, and of the Alsan statues, and their venomous green energy, to the heart of Alsa.
Sloan: "Smash and Alsan Energy draw upon chaos and order, respectively. It is my plan to master their component energies, and then abolish them both."
"Imagine... no more superpowered beings tearing the world apart."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Except you."
Sloan: "Indeed. I show this to you, knowing you will gladly work on this to do it in your way. You can't not want to. Not unless you actually want both energies to exist all along. Yes. If you don't complete your own version, I shall control the entire dimension."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And just how do I know that this isn't one huge lie?"
Sloan: "I am well underway. Using technology taken from those worthless Imperium of Man, I have already begun warping the structure of reality."
Metal Man (GM): The real Sloan walks in, glowing eerily.
Sloan: "Fire that gun at me. Really. I have no shield. I can shoot myself, if you don't believe me."
Garrick Fy`aar turns his attention to this new Sloan... he doesn't draw his pistol. Rather, he scans him.
Metal Man (GM): The scan detects him not as Sloan, but rather an unknown entity which it then spits out bizarre strings about "NULL FIELD" and "Psionic activity Detected."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...so."
Sloan: "The Imperium of Man has this figurehead. I researched him, using the destroyed ships. His men can't win here, because they lack the oxygen this special world of theirs provides them. This... energy... ...If I establish my own to the frequency of this world, however..."
Metal Man (GM): He picks up a gun and shoots it at himself, the bullet deforming and then vanishing mid-air before it hits him.
Sloan: "...I can do this anywhere I want, simply removing anything that defies my will. An off switch for everything. This world is different and more malleable, because I would be the first and only one with that power."
Metal Man (GM): Yes.
It would be an unknown form of energy.
The scanner would detect it as being some mixture of chaos and order.
Garrick Fy`aar sighs softly, slumping just a little...
Sloan: "You can make this energy. And I dare you to do so. ...Otherwise, I will rule the universe. That is your choice. Not mine."
"I invite you to defeat me."
"You want me dead? Reverse engineer it." *He tosses the plans at your feet.*
"Or ignore it." *He then chuckles.*
"Either way, you cannot not do something I want you to do."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...you know... All I want right now is for the fighting to just fucking stop."
"I was planning on making Alsa safe and peaceful and just living quietly."
"But then you had to fuck all that up, didn't you?"
Metal Man (GM): He grins like a cheshire cat.
Sloan: "You are a weak person."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And you're goading me into fighting you."
Sloan: "Old... tired... and... made out of genetic cells with a specific kill switch I can press."
Garrick Fy`aar slowly scowls.
Sloan: "I'll be honest. I didn't want to bother with you. But Xavier @#$%ing Ridgecrest is too insane for anyone, including himself, to control. Luckily for me, I guess, because he'll never see this coming."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...don't go down this road, Sloan. I will kill you at the end of it."
Metal Man (GM): He would smile.
Sloan: "But I want you to kill me. I've read the book. THE the book."
"It is inevitable, that the protagonist kills the villain. Not only do I understand that... I invite it."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Then turn off this power. I'll kill you right now."
"And we'll end it."
Sloan: "...I'd just rather rule the universe for a few minutes before that happens."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Without the loss of life."
Sloan: "What's it matter to me? I'll be dead at the end. Dead people... if there is an afterlife, they will be there for me to talk to. Living people... they will just be away from me."
"No. I will erase these Imperium of Man scouts, and then simply let you lose your mind and kill me with the device whose plans I've given you."
"Then, in the process, the energies you hate will be destroyed."
"The peace you want will occur."
"And everything will be perfect."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...at the cost of me going insane."
Sloan: "It's a cost you'll need to take, to kill me. Is your sanity worth that? ..." *Shrugs* "Not my decision."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And what if someone else does it? There's plenty of other people after your blood."
Sloan: "The universe... ruled by Borne... Xavier Ridgecrest... ...I believe I will be very happy to die if either of them do this..."
"It won't much matter to me."
"It's a race now, and you've been given the inside lane."
"If you want someone nuts like KitOrbel to rule the universe, be my guest."
Garrick Fy`aar stares at Sloan for a short period before he reaches down and slowly picks up those plans, pocketing them. He should at least keep them away from anyone else...
Sloan: "The cycle has already been set, and with this action I have enacted its construction. There is no way to derail it without me living. A fact none of the people involved will allow."
"My plan shall succeed, and I shall die." *He would then open a warp for you.* "You may leave... or futilely ask me questions."
"I do not really much mind. It's all the same." *He would gaze upon the exploding Imperium of Man ships.*
Garrick Fy`aar: "...there's nothing I need to ask you."
Sloan: "Ants being crushed by forces they will never understand. That's what it has always been... and always will be."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Though I will tell you this. I'm pretty damn good at breaking the mold people set for me."
*He stares for a second... then glances down and mutters.*
Sloan: "Then break it, by all means."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...we cannot be allowed to be chained to fate..."
*He would slowly turn and make to leave.*
Sloan: "I do not doubt you can break your fate. But it will involve not falling into the rut you presented to me." *He would chuckle.* "Is it really possible for me to make you stop feeling old... ...no. I'll rule the universe long before that happens." *He lets that be his final line as you leave.*
Metal Man (GM): The warp is aboard one of Illian's cruisers.
You can see it and everything.
All real, all there. No fakey-wakey BS.
Garrick Fy`aar: "..."
*He would step through it.*
Metal Man (GM): You appear aboard the ship.
Some Solarian men stare at you, then simply nod and open the comms to Illian.
Illian MacGregor: "...Hmmmm... what is Sloan up to... and why did he warp you on that ship..."
Garrick Fy`aar would stand there for a moment, silent... then he would start talking and explain everything he learned from Sloan.
He WOULD, however, omit the fact that he has those plans.
Illian MacGregor: "...That's seriously @#$%ed up."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...no. No, you know what? YOU'RE seriously fucked up."
Metal Man (GM): He would sigh.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Where the FUCK have you been??"
Illian MacGregor: "Staring at the stars, mostly. The Questers abandoned me, and my new team is mostly Valron... he works on uniting Alsa, but he vanished and hasn't reported in yet... I can't seem to find Xavier, despite anomalous readings of the Moon..."
"This is really starting to be a mess."
Garrick Fy`aar: "This is really starting... yeah, you know what? Fuck you. Get your head out of your ASS and get to fucking work!"
"You've got an ARMY of ships here."
"Fucking USE them."
"I have no fucking clue what Valron is up to or Dragoshi or whatever the fuck his name is right now."
"But I've been trying like hell to get this shit straight and I don't know if I can do it anymore."
Illian MacGregor: "Very well. What is it that I am to do with my army of ships?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Make. Alsa. PEACEFUL. Borne and his fucking men are being the biggest torn in our asses."
"Xavier can't get here without a warp field."
"So we can count him out. We need to get rid of Grey Mann and Borne."
Illian MacGregor: "...Define peaceful." *He would pause.* "Borne... but... I should try to negotiate first. He has been... reasonable... at least, I should prepare a battle plan before attacking him."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Oh, I swear to God... I am going to come down there and beat your fucking skull in."
Illian MacGregor: "He has... caused strange things to happen. I am hearing of some sort of... United Alsan Forces noise on the radio."
Garrick Fy`aar: "His man tried to KILL ME WITH A FLEET OF SHIPS."
Illian MacGregor: "He changed in tone recently, almost as if something changed his mind. He... has begun trying to ally other groups. I heard of something impossible--an... Echidna/GUN alliance."
"We don't have much time if we are to get rid of him."
"If he can continue as he is, he may solidify an alliance of all of Alsa."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...if we try to kill him now, it's going to turn the entire planet against us..."
*He sighs and kicks a damn console. Hard.'*
Illian MacGregor: "Given the Gray Mann is on the loose but without an army, and Borne has been making overtures to allow the other lands to work with him... and... making up for past GUN atrocities... It appears he may have outmaneuvered us."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Then what exactly are we supposed to fucking do?"
Illian MacGregor: "Damage control. Get Valron back. Retain control over the land we have. ...And then use his own strategy to ensure Alsa is, in fact peaceful. He has been taking stances that are newly conciliatory."
"We can get the other factions to demand he limit his military, and stay to his borders."
"If this is for real, then he will be rendered merely another nation, not some razor-hot super-army ready to kill people."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Do you need me for this?"
Illian MacGregor: "If it is not, then his new allegiances will disintegrate before they can even form. I can use the forces I have, but if you feel suited to helping, then you can help."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Dammit, Illian..."
Illian MacGregor: "Anything you know about Borne's history on Alsa?"
Garrick Fy`aar sighs and thinks...
Illian MacGregor: "I am new here, and so... cannot very well think of how I would unhinge him again."
Metal Man (GM): Well, for starters, you know a large litany of insults he threw around casually about pretty much every other faction.
Including how everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom was on drugs, that the Mavericks were all crazy (well, they're dead now so that's not useful)
The Echidna were ignorant savages... etc.
Other things are something else he let slip at least once, which was that his Mad Man body tended to impart insanity to the one in it, when he was busy insulting Jack.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...he pretty much hated every other faction. Or, at least, thought they were useless..."
Metal Man (GM): He never did explain how that somehow didn't include him.
Illian MacGregor: "That's what's odd about it. Many of the factions were initially wary. But he is doing things they swore he would never do. He isn't behaving like the same person anymore."
Garrick Fy`aar: "He also mentioned something about his Mad Man body... Something about it imparting insanity to the one in it."
Illian MacGregor: "If we want to destroy him, it comes down to that, in any case. Destroying him will render whatever he does moot. The Questers had multiple chances to keep him dead, but kept screwing up."
Garrick Fy`aar: "So maybe he's been insane this entire time and he just cured himself... though I have no idea how long it'll last... I can kill him."
"...well..."
"...I... THINK I can kill him."
Illian MacGregor: "We can try to mine their servers for data, because it does appear that he may have been more like this before Questers showed up."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Illian, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know if I'm strong enough anymore to do anything of worth..."
Illian MacGregor: "I'm not sure if I'm even suited to this current job, either. I had monolithic, obvious enemies. Here, I'm thrown off by all the confusing moral boundaries."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...look. All we can do is keep moving forward."
"We've got to try."
"If Borne is just going to go insane again, we've got to stop him here before he gets too powerful."
"We'll deal with Gray Mann as he comes."
"Xavier shouldn't be an issue without the warp field."
"As for Sloan..."
"...we'll figure that out when we get that far."
Illian MacGregor: "You know..."
Metal Man (GM): He would bring up an image of Sloan, then walk around it.
Illian MacGregor: "His technology isn't that different from what Kuja did. ...So if we collected the Chaos emeralds..."
Metal Man (GM): He would show the Sloan image disintegrating.
Illian MacGregor: "...It wouldn't even be possible for him to do whatever it is he's planning to do."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Are the emeralds even still around?"
Illian MacGregor: "Surprise, surprise, Borne and even the Mobians of Alsa say they were buried insanely well and everyone fears them. That doesn't mean my technology from back when we used the Emeralds won't find them."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And how would the emeralds effect him? They work off of Alsan Energy..."
Illian MacGregor: "The Chaos Emeralds work off of chaos, not Alsan Energy."
Garrick Fy`aar: "He's using some sorta mix... on a different world, a different universe."
Illian MacGregor: "That is why they fear them here on this planet."
Garrick Fy`aar: "So... Smash Energy."
Illian MacGregor: "Nope. They were very specifically chaos alone."
"We didn't have Smash Energy when we killed Kuja. It would have been nice to have."
"Chaos was much more dangerous."
"And nearly got you killed. You punched something so hard your hand exploded."
Garrick Fy`aar frowns for a moment...
"The red emerald, right..."
Illian MacGregor: "...But against Sloan it would ruin everything, because it, too doesn't run on the rails."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...Illian."
Illian MacGregor: "He creates the ultimate control, then we jam his controls and it falls apart."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Tell me the truth here. Are you SURE this would work?"
Illian MacGregor: "It killed Kuja. Killed him dead."
Garrick Fy`aar: "He isn't Kuja."
Illian MacGregor: "He's less than Kuja. And I have more ships than we had back then."
"We can go to his backyard and Chaos Emerald him to death."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...alright."
Illian MacGregor: "Taking the emeralds off this planet too. Borne would be happy never to see them again. Everyone on this planet rightfully fears their evil side."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'm not against the idea of using them on Borne, either."
Illian MacGregor: "Even I do, which is why we would stick them in a little box when not using them. They are just tools like everything else, though."
"You just make sure they're only pointed on whoever you want to reduce to a puddle of goo."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...alright. I'll go talk to the Echidna."
"See if I can get a lead or two on where to track them down."
Illian MacGregor: "Yes. They have the Master Emerald. It can locate other ones. That is also where Drago--Valron went. It all fits neatly together."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Then I'll go track him down, too. In the mean time, start working on damage control as best you can. And get your people to start working on a device to hold the emeralds."
Illian MacGregor: "You can recover him, then we can get the emeralds and Chaos Emerald Sloan into a puddle of goo. Then be sure to get rid of them, because the emeralds are nasty. Yes. I will use the plans I'd been working on on and off ever since I last saw them."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Right."
Illian MacGregor: "My men shall begin working on it now. I'll have the ship you're on take you to the surface. Do you need another ship of your own?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'd like one. One that actually has some halfway decent weaponry."
Illian MacGregor: "What size--I have one of each size, and then some. Magitek batteries can shoot down anything Borne currently has, although I've heard warnings of Phase Cannons. Those I'm still working on proper shielding against."
"Any battle we have against Borne would probably end with both sides' ships crashed and exploded."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'd say... a six man ship."
Illian MacGregor: "Ah, simple enough. I'll have one waiting for you when you touch down on the PSO Continent."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Also, keep this in mind. I'm pretty sure Borne and his men think I'm dead."
"They were all pretty happy when I slammed my ship into them."
Illian MacGregor: "Good, he won't know to interfere with you. We'll be sure to supply you one of our disguise devices then."
Metal Man (GM): He gestures and makes a strange Solarian handsign. A guard hands you a... Badge.
Garrick Fy`aar: "I still have the Transformer, if I need it... huh."
Illian MacGregor: "Push a button, now you look like one of my Solarians."
Garrick Fy`aar picks it up and looks it over.
He does so.
Metal Man (GM): You now look like another Illian soldier.
Illian MacGregor: "You have all the same rights you did as before, without looking like you. I use it myself sometimes. Need to, to wander into places he thinks only my soldiers are."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Good. One last thing..."
Illian MacGregor: "Easy way to avoid provoking any attention."
Garrick Fy`aar reaches down to his ankle and yanks off that device Sloan gave him.
"I don't want any connection with him..."
"I'll make due with being just... human."
"World's Greatest Soldier, my ass..."
Illian MacGregor: "...Leave the bracelet, we shall study it. It is giving me ideas for how to destroy his tech."
Garrick Fy`aar hands it off to the soldier that gave him the badge.
Metal Man (GM): The soldier nods, puts it in a magitek containment device and carts it off.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Alright... I'm off then, if there isn't anything else."
Illian MacGregor: "That's everything."
Metal Man (GM): The ship goes in to land.
Garrick Fy`aar wouldn't say much of anything else. He'd be sure to stock up on whatever basic supplies he might need. Ammo, grenades, maybe a few medkits or the like before leaving and getting on his new ship.
Metal Man (GM): You'd do so, getting a crew as well. The 5 other Solarians aboard would silently salute you, it being rather easy for them to follow someone who literally looks like the captain they would expect anyway.
And, yes, we call it there.
Metal Man (GM): Last time on SSQ
Tails: "And another thing, I don't get why you made it so that Sonic and my friends other than me never got to do anything much about the Que--"
The Arbiter: "Initiating Stargate."
Metal Man (GM): Tails is cut off by the Stargate nearly instantaneously opening, and the Arbiter stepping inside.
Marley: "Oooo, you made him mad. Good one, I was wondering if that machine had any emotion in him."
Metal Man (GM): Marley would wander into the gate.
Tails would then stare at you alone.
Tails: "Ah. They're gone now. You should seriously consider not following them. They have insane plans for this world. They're just going to be like replacement Questers."
"They can save my friends, but you..." *He would turn on the Arbiter's device.* "I have seen the future. You won't like it."
"Your only chance of escaping without a severe risk of dying is now or shortly after... by fleeing this entire dimension."
"Figured you ought to know, because I and my friends don't have that choice."
Valron: "...I could run away, yes."
Tails: "This IS Alsa. You don't have to help us."
Valron: "...But I want to."
Tails: *Shrugs* "Your life. I figured I should tell you, since I felt... you might be the only ex-Quester who was just accidentally dragged into this."
Valron: "Noted. And I thank you for that. But... The way I see it, it always gets worse before it gets better. And I'm going to try and ride it out."
Tails: "You're welcome." *He would sigh, his ears folding.* "I wish you luck in finding Sonic..."
Metal Man (GM): Currently:
WHOOSH
The trio emerge on the other side... in a strange world.
It looks like Alsa... but isn't.
The skies are a strange green color.
The mountains have giant sparkly ribbons on them.
Valron looks around, taking in the sites of this... not-Alsa.
Metal Man (GM): And the skyscrapers have giant pink and green polkadots on them.
Valron: "...Well, that alarming lack of taste certainly confirms things."
Metal Man (GM): A massive sign just outside the Stargate says "WELCOME TO SLOANLAND."
The Arbiter: "...This world has truly met a terrible fate."
Marley: "Yeah, yeah, let's get those stupid hedgehogs out of here and call it good. It's giving me the creeps."
Metal Man (GM): You can walk down the path into the city, or wander into the mountains... or something else, up to you.
Valron: "Agreed." *Carefully studies the area, looking around for any signs of where Sonic and crew went.* (Investigate.).
Metal Man (GM): You see a bunch of footprints. Hedgehog tracks, heading directly to the city.
There's nothing heading towards the mountains.
Seems likely they went down into the city. Especially some bits thrown on the ground in the distance.
Valron: "Judging by these tracks, it looks like they made their way into the city."
The Arbiter: "Let us go then."
Marley: "It's likely to be a trap."
The Arbiter: "What else are we supposed to do?"
Marley: "...Bah."
Valron: "Try and maintain stealth, if possible."
*With that out of the way, he follows the tracks, whilst trying not to draw any attention to himself.*
Marley: "No problem."
The Arbiter: "If stealth is a concern, I must stay behind."
Metal Man (GM): He looks to Valron.
The Arbiter: "Is that acceptable?"
Valron: "Noted. It might be best to have someone stay near the Stargate, in any case. "
The Arbiter: "I can remain stealthed when completely still."
Metal Man (GM): He stands next to the Stargate, then... vanishes.
Valron: "That'll work."
Marley: "Right... let's get to the city before it's too late and they notice us."
Metal Man (GM): Marley would put on some disguise paint and start skulking towards the city.
Valron nods, before heading on to the city.
Metal Man (GM): You'd walk into the city.
There, you'd see something strange.
Empty streets, devoid of life, other than soldiers in weird face masks that appear to have upside-down smiley faces on them.
They speak in gruff, inhuman sounding voices and appear to be doing little other than maintaining the city.
Valron sticks to the shadows, examining the soldiers and their patrol routes...
Metal Man (GM): They seem to walk in and out of a really large complex in the center of it all, which, fittingly, is a giant escalator that goes under the ground.
Marley: "It's like some opposite world. Instead of a tower... it's a pit. ...Instead of there being any people, there's soldiers everywhere... and really bad security, they just let us sneak in."
Valron: "Huh..." *He looks around, checking to see if the hedgehog tracks he saw earlier lead into the complex or if they go elsewhere...*
Metal Man (GM): They go to the complex, but vanish before they can enter it.
It looks like skidmarks.
Valron: *Glances at Marley* "Seems like the tracks stop..." *He points to the skidmarks* "There for some reason. I do not have a good feeling about this."
Marley: "I think we should leave the city and regroup. They could even know we're here and just be toying with us. They have no need to actually stop us, after all. They have total control everywhere."
"If Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't run away, what chance do we have?"
Valron: "Regroup with what, exactly? Also, I doubt Tails is going to exactly be happy about this, but... Mmhh."
Marley: "We're probably not going to be able to sneak into there. We just need to ride the Arbiter in like a tank and drop some serious explosions on them. These soldiers are nothing like anything I've seen. They don't even seem human anymore. If we drop a match somewhere they'll probably notice us."
Valron: "...Mmhh. I see. Let us head back, then."
*He slips out of the city and makes his way back to the Stargate.*
Metal Man (GM): You make it back. The Arbiter decloaks.
The Arbiter: "Status report?"
Marley: "Invisible walls around the base. Enemy soldiers everywhere."
The Arbiter: "Highly dangerous. We should leave."
Marley: "No. You destroy them."
The Arbiter: "..." *He pauses.* "That would violate the time stream."
Marley: "How is this supposed to be a reality that exists?? I'm pretty sure half of it violates all principles of common sense."
The Arbiter: "Unless Dragoshi can give me an argument that makes sense, I have no reason to violate my plan for the sake of a bunch of mortal hedgehogs."
Valron: "...Do we even really particularly need to worry about the time hole, anyways? I figured that this place was outside the... well, blast radius so to speak. That, and the way I see it... Maybe we could use as a chance to get more info on what exactly Sloan is up to and maybe get a few juicy bits and pieces on the tech he's got. Maybe better understand it and whatnot."
Dragoshi: "Sonic and his friends are still a priority, of course, but it seems like there's an opportunity for more than just that here."
The Arbiter: "I'm not going to do it for that reason however." *He would stand there, clicking.* "I just realized that I had misread part of my internal memory. Sloan himself must not be disrupted. His empty town of uselessness is fair game."
Metal Man (GM): He would then begin marching towards the town.
The Arbiter: "Stand behind me. You will not survive otherwise."
Valron: "So, Hands off Sloan, but his toybox is fine? ...I can dig that." *He smirks, nodding in response as he goes to get behind The Arbiter.*
Marley: "What can one Time thing do anyway? I mean--"
Metal Man (GM): The Arbiter holds up his hands and creates a gigantic orb of time energy.
Valron: "I'm guessing the answer is going to be 'a lot'. In any ca-"
Metal Man (GM): He then hurls it into a building. The skyscraper splits in two and falls on an entire street full of soldiers.
Then it collides and explodes, causing a massive shockwave that breaks all the windows nearby and sets the area on fire.
Dragoshi: *He lets out a low whistle* "...Like I said. 'A lot'."
Valron: *Whoops.*
Metal Man (GM): Pieces of rubble and cars fly over your heads, some of it that would crash into you and kill you were he not protecting you with a field.
The Arbiter then cavalierly smashes straight through the side of the rubble in your way, stepping on and smashing flat a hapless soldier on the other side.
An army of them raise their guns at him, only for him to fire a series of lasers from his eyes that shoot giant bowlingball-sized holes in their heads, chests and legs before they can even fire.
They fall over, smelling vaguely like burnt hotdogs.
The soldiers, however, don't seem to know fear, as this spectacle continues all the way up to the escalator station.
Valron: *Follows along, while making sure to stay behind The Arbiter, just in case he may need to stay behind him some more or something* "...I see why you're usually reluctant to use such a show of force."
Metal Man (GM): They continue, despite all other indications, to fire useless lasers at the Arbiter, despite the violent lasery death.
The Arbiter: "Were I to use this on a common level, I would quickly eradicate all sentient life. Then cause a Time Explosion that would erase reality."
Metal Man (GM): --Said as he casually causes a gravity inversion that crushes everyone in a 500 yard radius and sucks in desks, cars, and street lights before exploding outwards again and flinging shrapnel everywhere.
Valron: "...For some people that might be a gift, but otherwise that is not something most anyone would enjoy. Ever. In any case..."
Metal Man (GM): He stops at the station.
He touches the part where Sonic vanished.
There's a force field.
The Arbiter: "Please cover your auditory units."
Marley: "Okay, I don't know what it's for, but..." *Puts hands over his ears.*
Metal Man (GM): You hear a massive sonic boom as the Arbiter touches the force field and causes it to disintegrate.
It is now gone, letting you walk right in.
The Arbiter floats a foot off the ground, then goes down, smashing a small hole in the ceiling with his face as it's not quite tall enough for him.
Marley: "All right. Maybe we can figure out what's up here now that the Arbiter has sent these technicolor bastards to cartoon hell."
Metal Man (GM): Marley cautiously slides down one of the railings, not trusting the escalator proper.
Valron: "An excellent idea, yes." *Would move to follow suit, making his way down a railing as well.*
Metal Man (GM): You'd reach the bottom, seeing another colorful SLOAN CENTRAL STATION sign and a Subway terminal noting where the soldiers are to go.
Currently, all of them have told whatever soldiers were here to flee for their lives.
They're all gone.
Valron: "...Handy."
Metal Man (GM): Instead, the main screen turns on before you.
Sloan: "Someone's set us up a bomb, I see! Have you come to launch Zigs into my great justice?"
Valron: "Oh, it's you. Nah, we're grocery shopping today."
Sloan: "I will have to stop you, you know, it's nothing personal, but you really aren't supposed to be using my beautiful city like that. I was supposed to test the weapons of mass destruction on it AFTER I rule the universe, not before."
"It's an important distinction, you know!"
Valron: "Right."
Sloan: "So what do you want. A cheese sandwich? This isn't your targeting range, and I will test my weapons of mass destruction on YOU if you don't get out of here very soon."
Metal Man (GM): The other two decide to let Valron speak.
Valron: "Oh, nothing much. We just came to pick up some luggage someone foolishly tossed in here. Some small, furry luggage, so to speak."
Sloan: "You want them? Really? Nobody wants them. All I was doing was seeing if maybe they had powers like Deloth did."
"You know, they do, too. They're kinda neat! It seems all the little furry animals have super powers, you know."
Valron: "Maybe pick something up about the how of your whole 'universe domination' plan and some stuff on your tech but I'm not holding my breath. Anyways... Huh. Interesting."
Metal Man (GM): Images of Rinith, Renamon, Sonic, Deloth, and others fly by on the screen.
Sloan: "I figured, though, what if I wanted to be super powered without being furred? Well, it turns out, there's a simple answer. All I have to do is give myself a ridiculous name!"
Valron examines these images, while waiting for Sloan to continue speaking.
Sloan: "Because none of them have normal names. None of them! When was the last time you saw a Mobian named Bob? Never!"
Metal Man (GM): The images seem to show the phonetic construction of their names and their powers, listing off the various abilities like energy inversion, teleportation, digital powers, etc.
Sloan: "So you can get them under one condition. You help me confirm my experiment!"
Valron: "...And how would we go about doing that?"
Sloan: "I've created supersoldiers who are human, but have really, really strange names! Then I told them their backstories. They were orphans whose parents were killed by nanomachines, Eggman, their evil brother, Satan, and Questers."
"They learned their powers from a traveling warlord hobo who lived in the streets!"
"And then because words don't really work alone, I made sure to irradiate the hell out of them with dangerous levels of chaos energy."
"I think that ought to work, don't you think?"
Valron: "So... words and horrible, sanity-rending radiation."
Metal Man (GM): Strange looking people start to walk out of the corridor, facing you.
Sloan: "Oh, and I'm aware of your Arbiter. He can't just blow them up. The explosion would cause the entire place to collapse, killing you and your little friends!"
Valron: "I figured there'd be a catch like that, yes."
Sloan: "Not that he's allowed to, I have a copy of his hard drive. Boring, boring, useful stuff. Anyway, you have fun with Aveziel and Lugrando and Fredondo."
Valron: "Ah well, that's how it goes, I suppose."
Sloan: "I kinda told them that you and Robotnik killed and ate their parents, so, uh, that's why they might want you dead. Just a hunch. Heh heh heh heh."
Metal Man (GM): *Click.*
Valron: *He then glances at The Arbiter* "Also what is it with people and them having copies of their hard drive?"
The Arbiter: "...The Alsan Questers made sure basically everyone had a copy of my mind. After they tricked me into being killed by Jack."
"As a result, pretty much everyone has my data now."
Valron: "...So there's literally bootleg Arbiter drives out there now. That's... amazing."
"...Fuck the Alsan Questers, seriously."
The Arbiter: "And horrible. Now you know why I was trying to kill them."
Marley: "Those bastards sold me out and let Panzer kill me, then came by and tried to kill my ghost."
Metal Man (GM): The green looking soldier stares at you.
Aveziel: "Halt, horrible people! I and my three alternate selves have been raised from birth to kill you! With the power of my Shiruken Blade of Eternal DeathNation, I shall avenge my dead parents and lost favorite loafers!"
Valron: "I had to put up with them for ages. That's my horror story for the day." *He just shakes his head and readies his Magitek Machinegun. This is going to be one of those days, it seems.*
Marley: *Groans.*
The Arbiter: "Let's kill these things before their speeches drive us all insane."
Valron: "Agreed."
Metal Man (GM): ---And... I'm gonna pause here.
I wanna make the stats and run the battle when I'm not tired.
Dragoshi: *That's fine.*
Metal Man (GM): Gonna be the first test of the system, don't want to be running on empty.
THIS time though...
It's just a matter of genning the stats.
Oh, and I'll give you EXP AFTER the battle.
Oh, but I do have one more thing.
(((((( BOSS - D O N O T S T E A L - O R I G I N A L C H A R A C T E R S ))))))