Date: 5:36:35 PM, May 25th to 6:40:03 PM, May 25th;
9:04:05 PM, May 30th to 11:22:31 PM, May 30th, 2013.
Metal Man (GM): (((((( Continuation (Since we were just doing this last night) ))))))
Illian is there, as Valron contemplates going to talk to him. Illian is still loading the ship, a strange aura about him.
Valron takes a deep breath, before going to approach Illian, albeit making sure to not get too close to him "...Hey."
Metal Man (GM): And since music was mentioned... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZq4aBefO4 (Editor's Note: No clue what this song was because no trace of it was ever archived)
He would turn to you, the reddish-brown aura that seems almost like clouds on the edge of the horizon lit up by the sun glowing around him.
Illian MacGregor: "Hello, Valron. I see you have been doing a good job of running my organization." *He would nod.* "I believe you shall do a good job while I am gone."
Valron: "...If you don't mind me asking, where do you plan on going? I hope you're not plotting anything needlessly rash."
Illian MacGregor: "I am not strong enough to do what I must do. And our goals relating to territory here are separate from my personal goals. I must kill Xavier Ridgecrest, and I cannot do that AND run this organization here at the same time."
"It was a mistake. I must focus entirely on my task."
"Only then will he finally die!"
Valron: "Such hideous recklessness... it's very disturbingly unlike you. Besides, single-mindedly focusing on one and only thing above all else without regard for anything else..."
"That is something I'd expect from the Questers of my time."
Illian MacGregor: "You don't really know who I am." *He would grit his teeth.* "Did it seem responsible and safe to go onto a planet completely infested with Kuja without any backup and fight him with only a small band of mercenaries? The Questers of my era were the only true Questers. We toppled a God. We can topple a fake maniac too."
"But I am not strong enough. It would be suicide to fight Xavier and his slaves alone, and also without any kind of power-ups."
"I was going to take the Emeralds, but they have already been spoken for. Borne must also be defeated. It just isn't my battle. So I can wait until after he is dead to politely ask my turn."
"Then we can go super and kill the fake Questers and their dastardly impostor leader, and end the Questers!"
Valron: "...Look. I know this matter of restoring your honor is truly important to you, but... You've let it consume you."
Illian MacGregor: "Kuja took my honor once. He died. It destroyed the entire planet, but he died! Tell me, what do I have left if I let a crazed lunatic steal my name?"
Metal Man (GM): It becomes rather clear... perhaps the question isn't so much how much he has changed... but perhaps how little anyone understood what he was at the time.
An extremist in an extreme time... seemed perfectly rational then.
Valron feels a small chill as he speaks. "You've still got us. Besides, the destruction of an entire world to justify one man's death? Makes me wonder how much of a difference there is between you and those you despise."
Illian MacGregor: "Do you like Alsa? Alsa was an abomination. I created it to improve the Questers. It turned them into monsters instead."
"It failed my purposes, corrupted by the evil of my doppelganger. I created it. And I can unmake it too, should it defy me any further."
Valron: "Some of them were already monsters before Alsa. As to actually answer your question..."
Illian MacGregor: "But you see! Alsa only made them worse. It disobeyed me. It, like my vile doppelganger, must be punished. However, it can yet be redeemed... ...by the death of Borne and anyone besides us, as far as ruling it is concerned."
Valron: "I don't really hate it. To be honest, I feel like this planet could be truly wonderful."
Metal Man (GM): He would gesture and show an image of an Illian-controlled Alsa.
Valron blinks, glancing at the image.
Illian MacGregor: "Kuja stole my honor, for he stole the Solarians and their technology from me, and claimed them as his own. This was due to hallucinations my alter-ego made. But we can rebuild a future utopia upon this barren rock."
"My homeland is a scorched desert, damaged beyond repair from the wars against the Time Cops."
"This planet still lives... and can still be made into a proper world for us all."
Valron: "And at what lengths would you go to make this proper world?"
Illian MacGregor: "This is the Turion of our destinies... nothing is beyond doing against the denizens of this world. Those who get in our way are no different than those citizens who let Kuja mind control them."
Metal Man (GM): Except, you recall that they didn't 'let' Kuja mind control them, they were forced...
And yet past Illian had no trouble causing most of them to be killed in the ensuing chaos back when...
Indeed, he told Gerald Robotnik to rip it all to pieces.
Valron: "Rewriting history to suit your own perspective, are we?"
Illian MacGregor: "It wouldn't be the first time."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out the Fighter Remote... the Pen.
Illian MacGregor: "Did you ever wonder who wrote this world into the book, Valron?"
Valron: "It still do-..."
*He steps back a little, actually thrown a little bit off guard by the fact he /has/ that.*
Illian MacGregor: "This pen is a stick that does nothing now. But I keep it to prove... this was my doing all along. It just escaped my control. Annoying. Worthless. But fixable."
Metal Man (GM): He glows a bit. The aura seems vaguely like that energy you saw in Season 10--those red clouds...
Valron: "...Oh no."
Illian MacGregor: "I intended this world to turn the Questers into ideal soldiers, who obeyed the law. But they failed."
"You, Valron, are one of the only ones who succeeded."
"You shall lead this war to triumph. You do not need me anymore. You and Garrick... are my ideal soldiers."
Valron takes a sharp breath as he takes note of those red clouds. "I only succeeded because I distanced myself and did nothing of worth."
Illian MacGregor: "And that... was the right thing to do, wasn't it?"
Valron: "...I feel like I could've done more. At least tried to push things in the right direction."
Illian MacGregor: "It wasn't your problem. The others were worthless, lost souls! You avoided their taint by leaving them to their devices."
Valron: "But instead, I chose to run to save my own hide. ...In fact, that might be part of why I decided to become much more active."
Illian MacGregor: "I shall regain my power. We shall reunite in time to kill Xavier. Only then, like Alys, can I prove that I deserve the position I heaped onto myself."
Valron: "As a sort of self-penance for my inaction, in order to try and do /some/ good for the universe. ...I see."
Illian MacGregor: "The Emeralds will help us, but I see. The way I used them before was rash." *He would shake his head.* "We shall control THEM this time, not the other way around!"
Valron: "This is far worse than I had anticipated. Especially considering that I hadn't expected /that/ hideous mire to be clouding around you..."
Illian MacGregor: "Heheheheh. What is it to you? It gave Alys strength. She beat an entire enemy by herself. No one punished her... they rescued her instead."
"And then it was never mentioned again."
Valron: "That was the same hideous cloud I saw on that wretched planet, Genetia..."
Illian MacGregor: "With my own, I shall designate my enemy as Xavier. We shall destroy him together, moving the calculus against him immensely."
Valron: "Seeing that again fills me with terrible memories."
Illian MacGregor: "Really?" *He would smirk.* "Then I possess the power to erode Smash Power down to nothing. Imagine, Valron! The next time... none of them can use their powers against us!"
"Helpless!"
Valron: "...What you possess is nothing good."
Illian MacGregor: "I shall intensify this into enough power to erase their abilities. They will be unable to fight. Then we shall kill them all. Then I shall be free..."
Valron: "There is /nothing/ good that can come of it in the end. Even if you do attain your goals in the short run... All you'll do afterwards is burn out."
Illian MacGregor: "I am over five hundred years old. I needn't live a single day after my worthless enemy bites the dust. I have seen things beyond imagining, burned out my eyes watching entire worlds explode..."
"I simply cannot rest until my last goal is accomplished!"
"Now do you understand?"
Valron: "...I do, but that doesn't make it right. It's... honestly rather saddening."
Illian MacGregor: "That is what we are all driven to. A choice between being the saint who dies, failing at their goal, or the determinist who makes sacrifices that allow them to succeed."
Valron: "It doesn't have to /be/ like that!"
Illian MacGregor: "No one will nail me to any cross. It is my foe who will see the fires of hell before them as they are consumed whole. You... you tell me." *He looks at you skeptically.*
"Would Julian have listened?"
"Would Scott Gibson have listened?"
"Would AETOS have listened?"
"Charles Magellean... Bonecrusher... Digifanatic..."
"Kit... Demon... Panzer..."
Valron: "Bonecrusher and Aetos were idiots, Julian never should have really been a Quester in the first place, and..."
Illian MacGregor: "Would the world have been a worse place had they never existed? It is within my power, to undo their existences entirely. Erase their effects and avenge the horrors they made on this universe."
Valron: "It'd certainly be different."
Illian MacGregor: "I could kill them all. Every single one of them would die before they even became Questers!"
"Then... then there would never be any evil Questers... Alsan Questers... Borne would be retroactively weakened so much that you could kill him easily."
"The Maverick Continent wouldn't have exploded."
"Jack would have died far earlier, and far less people would have died."
"Julian would have never given the thugs a chance, nor made that bank, nor punched so many innocent people."
"Aetos would NEVER have annoyed ANYONE!"
"There would be no Lunarians, ever. No fake Solarians for Kuja to use..."
"Kuja would have never ascended..."
"The lines go on. The death of these undesirable monsters, alongside their 'leader', Xavier, could erase the greatest tragedy to ever hit this realm's history."
Valron: "But where would that leave everything? Do you know how violently and drastically such changes could shift things around? We might not even /be/ here if you decide to do that."
Illian MacGregor: "Everything would change. Everything would be different." *He would sigh.* "I would have a reason to live, wherever I wound up! This Bad Future would cease to exist."
Valron: "...You don't have to resort to such drastic measures to find a reason."
Illian MacGregor: "What is there for me here? I fail to lead my own forces effectively, the people I recruited after you and Garrick left me. The Questers have reformed under my worst enemy's logo. My homeworld is a burnt wasteland, my only 'friends' are from an alien culture that I saved at the cost of everyone from my own being killed."
Valron: "There's always a reason. You just have to look for it."
Illian MacGregor: "My original plans to cleanly kill off the Questers ran aground when even the Holiness of the Universe turned against me. My reason to live is to kill the Questers!"
"If I cannot kill them, then what have I been doing?"
Valron: "That's not much of a reason!"
Illian MacGregor: "Saving more lives than have ever existed is not a reason?"
Valron: "You could be doing that if you help me deal with Sloan. Mind you that's something that'll take a while to get to, but..."
Illian MacGregor: "Sloan..." *He would make a flat face.* "If my plan succeeds, Sloan never does anything. He won't have any Questers to trick into making him so powerful."
"Even he knows that he cannot stop me if I complete my mission."
"That is why he does things to make you question it. If I succeed, he is rendered powerless."
"The energy in him, Smash Energy, would not exist."
"I would be the supreme ruler of this planet. Even if he has escaped time and space, I would summon a fleet beyond imagining to kill him!"
Metal Man (GM): He shows an image of an entire Alsan-super-army, akin to Kuja's entire army, just freakin' overwhelming Sloan's (presumed) forces.
Illian MacGregor: "He would be a mere insect compared to me! I could personally come to his doorstep and unleash the Solarian Machine!"
Valron: "I doubt that's all he has hiding under his hideously-designed hat."
Metal Man (GM): He shows--yes, this is the first time the Solarian Machine has EVER been denoted, even though I keep mentioning it...
It looks like some sort of machine that literally teleports suns inside of things to explode them hideously.
The image is of Sloan's ships being eaten by a giant sun appearing inside of them and exploding them.
Valron: "...That... is truly a horrifying weapon."
Illian MacGregor: "...I still regret that the Solarian Machine's first firing scorched our homeworld to desert. I had not expected it to be so huge in scope."
"But that will not matter against Sloan. His entire realm can be consumed in a massive sun that explodes, ending all sentient life that was stupid enough to be near him."
Valron: "You hadn't expected something that uses /suns/ as a weapon to potentially cause that much damage?"
Illian MacGregor: "We thought we could control the radius, but we ran out of time. The Time Cops had us surrounded. It still rewarded us. The Time Cops were so shocked, the remaining ones fled in terror, never to return again."
"Even their Void Weapon couldn't save them from its fury."
Metal Man (GM): He shows an image of a massive, planet-encircling fleet being annihilated by a massive exploding sun of death.
And then the Solarian ships coming out and chasing them, even though many of them were also killed by the massive sun.
And a Time Cop Commander, for the first time you've ever really seen such a thing, actually going pale and then screaming in terror before his ship is utterly annihilated.
Valron: "...There are just some weapons that /really/ shouldn't be used."
Illian MacGregor: "Do you see my plan now? Kill Xavier. Kill the Questers. Then Solarian Machine Sloan into annihilation. Then we live in eternal peace, in a utopia of infinite magitek possibility."
"No one shall ever bother us again, unless their realm is to be annihilated by the Solarian Machine."
Metal Man (GM): He would do the Solarian Salute--an upraised fist, revealing the sun logo on the back of his fist.
Illian MacGregor: "...But I am getting ahead of myself."
Valron lets out another sharp breath, looking quite bothered by the fact he would say something like that so /casually/.
Illian MacGregor: "You and Garrick shall kill Borne."
Valron: "I... thought you were a lot more sensible than this, Illian."
Illian MacGregor: "Is it not sensible? My logic is merely there to help make you comfortable with the true way of the Solarians. Like the sun, we burn our enemies to death for daring to come near us."
Metal Man (GM): A flashback to the chemical weapon burning the Questers.
Valron: "...There is just something hideous about that sort of logic. Toxic, perhaps."
Illian MacGregor: "In time you shall understand, Valron. Your name means 'Cleanser of the Tainted', after all."
"Maybe I too am tainted. Maybe you shall take my place in making my dream come true. I am an old, dying sun. I cannot expect to be the only one who completes this master plan."
Valron: "...'Maybe' you're tainted. /Maybe/?"
Illian MacGregor: "But then I shall do what I feel is right, until I am consumed by the flames that all Solarians are made out of, and finally die."
Valron: "No, I think it's quite clear that you are badly tainted. I thought I'd have had more time to get through to you, but."
Illian MacGregor: "So you say. But maybe you have not understood. The others believe as I do. That is why they came here. Garrick agrees with me."
Valron: "...This is much worse than either Marley or I have anticipated."
Illian MacGregor: "You are simply beginning your path to enlightenment. Ask Garrick. He will tell you. all the Questers must die."
"Marley... is an Alsan. He is a help, but not a Solarian. I would never expect him to agree fully."
"But what chance does he have of doing his own way? None. He has failed. He has little recourse other than to work with us."
"You say what disagrees with you is evil. But if I am evil, then what are the Questers?"
"What are you, a Quester?" *He smirks.* "What, is Borne good too?"
Valron: "...Don't use such a hideous excuse for logic, Illian. It's beneath you."
Illian MacGregor: "Who do you think I am? Oh... I probably was too hard on the sell, that's what it is." *He would shake his head.* "This is war, Valron, not a dance through the daisies. People die and people live. And we decide who lives and who dies. Those who would injure us must all die."
Valron: "I /know/ what war is! I know how much of a hideous thing it is! But there are /limits/."
Illian MacGregor: "Then what do you propose we do? Allow the Questers to live after Xavier is dead? The repeated genocides of the past Questers live? Some half-baked plan to defeat Sloan with the power of love? We can't hug Sloan to death, Valron. It didn't even work on The Void."
"There is a saying. 'The Path of Daggers is Laced With Blood; I lament, but I carry on.'"
"It would be a sunnier universe if I could simply let everyone live. But they would circle around and end me."
Valron: "And what makes you think I'd have such a lapse in judgment to leave either Sloan or Borne alive?"
Illian MacGregor: "None. You would just let the Questers become the next ones. Because once Xavier is dead, he would become a martyr to them. He has already impacted them deeply. I can see it now, a new generation forming."
"They are not like the Alsan Questers, they will not destroy themselves without him."
Valron: "And not all Questers are hideous monsters deserving of death!"
Illian MacGregor: "They will remember me, remember you. They will kill us. They will inherit Xavier's Will. His power will make them all powerful."
"And what will they do but complete his Will?"
"We will have only turned one Xavier into seven."
"Even the Solarian Machine would be powerless against that."
"One Xavier maybe, two Xaviers sort of. Three is where it starts to make punching The Void sound easier."
"They could escape across time and space, and rewrite time. They could make Xavier return like the Alsan Questers."
"That is what they would do--revive him, even if they didn't kill us."
"And he would want to kill us."
"There is no escape, Valron. This is not the first timeline I've done this in."
Valron: "Kill /you/, maybe."
Illian MacGregor: "I tried to help the original one... it exploded."
Valron: "I wanted nothing to do with that. I only wanted to stall for time so Garrick could return with the emeralds."
Illian MacGregor: "I tried again... it got overwritten. This is the third chance, and every time I am feeling more of my soul fall apart, Valron."
"I have relived at least fifty years of my life over and over again."
"If this fails, it is over for everyone."
Valron: "...And what has made you incapable of trying to move past those fifty years?"
Metal Man (GM): He exasperatedly sighs.
Illian MacGregor: "The last fifty years were where the original Kujan ending occurred. In the first world, I lived it the first time."
"When this world was remade, I relived it so that I could also be in this world shortly after, without waiting."
"It took longer than expected and corrupted both me and Xavier."
"Ever heard of 'Caldon Bell'? That was one of my corruptions of reality."
Valron: "Yeah, I vaguely remember that name."
Illian MacGregor: "...So then I had to do it again, resulting in the current group of me and Xavier. Now I am truly me, and even have my army. But Xavier outsmarted me and revived his own world too. The first time I was fairly human. The second time I was so distorted you never really saw me. I'm only barely in one piece in this world."
"My powers didn't come with me fully this time."
"I fear that I strengthened Xavier too. With both his past and present powers and Questers by his side... he can kill us all."
Valron: "...And will bringing those back with you truly pull yourself back together?"
Illian MacGregor: "It will give me the strength needed to finish my mission. With or without your direct help."
Valron: "...That is not what I meant and you know it."
Illian MacGregor: "I understand when I am unwanted. It has happened in many timelines. I shall trouble you no more for a good while. I must recover myself."
Valron: "...It's not that you're unwanted, it's just. I'm worried."
Illian MacGregor: "Worried that my personality is not what you want. That the Solarian culture is too alien for you. That I must become a happy cookie cutter hero in order to satisfy some bizarre impulses in you."
Valron: "Hardly."
Illian MacGregor: "I have heard these speeches before. They sicken me, but I know I have no power to resist. Were I to fight I'd die like some second rate Phantom777. I will go now, and recover myself. Then I shall present my speech again, and see if it makes any more sense then. You'll have seen what is to come by then."
Metal Man (GM): He would then begin to trudge to the ship, morally defeated.
Valron: "...Maybe one day we'll see eye to eye."
Metal Man (GM): Seemingly, not the same threat of destruction he was before, though still worrying.
Illian MacGregor: "Or maybe I will be dead, and that will make you happy."
Metal Man (GM): He then slams the door shut.
Valron: "I'd rather it not come to that."
Metal Man (GM): The ship flies off, slowly leaving the horizon.
Illian: Heavily twisted, negative Erastian-Solarian Leader. To be continued.
...You on the other hand, don't have to worry about him for now.
As much as it may have vaguely been possible to get a better reaction, you're fairly sure that'd have required lying.
Valron probably will still be worried, regardless. For now, though... he'll just have to push that aside and focus on trying to make things better... Through his own means.
Metal Man (GM): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uDY67f3soU (Another unknown song, with no archived record of what its name even was)
Garrick is continuing work on his thing. Robotnik has not yet finished his. That simply leaves you time to contemplate, as the Solarians slowly ready their ships for war.
Are the Solarians heartless monsters, or merely twisted by Illian's own warped view of reality?
Will Borne die? Or is that so improbable now that time travel is really needed?
And finally... what exactly IS Sloan planning, and how has he reacted to recent events?
All this and more... on the next episode of SUPER SMASH QUEST: CONFRONTATION.
+8 EXP to Valron
Metal Man (GM): Intro-Thingy
It'd be late at HQ again, the same time as last time, just a few days later. It'd be in the garage now, where Xavier is busy... sitting on top of thin air.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Man oh man. Why didn't I think of it earlier? Invisible chairs. Now nobody can beat me at musical chairs ever again! That'll show you, Mack The Chair-Getting-Man!"
Metal Man (GM): Razor would be there, as he'd been told to come there to get his 'stealth ship', as it were.
While waiting, Xavier has... yet again... gone off on a tangent.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Now... to work on that Schwartz reflector beam. One of these days I'm gonna cause Klumsy to Schwartz himself. And then I'm going to laugh so much. So very much."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a ring pop.
Razor rests a hand on his hip, letting Xavier get it out of his system for the time being.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ala-ka-shazam!"
Metal Man (GM): The ring pop explodes into a fine dust of sugar powder.
The powder reveals the CAC underneath him, vaguely reminiscent of a mid-90's Ford Taurus.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Oh. I accidentally showed off how to find your car. That's useful."
Metal Man (GM): He'd sit down, the car rebounding. Seems he also made it able to carry a huge, heavy metal person standing atop it.
He'd toss some keys to you, complete with 20-sided dice on the keychain.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I had to pawn my very best lemons to get this car!"
Razor holds up a hand to snatch the keys out of the air. "A noble sacrifice."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "My '89 Lincoln Continental was very close to me, so don't go losing this car." *He would take out the badge logo from the Lincoln.* "But in the end, I had to sell her for parts, because I didn't want to use my massive embezzled fortune on something that was inevitably eventually going to get crashed into an asteroid. That and maybe the fact that the people at my double secret bank think I am someone else and I'm currently working out how to get my fortune back. If it gets too bad I'm going to have to go to Egypt and swing canes at tourists and mummies."
"Anyway... you push the red button to make the car visible. The blue button to make it invisible."
"And the green button... ...I forget what it does."
"Don't push it near an open flame. That's right. That's what the shifty guy I bought the part from said."
Metal Man (GM): It has a remote like any other semi-modern car, with said buttons. Also, the trunk-opening icon has been drawn on to suggest that it opens with skull-removing speed.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "The trunk's hydraulics were too weak, so I stuck Starmen in it until I could verify it was lethal. Or to use as a trebuchet."
Razor: "Well, at least you have a fortune to get back. I was never one to hoard coins, and most of my relics seem long gone." *He lightly taps at his chin.* "Alright, got it. So... the plan..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "The plan... the plan..." *Xavier takes out his dex and stares at it.*
Metal Man (GM): Xavier plays a voice sample.
[Razor] "Sounds like I need to get back to Alsa either way. Lyx seems the best starting point... and hell, if I play my cards right, I could use his aid as leverage against the others if they try to interfere."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yeah. That's what the plan is. I remembered that the whole time!"
Metal Man (GM): He glances over his shoulder to a chalkboard he covered in equations showing how if you found the 'One holy toaster" you could defeat "Neo-Giga Bowser Kujahand.'
He shoves it rolling out of sight.
Razor: "That's what I was planning, yeah." *He sighs and shakes his head.* "You may wanna delete that. Plausible deniability, or something along those lines. Then again, you'll probably forget you even had me going to Alsa if you do..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's OK. You can remind me by playing Space Oddity at me when I wonder why an invisible car is coming towards HQ. Because nobody else would ever do that. Ever."
Razor: "Now, this won't be something stupid like... the car's invisible, but I can still be seen, right?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Just don't play anything else weirder. Might cause the El Rapy to fire up and warp you to a time where everyone is a penguin that is also on fire. The first guy sold me one of those."
"I gave him a new see-through skull."
"Then presented it to the second guy, who decided that the first guy was not the kind of guy he wanted to be."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier takes out a thoroughly char-broiled skull with a fist-shaped hole in it.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Alas, Choratio. I hated your shoddy inferior technology, so I made your skull into a coffee mug."
Razor: "Well done." *He laughs and walks over to the invisible vehicle.* "Well... unless there's anything else you can tell me that'll help, I should probably be off, eh Mets?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yeah, time for you to go. I have to go get my fortune back, perhaps by showing those people at the bank the 400 logs of me doing things. They say it is compelling evidence, but that they have to spend a while watching it. And perhaps making 'best-of' cuts that appear to involve every time I fell on my face." *Grumbles*
"...And yes. I do fall and hit the inside of my visor with my face when that happens. The Erastians were idiots at making helmets."
"I'd change it out, but then I might be even less likely to be mistaken for myself."
Razor nods and unlocks the car. "Sounds like it. That's... a really stupid helmet. Any messages I send you will probably have to be short and encrypted..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Good. Start the messages by saying my helmet is stupid. That way I'll know it's not a Metal Razor trying to fool me and steal my Unlucky Cursed Breakfast Cereal of Doom."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier holds up a breakfast cereal box full of radioactive-looking broken crosses, evil looking ankhs and shoes for marshmallow pieces.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "No one will steal my unholy cereal! No one! Not even those evil old people who constantly fail to trick me!"
Razor: "...will do. Space Oddity, your helmet is stupid." *He sighs and taps at his temple.* "I'd best be off to find Lyx then."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Oh. And here's the map." *Xavier reaches in and turns on the stereo.*
Metal Man (GM): The vehicle shows a perfectly sensible GPS system.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I splurged on something that wouldn't drive you insane to look at. And yes, the steering wheel is on the right way. Unlike in my car."
Metal Man (GM): He opens the garage door for you.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Off you go, before my insanity causes me to encounter something so strange, it makes me forget why I'm here."
Razor nods and gets himself comfortable in the vehicle. "...take care, Mets. If things get really bad, call me back." He locks up the CAC, turns on the stealth, and starts it up to head on his way.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Sure. If they get really good, I'm going to hoard it all to myself. Just kidding." *He would wave, then close the garage door... and it would smack him in the visor again, because he leaned out to see the car fly away.* "Dah! Not again!"
Metal Man (GM): You start flying out into space, the directions to Alsa there, and everything looking rather smooth.
Razor leans back and relaxes for the trip, taking the occasional swig from his canteen.
Metal Man (GM): You also see what looks like a singe or two in the doorframe, and the outline of someone who clearly got vaporized. 'Used', this car definitely is. But it's ship-shape, airtight, due to the new plating added that also makes it invisible.
Now one moment while I deal with a chunk of homework. *LOADING*
Also, frig, hold on another sec, I need some food to fuel my continued GMing. *Goes to heat up a veggie burger*
Got the burger... here though, I'll note the next part.
You'd fly towards Borne's city...
You'd see the planet Alsa, and currently how it seems deadly quiet.
Invisible, you start to fly through a massive debris field.
Razor navigates the debris carefully... scanning it (visually if the CAC has no such instruments) to determine just where all of this came from. This was... not here before.
Metal Man (GM): You determine that it's from... some sort of clockwork ships.
A piece flies by, identifying it as a DWEEZIL EMPIRE ship.
Down below, by your destination, you also detect some warnings... a localized gravity anomaly is near your destination.
Razor: "Hm. The Dweezil, eh? Looks like they got demolished... not a good sign." *He furrows his brow and tries to get a better read on that anomaly.*
Metal Man (GM): The anomaly registers as a ship... one that's flying in a circle around the city you want to go to. Said city has a "Class IV wall Anomaly" around it.
Razor: "What the hell?" *Well... he's in a damned invisible ship, so he figures there's no harm in flying in to take a closer look...*
Metal Man (GM): You fly right on in.
The area is... devastated.
Razor: "Holy... shit..."
Metal Man (GM): There's a bunch of destroyed ships everywhere.
The only ones standing are Borne's.
They're everywhere.
Especially the huge onyx-colored one orbiting the city like a mini-planet, crushing all the ground under it with a huge gravitic lense.
Razor just shakes his head, circling from a reasonably safe distance. "Borne... what the hell did you do? This is your own damn city... your own land..."
Metal Man (GM): The actual city is surrounded by a frosty white barrier, and intact like nothing happened, but...
Its people are clearly stuck in there, the outside being a wasteland.
Razor: "...and isn't this a hell of a pickle. Just how do I get in there NOW?"
Metal Man (GM): You still can detect Lyx through the barrier, somehow.
Even though the readout says "Nothing can get through the barrier."
Razor tries pinging a dummy signal through it, testing out various settings to see what, if anything, can get through. After that, he starts scanning around for any sort of passage through... underground, maybe?
Metal Man (GM): You discover that the field is a sphere after even the highest or lowest frequency signals fail to pierce it through the ground.
You also catch interesting comm chatter.
Borne: *C* "What's setting off all those signals near the field?"
???: *C* "Some anomaly I'm sure."
Borne: *C* "Right, it doesn't matter. Nothing can actually get through the field."
???: *C* "Aren't you inside the city?"
Borne: *C* *Encrypted static*
???: *C* "Oh damn, I left it off again."
Borne: *C* *Encrypted static*
???: *C* "All right, all right!"
Metal Man (GM): *Static.*
Razor quickly pulls out his Dex as he catches that chatter. "...Dex, can you work on decrypting that and determining the sources?" He lightly rubs at his chin. "...so... something can get through this, if I can detect Lyx... maybe certain kinds of energy?"
Smash Dex: "Time devices don't appear to obey the normal rules of time and space. I determine that Lyx is indicating there is an actual means through the field by sending the pulse. Tracing..." *It shows the pulse... coming to you from the X-Zone.* "No wonder no one could figure it out. There is a way inside the field, routed through the X-Zone."
Razor: "Oh, well, that makes sense. Piece of cake! Just gotta punch a hole through dimensions without anybody noticing, right? Or is there a nearby point of entry?"
Smash Dex: "The massive hole in reality next to Nintendus. It is incredibly dangerous."
Razor: "That seems like one of the worst ideas ever." *He lightly taps the polished grey stone embedded under his armor.* "Think a bit of chaotic power could help?"
Smash Dex: "The power of chaos..." *It would sit there, then a familiar voice would come through the speaker.*
The Void: "Of course it would. Make a portal with your chaotic energy, somewhere like behind that moon out there, if you don't want to be seen."
"And no, I am not plotting to backstab you. I'm plotting to have you destroy all of those people who are messing up my good time with their energy domes and death ships."
"The entire reason I haven't demanded you release me is that I couldn't go far without them beelining for me."
"So instead I've just been quietly listening with your dex here in case you found something interesting."
"You did. Very gooood."
Razor: "...y'know, if it didn't make logical sense, then I'd never believe a word out of you. Especially since logic was never your strong suit..."
The Void: "I have Ivan Robotnik's pulsating brain full of logic on tap here. It's the one that helped me make sense of this. You guys kind of forgot he was comatose not much further than a mile or two away from me."
"It's kind of useful, having a mind slave nobody even bothers to check on."
"He is literally the most boring man alive."
"He also tells me you smelled of gym socks the last time he met you."
"I don't know if I want to believe him. Maybe he's trying to trick me."
Razor: "I might've. I wouldn't trust his sense of smell." *He sighs and twists the ship around to start for that familiar moon.* "All I know is that, like it or not on both ends, you're my ace in the hole... and you know that if you screwed me over, you'd be stuck where you are, rotting away for a few more eternities..."
The Void: "Precisely! Also, I already tried to dominate your mind, only to discover that the only ones allowed to do that live in another dimension and would come here and kill me if I dared." *He would sardonically laugh* "I almost tried anyway just to see what would happen, but decided you'd trust me at least 50% more if I left your mind entirely alone."
Metal Man (GM): There you reach the back side of the moon, a world of darkness and not-being-seen.
Razor: "Yeah. You probably want to stay out of there. It's a dangerous place, and not because it's filled with mind-rending insanity like Xavier's." *He brings the ship low to the surface and brings a hand to his chest.* "...well... alright... here goes..." *He closes his eyes and starts to focus on unleashing that chaotic power.*
Metal Man (GM): You rip a nice portal in reality in front of your car.
Note that it's a portal, and as such, probably won't kill you.
Razor pushes his way on through without a moment's further hesitation.
Metal Man (GM): You warp... into the X-Zone!
...This X-Zone brought to you by: Giant, glowing geometric shapes.
Razor: "...aaaand awesome. I've flown into MS Paint land. Dex, can you still trace that pulse?"
Smash Dex: "Fly past the glowing circle filled with strange static-shaped blobs... towards the planet filled with madness shapes."
Razor: "...soild directions, Dex. Thanks." *He twists the craft around to do just that.*
Metal Man (GM): You fly around the weird static distortions and see a giant orange-like planet with bizarre confetti everywhere.
Smash Dex: "To get inside takes some doing." *It notes that apparently... Borne set up a base INSIDE THE X-ZONE.*
The Void: "That monster! He's imposed order on my world! Vaguely... burnt-sienna colored order, but still!"
Metal Man (GM): You can now land on said madness planet.
You can choose to land...
1. In the base itself. Not recommended.
2. On the outskirts, which are orderly-ish but not guarded per se.
3. In the wild, insane jungle of madness that forms outside the outskirts.
Razor: "Stealth is one of my specialties, Dex. It never came up much in the past... the others always just wanted me to blow shit up... but I was made for tactical espionage action." *He quickly scans the various landing possibilities, and decides that the outskirts are probably the best option...*
Metal Man (GM): You'd land in the outskirts. Sure enough, there's a bunch of soldiers, and boxes, and fences inside the base.
The soldiers glow unnaturally.
A Dan walks near one and he doesn't even freak out.
He levels a phase pistol at it and annihilates it.
The giant red deathbeam is all you need to know that these soldiers are so tough, even the X-Zone can't phase them.
You occasionally see other soldiers killing what look like ghosts of Skyhigh and Aetos, and also pie-throwing maniacs.
It being the X-Zone, though, the killing is more like weeding than actual killing.
They keep slowly coming back.
Some of them casually melt the ground with flamethrowers, preventing anything from overgrowing the base.
Razor slips out of the invisible vehicle, closes it up, and locks it behind him, keeping the cloak engaged of course. .oO(Hmph. Good thing I'm not here to pick a fight. No need to get tangled up in this mess.) He throws his cloak up over his head and draws it around himself, quickly taking to shadows and cover, slipping from point to point out of sight as naturally as breathing. He needed a point of entry... somewhere that wasn't being watched, even if that somewhere happened to be up in the air.
Metal Man (GM): Up in the air is actually a pretty good place.
The soldiers are too busy shooting, burning, or terrorizing the ground.
Only problem is at the center is a sealed bunker.
It's sealed shut, and watched by the two biggest, meanest, grodiest guys there.
Razor hauls himself into the air, quickly flying past the outer line. One step at a time... the bunker would be a problem. He couldn't just blast his way in with those two guards there... he'd need some kind of distraction. Okay... so maybe there was room for explosions after all. He stays low to the ground as he slowly circles that bunker... looking for a weak spot in the outer line, somewhere he can exploit...
Metal Man (GM): You can easily float around and look from above. The bunker however, has only one main blast door in... and it's locked tight.
A huge switch on the outside controls the door, and a similarly huge grunt sits beside it.
The outer line is fenced off and covered in barbed wire.
Men who look more cyborg than human stare at the outsides with an unblinking stare.
Their backs are perfectly turned to anything inside.
The inside of the base is a series of boxes. Non-exploding boxes.
The men march around the boxes.
Why are there so many boxes?
Oooh... whoops. XP
Razor moves himself down low... those boxes deserved some analysis, at least. He kept Dex on silent mode as he aimed to give them a quick scan.
Metal Man (GM): The boxes are... full of guns.
You see one of them open one up and casually take out a new gun, and throw away an old, empty one.
Limited-use weapons.
At the rate they use them, enough for a week.
Razor: .oO(Sounds like a target of opportunity. It'd be a damn shame if something were to happen to them...) He sneaks down to steal away one of the guns if at all possible. He aims to determine power level, firing mechanism, energy source, and most importantly... volatility.
Metal Man (GM): They're super stable. Super durable ..Wait a minute...
Now you're holding a super death ray.
Who cares if the boxes aren't explosive?
This thing could probably tear a hole through anything if you fired long enough.
...You wouldn't want to stand near it though.
At least one of the 25 guys on base might shoot you.
Razor turns it over in his hands as he takes to the air again... then grins and parks himself right on top of the bunker, hunkering down. If he can get himself out of sight, he will... if not, he'd have to try to jury rig some way to switch the firing mechanism and have it stuck on.
Metal Man (GM): Alright, another pause here, as I finish my school thing. Then we can finish this. Might take me 15-20 mins, so feel free to get a drink/do something else for a bit/etc.