CONFRONTATION - Story - Chapter 8: BLUstering for Battle

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Date: 1:40:41 PM, September 10th; 4:35:13 PM, September 11th; 5:06:34 PM, September 16th; 2:36:56 PM, September 17th, 2012.
Metal Man (GM): All right then, let me remember where Garrick was to start...
Sky: *Garrick was at his base in the Magnetic Wastes on Nintendus. He was waiting for Samus to show up so he can get back to where the others were.*
Metal Man (GM): Yup. Finisher re-reading my log. The Magnetic Wastes. After much waiting, Samus' ship finally lands nearby. You get the signal to go and get aboard. Nothing else is going on--it seems like the planet is completely silent.
Samus: *C* "Sorry for the wait, I had to go through a number of hoops to get here. You would not imagine how many questions from Master Hand I had to deflect to keep him from interfering."
Garrick Fy`aar swings the somewhat heavy bag of gold coins onto his shoulder, making sure he has everything. He pretty much had taken what he needed. The base was almost completely devoid of any spare parts and items. There was a few pieces of equipment laying around, but nothing that anyone didn't have already. He'd either destroyed what he couldn't take or backed what he needed away. He would move out into the open air and walk toward Samus' ship. *C* "Not an issue. I'm sure he really knows what's going on. You shouldn't worry too much. Not yet, at least..."
Metal Man (GM): You'd walk out into the purple sand, then see this ship is large enough with a ramp for you to get aboard.
Samus: *C* "He's an all-knowing omniscient type. He might not know everything, but any time we spend here will give him time to try and figure it out. I'll be taking that first half of my payment as we fly off there."
Metal Man (GM): She would help you lug the coins onto the ship. You'd be aboard and have everything so far.
Samus: *C* "Right, better look at this planet one last time. It could be your last time coming back at this rate." *C* "I heard plans from the Hand. Something about how people kept warping in and 'messing up his perfect arrangement of trophies' with their meddling. He may be looking to move his world now that the Time Cops have apparently fallen."
Garrick Fy`aar would stare out at the purple sand for a few moments.
Metal Man (GM): The years of being on Nintendus would momentarily come back to you. Defeating Kuja. Experiencing Charles' descent into madness. The Questers, good and bad. And how all of that is completely dead and gone, the only thing still left being the sand and the parts you bring with you.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...there's nothing left for me here."
Metal Man (GM): It's been a long time... enough to wash away the remnants of the past.
Garrick Fy`aar: "NOVA is dead. There isn't any record of him on this planet."
Samus: *C* "That seems to be the thought of many of us. The Smashers aren't really sticking around here anymore. The tournament ended. This planet... was made so we could continue our adventures while at their tournament. But now the tournament has ended and the chaos it created has made it clear--no more tournaments. The only person mad enough to keep doing it, Xavier Ridgecrest/'Metal Man', is doing it in a whole 'nother world."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...no part of my past will exist here, then."
Samus: *C* "You couldn't pay me enough coins to go there."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Yeah, I don't blame you."
Samus: *C* "Besides this base, probably not. It's for the better, though."
Metal Man (GM): The ship would slowly take off, revealing more of Nintendus. Rapland, the Stadium that is abandoned... ruins of QH HQ in Termina... Toad Town: Still in one piece.
Samus: "There just isn't anything here anymore."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...all I wanted to do is protect people."
Samus: "The villains realized they could never defeat the Questers--so they moved elsewhere. Ultimately, you did--bringing this world to its true conclusion."
Garrick Fy`aar: "But why, then, does it feel like it was all for nothing? Why am I looking down at this place feeling like garbage and not pride?"
Samus: "Because you did it to protect a Stadium. An artificial plaything of two Hand-beings. When I saved a planet, it was a real world with people on it. This planet was ultimately the cue-ball of some bored demigods. Safe or gone, it was always going to be artificial."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...part of me wants to go down there and end them. ...but we can't. Not now. It would just cause more trouble. It's better to leave this place behind and never look back."
Samus: "Some of us have felt the same. Perhaps... perhaps if they are foolish enough to follow us some day into our world and try their madness again."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...seal it up, Samus."
Samus: "Otherwise, they have learned their lesson. They know never to run such tournaments again."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Let's get moving."
Metal Man (GM): Samus would finish typing into the console, and the ship would close, Nintendus soon becoming a pale dot on the horizon, before vanishing for good behind its force field.
Garrick Fy`aar would head on into the cockpit, making to situate himself in the closest thing to a computer console if one was available. He would stare at it for a minute before logging into her system and going about some work of his own.
Metal Man (GM): The ship makes its way towards Alsa. Nintendus is basically a blip in the past now; you likely couldn't get back, even if you did it'd just be the same dead statue-world it is currently. The Hands clearly did not expect anyone to actually PROPERLY finish their game! All the better to be rid of their old world, as you might recall the limited perspective was partially what drove most of the Questers mad.
Garrick Fy`aar: "You said we'd have to run near Xavier's neck of the woods before we got to Alsa. Has anything been showing up in that area? Has he done anything strange?"
Samus: "Oh, yes. There's this battle. It seems... frozen in time."
Metal Man (GM): An image of... King Demon, eternally fighting some sort of strange fellow you can't recognize.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...who is that?"
Metal Man (GM): In a base of some sort with posters that are clearly anti-Xavier, noting he is wanted "DEAD OR ALIVE."
Samus: "I don't exactly know. All I can tell is Xavier's planet was populated with some sort of beings who did not like him. I wouldn't advise walking into the temporal anomaly but we can land if you want to look at the rest of the fortress there. It's a real mess but... nothing is happening there at the moment."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm... I can't think of any reason to go there. Other than to get as close as I can to put a bullet in Demon's head. Too much hassle."
Metal Man (GM): A comms pops up.
Legion General Antonius: "This is Legion General Antonius. You are intervening in Erastian Airspace. I cannot really enforce any threats of violence due to the temporal anomaly constraining our forces. If you should hate the one known as Xavier, however, I offer my potential services."
Samus: "Their base is a mess, so we can just ignore it if you want. He seems a bit slimy to me, but he also doesn't seem to be in a position to really bargain with anyone. Scanners show his base is basically destroyed."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm... slow down. I can at least talk to the guy."
Metal Man (GM): The ship slowl down.
Garrick Fy`aar: "At the very least, he might be able to give me more information at a later date."
Legion General Antonius: "I repeat, unknown ship. This is Legion General Antonius. Please respond if you are a non-hostile or otherwise against Xavier Ridgecrest. A reward is posted for his destruction. I can detect you are a registered bounty hunter. Know that we can and will pay for his destruction."
Garrick Fy`aar opens up the comm to him, making sure only Garrick is seen. *C* "This is Kyle Hayter, otherwise known as Garrick Fy'aar."
Legion General Antonius: "I am Legion General Antonius, last one standing of the Erastian Guard."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "...it's only you down there?"
Legion General Antonius: "It is sworn upon my soul to destroy the one known as Xavier Ridgecrest. My remaining men became trapped in a temporal anomaly. The treacherous fool sacrificed one of his own to bait the anomaly. The one known as Demon may never escape the time anchor placed at the door of my keep... nor can any of my men... until someone figures out how to open it. I am basically the last Erastian alive. It is my sworn bloodvow to avenge this travesty and kill Xavier."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "Hrm... a moment, if you please."
Legion General Antonius: "I possess what remains of my treasury and armor technology. Knowledge of how Xavier works. All I need is to be able to fight and kill him myself. I shall wait however long it takes."
Garrick Fy`aar mutes the call, standing up. *C* "This could be a decent boon for me... but I don't know a thing about this guy. Do you have anything in your databases on him?"
Samus: "He's the former emperor of the Erastians, a brutal fascist society which once ruled that entire planet. The data the Hands gave us Smashers on Xavier says... ...That they created the suit technology Xavier uses. Xavier was their experimental weapons platform. He went rogue when Time Cops demanded he stop using a time device they had invented. Dooming his entire home planet and race to destruction. That any Erastians survive is a miracle--their planet was destroyed by The Void at the behest of Ael. It appears Xavier nearly finished them off, then got bored."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm... it might stand to reason, then, that they have information on Xavier's personal technology..."
Samus: "They are not nice people. But there is only one of them in existence. Just don't let him get any chance to rebuild his own empire. Records indicate the Erastians were a brutal type that killed their prisoners in gladiatorial arenas and enslaved their soldiers. Seems Xavier killing them was mostly a case of evil vs. evil."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm..." *He paced, thinking.* "He's not a person that I want to let get out of hand... ...if I just leave him there, though, he'd probably end up dying due to lack of food or water or such..."
Samus: "Yes, if Xavier doesn't decide to just kill him."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I don't like the idea of just leaving someone to die, though."
Samus: "We could take him as a prisoner and eventually send him to the Galactic Federation brig..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...but, to stop Jack? He might be just what I need..."
Samus: "As he is wanted for his vile crimes against sentient beings. We can simply wait until we're done with him."
Garrick Fy`aar unmutes the channel. *C* "I've done a bit of research on you, General. Seems you're not a very nice man."
Legion General Antonius: "I did what I had to do. This- world was full of potential Xaviers. That only one survived is due to me. Had I not done what I did, there could have been an entire rebellion of them. Imagine... ten... or even a hundred of them... some of them far smarter than Xavier. Doing what they please, messing up the world. Xavier was the 88th of the 100 who defected."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "Be that as it may, it says here you're into fascism."
Legion General Antonius: "Strong control of the government is the only way. If technology is not freely made, then you become weak. Weakened by the people trying to tell you what to do. I only survived because I did not believe those nonsense reforms they were trying to make. I hunkered down, prepared for annihilation. The Time Cops' bizarre being failed to notice my cloaked fortress and we survived. Meanwhile, their plans to make a People's Assembly made the others completely vulnerable. Normally we could kill Time Cops, but they had decided to try and become 'legitimate' by buying into the hogwash Ael had been telling them."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "Look, you can take your government ideals and shove it. All I care about is what you know about Xavier."
Legion General Antonius: "Hah! I can agree with you. You have the power here. It is your right to command in this situation! To the strongest go the power. To you, I can give all the means to kill that damned rat!"
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "Then give me your tech. Whatever data you have on his suit, his weapons, everything."
Legion General Antonius: "Xavier uses a suit we developed at great expense, you may look at it in whole... as soon as you take me off this wretched planet. I have the data here on my person, and only I know how to open it! I must be sure I will not die. If you do not trust me, drop me on an asteroid, anywhere but here."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "Yeah, I figured that much. ...very well."
Legion General Antonius: "I can take care of myself, otherwise I would have already died, but you have the power, so it is in your hands."
Garrick Fy`aar cuts off the channel. "Samus, get him on the ship. If he gets out of hand... well, between you and I, we can end him. But after Jack is dead, I need to focus on Xavier."
Samus: "It appears he was liable to die anyway, so we shouldn't have a problem."
Metal Man (GM): The beaming system engages and the Legion General, coated in medallions and wearing a suit that looks almost like a cloth version of Xavier's armor, stands before you, looking very cross and proud.
Legion General Antonius: "I knew you would see logic. Now. Let us plot the death of that wretched traitor!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hold on a second." *He stands up, giving this man the once over...*
Metal Man (GM): He stands there, looking dignified. And also armed with a strange looking rifle. Not drawn, but holstered, hooked to his side magnetically. He also has a weird looking disc at the other side of his belt. He seems pretty powerless to you. But you can't be entirely sure how powerless.
Garrick Fy`aar eyes that rifle for a moment. "...do you know who I am?"
Metal Man (GM): Is this a new faction that stands before you, or a dead man finishing his last days?
Legion General Antonius: "...No."
Metal Man (GM): The rifle is shiny, silver and custom fitted down to exactly fitting the length of his arm.
Legion General Antonius: "I never knew there were others who knew and hated Xavier. I had been trapped on my planet the entire time."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I worked with Xavier for a long time. I was tricked by him for a long time. I know how he works and how he acts. How he thinks... well, can anyone understand how he thinks?"
Legion General Antonius: "Good. Then you will understand the importance of my data. He does not think! He is a monster that creates nonsense! When faced with a logical choice... he killed everyone. He must be killed... brutally."
Metal Man (GM): He cracks his knuckles.
Legion General Antonius: "Over and over again. His very soul must be tortured out of existence!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "I've been planning on killing him for a while now. However, there's some others that need to be taken care of before we can focus on him. My goal is to kill someone else first. Then, I'll work on Xavier."
Legion General Antonius: "Who else must die so that we can focus on the TRUE threat?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "That's my problem, not yours."
Legion General Antonius: "I am a weapon made to kill. All shall die before the might of the Erastian Empire and you! Whatever you say, Master."
Metal Man (GM): He salutes.
Legion General Antonius: "I am your instrument to dispose of as you wish. You have rescued me from certain death."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...right. Here's the rub, though."
Samus: *Rolls eyes* "Guess he really believes in that chain of command thing..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'm not going to stand for you killing people that don't need killing. I'm not going to stand for you doing some stupid, foolish stuff in the name of Xavier dying. We do this smart or we don't do it at all."
Legion General Antonius: "You are my leader. As long as the end goal is him dying, I will even feign respect for these worthless 'rights' and 'mercy' I know your kind employ. Only those who die that you are pleased by seeing die. No one else. Not even worthless people who get in my way!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...right."
Legion General Antonius: "As much as I would rejoice in returning their essence to the world's core to help rebuild my world, I shall abstain in the name of the greater goal."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Here's the deal. You help me take care of what needs taking care of, I keep you around. You do something I don't like? You try and kill me or kill someone I don't want you killing? I shoot you."
Legion General Antonius: "That is how it is for all who serve Erastia. Thus I shall serve you in the same way."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And I'm good at shooting people."
Legion General Antonius: "You are a fascist yourself, in spirit, I see! Most excellent. Some day perhaps you shall understand... I would do no different to those under my command for disobeying me."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'm not a fascist nothing. I'm just a person who was wronged and am tired of seeing people abuse power. No no, you don't get it. I just don't trust you."
Legion General Antonius: "Trust is for the weak. Guns remove the confusion."
Editor's Note: I'm just kinda laughing at how horrible it is, Garrick is being offered total obedience, says "Yes", then hears back, "YES, HEIL GARRICK" and he's like "Whoa whoa whoa... I demand total obedience, but don't act like it!" Which way is it, Garrick? Are you moral enough to realize this person's hands are so blood-stained, working with him damns you, or so desperate to kill one enemy that you'd work with the devil himself?
Samus: "We can safely leave him to ramble nonsense to himself, he seems firmly convinced in his bizarre beliefs. You tell him to jump, as long as it ends in that Metal thing dying, he probably will ask how high."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Fine then. Get us underway. General. The data?"
Legion General Antonius: "These beliefs are superior. But I will not slow you down with my explanation. Here."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a device... an actual device! Amazing! It's a really hardcore looking floppy disk. He presses a button, using... his blood... to unlock it.
Legion General Antonius: "They said that the blood loss was overdoing it. Not I! That is why my data remained unstolen!"
Metal Man (GM): He hands you the bloody disk.
Legion General Antonius: "You should be able to connect a binary processing device to the end-port there."
Metal Man (GM): He points to a light emitter--it works like fiber optics. You don't... specifically have something made to work with that but it's pretty simple looking...
Garrick Fy`aar hrms a bit. He'll have to tweak it a bit, but it'll work. "Alright. Go get yourself cleaned up and such. We've got a ways to go before he hit Alsa. And who knows? Maybe Xavier will see us and come running. Then you can get your wish real quick."
Legion General Antonius: "Yes sir!" *He salutes, then marches off. Luckily, he has nothing to do with some of the others of his political stripe--he seems more nationalist-paranoid than the racist type.*
Garrick Fy`aar: "...make sure he doesn't get into your systems, Samus."
Samus: "Don't worry about that. My suit is the only thing that can access them. Those nuts don't know what Chozo even are. Their only major weapon was the Time Device, and the Time Cops stole most of them. If he had a Time Device, I think he wouldn't even bother asking for help..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Yeah... get us going, Samus. I don't want to be caught with our pants down by Xavier."
Samus: "We're underway now."
Metal Man (GM): Sensors start crazily beeping.
Samus: "...There's a massive ship marooned ahead."
Garrick Fy`aar will go about working on that disk... until thaaaat happens.
Samus: "It seems to be repairing it."
Garrick Fy`aar: "A ship? Can you put it up on screen?"
Metal Man (GM): Another image appears on the screen. Some smooth looking guy wearing strange steampunk armor.
Laconius: "Oh, hi there. Sorry to bother you. Some... crazy people sabotaged my drive systems. Could you give us a jump so we could get out of here?"
Metal Man (GM): His ship is a bunch of gears precision-stuck together to make a crazy looking moving sculpture machine. It even emits steam into space.
Garrick Fy`aar: .oO(What in the blue hell... steam powered spaceship...?)
Metal Man (GM): On the side is a huge logo--"DWEEZIL IMPERIUM."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "We might be able to do that... give us a minute to figure out how to do it?"
Laconius: "Basically you just hook your drive to ours and... give it a push of energy. We have the connectors... I know what ship that is even. It'll be five minutes, honest."
Garrick Fy`aar: *C* "Uh, yeah, hold on, I'm going to see if we have the juice to do it..." *He kills the transmission and looks to Samus.* "Who the FUCK is that?"
Samus: "You know... I have no clue. There's no data in the database. And they're using machines I've never seen before."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Do you REALIZE what that ship is?? Steam power! STEAM. POWER."
Samus: "It doesn't even make any sense. But... it's... there."
Editor's Note: And now, for some bizarre mood whiplash!
Garrick Fy`aar: "Boiled water got them SUB-LIGHT TRAVEL. It shouldn't even be POSSIBLE."
Samus: "They appear to have some super-efficient matrix..."
Metal Man (GM): She shows you a scan showing they appear to have broken physics into pieces with some bizarre insanely efficient diagram... it's too blurry for you to replicate, just enough of an outline to show it's almost like some insane fractal boiler or something.
Garrick Fy`aar: "God, I wanna get my hands on it... Imagine if we ran PLASMA through something like that... or fuck, anti-matter??"
Samus: "These people may be dangerous, their ship's ultra-efficient boiler means they could probably destroy us before we blinked, if they truly wanted to..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Then what the hell hit them...?"
Samus: "But somebody figured out how to sabotage them..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...hey General!"
Metal Man (GM): You'd see pockmarks on the hull, even a nice gash where a ship rammed into it.
Legion General Antonius: "Yes, my master?"
Garrick Fy`aar points to the ship.
Metal Man (GM): He seems to be staring into another of his strange gothic-metal devices. They managed to take something as innocent as a book and turn it into some metallic nightmare that displays words with an eerily glowing display.
Garrick Fy`aar: "What do you make of that? DO you know anything about them?"
Legion General Antonius: "Hm. Hmmmm."
Metal Man (GM): He stares at it.
Legion General Antonius: "...By the Eternal Essence! It's the people I tried to contact for help!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "You called them for help? What happened?"
Legion General Antonius: "The Time Cops threatened us. I told those strange Gear people if they worked with me, we could KILL the Time Cops! They said that they had some better time to do it and left us to die. Bah! If I could pilot that ship, every single Time Cop would die! We would have our own time devices, and then no one would--nevermind."
Garrick Fy`aar eyed him for a moment, then frowned.
Legion General Antonius: "The point is that they are capable of destroying Time Cops! We could use them... but I don't know how. I could not get their help."
Garrick Fy`aar: "So the Time Cops threatened them?"
Legion General Antonius: "Yes. The Time Cops hate those people!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Why? For their power?"
Legion General Antonius: "They said something about irreducible complexity... and apparently they also have time devices... Something about their ships being able to fly through time itself... I don't know what that means except that they apparently had a more strategic time than even what we could offer them... but their ship is damaged, so this must not be that time!"
Garrick Fy`aar folds his arms over his chest. That was some serious, serious power... "A more strategic time... you mean they had a better time in mind to strike the Time Cops?"
Legion General Antonius: "Yes. They can fly through time. They found a better time. Or so they claim!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm..."
Legion General Antonius: "Look at that ship. It looks like that time is not yet! Fools."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...go work on your gun, General."
Legion General Antonius: "Yes sir!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Thanks for your input."
Legion General Antonius: "Always, Master Commander!"
Metal Man (GM): He then salutes and walks off to work on the gun.
Garrick Fy`aar opens up the comm. "Hey, sorry about the wait. What did you say your name was again?"
Laconius: "Laconius, Head Imperator of the Dweezil... aw shucks, but we don't need to get too formal here. Just need a jump is all, titles don't mean anything. I can get you one heck of a drink here though, if you want one. It'd be right since you helped us you, if you came that is."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Well, I just wanted to trade names. I'm Kyle Hayter. And we'd be happy to give you a jump."
Laconius: "Sure, sure, there's even that nice huge hole some inconsiderate people made in our ship. That works as a docking point... had the engineers rig it up. Mind the jagged parts, don't want to scratch your shiny looking ship."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'm not going to lie, Mr. Laconius, I'm a bit of an engineer myself and... I would LOVE to take a look around."
Laconius: "Oh, sure. Looking around is fine with me."
Garrick Fy`aar bumps Samus on the shoulder and motions to the big ol' hole.
Metal Man (GM): You can dock easily enough, they have some nifty mechanical auto-dock device in that gaping hole that can accommodate any ship type.
Samus: "Hm. Interesting. Moving to dock now."
Metal Man (GM): Samus flies the ship in and it docks smoother than anything you've ever encountered. Laconius is there himself... no guns, not even a guard.
Laconius: "Welcome, welcome. My engineers can get us set up for the jump. But if you're in no hurry you can visit too. I mean, you are providing me a great favor, so I shouldn't really make any demands of you."
Garrick Fy`aar: "We're in a bit of a hurry, but we can visit for a bit. We'll be right out." *He kills the comm, then turns to Samus.*
Laconius: "Sure." *He nods and then goes to lean on a wall somewhere and wait.*
Garrick Fy`aar: "Ten to one these guys could crack your suit in no time flat."
Samus: "Probably more than just smiles powering this deadly weapon-filled ship. Preliminary scans show these people could if they wanted just incinerate anything with steam that ever went on their ship. We can give them a jump, then we can quietly get very far away from them."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And whatever tech they're using, I don't know a lick of it. I doubt I'd be able to hack anything or get in their systems."
Samus: "That's the problem..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Do it. I'm going to walk around with the guy. Keep an eye on the General, make sure he doesn't do anything dumb."
Samus: "Bonehead over there with his crazy beliefs and Erastianness had a binary system... these people don't use normal computers. I can't detect a single electronic device... anywhere. Their signal is analog radio."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Jeez... okay, I'll be back soon."
Metal Man (GM): Samus goes to ready the ship to give them the jump. You're free to walk and talk to the guy.
Garrick Fy`aar would make to get off the ship and go greet this Laconius guy.
Metal Man (GM): He's just outside the dock, casually whistling some tune you've never heard, until he sees you.
Laconius: "Ah, there you are. Great to meet you." *He goes to shake your hand in a friendly manner.*
Garrick Fy`aar does so in return. "Kyle Hayter. Thanks for lettng me walk around here. This... this is something special, this is."
Metal Man (GM): He smiles, then gestures to the wide ship, made of metal in a Neo-Victorian style.
Laconius: "Yes, I hear that a lot. We have something unique, which makes some people a lil' jealous."
Garrick Fy`aar: "It's not so much that it's unique."
Laconius: "I'm sure you're curious as to how this place even works in space..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "It's that what you've got here doesn't even seem possible."
Laconius: "I get that a lot too! Haw, you shoulda seen the look on some of those people's faces when we told them, well... our ship isn't from your normal physics world. Here, I'll show ya."
Metal Man (GM): He motions up a set of curving steel stairs.
Garrick Fy`aar makes to follow him.
Metal Man (GM): He begins walking up them, rather smoothly at that.
Laconius: "We all have this collective where we all do a little bit of time, then our machines do the heavy work. Your world would think of us as a little bit weird, but... it makes sens when you see what we have."
Metal Man (GM): A door mechanically auto-opens, showing... a large room with a massive boiler... A massive, glowing boiler, that's almost like a small sun.
Laconius: "...With the Microspace in here, we collect water out of thin air and run a series of widgets that exist in subspace to power everything."
Garrick Fy`aar squints slightly at the light that thing must be giving off...
Laconius: "I don't pretend to know all the equations but... it's the heaviest and most powerful water that ever existed. I drop a single drop of that... it'll fall through the floor like it's nothing."
Garrick Fy`aar: "You mean you pull water vapor out of the air and turn it into this heavy water?"
Laconius: "Yup!"
Metal Man (GM): He walks across the catwalk.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...and what creates the water vapor?"
Laconius: "Well, that's our trade secret there... even I don't know the specifics. Needless to say, that's where your normal world's physics don't apply anymore. We had some interesting events on our dimension..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I don't really understand. Are you saying that you brought your own dimension's physics with you?"
Laconius: "Let's just say water can be stood atop of. Heh. You understand perfectly. Yes."
Garrick Fy`aar just... stands there.
Laconius: "There's no way this would work with just normal stuff. Nuh-uh. But with our physics... well." *He chuckles.* "It's all apples."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...can... can I ask how?"
Metal Man (GM): As he gestures to the immense, unreal room in which water can somehow power an entire SPACE SHIP.
Laconius: "Oh. I wish we did know how. Ya see, it just kinda happened one day, we found your world, and that it could be influenced... but we still don't know all of the extent of it. Fits and starts, we figured out a handful of things we could hack into your world... but each one is different. That's why the vapor is the secret. With it is how this even gets in this world to begin with."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a minute..." *He puts a hand to his face as he tries to process this.*
Metal Man (GM): He smiles a bit, oddly taking a random bolt off of the railing, tossing it around in his hands and re-screwing it on... he has some crazy dexterity.
Garrick Fy`aar: "So, you came to our dimension and found out that you could influence our dimension, but not exactly why you could influence it... so you HACKED our physics and changed it into your physics, but JUST for you?"
Laconius: "Yup."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...buuuuuuuuuuh..."
Laconius: "'Fraid it only works with us. Some other guys tried to steal it... well... there's a reason one of their old headquarters is now a black hole."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Okay... so... here's MY question... Who the hell was able to smack into your ship and damage it?"
Laconius: "Oh, that's pretty simple."
Metal Man (GM): He smirks.
Laconius: "I was playing a game... we pretend to be weak and stupid, so we can make our foes underestimate us."
Garrick Fy`aar tenses.
Laconius: "Turn down the dimension matrix, let their ships blow up our stuff... so we can properly see all their defenses and let them waste their resources. The Time Cops were tryin' to stop us from invading and, well, we just let them pretend to win."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...but then why do you need a jump?"
Laconius: "Bit of a mistake on my part. They broke in and broke some of our equipment. I fixed it, but we got stranded from our fleet. The damage meant we wound up being untraceable to our fleet. Normally a good push will get everything back in order. But when you're the only ship in town... a push is pretty hard to come by."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...okay, so, here's my train of thought... ...why do you need a fleet of ships with this much power in OUR dimension?"
Metal Man (GM): He smirks again, idly standing up and balancing atop the railing... the very thin railing where the side is a fall into a 40 foot pit...
Laconius: "Why do I balance on this railing?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...because you can."
Laconius: "Precisely!"
Metal Man (GM): He leaps back down.
Garrick Fy`aar: "But that doesn't explain what your intentions are."
Laconius: "Well, there's some crazy maniacs who run this sector, and they made a right mess of it. You ever hear about that Xavier guy? Or what happened with Nin-ten-dos? Awful, terrible mess."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...and you plan to do... what? Fix it?"
Laconius: "We'll kick those old boys club out and show some real hospitality. No more dimensional explosions! Imagine it... you can go across the world without being attacked by alternate reality versions of yourself!"
Garrick Fy`aar ponders this...
Laconius: "Of course, we'll have to limit the tech a bit, but, trustworthy people like you can get exceptions."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...that almost sounds too good to be true, Mr Laconius."
Laconius: "Aw, shucks, you caught me." *He chuckles.* "It is true. That space will let us use our world and your world's interactions to enrich ourselves handily... I do admit, it is a little selfish. Just think. You guys have things we don't, we have things you don't. The trade will be... something we've never ever seen before. You know, like how people will probably pay anything... to have a generator like this that can power their entire planet. But it's okay. Not like we want to run everyone's lives or anything..."
Metal Man (GM): Though obviously they could if they wanted, given this would basically mean some complete hegemony where they are the top dog.
Garrick Fy`aar: "So it's just that. You plan on opening up trade between our dimensions. We don't do anything to go against you, you take out anything we might see as a 'threat'. Everyone wins."
Laconius: "Yup!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...whether we want to or not?"
Laconius: "There's always sticks in the mud. But we can remove them with this whole boiler here." *He points.* "I checked some of them out myself... they don't have a chance, I reckon. They even fell for our fake machine people trick."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Oh really? And who are these sticks in the mud you're talking about?"
Laconius: "Oh, well. The Alsans, of course. They didn't want any order, this Borne fella, he went 'I KILL YOU ALL WITH MY BIG MURDER SHIP' and sent people and smashed up my ship. Jack was a bit more nice, he just gave us more gold than I even knew existed in the universe."
Garrick Fy`aar scowls a bit.
Laconius: "I... have to figure out if he isn't breaking reality himself... he might be a problem. Can't have him being able to manipulate the economy with seemingly endless quantities of gold and diamond."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I won't lie to you, Mr. Laconius. My main reason for being out here to get people to look away from me so I can take out Jack."
Laconius: "Ah. Well, you see, we want to get rid of him too... but..." *He shrugs.* "We're still formulating a way to do it without destroying Alsa. He's got himself some connection to that planet. We could shoot him to death. He'd come back. Then he'd kill half of us, because that planet is the only thing that seems as good at defying physics as we are."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Jack is an issue, I admit... but Xavier is also someone you need to keep an eye out for."
Laconius: "Ah. I've heard of him. Wouldn't want that nasty bug in the corn here. Sure, he killed some nasty guys. Then he also killed some of our guys... and a bunch of others... He doesn't seem to be able to pick sides. The Time Bandit as it were. He looked at us as a different type of thing to explode and steal from. We killed him, but he kept coming back... eventually we just had to get away from him."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I might be able to help you with more than just a jump, Laconius."
Laconius: "Well, shucks, what do ya have in mind?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "I know a fair bit about technology. All kinds of technology. But looking around at this ship, I doubt I have the ability to measure up with you. At least, right now. I'm a person who believes that screwing with reality and physics isn't something people should do. At least, for their own gains... ...but I do have one thing you don't. Experience."
Laconius: "Well, yeah... there's too many weird annoyances out in this sector. Time Cops somehow come back from the dead too! Damn that Ael fellow, why won't he die already?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "I've fought Xavier. Fought Jack. Fought Borne. I've seen quite a bit in my time. Fought Ael too."
Laconius: "Well, good. We could use somebody like you here, with us, if you wanted to join us."
Garrick Fy`aar shook his head.
Laconius: "Or if you didn't, that's fine too. I'm not in favor of pushing anyone."
Garrick Fy`aar: "As tempting as that sounds... and that sounds REALLY TEMPTING..." *He stares at that big ass boiler...*
Laconius: "Except maybe Jack, because he really does get on our nerves..."
Metal Man (GM): It glows with a strange power that makes Magitek look primitive in ways.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...it might be best if we just kept an open line to each other."
Laconius: "Sounds good to me."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I doubt I can upgrade your tech... and I'm not about to ask you for any of your own... but information is something we can keep on a two way street."
Laconius: "We'll keep the radio open, then."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And as long as you plan on not taking out the honest folk that live in this dimension or hurt the dimension at all... ...then I have no problem with you."
Laconius: "Yeah, it'd be wrong to harm them. I just am after the bad apples. Heck, if I hit somebody by mistake... you tell me. There's too many ugly people who trick people near Alsa. They can make it hard to tell who's who!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Then you want to steer clear of Illian and his people. They're good people."
Laconius: "Ah, right. I'll keep that in mind then. Er... you might notice them! They wound up helping Borne and... yeah. They killed some of our harmless machine people..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...did they, now? I'll have to ask them about that. Might be just a misunderstanding."
Laconius: "Don't worry, they were only going after our illusions, so..." *He shrugs.* "I don't have any hard feelings. Just tell them not to hit us again and it's cool."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I think they've had enough time to get the jump set up. You can keep in touch with me and I with you and so forth. It was good meeting you, Laconius."
Laconius: "Yeah. Same here. Come any time you want... We'll be around."
Metal Man (GM): He'd wave.
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'll keep my eyes open." *He waves back, then heads on back down to Samus' ship.*
Laconius: "I have to get to the bridge, so we don't... crash or nothin."
Metal Man (GM): He'd nod, and then march off. You'd get to Samus' ship. The ship is ready.
Samus: "They didn't need much power. It took just a little to restart their weird... drive device."
Garrick Fy`aar gets onboard. "Get us out of here... quick now."
Legion General Antonius: "Yes! They even apologized for dooming my entire planet. I cursed them but they shrugged and said maybe they could go back in time some day... if we swore not to kill people. Bah. I'll have to find out our own way!"
Metal Man (GM): The ship goes and gets out very quick, and you see the Dweezil ship vanish just as fast.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...phew... those guys have some serious, serious power..."
Samus: "It's good... that we didn't provoke them then." *She leers at Antonius.*
Legion General Antonius: "I had previous arrangements! Had they gotten mad it would have only been at me. They even apologized!"
Samus: "After they laughed at your gun and threats."
Legion General Antonius: "Bah."
Garrick Fy`aar shakes his head, chuckling slightly. "In any event, we need to get going. I'm going to open up that data the General gave me. Samus, alert me if anything ELSE weird happens."
Samus: "Noted, I'll keep watching."
Metal Man (GM): You now have time to actually review that data.
Garrick Fy`aar will do so, if it doesn't take a check to crack open that disk.
Metal Man (GM): Hm. Unfortunately, it does take a check. Not so much because it's locked, but it's weird. Gotta understand the data coming out of it. Sure. You need to engineer a solution, go ahead. You manage to engineer a device that makes funny sounding beeps from it. BEEP BEEP BEEPBEEPBEEP BEEP
Legion General Antonius: "Hm. Did someone turn on a telegram unit or did I plug the book data in backwards again?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...uh." *SMASH* "No." *He grumbles and continues to work on the disk.*
Metal Man (GM): You finally plug it in, about 2/3 on the way to Alsa. It shows Metal Man's armor--a non-insane, non freaked out version. They were creating an entire army of cyborgs. Superhuman reflexes, brains, vision, etc. Time Devices allowed them to defeat "Solarion oppression"-- Basically to defy the magic being thrown at them. It was more of a side effect that it also warped through time. This data IS useful, but maybe not directly. You HAVE data on Xavier. His suit has no unified AI in it. He must have broken half of the features in his stupidity.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm..."
Metal Man (GM): Half of Xavier's suit even looks like he wired it out of dead Kuja supersoldier parts or something, because this suit DOES NOT have all the angular joints--it's smooth. Like the old images of Xavier. Season 2 and earlier. It may still have some of the obvious electronic vulnerabilities you find, but... on the split side Xavier obviously glued some horky mess in place of each part whenever it broke. The other interesting thing are the weapons. Each is uniquely inferior to a magitek version of the same thing. No wonder they were losing. Only the suited people posed a threat, mostly because they dodged all magic thrown at them and then punched with enough force to crush a Semi. Though oddly much of it is more like Illian's suit as they have rocket boosters... to actually fly with. They would fly at the enemy, not just run at them. They're seen punching space ships too. They were basically a do-everything unit. Xavier is the 88th member of his squadron, the defectee one which got the Time Units. He's noted as having been such a bad leader everyone under his command died. Alone and without any backup he somehow fought off all opposition. Then, a version of him from the future saved him from Ael. That's the last data on here.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...hrm."
Metal Man (GM): He's noted for psychotic tendencies and being in general completely uncontrollable, and addicted to everything that was radioactive or dangerous. A thrill seeker in the extreme.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...that... might work..."
Metal Man (GM): His body was chopped up early on because he fought in the gladiatorial arenas... by choice. He apparently hated his organic limbs. They used him as a test dummy, basically... and then he got out of hand.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Man, he was insane from day one..."
Metal Man (GM): It shows him becoming well known for fighting despite losing, which is why they sent him at the Solarions. It was hopeless. But their little innovation with the suits meant Xavier was able to kill them. Because of that they foolishly gave Xavier more independence, then tried to take it away and failed. He's listed as having achieved many medals simply because he was insane and killed his own men, fooled Solarions and blew up things "At any cost" He had saved much of Erastia by blowing it up.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Just like he did with the Questers..."
Metal Man (GM): The Solarions have a little data on here too. An intercepted transmission calls Xavier the "Silver Devil" and is blamed for attacking civilian quarters without mercy, and attacking shrines... and even mailboxes and restaurants... and water fountains... A video shows him walking into a city, shooting down some guards, then going on a rampage attacking people with a stolen vehicle used like a giant flail. You even see him steal some form of dryer and bowl down a row of soldiers with it at one point, as he screams "DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...he needs to die. he has to..."
Metal Man (GM): That chilling line ends the data, you've read all of it now.
Garrick Fy`aar leans back in his seat.
Samus: "We're almost there. Anything before we arrive?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "You'll need to put me somewhere nondescript. Somewhere where I won't be seen. I'm going completely off the grid."
Samus: "There's the moon. Nobody is there anymore. The Dark side of it."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I don't have the equipment to survive on the moon... or a ship to get me down to Alsa."
Legion General Antonius: "What? Let me deal with it then!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...deal with what?"
Legion General Antonius: "The Erastians always carry a device to create a base. To rebuild when the old is destroyed."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a bizarre looking hypercube thing inside a force field.
Garrick Fy`aar: * http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/instant-fortress. *
Legion General Antonius: "I can summon a base! Then we can live... on the moon! It will be small... and probably not the nicest place, but..." *He shrugs.* "It will be something!"
Metal Man (GM): Yes, that basically is what it is.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...we'll need travel..."
Legion General Antonius: "I made sure to take the last one, because... I am the last Erastian. It is my right! Yes. We'll need to find or build something..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Food, water, equipment, ammo..."
Legion General Antonius: "Sadly I don't have a cube for that. We were trying to develop one when everything went to pieces."
Samus: "If you have the coins, the Galactic Federation can supply you."
Garrick Fy`aar: "The last of my coins are going to you, Samus."
Samus: "Hmmm."
Legion General Antonius: "What a conundrum. If only there was a source of those somewhere..."
Metal Man (GM): Aaand... as much as I HATE to cut it off here, I have to get ready for work. +800 EXP Coins, not so much, but that was a ton of stuff we did.
Metal Man (GM): The Legend of Illian. You appear on the Eternal Dauntless, yet again. Eithne runs off to her room for some reason, leaving you alone with Illian.
Illian MacGregor: "Hm. I saw what happened there. Good work with those robots, but..." *He pauses.* "I must warn you. Do not defect to Ael. He thinks he knows what he is doing, but he does not comprehend the larger picture."
Metal Man (GM): He shows an image of current fleet engagements.
Valron: "Wasn't planning on it. I mean, he has calmed down a bit, but!"
Illian MacGregor: "In order to rid this area of annoyances, the people such as Jack must be removed. The Dweezil may be useful for this. Ael thinks only about his own faction's control of this world..."
Valron: "Not really someone I'd work under."
Illian MacGregor: "Ideally we want both Ael and the Dweezil to fight for our affection."
Valron: "That sounds oddly hilarious when you put it that way."
Illian MacGregor: "Then they can both fight over who kills Jack..."
Metal Man (GM): He chuckles a bit himself.
Illian MacGregor: "Yes, that is the intent. If it were only a boring monologue, then you wouldn't remember anything I said. That's how I lost the Questers... I did not keep their attention. Shiny rocks that allowed them to kill people did. I'm not going to do that again. There may be fewer Protectors, but they shall be of a higher quality."
Valron: "Mm. A solid idea."
Illian MacGregor: "Noting that, I preliminarily have you, and, maybe Grim. We must decide our next course of action. I have received data from Nintendus. It is going to move out of the system now that the Time Cops have fallen. ...And potentially due to the events with Dr. Mario. So that will no longer be a concern. Nintendus is now safe forever. What remains is dealing with Jack, and finding Xavier, and finding Garrick..."
Valron: "Good. Now Toad Town can keep its' peace. Forever."
Illian MacGregor: "Yes, my point precisely. I detected a blue shift nearby..."
Valron: "And yes, those are all important things."
Illian MacGregor: "I believe Xavier may have gone back in time."
Valron: "Oh boy, that can only mean something stupid's about to happen."
Illian MacGregor: "Red Text has returned now that the Dweezil have left momentarily. His ship is heavily damaged. We may opt to help him instead. He claims if we do, he can help figure out how to thwart their time travel. I also keep getting radio noise from the North Pole from the 'Spectrogeist' claiming that they may have a mission for you to earn the use of the object needed to make the Page work on Jack."
Valron: "Mm. Always a good idea to help get one of our allies back up on their feet, first."
Illian MacGregor: "Finally, an enigmatic presence has made itself known on Alsa itself, with a force of robots. He asks for an audience with one of my messengers."
Valron: "...Hm. Did the presence give itself a name?"
Illian MacGregor: "It may be a trap, but you'd be my best bet, since my other members are busy on other assignments much of the time. There was only one word--Gray--in the transmission. The rest was cut off by a spike in static."
Valron: "Hm. Peculiar. I wonder if mixing Gray with Red Text will- no wait that's a dumb joke nevermind that. But yes. Maybe I should see what this 'Gray' fellow wants. As I'm sure Red Text can wait for the moment, and honestly... I still don't really trust the Spectrogeist."
Illian MacGregor: "Red Text HAS said that he is NOT going to work with this gray person. Take that as you will. I'll open a warp for you to his... location."
Metal Man (GM): A warp to the Gray ??? appears, glowing Alsan Blue.
Valron: "Alright, then." *He nods, entering the warp.*
Metal Man (GM): You appear... in a strange area. It's by the beach... to be specific, the cliffs on the beach. You're outside some Super Genius style base hidden in the cliff. A strange octagonal door iris-style opens up, beckoning you in to a room that smells of computers and some car exhaust... old car exhaust.
Valron stops for a split second as he's hit with the scent of old car exhaust, before walking into the room, glancing around.
Metal Man (GM): You see a number of strange looking humanoid parts laying around. They're robot parts, and this is some sort of garage. The door ahead opens up, revealing a lit walkway inside the cliff, facing the ocean.
Valron: "Mm..." *He blinks, looking at the parts for a moment, before heading down the walkway.*
Metal Man (GM): In some ways they are rather old looking. In another they have some modern circuits in them. You'd walk down it, the weird glass making a clunk-clunk noise as you walk on it. You can see below... it's a long drop. Why is there a glass floor? You see finally, around the bend, a sort of circular room, that's mostly dark except for two chairs. One is lit up and facing you, empty. The other is turned around and has its back to you.
Valron takes note of the glass, half-pondering if it's really wise for the floor to be made of it, before walking over to the empty chair.
???: "Sit down. There is much to discuss."
Metal Man (GM): The voice sounds somewhat aged, and also with a sort of slight twang to it, like a string instrument.
Valron: "I'd be surprised if there wasn't." *He nods, going to sit down, shifting about a little before he's comfortable.*
Metal Man (GM): The chair turns around, revealing a somewhat wrinkly looking old man with slick gray hair and a ruthless expression about him, with his gray suit. He straightens his tie idly.
Gray Mann: "I am Gray Mann, and this is my hideout. You are Valron, emissary of Illian and his... Solarions. Am I correct?"
Valron: "You would be correct, yes."
Gray Mann: "I have studied... studied the data I acquired, ever since your predecessors wrecked RED's ingenious scheme and BLU left back for their homeworld. I came here, after realizing BLU had had some sort of upper hand... and it came from your world. Needless to say, I must have this advantage. Otherwise morons who believe the world runs on GRAVEL will take over."
Valron: "This world has enough problems as it is without that."
Gray Mann: "Yes. Well." *He would take a suitcase and move it to you.* "I have the answer to all your problems. Just look inside the case. It isn't booby trapped. Because that would be STUPID."
Valron: "A man who cuts straight to the point. A respectable trait." *He nods, going to pop open the suitcase and examine its' contents.*
Metal Man (GM): It has vials. They are old Smash Energy vials... filled with a gray energy. You can feel it. They feel almost like Smash Energy did.
Gray Mann: "I have created Gray Energy, based off of my data. You have a troublesome being who refuses to die. I have created the means of his destruction. With that energy you can cut through reality to find him... and only him. It is limited. A tool, not a generic weapon of reality destruction. There are no Evil Wolfmen, no Aels. They cannot use that. Only your kind can. I dislike petty feuds as much as you. Now. I solve your problem, if you... solve mine."
Valron: "Your problem being?"
Metal Man (GM): He puts his hands in his lap and leans back a bit, revealing something quite strange. It's an image of his homeworld. You see BLU .. They are using Quester technology. BLU has literally become an incarnation of the Questers! And they rule the planet... ...and they have Portals!
Valron: "...oh my god."
Gray Mann: "Those gravel fueled maniacs have enough power to escape and destroy this universe. Even with my machine army I cannot keep them at bay for long. As you may know, Quester powers cannot be matched with machine copies."
Valron: *He just stares at the Blusters for a moment before speaking up* "I... what the hell did the Alsa Questers do while I was away!?"
Gray Mann: "They allowed the BLU Engineer to live in their base. Study their Smash Energy. Their technology. The BLU Engineer went home and built himself his own Stadium."
Valron: "Aside from their general 'exist and SCREW EVERYTHING UP' deal and good-... Oh. Right."
Gray Mann: "Much like Australium, your Quester Energy can make people into monstrous superhumans. Unlike Australium, Smash Energy can be created, rather than being a finite resource. The Engineer adapted the energy to his own, evil form. The opposite of the energy that is before you. Gray energy can only be used for one purpose. BLU energy will turn you into a rampaging Quester who has no purpose but can destroy whatever is before you. Consider yourself lucky that Evil Wolfman has no clue it exists. I need you to destroy these people. Very specifically, this."
Valron: "I'm thankful that it won't be a long while until he gets back."
Metal Man (GM): The camera zooms. It shows some sort of insane SUPERFORTRESS version of the Quester HQ. It's a black and white spycam which shows an Engineer with a crazy looking techno crown.
Valron: "...I don't know what to say about that."
Metal Man (GM): Beside him is another man in a suit, though stupider looking, who appears to be holding some bizarre techno-scepter.
Gray Mann: "The BLU Engineer and Blutarch rule with an iron fist, forcing endless battles to the death on the people of our world. BLU Engineer has the power to cast magical spells with his reality-breaking scepter, while Blutarch no longer fears death due to continuous BLU Energy making him as strong as 'Julian.'"
Valron: "And if BLU energy is anything like Smash Energy... I can only imagine how crazy things get after someone on it dies a few times."
Gray Mann: "Together, they are unstoppable."
Valron: "...As strong as Julian."
Gray Mann: "Yes. It has the same side effects. And they were already crazy. And they died over a thousand times. You may get the picture now... They have surpassed even the Questers for insanity and corruption. Of course. You could just seal off the portal. They have no interdimensional tech, and never will. I made sure that wouldn't happen. But I offer you the answer to your side's problems."
Valron: *He lets out a nervous laugh, before sighing... and staring as he hears that.* "...This is just one horror story after another."
Gray Mann: "So should you feel my offer is good enough... then you merely help save me from my personal hell, and I shall remove YOUR personal hell. Think it over. I have time."
Valron: "Whew... I. Need a moment. Partly to take that in, and because I kind of feel like I have to share this nightmare tale with my boss because... wow."
Gray Mann: "Time is very slow in my world compared to yours. In the time it took me to do all of this... say... three of your months here... one SECOND has occurred in my world."
Valron: "Good. I like having time. It makes me less liable to do something stupid."
Gray Mann: "The events that started this only happened a little while ago despite the passage of years here. You will have time to build a proper counter-team, should you take my offer. I will wait here... enjoying a world not filled with super-powered 'PUT A DISPENSER HERE' echoing for miles through it."
Valron: "Please do. I don't think anyone should have to live through that. Ever."
Gray Mann: "Yes..." *He leans back.* "So... I'll be waiting. I am safe here--this island was thought destroyed by the others on this planet. It is invisible to all but your side. If you should want to build a base here... well, that too could be arranged, if you take my offer."
Metal Man (GM): A warp to the Dauntless appears, but also one to Red Text.
Gray Mann: "The Red one of this world seems to have ideas as well. I obliged him, if only because he helped me make this place invisible."
Valron: "I'll keep that in mind." *He nods to Gray Mann, before getting up out of the chair and heading towards the RT warp.*
Metal Man (GM): You walk in and... gimme a moment, I'm getting a veggie burger. Also, I DO plan on more dice stuff. I'm just... setting up plot, as you might guess. And back. You warp... RED Station You're in the iconic main room of RED Station... which is full of holes and dead machine-men. Red Text, in his normal red suit and top hat and monocle, is idly sweeping up the damage.
Red Text: "Oh, hello there. Been a while, Valron."
Valron: "Indeed it has. Sorry about not dealing with the whole 'Dweezil' mess sooner."
Red Text: "Not very well. I destroyed a large number of them with my beam, but I only have one beam. I had no computers of theirs to hack and my fleet was not ready, so I held them back rather than sacrifice them all. This rise of non-electronic tech worries me, if it spreads I will be powerless."
Valron: "It is quite peculiar, to say the least."
Red Text: "My hold on Alsa is also beginning to die. Jack and Borne are too much for me to keep in the dark. The Gray Man is not as foolish as those BLU idiots I kept completely confused about everything before. And so I must consider a new option."
Valron: "And that would be?"
Red Text: "Either I kill Jack and take half of the planet, or go to another planet entirely. It's getting too chaotic in here and--no offense--you aren't a gullible Alsa Quester team doing my bidding. Without them I can't really control much of anything."
Valron: "Honestly, I want to kill Jack as well but we're not really well-prepped enough for that. Not yet anyways. Also, none taken."
Red Text: "The problem is, Jack seems to be angling to kill me instead. The Dweezil made a beeline for me right after he paid them off."
Valron: "Well, then."
Red Text: "I'm also detecting his ships getting closer and closer to my satellite, deliberately testing my patience. Worse yet, at the Council Meetings, Borne ignores any data I give of this. Unless Borne's mind can be changed he may simply shrug as I am destroyed."
Valron: "Honestly, for the moment it seems like getting a fresh start on a new planet might be for the best. Unless you have an idea that's worth risking annihilation at the hands of Jack... Which I doubt. No offense, of course."
Red Text: "I think to start, I'm going to go hide behind the moon again... now..."
Metal Man (GM): He gets nervous, the satellite begins moving as you start seeing gold ships approaching.
Valron: "...yes. Definitely a good idea."
Red Text: "I'm thinking Jack is onto us... we may not have much time."
Valron: "Then let's not waste any more."
Metal Man (GM): The satellite picks up speed. But he gold ships are closing. A comms comes in.
Jack: "'Ey there Reddie! I was just gonna visit, nothing personal. Of course my ships sometimes explode but, that's an accident right? No need to fly away on me here... not like you can escape their radius anyway..."
Red Text: "He's right, and if I use the fields to block them, it'll blow up half of the planet... I need a solution and fast."
Valron: "Ghh... Frig, frig, friiig... Is there anything you can drop to mess with them, or?"
Red Text: "No, they've spent the last couple years adapting to all my defenses."
Valron: "Oh, of course."
Red Text: "Their ships are Time Cop and Phantasarian super-ships, staffed with soulless undead. I can shoot at them but they will probably explode if I do. It's a hole he found lately. If they explode too close--like they are now--then it damages me anyway. Worse yet, he can rebuild them with his mind. So he loses nothing! Hm... There is... there is one thing. I have to do it... but we have almost no time."
Valron: "May as well!"
Red Text: "I need your help... he wasn't expecting me to have any help. You. Go to the control panel and start the warp device... target it on Angel Island."
Valron: "If it's better than dying horribly than it should have been something taken several seconds ago. Right!" *He makes his way to the control panel, preparing to do just that.*
Red Text: "I'm going to make sure the warp engine can last this huge distance."
Metal Man (GM): He runs off.
Jack: "Something eat your tongue, amigo? No matter... I can just explode that away. Cauterizes the wound right up!"
Metal Man (GM): Tech check of some sort for the computer to set up what he said.
Dragoshi: *1d20+6 oh boy oh boy oh boy :t.*
Metal Man (GM): You hit the button. Suddenly, something really weird happens. It's... a Stargate. It just appeared.
Jack: "...What the f--"
Metal Man (GM): The Stargate opens up and annihilates one of the ships with its opening turbulence, leaving nothing of it left.
Valron stifles a chuckle as he sees the Stargate pop up.
Metal Man (GM): Then ships start flying out of it.
Jack: "Hey! That's no fair! I thought we agreed not to talk to those people! And it takes two people to use your stupid warp thing like that!"
Red Text: "Fair is for dead people. Enjoy your Puddle Jumper massacre, Col O'Neill told me he had no interest in 'a world ruled solely by jackasses.'"
Jack: "...Damn you, suddenly appearing space ships! Damn you to Nintendus!"
Valron: "Have fun with your hot mess, ya gaudy over-embellished jerkwad!"
Metal Man (GM): The satellite escapes as Jack is stuck fighting ships that have super-shields and have somehow disabled his explosion devices. Red Text walks in, looking very greasy. Motor oil, and parts are everywhere, falling out of his pockets.
Red Text: "Ugh... I'm afraid that's the only time I can pull that trick, I broke the warp distributor with that one."
Valron: "...Are you alright? Aside from the whole near-death experience, I mean. Oh... Oh. ...We should probably get your, well. ...Everything fixed up."
Red Text: "If you could steal one from Jack it'd make my day. Otherwise I'll be hiding and useless for a long time. Or Borne... Borne might actually sell you one. I'd say give me a Magitek one but... that's not compatible."
Valron: "I only have around 1100-ish coins on hand but I don't think he's having a sale on those."
Red Text: "Oh, and somebody should make sure that Stargate doesn't get lost..."
Valron: "Then again I could level with him on that stupidity with the Garrick Clones and Deathguards but that's iffy." :T
Red Text: *Sighs* "I guess you should get some allies then... since it appears you don't have many partners to help you anymore."
Valron: "Yeah, I mean, Ael's out and about, but I'd rather not rely on him too much."
Red Text: "There's some mobians down on Angel Island. Tails and his crew. They're the only reason we didn't get vaporized there. Maybe one or two of them can help you get the warp distributor sometime."
Metal Man (GM): He sits down, looking exhausted.
Red Text: "I have to level the readings so Jack doesn't steal my synchronic Alsa Energy field."
Valron: "Hm. It's been ages since I've seen Tails. About... I think as far back as when I first came here. Second day here? Mm. Regardless. Should probably start off by asking 'im and work from there, I suppose."
Red Text: "Yes. Well... before you leave... I was going to say something about the Gray Mann before Jack decided to try and murder me again. Beware his promises. He has the real deal. But I think we should destroy his homeworld rather than risk our skins trying to fix it. When I'm not encumbered by Jack trying to kill me, I could help figure out how to do just that. Tell Illian, would you? I wouldn't want him to forget that Red is still here, and not dead."
Valron: "Er. Tell him what, exactly? That you have an idea to destroy Gray Mann's home world, or something else entirely? I hadn't gotten around to even telling him about my meeting yet. Or that whole horror story about BLU Energy and ugh."
Red Text: "Hm. Tell him that we can destroy Gray Mann's world, and that if he can get me out of this bind maybe I can actually be useful to him for once. Yeah, tell him about that BLU energy too."
Metal Man (GM): He gets rather angry looking... not at you, but the BLU Energy.
Red Text: "The nerve! To make something evil powerful enough to oppose me and say it is BLU! Red is the only good color! That is why they must all be killed."
Valron: "Yes. W... ill do."
Red Text: "Thanks... you know..." *He looks at you.* "If you do help me, I can probably make you some better weapons. Magitek is... boring."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out... Trevor's Lightning Gun on Crack.
Valron: "It works, but it could definitely use improve... ments."
Red Text: "Alsan tech can rip a new hole in your enemies. And I... am one of the masters of it."
Metal Man (GM): He also opens a display case. You see a P-90 which shoots... exploding lasers.
Valron: "I'd imagine, considering all the time you've had to practice with it."
Metal Man (GM): A Farsight with semi-auto... One of the Scout's shotguns made to fire... miniature missiles. It's just nuts.
Red Text: "I made these thinking I'd have more people to sell them to. Then Jack attacked and blew up most of my dispensaries."
Valron: "In any case, I think I might just tell Illian about the whole mess now, so I don't forget anything."
Red Text: "Yes, go ahead, quickly. There isn't much time anyway."
Metal Man (GM): He opens the portal for you.
Valron nods, heading through the portal.
Metal Man (GM): You do so... and I think we'll pause here. +300 EXP, +300 coins
Metal Man (GM): LAST TIME ON XAVIER QUEST EXTREME Xavier decided to go to Alsa, back in time, to get his ship repaired to properly destroy Illian. Naturally this turned into a surreal mess in which Ederick had to trick Borne into fixing the ship, while a random copy of Metal Man wound up appearing and almost gumming up the works. And also, some probably relevant music. Ederick is on the ship, with Oak... and Joe.
Joe: "I have located the tech. I have also located data on myself."
Joel: "I am JoeL, not Joe. Julian would be pretty confused by your bizarre misnaming of me."
Professor Oak: "We need the data now. Give it to Ederick before we have any MORE trouble."
Ederick Holmes: "Joel. Got it."
Joel: "All right, but I warn you, this is... important technology, some of the tech that was used to rebuild Nintendus and--"
Professor Oak: "Xavier already has forced us to ignore historical consequence. The data... now!"
Joel: "All right then."
Metal Man (GM): It pops out a disk to Ederick... DEX check to see if you catch it.
Ederick Holmes: "Shouldn't be anything Borne doesn't already ha--ello!" *He tries to quickly catch it.*
Metal Man (GM): You manage to catch it.
Joel: "Hm. So you are at least as limber as my previous owners were."
Metal Man (GM): You hear outside.
Vylch: "And that is related to anything... why?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, you see, there was this time I drove a CAC off a waterfall..."
Professor Oak: "Better hurry. Xavier is about as charismatic as a pile of bricks."
Ederick Holmes nods and books it out the door. "Gotta go save some lacky from Xavier."
Vylch: "Your stories annoy me, Metal Person."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...And then Sky High took aspirin and it made him ill! And there was a band named Side Quest... and Gibby was the drummer... and then he vanished forever!"
Ederick Holmes: "Story time's over. Got the goods right here." *He holds up and waves around the little disk.*
Borne: "Pull out, Vylch, I'm pretty sure there's no intelligent life there."
Vylch: "Yes si--wait, they have the disk."
Borne: *Groans* "Fine. Take it, repair their ship, and get out of there."
Metal Man (GM): Vylch takes the disc, scans it, then his eyes glow for a moment and he snaps his fingers.
Vylch: "This is excellent data. I would ask where you got it from, but zen maybe you would hav to kill me. Instead, let me have your ship fixed... ...you were touchy about it. Should I just dump the parts here and force you to fix it yourselves?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, uh, I guess the old man we keep around can lug all those several hundred pound parts up 20 feet of ladders by himself..."
Metal Man (GM): He glances to Ederick, to check whether he has any input before saying any more.
Ederick Holmes turns around and checks the Time Cube for any disturbances before responding. "If we break him, we'll have to find another. Vylch, you'll be fine fixin' the ship."
Metal Man (GM): It doesn't seem to mind... too much.
Vylch: "Vell, that's more like it. Breaking useful old men is... ztupid."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'm still sure Oak can heft it, but sure. Anything that gets us out of here faster!"
Metal Man (GM): Now, to save us some time... FAST FORWARD The ship is repaired. You're pretty sure Vylch DID steal a peek at the Time Device... ...but Xavier noted that they had to have figured out how to make their reality altering device that ultimately remade Nintendus SOMEHOW. It's... kind of odd. The ship is actually in decent shape now.
Vylch: "Zhis was the most mezzed up zhip I haf ever fixed."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Don't let him insult you, Wing Fortress. You're always number one to me. Even when your inefficient air-based wings make you slower than 90% of true space ships."
Joel: "We are ready to get out of here."
Vylch: "Good! Go away! We haf plans for this spot!"
Metal Man (GM): Vylch walks out of the ship abruptly.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "All right. Now there's just one loose end... and it is myself."
Metal Man (GM): He points to a tied up and gagged Metal Man in the corner.
Metal Man: "MMMHPM MMMPHM MPPPM."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I... don't know what to do with him. To be honest I have no clue what I was doing here. Probably because this Metal Man isn't entirely me. I could kill him, but he's probably not entirely NOT me. This makes it difficult to determine... hmmm... you have any suggestions?"
Ederick Holmes mulls it over.
Joel: "The log databases on this thing suggest that the Metal Man there eventually makes his way back to being alive due to the Questers reviving him. Granted, they had no actual means to revive him. This means... we probably are the only reason he survived Garrick's cannon attack."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I knew something was fishy about that one, I was sure I was dead!"
Editor's Note: I love how this fixes that otherwise gigantic plot hole. Weird screwup in time travel? Ahah! That must have been how he survived!
Ederick Holmes: "I see no reason to close his new lease on life. Doubt we can take him with us, even to drop him off at his own Wing Fortress. Could just leave him here."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm. You're right. There are no records on what he does between dying and then being warped over by foolish not-Questers. Welp, good enough."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a healing potion and smashes it over Metal Man's head, then kicks him out a hatch into the dirt.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "You go find something to do while the Questers figure out how to warp you. We have time to screw up!"
Metal Man (GM): He would shut the hatch and then set the ship to go back into space and prepare for a time warp.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Dusting his hands off* "That was ea---whooaaaaa."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier's form wavers a bit.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...I hate you, myself. Being chased by Borne's guards was NOT a good vacation. Oh well. Nothing major changed at least."
Metal Man (GM): As he is gesturing with a clearly stolen Phase Pistol.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm... I guess I grabbed one of those on my way out..."
Ederick Holmes tries tapping the tin man's armor. "You okay, boss? Not gonna get buried in the bottom of some hourglass?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "No. Seems instead your advice caused me to have an adventure in which I stole a copy of the Quester ship Borne made, drove it through a busy street and stole a prototype Phase pistol from a museum. I should try dropping copies of myself off in the wrong place in time more often."
Joel: "That was a lucky one. You could have died."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hah! Hah hah hah... let's get out of this timeline."
Metal Man (GM): He sets the time thingy to warp to the present.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Now... we have unfinished business to fix. Something to do with... Demon! The ship's core is no longer about to kill us all, right?"
Joel: "I managed to stabilize it once Vylch upgraded my sensors."
Ederick Holmes: "Ah. Past you hasn't lost your edge. Or gained it. Or something."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Good, Joel. Otherwise, we would all be dead, and my ghost would be punching you. Let's go save Demon, shall we, Ederick?"
Ederick Holmes: "Sounds like a plan. Always wanted to have air support as backup to shoplifters. Guess bringing a newly repaired starship to a war is the next best thing!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yeah. It's almost like I didn't accidentally destroy the air conditioning by using it to freeze dead bodies."
Joel: "Organic material still contaminates air vent--"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "SHHHHH."
Metal Man (GM): The ship nears Astos. Demon is still locked in immortal combat with some Erastian guards.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Time is still stuck here. Let me see. Hey presto! Open Sesame! Disco Inferno!"
Joel: "You have to actually use a command to free him."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "But... I've never Unstuck somebody before..."
Ederick Holmes: "Suppose there's always a first time for everything."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Let's see what I can do."
Metal Man (GM): He starts spastically slapping the keyboard. It shoots a beam at the disturbance and Demon is freed! ...And the guard vanishes, and the entire fortress around him melts into goo.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Hm... note to self: EXTREME is a dangerous thing to type into a computer."
Metal Man (GM): Demon: You would wake up from a sort of trance, not really knowing what you are doing here anymore. Surrounded by melted metal plates and statues. And above... Xavier and the Wing Fortress is there.
Ederick Holmes: "Hope we, ah, didn't need anything in there."
Metal Man (GM): It's pretty close, in fact it's landing and opening the landing bay for you.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "We can go back in time if I remember what we were doing there originally and decide I wanted something. At least I think we can."
Joel: "Unsure if you melted it both in this time and previous ones..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Silence! I did something right! I think! Er... we should collect Demon while he's staring blankly into the distance. ...If anyone asks, he was always that way."
Ederick Holmes: "Let's learn a lesson from this. Deal with our problems, don't freeze them in time. Any case, downwards and onwards." *He sits back in some chair while they get Demon.*
Metal Man (GM): Xavier would walk down as well.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hello there, Demon. It's me, Metal Man! Do you remember me, or do we have to go back in time and find out that I accidentally sent your brain somewhere else?"
King Demon: *Looking around at what's left of the area, before seeing Xavier* "Oh, hey, Mets... Uh... what happened here?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well... you were sent to destroy my evil arch enemies. Then... I goofed with time, and blew up the fortress, and then you got stuck in time... and then I unstuck you in time!"
Metal Man (GM): He glances to a pile of ashes that was some other guy Demon helped escape the Erastian prison.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...And that guy was always a pile of ashes! Honest!"
King Demon: "... Right..." *Shrugs* "Whatever... so what's up?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Anyway, we're going to bust this popcorn stand and go find something more exciting. You're in, right? Just name it and we can go blow it up, if you want some consolation. The ship got fixed, so we're going to find some stuff to blow Illian up."
King Demon: "Everything?" *Smirks.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "We can go anywhere in time. Hm. A good choice, but I tend to blow up dimensions only after I'm done with them."
King Demon: "Hey, I got nothing better to do, so..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "We can keep that one in mind though. Don't want The Void to break my record. That no-good nonexistent maniac has nothing on me! So. Just come aboard and we can get to work."
Metal Man (GM): He jerks his thumb at the Wing Fortress and marches himself on up the steps.
King Demon: "I was gonna say, didn't he get removed from the timeline? Sweet!" *Heads on up.*
Metal Man (GM): You head on up, and then Xavier sits at the controls... and takes out a really broken looking pile of wires.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So. Here's what we have. We can go anywhere in time itself... the question is, where do we go? ...The available time zones are denoted as Seasons, due to some bizarre incident with a fake reality TV Show that The Void claimed existed, but... Season 1 is where it all began. Max Ups, Transformers, and Doublers are here. We can all become ungodly clones and release our evil alter-egos with those."
King Demon: "... The sad thing is I was around for some of that... I still have nightmares about some of it..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Season 2 would be the Cube era. We can send out bizarre elemental and magical attacks, and maybe even hijack enough of Oak's Pseudo Cube bazooka to rebuild some Psuedo cube weaponry. Heh. Let's just say this madness of mine CAME from those days. Stupid fighter remote! Replaced my common sense with Pikachu zapping people with lightning!"
King Demon: "I always thought it was the other way around..." *Shrugs.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Raises eyebrow* "I try not to think too hard on it. Anyway, then there is... Season 3. Literally everything ever is there. But it's also the most dangerous... but the most fun! Personally I suggest that one, if only because there are so many chaos emeralds and swords everywhere you can't NOT become some ungodly tool of mayhem there."
King Demon: "Ooooh, chaos emeralds."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Season 4... a bunch of junk, I'm not even including it or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or any of that on here. Don't want to encounter Illian. Then there's 10, where a bunch of weird Genetia Quantum tech existed... kinda bland unless you like Ruin Miasma."
Metal Man (GM): He then taps it a bit.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And we can go to past times of Alsa, but... we just went to one of those. So. Any suggestions?"
King Demon: *Shrugs* "Beats me, though Bowser was always fun to pound on back when the Questers first formed..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm, we coould go back in time and beat up Bowser, and steal his Melee Move necklaces. There's NO WAY he could see us coming."
Ederick Holmes: "Sounds like the earlier days are funner and filled with better toys."
King Demon: "Sweet! I love relivin the good old days."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "All right. Time to warp back home... back... really far home!"
Metal Man (GM): He sets the dial to -328572 and smashes the button. Within but a few moments, you show up... at Nintendus, behind the Stadium a ways. Xavier lands the ship, then motions to wander outside the ship.
Ederick Holmes moseys on out.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "We have to figure out how to find the Bowser we're looking for. Can't be sure exactly what time this is... also, word to the wise, every time we do this it's a slightly different... world... mostly so we don't damage our own timeline."
King Demon gets out and looks around.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...And because I have a lot of trouble remembering the exact way things happened, so I can never really tell if I'm in the right one."
King Demon: *Looks to Xavier when he says this* "What exactly does THAT mean?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Nothing... nothing at all. Heh heh heh heh..."
Metal Man (GM): You stare out at the Stadium. There's people walking in and out of it. Suddenly, you see Bowser walking down the path... and sending Goombas to block it. Suddenly... you also see him tearing down a conduit... it says something about "The Website" on the phone lines he's taking down.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "This must be one of those times Bowser attacked the Stadium. Now... do we attack him, or try to fool him, or... what?"
Ederick Holmes: "So, this is the birthplace-birthplace of the Questers?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "In that Stadium, Wolfman makes a remote that gives people the power of the fighters. The Stadium fighters, that is. It turns regular people into fighting machines. He does this because of Bowser there."
King Demon: "Yeah, that was fun!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "We can ostensibly steal his remote and pretend we, too, are Questers again, if we wanted."
Metal Man (GM): He motions to a path that ignores Bowser and goes to the Stadium.
King Demon: "Pretend?" *Shrugs. He follows Metal.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well..." *He looks to Demon.* "You're a Quester, but... I'm not even sure what I am anymore."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier goes down the path towards the Stadium, figuring Demon was most interested in that.
King Demon: "Existing."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm. Yes, that is a good way to put it!"
King Demon heads for da stadium.
Metal Man (GM): Inside the Stadium, Wolfman is discussing in the Big Room. You can hear him through an open door.
Ederick Holmes follows them as well. "Definitely a neat touristy place. Nothing like this back home."
Wolfman: "Bowser has destroyed the Website and blocked the paths! Now we will never get any more Questers!"
Mewtwo: "We shall have to get revenge."
King Demon: "Looks like they've already formed the gang."
Wolfman: "It's Memorial day! This is when I'm supposed to take a break..."
Mewtwo: "I demand you get revenge."
Wolfman: "Well, fine. Soursurfer, Gibby, Swordblade, you're up. Get rid of Bowser's goons!"
King Demon tries to remember what happened on Memorial Day.
Gibby: "Sounds great to me, let's go guys."
Metal Man (GM): You remember something entirely different happening involving Wolfman trying to take a vacation and being roped into it by Mewtwo. It would appear this timeline is slightly different, as these events have been mixed up a bit. However, you do remember the gist of it--Bowser blocking the roads and the website being down. The Questers have been sent to deal with it. In the original realm it had something to do with buying food or something wacky. In this one they're actually going out to fight Bowser.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So. What do you think. We bust in and steal the remote? I'm not the biggest on stealth."
Ederick Holmes: "Sounds like a plan. Go in, ask to be made Questers, then steal it when they bust it out."
King Demon: *M* "That'd work good for you two, but I AM a Quester in this time."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm. We could take advantage of this. You distract them and we steal it."
Ederick Holmes: "That works."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "All right. Demon, you go in there, me and Ederick will hit up the back."
Metal Man (GM): I'll split this one up so we can do Demon's part now, then I go to the grocery store/errands and do Ederick and Xavier later. Depending on what Demon does, naturally, Xavier and Ederick will have a different time of things. Xavier would point to the Big Room and motion for Demon to go there, then go wander off to the back to break in. Probably noisily, knowing him.
King Demon shrugs and heads for the Big Room, entering it... hey, he knows he was a Quester in this time in HIS timeline, he's not 100% sure if the same is true in THIS one.
Wolfman: "Oh, Demon! I'd forgotten about you. Did you hear about the website outage?"
Ederick Holmes follows Xavier.
King Demon: "Yeah... heard something'd happened." *Shrugs* "What's going on?"
Wolfman: "Well, I--"
Metal Man (GM): *SMASH.*
King Demon: "... Bowser?"
Wolfman: "Sugar! That could be Bowser breaking into the lab!"
King Demon: "Thought I saw some goombas wandering around earlier..."
Wolfman: "Hm. I'd send you to take care of it, but I need you to go stop Bowser outside... ...You think Bowser is already here, maybe?"
King Demon: *Shrugs* "Possible. Knowing him he'll run first chance he gets, though."
Wolfman: "Hm. You go to the lab and push him away while I go tell the others to come back. None of the Questers who left have Smash Dexes..."
Metal Man (GM): He would walk off, leaving the path to the lab open... openish. Unfortunately, you spy Mewtwo also heading that way, as more loud clattering noises are made.
King Demon: "Right." *Sighs and heads toward the lab.*
Metal Man (GM): You bump into Mewtwo.
Mewtwo: "Ah, Demon. You seem... different." *He would furrow his brow.* "I'm going to go stop what's in the lab. You don't need to help me."
King Demon: "Eh, Wolf said for me to come and see what I could do to help."
Mewtwo: "Ah. Hmmm."
Metal Man (GM): He would look at you again.
Mewtwo: "Well, you can help me deal with the intruders then. I've determined they are very strange..."
King Demon: "Oh? How so?"
Mewtwo: "Unless something is wrong with my brain, they don't seem to be Bowser or Ganondorf at all... they feel almost like Questers, only they aren't."
King Demon: "Hmmm... we don't have anyone who's been banned from the group, do we?"
Mewtwo: "Well, Aribar, of course. He broke into everyone's rooms and asked to be banned."
King Demon: "Could it be him or someone aligned with him?"
Mewtwo: "Maybe... hm. That does give me a good idea. I'll use the barrier to block them out of here. Let's go deal with hem."
Metal Man (GM): He'd go to float on over... you would briefly recall Xavier wanted you to distract people away from him, however.
King Demon: "Yeah..." *He looks around for a way to cause some sort of barrier to keep Mewtwo from going to the lab.*
Metal Man (GM): The Stadium Security system is right there, fire alarm style and everything. Behind him. Last you recalled when that was set off it blocked EVERYTHING... It would block Mewtwo, but probably inconvenience Xavier too. Or, you could make Mewtwo mad, given he seems to be big on taking coins.
King Demon slips and falls into the fire alarm, triggering it.
Mewtwo: "Gah! Look what you did!"
Metal Man (GM): Alarms go off everywhere. Walls appear. Floor tiles threaten to stab people with spikes.
Mewtwo: "Then again, maybe it'll stop them. Hmmm... you have very interesting thinking. Maybe you aren't as dumb as I used to think you were after all."
King Demon: *Moves out of the way of the spikes* "Yeah... thanks." *Shrugs.*
Mewtwo: "Come with me, I have to disarm it so we can get back to the lab."
Metal Man (GM): He'd float off--you'd have little choice as all other paths are lined with walls and tile spike traps. BUT... you have definitely made a diversion.
King Demon: "Yeah, sure." *Heads with Mewtwo.*
Metal Man (GM): And we'll pause here. Later today: Xavier and Ederick robbing Oak's lab... and if Demon is here, his discussion with Season 1 Mewtwo. Also for both characters, +100 EXP and +100 coins.
Metal Man (GM): Continuation Garrick is orbiting Alsa, on Samus' ship.
Samus: "So... remind me again... where do I drop you off here?"
Metal Man (GM): Nearby, there's plenty of discarded and destroyed Dweezil ships. Also... An entire cloud of destroyed Dauntlesses.
Garrick Fy`aar leans over Samus and glances at her main computer, touching a control to bring up a map of the planet itself... before seeing all this.
Metal Man (GM): Like, massive... some of them even look like they were intentionally destroyed.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Good God... what happened?"
Samus: "Beats me. It certainly looks like a mess. This seems to always happen whenever I visit anywhere. Every time I come, something serious is about to go down. But I only interfere if it actually has something to do with me. This is just Alsans blowing eachother up, I think."
Garrick Fy`aar: "A massive space battle... I'll check into it later... you want to put us down right about here, Samus. And engage any stealth countermeasures you might have." *He points on the map to an area in the far, far north.*
Samus: "I don't have much, but I'll make it quiet. This is just a huge snow field anyway. There is something strange though. A nearby area is full of rich Chozo technology. And yet none of the local tech robbers have touched it... I'll have to investigate it."
Metal Man (GM): Samus lands in the snow, back in the old snowy mess. You can't even tell if a base was once here, it's such a snowy wasteland.
Samus: "Well... guess this is your stop. Good luck with that whole set of things you've been dealing with."
Garrick Fy`aar can't help but grumble slightly... Chozo tech was some serious stuff... he'd want to get his hands on it, but he did promise Samus she would give first dibs on whatever. Maybe she would miss something later... "That's right... the rest of the money is in the bay, help yourself to it. Thanks for the ride. C'mon, General."
Samus: "I'll see you, if you need any more help... naturally you know what it costs." *She would then walk aboard the ship and fly it off.*
Metal Man (GM): You see of your old base, the old mountain... and the hangar doors should be there but they're buried deep in the snow.
Garrick Fy`aar would make to head out of Samus' ship, taking his equipment with him. A large, metal briefcase. The two of them would walk out into the massive snowy landscape. He'd nod a few times as he waited for Samus to fully depart. "Well, General. This is home, for the most part..."
Metal Man (GM): First, you have to get in. The main entrance is probably buried, if not rusted shut. In the time that passed, it's been about 5 years at least.
Garrick Fy`aar stares at the snow for a moment, frowning. He brings up a command on his scanner and sends a signal to the doors...
Metal Man (GM): Which one. The main door, or the hangar doors? The main door opens, somewhat, then jams. You can crawl in though. Inside you see flickering lights. And hear low power/battery warnings.
Garrick Fy`aar: "It's been ages since I've been in here..." *He moves forward, kicking snow out of the way and digging with his hands to make enough of an opening before he crawls through... as soon as he gets to the other side, he drags the case inside and draws his pistol, looking around...*
Metal Man (GM): Inside the dim place you also see that the base has been slowly crushed a bit by the elements. There's snow and water everywhere, and it's a dim shadow of what it once was.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...it'll take time, but we can get this place back up and running..." *He flicks on a small light on his headset, setting the case down and starting to explore. He wants to make sure that nothing or no one had found their way inside this place...*
Metal Man (GM): Nope. However, what remains of the computers appear to be in the control of Red Text. Or were, as it appears CONNECTION LOST is on the screen.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...we'll have to get the firewalls and and protection software back up and running before we get primary power back up an running... the goal here is to remain completely off the grid as much as possible..."
Metal Man (GM): The hangar bay is empty, it's kind of hazy where the Dauntless went, but aside from that there's basically little here. It's up to you to rebuild it, and you don't have a ton of supplies on hand. Taking as much time as you can, you can probably restore power and clean off the computers, but it's clear you weren't entirely in your right mind when you made this place either. Some of the work you did on it seems a bit crooked, a bit off. Bits and pieces of memory might came back, reminding you of the disease you had, and of the yelling when you aided Sloan and the Questers claimed you were the evil one for doing so.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...might have to start from scratch... at least I have supplies to do it..."
Metal Man (GM): And how the Questers were supporting Borne... like fools. Borne, who as we just remember a few sessions ago, was happily back to his old behavior, the Questers having basically allowed him to rebuild everything and rule the Mobian continent... while loaded with stolen technology. I'll let you note your repairs as I cook a veggie burger up.
Garrick Fy`aar grumbles softly to himself before making a mental list of everything he needs to do and an order to do it in. First, he has to get the place locked down. Red Text knows it exists, so he has to make sure he won't see it come back online. To do that, he'll need to make sure the lining in the walls is still good as well as the software on the computers.
Metal Man (GM): And then note your success of course, depending on how tricky they are. Hm, I can answer that one. The lining is busted due to having been crushed by the shifting of the ground. Bunch of holes everywhere, you'd need to either cut down on how much of the base is shielded or find more lining. Now brb.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Finding more lining is going to be difficult... luckily, there's a nice lot of broken down tech just floating in space... getting it will be difficult, however... For now, I'll leave the hanger alone and just shield up the main workroom... it's not like I'm going to be building a working ship anytime soon." *He has all the tools he needs for such a job, thanks to his Multi-Tool! He should have enough supplies to last him for a while in here. He survived mainly on military grade ration packs. They last forever and are completely nourishing. As for water... well, he can melt all the snow he wants. Once he got the shielding secure in the workroom, he'd hook his personal belt computer into his supercomputer here and start working on all the software and firewalls He needed to make sure Red Text or anyone else can see him.*
Metal Man (GM): Eventually you'd get things working, only to discover from the virus that was on there that... Red Text has vanished apparently.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...what? But that was... two days ago. Maybe not even that. What happened in the base few days that killed off Red Text..."
Metal Man (GM): It noted that Red Text was monitoring the base for your eventual return, only for his satellite to stop sending data at it. Strange. Indeed, your own sensors would show Red Text isn't in orbit anymore. Jack's ships have taken pole position in orbit instead.
Garrick Fy`aar makes sure that only a few days had passed... "Hopefully I didn't get caught up in some chrono fluctuation or something..."
Metal Man (GM): It was only recently.
Garrick Fy`aar: "So... Jack has taken a stronger presence in the area... It was probably Jack that dropped Red Text..."
Metal Man (GM): Some other notes appear to be sent at you. Since this was your base and it has access to your messages, even though nobody on Alsa figured you were around they still spammed your email thinking it would reach you.
Garrick Fy`aar pulls them up...
Metal Man (GM): If I had no life I'd have messages dating all the way from OOCly 2010 here, but let's skip to the ones that are relevant. One from Borne. An image of a huge amount of people that look like you, dead. Then a monument to them. The 'Nobody can look like Garrick Anymore' monument. It notes that 'To prevent any chance of Garrick attacking and killing us all for potentially having clones of him, all people who look like Garrick have been killed.' There is also the 'Dauntless Destruction Initiative'.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Jesus..."
Metal Man (GM): 'To further prevent Garrick from thinking there are clones of Garrick, we have destroyed all technology we have that was based on his technology.' It shows them being kamikaze'd into a weird fleet of clockwork ships. That's where the debris came from. Then, the final one, which is the real zinger. 'To further show we don't have any clones... WE HAVE CLONED DR. IVO ROBOTNIK INSTEAD.' It shows a Robotnik wearing all yellow and bowing before Borne.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Oh... oh God..."
Metal Man (GM): At the end of the email it has a 1950's esque mocking title saying "Thank you so much, Garrick Fy'aar. We're so much better off without you or your clones!" Ivo is the Robotnik who you know from the games. And also the one who, on Alsa, created the Gravity Egg. And the infinite Smash Energy generating solar panels. Which were so powerful he blew himself up with them. And he also made a suit that gave him Mario powers. Yes. That one. He tried to take over the world pretty hardcore, and now this one is slavishly serving Borne. Last time you checked he was equal-opportunity evil, being evil to everyone. When he got the chance he tried to basically rule the entire world, if not blow it up with a Smash Power deathbeam.
Garrick Fy`aar shakily sets a hand on a nearby chair that's frozen over...
Metal Man (GM): Or make himself a Smash Powered superman. Demon was somewhere in there, I'd have to look at the logs to figure that one out in specific.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...Jack... Borne... and Ivo Robotnik... not to mention that fucking evil Metal..."
Metal Man (GM): Yeah. Until I look through my logs, anyway.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I'll kill them. All of them."
Metal Man (GM): The other thing would be some note from the BLU Engineer. 'Bwahahah. Bwahahah. Bwahahahaha!' It shows him wearing a crown. Made out of magitek.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...oh, that bitch..."
Metal Man (GM): 1960's enhanced super-magitek. He appears to be king of some planet you've never seen before.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...why is he sending this to me??"
Metal Man (GM): At the end it notes, 'Thanks for killing that RED son-of-a-gun, he was getting in the way of my plans.' Attached is an image of that time the Questers and/or you killed the RED Engineer.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...so apparently the BLU Engineer has gone insane. ...and is no where near me. ...good for him?"
Metal Man (GM): The final note is from Red Text, who is noting that... well... some distress call noting that Jack is out to kill him. And he can't say where he is. And if you happen to kill Jack, that it would be dandy.
Garrick Fy`aar: "So... Red Text is still alive... ...where the fuck is Dragoshi and the rest of them?? Gibby, Dragoshi, that cat... fucking Illian, the GOOD Metal... They seriously just LET this happen? There's no way..."
Metal Man (GM): Images of the Dauntless flying about have been seen, though no real decisive intervention has been detected. Clearly they've been in the area but you have no clue what they've been doing.
Garrick Fy`aar starts to breath heavily... he couldn't let them know he was back. Not yet. That would send Borne into a fury and come screaming after him. "Okay, okay, think... First thing... is get the base back up and running. I have to have a fallback so I can survive... My plan to deal with Jack is out the window with my clones dead... ...so I have to come up with something new... Jack has to go first. And he has to go quietly. ...which means I have to sneak into Jack's base without being seen. And kill Jack. By myself. Yeah. Yeah, that's gonna go over REAL well..."
Metal Man (GM): The news, as far as you can tell, seems to suggest that Borne is building something huge to destroy Jack with. Jack's response has been to build a large monument out of diamond that says "SUCK IT BORNE." It can be seen from space, and also from across the continents.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...Jack is fully preoccupied with Borne. I've got the element of surprise..."
Metal Man (GM): Attempts to destroy it by crashing Dauntlesses in it have failed, due to Jack apparently enchanting it something fierce.
Garrick Fy`aar pulls up that metal case, opening it and pulling out that strange, single load gun. "And hopefully I can do it with this... but it'll take time. ...okay, first thing's first. Let's see what I've got to work with..." *He goes over whatever the base still had in it. Any advanced technology. Magitek anything, maybe a Warp System, advanced weaponry. He had to have SOMETHING in here that can help, give him a leg up.*
Metal Man (GM): Most of it is old Red Text stuff, from all the way back when Warp systems were considered mostly contraband.
Garrick Fy`aar checks to make sure it WORKS.
Metal Man (GM): The Red Text stuff laying around still works, it's just rusty.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Okay... okay, that makes things easier..."
Metal Man (GM): There's some old Sloan tech laying around too, mostly stolen Jaffa crystal-based stuff. It's raw materials, if not the highest quality.
Garrick Fy`aar will start work on the base proper. He first makes sure that no one can see him with any sort of technology. With no power running in the hangar bay, it should just show up as stray minerals on any scan. His living area/workroom he makes sure is shielded as well as making sure his computer is undetectable. He then starts to work on the area physically, cleaning rust and making sure heat, power, and everything that makes this place livable is going strong. He will then work on getting the warp system alive, working, and as undetectable as he can get it. Once THAT is done, he'll start warping in scrap from the battle in space. Primarily things he needs from the Dauntlesses and then... then... he'd get his hands on some of that Dweezil stuff. That would really give him the edge if he can get that working... "Once I get the base working properly, I can start to make sure my equipment is as top notch as I can get it... then I need to find a way to get at Jack..."
Metal Man (GM): More time passes, the base is eventually operational. You do notice things though, in moving around. Some sort of strange ship of Borne's has been seen flying around his continent, it's almost perfectly invisible and has freakishly powerful cannons. You capture video of it shooting down one of Jack's ships like it was nothing.
Garrick Fy`aar: "I've got to get to Jack before Borne does... if Borne ends Jack, then Borne will grab everything of Jack's... including all that money. If Ivo gets unlimited resources, Borne will be invincible..."
Metal Man (GM): The other thing you've noticed is on the very continent you're on. Sloan told you to use this base. Coincidentally, Sloan seems to be using a location a bit further away to spy on Alsa.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...Sloan...?"
Metal Man (GM): He hasn't even noticed you. He's busy staring at the conflicts down from here.
Garrick Fy`aar: "Sloan..."
Metal Man (GM): You see him warp in with binoculars of some super-tech kind, staring at the horizon. Though he is pretty quick about it as he hops out too. Less subtly, you have also seen strange looking people in armor suits come in and look around too, same place. Probably allied with Sloan. And even the occasional ship dropping stuff off or trading with them. Seems he's been keeping tabs so far. That's the scenario as it stands. Naturally if Borne has enough time that freakish ship you caught a few frames of could become its own problem. Given the ships Jack is using are Time Cop destroyer refitted with gold and zombie crews. If he can just shoot them down he could probably become his own Time Organization in time. Time... time time time.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...time is something I don't have... ...alright... no other way to get around it."
Metal Man (GM): Given what you know of the old Ivo Robotnik, and the extreme power the ship wielded, Ivo probably is up to his old tricks. Only good news is whatever that ship was appears to have used so much power it nearly crashed and exploded.
Garrick Fy`aar makes sure his base is completely locked down and hidden from view... before he warps out and heads to speak with Sloan.
Metal Man (GM): Prototype stuff, not fit for a non-home battle. Borne is safe but cannot kill off Jack... yet. You walk out. At the appointed time, Sloan would walk in from a warp, staring with binoculars. He would, without missing a beat, then turn to you, still looking through the binoculars.
Sloan: "Oh, hello there. Quite a marvelous day we're having, aren't we?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "You could say that."
Metal Man (GM): He is in a hideous rainbow striped jumper with sparkly stars attached to it.
Garrick Fy`aar would be wearing mostly white gear, as well as a white poncho that made him hard to see in the snow.
Metal Man (GM): A horrible scarf made of technicolor mushrooms is wrapped around his neck. His boots are purple, green and chartreuse and glow in the dark.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...you stand out on this massive white plain, Sloan. I could see you from miles away."
Sloan: "Oh, yes. That's because I wanted you to see me."
Metal Man (GM): He presses a button and vanishes into thin air. Then he reappears to your left. Not a sound or anything.
Garrick Fy`aar: "...that's some high tech warping you've got there."
Sloan: "My cloaking device has variable capabilities. Warping? Oh... no. That would make too much noise. I just go completely soundless and invisible."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrm. Cloaking, eh?"
Sloan: "Amused that you would think I was that smart, but no. I'm only good at pasting things together."
Garrick Fy`aar: "So, you were out here, waiting for me to show up, huh?"
Sloan: "Me and my ally, we've been thinking how to take this world for ourselves, and you just happened to walk right here. If you work with us we can just take over the whole thing!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "Your ally."
Sloan: "It's not your tech we even need, we just need more people with the ability to kill people. Kill Borne and Kill Jack, and the whole thing falls neatly into our hands."
Garrick Fy`aar: "What ally is this?"
Sloan: "Anthon Tark, of course. He's still bitter that the Questers gave GUN back to Borne. He has plans to kill Borne and once again rule all of GUN."
Garrick Fy`aar folds his arms over his chest, scowling at Sloan.
Sloan: "And a series of power suited soldiers. It's magnificent. Complete with my Jaffa, we can rule this world any way we choose."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And what way is that?"
Sloan: "Anthon has these boring civil rights he talks about. I only put up with it because he wants the boring GUN part of this planet anyway. I plan to take Jack's place and turn it into a world of self-moving slinkys, bowling alleys and waterfalls made of ice cream."
Garrick Fy`aar rolls his eyes.
Sloan: "Why are we wasting this wonderful tech we have on purely evil things, anyway?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "And what of the people? The innocents?"
Sloan: "Well, Jack sort of... killed everyone on his continent..."
Garrick Fy`aar grits his teeth a bit.
Sloan: "The few who aren't dead live in perpetual fear. I will replace that with ice cream and fireworks. Yeah, the Questers really @#$% the bed with Jack there. Letting him rule half of the world meant a ton of people just died. Even Borne is nicer than him, and Borne killed a good hundred people just to spite you."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...you know I don't have the power to take on Jack alone. Even with advanced tech, I'm just one man... and with the dimensional shifts, I'm a shadow of what I once was."
Sloan: "Oh, yes. Every Quester is now a weakling, I know. But where did you think all that power went?"
Metal Man (GM): He taps his bracelet and grins, showing off his shiny teeth.
Garrick Fy`aar: "It left with the Smash Energy... wait..." *He stares at that bracelet, frowning...*
Metal Man (GM): The bracelet has some sort of energy generator on it.
Garrick Fy`aar scans it...
Sloan: "Smash Energy is gone, but this isn't Nintendus, it's Alsa."
Metal Man (GM): You determine it is an Alsa energy thing. Sloan can tap into the same energy Borne or Jack can. Making him just as strong as the Questers used to be. Not absurdly so, but...
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I haven't had the time or the tech to really understand whatever energy this is..."
Sloan: "On Alsa, the Mad Men and their proteges are the super powered heroes. Work with me and you can actually do something meaningful. If you hate magical energy, Anthon has his own solution. It bores me. Metal Exo-skins that provide super strength and armor against damage."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...and how do I know I can trust you, Sloan?"
Sloan: "He says it's much safer, but safety is for boring people."
Garrick Fy`aar: "How can I trust you and Tark?"
Sloan: "Well, easy enough. You can't, but not working with me will basically let Jack or Borne rule the world. You can trust Tark, because he's a stick in the mud."
Garrick Fy`aar: "And what of Illian and his crew?"
Sloan: "Oh. Them." *He laughs like it was a hilarious joke.*
Garrick Fy`aar raises an eyebrow...
Sloan: "They're so busy chasing after finding you they can't find you. Half the crew just vanished and Illian seems to just be lost, mentally and physically! You pretty much defeated them, Garrick. Bravo!"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I never intended to defeat them..."
Sloan: "They split up, mentally, after you left, and never really caught on to what to do next."
Garrick Fy`aar: "God, was I really the brains of that operation..."
Sloan: "So they just wander around, making no real progress at all. Hell, even Xavier is doing more and his ship was so messed up that it made an old freighter look great."
Garrick Fy`aar paces... he doesn't like this.
Sloan: "Xavier is beginning to worry me, actually. I think I saw him go back in time."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Of course he did... but there's nothing we can do about him, now. We've got to focus on Alsa. Fine. I'll work with you two."
Sloan: "Goodie goodie gumdrops. So, which do you prefer to work with. Me, or Anthon? My plan is to explosively assassinate Jack. Anthon has... boring plans to replace Borne. Pah. Elections. Democratic process. Arresting him instead of killing him."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Why can't I just do both? I want them both. Jack and Borne."
Sloan: "Well, we plan to strike simultaneously."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hrmpf..."
Sloan: "This way I don't have Borne taking Jack's land. Or Jack killing the people at GUN."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...well, I've got an ace in the hole with dealing with Jack."
Sloan: "Both of them are gone at once and the new world order is established. Oh, do tell. I had plans but... well..."
Metal Man (GM): He looks through his pockets.
Sloan: "They're kind of overplayed and boring too."
Garrick Fy`aar: "If it's still operational... I made his main weapon. If he's still using it, I can blow it, and him, to kingdom come... it might not end him, but it'll stop him in his tracks."
Sloan: "Hmmm. Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. Good news. Blowing him up is great! Bad news. He's not actually human."
Metal Man (GM): He shows an image of the Mad Man metallic body.
Sloan: "Explosion of his main weapon would weaken his connection to the planet, make him unable to insta-death us at the moment..."
Garrick Fy`aar: "That's probably the best option, then..."
Sloan: "...Knock off a bunch of his health... ...then we still have a super-magical madman surrounded by horrifyingly twisted evil futuristic spaceman corpses. We need to simply reinforce this plan to make it viable."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...on the other hand... I've had a score to settle with Borne for ages now. And I've never taken him on one on one... and he's copied me in technique..."
Sloan: "The Jaffa and my ships can cover the enemy army, but there's another problem. Primarily, Jack is still a powerful mage, and I at best can get to a stalemate. You, even propped up by magic, don't seem to have recovered your mojo yet. Borne... Borne. I remember all the times he tried to kill me and you."
Garrick Fy`aar: "It'll take time..."
Sloan: "That knife of his is wicked. Ten types of poison."
Garrick Fy`aar ponders for a bit more... "...what the hell..." *He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his Quester badge... he can't believe he still had it.*
Sloan: "Only Anthon seems to have a plan for him, really. Anthon's plan is to subvert the military by making it all above board and nice nice."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Front, I go with you against Jack... back, I take on Borne with Anthon."
Sloan: "And then supplement it with killer people in suits."
Garrick Fy`aar flips the badge in the air, catching it.
Sloan: *Watches.*
Garrick Fy`aar: "...looks like I'm with you."
Sloan: "Luck favors the insane."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I'll take one of those bracelet's, then."
Sloan: "Right... we need to get you equipped for this, you look like a shabby ice-hobo."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Hey, I'm trying with what I got, alright? I'm doing okay."
Sloan: "You need to be a deadly shabby ice hobo."
Garrick Fy`aar: "I've still got some of the moves."
Sloan: "Well, I have extra bracelets on me all the time."
Metal Man (GM): He takes one out and hands it to you. Then he gets a look on his face.
Sloan: "Ah, right."
Garrick Fy`aar reaches out to take it... then pauses and looks up to him. "What?"
Sloan: "I hope you trust me, since, obviously, if I was evil, I could just be doing this to mind control you like those jerks did to me. Don't want you to get distracted when killing Jack now."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Oh, don't worry."
Sloan: "Jack is liable to tell you how this is all my trap and I'm going to betray everyone."
Garrick Fy`aar: "If I was mind controlled, I'll eventually get free. It'd take time, but I'd do it. Then I'll kill you."
Sloan: "Right, you did escape Borne..."
Metal Man (GM): He giggles at that.
Sloan: "Oh, I forgot what it's like to be threatened with death! It's been so long... this boring hiatus is totally over now."
Garrick Fy`aar: "If I can get to Metal, I can get you." *He hehs softly before taking the bracelet... he looks it over and scans it, juuuust to make sure... then puts it on.*
Sloan: "How shall you be riding to the Infested Wasteland of Jack Related Death?"
Metal Man (GM): It has Alsan energy flowing through it. No control chips that you can see. Snapping it on makes you feel like you have your old powers back. It's... insane, because they also lack that edge which made you mad.
Garrick Fy`aar: "I don't have a ship or the like, not yet... I've only been---whoa..."
Metal Man (GM): No more chucking Red Emeralds at the ground for you. Or punching enemies so hard your fist explodes.
Sloan: "The energy of Alsa doesn't burn like Smash Energy. It's a natural thing."
Garrick Fy`aar: "...yikes... okay..."
Sloan: "Normally, you could get this power by training for years. But you, like your friends, were weakened by the fact they never so much trained as were injected with steroids by a crazy Wolf robot."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Right..."
Sloan: "This thing should help you before you eventually earn your own powers, though when you do it will stop helping you. Mostly because it can't push you above a certain point."
Garrick Fy`aar: "Do you have any equipment that would go with this? Guns, armor, that sort of thing?"
Sloan: "Yes. Yes, good god, I would NEVER want you to fight Jack without the means to actually kill him!"
Metal Man (GM): He pulls a P-90 out of thin air.
Sloan: "This the type of weapon you use?"
Garrick Fy`aar: "...I'd prefer a pistol, but it'll do."
Sloan: "I got others in here, don't worry, my weapon data storage field is very diverse. Hm. I remember now!"
Metal Man (GM): He takes out those pistols you wanted back in Season 6. P50s or something...
Garrick Fy`aar: "Mmm, that'll do nicely."
Metal Man (GM): He hands you them.
Sloan: "And, the rest of the equipment, you can buy from my stores. Just tell me what you need, and I can pull it right here. I have an account with the amount of money I've budgeted for you."
Garrick Fy`aar takes the pistols, giving them the once over before slipping them into his holsters. He takes his standard revolver and puts it behind his back. "Very well..."
Metal Man (GM): Yup. And keep track of your old level as you gain EXP for that. +400 EXP.

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