So, question, what are the boundaries on this? Is something taking place in the Kanto Region and from the POV of a Pokemon character, but centered around more of an internal struggle an option, or...?
I know what we're doing today! - An accounting of proposed goals and methods
Short Term Goals
Stop open war between Sharks and Police: It will weaken the local human resilience, and the chaos will give plenty of opportunity for aliens and puppeteered humans to wreak havoc. As mentioned before, the methods for this come in the flavors of 'stop the Sharks from starting shit' and 'make the police look unreasonable for cracking down as hard as they plan to'.
Prepare for Retaliation: Once the aliens know there's an entire group aware of and opposed to them, they will take action. So far we haven't made our existence as their opposition known, but once we do we can likely expect our people to be targeted within a turn or two. Best counterplays are probably individual combat effectiveness and having a radio room so they can call for backup if they get into trouble. Well, aside from not letting the enemy know we exist until it's too late.
Do something about the Parasitized Humans: The question is >How?<. To get adecent read on them, we'll probably have to kidnap at least one of them, and hope they can't share everything they see and hear in the process. A path to trying to cure them probably requires the use of a lab. (There's also the option of convincing/threatening them. After all, a willing extraction/leaving would have some of the best chances to leave the host in good condition.)
^To resolve the problem above, I'd like to propose an attempt at targeted recruitment. We should get ourselves a doctor, whether active or retired from age/disillusionment. Such a person would have lab training, medical knowledge, and even if they aren't a surgeon they would surely be better at surgery in a pinch than anyone else we could get. Even if most doctors in this setting aren't particularly upright people, there ought to still be a decent share with good intentions. We just need to ask around for one that shows good character in their interactions with patients.
Medium Term Goals
Eliminate the local alien leader and engage with the Sanctuary: This will presumably stop the current wave of Invasion into Onnet.
Break the Blockade: Either through overwhelming public pressure, or by defeating the OPF so decisively that they have to give it up.
Depose the Mayor: Not sure on the how yet. But if we play our cards right, we might be able to use the mayoral paperwork to pick up a chunk of his assets afterwards.
Get a 'legitimate' business we can use to engage in further business action: The baseball bat factory would be a good starting point.
Deal with Cass's depression: Sorta limited what we can intentionally do about it, but we can do our best.
Substantially improve our reputation: The gang's, that is. It'll help with stopping public manipulating plots like the current one in the future. Though doing the same for CD personally would be good too.
Note that improvement to general rep will have greater long term benefits than reduction of police rep.
Minimize the information that gets back to our enemies via our actions: The less they know about how much we know, how strong we are, etc, the better. (Well, so long as they mis-estimate our threat level downward rather than upward.)
Get Porky and his brother out of their current living situation: For obvious reasons. Tbh, we might want to look into getting our hands on an entire apartment building or smth, because those two can't be the only ones who would be better off outside of their parental households as our gang expands.
Ensure cashflow: Once we start paying people (who aren't teens living with their parents), and need to make more investment in equipment/assets, this will be essential.
Pursue psychic development: Not just personal, but on an organizational level. Possibly look into having Buzz Buzz identify people with psychic talent, then picking those amongst them who fit our recruiting demographic.
If anyone thinks there is something missing, feel free to respond and I can update the list. Same if you have an idea for how to pursue a particular goal
If anyone thinks there is something missing, feel free to respond and I can update the list. Same if you have an idea for how to pursue a particular goal
sounds good. to me, i guess some stuff is less of a goal and more of a priority (like preventing information/suspicion from spreading), but that's semantics?
worth noting generally thwarting any of Giygas's broader-scope plans we can where possible as a priority too, like what happened with phoning mom/our intrigue crit this turn. lack the ability to see these happening at the moment so it's mostly up to luck though, but maybe that can be improved?
other possible goals include things to research/investigate that are of note? something like "figure out how the hell we can make use of PSI stuff as an organisation" and possibly any other research paths with substantial rewards, the sort of stuff that we need to even out any matchups against aliens with PSI of their own?
there's also possibly *something* important down the hill's tunnels that we may want to investigate. depending on it what things are like that could be a big or a small task though, so we'll have to see if it's a full on dungeon that needs expeditions :P
and it may be a long-term goal, but once we've got access to other zones we'd probably need to put feelers out to try and salvage the situation there. if Giygas has gotten started already it could be pretty bad, so having the capability to do so (some mix of manpower/trusted lieutenants/contacts/equipment/skill/influence) to go to each zone would probably be helpful (though it's too far ahead to say what things will be like and what we'd actually need)
Just another day in the Eagle Quarter. Nothing ever changes around here…right? Description: Detail a day in the life of a resident of the Eagle Quarter. Reward:+10 added to the next faction roll category of the writer's choice. Repeatable.
Heroic Rambling
The Outfielders have just formed, but that doesn't mean the more notable members haven't already begun getting up to things. Description:Write an Omake focusing on one of the Heroes currently in the employ of the Outfielders. Reward: +10 added to the starring character's next personal roll. Repeatable for different characters.
What about something in between these two? I had something of an idea for something from the perspective of the new ground pounders in the Outfielders, just gotta figure out how it goes...
While the Eagle Quarter may be home to PSI users, it's not the only place where they dwell. One can only imagine the circumstances other psychics find themselves in, if they even realize they're psychics at all. Description: Write an omake featuring a character with psychic powers/PSI. This can be a character established to have such powers, or merely a character interpreted to have or awaken to psychic powers. Reward: +15 to next PSI training roll(with increased stat gains), +Chance to meet a new character.
Somewhere In The City
The Eagle Quarter is merely a small part of The City. What can seem all encompassing or world ending here is totally unknown outside its borders. It's likely there are things going on out there right now we'll never hear about… Description: Write an Omake focusing on an entirely different section of The City outside the Eagle Quarter. Must center on a character that hasn't featured in an Omake before. Reward: +1 to a Random Stat, +Chance for new items to be found in the Eagle Quarter.
Finding the Nue was easy, and so was chasing it back to its den. There's only so stealthy a lion-headed ogre could be, especially when it was dragging a fresh kill behind it.
Killing the beast was another matter.
"Look out!" Rei grabbed Teepo by the back of his shirt and dragged him back, the Nue's claw shaving a few purple hairs from his head.
The bolt of fire Teepo threw went wide and impacted the wall of the cave. The snarling beast advanced, as Ryu closed his eyes and wildly slashed with his sword.
Every swing missed, and the Nue dismissed the blue-haired child with a backhanded swing that sent him crashing to the ground. Before the dazed boy could rise the Nue raised it's clawed foot, ready to stomp.
"Ryu!" Rei shot a terrified glance at Rudy, who solemnly made his choice
Rudy grabbed the weapon at his waist, the wrappings falling away as he raised it to shoulder height. A long wooden handle and metal barrel, though large enough to be called a rifle the boy held it in a single hand.
His ARM. The Handcannon.
It sounded less like a gunshot, and more like a point-blank lighting strike. The muzzle flash briefly lit the cave, blinding all but Rudy.
The Nue reared back, howling in agony and grabbing the cave wall with its clawed hands to remain standing. Rudy advanced, a look of cool concentration on his face as he fired again.
This was a battle no longer, merely an execution.
The three orphans watched on, half awed and half horrified as the formerly kind young man rained death on the beast, bullet after bullet sending the lion hybrid into spasms of agony where their blades had done almost nothing.
By the time Rudy stopped everyone's ears were ringing in the sudden burst of silence.
The Nue was holding onto the cave wall, still on its feet but unmoving. After examining it for a moment Rudy lowered his ARM.
"Dead."
"Wow…" Rudy averted his gaze, waiting for Teepo's judgment. "That was awesome!"
The gunman blinked in surprise as the kid ran over, bombarding him with questions. "Is it heavy? What kind of weapon is that? How far can it shoot? Can I hold it?"
Rudy silently lifted the ARM out of Teepo's reach.
"The Nue died on its feet like it was protecting something." Rei gave the still-standing corpse a suspicious look as if expecting it to spring to life.
"Like treasure!" Teepo didn't share his adopted brother's concern and quickly slipped past the dead Nue.
"Teepo!" The three others rushed after him, ducking around the Nue's body and entering its den. All 4 froze when they saw the Nue cubs.
The dead Nue cubs.
Each one was small and sunken as if it were malnourished, scattered around the den, and completely still. Bits of food were around too, scraps of meat in various states of decay. There wasn't a single injury on any of the cubs, but they were all unmistakably dead.
"Must not have been very smart. If it couldn't tell its children were dead." There was a tremor behind Teepo's usual bravado.
"Let's… go home." Rei put his hands on his little brother's shoulders and steered them away. But despite his brave face, he barely made it outside before he burst out. "I can't believe Bunyan would have us kill a grieving mother! Even if it is just a beast!"
"... Would you have stopped fighting if you knew?" Rudy asked softly.
Rei paused, thinking of how hard his heart pounded every time it turned to his brothers. How adrenaline and panic raced through him with every attack it sent their way.
"... No. I wouldn't even have hesitated." The next time Fou-Lou awakened, the pain had receded to a more bearable level. He was swathed in a fresh set of bandages and was once more lying in a bed. He made to get up-
"Don't." The owner of the cabin gently, but firmly put a hand on his shoulder. He silently offered a glass of water, and the former emperor nodded slowly.
As he drank, Fou-Lou tried to gather his thoughts. The empire had clearly failed to capture or kill him. He remembered falling into a river… Ah, that would explain it.
One blessing that he had kept although he had lost much of his divine power. He was a Water Dragon. It cursed him with a weakness to fire, but water could not hurt him. When he fell into the river, it must have spirited him away.
By the time the man pulled the water glass back, Fou-Lou had emptied it. "May we ask, who are you and where are we?"
"M' name's Bunyan. You're in McNiel Village, in the kingdom of Windia." Fou-Lou didn't know where that was. "Now, let me ask. What's your name?"
"Fou-Lou-" As soon as the name slipped out the former emperor wanted to curse himself for giving his name out so easily
"Ah, named after the first Emperor of the Fou-Lou Empire?"
Fou-Lou eyed Bunyan warily but was unable to discern any tricks or falsehood. "... Yes."
"No need to be embarrassed. Being named after an important figure… well, it is a bit strange but it happens. The first Emperor though… That's a hell of a name to live up to."
"... Hmmm." What was he supposed to say to that?
After an awkward pause, the former Emperor asked "How far away is the Empire?"
"Oh… I'd say a little over a hundred miles or so. Only made the trip once myself."
That was less than ideal. Of course, Fou-Lou could walk indefinitely, but to travel that far with hunters dogging his steps would be difficult, especially in this condition.
"Before you start thinking of traveling, you need to heal. You're still burned to hell and back." Bunyan shot him a stern glare.
The former emperor huffed in annoyance but didn't protest. "Thou mentioned taking the trip once. Dist thou leave the Empire?"
"Mmm… Not a happy story." The man seemed to dither for a moment, before sighing.
"I lived in the empire for a time, was a soldier for them. But over time it just seemed… pointless. All the fighting, all the killing, and for what? A different flag? To make more people answer to a man I've never met?"
He held out his hands, rough and scarred. "I thought maybe if I mended my ways… I could wash the blood off."
Fou-Lou didn't know what to say. He thought of mortals as foolish and fickle creatures. To have pained one of them so greatly…
His successor must be a madman.
(The irony of his own blood-stained past didn't occur to the former emperor. As a god, he was above such things.) Rudy set out at night. His ARM was bound tightly and his pack slung over his shoulder. He said his goodbyes to Bunyan, claiming it was time for him to head out.
He didn't visit Rei and the others. He didn't want to risk the curse of his ARM striking them too.
He didn't even reach the woods before he got caught.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rudy didn't draw a weapon, merely tensing at the young Uplift's voice. "Why are you leaving?"
"... I'm a drifter." The boy explained simply.
"That's a load of crap and you know it! You were talking about sticking with Bunyan for another few seasons not too long ago! Why are you leaving? Is it because of the weapon?"
"Yes."
"Why?!" Rei moved into his path, arms spread wide as if to stop him. "It's dangerous and all but you own it right? I trust you with it."
"It's cursed." Rudy tried to explain.
"What do you mean it's cursed?"
"Bad luck, spreading decay, death and destruction… that's all an ARM is good for." Rudy gripped the wrapped weapon, thinking back to the many times he'd been kicked out of towns. Not that he could blame them for it.
"... it's a weapon, Rudy. No better than the sword on your belt. But you saved our lives earlier today. Are you really going to say it's good for nothing?"
"Look… I'm not particularly safe myself. The truth is before you all came to follow me, I was going to fight the Nue myself. It would have been easy. But once you three showed up I couldn't risk hurting you. So I had to hold back."
"Your ARM thingy is dangerous, but at least you can control it. As for the whole 'bad luck' thing… who cares? I've had bad luck since I was born. Can't get any worse can it?"
Rudy stared at Rei, trying to collect himself. Part of him wanted to leave, save them the trouble, and eliminate the risk he would bring with him. The other part… It was lonely being a drifter. Always moving on, never stopping for too long. No friends, his only family was buried a long time ago.
"Are you going to come back to the treehouse, or am I going to have to drag you there? I'll adopt you if I have to Rudy." Rei held his hand out.
After a long pause. Rudy grabbed it.
"There we go! Welcome to the family Rudy. Although we uh... don't really have a last name for you to change to or anything. Most people just call us orphans and troublemakers."
"My last name is Roughknight."
"Oh that's way better! Can I borrow that?" After the death of the Nue, spring rapidly approached, as if winter tself was waiting for the death of the fell beast. Within the month trees were brimming with fruit, bushes were laden with berries of all kinds, and animals woke from hibernation.
The lean times were over, McNeil village was flooded with food, and everyone was celebrating. Rumors were flying about the Nue's disappearance.
'I heard a bunch of mercenaries came and took it out.'
'I bet it was Windian soldiers, we're their people after all.'
'Maybe it just starved to death on its own?'
"A bigger, even badder monster killed it! We should evacuate!"
Eventually, Bunyan put his foot down and revealed the truth. The group of vagabond children, the little thieves everyone hated and chased away. They were the heroes who killed the Nue.
That was a hell of a slap in the face to the villagers. However, to Bunyan's delight, his little ploy worked.
When next the kids were in town, they got a standing ovation. Thanks and apologies were shared, stolen goods were returned, and gifts were given. Without a need to steal, it seemed like their troublemaking days might be over, and the town almost became fond of them. Bunyan and Rudy's little band of vagabonds.
'The Roughknights'
After their first taste of heroism, the child thieves were eager to feel it again. Being liked, loved, and respected by their peers for doing good deeds. One little good deed was all well and good. But why not give it another go?
In a few weeks, the raid on McNeil Manor would be put into place. Changing McNeil Village, and the children's fates forever.
I don't know if this qualifies for Beyond The City or not. This was already most of the way in the works when the quest took its break, I just needed the little kick in the butt to finish it. There will likely only be one chapter left in this series, and then I'll set these characters on a more... vaguely familiar trajectory.
The reason I decided to have Rudy here is because he actually ties in really well to the themes of BoF3. Strength and domination, the wrath of a gentle man, when it's right to use brute force, and if the strong should be feared or respected. Rudy, Ryu, Rei, and Teepo are all stronger than normal humans, to varying degrees. And over the course of BoF3 it explores those themes in a way that I love. I'd have to time skip to later in the game to get to the juicy stuff, but here Rudy taps into his forbidden power to kill a monster and save his friends. I'd trust him implicitly with the ARM.
The Fou-Lu bit might seem like a non sequitor but I promise, it's important for the finale.
The City is a violent place. And where there is violence there is a universal need for one thing: Weapons. Be it makeshift, archaic, Pre-Crash, cutting edge, handheld, or autonomous, there is no shortage of weapon types. And no shortage in demand… Description: Write an omake focused around an arms deal, the arms trade in The City, or the kinds of weapons finding their way into the hands of various factions. Reward: +New items appear in the Eagle Quarter, +New faction action will show up later
To most within the Eagle Quarter, the Dusty Dunes Desert was considered a drive-by county to be skimmed over on one's way to or from Summers or Fourside. The name said it all, really—for the average traveler, all it had to offer was dust and dunes. What little novelty those features had tended to run empty in about an hour, and many would call even that a generous estimate.
About the only real point of interest it had was the stopover drugstore that was built purely because road trippers had submitted one too many complaints about the lack of opportunities for bathroom breaks between the nearest two towns. That's right—all the Dusty Dunes Desert had to offer the everyman was a drugstore.
Then again, if one was inclined to believe in rumors, they might be interested in the supposed stashes of valuable minerals said to be hidden under the layers and layers of sand and rock. But as of this moment, only two people were actually willing to pursue those pipe dreams, and the man driving the armored van veering off the paved road was not one of them.
Because, as it would happen, the complete lack of interest most people had in this particular desert made it a very good place to conduct deals away from prying eyes, and he was about to make one with a promising up-and-comer.
The Arms Dealer would never have expected to say that about an entity calling itself "Anna & Sisters," let alone one that was allegedly said to hail from the Outlands of all places, but he'd found that Princeps Dominare had a way of throwing everything anyone knew about the universe on its head.
A suggestion would be focusing on a non-Rocket related faction or on a character that we wont see until we reach further on said quest
(Example, the Elite Four or Oak, or maybe some trainers from the anime that appeared as NPCs in Pokemon Yellow such as Damian, Giselle, AZ or Melanie)
Here in The City the people are as diverse as the zones, the terrors, and the possibilities. One can't expect to exist here and not be surprised by some of the folks and things you can come across. No one can know everything after all. Description: Write an Omake focusing around an obscure game included within the 8-Bit Dystopia setting. Reward: Trigger a Random Event on the next possible turn.
A suggestion would be focusing on a non-Rocket related faction or on a character that we wont see until we reach further on said quest
(Example, the Elite Four or Oak, or maybe some trainers from the anime that appeared as NPCs in Pokemon Yellow such as Damian, Giselle, AZ or Melanie)
There are also plenty of psychics capable of picking up on Giygas and his malaise. Mew/two, Sabrina, or an OC psychic trainer. The Mediums and ghost-type specialists like Agatha might also notice.
All in all, Stewart thought, it was quite the inspiring little moment. Other than the fat kid in the corner freaking out, everyone in the room seemed ready and willing to throw down, no matter what crazy nonsense came next. It was almost like something out of a movie. And he was getting to be part of it!
And then of course some idiot had to ruin it. "Ok boss, what's our first move?"
The room got quiet. Everyone stared expectantly at CD. And the deer in the headlights look on her face told everyone instantly that she had not thought one single second past this point. 'Oh brilliant,' thought Stewart.
"You do have a plan, right?" Someone called out. Stewart thought it might have been Martin Rodriguez, captain of the football team.
"Uh…yes. Obviously"
"Ok, so what is it?"
"Well…first we have to…"
"Learn how to fight," the fat kid stage whispered from the corner, where he was still hyperventilating.
"We have to learn how to fight!" CD yelled, as though she hadn't just been fed the idea by someone who clearly wasn't even using his whole brain on this right now. "Who here has actually been in a real fight before? Show of hands?"
There was a lot of awkward shifting and mumbling from the crowd, and maybe eight people put their hands up. "Um, how are we defining 'real fight'?" Someone asked.
"One or both participants goes to the emergency room when you're done"
Everyone put their hands down.
CD looked like she was having some serious second thoughts right now. "Ok, so that's clearly something we need to work on. Everyone meet at the bottom of the tree tomorrow at…uh, what time do you all get out of school again?"
Stewart grimaced in pain as he lay in the dirt. CD had kicked him in the knee when he had tried to tackle her from behind, and now he was wondering how he was going to explain his limp to his parents. He certainly couldn't tell them he had joined a fight club run by the local delinquent.
"This is ridiculous," He heard Inga mutter from a few feet away. Inga Teeger was probably one of the few people here who had a reputation almost as bad as CD's, and even she had been tossed aside like a rag doll.
They watched as CD knocked a kid who couldn't have been more than twelve years old to the ground and then started berating him.
"I'm gonna say something." Inga whispered.
"No don't-" Stewart tried to stop her, but it was too late.
The confrontation that followed was… surprisingly educational. CD responded to Inga's points with an unexpectantly coherent explanation on how fights were best won by whoever was most willing to take a bit of a beating and keep going, which made a lot of sense, Stewart thought. Their opponents weren't going to give them a fair fight, after all. So why should CD?
And then that twelve year old got back up and sucker punched her in the gut, and suddenly everyone was ok. The training got going again a minute later.
"I still don't like this." Inga muttered as she turned to face Stewart. "If we all have to stay in bed for the next week, it's not going to do a damn thing to stop these aliens"
"Yeah well, what are you going to do?" Then he chucked some dirt in her face and socked her across the jaw. The headlock she put him in after sucked, but was worth it for the look on her face.
-------------------------------------------------
"So what are we doing here again?" Lenny asked
"Listening for rumors," Inga told him. Stewart was a little confused by her continuing to hang out with him and his friends. She said he had impressed her with his dirt throwing trick during practice, but he couldn't think why that meant she wanted to be around him and his nerd buddies. They had nothing in common. She was into metal music and motorcycles and sneaking beer into parties, while they enjoyed video games and musical theatre and organizing their Pokemon cards.
They were sitting at the local burger joint, where that fat kid (Porky, what a name, dear God,) had told them "Just go hang out there and see what you can overhear,". So he, Lenny, Don and apparently Inga had sat down and prepared to play a lengthy game of Robot Masters.
"Ok sure, but rumors about what? Uh, I use Metal Blade on Wood Man." Don said
"Rumors about anything. The Sharks, the cops, anything weird going on," She replied. "Uh, how do I resist the blade thing again?"
"You don't, Wood Man is weak against Metal Blade."
"What?! I thought it was Bubble Man who was weak against that?"
"He is," Lenny said. "Everyone is weak against Metal Blade."
"What? But that's stupid! How am I supposed to beat an attack that's good against everyone?"
"That's kinda why I keep using it. Your turn," Don said.
"You little twerp, I'm gonna put you in a headlock, you do that again-"
"'Sup."
Everyone stopped what they were doing to turn in confusion to CD, who was sitting down at their table. She didn't say anything for a moment, so they all sat in awkward silence, until she finally spoke.
"So, I know I kinda dropped a lot of stuff on everyone all at once, but I just want to say you've all been handling it like champs so far. You've all been picking up what I've been trying to teach you really well, and I know when we eventually take the fight to the bad guys, you're all gonna do great. And uh, I'm proud to be your leader." She kept glancing nervously down at her lap through all this, and Stewart thought he saw an index card hidden in her hand.
Another awkward moment passed. "Ok," said Lenny.
She sat there a moment more, clearly not sure where to go next with… whatever this was. "Oh hey, Robot Masters. My little brother loves this game. Uh, never quite got into it myself. Rules always seemed really complicated. Metal Blade sucks, am I right?"
"Uh huh" Stewart nodded.
She drummed her hands uncertainly on the table. "Uh….Anyone catch the Eggbeaters game last night?"
"Eggbeaters? What's that?" Lenny asked.
"Uh, you know, Robotnik's personal baseball team? They played the Space Pirates last night?"
"We don't watch sports" Stewart said.
"Of course you don't, who watches sports these days anyway? Way more important stuff to do. It was a boring game anyway, nothing happened until the last inning."
Everyone just stared at her.
"Uh…..Inga! Did I ever apologize for that fight we got in last year? Uh, heh, you remember that fight, right? It was pretty stupid, you probably don't even remember."
"You broke my arm in three places. I had to wear a cast for two months. And all because I said I didn't like pink hair."
"I was trying a new thing, I was insecure about it! You said it looked like someone had vomited bubblegum on my head!"
"Yeah, still does."
"I like it!" Lenny said.
"See, Benny likes it." CD got quiet again. She looked very uncomfortable. "Ok, so…I'm gonna go. I'll see you all at training tomorrow. I just bought a bunch of baseball bats, and we're gonna practice swinging them at each other. Uh, bye!" She got up and very quickly marched out of the restaurant.
The four friends sat in stunned silence for about two straight minutes after that.
"What the hell was that?" Stewart finally asked.
"I think she was trying to… make friends?" Don asked more than stated.
"She got my name wrong." Lenny pouted.
"Yeah, even I'm better at talking to people than that. That was just weird." Inga said through a mouthful of food.
Stewart looked at her in confusion. "We didn't order anything. What are you eating?"
"Hey, has anyone seen my Metal Man card?" Don asked.
"Ok, so let me see if I've got all this." Martin said. They were all gathered in the little treehouse again, where CD had called an emergency meeting. Thankfully Stewart had managed to get a seat at the actual table this time. Lenny and Don were both crammed in the corner stuck behind someone taller than them, and Inga was stuck halfway out the exit hole.
Martin attempted to pace, didn't get very far, and settled for just glowering at CD with his arms folded. "The town is surrounded by hostile, mind controlled animals."
"Correct." She nodded.
"People are being attacked by sentient appliances, and it is being deliberately done in such a way that no one will believe the victims."
"The sentience is questionable, but otherwise also correct."
"Someone tried to murder a cop last night and blame it on the Sharks. The only reason it didn't work is because someone threw a rock."
"You're welcome" Porky muttered from his corner.
"Even without the frame up, we could still see a small war any day now, as the Sharks and cops both want each other's blood. The cops in particular maybe want to start shipping kids they don't like to a concentration camp somewhere. And it's all being orchestrated by people who are being piloted like robots by alien bugs. Did I get everything?"
"More or less" CD confirmed.
"Oh great, so long as that's all. No biggie," Martin threw his hands up in exasperation. "And opposing that is what, thirty high school kids?"
"Thirty high school kids with baseball bats!" Lenny said, helpfully holding up his own. He had taken to wearing it stuffed down the back of his shirt like some kind of sword.
Martin glared at Lenny. Lenny gulped and hid behind Don.
"Oh right, we have bats now. Made of wood. Surely we cannot fail." Martin flopped down into his chair, jostling Stewart's arm. He began massaging his forehead. "Tell me there's some sort of good news. Tell me you have a plan of some sort." Stewart wasn't sure he had ever seen the bigger kid this stressed out before. Then again, he had never been this stressed out himself.
CD thought a bit. "We have some new members coming in. I know a girl from River City who might join up."
"How many new members?" Someone asked.
She shifted uncomfortably. "Nine? Maybe ten?"
Martin groaned. "That's not enough. And where are we supposed to put them? It's cramped enough in here as it is!"
"They could dangle from my legs," Stewart heard Inga mutter from the hole in the floor.
"A plan? Please?" Martin looked pleadingly at CD.
CD took a breath, looked at them all for a moment, then began pushing her way to the hole. "I'm working on it." She lowered herself out, and left.
The treehouse was quiet for a moment, as everyone digested the news they had received. Then Lenny helpfully broke the silence.
"We're all gonna die."
Author note: My take on a few of the new Outfielder's perspectives. Probably strictly non canon since I took a few liberties with CD here and there, but I hope you all enjoy.
These are references to other 8-Bit Dystopia quests, such as Shadow of the Dragon: An 8-Bit Dystopia Quest and To Be The Very Best
At least in theory. (the Doctor Light quest iirc is defunct, but allowed for folks to continue it... so)
I did think about writing an omake for this quest about Shadow of the Dragon, sooooo I probably should go for this one.
While the Eagle Quarter may be home to PSI users, it's not the only place where they dwell. One can only imagine the circumstances other psychics find themselves in, if they even realize they're psychics at all. Description: Write an omake featuring a character with psychic powers/PSI. This can be a character established to have such powers, or merely a character interpreted to have or awaken to psychic powers. Reward: +15 to next PSI training roll(with increased stat gains), +Chance to meet a new character.
using either Silent Hill or Animal Crossing, but probably the latter given that I'd like to see animal crossing characters appear.
Though, admittedly, I was also thinking of doing a Dreamlands-based PSI Omake for Fire Emblem, given Shadow of the Dragon has essentially done "magic comes from the dreamlands typically"
Sooooo one could synergize by having
Giygas's invasion and intentions are esoteric and terrifying to the humans who are aware of it. But who's to say it's anymore knowable to the other aliens? Description: Write an omake showing what the views or opinions of an alien, or more space-bound character, would be of Giygas and his forces if they were aware of their existence. Reward: +New research options later OR +Hindrance to the aliens next actions next turn.
Plus Psychic Spread plus Proud King of Mac-Sorry, Wrong Quest!
But... I could also envision a way to fuse Psychic Spread animal crossing with Blasting Off Agai-Wait, Wrong Quest. (did you know? gen 5 implements the pokemon dream world, something that researchers in gen 1 and 3 were working towards (ie "we're trying to see inside a pokemon's dreams"). fuse this with the dream parlor, and overlay the characters I wanted to make use of 83c )
Gahhhhhhh, I'm gonna have to get cracking on all of this... Outside Perspective is also something I'd like to put to usage
if it hasn't been linked yet, here's light quest
no love for smithy quest (super 8-bit dystopia RPG), though?
(if we're writing omakes i've got an idea of a turn through a different lens/out of Onett, though it's not the big three/featuring new characters so i don't know if it'd count for anything sadly)
each post is pretty short/focused on army management but it's not bad by any means, and it still has more words than light quest at least so there's a decent amount of content? it's focused around the smithy gang from super mario rpg exploring/conquering the pipeworks, which is different enough to the rest that it stands out?
link here if it doesn't show up in the similar threads list for anyone
Seeing everyone talking about these quests are making me remember these 2 villainous victorious quest I haven't read in a while, I got to get back on reading those sooner or later cuz I just forgot about them.
....the brain worms I've had about these two topics for this quest..........might actually have something to write for these two topics. Probably won't be perfect but I'll sure as shit try to produce something at least partially enjoyable.
So, people have already mentioned it, but, question: if we do an omake that covers multiple topics, such as Psychic Spread + Blasting Off Agai-Wait, Wrong Quest, do we pick and choose which bonus we get, or do we get both?
And here we are.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:
The Secret Sellers
To most within the Eagle Quarter, the Dusty Dunes Desert was considered a drive-by county to be skimmed over on one's way to or from Summers or Fourside. The name said it all, really—for the average traveler, all it had to offer was dust and dunes. What little novelty those features had tended to run empty in about an hour, and many would call even that a generous estimate.
About the only real point of interest it had was the stopover drugstore that was built purely because road trippers had submitted one too many complaints about the lack of opportunities for bathroom breaks between the nearest two towns. That's right—all the Dusty Dunes Desert had to offer the layperson was a singular drugstore.
Then again, if one was inclined to believe in rumors, they might be interested in the supposed stashes of valuable minerals said to be hidden under the layers and layers of sand and rock. But as of this moment, only two people were actually willing to pursue those pipe dreams, and the man driving the armored van veering off the paved road was not one of them.
Because, as it would happen, the complete lack of interest most people had in this particular desert made it a very good place to conduct deals away from prying eyes, and he was about to make one with a promising up-and-comer.
The Arms Dealer would never have expected to say that about an entity calling itself "Anna & Sisters," let alone one that was allegedly said to hail from the Outlands of all places, but he'd found that Princeps Dominare had a way of throwing everything anyone knew about the universe on its head.
He took a moment to reach into his fatigues to retrieve a note documenting his destination. Comparing it to his map had him turning the wheel a little to the right. Moments later, the van shuddered, and he heard a muted crunching noise. Had he bothered to check his rear view mirrors, he would've caught the sight of a flattened Skelpion for a moment before it became indistinguishable from the sand.
Instead, he was preoccupied with swerving out of the way of a Smilin' Sphere who'd suddenly decided to float out from behind a dune. The rugged tires slipped, slid, and spewed sand everywhere, but ultimately caught enough traction to swing the vehicle away from the explosive fate that a head-on collision with those insufferably cheeky bastards usually heralded. He'd already lost one shipment too many to those damned living bombs, and he refused to lose another.
It wouldn't be too long now, though. The cave he'd been told of supposedly didn't have what could be called a gaping entrance, but it was wide enough to fit a good-sized car, so he doubted it would be terribly easy to miss. He just had to keep his eyes open once he reached the cliffs—
…was the hell was that noise? He'd swear it was a zapper, but he'd never heard of a zapper that sounded quite like…
The Arms Dealer blinked at the sight through his tinted glasses in abject bemusement.
Was that a UFO with a ribbon tied to its top? And… a pair of eyes?
The thing answered his unspoken list of questions by firing another beam at the van.
This led to the Arms Dealer promptly picking up the Hyper Beam he'd laid down in the passenger seat, rolling down the window, and blasting the annoyance.
He was soon disappointed by the reveal that it wasn't dead, and… seemed to be regenerating itself through a fancy light show.
So he blasted it again.
The explosion and scattering of parts that followed indicated that the second shot did the trick. He checked the rear view mirrors just to make sure, and beheld a rolling collection of scrap coming to a stop.
It was abundantly clear to him now—in terms of bot designs, there was no accounting for taste. He rolled the window back up and laid the Hyper Beam back in its cushioned seating.
Some minutes later, the Arms Dealer found himself rolling up to the cliffs. Now, all he had to do was find the cave… aaaand there it was.
The van leisurely rolled into the cave, still lit to a comfortable degree by the setting afternoon sun. The Arms Dealer took a moment to park away from the entrance, just for a little extra insurance, then exited his vehicle and walked over to its back.
Checking his watch revealed that he had arrived precisely 64 seconds ahead of the designated meeting time. Not so early that he looked eager, and not so late to affect disinterest. Perfectly suited for how he was approaching this.
32 seconds later, he couldn't help but notice the other party was still conspicuously absent. Naturally, with this being his first meeting with the upstart, he had no idea what to expect. But that didn't stop him from wondering what possessed them to arrive late to—
A bright light filled the cave. The Dealer quickly ducked behind the van, palming the holster at his side. He had no idea how the hell the meeting had leaked, or who was after him, but—
"Goooooood day to you, mister mysterious Arms Dealer! I hope you're ready to barter, because we've come to sell, sell, sell!"
The Dealer stepped away from the van, and beheld a genuine horse-drawn carriage. Holding the reins was a woman with striking red hair, a full winking grin, and a finger on her chin.
[
He found himself sighing. "And people call you the 'Secret Seller?'"
"Well, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone capable of tracking magic-based teleportation, I'll tell you that much!" The woman hopped off from her perch and strode over, thrusting a hand out. "Anna, head of Anna & Sisters. The family tells me you're in the market for some of our products, and that you're willing to offer fair compensation."
The Dealer opted to roll with the punches, accepting the handshake and turning to open the van's back doors. "They'd be right. Hoping you might help me and everyone else in the Eagle Quarter out with some spots of trouble that've been popping up." A click revealed a grand stash of goodies—zappers, bombs, slugthrowers, and enough ammunition to supply a gang war. "Lots of weird shit going on lately, and zappers don't seem to work too well on half of it. So my clients have been asking me to rustle up something different, and from what I hear, you might just be it."
"Oh?" Anna subtly wiped away a thin stream of drool at the shiny loot. "And what, precisely, are you hoping to source from me with this fine stock to take care of these troubles?"
He held up a hand. "I think I'd rather see what you brought with you before I answer that question."
The Secret Seller chuckled. "Savvy! I like that in a business partner. Alright, then, allow me to bring out the goods!" The Arms Dealer picked up the odd-shaped blade and noted it smelled faintly of ozone. "So how exactly do you make it work?"
Anna grabbed her own and pointed to the handle. "Hold the button here, thrust it up while keeping your sights and mind on the target, and it does the rest." She eyed a larger boulder on the other end of the cave. "Like so." A quick skyward brandish saw the blade flash, and an honest-to-god bolt of lightning streak down and strike the rock from a thundercloud that had appeared from nowhere.
Tinted lenses stared at the impossible feat they'd just seen performed. "It's really that simple?"
"Try it and see for yourself!"
…well, at worst, he'd know if it was worth buying. His finger found the button, and the boulder seemed like a good enough target, so he held it down and sharply swung it up…
And down came a second shocking strike.
He hummed appreciatively. "And you said these came in elemental variants?"
There was that winking grin with the finger on her chin again. "Wind Edges, Pyre Blades, and more Levin Swords like these, yup! Light Brands are unfortunately harder to find, but if I do get a line to one, you'll be the first to know!"
The Dealer could practically hear the unspoken "provided nobody outbids you before then." Regardless, this ought to be his primary objective for the meeting satisfied; odds were that magic swords would be just the thing his customers needed to give them the edge they craved over all the madness overtaking the Eagle Quarter. But he'd be a poor businessman if he just up and broadcasted that right away, so he moved on to a different set. "Interesting. What about these beauties?"
"Ahh, taken by the Killer series, are we?" A set of sticky fingers traced their way down the curved razor edge of one of the swords. "Nasty pieces of work, these things. Purpose-forged and lightly enchanted to facilitate surgical targeting and brutal exploitation of enemy weak points." She picked one up, settling into a stance and giving it a few snappy test swings to allow her audience to hear how it seemed to effortlessly slice through the air itself. "Granted, they're not exactly the easiest things in the world to use properly, but if you know your way around one, well!" The redhead smirked. "Let's just say that making metal bleed is well within your reach."
Her prospective buyer had to admit that the red tinting certainly gave them a distinctive air of deadliness. "They kill bots, do they?"
"If they can cut through the powered plate suits of Grust's Sable Order, then they can definitely cut through any old security bot you'll find wandering around," Anna asserted.
The Dealer hummed. "They might just go on the list, then." His sunglasses surveyed the selection again, and found themselves zeroing in on a weapon set themed around a different primary color. "We've gone through yellow, green, and red. How about the blues?"
"Ho-ho! Now we're getting to some of my personal favorites!" Anna practically skipped over to the display. "My dear Dealer, feast your eyes on the Brave set! The ideal fusion of expert forge work and the finest artificers Khadein has to offer. Lethally sharp, light as a feather, and packaged with a particularly special touch of magic that makes it work like an absolute dream in the right hands." Once again, she grasped the gem-capped hilt of the sword on display and settled into a stance. "Observe."
She began swinging, and the Dealer felt his eyebrows steadily rise as her figure began to outright blur while the sound of a blender striking air flowed through the cave. He counted two, four, eight full strokes in the time it had taken her to perform just two with the Killing Edge. By the time five seconds had passed, he'd already lost track of how many cuts she'd performed.
"Hot damn. That's all the weapon's doing?"
The redhead shrugged. "Well, I like to think I'm pretty quick myself, but for the most part? It's like Haste on demand." She held a finger up. "Which, unfortunately, does take a fair bit of getting used to. Word of warning: do not give these to a newbie. They'll be liable to make a mess of things. These are meant for bona-fide capital-H Heroes' hands only."
The Dealer folded his arms. "I imagine they're not cheap."
"Not at all! It's why—and it kills me to say this—they're not for sale." For the first time, he saw her smile drop. "Much as I'd love to trust a fine purveyor of arms like yourself to pay in kind and cart these off to worthy owners, we did only just meet each other, and selling things as valuable as these puppies to a first-time customer would set a precedent we'd like to avoid here at Anna & Sisters."
"Sensible," the Dealer agreed. "Say, while we're on that thought, do you have anything that might act as an upper limit to what you're willing to part with?"
Anna took a moment to think, then moved over near the back of her showcase and hoisted something up with considerable effort. "Maybe… this."
At a glance, it was easy to identify as a shield, but the design was like nothing anyone in the Eagle Quarter had seen before. It had no round edges to speak of—what little curves it had only served to flare out into more points. At the top sat two horn-shaped decorations that looked like they could pierce a man just on their own. And the face itself seemed to be covered in a literal rainbow of what the Dealer could swear were scales.
Anna's description was spoken with no small amount of pride. "For your consideration… the Dracoshield. Hard as all get-out to actually make, on account of being crafted out of real scales from actual-factual dragons, which also makes it a huge pain to lug around, but no other shield I know of can beat the results. You put this thing in front of an attack of any kind, and I guarantee that once everything's over, you're going to be more worried about the arm holding it than anything else." She spared him a smirk. "Hell, it even works against magic—and if it works against magic, I'd be willing to bet it also works against this PSI stuff I've been hearing is popping up around here."
The Dealer squinted at the thing as he silently filed away the information she'd just let slip. "So you're willing to sell this, but not the Brave set?"
"Indeed I am! And that's all the explanation you're getting out of me for the moment." She winked. "I wouldn't be much of a Secret Seller otherwise, now would I?"
It earned her a huffed laugh. "Suppose not. Either way, I think that's enough sampling for now. Whaddaya say we move on to the fun part?"
The grin came back in full force. "I thought you'd never ask!" The sun had just finished tucking itself under the horizon by the time the van left the cave.
All things considered, the Arms Dealer would say he'd made out pretty well. A good chunk of what had been surplus was now a pile of exotic weapons, items, and other implements that he had a feeling would really shake things up throughout the rest of the Eagle Quarter. For better or worse, perhaps, but that wasn't his problem. He was just the middleman.
But now that he was in between locations, he might as well figure out where to go next. Fourside had been rather good to him, but now that he gave it some thought, Monotoli's slow-growing stranglehold was starting to tighten a little too much for his tastes. So he'd be going west for sure, but where to stop?
…well, Threed was going to be first on the way regardless. He could cement his decision then, after he'd had a good night's sleep on an actual bed. And had some time to check up on the local scuttlebutt—news had a tendency to get muddled up in Fourside. He thought he recalled something about a large-scale police cordon in Onett, which seemed insane, and might be worth checking out just to make sure with his own eyes.
If it was true… hm. Kids tended not to have much of a budget, but they could be pretty devious about fixing that particular issue if they wanted something badly enough. Could be a good opportunity for the Dealer to build his skills on talking up his wares.
That was for later, though. For now, he had to—
"MOTHERF-!" He yanked the wheel again at the sight of another Smilin' Sphere… then hit the brakes. "No, you know what? Forget this. You want what's coming to you, you cheeky bitch?" He climbed to the back, grabbed some of his newly-acquired product, and kicked the doors open. "You'll damn well get what's coming to you."
Little miss redhead was right, though. The Dracoshield was a pain in the ass to haul around. Nothing he couldn't handle, though. The Killing Edge fit into his hand nicely too.
Now, to business. "OI! YOU! C'MERE!"
The Sphere, utterly oblivious, took up the provocation and zipped towards the Dealer. While it approached, he caught a flash of orange-red, and snapped the shield up. The next instant, a conflagration exploded in front of it, trying to erase the man behind it… and found itself wanting before the power of the shield.
The Dealer began to feel gloriously vindicated. The feeling only grew when he then heard the sound of something round colliding with and bouncing off the shield, and realized that he'd barely even noticed so much as a vibration.
And now that it was recovering from slamming face-first into an immovable object… "Take this!"
True to Anna's word, the blade cut right through the thing. Which meant that he had to get the shield back in place before it really ruined his day.
Moments later, the desert was lit up by the flash of an explosion. Wonder of wonders, the shield actually moved this time. About half an inch, to be precise.
Parts rolled and rattled away as the Dealer peeked back around. Finding no other hostiles, he spun the shield around to take a look at the damage… and found none to speak of.
"Well, shit," he muttered. "Worth every penny."
Whatever else happened, it was clear that Anna & Sisters had a new customer.
I feel I should note that before the GBA Era, Killer weapons were the ones with the blue color scheme… save for the Killer Bow, which the 90s TCG shows as using a red color scheme. But since I'm of the opinion that red suits them best and blue should be reserved for the Brave weapons, that's how they're appearing here.
And since Gaiden was an NES-era entry, that also means we get access to the equippable variant of the Dracoshield instead of the stat-boosting variant. I've taken the liberty of using the 3DS remake's design of it because fuck it's so cool.
For how the Annas get around, the WARP STAFF! felt like a good explanation for how they've been able to maintain their Secret Seller monikers. They'd certainly have the funds and the capacity to acquire lots of them, I'd think.
On a different note, a little secret—Anna's also been hearing whispers of a project to exceed the results of the Brave set. Supposedly, they'll be paired with ranged capabilities, but the only thing she's been able to confirm is the series' name—'Meister.'
Anyway, I think that's all I've got in me for now. I'm open to changing some stuff if it's not to canon standards, though.
Here in The City the people are as diverse as the zones, the terrors, and the possibilities. One can't expect to exist here and not be surprised by some of the folks and things you can come across. No one can know everything after all. Description: Write an Omake focusing around an obscure game included within the 8-Bit Dystopia setting. Reward: Trigger a Random Event on the next possible turn.
Shedding a Light on-Oops, Wrong Quest.
Doctor Light? Don't be ridiculous, he's dead. Description: Write an omake centered around the exploits of Doctor Light. Reward: +Starts ???
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