Sarah sighed as she relaxed on the Warehouse couch. "Right, what we got?"
Adam grumbled. <<Three options, but the only discounts we can steal for points are limited to 600cp maximum. I'll be examining the insertion process closely right now, and the improved logging units should help me get data for 'Research', so hopefully we can bypass that issue in the future.>>
She pulled up a holographic display, her ECHO display systems long since integrated into the Warehouse directly. "
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, +600cp.
Final Fantasy VII, +600cp or more if we weren't limited. And
Teen Titans... Only +400cp?"
He sighed. <<Yeah, and worse than that? The Teen Titan Jump restricts a LOT of purchases to what species you start as AND a lot of the powers are stupid expensive. Heck, not only can't you afford the other species options ANYWAY, some require drawbacks yet prevent you from getting the related points! I'm against that entire Jump on principle at this point. Some of the Drawbacks seemed custom designed to kill uncautious Jumpers.>>
She hummed. "Well, with those 'safe' drawbacks earning us +400cp I could still go for the 'Nerd' background and grab {Technopathy: 400cp, Nerd 200cp} and {Bioengineering: 200cp, Nerd 100cp} with a free {Engineering: 100cp, Nerd 0cp} on top. The rest come with terrible side effects or cost WAY too much really… But yeah, most of this document is way too costly to even try and visit there."
Adam grumbled! <<Even with fully working systems you would need to use some of these terrible drawbacks to get the good stuff. And that doesn't even consider the demonic invasion mentioned on that thing, or that half the more interesting stuff is material goods and equipment that is both expensive and not helpful with us fixing the Warehouse.>>
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
He hummed. <<Some Jump Documents give you libraries with all data from visited jumps or a farm that can attach to this place, new facilities or properties or other Warehouse additions. I'm hoping to find one or two and potentially fix up your place from past damages. Not that this Jump offers anything like that.>>
Sarah shrugged. "Right, so bottom of the list for now. What about the Vampire one?"
He slid data over. <<The Document is slightly corrupted, making it hard to read… And that is obviously concerning. The 'best' drawbacks involve you hanging out with a peppy but not necessarily intellectual teenager, being scared of rabbits, some fun monologuing options, and my planned memory wipe. See notes for details.>>
Hesitantly she checked his suggestions. "I'm a bit worried about long term memory loss of ANY kind, Adam."
The skull 'waved' it off. <<Nah, going to make a new 'brain' for the Jump to wipe clean while locking down your real memories until after the trip. No real data loss, and it will be easier to sort information later on your journey. No long term risk.>>
Fair enough. "Aside from the strange font changes, why do I feel like you don't like this Jump either?"
Adam showed her some excerpts. <<Several drawbacks are literal torture with moral temptation and lots of innocents and bystanders suffering. Not a big fan of that.>>
Yeesh. "Yeah, that is horrifying." Half these seem designed to cause long term mental trauma for any people picking them too.
He agreed. <<Plus, while it offers a few identities and lots of species options, all the powers seem twisted to mental effects and social alterations. Big power ups that also make you terrifying to view or mentally corrupting those around you. And again, the odd font choice makes me worried that it could be WORSE than what is stated here.>>
She winced. "Like it only lists the downsides it is FORCED to tell us about?"
Adam sighed. <<Yeah. Look at {Brilliant: 300cp} for example. Makes you super smart… But then explicitly mentions that other smart people would trap you in a hell dimension due to it. And that isn't even a drawback or complication!>>
Sarah glanced over the others… A 'relax during combat' option that made you nympho and allowed you to arouse those around you for either a fun time or easier rape attempts, depending on how much of an asshole you were. An option to have advanced understanding of relationships specifically designed to tear teams apart, mind control with mental dependancy and enslavement, it was all just tainted.
Oh, flying! But {Flight: 500cp} was stupid expensive AND mentions that while air pressure wouldn't be an issue, OTHER THINGS WOULD BE. Possibly even forcing 'random events' to toss birds and demons and drones in the way just to mess with you. And it had a set hard limit on speed of 70mph total, not a restriction on acceleration rates instead! Activate this while on a airplane and you would instantly get squished as it left you behind while your corpse was touching it.
She sighed. "And these were the best options?"
Adam shrugged. <<We are still fleeing from the death zones towards more stable Jumps. And these documents might be damaged or slightly altered due to how warped this section of existence is in general.>>
Fair enough. "So why is the Final Fantasy option so good?"
He grinned. <<Lots of drawbacks that don't hurt you or others AND one or two that are just free points since we don't have the companion options available.>>
Hmm. "Well, I don't actually care if we use all +600cp, so let's first find out if there is an ability or two I want first and then add drawbacks enough to pay for it."
Adam hummed. <<Fair enough. Though I will say in advance not to worry so much about acquiring Materia from the Jump Document. The stuff is solidified life force used for magic, and we can get it easily enough once you arrive to study and make our own with some 'Research' I bet. Everyone there also has to 'equip' the orbs into armor and weapons to use them, and that seems like a weakness we should work around at some point.>>
Makes sense.
Sarah glanced over the options. A few would give local information or skills, which she could steal or learn herself easily enough. More would grant combat ability, which was WELL covered already at this point. Limit Breaks were mentioned, but she basically had her own thanks to [[Phase Pierce]] letting her spy elsewhere and teleport a gunshot to her target.
Oh sure, it claims to fire THROUGH everything, but Adam tested it often enough when she got bored in Rapture and started sniping people in the midst of trying to murder each other. The bullets literally phase out of existence before reappearing nearly inside her targets, which was pretty handy really.
Still not ENTIRELY sure where the bullets go during travel, it isn't the Warehouse and Adam said it wasn't the Abyss, whatever that meant, but it worked and she didn't need ANOTHER super attack for a big cost.
No, her focus was on the magic!
{Mage: 100cp, Cetra 0cp} would let her have a massive MP pool and more easily connect to and utilize Materia. {True Magic: 600cp, Cetra 300cp} would let her memorize any Green Materia she ever connected with for permanent use, although it won't be as efficient or affect her Avatar the way connecting to Materia through standard methods would as there wouldn't be concentrated Planet/Human Life Force involved in the process.
{Improved Materia Growth: 200cp} doubles the growth of Materia, which was only interesting to Sarah because that implies she would somehow process gathered life force from defeated foes and either enhance the stuff, purify it, or gather more of it for Materia enhancement. But it was on the bottom of her maybe pile.
Hmm… Yeah, looks like she was going to go Cetra this Jump. What were the features?
{
Cetra: 200cp} [
Also known as the Ancients, the Cetra have an innate and deep connection to the planet and the life stream, from which all life flows, and have powerful magic abilities. The Cetra are nearly extinct, there is only a single other living Cetra, unless you take this background and make it two. However, Shinra wants you for its own purposes, and they will utilize all the vast resources at their disposal to capture you. They will do unpleasant things to you if you are captured. Take the Hunted drawback without receiving any points.]
Ouch.
Meh, even with {Cetra: 200cp} that would let her still get {Mage: 100cp, Cetra 0cp} and {True Magic: 600cp, Cetra 300cp} for +500cp, and she wasn't really super interested in the improved Materia growth option in the first place.
As for an army hunting her, it sounds fun! But first better make sure she can afford another 100cp in the first place now that the Hunted drawback was going to be worth +0cp.
Out of the list, the only real acceptable ones were these five (One forced on her):
{
Random Encounter: +100cp} [
You get attacked really often. REALLY often, you can't go to the bathroom without a random encounter. Overrides Enemy Away Materia if you have it.]
{
Why would they be carrying money?: +100cp} [
For some reason, the monsters you kill don't drop Gil and the people you kill never seem to have wallets. Overrides Loot if you have it.]
{
Party Size: +200cp} [
For the duration of this Jump, you can only have 2 companions active at a time instead of the normal 8.]
{
Hunted: +200cp, Cetra +0cp yet Mandatory} [
Shinra has decided, for whatever reason, that it wants you. In order to acquire you, they've sent the Turks after you. The Turks are powerful trained killers and will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals. If the Turks aren't enough, Shinra will throw more of its nearly limitless resources at you.]
{
Identity Crisis: +300cp} [
This drawback does a couple of things: First, you forget everything from before entering this world; Second, your memories of life in this world belong to someone who died just before you arrived. You will believe with all your heart that you are this person. You will still have all abilities and powers despite not remembering them or how to use them. The Amnesia is not absolute, you will have periodic flashbacks of older memories and struggle to determine which are real. Companions from outside the Jump will know everything and will be too scared to tell you about the situation, which will likely cause trust issues.]
Thankfully picking {Identity Crisis: +300cp} would let her only have to also go with {Party Size: +200cp} and {Why would they be carrying money?: +100cp} to hit the +600cp cap. She really didn't want to be attacked on the damned toilet!
Oh, and she would be stuck with {Hunted: +200cp, Cetra +0cp yet Mandatory} of course, but from what she could tell Shinra seemed like a dick company anyway.
Adam hummed. <<Yeah, the human experimentation and willingness to kill an entire eighth of Midgar City, Shinra's Capital, only to more easily blame some terrorists and kill off some poor people? It all makes them assholes.>>
Sarah paused. "Oh my god, is this another Rapture situation?"
He blinked. <<Maybe? If Frank Fontaine founded the place and Andrew Ryan's brilliance was dedicated to unlimited profit rather than unlimited market growth. The Shinra Corporation already own the entire planet basically, a lot of the kid torture and super soldier stuff is to more easily oppress distant cultures and find some sort of magical afterlife to then harvest it for even MORE money. And maybe find some super magic, even though that seems to be a lower priority.>>
What. The. Fuck.
Adam hummed. <<I know! I mean, Shinra already makes double the amount of energy they need or sell harvesting the planet's life force currently, but half that is being wasted to try various experiments and test weapons to find a legendary Cetra 'Promise Land', and it isn't clear why. They can already make their own Materia, they have control of the economy, the majority of the planet serves them, but nah. Not good enough.>>
Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I'd probably have taken the {Hunted: +200cp, Cetra +0cp yet Mandatory} drawback no matter which background I went with. Fuck those guys."
Adam hummed. <<Yep! Though if you take Identity Crisis, I will be setting up brand new training programs and stuff in your new memory so you can handle yourself better before something too dangerous happens.>>
She rolled her eyes. "Adam, I can rip steel with my fingers and Mr. McStabberson can pierce bedrock accidently if I give him a toss."
He mentally shrugged. <<Yeah, but I worry you know.>>
Aww. "Thanks Boss." Right, so last choices! "I can either drop another drawback, the one stopping me from robbing everyone for cash, or get something else for +100cp."
Adam pulled up a screen. <<The drawback would still let you take their clothing, armor, weapons, and Materia. And the body parts from the monsters. Just no money.>>
Right. "Then let's find something to spend +100cp on!"
Spend it to pick her age and (if desired) change gender? Nah, let's do the free 'Roll 1d8+17' option! And… A four! Ooh, 21! A very lucky age, drinking rocks!
Unless this place had a lower or higher drinking limit. Or any limits at all. Meh.
Starting location for 100cp? Nah, 1d8 dice instead! Come on RNJesus, give us something good! Six! What was six?
...Wutai? Huh.
So ninjas! A place with ninjas that apparently suffered a massive setback from one of the many wars led by Shinra, but also a lovely location to visit. And Shinra reinforcements would take a LONG time to come try and kidnap her due to distance, assuming the Jump didn't just automatically tell people where she was and have a team sent out before her arrival.
Which sounds distressingly possible. Sheesh.
Perks! What free stuff do we get?
{
Voice of the Planet: +300cp, Cetra 0cp} [
You can hear the voice of the planet! You are aware of what state the planet is in, including if it's hurting and what's hurting it. In addition, you can occasionally hear from the recently departed.]
Uh. What? "Adam, do I NEED to pick this one?"
He glanced over it. <<It's inherent to the nature of being a Cetra. So yeah, basically.>>
Shit. "What if he or she… Or it? What if the planet is an asshole or something?"
Adam 'shrugged'. <<Meh, I can make a filter for it. Being able to hear it doesn't REQUIRE you to listen to it all the time.>>
Fair enough. Onwards!
Maybe purchase this {PHS: 100cp, Drop-in 0cp}, or 'Party Handling System'? Nah. No need to get the info dumps either, or better monster hunting skills, or 'dirty fighting', or bringing in non existent Jump Companions.
Anything in the Gear section?
{Weapon: 0cp} and {Armor: 0cp} were neat, and a quick question from Adam would allow her to substitute her OWN equipment, Mr. McStabberson and her Bone Armor, giving them both two Materia Slots. Neither of the slots would be connected to each other, but maybe she could fix that later.
A nonmagical and basic map, no. A collection of tiny model Shinra Soldiers (50cp each, collect all 12!), no. Money? Not much offered, doesn't renew per Jump, and not worth cp points, so nope! Next!
Survival kit? Nah. Upgraded Weapon or Armor with four total Materia Slots, still unconnected? Nope. Couldn't afford both of them anyway, that would be 200cp.
{Packet of Phoenix Downs: 100cp, Cetra 0cp} was free loot, so woo! However this stuff didn't actually resurrect the patient from the dead, only helping those who were very nearly dead get better... So maybe the patient needed an active brain? Or a retained Soul?
Basically it was a full triage and trauma treatment option, but not a full cure. It would stop you from bleeding out and ensure you were prepared for active combat, but not do anything close to a casting of something Adam had listed over here called 'Life2' which would fully restore someone from scrap to max health and fitness.
Which was neat!
So note to self: Find a 'Revive Materia' and grab that quickly to learn 'Life' and 'Life2'. It might only be useful for a combat medic, as it didn't just cure wounds or stop status effects and ONLY applied to those near death, but it still sounded super useful!
No, don't get sidetracked, focus!
Right.
A 'free' (100cp was NOT free!) lifetime pass to an expensive theme park? No. A bunch of massively expensive stuff Sarah couldn't afford anyway? No.
Ooh! She would certainly snag {Basic Spell Materia: 0cp}, which would give her Fire, Bolt, Ice, and Cure! Free stuff is free stuff, and her other Jump Document purchases would let her use weaker versions of these without needing these Materia later.
Apparently being a Cetra would also give a 50% discount on any other Materia costs too!
Adam sighed. <<Don't do it.>>
Aww! But half off!
He rolled his eyes. <<It will be FREE when we rob the rich army coming to enslave you.>>
Oh. Well yeah, good point.
At least she would get {Basic Summoning Materia: 100cp, Cetra 0cp}... These Red Materia couldn't be internalized like the Green ones, but Sarah would be able to summon
Choco/Mog,
Shiva, and
Ifrit for a single attack.
Hmm...
Choco/Mog would use '
DeathBlow!!' 15/16 times, or once in a while attack with '
Fat-Chocobo', which just sounded adorable.
The 'Choco' was one of the many bright yellow happy ostrich like birds famous in the Final Fantasy franchise, while 'Mog' was of course one of the small pink Moogle teddy bear things that tend to be shop owners and interdimensional merchants (Don't ask).
'
DeathBlow!!' would do non-elemental damage to all enemies with a 40% chance to freeze them in time for a bit, while '
Fat-Chocobo' just dropped a big fat baby chick on everyone. Which uh... WOW, that was a fat bird. Bigger than a house! Holy crap.
Skipping over to
Ifrit, he seemed to be a fire demon. Who cast '
Hellfire' to burn targets. Woo.
And
Shiva... Uh.
Oh.
Hello.
Adam chuckled. <<So...?>>
Fine, for an ice lady she's hot as hell! "Shut up! I'm just looking over the Summoning Materia for no objectionable reason!"
For someone surrounded by ice she clearly doesn't feel that wearing a shirt is necessary, she basically had the equivalence of a risqué pink swimsuit top and some obscenely tight blue pants with a pink belt. Damn.
And her green hair had a massive ponytail, and she wore this small crystal (maybe ice?) on her forehead, and holy CRAP she was attractive!
Oh, and she could create an arctic wind torrent of ice and snow called '
Diamond Dust', but that didn't seem super important right now.
Damn girl!
Adam coughed. <<Sarah? You were trying to spend your last 100cp?>>
She blinked. "Can I refuse the other two summoning materia and invest it all into Shiva's to improve hers?"
He paused. <<Uh. Maybe?>> He went off mentally to do something while Sarah examined the image data Adam had extracted with his improved Jump Document modules. Dat ass though. Elizabeth would be ALL over that.
Adam focused. <<Yeah, it will slow the Materia growth rate significantly for her but you will be able to have that Materia absorb other Red Summoning Materia purchased or discovered later. Not sure HOW it will improve the thing, but 'Research' says it will be noticeable.>>
Sarah quickly did some math. "Maybe I could also add in the Green Materia I get? I can internalize those skills after all, no reason to keep them hanging about or sell them for worthless money!"
He shook his skull. <<Nah, the colors matter somehow. If you find any more Red Summon Materia, they shouldn't have issues, but the other colors won't help anything if you try to combine them. And it's probably for the best, since getting her Materia via the CP Document will let
Shiva operate outside this Jump anyway if I am reading this correctly... Dumping other color Materia into her might cause damage when we leave.>>
Well, no point in grabbing Status Spell Materia or the rest if they won't improve the cool lady of frostiness. And the stupid document wouldn't let her buy more duplicate Summoning Materia to help either, because it was stupid. Jerk Jump Document.
Skipping down the list, nothing seemed worth the investment. Maybe grab a half off Basic Support Materia and Basic Command Materia for 100cp total? Meh. Basic meant they would be easy to pick up later, and cp was valuable.
In the end, she picked up {Morph: 200cp, Cetra 100cp}, which was a Yellow Command Materia that would use a very weak magical attack to transform a foe into a useful item or maybe some handy equipment if it finishes them off. An odd Transmutation or Transfiguration skill, but potentially useful!
Couldn't be combined with her sniper rifles, at least not without Adam doing something broken, but at least if an army of tiny bugs or something bothers her she could get something handy out of it. Maybe.
Adam finalized the document. <<Right, you ready for this? Got your goals together? Last chance to make any changes.>>
Sarah nodded! "Find ALL the Red Summon Materia and build the ultimate sexy snow lady to bring back home to my army of girlfriends!"
The Warehouse was quiet. Adam raised a skullish eyebrow. If he had one.
She winced. "Also, save the planet and stop the bad people and stuff."
Adam chuckled. <<Close enough. Jump Document confirmed, Destination locked: Prepare for Avatar Storage.>>
Sarah grinned as she headed off to a place with LOADS of acceptable targets! Monsters, an evil empire, lots of loot and hot ice ladies!
This was going to be awesome!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah Kisaragi flinched as another odd memory flashed through her mind.
Something was wrong.
She just didn't know what.
Another pain spiked her mind, her thoughts skipping.
Ever since showing up babbling and confused in Wutai Village, it had never been this bad. Yuffie said it would get better, her father Gado had invited her into their home, but everything was so confusing.
She was a… Soldier? Or not? She used to be… Captured? Or the one capturing others? Even her identity was mostly lost, with Gado Kisaragi letting her use his family name for the medical paperwork.
Her vision blurred and dimmed at the edges as more pain hit her system.
What… What was… Why…
She nearly made it back to her borrowed room, the last she saw was Yuffie running towards her with concern before it all went black.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
==And I've been moving the junk out so the new flowers got LOTS of sunshine! You'll love how big the new ones are getting, I bet I will sell lots and mom won't
worry so much!==
{{A warm day, a soft wind, sunshine.}}
==Yeah, it's going great, and I almost earned enough to get a brand NEW flower wagon, mom says she'll help me paint it and it's going to be awesome!==
{{Affection,
hidden poison infecting the pool, a meadow.}}
==Are… Are you alright?==
{{Hand waves, restful evening, a tree that stands against the storm!}}
==Well, as long as you say so.==
{{Smile, a warm embrace,
a ninja…?}}
==Uh. What?==
{{Confusion? Outsider? Friend? Foe?}}
<<OW MY
GOD DAMNED HEAD!>>
==Oh my!==
{{Confusion?}}
<<
ADAM! You sick bastard, that doesn't count as an 'Identity Crisis'! That was a damned MENTAL ATTACK!>>
==Eh, hello?==
{{Confusion.}}
<<At least the inserted memory helped me clear stuff up, once my MASSIVE MIGRAINE WENT AWAY! What the
HELL!?>>
<<S̳h̗͔̪̩͖͇̦h̥͔̩̩͉̪̹h̜̺̬͉,͉͇̦͉ ̬̱̳̳y͓̘o͓͇̳̮u'̦̗͇re ͎̼̘̯s͎̭̩̺͈ͅtuc͇̪̮̪̮k̞̻̙̤̹͎̞ ̰̳̣i̯n͇̻̼̝̗ ̹̯͓̤b͕̭͉r̝̘̱̙o̞̩̣̫͔̩͔ạ̪̜̥̱̘̻d̟̥̹̭̙c̙̠͙as͈̣̰t̟ị̘̖͔̳̝͍n͇̫̪͈g̥ ̹̼̻m͓odͅe̙.͖̹͖̫>>
==
EEP!==
{{Alarm! Confusion!?}}
<<Don't you shush me! I got a ninja girl freaking the hell out because my head nearly exploded on her doorstep! And what do you mean, stuck in broadcasting mode!?>>
<<̪̝I̞ͅ'̪̼̰͙̤͇̣m ͈̰f̪͚̯̙̝͈i͖͉̬͉͕̟x͉̠̞͕̫͍̰i̲̮̻͉̦̱̱n̘̗͕͕͓g̻̠̹ ̠͉̙i̜͓̝̺̯̣t͔̠̳̠̣̣!̗͕͉̖ ̟>>
<<Whatever, don't care what you are doing, but I am broadcasting to who?>>
==
Uh… Hello?==
{{
Severe concern. Cautious salutations?}}
<<Oh.>>
…
<<Uh. Hi?>>
{{Less concern, but significant confusion.}}
==Ah. Hello! I'm Aerith! It's uh… Nice to meet you? You two?==
<<Oh shit, a little girl and what I assume to be the planet can hear you Adam.>>
<<I̳̬̮̝̹͚͕ ̝̻͍̦̤S͖A̤͓̬̟ID̙̥͉ ̦I̱̬̰̺ͅ'͈͙̺M͚̮͚͓̫͇̞ ̳͖̝̝F͚̝̼̞ͅI̜͓͖͓̥͉ͅX̞̺͎͕I̭͈͈NG̭̫̺͈̗ ̻I̮̙T̜!͖̲̫̪͈̰>>