(Really that and the hug sum up my opinion, I'm just writing this so I don't get an infraction.)
Thoma's Pursuit
(Really that and the hug sum up my opinion, I'm just writing this so I don't get an infraction.)
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
I'll try and see if I can't get it finished in the next couple of days.
(Really that and the hug sum up my opinion, I'm just writing this so I don't get an infraction.)
Thank you.
Ep 18
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
"Well," Thoma decided, "if you don't trust this 'Dr. Odine', then I don't see any reason why we should."
Lily nodded in agreement, still remaining in her partner's embrace.
Vita, for her part, just scowled. "You seem happy enough to trust that guy and his family," she said while pointing at where DeVille had been some moments prior.
Thoma couldn't really come up with an answer to that - or at least, he couldn't come up with an answer that Vita wouldn't dismiss out of hand - so he just sighed. "In any case, it seems like we all agree that seeing those SeeD people you mentioned sounds like a better idea."
Vita huffed, but chose not to try and force the issue. "In that case, you'd best go ahead and React again, because we've got some more flying to do."
Thoma might have said something, but ultimately chose to just shut up and comply.
___
After some minutes of flying, the trio arrived in the gigantic city of Esthar.
"Wow~," Lily said in amazement. "It's such a beautiful place..."
"Yeah," Vita agreed. "Shame the residents dress like clowns, though."
Shaking her head, the First Lt. gestured for her subordinates to follow. "C'mon, we're heading to the Presidential Residence. I've already made contact with Squall while you were gawking, so they're expecting us. And... try to be on your best behavior, you two?"
Thoma resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and merely nodded. "Yes sir!"
_______
Inside the Presidential residence....
Thoma and Lily both wondered at the construction of the meeting room they were in, before Vita coughed. "Right. These are two of my subordinates, from my home universe - Thoma Avenir, and Lily-Strosek."
Then turning to you, Vita gestures at each of the other individuals in turn. "As for you two, these are the SeeDs I've been working with since I got here: Quistis Trepe; Zell Dincht; Selphie Tilmitt; Irvine Kinneas; and Squall Leonhart, Balamb Garden's new Commander; and his girlfriend Rinoa Heartilly."
Squall appeared to bristle at hearing Vita refer to Rinoa as his girlfriend so bluntly, but ultimately chose not to say anthing.
Thoma, in turn, desperately tried not to think about how similar Squall's fashion sense was to Veyron's.
"...and this is the President of Esthar, Laguna Loire."
Laguna grinned, and happily shook Thoma and Lily's hands. "Great to meet you two," he says. "Now, since I think everyone here's got a lot of questions, I guess it'd probably help to get you two up to speed first. Soooooo," he asks while slouching back slightly, "anything you kids are really burning to know?"
[]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
[]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd really like some help with capturing Deville.
[](write-in; may be any combination or permutation of the above options, and/or something completely different)
Lily nodded in agreement, still remaining in her partner's embrace.
Vita, for her part, just scowled. "You seem happy enough to trust that guy and his family," she said while pointing at where DeVille had been some moments prior.
Thoma couldn't really come up with an answer to that - or at least, he couldn't come up with an answer that Vita wouldn't dismiss out of hand - so he just sighed. "In any case, it seems like we all agree that seeing those SeeD people you mentioned sounds like a better idea."
Vita huffed, but chose not to try and force the issue. "In that case, you'd best go ahead and React again, because we've got some more flying to do."
Thoma might have said something, but ultimately chose to just shut up and comply.
___
After some minutes of flying, the trio arrived in the gigantic city of Esthar.
"Wow~," Lily said in amazement. "It's such a beautiful place..."
"Yeah," Vita agreed. "Shame the residents dress like clowns, though."
Shaking her head, the First Lt. gestured for her subordinates to follow. "C'mon, we're heading to the Presidential Residence. I've already made contact with Squall while you were gawking, so they're expecting us. And... try to be on your best behavior, you two?"
Thoma resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and merely nodded. "Yes sir!"
_______
Inside the Presidential residence....
Thoma and Lily both wondered at the construction of the meeting room they were in, before Vita coughed. "Right. These are two of my subordinates, from my home universe - Thoma Avenir, and Lily-Strosek."
Then turning to you, Vita gestures at each of the other individuals in turn. "As for you two, these are the SeeDs I've been working with since I got here: Quistis Trepe; Zell Dincht; Selphie Tilmitt; Irvine Kinneas; and Squall Leonhart, Balamb Garden's new Commander; and his girlfriend Rinoa Heartilly."
Squall appeared to bristle at hearing Vita refer to Rinoa as his girlfriend so bluntly, but ultimately chose not to say anthing.
Thoma, in turn, desperately tried not to think about how similar Squall's fashion sense was to Veyron's.
"...and this is the President of Esthar, Laguna Loire."
Laguna grinned, and happily shook Thoma and Lily's hands. "Great to meet you two," he says. "Now, since I think everyone here's got a lot of questions, I guess it'd probably help to get you two up to speed first. Soooooo," he asks while slouching back slightly, "anything you kids are really burning to know?"
[]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
[]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd really like some help with capturing Deville.
[](write-in; may be any combination or permutation of the above options, and/or something completely different)
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
Depends on what you're training, and with whom.
Squall or Quistis, for example, would be more than qualified to give you some melee help, which you desperately need.
Vita's probably going to be fairly accommodating if everyone else is, so long as she's actually kept in the loop and is on-hand to supervise what you're doing.
Yeah, this is the best chance we'll get in quite a while to figure out how ridiculous our action was.
[X]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[X]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[X]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[X]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
In that case adding training
[X]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[X]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[X]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
burningclaw2
The Power of the Tomato!
[X]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
And to find out IC that we're awesome.
[X]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[X]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[X]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
[X]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[X]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
[]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
-lordhasen, justinkal, kinglugia, Grimmair
[]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
-veekie, ShadowAngelBeta
[]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
-burningclaw2, Krain,
So I think that the 3-option one would be good?
I'd be willing to switch to it if it helps.
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
If you (or burningclaw2, or someone who voted for the two-optioner) decide to declare a switch to the three-option vote, then I'll go with the three-optioner.
Otherwise, I'm only going with the two-option vote.
[x]Ask about the voice that attempted to possess Lily during the Lunar Cry.
[x]Ask if one of the SeeDs could use some of their para-magic to give Lily a check-up and make sure that there isn't anything wrong with her.
[x]You're fine with what you know so far, but if possible, you'd like if one of the SeeDs could help train you a bit after the meeting.
Ep 19
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
"...and this is the President of Esthar, Laguna Loire."
Laguna grinned, and happily shook Thoma and Lily's hands. "Great to meet you two," he says. "Now, since I think everyone here's got a lot of questions, I guess it'd probably help to get you two up to speed first. Soooooo," he asks while slouching back slightly, "anything you kids are really burning to know?"
Reactor and Driver silently conferred for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, we've got a couple of things bothering us. To start... has the First Lt. told any of you about what happened at the Lunatic Pandora yet?"
Quistis shook her head. "We're aware that it's apparently been destroyed, but we've yet to hear any details from your side." With an encouraging smile, she continued, "that's part of what this meeting is about."
Thoma flushed, slightly, and promptly started looking anywhere else in the room while nervously scratching at his cheek. "Um, right. Yeah. Anyway," he continued, "there's a dangerous disease in our universe that's been going around, called the Eclipse Virus. People who aren't [compatible] with it die within a day or two, and people who are... well, they gain a lot of super-powerful abilities, but at the cost of the Eclipse eating away at their mind. These individuals, infected by the virus, are called [Eclipse Drivers]. Most of them share common abilities like a healing factor or enhanced strength, but some people get bizarre, unique abilities."
"Thoma," Vita stepped in, "has one of those troublesome unique abilities, called the Zero Effect. It's basically a gigantic spherical zone of decay that rapidly kills and disintegrates anything within its radius. Our plan was to use it in an effort to mitigate the effects of the Lunar Cry. In addition to that, Thoma's got a powerful spell called [Divide Zero], which shoots out a giant particle beam."
Vita paused for a moment, contemplating how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Think of it as being similar to Irvine's [Limit Break] when he uses Hyper Ammo, except as a single continuous blast and with vastly superior range."
Squall nodded. "Right... we saw via satellite that you fired it twice -- once at the Lunatic Pandora, and then once into the Lunar Cry itself."
Something occurred to him, then, causing his brow to furrow in thought. "...something prompted you to fire those shots," he guessed. "Something that took you by surprise."
"Shortly after we initiated the Zero Effect," Lily slowly began, "I felt a... a presence of some kind, and it attempted to invade my mind. Thoma eventually realized that it was coming from somewhere inside the Lunar Cry, and..."
"...and then he shot it out of the sky," Quistis concluded.
Rinoa's expression grew troubled, and she visibly moved closer to Squall. "...Lily," she tentatively asked after a moment. "It felt like a scary evil woman, didn't it?"
Lily stepped back in surprise. "...y-you've dealt with it too, then?"
The collected SeeDs sans Quistis and Squall gasped, before the latter sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I know what you're thinking, Commander, and I agree -- if we went to ask Matron about it," Quistis mused, "her experience would probably be pretty similar."
Squall remained silent.
Thoma might not have been the most insightful amongst his colleagues, but even he could make the obvious conclusion. "...you guys all know what this is about. Or at least, you think you know. Right?"
Zell dramatically pounded his fist against the table in anger. "According to ancient legend," he ground out, "there was once a being of immense power, named Hyne. At one time, Hyne wanted to rearrange the planet's surface, but grew tired and wanted to sleep. So before taking his nap, he created a tool that would do his work for him -- people. He gave them instructions on how to do what he wanted, and then went to sleep."
Thoma nodded to show that he was paying attention, though he still didn't understand where the story was going or why it was relevant.
"But when he woke up," Zell continued, "Hyne freaked out when he realized that humanity had evolved and populated the Earth a heck of a lot further than he'd planned on. In order to bring the population back to a 'manageable' level, he burned and slaughtered the little ones that couldn't work as efficiently. Meaning, children."
Lily gasped in horror, while Thoma began angrily clenching his fists as he imagined the scene in his mind's eye.
"Naturally," Quistis continued, "this drove humanity to war against their creator, and despite being little more than ants before Hyne's power, they were still able to overcome him through sheer force of unrelenting numbers. Eventually, defeated and disgraced, Hyne discarded his body and directed his magical powers to inhabit a female human, knowing that the warriors and rulers of the day were especially inclined to protect them. That woman is said to have been the first Sorceress - and ever since then, Sorceresses have passed their power from one woman to the next, with each passing generation."
Laguna decided that it was his time to speak again, though he seemed to be looking past his guests rather than at them. "Several years ago, this country was ruled by a sadistic monster, Sorceress Adel. I managed to defeat her, but killing her would have just caused some other poor girl in the world to inherit the Sorceress Embodiment, and then we might've had to do it all again in another few decades. So instead, with help from Dr. Odine's revolutionary technology, we sealed her powers and shot her up into space. ....anyway, a lot of things happened, and her orbital prison began falling to Earth during the Lunar Cry."
Thoma's blood froze instantly. "So, wait. That voice, talking about destiny before it suddenly stopped, like a transmission had been cut off."
Staring down at his hands, he muttered, "You're saying that... I killed a p-"
Abruptly, the boy stopped, frantically shook his head, and lightly slapped his face, like if he were splashing water to clean himself up. No, I'll... I'll deal with that later. Now's not the time.
"Sorry about that," Thoma said with a grimace. "Um... so, basically it sounds like I ki- shot down some kind of... god-like being, and put it down for good? Is that what I'm supposed to be taking from this?"
Laguna nodded. "Sure seems like it, kid. And I gotta say, I didn't even think the Sorceress Embodiment could be destroyed forever like that." Jovially slapping Thoma on the back, he said, "Color me all kinds of impressed."
The kid's shaken up enough as it is. Telling him that what he did could've caused a time paradox isn't going to help anything.
"R-right," Thoma muttered. "A-anyway, we're all worried if that incident could've had any longer-term harmful effects on Lily, and Vita said that you SeeDs' [para-magic] might be helpful in answering that." Formally bowing his head as the Nakajimas had taught him to do, he asked, "Will you please help us?"
Squall glanced at the mages for all of a second, before nodding. "Selphie, [Junction Exchange] with Quistis and Irvine. Swap out [Pandemona] for [Doomtrain], and [Shiva] for [Siren], and then optimize for [magic]. Cast [Double], and then [Scan] the both of them."
"Roger!" Selphie stood up, and then did a short little dance before shouting, "Double Scan!"
For several seconds, a wealth of medical and biographical information on the subjects poured itself into the brunette's mind, causing her to fall into a trance-like state in order to process it all.
When she snapped out of it, her cheery disposition had dimmed considerably.
"Any problems that you can fix, Selphie?" Irvine asked.
"....well," Selphie began while moistening her lips, "it doesn't look like the run-in with the Sorceress caused much psychological damage for either of them. For what there is..."
Selphie visibly tried to get back into her prior chipper mood in order to improve the room's atmosphere. "My prescription is warm hugs, and lots of 'em!"
Vita and Squall facepalmed at the same time.
"....although," Selphie continued, "I think this [Eclipse] thing they mentioned is showing up as a handful of status effects - both are afflicted with [Curse], while Thoma also scans as being hit with [Poison], [Berserk], [Confusion], and [Doom]."
Turning to look at the two Eclipse infectees, she asked, "Soooooo..... do you guys want me to try and cure that?"
Thoma and Lily glanced at each other, thinking very carefully about their answer.
[]If she can cure the Eclipse, then ask her to do so.
[]Ask Vita what she thinks.
[]...it would be great to be cured, but for the time being we still need the power of the Eclipse.
Laguna grinned, and happily shook Thoma and Lily's hands. "Great to meet you two," he says. "Now, since I think everyone here's got a lot of questions, I guess it'd probably help to get you two up to speed first. Soooooo," he asks while slouching back slightly, "anything you kids are really burning to know?"
Reactor and Driver silently conferred for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, we've got a couple of things bothering us. To start... has the First Lt. told any of you about what happened at the Lunatic Pandora yet?"
Quistis shook her head. "We're aware that it's apparently been destroyed, but we've yet to hear any details from your side." With an encouraging smile, she continued, "that's part of what this meeting is about."
Thoma flushed, slightly, and promptly started looking anywhere else in the room while nervously scratching at his cheek. "Um, right. Yeah. Anyway," he continued, "there's a dangerous disease in our universe that's been going around, called the Eclipse Virus. People who aren't [compatible] with it die within a day or two, and people who are... well, they gain a lot of super-powerful abilities, but at the cost of the Eclipse eating away at their mind. These individuals, infected by the virus, are called [Eclipse Drivers]. Most of them share common abilities like a healing factor or enhanced strength, but some people get bizarre, unique abilities."
"Thoma," Vita stepped in, "has one of those troublesome unique abilities, called the Zero Effect. It's basically a gigantic spherical zone of decay that rapidly kills and disintegrates anything within its radius. Our plan was to use it in an effort to mitigate the effects of the Lunar Cry. In addition to that, Thoma's got a powerful spell called [Divide Zero], which shoots out a giant particle beam."
Vita paused for a moment, contemplating how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Think of it as being similar to Irvine's [Limit Break] when he uses Hyper Ammo, except as a single continuous blast and with vastly superior range."
Squall nodded. "Right... we saw via satellite that you fired it twice -- once at the Lunatic Pandora, and then once into the Lunar Cry itself."
Something occurred to him, then, causing his brow to furrow in thought. "...something prompted you to fire those shots," he guessed. "Something that took you by surprise."
"Shortly after we initiated the Zero Effect," Lily slowly began, "I felt a... a presence of some kind, and it attempted to invade my mind. Thoma eventually realized that it was coming from somewhere inside the Lunar Cry, and..."
"...and then he shot it out of the sky," Quistis concluded.
Rinoa's expression grew troubled, and she visibly moved closer to Squall. "...Lily," she tentatively asked after a moment. "It felt like a scary evil woman, didn't it?"
Lily stepped back in surprise. "...y-you've dealt with it too, then?"
The collected SeeDs sans Quistis and Squall gasped, before the latter sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I know what you're thinking, Commander, and I agree -- if we went to ask Matron about it," Quistis mused, "her experience would probably be pretty similar."
Squall remained silent.
Thoma might not have been the most insightful amongst his colleagues, but even he could make the obvious conclusion. "...you guys all know what this is about. Or at least, you think you know. Right?"
Zell dramatically pounded his fist against the table in anger. "According to ancient legend," he ground out, "there was once a being of immense power, named Hyne. At one time, Hyne wanted to rearrange the planet's surface, but grew tired and wanted to sleep. So before taking his nap, he created a tool that would do his work for him -- people. He gave them instructions on how to do what he wanted, and then went to sleep."
Thoma nodded to show that he was paying attention, though he still didn't understand where the story was going or why it was relevant.
"But when he woke up," Zell continued, "Hyne freaked out when he realized that humanity had evolved and populated the Earth a heck of a lot further than he'd planned on. In order to bring the population back to a 'manageable' level, he burned and slaughtered the little ones that couldn't work as efficiently. Meaning, children."
Lily gasped in horror, while Thoma began angrily clenching his fists as he imagined the scene in his mind's eye.
"Naturally," Quistis continued, "this drove humanity to war against their creator, and despite being little more than ants before Hyne's power, they were still able to overcome him through sheer force of unrelenting numbers. Eventually, defeated and disgraced, Hyne discarded his body and directed his magical powers to inhabit a female human, knowing that the warriors and rulers of the day were especially inclined to protect them. That woman is said to have been the first Sorceress - and ever since then, Sorceresses have passed their power from one woman to the next, with each passing generation."
Laguna decided that it was his time to speak again, though he seemed to be looking past his guests rather than at them. "Several years ago, this country was ruled by a sadistic monster, Sorceress Adel. I managed to defeat her, but killing her would have just caused some other poor girl in the world to inherit the Sorceress Embodiment, and then we might've had to do it all again in another few decades. So instead, with help from Dr. Odine's revolutionary technology, we sealed her powers and shot her up into space. ....anyway, a lot of things happened, and her orbital prison began falling to Earth during the Lunar Cry."
Thoma's blood froze instantly. "So, wait. That voice, talking about destiny before it suddenly stopped, like a transmission had been cut off."
Staring down at his hands, he muttered, "You're saying that... I killed a p-"
Abruptly, the boy stopped, frantically shook his head, and lightly slapped his face, like if he were splashing water to clean himself up. No, I'll... I'll deal with that later. Now's not the time.
"Sorry about that," Thoma said with a grimace. "Um... so, basically it sounds like I ki- shot down some kind of... god-like being, and put it down for good? Is that what I'm supposed to be taking from this?"
Laguna nodded. "Sure seems like it, kid. And I gotta say, I didn't even think the Sorceress Embodiment could be destroyed forever like that." Jovially slapping Thoma on the back, he said, "Color me all kinds of impressed."
The kid's shaken up enough as it is. Telling him that what he did could've caused a time paradox isn't going to help anything.
"R-right," Thoma muttered. "A-anyway, we're all worried if that incident could've had any longer-term harmful effects on Lily, and Vita said that you SeeDs' [para-magic] might be helpful in answering that." Formally bowing his head as the Nakajimas had taught him to do, he asked, "Will you please help us?"
Squall glanced at the mages for all of a second, before nodding. "Selphie, [Junction Exchange] with Quistis and Irvine. Swap out [Pandemona] for [Doomtrain], and [Shiva] for [Siren], and then optimize for [magic]. Cast [Double], and then [Scan] the both of them."
"Roger!" Selphie stood up, and then did a short little dance before shouting, "Double Scan!"
For several seconds, a wealth of medical and biographical information on the subjects poured itself into the brunette's mind, causing her to fall into a trance-like state in order to process it all.
When she snapped out of it, her cheery disposition had dimmed considerably.
"Any problems that you can fix, Selphie?" Irvine asked.
"....well," Selphie began while moistening her lips, "it doesn't look like the run-in with the Sorceress caused much psychological damage for either of them. For what there is..."
Selphie visibly tried to get back into her prior chipper mood in order to improve the room's atmosphere. "My prescription is warm hugs, and lots of 'em!"
Vita and Squall facepalmed at the same time.
"....although," Selphie continued, "I think this [Eclipse] thing they mentioned is showing up as a handful of status effects - both are afflicted with [Curse], while Thoma also scans as being hit with [Poison], [Berserk], [Confusion], and [Doom]."
Turning to look at the two Eclipse infectees, she asked, "Soooooo..... do you guys want me to try and cure that?"
Thoma and Lily glanced at each other, thinking very carefully about their answer.
[]If she can cure the Eclipse, then ask her to do so.
[]Ask Vita what she thinks.
[]...it would be great to be cured, but for the time being we still need the power of the Eclipse.
[jk] MY POWER! MINE!!
None of those scans explain the power up they get either, aside from Berserk.
None of those scans explain the power up they get either, aside from Berserk.
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
Scan doesn't actually pick up Eclipse itself, just individual symptoms/aspects of it.