The Fourth Thread
Jan 22, 2009 11:07:24 GMT -5
Post by Skylos on Jan 22, 2009 11:07:24 GMT -5
[Below are synopses written by Ralph. I (Caleb) am going to read through the arcs and see if it needs elaboration or any corrections/additions.]
[Editor's note: Time Books 1, 2, and 3 occur before the first arc of the Fourth thread. Due to their short nature, they will not be given a synopsis in the timeline so I will link you to them. They're pretty quick reads.]
The First Book: www.clrp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=clrpg&action=display&thread=20
The Second Book: www.clrp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=clrpg&action=display&thread=26
The Third Book: www.clrp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=clrpg&action=display&thread=27
[Editor's note: Masamune takes his first trip to Tibet.
]
Love and War: Two weeks after the group returns from Japan, Akio crash lands into the cabin's roof in the early morning, waking everyone up. He explains to everyone that he is on the run from a mysterious villain called Salus, who is causing trouble in the Love Demon Realm. When this happens, all the groups' personalities flip due to some power release that happened when Akio had crashed into the roof. Neon acts like a scared child, Rem grows a pair, Skylos acts like Neon normally does, Musashi seems to be smart, Masamune thinks everyone needs to feel the love and get along, Halo is abusive, Keera thinks she's got street cred, and Ponic just seems to not care about anything.
Mumiyoshi arrives back at the Nexus where he finds Omni waiting for him. Mumiyoshi and Omni chat a bit about hiding Orochi's crystals and they both decide to each keep one on them. Mumiyoshi considers the Nether Realm for one hiding place while Omni considers Prime and the Void Realm. Omni mentions Unique Souls for the first time and Mumiyoshi asks for an explanation. Omni tells him that normally, everyone has 500 other counterparts in Reality, one for each Terra. A Unique Soul is someone that does not have any counterparts and they have access to the Prime Universe. Mumiyoshi thinks it will be quite awkward to run into himself. Omni tells him not to worry about it since all of his counterparts will be different from him, so running into them would probably be difficult to do. He gives Mumiyoshi a Light Prism so that he can visit his house and the two part ways.
Meanwhile, Elios, inside of Macellare, arrives back in France. Macellare is a bit annoyed with Elios because he seems to moan and whine a bit. She is headed for the cabin, but then Omni happens to arrive from the Nexus in front of her the next instant. He asks her to come up with a good reason for him to not kill the two of them on the spot. Elios goes into a panic and tells Macellare to come up with something because he can't think. Macellare asks why she's being dragged into this and Omni states it's because she's housing that traitor, Elios. Macellare is annoyed and states that it wasn't her decision. Elios then finds it ironic that Omni can fight for his family but Elios can't. Omni gets disgusted and notes that Elios failed to see that what he did could have caused the end of Reality. He sarcastically calls him a Hero and then stalks off, too disgusted to even continue the conversation.
Omni ends up at Eric's base. He has business here and tells Eric that he wants to help him make a pair of gauntlets for Rem that can use Demon Orbs. Eric thinks it's a good idea and even states that he had thought of doing the same, but hadn't had time. Omni asks if he could lend a hand and Eric agrees. Omni also states that he'd like Rem's old pair of gloves in exchange, but Omni will have to ask Rem about that. Omni produces a plain pair of steel gauntlets to use as a base. Using plasma as a power source, Omni and Eric begin work on the new gauntlets for Rem.
Back with the group, several of them threaten Akio with death for causing the emotional swap, but they agree to go with him to stop Salus, who simultaneously sends his minions Chisero and Elsa to kidnap Keera, whom he has a picture of and intends to make his Queen. Chisero and Elsa fight Yisha, trying to make her tell them where Keera is.
After a bit of time passes, Omni finishes the demon orb extension and Eric finishes the wiring. Omni explains that the bracelets have six slots each and connect to the end of the gauntlets and also double as wrist guards. Omni then adds a Light, Darkness, Void, and Aura Demon Orb to four of the slots as an added bonus. Eric then showcases a few other things he is currently making for Rem. There's a shield that acts like a Light Mirror that can deflect Power and extensions to Rem's boots that can make him fly. Draco then enters and Omni meets him for the first time. He is shocked at his likeness to Rem. Eric explains that Izerion made him and he turned into a Void Human because of his Twilight Shard. Omni asks Draco whether he is evil or not, and the clone states that he was only evil a short time. They then joke about Mire for a bit. Omni wishes to take the finished project home with him to add some more materials to reinforce them. Eric thinks it's a good idea so they part ways. Draco then sneaks off with Omni without him knowing.
The group is taken to the Love Demon Realm where Akio instantly finds a hurt Love Demon. The Love Demon states that the man Salus is making his way to the castle to overthrow the Love Demon King. Skylos rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the castle, annoyed that everyone is being so slow. Masamune apologizes profusely and catches up with Skylos. All's Halo can think about is sleeping and eating. Rem makes snide comments about not being friendly towards Halo.
Zukia and Tom then meet one another and question each other about the power surge they had felt earlier. Zukia then makes small talk with Tom since neither one knows the source and they find that they are both familiar with the group. Zukia explains that he had been on the bad side and was happy that the group managed to free him. It was coded into his species that they had to help the people that saved their life, so he was stuck working with the Ruin's Master. Tom recollects about his time with the Hakata and notes to him that being on the enemy's side can have its ups since it puts them in a close position. Zukia then proceeds to talk about his race which is part bug. Tom seems fairly interested and asks him a lot of questions.
Keera, although present when Akio arrived but didn't go to the Love Demon Realm, then turns up to Yisha's fight to see what all the fuss is about is promptly abducted by Chisero after a short fight while Elsa 'reprograms' Yisha.
Chisero returns with Keera and Salus promises her a bonus hot dog for her efforts. He then commands that Chisero go find any hindrances that are in the realm and to deal with them. He also mentions to take the scary guy next to Chisero but there really isn't anyone else there. Chisero is confused but quickly locates the groups' Auras. Skylos gets annoyed and says that they're in a hurry so Chisero needed to get out of the way.
Back with Macellare, she is quite annoyed with Elios because he won't shut up. They know it has to do with the Love Demons but Elios simply cannot stop whining due to his personality shift. Macellare wishes that he'd stop yapping, causing Elios to become hurt and think that she doesn't want him there. Macellare states that it's not the case, but that he's becoming bothersome in his state; her mind is usually pretty quiet. Elios changes the subject by asking her if she'd like to train her Water. Macellare actually seems pumped to train for once and takes him up on the offer.
Skylos, followed by Masamune, ditches the fight to go straight for Salus, leaving Rem and Ponic to deal with Chisero. Masamune catches up with Skylos and tells him that they need to stick together. Skylos harshly tells him that he's skipping the mid-boss and going directly to the final boss. [Editor's note: You know, that really does make sense...Silly RPGs.] Masamune finally agrees to go with him, but he asks Skylos how he knows where to go. Skylos responds that he locked on to the strongest Aura he could sense and he's heading in that direction. Masamune and Skylos proceed to talk about their plans after this annoyance of a trip ends and Masamune admits that he has do idea what to do. Skylos states that he wants to visit Tranductus or Omni, but he just can't keep calm around Omni since he bugs him. They then talk about what their enemy may be like and decide that it's probably another crazy.
[Caleb's progress: Page 19]
Meanwhile, Chisero is beaten by Rem and Ponic, largely thanks to an upgraded pair of gauntlets made by Eric and Omni and sent to Rem mid-fight, and it is revealed that all along she was possessed by a Blood Demon. When the Blood Demon is destroyed, Chisero, freed, dies in a pool of blood.
Meanwhile, Elsa and a moral-compass-flipped Yisha fight Tom and Zukia, and are about to be beaten when Elsa's Hate Demon side, which was locked away by Salus' hypnotism, resurfaces. Elsa still loses, but manages to escape. Elsa, still in Hate Human mode, is determined for revenge on Salus, and so catches up with him and kills him, causing his other minions to flee and the group's personalities to return to normal.
[Editor's note: This arc would have been longer in terms of content, but it was the first to be terminated under the one-month rule.]
While all this is going on, on Terra 000, Sotec and Noah decide to investigate the recent surge of activity at the Universal Nexus. This leads to them finding Yamiken, who pursues them to Terra 000. The entire Terra 000 group, along with Tranductus, then meets Yamiken at the Nexus, and Noah bets him Terra 000 that he can beet him. Yamiken wins however, and the rest of the group, reluctantly (with the exception of Belak, Zeak and, when he recovers, Noah himself), honour Noah's bet. Yamiken is then informed of Toraken, and decides to try and recruit him to his army.
The battle with Toraken is short lived, as Borboros knocks Toraken out from behind, with one punch. Borboros explains to Yamiken that he felt his aura from several Terras away, and was concerned. He also mentions a Terra (010) where there is a four-way war, which Yamiken might be interested in (which proves to be quite correct
).
The Terra 001 Crusade (AKA, Unlocking a Universe of Trouble): At the Universal Nexus, Omni and Yamiken bump into each other once more when the latter is returning from his fight with Toraken on Terra 000. Omni tells Yamiken that he's figured out a way to use Hanzou's core to get into the locked universe of Terra 001. He invites Yamiken along on the trip, then does the same with Skylos, Neon, Masamune, Ponic, Halo and Rem (not mentioning that Yamiken's also coming until they've already agreed, of course). On Terra 001, they find eight islands floating in the air above a stagnant sea - a large central one with a fortress, six smaller ones with generators keeping the islands afloat and an eight island which they've landed on. They are promptly greeted by Jacques, a Time Human who's Jack's counterpart, who leads them to his hideout and tells them that Rem's counterpart, Remedio, recently acquired a purple stone (a Dimension stone, in fact) and used it to lock the universe and enslave all of the group's other counterparts, apart from Jacques himself.
Jacques then explains that he can revive the universe with a special song; however, he needs someone else who can play a musical instrument, a role Neon volunteers for. Of course, Remedio also needs to be defeated to unlock the universe, so while Jacques gives Neon a crash course in playing his part, the rest of the group sans Omni go to the generators to destroy them, thus sinking the central island and forcing Remedio out into the open. Each of the generators is guarded by one of the possessed counterparts; Jacques asks the group to kill them, as they're no longer themselves anymore. And so, the fights develop as follows: Skylos fights Alice's counterpart, Banjo, a Wolf Demon, Masamune fights Ponic's counterpart, Spark, a Lightning Human, Halo fights Skylos' counterpart, Vale, a Blood Human (ie. vampire), Rem fights Halo's counterpart, Ring, a Power Demon, Ponic fights Zach's counterpart, Jet, a Dark Human and Yamiken fights Neon's counterpart, Nero, a Water Human.
All these fights are successful, and Remedio makes an appearance to fight the group. After a short contest with Omni over who can move the islands the most, he retreats back into the fortress, prompting the entire group to follow him. Each of them except for Jacques fight a Remedio clone in a separate room; after this and a subsequent ribbing match between Yamiken and Ponic, the group pursue the real Remedio into a ballroom of sorts. All apart from Neon and Jacques are trapped behind a wall of Crystal as Remedio reveals himself to be a Crystal Demon; fortunately, Neon and Jacques are able to see him off. The entire group pursues him up to the roof, where he is finally defeated for good. Jacques steals the Dimension Stone and is possessed, trying to destroy the universe with a song; fortunately, Neon is able to execute the song he was taught earlier to counter it and restore the universe to its original beautiful condition. Neon and Jacques then full unconscious; Omni recovers the Dimension Stone from the latter. While Omni sorts out the now-human Remedio, Skylos and Masamune got exploring and discover a temple with two mysterious orbs, one white and one black, which turn out to be the Light and Dark True Demon Cores. Skylos takes the Light one and Masamune the Dark; Masamune's speaks to his in his mind and tells him he'll be rewarded if he keeps it safe. To ensure Yamiken doesn't find out about their acquisitions, Skylos shields his and Masamune's minds.
The entire group then returns to the Nexus. Here they're unexpectedly ambushed by Krystallos. However, they're able to get back to Terra 002 before any are harmed. Omni and Yamiken promptly go off to track Krystallos, tracing him to the previously locked universe of Terra 499; meanwhile, the group have a party, but halfway through are interrupted by Keiji and Lu Bu, leading Skylos to teleport them to safety. Borboros then shows up and tackles Skylos, taking his True Demon core and then demanding Masamune's. Masamune fights back, assisted by Musashi and Kojirou, but before the fight can get out of hand his core manages to communicate through the mind block and tell him just to hand it over to Borboros. With this situation diffused, Borboros flies off with both cores.
[Following is a little out of order, but this seems the most convenient place to put it.] A little while later, Omni, having finished with Hanzo's core, gives it a new home - Skylos' mind. (Wonder where that's going?)
The Soul Stealing Chaos Humans: [Note: this first event technically happened before this arc began, but it's worth putting here because it's important to some of the events in the arc itself.] While the main group go on the Terra 001 crusade, Yisha, fed up with being left on her own all the time, decides to go on an adventure of her own - namely, revisiting her old home town. What she finds there is upsetting, though - her mother, having already been admitted to a psychiatric ward for her schizophrenia, was recently killed by Yisha's father, who escaped from jail. Yisha then goes back to her old house, only to find her father himself, who, after a slightly deranged rant about his feeling about Yisha and her mother, is shot by the police. Yisha, in a daze, leaves the scene and returns back to the cabin, where the rest of the group have gotten back by now. After attempts by Musashi, Masamune, Ponic and Keera to comfort her, she suddenly runs out and heads towards the city, with the afore-mentioned four in hot pursuit, fearing she's going to do something rash. However, Ponic and Keera lose track of her, while Musashi is detained by his arch-nemeses - moles - so consequentially, when Yisha reaches the city and heads to the top of a tall building, only Masamune is there with her. Masamune apparently manages to talk Yisha out of doing anything rash, but just as they're about to go back down, a mysterious, ghostly face appears to Yisha, and she falls backwards to her death, much to the shock of Masamune and, when they hear of it, the rest of the group, particularly Halo (although not Musashi as of yet, who is still out of the cabin when the news is on TV, and Masamune is unable to track him down to tell him).
The next day, a strange robot appears at the door of the cabin telling the entire group that they've won a trip to the Aperture Science Computerised Enrichment Centre, creating a portal in the middle of the cabin for them to go through. Skylos, Halo, Rem, Masamune, Ponic and Musashi decide to go. Elsa, upon seeing the robot, faints from one of her memories. When she comes to, she warns Rem and Masamune not to go, although they decide to anyway. At the Centre, which turns out to be a large, futuristic science lab, the group are greeted by a man called Aloysius, who identifies himself as the head of the Centre - although closer inspection reveals him to be a hologram. There is also a seemingly omnipresent computer called Glados, who appears to run the machinery in the lab. Aloysius requests that, before starting the tour, the group take some injections to "protect them from the radiation in the lab". They're initially reluctant, but eventually comply. Aloysius then shows several areas of the lab, provoking mixed reactions from the group, before some sort of malfunction causes all the holograms in the lab - ie., it seems, Aloysius and all the other scientists - to fail. Glados then goes insane and tries to kill the group - the injections it seems in fact dulled their powers, although they're ultimately able to escape. They fall down onto a lower level of the lab, where they're found by Elsa, who, after an inadvertent encounter with Miso and Akio, who at the time were practising their powers, was forced to relive some more of her memories, decided to come to the lab after all to confront Glados, against whom she bears some sort of grudge.
The group, all anxious to put a stop to this insane computer before it can hurt anyone else, then go looking for Glados' mainframe, all the while taunted by the supercomputer with promises of cake (it's a lie). On the way, they find some sort of data bank, which Elsa is able to guess the password to. It turns out to detail several of the lab's experiments, which include among others Chisero, Elsa herself and, much to the group's shock, Tom. After these revelations, the group proceed to find Glados, and after a short battle manage to destroy her. This, however, sends the lab into self-destruct - with Elsa's guidance, the group are just able to get back to the portal back to the cabin in time. As they're fleeing, Elsa and Hanzo (the latter in Skylos' mind) sense a malevolent aura which was unleashed after Glados' destruction - it scares both of them, particularly Elsa, who seems to know it somehow. Nonetheless, the group manage to escape safely, getting through the portal just before it malfunctions and shuts down.
While all this is going on, a group of rather sinister individuals are meeting in a rather ornate home. They discuss collecting what they call "debts". One of their number, a rather hyperactive girl called Loki, volunteers to collect the next one. She then goes to track down the person she wants, going to Yamiken for information. He apparently met her when he was in Hell, and, although none too fond of her, appears to have his hands somehow tied in the matter and informs her of the location of the one she wants - Neon. Fearing reprisals from Omni, he makes her promise not to tell anyone she came to him for information, a promise she accepts, not reciprocating Yamiken's stoniness towards her. She then travels to Terra 002, naturally, running into Zach while the group are at the lab fighting Glados. She exhibits strange powers, defeating him and somehow eating his soul.
Meanwhile, when the group get back, Neon acts distinctly oddly, being unusually affectionate (by his standards) towards the others, particularly Skylos, making them pancakes for dinner. That night, Hanzo alerts Skylos that Neon is leaving the cabin, and Skylos follows him, only to watch him taken by Loki, strangely enough without a fight. He blacks out, and awakens with most of his memories of Neon gone - all of them would be gone were it not for Hanzo. The next morning, Masamune brings up Yisha in conversation, only to discover, much to his shock, that only he can remember her. Hurt and confused, he leaves the cabin, leaving Skylos and Halo a little disturbed by his behaviour. However, they come to the conclusion he's not insane after a short talk with Elsa who, albeit rather cagily, tells them there are some people with the power to remove all memories of a person from others, although why Masamune has retained his is a bit of a mystery. Skylos quickly realises that something similar has happened to Neon, as no one else can remember him, and he and Halo go to find Masamune, who calms down after a bit of a walk and a chat with Aysun, whom he ends up asking on a date.
When Skylos and Halo track Masamune down once more, Loki at the same time senses that Skylos can still remember Neon, if only partially, and resolves to investigate further, using a mysterious song to lure Skylos, Halo, Masamune, Rem, Ponic, Keera, E Link, Wrath and Musashi to her. (Skylos is actually protected from the effects of this song by Hanzo, but follows Halo and Masamune anyway. Musashi is also generally immune to mind control, but is persuaded to go by Kojirou, who manages to get lost en route, ironically enough.) After a brief fight in which she appears to regenerate all damage taken, Loki transports each of the group into a different section of her carnival-themed realm, where they each confront one of their worst fears - Skylos blood, Halo clowns, Masamune cats, Rem demons telling him he's a failure, Ponic and Keera roller coasters and Musashi moles. E Link isn't transported, however, instead facing Wrath, who, completely hypnotised, gets his soul eaten by Loki. Loki also appears to fight each of the others after a short interval, apparently simultaneously, and after a while transforms into her secondary form, apparently because of her realm being "active" for long enough.
To be continued...
Future arcs: Below are the rest of the arcs. Their titles are here, and not their synopses are not. They will be added in chronological order. When? Eventually, probably.
The Legend of the Dark Force: Rem arc
Atlantis Part I: Dan arc
Lucifer and the Army of Hell: Ralph arc
The Government Project: Caleb arc
Stuck in Limbo: Wendy arc
Atlantis Part II: Dan arc
Zalendor's Revenge: Rem arc
Abomination: Mike arc
The Future of Thanatos: Caleb arc
The Beings Unseen Part I: Dan arc
The Invasion of the Apai: Rem arc
The End: Mike arc
The Secondaries: Caleb arc
The Beings Unseen Part II: Dan arc
The Orb of Gales: Rem arc
True as Crystal: Caleb arc
Loose Ends: Dan arc
The Master Mage: Rem arc
The Memory Thief: Wendy and Cindy joint arc
The Dimension Guardians: Caleb arc
Those Malevolent Eyes: Mike arc
What's in the Box?: Dan and Caleb joint arc
Kraven and The Eye of Wu Gong: Rem Arc
Dan Arc (Needs Title): Dan Arc
Summer of Eternity: Caleb Arc
Wendy Arc (Needs Title): Wendy Arc
The World Savers and the Reign of Terror: Cindy Arc
Awakening and Construction: Dan's Arc
[Editor's note: Time Books 1, 2, and 3 occur before the first arc of the Fourth thread. Due to their short nature, they will not be given a synopsis in the timeline so I will link you to them. They're pretty quick reads.]
The First Book: www.clrp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=clrpg&action=display&thread=20
The Second Book: www.clrp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=clrpg&action=display&thread=26
The Third Book: www.clrp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=clrpg&action=display&thread=27
[Editor's note: Masamune takes his first trip to Tibet.
]Love and War: Two weeks after the group returns from Japan, Akio crash lands into the cabin's roof in the early morning, waking everyone up. He explains to everyone that he is on the run from a mysterious villain called Salus, who is causing trouble in the Love Demon Realm. When this happens, all the groups' personalities flip due to some power release that happened when Akio had crashed into the roof. Neon acts like a scared child, Rem grows a pair, Skylos acts like Neon normally does, Musashi seems to be smart, Masamune thinks everyone needs to feel the love and get along, Halo is abusive, Keera thinks she's got street cred, and Ponic just seems to not care about anything.
Mumiyoshi arrives back at the Nexus where he finds Omni waiting for him. Mumiyoshi and Omni chat a bit about hiding Orochi's crystals and they both decide to each keep one on them. Mumiyoshi considers the Nether Realm for one hiding place while Omni considers Prime and the Void Realm. Omni mentions Unique Souls for the first time and Mumiyoshi asks for an explanation. Omni tells him that normally, everyone has 500 other counterparts in Reality, one for each Terra. A Unique Soul is someone that does not have any counterparts and they have access to the Prime Universe. Mumiyoshi thinks it will be quite awkward to run into himself. Omni tells him not to worry about it since all of his counterparts will be different from him, so running into them would probably be difficult to do. He gives Mumiyoshi a Light Prism so that he can visit his house and the two part ways.
Meanwhile, Elios, inside of Macellare, arrives back in France. Macellare is a bit annoyed with Elios because he seems to moan and whine a bit. She is headed for the cabin, but then Omni happens to arrive from the Nexus in front of her the next instant. He asks her to come up with a good reason for him to not kill the two of them on the spot. Elios goes into a panic and tells Macellare to come up with something because he can't think. Macellare asks why she's being dragged into this and Omni states it's because she's housing that traitor, Elios. Macellare is annoyed and states that it wasn't her decision. Elios then finds it ironic that Omni can fight for his family but Elios can't. Omni gets disgusted and notes that Elios failed to see that what he did could have caused the end of Reality. He sarcastically calls him a Hero and then stalks off, too disgusted to even continue the conversation.
Omni ends up at Eric's base. He has business here and tells Eric that he wants to help him make a pair of gauntlets for Rem that can use Demon Orbs. Eric thinks it's a good idea and even states that he had thought of doing the same, but hadn't had time. Omni asks if he could lend a hand and Eric agrees. Omni also states that he'd like Rem's old pair of gloves in exchange, but Omni will have to ask Rem about that. Omni produces a plain pair of steel gauntlets to use as a base. Using plasma as a power source, Omni and Eric begin work on the new gauntlets for Rem.
Back with the group, several of them threaten Akio with death for causing the emotional swap, but they agree to go with him to stop Salus, who simultaneously sends his minions Chisero and Elsa to kidnap Keera, whom he has a picture of and intends to make his Queen. Chisero and Elsa fight Yisha, trying to make her tell them where Keera is.
After a bit of time passes, Omni finishes the demon orb extension and Eric finishes the wiring. Omni explains that the bracelets have six slots each and connect to the end of the gauntlets and also double as wrist guards. Omni then adds a Light, Darkness, Void, and Aura Demon Orb to four of the slots as an added bonus. Eric then showcases a few other things he is currently making for Rem. There's a shield that acts like a Light Mirror that can deflect Power and extensions to Rem's boots that can make him fly. Draco then enters and Omni meets him for the first time. He is shocked at his likeness to Rem. Eric explains that Izerion made him and he turned into a Void Human because of his Twilight Shard. Omni asks Draco whether he is evil or not, and the clone states that he was only evil a short time. They then joke about Mire for a bit. Omni wishes to take the finished project home with him to add some more materials to reinforce them. Eric thinks it's a good idea so they part ways. Draco then sneaks off with Omni without him knowing.
The group is taken to the Love Demon Realm where Akio instantly finds a hurt Love Demon. The Love Demon states that the man Salus is making his way to the castle to overthrow the Love Demon King. Skylos rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the castle, annoyed that everyone is being so slow. Masamune apologizes profusely and catches up with Skylos. All's Halo can think about is sleeping and eating. Rem makes snide comments about not being friendly towards Halo.
Zukia and Tom then meet one another and question each other about the power surge they had felt earlier. Zukia then makes small talk with Tom since neither one knows the source and they find that they are both familiar with the group. Zukia explains that he had been on the bad side and was happy that the group managed to free him. It was coded into his species that they had to help the people that saved their life, so he was stuck working with the Ruin's Master. Tom recollects about his time with the Hakata and notes to him that being on the enemy's side can have its ups since it puts them in a close position. Zukia then proceeds to talk about his race which is part bug. Tom seems fairly interested and asks him a lot of questions.
Keera, although present when Akio arrived but didn't go to the Love Demon Realm, then turns up to Yisha's fight to see what all the fuss is about is promptly abducted by Chisero after a short fight while Elsa 'reprograms' Yisha.
Chisero returns with Keera and Salus promises her a bonus hot dog for her efforts. He then commands that Chisero go find any hindrances that are in the realm and to deal with them. He also mentions to take the scary guy next to Chisero but there really isn't anyone else there. Chisero is confused but quickly locates the groups' Auras. Skylos gets annoyed and says that they're in a hurry so Chisero needed to get out of the way.
Back with Macellare, she is quite annoyed with Elios because he won't shut up. They know it has to do with the Love Demons but Elios simply cannot stop whining due to his personality shift. Macellare wishes that he'd stop yapping, causing Elios to become hurt and think that she doesn't want him there. Macellare states that it's not the case, but that he's becoming bothersome in his state; her mind is usually pretty quiet. Elios changes the subject by asking her if she'd like to train her Water. Macellare actually seems pumped to train for once and takes him up on the offer.
Skylos, followed by Masamune, ditches the fight to go straight for Salus, leaving Rem and Ponic to deal with Chisero. Masamune catches up with Skylos and tells him that they need to stick together. Skylos harshly tells him that he's skipping the mid-boss and going directly to the final boss. [Editor's note: You know, that really does make sense...Silly RPGs.] Masamune finally agrees to go with him, but he asks Skylos how he knows where to go. Skylos responds that he locked on to the strongest Aura he could sense and he's heading in that direction. Masamune and Skylos proceed to talk about their plans after this annoyance of a trip ends and Masamune admits that he has do idea what to do. Skylos states that he wants to visit Tranductus or Omni, but he just can't keep calm around Omni since he bugs him. They then talk about what their enemy may be like and decide that it's probably another crazy.
[Caleb's progress: Page 19]
Meanwhile, Chisero is beaten by Rem and Ponic, largely thanks to an upgraded pair of gauntlets made by Eric and Omni and sent to Rem mid-fight, and it is revealed that all along she was possessed by a Blood Demon. When the Blood Demon is destroyed, Chisero, freed, dies in a pool of blood.
Meanwhile, Elsa and a moral-compass-flipped Yisha fight Tom and Zukia, and are about to be beaten when Elsa's Hate Demon side, which was locked away by Salus' hypnotism, resurfaces. Elsa still loses, but manages to escape. Elsa, still in Hate Human mode, is determined for revenge on Salus, and so catches up with him and kills him, causing his other minions to flee and the group's personalities to return to normal.
[Editor's note: This arc would have been longer in terms of content, but it was the first to be terminated under the one-month rule.]
While all this is going on, on Terra 000, Sotec and Noah decide to investigate the recent surge of activity at the Universal Nexus. This leads to them finding Yamiken, who pursues them to Terra 000. The entire Terra 000 group, along with Tranductus, then meets Yamiken at the Nexus, and Noah bets him Terra 000 that he can beet him. Yamiken wins however, and the rest of the group, reluctantly (with the exception of Belak, Zeak and, when he recovers, Noah himself), honour Noah's bet. Yamiken is then informed of Toraken, and decides to try and recruit him to his army.
The battle with Toraken is short lived, as Borboros knocks Toraken out from behind, with one punch. Borboros explains to Yamiken that he felt his aura from several Terras away, and was concerned. He also mentions a Terra (010) where there is a four-way war, which Yamiken might be interested in (which proves to be quite correct
).The Terra 001 Crusade (AKA, Unlocking a Universe of Trouble): At the Universal Nexus, Omni and Yamiken bump into each other once more when the latter is returning from his fight with Toraken on Terra 000. Omni tells Yamiken that he's figured out a way to use Hanzou's core to get into the locked universe of Terra 001. He invites Yamiken along on the trip, then does the same with Skylos, Neon, Masamune, Ponic, Halo and Rem (not mentioning that Yamiken's also coming until they've already agreed, of course). On Terra 001, they find eight islands floating in the air above a stagnant sea - a large central one with a fortress, six smaller ones with generators keeping the islands afloat and an eight island which they've landed on. They are promptly greeted by Jacques, a Time Human who's Jack's counterpart, who leads them to his hideout and tells them that Rem's counterpart, Remedio, recently acquired a purple stone (a Dimension stone, in fact) and used it to lock the universe and enslave all of the group's other counterparts, apart from Jacques himself.
Jacques then explains that he can revive the universe with a special song; however, he needs someone else who can play a musical instrument, a role Neon volunteers for. Of course, Remedio also needs to be defeated to unlock the universe, so while Jacques gives Neon a crash course in playing his part, the rest of the group sans Omni go to the generators to destroy them, thus sinking the central island and forcing Remedio out into the open. Each of the generators is guarded by one of the possessed counterparts; Jacques asks the group to kill them, as they're no longer themselves anymore. And so, the fights develop as follows: Skylos fights Alice's counterpart, Banjo, a Wolf Demon, Masamune fights Ponic's counterpart, Spark, a Lightning Human, Halo fights Skylos' counterpart, Vale, a Blood Human (ie. vampire), Rem fights Halo's counterpart, Ring, a Power Demon, Ponic fights Zach's counterpart, Jet, a Dark Human and Yamiken fights Neon's counterpart, Nero, a Water Human.
All these fights are successful, and Remedio makes an appearance to fight the group. After a short contest with Omni over who can move the islands the most, he retreats back into the fortress, prompting the entire group to follow him. Each of them except for Jacques fight a Remedio clone in a separate room; after this and a subsequent ribbing match between Yamiken and Ponic, the group pursue the real Remedio into a ballroom of sorts. All apart from Neon and Jacques are trapped behind a wall of Crystal as Remedio reveals himself to be a Crystal Demon; fortunately, Neon and Jacques are able to see him off. The entire group pursues him up to the roof, where he is finally defeated for good. Jacques steals the Dimension Stone and is possessed, trying to destroy the universe with a song; fortunately, Neon is able to execute the song he was taught earlier to counter it and restore the universe to its original beautiful condition. Neon and Jacques then full unconscious; Omni recovers the Dimension Stone from the latter. While Omni sorts out the now-human Remedio, Skylos and Masamune got exploring and discover a temple with two mysterious orbs, one white and one black, which turn out to be the Light and Dark True Demon Cores. Skylos takes the Light one and Masamune the Dark; Masamune's speaks to his in his mind and tells him he'll be rewarded if he keeps it safe. To ensure Yamiken doesn't find out about their acquisitions, Skylos shields his and Masamune's minds.
The entire group then returns to the Nexus. Here they're unexpectedly ambushed by Krystallos. However, they're able to get back to Terra 002 before any are harmed. Omni and Yamiken promptly go off to track Krystallos, tracing him to the previously locked universe of Terra 499; meanwhile, the group have a party, but halfway through are interrupted by Keiji and Lu Bu, leading Skylos to teleport them to safety. Borboros then shows up and tackles Skylos, taking his True Demon core and then demanding Masamune's. Masamune fights back, assisted by Musashi and Kojirou, but before the fight can get out of hand his core manages to communicate through the mind block and tell him just to hand it over to Borboros. With this situation diffused, Borboros flies off with both cores.
[Following is a little out of order, but this seems the most convenient place to put it.] A little while later, Omni, having finished with Hanzo's core, gives it a new home - Skylos' mind. (Wonder where that's going?
)The Soul Stealing Chaos Humans: [Note: this first event technically happened before this arc began, but it's worth putting here because it's important to some of the events in the arc itself.] While the main group go on the Terra 001 crusade, Yisha, fed up with being left on her own all the time, decides to go on an adventure of her own - namely, revisiting her old home town. What she finds there is upsetting, though - her mother, having already been admitted to a psychiatric ward for her schizophrenia, was recently killed by Yisha's father, who escaped from jail. Yisha then goes back to her old house, only to find her father himself, who, after a slightly deranged rant about his feeling about Yisha and her mother, is shot by the police. Yisha, in a daze, leaves the scene and returns back to the cabin, where the rest of the group have gotten back by now. After attempts by Musashi, Masamune, Ponic and Keera to comfort her, she suddenly runs out and heads towards the city, with the afore-mentioned four in hot pursuit, fearing she's going to do something rash. However, Ponic and Keera lose track of her, while Musashi is detained by his arch-nemeses - moles - so consequentially, when Yisha reaches the city and heads to the top of a tall building, only Masamune is there with her. Masamune apparently manages to talk Yisha out of doing anything rash, but just as they're about to go back down, a mysterious, ghostly face appears to Yisha, and she falls backwards to her death, much to the shock of Masamune and, when they hear of it, the rest of the group, particularly Halo (although not Musashi as of yet, who is still out of the cabin when the news is on TV, and Masamune is unable to track him down to tell him).
The next day, a strange robot appears at the door of the cabin telling the entire group that they've won a trip to the Aperture Science Computerised Enrichment Centre, creating a portal in the middle of the cabin for them to go through. Skylos, Halo, Rem, Masamune, Ponic and Musashi decide to go. Elsa, upon seeing the robot, faints from one of her memories. When she comes to, she warns Rem and Masamune not to go, although they decide to anyway. At the Centre, which turns out to be a large, futuristic science lab, the group are greeted by a man called Aloysius, who identifies himself as the head of the Centre - although closer inspection reveals him to be a hologram. There is also a seemingly omnipresent computer called Glados, who appears to run the machinery in the lab. Aloysius requests that, before starting the tour, the group take some injections to "protect them from the radiation in the lab". They're initially reluctant, but eventually comply. Aloysius then shows several areas of the lab, provoking mixed reactions from the group, before some sort of malfunction causes all the holograms in the lab - ie., it seems, Aloysius and all the other scientists - to fail. Glados then goes insane and tries to kill the group - the injections it seems in fact dulled their powers, although they're ultimately able to escape. They fall down onto a lower level of the lab, where they're found by Elsa, who, after an inadvertent encounter with Miso and Akio, who at the time were practising their powers, was forced to relive some more of her memories, decided to come to the lab after all to confront Glados, against whom she bears some sort of grudge.
The group, all anxious to put a stop to this insane computer before it can hurt anyone else, then go looking for Glados' mainframe, all the while taunted by the supercomputer with promises of cake (it's a lie). On the way, they find some sort of data bank, which Elsa is able to guess the password to. It turns out to detail several of the lab's experiments, which include among others Chisero, Elsa herself and, much to the group's shock, Tom. After these revelations, the group proceed to find Glados, and after a short battle manage to destroy her. This, however, sends the lab into self-destruct - with Elsa's guidance, the group are just able to get back to the portal back to the cabin in time. As they're fleeing, Elsa and Hanzo (the latter in Skylos' mind) sense a malevolent aura which was unleashed after Glados' destruction - it scares both of them, particularly Elsa, who seems to know it somehow. Nonetheless, the group manage to escape safely, getting through the portal just before it malfunctions and shuts down.
While all this is going on, a group of rather sinister individuals are meeting in a rather ornate home. They discuss collecting what they call "debts". One of their number, a rather hyperactive girl called Loki, volunteers to collect the next one. She then goes to track down the person she wants, going to Yamiken for information. He apparently met her when he was in Hell, and, although none too fond of her, appears to have his hands somehow tied in the matter and informs her of the location of the one she wants - Neon. Fearing reprisals from Omni, he makes her promise not to tell anyone she came to him for information, a promise she accepts, not reciprocating Yamiken's stoniness towards her. She then travels to Terra 002, naturally, running into Zach while the group are at the lab fighting Glados. She exhibits strange powers, defeating him and somehow eating his soul.
Meanwhile, when the group get back, Neon acts distinctly oddly, being unusually affectionate (by his standards) towards the others, particularly Skylos, making them pancakes for dinner. That night, Hanzo alerts Skylos that Neon is leaving the cabin, and Skylos follows him, only to watch him taken by Loki, strangely enough without a fight. He blacks out, and awakens with most of his memories of Neon gone - all of them would be gone were it not for Hanzo. The next morning, Masamune brings up Yisha in conversation, only to discover, much to his shock, that only he can remember her. Hurt and confused, he leaves the cabin, leaving Skylos and Halo a little disturbed by his behaviour. However, they come to the conclusion he's not insane after a short talk with Elsa who, albeit rather cagily, tells them there are some people with the power to remove all memories of a person from others, although why Masamune has retained his is a bit of a mystery. Skylos quickly realises that something similar has happened to Neon, as no one else can remember him, and he and Halo go to find Masamune, who calms down after a bit of a walk and a chat with Aysun, whom he ends up asking on a date.
When Skylos and Halo track Masamune down once more, Loki at the same time senses that Skylos can still remember Neon, if only partially, and resolves to investigate further, using a mysterious song to lure Skylos, Halo, Masamune, Rem, Ponic, Keera, E Link, Wrath and Musashi to her. (Skylos is actually protected from the effects of this song by Hanzo, but follows Halo and Masamune anyway. Musashi is also generally immune to mind control, but is persuaded to go by Kojirou, who manages to get lost en route, ironically enough.) After a brief fight in which she appears to regenerate all damage taken, Loki transports each of the group into a different section of her carnival-themed realm, where they each confront one of their worst fears - Skylos blood, Halo clowns, Masamune cats, Rem demons telling him he's a failure, Ponic and Keera roller coasters and Musashi moles. E Link isn't transported, however, instead facing Wrath, who, completely hypnotised, gets his soul eaten by Loki. Loki also appears to fight each of the others after a short interval, apparently simultaneously, and after a while transforms into her secondary form, apparently because of her realm being "active" for long enough.
To be continued...
Future arcs: Below are the rest of the arcs. Their titles are here, and not their synopses are not. They will be added in chronological order. When? Eventually, probably.
The Legend of the Dark Force: Rem arc
Atlantis Part I: Dan arc
Lucifer and the Army of Hell: Ralph arc
The Government Project: Caleb arc
Stuck in Limbo: Wendy arc
Atlantis Part II: Dan arc
Zalendor's Revenge: Rem arc
Abomination: Mike arc
The Future of Thanatos: Caleb arc
The Beings Unseen Part I: Dan arc
The Invasion of the Apai: Rem arc
The End: Mike arc
The Secondaries: Caleb arc
The Beings Unseen Part II: Dan arc
The Orb of Gales: Rem arc
True as Crystal: Caleb arc
Loose Ends: Dan arc
The Master Mage: Rem arc
The Memory Thief: Wendy and Cindy joint arc
The Dimension Guardians: Caleb arc
Those Malevolent Eyes: Mike arc
What's in the Box?: Dan and Caleb joint arc
Kraven and The Eye of Wu Gong: Rem Arc
Dan Arc (Needs Title): Dan Arc
Summer of Eternity: Caleb Arc
Wendy Arc (Needs Title): Wendy Arc
The World Savers and the Reign of Terror: Cindy Arc
Awakening and Construction: Dan's Arc