Post by Mizagium on Aug 10, 2014 15:49:23 GMT -5
Being as how I bit off a bit more than I could chew, what with so many Adventures that were supposed to conclude before ALVI...I was unable to do so. Therefore, I provided a sneak peak of the end of some stories in my final ALR post - but more importantly, what follows is a rough sketch of varying degrees of what the Adventures would have been (and might still be). I provide this because the characters that will appear in ALVI will rely on character development from these Adventures. So while I'm not officially canceling said Adventures, I'm giving you the most important parts here.
Johnny: Identity Crisis
Although not the first Adventure I began, I’ll cover it first because it stands alone (as opposed to most of the others). Johnny’s adventures in Random World would continue from where they left off, with him and Cruxias meeting a young man named Taylor, who came into possession of a alien-tech falchion that can control the weather using slotted sphere. For instance, when he first found it, the summoned a tornado, which is how they find him. They would decide to keep him around and train him, as he has no home. There would be a variable amount of filler, during which they would fight more of those weird things like the Furnace, which are combinations of the 14 elements, fused to make monstrous creatures. In this time the three fighters would devlop their abilities and become friends, with Vespi standing apart and studying the monsters.
Eventually, a time would come when they would attract the full attention of Lamia (with hints interspersed around, like the silver-haired Homonculai stealing memories) who would send one of her generals, Frederick, after Johnny and co. Frederick is another FORD experiment who found his way into Random World and into the clutches of Lamia. He wields a hammer and has gravity powers. He would be loosed upon them and almost kill them. It was gonna be a pretty sweet battle that culminated in Johnny falling to the Darkness when Cruxias is nearly killed (well, her Soul Armor is nearly shattered by the gravity hammer). That battle goes about as well as can be expected and Vespi shows up, unleashing the full force of her Fire Immortal powers, which sends Frederick into retreat. Cruxias would manage to bring Johnny back to sanity (because soul powers) before falling unconscious.
Johnny would kinda go dressed mode because it really was his fault it happened, with Taylor wanting nothing to do with him (yeah, he kinda likes Cruxias) and the mayor dude telling him to stay away. But good girl Vespi convinces Johnny to try to bring Cruxias back, which he can do because Cruxias’ soul power rubbed off on him during the battle. So he goes. The mayor would allow it because, hey, that’s his daughter who might die.
Johnny winds up in the unified Johnny/Cruxias subconscious. There he has to recover the various Fragments of her mind, her personality traits. However, before he does that, he’s lead by one of them (I don’t remember which one I decided) into his own mind, where he finds a weird hall place with pedestals for all 14 elements, which he can use. In doing so he awakens his abilities in all of them as well as getting a glimpse of his ultimate power: accessing the Infinite Sword Plane. After battling some inner demons and whatnot, Johnny reassembles Cruxias’ mind and brings her out of the coma. Despite her father’s distrust of Johnny, Cruxias refuses to keep away, wanting to learn to utilizer her powers better.
After this, the outline gets less clear. She, Taylor, Johnny, and Vespi resume training, with the intent on taking down whoever sent Frederick. Speaking of, turns out he’s not so keen on attacking kids who appeared to be no threat. Lamia sends more of her generals including Valrea Omega, a summoner (and Vi’irinox’s sister), Teare, a girl who uses Time to do some superspeed stuff, and Arrivel Xerea Damasca, a person with the Shatter ability (it’s the elemental clone ability that the AXD folks in Magecraft have). Along with that, the Monsters keep coming. Taylor and Cruxias get closer and go on a date that turns into an exploration of Taylor’s past.
Throughout all the previously mentioned, Johnny continues to stabilize the energy flows of the world, putting portions of the land into permanent locations, like a mountain, towns, rivers, etc. The world becomes stable piece by piece.
Anyway, eventually, the team decides to find out where the monsters are coming from, which becomes easier now that the world is mostly stable. They would find a factory complex that forges the fourteen elements into twisted creations. Destroying the factory, they would discover a shriveled old man who seems to be powering the factory with his own body. They take him back to their base, only to find it immediately under attack by some of the generals. The team would learn that the generals answer to Lamia and that she wants that old man returned to her. They fend them off, but they vow to return. Vespi switches to examining the man. Finally, the silver-haired people Johnny kept seeing around infiltrate the Vaulted Halls and he catches them taking silvery wisps from the old man. He catches one of them, the boy, and restrains him. The boy spills everything, unbidden, explaining that Lamia is ancient and from another world and feeds on memories. He offers to lead them to her, claiming to hate her.
The boy, calling himself a Homonculus named Raem, leads Johnny, Cruxias, and Taylor to Lamia, while Vespi remained with the old man. They would find Lamia, who would explain that the old man was Astleas, the great sorcerer who had created this world she claims to be doing everyone a favor up until now, leeching the memories, keeping him subdued. However, at an order, the Homonculai pair (Raem and his sister, Yomi) release the memories they had collected earlier. Back at their base, Astleas awakens, and nearly kills Vespi. While Johnny wants to send the kids back to help Vespi, Lamia would taunt him about Astleas’ power, making him leave as well.
By the time they get back, Astleas would have captured Vespi and stuck her in one of those stasis chambers she was in before Random World. Johnny would remember where that place was (also energy flows and all that) and there he would confront Astleas, having Cruxias and Taylor find a way to free Vespi. The battle would be awesome, during which Johnny would unlock that Infinite Sword Plain, speak with the Walker on the Plains, the resident eternal warrior spirit, and vow never to become some engrossed in battle that he loses himself. Of course Astleas is defeated after much physics defying, monologing, and taunting. Vespi is freed, but the world begins to fall apart. Johnny would stabilize the world and then fly back to lay the smackdown on Lamia with a well-chosen sword. Once she’s defeated her followers would disperse, except for Frederick, Raem, and Yomi, who want to stay with Johnny.
The story would conclude with some festival in which he gathered people proclaim the new name for the world, one keeping with Astleas’ original intention: Brave New World.
Cassandra: Say My Name!
Starting from where it left off, Cassandra and Mara Lee would have some time travel adventures, maybe ending up in Dynasty City and the past, chasing Soh Cah Toa. This would reveal the existence of the Anachronisms, individuals who died over the course of the stories, usually via time reasons, which somehow removed them from time. They are angry and whatever and are obeying the commands of four Time Demons, who herald the arrival of their Master, the Devourer. Cassandra and Mara Lee don’t learn this, eventually catch Soh Cah Toa, and Mara takes him back to Scholastic Land, where he will be imprisoned. She teleports Cassandra back to RCL in time for ALVI to begin.
Knox: Time Enough to Spare
Knox’s adventure would be more standalone. He would finally decide to do something about Torran. Together they would explore Torran’s past, both timelines. After trying and failing to sort out Torran’s memories, Knox offers to manually sort them, which would most likely lead to the destruction of the dead-timeline version of himself, as that self has no anchor in any reality anymore. Torran seems willing, but Knox would not be able to go through with it. Instead, he lets Torran rest in his tower and travels to Scholastic Land, and researches in the Grand Library of Outer Dimensions, finding a place he can take Torran. He returns and takes Torran to the Edge, which exists at the edge of creation, and inhabited only by the Artist. One side of the Edge looks out over the universe, and the other into nothingness that the Artist creates. Here, Torran’s memories do not conflict, do not threaten to consume him. The Artist assents and Torran agrees to remain there. Knox is uncertain about abandoning him, but Torran seems happy there, looking over the Edge of reality, and meditating.
Crossmen vs. The New Organization
Long story short, there would be a lot of battles between (surprise) the New Organization and the Crossmen.
are to properly capture the city and demand a ransom. He allows Ephraim to study Torran and Matteas and sends the remaining numbers, electing to keep his Court (Mitzi Royce, Morgan, and Miki Nahlani) with him. Elsewhere, the remaining Crossmen become aware of the presence of familiar Foci and the disappearance of two of their numbers. Surmising that these invaders will strike at them next, Ara leaves the three to hold the line, choosing to go and discover the source of this invasion. He is the strongest and most capable of surviving on his own. Tristana (number 6) and Akela Kai (number 10) break off from the group to investigate this renegade Foci.
Round 3: Crass vs Freida Margo
Frieda Margo, Henoheno, and Trahern (numbers 7, 8, and 9, respectively) encounter the Crossmen, which devolves into three 1 on 1 fights. Crass and Freida remember each other from the old Organization, having been friendly rivals for years. After a short conversation, they realize that neither one is willing to budge and decide to make this a match of pure skill, their final rival match, all politics left aside. Both demonstrate considerable skill in their fight, with Crass finally displaying his competence (that has failed to manifest in my other depictions of him) and in the end, Freida surrenders, recognizing Crass’s superior skill. She answers some of his questions about the new Organization, but admits she doesn’t exactly understand Franz’s endgame. Despite that, she stuck with them, choosing to stick with her family instead of abandoning them.
Outcome – Crass victorious; Freida surrendered
Round 4: Sherri vs Henoheno
Sherri’s match with Henoheno is more bitter than Crass’s. Throughout the whole thing, she accused Sherri and the others of abandoning them, of leaving the Organization to fall apart after Jiir-Row already weakened it. Sherri protests, citing the already crumbling structure, the manipulations of Ara, and the revelation of the conspiracy surrounding Knox. Henoheno dismisses all of that, reminding Sherri that they were a family, regardless of the circumstances and that the departure of the Hearts was what finally broke everyone. Sherri pulls the victory out at the last minute, and apologizes to Henoheno. They were a family, still are, but the path they are taking is the wrong one.
Outcome – Sherri victorious; Henoheno unconscious
Round 5: Jace vs Trahern
Trahern’s fight with Jace follows similar lines, with him placing the blame squarely on Jace. Without Knox or the Covers, Jace should have stepped up and become the new leader. Trahern confesses his waning faith in Franz as a leader, having accepted the current status quo only to keep everyone together. Things weren’t the same after the Hearts abandoned the Organization. They handled Ara’s departure – even Knox’s ascent to godhood was tacitly accepted – but with two of the five squads gone, everything fell apart. Jace retorts by claiming Trahern should have stepped up and done something about the leadership, but Trahern reaffirms his desire to prevent anymore infighting. When questioned about why he continues to fight for a leader he has no faith in, Trahern expresses a begrudging loyalty to his family, the Organization. Jace defeats Trahern and turns it around on him, claiming that the failure of the Organization is at least somewhat a result of Trahern’s reluctance to affect change.
Outcome – Jace victorious; Trahern demoralized
Round 6: Sunnatt Ara vs Tristana and Akela Kai
Ara is intercepted by numbers 6 and 10. At first, he is reluctant to fight his former students, but Akela’s frustration over his abandonment of them all forces him into conflict. He allows her to vent her anger on him before defeating her easily. Tristana disappears during the fight. Ara realizes, without admitting anything to Akela Kai, that he has screwed up badly and rushed towards Franz’s makeshift base to rectify things.
Interlude 2
Ephraim studies Torran and Matteas. Torran has fallen into a comatose state and will not wake. Ephraim eventually works out his odd temporality, hypothesizing that he has come from some other time period and cannot properly harmonize with this one, due to the existence of an alternate version of himself. He offhandedly notices the faint readings of Chaos energy within him, but does not think this is significant. He next contemplates Matteas, who cannot shake his despair over Rubliacxe’s failure to answer his call, musing on his death and rebirth. Ephraim taunts him, calls him a failure, and runs him through with the phoenix blade, but certain properties of the sword (or perhaps of Matteas himself) heal the wound immediately, creating a phoenix shaped scar around the entry wound.
Round 7: Sunnatt Ara vs Mitzi Royce, Morgan, and Miki Nahlani
Ara arrives at the makeshift Organization base, only to be confronted by the Jack, Queen, and King, some of his most promising students. They express similar views to Trahern and Henoheno and Akela, but seem to genuinely believe in the future of the New Organization, if not the leadership of Franz Zeiger. This battle draws out longer than his previous one, confronted with three effective masters of the Focus. Lots of dialogue and time powers ensue but Ara emerges victorious, sadly defeating his former students before going to find Franz.
Round 8: Jace, Sherri, and Crass vs Tristana
In the facility, the three former Hearts encounter Tristana, who bars the way to where Matteas and Torran are held. Despite being outnumbered, Tristana demonstrates incredibly advanced Focus abilities, and holds out against them. Crass is dispatched first, leaving Jace and Sherri, who correctly determine that she’s artificially enhancing her powers somehow. The topic of the new Organization comes up and Tristana confesses to have no faith in Franz as a leader, claiming cryptically that Ephraim would be a much better leader. The battle stagnates until Ephraim announces via some intercom that time is up and asks her to come back.
Round 9: Sunnatt Ara vs Franz Zeiger
Franz finds Ara and they fight angrily. The fight it markedly shorter than the others, with the discussion of his abandonment of the Organization. Franz breaks down and the fight ends quickly. Ara promises to help rebuild the organization, to put things right or at least make up for it. As some of the Organization members begin to recover, Franz orders them to stand down.
Interlude 3
Tristana returns to Ephraim, who concludes some data collection. She asks why they don’t just leave, but he reminds her of the numerous Foci outside. But he isn’t worried – they’ll come to them soon enough. Jace, Sherri, and Crass recover Matteas and Torran. Torran is barely able to stand with support, his temporal displacement reaching a never-before-seen climax. Matteas has his rock bottom, even when Rubliacxe is removed. He babbles about his failure and his old life is generally unable to help as well. Franz presides over the gathering of the New Organization, with whom he shares the knowledge that Ephraim and Tristana have betrayed them. Unwilling to drag them into something foolish, he asks them to wait and let the other handle it, asking for no more fighting.
Round 10: Crossmen vs Ephraim
Ara finds Ephraim and Tristana in the basement. Despite Tristana’s willingness to fight, Ephraim keeps her back. The Crossmen appear as Ephraim begins his monologue. The New Organization were but tools for him. A vaguely unidentified power sleeps in Fun Land that he can’t seem to locate with the gang wars going on, so he sided with the New Organization in order to learn their Focus powers and help move the war along. He expresses disgust at Franz for misusing and then losing a Scroll of Science. A short battle breaks out between the Crossmen and the Traitors. Even enhanced Tristana is defeated, but Ephraim holds out, gradually revealing more and more of his power until, finally, he demonstrates Demon Fire, outing himself as the Demon Lord, Xiuhtecuhtli. Sweeping them aside, he reveals a connection to the Dune Lords associated with Matteas, and that he learned much from Torran’s temporal displacement. With the way clear, he takes Tristana, reveals demonic wings, and flies away, but not before mentioning a group he works for and how it would be “anachronistic” if he didn’t get back to them soon.
Epilogue 1
Ara and the full Organization disperse the time bubble around Dynasty City, revealing that only a second had passed and (thankfully no one was injured). Rather than report them, Ara elects to conceal the event from the rest of the DCI and the Imperatrix, expressing a desire to mend the wounds in the Organization. Jace agrees but demands that he finally tell them everything. Ara agrees, but the section leaves it hanging…
Epilogue 2
Matteas, alone again, is on patrol, attempting to clear his head, but can’t stop thinking about the Dune Lords and their refusal to answer his summons. Suddenly, he is attacked by a woman who reveals herself to be Arshante, his sister from the Sea of Sand. A psychic battle ensues that ends with Matteas’ defeat and Arshante taking Rubilaxce with her, warning Matteas to never return home, or she would kill him.
Epilogue 3
Torran has secluded himself, anticipating his final breakdown. His mind is unable to reconcile his and his other. But then he calms and Knox appears. Knox admits to have shirked his duty for far too long but wants to try to fix things. Torran, desperate, agrees, even though he might not come out the other side the same.
Epilogue 4
Ephraim and Tristana wait for the remainder of their group in a dark chamber, musing on the failure of the Organization. Ephraim expresses doubt in her fidelity, citing her betrayal of what amounted to her family. She assures him of her loyalty to him with a kiss. He lets the matter drop. She wonders why he entrusted the recovery of a Scroll to Llenchi; Ephraim admits this mistake, but obliquely refers to him as a fellow Demon Lord, and thus deserving of his trust, but cuts it off as others enter, including Holdin Restin and Soh Cah Toa
Untitled Fun Land Adventure
In this Adventure, the former Organization XXI people would fracture, creating the Jace-lead Cross-cards (Miki, Mitzi, Henoheno, and Trahearn) and the Franz-lead New Organization (Morgan, Akela, and Chaz), while Ara, Sherri, Crass, and Freida stay as the Crossmen, but leave the DCI. The Cross-cards and the New Organization would go to Fun Land and wage war against each other for control of their homeland, while the Crossmen would go to the Clock Tower and attempt to quell the fighting. This story isn’t so fleshed out, but it would eventually come out that Ara was part of a long conspiracy with the Time Keeper to get a support team for Knox. Knox would indeed show up at some point and everyone would eventually get back together after some heated words. Jace and Sherri start to make up as well. Ara disappears, his job nearly done, and Knox inducts them all as his Time Squad.
Untitled Matteas Adventure
An even less fleshed out Adventure would see Matteas return to the Sea of Sand to confront his sister, Arshante over the throne that is rightfully his, but he rejected. Eventually realizing he was never meant for the throne, he eventually supports her bid, even as he disagrees with her actions. He meets Priestess Reia, a woman who can read the memories in sand (all the way back to the beginning of the universe) and hear whispers of the world on the wind. She is ivory white and completely hairless and always bundled in thick, sterile robes to keep the sand from touching her unless she wishes it to. He falls in love with her and acts in support of the throne on her behest, making a new sword from the sand (and his psychic powers), called Memento Mori. Things would go alright. He would support the peace of the land, but disagree with how Arshante handled her queendom. The story would conclude with him being slain out in the sands in her defense, and becoming part of the sand, and his sword, creating the Ashen Phoenix blade seen in the final ALR post.
Johnny: Identity Crisis
Although not the first Adventure I began, I’ll cover it first because it stands alone (as opposed to most of the others). Johnny’s adventures in Random World would continue from where they left off, with him and Cruxias meeting a young man named Taylor, who came into possession of a alien-tech falchion that can control the weather using slotted sphere. For instance, when he first found it, the summoned a tornado, which is how they find him. They would decide to keep him around and train him, as he has no home. There would be a variable amount of filler, during which they would fight more of those weird things like the Furnace, which are combinations of the 14 elements, fused to make monstrous creatures. In this time the three fighters would devlop their abilities and become friends, with Vespi standing apart and studying the monsters.
Eventually, a time would come when they would attract the full attention of Lamia (with hints interspersed around, like the silver-haired Homonculai stealing memories) who would send one of her generals, Frederick, after Johnny and co. Frederick is another FORD experiment who found his way into Random World and into the clutches of Lamia. He wields a hammer and has gravity powers. He would be loosed upon them and almost kill them. It was gonna be a pretty sweet battle that culminated in Johnny falling to the Darkness when Cruxias is nearly killed (well, her Soul Armor is nearly shattered by the gravity hammer). That battle goes about as well as can be expected and Vespi shows up, unleashing the full force of her Fire Immortal powers, which sends Frederick into retreat. Cruxias would manage to bring Johnny back to sanity (because soul powers) before falling unconscious.
Johnny would kinda go dressed mode because it really was his fault it happened, with Taylor wanting nothing to do with him (yeah, he kinda likes Cruxias) and the mayor dude telling him to stay away. But good girl Vespi convinces Johnny to try to bring Cruxias back, which he can do because Cruxias’ soul power rubbed off on him during the battle. So he goes. The mayor would allow it because, hey, that’s his daughter who might die.
Johnny winds up in the unified Johnny/Cruxias subconscious. There he has to recover the various Fragments of her mind, her personality traits. However, before he does that, he’s lead by one of them (I don’t remember which one I decided) into his own mind, where he finds a weird hall place with pedestals for all 14 elements, which he can use. In doing so he awakens his abilities in all of them as well as getting a glimpse of his ultimate power: accessing the Infinite Sword Plane. After battling some inner demons and whatnot, Johnny reassembles Cruxias’ mind and brings her out of the coma. Despite her father’s distrust of Johnny, Cruxias refuses to keep away, wanting to learn to utilizer her powers better.
After this, the outline gets less clear. She, Taylor, Johnny, and Vespi resume training, with the intent on taking down whoever sent Frederick. Speaking of, turns out he’s not so keen on attacking kids who appeared to be no threat. Lamia sends more of her generals including Valrea Omega, a summoner (and Vi’irinox’s sister), Teare, a girl who uses Time to do some superspeed stuff, and Arrivel Xerea Damasca, a person with the Shatter ability (it’s the elemental clone ability that the AXD folks in Magecraft have). Along with that, the Monsters keep coming. Taylor and Cruxias get closer and go on a date that turns into an exploration of Taylor’s past.
Throughout all the previously mentioned, Johnny continues to stabilize the energy flows of the world, putting portions of the land into permanent locations, like a mountain, towns, rivers, etc. The world becomes stable piece by piece.
Anyway, eventually, the team decides to find out where the monsters are coming from, which becomes easier now that the world is mostly stable. They would find a factory complex that forges the fourteen elements into twisted creations. Destroying the factory, they would discover a shriveled old man who seems to be powering the factory with his own body. They take him back to their base, only to find it immediately under attack by some of the generals. The team would learn that the generals answer to Lamia and that she wants that old man returned to her. They fend them off, but they vow to return. Vespi switches to examining the man. Finally, the silver-haired people Johnny kept seeing around infiltrate the Vaulted Halls and he catches them taking silvery wisps from the old man. He catches one of them, the boy, and restrains him. The boy spills everything, unbidden, explaining that Lamia is ancient and from another world and feeds on memories. He offers to lead them to her, claiming to hate her.
The boy, calling himself a Homonculus named Raem, leads Johnny, Cruxias, and Taylor to Lamia, while Vespi remained with the old man. They would find Lamia, who would explain that the old man was Astleas, the great sorcerer who had created this world she claims to be doing everyone a favor up until now, leeching the memories, keeping him subdued. However, at an order, the Homonculai pair (Raem and his sister, Yomi) release the memories they had collected earlier. Back at their base, Astleas awakens, and nearly kills Vespi. While Johnny wants to send the kids back to help Vespi, Lamia would taunt him about Astleas’ power, making him leave as well.
By the time they get back, Astleas would have captured Vespi and stuck her in one of those stasis chambers she was in before Random World. Johnny would remember where that place was (also energy flows and all that) and there he would confront Astleas, having Cruxias and Taylor find a way to free Vespi. The battle would be awesome, during which Johnny would unlock that Infinite Sword Plain, speak with the Walker on the Plains, the resident eternal warrior spirit, and vow never to become some engrossed in battle that he loses himself. Of course Astleas is defeated after much physics defying, monologing, and taunting. Vespi is freed, but the world begins to fall apart. Johnny would stabilize the world and then fly back to lay the smackdown on Lamia with a well-chosen sword. Once she’s defeated her followers would disperse, except for Frederick, Raem, and Yomi, who want to stay with Johnny.
The story would conclude with some festival in which he gathered people proclaim the new name for the world, one keeping with Astleas’ original intention: Brave New World.
Cassandra: Say My Name!
Starting from where it left off, Cassandra and Mara Lee would have some time travel adventures, maybe ending up in Dynasty City and the past, chasing Soh Cah Toa. This would reveal the existence of the Anachronisms, individuals who died over the course of the stories, usually via time reasons, which somehow removed them from time. They are angry and whatever and are obeying the commands of four Time Demons, who herald the arrival of their Master, the Devourer. Cassandra and Mara Lee don’t learn this, eventually catch Soh Cah Toa, and Mara takes him back to Scholastic Land, where he will be imprisoned. She teleports Cassandra back to RCL in time for ALVI to begin.
Knox: Time Enough to Spare
Knox’s adventure would be more standalone. He would finally decide to do something about Torran. Together they would explore Torran’s past, both timelines. After trying and failing to sort out Torran’s memories, Knox offers to manually sort them, which would most likely lead to the destruction of the dead-timeline version of himself, as that self has no anchor in any reality anymore. Torran seems willing, but Knox would not be able to go through with it. Instead, he lets Torran rest in his tower and travels to Scholastic Land, and researches in the Grand Library of Outer Dimensions, finding a place he can take Torran. He returns and takes Torran to the Edge, which exists at the edge of creation, and inhabited only by the Artist. One side of the Edge looks out over the universe, and the other into nothingness that the Artist creates. Here, Torran’s memories do not conflict, do not threaten to consume him. The Artist assents and Torran agrees to remain there. Knox is uncertain about abandoning him, but Torran seems happy there, looking over the Edge of reality, and meditating.
Crossmen vs. The New Organization
Long story short, there would be a lot of battles between (surprise) the New Organization and the Crossmen.
are to properly capture the city and demand a ransom. He allows Ephraim to study Torran and Matteas and sends the remaining numbers, electing to keep his Court (Mitzi Royce, Morgan, and Miki Nahlani) with him. Elsewhere, the remaining Crossmen become aware of the presence of familiar Foci and the disappearance of two of their numbers. Surmising that these invaders will strike at them next, Ara leaves the three to hold the line, choosing to go and discover the source of this invasion. He is the strongest and most capable of surviving on his own. Tristana (number 6) and Akela Kai (number 10) break off from the group to investigate this renegade Foci.
Round 3: Crass vs Freida Margo
Frieda Margo, Henoheno, and Trahern (numbers 7, 8, and 9, respectively) encounter the Crossmen, which devolves into three 1 on 1 fights. Crass and Freida remember each other from the old Organization, having been friendly rivals for years. After a short conversation, they realize that neither one is willing to budge and decide to make this a match of pure skill, their final rival match, all politics left aside. Both demonstrate considerable skill in their fight, with Crass finally displaying his competence (that has failed to manifest in my other depictions of him) and in the end, Freida surrenders, recognizing Crass’s superior skill. She answers some of his questions about the new Organization, but admits she doesn’t exactly understand Franz’s endgame. Despite that, she stuck with them, choosing to stick with her family instead of abandoning them.
Outcome – Crass victorious; Freida surrendered
Round 4: Sherri vs Henoheno
Sherri’s match with Henoheno is more bitter than Crass’s. Throughout the whole thing, she accused Sherri and the others of abandoning them, of leaving the Organization to fall apart after Jiir-Row already weakened it. Sherri protests, citing the already crumbling structure, the manipulations of Ara, and the revelation of the conspiracy surrounding Knox. Henoheno dismisses all of that, reminding Sherri that they were a family, regardless of the circumstances and that the departure of the Hearts was what finally broke everyone. Sherri pulls the victory out at the last minute, and apologizes to Henoheno. They were a family, still are, but the path they are taking is the wrong one.
Outcome – Sherri victorious; Henoheno unconscious
Round 5: Jace vs Trahern
Trahern’s fight with Jace follows similar lines, with him placing the blame squarely on Jace. Without Knox or the Covers, Jace should have stepped up and become the new leader. Trahern confesses his waning faith in Franz as a leader, having accepted the current status quo only to keep everyone together. Things weren’t the same after the Hearts abandoned the Organization. They handled Ara’s departure – even Knox’s ascent to godhood was tacitly accepted – but with two of the five squads gone, everything fell apart. Jace retorts by claiming Trahern should have stepped up and done something about the leadership, but Trahern reaffirms his desire to prevent anymore infighting. When questioned about why he continues to fight for a leader he has no faith in, Trahern expresses a begrudging loyalty to his family, the Organization. Jace defeats Trahern and turns it around on him, claiming that the failure of the Organization is at least somewhat a result of Trahern’s reluctance to affect change.
Outcome – Jace victorious; Trahern demoralized
Round 6: Sunnatt Ara vs Tristana and Akela Kai
Ara is intercepted by numbers 6 and 10. At first, he is reluctant to fight his former students, but Akela’s frustration over his abandonment of them all forces him into conflict. He allows her to vent her anger on him before defeating her easily. Tristana disappears during the fight. Ara realizes, without admitting anything to Akela Kai, that he has screwed up badly and rushed towards Franz’s makeshift base to rectify things.
Interlude 2
Ephraim studies Torran and Matteas. Torran has fallen into a comatose state and will not wake. Ephraim eventually works out his odd temporality, hypothesizing that he has come from some other time period and cannot properly harmonize with this one, due to the existence of an alternate version of himself. He offhandedly notices the faint readings of Chaos energy within him, but does not think this is significant. He next contemplates Matteas, who cannot shake his despair over Rubliacxe’s failure to answer his call, musing on his death and rebirth. Ephraim taunts him, calls him a failure, and runs him through with the phoenix blade, but certain properties of the sword (or perhaps of Matteas himself) heal the wound immediately, creating a phoenix shaped scar around the entry wound.
Round 7: Sunnatt Ara vs Mitzi Royce, Morgan, and Miki Nahlani
Ara arrives at the makeshift Organization base, only to be confronted by the Jack, Queen, and King, some of his most promising students. They express similar views to Trahern and Henoheno and Akela, but seem to genuinely believe in the future of the New Organization, if not the leadership of Franz Zeiger. This battle draws out longer than his previous one, confronted with three effective masters of the Focus. Lots of dialogue and time powers ensue but Ara emerges victorious, sadly defeating his former students before going to find Franz.
Round 8: Jace, Sherri, and Crass vs Tristana
In the facility, the three former Hearts encounter Tristana, who bars the way to where Matteas and Torran are held. Despite being outnumbered, Tristana demonstrates incredibly advanced Focus abilities, and holds out against them. Crass is dispatched first, leaving Jace and Sherri, who correctly determine that she’s artificially enhancing her powers somehow. The topic of the new Organization comes up and Tristana confesses to have no faith in Franz as a leader, claiming cryptically that Ephraim would be a much better leader. The battle stagnates until Ephraim announces via some intercom that time is up and asks her to come back.
Round 9: Sunnatt Ara vs Franz Zeiger
Franz finds Ara and they fight angrily. The fight it markedly shorter than the others, with the discussion of his abandonment of the Organization. Franz breaks down and the fight ends quickly. Ara promises to help rebuild the organization, to put things right or at least make up for it. As some of the Organization members begin to recover, Franz orders them to stand down.
Interlude 3
Tristana returns to Ephraim, who concludes some data collection. She asks why they don’t just leave, but he reminds her of the numerous Foci outside. But he isn’t worried – they’ll come to them soon enough. Jace, Sherri, and Crass recover Matteas and Torran. Torran is barely able to stand with support, his temporal displacement reaching a never-before-seen climax. Matteas has his rock bottom, even when Rubliacxe is removed. He babbles about his failure and his old life is generally unable to help as well. Franz presides over the gathering of the New Organization, with whom he shares the knowledge that Ephraim and Tristana have betrayed them. Unwilling to drag them into something foolish, he asks them to wait and let the other handle it, asking for no more fighting.
Round 10: Crossmen vs Ephraim
Ara finds Ephraim and Tristana in the basement. Despite Tristana’s willingness to fight, Ephraim keeps her back. The Crossmen appear as Ephraim begins his monologue. The New Organization were but tools for him. A vaguely unidentified power sleeps in Fun Land that he can’t seem to locate with the gang wars going on, so he sided with the New Organization in order to learn their Focus powers and help move the war along. He expresses disgust at Franz for misusing and then losing a Scroll of Science. A short battle breaks out between the Crossmen and the Traitors. Even enhanced Tristana is defeated, but Ephraim holds out, gradually revealing more and more of his power until, finally, he demonstrates Demon Fire, outing himself as the Demon Lord, Xiuhtecuhtli. Sweeping them aside, he reveals a connection to the Dune Lords associated with Matteas, and that he learned much from Torran’s temporal displacement. With the way clear, he takes Tristana, reveals demonic wings, and flies away, but not before mentioning a group he works for and how it would be “anachronistic” if he didn’t get back to them soon.
Epilogue 1
Ara and the full Organization disperse the time bubble around Dynasty City, revealing that only a second had passed and (thankfully no one was injured). Rather than report them, Ara elects to conceal the event from the rest of the DCI and the Imperatrix, expressing a desire to mend the wounds in the Organization. Jace agrees but demands that he finally tell them everything. Ara agrees, but the section leaves it hanging…
Epilogue 2
Matteas, alone again, is on patrol, attempting to clear his head, but can’t stop thinking about the Dune Lords and their refusal to answer his summons. Suddenly, he is attacked by a woman who reveals herself to be Arshante, his sister from the Sea of Sand. A psychic battle ensues that ends with Matteas’ defeat and Arshante taking Rubilaxce with her, warning Matteas to never return home, or she would kill him.
Epilogue 3
Torran has secluded himself, anticipating his final breakdown. His mind is unable to reconcile his and his other. But then he calms and Knox appears. Knox admits to have shirked his duty for far too long but wants to try to fix things. Torran, desperate, agrees, even though he might not come out the other side the same.
Epilogue 4
Ephraim and Tristana wait for the remainder of their group in a dark chamber, musing on the failure of the Organization. Ephraim expresses doubt in her fidelity, citing her betrayal of what amounted to her family. She assures him of her loyalty to him with a kiss. He lets the matter drop. She wonders why he entrusted the recovery of a Scroll to Llenchi; Ephraim admits this mistake, but obliquely refers to him as a fellow Demon Lord, and thus deserving of his trust, but cuts it off as others enter, including Holdin Restin and Soh Cah Toa
Untitled Fun Land Adventure
In this Adventure, the former Organization XXI people would fracture, creating the Jace-lead Cross-cards (Miki, Mitzi, Henoheno, and Trahearn) and the Franz-lead New Organization (Morgan, Akela, and Chaz), while Ara, Sherri, Crass, and Freida stay as the Crossmen, but leave the DCI. The Cross-cards and the New Organization would go to Fun Land and wage war against each other for control of their homeland, while the Crossmen would go to the Clock Tower and attempt to quell the fighting. This story isn’t so fleshed out, but it would eventually come out that Ara was part of a long conspiracy with the Time Keeper to get a support team for Knox. Knox would indeed show up at some point and everyone would eventually get back together after some heated words. Jace and Sherri start to make up as well. Ara disappears, his job nearly done, and Knox inducts them all as his Time Squad.
Untitled Matteas Adventure
An even less fleshed out Adventure would see Matteas return to the Sea of Sand to confront his sister, Arshante over the throne that is rightfully his, but he rejected. Eventually realizing he was never meant for the throne, he eventually supports her bid, even as he disagrees with her actions. He meets Priestess Reia, a woman who can read the memories in sand (all the way back to the beginning of the universe) and hear whispers of the world on the wind. She is ivory white and completely hairless and always bundled in thick, sterile robes to keep the sand from touching her unless she wishes it to. He falls in love with her and acts in support of the throne on her behest, making a new sword from the sand (and his psychic powers), called Memento Mori. Things would go alright. He would support the peace of the land, but disagree with how Arshante handled her queendom. The story would conclude with him being slain out in the sands in her defense, and becoming part of the sand, and his sword, creating the Ashen Phoenix blade seen in the final ALR post.