Your success in retrieving Knuckles has brought your three colorful allies back together, thus marking it a resounding success. Still, it's highly unlikely Eggman is going to overlook the destruction of his robots at that base or Knuckles going missing... But strangely, it seems as though life goes on as usual in Chicago.
The patrolling robots have had their numbers cut; a sign that you're doing something, at least. Unfortunately, the humans of this world still don't react to your presence at all, and there's no stopping the chroma slowly overtaking the city. More buildings and wildlife have been affected this week, even though Eggman hasn't set foot here. It's not exactly the most encouraging thing even if this weekend was a success.
THE CITY
Now that you're familiar with Chicago and how to find your way back to the base, you're free to explore as you see fit. You want to venture out into the suburbs? You want to take a day trip to wander even further out? Sure thing! Just be sure to let Tails know where you're going so he doesn't have a heart attack if someone goes missing.
While you're out exploring, you'll likely run across Knuckles or Sonic - both of whom will immediately beeline into the nearest robots to smash them with extreme prejudice. Regardless, they'll gladly help you if you need a hand with anything, or will otherwise carry out their tasks for Tails.
Unfortunately, the rest of the city is as lifeless as it was last week. The humans will scarcely pay attention to you, wildlife will go about lifelessly, and Eggman's unique white chrome slowly overtakes more of the city. In fact, some buildings seem to have been entirely renovated from last week - you'll find more and more "Eggman" versions of stores, attractions, and landmarks.
NIGHTMARES
The biggest difference this week has nothing to do with the world around you at large, however. Instead, you'll find your nights are far more difficult - for absolutely no reason that anyone can pinpoint. If you're lucky, you'll have unsettling dreams that leave you feeling a little worried when you wake, but otherwise fairly well rested.
If you're unlucky, you'll have horrific nightmares.
You may dream about an unwinnable battle - is it against hordes of robots? is it against your enemies back home? - where you simply don't have any choice but to fight, even though you know you can't win. The odds are stacked too high against you, no matter what you do. Will you give in? Will you fight?
You may dream about your fears - the things that threaten to seize you in a vicegrip and never let go. Are you scared of failure? Then you will experience your greatest failures in detail. Even the simplest, most mundane fears will be wildly twisted out of control - and you're powerless to wake yourself up, trapped within the dreams until the night is over and you finally, finally wake up.
You may dream about your past - whatever horrible incidents that haunt you or frighten you to think about will return in full force. These are never perfect recreations of the past, instead twisted facsimiles that only make those thoughts worse. Reliving it is one thing, but having the experience changed on you may be even worse.
Regardless of your dreams, you may find that you're not alone. Others here can be pulled into these dreams - trapped with you until either the dream ends and you wake up... or you die in the dream. Those seem to be the only ways out, no matter what you do. Still, having a buddy with you to help fight might help, right?
When you do wake up, you'll see blood red and you'll feel tired no matter how long you slept. Perhaps a nap is in order - but these dreams are just as likely to infect your naps as well.
SHARDS
You should feel fairly comfortable with using your shard power by now. You may also find that the more you use it, the more things you're able to do with it. Starting this week, your shards' powers are more pronounced, allowing you to do more with them than you could before.
As you fight with your allies - particularly those you have a close bond with, positive or negative - you may feel the tug of something in the back of your head; it tells you that you can do more. Together, you can become more powerful. You can use your shards together. Doing so will grant you a new power, or strengthen the one you already have. The more you trust one another, the easier this power will be to use.
It might be good to experiment with these new powers; after all, you never know when you may need them.
TAILS' TASKS
As mentioned to some of you, the rings that Sonic and friends use to hop between worlds have been dwindling in number, given how many were used to visit all of you and bring you in to begin with. Your job - should you choose to accept it - is to track down more rings. Tails will grant you with a tracking device that will allow you to find the exact locations of these rings. All you have to do is figure out how to get them.
Rings, as it turns out, are not quite as easy to collect as one would expect. They can appear anywhere throughout the city or the surrounding areas, but they always appear in some sort of frustrating place. Perhaps one has manifested at the top of a tree, or on top of the bean. Maybe it's hiding behind rows and rows of items in the W*lmart. Maybe you'll have to break into an employees' only room or a restricted area for one. Regardless, no ring is going to be simple to collect, and it's up to you to figure out how to get it. Every single ring counts, after all.
ENEMIES
This week's enemies are the same as last week's, though lesser in number. Like last week, you shouldn't let them escape, but you're growing stronger: they should be easier to beat than last week.
Badnik Surveillance Units are primarily made for reconnaissance. They can be found flying overhead, observing the people go about their lives and following scheduled flight paths and patterns to ensure every inch of the city is being observed. Well, mostly. You can find some back alleys and hidden spots here and there, and these Badniks usually won't go into buildings or out into the woods. They will immediately try to flee upon spotting you. They're easy to take down, though a bit more durable than one would expect, given Eggman's designs. If cornered, they are capable of shooting a simple laser beam that will hurt and possibly leave a burn.
Badnik Drones are the most common combat robot you will find. Small chrome white orbs with red eyes, they are capable of scanning and detecting abnormalities. They are not quite as common as the Badnik Surveillance Units, but you'll still spot several of them floating through the city at any given point in time. Unlike the Badnik Surveillance Units, these come ready for combat. They can fire lasers as well as shoot small homing missiles. The homing missiles thankfully aren't very fast and can be outrun or otherwise blocked, but they pack a punch if they do hit! These robots will stand their ground and fight if they spot you, but they will call for backup - if you aren't fast enough, you'll find yourself facing many of them!
The Badnik Transformer Model B33, more affectionately called Buzz Bombers by Tails and friends, is... well, it looks like a bee. A hornet, rather, as that stinger is actually a precision laser that moves fast. These robots typically look like Badnik Drones, but are capable of shifting and uncoiling themselves to become the B33 units. They are fast, they hit hard, and they are relentless, pursuing you nonstop until they've been destroyed. They will not call for backup, which is possibly the only saving grace about fighting them. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if a Badnik is a Drone or a B33 until you're actually in combat - and by then it may be(e) too late.
Badnik Tanks are mini... well, tanks. They stand about the size of a large dog and roll around on treads through the city. They're much rarer than the other robots, but it seems some have been sent to Chicago after the destruction of the base. These tanks are capable of shooting a large laser that deals significant damage to anyone it hits, and they're quite durable. When severely damaged, they start sparking - they'll explode when hit, and you probably don't want to be in melee range!
But Vakama, after a pained pause, seems to at least try and consider her rebuttal, letting his self-pitying moment of pride die down to actually listen.
...]
It's hard to say. Visions like this... they don't really have rules.
But you're right, that you're... you're not supposed to be here. None of you are.
I've thought through this mistake so many times, but... maybe a fresh pair of eyes would help.
It's true that some things are just fated to be, but it's still worth trying to find an alternative to walking through the same horrible things, again and again.
Whatever good intentions I had doesn't make up for the facts of how cruelly I treated my team and how reckless I behaved. They will all carry scars for life for my callousness.
[He goes quiet, before gesturing around them. The shore of the same city, even if it was coated in clouds of sickly green, buildings destroyed, the calls of wild animals echoing.]
We came back. Trying to do what we had to. We expected things to have changed, but... never this much.
...
I pushed my team as hard as I thought we needed. To try to keep everyone focused, to try and remind them what our duty as Toa was supposed to lead us towards.
We'd already failed once with a weak lack of direction, and our... my mistakes robbed us of our only true source of wisdom. We had only each other.
I felt it my duty to not let that happen again. But when my team still would not listen to me, I found the only way I thought I could keep forward motion was to grow strict. Like I might feel braver, more worthy, if I stopped backing down and started to push back.
[...]
It just made me a rock-headed fool. Stubborn and angry, and no more united than I had been before.
And that fool charged his team straight into a trap, with his eyes wide open and seeing nothing.
But, besides that... talking through my plans with my teammates. I had gotten it into my head what goal I wanted to achieve without thinking through any consequences, and had blamed my team for their criticisms in my impatience.
If we'd taken our time to look first and understand our enemy - if I had been patient enough to do so, without blame - maybe we would have found another way.
They did. Onewa, the Toa of Stone, and Matau, Toa of Air - they both advocated for a long time for scouting first. And Whenua and Nuju, of Earth and Ice, both wished to explore other means of study for information. Either through what remained of our ruined Great Archives, or in the prophecies of our Knowledge Towers. Whenua knew he most of the creatures from his previous position as an archivist, but his recollection was slim at best.
At the time, I'd thought it all a waste of time to be discussing in the first place, when we could be taking action directly. Scouting felt too dangerous and wasteful, and with our city as destroyed as it was, adventuring into either the Archives or the Towers seemed that it would be more of a risk than reward in the short term.
[this may be a little of why he butts heads with Wolfwood now for doing the same thing :')]
I learned very well how these creatures work. The Visorak. Well enough that I commanded the entire horde myself.
[long stories that we cant explain right this second for 500, alex
His mind is already working, snapping up a piece of driftwood to try and trace somelines through the sand and rock, trying to connect old memory with new knowledge.]
Even if I can't avoid the memory of it, maybe I can get you around it.
[sometimes you just command a bajillion spiders, it's perfectly normal (no it's not)(dwbi)
It's a pretty crude map, inevitably leading to an open area surrounded by cross marks to show hostiles. But instead of focusing on those, he's glancing up towards the stretching of webs in comparison to his map - plotting out angles, jotting down numbers. A lifetime of work dealing with thermodynamics has given him a steady background of math, and now is no exception.]
The whole attack was an ambush. Visorak don't give up the hunt until their prey is downed, and they have the intelligence to plan it out.
There's no reason to communicate while on the hunt, so they use vibration from their webs as a way to send signals instead. If we send a false signal... even if myself or my team can't escape what's coming, it still might give you a chance to slip away for cover.
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Given how the rest of this has gone... I don't think I could if I tried.
[Because he sure does replay this particular mistake over and over in his head on repeat sometimes.]
But... this is my reality. Not yours. Facing it may be the only way forward.
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Do we have to go forward, though?
Think about it. I'm not even supposed to be here. This is all some sort of nightmare scenario, basically.
Why do we have to play by the rules that were already set out?
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But Vakama, after a pained pause, seems to at least try and consider her rebuttal, letting his self-pitying moment of pride die down to actually listen.
...]
It's hard to say. Visions like this... they don't really have rules.
But you're right, that you're... you're not supposed to be here. None of you are.
I've thought through this mistake so many times, but... maybe a fresh pair of eyes would help.
1/2
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Do you regret it?
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Yes.
Whatever good intentions I had doesn't make up for the facts of how cruelly I treated my team and how reckless I behaved. They will all carry scars for life for my callousness.
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We came back. Trying to do what we had to. We expected things to have changed, but... never this much.
...
I pushed my team as hard as I thought we needed. To try to keep everyone focused, to try and remind them what our duty as Toa was supposed to lead us towards.
We'd already failed once with a weak lack of direction, and our... my mistakes robbed us of our only true source of wisdom. We had only each other.
I felt it my duty to not let that happen again. But when my team still would not listen to me, I found the only way I thought I could keep forward motion was to grow strict. Like I might feel braver, more worthy, if I stopped backing down and started to push back.
[...]
It just made me a rock-headed fool. Stubborn and angry, and no more united than I had been before.
And that fool charged his team straight into a trap, with his eyes wide open and seeing nothing.
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Too many things to count, at this point. [He really doesn't want to start down that whole spiral.]
If anything... I wish I had just taken the time and listened to my teammates. Truly listened.
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Like what in particular?
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Mostly listening.
But, besides that... talking through my plans with my teammates. I had gotten it into my head what goal I wanted to achieve without thinking through any consequences, and had blamed my team for their criticisms in my impatience.
If we'd taken our time to look first and understand our enemy - if I had been patient enough to do so, without blame - maybe we would have found another way.
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At the time, I'd thought it all a waste of time to be discussing in the first place, when we could be taking action directly. Scouting felt too dangerous and wasteful, and with our city as destroyed as it was, adventuring into either the Archives or the Towers seemed that it would be more of a risk than reward in the short term.
[this may be a little of why he butts heads with Wolfwood now for doing the same thing :')]
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Were you able to take those lessons with you afterwards, at least?
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...
[Oh. Oh, suddenly alert, as though he has an idea.]
W-Wait. Rio, say that again.
Not the lessons part, the... other thing.
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[Uh, okay.]
This is a nightmare, not a simulation?
Your mind can't create what it doesn't know?
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I didn't know it at this point. But...
I learned very well how these creatures work. The Visorak. Well enough that I commanded the entire horde myself.
[long stories that we cant explain right this second for 500, alex
His mind is already working, snapping up a piece of driftwood to try and trace somelines through the sand and rock, trying to connect old memory with new knowledge.]
Even if I can't avoid the memory of it, maybe I can get you around it.
no subject
Still, she'll go over and see what he's drawing out.]
What's your plan?
no subject
It's a pretty crude map, inevitably leading to an open area surrounded by cross marks to show hostiles. But instead of focusing on those, he's glancing up towards the stretching of webs in comparison to his map - plotting out angles, jotting down numbers. A lifetime of work dealing with thermodynamics has given him a steady background of math, and now is no exception.]
The whole attack was an ambush. Visorak don't give up the hunt until their prey is downed, and they have the intelligence to plan it out.
There's no reason to communicate while on the hunt, so they use vibration from their webs as a way to send signals instead. If we send a false signal... even if myself or my team can't escape what's coming, it still might give you a chance to slip away for cover.
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Unless you believe you are a quick enough learner.
Has your aim grown strong with your lasers?
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