Between the mysteries of last weekend, the increasing number of visions and unexplained phenomena, and the attack on Vakama yesterday, everyone is likely on edge. When Tails calls you into his lab around noon, you all are likely already aware of how this is going to go.
Once again, a surge of Chaos Energy in the city is what draws you in, though this time it is a much larger burst than before. Sonic and Knuckles are here with you as usual, with Tails remaining behind to look after Vakama and the base. Unlike before, you aren't met with robots or destruction. In fact, this city block looks remarkably peaceful, aside from where Eggman's chroma has overtaken most of the buildings.
"So good of you all to finally arrive."
The voice comes from up above. You recognize it as the one you heard last week, through that gemstone the Tails Doll had. Perched on one of the buildings is a... fox? No, he's larger than Tails, and wearing a large silver mask that obscures most of his features. In one hand he holds Vakama's missing mask; his other is extended with six gemstones floating around it, a soft teal glow from beneath his black glove marking the seventh. There's a different gemstone on the center of his chest as well, though it doesn't look like the fake Chaos Emeralds you've seen before.
"You all have the pleasure of fighting me, Infinite. I am the Doctor's trusted ally... and I have been watching you all. Your struggles with my nightmares and illusions were so... delicious. You have my thanks for the show."
He kicks off the building, floating towards you all and the ground, though stopping high enough up, still out of reach. And for those of you getting any bright ideas, a deep red begins to fill your vision, tinting the corners of it as the very world itself begins to warp around you - this isn't exactly Chicago anymore, you see. The buildings still exist, wrapped in white chroma, though they bend and twist in ways they shouldn't, making it hard to tell what's real and what isn't.
"I'll snuff out your lives here and now for the Doctor's ambitions! Let's see what you're made of!"
[Staring up at Infinite, in the moment before he acts, Turo thinks - well, of course. His mind has never been his own.
So maybe it's no surprise that he does not break out of the illusion (13). He finds himself in...for a moment, he's not sure where he is. The Lab and the crater have long since been more of a prison than a home to him, and he has not been in Chicago long enough to care for anyplace here. He's never been anywhere else before. Though, back in the Lab, he used to watch the cameras and dream of -
He's in an open field, standing outside a Pokemon Center waypost. It's a route that students often follow when they're heading out on their Treasure Hunts, and the Centers all have security cameras that he can hack. He's seen this place before. He watched Juliana stop on the grass there once for lunch, with Miraidon. It seemed so much happier than it had ever been while it was down in the Lab with him. Naturally, right? It's free, it has friends, it's going on adventures. That's what it deserved, so...so he doesn't have any right to feel so jealous as he does.
Now, though, neither the girl nor the dragon are present. Arven is here. Mabostiff is at his side, of course, and he hefts his big hiking pack onto his shoulders and approaches Turo with a smile.]
Hey! You finally ready to go?
[Turo blinks at him. What are they to each other? Nothing, really. Why would...but he seems happy to see him for once, and the road stretches on into the horizon.]
So, I figure you should catch your own Pokemon first. You can borrow Mabostiff for that...
[Arven keeps talking, about the wild Pokemon found nearby and which of them might be best. Maschiff live around here; maybe he'll end up with a Mabostiff of his own? But something about the suggestion catches. Mabostiff...raised him, practically. After he evolved, he was more of a parent to Arven than the Professor ever was, much less Turo. Why would Arven ever want to share something like that with him...?
He wouldn't. Of course not.
Guilt and loathing stab through him (20). Who is he to aspire to something so perfect? He isn't this person. He isn't the one Arven smiles at, or whom Pokemon wish to befriend.]
This...can't be real, can it...
[Broken machine. He closes his eyes and forces a reboot of all visual processing.
It's something he's never done before, and he's surprised by the wave of dizziness that ensues. But it at least returns him to the cold hard truth. Except Arven's still here. That is probably a threat, but out of the corner of his eye, Turo sees what's happening with More. And - it doesn't matter what happens to him. He lifts a hand to try and use his Shard power, and it takes a different shape, shooting a hail of sharp Tera crystals at...More's dead wife, sorry about that?]
[On the plus side, the Tera crystals hit, causing Allice to falter, gaze whipping around to Turo for a moment. On the less-than-positive side, his own illusion is still here and very much ready for a fight.
Arven - corrupted by crystals and glitching out in red instead of Turo's blue - moves forward lightning-fast, aiming to stab his not-father-figure in the side.
Allice, for her part, seems torn between which one to focus on. She eventually decides to leave More alone for now, moving to chase down Turo.]
[ More gasps in horror when the crystals pierce this grotesque imitation of what was once someone beloved. For a moment here, he'd been ready to simply let her have her way with him, and be done. Be free. But when his head whips around to find the source of the unexpected attack, it's Turo and the boy is with him.
The determination to find a better and more fulfilled life for himself has already waned within More, but that fog of depression only clouds his judgement where his own person is concerned. Turo still deserves a better future, with freedom and a sky full of stars. ]
Allice! It is me you seek. I alone am the target of your ire!
[ Allice is chasing down Turo, but More is chasing down Allice. When he wraps his arms around her from behind, it's not a hug but a strangle-hold. ]
T-- [ Though More has been calling him 'Turo' in his head, that name is wrong and he knows it. So instead, simply: ] Watch out!
[Turo's head snaps around and he dodges the stab from Arven easily. It's not Arven, though, is it? It glitches like a machine, like him, and Arven is nothing like him.
Still, as he turns and braces himself...a different moment flashes before his eyes, a thousand other nightmares where he's raised his hands to Arven. His memory of the actual Protocol takeover is limited and hazy, but he's dreamed of killing Arven over and over, these past weeks. He sees blue eyes, Sada's eyes, and he - can't.
But he helped More once already. Maybe that's at least something he can do. He turns and, seeing his target already held still, shoots one large Tera shard at Alice with precision (20).]
[There simply isn't any way for a caught target to avoid that Tera shard - and the hit pierces her right in the center causing her to immediately explode into those red glitchy effects. Thankfully, this is only a visual explosion, so you will not be damaged.
Arven is undeterred and swings that knife down on Turo again, with no hesitation.]
[ Allice fades from within his arms and out of all the hours she's spent haunting him this week, this one feels the realest. The greatest sentiment he can associate with her, whom he does not fully remember, is loss. There is a strange satisfaction in having that reaffirmed to him.
But More does not get to dwell on this feeling when Turo is still in peril. Looking at Arven after being in Turo's place during the nightmare sequences is hard. There's a lingering affection here, an association between Arven and his own son (both of whom are basically strangers to him). But that's not the prince, it's not even Arven, and they need to get out of here.
More is not close enough to physically tackle Arven in time, but he can send one of those energy blasts at him to get him to drop that knife. ]
[Again, Turo's able to side-step the attack (13). He flinches as More shoots a blast at Arven, though...is that hypocritical? He doesn't know who that burnt woman was, but she must have been someone More cared for. It's not Arven. He knows it's not Arven, and he's - in control of himself right now? Infinite's words echo in his mind. Is he?
He does try to fire a crystal at Arven (6), but it's small and slow.]
[Arven only barely manages to dodge More's energy blast, and he evades Turo's crystal as well as he once again approaches Turo with the knife. He will not be stopped from trying to knife this poor robot who deserves so much better.]
Turo can't attack Arven for reasons that are... honestly very understandable, and More is not much of a fighter. But they can't stay here, eternally locked in this torture. If Turo can't go through killing Arven again, More is going to have to load this additional sin onto himself.
So his next move is coming in close to attempt to wrestle the knife from Arven. And if he gets it... well. Stabbing someone shouldn't be too hard, right? ]
[Turo dodges again (17), and - it's just going to keep going like this, isn’t it? Until one of the other of them fails to dodge. Should he...?
He still can’t bring himself to use his Shard power again Arven, but seeing More grappling with him is too much. He reaches out to, at least, try and help get the knife away.]
[Between Turo and More, the knife is wrestled away from Arven. The knife is now in More's hands - and if More's accepted this sin, then he's welcome to stab.
There really isn't anywhere for Arven to go. There's nothing he can really do except be stabbed. He struggles to maintain his form. He glitches in and out, in and out... before finally he can't manage it any longer, and the glitchy effects float upwards, dissipating as they go.]
[ More has accepted the sin. Turo's been cursed with doing this enough times in the maze of his own head. The boy isn't real, he just needs to tell himself that as he brings the knife down.
[Turo flinches away, shutting his eyes, as he sees the knife fall. By the time he opens them again, Arven is only a few motes of red light, drifting upwards. He watches them go until they dissipate to nothing.]
...no, no. It's...
[Okay? He's not. But that wasn't Arven, and it needed to be done. He's glad he didn't have to do it for once.]
[ With all enemies taken care of, More practically deflates. There is no tension left in the way he's standing, but at least he's not dropping to the floor. This was... not a good day. ]
Hopefully this is the last time you'll have to see this.
[ The more optimistic on the squad are planning to take out the mysterious nightmare-causing critter, and all. ]
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So maybe it's no surprise that he does not break out of the illusion (13). He finds himself in...for a moment, he's not sure where he is. The Lab and the crater have long since been more of a prison than a home to him, and he has not been in Chicago long enough to care for anyplace here. He's never been anywhere else before. Though, back in the Lab, he used to watch the cameras and dream of -
He's in an open field, standing outside a Pokemon Center waypost. It's a route that students often follow when they're heading out on their Treasure Hunts, and the Centers all have security cameras that he can hack. He's seen this place before. He watched Juliana stop on the grass there once for lunch, with Miraidon. It seemed so much happier than it had ever been while it was down in the Lab with him. Naturally, right? It's free, it has friends, it's going on adventures. That's what it deserved, so...so he doesn't have any right to feel so jealous as he does.
Now, though, neither the girl nor the dragon are present. Arven is here. Mabostiff is at his side, of course, and he hefts his big hiking pack onto his shoulders and approaches Turo with a smile.]
Hey! You finally ready to go?
[Turo blinks at him. What are they to each other? Nothing, really. Why would...but he seems happy to see him for once, and the road stretches on into the horizon.]
I...yes.
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[Arven keeps talking, about the wild Pokemon found nearby and which of them might be best. Maschiff live around here; maybe he'll end up with a Mabostiff of his own? But something about the suggestion catches. Mabostiff...raised him, practically. After he evolved, he was more of a parent to Arven than the Professor ever was, much less Turo. Why would Arven ever want to share something like that with him...?
He wouldn't. Of course not.
Guilt and loathing stab through him (20). Who is he to aspire to something so perfect? He isn't this person. He isn't the one Arven smiles at, or whom Pokemon wish to befriend.]
This...can't be real, can it...
[Broken machine. He closes his eyes and forces a reboot of all visual processing.
It's something he's never done before, and he's surprised by the wave of dizziness that ensues. But it at least returns him to the cold hard truth. Except Arven's still here. That is probably a threat, but out of the corner of his eye, Turo sees what's happening with More. And - it doesn't matter what happens to him. He lifts a hand to try and use his Shard power, and it takes a different shape, shooting a hail of sharp Tera crystals at...More's dead wife, sorry about that?]
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Arven - corrupted by crystals and glitching out in red instead of Turo's blue - moves forward lightning-fast, aiming to stab his not-father-figure in the side.
Allice, for her part, seems torn between which one to focus on. She eventually decides to leave More alone for now, moving to chase down Turo.]
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The determination to find a better and more fulfilled life for himself has already waned within More, but that fog of depression only clouds his judgement where his own person is concerned. Turo still deserves a better future, with freedom and a sky full of stars. ]
Allice! It is me you seek. I alone am the target of your ire!
[ Allice is chasing down Turo, but More is chasing down Allice. When he wraps his arms around her from behind, it's not a hug but a strangle-hold. ]
T-- [ Though More has been calling him 'Turo' in his head, that name is wrong and he knows it. So instead, simply: ] Watch out!
no subject
Still, as he turns and braces himself...a different moment flashes before his eyes, a thousand other nightmares where he's raised his hands to Arven. His memory of the actual Protocol takeover is limited and hazy, but he's dreamed of killing Arven over and over, these past weeks. He sees blue eyes,
Sada's eyes, and he - can't.But he helped More once already. Maybe that's at least something he can do. He turns and, seeing his target already held still, shoots one large Tera shard at Alice with precision (20).]
CLEAR (More)
Arven is undeterred and swings that knife down on Turo again, with no hesitation.]
metaphor spoilers again, folks
But More does not get to dwell on this feeling when Turo is still in peril. Looking at Arven after being in Turo's place during the nightmare sequences is hard. There's a lingering affection here, an association between Arven and his own son (both of whom are basically strangers to him). But that's not the prince, it's not even Arven, and they need to get out of here.
More is not close enough to physically tackle Arven in time, but he can send one of those energy blasts at him to get him to drop that knife. ]
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He does try to fire a crystal at Arven (6), but it's small and slow.]
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Turo can't attack Arven for reasons that are... honestly very understandable, and More is not much of a fighter. But they can't stay here, eternally locked in this torture. If Turo can't go through killing Arven again, More is going to have to load this additional sin onto himself.
So his next move is coming in close to attempt to wrestle the knife from Arven. And if he gets it... well. Stabbing someone shouldn't be too hard, right? ]
no subject
He still can’t bring himself to use his Shard power again Arven, but seeing More grappling with him is too much. He reaches out to, at least, try and help get the knife away.]
CLEAR
There really isn't anywhere for Arven to go. There's nothing he can really do except be stabbed. He struggles to maintain his form. He glitches in and out, in and out... before finally he can't manage it any longer, and the glitchy effects float upwards, dissipating as they go.]
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Even so... ]
I'm so sorry...
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...no, no. It's...
[Okay? He's not. But that wasn't Arven, and it needed to be done. He's glad he didn't have to do it for once.]
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Hopefully this is the last time you'll have to see this.
[ The more optimistic on the squad are planning to take out the mysterious nightmare-causing critter, and all. ]
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[He doesn't really know what he's apologizing for - who was she? But she was clearly someone.]