While your conversation with Shadow may have shed light on a few things... it's obvious he doesn't think you all are up to the task of saving the universe from Eggman. Which also means that now you're dealing with his test, starting immediately. Some of you may be whisked away with no time to even blink, while others may find themselves wandering the Void aimlessly. Regardless, it seems this week won't be a particularly easy one.
THE VOID
Nothing has changed in the Void. Nothing ever changes in the Void. It's impossible to track the passage of time in here, and your only escape are the rings... though you should be careful with them, as there's far fewer this week. You're free to travel between worlds as you see fit - Shadow won't stop you - but you can be snatched up from wherever you are at any given moment and pulled back into the Void. Maybe don't plan on spending to long anywhere else, because it won't end well for you if you do.
The hexagonal shards will still show you visions of other worlds... but this time they all show the same thing. You'll see worlds - maybe even your own - taken over by robots and Eggman's chroma, reduced to smoldering ashes or being rebuilt in Eggman's image. Your friends, allies, and enemies may even be going about their lives just as listlessly and dutifully, heedless of their surroundings. You may even see alternate versions of yourself among them. Regardless, it seems all these shards have to show you this week are all the possibilities of failure - that other versions of shardbearers in other timelines have already lost.
MINDSCAPES
Shadow's usage of the Phantom Ruby and his own fake Chaos Emerald shard have caused quite the problem for you all - namely, you'll find yourselves traversing each other's innermost thoughts and dreams. Exactly how this mindscape manifests depends on the individual, but one thing will always remain true: you won't be able to find the owner of the mindscape easily.
As a reflection of these inner thoughts, mindscapes can be any sort of place. Perhaps they are a reflection of the owner's inner demons and fear, or perhaps they showcase a bright future they want to work towards. Regardless, this is a dream and one the owner must be awoken from... which means finding them and bringing them back to reality. That's easier said than done when traversing through this dream-like state, where the rules are made up by the owner and you're a foreign being that the dream recognizes as a threat (even if you aren't).
You may encounter familiar places or people within these mindscapes. You may not. You may end up fighting for your life in here... or you may not. Each one is individual, and the experience can vary wildly from person to person. No matter what you face, you must find the owner of the mindscape and bring them back. You must ensure you're strong enough to support them... and protect yourself.
Curiously, you can activate your shared shard power with the owner of the mindscape at any time - or bolster your own power if you share shard colors - even without them being present. Will this make it easier or harder to help bring them back? It depends on the person, your bond, and the mindscape itself...
Waking them up is as simple as convincing them that they're dreaming - that this isn't real and that they still have things to return to - but that may be easier said than done depending on the person... or the mindscape itself. There's no telling what you'll encounter, after all.
SHARDS
You'll find you're capable of more now than you were before. You're really adapting to using your shard powers and fighting with others. Those of you who share shard colors will feel the strength of your shards increasing even more when working together.
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
Given that your allies are being pulled into mindscapes and are unable to break free of their own, your task this week is to help your friends. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are off dealing with their own mindscapes, but whenever they are around, they're adamant about the importance of making sure everyone is freed and prepared for whatever comes next.
ENEMIES
Like last week, you will not encounter any of Eggman's robots. The Void is still free of enemies, though other worlds may possess their own threats. Mindscapes are a bit of a different beast; each one varies, and you may or may not encounter threats of any sort in them. Best be on your guard.
You are a kindred spirit that I didn't think possible to exist in the first place, Viktor. Intent and regret in like measure, with our mistakes and creations always hanging over our heads...
In that way... I know I don't have the answers to help you, no more than I have any answers to help myself. I am no more than a hypocrite, to say otherwise. And yet...
[He hesitates, almost as though he intends not to keep speaking. But his touch drops, from shoulders to wrists, to try and take Viktor's hands in his own.]
How... how desperately I wish to see you have more kindness towards yourself than I was ever able to find, my friend.
You have been given this beautiful, frightening chance at more time... and I ache for you to be able to accept it in whatever way you can. No matter how selfish, I want to see you fulfilled.
[He let Vakama take his hands with no resistance--more frail than the touch of the machine, though not yet as thin and cold as they became in the years that followed this day.]
I am sure I would be lost here without your support, Vakama. You need not have every answer, you simply...understand, in ways I would never have believed possible. Undertanding I sincerely hope I have been able to extend in turn.
I have never truly...fit anywhere. Outsider to Piltover, defector to Zaun--I had nowhere, save only for our laboratory. That was the only 'home' I have ever known for most of my life. In all of this I feel...lost, drifting from one small purpose to the next and hoping it can all be enough. [Enough to help the allies he had made, enough to make up for everything he was and everything he had done, enough to save this and every other world.]
I think I-...I would like to belong somewhere else. Until this ends and I return to that anchoring point...no, perhaps even beyond such a time as that. With you, Dorothy, Basilio, Ashley--everyone.
You have done so enough, my friend. How I wish I had time to tell you all the stories I could, before our time was up... to hear as many as I could from you, so that I could remember them into eternity...
You are... easy, to talk to. To listen to.
[The grip feels so weak against the armor of his hands. So fragile and unfamiliar to the touch of the metal he is used to. But he still lets himself grip them gently.]
To want to belong... I would say it transcends beyond humanity alone, Viktor.
You will always have a place with us. And you will continue to have one with us all, myself included, no matter where your heart chooses to roam.
[A beat.
He glances off towards the docks, just briefly - down to the cane, still discarded - before letting his eyes settle back to Viktor.]
...I...do not mind. Telling you these things, I mean to say. Perhaps if we find time we can simply exchange stories a bit less dismal than our usual fare.
[The smallest laugh left him, easily mistaken for a quicker than usual exhale in how slight and faint it was. Viktor found it difficult--perhaps impossible--to simply not understand something, such was just his nature as a scientist. But the heart was unquantifiable; even if logic dictated the architect of Runeterra's near-destruction deserved death at the bare minimum, there would be those who foolishly diagreed and would not be dissuaded. People like Jayce, like Vakama, like so many of their allies-]
[Friends, he corrected himself with a similarly indefinable warmth mixed with confusion. He never had very many of those, and now here he was with a shocking abundance even in spite of everything he had done. Undeserved kindness, unwarranted sympathy, illogical care for a steel monster and mass murderer.]
[He might never understand it. Maybe he didn't have to.]
That...would be nice, if you would accompany me. [The corner of his mouth twitched into a crooked smile--none of the precision of the machine's movements, as uncertain and exhausted as the rest of him. But the effort was there--Viktor had never really known how to give up, for better and for worse.]
[Carefully, he kneels down to pull Viktor's cane off the stone walkways, a quick eye over it to look for damages before handing it up to Viktor.]
Always.
[It is long since time to wake up.
As he straightens himself back up, he will hesitantly hold his hand back out for Viktor's unoccupied one.]
When my time as a Toa is at its end, there are many stories I wish to find ways to share with my people. In... what ways we can, that is. [Much would have to stay secret for the rest of their lives, as far as Vakama is concerned. Better that than to bring undue unrest and anguish at everything that had been lost. But surely... surely... they could tell what needed to be told, for the better of the Matoran.]
I would find the greatest joy, my friend, to know you had a touch on those.
[So long as Viktor accepts that outstretched hand, it will not leave Viktor's.]
[As he settled the cane back into his grip...there was a sudden warm realization settling itself in Viktor's chest at those words, something he had completely failed to realize until now.]
['You should be proud of what you've accomplished, Viktor.' '...Figments. My contributions will be short-lived. Even in your memory.']
[Leaving Runeterra behind would be easy, in itself. There was nowhere he belonged and none save for one person who would acknowledge his legacy as anything but that of a monster. No one else would remember who he really was, what he wished to accomplish, how much he had desperately tried to achieve...but the people with him now would. They would know him as Viktor, not the Machine Herald--even if they drifted apart once all was said and done, they would remember.]
...I once asked Jayce to see what I had accomplished--the people I believed I had saved. There was pride in the progress that had been made, before I came to understand the cruelty of what I had done.
[What had seemed an insane overreaction at the time was, in hindsight, the only response Viktor would have wanted in his right mind.]
This time, I am going to have accomplishments worth the pride I will take in them, and make sure he knows of every single person that has been so integral to it. I doubt myself to be so eternal, but for as long as this machine functions it will do so as the collaborative result of all we have done here, and I will be glad to know carrying that witin myself will make a hollow shell much less empty.
[That crooked smile widened with just a little more confidence, Viktor's free hand settling into Vakama's.]
But first, we must see this through to the end. For now, let's go home. They'll be waiting for us.
[That grip squeezes just so as Vakama straightens up, eyes a little brighter for the relief he feels.]
Together, Viktor. We will see this through.
[Now it was just a matter of getting this dream state to dissolve. But Viktor had wanted to head to the docks for a reason. Whether their surroundings start to turn to shift on the way or not, he will let Viktor take the definitive steps towards that choice - leaving a bittersweet memory of impossibilities and heartache, and falling towards an unknown yet unspoken for by one's regrets.
If Viktor falters, Vakama will be there to wait, to gently encourage him forward with that joint touch. However long it takes, he will get them back out of there.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
I cannot speak for the others. But...
You are a kindred spirit that I didn't think possible to exist in the first place, Viktor. Intent and regret in like measure, with our mistakes and creations always hanging over our heads...
In that way... I know I don't have the answers to help you, no more than I have any answers to help myself. I am no more than a hypocrite, to say otherwise. And yet...
[He hesitates, almost as though he intends not to keep speaking. But his touch drops, from shoulders to wrists, to try and take Viktor's hands in his own.]
How... how desperately I wish to see you have more kindness towards yourself than I was ever able to find, my friend.
You have been given this beautiful, frightening chance at more time... and I ache for you to be able to accept it in whatever way you can. No matter how selfish, I want to see you fulfilled.
I want to see you come back to us. Please.
no subject
I am sure I would be lost here without your support, Vakama. You need not have every answer, you simply...understand, in ways I would never have believed possible. Undertanding I sincerely hope I have been able to extend in turn.
I have never truly...fit anywhere. Outsider to Piltover, defector to Zaun--I had nowhere, save only for our laboratory. That was the only 'home' I have ever known for most of my life. In all of this I feel...lost, drifting from one small purpose to the next and hoping it can all be enough. [Enough to help the allies he had made, enough to make up for everything he was and everything he had done, enough to save this and every other world.]
I think I-...I would like to belong somewhere else. Until this ends and I return to that anchoring point...no, perhaps even beyond such a time as that. With you, Dorothy, Basilio, Ashley--everyone.
That kind of selfishness...is only human, right?
no subject
You are... easy, to talk to. To listen to.
[The grip feels so weak against the armor of his hands. So fragile and unfamiliar to the touch of the metal he is used to. But he still lets himself grip them gently.]
To want to belong... I would say it transcends beyond humanity alone, Viktor.
You will always have a place with us. And you will continue to have one with us all, myself included, no matter where your heart chooses to roam.
[A beat.
He glances off towards the docks, just briefly - down to the cane, still discarded - before letting his eyes settle back to Viktor.]
...So I ask you.
May I walk you home?
no subject
[The smallest laugh left him, easily mistaken for a quicker than usual exhale in how slight and faint it was. Viktor found it difficult--perhaps impossible--to simply not understand something, such was just his nature as a scientist. But the heart was unquantifiable; even if logic dictated the architect of Runeterra's near-destruction deserved death at the bare minimum, there would be those who foolishly diagreed and would not be dissuaded. People like Jayce, like Vakama, like so many of their allies-]
[Friends, he corrected himself with a similarly indefinable warmth mixed with confusion. He never had very many of those, and now here he was with a shocking abundance even in spite of everything he had done. Undeserved kindness, unwarranted sympathy, illogical care for a steel monster and mass murderer.]
[He might never understand it. Maybe he didn't have to.]
That...would be nice, if you would accompany me. [The corner of his mouth twitched into a crooked smile--none of the precision of the machine's movements, as uncertain and exhausted as the rest of him. But the effort was there--Viktor had never really known how to give up, for better and for worse.]
no subject
Always.
[It is long since time to wake up.
As he straightens himself back up, he will hesitantly hold his hand back out for Viktor's unoccupied one.]
When my time as a Toa is at its end, there are many stories I wish to find ways to share with my people. In... what ways we can, that is. [Much would have to stay secret for the rest of their lives, as far as Vakama is concerned. Better that than to bring undue unrest and anguish at everything that had been lost. But surely... surely... they could tell what needed to be told, for the better of the Matoran.]
I would find the greatest joy, my friend, to know you had a touch on those.
[So long as Viktor accepts that outstretched hand, it will not leave Viktor's.]
no subject
['You should be proud of what you've accomplished, Viktor.'
'...Figments. My contributions will be short-lived. Even in your memory.']
[Leaving Runeterra behind would be easy, in itself. There was nowhere he belonged and none save for one person who would acknowledge his legacy as anything but that of a monster. No one else would remember who he really was, what he wished to accomplish, how much he had desperately tried to achieve...but the people with him now would. They would know him as Viktor, not the Machine Herald--even if they drifted apart once all was said and done, they would remember.]
...I once asked Jayce to see what I had accomplished--the people I believed I had saved. There was pride in the progress that had been made, before I came to understand the cruelty of what I had done.
[What had seemed an insane overreaction at the time was, in hindsight, the only response Viktor would have wanted in his right mind.]
This time, I am going to have accomplishments worth the pride I will take in them, and make sure he knows of every single person that has been so integral to it. I doubt myself to be so eternal, but for as long as this machine functions it will do so as the collaborative result of all we have done here, and I will be glad to know carrying that witin myself will make a hollow shell much less empty.
[That crooked smile widened with just a little more confidence, Viktor's free hand settling into Vakama's.]
But first, we must see this through to the end. For now, let's go home. They'll be waiting for us.
no subject
Together, Viktor. We will see this through.
[Now it was just a matter of getting this dream state to dissolve. But Viktor had wanted to head to the docks for a reason. Whether their surroundings start to turn to shift on the way or not, he will let Viktor take the definitive steps towards that choice - leaving a bittersweet memory of impossibilities and heartache, and falling towards an unknown yet unspoken for by one's regrets.
If Viktor falters, Vakama will be there to wait, to gently encourage him forward with that joint touch. However long it takes, he will get them back out of there.
He promised, after all.]