WEEK 6 EVENT

[shardmods]

You find yourself awakening in an unfamiliar location. Even if you don't sleep - even if you weren't sleeping in the Void, or even if you weren't in the Void - you find yourself here now. Your head feels fuzzy and you struggle to remember. Where are you? What were you supposed to be doing? Who are you? The exact extent of this is up to you all, but regardless, waking up is a struggle.

Getting free is going to be even more of a struggle. You're suspended in a glass tube of some kind, bound at the ankles and wrists keeping you aloft by mechanical shackles. Those will break fairly easily even if you aren't the strongest; the glass tube will be the bigger problem. It's thick and not the easiest to break - although those of you with enough strength can shatter it, and if you remember how to use your shards, those could come in handy.

Speaking of, you still retain your shards on the backs of your hands where they should be. You can still make use of them even here... wherever "here" is.

It seems to be a laboratory of some sort; aside from the glass tubes housing all of you individually, there are several more filled with liquid and dark objects within... are they people? Regardless of what they are, they fill you with dread. You don't want to end up like them, do you?

The laboratory is dimly lit. You can only see a few feet in front of you, making it difficult to tell what else this place has to offer aside from your fellow shardbearers and those ominous tubes. Strangely, any attempts at creating light - whether that's through anything you have on your person or through use of your shard powers - will simply fail. You're stuck in the dark, it seems, and even if you were once capable of seeing in it, you aren't able to now.

Focus on getting free first, then let's see where this leads.

NAVIGATION

Comments

FINALE 2/2

[shardmods]

[You awaken back in the Void - in your body, as you should. Your friends are coming to around you as well.]

Whoa, whoa, take it easy. Are you guys alright?

What did you do to them?

Nothing. This wasn't my doing. I lost track of them for a moment and they—

This is why you shouldn't have been messing with the Phantom Ruby! Its power is far too great to be using so carelessy—

No one cares, Infinite, be silent.

[So yeah, Everyone Is Here and all of them look worried (except Infinite). Shadow speaks up again.]

Where were you? What did you see?

[guffawsungraciously]

Oh, you were not aware? Interesting.

[...he's a little mad.]

[thehedgehog]

[Fair and valid, Jasper.]

I wasn't. That wasn't supposed to happen.

[that isn't an apology, shadow.]

[guffawsungraciously]

Hm. Well, I suppose I am glad that it rebounded on someone, after we have had to deal with it for so long.

[holeful]

[Well here's Mr Keeper Of The Sonic Lore;]

I think... we were in your backstory?

[thehedgehog]

...My backstory? What do you mean?

[holeful]

Well we were in tubes in a lab and it was terrible. Maybe more like a nightmare version of your backstory?

Either way it's probably the Phantom Ruby's fault since it's like what Infinite did to us and you did to us this week too.

[ungratefuloz]

[Oh, jesus. This is kind of a lot already and Dorothy's just kind of taking a look around at all of the fuzzy friends around them. They're...

They're back in reality. Okay. Alright. Admittedly Dorothy bristles at Shadow's questioning, but...]

...We ended up waking up in some kind of laboratory. Or at least something like it; we ended up in tubes that had to be broken out of before we split up and went in different directions.

[Dorothy pauses a bit.]

...Are you alright?

[thehedgehog]

[Huh, that's...]

Yes, we're fine. You all suddenly went unconscious and I lost track of you all.

[Infinite looks like he's gearing up to Yell again, but thankfully Knuckles punches him in the arm and he shuts up.]

[ungratefuloz]

...I was wondering if it might have been one of you yelling at us to get out.

[thank you for doing the lord's work knuckles]

At the very least, I can say this much; what we faced in going west was a terminal that seemed to want to show us our failures on loop. It was...quite terrible to try and get out of.

...It's good to see none of you were affected, at least.

[morningstud]

It was some manner of laboratory? Upon waking, we were in some manner of person-sized test tube, one for each of us.

[And then some.]

Calling it "alarming" is something of an understatement.

[thehedgehog]

...Curious. I didn't send you into anyone's mind, so I'm not sure how this happened.

[infinite in the background like SEE??? WHAT DID I JUST SAY????]

[morningstud]

Are you certain it was not your own?

[Obviously not consciously, but.]

[hexalding]

[YOUR EYES WON'T LIE WHEN YOUR MIND IS OPEN-]

[Viktor could only hear that terrible metal reverberation in the otherworldly voice reaching him now. His, not his, glowing eyes and a sudden searing pain in his head like it was about to split apart-]

Don't- [Viktor recoiled and pushed himself back, floating through the Void with both hands pressed to his head like he was trying to keep something from breaking out in a brief and sudden flare of panic.]

[thehedgehog]

[Hi Viktor, welcome back, you look like you're having a good time.]

...Are you alright?

[no, he's obviously not, shadow,,,]

[hexalding]

No, what the fuck was that-?

[...he might need a second.]

I--there was a laboratory, and...whose mind was that?

[holeful]

[Oh no!!! You know what could help those headaches is a hole- No he won't suggest that again so soon.]

Mr Viktor! Are you alright? Do you need an asprin.

[hexalding]

Not now, Fukuda-

[He's fine, it's fine, we're all fine and cool here]

Did...you see that?

[noirge]

We were were in a lab and split up four ways. Some of us went south, but that then somehow send us back to the entrance because we took the wrong way, I think...

Then we tried to go North to help the group there, but then we all got attacked by clones of ourselves with claws.

I guess you saved us. Thank you.

[sacrificialpawn]

Attacked?

[Shit. And he wasn't there?]

[divinevoid]

That's correct. It was an unfortunate experience indeed.

[ It sure was...something. ]

When they died, they merely...glitched out and whatnot.

[thehedgehog]

[Hm. He doesn't like that, actually!]

I didn't do anything. I couldn't even track where you all were.

[reallyfishy]

[Oh boy, here we go again with the headaches and waking back up in the tube--

Oh. It's not the tube. They're back! There's Sonic and the gang!]

Finally.

[Raven flops back and basks in the void anti-gravity, waving a hand at Shadow.]

Just another one o' those head dreams we've been dealin' with. Kinda surprised ta hear ya didn't plan it, though. Didn't ya tell us ta prepare fer yer test?

[thehedgehog]

I did, yes. The test was within your own minds.

[A controlled environment that would probably be fine even if incredibly rude! Not. Whatever the hell this was.]

I didn't send you all into another one, and I couldn't even track where your minds went.

not here, i'm gonna move this to aftermath!

[crosswired]

[He is one that does not respond at all as he sits up. His hand simply stays pressed to his head, fingers clenching.

It's the loss of one illusion that triggers the threat of another, pounding in such a similar way that he can feel his ears start to muffle with familiar, incessant ringing, gaze unfocused against his lap as his eyes struggle not to shrink to pinpoint.

What response he gives to Shadow is stuttered, little more than an apology, before he shoves to his feet and tries to get some distance.]