shardmods: (Default)
shardmods ([personal profile] shardmods) wrote in [community profile] shardbond2025-03-09 12:25 am

what i have in my two hands is enough to set me free






After eight long, difficult weeks of fighting, you've finally done it. You've put an end to Neo Metal Sonic's dreams of conquest and with it, you've saved not only this world, but all worlds. Perhaps not everything is wrapped up as neatly as some of you would like, but you've done what you set out to do, and now you can breathe a sigh of relief.

In the hours that follow the immediate aftermath of Neo Metal Sonic's defeat, Tails sets about figuring out how to control the Egg Fleet and recall them to where Neo Metal Sonic had them stationed. Sonic heads out into the city - and then even further beyond - to ensure that the people are starting to regain their senses without anyone to suppress their free will anymore. Knuckles escorts you back to the base, then takes a ring to hop into the Void to let Shadow and Infinite know what's going on.

As for you all? You aren't expected to do any work, because you've done so much today. Take a load off and take the time to rest - you deserve it.

For those of you who can't wait to get home, you're welcome to grab a ring from one of your colorful friends and head straight back, but for those of you willing to take the night off and regroup in the morning, you'll find that said colorful friends have put together a party for you - or, well, they tried their best. The decorations are store-bought (or not) and simple, Sonic seems to have thought confetti is the best way to throw a party and there is so much of it getting showered on all of you the moment you walk into the room, and someone obtained a sheet cake that did not have any sort of message on it, so an awkwardly scrawled message of "THANKS FOR HELP" is written in bright green icing that clashes with the cake's soft pink and red color scheme. An attempt was made.

You're welcome to hang out here - both in the new base and in this world as a whole - for as long as you'd like. Permanently, even, if you don't have any intention of going home. After all, you've more than earned it. Sonic and friends will gladly help you figure out a way to get settled here.

If you do choose to stay for any length of time and head out into the city, you'll find that people are indeed starting to return to their daily lives. They don't really understand - or remember - what happened, but they do recognize you as someone they have some innate fondness for, regardless of how startling your appearance may be to them. The city itself has seen better days thanks to the spread of Eggman's chroma, but thankfully the natural elements are recovering from that just fine. The buildings, streets, and the like will not naturally recover, so it seems Chicago's going to require some pretty intensive rebuilding...

But for the time being, everything is going smoothly, and you've done everything that was asked of you. You're free to return home. If you do, your shard may eventually come loose and simply fall off, ridding you of both the shard and its powers. Or maybe it won't, and you'll have that memory of your time in this world forever, along with the power innate to you and the ones you can activate from your fellow shardbearers whenever you're near each other.

Congratulations, shardbearers. You've done the impossible, and maybe even formed some new bonds along the way.

( Welcome to the final log of Shardbond! With this, you have successfully navigated your way through the Sonic friendship game and no one died! Hooray!!! For this final log, you may do whatever you'd like - if you want to use this to do an immediate aftermath top level, go for it! Party top level? Sure? Post-game top level? Have fun! You want to bring a castmate in and NPC them or have someone else play them? Also cool! Generally speaking, you are now free to do what you will with the setting as a whole - your fuzzy little friends will be hard at work making sure that you all are able to get home and/or get settled just fine, and they'll also be keeping an eye out for one (1) Neo Metal Sonic. And also Infinite, I guess, unless someone wants to take that stray jackal with them but like, no one needs that. )



divinevoid: (🟨 INNOCENT (DUBIOUS))

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-10 12:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Void Archives will try to track Vakama down before leaving. It's more or less an imperative to them.

Though, the blond after some indeterminate time with their adventures with Jasper (we can leave the amount of months vague, but it was probably more than seven), will try to visit.

No one who got to know the blond well will be able to escape!! ]
crosswired: (068)

🔎

[personal profile] crosswired 2025-03-10 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's at least not too hard to track down! His room's already been cleaned up with the only things still present being his weapon resting against the empty bed, a small folded stack of notes tightly bound in twine, and a cloth bag to hold the masks and tools he had come to Chicago with.

Vakama himself is in whatever they've made into their entertainment room, rearranging part of the bookshelf to slip his own notebooks into line.]
divinevoid: (🟨 LISTEN)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-10 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, at least Void Archives caught Vakama before he has made his departure. It would be most unfortunate if they had missed him!

Though, they wonder how soon it is before he will make it, they don't have to for the moment, seeing him make the motions that he does with his notebooks. ]


Oh? Still hard at work towards the end of everything?

[ Habits do die hard for the lot of them, it seems. ]
crosswired: (027)

[personal profile] crosswired 2025-03-11 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ah, the sultry sounds of a pain in the ass.

He just laughs a little weakly as he looks back towards Void Archive.]


I never have been good at staying idle, it's true.

I'm just leaving some things of necessity behind, nothing more. It's not as though I plan to be able to come back within anyone's lifetime.
divinevoid: (🟨 CONFIDENT)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-12 10:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ That is them in a nutshell - fortunately for Vakama at this very moment that they have no intentions of being too much of a pain before he leaves.

...

There is nothing to be said of the future, though! And as such, Void Archives finds themselves also not surprised by this response, either - given his commitment to carrying out his duty. ]


So you are.

And here I thought you might want to visit. It's going to keep you so busy you won't be able to hop in, hm? What about to other worlds?
crosswired: (044)

[personal profile] crosswired 2025-03-12 12:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[He shakes his head.]

What sounds appealing and what will be possible aren't the same, I'm afraid. I can't guarantee I'll be in any state to do so even if I desired it.

The future will hold a lot of possibility, but my responsibilities to the Matoran come first.
divinevoid: (🟨 JEER)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-12 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
What a pity. But I already know the burden that rests heavily upon your shoulders, so to speak. Let's hope it's over sooner than later.

[ Everyone has their goals they need to fulfill - they can understand that much. ]

Though if you can find small breaks in your responsibilities that don't cause too much trouble, even if it doesn't necessarily mean traveling here or there, I'm sure it'll brighten up things by far.
crosswired: (062)

[personal profile] crosswired 2025-03-13 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh how to explain to a cube that the burden will likely never go away unless he dies...

The answer: Vakama doesn't answer. He just gives a shrug, leaving that in the hypothetical realm of "who knows."]


I'd like to hope so, if it can be managed. There is no sense in our virtue of unity if we cannot find ways to enjoy our time with one another. That won't change.

Is that what you intend to do? Travel? I don't imagine someone like you has had your fill of the unknown just yet.
divinevoid: (🟨 PLEASED)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-13 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Void Archives will accept this answer more graciously than the alternative by far. As for the other matter, they're not the type of person to say something bright and protagonist-esque, but at the same time? ]

Well, you know what they say. As long as one has the will, they can force a way.

[ ...That is actually not the saying and they know it. But the particular exact phrase is not necessarily a universal constant! ]

But, you are correct. I intend to travel, with my Jasper. There are a multitude to benefits in doing so, naturally.

Exploring new worlds, seeing new places - or familiar ones, with familiar faces.
crosswired: (110)

[personal profile] crosswired 2025-04-11 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Quite a rock-headed saying, isn't it... [Like, he gets it, but still: lol]

Is knowledge your main concern again? You do seem very friendly with Jasper, but I didn't take him to be a traveller.
divinevoid: (🟨 TROLL)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-04-13 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Rock-headed? How about considering instead that the foundations of such a saying is stronger than any mountain?

[ Void Archives is going to Void Archives, apparently. ]

As for my main concern - I suppose that is a part of it, but not entirely. Does it surprise you? The universe is quite vast, in either event. I wish to see many places as I am - and experience many more lands.

And, it is also a way to keep in contact with familiar faces. As for Dear Jasper, I feel that there is a lot about him that would surprise you. And, of course, others. Perhaps even myself, as we have become quite close with one another.

Though, I also believe we know each other quite well. It helps when one has quite a deeper understanding of another, yes?

[ Their personalities are similar in a myriad ways at times, even with their subtle differences. ]
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: ???)

seven months later

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-10 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[They step out from the ring. Wow, this scene looks weirdly familiar!

The beach stretches for what seems like forever. The sun rises high in the sky with the sound of strange seabirds and wildlife.

To their right is a staircase with shallow steps, clearly meant for much smaller legs, that lead up a steep rocky incline to a strange machine. Void Archive will recognize the telescope.

To their left, far in the distance, the sand tapers into dark stretches of volcanic rock, the smell of ash and smoke faint in the air.

Directly in front of them is lush jungle, untamed.

There are no signs, no docks, no boats. Were there not crude paths shaped into the ground of the underbrush, one might think this entire island still deserted.]
divinevoid: (🟨 SMUG)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-10 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Not dis shitto again.

Void Archives has to stop for a moment and wonder if somehow they just got sucked into a mindscape again because that would be their luck.

They rub at their eyes and then blink, reassessing their environment. Ah, well...they suppose they will have to try to trek somewhere.

Wait. They do recall something from their previous trek in the mindscape. Thank goodness for being an archive.

They make their way towards the path with volcanic rock, certain they'll be able to pinpoint Vakama's location the best out of anyone who knew him with a giant heaping of smugness (this may or may not be true.) ]
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: ???)

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-10 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[At least unlike the last time, the ground here feels concrete. The environment, present.

They head down the beach. The air starts to grow thick with the smell of ash and charcoal. Steam and smoke both rise from inland. The treeline slowly dots with black, the sand and rocks morphed into blackened mounds, into obsidian and pumice and crystals - signs of the travelling of fire and magma long since past.

Against the coastline lie signs of boats. Fishing equipment. Spears and shields at rest. Planted torches made of wood and stone dot the rocky terrain, marking out the edges of a cliffside that plummets very rapidly in a chasm filled with magma far below. Wildlife with metallic adornments across their limbs scatter through the fire-tinged brush.

Along the edges of the ashen treeline walks a small robot. All in red, a spear in hand, attention extremely focused as they step, one foot after the other, in a slow and deliberate line across the base of the trees.]
divinevoid: (🟨 INNOCENT (DUBIOUS))

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-11 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ What a nice background atmosphere. Void Archives thinks that even these guys should spend somewhere not in a volcano with all of this chill environment to take advantage of. But they remember that older woman who was elsewhere who was certainly...a time, so. It is what it is.

Anyway, the small red robot must be someone who is like a guardian. They suppose that they could approach this normally.

...

But instead of doing that, they just see how much chaos they can cause by trying to stroll right on by.

You know, without saying anything, and acting like it's totally normal for them to be here.

Sometimes, some habits die hard. ]
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: ???)

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-11 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[The little guy looks, eyes following, but doesn't say much.

Congratulations, Void Archive, you are able to walk on by without any immediate interruption whatsoever. Surely this will have no lasting consequences.

Where are you off to?]
divinevoid: (🟨 BRAG)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-11 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Score for being SO confident that things are working out.

Don't mind them continuing to strut around like they own the place. Truly, they are the epitome of greatness...and all that.

This is unfortunately increasing their ego, but they will continue along this path.

By which we mean, through the jungle maze straight to the volcano area. ]
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: T)

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-11 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[The forest is fuller than they remember. Less walked through, less lived in, with far less ways to track. But the destination is still the same.

The bridges of stone are still makeshift. The fortress walls of the village still in progress. It is smaller, in this reality. A fragile thing of rock out in middle of the lava, fortified as best it can.

As they walk, the sound of a horn calls out far behind them, at the start of the forest. There is a trail of echoing calls in response: From the gate, from the city. Torches flash.

With a heaving of gearwork and the shuddering of the earth, the great stones that seem to build a bridge across the lava slowly sink back down out of reach.

The gate that blocked their way so many weeks ago is still there, still framing gearwork that looks slightly different than the primitive forms of everything else, which turns with enormous force and billowings of steam and smoke - it's clearly controlling the bridge. But moreso, Void Archive will find the gate is not abandoned this time. Multiple Matoran are already at the ready to meet them, spears held in the offensive.

why do you keep doing this to yourself, cube]
divinevoid: (🟨 ⛓️)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-11 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Hmm...maybe they should test the defenses. Vakama will surely praise them for their thoughtfulness, right? ]

Roadblocks are made to be removed, no?

[ Anyway, please say hi to a multitude of chains appearing from seemingly nowhere - pocket dimensions, perhaps - aiming to restrain all of these Matoran. And let me tell you, there are quite a bit of them. ]

If you try to get in my way, I'll simply stop you from doing much of anything~

[ Then they rush forward, aiming to leap over or run past them, hoping that will be enough to distract them. Though, their speed is hard to catch like this on top of what they threw out, flickering from sight - from one place to another in a blink of an eye.

Surely they're not going to cause a lot of trouble steamrolling through the entrance. ]
Edited 2025-03-11 19:33 (UTC)
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: T)

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-11 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[me just SIGHING into my hands oh my god

---

There's an immediate flurry of commotion. Voices raised, shouting, even as Matoran start to be seized by chains and unable to move. The horn goes off again with deliberate waving of torches through the air before the chains restrain that guard as well.

The horns echo in the distance, the fires waving from the city before immediately being put out. Though some spears are tossed in Void Archive's direction, their power is far higher than the Matoran, and their targets' power very limited. The guards can do nothing but yell after them.

Void Archive successfully leaps over the gate and steamrolls their way to the edge of the sea of lava. The bridge is currently inaccessible, lowered from their advance a couple tags ago, a sheer drop hundreds of feet below where they stand, just barely visible above the molten heat.

The torches of the fortress across from them are all rapidly being put out.

Any plans on how to get across?]
Edited (adjusted wording to be clearer) 2025-03-11 22:58 (UTC)
divinevoid: (🟨'PLEASANT')

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-12 10:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Here is a comment where Void Archives would truly be saddened and regretful by what they have done...

But, honestly, that is not reality, given that they are instead observing the reaction their actions have committed instead. Predictably, the enemies aren't quite able to do all that much.

Though, the bridge is indeed held up, and Void Archives notes that the defenses are at the least relatively adequate.

They suppose that was mildly better than whatever weak force they were received with. But then again, the Void Archives is a far more powerful individual than weaklings like that.

Anyway, the 'how' is settled.

There's not much barrier against someone managing to teleport in or anything like that, right? ]
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: T)

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-12 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[There is no barrier!

From the branching cliff paths, a disc flies through the air and cracks across Void Archive's broad back. It's definitely not metal and despite the force it won't DO anything other than sting, but hey, congrats on the heads up for reinforcements (and more discs being shot their way like a volley of arrows).]
divinevoid: (🟨 HEH)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-12 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ . . .

That sure is something that happened. ]


...Hm, congratulations, this is the first I have been surprised since my arrival here.

[ Because, well, that sure is not what they expected to feel in terms of when getting hit by a disc.

Honestly...that is very laughable - and they even chuckle to themselves.

But, they will simply summon a basic gold barrier afterwards just in case they've got better projectiles, and begin to stride further in. ]
Edited 2025-03-12 16:56 (UTC)
afleetingglimpse: (LOCATION :: T)

[personal profile] afleetingglimpse 2025-03-12 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[The barrier makes them easier to spot, and easier to see the aim of multiple other discs snapped towards them as they crack off the shield.

But onward they go. Reinforcements? Who needs em. They snap across the space in an instant with their teleportaion, dropping them right past the enormous metal gate.

The village is made entirely of stone, outer walls thick and incredibly tall. A plaza with a small rounded shrine sits to their right. Domed huts pepper the space, rooms and doorways carved out into the spiraling rock, some lining the tall walkways that reach further up into the taller overlooks, with the largest sitting off to the left. At the very rear is the start of an enormous tunnel that chasms downward and out, the only other lifeline into the village.

Since Void Archive has finished Vakama's mindscape, they will know the largest of the huts is where they found Vakama last time.

All sources of light have manually been put out across the entire village, leaving a dark and deathly quiet space, smoke still drifting from many of the torches.

Roll a d20 for perception.]
divinevoid: (🟨 GLANCE)

[personal profile] divinevoid 2025-03-12 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, fantastic.

Can't believe we're still going into post-game for perception rolls. Anyway, are they in fact arrogant enough to stride forward into the dark?

...

Yeah, let's do that (10), while doing their best in heading straight towards the largest of the huts in the shadows.

They are curious if someone will try to actually attack them while they're wandering around like this as well. But honestly could probably light things up if necessary.

So, what's going to happen? ]

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