Sarah's eyes widened at the gray humanoid's mention of things getting worse. "Worse in what way?" She asked, swinging her helmet back and forth. She didn't dare imagine what could be worse than her armour and guns becoming toys. And even though the Santa outfit looked silly on him, Sarah steeled herself from bursting into laughter.
"Do you know if there's anywhere I can find out more information?" She leant against the balcony, taking a look around at the area she was in.
THE SLORG!
"Becoming cartoons, animals, put in a swimsuit, getup like this" the troll idly counted off on his fingers, motioning to himself with the last example. "It's all happening today; some are just more unlucky than others. You want info, most people go to the library, center of town" he continued, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, back in the general direction of the city as a whole, "big round building, can't miss it."
You are reading this.
Annoyed Mode: ON
"Standing up for other people... yeah, I get that."
Yuna looked back towards the rest for a bit, who had all already found a clone and voted it out before she continued her little talk with Ben.
"For me it's a bit different," she spoke with a beaming smile. "I don't want people to suffer, and I like helping people out, even if it's with something little like carrying things or looking for something that got lost. And that's why I'm here. There are so many things that this wish reward could be used for: bring someone back to life, cure an incurable sickness, bring peace to the world, make people safe for good, fix a home that was destroyed, and lots of things more! I have a wish of my own I want to make, but even if I don't get it, or even if I didn't need it, I'd still be happy to see it being used on something that helped someone else. That's why I want to win this challenge. But... we kind of need everyone to help for that. I don't really know what happened between you and Thomas and Louie that made you all so angry, but... we really need to work together now. Do you think you guys can just.. help each other out for now? Not just for us, but for all the people we can help out with this wish. Then maybe we can all talk about things and figure something out together. What do you say?"
For the Horde!
Ben winced away as Rex and Makoto started kissing in the middle of the arena.
"Eww, gross," Ben muttered under his breath, before looking back at Yuna. He listened to what she had to say. It was very different to the kind of things he had said. They were both good people and both wanted to be heroes but the way they went about it was very different.
Whereas Ben wanted to stop bad things from happening, Yuna seemed to be focused on doing good deeds. Ben thought for a moment, nodding slightly at her.
"I can... I can try," Ben said. "I just dunno if I'm gonna be any help with this challenge. I just keep getting mad at people. I'm not good at puzzles or stuff. I'm more good at punching bad guys." He sighed, crossing his arms. "I don't really do the thinking stuff. That was Thomas' job. He'd do that way better than me." He glanced over at Louie, Hercules and Rean. He then looked back at Yuna and nodded.
"But... but that doesn't mean I can't help! It doesn't mean that there isn't something I can do! Yeah! We can work together and help all those that need to be helped! 'Cause that's what heroes do! Together! Which reminds me!"
He turned to Yuna, looking up at her and nodding. "Y'know how I said you were a... City Knight in Training? Well, I think you know what it really means to be a hero. You taught me something about being a hero and you're totally right. That's why I officially say... I knight thee! Yuna Yuki, you're a hero! Welcome to the City Knights, for real this time!"
With that pep speech finished, Ben turned towards the others, walking up to the assembled group.
"So, uh, we got any good leads now?" he asked, the wind out of his sails now that he suddenly had to pay attention again.
Edited by AllHailThrall on Nov 2nd 2018 at 9:46:04 AM
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Silanea clearly remembered Connor and how important he was to her. Once again, more proof piled up to suggest she hadn't been replaced, which was always nice to have. Lewis also proved he was real, but that only meant Rex was going to treat him worse than if he were one of the doppelgangers. At least they weren't to blame for acting like dicks, they were just playing a part. Lewis was just an asshole through and through, and being murdered had long stopped being a good excuse for that.
"I wasn't talking to you"
There was something else that came with Connor's arrival: Knowledge. He had recognized the doppelgangers and knew the basics of how their powers worked. As shown in not-Kelsey's case, they were originally liquid and lived as a freaky ocean of flesh back in their homeworld. They seemed to have trouble recalling earlier incidents in the city, exactly had made not-Kelsey so suspicious. But the interesting part was that they could exchange information with a touch between each other. While Marcus took the information and quickly looked for a target to blame—some guy in power armor—Rex focused on that last part. No one outside of the shapeshifters had that neat ability which was a lead they could use. Maybe.
"Have fun jumping the gun, I have an idea" he told Marcus "Tairee, can we summon another shapeshifter here? Or at least part of them?"
THE SLORG!
"The big blue armor guy seems to think it's that guy" Louie told Ben when he asked about leads, pointing to Marcus facing off with Eight Four.
"Hey now, I know what I've been up to; I've been busy with the militia" Eight Four said to Marcus, a bit defensively.
"The boy brought it up before you made any mention of it" Brother Marcus said flatly, pointing to Thomas, while ignoring Rex. "Now, it is time to test the both of you. Something that both of you should know, as members of the militia, and nobody had yet mentioned aloud" the space marine continued.
Meanwhile, Miss Tairee looked to Rex. "No, you may not" Miss Tairee answered simply, shaking her head.
Brother Marcus then stood up straight, and motioned his free arm towards one side of the arena, then the other, saying, "and to make sure neither of you simply lets the other answer first and then pretend to have known, you will answer by walking to opposite sides of the arena, and writing the answer down in the dirt." Brother Marcus then turned back to the two militia members, his helmet giving the usual impression of an intimidating stare. "Are you prepared?" the space marine asked them.
"Yeah, sounds fair" Thomas said.
"Alright, hit me with your best shot" Eight Four answered, holding his arms out for a moment as if to taunt the space marine.
Brother Marcus, unfazed, leaned forward a little. "What is the name, of the militia's ship?" Brother Marcus questioned them.
"That's all? Easy" Thomas stated, and turned to walk away towards one side of the arena.
Eight Four glanced over at Thomas and watched him walking away for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, no problem" Eight Four commented, and turned to walk the other way.
You are reading this.
Genji listened as Marcus questioned the members of the "Militia". Some sort of military-like group. About the name of their ship. From what he was getting, the giant encased in armor seemed to be a fairly reasonable figure. From finding the first Doppelganger and making sure the Militia members couldn't cheat. Why do Ben and Kelsey hate him so much? He isn't exactly nice. But he seems to be a no-nonsense voice of reason.
But on more pressing matters, that parrot and man...he saw them before! When he first arrived in the city, at the elevator. Maybe he can use him to prove he isn't a fake.
"Yo! We have met before right? Could you ask me about where, how and when!" He called out to the parrot and the man who was the former President of the United States Bill Clinton. He needed to prove himself real and the two were the key to that.
Colosseum Arena, School Uniform
Oh, so this guy was a friend of Silanea's, Connor. Lewis rambled about some game he played that involved Connor, and it honestly made no sense to her.
"What are you even talking about?" she asked him with a frown. Connor turned out to have all sorts of information on these shapeshifters. The Changelings had specifics to how they functioned, and now everyone in the arena knew it. This was definitely useful information, especially knowing how they can transfer knowledge between each other. Brother Marcus started to hone in on Eight Four, as he hadn't specifically referenced anything in the City as of yet. After getting some sense talked into him by Yuna, Ben seemed to be in the mindset of solving the problem, at least. "We know how the Changelings work. They feel and look exactly like the original person or even objects, and can communicate silently by touch," she said to Ben, watching as Marcus continued to grill Eight Four. Rex was on an entirely different track, making an odd request from Miss Tairee. It was rejected, as Makoto assumed it would be. Summoning a shapeshifter to use would make the challenge too easy, probably.
Marcus was setting up a test between Eight Four and Thomas to determine who was a fake. They had to name the Militia's ship, though they had to write the answers down across the arena to prevent any cheating.
"...That seems like a fair enough way to check if they're real," Makoto said. "Who's going to look to see if they're right though?"
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
?? Stupid as it was for me to be mad at anything at this point, I couldn't help but think what was even the point of telling me to stfu there...? "I didn't think anyone was actually listening. It's just something that happened in the mind trip..."
I paid some attention to the rest prying that one militia guy from the invasion. The name of the ship...? I think it was...wait, I guess I shouldn't say it out loud yet, or else defeat the point. "Couldn't..." I caught myself starting without thinking and paused, hesitating...what was I doing, people could just ignore it if it was stupid. "...someone outside say the answer, after they write it? The militia has a channel...we'd need to look what they wrote before that, though? I think, anyway..."
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
THE SLORG!
"Genji? Well we met like an hour ago, in the Bladerunner area. We just stumbled across each other" Connor answered, sounding a bit confused.
Brother Marcus turned his attention at Makoto. "We all check them together, to ensure no foul play. I thought that would be obvious" Brother Marcus said, his tone still stern.
You are reading this.
Lizard Metabolism
Two, Arena
"It was on your character sheet." The bluenette replied once Caboose asked her how exactly she came into knowledge of his full name. "In the mindscape, if you recall."
Kelsey's voting out was an afterthought at this point, and soon they've found themselves in Round 3. Brother Marcus boomed when Rex began explaining something - she didn't quite catch what - cautioning them to not give out information freely. It made some sense to Two, and at least he didn't use his gun to announce himself like beforehand. Yuna dragged Ben off to have a chat with him. If anyone would be able to talk sense into him, it would be her.
And then Makoto kissed Rex. "Oh my." So bold! So romantic! Two felt her cheeks reddening ever so slightly. And Rex replied too! Aww... she was a little jealous, honestly. Cent was all the way back home and all she could do was to talk with him on a select few days... but alas, it was time to get back to work. That was what the bluenette would say if she could offer any meaningful commentary. A lot of people present in the arena she simply did not know.
"Um... have we no other Militia members present to confirm or deny their answers?" She asked once Eighty Four and Thomas were put under suspicion by the space marine.
How do lizards fly?
"I was wearing a medieval-like outfit and you were President Bill Clinton right?" He asked in an attempt to prove his own realness.
THE SLORG!
"Yeah, your Chinese new year skin" Connor replied to Genji with a nod.
"There are more than just members of the militia who know the answer of that question" Brother Marcus said to Two. "We can also ask those outside for confirmation, as he suggested" the space marine added, motioning to Lewis.
You are reading this.
"We basically played a very weird tabletop game" Rex explained to Makoto. Letting Lewis talk unchecked about it could probably lead to some... interesting differences in his memories compared to the rest of the group. It's not like he was a compulsive liar, but at this point it wouldn't be surprising.
After Tairee rejected his request, Rex shrugged. It's not like this was the first (or last) time one of his ideas hadn't worked out "Had to try it"
Marcus had an idea though, and surprisingly enough, Lewis did too. Checking Eight Four's identity that Marcus was suddenly so suspicious off by writing down the Militia's ship name and seeing if the militia outside—who were probably not doppelgangers—would corroborate their answers.
He addressed Tairee "But hang on, there are no more copies outside this stadium, right?" he continued "Because if there are I can check if the name is right instead. I helped build it, after all"
Sarah raised an eyebrow at what he was saying about the things that were happening to everyone. "This is a lot weirder than I thought. If this was a ploy by The Didact's Hand, I doubt Jul 'Mdama would do anything as weird as this." She said, ruling that thought out of her head.
"Well, thanks for the help, mister. I doubt I'll see you again, but that could change." She gave the christmas-clad troll a brief wave, before trudging off through the maze of buildings, following the direction in which the troll was pointing.
Edited by TechnoSangheili on Nov 3rd 2018 at 11:57:19 AM
Snowy
And then a bunch of stuff happened, including but not limited to: the group catching a doppelgänger, Makoto and Rex kissing one another, Ben getting a pep talk from Yuna and some people in the stands recognizing the things they were dealing with. The pep talk seemed to work, because it got Ben to properly induct Yuna into the City Knights!
“Congratulations, Yuna!” Rean said, smiling.
Marcus started testing two members of the militia about their airship, since one of them was being suspiciously quiet. Rean hummed for a moment thinking about who else he could ask questions. But everyone he knew here already answered a question, right? He looked over at Makoto, who had been taking notes on some sort of device. Wouldn’t hurt to check again, right?
"Makoto, who’s not on your list so far?” Rean asked, walking over to her.
Edited by stargirl93 on Nov 3rd 2018 at 12:42:28 PM
Colosseum Arena, School Outfit- A Pass Or Fail Test
"...That's a foolproof enough plan," Makoto said, relenting after Marcus explained his logic. They could also call the Militia to confirm the correct answer too, so there didn't have to be a debate about who was right or wrong. She couldn't see any flaws in this. "I don't have any objections then." Okay, so Lewis was talking about a tabletop game thing. Alright. Rex's request was rejected, which didn't surprise her either, but he did ask if any shapeshifters were currently outside the arena. Rean asked her about her list, and she glanced down at her phone to check.
"Right now, I'm missing Lewis, Sir Redring, Genji, Eight Four, and Hercules," she said to him.
THE SLORG!
"None that are involved with the challenge. There may potentially be some out there, brought to the city by random chance, like the rest of you" Miss Tairee answered Rex.
"That tentacle xenos made reference to the nineteenth day" Brother Marcus reminded Makoto. "Although he was not terribly specific about it" the space marine added, turning to face Sir Redring.
"I've been spending most of my time here busy helping others where I can" Sir Redring commented, a couple of tentacles idly twisting together in thought again. "Does anyone here recall when I was busy trying to gather all the lone animals brought to the city and pass them out to caregivers?" the octopode asked everyone.
"All done over here!" Thomas called out from his side of the arena.
"Yeah almost... Okay, also done!" Eight Four called out.
"Everyone follow; we will check the boy first" Brother Marcus said sternly, watching carefully for anyone failing to follow with, or otherwise do something suspicious.
Going over to check Thomas, he had written in the dirt, Thunder Child.
"Good. Now, the soldier" Brother Marcus stated, and proceeded over to the opposite side of the arena, as Thomas followed too. Over there, Eight Four had written... The militia doesn't have a ship.
"It was a trick question, right?" Eight Four asked, looking back and forth at the others. Brother Marcus, Sir Redring, Silanea, Blue, Hartwig, John, Thomas, and even Louie all pointed to Eight Four and affirmed their intentions to vote for him. "Really? They built a whole ship in less than a month? That's impressive" the spartan imposter admitted.
"It's a small ship" John commented with a shrug.
Blue
Brother Marcus
Caboose
Eight Four 8
Genji
Hartwig
Hercules
John
Lewis
Louie
Makoto
Morty
Rean
Rex
Rick
Silanea
Sir Redring
Thomas
Two
Yuna
13 votes remaining.
Edited by FirockFinion on Nov 3rd 2018 at 10:54:10 AM
You are reading this.
"My vote is on you. I don't know if that Militia has a ship, but eight people think so. So unless we have eight clones." Genji shrugged "You are the fake." Genji said pointing at the Spartan's doppelganger.
"I think those two can confirm I'm not a fake. I told them how we first met and they can confirm I was telling the truth. But if that is not enough, anyone, please feel free to ask me a question" Genji said to Makoto while pointing to the two fanboys.
Edited by Pandemonius_Panda on Nov 3rd 2018 at 10:09:48 AM
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
I didn't know how to feel that a whole one dude acknowledged the 'literally just check with someone outside' idea that we ended up not needing anyway, especially considering I had the vague impression said dude was probably a dick from the like, two seconds I'd seen him before this, like seriously I could swear Two straight-up didn't hear me, but at...least the dirt thing worked? I followed the answer checking train, coming to sorta...trail behind Silanea when we went from Thomas's answer to the other one, trying (failing) not to look awkward about everyone bunching together to look when probably a third of them rightfully hated my guts. 8-4 was...blatantly wrong. It was a no-brainer what that meant, so I pointed at him pretty much automatically.
"Oh yeah, I think you mentioned the pet thing when you were grabbing that gerbil on the competition day..." ha ha try not to think about the time I almost got slashed by him "It was like right outside the library, after the wish was made." Though actually I guess the only other person who'd remember that was gone, so bringing it up wasn't saying much. Eehh...
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Happy Box Hater
Colosseum
Oh yeah, his full name was on the character sheet also. Someone else might have gotten a bit annoyed at themselves for forgetting she also could have just read it instead of hearing it when he got angry, but the question still worked well enough. Only the real deal would know about those, after all!
Marcus began calling out the Spartan, which seemed a bit mean until it ended up being revealed that the Space Marine was totally right about it. Without hesitating, the soldier jumped on the bandwagon. "Yeah, I'll vote for him too," Caboose said.
Edited by pillowmantis on Nov 4th 2018 at 5:28:03 AM
Why is a yam attacking me?
For the Horde!
Ben watched the proceedings go on, trying not to let his emotions flare up as the others immediately put Thomas (and the man in armor) on trial. While Thomas answered his question flawlessly, Eight Four made such a bafflingly stupid statement that it was guaranteed he was fake.
Ben pointed at Eight Four as well.
"Yeah, I'm voting for him too," Ben said simply. "That's too stupid to be real."
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Snowy
"Hmm..." He didn’t really know anyone on the list, save for Hercules. Lewis sort of counted, but they didn't really talk about anything he could use to vet him.
And then Marcus knocked Eight Four off the list, and a flood of votes happened. "Oh, there we go. Guess I'm voting for him too." Rean said. Now, he could work on vetting someone he did know.
“Hercules, what were the 3 things we saw at the Cinema?" Rean asked.
Edited by stargirl93 on Nov 4th 2018 at 8:24:56 AM
"The cinema? Uhhhh...well when we had that body swap day I remember I was with you and Caboose and being first exposed to movies thanks to Connor. We first watched a movie about Caboose's World and then we watched that movie about...me." Once he said the last thing he sheepishly scratched the back of his head and then continued:"And on that day when I was...kicked out of the City Knights and before Ben apologised the next day afterwards we watched a movie called: Peter Pan I believe."
...............................................
Well now it was just awkward.
I tried to pretend I was too preoccupied taking notes to care instead of uncomfortable that they had to do it here where it was physically impossible to scoot off to give them some privacy, but I just couldn't do it, I kept looking up from my phone screen or half-choking or overcompensating when I caught myself doing either of those things. God. I didn't want to be the asshole to say it, but couldn't this happen any other time. (Is this how it feels on the other end of that. Now I really regretted my life choices oh thank god it was over)
Hey...that was the guy from the mind thing. "Hey, it is him..." I said, more out of thinking out loud than actually trying to communicate anything, a little too unenthusiastic at remembering that whole thing. "He was in this little cage thing during the first half, and the game called him trust. I was trying to check out the cage with a perception roll and somehow it worked, except I had no idea who he was anyway...I guess some of you guys would remember that, huh." I kinda wished I didn't. I had a sudden interest in facing the floor...
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess