The Round Table Discussion V
Word Count: 3980 (+4)
Sandalphon considered everything that the group had discussed so far as she continued. “We have a number of missing allies still, some awaiting recovery in the Land of Adventure, others in parts unknown. We have several locations to revisit, including Markarth in the Land of Adventure, and Limsa Lominscuttle Town in the Deep Blue Seaside.” After confirming that the geoscape was, miraculously, still functional, she used it to display the World of Light in all its topographical glory, then mark regions off the map. All this aptly demonstrated the usefulness of the system Bowser had nearly destroyed. “In addition to those regions, the Seekers have quelled the Guardians in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Sandswept Sky, the Under, and the Dystopiascape. In addition, Consuls M, P, and Y are dead. That leaves seven regions that still have their Guardian and Consulate fully intact. We should discuss where to go next.” Sandalphon peered at Blazermate. “For instance, didn’t you say that the Dead Zone was destroyed? If Its Guardian is exposed, we should strike there.”
”Whoa.” Roxas mouthed as his eyes scanned around the map on display. It took a moment for him to finally spot Twilight Town, which seemed like a speck compared to the scale of places like Midgar. It was a pretty big world alright, and he’d only seen a small fraction of it so far. But something else on the map caught his eye, a peculiar city situated in the center-most northern spot. It didn’t quite register at first why this was eye-catching. At least, not until the Nobody thought about the city’s name for a moment, or rather, it’s lack thereof.
”That’s it!” Roxas suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere. His gauntleted hand was pointing directly at the City That Never Was. ”Kamek, you said earlier that the Master of Masters saw the Organization in a ‘city with no name’ right?” He asked the magikoopa but went ahead and explained further without waiting for a reply. ”That right there has to be it! There was a place called the City That Never Was in my world, and in it was the Castle That Never Was, and that castle was the Organization’s stronghold!”
Pit spoke at the same time as Roxas, making the conversation muddled as the two boys talked over each other. Pit's chiming in was in regards to his fellow angel's suggestion of taking on the Dead Zone once more. "Yeah the whole place looked like a wasteland, but there's still all that time-rain around the Dead Zone though! It makes everything it touches older, super fast."
“That’s where we come in,” a quirky old voice piped up, announcing the presence of one E. Gadd in a mechanized chair and a navy-blue cap. “We’ve been working on a way to protect a whole team of operatives from the effects of timefall, long enough for you to reach the Qliphoth tree and get inside. After recovering a surplus of chiralium crystals from Kosm’s Beach, our solution is coming along, too. We still need a little more time, a few days maybe, but after that we’ll be ready to finish off the Dead Zone in one fell swoop!” As his excitement simmered down, the little old man crossed his arms. “I should say, there’s another problem when it comes to reaching the City That Never Was. The whole region as far south as Dunwall is saturated by a strange signal we call the Transmission. It’s demonstrated an irresistible hypnotic effect on living things. So far, it has us stumped. So until then, steer clear!”
At that point, another new voice joined the conversation. “Pardon me, everyone. My name is Hope. I’m the Avenger’s onboard support AI, as well as its pilot. Thank you for not destroying my geoscape, by the way.” It paused for a beat. “On the subject of navigation, I do have some advice. Right now, with two more Guardians destroyed, Moebius is on high alert. The Consuls aren’t just shoring up their defenses, but actively searching for both us and Consul S. This includes H from the Sandswept Sky, one of the two who attacked Alcamoth, and who -like all Consuls who’ve already lost their Guardian- is free to hunt us down. And I hardly need to mention Z, who we -at great risk to everyone aboard- directly confronted above Everdream Valley. It would be wise to lay low for a few days and pursue side objectives until the hornets’ nest calms down.”
Bowser gave a slightly embarrassed cough at that, while Jr gave a quite ”wow cool” before having an idea and saying ”Oh, we should also check Peach’s” he paused briefly and made a small sad sound before pushing on and suggesting ”Peach’s castle. I had a warp painting from our base there, maybe there’s survivors who got out using it and are there now?” hopefully.
”Even if not, it might be wise to evacuate them, lest the Consuls find it,” Kamek suggested, fearing the worst where the young prince was hoping for the best.
"Evacuate them to where?" Therion pointed out. He hadn't retaken his seat after Bowser’s outburst, now standing with his tail curled around one leg. "That city's gone and if we're already sharing rooms on this ship, how many more people can it fit?"
”Unfortunately, Gerudo Town isn't an option.” Ganondorf said just to get ahead of the idea before anyone else suggested it. ”At least, not for the men anyway. The Chief made exceptions for me and those who accompany me, but only to visit when needed. But beyond that, well, the Tribe’s laws are considered absolute.”
”Well, if it's a big city you're looking for, Midgar could work. It needs to be fixed up a bit, but the Ever Crisis is over so it should be relatively peaceful. We’d just need to figure out or fix the next election.” Roland suggested, noting that most of Midgar was mostly ok, and even the backstreets of Midgar weren’t all that bad.
”But what about the electricity?” Roxas pointed out. ”The Guardian powered the whole city. With it gone, who knows how long it could take to set up a replacement system?”
”Well, my friends from the library used to work for L corp, the power company from where I’m from. I only vaguely know what went on there, but the power it produced was enough to power time machines and warp trains and have more to spare. And it was clean energy… Although I don’t know how they made so much Enkephalin.” Roland said, being a bit spotty on the details in a combination of not knowing, or leaving out a bit of the details due to not wanting to remember. He had already said some of what went on earlier anyway.
”And one of them, although I’d say she is more of an acquaintance, runs Shinra.” Roland continued, scratching his head.
”So we just hand power back over to Shinra again?” Roxas retorted. He really didn’t like the sound of that, but he unfortunately had no other alternatives to suggest. ”And there’s also Midgar’s defenses - Neuron, Psych-OSF, Public Security. They’re all in shambles because of us. How do we go about fixing that?”
”Well, technically Shinra didn’t lose any standing on ruling the city. President Shinra and Armstrong both died so by default Shinra would still be running the city right?” Roland said with his own retort. ”And as for the defenses… Most of them are still there and there are also the rebel forces and those who helped with the Ever Crisis that stayed in Midgar. I don’t know about you, but a select handful of people that took out entire departments might be better security than those departments against huge threats like the Consuls if they popped their heads back into Midgar.” Roland continued before taking a breath. ”All I’m saying. If we’re trying to hide a tree, putting it in the forest would be the best place to hide it.”
Goldlewis scratched his head. “I feel like we’re gettin’ off into the weeds here. Midgar was a hellhole held together by Shinra’s iron fist, and now that’s gone, too. Power’s gone, and everyone’s shippin’ out, last we heard.” Hopefully the exodus was going well, he thought. With the likes of Karin, Vernon, and Fubuki there the Midgar refugees were not lacking for leadership.
”Midgar wasn’t all that bad besides the Ever Crisis, to be honest…” Roland said, gloomily alluding to knowing a way worse place. To him, Midgar was a great place to live, although his standards of living were rock bottom.
”I’m gonna be honest with you, Roland, that’s…really more of an indictment of your world than it is an endorsement of Midgar. That place was…bad. And I came from a world where Konoe tried brainwashing the entire human race to end all crime.” Zenkichi said, looking a little sad to be bursting Roland’s bubble.
"We can take anyone that needs rescuing to Skyworld!" Pit cut into the argument, slapping his palms onto the table.
"We'd have to go and clear out any baddies that might be there—" Because Palutena's domain was unfortunately not the impenetrable bastion of goodness that the goddess strove for, seeing as it had been invaded a couple of times even before being sucked into the World of Light. "—but after that, Lady Palutena's temple can fit more than a whole city's worth of people!"
He went on, resolute in convincing everyone that visiting Skyworld was worthwhile. "It's high up in the sky, and if Lady Palutena is there she can protect everyone. If you guys figured out a way to stop the other Consuls from finding S, I'm sure she can figure out how to do the same thing and stop them from seeing the temple! She'll be able to help us!"
That he wanted to help her, too, and make sure she was alright didn't need to be said - it was clear in his voice. "When Midna took us up to the top of this giant mountain, we saw it. It's probably not even that far away if we can fly right there!"
”The ship certainly does solve the issue we had of how we were going to get there” Minda agreed, implicitly offering to go with him there.
”Count me in, too.” Roxas said, also agreeing.
“That’s another locale to visit, then,” Sandalphon told him with a reassuring nod. “I must confess that I wish to see it myself. If we’re going to bide our time while Bridges opens the way to the Qliphoth, it may be wise to spread our force out across several locations, keeping a low profile while gathering intelligence, additional allies, and resources. Skyworld could be one such place. I would advise against anywhere near Alcamoth or in the Land of Adventure, though.”
Relief at everyone agreeing with him, in any capacity, made Pit shoot them a huge grin. Though when Sandalphon cautioned against returning to the site of Alcamoth's destruction, Primrose hummed in disappointment. Still, she understood, and didn't put up any argument.
“I just want to visit Markarth to find Yen.” Geralt added, an edge to his voice. “I understand the caution, but I’m already having to look for Ciri. If the Land of Adventure resets and everybody from Alcamoth is still there…we’ll have lost a lot of good people. And not just my wife.”
Hope quickly addressed his concern. “We can definitely do that. We have no impression of leaving the survivors to that fate.” Geralt nodded, not having expected anybody to be suggesting that, but needing to make sure they at least made sure to stop there and rescue the survivors.
After nodding her assent, Nadia stood and leaned over the table to get a better look around the geoscape, scanning the three-dimensional map of the World of Light for any spot that interested her. “Somewhere to lay low, huh…how about there?” She tapped a little island in the ocean on the continents southwestern side. “‘Mafia Town’. I’ve dealt with plenty of mafia types, so I could probably hide out around there. Plus, it’s close enough to both Limsa and that big forest area that there’s bound to be rumors goin’ around. With port towns, you never know for ‘shore’!”
”Sounds like a hive of scum and villainy, to me.” Captain Falcon said, finally speaking up for the first time this whole meeting. ”Been a while since I’ve been in the bounty hunting game, but I bet I could rake in some good money in a place like that.”
Juri hadn’t said much, taking in all the information available to her. But if they were going to crack down on some Guardians and Illuminati wannabe freaks, Mafia Town sounded like the place Juri wanted to be. ”It sounds like it might be some sham tourist trap with a name like that. But if things really are just that obvious now, then I’m all in.” She said from her spot on the railing. Backlit, the most obvious feature of her shadow-obscured face was her dimly glowing artificial purple eye. Her declaration earned an incredulous look from her rival Nadia. The glowing eye winked in response.
”Alright, you check those places out, and then we’ll get people to wherever best for a load of toads and whoever else is still at the castle” Bowser said, before Jr added ”or both. I can hide some portal paintings between them, maybe? That way people can go back and forth?”
”What about this place here?” Roland said, looking at the map and pointing at Meridi-at-han. ”That place seems pretty central, and perhaps we could get a glimpse at that City that Never Was Roxas was talking about. Or at least gather some information if there is any to be had.”
”I suppose I’ll check out Skyworld then. If that’s going to be a main base, I should make sure it's to my beauty standards” Sectonia said with a bit of a sigh.
Her throwaway comment drew Pit's attention, and he made sure to tell her, "It was made by Lady Palutena herself, so even if it got mixed with some other places it's definitely up to snuff!" Sectonia didn’t doubt the angel, so she gave him a nod, but she was expecting to fix something up.
”Well I’mma go with Bowser. He needs all the healing he can get, the big ol’ lovable lug.” Blazermate said, although it was more for the fact Bowser let her ride on top of him and gave her an excuse to be lazy.
”I’m going back to Gerudo Town.” Ganondorf said simply. ”They’ve been in a stalemate against a bandit horde in the territory - so I’m going to help them break that stalemate.”
And what better place for a Gerudo to blend in than Gerudo Town? Primrose added privately. She went over to peer closer at the geoscape, thinking about all the options that had been given so far. Now that she'd met with the Confessor and learned what exactly she'd been capable of, Primrose didn't have any specific person or place in mind. It would be nice to find the friends from her home world, but with no place to start from, that would be difficult. Instead, she thought it best to go with somewhere that would help everyone in the long run.
"I think Roland is right," she said, nodding at the city straddling two regions. "I'll volunteer to head there as well and see what we can find out."
Goldlewis seemed to approve. “Makes sense. I’ll join y’all there, if ya don’t mind.” Arms crossed, he checked out each of the three locations in turn, noting their approximate locations. “We just about got a triangle goin’ on, so I reckon we’ll have pretty good map coverage. Long as we hold off on any big stunts that’d get the Consuls’ attention, we oughta be able to fly under their radar.”
As for Therion, he was of much the same mind as Primrose. With no specific destination in mind, he would be choosing between the options already presented. The thought of going to some place called "Skyworld" somehow didn't bother him as much as he'd thought it might, but he passed on it still. He was sort of interested in going to the castle brought up, but then again he wasn't about to steal stuff from a dead comrade's place no matter how rich they'd been. And since he didn't want to be all that close to some brainwashing "transmission" even if it didn't reach as far south as the city Roland pointed out, that left him with one choice.
"...I'll head to Mafia Town too," he said. Between a celebrity racer and two women with big personalities prone to butting heads, he questioned how much 'laying low' they'd actually do. A small, sarcastic grin worked its way onto his face when he motioned with his chin at the others headed for Mafia Town. "Someone's gotta keep them in check."
Nadia smirked at him, hands on her hips. “Heh, careful not to bite off more than you can chew.”
“I’ll be hunting down Ciri after we pick up Yen and the others. Need to pay that Vulgrim a visit, got a few Spirits he might be interested in for some info on her.” Geralt added. “It’ll be good to see some of the others from Alcamoth, as well.” He was looking forward to seeing the other survivors, though he knew it’d be bittersweet to see Lumbridge gone.
”And I’ve gotta find the others.” Zenkichi said, sighing. ”I know you got split up from Joker and them at the Metro, so who knows where they wound up.” He had a feeling they’d been more than capable of taking care of themselves, much like Geralt did with Ciri, but he still worried about their well-being. He wouldn’t be Gramps if he didn’t.
At the mention of the young Phantom Thieves, Primrose's expression softened slightly. She figured that as long as they had each other they would be okay, but even so it would be good to confirm it and give the kids a place to come back to. "Good luck," she told Zenkichi, and meant it.
“Tora sure they okay!” the nopon piped up cheerfully. “Phantom Thiefypons were very good team in desert, meh. Whatever come their way, Ren-ren and friends pull through!”
”We’ll grab everyone, drop them off and then hide out, uuuuuuh” Bowser claw trailed all across the map before tapping down on what linked like some small town or camp in the mountains that would turn out to be called Camp Whispering Rock ”here” before explaining ”Good spot to hit that forest we never went into, or whatever these big cities are up here,” referring to the Twilight Forest/Autumn Vale and the Theater of War respectively, ”once you all are done with hiding out.”
”Oh wait, my new phone!” Jr suddenly remembered, before adding ”oh and I gotta fix my car, and I wanna tinker with sis’ gauntlets and… yeah I might need to stay here till we group up again” which got a thought and then a nod of agreement from his papa.
After jotting down the last few decisions on her screen, Sandalphon’s pupils turned from loading wheels back to normal. “That’s all of the Seekers,” she announced, saving and then dismissing the magical document. “I may end up returning to the Avenger early to help provide additional support alongside the Last Numbers. Good work, everyone. The plan we’ve made covers intelligence gathering, avoiding Moebius, and recovering lost allies until we’re ready for the strike on the Dead Zone, and Illia willing we’ll have leads on the Twilight Forest and Forbidden Kingdom Guardians by then as well.” Her pupils changed to T’s. “Of course, we are still missing a number of allies.”
At that point, Commander Nelson spoke up for the first time. “We may be able to assist with that, at least. According to our findings, the CENTINELS’ very own Wonder Red went missing along with the Phantom Thieves, Ace Cadet, and Big Band during the Metro scramble we’ve come to know as ‘Rush Hour’. Once we finish repairing our equipment, we should be able to triangulate Red’s position by conducting several long-range scans for his CENTINEL-suit. With any luck, we’ll find the rest of them alongside him.”
At the mention of Ace (and to a much lesser extent Band, since he hailed from her world) Nadia’s ears perked up. Though it had been only a few days since she last saw him, it felt like much longer, and in this world separation tended to make one anxious even if one wasn’t the worrying type. “Let us know when you find ‘em, eh? Not to, uh, name any names, but I know some of us have been worried. So you better look Ace-siduously!”
Geralt chuckled, turning his head to Nadia. “Oh, Ace’ll be fine. Not sure if he’ll be more excited to see you, or the Avenger, though. Probably call it ‘Gargwasome’ or something equally painful to the ears.” He joked, shaking his head while laughing.
Grinning, Nadia crossed her arms. “Pff, he better be happy to see me! Or he’ll face my wrath…alos!”
Geralt sighed, putting his head in his hands and shaking his head. “Brought this on myself. You two and your puns. Brought it on myself.”
”That’s not even a pun. That’s just noises.” Juri said, scrolling through something on her phone.
”So that's it? We’re good?” Jr asked, glancing between the door to the room and Juri’s phone.
Sandalphon slowly stood up, her bones creaking slightly as she stretched for the first time in a while. “I believe so. Our more time-sensitive plans dictate that we fly south-southwest first, to deploy Geralt to Markarth along with a number of Fulton devices, over to Peach’s Castle to deploy the Troop, and then back to Markarth to collect everyone. From there, we should turn in for the night and begin distributing our forces tomorrow. In the meantime while traveling, we can partake of a meal, make use of other facilities, or consult with Vulgrim, should he return.”
“Got everythin’ planned out, huh?” Goldlewis exhaled deeply, trying to let himself relax a little. He looked around at the huge gathering of Seekers, survivors, and Lost Numbers. Everyone had learned a great deal during this meeting, including plenty of bad news and more than one dizzying revelation. Even so, the campaign to save the world was looking better than ever.
“....So.” Goldlewis smiled at Bracket. “What’s for dinner?”