Jacqueline is the first to wake up. As her eyes flutter open, they see above her a sky with a thick, reddish overcast, which occasionally breaks enough to let light from a blue sun through. [SESSION START] * Jacqueline blinks and sits up, rubbing her eyes. You seem to be in a plowed field, aparently with nothing planted yet. Something stirs next to you. * Jacqueline looks around. "Woah... I'm... in stage five of Miracle Cannon." * Jacqueline looks at it ... oww... anyone get the calibur of that artilary shell? x_x * Togo sits up slowly, holding his head. Togo? * Togo turns. "Jacky." *looks around* "... and nobody else." * Jacqueline blinks and looks around again. "Wait a sec... The sun should be purple, and there's no gwebopples growing in the fields. Guess it's not Miracle Cannon after all." Disappointed? Confused. Off in the disance, a blur of movement catches Jackie's vision, but it is gone in an instant. * Jacqueline blinks and stares in that direction. * Togo reaches into his coat and pops two small pills. "And my head's worse than before... what the heck happened?" Hmm... I'd say we're in a video game world, but... ... wait. * Togo pats his face. "... crap." What? ... I think my glasses are shot. I can't see anything. * Togo shakily makes his way to his feet, stumbling slightly. "Of *course* they'd go out when I had a concussion." What's around us? Hmm... Well, you've still got them. Maybe Dejiko can fix them if we manage to get out of... wherever this is. It's like stage five of Miracle Cannon, but the sun is blue, the sky has a thick red overcast, and there's some plowed fields, but no gwebopples growing from them. And I saw something moving. * Togo nods. "Yeah... I can probably manage to not trip or walk into a wall, but if start moving, I'm gonna need your he- ... stage what of huh? * Jacqueline checks herself for her equipment. All your stuff is there. Uhhh... Nevermind. I don't think we're on Earth. -chicago.il.us.sandwich.net:@#Chibilite- Yu-Mei invited Dicesuke into channel #Chibilite. *** Dicesuke has joined #Chibilite ... ah, okay. You said you saw movement? (Roll mind with sight/perception bonuses, Jackie. I'd offer the same for you, Togo, but... well, y'know.) ( Hey, he can shoot bullets without his glasses. =P ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jacqueline (2d6) and gets 7. ( Made it. ) ( Coulda sworn I had heightened awareness... Oh well. ) Jackie catches another blurr of movement, and notices something else there, as well; something metalic and shiny, stretching far off to either horizon; perhaps it is a rail, or a pipeline that is only burried half-way. (Grr. BRB.) (Tawlk amongt y'selfs.) Yeah. There it is again. There's something metallic and shiny in the distance, too. *moves hands towards holsters* Just keeps getting better and better. Hmm... Wonder if it isn't a train or some kind of transportation? You wanna wait here and let whatever it is come to us, or try to break for the shiny thing? I don't think it was even alive. But we might as well head down that way. There's not much else around here. * Jacqueline grabs Togo's arm. "Ready?" Yeah. (Back.) * Jacqueline leads Togo in the direction of the shiny thing. * Togo grumbles. "Hate feeling... well, blind." I can imagine. I hated training in darkness too. But like I said, you've still got your glasses. Although a lens is cracked. I'm sure Dejiko will know what to do, though. And if not... We can just steal another pair from GCI! ... that'd do it. And until then I get to scare small children in the street with my empty sockets. *small grin* It's a fairly long walk, and the plowed earth is tricky to walk on when you're blind. But Togo's used to this sort of thing, and you eventually make it to the shiny thing without incident. As you proceed, a few more blurs go this way and that. You could always wear a set of eyepatches and pretend you're a pirate. ( Along said shiny? ) Once you reach the thingmajiig, you see that it actually consists of two of those shiny metal rails, and between them is something clear and blueish. Green v-marks point off to your left. Point. I even have a sword... no parrot though. And yes, the blurs are moving along the shiny. Another one whizzes past as you stand next to the thing. * Jacqueline chuckles. "You can get them pretty cheap." She stops. "Well, we're here. Umm..." ... what're those whizzes? Looks like a set of tram rails. Those? They run along the rails. Ah, okay. Nothing that's gonna shoot at me. There's something clear and bluish in between, but I'm not about to try crossing the rails to inspect it. ... how odd. There's always something shooting at me. Nah. Don't worry, I'll protect you. * Jacqueline leads Togo left. "Let's go this way. There's some greenish V-shaped marks here. * Togo chuckles. "Protect me... heh heh..." (Actually, the blurrs are running along the clear thing in between the rails. It's difficult to tell, however, sicne they're moving awfully damn fast.) Nobody's said that to me since I was eight. ( Oh :P ) What? I'm pretty good at it! I kept the supply ship in Dracos 8 from taking a single hit in the entire final battle in expert mode. Hm... The... whatever-they-are's... are running across the thing in the middle, not the rails. So it might be safe to stand on them. But I still don't know if it's a good idea. Ahead of you, Jackie can just barely make out something else shiny. It seems to be something very big and very far away. ... if I'm ever trapped in a video game, I'll be sure to make you the first person I call. Let's play it safe for now... balancing on a rail with a concussion should be a last resort, ne? Right. Well, it looks like there's something up ahead. ...Far up ahead, that is. Another whiz goes by. Roll sight/perception again, Jackie. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jacqueline (2d6) and gets 8. ( Doh! Missed ) Jackie still can't make out what the quick-moving blurry things are. Poor girl. ( ;_; ) * Jacqueline keeps walking. "Ugh. This thing must be further than I thought." The shiny thing on the horizon becomes bigger, but you still can't make it out. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jacqueline (2d6) and gets 7. ( Woo! ) Least it's steady ground. Don't think I could handle climbing or anything. * Jacqueline blinks. "Hm... Well, I was half right." Hmm? It IS a method of transportation. Just not a vehicle. There's people walking along that thing incredibly fast. ... that whiz was a person? Geez... Two, actually. They were talking about something. ... and I thought I was pretty quick. * Togo chuckles. "Like the saying goes. No matter how good, there's always someone better." = Well, like I said, the thing seems to be a method of transportation. It's probably like those speedzones in F-Zero Revised ... Except without the hovercrafts. ... wha? ... you're not helping my headache... *faint grin* Another two people blur past, and you can actually hear a tiny fragment of their conversation this time. Hmm... Wonder if we should try it? ( Togo has excellent hearing... =P ) You see any other way off of wherever we are? *** AnimeDebugger is now known as NinjaDebugger Not unless we walk for a long time. ... what the heck. Like my uncle always said... no balls, no breakfast. * Jacqueline chuckles. "'Kay." She looks at the rail. "Ok, we need to climb up a bit. Or do you want me to carry you up?" ... no. I'll climb. * Jacqueline snickers. (The 'rails' are only about three and a half feet high. Fairly easy to get over.) Concussion or not, I have my dignity. Plus, that'd get me kicked outta the grim badass union. I'd lose my dental plan and retirement fund. * Jacqueline laughs. "I thought you guys were in for life." Not if we violate union rules we don't. Why do you think I refuse to wear bright colors? Union uniform rules. * Jacqueline grins as she climbs up. "I thought you just had no fashion sense." That too. Hard to have an eye for fashion when you don't have an eye period. * Togo gingerly climbs up after Jacky. * Jacqueline looks left and right to make sure nobody's coming. "Okay...." Nobody's coming. Although you prolly couldn't tell eithe way, with the kind of speed you saw. Okay, on the count of three, step forward. ( *pulls out a Star of David and yarmulkae* Baruch hatah adenoi... ) One... Two... Three! * Jacqueline steps forwards. (Are you stepping forward with one foot, or both feet? ^_^ ) ( Both :P ) * Togo steps ( Ditto ) Upon making contact with the clear walkway, Togo is sprawled over. Jackie manages to keep her balance, but is caught by a sense almost of vertigo -- she can see and hear the countryside moving past at incredible speed, but you both feel as if you are standing still. Gah! It's rather disorienting. No, really. Ooooooh. My head hurts. ... ow... * Jacqueline tries to help Togo up, but stops when she almost trips herself. We're moving... I think... ...Ugh. I wish I was blind for this. Someone walks casually past you, humming someting to himself. He seems like a normal human, although there's something subtly off about his coloration. ( Which would be? :P ) (The disorientation eventually clears.) (You can't figure it out yet; if you could, I'd have said what it was. :P ) * Togo tries to make his way to one knee, at least. "Head feels like it's spinning on my neck..." * Jacqueline helps Togo up once she can. This is gonna take some getting used to. Jackie can make out what that other shiny thing was, now; ahead of you on this bizarre road is a mass of crystal-blue towers and other buildings; aparently a city. Ah ha! That thing I saw before? It's like that crystal city in Final Fantasy 22. ... see, this is why I always walked places. Or took the train. ... okay. Crystal city. Right. We are walking! ...Sorta. Maybe not the same thing, but it LOOKS like a city. Hey, compared to everything else, it's not that weird. Oh, and some guy walked by us when we first got on. Something was odd with his skin color. Anyhow, it looks like we're headed that way. I have no eyes. Yoji's telekinetic. Rina's got a metal skeleton. And Dejiko is some kinda of ninja ass-kicking god of destruction. Weird skin is nothing. Maybe, but I've never seen any crystal cities on earth. The city draws nearer at a rapid pace. As you keep getting closer, the city keeps seeming bigger; especially now that it looms high into the sky, despite still being behind the horizon. Point. Wow. This place must be huge. Feeling better? We can probably get there faster if we walk. * Togo stands, holding his head. "Yeah, I'll be okay." * Jacqueline grabs Togo's arm and starts walking. "'Kay! Off we go!" * Togo is dragged/walks along. ... you sure there's nobody shooting at me? You know... I wonder where the others are? Nah. We're not even there yet. Walking increases your pace more than it reasonably ought to. Soon there are building sprouting from the ground on either side of you, and then you are covered overhead by the crystaline towers. ... will wonders never cease. *grin* Dunno. Could be here somewhere. They woulda headed for the city like we are... We're here already. Yeah. I just hope they're not... Nah. They wouldn't be. ... yeah, I can tell. Can kinda sense the stuff around us. Nah. They're all far too stubborn to die. Die? Oh, I meant that maybe they're being brainwashed to fight against us by I13. But yeah, they're probably not dead, either. The road winds slightly, and you find more people getting on and off the walkway around you as it inceases in width. Signs pop up, telling you of places to get on and off the walkway up ahead. ... they'd need some heavy duty stuff to wash Mad Dog's brains.. * Togo flinches slightly at the increased noise level. You think? ... Signs are coming up. Where do you wanna get off? Dunno. What do the signs say? ( What do they say? ) The signs indicate mostly station names, although there is occasionally one listing an airport, important-sounding building, or marketplace. Um... It looks like station names, mostly. Or airport, or buildings... or a marketplace. Say, think they have any extra-dimmensional videogames here? ... s'possible. Wanna try the marketplace? Good as place as any, and you can look around, I suppose. * Jacqueline grins. "All right!" She run's for the marketplace, dragging Togo with her. Ack! No run! Head swirly! * Jacqueline stops just off the blue thing. "Ahh! I forgot!" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... * Togo wavers dizzily. "s'okay... I can walk fast. Just running... the jarring and all." It's okay. They probably don't accept our money anyhow. Not that I have much... plus the language thing. We could always try to barter. The road slows as you take a marketplace exit, eventually coming to a halt in the middle of a wide prominade with towering buildings on either side. Brightly lit store signs line the walls. * Jacqueline blinks. "Hm. You know, I could understand those signs back there. I don't think language will matter much." * Jacqueline glances at the signs. Again, point. A few noteworthy signs include "Arcade", "Kharak's Best Ice Cream", "Military Antiques", and "Free Clinic." Wow! An arcade! Although other signs indicate that just about anything could be bought or sold here. Even if you have to squint to read some of them. And Ice Cream! Rina would like that. ( Ack, quick idle. ) There's a Free Clinic, too. Maybe we should go there, get your concussion checked? (I'm idle a bit, too.) ( Blargh ) (Back.) (::waits for Jesse::) ( Blargh summore. ) (I'll have to agree with you there.) ( Back ) ( Sorry, long distance call from best friend. ^_^;; ) (Don't worry 'bout it. Resume gamage. ^_^) ... might not be a bad idea. 'Kay. Let's go there, then. ... though seeking medical attention might jeoperdize my tough- guy persona... Ah, what the heck. * Jacqueline leads Togo towards that Free Clinic, slowly this time. Better than suddenly going unconscious when someone's shooting at you, no? Yeah, that always sucks. * Togo is led. You eventually reach the Free Clinic. A polite man in a long white coat greets you at the door, asking how he can help you today. ( How nice of him ^^ ) Togo doesn't understand him, tho. ... what'd he just say? My friend here has a concussion. Think you can look at it? ... English. Damn, don't know much English... * Jacqueline blinks. "You don't... Oh." Thought everyone knew English this day and age. ( Yeah, why don't I? =P ) The man looks confusedly at Togo. ( You didn't buy levels in the Linguistics skill. :P ) * Jacqueline looks at the man. "Uhh... He doesn't speak En- Er.. Our language." * Togo pantomimes being hit in the head, and swaying woozily... then genuinely wobbles. "Okay, head wobbling is a bad idea..." The man nods. "Ah. He must be new to Kharak, then, eh? Well, that's alright. We're allowed to treat foreighners, too, so long as they aren't from Seliem, and his skin isn't grey enough to be from there." "So, come on in." The man stands aside and gestures for you to enter. ( Shall we assume Jacky's roughly translating for Togo, and save the typing time? =P ) * Jacqueline goes in, leading Togo. * Togo is led. ( If Yu allows it, sure :P ) (Sure.) The inside of the clinic is very clean and white, with a few walls being made of that same crystal-blue stuff. The doctor that let you in says "Has he gotten his identification implant yet?" ... wha? Umm... His what? "Iiii'll take that as a 'no'. In that case we'll need to have a blood sample for analysis before we can help him with anything other than a cold. This way, please," and he leads you into a small room with strange medical equipent on a small desk. the room also has a single, comfortable-looking chair, which the doctor directs Togo to sit in. * Togo sits. "Blood sample. Eh, what's one more hole." *faint grin* * Jacqueline rolls her eyes. And don't roll your eyes. s'not polite. *grin* The man selects an odd-looking instrument, and turns towards Togo. "Miss, if you could ask him to take off his jacket and roll up his left sleeve?" * Jacqueline does just that. * Togo does so. Scars on his arms, yadda yadda... The doctor eyes the scars and makes 'tsk'ing sounds. "Someone certainly did a bad job of patching this fellow up in the past. I don't think I've seen an actual scar in ages." He presses a roundish protrusion of the device he's holding against Togo's bicep, holds it there for a moment, and pulls it back. "There we go. I'll go hand this over for analysis, and I'll be right back to discus what sort of treatment he needs while that's being done. * Jacqueline blinks. The doctor gets up and walks out of the room, waving cheerfully as he goes. * Togo gets the translation. "Heh... if there's one thing I've got plenty of, it's scars." * Jacqueline waits for the doctor to leave, then turns to Togo. "A bad job of patching you up?" Well, that was the quickest blood draw I've ever seen, so they probably have better wound-closing stuff than we do back home. Say... You think... You think maybe he can get those bullets our of your eyes? I coulda gotten my scars fixed, I suppose, but they're like badges of honor in the business. They're in my brain, not my eyes. And... actually, that's an excellent question. Um... Out of there then? * Togo nearly slaps his forehead before thinking better of it. "Why didn't I think of that?" ... oh yeah. Concussion. For that matter, with all the signs around, maybe we can find someone to fix your glasses. Might not be a bad idea. The doctor comes back in. "Ooo-kay. So, what seems to be the problem with him, miss?" ( "Yes." ) * Jacqueline translates to Togo, adding: "Should we tell him about the bullets?" Sure. * Jacqueline tells the doctor about the concussion, and the bullets, but refrains from mentioning Togo's fashion sense. "Alright, the concussion I can understand. And I dunno what a bullet * Jacqueline blinks. "A bullet? It's... um..." She gestures uselessly a bit before turning to Togo. "He doesn't know what a bullet is." "Alright, the concussion I can understand. And I dunno what a 'bullet' is, but if it's something we'd have to move to get it out of his brain, I'm afraid it's a no-go." ( Oopse. ) Small piece of metal. * Jacqueline continues, frowning. "But it doesn't look like he can do brain surgery." "See, if we have to go in through the brain to get it, we risk all kinds of damage, and we don't want to hurt the patient." Same problem the GCI docs had. * Jacqueline nods. "But you can help with the concussion, at least?" * Togo shrugs. "Lucky I'm a cynic, or I'd be rather disappointed." ^_^ The doctor nods, and gets another doodad off of his desk. "Oh sure, that's easy." He leans over Togo and holds the instrument near to the wound Togo recently aquired. the instrument emits reddish light for a bit, and the wound closes. After that, the light changes to blue and Togo begins feeling better, yoush. The doctor pulls away. "Alright, that oughta' do it. Anything else?" ... headache's gone. Whew. You're fine now, Togo? "Say, how'd he get those whatchacallums in his head in the first place?" Relatively, yeah. * Togo hears the translation, and lowers his glasses. What should I tell him? The doctor boggles. "Ye gods! Er, sorry. But why didn't you bring that up in the first place?" I was tracking a criminal who... got the better of me, and did it. * Jacqueline is essentially acting as a translator in both directions, to avoid all this typing. We didn't think you could help with that too much, so... Doctors managed to save my life, but they couldn't get the bullets out. "Ooo, bounty hunter, eh? Must be exciting. But heck, you must need those eyes to hunt a guy, so why didn't you just tell me about 'em so I could get you some new ones? Or do you wanna get that done at a hospital instead of a free clinic?" * Jacqueline blinks twice. "You can... You can do that?" ... "Well, yeah. Gosh, you must really be from the boonies to not know about that kind of stuff." You could say that. A youngish girl comes running into the office right then, yelling "Doctor! Doctor!" The doctor, for his part, turns and says "What is it, nurse? If it isn't urgent, I'd like to finish with thee patients first?" The girl notices the two of you and her eyes grow wide. She backs away, and then she says "But that's what I need to tell you about! The patient you took blood from is... is... he'ssomekinda'horriblealientmonsterfreakofromdimensionXorsomething!" She points accusingly at Togo to emphasise her statement. * Jacqueline blinks in surprise. The doctor blinks in surprise, too. "Huh?" ... huh? The young nurse says, "Th-the patient... he has red blood!" * Jacqueline glances at Togo. The doctor looks astonished. "Wh-what? But that's impossible! ...at least, nobody *else* has red blood. He'd have to be some kind of... uh..." He looks at Togo in confusion. ... the butler did it? Some kind of what? "Uhm... some kind of horrible, alien monster from dimension X? But that can't be it, right?" ... nah, just a guy tryin' to get home. No! Togo's no monster. ( "Does THIS look like the face of a monst- oh, wait. Crap." ) Uhm. But then, what is he? I mean, I hate to state the obvious, but no green-blooded Kharakian has red blood. +"" Shall we explain, Jacky? * Jacqueline nods to Togo. ... okay. Tell him, long story short, we were hunting down more criminals, there was a big explosion, and we found ourselves here. We don't know how. * Jacqueline nods and translates. The man blinks. "Uh, wow. Sounds like something from 'Tales to Astonish'." It's the truth, though. The man frowns. "Say... I don't suppose you'd, uh, let us study you? I mean, we've never been able to study... well, aliens before." * Jacqueline frowns a bit and translates back to Togo. "Got a bad feeling about this..." ... no. Keep the blood sample if you want, take some other samples if it's not too invasive, but... "You could prolly make some money out of the deal. Hell, if not from the doctors you let study you, then from book and holovid deals..." Like I said. I'm a man tryin' to get home. Can't stay. Um... We don't have time. We kinda need to find our way back home. The doctor frowns. "Well, how're you gonna do that?" I don't know. But if we don't search for a way, we won't find it. I'm afraid that we don't know a whole lot about dimensional travel, and we're the most advanced nation on this planet. +"" ... tell ya what. If we end up stuck here, we'll come back and try to work something out. Sound fair? The man looks kind of dissapointed, but shrugs and says "Sure, I guess. Good luck getting home, I guess." Thanks. ... now, about those eyes... are you serious? Wait a sec. What about those eyes? "Of course I'm serious. We can use your blood sample to grow you a new set, I think. They'd be ready in about a day." * Jacqueline translates to Togo, grinning as she does so. ... holy fucking shit. "It'd prolly be better to get the implantation surgury done at a better hospital, but that'd cost money, of course." ...Which we don't have. ... hmm. "Yeah. Unless our dimensions mysteriously share monetary units, or something." * Jacqueline checks her wallet. "Well, our languages are the same..." Could we maybe try to work something out with a larger place? I'd allow limited 'study', in exchange... I mean, that blood sample alone *must* be invaluable... The doctor nods once he gets Jakie's translation of Togo's question. "Sure, I was gonna have you transfered to one of them anyway. I have an old buddy works over at Kher Siet memorial hospital. That's one of the better places in Kharak anyway." ... new eyes... ... I don't know how to... * Togo stands up slowly, and bows. "Thank you." * Jacqueline grins. "And the first thing you're gonna do is learn to play videogames." The doctor makes a clumsy imitation of Togo's bow. "Sure thing. Hey, any green-blooded Kharakian would've done the same, right?" "...uh, ignore that question if you want." Nah. First thing I'm gonna do is poke myself in the eyes, just 'cause I can. "Now c'mon, let's get you over to the hospital." (Shall I call it there?) Don't do that. Then they'll have to grow you another set. ( K ) ( Sure thing. ) ( Later on... "Oh no! They put your eyes in backwards, Togo!" "... typical." ) ( "oops?" :P ) And so they went and did that. Togo got new eyeballs, and new tear ducts, too. About a month after that, Robert showed up in KITT, which now had classic Enterprise-style warp nacelles on it, and you all set off to find Sayuri and Yoji. [END SESSION.]