2022-10-01: The Will of a Hero
- Cast: Guy Shishioh, Lamia
- Where: ???
- Date: U.C. 0096 10 01
- Summary: The Betterman and the Evoluder convene with a great hero to discuss the fate of the world.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
With the destruction of GaoFighGar, the King of Braves is now toothless, incapable of fighting the Genesic- no, the Conqueror King, and those who follow it. This is probably best for the longevity of the Evoluder known as Guy Shishioh, but if the Age of Patria is to come, he must continue to fight.
How to get Guy back into the fight, however, is something beyond even the Somnium, all except one. Their ancient hero, a being who has operated from the shadows from the very beginning. As long lived as his kind are though, he should have long since passed. But he hasn't.
The voice that undoubtedly warned him of the Conqueror King, and even now calls for him. Deus. If there is a way to put the Age of Patria back on track, he would know...
"Evoluder Guy. Now is the time."
Lamia appears before Guy, stepping out from a particularly shadowed part of his room. He is, thankfully, not here to kill him today, but rather to do what he promised. Without so much as any visible body language, the Somnium steps back into the same shadows he emerged from, though even without any real explanation, Guy can feel what he needs to do. Follow him.
He should have walked into a wall. That's the outcome that'd make sense if he followed Lamia, but he doesn't. There's a flash of red and black as Guy trails behind the Somnium, and before he knows it, he's in darkness.
The first thing that's noticeable is the change in temperature, and as Guy's eyes slowly adjust to the lack of light, where he is becomes quickly apparent.
A dessert cave.
At the very least, he's not alone. Lamia stands right next to the Evoluder, and right across from both of them, an old man sits and watches quietly with crimson eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Lamia's timing is, as ever, impeccable. Alouette Pommier is missing; the Final Fusion sequence for GaoGaiGo, locked out by what they currently believe is a BioNet attacker using credentials stolen from, presumably, her thoughts. Guy has only just gotten to his room, having spent the entire preceding day on the hunt. He stalks to one side of his quarters, flicking on only one lamp, and picks up a nice leather suitcase - a gift to him from Taiga, long ago. He's got it half loaded with a few extra uniforms he's planning to bring to Earth when he stops. Guy's access to the Limpid Channel isn't as unrestricted as Mikoto's can be. But he still senses Lamia's presence.
Now is the time.
"...I see. Heck of a time for it. But maybe that's best."
"Shigeru," he says out loud, his Evoluder powers transmitting his words like a radio. "I need you to take over the search. Seems like I have business with Betterman."
And that's it. He tugs the long black sleeveless coat he wears, the uniform of office for a 3G Chief, straightening it out. He also grabs a second suitcase. This one's thicker, and metal. It contains his Ultimate Armor. Just in case.
Thus armed, he turns to the wall Lamia walked into, and strides toward it like he knows it's a door.
His instincts are still just a little surprised when he doesn't smash his face into a wall. His attentions crawl along the space, fascinated by it all. He's not one of 3G's titans of scientific brilliance, but he's an inquisitive man just the same. "This isn't Escape Space," he mutters, in the brief moment of transition.
Oh. It's...regular space. It's just dark. Should have guessed that one. His eyes adjusting, Guy glances to where he senses Lamia, then over, to the man waiting and watching.
"Crimson Eyes," he mutters. Somnium. But for a Somnium to look old...how ancient is this one? Millenia...?
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"I was expecting just you and your friends, I didn't expect you to bring him. Though I suppose this was a potential outcome as well."
The old Somnium speaks in a slightly agitated tone, though it's hard to tell just how upset he truly is, nor does he give the chance for either of them to wonder, as he adjusts his sitting position a bit before continuing to talk. Like the Somnium before him, his lips don't move, his voice instead echoing in the backs of their minds.
"Anyway, the reason you brought him here is clear enough, you seek to bring the man back into battle with the help of the hero Deus? Rather selfish, but well..."
Deus slowly stands up, the sound of rustling leaves filling the cave as he does so.
"I am sad to say however there is nothing I can do for this world. Oath Over Omega will claim everything, and there's no stopping it."
Despite the grim news, Deus doesn't seem extremely upset. He's the opposite really, as there's an almost chipper quality to the way he speaks.
"That said, while we can't change the future, the past is always open to us. Unless you came here with your own ideas, which I know neither of you did, I'd like to propose my plan. It'd be much easier if I had others on board."
The old Somnium gives Guy a wry smile as he patiently waits for a response. Lamia meanwhile, remains silent, having nothing to add.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy was expecting a little more grandeur, admittedly. That's fine. He's dealt with grumpy old men, also. Really more of those than the others, honestly...
Deus...there's a name. And 'the hero Deus'...the precision of language over the Limpid Channel is a whole wing of research, but Guy knows one thing from that intentionality: This man considers himself quite highly. Quite a change from Lamia, who holds himself so apart.
Guy stands just a bit straighter, considering the Somnium, Deus...and his dire words. Guy looks to Lamia, just a moment. How is this one going to be of any use, if he thinks like that...? It felt like a certainty, when transmitted that way. Like knowledge inescapable.
But he still believes. And besides...he's got time to listen, hopefully.
"The past...?" he says, first, eyes narrowing with thought. "...I'll listen."
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"Good. Good."
The way Deus responds seems to indicate that that's exactly the answer he expected. It's not like the two had any other ideas, they came to him because they were desperate after all.
"So, let's start with the problem. That problem being that we started too late. Your understanding of the situation isn't nearly deep enough, and your ability to deal with the threat hasn't advanced as quickly as it should. However..."
There's a pause, mostly for emphasis, before Deus continues on.
"I- We can correct that. Though this future is doomed, we simply need to plant the seeds in the past for a new future to succeed. The question is, who?"
Though he asks 'who', Deus doesn't wait for an answer. The question is rhetorical, as he already begins listing off a few people.
"The Ryu brothers, Volfogg... Ah, I suppose your girlfriend would be a bad idea. But I hope you understand my thought process? Time is the one resource you didn't have, and I'm going to give it to you in spades."
Despite the sweet smile on Deus' face, the way he's talked has been anything but. For a so-called hero, he's been nothing but condescending. He's positive, positive that no matter how he phrases what he says, they'd be stupid to refuse. So if that's the case, what's the point in hiding his true self, especially if it means he can watch them squirm from it?
Lamia, as usual, doesn't seem amused, but he usually never is. Curiously, however, his attention seems more fixed on Guy than Deus's, his eyes boring into the man as if he's waiting for his response.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Many people might normally need to stop him at 'create the seed of a new future.' Many people have not been to the ending of the previous universe. Guy has held the dimension-door Gadget Tool Galeorea Road in his own hands through Genesic GaoGaiGar, felt its secrets pulsing through his body as its Genesic Server. He knows fully well what vistas are open to a traveler with the means.
So he doesn't start there. He lets Deus finish. He senses Lamia's attention on him, and Deus' condescension rings even clearer than words over the Limpid Channel's tides of intention.
He answers Deus' question. "What you're thinking is to seize one of the already-infected Ruin Apostles...and then bring them to the past." His eyes turn squarely up to match Deus' expectant gaze. "Take them to us back when GGG was at its old, full power, and would've been able to use all our old resources to bring them down. Then they'd be able to study the phenomenon for years before we ever had to go to the Trinary Solar System."
He balls a fist, bringing it up to his chin in deep thought. "With that kind of lead, forget fending off the Apostles, GGG might never have been infected in the first place. That's an incredible possibility...we could...improve a lot, with that."
But his eyes cut up.
"But you said we'd be abandoning this future."
It's not a question.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"Thankfully, you're correct on all accounts, though it seems to me you have a problem with this. If you want to drive your kind to extinction like I avidly watch you do, I implore you to do it in the myriad of other ways available to you. This tiny planet isn't the only thing being threatened, you know, if I need remind you."
Deus reaches into his robes, his decrepit hand shuffling around for something before he finally finds it. With the object he was looking for secured, he pulls it out, revealing it to be a now familiar sight to Guy. A Fruit of Animus, though it's shaped and colored differently.
"So I ask again, who do we send? It does not much matter to me, but I should consider your own wishes on this matter. It's what you'd consider fair, after all."
Deus, once again, assumes he is going to get his way, and shifts the conversation back to his plan. Lamia, meanwhile, continues to mostly pay attention to Guy, though every so often his gaze flicks back to the Somnium hero as one of his hands slowly balls up into a fist.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Deus does indeed speak with pure condescension. Inasmuch as he's speaking at all, the glint of the Limpid Channel upon his brow. Guy still looks him in the eye, though, rather than there. "...you've done this before," Guy says, rather than answer the question. "You've let the ending of worlds become an afterthought."
His eyes cut aside - spotting Lamia's shifting gaze. The tension.
"Just so I'm sure I understand," Guy says, attention back to Deus. "If we do this, this timeline simply continues on without us, until, you predict, Cosmic Law sees humanity destroyed. And if we don't...your prediction is that the same thing will happen, and the only difference will be us being here to be killed too.""
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"Looks like there's a slight misunderstanding. You, your loved ones, and even me will perish under the wrath of the Conqueror King even when this plan goes through, so either way you're essentially giving up. I suppose, if it helps, just think of time like a branch with many budding twigs, and right now, we're on a twig that's diseased and dying."
Deus is visibly annoyed that he had to explain something, but it was to be expected. After all, humanity as a species hasn't even scratched the surface of time travel, it's unfair to assume that people that are essentially ants to him could grasp what he was saying.
"So, are we clear? Or is there more I need to explain before it starts making sense to you?"
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Giving up, huh.
Guy gently lowers his suitcase to the ground. "I see," he says. "Seems like I don't have anything to lose, then, really. One Ruin Apostle off the board, an entire timeline saved, and the only thing 'lost' to anybody is one Ruin Apostle sent to another world."
His eyes cut to Lamia again. He thinks he understands. Why Lamia's been tense. Nothing about this involves bringing back a weapon Guy can fight with. Nothing about this involves protecting this world and its people, which Lamia is still bound to, even if Deus isn't. Which means...
...this was never about Deus' plan.
"But you've asked me to do something I never will."
His stance squares, the G-Stones in his every cell keening that sharp whine in the darkness of this desert cavern.
"I will never give up. Not on this world. Not on the Ruin Apostles. Not on humanity or its allies or any star in the sky."
He holds up his hand, the G-Stone's circuit emblem blazing on the back. "No matter how doomed it is, I will believe in the courage of every heart!"
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
Deus is shocked, but he doesn't have much time to display it, as as soon as Guy refuses his offer, Lamia finally lunges forward like an unsprung coil at the Somnium hero, a hand coldly wrapping around their throat as he pins him down to the ground.
There's the very distinct sound of flesh and bone being crushed, but despite the onslaught, Deus can't fight back. He's not a warrior, he never was, even in his prime, and as an old man, the strength afforded by his kind is barely noticable. At the very least, he's still hardy, as he's somehow still alive even as he's going through all this. It is very probably because Lamia is allowing him to, however.
"Idiots! IDIOTS! I have seen all of you fail, and yet you still want to cling on to false hope? Killing me achieves nothing! Anything you do right now changes NOTHING!"
Deus' demeanor has completely changed to that of a petulant child, now that his assumptions have led him nowhere. Lamia once again puts pressure on his windpipe as if in direct response, which causes the old man to let out a pained grunt.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy is expecting Lamia to back him up; he senses they have reached the same conclusion. He isn't QUITE expecting Lamia to lunge across the room and throttle the guy, but...
....he doesn't stop it, either. This is, in the end, a battle between Somniums, even if one of them is clearly outmatched. "You've seen us fail, huh?" Guy muses. "So you have been spying on the future. Alright. Good, that tells me some things."
He steps forward, reaching for the fruit presumably knocked free by Lamia's surge. "OK. I'll take you at your word as the expert. If anything we do now changes nothing..."
He holds the fruit up himself, up in his fingers. Mostly, toward Lamia.
"Then we don't do it now."
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
Deus seethes and thrashes as best as he can to try and break free, but with Guy seemingly indifferent, Lamia does what he sets out to do. There's an audible snap, and the once great hero lays limp. He would have done it if Guy protested, honestly, Lamia's way of thinking is completely incompatible. Though, truthfully, he can't think of any Somnium that would agree with this sort of plan. Nor does he believe that anyone would consider him any sort of 'legendary hero', after his true nature was on display.
But, he did not come here to murder his kin, he came here to solve a problem. Something that, as he thinks, might actually be solvable with what's left of Deus.
Lamia stands back up, lifting the body of the deceased Somnium up with him as he turns his attention back to Guy.
"To have taken his offer would have been to take away the meaning of those who have died for humanity. I could not allow it. However, Evoluder Guy, there is something he said that may have merit. Our solution may be in the past, but to find it, we will need that fruit and time."
We, from what Guy can deduce, probably means Lamia and the Somniums. There's not much an Evoluder can do with an Animus Fruit, after all, and as far as he knows, Lamia still probably wants to kill him at some point.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy watches a man - a god, in some ways - die. Brutally, really. His jaw sets. ...that's the world of Somniums, perhaps. It's the world of people, too. He looks at the body for several long moments. "...I wonder how many other worlds he's 'saved'," Guy murmurs, then shakes his head ruefully. He presents the fruit to Lamia, unhesitating. "I certainly can't use it. It's all yours. From the way he talked...fractalizing timelines..." He shakes his head. "Everything we humans have about it is theory. Maybe if we still had Uncle Liger I could give you some advice."
He meets Lamia's eyes. "Good luck. For now, we still need each other." Guy needs Lamia, to restore the King of Braves; Lamia needs Guy, to defeat the Ruin Apostles.
Both of them need a miracle.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
Lamia throws the corpse of his slain kin over his shoulder as he takes the fruit from Guy. It only dawns on him now that he will have to explain things to his own people. He doesn't fear retribution however, just the long and tedious process of having to give every detail. At the very least, their own 'scientist' will be placated with his gift.
"We do not need advice, the only thing we need is to find the correct Somnium with the correct tolerance. The rest will fall into place."
He doesn't seem concerned. Does Lamia, perhaps, actually understand how time works? Or is he just that certain that the Somnium can find a way to traverse it properly? It's uncertain, much like a lot of things about him.
"Anyway, you are free to stay here and wait for your friends, or follow me back to where you were. I do not care."
Like before, he disappears into a corner of the cave that's cast in shadows, and if Guy were to follow, he'd find himself back in his room. Rather understandably though, Lamia would not be there to greet him on the other end.