Topic: Third storyline: No Sympathy for the Devil

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Thursday, March 2, 2000 - 03:12:
Okay, about converting this into a viable fanfiction...we'll need to do some editing to make some of the rough edges go together. Like inconsistencies for example...I honestly thought that we left Shutaro on Earth. If he was on the UNO, then he would have gone down with Hudson to save Ryouko or else there would've been a quick exchange about duty etc, etc.

I'm also thinking about writing those filler pieces about Hudson and/or that Time magazine article upcoming for the December 1985 issue.

We'll also, of course, credit everyone involved; with special mention to Blade of Kintaro for getting us started and being the comedic soul of these threads.

About Hayes, is he really buying the proverbial farm? Remember that Hudson has that magic good luck charm...

(RP ON)

A few minutes before...

Shutaro was on the bridge giving the order to evacuate to anyone who hadn't heard already.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK THE DAMNED UNO IS INDESTRUCTABLE!!!" the rich boy blared into the commlink.

The engineers on the other end were still hesitant.

Shutaro sighed loudly, "LISTEN, YOU TWITS. IF YOU WANT TO DIE, FINE. BUT THIS SHIP IS GOING UP IN NINE MINUTES AND I AM NOT GOING TO BE ON IT!!!"

The engineers were silent.

"If you want to live get to the shuttlebay immediately; that's an order." Mendou clicked off the commlink violently and looked around the mangled bridge. He was slightly surprised to see no one was there.

Mendou grabbed his sword and jumped out of Hayes' chair and made for the rear of the bridge. He allowed himself to look one last moment at a monitor. It showed Shinobu's fleet floating some distance away.

Shutaro exhaled brokenly; feeling a dull ache inside his heart. Maybe it was his fault in a way...

Abruptly he unsheathed his sword and smashed the monitor and the console below it; momentarily showered him in sparks.

In silence he left the bridge...

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, March 3, 2000 - 11:14:
Yea, interactive fan-fiction like this can have a bit of a tendacy to screw things up.. not to mention I suppose I've been slacking a bit lately when paying attention to detail... I'll brush up! Honest! *pathetic pody eyes*

(RP ON)
Moments later, the group rushed down to the sealed entrance to the shuttle bay. What remained of the engineering staff was already gathered around the hardened panels that led to the shuttle bay, looking slightly confused.

Sergei was the first to enter, and he quickly explained the situation.

"Alright, we've got about.. 5 minutes before the ship goes up, and we've got to get out of here before that happens, as you no doubt figured out."

"But how? That there durn shuttle bay iz'a sealed off!" asked one of the engineers in a heavy Redneck dialect.

"We've already got that part worked out. Did any of you bring along any EVA equipment?"

Another one of the engineers nodded and opened up a large case, revealing 6 breathing devices inside. Sergei frowned.

"Damn, that's not enough for everybody.. anybody else have one?"

The rest of the engineers shook their heads. The remaining group members came up behind him. Hudson bringing up the rear while he helped Ryouko along. Cygni budged her way to the front and turned to Sergei.

"How we doing?"

"Not enough breathing devices for everyone... we need another idea."

Cygni nodded. "Me and Lum can fly you guys over to Ran's ship pretty fast, then come back and pick up the rest, untill everyone's on board. It'd be a lot faster than just having a person run back and forth, since her ship is at a far end."

"It's a good plan, but what about the people who wait in the hallway? Once we open that seal, there won't be any backups left to block it again.." said Hudson. One of the engineers, the redneck one who had spoken earlier walked over to a section of the wall with loose panelling, kneeled down, and yanked the panel away. He pulled it completely out, then stood up and tapped a small button on it. It expanded to 3 times it's size.

"This here outta be enough ta cover that little hole." he remarked, flashing a toothy grin. Sergei nodded.

"That should hold it long enough untill we're completely evacuated."

"Alright, we're set.. head count!" Cygni called out, hovering above the crowd slightly and counting out who was there.

"...Hudson.. Beavis.. Butthead.. Ataru.. that looks like... wait, where's Ron and Sakura?"

Hudson glanced behind him and noticed an empty space. "They were right behind us while we were climbing down.."

Sergei grunted. "I'll hunt him down, you start getting everyone out of here!"

Sergei turned to go, but Cygni grabbed his shoulder. "Don't wander off too far, because there's no way in hell I'm leaving without you."

He flashed a grin in response. "Never missed a deadline yet!" And with that, he was gone into the dark corridors, the small floodlight on his rifle providing the only illumination.

"Ok, so aside from Sakura and our fun-filled friend, I guess everyone's here.. engineer, you ready?" She turned to the engineer holding up the panel, and he waved a thumbs up. "Lum, you ready?"

"Only if I get to carry darling first!" came the cherry reply, with a familar grumble of protest coming from Ataru.

"Everyone else is set? Then get the hell back!" She pulled out the pistol and flicked it on. A low humm began coming from it as it charged. The rest of the engineers and the group slowly backed down the corridor with the redneck standing near the blockade, ready to block it as soon as it was breached.

A green light winked on the side of the pistol and a barely audiable beep was heard. Cygni took careful aim, and fired.

Meanwhile, up in the weapons loading area, Hayes kneeled down near a small console labelled "Manual Launch Control" and pulled a small battery out of his pocket. He fumbled about with the single flashlight he was carrying, setting it up in a good position, then he yanked off the covering below the screen and dug around a moment untill he saw the familiar box that housed the power cells, with a small area for any backup power source. He carefully plugged in the battery, then used a small switch inside to signal the system to use that power source. The screen above flashed a moment, then slowly blinked to life. It brought up a space-bound view of the incoming fleet, with various sensor data at the bottom along with range, targetting, and weapon information. He checked the timer.

"5 minutes untill the ship sparks out. 3 minutes untill firing range. Going to be interesting..."

He began putting in calucations that would guarantee the delivery of the warhead to it's intended target, the cruiser bearing down on them.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, March 4, 2000 - 04:55:
Okay...just remember who your true friends are.

Namely...Lum and ersatz rpg threads.

(RP ON)

Shutaro Mendou ran along the corridor, down a ladder and around a corner; stopping cold.

That pilot Cygni had captured, Ron (and how the hell did an alien get a name like that?) was dragging a woman on the floor behind him. Shutaro gasped as he realized it was Nurse Sakura; unconcious.

Mendou hung back in the shadows; his katana ready. He couldn't get a clear shot...

"Five minutes until core containment is lost," the computer blared loudly.

"...shit..." the rich boy grated.

Ron had dragged Sakura out of view and Mendou realized he would have to act now. Just then Sergei crept past.

Shutaro sighed; relieved. Mendou stealthly caught up behind Sergei and tapped his shoulder in one move.

Sergei spun around in a flash and almost smacked Shutaro in the jaw before stopping; he smiled.

"Glad to see you, Mendou."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Sunday, March 5, 2000 - 11:06:
(RP ON)
The blast that came out of the pistol wasn't exactly what Cygni was expecting, but it got the job done. The massive green ball leaped out of the barrel and plunged itself deep into the panelling, blasting open a large hole into it and sending Cygni backwards off her feet. The engineer quickly rushed forward and applied the panel he was holding against the breach. It sucked it's way into position easily, filling enough of it to keep the air in the corridors for plenty long enough. Cygni got back to her feet, grumbling, and waved over the group.

"Alright people, lets get this show moving!" She commenced flight and floated over to one of the engineers, picking him up and straining a bit. Ran protested.

"I should be the one to go first, since it's my ship!"

"That may sound all fine and dandy, but I have no idea what it's going to be like in there. For all I know, the second I head in I may end up spinning off into space, and that wouldn't help the rest of you guys any. Since it is, after all, your ship."

Ran comtemplated a moment, then grumbled in assent. Cygni shifted her position slightly and grunted down at the engineer.

"..Might wanna lay off the beef a bit pal.." she muttered, looking over at the crudely sealed airlock. Lum was floating nearby, Ataru in her arms. She signalled her readyness.

"Alright Lum, stick close to me.. we're gonna hang near the walls as much as possible, I'm not up for getting near that breach."

"Right."

She nodded to the redneck engineer, and he put both his hands on the 2 bars connected to the panel and pulled. The panel didn't budge. He pulled harder, but still wasn't able to bring it off. Cygni's face whitened slightly. With that much force keeping the panel in place, there was probably going to be quite a current inside of the docking bay.

One of the remaining engineers noticed and walked over to help him out. Their combined efforts finally managed to yank the panel free. The sudden decompression created a massive draft that nearly sucked Lum right through the hole. She quickly compensated and managed to stablize herself. Ataru looked on the verge of screaming.

"Alright, lets do it!" called out Cygni. She pulled her passenger in close, took a breath, and dove into the shuttle bay.

Upon entering the bay, she immediately veered right, but noticed she was being pulled off course slightly by the massive air current, despite her strongest attempts to stay near the wall. She was still able to stick near it, and the current would slowly guide her towards Ran's ship, as one of the larger holes was directly behind it. She stole a moment to glance over her shoulder, Lum was behind her and managing to keep pace. She seemed to be faring slightly better as well.

"Years of practice would do that I'd suppose..." she mumbled out to noone in particular and continued making her way towards the ship, picking up speed a little.

Elsewhere in the ship, Ron continued his course towards the weapons bay, patting his hip and affirming that the needler he carried was still in there. He suddenly heard a thud on the deck plating behind him.

He whirled around, temporarly dropping his unconscious captive and yanking out his small deadly pistol. He looked around a moment. Nobody was there. He squinted into the darkness and thought he could see a moving shape...

A loud scream was heard above him, and before he could react a large boot impacted against the back of his head, followed by the rest of the body it was attached to. He landed on the deck, face first, the impact breaking his nose. He felt the sharp touch of a sword contacting slightly against his neck.

Shutaro held the pose a moment, then looked up as Sergei walked out of the darkness in front of him, grinning.

"Not bad kid.."

"Not bad yourself on being a diversion.. now, what say we get the hell out of here?"

"I'm inclined to agree.."

Sergei moved to pick up Ron. Shutaro delivered a hefty punch to the back of Ron's head, rendering him unconscious once again, then stepped off and slung Sakura over his shoulder. Sergei did the same with Ron, and they turned to walk back to the ladder that would take them the short distance to the shuttle bay.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Sunday, March 5, 2000 - 11:08:
Ooh by the way, all Patlabor fans be advised, the Metal Fatigue demo is here, and it kicks utter ass! If you're interested, grab it at www.psygnosis.com, it's pretty frikken good!

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Sunday, March 5, 2000 - 18:26:
(RP ON)

Cygni and the engineer arrived at the airlock to Ran's ship and easily opened it. Cygni stood in the inner corridor with the redneck engineer and motioned insistently to Lum carrying Ataru.

Once they were in the engineer palmed the door shut and a rush of cool, fresh oxygen filled the small corridor.

Ataru pulled the mask off, "Wow, don't wanna do that again anytime soon!" he shook his head.

Lum breathed deeply, "you can say that again..." she caught her breath, "Darling."

The engineer was at the wall panel checking the interior condition of Ran's home. "Hot damn! It's clear," he opened the inner door and everyone piled into Ran's spacious living room.

Cygni turned to the engineer, 'sounds like he's from the American deep south,' she thought for a moment. "Contact the others and tell them to send the other group," Cygni frowned, "better make it Hudson and Ryouko."

(RP OFF)

Sorry, but I have to go. But I'll probably do a longer post later if nothings been added.

BTW, I've sent an e-mail to Sak's UY fanfiction archive telling them about this place. If we can't convert this into a viable fanfic then the least we can do is have more UY fans know about the board itself.

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Sunday, March 5, 2000 - 23:56:
I'm back! Can't keep me down for long!



Oh yeah! Cygni and Lum were supposed to go back and pick people up!

(RP ON)

Confirmation came and Hudson pulled his group together. Along with he and Ryouko, Kintaro and Jariten would be going to.

"Hey watch it!" Kintaro cursed at Warren as he secured him and Ten to his belt. Ten frowned, "Why do we have to do it this way?"

Hudson grunted as he knelt down with a syringe, he was busy with Ryouko; who would need a shot of morphine for the pain. "Elementary children... Ten, you can't fly as well as Lum; but you, like your cousin, have a higher tolerance for low oxygen atmospheres along with Kintaro. Freeing up two oxygen masks...unfortunately we can't take more with us."

Mujaki stepped forward; looking sick. "Why, sir?"

"Simple," Hudson noticed that Lum and Cygni were back and being helped through the make-shift seal, "Ryouko will require more help because her injury and I'm the heaviest one here. But luckily," he smiled at the two toddlers strapped to his belt, "you two can be carried like so with only a little more effort."

Warren faced the others, "after this, six can go at once and we can get the hell out of here."

Beavis and Butthead laughed. Butthead chuckled, "Hey Beavis, huhuhuhu. We're like, huhu, gonna get *carried* by one of those chicks!"

"Yeah, hehehe-heh-heh. Cool."

Cygni and Lum walked up to Warren, "ready?" Lum asked. Warren put the breathing device on Ryouko's face (who had fallen asleep from the sedatives) and put his own on. He gave a thumbs up and helped Cygni pick Ryouko up before Lum snatched him and the toddlers up.

"Kintaro-chan! Ten-chan! Hudson-san! Just hold on tight!" Lum smiled.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Tuesday, March 7, 2000 - 21:14:
Gargh, there I go allowing myself to get bogged down again by "work" (*cough* X-Wing Alliance */cough*) and forgetting to contribute here..

Any word on if we'll have some extra viewers around? >)

(RP ON)
While all this was happening on the crippled UNO, the cruiser was almost in range to bring the destroyer on-board. Hayes watched the count-down timer from his dark spot in the weapons loading bay as it slowly worked it's way down to 0. Currently it read 1:30. He ran through the pre-launch check yet again, making sure the trajectory was correct, the launch tube was as clear as possible, and that nothing would malfunction. A horribly distorted voice boomed above.

"Warning.....core... meltdown... 3.. minutes..."

Onboard the brige of the cruiser, the science officer on the bridge called out in alarm.

"Sir, uh, ma'am! We're getting some high energy spikes coming from the UNO! It looks like they may have triggered a self-destruct sequence, or their reactor is loosing containment!"

"How long?" asked Shinobu, annoyed.

"3 minutes!"

"We'll be upon them in 1.. just enough time to grab the crew and scuttle the ship. Continue!"

The science officer was about to protest, but thought better of it and returned to his duties.

In the heavily damaged shuttle bay of the UNO, Cygni glanced over behind her as Lum followed closely, with seemingly little effort.

"Where the hell does she get that strength?" she muttered to herself.

("Probably from all of her encounters with Shinobu..")

Cygni let out a small gasp as quietly as she could. "Where the hell have you been?"

("Away. Doing... things.")

"Things huh? Well you're gonna have to fill me in later..."

They quickly reached Ran's ship, a little faster than before since they had taken a slightly more direct route. The airlock was already open and the engineer was waving to them.

The pair quickly dropped off their load, Cygni carefully helping Ryouko into a nearby chair, then grabbed the respective breathing devices. Hudson nodded.

"Thanks.. we've only got 3 minutes left, so you'd better hurry."

"Right.. Hayes will be launching the EMP shortly as well, and things might go downhill for us if we're caught up in the blast.." replied Cygni. "Lets just hope our luck holds."

Cygni turned around and headed out the airlock, going towards the other end of the shuttle bay as fast as she could. The return trip was quicker since there wasn't any cargo to worry about, and since she was working against the vaccuum she didn't have to worry about mis-judging and spinning off into space. She shivered a little, the air was starting to get cold as the heating systems were failing.

She was half way across when a loud groan was heard from above, and a massive support fell from the ceiling, landing directly in front of her with a crash. She lept back, yelling out "Geesus!", then cautiously worked her way over it and continued her course.

Lum turned to go as well, but was stopped by Ataru, who grabbed her arm. He slowly leaned up to her ear.

"This is kinda hard to say.. but... be careful Lum."

Ten, who had overheard, was about to make a lewd remark, but was stopped by Lum's stern glance. She nodded at Ataru and grinned.

"Thanks darling!"

She then took off.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, March 8, 2000 - 05:57:
Haven't heard anything yet...

Are you or your friend good at extensive editing? I don't think the webmaster has a problem with us doing something with the story.

I'm depressed...Super Tuesday isn't what it's cracked up to be. But it'll help me write.

(RP ON)

Lum joined Cygni at the shuttlebay doors a few moments later and randomly grabbed three people just as Cygni did.

Unfortunately for Lum; she picked up Mujaki, along with Beavis and Butthead.

The duo from Highland, Texas immediately tried to take advantage of Lum in her bikini but were rewarded with a decent electric shock.

But they, as always, took it in stride.

"Huhhuhuh-huh-huh, Beavis. She's touching me." Butthead glowed as one of the engineers violently strapped the air device to his face.

"Yeah-heh-heh-heh me too...cool." Beavis responded through his mask as he admired the ship going to shit all around them.

Mujaki had the good sense to shut up and simply looked away from Lum as he held on to her left leg.

Cygni picked up two UNO engineers and Ran. She also had the good sense to shut up except for one instance...when Cygni accidently touched Ran's breasts.

"Hey watch it! I'm not that type of girl!" Ran lilted with just a touch of menace. It was highly disconcerting to Cygni.

"Uh...right, sorry." Cygni grumbled.

After Lum, Cygni and their group left only two UNO crewmembers remained to be picked up last along with Shutaro, Sergei, Ron and Sakura.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, March 8, 2000 - 06:47:
As a matter of fact, I believe I do.. it happens to be the same guy who's gonna help out in the next thread. Says it'll probably take more than a week, but not too long, hopefully >)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, March 8, 2000 - 23:00:
That's good. BTW, in the next post forget about that bit with the "two UNO crewmembers" its just Megane and Cherry left.

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, March 10, 2000 - 08:40:
Just when ya thought it couldn't get any worse, I had the gall to pick up my now 9-year-old sis Final Fantasy 8 (PC version) for her b-day, and now I've been bitten by the plague.. harsh. One second while I attempt to peel myself away long enough to post.. Cerberus is kicking my sorry ass anyways >) Any tips for that guy? He's annoying the hell out of me.. my strongest guy (Squall) is at level 31, the rest are around mid-twenties (I've got Zell and Rinoa with me, and quite a collection of GFs (think I missed a few though).

Anyways, gimme a few minutes here and I'll rig up something to post >)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, March 10, 2000 - 17:47:
Well...I had to start my game over at the beginning of disc 4 because I was too weak to win.

Where in the storyline are you?

Who's hotter; Quistis, Rinoa, or Edea?

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, March 10, 2000 - 22:59:
Me saying that Edea is hot would be kind of like admitting that I'm attracted to a female sumo-wrestler (no offense to any who happen to be reading this >)). Quistis is kinda cool with her whips and leather and stuff, but it's not exactly my, er, "thang" if you know what I mean... so I guess that deducts it down to Rinoa. Although quite frankly, I'd prefer grabbing Shiva for a date... *drools*

At the moment I'm in the Galabadia (probably a typo, these names are whacky) Garden after ramming it with the other Garden.. from what I know, it's near the end of disk 2.

Ok so I took a bit longer than "a few minutes" to write up my next post, but hey, I was tired, sue me! >)

(RP ON)

As Cygni and Lum brought their respective loads across as fast as they could in the shuttle bay, Hayes continued his work inside of the weapons loading area, staring at the monitor and gripping the firing control with an iron fist. The timer continued counting down.

"20 seconds.. no turning back now..."

The 2 bars slowly came together into a cross, indicating the ship was almost in range. His eyes narrowed.

"10 seconds..."

They continued moving together. After what seemed like an eternity, they finall finished converging, creating a perfect cross. The cross turned green, and a barely audible chime sounded.

"From hell's heart, I stab at thee.."

He punched down on the button on the small joystick, hard. The monitor blanked out as power was drawn from the small battery to the launching systems. After a moment, a loud clunk was heard, then a whoosh as the warhead was propelled into space, now under it's own power. He turned and glanced at the exit door a ways below longingly.

"It'll take at least 3 minutes to get down there, especially thanks to the fact that we have no power for the lifts, it's dark, and I'm not in the best of shape.."

He slowly stood up and grinned. "..Then again, what have I got to loose? I'd hate to spoil Sergei's wedding anyways..and since they're not expecting me, they won't be waiting on me either..."

He grabbed a small flashlight and began his descent down the ladder, pausing a second to check his electronic timer. His eyes widened a second and his heart rate tripled.

"1 minutes and 20 seconds.. going to be tight."

He lept off the ladder and dropped the last 10 meters to the ground, cussing as the impact shot pain up his legs, then began running towards the exit bay, huffing and puffing.

On the cruiser, the tactical officer's head shot up in alarm. "Mistress, a small warhead has been launched from the ship and it's headed our way, contact in 10 seconds!"

Shinobu simply laughed. "A small missile is all they retaliate with? That's really pathetic! Ignore it and resume course!"

"10 seconds! 7... 5... 2..."

Suddenly a loud crackling soud was heard as the EMP detonated against the hull. The sensors officer screamed as lightning shot up through his console, then went through him, frying him to death. Similar things happened all around the ship, but most of the officers managed to avoid getting killed by the EMP coursing through the systems. Shinobu saw a massive wave of lightning spreading away from the ship and shutting down all the fighters before it too shut down from the interference. Eventually the lights went out and the familiar drumming the reactor caused stopped.

All was quiet on the dark bridge, aside from a few officers groaning in pain and medical staff rushing around. They were dead in space.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

Hi Guys!
Nope, I don't mind, I still continue to read and enjoy your creations of fine writing art.
I was thinking of compiling the other two pieces to a more readable piece of text in .txt or .html format. Which one should be suited best for your ideas? I recall something about posting/annoucing it to some rpg/fanfics archives.... But never heard anything about it again... I guess FF8 is keeping you a bit back too? ^_^

Having a second question: Are all of you entering these huge piles of text online in the small window or are you copying and pasting it in to it? Looks like a huge problem when using it straight online and trying to get rid of some typo's....