In an attempt to tell lighter-hearted stories that take place on Mobius, I have created this thread to begin such an RP. In this setting, Robotnik isn't a nightmare given form. He didn't take over the whole world and turn people into creepy robot slaves. Instead, Robotnik is just the main enemy of Sonic and his buddies.

This is a fantastical world with pocket dimensions, and areas that are known as "zones". Strange ruins litter the world. The chaos emeralds are attainable through the special stages and allow you to be "super" whoever for as long as you have the rings to pay for it.

Feel free to choose a character in this setting, choose a "power" or two (such as Knuckles' ability to glide and punch through walls.) So long as it would seem neat in the Sonic video games and could also be fun in an RP. :)

Chris will go first.

Echo: Arctic Fox Bat with portal powers.  Self-replicant / twin. One is blind, the other deaf.  Psychic Bond.  They enjoy ultrasonic music.  They both wear mirror sunglasses.  Recall Friend power!!!  One is fox, the other bat.  Name idea:  Name of one is the name of the other spelled backwards   (robert/trebor, mirror/rorrim, stan/nats, mark/karm, adam/mada, luke/ekul, justin/nitsuj, james/semaj) or perfect mirror: (bob/dod, pip/qiq, tim/mit, wAltoz/sotlAw, qp w t Y u i/l o A sz dbH l L/J x v n m, paul/luaq, mavin/nivam, liam/mail, don/nob, van/nav, max/xam

Tim suggests Marco and Polo

Echo is an unusual boy.  The son of a bat and an arctic fox, he has traits from both - His mommy's wings, his daddy's fur and tail, and both their eyes - light blue on one side and red on the other.  One day, he created a mirror out of psychic energy and walked through it.  He came out two places at once.  In one place, he was a deaf fox.  In the other, a blind bat.

But he/they both were able to see, hear, feel, and think through the other.  It was confusing and overwhelming, so he/they stepped back through and reunited.  But over time, through practice, he/they mastered being able to deal with simultaneous double and proxy senses.  From there he/they experimented and figured a way to compensate for the drawbacks - the deaf one carries a mic that transmitted sound for the other to hear what he could not.  The other a camera to transmit what the other can see for him with the tiny screen reflect ing off the back of his sunglasses.  He/they tend to play hookey in class this way.  Flying around and enjoying the great outdoors to offset having to take a boring history test.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:55, Sat 20 Feb 2016.

  Well, I'm figuring on being lazy and going with Coyote variant "Standard Sonic Darkthorne".  Any particular tweaks or additions to that concept, we'll wait and see on.

Location: Mobotropolis.
Home to Sonic the Hedgehog, this is the capital of Planet Mobius. Of course, there are those who do not recognize it as the capital, but to most it is. Mobotropolis has a population of about 25 million. Everyone knows about the hero Sonic the Hedgehog and his buddy Tails. There has been talk about the Overlanders possibly waging war on the Mobians, but so far nothing is set in stone. However, this has caused racial tension in Mobotropolis and lately, the overlanders in the city have been making themselves more and more scarce.

To start off, we begin in High Park, a nice neighborhood where the racial tensions are low. It's noon and the sun is shining with a cool breeze.

A light-brown skinned overlander lady with wavy black hair is sitting at an icecream vendor, sipping a milkshake she ordered. The ice cream vendor, a male hamster who seems to be in a good mood.

Marco and Polo are sharing a banana split while seated at a nearby bench.  If not for being different races, one could swear they're mirror reflections of one another.  When one takes a bite with the spoon in his right hand, the other takes a bite with his left at the exact same time.  Closer inspection would discover that they don't pick the same flavor.  When Marco catches sight of Angel, he looks over at her curiously, breaking the mirrored movements.  Polo perks his ears, but stays focused on the ice-cream.

"Hello," they greet simultaneously, sounding friendly.

  Joe doesn't have icecream, because he's too cool for icecream-wait, no.  He already had some a few minutes ago.  You'll never manage the brooding loner thing if you keep putting money in those tip jars, man.

  Though it does let you have an excuse to sit around longer after you've finished eating, so there is that.

Angel smiles at the two. "Well hello... beautiful weather today. It's enough to put anyone in a good mood. Don't suppose you live in this neighborhood?"

Marco and Polo smile at Angel, pleased the interesting human lady is being so nice.  They quote a line from a powem about such a beautiful day, their stereo voices making it sound almost musical.

"It sure is!" Marco the fox answers.

"Not exactly from here," Polo the bat answers.

"I live several blocks away," they both answer.

"How 'bout you?"

"Where you from?"

Bumpers!

  Despite the reminders in the opening posts, Joe's brain had to be jostled out of 'don't care what species people are' to remember that Overlanders are notable around here.

  "The kid's raise a good question.  Just here for the icecream, or to stay?"

Angel says, "I'm from Mega Central*, actually. But I'm hoping to stay here at least for a few months. I'm an ambassador, hoping to mend relations between the Mobians and Overlanders."

*Mega Central is the Overlander capital.

Both Marco and Polo give a low, impressed whistle.

"Ambassador from Mega Central," Marco echoes.

"Now if that doesn't sound impressive..."

"I don't know what would."

"You've got your work cut out for you."

"But I think if people base their impressions of Overlanders based off you..."

"It shouldn't be too hard to mend things on this end."

"What's their major beef with us anyway?"

"Jealous of our icecream?"

 "Well, hopefully the worst you have to deal with is being a useless figurehead instead of a political scapegoat."

  Could be worse, she could be a princess having to deal with the fact her dad hired a fat evil scientist in the first place? This theoretical comment applies as a 'would be worse' even if that didn't happen in this setting, whoooo vagueness insurance!

Angel says to Echo, "Thanks for the votes of confidence... as for what the Overlanders' beef with the Mobians is? Well it goes back two generations and nobody agrees on what really happened, of course. The Mobians say our dignitary assassinated your crown prince at the time. Overlanders say it was a set up and that House Acorn wanted to create an excuse to war with us in order to gain our resources. I looked into it and suspect it was a mere accident that got blown out of proportion."

She then looks over to Joe. "I'm sure you didn't mean that you hope I'll be useless, but rather that it would be preferable to being hunted down. But see.. if I become a scapegoat, I will already have lost my worth. And if I am useless to begin with, then my job and everything I worked for will mean nothing; at which point, I would be better off hunted. At least then I'd have someone to hate other than myself. No; I'd rather tell myself I'll become a useful figurehead."

Marco and Polo oh at Angel's explanation and look surprised by her answer to Joe's comment.

"You don't paint a very pleasant picture of your people," Marco says.

"One, A Mobian royal family member dies, and the Overlanders make like they're the victims?"

"And two, that they would ever harm such a sweet lady for any reason, let alone blame you for a crime you didn't commit, is despicable."

"You should switch sides.  Become a Mobian."

"You'll immediately become a very useful figurehead."

"Not only will you be living proof that Mobians are welcoming of nice Overlanders such as yourself,"

"But also proof that not all Overlanders are finger-pointing blamers who don't trust anyone."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Mon 14 Sept 2015.

  Acorn would be crazy enough for that to have been a real possibility.

  "Mobian and Overlander is more of a species difference, despite the political situation.  She'd have to suddenly be a rabbit or something to stop being an Overlander."

  There we go, avoid the political commentary temporarily by sticking to the more frivolous details.

Angel says, "Thanks for the compliments... though to clarify something you picked up on, I'm not saying I would be framed because my bosses are overlanders. I'm saying I would be framed because they are politicians. Overlander, Mobian... it doesn't matter what you were born as, if you are a politician, chances are high you are going to stab someone in the back. My people, on the other hand... are longing for an end to this whole conflict. For me to switch sides would cause no change and throw away my unique position to help the overlanders."

Joe's comment gets Angel to quickly glance at him before she pauses to think and says, "And what if I did?" as if half-jokingly bringing up a silly theoretical situation... but she seems half-serious also.

The two recoil in unpleasant surprise when Angel explains politicians are backstabbers more often than not.

"Goodness."

"Good thing Mobotropolis doesn't have any politicians, then."

"Maybe that's the root of the Overlander problem right there."

"The people are stuck with a conflict they don't want because of the Nasties in charge."

"They should have a monarch instead."

"You for example."

"You'd make for a great queen."

They smile at the bunny comment.  "She'd make for a good bunny too."

"Though she reminds me more of a golden retriever."

  "Well, you'd have more luck with citizens accepting your Mobian status as an attractive bunny or dog, instead of an attractive Overlander.  While your example politicians debate prior citizenship status over species until they forget if they are arguing in favor or against."

  At the kids comments about politicians, he says "Monarchs are politicians, they just don't pretend your say matters as much as the ones that need votes."

Angel nods, thumbing at Joe. "Yup. Monarchs are politicians. Viziers are politicians. Regents are politicians. Lords, dukes, etc... anyone in leadership positions over a given city or country is a politician." she double-takes at Joe. "Attractive? Well... thank you."

She then looks back at Echo. "Though I appreciate you saying I'd be a good queen, I'm unsure what gave you that impression."

The two boys looks surprised.

To Joe, Marco says, "I'm surprised you would consider our gracious King the kind of person likely to make a scapegoat of such a nice lady and have her hunted down."

Polo says to Angel, "You're surprised a Mobian would compliment your good looks?"

"Let me add then that you have a beautiful voice."

"A lovable personality,"

They smile impishly, "And excellent taste in desserts."

"So besides all that, you remind me of the Princess."

"That's why I figure you'd make for a good queen."

  Political tensions aside, obviously it should be easier for talking animals to find humans attractive than the other way around, considering interspecies relationships are near constant for Mobians. Wait, no, that would make sense.

  "You said it, not me, kids."  Hear that, royal spy types?  Totally wasn't Joe.  On that note he's having another nebulous background moment and trying to figure out if he's thinking of the same King as they are.

King: Maximillian Acorn
Queen: Alicia Acorn
Crown Prince: Elias Acorn
Princess: Sally Acorn

These characters exist and have their stations as in the comics. However, there was no Robotnik betrayal and no mass-roboticizations. So they pretty much exist as politicians. Fair ones, but politicians. And they are known to associate with Sonic often.

Angel chuckles. "Thanks... on that note, I don't suppose any of you have any skills that would help me with my job here in Mobotropolis?"

All Echo knows of "politics" is what he learned in tax-funded public schools, so all he knows is that the Acorns are super people from a long line of super ancestors.  Today is the first day he remembers hearing the word, "politician."  They shrug to Joe's statement, not sure what to say.

They think about Angel's question.  "I'm not sure."

"I'd like to be helpful."

"But the only thing different about me..."

"...my ability to be in two places at once..."

"...I don't think would help you."

"Sorry."

  Well, maybe if she suddenly needed to go on that revenge spree.  "If you wanted cross city trips faster but less comfortable than a cab, I guess?"

Angel looks down at Marco and Polo and says, "Two places at once? Well sure, you talk like twins, but you look nothing alike. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by two places at once?"

Angel looks down at Joe. "And what did you have in mind that is faster, but less comfortable than a cab?"

Echo isn't quite sure what to make of Joe's comment either.  He's not a Zerg Nydus canal, after all.  http://i.imgur.com/wuULK.jpg

They look over at Angel and answer together, "I... 'we' share the same mind."

"I consider myself one person."

"But people get uncomfortable when I use both of my mouths all of the time."

"So I've been practicing taking turns."

"It's not hard if I'm paying attention."

"It's like putting on a puppet show with both hands."

They demonstrate by touching each finger to the corresponding thumb in rapid succession without looking.

  "Despite how they make it look in comics and movies, being carried by someone swinging around the city is not the most pleasant passenger experience."  Come on, just think of it like a Viking ship ride! with no seatbelt, and moving traffic under you if you somehow survive the fall.

  He looks back over to the kids, and comments "Must be hard to get a moment's privacy then.  Or is that not as much of an issue when you are both the same guy?"  Oh man, what kind of ironic torment was it when you had to wait in line for the bathroom because it was YOU taking too long?

  Hopefully the kids don't throw coffee in his face... Wait, wrong mentally linked twins.  And wrong setting.

Angel asks, "So... you are supers, eh? Like Sonic?"

Echo chuckles at Joe's answer, imagining himself swinging around the city.  He shakes his heads to Joe.

"Nope.  No problems with that.  I'm probably about as comfortable with myself as your right half is with with your left half."

They blush at being compared to Sonic.  "I'm no super hero."

"And I probably got a 'Super' sticker on my report card about as often as the next guy."

"Call me 'special' and it'll sound like I'm mentally challenged."

"I'm just a regular guy with a unique ability."

He squirms uncomfortably.  "Not that I don't want to be helpful."

"I just don't know how I could be useful to you."

  "I somehow doubt I make the laws of physics cry like Sonic does" as much.

  He looks over to the kids, and says "Well, I guess if you ask real nicely we could like you as a persons anyways."  Wait, they already do.

A limo pulls up. Out steps some mobian officials with sunglasses. "Angel Bard?"

Angel nods and answers, "That's me."

The officials say, "It's time to come with us."

Angel ohs? "I... wasn't aware I was going to be sent an escort."

The officials nod. "Well now you are. Get in the vehicle please."

Angel pulls out a phone and begins dialing a number.

Polo smiles at the new arrivals, adjusts his own sunglasses, and comments, "Love the cool sunglasses."

(OOC: "Sunglasses are cool!"  *Pokemon battle begins*)

He hovers over to whipser to Joe, "Lucky you.  You can probably get to ride with her as her body guard."

Marco approaches the official who spoke sheepishly.  "Angel's my friend.  Is she in danger?  If so... gosh.  I wonder if the badguys would kidnap me to get to her.  M-maybe you could give me a ride too?  I don't wunna be left alone if there's danger."

"You should call your parents either way, Marco," Polo suggests.

He turns his back to the officials, strikes a "cool guy" pose, and takes a selfie with the sunglasses guys in the background.  "So cool!"

  "Well, you just met her so maybe they wouldn't think she cares enough."  More likely they'd want to frame Angel for kidnapping a small child instead.  Or maybe he's overcomplicating the political slander plots?

The sunglasses guy says in a stern (and very irritated) tone, "Don't you know that taking photos of people without permission is rude at best and illegal at worst? Give me the device." he offers a hand out to Polo.

The other official answers Marco, "All of you are coming with us. Get in."

Angel takes a stern tone of her own and says, "There is no reason to be so forceful. Show me identification and then maybe I will comply."

The official dealing with Marco shows Angel a badge.

Angel looks it over. "...OK. Let's get in the car." She then gets in.

(I was going to have her crawl in, but then I remembered Mobian sizes vary widely to where some are as tall as humans)

Both kids freeze up like a grade-schooler caught passing a note in class.  Polo ducks his head sheepishly, reluctantly handing the phone over.

"I was only taking a selfie..." he pleads.

Marco dives into the limo like his life depends on it.  Because at this point he believes that it does.

"Please hurry, Joe and Polo.  You're probably in danger too!"

Polo dives in.

  Joe shrugs, and follows along.  "Yes Marco, that's probably true"

  Hopefully it would be at least another few hours before he ended up an enemy of the crown.  Dealing with people made much more of a mess than dealing with robots.

The car heads off. Like a limo, the car has seats that face each other. The official eventually hands the phone back to Polo and says, "The photo has been erased. No more photos until you are told you can."

Angel is buckled in and looks at the official. "Now then... what's this about?"

The official says, "There was a recent attack on the Princess. Thankfully, our princess was able to fend off the attackers long enough for the Acorns to be secured. But while the threat is being pursued, we were ordered to pick you up and see that you made it to the palace safely. Being a visiting ambassador, and considering the Mega Central insignia the Princess saw on one of the attackers, we suspect someone is trying to re-instigate the war of our peoples. If that is true, you would be the very next target."

Angel says, "...I would say "totally called it", but I did not expect this to happen so soon. That and I am pleasantly surprised the crown has faith that I have nothing to do with this."

The official says, "Faith, yes. But there is procedure to follow. We will be investigating you, just to be thorough."

Angel says, "Of course. But since I know I'm innocent, and since you guys are protecting my life, I have nothing to be upset over."

The official looks relieved.

Polo sheepisly took his phone back.  "Yes sir."

He and Marco buckle in.  Polo glances nervously at the agent.  "So...  Am I allowed to call my parents?"

Marco gulps.  "Gosh.  Glad the princess is ok.  I hope the badguy is caught soon."

  Well, that's no good.  The Princess wasn't lame.  Oh, and the other people that almost died is also bad.

  "I'll never understand the logic of people trying to spark a war to encourage those they don't like to shoot at them.  Then again, they usually want to dodge personal attendance to said war and let everyone else deal with getting shot."

The agent says, "There can be a number of reasons, but the two main reasons usually boil down to money or hate."

He then looks at Polo. "I will call them for you. Are they listed as 'mom' or 'dad'?"

Angel doesn't speak up for now. The agent is dealing with enough as it is.

Polo nods sheepisly to the agent, blushing.  "Yessir."

He shows him the number.  meanwhile Marco gawks in confusion at Joe's statement and the agent's answer.

"This is a thing?  People kicking off wars to get shot at?  That's beyond stupid!  That's...  That's insane!"

   "Sorry Polo.  Adults aren't as smart as they like to advertise."  We would also accept 'stupid people get put in charge', but even his low amounts of tact refrain from that in the royal service limo.

Add 'sometimes' to the beginning of that statement about stupid being in charge, Joe, and magically it becomes safe to say!

The agent says, "People do not kick off wars to get shot at. But your friend is at least correct about people being stupid and everyone else suffering for it."

Angel says, "Money and hate, as the man said, are usually the reasons. The people doing this thing are either looking to get rich off of the proceeds of war, or are angry that mobians and overlanders might get along. Either of those are enough reason for someone to kick off a war. Wanting to be rich isn't stupid. Hate is natural. The truly stupid thing here is the disregard for others' lives, regardless of their reason."

The agent dials Polo's parents' number.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:00, Thu 19 Nov 2015.

Polo gawks and both boys are silenced for the moment as they try to wrap their mind around the idea.  A squeaky woman's voice answers the agent's call, "Hi, hon.  how are you?"

Their mind still rebooting, Marco and Polo forget to take turns and answer together, "Uh...  Hi, Mom."

  With great maturity and restraint, Joe does not yell over to the phone that her sons are in a government limo.

The agent says, "Hello. This is Agent March of the Crown Secret Service. Your sons are safe and here with me in the royal limo. As an official working for the Acorn family, I assure you things are fine. Your sons are not in trouble and will be returned to you within the hour."

Angel just settles into her seat, gazing out the window.

Echo's mom assumes that this is a prank call that Echo persuaded the nice ice-cream man to make, granted, a very convincing impersonations, so she plays along.

"Well it's good to hear he's safe, in good hands, and well be home in one piece in time for dinner.  I apologize if he's caused you any trouble.  He sometimes uses his super powers to pull pranks or try and trick nice ice cream vendors into a free scoop 'because a mean fox boy took mine!'"

Both boys blush and sink in their seats, embarrassed.

  "I think literally every twin team or similar has done that at least once."

The agent takes it in stride and says, "It's no trouble, ma'am. Take care." he hangs up and looks at the boys. "We have arrived." One agent exits the vehicle and then ushers the others to exit. They are hurried into the palace to be processed.

Some walrus scans the group with some hand-held device.

Angel continues to be acting like this is no big deal and standard procedure.

The princess Sally Acorn walks towards the group. "The ambassador has arrived, but why the others?"

The agent looks shocked. "Why are you not in your holding room?"

The other agent sighs. "Because she's Sally."

Sally says, "I'm not going to hide when my kingdom needs me. Besides... this bunch are suspects, including the ambassador. Aren't they. Well now I'm taking them with me where both they, AND I, will all be perfectly safe."

"Your highness, procedure?"

Sally says, "I got my father's permission."

The agents are clearly still uncomfortable, but are forced to let the group go with Sally. As they walk away, the agents talk with each other. "Only Sally could talk down the king that quickly..." "Yeah? Well that's also what makes us proud to have her as our kingdom's princess." "I keep telling people Rosie is actually a far more powerful woman than her humble demeanor lets on, but do people listen? Nooo.."

Their odd conversation becomes inaudible beyond that.

"Thanks..." Polo says in answer to Joe's defense.

"That...  didn't go as expected," Marco mumbles, "She coulda at least acted a little worried for me."

Echo was wide-eyed and intimidated enough already as it was, but the sight of the palace and getting scanned had him shaking.  Then the Princess shows up!  They both stare in slack-jawed shock.  At least he's not the only one...  even the agent wasn't expecting this.  He can't figure if he should side with the agent and mention he has a super power that would make it easy for him to kidnap the Princess or...  Who we kidding?  Side with the nice, beautiful girl!

"..."

Hmm... not so easy to speak up in this situation.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:21, Thu 03 Dec 2015.

  "Yeah, but you might not get grounded for being suspected of terrorism is she doesn't think it's real." you are rather hit and miss with the whole comforting words thing, Joe.

  Joe has his own worries, of course.  They might have file photos of his brooding loner ragged cloak days. Uuuuugh, so tacky in hindsight.

  "If you need an alibi, Princess. We were all eating ice cream at the time."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Fri 04 Dec 2015.

The princess shrugs at Joe. "The city has cameras. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this soon enough. Speaking of!" Sally puts her hands on her knees to be more level with Marco and Polo. "How would you two like to see the monitor station and see yourselves on recorded camera?"

Angel says, "Quickest way to confirm alibi. And it does sound kinda fun."

"Oh..."

She didn't think it was real!  Duh!  No wonder Mom was so casual!  Marco and Polo look ashamed when Joe so easily makes the offer that they wanted to make, but were tongue-tied to say.  They try to figure out some other way to support Angel but... sudden Princess in your faces!  The two squeak in unison, freezing wide-eyed like deer in the headlights.

"W-w-whatever you say, M-ma'am," they answer in perfect unison.

"Ma'am?"  That's not how you address royalty!  They both turn beat red.

  Well yeah, but bringing up the constant surveillance of her subjects wouldn't sound as good if HE brought it up.

  He looks over to Polo and Marco, and takes a moment to remember that normal people treat royalty like, well, royalty.

  "It's going to be fine, don't worry about it." probably fine.

The group is taken to see the monitor station. Sally has the man at the station review the happenings of Joe, Marco, Polo and Angel over the past 48 hours. Three monitors come up and show the group's past two days in rewind... at least as long as everyone had been in Mobotropolis over the past two days. Whenever they are inside their homes (or hotel room in Angel's case), the cameras show just the satellite view of whatever building rather than peeking inside the rooms.

Sally explains, "The computers are programmed to detect odd behaviors like the creation of a bomb or firearms. Sure, most people wouldn't think to do so outside their own home, but we do have cameras at places people might think they aren't under surveillance, such as abandoned warehouses."

Echo appreciates Joe's assurance, and the lack of reprimand sure helps, so they calm down.  His past two days are what you might expect:  While Marco goes to school, Polo roams free, playing in the park, using his power to pull harmless pranks on mean thugs, or to swipe drinks from a vending machine and the like.  When Marco gets out of school, they double the fun!

They gasp at Sally's mentioning bombs.  "You were attacked with a bomb?!"

  "I heard some mention of attackers, so unless they were willing to blown themselves up" which... is an actual possibility  "A bomb may not have been involved in this case."

  He looks over to Sally, "So just what did happen, if you actually had the need to check where we were at the time?"

(Curiosity, what was Joe doing and was he in Mobotropolis the whole time?)

Sally shakes her finger at Polo upon seeing footage of him swiping drinks. This his pranks on mean thugs make her smile or even giggle, depending on severity and cleverness.

Angel just smiles through most of it.

Sally says, "I was in my room playing on my SEGA Genesis, when I herd a disturbance at my door. I went to check it out and three guys were there fighting my guards. Since I had two guards at the time, only two of the attackers were occupied. So the third one came at me with a knife. Fortunately, I was able to disarm him and put him on the ground."

Angel raises an eyebrow. "You're a fighter, Princess?"

Sally says, "I take martial arts as a hobby... the enemy must not have known, thankfully."

A skunk walks in and says in a stoic tone with a tiny hint of annoyance, "You've said all they need to hear about the altercation, Princess."

Sally looks over and rolls her eyes. But she stops herself from saying something sarcastic. Sally then introduces the group before saying, "This is Geoffry St John. He's training under the head of the Secret Services."

Angel says, "Pleasure."

Geoffry simply nods to Angel.

Echo half wonders if the people crazy enough to try and kick off a war would be willing to blow themselves up.  And if Sally got that finger-wag from Sonic.  And if he's in trouble for swiping drinks.  They duck their heads, blushing.  They're of course intimidated by the scary stern Secret Service guy.  But since the former topic is now forbidden, Echo is emboldened to bring up the one he's much more interested in anyway...

"You have a Genesis!

"It's my favorite.

"I've got all the Sonic games!

"What games do you have?"

This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Thu 17 Dec 2015.

  "Hello, Geoffry.  Sorry you have such a hard job."  Or is it easy job, when the Princess punches people in the face for you?

  "Ooh, right.  Don't play Sonic Dream Collection. Just... Don't."

Sally glances from the kids to Joe and says, "Heh... you should see Sonic play some of these..." then turns back to the kids. "I have most of the Sonic games. One of them went missing. I've got a bunch of racing games and RTS games... and this interesting one called Rings of Power, but I don't know if you happen to be into RPG-style games.."

Geoffrey clear his throat. Sally sighs and says, "Was there something you needed, Geoffrey?"

Geoffrey nods and says, "The king wishes to see you. He said it wasn't urgent, so you can wrap up whatever you are doing first." he glances at the others, then back to Sally "And you can bring your friends. He was planning on talking with the ambassador anyway."

Sally nods. She smiles up at Angel. "Sorry about all this, ambassador. I really do hope you'll have a nice stay..."

Angel says with a smirk, "Then play me some games later."

Sally chuckles. "Let's all do that later on, then..."

Angel says, "Might be good to call the kids' parents within the next half hour. The Royal Secret Service promised their mother they would be back home within the hour."

Sally says, "Oh... yeah, OK. I'm probably not allowed to leave the palace for the next week or so thanks to this incident."

Done with the surveillance, Sally heads off with the group towards the throne room. Geoffrey goes with, but says nothing.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Fri 18 Dec 2015.

Echo is shocked by Joe showing concern for a Secret Service guy right after being scrutinized on Candid Camera.  He wonders if maybe this is the miracle of a clear conscious.  And it never occurred to him that scary authorities have feelings too.  His minds race with thoughts of what it would be like to be a secret agents...

"What's Sonic Collection?

"And why not play it?"

Then the record needle screeches when it sinks in that he's about to meet meet the king!  And of course another embarrassing phone call to his mom is on the way!  This time with the princess present!

"Th-that's ok!  D-don't trouble yourselves over me!  I... I'll make the call!"

They're very careful to make double sure that the phone is not on speaker this time and turn it way down to minimum volume so no one else will hear.

  Joe doesn't try to eavesdrop on the children's phone conversation, shocking! (and incredibly naive of Joe, not properly paranoid at all).

  As for his sympathy for Gregory, well, they probably have to go sift through conflicting reports about jaguars and coyotes and explosions happening in multiple places at once and all the other twisted tangles of his vague and nebulous background bleeding into canon.

  "You should probably turn your ringer off before we enter the throne room. So your Mom doesn't use parental embarrassment instincts to call you five minutes from now."

OOC: Okay, for serious. "Sonic Dreams Collection" is a "joke" set of "no these were really unreleased sonic games we swear" that starts off merely low quality and spirals off into Not Mind Safe Insanity.  I got a youtube link of somebody playing it for someone who thought they were going to be actual games and not... that, if you still have morbid curiosity.

When the kids ask about Sonic Dreams Collection, Sally rolls her eyes then looks at Echo. "It's... some weirdo made a very stupid game and tried to pass it off as "never released" material. So you can't even play it on a console anyway."

Echo's mom comes up on the phone. What amazing lie excuse will Echo come up with to make her not ACTUALLY worry?

Meanwhile, the GM forgot to have Geoff reply to Joe. The guy actually smirks and says, "It's alright, mate... the job has its ups, that's for sure."

Echo ohs.  "Um...  Thanks.  I'll remember that."

He calls home.  After a few rings he gets the answering machine.  They look relieved.

"Hey it's me.  They took us to see the Princess and she cleared my new friends with video evidence.  Hard to believe anyone would try and hurt her.  But she kicked their butts!  Anyway, she invited us to meet her dad.  So I'm turning off my ringer for a little while.  I'll call again in a bit."

He hangs up and turns off the ringer.  "Gosh.  I don't know anything about royal etiquette."

Bump!  Joe's turn.

  Joe's natural hide in plain sight modifier at work, clearly.  "There is worse royalty you could be stuck with, true."

  And now, PRO TIPS  "Don't rush to bow so hard you trip and headbutt the ground."

Throne room arrived at. The king is currently standing and chatting with security personnel. Sally gives him a hug and then introduces the group.

The king nods and then looks to the group. "Ah yes... Angel. Please forgive the terrible timing of this... debacle. But considering Sally saw who attacked her and knows it was not you, please feel free to make yourself at home."

Angel gives a light bow and says, "Quite alright, your highness. Things went as orderly as I have come to expect from your kingdom. Going along with procedure is best in these situations, so I was actually quite comfortable. Nobody treated me unfairly."

The king looks relieved. "Thank goodness... and you three... since you are here, please accept the hospitality of the crown."

Sally says, "I came to request permission to personally be their host."

The king softens his tone. "After what you've been through? You sure?"

Sally nods. "I think videogames with strangers and the ambassador would go far in calming everyone, including myself."

The king nods and says, "....very well."

The boys sweatdrop at Joe's answer.  "Thaanks."
But when the king looks in their direction they almost do the very thing Joe warned them not to.  Good thing they remember just in time.

"Thank you," is all they can muster to say, though.

  See, sometimes a Darkthorne's Advice IS good advice. Which is kind of a bad sign for the world in general.

  He gives obligatory polite courtesy bow to royalty.  "Gaming is often more relaxed in person than online, it is true."  Though he doubts anyone in the room would compare someone to cancer for shooting arrows as an Archer, even with online anonymity.

Sally escorts the group to her bedroom. Which is super girly and princessy, but she at least does have the cool video game setup.

Sally presents the group with a bunch of multiplayer co-op games. Angel waits to see what the others pick.

Echo is glad they didn't fall apart in the throne room and are relieved to exit.  But they at least had the presence of mind to ask Sally if they can get a picture of them with her and her dad.  Epic bragging rights with the classmates.  Once no longer in the throne room, they ask for a picture with each of the others.

Once in the girly room they sweatdrop at all the pink, but get excited over the violent multiplayer games.  But when they remember people were talking about relaxing they blush and suggest, "Umm...  Sonic Shuffle?"

  Joe figures he'll let the kids or princess decide on the digital entertainment for the moment, probably.  "That works.  I don't suppose you had that co-op violent wizards game handy though?"  Hey, anybody can heal or rez eachother in that game!... Because your as much a danger to yourself and others as the enemies.

Much fun is had, but eventually, the kids are escorted to their home via limousine. Joe is escorted... wherever he wanted to be. And Angel stayed behind at the palace.

Unless there was some odd reason the kids wouldn't return home or Joe wouldn't return to whatever random nondescript thing he was up to and/or nondescript location he sleeps at, the night comes and goes uneventfully.

(Time Skip)

It has been about a month since the PCs parted ways. Angel has been on the news, shown shaking hands with the king and the reporters are talking about how there were a few rebels who attempted to sabotage the peace talks, but were quelled. As a result, overlanders have been moving into Mobotropolis. It seems, however, that mobians are divided on this recent turn of events. Echo has seen first hand mobians treating overlanders with everything from kindness to suspicion to anger/hatred to bullying. But with overlanders being as big in size as they are, usually only large mobians like bears and bulls dare do any bullying.

Echo is sure to show off a video game trick or two they've worked out, such as fighting to a perfect draw repeatedly in games where such outcomes are rare.  When returned home in a limo his parents are flabbergasted.  Out of habit, they apologize for any trouble caused.

At school, Echo is proud to show off photographic proof that they're friends with the overlander lady on TV and the Princess!  And they're quick to defend their overlander friends with water baloons and such.

  Getting killed the same time you kill the enemy (in Vs Multuplayer) is always funny, yes.

  Joe pulls a Maverick between occasional sightings during the time skip.  Nondescript expectations were correct expectation-where did get that sombrero?-Wait, it's gone now.

  He is a terrible influence though, considering one such brief sighting involved free water balloon refills for Marco and Polo.

One overlander in particular has befriended Echo; Maverick. Bullies usually can't find him to pick on him, but there are some situations he isn't able to leave (such as being in class and having paper balls thrown at him, but then that happens to anyone). A major storm hits while the kids are at school, though. Sheets of rain, loud thunder, strong winds. It's bad enough that the school has nobody going home even when school is over. The teachers, of course, reassure the kids that they will be able to go home in a couple hours. So in the meantime, board games and such are pulled out for everyone's entertainment.

....when did Joe show up at a school to hand out water balloons? Why is he even there? Well, that is just how he is. And now he is stuck in the school after hours. Unless he enjoys being drenched to the bone while being tossed around like a tinker toy.

Echo is oh-so grateful to his cool new coyote buddy for helping out with bully payback.  They think it the coolest thing to be friends with an overlander spy too.  They're sure to supply Mav with escape portals whenever needed.

Usually, their fox half goes to school and their bat half roams about having fun for both of them.  Which today did not include any flying, obviously.  They've been eager to introduce Mav to their cool coyote friend Joe, and there's no outdoor fun to be had right now anyway, so they had offered Joe a portal to their school.

  Even Joe isn't quite sure what sequence of events made him today's substitute gym teacher, but 'hit someone in the face and I throw one at you' has kept dodgeball the most civil it has ever been in a public school.

  The portals certainly beat manual travel though.

The rain is heard everywhere as it pours like a waterfall over the entire school. Maverick dribbles a basketball. Thanks to the immense variety in sizes for mobians, there is a basketball sized just right for Mav. But he has pulled out one of the smaller basketballs in order to be able to play with Echo. And since he's taller than many mobian adults, he can easily play with Joe. "Feel like forming a team and playing basketball?"

Echo is thrilled his two cool buddies finally get to meet.

"You bet!" they answer Mav in unison with a double-smile.

Joe's player has to shift mental gears remembering he's NOT, for once, the tallest person in the entire room.

"Well, can't see why not at the moment. So sure" At least until somebody tells him he has to go punch a weather device/spirit.

Basketball proves fun enough, if exhausting as the game tends to be. Thankfully, racism ironically weeds out the bad sports since they are too racist to even allow themselves to play with the human. But after the game, Maverick rests with the others, gazing out at the nearby door that leads to the school's hallways. "I'd like to explore the school... how about you guys?"

---

After a very long brain flatline on what to do in this thread, I think I have an idea. Maybe. Here's hoping.

During the game, Echo was more eager to impress their friends than score points, so they wound up making a lot of fancy passes.

"Sure!"

"I'll show you all the fun spots."

They've had a lot of time to explore just about inch of the school, so they are very familiar with the neat, forbidden areas where even teachers never tread.

As the (theoretically) responsible adult, Joe opts to follow along outright rather than find them after they do it anyways.

Maverick seems somewhat excited that Echo knows places, but when the bunch arrive at a boiler room basement area, even Echo doesn't recognize the door down here that, when opened, leads to a hallway that just seems to keep going into the darkness to where the group can not see what is ahead.

Responsible adult or no, Echo is thrilled to have his cool buddy Joe along.  They're grinning proudly as they give their tour, but when they find the mystery door, both of them jaw-drop.

"I don't remember that being there."

"Me neither."

(One of his favorite inside jokes.)

"Maybe it's a magical door to another world."

"I wonder how far that tunnel goes."

They cup their hands to their mouths and call out, "Hello!"

Tempted as they are to prank with "Marco / Polo" voice throwing with portal shenanigans, they're too curious what the real result of calling down the hall will be to muddy the waters with such games.

  "That... is actually a possibility."  Common sense says not to open it, narrative instincts say the interesting stuff is that way.  He will meet them halfway and let children take the blame for opening it, if at all.

  "Though I can't remember 'old boiler room' ever being something good things have come from."  Though he should at least point out THAT much to them.

Tempted as the GM is to say nothing echoes back for creepiness factor, instead, they get the expected echo of their voices saying hello.

Maverick doesn't say anything (shocker!), but does look at the hall with curiosity. He begins walking down the hall.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Sun 20 Mar 2016.

"S'matter, tough guy?  Scared?"

Echo is doing a decent job of hiding their own fear... for a kid.

"No worries.  If any monsters jump out, I'll just teleport us back here!"

Marco smirks mischievously.  "Unless we get sent to a whole other zone.  Then we'll be stuck!"

"Beats being stuck at school in a rain storm, though.  Let's go!"

They follow Mav in, on guard against sudden monster attacks.

  "Well, I'm likely expecting it to be worse than it actually is."  Joe, you're expecting it to be a Tomb Of Horrors 'LOL you stepped into the sphere of annihilation, idiot' scale issue at minimum. Which is just foolish.

  You can't suffer after a party wipe.

The hallway seems relatively mundane. There is a door on the left, a door on the right, and a door at the end of the hall. The left and right doors seem to be doors to rooms with desks and stuff while the door at the end just opens to stairs that lead down.

Echo looks relieved and weirded out when the side doors open to normal rooms of normal things.

"Weird.  I don't remember this place..."

They can't remember if they explored every last inch of the utility room that led to this mysterious hall.  Probably not come to think of it.  Utility rooms are doubly creepy when you're alone.  Not that he'll admit to being too scared to explore.  But since Mav took the lead last time, they wait for him to start down the stairs first before following along.

"Unless those desks are secretly monsters in disguise, then I was expecting worse than it is too."

  Perhaps in the end it shall be revealed they are dealing with the greatest monster of all. Boredom... What? Mittens would agree there.

  Still, boredom means a lack of endangered children.  Even if they are badass children.

  "Well most elementary schools don't have a Sub basement, so not knowing about it isn't surprising."  If it doesn't involve shoving Echo out of the way, Joe will opt to head down the stairs before the kids though.

Maverick certainly doesn't object to the smart thing of letting an adult go first.

There are no light switches and the stairs descend into darkness. But then, the basement lights up, as if detecting the trio coming down the stairs.

Before you is a vast room about the size of a normal Walmart and filled with just as many shelves. The shelves are filled with odd-looking little blocks of black and silver plastic (think approximately like a hard drive). There is a computer off to the right of the stairs. Looks old. Lots of dust here.

Echo doesn't mind Joe going first either.  They do a poor job of hiding how scared they are.  So much for one kid qualifying as badass.  Down in the mysterious archive, they kinda calm down.  Still very creepy, but at least it makes some sense for being under a school.

Polo dusts off the computer and sneezes.  "There's still power down here, so we can try booting up the computer."

Marco shrugs and tries booting it up.  "Probably just boring old school records."

"But maybe we'll find something interesting."

"Like if one of our teachers got in trouble a lot as a kid."

  "I think the last thing anyone is interested in are Julian Kintobor's yearbook photos."  Though he probably went to a different gradeschool anyways.

  He examines some of the Datacubes™ for any sign of labels.  Because knowing public schools, even if the contents are old beyond use the labeling will still be legible.

OOC: Datacubes™ went out of business after one too many disputes over what a shape a cube is resulted in an inter office gang war.

I also remember me and classmates in High school in the YEAR 2000 joking about Still On A Shelf In The Back Of Room textbooks.  With relevant at it's printing entries about the USSR
This message was last edited by the player at 11:19, Mon 25 Apr 2016.

The computer turns on.

The hard drives seem to be the kind you can simply plug in as externals, but are currently plugged directly into the shelves. Their labels are things like "History Archive (3000)" and "Biology Archive" and "Technology Archive"

The computer says in a soothing female voice, "Greetings. I am Archive. How may I assist you today?"

Maverick was looking at the archives with Joe, but when he hears the computer, he turns to look and walks over to it.

Echo sweatdrops.  "No Julian Kintobors among my teachers that I know of."

They look over at the computer.  "Hello, Archive.  Um...  What are you an archive of?"

"School records of faculty and students?"

"Or just general library stuff?"

He can see why this system was abandoned.  With only 1 terminal, no way it could keep up with the demands made on the school's current multi-terminal system.

  "When were you last accessed before the last ten minutes?"  Hey, it seems like a good question.

The archive answers Echo first, "I am an archive of the history, societies, technology and DNA of the world of Mobius."

It then answers Joe, "I was last accessed ten years ago."

Maverick is watching in curiosity.

Echo gives a low whistle at the 'last accessed 10 years ago' bit.

"The rest makes sense, I guess."

"But DNA?"

"What middle school needs a DNA database of the whole world?"

"Was this computer system donated to the school by a college or something?"

"Archive.  Where were you before you were installed here?"

  Joe assumes a 10 year old or more computer can only field so many questions at once... Well okay, he assumes a 10 year old computer is capable of whatever the **** it wants in this setting.  But it also means less things for the GM to deal with at once if he holds off on further questions.

  So for the moment, he looks for any signs of power cables from where he is standing.

Archive does not answer for a few seconds. Then says, "No middle school needs a DNA database of the whole world. This computer system was created by an organization known as M.E.L.E.P."

Archive then says, "I was built here."

A few seconds to wait for a computer is an eternity to Echo.  So they impersonate the computer's voice and repeat, "Processing...  Processing..." till they get an answer.

Now it's their turn to think for a few seconds.  How did a computer over 10 years old do a better job of comprehending his questions than a modern computer?  The library computer would have answered, "Your question has no answer.  Please re-phrase," or something like that, not, "I was built here."  Why would someone build an advanced A.I. database with DNA records in the basement of a middle school?

"Wow."

"Good answers."

"So are you an A.I.?"

"What does MELEP stand for?"

  Joe busies himself viewing even more of the wide spread of hard drive labels to see if anything in particular stands out.  Though he doubts anyone is going to have labeled one 'Top Secret Conspiracies' or the like.

The hard drives are labeled consistent with what the computer has been saying. Pretty much, the entire room is the computer's hard drive as all the shelves are directly connected to the main computer.

The computer answers, "I am a basic A.I., not having the ability to feel emotion or learn and self-improve such as Princess Sally's personal computer Nicole." it then continues, "M.E.L.E.P. stands for Mobius Extinction Level Event Preparation."

Echo sweatdrops, taken aback by the answer.

"Nichole?"

"I don't remember her mentioning being friends with a computer."

"Maybe they're not friends?"

"Isn't it strange this computer knows about that?"

"Was accessed 10 years ago.  Whomever did, must have known about the young princess having a person for a computer."

"Heh... gives new meaning to 'personal computer.'"

"But who would be expecting extinction so much that they'd go to all this effort?"

"... 10 years ago.  I guess they're not so worried of late?"

  Pffft, extinction level events are near misses like, ALL THE TIME in an adventure setting.

  "What is the current most likely extinction level event, and how recent is the data you would use to make that calculation?"  Assuming the USSR would turn the cold war hot is a likely answer from an ancient computer not up on current events... But then, this computer was at least more up to date than THAT.

"Current most likely extinction level event is Destroyer; a meteor approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It is estimated to hit Mobius in the year 3289."

Maverick glances over. "I'll be 77 years old by then, but then, that means it is in my lifetime."

Fun toy: http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/
This message was last edited by the player at 04:57, Thu 19 May 2016.

Echo doesn't know what to make of the prediction of future doom.

"'Most likely' doesn't always mean it'll happen with 100% certainty," Marco says to assure himself.

"So uh...  how likely is this doomsday event?"

"One in a million?"

"Could be that the next most likely thing is one in 2 million."

They look over to Mav.  "You sure were fast with that math."

  "If they assume a date of impact, then they likely assume it is 100% with their current information." Wait, no, you're supposed to tell the kids 'Nope it will totally miss' Joe.

Maverick glances over to Marco and Polo, smiling at their catching his math skill. "...thanks."

The computer answers, "The meteor event is currently the most likely Mobius Extinction Level Event because it is 100% certain to hit Mobius. If you like, I can list the less likely events for you, with number two being a 95% certainty."

"You're welcome."

Echo gulps.  Super smart computer says 100% chance for the end of the world with other highly likely disasters lined up.

"Yeesh."

"How can we survive?"

"Maybe we should tell Princess Sally."

"...Not that she'd be any less helpless than the rest of us."

  "Well, it it's accurate that's plenty of time to come up with something. Decades until meteor is probably one of the more subdued problems the world has had to put up with even in recent years."

Maverick says to Echo, "What makes you say that? She's the daughter of King Maximilian Acorn, the ruler of Mobius. And she's best friends with Sonic the Hedgehog, who's a superhero of our time. Yes. I think telling Sally is a good idea. Besides... Mister Joe is right: That future problem is subdued compared to stuff that happened recently and Sonic took care of it."

Mav's little boy is showing. Naive hero worship of Sonic. Trust in the nearby adult's words........ he just happens to be right to idolize Sonic and trust Joe.

Echo isn't so convinced that 100% certain extinction is "subdued" by any stretch of the imagination.

"There aren't any loop-de-loops to deep space."

"Sonic's great for dealing with evil robot problems."

"Meteors not so much."

"And even if we manage to make a super-weapon accurate enough to hit a chili dog moving a zillion miles an hour on another world, it'll have to also be strong enough to flatten a city from across a solar system."

"And a weapon like that'll be sure to kick off another war..."

Is optimistic cynicism a thing?  "...which makes me think it's already being built by someone."

"Yeah.  We should tell Sally."

"No sense in letting a little thing like a race war get in the way of survival."

  "Well, unless your stupid enough to go 'but it will kill them TOO! Awesome!'.  Which sadly someone probably will think."

Maverick says, "Unless there are other questions, we should report this to the Princess. You know... if the rain has died down."

Echo nods.  "Yeah.  Let's go."

"Maybe we can reach her by phone."

"Don't worry about the rain, though."

"I can teleport us from one shelter to the next."

  "While Sally might be fine with it herself, we should probably call first instead of show up unannounced in royal buildings."  Maybe when they are older, and more confident in not getting shot for doing that sort of thing.

A phone call is made. The royal secretary answers and when they hear what the kids have to say, they assure the kids that it will be looked into. There is clearly no immediacy in their tone.

On the one hand, lack of concern might mean the adult doesn't believe the kids and is just brushing them off.  On the other, if Joe's any indication, adults are so jaded that extinction only rates a "Meh.  Subdued." kind of response.

Echo looks to the others, defeated.  "I guess that's all we can do without showing up unannounced in royal buildings.

"Maybe if we simply announce that we'll be coming over, it'll be ok?  I wunna make sure Sally and Angel both know about this."

  Extinction level events start to blur together, after a while.   "You could do that, at least for once there is the luxury of waiting for a more convenient moment if you wanted to.  But I figure you'd rather get this done sooner."

Maverick shrugs. "I don't know from politics."

Nevertheless, once the announcement is made, should the twins create a portal, the receptionist looks shocked to see them arrive that way. Even if he is warned.

Echo may not be a science major, but dodgeball is plenty to convince a kid that the closer a fast-moving object is, the harder it is to avoid.

"Yeah."

"Sooner is better."

"Not like we had anything more important to do today."

They nod to Mav.  "Me neither."

"And I don't wunna know."

"So all the more reason to pass the buck to the important people."

Teleport is go!  On the way, they accidentally fuse back into one person.  It's pretty disorienting, so they stumble and wobble a bit.

  Joe is hardly surprised that an existential crisis being more physical than usual would literally trip someone up.

  "Are you going to be allright?"  Is Echo going to talk with an echo, now?  Wait, no, they started out this way.

Maverick is glad Echo is stumbling and wobbly. He wants to keep up his "cool kid" appearance around his peers, so he does his best to keep from showing his own disorientation. Then it occurs to him! Compliment the power and disguise disorientation as being in awe! "...woah. And you can do that all the time? You're amazing, guys-what in the?!" when it sinks in the two boys are now one, it hits Maverick like a ton of bricks. "Did your power just fuse you two?"

Maverick has never seen a portal. Nor has he ever seen two people fuse into one person.

Heck, probably only Sonic and people of his caliber can claim things like "seen a portal AND seen two people fuse into one" experience. Despite the fact this is Mobius, people fusing together is actually surprisingly rare.

....portals not as rare, but still somewhat uncommon.

Echo is enjoying the reactions of his friends for more reasons than one.  It's always reassuring when people show that they care.  And it's nice to be called amazing.  And then there's mischief.  "Thanks.  Yeah.  It fused me back tor normal.  I think I'll be ok."

He pulls his arm into his sleeve then pokes his hand out of his shirt's collar.  "Oh no!  My hand reattached to the wrong spot!" 

The hand flails about, occasionally bumping into his face.

  Hah, Normal.  Good joke.

  "Well, best to get it out of your system now.  Before you have to be taken seriously again."

Maverick giggles. The receptionist composes himself when he notices the child acting like a child. Somehow, the silliness just completely defuses the whole "just opened a portal into the palace" deal. "Ah. You three. I assume you are here to visit Angel?"

Maverick nods. The receptionist offers to show them the way.

Echo blushes and rubs behind his head.  Every time a grown-up says, "get it out of his systems," the "it," is code for "annoying childishness that will not be tolerated once we get to serious place."  And he's already in serious place.

Echo follows along with a nod and adds, "We'd like to say, 'Hi' to Sally too if she's in."

See? Echo's such a smart kid.

Not exactly a social call, but not an immediate sort of problem either. For once."

"Sally is busy." the receptionist informs. He then has someone escort the bunch to where Angel is. When the escort knocks at a door, Angel's voice can be heard from inside saying, "Come in." Angel has been given guest quarters and has a small pile of papers on her desk, currently tapping her mouth with a pen while leaning back and looking down at the papers. She notices the others and says, "Oh! Hello. Wasn't expecting you to visit..."

Echo is disappointed that Sally's too busy and pouts a little.  "Aww..."

He lightens up a little that Angel's available and gives a smile and wave, having completely forgotten that he never told her that Marco and Polo are the same person.  "Hi, Angel.  This is my buddy Maverick.  Told him all about our weird adventure.  Well we found a secret hidden computer bank full of info on everything..."

He gets nervous and adds, "Especially things that'll end life on Mobius!  There's an asteroid coming that'll destroy the whole world when it hits in 70 years!"

  "Likely not in your jurisdiction to confirm old Mobian computers are getting accurate readings.  But if it's true, then that would be inconvenient for your home as well."

Angel looks at Joe. Then looks at the kids. "...I remember Joe, but who are you?"

"'Inconvenient?!'  Yeesh.  You have a weird way of describing 'everybody dies.'"

Echo looks at Angel, confused.  "You don't remember me?!  From when we met Princess Sally and she cleared you as not the one who...  attacked...

"Oops.  Doh.  I was split in two back then.  Of course you wouldn't recognize my normal self.  It's me, Angel.  Your friend Marco and Polo."

He shows off his wings and tail as proof.  "My name's Echo."

  "Yeah, it's them.  Maverick is entirely new though."  Unless he was lurking slightly off panel in the previous thread.

Angel rubs her forehead with her thumb and index finger in a show of simultaneous confusion and frustration, then says to Echo, "I'll ask you more about your no longer being two people shortly... but before I do, I assure you Joe knows everybody dying is more than an inconvenience. It is more of a figure of speech. And nice to meet you, Maverick." She then looks at Joe, "Seventy years is probably plenty of time to prepare. But the question is why the data was on a computer that has been seemingly abandoned. Is the problem already dealt with? Was it proven false? Or maybe the problem is already being addressed and is already known. Either way, bringing a mobian computer to the attention of the mobian authorities seems the proper thing to do. That said, if you show me the exact location of this computer, I can be sure to show it to the King."

Maverick looks over to Echo. "...are you able to separate and merge whenever? What does it feel like?"

Echo is blushing to have caused poor Angel a headache and squirms bashfully.

"That's another weird thing.  We checked on the computer's last use.  It was recent!  As was the latest update on Princess Sally!  But noooo.  When we call the authorities, they're all, 'Yeah yeah, whatever, kid.'

"But what if this is all connected to the attack on Sally?  Maybe the computer was set up by people who want to save the world but they were all killed!  And now it is enemy spies using it to get at the royal family!"

He puts on a mock non-plussed adult demeanor.  "'Whatever kid!  Maybe we'll look into it.  Someday.  If we're in the mood.'"

He folds his arms and harumfs.

To Mav he asides, "I think?  I try not to overdo it.  It feels like...  uh...  using a parascope."

  Well, it depends on how important a protagonist you are.  Then inconvenience might be more literal a term for death.

  "Getting some confirmation on the accuracy of the data was on the to do list, though I'm also curious if whoever accessed it recently turns out to matter." The Janitor just wanted to play minesweeper!

  Then Echo goes off on a wild doomsday cult espionage tangent.  Joe's so proud.

Angel looks at Joe. "If the data is accurate, then who accessed it matters a lot, politically speaking. But finding out whether it is accurate or not is the first priority. I'll follow you all to the computers so I know where it is, and then I'll inform the crown."

She then looks down at Echo. "You speak a lot of maybes, and they are important. But don't dwell on them too much until you have facts. Maybe I'll be dead tomorrow. Without knowing for sure, or knowing how, thinking about that will only make me too scared to do anything since for all I know, anything I do would get me killed. That said, let's get something done: Show me this place."

Echo is flabbergasted at the idea of wasting time double-checking after a computer.  Computers never lie!  ...unless deliberately programmed to lie by an especially nasty troll.  OK.  So verifying makes sense after all.

"Let's hope that the last person was a prankster who entered false data.  And the world isn't coming to an end after all."

He opens a portal for the group.  "Weird thing is...  I'd never seen that stairway before.  Hope it's gone..."

Echo steps through.

  Joe trails along, probably more comfortable with hopping through holes through spacetime than he should be.

  "It would be one of the most boring mysteriously vanishing door setup I've ever heard of, then."  Despite the news, that's like finding a magical closet with an Apple II computer in it that just says 'Doom, I guess'

Angel steps through. Moving right along, the overlander ambassador checks the computer, takes pictures, makes a computer copy backup of the data, returns to Acorn Castle and reports. It quickly becomes boring grown-up stuff, though, and the kids soon get called by their worried mothers who went to pick them up from school in the rain to find their kids missing.

Thankfully, it is a weekend, so when the next day comes, Echo is able to go wherever and call whoever. It is quickly confirmed that the Acorn family is now checking on the data and that the whole ordeal is out of the hands of the kids. Angel takes the kids and Joe out to ice cream.

"I'd take 'boring' over 'end of the world' any day," Echo answered.

Little did he know that, 'end of the world' could wind up boring grown-up stuff anyway.  On the bright side, it was a great excuse to give to worried parents.  Truthful even!

---

Echo has learned that ice cream is more enjoyable in stereo, so Marco and Polo are nomming theirs separately.

"Thanks for the treat, Angel!" they chime in unison.

  Coming full circle is generally more appreciated when icecream is involved.  "Yeah, thanks for the snacks.  I'll admit I'm more used to problems that don't involve enough time to file paperwork about it."

Maverick is just quietly licking his ice cream, but also smiles at Angel and says, "Thanks, Angel."

Angel says, "You're welcome." to the bunch of thankful people. "That whole ordeal was actually good for Mobian/Overlander relations. While the details won't go into the news, Sally plans on sharing with the media that overlanders worked together with mobians to bring something to light that will be of great importance to the Kingdom of Mobotropolis. For reasons of national security, none of our names will be mentioned. But trust me, that is best."