Private/Closed Bootleg Bros. Ultimate - The Sumeragi Campaign

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy Rinehart​

Right, since she met Bo, it meant that all of his elemental splits had met her. Quake claimed he was still the Boboiboy she knew, but did she really know anything about him? From Thorn and Quake and Bo himself he seemed quite nice, but then there was Blaze and Thunderstorm. How prominent were those parts of him? Tracy smiled back at Quake.
"Thank you." Tracy said. Mr. Hagen was also here, using his special powers to float up and approach the group. The position was so bizarre and strange, Tracy couldn't help but to giggle a little. He gave a run down of the crash site team's mission, which had been a success. One that had a few hiccups of its own. Being attacked by a blue version of V2. Tracy glanced to V2 curiously, looking for any reaction to that information. First the polar bear, and now the blue V2. It was clear Sumeragi had found some otherworldly allies of their own, but it sounded like blue V2 (VBlue, as Tracy could call it for now), didn't have the same hesitation that Bear had.

Kiwi explained how their mission went, and Tracy shook her head. She walked over to Jin, pulling the zip drive from her pocket and handing it to the boy.
"I managed to get some schematics for some of their machines, but honestly, I don't think our mission went very well. I was hoping we could have gotten more." Tracy said. She turned back to the group, leaning on the desk.
"Unless anthropomorphic animal people are normal here, I think the Bear was like us. A traveler from another world." That theory that had been thrown out there, Tracy was surprised how quickly she had accepted it. It seemed like the easiest explanation, at least for now. "Kiwi and I were able to talk to him, and like he said, the Bear seemed sympathetic to our cause. Or us. He didn't say a word, but at least seemed open to communicating."

Tracy looked around at the ruined state of the place they were hiding in.
"Depending on where he showed up, it could be possible he doesn't know everything Sumeragi has done. Or at least, he's only heard their spin on the situation. I'm sure Sumeragi likes to think they're the good guys..."

Tracy continued.
"The Bear was very strong, and pretty fast. Stood a little over five feet, with yellow and white fur. He wore a beanie, a green scarf, boots and gloves, but no other clothes." Tracy said. She thought back to the fight, trying to remember everything she could. "He had the power to manipulate ice. He did things like freeze the doors shut, redirect the ice spikes Penguin Mage fired at him, and create icy shockwaves that could freeze things. But the way he fought, it felt like his ice powers were more of a secondary ability behind his strength and speed. And he was very tough."

Tracy shook her head.
"We had to run. Maybe the three of us together might have been able to stop him, but then there was the problem of the entire factory coming after us." She nodded gratefully to Quake and Frisk. "Thanks for showing up when you did."
She looked to Frisk, then to V2.
"How did your mission go? Did you encounter someone from another world working for Sumeragi as well?" Tracy asked.

 

[Mokko]

Terrence "Salad" Boom
“Phew…”

Terrence could finally exhale- not just a normal exhale, but the sort of breath you only let out when your guard has been up for an extended period of time. He’d grown pretty fond of those exhales, because he was being put in a lot more dangerous situations as of late, and the best part about them was when they ended. Now, he was officially out of ‘combat mode,’ but that meant it was time to enter ‘tired as hell mode.’ That had been a lot- physically, and magically. He needed to sit down with some cucumber salad. There wasn't going to be any here. Damn.

One last push, and the shells were able to get them across the finish line with no issues- the group left the factory behind, and found themselves back at the bank, reunited with some familiar faces (humanoid shapes, in Terrence’s case), and… one that wasn’t so familiar.

“Good to be back,” he smiled, the shell beneath himself and Frisk slowly sinking into the ground before disappearing entirely. He chuckled as Kyota came up to him with his questions, happy to humor the boy.
“Aha, it was nothing too flashy- not up until the end, anyway. We tried to keep a low profile, but to answer your question… yeah, some Sumeragi butt got kicked. And hey, I expect some credit if you happen to see a big ol’ Mantis fall apart in action sometime!” he jested.

It didn’t sound like the Stealth Squad’s allies had had an easy time on their own respective missions. It had never even crossed Terrence’s mind, but… was it possible that himself, Tracy, and Kiwi had actually gotten off easy? Easier than everyone else, at least. That possibility was difficult to fathom, especially with the involvement of that Bark, but…

“Sheesh. Our enemies aren’t making these missions very easy for us… but I’m glad everyone’s still in one piece,” he commented, and nodded along to Tracy’s rundown of their run-in with Bark. “He was an outlier for sure. It’s all… weird, like it’s almost some kinda… game? I mean, I was figuring for a while that some force had brought us here to take down the Sumeragi, but if there are other outsiders here to fight against us… then man, I don’t know what to think…” he frowned, turning toward Frisk- not because he expected her to have an answer, but because, well… he was now hoping she’d be the only familiar face he’d see here. There were quite a few people back home who, quite frankly, they really didn’t need to be dealing with during all of this.

 

[comic]

FRISK DREEMURR​

—Sapporo Bank, Day 2 Afternoon—​

Once they’d made it in the clear, Frisk de-summoned her magic, letting its energy flow back into her. Had she expected to ride a turtle shell out of there? Absolutely not. Did they all probably look ridiculous as they shelled their way through the ruined city? Absolutely.

But she didn’t really care. Mission accomplished, and Terrence was okay. Not like she thought he’d be hurt, or worse, or something but... you know how it is...

Frisk was eager to get off her feat and do some reading, some research, anything she could to focus on brain power over brawn. The day wasn’t over yet, after all, still plenty of time to squeeze in stuff. Plus, she still had to look over all those pictures she took of the QUILL data. Granted, that data was probably almost entirely dated and old news, likely retreading some ground Frisk had already learned since she’d come here.

She missed Katherine’s library. It would take multiple timelines to learn everything there.

Finally, they arrived back at Sapporo Bank to find everyone there. The groups had officially reunited, and Frisk was rather pleased to see that they hadn’t lost a single member. Everyone was okay. Tired, but okay. The teenager was helped to her feet by Terrence as the shells sank into nothingness, Frisk giving a small smirk at his gesture.

She was also pleased to see that V2 remained here as well. She’d had confidence he would be, but... you never really know what goes on in your absence, sometimes. Either Akira could have come back all gung-ho about it, or V2 could have elected to maintain his distance. Neither outcome appeared to have played out.

Mr. Miracle greeted them before shortly going into a tirade about V1. Again. Frisk didn’t really mind, though, some of the others hadn’t heard it yet, and the discussion led from initial greetings and exposition into a question turned toward Frisk and V2. She shared T’s gaze as he looked her way. She knew what he was thinking about. The potential for Messiah members to fight, or worse, their own friends and allies. While Frisk and Terrence had seemingly come from the same timeline (she’d discovered nothing to contradict this assumption yet), there could be others from different timelines. Likely darker ones.

Just as long as Songbird didn’t appear here...

“Yeah,” Frisk returned her attention to Tracy. “We encountered a uh, he was like, aggressively stereotypical for an Italian. Like, the mafia kind. He also had ice powers, like the bear, but it was his main gimmick. I’ve been in really cold places but that guy went like... I dunno, as close to absolute zero as I think you can get. We’re lucky we didn’t just get frozen. His name’s Ghiaccio, he looks kind of like a grandma. A really angry grandma...?”

Hm. She might have messed up there. Frisk couldn’t remember if Ghiaccio had actually said his name or not. It wasn’t as though explaining her CHECK abilities was going to alter people’s opinion of her, she just didn’t want to explain how it worked. It took some hurdles to get behind the logic of it. Especially when mixing Chara into the equation.

“Anyway, I think we’re probably good to sneak our way back to base. We can look at those schematics... I also took some pictures of a bunch of new data to sift through...” Frisk pulled out her phone - and paused. “Oh. Right, I actually forgot, we had another point of interest. Does anybody wanna hit that before we hunker down for the day? Or...”​

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Boboiboy - Quake


Seeing as there was no combat in the horizon, Quake saw little point in remaining in this from. Adjusting their power watch, they relinquished their control, reverting back to Boboiboy himself in faint orange light. It appeared though there was very little difference in personality shift between Quake and him, like they were more closely intertwined than the rest. Listening to Tracy and then Frisk give a breakdown, he added his two cents.

"That makes all of us then." Bo nodded. "We came across one...maybe even two characters that match that description. One is a similar model of robot to V2 here, this time pit against us."

Seeing as how suspicious could quickly fall to V2 again, he made sure to wave his hands in front of himself defensively after he said those words.

"Don't worry, we cleared him!" He sweated, getting back to the point. "We also came across a new one...calling themselves Magneto. They said they were the king of Genosha. I'm not sure if that's out of this reality or in it, but they are an outside party. A strong one. I feel like we will see him again in the near future."

The next step was rather risky. There was a point of interest and then reassessing what they have now that they were all together. Thinking, he looked over to Frisk.

"I think their forces are alerted to us at this stage. If we go to the final point, we may face way stiffer resistance in retaliation to our actions today. I think we should lay low for a while and strike when they aren't quite are prepared for us. Gives us time to look at the data you brought as well and rest."

 

[Gamingfan]

Amaterasu
Amaterasu snoozed away, seemingly unconcerned with her surroundings. Though she did lean a little into Maria's petting. Only when the rest of the group returned from their excursion did she lift her head to look at them. Her tail beat the floor a little, but Amaterasu made no other movement to avoid disturbing the girl lying on her. Once she ascertained that everyone was fine, she lowered her head again, listening to the chatter.

 

[PaprusTeuton]

V2

The final team returned, after some time. There was exchangement of greetings- Tracy waved at V2, which the machine considered returning, but decided to simply nod instead- before information about each mission was discussed. Miracle explained the presence of V1 to the others, describing it as a lapis-painted clown- fitting, considering the tricks it pulled. Just thinking of their predecessor made V2 angry.

The machine noticed Tracy looking at them, waving. The machine simply nodded back, before Tracy asked about if they had found someone else from another world. Frisk briefly informed Tracy about Ghiaccio, describing him as a human with ice powers, who... looked like a grandma. The machine pulled up recorded footage of the battle...

Not inaccurate.

Boboiboy then mentioned V1 again, briefly re-emphasizing that V2 was "cleared," before explaining the presence of another otherworldly being. Magneto, King of Genosha. Not a place V2 had heard about, and seemingly noone else had heard of it either. Potentially the name of an entire dimension, although quite unlikely.

Regardless, the time came to discuss strategy. Frisk suggested attacking a 4th point, while Boboiboy suggested hunkering down for now. The machine considered for a moment.

"While Boboiboy is correct, Sumeragi readiness will likely only increase the longer we wait, as news of our victories spreads. If we attack now, we will likely be able to catch them before they are able to fully reinforce every position."

 

[ArmedBlue]

Sapporo Bank
​

The different groups began to mingle once more, exchanging some information on how their missions went and what information they'd managed to get out of them. Kyota nodded in response to Terrence's explanation, pumping a fist in the air. "Heck yeah, bro! I'll totally keep an eye out for any big explosions!"

Kiwi's partially nondescriptive briefing of the mission was followed with an acknowledgement of Kane's presence, the pilot having walked over to the arriving group. "My name is Kane Gardner, Commander of the Sophia Force. I'm one of the... 'civilians' that Miracle mentioned," he replied, his tone betraying that he didn't quite identify with such a designation, though he continued with a slight smile regardless. "It's good to know that everyone's safe and sound."

Jin had arrived at the group's position at that moment, waving at everyone present, before he was approached by Tracy. Accepting the zip drive from the teen, he shook his head in response to her dissatisfaction. "Hey, it's alright. You're all putting yourselves in a lot of danger for our sakes, so anything you managed to get out of them is sure to be useful. I promise to take a look at this as soon as I can."

With that, the general topic had turned to the differing kinds of opposition each team had encountered. An anthropomorphic polar bear, an Italian cryomancer, a sibling machine to V2, and the king of an unknown nation. All vastly different, further suggesting Jin's prior theory about different worlds could be accurate, which was now backed by Kane as the man spoke once more.

"If the dimensional ruptures Jennifer has recently studied are anything to go by, we're dealing with opposition from across the galaxy at the minimum... if not a larger scale entirely."

Aside from that matter, there was also the question of what to do next. One more point of interest remained within reach, another potential target to attack for the day, though it could come with its upsides and downsides.

"I hear what you're both saying," Kohaku said, looking to both Boboiboy and V2 – their contrasting opinions quite possibly caused by the different mindsets of a human and a machine. "It's tough to say what Sumeragi might do next, since they probably haven't had to deal with something like this in a long time... still, something tells me their guard's gonna be up pretty soon already. Dunno if it'll ever get any easier going forward, but it's true that the longer they're left alone, the better they'll be able to prepare."

Feeling eyes on her, the teen looked away for a moment with a sheepish smile.

"Um, what I'm trying to say is their defenses might stay high for a while, so maybe it's better for someone to check that last place out before it gets any worse, y'know? Of course, I don't want anyone to push themselves too hard – it's totally fair if anyone would rather stay home and relax! After all, I think the only other place anyone can tackle right now is the district wall itself, and I'm sure everyone will want to rest up before tackling defenses like those all together."

There was a brief pause, before Kane stepped forward, putting a hand on Kohaku's shoulder. "Regardless of what you all prefer, know that you can count on me for any mission. Just say the word."​

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy Rinehart​

The others explained their own encounters. Ghiaccio, an angry ice guy. Magento, a supposed king. Tracy hadn't heard of Genosha, but what else was new. Tracy tried to make a mental note to ask about more info on him. Terrence commented on it feeling like a game, and Tracy gave him a confused look. He felt like some force had brought them here? Tracy hadn't considered that. But she hadn't really considered much of the 'how' they got here, at least while they had no substantial evidence about... anything.

Frisk mentioned going after their last point of interest. From what Tracy could recall, it was another factory. 'Auto-Fabrication' Kohaku had called it. Tracy looked over herself, and looked to her duel disk. While she felt a little shaken from the earlier battle, overall the duelist felt like she could keep going. The benefits of calling out other people to fight for you. The other members of the group debated what to do, and Tracy joined in.
"I can keep fighting today." Tracy said. "If a group is going to the last point, I can go with them. At the very least, we can go and scout it out before we make a decision. What would be our goal, there? Destroying the factory?"