Issue 15: Not That Kind of Whiskey

In this issue: Everyone pack it up, Mom's home

Cover art: Adam Rebottaro

Intro music: Mathew Mozzoni

Background music: Ian Fisher

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Face front true believers, it we are back with our 15th issue of the reboot and the last issue of volume three.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_04 0:44

That's crazy. I feel like we've been playing this for so long.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

I'm so happy. We are wrapping up what is ostensibly Act 1. Ooh, I see.

SPEAKER_06 0:57

What does that mean? I'm in danger.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

It could mean anything. It means that I think 45 issues is probably a pretty good run for a comic series, and if we want to do more afterwards, we can. But like I think that's a that's a good enough uh amount of issues for any good one to have.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Bad news, dude. We're probably gonna do more.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

How'd Vesperia go? We're finally getting the water chip to bring back to New York City or whatever the fuck that was.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

God, really, what Vesperia was a game about get finding the water chip, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Literally what Tails Vesperia is. It's about finding a fucking water chip. Yeah, it's fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Look, any good Tails game is them just going, I like this bit from this other thing. I'm going to steal it, and then doing that until you have a real game. Tails never changes. And that's why you know it's uh a great all-timer JRPG series. Uh, because Final Fantasy does the exact same shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Just exclusively to Star Wars, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah, or if you're Final Fantasy VII uh to UC Gundam.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

But also a little bit to Star Wars, because you're more than a little bit to Star Wars. Because you're like you're like rebels fighting against the Empire, it's just the Empire is a mega corporation instead, which is probably more realistic. Yeah, you know, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_06 2:16

Again, I need one day I will find the original 4chan post that is just each and every Final Fantasy up until 13 that describes them. Yeah, Star Wars but single thing changes.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

That's right. Uh so it's actually been a little while since we did this. Yeah. So we're going to uh because our normal our normal recapper is still unavailable.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Uh we're going to uh call up our substitute uh Ashley once more.

unknown 2:48

Yes!

SPEAKER_02 2:49

I could never forget.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Uh so here we go. Um wait, what what I is he still not I I wasn't prepared. I I didn't I wasn't there when they did all that stuff. We fought like a bunch of dinosaurs and and beast men and stuff, and we won, but like I wasn't I wasn't watching them. Like I was off doing other stuff. Um I guess they they left pretty quickly to go find like Ryo's mom or whatever, but I mean I don't I wasn't I didn't see what happened after that. Oh am I gonna have to keep doing this? No one told me anything.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

No, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Hey everybody, it's Pluto. I won. That's it. That's what happened.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

End of the story! Hooray!

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Other stuff happened, but who cares?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Uh you ran you did uh you were led by one of the surviving dinosaurs back to the main uh dyno the the dino city, as it were.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

And since it's pretty clear they lost and they do have those animal instincts in which uh when when the bigger and stronger one is in charge, the other ones kind of know the deal. Uh they let you go and get Diana out of the cell that they were holding her in.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

That's right. Uh let me correct you. Uh Pluto asserted themselves as king of the jungle and they obeyed.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:28

Uh Pluto has in fact claimed their crown as king of the jungle, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Uh and then uh when Diana got out into the uh the bright sunlight uh and her eyesight adjusted, she saw Pluto and freaked the hell out.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

I'm sure it's fine. I'm sure it's normal. You know?

SPEAKER_00 4:49

So we are going to jump ahead just a little bit here. Um we're going to open this issue with you guys back at the graduates camp.

unknown 5:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Um you guys have have have returned and you are uh kind of regrouping with with Dr. Amon and Ava uh at the the visitor center where you where you uh talked earlier and kind of strategized your plan for the battle, but like while people are kind of repairing the the the minor damages to the exterior of of the of the walls and whatnot and kind of patching themselves up, um you guys needed a safe space, a safe place to kind of like regroup with with Diana and kind of get everyone on the same page. So you were allowed to uh to get that uh get that privacy you need. And um uh Diana is is there sitting uh at a uh desk at like kind of a little conference room that was in the visitor center. Um so she's sitting down at one of those one of those tables there, and she is just rubbing her temples, uh and she takes a deep breath and she goes, Okay. Can someone tell me what happened in Heraldtopia?

SPEAKER_04 6:09

There's like a little pause where Rio kind of looks between like Pluto and Ollie, and he's like, I mean bad guy in one.

SPEAKER_06 6:22

So Harold had, I guess, like whatever Pluto's parent is kind of parasitized uh some of some of his crystals and was gonna do something bad and uh we stopped it.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

Yeah, we stopped it, so no big deal.

SPEAKER_06 6:43

But not before uh things got kinda hairy and it mostly involved the three of us getting into a fight before your daughter points towards um points towards Rio, um, started doing something that I was afraid uh was going to become catastrophic.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Points points towards Rio, uh like uh your uh selling like a kid selling out their siblings. Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

In fact, Rio even looks at all like why the hell are you cattling on me like that? What's your problem?

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Just yeah, just just straight up cattling. Uh she broke the cookie jar.

SPEAKER_05 7:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

She didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_06 7:31

I tried to stop her. I will point out, she didn't do anything. Yet.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Yeah, nothing bad happened. Everybody keep by the way, everybody keeps acting like the stuff I can do is such a big deal and so scary. Like, tell them that it's fine.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

I think the stuff you can do is really cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

Thank you, Pluto.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Uh, Diana kinda goes, I don't know what you can do yet, honey, so I'm sure a lot of it's really cool. But um I'm gonna need to uh to kind of get an idea of of what your limits are at right now.

SPEAKER_04 8:13

I mean I don't know. It's like normal power stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Like she kinda she kind of makes the uh the the half-hearted like hand handshaking gesture. Like normal is what what is normal these days?

SPEAKER_06 8:36

We live in a re we we live post reboot. You're gonna have to you're gonna have to at least unvagify it a little bit, honey.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

I mean, okay, so what? It's just like if I want something to change, it changes. Is that like so weird? Why isn't anybody saying anything?

SPEAKER_00 9:00

It's a little it's a little higher on the scale of what most people with powers are capable of, but you know, that's that's fine. That's that that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Okay? I mean, I didn't even know I could do any of this stuff until we left. Like, it's actually been kind of amazing.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

You see, Diana kind of wince a little bit at that. Like, uh yeah, that's another thing I'd probably need to have a conversation about. She's she's kind of as as as you guys and and uh and and Dr. Amon and Ava fill in as well, like you can tell that Diana is like racking up a lot of things that she needs to apologize for. A word crazy.

SPEAKER_04 9:58

Imagine that.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

A lot of things that she's like, yeah, I really could have handled this better. I'm supposed to be an adult.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

Supposed to be the grown-up in this room. Uh yeah. No, I mean, you know, I think it's just that Ryo has not quite grasped the magnitude of the situation yet, but that's neither here nor there. Yeah. Because she's just like, yeah, I mean, like, since I left the house, it I mean, I don't know. I just always thought it was simple stuff, like keeping things from falling or making the flowers in the garden grow a little faster. But as it turns out, I can basically. I mean, you should see the kind of stuff I've done. It's been incredible.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah, I would have, I mean, like she kind of see, like, she when when when you guys walked through uh the gates of of the the graduate camp, she could kind of feel the residual energy that you would let out. And she's like, I'm getting an idea of what you were capable of.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

Yeah, and it's awesome. I don't know why everybody makes a big deal out of it.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Uh she says, she says, not knowing how long you've actually been been out of the house, she says, I'm sure it's been a really, really stressful couple of weeks for you. I mean not knowing that it's been like four days at most.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

Yeah. I mean, no, it's been like more like it's like a week.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

It's been because like we had a couple days of Herotopia. Well, because Herotopia was like an entire weekend, and we had a couple days before that, and this has been at least like a day or two since. Yeah. So it's been like at least like a week.

SPEAKER_04 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Fast week.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

It's been a very busy book time.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

It's been a long week. Yeah. It's taken us over about a year to get through this week. Ah, you know, don't worry about it. Yeah, don't worry. It's comic books. That's how it works.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

Comic books, it's fine.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

But yeah, so so she kind of gets the the lowdown of what happened. Um, so Dr. Amon and Ava kind of explain the broad terms. Um Diana goes, like, okay, so Harold's fine now, right? Like, that situation is actually taken care of.

SPEAKER_04 12:18

Oh yeah. I mean, we got that handled for sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Okay, and this one, and she she points straight to Pluto, and she's like, this one is not connected to the hive mind, to the to to the extinction.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

I mean slow turn to look at Pluto. Are you?

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Pluto cocks her head to the side. I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 12:47

A little too individualist for me to think that it's attached to a hive mind, frankly.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

And you and you she's looking she's looking at both of you, but she's also looking more at Rio when she asks, and you trust this one?

SPEAKER_04 13:01

Yeah. I mean they can be a little mild. But like it's usually mostly, pretty much always in our best interest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:19

Naive. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Pluto just smiling innocently.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

So blithely, just like da-da-da.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Okay, that's that is a new one, but as a scientist, I need to accept new information as it is given to me.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

I mean, I don't think they'd hurt me, she says, looking at Pluto like, eh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I'm trying to think of how Pluto would respond to that. Uh I feel like they say nothing, but like, there's like a kind of like facial expression doesn't change, but you notice them like kind of walk up for a second as though they just don't even want to address the question and then just let it go.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

I see. I think that's a good sign.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Okay. Um I'm sorry, what were we talking about?

SPEAKER_06 14:14

Molly pursing their lips.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

I've got questions too. For me? No. I mean, maybe for you a little bit, but mostly for her.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

Yeah, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Plato goes back to like looking out a window or something.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

Kind of dreamily off in their own world. Like why you ran off and why you left me alone with no explanation.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

I would love to answer those questions. Um But first, there is something that I need to take care of.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

You're not gonna run.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

With all of you, with all you are all coming with me.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

Okay then.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Yeah, Diana's not like, I'll be right back, and then her like crawling through a bathroom window.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Cigarettes and milk. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Uh uh she says that um she says, I actually need to do the thing that I came all the way into this uh swamp jungle to do in the first place. I need to actually get that done. And then I'll be happy to answer all of your questions.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

So, what did you come here to do?

SPEAKER_00 15:36

I can show you. Um, and as she kind of as she gets up from the chair, she does she does go and she's heading for the door, um, and she goes, Oh, first things first before we do anything else. Um, and then she just throws her arms around you, Rio. Just like in in the in the midst of all this crazy crap happening, I completely forgot to do this. I'm so sorry. You see, Pluto Pluto just bristling like, is this some kind of attack?

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Uh there's this kind of pause, and Rio just kind of like slowly wraps her arms around her mom and is like, You could have just told me where you were going.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Don't worry, I have I have I have a reason. In hindsight, it's probably not a good one.

SPEAKER_04 16:27

But I had a reason I'm just glad you're okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

So she uh before before you leave, is there anything else you want to tell her about what happened in Heraldopia? Like anything specific? Um or just kind of keep it general events that happened.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

I think it's more general events.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:52

You know, like I don't think the I don't think that anybody has realized maybe that how much the details matter just yet.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Okay. Alright, cool, cool, cool. Um she uh leads you out of the building, out back into uh into the encampment. Um you guys head out of that, and she is um she leads you through the jungle to where she was initially captured. Um if you remember that, what what Ashley told you is that she was kind of scouting out near um a public bathroom, and that's when they she saw the count conflict between Diana and a bunch of the Beast Men and Dinosaurs, and then them capturing Diana.

unknown 17:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

So she leads you guys back to the bathroom, uh leads you into the uh dilapidated uh women's half of it, um, into a specific stall in the corner, and then uh grabs the toilet in there and then lifts it up like a like a hatch. And underneath the the toilet, the floor is revealed to be a false bottom that opens up uh and leads there's a a ladder leading down uh into the darkness. And she goes, I came here for that. Why don't you all come down with me and I can tell you a little bit more about myself?

SPEAKER_04 18:33

Yeah. Okay, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

God, cool. You all you all go down, um, the five of you because Diane because uh Dr. Amon and and Ava are with you as well. Sure. Um you walk down the ladder, and it is a longer ladder than maybe you think it would it should be. Uh not help because it's pitch black as you're going down.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

Sure. Um man, I really wish you had played Traum in FGO, but don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. It's fine. There's a bit at the there carry on.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Am I just completely unintentionally ripping off FGO with this entire like story?

SPEAKER_02 19:20

And it depends what we find in this dark room, man.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

That's correct. Um eventually, after what is probably too long, you finally touch the ground. Um without any sort of external powers being used right now, none of you can see a goddamn thing. It is pit like pure blackness. Right.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

Um there's just the slight glow of Pluto's eyes.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

It does not produce enough light to actually be helpful.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Exactly. It's just like total blackness, and then just two little like Cerenkov blue like lights kind of in the middle of all of that.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Um you can kind of hear your mom walking forward a little bit, uh, and then um you hear her say, okay, this should be deep enough. I really hope it is.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

Uh deep enough for what?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

And then you Ryo, you can feel this. Um you feel some kind of like force being pulled from outside of your immediate like location. Being like it's not like a wind or like like an energy that you feel. There's just something like like magnetizing. Like you kind of feel like you're being slightly pushed by this by by something as it's being drawn towards where you hear your mother. Um and as this force kind of gets like more and more prevalent, it's like the the the the pull is getting like more defined and stronger. Um you can see that her hands are starting to glow. Uh like her f it starts with her fingertips starting to glow. Uh, she's you can see that in the in the dimness of this light that she's kind of like holding her hands up, uh like she's welcoming this energy being drawn to her. It is the same kind of energy that went to the barrier you made around uh the camp.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Uh it feels very familiar to you. Um and once she has gathered enough, she snaps her finger and the room lights up around here, around her. Uh this comforting warm uh uh yellowish like golden light. Uh and you can see that you are in a sort of entranceway. Uh this very Spartan entranceway, just a concrete floor, uh concrete walls. Um there are slots on the on the higher parts of the walls where there would be some kind of like lighting. Um and in front of you is a big, like like a gigantic, heavy locked vault door. Um like a bank vault. Yeah, like a bank vault. Um and uh she goes, uh she says, okay. Uh this should be enough then. I just need to get this open. Uh and then she holds out one hand in front of that door and uh she tilts her hand a little bit, and the uh the door, the locking mechanism, you can hear it spinning and sort of like this huge chunk chung chung as all the uh the uh gears and teeth and whatnot of the door uh open up and it swings open to reveal the interior of a uh fallout shelter.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Like an underground, like an underground bomb shelter.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Um as you as you uh she gestures for you to all follow her inside. As you do, the lights come on. Like the light bulbs turn on, you can hear the whirring of uh the air recycling fans kick on. Uh there's air conditioning happening for the first time in five years. You can hear the whirring of machinery.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

Oh god, that's right. Yeah. Sorry, that took me a second to realize. It's been a minute since we've been here. Um, but the lights just came on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Oh. Um. Hey, mom, you uh gonna explain any of this?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah, I'll get to that. Don't worry. Uh she seems kind of proud of herself.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

Cool, cool, cool, cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

That this happened.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Like she's kind of showing off a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Like pretty cool, pretty cool, huh? Like, look what I can do. Um she leads you all inside. The the bomb brown shelter itself is very 40s, 50s aesthetic, uh, Cold War style bunker, you know. Um, concrete walls. There's not really much in the way of decorations or comfort. There's there's furniture in there and whatnot, but it was it was not built to be like a like a lounge for riding out the apocalypse in style, you know. Sure. It's uh it is a place for important people to hunker down and survive, not really live, as it were. Um And she she leads you all inside. Uh she kind of takes you, um, she first takes you into the kitchen and says, anyone wants some coffee? Oh my god. What's coffee?

SPEAKER_06 25:41

Um It is a very delicious Oh wait, why are you roboting? It is a very delicious drink that I haven't had in a few years.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

No, you're you're fine, Sarah. Oates is turning into a robot a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Yeah, hold on.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

And we're back.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Okay, what happened? All right, where'd we leave off?

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Uh so yeah, Diana asks, leads you guys into like this little kitchen area, and she asks everyone, uh, anyone want some coffee?

SPEAKER_06 26:11

What's coffee? It is it is a fantastic drink. But it's really hard to come by uh in the Rockies.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

So yes, Ollie will be taking some, is what that sounds like.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Coffee is definitely one of those things that like you can get it. Like it's not it's not impossible to because it's just a boss had coffee.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

I think it's a Silk Road thing, right? Yeah. Because like ultimately, you still have to have a climate that you can actually grow the coffee beans in and then transport them.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Yeah. Like you can you can get it.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

And like the even like I have heard there's a there's a cape over in the in the Seattle Tacoma area whose superpower is in fact that they just sort of like sprout coffee beans.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Yeah, which when you in terms of like you know of like climate adjustment, like there are definitely soups that that are able to like kind of localize climate adjusting to to allow that to grow. So like it's you know, it's not like it's not like Ollie has been without coffee for the past five years, but like she hasn't had like just a regular brewed pot of coffee, like that's done cowboy style, you know, like in a tin pot and you crush them grounds when you're done.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I I know it's like 9 45 p.m. I could go for some fucking espresso right now.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

So Diana um kind of rifles through like the uh the um emergency rations that have been kind of left in this in this shelter. Um gets a pot of coffee brewing, like in the in the industrial uh she she couldn't find a regular one. She's so she is using the orange rim decaf pot to brew it.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Um, but like it's it's a coffee maker. It lights up, it starts boiling water. Um she brews that, she pours you all a cup of coffee. Um what does Pluto think of their first cup of coffee?

SPEAKER_02 28:15

I think uh Pluto uh like takes like like drinks it like just takes a mouthful, right? In independent of the temperature concerns. Uh and just sort of like it sits there with them in their with it in their mouth and swallows it and goes, it's poison.

SPEAKER_06 28:36

Technically, yes. Caffeine is an insecticide.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

But you see you see uh you see all three the the three scientists all nodding, like, yes, technically it is a poison.

SPEAKER_06 28:51

Just you know, you're you're a big enough like sized organism that it's just a stimulant for you.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Well, it doesn't it it doesn't do anything for me to be clear, but I didn't realize I didn't realize that humans were a kind of the kind of this class of sapient species that does the self-destructive behaviors for fun.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Dr. Avon like nods, he's like, Yes, actually, um most of the things that we eat are actually like in jest for uh enjoyment are poison.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Pluto nods respectfully, it's like I'll let one of you finish this.

SPEAKER_04 29:26

Yeah, no, I think Ryo takes a sip and it's like uh nasty. Doesn't have any cream or sugar.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

There's like there's like the powdered creamer that like uh that you can find. Um there's like some some sugar that's that's been there, but it's like five years old.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

So I think the problem is like the sugar, like like maybe you're making you're harvesting new cane sugar because cane sugar is not shelf stable for like that long. But like your your powdered coffee creamer at this point, you just have like the novelty fruit loops flavor or whatever. And like no one no one wants to drink that.

SPEAKER_06 30:01

Ollie being a good military girl is just drinking her coffee black.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Of course. Uh yeah, the the the three of them are also like in that form of just like it's it the the caffeine is what's important. They're like Charleans. Yeah. Taste is irrelevant, it's it's the the nutrition and the uh caffeine.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

For sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Um yeah, you you have seen Rio, you've seen your mom just shotgun black coffee out of her world's best mom mug. Um yeah. She bought like fun, fun flavored creamers for you back in the day, for you.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Yeah. But not for herself.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

No, she was she was just like, she would, she would have just like eaten a pack of grounds, like if more efficient. Like if she was allowed to do that. Um so as you guys all get your coffee, she kind of leads you into like this little into like this little dining area, and she sits down and she goes, um, she's got her coffee, both hands around the mug, you know, mom style, and she goes, Alright. Ask away. Away.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

Did we really have to come all the way down here and have you show off that you can power up this bunker, or is this bunker powered on your own on its own?

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Uh she goes, that is a very good question. Uh she says, I needed to come down here to recharge my batteries, which meant I could recharge these batteries.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

That doesn't make any sense. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 31:35

She says, well, my powers and yours to an extent don't come from the reboot. And actually, I have a theory on that too, but I'll get to that later. Um mine come from the earth itself.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

And I need I need to get closer to the earth in order to actually restore my powers to full functioning uh capacity. Um while she's talking, she does have like a coffee stirrer in her mug that you can see is moving on its own. Uh like she's kind of like very idly like manipulating things around her. Uh you actually see that she's not holding the coffee mug. It's like a good like half an inch out of her hands and is just kind of floating uh in her grasp. Um and she says, it seems like you don't need to recharge the way I do. And I used to be able to just kind of harvest my energy from the electric currents around me, but that doesn't really happen anymore, does it?

SPEAKER_04 32:53

Wait, the electric currents around you, what did you have these before the reboot?

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Yeah, yeah, I did. Um I've technically had them my entire life.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

Have I?

SPEAKER_00 33:12

It doesn't seem that way. Looks like there was only me that uh you just kind of So wait, where okay then hold on.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

No, wait, where did yours come from then? You've just always had them? You don't know where they come from?

SPEAKER_00 33:25

She goes, uh Yeah, I should probably go all the way back to the beginning. Dr. Avery is like, yes, I'm also very interested in this.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

Yeah, I think everybody would like an explanation. Like why you're here and what's going on and and everything, really. I would like it all laid out, please.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

She says, okay, so I am what you might want to refer to as an avatar or an aspect or uh uh I prefer to think of myself as a delegate of the entity that maintains and monitors all life on the planet Earth.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Pluto kind of does uh the I I forget I forget his name, a white guy gif blink gif. So she she she No, not Lenny, uh the guy from a giant bomb.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Oh she gestures to Pluto and says, Much like how uh the extinction, and she goes, I'm not I'm not saying you are specifically, honey, because you're because my daughter vouches for you, but the thing that created you, uh, much like the extinction is a force for decay, death, and destruction, there has to be a counter force that uh represents life, evolution, and creation. And that being is who I work for in a way.

SPEAKER_04 35:23

So like this is kind of big. So like the planet or like a person or she kinda she kinda winces a little bit and she's like I don't really want to think of it as like a god or like some really powerful alien force.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

It's not really a person, it's more like an idea.

SPEAKER_06 35:59

Conceptual embodiment, got it.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh you get it. Uh she says, um I if someone were to ask me to give it a name, I I kinda like Gaia. But it's not like the Gaia from mythological texts. It's just like that kind of concept if you're gonna give it an identity.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

So this this Gaia is responsible uh for the existence of life on this planet. Uh it has been around since the creation of this planet, and it is the force that made sure those microbes could multiply and split up and grow into things that filled the ocean and then eventually walked out on land and so on and so forth, and now we're here.

SPEAKER_04 37:18

Okay, so then why why did you have to leave? I still don't understand.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Well, so when when a species on a planet gets to a certain evolutionary state status where they start talking and inventing things, um the nuances of guiding that life get a little uh little too small for such a broad sense, which is when that uh when Gaia decides that they need some kind of liaison or delegate to kind of get down on the ground and and kind of be the floor manager of Earth. And that's where I come in. You yeah. So back when I was born about four years ago, uh was around the time when Gaia decided this is the point where we need eyes on the ground. Um, and so I spent most of my adolescence not knowing what I was or what I was capable of, but around uh college age and to adulthood, I started getting these ideas and I started hearing, and she looks at you pointedly, Ryo, and says, the voice.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

What, you mean that idiot?

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Uh and she goes, actually, um, she kind of peers over your head and goes, ooh, they've been on mute this whole time, haven't they?

SPEAKER_02 39:12

Um she she snaps her finger and you hear text boxes, so it's just a labored written description of someone gapping and hollering. Gasp.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Yeah, the text is just like this like scrawled, like carved in, like gasping for air. The text bubble itself is kind of like misaligned at first. And then like like the layering in Photoshop is not quite right and it needs to reassert itself.

SPEAKER_04 39:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Uh and it goes, oh my god, that was so scary. That was so scary as fucking wrong to me.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

Yeah, this idiot.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

You hear that, and then you also hear as if you're overhearing a phone conversation.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

You hear a different voice go, uh, hello, Mrs. Diana. It's good to hear from you again. It has been quite some time.

SPEAKER_04 40:15

Oh. So you're smart, you're nicer to her? Okay, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

And she so so uh Diana kind of laughs a little bit, and she goes, and I and she says, Now I'm going to get to your question, Rio. Why I had to leave. Don't worry, I just need to explain everything that leads up to that, okay? I have to tell you that story so I can tell you this story. The voice is how I got my direct orders from Gaia in a way that I could perceive. Um, because if Gaia tried to speak to me directly, uh, it would probably melt my skull or cause me to go completely insane because I am a mortal being. So the voice is kind of this filter that allows me to receive those commands in a way that I can comprehend. I've been hearing my voice for about fifteen, sixteen years now. It seems like you have only had yours for about three days.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Yeah, that sounds about right. He's really annoying.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

I've been here, I've been able to hear you talking for longer than that. The you your voice goes, I've been trying my best, okay?

SPEAKER_06 41:34

Yeah, he seems pretty nice.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Uh who are we talking about? This is by the way, only yeah, only only Ollie and Ryo can hear this right now.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Yeah, Pluto Pluto is is not uh psychically attuned uh presentation development. So while these people are talking around these non-present conversation partners, Pluto's just kind of like looking around the room, kind of the way like cats do when they've seen a ghost.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Pluto, you lock eyes with with Dr. Amon and Ava, and they both kind of give you the same look of confusion, like, what the hell is going on here?

SPEAKER_06 42:10

Ollie just doing the like finger tapping to her temple and looking sly at the others.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Come on, no, let me listen in.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

So the whole time, I guess she has like a voice in her head that she listens to. I don't I don't whatever. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

It would be funny if Ollie could let Pluto I think Pluto's Ollie, you know, or you know the planet song stuff. You need to help me listen in.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Uh give me an overcome roll. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:39

If she even wants to do that, yeah. Ollie just like, I have no idea if I can piggyback that. Um I'm gonna have to tune into you first. So give me a second.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Okay. Uh Pluto like uh presents their forehead or whatever.

SPEAKER_06 43:02

Um so let's see. Get him a dice roller out. Because I accidentally deleted the tab. Alright, um, we'll do telepathy. I'm gonna do um uh we'll do insight and then d6. So eight, an eight, and a six. Um a one, a five, and a five.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

A five. That is a I think that's a minor twist. Where did my sheet go? Oh my god. There we go. Mine got closed out too. Very annoying.

SPEAKER_06 43:52

Don't you hate when you do that? Like you accidentally delete it because you're just like, I don't need it anymore, and then you go, I was like, this is gonna be a talking issue.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

I don't really need to have these stats open. Button. Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_06 44:00

I just accidentally uh having said that, I just have already deleted the dice roller because I'm like, okay, I don't need those dice anymore. Rather than reset it, I just deleted the tap.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

Minor twist. Okay, so um. Okay, here's here's the minor twist. You piggyback this successfully, um, but you cannot establish a permanent connection.

SPEAKER_06 44:24

Oh, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

You're going to have a conversation later, you're gonna have to keep doing this. Yeah, that's that's fine, fine.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

Um I I think at the surface level of connection, I will say, because I don't think there's like a a deep dive or whatever, but you get this weird feeling of like whatever the the psionic equivalent for this uh would be Pluto's brain is cold to the touch. It's like shoving your hand in a bucket of ice, but like for a psychic connection. Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 44:53

I continue to like the the feeling that anytime Ollie makes a very strong telepathic connection to somebody, um, the person sees what they think is a reflection of themselves staring at them through Ollie, like there's a two-way mirror.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

Ooh, that's fun.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

No. Uh I I think in that case, uh, what you get is like uh Pluto like briefly makes eye contact with you, and you get this moment of like how do I describe this? For the briefest moment, Pluto seems like they are afraid of something, and then they turn away from you. Ooh. And then their normal expression resumes when they are not actively looking you in the eyes.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

I see. I see.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

So you are successfully connected to Ollie's you are you are piggybacking off of Ollie's piggybacking off of Rio.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

Right now. This is the shittiest Zoom call you have ever been on.

SPEAKER_06 46:00

Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

This is some fucking McDonald's Wi-Fi Zoom meeting you're on.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

I think I think literally there's a moment of like Pluto looking around at like the and seeing the dialogue boxes talking to each other about something. And I think they might just actually just straight up like look at Aldi and go, look, you can disconnect me now, it's okay. Rio will tell me later.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

Rio will explain.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

I I uh I don't need to read.

SPEAKER_04 46:29

I think this sucks actually.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Um while you were getting that signal set up, um Diana was busy explaining what's happened. So essentially, uh she she says, um my voice sounded very um very similar to yours, that sort of adolescent vibe it has. And your voice goes, she's calling me annoying.

SPEAKER_04 46:59

Yeah, you are annoying.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Well, shut up.

SPEAKER_04 47:02

Don't tell me to shut up.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

I'll tell you to shut up because you can tell me to shut up and then I have to shut up.

SPEAKER_04 47:07

They could be slapping.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Oh, make me, I'm real. I'm gonna use my power so hard, I'm gonna burn out my the part of my brain that hears the voices.

SPEAKER_04 47:15

God, how I wish I could. That would be so cool. I'm real.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

I'm gonna give my I'm gonna give myself brain damage on purpose because there's a little voice in my head that's kind of annoying sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 47:25

That's because you are the brain damage, obviously.

SPEAKER_06 47:28

Ollie is doing everything she can to keep a straight face.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

Ollie is keeping Pluto jacked, it's getting Pluto jacked into this conversation non-conceptually, and Pluto just sort of like their smile is increasingly turning into a grimace.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

If if Rio and her voice could slap fight each other, they would right now, right?

SPEAKER_02 47:50

So I actually think you see Pluto try to chop the dialogue box in half and it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Diana and her voice are giving you a look of uh like looking into a mirror from 16 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 48:06

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Like, oh, this this is just what it looked like for everyone else who wasn't us. Oh. She actually says, like, ah, good uh, good times, huh? And and the her voice goes, not particularly, no. Um so she says, anyway, long story short, when I found out that so the reason I had to leave home in the first place is because Dr. Amon sent me a note that indicated that there was something going on with Harold, who is one of the most powerful figures on this planet and kind of an avatar of Earth of himself, kind of unintentionally. Uh, someone I like to keep an eye on. So I had to go check out and see what was wrong with him. Uh, I did not, as she says, she she looks at you very pointedly and she kind of puts her hands together and she says, I swear to you, Ryo, I did not plan to be away for that long. I thought this was going to be an in-and-out thing. I would go check in on him, see that he was okay, and then I would be able to come back home. Things just sort of spiraled, and I could not call you, obviously, to let you know.

SPEAKER_04 49:28

Obviously.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

And things would have been a lot easier if not for the fact that I had kind of burnt out my powers and needed to find a way to recharge them, and the closest vault in the area was in the green zone. And then you got caught and then I got kidnapped, and then things happened in Herotopia, and things just kind of always happening in Heraldopia.

SPEAKER_04 49:57

Things are always happening in Heraldopia.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

It's a crazy place, isn't it? You get it, right?

SPEAKER_04 50:01

Yes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 50:03

Even when it was Denver, shit was always happening, man.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

Yeah, no, it's it's bananas there, man. Wild.

SPEAKER_04 50:10

Oh, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 50:11

Uh kind of a hell of a first impression for the outside world for you, huh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 50:15

Yeah, no, it's been interesting, for sure. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:21

Mostly it's been us hanging out with the every men. They've been all the nice.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

Oh, you met the you met the Oh which which which ones?

SPEAKER_04 50:30

Uh all the lunatics.

SPEAKER_00 50:33

She laughs, she laughs like that.

SPEAKER_06 50:39

Uh great gorilla, I think.

SPEAKER_00 50:41

Oh, you met Gigi.

SPEAKER_04 50:43

He was nice.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

Oh, he's my bro.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

He's my guy!

SPEAKER_04 50:46

Oh, yeah, that's so cool. You have so many friends on the outside world. Isn't that awesome for you, Mom?

SPEAKER_00 50:55

Yeah, that's that's fair. Um she kind of she kind of leans back in her chair a little bit and she she runs her hands through her hair and she goes, I feel like I should apologize for the terrible way I've handled many of the things that have happened to you, Ryo.

SPEAKER_04 51:22

I mean, I wouldn't turn it down.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

I'm really sorry that I didn't bother to explain these things to you. It's just that I thought I'd have more time than this.

SPEAKER_06 51:41

What do you mean by that, miss?

SPEAKER_00 51:44

Well, I mean she kind of looks around and goes It's not like I planned for the reboot to happen. And honestly, I didn't think you would manifest any powers or anything until that until the reboot. I kind of hoped and assumed that you were just gonna be a normal girl. I didn't think the my connection to Gaia was something that would be could be inherited.

SPEAKER_04 52:18

Uh yeah, as it turns out, it is, and it's pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_06 52:23

Um see, I thought you were just wording that like, you know, you didn't have long on this earth, and I was like, well, you should have also led with that one.

SPEAKER_05 52:33

Don't say that.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

Oh, no, no. I'm normal. I I have a normal human lifespan. Um I mean, I guess I could get like attacked by a bear or something, but don't don't jinx that.

SPEAKER_04 52:49

Don't say that.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

Like back before the reboot, I could have gotten like an accident and died, but like, you know, that didn't happen, obviously. So that I know of. Um so she says, yeah, I'm I'm really sorry, Ryo. I'm sorry, David. No there's no rule books to to explain how I'm supposed to handle these situations or handle anything that's that that I've been given to any of the tasks I've been given to do. I'm I was trying, and I could have handled a lot of things better. I was just worried all the time. Constantly.

SPEAKER_04 53:40

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

It's just I just wanted to protect you, and everything I've done was with your safety and best interests in heart, and I probably came off as overprotective and distant, and I'm really sorry. I just she she laughs a little bit and she says, I never expected you to become a real life superhero.

SPEAKER_04 54:06

I mean, yeah, I guess if that's what you want to call it, for sure, you know.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

I mean, what else what else would you call it? Look at you, you're where you're you're going around saving people, you're fighting bad guys, you've fought actual villains with code names and everything.

SPEAKER_06 54:20

I mean, it's a poncho, but girl, that is still a cave.

SPEAKER_04 54:23

Don't you start.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

I mean, she she kind of like gets a little sheep, but she's like, What would you call yourself if you were to be like a legitimate superhero?

SPEAKER_04 54:35

Oh, I don't know. I haven't even thought about that. Are you kidding me? Says her player, not her player. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 54:44

I mean, she she kind of laughs a little bit and she goes, I mean, I hear it's it's it's pretty addicting being a superhero these days. Like once you're in, you're kind of in. You might want to think about like a code name, maybe a costume or something.

SPEAKER_04 55:00

No, oh my gosh. Listen. This is a lot.

SPEAKER_00 55:06

I know, I know it's it's a it's a lot to handle, and I'm still here to answer any questions you have. I I was trying to keep this hidden from everyone because before the reboot, how do you explain this stuff to anyone? You know? Like I would sound like a crazy person, so I just kind of kept it to myself. And I didn't want you to worry, I didn't want my colleagues to think I was insane. And after the reboot, I still didn't really have any urgent reason to bring you into the loop because I didn't know you were gonna be a part of this. With and with with the extinction now looming over us, I I knew I would have to do something, but I physically couldn't get back to you to explain myself. I handled it really poorly, and I'm very sorry, and I'm not gonna do that to you anymore. Uh from now on I'm just going to be as as completely honest and upfront about everything as I can.

SPEAKER_04 56:22

Yeah. I don't even know where to start. Ollie, ask questions.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

Uh, before waiting for Ollie to to ask a question, Pluto says, I take some offense to being described as looming.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

She she she seems kind of like confused. Like she's like, I've only known you for a little bit, and I don't think. Are you sure? Because do you know what looming means?

SPEAKER_02 56:48

It's it's when you like um and then Pluto uh I think Pluto literally kind of like stands up and death claws a little bit. It's like when you it's like when you do this. And you you don't like that? Well, I don't like I I I thought I've been very polite and cordial.

SPEAKER_04 57:09

Pluto has been very polite and cordial.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

She goes, she goes, yeah, okay, I and I wasn't referring to you specifically, I was referring to your parent.

SPEAKER_04 57:19

Species.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

She's she she goes, the other thing is that like the forces that that the the force that commands me, there is no earthly language to describe them, and the words that I'm using to describe them are completely inefficient uh and to to grasp their enormity. And I'm just doing the best I can with these descriptions.

SPEAKER_02 57:46

Hmm. Pluto, Pluto crosses their arms. Extinction is not the right name.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

What would you call it then?

SPEAKER_02 57:54

Well, I'd call me an extinction. And the things like me.

SPEAKER_06 58:00

But not where you're from. Because that's what I think what she's referring to. No, that's context.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

How would Pluto's like kind of like scratches her chin a little bit? I would say the grave.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

Her eyes go wide and she goes, okay. The grave then.

SPEAKER_04 58:26

So is it still what coming for us?

SPEAKER_00 58:32

Oh, that thing never stops.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

Looking over at Pluto like, yeah? Really?

SPEAKER_02 58:38

I don't really know what's what it what's going on with it.

SPEAKER_00 58:42

She says Gaia and she gestures you, the grave have been at each other's metaphorical throats since the creation of the planet, of every planet. I mean, what is what is life without death and what is death without life? They go hand in hand and uh keep their weapons pointed at each other.

SPEAKER_02 59:13

Actually, I I have a question for you. Yeah. Um so is the thing that happened to the planet's new sphere, is that you or or Gaia? Cause that that's new. I don't know what's going on there.

SPEAKER_04 59:30

The reboot?

SPEAKER_02 59:32

No, the thing that made me like this.

SPEAKER_00 59:37

She she exhales like really sharply. She goes, I don't know, kid. That one I genuinely I don't know what you are. You're new.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Well, it's because when we were in Heraldtopia, the grave spoke. It it doesn't do that. It doesn't ever do that for anything. It would be like yelling at ants in your kitchen. I don't know what's happening here. And if it can if whatever's going on with this planet can do this to me and can make the grave talk, I want to know what that is.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:21

She she kind of looks inward. She mutters something to her voice, and her voice mutters back, you can't even hear this one, Ryo. This is a private conversation. And she goes, I don't know. I think whatever the reboot was, whatever that white flash was, whatever is keeping the electricity from running on the surface of the planet. That wasn't me, that wasn't Gaia, that wasn't the grave. That was something new. And I have no jurisdiction on that one. I am just as confused as you are.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:11

Pluto just sits down wordlessly, their expression kind of like flat.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:17

She she says, I'm really sorry. I'm trying to we're we're trying to figure it out too. But I mean, it it gave you a life, it gave you a purpose and an identity, so it can't be all bad, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:34

That's not what it did.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:38

What what did it do then?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Pluto doesn't say anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:49

Okay, anyone else?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:52

I think Rio is kind of more like looking at Pluto, like kind of confused. Just wondering if maybe she can get an answer out of them later. Um that's no So what happens now? What do I just go back to the house? Do we just go back to the house and act like everything is fine?

SPEAKER_06 1:02:18

Is that what you want to do?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

Yeah, Diana chuckles. She goes, Do you want to go back home?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:23

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:24

Then obviously not. You don't go home. She goes. Ryo, you fought your way to me through she kind of like replays the events in her head, through a little girl's nightmarish dreamscape, through the streets of Herald of an alien-infested Heraldopia, and you stopped a war, a three-way war between dinosaurs, beastmen, and teenagers.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:56

The three most dangerous things, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:59

And she and she goes, You've proven me wrong in that I thought that you needed to be protected. And I have never been happier to be wrong. I would not send you home now at this point. You are very clearly meant to do something great, and I would not want to keep you from that.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:37

You hear that, girl? She's proud of you.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:39

She yeah, no, I'm I'm aware. It's just the the magnitude of it all is kind of uh I'm gonna go make myself some more coffee. Bye! And Leo just kind of pulls the eject cord on this conversation to walk off. Like so, yeah. If Ollie or anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:04

Well, she actually, so while you're doing that, um she stands up and she says, Ollie, was it?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:14

Can I talk to you outside for a second? Uh sure. And as as she walks, as as she you know leads you out, she walks by, she does put a hand on Pluto's shoulder. Um and she says, I don't I don't know what answers you want, but my daughter trusts you, which means I trust you, and I will do everything I can to help you get those answers.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:48

I don't I don't think Pluto responds. I think they're just like staring down at the table deep in thought.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

Okay. She she pats you on the shoulder again and and leads Ollie out. Um because and she uh she she makes sure no one's listening, and she kind of pulls Oli in close and she says, uh considering how uh your friend Pluto is reacting right now, I didn't want to bring this up uh with them with an earshot. But um you said the two of you kind of got into a a fight in Heraldopia?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:28

You kind of had a a little bit of a scrape.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:31

Yeah, um how to describe it. So uh so my stuff works in like future vision, right? Um in an attempt to keep so so Rio was going to do something that set off that like six cents um I'm I've never really done it before. But I basically knocked her out just thinking about it. And uh as a result, um, you know, Pluto got very defensive and worried, and it turned into a bit of a fight, and I got knocked across the football stadium.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Okay. Notwithstanding the fact that you knocked my daughter out, I'm sure you had your reasons, but um just yeah, yeah, like I did apologize to her after, but she she goes, she kind of goes, um, you can see like her fists tightening. Um, and she goes, I'm letting myself get mad at you about that.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:45

And then I'm letting it pass because there's more important things going on right now. Uh and she says, Um, my voice uh has informed me that uh they are getting the same vibe from you that they get from Pluto. And she kind of gives you like she kind of puts her hands on your shoulder and she says, um and now that I'm looking at it, I can feel it too. Infected isn't the right word, uh, but it's as close as I'm going to get.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:27

A word?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:29

You've you've got some of the extinction in you. Ow. I don't think it's going to hurt you. So like because the grave does not like to plan, it likes to hurt. And if it had the opportunity, it was going it would hurt you as soon as it was able to.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:00

So like what? I'm it it got microbes on me, and I'm so ins inconsequential it doesn't care.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:09

She she goes, um Pluto's entire existence is throwing everything I know about the grave out the window.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:18

Um honestly, uh from what the grave mentioned in its screaming match uh at Pluto, I don't think the grave knows what's up with Pluto either.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:30

Yeah, she says this thing is usually the you know the grave usually manifests in the form of plagues, of viruses, of giant rock from space crashing into the planet's surface, massive wide-scale events. It it doesn't send hosts. This is a new plan. I don't know what this thing inside of you is, but it's there, and I think the best thing for you to do right now is to keep it from trying to reconnect to the grave. I think you have the psychic capability to do that and to make this thing your own.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:34

And all I just like kind of like a significantly taller woman just kind of like gently nodding looking down and like putting a uh putting a hand on on um on her shoulder and going, Listen, I don't even know. I can't even tell sometimes if I'm reading my thoughts or like if it's my own individual thoughts going in my head or if I'm just reading Rios and it's translating into my voice. She kind of how am I gonna be able to pick out something I didn't even know was right there in my gut or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:14

Um she she kind of thinks for a little bit and she says, Well, I despite what I just said, I know more about these things than probably anyone else, and I would like to help you control this because anything we can use, any of the Graves tools that we can turn against it is something that I want to invest in. So I am I am more than willing to help you try to figure what this thing figure out what this thing is and how we can utilize it. She says, I don't want you to worry about it right now. I don't think it's going to try to control you immediately. It's she says, she's like, I cannot emphasize this enough. It is small. It is almost imperceptible. I don't I don't blame you for not noticing it because you didn't even know to look for it. And even if you did, you would have you would have had a hard time finding it. I you know, my my boss is has developed itself into a force to find and counteract that thing. So I am well in tune with it.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:45

I mean I tr I trust you, it's just it's just it's something we need to work on.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:53

Yeah, I guess. Uh so it's not like a cancer or anything, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:58

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're not sick. You're not sick or anything like that.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:02

It's she kind of she kind of goes, it's it's like a parasite, but even that's not a good word for it because that implies that it's like eating you and it's not.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:17

Oh, so microplastic, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:20

It's like again, she's really straining to find ways to fit these incomprehensible beings and their machinations into mortal linear concepts. And she goes It's like those um like those organisms that latch onto the underbellies of whales. It's not there to hurt you, it's just taking nutrients around you.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:01

Um and I have to reiterate this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:11

Ollie, Ollie uh flashing back regretfully to the day she spent uh rubbing uh Pluto juice all over her face as makeup. There's a very helpful uh uh cut in. Like, remember, if you if you're exposed to lead paint on the exteriors of any houses, call this number and let them know.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:32

So just Ollie just kind of like I think Ollie just like taking all of this in and going. I mean the answer's yes. Um But oh my god, do you have like a cigarette or something? Because this is really like this is stressing me out right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:56

Uh she goes, uh she goes, there's no smoking in the bunker. Do you want do you want some tequila? She's always goes, there's no smoking in the bunker. But this was built during the Cold War. Do you want some whiskey?

SPEAKER_06 1:14:16

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:19

Uh she leads you over to uh to uh one of the storerooms that is just lined wall to wall with booze.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:33

This is a hell of a fallout shelter.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:36

It just grabs two bottles. She and she uh she kinda goes uh uh good old John F. Kennedy, eh?

SPEAKER_06 1:14:48

Yeah. Um Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:53

Uh uh. She she uh and so after she after she kind of explains that and you get your you can fill your coffee mug with as much alcohol as you want. Uh she gets back to the others. Um and she and uh she goes to check on Rio.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:11

You know, it's the funniest thing about this uh fallout shelter. Uh stuck to the gills with all the liquor you could want, but not a bite to eat.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:21

Yeah, it's it's it's it's uh it's priorities, it's like wall to wall with top shelf booze and then fucking army ass MREs for food.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:34

See, my my my thinking is like it's the thing I've I've alluded to before of like the Limbus Company, not the Limbus Company thing, the Lobotomy Corporation thing of like, oh yeah, the the nameless staff members are all given nine millimeters. They don't hurt the monsters, they'll figure out the real reason for the nine millimeters when they face the monsters. It's a fallout shelter. There's a lot of liquor in it. The purpose of the liquor is the secret.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:01

The purpose of liquor is to make the fall is the to make the being in a fallout shelter part not last very long.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:07

Yeah. She um she she actually does kind of uh give an explanation, um, and she says, so this place was never actually meant for the events of a nuclear war. Um, like I said, I draw my powers from the earth, and when I need a recharge, it's better if I'm underground while it's happening. Um and it's also the only place where electric electrical fields can still be generated, so once my powers have restored, I can generate electric fields and turn the lights on. I can't do this on the surface. Um when Gaia decided that they needed a delegate uh eyes on the ground, um they started uh subtly implanting uh millionaires across the world to start building bomb shelters and places where they could maybe camp out or dig really deep to uh give the eventual host a place to recharge if needed.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:26

Great.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:27

Gaia can just produce as much gold as it needs to.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:30

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:31

She she says that you know, we we we tend to the sh Gaia likes to be kind of more hands-off once evolution has taken its hold and kind of likes to let things just play out as they are. Um but in this instance they kinda nudge some pieces here and there to make sure I have a place to recharge if needed.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:01

That's crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:04

That's fucking wild.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:09

I cannot understate enough how my favorite thing about Ollie is just her constant understated uh reactions to things.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:18

She goes, she goes, yeah, imagine how I felt when I was like 21 and started getting these ideas in my head that there's a worldwide network of bomb shelters that are for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:29

I just imagine like like the thought of Gaia uh providing a little underground shelter full of booze for her uh chosen people does just make me think that Gaia is looking at the world as though it were dwarf fortress.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:45

That's not a bad way to think of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:48

Just just seeing Ryo's mom as like a little at symbol moving around an ASCII field, and just like, how's the liquor stores for this fort doing? Alright, we're good. When traders come in spring, she'll have stuff to barter.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:05

Yeah, Gaia is just really invested in this game of dwarf fortress that's been lasting for uh several years and millions of years. Uh and then there's some griefer that keeps like wiping her save.

unknown 1:19:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:21

I mean, it it's dwarf fortress. That's just called fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:24

That's just how you play dwarf fortress, yeah. The grave is just playing it right.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:28

Um but she she goes to check on Rio, um and she goes, How you holding up, kid?

unknown 1:19:39

Um.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:43

I'm okay. Kinda. I'm holding up.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:49

Kinda is kinda is better than I was when I was your age, so.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:54

I mean, it seems a little big. Um, it's just really big. I would have liked to have known some of this before you told me I wasn't allowed to go to school. Um or have too many friends outside the house.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:15

She um she winces at that and she says, I should have known that you would be stronger than this.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:26

Yeah, no, um that sounds about right, but it is what it is, and I have friends now. Um, who one who is 10 years older than me and one who is an alien from space sent to kill us all. It's normal.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:42

Um she kind of like very weakly goes, I mean that's pretty cool, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:50

Thanks, Mom.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:51

And I heard you're I heard you're friends with a lot of superheroes now, and she goes, she goes, yeah, that that that sucks. I'm sorry. I'm not gonna I'm gonna not defend myself on that when I screwed up royally.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:07

I just don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself anymore. Like I found you, and now there's like all of this stuff out there, and I don't have a purpose for any of it, right? Because I've been stuck indoors for 19 years. Um so it's like, oh, you can do whatever you want now, Rio. What does that even look like? What does that even mean? Um, I need somebody to point me somewhere else, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:39

She um she kind of looks down and thinks her a bit, and she goes, Well there's a lot of people that need help out there.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:57

Yeah, superhero stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:59

And I mean, if you want it to aim towards a goal, we have to keep the civilization alive as long as possible. We have to figure out what caused the reboot.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:19

Yeah. I guess that's true. I mean it's something.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:24

You know, and these aren't things that we necessarily have to tackle right away, but I feel like anything that you do going forward is going to get you closer to accomplishing those goals. If you want to go out there and broaden your horizons, if you want to stay here with me, um whatever you and your friends decide is the best course of action, I am done holding you back.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:04

That's nice to hear at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:07

I have a lot to make up for in the way that I treated you. I thought I was doing what was best for you, and it clearly wasn't. I was so focused on seeing everything in these broad terms of the planet and life and existence that I forgot that it's made up of people like you.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:36

Well, not like me, because I'm like you now, but different at the same time. Um, and everybody keeps acting like it's a scary thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:53

She goes, well. I don't think it's scary. I think it's I think it's intimidating. I think that you have uh it's intimidating for you because you have a lot of power and a lot of confusing things happening to you all at once, that there's I'm the only person who can actually understand what you're going through, and I wasn't there for you when you were going through the worst of it. The abilities you have are not scary. They are life, they are creation. You she she kind of looks around a little bit and she says, You erected a barrier that kept hundreds of people safe from an oncoming attack. You are a defender, you are a protector.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:02

Yeah, I guess it's something. It's something to start with, at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:08

And she says, I know I'm trying to push this action adventure thing on you, but if you don't want to do that, then that's fine too.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:15

I don't know what I want to do. I'm I want to talk to my friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:27

Uh, and I think she just kind of like nods at her mom and goes back inside and goes to find Pluto. Um, wherever Pluto is.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:36

Pluto has not moved.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:37

Yeah, I was about to say Pluto has not moved, and now Ollie is like sprawled out next to him with two bottles of half-empty whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:46

Uh yeah. Uh Rio just comes and drops herself down into a chair in the same room with the both of them. And she says, What do you two want to do?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:56

Uh Diana, Diana walks in and sees the three of you in that state and very subtly gestures to David and Ava to get them out of the room and let the three of you have that space.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:10

So what do we do now? What the two what do you two want to do now?

SPEAKER_05 1:26:15

Uh other than drink.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:18

You probably should drink some water.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:20

Do what I've always been doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:22

What have you been doing?

SPEAKER_06 1:26:23

I don't know, just being a holding pattern, helping people, because what else is there to do?

SPEAKER_05 1:26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:34

What else would I I'm sure you're going through the exact same thing, but just like, you know, ten years behind me, but fuck, I wish I knew what my dad would have wanted me to do.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:52

Yeah, it doesn't make it any easier. I promise you.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:56

Uh yeah, no, girl, I know. I'm again ten years in the future.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:01

Uh listen, and you're gonna have to forgive me because you're spinning a little bit. Stop doing that.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:11

Um we cut to uh Polyvision, and there's just two Rios.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:20

Yeah. Everything's a little wobbly.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:23

I'm seeing double here. Four Rios!

SPEAKER_06 1:27:30

Uh she's like, listen listen, okay. Once you finally kind of like hit that point where you're kind of free from whatever it is you you think your parents wanted from you, there is no direction to go. That makes sense. It's it it it all it it all goes somewhere. So you might As we'll just pick pick a direction, see where it leads. And if it's a dead end, pick a new direction.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:09

You should give motivational speeches.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:11

Figure yourself out. Look, listen. Listen. Uh-huh. I'm scared. Um, and Pluto won't hug me, because Pluto doesn't even react. Like I I threw I threw a piece of paper at them earlier and I didn't even uh blink. Um and it's starting to freak me out a little bit. Um and then I feel this and I'm I'm feeling this itch in the back of my head, and I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. Nothing makes sense. There's no there's no Oh Rio, we're really in it now.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:55

Pluto, are you even in there? Are you listening?

SPEAKER_02 1:29:00

Pluto silent, I think.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:04

I think I think Rio, no matter what you do, we're friends, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:12

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:15

You're not going to suddenly change course now that you're free and start hurting people, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:21

No, no.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:23

Then what the fuck does it matter?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:27

Yeah, I guess. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:30

You're still my friend, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:34

So just keep doing just just let the wind the just let the wheel keep keep spinning. Just see where it goes. We're having fun doing all this crap, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:48

True.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:51

So I stop.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:54

Yeah. That's as good a reason to do anything as any, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:01

Okay, but you can st you can't stop spitting now because you are making me sick.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:06

I I am not spit. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:08

Ollie, give me an overcome roll to see if you throw up.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:14

I'm afraid to know what what failure looks like here.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:18

It looks like throwing up. I don't think I have any proper um. I don't think I have any proper skill for this. Can I just roll a D4?

SPEAKER_00 1:30:28

Yep. If it if you have if Ollie doesn't have anything, any skill that would allow her to be trained in the art of not throwing up.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:36

Listen, I'm I'm rolling a four.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:41

Big sister. Yeah, actually. Big sister.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:47

Yeah, a d4 and a d6 and a d6. This is really funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:51

Oh, but putting taiga on all these uh pitch pitch.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:55

Yeah, I mean I have the funniest news you're ever gonna hear, by the way. Three, six, and six.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:04

Great!

SPEAKER_00 1:31:05

You so you're you don't throw up. Uh but you do get that like that like real bad stomach acid burp. It sucks. That's your minor twist. You're like I don't like this.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:30

I need water. I get water.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:33

And I think Ryo just kind of slowly looks over at Pluto and then finally uh kind of nervously reaches out to touch their shoulder. Like, hey, you uh you in there?

SPEAKER_02 1:31:44

Uh Pluto after like uh after like a moment, like a twitch, just sort of like their head raises. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_04 1:31:53

Hey, we've been talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:56

Oh. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:00

You okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:06

Pluto's silent, but not in the same way where it seems like they don't know how to answer that question and not like they've completely turned off.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:17

During during that partial conversation, there's like pan, it's like two panels, and you can see a glass of water hovering and very hobblingly spilling all over the place as it tries to reach.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:30

I mean, you know, I know that you're not usually the type to like talk about your feelings and stuff, but we're kind of having like a talk about our feelings sort of pow-wow right now. So, you know. I mean, I've got an ear to listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:52

I don't know how to words it.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:00

Okay. Try.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:06

You can practically see smoke coming out of Pluto's ears. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:13

Ollie's still for the floor, but you can like it it sounds like she's in the middle of trying to drink the cup of water. Okay. If you try now, you get better at it until you're the best at it. And I know you're the best if you put your best at it.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:31

The text bubble is like that, like really like garbled handwritten lettering and like it's all jagged.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:40

I'm trying to think of what part of of Pluto's despair they would express first. I think they I think it just starts with I think I'm broken.

unknown 1:33:56

What I mean.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:00

You seem fine to me.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:04

Is this is this because of how uh the grave uh treated you or spoke to you?

SPEAKER_02 1:34:12

No, it's well I guess that could be connected. It's just sort of like Well, I guess there's two things and they're not the same thing. Okay The first is that I think the grave is what's the word? Not upset. It's different for it, but upset, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:41

That works.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:42

Because like by right, no, that's not how they phrase it. Um, I think Pluto just sort of looked deject looks at Ryo dejectedly, like, I'm definitely supposed to kill your mom.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:02

And I and I know I'm supposed to do that. You very briefly, Diana pokes her head in the room and then pokes, leans back out.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:11

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:12

And I know I'm supposed to do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:14

But I like, it just doesn't even it's like when have you ever what's the what's the dream speak for that? When someone tells you to do something and you just go like, yeah, uh-huh, and then you don't do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:30

Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:31

Because because you just sort of like And you know you have to do it. It's not like you don't know you have to do it. But being knowing that you have to do it also makes you not want to do it. Sure. I mean that that's one of the things.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:51

I mean, I'm really glad you don't want to kill my mom. I mean, I'm kind of mad at her right now, but I don't want you to kill her. So I don't think that makes you broken. I think that makes you good.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:06

I think that makes you human, if that makes any sense, Pluto. Sometimes, um how to put it some sometimes the needs versus wants kind of conflict with each other. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 1:36:30

But this Pluto like gestures at themself with them hands with their hands. But this isn't a human.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:44

I guess I mean that more in a sense of like I realize this is kinda anthropomorphizing. I guess I mean that more in a sense of that's what sapience is about. Not humanity, but like higher levels of thought.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:08

Pluto's like seems to be digesting that for a moment. And they I think that the they say, I guess it's this isn't me. And I would like to be me. But if I was me, I would kill and kill and kill, and I don't want that. But also I don't like this. And I was kind I I thought that if I'd run into the enemy and learned things from the enemy, I might find out how to be me again, and I didn't.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:57

So you'd rather so wait, you'd rather be You're not sure which so the me that you want to be is not the me that you are right now. Oh, I'm so dizzy.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:20

I think Pluto wordlessly extends you their forehead again.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:24

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:25

Oh. I don't really know how to words it still.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:29

Okay, um. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:32

Rio has to help Ollie off the hold still. No screaming.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:38

Uh Ollie, you see um a a glass of water and a capsule of like two little alka seltzer pellets float towards you from the room that Diana is in.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:54

It's an honest to God straight from the refrigerator, still good Gatorade.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:02

Just the way, just the way she just like gently takes a sip of it and goes, ooh, okay, I'm sober now.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:14

Alright. Uh, I'm getting a headache. Okay. Pluto, let's try something, okay? I'm gonna. We're gonna make this a two-way street and hopefully we can learn a little bit, okay?

SPEAKER_02 1:39:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:34

Both of you give me overcomes for this. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:37

Um, I'm going to. I actually know exactly what I'm going to roll. Well, I don't know what powers I'm gonna roll. I'm going to invoke principle of the inner demon. This is a good time to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:49

That's what I figured.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:50

This this one for me is all I was about to say. I want to use principle of compassion.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:54

This is also a good time to use that.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:56

Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:58

Do you um you have hero points that you can carry over for this from last issue, don't you?

SPEAKER_04 1:40:03

Yeah. Because we did a bunch.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:05

We did. We did have uh, I think uh a hero point apiece, if not two.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:09

I have an unnamed plus two on my thing, so I'm guessing we had two.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:13

Yes. Because we we used two different principles to um trim down the number of attackers, remember? Yeah. Okay. Well, let's put that plus two towards that.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:24

Yeah. So really quickly though, uh, how are you justifying using these hero points based on what your actions in the last issue?

SPEAKER_04 1:40:33

How did we er what were the from us using principles like in combat. In combat.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:41

Um well, more importantly, what principles did we use last time?

SPEAKER_00 1:40:46

So I think you used inner demon to intimidate a bunch of the dinosaurs, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:40:52

Yeah, and and so that's why I'm kind of thinking like at least part of this is that the justification here is that this is Pluto explo exposing some part of their core, like the same thing that they did to to scare the.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:04

And then I think Ryo is the one that used great power.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:08

Yep. To vanish a bunch of dinosaurs from the other side of the park. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:12

Is Rio helping?

unknown 1:41:13

Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:15

I think in in either case I can I I think my justification for it is Ollie keeping in mind, I guess, the the quote unquote inner demons of both.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:31

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:32

I guess, and and like in keeping with using the principle of compassion, trying to be as open-hearted to like these uh clearly there's some like emotional struggles that everybody's been going down with right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:46

Uh, can I help a little bit? Sure. Uh make a suggestion here. Uh the three of you just came from a very harrowing battle where it in which a lot of creatures died. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:57

Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:41:57

Uh, and now you have been dumped on with all of this incredible information. Yeah, all this war, all this world of powers at be. Um I think all three of you are in a dark spot, and I think Ollie using that as a springboard for compassion is kind of what's connecting the three of you more than anything else right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:20

Right.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:22

That hurts me.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:25

So you tap into those feelings of exhaustion and conflict that you just had from this one-on-one battle here, and now you are using that to contextualize like the grandiose spectr spectrum of what you've just been told about how your planet works. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:53

We have to actually roll at some point. Yes. Give me some more gums. So I had a roller and I uh I I already have mine I closed it to to look up pictures of something and forgot.

SPEAKER_06 1:43:04

Oh. Once again, I'm using a D8 and two D6s. Because it's uh telepathy, big sister, and then the green status. Uh actually. No. I'd be using another D D8 because I I never uh Oh, are you in yellow?

SPEAKER_00 1:43:20

Yeah, I used to do that. Okay, well then that'd be even better. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:24

I'm sure you feel like you're in yellow zone right now at the very least. Yeah. Um I'm going to use uh presence, coquettish conquer, and my status dice because these are things that I traditionally use for when Pluto is being Pluto.

SPEAKER_06 1:43:39

So I rolled a six, a two, and a one since I'm using um uh principal, uh that means I take the highest, and uh I guess I get the plus two.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:53

Um I am also using a principle, which is where I will tell you that actually I I get to re-roll one of these because it's a one, but it's not going to matter. Though that is also Jesus, okay. Uh so I rolled on a d8, a d6, and a d10. I rolled a four, a six, and a ten. Um and I'm using my principal, so I'm also using my maxed eye and the plus two. So that is a total of twelve.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:16

So Ollie succeeds, complete complete success with a ten. Pluto got a twelve, succeeds beyond expectations.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:28

Dang.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:29

So what does that look like? So Pluto, Pluto, you get to fully encapsulate the way you're feeling into Ollie's brain right now. With no ambiguity whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:41

I think what Ollie gets is that this is like I think this is like the first time Ollie actually goes inside what you would call Pluto's mind palace, right? Yeah. Um, and at first it's uh the sort of a very uh on the deeply unpleasant feeling of being in a completely empty black void. Uh know nothing, know anything. Uh this is very weird. Like even if you encounter someone who does it doesn't think about a whole lot, there's usually a little more going on there, right? There's just nothing.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:16

There's like a tangibility to it, even if it's like an empty broth.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:22

Yeah. And I think actually also you get this I I because of the stuff that like you the conversation that you had had with uh with with Rio's mom, you do actually like kind of feel the the quote unquote infection a little bit in a way that you couldn't that you don't when you're like on your own. Like it's it's almost like you get you're aware of it being there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:47

Like uh uh in understanding your thought process, so you suddenly realizing there's a pattern in in something nearby, mate.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:56

Yeah. I'm trying to think of the way, because like Pluto doesn't like doesn't have the words to describe it, so I do think it's images, right? And it's you see Pluto, the Pluto you're familiar like you're in this this black space, and you see it's the Pluto you're familiar with, but as you like look at them more, uh they you kind of realize there's like sort of a marionette quality a little bit, right? Like with ball joints and stuff like that, and you see these these strings kind of going up and out of your field of view, right? And your eyes follow them up, and you s you can see in the blackness, just like barely visible, this like what looks like a maybe the branch of a tree or something. It's very but it doesn't have like the little it doesn't have leaves or like other smaller branches, or something long and spindly. It's a little glinting like metal, and you follow that further back, and reaching out from some unknowable distance away, uh the black sky has been replaced by a glowing blue that you would describe as being like similar to the color of Pluto's eyes. And you see in the distance, in this arm reaching out from this Titanic birdcage, this being that you would only describe as being something if like uh an antlion was a dragon, right? And it's you this sent this horrible feeling of A, it's the largest thing you've ever seen, and B, this cell level sense, that like just looking at it, that your body is afraid of it, as though like the the cells are aware that it is some evocation of death. And the sense that there is a gap here that it wants to find a way to close. And that's it.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:03

That's rough, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:09

And I think Ollie just it just gives Pluto a hug.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:15

Pluto Pluto's still like I I still uh is this an attack of some kind or no.

unknown 1:48:22

No.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:23

Oh nobody, nobody.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:25

Okay. Look, um Pluto kind of uncertainly uh does something that you would resemble as someone who has never given a hug before in their entire life, trying to re like uh do a hug correctly without understanding any part of it.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:46

Pluto is giving Ollie uh the most awkward grapple attempt you've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:53

Yeah, it does look like if Pluto flexed their muscles, they could put Ollie into a suplex, but they are very consciously avoiding doing this.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:01

Yeah, this is a really shitty chokehold. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:49:11

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:12

Um so yeah, so I don't really know what to do about that.

SPEAKER_06 1:49:18

Well Pluto, do you want my like I know this doesn't sound like particularly like purposeful advice, but this is what I got to give you. Um Do you wanna just keep doing what we're doing together? Until we can figure out a bit a s figure out something. Just, you know. Maybe as we go on in our goofied fucking off whatever it is that we're doing, we can find some answers for you. Or clues for you. Or something.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:15

Pluto crosses their arm and appears deep in thought. Well, I guess I don't need to be king of the jungle.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:28

I mean you can be king of the jungle in absentia.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:31

In absentia? Yeah. What's that mean?

SPEAKER_04 1:50:34

It means you can like appoint somebody to rule in your stead, and when you come back, they'll give it back to you. But in the meantime, you could just go run off and do whatever with us.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:48

Hmm.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:48

Everyone understands that you are the true king of the jungle upon your rightful return. Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_02 1:50:56

I see. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:00

Yeah, you can be the once and future king with us. Smacking their fist into their palm like that's a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:05

Yeah, literally literally doing the warrior light thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:10

Uh I mean, you know, I don't think any of us know what we want to do or want to be, so we might as well just keep doing what we've been doing and sort it out. I mean I like having you around. I mean, yeah, you did kind of think you should kill my mom, but like, you know.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:32

I um you didn't. And yeah, like I also well, no, I didn't want to. I did throw a a uh I did throw some paper at her though. That did make me feel better.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:44

But then but you threw paper at me.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:47

That was to get your attention. Yeah, because I'm dudes.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:53

When I said hello to you and you didn't respond, I thought, well, maybe I need maybe Pluto needs a little bit of violence to notice, and that also didn't work, so I just laid it down.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:03

Oh well, okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:06

Can you forgive me?

SPEAKER_02 1:52:09

They crossed their arms again deep in thought.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:16

I'm glad you're my friend.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:19

I'm glad none of us know what the hell we're doing with ourselves, at least.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:22

So that's what I used to know what I was doing, and then the reboot happened.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:26

Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:28

I used to know what I was doing, and then I I I gained sapience, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:32

So the reboot happened. Because like you're what five cycles around the sun old?

SPEAKER_02 1:52:39

No.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:40

How old are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:52:41

I don't know. Not that old.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:43

You're more recent. That raises many questions for me, but I'm not gonna ask them again.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:48

I mean, I don't know when I got here, but I I haven't been up and at them for that long.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:54

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:55

I basically just woke up and started walking to you.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:59

Okay. Oh, so you're like super new. Huh.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:06

Well, you're like an infant. Yeah. Oh no. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:12

The voice in the voice pops up in Rio's head and goes, Oh, that explains a lot, actually. I was under the impression they were like older than that.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:25

Look, we'll figure it out. And then you can just kind of decide at some point once you know what version of yourself you want to be.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:37

But I guess the important thing you need to know now is it's okay to not know. Right? Like, I'm not gonna get mad at you. Nobody's a if people are upset about that, uh, we should fight him.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:53

Well, okay. Okay. Finally, something Pluto understands.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:02

Are we good? Can I drink some more whiskey now?

SPEAKER_04 1:54:06

You should drink some more water now, maybe. I don't know. It's probably a good idea.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:11

Is this whiskey also a poison? Why is it named after that guy?

SPEAKER_06 1:54:15

Uh he's named after the drink.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:18

Because he's probably poisoned too, honestly. Considering our interactions, I wouldn't be surprised.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:25

This relationship of naming uh just makes Pluto like you can see them deflate a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:31

They're like, aww.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:34

They thought the poison was named after him.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:37

Sure. Because he's so resilient. Yeah, absolutely. I get it. I see their thought process.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:43

It's named He's probably named after the drink because the drink itself is strong.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:53

Put the breaches over and tries them.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:56

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:57

And then just like just like a panel of just like complete and honoring action, and then they just sort of let it fall out of their mouth. Yeah, like they're like they're like releasing mouthwash, and they're just like, that's gross.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:14

I'm immediately thinking of that episode of Untern Hunter we just watched with going in the the horror, horrible laxative drink. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:26

Wow, you like that?

SPEAKER_06 1:55:29

Just wait until it actually gets into your guts. Just and then you'll know why.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:34

I don't think that I don't think it happens for me.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:36

I don't think they have guts. Do you not have Yeah, another goop? I guess that makes sense. I just always assumed the goop could also form. Why would it do that? I don't know. To further approximate the the human condition?

SPEAKER_04 1:55:57

Why would it do that?

SPEAKER_06 1:55:59

Because Pluto Pluto seems to at the very least, like humor the idea. Why else would Pluto have thumb uh thumb and fingernails if he pulls up he pulls up their hand? Okay. Well I think are we good? Are we cool?

SPEAKER_04 1:56:27

I think we're cool. This is a lot to like process.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:33

So I think I think I'm done trying to throw up whatever I uh accidentally got of Pluto anime. So let's keep uh being exactly the the people we have been to each other. Uh and and not worry about not worry about the future. Just, you know, live in the present. Okay? Is that cool?

SPEAKER_04 1:57:00

Okay. Might as well. What else am I gonna do with myself? Cry about it?

SPEAKER_02 1:57:06

I don't really I don't really understand all that, but uh I'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:09

Uh uh Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:13

Uh go team. We've never called ourselves anything, have we?

SPEAKER_02 1:57:20

The world destroyers?

SPEAKER_04 1:57:22

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:24

Pluto just looks sad.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:28

Can't you give them this one thing?

SPEAKER_04 1:57:33

We can't be world destroyers. That's just not good.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:39

It it's mostly just we only have the one world to destroy. And if that happens, Plato, me and Ryo disappear along with it, and you'll never see us again.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:52

I think I'm technically it.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:55

There's that too.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:57

I don't know. I'm still making sense. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:59

I guess I don't I guess I don't want to destroy you.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:02

See, that's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:05

I know I don't want to destroy you.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:06

Wow, I'll have to work harder then. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:13

Yeah, I think Ryo just kind of like sighs and drops her head, her forehead down on the table they've all been sitting at, like, alright, good talk team. Whatever we are.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:32

We're cool. We're cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:38

I mean, I'm I'm feeling kind of warm actually, but Oh no, they're drinking they're getting drunk.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:45

Oh no, the whiskey's working.

SPEAKER_05 1:58:49

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:56

Well, then Okay, um, so Diana kind of gives you a little bit more time to just kind of make sure you guys are all all situated, and then she comes back into the room with uh with Dr. Amon and Ava.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:09

Um everybody nervously peeking into the room.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:12

Yeah. Um and uh she says, uh, well, I think it's time for us to get out of here and get back to civilization. What do you think?

SPEAKER_04 1:59:34

Sure. Gotta start somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:38

I have to appoint um uh what's it called?

SPEAKER_04 1:59:42

King in absentia.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:44

That one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:46

Like a regent.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:48

She goes, um, okay. I guess we can do that. Uh so you guys uh was that Saturn?

SPEAKER_02 2:00:01

Uh Pluto's just like, who's gonna Rio? Did you did you meet anyone back at camp who is like is gonna be here for a while? Oh I feel like I should pick someone who's who's gonna definitely be here when I get back.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:21

You know? I have a great candidate. Oh, good. In fact, I have the best possible candidate because she's not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_06 2:00:31

And oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:32

I think I think the responsibility would do her some good.

SPEAKER_00 2:00:39

Um, so you guys kind of pack up um a little bit, and Diana tells you guys uh, well, take whatever you want from the supplies because I don't plan on coming back for a while.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:53

Oh, sweet, Ollie. We can take more poison if you want it.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:57

I'd say but Pluto comes out of a door and it's like, I think Ollie likes this stuff, they say, like arms full of like a disgusting amount of liquor.

SPEAKER_06 2:01:07

Ollie looking at all of that and going, okay. And I gotta stress this, Pluto. Just because I like it does not mean I need that much does not mean you can give it to me while driving coach.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 2:01:28

Cool, okay, we're good.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:30

Roger, just loading the bags up.

SPEAKER_00 2:01:33

Um uh Dr. Amon and Ava pack up some of the uh the MRE rations to give to the uh the graduate camp. Um and also tell Diana to leave the door open just in case they want to come back here and maybe rate it for their own supplies. Um as Diana is uh as you guys are leaving, like the lights are turning off as Diana gets further to the exit. Um and she lets you guys know that yeah, yeah, I mean, I can't maintain this, and once we get surface side, I'm gonna be without elect without those powers too. I'll have my normal set of superpowers, but I won't be able to provide power to anything else. Pluto just like, you have powers she kind of gives you like a really pointed look and like as if to like prove a point while not breaking eye contact with you, uh floats up the ladder. Yeah instead of climbing it.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:38

Okay. Pluto just like quietly looked at all like not very impressive. I kind of thought Ryo's mom would be like stronger.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:50

Seems kind of potential. She has she she has different powers. You you'd think that it'd be inherited, but it doesn't seem like it.

SPEAKER_03 2:02:59

Well, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:03:01

Um and she leads, you know, she the the rest of you guys make your way back uh back to the camp. Um as you guys are making your way though, uh since Diana is kind of flexing now that she's re recharged herself a little bit, um, she's she's kind of flexing a little bit. Like, Ryo, you get you do feel like very familiar uh like a very familiar energy when she uses her powers versus when you use yours. Like it does kind of feel like someone else is using your abilities.

SPEAKER_04 2:03:34

Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:03:36

Um and she kind of like hovers, hovers next to you. Sure. Um you guys make it back to back to uh the graduate camp. Um you know, there to kind of make your farewells. Uh Irene does approach you and say that um she did gather a bunch of letters from uh the graduates uh to kind of pass out to their parents, and Dr. Amon and Ava agree to do that. Uh so they'll they'll take care of that while the rest of you go on your adventure, you know, kind of situation. Um Whiskey and Penelope give you give all of you like gigantic uh spine crushing hugs.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:24

Bone crushing hugs, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:04:26

Talking about how uh uh I have never met braver or more Star Ward friends than you, and I look forward to the next time our adventuring paths cross. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:04:38

Yeah, you two whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:42

Poor Ollie, just like being let go of, and she's just she looks kind of like a crumpled up coke can now. Yeah. You know? Uh oh yeah, Rio absolutely introduces uh Pluto to Ashley. Uh like this is your king regent while you're gone.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:02

Great! Hi. Hi. Um and she she looks over at Rio.

unknown 2:05:09

What is what are they talking about?

SPEAKER_04 2:05:11

They're the king of the jungle.

SPEAKER_06 2:05:13

Um, but they have to-kill it, you bought it.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:16

Yeah, no, they killed it, so they bought it. They're the king of the jungle now. Um, but we got stuff to do, so you are in charge in the meantime, since you're not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:29

Uh she kind of looks between the two of you and goes, um. Oh, oh, right. Yeah, okay, no. Um yeah, for sure, or whatever. Like, yeah, I'll I'll um I'll uh definitely like rule over this place with like an iron fist and you know, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:48

Kind of girl, that's the right thought process.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:51

Kind of take over. And then she she looks over at you, Ryo, and it's like shaking her head and mouthing, no. Definitely definitely, uh definitely Pluto. Yeah, I'll um I'm gonna definitely take over this like whole place or whatever and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:09

Oh, yeah. You don't have to like do anything, I guess. It's just like, you know. You're in charge.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:19

Yeah. And you if any and if you tell someone to do something and they say I don't wanna, you tell them that when I get back, I'll kill them.

SPEAKER_00 2:06:31

Sure. Absolutely. No, yeah, no, for real. I'll definitely be doing that. And then she she looks over at Rio again and goes, mouthing like, not a chance now if I do.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:45

I'll let everybody know. And then Pluto walks away.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:48

Yeah, to go announce it to the whole team now. Rio just kind of gives Ashley like a little salute, like, have fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:55

I thought we were I gotta stress is absolutely going to announce to everybody that Ashley is is the is the is the king and waiting.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:03

Ashley, Ashley is like, I thought we were friends.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:11

This is a great way to make you socialize with people. Stay cool, Ashley. She backpedals to follow Ollie and uh Pluto.

SPEAKER_06 2:07:22

Um being a king makes you cool, don't forget.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:27

Okay, or whatever, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:32

I feel like it's the kind of the kind of appointment that would eventually go to her head after enough time.

SPEAKER_02 2:07:37

Yeah Oh yeah, we're gonna we're gonna come back to this place in a year and she's gonna be ruling it like Fujo royalty. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:07:44

Exactly. Iron Fist.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:48

Um So you guys you guys say your goodbyes, um, and uh you start making your way back to the car. Um and as you do, um Diana kind of gives you one final piece of advice uh you know to kind of go moving forward. Like uh she kind of she was listening in, the voice was was listening in for her. She could not help but but eavesdrop on her daughter being in a bad mood. Uh so she kind of knows what you guys are going through a little bit. Um she's like if you are looking for any kind of of direction here, um I do have this theory. I don't think the reboot gave everyone powers so much. Not directly. I think the reboot just activated the powers everyone was supposed to already have.

SPEAKER_04 2:09:00

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:09:01

I think to put it in superhero terms, I think everyone already had their origin stories and just didn't get the powers that were supposed to go with them.

SPEAKER_04 2:09:15

So is there a place we should be starting to look?

SPEAKER_00 2:09:20

Well, I think I think if you're going to keep if you're just going to keep uh exploring this world and meeting other people with superpowers, I think trying to get to know them, asking questions about where these powers came from uh or what they were doing in their lives, trying to pinpoint where they would have come from, I think that'll get us closer to figuring out what the reboot actually was. I think if you're just going to keep uh exploring, going on adventures, and meeting people, just do your part to get to know them a little better and ask about what they've been through in their lives. We'll see what kind of information we can gather on that.

SPEAKER_04 2:10:08

It's a good elite anyway.

SPEAKER_00 2:10:11

She and uh as she leads you, as you guys get back to the car, um Diana actually uh points at the deflated tires of coach and they refill and tighten back up. Oh my baby. Coach! And she goes, Okay, so I'm so to be clear, right now I am manipulating the air inside of the tires, and once I'm out of range, they are going to deflate you. You need to patch these tires, but at least we can get you out of the jungle.

SPEAKER_06 2:10:46

Oh, thank God. Oh, oh coach, we are gonna get you the nicest new tires that I could probably get you in this horrible, horrible post-apocalyptic world. I have so many cases of whiskey to buy this with.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:01

Yeah, you load up the trunk with just cases.

SPEAKER_05 2:11:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:10

It's gonna be making an ungodly racket the entire time.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:17

Yeah, you are driving on a dirt road, so you're just gonna hear like all these bottles shaking.

SPEAKER_04 2:11:21

Like clinking constantly. It's fine. Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_06 2:11:30

Like looking around, going like, there's an awful lot of grass in this area. And just cutting a bunch of it down, so there's basically like hay between the bottles. So that at the very least, they're not hitting each other hard enough that it is just ear shattering. Right, breaking things for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:46

Um and as you so as you guys pull out, uh you are prepared to leave uh Dino Dino City and uh the green zone.

SPEAKER_04 2:11:58

Goodbye, guys.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:01

On your on your next adventures here uh going forward uh Diana looks to you, Ryo, again. Uh and she says uh she kind of takes your hand and she goes, um If you want me to come along, I will. If you want me to stay behind, I will as well. But from now on, no matter no matter what, we're not going to be apart. Uh because you have the voice, which means we can always be in communication from now on. I'm not gonna leave you behind. Uh I'm not gonna keep you in the dark about anything that I'm working on. Um and if you ever need me for anything, uh you can just give me a call. And you hear her voice in your head going, I would be happy to assist you with anything you may need.

SPEAKER_04 2:12:58

Well, that sounds nice. Okay. Um I do think I'm just gonna stick with them for a little while, thumbing back at her idiot friends, like sitting in the front seat of the car.

SPEAKER_00 2:13:11

Yeah, and she she smiles at you, um and she says, I think that sounds great. And I'm gonna try to be better about this. About and she kind of gestures around, she says, about all of this.

SPEAKER_04 2:13:32

Uh and I think Ryo just kind of like gives her mom a hug before going to like jump in the car with her again idiot friends. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:13:42

Um I think and okay, and then the rest of you you guys uh you guys drive off, and I think uh you guys literally drive off into the sunset. And that is the final panel of this issue and this volume. And in the bottom, there is just one final narration box that just says to be continued.

SPEAKER_04 2:14:10

Yay! Hooray! Hooray!

SPEAKER_00 2:14:14

You did it!

SPEAKER_04 2:14:16

We did it!

SPEAKER_00 2:14:17

You found Ryo's mom.

SPEAKER_04 2:14:20

You and now we have uh whatever we want to do next.

SPEAKER_00 2:14:27

The the the world map has opened, and there are side quests galore for you to explore.

SPEAKER_04 2:14:33

We're out of the tutorial zone every single open world game, right?

SPEAKER_06 2:14:38

We've finally done the prologue, and now we are beset with three idiots in a truck who each have a new voice in their head that isn't theirs.

SPEAKER_02 2:14:51

That's right, maybe. It's time for reboot last defense road trip too.

SPEAKER_04 2:14:58

Yeah. Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:02

Yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_04 2:15:04

Well, Ben, as always, I love it. I'm excited for more. Um hey, if you're listening to this on the Patreon, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:16

Yes, thank you, Ben.

SPEAKER_04 2:15:17

Because that means you paid to hear it, in which case we appreciate it. If you're not listening to this on the Patreon, if you're listening to this on Buzz Sprout or wherever your podcasts are so served, um, we also appreciate you. But if you like what we do and you want to hear these episodes a week in advance, uh patreon.com slash thegorge, where you gain access to uh episodes of the reboot ahead of everyone else, and also a bunch of other fun stuff that we've done in the past. So yeah, it's a steal. You should check it out. Uh, we love all of you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:53

Thank you, everyone. Uh, we'll be back sooner than later with uh the first issue of volume four.

SPEAKER_04 2:16:00

Yay!

SPEAKER_02 2:16:02

This is the end of a volume. It's also the last issue of the volume, so we have to name both. Name the issue and name the volume.

SPEAKER_04 2:16:10

Ooh. Uh oh gosh. Um what do we call the not that kind of whiskey?

SPEAKER_02 2:16:27

That's a good issue.

SPEAKER_04 2:16:37

We've already got an issue that calls it dinotopia, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 2:16:40

Yeah, first issue is well first issue is called it's pronounced dino city.

SPEAKER_04 2:16:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:16:47

I I see this time you were uh you were correct in and how you pronounce that and not dinosity.

SPEAKER_04 2:16:55

Um what do we call this volume? Um what were the last two volumes called?

SPEAKER_02 2:17:10

Uh Wake Up Call was number one, and It Can Always Get Worse in Herald Topia was number two.

SPEAKER_04 2:17:16

Those are both really good. Okay. Uh I wanna I really just kind of want to call it Lost in Dinotopia.

SPEAKER_06 2:17:31

I I kind of I like the idea of fear and loathing in Dinotopia.

SPEAKER_02 2:17:42

Well, no, we have to save that for the for the volume where we actually go to Vegas.

SPEAKER_04 2:17:47

True, true, true. I mean, Vegas is really nearby.

SPEAKER_01 2:17:54

Is it?

SPEAKER_04 2:17:55

Mississippi, Colorado is like one state over.

SPEAKER_02 2:17:59

I have no I have no conceptualization of any geography on that side of the Mississippi.

SPEAKER_04 2:18:04

If you're going west from Colorado, it goes Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada. Wait, Arizona should be in there somewhere. Shit.

SPEAKER_00 2:18:13

It's in the area.

SPEAKER_06 2:18:15

So it is it's Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Sarah.

SPEAKER_04 2:18:19

So, oh, there you go. I know my fucking geography, I swear. Um, the point is, we it's not that long of a road trip to fucking Vegas, is all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 2:18:30

I I had an idea for a really dumb transition, but I kind of want to save it for after recording discussion because I would want if A, I wouldn't want to spoil what the stupid idea I had was, but B also I would want us to have time to like do it correctly.

SPEAKER_00 2:18:46

Sure, sure, sure. Okay. Uh volume three, though.

SPEAKER_04 2:18:50

Herald so wake up, call. It can always get worse in Herald Topia.

SPEAKER_02 2:18:55

Uh, we could always just be really uh direct with our references and just go call it Welcome to the Jungle.

SPEAKER_04 2:19:02

Oh, true. I don't hate it. I think it's very functions.

SPEAKER_06 2:19:09

I I know it's like it's not thematically good, but I do like referring to it as Fiddler's Green Zone.

SPEAKER_02 2:19:20

Uh I would also suggest, because it's a great bait and switch, uh the the the life and death of Jungle Jim.

SPEAKER_04 2:19:31

Oh no, I kind of love that.

SPEAKER_02 2:19:33

I like that one because Jungle Jim literally only Jungle Jim literally doesn't have a line of dialogue. Pluto killed him before he even got to say a word on screen.

SPEAKER_04 2:19:49

No, I kind of fuck with that.

SPEAKER_00 2:19:50

How about the wrath of Jungle Jim? Okay. I'm writing that the wrath of Jungle Jam. The uh the the art of this volume is the three of you locked in like serious combat with Jungle Jam.

SPEAKER_04 2:20:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he just doesn't even make it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:20:12

Definitely one of those we put Wolverine on the cover to sell more issues.

SPEAKER_04 2:20:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:20:19

Uh with Jungle Jim on there. Uh Volume 3, The Wrath of Jungle Jim, containing the issues it's pronounced dinosity, Snake, Eater, Nightmare Before Christmas, T-Rect, and Not That Kind of Whiskey.

SPEAKER_06 2:20:35

Great. I love all of this.

SPEAKER_00 2:20:38

So there we there we go. We have wrapped up uh volume three, issue 15, and we'll be back with volume four, issue sixteen soon.

SPEAKER_04 2:20:49

Aw, thanks everyone. Good night.

SPEAKER_00 2:20:52

Good night.

SPEAKER_04 2:20:53

Have a good night.

SPEAKER_01 2:20:54

Good night.