#or maybe fire/dps because of Doomsday

[kisuminight]

A very general outline of how this AU's Staged Finale goes down:

So Tommy swings the Axe of Peace. And instead of turning into golden dust like a respawn, Dream shatters into pieces of light. The axe catches on Dream’s core crystal and basically knocks it so it hits the ground behind Tommy, in the middle of the gathered server members.

“What the fuck?” says Tommy.

“Language!” from Bad.

“That’s a core crystal. Dream was a Blade?” says Punz. He steps closer to the core crystal on the ground.

“Don’t touch that!” says Sapnap. He also steps closer to the core crystal on the ground.

“Chill. It can take up to three days for a core crystal to recover enough to be Awakened again.” But Punz steps back.

“Dream can’t be a Blade.” Says Sam. “Are you sure that was Dream?”

“Of course if was fucking Dream! You think I don’t fucking recognize how he fucking fights?” Tommy again.

“But if Dream is a Blade, who was his Driver?” Tubbo.

The problem is that Blades, socially, are seen as extensions of their Drivers. Most people expect that, if a Blade is doing something, it is because their Driver told them to. Anyone who has interacted with Skeppy on a frequent basis (and is aware he is a Blade) knows this is nonsense, but ingrained prejudice is strong. Tommy and Tubbo being mostly clueless about the Blade system actually puts them at a better point for recognizing Dream’s agency than anyone else.

Sapnap is having a breakdown. He thought he understood his friend, and then he thought that he didn’t understand his friend but that was okay because Dream was a bad friend. Now Dream is a Blade and some things are making sense but more things aren’t and actually his friend is for-real dead now. Not dead as in a canon death, dead as in the Dream that existed just stopped the moment he was returned to a core crystal. If it is Awakened, the New Dream will be similar but will not be the same person. The last bit hasn’t really hit him yet.

Antfrost and Bad have both been corrupted by the Egg at this point. They are surprised about Dream being a Blade, but are pushed by the Egg to want to bring Dream’s core crystal back to it. The Egg has a hard time infecting Blades, and only got Skeppy by a combination of lingering influence coming from Bad and long-term direct exposure. It is aware that any Blade in its power that reverts to a core crystal will reAwaken without the corruption, and has plans that revolve around trying to corrupt Dream’s core crystal itself.

HBomb, Jack Manifold, and Niki are mostly satisfied that Dream is not going to be a Problem any more. They are content to leave at this point. Niki did guess that Philza was a blade, and since Techno contacted her prior to the confrontation, she does inform Techno (who she thinks is Philza’s Driver) about the situation with Dream.

Callahan is worried about the situation. He wants to know who Dream’s Driver was. As a Blade himself, he is aware that a Driver does not absolutely dictate what Blades can/cannot do. However, a Blade’s relationship with their Driver does greatly impact how they see the rest of the world. Callahan is also aware that a Driver does not necessarily have to be on the same server as the Blade, seeing as his Driver Alyssa is off-server.

Ranboo is staying quiet. He and Punz are staying out of this discussion. Punz makes an excuse to leave early, and dips out while making motions to or saying something about Dream’s core crystal, which is still on the ground. Ranboo is hovering around, acting hesitant.

Sam also wants to know who Dream’s Driver was. He is currently the Warden of Pandora’s Vault, and while his behavior has not reached the point where it would in canon-timeline after overseeing Dream’s imprisonment, the signs are already starting. Sam thinks that Dream should be reAwakened and that they need to be careful about who Dream’s new Driver is to make sure that Dream is a Good Person in his new life (Sam is advocating to be the new Driver).

Puffy agrees that Dream needs a good Driver to be a better person in his new life. She thinks Sam is a good person for that. Eret weighs in at this point and mentions that Dream was a citizen of the Greater Dream SMP and might be better with them (this is part of Eret’s quest for reconciliation, as well as a bit of power-hunger. Eret is a weird character). Puffy says that Sam would be better because Dream shouldn’t be around/have influence in politics. She says Dream probably shouldn’t go with Bad or Antfrost for similar reasons. At this point, Eret leaves.

Tommy wants to know what the hell are they talking about. Why is Dream a rock? Why are they trying to revive Dream at all? It’s like they think that Dream isn’t a wrongun’.

*Blade system is explained to Tommy*

Okay, so the New Dream will look exactly the same as Dream. And act exactly like Dream. And you think it’s okay to wake him up because he won’t have any memories? Tommy calls Doubt with lots of cursing. Bullshit Dream was doing it on orders. It was only Dream demanding Exile. It was only Dream during Exile. Yeah, Doomsday was Dream + Phil + Techno, but Dream wasn’t getting puppeted by either of them. And if Dream was a Blade, why didn’t Dream ever use any of his Blade powers? None of them even know what his Soul Weapon looked like. They don’t know what his element is. Even healer Blades have some weak attacks, and he didn’t use an of that shit! Maybe Dream should stay a rock.

“What the fuck, Tommy,” goes Sapnap.

“Maybe Tommy should reAwaken him,” says Tubbo. The issue is that Dream hated Tommy, right? If Tommy is Dream’s Driver, then that can’t happen again. Dream will help Tommy, be his friend. After all, Dream was nice in the beginning.

Dream will be Tommy’s friend sets Tommy off. “Dream was never my friend and never will be!” This is lingering trauma from the emotional manipulation from exile. Meta note, the relationship between Tommy and Dream would not be healthy at this point.

“Dream should stay with someone who was actually his friend,” Ponk disagrees. Giving a Blade to someone who was their enemy seems ethically dubious.

“Sapnap,” says Quackity.

“Not Sapnap,” says everyone else.

“Fine, George then.”

Sapnap, who is still having a breakdown and is processing 1000+ things and just realized that George might have been Dream’s Driver, based the fact that he re-met Dream as George’s friend and also George’s weird behavior around the dethronement, “Not George.”

“You should leave Dream as a rock,” Tommy repeats.

“I still think it would be better if he stayed with Sapnap,” says Quackity. This is partly to support his fiancé and partly because he thinks having a Blade in his sphere of influence would help his plans. “What do you think, Ranboo?”

“Um, Karl?” It sounds shaky, and the pronunciation is weird. Ranboo leaves.

People present: Tommy, Tubbo, Puffy, Quackity, Sapnap, Antfrost, Badboyhalo, Ponk, Awesamedude.

Karl is friendly. He is minimally involved in server politics at this point (since El Rapids is mostly forgot about in comparison to L’Manberg, and L’Manberg is a hole in the ground). He is Quackity’s other fiancé, so this is still a good solution for Q. Tubbo likes Karl. Tommy is kind of “eh” about it, but he also thinks that Dream should not be reAwakened at this point. Everyone else talks over him. Sam is okay with Karl, but he would prefer to have Dream as his Blade.

“Sapnap, can you bring the core crystal to Karl?”

The core crystal is Not There.

Everyone freaks out. Sapnap demands that everyone empty their inventory. Nobody present has the core crystal (or they are pretending they don’t. Sapnap isn’t sure how much he can trust them). When was the last time anybody remembered seeing it? Well, that was when Punz pointed to it and left. Okay, so Punz doesn’t have it.

Who left?

Ranboo, HBomb, Eret, Niki, and Jack Manifold.

On the Nether side of the portal, EW!Ranboo drops Dream’s core crystal into Punz’s hand. Even if someone were to come through the portal now, they wouldn’t be able to see them. Punz was actively pushing aether into his passive powers, rendering the two of them completely unnoticeable. Once Punz has the core crystal, he steps back. EW!Ranboo completely loses track of him as he leaves.

EW!Ranboo scribbles the basics of what happened in his memory book, Dream tried to kill Tommy and Tubbo. We rescued them. Dream is a Blade and they are fighting about who Dream’s new Driver will be. I am worried about the outcome. Then he gives control back to Ranboo.

So everyone goes into the Nether, and they see Ranboo standing there putting away with his memory book. Ranboo says, “What happened?”

“Ranboo, can you empty your inventory?” The core crystal is Not There (anymore).

Ranboo apologizes to Tubbo, “I’m sorry. Thinks were very stressful. I don’t remember what happened at the confrontation.”

Three days later, Punz Awakens Dream as his Blade. “Hey, buddy. You doing okay?”

“…Resonance feels different from George. It’s weird to have a comparison.”

Results of Staged Finale:

Punz is not under suspicion for having Dream or helping Dream before he was killed. Ranboo is also not under suspicion. Dream has been reAwakened with all his memories (the experiments worked!). They can now continue further experiments in peace. Everyone at Staged Finale is now very suspicious of each other. The idea of someone on the server can just pull a Blade with Dream’s fighting skills, unknown powers, and the blind loyalty of all New Blades out of their inventory unnerves people. Tensions are high, but most people are reluctant to get into actual fights for the moment because what if.

Dream is avoiding the SMP in general, but if someone does see him he can just say “I have no idea who you are, got to go.” There is a greatly reduced risk of immediate attack as long as he pretends to be an amnesiac new Blade if he is discovered.

[1358456]

SA Complaints

I find it VERY amusing that this appears NOW. SA ended a long, long time ago. Looking at the date of the very first review for the SA2 Preview, I can see that SA officially ended in December of 2013.

And I just got a couple of amusing complaints NOW. Heh. From someone who apparently only read the first half. Given how most of SA's stuff happened in the second half... Like I said, amusing.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't bother at all, but in the event that there are those with similar thoughts for Destiny/Legacy, I think it's worth taking a look at the complaints and my responses to them.

Now, since nothing will change... there's no real reason to take a look. So... continue only if you wish. Meh, I say.

1) Ok I have read till half of the story upto chapter 26 This story seems too female oriented I don't think Blue is so strong if you don't agree you check her pokemon levels in the net. Sapphire doesn't even compare to Gold's pokemon majority of his team is in 80 levels whereas all of her pokemon are only in 50 levels. And all those moves Platinum performed against Red, will a sheltered rich lady able to do that (I mean pokemon battles she has talent but fighting not really). Male Dexholders are portrayed too stupid it is not like that they perform really well in all the crisis in the manga. Most of the time they are only there for shipping moments not doing anything worthwhile.

Female oriented. As mentioned at some point a long while ago, my stories generally have female Dex Holders in the main focus as compensation for them being screwed out of it in actual Pokemon Special. Main two examples are Sapphire and Platinum. Sapphire got sealed in a car at the end of RS, and Platinum literally did nothing in the end of DPPt. And THEN there's White. Though recently, thanks to Y and Moon, the balance isn't that disrupted anymore. Sort of. But in ORAS, it was mostly Ruby and Emerald doing everything, and Sapphire was just sent through one wormhole after the next.

Again with the levels. Yellow's Pokemon can reach the 80s. Does that mean she's stronger than Blue? Pff. Nope. Besides, Blue's Pokemon levels were taken in FRLG, where she was 16. LOTS of time has passed. So what, Blue, who is about... 22-ish in SA, should still be just as strong as she was at 16? She would have improved. The example you've conveniently provided proves MY point. Gold's team being in the 80s are from HGSS. 16 years old. Sapphire's team being in the 50s are from RS (11 years old) and did not get updated in ORAS (15) with the exception of Gallade being added. Easily noticeable when you compare Ruby/Sapphire in RS and then in ORAS. Ruby's team got a lot stronger. Sapphire's team remains the same. Did not get updated. Given RS, those two should be very similar in strength. Especially considering... if a CONTEST focused dude got that much stronger between RS and ORAS, shouldn't a BATTLE focused girl get even stronger than that?

Of course 16 year old Gold would be a LOT stronger than 11 year old Sapphire. But that's not their actual age gap, now is it? I also have no idea how old they are in SA, but I'd imagine that they are both old enough that their teams would not be that far apart in levels. At a certain point, leveling becomes very hard. And this is why levels don't make any damn sense in a story setting. A 30 year old Red would just be as strong as he is when he's like 75. Because he hit the level cap. And at that point, even Moon would be just as strong as he is, since she would've also hit the level cap.

Platinum vs. Red. ... Um... hold on. Which one is this... Oh. The Unown thing? Would a sheltered rich lady be able to do such a thing? Who knows. They're ordinarily never in a situation like this. In SA, I had Platinum be quite physical at times, because she copied such a trait from Sapphire. Mostly for shock value, really. And also so that she doesn't DIE. ... Until the time came. It's either she does nothing like in DPPt, or she tries and dies immediately, or tries and survives by mimicking Sapphire.

Males being stupid and not doing anything? Clearly you have not seen the second half of SA. And in the actual manga... of course they perform well. THAT is the point of the female focus in my stories. The males generally hog the freaking spotlight.

2) In chapter 26 eight year olds just killed a bunch of ppl I mean that is insane how can they do that they are freaking kids

In a world where a bunch of RANDOM 11 and 12 year olds stop multiple doomsday events one after another, having a group of already-rowdy 8 year olds being forced to kill to survive in an apocalypse-setting doesn't seem that far-fetched. I mean, Groudon/Kyogre incident (RS, 11 years old), a literal doomsday cannon about to fire (XY, 12 years old), Legendary cryo cannon (BW2, 12 years old), space/time deity conflict (DP, 12 years old), etc. Not to mention in ORAS, a couple of 15 year olds went to SPACE to destroy a doomsday meteor. All that spatial radiation... and g-forces. To 15 year olds, who did not even PASS OUT. Bullsh*t. And also, it's very, very cold up there. And yet...

First you complain about the male Dex Holders who aren't being as amazing in my stories as they were in the actual arcs, and now you complain about kids being overly mature for their ages. Be consistent. The male Dex Holders in their own arcs were VERY young for all the sh*t they've done. So complaining about kids being too mature for their age is self-contradiction.

I'm more curious as to how the hell you managed to leave two signed-in reviews for the same chapter. I thought the site blocks you from doing such... unless some data got corrupted or something. The alert I got was that I received reviews for "SA chapter 26The Package". And "The Package" is chapter 1, not 26 (24+2 intermission).

So. In relations to RECENT stories...

Female Focus. - This will always persist, given Pokemon Special's initial imbalance. But for the most part, Destiny and Legacy will have joint focus. Especially later on in Legacy once... something happens.

Levels. - By the time of Destiny AND Legacy, the Pokemon Special arcs' levels are completely invalid. I have no idea how old Platinum is in Destiny (forgot), but probably around 16? And the last time we had a level update from her was when she was 12 in DPPt. 16 would be her approximate age in a theoretical DP remake, and given how everyone in the remake arcs were about 20~30 levels higher than they were before... ... Is her Empoleon going to be level 90? She's stronger than Red! ... Of course not. Red's last levels were taken in FRLG, when he was 16. In Destiny, he's like... 24. 50% older! - And in Legacy, Platinum is 18 and thus even stronger. And already there have been complaints. And I've already responded a few times. Would you still complain about Platinum being too strong, even if I kill off the first 10 Dex Holders thus she is the strongest one left alive?

Physical Activity: - Well, Platinum no longer has any reason to do what she did in SA. Y will now do that for her. ... Unless Platinum mimicks Y now. Which could happen, but in Legacy, she's a bit too mature for such a thing. She's not going to be kicking down doors and people. She'll order Y to do it for her. And Moon too. Platinum doesn't need to be aggro. She has people to do that for her. - And if I recall, no one ever complained about WHITE getting screetime doing things she normally would not be able to do. Like in SA. She did a LOT of work against the enemy... A LOT more than what she did in all of BW. And people just complain about Platinum. Come on. White is RIGHT THERE. Do you know what she did in all of BW? Fall off a ferris wheel, got a bit stronger, and then got kidnapped.

"Dumb" Male Dex Holders: - When has that ever been a thing to begin with? With the exception of Gold who's supposed to be a BIT like that, and MAYBE Black when a certain pink blob isn't munching on his brains. Besides, for the Dex Holders, the girls are generally smarter than the guys.

[kawaiiyouthwombat]

LP: AHAHAHAHAHAAA!! What’s with that ridiculous ponytail you’re wearing, huh? *points at MM*

MM: Says the guy who doesn’t know how to dress properly…

LP: Excuse me!?

MM: Yeah, you heard me. Your outfit is the type of thing someone with no common sense would wear.

LP: Bah, who cares about fashion when you’re the most powerful person in Elrios?

MM: *snorts* What, you?

LP: I’ll have you know that my Nasod Armor lets me punch and kick my foes over and over and over again! I bet you can’t do that!

MM: While it’s true that I never completed my Nasod Armor, the reason for that was because I focused on perfecting my Drone Installations. And I’ll have you know that these drones are very complex in their design and programming! Your puny brain could never hope to understand such beautiful pieces of technology!

LP: Hah! You’re just a coward who can’t fight for himself!

MM: Oh yeah? Without your Nasod Armor, you probably wouldn’t last 10 seconds against a baby Phoru!

LP: Without your drones, you wouldn’t last 5!

MM: Grrr, that’s it! Fight me! Right now!

LP: Come at me, bro.

MM: HYAAAAAAAHHH!!!

LP: RRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

*suddenly, the two of them get teleported. They’re now sitting about 10 meters away from each other*

MM: What the… What happened?

LP: Dunno, wasn’t me…

DE: Oooohhh… *appears out of nowhere next to LP*

LP: AHH!! Who the hell are you!?

DE: *simply stares at LP and starts poking his arm*

LP: Hey. Stop that.

MM: I… think that’s us…

LP: What, this idiot?

MM: Yeah. He’s got the same hair color as us, he’s got Dynamos, and the aura that’s around him right now indicates that he’s in DP Mode.

LP: I suppose… But his eyes are black for some reason.

DE: Ahhhhh… *begins tugging on LP’s hair*

LP: What do you want now???

DE: *runs his hair through LP’s hair, then starts poking his cheek*

LP: …

DE: *continues poking*

LP: ………

DE: *poke, poke, poke…*

LP: If you poke me again, I will-

DE: *poke*

LP: I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! That’s it, you’re going down!!! DOOMSDAY!!! *a huge swirl of electricity forms around the two of them, while MM shields his eyes from the light*

MM: (after the light has cleared) W-what happened…?

*LP is standing over DE’s dead body*

LP: Hmph. Good riddance.

MM: I don’t think that was really necessary…

LP: He was getting on my nerves. That’s definitely a good enough reason.

DE: Ahhhhh….

LP: What the-

*LP and MM stare at DE, who has suddenly come back to life. Not only that, he seems to not be fazed at all*

LP: H-how did he survive my hyper active!?

MM: Because it’s really weak?

LP: NO IT IS NOT! Besides, even if it were, it should’ve done something against him. But he doesn’t seem to be affected by it at all!

MM: You’re right… *turns to DE* How did you do it?

DE: *grins* Seal of Time! Your hyper active killed me, yes, but my buff resurrects me every time I die!

LP: YOU CAN COME BACK FROM THE DEAD??

MM: He’s like a… a…

LP: *gulps* a ghost…..

DE: Ehehehehee….

MM: W-well, ghost or not, I bet that buff of yours has a cooldown!

DE: That’s correct.

LP: Hah! In that case, we just need to kill you before you can activate that seal again! Mastermind, let’s do it!

MM: You got it! APOCALYPSE!!

LP: *enters DP Mode* CONQUEROR!!!

*DE suddenly teleports away, causing Conqueror to miss. He reappears behind LP and fires an energy blast into his back*

LP: Aaauughh!! *falls to the ground*

MM: Apocalypse! Fire missiles a- *suddenly, he starts to hear something* What is this? A song…? *the music gets louder and louder* M-make it stop!!! What’s going on???

DE: *suddenly appears in front of MM and punches him. The punch itself doesn’t hurt too badly, but there’s a massive energy blast that accompanies the punch*

MM: *keels over and collapses*

DE: …. KYAHAHAHAHAA!!! That was fun… I should do that again. Oh, maybe I can turn back time and repeat these events again!

*suddenly, a portal appears behind DE. Glave steps through*

DE: Hi Glave!

Glave: *stares at the other two Adds on the ground* Add, you’ve ripped a hole in the fabric of time and space. Again. I need to repair it now before the damage becomes irreparable.

DE: Aww man! But things were just getting interesting!

Glave: Enough.

DE: *sigh* Oh fine…

Glave: *snaps his fingers. Suddenly, everyone disappears except for DE*

DE: Where’d they all go?

Glave: I transported them back to their original worlds. They won’t have any memory of this whole experience, either. They’ll carry out their own lives as if none of this ever happened.

DE: I see…

Glave: Alright, time for us to go home. *opens up a portal* Let’s go. You and I have got more training to do…