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tobiasdrake · 3 days

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Haven't had a chance to talk much about the Ginyus yet, so here we go. Talking about the Ginyu Tokusentai/Ginyu Force/Dairy Special Forces requires putting them into context with the greater Dragon Ball universe around them.

Something that has always been incredibly limiting for Dragon Ball's worldbuilding is that, despite much of the brand being about presenting Goku with new ladders to climb, Goku doesn't climb ladders. He leaps from ladder-top to ladder-top.

What this means is, Toriyama had a tendency to be hyperbolic with the challenges Goku was presented. Toriyama doesn't pit Goku against powerful foes. He pits Goku against the most powerful foe, then has to sit back and figure out another arena for Goku to go fight the champion of.

This creates issues of perspective. We don't get to see a lot of development of the worlds Toriyama creates because Goku only shows up to fight the Very Most Powerful Guy and then leaves. And this also means we don't get to see what being the Very Most Powerful Guy means relative to people who are not.

If you followed Dragon Ball Super, you might have noticed that issue with the Tournament of Power. The way the story leaps straight from "Multiple universes exist" to "Goku vs. The Strongest in Universe 6" and then to "Goku vs. The Strongest Guy in the MULTIVERSE!" without even stopping to breathe.

What is that universe even about? Who knows? But this guy sure is their STRONGEST GUY. And that's something that's been with Dragon Ball... honestly, since all the way back at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai when his second arc adversary was the Earth's legendary ultimate martial arts master.

The whole concept of aliens enters the Dragon Ball universe by way of Raditz introducing the Strongest Alien Race in the Universe.

Shortly after that, Goku is fighting the Strongest Saiyan, who is technically referred to as Strongest in the Universe... right up until a retcon introduces the Planet Trade Organization and Goku fights Frieza, the Actual Strongest in the Universe For Realsies.

So. Yeah. It's hard to get a sense of perspective for how powerful our guys are when they leave Earth because they only ever brush elbows with outlier titans.

But to give some idea, we already know that Earthlings are considered to be a pretty weak species.

Raditz's arrival retroactively explains Goku's destructive Oozaru transformations. This thing?

This is the Doom of the Earth. The planet-killer meant to exterminate every last human being on this planet. Boy, sure would be fun to be in the ring with that, huh?

It's also clearly touching down outside of the ring so I don't know why this wasn't a ringout. Since when is the waiting room's rooftop considered part of the stage? But I digress.

When Goku was three years old, his Oozaru was measured to be sufficient to slaughter this world. That is how weak Earth is on the scale. By contrast, Namek is considered to be one of the more powerful worlds. Vegeta describes Namekian fighters as "extraordinary".

That's something we get to see for ourselves, when Extraordinary Namekian Fighters happen to Frieza Force soldiers like a typhoon.

This is what's considered extraordinary on a standard galactic scale. These are three warriors from one of the stronger races in the universe tearing apart soldiers whose job is to exterminate races. Once they start fighting, Dodoria reads their battle powers as 3,000.

For comparison, Raditz was said to be equivalent to a Saibaman at 1,200. We never got a read on Nappa but he found the idea of Kakarot being at 5,000 unbelievable enough to go into denial, and he shit himself over 8,000.

So, with that in mind, we can understand that these nameless Namekian nobodies are pretty fucking tough, well within the realm of Saiyan ability. They're also familiar with advanced martial arts concepts like ki suppression that the Planet Trade doesn't understand.

There's probably a reason why, despite Namek apparently being well known to the Planet Trade, nobody's seen fit to gentrify this one yet. This is a fight Frieza's more elite forces can win, to be sure. But also, there are easier pickings to be had.

And then we have the Saiyans, said to be the most powerful race in the universe. Raditz, a loser scrub who doesn't know a thing about martial arts, is able to thoroughly humiliate Goku and Piccolo in terms of sheer stats, even after Goku's been trained by Popo.

This guy is the Saiyan equivalent of Appule. Goku's been personally trained by God's right-hand attendant, and Piccolo is the reincarnation of God's evil counterpart; These are not humans of this planet, but two guys who demonstrated five years ago that they're in a realm beyond the humans.

And this loser is still doing this to them. This is what a low-rate Saiyan looks like.

And this is what a Saiyan elite looks like:

Like I said, we're never given an official reading on Nappa but he found 5,000 BP to be ridiculous for Goku to have and 8,000 to be unthinkably terrifying. The Daizenshuu pegs him at 4,000, but they also peg Piccolo at 3,500 which would mean Piccolo and Nappa are closely matched.

I don't know about you but I don't see it. But that may just be me.

In any case, this gives us a general understanding of how powerful the races of the universe are. Earthlings weak. Namekians strong. Saiyans strongest. And then there's outliers.

Throughout the universe, there are... mutants. On rare occasions, an individual is born to a race who have vastly, unbelievably, ridiculously, stupidly tremendous ki.

The Planet Trade employs these mutants for their upper staff. Zarbon and Dodoria are mutants, as are the Ginyus and even Frieza himself. Especially Frieza. The reason we've never gotten elaboration on Frieza's race is because Toriyama didn't want Frieza's traits to be taken as indicative of a whole people.

According to interview, Cold was born with abnormally high power and cruelty for his race, and these traits were passed down to his son Frieza. Whatever species they came from, it is nothing like them.

They're not the only ones. The Planet Trade collects and employs these uniquely ultra-powerful mutants for its elite forces. The Saiyans are the strongest race in the universe, but these mutants are the strongest individuals in the universe.

To grasp how powerful these guys are relative to the rest of the universe, we need to talk Saiyans again for a moment. Raditz? Raditz was the yardstick for what the bottom-tier of Saiyans was. He made Earthlings look like trash, but he would have been eaten alive by those unnamed Namekian warriors.

However, a Saiyan's true strength lies in the Oozaru. Goku as an Oozaru was meant to be able to reduce the standing population of the Earth to 0. Raditz, as an Oozaru? Would still have gotten his teeth kicked in by Vegeta, the Saiyan super-elite. He is so ridiculous, he could win a straight fight with the planet-killing Oozaru.

...I mean, not after being beaten within an inch of his life and taking a Genki-Dama to the face, he can't. But if Vegeta were still at the top of his game, this would be a very different fight.

Meanwhile, the Ginyu Force.

So. Yeah. By the time we get to them, we are far beyond the ordinary limits of the universe. Saiyans are the strongest race, and Vegeta's pressing up against the limit of Saiyan ability. He's one Zenkai away from breaking through the Saiyan ceiling. Goku already has.

And these mutants they're up against are the most powerful freak aberrations of unexplained super-ki ever to have occurred anywhere in space.

IIRC it's never directly stated but for reference, Broly would probably be considered a mutant. Whether he is or isn't, he makes as a pretty solid equivalence. These guys are to their respective races what Broly is to Saiyans. What Uub is to humans.

This is all vital context for understanding the way the Ginyu Force fights.

Because.

Like.

You need to understand.

These guys suck.

On purpose.

From a technical standpoint, they're not good fighters. They're sloppy. Poorly trained around big showy moves that are meant to look cool. Style over substance.

This is because they can get away with it. They are the most powerful beings in the universe; Powerful on a scale that is an order of magnitude beyond everybody else that exists. Even the Saiyans look like shit next to these mutants.

Saiyan super-elite hits Recoome with everything he's got right in the face at point-blank range.

And the mutant takes it like a fucking champ. Vegeta's about to be killed by a man who keeps pausing to do this.

The Ginyu Force is badly trained on purpose. Which isn't to say that they're trained to lose fights, but rather that they aren't trained to compete with an equivalent rival. They can afford a martial style focused entirely on showmanship because there is no competition for them. They're too powerful to ever lose fights. Nobody else in the known universe even compares to their mutant might.

Which, as previously noted, is something Frieza is also afflicted by, in different ways. There is no reason for the Ginyus to hone their skills the way the Earthlings do because. Like. Who's going to challenge them? They're naturally born into being top of the field by a wide margin. They're going to auto-win every fight they ever involve themselves in, so their idea of self-improvement is centered instead on looking as cool as possible while they do it.

This is precisely what the Muten-Roshi worked so hard to prevent Goku from becoming.

Something else I mentioned before is that Trunks demonstrates his serious goal-oriented nature by never naming any of his techniques. He has some distinct and identifiable moves, but none of them have a formal name that he shouts out when firing them. He's here to get the job done, not to show off.

The Ginyus are in the opposite boat. They know they can't lose fights, so they are absolutely, 100% here to show off. They name the shit out of their techniques.

Flying knee? Nah, bro. That is a Recoome Kick.

Running in and throwing a punch? Nuh-uh. Recoome Mach Attack.

Lobbing a ki blast at the opponent? Crusher Ball.

These basic attacks are given huge, flashy names. And, I need to specify, they're English names. Moves like the Kamehameha or Taiyoken or Sokidan or Makankosappo also have names but they tend to be Japanese names with descriptive meanings.

Turtle Destruction Wave, signature move of the Turtle School of martial arts.

Fist of the Sun, an intense blinding art.

Winding Ki Bullet, a remote-operated bullet of ki that Yamcha can manipulate how he likes.

Demon Piercing and Killing Light Gun, a Mazoku technique that pierces and kills.

This is not the same thing. These guys are screaming exotic English words to look cool while throwing hands. "RECOOME KICK!!!" Recoome screams in English as he throws a kick.

There is only one other character in Dragon Ball who fights like this.

That's right. Recoome Kick is the same kind of thing as Satan Miracle Special Ultra Super Megaton Punch. All shouted in English as well. The Ginyu Force is what Mr. Satan would be if he was as formidable as the world believes he is.

They're showmen, even moreso than the Earthling martial artists who were born for a tournament stage. Hell, some of Recoome's moves are inspired by pro wrestling.

They are the ultimate demonstration, both of the unquestionable might of the Planet Trade's human resources, and of the absolute waste that is the Planet Trade's capitalist philosophy towards martial arts. The PTO doesn't train warriors; They scout the strongest guys their money can buy and give them marching orders of "Get 'em." Their super-elites are no exception.

Except the Captain.

Much like Vegeta was with Nappa, Ginyu is the only one who gets it. He sees Goku's reading and immediately assesses that Goku's suppressing his ki. Ginyu knows his shit. He's just never drilled this kind of information into his soldiers, opting instead for cool-looking battle poses.

It makes sense that he understands ki suppression. He's Frieza's highest-ranking officer, and Frieza is the universe's unparalleled master at ki suppression. The lengths Frieza has gone to for the sake of suppressing ki....

But he hasn't taught it to his men. They're learning flashy modeling poses instead of martial arts.

I guess I can see the logic. Powerful as they are, why would it matter? Those three extraordinary warriors earlier were also suppressing their ki, but a range of 1k to haha actually 3k doesn't mean shit to the Ginyu Force. If nobody's true strength can match them then why waste time on tactical study?

But unlike his soldiers, Ginyu himself has the spirit of a martial artist. He doesn't waste time on battle poses or scream "GINYU FLYING PUNCH" in English when he throws a punch or do elaborate two-minute windups for his signature moves.

He's even pretty good at reading people. Ginyu lowballs Goku at 60k before the fight, but reassesses after he's traded blows with Goku a few times and estimates 85k instead.

Goku's official non-suppressed Battle Power at this point in time is 90k. So 85k is a pretty fucking good estimate for a guy who can't sense ki. Ginyu knows his shit. He's as reliant on tech as the rest of the PTO but he's experienced enough to have a strong understanding of what various levels fight like.

This is especially impressive when you remember that he's never fought someone at 90k before. Remember, further up, when he first judged Goku as 60k? He was getting excited about his lowball 60k estimate and saying he's never had a chance like this before.

If he's never fought 60k, he's certainly never fought 85k. He just. Knows enough about how lower levels fight that he can apply that knowledge and extrapolate to higher levels. It's an impressive estimation that demonstrates his experience. Ginyu isn't just the second-most powerful guy in the Planet Trade. He's the best martial artist in the Planet Trade, bar none.

He's also got a... theoretically cool ultimate technique that utterly sucks in practice: Body Change.

He may be the best martial artist in the Planet Trade but he's got nothing on martial arts master and analytical counter-fighter Son Goku. It takes Goku no time at all to realize that Ginyu's technique sucks. He doesn't know how to fight with Goku's ki.

Ginyu-Goku thinks this body will give him 180k BP because that's what he read on the Scouter when Goku used the Kaio-ken. But not only does Ginyu not know how to perform Kaio-ken, he doesn't even know how to use Goku's ki at all. It's not his. It doesn't work the same way. In Goku's body, Ginyu's reduced to a distressing 23k BP when Jeice reads him.

He's not just failing to put out Kaio-ken power. He's getting his teeth kicked in by Krillin. It's embarrassing.

I've heard the theory go around that Ginyu started out weak and worked his way up via Body Changing anyone that was ever stronger than him, but I'm not convinced that's the case. Because this right here? This seems like a critical flaw. It's hard to believe he'd be entirely ignorant of this drawback if he's ever seriously used this technique before.

Ginyu being incompatible with a Body Changed host's ki doesn't seem like something an experienced Body Changer would need Goku to explain to him. In practice, the hypothetically awesome technique is bad for reasons Ginyu wasn't able to foresee, not unlike when Tenshinhan brought Shishin no Ken/Multiform to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Or Goku's first time attempting Super Saiyan 3 in a living body. Cool in theory but a massive fucking oversight costs him the entire fight.

This seems more likely to be something Ginyu, the only real martial artist in his crew, developed in his own time and showed off to his men. Something he's never actually stress tested, that he's been sitting on and waiting for an opportunity to use in the field.

Whatever the case, it pins an unexpected and interesting capstone on the Ginyu Force. They're a group of clowns who can get away with clownishness because they were born into unparalleled privilege. And they're led by a shockingly well-educated and capable martial artist who's never worked the kinks out of his ultimate technique for lack of adequate competition in a universe that could rarely hope to ever challenge even his weakest man.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #ginyu force

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masiethewriter · 3 days

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Honored Eternal Path of Demise CH. 1 -Game Over

It's bad enough that Shen Yuan dies. It's even worse when he transmigrates into the worst horror game inspired by Proud Immortal Demon Way that could ever be imagined. But nothing is more terrible than transmigrating as the scum villain Shen Qingqiu, the character with the most violent and grotesque deaths the game has to offer! Couldn't he have transmigrated into the stallion novel instead? At least there his character would only die once! Now Shen Yuan has to navigate his new life as Shen Qingqiu while trying to keep not only himself alive, but also a cast of characters, each more suicidal than the next. A goal he is going to fail. A lot. Many times. Too many times! At least he can spend some time with his favorite character Lou Binghe while stuck in this mess.

"Stupid developers, stupid game!" was Shen Yuan's final words as darkness overtook everything around him.

He hadn't meant to die right after reaching the secret ending of Honored Eternal Path of Demise, the new horror game based on the popular novel Proud Immortal Demon Way. But after spending hours upon hours, days upon days, with barely any sleep or food, and finally painstakingly saving every character (Even the evil scum villain Shen Qingqiu), to see the secret final ending of the game end ambiguously as a sequel teaser, it was too much for Shen Yuan.

After beating the last boss, the cutscene allowed him enough of a break to take a bite of a meat bun, only for the ending sending him into such a fit of rage, that the food got caught in his throat. Unable to cough it out, he was only able to curse out the game as he choked to death.

And like that, Shen Yuan had died.

It might not have been as bad, if at least he died criticizing a better game, but as it were, Honored Eternal Path of Demise just barely managed to sell enough copies to not be considered an absolute failure.

Now, don't get Shen Yuan wrong. When the game had just been announced, the excitement for it had been great. One of the most popular stallion novels being turned into a game! Even Shen Yuan had been interested.

While exactly what kind of game it would be had yet to be revealed, fans were quick to speculate and theorize. Most looked forward to getting to play as Luo Binghe, many discussing which of his wifes would make it into the game and how many romances that would be added. Whether it would be more like a visual novel, focused on the story and relationships or an action game where players truly could feel out the protagonist's OP powers.

Not too long after, it was revealed the game was going to be a horror game. And with that announcement, the excitement only grew. The novel was known for its harsh opening and cruel blackening, so choosing a genre that allowed the project to stay dark and explicit made sense.

Though that was one of the last smart decisions that would be coming from the development team from then on.

Somehow leaks got out and while it was mostly concept art of the characters and potential wifes, it got revealed that Luo Binghe was NOT going to be a playable character.

Fans were quick to get in an uproar, displeased with not being able to play as the overpowered protagonist. Why even make a game about Luo Binghe if no one got to play as him? What were the developers thinking!

This was just the first reveal of many that would leave fans raging on forums and social media.

Next was the reveal that the game was dropping the cultivation aspect and was instead going for a modern retelling. Also, instead of the more edgy, but beloved blackened Luo Binghe, they took the more heroic route, so he resembled himself much more from before he was pushed into The Endless Abyss.

At this point fans begin to question why even make a game based on Proud Immortal Demon Way if they were going to change all aspects of it? If the development team wanted to make an original story, they should make an original story, instead of capitalizing the novel IP for cheap advertisement.

Then, as the full cast were revealed, the more feminist fans began to riot.

The first version included Luo Binghe as the only male character, the rest being either wifes from the novel or original female characters made for the game. "What is this?!" They protested. "Is this a horror game or a harem simulator! Just another excuse to make vulnerable women suffer for the sake of a man?" And while this backlash was nowhere near as aggressive as when it was revealed Luo Binghe would stay an NPC, the developers still rushed to produce an updated cast with an almost equal amount of male and female characters.

"See, we can listen and change depending on the needs of the fans!" They said.

"What about everything else?!" The fans replied.

"..." The developers stayed quiet.

The rest of the production stayed like this. Any time more of the game was revealed, fans only got angrier and more disappointed. The stress and pressure was enough that people on the development team kept getting switched out, people quitting because of the crunch, resulting in new hires barely getting integrated into the team, before they were also loaded with a mountain of work. A scandal broke out with someone not getting properly credited and accusations of art assets stolen from fans. It was even revealed a few developers hadn't been paid in months, paychecks apparently getting lost in the chaos.

Then production got delayed because of IP issues and for a while the game appeared as if it would never happen. A destructive production, made mostly with sweat, blood and tears, leaving nothing but gossip and slander in its wake.

And then the game was announced to release a month from then.

Of course, as Proud Immortal Demon Way's biggest critic, Shen Yuan had to try out the game. So he reserved the special edition (That of course included a copy of the art book, a CD with the soundtrack and an unique poster for the game, impossible to get anywhere else) and was the first in line to collect the game when it was released.

Now unlike everyone else, Shen Yuan actually understood why the game developers had made the decisions they had. Unlike the fans who were blinded by their parasocial relationship to characters that were never going to fuck them, Shen Yuan was able to look past the seemingly thoughtless decisions and see the true politics at play.

First of all, of course players could not play as Luo Binghe. The OP stallion protagonist who never lost a single battle or chance for papapa with a woman? Of course they couldn't let the players grubby hands all over the Luo Binghe image, potentially failing puzzles and quests while carrying his face! And who knows what the trolls would do with a Binghe character? Certainly not anything the developers were going to risk. So, of course Luo Binghe was going to stay an NPC that would support the player without ever failing in his own goals.

Also, it made sense for them to use the more innocent white sheep Luo Binghe even though the darkened demon lord version was more popular. He couldn't exactly be the villain of the game, right? The IP would never allow it! So instead, with the storyline the team were aiming for, they needed Luo Binghe as his more heroic and kind self.

The choice to modernize the story was probably just laziness though. The developers likely didn't want to do any research for Proud Immortal Demon Way's time period or cultivation. So they just took the easy way out. Bastards.

Updating the cast to be more balanced gender wise, was a decision Shen Yuan had felt more neutral on. While most fans were discussing wifes and potential for spicy papapa, Shen Yuan had been glad the game included beloved characters that weren't going to end with their legs spread for Luo Binghe.

Seeing some of the other peak lords presented as modern characters was intriguing and Shen Yuan had been looking forward to learning more about them in this other world. Even the Scum Villain, though mostly as an opportunity to hopefully see him die in a variety of horrible and creative ways.

So as Shen Yuan began playing Honored Eternal Path of Demise, he did not let any of the prior issues affect his view of the game. None of the decisions, scandals or slander was going to make him play with the expectation that he was going to hate it.

No, the horrible story and awful execution were able to do that all by itself.

First of all, the story was a confusing mess, with more plot holes than plot. At first it might seem intriguing, with the way each character had multiple deaths that each affected the story in their own unique way, leading to a vast variety of different endings. One of the main game mechanics was a groundhog-day-esque saving system. Each time you died you would have to start over, but the knowledge gained from the prior playthrough could be used to affect the story, leading it to split into multiple directions. Each death was a learning opportunity and dying was going to happen a lot. The game was such a challenge that Shen Yuan was unable to save a single character in his first many playthroughs, Luo Binghe being the only survivor each time.

Characters would reset after each ending, though with the occasional 4th wall break joke, related to sudden weird ass decisions, usually only making sense in the context of what had happened in the prior session.

But while the death and restarting mechanic was fun enough, they never tried to explain how it worked in universe! The characters just found themselves in a strange haunted house and at no point did the game bother explaining how they got there, who took them, what was going on or why they all had to survive!

And what was going on was such a mess by itself. Unable to put a single original thought into the game, the game developers had instead just stolen whatever they wanted from other, more popular, horror games. In one playthrough the villain you had to survive might be a deranged serial killer. In another it was zombies eating them all alive. Then you had eldritch beings summoned by cultists turning them all insane. Sometimes it would be the characters themselves, having turned crazy from all the terror and death. The game would go from one horror monster scenario to the next with no explanation for how any of it was connected.

Even the puzzles were clearly taken from other games, with fetch quests happening so many times it was a wonder that the characters themselves didn't get tired of it.

And don't even let Shen Yuan get started on the characters! One-dimensional stereotypical clichés with not a single functioning brain cell between them! It was physically painful just how stupid every single female character was, constantly making decisions that no real life person would make while in their right mind. And while feminist fans might brag that they had influenced the game development, they would find themselves disappointed when realizing that not a single female character could even pass the Bechdel test. Even in the most insane ass situations, when they would find themselves at death's door, they would whine and sigh about Luo Binghe and how they wished he was there with them or that they just wanted to see him one last time.

Forcing the female cast into a functional death-avoiding group in order to reach the secret ending had literally brought Shen Yuan to tears with how impossible a task it was.

The male cast was slightly easier, but solely because they got much less screen time and deaths dedicated to them.

While there was a seemingly endless amount of endings, Only some led to true progress in the game. Say, once you reached the Serial Killer ending with enough surviving characters, then during your next playthrough a new mystery and monster would appear. This would keep the game going with no end in sight until finally the player was able to reach the good ending - An ending only archivable by saving all characters with the exception of Shen Qingqiu. This ending was considered The Good Ending because it was the only one where the cast managed to leave the mansion and return to their normal, but traumatized, lives.

But of course, which horror game could call itself a classic without secrets? And one of those secrets was the secret ending of course.

After thousands of playthroughs, it seemed like Shen Qingqiu was impossible to save. While all characters (With the exception of Luo Binghe) could very easily get killed, Shen Qinqiu appeared to attract death like it was an obsessed lover. As the character that players got to play as the least, how easy it was to fuck him over would make you insane.

The way to save him didn't even happen during his own scenes. No, instead it was while controlling another character that you had to keep him from betraying anyone else. This resulted in Shen Qingque not even being playable during that run. Only like this was it possible to keep him alive with everyone else and in that way, finally reach the secret and true ending...

An ending so horrible, so excruciating, so absolutely pointless it wasn't worth describing. So awful and horrendous that it ended up killing Shen Yuan.

And so, Shen Yuan died. Alone in his apartment. Honored Eternal Path of Demise still playing on his screen. A meat bun stuck in his throat. A rage that could burn down the world. And as darkness took over, he could only wish that he had never wasted the last days of his pitiful life on such a terrible game.

Floating darkness scraping against his skin. Nothing to see or hear, space going endlessly. Shen Yuan had awareness, but what he was aware of, he did not know. Drifting like this, he could only wonder where he was.

Suddenly a light. Big and square and white and so strong he had to close his eyes. Somehow he wasn't able to lift his hands to provide protection.

Slowly able to squint at the light, he could barely make up black lines across it. He felt like it should hurt and leave his eyes with tears, but they stayed dry. No feeling of pain.

Opening them for a better peek, he could finally recognize the lines as letters. And still remembering how to understand written word, he was able to read what it said:

[ALL PATHS DIVERGES MISFORTUNE]

[MISFORTUNE SHATTER STORIES]

[ONE STORY ABOVE LIFE]

[LIFE GIVEN TO REST]

[REST IS THE END]

[Does user accept the quest?]

[Yes] [No]

Throat tight and hurting, unable to get above a whisper, and still Shen Yuan did not hesitate to speak.

"Yes!"

With a start, Shen Yuan opens his eyes, urgently sitting up. He gasps for breath, a hand against his neck as he looks around at the unrecognizable walls around him.

Unable to take in anything around him, he pushes himself to his feet. He is immediately unsteady as he reaches out for anything to keep his balance. He finds a moldy table, legs broken in one end, as he leans against what still stands.

Things are the slightest bit blurry around him and he instinctively pushes against his face to correct his glasses, only for his finger to meet nothing. As he takes a step, the sound of broken glass underneath his feet tells him of their fate.

"What the fuck?" Shen Yuan asks out loud. No one answers him.

Less dizzy, he pushes himself forward until he stumbles against a door. He quickly pushes it open. The other side provides no answers. An empty hallway going as far as his eyes can see.

Or mostly empty.

At the end stands a shadow. And even with his blurry eyesight, Shen Yuan can see that it is going directly towards him.

Leaning against the wall, as it gets closer, he is able to recognize it as a person. A girl, if the short height and lithe body is anything to go by. As she gets closer, he is able to distinguish dark hair pulled into pigtails and what must be a school uniform. She holds something in her hand and something dark is splattered against the front. Shen Yuan can't discern what either is.

At no point does she slow down her march towards him.

"Hey, do you know what is happe-" he tries, but she interrupts him, voice full of rage.

"Shen Qingque, you son of a bitch!"

She is clearly talking to him, but must have him confused with someone else. He is about to explain, when he takes an extra look at her hands. Way too late he recognizes the item she's holding as a knife. Sharp edges shiny enough to reflect the poor light of the corridor. He barely takes a shaky step back before she lifts it high above her head. Intent clear.

"This is for what you did to Liu Mingyan!" She screams.

The knife sails down. Stumbling over his own legs to get away, he falls on his back. The girl uses this as her chance. Throwing herself on top of him, he is able to see more of her face. Tears are streaming from burning eyes, lips twisted into an ugly sneer. What must be blood splatter is smeared across her face, dry and crusting.

He has no idea who she is. She clearly believes otherwise.

She howls. Plunges the knife down. With nowhere to go, it goes straight in his chest.

Shen Yuan gasps, experiencing an unimaginable pain. His heart tries to beat out of his ribcage. His limbs are frozen. Blood rushes in his ears. And out his chest.

She yanks the knife out. She is speaking, but Shen Yuan can't hear what she is saying. Instead his eyes are caught on the knife above him. Again it falls. Again it hits its mark. Shen Yuan spits out a mouthful of blood, gurgling on the thick liquid. His chest burns while the tip of his fingers begin to feel cold.

She pulls out the knife and prepares to swing a third time. Finally Shen Yuan manages to get his arms to cooperate. Covering himself, he tries to block the next hit.

It is a futile act. Shen Yuan knows it is already too late to save himself.

Piercing vulnerable skin, the sharp edges still reach the shredded meat his chest has become. Only this time the knife doesn't go as deep. It stays inside him a bit longer than the other times. Manic glee in her face as she takes this opportunity to twist it around, screwing it deeper, forcing him to scream.

He can't hear what sounds he makes, as blood fills his lungs. He is unable to breathe. Turning him into gory mesh entertains her for a bit, before she rips the knife out.

It is as she prepares to stab him a fourth time, that she suddenly freezes. Her eyes caught on something behind him. Shen Yuan can only see red at his edges, as he weakly gasps for air. Her mouth moves, voice suddenly soft. Expression frail and vulnerable. A contrast to the madness spilling out into puddles.

Like this, as darkness overtakes everything around him, Shen Yuan is only able to wheeze out a final: "Stupid developers, stupid game!"

#SVSSS #Bingqiu #Bingyuan #Scum Villain Self Saving System #Scumvillain #Luo Binghe #Shen Yuan #Shen Qingqiu #mxtx #Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

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scottmemelordstrashpile · 14 hours

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Survivor Tessa AU (Murder Drones AU Concept???) [Episode 7 Spoilers]

So, you know when you want to make an AU but you also don't want to dedicate to the grueling process of actually writing a story and writing how we got to this part? No? Just me?

Well, regardless here are a couple of potential examples of scenes that could have unfolded

had Tessa been a survivor of the fall of Earth. I guess these are just concepts for potential scenes or something?

Unlikely Alliance

N: Fine. You're right. Maybe I'm not the real N. So I won't pretend to be. But that doesn't mean we can't help eachother! I want the patch to save Uzi, you want it to defeat Cyn. We can make this work!

Tessa: ... *Sigh* Fine. It would be smarter to work as a team for now I suppose.

*Suddenly Tessa presses the barrel of her gun right against the side of N's head*

Tessa: But I swear... if you even dare THINK, of trying to cross me... I'll kill both of you. Understand?!

N: Y-Yes... m'am.

Tessa: Good.

I Found You Faker

*The scene with "Tessa" and Uzi at the chapel unfolds the same until-*

"Tessa": No worries, makes my job easier.

*BANG*

*A gunshot reverberates throughout the chapel as a bullet rips through the back of "Tessa's" helmet and ejecting through her visor leaving a bulletwound behind*

*"Tessa" collapses to the ground bleeding heavily revealing the real Tessa standing behind her with a smoking gun*

Tessa: You must think you're real funny, huh Cyn? Running around impersonating me?!

Uzi: W-What?! W-Who?!

Tessa: Shut it! I'm getting to you. Where is the patch!?

Uzi: The what?!

Tessa: Don't have it? Bloody hell... Then who does?!

The Patch

*N reaches out expecting Tessa to hand over the crucifix usb but she steps back, drawing her gun on N with the other hand*

N: Tessa?

Tessa: No.

N: I-I thought you finally trusted me?!

Tessa: Trust you?! Please! You and that little monster took everything from me! Oh! But you weren't satisfied with just that! Now you oughta' go and destroy everything else while you're at it! Huh?!

N: Tessa... please-

Tessa: No. I won't let you have it. It means too much to me!

*Tessa clutches the crucifix tightly*

Tessa: This, this might be my only chance of finally destroying her. And I won't let you take it away from me too!

N: But... I thought... I thought we were friends.

Tessa: ... No. I was friends with the real N. Not you... You're just a fake...

N: ... Fine. I don't care what happens to me, but please! You have to help Uzi!

Tessa: Why should I? Doesn't she want to kill us all too?! Don't think I didn't overhear that. I'm onto you lot. Can't trust anyone but myself anymore. I learned from my past mistakes...

Old Enemies

Tessa: Fine... just do it already. Finish it!

Cyn: "Manical Laughter" I promised I wouldn't kill you, didn't I? Besides, I wouldn't get the satisfaction of watching you suffer if I do.

Cyn: ... But, there's still a chance. The Solver is pretty chill, maybe you could like join us or something.

Tessa: I'd rather DIE than to serve you!

Cyn: Oh well, it was worth a try. Have fun watching everything you know and love die for the second time. Loser.

I dunno what to call this one but I couldn't not include

*To Tessa most likely*

Cyn: I won't kill you and you can't kill me. I guess we can just sit in this room and glare at eachother until somebody drops dead. But I have a better idea.

End

I don't know what to call this. A proof of concept or something? I don't know. Because sadly I'm too lazy in addition to just not having enough time to make a full genuine AU about this but I thought the idea was interesting so I dunno, if people with more dedication or time on their hands want to steal these ideas for stories, art whatever. I don't care. You don't even need to tag me or credit me or anything.

Basically in general the idea of this AU as I said at the start is the idea of the real Tessa having survived the destruction of the Earth. Now she's hellbent on destroying Cyn whom she perceives as the one that took everything and everyone she loved away from her.

She doesn't trust the disassembly drones in the slightest, not seeing them as her friends from the manor but as crude mockeries of her friends created by Cyn.

Cyn treats the entire thing like a game. Think of it like a sort've reverse Batman and Joker where Cyn refuses to kill Tessa due to her promise to not discard her. However all it does is fuel Tessa's unending rage when she laughs in her face and tosses her aside.

As for Tessa herself I like to imagine she's missing at least one hand and maybe even an eye. Of course her missing hand being replaced with a cybernetic one. (Definitely not a Berserk reference.)

That's about it. I imagine her personality would be totally different from Episode 5 Tessa as well. She'd probably still have funny moments or one liners but in general she'd probably be a lot more deadpan and monotone. When she's not being "Girl too angry to die" anyway. I imagine her in contrast to her past self being very quiet, cold and distant. Not wanting to be hurt again by becoming too attached to those around her.

All she wants is REVENGE. (You could even play with the idea of this desire slowly turning her into a monster too if you want to be really angsty with it.)

I imagine for the most part things would play out MOSTLY the same but with the added element of real Tessa also landing on Copper-9 to find the patch before Cyn (Disguised as Tessa) does. I guess serving as a rouge 4th element or something?

EDIT: I also like to imagine the real Tessa looks similar to canon "Tessa" (Which is just the fake Tessa in this version.) but without the stickers, hat and bow on her suit. Maybe a more visible oxygen system on the back too, like one of those big air tanks or astronaut backpacks. Something like that. Could get more creative with it, but yeah that's how I imagine it.

Oh yeah of course also feel free to like... reblog... whatever. Give your thoughts? I guess? I don't know. I just wanted to get these ideas out of my head I guess and this was the most efficient way to do it.

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inkyvendingmachine · 8 hours

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Avedone With All of This Season 4, Episode 4

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 Call of Cthulhu Season Four Masterpost (Coming Soon)

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of a Call of Cthulhu scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

GUESS WHO FINALLY SHOWED UP!!! and also a lot of other stuff happened. I'm sorry, this one is very long because I didn't take notes, and struggle to leave out details when I'm writing from the records instead of the notes.

Art Credit: @inkdemonapologist : sketching + inking @inkyvendingmachine : concept + colouring

Somehow Jack’s car, with all its original passengers and no extras, manage to make it back to the studio. Joey immediately rushes into the studio, to go rant at Bendy about everything that happened… and possibly to go fuse with Bendy because he feels utterly helpless now after completely draining himself with panicked magic.

But it’s probably just the first one.

Sammy and Henry arrive as well to find Jack and Peter quietly picking glass out of his broken car in something like shock. Upon getting no responses from Jack about what happened, Sammy storms off to find Joey.

Joey is all too happy to start his entire rant over again for Sammy as he works on fusing with Bendy. They were just following Peter’s leads and driving from location to location and then all of the sudden this ASSHOLE shows up out of nowhere and just stands in front of the car. Busts the car, terrifies poor Jack, and then on top of that tries to break INTO the car and abduct Peter?? It’s a good thing Joey managed to blast him out, but they weren’t even DOING ANYTHING that would have possibly summoned him NOTHING AT ALL... And on top of all that, being an absolute PRICK as he’s doing it!

… Anyways, how was the moooob?

Sammy updates Joey on everything that happened with Johnny Nero, which is pretty much just that he had seen the Yellow sign, that Henry removed it, and that Nero was pretty intent on getting his hands on whatever the Phantom wants first. Which like… yeah, if you wanna solve all our problems and fix this mess, go ahead! But Joey’s pretty sure that’s not going to happen, so he goes back to working on his ritual.

Sammy leaves to go back to Jack, and right as Joey feels ready to start the ritual his phone rings. The special one. And it’s… Avedon??

Avedon immediately starts info dumping on Joey about everything that’s been going on already… like, all the information Joey already knows. A lot of flat “yeah?”s in reply as Avedon rambles on, until he mentions that it’s already gotten to Norman. Wait, what?? But Avedon doesn’t stop, telling Joey to meet him at his hotel room in NYC so they can go over more information. Before Joey manages to get any clarification, he hangs up.

That’s Joey’s thing!!!

Joey is the one who hangs up on others!!!!!!!

Frustrated, Joey does try to call Norman, and… Yeah, Norman is talking in weird riddles and speech that doesn’t fit with the Normal Norman Vibes. That call is also ended with little information gained… but at least it DOES seem like Avedon knows what he’s talking about this time, so Joey’s willing to meet with him, even though he’s also feeling done with him already.

Joey finishes the ritual and merges with Bendy.

On his way downstairs, Sammy is still turning over the car event he just heard about… and the increasing evidence that Peter might actually be the Phantom’s target?? Why else would he be trying to drag him out of the car?

Sammy approaches Peter, who has since started exchanging information with Henry as they all get the last of the glass shards out of the car, and says that he wants to see if Prophet can tell anything about what happened. Sammy looks distracted for a moment, and [lack of surprise because it was actually somewhat communicated beforehand,] Prophet is here!

Prophet concentrates, and with no hesitation, mushes his hands all over Peter's face.

The good news is that, while Prophet can tell that Peter’s been grabbed by the Phantom recently, that’s actually all that he can detect. No additional eldritch stuff, he’s not possessed, he’s not weirdly marked or damaged in a way that can’t normally be seen. Great!

But Prophet can’t tell if Peter is the target or not. For his part, Peter has been muttering that it seemed like the phantom was trying to pull information from Peter on someone else he was looking for, someone who “followed us out”, but there’s nothing Prophet can sense to confirm that… but he realizes he can sense the distortions to reality increasing throughout NYC. They’re in the air, moving about… getting stronger.

Henry can feel it too.

But that’s all the energy Prophet has, and he unfortunately misses Joey showing up and dumping his new plan of action on everyone. He, Henry and Peter are going to go find Avedon’s dumb hotel room and figure out what’s going on with him, while Sammy and Jack are going to go check up on Susie and Norman because Norman is definitely acting weird now and he’s not quite sure if Susie is in over her head or not…

Nobody objects to the plan. And with NYC losing more and more of its reality to the yellow mist rolling in, it seems important that they do something.

Henry, Joey and Peter do make a detour to Henry’s house though to make sure all is well there. The car is gone, the lights are out, things seem as they should if Linda managed to follow through and get the kids out of the city. Peter is concerned when he notices some of Henry’s wards, but don’t worry, those are supposed to be there. Henry checks them over, and they all seem good. Bendy finds a bucket of clay he and Henry's kids had played with before, and brings it along to entertain himself on any following sleepovers, since that is a thing that will probably keep happening. For once, it seems like everything is actually left alone?

Until they look out back and find the treehouse Henry built for his kids is gone. Actually, it’s almost like all the landscaping and such in the area was just… cleared away? Or never happened. Joey meanwhile is tabbing through Henry's photo albums and makes sure everyone is still there, which they are. But the treehouse isn’t. And, perhaps even worse, there’s also an extra guy in the JDS staff photo now? Joey pockets it, since this guy seems to be in the music department according to the photo, but Joey is sure he’s never seen him before. And it’s not Alan. So. Hopefully the music boys can shed some light on this.

Henry grabs some supplies and his gun, and Joey turns him around to fix his outfit and make sure the gun is properly hidden. Avedon is 2 trigger happy, we don’t want to say our hellos by instantly showing off the weapons we brought.

Meanwhile Jack and Sammy’s drive to Norman’s is more fraught than the previous ones. Not only has he moved house again, (though at least this time they have evidence of his new address from the junk mail they took last time) but… many other roads are starting to move too. Also Sammy is driving, so, speed has been cut in the engine department too… don’t need to hit two things in a single day with all this mist building up, and any sort of navigation trouble puts even more delays in.

At least they do manage to find the place and head on in, with hope that also maybe now that Avedon has arrived Norman will stop being so “sticking it out in a house that keeps wandering off apparently.” Things seem kinda fine at first at least, like they’re not immediately shooed out or attacked or have any weird monsters hanging over the house waiting for them to try the door… But upon Sammy questioning Susie while Jack goes to find Norman in the back, the music boys find out that things are very much not fine.

Susie is… very confident with a knife all of a sudden, and very confident that she will be able to just stab the Phantom when given the word to go out and hunt him down. Y’know just… stab the guy who couldn’t be damaged by a 2 ton vehicle slamming square on into him. And when Sammy tries to argue this logic, it just becomes more and more obvious that Susie and Norman are both… in character. Susie’s speech cadence is even reminiscent of when she’s performing rather than talking normally. But they don't seem aware that their actions seem more scripted than decided.

Jack finds Norman in the back, with a hatchet and a very similar plan to Susie’s. But whatever is happening isn’t strong enough to make them completely forget themselves, and with some facts being pointed out and reminders of who they are, the boys manage to get these two actors back to themselves... kind of. There's still some weirdness going on, and this also doesn't answer the question of what could be done to prevent this happening again?

Neither Susie nor Norman really realized when it started to happen, and it took some serious outside convincing to snap them out of it at all… Do they need Henry to expel something to truly get back to themselves again??

ALSO, IF THE PHANTOM CAN’T BE HARMED WITH A CAR, WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO ABOUT THAT TOO?? THAT SEEMS CONCERNING!!!!

Meanwhile, Henry parks near the hotel they were directed to by Avedon, and the trio look upon it in… concern. First of all, it doesn’t even look like a hotel, or look like it belongs in NYC. And the entire place is surrounded by a yellow mist… and while they could wait it out or try to somehow call Avedon and tell him to come out, it just feels like the longer they wait the worse it will get.

Really, it’s starting to feel that way for a lot of things.

But even though everything about this feels bad, they press on and enter the “hotel”. What should be the hotel lobby is abnormally empty, and when they start up the stairs… well, that’s not normal either, the stairs just keep going. Joey is flipping any rugs he finds though to make sure they don’t have stupid destabilization spells underneath them.

After a few rounds of strange rooms, weird hallways, some alien screeching outside the windows, and Henry noticing that NYC is not the city outside said windows, he stops everyone out of worry that they’re walking into a trap… and Joey agrees. But not that this hotel is specifically a trap.

All of New York is a trap.

It doesn’t matter where they go next, the longer they don’t solve this issue, the more of a trap everything will be.

They just gotta press on.

…

Aaaaand start yelling for Avedon because clearly they aren’t gonna be just walking up to his hotel room at this point.

Good news! Avedon replies! Bad news!! Only Henry can hear it for some reason!! And… Avedon can hear Joey but not Henry??

It’s all very confusing. They find Henry’s reading glasses on a table. Those were in his pocket how did they get there excuse me. All of this isn't fine actually.

But after a few rounds of Avedon Polo, they finally stumble across each other in a… garden. In the middle of a hotel. And of course, the first thing Avedon says is that they need to leave immediately. He didn’t know it was going to be like THIS, he just stepped out to get a coffee and suddenly the whole place is weird??? Well, now that they’re here, time to immediately leave because YEAH THAT WAS THE PLAN FROM THE START.

Going through another door leads out into a familiar courtyard, at least familiar to Joey. He had been here a few nights ago, while invading Y’s dream, and indeed, right where he’d expect, he finds the Y twins chatting amongst themselves. Marching up to them, Joey demands to know what they’re doing and what’s going on.

They respond by addressing him as royalty.

✧･ﾟ: *Joey Drew, as Your Highness･ﾟ: *✧

Normally, this would probably inflate Joey’s ego! Currently, it sinks like a stone into his stomach!! He does not want to be part of the play!!!

Unless…

Joey suddenly wonders, because it’s the same courtyard, if they are in a dreamscape of some sort… Does he appear different than himself… and that's why they're addressing him this way?

But no, he looks like Joey, and Henry looks like Henry, and Peter looks like Peter, and Avedon is still here… except Joey also notices some of their hands are starting to turn transparent…………. That's probably fine.

He still doesn’t want to be part of their play.

The Y twins try to get Joey to go somewhere with them, and he makes up a story why they need to not do that rn, so that the group of normal fading humans can attempt once again to leave this place.

Since it's all weird here, Joey tries his little will-what-he-wants-into-reality trick and… well it doesn't work. Instead, he finds a throne room?? and realizes that they aren’t just in Carcosa, they’re in the castle where the Yellow King’s play takes place. And Joey manages to follow his intuition from here to find some kind of portrait hallway, covered with familiar faces… all labeled as characters from the play. Not recognizing all of them, Henry starts drawing them so we have a record of it later.

But there's a few he doesn't have to draw.

One is Alan Leroy, the guy that they're becoming sure is the target of the Pallid Mask. Part of the royal family, apparently. He's a slender man, black hair slicked back, young looking, quite pretty … kinda looks like Joey…

Which makes more sense perhaps when the portrait of the eldest son in the royal family is none other than Joey himself. Guess this is why he was being addressed as royalty… but that means the Y twins are not quite in their right minds, and anything he finds them doing here is probably just play nonsense.

Also Denis is the youngest prince but who cares about that guy.

What they DO care about is the fact they’re getting more and more transparent, so the boys go to find Avedon, who is oh so helpfully knocking shit over and muttering in french, and Joey manages to get his door trick to actually work this time; he opens the door and there’s…

STAIRS!!

Everyone starts running down them, managing not to get turned around when they start making twisty turns, and get to the front door of this stupid castle in a hotel lobby.

They peek outside.

Sure enough, on the side of the building, there’s a shadow shaped suspiciously like nothing they can really identify, so it must be some sort of angel monster or something.

At this point, there’s really only one option they have: try sneaking to the car and hope it’s looking the other way, and if not, run!

Everyone agrees that this is a great plan.

And then they do that.

There’s a bit of fumbling in the middle, but the car was parked outside of the yellow mist for once, so the creature just fades out as soon as it leaves the mist to chase them.

Well! Okay then!! That problem is solved!! Let’s go deliver Avedon to Norman so that he can take responsibility for his mad man and then maybe stop hiding at home or something!

Henry drives off, and things seem fine for now…

Until Joey swivels around in the front seat to question Avedon, and out the back window, sees something flying after them, only visible whenever it passes through the mists…

Problem… not solved.

#call of cthulhu: haunted hijinx #joey drew #henry stein #sammy lawrence #jack fain #susie campbell #norman polk #peter sunstram #the prophet #francois avedon #SORRY FOR THE LONG DELAY #We had stuff delaying the cthulhu games and then i forgot to take notes #and then i got delayed by school #we're still going though and boy howdy do we have plenty of fun updates to share still #also sorry it is so long lmao

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