Originally Posted by
NeoCracker
An Accurate Depiction of Events if RSL were to return to EoFF.
The ocean breeze soothed RSL as he stood at the front of the ship, his blue pirate cap on and his majestic beard swaying in the wind while taking in the high noon sun. Gone for so long, he wished to return for the land of EoFF, to see the new faces that inhabited his home. However, this day did not go well for him, as he would soon learn.
In the distance came a small boat, one RSL was quite familiar with. Putting up no defenses, he lets it dock at his side and lowers a ladder so that his good friend Agent Proto could ascend. However the boat itself was empty, which confused RSL as he stood there thinking to greet his friend. What came next was a scream of a man getting thrown overboard. RSL turned around to Agent Proto himself assaulting the crew members of RSL's trout.
“Stop Proto, what has come over you!?” RSL cried, rushing to his crew mates aid.
“I am sorry, but your return must not be permitted. To much is at stake,” with sad eyes, he lunged at RSL.
In but an instant, however, RSL's cutlass had been unleashed. Ducking under Proto's coming fist, RSL slashes forward, eviscerating Proto and downing him in but an instant. With his dying breath Proto speaks, “I knew... I couldn't stand a chance.. With you...” And he was no more.
Holding back the tears, RSL does his best to give Proto a Burial at sea. After which he looks towards the land of EoFF, “I will make it home, and I will find what is going on there.”
It was a few more days of sail before RSL landing his ship, named The Hot Air Baloon, at a town to dock and resupply. Once again, however, he was met with adversity. Upon the dock was none other then Bert was standing in his way.
“Bert! I am glad to see you again my friend, I wish to ask you of...” but before RSL could finish the inquiry, Bert had unsheathed his Katana, “Bert?”
“Forgive me, RSL, for the blame cannot be laid on you for what must be done,” and charging forward Bert begins his assault.
Swiftly Readying his Sword once again, RSL deflects the Katana's blow and goes on the defensive, “Wait, Bert, explain! I don't want to hurt you!”
“And I plan to make full advantage of that!” Bert's offensive grew more and more aggressive.
“Forgive me, Bert. I know not what has come over you, but I cannot stand by why this hatred consumes my home,” no longer on the defensive, RSL blocks another strike and shoves forward knocking Bert off Balace. Taking advantage, he lands a blow with his hilt onto Berts guts, knocking the wind out of him.
“I must know, why did Proto, and now you, attack me?” RSL said with a heavy heart, “I wish only to help my home.”
Smirking slightly, Bert can only laugh, “You are to kind, old friend. Were I to tell you, you wouldn't be able to understand our actions.” And Bert rose to his feet, composure regained, “However, you still must be stopped here if I have any hope of success,” again at full force, he charges forward.
“I see,” prepared this time RSL charges forward as well. The two rush past each other, and in the blink of an eye you could here the sound of their blades clash as they dash past each other. Standing tall with their backs facing, Bert only smiles as blood trickles from his mouth.
“I should have known this would have happened,” and with his last words spoken, Bert tumbles to the ground.
Standing over Bert's corpse, he prepares to carry him back to the ship so that he may give him the same treatment as Proto. However he was quick to notice the coming sharp sound and dodged back, narrowly avoiding the dagger thrown.
“Ah, so close, I had hoped your fight with your friend would have made finishing you off all the easier,” laughed a strange figure, clad in red robes which concealed his face.
“Who are you?” yelled RSL, his normally calm face filled with anger, “Are you the one behind this?”
“Behind it? No, simply one called to action. I know only of your legend,” approaching slowly and methodically, the cloak figure continued to speak, “Your return would prevent the rest of us from rising to achieve the bounty, it is that simple.”
“Nonsense, I would never stand in the way of another persons treasure, why would I ever take another persons happiness?” RSL was becoming more and more confused by the events, though didn't think he would get an answer from the new comer,.
“If only you understood,” laughed the man as he was now only inches away from RSL, “Sadly, however, you have let me get close enough to end this!” and suddenly he jolted forward, a dagger concealed in his palm now revealed as he struck at RSL's neck.
RSL quickly manged to dodge back, however, and raised a leg to kick the weapon out of the mans hand, “You will not delay me from my home any longer,” and with that slashed his Cutlass forward, severing the mans Neck.
As he lay bleeding out on the ground, he glanced at RSL and said, “...I could never hope to live up to your legacy, not after the stories of the great RSL had spread. Word of your return... scared me. I couldn't hope to succeed in your presence...”
“Succeed at what? What is going on back at Eyes on Final Fantasy? I need to know so that I may save it!”
The man only smiled in response and said, “My.. my name is... Darahan. Your return was the cause of this.. you know...” Darahan begins to cough up blood, “The least you can do for me.... Is remember my...” and before he could finish, he too had passed on.
“My return? But that makes no sense,” RSL spoke softly to himself, “Is my returning really the cause of all this?” and for the first time, RSL had begun to doubt he should return at all.
It was as this thought brewed in his mind, he heard another familiar voice, “How y'all doing today RSL? It's been ages since we been able to sit down together and have ourselves a little' ol' chat!”
He turned to see none other then fire_of_avalon, who was oddly sporting a fake beard created with her own hair wrapped around her face,“foa! Do you have any Idea what is going on here?”
“Saddly I do suga, and the fact we're talking now is a bit depressin' to be quite honest.” her joy seemed
to drain from her face, “I was hopin' I wasn't going to be the one to finish this here job,” her hand raised up, a swiring mass of fire gathering in her exposed palm, “Sorry darlin',” and with that a stream of fire burst forth.
Dodging to the side, the flame caught the body of Darahan and incinerated in an instant, “foa! Not you too. What is going on here!?”
“You heard it yourself,” she said pointing her hand once again towards RSL, “None of us will have a chance at winnin' with your return.”
“Win what? What prize could be worth it? You were always so kind foa, with a strong will. Why turn your power on your friends?” RSL readied his blade again, this time however it was becoming harder and harder to hold back the tears.
“I reckon you would find the reason pretty petty,” foa laughed slightly, “I'd rather you die not looking on me in such a lowly light,” and she fired another shot, only for RSL to dodge it once again.
“Don't think me the same sweet little ol' southern bell I once was,” this time a stream of fire began to swirl about her entire body, “That beard of yours is a mighty one. I may not of ever been able to overcome the power of it being a lady and all, though now I have a beard of my own, and I reckon it will show itself mightier then yours!”
The fire erupted around her, rapidly consuming everything. Unable to dodge while still on the pier, RSL dove into the water, avoiding the catastrophe. Submerged, he swims beneath the dock to where he believed foa to be standing. With the dock worn and burned, he stabbed upwards and succeeded in hitting foa's foot.
Hoping this would be enough to incapacitate her, he swam back to the side and climbed up the leg of the dock, where he found foa on the ground clutching her foot and cringing in pain.
“foa, stop this nonsense! You are so much better then this!” he rushed to her side.
“You know, maybe... just maybe we shouldn't be stopping your return. EoFF may need you now... more then ever.”
“You must tell me what is going on foa! Why have you guys attempted to prevent my return!?”
“RSL, tell me, why is it my beard isnt' enough to overcome yours?” foa was crying tears of frustration and regret.
“foa, a beard is not power, but a reflection of the power one possesses,” he said, “you may never have been able to grow one, being a lady, but I assure you the beard that sleeps in your soul was always a truly great and mighty one to behold.”
foa only smiled through the tears, “They may be meaningless, but I must be thankin' yall fer' tryin' to chear me up,” she simply reached up and touch RSL on the cheek, her fingers hot enough to burn his skin, “I can't hold back the flames, RSL, hurry!”
Quickly RSL began running as foa began to boil and expand, the power within her overloading, “they were not meaningless, fire_of_avalon...” as he finished the sentence, foa exploded, taking most of the pier with her.
Reaching his ship, he climbs aboard and looks to his crew, “My friends, I must ask you to stay in town after the resupply, the rest of this journey may be to dangerous.”
“But Cap'n, we can't leave you alone! You are always thar fer us, and we goin' be here fer you to the bitter end!” one of the crew mates shouted, with many 'Ars' and 'yeas' followed by the rest of them.
...Unable to convince them otherwise, RSL gave in as he and his crew resupplied and resumed their quest.
It had been several nights of RSL being unable to get a full nights rest, the memories of his fallen friends weighing heavily on his mind. However, it was not going to end like this, he thought. Determined to return and fix the corruption growing, he and his crew docked at the ports of Eyes on Final Fantasy.
As expected, there were those there to great him. This time with Cutlass ready, he stepped out to see none other then Jiro, “If you are here, is it safe to assume you are with them?” RSL states softly, doing his best to hold back the growing sadness.
“Hey, you guessed right!” Jiro laughed, “Though considering how far you are, at least I can let you know there are only a few of us left.”
“This is no laughing matter!” RSL responded furiously, “Many of my friends have died at my hands over this, and I will find out whats going on!”
“No one has told you yet? They simply fear you are better then them,” Jiro stopped his laughing and simply smiled while donning a pair of Knuckle Dusters, “It's quite unfair of you to come back now of all times, a Legend like you would come out on top with no problems!”
“On top? On top of what?” RSL asked confused.
“Oh man, you don’t' remember? I guess it really is just coincidence you come back now,” Jiro begins charging now, “Makes sense, you never seemed the type to care about something like that.”
The blows came fast, though RSL managed to sidestep and avoid all the attacks of Jiro, “It is to late to stop now, I am afraid,” RSL sighed as he slashed into the side of Jiro.
Managed to avoid fatal injury, Jiro managed to dodge out of the way smiling through the cringing of his face. Unsure of why Jiro seemed so happy, RSL realized Jiro was not alone. Managing too avoid a solid hit, but still took a light blow to the shoulder. Spinning around he saw none other then Jowy.
“Jowy! Not you too!” RSL cried.
“A fair fight would be a loss for sure,” Jowy shrugged, “Sorry it had to come to this, but me and Jiro are taking you down.”
“I still don't understand why!” RSL said in frustration.
“Well, no point in telling you, though I'm sure if you make it through this you'll learn soon enough,” and with that Jowy unleashed a roundhouse RSL managed to avoid, only to eat a fist to the side of his face from a returning Jiro.
Rolling with it the best he could, RSL tumbled to the side of the dock, rolling back onto his feet, “You two will not get away with this!”
“I”m afraid they will, RSL,” came a robotic voice that echoed in the space around. From the watter came several metal mounted guns, firing on RSL.
“Face! Why are you helping!” cried RSL, dodging the singe round shots of the armaments.
“Alone none of us could beat you. Even in a pair, so I was asked to simply assist any who fought you from here, seemed simple enough,” came the voice of Face.
“That be rather rude of ye', don't you think!” yelled a pirate from the ship, followed by the thundering roar of the cannon, striking down one of the guns, “Keep the guns down boys! Our cap'n needs us!”
Nodding back to his crew, firing down upon the cannons, RSL charges at Jowy and releases a slash of his Cutlass. For a minute it seemed both Jowy and Jiro were going to go on the defense until more shots were fired at RSL from the guns forcing him to back off, “Dammit, the ships cannons' can't take the guns down fast enough,” he says as he sees more and more torrents rise from the water to take aim.
“Seems we had best take the advantage,” Jowy smiled as he and Jiro launched forward. RSL managed to block and dodge the continuous attacks, though was unable to fight back due to the concentrated fire from the guns as well.
“Give it up, you are only prolonging your defeat old chap,” laughed Jiro.
“Don't be so sure,” RSL replied, “Cannons aren't the only thing my crew provides.
And with that a few shots could be heard from the ship. Four pirates had come from the ship bearing their pistols and gunning down Jiro. With the assault against him reduced, RSL presses forward on Jowy. Taken by surprise do to the distraction of Jiro getting shot down, Jowy takes the Cutlass blow directly across his chest and stumbles back.
“Dammit, how could this have happened?” Jowy muttered to himself, “Dammit, it's not worth dying over this thing,” and with that he runs.
RSL, relieved at least one person may survive this, looks on in surprise as a few of the remaining guns shoot down Jowy in his retreat.
“I'm sorry Jowy, but you know victory was your only way out of this,” the Voice of face said.
“Dammit Face, I'm coming for you next!” RSL said as he began running down the pier, “If EoFF is anything like I remember, there is only one place you could be holed up!”
“Hurry on Cap'n!” cried the pirates who ran back to the ship, “We'll gun down the place’s defenses the best we can from here!”
RSL dashed through the port, hearing cannon fire from the ship destroying the water side defenses of EoFF, “The can handle that, though I'm on my own dealing with anything inside.”
Sure enough, several torrents were located through the streets, though on their own RSL had little trouble avoiding them and made it through several streets to reach a large building in the center of town, the EoFF HQ.
Running around the back, RSL entered a staircase behind the building, leading into the basement. Opening the giant doors at the bottom, he see's the familiar face of face, a 15' tall robot hooked up to several wires controlling the circuitry of EoFF.
“Face, what is going on here! Why are you helping them!” RSL said, almost shaking with a mix of anger and depression.
“A Member you knew from back in the day has risen in power since you stopped coming around,” face replied, “At first no one realized he wasn't entirely right. In fact, he was a bit twisted. He had already rose to a status of power and influence before any of us realized however. He convinced so many of us your return would stand in our way. For me, he employed a bit of simple coding. Coding to make me turn on you.”
“But you are only part machine Face, can't you resist the programing?” RSL pleaded.
“Perhaps, though I find myself unable, or perhaps I should say, unwilling to resist,” Face replied, “I have always envied you, I was always overshadowed by you in the eyes of those in EoFF. This, I feel, was a chance to change that. With you gone, I may finally rise to the top. Even though I know the Admin's plan would never work in my favor, and that he clearly plans to help only himself, even so, I find myself willing to follow along.”
“The Top of what? What could possibly be worth all of this? All the damage you have caused!”
“...Now, it seems like it is all a waste. Can I truly say I earned the prize if this is how I take you out? Perhaps, however, it is to late to turn back. I am your last obstacle RSL, before you reach the end and discover the true purpose of these events. Come at me, and hold nothing back,” the large mass that is Face charges forward, delivering a crushing blow towards RSL. Dodging to the side, a move RSL felt was one of his staples, he lunges forward, severing one of Faces giant legs.
Still able to balance on his second, however, Face gazed down, his robotic eyes firing lazers. Barely dodging the initial strike, RSL is still caught by the resulting shock wave, sending him a short ways back.
He rolls to the side to avoid a second blast, this time the aftermath sends him flying face first into a wall, “You are week RSL, you have been through much. You cannot hope to beat me in this state,” he quickly fires another round.
This time RSL rolls towards face to avoid the beam, this time the blast sends him closer to Face. Rolling up to his feet he immediately charges the second leg. Unable to aim in time, Face takes a blow to his other leg from RSL and crumbles to the ground.
“I'll leave you on the ground, even after all you did, you are still a dear friend,” RSL walks ragedly towards the next door, “Once this is over, we will find a way to redeem your actions.”
“I'm afraid now, RSL,” spoke face, his Robot voice unchanging, “The one behind this snuck coding into me. My defeat will activate my shut down.”
“What? Why did you do nothing about it!” RSL said, collapsing down to his knees as he looked back to the giant fallen robot.
“...Guilt, perhaps? I am unsure. Never have I done such a thing, though I am sure this is.. what...the form of guilt is... I....am.. sorry. My old friend.” and with that the voice had had died, and lights around the room began flickering out, one by one.
Tears streaming down his face, RSL turns once again to the door. He opens it and see's a sight he never expected to see. The man behind the attacks was the last person he had ever expected to see, “Rantzien?”
“Yes and know my friend,” Rantzien replied, “That was my alias once upon a time, though things have changed now. Pantz is what I go by now.”
“Why did you do this!? What reason could you possibly have!”
“Why simple, RSL, the most Heroic among us was you. What chance did I ever have of winning this? What chance had any of us had at winning this?” Rantz said, moving slowly towards the battered RSL.
“Heroic? What are talking about? What does that have to do with anything?” RSL cried in rage.
“Oh, right, you wouldn't know. It is the bi-annual Ciddies my friend, and what do all of us have in common? We were all nominated for the most Heroic, a new award for this year. With your return, none of us would have stood a chance of winning.”
RSL looked shocked and amazed, “The Ciddies, all of this was for a damned trophy!”
“Of course it was, you should understand the importance of these prizes, you had always enjoyed the festivities while you were here.”
“I didn't enjoy them for the prizes, I loved them for the community, and they way people would be brought together to celebrate our home and company!” rage had begun filling RSL's face.
“Preposterous,” Pantz Snorted, “You may have defeated all the other nominies, but you are far to wrecked to proceed. With you gone, I shall obtain the prize. I am but a short ways from becoming the most powerful member of the site, not even BoB himself will be able to stand up to my word!”
“Enough,” RSL replied, “You shall not be allowed to corrupt us any further, I shall strike you down now!”
“I'm sorry, but your fight ends here!” suddenly pantz jumped forward, a small knife in hand, stabbing it into RSL's gut.
“Think again!” taking the stab wound, RSL slammed the hilt of his sword upon Pantz's head, causing him to enter a dazed state as he stumbled backwords, “So long, I hope in the afterlife you can become the Rantzien we knew in days past,” and with one more slice of his Cutlass, he removed the head of Patnz.
Pulling out the dagger, RSL continued up the stairs, climbing his way slowly to the top of the tower, fighing through the pain of his stomach wound, “I will make sure this never happens again.”
It was a long walk before he reached the top, and entered an office. In the room he saw two people discussing the Ciddies, a girl he knew little about, and Daniel Towns, aka Loony BoB.
“RSL! What happened to you!” BoB cried as he ran over.
“Towns, what has happened here?” RSL asked, “The Members of EoFF have gone mental!”
“What on earth do you mean?” BoB was confused and seemed to realize nothing was amiss.
“What do I mean? BoB, I was forced to fight and kill those nominated for Most Heroic Member. The attacked for fear I would win the trophy!” RSL yelled.
“What? Members of EoFF have been dying? I've heard nothing of this. Locky, haven't you been keeping tabs on the nominees!?”
Both BoB and RSL look to the girl Locky. She looks a bit nervous and state, “Well.. yes.. but it didn't seem like it was something I should concern you with BoB! You know, with the ciddies and all... I didn't want to bring down anyones mood.”
“Why?!” Rantz yelled as he advanced towards Locky, cutless still in hand, “The blood of all of my friends are on my hands, and I demand to know the reason!”
Frightened Locky said, “Pantz conviced me it was only fair! That I should let his actions slide so that our community members would have the chance to shine for once! He... he was so convincing that I let him go on with his plan. I didn't know it would result in any deaths though! I... I just wanted the Ciddies to go well as I supervised them!”
“...Very well then,” RSL said, the anger fading from his eyes. In what Locky felt was a moment of relief for her tension, she relaxed with a sigh. A moment later, however, the blade of RSL pierced her chest, “You were entrusted with watching the Nominees, and for your own weakness you let so many people die. You selfishly let them die to make yourself look good,” and with that he turned to a horrified BoB.
“Loony_BoB, how could you let this happen?” RSL said his face filled with tears of disappointment. BoB could only stand their shocked and silent, “I came back because I had heard you were now the owner of EoFF. I thought you would be good for this place, that you could uphold the legacy we had built all those years ago along with Cid.”
He begand advancing towards BoB, “I am sorry to see you were not up to the task. I shall not let this go on, EoFF needs a leader capable of running it. And clearly that is not you.”
With those words, BoB attempted to run. Turning is back on RSL, however would prove to be the last thing he did as he felt the cold Steel of RSL's blade enter the back of his neck.
