Ep. 70: One Neon Night, Part 12

Kyle

Previously on Quest Friends…

[Intro song plays, “Friends” by Miracle of Sound.]

Ari (as Misha)

For a second there in the car I thought really bad things about everybody, about you, about everybody, and thought I should… I wanted to, to…

Hallie (as Hopper)

Misha, I don't know what’s going on, and you don’t have to go into more detail if you don’t want to, I just wanted to let you know that we’ll figure it out.

Ari (as Misha)

But what if next time—?

Hallie (as Hopper)

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. It’s worth the risk.

Ari

Misha is going to kind of nod but half-heartedly, like they don’t really think that.

Ari (as Misha)

Simon Simon Scotch, would you promise if it seems that the bridge can’t be crossed that you will protect yourselves?

Hallie

[Exasperated exhale.]

Tom

[Overdramatic wounded sigh.]

Ari

And they’re going to extend their pinky one last time.

Ari (as Misha)

If it comes to it.

Hallie

Hopper will give Misha a skeptical look and then extend his pinky, and he’ll say…

Hallie (as Hopper)

Sure Misha.

Hallie

…but he’s crossing his other fingers behind his back.

[Others holler in surprise and disbelief.]

[Intro music swells and carries into the episode.]

[Nano Spirits Jingle]

David (as Horus)

Now that’s a sound I haven’t heard in a while.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Hey Horus. We need to talk. Your good ward Xoc has gone and gotten himself in a whole heap of trouble.

David (as Horus)

Huh… How is the child?

Kyle (as nano spirits)

How IS he? Well, the child has become best friends with a monster from the Datasphere, the child keeps talking to someone ELSE who wants to kill him, and to top it all off the child cut us off simply for warning him.

David (as Horus)

[Intrigued and contemplative.] Hmm… Is that all?

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Is that all? Yes Horus, that’s all.

[Sighs.] Honestly, sometimes we don’t even know why you let him out of the Weal in the first place.

David (as Horus)

Oh, that? That’s simple, because I trust you.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

You trust us? Really, Horus? Then if you trust us why do you seem so unphased while we’re listing off a series of things that we’re so concerned about?

David (as Horus)

Oh, you misunderstand, friends. I trust you both.

[Static interference plays between the scene change. Ethereal Ambient music begins.]

Kyle

You’re back, Misha. As you see and feel and hear the information flowing around you, smashing into each other and assembling these threads of knowledge and ideas, you can tell you’re back in the Datasphere.

Ari

Uh… I guess what can I see?

Kyle

Heh. What can’t you see? The Datasphere is a repository of all sorts of information. You can see ideas and concepts, even vague unknowable ones take shape, but the shape is more akin to something like an atom than a person.

The way the ideas work is that they are flying through the air. You can hear an encyclopedia whiz past your head. At one point a novel hits you in the side of the head and on the other side a thread forms showing not only the novel but how Misha would have interpreted it. It’s combining this information into something.

And then these threads take many forms. Some of them take shapes like the snake that you talked to while others choose to remain in their long thread-like form.

Ari

Can Misha, like… Is there a way for them to try and see what the situation is back where Ein and everybody else is?

[Music ends.]

Kyle

Give me a roll.

Ari

Great. Okay. I’m rolling my red die, because…

[Rolls.] Uh, 19!

Kyle

Yeah, you’re not far enough away yet, but that’s not necessarily a good thing you can see it, because you can see everyone in front of you, despondent, as you fall to the ground and two red lights emerge from your eyes. But, almost more frightening than the rest of that, you see in Elee’s hands the scarf go limp.

Ari

Hmm.

Kyle

And as you reach up to feel it in the Datasphere… it’s not there.

Ari

[Startled, uneasy.] Ah… okay.

Kyle

Give me another roll.

Ari

[Rolls.] I got 6.

[00:05:00]

[Threatening synth music begins]

Kyle

A piece of information flying in front of you turns and suddenly hits you in the shoulder, and then another one flies at you in the other shoulder, in the legs, in the gut, and as they do and they collide into you a combination of you and the data forms a thread attaching you out to some unknowable thing in the distance.

Ari

Yeah, no, Misha will try to get free of that and will try to return while mumbling or saying to themselves,

Ari (as Misha)

[Distraught.] I told them they should leave. Why didn’t they leave? I have to go back. They can’t be in there right now.

Kyle

Your arm reaches out as the threads tug and you are hurdled hundreds, thousands of miles away, flying at speeds far impossible in the physical realm as the threads wrap themselves around you like a spider circling something in its silk.

Ari (as Misha)

No! I have to go back. Please! I need, I need… I need to protect them. They need to leave now.

[Warped and slowed.] I need to tell them to leave. Maybe they will listen this time.

Kyle

Your voice is cut off as the threads continue to surround you, covering your neck, your mouth, your eyes and the rest of your head, and then as quickly as they appeared the threads unwind spinning you out like a yoyo let loose towards the earth. As you reach their edges the threads snap and you skip across newly found ground.

[Music ends]

Ari

Then Misha, as soon as that happens, kind of trying to figure out if there’s a way to go back, like to run back or something, even though they don’t know where they are. They’ll just try to blindly run.

Kyle

Yeah. You stand up and start running…

[Unsettling ambient music begins]

…and you notice that you are no longer in the Datasphere, or it doesn’t feel the same way as the rest of the Datasphere. In the rest you were kind of floating around aimless as if you were swimming in water or flying in space, but here you have a gravity and you have a space of sorts around you.

With other eyes one would only see white, but you see differently. Around you an empty red plane with an empty red sky stretches out into infinity. It’s perfectly organized, perfectly controlled, not a single atom out of place, except that is for the figure lying at the spot where you first fell.

Ari (as figure)

[Slow and measured.] Misha Jarvis. Misha Jar-vis. Mi-sha Jar…

Mi-sha… Mi-sha… Mi… Mi… Mi…

[“Mi…” begins to loop.]

Kyle

The figure appears in front of you, and it starts to rise, lifting itself up like a marionette pulled on strings although you can’t see any. As this figure rises, its long brown coat spilling down like its black hair, it turns to you continuing to repeat the words.

The first thing you notice is its glassy red eyes. The next is a scarf wrapped around its neck but ripped into pieces like the holes were torn open by its fingers.

Ari

[Weakly.] Great.

[Looping of “Mi…” ends.]

Kyle

But finally, you see a carefully sculpted wooden face with lines running up from its chin to the edges of its painted cinnabar lips… and this marionette Misha finishes its sentence.

[Music ends.]

Ari (as marionette Misha)

Mi… Mi… Mi…

[Rapidly.] Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!

[Slow and deliberate, reverberating echoes.] You… are…

[Paired with a monstrous voice.] Me.

Kyle

Meanwhile, we are now back by everybody else. It’s like I described it last episode. Misha isn’t responding. The two cinnabar eyes are shining into the sky and the scarf is not responding either. It sits there limp.

Tom

Xoc is going to turn back to Ein and say,

Tom (as Xoc)

[Firmly.] You know something else about their connection with The Lady. Please, please, you have to know, how… how do we help Misha?

Kyle (as Ein)

I… I… I don’t know that we can.

Tom (as Xoc)

No. I don’t accept that! I will never accept that. Misha is not her. There has to be a way.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Well Xoc, there is one thing we can do.

[Playfull Nano Spirit music begins.]

Kyle

And all of you hear this strange high-pitched ghostly voice coming out from the Datasphere relay that Ein had accidentally turned on a few episodes ago.

[00:10:00]

Ari

[Gasps, smiling.] Oh my god. That’s why you had the relay!

Hallie

It’s been there for THEM? I don’t want it to be them… Fine.

Kyle

[Laughs.]

Tom

[Delighted.] Ah, shit.

Emily

Elee, from her position, she’s sitting on the ground, because holding Misha up after catching them wasn’t really an option with the height difference, so she’s kind of sunk to the ground and is just kinda holding onto them.

Ari

Aw.

Emily

But she’s gonna look over.

Emily (as Elee)

Xoc, would you like them to talk to you?

Ari

[Laughs.]

Tom (as Xoc)

It’s… It’s okay.

Tom

Xoc’s going to just gesture to everyone and say,

Tom (as Xoc)

Um… these are the nano spirits I recently had a pact with. Are you ready to help now?

[Music ends.]

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Well Xoc, that’s a difficult question to answer.

Tom

[Long exasperated exhale.]

[Laughter.]

Kyle (as nano spirits)

We know… We know that there are probably things you’ll want to talk about. Xoc, we can’t pretend to understand what’s going on with… You call them Misha, right?

Tom (as Xoc)

Yes.

Emily (as Elee)

They ARE Misha.

Kyle (as Ein)

Uh, excuse me, what is going on?

Hallie

[Laughs.]

Tom (as Xoc)

The stratic entities that I previously had a patron-nano relationship with. We recently cut that arrangement.

Emily (as Elee)

Because they were being terrible!

Tom (as Xoc)

Because they can’t—they refuse to acknowledge Misha’s personhood.

Kyle (as Ein)

Oh… well then yes, I would understand how they are the worst.

[Laughter.]

Kyle (as Stein)

[Robotic quacking that warbles, seemingly in agreement.]

Kyle (as nano spirits)

We know, we know, Simile lady and… weird angry suit thing. Xoc, you have the strangest friends.

Tom (as Xoc)

If you’d rather… If you’d rather talk to my strange friends than me be my guest, but before we interrupted you were about to say something important.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Oh! That thing. Right!

[Earnest synth and piano music begins.]

In order to have a good patron relationship one needs to have trust. We weren’t giving you that even though you spent years earning it. We don’t understand what’s going on, we don’t understand your friend Misha Jarvis, but we know that you trust them, and if you want to know how to help them… well then we’ll trust you.

Tom (as Xoc)

[Emotional.] Please. I don't know what else to do. Please, help us.

[Music ends.]

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Okay. So…

[Plotting music begins.]

You all remember that Ezra fellow?

Tom (as Xoc)

Yes.

Emily (as Elee)

Very clearly.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Well he was one of those nasty things from the Datasphere, but the thing is he couldn’t really do any of his plans without being in that globe man’s body.

Hallie

[Snickers.] Globe man.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

It was the same with that Sunny and it’s the same with The Lady. In order for stratic life to access your world they need to use a relay, some sort of vessel they can use to cross that barrier. Well Xoc, it stands to reason that the relay relationship could go both ways.

Tom (as Xoc)

So we can enter the Datasphere and face The Lady there?

Kyle (as nano spirits)

That’s what we believe, yes.

Tom (as Xoc)

[Excited.] Can you show us how?

Kyle (as nano spirits)

We can do more than that, Xoc. If you’re willing, we’ll take you there ourselves.

Tom (as Xoc)

Can you take all of us?

Tom

Xoc will look around at everyone else for confirmation that that’s a choice he can make for everyone.

Emily

[Laughing.] I mean, Elee’s already ready.

Hallie

Hopper’s been kind of like, because he has nothing else to do, he’s been kind of messing with the Defibrillimb. It worked for Sunny, it worked on spiders… Misha’s not organic so he doesn’t think that it will actually work, but he has nothing else to do so he’ll look up from frantically messing with the Defibrillimb and seeing if it does ANYTHING to Misha’s body, and he’s got this very determined steeled expression and he’ll just nod at Xoc.

Kyle

[Grinning.] How does Ness respond?

Hallie

Ness is actually holding Misha’s hand.

Emily

Aww~

Hallie

And he is not talking to anyone. He’s kind of whispering to himself, something about, like,

Hallie (as Ness)

I know you didn’t like to sleep because you didn’t like your dreams, and I said I’d fight anything in the dreams, and I don't know if I can.

Hallie

But then when they’re like “you can go in the Datasphere” he pops up and then he will put Misha’s hand down and he’ll roll up the sleeves he isn’t wearing and share a look with Xoc, like “YEAH!”

[Giggling.]

Tom

Xoc will turn back to the nano spirits and say,

Tom (as Xoc)

Can you take us?

Kyle (as nano spirits)

It would be our pleasure, but… what about you?

[Music changes to Ein and MISHA’s theme.]

Kyle

And Ein startles back a little bit before crossing her arms and turning to the side.

Kyle (as Ein)

I don’t… I don’t think we’re who they need anymore, but…

[00:15:00]

Kyle

And she turns back to face you.

Kyle (as Ein)

Keep them safe. I promised.

Tom

Xoc will just nod.

[Music ends.]

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Alright then, a new challenge for the nano spirits. Hey there Xoc. Hey there Elee. Hey there Hop. Hey there Ness.

Emily (as Elee)

Don’t get too friendly.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Now there’s a lot of dangers out there in the Datasphere, a lot of things you need to know, but we don’t really have time for that. All we’re going to say is that it’s about to get very strange, but just be assured that it’s just as strange for us as it is for you.

[A faster, upbeat version of the Lady with Cinnabar Lip’s theme begins/]]

Kyle

The Datasphere is a weird thing to feel. Xoc has felt it before, but for Elee, for Hop, and for Ness this is an entirely new feeling. It’s as if you’ve been more awake than you’ve ever been before, like you can see things with an increased clarity. You feel a renewed vigor.

You feel what it feels like for the first time to be a nano, and around you, you feel the world start to layer on top of itself. Where you would see a rock in the corner you start to see rock described in binary in 50 different languages as if there’s some heads-up display on it. Things in the room have silhouettes, ghostly visions that appear and then fly into other pieces which turn and burst into these long threads that fly out and tie and not around each other.

Eventually all this activity usurps the world. You can’t see the physical world anymore, you can only see that stratic world layered upon it. As you fly up and away and start racing towards somewhere in the distance, there’s one last piece of business I need to attend to.

[Music ends.]

Emily and Hallie.

Emily

[Surprised, making a realization.] Wait!

Kyle

Before the session I asked each of you to choose two esoteries.

Emily

Oh no! I chose a really—

Hallie

Chose really bad ones!

Emily

[Giggling.] Really unhelpful ones.

Hallie

Yeah, I… yeah.

Ari

Oh, I love it!

Hallie

Ah-ha-ha!

Tom

Did you not pick esoteries useful in a boss fight?

Hallie

One of them is.

Emily

[Small, maybe embarrassed.] I used Hedge Magic.

Ari

[Squeaking with delight.] No! Hedge Magic?

Tom

All it does is like change things’ colors and make things float.

Ari

[Giggling.] Why would you pick that?

Emily

[Into her hands.] I didn’t know what it was for.

Kyle

[Grinning.] She almost picked Slay but didn’t.

Emily

[Sobbing.] I didn’t know what it was for!

Tom

What did you tell them?!

Kyle

I just told them to pick their two favorites, because I didn’t want them to figure out what was happening.

Ari

[Squeaking with delight.] Their two favorites.

Hallie

Are not necessarily the useful ones.

Tom

[Dismissively.] You told them to pick favorites.

Hallie

Ca-ca-ca-caw! [Laughs.]

Tom

[Groans.]

Kyle

Please add those esoteries to your character sheets, because for now at least you know what it feels like to be a nano.

Ari

Does that include Ness? Does Ness…?

Kyle

So, how Ness works, Ness is not trained enough to have a specific esotery, so Ness can do what he always does which is aid somebody else in combat, but he just gets whatever spell Hallie wants to flavor it as.

Hallie

Woohoo!

Kyle

Ness just gets to, like, if he wants to fly around or shoot magic.

Ari

Oh, I see.

Kyle

He is the wildcard. He is Joker. He has every persona.

Ari

Perfect.

Emily

Can I switch to Slay?

Kyle

No.

Tom

Can you even afford to cast Slay?

Emily

[Laughing.] Probably not. I can barely afford to cast Dust to Dust.

Hallie

[Laughs.]

Tom

Now you understand what it’s like when I’m in melee combat.

Ari

Dust to Dust?

Kyle

Yeah, so Hop has Absorb Energy which lets him touch an object and absorb its energy, healing, very good.

Hallie

Yeah, that’s a good one.

Kyle

He has sensor. … He can just see from something.

Hallie

That’s not a good one.

[Laughter.]

Ari

Oh my god!

Tom

It would be amazing in any other situation.

Hallie

I know!

Kyle

Elee has Hedge magic, and then she has Dust to Dust which disintegrates one non-living object that is smaller than you and whose Level is less than or equal to your Tier.

Ari

Oh my god! That’s the one that I could have gotten but I thought it was too scary and I didn’t get.

Tom

Ugh…

Kyle

Alright. Are we good to continue?

Tom

Yes.

Kyle

Misha, roll Speed defense.

Ari

Oh! Speed? That’s my lowest. You know that is my lowest.

[Rolls.] Four.

Kyle

The nails hit you first, but then the wooden bat hits the rest of you.

Ari

Oh god, no, it’s—GOD! NO!

Kyle

Take 8 points of damage as you are knocked to the ground…

Ari

Kyle!

Kyle

…by this marionette Misha…

Ari

But.

Kyle

…who takes the bat, with nails in it, and slings it back on their shoulders, and the nails tear into the limp scarf on its shoulder even harder.

[Unsettling ambient music begins.]

Ari (as marionette Misha)

Do not fight me anymore. This is who you are. Remember?

Ari (as Misha)

I… I know that. I know that all too well. You have told me that a lot, haven’t you, conscience?

[00:20:00]

Ari (as marionette Misha)

Yes, and yet you keep running.

Ari (as Misha)

I do. I… I wouldn’t if you weren’t so destructive. If you didn’t cause as much damage with everybody I wouldn’t, but why do you have to be that way?

Ari (as marionette Misha)

And there you go again, speaking like I cause destruction, like I cause pain. You need to understand…

Kyle

And it grabs you by the hair and picks you up.

Ari (as marionette Misha)

…WE are that way.

[Music ends.]

Kyle

Meanwhile, everybody else, you have been flying for a very short time but you have gotten very far, and suddenly you all just stop.

Emily (as Elee)

[Sounding queasy.] Oh, thank god we stopped.

Tom (as Xoc)

Are you still with us?

Tom

Xoc shouts out to the nano spirits.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Yes we are, Xoc, and… we’re here.

[Sinister yet peaceful synth music begins.]

Kyle

As they say that, you turn around and you can see in front of you a white bubble. Inside of this bubble you see a plain white sky and a white plane at the bottom. Where everything else in the Datasphere is weird and chaotic and unknowable, this bubble seems very still and secure. The only thing penetrating it are four strings stretching out from some vague space in the distance down through the bubble to this marionette version of Misha who seems to be causing an awful lot of damage to the non-marionette version.

Tom

Xoc doesn’t hesitate. He is moving towards the bubble. Is there a version of the Strong-Glass Staff here in the, uh…?

Kyle

Yeah. You have a version of everything.

Tom

Okay. Yeah, he’s gonna use the staff like a sphere and try to puncture through the bubble.

[Music ends.]

Kyle

[Amused.] Give me a roll.

Tom

[Rolls.] How does a 12 do?

Kyle

Not very well. You go to puncture it and usually with a bubble even if you can’t puncture it you go in a little bit, but your staff just tings off of it like it couldn’t get anywhere in.

Kyle (as nano spirits)

[Hesitantly.] That’s not going to work, Xoc. You see, The Lady’s thing is all about control, and in that bubble she has all the control. We can get you here, but we don’t know if there’s a way to get in.

Tom (as Xoc)

[Shakily.] Is there really nothing that’s strong enough to fight her?

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Well…

Hallie

Did you say the strings were coming into the bubble from some nebulous outside source?

Kyle

Yep.

Hallie

Hop’s already trying to cut one of them with his, um, his forearm blade. That’s what it’s called.

Kyle

[Laughs.]

Ari

Oh, it’s coming back!

Tom

Is this like the second time it’s been used in the entire campaign?

Emily

[Laughs.]

Hallie

Yeah! Yeah. Something like that.

Ari

What a blast from the past. I forgot.

Hallie

Alright. This is to go to the cool dice house…

[Rolls.] … Uh, that’s a 1. So he didn’t get to go to the cool dice house.

[Laughter.]

Ari

Oh my god! No!

Hallie

But my jail doesn’t work, so what do I do with it now?!

Tom

Failing forward is such a good game master principle.

Ari

You jinxed it!

Hallie

This is like, this was like, this was one of the die in the picture off the cool—I’m so…

Kyle

You know, you’re right about failing forward, Tom, because we are gonna advance the plot, but we’re still gonna fail, because we’re gonna do something that I was gonna do after you cut the thread but we’re going to do it right now.

Tom

Damn it.

Kyle

Hop, you go to cut the thread and you take out your forearm blade, and Xoc’s staff actually looked the same way, the blade itself doesn’t appear, instead out of the sides of your hands you see threads pull themselves out and these multicolored threads take the form of your forearm blade which you then try to cut into the rope, but because you haven’t used the blade in a while you don’t quite hit it the right way and it bounces off…

[Action synth music begins.]

…and there’s that deep sound you make when you hit a particularly strong wire which reverberates down into the area below but also far, far up into the sky.

Hallie

Oh, good.

Kyle

And you hear a voice from the sky say, with unending malice,

Kyle (as The Lady)

THEM!

Kyle

And I need everyone to roll initiative.

[Music swells and carries into the announcements.]

Kyle

Hello, and welcome to the announcement break for Quest Friends, Episode 70: One Neon Night, Part 12. I’m Kyle, your GM, and our intro song is Friends by Miracle of Sound.

Okay, so we got a pretty big episode that I’m sure you’re all very excited to get to, so for today the only thing I want to do for announcements is go over a few credits.

[00:25:00]

The first credit is you may have noticed that there was a voice in the very beginning that was neither mine nor the players’. That’s because we brought in podcaster and voice actor David S. Dear to play Horus, a character who we’ve alluded to in the past and who will be appearing in the future. You may know David as the main person behind the podcast A Ninth World Journal and you might know Horus as Xoc’s robot guardian slash dad, although they haven’t really worked that out yet.

We’ll be seeing a lot more of Horus in the future so you’ll be hearing a lot more of and about David in the future, but if you want to check him out and check out his work there’s a link to his website, DavidSDear.com, below.

We also, for the first time, brought in custom music that was made by somebody other than me. There’s a pretty big moment later on in this episode that alludes to our custom music, but I didn’t feel comfortable writing it, so I brought on Will Savino, AKA Music d20, to help bring that song to life. Will is a composer who has made a library of RPG music that you can use both for your tabletop games and for your tabletop roleplaying podcasts. We commissioned him for one custom song, but you can find Will for a lot more music at musicd20.carrd.co.

Thanks again to both David and to Will for making this episode the best it could be.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you today. Our next episode, the final episode of One Neon Night, should be coming out in a week and a half on Monday, January 25th, but if you’d like additional content before then you can find stories, artwork, and behind the scenes insights at Patreon.com/QuestFriends. I’ll see you there.

[Action synth music carries out of the announcements.]

Ari

[Nervously.] Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

[Rolls.] Uh, 19!

Emily

[Rolls.] I rolled an 8.

Tom

[Rolls.] Thirteen.

Hallie

[Rolls.] A 3.

Kyle

Alright. I’m not gonna roll for The Lady, because she gets top of the round.

Hallie

Wow.

Kyle

Hop, I need you to roll Speed defense.

Hallie

Alright.

[Rolls.] Seven.

[Dark action synth music begins.]

Kyle

From next to the wire you see another thread extend, though this one is harsher. It’s a bright beam of red light that looks akin to a lightning bolt from God smiting down beneath him, because while The Lady knows many, many esoteries, she has a favorite one.

Hop, you keep all of your points, but I need you to take one step down the damage track as a bolt of the esotery Slay flies down from the sky and strikes you.

Ari

Oh no.

Emily

No…

Hallie

Alright. That puts Hop at impaired.

Ari

[Grinning.] Aw look, it’s the one that Elee could have picked.

Kyle

Slay, you technically have to touch somebody, but I just really—

Emily

Yeah, you have to touch somebody!

[Music ends.]

Tom

We’re in an immaterial space. Touch has no concept here.

Hallie

[Laughs.]

Kyle

And Misha, you don’t notice any of this happening. As I said, while you are in a bubble everyone else can see, to you it looks like an infinite plane. But, you do notice part of the marionette’s arm shake, and in kind of frustration it looks back up towards the sky.

Tom

Can Misha see us or are we invisible?

Kyle

No, because to Misha…

Ari

Right.

Kyle

So to you it all looks like Misha’s in a bubble, to Misha they are in an infinite plane.

Tom

[As a groan.] God.

Kyle

They literally cannot see outside the bubble. They think it stretches for forever.

Ari

Yeah, I guess Misha will just talk and be like,

[Unsettling ambient music begins.]

Ari (as Misha)

I know… I know we both have done this, but I’ve never wanted to be a part of it. I have accepted that we are the same, but why won’t you let me be myself?

Ari (as marionette Misha)

Because you have no self.

Kyle

Roll Might defense.

Ari

Jesus. Okay. I don't know why my pools are so low today.

[Rolls. Wincing.] A 2.

Kyle

The marionette takes you and smashes your head against the ground for 6 points of damage.

Ari (as marionette Misha)

I am you, and you… are… MINE.

[Music ends.]

Kyle

And now we’re gonna move to Xoc.

Tom

One quick question before I say anything else.

Kyle

Yeah?

Tom

Xoc has no esoteries at this point, right?

Kyle

No, you have all your esoteries back.

Tom

Oh!

Kyle

Because everyone has become a nano, so they got their esoteries, but they only got two. You got all of yours back.

[00:30:00]

Tom

Okay. Okay. I have my full power? That makes things different. But, that being said, will it take my full action if I try to talk to Misha?

Ari

Ohh~

Tom

Through the mental connection.

Kyle

No, you can try to talk to Misha through the mental connection.

Tom

Alright. I can still do something else to fight The Lady though aside from that?

Kyle

Yeah.

Tom

Okay. So Xoc is going to pound a fist on the outside of the bubble and through the mental connection try to reach out to Misha inside.

Tom (as Xoc)

Please, please hear me.

[Xoc and Misha sad theme begins.]

Misha, we’re here! You’re not alone. You’re not alone, we’re here, and we’re trying to get you out of there. Please, fight back. Stay alive. We’re going to stop her. Please, just don’t give up.

Ari

Does Misha hear it?

Kyle

Give me a roll.

Tom

Fourteen.

Kyle

The message flies out piercing the bubble and making its way in, but as it gets closer and closer to Misha those numbers change a bit.

[Music slows and distorts. Static begins.]

Ari

Oh no.

Kyle

The 4 and the 1, now within her domain, can be flipped any way they want, and so the 4 is pinged back out and the 1 is the only part of the roll that remains in her domain.

Ari

Oh man.

[Music and static end.]

Kyle

You do not succeed, Xoc.

Tom

Xoc is going to slam a fist on the outside of the bubble one more time. It’s gonna be the left fist, just because.

[Dance action synth music begins.]

Then, he’s going to look at the glove and then turn to not the wire that Hop is next to but a different one, and for the first time in a while now cast Cutting Light against it and try to burn right through the wire.

[Rolls.] And that is a 16.

Kyle

In a world of strings the Cutting Light doesn’t actually look any different. After all, what is a beam but a very long ethereal string? Well, there is one difference, it burns like all hell. As you swing the Cutting Light one of the wires snaps off and you can just hear the screaming from the higher end.

[Music ends.]

Emily.

Emily

Do we know we’re nanos? Do we understand what…?

Kyle

You can feel that you have the powers.

Emily

Okay. Okay.

Ari

They got the power!

[Giggling.]

Emily

Do we know how to use them? Can I use it?

Kyle

Yes.

Emily

Okay.

Kyle

Well, kind of, but the nano spirits will be like,

Kyle (as nano spirits)

Hey Elee, don’t mean to pry or say too much, but you actually have to do this thing to make it work.

Emily (as Elee)

Thank you. I hate you.

Tom

[Laughs.]

Kyle (as nano spirits)

We know.

[Laughter.]

Emily

Elee is actually going to try to cast her first non-canon Halloween special esotery.

Kyle

And what is that esotery?

Emily

That esotery is Dust to Dust which will use up over half of my Intellect points.

Kyle

How does Dust to Dust work?

Emily

So Dust to Dust… You touch a non-living object that’s smaller than you and you can turn it into dust. You just, like, disintegrate it, right?

Kyle

Yeah.

Emily

Yeah. So, Elee’s going to look towards—we can’t see her, but look towards where it feels like the voice is coming from.

Kyle

Yeah, you can’t see her, although when the first string was cut you start to see a fog at the edge of the threads.

[Upbeat action synth music begins.]

Emily

So after that scream from Xoc cutting the last string Elee’s gonna look up and say,

Emily (as Elee)

That sounded like it hurt.

Emily

And she’s gonna grab hold of another one of the strings and cast Dust to Dust.

Kyle

As you cast it, threads start to emerge from the end of your hand and they wrap themselves around the wire, consuming it, and as they disappear and scatter off into the Datasphere there is nothing left of the wire you touched. And she screams again.

Emily (as Elee)

Stay away from my children.

[Music fades.]

Kyle

Okay Hop, it is your turn. You have failed to hit a wire…

Hallie

Yep.

Kyle

…have been smited from God herself…

Hallie

Yep.

Kyle

…and then watched the other two easily cut it. So what are you gonna do now?

Emily

[Laughs.]

Hallie

Yeah. I sure did.

Kyle

I’m sure Ness is just like floating there on a little jetpack that he made with magic, just staring at you.

Hallie

Oh yeah. Ness is like… yeah.

[Laughs.] He’s waiting for Hop to make his next move. He’s been pinging back and forth between everybody being like,

Hallie (as Ness)

[Fast and excited.] Whatcha doin’? Whatcha doin’? Whatcha doin’?

Hallie

He doesn’t know how to do anything practical with his powers.

Emily

[Laughs.]

Hallie

Alright, so let me know if this is a no, as you do. You already told me, four days ago you messaged me specifically to tell me no, The Lady With Cinnabar Lips does not count as an environmental hazard.

[Laughter.]

So that I couldn’t ask that during the recording, even though I just did. Yeah, so I know that she isn’t that, but… I’m gonna try to cut the thing normally, but I want to set it up so that if I miss

[00:35:00]

and she tries to smite me again, I want to be real cute with it and make her smite her own wire.

Kyle

[Intrigued.] Okay.

Ari

Ooh.

[Someone claps.]

Kyle

Okay. Give me a roll for this.

Hallie

Okay. I have 6 XP. Could I use 2 of them to automatically succeed this?

Kyle

You absolutely could.

Hallie

I’m gonna use 2 XP to automatically succeed! Do you still need me—

Kyle

Describe how you “fail,” quote-unquote, to cut the wires.

Hallie

Okay, um, so… Hop will switch tacts from his forearm blade to the Defibrillimb which is better in every way, and he’s gonna try to aim it at the wire, and he’s gonna set it on the lowest power setting. I imagine there are different power settings so that it doesn’t actually do anything.

Kyle

Yeah. You have to negotiate with the Mako OS though.

Hallie

[Laughing.] Like, set it.

Kyle

Who’s just like,

Kyle (as Mako OS)

Highest power setting?!

Hallie (as Hopper)

No-no-no, I have a—

Kyle (as Mako OS)

Lowest power setting. I understand. Wink-wink.

Hallie (as Hopper)

No-no-no, I really need… I really need the lowest one. Please, please, please.

Hallie

[Laughs.] He’s just whispering to it.

Kyle (as Mako OS)

[Disappointed.] Aww…

Kyle

[Laughs.] And the arm sighs as it sets it to the lowest power setting.

Hallie

Then after he does that he’s gonna, like, his hand is gonna slip and then be like…

Hallie (as Hopper)

Agh!

Hallie

…and then put himself in a prime “hit me again” position, but what he’s gonna do is prepare, now that he’s got his Mako arm out. His useful esotery is Absorb Energy, and I wanna flavor it as he’s absorbing the energy from smite, from God herself, and then redirecting it into the thing.

Tom

Yes please.

[Action synth music begins.]

Kyle

Yeah. I always imagine the Mako OS as being like a blue light.

Hallie

Me too.

Kyle

So, because you did this on your turn I’m gonna have this be like she got a free attack or something.

Hallie

Sure.

Kyle

The Lady strikes down a light on you, a bright red light, which you just rise up and catch with your arm… and as it reaches the arm the lightning returns back to its thread-like form and its bright fierce red turns into an equally fierce blue, and the lightning turns from lightning to strings back into the Defibrillimb’s laser, and you cut the third wire.

Hallie

He yells out a…

Hallie (as Hopper)

HA!

Hallie

…after he does it.

[Giggling.]

Kyle (as The Lady)

[Monstrous and bellowing.] AHH! You all misunderstand.

Kyle

You see the fog starts to solidify back into those threads and starts to take form.

Kyle (as The Lady)

Ants like you do not hurt me. Ants like you cannot affect me. Ants like you… can only make me mad.

[Music ends. Earthquake SFX begins.]

Kyle

Out of the fog, a giant white heel flies down to slam on all of you.

Ari

Oh god.

Kyle

I need everyone to roll Speed defense.

Ari

[Uneasy groan.]

Kyle

Except for Misha who’s in the bubble.

Ari

Yeah, no, I get that. Oof.

Hallie

Alright. I’m on my fourth die of the night.

Emily

I’m gonna put a level of Effort into this.

Hallie

Yeah.

Ari

Grab a die that you put in the bad house because maybe it will try to please you.

Hallie

The problem is they were all in the bad house.

Tom

Does Hopper’s innocent powers help defend us at all?

Hallie

Oh my god! Everybody’s innocent!

Emily

Yay~!

Hallie

[Laughing.] Yeah! Everybody gets an Asset to their…

Ari

Everybody’s innocent?

Hallie

Everybody’s innocent. Let me see what that does. Yeah, if you’re standing next to me, which you are, you share any defensive advantages that I have, which is Speed defense from my shield… and that’s it.

Kyle

[Laughs.]

Hallie

Oh! Speed defense rolls are increased by 1 step.

Kyle

Okay, so 2 steps easier.

Hallie

Mm-hmm.

Tom

Okay, and then I’ll also spend a level of Effort, because I can’t afford to do anything more.

Hallie

Yeah, I’ll also spend a level.

Tom

[Inhales sharply.] Oh boy…

Ari

Please…

Tom

[Rolls.] God damn it.

Ari

No, I don’t like that face, Tom.

Emily

[Rolls.] I rolled a 17, but I don't think that’s enough, even a 17 with 2 levels.

Hallie

I got a 5 with 2 levels.

Ari

Agh!

Tom

I got a 7.

Ari

Agh!

Hallie

[Laughs.]

[Evil synth music begins.]

Kyle

The bubble reverberates like a rock thrown into a small pond as the heel of The Lady With Cinnabar Lips slams on all of you. She tries to mush you into paste, but because of the way the Datasphere works you are able to absorb a little bit of the impact, almost turn into threads yourself, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt you, because it hurts a lot. It hurts for 20 points of damage.

Hallie

Twenty points?!

Ari

Oh no! That’s so much!

Hallie

Holy shit!

Ari

What the fuck?!

Hallie

Well fuck. Alright, my Might’s at 0, gotta dip into my Speed here.

Ari

Oh no! Hopper!

Tom

[Counting quietly.] Eight… nine…

Hallie

I only had 14, so that’s minus another 6. That’s at 9.

Ari

[Groaning.] Ah… no.

Hallie

Yeah, that’s fine. Just gonna have to get clever.

[Music ends.]

Emily

Are you dead, Tom? … You’re not dead, are you?

[00:40:00]

Tom

Uh, I have 24 Intellect and I am impaired. I can’t take actions on my turn.

Ari

Oh Jesus. Fuck.

Hallie

I forgot that I was impaired last turn and I definitely did an action.

Kyle

Sorry, we’re using different terms. Tom means debilitated.

Hallie

Oh! Okay.

Tom

Sorry, I misspoke, I apologize. Debilitated, yeah.

Hallie

Okay, then I’m fine. Okay.

Tom

Impaired just means Effort costs more.

Kyle

Yeah.

Hallie

That’s what I thought.

Tom

I’m debilitated which means I can’t act, because I don’t have any Might or Speed left.

Kyle

Meanwhile Misha, you can see the sky vibrate a bit in what looked to be an endless cinnabar abyss. There’s movement, the movement of the sky itself, as if it was waves above you. You also notice as two of marionette Misha’s legs stop responding, they stop moving, as does one of their arms, as if they had been disconnected from some strings that you cannot see.

Ari

Hmm. Hmm…

Tom

I’m just imagining the marionette just waggling threateningly by one arm, like

[Silly.] “Oh, I’m coming to get you now!”

[Laughter.]

Kyle

[Silly.] “I’m gonna fucking get you!”

Tom

[Silly.] “You get back here!”

Hallie

Like a Scooby Doo ghost where they just stand there shaking their arms.

Kyle

Well actually it is, it is dangling by the one arm, but it’s still looking like it’s standing, but it also looks like it’s dangling and it has the one arm up in the sky, and honestly it’d be pretty unsettling to see I think outside of a comedic context.

Ari

Yeah.

Tom

[Silly.] “I’ve got no strings to hold me down.”

Emily

[Laughs.]

Ari

It’s like that, like that GIF you sent the other day with the little puppet that just had little strings cut and it looked really creepy as it kept falling. I hated that.

Kyle

Yeah.

Ari

Anyways. [Sighs.]

[Unsettling ambient music begins.]

I guess Misha will notice that a bit more now since it’s two more extremities and say,

Ari (as Misha)

What… What is happening to you?

Ari (as marionette Misha)

We are dying, Misha.

Ari (as Misha)

We… We are? Then why do you keep hurting us?

Ari (as marionette Misha)

Because we need you back. This can all stop if you just join me, if you just join yourself.

Ari (as Misha)

But… if I do, do you promise to… do you promise to keep my friends, or I suppose Misha’s friends, safe? Do you promise to not cause any more problems in the world? I could go back if there’s nothing else bad for me there, but I want my friends and the people that Misha loves, I want them safe.

Kyle

The arm of marionette Misha slowly falls down, just chick, chick, chick, and all of its fingers go in with the exception of the pinky.

Ari

God damn it.

Tom

[Seethes, shouts angrily.]

Ari

God damn it.

Kyle

And it says,

Ari (as marionette Misha)

Of course. I promise.

Ari

[Breathy, quiet.] Oh, Jesus…

Kyle

Because The Lady With Cinnabar Lips lies.

[Music ends.]

Ari

Oh my god.

Kyle

Xoc, it is your turn. You have just been pasted to the wall by this foot. You cannot take another hit from that again, and more importantly you can see down beneath you the figure trying to make some final action towards Misha. You don’t know what it is, but you know it cannot be good. You have to cut the final wire this turn.

Tom

So, here’s a question. If I use an item from my inventory that’s not a cypher but does an effect that is equivalent to a cypher, would that follow the rule of it doesn’t take my whole turn to do that? Especially if I say Ness is administering it.

Kyle

[Amused.] Sure.

Tom

Uh… For the past several arcs I have been slowly stocking healing items with my money that I keep forgetting about because we’ve never really been in a lot of combats that need them, but—

Kyle

You’re welcome, by the way.

Tom

[Chuckles.] I want to materialize my Sprayflesh MAX and maybe with Ness’s help just spray my body such that it starts working again.

Kyle

Absolutely, but I know Ness is not gonna be good at this, so we need to play this out.

Tom

Okay.

[Silly music begins.]

Hallie (as Ness)

Xoc! Xoc! You’re not looking so good, buddy!

Tom (as Xoc)

[Weakly.] Ness, I…

[Coughs.] In the backpack.

Kyle

[Smirking.] Coughs up blood that makes strings.

Tom (as Xoc)

[Weakly, struggling.] Backpack. There’s a canister. It’s silver. Has a heart on it instead of a gear. Please, grab it please. I can’t reach.

Hallie

While Xoc is getting all that out Ness is already in the backpack, his little booted feet sticking out, throwing things out while he tries to look for the one thing that Xoc wants. There’s like a cat that goes swinging by. [Angry cat noise.]

Kyle

[Angry cat noise.] And then it just splits into a million different threads.

Hallie

[Laughs.] Yeah, until he finds the spray bottle.

Hallie (as Ness)

Ah! This is a heart, right?

Tom (as Xoc)

Yeah. Yes.

Hallie (as Ness)

This is the right one?

Tom (as Xoc)

Yes. You need to aim—

Hallie (as Ness)

Okay. What—What now?

Tom (as Xoc)

Aim the little nozzle at me.

Hallie (as Ness)

What’s a—What? This thing?

Kyle

[Laughs.]

Tom (as Xoc)

Yeah, that opening there. You need to aim it at me, and you need…

[Out of breath.] You need to squeeze the trigger, just spray the mist all over me.

[00:45:00]

Hallie (as Ness)

Do I shake it?!

Hallie

He asks, already shaking it.

Tom (as Xoc)

I don't know. I don’t think it can hurt.

Hallie (as Ness)

Okay, I’m shaking it! Okay! Ah, aah, AHH!

[Laughter.]

Hallie

He squeezes it like in Xoc’s face, realizes that’s probably not where Xoc wanted it to be, and then just starts wildly spraying it all over.

Tom

The wounds aren’t physical, it’s immaterial, so I think so long as it hits it’s fine.

Hallie

Alright. It’s hitting, but he’s like moving it wildly to make sure that it’s hitting.

Tom

Everywhere is hurt anyway, so…

Kyle

Because it is immaterial, normally it has a really bad taste to keep you from eating it, but because it’s immaterial you just feel that taste in your body now.

[Others groan.]

Ari

Oh no, that’s gross.

Hallie

Sorry bud.

Tom

So I haven’t actually written down in my inventory what Sprayflesh MAX does, but I know it is the strongest version of Sprayflesh.

Kyle

It is the strongest version of Sprayflesh. It heals your entire Might pool.

Emily

Wow.

Ari

Nice.

Tom

Just my Might pool?

Kyle

Yeah, because Sprayflesh is Might. If you had used like Sprayvein or Spraymind you would have been—If you’d used Sprayvein you would have done your Speed, but nope, all your Might.

Tom

I know, fucking wasted. I guess I’ve got other forms of spray, but ugh.

Emily

All your 9 Might.

Kyle

Xoc is renewed with 8 points of Might! And with them he shall—!

Tom

Nine, it’s nine.

Ari

Oh! You have that much Might? What?!

Tom

No.

Ari

You’re such a wimpy boy.

Tom

I wish I could’ve used that on Elee instead and I’m very sorry for that, but I just needed to be able to act and the only other thing I had was Spraymind which wouldn’t—Healing my Intellect pool wouldn’t correct debilitated.

Kyle

It’s true.

Tom

Anyway.

Kyle

[Chuckles.]

Tom

Feeling quite a bit stronger, 5 levels of Effort.

[Rolls.] And a 12.

Kyle

And what did you do?

Tom

Oh, sorry, sorry.

[Laughter.]

Hallie

Yeah. What the fuck?

Tom

I didn’t describe anything. Xoc takes his glove again for Cutting Light and fires another beam at the remaining thread to just try and cut it while also mental link shouting.

Tom (as Xoc)

MISHA NO!

Kyle

How much damage does Cutting Light do?

Tom

Five points at base.

Kyle

Okay. Because—

Tom

Or if it’s an inanimate object it just cuts through it if it’s a certain length. You said it was a pretty thin wire, huh?

Emily

It’s inanimate.

Tom

Yeah. I mean, it’s not an enemy, so…

Hallie

These are all words you said.

Tom

[Inhales sharply.] Ooh, let’s look at the description real quick.

Hallie

Hate to use logic on you, but…

Tom

Yeah, yeah, let’s take a look here. Oh wow, even more effective when used against an immobile nonliving target, even more effective. It slices through up to one foot of any material Level 6 or less.

Emily

Wow.

Ari

Damn.

Tom

That’s probably gonna…

Emily

[Laughing.] Oh, you shouldn’t have said that part.

Tom

Damn it. Well, I can’t lie.

Ari

[Pinched.] Why did you say that part?

Kyle

Wait, you said Level 4 or less?

Tom

Level 6 or less.

Kyle

Well the thing is you targeted the wires… and the wires aren’t Level 9, they’re Level 5.

[Unsettling ambient music begins.]

Misha, the pinky from your reflection, yourself, gets closer to you. Do you have any thoughts as you reach out your other hand in kind?

Ari

Uh… yeah. They feel bad that they didn’t get to say goodbye, I guess, to their friends and in general to the people down on Earth or whatnot, so they will say,

Ari (as Misha)

Is there any way I—Misha could see their friends one last time before I join you?

[Very small voice.] We… join you. Just to see that they are okay.

Ari (as marionette Misha)

You know the answer to that. We don’t care about ants.

Ari (as Misha)

[Small.] But… this Misha loves ants. Not even one last time? If you really need both of us to be together, this is the last thing that Misha cares about. I know you promised, I just—

Ari (as marionette Misha)

And you promised too. Misha was always good at keeping promises. That’s what set us apart.

Ari (as Misha)

Yeah…

Ari (as marionette Misha)

[Forcefully.] Then make the promise.

Kyle

And the hand stretches out further.

Ari (as Misha)

But… But… But I want to know.

Ari (as marionette Misha)

You want

[Paired with a monstrous voice.] what I say you want!

[Music ends.]

Kyle

And then suddenly the arm flops down as does the rest of the marionette before poofing into dozens of threads.

Ari (as Misha)

What… Are you… What? Are you there? Are we…

I’m not dead.

Kyle

You hear a wretched scream from above.

Kyle (as The Lady)

[Monstrous and bellowing.] You are not, but they will be!

Kyle

And everyone else, roll me one last defense.

[00:50:00]

Tom

Well, forgive me, Sprayflesh MAX. I didn’t mean for you to die like this.

[Rolls. Splutters and scoffs at the result.]

Emily

For flavor, Elee will have, in anticipation of the shoe coming down again, Elee will have thrown herself over Xoc, because he’s currently the weakest.

Tom

Xoc actually takes Ness and flings him out of the foot’s way.

Just [Makes a whooshing sound.]

Emily

Aww!

Hallie (as Ness)

[Shouting.] What are you doing?! [Trails off at the end.]

Tom (as Xoc)

[Shouting.] Forgive me, friend!

Emily

I rolled an 18.

Hallie

I rolled a 9.

Tom

I rolled a 4.

Kyle

You prepare for the foot to come down, but it doesn’t in a literal way.

[Earthquake SFX begins.]

Instead, multiple streaks of that cinnabar lightning fly down from on high hitting each of you multiple times to the point that all of you are now debilitated, and they hit not only you but the bubble around you which starts to tear in the center. Misha, you see above you this red sky tear itself apart, and inside of it you see her.

[The Lady with Cinnabar Lips’ theme begins.]

She is motionless—having such a perfect form it should not be tainted by change—with a long white dress that curves at the bottom as if it’s suspended in a frozen wind. Higher up you see the vague shape of a face, the hint of a form, just enough to let you know how perfect it is but with enough vagueness to let you fill in the blanks. Her nose lacks nostrils and her face has divots in where eyes should be entered. In fact, this still perfect woman only has one very distinct feature, glistening expressive cinnabar lips, and those lips frown.

Kyle (as The Lady)

Do you understand yet?! So long as you persist you are a threat to them and there is no escaping that.

Kyle

As she says that you see, suspended, unable to move, four figures: an old woman with a red hat, a cowboy accountant, a small robot with tube arms, and a boy in a singed blue robe. As she gets closer and her form gets larger you notice just how small they are, how they are literal ants in comparison, and The Lady continues.

Kyle (as The Lady)

I will give you one chance to save these fools who do not seem to want to leave you. You. They’re so fond of you, but there is no you. There is only us. Show them that and they may live.

Ari (as Misha)

They… They came here? They came here?!

Tom (as Xoc)

Misha! Misha Jarvis!

Ari (as Misha)

Xoc!

Tom (as Xoc)

You are you! You’re not anyone else!

Ari (as Misha)

But… But…

Tom (as Xoc)

She is not you! You are not her! If it was true none of this would be happening right now. You can fight her. We all can.

Hallie (as Hopper)

Misha! Misha! I’m sorry that I broke the promise I made, but I, I… We’re your friends, and we’re gonna stick by you, through thick or thin. Okay? I know you think you’re gonna hurt us, but it’s not you, and we’re all… We’re all with you, okay?!

Hallie (as Ness)

Misha! I’m not as good at fisticuffs as I thought, but I am still willing to try!

Emily

Aww!

Kyle

And then one person remains.

[Music ends.]

Emily (as Elee)

Misha, I know he must have told you about the song when he taught it to you that you had to sing it with love. He wrote it with love, and every time that I think about it I feel him with me, and it was… It’s… I thought for a while that it was just my song, but it’s our song. It’s Karl’s, and mine, and it’s yours.

Emily

Elee is gonna look Misha in the eyes and hum to them.

Emily (as Elee)

[Hums Karl’s Song.]

[00:55:00]

[Ethereal version of Karl’s Song begins.]

Kyle

Unconditional love. That’s what the song was always about, and it sounds cheesy to say that a song is about something like that, but what else could this be?

You have spent so long, Misha, worried you’re a danger to everybody, you’re a threat to them, that one day you are going to be everyone’s doom, that one day they would all regret ever knowing you. You were so afraid of being a danger to everyone, and yet everyone willingly came into danger for you. That’s just what family does, I guess.

[Music ends.]

As Karl’s Song ends again, there is an empty pause where it waits for a new refrain.

Ari (as Misha)

You… You forgive me?

Emily (as Elee)

[Tearful.] Of course. Of course I forgive you, Misha.

Ari (as Misha)

I’m sorry for all the danger that things have caused to you, and to all of you really, but you still kept coming for me even if you knew the risks. I’m not really sure how you’re all here right now, but I guess if you all came back I can’t give up now, can I?

Emily (as Elee)

We love you, Misha.

Ari (as Misha)

I love all of you too. I just wanted to protect all of you, just like I couldn’t protect Karl.

Emily (as Elee)

It’s okay.

Kyle (as The Lady)

It is time to decide! As fake a word it is.

[Combination of Karl’s Song, Hop’s Theme, and Friends begins.]

Ari (as Misha)

Well… I don’t know how we are going to get out of this, but we are, and I am not meaning we as in you and I, I am meaning me as in Misha Jarvis and their friends. We are going to get out of this situation, and I am going to get rid of you once and for all.

You tried to convince me that we are the same, but I don’t see it. I’ve never truly seen it. We are too different for that to be the case, and I won’t let you lie and say that we’re the same to me anymore.

Kyle

The Datasphere is made of threads, and as Misha speaks a new one forms. This small purple thread starts as a fleck on their neck, but as Misha’s confidence grows it does as well. Another line, another knot, longer and longer and longer, and while Misha may not notice, as they continue to speak to The Lady, her mouth curls first in disgust but then a bit of surprise and fear, as behind Misha a long purple scarf has increased in length and magnitude to the degree that it now has a volume rivaling that of The Lady herself.

Ari

[Smiling.] God, yes.

Kyle

Sure, The Lady With Cinnabar Lips is not an enemy to take lightly, she’s one of the strongest beings in the Datasphere, but Misha… you aren’t her, you’re stronger. How are you gonna end this fight?

Ari (as Misha)

I’ve lived with the consequences of you meddling on my life for far too long, and I don’t want you to be here anymore. Leave me and my friends alone, forever!

Tom

Hey Lady, do you know what “die” means?

Ari

Oh my god.

[Laughter.]

Tom

Because you won’t be coming back.

Ari

[Smiling.] Jesus Christ.

Misha will just look back at the scarf, and look at her.

Ari (as Misha)

It’s time to finish this!

Kyle

Following your lead, the scarf starts to unfurl itself, rising up on both ends like a double-headed snake ready to strike, and strike it does, flying between the bolts of energy The Lady is raining down on the party, lunging at The Lady and wrapping around her legs, rising higher and higher like a purple storm, until eventually her white figure is covered entirely by purple with the final strand going over her screaming cinnabar lips.

After a few moments this muffled sound decreases, and through the lines separating the bits of the scarf threads start to shoot out, flying out as if the scarf is containing some sort of colorful explosion, until eventually the scarf curls back and where it was… nothing can be found.

[Music ends.]

[01:00:00]

Ari

Yeah. After seeing that, they’ll stare at where The lady once was with a moment of disbelief and fall to their knees.

Ari (as Misha)

She’s… She’s gone? She’s gone.

Kyle

As you look down, Misha, you can see the colors from two lights emanating from your eyes. On one side is the gray, but on the other, the red flickers out and is replaced by purple.

[Static interference plays between the scene change.]

Kyle (as Jeff)

Well… there goes our payment, Dindavid.

[Ambling western music begins.]

Ari (as Dindavid)

Well, I guess I didn’t want to have money for pizza this month. You know, it’s fine, I can starve for a little bit.

Kyle (as Jeff)

Yeah, we’re used to it anyway. Honestly, good riddance. She was an awful lady anyway.

Ari (as Dindavid)

She was a bit scary.

Kyle (as Jeff)

A bit scary?! A bit scary, Dindavid?

Ari (as Dindavid)

Well, you know how I always exaggerate but on the opposite side.

Kyle (as Jeff)

I know how you understate everything, Dindavid.

Ari (as Dindavid)

Yeah.

Kyle (as Jeff)

Although, speaking of our job, remember that big gap at 45 years that she wanted us to piece together?

Ari (as Dindavid)

Yeah. What was up with that?

Kyle (as Jeff)

Well, we never were. When you’re not uploading into the proverbial cloud there’s nothing to restore.

Ari (as Dindavid)

Hmm.

Kyle (as Jeff)

But there was the weirdest thing, Dindavid. So you remember how that android came in and poofed The Lady?

Ari (as Dindavid)

That was the weirdest thing.

Kyle (as Jeff)

Yeah, weirdest last two minutes of my life. Well, it’s the strangest thing, Dindavid. I wasn’t able to recover that thing’s memories, but when it was here there was another set of memories clear as day for that time.

Ari (as Dindavid)

Really?

Kyle (as Jeff)

Yeah. Eh, let’s roll one last tape.

[Static interference plays between the scene change.]

Kyle

Misha was gone the morning after. Without their connection to the Datasphere they had no memory of where they were or why they were there, and so they just walked out the front door.

Ein wanted to follow, but she wondered if it was better not to. If she couldn’t keep her promise to Misha before, why did she think she could now? It didn’t help that Collodi had written off the whole thing as a moral and technical failure either. That left, in the end, The Lady With Cinnabar Lips who immediately started scouring the land, determined to have what she considered “her own” back.

But she wasn’t the only one searching. Elee knew how to sing, but after Karl’s death the scar on her heart left it too injured to use, and so for decades the scarf lay still in Elee’s hat.

[Emotional piano begins.]

That is, until 15 years ago when a chance encounter with royalty from a far-off land sparked Elee’s song again. The scarf didn’t want to leave Elee, but it knew in the end that she wasn’t the one who needed it. So while Elee and Rei stormed Hanrenheid Castle the scarf hid in some secluded corner where it waited, and waited, and waited… until it could feel the song again.

Down at the foot of Hanrenheid Castle a man stumbled around screaming profanities at an android who just stared back in confusion. The scarf, not wanting to waste any time, tore through the air carried on a current of its own making. It leaped in front of the android to protect it from this furious man, but no attack came. Instead, the man, from some previous injury or simply the strain of his life, dropped to his back with a loud thunk, and the android, forever curious, imitated him.

This was Misha alright, and with this realization the scarf rushed towards its other self and wrapped around their shoulders. To anyone else it would look like a regular scarf resting, but Misha’s scarf knew that it was a hug.

[Music ends.]

Hallie

I wrote, like, possible Flex Skill ideas at the bottom of my document. I have forgotten to scroll down to the bottom every time I’m choosing a Flex Skill, but that’s fine because one of them is just Cardinal Directions and I don't know why I put that.

[Laughter.]

Ari

Cardinal Directions!

Kyle

That’ll help you in the Datasphere. “We’re going north!”

Hallie

[Laughing.] Yeah! That direction has meaning in this world.

[01:05:00]

Emily

We’re disasters.

Hallie

God. I almost chose Invisibility too! That would have been so dope. I could have done the sneaking.

Ari

But instead of choosing it for yourself you chose it for a sensor.

Hallie

I chose Sensor! Yeah! So you know…

Ari

What if Hopper becomes his own sensor? He designates himself as the sensor. Oh, but it says immobile, never mind.

Emily

[Laughs.]

Hallie

I was gonna put one down to be like “that person passing by, innocent, that person passing by, guilty.”

Ari

That big lady thing. You are guilty.

Hallie

You’re so guilty.

Kyle

So guilty.

Ari

Just imagine like he’s so small and she’s like “what did you say?!”

“You are guilty!” And you can just like barely hear Hopper.

I was going to say, you know, theoretically if the first Halloween special is somewhat canon, technically they have been nanos before, but you know…

Hallie

[Laughs.]

Emily

Wait! Elee’s been a nano in both of our Halloween specials.

Tom

It’s true.

Ari

[Laughing.] It’s very true.

Hallie

[Laughing.] Yeah!

Ari

Though in one it was future Elee.

Tom

The rise of Elee Bees is now…

[Laughter.]

Ari

Canon. You should have chosen some bees thing, Swarm of Insects, I don't know.