Classified: Darkness of Sangraal (Non Canon)

Classified: Darkness of Sangraal is a Non-Canon RP that could be classified as an epic of sorts. It broke site records and was even featured for a month on the front page of Axiom's website, which is unusual given its non-canon status. It details the story of a Black Ops mission Mathes Colunga and Karter are asked to under take into a parallel universe. The pair are thrust into an extremely dangerous situation and must contend with the Dark Lady of Regeneration, Darth Sangraal, who can heal from any wound.
==Developement==
It was the Authors first major attempt at an RP of a significantly high length and as soon as the author was granted full membership work was begun. Mathes Colunga was invited due to the ease of working with the RP'er and said RP'er's ability to keep an open mind. Je'ka Cuyot was also invited to participate as his alt Briek and for a time participated but left due to creative issues. Felony Serano joined later on an invitation.
==Synopsis==
The story begins after Grand Master Satele Shan taps Karter and Mathes for a Black Operation that must remain forever classified due to its sensitive nature--hence, the title. This caution is rightly justified, and no sooner than the participants arrive than they are immediately briefed on the nature of their assignment--they must journey to Universe 11-82, a staggeringly different parallel universe where the Jedi Order never became a cult of warriors, instead turning into a police force that monitors and polices all Force Users. Most Force Powers are banned, with the exception of healing and farsight, due to government fears of escalation, the Jedi's own mistrust of the power they wield, and the Public's aggressive fear of its nature. An alternate version of Karter from 11-99, a dark and violent version of the Republic and Jedi Order, serves as Mission Control, guiding Mathes and Karter throughout their journey to retrieve a stolen holocron of unknown origin known as the Fecht Holocron.
Briek for reasons of his own apparantly decides to stay behind, making the situation even more dangerous. Immediately after arriving on the alternate version of Coruscant, which is seemingly less advanced technologically, Karter and Mathes immediately run into 11-82's version of Satele, a down on her luck fortune teller, who reveals she witnessed the people who stole the holocron come into her universe via a portal. Mathes offers her credits to lead them to Club Rieva, and place where known Force users congregate, located in the underworks and witness a mysterious man being interrogated by Jedi Agents. Other Karter advises them to blend in but Mathes kills two Agents in direct violation of the sting operation they were supposed to set up via infiltration, the man, who turns out to be a version of Mathes' friend Arek, thanks Mathes and senses his power as a Jedi, leading him to an underground facility that houses that universe's version of Jedi Knights--who are a despised and feared cult of warriors wanting to lift the ban on force powers by showing the good they can do.
After being examined by their leader Wins-With-A-Knife, Mathes is tasked with retrieving the very same holocron that cult just stole from his universe. He and Arek journey to the Forbidden Precinct, where a great and terrible battle once occured between Jedi Agents and their universe's first Dark Jedi. Navigating the haunted ruins, Mathes and Arek run across a Force Ghost who tells them that a faction of Sith from another Universe--known as Sith Philosophers--have taken residence and stolen a forbidden tome capable of ressurecting a Force Abomination known as Darth Sangraal.
Meanwhile, Karter and Satele take up residence in her apartment, having split from Mathes after the incident outside the nightclub. They are ambushed by Sith Commandos and Karter kills them all, taking Satele with him, where he learns that the Sith are after her because her blood can help ressurect Darth Sangraal via intelligence from other Karter.
Both Mathes and Karter, as they rush to meet eachother are later told that they will need a holy lightsaber called Proxima in order to best Sangraal, should she ressurect, as she is simply too powerful to defeat via conventional weapons and force attacks, and can healt from any wound, no matter how severe, or even if she is atomized. Traveling on a tram to meet up with Mathes, Karter encounters a fictionalised version of Brison Yi, his friend, in comic book form, he takes it, not sensing the importance it will play.
Mathes decides to go after the tome by traveling to a known stronghold of the philosophers in 11-82. He meets Darth Amydus, the leader of the Philosophers in that mission, but fails to retrieve the tome, with Other Karter opening a portal to save his life and bring him to 11-99. Mathes prepares himself to retrieve Proxima, which his hidden in a tomb filled with traps in Other Karter's dimension.
Arek, Karter, and Satele, in the meanwhile travel to a dieselpunk version of the galaxy, 19-45, home of the Jedi Marine Corps. They are promised safe haven by that universe's Satele, but are immediately ambushed at the military base by a massive onslaught of Sith Philosophers. Both Karter and Arek are seperated from each other and Satele, who is subsequently captured. Arek and Karter are forced to go on the run when the Philosophers use an incredibly powerful version of Arek, a hydrokinetic master called Lord Antipas, who floods the entire section of the city to kill just them.
Mathes in the meantime is given the power Electric Judgement by the Cambul of 11-99, who is then ordered to brave the tomb. After encountering a number of deadly traps and bizzare puzzles, Mathes is then tempted by a vision of Sangraal, and he barely succeeds in resisting her lure. He then faces his final test, a combat hologram of the only warrior to ever best Darth Sangraal entirely on his own, a mutant Force User known as Dimmak. After a vicious duel, the simulation nearly kills Mathes but he triumphs, retrieving the holy weapon, Proxima. He is warned that if he becomes impure or betrays his cause, Proxima will either kill or abandon him.
He is then ordered to travel to 19-45 and save his cohorts from Lord Antipas, who is about to kill both of them, is first use of Proxima violently dissolves Antipas into the Force, leaving behind a small tree and vegetation in his place.
Before they can celebrate, they are cut off from contact with 11-99, which has come violently under seige in a surprise attack by the Philosophers. The trio is also surrounded by Sith Philosophers on all sides, including Amydus, who is revealed to be a younger version of Mathes from 11-99. He reveals that their whole journey was a sham operation from the beginning, a distraction planned by the Philosophers and that they were never actually meant to come this far and secure Proxima, which he now demands they surrender. Badly wounded in the fighting in his dimension, 11-99's Karter silently opens a portal and tosses them their own portal device, enabling them to escape, but forced to leave a wounded Arek behind.
Now without support, resources, or intel, the pair find themselves in 89-67, one of the most technologically advanced in the Multiverse, and the makers of the portal tech. They discover that this dimension has been in a multiversal quarantine after the escape of a version of Revan from cryonic imprisonment. This Revan is able to instantly infect anyone in his vicinity with his mind, making them thralls. In order to save 89-67, they must journey inside it's Jedi Order's floating Temple and terminate Revan at all costs in order to receive that version of the Order's help, discovering that should they fail, the temple will be destroyed by nuclear weapons.
Fighting their way through a series of nearly endless infected Jedi, they finally encounter Revan, Mathes, moved to spare him, betrays Karter in an attempt to merely incapacitate the psychic parasite, but fails when Karter overcomes Colunga, assassinating Revan by shooting him in the head. The remaining Jedi now free from his control, they journey to 11-82 once more for the final showdown, backed by Jedi from 89-67, 19-45, and 11-99, along with the Jedi Agency SWAT units from the very dimension they are in.
Fighting their way through the streets they encounter Amydus himself, and after a short but vicious bout, Mathes kills him with Proxima, dissolving him into the Force. The pair are then joined by the Jedi Agent Connel and 11-99's Cambul, and travel into a secret route into the Jedi Precinct, which has been seized by the Philosophers and Sangraal. They encounter Arek, who has been mutated by Sangraal into an abomination by injecting her blood directly into his heart after he attempted suicide. Arek is forced to fight them, pleading for them to kill him the whole time and the fight becomes more vicious, eventually leaving Mathes no choice but to use Proxima on Arek, killing him also and dissolving him in a pillar of light much like his counterpart Lord Antipas.
Finally making their way through the temple, they encounter Sangraal's trump card, a version of Felony Serano. Believing it to be his version of Felony, Mathes is shocked and heartbroken, losing the will to fight, and the Philosophers accompanying her move to escort them to Sangraal, only to be attacked by 11-82's Satele, who had become Sangraal's apprentice out of fear. When the others, particularly Cambul, move to attack Felony, Mathes tries to use Proxima on Cambul in a fit of rage, instantly making himself no longer worthy of wielding the device. Proxima falls off him. This Felony, who for unknown reasons had infiltrated the Philosophers and offered herself as an apprentice to Sangraal, discovers that by ingesting Sangraal's blood, she has given the Abomination total control over her nervous system, and can now be flatlined at any second, claims she only infiltrated Sangraal to stop her, an assertion that Karter is extremely skeptical over, but accepts her help, just as Sangraal bursts through one of the walls as a towering monster with multiple tentacles.
When she demands Proxima, Karter snarls and steals the device, forcing her to pursue him into the line of fire from hundreds of Jedi agents and soldiers, with Karter himself using a sniper rifle that fires exploding blaster bolts to drive her back. This works for a time but Sangraal ultimately decimates nearly the entire attacking force, forcing Karter to use explosives and bury the shapeshifting monster under a number of collapsing buildings. Realizing that the only option left is to trick her by using, in his words, " A Coronet City Hustle", he lies to Mathes, who has brought a civilian army to somehow fight, telling him he intends to freeze her in carbonite, knowing Sangraal will read Colunga's mind and assume that's Karter's plan. He then tells Mathes to hold her off as long as he possibly can while he and Felony prepare a trap.
As Mathes readies himself, Cambul, who had been holding back Sangraal telekinetically, is finally exhausted and knocked aside by the abomination, who has once more taken female form. Disgusted by his choice to involve civilians, she demands they fight one on one, which he accepts. She viciously outduels him, overcoming every strategy and injury he deals, healing instantly from anything, and destroying his lightsaber in the process, badly crippling him. She demands his surrender, only to be opposed by her now-ex apprentice Satele, who had the powers of Sangraal removed from her body at her own request. Despite multiple warnings from Sangraal, Satele attacks and is killed after being bodily absorbed by the Sith. With her last ounce of strength, though, she heals Mathes, who taps into the Force and summons every dropped weapon on the battlefield to blast her to pieces.
As with all tactics however, this too fails and Sangraal finally defeats him by summoning a massive storm of red lightning, which destroys the street (Yet makes sure no civilians are harmed) and sends Colunga flying all the way to where Karter and Felony are. With Colunga on the brink of death, Sangraal decides to show mercy and heal his internal injuries before going to deal with Karter once and for all. She finds Karter has apparantly been betrayed by Felony and brutally beaten, left near the carbonite tanks they had rigged and desperately clasping onto Proxima. When Sangraal approaches and kneels to take the device, its revealed to not actually be Proxima, but the comic of Brison Yi he had found earlier--and illusion created by Felony, who clasps the real Proxima (Which was disguised as the comic about Brison) onto Sangraal's arm. The pair barely managed to escape the massive pillar of light that consumes a screaming Darth Sangraal, snatching an unconscious Mathes away from the rapidly growing Tree left in her place, this one growing to the size of a skyscraper.
Having triumphed by the skin of their teeth, Karter and Mathes seperate from Felony and go home, with Felony wondering if Sangraal will return, given her level of power. When Karter is debriefed in his home dimension and finally sent home he encounters his friend Brison. When she asks where he'd been the past few days he sighs and simply says "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
In the epilogue as the Jedi Agents are clearing the streets of bodies, they mysteriously come across a still alive Satele. Connel immediately orders a Hazmat team to contain her.
TRIVIA
This would technically be the second time Karter's life has been saved by Brison Yi--the first time by sacrificing herself on Belerophon, the second by providing a vital decoy as a comic book disguised as Proxima.
Sangraal is an expy from earlier work
Apparantly this thread later had something to do with Mathes' decision to redeem Arek in canon
The Felony that appears in this story is unknown. When directly questioned by Sangraal as to what universe she is from Felony refuses to answer, but makes it very clear she is not from Mathes' home dimension.
There is a running gag where Sangraal morphs into Felony. This was first done in the combat thread "The Dark Sequence". Sangraal's appearance--and subsequent shapeshifting--scared Felony in character so bad she fled the training room, despite being a mere hologram.
The form Mathes takes when he uses Proxima as an armor is a nod to Iron Man
The Club Rieva that appears in the thread--along with the image of Isabelle Rieva in a pamphlet as a one off gag--was obtained with Rieva's permission while she was still a member of the Axiom website.
The thread contains nods to the authors earlier work.
The rifle Karter uses near the end of the thread is a direct nod to the Cobra Assault Cannon in the film "Robocop".
Sangraal's powers are a nod to the creature in John Carpenter's "The Thing".
The Conversation between Sangraal and Cambul near the end is directly referenced in Classified's sequel.