Gwen's Second Journal

__FORCETOC__
Below you will find Gwen's Second Journal, featuring her entries about the second half of Season 2 after her brief separation from the team during events of a galactic nature.
Go back to Gwendolyn du Lac. Or back to Gwen's Journal (Season 1 + Season 2's first half). Or see the Sonata Apocalyptica OVA!
== Season 2 Episode 34 - Crispy, I Shrunk The Heroes! ==
2018, December 2nd
Also starring: Challenge, Sherman, Redshift, Freedo.
Capitan's Log Hey Journ,
Hm, I guess you're not Journ. Challenge told me she'd give me my notebooks back tomorrow at school. "Capitan's Log" also no long feels fitting now that I'm writing this down again and also not the captain of a spaceship anymore.
...
Hey mam,
It's... it's been a while. How are you doing? I've got a lot to tell you when we next see each other. I do plan on coming to Avalon sometime soon. After I rescue father from you know what, don't mind me. Let me just tell you about the day I've had.
I got back from space yesterday. You remember space, right? Dad seems to have been there, and since you're from Ireland I figure you're at least aware of what space is like, a little, sorta, maybe? It was a whole big other adventure, but the main thing you need to know is that I had been gone from my friends--my team, the Big Team--for a couple of weeks. And it all went to Hell shit a bad place. (Can I curse in letters to you? Even if I don't plan on actually sending them? I don't even know how I'd do that.)
I went downtown with a few teammates of mine. There was Freedo, who's like a little brother to me. He does remind me a bit of Percival, come to think of it. He's mischievous like a gramlin, but he's got a good heart. And Challenge, she's got an even better heart. Strong of body and pure of soul, she'd make an excellent knight. Then there was Sherman, a boy with the wounded soul of an old soldier, but the heart of a child. And finally, Redshift, whomst whom (is proper English grammar in a letter to your Irish mom in another Realm that you're not gonna send even important, actually?)... I think I'll get to him in a bit.
There were a pair of... "warlocks", let's call them, whom we found out were shrinking buildings with magic to then steal and lock away in an attempt to hinder the businesses that operated in them. Businesses that were less than legitimate. They stated that because they were specifically targeting only those more criminally-minded enterprises, that they did more successful heroic work than any of us had ever done. And Redshift ate their hokey trail mix up like it was an edible.
Oh, an edible is what they call a piece of baked goods containing a plant called the marriage iguana and it makes you see funny things. Redshift is addicted to them.
We instead beat them and one of them, a lady by name of Atomica, flew off while we got the other, Magna, locked up. I took a weapon he had to our base, and it was good that I did. It turned out to be the "magical artifact" that caused us to shrink. I ended up having to save Freedo from a "giant" coffee pot together with Challenge, and I fought off a "giant" raccoon named Trevor with a lollipop. Redshift ended up being the one to find the artifact and get us back to normal. Around this time, a police officer, Officer Burch, arrived and asked for the artifact to be turned over to the authorities, which we did.
And that's all that happened. That's all she wrote!
It was quite the day, mum.
I'm... I hope to see you soon.
Love,
Gwen
2018, December 3rd
Had to make a few additional notes,
I met up with Challenge Tilly today during lunch break. We sat outside, on The Bench (you know the one). She gave me back my notebooks (I think I'll keep my new journal entries in this one though) and lists (I don't think she checked them? which would've been fine, there's a lot of tactical notes she could've used) and told me that Rhi's gone missing and Cyclone's in a coma and Rekken (Olivia) has been acting "very weird". I instinctively tensed up at that last bit, because usually when people tell me Olivia's weird it's because they're... what's a good word... robocists. But Tilly's good people and she was just concerned, so I told her I would talk with her later that day. We were gonna have classes later (I hadn't seen her yet, which was a little odd, maybe she had a power issue today?), and I was so looking forward to seeing her again. <3
It'll have to wait until later though. Turns out S.P.E.A.R. sent agents to bring me back to the dark side of the moon to run some tests and keep me in quarantine for another three days. Ugh. As long as there's no needles. If they try that, someone's gonna get a nice retirement package.
...
End log.
== Season 2 minisode - Winter Time Passes ==
2018, December 5th
Hey Log, Capitan's Journicle, whatevs,
This is Gwen writing in to complain about still being stuck on L2 Overreach on the dark side of the moon. Truly dark times, har har. God, I can't even really laugh about that. This is so boring and frustrating. They try to run tests on me and fuck no. I need to be out there to get my cousin back and figure out all the other stuff that has gone wrong in my our absence!
At least they'll let us go tomorrow. Or maybe it's just me? I haven't seen Elle or Parrot today.
...
If they left without me, I swear--
Okay, fine, I swear nothing. I'm just frustrated, but not with them. This is not like when Parrot and I fought and it was both of us being dicks and losing patience and catching cabin fever. This is just... I mean, maybe I do got cabin fever now. THIS FUCKING SUCKS
LET ME OUT
...okay I just got told by Agent Josie Mann that I get released tomorrow, unless they find something majorly wrong with my latest blood tests.
...wait, MY WHAT
ASDFGHJKL
END LOG.
== Season 2 minisode - You Don't Gwekkegnize Me? ==
2018, December 7th
Scene: You Don't Gwekkegnize Me?
Also starring: Rekken.
Scene Outro Music.
== Season 2 Episode 35 - Order Without Law ==
2018, December 7th
Also starring: Deadfall, Sherman.
Be sure to check out Episode 6 first!
Capitan's Journal...
*a few wet stains are on the page before the writing continues in a different colour ink*
I'm okay.
We went to check up on Cyclone in the hospital today after... after school. We were not allowed in--apparently he's in pretty bad condition at the moment. Sledge was in the hallway, looking like she hadn't slept in days. She recognized me as "the girl that flipped a van sky high". She mentioned a mission she had to go on and we ended up taking it over from her.
Perhaps that was a mistake. Our first one today. Well, our first one, I've made several already...
We had to find a guy named Waldo. That's how you know it's gonna go wrong. We met him at Big 'N Broad Burger, where he told us he needed Sledge to take care of something. Before he could tell us, we got jumped by a gang of bird-people that shot feathers sharp as knives at us. We fought them off, but they kidnapped Waldo in the chaos. We interrogated one of them and located him again on top of a building. I swooped in, the others took care of the gang, no problem.
Except BIG problem. Firstly he tells us that a shapeshifter called Rubik is planning to kill Councilman Rodriguez. No big, he's with G.R.E.Y., but we gotta stop people from killing anyway, that's what a hero does. So we go to City Hall, where a press conference is being prepared. We get in with a bit of tough talk, position ourselves around to keep an eye out (we had a brief meeting with the councilors to tell them about the planned attempt, I saw Sledge, thought she looked too good, retrocognized her and thought it wasn't her so clearly my powers are fucking up).
Then all hell broke loose. A meteor flew right at the glass ceiling of City Hall's conference area. Bird-people and ice-gun wielding gangsters popped out of the woodworks. GREY vans arrived and helped us fight the gangsters. Meanwhile, someone kept throwing cars at me and I saw the silhouette of fucking Orbital on top of a building! WHAT THE FUCK, I'VE GOT A NEMESIS NOW?
Worse yet: The assassin got in! We found him! Turns out it was fucking Waldo all along!
Deadfall beat him down with Sledge and the gangsters scattered. And that's when the worst thing of tonight happened:
Rodriguez took to the stage and announced that Crimera (Chimera?) had been responsible for Transformation Day all along (NOT GREY, FUCK YOU, FUCKING LIAR) and HE. DECLARED. MARTIAL. LAW.
FUCKING GREY HAS DECLARED MARTIAL LAW IN HALCYON CITY.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
FUCK.
FUCK YOU GREY. I'M GOING TO FREE MY DAD AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET HIM TO PUT INTO A PRISON AND KILL HIM OR WORSE. YOU'RE GOING DOWN. YOU'RE WHOLE ROTTEN ESTABLISHMENT IS GOING TO BURN. YOU WILL FEEL THE BURNING FURY OF A THOUSAND. FUCKING. SUNS.
DIE.
END FUCKING LOG.
*the last words are pressed so hard into the page it has torn and there are scorch marks around the writing, the remainder of the page has burned away*
== Season 2 Episode 36 - Enlighten Me Part 1 ==
2018, December 8th
Also starring: Rekken, Challenge, Hesperus, Zip.
Capitan's Journglfucc...
words. what are they fucking even.
can i just take a break from all this? just... go and leave and be stolen away to the fey realms for four months and wreck troll face and yeet dragons at my sword and dance with a fairy prince or princess to make me forget my troubles and that i don't need to carry all these burdens and worries and shit...
I just got back and I already want to leave again, but not in the way I did before. In space, I had a purpose, I had an easy target, I was facing insurmountable odds but ultimately a quantifiable and fight-able problem. I could punch things to make them go away. I felt good. I was confident about my ability to solve problems.
Now I'm back and... I can't solve these problems. So much has happened and it's all things that I can't just fight harder to make them go away. Give me the biggest problems that I can fight! Martial law in Halcyon City I can deal with, it just means more and bigger enemies to fight. I'm not sure how long I'll still be able to attend school for during this time, or any of us really, if we continue to fight G.R.E.Y. (and we will, OBVIOUSLY).
But Rhiannon getting kidnapped by Whitelight? I barely did anything of worth today. I lead the team into battle, sure... against Hesperus. That boy just kept exploding all over the place.
and just... Cyclone getting hospitalized? I could do shit about that. (Sure, I could try and heal him, even pushing myself and my powers to bring out something unforeseen, but that'd raise expectations of me to do it for other people too and I don't want people losing faith in regular doctors.)
and stuff like... the tensions between Zodiac City and Halcyon City people? Also, shit all I can do about that. Thorne having fucked up Thanksgiving for the Team? SHIT. Olivia losing all memories of me? SHIT SHIT SHIT.
What good am I as a hero... what good am I as a person... if my only thing is just "I hit things"? That's even worse for me as a person than as a hero. How do you live a good life if all you do is hit and get hit? I fight good. I talk big. I listen well. But two of those things Nimue helps me with. The only thing that is really me is... my love, my anger and all of my sorrow. And right now I don't have one of those either. It's just my punching and my past now.
Ugh.
I guess I should at least try to talk a little bit about what happened today...
We got called in to Cyclone's hospital room (apparently yesterday he just didn't have the fucking courtesy to receive us? He looked fine now!) and got split into teams to find and save Rhiannon at a place that Whitelight was keeping her. Some information was provided by a guy named Shitty Writer (yeah I know that your real name is, but I kind of also forget the names of Rhi's servants) who'd been investigating her whereabouts. I desperately wanted to go with the team to find her, but it ended up being Rescue, DomDom, Freedo, "The Hero Formerly Known As Lavender" (what the hell's up with that actually? I didn't get a chance to ask) and Elle. At least sensible people, good heroes. Mostly...
The people who got stuck with me were Challenge, Gabe and Zip. And um... Olivia.
We were to go and disable a barrier to allow the others access to where Rhi was being held captive. Rescue gave us an address for the mansion of Jack Niccals, Whitelight's civilian identity. We drove there in Gabe's car, and I ended up sitting next to Olivia in the back. It was already plenty awkward, but then Zip put on Kiss The Girl and Challenge went and said "It's so great that Gwen is back from space, so we can do things like this! Isn't it Olivia? Just us girls?"
This is how I know it's not just the universe punishing me for saving it, it's also my teammates. I wish I could be angry at them, but after all the times Zip has checked on me at night and Challenge helping me out with a lot, I can't be mad about things they have no clue about. I told them both a lot about how I feel about Olivia before. If it wasn't because of everything else they would be absolute sweethearts.
...I should've been more forceful with Challenge to insist that when we split up at the mansion, that me and Olivia wouldn't be in the same group, but she went off with everyone else and I didn't have the words to counter hers. It was... awkward. I tried to play it cool, but I found it hard to look her in the eyes. Every time I do, I am reminded of that one time in the submarine. That memory kept me strong while in space, along with that music box. Now they just... hurt.
At the mansion there were some traps, but beyond that it was only Blacklight awaiting us, really. She would've been much easier to neutralize if Gabe hadn't gone out of control. Twice.
We ended up destroying an altar that was powering the barrier and we saw visions of the rest of the team saving Rhi. At least I was a little useful in doing that. I can't wait to see her again in person. I've missed her, her gentle kindness, even the soft admonishings she always flings my way. I could use someone to just listen to me and hug me and tell me things will be alright.
Ugh, listen to me. My cousin just got saved from an evil warlock and already I'm being selfish about what she can do for me.
Speaking of selfish, Gabe went off on a rant at me! He came to me after the mission and told me how to stop him if he goes out of control like that again (and it was just "get Freedo/Lavender to shut down my powers") and then told me it was selfish of me to go out into space on an adventure to save the universe, because "you're the captain of the team" and "you have responsibilities to the team". FUCK YES I DO! I saved the universe out there, which means I saved the team, too! I made sure Earth is going to stay free and safe and have friends out there in the greater world! You tell me "adult heroes should've taken care of it", Gabe? Of course they should have! But no other heroes did, so it was us instead! And WHAT COINCIDENCE that I turned 18 LITERALLY TWO DAYS before Ominus' forces came to Earth! Who's the adult now, huh? The only teammates that had my back in me going to space where the ones that came with me. I don't begrudge any of them from being scared of what's out there or what might have happened or the huge responsibility of saving the universe, but I didn't back down and I succeeded! I did! Me! I bet if he had gone into space, he would've gone supernova and turned into another star system that Ominus could've conquered.
...
...maybe it wasn't fair of me to abandon everyone like that. Maybe it wasn't fair to go off against Gabe like that. But he had no right to chastise me for succeeding that something that needed so desperately to succeed for the sake of all of us. He has no place in acting high and mighty when he's a greater danger to the team than many of the villains we've fought. What was that about keeping your friends close?
Let's... let's let it go, Gwen.
One problem at a time. He'll come around. There's many other things to tackle, bigger things. Rhiannon is safe now, thanks to the whole team working together. That's what matters.
Next, we gather up our forces and make a plan to tackle this GREY problem.
We'll just keep on dreaming about that four month break, okay? Sometimes you need those happy illusions.
Maybe that's something to ask Freedo about.
Heh.
Alright, it's been quite a day. We've got many such days ahead of us. Better rest up before we perish.
End log.
2018, December 11th
Capitan's Wog,
Had a partay for our Rhi-union! it good. fun times. bit drunk? gabe yelling. rhi crying. me crying. hugs. hugs good. headache coming on. gave Rhi the big shiny clover thing from space. she like. she good. good cousin RhiRhi.
sleepnowww~------
== Season 2 Episode 38 - Order Without Reason ==
2018, December 14th
Also starring: Lavender, Sherman, Shadow X.
Be sure to check out Pre-Season 2 Teaser "Keeping Bee-Zee", Episode 20 and Episode 35 first!
Capitan's Diary,
We did well today. We didn't do good, but we did well. It's hard to do the unequivocal right thing sometimes, because oftentimes there's just no unequivocal right thing to do. If someone was withholding vital resources greedily and caused people to die because of it, or we had to stop a serial killer, that would be easy. But being a hero is not always about what is easy. Many things in life worth doing don't come easy.
Today, Sherman and Lavender and I found out about a firefight between the forces of Chimera and GREY on the highway that runs through the financial district. We saved the innocents caught in the middle, I saved a lizard woman's baby (the baby was fully human, so it must've been born before Transformation Day--I can't imagine what hell women who were pregnant the day of must've gone through...) and a new girl came in streaming (yes, streaming, not screaming) and helped us out and we made sure that the Transformed gangsters did not fall to their deaths. Not even got a "thank you".
...actually, we did. From a GREY spokesperson. I wanted to fucking punch his lights out, but that seems a bad idea in front of the press. They were done before I could make a move on them and then started fixing the road. THEY FUCKING THANKED US AND NOW THEY'RE FIXING THE ROAD.
...I may have accidentally busted the road. There was a fire, I tried to douse it with sewer water, and instead the water caught fire and the sewers below the road exploded and the road fell down.
But seriously, there's supposed to be a company that does this. There's some superhero team-founded building company specifically aimed towards fixing up collateral damage from superpowered origins. Are they... are they working with GREY? Or is this all GREY doing it and have those original workers been snubbed and put out of business by GREY doing all these "good deeds" like AW FUCK THEM JUST--
UGH.
I found a note in one of my pouches afterwards that said "call me" and a phone number. It's Pollinator (or Portability?) and he's being held prisoner underneath the French Embassy in Halcyon City. If we break him out, he'll give us information to capture Chimera before GREY can get to him.
"Deal."
New girl, Shadow X, does not agree but joins us anyway. Sure, we can use an extra pair of hands, as long as she doesn't get in our way.
She gets us some uniforms though, so that was cool. Sherman stays outside in a sniper position, staying in touch with us via communicators, and we get in with some French language skills and old-fashioned bluffing. They search us for weapons, no problem. They tell us the cell we need and arrange transport for us. Good. Then we find a familiar face.
The Mole King is here.
He's working at the French Embassy as some security guard/admin guy, and his cubicle (cell?) is stuffed full of basketball and baseball memorabilia and superhero posters and action figures and pictures of me??? AND he tells us "I'm still king, I'm just on a sabbatical". Suuure buddy.
He gets called off, we lose contact with Sherman, we move quick. We find Pollinator, the locust that he is (literally) in a glass cell filled with pink gas (GREY's gift, no doubt). Lav portals him out of there and to a spot down the hall, he walks towards us, no power neutralizing for us today! Also not for the guards that then showed up. Shadow X knocked out the lights and I knocked out their lights and then we were off.
We may have had a brief detour where we were crawling through the vents, the vents collapsed and we were surrounded by guards (gendarmerie?) pointing guns at us before Lav portaled us out of there in a hurry.
Problem is, outside of the building, GREY goons had arrived and they'd handcuffed Sherman. We fought them on top of the roof where Sherman had been posted, but got blasted off by an explosive. I yote Lavender back up there and the glorious bastard portaled a bullet shot at Pollinator's heart right into the shooter himself. FUCK yeah, Lavender! MVP.
Pollinator, now free, now his powers back, teleported out of there. He called us up after we got to safety ourselves, as we already heard distant sirens. He told us that Chimera had a base underneath Tom's Diner and was going to have a last meeting there next week before he'd pack up and leave the city. We need to get to him before GREY can.
I told him "thank you for letting me practice breaking someone out of prison."
He seemed surprised by that. Heh.
...also Lav told me "He's pretty cool, for a human trafficker." Excusez-moi, WHAT? I thought he was just a bank robber!
We're going to visit Cyclone at the hospital tomorrow. He's going to be released this weekend. Maybe we should give him an update on what happened today... Hmmm... maybe, maybe not.
We'll see.
End log.
2018, December 15th (morning)
Also starring: Sherman, Shadow X, Freedo, Challenge, Lancelot-Less.
Hey Journ,
Just a small entry, not really a log?
But I gotta say, we just got back from visiting Cyclone in the hospital, and I really felt like a captain to my team today. The Silencer was there, asking "why is there a supervillain that has broken out of the French embassy? And why did I see footage of you and Sherman there?
So, we Sherman fessed up. I didn't want to cause an international incident, but The Silencer seems kinda shady, tbh. Dude ran off after telling us off and that he'd have to go talk to some big heroes or something. Challenge was right outside the door, listening in, along with Freedo and Elle.
Then after he'd left, Cyclone tells us this is out of our league and we need to leave it to the adult heroes of the city. BA-SCUSE YOU? You're not cutting us out of this! You've seen all the things we're capable of, all the successes we've had! If you're really training us to be adult heroes, at some point you're going to have to trust us to do adult hero things! Freedo can shut down your adult heroes! Challenge cracked your old buddy Magna's data! Sherman has a lot riding on GREY not being in power (as do I, as does EVERYONE)! Elle fought a DRAGON!
Shadow X... okay, I don't know her, really. Challenge seems to, and I trust her judgment.
Point being, if he'd cut us out, we'd have found another way to be in.
He told us that he'd let us be a part of their plan IF we could prove we can find out more on our own. Be more than just a couple smash bros? Sure, we can do that.
* Elle's gonna bust down doors and interrogate Chimera's goons.
* Shadow X is gonna infiltrate Tom's diner and get us the layout of the place.
* Sherman will shadow some GREY goons, see what activity they are up to, see if they're going to respond to all this.
* Challenge's "friend" is going to go to Tom's diner to "offer them Legitimate Print Shop's services" and see what the place is like up top, what people are there.
* Freedo's gonna shadow this corrupt cop, Officer Wang, and see what criminal contacts he's meeting with this upcoming week.
* I'm going to see what second-in-commands Chimera has that might be at the meeting. Big crime lord like him, he's not gonna be the only major threat to us there.
We got this.
== Season 2 Episode 40 - Alienated ==
2018, December 15th (afternoon)
Also starring: Redshift, Freedo, Rekken, Lancelot-Less.
Be sure to check out the Season 1 Finale, Episode 1, Episode 9, Episode 15 and the Sonata Apocalyptica OVA first! As well as the bonus material You Don't Gwekkegnize Me?
CW: depression, heartbreak.
Captian's Dairy,
I'm shaking. I'm furious and confused and I'm... I'm just... Helpless.
How dare people fall in love when it brings so much pain?
*there's half a page of half-started sentences that are crossed out*
Hello again Journal,
It me, ya gurl. I might as well try to write like I'm writing to someone else, maybe that's easier. I'll start at the beginning.
So I was skating at the mall, right? Got an audience, people clapping when I did a trick, then this little boy came up to me and asked me to do a trick and dragged me off. Turns out he was an alien trying to kidnap me. Transformed right in front of the crowd, we tussled, he knocked me out. I came to, got him good, then got jumped by four others and hauled off.
Turns out they had infiltrated the mall and were trying to kidnap a whole bunch of people with their flying saucer, and had tried to neutralize me and any other hero first. How about that? I got rescued by my friends and... and...
Olivia caught me. My... my nothing, I guess.
I know, I know. Last time we talked, Journ, things were... very different. She kissed me on Halloween in the submarine and it's something I will never forget, it was magical, after all I and we have been through it made me feel "she's the one". The thing is, only yesterday did I discover she had lost all her memories of me. Of saving me from GREY, of her taking me to the Big Dance, of all the times we went to school together, hanging out together, her teaching me to cook, me proteccing her cute face from some villain, playing games, going to Hell to see my father--my real father--all those times...
I've said before I'm good at problems that can be punched. This is not one of them. You can't punch a memory. You can't punch what isn't there. You can't punch the best friend you've ever had to fix her. That's not how you fix a person or a relationship. I know I'm dumb sometimes, but I know that much. I'm incredibly stupid, but I'm stupid for her.
I was stupid today too. I turned red as a tomato when she had me in her arms. If she'd held me longer, I would've been a pizza, because I felt like dough and very cheesy. that doesn't make sense does it
SO HOW ABOUT THESE ALIENS WE WERE SQUARING UP AGAINST
I recognized them from the S.P.E.A.R. database. They're called "synthos", I think. They got blue skin with gem-like warts or something. They're tall and stretchy, kinda hunched over. Hulky. And there were a bunch of them. Redshift caused a distraction, which allowed the rest of us to escape. Since he can phase through stuff and turn invisible, he'd just join up with us later.
We find all the people from the mall rounded up in the parking lot with a flying saucer flying overhead. I yeet Freedo (with his new yeet-jacket) into the crowd to try and help clear a way out for them and defend them from the aliens at the same time, then yeet Rekken and Redshift after him and Elle up to the saucer to take that down.
What happens next is kind of a blur... I remember some Paul Blart-looking motherfucker stabbing Rekken.
What I remember is that we woke up on the floor, inside of the flying saucer. We fight the guards, subdue the guards, I put down the flying saucer with my piloting skills (thanks for teaching me GAIA). The synthos tell us that they've made a deal with humanity for human slaves. We tell them the deal is off, with whomever they made it. I get them to tell us who it is, and that we'll consider letting them go if they tell us. They give us a name.
"Ra'id."
It sounds familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
He tells me I'm bound by my word to let them go.
I tell him I told them I'd consider it.
I prick the prick with my sword. After what they did, it's the least I can let them get away with.
After we get everyone off the ship, safe and sound, Olivia comes up to me. She asks me out to dinner at Big 'N Broad Burger. I say yes. We'll meet there at 6. I get dressed up all nice (not like, prom nice, but like... dressed to the eights?), I got Cyclone's car (he can't use it right now and I'll wash it tomorrow in return for borrowing) and... no Olivia. I drove to her house. Her grandmother, agent Josie Mann of SPEAR, my mission commander during our time in space, opens up. She tells me Olivia is not home, that she went off somewhere, busy with something.
I... I got stood up, Journ.
I got stood up by the girl who asked me to dinner. The girl of my dreams.
I needed to call someone, just to talk to someone, to vent, to air my heart. I thought I could call Elle, and I did, but it turned out that she knew about the date already because she'd encouraged Olivia to ask me (did Olivia already want to, or did she only because Elle said so?). I told her off, to stop interfering in my life. That she's not my real father. Why do I even have to tell her that? Of course she's not my real father. My real father is in a Hellish prison, condemned by his own sins, sins he committed because I got captured by GREY. It always leads back to this. I'm tired of this. I'm tired and I'm angry and I'm...
I'm broken, Journ.
I think they finally got me.
Good job.
== Season 2 Episode 41 - Gone Nuclear ==
2018, December 16th
Also starring: Challenge, Dominik Tegan, The Morrigan, Rescue.
Be sure to check out Episode 34 first!
Capitan’s Log—can I still do it like this? Maybe I’m being pretentious by acting like I’m some actual team captain, when I could also just use these journals to write off my own thoughts as if I’m talking to a person on the other end, like some non-existent therapist.
Hey Journ, Actually no, fuck pretention, clearly the team trusts me to lead them into nasty situations at this point. I’m not pretending to be a captain, we’re not pretending to be heroes, and we’re sure as hell not pretending to be a team. We ARE a team! And I’m too full of insecurities about other things, primarily my personal relationships with team members
I’m the Capitan.
This is my log.
*there is a small drawing of a tree log with a stick figure roasting marshmallows over a campfire, the stick figure’s hair and hat resemble Gwen’s*
Today we were checking in on some information Challenge and Freedo had found on Magna a while back (though Freedo wasn’t with us for this). We came upon Chimera’s crew fighting with GREY. Of course, I did the logical thing and engaged the greater evil first. I cut through the guns of the GREY goons. Even got to use my new “Spin To Win” move that I’ve been practicing. Then, after we’d finished off the GREY goons, we did the same with Chimera’s transformed gangsters. Rhi tree-yeeted a guy with a flamethrower, that was pretty cool.
There was a Chimera soldier who made a break for it, DomDom chased after them, busting down walls, and I flew around with Challenge, dropping her off on the roof of the building as a lookout. (Or at least that’s what I’ll keep telling the rest. We spotted whatserface, Atomica, and Challenge said something—I don’t remember what, but it made me think she was gonna pull a Redshift on us.)
Atomica and Chimera soldier turned out to be in cahoots, and she got away—Atomica, not the soldier (though they weren’t a soldier)—after burning my damn hand (and I may have accidentally splashed some of the team with cold water from the Lake). The “soldier” turned out to be an accountant of some sort that had been in prison with Atomica and been looking into Chimera’s businesses, where his money was coming from and such. Laundering schemes, no doubt. Their name was Robyn Rebate. Just noting that down for future missions, just in case. Chimera had apparently busted them out of prison with Atomica.
Then Officer Pine shows up. That’s how you know things are going downhill: you’re not gone before the cops show up, when you wanted/needed to be gone already. Challenge handled him expertly though, talking about a hero’s job and all or something. I wasn’t paying too close attention, I was already trying to formulate a plan to take down these Chimera fronts, maybe give us an edge for next Friday. I got shaken out of it when we overheard an emergency call from Pine’s police radio about a police station being on fire.
We blasted off and headed for the smoke—clearest signal in the day. Fire was raging pretty hard. I drop down and find a fire hydrant to get the water going. Some cop tells me “you dang kids gotta get out of here! We don’t need more superpowered threats in here!” I tell him, “nothing is going to stop me from saving people.” (I was pretty proud of that one.)
Rhi and I got knocked back by a blastwave. Turns out Atomica was here, fighting a bunch of GREY goons. I end up saving her from a blast of one of their weapons. They’ve got some of those FOAM weapons too. How is their PR gonna hold up if they’re gonna be shown destroying police stations and fighting heroes in the streets, huh?
It’s kind of a blur what happened after that.
But at some point Challenge--nay, Tilly--came in and shot Atomica (who was having a nuclear meltdown a la Hesperus) with Magna’s shrink ray and turned her into a tiny gnome and her glow subsided. Magna, who apparently had been in jail at this police station (she was probably trying to bust him out—relatable), grabbed her and ran off. We wanted to give chase, but a whole GREY goon squad had their guns on us. Tilly scared them off, however. Good god, TILLY. We stan a QUEEN. She had some great lines there. Worthy of bard song.
So, Magna and Atomica got away, but we got information on Chimera’s businesses. I think I can use this for the plans we made yesterday, to prepare for Friday.
All in a day’s work, eh?
End log.
== Season 2 minisode - Space Paranoids ==
2018, December 16th (immediately following Episode 41)
Scene: Space Paranoids
Also starring: Dominik Tegan.
Be sure to check out the Sonata Apocalyptica OVA first!
== Season 2 minisode - The Weed Scene ==
2018, December 17th
Scene: The Weed Scene
Also starring: Lavender.
Be sure to check out Night Time Secrets first! As well as the Sonata Apocalyptica OVA!
=== Season 2 Bonus Material - iRekken We're Missing Someone ===
Capitan's Note,
Today, after school, after basketball practice, after "hanging out" with Tommy, I got home to base late and I finally heard it.
Olivia is missing.
So. It's worse than I believed. It's not my fault (for once), but it's worse. Why? How? Did she get kidnapped, just like Rhi? Who could be after... after the most wholesome and cutest person ever?
I went through everything she's left at the base. It's not much, mostly cooking supplies and notes on the Big Board, including some new ones about her little sister. Does that have to do anything with this? GREY's got her. Would they grab Olivia too?
...GREY just literally represents everything bad that's happening here, doesn't it.
I know I told Lav I wouldn't be self-destructive anymore, but I'll be damned thrice to heck if I don't destroy GREY and everything they stand for.
...I hope I'm wrong though.
I hope she's alright. Somehow.
Somehow.
== Season 2 minisode - Impromptu Chase ==
2018, December 18th
Scene: Impromptu Chase, (For Good Reason?)
Also starring: Parrot, Rescue.
== Season 2 minisode - Gwhen They Meet Again: Rhi-Heating By The Fire ==
2018, December 20th
Scene: Gwhen They Meet Again: Rhi-Heating By The Fire
Also starring: The Morrigan.
Be sure to check out The Weed Scene first!
== Season 2 Episode 42 - Order Without Mercy ==
2018, December 21st
Also starring: Lancelot-Less, Challenge, Freedo, Sherman, Shadow X.
Be sure to check out Episode 35 and Episode 38 first!
Capitan's Journal,
2200 hours.
We meet them, the adult heroes. Sledge, The Silencer, Godspeed, Cyclone and others.
They go in through the front door, the windows, the roof. We take the back entrance. Sure, it's the easy way. It's the smart way. Use every advantage. Downside: the easy way is through the sewers, apparently.
We get in, we sneak around, Freedo keeps us invisible with his illusions. We split up. Sherman and Elle go to the camera control room. Freedo and Challenge guarded the door to our way out--there were a lot of lizardfolk goons walking about, after all.
Shadow X got past the lasers in front of the vault no problem, I retrocognized the vault for the code and it popped open, but I saw something else too... Crimera (Chimera?) was talking to Rodriguez about a deal they had, and Chimera was wary of Rodriguez double-crossing him. Well, guess what happened? Martial law. Hope this big boss has some dirt on Rodriguez.
But the vault popped open... and Orbital was waiting inside, along with an old computer. Shadow X ran off even before I could tell her to, and he threw the damn vault door at me. I transformed in a flash and cut through it. I was ready.
I wasn't ready.
He began to tear the place apart, and as we fought we ended up flying higher and higher as the building got torn asunder bit by bit. I think. There's a lot of vagueness. Adrenaline does that too you, gives you tunnel vision. I heard Elle had to go up through a dumbwaiter and it collapsed later, and the building didn't survive intact, so it checks out. We ended up fighting in the rain. Perfect. Also, very dramatic. If this were Avalon, bards would sing of this.
I bubbled Orbital with the water, encasing him, but had to let him go when I got jumped by some of his birdfolk gangster friends that I bubbled next. Orbital's gravity powers keep getting scarier, and he got me in some vaccuum sphere, no water, no air. Shadow X got me out, bless her soul. Sherman stunned Orbital with a shot and I engaged him.
I STABBED HIM IN THE CHEST
THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED WHAT THE FUCK, NIMUE
He was out, but alive. I decided to go with the medics to the hospital to make sure he'd live and get Nimue out of him safely.
I spent hours waiting out in the hall before the doctor came to get me. They couldn't get Nimue out of him, so I offered to help. Turns out Orbital is... better than fine. He now has a metal arm? What the fuck? And when I pulled Nimue out of him, he pulled me close and told me something about "it's mine now". Mine what? Get out of here, creep! I'm glad he's alive, but I hope they lock him far away for a long time. I don't know what else he's done, but he was a professional international assassin even before I first fought him, so I'm sure his list of crimes is extensive.
Nimue has a bit of an odd glow to her now, though...
Also, I should probably talk to Challenge before weird rumours start circulating, since I kinda off-the-cuff in-the-heat-of-the-moment told Shadow X (and possibly her entire audience) that Challenge likes Freedo. (What was Shadow X angling for when she asked me if Challenge likes her? Like as a friend? Or more? Is this gonna be a Whole Thing like when I met up with Tommy last Monday?) I certainly hope this isn't cause for drama.
...I've already caused enough drama.
Focus, Gwen. Be glad. While you were focused on Chimera's lieutenant, the rest of the heroes defeated that big ol' beast. I heard Elle was badass, and Freedo saved Challenge at some point. Sherman and Shadow X were also incredibly clutch with helping me and saving me. It was a heck of a day, but our teamwork was on point.
Suck it, Cyclone!
Now we just need to have the full team together again...
But after how we worked together here, with how we worked together to collect all that information to make all this come together this way?
I have faith.
We'll find Olivia.
We'll beat Rodriguez and GREY.
We're the Big Team.
And we're gonna do Great.
== Season 2 minisode - Christmas Gifts: A Sister, A Diary and Years of Trauma ==
2018, December 20th
Scene: Christmas Gifts: A Sister, A Diary and Years of Trauma
Also starring: Redstreak.
== Season 2 Episode 44 - Do Magical Girls Dream Of Robot Swords? (audio log) ==
2018, December 24th
Also starring: Challenge, Freedo, Dominik Tegan, Rekken.
Be sure to check out Episode 40 first!
CW: adorable
SHE SAID IT BACK!!!
SHE'S BACK AND SHE SAID IT BACK!!!
Ok! ok, be cool now, Gwen. Serious audio log time now. You can write a regular journal later.
*throat clearing noises*
Capitan's Journal,
So. Olivia had been missing since the 15th, which I heard on the evening of the 17th, while walking home from Lav's vovo's place. It was a rough night made even rougher. And this was in the middle of our investigations into Chimera's business and before I made up with Rhi just a few days after. At least music kept me sane during all that time. I really need to thank Parrot for that. She's just... a good friend. And a heck of a great team- and bandmate and drummer.
I remember someone on the team suggesting to have us leave it to the police at first. Give it a few days. But the police is basically working with GREY now, and there are a LOT of BIG reasons to not work with them under ANY circumstances but ESPECIALLY this case.
But there are adult heroes. There are teams dedicated to finding people. There are private investigators. Someone else, better at finding Olivia than us, could do it, maybe. We had so many things on our plate then and I was in no good emotional condition to assist in finding her. My brain just shut down trying to think of things to do to help. I was... I am... kind of a mess, after all. Was even more that week. Less now.
Talking to Rhi, jamming with Parrot, apprehending Chimera, fighting Orbital, crying with Redstreak, that all helped clear my system a lot.
Hah, maybe I needed to clear my system before showing up in front of Olivia so she could clear hers?
...I don't know how robots work.
Just that this one's heckin' adorable and I'm glad she's back. Yeah, spoiler alert, we found her! I guess my intro gave it away, but maybe I can edit that out in post. Shit, I've never done audio editing...
Anyway, after all that other, less important business (well, still important, just not as much), we got together to visit the Mann house. We being me, DomDom, Freedo and Challenge. I figured that, after all this time, I could use my retrocognition on something in her room to find out more about where she might have gone. Now that I was in a better mental state, it shouldn't act up too much as before, so we can get some actionable information.
At least, something more actionable than what we remembered Olivia telling us herself before she disappeared. I'm looking at you, Challenge, with your “Hey Gwen, was there perhaps something she said while you two were canoodling?”
I talked with Agent Josie Mann (she told me to not call her Agent so... should I call her "grandma"? I just went with "Mrs. Mann") and explained why we were there. (Also I wished I could've taken the time to comfort her during all this time, though I'm not sure she would've wanted me over? Her having been the commander for our team in space and our actions then made things a little awk.) She talked with the others downstairs, while I went up to Olivia's room. It was a little messy, but for the amount of stuff in it still less so than my own room. It was familiar, painfully so, so I had to take a moment.
I found Olivia's journal in her desk. The drawer was open, and normally I don't like to poke into other people's private thoughts like this, but I thought maybe it would help us find her. The last page had writing that was... different. Almost like it was printed. It mentioned deleting memories. I took it to the others. They were concerned too. They asked me to retrocognize it. I did, and they saw what I saw. I didn't know I could do that, but it was helpful. We saw Olivia in her room, at her desk, joyful as normal, looking cute, then freezing up and print-writing that stuff down in the journal before walking out. A lot more stiff in her movements than she usually is. Like a soldier marching.
Freedo suggested we go to Zodiac City for help. They apparently have been gathering a lot of intel on GREY operations, and Olivia has a... history with them.
*sigh*
Too many on this team have a history with GREY. Too many people in this city do.
We got into the city, no prob, but this guy Snake wanted one of us to come along with him while we talked to Rooster. Did he want a hostage?? DomDom volunteered, so okay, no prob there for now, but seriously??
We met up with Rooster, and at first Challenge seemed to be convincing him to work with us, as long as we did a thing in return: destroy the facility he was giving us the address of. Sure! No problem! Was PROBABLY gonna do that anyway! ...but THEN, CHALLENGE has to go ahead and do a CHICKEN DANCE! She said it was a "cultural appreciation" kinda thing. Big no! Be glad that I managed to shake his hand before he noticed, so I could retrocognize him right as he was getting pissy with you! We got the information ALL THANKS TO YOU and yet you also ALMOST FUCKED US OVER!
I think there's a word for that.
Anyway, we got out of there quick, picked up Dom, drove back to base, got a Lyft to the warehouse district address we'd gotten hold of (so we wouldn't get recognized with Cyclone's super-recognizable car). We split up, at Dom's suggestion. He'd go through the front door, being a distraction, and we'd sneak in from the top. Challenge found a good entry window and I flew up there with Freedo. Got in, found out that there were "patients" there, that GREY had been posing as a clinic for drug addicts or something of the sort. Ugh. Not only do they kidnap kids, they prey upon the most vulnerable people in society, don't they? Is everyone just a few poor life choices away from ending up a victim by these people? Heck, I didn't even end up with them by choice. ...maybe these people didn't either? I... I'm not sure what choices they had that they could make. I didn't really bother investigating that, then or after. We had other things to do. Challenge got them to get out of there though, and following her example I used the P.A. system to order the rest of the "patients" on that floor to also get out of the building. Just a simple “This building is now unsafe. All patients must leave the building immediately.” Then we went down the stairs to the floor below.
...and when we got there, the elevator doors opened. Olivia walked out, wearing a GREY jumpsuit. She...
You know what, Journ, even though I freaked out about it and that jumpsuit can burn forever, she did have a cute haircut.
But we fought. Someone on the P.A. system ordered all the "patients" on that floor to attack us, and Olivia clashed with a lightsword against Nimue. Also, here's a note: she could definitely not do that light stuff before I went to space!
I got hit pretty hard. There was something that resonated between me and Nimue, and the sprinkler system in the building broke wide open and water got forcibly pulled out of it and just... flooded the entire floor, as if it got sucked in, rather than just finding natural ways to flow away. I think I short-circuited Olivia then, and almost caused everybody else to drown...
I should get a big cake for Challenge and Freedo to make it up to them, for having to deal with me and my losing control. I guess now I know a little bit of what Gabe and Rhi feel like sometimes.
Olivia seemed to have regained herself briefly then, and I... I was shocked, I thought she might have been fully taken over at this point! Like I had an actual “Is it really you?” moment there. But before we could do or say much more, she froze up again, face blanking, and ran off to the elevator. I yeeted Freedo after her, into the elevator, and it closed right behind him. (Good thing I gave him that yeet-softening jacket?)
Challenge and I couldn't do much more at this point but try go after them... and wait. And order the patients out again. Gotta say, Challenge was pretty inappropriate! I remember the first time we worked together, at the base, fighting that El Zinga robo-voiced person and carrying her while flying up the elevator shaft. Almost an odd book-end to our relationship. Well, I mean, it'd be a book-end if it finished here. Maybe I should've just dropped her down that shaft... hah, nah, I'm kidding, of course. She's was just getting madly on my nerves at the worst possible time.
We got to the basement in due time. Freedo and DomDom had gotten to Olivia at this point--just gotta leave the freeing-from-GREY up to FreeDom, eh?--and she ran up to me and... and hugged me. I dropped Nimue then and there. (I've now already apologized to her for not setting her down gently, but she doesn't seem pleased with that either. Sorry not sorry.) I hugged Olivia back. She told me “I remember everything.” and she kissed me.
*brief silence, embarrassed giggling, smooching noises*
AGH! So embarrassing. Gotta calm down. Can't get a red face right now, Journ. I love her. I LOVE HER! I told her and I told her "you don't have to say it back, but I want you to know I'll always have your back" like some cool bro '80s action hero type dude, except one who isn't afraid to say "I love you" to their girlfriend, and then SHE SAID IT BACK!
*high-pitched squealing*
I'm so happy right now, Journ. Everything seems to be headed in the right direction. Olivia, Rhiannon, Parrot, Freedo, Challenge, DomDom... life is looking brighter now. The team has helped defeat the biggest crime lord in Halcyon City--no thanks to me, though--and with luck that whole martial law thing is on its way out soon. 2019 is looking like it may be a good year, after all.
So... tomorrow it's Christmas. I'm going to celebrate it at Rhi's place, and I'll maybe have a chat with Elle, alone, finally. I'm going to invite Olivia and her grandmother to join us. I'll ask her in just a little bit. I'm in the car right now, glad to have winter tires in this weather, and I'm all ready to go to Big 'N' Broad Burger with Olivia. She's inside right now, I'm waiting in front of her house. At some point, we're going to have to talk about how to make sure something like this whole mess doesn't happen again, but... for now, I'll let myself be happy. I'll make her happy. We deserve to be happy.
And we deserve a burger that is both big an--OH SHIT THERE SHE IS END LOG END LOG
== Season 2 minisode - Waiting For Father Christmas ==
2018, December 25th (Christmas Day)
Scene: Waiting For Father Christmas
Also starring: Lancelot-Less.
== Season 2 minisode - A Year Passes ==
2019, January 1st
Hey Journ,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's been... quite an eventful year, hasn't it? Heck, it's been quite an eventful few months I should say! I got rescued from GREY by my beautiful angels, Olivia, DomDom, Freedo and Jakey. I attended the Big Dance with Olivia. I met my cousin Rhiannon again! I went to public school for the first time and met Alex, Tilly and Tommy and many other lovely people, even had lunch with Transformed students many times. (When my friends aren't there and the Transformed aren't, nobody sits at my table. I guess they think I'm too scary.)
Then there were a lot of other people who joined the Big Team after me, after Transformation Day. I lived at the big base and still do, with good and kind people like Zip and Tatum.
We fought GREY, we fought crime, we went to basically Hell(?) to find my father, and then even met his younger self, Elle El. They're quite something, and embarrassingly I used my powers of retrocognition over Christmas to discover that--yes, she is they are she is they are my father. (I just had to text them, 'cause I didn't know if I should call them by she/her in the past if they identified that way back then, but that's apparently how they like it.) Before that, I even went to space with them! Also with Parrot! (Whomst is Alex; I think it's okay to say she's Parrot now? apparently her mom outed her publicly... yikes.)
We saved the universe, no big. Fought a dragon and Elle really got her good. I touched a lot of things in space. Interesting experiences all around!
The return was rough, though. While we accomplished a lot in space, and for a bit I drifted apart from Elle and Parrot before we grew closer again, stronger even, there was a lot on Earth that had gone wrong in our absence. Olivia forgot who I was (and then disappeared right before we were gonna go on a date again, and then she turned out to be brainwashed by GREY... but we saved her!) and Rhiannon got kidnapped by an evil sorcerer who wanted to drain her powers and use them for evil (but we saved her! and we all had a great Christmas together!) and the basketball team was unhappy with my absence and Gabe gave me some shit for it too, telling me that a team leader should lead the team and not go off on space adventures (I get it now though and I don't blame him, even if I might want to write on his car with whiteboard markers even now).
Worse yet, GREY got in charge of the city thanks to City Councilor Rodriguez declaring martial law in the city, because apparently the gang wars with Chimera had gotten that much out of hand. Then we stopped Chimera (well, I ended up stuck fighting Orbital while the rest of the team did all the work--heck of a job to Freedo, Elle and Challenge; though also thanks to Sherman and Shadow X for saving my sorry ass). And now it looks like martial law is on its way out... after Zodiac City got raised sky high and Alex's mom, City Councilor Brites Ramierez, got all the votes and paperwork done to get rid of it and get a new round of elections for the city council going. Also GREY fired at crowds of protesting people and harmed hundreds, so that's definitely a thing for the "Reasons To Destroy GREY" list.
And now it's New Year's Day.
We had a party on the warehouse rooftop to watch the fireworks show with all the members of the team who wanted to and could come. Cyclone handed out sparklers to everyone, and we had a few barrels with fire to roast marshmallows and weenies. El brought turnips from the vegetable garden at Rhiannon's mansion. Roast turnips are delicious. So nostalgic. Cyclone allowed us one glass of champagne. (Well, he allowed me, because I'm 18, and he was like "let's pretend this is Canada for tonight", and then I put down some shot glasses behind the chest-high wall someone put up for paintball practice.)
The fireworks show was amazing. The sky lit up in so many colours and patterns! Red, gold, green, blue, silver, pink, purple... explosion after explosion, a thousand million firecrackers banging off at once.
...and then Freedo lit up this huge-ass rocket behind that same chest-high wall and blasted it off into the sky and we all watched an even better show. Not sure if he could enjoy it himself, I think Cyclone was chasing him the entire time.
Heck of a stunt, little Free-bro. It was worth it! It was a beautiful sight in the sky. I look forward to this year. With friends like these, it's bound to be great.
Love you, mam.
I will see you soon.
== Season 2 Episode 47 - Return To Ferinon ==
2019, January 13th
Also starring: Lancelot-Less, Rekken, The Morrigan, Dominik Tegan.
Be sure to check out Episode 9 first!
Gwendolyn DU LAC's log,
For the past three months, I've been trying to think of how we can get back into Ferinon and out again, with my father this time. Rhiannon has been busy creating spells to get us in, like some sort of divination to find him, then conjuring up a portal or something? Getting in was always going to be the easy part, anyway. It's getting out that's the hard part. However, both Rhi and DomDom seem to have read some book about Ferinon (DomDom called it "historical self-insert fanfiction"), which suggests that there is a way out by going deeper down and past Satan himself.
We made our plans and met up at Rhiannon's estate. In one of the rooms, she'd prepared a magic circle that she told us all to step into--AND THEN SHE PULLED FATHER'S SWORD OUT?!
NANI THE FUCK, COUSIN?!
...I'll talk to her about this later.
Anyway, we got there, we found my father, dirty and emaciated. We carried him out of the layer of the Wrathful, that giant eternal battlefield. He struggled against us until we were out of the layer and managed to talk reason into him once he recognized me, after I sang "Hush, Little Baby" to him, which mother had taught him to sign to me when I was little. When we first moved to Halcyon City, I was pretty distressed at the huge changes to our life, and he sang it to me a lot to soothe me before bed or when I had to get away from the giant, open, crowded, dirty city. It took a long time for me to get used to Halcyon City, and I couldn't have done it without father being there for me. Now I had to be there for him.
We went through several layers to get down.
* One was filled with sloshing water filled with corpses. We snuck past a demon-infested fortress of some kind (I got a close look at some demon knights, fiery angels and medusae), while I kept a bubble of air around us as we walked over the river floor. We passed by some guy on a boat (Phlegus?) and father told us we shouldn't have passed without paying him, so I left some candies behind. (They got foil wrapping, that's probably better than some copper pieces.)
* One had giant ovens with people burning inside them. It's like that German story about Grettie and Hanzo, with the witch putting kids in ovens. I started to pry them open, because I didn't want all those people to be suffering in there, but Dom dragged me away and followed the others.
* We went passed a place filled with statues that were moaning (clearly people, actually alive and aware people!). We got attacked by a swarm of imps there.
* Finally, we came to the last layer...
And there we stood face-to-face with Satan himself. Giant, stuck in the ice from the waist down. Horns, wings and all. More blue than I'd imagined, but that's what you get when you're stuck in ice for eternity, I guess? He had a little dude on his shoulder who was writing stuff down the whole time and spouting rhymes. Poetry? He was pretty inconsequential.
Actually, I should take a step back here for a moment... Right before we went into the last layer, through the Last Gate, El told us they had planned to stay behind here, in Hell/Ferinon. Heck, we had to convince father to come with first of all, because he was certain this wouldn't work (like last time), then El went off like this and we had to convince her too! Fuckin' El. Good thing we watched Lilo & Stitch in Team movie night last week. Because ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.
So we went in. United. Resolute. Shitting our pants at Satan, but hey, we'd done our team yell (thanks Olivia, "let's eat Satan's ass" indeed) and there was no going back.
I break the ice.
Satan grabs hold of me.
DomDom frees me from his grasp.
Olivia leaps off Nimue like a platform and with my help yeet-leaps right at him.
Father and I pin down Satan's hands like he's Jesus on the cross. El nails him with their spear.
We get ready to crawl down through the ice when writer-boy comes down from perch on Satan's shoulder. El, Olivia and I punch him all at the same time. DomDom punches Satan in the dick. Rhiannon breaks open the ice further by growing a tree and its roots dig into the ice and break it open.
And we get out.
Okay, so, the weirdness wasn't entirely over yet, cuz we fell down at the foot of some mountain DomDom told us was called Mount Delectable. Tasty, I guess?
We did a check-up with everyone. Olivia had been worn down, her face had been busted open in the fight. I promised to help her fix it later and gave her a kiss, before flying up the mountain with her and the rest following. I also got DomDom to say OUT LOUD that he loves Jake! We arrived back home with just some hollow words from Satan echoing after us, promising that he'd get us someday.
Hah!
...wait, shit, did he get free when we broke the ice?
Ah well, a matter for another time. We're out! The fam's back together! Everything's good!
We got out of Hell!
El got out of Hell!
Father got out of Hell!
FUCK YOU, SATAN.
DU LACS FOREVER.
DON'T MESS.
END LOG!
== Season 2 Episode 50 - The Overpass Resort and Hot Springs ==
2019, January 13th
Also starring: Freedo, The Morrigan, Rescue, Dominik Tegan.
Capitan's log,
We're at a hot springs resort. And we're getting paid for it! Fuck yes, this will be the first time I'm getting paid for a job. For... anything, really! Certainly for just doing my superhero thing! If we get more gigs like this, I won't have to steal from thieves who rob banks live off an allowance Cyclone gives me anymore. (NOTE: I should probably contact those lawyers and see how the whole "getting access to the du Lac family estate" is going.)
It's been a very snowy day and we might get snowed in the entire weekend. Rhi and I are sharing a room, as are DomDom and Rescue. I gave Freedo the keys to the big suite. I figure, y'know, he's deserved it. He's always nice to me, even though I'm often a little mean to him. And all the rest of us except DomDom have lived for years in mansions. Sure, I haven't lived in one for years since then, but... little bro Freedo deserves this.
Besides, I got him to confess having a crush on Challenge! Gnyeh heh heh. First DomDom, now Freedo, who will fall next to my wiles and spill the goods? I'm feeling like a reverse Cupid of sorts.
I... I admit to having some difficulty with writing this journal entry. Log entry? Eh. I think I wouldn't be able to talk about it out loud right now, but writing this all down is a little easier.
I'll explain.
After we arrived, got shown around, got explained what they expected of us (if we break stuff, it's coming out of our pay, so I'm very glad we haven't destroyed anything tonight), given keys to our rooms and left to our devices. Aaaaand... while walking to our rooms, the whole hotel went full haunted. Hallways we made no progress in walking through, doors opening on their own into the same kind of hallway. At first I thought it was like H.H. Holmes' murder hotel (I've been watching the History Channel to get better at history for school), but then all the lights went out. Then we got teleported all into the same room? Then we got separated.
I was all alone. In a narrow and dark hallway. With a door that looked exactly like the one that lead to the GREY room with the needles.
I'm... not sure how I got out of there. My hands are bloody and chafed. Rhi was hugging me next thing I remember.
There was a... portal? A swirly portal? And I tossed a broom into it that had Challenge's face on it?
I don't... really know anymore.
Right now we're just in our room. Rhi's just doing some reading. Maybe she thinks I don't notice her worried glances before she turns a page, but--heh. She's sweet to worry, I guess. And I certainly don't blame her after tonight.
I... I do feel a lot better now, though. I'm still shaken up, but we had a nice dinner, a hot bath, Rhi and I brushed each other's hair, and I'm wearing my super comfy pajamas.
...hope I don't have bad dreams, though.
End log?
== Season 2 Episode 53 - Test Your Might ==
2019, January 13th
Also starring: Lancelot-Less, Parrot, Shadow X.
Capitan's log,
We had an 18 hour flight. EIGHTEEN HOURS! The island we flew to by Shadow X's invitation is small, mostly covered in jungle, and only has an airport, a hotel and a colosseum with a gift shop.
We'll get to the gift shop.
Shadow X got an invitation to a secret martial arts tournament on this island and could invite three other people. She picked us three, whomst went to space, on account of "not being boring and also not constantly whining about being poor" (paraphrasing). Wow, okay. To be honest though, if there's any prize money to be had, I won't mind.
We got off the plane, Shadow X wearing a fancy dress, El in their suit, Parrot in khakis and uh, a Hawaiian shirt, I in a white suit (got one tailored as a gift just for this occasion), all of us wearing sunglasses (I still have those spiky magic ones from the Smithton shop). We talked to the manager(?), who told us there were going to be three separate categories for us to fight in, and asked which one of us was going to be the coach. El volunteered at first, but Shadow X--seemingly begrudgingly--took over from her.
So apparently it was gonna be like
* No Weapons: Parrot
* No Magic: El
* No Holds Barred: Me
Parrot fuckin' ACED the whole thing on Day 1, beating all four opponents (Bigby Fist, LightY, ??? and Voidbringer). Then I caught El and her exchanging air-kisses. Hmmmm...
(I asked Parrot about that afterwards, but she shrugged it off, changed the topic, and walked off when I couldn't follow, because I'd had too much sake and my legs were wobbly. Maybe I shouldn't have worn heels? I rarely do, but I got caught up in the whole "fancy style secret event" vibe.)
Day 2, El really did good, perhaps a bit too good, because she won with uhhh a bit too much blood on her spear, shall we say. (Opponents included Largeby Chungus Fist and... someone who resembled Hollow a surprising amount. Surprising... at the time.)
After El's fights, Shadow X wanted to explore the island. Specifically the part behind the "Employee's Only" door in the gift shop. (I'd tried buying twizzlers and a shirt there on Day 1, but it was like 4000 yen and I didn't have any!) She wanted to do this, because she was suspicious about having received the invite at all, to this highly secretive place, when she'd never had such invites before either. I guess that makes sense. We used to get plenty of invitations to tournaments, but father was also a very well-known figure and lover of tournaments. Sometimes he'd end up even fighting after the tournament was over, going to the chambers of whomever defeated him (or the second place winner) and... ohhhhhhhhhh
...anyway.
Shadow X caused a distraction for the gift shop cashier, I retrocognized the number padlock on the door and entered the code (the lock was a lot like GREY's locks, too) and we slipped through. We scoured around for suspicious things and secrets in the back of the shop and found a stairs leading down... with someone looking like Sherman looking at us. I leapt on top of him, wrestled his gun away and bashed him in the head with it. The others followed suit and we overpowered him, and Shadow X grabs his communicator and talks with someone on the other end. Convincingly too, apparently. They mention a "Miss Yamato" coming around and hang up. Yep, we were definitely in GREY territory here. I don't know this "Miss Yamato", but I already knew what was gonna happen when we met her.
We sneak further. Come to a second lock eventually. Only one person has used it, taller and broader than any of us, very consistently, every day. I open the door. There's some... cis admin(?) sitting there, covered in cheedo dust (those cheesy things that are kind of like crisps?), and looking very surprised. We pin him behind his desk and El ties him up with Dredful's lash. His wallet fell out of his pocket in the struggle (don't worry, I didn't take anything, I don't steal from people) and apparently he has three adorable kids (one of them's a pretty cute girl, if she wasn't the daughter of a GREY employee I'd ask for her number to give to Tatum).
At this point... "Miss Yamato" walks in. Holy fuck. She stood like 7'3" with legs that'd make Challenge's look like Freedo's. This tall Japanese lady had style. But fuck, Rodriguez had style. We can't let up on villains just because they've got style. If anything, it's just a sign they need to get punched more. The only stylish villains I've met so far have all been in league with GREY (or with Ominus; I've still got that soldier uniform back from SPEAR because it was so cool).
She tried to convince us to work with GREY! Haha. Fuck you. Good joke. Roll credits.
She got out a sword.
"That's a very nice sword you have there," I said.
And I engaged.
We fought her, she tried to possess the cis admin, we got her out of him again as some kind of shadow... then she possessed El! And then Shadow X kissed El and... what... I don't know. She sucked her out of El? Is that how this works? Yamato did come out of El and, like the rest of us, looked shocked as hell. Then Shadow X just walked out, like the fight was over.
Fuck no, it wasn't over! Fuck emotional hangups, if I can bust any bit of GREY, I'm gonna! And... and...
...and I don't know what I really did, but Nimue kind of... sucked her in? Like forcing her to possess her? I guess Yamato possessing a magic object is not as bad, because then she can't move on her own and do bad stuff. That's how that works, right?
...we should've torched the place, though. After getting cis admin out. He should go home to his kids. Live a non-crime life. I'm sure there's plenty of jobs in his line of work.
We got out of there and are now flying back home. I talked with El a bit, trying to be subtle about finding out what's going on between her and Parrot, but it wasn't working, so... y'know, gotta do things the du Lac way: "Are you fucking Parrot?"
Shadow X spit out her champagne all over Parrot, who turned red as a beet and started shouting about that, and the two quickly left for the bathroom, leaving me with just El, who looked--understandably--quite flustered! Well then why don't you just come out and be honest about it the first time, El, geez. Do we gotta pull every bit of info out of you, just like when you wanted to stay in Ferinon?! Honestly. Maybe I need to start forcing everything out of her at this rate. She's even worse than father!
She did admit it though. Well, um, okay, she's not... doing that, but like, the two of them are involved? Sort of? I'm okay with that though. I told her as much. And I went to tell Parrot as much later, though she tried to appear asleep with a sleep mask on, so I was just like... "hey Parrot, I know you're asleep right now, so I'm just gonna say this now as a practice run for when you're awake. I know you and El are involved and I want to say... out of everyone she could be with in the Big Team, I'm glad it's you."
And of bloody course the fucking gremlin just ripped her sleep mask off, bawling like the babe she is, going like "aw Cap, do you really mean that?" Of course not, you oaf, I only tell lies to my best friend, geez, don't embarrass me.
...love her though. Love 'em both! But fucking hell, they really don't gotta do me like this.
But hey.
Ohana means family.
And family means sometimes getting on your nerves.
End log.
P.S. Kind of a shame I didn't get to do my bit of fighting 1v1 No-Holds-Barred though.
== Season 2 OVA (Canon) - The End Is Never ==
2019, February 2nd
Also starring: Challenge, Freedo.
Capitan's log,
Today, all of todays, have been quite a ride. I can't count how many times I've relived this day. Waking up at 9:00 AM, only for it to be reset at 9:45 AM, save for when I got my hands on Dr. Timothy Doorheart's timepiece myself. Freedo told me that he remembers watching a film called "Ground Hog Day", which features a story similar to what we lived through.
The others might say we only lived through a few iterations of today. Maybe that is correct. We seemed to only retain our memories if we were close to the timepiece itself, however. They don't seem to think about that. They don't seem to know.
...I now have all the more reason of not wanting to retrocognize myself, just in case I would get to see my past in all those different days. That and... on top of my history with GREY, and figuring that I would also re-experience everything I retrocognized. I certainly don't want to make it a habit of ending up in loops like that.
One of these loops, Freedo asked to borrow Nimue to chop a hole in the ice of the harbour so he could throw his still beeping alarm into it. (I guess he doesn't know how to turn it off.) He ended up falling through the cracked ice into the water and almost drowned before I got him out. He warned up on the couch with Challenge and I made them some hot cocoa. Challenge flipped me the bird, which I guess I deserved for snapping pictures of them. (I don't think I still have those pictures, but I have others. I heard Olivia got some baby photos of Gabe that we're going to exchange at our date tonight.)
Challenge also revealed her face to Freedo! I was smirking so bigtime that when I got a moment alone with Freedo and I wanted to ask him stuff, he told me "Gwen, if you weren’t so jacked, I’d beat you up."
...and then we got reset.
In many of the loops, we ended up in the Big Team Vault. There is a LOT more stuff in there than I thought! I guess there were a lot of team members and adventures even before I joined. There were like...
* an anti-matter bomb
* an incorporeal smoke monster (like Lav's spirits, but smokey instead of shadowy)
* a weaponized umbrella taken from Lovelace
* a boomerang half made of ice and half made of fire
* a shiny gemstone that, when I retrocognized it, showed me a line of Cyclone's ancestors, and when I looked into it, it showed me my own line of ancestry, starting with Nimue herself! The gem, uh... turned red when it showed my father, then mauve when it showed me. What does that mean?
All the trouble we got into today, all of todays, was because a groundhog transformed (groundhog person? mole person?) named Pix burrowed into our base (THROUGH THE CONCRETE?!) and tried to steal the timepiece and kept accidentally activating it. In the last loop, I finally got it from her and got her to leave after giving her something shiny (my phone, I'll just beg Cyclone for a new one, again--he gives me shitty ones anyway--and then I'll just give everyone my new number). I guess it wasn't the last loop since it wasn't looping anymore. I did briefly consider activating the timepiece again though... because I got locked into the Vault by Challenge and Freedo, who were making out right outside of it.
YES, YOU HEARD ME. CHALLENGE AND FREEDO WERE MAKING OUT! I totally am taking the credit for getting them to voice their feelings for each other. After getting Freedo to openly admit it at the Hot Springs, and seeing Challenge look at him funny and how she talks to him like she's from one of Parrot's or Redstreak's animes, it was just... a matter of time.
I just gave it a little nudge. ;)
End log.
== Season 2 Episode 59 - Mole-ing It Over ==
2019, February 3rd
Also starring: Lavender, Challenge, Lancelot-Less.
Capitan's log,
Highlights of today:
* An embassador of the Mole Kingdom, Moledova, Molecyon City, busted our floor right into the rec room
* We played in the Molympics, playing mole-style basketball (lucky! Lav, "Challenge's good friend" and I play a pretty good game at school)
* We TRIED to help de-flood a part of their city (and SUCCEEDED, but not before we FAILED first)
* We saved the mole people from the influence of Inhibition, a shadowy spirit Lav and his Orixa grandmother have dealt with a bunch before, I think?
* We got the Mole King (Demolia) to agree to turn their kingdom into a constitutional monarchy... which he is going to do by making their political system be basketball-based
Not necessarily a bad day, but not a great one either.
Also, there were a LOT of posters of me hanging around Molecyon City, and with many having red X-es painted over them by angry mole people. I hope I've redeemed myself a little in their eyes with winning the Molympics and then helping their king turn around and try to become more like King Arthur's court (in a uhhh way).
Lav also asked El about Rhi's "aura", which was related to our trip to Ferinon a while back, when we saved my father from that Hellish prison. I hope they're gonna be okay? Lav did say we're still friends tho, so I guess he's over the whole thing he was doing when we last hung out. Or like... it's not important anymore. At any rate, he seems to be doing better now? Not angry or crying, but... a bit standoffish, I guess.
I'm definitely not going to bring that up to him... or at least not the fact that that kind of reminds me of my father, too. There's a lot of similarities between El and father, but also some big differences, and that part is one of the differences. I can't really recall how father was when I was little, back in Avalon, so... is it Lav's influence on El that make them end up standoffish and turn into my father?
...no. I am being paranoid. After yesterday's time shenanigans, I think I'm just... kind of vulnerable to these sort of ideas. And El is kind of someone out of time. If this is anything like that Back To The Future film, then there is only one timeline and El's future is set for what it is, and if they change, then our future changes, my father changes, and... I guess El would change too, given they're also here again in the future? How does that whole film work, even?
...also I got a message from Bryce from the basketball team at school. He said something about "it was nice playing basketball with you these months". What the fuck does that mean? I should talk to Challenge Tilly about this.
End log.
== Season 2 Episode 63 - Don't Stop Bee-lieving (video log) ==
2019, February 10th-11th
Also starring: Lancelot-Less, Side-step, Spectre.
The screen turns on and some stripes briefly crawl over it before the feed becomes crisp. A white top with rainbow pastel-and-black flower and skull patterns under a deep red flannel unbuttoned button-up shirt moves away from the camera to reveal the wearer is a pale-skinned teenage girl. The edges of a circular scar are just peeking over the edge of the top, just below her collar bone. She brushes her black hair behind one of her ears. "Alright, let's begin, doc," Gwen says, as she sits down in a large comfy seat at an angle from the camera. In front of her is a coffee table with a large mug of tea that has a picture of a pink cat and a black fox playing pattycake.
"Okay Gwen, if you're sure you want to record. Then I'll say for the record of it that we've discussed this, and that I'm okay with you recording our sessions, as long as you don't record my face. You know how lawyers get otherwise."
Gwen smiles uncomfortably and nods.
"So tell me, why did you want to schedule this emergency session?"
Gwen draws in a deep breath. "Well, Doctor Harrison--"
"Irene."
"Well, Irene, I... I know we've had only like, two sessions so far, since you're pretty new here and I can't just hog you to myself all day, not with how many, um, patients you've got to work with here, but... last night was pretty huge. Today had some shake-ups too, but we'll get to that later, I guess. Last night we got a mission to scope out a GREY facility..."
"Ah. The source of your trauma."
"Exactly. Worse yet, the exact source of it, because while we were there, I started remembering things, seeing what all looked familiar, until we finally came face to face with that woman. This facility was the very one that I had been held in for most of those two years! Where they, they, they experimented on me, made me do their tests, fight stuff, all of that! I... I didn't see any of the rooms but it was close enough to make many of those memories come flooding back afterwards." Gwen presses a hand flatly to her chest, her fingertips brushing against the one visible circular scar.
"It wasn't a very exciting mission otherwise. Given how I and El were picked, I figured it was going to be a high-tier mission requiring some destruction and busting heads. That's kind of our MO, and Cyclone made it sound like we were specifically picked. But then there were also Spectre and Side-Step. And honestly, those two, along with Challenge and maybe Freedo, are perhaps the teammates most worried about not matching up to the rest of the team--what with our dragon-punching, nova-bombing members--and they're also like... the opposite of El and me in the stealth department. In hindsight, neither stealth nor busting heads were necessary, and it did turn out to be a pretty important engagement given the results we got out of it, but..."
Gwen fidgeted with a sword-shaped little doo-dangle that looked like a keychain, keeping her fingers busy.
"But?" The off-screen voice of Dr. Irene Harrison nudged.
"You know of the woman we brought in, right?" Gwen's eyes were shifty and she was clearly trying to avoid eye contact. "Beatrice. Dared call herself my... my nanny--" her hand clasped over the other, which was a fist, grabbing it tightly as if to hold it back "--she gave us a lot of valuable information about GREY's technology. We might be able to get even more out of her, if she knows anything else at all. It's just... I don't want her here. She can't be anywhere else, but I also don't want her here, even though here is the only place she really can be. I'm glad that the cells are at least not on the same floor as the living quarters, but every day I wake up I now have to live with the fact that that woman, who stood by for years and aided and abetted my... my abuse, that she... that she's just there, the whole time, fucking... right below my own damn feet."
Gwen puts her face into her hands and falls silent. Her shoulders tremble and shake. The feed cuts off shortly thereafter.
Category:Gwendolyn du Lac
Category:Journals