R-Type: Distortions

R-Type Distortions is a now-defunct R-Type RP set between the events R-Type Tactics 2 and R-Type Final 1, albeit set in an alternate continuity. It follows the exploits of a ragtag group of pilots and other individuals from varying backgrounds, some of them being of extra-terrestrial or even extra-dimensional origin. Through a series of events (not always to the benefit of the characters), they try to survive against the Bydo Empire as its leader Solar Pupil tries to bring an end to the human race. But is it possible for them to set aside their differences and help bring an end to this dreadful war? And how will other powers like the malevolent (but still preferable to the Bydo) Shadow Armada and the enigmatic RED END impact in shaping the fate of mankind, the Milky Way Galaxy and maybe even reality itself?

## Story

So far, Distortions contains 8 chapters. and 3 story arcs

### Chapter 1: New Arrivals

The year is 2180. Among the many debris fields produced by the nearly 2 decade long war between humanity and the Bydo Empire, a mysterious craft arrives through a dimensional anomaly. In response, the Earth Allied Armed Forces (the main human faction) send a squad of fighters to investigate. Meanwhile near the Jupiter Sector, another ship is brought forth by an anomaly. This one however is in much worse shape, forcing it to send out an SOS. Responding to the distress signal is an Orbital Fighter piloted by an individual calling themselves "Galahad". They proceed to retrieve the damaged craft via clamping and then head off back to one of the nearby Jupiter bases. Back at the debris field, the recon squad arrive and confronts the UFO. While clearly of alien design, readings show that it is not Bydo. During the contact, Galahad and the wrecked R-7 pass by, prompting the former to contact the alien craft. Around that time, another human craft enters the area. The ship (piloted by the one known as SCABER-6) is followed by 5 Bydo fighters of the Bydo System Alpha design, albeit tamed via the use of the Bydo Bind System created by the late Solar Liberation League.

After this, all craft fly to a Jarnsaxa class carrier in orbit around Jupiter. After docking, the alien craft (identified as Xeno Gynoid Entity) takes on a vaguely humanoid form to allow for travel around the interior of the ship. Following this, the cast proceeds to socialize while the pilot of the R-7 is taken for a psych test where he reveals he's from the 23rd century (the future). While this is going on, a military squad called Theta Unit makes its way through the Uranus sector. Their target is the moon of Umbriel, or the EAAF controlled Bestra Research Station that orbits it to be more precise. Back on the carrier, the captain and some officers meet up with representatives of the GZRA colonies in an attempt to improve political relations. Back at Bestra, Theta begins their attack. Making use of a decoy Jormungandr, a Grace Note and fake access codes, one of their members is able to enter the docking section without trouble. But their covert attack is quickly ruined when the real supply ship arrives outside the station. In response, the infiltrating pilot (Theta-2) blasts his way out of the bay his fighter is in while the decoy breaks out. 2 Tropical Angels try to stop them from destroying the airlock, but fail as the Grace Note reveals itself to be a Narcissus mech and then destroys the attacking craft.

### Chapter 2: Bestra Explosed

Bestra, an once-major EAAF stronghold orbiting Uranus, was attacked by an extremist rebel group led by Theta-2. The attack force, consisting of a Narcissus, a Jormugandr, a Midnigt Eye and a Powered Silence, managed to breach the station's hull, causing a temporal paradox that teleported the Jupiter base to Uranus' orbit. Said base's commander sent the legendary R-9A Arrowhead to aid the defenders, soon joined by Galahad, Unknown and XGE. Around the same time, a small squadron of Revos appeared in Bestra's vicinity to observe the unfolding situation, only to encounter a small fleet of unknown origin. A battle ensued, during which it was revealed the new fleet had no wave-based weaponry, which meant they had no way to combat the Bydo forces other than launch missiles and self-destruct near them, thus securing a pyrrhic victory. At the same time, Vic questioned Theta-2's motivations, learning that he plans on exposing the EAAF's experiments with the Bydo. Galahad decided to trust the rebel and followed him inside the station, soon followed by XGE and Unknown. Once in the Bydo Lab, Unknown got lost as the other three learned that the experiments were all terminated, thus rendering Theta-2's motivation null and void. However, once all four managed to get out of the station, they were surrounded by a Granzella fleet which took them in for interrogation, eventually putting Theta-2 in a penal squadron.

While on the new warship, word comes in from EAAF Command about a new military operation. An operation for finding and destroying a potential Desynch Gate being used by the Bydo to get around human defences and attack the inner system. An operation called...

### Chapter 3: Exploding Face

After the briefing about the mission, the pilots head off to the hangars. Unknown co-pilots the OFX-6 along with Vic while Theta-2's Narcissus is given a Standard Wave Cannon so it can detect the Desynch Gate. When the team arrives in debris field (located somewhere between the orbital paths of Jupiter and Saturn much like Geirrod Fortress), Unknown and Vic investigate a piece of shiny metal between two asteroids. It turns out to be another R-7 containing a dead Unknown. Checking the corpse, he finds a note revealing some of his backstory and RED END. Outside, Theta-2 chats with the rest of the Penal Flight.

Meanwhile back in the Uranus Sector, EAAF asteroid base Margaret is performing mining operations when a large Bydogen asteroid passes by. A Mr. Heli pilot (Orange) fires at it with his vulcan to reveal a ore vein. The attack disrupts the mimic field of a Kombiler Battleship which then proceeds to engage and destroy most of the base's ships (including a Powered Silence, Midnight Eye and eventually a Herakles during a suicide attack). Orange retreats to the facility and sends out a distress signal...

Back at the debris field, Arrowhead argues with her pilot (as Arrow is sapient) over the latter's poor combat skills. Shortly afterwards, a Bydo fleet composed of Revo Kai's attack the search party.

In a distant part of the Solar System, Theta Unit are intercepting EAAF and GZRA communications in an attempt to find out what happened to Theta-2. During their expedition, they receive the Margaret distress signal (which they ignore due to the high threat level and them being opposed to the EAAF) and a communication from Theta-3 (who's a spy). It says that Theta-2 is still alive but has been put into a Penal Flight. Upon hearing the message, they head off to save him...

The battle in the field continues as the Coalition forces easily dispose of most of the Revo's. During the confrontation a corrupted R-13A Cerberus enters through a dimensional rift and attacks Ark (R-9A2). It turns out to be the original Cerberus from the Bydo Seed Incident, it's pilot being a man called Jared. Meanwhile, Bydo reinforcements composed of Surges and Mk2 Gains Bipedal Fighters arrive and attack. Around this time, DUO (a red clone of Unknown) arrives in the R-7 and helps fight off the Bydo armada. But soon, things take a significant turn for the worst...

At the edge of the Solar System, a gigantic fleet of massive Bydo Dreadnoughts warp with the intention to completely wipe out humanity and destroying all planets/colonies past Jupiter. Fortunately, the attack is impeded by the Shadow Armada who this time have outfitted their warships with Wave Cannons. To make matter worse for the Bydo Empire, moving this many high-power ships had left their borders in other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy exposed to attack by alien powers like the Other Civilisation. Only time will tell if this gamble was worth it...

Unknown manages to locate the Desynch gate, but rather than destroy it he uses an device called TEK-SPIKE to hack into the gate and redirect its exit point to Margaret Base. Once this is done, he and some other pilots (Vic, Ark and DUO) enter and warp to the distant Uranus facility. Theta-2 fights off some more the Bydo forces before working with Melanie (pilot of a Kenrokuen Pile Bunker) to tear through the craft (26 surges + 3 Gains) defending the gate in order to destroy it...

Unknown and Co. finally arrive at the base. Vic enters the base and talks Orange down while Ark, DUO and Unknown attack the Kombiler. Unknown ejects and throws himself at the battleship. He then proceeds to open a hatch, enter the warship, fight through the corridors, reach and hack into the control system before evacuating. The hack deactivates the ships defences, allowing Orange and Vic to attack and destroy the Kombiler with a huge mining laser. But the attack is not without loss. Unknown is sent hurtling through space but manages to catch onto the Standard Force of Ark's Delta, which dissolves his right hand. He manages to free himself by blasting his limb off, but the pain causes him to faint...before Vic arrives in his OFX-6 Galahad and saves him. Ingel finally returns near Margaret and joins up with the others.

Inside the Kuiper Belt, a Revo is adopted by Lazarus.

Meanwhile, Unknown is put in a ship hospital to recover and Thomas finally reawakens from a nearly 2 decade long coma...

### Chapter 4: Bestra Renewed

Soon after Operation Exploding Face's conclusion, Galahad and Thomas went to Bestra's medical bay to check on Unknown, who had freshly awakened from his coma. They were soon joined by DUO, who was introduced by the R-7 pilot as his "stalker/co-pilot". After a handshake between them and Vic, Ark arrived and reunited with Thomas, explaining to the rest that they were the pilots who took part in the Bydo Seed Incident.

In meantime, Arrowhead had been assigned to Meltcraft overseeing duty, meeting her younger "sister", Ragnarok, on the way. The two had a brief conversation, which eventually turned into reflecting on the purpose of war against the Bydo and then reunion after the events of the Civil War, which saw them end up on opposite sides.

XGE and the Bestra commander were likewise lost in thoughts: the former about her species' nature and purpose and the latter about the oncoming Big Push and the plans to launch an interdimensional colony ship as a last resort.

Back at Bestra's medbay, Ark and Thomas were chatting with Juan about development of a new model of R-Craft before he had departed for a patrol assignment, while Unknown began to hear AD's voice, urging him to find *her*. At the same time, Arrowhead and Ragnarok both visited the area, causing severe property damage on their way. They happened to run into Unknown, resulting in an argument as Ragnarok heard AD's voice and refused to accept it. At that moment, the two entities exited his body, revealing themselves to be incarnations of Mother Bydo and Major, whose programming was inhabiting the Shadow Force used during the Third Lightning mission. They have both survived the final battle in the Bydo Dimension, after which Major(AD) began teaching the Bydo general(EV) about positive aspect of humanity, eventually leading to the two founding an artificial planet known as Red End. The revelation, as well as the very fact of the legendary R-Craft's presence, had shocked and confused all the present pilots - most notably Juan, who departed on a patrol. Later on, the scene was joined by Ingel, who managed to get himself into an argument with both Arrowhead and Ragnarok, while Galahad and Ark left to their quarters. The former was soon joined by XGE, who offered to help him resolve his identity by helping him get in trance and enter a place known only as the Void. The attempt ended in failure as Vic could not recall anything from his further past. The latter, meanwhile, encountered a large amount of Bydo matter and a Meltcraft in what used to be Juan's room before moving to the hangar along with Thomas. In meantime, said hangar was visited by the penal squadron Theta-2 was part of, as well as Unknown and NemeSix. The latter two got in a brief, one-sided fight.

Not long after, Bestra was assaulted by a large squadron of Bydo System Alphas, led by what appeared to be a customized R-90 Ragnarok. Galahad, Unknown and the Delta Squad all sortied to deal with the attack. During the battle, the R-90 was damaged and taken into custody while the R-7's pilot managed to purify one of the enemies, thus creating a SB-D1 "Shadow System Alpha". Vic had also been met with an assimilation attempt by another BSA, which only resisted in a second SB-D1 being born.

Once the battle concluded, it was revealed that the R-90 fighter was piloted by Juan, who suffered from Bydo corruption, gaining the form of a humanoid dragon as a result. In meantime, DUO had been befriending Ingel's *darling fingertips*, currently a subject of a heated debate between their master and Arrowhead. The sentient fighter eventually reached her breaking point and charged out of the hangar, taking Ingel with her.

The peace brought by repelling the BSA invasion would not last long, however. Seeing the Bydo's advancement towards the Solar System, the Earth Hegemony government ordered the *Evergreen* interdimensional colony ship launched, with all of Bestra's personnel being assigned as its escort. The facility's commander complied to the order and ordered a mass evacuation. Its crew joined up with the colony ship, bidding their home universe farewell as they left it via the Glitnir dimensional catapult...

### Chapter 5: In Another Place, In Another Time...

The characters arrive in the Empire Universe.

### Chapter 6: Fly Me To The Moon

The Evergreen Colony is established on a Empire-approved moon.

Juan misbehaves and is sent to jail.

### Chapter 7: Icarus

2 weeks later and the first batches of the EF-1 and EF-1V have been produced and undergoes various tests supervised by Vic. Three Bydo infiltrators (and Juan) wreak havoc in the colony's Bydolab and unleash the on-site Dobkeratops. Which is neutralized shortly afterwards, attracting the attention of the Empire. Juan is promptly added back to the group.

A certain Taco-being is sent to the Empire-verse by EV and joins the group, confused at the lack of recognition from the others. An Empirical search team is on their way.

Bell and Juan hide from the Empire's search team in a laptop (It makes sense in context), passing the time by playing videogames. <br /> The search team finds the laptop and prepare to confiscate it, after a failed attempt at persuasion;. Avarice shows up in physical form just in time to help Juan subdue a group of Empirical Cancers.

Juan punches the search team's leader -Dubbed 'Red'- and flees (again).

A battle breaks out between the group and a small amount of Empirical forcesoutside the Colony. During the ongoing conflict, Dahl accidentally warps in with his RX-12 and joins the group not only that but Juan ends up fiding out that he is a bydo all along.

Satisfied by the Colony's new independance, the group heads back towards the Main Universe. *Until suddenly...*

### Chapter 8: Returned Soldiers

A brief, bizarre encounter in a Timeless Void. The group is fed cryptic clues by a luminiscent R-9A and R-100.

The characters arrive back in the main universe. They celebrate the Evergreen's succesful -albeit turbulent- mission.

The group -now titled 'IDEAS' by their superiors- head over to the Bydo Forest in search for a fallen soldier, which is ripe with complex physics and the deadly fruits of Bydo ecology.

#### Epilogue

The entire story is revealed to be records from Arrowhead's data banks, analyzed by historians from another reality. Said records end before the outcome of the characters' battle against Cerberus is revealed, leaving their fate ambiguous.

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Unknown (Mikoyan Gurevich)
* DUO
* Vic Raiden
* XGE
* Ingel/Scaber-6 (and his darling fingertips)
* Theta-2 ([REDACTED] Midas)
* NemeSix
* Avarice
* Ark
* Thomas
* Carl(Kratos)
* Bell
* Dahl
* Arrowhead
* Ragnarok

### Other humans

* Captain Ramsey
* Arrowlass (Arrowhead pilot)
* Joey
* Michael
* Penal Flight
	+ Martin
	+ Narla
	+ Melanie
* Theta-3/Uniform-7 (Lucas [REDACTED])
* Liberty

### Human antagonists

* **Euclid**
	+ Theta Unit
		- Theta-1 (Leader)
		- Theta-4
		- Theta-5
* Juan (Infected)
* Lazarus

### Bydo

* **The Pupils**:
	+ Solar Pupil (Bydo Emperor)
	+ Ebon Pupil
	+ Amber Pupil
	+ Obsidian Pupil
	+ Mars (Diamond Pupil)
* Jared (Original R-13A pilot)
* B-Delta Squad

### Shadow Armada

* Shadow Monarch (Leader)
* Trafalgar (Space Force General)
* Kursk (Ground Force General)
* Westerplatte (Trans-Dimensional Force General)
* Bastille (Defence Force General)

### RED END

* EV (The Mother)
* AD (The Machine)
* LIL
* Ul (The Ferryman)
* Uk (The Apprentice)