Memory Malaise (short story, canon characters)

[Zumberge]

Based on true events.

 

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There comes a time when every man must set aside their differences in pursuit of a greater good, and in a realm as marred by conflict as Primal Earth, this could be nothing less than a war between dimensions.  Hero and villain alike joined forces to strike back at the Praetorians, and it was at this juncture that they found themselves within the Seer Network, at the steps of perfect reflection of the Mother of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, trading fists, blasts, and weapons with the super-powered mentalist Malaise.

 

Malaise leapt back as a mace blow shattered the illusory wall in front of him. "Think you have this in hand, do you?" he sneered. "Fools.  You are in my realm now.  Here, I have the control.  Here... I can make your nightmares come alive!" Raising his arms, he stared above the crowd before him. "I see a giant crystal... it moves! The Crystal Titan!" He swept one arm up and to the side, and the scintillating outline of a massive, gaunt humanoid figure faded into view behind him.  "Arise, Titan, and decimate these Incarnates!"

 

The group paused as one, looking from one face to the next before the head of the strike force turned back to Malaise. "The what?"

 

"The Crystal Titan!" He gestured again. "The fearsome beast you... you..." His arm slowly fell back to his side. "You have to know this." As the team of heroes and villains conferred among themselves, exchanging shrugs and shakes of the head he added, "it's a Devouring Earth giant monster."

 

"Like the ones in the Hive?" one asked.

 

"You fight it in Eden." Noting their reactions Malaise added, "at the end of a Trial?"

 

"You're thinking of Jurassik," another said.

 

"NO I AM NOT THINKING OF-" He growled. "That's the Numina Task Force.  I am talking about the Trial." Several seconds of silence later he offered, "the Woodsman Trial?"

 

A collective "ohhh" went up among the crowd as they excitedly exchanged words. "Yeah, yeah!" the leader said, turning back to Malaise.  "Didn't someone find a hole in the geometry that let you skip everything so it was only about two minutes' worth of work for a bunch of merits?"

 

Someone in the back raised a hand. "That was me.  I abused the hell out of that before they nerfed it."

 

"So you remember it now?" Malaise asked.  They nodded, and he nodded in turn. "Okay, good." He swept one arm up and to the side again. "Arise, Titan, and-"

 

"Nobody here did it," the leader said.

 

Malaise let his arm drop. "What."

 

"Nobody has the badge, so nobody fought it, so nobody would remember it."

 

"But you clearly do."

 

"We do, but our characters don't.  If they did that would be metagaming."

 

"But I'm..." Malaise gesticulated. "...I'm pulling it from your nightmares.  That's, that's kind of my thing."

 

"That's godmoding," another hero said. "Our characters don't remember this, but you're saying that they do."

 

"'Godmoding.'  Godmoding?!  I AM ONE OF PRAETORIAN EARTH'S MOST POWERFUL PSYCHICS, CONNECTED TO A PSYCHIC NETWORK.  I AM LITERALLY A GOD HERE."

 

"Okay, but you're godmoding, and if you're going to do that then I'm just going to ignore you."

 

"Same," another villain said.

 

Malaise slumped as he buried his face in his hands, making a sound akin to a buffalo forcibly trying to exhale its soul. "Fine." He made a dismissive gesture, and the Crystal Titan faded out of view, replaced with a towering, boxy machine. "Kronos Titan.  You remember the Kronos Titan, right?"

 

The raid group nodded and made various sounds of assent.

 

"Are you sure?  Not a lot of people run Crimson's missions.  I know how fighting Malta hurts your feelings."

 

The leader pointed. "Now you're just being petty."

[Christopher Robin]

Heya Zumberge, welcome home... and to the best part of the forums! :D

 

Neat story, it's almost like one of those movies about D&D where the camera switches

between the action and the players bickering with the DM except they appear

to be roleplaying City of Heroes instead of Dungeons and Dragons.

 

................. making a sound akin to a buffalo forcibly trying to exhale its soul.............

Hah! That bit got a laugh out of me.