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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. The Froggy Ninja

    The Froggy Ninja The Blade Will Never Die

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    I’m curious if there’s a Paul from Earth 33 somewhere around here.
     
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  2. PDV

    PDV Revelation That Uncertainty Is Itself An Answer

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    One who was wearing their armor when captured, probably.
     
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  3. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    No.
     
  4. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Hey Zoat will we ever see alternate versions of the SI that use different ring colors aside from the ones we have already seen?
     
  5. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Given he's a Guardian, the most we should see in that if it's handled realistically is "you got a B on your midterm" level stuff.
     
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  6. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Considering how obsessed he is with knowledge this may be somewhat accurate.
     
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  7. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Almost certainly.
     
  8. Maxx Crowley

    Maxx Crowley I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Missed several days here, but something occurs to me.

    The MC-OL Para-Paul has seemingly been offscreen through all this. Or did I miss something?
     
  9. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

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    He had been captured by Krona, and was rescued in the penultimate update.
     
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  10. Maxx Crowley

    Maxx Crowley I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Had he? I mean I saw the orange quotes, but there are so many Pauls....is that our OL?
     
  11. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    Ah, whereas I want the wording on some of the funnier or more poignant moments. Still, TV tropes recaps, I'll have a look there first in the future.
     
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  12. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

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    Yep, that’s our Paul.
     
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  13. Doccer

    Doccer I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Is Grayven getting in on this or has he played his part?
     
  14. Nervaqus987

    Nervaqus987 Well worn.

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    He probably played his part after slicing Krona with the Sword.

    Now he's busy having fun with ponies.

    It amuses me to picture it as one of those cutaway gags where you have things like Baul chopping off his finger and throwing it through the portal before getting vaporized by Manhunters and then there's a sharp cutaway to Grayven in Equestria doing something cute and/or goofy like having a picnic with Luna and Lynn or struggling to fit through regular pony sized doors, then another cut to Paragon and various other Pauls in the middle of beam struggle with Krona.
     
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  15. Threadmarks: Duplication (part 19)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Not by strength
    By guile


    Looking back as I head for Vanishing Point at best material-universe speed, I feel… Under levelled.

    "Can we go faster?" Clayface is looking back as well. "Because I don't think-"

    Krona has a shield attached to each of his fingers, each one automatically shifting to block attacks and then to move back behind the others before they get battered down. His own attacks take the form of overwhelming beams projected from his eyes which are blasting through any defence anyone other than Main Orange and Yellow can throw up. Wounded Lanterns are grabbed and healed by others and I don't think any of me have died yet but I can't see how that state of affairs can continue.

    "-there's much we can do-."

    "Where's the entrance?"

    "Right, this way."

    How-? Oh, some sort of transpatial impeller. I follow Clayface as he leads to… What looks like a blank wall, where he resumes a fully humanoidish form and lands before staring at the wall and banging on it with his right hand.

    "Shit, it doesn't open from-."

    The wall section vanishes, revealing a squad of blocky robots-. Manhunters? Just about to charge out. I form crumbler gauntlet constructs and slap them into their unshielded chassis! They barely have time to raise their weapons before they collapse into piles of scrap, hemispheres of metal vanishing from their chests before they can attack.

    I then fly through the opening before it can close again. Did Krona summon them? Is that their default response to an attack? Or does Krona not actually keep anything important here?

    "Hey, this way."

    Clayface is already halfway down a corridor, so I

    [​IMG]

    pause to dig the central memory stores out of as many of the Manhunters as I can before going after him.

    "Are you taking me to the control room?"

    Analyse.

    Affirmative.

    "No, Time Trapper. This was his place before Krona took it over. If we break him out, maybe he can fix things."

    Not a terrible plan, but if Krona took it over while he was still here I doubt that it's that simple. I begin scouring the database for information on how this place works and what Krona's been doing. Hopefully, there's a solution which doesn't just involve slamming coloured beams at one another until one side breaks.

    17th May 2011
    03:06 GMT


    I get my shield in place even as Red starts to recover, the yellow beam cutting out as a man wearing an American flag draws Yellow Titan's attention.

    "Keep the yellow one off me while I get the-"

    The Yellow Titan's lights flicker for an instant, then the armoured plates protecting its head jerk and three rings punch through from inside and head towards the hole in the sky. The Titan is still functioning, but I can't see any construct-related-.

    "Out the-"

    I remove my barrier as Red storms past, red light-

    "-way!"

    -billowing around his hands as he charges the Red Titan. Captain DC-America gets battered away by the Yellow Titan only for it to be struck by a beam of golden energy from John Stewart which.. seeps into every part of the titan before-.

    The titan comes apart enthusiastically, chunks of metal and machinery being sprayed across the arctic wilderness.

    Red is already assailing the Red Titan but… It appears to have dimmed as well. All of them do. They're still using constructs -though in Red's case that doesn't matter as he drains it faster than it can drain him- but they're nothing like as aggressive or powerful as they were mere moments ago.

    "Commander, should I get the Indigo Manhunter Titan or remain here?"

    "Stay here. Trust the rest of our force to manage it."

    I bow my head slightly as Red tears into his colour's Titan, metal reduced to slag as he homes in on the rings inside its armoured body, ripping them free before blowing it apart in a surge of fury. Gold Lanterns and the quicker Justice League members assail the others, and their.. response is anaemic. Fortitudinous fighters are knocked back, but they swiftly return to the fray. Lanterns have their defensive constructs beaten but not broken.

    My eyes narrow as I look at the hole in the sky. Something happened just now, and while I don't know what it was I'm grateful to whoever it was that did it.

    "Commander? What's next?"

    Ten little power rings on the wall
    Ten little power rings
    Take one down and…


    I've spent a lot of time around Vanishing Point, and while I'm still not completely sure I understand the mechanics of how it works I have developed a feeling for it. A feeling for time that I can't fully explain. Goodness knows I've tried explaining it to Brainiac 5… In timelines that he no longer remembers, in the hope that he might be able to help. That we might find common cause. He doesn't want anyone 'playing' with 'history', I don't want anyone other than me altering time. But it was not-

    "…gh here."

    -to be. I stand, looking in the direction that Mr Hagen's voice came from. I thought he had a good chance of pulling off his task, but I wasn't expecting him to actually come back afterwards. Surprising.

    This whole situation…

    I sigh.

    I'd much rather have worked with Brainiac than with Krona. And not just because Krona backstabbed me after agreeing to a limited partnership. If I'd been able to talk Brainiac into helping me, then we'd have completed my project as safely as possible. With Krona on the rampage… It'll be riskier. At least he'll have gathered good data.

    Mr Hagen and.. one of the weaker Orange Lanterns fly in, rising up to my prison. Weaker but not weak. He's probably about as strong as I was…

    How long ago..?

    The Orange Lantern lands on the gantry and looks the assemblage over.

    "Time Trapper. Do you know how to open this?"

    "Can I borrow your ring?"

    He hesitates. Which is fair; he doesn't know me or my goals, and… He probably wouldn't agree with them if he did. I know I wouldn't if I wasn't me. Predictably, his eyes start glowing orange a moment later but that won't show anything very much.

    He shrugs.

    "You could, but I grabbed a spare." He pulls it out of his pocket and holds it out to the bubble. "You never know when they're going to come in handy."

    "Very sensible."

    I hold out my left sleeve and call the ring with the concentrated need of a total obsessive who'll do anything to achieve his aim and the ring flies through the barrier onto my left hand. Then I extend filaments throughout the bubble and break down the solidified temporal distortions that Krona was using to hold me here.

    Then I float myself onto the gantry.

    "Thank you. Follow me, please."
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2020
  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'the opening' not 'then opening'
     
  17. Grimnar

    Grimnar Versed in the lewd.

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    Honestly, while kind of interesting, this whole arc has been a giant letdown. For how long it was teased, the big multi-crossover has kind of failed. We've just bounced around a bit between different versions and clayface. Instead of OL going on a mindfuck journey across time and space where things get crazy, the dispersed viewpoints kind of rob it of any impact.
     
  18. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  19. Citizen

    Citizen Well worn.

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    Why do I suspect that Time Trapper may not be playing on the level here?
     
  20. Maxx Crowley

    Maxx Crowley I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    X to doubt.

    When did that happen?

    Plus, did Time Trapper Paul just call him one of the weaker Orange lanterns? Is it our OL?

    Like, while I understand what's going on, I have no idea what's going on. Or who is who at some points.
     
  21. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

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    We switched perspectives. He didn’t have orange quotations, plus there was the big ‘department of common sense’ logo smack dab in the middle. The main Orange and Yellow lanterns are the Paragon and Lord Paultector respectively.

    The narration then shifts to Indigo Paul, then the Time Trapper.
     
  22. TheEyes

    TheEyes Well worn.

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    Because we're currently in Common Sense Paul's viewpoint? I'm sure tomorrow he'll seem perfectly reasonable and trustworthy. :D
     
  23. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    So Time Trapper is a Paul?

    And his goal is what,to return to Earth Prime?

    Fix all the multiverse?

    I AM CONFUSION!
     
  24. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    What would you have liked instead?
     
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  25. Zig

    Zig Not too sore, are you?

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    Time Trapper is a Paul but his goal isn't to return to Earth Prime, it's too remake Earth 16 into the version we saw where China rules
     
  26. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Joy of dodging most encounters by being sensible, Caul. Avoiding trouble is good, but XP is better!

    Man, even weakened, Krona is nasty. And the fact that your allies are drawn from other player's uploads doesn't always mean you'll get a munchkinised power build.

    Focusing on critical things as always, Caul.

    At least we got a name for Clayling's flying funnel. And it looks like the door's locked...

    Phew! Lucked out on that encounter roll. If Caul's got one thing going for him, it's all those initiative bonuses...

    Damn escort NPCs! Always trying to run off while you loot!

    Information, good! Between the layout and info on Krona's plan, they should have some good stuff.

    Infodump acquired. Unfortunately, no time to read it just now... No pausing at this point.

    Because despite the numbers, Krona probably has the advantage there...

    May as well be wearing a red shirt, he's got such a low chance of survival...

    And that would be Yaul yanking the Rings back to him. His and two others, it seems. So at least two Pauls or Jades running Fear builds.

    Red Lanterns in a nutshell. Clear the way, headlong charge, rip'n'tear.

    Shredded! Joy of having a high-power NPC on your side. Too bad that's such a rare moment.

    Could he manage to drain the Indigo' charge? Or would he focus on containment and disabling?

    Looks like the Mega-Manhunters aren't very strong without their full force in action. Overlapping buffs always suck.

    I would expect, "Into the portals! Let's take the fight to them!"

    And now Maul's perspective. I suppose he considers his interference to be for the greater good... Of his home timeline.

    Yeah, Clayling seems to be a lot more moral than his originator. Strange how that happens.

    Gee, looking on the bright side. Too bad he plans to acquire that data by putting Reality in a blender...

    And if you have to ask that question, it's clearly been far too long.

    Well, that's direct. Also sounds skeevy as, even if they're allies of convenience.

    Because of course Caul grabs extras. Who knows who'll need them. Common Sense!

    It's his super-power of choice.

    Yeah, those little moments of avarice aren't scary at all, nosirree.

    Time to throw a big old spanner in Krona's plans...

    Took a little while to work out each Paul's perspective there. And It's likely to only get worse over the next few chapters, I bet. This is going to be an episode better in the story only, I think. Still, Krona's got an ass-whupping coming, so there's that to look forwards to.

    He's an alternate Paul, from the episode 'Mandated' (hence my nickname of 'Maul'.) Modified Earth-16 history, with a China-dominated world. OL's timeline reasserted itself, and he got stuck at Vanishing Point as Time Trapper. He just wants to go home to that timeline, but it means erasing OL's. He's been researching how by making and collapsing pocket timelines. Then Krona turned up...
     
  27. Sceptic

    Sceptic Critical Irrationalist

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    Common Sense, Indigo, then Time Trapper. Three separate viewpoints in this chapter. And it's from TT Paul's viewpoint that we hear that he was stupid enough to trust Krona.
     
  28. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Because if he thought working with Krona, despite most likely knowing about his reputation, was a good idea at one point then he is either very stupid or very shady.

    This is going to be a JL Odyssey Epoch situation.

    It's common sense OL.

    He didn't do the telepathic training exercise that allowed paragon to merge with best snake and he didn't steal an alien supercomputer that belonged to an evil god to give himself powers without giving much thought to consequences, so he isn't as strong as those two, but he is still a very strong and skilled lantern, just more like an Olympic athlete compared to paragons Captain America.
     
  29. King of Frost

    King of Frost Wishing I was somewhere colder no doubt.

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    He was part of the timeline where China ruled the world, or at least ruled the United States and some parts of Asia. His timeline wasn't meant to last, I think, but instead of letting it disappear he became Time Trapper, simultaneously replacing the last Time Trapper while also becoming the only one to ever exist, and is attempting to find a way to make it so his timeline can exist.
     
  30. Adad64

    Adad64 Getting out there.

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    No, he's the paul from the offshoot timeline that isn't supposed to exist any more. He's trying to find a way to let his entire world continue surviving, ideally without murdering all the other universes/timelines/realities in the process. He seems to have found a good route to that, but it would take cooperation of other timelines and people and shit us currently going down because Krona is duckimg everything up.
     
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