Previously
Following a surprise pop quiz on his 14th birthday, just before Mother's Day and family weekend, Jason's blown away, when Rick and Sarah throw him a surprise birthday party with the pilots from Bravo and Charlie Company. Joanne and Stephanie, from Kendo Club with Rick, are the new SAInt pilots in B Company. Young romance fills the air during the party, affecting most, if not all, of the pilots. Rick comes out of his depression and defends his sister's honor against Billy. Two days later, the pilots undergo a teamwork, SAInt simulation test on Mother's Day. Serena and Billy switch companies, at the behest of AK-47, and based on Charlie Company's exemplary performance, AK-47 keeps Serena as the new team leader of Charlie Company which is further promoted to Alpha Company. Billy becomes the new team leader of Bravo Company.
Following a surprise pop quiz on his 14th birthday, just before Mother's Day and family weekend, Jason's blown away, when Rick and Sarah throw him a surprise birthday party with the pilots from Bravo and Charlie Company. Joanne and Stephanie, from Kendo Club with Rick, are the new SAInt pilots in B Company. Young romance fills the air during the party, affecting most, if not all, of the pilots. Rick comes out of his depression and defends his sister's honor against Billy. Two days later, the pilots undergo a teamwork, SAInt simulation test on Mother's Day. Serena and Billy switch companies, at the behest of AK-47, and based on Charlie Company's exemplary performance, AK-47 keeps Serena as the new team leader of Charlie Company which is further promoted to Alpha Company. Billy becomes the new team leader of Bravo Company.
Friday, June 13, 2031
A month has passed since Jason's birthday. Jason hoped and prayed that he wasn't going to get stuck with Billy and was fortunate to learn he'd be Rick's new roommate. Billy's new roommate is Kazuhiro Masaki (16), one of the newest SAInt pilots of the freshly renewed Charlie Company. Strudel also has a new roommate at the foster home, Miguel Rodriguez (11). Coincidentally, Miguel also happens to be one of the newest SAInt pilots for C Company and actually younger than Strudel! He seems surprisingly young for a SAInt pilot..
A recap of the current companies (names and pilots):
• Alpha Company: Serena Hunter (Team Leader), Rick Hunter, Sarah Werner, Jason Reyes, Alex 'Strudel' Struder
• Bravo Company: Billy Henderson (Team Leader), Joanne Klein, Stephanie Yuzuki, Laurie Bach, Leo 'Raspberry' Heyes
• Charlie Company: Kazuhiro Masaki, Miguel Rodriguez
• Alpha Company: Serena Hunter (Team Leader), Rick Hunter, Sarah Werner, Jason Reyes, Alex 'Strudel' Struder
• Bravo Company: Billy Henderson (Team Leader), Joanne Klein, Stephanie Yuzuki, Laurie Bach, Leo 'Raspberry' Heyes
• Charlie Company: Kazuhiro Masaki, Miguel Rodriguez
Relationships have grown all around the past month. Serena and Billy have been pretty OK, and there haven't been any more outbursts on Billy's part. Jason and Laurie have gotten closer together as have Stephanie and Strudel. Raspberry still has a crush on Sarah, and she knows, but they just hang out and play video games a lot in their spare time. Rick finds Joanne as confusing as ever before. All in all, both companies seem to have a pretty good camaraderie.
The actual episode opens up to the interface testing facility - a collection of giant warehouses filled with mechanized, solitary, deprivation tanks that are connected to each pilot's SAInt for the purpose of interface testing. The tanks are spread out far enough and lined up in two, even rows, five tanks a piece. There are enough tanks for two, full companies. While the two new pilots of Charlie Company are off training elsewhere, the pilots of Alpha and Bravo Companies enter the warehouse and climb into the tanks that they're instructed to enter.
Commander Yamasuka, Captain Kasherov, Dr. Harris, and Dr. Johnson are only some of the notable, Preservation Forces personnel hidden behind the thick, unbreakable glass of the monitoring room. It's piled to the ceiling with computers, machines, and display screens for the purpose of monitoring the pilots' vitals and recording pertinent data relating to the interface tests.
The MetaTron is momentarily active inside the tanks, and the SAInt pilots are telepathically instructed to close their eyes and relax but not fall asleep. They start wondering how that's even possible, when the interface test begins. Before too long, Rick, Sarah, and Jason all fall asleep simultaneously; the other pilots fall asleep as well. Slowly, every pilot starts having individual dreams, but, little by little, the dreams start to bleed together and create a shared dreamscape with the other pilots' minds.
Rick's Dream
Rick and Serena are back at the outskirts of the new fortress city of Metro Scotia, where they evacuated to with their mother after the initial Mayzor raids on their hometown. Rick and his family were amongst the unlucky ones who were refused secure refuge inside, and they had to settle in one of the towns on the outskirts of the city. The dream changes and speeds up several months. The Mayzor have struck outside the Metro Scotia defensive barrier! A Mayzor swarm captures Rick's mother, Meredith. Rick tries to go back for her, but Serena holds him back. Their mother screams at them, "Run!" and Serena quickly drags Rick away from the shelter. Rick's heart is pounding and racing. He hears Serena's scream echo from a distance. Rick turns and sees her right next to him, dragging his body and not saying a word. He continues to hear her echoing scream and, like an ink cloud underwater, the dream disperses and a cold, dimly lit, laboratory room emerges from the darkness.
Serena is strapped to a cot. There are heavy buckles tightly fastened around her arms and legs. Rick sees a silhouette - the back of a man. He looks familiar. Rick moves forward to see who it is, but he just finds himself moving further and further away. Rick tries a different approach and climbs under a nearby table to peer through a peep hole in order to get a better look at him. Rick sees that the mysterious man is holding a syringe with a long needle in his hand. Serena's face is full of fear. She violently thrashes in place and screams in pain, as the man plunges the needle into her neck. Suddenly, for just a quick moment, the man turns just long enough for Rick to spot who it is. It's the one person Rick feared most he would see. Rafe stares past him and then turns back to the needle in his hand.
Serena is still screaming, and Rick is powerless to stop Rafe or do anything to help. Suddenly, Rick sees a different woman strapped to a cot. She has blond hair and blue eyes. The screaming stops, and Rick is in a sort of auditorium or meeting chamber, witnessing masked, CRC scientists congregated in a large, semicircle. He recognizes German writing on various signs and lettering around him, but he doesn't understand what it means. Rick hears Serena's scream echo once again. It grows exponentially louder and he finds himself back in the dark room, seeing her face and wide, fearful eyes with constricting pupils as his estranged father plunges the long needle into her neck. She screams bloody murder. She and Rick stand together in a dark room. Dr. Johnson is closing in on them, and Billy's right in between them, holding a gun up to Dr. Johnson's face. Rick, once again, sees Rafe plunge the needle into Serena's neck, while she continues to scream.
CUT TO:
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| Reference image for Rafe Hunter Source: Unknown :( |
Serena is still screaming, and Rick is powerless to stop Rafe or do anything to help. Suddenly, Rick sees a different woman strapped to a cot. She has blond hair and blue eyes. The screaming stops, and Rick is in a sort of auditorium or meeting chamber, witnessing masked, CRC scientists congregated in a large, semicircle. He recognizes German writing on various signs and lettering around him, but he doesn't understand what it means. Rick hears Serena's scream echo once again. It grows exponentially louder and he finds himself back in the dark room, seeing her face and wide, fearful eyes with constricting pupils as his estranged father plunges the long needle into her neck. She screams bloody murder. She and Rick stand together in a dark room. Dr. Johnson is closing in on them, and Billy's right in between them, holding a gun up to Dr. Johnson's face. Rick, once again, sees Rafe plunge the needle into Serena's neck, while she continues to scream.
CUT TO:
Jason's Dream
Jason is hoverboarding in the streets of the Arx Jericho, when Billy, riding a skateboard, challenges him to a race down a long, steep hill. All the other SAInt pilots and classmates have gathered to watch, minus Rick, Sarah, and Serena. Jason and Billy start the race, and Billy actually starts out ahead, but Jason takes a shortcut over a fountain pool and soaks Billy in water, as he takes the lead and wins. Stephanie and Strudel both cheer for Jason, and Laurie gives him a kiss in front of everyone.
In the midst of all the cheering, alarms start to blare, warning of a Mayzor raid. Jason hears disembodied voices from news channels reporting that there's been a Mayzor raid on Sydney, Australia. The dream changes, and Jason finds himself in the middle of Sydney. He's standing in the streets. Civilians around him are in pandemonium. Mayzor swarms rush through from all directions, swiping people up and paralyzing them before carrying them away. Everyone seems to be ignoring Jason, including them, but then he makes eye contact with his mother, Monica, who turns to run from an impeding swarm. Jason starts running after her, but the swarm scoops Monica up, and Jason stops cold, frozen and in shock. He hears his father voice, he blinks.
Jason finds himself aboard the Arx Galilee, over Sydney, in the command room. His father is barking off orders to the Preservation Forces officers around him. The SAInts have been deployed down to Sydney to quell the Mayzor situation, however, for the first time in human history, a Magnas has landed on Arx Galilee itself! As Jason peers out of a window, he suddenly has an entirely different vantage point that reveals the Magnas all too clearly. It's incredibly huge, demonic, and one of the largest and most terrifying creatures that Jason had ever seen before. What's truly surprising, however, is that Jason sees a SAInt hovering next to the Magnas, attacking it in Close Quarters (CQ) range in mid-air! It's not any normal SAInt that Jason is used to seeing. It looks far too different and advanced, and it's power is absolutely staggering.
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| Source: World War Z (film) http://tinyurl.com/mpcccal |
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Sarah's Dream
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| Source: Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes (PS3) http://tinyurl.com/oe6m4xc |
The dream changes rapidly, and Sarah is back in her hometown of New Alamo. She's in the midst of a Mayzor raid, and her parents are currently running away from a Mayzor swarm. Sarah's heart is pounding. She looks over and sees a Magnas that's larger and more terrifying than anything she's ever seen before. There's a Robbie next to its feet, firing up at it. Allen is inside. The Magnas suddenly lifts its mighty leg and stomps down on Allen and the Robbie, crushing it to pieces in a fiery explosion.
Team Cognizance in the Dreamscape
All the individual dreamscapes quickly flow together, like streams connecting to a rushing river, and Rick, Sarah, and Jason soon find themselves inside their SAInts and on the dreamscape streets of New Alamo. There are two Wormwoods on opposite sides of the city. Bravo Company is taking care of the Locusts and Swarms guarding one of the Wormwoods, while Alpha Company finishes taking care of the other while trying to deal with an extremely strong and terrifying Magnas with volcanic flames erupting from its body and surrounding it with thick, dark smoke. Jason fires off a great first shot at High Ballistics (HB) range, reloads, and struggles with his next one due to all the smoke of the fiery Magnas. Strudel doesn't stick with Jason this time but instead rushes in at full speed to attack the Magnas at Close Quarters (CQ) range, after Serena, Rick, and Sarah close in at Firearms (FA) range to deliver their attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, Sarah sees her parents on the street, running from a Mayzor swarm. Sarah abandons Rick and Serena to go help them. Meanwhile, Rick and Serena continue firing at the Magnas, and Jason snipes it from afar again as well. Sarah successfully shoots down the swarm going after her parents and returns to find Strudel in CQ range of the Magnas. He's taking damage from the intense heat its giving off, and Sarah also spots a Robbie at the Magnas's feet as well. She hears Allen's thoughts over the MetaTron and sees that he's inside. Afterwards, she looks up and catches a glimpse of the blond hair, blue eyed girl on the roof of a skyscraper. She's literally floating above one of the corners and staring into the eyes of Sarah's SAInt, directly at her, with a zen-line expression on her face. It's the same, masked girl that wore the samurai armor and fought off the horde of opponents. Sarah suddenly realizes why she's so familiar. It's her cousin, Opsie Wessel (15) from Germany!
Rick and Jason rush forward together to help Strudel. Meanwhile, Serena and Sarah stay at FA range to help Allen out. Rick and Jason close in to surround Strudel and help him, but they both suffer setback from the intense heat that the Magnas gives off. They slowly start dragging Strudel's SAInt away while firing back at the Magnas, and, with Sarah and Serena's help, they're successful in completely disabling the Magnas just as it was about to crush Allen with its foot. It falls backwards into the ground, and Allen is able to quickly get away before Magnas's core self detonates in a massive, mushroom cloud explosion that takes a good chunk out of New Alamo and covers the SAInts in debris.
Everyone's individual dreams, memories, and revelations come funneling to the surface once more toward the end, and Rick, Sarah, and Jason are once again back in New Alamo, aboard their SAInts, having just finished off the demonic, hellfire Magnas. They all hear a helicopter and look up to see one hovering nearby. There's something, no, someone hovering above it. It's a teenage girl with blond hair and blue eyes. She's hovering above the copter's propellors in a zen-like state. Rick, Sarah, and Jason are bewildered.
The shared dreamscape turns ink black as the interface test is over, and the pilots emerge in their dark, isolated tanks.
Revelations
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| Inspiration/reference image for Opsie Wessel in a zen-like state Source: http://tinyurl.com/lo9mvsb |
Revelations
The SAInt pilots rejoin the Preservation Forces officers in the monitoring room and find them all silently watching several monitors tuned to live news stories reporting a tragedy that had just recently occurred: an actual Mayzor raid has struck Sydney, Australia, and, for the first time in human history, a Wormwood has landed on the Arx Galilee. Rick, Sarah, and Jason are all in shock. AK-47 takes them aside and assures them that everything will be alright and not to worry. Furthermore, she says they all have a new student joining them who's being flown in by helicopter. AK-47 tells them that she's a SAInt pilot who will be joining Charlie Company and orders Alpha and Bravo Companies to go greet her at the dorms and show her around.
Rick, Sarah, Jason, and the other pilots all head to the dorms, discussing most of their dreams and the shared, dreamscape battle amongst themselves. Rick desperately wants to talk to Serena, in private, who looks incredibly off her game. Jason still trying to fathom seeing Sydney getting attacked in his dream and waking up to find out it's the current reality. Rick mentions seeing a girl with blond hair and blue eyes, and Sarah says she saw her as well - multiple times in fact. Of course, they all saw her together, when she hovered above the helicopter like an alien zen master. Sarah mentions that was her cousin from Germany, and Rick strongly warns Sarah not to tempt fate.
When they arrive to the dorms, Rick, Sarah, and Jason see a group of Preservation Forces soldiers and officers from the Western Pacific Division. A blond hair, blue eyed girl steps out from between them. It's the same girl they all saw in their dreams during the interface test. Opsie Wessel stares across at Sarah, her mouth gaping. Sarah can't help but do the same. "What's that about tempting fate did I warn you about?" Rick asks.
One of the Preservation Forces officers suddenly approaches Jason and pulls him aside for a private word. The officer says he has a message for Jason directly his father, Air Commodore Martin Reyes. The officer regrets to inform Jason that reports have confirmed that his mother has been taken by a Mayzor swarm during the Sydney raid. The officer offers his condolences, and Jason chokes on his words, not knowing how to respond. He's in utter shock.
Rick, Sarah, and Opsie are all still in shock, as well.
Everyone seems to be in shock.
To be continued.
END OF EPISODE 04
Director Commentary
This episode has been one of my all time personal favorites so far, especially for its surrealistic plot building, even though it was also the hardest episode to run without simply railroading the PCs from dream scene to dream scene.
For the entire, first half of the episode, I struggled with ways to offer PCs opportunities to roll actions. Most of the time, it felt like I was simply delivering one monologue after another; it's a good thing I actually did some prep on what I generally wanted to include in the dream scenes, even though I came up with some of the exact details on the spot. Jason's scene had the hoverboard contest and not much else, and the extent of Sarah's actions was mainly the melee fight against her masked, samurai brother. Rick's scene was especially difficult to set up for an Observe action, and I felt like I was sort of railroading him when he couldn't get to the silhouette to turn its shoulder and kept going back further and further. In hindsight, I don't particularly like how I handled the sequence, but it did offer Rick an opportunity for an Observe action to see it was, indeed, his father.
You know, it's funny, in writing, this episode turned out really entertaining and suspenseful in some places, whereas in the live, Hangouts game the suspense wasn't all there. Perhaps it was my fault, perhaps some things were too expected, but that's OK. Everyone still had fun, and it was a greatly entertaining episode.
The Magnas battle at the end, like the simulated trial in the previous episode, was another 'phony' battle, but its real purpose, aside from providing the PCs with their big bad, end-of-episode, Mecha battle, is to foreshadow the real New Alamo Mayzor raid, and potential Magnas battle, that I had planned for a future episode.
This episode has a past, present, future theme going for it. During the interface test, we start off with Rick's dream in the past. He sees past memories of his mother, repressed memories he's seeing in Sarah's dreams, which are bleeding in, and repressed memories from his own mind, perhaps. Jason witnesses a Mayzor raid on Sydney and the Arx Galilee from different perspectives. While this takes place in the present, it is of course a skewed, mirrored reflection of what really occurs. Finally, Sarah sees a Mayzor raid in New Alamo which hasn't occurred yet. It becomes the shared dreamscape for all three PCs and, similar to Jason's dream, presents a skewed version, or just one possibility, of how the New Alamo invasion could turn out.
Note, I'm writing these commentaries after running the seventh episode, which was Part 2 of the New Alamo invasion. Suffice to say, the actual New Alamo battle does turn out a little different than the dreamscape, although there are still many similarities.
This episode has been one of my all time personal favorites so far, especially for its surrealistic plot building, even though it was also the hardest episode to run without simply railroading the PCs from dream scene to dream scene.
For the entire, first half of the episode, I struggled with ways to offer PCs opportunities to roll actions. Most of the time, it felt like I was simply delivering one monologue after another; it's a good thing I actually did some prep on what I generally wanted to include in the dream scenes, even though I came up with some of the exact details on the spot. Jason's scene had the hoverboard contest and not much else, and the extent of Sarah's actions was mainly the melee fight against her masked, samurai brother. Rick's scene was especially difficult to set up for an Observe action, and I felt like I was sort of railroading him when he couldn't get to the silhouette to turn its shoulder and kept going back further and further. In hindsight, I don't particularly like how I handled the sequence, but it did offer Rick an opportunity for an Observe action to see it was, indeed, his father.
You know, it's funny, in writing, this episode turned out really entertaining and suspenseful in some places, whereas in the live, Hangouts game the suspense wasn't all there. Perhaps it was my fault, perhaps some things were too expected, but that's OK. Everyone still had fun, and it was a greatly entertaining episode.
The Magnas battle at the end, like the simulated trial in the previous episode, was another 'phony' battle, but its real purpose, aside from providing the PCs with their big bad, end-of-episode, Mecha battle, is to foreshadow the real New Alamo Mayzor raid, and potential Magnas battle, that I had planned for a future episode.
This episode has a past, present, future theme going for it. During the interface test, we start off with Rick's dream in the past. He sees past memories of his mother, repressed memories he's seeing in Sarah's dreams, which are bleeding in, and repressed memories from his own mind, perhaps. Jason witnesses a Mayzor raid on Sydney and the Arx Galilee from different perspectives. While this takes place in the present, it is of course a skewed, mirrored reflection of what really occurs. Finally, Sarah sees a Mayzor raid in New Alamo which hasn't occurred yet. It becomes the shared dreamscape for all three PCs and, similar to Jason's dream, presents a skewed version, or just one possibility, of how the New Alamo invasion could turn out.
Note, I'm writing these commentaries after running the seventh episode, which was Part 2 of the New Alamo invasion. Suffice to say, the actual New Alamo battle does turn out a little different than the dreamscape, although there are still many similarities.
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