S5E08a: Outworlds, Part 1

'''Now that the Alliance knows the face of their enemy, the STU is sent to a "lettered" world to investigate the Sayan presence there. But will they be prepared to face what things lurk at the furthest reaches of the multiverse? After all, in the infinite cosmic pool, every possibility, thought, and idea must be reality somewhere...'''

Plot Summary
Aboard the Iron Princess, the STU had waited for orders following the death of the Rotter and the failed raid of Errus. During this downtime, Yeshaida wished to speak to both Captain Hood and Captain Sirus. Once both were in the commons area of the residential quarters, Yeshaida announced he would be temporarily standing down as G Leader. He felt guilty over what had happened during that previous battle, feeling particularly responsible for Daisuke's actions that resulted in freeing the Attendants. Saying that he felt he would not be up to par as Squadron Leader, he officially turned command of G Squadron to Qiang. Hood and Sirus both accepted this, on the condition that Yeshaida still fly. After all, they had just recently lost three of their heavy hitters, alongside Aurion and Wicker's body. In addition, the Alliance was still experiencing the unexplained loss of various personnel across both factions. Sirus was surprised to hear about this, thinking that once they found the Attendants, the disappearances would stop.

Hood was called to the bridge for an incoming transmission, and he wuickly warped everyone to the bridge to hear it. He warped Kanako to Arachnos' room, however, in order to draw him out. In the week that passed since the Anathemites' startling revelation, and after being released from the brig, Arachnos had been spending almost all of is time in his quarters. When Kanako found him, he looked like he had barely sleeped, and was covered in grease. After a brief argument about his health, Arachnos seemed to take a few pills to perk him up some, and unveiled a new machine reminescent of his Supervisor counterpart's Suppressor. With that, the two arrived just in time to see Amadeus appear on the screen.

Amadeus first asked if Hood had any luck in tracking down the Anathemites, which Hood had to deny. He did, however, note a massive Nihility spike near their locationn during the battle. Shortly after, their three signatures disappeared, and the larger one soon followed. Ordering Hood to keep looking, Amadeus revealed he had done his own research since the battle. He revealed that three of the Attendants matched the profiles of three people of nobility from Angolas. The one called "Princess" was named Erin Praxus, daughter of the Angolian Steelworks' CEO. The one they called "Scholar" was Elias Cornwealth, a tactical advisor for the king. Lastly, the strangely-proportioned one with corpse-like skin resembled Erin's younger half-sister, Esme. However, Amadeus could not account for her current appearance, nor could he explain why the Attendants looked like these noble births. And as for Conrad, the fourth Attendant, Amadeus had no data on him. He assumed Conrad must have been some sort of commoner.

Amadeus then went on to explain that the Alliance's loss on Errus seemed to have emboldened the Sayans. Following their victory, the Attendants grew more bold, and oversaw assaults on Errus' parallel versions. As a result, the Sayans gained a tremendous monopoly on Angolian Steel. So much so that the Alliance wasn't sure what they needed it all for. With the steel primarily being used as frameworks, the Alliance believed they would have far more ships than they would crews to man them. That left a big question of what they actually wanted the steel for, and the lack of knowledge on that matter unnerved the Alliance.

What's more, it seemed that the Attendants had kept some of their abilities from when they were still human. Elias' tactical skill was put to use, as Alliance reconaissance confirmed that he was the one leading the attacks on the Erruses. As a result, the Alliance labelled Elias as a primary threat. The Alliance was planning on making a full-scale assault on the multiple conquered Erruses, destroying the planets if they must. Better for the Sayans to not have any way to get the steel than for the Alliance to have them.

In the meantime, Amadeus had a mission for the STU; a reconaissance mission of their own. He apologized for tearing them away from their primary objective yet again, but as a unit comprised of the Sayan Squad and the 447th GARC, the Alliance determined they would be the only group prepared to deal with the Sayans they were investigating. Amadeus told them they were going to a world known in the Rebel banks as Earth-M101A. The "A" denoted a universe that was so far removed from even the laws of physics they were used to that both the Rebellion and The General considered the worlds potentially dangerous. Unfortunately, the Sayans seemed to have established a presence there, and the Alliance could not understand why. That was what they wanted to send the STU in for: figure out what the Sayans were up to.

Amadeus warned the STU to be on their guard; while the humans of 101A were generally considered to be friendly, particularly to outsiders, they were prone to bouts of rage at the slightest, if even existant, trigger. Even the translators may have some difficulty with comptehending the natives, so he warned them to expect auditory distortions. He attempted to reassure them that they should consider themselves lucky they weren't going to a world their translators wouldn't be functional.

On touchdown with 101A, the STU disembarked to a sight of madness. At first glance, it looked like a normal suburban cul-de-sac, however this illusion was soon shattered by the sights of bathtubs on rooftops, people flying through the air by flapping their arms, invisible cars, and other such bizarre imagery. As the STU (447th included) attempted to process the sights they were beholding, one of the locals ran up to them in a bizarre fashion, literally flinging himself through the air to land at their feet. He introduced himself as Ouitat, performing a lawnmower-like scream as a seeming cry of acceptance.

Ouitat himself was no less bizarre than the world around him, slapping Ruairi for pronouncing his name correctly, which resulted in a baby pacifier appearing in his mouth. At one point he even swallowed a man whole for interrupting his introduction to the STU. He then quickly told them to follow him, as he needed their help. The STU armed themselves, fairly certain as to what the help would entail. And indeed, as they moved further into town, they found it covered in the terraformer. The Sayans were fully present, invading the natives' homes and leading them out by the hand. Ouitat's people seemed as trusting and simple as he was, but when they finally realized the Sayans' intents, they attempted to escape. Each of them was suppressed by the Sayans, and were coralled into a single-file line. They were then marched deeper into the infested city.

Strangely, the STU noticed that despite the presence of Mutants, who were doing most of the grunt work, they were not attempting to turn the people into Mutants like themselves. In fact, the Mutants seemed to go out of their way to prevent Ouitat's people from even touching their mutagenic barbs, even if it meant taking a blow. Ketsueki felt like they should step in and rescue the natives from the Sayans, but Arachnos told him to hold tight. They wanted to see where they were taking the captured humans. Sirus interjected, however, believing Ketsueki may have had a point. Even if they don't know what the Sayans want with his kind, it can be assumed it wasn't good. Sirus did not like the idea of letting their numbers grow if they could help is. Arachnos wondered if they shouldn't ask their superiors first, to which Sirus replied that he is their superior.

With that, Arachnos was more than happy to oblige. Sirus ordered the rest of the 447th to his position, and they'd work on rescuing the prisoners. The Sayan Squad, however, would trail the Sayans as they attempted to flee, and find out where they were taking them. The plan agreed upon, the STU went to work. Ouitat joined the battle alongside the 447th, forcing the Squad to act without him. As the 447th met the Sayans in battle, just as predicted, some of the Mutants attempted to hustle along their prisoners to wherever their destination was.

As it turned out, the Sayans were taking the mutants to a rockey area outside town, all covered in the terraformer. They found that the humans were taken to a small alcove up ahead, and while Sayans would come out of it, none of the humans would. However, before they could see what was in there, they were stopped by none other than Erin the Attendant. She showed surprise at them calling her by that name, stating it was her host's name. She explained it was part of their attempt to take Errus. The Masterminds wanted access to information regarding the Steelworks' holding, as well as any information that would help their attack end swiftly. To this end, the four of them targeted and merged with four Angolian individuals, overwriting their identities with their own. However, the Attendants overestimated their ability to get back out of their human hosts, and as such found themselves stuck inside.

The Princess admitted that the only reason she was telling them this information was becuase of Erin's personality. As the Attendants lacked personalities of their own, their hosts' was able to bleed into them. As a result, because Erin herself liked her enemies to know her name is the law as she crushed them, the Sayan within was granted that trait as well. The Princess likewise expressed irritation at the Squad's killing of the Doctor, as it was working on a way to restore them to their original forms, and their full power. Still, she said it wasn't completely hopeless. Hijacking Erin's body gave it access to emotions they never really had to deal with before. Emotions such as rage, which Princess was pleased with having as it would let her enjoy taking revenge on those who destroyed her ticket to restoration.

Despite claiming to be of lower power, Erin's body under the control of the Sayan Mastermind proved itself to be quite powerful in its own right. She moved with speed that put her on par with a purebred Sayan, and could swing her sword with inhuman strength. However, as she was so focused on the Squad, she failed to notice Ouitat coming right for her, knocking her into the dirt. Ouitat announced he wasn't alone, and the 447th soon arrived behind him. On seeing the Attendant, Sirus attempted to engage her, demanding Saiyo tell him her weakness. Saiyo attempted, but failed. She said there was no weakness, not in this form.

Realizing she was outnumbered, Erin ordered the horde to engage while she escaped. She also had Ouitat taken prisoner, where he was dragged into the alcove. The Squad attempted to pursue, where they learned the alcove was in fact far smaller than the horde coming out of it could even hold. The reason for this became clear as they saw Erin and the captured Ouitat dragged into the ground. But it was not a network of tunnels below the earth; it was a portal to another world. Announcing this discovery to Sirus, he told them to regroup with the rest of the STU for now and help hold off the horde. He said they could block off the alcove while they were at it, and the Squad temporarily retreated.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Gold Rush (Ancient Aliens)
 * 2) Transfer of Command - Regal (Tales of Symphonia)
 * 3) Mechanical Nursery - Devil's Lab (Final Fantasy VI)
 * 4) Briefing - Main Theme Reprise (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
 * 5) Power Up - Through the Devil's Laboratory (Hyde209/KGS)
 * 6) Earth-M101A - Into Sandy's City (DOOM II)
 * 7) Ouitat - Nyeh Heh Heh (Undertale)
 * 8) In Town - Into Sandy's City (DOOM II)
 * 9) Erin - Deep Blue Jeer (Umineko Chiru)
 * 10) The Calvary - Bonetrousle (Undertale)
 * 11) Ending - Gold Rush (Ending Mix)

Trivia

 * The world Earth-M101A takes heavy inspiration from both Youtube Poops and especially the various animated GMod videos.
 * SDM has said the reason for making a world such as this was due to the storyline's multiversal nature. He believed he had fallen into the same rut other writers do when dealing with parallel universes, and that is simply making everything comprehensible. He wanted to take full advantage of the multiversal setting, and have the players deal with worlds that are so far stranger than what they were used to; something only dimensional travel really allows for.
 * During the run, SDM continually typoed Ruairi's name, butchering it further and further. It was purely accidental, but it started a trend among the other players to progressively corrupt theirs and everyone else's name to fit in with the theme of M101A.
 * Though SDM did not partake in doing such, he did give it his blessing. He stated that were he not attempting to GM and copy the message log at the same time, he would have joined in (intentionally).
 * When both Into Sandy's City and Nyeh Heh Heh! were posted, some players initially believed it was an out-of-context posting. SDM had to confirm that both were planned and considered part of this episode's soundtrack.