The Meteor Arc (ConceptTopic, 11)

From Compile Worlds

Latest revision as of 00:51, 25 October 2011

The Meteor Arc is a segment of Compile Worlds which covers episodes 17 to 24, following on from the Pre-Meteor Arc segment after a period of players' inactivity (almost exactly six months) and preceding the Amalgamation. The ADMA disbanded, and Ekoro's clones have split up due to Ekoro's defeat. This has switched the roster around quite a lot, so the main groups of characters at the present time are shown below. Be sure to refer to the previous segment's article for the roster of the Ekoro arc.

Characters

Main party

• Andou Ringo (played by Chao)
• Eltia (played by Keiji)
• Theta (aka Dark Ringo) (played by Keiji)
• Lagnus the Brave (played by Chao)
• Arle Nadja (and Carbuncle) (played by ArleKaakun)
• Tejina Mikuri (played by ArleKaakun)
• Seriri (played by Chao)

Magic School

• Ms. Accord (played by Chao)
• Rider (played by Chao)
• Sig (played by Chao)
• Amitie

Antagonists

• Ekoro (played by Chao)
• Popoi
• Satan
• Lord Marcus XXXIX (played by Keiji)
• Strange Klug (Played by Chao)

Played for Laughs

• Witch (played by Keiji)
• Schezo Wegey
• Rulue
• Luvis (played by Waterchan)
• Felidae (played by Waterchan)
• Nohoho

MIA

• Draco Centauros (played by Keiji)
• Rika Delgado (played by Mari-chan)
• Feli
• Lemres
• Nanako (played by Keiji)
• Juichi (played by Keiji)

Episodes

In A.D. 2011

Episode 17 began the Meteor Arc with a bang... literally! A stray meteorite, after knocking Cirno off course, plowed straight into the ADMA HQ and completely obliterated the building, scattering it's members all across the Neptune Primp!

Ringo and Arle were the first revealed survivors of the incident, having been stranded in a desert. Along with them was a helicopter blade from the ADMA chopper, which was dug up by a Detective sent to investigate the bizarre phenomenon. After hitching a ride with the said detective, Ringo and Arle hiked back to ADMA... or where it used to be. A giant crater in it's place, Nohoho suddenly emerges from the ground zero. However, Nohoho is not his usual self. Arle and Ringo interrogate him, which prompts him to lead the two girls into a back alley. Once there he reveals a dimensional portal, from which emerges a mysterious figure. The man reveals "Nohoho" to be none other than Epsilon, the fourth of Ekoro's Clones. He also implies he and Epsilon are involved with each other, and the man persecutes Ringo on the count of racism towards dark magic users (which she tries to explain she herself doesn't have). The man becomes intrigued by Arle's silence during the ordeal...

Episode 18 saw the ordeal with ??? come to a close, as he cursed Ringo into being incapable of controlling an attraction to Draco. While this curse led the two girls straight to the dragon lady herself, who happened to be safe in the HQ's surviving underground chambers, it brought Draco much annoyance when Ringo started dragging her without any explanation. The curse led the trio back to the portal where they travelled through the chance dimension to ???'s dark world and encountered a Nondescript Minion of ???. He amused himself by taking pictures of whoever Ringo was clinging to, greatly antagonizing all three of them. Soon after, ??? showed up to dismiss his minion's bumbling nature, and to speak with Draco. ??? expressed he was dissatisfied with the ADMA's habits of destroying dark mages in their world. A heated debate between Draco, Arle and ??? ensued, while Ringo's torture was prolonged. Eventually, ??? declared war against the ADMA and vanished to his own business. Draco, Arle, and Ringo returned home, frustrated and confused by the warped man's proclamations and curse, only to encounter Strange Klug. Strange Klug wanted to pay a visit to Ekoro, only so he could laugh at his defeat. However, he found it not worth his trouble as soon as the ADMA members threatened to fight him over it, and fled.

The trio finally began the search for their missing members. They started with Draco's Hut, fittingly enough, and found Sig, who was helping himself to Draco's toaster and bed. The gang was relieved Sig was alright and decided to make Draco's Hut their temporary HQ again while the search continued.

Isn't it sad, Seriri?

Episode 19 was split up into two parts. The episode started with everyone nostalgically eating Arle's delicious curry for dinner and then sleeping. Ringo then has a strange dream about her new doll, who speaks very mysteriously and leaves her with the word "Eltia". Upon waking up, Ringo has another unlucky encounter this time as Draco, who is still asleep, unwittingly violates her. Once everyone is done being retarded, they head off to the Floating Island, by means of Draco flying with her wings and carrying Ringo (who seems rather amused and cheered up by the whole thing) while Ringo magically levitates Arle and Sig. This mode of transport is used several more times throughout the episode.

Upon reaching the Floating Island, they come across Witch, who is being laughable as always and apparently stole Schezo's clothes. The crew decide to leave them alone for the sake of their own sanity, and head elsewhere to continue their search for others. Their next destination is the previously unchartered territory to the northeast, where they find an area, even more barren than the Floating Island, containing a water temple in which reside a hallucinating Seriri and a crazy-as-always Strange Klug. Seriri then gets all jealous about Ringo, while Draco plays it cool and explains (badly) that she never really liked Seriri that way and it's much more fun to whirl someone around in the air if she has two legs (And UTAU hair, let's not forget that) rather than a single massive fish tail. Draco gives Seriri one last short ride in the air before dropping her off in the lake she came from waaaaaaaaaaay back in episode 2, and proceeds to fly back to the hut while Ringo ponders what this "Eltia" is.

It is then slowly revealed that Eltia is actually the name of Ringo's doll, who is a dark mage responsible for creating the larger version of herself to hand herself to Ringo in the previous episode (sure is out-of-body experiences in here). There is a long, mysterious conversation between Ringo and Eltia about Eltia's backstory (which would be far too complicated to explain here, so just click that link at the start of the paragraph if you care enough to read it). In the middle of this conversation, Draco gets fed up with the whole idea of a non-evil dark mage (which Ringo claims Eltia is), and storms out of the hut.

The second (much shorter) part of the episode follows Lagnus and Theta's journey to find the others. They have a similar encounter with Strange Klug as Draco and co. did in episode 18, though apparently this occurs 24 hours later, and Theta notes that something is not quite right about that. While discussing Lagnus' backstory, they head to Draco's hut (via Rulue's condo, who tells them where Draco's hut is in exchange for Lagnus' word that he'll keep Arle at bay from Satan... wait, Arle doesn't want Satan anyway!). They then meet Draco at the point where she stormed out of the hut in the previous part. The three talk about that oddity Theta noticed, and conclude that someone must have accidentally chronoported them - the same someone who, they realize, must have (for whatever unknown reason) decided to teleport everyone in the ADMA HQ away from it at the moment of explosion, explaining the whole thing about the HQ being destroyed but nobody being harmed.

Draco is Not Amused by Comic Relief

Much like the previous episode, Episode 20 was divided into two separate parts. This episode picks up where the last one left off, and the gang discusses what to do next, with Lagnus and Theta rejoining the group. Sig, concerned about the safety of his friends and Accord, vouches to continue their search, and Theta escorts him away to do this. Meanwhile, the remaining group has an unexpected visit from Luvis, a wannabe ladies man. Deciding to use Luvis as live bait for ???, the foursome (now five, thanks to their punchbag) head back through the portal into the Abyss. At first, they did not find anyone, but after moving towards the random waterfall in the center, they run into the (unfortunately male) Nondescript Minion again, who is bathing publically in the waters for all to see (no wonder everyone was hiding!). After obtaining some directions, Draco and the gang are lead straight to a library (don't ask us why there's a library in a cave). Soon, they meet a Librarian who reveals ???'s name is Lord Marcus, also revealing his authority in the world. While Lagnus and Ringo try to contemplate peaceful ways to arrange a meeting with Marcus, Draco insists on beating the crap out of the Librarian, claiming that "there's no loss, they're all dark mages here". Offended, the Librarian pulls out his Shadow Cannon™ and proceeds to blast the smithereens out of Draco. Even Lagnus' light magic barrier is effortlessly torn down by the black wind emitting from the weapon, and Draco's attempts to hold it back only set the Library on fire. Ringo, in a similarly stupid move, chucks a burning book at the Librarian, but it actually just ignites the beam from the Shadow Cannon, causing Draco even more pain. The onslaught only ends when Lagnus casts Light Arrows, which stab the Librarian and presumably kill him, also shutting the Shadow Cannon down.

Lagnus, Arle, Ringo, and Luvis carry an unconscious Draco back to her hut for safety. When they return, however, Strange Klug makes his third appearance in a row, whom has now stolen more of the ADMA's precious things. Strange Klug at first is only willing to give the disgruntled ADMA one of their belongings back, but Ringo asks for both, and surprisingly, Strange Klug is willing to oblige. but of course he won't do it for free. He asks in return for the gang to locate and bring him the remains of a secret project Ekoro had told him about, but revealed scarce details of. And thus, Strange Klug vanished again. When the coast was clear, Lagnus tried to use healing magic to awaken Draco, but unfortunately for Lagnus, cliche and unimaginatively named spells are Draco's natural immunity. Ringo finds Seriri's Tears conveniently in the fridge instead, and they prove to be more effective in reviving the dragon lady thanks to their bitter flavor. Draco was updated on the events that transpired in her unconsciousness.

The second part of the episode skips ahead in time, where Draco is suddenly questioning Nanako's mysterious disappearance. She takes herself, Arle, Seriri (whom has cooled down), and the incredibly sleepy Felidae in a fancy car to find Nanako, after retrieving a GPS tracking device from one of the surviving secretaries. They tracked Nanako to a strange Laboratory in the middle of nowhere, where she was quietly doing some office work. Draco ironically considers being polite for the first time in the entire arc, but she decides instead to break the window of her office (and quite rightly so; after all: In the world of Iji, glass is forbidden. Ceiling fixtures must be headbutted and windows must be kicked.). Nanako solemnly confronts Draco, explaining she helped out because she thought Draco was a morally correct person, but then realized she was nothing but a bitch on a blind rage. She then performed one last mysterious task - clearing her tracker from the GPS that led Draco to her - before shooing them away. While Seriri and Arle were thankful and understood Nanako, Draco was less than amused. Utterly pwned and even moar rageful, she took to the skies alone, leaving Seriri, Arle and Felidae stranded... until Satan and Rulue suddenly arrived on the Bus of Love to rescue them. Satan then drove the bus in a questionably reckless manner back to the city, ending episode 20 by leaving poor Rulue in the middle of nowhere.

Cool Names, Arson and Murder on Both Sides

In Episode 21 Ringo lead her party back into the dark world, Eltia in tow, to confront Marcus. Retracing their steps from the previous encounter a day ago, they make it back to the still burning Library. The dead Librarian and his Shadow Cannon™ even were still there, although the former barely. The gang took the over powered weapon with them and continued to look deeper into the cave-like residence of the dark mages, finding nothing or noone among the destruction. Later, they accidentally wander into the workshop of Steve, the person who created the Shadow Cannon™. Ringo asked the gun-craftsman to take her to Lord Marcus, but he couldn't help her with this task, being only an innocent pawn in his plan. Coincidentally, but with much ill timing, Marcus suddenly materializes right in front of them to show off as the party exited the workshop. Marcus notices Eltia is with Ringo and makes a mental note to dispose of her before revealing he indeed arranged for the meteor to fly into the ADMA HQ. (And possibly Cirno too. He must really hate idiots.) Ringo and Theta informed him that the plan fell through thanks to the mysterious teleportation antics of a still unknown entity. Unfortunately, peacefully questioning Marcus was to no avail, as he was too busy prosecuting Ringo for arson and murder and demanding his cannon back. Ringo attempted to continue negations, only to fall flat on her face as Marcus once again missed the point Ringo and Eltia have been trying to make. Marcus, half showing off, half frustrated, nearly murders Lagnus, causing Ringo to finally reach a boiling point and an Epic battle began.

Ringo and Theta made the first move, while Mikki did what she does best: lolz. Marcus wasn't fazed by anything Ringo could pull out of her arsenal. But then Marcus pulled out his trump card, an attack he only dubbed "Newton's Nemisis". It engulfed Ringo and Theta into a strange, inescapable, eatheral space. While Mikki tried to fend off Marcus outside in vain, inside the space, Theta suddenly died and exploded into a number of strange spider-like creatures. Ringo tried to fend them off by herself, but they were too numerous. Eltia made a timely awakening and destroyed them all in a single swoop though. Eltia strikes back, forcing Marcus to retreat. Ringo and her party also made a hasty retreat, with Lagnus and Mikki clinging for dear life. With little time to mourn Theta's death, Satan's Bus of Love arrives and almost runs over Draco's Hut just trying to park. Seriri and Arle flop out of the bus, and the two parties play catch up while Satan drives away. After some more chit-chat and a meal of Arle's delcious curry, the party decides to split into separate residences, with Ringo staying in Eltia's home.

A Spree of Ekoronian Findings

Between Episodes 19 and 22, Zeta, Beta, and Eta all met up and made lodgings in the Mansion of Clandestins'. Unfortunately, Zeta turned on them and attacked Beta, urging the other clone to join her in extracting Ekoro's revenge program. Before he could respond though, Strange Klug swooped in and kidnapped Eta to use as more bargaining material for Ringo. Zeta fled to the Edge of Despair to begin plotting how she would eliminate the remaining clones and rescue Eta.

Episode 22 featured Ringo returning to Primp. This time, she decided to switch mindsets and travel to the Eastern Mountains again in order to find the secret project of Ekoro that was leaked by Strange Klug prior. They reach Fos Canyon and meet up with Witch, who was being hunted down by her blueberry muffin (which was somehow keeping her from making appearances in the Meteor Arc). Eventually she coughed up Beta's hand, informing them Marcus had struck her down the same way he did Theta. Before she could elaborate or mourn though, the possessed pastry returned to chase Witch away. However, the party makes an amazing discovery within a nearby abandoned tent: A back up of Ekoro's Secret Project. Playing a crudely recorded AVI left in the tent, the project reveals itself as a clone named Phi. After watching the AVI, they freed an impostor of Sho. Eternally grateful, "Sho" volunteered to rebuild Phi and any of the other dead clones. Ringo kept up Strange Klug's bargin to regain possession of Ekoro's orb. Eta, happy to be freed again, explained what had happened with Zeta. While Sho and Eta returned to the city to make progress on Phi, Ringo and the remaining party chased Zeta to her hiding grounds.

Zeta came clean with the party, and attacked them. Arle was still unable to neutralize her externally, much to the party's chagrin, so they were forced to fight. Ringo and Witch were able to keep up at first, but Zeta decided to stop screwing around and use Perfect Bayoen, which would have probably mortally wounded them were it not for Eltia's barrier, which only barely blocked the attack. Zeta was stricken with disbelief as she fell into a bizarre inferiority complex at her failed attack attempt. Making amends with the party again, she reunites with Eta and stays to help Sho.

Beauty Contests and Return of Draco

Episode 23 changed pace by beginning with Witch, who was still hiding from the blueberry muffin. Schezo then leaps out of no where to confront her about his clothes, which she apparently never had to begin with. Arle then joins them, and suddenly, the muffin appears! Before anyone can react though, Carbuncle ingests the possessed pastry with great pleasure, much to Schezo's chagrin. After a good beatin from the dark pervert, Carbuncle hacks up the still possessed, though now partially digested part of the treat, which Arle and Schezo then creamate and slice to bits. After the chaos had seemingly ended, Harpy falls out of the sky quite randomly. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to remember what caused her to fall in the first place. The newly formed peanut gallery then heads off to have their chit-chat else where.

Meanwhile, Rider is hopelessly lost in Highway Rakuti, where apparently she had been looking for Draco. Just when Witch and co find her though, Draco appears. Rider happily reunites with Draco for the first time since the meteor strike, and the others all say hello too. Without warning though, Draco points out a large black-colored scar that covered nearly the entire length of Harpy's head, bringing much concern to the group. Harpy insisted she was fine however, and even felt she was fit to have a beauty contest with Draco. Witch joined in for old time's sake, and Rider and Arle reluctantly agreed. Schezo became the judge and decided whichever girl's pose aroused him the most (therefore making them his desire) was the victor. At first, he was totally biased for Witch, but then Draco cleverly incorperated Arle into her pose, thus winning her the contest.

Right after, however, the ever so omnipresent Strange Klug appeared once again, sarcastically applauding Draco's victory. As usual, he was there to rant and rave, though this time, rather than to inform or bargin, his purpose was to taunt Draco. The book demon mercilessly demoralized her for having beauty contests when Ringo was alone in fending off Lord Marcus. Initially, this actually upset Draco, though the others stood by her regardless, and Strange Klug begain to go off on a tangent about Lord Marcus, and eventually expressed near certainy in Ekoro's return. Draco and Witch dismissed it though, and, frustrated, the demon finally left them be. Arle, still concerned about Harpy's wounds, and now Strange Klug's criticism, wanted to return to the city and find Ringo for help. Schezo went so far as to suggest making Strange Klug their primary enemy. In the end, though, it was decided to head to Puyopolis and look for Ringo.

Phi Awakens, Only to be Ignored

They arrived shortly after Ringo did, surprising her. While at first Ringo was happy to see Draco, it didn't take long for the tension to mount. Ringo and Draco lashed at eachother for several minutes before Eltia woke up and decided to resolve the matter herself, seeing as how she was the conflict in the first place. Eltia revealed some shocking information during this conversation. Thousands of years ago, Primp and the Abyss had been connected before, and Draco is a descendant of one of the very people who came from the latter to the former. Draco refused to believe it at first, but then as Strange Klug's words came to mind again, Draco was able to accept it enough to be on speaking terms with Ringo again. The ladies then headed into the underground of the cordoned of rubble to continue their catch up. The episode ended as "Sho" excitedly proclaimed Phi was about to awaken.

In Episode 24, after much anticipation, Phi finally awakened. He was slightly confused, being suddenly brought into 23 episodes of prior canon without a single hint. After the inquisition were over, the idea to tackle Strange Klug was once again thrown out there, only to have it be dismissed by Ringo. Arle suggested, once more, to examine Harpy's dangerously huge scar. However, there's really no room in that tiny little cubicle in the HQ, so they moved off to the Random Field instead, at Witch and Schezo's urging. Phi demonstrated his huge healing powers....until everyone realized the scar was actually a parasitic monster! Ringo quickly Cosine'd the poor thing into oblivion. After the fuss, Satan suddenly appears out of nowhere, dressed in his Carbuncle suit from Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary, trying to swoon Arle yet again. However, the costume was quickly ripped off Satan's back, much to his dismay. Satan then admitted to running over Rulue with the Bus of Love, before Schezo quickly tricked Satan into thinking he had a sister, which caused him to momentarily flee. After realizing though he didn't have a sister, Satan came back for more humiliation (after all, he has green hair). Satan is chased away again by more relentless teasing from the former protagonist and her personal stalker.

After the dust settled, it was time for to go after Lord Marcus and finish the vile man off once and for all! After travelling through the portal one final time, they spotted Marcus, beat up, and stuck in a pit. Marcus made no attempt to escape from this seemingly simple trap, and while the heroes questioned it, they decided to move on, ignoring the dark magician. Instead, they ventured to Steve's workshop, where they interrogated Steve about Marcus' sudden pitfall. Apparently, he had been such a leopard failure in the last battle that the King of the Abyss decided to punish him by demoting him, stripping him of his dark magic, and beating him to a pulp. After pointing them into the direction of the King's lair, Ringo and Draco levitated up there for nostalgia's sake, along with Arle and Harpy, leaving Witch, Rider, Phi and Schezo behind...

You Can't Beat the Original

But then, as they pierced the light, nothing could prepare the heroes for what was to come. As they reached the top, they found sitting in a giant throne none other than Satan himself! Shocked, Arle suddenly questioned what he was doing here. Satan calmly explained that the Abyss was his home world, and that Draco's horns were the result of being in Satan's bloodline. He simply moved into the Madou World and Primp when he became attracted to Arle and found his own kingdom too boring. He revealed that he was the one who staged the events of the entire arc, all in an effort to rid of Arle's friends and eliminate all "distractions" from their supposed relationship. In yet another surprise twist, another Arle from the future appeared, exclaiming Arle will be in love with Satan (and have boobies) one day. Arle, of course, denied such allegations, but when the party tried to attack her, it actually hurt Arle too! Satan watched the show as one idea after another to harm them failed. Ringo came up with the idea to counter attacks back towards Satan. Unfortunately, this only destroyed his throne, which caused Satan to become infuriated and get serious. He single-handedly caused massive damage to both Draco and Ringo, incapacitating them. At the climax of all this, the future Arle suddenly kissed the present one, transmitting her feelings for Satan before disappearing into sparkles. Arle suddenly accepted Satan's proposal, causing him to faint... only to have Doppelganger Schezo appear and proclaim his desire for Satan. The king however, makes a getaway with his new wife (...queen?) into an unknown palace, where he and Arle would live happily ever after.

This of course, left Ringo and the others stranded, still wounded, but partially healed thanks to Harpy. At Ringo's request, Eltia summons a portal to let them escape, only instead of letting them go back to Primp or follow Satan to his palace....it leaves them...in Ekoro's Base!!! EYAH HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE~

• This marks the end of the Meteor Arc. Although the characters don't know yet, the real Arle is actually off somewhere else in Ekoro's Base. She didn't teleport into the Abyss properly, instead, a clone was somehow created the moment she stepped through the portal - a much more perfect clone than any of Ekoro's attempts - becoming Doppelganger Arle. The real Arle would never love Satan, nor would her future self. The characters are also unaware that "Sho" is actually Alpha, one of Ekoro's Clones with amnesia.