Tabit: Save friends!
Yoshiori: Holy shit the guy with a different design from the soldier mobs is way stronger! But you can't beat ME!
MC: Yoshiori, charge up your super move! The mobs from behind are gonna attack!
VP Charge!
Yoshiori: Shoot the bullets, got it! Bodyguard Trick Shot!
Awesome bullet counter!
Yoshiori: Go!
Esperdica: Coffee smoke trick time, got it. Raizi!
Raizi: Sending VP! Digram, support!
Digram: Acknowledged.
Esperdica: Coffee fog bath!
Hey wait...
Tabit: Leader must save friends! Change "Nanoblast Metamorphosis"!
Tabit morphs his arm into a sword and slashes at Esperdica's magic coffee machine!
Esperdica: Okay wow that is strong!
Raizi: Digram, stop him!
Digram: ...acknowledged. Charging railgun...
That is a big shot Digram is charging up.
Tabit: No! Spare guards!
Digram: Last warning: surrender now. No obstructions to railways will be permitted. Agree, and I will stop att--!?
Tabit: ...you, stop? Believe. Mech life form, no lying.
Esperdica: He actually stopped!? Raizi, give me VP again to stop the mobs!
Esperdica's magic coffee machine charges again and blows out coffee smoke!
Green: C-c-ceasssing a-a-actionnn. L-l-l-leeaad-d-d-der, s-s-sorrrrryyyy (flump)
Tabit quits out and runs to the mobs.
MC: ...battle over. Everyone good?
The party quits out of hero mode too.
Esperdica: Yes, thank you MC.
Raizi: Let's go check them out, guys. Also we need mystery guy to tell us who he is.
Yoshiori: Yeah. Digram, you know him?
Digram: ...negative, in terms of direct relations. But I know of him. He is a nanomachine-made android.
Esperdica: Oh. So he's not like other androids. Well since he's not attacking anymore, we can just ask him.
Yoshiori: Time to question the zombie ghost dude then.
Tabit is kneeling and looks back at the party.
Tabit: Friends, powered down. Reboot possible. Good.
Yoshiori: Yeah, we managed to beat them down nonlethally. That was a pain in the ass, by the way.
Tabit: You, not destroying friends. Apologies.
Tabit stands up.
Tabit: Code name Tabit. Former special forces unit captain. Friend of guards. Currently Stella Campanella train worker. Sorry again. (bows)
MC: sooo what's your deal / hmm, he's hot
(B) Tabit: Hot? Compliment? Thank you.
Yoshiori: He literally attacked us two minutes ago!
Raizi: We got questions. First, what space magic did you use to pop up earlier?
Tabit: Not space magic. Nanomachines. Split apart, recombine. Was rapid searching for friends. Train big.
Yoshiori: Oh, was that why people were yelling about zombie ghosts? It does look the part coming and going.
Raizi: Huh. Sounds legit. (looks at Tabit's body)
MC: Good thing he wasn't a ghost! / That was you...?
(A) Raizi: R-right. Zombie ghosts are dumb, right Yoshiori?
Yoshiori: Don't look at ME!
Esperdica: So Digram, what did you mean when you said you knew OF Tabit? He seems to know you.
Digram: Tronesion communication network. I've seen his ID in Tronesion's Space Discord channel but never talked to him before.
Tabit: DGR-X-6502852
Yoshiori: what
Digram: Providing clarification. I am 34th Generation Humanoid Anti-Monster Transforming Combat Mechanical Life Form DGR-X-6502852. Digram and Trans Saver are designations provided by my agency and company.
Raizi: Yeah I'll never remember all that.
Digram: Indeed. Common designation accepted for ease of communication.
Raizi: That's nice. Digram suits you.
Digram: Tronesion mech life forms including myself could use Tronesion's Space Discord network to identify and communicate with each other.
Tabit: ...network now destroyed, war damage. Special force unit never connected to network. Update option unavailable, but when onboarding of train job, detected Digram. Tronesion status check requested, but saving friends higher priority. Must fulfill order. (looks sadly at guards) Thought you all were attacking friends, attacked back.
Esperdica: Um, we were just trying to stop their rampage.
Tabit: Understood. But, similar events happen before. Strangers attempted capture after Monster fight. Special force unit called "villains," escaped with stealthy maneuvers.
MC: wait are you actually villains?
Tabit: (shakes head) Ex-special forces. Not hero or villain. War over, not anything now. Research results, Parallel Weapon controlled in current space territory. Cannot register with hero agency. Return to Tronesion prioritized, boarded train due to return possible.
Esperdica: (thinks) I think I understand your situation now. You aren't part of any hero agency right now, and you're trying to get back to Tronesion. You couldn't apply to any agencies when you boarded, and you prioritize safety. But why are the guards going rampant?
Tabit: (looks down) Old war damage from battle against other mech life forms. Shot with space robot rabies bullets.
MC: Oh...
Digram: (frowns)
Tabit: Normally, personal firewall security programs quarantine space robot rabies virus. Virus encrypted to prevent function interference, but virus has been evolving. Affect units take nonstardard actions.
MC: Huh. So why is it causing problems now?
Tabit: Cause unknown. Investigation needed. These friends contracted active virus from other friends. (looks away from guards)
Tabit: Active virus unstoppable. Security patch developed, application possible.
Yoshiori: So apply it?
Tabit: (shakes head) ...impossible due to jamming caused by virus rampage. Direct unit patching is possible, but infection spread risk present. Space Discord too dangerous to use, face to face communication required.
Esperdica: Is that why they attacked us?
Digram: Tabit is a newer model compared to soldier guards and myself. Security patch development is possible for him.
Raizi: So, patch all the bots and problem solved. Right?
Digram: Tabit, speech use difference of Space Japanglish detected. Is your speech processor damaged or infected?
Tabit: Negative. CPU resources running at loss due to section of nanobots to clear virus off friends. Virus check for this unit, clear.
MC: You can do that!?
Tabit: Nanomachine portion split for emergency patching. Infection risk high, so used portion to be disposed of.
Esperdica: Oh. Doesn't that make conversation harder?
Tabit: Communication issues not detected. Vocal component unnecessary for Space Discord, but necessary for jamming cases and communicating with organics. All other functions prioritized.
Raizi: Huh. I guess it's still good enough.
Tabit: Must save friends!
Tabit turns to leave.
MC: Wait, how about we do a temp contract?
Yoshiori: W-wait, you seriously want to temp contract a villain? I know it's weird of ME to bring this up, but these contracts are binding! The president will kick your ass if you don't talk to him first...
MC: I-I guess, but I can't leave him like this. Help me talk Huckle into this!
Yoshiori: ...ugh. Fine, I know how you are. But you're talking to him yourself, and if he says no, that's it. And promise you'll back off if I say it's too dangerous for you 'cause I'll be too ashamed to see everyone if you do get hurt. This isn't how someone with a bodyguard is supposed to act, geez.
MC: Thanks Yoshiori! / I knew you'd help!
(B) Yoshiori: Are you listening to me!? Dammit I should have seen this coming.
Tabit: Contract request? Requesting clarification: you asking to take command?
MC: Yeah! Let's do this so you aren't considered a villain, then we'll go save everyone!
Raizi: Well he'll be a great piece to the party with what he knows of the guards. Better to team up than split up, right?
Esperdica: I agree. You'll still need to contact your office, but having Tabit with us will be more efficient than having him run off blind.
Digram: No objections. Speed required to keep passengers and employees safe.
Tabit: ...everyone will help? Thank you! Contracting ready. Transfer of command acceptable for saving friends. You leader now!
Title Card: To Light Up the Night
The party is in the restaurant area where MC called up Huckle and explained the plan.
Yoshiori: You better appreciate how far off the branch we went for you. The president fell out of his chair when MC told him they wanted to contract a villain! Well, fair.
MC: Communication is important! I want to help people in trouble, and it's a surprise since he didn't know what's up.
Yoshiori: Well that's like you. They're worried, but they didn't stop you. Also Tabit's still a spec op captain, so he'll be a big help with us. (looks at Tabit)
Tabit: Query, Digram. According to after action reports, Tronesion had insufficient resources, suspended satellite communications and liason ships. Planetary landing also suspended, present conditions unknown.
Digram: ...sharing information. Yes, network base station was destroyed then. The war ended that day, and this unit's communication and delivery network was shut down.
Digram: (frown)
Digram: Currently, Mother is reconstructing the network and moving to Level 8 of social reconstruction phase.
Tabit: ...oh. Oath sworn upon war's end confirmation. No more hurting mech life forms, so admin privileges used to rewrite action code.
Flashback!
One night in some wasteland, a spec ops team is trying to phone home.
Tabit: Requesting response. Repeat, requesting response!
Error, radio address not found.
Tabit: Unable to connect to Mother Network for 50,689th time. Team meeting time. Scan for ambush...enemies retreating. 72 hours passed since extension, shut down operation. Unit to be disbanded...
Droids: Roger. Leader, after this...
Tabit: (frowns)
Tabit looks at the dogtag he's wearing. It's not his name on it.
Tabit: ...army gone. Proposal: implement universal nonaggression principle against mech life forms. Field captain to use temp admin privilege to rewrite code to add proposed action, but will add only to units that agree to it.
...
The soldiers agree.
Tabit: ...everyone, thank you! Implementing rewrite. New objective: return to Tronesion. Together, to peace.
Present
Tabit: New code, strong. No harming mech life forms and friends. No more fighting, just defense now.
MC: Aww, what nice friends...
Tabit: Must save friends.
Digram: (frown)
Digram fixes his shoulder cape. A whistle falls out.
Digram: Communication systems being stable and running on time symbolize peace. This unit believes that to be important so Tronesion's tragedy does not repeat. (picks whistle back up and pockets it)
Raizi: ...damn, must've been tough getting on when you were alone. But you still had friends to be there with you, and I wanna try learning how that felt for you guys. (glances at Esperdica)
Esperdica: Yes, the soldiers must be suffering from space robot rabies. We'll help as best we can, just like Raizi's thinking.
Raizi: Uh, why are you talking like you can read my mind?
Esperdica: Oh is that how it sounded? I'll keep better watch of my words. Anyways, MC how's that contract with Tabit coming along?
Beep beep!
MC: Conveniently done now! Let's do this, Tabit!
Tabit: Thank you everyone! Prioritizing assistance of friends. Proposal: search for others. More time consuming, but safer than direct linking.
Digram: Anomaly detection system raised to level three up to Car Three. Low priority events will be reported as well, but rapid alerts will come when som--
ALERT ALERT
Yoshiori: Well that was fast. Where are they?
Digram: Anomaly detected. Utensils fallen in restaurant area of Car Two. Anomaly detected. Passenger jumped into pool in sports area of Car Three. Anomaly detected. Passenger scraped knee in sports area of Car Three...
Yoshiori: Sounds like useless crap here!
Digram: ...filtering alerts for higher relevance.
Raizi: Guess that comes with having so many people...
Esperdica: Yes. Back to searching on foot then. If Tabit or Digram get more important alerts, we can go--
BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP
Yoshiori: Your filter isn't working, Digram.
Digram: Anomaly detected! Intruder alert in engine room of Car One! Soldier droid has entered without proper permit!
Party: !!
Yoshiori: Welp, sounds like we got a real problem now with an infected droid!
Esperdica: Yes. We'll have to stop him anyways even if he isn't infected.
Raizi: Let's go, team. Digram, which way?
Hey, guess what?
Tabit: W-what? Train, shaking!
Digram: !! Emergency alert. Anomaly detected in Stella Campanella train control system.
Raizi: WHAT
The train is speeding up!
Digram: ...Stella Campanella is drifting off set course. Please watch your footing. Significant delays possible.
Yoshiori: The hell is that soldier droid doing? We gotta stop him now!
MC: What's gonna happen to us?
Digram: ...collision with planet or space ship unlikely, but space train will continue drifting aroubd galaxy until control is restored.
Esperdica: Also we have no guarantees the other systems won't fail either, so we better get on that.
Digram: Agreed. This way please.
The party starts to head to the engine room when they see someone by the train connection panel!
Red: Un-un-un-unable to c-c-controool actioon...
Yoshiori: Dammit, they're here too!
Esperdica: Wait, isn't that the train connection panel? What are they doing?
Digram: Alert: please stop infected units quickly due to risk of train cars disconnecting. If disconnected, Car One and its passengers will be in much more difficult to save situation.
Tabit: Fighting to stop friends!
Raizi: Yeah, time to suit up people!
MC: Let's go, execute!
Click!
Yoshiori: As guard, I'm taking point! Back me up, people!
Digram: Understood. Rapid removal of obstructions, commence. Please brace for impact.
Esperdica: Coffee is the scent of peace. Let's stop them, Tabit.
Tabit: Protect! Commence pacification. MC, your orders!
BATTLE START
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