#downfall arc

[theramblingsofadork]

Question for anyone who wants to answer! Downfall. How are you holding up amidst the metal virus outbreak?

Something tells me no one is really having a good time…

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

TV show concept:

The setting is a hybrid of sci-fi and fantasy. The land is ruled by an extremely arrogant, pampered queen who is hated by her people for her irresponsible leadership. It’s to the point where she’s known as “The Spoiled Queen”.

One day, a peasant learns that they are the “chosen one” meant to take the Spoiled Queen down. The peasant, although reluctant, embraces their destiny and promises to bring peace to the land. So, pretty standard “the evil monarch versus the good usurper” story so far.

At least for the first two seasons. At the end of season 2, the Spoiled Queen is ousted and the chosen one becomes the new monarch. The Spoiled Queen survives and goes into hiding. This is where the true story comes in.

Seasons 3-6 are split in focus. The first story follows the chosen one in their new role as the kingdom’s monarch. The second story follows the Spoiled Queen trying to survive among the peasants and avoiding capture. Through their respective journeys, we start to see a change in their roles in the story.

The chosen one starts going down a dark path. Turns out, being told that they are the “chosen one” doesn’t translate to having leadership skills. We’re shown that the chosen one is a poor leader and the other characters notice this as well. However, when confronted about their leadership, the chosen one reacts angrily. The chosen one develops a god complex, saying that it is their “destiny” to rule. The chosen one’s anger leads to cruelty and eventually, they end up becoming an even WORSE monarch than the Spoiled Queen.

Meanwhile, the Spoiled Queen is slowly redeemed. She spends most of season 3 being forced to adjust to peasant life but eventually she’s taken in by a small traveling group. For seasons 4-6, the Spoiled Queen’s experiences with the traveling group change her into a better person. She becomes more responsible, she learns what it takes to be a great leader, and she starts to care about other people aside from herself. By season 6, she’s no longer interested in taking back her throne or getting revenge on the chosen one as she’s found true peace and happiness.

Then, we get to the last two seasons. Season 7 is where the double turn occurs. The chosen one becomes the main villain of the series while the Spoiled Queen becomes the main protagonist. The chosen one’s official heel turn comes when they find out about the Spoiled Queen still being alive. Angered by this, they issue an order for the Spoiled Queen’s capture, leading to the deaths of several people. Also, in a state of mad paranoia and delusion, they order the deaths of several people that they feel are trying to remove them from the throne.

Basically, the chosen one commits a Red Wedding-type action. Presumably, a fan favorite character is killed in this massacre, cementing the chosen one’s heel turn.

The Spoiled Queen’s official face turn comes when she sees just how many people suffered from the chosen one’s actions. Her allies tell her that she needs to reclaim her throne in order to stop the suffering but she refuses, saying that she was an awful leader when she had the throne and that the kingdom would never rally to her. However, she’s proven wrong in the season finale when more than half of the kingdom rallies behind her, saying that she’s fully earned back their trust.

Throughout seasons 4-6, although she did it unintentionally, the Spoiled Queen earned back the trust of the people through her actions with the small traveling group. Actions along the lines of 1) saving a sacred temple from destruction 2) rescuing a town’s children from a criminal organization 3) resolving a century-long dispute between two families 4) recovering a lost artifact and giving it back to its rightful owners 5) leading the charge in helping the citizens of a coastal town move to a different location to avoid a deadly storm

And so on. Season 8, our final season, is focused on the Spoiled Queen (now known as “The Humble Queen”) trying to reclaim the throne from the chosen one (now known as “The False God”). This time, the roles are reversed. This is also the season where we find out that the prophecy was wrong. The chosen one is the evil monarch that must be taken down while the Spoiled Queen is the hero meant to save the kingdom.

(Note, I pictured the chosen one being played by any gender, which is why I stuck to gender neutral terms. I saw the Spoiled Queen character being female)

[theramblingsofadork]

Cello hated the Metal Virus. It was a nightmare unlike any she’s ever had to experience. She lost her parents and her neighbors within minutes due to their village’s placement making them unaware of it till it was right on top of them.

She was forced to watch so many of her friends turn into mindless, metal zombies, and nearly suffered multiple breakdowns from the horror of being the last Starpoint Squad member to survive it.

Even so, when all is said and done, some good still comes out of it. While it’s not how she wanted it to happen, after everything goes back to normal, she goes home to be with her parents, and has a conversation with them that changes everything.

📘 Short Fanfic: Giving Up Grievances

🎵 Accompanying Music: Spirited Away - Day Of The River

————

Things had been weird since coming back from ground zero.

Cello hadn’t touched her chemistry set once. In fact, she had to cover it up, because even looking at it filled her with a squirming sense of depression and guilt.

She didn’t speak about chemistry anymore like she used to either. Instead, she busied herself in helping her mom with the chores and cooking, as well as aiding her dad and the miners with moving the ore from below ground to over the ridge to be processed.

Everyone had no doubt noticed her stark change, but Cello didn’t care, nor did she wish to get into the details of why. She would simply say “I’m fine,” before quickly flying off to busy herself with something else whenever anyone asked.

But she wasn’t fine. In fact, the firefly felt quite empty inside.

The Metal Virus had changed her. Wrecked her security and confidence in her efficiency as a chemist. How could she say she was going to make a real change in the world when she couldn’t even compose a formula in time to save her family and friends from the virus?

Perhaps, this was her sign that she finally needed to accept that her father might be right about her path in life. That she was meant to be a miner like the rest of them, and she needed to stay in their village, instead of gallivanting about, chasing a silly dream.

She had been stewing on this thought for over a week, and now, sitting around the dinner table with her parents, Cello found herself staring down at her mother’s mashed potatoes and meatloaf, both of which sat half-eaten on her plate. Her parents were talking about the day’s findings in the mines, but she didn’t hear a word of it.

Guess it was time. Today would be the day she would finally tell them that she was giving up everything.

The thought made her queasy to her stomach, but her mind was made up. If she couldn’t even save people with her talents, then it would be better for everyone if she just stayed home and supported the family by working in the mines with them.

At least then, she might be able to finally make her dad happy with her life decisions. Maybe he would finally approve of her like she’d always wanted him to. Especially considering his new, long-term injury was keeping him from working as much as he’d like to.

She narrowed her eyes a bit more. Yeah... This was for the best…

“Cello? Honey?” Her mother suddenly addressed her, noticing her daughter’s apathy towards one of her favorite meals. “Are you feeling alright? You’ve hardly touched your food.”

Right. Cello swallowed hard and steadied herself. Time to face the music.

The firefly took a deep breath, then quite solemnly declared to the table as her gloved hands balled in her lap, “I’ve decided I’m giving up chemistry for good. I’m going to stay here in the village with you and Dad, and work with the others in the mines from now on.”

There. She had said it. The decision that would change her future forever had been made. She wasn’t happy, but it was what it was. And like it or not, she would have to accept this was her new lot in life.

She briefly winced as she remembered Hex and the others. They would no doubt be sad to hear the news. She would have to apologize to them later on…

The firefly then braced herself for her father’s response, no doubt that it was going to involve a callous scoff and something snarky like, “About time you saw reason!”

But, to her surprise, there was nothing but tense silence for a long moment across the table. She sensed her mother turn to glance over at her husband, and he, in turn, swallowed his food and heaved a heavy sigh. As he set down his fork, it echoed against the plate loudly with a heavy clank.

Then he spoke, and it was the last thing Cello ever expected him to say.

“…No. You need to go pursue chemistry, like you’ve always wanted to.”

Cello felt herself freeze. Felt as if the breath had suddenly been stolen right out of her lungs. She lifted her head and looked at the older firefly across the dinner table. “What?” The word echoed emptily across. She couldn’t hide or hold back her confusion and disbelief. “Dad, are you… hearing me? I’m… saying I want to be a miner. That I’m not going to do chemistry anymore.” Her brows furrowed. “I’m doing what you’ve always wanted me to do!!”

“But is it what you want to do?” Her father asked, making her gape and flounder for words for a moment.

No, it was true. Deep down, she didn’t really want to give up chemistry. But what choice did she have? Her failure, as well as his consistent belittlement of her passion and skills had finally brought about this perfect storm. Leading her to the skewed conclusion that she had just been fooling herself all this time.

He had been fighting her for years on this! Wanted her to follow in the footsteps of the family business for as long as she could remember! Was he simply mocking her? Why NOW would he suddenly be changing his mind?

And she couldn’t help but voice this, finally exclaiming, “W-why do you suddenly care about what I want to do? You never have before!”

“Cello!” Her mother disappointedly chided her, but her father remained silent, not responding with the normal anger and ferocity he was known for. In fact, he seemed to sag a bit, rubbing his gloved thumb over a scratch in the table’s surface, suddenly looking far older and meeker than Cello had ever seen him.

“You’re right. I haven’t,” he agreed with her. “I’ve only ever told you what I thought was best. But, ever since the Metal Virus, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Don’t— get me wrong, what we do here in the mines is very important and all, but…” He dipped his head and his antenna sagged. “When everything returned to normal, I heard from one of your friends that you managed to create a cure for the virus. And I found myself thinking, ‘my little girl…? Surely not.’“

He recalled the Mobian youth from the Restoration, firmly defending Cello’s honor against his unbelief. “But they insisted they had been there with you. That they saw the Zombot return to normal thanks to your formula. But, by that time, it was much too late to mass produce it & administer it to everyone.”

He winced and shook his head. “You did what you said you were setting out to do. And in that moment, I couldn’t help but think, that maybe if I had just… let you go, helped you to pursue your interests sooner, rather than fight you every step of the way... Then maybe you would have been better equipped with the tools you needed to make that cure sooner. Maybe, you’d be a national hero right now, rather than someone ready to give up her passion.”

Cello blinked at him in utter bafflement as she regarded his words; as the memory of her last, desperate declaration to him as her family coated with metal back in their village flashed back into her mind.

“I’ll find a way to fix this!” She had cried with angry tears in her eyes. “I don’t know where I’ll find the supplies, but I’ll make a cure to get you guys back, I promise!!”

Quite suddenly, she realized what was going on here. Her father, the rugged, brash, and innately stubborn man that he was; one whom never admited fault for anything, was blaming himself for her failure.

A failure that, in of itself, had destroyed her self-confidence in the one thing she was great at.

And instead of just letting that be, instead of just keeping his mouth shut to let her fulfill his own personal desires for her life, he was now actively choosing to acknowledge that his stubborn desire to cling to tradition had nearly cost them everything. That if he wanted the best for his daughter, and the world, then he needed to stop being selfish, and just let her go be who she was meant to be.

Finally uttering the words she had so desperately been wanting to hear him say for so long.

Her father then pulled a white envelope out of his overall pocket. The older firefly regarded it for a moment with a sigh, then dropped it in front of her. “Take this. I want you to use it to get into that fancy academy you’ve always talked about.”

Cello, still half expecting this to be one giant ‘gotcha!’ moment, slowly reached out and took the envelope… However, as she opened the flap and saw what was inside, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock. “Dad…” Her eyes began to water up.

It was a check. And not just any check. It was enough to cover her entire tuition.

Despite how her heart pounded with sudden disbelief and excitement, Cello forced herself to quickly shake her head and push it back. “N-no!! I can’t take this!!” she exclaimed. “You and mom need this money for bills, don’t you?? Especially now with your injury??”

Her dad rubbed the back of his fuzzy head and heaved a breath as he rubbed his injured leg. “Feh... don’t bother about it. I’ve been saving that money up for quite a while now so I could eventually take you and your mother on a big vacation.” His wife smiled and slipped her hand over his proudly. “But uh.. I think this will be going towards a better cause. Besides! I know you won’t forget about us when you make it big.”

Cello wasn’t one to usually openly cry, but here in this moment, she couldn’t hold her usual stiff face together anymore. She was steadily falling apart now, letting out a BIG OLE, UGLY SNIFFLE and practically gushing waterworks from her eyes as she clutched the envelope against her chest.

He was being serious. This was really happening!!

“Ohhh, Cello honey,” Her mom smiled softly at her daughter. It wasn’t very often they got to see her soft side anymore.

“Augh— come on, kid— none of that now. You’re going to make your mother cry too...” Her dad grumbled, though it was more due to him feeling embarrassed than anything else.

Cello fiercely sniffled and scrubbed her face clean with her arm before launching herself out of her seat to fly and tackle her father in a hug, nearly upsetting dinner in the process.

“…Thank you dad...” She mumbled into his shoulder, squeezing him tightly. “Really… You don’t know how much this means to me..!”

The man grunted from the sudden embrace and chuckled a bit as he awkwardly hugged and patted her back. “Yeah yeah,” he grumbled, trying to act as if this wasn’t a big deal. “Just… get out there and go be that chemist your mother and I know you can be.”

Cello pulled back from him and gave a confident smile again, a bright spark of light returning to her eyes. “Right! I’ll make you both proud!” She exclaimed.

“We already are proud, dear~” Her mother chimed in lovingly.

“…But we’ll be even more proud when we get to brag about you being on the cover of one of those big, fancy science magazines,” her father added with a grin. Only to then immediately get prodded in the side by his wife. “Ow! What? I was being positive!!”

Despite herself, Cello couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Her father’s remark didn’t bother her one bit. On the contrary. She felt like she was floating on Cloud 9.

At last, a huge stress had been lifted from her shoulders. And for the first time in a really long time, Cello felt… happy. Like that excited little kid with super tight curls and oversized glasses, who had clumsily flown into the kitchen, excitedly exclaiming to her parents about the newest breakthrough she had read about in a scientific magazine she had received from one of the neighbors.

Only now, rather than getting a disinterested, disgruntled response from her father, he instead smiled down at her, sharing in his daughter’s joy as he picked her up to spin her around while she laughed and declared that she too, was going to do something great like that one day.

At the root of it all, it was all she had ever wanted. Support over her dreams. Belief that she was capable of great things, and that she could accomplish them. And somehow… she had finally gotten it.

It was ironic really... Despite the Metal Virus being the very thing that crushed her dreams, it was also the thing that reignited them again. Somehow, some good had managed to come out of this awful event.

And if that wasn’t a testament how hope could be born in even the bleakest of situations, then Cello didn’t know what else could be.

💚🩵💛

— End

[theramblingsofadork]

“I’m so sorry…”

Sometimes grief can be too much to bear, even for the strong.

(Rivet goes through a lot, both in the AU and in canon.

She needs a hug. ;w;)

[theramblingsofadork]

I have finally solved the problem of Surge and Kit’s existence in the Starpoint Squad AU. 👏

I think I’ve figured out a way they can still be around (because I love them and want them to have a happier ending too). But not be brainwashed into being different people, and not be dramatically traumatized by Canon!Dr. Starline’s cruelty.

Spoilers ahead for the later half of the Downfall Arc!

After the events of the Metal Virus, Starline finally awakens to the realization that his former team, who have been trying to reach him and talk him out of following Eggman from the start, were right all along.

The rose tinted glasses come off, and he sees he’s not the man he thought he was. He can no longer accept his idol’s vision for the world. The moment he’s fired and tossed through the portal is the moment things really change for him.

> Operation: Remaster goes from being a plan to take over the world and win Eggman’s approval, to instead being a way to make up for the wrong Starline’s done. To stop Eggman for good.

He still has his pride though, and believes he must do this on his own in order to make things right. To ever be able to face his team again. So he refuses to seek out any help from the Restoration or the Starpoint Squad. He can to fix this by himself. He has to.

Surge and Kit end up being volunteers he finds; street ruffians at rock bottom who lost everything to Eggman. Starline offers them the power to get their revenge, so long as they agree to his terms. As a result, they know exactly what they’re getting into.

> This solves the problem of Starline’s unethicality in creating them, cutting out the (suspected) traffick!ng deal with Clutch and the mental manipulation of overwriting personalities to turn them into killing machines.

He still ends up having to hypnotize them when they start showing signs of attachment, as Surge breaks away from a training mission one day to protect Starline from a stray reprogrammed Badnik, letting her true feelings about him slip out. “Dad, watch out!!”

He fears the plan will go up in flames if they have attachment to him. That Eggman might escape, or worse, they’ll end up getting captured, and Eggman will torture or melt them down as punishment to Starline for daring to go toe to toe with him.

He’s gotten attached too, despite not wanting to admit it. He doesn’t like having to suppress their memories. But he does it because he believes it’s what’s best for everyone.

They do eventually realize what’s going on, turning on him in anger, and all end up going to fight Eggman like in canon. But their relationship isn’t irreparable, and at the end of it all, they do manage to mend that bond. 💖

This also gives them the avenue to be real heroes, as they do end up becoming part of the Restoration for a time. By the end of the AU, they’ve gained quite a bit of fame, and form their own hero group of ‘adopted’ ruffians to fight and take down Eggman’s forces.

Don’t worry though, Eggman fans. I respect him too. So he’s not going down THAT easily. 😏

[theramblingsofadork]

Wanted to try my hand at some writing prompts! Here’s a very short first attempt.

—

Rivet stepped into the house, tired and ragged after another long day.

She dropped her belongings onto the couch and headed for the kitchen to hopefully get something to eat before she crashed.

As she passed by the mirror hanging on her wall though, she suddenly stopped as her reflection caught her eye.

Oh..

She pulled back and properly looked at herself for the first time in a long while.

Was that what she looked like now?

…

What a mess.

Her fur was tangled, unkempt and dull, thanks to the lack of time she had recently to spend combing it all.

Bags hung under her eyes, exacerbated by her recent long nights and lack of sleep.

And to her surprise, she was shaking ever so slightly. Although whether from the overstrain of her working, or the rush of adrenaline still coursing through her, she couldn’t tell.

She quickly attempted to make herself somewhat more presentable and put on a bright smile, but quickly lost it again when she saw just how fake it looked.

…

She hoped no one had noticed.

…Who was she kidding? EVERYONE had probably noticed. She looked like death.

At that her eyes widened, and like a sudden rush of water, emotion swept over her. She lost her composure, and the lavender cat pressed her fingers into the depths of her bangs as the tears came hard and fast.

And alone in her bunker, she wept.

[averagekindergartenfan]

This month MIGHT be my downfall arc y'all, shit's getting tiring but as 1080jack said, we persist.