Originally, it was planned that chapter 5 would be longer, but then I realized that even though the story of chapter 5 is not resolved at all, it'd probably be better for the sake of organization to begin a new chapter. Now, the cast is returning to South Island, once again opening things up to easier involvement for new characters (and members).

This'll be a pivotal point. I'm not entirely sure what the characters are going to decide to do, who they're going to decide to work with (if anyone), what goal they're ultimately going to pursue, or anything. There's a host of problems before them, though, lending some choice.

1. Eggman's monstrous industrial-wasteland-theme-park-capital, Eggmanland, is still sitting smack in the middle of Central City, where he continues to rebuild his forces and expand. He never really stopped being a threat, and now he's just becoming a bigger one—one that Sonic can't easily just punt off the map again because of how well-entrenched he is in his massive base. If the cast decides to go up against Eggman, it'll probably mean more encounters with official characters, and possibly a plot involving the Chaos Emeralds. (We haven't seen them for a while, so it's not all that played out.)

2. Chimera, the mysterious organization that sprang from the ruin of the bulk of the Eggman Empire, still stands as the greatest potential threat with entire fleets of airships, armies of robots, and bases all over. It is forcing its will on nations and keeping a stranglehold on global economy, but remains a "grey" force to be reckoned with, continually fighting G.U.N., while working to help the general public by rebuilding and undoing the damage done by Eggman. Going up against them will probably make for a more dramatic story with more inter-character tensions, but definitely less (see: no) official character involvement.

3. Li Fang, a crime boss from Chun-nan, is in possession of a mysterious and purportedly dangerous relic, the Norden Circle, and is also holding prisoners, one of whom is a friend and ally of many characters in the cast (Ace). While it's doubtless that they will try to get Ace back, whether or not they'll keep their focus leveled on thwarting Li Fang's plot determines how much more we'll (immediately) see of this guy, or of the Circle.

One way or another, we've got a lot of material to work with. It's just a matter of tying it all together in a nice, smart way.

Okay, so, there've been no responses in the discussion thread lately about what the heck we're doing, but it's cool because an idea has presented itself, and Greens, Charles, and I are gonna work on a thing that will eventually tie the story together and bring the main cast to bear on a greater goal. That being said, I still want to avoid having the main story completely stall out, so... we've gotta think of something in the meantime. That's why I'm now posting this here, in the announcements thread, in hopes that it will not be overlooked.

I would simply say that this has become an excellent time to have some of that rare kind of personality-building RP, the kind that does not involve running through collapsing buildings, kung fu fighting, or shooting robots in the face, but I know leaving that particular freeform-RP door open often leads to Instant Posting Activity Death. I dunno. If anyone here still cares to brave the barren wasteland that is purposeless, non-combat RP, in pursuit of building rapport between characters and so on, we can try to have a thread of it, but if not, I guess we'll just have to make something happen. I'm low on relevant-sounding ideas at the moment, though.

I mean, it'd be realistic for the current situation for the party to go, "Hey, we've been through a lot and we have no leads on where to find Ace, so let's take a breather for the night, get our stuff together, patch ourselves up, etc. while we try to figure out where to start," but, again, whether or not that would be an interesting thing purely relies upon you guys.

Ya know what, I'm all for that idea. In order for some characters to have any sort of drive, they need to be able to give a crap or two about the ones they keep being dragged around with and have some proper mutual understanding of each other. Not just a "yeah, I know 'em" sort of relationship, if I'm being clear.

I support a "breather episode." I'm not sure if it would work, but I would love to see people try. I find it... eye-brow raising that few people (i.e. no one) have questioned Tyra about her continued presence. And with new arrival Pax, some people might want to ask him a few things. Such matters are not handled well during drama bombs and climactic explosions.

So I am in favor of it, though I also don't know if it will work out...

Alright, well. I'm thinking we'll timeskip forward somewhere in the current thread and get to some character conversations or something if everybody's alright with it. So that it isn't completely aimless, I was actually considering some plausible-sounding starting points.

Some matters are worth investigating:

Geoff -> Casey [Connections? Who is he really? Is he trustworthy?]
Mako (?) -> Tyra [Whyyy are you even here? Why go after Li Fang? Etc.]
Jack -> Pax [Why is GUN chasing some mystical trinket? Is it really that important with bigger trouble like Eggman and Chimera out there?]

Potential for interesting conversation:

Jack <-> Geoff [Catch up, converse, consider future plans and priorities that may collide now that Jack's back on the adventure-trail]
Ivan <-> Casey [Same as above, maybe]


Just thoughts. That isn't to say the above conversations would completely lock out all other characters, either—or that these even have to happen, obviously. I just thought it might be helpful to consider where to begin, who to pair off with, etc.

Ivan -> Mako [How do you taste?]

Kidding, of course. Or am I?

D:>
that said I will be so disappointed if this doesn't become at least a one-off joke

Thread might be winding down some now, since we hit on some of those aforementioned points, but there are a couple things that need to be sorted out before we can move on to the next thread. I do encourage everybody to continue on, since it's rare we get these meandering character-interaction moments, but, failing any attempt to cooperate and come up with anything else to do, all we can ask is that you guys just... sit tight for a couple days. A new thread will hopefully be up.

Well. I've noticed that Vade is probably not the right type to try and join up, especially as he has a forceful way to try and get the spotlight on him.

Maybe there would be a good oppertunity for Riot to join in somewhere... Though I'll need some intel on that subject. If he would join, he would either need to get mixed up in the entire mess, or already be in a mess and be forced to join up with the others for his own safety.

It'll be quite possible, I'm sure. We're just at kind of a transitional point where the focus of the story is about to shift. Maybe when it does the path to entering will be... clearer. Either way, I'll do an info-dump that will hopefully help folks get involved once we start our next thread.

It's a little slow going, but sometimes, more intricate stories have to be just to make all the pieces line up correctly. Same goes for getting involved effectively in them. Vade may be able to work in the story, but you just can't force him on your own time table by throwing him meaninglessly at other characters. The "hey guys hey guys look at me can I come along what's going on what are you doing where are you going" approach doesn't work so well.

What can I say? That's Vade for ya ^^' He loves his spotlight too much.
But yeah, I did notice that approach doesn't seem to work well, which is why I made Riot as well.

Anyways! Waiting patiently to see what you whip up for that info dump.

Now there's pressure to actually make it good! Oh no.

But seriously, yeah, once these loose ends are tied up, I'll post somethin'.

As promised, there's been a new post in the story update thread.

Stories like this tend to get really huge and contrived, so I've cut out all but the most absolutely-necessary information. I hope it makes sense. Previous posts may help add context to what's going on.