04-01-2016, 07:48 PM
“Hey, Seventeen, you awake?”
The rough voice came from the other side of the curtain, and while the cyborg had been dozing in and out of consciousness for the better part of three hours, he was alert enough to sit up and look at the shape outside his ‘room.’
“Yea,” the machine-hybrid replied as the curtain was pulled open to reveal the perpetually neutral expression of Von Koopa. “What can I help ya with, Von?”
The mustachioed koopa stepped into the room and slid the curtain shut. Tucked up under his armpit, the reptile had a tablet device. “I know you’ve been here for the last few hours leafing through the Dataverse.” Seventeen nodded his head as the officer retrieved the tablet and started to click the screen. “Have you seen this particular story yet?” Once he fought the correct page, Von Koopa turned the tablet around and extended it toward the pallid man.
With his brow furrowed, Seventeen accepted the tablet and placed his thumb on the bottom corner of the screen to keep it from idling off before he could see the contents. Screen in place, he skimmed through what seemed to be an otherwise nondescript editorial that mentioned shooting stars a few months ago. The author of the piece mentioned that similar meteor showers had been reported in almost every verse, and apparently, some astronomer’s group from a place called Camelot was investigating each of the sites.
Seventeen opted to ask the real question at hand as he handed over the tablet. “Is there really a place called Camelot? Is it run by King Arthur?”
Without a single inclination that he sensed the sarcasm, Von Koopa answered the question. “No, Aragorn.”
“Is there at least a round table?”
Von Koopa stared blankly at the cyborg for a few moments before opting to ignore the question. “You read the story that quickly?”
Seventeen nodded his head. “Shooting stars. Space nerds. What’s the hook?”
“Some of our intelligence indicates that the Kingdom already has one such ‘star piece’ in their possession. Rumors have circulated that it’s some sort of powerful relic with magical properties.”
“Everything in this place has magical properties, though,” Seventeen quipped, causing his associate to scowl. “You’re a talking turtle, and you made me engage in a death race up an active volcano in a go-cart… what’s so special about a shooting star?”
The reptile shook his head. “Stuff like this rarely happens. All these different verses with different climates and different everything... how likely do you think it would be for the same phenomenon to occur in every verse?”
Seventeen once again found himself unmoved. “Again… you’re a turtle with a Prussian mustache and you’re using a tablet computer as you walk the halls of your underground fortress-city.” The cyborg put up his arms in a show of helplessness. “You might have to walk me through this one.”
Von Koopa flashed the machine-hybrid a withering stare that did little more than elicit a grin from the human, who couldn’t help grinning at the prospect of a human turtle’s angry eyes. “Every now and again, extremely powerful relics will surface in the Omniverse. If this is something like that, it warrants investigation.”
Seventeen nodded his head as the situation started to make sense in his head. “And you’re here to…?”
“Stop playing the role of the idiot,” Von Koopa snapped, losing some of his composure for a fleeting moment. “If I want an idiot, I’ll go track down a few of those moles or crocodiles.”
Seventeen snickered and shook his head. “Sorry, sorry… I’m just playing around.” Sliding off the side of his bed, the cyborg jiggled the wrinkles from his blue jeans and ran a few palms down his shirt to straight it out before looking back at the turtle. “You want me to go along, right?”
“Somewhat,” Von Koopa replied as he reached into his shell to retrieve a small rolled paper with only a single little piece of chord holding it taut.
“Where did th—”
“You’ll find directions to where this Camelot astronomer has been sighted in the Ashen Steppes. It’s not too far from here, but once you get there, you are to get to the bottom of this situation.” Von Koopa extended the scroll and waited for a still confused-looking Seventeen to accept it from him. Before the machine-hybrid could unfurl the missive, the koopa continued his instructions. “Afterwards, you’ll need to report back to the main fortress. I’ll be waiting there, and regardless of the information you bring, you’ll be meeting with King Bowser. Does that make sense? Do you want pictures and subtitles?”
It took the cyborg a short moment to realize that the hard-assed military officer was playing around with him. “Nah, I’m good. These are a bunch of nerds, you said? Like the type with the telescopes?”
The koopa shrugged his shoulders at the question. “I didn’t follow the guy on Twitter, I just read the report given to me.” He replied gruffly before backing up out of his associate’s chambers. “You can leave whenever you are ready, but once you’re out of here, I expect you to start this assignment.”
“Aww, shucks. I was hoping to go pay that gentlekoopa’s club a visit before I had to skip on out of here.”
Von Koopa shook his head. “Humans…”
With that, Seventeen was left to his own devices in the small little cave-turned-bedroom.
The rough voice came from the other side of the curtain, and while the cyborg had been dozing in and out of consciousness for the better part of three hours, he was alert enough to sit up and look at the shape outside his ‘room.’
“Yea,” the machine-hybrid replied as the curtain was pulled open to reveal the perpetually neutral expression of Von Koopa. “What can I help ya with, Von?”
The mustachioed koopa stepped into the room and slid the curtain shut. Tucked up under his armpit, the reptile had a tablet device. “I know you’ve been here for the last few hours leafing through the Dataverse.” Seventeen nodded his head as the officer retrieved the tablet and started to click the screen. “Have you seen this particular story yet?” Once he fought the correct page, Von Koopa turned the tablet around and extended it toward the pallid man.
With his brow furrowed, Seventeen accepted the tablet and placed his thumb on the bottom corner of the screen to keep it from idling off before he could see the contents. Screen in place, he skimmed through what seemed to be an otherwise nondescript editorial that mentioned shooting stars a few months ago. The author of the piece mentioned that similar meteor showers had been reported in almost every verse, and apparently, some astronomer’s group from a place called Camelot was investigating each of the sites.
Seventeen opted to ask the real question at hand as he handed over the tablet. “Is there really a place called Camelot? Is it run by King Arthur?”
Without a single inclination that he sensed the sarcasm, Von Koopa answered the question. “No, Aragorn.”
“Is there at least a round table?”
Von Koopa stared blankly at the cyborg for a few moments before opting to ignore the question. “You read the story that quickly?”
Seventeen nodded his head. “Shooting stars. Space nerds. What’s the hook?”
“Some of our intelligence indicates that the Kingdom already has one such ‘star piece’ in their possession. Rumors have circulated that it’s some sort of powerful relic with magical properties.”
“Everything in this place has magical properties, though,” Seventeen quipped, causing his associate to scowl. “You’re a talking turtle, and you made me engage in a death race up an active volcano in a go-cart… what’s so special about a shooting star?”
The reptile shook his head. “Stuff like this rarely happens. All these different verses with different climates and different everything... how likely do you think it would be for the same phenomenon to occur in every verse?”
Seventeen once again found himself unmoved. “Again… you’re a turtle with a Prussian mustache and you’re using a tablet computer as you walk the halls of your underground fortress-city.” The cyborg put up his arms in a show of helplessness. “You might have to walk me through this one.”
Von Koopa flashed the machine-hybrid a withering stare that did little more than elicit a grin from the human, who couldn’t help grinning at the prospect of a human turtle’s angry eyes. “Every now and again, extremely powerful relics will surface in the Omniverse. If this is something like that, it warrants investigation.”
Seventeen nodded his head as the situation started to make sense in his head. “And you’re here to…?”
“Stop playing the role of the idiot,” Von Koopa snapped, losing some of his composure for a fleeting moment. “If I want an idiot, I’ll go track down a few of those moles or crocodiles.”
Seventeen snickered and shook his head. “Sorry, sorry… I’m just playing around.” Sliding off the side of his bed, the cyborg jiggled the wrinkles from his blue jeans and ran a few palms down his shirt to straight it out before looking back at the turtle. “You want me to go along, right?”
“Somewhat,” Von Koopa replied as he reached into his shell to retrieve a small rolled paper with only a single little piece of chord holding it taut.
“Where did th—”
“You’ll find directions to where this Camelot astronomer has been sighted in the Ashen Steppes. It’s not too far from here, but once you get there, you are to get to the bottom of this situation.” Von Koopa extended the scroll and waited for a still confused-looking Seventeen to accept it from him. Before the machine-hybrid could unfurl the missive, the koopa continued his instructions. “Afterwards, you’ll need to report back to the main fortress. I’ll be waiting there, and regardless of the information you bring, you’ll be meeting with King Bowser. Does that make sense? Do you want pictures and subtitles?”
It took the cyborg a short moment to realize that the hard-assed military officer was playing around with him. “Nah, I’m good. These are a bunch of nerds, you said? Like the type with the telescopes?”
The koopa shrugged his shoulders at the question. “I didn’t follow the guy on Twitter, I just read the report given to me.” He replied gruffly before backing up out of his associate’s chambers. “You can leave whenever you are ready, but once you’re out of here, I expect you to start this assignment.”
“Aww, shucks. I was hoping to go pay that gentlekoopa’s club a visit before I had to skip on out of here.”
Von Koopa shook his head. “Humans…”
With that, Seventeen was left to his own devices in the small little cave-turned-bedroom.
![[Image: 17.jpg]](http://omniverse-rpg.com/images/17.jpg)