SUPER FUN TIME [JULY EVENT]

[mansionstaff]

CONGRATULATIONS, SMASH ACADEMY. You've fought off a shadow bug invasion, defeated a gatecrasher, and survived another year. Surely, with Galleom's defeat at prom (he exploded into purple shadow goo, by the way), everything will start getting back to normal. Right?

Wrong. 8(

Hagakure is actually psychic after all, and you should have listened. Beginning Monday, June 30th, things start to get weird in FDC.

◎ The shadow bugs are back, but this time they seem to have spread to the city at large, and have become more aggressive.
◎ Though they don't take the form of anything as big as Galleom, they begin to coalesce into smaller enemies (everything but the enemies listed under 'bosses') and can be encountered in these forms at night.
◎ They've also seemed to regain their interest in shadow-cloning, which is kind of unfortunate.
◎ Characters might notice strange purple streaks that occasionally cross overhead, like tears in the very fabric of the sky. They last for an hour at most, but they are kind of ominous, aren't they?
◎ Sometimes they appear as bubbles, floating closer to the ground. Occasionally they appear like a window to another location entirely. These, however, are very short-lived: there one minute, gone the next.

Over the course of July, the weird happenings get worse. Here are a few ways your characters can be affected by the apparent breakdown in reality:

◎ Characters who used to be able to go home now cannot, and vice versa. This can last as long as you like.
◎ Characters return home to find that they've arrived at a different point in time (canon point) from what they're used to. They are, of course, free to head back to the school and report this.
◎ Characters can be overwhelmed and cloned by shadow bugs, leaving them unconscious while the doppleganger runs around wreaking havoc. Mods will not play these dopplegangers--they will be player responsibility, should you choose this route. The originals will wake up after a few hours, but that doesn't mean the duplicate will vanish. They will need to be defeated (or not).
◎ Characters may be spontaneously replaced by alternate universe versions of themselves. These mini "AU-weeks" can be as long as short as you'd like--you can even do several over the course of the month, if you can't decide. Have you ever wanted to play your character like a major event in their lives never happened? Like they were raised by wolves? Like they've been from the Smash Bros universe all along?* Now is your chance!

Players are more than welcome to subject their characters to all, some, or none of these effects! They will last the entire month of July, at which time there will be a follow-up plot post, so it's certainly possible to try several of the effects, or even play more than one AU over the course of the month. Duration of the effects is entirely up to the player, and they are entirely optional--characters can get lucky and remain completely unaffected if this is not your bag.

Characters interested in continuing the investigation can:

◎ Confront Master Hand, who seems increasingly frazzled despite his assurances that everything is being dealt with.**
◎ Return to the bunkers, which are about as shadow bug-infested as usual. All details in this post still apply.
◎ Venture even deeper into the bunkers, where they might happen upon this creepy room, and a chamber filled with these, though the devices are apparently defunct.

As always, players are encouraged to ask mods about what might occur should their characters take certain courses of action. The sky is the limit, but there might be consequences! Feel free to ask any questions here, or contact us privately.

* If you are interested in AUing your dude into the Smash Bros/Brawl universe, contact a mod. We might have a little something-something for you.
** Mods are more than happy to NPC Master Hand for your purposes! Just drop us a line if you want him.