Reycralibur: The Lost Retrospective (from decades ago, and the last.)
The story of Reycralibur, as very little as know it, was the tale of one director’s quest to create a Super Smash Bros. machinima unlike anything else that came before it. Unfortunately, by the time they finally got started, YouTube had evolved for the worse and Machinima.com, once the premiere site for actual machinima, devolved into a juvenile, gaming network that no one takes seriously. Besides that, With Brawl and Melee being the preferred games for Smash machinima, nobody had the time for a series created in the original game.
The actual story of Reycralibur has much more in common with the storyline of the Crysis series; it was never good to begin with and I kept making shit up as I went along. It was all just one big tech demo to show off all the hacks and mods for the original Super Smash Bros game.
This is how it all went down.
Episode 1
It begins with a boy named Neo, played by Link (because he hasn’t been the star of EVERY OTHER SMASH BROS MACHINIMA*), whom we join as he does some morning exercises. Every morning Neo trains his hardest so that one day he might become strong enough to pass all the trials and become a Clairfield Knight. All of the sudden, a blue girl falls out of the sky. This is Skyru, played by Kirby, at least that’s the name Neo give her because she has amnesia*.
Feel free to start a drinking game, it’s only going to get more cliche from here.
This is Oran City, a humble place for humble folks. Neo and Skyru decide to grab a bite to eat at one its friendliest resturants, Croc’s tavern, Croc being played by Mario.
It’s funny how Link has starred in more Smash Bros. machinima than Mario. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to see Mario as an average joe or a Son Goku archetype, then a comedic douchebag or an everyman anime protagonist like Link. You know the one.
At the tavern, Neo and Skyru notice a news spot. One of the three pieces of Reycralibur has been found in Clairfield City, the capital city of the nation of Clairfield. The sight of Reycralibur triggers a brief memory in Skyru, prompting the two make their way to Clairfield City. However, before they can go pack their stuff, they are ambushed by Metal Man, hands-down my favorite character in the entire series, played by Metal Mario.
While Neo struggles with this mechanical badass, Skryu is kidnapped by Rex, played by Yoshi.
You get it? Because Yoshi is a dino-! *If you have to explain the joke, THERE IS NO JOKE!*
Oh, wait, scratch that, Skyru kicks Rex’s ass, because I DON’T DO DAMSELS IN DISTRESS! Together, Neo and Skyru manage to use Metal Man’s weight to send him over a ledge. Now, we meet the show’s bad guys in one of the many rushed exposition scenes in the series. This is General Gorus, played by Donkey Kong, and this is Mercenary Kay, played by Luigi. They are the 13th Battalion and they want revenge.
Episode 2
We reveal our narrator to be another central character who calls himself “R”, played by Fox. At the start of episode proper, Neo and Skyru grab a bite to eat at a tavern. While Neo goes to use the restroom, Kay appears and drugs Skyru’s food*.
Before Kay can kidnap Skyru, he is beaten back by “R”…, who then proceeds to kidnap Skyru for himself. Needless to say, R and Skyru don’t hit it off at the beginning. R even gives Skyru a fake name when she asks what his real name is: “Ridi”.
…I’m not good at naming things, OK?
After roping in Neo with a lie, he and Kay track down Skyu and “Ridi”. With the help of Rex and a couple of drones, they put up a roadblock. When Neo and Skyru are reunited, Kay’s plan falls apart when Skyru recognizes Rex from Oran City. One drawn out explanation from Ridi, followed by a few fighting words, and one of my favorite fight scenes begins.
This was the first time we saw Neo, Ridi, and Skyru fight together, so I wanted the music to be very lively. To that end, I chose the theme of Hawkeye from Marvel vs Capcom 3. As you might have figured out by now, all of the fight scenes are improvised. I set the CPU at a specific level depending on the characters fighting, and I simply recorded a couple of matches. The fight scenes in Reycralibur are essentially highlight reels, but in the context of the viewer, I wanted them to be more like the boss battles in RPGs.
The great thing about improvising fight scenes is that you never really know what will happen, and your actions influence how good they turn out. For example, if you demolish your opponent, you risk making your main character look overpowered, and make the villain look less threatening. However, if you see an opportunity for an OMG moment, you have to take it!
In the end, our heroes send the bad guys running and Ridi joins the party.
Episode 3
Oran City Scramble was the name of episode three’s remake. The original title of the episode was “Reycralibur Recconto”, which only references the second half of the episode. The first half focuses no Croc and his partner, Captain Geckon, who is just an archetype for the exaggerated character of Captain Falcon*. These two are Clairfield Knights, and they report to Chief Samual, who is also played by DK. There is a reason for this.
The episode’s main plot centers on the two responding to a hostage crisis. Before the fight starts, we hear some mook chatter. One of the mooks, AGAIN played by DK-!
Hey, cut me some slack! There were only twelve playable characters in the game, and I was saving the NPCs for latter episodes.
Anyway, one of the mooks says that he never wanted to be a soldier, he wanted to be a novelist. He was actually working on a vampire-human romance novel before he got drafted. Said novel is a shout-out to the Japanese series, Rosario+Vampire. For the record, I don’t like harem series; but I LOVE vampires.
A fight scene begins when Geckon charges into battle. In the climax, one of the mooks holds a hostage at gunpoint, but Geckon calls their bluff…, and I somehow pull off one of the most awesome stunts in my machinima career! Yes, I Falcon Punched Samus without hitting Jigglypuff! Amazing!
Back at the base, Samuel gets a report about the episode’s events. In the original version, he simply hears that the people responsible were members of a terrorist group calling themselves “The 13th Battalion of Mon Gunzza”, and he gets rattled. In the remake, he receives a call from General Gorus. It is then revealed that Samuel was enlisted in the Mon Gunzza army as part of an event called the Triangle War.
The Triangle War was waged between the three superpowers of the world: Clairfield, Mon Gunzza, and Terra. I never explained that in the remake, and it’s only elaborated on in the fifth episode.
The reason why I remade the episode is so that I could expand on Samuel’s backstory, which in turn explores the series lore. The scene it replaced in the original version also explores the series backstory, but it was just boring exposition that I ultimately disregarded in later episodes. It’s a shame that I had to cut that scene, even with my limitations, it actually looked quite nice.
Gorus is disgruntled with how the Triangle war turned out, and now he seeks to continue the fight. Though Samuel is in disbelief that his former superior officer is behind this, Gorus warns Samuel that the worst is yet to come.
We then cut back to the perspective of our heroes. Ridi reveals the reason why everyone is pursuing Skyru is that they believe she is a medium, someone who can sense Reycralibur’s presence. As they arrive in Clairfield City, the episode ends with a red Link sensing their presence.
Episode 4
In the cold opening, the messy game of hot potato for the helm of Reycralibur we’ve seen back in episode one continues. Here, we are properly introduced to the red Link from earlier, another one of my favorite characters, Aile the Red. *WARNING: SUPER IMPORTANT CHARACTER ALERT* By the way, she’s a girl.
Now I want to explain something real quick. You might have noticed that some of the more dramatic Brawl machinima series usually have hour-long episodes. Not that I have a problem with that, but jeez! Are we making web series or premium cable dramas? Instead, I stuck with the quarter-hour format, so that I don’t overwork myself if an episode’s plot starts to go off the rails. As a consequence, episode four’s plot was split between two episodes, while the later episodes became much more serialized.
Episode four proper begins in media res, with Neo, Skyru, and Ridi ambushed by the Clairfield Knights. The drones from episode two were stolen from the Knights by Kay and reprogrammed to work for him, yet the footage recovered only shows our heroes fighting the drones. On the run from the Knights, the group splits up: Neo goes to look for the helm, while Ridi and Skyru leads the Knights away. As they make their move, Aile watches from above.
As Neo arrives on the scene, he finds that he missed all the action. Kay suddenly appears, revealing that he has the hilt of Reycralibur. According to the legend, the hilt allows its user to predict their opponents every move, but he’s skeptical. The legend is proven true when he goads Neo into attacking him, and Kay swiftly knocks him back.
After a brief fight scene, Aile appears, steals the hilt, and sends Kay on his way. She then challenges Neo to a duel, but Neo is more interested in how she knows his name. In the previous version of this episode, I chose two similar sounding compositions from The Legend of Zelda series: The Hidden Village and the Ocarina of Time Medley from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. When rewriting this episode, I decided that The Hidden Village sounded more “western”, so I saved it for later.
I somehow ended the sequence with Neo and Aile clashing in midair. The magic of improv, people.
The episode ends with Ridi seeming turning himself and Skyru over to the Claifield Knights, and we cut to a shot of Prince Alexander, another Link, eagerly awaiting to meet with those who have meddled in his plans.
Episode 5
Screw. This. Episode.
I’m not even going to bother with this one. All you need to know is that Prince Alexander is, surprise, the grand mastermind behind the main conflict, under the alias of Xados. “R” is actually a super-soldier, one of the many bred to be part of a terrorist army hailing from Mon Gunzza: The 13th Battalion. As you’ve seen, the battalion has committed many horrible acts in the name of Mon Gunzza, presumably framing their kingdom of trying to start another war. Ridi allowed himself to be captured by the knights so that he could confront Alexander personally about all this.
After getting the helm of Reycralibur from Aile, she takes Neo to Alexander’s castle to reveal his true agenda. They notice Ridi has beat them to it and decide to watch as he meets with the Prince. After all is revealed, Neo and Aile join the conservation.
Then, in the most painful dialog sequences I’ve ever directed, Alexander reveals his reasons for setting all this into motion. He seeks revenge on the Terra and Mon Gunzza kingdoms, because their actions caused the death of his family*. Somehow convincing Gorus and his solders to play along with this charade, and with the Clairfield Knights at his command, Alexander seeks Reycralibur to start another war.
Also, something about Neo’s father being killed in the war, which motivated Neo to compete in a tournament to become a knight in his honor? I don’t know, I just don’t know! Again, this is all boring exposition that I largely disregarded in later episodes. It’s a good thing too, anyone who’s notice that Aile seems to be talking to herself won’t get a proper explanation until later on in the series.
Meanwhile, after escaping from her cell, Skyru looks for a getaway vehicle. She gains access to a SkyScratcher (read: Great Fox), unaware that two other passengers, young journalists Tyrone and Sally, played by Pikachu and Jigglypuff, are already on board. At the episode’s climax, just as Alexander sends in the troops, Skyru crashes the SkyScratcher into Alexander’s throne room, allowing Neo, Ridi, and Aile to hop on board and make their escape.
At the end of the episode, Aile suggests that the trio searches in the west for the next piece of Reycralibur. She then makes her getaway on another ship that was just passing by.
In short, the only good thing about this episode was the gags and references.
Episode 6
This episode was also a disappointment. After all, I spent a week working on it.
In the cold opening, we see the fallout of the previous episode has led the Clairfield Knights to put a bounty on the head of Neo, Ridi, and Skyru - now known worldwide as Clairfield’s Most Wanted. This is reported on a show called Buzz World, who also advertises a contest where the journalist with the best story will be featured on their show. This sets up the backstory of Tyrone and Sally, who are still trapped on board the SkySlasher from last episode.
We see the broadcast is being watched by a new character named Opal, played by Samus. *WARNING: SUPER IMPORTANT CHARACTER ALERT* She gets a call from her partner, Aile, who asks her to to do some reconnaissance. Now you know why Aile sent our heroes west. Sort of.
As episode proper begins, we see that Neo, Skyru and Ridi have escaped to Trevor Gulch, inside Mon Gunzza territory, where they meet up with Opal. She takes them to a tavern to get a meal, where she reveals that Aile wanted her to keep an eye on the helm of Reycralibur. Thus, Opal joins the party.
They are then interrupted by none other than Kay and Rex.
This time the two aren’t alone: they are accompanied by Cruel Kim, a female outlaw played by Captain Falcon, who has a piece of Reycralibur attached to her gun. Not only that, but the three have taken the mayor hostage. The town and its citizens are at her mercy. But when Neo confronts them, he is reminded that he has become a wanted man for his confrontation with Alexander. Sure enough, the townfolk see Neo as the bigger evil and they help Kim steal the Skyscratcher.
Opal resolves to face Kim and save the mayor. Meanwhile, Tyrone and Sally sneak around the ship and overhear a conversation between Kay and Kim, the latter two enjoying each other's company and wanting to work together again sometime. It seems Tyrone and Sally have their story for Buzz News, but will they live to tell about it? The episode ends in a cliffhanger, as Neo, Ridi, and Opal prepare to assault Kim’s hideout.
So, now you why this episode was so disappointing: IT WAS TOO SHORT! I didn’t even explain that the piece Kim had strapped to her gun was the Gem of Reycralibur, nor that it grants the user superhuman strength and agility. I didn’t even bother demonstrating this, nor show a scene of Kim in action. After the last episode’s info dump, I guess I decided to slim things down a bit. If so, I clearly went too far. This storyline ended up being another two-parter, when it didn’t have to be.
Episode 7
Picking up right after episode six, Neo and the gang raid Kim’s hideout. While Kay takes on Ridi off-screen, Kim and Opal decide to face-off mano-a-mano. Meanwhile, inside the ship, Tyrone and Sally manage to take out Rex, but are scared off by the appearance of Neo and Skyru.
Back to the action, Kim and Opal face off, while The Hidden Village plays in the background. Unfortunately for Opal, the Gem of Reycralibur grants Kim superhuman strength and agility. Out of respect for Opal, Kim agrees to settle things the old-fashioned way. In the only remotely western part of this whole story-line, they have a duel. Predictably, Opal comes out on top, because superpowers mean jack shit if you’re facing off against a main character.
Back inside the ship, Skyru catches up with Tyrone and Sally and tries to explain the misunderstanding. When Neo catches up, he suddenly hears a knock on the roof of the ship. He exposes a trap door, which falls on his head, and out pops the mayor of Trevor Gultch. Opal meets up with the others and after revealing that mayor is a “father figure” to her, the confusion is magically cleared up.
OK, this is where I got really lazy and overdosed on the meta jokes and internet memes. Long story short, Ridi, who somehow had no lines this episode, is held at gunpoint by Kay. Coming to the rescue, however, is the townsfolk, who came to take back their home from Kim. They head back to the bar to celebrate, Tyrone and Sally join the party, and Kay and Rex were headed to the big house, until they are rescued by Kim.
Episode 8
Another short episode, and one that came after a very long haitus. According to the notes on the Dailymotion archives, the previous episode was released just before the fall.
I DO NOT work well in the Fall and Winter months. Maybe it’s because I was still in school and didn’t have the time, maybe I was sick, maybe I always seemed to have too much on my plate, or maybe I was just lazy. Whatever the case, the Fall and Winter months are always my least productive seasons.
For the first seven episodes, I was writing, filming, editing, and uploading on a monthly basis. Owing to the gap between this episode and the last, I branded this episode as the “season premiere”, complete with new a intro, graphics, and a remixed credit sequence. At this point, episodes were being released at a bi-monthly pace.
Alexander orders Gorus to begin the operation: the invasion of Terra! After the flashy new intro, we are introduced to yet ANOTHER new character, played by Ness, who is practicing his psychic abilities. …I don’t like this guy. Suddenly, he notices a red glow in the distance. Gorus and his troops have arrived on the island.
The next morning, our heroes are flying over the skies of Terra. Skyru and Neo have a conversation on why exactly Neo thinks finding Reycralibur will help him become a knight. When she asks if Neo is afraid of dying, the two are called to the deck by Ridi. On deck, Tyrone and Sally tell their origin story to Opal, completely disregarding every clue that was mentioned about them in the last three episodes.
Ridi asks Neo and Skyru about the beam, the last piece of Reycralibur. Turns out the sword is in bad condition and needs to be repaired.
…Yeah, I know what I ACTUALLY wrote, but I’m not even going to bother recapping this scene properly, because based on what we’ve watched so far, I probably forgot about what really happened, just as I did for episodes three and five. It’s for the best, this was a stupid and pointless plot element that I conceived only to keep the series going. A terrible move, considering I would ultimately lose interest in the series as the years went by.
What wasn’t stupid was the REAL reason for why Kay and Rex stole the ship back in episode six; Kay had traced a tracking bug that allowed Gorus to see and hear everything our heroes were doing. Despite the fact that the ship was using a cloaking device, Gorus was able to send a transmission to our heroes to confirm just that. Already surrounded by Battalion airships, Gorus gives the order for a tractor beam. But Ridi isn’t going down without a fight, and sets the ship to teleport to a random location.
The episode ends with the ship crashing in the backyard of the Ness archetype from earlier. We won’t find out the fate of our heroes until episode ten.
Episode 9
…Because now it’s time for the awesome villain episode, and one of my favorite episodes of the series!
After traveling on foot for the past couple of months, Kay and Rex are finally able to contact headquarters. But instead of an evac, Kay gets…Metal Man! Turns out Xados has no further use for Kay, and he’s sent Metal Man to eliminate him. After Kay manages to defeat him, he decides to go after the 13th Battalion for revenge. But he can’t do it alone.
Kay and Rex travel to a maximum-security site where Cruel Kim is being held. While Rex causes a distraction, Kay breaks Kim out of her cell. After facing down the guards, Rex drops a literal bomb, a flashbomb, and the three escape!
At the end of the episode, Kay, Rex, and Kim travel to Clairfield City to reveal what they know about the 13th Battalion to the Clairfield Knights. However, Kay is unaware that Alexander is his former employer, Xados.
Compared to the episodes that came before and after this one, I had a blast making this side-story. I enjoyed bringing some honest comedy back into the series; no references, no meta-humor, just good-natured fun straight from the heart. The plot was simple enough that it made better use of its short runtime than the previous multi-parters, but I think what I really enjoyed about making this episode was that the cast had started become more bloated as the series rolled on. Even though Kim became a reoccurring character, the episode itself had a smaller cast, so everyone was able to shine for once.
Episode 10
Skyru awakes and finds herself in a strange place. She meets with Aile the Red, who reveals that this is a special place for people like herself to hone their medium abilities. Yep, Aile is psychic…, and psychotic. Another figure approaches, whom we don’t get to see, but Skyru recognizes her…
Neo awakes in one of the Bonus stages-Er, I mean, in a cabin room. After their ship crashed at the end of episode eight, the crew was rescued by their new companion, Betal!
…I REALLY don’t like this guy…
They notice that Ridi isn’t here, so they decide to go look for him. Thus, we cut to the beginning of what would be another great moment in this series: the confrontation between General Gorus and Ridi!
Gorus chastises Ridi for only thinking of vengeance, believing Gorus’ own vengeful actions are for the good of Mon Gunzza, while Ridi’s actions will only do more harm than good. One cheap shot from Ridi, and one of the biggest fights in the series history begins.
The action is set to the awesome boss music from Sonic Rush Adventure. I specifically chose this track because the game had an island adventure motif, and the fight in this episode took place on the battleship. As I was filming this scene, I noticed that the game had started to bug out. I played it off as Ridi’s body straining. In the fight’s climax, Neo jumps in, and the music shifts to the Allegro version as the main protagonist finally faces off with the dragon!
The fight ends when Neo sends Gorus flying into the water. Afterwards, the group agrees to use the radio to send for help, but Gorus is far from finished. If you thought this series couldn’t any more anime-like, BAM! Enter Giant General Gorus! However, Neo isn’t backing down.
“I’m not going anywhere, General!” “On the contrary, you are going somewhere: Hell!”
…Not gonna lie, that was my finest moment.
The final scene in the episode sees Kay, Rex, and Kim travel with Croc and Geckon to Terra in order to capture General Gorus. Unfortunately for anyone who was remotely interested in the series, this episode was the last one to be released before the fall, and you know what that means?
Episode ten would end up being the “mid-season” finale, because I just can’t do anything productive in the winter!
Episode 11
Around the time of episode eleven’s production, I had already finished the episode three remake, but I lost all of my original files. With more than a year off from making episodes, the difference in visual quality between this episode and the previous is very noticeable. For once, an episode was presented in a better frame rate. Though it is sad that I was too lazy to do proper close-up shots.
The series’ presentation has also received yet another overhaul; this marked the point where I phased out the cheap-looking Photoshop logo and stuck to using the Wingdings font. I also ditched the title screen in favor of making the episode title’s display match the episode’s theme.
Episode ten picks up right back were it left off: Neo fighting a Giant General Gorus. Skyru joins in on the fight, while Ridi watches helplessly and the others head to the radio room. Ridi explains that it’s pointless fighting Gorus in his powered-up state as Neo and Skyru simply aren’t strong enough. Ridi believes he’s the only one strong enough to beat Gorus, but Gorus is quick to retort that Ridi’s body has reached its limit.
Feeling cocky, Gorus gives the trio time to rest, knowing that there’s no one that can help them anyways: The 13th Battalion has already begun their invasion of Terra. In the radio room, Betal, in his one good use as a character, uses his psychic powers to boost the radio signal. Miles away, the crew of Kay, Rex, Kim, Croc, and Geckon intercept the signal and proceed full speed ahead.
After Skyru gives a rousing speech about the power of friendship, Gorus ends the break and gives our heroes one last chance to surrender the Miracle Beam. The trio refuses, and for the second time in series history, they fight the enemy together. I really wish most of the fights in the series were like this one.
As the exclamation point on the use of the Blue Dragon music in the series, this final battle is set to “Eternity”. As the battle rages on, the Clairfield crew prepares to arrive on the scene and Aile, who is somehow watching the battle from afar, cheers on Skyru to show Gorus “who he is messing with.”
The final moments of the fight sees “Artemis Skryu Vi Clairfield” mind rape Gorus and send him flying. As the trio collects themselves, Skyru explains that she has recovered her memory after their crash landing, and regained some psychic powers at that. They are then greeted by Kay, who has arrived with the others to collect General Gorus.
The episode ends with Alie commenting on the events with the mysterious stranger from last episode, revealed to be played by…a hacked Samus. Ya see? I was saving the best hacks for last! In retrospective, however, I should have canceled the series here.
Episode 12
I’ve come a LONG way since the first episode, and it really shows in this one. For once, I was able to deliver some proper backstory and exposition that neatly and cleanly summarized Skyru’s role in the series until now, and I got to dabble a bit in special effects for a scene that doesn’t look very epic, but sure as hell felt like it.
While Neo, Ridi, and Skyru (and Rex) decide to head back to Terra, Samuel, Kay and the others meet with Alexander for one final confrontation. Samuel and Kay reveal to Alexander that they know everything and they intend to expose him for what he really is, but the King ain’t having that shit. Weasly reaffirms his, and the loyalty of all Clairfield Knights, to their king. Soon after, the night time sky is lit up by an armada of Skyscratchers (use your imagination) that appear over the stratosphere. One of them fires the opening shot outside the palace.
The war has begun.
Meanwhile, in a quiet remote area, Skyru and Aile introduce Neo and Ridi to none other than “The War Goddess,” Athena.
The three women are all mediums who, despite their name, don’t communicate with the dead. It’s a name they chose to turn off anyone who would try to hunt them down. They do have psychic abilities though, and Athena in particular used her abilities to enhance her crafting game; she was able to turn ANYTHING into a weapon. She wasn’t a real goddess, that just the title she arrogantly gave herself in recognition of her exceptional weapon crafting abilities.
As a notorious blacksmith, Athena’s weapons have been used by many warriors. With her newfound popularity, she contracted a case of delusions of grandeur and believed she really was a goddess. Fueled by her ego, she pushed herself to the limit to craft her most powerful weapon, her Chef-d'œuvre, Reycralibur. This was her sword, and her alone.
As she traveled around the world to hone her crafting game, Athena would befriend Aile and "Artemis”. However, word of her powerful sword caught the word of Alexander, and he would send agents to capture the girl and her sword. Athena would entrust the hilt to Aile and the gem to "Artemis”, but during a scuffle with the 13th, Alexander’s men captured "Artemis”, stole the gem, and locked her away in their headquarters.
For the first time, we see inside the 13th Battalion’s headquarters, which seems to exist in another dimension. In fact, I had planned on this being the case, but I wanted to keep things grounded.
Eventually, "Artemis” managed to escape and leap through a portal to who-knows-where with the 13th in pursuit. She landed in the backyard of Neo, setting the stage for the first episode of Reycralibur. Eleven episodes later, the three mediums are finally reunited and ready to settle the score with Alexander and the 13th Battalion. However, Neo gets a call from Rex: Clairfield City is under attack!
The episode ends with Sally facing off with a 13th solider.
Episode 13
No intro sequence this time; this is a very special episode.
The episode opens with Kay and Croc fighting a pair of Battalion knights, waiting for Neo and the others to arrive with Reycralibur. Speaking of, Mt. Aine is the next destination for the Skyscratcher crew. At last, it’s time to repair the Miracle Beam and restore it to working order. To do this, Neo, Aile, Skyru, and Athena travel to the place where Athena first forged Reycralibur.
Ridi and Rex chat casually back at the ship, remarking about how, since they were both bred as soldiers of the 13th Battalion, they were technically brothers. This tender moment is interrupted by Alexander, who has tracked them down and somehow snuck onto the ship. Don’t worry, I have a proper excuse for this, it’s a lot better than that “Hotspot Portal” bullshit.
As Alexander explained, all of the 13th Battalion soldiers are embedded with a tracking device, Rex never got rid of his and Alexander was able to track him down. As for how he got on-board, in all the chaos back at Clairfield City, Alexander was able to sneak away on a private jet and hunt down Rex. Once he found our heroes Skyscratcher, Alexander snuck in.
Alexander didn’t come alone, however, he brought one of his finest Battalion soldiers and Metal Man. Thus, the pinnacles of perfection went to war against the two rejects.
Back at Clairfield City, everything is falling apart. Weasly breaks into Chief Samuel’s office after taking care of Kim. When Betal stands up to him, Weasly acts quickly against the psychic boy and kills him.
Yes, I did indeed kill off Betal, because he outlived his purpose like almost half the characters in this show. This was one of the reasons why I was demotivated to continue the series; it had way too many characters than I knew what to do with. So, with the series coming to an end anyways, I killed him off.
Enraged with grief, Opal fires a fully charged blast at Weasly, but he deflects it right back at Opal, knocking her out. Chief Samuel is then taken into custody.
Tyrone and Sally hide out in a restaurant; they reunite with a friendly face in Geckon. Geckon reveals to the two that the Clairfield Knights themselves are caught in a civil war, between those who serve Alexander and those who wish to protect the people. He fears this will be the end of the Knights as we know it, but Sally cheers Geckon up by saying as long as knights like him continue to fight, their memory will be preserved. Wishing he shared the sibling's optimism, Geckon departs.
Not long after, tear gas fills the room. Even General Gorus is shocked at what just happened. Geckon comments that he “always knew he had a thing for showbiz”.
Back at Mt. Aine, Athena introduces the new and improved Neo. On cue, Neo transforms into a super form: Athena has merged Neo’s sword with Reycralibur. As an after effect, every time Neo uses the sword, he transforms into this form.
I had a lot of fun writing this episode, and I’m grateful that my skills in this game have evolved to the point where I was able to execute a scene like this that wouldn’t be possible without hacks. This is why I regret quitting the series two years after I finished this episode.
The celebration is cut short when Neo receives a call from Alexander; all his friends have been defeated. He instructs Neo to meet him at the base of the mountain with Reycralibur, or he will kill everyone. The episode, and the series, ends with Neo making a call back to episode eight, all while the screen fades to black and episode’s title appears in blue text.
Neo is not afraid of dying, he’s afraid of killing someone.
In retrospective, that was a dick move on my part to end an already dark episode like this and then cancel the series. I basically pulled a Mainframe: You know? Like how ReBoot ended?
