Sector 21: Ready Player One

Camleen

I'm going to be my own kind of princess
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Genres
In no particular order: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, Magical, Romance, anime, comic books, cartoons, video games..
Sector 21: Archaide and Syrinx

Archaide is a planet in the OASIS with a barren surface comprised of vector graphics (an old style of video game graphics used in the 80's to give a three dimensional effect to a game). The planet is in perpetual darkness and some of the only surface features are a large volcano (which stays to the north no matter where you are) and multiple entrances to the inner parts of the planet. The inside of the planet is mostly comprised of vintage arcade cabinets. Some OASIS users have come to the planet and have coded their childhood arcade gaming spots within Archaide. To navigate the inner parts of the planet a user has to go through different levels seemingly arranged by the age of the systems. Starting closest to the surface are the newest Cabinets and then the farther you go the older the games are. At the center are the games Tennis for Two and Space War!.
Technology and Magic are permitted in this part of the Sector.

=======================================================================================

Syrinx: A recreation of the world that is featured in the 1976 Rush album "2112". It was considered an experimental album, the album itself telling a tale of a dystopian future of the year 2112. The name of the OASIS planet is tribute to the second song on the first side of the album: 'The Temples of Syrinx'.
And the meek shall inherit the earth...

We've taken care of everything
The words you hear, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It's one for all, all for one
We work together, common sons
Never need to wonder how or why

We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls

Look around this world we made
Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the brotherhood of man
Oh what a wide contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the red star proudly high in hand

We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls
 
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Herak laughed as Jerick-o points out he goofed.

"Sorry Jerick-o, Mind not on the trip but on the destination "

Herak's mind was indeed involved in the end of the journey so to speak. He was the least technologically experienced. That being said, he was an experienced and capable fighter. He went over to his assigned pod and spent the journey thinking about what might be effective combat techniques. He also took an in flight nap. Waking during the landing it was surprisingly soft. He hopped out, quickly taking his position in the designated formation.

His senses were open now, thoroughly taking in the surrounding area with his senses.
His new tech bow in hand, his new suit's sensor system up and running.
 
So far as speeches go, Jerick-O had to admit Damagi's was one of the more honest and straightforward he's stood through. Some of his clients had put together teams and made a speech that was all meandering bluster assuring success. Still those were better than the ones that bombed. If you bomb a speech as team leader, you might as well tell everyone to pack up. He especially liked there was a desertion clause/threat in there. You would like to look around and say nobody here seemed the cut and run type, but you could be very wrong and at the worst time. While he listened, he also equipped his God of War Armor and got to the pod he'd been assigned. He was thankful Damagi was right in her estimation he was big, but not too big to fit inside when it came time to blast off.

During the trip, the Gargoyle's player took the opportunity to get a couple energy drinks from his hotel mini fridge, and do some stretches while the motion-match was off on his avatar. He wanted to be limber, and alert. This mission was entering uncharted territory; there was everything to gain and lose by the end of it. There could be no slouching or cramps here.

The player is ready to go moments before their pods land. The Gargoyle climbs out of his pod and equips an M60 while walking behind Iria, covering her while she deploys her Artemis to survey the landscape. He doesn't allow himself to be taken in by the beautifully dark design of the jungle. He has the M60 loaded, shouldered and ready for action with his eye down the sights. He does smile at W3ndy's remark. "Understood, but no promise I won't blow it's head off. We're shooting to kill after all."
 
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The moment their pods broke the atmosphere of Yautja Prime the OASIS detected and collected each of their invites. It then, based on their collective stats from levels to current equipment, creates a Yautja just for them. It spawns far away from their landing zone, just in time to hear those pods hit the ground off in the distance. He whips his head in that direction, makes a trilling growl with the mandibles beneath his mask, and takes off after his quarry.

At the landing site Damagi climbs out of her pod with her Displacer Glove and Paladin Toaster ready. She hops in place, tries to activate her Ki Flight but finds just as she’d thought, it was inactive. The Saiyan only smirks and looks around at their surroundings. The sheer mountains towering over them told her this was a jungle ravine they’d landed in. Beautiful to behold. The devs had really put their art in this place. But such a location was not good for them.

“First order of business, we gotta get out of this killzone to high ground.” Damagi says to the others gesturing around them “We’re in a ravine. Means that Yautja could see us from way more angles right now.” She snaps her fingers at Iria. “Iria, plot us a course to high ground. Everyone else form up into a diamond around her.” She points at Herak and Jerick-O. “You two front and back.” Then to Dante “You stay next to Iria.” And finally to W3ndy “You and me, we take the sides of the diamond.”

images
 
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Iria’s masked eyes are still looking down at her gauntlet, sifting through all of the data being relayed to her through Artemis. The droid rises to nearly 70 feet over their heads, to high for the group to hear him ‘talking’, but Iria is able to hear him through their link. Her free hand taps and types quickly on her gauntlet, her mind racing right now.

It’s invigorating.

“+Yep!+” she exclaims as Damagi gives her orders. Looking up from her gauntlet, she surveys the area around them. It is indeed beautiful, and they are indeed inside of the killbox. “+Note to self, work on getting navigation upgrades for Saiyan Pods.+” she utters softly as she looks down once more. She kind of thinks the point of a Saiyan Pod isn’t elegance or tact. It’s about dropping the bombs that are Saiyans in the middle of whatever needs to be conquered, and the faster they move the better. The more intimidating their arrival. So navigation and scouting are probably low on the list of priorities for such a craft. Because if it was, she would have picked a better place to land them.

“+Come on buddy. Show me the way home.+”
she says softly to herself as she turns in a little circle, as the group forms up around her. Up she looks then ahead of them, and then behind them. “+hnnnn+” she now turns fully towards the south, and she points with her free hand. “+Best chance.. eye em oh.. is that direction. There are some thick trees for hidey hides, but the cliffs are pretty sheer.+” She looks towards Damagi as now Artemis begins to move in that direction far above their heads. “+Should make it harder form them to scale down towards us. There’s a winding path about 10 minutes away, we just have to follow the stream!+” Now she starts to move, drawing her pink pistol of mass death. Which is her name for it, it’s really just a defensive phaser weapon. She continues to watch her gauntlet as she moves with the team. “+Artemis, long range terrain scan and download please. Thanks, sweety.+” She has a pretty close relationship to all of her ‘companions’. They might not even be real, but they feel real to her. Their friendship feels real to her.
 
Dante was a little hesitant stepping out of the saiyan pod. He had to admit that he was feeling a little nervous about this mission. The predators were the most efficient killers in the sci-fi genre and they were facing AI ment to exhibit that.

Dante stretched as he got out of the pod. It was a bitnof a rough landing but he survived. Dante chuckled a bit at Wendy's remark. "Damn here I was hoping I would get to say it. Ah well. Let's focus on surviving first."

Dante did find it weird that Damagi wanted Dante close to Iria in the center. Was it because he was a partial healer like her? Dante wasn't used to being ordered around but he felt that it was best to not argue with Damagi. He had already stepped on her toes once.

Dante pulled out his battle rifle and set his helmet to read thermal imagery. The predators were supposedly warm blooded so perhaps using their own style of sight against them might give them an edge. "I don't see anything in the trees, though that doesn't mean much... Ok let's catch us a predator."

Dante would move out in the formation that Damagi ordered.
 
W3NDY_WREKKER


"Right, survive first, gloat later." W3ndy says and, looking around at all the gadgets the others had, feels under-equipped. She'd only gotten this stealth suit and lightsaber, when there had to be some kind of goggles or helmet like Dante's in Damagi's armory. In fact she was almost certain there was. She admonishes herself silently while forming up as per Damagi's orders. She takes the side of the diamond formation next to Dante. She clips the lightsaber to her belt and equips a serrated machete as it looks like they were going to be going into and through the thick jungle. Using a lightsaber for cutting brush seemed kinda dumb to her.

"Ya know," W3ndy says looking up into the trees at first, then forward and down. " in that Predators movie, those fellas came across traps made by others trapped on the planet. Ya'll think this planet keeps any traps set down, or resets and wipes them out too?" She asks thinking back to that movie. "I know magic and all don't work here, but anybody else got like a non-magic Detect Trap thing? Don't wanna have come all this way to get zeroed out by some pungi stakes or a swinging log."
 
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Herak

The big hero settles into the lead position of the diamond.He is now armed with the tech bow. In some ways though, it is not foremost in his thoughts. His mind is preoccupied with surveying his surroundings. Searching for signs of the predators, their traps and traps made by their previous victims.

Ears listening for movement. Remembering the possibility of decoy or distraction animals. Dangerous in their own right, but not the primary danger.
 
"Gotcha." Jerick-O readies his rifle and takes up the rear of the diamond as the group proceeds out of the killzone. Those had been his first thoughts as well when he looked around to assess their tactical position, so Damagi really knew her stuff. The gargoyle deploys his own small drone, and has it scan the area at his/their back and keeps his eyes peeled on the feed in his HUD.

He had to put in a suggestion that comes to mind when W3ndy makes the suggestion they should watch out for any traps as well as their quarry. Traps weren't in his repetoire, normally that was in the skillset for the player he was paid to escort and assist. But you can still pick up some knowledge to use outside the skillset of The OASIS.

"Slow down a step, pick up anything near you and toss it about a foot ahead, pick it up again and repeat. That should have a chance to trigger any ground traps. As for anything not on the ground, just got to be vigilant. Feel anything tug on your leg, chop it off immediately." Jerick-O suggests to the others. "If memory serves, in that Predators move there was a deadfall trap, a stake launcher, and one of those um...human mouse traps things. You know they spring up and spike you into the ground? Yeah that thing." He picks up a fist-sized rock, and hefts it over the heads of his teammates into the path they're following to try and trigger any traps lying in wait.

Was a fat chance, but a chance was a chance.
 
"Human mouse trap thing?" Damagi asks as she is also confused as to what else that is called, if another name exists. "Yeah I know what you mean." Damagi hears that rock soar through the air, and thinks Well that's just stupid.

Yet the rock hits something with just enough force to spring a trap, just as he had inferred it could. It dislodges a thick wooden stake, which sets off a chain reaction heard as a series of snapping that travels up the hill. Everyone hears two seconds of silence before they see and hear a huge log come rolling down the hill, demolishing the thick foliage which had concealed it further up the path. Gravity brings it rolling down very fast.

On reflex, Damagi raises her right hand to blast this log into nothing with one Ki Blast as it comes barreling down on them. Only for nothing to happen, because she had forgotten in that same moment that Ki doesn't work here.

"Shit!" She exclaims and uses her powerful legs to leap over the log.

Will someone else try to leap over the log? Or stop it with brute force? Or will some have moved fast enough to be out of its wake, but off the trail they were blazing?
 
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“Dunno if there’s such a thing as non-magic trap detecting thingies. But if I could use my magic, I prolly could come up with something.” Iria says softly as she walks with the group, her eyes down on her gauntlet. She doesn’t really pay attention to what Jerick-O says… its not that she isn’t interested in his opinion or his idea… her mind is merely on the readouts her droid is showing. She holsters her blaster, wanting to focus.

The circular droid continues to scan all around them, watching for anything out of the ordinary as it leads the group. Iria glances up every once in a while as the group moves, and then down to her gauntlet.

And then things happen very quickly.

Just as Jerick-O tosses that rock… Artemis the droid spins towards what would be considered the north. Iria stops as she sees 3 of the sensor readings spike. “Heeeeeeey we got somethin… an energy surge.” And just as she says that… the large log is suddenly careening their way. A burst of blue energy emerges from somewhere in the trees… and the little droid is hit squarely near its eye. Iria looks up and yells “Artemis!” as the droid explodes, and what’s left of it turns to pixels that dissipate.

Iria panics as the log now comes straight for them, she is barely aware enough to look towards it. She draws her hands back, intending to summon to take care of it. Buuuuuuuuut Damagi’s failed attempt to help reminds her that she isn’t summoning a darn thing.

Iria whimpers loudly as she dashes towards the log. Iria isn’t nearly as good in combat as Damagi, but over their time together as partners Damagi has taught her a few things.

When you’re scared, when your heart is hurting, when you’re in danger and those around you are in danger, run towards that thing that seeks to destroy you and deal with it. Swallow your fear, face it head on.

She lets out a shout as she leaps also, almost in the exact fashion Damagi is. But… Iria isn’t Damagi. She is able to mostly clear the log, but her feet are clipped as she does so. She loses some HP right away, and lands in a tumble, letting out a series of soft cries and whimpers. She rolls to her feet and starts to run… she just runs. She doesn’t have a plan as yet.. but that doesn’t matter.

She is suddenly to the left of the path they were taking, and she comes to a stumbling slowing pace as she turns around to see where everyone is. She hears something crack… and as she looks down she lets out a scream, and she is gone. The ground under her seems to have just broken, and Iria falls into a pit easily 20 feet deep and just wide enough for 2 or 3 people. She lands hard at the bottom, and just lays there. The greenish glow of her helmet’s eyes flicker and fade as she lays there…
 
Dante listened to Wendy as she asked about some way to detect traps without magic. "Well my helmet can be tuned to detecting electrical pulses so if it has a power source I can see it. Though i feel these traps are more analog. Barbarians in DnD have something called danger sense where they can see if stuff is coming, but that doesn't really help. We just need to be observant of our surroundings..."

Dante finished his statement as he heard Iria state she was picking something up. In that moment everything went to hell in a matter of seconds. Jerrick-O triggering the log trap and Iria losing her robot seemed to put everyone into fight or flight mode.

Dante saw the log trap come down the hill and watched as Damagi and Iria attempted to use their powers to solve the problem. Here their previous reliance on their magic and Ki would be a crutch. For Dante he would not face such an issue yet. Dante only had a few seconds to react. He chose to dash immediately to the left of him where Wendy was. He moved his arm around her waist and activated the jet boots on his guardian outfit. they didn't offer flight, but an increase of movement speed. He was able to barely get Wendy out of the way of the log. Though he caught his ankle on the trap and had it roll over his right foot. Dante yelled in pain as his suit mimic the injury to a lesser extent. He would take damage and his movement would be reduced until he shot himself with a stimpack or took time to treat it. He had landed on top of Wendy as his face was inches from hers. He digistructed the mask to reveal his face. "Well shit... if we make it out of this alive I'm killing Jerrick-O."

Dante would get up and pulled Wendy up with him, Dante would limp as he aimed his battle rifle towards the trees and re-equipped his helmet. He switched the sensor to pick up electrical energy pulses. If it had a power source it should be seen with his helmet. The eyes of his helmet glowed blue. "Shit... we need to make sure we stay with the others. We are going to survive this."
 
W3NDY_WREKKER


"Ummm..wow..that all happened real fast." W3ndy looks up into Dante's face holding her machete to her chest. This was one of those rare times the meekness of W3ndy's player shows through in combat; she had clammed up and held that machete close instead of jumping out of the way at the first sight of a large log rolling downhill towards her. As if that would have afforded her some protection.

Back on her feet, she gives Dante a "Thanks" and swaps out the machete for the lightsaber, ignites it to be ready for if there were another blast from the Predator. It's green hum may make her the most visible target, but she is kinda counting on it. One can only hope since it was an energy weapon, then the lightsaber would be able to deflect it. W3ndy inches side-steps close to the pit where Iria has fallen in, and has to keep herself from looking down or even jumping down.

"Iria? Iria you okay?" W3ndy calls down the pit. "Dante, those jetboots, can they help you get her out of there?"
 
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Herak

Being in front meant Herak didn't have much time to avoid being squashed by the thundering log. Luckily there was a tree branch above him. He leapt vertically for it. Success!, unluckily just as the log was rolling under him, the branch snapped. He bounced off the top of the rolling log only to land face down.

He rolled to his feet, senses keen for enemies. He moved carefully over near the pit, his energy bow out trying to provide cover for his team. He would have some nasty bruises on his behind.. Really more embarrassing than real damage.
 
The moment he hears that first snap, Jerick-O feels pleasantly surprised his simple trick had actually worked. Then there are many more afterwards, and the very large log that comes down the steep hill .

It was in that moment that Jerick-O knew, he had fucked up.

The Gargoyle jumps off from the ground and flaps his wings to get just enough lift to avoid the log, and then a sudden blast of blue energy destroys Iria's drone; it gives him a general direction to shoot. He unloads with the M60 in mid-air at that direction to at least make the Predator refrain from firing a second time immediately and change position. The bullets shred up foliage and gut some thinner trees, but Jerick-O knows he doesn't hit anything else.

"Sorry! My bad!" He says to the others upon touching down. "Hey Iria! Don't run-Shit! Player down! Player down!" Jerick-O says first trying to warn Iria to not run away because there might be more traps around, then swearing when she falls down a trap hole. He runs over and peers down.

"Whoa! Damn lucky the bottom's not covered in pungi stakes. Small favors." Jerick-O says thinking aloud. He looks over and around at the others. "One of you smaller ones will have to get down and get her. Herc and I are too big for this hole." He levels the M60 and pans around. "I got you covered. For now..."
 
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Damagi flips in the air and lands on her feet, rounding on the general direction where that energy attack originatedm, and Jerick-O shoots. Her fists go up.

"Iria! You alright?" She asks looking aside at where Iria would have been when she cleared the log.

"Iria!" Damagi instead witnesses Iria fall into a pit, and runs there. Jericko-O's suggestion is barely done before the small Saiyan jumps down into said hole, landing next to her prone friend. The OASIS had temporarily shut down most of Iria's audio and visual feed to simulate being unconcious.

"Alright buddy, getting you outta here!" Damagi hoists Iria up and holds her tight by the waist. Ki didn't work here, but thankfully a Saiyan was naturally stronger in all respects than more humanoid avatars, which allows Damagi to leap up at great speed even with Iria's added weight. The sudden rush of movement may also be all that's needed to bring her avatar back to conciousness.

She sticks the landing, and sets Iria down on the ground before getting into Team Leader mode.

"Barbie! Get here and get some traps up!Something to make him regret pulling that crap again!" Damagi yells looking around at W3ndy.

"Dante! Tell me you got eyes on him!?" She asks of Dante.

===============

The Predator evades the hail of gunfire aimed at his direction by leaping through the trees first then dropping down to the jungle floor. His sensors pick up the voices of all his quarry. The trap had not scattered them as he liked. They were all mostly together.

Except that male and female pair. They were somewhat seperated. And the male...his helmet switched modes to detect that that one was wearing something similar to its own technology. Which meant that one was most likely to see him, if he hadn't already been spotted. The female wields an energy sword. Curious. Was it capable of deflecting his plasma blasts? Was she capable of such a feat?

Only one way to know....

Another blast of plasma erupts from the dark of the jungle, headed right for the girl, and the Predator runs for cover.
 
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How could she have been so stupid.
How could she have been so… arrogant.


She had thought… with her analyzing and studying the subjects of the Predators, and studying what has been revealed so far in the OASIS, that she was ready for anything. She had thought herself so clever. Like she had thought of everything. And not a half hour in, she’s already become the weakest link.

Again.

At the bottom of the pit she lays, unmoving.

But in the world of the ‘real’, its quite different. A young woman in a dark room is screaming in panic as her displays go dark, as her interfaces are all offline. She slips her goggles off and throws them at the display in front of herself in anger. Slumping down in the very comfortable chair, she whimpers as she slips her dark rimmed glasses off. She was dead. Rather, Iria was dead. Rather, the Iria in the OASIS is dead. The last thing she remembers is seeing her little Artemis dusted, and then she started to fall… and then… nothing.

She was zeroed out, she knows it. Why did she ever talk Damagi into this? She now scratches her arm with her fingernails, leaving coarse red marks on her skin. Damagi is probably cursing at her. W3ndy is probably gloating. Dante is probably glad that his stalker in the making is gone. Herk is focused on keeping the others safe, now that he has one less worry. And Jerick-O is probably ready to fight, to go after the Predators.

The young Korean girl sniffles loudly as she sits there, for what seems an eternity. An eternity of sorrow and anger. She’s going to have to start over. She’ll just avoid Damagi, and the others in the group they had just put together. Maybe she’ll go with a different avatar, skill set. Maybe even get into 5P1D3R’s

It may seem like an eternity, but in reality it wasn’t even a minute. But in her mind, it might as well have been an eternity.

She looks up as she slips her glasses back on, her lower lip still trembling. She looks at her display, looking for the ‘quit’ button. It always comes up when a player is zeroed out. She mutters softly to herself as she looks for it, seeing nothing of the sort. And then on her small external speaker, a kind voice is heard. A tender, yet deep tone.

~Ready player one~

Her eyes widen as she snaps her gaze to her goggles, and she struggles for a moment to get out of her comfy chair. She practically trips over about everything around her getting to her goggles, almost falling on them. She lifts them up and looks at the display inside… a countdown!

“AAAAAH! HAAAA!” she cries out at the top of her lungs, and then flinches as she looks towards the closed door of her room. She looks back to the visor as she gets to her feet, slipping it over her head. The countdown is almost up, her system informing her that she is being put back online in a moment. She blindly makes her way back to her chair and flops down in it, slipping her gloves on. She braces her legs against the front of her chair as the counter gets to ‘zero’.



A moment or so after she is set down, Iria suddenly bolts upright, her arms flailing. +Ah!+ She cries out, looking around herself. +Hey I got myself out!+ She says loudly and proudly… and then sees Damagi standing right next to her. +Oh, oh whoops no I didn’t…+ She smiles meekly under her helmet, and in the real world she is just beaming as he watches Damagi. She slowly pushes herself to her feet +Sorry sorry I’m so sorry I wasn’t paying attention!+ Even if she was, there was really no way she was going to avoid that. She looks around the group, towards the perimiter… and then of course notices her HP. Oi it’s half gone. Already it’s half gone. And she can’t heal herself, only other people. So she’ll just have to deal with it.

That’s one of the tradeoffs for her type of healer. She is more powerful than most healer classes, but in exchange she can only heal other players. Which she’s fine with.

She takes a deep breath under her helmet, and now she draws her pink pistol. She holds it down at her side as she looks towards her gauntlet’s display. She still has the readings from Artemis saved. She can’t respawn him yet, she’ll have to wait till tomorrow. She looks in the direction of the trees, just as the blast comes from said trees. She doesn’t move or anything, to focused on her readings. Of course it’s not even aiming near her, so she’ll be fine.

Probably.

+I think it wants us to chase it… those trees are prime hunting grounds…+
She blinks under her helmet, and turns once more in a slow circle. +Damagi, maybe we should head for the trees.+ She looks towards Damagi out of the corner of her helmet lenses +They use trees to move above the ground, to get the higher ground. But we have someone just as good, if not better, that can do that.+ She points to Jerick-O +If we head into the trees, it’ll be cover for us as long as we have at least one scout up in the trees themselves. Or we can head towards the cliffs.+ She points in the direction of just left of the treeline +It’ll reduce his maneuverability, and there wouldn’t be many places for him to hide.+

She only offers suggestions, she’s no good at making actual decisions. Especially after she embarrassed herself so badly. But as she falls silent… the group seems to be suddenly surrounded.

Shimmering into existence, 10 more Yautja. They all wear very very similar armor, but different colors. They all hold long spears, each of them growling lowly as they surround the group. They don’t move in, they just remain there. Should one of them be attacked, the targeted Yautja will simply evade and not counter attack. They all look identical, save for the coloring of their helmets. They are completely surrounded, save for a gap that leads to the forest.

Iria looks slowly from one to the other, keeping her weapon lowered. +This.. doesn’t make sense..+ She speaks as she glances towards her party. +They’re not sposed to work like this… they’re supposed to be just individual hunts, not group hunts. And they all shouldn’t have the same style helmet... like… like they’re some kinda… weird military group…. that all wear the same armor… except for lil colors. Which is just dumb..+ She then happens to glance down at herself, remembering she is wearing Stormtrooper armor +….. Fiddlesticks.+