Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sarah Joins A Fite Club - Part One

(I was intrigued by Deleter's idea of a "Fite Club" that allows for the writing of action scenes without it being life and death or requiring 50 pages of plot or whatever. I decided to try my hand at one with a different setting, cast, and rules to Del's. In particular, the club is based on a favorite game of mine - one that is very 90s - and it's also based on professional wrestling, another fun 90s thing. I hope this isn't ripping you off or anything, Del. If you'd prefer I didn't make my own version of a fite club I'll just make this a standalone thing and try something else come the actual RP.)

-The Streets of Manhattan-

Sarah's large blue eyes darted back and forth nervously, her small body cowering under a large white umbrella. This was a fairly rough part of the city, but Widow Maker's directions claimed her destination was nearby.

There.

Widow Maker stood , one claw shielding her eyes as she scanned the street. Her bulbous eyes alit on Sarah, and she brightened.

"There you are. What kept you?"

"I was just going slowly. I didn't want to get lost."

Widow Maker nodded. "Understandable. Maybe I should've escorted you. Ah well. C'mon in."

The mantis opened the door.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Zoofights Needs More Prehistoric Animals

So I just got done watching Walking With Monsters. You've probably heard of Walking With Dinosaurs, the famous documentary that used computer animation to bring dinosaurs to life. Walking With Monsters is a prequel that details what life was like before the dinosaurs.

Zoofights has featured prehistoric animals before, especially in Zoofights 4 which was roughly half extinct species, and even used one just last year (Murducken), but the ancient past is a rich mine indeed for interesting creatures that could be fitted with various weapons, enhancements, and muscle-bound limbs and sent into battle.

Anomalocaris


This is probably as far back into the past as we could possibly go for new Zoofighters. Anomalocaris lived during the Cambrian period, half a billion years ago. It's an absolutely ancient creature that has no relatives living today. It is believed Anomalocaris could reach six feet in length - small for a zoofighter, but perhaps a genetically enlarged one or a swarm of them could make an impact.

Opabinia


And you thought Anomalocaris looked bizarre. Add three more eyes and change those spiked tentacles to a flexible arm with a spiked claw on the end and you get Opabinia. Sadly, you also have to vastly shrink him down to a size completely unusable for Zoofights. Fire up the growth ray, folks.

Pterygotus


There was a whole family of sea-scorpions once. These relatives of modern scorpions were the biggest, strongest creatures on earth when they first evolved. At a length of eight feet, this is one scorpion that didn't need any poison to survive.

Brontoscorpio


It's a damn crime we still haven't had a scorpion zoofighter. Oh sure, every so often a scorpion tail gets stitched on here or there, but never a full-on scorpion getting in there and kicking some ass. While there's no need to time travel for a scorpion, and Brontoscorpio isn't big enough to be used without a growth hormone or something (about three feet), can you resist anything whose name translates to "THUNDER SCORPION"?

Dunkleosteus


DAMN, SON, LOOK AT THIS BADASS MOTHERFUCKER. 30 FEET LONG. 80,000 TONS OF BITE STRENGTH. I CAN'T BELIEVE MAJOR FAILURE-


Never mind.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Origins

-OCTOBER 15-
Project 27 died on us today after showing early promise. The lungs gave out after it grew to half its adult size. Back to the drawing board.

-OCTOBER 16-
We are still working on enhancing the genetic code. I have a feeling that Project 28 could be the one.

-OCTOBER 17-
Project 28 was born today. Early brain scans detected extremely powerful activity. If these scans hold true, 28 will surpass our wildest expectations for intelligence.

-OCTOBER 20-
We began to test Project 28 directly today. It passes with flying colors. Memory, logic, even a strong grasp of understanding language... some on the team express belief that 28 may be capable of speech.

-OCTOBER 26-
It can speak.

And it's on to us.

-OCTOBER 27-
We succeeded in sedating 28 and put it in storage to await augmentation. Some of the team say it's dangerous to keep 28, but it is proving to be such a success that I dearly hesitate to start anew, not when we're so close. 28 has been placed in the Accelerated Growth Chamber to get to the adult stage quickly.

-NOVEMBER 22-
Project 28 has been fully augmented and has reached the adult stage. Soon we unleash it, and prove our mettle.

-JULY 20-
Scheduling for the first match is underway. We are confident Project 28 can overcome the poorly-made experiments the other teams bring to the table.

-AUGUST 8-
That was a disaster. Project 28 is gone... and so is its first opponent. Moments before the match was due to begin, both of them vanished without a trace. What a waste of time...

Some of the team say "good riddance" though. They claimed Project 28 was not only aware of what we were making it do, but it wasn't happy and it wanted out. Normally I'd dismiss such ridiculous notions, but those brain scans... perhaps it was for the best after all.

-----

-OCTOBER 15-
We're in danger of falling behind schedule. The next tournament requires signups in less than seven months and we haven't moved past the planning stages. The team seems conflicted over which direction to take. Personally, my mind keeps wandering back to Project 28. The more I think about it, the more I can't help but imagine what we could have done with it.

The potential...

-OCTOBER 25-
We started work by modifying a rhinoceros, but I have to admit that my heart isn't in it. I still think of Project 28. This rhino is powerful, especially with the muscly arms, but he's such a dullard. If only Project 28 had understood the glory of being a Zoofighter.

-OCTOBER 29-
Harrumph. I suggested we try to recreate Project 28, and the others turned me down. Said I was crazy for wanting "that thing" back. The fools. Brawn only takes you so far. If you don't have any proper tactics, all is lost. Mark my words, the next Zoofights champion will be a creature that won with smart thinking, not by blundering into battle with arms a-flailing.

-NOVEMBER 4-
I have decided to part with my former colleagues. They don't share my vision any more.

I will bring back Project 28 all by myself. Then they'll see.

-NOVEMBER 9-
My first attempt at recreating Project 28 didn't go over well. But I'm not going to euthanize it. It still has potential. Perhaps as an ally for 28, or I could keep it as a guard dog of sorts. It can certainly fight.

-DECEMBER 13-
Nothing's working. I'm getting frustrated. Perhaps 28 was a one-off, a freak accident. Perhaps 28 could never be recreated.

There has to be a way... Maybe...

-DECEMBER 14-
I can't believe my good fortune! My equipment detected some leftover energy from the incident last summer in the arena. I've gathered up what I could and am studying it to see if I can trace its origin.

-DECEMBER 31-
It appears that Project 28 and that fish were sent to another dimension. If only I could travel through dimensions...

-OCTOBER 2-
I've been working nonstop on a way to harness this warp energy, and I think I've made a breakthrough. The pack is a tad bulky, but if it can send me on the trail of Project 28, I don't mind.

-DECEMBER 27-
This is it. I've worked out the coordinates. I hope this works.

-----
 
VVVVVVVVVVVRRRRROP

The Manhattan back-alley was engulfed in smoke. A nearby stray cat yowled and dashed away in surprise as the smoke billowed outward. In the center of the cloud, a figure stood, moving its head from side to side to get a look at its surroundings. Slowly it strode into the street, looking around and realizing the jump had been a success. Sine X. Cosine would no doubt be amused - this primitive device could only jump between two dimensions, and it was anything but stealthy thanks to the smoke cloud and drawn-out jump noise. Still, it worked for what it needed to do. A simple round-trip affair.

The figure produced a small handheld device that scanned the surrounding area for a trace of Project 28's DNA. Nothing was found.

Except.

Outside that weird-looking closed-up tavern a block away, there was a response. It wasn't a big enough response to be 28, but it could be a valuable clue all the same. The figure approached the bar and found a grasshopper near the door, bitten in half and preserved from the cold.

No doubt about it. It had been here.

Now it was time to lie in wait. Project 28 would be back. He could feel it.

"Project 28...

It's time to come back home."

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Reincarnation Karma Strikes Again


 "Hail, biological flesh forms. I am Vdrizen, serial number...

What are you all laughing about?"

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Glossary of Magic (SARAH USES LIFE)

This post is for reference - both myself and others - concerning the many magic spells Sarah and Celestia have used. I also wanted a place to provide details on Sarah's magic, such as situations where she can't revive people.

CELESTIA'S BLACK MAGIC

Aero – A low-level wind magic spell.

Blizzard, Blizzara, and Blizzaga – Ice spells.

Break – Petrifies the enemy, turning them to stone. Hilariously unlikely to actually work.

Fire, Fira, and Firaga – Fire spells.

Flare – A powerful non-elemental spell. Celestia will sometimes combine Flare with an elemental spell to create her own version of Sarah’s Judgement Bolt.

Haste – Boosts the speed of the target.

Quake – Creates a disruption in the earth. The power of the spell can be adjusted by the caster, depending on whether they want to dig a small hole or bury an enemy.

Temper – Boosts the physical strength of the target. Aside from its obvious uses in combat, Temper can also be used to lift or move heavy objects by strengthening the people moving it.

Thunder, Thundara, and Thundaga – Electricity spells. Sarah can also cast these if she's holding Thor's Hammer.

Warp – Identical to Sarah’s Exit spell.

SARAH'S WHITE MAGIC

Blink, Invis, and Invisira – These spells make the target invisible to the naked eye. Blink only works on the user. Invis works on one target. Invisira acts on everyone in a small area around the caster.

Cure, Cura, and Curaga – Heals the target. Cure fixes minor cuts and scrapes, Cura can handle bigger wounds, and Curaga is for heavy-duty injuries.

Dia, Diara, and Diaga – These spells heavily damage the undead and demonic, but don’t work at all on normal living things. Sarah will sometimes use Dia to check for dark taint, or she'll take advantage of the sparkles her healing and Dia spells make and use it as a signal, like a road flare.

Esuna, Poisona, and Stona – Esuna helps relieve the target of any negative afflictions like burns and hangovers. Poisona only works on poisonings, and Stona only works on petrification. Even when not afflicted, or if the status cannot be cured by Esuna, casting Esuna will still help reduce fevers and calm the target.

Exit – Allows Sarah to jump from one location to another. Unlike the more well-known Sifter used by Sine and Zephyrus, Exit is extremely limited – the user can only jump a short distance (about a mile maximum) and cannot cross dimensions or travel through time. This also means there's no Bleed disruption or dimension-twisting or Jumpropeman aggravating.

Float – Allows for brief, semi-controlled flight. Lasts for about two minutes, and can be called off early. Can be cast on other objects for a sort of telekinesis.

Holy and Holyja – A very strong offensive attack that deals loads of damage to anything weak against holy magic.

Life (aka Raise) – Alongside the Cure family and Holy, this is Sarah's most frequently-used spell. If it works, Life calls the target's soul back into their corpse, allowing them to live again.

Mini – Shrinks the target to one fourth of their usual size. Effect lasts a few hours, and is much more likely to succeed if the target wishes to be shrunk (because otherwise we would win every fight by making Sarah cast Mini on the bad guys).

NulFire, NulShock, and NulBlaze – These spells form a protective barrier against fire, electricity, and ice, respectively. The barriers can be kept up for a long time unless under extreme stress (such as a constant, unyielding flamethrower attack).

Protect and Shell – Protect creates a shield that can withstand weak-to-medium physical blows. Shell wards off magic attacks. Like the Nul spells, they can be kept up with minimal effort as long as nothing is actively attacking, but once under pressure Sarah has to drop the shield before long.

Silence – If successful, renders the target unable to speak, also preventing magic casting and speechcraft. An extreme, desperate effort can break through the spell.

MANA

Sarah and Celestia's magic runs off of an inner energy force called mana (similar to but not the same as the power of the earth Gamera draws from). If either of them is out of mana, their spells will fail and useless sparks will shoot from their hands when they try to cast magic anyway.

Mana is recovered by drinking an Ether potion or by sleeping. A bottle of Ether restores a fair amount of mana, and a good night's sleep fully replenishes it.

CASTING MULTIPLE SPELLS

Both Sarah and Celestia can "dual-wield" spells, but only in certain circumstances. Sarah can cast one spell from her body and a Thunder spell from Thor's Hammer, but she can't do two Holy spells or two Curaga spells at once. Celestia can use two elemental spells at once if she has her staff, or one elemental spell and one additional spell.

Sarah can keep one of her shielding spells up while casting other magic (even if she decides to use Judgement Bolt), but it's weaker and easier to break if she does this.

REVIVAL LIMITATIONS

There are certain situations where Sarah cannot heal or revive a character.

-The body is chopped up into many pieces
-The body has burnt up or disintegrated
-The body is not physically present for her to cast magic on (moved elsewhere, etc)
-The injured character is undead, demonic, or otherwise harmed by white magic (Jumpropeman, Designate_5, Shuma Gorath, etc). Partial demons like Eddie and Devil Ed are exempt.
-The injured character is a robot or otherwise inorganic (golems, spirits, etc)
-The body is very large and heavily damaged, and Sarah is not given unlimited time to help
-The killer has some sort of anti-revival power (Jaxx and the Lord both did this)
-There has been a long period between death and Sarah’s discovery of the body (long enough for the body to rot)
-The dead character is very old for their species (Q, etc). Immortals like Erebus and Jaxx are exempt.
-The soul of the character is unable to enter the body. If the soul has been destroyed, moved to another body, or is being held captive, Sarah can't bring them back.

I hope I've limited their magic enough, particularly the low success rate for the status spells. I don't want Sarah and Celestia to be considered overpowered, and they often got their asses kicked in RP battles since for all their magic neither is very well-armored (Sarah during the WarMechs, Regal, and Terminators, Celestia during Servitor).

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Finding Your Own Way

"Girls?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking."

Three young women, all dressed in the traditional robes of a white mage, sat together in a house. It was late at night, and a fire crackled in the hearth to drive away the cold from late winter.

"What've you been thinking about?" asked the youngest, most petite of the three.

"It's about Sarah." said the oldest, tallest, and most mature-looking of the group.

"Sarah, huh? What's she been up to lately, anyway?" interjected the middle child, who was just an inch or two shorter than the older sister.

"Mom says she's been keeping well. Really enjoying Levia, apparently."

The youngest one looked down at the floor. "I miss Sarah."

"Me too, Four. But, you know, she found her own path. She adapted to this world a lot better than we did. Got a name and a new job and a boyfriend..."

The middle child spoke up again. "So is that what you're hung up on? Sarah's success?"

"Yeah, Two, pretty much. I'm just wondering why... why it was just her. Why was she so special?"

"Three had always been a little different from the rest of us. I remember you'd pick on her about her weight sometimes. Heheh."

"Ugh, don't remind me of my youthful indiscretions, Two."

"What about her crystal, and how it glowed?" said Four. "And then it turned out she was a Warrior of Light?"

"Right there. That's the sort of thing that's bothered me. I mean, Mom never played favorites, but Three... Sarah... she always seemed to stand out a little, didn't she?"

"Well, what are you waiting for, then?" said Two.

"What do you mean?"

"Listen. Sure, Sarah lucked out by being a Warrior of Light, but that wouldn't have meant a thing if she hadn't been brave enough to find her own way. She broke away from us to hang out in that bar with that mantis we fixed up together, and then she found Alex. She made her own decisions in life and found great rewards. If you're hung up on that, why don't you blaze a trail yourself?"

"Why haven't you?"

Two paused.

"...I'm afraid."

"I am, too."

Four nodded. "Sarah was always in danger at that bar! Remember the time she fought that dragon?"

One and Two both cringed at the memory. "I wish I didn't," Two sighed.

One seemed deep in thought.

"Well, it doesn't have to be exactly the same." she said finally. "I mean, sure, Sarah became her own girl, but she was never alone. She had Alex, and the mantis, and all those other crazy people at that bar. I heard she became friends with quite a few of them. They helped each other overcome things that they could have never done alone."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying we find our own way. We blaze our own trail. But we do it together."

Two smiled. "Count me in."

Four nodded. "M-me too. But... how?"

"How what?"

"How do we 'blaze a trail' like Sarah?"

"First things first, we need names. I'm sick of being One. Everyone else in this world has a proper name, and we won't be truly independent until we stop thinking of ourselves as generic, replaceable units. And second, I think we should try to master different classes. I don't think we'll get very far all looking the same."

"Different classes, huh?" Two mused.

"Yeah. Of course, keep training your white magic, we need it for our job. But I think some new abilities may be in order. Is there anything you guys always wanted to be?"

Four spoke first. "I... I always wanted to be strong. I want to be able to protect people. Not just heal them."

"Hmm..." Two mused. "I've been thinking about alchemy. I'd like to try going into item crafting."

"And as for me," said One, "I think we need to put a little more force behind our magic. And I know just the thing to study up on."

The three girls smiled at each other. They may not make it big like Sarah did, but they stood a fair chance of becoming their own people.

-----

(While they certainly won't be turning into major characters anytime soon - or even secondary, or anything beyond their role last year of occasionally-seen support characters, I have thought for a while that Sarah breaking away from her roots as a generic nameless white mage would inspire her sisters to do the same.

Concerning personalities of the sisters: I always envisioned One as the mature, confident leader, Four as shy and a bit naive like a more extreme version of Sarah's early days, and while I never settled on anything for Two, making her the spunky one seems to work. And while Sarah has focused on becoming a REALLY good white mage, her sisters are opting for hybrid skill sets...)

Friday, March 2, 2012

Here Comes A New Challenger?

We still don't know the setting for Zoofights 7. My prediction is one that was tossed around on the forum: a 90's cyberpunk urban setting, with lots of big buildings, weird tech, and crime. It seems a natural direction to go after an 80's-themed Zoofights that ended with a non-hero character who relied on technology defeating his final opponent by busting a cap in their skull. It was a strong segue to the common themes of the next decade.

If we somehow get a setting like "medieval" or "prehistoric" or what-have-you, then this character will be discarded and you can consider this a one-shot. But if we can manage something close to what I hope for, you will probably see more of this mystery character. I have included enough clues in this writeup so that anyone already familiar with the character may be able to place them. But I won't give the game away just yet - for now, the character's name is "Unit 1".

You can also consider this a bit of fight scene writing practice, a la Del's Zealot post.

-----

There they are.

Unit 1 peered out from his hiding place, then quickly ducked back, scuttling behind a rusty dumpster and turning on his communications channel.

"This is Unit 1. Targets acquired. Preparing to move in."

"Roger that, Unit 1. Take them out with extreme prejudice."

"You got it, chief."

Unit 1 took another peek at his opponents. Scum of the earth - a pack of street punks, some wearing blue, others in red. They were clustered around an old warehouse. Unit 1 had been staking this location out for some time, and through the evidence he'd gathered he'd nailed down that this was a major arm of a drug smuggling ring the police had been trying to stop for a while.

Unit 1 had been taught very well: The law is master and is always to be upheld. These thugs were breaking the law, and had killed several rank-and-file officers. Of course, Unit 1 was not a rank-and-file officer by any stretch of the imagination. He would either arrest or dispatch every last one of them. It was his job.

He tensed up. He could tell that the punks were preparing to move a big shipment. A large truck had rumbled onto the scene just before he'd opened communications with HQ, and two of the blue guys were loading boxes of what was probably cocaine into it while a red one kept watch, perched atop a pile of junk that used to be a car.

Red turned to peer down an alley - one that Unit 1 was not hiding in.

It was time.

Unit 1 took aim with his machine gun and pulled the trigger.

And of course the goddamn red guy had to lean forward just then, didn't he? The bullet whiffed his head, and instantly every last thug whipped their head towards the alley. Seconds later, they scattered, save the two workers and the sentry.

"Shit!" one of the blue guys growled. "We got company!"

"Not for long." The red one reached behind him and hoisted a dirty-looking rocket launcher. He fired, small missiles arcing towards Unit 1's hiding spot.

Unit 1 didn't panic. He'd been trained to avoid panic - panic makes you stupid. It's much more important to keep a cool head, no matter the odds. Unit 1 flicked a button on his armor and his jetpack started up in a whoosh of fire. Unit 1 soared into the air and landed on the roof of the building he'd been leaning against. He sent a sweeping wave of bullets to the ground, and the blue punks scattered. One was shot in the foot and he went down, reaching out and hoping for one of his partners in crime to aid him. But the other blue guy was more interested in saving his own skin, and left him there, running somewhere Unit 1 couldn't see from his current position.

He may have been courageous or just stupid, but the red one stood his ground atop the wrecked car. He snarled at the sight of Unit 1 and took aim with his launcher. Unit 1 used his jetpack to leap to another roof, keeping tabs on the thug all the while. His machine gun wasn't cutting it. He needed something more.

While Unit 1 was thinking it over, the thug fired a rocket, arcing beautifully and smashing right into Unit 1. A web of cracks spread on the front of his armor and he flew back, scraping along the roof. After a few seconds, Unit 1 staggered upright. A plan was forming. He readied a special weapon...

The red thug, upon seeing his opponent still standing, just laughed and fired another rocket. But this time, Unit 1 was ready. His body flashed, and a shield of brightly colored orbs flashing red and blue surrounded him. The rocket smashed into the orbs, some of which took the hit and vanished, leaving Unit 1 unscathed.

Unit 1 thrust his arms out, and the remaining orbs shot away, moving a short distance before clustering together and homing in on the thug. The orbs smashed into him, causing minor electric shocks on contact and making him drop the launcher. Unit 1 pressed the advantage by taking aim and firing with his machine gun, finally scoring the headshot he SHOULD have made before even being seen. The body tumbled off the car, landing in shadow.

Unit 1 jumped off the building, using his jetpack to slow his descent. Landing near the hapless injured blue thug, he pointed his gun.

"You're under arrest."

While Unit 1 was preoccupied with what he thought was the only thug still on the scene, an energy shot from a handheld laser pistol knocked his gun out of his hands. Unit 1 spun to see his opponent - the other blue thug that had been loading the cargo into the truck. He now stood at the warehouse's doorway, holding his pistol and likely smirking behind his blue bandanna. Behind him stood a strange sphere-shaped robot with four spindly legs. At the peak of the sphere was a small head with a single red eye and no other features. Shit. They had backup.

Unit 1 quickly grabbed his gun again (ignoring that the wounded thug was trying but failing to take the gun himself) as the mech began moving eerily fast towards him, sliding across the ground on its legs, which were tipped with round wheel-like balls. The healthy thug began moving towards the truck while the mech's eye began to glow. Unit 1 prepared to shoot the robot - and then backpedaled wildly when the thing's eye began shooting flames.

Unit 1 activated his jetpack yet again, worriedly noting the low fuel gauge, and shot up to the warehouse roof. The thug scrambled into the truck while the robot crouched down and leapt, trying to jump onto the roof with its prey. Although it couldn't quite jump high enough, one leg pistoned out and shattered a window, and the mech hooked the leg in to cling to the building. It looked up at Unit 1 and shot another sputtering burst of flames.

Unit 1 decided his priority should be the truck. Leaving the robot to figure out what to do now that it was clinging to a building, Unit 1 boosted onto the truck just as the punk got it moving. Unit 1 moved to the windshield and swung his machine gun down, smashing the glass. The thug bailed out the drivers-side door, but Unit 1 was there to aim at him before he could go anywhere.

"Both of you are under arrest."

Unit 1 produced a pair of handcuffs and a length of rope, quickly securing the thug. Just in time, too, becuase the sphere-bot had managed to get down from the warehouse wall and was now skimming unnervingly over the road towards Unit 1.

"KILL HIM!" the tied-up punk shouted.

Unit 1 knew, as he readied for combat, that he probably wasn't talking to him.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

City of Diabetes Ideas

I tried to make a "City of Diabetes" story (the other way of parodying the City of Beasts series) but it wasn't clicking for me. Instead, I'll just dump some ideas I was considering for such a setting:

* Generic Disney-movie signs of cheerfulness, like bouncy music, birds chirping, butterflies, etc.
* Hella Jeff is not evil, Sparda is not corrupted, and Sarah and Alex's first date goes without a hitch. ROB still wins the Brawl though, because he is the ROB.
* Zephyrus is planning to take himself, his seven brothers, and Needle Man (all of whom are, yes, alive) to Hawaii for a well-earned vacation.
* Zephyrus has enough money for taking nine people to Hawaii because his cooking show is an international sensation and he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a week selling VHS tapes, cookbooks, and little robot master action figures.
* The plan for Sarah, Antoinette, and Stella to use Speechcraft and cuteness to stop Servitor worked, and the Servitor is now a vaguely unnerving but completely harmless and amiable bar patron. Designate_5 revives after Widow Maker jams his soul into him.
* The classic "Erebus' characters making small talk as they approach the bar" gag has an extra voice added to it, because Ksar survived the Valor attack.
* Sine has discovered a way to put a stop to her endless cycle of reincarnation so she can plot her life on her own terms - and she's also found a method of giving Zephyrus the coordinates for her soul so she can be located if she DOES decide to reincarnate.
* Sarah and Alex are basically unchanged except they got their chocolate fountain earlier and Sarah has found a method of living as long as Alex does. Tridenland is somehow even more wildly successful.
* The Lord of the Night, Valor, Veshen, and any of the other extremely dark villains are retooled into Saturday morning cartoon parodies of themselves. Crescendo does in fact go into battle with his head welded to his ass at one point, like he should have.
* Draco wins his fight with Sarah by getting her to surrender. The VR Fite ends with no injuries except a pounding headache for Sine and a slight throbbing for Amanda. Rafflesia is discovered by one of David's computers picking up strange energies from the arena, and all it manages to do is make Designate a husk before being driven away. Meat Boy is allowed to leave immediately. Draco wins Fite Week, and Fergy is revived as his prize.
* Nobody loses their memory.
* Nobody attempts suicide.
* Sarah doesn't slaughter the Tribbles in blind rage, and their victory over the pets is via ring-out by multiplying so much that the pets get shoved out the arena's door. A containment and mass neutering program solves the breeding problem.
* The Sheep does not make a deal with Despair. It is simply a comedic character that dies and revives like Meat Boy, except its revivals are in increasingly overwrought and dramatic ways while its deaths keep getting more and more banal and stupid.
* Sister Alice is toned down severely into a cranky old lady that is actually just very lonely and will eventually show her warmer side if someone gets close enough to her.
* Doomrider doesn't fucking hurt kids, and he doesn't fucking hurt adults, either. He just has stupid amounts of cocaine and sex.
* Jaxx remains a hero, out fighting the good fight for humanity as a Sentinel. Despite his long life and the horrors he's seen, he remains optimistic about the people he saves.
* Walter and Antoinette are friends.

And my favorite idea...

* Like in City of Beasts, the patrons' actions forced the Major to take drastic measures. In City of Beasts, he had a portion of the city walled off. In City of Diabetes, voting for Friendship is outlawed because 6 fights in a row were flooded with Friendship votes.

Conclusion: Just as actually doing a full roleplay in the City of Beasts would be too dark and depressing and invokes the Eight Deadly Words ("I don't care what happens to these people"), City of Diabetes would be boring and contrived, and could very well evoke the same eight words thanks to a lack of thrills or excitement. Hooray for balance!