4/8/12020 – Audio Transcript: The South Aires Incident

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[START RECORDING]

Amber: Hello, hello? Okay, it's working.

Dominic: You good?

Amber: Yeah, just let me get set up with my questions real quick…

Anemone: Jeez, I feel like I'm at a ffffffrigging press interview.

[Lily can be heard playing Jenga with Ao in the background]

Dominic: *whispers* Good job.

Amber: Alright, let's get started.

Dominic: So… South Aires, right?

Amber: Indeed. South Aires.

Anemone: Okay, the answer to all your questions is probably in your history textbook or that book Dominic gave you. Interview over.

Amber: Aw, come on! You agreed to this!

Anemone: *chuckles* I'm just messing with you.

Amber: Right… so first question. I've been reading from your book a little bit because our textbook doesn't really cover a lot about it, but I know that the PLF were involved in the incident somehow. What exactly were they doing in South Aires?

Dominic: Well, believe it or not we were actually stationed in the very ship the mutiny took place.

Anemone: The RS Casio.

Dominic: Anemone and I were getting ready to pilot theEND when suddenly we heard gunfire in the hangar bay. We were already geared up and ready to go, but we couldn't leave our comrades to die.

Anemone: We got out of theEND and, well, we got ourselves into a fun little firefight.

Dominic: Good thing we kept two SMGs back in the mech.

Anemone: Yep. The guys who were in Republic outfits shooting at everyone turned out to be PLF moles. At the time, we had no idea what the hell were they doing in the Casio. But about a week after the incident, our intel officers gathered information about a little something called Operation Iron Maiden.

Amber: Iron Maiden. Sounds like a band.

Dominic: We learned that the purpose of Iron Maiden was to hijack one of our ships while masquerading as one of us so the PLF could… study the Secret invading the city.

Amber: What the hell do they want the Secret for?

Dominic: *clears throat* The most widely accepted theory is that Johannson and Coda want to capture it and use it as a weapon. But how can you tame something so unstable and capable of so much destruction?

Anemone: Dewey had control over the Antibodies many years ago, but at least the Federation was able to study and control the Coralians over time.

Dominic: What happened in South Aires was much worse than what the Antibodies were capable of. It took the Antibodies 1246 seconds… 20 minutes to decimate an entire city. The Secret did it in less than half the time. When it came to Earth and attacked the city… about three-quarters of it was already gone.

Anemone: Thank god we evacuated the rest of the civilians before we came in.

Dominic: Long story short, they wanted to study it. Maybe capture it, but definitely study it.

Anemone: Yeah, why'd you wanna capture one huge blob monster thing in the sky with just one ship?

Dominic: Hehe… yeah. Beats me.

Amber: Right… so next question. So, after the incident, people thought that the Secret was Coralian for a while. What really happened?

Dominic: Um… I don't quite understand your question.

Amber: Okay. So how did… *mutters* damn it, how do I say this. There were rumors after the incident that the Secret was a Coralian. Was it really a Coralian?

Anemone: No. Flat out no. I would know. Even the Antibodies fought alongside us during the Incident.

Dominic: Admittedly scary when the Antibodies showed up, but whatever.

Anemone: Had a real gut feeling about what happened that day. Dominic and I were stationed around 45 kilometers away from South Aires.

Dominic: Probably why your mother didn't sense it. Or you. I don't really know about you. Or how this mental connection thing with the Scub works.

Amber: Can't say. I can only see trapar, my dude.

Dominic: Yeah, I figured.

Anemone: Anyways… there was indeed speculation from the public eye that the Secret was Coralian. I had to step in and vouch for whatever happened… even though I'm technically not really Coralian, but regardless. I held a public conference with the media about the incident, which was fun, fun, fun. I told everyone that there was nothing I could feel with regards to that thing that attacked the city. If you were a Coralian, or had some sort of connection with the Scub, you know that you could sense whatever the Scub was feeling. All I remember feeling was that something on that day was coming, but I couldn't get through whatever that thing was. That, and the Antibodies arriving.

Dominic: I know we were supposed to be at peace with the Scubs after the Second Summer, but we also expected public outcry if anything like the Incident happened.

Anemone: Well, I wasn't the goddamn emis-

Dominic: Language. Lily's still here.

Anemone: …I wasn't supposed to be the god dang emissary of the planet. But as someone who has a connection with the Scub, I had to speak out on our behalf.

Dominic: I was about to throw hands in case something goes wrong.

Anemone: You'd still be beaten to a pulp. Pussy.

Lily: Hahahaha! Papa's a kitty!

Amber: That's not what she means by "pussy."

Dominic: *whispers* SHUT UP!

Amber: *snickers* I'm just saying.

Anemone: So yeah. The public eventually calmed down, and we were already in talks with the Military to form Generation Bleu. We wanted to hire the best pilots in the world and fight the battles no one else would.

Amber: But the Secrets aren't popping up anymore, so what the hell?

Anemone: Well… something like what happened in South Aires might be gone, but we're still involved in real heavy black ops stuff.

Dominic: I'd say more about what kind of things we're up to, but right now it's classified.

Amber: Come the eff on! We're, like, family friends here! We can't share secrets?

Anemone: Eh, not those types of secrets. Sorry. Confidentiality.

Dominic: We don't wanna stir up any rumors and conspiracy theories, and unfortunately that includes you, your siblings, and your parents.

Anemone: Trust us. The less you know, the better.

Amber: Ugh. You guys suck!

Anemone: Like it or not, you're gonna thank us later, kid.

Amber: Fine… another question. You guys mentioned a while back you fought Gekkostate and the Antibodies before, right? So… how does that compare to fighting a Secret?

Anemone: I mean, that thing in South Aires was a pain in the ass, but your parents weren't no slouch either. I don't remember fighting any of the other Gekko members, but the ship did hold itself on its own.

Dominic: As for the Antibodies, they scared the crap out of me and they still sort of do now. Sorry, honey.

Anemone: Eh, whatever. I guess I can't blame you.

Amber: Okay. You guys pretty much covered most of what I've written here, which is good. So that leaves us one final question.

[Dominic's hands begin to rapidly tap on his lap, as if to mimic rudiments on a snare drum]

Amber: No snare drum.

[His hands suddenly cease tapping]

Dominic: Sorry.

Amber: Would you say the South Aires Incident sort of brought everything full circle to the coexistence of humans and Coralians after the Second Summer of Love?

Dominic: Good question, and I would say absolutely. The Human-Coralian war happened because of miscommunication and enmity, and you can thank Dewey and the High Sages for trying to turn humanity against the Scub Coral. I know I used to be part of the Federation until around the Second Summer of Love when we helped your parents and Gekkostate save the world. Even before that, I knew about some of the horrible experiments Dewey conducted, and looking back I should've done something about it. Then the coup happened, and all the information about Dewey's schemes and other crimes have leaked to the public. Even his plans to weaponize the Antibodies to his own will, so that he could turn the public eye against the Scub. That was when I realized I've been fighting the wrong side all along. I knew I had people to protect, especially those who were victims of Dewey's wrongdoings. So I left, alongside many others who found out about the truth.

Anemone: I didn't even know I fought innocent people who were just preaching for peace. Joining what was left of Gekkostate and the rest of the rebellion was one way to atone for what I did.

Amber: The rest of Gekkostate?

Anemone: Your parents… well, Eureka, decided it was best to lay low for a while. There was a UF base in your town, but apparently they didn't really give a shit about what was going on in the outside world.

Dominic: Your mom and dad did help out in protecting the Vodarac during Reconstruction, but we're getting slightly off-topic.

Anemone: You could say what happened after the Second Summer was that everyone realized they've been fighting the wrong fight all this time. And after the war ended, everything became peaceful. The Antibodies stopped attacking and people slowly came to terms with living alongside the Scub, save for those still with what's left the Federation.

Dominic: The healing process wasn't easy and it took a long time. Our world was literally torn in half, and the civil wars added more salt to the wounds. But we eventually rebuilt what was lost and made amends to those we didn't mean to hurt. Those who couldn't bear change sought to hide themselves into one corner of the world while the rest of us moved on.

Anemone: We're not perfect beings, but we can still be good. We lie, we steal, we kill, but if we want to protect something as precious as the world, we had to learn how to coexist.

Dominic: The Incident, I could say was perhaps our ultimate test of bond. It was our chance to prove ourselves that we gave a damn about protecting our planet and the life that we chose to coexist peacefully with… no matter how scary the Antibodies looked.

Anemone: So yeah, everything that followed from the Second Summer of Love came full circle with what happened in South Aires. Really comes to show how much you can achieve when you learn to love your neighbor.

Amber: … wow. I'm definitely putting that on my essay.

Dominic: Did it all help?

Amber: Oh, ho, ho, absolutely. Thanks. You guys are amazing.

Anemone: Anytime. So, when is this essay due again?

Amber: End of the school year, but I already got this in the bag.

Anemone: Well, look at you. Ahead of the game already.

Amber: I know, right!? Man, does it feel good to not do anything for the rest of the year.

Ao: I wouldn't say that if I were you.

[The Jenga woodblocks are heard lightly rattling inside the container]

Amber: Says who?

Ao: Mom was talking to dad and Gramps about you helping them out in the garage after what happened last week.

Amber: They were seashells, my dude!

Ao: Look, I know you wanted to pay tribute to your friend, but is it really worth shoplifting those souvenirs during vacation?

Amber: I.. *sigh* nope.

Ao: Hey, man. Don't look at me. I'm just passing along the message.

Amber: When does she want me to start?

Ao: Next weekend.

Amber: NEXT WEEKEND!? Wolfgang and I are planning to go to that ramen shop next weekend!

Ao: Don't bitch to me, bitch to mom about it!

[Amber is heard getting off her chair and marching towards the back door]

Amber: MOOOOOOOOOOM!

Anemone: This is our cue to get the hell out.

Dominic: Noted.

Lily: Mama, is papa a pussy cat?

Anemone: Oh, he's not a pussy cat, baby. Just a pussy.

Dominic: UGH!

[END RECORDING]

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