Total Drama X: Ultimate Islands!
Episode 29: Haywire Hoverboards
Part 1: Hovering On The Drama
Welcome to Sonic Riders, being in the year 2023, the game that is simultaneously hilariously obscure, relevant through mods and ridiculously good and this ain't no game!
Like Deadpool would say, it is a fanfic and in fanfics, everybody can hoverboard with varying sets of skills and honestly, I stopped caring about this paragraph!
At least there's three alliances, if you're into that.
Memeking: Yeah, they did in fact go pretty hard through this fic! Besides, I really hope that my passion actually shows through instead of me writing on autopilot.
1602jaw: Yeah, there's always at least one Deadpool to go around! He's even currently in Randomness and Infinite 3 (still on hiatus) and Ryuko knows that she kicked enough butt.
So, you better keep your eyes watered and your teeth peeled for this chapter with Sonic Speed.
"Last time on Total Drama X: Ultimate Island, our 29 remaining campers went onto a desert island that looked like it came straight out of Las Vegas in Egypt! And met a whole lot of cool enemies...like the awesome sand raptors, the return of Haohmaru and the less awesome Mordecai and Rigby! Seriously, where did they go? Who's the damn sandman-"
Chris got something in his ear, as he heard it.
"Oh, right, these guys essentially paired into ten teams of three...or two if you count the British freaks! Some of them took way long to get some treasure and in the end, Mai, Nicole, Cassie, Dante, Joseph and Reigen all got immunity through hard luck! Sokka, Terry and Heavy got immunity through their awesome treasure! Basil and Bayonetta, being British, got the double votes!"
He just laughed.
"This meant that through that power, Mikasa and Ryuko got eliminated and get this...Basil even with the double vote got himself eliminated! Wow, what a backfire it was!"
And he laughed some more.
"And really, there's probably going to be a lot more backfires like that in this episode because these 26 campers are about to float off the ground...not due to any non-hazardous and non-people eating plants, but due to being on...Total Drama: Ultimate Islands!"
Reigen and Sandy were back together again, mostly because they had to deal with a slightly miffed Larry who had gotten some "good" food from Axl, who was trying to dodge him.
"Even the darn robot can't fight that thing!" Sandy shouted. "Well, robot kid."
"You know what, I'd be more surprised if he wasn't even able to." Reigen stated. "I have done enough research to know that he can copy any robot and that is not a robot."
"So, if he shoots him and-"
Larry just went to sleep, as Axl, the shape-changing robot on an intern ship.
"Yeah, that was much better." Sandy said.
The two returning players just got up and butted themselves right into a very determined Scott Pilgrim, who was trying to hone his swordsmanship through skill and a samurai robot that sort of worked.
He wasn't ready to get two competitive players to offer him something epic, as-
"Oh, hey, guys! I was fighting this weird robot and uh, he's good at fighting!" Scott shouted, defending against the robot's swing.
"Yes."
Reigen watched the two's next move.
"I think he will hit you on our right in the chest."
And the robot...didn't even do that, as the robot went for an overhead to smack Scott Pilgrim straight on the forehead, though Scott managed to block the strike.
Subsequently, he got knocked down by the robot's other arm.
"Dang, your predictions suck! Along with this robot with its two sword arms." Scott insulted. "Reigen, I don't care if you are the greatest psychic of the 21st century."
"Hey..."
Reigen realised that Scott got it.
"...you remembered?"
"Well, yeah, you might be a fraud. That being said, when we were both on Loser Island, you read some of these guys straight up and you kinda predicted that Yumeko would beat Coachman." Scott stated, as Sandy turned off the robot.
"Yeah, you put it that way because my predictions worked out! A lot of the time." Reigen remarked with a chill grin. "So, how about an alliance of returning players, a Comeback Cabal, if you will."
"I can't believe that I'm trustin' a huckster's words, but he did manage to predict Coachman's elimination being three challenges ago. Even if he's definitely a liar, he's got a good mind." Sandy argued, almost offending Reigen.
"I mean, okay. Let's see how this rolls!" Scott declared with a grin...
...and a further smash into his stomach.
"OOOOOOWWWW!"
"Oooooh, crackers!" Sandy winced in empathetic pain.
Reigen cringed.
*Reigen's confessional*
The scruffy psychic
"Finally, time to use my skills to outwit a good chunk of them and honestly, I'm probably going to give my alliance partners some of the money because 3 million dollars is a lot!" Reigen reminisced. "Can't believe that I was eliminated in the episode that my skills relied."
*Scott's confessional*
He was still in a decent amount of pain.
"You know, it's my first time being in an alliance! It's great, though my ass getting kicked dampens that." He said with all of the squeak of a Call of Duty kid.
*Confessional cut*
Lowain was chilling in the middle of some pool that was clearly left behind at the former intern's house, as he survived another episode of Total Drama...along with Sokka, Reg and Heavy
"Got this for free, somehow only enough for Chris to soak up the vibes...maybe I shouldn't stay in there, lest I turned into a bad dude." He ruminated. "But then again, I am a bad dude from the butt upwards."
"I don't want to see you become a bad dude."
"Too late, I'm chill with being the fam...well, Azula's fam."
"...I get that. So, are you...spying on Azula for me."
"Kinda...I get Yumeko into this alliance real fast, real hard by eliminating Azula 'cause she's playing that dangerous game!" Lowain remarked quietly. "Besides, you want to defeat Azula, yeah?"
"Yeah, pretty much. So, do you cook all of the time or are you just...a part-time cook."
"Full-time, broskis! I'm keeping the ship's cafeteria clean 'cause it's our deal...for the record, the other two dudes who look like my real-life bros...they're only my metaphorical bros!"
"Oh, ok. Why are you talking like that." Heavy was right on top of Lowain's sight, as he was about to fall into the pool.
"I've always talked like this forreal, Mikhail, get with it already!"
Lowain then got "carried" out of the pool by a very happy Mikhail, as the big beefy man just lifted him up and then threw them a fairly long distance, seeing that things were...
"Heavy! This pool is heavy!" Mikhail shouted. "I feel that something is wrong...because it is baby pool!"
And that was the end, as they had found an abandoned pool wasn't about to waste it, even if they had been in this season long enough to know that the pool was going soon, so they were sort of making the best of it.
Azula, Yumeko, Nicole and Bayonetta were the four ladies that were taking their strategy seriously.
And also hiding out in a steel guarded hut because this place was chock full of biting flora and sadistic fauna and said hut had notably more comfortable beds than the rest of the compound.
It was definitely a compound.
"Where's Lowain? Probably being with Sokka, that's what." Bayonetta remarked. "Yumeko, you should-"
"Should I, though, Lowain is definitely a bit shrewd even if he daydreams a lot and nevermind the fact that thanks to him, Basil is gone from the game." Yumeko answered, almost defensively.
Almost, as Bayonetta noticed that emotion.
"To be fair, you two are simultaneously wholesome and weird." She just continued. "And Lowain's spying on Sokka, right?"
"You could say that."
Azula and Nicole both shared the same sight, sensing a bit of weakness within the weird girl of lacking empathy, heart and gambling that was Yumeko...which was odd.
"Well, that is fine. I'm starting to think that it might be the other way around, you know, that he's spying for Sokka! Considering how far we are in this competition and how the major players have betrayed each other, I don't think that it is impossible for such a scenario to happen." Azula answered with confidence. "So, be careful, Yumeko."
"When Azula is actually right, you should listen, young lady and she is wrong a lot of the time." Nicole stated, having her reasoning.
Bayonetta raised an eyebrow, as Yumeko felt something that she probably never would have felt normally...unless she was beating them up in a gamble.
"I would say that you don't believe in him enough to actually be that kind of spy. Sokka has his full trust in him, so it should be enough!" Yumeko replied in a snappy fashion. "So, I will be careful!"
"...You should consider yourself lucky that the agreement doesn't collapse right in front of you." Azula answered. "So, I will allow it to go on...but the tides of drama will not care about that."
"I thought you wouldn't accept it, but this is our alliance, regardless of whatever you will say!" Yumeko answered honestly and with quite the sadistic smile.
Bayonetta and Nicole definitely noticed that not only that Lowain had arrived right around the middle of Nicole's comment, but also that Azula was actually mad.
"Good."
Azula stood up curtly, keeping her composure strong.
"All we have to do is avoid losing this challenge and if one of us loses, make a convincing argument to avoid one of our alliance guys' elimination."
"Yeah, Azula, sorry for being stuck in the bro zone...and I know that you were hating on me for strategic reasons." Lowain got up from hiding from some beds.
And Azula left to be on her own, as she was feeling the pressure of this competition mounting up on her and yet, she had a perfect plan for the rest of the competition.
"Wait, why didn't you say anything, Bayo?" Lowain asked.
"First off, do not call me Bayo." Bayonetta put a slight glare towards Lowain.
And then she started smugly smiling.
"Secondly, she's not a friend, just an alliance partner and thirdly, it is really funny when she gets mad...it's like an angry child."
"Hah, too true."
*Azula's confessional*
The Fire Nation princess clearly cleaned herself up.
"Realistically speaking, the only people that I like here even remotely are Yumeko and Nicole, even if the former disappoints me. So, I don't think I will mind when I eliminate Sokka, because their alliance really is a collection of people who don't play that kind of game. I will not apologise, Lowain, for your elimination when it comes." She stated, the black-haired princess having that intimidating stare.
*Lowain's confessional*
He just grinned.
"Dang, I finally made Azula mad! Woot, woot, hopefully she doesn't find out that I'm playing against her or else, it's a head BBQ for the ages!" Lowain shouted.
"Can a bro find some extra armour?" He whispered to the camera and no-one in particular.
*Confessional cut
From the pool to everyone else, Pit and Miko were having a great time together and were being protected by Squirrel Girl and Uraraka...for reasons that even they couldn't comprehend.
"Guys, we're only kind of in love!" Pit shouted.
"Yeah, we're gaming real hard! And throwing arrows real hard!" Miko argued her case questionably.
These two finally managed to find a common room that a good chunk of the remaining players that weren't in the middle of crushing their competition through alliances were, if only because there was a decent amount of space and a whole mezzanine with random stuff to do like a proper summer camp.
"Uh, then why are you two playing archery together?" Uraraka asked jokingly. "Can't get away."
"I can get away from Miko..."
Everyone was waiting for the answer.
"...I just don't want to." Pit finished it.
"Yep, those two are hitched!" Sandy exclaimed, as Miko just looked at her like she was crazy. "Well, crap, there's a whole buncha reasons why...it would be kinda weird."
Miko and Pit were still trying to shoot some arrows, probably not knowing each other's archery ability...even if they were still hitting on the targets several times at this point.
They genuinely missed their next arrow.
"Aw, dang it! Do you think that Chris had a challenge prepared for us...it has been two days!" Squirrel Girl inquired with a grin. "And those kinds of challenge are always pretty cool."
"If you mean sadistic, twisted and kinda boring, then that should be it." Uraraka answered. "...Hopefully, it's at least fun."
"Well, yeah, it's always fun."
"We have different definitions of fun and-"
Squirrel Girl and Uraraka were the duo that first heard the challenge klaxxon for the oddest challenge in the game, as everyone else heard it a little bit after.
Whatever little bit of suffering that Chris had planned to cut down three more players, it was coming at this very moment and everyone of the players either made their way towards where Chris or rather, scrambling to avoid being seen with certain people.
Like Lowain, who was just walking on his own to avoid the scorn of Azula and Sokka's eyes, who knew what his true role was, since he was cool with a lot of people.
"What's up, Pinstripe! You had a lit day, huh?"
Pinstripe Potoroo was pissed off and his slightly tattered clothes.
"Literally."
"Literally, my man! Crazy situation..."
Pinstripe even growled.
"...Yo, bruh, I'll get off your case!"
Every one of the players just watched a whole spectacle happen on the beach, as they were definitely seeing Chris stand in front what looked like a temporary bridge and depot for some kind of racing challenge.
"Is it supposed to be friggin' raining dogs out here?" Pinstripe said.
"You've been on here long enough to know that it's always like this, dude! Anyways, 23 of you have survived long enough to deal with all sorts of challenges and 3 of you...kinda have, but today, I guarantee you that you're not ready for this challenge!"
Obviously, nobody was interested in a race course on Boney Island for reasons besides a few.
"I am!" Miko screamed.
"Alright, alright, just...follow me to the beachside terminal! You guys ever seen a real hoverboard before?"
There weren't many hands raised at all, even if Miko raised her hand for the...
"Good!"
These guys were set up in the massive pit zone that was under this bridge and they were there.
Real life hoverboards, complete with designs that were both unfinished and simultaneously made to be customised by anyone who wanted to.
"Now, you guys have seen real hoverboards! Campers, you're going to race on these things and if you don't know how to, you guys can do all sorts of practice and whatnot...because who has ridden a hoverboard before!"
No hands were raised.
"Okay, but you've gotta make it look cool first! So you're going to be training in the presence of me, Chef and three birds and maybe some other people who know these hoverboards!"
"Okay, then, what are you going to do?" Nicole asked seriously.
"Watch the campers get hurt like I always do." Chris announced. "And none of you will know those guys! Later, campers!"
And just like that, Chris introduced a challenge and noped out of actually organising the execution of it, with all of the campers trying their best to hang onto the hoverboards.
Some people were definitely trying to remember Sonic Riders as it exists and it was working, mostly because they had more knowledge than everyone else.
"...Tails never told me that it would be this hard!"
Reg was struggling to stand still.
"I have no reference."
"Wait a second, guys!"
Lowain was standing strong and balanced.
"Woot woot, I've got this floating surfboard figured out!"
"Chris called it a hoverboard, though." Reg said, straight down on the floor.
"Nah, robo fella, think of it as a floating surfboard!"
"What's a surfboard?" Reg got up, not understanding the point.
*Lowain's confessional*
The blonde bro with furry ears and hoverboarding skills had his talk.
"Yo, you guys on the G. Cyph might be missing out a bit, but you're really not. Like, I had epic fights, terrifying alliances and I'm stuck in between two cereal alliances, so...I'm just doing magic surfing for the time being!"
*Confessional cut*
Pit and Miko, obviously, were doing solid for entirely different reasons and they were taking the time to do a very normal and totally not romantic move, though Miko just backed away.
"Wait, you let go of me please!" Miko shouted.
"Uh, I'm trying to but being a soldier of Palutena's army means you have sticky hands! Sorry-"
"No, it doesn't, how about we just let go!"
"Yeah, that's gotta work!"
They were holding hands on their hoverboards together.
Wait.
They were not holding hands on their hoverboards and crashed into some boxes and everyone else noticed and someone took the time to even make a mocking remark.
"Do ya need to always hold hands or what? If it ain't romantic, don't be romantic! Also, the floating surfboarding thing is a great idea!" Pinstripe mocked the couple.
"Have you ever been in love, man, you've gotta understand their situation!"
Miko just got up and casually rode away from the argument.
"I understand...I understand that we gotta communicate and talk about if we're loving or just real friendly!"
"Shut up, you weasel man! Words won't work super well!"
"Are you going to stop saying the stupidest shit about love! You have a girlfriend, you met because of a war and had a good time, don't give me shit that stupid!"
"Calm down, it's not that serious! You're just wrong...in obvious fashion!"
"And you better..."
While that happened, Pit and Miko were honing their riding skills watching the fight, Squirrel Girl just made sure that her squirrel friends had front row seats and Uraraka was trying to not have nausea and avoid Azula's sudden antagonism, mostly because the latter had a strategy.
"Honestly, you're not vomiting at the sight of a floating board?" Azula poked right into Uraraka's situation. "Really?"
"Yes...wait, you don't even know that there quirks like hoverboards?" Uraraka said. "Like in that one movie a long time ago!"
Azula just didn't care that much about Back To The Future...or movies for being in the 18th century, so she quietly walked towards the floating hero who wasn't scared.
"Seriously, why are you trying to scare me? Like, I don't care that much about my-"
Uraraka spewed another chunk.
"-it's not that bad!" Uraraka shouted in a kinda deeper voice. "Just give me some space."
"As someone who has won a challenge or two, you should be careful...lest your bad habit sends straight into the elimination zone." Azula answered, putting on the anger.
"Since you've been hanging out together with your supervillain-ish friend, Yumeko, I'm just gonna practice my hoverboarding skills!" Uraraka basically skated away...without her wheels.
"That's good."
Azula then switched to whispering mode.
"Plenty of time to get you into a risky mood."
*Azula's confessional*
The black-haired princess wasn't tired.
"The best way to set up people to fail at their station and fall like a worthless ship is to put pressure on people through insults! Realistically speaking, Uraraka's breaking point is quite weak...compared to mine, anyways and there's twenty other strong competitors in this. Best to send one of them quickly!" Azula declared, as someone else was knocking. "WHAT?! I'm trying to strategise here!"
"I just want to say some words." Reg said from outside the toilet.
*Reg's fired up confessional*
The robot kid was sitting down at random.
"Wow, this is actually fun! It's kinda that I'll have to get back down to the Abyss, but Riko might not be fine, just hoping that she stays strong! I'm becoming stronger...sort of! Sort of!" Reg was pleased with this moment.
*Confessional cut*
Three sleek birds that had arrived late, the green hawk with the goggles, the purple tall swallow lady with a bandana and the grey big buff albatross with big hands, feet and goggles.
And they were on the famous Extreme Gear, the thing that Chris was actually talking about and wisely didn't call Extreme Gear and it obviously corresponded with their colours.
"I told you that detour was worth nothing!" The purple swallow remarked. "Now we're late to our own introduction."
"Chris actually said to arrive whenever we want and we arrived whenever we wanted!" The grey albatross shouted. "Jet, that's on you!"
"And here's you're acting like we didn't want the Total Drama merch." Jet the hawk replied with a grin. "Storm, we got these shirts and I don't even hate it."
"Yeah, these are good, Wave, you wouldn't believe it!" Storm praised the sweatshop shirts.
"No thanks, we're already late and incase you didn't know Tails is not here, so don't get any funny ideas." Wave commanded. "I bet these guys have cracked heads and whatnot from nothing."
Storm was a big buff and kinda fat albatross with orange gloves, swimming-style goggles, black shoes and a scruffy gem necklace.
Wave was a purple girl swallow with a white bandana, white gloves, a white crop-top, white pants with purple flames on the bell bottoms, sunglassess and red heeled shoes.
Jet was a mean green hawk with snowboarding goggles, gloves with feather elements and red boots with the same element.
These three were seeing something pretty weird to them only, mostly because about half of the campers were actually doing a good job and oddly enough, it wasn't none of the expected players.
"Jet, you're probably going to need to help all of them regardless of skill level...mostly because you're going to get mad." Wave inferred towards Jet, who was in a great mood.
"Well, yeah, but I'm just here to see some fireworks, if you know what I mean!" Jet casually quipped.
The three birds were quickly noticed by the 24 consistent campers, half of which were good with it and the other half clearly wasn't.
All of them definitely noticed that these people were not Chris and only one of them properly recognised.
"Aren't you three the Babylon Rogues or something?" Miko looked like she pulled something out. "From the game."
"Oh yeah! I looked pretty good in that game-"
Miko pulled something out.
"-that I was in! Still couldn't hold a candle to the real me! Seriously, I'm a real Babylon Rogue!"
"So, you're not a glitch!"
"Are you crazy, are you out of your mind?!" Storm cracked his knuckles.
Miko put the thing back, as she flashed something all around to erase more than a few memories and the camera.
"So, you told us that you were the Babylon Rogues and that you really like me!" Miko casually caught the rogues back up. "And that you're here-"
Jet and Storm weren't confused enough to not notice that Miko was doing something odd and Wave just looked at her rather suspiciously...right before letting the gamer wonder if she was looking into her Hinobi technology.
These three rogues were finally ready to actually introduce themselves, mostly because they flipped up their boards and Jet and Wave landed on them quite easily, while Storm landed sloppily.
"You ever heard of us? The Babylon Rogues?" Jet declared, as many hands were raised. "Well, now you have! Put it this way, we're the greatest at riding Extreme Gear or as you people call it, hoverboards!"
"He's Jet, I'm Storm and she's the annoying Wave!" Storm shouted.
"If I'm right, they aren't just hoverboards?" Pit asked.
"Yeah, but you need some different skills to ride the skates, though riding a hoverbike should be easier. But none of you have the skills yet, so we're going to teach you...somehow!" Wave continued on the speech. "I bet there's nothing here to teach!"
"You're betting right, Wave!" Bayonetta shouted. "Genuine nothing."
"I'll say, looked like an abandoned island of death and bad stuff!" Storm declared. "We're gonna turn you into the best riders that there ever was! If Wave finally lets me teach them...the move!"
"It's a punch."
"Doing a jab on a board's real hard you know!"
"...It's not!"
Wave and Storm just huffed at each other out of respect.
*Crimson's confessional*
The goth lady was in a determined mood.
"Finally. Real friendship, though, like, I wouldn't be caught on a hoverboard that was pink...and the power that I have to get through this easy. I should stop being so serious." She said in a monotone, albeit with a lot of notable spite.
*Bayonetta's confessional*
She was stunned at the Babylon Rogues.
"Somehow, the three birds are the most normal set of guests we've had and trust me, that is saying a lot! We've had a all-powerful sorcerer, some actual monsters, reality show contestants, an magic CEO, two birds and two whole universes and these three birds come in with a simple introduction."
"Good on 'em, could do better!"
*Tanjiro's confessional*
He huffed from his nose.
"What's a surfboard and what's a hoverboard? I don't care, but what matters is that I am having a fun time and right now, I don't know how I'm feeling in my bones! But I am feeling it!"
Tanjiro then instantly dropped to the ground comedically.
*Confessional cut*
"So, we're gonna be taught some shit! Nice!"
Dante wasn't even intimidated.
"Hey, Babylon Rogues...do you have an hoverbike? Because unlike some people I do well on bikes!"
Jet just casually shrugged.
"Now that's a lie! There's one more person who can ride a bike-"
"Oh lemme guess, it's the tallest witch!" Dante shouted, as Bayonetta slowly walked up to him. "I mean it with no disrespect, being all-powerful and whatnot."
"Oh haha, very funny. I really wonder...maybe your time with that old man has changed you."
"Really, it hasn't! I just feel like you're meeting your match."
"Seems like deja vu to you, Dante! Couldn't even get into Smash."
These two were having a staring match, as Storm just shook his head and Jet was starstruck by the late-game rivalry and just as it as had started, it had ended with each other giving the same "watching you" gesture.
At the same time, too.
"-Damn, now that's some late-game rivalry! Seriously, I'm more surprised that you two are fighting."
"We had to thank our alternate selves to not have that happen earlier. Besides, it's more fun to do something and he's really the only powerful one here!" Bayonetta remarked.
"Yep, totally not for money reasons."
"Okay, okay, we should be teaching and hopefully, anything good should be there!" Wave shouted. "Jet, it's not like we have a ton of peopl doing this thing! And there is no bikes!"
Bayonetta and Dante groaned, obviously.
"Yep, so-"
Storm got knocked out by Mikhail aka Heavy Weapons Guy and it wasn't even a close one too.
"-if you want a fight, you're gonna deal with all of us!"
"Shut up, bird people. He can't teach me floating board!" Mikhail bragged. "I'm already not bad at it."
*Nobara's confessional*
The brown-haired sorceress wasn't mad.
"I'm tired of falling down like one of those guys, but...you know what, this course probably has orphan-cursing wheels or something because Chris seems like that type of person."
*Confessional cut*
...
...
...
The course was definitely greatly designed in general, albeit there was probably a stupid amount of traps that were designed to please Chris McLean, the Canadian jigsaw.
Though it was kind of an oval around the northwestern side of the island, it's still Boney Island, so there was a lot of obstacles with even the shortcuts being a bit weird.
The grind had a few leaves in the way, which wasn't even that bad.
The path of flying rings on both sides of the notably long course involved dodging a decent amount of rocks that were stuck.
The rock paths were definitely covered with rocks that were provided to cause a problem and flamethrowers just because Chris had them lying around for legal reasons.
The air charging stations/energy charging stations were there in safer parts of Boney Island, which relative to any island in the world, was still a risky place to be.
Of course, there was some giant ramps...and random traps that had no reason to be there for obvious reasons.
"Huh, so it is like a flying snowboard!" Nobara shouted.
"Hopefully, it doesn't start the challenge because you people don't even know how to really ride it!" Wave shouted. "Aside from the lovebirds, weirdly enough."
Pit and Miko were hanging good.
"But you should know better."
"Hey, campers and rogues, are you guys ready for my awesome challenge about Extreme Gear!"
Chris got no response.
"Geez, it took a lot of time and a lot of interns to make that coujrse, you should appreciate my work, hahahahaha!"
"Goddamn it." Jet realised that he's dealing with another madman.
To be continued in the second part of the poorly disguised Sonic Riders homage, where Miko actually trounces Pit and Dante and Bayonetta and even Azula for once thanks to her gamer skills...
...as per in this part of the episode, since there are only twenty-six people left in the fold and the Babylon Rogues were aware of the four(!) alliances, though not in a certain way.
Albeit, this stuff is folding in on itself!
And more importantly, I'm going away for most of the second week from the 14th to the 18th of September to get to Berlin, so if you're reading this, it's not impossible that the fic wouldn't get any updates