Rebuild of Arcadia: Phase One Synopsis

Phase One - Part One: The Reunification War

The Rebuild of Arcadia begins with the events of Bowser being banished from the world of the Mushroom Kingdom to Earth, only to be fought back by a man named Anthony Bault. Anthony discovers from the inhabitants the story of the portal.

Long ago, the worlds were discovered and connected by chance by several individuals who came to be known as The Companions. Led by an Earthman named Erik of the Larson Clan, the Companions were forced to defend their worlds from an alien race known as the Tesseran, elflike dragonborn--think Au'Ra from FFXIV--who were hell-bent on conquering the worlds. Ultimately, the Companions led a desperate last assault on the Tessauri homeworld, and after a clash of forces, Sir Erik struck down the Tessauri champion, their Avatar of the God of War, "Trathalga", in a decisive attack that cost him his life and ended the war. In his memory, the Companions returned home, closing the portals between worlds, but not before a prophecy was made: One day, the portals would be opened again, and a Descendant of Sir Erik would step forward to defend the Worlds, now called Arcadia, from war once more.

Anthony, it turns out, is discovered to be that descendant, destined to become Gamemaster of Arcadia, and none too soon; Doctor Ivo Robotnik has discovered the existance of the Arcadian portals and has set his eye on conquering them. It is believed the only chance of victory lies in opening the portals, reuniting the Worlds of Arcadia, and working together to fight Robotnik once and for all.

The portals are opened one by one as heroes band together, remembering each other faintly from an event known as the Brawl of the Subspace Emissary, and the other bloodline Descendants of the Companions are discovered. At a critical junction, when Bowser declares his intent to aid the Heroes, discovering the Koopa Kingdom were regressed descendants of Mobians, the Gamemaster's power is unlocked.

Anthony leads the fight against Robotnik, and the heroes ultimately win thanks to the aid of an unexpected twist: The betrayal of Robotnik's chief lieutenant, a cursed Earthman stranded on Mobius named Rodriguez 'Finalhazard' Jones, in a coup d'etat of his entire Egg Legion with goals of enslaving all Arcadians, believing himself and Mobians to be descendants of an alien race called the Precursors. Finalhazard is defeated by Anthony using the attack Sir Erik killed himself with, the Cosmo Cannon, which renders Anthony in a coma. Robotnik subsequently surrenders and, in a twist, pleads guilty, accepting imprisonment for life.

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Phase One - Part Two: The War Against the Dark Gamemaster

Anthony awakens months later, visited by a God named Durandal. Durandal thanks Anthony for his work in uniting Arcadia. He reveals that, many years after Sir Erik's demise, during the Crusades on Earth, a Descendant of Sir Erik came forward named Trace Larson. Trace attempted to unite Arcadia under iron-fisted rule, but was sealed away by the heroes of a lost world using the Arcadian Portals as the seal, with the world being lost as the cost.

Now with five of the Arcadian Worlds--Earth, Mobius, Gardenia, Hylas and Terra--being united, the seal has weakened enough that Trace has freed himself, attempting to take over the lost world and use it as the lynchpin in his conquest of Arcadia. Helping him is the Universal Cosmic Destroyer, Giygas, who has armed himself with millions of creatures without hearts, the Heartless, as their army.

Durandal asks Anthony to seek out the next candidate to inherit the Avatardom of Trathalga, who will help unite Arcadia with the lost world and defeat Trace Larson. He succeeds in finding the candidate, a young man from Earth named Steven Swanson, whose brusque, spiteful teenage ways need changing. Steven foolishly runs off to fight Trace, and ends up fighting Giygas. As a result, the portals to the lost world, Vega, are opened, and Trace and Giygas gain a foothold on Vega.

In the aftermath of the clash, Steven--who had been accompanied by a Terran android named Cross, a girl he has come to love--realizes that he has let his anger, hatred, and recklessness nearly destroy Arcadia. Impassioned by the sight of Cross genuinely crying, Steven vows to never again commit an action that could make Cross cry, and resolves to become a hero worthy of standing alongside Anthony and stopping Trace Larson.

Steven spends time training in secret on Vega with Joseph Joestar, the last known practicioner of Sendō, "The Way of the Hermit". Joseph reveals that he knows Steven from his future--Joseph's past--and that, calling himself 'Fatman X. Jones', helped pave the way for Vega to become an Arcadian World once more. Emboldened by the resolve that he and Anthony were ultimately successful, Fatman uses a desperate gambit inspired by his mentor's past and challenges Giygas to a duel of honor for the sake of Arcadia.

If Fatman wins, Giygas destroys the armies of Heartless; if Giygas wins, the Heroes of Arcadia will stand unopposed to Trace Larson.

Giygas accepts.

In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in Vega, Fatman fights tooth and nail against Giygas' phenominal psychic prowess, fighting the Starman to a standstill. Ultimately, Fatman and Giygas, too exhausted to stand, spare each other, Fatman managing to appeal to the Starman's morality where no one else who fought him--Ness and Ninten--could, reminding the Starman of Ninten and his mother, Mary. (For added effect, the music to this battle would be Hopes & Dreams/SAVE The World from Undertale)

Giygas, now cleared of the despair that had crushed his heart for so many long years, dispels the Heartless across Vega, and using the newfound power of the Stand 'MEGALOVANIA'--gained as a result of the fight and the acceptance of his grief--empowers Fatman and Anthony to defeat Trace Larson, the Dark Gamemaster. The two heroes fight tirelessly against Trace, and manage to gain the upper hand; Trace, beaten, battered, and humiliated, refuses to give up, and in a blind rage throws himself on his own sword, choosing to commit suicide rather than lose to Anthony and Fatman and accept trial and punishment for his actions.

Afterwards, as Vega is inducted as one of the Worlds of Arcadia, Giygas stands trial against the Heroes' Council. Pleading guilty to atone for his actions, Giygas is surprised when Anthony--and the Heroes' Council--vote unanimously to absolve Giygas of his crimes, with one stipulation: He is to perform a lifetime sentence of 'community service', aiding Arcadia as a teacher of psionics. He is placed into the custody of the person who proposed the idea in the first place: Fatman, who has been granted the title of Honorary Gamemaster of Arcadia.

Fatman, Cross, and Giygas, along with a Mobian mage named Edwardo, settle down in Atami, Japan, in the world of Vega, readying themselves for the days to come. And those days are coming soon.

In his death throes, Trace Larson revealed that he had done everything to unite Arcadia against a looming threat: A race known as the Einst, who now have noticed the Arcadian worlds uniting, and are on their way to Vega...

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Phase One - Part Three: Super Robot Wars Arcadia Alpha - Heritage For The Future

A year passes, and Arcadia moves on. Fatman and Anthony are living comfortable lives. Anthony is training students in the way of Psionics, and Fatman is a teacher of Arcadian History in Atami, teaching the class of Shiro Kabuto, brother of Kouji Kabuto. Anthony is called to South Ataria Island by a Vegan scientist, Bian Zoldark, who has taken the words of Trace Larson to heart.

Bian had discovered alien technology left from a race opposing the Einst millenia ago on the island: the Superdimensional Fortress Macross, and with the authority of the Vegan government and the aid of the mysterious Shu Shirakawa created Extra-Over Technology to fight the Einst should they attack. Anthony, awed by this, volunteers to test the EOT machine "Bellezute" in a series of trials, geeking out over the chance to become a mecha pilot.

As the tests roll on, disaster strikes: Atami is attacked by the forces of Dr. Hell, who wishes to take the city's prize feature, the Photon Power Research Institute, as the lynchpin of his bid to take over Arcadia (OF COURSE!). Joining him are the forces of the subterranian Dinosaur Empire, who wish to exterminate humanity and the phenomenon called Getter Rays; the Zonderians, led by Pasder, who wish to convert humanity against their will into soulless Zonder Robots; the Zentradi, who wish to sieze the Macross for themselves; and the Fury, a race of lunar-dwelling people who are interested in the Bellezute.

Atami is defended by Kouji Kabuto in the super robot Mazinger Z, aided by the Getter Team of Ryoma Nagare, Hayato Jin, and Benkei Musashibo in Getter Robo G, and joined by the King of Braves, GaoGaiGar, piloted by cyborg Guy Shishioh, who has a grudge against the Zonders and boundless courage. In the conflict, Fatman takes to the field in a Photon Energy-powered mech of his own, the G-Burnkwaran, and joins Anthony, Kouji, the Getter Team, Guy and the Gutsy Galaxy Guard, and the crew of the SDF Macross as the allied forces led by Bian Zoldark known as the Alpha Numbers.

Time and time again the Alpha Numbers fight the alliance of evil to defend Vega in skirmishes across the world, until finally the conflict comes to a head with the arrival of the Einst, who begin a mass conversion of Vegan civilians into Einst themselves. A pilot on the side of the Alpha Numbers, Excellen Browning, is kidnapped and brainwashed by the leader of the Einst, a clone of her named Alfimi, but the brainwashing is broken by her lover, Kyosuke Nanba, who convinces Alfimi to stand down and halt the Einst conquest of Vega.

Together, the Einst and the Alpha Numbers defeat the alliance of evil: Dr. Hell perishes in the conflict as the hands of his most trusted lieutenant, Baron Ashura, who is killed before they can unleash the Myciniae Empire; the Fury are forced to concede defeat after failing to take the Bellezute, revealed to have been created with Fury technology cleverly stolen by Shu Shirakawa; the Zentradi reach peace accords with humanity thanks to the efforts of the SDF Macross' ace pilot Max Jenius in winning the heart of their soldier Millia; the Dinosaur Empire and their leader, Emperor Gore, are defeated by the sacrifice of Getter G and the awakening of Shin Getter, and finally, the Z-Master, the combined form of the Zonder Program that created the Zonderians, is destroyed by the combined Alpha Numbers, the final blown being landed by Guy Shishioh.

It seems the battle is over, but the Z-Master's final gambit activates and Guy's beloved girlfriend, Mikoto, is turned into the nigh-unstoppable Zonuda Robot, and Guy fights to the bitter end, ultimately saving her in an event that transcends the two of them into Evoluders, the future potential of humanity. Witnessing this, the Einst are convinced that Vega and the rest of Arcadia is in good hands, and relinquish the title of 'Guardians of Arcadia' to the Alpha Numbers, ending the Alpha War.

In a final note, Dr. Hell's records are discovered in the ruins of Bardos Island, his home base. The records reveal that he wanted to use the power of Photon Energy to destroy the Myciniae Empire, Dinosaur Empire, and unite the world against the Einst in order to take their position as Guardians of Arcadia and lead Arcadia against their final foe, an Outer God of the Court of Azathoth known by thousands of faces, but only one name:

Nyarlathotep.

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Phase One - Part Four: The War of the Shining Trapezohedron

The revelation of Nyarlathotep is met by the Einst revealing vital information about Arcadia's history. The Einst, it turns out, are one of the Five Ancestral Races of the Original World, Yutopia, created by the creator goddess The Lord of Nightmares. The other Ancestral Races--the Ancients, the Precursors, and the Tessauri--were betrayed along with the Einst by their brethren, The Engineers. The Engineers, corrupted by Nyarlathotep's influence, destroyed Yutopia, shattering the world at a dimensional level, creating shards that became the Worlds of Arcadia.

Nyarlathotep finally reveals itself, and reveals more of the story: at the beginning of time, the god Yog-Sothoth co-opted the universe of Yutopia as a life-support system to keep Azathoth, the leader of the Outer Gods, alive. Nyarlathotep, originally the collective subconscious negative desires of Yutopia to destroy itself, was given its power by Azathoth to ultimately awaken the Dreaming God by destroying Yutopia.

As Yutopia's shards still exist, Nyarlathotep believes its duty is clear: In order to awaken Azathoth, Arcadia must burn. The only opposition in its way are the Heroes of Arcadia, led by Durandal.

Nyarlathotep acts by manipulating a Weeping Angel to attack Fatman, sending him back in time, and then effortlessly fights off the combined might of the Heroes of Arcadia. The only ones left standing are Nyarlathotep and Anthony.

Nyarlathotep gloats to Anthony, revealing the shocking fact that this was the thirty-seventh time it had tried to destroy Arcadia. In response, the collective subconscious positive desires of Yutopia formed together and created Philemon, who challenged Nyarlathotep to a game: If it could prove Yutopia was destined to destroy itself, Yutopia would concede. Every time Nyarlathotep lost, it reset the board. One such cycle created the events of Persona and Persona 2; another, the events that spawned Durandal, originally an Artificial Intelligence manipulated by Nyarlathotep to destroy Yutopia.

Durandal, seeing how piss-poor Philemon was playing the game, punched the entity in the face and took over his place in the game, leading to the events that started this cycle. Nyarlathotep, tired of playing around, jumped the gun, the cosmic equivalent of a Go player flipping the table and quitting.

Ultimately, this would be Nyarlathotep's final mistake. Fatman reappeared in the nick of time, thought lost. Fatman had used his position being trapped in the past to find Azathoth's arch-enemy, and set the whole events of the Rebuild of Arcadia up at Durandal's command. Fatman brought with him the two beings that could defeat Nyarlathotep once and for all: the Elder Gods Daiyuji Kurou and Al-Azif, pilots of the Deus Machina Demonbane, the being that had nearly destroyed Azathoth before and threatened to destroy existance as the Vortex Destroyer. Now in full realization of the power they wielded, Demonbane's pilots struck Nyarlathotep down for good, and with their weapon the Shining Trapezohedron, Fatman took the initiative to settle the aeons-old feud once and for all and lobotomized Azathoth.

Overwhelmed by this, Fatman plummeted back to Arcadia, and was saved by none other than Yog-Sothoth itself, in the guise of a mortal avatar, Yoguruma Mugen. Mugen apologized for the desperate action it had taken, and the unforseen effect Azathoth had on Arcadia, and left with Kurou and Al-Azif, leaving Arcadia once and for all, knowing that the lobotomized Azathoth was no longer a threat to anyone while simultaneously keeping Yutopia alive. In addition, Mugen brought back all those innocents lost at Nyarlathotep's hands.

Finally, peace reigned in Arcadia. Fatman and Anthony had succeeded. Fatman would be forever plagued by nightmares of the ordeal, but he resolved it was a necessary cost for the peace they had accomplished.

Only one mystery remains, and Durandal, now de-facto Top God of Arcadia, resolves to learn the answer: If Yutopia was co-opted for all this, it had to be created by the Lord of Nightmares; but the Lord of Nightmares is missing in action... what happened to her?