smashacademy | [Video] Apocalypse PSA

[There's a scruffy young man on the screen. I mean his hair is washed, and everything, which is just... like, super amazing... wow. Hot water. You guys have it good. What was I saying? Right, scruffy. Cleaned up some, sure, but still in shabby clothes and generally haggard, weary in a way that makes him look way older than he is. He looks sort of familiar, if you squint

He looks pretty goddamn serious, or is certainly giving his best effort to be, but he keeps getting halfway there and getting lost, overwhelmed. God, he wants this to work, but he has no clue how to make it happen. He just wants to help, somehow, please.]

Smash Academy.

My name is Hajime Tanaka. You... may have known me. Know... still know me. A past... me. [time travel is the worst why]

Most of you have surely noticed, by now, the strange occurrences affecting your friends, or perhaps yourselves. I am certain many of you are worried and confused by the matter, but it is important for you to understand: no matter how much duress they may cause you, these effects are little more than a distraction from something much greater and more terrible to come.

The warped sky you've seen in the last month, the shadow insects and the monsters they make--they're the first signs of a terrible calamity yet to come. This school rests atop a dimensional boundary, and it is ready to split and unleash untold chaos upon Final Destination City. I come from the future, to... wow, that... sounds so silly out loud--I have come from the future where it has already happened, and it's... it's... been a bad time. I don't... I'd rather you not have to deal with it, is the thing.

I understand that many groups have already gone to investigate and inspect the catacombs beneath the school. Any who are willing and able, I implore you to keep looking, to try and locate the rift and put an end to this invasion before the world can end.

Those of you who can't or won't look for whatever reason, be warned and be ready in case of whatever may occur. Prepare and store whatever you can--food, weapons, clothes, whatever amenities you can. Locate safe places to hide, or--

[Wait. Wait this is either going to instill panic, or make him look like a nut. Deep breaths. Okay.]

The... the most important thing to me is that people are ready. We were taken by surprise last time. I cannot possibly emphasize how little I want that to happen to you all again.

((replies from

firegonedire))

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[Make that two gross and dirty post-apocalyptic hobos who have cleaned up a little bit. This one's been kind of lost in his own thoughts off to the side while Hajime's making his announcement to the network. Not too lost - he's always aware of his surroundings, even in such relative peace - but enough that he's keeping pretty quiet.

Ever since arriving in this point in time Kiyotaka's been replaying the events that lead to the apocalypse again and again in his memory, comparing everything happening around the school now to what he remembers from then. So much of it is the same, but so much of it is off, too. If other people are being displaced from their timelines and realities into one where none of their realities ever happened, what if the same is true for him and Hajime? He's been considering that a lot.

But there is still definitely a very real threat present in the bowels of the school, there's no denying that. He can't let go of the knowledge that there are subspace bombs hidden underground. He can't let go of the fear that they could go off at any time and he hasn't been getting any sleep because of it, but he can't do anything about them, either.

There are other things bothering him... He finally speaks up after Hajime finishes his broadcast.]

...Everything's so different this time.

[By now the tone of his voice probably makes his unspoken fears obvious. What if there are new surprises this time, too?]

[There had been a degree of absurdity to the whole announcement. To open with the claim that these events, these people jumping from realities aren't relevant in the grand scheme, when he's just another one of them. It's pompous, self-important, diminishing the relevance of entire realities in favor of their own. In the face of all that, who's even going to take a word of what he says seriously?

Yes, things are different. So different, that... maybe they didn't truly go back in time, at all? What if they just jumped over from a similar but unrelated reality, trying to impose a past on something unconnected?

With the feed off, Hajime sags. He's tired, so tired. It feels like everything they want is just out of grasp, and the questions and concerns leave him exhausted.]

Different is what we want.

[They can't prevent what they don't know. All they need to focus on is avoiding what they do know.]

Different like this?

[He rubs the side of his face, his gaze directed somewhere on the floor but not really focusing on it. All he sees are the ways everything could go wrong from here. He started out so full of hope that they could change the future, but as time has worn on he's getting more and more anxious that some things are set in stone, or that he and Hajime are just so insignificant in the grand scheme of things (it is such a smack in the face that his entire world amounts to nothing in the long run).]

...I keep wondering if it will be worse this time. Those... Those pockets...

[For lack of a better word. He is relieved that the one he couldn't outrun did nothing more than deposit him on the roof of the dorms, but who knows how long it'll be before someone disappears into one for good? ~~RIP RHYS~~]

[He removes his glasses to rub at his eyes. He just doen't know. Once upon a time, in these halls, with this friend, he'd felt so sure and certain, so prepared even when facing the unknown. With his friend by his side, they could accomplish anything.]

Different. That's all we can ask for. We couldn't stop what we didn't know, then. We have to focus on what we do know, now.

[It's hard to imagine things being worse. But this is Final Destination City. Things can always be worse.]

We've come back to stop the past. Perhaps the past is trying to stop us. To derail, and dishearten. It's rebelling just as we have.

[Of course there's no consciousness to this place. He knows that, he's not a child anymore. But to think of things in such ways helps him to organize his thoughts, at least a little.]

That's one thing that stays consistent here.

[It's almost a joke, but it's more sad than funny. Still, he should try to remain optimistic. Or at least a step above defeatist. It's just difficult with the way he's had to come to accept that things always have the potential to go wrong or get worse. That's been a truth for him since even before the city's fall.

...But Hajime hasn't given up yet. And Kiyotaka won't give up on him.]

...At least we've fought them for long enough that we know a lot of weak points. [Even the big ones who seemed invincible for long enough to kill a few of its assailants.] We can pass that on, we can... make sure they all know how to use a weapon.

We've led for so long now. These are people who are... whole, and strong... and now, they can be ready.

[It should sound optimistic, but it sounds as if he's already anticipating the cataclysm to happen all over. His mind is already jumping to how to minimize the inevitable damage, rather than planning to stop it.]

What is it, about this place...? For so long... so long we've hoped for an opportunity like this, a chance just like this one, and now we have it... and we still can't believe in it...

[His hand, his flesh hand, the one with life remaining, reaches out to take Kiyotaka's.]

This place has the power to crush hope. We can't let it. We're so close, we just can't.

[Maybe Despair truly is greater than Hope.]

It only has as much power as we give it.

[No, it has more than that. This school... This place... And the world that's slowly bleeding into it...

He grimaces and brings Hajime's hand to his face, pressing his cheek against his knuckles.]

No matter what happens, promise me that you won't give up. [Because if Hajime does, even with all the lives Kiyotaka will be burdened with once again, he's not sure if he'd be able to continue. Not for another decade of watching everything fall apart all over again.]

[they didn't grow these stupid ahoges for nothing man]

No... no, I never could...

[Despair is easy. The easier route is never the greater one. The real question is how great he can be.]

We just had this conversation, didn't we? [They have this conversation every week.] So long as I have you... so long as we have each other, I swear...

[He touches his forehead to Kiyotaka's. He's become so selfish, living for this person instead of all the rest. But this is what keeps him going.]

Until my dying day, I won't surrender.

[Video] Apocalypse PSA

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