#s170

PCG: I KIND OF FELT LIKE HE DIDN'T LOOK SO GOOD.

And this might be the most bone-chilling sentence ever spoken in Paradox Space.

The trolls rushed their session, ignored their Denizens, didn’t take their Choices, and cobbled together a ramshackle universe.

And that universe is sick.

PCG: I THINK I GAVE HIM CANCER.

CarcinoGeneticist. A death sentence for all that he created.

You win this round, Hussie.

PCG: I GAVE YOUR WHOLE UNIVERSE CANCER, JADE.

PCG: SORRY.

So that’s it, then. This universe really is fucked.

Whatever the Final Frog does, it’s capital-m Mandatory, and skipping it gives you the bad ending – the one where your cosmic progeny is doomed from the start. It seemed fine in 2009, but our universe is extremely young, cosmically speaking, and we now know that it's never going to see old age. By Exile time – a mere blink of an eye, really – it was all destined to fall apart. This is a dead frog croaking, and it always was.

Carcino Geneticist?

?GG: the frog we need is nowhere to be found in the medium ?GG: it was on earth!

Well, that sure isn't a normal frog. There's a lot to talk about here, so let's get started.

First of all, I don’t think this is a First Guardian.

Yes, it’s a white, glowing, obviously supernatural animal, but none of the Green Sun’s calling cards are present. There’s no aura of lightning surrounding the frog, nor are its eyes missing, and its body isn’t flickering into other locations, the way Scratch and Bec do.

Whatever this thing is, it's something we've never seen before.

It was notably teleported directly on top of the mini Battlefield - or, more precisely, it was sent to the real-world analogue to the object’s position on Prospit.

The implications are a little unclear, but the two are clearly connected in some way. Is the Final Frog the same entity as the Battlefield object, or was it sent here to interfere with it?

Second of all – yeah, someone sent it here! Just like with Jaspers, we’re seeing this little guy’s story out-of-order, and he'll be created later in the comic, under unknown circumstances.

This could be very good, or very bad, depending on who sent it.

If the sender was trying to help, then this is a clever way to allow the kids to benefit from hindsight. For example, a future Jade could have done some extra frog breeding down the line, effectively editing the universe retroactively, to take advantage of future insights. This frog could leverage the efforts of characters in future arcs, perhaps augmenting the universe in ways that we'll later learn are vital - inoculating it against English, perhaps?

If the sender is our enemy, then this frog is a trap. Maybe it’s adding traits to the universe that will completely screw us, when the time finally comes to complete the game. It’s really impossible to say how it could screw us, because we don’t know anything about Genesis Frog breeding, but I can think of plenty of nightmare scenarios.

I think the former is more likely, mostly because the frog’s eyes match our heroes' signature colors. This could represent the future versions of our kids, or even the rebooted versions of our heroes. Like, maybe this is a way to create a universe from two Genesis Frog genomes, synthesized across two versions of the same session.

Ooh - you know what I'm also seeing?

A hint of orange in those eyes.

If these colors do represent the Players who'll go on to create this frog, then I'm taking this as evidence that Davesprite will be getting recognized as a full Player, too. Skaia knows he deserves it.

?GG: it hopped over to me and i picked it up ?GG: but then, just like that…

?GG: it died

Poor thing.

I imagine that Paradox Space didn't want anyone looking too closely at this frog. Whatever secrets lie in its genes, learning them this early would create a hell of a doomed timeline.

No self-respecting First Guardian would suffer such a wrong note. Bec’s just doing his job.

With all this uranium lying around, Jade’s really lucky she lives in a setting which features magical healing.

?GG: later my grandpa made a robot for me to help me with my sleep walking ?GG: it could do all the walking while i stayed safe in bed!

Grandpa's putting his inherited Crocker brand to use, I see.

Wait, what the hell? Questions about why Echidna wants this aside, it's completely beyond Jade's capabilities.

Jadesprite could do it easily, though - and if Jade's Choice really has marked her for death, she may have to.

PAST carcinoGeneticist [PCG] 01:34 HOURS AGO responded to memo. PCG: JADE? PCG: ARE YOU STILL RESPONDING TO THIS MEMO? […] PCG: I HAD TO LEAVE ABRUPTLY BECAUSE SOLLUX AND ERIDAN STARTED DUELING AGAIN. PCG: AND THEN FEFERI AND KANAYA… PCG: IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST.

Right, so this is shortly after the incident in the common room, and around the time a fearful Karkat messaged John on the Battlefield. Feferi is dead, Sollux is down, and Gamzee and Eridan are on their respective rampages. Kanaya’s also down, so Karkat thinks she’s dead for good – and he’s also just missed Terezi, who has left to confront Vriska.

All in all, this is one of Karkat’s darkest moments to date. What does he have to say to Jade?

PCG: AND NOW GAMZEE IS HUNTING US ALL DOWN IN MURDER MODE. PCG: HE'S BEEN TAUNTING ME THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE'S MESSAGING DEVICES. PCG: AND LEAVING ME DISTURBING NOTES.

Unlike Terezi, Karkat's immediately able to recognize that these notes are Gamzee’s handiwork. Presumably, Gamzee can’t cast his Rage glamour if he’s not in the vicinity, so Karkat actually understands what’s going on.

PCG: I'M STARTING TO THINK PCG: THAT THIS MUST BE A DOOMED TIMELINE PCG: THAT'S WHY I CAN'T GET IN TOUCH WITH ANYONE PCG: THEY MUST BE DROPPING LIKE BEHEMOTH LEAVINGS OUT THERE. PCG: AND THAT MUST BE WHY PCG: FUTURE KANAYA WAS TALKING IN THIS MEMO PCG: BUT NOW SHE'S DEAD…

I don’t think this is really a doomed timeline, since events haven’t actually diverged from the Alpha. It certainly looks like one, though, so Karkat can be forgiven for his misconception.

Could've been worse. Losing it was part of the Alpha Timeline, so you'd have been screwed if you did find it, too. Ain't Paradox Space fun?

PCG: SEE, I WAS THINKING PCG: ABOUT JACK, AND HOW HE CAN'T STAND FROGS. PCG: AND I THINK I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON. PCG: I THINK I KNOW WHAT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN AT THE END OF OUR TIMELINES. PCG: I THINK I KNOW WHAT THE CRITICAL MOMENT IS.

You do? I’m not following your train of thought at all, to be honest. It looks like the Scratch is imminent, Jack still doesn’t have his bloody arm, and the only person around is a girl he can't harm...

...as well as a colony of frogs.

A colony of frogs which is about to include one very important frog.

One very important frog, that every Dersite explicitly hates.