HEHEHEHAHAH! I can tell you're wavering, ain'tcha, little ember!

Suddenly, Ninja Man smacks Reggae on the back of the head.

IDIOT! Now we can't use ANY of their weaknesses against them! Are you trying to make it harder to put it out!?
I'm more focused on the part where fire seemed to make it squirm even moreso... From what I recall with our training, Banetem's also part Fire, right? Doesn't that make his earlier assumption wrong?



Well, let's see how you like THIS!

Reggae then pulls off an Impression of Best Man, pulling off a Neutral-core {setweaponname == Coolpowerfulattack;}!

(And of COURSE he straight-up become a THREAT. This annoying little runt, I swear-)

Ninja Man then spots the flame.

(Wait, that flame... No. It couldn't be...



Huh? Oh, uh, yes, of course. So... Who wants to tackle this problem first?



And considering my arsenal consists of mostly firearms, I'm probably not the best choice, either.
Leave this one to me! I'll just snuff out this flame!
(Wait, he isn't going to-)

Reggae proceeds to let out a Ghastly Scream

@Malware :

You didn’t specify which weapon you’re using to attack so I’m just going to pick at random and just leave these here:



Death Man uses Buster Charge!

Life Woman charges Shield Buster!
Defense is increased by +2!

I REFUSE.
That’s fair, but I’m afraid I’m just going to not calm down.
Sorry, miss, but something tells me a brawl’s going to be what happens regardless.
Thanks for the compliment, I guess?
Yeah, thanks! Now hold still so I can throw my bombs at you!
...Maybe retract one of those compliments of yours.
1 Damage dealt!
1 Damage dealt!
1 Damage dealt!
The third attack missed...

---

Water Expert boosts the power of Triton Bubble’s attack!
Triton Bubble uses Water Buster on Skeleton Joe 2!Triton Bubble earns 8 EXP!
Aqua Fishtot earns 4 EXP!
Ambience earns 4 EXP!
Pierrobot earns 4 EXP!
OVERKILL BONUS! Received 4 Bolts!
...Oh? It seems Skeleton Joe wishes to join your team! Accept?
(Note: If accepted, the character will go directly to your reserves.)

Aqua Fishtot picks up the Extra Life!

---

IT’SA SPOOKY MONTH!



Indeed, the time of spooks is a decent time to raise a thread from the dead, isn’t it?

...Erm, again, anyways...

And in honor of this month of haunting, I feel like we deserve a bit of a treat, no?

For the duration of Halloween, EVERY FLOOR barring any boss floors we may or may not encounter along the way will contain 3 different Ally Robot Masters. If you speak with them, they may have a little something for you...


Candy Corn
Core: Explode
Effect: An item that can only be found during Halloween. Boosts the consumer’s Attack, Defense, and Speed by 2 and makes them immune to negative stat changes and effects.

One piece of Candy Corn will be given for each member on the receiver’s team... IF that’s what you end up with.

BE WARNED: Each of these robots will have a 40% chance to give you a random TRICK instead, giving out terrible curses, such as (but not entirely limited to):
- Dealing damage
- Inflicting a random status effect
- The stairs may even be sealed away until you defeat the trickster robot!

This event will last until the end of October, so treat yourself for some sweets... and beware for scares.

And yes, we’re still doing the April Fools event until the start of the next story mission.

Sudden realization that I have been forgetting the Expert abilities recently. Whoops. And by sudden I mean I’ve actually started working on this post before I ended up killing it again.

I’ll try to make up for that.



@Idk947 :

Best Man uses Flame Shot on Guts Man!
Shield Expert boosts the power of Guard Man’s attack!
Guard Man uses Shield Shot on Guts Man!
@Lushkk :

Firstly, thanks. Secondly, Bass DS did that through hold item shenanigans, which occur... Basically whenever I remember them tbh.

Thirdly, a problem with Parallax shooting Guts Man while picking up the seed:
1. Range
2. Wall (which does impede attacks)

You still pick up the Radiation Seed, though.

NEW ITEM DATA! i’ll update databases when i get around to it


Radiation Seed
Effect: An item to be thrown. Whoever is hit with it is inflicted with Radiation.

NEW STATUS DATA!

Radiation
Core: Explode
Effect: Causes the unit to be volatile, causing explosive damage to all surrounding robots when hit. Explode Core robots cannot be Radiated.

Time Expert boosts the power of Tesstra’s attack!
Tesstra uses Time Shot on Guts Man!Tesstra earns 14 EXP!
Parallax earns 7 EXP!
Best Man earns 7 EXP!
Guard Man earns 7 EXP!
The held Step Drive was dropped!

There are no enemies.

---

@prototedd :

Flame Expert boosts the power of Incinerator Man’s attack!
Incinerator Man uses Flame Shot on Ice Man!10 Damage dealt!
Not very effective...
1 Damage dealt!
1 Damage dealt!
1 Damage dealt!

Discorded Sergeant - +25 HP | +15 WE | +20 Atk | +25 Defense | +15 Speed
Learned Missile Overdrive, Sergeant Shield, Homing Sniper, Sergeant Camo, and Magnet Missile

Sergeant Shield
Core: Missile/Shield | Cost: 6 WE
Effect: The user generates a shield around themselves or an ally and takes note of the previous amount of damage they dealt. This shield nullifies damage and has a durability equal to that damage times 1 + the number of Defense buffs on the user.

Sergeant Camo
Core: Missile/Copy | Cost: 8 WE
Effect: Alters the user's Weaknesses and Resistances to that of an ally's for 5 turns. Can only be used once without being disabled.

---

Beta Shadow (FEH) - +23 HP | +17 WE | +20 Atk | +23 Def | +22 Spd

I'll come back to his moves later. (Not that he really needs any right now.)

---

Beta Maximus - +23 HP | +17 WE | +20 Atk | +18 Def | +22 Spd
Learned Golden Beta Rush, Golden Storm, Beta Cage, and Golden Lens

Beta Rush
Core: Shadow | Cost: 4 WE | Power: 28 Damage
Effect: Always goes first.
Upgrades into Golden Beta Rush
Core: Shadow/Level | Power: 32 Damage
Effect: Always goes first. Grants a boost to the user's Speed stat.

Golden Storm
Core: Level/Laser | Cost: 12 WE | Power: 20 Damage
Effect: Hits 8 random targets. Also applies a x1.25 EXP multiplier for every Weakness hit.

Beta Cage
Core: Shadow/Damage | Cost: 4 WE
Effect: Locks the target to a random move for 3 turns. (In other words, it chooses a random move and forces the target to ONLY be able to use that move.)

Golden Lens
Core: Level | Cost: 8 WE
Effect: Clears the user's or ally's negative status effects and grants them Clarity, making them unable to be inflicted negative status effects for 5 turns. (Note: Does NOT include stat debuffs.)

---

Banetem - +20 HP | +20 WE | +20 Atk | +20 Def | +20 Spd
Learned Double Kick, Extrasensory, Bounce, Water Pulse, and Flame Charge

Double Kick
Core: Impact | Cost: 4 WE | Accuracy: 90% | Power: 30 Damage
Effect: Hits up to 2 times.

Extrasensory
Core: Crystal | Cost: 4 WE | Power: 40 Damage
Effect: Has a 10% chance to cause the target to Flinch, causing them to lose their turn if they go after the user, or halving the damage and/or effect of the target's next move if otherwise.

Bounce
Core: Wind/Swift | Cost: 8 WE | Accuracy: 85% | Power: 42 Damage
Effect: The user goes Midair for a turn, before dropping down on a single target the next. Has a 10% chance to Paralyze the target.

Water Pulse
Core: Water/Swift | Cost: 6 WE | Power: 60 Damage
Effect: Has a 20% chance to Confuse the target, giving them a 50% chance to deal flat damage equal to their Attack stat to themself instead of making a move on each turn for 3 turns.

Flame Charge
Core: Flame/Impact | Cost: 8 WE | Power: 50 Damage
Effect: Raises the user's Speed stat by 2 stages. If the user is at max Speed, raises Attack and Defense by 1 stage instead.

Ninja Man Ψ and allies are now at Level 16!

Ninja Man Ψ - +20 HP | +25 WE | +15 Atk | +10 Def | +30 Spd
Learned Senshi Dragon, Ninja Accelerate, Senshi Snake, Ninja Substitute, and Senshi Horse

Senshi Dragon
Core: Nature/Energy | Cost: 16 WE
Effect: Always goes first. Allows for the user and all allies with stat boosts to take a second turn for 3 turns.

Ninja Accelerate
Core: Swift/Time | Cost: 14 WE
Effect: Boosts the user's Speed by 5 stages and all allies by 3; However, the user's Defense is lowered by 2.

Senshi Snake
Core: Nature/Shadow | Cost: 12 WE
Effect: Always goes first. Doubles the miss chance of incoming attacks for 3 turns.

Ninja Substitute
Core: Swift/Explode | Cost: 1/2 All WE
Effect: Creates a dummy of the user that takes up to 20 damage times the amount of WE that goes into the attack. Explodes upon the last unit that damages it, dealing flat damage equal to 40% of the damage dealt.

Senshi Horse
Core: Nature/Swift | Cost: 16 WE
Effect: Places the user or ally on Horseback, granting a flat +20 speed at the cost of a flat -10 defense for 3 turns.

---

Gagaku - +10 HP | +10 WE | +10 Atk | +10 Def | +10 Spd
Learned Gagaku Pounce, Gagaku Crunch, and Gagaku Claw

Gagaku Pounce
Core: Nature/Impact | Cost: 8 WE | Power: 46 Damage
Effect: Always goes first. Gagaku applies his weight on top of the target, halving their Speed until Gagaku's next turn.

Gagaku Crunch
Core: Nature/Damage | Cost: 8 WE | Power: 32 Damage
Effect: Crunches down on the opponent, removing all Defense and Speed buffs, or applying a 2-stage Defense debuff if the target has none.

Gagaku Claw
Core: Nature/Cutter | Cost: 4 WE | Power: 28 Damage
Effect: Inflicts the target with Bleed, dealing a flat 5 DoT for 3 turns.

---

Phantom Reggae - +25 HP | +25 WE | +5 Atk | +5 Def | +40 Spd
Learned Impression, Prismatic Core Laser, Censorship, and Reggae Overdrive

Impression (Upgrade of Mimicry)
Effect: Duplicates the previously used move of any chosen unit (whether they are on the field or not), but as a plain Neutral move. Cost, accuracy, and power matches that of the move mimicked.

Prismatic Core Laser (Upgrade of Core Laser) | 60 Damage
Effect: Fires a powerful laser beam that matches the core type of the user. The user may choose to instead use a Core in their inventory to fire a laser equal to that type that deals 30 damage instead. The Core is lost afterwards.

Censorship
Core: Explode/Shadow | Cost: 6 WE
Effect: Censors the target for 3 turns, making their moves have -50% less accuracy. Also applies a 2-turn Taunt to the user.

Reggae Overdrive
Core: Explode/Missile | Cost: 25 WE
Effect: The user prompts to merge with an ally of their choice; If accepted, the user's stats, including 50% of the user's Energy and WE, as well as the user's movepool, will be added to the ally. The ally will also be able to make 2 moves in 1 turn. However, the user will not be able to move or be targeted while the merge is active. Both units will share points, EXP, and Zenny earned whilst merged. The merge will last until the ally is disabled, switches out, or chooses to deactivate the merge on their own (this consumes no action from either party).

Banetem proceeds to create a blade-like flame in attempt to cut through the crystal cage. The rest of the group, meanwhile, huddled up.

Anyway, missing teammates aside, there has been a slight problem that I have noticed from us recently.
Is it that some of us aren't exactly acting like the heroes we're trying to be?
What? No. The problem is that we STINK. I mean, look at everyone else compared to us...

---

---

Meanwhile, what do we have to offer for the team? Lowering their Speed stat by a single stage? Finding weaknesses and resistances? A completely unreliable skill!?
Hey! Just you wait until my skill with Cores make me the group MVP! Group MVP, SQUAWK!

The point is, we need to find some way to be more of use to the team. Otherwise, what are we even doing around here!?

Suddenly, Banetem returns to the group after having helped out (or tried to, at least) Daisy.



Banetem holds out a couple of coins.

Seem like Crown Coins to me- ours, more specifically. So apparently we DO all share a wallet...



Banetem turns the attention towards the training booth made by the T-verse gang.

Even with those three coupons, we'd still only have enough to buy two.



Catching onto what Banetem is suggesting, the group looks to each other, then back to Banetem.

...How many coins have we got?

---

Moments later, three coupons and a sack of a total of 3,750 Zenny are slapped onto the counter of the T-verse's Training booth. Ninja Man, Gagaku, Reggae, Sergeant Man, and Banetem all surround the counter.

...Fight.

---

...Before I move onto the changes to my characters, some mentions:

1. For the record, this is a total of all 6 of my Crown Coins converted into 3,000 Zenny. This is then added onto the previous 812 Zenny I've already had. With the Coupons taken into consideration, I should have 62 Zenny remaining.
2. Since there are some of you who have a lot of Zenny, I've decided to limit the purchases of a few items...

Level Ups - Nobody may purchase level ups to make themselves any higher than the current biggest level amongst the players. This ALSO means that the person who is ALREADY at the highest level amongst players cannot buy this item at ALL.
Weapon Slots and Upgrades - Weapon Slots and Weapon Upgrades now each have a limit of 5 purchases between raids. (Weapon Slots from level ups do NOT count towards this.) Also, I lowered the cost of Weapon Slots to 1250.
3. Ch4s3, if you want Daisy added to the list, then that's fine. But I need actual STATS to work with.

With that all out of the way, onto the changes!

...Which'll be on the next post because I am out of character space.

...So, you guys were saying something about using the Chaos Emeralds to take these two home, right?



Well, we'd like to help you out, but to travel across an entire dimension would require all seven Chaos Emeralds... and we only have 3 of them on us right now.



Well, after the Diablo situation, we decided to split the Chaos Emeralds amongst ourselves: Me, Tails, and Knuckles have the first three, my Classic self has the fourth-
Classic self...?
It's a long story. -and then we gave the other three to Shadow, Silver, and Ashura.
Ah, that makes sense...
(I don't know who any of those people are.)
〈Didn't we just talk to an Ashura to find where these guys were?〉



As much as we would like to help you guys find the others, we have a bit of a problem to solve ourselves.



〈As much as I'd rather not give Gio the time to complete his plan when he's had so much time at this point already... It'd probably be easier to help you guys out, first.〉
Then we've got no time to lose!

---

Bane spits out an Ember to light up a newly-created bonfire. Dusty, Circuit, and Feels stand around the fire, the latter two holding out dark blue vials of their own.



Circuit and Feels nod at Bane, before tossing the vials into the fire. A dark blue steam erupts from the fire as the components of the vials boil and dissolve in the fire. The group waits for the steam to clear before Fortem extinguishes the fire. The group then leaves to join with the others...

---

...So, they've decided to follow the same path as Stanley and Imajin, and have left us to join the other heroes...
...Are you upset over this?
...You would think so, wouldn't you? Well, I AM disappointed that so much of my plans and intentions were revealed in such a manner as this... But there is not a reason to be mad over such an inevitable action.
And besides... Even with their choice to abandon us, they still walk the path we have planned for them.

...The only thing I find disappointing in the situation is that the next part just cannot come sooner. The heroes still have quite the road ahead of them... And that's not even to mention the difficulty of getting Scourge to cooperate.

Coda proceeds to lift up an E-Tank that he has sitting next to him and takes a sip. He then proceeds to swirl it around like a glass of wine.

And then there's the fact that I am still competing with Eggman and his little alliance... I'm just simply afraid that there's just so little I can do with these guys for now.
Then... What do you plan to do...?

Coda remains silent for a moment, then smirks.

...I think it's safe to say that it's less about what I'm going to do... And more about what YOU are going to do.
What I'm going to...
...Surely, you don't mean-
I WAS going to wait until Scourge had his little moment, but I've grown tired of being so silent. Taking into account Dusty and Circuit's story, you can consider this to be your punishment for conspiring against me.

Begin the preparations, Doctor... It'll be time for a family reunion soon enough.

---

Bonus Dialogue

The group sits around the last place they were before the raid.

...Still no sign of either of them... Could they still be out there doing those other things?
Probably. I've expected Sir "Holier-than-thou" to bail on us, but that Fire Emblem guy seemed like he was really willing to help.

A figure walks past them to talk to the shopkeeper nearby. A group of 3 Coupons in hand (-3 Crown Coins), they simply buy a Skill (-375 Zenny) and go on their merry way.

Those other missions didn't sound too hard, though. Not too hard... Maybe they got lost along the way?



Yeah, you're right. Sucks to b-

Ninja Man then jumps at the sudden appearance of this new entity.

Gyah! Who- No, forget WHO you are... What are you even supposed to BE? Some kinda post-apocalyptic bird-frog mutant!?






Bane...tem...? The hell kinda name is that?



Am I supposed to know who those two are?



Wait, it's actually you guys? How did YOU manage to survive Betan? And what's with this... fusion thing you've got going on?




(That's a pleasant picture...)
I guess that makes sense. But what brings you guys here?



Yeah, well, hopefully we'll be able to change that after this next raid boss.

---

One explanation later...



Basically. Even if you ended up having to survive like... this, the fact that you survived at all is a feat of its own, so do you think you could help us out?



Great! Another fine addition to the team! A fine addition, SQUAWK!

---

Banetem
Core: Flame
Subcore: Water
Weakness: Electric and Earth
Resistance: Flame and Freeze
Skill: Fusion Move
Abilities: Blaze Kick Water Shuriken Reversal Night Slash Brave Bird Shadow Sneak

Energy: 200 (10)
Weapons: 22 (11)
Attack: 20
Defense: 12
Speed: 17

Fusion Move
Effect: The user may combine 2 moves into 1 that has power equal to the sum of 75% of both moves' damage and inflicts both effects for x1.2 the cost of the two moves combined. The move's Accuracy is equal to the lowest of the two moves. This cannot be done for moves with the same primary typing.

Blaze Kick
Core: Flame/Impact | Cost: 4 WE | Accuracy: 90% | Power: 42 Damage
Effect: Has a 10% chance to land a critical hit, as well as a 10% chance to Burn the target.

Water Shuriken
Core: Water/Cutter | Cost: 4 WE | Accuracy: 85% | Power: 15 Damage
Effect: Hits up to 5 times.

Reversal
Core: Impact/Damage | Cost: 6 WE | Accuracy: 90% | Power: 15 Damage
Effect: Adds the amount of HP lost by the user to the total damage of the move.

Night Slash
Core: Shadow/Cutter | Cost: 4 WE | Accuracy: 100% | Power: 35 Damage
Effect: Has a 10% chance of landing a critcal hit.

Brave Bird
Core: Wind/Impact | Cost: 6 WE | Accuracy: 100% | Power: 60 Damage
Effect: Deals recoil equal to 25% of the damage dealt.

Shadow Sneak
Core: Shadow/Empty | Cost: 4 WE | Accuracy: 100% | Power: 60 Damage
Effect: Always goes first.

The group turns to the source of the voice.


















Wh- Hey! You didn't have to call me out, too!
Hold on. You guys were here for the Chaos Emeralds...?



〈...〉
〈...Pikason, it's alri-〉
〈I KNEW we couldn't trust you two. From the moment you showed up, EVERYTHING about you was suspicious.〉



〈And I'm supposed to just BELIEVE that? How am I supposed to know this wasn't some trick to keep me from going back to my world to stop Gio from taking it over?〉
〈Pikason, please, take it easy-〉
〈I CAN'T take it easy, Eevtai. You KNOW I can't. Not after what Beta Diablo did to my world.〉
Hey, it's not that-
〈I HAVE to keep you guys safe, and I will NOT compromise that safety by letting these two FRAUDS get away with their lies-〉
Just CALM DOWN for a second, alright!?
〈...〉

...Alright, so I don't know what this whole situation is about with you, this "Gio" guy, Coda, or whatever, but fighting amongst ourselves like this isn't going to solve anything.
Besides... I think that if these guys WANTED something bad to happen to us, they wouldn't be helping us. Even if they are working for this Coda guy.



Everyone looks back over to Dusty.





...I'll be honest; Some of these horrible things are stuff I've only just now heard about. If this is the sort-of thing he wants me to do, then count me out of it, too.
〈...I, uh...〉
〈I guess... I was a bit hard on you guys. Sorry.〉
〈You guys aren't too bad. I'm looking forward to working with you guys for real from here on out.〉
〈(He's starting to sound like himself again... It's not much, but it's a start.)〉

...
(...Urgh... What happened...?)
(The last thing I remember was...)

(...That guy... Coda... What did he-)
Guys! I think they're coming to!

---

H-huh!? What's going on...?



Nice to see you too, Mighty.
Huh? Sonic...?
Some crazy virus turned you two into some kind of mindless zombies! Fortunately, we were able to reverse it with a little help.
Us two...? Wait, Where is Ray? Is he alright?
I'm right here! I'm a bit roughed up, but I'm okay!



Mighty lets out a sigh of relief.

How did this even happen, anyways? What happened to you guys?
...Well, it's a bit foggy, but... Me and Ray were just practicing some new moves when we were approached by this robot named Coda. He tried to offer us a place in some kind of "Syndicate of Forgotten Heroes", but there was no way we were trusting that. But the next thing we knew, he had some crazy psychic scientist freeze us solid and take us to some strange place with some baby gorilla* and two other robots**.



So, it was called the Coda Corruption... Prototype version?

***


Newer one...?

Meanwhile, a certain Chao in the group spots something strange on the ground...

Chao...?
What is it, Cheese? Did you find something?

〈Assuming that what they told us about the Coda Corruption is correct... There would've been absolutely NO way to cure you from it in the same way that we did.〉
N-no way to cure us...? As in, we'd be puppets to that Coda guy forever...?

Cream and Cheese finds a strange broken vile on the ground. A navy blue substance seems to be leaking out of it...




Wait, don't touch that!

Everyone looks over to Feels, who seems to be stopping Cream and Cheese from coming any closer to the strange vial.

...Uhhh... K-kids shouldn't be messing with broken grass and spilled chemicals, r-right? I was just looking out for them...

The rest of the group spots the vial.

...Huh... That definitely wasn't here before.
Well, obviously. But what is this stuff?





!!!!!




Could... Could that have come from us, somehow...?
If that vial did come from us, the two of us likely would've had it, too. It had to come from someone else... but who?

Silence and tension surrounds the area...

---

*Kiddy Kong
**Honey Woman and Ocean Man
***References events from the Regulus Arc. (I don't really feel like digging around for the specific instances)

...Huh. Well, I'm not sure if I can really say if this whole thing was significant in any way or not.

Ninja Man glances over to RBF.

...Aside from ONE potential problem. Not entirely a fan of the Fan actually being a threat to us than a joke.
Meh, he's not important. We'll worry about him if we have to.

---

Final Scores

Mighty - 28506*
RadiatedWraith - 20559*
RedBomber - 15411*
Lushkk - 1856
Ch4s3man - 1284
Tedd - 351
RotomSlashBlast - 301
NintendoPanda - 198
Beta Shadow - 45
HighTower - 30
YD - 28

The winner is, once again, Mighty!

...But considering how he turned down this month's Raid Boss role, whether or not he'll be the next raid boss is up to him. If Mighty turns it down (again), I'll hand it over to RadiatedWraith and go down the list from there.

---

*These scores have been extremely downplayed. I'd do so even more if it made any real difference (it doesn't).

Gee. I wonder if the Raid Boss Fan knows EXACTLY what he's doing. It's almost as if his name wasn't ironic or something.
It's getting awfully hard to ignore someone who's starting to cause us trouble.
I've noticed. But right now, he's not our concern.

Ninja Man attempts to blind Cut Man with a Ninja Smokebomb

Dusty throws a Bonemerang at Ray, who glides out of the way of the attack before attempting to dropkick him in retaliation, only for Dusty to roll out of the way. Dusty tries to knock Ray back with a Bone Club, only for him to be knocked back by a Spindash from Mighty!

Despite the hard hit, however, Dusty manages to quickly recover, smashing his bone on the ground to cause a small quake to trip them up.



Circuit uses the opening provided to trap the two in a Thunder Wave, paralyzing them!



Right, here goes...!

Feels rushes onto the scene, tossing the mass of code at the pair...

---

Bonemerang - (Earth/Swift) The user throws a bone like a boomerang, having the chance to hit twice. Goes a long distance, but has significant difficulty hitting airborne opponents.

Bone Club - (Earth/Impact) The user utilizes a bone like a club and slams it into the target. May cause the opponent to flinch.

Flinching - (Vital) A reaction-based status effect that causes the body to involuntarily recoil, making the person incapable of using their next move. Lasts only for a brief period of time.

Thunder Wave - (Electric) A weak jolt of electricity that causes paralysis.

A look of his surroundings. He finally got.

The place... rocky. Metal plating. Lifts that drop. Cautionary fences. Construction site, was he?

The Mountain Mines...? I wonder why here, of all places...?

Silence. No life. Quiet. All is quiet. Too quiet? ...There is nobod-

A presence. There is a presence. It is behind. Behind him.

Behind him. Behind him. Behind him. Behind him. Behi

BOO! Gotcha!

Fires at figure. Figure not harmed. Moved out of way.

...Moved out of way. Up close? Possibly incredible reactions.

S-sorry. You caught me a bit by surprise...
Ah, don't worry. It happens more often than you'd think.

Stranger raises hand. Offers to shake.

My name is BTAM, but people call me "Deathmatch". I think it has something to do with the universe I came from, 8BDM-218. Speaking of, it's the remnants of that universe you're in right now.
Deathmatch... Wait, am I in some kind of warzone right now?
More of a Tournament area than a Warzone, really. It's actually pretty fun; You run around in either a free-for-all match or a team vs. team scenario, or anything inbetween- and use Buster Shots, and any other weapon you can pick up- to shoot down opponents and earn points!
You... kill each other for fun...? Is that why it's so empty around here?
Nah, if you die during the game, you just respawn and get back in the fight! It's only empty around here because everyone else is participating on different maps.
Maps...?
Actually, I think the next match might be starting soon... You want to join us? It'll be fun!

BTAM offers to shake again.

(...It'd be rude to just say no, right...? And he did say I'd respawn if I died during the game...)
(Besides... It might be good training for me. MUCH better than the crap that jerk put me through. And who knows, maybe if he does end up finding me, I might just be able to show him I'm more than just his footstool.)

The shake is reciprocated.

I'm in.

---

BTAM, more commonly known as Deathmatch, comes from a realm known as MMRPG-8BDM-218. The universe was once Beta Shadow's download of Mega Man 8-bit Deathmatch on an old laptop. After getting a new (at the time) computer and downloading MM8BDM on it, Deathmatch's universe was abandoned and consumed by the Void in favor of the new universe, labeled 8BDM-220.
Deathmatch enjoys, well, deathmatches, and while he is very good at them, he is more of a host and observer than a competitor.

Ninja Man strikes again with the Katana.

Beta Shadow walks into the pizzeria... which is, surprisingly enough, not on fire. It is, however, rather empty.

Well, I was going to ask if I missed anything, but it seems that I have not.



Yep. So, did I miss anything, or...?





Cool.
...Though, why are there no customers around here...?



Don't we have other employees, though...?



Huh... Wonder what Reggae's even up to...

---

Ironically, chaos ensues as Reggae unleashes all manner of weapons upon the training dummy(ies) in the area. (Or alternatively, if it's just an empty room, Reggae just unleashes weapons everywhere.)

---

...Alright, look. Unless this place gets money, we're not going to be able to afford to keep this place open.
...But I can't always be here to keep an eye on you guys. And if Reggae really is unavailable at the moment...
...Then we might need to work on something that fulfills both of our roles in the case of my and/or his absence.
But-a who would take on-a such a role?
...Ok. Bear with me... but I have a crazy idea.

Sergeant looks over to RBF.

...Who's this guy, exactly?
Someone who you are better off just ignoring, trust me.

Ninja Man tries out his new Ninja Blowdart move.

Aaaaaaaaaand there! This place has had the strongest dimensional distortions that I could detect... Maybe this is where it is.
Cool! Just give us the coordinates, and we'll just warp right there!
...Just one problem, though... It's in an area with too much interference for Robot Masters like us to warp to.
(Because of course it's not going to be that simple.)
So where do we go to, then?
...I think it's better if I just show you...

Distortion Man creates a holographic projection of a map from his hand...

...You're kidding me, right? Of all the places... It's on an island in the Bermuda Triangle?
Certainly an odd choice... But how do we get there without teleporting?
Well, to start, we'll clearly need a boat of some kind... But where can we possible find one?
...Well... I may know SOMEONE.
Oh, really?

---

Oh. REALLY?



A certain ship stops at the docks...

Well, fellas? No need for cold feet...
...All aboard the Gangplank Galleon!

---

As the group continues fighting, it seems that only one side of the group is starting to get worn out...

Sheesh...! I know I haven't seen them in a few years, but since when do they mean this much business...?
It must be a side effect of this virus... I think they're being pushed harder than their bodies should be!
〈If this goes on, they'll probably die of overexertion before we could save them... Not that we're fairing any better right now. We need to find a way to stop this fight as quickly as possible...〉



Guess I came at the right time, then!

Suddenly, Feels comes onto the scene.

Hello, there! I believe I have the solution to your little predicament...

Feels suddenly reveals a mass of code...

This here code will remove any traces of that virus! All I'll need is for those two to be kept together in a single spot for just a moment!
〈Showing up at just the right moment to help us in the nick of time, all while conveniently knowing location and the virus we're against, and you just so happen to have the cure for it. THAT'S not suspicious.〉
〈Better it came in a suspicious manner than never at all... Question is, who's going to get those two in one place?〉



Alright... Good luck you two.
Please, don't hurt them...

---

*The city that I decided that Clockwork Cathedral resides in. It is a mostly Steampunk sort-of town.