...A cure? A CURE!?
What, do consequences not exist in the future!? HE LITERALLY JUST SAID THERE WAS NO WAY TO REVERSE THE SPELL!
That's right. No way to reverse the spell. So why are we dwelling on this when standing around and arguing about this only gives Ludwig an opening to do the same to other Toads?
...*Sigh* I suppose you have a point...

Stanley and Imajin prepare for battle. Bane and Fortem readies to fight, too.

...What just happened?
I don't know, but it feels like there's a bigger picture happening in the background...
...Huh. ...Well, anyways...

Stanley proceeds to smack Kurtis in the face.

What in the name of Lethal Lava Land is wrong with you!? Do you have any idea how hostage situations work!? You don't just go and do something rash like that! You have to calculate the situation! Make an actual plan to get the hostage out of the situation safely! What are you, INSANE!?

City Docks

(Alright, Betalix... This is your first fight in over a year... Deep breaths. You can do this.)

Betalix unleashes a Thunder Beam upon Goldyba C!

---

Toad Town

As Boom Boom is launched, Doopliss has been worn out by Wario, Bane, Fortem, and Luigi.

*Huff* *Huff* Clearly... You will... Never win. ...I... will-

Doopliss is knocked out by a Pound from Fortem.




Luigi, with slight difficulty due to his altered form, drags away the unconscious Doopliss to look for Mario. Bane, Fortem (who takes off the Mr. L outfit), Stanley, and Imajin try to look for Ludwig.

Alright, now where did that little sneak run off to?

Green Hill Zone

...So, what even should be our next move against Team Mecha? We don't know where they are or what they could even be up to right now, if anything at all.
Yeah, actually, that's a good point. Why are we just rushing into things like this?
Hey, rushing into things is just my style! ...*Sigh* But, I suppose you have a point... Maybe we need to sl-

Sonic seems to be having trouble with his words.

...Sl... Slo...
Sonic? Are you alright?
He'll be fine. He just never said the words "slow down" in his entire lifetime, other than to say something like "You'll never slow me down".
I see... Regardless, you're right; Even if Team Mecha has any intention of using more of those HEX Adaptors, we shouldn't exactly attack them without a plan, especially when we don't even know where they are.

I'm afraid there's more to worry about than whatever Team Mecha's up to.

Suddenly, a figure emerges in front of Sonic Team and the SFRs.

Hey, that's...!
The emerald you took from Koopenstein...
...Hand it over to me. NOW!

Silver the Hedgehog
Messenger from the Future

---

...A moment later...

...So, that emerald was a fake? Sounds familiar*...
Hold on, how the hell can you be so sure of this? For all we know, this is just some dumb trick!
...I'm certain of it because I came from the future.
The future? There's not another evil me involved, is there?**
Huh? No! ...Probably? It's fairly unlikel- Look, that's not the point. The point is, Koopenstein fooled you. And now, he's going to start making copies of the real emerald, which will begin a catastrophe known as the Great Chaos Imbalance.
...So, not only did he trick us with a fake emerald, but now he intends on copying Chaos Emeralds and upsetting the balance of chaos? We can't allow this.
But who knows what Team Mecha is up to right now... What should we do?
Is it not obvious? We take on the more present threat, and deal with Team Mecha when they come.
That's great and all, but how are we supposed to find Koopenstein?
Hm... Silver, was it? You wouldn't happen to know where Koopenstein's base is, do you?
Sorry, my knowledge on that is next to none. Any traces of where the base could be has been lost to time in the future.
...Come to think of it, there weren't any traces of beings like you in the future I came from. I only found out about the Chaos Imbalance because the next thing I knew, Chaos was suddenly imbalanced.
Wait, so things in your future are changing? How strange... Could this be because of the inherit strangeness of the Chaos Zone?
The Chaos whatnow?
It's a long story... But I think we can explain it on the way.
On the way to where?
The Mushroom Kingdom. Call it a gut feeling, but I think that's where we'll find our next clue as to where to go... And maybe get a few more helping hands while we're at it.

The group heads off for the Mushroom Kingdom.

---

*Reference: Sonic Adventure 2: Tails did something similar to this to Eggman. However, this backfired when Eggman deceived him into telling him the Emerald is fake.
**Quint and Rockman Shadow.

Why, you...!
Oh, yeah, sure. Let's teach this copycat a lesson...
...And by that, I mean let Wario teach this guy a lesson. Don't think you're getting out of what you're doing so easily!

Suddenly, a burst of wind from Stanley's bugspray blows back Boom Boom and Pom Pom!

Alright, guys... Let's settle this!

Imajin focuses on Boom Boom and Pom Pom while Bane, Fortem, and Luigi keeps their focus on Doopliss!

...Fine, then! I'll take you slicks on, all on my own!

Doopliss launches a Fireball barrage at Wario!

---

Magic Whirlwind- (Wind) A magic spell taught to Stanley by Spekkio. Pushes back enemies, but doesn't deal a lot of damage on its own. Consumes Mana to use.
Mana- An inner source of magic. Limited, but constantly replenishes itself. (Isn't this obvious, though...?)

Hey there, now!

Doopliss jumps over the attack, then approaches Boom Boom and Pom Pom.

Are you two dimwitted!? I gave you an opening, and you just ignore it!
...*Sigh* Look. These slicks just figured me out, so from now on, I'm on your team. And that means we help each other, right?
So let's work together and teach these guys a lesson!

Worried, Doopliss looks around at everyone staring at him. He then stares angerly back at Fortem.

...How... How could you possibly know about this!?



A little... Birdy? ...Wait, don't tell me-

Suddenly, Doopliss is hit with a high-speed Wing Attack!



You... I should've known...!
Ah, yes... Him. The, uh... Great and terrible...
...Alright, I'll bite. Who's this?



...Hilarious. Now, who is he really?

*

I didn't want to run the risk of one of you knowin' animalistic language, so I turned Green Slick here into a Pokemon. I just didn't think there'd be Pokemon roaming around the area, too!
...Which, hang on a minute. Why WERE you two here!?





Alright then, Doopliss... Either give Mario his body back and turn Luigi to normal, or we'll MAKE you!

...Heh.
I choose option three... Reminding you of who you're REALLY fighting here!
Wait, wh-

---

Wing Attack - (Flying) Strikes the opponent with wide wings.

*Doopliss has been shown to use the power to transform others in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, the game of his origin. In the game, he turned an entire city into pigs.

"Mr. F" simply hops over the Mini-Earthquake.



The masked Froakie then proceeds to do some admittedly cool flips before landing right in front of a certain red-clad individual... Who is not Somari.



...



NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?
HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW?

Toad Town

Not to worry... You won't even need Wario-Man! For there's already a superhero on the scene!

(Oh, bother...) A lone superhero stands up high on a nearby pipe, ready to fight in the name of justice...

And who am I, you ask? Oh, nobody special... Just a hero who stands for freedom for everyone! The storm who shakes down all who are evil and wrongdoing!




...And now, everyone is even more dumbstruck.





You're only giving him bonus points because you're his friend. Also, how did he put on that mask?
And that is the last time I will ever sprite a hat on a Pokemon.
Psh. You say that like you actually tried.

---

Note: I am not forgetting about the Goomboss battle. I just decided to skip over it because it wasn't too important.

Rocky Plateau

A group of robots is hanging around the Plateau...

...Well, it's a shame we didn't get to fight anybody. Ah, well. At least we'll continue to exist now.
Quick Man Ajax
The Red Racer

Honestly, I'm not quite sure why I even signed up. It's like fate itself chose us at random... But then again, lazing about in the Void's not my style, either.
Concrete Man Ajax
Constructive Cement Mixer

...What do you think, K-Man?
...
Komuso Man Ajax
The Silent Warrior

...Man of a few words, eh? Alright, 's cool. ...What about you, Roy-
...Uh, Royalty Man? What are you doing?
I am sharpening my blade to its peak potency.
...May we ask why?
Simple.
I aim to make it as sharp as my patience is thin for Sir Gemini to uphold his promise to us.

...
...Why are we hanging around with one of Bt Ghost's* odd robots, anyways?
Eh, I dunno. The other guys that were dragged into the tournament with us just kinda upped and left, anyways.
But, ah, whatever; Ol' PG has it coming to him for a long time, anyways.

---

*During the events of the original Ajax Chatroom roleplays, Bt Ghost- during a time when he was evil- created a group of robots in attempt to conquer the world and vanquish the heroes. Royalty Man was one of these robots.

Suddenly, a figure emerges from a flaming hole in front of the gate!

...No. This bastard only deserves one kind of afterlife.

The figure then drags A.Z. down to Hell!

Jazz simply sends the unknown character a text.

Maybe if you weren't being such an asshole going on about how there's no meaning to existence to the person who was trying to figure out its existence- and therefore ruining our chance to have ONE LESS future enemy to worry about- maybe I'd have left you well enough alone.
That, and calling people "peons" is a one-way ticket to giving yourself a superiority complex. None of this is helping us. So the REAL question is, why SHOULDN'T I have shot you down?

...I see.
Missingno.?
Way ahead of you.

Suddenly, Missingno. opens a portal to the Void.

Well, it's been real, gang. Later!

Jazz's group turns to leave into the Void.

...

Jazz begins to charge up an attack.

...Great. No, this is absolutely wonderful. Now I have reason to believe we'll be seeing that guy again, and not for good reasons.
...But, then again, I start to wonder if there even IS such thing as a GammaGhost character who is good. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if he himself is a threat that needs to be stopped.
To hell with this.

Jazz blasts the engine of Hightower's mystery character's ship with a supercharged Jazz Laser, causing it to explode, simply because his time was completely wasted. He then warps back to the Halberd.

---

The Halberd - Control Room

...So, what's the game plan now?

Oh, for the love of...

Jazz looks over to the others.

One of you guys answer grey man's question. I'll confront this other guy myself. I'm terrible at philosophy, anyways.

Jazz warps to the source of the voice.

---

Pop Star - Outer Space

...Alright, Ra Thor. Let's get this over with...
There is nothing "bastardized" about Halloween, and even so, who cares, it's just a holiday, it's not something to be an absolute asshole over. Also, the concept of a seasonal arc does not work if you're not going to be a continually active presence, so just stop it. And finally, your true identity, for whatever reason Hightower has decided upon, is Fozzie Bear. Here's a tip: Next time, if you're going to disguise your voice, keep it disguised. Use a voice synthesizer if you must. I know you comedians work on impressions, but sometimes emotions can ruin said impressions.
...There. Now you have nothing to fight for, no secrets to hide, and your plotline became completely unnecessary. So stop trying to make this plotline longer than it already is, because other people have villain arcs they want to do, too. Also, it'll finally get Beta Shadow off his lazy ass and finally kill off Beta Devil before he decides to massacre this entire universe.

...I'll tell you what. I understand that HighTower likes to do things based on what is "current" a lot of the time. I've also come to understand that- SPOILER ALERT- you've probably got a lot of new attack material from the new Ra Thor boss from 8BDM.
So, here's the deal: You stop trying to ruin everything we've worked so hard to do against Kilroy and all his despair crap... And I'll fight you. Deal?

---

(OOC) Obviously, this is assuming it IS Ra Thor doing this. There's only 2-3 days left of this supposed "Halloween Arc", so I suppose it would make sense.

So you're an absolute waste of time. Gee, thanks.
Speaking of wasted time, yours have been, too, what with all this preparation; I don't think Beta Shadow's going to be fighting you anytime soon... Or ever.
...Well, see you on Christmas, I guess. Word on the street is, you tend to go rather nuts during that time of year.

Beta Man leaves the scene.