Hey guys, it's Zunar. I decided to try my luck at making a Runouw's Forums story, and this is what I came up with. Also, please let me know if you have better ideas for chapters names; I'm not that good at doing it.
Here's a map of Runouw City, made by Star king:
Runouw City.jpg- (107.98 KiB) Not downloaded yet
Credit to...: show
Chapter List: show
It was a normal, regular day in Runouw City. The members were milling about, chatting and looking at new posts.
Superyoshi was walking down the streets, patrolling for any spam posts. He was obviously worried about something, as he acted weird. The regular members didn't notice anything (or if they did, they didn't seem to care). But one person did notice this, and consulted Superyoshi.
"Hey Suyo," fourinone said, walking up to him.
"Yeah Four?" Suyo replied.
"I've noticed you've been acting a little weird these past few weeks. Is there a problem?"
"No problem here," Suyo replied.
"Well, ok. It just seems fishy that you're acting this way. But if you say nothing's wrong, then I'll leave and stop bothering you," Four replied.
"Thank you."
Suyo kept acting weird for the next few days, though he tried his best to hide it from the other moderators, especially Four. He hoped that somebody, besides him, would notice what he had, but so far, nobody had. Eventually though, Suyo let his guard down, and again Four noticed his weird acting.
"Dude, there's got to be something wrong with you. You've been acting strange for about a month now." Four said.
"Fine, I'll tell you. Haven't you noticed something?" Suyo asked in response.
"Noticed what?"
"Something about the forums."
"What about the forums?" asked Four.
"Nothing interesting has been happening." explained Suyo.
"So? It gives us moderators a break. What's so bad about it?"
"Nothing, except that it seems fishy that there have not been any spammers lately."
"Now that you mention it, it does seem strange. I wonder where they all are?"
"I don't know, and that's what I'm worried about. I'm worried that they're forming an army or something and are going to attack the forums and try to take over the world... again." said Suyo.
"Should we tell Runouw?" Four asked.
"I was thinking that, but at the same time I was hoping someone else would notice, so that, with more people, Runouw might pay more attention to the issue."
"Good thinking, Suyo. I think both of us should go talk to him. I think he's at Forum 23 right now. At least, that's where he was when I left earlier."
"Good. Let's go."
Suyo and Four headed to Forum 23 to discuss the issue with Runouw.
"No spam for a while? It might just be luck…," Runouw replied, after Suyo and Four told him the issue.
"It could be, but who knows if they're forming an army or something and going to attack the forums?" said Suyo.
"Even so, what do you propose we do about it?" Runouw inquired.
"I say we make a list of members who have potential to be entrusted with it," Suyo answered.
"It? You don't mean...?" Four asked eagerly.
"Yes." Suyo replied.
"Are you sure we should use it right now?" asked Four.
"I'm positive."
"Well, first things first. We need to make a list," said Runouw.
"I've got a few members in mind," said Suyo.
"Really? Who? ...Are you serious? But... okay, fine. But we need a few more than just five members… twenty should be enough. Here are my suggestions…" Four made a list of twenty members.
"There, we have the list. Now we just need to send a message to all these here on the list," said Four.
"I'll take care of that," Runouw said.
"Are you sure, Runouw?"
"Yes. It will seem more important if the message is from me." replied Runouw.
"Good point. Now, let's discuss what the message will say..."
SupahMarioX woke up, and yawned. "I hope something actually happens today," he said to himself.
He got dressed, went outside, and noticed that his mailbox flag was up. That meant he had mail, but who was it from? He opened the mailbox and found an official-looking letter from Runouw. He opened it up, and read the letter.
If you have received this letter, then you have been selected for a very special event that is going to commence tomorrow. Bring this letter for confirmation, and make sure you are prepared to be away from the forums for a long time. Sincerely, Runouw
"A very special event?! AWESOME!!!" SMX jumped in delight. He went to tell his friend Zunar about it.
"Hey Zunar! Guess what?"
"You got selected for a special event?" Zunar said.
"How'd you know?" SMX asked, surprised.
"I got selected too." Zunar replied.
"Awesome! I wonder who else got picked?" SMX wondered aloud.
"I have no idea. But we'll find out tomorrow!"
"I'd better go get ready! How about we go to the Tav' and get something special?"
"Sure! Lemme grab something real quick!" Zunar walked back to his profile, and came back a few minutes later.
"What'd you get?" SMX asked.
"My wallet," Zunar replied.
"What'd you get your wallet for?"
"We gotta have money to get stuff at the Tavern!"
"
Oh yeah..." "Anyway, let's get going.""Okay, I'm right behind you."
SMX and Zunar walked to Demonik's Tavern, and sat down at the bar to order some drinks.
"Gimme a big chocolate milk, a beef pizza, and whatever my friend wants," Zunar said.
"I'll take a Suyo's Steamed and Salted Giant Pretzel, since it's Tuesday today, and a big Root Beer," SMX said.
"Order up! Beef pizza, and a Suyo's Steamed and Salted Giant Pretzel!" Buffooner, their bartender, shouted to the back of the Tavern. He turned to them. "What's the occasion?" he asked.
"Oh, just a little something we got in the mail," Zunar said, "Why?"
"Just curious." Buff replied, understanding exactly what Zunar was talking about, as he had been told about the letters. He grabbed a couple of cups and poured their drinks.
"I wonder what the event is going to be?" SMX wondered aloud.
"No clue. But we'll find that out tomorrow, along with everyone else that was picked!" Zunar replied.
They got their drinks, and they drank them all. Zunar payed the bill, and they left.
"See you tomorrow, Zunar!" SMX said, walking back to his house.
"Okay, SMX!" Zunar replied, waving.
"Hm... what should I do? I know! I'll go tell some of my friends!" Zunar went around to his friends' houses, telling them about the letter. Some of them were picked too, and they were all excited. Once he had finished that, he headed back to his house.
"Whew, I'm exhausted! I'm going to go to bed early, so I can have a lot of energy for tomorrow!" he told himself as he headed back to his house.
The next morning, SMX and Zunar met up with each other.
"Hey SMX!" said Zunar.
"Hey Zunar! You going to the event?" asked SMX.
"Yeah. Come on, let's go!"
They started walking towards the entrance of Runouw City, where Runouw was going to explain the event.
"If they make us split into teams for something, maybe they will put us both on the same team!" SMX said enthusiastically.
"That would be cool," Zunar replied.
Everyone who had gotten a letter from Runouw gathered at the entrance of Runouw City, eagerly waiting to find out what this event was about. The people there were:
Zunar
SupahMarioX
Mariox64
RemnantAbyss
Doram
UsuarioTHf
Brandobrawl
Buffooner
MessengerOfDreams
nin10mode
Yoshi Boo 118
StarF
Mr_SaxMan
Demonik
Ridder
MICrophone
Shadrixian
Kirby_999
Kirby859
Blablob
Runouw was going to arrive in about 5 minutes, and already everyone was restless. The same thoughts were going through everyone's heads: "What is this event?" "Why are we leaving the forums for a long time?". Eventually those five minutes passed, and Runouw arrived to explain the event.
"I see we are all here. Now, about the event. This event is going to take place over the course of several months, and it will test all of your skills. First, you will be split into teams. Each of these teams will get weapons and items, and sent to different parts of a special training ground. Unless you act quickly, you could wind up seriously injured, or dead. The staff and I will do our best to ensure that death is not a result, but we give no guarantees. If you do not wish to go on this event, then please come see a mod or me, and we will make proper arrangements."
"What's in it for us?" a member shouted.
"Interesting question. Those who survive will be given a special reward; a part of which is modship."
"Temporary or permanent?" another member shouted.
"That is yet to be decided, along with the other parts of the reward."
"What's the purpose of this event?" a third member shouted.
"This event is to see which of you have the potential to be put on the Runouw Force, which is our army against spammers and spambots."
"But there hasn't been any spammers or spambots lately!" a fourth member shouted.
"We understand. But doesn't that seem strange? Usually we have at least one, maybe two spammers a month, but we have had none in three months. Doesn't that seem a little weird to all of you?"
"Maybe we're just lucky!" a fifth member shouted.
"That's what I thought too. But I decided to form the Runouw Force just in case of emergencies. Now, if you would like to participate, please come forward and present your letter of confirmation."
Everyone that was picked came up and showed their letter to confirm they had been chosen.
"Good, all twenty members want to participate. That makes it easy to split you up into teams. Everyone else, please go back to whatever you were doing before this happened." He turned back to the members. "I will split you up into teams. The first team will be led by RemnantAbyss. Come forward please."
Rem stepped forward.
"The second team will be led by MessengerOfDreams."
MOD stepped forward.
"The third team will be led by Blablob. And the fourth will be led by Buffoner."
Blab and Buff stepped forward.
"Now that the team leaders have been selected, it is time for the leaders to pick who they want on their team."
"You mean we get free choice?!" MOD asked, surprised.
"Yes. Go ahead, pick," Runouw replied.
The teams are as follows:
Blue Team:
Buffooner
Mariox64
Doram
UsuarioTHf
Kirby859
Red Team:
RemnantAbyss
SupahMarioX
Kirby_999
nin10mode
Zunar
Orange Team:
MessengerOfDreams
MICrophone
Shadrixian
Yoshi Boo 118
brandobrawl
Green Team:
Blablob
Ridder
Demonik
Mr_SaxMan
StarF
Each team grouped the way they were to, and they started their journey to the training ground, not knowing what lay ahead...
After a long and exhausting journey, they arrived at the training ground. It was massive; about as big as Runouw City.
"Ok, we're here," Runouw said, turning around. He didn't look the least bit tired, which was surprising as everyone else (including the mods) was exhausted.
"Finally... that was exhausting..." SMX said, almost collapsing from exhaustion.
"How far did we come anyway?" MIC asked Runouw.
"About 3 miles." Runouw replied.
"Three miles?!" MIC replied, shocked.
"Yes. Now man up, and come on inside." Runouw responded, turning around and walking toward the training grounds.
Inside the training grounds, Runouw led everyone into a building, and into a room with lots of chairs. Everyone sat down and Runouw began to speak.
"Welcome to the training grounds for the Runouw Force. As you all know, you will be competing to see who has the most potential as a Runouw Force officer. How many officers there will be is going to be decided by how many people show their full potential in the missions I will assign you. Now, everyone please separate into their teams."
Everyone separated into their teams.
"First off, each member will be given a suit of armor that will help protect them. The leader's armor will be bigger, to show that they are the leader. Blue team, come forward."
Buff's team stepped forward, and were given suits of armor, which they put on. They stepped back in line (after getting used to the bulky suit), and the other teams did the same thing.
"Now that you have your armor, here are your weapons." Runouw handed everyone special blasters.
"Now, please go to your rooms." Runouw showed everyone to their rooms, where they all went to sleep.
The next day, the came back to the room, noticing that everyone, including Runouw, was in a suit of armor.
"Why do you have a suit on, Runouw?" Rem asked.
"That will be revealed in good time," Runouw replied. "Now, let's get you all briefed for the mission.
"First, you will be led to your team base. You must all co-operate to protect it, while at the same time trying to take over the other teams' bases. If your team loses their base, your team is out."
"Sounds simple enough," Zunar said to SMX.
"Yeah, but it's not, I guarantee that," SMX replied. The teams were all led to their bases to prepare for the mission.
"Hi Runouw."
"Who are you and what do you want?"
"I'm just a visitor, and I would like to watch these games with you."
"OK... there must some other reason."
"Not really."
"Well, whatever."
"I wonder where everyone else's bases are?" Nin10mode wondered aloud.
"We'll have to search for them, I guess," Rem replied.
"Also, how will we know when the game starts?" Kirby_999 wondered. Just then, a loud horn blew.
"Does that answer your question?" Rem replied.
"OK, now we have to decide who's staying back and who's going to explore," Mode said.
"How about we rotate out?" SMX suggested.
"OK, sure," Mode replied, "but who's going to stay first?"
"I'll stay," Kirby_999 volunteered.
"OK, we need at least one more person to stay back," Rem volunteered.
"And I guess I'll stay back too. Zunar, SMX, you guys go explore," Mode said.
"OK," Zunar replied.
As he and SMX were exploring, Zunar felt like he already knew the layout of this place, and then he realized why.
"This place is built exactly like Runouw City, but without all the topics and stuff!" Zunar excitedly whispered to SMX.
"Now that you mention it, it does! That makes exploring this place a whole lot easier!" SMX replied.
"I wonder if anybody else has noticed this?" Zunar wondered aloud.
"Dunno. Perhaps," SMX replied.
MICrophone was walking down the path, along with Brandobrawl, when, out of instinct, he turned down a road.
"Hey MIC, you seem like you know this place, though we've only been here once. What's the deal?" Brando asked.
"You haven't noticed?" MIC replied, stopping.
"Noticed what?" Brando asked.
"The layout of this place is strangely... familiar," MIC replied, looking around. Brando looked around too, and suddenly it hit him.
"You're right! It's exactly like Runouw City, except no topics or anything like that!" Brando replied.
"Exactly!" MIC said.
"I wonder how this was built," Brando said, thinking.
"No clue. But what we need to focus on is finding the other teams' bases," MIC replied, starting to run.
"Hey, wait for me!" Brando said, running after MIC.
"How'd they find us so fast?!" StarF said, shooting at three members of the Blue Team, who were coming toward them.
"How should I know?! Just keep shooting!" Blablob replied.
The Blue Team had apparently gotten used to their bulky armor, since they were moving around very easily in it.
"Who are these guys?!" Demonik asked. "They look like members of the Blue Team, but I can't tell for sure at this distance," Blab replied, squinting at the oncoming people.
Blab pressed a button on his suit, and a screen came up in front of him, showing Ridder and Mr_SaxMan exploring around.
"Ridder! Sax! Get back here ASAP! We need your help!" Blab said.
"We're on our way!" Ridder replied. Blab turned off the communicator and went back to shooting.
UsuarioTHf, Mariox64, and Kirby859 were coming toward the Green Base, dodging oncoming shots quite easily.
"What're they aiming at, the ground?" Usu taunted, laughing.
"They must need glasses." Mx64 put in.
"Apparently so." K859 replied.
They got closer and closer to the Green Base every second, and they eventually got close enough to where their portable blasters were in range. They pulled them out and started returning fire.
"Looks like they're returning fire, guys!" Blab said, dodging a few oncoming shots.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." StarF replied.
"Hey, I'm the leader here! Don't you give me none of your crap!" Blab said, angry. StarF rolled his eyes and went back to firing at the Blue Team. Blab ignored him and went into the base, looking for something.
"Where you goin' Blab?" Demonik asked.
Blab headed into the base, and found what he was looking for; a switch. He pressed it and a barrier came up that engulfed the whole base.
"What the hell?!" StarF said, surprised.
Blab came back, and said, "It's a one-way barrier."
"What is it for?" Demonik asked.
"It makes it where projectiles can go through the inside, but not the outside," Blab replied.
"English please." StarF said, annoyed.
Blab sighed. "It allows us to shoot at the other team, but blocks their shots toward us."
"Awesome!" Demonik said.
"But it won't last forever. Every time a projectile strikes the shield, it gets ever so weaker. Eventually it will be useless, and shots will go right through it," Blab explained, taking a position to start shooting again.
Suddenly, the barrier disappeared.
"Already?!" StarF said, shocked.
"Not quite," Blab replied, "It turns invisible after a few seconds of being on. It deceives the enemy into thinking it's gone, but it isn't."
"If it's invisible, then how will we know when it's gone?" Demonik asked.
"When the last hit strikes it, it will appear and seem to shatter, like a window being broken by a rock thrown at it." Blab replied.
"Cool." StarF replied.
"Hey guys!" Ridder said, coming up, with Sax right behind her.
"Just in time! Blab just put up a one-way barrier, so any projectiles they shoot at us will bounce off harmlessly!" StarF said.
"Awesome!" Sax said.
"Now find a comfortable position." Blab said.
Sax laid down on the ground.
"That's not what I meant! Get up!" Blab said sternly, walking over to Sax.
Sax quickly got up, and looked at Blab, waiting for his orders.
"Find a comfortable position to shoot at the enemy!" Blab said.
Sax lay down on his side, and started shooting. Blab sighed out of annoyance, but decided to let Sax do what he wanted. After all, he did say to find a comfortable position. Blab went back into the base for reasons unknown.
"This event seems familiar, Runouw. Didn't you do something similar to this a while back?"
"Yes, I did."
"Well, what happened to it?"
"The building is still there; it just hasn't been used in a long time."
"That's not what I meant."
Zunar and SMX crept along, listening and watching for any sounds or movement. They were on the hunt for the Blue Base, as they had seen Usu, Doram, and K859 run past them, and they assumed the Blue Base was in the direction they came from.
They peeked around a corner and saw the Blue Base, guarded by Buffooner and Mariox64.
"This might be tough," SMX said.
"You think?!" Zunar replied sarcastically.
"Yesh, you don't have to get all smart-aleky with me," SMX said.
Zunar rolled his eyes and looked back to the Blue Base. "OK, I have a plan," he said, turning back to SMX.
MIC rounded a corner and spotted the Red Base, guarded by RemnantAbyss, Kirby_999, and nin10mode.
"Three guards." MIC said to himself as Brando came up behind him. "We need a plan. Any ideas?"
"Nope," Brando replied.
"Hmm..." MIC stroked his chin in thought.
"Duck!" Brando said, grabbing MIC.
"What the-?!" MIC groaned in pain as Brando pushed him to the ground. "What the hell are you doing?!" he cried angrily. Several shots harmlessly passed over them, hitting a nearby building.
"Does that answer your question?" Brando asked as he pulled out his blaster.
MIC followed suit and they returned fire, knocking their attackers down.
"Got 'em!" Brando said. He and MIC walked up to the attackers, and they found that they were robots.
"What are robots doing here in the training grounds?!" MIC asked.
"Probably to keep us on our toes," Brando replied, looking around. "We need to be ready for any more robots."
"Great. We have the other teams to worry about, plus some robots. Swell," MIC said sarcastically.
"Ain't it, though?" Brando replied. They went back to their original position, and peeked around the corner.
"Hey Rem?" Mode asked, looking through a telescope.
"Yeah?" Rem replied, walking up to him.
"I think there's someone hiding around that corner, watching us," Mode explained, motioning for Rem to look into the telescope.
"You're right," Rem replied, "It looks like MIC."
"All hands on deck!" Mode shouted. Rem gave him a weird look. "What? I've always wanted to say that." Mode sprinted over to a cannon that was mounted on the base.
"Wait!" Rem said, coming up to Mode, "if we shoot them now, then they'll know we spotted them and they'll run. Let's wait 'til they get closer, and make them think we haven't seen them," Rem replied.
"Good idea!" K999 said.
"Are you sure they haven't seen us yet?" SMX asked, whispering.
"Dunno. I hope not," Zunar replied, sneaking stealthily toward the Blue Base.
"If they have seen us, they're acting like they haven't." SMX suddenly had an idea. "Hey Zunar! How about we throw a grenade on the opposite side of the road to cause a distraction?"
"Good idea, only we don't have grenades," Zunar replied.
SMX reached behind him and produced a grenade. "Ta-da!"
Zunar's eyes widened. "Where'd you get that?!"
"Found it while we were walking," SMX replied, tossing it up and catching it.
"Cool. When I say so, throw it!" Zunar said.
"Roger!" SMX gripped the grenade.
"3..." Zunar counted, watching the Blue Base.
"2..."
SMX wound up for the throw.
"1..."
"Hold it right there!" a voice behind them said.
They slowly turned around and saw Usu, standing behind them, holding a gun.
"Drop it!" he said, pointing the gun at SMX, who dropped the grenade on the ground.
"That's better. Now which one of you wants it first?" Usu asked. He gestured toward the blaster in his hand, and looked at them.
SMX glanced down at the grenade, and noticed that it had been set when it hit the ground. "Me." He stepped forward.
Usu quickly turned to him, pointing the gun straight at his head.
"SMX, what're you doing?!" Zunar asked.
"Just trust me." SMX replied.
"So... you decide to volunteer eh? Ha ha ha... Well, I'll make this as quick and painless as possible, so let's just get this over with..." Usu said, ready to squeeze the trigger.
"Not on your life!" SMX kicked the grenade at Usu and it exploded, sending everyone flying backwards in different directions.
"Come on, Zunar! Let's get outta here!" SMX said, scrambling to his feet.
Zunar jumped to his feet and followed SMX as he dashed off to safety.
"Come back here!" shouted Usu angrily. He started shooting wildly, trying to hit Zunar and SMX. Eventually a shot hit Zunar, and he lost his balance and fell.
"Zunar!" SMX said, stopping.
"Go, SMX! Save yourself!" Zunar replied.
"But..."
"GO!!! I'll keep him busy!"
SMX hesitantly turned around and ran back to the Red Base as Usu loomed over Zunar.
"So... you decided to stay behind to save your friend, huh? Useless tactic. What's to stop me from getting him once you're done for?"
Zunar didn't respond. Usu kicked Zunar in the stomach and put his gun to Zunar's head. "Bye-bye, Zunar!"
BLAM! Usu fell backward, knocked out.
"Wha?" Zunar shook his head in disbelief. He looked in the direction the shot from and saw... "Rem!"
Rem ran up to him.
"Are you OK, Zunar?" Rem asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. Thanks for saving me," Zunar said, getting up and brushing himself off.
"No problem. I bumped into SMX while coming to see what the commotion was about, and he told me to come quickly, that you were in danger. Glad I was coming when I was!" Rem explained.
"Me too!" SMX replied, "I wouldn't have been able to make it to the base and back in time to save you!"
"Well, that's a relief." Zunar looked over at Usu. "What's going to happen to him? Is he just going to lie there?" he wondered aloud.
A bright light suddenly engulfed Usu and he disappeared.
"What in the-?!" Rem said, surprised.
"I'll explain," came a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Runouw, standing behind them. "When a member's energy runs out, they are instantly transported to the hospital so their wounds can be tended to."
"So THAT'S what happened." SMX said, understanding.
"Yes. So now, if you'll excuse me, I shall go back to the main building." Runouw walked off.
"So now we know what happens if we get the crap knocked out of us. I say we go kick some ♥♥♥ now, what about you guys?" Rem suggested.
"Sure! To the Blue Base!" Zunar replied.
"Hey Runouw?"
"Yeah?"
"What moderators are here?"
"MessengerOfDreams and Blablob."
"So Superyoshi and Fourinone are at the forums?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm worried that, since there's not many moderators at the forums, the spammers and spambots would try to attack there."
"Good point. I'll contact Superyoshi."
Superyoshi was sitting in Runouw's office, watching all the screens, scanning for any spammers or spambots. There were so many screens that all three walls were covered, plus the area above the door on the fourth wall, and Suyo had to spin the chair around to see them all. His walkie-talkie suddenly went off, and it scared him so much he literally jumped out of his chair.
"Yes?" Suyo asked.
"Superyoshi, have there been any attacks lately?" Runouw inquired.
"Nope, not yet. But I'm keeping a lookout," Suyo replied.
"Good. I want you to organize a temporary Runouw Force to guard the forums," Runouw said.
"But we don't have many mods here, just me and Four," Suyo responded.
"Exactly my point. Now go get some regular members and show them how to use our emergency weapons," Runouw said.
"Roger that. Ten-four,l" Suyo said, and he put away his walkie-talkie.
He scanned the screens, looking for potential recruits. He spotted a couple, and then walked out of Runouw's office, locking the door behind him.
"Yes... those members will do," Suyo said to himself as he walked down the street.
Meanwhile, Star king and Megaboy were at Demonik's Tavern, joking around and drinking some cokes.
"So the next guy says, I'm taking the car door so if I get hot, I can just roll down the window!"
Mega started laughing, and almost fell off his chair. "That's a good one, Sk," Mega said.
"You two." Suyo said, walking up to Sk and Mega.
"Ohai Suyo! Whazzup?" Sk asked, turning to him.
"I want you two to come with me," Suyo replied.
"For what? We ain't done anything!" Mega said defensively.
"You're not in trouble, I just need you two to help Four and I out with something." Suyo answered.
"Sure, okay. Just lemme finish my coke," Sk said, and he started drinking.
After he was done, he put his bottle on the bar and he and Mega followed Suyo to Main Street, down the Site Discussion forum, through a special gate, and into Forum 23.
"Now you two," Suyo began, "do not touch ANYTHING unless I tell you to."
"Okay," Sk and Mega replied simultaneously.
"Good," Suyo said. He took out his special Global Mod key and unlocked the Weapons building, and gestured for Sk and Mega to follow him.
He showed them to a special room, which had several weapons inside.
"Now, I need you two to help Four and I defend the forums from any possible spammers or spambots," Suyo explained.
"But there hasn't been any attacks lately," Mega replied.
"Exactly the point," Suyo said, picking up a weapon.
"This is the Sticky Bow," Suyo said, handing it to Sk, "you know how to shoot a bow, right?"
"Yeah." Sk replied, examining it.
Suyo picked up another weapon. "This is the Sword of Deletion," Suyo said, handing it to Mega, "you know how to use a sword, right?"
"Yup." Mega answered, taking the sword.
"And I'll take the Ban Hammer." Suyo said, picking it up. He also picked up another weapon, saying that it was the "Locky Staff" and it was for Fourinone.
"These are the four moderator weapons. They are not toys, so don't use them unless you need to defend the forums. Now, I have a little test for each of you." Suyo said, walking out of the Weapons building, locking it, and walking over to a field.
"There are dummies over there," Suyo said, pointing. "Sk, you should practice shooting those dummies."
"Sure thing," Sk replied, taking aim.
"As for you, Mega," Suyo said as he started walking over to a spacious part of the field. "You will face me."
"Fight you?!" Mega answered, shocked.
"Don't worry, you don't have to beat me, just show me what you can do," Suyo said. "Now hand me the sword."
Mega handed over the sword, and Suyo picked up two wooden practice swords.
Suyo handed one of them to Mega, and struck a battle pose. "You ready, Mega?" Suyo asked.
"Yeah." Mega replied.
They started sparring one another, and kept at it for a few minutes.
"Stop!" Suyo finally said. They stopped, and caught their breath.
"You're very good," Suyo said, complimenting Mega.
"Thanks. You're good too, but that's to be expected, being that you're a mod," Mega replied.
Suddenly, an alarm started going off.
"Showtime," Suyo said, and he snapped his fingers. He, Mega, and Sk disappeared, and then reappeared at the entrance where an army of spambots was charging. Four ran up beside them and Suyo handed him the Locky Staff.
"You guys ready?" Suyo said.
"Not really," Sk replied. "but I'll manage."
"Ready." Mega said.
"Time to kick some spambot ♥♥♥!" Four said.
Suyo ran up and crushed a spambot with his hammer, and then knocked one into several others behind it. Sk shot at one spambot, blowing it up, and others behind it. Mega started screaming a battle cry, and running right through the spambots, slashing wildly. Four took his staff and swung it in front of him, releasing a sort of powder that went straight toward the spambots, blowing up any it touched.
Eventually the spambots were all gone, and they caught their breath.
"Good job, guys. Though there's probably going to be more," Suyo replied.
"More?!" Sk replied, shocked.
"Yeah, spambots usually travel in several units of hundreds. So be prepared for another attack," Suyo replied.
"Speak of the devil!" Four said, pointing to the forums. Spambots had gotten inside, and were attacking members and topics.
"Great..." Suyo said.
"It seems Superyoshi was right. There is a building spambot army."
"What are you gonna do about it, Runouw?"
"Well, hopefully Superyoshi will think of something so that he can hold off any spambot attacks until we get the members for the Runouw Force."
"Hopefully."
A mysterious user is watching the whole thing from a nearby hideout.
"Damn, my robots almost got them! I need a new strategy or tougher bots."
The figure walks out of the room, and heads down to the basement of the hideout. He then starts fiddling with some equipment for reasons unknown.
With one less guard, MIC and Brando had more of a chance at capturing the Red Base. They came out from their hiding spot as Rem, SMX, and Zunar headed toward the Blue Base. MIC got an idea, and pulled out a bomb.
"Where did you get that?!" Brando asked, shocked.
"MOD gave it to me. He said it might come in handy," MIC replied. He and Brando crept as close to the Red Base as they could without being spotted, and he tossed the bomb.
The bomb flew through the air, and it hit K999 in the face, knocking him down.
"Bullseye!" MIC said victoriously. K999 shook his head and looked at the bomb.
"What the f-" BOOM! K999 was sent flying into Mode, and they both fell to the ground.
"Score!" Brando said. He and MIC ran up to the Red Base and aimed their blasters at the helpless duo.
"Nighty-night, you two." MIC said, and he pulled the trigger.
BOOM! MIC's blaster exploded in his hands.
"What the hell?!" he said, looking at the ruins of his blaster.
"Ha ha!" Mode said.
"Oh yeah? Well take this!" MIC said, pulling out another bomb.
"Oh ♥♥♥♥!" K999 said.
"Oh ♥♥♥♥ is right, Kirby. Eat bomb, suckahs!" MIC said, tossing the bomb at them.
KABLOOEY! The bomb exploded, sending Mode and K999 flying.
MIC turned to Brando and said "We got 'em."
"Yup." Brando replied.
The Red Base suddenly flashed, and it changed color from Red to Orange, to signify that the Orange team captured it. "Let's see how those suckers deal with no base!" Brando said, laughing.
Rem, SMX, and Zunar were stealthily walking toward the Blue Base when they started to fell very weak.
"So... tired...," Zunar said.
"Need... to rest...," SMX put in.
All three collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, and they disappeared into flashes of light.
"RED TEAM ELIMINATED."
The voice of the P.A. echoed throughout the entire training grounds.
"Who got the Red Base?" Sax wondered aloud.
"No idea." Ridder replied, focused on K859 and Mx64. They were coming closer by the second, firing their blasters at the base.
"I wonder where Usu went?" Demonik wondered aloud.
"Dunno. He just ran off." StarF responded, still firing.
Meanwhile, Blab was walking down a secret passage that he had discovered in the base. He climbed up the ladder, and moved the manhole cover. He was outside the base, not too far from it, though he was hidden. He climbed out, replaced the manhole cover, and peeked around the corner.
He saw K859 and Mx64, and pulled out his blaster, training it on their backs. BLAM! K859 went down. Mx64 stopped and looked around for the attacker, and Blab shot him down too.
"What the heck?!" Mode said, surprised.
Blab ran up to them and said "I shot 'em down."
"But how'd you get out of the base without us knowing?" StarF asked.
"Tell you later. Right now, let's go see if we can't take over the Blue Base, since Mx64 and K859 are down," Blab replied. He motioned to StarF.
StarF came up to him and they headed off to find the Blue Base.
"Hey Runouw?"
"Yeah?"
"What's that noise?"
"What noise?"
"The noise from- Ugh!"
"Hey, what're you doing?! Argh!"
Buffooner and Doram are sitting at a table, drinking some hot cocoa. Occasionally Buff would pick up a pair of binoculars and look around for anything suspicious. Eventually he saw Blablob and StarF running toward them. He jumped out of his chair and grabbed his blaster.
"Incoming!" he said to Doram, who bolted out of his chair and ran over to a cannon.
"Get ready!" Buff said, readying his blaster.
Blab and StarF are dodging shots quite easily, being that they are used to the armor.
"I wonder how far we can get?" StarF wondered aloud.
"Dunno," Blab replied, "but I hope we can get close enough to blast them away and take over their base."
A cannon shot exploded right in front of StarF, knocking him backwards onto the ground. He gets up, brushes himself off, and resumes following Blab.
KABOOM! A cannon shot hit Blab's face and exploded, sending him flying backwards.
"Blab!" StarF said, running over to him. "Are you ok?!"
"Urgh..." Blab grunted. He tried to get up, but failed.
"Speak to me!" StarF said, shaking him. "SPEAK TO ME!!!"
"Stop... shaking...me..." Blab replied weakily.
StarF released him and Blab pulled himself to his knees. His eyes suddenly widened, and he yelled, "BEHIND YOU, STARF!" StarF turned around and saw a cannon shot headed straight for him. He had to make a split-second decision: Either dodge it and let it hit Blab, or protect Blab.
"I won't leave you Blab!" StarF said, bracing himself. The cannon shot struck StarF in the face and exploded, sending him sprawling backward over Blab, and he landed on his back behind him.
"No... StarF..." Blab said, and he collapsed from exhaustion. He then disappeared into a flash of light, which headed for the hospital. StarF lay on the ground, too tired to move or speak. He was still conscious, just drained of energy. He hoped whoever was shooting at them wouldn't notice him, because he would be an easy target.
"Got 'em!" Doram said, jumping for joy.
"Great work, Doram." Buff said, giving him a high five. Suddenly, the ground started shaking.
"Earthquake!!!" Doram said, panicking.
"Don't panic, Doram!" Buff said, grabbing him. "I see what's causing it!" He pointed toward an army of spambots that was storming toward the training grounds.
"Get ready!" Buff said.
MIC and Brando had also noticed the spambot army, and radioed the other team members.
"MOD! This is MIC! Come in!" MIC said into his walkie-talkie.
"MIC! Where are you?!" MOD's voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.
"We just captured the Red Base!" MIC replied.
"That's great!" MOD said.
"But we've got bigger problems," MIC responded, turning his gaze at the spambot army. "There's an army of spambots coming toward the training grounds!"
"You can't be serious!" MOD replied, shocked.
"I'm dead serious," MIC replied, still keeping his eyes focused on the spambot army. "Let's all rendezvous at the middle of the grounds!"
"But what about our bases?!" MOD asked.
"The spambot army is a bigger problem than someone taking over our bases! Now come on, we'll meet you guys there!" MIC put away his walkie-talkie and he and Brando started running toward the middle of the training grounds.
StarF was feeling the full effect of the shaking, being that he was lying on the ground. He managed to pull his head up and look around, but there didn't seem to be anyone around. He slowly pulled himself to his knees, and then he stood up.
"Ugh," he groaned, rubbing his head. He looked around again, but didn't see anyone. He slowly staggered over to a building and leaned against it, catching his breath.
"Man, that shot was powerful," StarF said to himself. He suddenly remembered about Blab, and looked around. "Where'd he go?!" he wondered aloud.
"Halt!"
"Oh ♥♥♥♥," StarF said, pulling out his blaster.
"Drop it!" Buff said, coming out of the darkness.
"Hello Buff," StarF said.
"You were lucky to survive a headshot from a cannon from long range," Buff said, "but you won't survive a headshot from a blaster point-blank!"
"Now, now... let's not get hasty here," StarF said, slowly backing up.
"We're about to be attacked by a spambot army, and you are wondering around our base?! You're just BEGGING to be shot!" Buff said.
"I was about to start heading to fight the spambots," StarF replied quickly.
"Pfft. Yeah, right," Buff scoffed. "In your condition, you wouldn't last a minute fighting them!"
StarF didn't reply, and kept walking backwards. He eventually walked into a wall, and could go no further.
"Oh damn," StarF said.
"Bye-bye, StarF." Buff said, aiming at StarF's head.
"This is just great. We're captured by something we didn't see, taken some place we don't know, and these ropes are too tight!"
"Quit complaining. We need to find out how to get out of these ropes."
"How, Runouw? These ropes are too tight to loosen with our hands."
"...I have an idea."
"Do tell."
The temporary Runouw Force was doing their best to defend the forums. Eventually, all the spambots were defeated, and they got to rest.
"Whew, this is exhausting," Sk said, catching his breath.
"See how hard it gets for us mods?" Suyo replied.
"Yeah, I see why you were concerned," Sk said.
"I just hope they don't attack again," Mega said.
"We all do, Mega." Four said.
"Speak of the devil!" Suyo said, pointing toward an army of spambots that was heading for the training grounds.
"What the?! We gotta stop 'em!" Sk said, gripping the Sticky Bow.
"No. You two stay here. Four and I will go," Suyo said, grabbing the Ban Hammer.
"But-" Sk started.
"No buts," Four said, gripping the Locky Staff, "You two must stay here and defend the forums."
"Fine." Sk said, "but you two better come back alive!"
"You can count on it." Four said, winking and giving him a thumbs-up.
StarF fell to the ground, and then turned into a flash of light, which flew straight toward the hospital.
"What the-?" Buff said, shocked.
"He was weak." A figure stepped out of the darkness, and sheathed its sword. "The weak do not deserve to live."
"Who... who are you?" Buff said, pointing his blaster at the figure.
"You think you can defeat me since you have a long range weapon? Ha ha... You saw how quickly I defeated that weakling."
Buff cringed at those words, but stayed brave. "So? I could just as quickly press this trigger and blast you," he said.
"Are you threatening me?" the figure asked.
"Yeah... so what?" Buff answered.
"Ha ha... You are brave indeed," the figure said. "But you cannot defeat me, nor can your friend."
It nodded its head toward Doram, who was hiding behind a nearby building.
Buff grimaced, and took aim. "You better get outta here, or I'll blast you to who knows where!" Buff said, in the best heroic voice he could muster.
"... Go ahead. Try it."
Something about the mysterious figure's voice make Buff hesitate ever-so-slightly, but he pulled the trigger anyway.
BLAM! Buff looked up and saw that the figure was no longer there.
"Did I... get him?" Buff wondered.
Just then, something flew right in front of him, and slashed his blaster into two pieces. It fell to the ground and exploded, knocking Buff off his feet.
"What the-?" Buff said, shocked, as he fell to the ground.
"I told you that you cannot defeat me." The figure puts its sword to Buff's throat. It looked Buff straight in the eyes. "Say goodnight Buffooner."
Buff suddenly realized who the figure was, because right as it spoke, the hood on its face blew in the wind, and he saw the figure's face. But before he could say anything, he felt excruciating pain in his neck and blacked out.
The figure stepped back, satisfied. He then jumped high into the air, as if expecting something to hit him.
BLAM! Doram had tried to shoot the figure, but it expected that, and dodged it. The shot hit the mountain that made up the wall around the training grounds, and fell harmlessly to the ground.
"No..." Doram said.
He barely got that word out when the figure came over and slashed him in the stomach, causing him to sprawl backwards, and then black out. The figure stood over Doram, and watched as he turned into a flash of light, which headed for the hospital.
"The weak do not deserve to live," it repeated, and it ran off into the darkness, with its cape flapping behind it.
"BLUE TEAM ELIMINATED."
The voice of the P.A. echoed throughout the entire training ground. Ridder, Demonik, and Sax heard it at the same time, and all had the same thought: Who eliminated them, and how?
"Well, it's only us and the Orange Team now," Sax said.
Suddenly, Ridder noticed that the whole Orange Team was at the center of the grounds.
"Hey, the Orange Team is all together right down there!" Ridder said.
"That means their base is unguarded, right?" Demonik asked.
"Yep! Let's go find it!" Ridder said.
"But what about our own base?" Sax asked.
"Good point. Hmm... hey, one of us could go down there and see what they're doing, and the other two could start heading toward the Orange Base. If the Orange Team is planning to attack us, the loner can contact the other two and they can double back."
"Great plan, Ridder," Sax said.
"Who's gonna be the loner?" Demonik asked.
Ridder and Sax looked at each other, and then at Demonik.
"Me?" Demonik asked, catching their gazes.
"Well, you ARE more skilled then us," Sax said matter-of-factly.
"Fine, I'll go," Demonik said. He headed off in the direction of the Orange Team, dodging between obstacles to stay out of sight, while Ridder and Sax headed into a grove of nearby trees in search of the Orange Base. Little did they know the Orange Team actually had two bases, and that taking over both bases would not be easy...
"I'm sure glad you had a pocket knife with you, Runouw."
"So am I. Now, we need to figure out what this place is, and how to get back to the training ground."
"Hmm... let's go in this door. ...Wrong door! Argh!!!"
"Hey, wait! Get back here! ...Argh!!!"
"They're going to break through the gates any minute now," MIC explained.
"When they do, what should we do?" Brando asked.
"What else? KILL THEM!!!" MIC replied.
"Shh! Not so loud! People will hear us!" MOD said.
"Sorry," MIC answered.
"Will we survive this?" Shade asked.
"I have no clue," MIC replied. "It depends on the number of spambots that comes through."
"So... we don't know how many we're up against?" YB asked.
"Nope. We just have to hope it's not too many for us to handle," MIC replied.
Demonik heard the whole conversation, and headed back to the base. When he got there, he contacted Ridder and Sax, and told them what he heard.
"If it's a big number, it could keep them occupied long enough for us to find their base," Ridder replied.
"Good point," Demonik acknowledged.
"I think I see the Orange Base!" Sax said, squinting.
"You've found it already?!" Demonik asked.
"Apparently so. Wait... who's that over there?" Ridder wondered aloud.
Standing near the Orange Base was a dark cloaked figure. It was turned toward them, with its cape flapping in the wind.
"What do you see?" Demonik asked.
"Some kind of dark cloaked figure," Ridder replied, squinting.
The figure suddenly disappeared.
"What the-?! It just disappeared!" Sax said, shocked.
Suddenly, Sax flew backwards, and landed hard on his back.
"Ouch..." he said, rubbing his back. He looked up and saw the figure looming over him. It held out its sword and glared at Sax. Sax got a glimpse of a strange scar on it's face, and tried to remember if there was a member that had a scar like that.
The figure put its sword to Sax's neck, and, in an evil voice, said, "The weak have no right to live." It then sliced Sax's neck, and he blacked out. He then turned into a flash of light and headed for the hospital.
The figure got up and turned to Ridder. "Now for-" It stopped. Ridder was no longer there, and it looked around, searching for her.
"Meh. At least I got one. That only leaves two more," the figure said, and it ran off into the shadows.
Ridder was running for her life, and eventually had to stop.
"Did I... get away...?" she wondered aloud. She turned around, but didn't see the figure anywhere. She sighed in relief, and looked around. She saw the Orange Base (the former Red Base), and ran over to it. It turned green, and the P.A. went off. "ORANGE BASE CAPTURED".
"Oh damn, that's not good," Ridder said.
"WHAT?!" MIC said, hearing the P.A.
"You said we didn't have to worry about our bases, MIC! Now look what happened!" MOD said. The Orange Team split up and headed to both bases to see which one was taken over. MIC and Brando saw Ridder at the base they went to, and started shooting at her.
"Ridder's behind this! Get her!" Brando said, firing his blaster.
Ridder was dodging the shots, and got out her walkie-talkie.
"Demonik! Help!" she said.
"What's going on?!" Demonik asked.
"Sax was killed, and I took over the Orange Base," she explained.
"That's good," he replied.
"But now MIC and Brando are shooting at me!" she said, ducking under another shot.
"That's not good. Where are you?" Demonik asked.
"I'm not sure, but you can use your walkie-talkie as a GPS-type thing and locate me," Ridder said.
"Great! I'm on my way!" Demonik said.
"And hurry! These guys are-" She was cut off.
"Ridder? Ridder!" Demonik said. He put away his walkie-talkie, and started walking. He didn't have a clue how to use his walkie-talkie as a GPS, so he just headed in the direction he saw Ridder and Sax go.
Suddenly, he was attacked from behind, and he landed hard on his stomach.
"Ouch," he groaned. He rolled over and looked up to see the figure standing over him. The figure then slashed him in the chest, and he blacked out. He then turned into a flash of light and flew off.
"Those two Oranges can deal with the remaining Green," it said, and it ran off into the darkness.
Back with Ridder, she had been hit in the face with a blast, and she fell to the ground. MIC then ran up to her, ready to blast her to smithereens.
"Say your prayers, Ridder," he said, and pulled the trigger. KA-BLAM! Ridder turned into a flash of light, and flew off.
"GREEN TEAM ELIMINATED," the P.A. boomed, and then it played a victorious tune. "ORANGE TEAM WINS."
"We... won?" MIC asked, bewildered.
He suddenly felt like he was being lifted into the sky by something, and found himself, along with the rest of his team, in a fancy room. Nobody was there, but there was a trophy waiting for them.
"We got a trophy!" MIC said, grabbing it and holding it into the air, striking a victorious pose.
All those who blacked out in the first round woke up in the hospital, felling refreshed and ready for the next round. They all went outside to see the Orange team holding a trophy high in the air. When they saw the trophy, they knew the round was over, and they were wondering what the next round would be.
After a little while of waiting, the leaders of the groups decided to go into the main building and look for Runouw. They came back a little while later, with sad looks on their faces.
"He isn't in there," Buff said.
"He must've been captured by someone or something," Rem put in.
"Probably by some spambots," MOD remarked.
"This is the reason we were brought here!" Blab thought aloud. "To defend against spambots, and rescue anyone that was captured!"
"Who's with us?" the leaders shouted, raising their fists into the air. Everyone did the same thing, raising their fists and shouting.
"Great, let's go rescue him!" Buff said.
"Everyone, please separate into your teams," Rem said.
Everyone separated into their teams and lined up.
"Now, there's an army of spambots behind the gate, trying to break in," MOD explained.
Just then, the gate made a horrible creaking sound, and broke off it's hinges, falling to the ground.
"TIMBER!!!" Blab shouted.
The gate hit the ground with a loud crash, and behind it was the army of spambots MOD was talking about.
"Let's rock!" Buff said, grasping his blaster.
"Will these spambots ever end?!" Suyo wondered aloud as he bashed a spambot in the head with his hammer, crushing it. It then exploded, making some nearby ones explode, which eventually resulted in 70% of that current army being destroyed due to consecutive explosions.
"Whoa," Suyo said, surprised.
"Nice," Four said, giving him a thumbs-up. "How'd you do that anyway?"
"No idea," replied Suyo. He shook his head to clear his mind, and ran after the remaining spambots. "C'mon, Four!" he shouted. Four followed him, his staff at the ready.
Back at the forums, Sk and Mega were at Demonik's Tavern, drinking some cokes and talking.
"You know, we're supposed to be guarding the forums," Mega said, sipping his coke.
"Yeah, I know. But there's no need for us right now; there's no spambots out there," Sk pointed out.
"Good point," Mega replied.
Sk finished his coke and got up.
"Where you goin', Sk?" Mega asked.
"I'm gonna take a stroll. Keep the Sticky Bow here for me, Mega," Sk replied.
He got up, and walked outside to stroll around. After an hour, he didn't come back, so Mega decided to look for him. He grabbed the Sticky Bow and the Sword of Deletion, and went out to look for Sk.
After an hour of searching, he couldn't find him, so he headed back to the tavern.
"Any luck?" asked TrappedTime, who was the temporary bartender since Demonik, MIC, and Buff were gone.
"Nope," replied Mega.
At that time, Master1.0 walked in.
"Hello Master," Mega said.
"Hiya Mega," Master replied.
"Have you seen Star king lately?" Mega inquired.
"Nope, sorry," Master answered.
"Help me look for him," Mega said, getting out of his stool.
"Okay, sure," Master replied.
"By the way, do you know how to shoot a bow?" Mega asked as they walked out of the tavern.
"Yeah. Why?"
Mega handed him the Sticky Bow and said, "This is the Sticky Bow. It's one of the legendary moderator weapons. Just in case we meet some spambots, we can defend ourselves."
"Cool," Master said, examining it.
"It's not a toy," Mega said sternly.
"I know that. But I have one question: How did you get this?" Master asked.
"Well, Suyo asked Sk and I to follow him, and he took up to Forum 23, and gave us these weapons to defend the forums," Mega explained.
"So, wait. Suyo gave you these?" Master asked, shocked.
"Yup. When he comes back, you can ask him," Mega replied.
"Cool."
"Let's go look for Sk," Mega said.
"I'm with you." Master replied.
Everyone started blasting the spambots and, working together, they finished them off quickly.
"Great work everyone!" said Buff.
"Let's all have a well-deserved rest," Blab suggested.
Everyone agreed, and they went inside the main building. Inside, they laid down some mats, and everyone slept on them.
"Where d'you think he could've gone?" Master asked Mega.
"I have no idea," Mega responded.
"He could've been captured by spammers and taken somewhere."
"That's possible," Master agreed.
They walked for a little longer, and then stopped.
"Did you hear something?" Mega asked.
"No, did you?" Master replied.
"Yeah... it sounded like footsteps behind us...," Mega explained.
They turned around, but nobody was there.
"Nobody there, Mega," Master said.
"Oh well. Guess it was my imagination," Mega said. They turned back around to see a dark figure in front of them.
"What the-?!" Mega said. He couldn't finish, because the figure punched him in the face, making him fly backwards and black out.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Master asked. He quickly jumped backward to avoid another punch from the figure, and he pulled out the Sticky Bow.
"You wanna piece a' this?" Master asked tauntingly. He shot an arrow at the figure, but it quickly jumped over it, and kicked Master in the stomach.
Master doubled over and the figure kicked him again, and he blacked out. The figure gave an evil smile, and took the moderator weapons. He then ran off, with his cape flapping behind him.
Runouw shook his head, and looked around. He was in what looked like a jail cell, and he jumped up. He ran to the bars and looked through them, trying to figure out a way to get out of there. Unfortunately, there was none that he saw, so he sat down on the cell bed and thought to himself Where am I?
A person walked up to the cell and looked through the bars.
"Comfy, Runouw?" he asked.
Runouw looked at him, and then jumped up. "You?!" he replied, shocked.
"Yes, it was me. I locked you in here," the person replied.
"But... why?" Runouw inquired.
"Because I was paid to. I don't know the name of the guy who hired me, but he paid me a large sum if I would capture you. So, I came to the training ground and watched the event with you, waiting for the right time to capture you."
Runouw took a few seconds to respond, as he was taking in what was told him.
"I should've known something was fishy about you," Runouw said.
"You were too easy to fool. You don't deserve to be a leader," the person replied.
Runouw was taken aback with this statement, and didn't respond.
"By the way, you can call me... Green."
Green walked off, leaving Runouw to think about what he had just been told.
"Mission accomplished."
The dark figure was in a strange, dark place, and he was standing behind a huge chair.
"Good work. Give them to me."
The figure set the mod weapons on a table next to the chair, and the person in the chair took them.
"Have you considered my offer?"
"I am a lone wolf," the figure replied. "No man is my master."
"Suit yourself."
Mega groaned, shook his head, and looked around.
"What...happened...?" he wondered aloud. He noticed Master out beside him, and shook him.
"Hmm?" Master said sleepily, waking up.
"Wake up, Master!" Mega said, getting to his feet.
Master shook his head, and looked at Mega. "What?" he asked.
"Where's the moderator weapons?" Mega asked.
"The Sticky Bow is right..." Master stopped in mid-reply as he noticed that the Sticky Bow was not in his hand. He frantically looked around, searching for it. "It was in my hand a minute ago!" Master said.
"Great. Suyo is going to kill us," Mega responded.
"That guy must've taken them!" Master said, looking at Mega.
"We gotta find him and get them back, or Suyo'll have our heads!" Mega said.
Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire, as the spambots armed their gun turrets and began firing at the pair.
"Oh ♥♥♥♥! RUN!!!" Mega said.
Runouw was sitting on the bed, trying to come up with an escape plan.
"Lucky you, Runouw," a voice said.
Runouw jumped up and looked toward the voice. "Green?! Let me out of here!" Runouw demanded.
"Green is no longer here," the voice replied. A figure stepped out of the shadows, and Runouw recognized it almost immediately.
"ShadowtheBowser. I should have known," Runouw replied.
"Ah, so you remember me?" StB inquired.
"You won't get a thing out of me. I refuse to talk," Runouw responded.
"Ah, but you have already given me what I want," StB replied.
Runouw looked at StB suspiciously. StB caught his gaze, and finished the sentence: "Fear."
The suspicious look on Runouw's face instantly changed to a look of horror, and he backed away from the bars of his cell slowly.
"You can't get away, Runouw," StB said, "And I will make sure of that."
StB then pulled a cart into view. On it was a TV screen, and he plugged it in. He then tuned it to a special channel, which was connected to a security camera that was flying above Runouw City.
It showed the users running around in a panic, screaming, while spambots attacked them and the topics.
"No..." Runouw said.
"Runouw City shall be nothing but a wasteland when the spambots finish," StB said, turning the TV off, "and when that happens, every user shall know me and fear me. They shall turn to their leader, but..."
"I won't be there, so they'll obey your orders," Runouw finished.
"I see you are smart. I will now take my leave, and let you think about what you just saw," StB walked off, laughing evilly.
Runouw sank back onto the bed, and stretched out on it, the scene of the attack of Runouw City playing through his mind again and again.
"I must get out of here," he said to himself, and he looked around his cell for any type of escape route. His eyes fixed on a grate in the ceiling, and he looked for something he could use to get up there.
He saw something half-buried in a corner of the room, and he pulled it out. It was a rope with a hook tied on the end.
"This will do," he said, and, as quietly as possible, threw it up to a hole in the ceiling. The hole was just big enough for the hook to go through. Runouw climbed the rope, and removed the grate. Then, he swung up into where the grate used to be, and replaced the grate. He walked over to where the hook was, unhooked it, and pulled it up to him.
"Just in case I need this again," Runouw told himself.
The spambot army that had attacked was finally defeated, but everyone was exhausted.
"I hope...this training...ends soon...," Buff panted.
"Me...too...," Rem gasped.
After a few minutes of resting, someone said "I wonder where Runouw is?". That reminded everyone of their purpose: To rescue him.
"Will we need to protect this place?" MOD wondered aloud.
"I don't think so. Nobody's going to be here, so there's really no point in attacking it," Blab said matter-of-factly.
Just then, Suyo and Four came running up, panting and gasping for breath.
"Hey guys!" Buff said, waving.
Suyo and Four stopped to catch their breath, and then spoke.
"Hello everyone," Suyo said.
"We were just about to go search for Runouw," Rem said.
"You mean he's not here?!" Four replied, shocked.
"Nope. We looked," MOD said.
"Great. He must've been captured," Suyo responded.
"Some leader he is," someone remarked.
Suyo didn't like anyone dragging Runouw's name through the dirt, but it was true. Runouw had gotten captured a lot in the history of Runouw City, and there was no denying it, even if it was cliche.
"Let's move out!" Four said, snapping Suyo back to reality.
Everyone then followed Four, in search of Runouw.
Runouw walked through the darkness, ready for any attackers. He was surprised when he found none, and he had been walking a long time. It's as if StB wanted him to be up there, though he wasn't sure why.
He eventually came to a four-way intersection, and had to make a decision on which way to go.
He decided to go left. He found another intersection, this time without a left.
This time he went straight. Guess what he found? That's right; another three-way intersection! Runouw got frustrated, and realized that he was stuck in a huge maze, and that there was almost no hope for getting out.
He turned around and went back to the first intersection he came to. He wanted to go back the other way towards his cell, but then he saw something in the other direction, and it intrigued him. He readied his makeshift grappling hook just in case he needed to defend himself from something, and walked toward the thing he saw.
It turned out to be a light. It was coming from a room in the very center of the maze. Runouw entered it, and it was huge, consisting of puzzles and the like.
Suddenly, StB's voice echoed through the room.
"Welcome to my Logic Maze, Runouw! I hope you enjoy being puzzled! Bwa ha ha ha!"
"That was a horrible pun," Runouw replied.
"Who cares?! Unless you finish these puzzles, you'll never escape!"
A door suddenly slammed behind Runouw, making him lose his balance.
"Have fun, Runouw! Bwa ha ha ha!" StB laughed evilly.
Runouw looked at the scene before him. There was giant versions of games, like Battleship, and Connect 4. There even was a giant Rubik's Cube.
What have I gotten myself into?! Runouw wondered.
Mega and Master were running from a group of spambots that are chasing them.
"We can't run from them forever!" Mega said.
"But we have no way to defend ourselves against them!" Master replied.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Mega said. They found a building and darted behind it, but that didn't stop the spambots, and they knew it. They just used the building as something to slow the spambots down and give them a little headway.
"Great thinking, Mega," Master complimented.
"Thanks," Mega replied.
They kept running, and eventually the spambots tore through the building and continued their pursuit.
"One thing good about spambots: they aren't very smart," Mega said.
"Yeah. If they were, they would've went around the building like us, not through it," Master replied.
They turned a corner and came face-to-face with a giant spambot, and they halted in their tracks.
"Oh damn," Mega said.
The spambots were coming around the corner, and the giant one was in front of them, aiming its blaster at them. They were trapped.
"It's over for us," Master said.
Mega closed his eyes. He didn't want the last thing he saw to be a blaster shot coming right at his face.
The spambots charged their blasters for a shot, and then... KA-BLAM!
KA-BLAM! The spambots fired their blasters straight at Mega and Master, and there seemed no hope for them. But right at the last second, they were hit by something and it made them tumble to the side, away from the shots.
Mega shook his head and looked up, opening his eyes.
"Zunar?!" he said, shocked.
"Don't worry Mega! The whole team's here!" Zunar replied, helping him and Master up.
He then turned to the giant spambot, aimed his blaster at it, and yelled "Fire!". Everyone shot at the giant spambot, which exploded, sending everyone flying. Its explosion also caused the army of spambots to explode, which sent them even farther.
"How'd you guys find us?" Master inquired.
"Well," replied Zunar, "we had just defeated an army of spambots at the training grounds, and we were following Four. We suddenly saw you two being chased, and decided to help."
"Any reason you got us and not someone else?" Mega asked.
"Well, I was the one who noticed you. Since I was the closest, I had the best chance of making to you guys before something bad happened," Zunar explained.
"Lucky you came when you did," Master said.
"I'll say!" Mega put in. Suddenly, he tensed up.
"What's the matter?" Zunar asked.
Mega didn't respond, he just tensed up a little more and looked like he was thinking hard about something. He whispered something to Master, who nodded, and they started running.
"Hey, wait!" Zunar said, but of course they didn't. They kept on running.
"I wonder what got into those two?" Zunar wondered aloud.
"No idea, but we really should get going," Suyo replied.
"Right," Zunar said, and he followed Suyo back to the group.
Runouw made it through the first part easily (Battleship, Connect 4, and the Rubik's Cube), but just when he thought he was finished, he entered another room of the so-called "Logic Maze". It was a dark, square room. The only way out was back the way he came, in the south wall, or through an old wooden door in the west wall, but a huge steel door shut behind him, blocking one way out. He surveyed the room, trying to think of what he had to do.
On the north wall was a pile of logs, and an axe.
"That axe could hack the door down, but removing the axe would probably make those logs fall, and I'm a goner if that happens," Runouw told himself.
He looked higher on the wall and saw some rope that he could use to make a sort of battering ram and move the logs, but it was stuck to the wall. On the east wall was a sharp rock and a stump.
I could probably lift that, Runouw thought, but it's stuck under the roots of that stump. If only I could cut them away...
Runouw sat down onto the stump, trying to think a way out of this.
"Can't do anything about the axe yet, and the rope is stuck to the wall. The only thing that I could possibly do is somehow cut away the roots...."
He looked at the torch that was hanging on the south wall, which was the only supply of light in the room, and suddenly hit upon the answer. He lifted the torch out of its holder, and took it over to the stump. He used the torch to burn the roots of the stump, which freed the stone. He replaced the torch and took the rock.
He used the rock to cut the rope down, which he used to make a battering ram. Using the rope and the top log of the pile, he made a battering ram and smashed it into the other logs, making it possible to safely remove the axe. He then used the axe to hack down the door, and he was out.
Runouw suddenly hears a noise and darts into a nearby alcove.
"Where am I know?" he wondered.
The group of 22 members was searching for Runouw or anything that might give clues about his disappearance.
"When we rescue Runouw, the second round will begin," Suyo said.
"Great, I'm really wanting to train some more!" MOD replied.
"But, there is a downside to it," Suyo continued.
"What?" asked Buff.
"One member of each team is going to be sent back to the forums," Suyo finished.
This created a murmur throughout the crowd, and everyone was wondering who would be sent back.
"No time to think about that now, people," Suyo said, "we have to look for Runouw."
"Right," Rem agreed.
Eventually after a lot of walking, they had to stop and rest beside a huge mountain.
"Man I'm hungry," Mega said.
"Stop complaining," Zunar said.
"Well excuuuuuuuuuse me-"
"If you say princess, I'll blow your brains out," Zunar interrupted, pulling out his blaster.
"Whoa, hold up there Zune," Blab said, jumping between them, "this is no time for violence."
Zunar angrily looked at Blab, but then calmed down and put away his blaster. He then backed up and sat on a rock.
"Whew, I'm tired," he said, wiping sweat off his forehead.
Suddenly, the rock he was sitting on moved down into the ground, and a secret passage in the mountain opened up.
"What the-?!" Mega said.
"Great work, Zune!" Blab said.
"Oh, heh," Zunar said, scratching his head inquisitively.
Everyone walked into the secret passage, and ended up in what seemed like a secret fortress.
"Maybe Runouw's in here!" MOD said.
"OK, everyone split up into your teams," Suyo said.
Everyone did that, and they each went in a different direction, searching for Runouw.
Runouw was walking along, trying to figure out how to escape from this place.
He came into to a round room with a huge hole in the middle of it. There were a couple of platforms, but they were pretty far apart, and Runouw wasn't sure he could jump the gaps.
He suddenly remembered about his makeshift grappling hook and looked around for something to hook it on. His eyes set upon a hook conveniently placed in the center of the ceiling of the room, and he threw it up there.
It couldn't quite make it, so Runouw backed up a bit, and then leaped to the next platform. He landed onto it without much trouble, rolling to absorb the impact.
From that platform, the grappling hook could reach the hook, and Runouw threw it up there. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to unhook it, but it was either keep it and stay here, or hook it up there and have a chance to escape. He jumped up, and swung over to the next platform, again rolling to absorb the impact of the landing.
The grappling hook couldn't reach to another platform, but Runouw knew that the gap he just crossed was too far for him to jump. Now he just had to figure out how to get up to the next platform, which wouldn't be easy.
"He sure is smart, I'll give him that," StB said.
The cloaked figure then entered the room.
"Ah, Green. Nice to see you."
Green walked over to StB, and watched Runouw swing across the room.
"You know, he does have a chance to escape," Green said.
"This room, yes. But the next room is impassable, and I'll make sure of that," StB said.
He switched the monitor's camera to the next room, and Green cracked an evil smile.
"Yes, that room will do," Green said.
StB switched the monitor back to Runouw, and turned to Green.
"It's your job to make sure he doesn't get past that next room," StB said. "I have a backup plan in case you fail, but if you do, it won't be pretty."
"I only work for you because you pay me to do this. I will never be your permanent slave," Green replied.
"Fine, think what you will. But, if you manage to do this, I will reward you handsomely...," StB said, with extra emphasis on the word "handsomely".
Green raised one eyebrow suspiciously, but then went out of the room, heading for the last room of the maze.
StB turned back to the monitor with an evil smile on his face.
"Prepare to meet your doom, Runouw," he said, laughing evilly.
"It feels like we've been walking down this hallway for hours," Usu complained.
"Oh, shut up Usu. We've only been walking for a few minutes," Mx64 said.
They eventually came to a large room with basically nothing in it.
"This seems like the kind of room you would fight someone in," K859 said.
"Precisely."
Green appeared from seemingly out of nowhere.
"This room's purpose will be served soon, once your great leader reaches this point," he said.
Buff pulled out his blaster and aimed it at Green.
"Don't you remember me, Buffooner?" Green asked, walking toward him.
Buff suddenly flashed back to when Green attacked him and Doram back at the training grounds. He then snapped back to reality, grimacing.
"This time it won't be that way!" Buff said. "I've got three more people with me!"
"Numbers make no difference to me," Green replied.
"Get ready!" Buff said to his team.
Everyone drew their blasters, and aimed at Green. Everyone started shooting at Green, but he dodged them with surprising agility.
Eventually, everyone stopped blasting because Green was out of sight.
"Did we get him?" Doram wondered aloud.
Suddenly, Usu, Mx64, and K859 cried out in pain. Green had slashed them in the back with his sword, and they fell over, grimacing in pain.
"No!" Buff said, and he lowered his blaster. "I surrender. Just don't hurt them anymore!"
"A wise decision," Green said, sheathing his sword.
"Buff...what're you doing?" Mx64 said weakily.
"I don't want you guys to get hurt," Buff said.
"Buffooner, come with me. I would like to show you something," Green said.
Buff silently followed him, and they entered the room Runouw was trying to climb.
"What is this place?" Buff asked.
"Look down," Green answered.
Buff looked down and saw Runouw struggling to climb up a platform.
"Runouw!" Buff said, shocked. Green suddenly punched him in the stomach, making him double over in pain.
Runouw looked over at them and saw Buffooner on the ground, twitching in pain, with Green standing next to him.
"You!" he said, anger welling up inside him.
"It's my job to make sure you don't get out of here, and this guy happened to wonder in here. Have one last look at him before I push him into the abyss! Mwa ha ha ha!" Green said, laughing evilly.
"No!" Runouw said, scrambling up the platform he was on.
"Say bye-bye to Runouw, Buffooner," Green said evilly.
Buff would have resisted if he had the energy, but Green had taken it all out of him with that punch. Green pulled his leg back, getting ready for the kick.
Suddenly, something Green him in the back, knocking him off balance. He quickly regained it and turned around to see Doram standing there with his blaster aimed at Green.
"I'm warning you; don't hurt Buff!" Doram said.
Green jumped into the air to avoid another shot from Doram and landed right behind him.
"What the-?! Argh!" Doram said as Green stabbed him in the back.
"No... Doram...," Buff said weakily.
Doram slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Green kicked Buff in the head, knocking him out.
"Runouw! Watch as two of your members go into the abyss!" Green said, laughing evilly.
Runouw suddenly swung up onto the platform and slammed into Green, knocking him off the platform. Somehow, he got back up.
"How about we settle this inside?" Green suggested, pointing to the next room.
Runouw didn't reply; he just kept his eyes on Green and followed him into the next room.
They fought for a long time. Eventually Green grabbed Runouw and swung him around, throwing him into a wall. Runouw got up and charged for Green, who easily dodged the attack. Green then tripped Runouw and he fell over, landing hard on his stomach.
"You're a pathetic excuse for a leader, Runouw," Green said.
Runouw got up and clenched his fists.
He charged for Green, but this time he jumped up and kicked him in the face. Green doubled over, but quickly got up.
"You think you can outsmart me, eh? That will never happen!" Green said.
Cliché much? Runouw thought. He suddenly thought of a plan and started fighting Green in such a way that they would get closer to the exit and at the same time make it easy to throw Green back.
Eventually his chance came, and he threw Green off of him and ran out of the room, away from the maze.
"Come back here, you coward!" Green said, getting up and chasing him. Spambots suddenly crowded the other end of the passage way, but that didn't stop Runouw. He leaped right over them and ran outside.
"Runouw! You're safe!" Usu said.
"Come on, run!" he said, grabbing Usu. K859 and Mx64 followed them.
"Where are the others?" Runouw asked.
"They're inside that place I think," Usu said.
"We can't get to them in time! Just run!" Runouw said.
The Red team was running for their lives. An army of spambots were after them, and they were headed for the exit.
"Come on, we can make it!" Rem said. They were nearing the exit when K_999 tripped and fell.
"Kirby!" Rem said, stopping.
"Go on! I'l distract them!" K_999 said.
"But...," Rem started.
"GO! NOW!" K_999 said. They continued on, leaving K_999 behind. The spambots got to him, and crowded around him.
"I hope K_999 will be alright," Zunar said.
"He'll be fine. Besides, he wanted to do that, just to let us get out of here," Rem said.
As they ran for the exit, a group of spambots crowded the end of their passageway in an attempt to stop them.
"Jump!" Rem said. They jumped over the spambots and ran out the exit.
"There's Runouw!" SMX said, pointing.
"And Usu, Mx64, and K859 are with him too!" Mode pointed out. They decided to follow them wherever they were headed.
Eventually, everyone made it out except for Buffooner, Doram, and Kirby_999. They were all captured by Green and his spambot army, and taken to StB.
"Master, I failed in my mission to defeat Runouw. But I caught some of the snoopers who were coming to save him," Green reported.
StB swung his chair around and looked at the prisoners.
"I shall give you one more chance to capture Runouw," StB said, "since you were able to capture some of the members. But, if you fail again..." StB slid his finger across his throat.
Green nodded, and led the prisoners to their cells inside the hideout.
Everyone who made it out met at the training ground for the second round.
"I take it Suyo has already told you about this round?" Runouw asked everyone.
"He told us about having one less member for our teams," Shade said.
"But we have two less members now!" Usu said.
"And we already have one less!" Mode said.
"Then Red Team, you do not need to lose another member yet. Suyo will show you to your base in this round," Runouw said. The Reds followed Suyo.
"Now then, about the Blue Team," Runouw said. "Shadrixian."
"Yes, Runouw?" Shade asked in response.
"You shall temporarily join the Blue Team, since they have two less at the moment," Runouw finished.
"Yes sir," Shade replied. He went inside the main building to swap from Orange stuff to Blue stuff.
"And now, for the Green team. One of you will need to turn in your Green equipment and head back to Runouw City," Runouw said.
The Greens looked at each other, wondering who the unlucky person will be.
"...Mr_SaxMan." Sax's eyes widened in shock.
"You will return to Runouw City," Runouw said.
"Well, this is goodbye," Sax said to the other Greens.
"Not for long, though," Ridder said.
"Right," Sax replied, nodding. He walked over to Runouw and pulled off his Green equipment.
Four came around the main building on an ATV, and motioned for Sax to get on.
"Four will take you back to Runouw City," Runouw explained.
Sax got on behind Four and they roared off. About that time, Suyo returned.
"Suyo, take the Blue Team to their base," Runouw said.
"Yes sir," Suyo replied, and he motioned for the Blues to follow him.
"Orange Team, I will lead you to your base. Green Team, stay here until someone returns to take you to your base," Runouw said.
"Yes sir!" Blab said.
Runouw led the Oranges to their base, and then returned to take the Greens to theirs.
"Attention everyone," Runouw said over the P.A., "this round is death match style. Your goal is to defeat all of the other teams. Your bases have a force field around them which prevents shots from going through it, so you are safe at your base. However, the downside is that, while inside that force field, you cannot shoot opponents outside it. Good luck."
New Team Format:
Blue-
Shadrixian
Mariox64
UsuarioTHf
Kirby859
Red-
RemnantAbyss
SupahMarioX
nin10mode
Zunar
Orange-
MessengerOfDreams
MICrophone
Yoshi Boo 118
brandobrawl
Green-
Blablob
Ridder
Demonik
StarF
"Hey Megaboy?"
"Yeah?"
"Who's guarding the forums?"
"OH SHI-"
Destroyer1 was tending the bar at Demonik's Tavern since the other bartenders had been sent to the training grounds. MKSTAR26 was sitting up at the bar, sipping a Coke.
"Nice day huh Dest?" MK said.
"Yeah. It's a bit quiet, with 20 of our popular members gone," Dest replied.
"You're right. By the way, where's Megaboy?" asked MK. "He usually stops by here every morning and gets a coffee."
"Search me," Dest answered.
MK finished his drink and put it down on the bar. "Ah... that was a nice one. Gimme another," he said.
Dest grabbed the cup and filled it with Coke, and slid it over to MK. MK caught it and started sipping.
Suddenly, the doors burst open, and Megaboy stood there, huffing and puffing.
"Mega! I was wondering when you'd show up," MK said.
"Gimme...the...usual...," Mega responded, gasping for breath, as heslowly walked up to the bar and sat down.
"What's the usual?" Dest asked.
"Oh, sorry... I forgot that... Demonik's not here...," Mega replied. "Gimme a... coffee..."
"MK was just telling me that you usually come in here every morning and get a coffee," Dest said, filling a mug.
"Yeah, I usually do," Mega responded.
"You look like you just ran a marathon. What happened?" MK asked.
Mega then told him about Runouw being captured and he and Master meeting up with the people who had been taken to the training grounds, as well as Suyo and Four.
"Where is Master anyway?" MK inquired.
"He was right behind me," Mega said.
Just then, the doors opened, and Master1.0 walked in, red in the face, gasping for breath.
"Hey Master," Mega said, "what's up?"
"'What's up'?! You know very well what I've been doing; chasing after you! You left me at the training grounds, and it took me forever to get back here," Master replied, angry.
"Whoa, calm down there big guy. I just realized that Runouw City had nobody to protect it, and I came running back as fast as I could," Mega explained.
Master came up to the bar and sat down. "Mug, please," he said.
Dest poured him a root beer, and slid it to him. Master sipped it and sighed.
"So who should we go for first?" Usu asked.
"Let's just go out there," Shade said. "Whoever we find first is going down."
"Good idea!" K859 said. They started walking down the road.
"Shh! Hide!" Shade said. He had heard voices, and wasn't sure whose they were. The Oranges then came around the bend, blasters at the ready.
"Ready?" Shade whispered. Everyone nodded, and when the moment was right, Shade put his hand up as a signal to fire away.
"What the?!" MOD said, surprised by the sudden noise. He suddenly fell over, pain in his side. He rolled over and started firing at the Blues, who had surprised him and his team.
He managed to hit Mx64 and K859, but he wasn't sure if he had defeated them or not. He suddenly got hit in the head, and he blacked out.
"MOD!!!" MIC said. He watched as MOD turned into a flash of light, which headed for the hospital. The distraction left him open for a shot, and Usu nailed him in the stomach.
He doubled over, hitting the ground hard. By rolling, he managed to dodge several shots, but then one got him in the back, and he felt enormous pain. He slowly pulled out his blaster and managed to fire a shot before blacking out.
"MIC!!! No!!!" YB said, and he was angry. He suddenly started rapid-firing at the Blues.
"Whoa, what the?!" YB said, shocked.
"You have gained the ability to rapid-fire," a voice inside him said.
"Whoa, really? Awesome!" YB replied.
"But be warned; you can't rapid-fire forever. It will only last a total of 10 seconds, so use it wisely," the voice said.
"Whatever! This is cool!" YB said. He then ran out of rapid-fire, and reverted back to normal shots.
"Dang it, I'm out!" YB said.
"You talking to yourself?" Brando asked.
"Huh? Oh... yeah, I am. Is that weird?" YB replied.
"No, just asking. By the way, you better pay attention, or-"
He was interrupted when YB got hit in the head and fell over.
"-you'll get hit," Brando finished. He suddenly dove to the side and started running just as YB turned into a flash of light and headed for the hospital.
"Three down, one to go," Shade said. He turned to Mx64 and K859. "You guys ok?"
"Yeah, we're fine," K859 replied, getting to his feet.
"It's just a bruise," Mx64 said, brushing himself off.
"Good, let's keep going," Shade said. They started walking down the path, unaware that they were being watched...
The Green team was walking down a street, keeping alert to everything that happened around them. They walked slowly, making sure their next step wouldn't be their last, all with their blasters up and ready to fire the instant something happened.
"Ssssssssssssstaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrffffffffffff..."
StarF suddenly turned to where the voice had come from: a small, dark alleyway.
"Hey guys, did you hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what?" replied Blablob, who had signalled the team to stop. StarF stared into the darkness of the alleyway, trying to work out what he just heard.
"...Must have just been me," StarF said finally, turning his attention to the direction the team was now heading.
"Ssssssssssssstaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrffffffffffff..."
"There it is again!" StarF quickly turned back to the alleyway. "I'm going to go check this out guys. Keep me covered."
StarF walks into the darkness of the alleyway. The others form a sort of barricade so that they see everything, while still guarding the alleyway. StarF walks deeper and deeper into the darkness. Does this alleyway have an end? He wonders. To answer his question, a dead end fades into view.
"So it does. I wonder what that voice was..." he thinks aloud.
Suddenly, a whirring noise is heard behind him, followed by a series of clicks. He turns to escape, but then he realizes that the way he came in no longer exists. Somehow, he has ended up in a small hallway with no exits.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha! Finally, it's my turn."
The voice had a much deeper pitch this time. StarF turns to blast the figure, but for some reason his blaster won't fire. He looks at it more closely and realizes it's been cut in half, and drops it to the ground. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out who it came from.
"Show yourself!" StarF shouted.
"Very well then. I have nothing to conceal. However..."
A sword fell from somewhere and landed on the ground directly in front of Starf.
"You might want to hold this."
Suddenly, on the other side of the hallway, a large figure hit the ground. Its rounded body and back, muscular arms, and oddly-shaped head was very familiar. It was one of the Bowsers from the forums.
Suddenly, some lights flicked on, and then StarF recognized the figure.
"What do you want now?" asked StarF.
"Same thing as last time. Same motives too, just different tactic," replied ShadowtheBowser. "Now, let's make a little wager. I challenge you to a duel; if you win, I'll give myself into mods and vanish again. However, if I win..."
StB purposely trailed off after those words as if to say something ominous, but instead he said, "...I will show you my plan. Deal?"
"Deal," StarF replied, drawing the sword and getting into a battle stance. StB raised his hands, put them behind his shell, and pulled out two long objects. Starf identified them immediately.
Time out for a little history lesson. In the medieval world, the strongest melee weapon you could get was a two-handed sword. It was somewhat similar to a regular sword, just twice as big.
They had incredible destructive power, however, most people could not use a shield with it. That being said, there were certain individuals who are skilled enough to be able to hold a 2-hander with a single hand, thus freeing the other arm.
This leaves them with three choices: Either hold the 2-H in one hand and use a shield in the other, or forge what is called a 4-handed sword, which is twice the size of a 2-H, or get another 2-H. ShadowtheBowser had chosen the third option.
Holding a two-hander in each hand, he seemed to be balancing them out, trying to work out the best point for something. That, or taunting Starf. Once he found a certain point on them, he smirked and spun them around. Then he grabbed them again, but this time, holding them upside-down.
♥♥♥♥! StarF thought, This guy could use a eight-hander if he wanted to!
Then StB charged, bearing the two blades. StarF held up his sword for protection. The three swords collied and sparks flew everywhere. The battle had begun.
Still smirking, StB suddenly said, "Sixty."
StB pulled back his swords, and then began slashing at StarF violently. StarF managed to block several, then quickly ducked and slashed at StB. The sword cut through StB's tough stomach, and a small red gash was there.
"Graah!" StB shouted in pain. He pulled the swords back, then did some complicated maneuver involving one blade slashing horizontally, the other vertically. StarF narrowly dodged one of the swords, then managed to injure StB again. This process repeated, until StB pulled back. He walked backwards to the other end of the hall, trapping himself.
"You may come out now," he shouted.
Then, another figure appeared from somewhere. The figure was identical to StB in every way, except the star on his face was blue instead of green. It was StB's clone. The clone had been a great ally the last time StB was a problem, at one point even saving a life. Now, it seemed, StB had brainwashed him to be what he wanted him to be: an enemy to anyone but him.
The two of them overpowered StarF and quickly cut him down to size. They managed to break his legs and completely destroy his sword.
"I win," StB said menacingly.
The clone then vanished as if it never existed.
"Now, to fufill my part of the deal."
The two of them where suddenly teleported somewhere. StarF looked around and realized he was inside a big spaceship. He looked out a nearby window and realized what it was: ShadowtheBowser's Ion Star. It was basically a Deathstar with an Ion cannon.
Another quick lesson. A Deathstar is an enormous ship; the size of a moon. Equipped with a Graviton cannon, a cannon that could impale moons, it was one of the most destructive ships to ever exist. It only had two weaknesses: it could be destroyed by another deathstar, or you could fire an EMP pulse at it to completely fry it's systems. However, StB had become aware of this, and equipped it with an Ion cannon, a cannon that fires a huge electromagnetic wave across anything it strikes, instantly shutting down all power.
The last time he attempted to use it, he had been foiled by Zunar and Runouw, who shut down all the failsafes and then overloaded the Graviton cannon. If it hadn't been for StB's clone, who was on their side at the time, StB would have kept Runouw and Zunar on the ship while it self-destructed.
Obviously, he had somehow escaped and saved at least some of the ship. However, it would obviously have been critically damaged and taken ages to repair. The only thing missing was the barrel of the Ion cannon; it was still under repair, though it was almost finished.
"StarF! StarF get out of there!" Blab shouted, banging at the newly-formed wall. They had heard the metallic clicking and whirring, and had turned to see the wall, just there as if it always was. Then, one of the cylinder-shaped bricks rotated to show what it truly was: a spambot. The spambot loaded its weapons and began to fire.
"Take cover!" Blab shouted, signalling them all to get out of the small alleyway. They all prepared their blasters, then turned around the corner occasionally to shoot at the wall.
Then, Demonik quickly jumped out in front of the alley and started blasting as fast as he could. Suddenly, his blaster expanded and his shots became larger. "You have unlocked the Mega-Shot powerup. You will have this power-up for 10 seconds."
"Yes! EAT THIS SPAMBOT SCUM!" Demonik shouted, firing at the entire wall. Eventually the spambot stopped firing and the wall was destroyed. The blaster then returned to its original size.
"Now that was major ki-" Demonik suddenly had an expression of shock on his face. He fell to the ground, turned into a light, then flew off towards the hospital. One of the spambots had managed to fire a shot before it exploded.
"Demonik! No!" said Ridder, staring at where Demonik once was. His blaster lay on the ground, and Ridder walked over to it. However, when Ridder tried to pick it up, it wouldn't budge, as if it were fused to the ground.
They were all staring at where Demonik was when suddenly there was a loud thud behind them. They all turned and began firing at what appeared to be StB's clone. They managed to get some good damage on him, before he pulled out what looked like a four-handed sword. The clone swung it at the remaining duo, and then sliced their blasters open.
Blablob managed to kick the clone in the hand and cause it to drop the sword. It then reached to the ground and easily picked up Demonik's blaster. Suddenly, the blaster seemed to mutate, as if it was getting multiple power-ups at once.
"WARNING: HACK DETECTED! WARNING: HACK DETECTED!" the speakers began blaring all over the Training Grounds. However, the clone seemed unaware of it.
The blaster then finished mutating. It wasn't much of a weapon anymore, more of a wreck, but it didn't matter. The clone had them in his sights. He pulled the trigger, and a huge shockwave of energy pulsed through the two, quickly knocking them out and slamming them hard into the ground. They turned into beams of light as they usually should.
However, instead of heading to the hospital, they headed straight up, leaving the atmosphere. All across the grounds, everyone saw the two lights heading into the atmosphere. The blaring noise of the hack warning stopped.
"GREEN TEAM ELIMINATED," the P.A. said. Then, something occurred that caught everyone off-guard . "ALL TEAMS WILL BE ELIMINATED. SHADOWTHEBOWSER WINS."
The moment the final sound came out of the speakers, a loud roar was heard from the sky. A huge fireball was descending from space. It gained more and more speed as it fell, then crashed into what would be the Off-Topic forum. The explosion was devastating; half of the grounds was destroyed. Everyone rushed to the crater to see what it was.
"Runouw! That meteor seems to be a life form of some kind!"
"What?!"
"It seems to be one of the members!"
"I'm going down to check!"
Runouw ran outside and up to the immense crater. He looked into the crater, and saw what looked like a human that was wearing something green. He quickly jumped into the crater and rushed over to the supposed human, and recognized who it was.
"StarF! Are you ok?" Runouw asked. Unfortunately, StarF was unconscious, so he couldn't reply. Runouw feared the worst, and shouted at the members to get some help. He examined StarF's wounded body, and noticed that his legs were broken.
That's not good, Runouw thought.
A few minutes later, the members came back with Suyo and Four. Suyo jumped into the air and did a triple somersault, landing neatly in the crater.
"Show-off," Four said.
Suyo quickly ran over to Runouw and helped him lift and carry StarF up and out of the crater. They then carried him to the hospital and laid him on a bed.
Runouw went into another room and came back with a doctor, who inspected StarF.
"His legs are definitely broken," the doctor said. "Broken in several places, I might add. Looks like he had quite a fall. What happened?"
"We don't know, doctor," Suyo replied. "All we know is that he came down on the grounds with the force of a meteor."
"Ouch," the doctor said, grimacing a bit.
"How long will it take for him to recover?" Four asked worriedly.
"A month, at best," the doctor replied.
"Wow, that's a long time. When do you suppose he'll wake up?" Suyo asked.
"He'll probably be like this for at least a couple days," the doctor responded.
Meanwhile, Runouw had quietly slipped outside. He was pondering how StarF could have hit the grounds with such force. He then looked into the sky and noticed something that he had not seen in a long time: StB's Ion Star.
What's he up to this time? Runouw wondered.
Suyo suddenly noticed that Runouw wasn't standing beside him. He looked out the door and saw Runouw standing outside, looking into the sky. He went outside and followed Runouw's gaze.
"Do you think it's time?" Suyo asked. Runouw took out some special glasses and looked through them.
"Yeah. There's a road that leads up to a point not too far from it. However, we do have that if something goes wrong," Runouw replied, putting away the glasses.
The next day, Runouw called a meeting of all the members.
"Yesterday, I noticed a strange object in the sky while gazing at the stars. It's still there, so look above you and you should see it," Runouw said. Everyone looked above them and saw StB's Ion Star.
"Not again!" someone said.
"We have decided to pick one member of each team to go through a special operation to confront ShadowTheBowser. Suyo, Fourinone, if you'd please," Runouw explained.
Suyo stepped forward to the microphone. "I have picked one member from the Blue team and one member from the Red team. Come forward... Shadrixian," Suyo said.
Shade walked up beside Suyo.
"And... Zunar." Zunar walked up to the other side of Suyo. All three took a few steps back to let Four speak into the microphone.
"I have chosen... MICrophone and Ridder," Four said. MIC and Ridder walked up beside Four, and those three took a few steps back to make way from Runouw.
"These four are going to go through a special operation tomorrow morning. But for now, let us get some rest; it's been a long day. There are rooms for you in the main building," Runouw explained.
The next morning, the chosen four, Suyo, Four, and Runouw gathered together to discuss the operation.
"Alright, I shall explain the situation. There's a special kind of electromagnetic EM wave that radiates throughout this area, and it creates things such as roads. Those roads may lead anywhere. Fortunately there happens to be a road that leads all the way up close to the Ion Star, so you can use that."
"With all due respect, I don't see any road," Shade remarked.
"I was just getting to that. See, these waves are invisible to the naked eye. You either need a special pair of glasses or you have to be specially modified," Runouw explained.
"What do you mean 'modified'?" Ridder asked, raising one eyebrow.
"I know that doesn't sound good, but that's what this operation is about. You will be special modified so that you can transform into a form where you are able to see and touch these waves."
"Like Megaman Starforce?" Zunar inquired.
"As a matter of fact, it is. That's a pretty good summary. Basically, this operation will allow you to wave change," Runouw explained. "For those of you who don't know, your body changes into these EM waves and then you can see and interact with other entities made up of these waves, for example the roads. Speaking of the roads, try these on and look around."
He pulled out four strange-looking pairs of glasses and handed one pair to each person. They put them on and looked around, gazing at what they saw. They saw strange-colored roads that winded around in the sky. They were all somehow connected, and a couple of the roads stretched down to the ground. Everyone took off their special glasses and looked back at Runouw.
"Now, what you need to do is think of a wave form for yourself. Picture it in your head, and once the operation is complete, that will be your wave form. Make sure you're happy with it, because you can't change it after you've gone through the operation," Runouw explained.
"All right then," Shade replied. Everyone sat down to think.
After a few minutes, Zunar stood up.
"Thought of everything?" Runouw asked.
"Yep," Zunar replied.
"Would you like to share your wave form or keep it to yourself?" Runouw asked.
"Sure, I'll share it. The name will be Angenelio, or Lio for short. I'll look sorta like Pit, except I'll have full boots instead of sandals, I'll have regular clothes instead of that weird get-up, and I won't have that crown-like thing in my hair. I'll have a weapon similar to Palutena's bow, but instead of breaking it apart to make two swords, I can morph it into a sword. I'll be able to use my wings to fly as well."
"Good thinking. However, there is one slight issue," Runouw replied.
"Yes?" Zunar inquired, tense.
"Your flying capabilities. Being able to fly all the time combined with the other stuff you have will overload the gadget that maintains your wave form. You either must change something or make your flying limited."
"A small price to pay. I'll limit my flying capabilities," Zunar responded.
"Okay then. You may sit down now. Don't lose your ideas, now!" Runouw said.
"I won't," Zunar answered, and he sat back down.
Shade was the next person to stand up. His wave form was Adrilexus, or just Adril for short. He had armor with an ever-changing Matrix design flashing across it. His main weapon was a powerful black sword that fades away when light touches it. He called it "Nightrunner". His backup weapon is a combination cannon and sword, which he called "Duskhawk".
A few minutes passed and Runouw looked at Ridder.
"Any ideas yet?" he asked.
"Yeah, but to be honest, I don't care much for Megaman Starforce," Ridder replied.
"Would you like to drop out? We can put in a substitute for you," Runouw responded.
Ridder thought for a few more minutes, and then said "Nah, I'll go through with it."
Ridder's wave form was Katonna, or Kit for short. She had a Quantum-Space Disruptor that she can use to create portals and temporarily disrupt time and space. She could also focus energy into her Katana and create a deadly wave that can be thrown at opponents. However, extensive use of her disruptor would overload her gadget, rendering her powers useless. The gadget would slowly recharge it's energy over time while not in use (recharges faster when not in wave form).
Runouw then turned to MIC. "What about you?" he asked.
"I actually don't care. You can replace me if you want," MIC replied.
"Are you sure?" Runouw answered.
"Yeah," MIC said.
Runouw turned to Suyo and Four. "Take him back to the rest and pick out someone else," he said.
"Yes sir," they answered, and they proceeded to do what they were told.
"Just relax for a while until Suyo and Four come back with a substitute," Runouw said.
After a while, Suyo and Four came back with a substitute.
"MK?!" Zunar said, shocked.
"Hey," MKSTAR26 said, walking up to the group.
"You were picked?" Shade asked.
"Yep. Suyo and Four explained everything on the way," MK replied.
"I need to explain to MK what the operation is. Suyo, Four, you guys take the three to the place," Runouw said.
"Yes sir," they answered.
Runouw explained the situation to MK, and MK quickly came up with a wave form. His name would be Amplification, or Amp for short. He would be able to change the wavelengths of objects for various effects (for example, he could warp stuff around). However, extensive use of this power would overload his gadget, rendering his powers useless. The gadget would slowly recharge it's energy over time while not in use (recharges faster when not in wave form).
Afterwards, Runouw and MK headed to the place where the others had been taken.
The chosen four, Runouw, Suyo, and Four were gathered at a special place outside the training grounds. It had a special barrier around it and could not be seen with the naked eye.
"Okay everyone, listen up," Runouw said. He pulled out a pair of glasses like the ones given to the four, and put them on.
"Now is the time for wave change."
"Awright!!!" Zunar shouted, enthusiastic.
"Wow, you're hyped up," Shade commented.
"Yeah, I'm usually tired. But not right now!" Zunar replied. Zunar held his gadget up in the air and yelled "EM Wave Change, On Air!", and then disappeared.
"Wow, he's really into this," Ridder said.
"Apparently so," MK replied. The other three simply touched their gadgets and disappeared.
Suyo and Four walked up behind Runouw.
"What made you choose MKSTAR26?" Runouw asked.
"Well, we didn't see much potential in the other people. Besides, MK was being left out," Suyo explained.
"But he's still young. Are you sure he'll be able to handle this? I mean, the kid's only eleven years old," Runouw said.
"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine," Four said.
"I sure hope so," Runouw replied.
After he wave changed, Zunar felt a strange sensation throughout his body. It was like he was being electrocuted, and it was painful. Suddenly the pain stopped and he saw a flash of light. He fell to the ground, off-balance from the pain he had just experienced. He pushed himself up, shook his head, and looked around. Things didn't seem too different, he thought as he scanned his surroundings. He suddenly noticed a strangely colored road that seemed to come out of a nearby machine. The road went up into the sky, and wound around, eventually ending up close to StB's Ion Star.
"Was that there before?" Zunar asked himself. He began to brush himself off, and then he noticed that his clothes were different. He quickly looked himself over. Is this the Wave World? he wondered.
Suddenly, Shade, Ridder, and MK appeared in the Wave World. Though, Zunar didn't recognize them since they were in their wave form. He thought for a few seconds and then came to the conclusion it was the other three.
"Hey, guys!" Zunar said, running over to them.
"Oh, my head," Shade said, rubbing his head.
"Are you guys OK?" Zunar asked.
Shade looked up at him. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Angenelio," Zunar said, referring to himself as his wave form, since that was the form he was currently in.
Adrilexus looked at him for a few seconds, and then made the connection.
"Oh, right! I know who you are!" Adril said, remembering.
"Glad you do," Lio said. He walked over to Katonna. "Katonna? You OK?"
Katonna shook her head. "Where... am I?" she wondered aloud.
"Welcome to the Wave World, Kit!" Lio said, offering his hand to pull her up.
"Wait, you mean...?" Kit responded, looking at Lio and taking his hand.
"Yeah, you wave changed. How do you feel?" Lio asked, pulling Kit to her feet.
"Well, my head is throbbing a little, and my back hurts, but other than that, I'm OK. Why do you ask?" Kit answered.
"Just making sure the operation went through OK," Lio replied.
About that time, Amplification walked up.
"Oh hey," Lio said, noticing Amp, "And you are...?"
"I'm Amplification," Amp said.
"You look cool," Adril commented.
"Thanks," Amp responded.
"Well, I think we need to introduce ourselves," Lio said. "I'm Angenelio. You can call me Lio."
He jerked a thumb at Adril. "This is Adrilexus. Just call him Adril."
He then nodded towards Kit. "This is Katonna. You can call her Kit."
"Okay then," Amp replied.
"Now that we're all properly introduced, how about we go talk to Runouw?" Kit suggested, "He has a pair of those glasses on, so he can see us. I wonder if he can hear us."
"Well, we'll just see! Come on!" Lio said, taking charge.
"Hey, who put you in charge? I'm older than you!" Adril objected.
"Who gives a crud about age? Anyway, Runouw will decide who's in charge!" Lio replied.
"Hmm... So they now have the ability to get here uninvited?" StB said, looking at a screen that was playing a recording of the group entering the wave world.
"Perhaps it is time I activated my wave form..."
From outside the deck of the Ion Star, a bright flash of hellish light is seen, and a single figure, ablaze, is seen where StB once stood.
"Uh oh..."
"What?"
"We've got company..."
"Let me see! ...oh no, that's not good! Send out an alert to Runouw, ASAP!"
"Will do."
The chosen four walk over to Runouw and it is obvious he sees them, since he nods to them.
"Good, I see you're all acquainted. Now, you just need to discover your powers and how you can use them. I have created several opponents for you to practice on. You must learn your attacks on your own, and figure out what you must do," Runouw explained, motioning to a bunch of dummies off to the side.
The four attacked their opponents and got themselves used to their abilities, and got pretty good at using them. After all the opponents were destroyed, the four came to Runouw once more.
"You seem to have learned your abilities and used them well," Runouw said. "Now, it is time for the ultimate test. You must face each other. Don't worry about dying; you will not die as long as you do not leave this area, and as long as there is a protective barrier."
Everyone got ready to attack, and were just about to when something tore through the barrier and flew right into the four, knocking them back. It suddenly stopped, and everyone got a good look at it. It looked like StB, but he was ablaze with a fire. However hot the fire may be, it didn't seem like StB was affected by it in any way; in fact, it seemed to help StB.
"I decided to come down here and deal with you personally, instead of sending my spambots down here. Aren't you lucky?" StB said mockingly, and he let out an evil laugh.
"You can talk the talk, but can you fight the fight?" Adril said, challenging StB.
"Are you challenging me?" StB said, glaring at Adril.
Adril responded by holding out his hand, extending his forefinger, and tauntingly swung it back and forth, as if to say "Come and get me, big guy."
StB roared, and his fire seemed to burn brighter. He charged toward Adril, who pulled out Nightrunner.
"Eat this, StB!" Adril said, and he swung the sword. It vanished as the light of the sun hit it, and the only thing Adril hit was air. He quickly dodges a swing by StB, and then pulls out Duskhawk. He shot several blasts at StB at long range, and when he got closer he switched to the sword and took a few slashes at StB.
StB deftly dodged and blocked Adril's attacks, and jumped high into the air, landing behind Adril. Before Adril could react, StB hit him with a fiery punch to the head, knocking him out.
"Who else wants some pain?!" StB said. He suddenly saw an arrow fly by him, and looked in the direction it came from. It was Lio! He was shooting arrows at StB, and almost got him. StB dodged the shots, all the while getting closer to Lio. One managed to nick him, but he didn't seem bothered by it.
He grabbed an arrow and threw it at Lio with immense strength and speed. Lio tried to dodge, but StB had aimed so well that it got him in the stomach, and he doubled over in pain.
"Taste the pain!" StB roared. He started dashing at Lio to deliver a final blow, but a portal suddenly spawned in front of him, and he couldn't stop himself from going to it. It was Kit; she had used her Quantum-Space Disruptor and created a portal. However, the portal was not programmed well; StB went through the portal and came out behind Kit, slamming into her.
Kit got face-floored, and went down for the count. StB got up, muttered to himself to get Steam and Portal, and turned to the only one left: Amp.
"Amp... don't... you're not experienced enough...," Lio said, groaning in pain.
"It's our only chance!" Amp responded, looking at StB.
"Don't! You can't win... without us... ugh!" Lio said, clutching his stomach.
Amp ignored Lio's begging, and held up his hand. Suddenly, a nearby boulder warped above StB, and crashed down on him. StB staggered around for a bit, and then fell, unconscious.
"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Lio asked, eyes widened.
"Well, it's a natural ability; I've had it ever since I came to Runouw City. However, I don't like to use it unless it's absolutely necessary," Amp explained.
"Why?" Lio asked.
"Well, it's a long story," Amp said.
"I've got time." Lio stumbled over to Amp, clutching his wound.
When MK was four and still with his mom and dad, his house started to collapse due to his dad's faulty construction. He and his dad got out safely, but his mom was still inside, crushed against a wall. MK wanted to help, but he was dragged back. When his mom was finally freed of the wreckage, she was dead.
Three months later, MK discovered his power while playing ping-pong against the wall. He was missing the ball so much he cursed, and his newly discovered power made the ball bend towards him every time. Bewildered by his power, MK started experimenting.
At school later that week his friend was crossing the road when a truck came zooming down the road. Unable to get away, he screamed. MK saw, and quickly de-amplified his wavelength so the truck went over him harmlessly. Then when his friend came back to normal, he was surprised he was alive. The whole playground rushed over to him, asking him how he survived, was he OK, and so on.
MK didn't go up to his friend though. He remembered how his mom was trapped against the wall. He knew he could've saved her, if he'd known he could.
From that day, he avoids using his power as a superpower unless it's a life-and-death situation, because using it to save people reminds him how he could've saved his mother. How he didn't.
"Wow," Lio said, a tear forming in his eye.
"I don't like to talk about it." Amp answered, looking away, a sullen look on his face.
"We all have painful memories, so don't feel bad." Lio said, wiping away his tears and trying to comfort Amp. "Anyways, we need to make sure Kit and Adril are okay."
Amp and Lio walked over to Adril, who was starting to come to.
"Hey, looks like you're coming around." Lio said.
Adril shook his head and looked around.
"What... happened...?" he asked.
"You got FALCON PAUNCHED by StB." Amp answered, helping Adril to his feet.
"Really, Amp? That joke's been dead for ages," Lio remarked, folding his arms in annoyance.
"Where's Kit?" Adril asked.
"Still knocked out over there." Lio replied, pointing to where she lay face-down on the ground. The trio walked over to her and pulled her up onto her feet.
"We'd better get her back to Runouw and see if she's all right," Adril suggested.
Lio and Amp agreed, and the trio carried Kit back to Runouw.
Once they reached Runouw, he pulled out a strange gadget, aimed it at Kit, and pressed a button on it. Almost immediately all four of them reverted back to normal and Runouw put the gadget away. He helped us carry Ridder to the training grounds and into the hospital, which wasn't affected by the meteorite.
A few minutes later, Ridder awoke.
"Ugh," she groaned, clutching the back of her head in pain.
"Hey, Ridder." MK said.
"Huh? Where am I? The last thing I remember is something hitting me in the back of the head and then... nothing." Ridder replied.
"StB slammed into you from behind." Zunar explained.
"Hey, are you okay?" We looked towards the voice and saw Runouw coming towards us.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ridder replied. "The back of my head hurts, though."
"I can imagine," Runouw said. "Are you strong enough to go on a mission with your teammates?"
"A mission?" she asked. "What kind?"
"Infiltrating the Ion Star." Runouw explained.
Everyone looked at Runouw in shock.
"Are you serious, Runouw?! I mean, we've only just gotten our powers! If we finish StB now..."
"What? You don't want to give up your powers after only having them a short time?" Runouw interrupted.
"Yeah," Adril answered. "Don't worry; your quest won't be over after defeating StB. There is more to it." Runouw explained.
Ridder got up and stretched a bit.
"Sure. I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she said.
"Okay, if you're sure." Runouw answered. He led us outside the grounds and back to our little training area.
"There is a road you can travel up and get up to the Ion Star. Just wave change and go up it to challenge StB."
Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them.
"So you are the chosen four?".
Everyone whirled around, but saw no one. But when they turned back around they saw Green standing in front of them.
"Heh. Pathetic," Green said.
"Who are you calling pathetic?!" Zunar said, pulling out his blaster.
"So you think you can challenge me? Heheheh... HAHAHAHA!!! That's a laugh-and-a-half!" Green said, laughing evilly.
Zunar gave him a confident stare.
"Oh, you're serious? Let me laugh harder. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Green replied.
Zunar's anger welled up inside him, but he managed to keep his face confident and challenging as he wave changed.
"Hold up, Zune! You're not seriously thinking about fighting him, are you?!" Shade asked, shocked. He quickly pulled out the glasses Runouw gave him earlier and put them on. The other three followed suit.
Zunar looked over his shoulder and smirked. He then turned back to Green as his bow transformed into a sword.
"No, Zunar! You've got a death wish if you want to challenge him!" MK said, running toward him.
Ridder grabbed him and pulled him back. "Don't be an idiot, MK," she warned.
Zunar glared at the still-laughing Green. "You think you're all that and a bag of chips, huh? I'll just have to cut you down a notch!" he said.
Suddenly, his sword flashed, and he suddenly went from where he was to Green in literally a second, and slashed Green in the head. Green managed to jump away, but Zunar cut away some of his cloak, revealing part of his face.
Zunar was shocked. Him?! It can't be! Zunar thought.
Green quickly got to his feet. "Hmph, I've underestimated you. But that won't happen again!" he said, and he drew his sword. They charged each other and attacked, stopping at each other's positions. Time seemed to stand still, as if it were a moment in a movie that added dramatic tension. Suddenly, Zunar fell to the ground, clutching his chest.
"Zunar! Stop! He's gonna kill you!" Shade said, starting to run towards him.
"No, Shade! Stay back!" Zunar answered, holding up his hand. "This is a battle between this guy and me! Don't interfere!"
"Drop the hero schtick, Zunar! We know as well as you do that you're no match for this guy!" Ridder said.
"I can do whatever I damn well feel like! This is MY story!" Zunar replied.
"So, even though you are mortally wounded, you still have the will to fight? Heh, pathetic. I'll snuff you out like the punk you are!" Green said. He suddenly charged at Zunar. Zunar didn't have time to react; he wasn't on his feet, and Green was coming he couldn't get up before Green got to him.
"ZUNAR!!!!!" MK yelled.
There was silence as the dust cleared. Green was standing over Zunar, who was motionless.
"NOOO!!!!" Shade said, running towards Zunar. Green turned around to face Shade, ready to strike.
"Don't even think about it, punk!" Green said, brandishing his sword menacingly.
Suddenly, Green's hood was slashed to pieces, revealing his face for all to see. Shade stopped, staring at Green in shock. Green was confused for a second, but then realized that his hood was gone.
"Oh well, my identity would be found out sooner or later." Green said.
"Linkdroid?!" Ridder said, her mouth open in shock.
"Surprised to see me, Ridder?" Linkdroid replied.
"She's not the only one," Shade commented.
"Now, where were we...? Ah, yes. I was just getting around to taking care of you like I did you little friend over here," Linkdroid said.
Suddenly, Linkdroid collapsed to the ground.
"What the-?!" Shade said, shocked. A figure stepped out from the dust.
"It couldn't be...!" Shade said.
"Come on! He's already portrayed himself as a hero! Isn't this a little much?" Ridder asked.
But, as the dust cleared, they saw it wasn't Zunar. It was...
"Suyo?!"
"You hadn't forgotten me, had you?" Suyo asked, sheathing his sword.
Suddenly, the roar of an ATV was heard. A red ATV came up beside Suyo, and driving was none other than Fourinone.
"Take Zunar to the hospital, pronto!" Suyo said.
Four nodded and drove off toward the training grounds with Zunar, who was still motionless.
"And this all had to happen before we started our mission. Great," Shade commented.
"Seems to me like this wasn't a coincidence. Like it was meant to delay us from climbing up to the Ion Star," Runouw said.
"You're right. Either way we have to wait until Zunar recovers. IF he recovers, that is," Ridder said.
"Right." Shade replied, nodding. He looked up at the Ion Star. Come on, Zunar. You gotta recover! You're an important part of this team! Shade thought.
It was the next morning before Zunar awoke.
"Uhhhhh..." he moaned, trying to clear his head.
"He lives!" Shade said, relieved.
"What... happened..? I remember fighting that guy, but..."
"He got you in the stomach. Bad," Ridder interrupted.
Suddenly, pain shot through Zunar's stomach as he attempted to sit up, and he fell back onto the bed, clutching his wound.
"You can't come with us in this condition!" MK said.
"I know, but... if we don't stop StB soon..." Zunar answered.
"Don't worry about StB; we'll take care of him," Ridder said.
Shade and MK looked at her, shocked. "Do WHAT?!" Shade asked.
"You heard me. Come on," Ridder said, walking outside and motioning for them to follow.
"Good luck guys," Zunar called after them.
"Thanks, we're going to need it." MK replied, following Ridder. Shade reluctantly followed as Zunar laid back and relaxed.
"Do you honestly think we can do this without Zunar, Ridder?" Shade asked.
"We can try. In all honesty, we probably can't, but we can at least stall StB to allow Zunar time to heal," Ridder answered. "Ready?"
"Guess so," Shade replied.
MK nodded in response, and they wave changed to go fight StB.
"So... now is the time for battle. Very well then. Let's see what they make of THIS!" StB presses a button on his control panel, and a compartment in the Ion Star opens.
"Hey, what's that?" Adril asked, pointing to the oncoming objects. As they got closer, they realized what they were: flying spambots.
"Obviously a little welcome gift from StB. How swell," Kit said. Everyone drew their weapons for battle.
Team Stats-
Adril 300 HP Level 10 | Kit 250 HP Level 8 | Amp 200 HP Level 5
Adril attacks! Spambot1 was scrapped!
Kit attacks! Spambot2 was scrapped!
Amp attacks! Spambot3 took 50 damage.
Spambot3 attacks! Adril took 3 damage.
Adril attacks! Spambot3 was scrapped!
Gained 30 EXP. Learned Duo Tech: Wave Slash (Makes use of Amp's wavelength powers and Katonna's katana)!
Six spambots attack!
Adril attacks! Spambot1 was scrapped!
Spambot2 attacks! Kit took 4 damage.
Spambot3 attacks! Adril took 5 damage.
Spambot4 attacks! Amp took 10 damage.
Spambot5 attacks! Kit took 5 damage.
Spambot6 attacks! Kit took 3 damage.
Kit and Amp used Wave Slash! Spambot2 was scrapped!
Spambot3 was scrapped! Spambot4 was scrapped! Spambot5 was scrapped! Spambot6 was scrapped!
Gained 60 EXP.
"Since when was there a battle system quite similar to Chrono Trigger?" Kit wondered aloud.
"Ask Zunar. He's the one writing the story," Adril replied.
"Watch out, guys! More are coming!" Amp said.
Three Heli-Bots attack!
Adril attacks! Miss!
Kit used Focus! A deadly wave comes out of her katana, hitting one of the Heli-Bots. Heli-Bot1 was scrapped!
Amp used Distort! Amp warped ground on top of Heli-Bot2 and crashed it down! Heli-Bot2 was scrapped!
Heli-Bot3 attacks! Amp took 10 damage.
Adril used Cannon (temporarily switches Duskhawk to Cannon mode)! Heli-Bot3 was scrapped!
Gained 90 EXP. Learned Cross-Slash (makes use of Adril's Duskhawk in Sword mode and Kit's katana)!
"Hey, isn't that StB up there?" Amp asked, pointing farther up the road.
"It certainly does, but why would be outside the Ion Star, waiting for us? Something doesn't feel right about this," Kit responded.
"Let's kick his arse anyways!" Adril said.
StB attacks!
Adril attacks! StB took 48 damage.
Kit used Focus! StB took 106 damage.
Amp used Distort! StB took 71 damage.
StB attacks! Adril took 100 damage!
Adril and Kit used Cross-Slash! StB took 189 damage.
Amp attacks! Critical hit! StB took 52 damage.
StB attacks! Amp took 198 damage.
Adril used a Hi-Potion! Amp recovered 200 HP!
Kit and Amp used Wave Slash! StB took 167 damage.
StB used Flame Punch! Amp was knocked unconscious!
Adril used a Revive! Amp was revived!
Kit used a Hi-Potion! Amp recovered 200 HP!
Amp is defending.
StB used Flame Punch! Kit took 146 damage!
Adril and Kit used Cross-Slash! StB suddenly flashed twice and faded out of existance.
"Yeah!!!" Adril shouted victoriously, raising his fists into the air.
"That seemed... way too easy. I think we're in for more trouble," Kit commented.
Suddenly, a mysterious cannon on the side of the Ion Star suddenly rotated in their direction.
"Oh shi-"
BOOOOOOOM!!!
A missile suddenly exploded right in front of them, but they were unharmed. When the smoke cleared, they saw Amp, standing in front of them, braced as if holding something back. He suddenly crumpled to the ground.
"Amp!" Adril said, quickly kneeling beside him. After a few seconds, he got to his feet.
"It's alright; he just fainted," Adril said to Kit.
"That's a relief," Kit replied.
"How did he-" Adril began.
"He used his powers to break off a piece of the Wave Road and block the missile," Kit interrupted.
"How do you know that?" Adril answered, shocked. Kit pointed behind them, where it looked like a piece of the Wave Road had been broken off.
"Wow." Adril replied. He looked at MK. "We need to get him to the hospital. If something were to hit him..."
Suddenly, they heard a sound, as if mechanical gears were turning. They turned to the Ion Star and realized that same cannon was preparing to fire again.
"Oh snap!" Adril said, caught off guard. Thinking quickly, Kit created two portals; one in front of them, and one above them, so that the missile would fly into the first portal, and then off into space. The missile went into the first portal as expected, but instead of going up out of the second portal, it came down towards Adril, Amp, and Kit!
The missile exploded, and a net dropped onto the threesome, entangling them.
"What the?!" Adril said, surprised.
"Where in the world did this come from?!" Kit said, struggling to free herself.
Suddenly, the net lifted into the air. Amp's gadget fell from Amp's hand, landing on the Wave Road below. Without warning, they reverted back to normal.
"What in the-?!" Shade said, confused. Shade looked at his gadget, and noticed it was dead, like it had the power sucked out of it. The net suddenly teleported into the Ion Star, taking the trio with it.
"Heh heh heh."
StB lumbered into view, chuckling evilly. "Did you honestly think it would be that easy to defeat me?"
"But... how? I thought we..." Shade began.
"Defeated me?" StB finished. "Bwa ha ha ha! That was not the real me. It was but a trick, to ultimately capture you. Looks like the good guys lose!" He let out an evil laugh.
"What are you going to do to us?!" Shade asked.
"Ah, yes. About that." StB snickered. "Let's just say the forums will be just a huge crater once I'm done with you!"
"You wouldn't!" Shade responded, angry.
"Oh, I would. It's the perfect plan. It gets rid of you three, plus most of the members. If I'm lucky, I'll even get a couple mods in there, or even Runouw himself! Pure genius, if I do say so myself," StB said.
"Wish he would crash into the training grounds instead. That'd result in a lot less deaths," Shade muttered under his breath. Unknown to Shade, StB was actually listening, with interest. "Though, Zune is there, plus Runouw, so it's a really hard choice."
StB suddenly turned to them.
"You just gave me a million dollar idea." said StB
Shade was shocked. "You heard that?!"
StB cracked an evil smile. "If I crash into the training grounds, that gets rid of all four of you meddlers, plus Runouw, so that makes it an even better idea! Glad I thought of it."
"Shade, you idiot!" Ridder said, slapping him in the face. "How could you?!"
Shade was surprised by Ridder's sudden attack, so he was taken aback for a minute.
"Well excuuuuuuuuuse me, princess," Shade replied, "how was I supposed to know he was able to hear that?"
"You shouldn't have muttered in the first place!" Ridder snapped.
Shade gave her a "go to hell" look.
Zunar suddenly woke up. "They're in trouble! I gotta help them!" he said.
He jumped out of bed and ran for the door, but collapsed halfway there.
"No! You must save your energy!" Runouw said, helping him to his feet. "You need to rest!"
"Let go of me!" Zunar objected, struggling to free himself from Runouw's strong grip. They wrestled for a minute, and Runouw won out, being much older than Zunar. Exhausted, Zunar passed out, and Runouw put him back into the bed.
Shade and Ridder were desperately trying to break free of the net to stop StB from kamikazeing the Ion Star, but their efforts were futile. StB stood at the controls, ticking away at the keyboard like mad.
"Well, we're screwed," Shade said.
"Why do you have to be so negative?" Ridder asked. "There's always a chance something could go wrong and StB's plan would be foiled."
"But how? The only thing I know of that could happen is if StB accidentally programs the Ion Star wrong. Zunar is too weak to help us, and I don't know of anyone else who went through the operation," Shade answered.
"You may be right," Ridder admitted.
StB then lumbered over, an evil smirk on his face.
"The Ion Star is all programmed up. All I have to do is hit this here button-" He gestured to a button he held in his hand. "and you're set for a one-way trip to Gonersville. Enjoy the last few precious seconds of your life! Bwa ha ha ha!"
StB put a finger on the button and laughed evilly.
Suddenly, the door of the Ion Star was blown off it's hinges and smacked right into StB's back, knocking him to the floor. The button flew out of StB's hand and hit the wall.
"Runouw!?" Shade said, shocked.
Runouw stood in the doorway, carrying a rocket launcher, which he had used to blow the door off it's hinges. He tossed the rocket launcher behind him, and glared right into StB's evil eyes.
"How dare you!" StB said angrily as he was getting to his feet. "Barging into my airship uninvited! I would hope you were taught better manners than that when you were little!"
"You and I both know very well that I do not joke around in situations like this," Runouw said.
"Trying to be all big-shot tough-guy, huh?" StB replied. "I could kick your ♥♥♥ right here, right now."
"Try me." Runouw gave StB a threatening look.
StB suddenly charged at Runouw. Runouw easily dodged and, using StB's own momentum against him, threw him into a wall of the Ion Star, making it rock violently.
"Whoa, easy Runouw! You're gonna get us killed!" Shade said.
Runouw glanced over at Shade, but then re-focused on StB, watching him get to his feet.
"I see you are more powerful than our last encounter," StB said, "but that does not mean you will win."
Suddenly, StB was engulfed in flame. A few seconds later, the flames subsided, and left a figure standing where StB once was.
"Feel the wrath of Rage Bowser!" the figure said. RB's entire body was ablaze, burning brightly.
RB was much more agile than StB; he attacked Runouw several times in a matter of seconds, leaving Runouw no time to react. RB's speed, combined with the heat of his flames, was too powerful for Runouw to match, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Ha! The powerful leader of Runouw City, defeated! My plan shall now commence!" RB said, and he started walking over to the controls of the Ion Star.
"Not so fast."
RB whirled around to see Runouw on his feet, glaring at him like he did when he burst in uninvited.
"But... how?! How could you survive all that?!" RB responded, shocked.
"Your first mistake was underestimating my power," Runouw said, walking toward RB. "You see, as leader of a 20,000+ people city, I must be prepared for anything. Situations like this are no exception."
Runouw stopped walking toward RB and pressed a button on his watch. A bright light engulfed Runouw, and he suddenly split into two different figures, each equipped with knight-like armor.
"WHAT!?" Shade and Ridder said simultaneously, shocked beyond belief. RB's mouth fell open in total surprise.
"Ready Rob?" the black-armored figure asked.
"Always, Steven." the white-armored figure replied.
Both figures charged forward, their swords drawn. RB was frozen in shock until both figures slashed him simultaneously, which he then jumped backward.
Rob jumped forward and grabbed RB by the tail, swinging him around Mario 64-style. He hurled RB at Steven, who yelled "Batter up!" and swung at RB with his sword as if he were playing baseball.
RB went flying against the wall of the Ion Star, once again rocking it violently. The net that held Shade, Ridder, and MK suddenly fell apart, freeing the trio.
"Now who's going to Gonersville?" Shade asked, pulling out his gadget and wave changing. Ridder followed suit. MK remained unconscious, lying in one corner of the Ion Star.
Even with four people against him, RB refused to give up. He charged into the fray and attacked Adril, hurling him at Kit. Both collapsed in a heap against a wall.
Rob and Steven once again charged, which RB easily avoided by jumping over them. Adril pulled out Duskhawk and shot RB in the back, causing him to roar in pain.
RB retracted into his shell and spun around, like Bowser's recovery move of the Super Smash Brothers games. Adril and Kit crashed through a window of the Ion Star and hurtled to the ground.
"Well this a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into," said Adril. "Here we are--hurtling to the ground... and death."
"Can you be optimistic for once?" Kit asked, annoyed.
Adril rolled his eyes. "You don't seem like you're scared of dying."
"Well, I was distracted by your pessimism," Kit answered.
"Shall we scream in terror now?" Kit asked.
"Yes, I think so," Kit replied.
Both screamed in terror, as they were closer to hitting the ground by the second.
Right when all hope seemed lost, they were caught by something above, and their decent was halted. Adril looked above him.
"Lio!?" he said, shocked.
"Miss me?" Lio asked, smiling. He brought them slowly down to the ground and they all un-wave changed.
"But... I thought you were too weak to fly," Ridder said.
"I was," Zunar replied, "but then I found this." He pulled out MK's gadget.
"Where'd you get that?!" Shade asked, his mouth open in shock.
"It was on the ground outside the hospital. Guess it somehow ended up on the Wave Road, and then slid down to the ground," Zunar answered, putting away MK's gadget.
Ridder suddenly gasped.
"MK's still up there in the Ion Star!" she said.
"What!? We gotta get him out of there!" Zunar responded. "I'll fly us up there."
Zunar wave changed, flew into the sky, grabbed Shade and Ridder (who had also wave changed), and flew up towards the Ion Star.
RB and Rob & Steven were still brawling aboard the Ion Star, each blocking and delivering blows. Neither overpowered the other, and eventually they jumped backwards, catching their breath.
"You certainly have grown stronger, Runouw," RB said.
"I would say the same for you, StB," Rob replied.
Suddenly, robotic arms came down from the ceiling and grabbed Rob and Steven, lifting them off the ground.
"What the-?!" they said in unison, struggling to free themselves.
"Bwa ha ha ha! You fell right into my trap!" RB said. "Now all I have to do is press this nifty button-" he snatched up the button from earlier.
"-and the Ion Star will be headed straight for Runouw City." He laughed evilly.
"You wouldn't," Rob responded.
"Oh yes, I would. Care to try me?" RB said, putting a finger on the button.
"There's no way you would sacrifice this ship of yours to do a job that something else could do, at a much lesser price," Steven answered.
RB was taken aback for a moment, but then recovered his composure.
"I see you are much smarter than I thought. You are correct; I wouldn't sacrifice this thing. Instead, I'll just do something much easier." Rage Bowser walked over to the controls. "Like firing the gravitron cannon!" He let out a huge evil laugh.
Rob and Steven didn't reply, as they were wore out from trying to break free of the robotic arms that held them captive.
Suddenly, the windshield of the Ion Star shattered to pieces, and through came Lio, Adril, and Kit. Lio kicked RB in the face and landed beside Adril and Kit.
"You again?!" RB said, quickly getting to his feet. "Don't you ever give up?!"
Lio and Adril stepped forward, challenging RB to a battle. RB roared in response and charged.
They sidestepped him and Adril slashed him with Nightrunner. RB quickly turned around and breathed fire at them.
Meanwhile, Kit had sneaked to the back corner, where MK lay, still unconscious. She knelt beside him, and checked for a pulse.
"He's still alive, thank goodness," she said to herself. She heaved him onto her back and made her way out of the Ion Star, down the Wave Road, and on the ground. About that time, MK came to.
"Where am I?" MK wondered aloud, trying to clear his head.
"About time you came to," Ridder said, putting him on the ground.
"What... happened...?" MK asked.
Ridder told him everything that had happened, about how StB captured them, and how they escaped. She also told him that Lio and Adril were battling him on the Ion Star at that very moment.
"We have to go help them!" MK said.
"You just regained consciousness. Are you sure you're strong enough to battle?" Ridder asked.
"Stop worrying! I'll be alright." MK answered.
Ridder sighed. There's no stopping him, so I might as well go along with the plan, she thought to herself, and she wave changed.
Adril and Lio were still battling RB aboard the Ion Star, but things were not looking good. RB had knocked MK's gadget away from Lio and Lio dropped to his knees, exhausted.
"Lio!" Adril said, taking his eyes off RB to look at Lio.
Bad idea. RB rushed up to Adril and slashed Duskhawk in half, following up with a hook to the left jaw. Adril fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Adril... no..." Lio said, watching the scene unfold. He could do nothing to stop it, as he was extremely weak. RB rushed up to him and delivered a punch to his stomach, making him fall flat onto his back.
"Ugh!" Lio grunted in pain. RB stole Lio's gadget and threw it across the room, making Lio un-wave change. RB then un-wave changes.
"It'll be more satisfying killing you this way," StB said, an evil smirk on his face. He then slashed Zunar in the neck with his claws, and Zunar blacked out.
"Bwa ha ha ha! Now with you two out of the way, nothing can stop me!" StB said, picking both Zunar and Shade (who had un-wave changed) up and walking over to the ejection chute. Suddenly, the chute was blocked off.
"What the-?!" StB said, surprised.
"Not on my watch, buddy!"
StB whirled around to see... nothing. He shrugged it off, and turned back to the ejection chute, which was still blocked.
"I'm talkin' to you, StB!"
StB knew he hadn't imagined that, and turned around again. He didn't see anyone, so he set Zunar and Shade on the floor next to the chute and wave changed. Standing in the middle of the room was none other than Amp.
"You!" RB said, glaring at Amp.
Amp returned his glare.
"You've been a thorn in my shell for the last time, boy!" RB said through clenched teeth.
RB jumped at Amp and lashed out with a claw, but Amp quickly teleported away.
"What the-?!" RB said, caught off-guard. Amp, using his power, picked up a huge machine and hurled it at RB, taking advantage of him being off-guard. RB fell flat on his stomach, but quickly jumped back up. RB breathed fire at Amp, who easily dodged.
"Is that all you got?" Amp asked, his voice challenging.
How in the hell can he teleport?! RB thought. Well, guess it's time to break out that.
RB pulled out a device, aimed it at Amp, and pressed the button on it. It zapped Amp, and then RB. RB began to morph into an exact replica of Amp, and the electric current paralyzed Amp, rendering him defenseless against it.
Finally the current subsided, and the device fell to the floor, smashing into a million pieces. Amp looked up and was taken aback. For a few seconds he thought a mirror had been placed in front of him; RB had formed into a duplicate of him.
"Can you defeat yourself?" RB said, laughing evilly. He struck a battle pose and glared at Amp challengingly. Amp regained his composure, and readied himself for battle.
Amp hurled a giant sheet of metal at RB, but RB caught it and sent it right back to Amp with twice the force. It struck Amp, knocking him into the wall.
Amp got back on his feet and tried warping the ground out from under RB's feet. RB sensed this and quickly jumped out of the way, charging at Amp.
Amp grabbed the giant sheet of metal and attempted to use it has a shield, but RB crashed right through it and grabbed Amp, swung him around, and threw him out the broken windshield of the Ion Star. Amp pulled a chunk of scrap off of the Ion Star and used it as a makeshift hover-board, and jumped back through the broken windshield.
This guy is twice my size, plus he has all my abilities! Amp thought. How the crap am I supposed to beat him?
RB charged Amp again, and Amp barely dodged. Plus, he's super fast, despite his size.
Amp looked at the ceiling and noticed Rob and Steven, still held high in the air by the mechanical arms.
That's it! If I can bring those arms down and open them, those two guys can help me out! Amp realized.
RB suddenly smacked into his side, making him fly into the back wall of the Ion Star and rocking it violently. Amp got to his feet and looked around for something to cut the arms' wires with. His eyes came upon the giant sheet of metal he had used earlier.
Now I just need a distraction... Amp thought.
"Hey StB!"
Amp looked toward the voice and noticed that Zunar and Shade had gotten to their feet, and were standing side-by-side, glaring at RB.
"Picking on an eleven-year-old?! That ain't right!" Shade said.
"How about you pick on someone your own size?" Zunar chimed in, his tone a challenging one. RB let out a huge evil laugh.
"And what do you suppose you could do to me? You're like flies to me," RB replied. Shade looked up at Rob and Steven, and then back to RB.
"Oh yeah? How about we just see how much of a pest we really are?" Shade said, a challenging look in his eyes. RB suddenly jumped on top of them, smashing them into the floor.
Amp couldn't bear to see his friends suffer, but they were giving him the perfect distraction. He picked up the sheet of metal (using his power) and began hacking away at the wires.
Whether he was really fast or Zunar and Shade kept RB distracted long enough, he didn't know, but he managed to cut the wires of the arms. They fell to the ground and Rob and Steven broke free. RB had once again knocked out Zunar and Shade, this time leaving a bloody gash on their necks.
Rob and Steven jumped into action, attacking RB in the back. Startled, RB quickly got to his feet and whirled around, suddenly realizing Amp's plan. Amp grabbed a piece of scrap metal and hurled it at RB, who countered and sent it right back, once again knocking Amp against the wall and violently rocking the Ion Star.
The battle raged on for several minutes. Many blows were exchanged, but even outnumbered, RB had weakened them. Rob and Steven then decided to make a risky move.
"Amp!" Rob said.
"How do you know my name?!" Amp replied.
"That's not important! Steven and I are going to hold StB down; that's your chance to find the biggest weapon you can use and use it against StB!" Rob explained.
"But I might hit you!" Amp said.
"Don't worry about us! We're doing this so you can end this once and for all!" Rob answered.
Amp sighed. "Okay, I'll do it." He looked around and found a machine in the back of the Ion Star that had been worked loose from all the many violent shakes.
Rob and Steven charged at RB and pinned him down.
"Now, Amp!" Steven yelled.
With a mighty grunt, Amp grabbed the machine and hurled it at RB. It crashed into RB, Rob, and Steven, knocking them out of the broken windshield. Amp ran up to it and watched as StB fell to the ground, landing with incredible force and sound.
"I... I did it..." Amp said. Amp suddenly jumped for joy and ran around the Ion Star, whooping in triumph. After a while, his eyes fell upon Zunar and Shade, and he suddenly realized how bad of a condition they were in.
He summoned all his strength, and managed to drag them out of the Ion Star and down the Wave Road. At the bottom of the Wave Road, he collapsed on top of them out of exhaustion.
Ridder saw them and quickly ran over to them. After examining them, she ran inside the hospital, where Suyo and Four were chilling out. She told them the situation and they ran outside and helped Ridder carry Zunar, Shade, and MK into the hospital.
After StB's defeat (and the recovery of Zunar, Shade, and MK), Runouw, Suyo, Four, and the chosen four returned to Runouw City. Everyone gathered at the entrance gates, excited that the mission had been successful and relieved that StB had been defeated.
Friends greeted each other happily and everyone was invited to Demonik's Tavern for a victory party. Free drinks and snacks were given (however, full meals still had to be purchased), and the numerous game systems were set up with countless games.
Zunar stood up.
"I propose a toast to the game that started this whole mess of a adventure. To Brawl!" he said, raising his glass of Coke.
"To Brawl!" everyone else said, toasting their neighbors.
"To celebrate, I say we hold a Brawl tournament!" Zunar said.
"Great idea!" SMX said.
"To Runouw City!" Shade said, holding up his glass.
"To Runouw City!" everyone chorused.
StB groaned in pain, and sluggishly got to his feet.
"Ugh..." he grunted, very weak.
He looked around and noticed that he was in a deep crater.
Wow, I hit the ground that hard? he thought. No wonder I'm in such bad shape...
StB looked into the sky. The Ion Star was still there, though it had been torn up by the previous events.
"I will have my revenge!" StB said, angry.
Filled with sudden inexplicable energy, StB wave changed, ran up the Wave Road, and went to the controls of the Ion Star, an evil smirk on his face.
The tournament had been completed, and most of the users went back to their houses. Runouw and the mods stayed behind, along with the chosen four.
"Why did you want us to stay, Suyo?" Ridder asked.
Suyo closed his eyes and sighed.
"It's not a very good reason, but I suspect something," he said.
"Suspect what?" Shade asked.
Suyo stood up and looked at Shade.
"You said that StB fell from his Ion Star and crashed into the ground with the force of a meteor?" Suyo inquired.
"That's correct," Shade answered.
"Do you know for absolute sure that he's dead?" Suyo asked.
Shade folded his arms in impatience. "How could anyone survive a fall like that?" he responded, annoyed.
"StarF," MK interrupted.
Shade suddenly remembered about StarF. He had been in the same situation, yet he survived, with only his legs broken.
"You're not suggesting-?" Shade asked, standing up.
"StB is still alive," Suyo responded.
"If he is, which I highly doubt, he must be in an extremely bad condition. He won't be able to do anything for a long time," Shade said.
"The perfect opportunity to finish him once and for all!" Zunar burst out, jumping to his feet.
"Precisely," Suyo replied.
"He's probably in the Ion Star, planning his next attack," Ridder put in.
"I agree with Ridder," Shade said.
"To the Ion Star!" Zunar said, heading towards the door. He was yanked back by Shade.
"Hold it buster," he said, "who said you were leader?"
"Just because I'm the first one to head out the door doesn't mean I'm the leader," Zunar answered. "Besides, do we even need a leader?"
"He does have a point, Shade," Ridder said.
"Let's just go," Shade responded, heading out the door. The other three followed him.
They borrowed two ATV's with Suyo's permission and headed to the training grounds.
Once they got there, they saw the Ion Star fly in a half-circle, and heard a loud crashing noise.
"The Ion Star!" Shade exclaimed, pointing.
They suddenly see a horrifying sight: The Ion Cannon is charging up!
"Hahahaha!" StB laughed, looking out his broken windshield down at the chosen four. "This should finish you!"
He turned the Ion Cannon power dial to the third power level, and laughed maniacally.
The Ion Cannon fires. It strikes the ground and the ATV's explode, along with the devices.
The dust cleared, and Shade and Ridder got up.
"Hey, where's Zunar and MK?" Shade wondered aloud.
He suddenly noticed the wreckage of the ATV's, ran over to it, and rummaged through it frantically.
"Zunar... MK... no..." Ridder said, tears in her eyes.
Shade got to his feet, his eyes filled with anger and hatred.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, STB!!!" Shade yelled, looking up at the Ion Star.
Zunar woke up, blinking because of the bright light.
"Am I..." Zunar started.
"Wake up, sleeping beauty," a voice interrupted.
The light suddenly vanished, and he was staring into MK's face.
"Get up! We have to chase StB!" MK said.
"Why are you so demanding all of a sudden?" Zunar asked, getting to his feet. "And where are we?"
"We're back in Runouw City," MK said.
"Runouw City? Why? We just got shot by the Ion Cannon," Zunar replied.
"Almost," MK said. "I teleported us away just in time."
"Teleported? You can teleport?" Zunar responded, shocked.
"Yeah, I can," MK replied.
"Then why haven't you been teleporting?!" Zunar asked.
"Because teleporting really drains my powers. Teleporting us all the way here overloaded my gadget," MK replied.
"So you can't use your powers anymore?" Zunar asked.
"My natural power, yes," MK replied, "but I can't do anything that requires being in wave form, like teleporting."
"I'm a little confused, but I'll roll with it," Zunar said. "So now what do we do?"
"I have an idea. Let's inform Suyo about what we saw," MK answered.
"Good idea. He was the one who had a suspicion in the first place," Zunar agreed.
They headed to Demonik's Tavern. Fortunately, Suyo hadn't left, so they told him about what they saw.
"I knew it," Suyo replied.
"But how can we stop StB?" MK asked. "He's constantly moving, so there's no way to get to him."
"I can fly us up there," Zunar put in.
"Supposing you made the trip, you'd be too tired to do anything," Suyo replied.
"Good point," Zunar said.
There was silence for about 15 seconds.
"I guess it's time to use that," Suyo suddenly said.
"What is that?" MK asked.
"Follow me; I'll show you," Suyo answered, getting up and heading for the door. "By the way, where's Shade and Ridder?"
"I have no idea," MK replied.
"Me neither," Zunar replied. "I hope they're OK."
Suyo didn't reply; he just kept walking.
Eventually, they stopped somewhere outside Runouw City.
"What are we doing here?" MK asked.
Suyo put on a pair of special glasses and said "Wave change, and you'll see."
They both wave changed, and then they gasped.
Before them lay a huge cannon, made entirely out of waves.
"Wow..." Amp said, almost speechless.
"This is how we're going to get onto the Ion Star?" Lio asked.
"Precisely. You hop in, I aim the cannon at the Ion Star, and kablooey! Off you go!" Suyo explained.
Amp gulped. "Sounds painful," he said.
Lio walked over to Amp and slapped him on the back jokingly.
"Come on MK, man up!" he said, smiling.
Amp looked up at Lio.
"Okay, I'll do it," MK replied.
"That's the spirit!" Lio said, and he walked towards the cannon, with Amp following him.
They loaded up into the cannon, and Suyo walked over to an nearby abandoned building, touched a certain spot, entered a code on a keypad, and a control panel suddenly revealed itself. Expertly, Suyo tapped away at the control panel.
"You guys ready?" Suyo asked.
"As we'll ever be!" Lio replied.
Suyo hit a button on the control panel, and the cannon started up, making a sound similar to an airplane engine starting up. Then, there was an explosion, and Lio and Amp went flying towards the Ion Star.
They got to the Ion Star in a matter of seconds. Once they got close, their velocity suddenly slowed way down, and they stealthily dropped onto the Ion Star.
"Let's crawl our way across this," Amp suggested. "It will make less noise."
"Great idea," Lio replied.
Lio and Amp dropped to their stomachs and crawled to a conveniently nearby ladder, and, stealthily as possible, climbed down one by one.
Inside, they saw RB at the Ion Star control panel, tapping away at the keyboard, an evil smirk on his face.
A few seconds passed and RB stepped back from the control panel. The Ion Star shook a little, throwing Lio and Amp off-balance a bit. Suddenly, the Graviton Cannon starts charging.
"Oh no!" Amp said, quickly getting to his feet.
"Get down, you idiot!" Lio said, pulling Amp back down. "He'll see you!"
"But we have to stop StB!" Amp answered.
"True, but if he sees us coming, he'll shoot the Graviton Cannon and devastate Runouw City before we have a chance to stop him!" Lio said.
Defeated, Amp knelt back down.
"I have an idea," Lio said. "Follow me."
Lio led Amp around the outside of the Ion Star up to the Graviton Cannon.
"Look here," Lio said, pointing into the Graviton Cannon. "See that crystal? Turning it around will make the Graviton Cannon backfire."
Lio turned the crystal the other way, and he and Amp made their way into the cabin of the Ion Star.
"Bwa ha ha ha!" RB laughed. "In mere seconds I will be able to completely level Runouw City!"
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Lio said, jumping out of his hiding spot, followed by Amp.
"You two!" RB said, furious. "Don't you ever quit?"
"Not while you're still around!" Amp said.
"Don't step any closer," RB said. He put his hand on a huge button on the control panel. "Once I push this button, the Graviton Cannon will fire, and Runouw City will be nothing more than a crater! Bwa ha ha ha!"
Lio and Amp pretended to be shocked, not sure what to do to get him to press the button without making him aware of what they had done.
"You know what? Just to be a jerk, I'll go ahead and press it now!" RB said, laughing. He pressed down the button.
A big explosion ensued. Suddenly, the Ion Star's control panel explodes.
"What the--?!" RB said, surprised.
The Ion Star suddenly makes a horrifying cracking sound, and starts falling toward the ground. RB quickly runs over to the controls and pulls at them, trying to regain control.
He gets partial control, but isn't able to control the descent of the Ion Star. He suddenly turns the Ion Star toward Runouw City.
"Let's see how you handle a kamikaze!" RB said, laughing. He presses another button on the control panel, and a door opens up nearby. On the other side is a strange device with multiple spinning rings, and an active portal in the middle of the smallest ring, with a figure stepping out. The door closed before the figure could be identified.
Lio and Amp run over to where the door was, but it was no longer there. Even the button RB pressed had vanished from existance.
The Ion Star suddenly rocked violently, knocking Lio and Amp off-balance. Lio's arm hit the Graviton Fire button, and the Graviton Cannon backfires again. A black hole is suddenly created.
"OH $HIT!!! RUN!!!" Lio yelled.
They quickly broke the nearest window and jumped out. About halfway to the ground, Lio grabbed Amp, and they slowly descended to the ground, landing safely and un-wave changing.
Momentarily, the Ion Star crashes into the training grounds, completely destroying it.
"So much for the training grounds," MK said.
"Hey!"
They turn toward the voice to see Suyo and Four riding a special hovercraft.
"You did it!" Four said as Suyo pulled the hovercraft to a stop right beside MK and Zunar.
"Yeah, I guess we did," Zunar replied, chuckling.
"Come on! Let's go back to the Tavern and celebrate!" Suyo suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea!" MK said, getting onto the hovercraft, followed by Zunar. They sped off, heading towards Runouw City, and a victory party.
