DISCLAIMER - I do not own any Epic Battle Fantasy game. I just don't have all of those epic skills like kupo707 does.
"So, this is where the virus started."
"Looks like it. Hey look, there are things scratched on the wall."
"They look kinda familiar, maybe we've seen them recently?"
"Probably. You know how the creator of this game works."
Anna, Natalie, Matt, and Lance were deep inside the Waste Disposal Plant when they found a room with 'DANGER!' stickers all over it. The door to the room was shut tight, and the wall next to it had scratches in the wall.
"II, III, VI, IX, and X. I wonder what those mean?" Natalie asked.
"I dunno. Let's go check around the rest of this dump to see what we can find." Lance answered.
The team began backtracking to the beginning of the plant to try to find whatever it was they were looking for. They passed the frozen room, the room with a waste pool, and even the room with a huge hole that led to... somewhere they didn't want to think about. Eventually they made it to the front door of the plant and found the strange symbol.
"A switch?" Anna asked. "That's what the symbols are on?"
"I guess it means that the switch is connected to that door." Natalie said. "Maybe if the switches that have the right symbols are turned on and the others off, maybe that'll open the door."
"I hope not." Lance told Natalie. "I don't think anything useful is in there."
"You never know, maybe some treasure will be hidden in the computers." Matt said to the rest of the team before making sure the switch was on. "Looks like VI is on then. Let's go find the other switches!"
"Is this one that we need?" Anna asked the team.
"No. We need VI, but not VII." Lance told her.
"I'll go see if it's on then." Anna said before going over to the switch. "It's on! I'm going to turn it off so we can advance."
Right when the lever on the switch changed sides, the door separating Anna and the rest of the team shut closed.
"Flip the lever!" Matt called through the door. "We're gonna need it on until we can find another way in!"
"Alright!" Anna called back before opening the door. "If we keep having to flip on and off switches, it looks like this is going to take a long time."
"Aww... I just want this to be over with." Complained Lance. "We saved the world, so why do we have to do this?"
"Because this is what we were SUPPOSED to do a while ago, but we just so happen to be doing it now." Natalie explained. "It's all because nobody here wanted to stay in this place any longer than we had to."
"I don't want to stay here now! Let's just get this over with..."
"And there's the last one!" Natalie cheered after turning off IIX. "All we have to do now is go into the danger room and see what we can find."
"Treasure!" Matt cheered.
"The reason for this place becoming malfunctioned!" Anna happily shouted.
"Then time for us to get out!" Lance screamed with annoyance.
"You're being a real joy today." Natalie said sarcastically. "Do you have to ruin the fun of discovery?"
"Yes. Now let's move."
Natalie sighed with frustration before heading deeper into the plant. The danger room was close by, but she had a very bad feeling about what was in there. 'I REALLY hope that there aren't any enemies in there, but the chances are so high.' She thought. 'Something doesn't seem right about that place.'
The team finally reached the danger room and found the door leading inside wide open. They stepped in and found two giant blocks with keyholes in them. Matt took a copper and a steel key out and inserted them into the blocks before searching for treasure.
"I see three treasure chests, but there's a space behind all of those computers." Matt told the rest of the team. "I don't know what's back there, but I bet whatever it is will be free for taking!"
"Just get the treasure and go." Lance told Matt. "We don't have all day."
Anna was busy looking at the computers while the others explored. Words were written on the screen, such as 'HELP ME', "I'M WATCHING YOU', and I'M SORRY'. 'What do they mean?' She asked herself. 'And why are all of the computers gathered in a cluster here?'
"Can we go check behind all of these computers now?" Matt asked everyone.
"Sure." Anna agreed. "But let's stick together. I have a bad feeling about this room."
The team walked forward into the pile of computers before they heard a strange noise.
"Do any of you hear that?" Natalie asked.
"Hear what?" Lance asked her.
"Exactly. Earlier there was nothing but the sound of electronics and the waste moving, but now it's completely silent."
"Weird."
The team cautiously walked forward before they met a scary sight. The air in front of them looked like some strange moving wall that kept flashing images of various places. Some words occasionally scrawled across it, saying 'SEGMENTATION FAULT - CORE DUMPED', '0x00', '0xF4', 0xFF0033', and other strange things. Whatever it was made absolutely no noise, but instead two smaller versions of it went to each side.
"I don't know what this thing is, but it looks like it's going to attack." Anna warned.
"I knew going here was a stupid and bad idea!" Lance cried out.
The thing waited until Anna decided to attack. She concentrated on her Vines attack and slammed her bow in the ground. When she pulled it out after the attack, there was no damage dealt.
"That did nothing?!" Anna cried in disbelief.
"Here, let me try attacking it." Natalie said before beginning a spell. She decided to do something simple, yet not too weak. She finished the Star Shower spell and a bunch of stars rained from the sky onto all three things. The two on the side of the large thing dissipated, but the main thing got some damage done to it.
"Awesome! All you have to do is attack with non-elemental attacks!" Natalie happily cheered.
"Hang on, I'm going to summon the scanbot just in case." Lance said before sending the robot forth. The scanbot bleeped once it scanned the thing, then rolled back to let the team know what it was.
"?, so that's what you're called." Lance said. "Guys? This thing is weak to nothing and regenerates health with just about every attack, except non-elemental attacks it seems."
"But what about the two little ?s that were next to the bigger one?" Anna asked. They went out in one hit."
"It looks like they're the same as the big ?." Lance answered. "For now I'm just going to defend, seeing as how none of my attacks will weaken it."
Lance defended and braced for whatever attack the ? would use. Right as it began attacking though, the smaller ?s popped up next to it. Lance was about to warn the rest of the team, but then he saw the ? stretch out and touch him. He instantly fell to the ground, and died.
"Lance!" Matt cried out before watching NoLegs pull him away. "Looks like we have to be very careful about that attack, it instantly kills!"
"Great, now we have to revive everyone who gets poked by ?." Natalie said. "This battle might take a little while."
The little ?s didn't attack that turn, but instead they waited for Anna to attack. She pulled out some arrows and shot them into the sky for an Arrow Rain attack. The arrows pierced into the ?s, killed the two little ones, and dealt a bit of damage to the big ?.
Next up was Natalie. She began the Lucky Star spell for the big ?. She knew the big ? was at about half of it's full HP, so the attack was perfect to deal more damage than Star Shower. The lone star fell from the sky and struck the ?, distorting some of the images and dealing more damage than earlier.
Finally, Matt was ready to attack. "I don't think I'm going to attack." He said to Anna and Natalie. "I don't know any non-elemental attack unless it's one of my limit breaks, and I'm not ready for one yet."
"So you're going to sacrifice yourself?" Anna asked.
"Yeah, after all I'll only heal it if I do attack."
"Suit yourself."
Matt defended and braced for the instant-kill attack the ? knew. The ? stretched out, touched Matt, and he died.
"Well, two boys down." Natalie said. "All that's left is us."
"And we forgot to buy more coffee!" Anna cried out. "The only way to recover those two is your Revive spell, but then the ? will have more time to attack."
"I guess we just have to kill it then." Natalie told Anna with determination. "It's health is nearly zero, we just have to survive."
"Got it." Anna said before beginning her Arrow Rain attack. The little ?s came back once Matt died, so the attack was their best shot for winning. She fired the arrows and kept an eye on the big ?'s health. 'It looks like my attack didn't do much.' Anna thought to herself. 'But at least the little ?s are down, for now.'
Natalie then began her Lucky Star attack again. She watched the single star strike at the ?, dealing more damage than the other attacks. She noticed that it had very little HP left, enough for either one of them to take it out. She smiled before noticing the ? stretching out toward her. 'Oh no! I'm going to die!' She thought with panic before dropping to the ground.
"Aw come on!" Anna cried out with frustration. "Now I'm the only one alive! There is no chance of recovering the others, so it looks like I'm their last hope."
Anna sighed before looking at the three ?s. The images on the bigger one were flashing much quicker than before, as though it was becoming desperate to stay alive. She sighed and pulled out some more arrows to begin her Arrow Rain attack. The arrows shot into the air and fell toward the ?s, and she hoped for the best.
The arrows instantly killed the little ?s and pierced the big ?, but it seemed unfazed. 'What? Did it not work?' Anna asked herself. Her eyes widened when the ? began stretching toward her, but something was wrong. Normally the little ?s popped up on each side of the ?, but this time they weren't there. The stretched out ? reached toward her, and stopped.
'What's going on? Why isn't it killing me?'
The images on the ? kept moving faster and faster until they suddenly stopped. The room fell completely silent and Anna held her breath. The ? slowly began to fall to the ground. When it touched the floor all of the images and words shattered. Anna watched little bits of data fly out of it and fade away, along with everything else that created the ?. She began breathing again once it completely disappeared and smiled. She noticed that the rest of the team began waking up and she quickly took out some food for them so they could recover.
"Looks like the battle's over." Lance said. "Thank God."
"What was that thing anyway?" Matt asked.
"I think that was the virus that started this whole mess." Natalie answered. "But how did it take physical form?"
"Beats me. Hey look, treasure!" Matt said before running over to the chest that was hidden behind the ?.
"Well, at least it's gone." Anna said. "I thought it was going to kill me at the end there."
"Death isn't a pleasant experience, so be thankful." Natalie told her.
"So can we leave now or what?" Lance asked.
"Fine, we can go. Matt, hurry up and let's get out of here!" Natalie called out.
The team quickly left the Waste Disposal Plant after explaining to the man outside of the danger room about what happened. He said that the people they hired were probably the cause of the virus and that he'd take care of it, but none of the team were too sure. However they left anyway in order to continue their adventures.