It was dark and quiet, but also quite strange, for a being made of matters that cause the mind to dream of despair and anguish, he himself does not dream, or at least he thought he does not.
He is aware that he has a separate Dreamworld, but strangely he cannot reach it. As if something is blocking his reach, cutting him off from most of his power.
So he floats in a void of nothingness that provides no comfort nor harm, he wonders if he had died again, perhaps Dreambert changed his mind and squashed his feeble heart beat while he was asleep, sending him back into the pit that he pulled him from.
But that doesn't seem to be the case as he hasn't woken up in the gray grass that he landed in from his previous demise, so where is he? What happened to him, What Happened to Me?
What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me?WhatHappened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me? What Happened to Me?WhatHappened to Me?WhatHappened to Me?WhatHappened to Me? WhatHappened to Me? WhatHappenedt0me? WhatHappenedt0me?Wh tH ppenedt0me1?Wh tH ppenedt0me1?Wh tH ppenedt0me1?Wh tH ppenedt0me1?W1 tH ap/enedt0me1?W1 tH ap/enedt0me1?W1 tH ap/enedt0me1?W1 tH ap/enedt0me1?W1 tH ap/enedt0me1?W1 tH ap/enedt0me1?̶W̴1̶ ̴t̶H̴ ̴a̸p̴/̶e̶n̴e̶d̶t̵0̷m̵e̵1̷?̷̸̶W̴1̶ ̴t̶H̴ ̴a̸p̴/̶e̶n̴e̶d̶t̵0̷m̵e̵1̷?̷̸̶͇̆W̵̘̄1̵̟̑ ̵͇̎t̸̝̓H̸̝̏ ̸͐ͅa̵͍͆p̶̞͗/̴̈́ͅḙ̶̓n̷̳̑è̴͍d̷̩͊ẗ̶̩́0̵̞̀m̴̱̔e̸͎̐1̶̣̾?̵̷̶̛̩̩͇̾̆W̵̘̄1̵̟̑ ̵͇̎t̸̝̓H̸̝̏ ̸͐ͅa̵͍͆p̶̞͗/̴̈́ͅḙ̶̓n̷̳̑è̴͍d̷̩͊ẗ̶̩́0̵̞̀m̴̱̔e̸͎̐1̶̣̾?̵̷̶̛̩̩͇̾̆W̵̘̄1̵̟̑ ̵͇̎t̸̝̓H̸̝̏ ̸͐ͅa̵͍͆p̶̞͗/̴̈́ͅḙ̶̓n̷̳̑è̴͍d̷̩͊ẗ̶̩́0̵̞̀m̴̱̔e̸͎̐1̶̣̾?̵̷̛̩̩̾
̴̺̩̙̱̭̹̼͇̭̦͚͇̫̮̭̼̰͔̯̃̍̔̂̀͂̉̅̋̃͒̓̂̄͌́͒̓͗̏͆̌̈́̔̕̚͜͜͜͝Ẃ̶̨̡̛̫̬̰̩͚̩̪̳̠̤̜̝̥̯̲̣̹͚͎̃͊̎͗̑͛̈͆̉̋͋͗̇̓́̕͘͜͜͝͝1̷̛͈̮͈̙̦̭̰̥͈͓͉̭̍̓̎̅̃͊̑̃̾̀̉̓̊͒̑̉̉͐̓͗̓͘̚̚͝͝ ̵̛̭̹̲̘̝̻̖͔̩̘͗̀̐͊̾̈̎̇̌̔̈́̉͛̌̀͗͌̐͑̃͒͆̆͝͝͝ͅţ̷̧̝͓̪̰͎̖̘͉̖̥̜͕̼̱̯̪̹̪̼͎̂̓̊̈́̈́͊͛̽̍̿͊́Ḩ̴̢̰̥̘͓̬̖̺̼̤͒̃͆̊̔́̉͗́́͐̈́̍̓̇̌ ̸̛̳̥̭̩͕̰̞͒̈̈́̚ǎ̵̛̛̗͍̽́̽́́́̋̉͌̔̆̇̉̆̈̽͐̈͒̈̕͝͠p̸̨̢̣͖̯͍͕̭͓̪̣̼͙͎̫̠̟͔͈͍̰̩̲̳̥̠͑̔̄̆̆̈́͗̽̈́̊͋̿̍̓̆͋͘͝͠͝ͅ/̶̛̟̝͇͖̖͓̠̬̖̪̯̺̫̟̣̙̱̼̗͎̙̑͑̅̓̍̋͛͒̀̐̀̆̆̌́̇́̉͋̐͘̚͝͝ę̸̢͈̠̮͓̥͉̥̥̞͎̤̗͓̯̫̪̺̠͍͕̗̙̓̽͒͐̀͝n̷͔͍͖̥̤͉͕̲̝̩̰̜̙̥̦̻̎́̇͗̊̍̍̎̍́͂̽͛̀͐̔̊́̈̋̓͋̕͝͠e̶̞̘̙̙̺̽̒̑̅̿̉̈́͐̓̽͐͛̂͛͠͝ͅd̷̗̿̋͗̓͗͗̕t̷̢̧̢̞̻̯̹͈͇̗̜̭̳͉̻͚̳͛̃0̸̱̘̲̹̘̘̹̰̰͐̐̅́̔̊͒͆̌́̑́̎̊̆̇̌̀̐̃̄͛̈̑̑͠m̴͉͓͖͙̠̪̘͓̜͛̏͜ḙ̴̙͉̟͎̭̻̭̮͕̙̥͖̤̰̖͎̗͙̜̫̽̅̓̂͒̓̐͑̈̐́̔̌̃̅̓͗͐͘̚͜͠1̵̣͆̾̃̈́?̸̷̧̢̞̭͇̦̤͍̩̘͕̦͇̳̯̬̩̣̫͍̠̦͚̩͓̙̰̟̦̝̱̀̓̈́̾́̇͂̎͊̃̃͆͂̍̀̇̃̀̇̍̆͐́͋̈́̔̎̂́̔̋̔̀̓̉̽͠ͅ—
He woke up.
He stared at the bright white light that blinded him during his, or what the Pi'illos referred to, installment.
He could still hear the beeping to his right, and the soft pumping to his left, but this time he can feel his body now, and not just the eyelids that were already slipping from his grasp.
Speaking of which, now that he can move, where is he? Are the three Pi'illos still here but just out of his vision? It doesn't sound like there's anyone in the room currently, it was dead silent. No shuffling, no bickering, no muttering. Nothing, quiet, like the void he was previously dwelling in.
He continued to stare at the light, maybe he wasn't really alive again, maybe he passed out from the weed and was dreaming of a fantasy where he was accepted by the Pi'illos and lived a happy life as a talking bat, or he was rescued by Bowser and went on to marry and conquer the world him like he wanted to from the start.
But the dead do not sleep, which means they do not dream. Which means he is alive, which means he got a second chance for the life that was stolen from him in the first place.
And that was enough for him to move on.
He sat up.
The first thing he noticed was strange symbols that were displaying in his vision, he hadn't noticed it earlier because of the bright light masking it because of its yellow color, these symbols seemed to indicate something, one at the bottom left of his vision has a heart symbol with a meter next to it, and to his bottom right there seemed to be a small square that shows a map of some sort, and a arrow in the middle of it that seemed to represent his current location.
The weird HUD reminded him of the characters in the strange games that one of the Beanish played, down in the Underwhere, what was his name…Awful? No, it doesn't sound quite right, but he doesn't remember.
The second thing he noticed was a plastic mask covering the lower half of his face. It has a tube that was connected to a strange machine he heard previously towards his left, it repeatedly squeezed and stretched a cylinder-like object that gives him a burst of air whenever one is compressed.
he squinted at the machine, the machine continued on, completely uncaring that the receiver no longer required its service. So he pulled the mask off.
The third thing he noticed was a range of small, plastic patches that stuck to his body that were connected to the machine he heard from his right. It has a display that shows a straight line that curves into a rippling wave whenever it beeps, and it aligns with his heartbeat.
It's function seemed to be used as an indication to keep track whether his heart is still pumping or not, which is currently the case for him as he is well awake and alive. So he pulled the patches off.
Then he noticed a metallic shine that reflected off his body that is reminiscent of steel clad armor, but instead of it being worn, it felt like it's fused to him. He continued to inspect the new additions that were made into his body, the strange armor snaking down from his chest to his stomach, it was pure black with violet light glowing through carved cracks that lined the armor plating. It was sleek and it wrapped around his front comfortably, not only that, it also complimented his purple fur extremely well. His arms were outfitted with the same type of armor, the plates partially covered his biceps and forearms, with dark steel lining the structure of his metacarpal, all the way up to his distal phalanx. He also felt the same weight surrounding his neck and partially his cheek, implying that there's armor implanted.
And located on his sternum, was his swirling gem embedded into it with the same slick armor plating securing its hold. His bat-wing bow tie was attached to him as it stays flat against the armor plating on his collarbone, and it glows with the same violet light that was lining the armor plates.
He ran his claw-like fingers across the black plating, it felt comfortable despite being completely alien to him, it felt like wearing a jacket that provides a comforting weight.
He stared at the strange steel that incasts his skin, is this what those Pi'illos referred to as "installment"? This weird armor that they implanted into his body. Is this some sort of futuristic new technology that the Pi'illos developed? Or was this simply prosthetics that they gave to him from his last battle. Whatever it is, he doesn't have a clue. But he was curious about where he was, so he stood up and floated towards the center of the room.
The room itself was pure white, but it looked like it had been in a warzone, there was trays and trolleys tipped over with their contents spilled, cabinets destroyed with it's pieces scattered across the floor, there were also a few lights that were flickering with sparks springing out from it, claw marks and bloodstain sprayed across the room.
Did a scuffle happen while he was asleep?
And strangely enough, the table and the surrounding area where he woke up from is completely untouched, from the machines to the lights, he was completely baffled by what he saw. Something happened here, and it's not telling a pretty story, however if he wants answers. He needs to go and look for it.
He went towards, what he presumed was the door, it looked sleek like everything else, completely flat, no fancy engravings or decoration save for the glowing patterns that seemed to snake through the smooth metallica room. There was a smooth pad next to the door, is that a trigger?
He placed his palm against it, a green light encircled the pad and a high pitched toned ringed as the door opened automatically.
Okay….strange doors that can open with a touch, that's something new. He poked his head out of the doorway and froze.
If he thought the room looked bad, the hallway was even worse, various gears and equipment lay scattered against the wall with even more bloodier stained claw makers lining it, corpses of Pi'illos with white hoods and coats lay underneath the marks, their blood stained clothing and torn body parts is all he needs to know for what happened here. The horrible pattern stretched on and on from both ends of the hallway.
Antasma swallowed a lump from his throat, he doesn't want to know what did this or the strength that it possesses to easily tore the Pi'illos to shreds. He knows from experience that Pi'illos are fierce fighters despite their soft culture.
He slowly floated out of the doorway and stopped, right or left? He heard a soft click behind him that signified the door shutting, going back is not an option, he needs to choose.
After a while of thinking, he picked left, which is also where the claw marks seemed to be headed. He doesn't know why he chose to follow towards the source of death instead of away from it, but he figured that he will meet this mysterious beast sooner or later, plus maybe he might find somethings on the way where it's not completely damaged.
He continued down the hallway, gradually getting more and more desensitized to the gore-torned bodies, he didn't recognize any of the dead Pi'illos that scattered throughout the corridors, and he couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. So he continued.
And just when he was about to turn a corner, he heard voices.
"She escaped again?! Why can't we just terminate her already? The installment on the Subject - TA33y is a success! Not only did the cybernetics protect him from her assault, but it even preserved his life support!"
Antasma paused, the creature made an attempt on his life? Well he should've thought of that when he saw the state of the room, did he really think that it had enough of a mind to spare anything in its path.
What made him curious is that they were referring to it as a she, could it possibly be another resurrected villain like him? But lost their sanity along the way of this…process?
"We can't get rid of her yet, there's a chip inside of her head that's crucial for our research, we need to surgically remove it or else it'll get damaged. But she's being incredibly difficult to capture, and- wait."
They stopped, he heard an inaudible mumbling from something that is certainly not from either of the two passing men.
"Oh for the love of the Beanstar, the Pi'illos just reported that Subject - TA33y has escaped!"
Great, now he needs to stay out of sight from these…researchers and the beast.
"Are you serious?! Now we got four escaped villains?! My god this is just getting worse and worse. What would happen if they started to work with each other?!"
…There's two more? Well it confirmed his suspicions that they're just like him, however he very much doubted he could work with any of them. Judging by the disaster and the attempt on his life by the first one.
The researcher seemed to share his thoughts too.
"Oh that won't be an issue, the witch is too mentally unstable to understand anything coherent, thankfully. And the rest are just as mad too, remember. Their failed test subjects, and only Subject - TA33y is reported to be successful in terms of mental condition."
Antasma gets the gist that Subject - TA33y is referring to him, but he doesn't know whether he should take pride on the fact that he passed some sort of unpassable test or he should felt violated that he got taken advantage of again as a guinea pig for a mind-breaking experiment.
"Well whatever the case it, we need to recapture and terminate all of them except TA33y"
As the researcher's voices faded away, Antasma realized something. This is no longer past that he knew, everything here looks alien, Pi'illos don't fear him, and he was referred to as a test experiment instead of his real name. They speak of this as if it happens on a normal Tuesday, that he is functionally obsolete along with the rest of the villains that they revived.
He doesn't know how to feel about this sudden realization, but it was a mixture of worthlessness and fury. The fact that the world is so willing to treat his accomplishments as a stepping stone then one to be admired, as well as it reminding him of the moment that Bowser betrayed him.
"I mean you're an idiot! You thought you were using me? Me?! Buddy, I was playing you like a bat fiddle!"
He felt a lump of anger swelled in his chest, he never intended to betray Bowser, he was lonely for so long and Bowser was the closest thing he had to a friend. That memory clinged to him like a parasite, sucking his will to be social in the afterlife. Fearing that he might be hurt again, it was until a short beanish came to out of nowhere and offered him a blunt, that was the first time in a while that he felt comfortable with other people as he smoke on the grassy concoction, and here he is now, furious that he was robbed of the chance to reconvene even after death.
CRUNCH!
The sound snapped him out of his flashback, he had crushed the hard metallic wall with his bare hand.
He stared at the miniature destruction he did, he could barely crush small sized boulders before, let alone reinforced steel walls at a flat surface. He stared at his hand, he didn't feel any different from before other than the added weight of the armor, did they enhance his strength or something? But how? He felt no magic or drugs coursing through his veins, nor does he have a bigger muscle mass then before. He is still as scrawny as ever. So how?
With questions still circling his mind, he decided to enter the hallway and head towards where the researchers went. It might be a bad idea but he doesn't know where else to go. He can see the map layout at the corner of his vision but it doesn't really tell him much since it's just showing this hallway and some other places that branch out of view of the tiny square. So he decided to just play it by instinct.
After an equally long traveling as the previous hallway, passing a few unmarked doors that he didn't feel like he should open, then he came across a door that displayed the words armory, he paused, should he….?
He placed his palm against the pad that he did earlier, a robotic female voice suddenly spoke from the pad.
"Stating Rank and Access Level…Military Access Level Ten, Granted."
….Military Access Level Ten?...what? Why does he have military access? He remembered the Pi'illos using that term to reference top secret weapons without giving it away in case they were being spied on. And it was ranked from Level one to ten, one being the least destructive and powerful weapons that were used more as intimation then effectiveness, to ten being the most hidden away and scariest weapons that the Pi'illos use in actual warfare. It can range from hand held weapons to intricate machines or spells that were designed by the finest Pi'illium generals and mages, he remembered the sealing spell that was used on him, it was ranked as level five. He just brushed it off since he was confident in his ability to resist a non high leveled spell, he had forgotten why it was labeled as Military Access.
He cringed at the memory, he really should have known better. But alas, the past is the past, he cannot change it, so he must focus on the present now.
He floated into the armory, and inside was lined with weapons that he never once saw in a dream.
Rows and rows of mysteriously lined metal crossbows that have a round nozzle instead of the bow, hung by the racks. Various sleek and glowing blades were mounted on the wall, and thick looking armor is hooked on a hovering cloth hanger in varianting height. And all around the armory, the same neon light snaked through the room just like the rest of the place. His eyes are starting to grow swore from the constant glowing, who in the right mind thought it was a good idea to install this many bright lights, let alone in a condescending pattern.
He closed his eyes and wiped his mask as he sighed, well what did he expect? This place is populated with Pi'illos and Beanish. They love glowy and showy stuff, especially the Beanish. However when he opened his eyes again, there was an objective displayed on the top left corner of his vision
Objective: Examine Yourself
He stared at the message, since when did that appear? And why was it giving him a task, he spotted a yellow indicator that was locating him to his target, it was a mirror. Why does he need to examine himself again, he already did that earlier in the room he woke up from, maybe he just needs to see what he looks like from a second perspective. He floated towards the mirror, expecting himself to look exactly the same but just with some metallic armor decorating his body.
He stopped and observed himself, the first thing he noticed was that his eyes looked…blocky, pixelated. As if it was a flat screen instead of flesh. He saw those kinds of eyes on the robotic guardian, the Pi'illodium….So is he a robot? He doesn't feel like it, he still has his precious fur and his soft flesh, but some parts of his body are metallic. Maybe his part-robotic? The researchers did refer to these armor as cybernetics. Maybe he's a part-robot now, maybe he's a…weapon? He has Military Access Level 10, that label is only given to weapons. Oh Jaydes…Are the Pi'illos using people as weapons now? Or did they not consider him as a person….
He felt disheartened, but in some way he knew he deserved it. He had caused years and years of pain and terror for the Pi'illos. He knew that deep down, they were treating him much better than they should have.
But even then, he stared at his own reflection and pondered.
"Vhat happened to me?"