Chapter/Tale 6: Judgement Day: Act 2
Author's Note Intro:
Hey guys! I'm back for the final time of this school year… probably. I don't know yet, but I'll figure out something soon enough when that time comes. For now, let's just focus on the story at hand. After what has happened, you know things are about to go down real fast. Now prepare yourselves for a journey and the horrors of being in a virtual reality game if it takes place in a robotic setting. If it's the marking point for the time being, I might as well go out with a bang. With that, enjoy this chapter!
Back at the Company Lab…
"All right, they're in the game!" Everyone was cheering with the warp being a complete success. "Now let the operations commence without further delay!" The assistants agreed and immediately got to work on their part. The others that stayed behind were watching the party on a giant screen, which took the form of a live game being played. It was really stunning to see.
"Well, I can see why you're rivaled with Haltmann Works Company," complimented Dedede. "Your genius is just as the same as Susie is in those terms, but perhaps better. That explains Mackenzie's intelligence as a little kid."
"Why thank you," Espera smiled. "This is just only the beginning of our work, as more than just a company, you see."
Aqua asked, "You mean about you all being secret agents or something like that? Say, if that's the case, what do you defend the city from anyway?"
"Corrupt organizations, of course. Our recruits consists of specialized teenagers such as Zeta herself, who was our top-rank spy in the past years. Her abilities as a demi-cyborg are what excels those forces in a short amount of time," She answers. "A beast on the battle field, but whenever she's not doing that, she tends to whatever her responsibilities ask of her until something else comes up."
"I can understand that, but I find it weird that she's been stuck in that game for two days straight without no answer," Bandana Dee pointed out. "You think you can try to locate her in that state?"
"It wouldn't hurt to try again, but I doubt that we can just pick her signal up like that. They're our only chance of finding her if that's possible." Espera shook her head. "Right now, they're heading into Platform Plains, so hopefully there shouldn't be any problems whatsoever."
"Are there any other threats we need to know about?" Asked Aqua. "Because something tells me otherwise it is so."
"Let's hope that it doesn't come at a bad time," She replied. "We'll deal with that if such a thing does intend to occur." She lifted up her glasses as she spoke.
"That reminds me," Yae asked. "Do you have any idea how this issue came to be?" She handed the professor the same magazine from Monokitsune, which had a load of embarrassing stuff about each of them somehow. How? I don't know.
"… sorry, I had absolutely nothing to do with this, guys. Obviously it came from Haltmann Works Company, but I have no idea how they managed to get any of these secrets out in the public in one day. Still, I'll have some of the assistants examine this fully," Espera confirmed this as she handed that magazine over to a free assistant nearby. "Other than that, I think it has something worthwhile."
"Professor!" One of the assistants called out with an urgency of dread. "We've discovered another figure besides the ones confirmed to be in the game! A threat detected, and it's moving throughout the game at will!" This caught the attention of all standbys present.
"What?!" Said Espera as she clocked in on the same signal as they claimed. "This can't be! Another invader in the game?! Who is it?!"
"The identity is unknown, professor," One assistant answered. "But we managed to discover that the invader was involved with the mechanization of the players and the corruption of the game!"
"This isn't good! We have to warn the others!" The professor stated during the moment she had heard this as she attempts to contact the 13 beta players that were in Platform Plains. Danger awaited the players, but something even more dreadful looms in wait at the moment… not yet, though.
One problem did stood in their way, actually. "Contact has been temporarily disbanded. It won't come back until sometime afterwards." It meant that something jammed contact with the players in the dimension, which is a big problem if it's occurring so often.
"So we can't reach them at this point?" Maddie groaned. "What do we do now?"
Cyan haired Espera merely let out a short chuckle, not fazed completely by the problem in her way. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh? No matter, two can play at this game, Susie."
"Er, Espera? Something wrong?" Mackenzie asked out of concern.
"I'm fine, really," She answered. "We'll get back at her… in time. For now, how about we let the players take care of this on their own until we can intervene again? Sounds reasonable, is it not? Don't worry, only an idiot would bite the dust on the first level; by anything, you are a group of unique yet deadly warriors. Only if something went wrong we'll worry. Let's just see where it all goes from there, okay?"
At least the first level they don't have to be anxious, it's just whatever unusual occurs there is the problem. Nothing could go wrong… at least not yet.
Level One: Platform Plains (Platform Land- Spy Kids 3: Game Over)
(Battle Theme 6: Long Dream- The World End With You/Encounter- Room of Swords)
Starlight Cyborgs
Just so you know, it won't be such an easy journey now that Haltmann Works Company took over the game, so allow me to explain. Each one of the 12-14 players have some sort of special ability without their former ones being transferred into the game that can be discovered on specific terms to be met. It'll come to you when you need it, you'll see. You can also allocate your skills manually with Code Crystals scattered across the land and unlock new perks and upgrade your abilities and stats. Your default perks involves hacking and strength enhancement when wielding weapons as such as certain elemental resistance depending on each character, so check each of their stats in the menu before rushing in like an idiot. For the record though, all characters have great durability, agility/evasiveness, great power and gravity control. I'll tell you more later on; have fun!
Kailaine's POV: March of the Robots
Platform Plains, the first level of Starlight Vacation- Cybervirus Reality. I find it weird that there's about five levels in the main game, but maybe that's because the real challenge was the final level, Paradis Towers. Perhaps that's why, but then again, it's my first time ever being in a virtual reality game- literally. That means we have to be careful on how we approach it as a whole. Luckily, we do have someone who played through the series before, and that's Saito.
Unfortunately, just as Aege stated before, he may not be that resourceful if he's such a gullible airhead, not that I think of him that way, but it's pretty evident based on how he acts. And now I'm worried as he was being pounded mercilessly by Aege for no reason. I should've seen that coming anyway. Adeline marveled at the scenery around her while Niva stroked her robotic ears for a feel; we sure did went through a lot together.
Looking at the landscape ahead of us lies ahead a path of platforms, just as the named indicated. Shifty ground moved up and down, left and right, horizontal and vertical, any direction it wanted to move at will. The land sprouted metal flowers and metal nature everywhere you look; it was green and grey, copper and silver, maybe even gold was around for all I know. Nonetheless, we had to get through there no matter what.
My headset was active as it scanned the entire area for about anything at the moment. "Hey, it looks like my headset found something. And it looks like a yellow fragment of something near the end of the area."
"A piece of the Thunder Orb! It can't be too far from here!" shouted Kirby. "Let's go get it!"
And the pink hero took the lead and we followed him. I can say that I felt weird walking in this robotic getup from the time I found out that we've been turned into cyborgs. Just staring at my shoes gives me a weird feeling already; now I questioned how I lived through fighting in high heels from earlier before.
Despite that, I was doing fine during the travel through the mechanized plains. Come to think of it, they did say Popstar was mechanized during the invasion. Does the game under the control of Haltmann Works Company reflects that? I thought of that as we jumped from platform to platform.
"You know, this was just like when Prism Plains became Patched Plains before," said Kirby. "I just woke up from a nap only to find everything become an industrial theme park in the blink of an eye. Things weren't the same after that. Now I'm getting that same feeling, the one where it's supposed to represent something from the past." Kirby pulled a lever that activated a moving platform and we went on it. No enemies so far.
"You think? Espera made the game, you know," Sirica pointed out. "Now it came to me that she never explained how HWC managed to gain control over the game entirely and change it. What did change anyway?" Sirica shot down a tall boulder over to the other side for us to cross over to.
"It could be the Mother Computer that took over," Niva suggested. "Maybe there's one inside the company in the real world that was used in two dimensional planes, thus acting as the one in the plot of the game while serving as a real one in the meantime. That's just a theory, I suppose." Niva used her tail to snatch a key and hurl it at a keyhole that shattered the gate and we moved ahead. I saw multiple pathways on the way; I wonder where they lead to?
"Or that could be exactly what's going on," Meta spoke. "The only Mother Computer I know of is Star Dream, but we basically destroyed it along with the Nova. Still, it could be built on whatever's left of it if it's a key component."
"I don't know, it sounds impossible to me," disagreed Jodie. "Even if you have the core of a computer, you're gonna need identical parts to compensate for the previous ones. Not any replacement will do." The kid assassin was right about that; it'd take ages to just get compatible replacement parts to rebuild something like a mother computer that'll work. Invading Popstar again just won't cut it after that fiasco.
"No, maybe it's not impossible to do that," Adeline intervened. "If they stacked up on a decent amount of resources, they should have some left over or at least enough to back up the process. Only if it wasn't in the ship when it was destroyed; still, there'd be enough to recreate their entire Robobot force back up again."
"Don't know, we haven't encountered a single enemy by the time we stepped foot in the area," Dylan shrugged. "Can they really build those numbers with a small number of materials to begin with?"
"Even though I've never seen her before," Kazela spoke. "It sounds like that secretary is really smart. She might've come up with another way to do that without carelessly spending it. Maybe this game has something that could make up for it all, like these Code Crystals here. It's not how much she has, it could be how she uses it to her advantage." Kazela picked up a blue crystal with electronic pulses and showed it to us. "I mean, these Code Crystals could be enough to substitute for whatever she needs since it is reality after all."
"Seems pretty valid," Dash replied. "You should hold onto that." Kazela did just that. More crystals were found on the way through the platform path, and more puzzles awaited us with sincerity and splendor of their own amusement. A bit annoying, but it was really fun somehow during the experience. This was an easy first level if not a bit long. At one point, a treasure chest appeared after I pushed a block onto a switch. I went over to claim whatever was inside. And when I did, I had received another weird trophy stand from before; it was green this time and seemed a bit radioactive.
You got the Plasma ability! 1/12 abilities collected!
Now that I've gotten a closer look at it, I realized what they are. As I've read about during the time I was in denial years ago, these things projected any sort of ability that it holds and grants a person that ability in a flash. They regenerate after it's used, but it can only work if the user has the same kind of affinity as the stand does. To be able to possess all abilities would mean your affinity is limitless, just like Kirby and Karly. The others are limited to just one or a few. Not sure about myself, though. With that, I decided to hold onto it for the time being and continued forward.
A little while later, there was a sign that reads, "Beware of the Gigavolt" and "This way to Neon Laboratory." It seems we're almost out of Platform Plains. Just a little further and we're out of here. Or so I thought. Right where we were seemed too out of place, a huge circular area that loops around with a hole in the middle. I thought nothing of it at first.
Someone did. "The Orb Piece… it should be right around here, this is where the signal's homing at rapidly."
"Well, I don't see one anywhere, nothing but that weirdly shaped gold large circle box that makes the bridge across the hole in the middle," Aege said, poking at it. "It looks like some robot's decapitated head, you know with a huge screw on top of it and some mark in the middle as well as below it."
"Hey, there's the exit… on the other side of the abyss waiting before us," Saito pointed out. "Wait, why does the layout of the area we're on looks so much like a boss arena, and why does that box thing looks like a robot head anyway?"
Kazela yelped a little. "I think a better explanation would be- THAT HEAD IS ALIVE!"
Just as she said that, the mark in the middle flashed on with a visor of virus red, making Aege jump back by surprise. The head rattled wildly until it rose up at will as a floating head- not anymore when two rocketed giant gold arms flew out of nowhere after a huge gold body with a rocket rack attached itself to the head along with the arms that had armored ruby slabs for hands. It was a giant freaking armored robot!
Each one of us were shocked at the very sight of this. "Woah! What the heck is that?!" Shouted Adeline.
"No way, it's Gigavolt!" Kirby shouted. "Or rather Heavy Gigavolt! I didn't think she'd actually bring that one back! And if it's a heavy version, it's on the same level as Heavy Lobster!" Hearing Heavy Lobster again makes me kinda on a nerve wreck considering it nearly costed us our time before. To think that secretary could make a heavy version of a monster like this…
"Still, there's no point in complaining if it kills us; why bother when we can just kill it?" Karly shrugged. "Since this is the easiest level in terms of monsters, it shouldn't be that hard to defeat anyway."
"You better hope you're right because here it comes!" Sirica shouted. The golden robot shot a howling scream at us and so begins the first challenge of the game.
Wrath of Haltmann Works Company- 28th Boss Battle
Party VS Heavy Gigavolt, Golden Death Robot (Pink Ball Activate! - Kirby Planet Robobot)
Boss Description: An impressive machine built by the robotic company that invaded Popstar a few years ago. It is chock full of advanced technology; the original version was weak to the screws being removed from its hands and head and crumbled into pieces. Now at the latest version of the Heavy upgrade, it is not weak to the same tactic even though it does cause disarmament. However, in that upgrade it is weak to the same properties of splotches… and perhaps radioactive electricity if shot at the head screw.
Heavy Gigavolt strikes again! Initiate combat mode!
It roared again, pounding its armored slab hands together. I saw a menu of RPG commands appear before me. There were the basic ones: Attack, Defend, Artes, Items, Tactics, Mystic Artes, and Run (which is always unavailable during a boss fight). I knew that, but I was more concerned if we could move around and not take it like a game. Otherwise, we would not be in a circular arena as of right now.
However, my visor showed me the possible target areas of Gigavolt that we can attack it from. Two of them were its armored slabs which can lower offensive means if broken. Dealing with the head will come last afterwards. So, in that moment, it swung first, raising its left arm in the air and slamming it right on the ground; I side-stepped left when it struck in time, faster than I anticipated.
With the slab trapped in recovering from the shock, that's when everyone and myself charged at the armored slab and ravaged the armor surrounding it until it broke completely, revealing a huge screw in the middle of its hand. Problem is, none of us had anything to remove it in due time. Or that's what I thought when Kirby jumped on top of it and struck his hand in the middle of the opening, trying to force it out… and it actually worked! Surely I didn't expect him to yank out the entire screw in one shot!
Just like that, the arm retracted once the screw was pulled, and without warning the shoulder knob holding the arm snapped off from Gigavolt and crashed on the ground nearby. Gigavolt took a decent amount of damage inflicted on it from just disarmament of one arm, including the damage on the slab.
"Wow! That actually worked!" Kirby squealed. "I've done this before with my Robobot Armor before, so I didn't think it'd go that way. I guess our cyborg bodies really make up for all of this."
"Really? You mean our bodies can shapeshift into whatever the situation needs?" I gazed at my mechanized hands that pulsated with neon energy.
Demi-Cyborg Perks
Looks like you discovered a perk in your cyborg body! That's right, one of your abilities is adaption, which can shift a body part into many different things depending on the situation or at least compensate the equivalent of the object. Just like how Kirby pulled out the screw with his bare hands, his body adapted to the action he did and channeled that same energy. You can use this to your advantage while solving puzzles and fighting monsters. This is just only a fraction of that capability, the rest has to be discovered by you. Anyway, back to the fight!
Heavy Gigavolt howled again, this time flashing its eyes and erecting a spinning bullet laser across the ground. We jumped one by one to avoid it with ease. After retracting the laser, Gigavolt then raised its other arm and swung again, but it was enchanted with energy and as it hit rock bottom, it struck everything on the ground. I could feel the crackling surge of energy shock my body and shot me back.
"That hurts!" I groaned, still rushing at the armored slab. I bashed it rapidly and mercilessly by myself until it shattered to pieces. Repeating what Kirby did, I took a chance at driving my hand into the center of the screw to try and pull it out with full force. In seconds, the screw was dislodged like a corkscrew in a bottle before I even knew it. Eventually, the right arm retracted itself and fell apart just like the other arm, now it has no way of attacking back with those limbs.
"All right! All that's left is to get the head screw and we win!" Karly said enthusiastically. I doubt that it'll be easy to do that now. The robot is completely on edge after losing both its arms, but it wasn't giving up yet. It screamed again and revved up its game even further.
"Except the fact that we have to beat it with Paint again just like Heavy Lobster," Adeline restated. "But it won't be enough to destroy it completely. Isn't there anything else that can stop it?"
We didn't have time to think as the robot shot a wave of missiles from its rocket pack that spiraled everywhere in a stir of explosions. Meta, Sirica, Dylan, Dash, Jodie, Aege and Saito all went to distract it anyway they can.
"Well," Niva coughed after taking decent damage from the aftershock of the blast. "It does seem to despise anything that has radioactive sparks or something like that. Unless inflicted with that, that screw ain't coming off anytime soon. Spark itself won't be enough, so where can we find something that's radioactive shocking while we're stuck here?" Niva pondered over the thought over the sound of blasts, gunshots, and metallic screaming.
Radioactive… electricity? I've never heard of something like that, but does such a thing really exists? It would have to be something that's both acidic and electric at the same time… well, the only thing I can think of would be something similar to that trophy that I found earlier… a thought struck me at the moment.
"Acidic electricity, right? Would something like Plasma qualify as that, like this trophy that was in the chest?" I whipped out that very thing before their eyes.
"Plasma- that's it! We can get the screw off with that ability!" Kirby exclaimed. "Thanks, princess!"
The way he thanked me really stirred my heart a little as I handed him the Plasma ability. In that instant, he transformed; his hair made of green and a headband with a green jewel in it. His bodysuit changed aura and color dramatically to neon green. It was the first time I've ever seen him like this; so that's how he's been able to fight back without inhaling.
"Alright, now to get the screw!" Kazela pointed to Gigavolt. "Go get it, Kirby!"
Gigavolt was still attacking the others, so it didn't notice us preparing to jump it; Kirby wavedashed a lot to conjure an energy shield around him until it was at maximum.
"Everyone, launch me!"
The five of us girls complied and as Kirby jumped in midair, we all pushed our hands and shoved him further into the air with automatic aim directly at Gigavolt. He flipped multiple times before he stuck the direct landing on the screw with his fist; actually, he shot the plasma shield first, then he drove his hand in and spun around like a drill, dealing a critical hit on Gigavolt as the visor showed me. The golden terror screeched as plasma coiled around its body simultaneously along with the pink demon yanking out the screw. Out of desperation, it fired tons of missiles to get Kirby to stop him from pulling his screw.
"Not so fast! Platinum Laser!" I fired a silver beam from my finger, sniping the missiles in one shot before it reached Kirby. Adeline slashed the robot's eyes with the same rocket launcher used against Heavy Lobster and blinded it with paint- a major weakness of theirs. Kazela swung her legs high to shoot crescent force waves as she kicked them directly on the lower body which hacked it into pieces. Gigavolt's resistance was degrading gradually until Kirby finally pulled out the screw from its head.
Kirby jumped from the head and onto the ground safely as Gigavolt came crashing down with its head fully exposed, unable to continue fighting any longer. It wasn't defeated yet, but a new command popped up in my visor: All-Out Attack.
"Now's our chance! Let's tear it to pieces, everyone!" I shouted.
Everyone agreed and without any hesitation, we charged at Gigavolt with an All-Out Attack, bashing it mercilessly like a gang fight. Yeah, it seems too much of an overkill, but why bother when you know you're enjoying it? I know you enjoy that feeling of an overkill.
Once the final blow was dealt, it was all over for Gigavolt; the arms exploded first, then the rocket pack, the legs were diced, and its armored head blew open to reveal the inside of it before light impaled it all over until the entire robot was reduced to metallic scrap in one big detonation. Game over for the boss.
"Yahoo! We won!" I cheered.
Heavy Gigavolt now rests in pieces! Victory! (Normal Victory- Grandia 1 HD)
You gained 1500 experience points! You are now Level 31!
Health has extended to 1050! All Stats rose by 110!
Perk discovered: Drill Hand! Received 10 Code Crystals each!
Next level in 2000 experience points.
"That takes care of the first level," sighed Saito. "Good thing we have these cyborg bodies, otherwise we'd never survived that."
"I thought you said the first level was easy, Saito," huffed Aege. "Why was the boss that challenging anyway?"
"Because that wasn't the real boss of the first level, stupid. If they're putting fought-before enemies in the place of the actual ones, we're in for a bad time. At least we had someone who knew how to beat them, like Gigavolt here." The remains spewed tonic smoke as it lies in waste and scraps. Out of the ordinary, something flew out from the head of the robot, shining golden yellow as it soared over to Kirby's hand. Some sort of fragment, I suppose. Or maybe it could be…
You got a piece of the Thunder Orb! A few more left!
"So that's a piece of an elemental orb," I commented on its radiance. "The Gem Soul Spirits wants us to collect these?"
"Yeah, that's our only way of reaching the Jewel Chamber after all," Kirby answered. "Nothing like a good old scavenger hunt as usual for the adventure. I suppose there's about 3-4 more pieces to find before we head to Level 5, the impossible stage."
"Well, why are there only five levels in the first place?" Adeline asked. "I thought a game like this would have more than just five, it sounds kinda pathetic in that sense."
"The game is larger than you think, there are so many areas to explore and different kinds that it's kinda too much to keep track of, so they group areas into five depending on the levels with the same difficulty; it's a labyrinth world out there, and there's only one area of each level that leads straight to the final one- where you go is up to you. Now that the exit is open, we should get going and call Espera while we're at it," Saito suggested.
"So, it's a 3D Open-World Metroidvania RPG, huh?" I guessed.
"Speaking of which, how come she didn't call once we got into the game?" Jodie asked.
"Probably the connections were cut short purposely," Meta suggested. "That's why Zeta was not picking up as Espera explained before. Perhaps the deeper we travel, the line of contact becomes unstable, although we don't know if that's the case for Zeta or even Knuckle Joe."
"Then we shouldn't idle here any longer," said Karly. "Let's get outta here before we're thrown into another boss battle again." No objections were raised, so we quickly left the arena and went straight out of Platform Fields through the area gate pathway. I felt my energy revitalize after passing through, but I didn't question it.
Level One Complete!
After we were out of Platform Plains, we followed a long path along the patched road ahead of us. The horizon of the sky grew a bit darker with every step we take, and despite being a game, I could feel the chill of the sky make me jittery. The tower looked really far from where we were and I was already getting tired as we crossed into the border of Level Two.
"Egh, how long until we get to Paradis Tower?" Dash groaned. "We've been on this path for about half an hour and it feels like we're barely getting anywhere!" I definitely agree with that. "Isn't there any shortcuts we could take to get there or are we just gonna keep running by foot?"
"Yeah, and I haven't heard from Espera ever since we got here and still she hasn't picked up for the 50th time I've tried to get her," Niva sighed. "Something must've happened to the servers or something."
"She'll come around, I'm sure of it," Karly sway her hands as she said that. "Give her some time."
"Hopefully that happens sooner," Sirica shook her head. "One thing is that I haven't seen any other players around the whole time we're here. Wonder where some of them are?"
"Maybe we'll find some in this area of the next level- and here we are," Saito declared. We arrived at an expansive laboratory that appeared more like a subway station on the outside. "I can see there's another orb piece in there. Let's go get it, guys!"
"I sure hope so…" Jodie said flatly. The doors opened automatically once it detected us, and we entered inside into the great unknown before us… unaware of the danger that came with it. Well, that's the feeling I've reached by the time the doors closed behind us.
Meanwhile…
"Ma'am, our targets have arrived at Neon Laboratory," One of the robots confirmed. "Shall we send in the robot at this time?"
"Please do," The woman replied. "I'd figured we couldn't let all of our understudies go to waste in those conditions."
"Understood, ma'am," It complied with her orders. The command was already carried out. A killer was on the loose as we speak. The leader of it all was amused to herself, smirking at the opposing alter ego trapped inside her conscious.
"All going exactly as I planned it," She cackled. "Who would've ever thought one video game would cause a global takeover in mere seconds flat? All the more reason to crush that game obsessed Espera even more, even if she sent out her best agent to do the job. Such insolence shall be eliminated, now say another word or else-!" She was talking to her other ego, literally. Her other ego kept silent for the whole moment, dreadful of what awaits ahead for the resisting players…
Level Two: Neon Laboratory (Dark Castle- Kirby's Dreamland 2/Planet Robobot)
Inside the laboratory, it was like I predicted it to be, almost. A laboratory that glowed with pulsating colors from the test tubes around the area. Pool areas were barred with yellow tape to keep others out, some pathways were locked tightly, and I saw an inactive train right ahead of us.
Kirby looked surprised. "This is Neon Laboratory now? There was never a train in the research facility the last time I was here. I guess the game was edited to reflect the invasion somehow. Well, answers will have to wait. Let's see if we can find the Orb Piece here and find a way to the next level."
"Hey guys," Niva called out, directing our focus at the map pinned to the wall. "I found out that this train will take us to the next level. See? The next level is some sort of race track called Mega-Drive Madness, and the train will take us straight there."
"Wow, nice job, Niva!" Karly cheered. "We can get there in no time now!"
"Only one problem," Jodie jumped in. "The train sector has been shut down after the Mother Computer took over, so there's no chance of moving this train unless we reactivate the entire circuit again and find that Orb Piece somewhere. I can tell something's guarding the piece, alright."
"Well, where's the control panel? Is it not in the train itself?" Meta questioned.
"Sadly, the train isn't manually operated as it says here- it's automatically operated from the laboratory sector of the area. The main control panel is definitely in that area for sure," Jodie answered. "It may take a while to get there, though. Luckily, the entrance to the laboratory sector is the only one that's open." Just as he said, an open area was lying in wait.
"Still, how are we going to find the control panel in a place like this?" Kazela groaned. "It could be anywhere for all we know. What if it's a trap waiting for us?"
"Who knows? But we're not getting anywhere just by standing here," Adeline declared.
"All right then, let's go," I said.
The others reluctantly agreed before we set off into the laboratory sector through the open door earlier. The atmosphere of this place is really eerie and gives me the chills. It was like an abandoned area that was closed off because of an incident that had occurred and forced the place to shut down along with whatever's in there. Now I have the feeling anything could pop out from the shadows beyond.
As we continued further after mounting the top of the stairs, we saw a whole labyrinth of purple and silver; specifically, the area itself was more open spaced like the inside of a spiraling tower climb except linear. Sure enough, there was a massive central area which houses tons of branch pathways that leads to several sectors and that's where we ended up after the stair climb.
"Okay, the control panel should be in Sector 2, which is over that way," Kirby pointed to an open door nearby. "How convenient that it's already open for us. Anyway, it won't take us that long to get there, so you guys try to find the next Orb Piece while Kaila and I head over to the control panel and reactivate the power to the train."
"Sure, why not?" Saito shrugged. "If anything happens, just let us know."
"Got it; Kaila, let's go," Kirby called out to me. I hesitated for a bit and followed after him into Sector 2 with a feeling that something was waiting for us…
Sector 2
Kirby and I went ahead up the flight of stairs until we hit the end of the staircase and continued through the path turns of a maze for a while. During the time, I felt as if something was following us and the dread disappears once I turn around. I thought I was hallucinating or something.
Eventually, we came across a room that was locked- it must be the control panel. The door was a hexagon shape, and a scanner was red on the side. How are we going to get inside without setting off the alarm for this room, assuming if there is one? I was definitely thinking of that possibility already. Kirby on the other hand, he didn't hesitate to take decisive action when he drove his hand straight into the scanner with full force! Normally, I wouldn't have done such a thing…
…If I knew that it actually worked with opening doors; the door unlatched itself and opened immediately without a second thought. Kirby remained unfazed while I was flabbergasted. "Huh. Wasn't expecting that to work on the first try." He spoke as we both went inside the room.
Inside, it was a total computer room with loads of them everywhere, flashing with inconsistency and no supervised management. "Woah, so this is the control room to the entire lab," I gasped. "But wasn't it abandoned for a while? I can understand if there are some areas that need to stay on, but how is it operating on its own?"
Kirby lowered his expression to a neutral. "If I remember correctly, Neon Laboratory provides power to the entire facility in Rhythm Route, a nighttime version of Resolution Road. So I'm guessing that it does the same function as it did the last time. Maybe that's why it was picked over all the other ones, who knows?"
"I'm surprised you learned a lot about these places and still remember them," I said. "By the way, why did you have me go along with you? Wouldn't Adeline or Niva be better picks in that stance?"
Kirby shook his head. "Actually, if she didn't tell you, then the reason for that is because she was traumatized during the invasion that took place. Every spot of Popstar wasn't safe from the domination; everyone suffered in the worst ways imaginable. She never told me what happened to her afterwards, so I didn't press her further than she could bear. Niva, she probably knows the truth behind the final battle because the monstrosity unleashed by Star Dream was a Nova. Still, I think she wants to discover the truth herself, so I'm respecting that."
I sighed. "I can get that, but still… why me?"
"You're a different case… letting Kazela on this won't be exactly good for her since she's your little sister, and I don't think she needs to know this yet until she can at least when the entire incident blows over. It may not make sense now, but it will later on. I guess my point is that you should know what went behind the scenes of every incident and see if that relates to anything you remember before. Maybe whatever it is, we could be able to help you since you did help us," He answered.
"I still don't get it. Does this have anything to do with why I went with you?"
"Yeah. You're the only one who wasn't affected by this incident, so I'm hoping this will give you an idea on what happened that time. Also, I'd figured you have a strong fear of places like these with the whole horror setting going on here, so-" Kirby snickered; I snatched him by the neck gently but firmly.
"Like heck I am!" I throttled him back and forth, embarrassed. He was laughing and I let him go. "But you mean more than that, right?"
Kirby nodded. "I sure did. You're afraid of the future now that the plot twisted in our favor; basically an emotional thing you got there. That's why you're so hesitant ever since we got here- the fear within. I can understand why you feel that way. Even I'm afraid too although it doesn't look like it. I'm not gonna run from my troubles, I'll find a way to deal with them and if that's what's been bothering you, we'll help you get through it together. It'll be okay, I promise." I can tell he meant that sincerely, and that warmed my heart dearly.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it, Kirby," I smiled. "Geez, you have such a way with words, you know?"
"Glad to hear that. Now let's get this over with and reactivate the power, shall we?" Kirby immediately got to work with the keyboard full of shifty kinks and buttons as he studied them very carefully to figure out which one was the key. Within a few seconds, he managed to locate the key to the train, an inserted key, and ignited it by a single turn. The screen displayed this message:
Power has been restored to the train. All systems flourishing.
"Yes! Now we can use the train to head to the next level!" I beamed. "Hey, do you think you can also try to locate the Orb Piece from here if that's possible?"
"Okay, give me a minute…" Kirby answered while professionally tinkering with the other controls on the keyboard to find the source location function. In other words, he's using the GPS. He typed so professionally that it was already cliché and so fast that his fingers seemed to be on the edge on being ignited in flames, but flames are worthless against a cyborg… I think. Eventually, Kirby did manage to do that as it was displayed on the screen.
"Kay, got it- huh? What the heck?"
"Something wrong, Kirby? Were you not able to find it from here?"
"No, I did," Kirby shook his head. "But look! It said that the current location of the Orb Piece is constantly moving everywhere on its own! There's no definite location for us to get it; how is it even moving itself at all? I don't even think everyone else even got to it and now it says it's actually here, so how?"
Suddenly, an eerie dread shook me as if we weren't the only ones in the room. My body quivered with dread and fear so much that it hurts to even look to the side.
Breathless then, I could only dare to ask, "Why does it feel like there's someone behind us, Kirby?"
"Hey, you don't think…" The same expression reached Kirby as well as he was paralyzed in fear too. In unison, we trembled to turn around and find out who it was. I wanted to expect nobody yet somebody was there. When we peered to the side, an intimidating figure stood before us after it rose from our own shadows. The last thing I expected to see it do was pull out a high-tech rifle and unlatched the safety hatch, reload, and stared at us with intimidation.
We both looked back at each other, not moving for another second. "Now what do we do if the guy before us is real?"
"It's simple, Kaila. When there's a guy who's loaded with a rifle in his hands, there's only one thing we can do…" Kirby trailed off as he said that while lowering his voice. "If it's a prank, we ignore. But if the guy's legit real…" The armed figure cocked his rifle again, making us sweat even more, but once he pointed the weapon in our faces, there was only one logical thing to do in that situation…
"RUN FOR IT!" We both screamed, barreling our way from the rifle and out through the door. Our screams echoed across the hallways of the sector, accompanied by the sounds of mechanical footsteps in our wake.
"Who the heck is that guy wearing a black leather jacket and jeans with black boots and silver spikes, dirty blonde hair, black shades and a freaking shotgun rifle and why is he after us?!" I screamed.
"Tell that to him!" Kirby screamed back. "He's coming after us! We need to get out of here fast!"
"But what about the Orb Piece, Kirby?!"
"We'll deal with that later! The last thing I'd ever want is to be terminated by that lunatic, rifle-wielding maniac! At least it's not a boss battle- please tell me it's not!" Kirby shouted.
Prepare to be Terminated- 29th Boss Battle
Kirby & Kaila VS Terminus, the Terminating Terminator (Phi Battle- Sonic Battle)
Boss Description: It's just as the title says. I don't know his actual name, so let's call him Terminus because why not? He's like the real deal anyway. That's what I'm worried about- if he's supposed to be similar to the one you know, then you're screwed. Maybe he's the reason why the laboratory shut down, perhaps he's the guardian of that place or something. First things first, you better run from him and find a place more spacious. Until then, run or be terminated!
Terminus gives chase! Terminate him or be terminated- literally!
"…seriously? Why did I have to say that?" Kirby groaned as he ran. "Now we have to take him head on! This isn't good, and he's catching up!" Looking back, the cyborg was still chasing after us while holding the rifle in his hand.
"You know, I'm curious as to why he didn't fire at us before," I commented. "But he is insanely fast! Shouldn't we shake him off our trail?!"
"Yeah, let's do that!" Kirby agreed. "I don't know if our cyborg bodies could match up to him yet, so let's slow him down while we're at it!" Without another second to waste, we picked up our running pace to get ahead of the enemy, looking for someplace to hide. Apparently, the cyborg didn't hesitate to open fire randomly and we barely evaded them unscathed.
This guy was really on our tails every second, from breaking the walls to popping up in rooms we hid without any explanation and firing at us whenever he felt like it. We both had the energy to keep running, but I don't know how long we can outrun the cyborg if he keeps doing this. Plus, we were in a maze of hallways, so we got lost!
"Here!" I skid into a room and grabbed Kirby to pull him in and shut the door. We were in a small room with very little places to hide. I was scared out of my mind as we barred the door and quickly stepped back, breathing restlessly. Metallic footsteps echo across the area, and they were getting closer and closer. "If he finds us in here, we're done for!" I whispered to Kirby.
Kirby sweated more than usual as he darted his eyes around the small room. "Argh, then there has to be something in this room we can bust through… and I'm sure he's bound to find us out if we rely on our cyborg powers."
Something glowing caught my eye at the moment, and it was attached to my left heel. It must've rolled out as we barricaded the door in a frenzy. Once I picked it up, I realized it was another ability trophy, just like when I found the Plasma stand in that chest on Platform Plains. A silver rock was the symbol, so I assumed it was some kind of metal in this. "Well, I don't know why I keep finding these, but would this help somehow?"
You got Metallokinesis, an Enhanced version of Metal! 2/12 abilities collected!
Kirby gasped silently at this, but withheld from taking it until he thought about something. The footsteps were gradually getting closer and closer by the second like a time limit in a game, and I don't do well under deathly pressure!
Kirby then said, "I got it. Kaila, can you use any enchant abilities?"
"Yeah, but which one do you want?" I whispered as he transformed into the metal ability, possessing a gold crown with a silver jewel and hair that was petrified metallically. His body color changed from pink to grey metal. He lifted up a broken pole with his ability and without hands and hoisted it over to me carefully.
"Any that can paralyze. Nonetheless, if he does break in, we're gonna disarm him and buy enough time for us to reach the middle base of where we were before we got here. I need you to enchant this with one that can at least hold him in place. I'll throw it once he breaks in and you disarm him after that; feel free to go all out if you want, just as long it's enough to get us back to the main hub and get the others. At the same time a better plan would suffice, but this is all I can think of to do!" Kirby explained.
I didn't hesitate to comply with him. "Can't blame you under this pressure; sure, let's do it. Viability Break!" Placing my hand on the metal pole, my hand gathered visible energy to pass it on to the vessel, and it was wrapped in that same aura.
"It's done."
Those same footsteps came to a halt in front of the door, driving us on edge. "Here he comes! Get ready!" I grunted in response.
Without warning, the door was kicked down in one punch, and so stood there was the assailant armed with his rifle and terrifying shades that hid those killer eyes from the general public. It glared at the mist created by the knock down force and just when he least expected it…
"GGLRRUURRK!" He was sniped in the chest, inflicted with the paralysis aura on the metal pole. That was my cue to disarm him; I high kicked the rifle out of his hands and caught it.
"I got it! Let's run!" I shouted; Kirby dashed quickly through the door with me and before we did, I shot a Crystal Bomb at the cyborg, which caused a massive explosion in the room.
"Man! That was a close one!" Kirby exhaled hard. "A second longer and we would've been terminated!"
"Seriously, who'd place a killer cyborg in a train station/laboratory anyway?!" I gasped. "And what just happened proved that Haltmann Works Company wants us back in pieces! I may not have known much about the incident, but even someone as clueless as I am can easily see the picture here! Come to think of it, you don't think that the terminator wannabe here is hunting us down because of the wicked company?!"
Kirby groaned and facepalmed himself. "Should've known better, since I thought it was always there in the game at first! Now that you mention it, I bet Susie did something to our contact with Espera as well!"
"Let's wait until after this blows over," I huffed steadily, sprinting through the halls. The windows there finally appeared to allow us to see the outside. "Look, there's the staircase and everyone else just gathered at the center!"
"WE'RE SAVED!" We both cried, tears rolling down our cheeks during our great escape from judgement day. The exit was just around the corner, and nothing could get in our way right now-
"DUCK!" Kirby pushed me down with him all of a sudden, and just in time to witness a fired rocket soar above us to explode at the wall. Black and yellow smoke clouded the corridor, and I knew without a doubt it was the assailant, with a rocket launcher in hand. Thanks to that, the only straight forward exit is caved in!
"Great! Now he caved the exit at the last minute!" I growled. "And the way he switched weapons… if he has more of them, we're utterly screwed!" The cyborg took his time, cocking the rocket launcher and taking fear-inducing footsteps to torture us with that arrival of anticipation. I didn't know what to do now, we were caught in a pincer attack of a scenario. Did I have to be that reliant for almost everything? I want him to rely on me now!
"Well," Kirby coughed. "We'll just have to fight back, what other choice do we have?!" He suddenly rushed at the killing machine with a hard blow to the stomach. Forcible gale blustered from the cleaving blow at the same time. I thought a dent would've at least appear on the metal man- that wasn't the case.
"GAAAH!" Instead, Kirby was shot back with one light hit, rolling across the floor and I caught him. "Ow, we're done for! Even with full power, he was barely fazed by the attack, even though I had Metal with me!" His form shattered on cue and reverted back to his original state. "God, the timing of this could not be worse right now."
"Kirby… stay with me!" I gasped. His health has been reduced to just half-full by a single blow; same for me too. Desperately looking around and backing away from the terminator at the same time, a glimpse of a crack caught my eye right there. The windows were vandalized by the explosion along with parts of the floor with cracks. Maybe just one more detonation will do the trick… I knew what I wanted to do.
I grabbed Kirby and positioned the rifle for a certain attack, energizing all the while. The cyborg kept on walking towards us, unaware of what I'm about to do, certain that we'd fall here. He cocked again and was ready to pull the trigger when…
"Crystal Bomb: Absolute Howl!" I pulled the trigger first.
Everything came from that attack to a massive explosion in the sector. As if time had stopped for us, I seized the chance to bounce from the area to the main hub. I jumped from there while carrying Kirby like a ninja leaping from the shadows until I homed in on the range of the nearest piece of land to prepare for the landing, in which I smoothly skid on my heels as to burn rubber in one piece.
Just as expected- my aim was to reach everyone else on that same place after the explosion occurred. Surely no one expected us to return like this, being chased after a killer cyborg and all. More than enough, they were already shook by surprise in that instance.
"Guys, you won't believe the amount of crud we went through," I huffed heavily. "We barely escaped with our lives!"
"Never mind that, I just hope that terminator didn't survive the explosion," Kirby sighed. "That would be great." A huge chunk crashed behind us in the meantime. Something metallic was spotted through the smoke.
A theme played. A figure stood there. The smoke cleared upon its presence. The shot came closer to him as I heard a mechanical set of six notes, two by three, played four times every time the view of him came closer about four times. And that's when I knew… he was alive once he came closer, unscathed!
Terminus took no damage! Wow, you're definitely done for!
"WE'RE SO SCREWED!" We both screamed. "THE TERMINATOR'S TOTALLY INVINCIBLE!"
"Terminator?" Aege snorted. "Please, you're overreacting. There's no way that hunk of junk could be invincible- just watch!" He rushed in to attack him head on. "You ready for this?! Heyah!" Aege threw a couple of punches at him, only to realize they had no effect on him. All the cyborg had to do was throw him back with one punch and on his face.
"Who are you calling a piece of junk?" The cyborg cocked a machine gun at us. "Terminate!"
"I take it back," Aege groaned. "You were right!"
"So this guy has been chasing you ever since you went for the sector?" Saito asked. "I was wondering where those screams came from."
"WHO CARES?! JUST DO SOMETHING ALREADY BEFORE HE KILLS US ALL!" We screamed.
"Don't worry, I've got this," Niva stepped in; she was walking towards the killer cyborg without a second thought. The terminator fired at her, but the bullets only bounced off of her. "How pathetic- bullets are worthless against me, you should know that, secretary."
"Everyone, let's back her up- eh?" I said, but I noticed that Niva waved her hand for us to stop.
"Do not interfere, princess. Rest for now and let me handle this one," She ordered while blocking a hard right hook from the cyborg, completely unfazed by it. He threw more strikes at the clockwork star girl, and yet she parried them all without effort. She delivered a smooth attack as a counter, a side kick to the stomach that pushed him back with ease.
"Come on, is that all you got?" She taunted.
The terminator bolted at her and swung furiously. Niva swiftly evaded the attacks and countered at the most convenient moments. She went toe-to-toe with an enemy that we had a hard time dealing with like it was nothing but a player vs player match.
"Wait a minute, that terminator's fighting style," Kirby gasped. "It's like she's fighting another player, not an enemy! No player would try to chase after people for the sake of it… hey, you don't think…?"
I stared at Kirby in realization while the spar between those two kept on going all the while. I think I've figured it out. "Niva! The shades!" I shouted, hurling the rifle at her which she caught.
"I already know, but thanks," She replied, cocking the rifle without hesitation, took aim and fired with only one hand. Once she did, the bullet knocked the shades off of him clean without much trouble, he staggered back as he winced… then he opened his eyes. They were hollow red, no pupils or anything, and they glitched rapidly.
Purple sparks flew from the body and it grew until they all dispersed, causing the cyborg to fall backwards, dropping everything in hand and fell like someone that just got killed. He stopped moving.
Niva exhaled and smiled. "He was pretty tough, don't you think? In the end, another failed attempt by the wicked company. Serves her right for ripping off a favorite."
The Terminator has been terminated- literally! (Pun Intended) Victory!
You gained 2000 experience points! You are now Level 32!
Health has extended to 1100! All stats rose by 120!
Perk Discovered: Bullet Resistance! Received 20 Code Crystals each!
You got the Iron Gunstar ability, an Enhanced version of Iron from the anime movie! 3/12 abilities collected!
Obtained Terminator Rifle!
Next Level in 2050 experience points.
Niva sighed. "That takes care of the terminator problem. I can see why you had a hard time against it, but it's all over now. In fact, take one good look at him and everything will make sense."
We did as she said. The terminator before us started to unravel itself all of a sudden like a legion of ants fleeing from a dead corpse. Everything about the guy started to fade away to unveil his true form, and soon, the killer cyborg was no more. I expected an endoskeleton, but that wasn't the case. Under that persona…
It was a boy, the first we've ever seen here. He had yellow hair and tan skin, just like Zeta. His eyes reverted back to cyan blue when he opened them. The boy slowly clutched his head and looked at us before he was about to scoot back when Niva gently grabbed him by the hand and bent down to his level.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"I… I don't know," He shyly replies. "What happened? Why am I in Neon Laboratory? And where are my friends?"
"It's a long story, but right now we just saved you from mind control and nearly terminating my allies here," Niva answered. "Listen, can you recall what you do remember before now?"
The boy was hesitant for a moment, trying to recall his memories again. "The last thing I do remember… ah! I felt an instant shock once I logged in… everything was glitchy all of a sudden, and a message had popped up saying that the game was under absolute new management, and after that, everybody started collapsing out of the blue and the same went for me. Anything after that, I don't remember."
"Ah, so this explains everything," Meta growled. "That's why we haven't seen another player since the moment we step foot into this game. She captured every single player with that mind control all in one swoop and mechanized them in the outside world!"
"Mechanized? You mean I've become a robot outside the game?" The boy panicked.
"Not anymore, you should be back to normal by now," Niva assured him. "You're safe, but the other players aren't. It's most likely they're gathered all in one area and being sent out in different places. Your friends may be out there as well."
"Then-!" He replied when Niva shushed him.
"It's okay, we'll go save your friends and free the game from the control of Haltmann Works Company, so don't worry," Niva smiled as she hugged him out of nowhere.
"Er… thanks, lady," He embarrassingly replied. "I guess I should log out now. Thanks for everything and be careful on the way there." Without another second wasted, he digitally disappeared in the same way we entered. Looks like he was free from harm for now.
"You really saved us, Niva," Kazela smiled. "Well, mainly Kirby and Kaila there; ironically, you didn't save them from being traumatized for life."
"That's harsh, you know!" Kirby and I sobbed dramatically. "We thought we were gonna die!"
"Yeah, but we never found the Orb Piece in the end," Dylan sighed. "And the contact is still out of order even after all of that. Does that mean we have to search every area of here top to bottom now?" Everyone groaned at the thought of going through that again.
"No worries, guys! That boy really came through for us," Niva waged her finger while she stuck her hand between her boobs and pulled out a shiny fragment, another piece of a whole.
You got another piece of the Thunder Orb! A few more left!
"That's-! How did you get that?! When did you get that?!" Sirica and Adeline exclaimed.
"It was the kid that had the piece the entire time as the killer cyborg state he was in. After he logged out, he also gave me this as thanks and I stuck it between my boobs without your notice. Either way, we would've never found it had not Kirby and Kaila ran into him," Niva explained.
"Oh, so that's why the Orb Piece was moving in different directions," I gasped. "Surely I didn't expect someone else to be carrying it when we've never seen a single player earlier. Regardless, we managed to restore the power to the train sector in the end, so that means we can head on to the next level!"
"Thank god, at least we'll be doing something fun this time once we get there," Aege commented.
Train Sector
Lights were now active, brightening up the area that was once shrouded in the blaring dark. Systems and mechanics were up and working again along with the inactive train that stood before us, awakened from its forced slumber and slid open the doors. Everyone stepped in and the doors closed itself once the last person got in.
Inside, it looked like a fancy train you'd see in one of those winter specials, it came with a restaurant setting, seats that had a table and were facing each other near the windows as if we were expecting our order of food to come. Credit for those details, I'll give them that. As we took our seats, we were startled by an autotuned voice.
"Welcome aboard, passengers. This train will depart for Mega-Drive Madness in a few minutes," A voice ignited. "In the meantime, our staff will provide you with the necessities to your liking of whatever you desire. Connection is available at the moment, so feel free to contact the Queen from the other dimension. Our orders from her Highness is to take you all the way until the Last Level; take the time to rest yourselves and recover!"
"Queen? Are they referring to Espera?" Jodie concluded. "I find it weird that they acknowledge someone in the real world as their queen in a virtual reality game."
"Espera did make the game series after all," Saito answered. "It would be most logical that not everything in the game is under Susie's control and that Espera has some resistance through any shape or form. Ironically, the Queen was abducted in this game and the princess went to save her from the Mother Computer and never returned. I'm guessing that the Queen was taken to their base, which is through another dimension plane. She's able to reach the heroes through telepathy, I think."
"You sure do know a lot about this game," Kirby exhaled. "But maybe we can ask Espera about what happened earlier and see what we can do about it."
"Definitely," Karly agreed. "Anything could take place out there while we're stuck in here for the time being."
"Could Susie really do that if her mind's in the game only?" Adeline stated. "If she can, I only hope it doesn't happen at the wrong time."
"Who knows? That's why we're not taking any chances," Meta grunted. "As far as I'm concerned, it looks like she hasn't changed after all… how insulting that is…"
"Let's not worry for now," I could only say.
Everyone slowly agreed to this. I could tell that some of them weren't taking this easy as there was a deep-seated grudge against the secretary, Susie. Kazela looked at me with concern for the others.
"Kaila, they seem upset. Will they be okay?" She asked.
"I hope so, Kazela," I sighed. The force of the train started to kick into high gear and slowly began its acceleration at a steady pace. I felt my injuries rejuvenate, and I didn't question it again. The sight of the laboratory began to move from that scene as it disappeared into the tunnel.
"Attention, players. We will now begin our ride to Mega-Drive Madness, your required destination. As before, use this time to prepare yourself for the current dangers that await you there; please speak to the Queen before anything else. Thank you and have a safe trip!"
Level Two Complete!
Back at the Company Lab…
"Espera! The players have completed Level Two! We can attempt calling them now!" One of the assistants declared.
"My, they're doing better than I expected," She chuckles, turning around to the group on standby. "No worries, everyone. At this rate, we'll have no problem at all plowing through the game."
"That's a relief," Merina sighed. "I was starting to get worried there."
"Just when I thought taking over a game was bad enough," Dedede shook his hand. "Oh well, at least they haven't tried to torture us with anything else, thank god."
"I don't know about that one, king," Bandana Dee countered. "This is Haltmann Works Company we're talking about. But I suppose they can't make things any worse than it is right now."
"Why would they if video game domination was their main focus?" Aqua questioned. "I mean, I can't imagine what the poor kids are going through as slaves to their demands."
"As far as I'm concerned, our heroes have a long way to go after saving one player from mechanization," Mackenzie said with concern. "Still, now's our chance to reach them in that available time while we can."
"I see… well, you've all certainly held up your line after they went in the game," The professor said. "So until they reach Mega-Drive Madness, we'll take five from here. If anything happens, make sure to alert us immediately, okay?"
"Yes, Professor Espera," They replied.
Little do they know, something still was awaiting its chance to take the spotlight, but the time has not yet come… still, they do know that whatever it is, it won't be like the last time…
Now Saving… Save Complete!
To be continued…
End of Chapter 6 Act 2!
Author's Note Summary:
Looks like that'll be the end of it. I might as well go off with a bang for the school year. After two weeks of school and junk, it's finally finished and just in the nick of time as well! I may not have to give my laptop after all… hopefully. Nonetheless, I still hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm also working on the next one, see if I can get at least halfway into the story and do some editing for the last two weeks if possible. With that, let's get on with the usual.
The beginning of this is quite simple. After getting in the game was a success, a bit more light was shed on the history of this planet. You can probably tell there was a sign of a grudge between Espera and Susie. The magazine from Monokitsune was checked out as well; the real trouble begins when an invader was detected at the same time and now contact between planes were cut short intentionally. That was just the beginning.
Here in Level One, Platform Plains is the easiest by game standards and the track used was from the GBA version of Spy Kids 3 and I didn't know it was called Platform Land until afterwards. It's pretty catchy though. Oh, you know the Code Crystals? It's another version of the Code Cubes in Planet Robobot. This time, the capability is that you're able to upgrade a character's skill and strength using them as well as having hidden perks to their cyborg bodies. Starlight tends to do that, making the player discover their hidden potential when they really need it. Pretty neat, don't ya think?
Platform Plains may be the easiest level, but in terms of length it's really challenging as the grassy areas are always large anyways, not to mention the amount of puzzle-solving in there as well. If you recall before, it was mentioned that the reason why there are only five levels is because it's made up of entirely different areas and merged into one depending on the setting there. Basically a VR-3D-MMORPG Metroidvania if you prefer, ya freaking weirdos. You can basically go to any area of the level you want by taking different pathways along the way, but only one area will take you to the next level. A pretty genius concept if I say so myself.
The boss of Platform Plains is Gigavolt, the side-boss of the third level in Patched Plains. Heavy Gigavolt is a heavy form like Heavy Lobster is and he shares the same kinds of weaknesses if upgraded to heavy but is extremely powerful. Beating him requires the armor, but that's where the perks come in as Kirby used his hand as a replacement for the drill arm. Each heavy monster have one common weakness but different individual ones, like his weakness was Plasma for example. Either way, that was the concept I used for that.
Level Two is Neon Laboratory from the screw towers, but it was mainly a train station area. The mechanization made it into an abandoned facility. The train isn't manual, so it had to be activated by going into the laboratory area and heading to sector two there. Pretty much, the area plays just like the original laboratory in different areas.
And once the power was restored, here comes the Terminator. The whole chase and brawl was inspired by the actual terminator movies and My Bride's a Mermaid. I didn't have enough time to make it both hilarious and fear-inducing, so this is the best thing I could come up with. As you know, the cyborg's capability is based off the real one, but the reason why almost nothing could smash him is because it wasn't a mindless robot in the first place. Of course, in that room, you've got the Metallokinesis ability, which is Metal from Squeak Squad. Even stunning Terminus did something, but not entirely. If by anything, he was pissed off and went all out on them.
The duo's attempt to tackle him head on was futile and were nerfed to half their health points. Kaila was forced to use full power with Crystal Bomb's howling technique- Absolute Howl, which at that state is by so far her deadliest attack ever seen besides her Zerosterlia persona; it's powerful enough to decimate an entire state if she was righteously provoked or instant-kill her opponent if powered up with Chaos Charge- 100%. However, she only used a fair amount of power so that it wouldn't destroy the entire area and give her enough time to reach the others.
Even after all of that, the Terminator was unscathed. If an attack like that didn't work, you were utterly screwed if you were in that situation. That deadly attack was ineffective because he adapted to the threat of his target and amplified himself to be null to any attacks possible. Nothing could stop that machine… except Niva, who took him down like it was nothing. But why did she manage to beat him whereas Kirby and Kaila barely stood a chance against him at all? The answer is surprising but simple: it was machine against machine here. Basically, Niva is the only character by far in the party who is an actual living machine that has been humanized; she's a clockwork star, and a being like her can match that of a killer cyborg and mostly surpass them. Still, there was another way to beat the terminator in here- all you had to do was knock off the shades with a force that powerful. And remember the perk system? You just witnessed that into action here as Niva fires at the cyborg in one shot and blew away the shades, thus ends judgement day.
In fact, the shades or rather the headsets visible in the game are the servers of the mind control program and the terminator is revealed to be another player! Apparently, Susie can alter the statuses of a player in her hand both physically and digitally by hacking their headsets. Only in the virtual dimension can the player be freed from mind control as it is too much of a risk to do that from the outside with no telling of what could happen. Anyway, the Iron Gunstar ability is basically Iron from the anime movie Fright to the Finish, so I'm hoping to expand on that. Back to matters, the boy possessed as the terminator is freed and returns to the real world after giving Niva the next Orb Piece.
The train is finally active and now they can travel to Level Three, Mega-Drive Madness, and they're getting there with style. Not everything is under HWC's control such as the monorail train which the Queen of Starlight aka Professor Espera has access to, solving the communication problem before. And thus, the trip to the next level will pick up from there the next chapter.
Alright, that should be mostly everything covered… I think. So now would be a good time to tell you… actually, I'm pretty sure it's obvious at this point what I'm going to say at this time of the year but still, I'm gonna say it- unfortunately, this will be the checkpoint chapter of the year this time as in-
Kirby: Another hiatus, huh? Twice in the past two years makes it obvious, you know. Still, I don't mind it if you need a break after dealing with school and that junk.
I know, but I'm praying next year won't be that hectic as it appears to be and that I can finish this in that year if possible. For the next two weeks, I'll be writing the next chapter and editing old ones because apparently I have to. I'll see how far I can get into the next one and manage my time more efficiently. As for the summer, I'll see if I can do just that at least. For the editing part, I'd appreciate it if you point out the mistakes in the past chapters if you can.
Kirby: Well, at least this year was really exciting with all of the new releases and new anime! Here, I can't believe I missed Dedede wrecking the Eldritch Void while we were unconscious. And now here we are in another dimension again this time inside a VR game to save everyone from mind control by Susie. I sure hope she didn't decide to do this on her own, because Meta is about ready to dirty his hands once we get there.
Don't worry, everything will be fine in the next act, you'll see. Anyway, speaking of that, turns out we're able to keep our laptops this year! That means I'll have to get on that any chance I get during the summer. Nonetheless, this will be it for the time being, but again the story is not discontinued, just a hiatus- again. I'll be back in the next 2-3 months as usual, but as for this year, I hope you enjoyed the story so far! I'd like to thank you all for your reviews and support and shout out to you, Merendinoemiliano! Now this story is on pause for the third time, but I'm not dead- trust me! With that, I'm going into my senior year next year! Leave your thoughts and reviews as usual and PM me anytime and I'll turn on automatic guest reviews for the summer. Thank you all and goodbye… probably.
Kirby: You guys are awesome! See ya in three months, I guess.