Could this...really have happened?
01010101 01000101 01000101 01000011Launched from Mariah at such high speeds, Stein had been sent hurtling over Kanto. Any chance he had of getting his bearings mid-air like this was near-impossible, so he relented and sat himself down, resigning himself to this fate.
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"Ugh, can't believe I let myself get so careless like that, letting Asphoxia slip away. Really...I should have thought about putting my secret base somewhere that wasn't so easily accessible by others..."
01010100 01011001 01000001 00100000Exhausted, Stein lay back in his uncomfortable position being hurtled miles per second within the air. Now, more than ever, did he need to concentrate on what his next move would be...
01000110 01000011 01010100 01000010(>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ (>'-')>(Sudden narrative shift because)Asphoxia hisses, black blood attacking Alex's hair specifically. He jumps back, strands of his hair being torn through. Alex yelps out in concern for his glorious locks.
Alex: Ah, not the hair!
Xano, our robed purple creature, calibrates to his sudden teleportation. "...What? Okay, why am I...Phox?!"
Gladion is taken back by the two warping in, and Fumbles seems a little more...surprised. Alex just states his name for comedic purposes. Upon having their name called, Asphoxia snaps out of Hyper Mode.
01010100 00100000 01000101 01010010Xano: ...Phox...is that...is that really you?
Asphoxia: ...I don't know, is there any *other* winged cat Cancer Saint in training running around this Athena-forsaken area?
Gladion: So...their name is Phox?
Alex: Asphoxia, specifically. Anyways...is this a bad time?
Xano: "..."
Asphoxia: "...Xano why the Meikai are you here"
Xano: "I came for you."
Gladion: "...Asphoxia. How many others are in your group, that can warp around like that?"
Asphoxia: "...Fair enough. And.. I don't know? I think only Alex...? And he only warped Xano here because Xano was looking for me specifically. Also because I yelled at him through astral projection that I didn't want him to get hurt by the KUMQUATSing hacker."
Gladion: ...Well, that's handy. And Alex, you didn't warp here sooner...why?
Xano: ...
Alex: I'll have you know, there was a barrier over the place not that long ago that prevented that sort of thing...at least, that's what it said in the script.
Gladion: ...What script?
Xano: I'm not letting you get hurt more than you already have.
Gladion: ...
Good choice of words. They seem to be hurt plenty.
Asphoxia quietly hums the "Phantom of the Opera" theme, too scared that something hostile is going to warp in.
Xano: ...It's okay. You're safe.
Asphoxia: ......how the Meikai am I safe on Terramort
01010101 01011010 01011000 00100000Gladion: Yes. Completely safe. We're only on a volcanic island run by mad scientists that do...I don't even want to know here. Not to mention the guards positioned everywhere. I only barely made it past the one...
Xano: ...I don't...I'm just trying to be reassuring! You know, with the whole being kidnapped and all.
Gladion: ...Lying is not reassuring.
Welp. As soon as Gladion mentioned "mad scientists", Phox curled up in a ball and started shivering again. Since they haven't applied Vantablack to themself in this reality yet it's very obvious that their fur's been cut and the group can see a lot of scars...
Gladion looks over to Asphoxia, shivering, thinking back on what he learned in this short period of Asphoxia. "You want Asphoxia safe?"
Xano: "More than anything."
Gladion: "Then remove them from this picture."
Asphoxia: "...I need to free Alphys though...also I'm going to send the scientists to the Meikai and topple bluecorp. I don't really *want* to be in this lab but I'm going to screw over their operations as much as I can and make sure they're too busy burning to try anything like this again."
Xano: "...Okay, fine. We do that, but as soon as we're done, I'm getting you out of here!"
Asphoxia: "Okay."
Gladion turns his attention to Alex. "Alex...right? If things get too rough here...you can send Asphoxia somewhere safe, right? And...perhaps find Alphys?
01000110 01010001 01010001 01011001Alex: "Hmm...I can't say I know where Alphys is. But that first thing is definitely possible."
Gladion: "I have my own business here, too. Namely, finding something
besides my own pokemon that were stolen...but that's none of your concern. "
Xano: "Duly noted."
Bumumumumumo! The sound of something deep and course echoed throughout the area...
Asphoxia: "...The Meikai was that."
Alex simply shrugs. Fumbles continues to bleed out. And Xano...well, Xano seems to know his Megaman. "...Oh no."
Suddenly, yellow droplets come flying in from the other side of the room. They land in front of the group, merging and creating what appears to be a large, yellow golem...
Asphoxia: "We can't move three inches in this place before..." Asphoxia turns to the golem. "Stand down or get curb stomped. Really, those are your only two options here.
Xano stares at the mass of yellow, though, knowing very well what it is.
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"...A Yellow Devil."Bumo....bumumumo...bumumumumumumumumo!...Xano pulls out a purple staff, topped with a glowing dark purple orb. A blade forms out of the orb, forming a scythe. Guess it's time for a Megaman Boss Battle-
Asphoxia: "....This thing doesn't deserve a battle theme of its own..how about the new Nanobii song plays in the background instead?"
They spread music to cover up the Wily Boss music. Asphoxia, why-
The Yellow Devil fires off two lasers at the group, before spinning around back into droplet form. Xano stands in front of Phox, a barrier forming from his scythe, which any droplets heading near the group soar past. Alex finds his own way of dodging, namely jumping over a few of the ones he needs to jump over.
Asphoxia: "...This thing's going to be annoying."
Black blood shoots from Asphoxia at the yellow devil, encasing some of the droplets. Xano pushes one of droplets that wasn't encased into the ground, crushing it under the scytheSquish. It separates into smaller droplets. The yellow droplets encased in the black blood seem to just...sit there. The ones that weren't encased form a smaller Yellow Devil at the other side of the platform, then firing off two more lasers, which Xano blocks with yet another barrier.
01010010 01011010 01010100 00100000Asphoxia: "Ok new plan. When it reforms after this I'm sending it to the Meikai."
Alex: "...I mean, I guess that works, too."
Xano: "...Same old answer, but, it's still effective. Just make sure to get the core."
Asphoxia: "What? It's going to burn itself up and be destroyed and I've never played Megaman. Without the core will the droplets be useless?"
Alex: Indeed they will.
Asphoxia: Alright. I guess we could also just target that.
The Yellow Devil splits apart again. The droplets fly towards the group once more, though Asphoxia throws up a shield of black blood around themselves. Xano readies his scythe and slashes through the droplets that fly his way. The droplets that hit the shield slide off, like on a windshield. The ones that are hit by Xano's scythe fall to the ground, but slide off the ground towards where the Yellow Devil will reform.
Asphoxia looks for the core and goes in to slash it, said core being the eye. It opens up, and fires off a laser as Asphoxia slashes at the core, getting hit by the laser as their attack hits. They stumble back, coughing up a bit of black blood, which hovers in the air (think that thing that Crona does with the black blood elongating into needles). Xano leaps at the eye and slashes at it several times as the Yellow Devil fires off another laser. Xano gets hits back, but sticks the landing.
Xano: "...Now might be a good time...!"
The black blood that Asphoxia had coughed up floats forwards and stabs the eye. The eye is stabbed, at around the same time Alex closes in for a stab with his own spacial blade. You know, the one with no blade, but the blade is actually super long, and Planet questions where he puts said thing-
Alex: Xeno, now's not the time!
Alex jumps back as the Yellow Devil splits apart yet again. The core disappears into one of the yellow droplets, which Asphoxia targets with their black blood. The core is hit. It sparks, and the Yellow Devil explodes in a magnificent glory!
Xano: "...Nice job."
Asphoxia: "...Let's just get going before anything else happens." The black blood reabsorbs into Asphoxia.
01010011 01001110 01010110 01010010Xano: "That would probably be best...Where is the exit, anyways?"
Alex merely shrugs. Gladion motions across the gaps in the room.
Asphoxia: "...We're basically going thee way I got to the elevator from but
NOT IN THE DOME, right?
Gladion: Honesty, I'm just surprised that Dellyn guy hasn't gotten out of that cell yet-
The elevator that Gladion came from seems to be going down...
Asphoxia: "If it's the Dellyn I think it is, his tree half is going to hate the Meikai."
Gladion: Just as much as I'd like to distance myself from him as far as possible.
The group, were they to look across the room, would find several colored cranes that each seemed to lead to a different platform. Using the right cranes here would be key...
01010000 00100000 01000111 01010001(>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ (>'-')>01001111 01001100 01001010 00100000...Yumemi stares expectantly at both Notshalite and Cloacky, not sure what to figure the wish as. Wanting the Nintendo Switch and wanting a robot to be a lot less violent...that's neither accumulative, nor-
"Wait! I think I got an idea!...I wish for three more wishes!"
"...Very well. But only because...you're honestly quite a cute kid."
Steven thunk hard at that moment. He had to make these three wishes count...he desperately wanted to help Buttertwo, but...that felt more like Garnet's field than anything.
"Alright...for my first wish...I wish that, not only was Discount Bot nicer to Notshalite, and was just nicer as a whole, but also doubled as a Nintendo Switch will all games it will ever have installed on it!"
01000101 01011000 01001011 01011001Yumemi takes out a pad on her person, and starts typing in several numbers, as if like coding. What happens to Discount Bot from this wish...is entirely up to Oshalite, really.
01000111 00100000 01010011 01000110...A glint shines in Steven's eye. He knows what to wish for next.
"Okay...for my next wish...I want all the pokemon that were stolen from here to return to their rightful...no, that's not right. Ok, how about...I wish you returned all the Pokemon that were stolen from here to their trainers that loved them the most!"
01011001 01000101 01001011 00100000More fiddling on the pad. A rather large party shuffling occurs. Terry and the Mienshao dissapear, as does the Dingle. Monxsas, being loved by Robbie Rotten, is kept by him. Gladion finds...he might have all 5 of his pokemon returned to him. The Shadow Type: Null get sent back to Yumemi. The Shadow Raichu goes...who knows where? And lastly, Rose is shifted from C to Dimitri. That last one falls under technicalities, but-
01001111 01000101 01001000 01001011
"...Wait a minute. How did you..." Steven...seemed slightly baffled at the Type: Null returning to Yumemi...
"...Type: Null here hasn't exactly had the best life. I've been told it was experimented on, and then was upgraded needlessly...then shadowed when it got here. I'm told locking their heart is quite effective, but it is quite sad. Oh well. Nothing can be done about it."
"That's...that's so sad! But...you can do a lot more about it! If this means what I think this means...Type:Null here has never been with anyone that actually cared about them...until you. And if that's the case, I know what to wish for..."
"Yumemi! I wish you could understand the kind of work that your colleagues did. Not just here, but...you know! To creatures like that Type: Null of yours. I want you to understand their suffering...and it's not part of my wish, but I just...really want you to be more understanding of these poor creatures and what they've been through. If you just knew what they were like, then maybe..."
01001101 00100000 01000111 01000001Yumemi typed on her pad once again, flatly taking in the wish. It was...what she saw after that that really got her attention. Visions of what Stein had done to Asphoxia in the past, both recent and...not so recent. She felt like she was in her place, suffering all those experiments. And not just Stein's experiments, either. She could feel the sorts of things Ein had done to pokemon in order to seal their hearts, the emotionally intense experiences...and the things Captain Goblinslayer had done to captured subjects in Brassmoon. And...
something...else...01001101 01000101 01010111 00100000"...I...I need to leave here. Can't stand...being here..."
Yumemi runs off, for the first-floor elevator...
01000110 01010001 01010010 01010110(>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ (>'-')>01010011 00100000 01000101 01001000The group looks around the floor for anything that might help to defeat Fire Man. Garnet jumps off to a Pokeball chest on the isolated island in the lava stream, picking up two revives, while Tikai dashes off to the left, picking up two White Herbs!
...Neither of these things are going to help much.
01010110 01000001 01001001 00100000Instead, Carl uses something else...namely, a Burn Heal that he pulls out from his pocket, and throws at Fire Man, 'healing' him of his burn. Namely, by putting out the fire on his head. Fire Man tries shooting out fire, but only the fire shield comes up around him. Worried, he jumps back into the lava of the room, coming back up with a full set of fire.
...Guess the item idea didn't work. These guys might have to think of a different strategy entirely...
01000111 01000100 01010011 01011001(>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ (>'-')>01000011 00100000 01010011 01010011You feel like a bunch of teenagers and a dragon are taking your job. You don't really blame them, it's a tough economy out there in Kanto right now, but you'd certainly appreciate having at least SOME end-game goal to accomplish. Like...taking over the world. That was one of your goals, right? Also becoming the King of all Stands. [Volcano Bakemeat] shows some real promise, even if you've used it only once so far.
01001001 01000011 01000101 00100000You grab onto Magma Man and stuff his head piece full of Volcano Bakemeat, aiming him downwards. Instead of, like, falling back into the lava or doing...that, or equal stupid things, you instead propel yourself upwards into the air with the power of Volcano Bakemeat, and Volcano Robot Masters. You land safely in front of the sphere, Magma Man exploding in a glory of magma and bakemeat overhead, dropping TM 971 (Magma Bazooka). Again, the doors into the main building hardly look like they'd open...except they do. After you punch them with some hamon energy. You walk inside.
01011001 01010101 01001000 01001000(>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ (>'-')>01001101 00100000 01010000 01000110The group decides the best course of action is...
likely to run. Dark Pit and Lapis fly off to the kitchen, whilst Klonoa and Kirby run down the left hall. The Ultimate Chimera runs off after them, coming back into the center of the hallway from the right side. The Chimera then runs off for the Kitchen.
01001100 01010010 01010010 00100000In the kitchen, the Chimera passes by the pantry and fridge. The fridge door opens as the chimera passes by, showing Klonoa and Dark Pit cramped inside. The pantry doors open to show Kirby stuffing his face, as well as Lapis in the pantry next over. The Chimera notices, and all four of them run out from their hiding spots.
01011000 01010000 01000110 01001011The group passes through the kitchen into the living spaces, passing by a few beds and a cactus. Koop peeks out from the cactus, and Professor Layton from one of the sheets.
01011001 00100000 01000100 01001101The Chimera runs out from the Living quarters , chasing after Complains and Remilia into Stein's Lab. Lapis and Dark Pit fly out of the Kitchen into Ein's lab, Robbie and his gang running from Ein's Lab into Stein's Lab, quickly running out chased by the Ultimate Chimera. They end up running into the living dooms as Kirby and Professor Layton run out from the Kitchen into Stein's Lab. Koop and Marcus then run off from the Living quarters into Ein's Lab, chasing after the Ultimate Chimera. Flandre runs out from Stein's Lab into Ein's lab with Princess Cadence and Megan riding Fluffy. Amethyst dashes full-speed out from Ein's lab into the bathroom, as the Mystery Gang and Riley run from Ein's Lab into Stein's Lab. The entire group emerges in the center of the room, with the Chimera running after them. However, Robbie Rotten is there lying in wait, and throws a net on top of the Chimera
"Alright, now let's see who's REALLY the Ultimate Chimera!"
Fred Jones pulls at the head of the Ultimate Chimera, revealing...
"Xeno!?!"
The crowd unleashes a collective gasp.
"Yeah! And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your puffball, too!"
"Poyo!"
"...Yeah, this isn't Xeno. Let's see who this REALLY is!"
Marcus pulls off Xeno's mask, revealing...
01000001 01010010 01010111 00100000
"Like, zoinks Scoob! It's that guy that made the PC, Bill Masaki! What a twist!"
01000001 01010111 01010110 01010011
"Well, you got me. My true secret...I was Xeno all along! Certainly that clears up any-"
01010011 00100000 01010110 01010011
"Nah, this is a mask, too. Bill was turned into a fish!"
01000101 01001001 01000011 00100000Marcus pulls off the mask again, revealing...
"Lapis! Fuse with me!"
"...If this is someone's idea of a joke, it's in really poor taste.Lapis pulls off Jasper's mask again, revealing...
"You thought it was the Ultimate Chimera, then you thought it was Xeno, then you thought it was Bill, then you thought it was Jasper...but it was me, Dio!"
Fred pulls pff the mask one last time, revealing...
"Jinkies! It's..."
...an earth worm. Really, it would have been obvious if you had been paying attention since the beginning. The group just casually makes their way up a nearby elevator, completely ignoring the actual Ultimate Chimera standing a short whiles away...
01001000 01010001 01010111 01010110 01000101 00100000 01010000
The main floor of the sphere is quite large, obviously circular. On the northern wall of the room is a giant screen, displaying a scientist escaping from the next floor up VIA helicopter. There are also an assortment of desks in the room as well as a large podium. Near the entrance of the floor is, quite thankfully, a Heal Station and PC. A Heal Station and PC you, the player, happen to be standing nearby! And in the center of the room...
"Oh! It seems like we have guests!...I personally detest guests! And I imagine Ein does, too! So..."
01010110 01010010 01000010 01001111 00100000 01010100 01000001Clown Man approaches!
Feed me lemons or feed me life!
*Yawwwwn, smack smack smack*
"Ummm... Leif, where are we?"
"Jake, I can't believe you fell asleep while travellin-"
"When did we get to a volcano lab?"
"I must have zoned out and been following self consciously."
"Ah no worries; say... is that Carl and Garnet?"
"Looks like they are fighting a fire type robot, better give it a Hydro Pump."
"First things first, a dramatic entrance with a move that defies logic... Rainy Dance!"
"Very well, lets go rain on his parade."
"Jake, you do remember that am a Lucario, right? 
