Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Beat

"... oh... wait, I... I thought..."

He suddenly looks sheepish. A far cry from his bravado from earlier.

"I... I thought you literally said 'Magmar attack!', like that being the name of the attack."

Persian shows him a 'are you fucking kidding me' expression before turning back to face Magmar.

"W... well, Bubble Beam didn't do much, and Persian may be burnt, but this isn't the end just yet! Persian, Double Team!"

Persian smirks and starts creating illusionary doubles of itself.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Jul 22nd 2021 at 3:37:57 PM

Red smirks back.

"Burn will knock out Persian eventually. That can only go on for so long."

Red nods, and Magmar proceeds to use Fire Blast - on the ground, near Persian's position. The explosion kicks up dust and dirt, and might knock Persian off-balance.

Umezou vs. Red

Battle Legend Red has arrived on the scene, drinking a nondescript soda pop as he watches his younger alternate self and some weirdo kid going at it.

"..." 3-way FFA?

"Jump!"

The Persians jump up to avoid Fire Blast, and once they land on the ground Umezou grins.

"Rest."

All of the Persians, the doubles included, then fall asleep. The burn gets cured and HP is restored. This would normally be easy to take advantage of, but...

Which one of them is the real one?

Umezou looks pretty proud of himself, then notices the other Red. And even though this one is older, Umezou still seems to recognize him as Red, going by his dumbfounded expression.

"W-wait, there's two of you!?"

"Cara, what kind of incomplete intel have you been giving me!?", he thinks to himself.

Red greets his future alternate self with a grin, but shakes his head.

"Sorry. Maybe we can try an FFA some other time?"

Magmar uses Lava Plume to try and just shower the battlefield in lava. Is it redundant with Fire Blast? Probably. Is this a Magmar used for competitive matches most of the time? ... No, it really isn't.

SM!Red nods respectfully and sends out all of his own Pokémon at once - the three starters, Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Missingno. They grab seats and more drinks out of nowhere to spectate.

Lava Plume turns out to be a successful strategy at getting rid of the doubles all at once... and for getting the real Persian to wake up and scramble around because the end of its tail ended up being set on fire. It'd have fainted from this if it's HP hadn't been restored a moment ago.

"Crap, this isn't working. Persian, just keep using Sla-", Umezou says, though pauses when he sees SM!Red's Pokemon. ... Well, specifically, Missingno.

His stare is intense, and his expression is the kind someone would have when they see something shocking. In a distressing way, not a funny way. He stares for long enough that there's no way both Reds won't notice it.

However, he eventually slaps his own cheek.

"No, focus, FOCUS!", he thinks to himself. His expression turns more serious, and a bit ferocious too.

"Persian! Use Double Team to surround Magmar!", he calls out. His Persian, having only just calmed down, suddenly seems to get more serious too when it notices Umezou's expression, creating more doubles that form a circle around the powerful Fire Pokemon.

"Now use Slash before Magmar can react to Double Team!", he then immediately calls out, using Persian's superior speed to go for a Critical Hit Slash attack. And since the attack seems to come from all sides, Magmar may not be able to react in time.

ToP Arena

Kim: "Interesting."

Kim takes the Core Crystal, examining it.

Edited by DefRevenge24601 on Jul 22nd 2021 at 7:14:41 AM

The slash proceeds to obliterate the remainder of Magmar's HP, turning the Pokémon into a... fainted Pokémon.

"Good job, Magmar... return."

"I choose you! Gengar!"

"GYEHEHEH!"

Upon being sent out, the Ghost-type immediately floods the battlefield with Sludge Wave.

SM!Red raises an eyebrow, noting Umezou's reaction, but chooses not to remark on it. Silent as ever.

Sipp.

There's a brief 'Oh shit' look in Umezou's eyes as a Gengar hits the field.

Sludge Wave hits, and it seems to have been a Critical Hit because after the doubles are gone, Persian faints.

"... alright, I'll admit, you're Champion material alright.", Umezou says as he returns Persian to its Poke Ball, then switches it out for another.

"But you're still a fake. Both of you! Tauros!"

He throws his Poke Ball, with a Tauros◊ emerging.

"This is one of the strongest ones I have. But he's far from my ace in the hole...", he thinks to himself.

He points at Gengar.

"Earthquake!"

Tauros lets out a roar before stomping the ground viciously, sending powerful tremors towards Gengar. Even though it got burnt by Lava Pool, it still has tremendous physical power at its disposal.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Jul 22nd 2021 at 4:56:33 PM

Gengar's Levitate causes Ground-type moves to miss!

Uh-oh.

Gengar giggles at the poor Tauros, before blasting its Sp. Attack higher with Nasty Plot.

"All right! Stay on your toes, Gengar!"

The assholish shadow twirls around the battlefield, taunting (but not Taunting) the opposition.

SM!Red raises yet another eyebrow at the legality of his counterpart's Gengar. Then again, his Missingno has Evasion Boost, so he can't really judge.

Edited by KiriK on Jul 22nd 2021 at 9:32:28 AM

"Huh!?", Umezou gasps in genuine surprise when Gengar just no-sells Earthquake.

He quickly gets back to focusing though.

"Stay calm... stay calm..."

He keeps his eyes on Gengar, then points at it.

"Tauros, Thunderbolt!"

Tauros briefly kicks itself up with its front legs before sending a bolt of lightning Gengar's way. Umezou knows very well that Tauros has abysmal special attack, but damage isn't what he's hoping for here.

No, he's hoping that he'll get Gengar paralyzed at some point. Only 10%, but who knows... Persian got burnt too, after all.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Jul 22nd 2021 at 4:41:38 PM

rolled a 4/10; Paralysis was on a 1

The Thunderbolt doesn't do a ton of damage, and unfortunately for Umezou, the Paralysis doesn't pan out.

"Nice tanking, Gengar!"

Gengar zips forwards, makes a funny ghost face, and tries to slam a boosted Focus Blast into Tauros at point-blank.

Tauros is startled, and as such is unable to escape Focus Miss Blast. It gets struck head-on, and even if its special defense wasn't awful beyond all compare, the fact that the attack was boosted by Nasty Plot too pretty much sealed its fate.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me...", Umezou mutters as he recalls Tauros.

"You may be a fake champion, but your skills are real...", he begrudgingly admits as he takes out another Poke Ball.

"But unless you defeat me here and now, that won't ever matter. If you lose, I can at least expose you as the fake you are!"

He throws his Poke Ball, and out comes Chansey◊, who also gets burnt by Lava Pool.

"Chansey, Metronome!"

Chansey begins to wag its fingers back and forth and gets... Spirit Shackle? Oh dear.

Even if the attack wouldn't do much to Gengar, despite being a Ghost-Type move, due to Chansey's low offensive power, getting hit by Spirit Shackle would lock Gengar into this battle against a Pokemon that it cannot harm well with its special attacks.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Jul 22nd 2021 at 4:56:58 PM

Gengar seems alarmed when its speared by Spirit Shackle. Seems its used to being able to switch in and out to avoid bad matchups.

"This isn't great. But..." Red grins.

Gengar uses Nasty Plot again, shooting its Sp. Attack up even further. And...

Red's fervent wish reached Gengar!

Light explodes around Red's bracelet, reaches for his Pokémon - and when it fades, it reveals a terrifying Mega Gengar◊.

"Chansey might be good in this matchup, but there isn't anything we can't overcome!"

Relieved that she was in the clear, Wanda takes Ninten's hands in her own and looks him in the eye.

"Ninten. Even if something bad did happen to me, it would not have been your fault. Okay? I went into that dream world by myself because I chose to, not because you forced me to go there. You have nothing to feel guilty about," she assures, showing him a smile.

"I fail to see why I shouldn't," Loki replies. "Perhaps I could even use this opportunity to catch up with Ovarr."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jul 22nd 2021 at 8:08:55 AM

"But... I..."

Ninten glances down for a moment, then eventually nods, even if he does still look a little guilty about it.

"Alright. Just... if you ever plan on going back in there, don't do it alone, alright?"

"Today's not a good day for that. He's feeling lazy. And when he feels lazy, trust me, you'd think he's more of a couch than a warrior. I've sat down on his back once when he was in such a mood and he couldn't care less.", Psyco says as they exit the mall. Once they're outside, he fully turns to Loki.

"I, erm, wish to ask you something. It may sound a bit random though."

He scratches the back of his hood, which clearly means he's trying to scratch the back of his head and is forgetting that he's all covered up.

"Do you, um, like battle? Or does Thor?"

Surprisingly, Umezou doesn't seem to get more worried this time, despite the fact that this is literally the creepiest and strongest Pokemon that's been on the field so far.

"You've walked right into my trap, Red. Chansey, Teleport!"

Chansey glows with psychic power, after which it suddenly returns to its Poke Ball, and he sends out another.

"Go, Kangaskhan!"

Kangashkan comes out, getting burnt by Lava Pool... but the baby Kangaskhan suddenly takes a Lum Berry out of its mother's pouch, tossing it up for the mother Kangaskhan to eat and heal the burn.

"Did you think I didn't know about Mega Evolution?", he grins, now pointing at Kangaskhan. But Umezou doesn't have a bracelet, and Kagaskhan doesn't have a Mega Stone on it. What is...

Umezou's arm begins to glow with a sort of gray colored energy that is definitely not Mega Evolution Energy.

"Now! Mega Evolve!"

Umezou's fervent command reached Kangashkan!

The energy reaches and envelops Kangashkan, after which light erupts from all around it before it achieves its Mega Form, the baby hopping out and ready for battle.

The dreaded Mega Kangaskhan has entered the battle. One of the only Megas that can truly compete with Mega Gengar.

"I'm a lot more knowledgeable than I look. I know a lot about the advancements in Pokemon training that have been discovered over the years. I may not have known beforehand that you specifically had a Mega Gengar, but once you sent it out I had a feeling, so I took a risk and set you up for a trap."

His grin widens as he points at Mega Gengar.

"A trap that will work out perfectly now that Gengar can no longer levitate! Mega Kangaskhan! Earthquake!"

A deadly glint appears in both Pokemons' eyes, and they immediately attack Mega Gengar with a double Earthquake attack thanks to their special ability.

Wanda nods back to Ninten.

"Of course. And if you ever figure out how to go back there, let me know and we can handle it together again. Until then, I'll think of someone else who'd be able to join me," she replies, her smile widening into a grin. "And if the dream world has any special Oreos I can take back with me, I'll bring you as much of them as I can carry."

She gives him another hug.

"Ovarr? Feeling lazy? Forgive me if I find that somewhat difficult to imagine, let alone believe," Loki says, following Psyco out of the mall.

He then fixes the demon with a confused expression.

"Is... there any particular reason you're asking me this?"

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jul 22nd 2021 at 9:08:23 AM

Ninten chuckles happily as he hugs Wanda back.

"Erm, forgive me for potentially ruining the happy atmosphere...", Helryx then speaks up to Wanda, causing Ninten to glance at her.

"But I must ask... you went to that realm for the sake of gaining information. Did you find anything?"

"It is okay if you wish not to speak about it.", Axonn says, having heard of the whole aura thing and most likely wondering if truly nothing happened, even if there was no lasting damage. "But you'll have to make it clear to us if that is the case."

"When Ovarr offhandedly mentioned that he sometimes feels lazy, I didn't believe it for myself until I saw it.", Psyco says. "Trust me, the amount of energy he has each day feels random at best."

He then clasps his hands together.

"Well... sort of. I'm very curious. My question must sound weird, right? We're in a realm filled with battle, sometimes even against an uncountable number of life-threatening beings, so you battle all the time already. But I'm not actually talking about this sort of battle."

He suddenly moves besides Loki, puts one arm over his shoulder and holds the other one up, almost like he's a investor trying to convince Loki to invest too to become rich and successful in the future.

"What if, hypothetically of course, you were able to battle pretty much whoever you wanted... but without your or anyone's lives being at any risk. If there were a way to challenge powerful warriors, whether ally or enemy, completely risk free, just for the challenge or for fun, or to beat the face in of some person you may really not like without there being any real consequences for it?"

He then looks at Loki.

"Would something like that appeal to you, you think?"

Pulling away from the embrace, Wanda turns her attention to Helryx and Axonn.

"Well, I didn't learn what I went there to find out, if that's what you're wondering," she replies. "Although, I do think you're going to want to hear what I have to say."

She proceeds to explain her entire journey through the dream realm from beginning to end.

Loki just stares at Psyco all throughout the latter's sales pitch.

"This idea you speak of... it wouldn't happen to be a virtual reality training room, would it? Because as someone who has personal experience with certain scientists, it sounds a great deal like a virtual reality training room," he replies.

The people present listen intently to Wanda's recounting of her journey. Ninten especially looks shocked due to the fact that the realm was so different for Wanda this time.

Helryx and the other Bionicle present look especially confused when the matter of Toa Ignika is brought up.

"So, let me get this straight.", Trinuma says. "Someone from our world, who we've never heard of before, ceased to be, got stuck in that realm and helped you escape before that winged monster got to you?"

"We, as the Order of Mata Nui, are very aware of the beings who lived in our world. At no point has one ever ceased to be. I have no reason to doubt that someone helped you out, but are you absolutely certain it was someone from our world?", Helryx asks.

"You mentioned that he was cloaked. Did you get a chance to see if he was wearing a mask? Perhaps we can identify this person if we know what mask he was wearing, if he had one at all.", Axonn says.

Ninten, meanwhile, is pondering too, though in his case he's moreso wondering about the screams Wanda had heard.

Rico Jr and Weber look lost, and the Shadowed One remains silent, though is still diligently paying attention. This is intriguing to him.

Psyco (probably thankfully) lets go of Loki and shakes his head.

"I guess the initial idea sounds somewhat similar to that concept, but no, what I'm talking about is not a virtual training room."

He seems to look a little excited.

"What I'm talking about is real combat against real people, good and evil alike, providing real challenges that you can go all out for to try to complete, and yet it poses no risk to your life."

Beat

He then brings his arms to himself.

"Well, of course, it is only hypothetical. I figure such an idea doesn't sound like it makes much sense. Like, how would anyone be able to guarantee risk-free battles against any type of opponent? Real opponents, no less. Still, imagine it was possible, what would you think of the idea?"

"Whoever he was, I'm positive he comes from the same world as you. His mask, weapons, appearance - all of them were enough to make me realize that he's one of your people," Wanda replies. "Either that, or there's another race of biomechanical beings out there who look almost exactly like you, right down to the masks."

She glances at Ninten, having noticed that he seemed to be thinking about something other than Ignika.

Loki strokes his chin, a contemplative look on his face.

"Whatever this thing you have in mind is, I suppose it could prove useful in regards to training. Provided, of course, you've accounted for any potential risks that might come with it."

After a moment, a flash of light and pain engulfs Kim.

Perun's Awakening

One introduction later, Perun◊ nods to Kim, her new Driver. No further words need to be spoken - her opening declaration said enough.

Meanwhile, the ground beneath The Zekenator, cracked and cut and damaged from all of his attacks, gives way, and he falls into the ocean below.