Chapter Text
[Chance]
"Ahhh, ptooey."
Chance flicks his flintlock out, clicking it back while he's trying to calm his nerves. He can't believe there's only three of them left in this round- himself, Two Time, and Guest 1337.
Guest is busy trying to do the last generator. Two Time's only interested in themselves, and Chance- well, he's doing what he does best, gambling.
Chance flips their coin again, and feels himself get stronger, his hit points increasing. He flips it again, just to make sure he gets luckier, but this time he feels himself get weaker. 'Weakness II. Not bad, but not good either...'
They flip their coin again. Weakness III. Another flip, and finally, he has three stacks of coin flips for a hat fix, and he resets the debuff.
Unfortunately, he hears a yell from the distance and furrows his brow. '####. Guest's down. Jason got him.'
Chance loads his gun and gets to running. He manages to go halfway across the map before he begins to hear something behind him.
'Oooooh no. No don't you DARE-' He hears the familiar 'ch ch ch ah ah' and there's the scraping of metal as the killer drags his machete on the wall, letting out an intimidating scraping sound.
"Ha! Back so soon?" Chance runs backward, and turns around with his pistol, aiming it at Jason's body. "There's only a minute left, and you ain't gonna get me!"
He pulls the trigger on his gun. There's a bang, and pain laces through his hand. "Agh-!"
'Misfire! There's a misfire!' He bolts out of there as quick as possible, dodging and weaving between the dilapidated walls of the place. He passes by the "Brandon World" sign and grabs a medkit from the floor, but gets jabbed in the shoulder as he tries to use it.
"Ugh! Darn it-" They pivot over to the other side, sprinting again, and this time, they see Two Time running the other way. "Hey! Two Time! Help a pal out here!"
Two Time said nothing, and simply bolted the other way. Chance pants, and if he wasn't so out of breath he'd scoff. 'Typical of them. Tch...'
Chance trips, and the machete right behind them is jabbed through his chest, making him cough out blood. Jason picks him up, and what follows is a familiar, painful execution.
"A-AAAGH! S-so- close!"
He's tossed to the ground, and his vision goes dark as he passes out. It's not death, no, not really- because they know that they'll wake up back in the cabins.
Chance lets out a few labored breaths, before he bleeds out and finally feels his own body dissolve. When they open their eyes again, they're sprawled out on one of the tables in the big cabin.
"'You okay, Chance?" Elliot pats him on the back, and Chance leans back, groaning. "I was so close to winning- it was only fifty seconds, Elliot! Fifty seconds!"
"Aw, you'd get em' next time, Chance." Builderman waves from the side of the room, busy sketching up some new sentry blueprints while Shedletsky munches on some chicken drumsticks next to him.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it... I gambled and I lost. I know when to quit it." Chance sighs, getting up from the table and walking over to the TV screen in the cabin. "Let's see here... how's Two Time doing and- they're dead."
Elliot winces as he sees his teammate get torn to shreds by the killer. Chance is both used to the gore at this point and slightly pissed that Two Time left them to die, so they simply watch with a passive expression.
As expected, it's a minute or so before Two Time materializes in the main cabin, their tail splayed out behind them.
"Hey." He kind of just looms over them until they turn over, giving him a blank stare. "..."
"..."
The awkward silence between them was enough to communicate what was needed. Chance just backs off and plays with his coin again, flipping it over with a quiet 'ping' as he sighs.
"Whatever. It's not like there's anything else to do now." Chance shakes their head. 'Can't let it get to me. It isn't going to be good if we're at each other's throats all the time.' He's seen first-hand how rivalries and past grievances can mess with their survival- 007n7 and Elliot are living together with everyone, after all.
The gambler decides to go out on the pier, rubbing the center of his chest where he'd gotten stabbed. There's no pain, only a phantom soreness that he recalls.
He sits down on the pier, kicking his legs back and forth. The pocket dimension they're currently trapped in is small, far too small for it to feel natural. They've tried running into the woods. tried swimming across the water- to no avail.
There's an invisible barrier around everywhere. They can't go far from the cabins without running into it, so it's futile. After... he doesn't even know how long it's been, it starts becoming hopeless.
'By Telamon, how long has it been...' Chance stops kicking his legs, staring out at the sunset. 'Has it been months? Years?'
It feels weird using Telamon's name to curse when Shedletsky was right there with the other survivors, but oh well. All he can do it just wait for another unfortunate soul to get forsaken, if he wants to know how long it's truly been.
Chance sighs, stretching as they get up from the pier and begin heading back. However, they're stopped by a feeling of something, and it doesn't feel like the usual call to another round.
It's less of a forceful yank and more of the blowing of wind, like a crack in a dark cave. Chance turns around to see a small fissure floating in the air, the surroundings warping around it a bit.
"Huh? What..." He backs off, but once it seems to show no sign of danger, he steps forward and inspects it. "What the ####..."
Again. He can't exactly curse with the chat filter, but it got the message across. 'This is some weird coding or glitch stuff... I should call the others. Maybe Builderman or Shed has an idea, or 007n7...'
"Hey!" He power-walks back inside the cabin, catching everyone's attention as he waves frantically. "There's something outside! I don't know what it is, but it ain't looking good!"
"That's... worrying." Guest 1337 looks up from his cards, with Noob puts down their own deck. "Are we under attack?"
"No, it's-" Chance tries to explain it but it dies at the tip of their tongue. "I dunno. Hard to explain, it's some weird code stuff for sure. Builderman?"
"I'll go check it out. Ya' don't have to worry, I've got it covered." Builderman gets up from his chair, and Shedletsky does so as well. "It ain't gonna be good if y'all get involved in the crossfire."
From the corner of the room, 007n7 perks up, curious as to what's happening. All of the survivors follow the two, as it's probably the only interesting thing thats happened to them so far.
"What is that?" Noob looks skittish at the sight of the crack. "I mean- it's bright, it feels weird..."
"Even I don't have an idea of what this is." Builderman admits. He circles around the small crack, and analyzes the situation thoroughly. "Need a bit of yer' magic, Dusekkar, if we're checking this out closer."
"Tread carefully with where you stand, for one wrong move can get out of hand." Dusekkar casts his protective shield over Builderman, and the shorter Robloxian carefully taps on the crack in reality. "Now, y'all better stay back, because messing with this might get dangerous-"
"Outta the way, Builder! I'm coming through!" Chance winces as Shedletsky decides to take matters into his own hands and stab the crack with his linked sword.
There's an audible 'CRRCK-!' as the fissure widens, and with a twist, Shedletsky manages to pry a hole out of the crack in reality that lets them see through.
Chance's heart stops. The other survivors also freeze, because they're seeing something that they haven't seen in a year or so- sunlight. Real sunlight, not the dim, fake sunlight in this purgatory.
"Is that...?" Elliot's mouth is wide open, and Builderman's eyes are locked onto the area. Everyone's suddenly far more aware than before, and there's something like hope welling up in them again.
"Everyone!" Shedletsky couldn't say that he expected this, but it was far beyond his wildest dreams. "Attack the hole in reality- we might have a chance to get out!"
"Freedom!" And with that, it's an absolute chaotic scramble towards what might be their one chance out of here. Chance flips his coin frantically, giving himself a few stacks of weakness, but he takes aim and keeps on firing.
Builderman's got a sentry up, Guest charges at the side of the crack and slams into it, widening it even more. It's Shedletsky that yells out, drawing back his arm and slamming his blade into the hole in reality.
The cracks have spread out in front of them like they're breaking through this pocket dimension, and with that final hit, everything shatters and their word goes white.
[Builderman]
Being the CEO of Roblox and the de-facto leader of Robloxia means that he's endowed with the most power out of any other account, save for the other admins and moderators working under him.
This makes him akin to a god towards the Robloxians. Given, he's not omnipotent or something, but he was still immortal and very powerful before he was forsaken and dragged into that purgatory. Builderman and Shedletsky's full power was locked away when that happened, and they were no more powerful than the average Robloxian.
But as he's waking from his slumber, groaning as he does so- he feels the familiar thrum of power underneath his skin, feels the weight of responsibility bear down on him as he blinks his eyes open.
"A-agh... darn it all." He adjusts his hardhat, but pauses as he feels it get stuck on something from his head. He'd think it over more if it weren't for the fact that he was currently surrounded by the other survivors in an alleyway, all either passed out or beginning to recover as well.
Chance is right next to him, splayed out- but for some reason, the gambler has a pair of straight, jet-black horns jutting out from his fedora. Builderman is slightly groggy and doesn't really get what's happening at first, but he's the first to ask.
"Hey, wake up- Chance." He nudges Chance a bit, and they make a huffing sound, trying to get up on their feet. Builderman then turns to Noob and Elliot, who were- wait, Noob?
"Pardon, but- who in the world are you?" Builderman is on guard immediately, ready to sprint if needed. There's a Robloxian(?) wearing Noob's clothes, but his skin was a pale white and two neon-yellow horns jutted out of his head, the same color as Noob's skin.
"What? Builderman, it's me- Noob!" The stranger, apparently Noob, pulls out the Bloxy Cola and takes a swig of it, out of habit. "Why don't you recognize me? And- what's with those weird horns on your hat?"
"Noob. Are you aware that your skin is... different? White?" Builderman's hand consciously drifts up to his head, and yup, his construction helmet has horn-like protrusions on it. Slipping his hand under his hat makes him realize that yes, he's also grown horns as well.
Everyone in the group seems to be impacted in different ways. Chance, Elliot and 007n7 look mostly the same, their skin being monochrome like before, although there's the addition of horns for each of them.
Two Time's raven-black hair is replaced with a set of horns that are the same color, but there's a second set of horns that look like their spawn wings. Guest 1337's hair is also gone, replaced with large bull horns.
Dusekkar is unchanged, and he's already casting protection on the ones who are just getting up, still adjusting to their new forms. The most different out of all of them, it seems, would be Noob and Shedletsky- instead of their typical neon-yellow skin, it's completely turned white and their horns are the same color instead.
"By the Spawn, are we actually...?" Two Time looks baffled, looking up at the sky above them. It's currently a brilliant, pleasant blue with some clouds above- nothing like what their purgatory would have been like.
"We're actually out." 007n7 breathes out in disbelief, trembling a bit. "It's actually... over."
"..." Guest 1337 is completely quiet. He's taken a good look at everybody here, and is trying to analyze the situation. His own hand rises to check his head, and yup, he's just noticed his horns. Builderman can see him visibly tense up and scramble to check his reflection in a nearby puddle.
Elliot lets out a disbelieving laugh. "We're- we're out! Finally! I can go home!"
"Not so fast. We might not even be in the right place." Guest stops him from running off right away, his arm blocking the other man. "We look completely different, and judging from how the buildings look, we're in a foreign place. This might not even be Robloxia."
Elliot visibly deflates at this, his hopes of seeing his family and his sister dampened. Chance is busy flipping his coin as the others debate on what to do now.
"I mean, we're no longer in purgatory, which is great-" 007n7 starts off, while Elliot shoots a glare at him. "But if Guest is right, we don't even know where we are or why we've got horns now. We don't even know why Noob and Shedletsky are- um..."
"You can say that we're white, man." Shedletsky stretches, and yelps as something 'fwoops' out from behind his back. "Eh-!"
Builderman raises an eyebrow as he sees feathery yellow wings sprout out of his friend's back. "Well I'll be... that's darned interestin'."
"Guess you ate so much chicken that you're turning into one, right?" Chance snickers, pocketing his coin. "Never thought I'd see the day where you'd grow wings!"
"Wings? Oh, oh right!" Shedletsky tries moving them, and they flap around erratically before it seems he gets some shaky control of them. "Kinda cool, right? I mean, I didn't know this would happen, buuuut..."
"Congrats, Shed- but I think we should focus on the matter at hand now. We're going to have to find information, see if this place is dangerous- and if there's anyone else around here, we'll have to blend in and ask questions."
Builderman crosses his arms, and thinks it over. It's Guest 1337 that gives an idea. "We can do recon of the area if we split up. It's not the best idea to be a group of nine in a city environment, since that would raise suspicion."
"I must agree, for that is best- it would be wise to divert from the rest." Dusekkar nods. "For we are many, in a city too grand- we can reconvene after we split this merry band."
"A-ah, yeah..." Noob agrees with him, and the rest of the survivors end up coming to a consensus. A well-balanced team of four and five, all roaming the new city. Not a bad idea.
Builderman split up with Chance, Elliot, 007n7 and Two Time. Shedletsky was stuck with Noob, Guest 1337, and Dusekkar. It wouldn't be fair to have both him and his friends in the same group, and leave the others without an admin to protect them if anything went wrong.
'I gotta check if I'm back to normal 'gain. Would be mighty useful if I still had my admin powers...' Builderman thinks. He lets Two Time and Chance slip out of the alleyway, checking the surroundings before reporting back.
"There's a lotta Robloxians with horns out there." Chance drawls. "In fact, I don't think they're even Robloxians- not one of them have a lick of hair on them, and they're all calling themselves 'Inphernals' or whatever."
"I reckon we're 'Inphernals' now, if that's the case..." Builderman thinks it over. "We can act all casual and normal, right? They ain't too different from Robloxians?"
"Only one way to find out." Chance gestures towards the others, and Builderman follows, acting as casual as possible. 007n7 and Elliot were... reluctantly getting along as Two Time trails behind them, glancing at the passerby shiftily.
Builderman strikes up a conversation with Chance, to make it seem less suspicious. "Your casino's doin' well?"
"About as well as it can be, last time I saw it!" Chance brightens up, slipping into the act. "You shoulda' seen the way the suckers act when I ask them to bet their limiteds!"
While they chatted idly and passed by other Robloxians- er, Inphernals, they managed to catch information in snippets.
For one, they were in Crossroads. Definitely not the Crossroads they were familiar with, as the complex, cramped buildings and apartments towered over them with neon lights, but it shared the same name.
There were four factions here, and none of them seemed too friendly with each other after some aforementioned war. Builderman heard something about 'Blackrock', something about 'Biografts'- 'They're makin' the Biograft Swords? Huh...'
And most surprisingly of all, almost every Inphernal here was named after a gear. That certainly meant something, but that was something to worry about later as the group of five stopped in front of a cafe.
"Might as well take a break... darn, we haven't been here in a while." Builderman says- and he's right. None of the survivors have had proper food from outside of their purgatory for a long time. Noob is drooling a bit at the prospect of finally eating something that wasn't his own food or Elliot's pizza, and even Elliot looks hungry at the idea.
"Come on, what are we waiting for?!" Chance eggs them on, but Two Time stops them. "And do you have any currency, Chance?"
"Why, of course I do!" He grins confidently, slipping his hands into his pockets and drawing out a wad of money. It... sort of looks like Robux, but not exactly? 'Where'd he even get this?'
"Hehe... it ain't exactly clean money, but it'll pay for our food." Chance whispered to the others. "Swiped it off a few suckers while we were walking here."
The admin looked at Chance with a disapproving look, but since they were technically not in Robloxia and he was hungry as well, he let it slide. "Fine... but don't do that again."
The group walked into the cafe, unaware of what was about to happen.
[Slingshot]
He's used to large influxes of customers, usually friends or a bunch of Theives' Den members going to rest for the day. His cafe is the best in upper Crossroads, after all!
But Slingshot thinks the Inphernals that just walked in are a completely odd bunch. There's a guy with a hardhat, someone in a suit, some guy right off a shift at a pizza place, and... well, he's not even sure what the last two are doing there. 'Was there an unofficial Phight or something?'
It's often that there are unoffical Phights, since demons need some way to release stress and train to become official Phighters. Dom and Valk didn't just pick him out of nowhere- he'd earned his spot in the Theives' Den representative roster.
If he had to guess, they looked all like support classes. The one dressed in a black suit and tie saunters forward, and stops to look at the menu.
"Hey, Builderman-what do you want?" The demon with the hard hat rubs his chin, thinking it over.
"I'd um... like a chocolate milkshake?" The one with the burger hat and gods-awful shirt says. "That's on the menu, right?"
"A simple hot chocolate would suffice for me." The one with wing-like horns and a tail responded. Slingshot has an eerie feeling from them, but he ignores it. 'Those horns seem familiar, though...'
All of them order and pay, and Slingshot goes to the back with Vine Staff and Shuriken taking a break. "Hey guys, some customers came in! I'm going to make the orders right now."
"Awww, dang it... I thought today was gonna be a slow day." Shuriken complains, but he gets up from the chair as Vine Staff calmly hums. It's just the usual- wait for Slingshot to finish making the drinks, and then serve them to the customers.
As Slingshot watches Vine Staff and Shuriken hand out the drinks, he's slightly amused to see how the customers react. The pizza delivery guy seems to be absolutely demolishing his own mocha drink, and all of them seem to love it. 'They're drinking like it's the only thing they've had in ages!'
"Are you guys back from a Phight or something?" Shuriken asks, cleaning some of the other tables. "Celebrating a win?"
"Huh? Oh, kind of." The one in the suit leans back in his chair. "We lost the... fight, so a pick-me-up is good for the others, don't you say?"
"Awww, better luck next time! Keep it up, and you'll become an official Phighter if you're lucky!" Shuriken beams at them. "That's how my sister managed to get in the roster with me! Best healer on the team, in my opinion!"
"Mhm." The others don't really seem to care about that. Slingshot expected amateur Phighters to be completely freaking out about being in the same room as them, but hey, he might be wrong.
Vine Staff sighs and rolls her eyes. "Shuri, you don't have to say that..."
"What? I'm right! Medkit's good but he isn't you! And Coil's always trying to beat everyone's faces in instead of healing!"
"Stop it!" Vine Staff playfully punches her brother's arm. "You're making me embarrassed!"
"Haha, take it! You gotta show off once in a while!" Shuriken says, amused.
"Where can we go for some more... credible unofficial fights?" Builderman asks. The Inphernals next to him look slightly suprised, and the one with the burger hat whispers something inaudible to the one with wing-horns.
"If you're asking in general, the one I went to was in Thieves' Den." Slingshot says. "But I think it's a faction-exclusive club, and won't let you guys in if you're from Lost Temple, Blackrock, Playground... so you're better off finding one in Crossroads."
"Well, is there one? In Crossroads?"
"Hm..." Slingshot doesn't really know where to go for that, since he mainly trains in Thieves' Den. It's Shuriken that pipes up. "There's a gym in the north alleyways that hosts tournaments once every month! They're for beginner Phighters, but you can ask around there if you want to find the higher-ranking unofficial Phights!"
"That'll do." The group tips Slingshot and his friends, and they wave goodbye. "Thanks for the drinks!"
Slingshot gives a wave as well. "Thank you! Hope to see you all next time!"
"Good luck on the Phights as well!" Shuriken shouts. It's not bad, but they have the feeling that they're going to see them again.
"Wonder if they're gonna win next time... they look really tough, so who'd they even lose to?"
[Noob]
They feel like they're pretty safe in this team. Shedletsky and Guest 1337 are pretty powerful on their own, even when they were helpless with the killer chasing them around during rounds, and Dusekkar isn't bad either.
Noob feels kind of weird looking like this, but hey! They're not stuck in the middle of a scary pocket dimension anymore, and that's better than anything else. They've already gone into a liquor store and bought some chips and a drink that wasn't Bloxy Cola for once, and gladly devoured that.
And there's other people! That's a plus! No offense to his teammates, but living with them and being stuck in the same place for years isn't exactly pleasant. Shedletsky had to hide his wings under his shirt, though, because they'd seen that none of the other Inphernals had any wings.
"How are we even going to get any more money?" Noob asks, looking at the shops in Crossroads. "I mean, we just spent the rest of Shedletsky's Robux - er, Bux, on all the food..."
"I am unsure of how to proceed, for finding money we currently lack the means." Dusekkar crosses his arms, walking by Shedletsky as the admin sighs, already missing the taste of chicken. "Aw, man... can I even summon it here?"
"Why not give it a try?" Guest 1337 leans on a brick wall, and he watches as Shedletsky reaches behind himself. The admin pulls out some of his chicken, and grins. "Score!" He eagerly devours the chicken leg, and it dematerializes once he gets down to the bone.
"Noob was able to summon their Bloxy Cola, so it's a given." Guest 1337 notes. "But I think we should be careful with this. From what I've gathered..."
Noob recalls this. They'd passed by a few Inphernals bragging about their own gear, and it clicked into place for them after spending some time people-watching.
Inphernals, apparently, were born with a gear that they could summon. They only had one gear, and couldn't use another- so Shedletsky summoning his linked sword right after summoning chicken to heal would definitely attract the wrong kind of attention.
"I suppose we'll have to blend in with the locals better." Guest 1337 finds a flyer on the wall, nestled between a few wanted posters for some demon called 'Broker'. "Hm. This would be useful."
"Hey, let me see!" Shedletsky peers over Guest's shoulder, and takes the flyer from him. "A fighting competition?"
"Melee Gear Starter Tournament!" The paper read. "Melee gears only, win up to 1k Bux! Come test your strength at the Iron Cafe arena!"
"I thought the Iron Cafe was just a cafe?" Noob asks, curious. Guest 1337 shakes his head. "Remember- we are in a completely different world, Noob. The Iron Cafe just shares a name and some similarities, just like Crossroads."
"O-Oh, right! Silly me..." Noob scratches his head, and Shedletsky addresses the other survivors in his group. "It'd be a good idea for me to participate, right? I've got my sword, after all."
"It says it's a melee competition, so the others can join as well if they're good fighters." Guest 1337 notes. "Maybe I can try."
"That'd be a great idea!" The four of them agreed on this, and after a bit of finagling, they'd figured out where the tournament was going to be held, and that they'd meet up with the others.
Shedletsky led the others back to the designated meeting point in the alleyway, and they wait for a while. Two hours pass, and they finally hear footsteps. Shedletsky gets his sword out and Guest readies for a charge, just in case it's a stranger, but they both relax once they see Builderman and the other survivors.
"Ayyy, look who's here first!" Chance finger-guns them, grinning. "You cannot believe the haul I got- those suckers didn't even expect me!"
"More of like you scammed them out of their money." Builderman disapprovingly chides. "What if you got caught?"
"As if they'd catch me!" The former casino owner laughs, leaning on the wall and spinning his flintlock. He rifles through a stack of Bux, and hums. "Yo, Builderman- what'd that catboy say again?"
"That is- they ain't-" Builderman lets out a sigh, and ignores that. "Nevermind. What he's tyna' say is that we talked ta' one of the locals, and he'd said that there's a gym hostin' a beginner fighting tournament up north!"
"I was about to say the same thing as well." Shedletsky shows them the flyer. "Apparently the people in Crossroads here really like battling."
"If we'd win both of 'em, we'd get enough cash to last for a month or so." Builderman thinks it over. "Y'all agree?"
There's a round of approval from most of the survivors, but 007n7 and Elliot actually agree on something for once. "What about the rest of us? I can't exactly do anything with my clones, and Elliot..."
"There's always other ways to get money. Maybe a job would help if we lose the tournaments." Shedletsky says. Noob feels like he isn't really good at anything- Shedletsky, Builderman and 007n7 all know how to code, the others are at least kind of strong...
"Perhaps it is better to prepare for such a tournament. It would be soon." Two Time says. "We have our weapons with us, and we can go by our gear as our names, seeing that these... beings are named after their own gears." They said, slightly distrustful. After all, the Inphernals all looked like demons to the cultist.
"Two Time's right." Chance says, and he flips his coin again out of habit. It lands on tails, and he curses out of instinct, expecting it to be censored.
"Shit!"
Everyone freezes. Noob slowly turns to look at him, and Chance is equally as baffled as the two admins in front of him.
They pause a bit, and try it again. "Shit." They say. No glitchy censor noise and hastags. A small grin begins to form on their face, and the survivors who aren't the admins begin to get the idea.
They're no longer in Robloxia... meaning there's no chat filter.
"Shit! Fuck! Balls!" Chance yells out, and Shedletsy yelps in offense. Builderman looks absolutely miffed, waving his hands. "That isn't very user friendly!" He says.
"Fuck if I care, haha!" Chance laughs, a bit maniacal. "Let's goooo! No more filter! No more getting cut off when I say shit like this!"
Noob's a bit curious as well, so they try it out. "Fuck!" Builderman whips over to them with a distressed look, with 'oh no it's spreading' written all over his face.
Man, it feels cathartic to cuss.
Eventually, once they all got it out of their system, they managed to use Chance's money to buy a few hotel rooms and rest there. It was far comfier than the cabins in that purgatory, and miles more inviting and safe, despite it being a rather bland and ratty hotel.
There, they spent the days leading up to the tournament training, figuring out what their gears were and their cover stories, all that. Shedletsky ran into a bit of a roadblock after learning that one of the Phighters (apparently some big-shot battlers) already had the liked sword as their gear.
Fortunately enough, there were duplicates- kind of rare, but it just meant he could lie and say that his gear was the Chicken Leg. And so it was decided- Guest 1337 was going hand-to-hand without a gear in the melee tournament, and Shedletsky would join him with the linked sword as a 'fake' gear. Chance and Builderman would go into the unofficial Phight with their flintlock and his sentries, so it would be fair.
Let's hope this doesn't go wrong.
[Sword]
Honestly, he's pretty hyped to do this! It's not so often that he goes out and actually does things other than battle in the arena as a Phighter, but this is just another part of his 'job'.
Phighters weren't just celebrities, they also represented their faction and had a role in promoting unofficial Phights, checking them out to see if there's any upcoming Inphernals that might become new Phighters.
So that's how he's headed to an unofficial match in the Iron Cafe arena! It's his job to kinda just sit in the top stands and check out whoever's going to come up next, and Rocket's with him as well for fun. They both get a free show, and he does his duty- not so bad of a deal!
Sword absently grips the hilt of his gear, looking down to see some Inphernals duke it out. Someone named Steampunk Glove was expected to win this tournament, seeing that they had a track record of placing second in underground fights.
"Isn't that the demon that lost to Coil?" Rocket points out, and Sword shrugs. "I dunno. They got close to becoming a Phighter, that's all I know."
He watches them knock out another contestant, grinning as they pump their fist in the air. "Who's next, huh?!" They cheered. The crowd roars, and the announcer declares their victory.
"Another rousing performance from Steampunk Glove!" They shout. "But we've got a newcomer in the ring next- goes by the stage name 'Guest', and he's rocking some top-tier moves! And get this- he's going without his gear for this round!"
"Can you believe this guy?!" One demon from the audience laughs. "He's gonna get absolutely demolished!"
"Really? Going up against Steampunk?" Another audience member rolls his eyes. "They're an idiot with a death wish, that's for sure..."
Rocket snorts and looks amused. "That's plain stupid." Even he wasn't this overconfident when he was younger.
Sword watches as a bulky, muscular demon steps into the ring, stretching his arms. He's got massive bull-like horns that were a deep blue color, and a glare in his eyes that shut the audience up.
He's wearing a bulletproof military vest and a camouflage outfit. Sword and Rocket immediately know he's from Playground, and is most likely a veteran on par with Zuka.
"H-hey... who the heck is this?" Steampunk Glove themself were sweating, and the only thing stopping them from bolting was the fact that this guy wasn't planning using his gear at all.
"I'm just here to win." Guest says, crossing his arms as he assesses his opponent. "So ready up."
"..." The crowd isn't really sure of what to make of this demon planning to fight without his gear. All of them know that not using their gear putting them at a severe disadvantage and was almost automatically a loss, but Guest seemed to be completely without fear.
The announcer clears their throat, and announces the match. "We've got Guest verses Steampunk Glove! Phighters, get ready! On your mark, get set... Phight!"
Steampunk Glove rushes forward and raises their hand, yelling as they aim for Guest's head. Guest instead blocks the attack with his bare forearms, and retaliates with a punch that sends Steampunk reeling. "A-agh!"
"Keep up." He unleashes a torrent of slow, heavy punches that Steampunk Glove has to block, but even then his fists push them back.
"W-what the hell?!" They're getting outclassed by a guy not even using his gear. Their pride can't stand for this, and they retaliate with a yell, swinging wildly. Guest ducks and weaves, getting grazed on the cheek and drawing blood, but still continues jabbing at his opponent.
"Woah." Rocket's reluctantly impressed, and Sword could see why. Seeing that Rocket didn't like his former faction, this was tall praise from him. "Where the heck was he when the roster was made?"
"I don't know." Sword admits. "Dom and Valk would've scouted him out regardless, but he might have just been recovering from the Faction War."
They simply watch the match in silence, seeing what Guest was capable of. Steampunk Glove tries to get some distance in between them so that they could recover, but instead, Guest yells out and puts his arm in front of himself, readying for a charge.
"AAAGH! Take- this!" He dashes forward, slamming into the boxer and sending them flying out of the ring, collapsed on the other side of the Iron Cafe arena.
"..." The crowd is stunned silent as they see what just happened. Steampunk Glove lies there limply (funnily enough, in the Peter Griffith death pose), knocked out.
Even the announcer takes some time to recover. "A-ahem, well- what a surprise, folks!" They shakily say. "Looks like the newcomer was able to beat Steampunk Glove, with no gear needed at all! Give it up for GUEEEEST!"
The crowd is silent for a while, before one person begins clapping. The audience slowly roars to life, whooping and hollering as they cheer for the unexpected victory.
"HOLY SHIT! That was absolutely amazing!" "How'd he even do that?!"
"That guy's really tough if he can do all that without using his gear..." Another audience member mutters. "What's he capable of with his gear, then?"
It takes some time for Sword and Rocket to kind of comprehend that victory. And with that massive spectacle, it makes the next fights coming up pale in comparison. "Dude, he just defeated someone with his bare hands! What's gonna beat that?!" Rocket exclaims.
Apparently, something could top that. It takes a few rounds of the usual melee fighting when another demon steps into the ring, wearing a black hood, a casual t-shirt and shorts. He's got a sword on his hip and was munching on a chicken leg.
"Um." His opponent, an Inphernal with the Cerulean Vengeance sword, was looking at him like he'd stepped into the wrong place. "Is this a joke?"
"Hey." The guy waves, and de-summons the chicken leg. "I'm Shedletsky."
"Well folks, we've got a rather... unorthodox fighter today!" The announcer says. "We've got Shedletsky- what kind of name is that- here with his own artificial gear! He's going to be sword-fighting his opponents with his own iron sword."
"He's a support gear! What's he even doing here?!" One of the crowd heckles. "Like, seriously?! A chicken leg?!"
"Aww, man... this is so stupid."
"The rules say that I can fight, as long as I don't use my 'real' gear." Shedletsky states. "So what?"
Sword really can't take him seriously as well. The guy looked like a chicken, with two yellow wing-like horns on the side of his head and a red, comb-like horn in the middle. 'This guy's really gonna go up against him with a normal iron sword? Not even a modified artificial gear?'
'What can he even do?'
The chicken-like Inphernal doesn't really seem to be bothered by this, and simply shrugs, hoisting the iron sword onto his shoulder. "Hey, what's the hold-up? I wanna start- it's been a while since I've done this."
(Shedletsky's been eager to try out his sword-fighting skills, after all this time. He'd been prevented from having a proper sword-fight with anyone, since whatever had trapped him in that purgatory had also made it so he could only swing it once every forty or so seconds before getting unnaturally tired.)
"If you say so... you signed the waiver saying that you're not gonna sue us for getting hurt." The announcer hums. "The battle between Shedletsky and Cerulean Vengeance is about to start! Get ready, get set... Phight!"
Cerulean Vengeance has a grin on their face, clearly taking this as an easy victory. "Ha! Let's see you dodge this-!"
Faster than anyone can react, Shedletsky disappeared from sight. He dashed over to the side, spinning around and slamming his blade into Cerulean's own, sending the gear careening out of it's wielder's hands. Cerulean Vengance freezes, and the chicken-like demon has a relaxed look.
"Is that it?" He yawns. "Come on, pick up the pace."
Cerulean jumps back, growling as he summons his gear to his hand and charges forward for a slash. Shedletsky effortlessly dodges, and goes in for a parry as the other Inphernal swings again.
"I mean, you're trying..." He says. The chicken-like Inphernal isn't even paying attention to the fight, looking to the stands in boredom and blocking all of Cerulean's attacks without even needing to focus on the battle.
"Are you kidding me?!" Cerulean Vengeance snarls, and he rushes forward for a flurry of slashes and jabs. Again, it's all blocked or dodged without any effort on Shedletsky's end. "How-?! Take me seriously, damn it!"
"Is that all you've got?" The other Inphernal yawns, and looks absolutely bored. "If that's all, then..."
Sword can't even see what happens next, but Cerulean is knocked down to the ground by Shedletsky, his gear gone from his hands again and an iron blade next to his neck. "Checkmate."
"... Tch." He looks absolutely pissed, but knows when he's beaten. "I yield."
The audience, once again, is baffled beyond words. The announcer, still shell-shocked, shakily announces Shedletsky's victory.
Sword's mouth is agape, and Rocket is looking at him. "Do you know how to do that?"
"No???" The demi-deity is absolutely baffled. "What on the Inpherno? I don't think I can keep up with that! That's something dad can do, not me!"
"Damn, that good?" Rocket whistles, impressed. He watches as Shedletsky exits the ring and gives Guest a wave on the sidelines. "Those two know each other?"
"Wait, what?" Sword asks. Rocket nudges him over to look at the sidelines, where the other unofficial Phighters were hanging out for the Melee tournament. Shedletsky was sitting next to Guest, who looked on-guard about everything. In contrast, the swordsman looks relaxed, simply summoning his fried chicken gear again and chowing down.
"... Huh."
The two of them watched as Guest and Shedletsky absolutely dominated the competition. For some reason, the blue-horned Playgrounder absolutely refused to use his gear, even when facing the finalists, knocking them out of the ring.
Shedletsky was an absolute menace, just as much as Guest. Sword feels that the rounds with him were actually too fast, as he'd usually knocked them out in less than five seconds. 'What kind of crazy sword-fighting is this?! How's he this good?!'
Rocket and Sword are at the edge of their seat during the final round. The crowd is also similarly hyped, having seen the strength those two had.
"Dude, that was like, totally unexpected!" One of the demons chatting in the stands was shaking her friend. "It's absolutely crazy- I didn't even know you could do that with a sword!"
"Right?! That was completely insane! How'd he even pull that off?!"
Sword sees Shedletsky and Guest step into the arena, with Shedletsky having a slight smile and Guest being completely serious.
"Hey, Guest! Nice to see you made it all the way here, haha!" Shedletsky leans back on one of the pillars, smiling. "You ready for a fight?"
"Are you joking? You know I don't stand a chance." Guest crosses his arms, shaking his head. "You are the Shedletsky. I won't even get in a single hit."
"Awww, come on! I'll take it easy on you!" Shedletsky says, light-hearted. "I've been doing it for all the others..."
"Your 'easy' is my absolute best." Guest sighs, and puts his fists up. "Fine, I'll play along."
The announcer themself was absolutely frothing for the fight, grinning ear-to-ear. "Guest versus Shedletsky, the fight between two sweepers that came out of nowhere! This is the biggest fight of the Melee Gear Starter Tournament history!"
"Ready, get set... Phight!"
Guest rushes forward for a Charge, but gets sliced on the side by Shedletsky's sword. They circle each other, with Guest putting up his forearms to anticipate a slash and Shedletsky looking amused.
"You're doing that as if it's going to stop my sword, Guest." He rushes forward, and slams his blade down effortlessly, making Guest roll over to the side to avoid the sharp edge. "Or has all that time made you forget that you can't block a sword?"
"Excuse me for forgetting. Blocking that person's sword was easier back in the rounds." Guest replies. "Come on..."
Sword knows for a fact that Shedletsky was going slower than usual just to draw the fight out. That demon managed to disable all of the previous melee fighters in seconds. 'He's probably trying all this to make it more entertaining for us, and because he's Guest's friend or something.'
It seems like Guest has the same idea too, the bull-horned Inphernal grumbling under his breath. "Just get it over with."
"If you say so!" Shedletsky immediately moves faster than before, and within a few seconds, Guest is knocked down like the rest of the opponents and there's a sword pointed at his face. "Give up?"
"... I yield." The crowd goes wild, and Sword politely claps along while Rocket looks on with some satisfaction.
"What an amazing round! Give it up for our winner, SHEDLETSKYYYY!!!" The announcer shouts, gesturing towards the demon. He hoists his iron sword back on his shoulder, still looking casual and unbothered. "I'd thought this would be harder."
"Sir, this is a starter tournament." Guest complains, rolling his eyes. "If you actually wanted a good fight, we could find other tournaments."
"You're right! I'll get to that... ah, well!" Shedletsky looks satisfied with that, at least. The announcer, however, has one last trick up their sleeve. It's what Sword was actually here for, in fact.
"Well, you'd be happy to hear that there's a secret prize, then!" The audience chatters at this new information. "Not only are you going to have your 1k Bux- there's an additional 3k Bux added to your winnings if you manage to beat one last opponent!"
Shedletsky raises an eyebrow. Guest sits back down on the sidelines with the other opponents, all waiting to see what happens. The chicken-like Inphernal tilts his head. "Oh? Who's it going to be?"
Sword stands up. Rocket looks at him with a 'what the fuck' expression, and he jumps down onto the arena, hitting the floor in a kneeling position and getting up.
"That'd be me." Sword grins, pointing his thumb to himself. "Sword, official Phighter! Pleased to meet you!"
"That's right, everybody!" The announcer says. "We've got an actual Phighter in the audience this time! Give it up for Sword of Lost Temple!"
The crowd cheers, and Shedletsky looks him up and down. Sword gulps, and tries to look confident despite seeing how the stranger outclassed him.
"Linked Sword, right?" Shedletsky makes a small gesture towards him. "Not bad. You might actually stand a chance against me."
"Hey, no need to talk like that!" Sword huffs, and unsheathes his weapon. "I'm the official Phighter here, not you!"
"Ah, my mistake. Sorry." Shedletsky waves it off with a smile. "You might be a fun opponent."
"I'll keep that in mind." And with the ringing of the bell and the roar of the crowd, the both of them lunge towards each other.
Sword was beaten. Badly. He couldn't land a single hit on Shedletsky, and for some reason, fighting with this guy felt a hundred times more difficult than sparring with his own father. And seeing that Venomshank was his father, this wasn't just idle praise.
"I have to admit- your technique's solid." The chicken-like Inphernal leans on his own blade, looking down on Sword and smiling. "Who taught you?"
"My mentor." Sword replies. Shedletsky nods and helps Sword up. "One heck of a mentor, if that's the case. They must've been really good." The demi-deity can't really respond to that with anything but a slight smile.
"Holy hell... where were you when the Phights started, huh?" Sword jokes, chuckling. The older Inphernal makes a so-so gesture. "Ehhh, got stuck somewhere with some friends. No big deal."
Sword and Rocket leave the tournament after the ending ceremony, and Shedletsky and Guest made it off with the second and first place prizes. Sword knows he can be beaten by some Inphernals, it's not like the Phighers are unbeatable, but still, it was surprising.
"You think they're going to actually become official Phighters, Sword?" Rocket asks. Sword nods, stretching as they both walk back to Rocket's apartment. "Oh, definitely. Isn't that obvious?"
he lets Rocket get off at Zuka's apartment, and he takes the tram over to the outskirts of Crossroads where Venomshank's house is. Hey, he might as well tell his dad about the whole thing if he's home!
Sword steps up to the door of his house and opens it, not bothered by all of the crows surrounding the place. "I'm home!"
"Sword, you're back. How was the tournament?" The god of rot was busy in his own office, polishing his own blade with a whetstone as Sisyphus, his crow, was perched upon his shoulder.
"It was awesome! I thought there wouldn't be anyone really strong coming up, since it was a starter tournament, but there were like, two really powerful guys that I think would totally wipe the floor in a Phight-"
"Woah, woah, settle down, son." Venomshank chuckles as he puts the equipment back, getting up so he can talk with Sword. "One at a time. Who caught your eye?"
"Well, there was this Inphernal that didn't even use their gear in the tournament- and he still completely wiped the floor with everyone and got second place!" Sword exclaims.
"That's interesting. It's rare to see someone not rely on their gear for everything." Venomshank chuckles. "Ahh, it reminds me of the old days- not everyone had a strong gear, but they'd still take matters into their own hands..."
"Daaad!" Sword says, exasperated. He knows he can't really stop his father from going on a tangent about the 'good old days' when he gets started. Venomshank laughs and pats his son on the head. "Alright! I won't go on about it..."
"He went by like, Guest and all that- pretty cool if you ask me! I'm at least 99% sure he was some Playground vet or something from the war." Sword rubs the back of his head. "But man... I'm so embarrassed I lost."
"Truly?" Venomshank muses. "It must have been a worthy opponent."
"Yeah, there was this guy that was Guest's friend or something- came in with a support gear and an iron sword he'd picked up somewhere. He wiped the floor with him and me!" Sword exclaims.
Venomshank is a little bit intrigued, but he knows that his son isn't perfect. "If you're bothered about it, you can always train more to beat him."
"I'm sure that it's gonna take a hundred years to get to that point!" Sword jokes. "He moved so fast that I was beat in under a minute! I couldn't even keep up with him!"
"What's his name, then?" Venomshank says. He fills up a cup of water, intending to drink it.
Sword sighs. "Well, it's probably Fried Chicken or something, but he went by 'Shedletsky' during the fight. Kind of weird..."
There's a shattering noise as Venomshank drops the glass, spilling water everywhere. He's frozen still, his eyes wide beneath his mask.
"... Father?" Sword looks concerned. "Dad? What's wrong?"
"..." Venomshank is quiet. "Are you sure you didn't mishear?"
"No, I'm sure. Even told it to the crowd and all that."
"What- what did he look like," Venomshank grabs his son by the shoulders, and Sword's scared because he hasn't seen his dad look this tense and shocked in his entire life.
"I- what? I guess he looks kind of goofy- some t-shirt and shorts, looks like a chicken with his yellow horns and was wearing this black and gold hood for some reason..."
Venomshank is completely quiet after that. The demi-deity is getting freaked out beyond measure at how his father is reacting.
"Sword. Do not tell anyone else about this, especially not Ban Hammer or Valk or Dom." His dad says, his voice low. "This is of the utmost importance. Do you understand?"
Sword nods. He's not sure what his dad is about to say.
"Good. Because from what I can remember... either that Inphernal knows something only the SFOTH knows about, or he's not an Inphernal after all."
"Sword, who you just met was our creator. The SFOTH's creator. And to an extent... your grandfather."
[Extras]
Survivor Gears (Currently)
- Noob: Bloxy Cola (still has Slateskin Potion and Ghostburger)
- Elliot: Pepperoni Pizza
- Two Time: Ghostfire Dagger
- 007n7: c00lgui
- Guest 1337: Nothing (he’s a guest), but he’d be better at handling some gears than their owner
- Chance: Lucky Coin (still has revolver)
- Shedletsky: Chicken Leg (but has all the SFOTH swords in his possession)
- Builderman: Ban Hammer (but can use any gear he summons)
- Dusekkar: Staff of the Winds
Survivor Designs - Phighting
- Chance - Gave him bunny-like horns because he canonically owns a bunny.
- Guest 1337 - Changed the USM logo on his bulletproof vest to be RBXM (Roblox Military) and the flag from an American flag to the old Roblox logo.
- Shedletsky - Gave him chicken wings because of his "Chicken" skin, and the hood to reference his "Telamon" skin in Forsaken (and the fact that he's Telamon). Made his gear the "Chicken Leg" when the gear is called the "Turkey Leg" (because if Zuka's gear is the Exponential Rocket Launcher then I can change the gear name a bit). Also made him white as hell because when I inputted his yellow skin into a monochrome filter, it turned out white as hell.
- 007n7 - Gave him a mix of his original clothes and the "Dad" skin. Antlers come from his "Reindeer" skin and are the color of his original skin tone.
- Two Time - Horns are the spawn wings they get when they enter their second life. Scarf is from their milestone 4 skin.
- Elliot - Gave them Valk horns to reference his Milestone 4 skin, and made them the same color as his previously yellow skin. Again, made him white as hell for the same reason as Shedletsky, since the monochrome filter turned neon-yellow to white.
- Noob - Yellow horns to match his previous skin, and made them the basic short devil horns because he's Noob, and that's about as basic as you can get. Looks weird and bald as hell but hey, so does regular Noob if you turn him completely white.
- Builderman - Literally just normal Builderman with a helmet over his horns.
- Dusekkar - This mf is literally Ghostdeeri what do you want me to do. He already fits into Phighting's whole universe.