MGE Dash: PainKiller

[KillMoves]

"Lahat sila'y magbabayad sa ginawa nila. Hindi nila alam kung anong magagawa ng isang tao."

------------------

Prologue

"Hello everyone! Bonnie right here on the annual Diggers' Festival held here on Holstox Island!" a Wererabbit happily announces to the camera held by what appears to be a man wearing a red cap backwards. "In about 2 days later, the special digging competition will be held on the Kyun Subgate. But this competition has a twist declared by Lisa Lockeson herself. And-- what's that?" The Wererabbit then shifts her head downwards while putting a hand on her ear.

This moment was taken advantage of by a Holstaur who enters the camera's view just right beside Bonnie.
"Lisa Lockeson herself is willing to give details about this competition with a twist? Alright then-- waaah!" the Wererabbit gets startled upon seeing the Holstaur. "A-ah! Madam Lockeson! Folks, Lisa Lockeson herself in KTOX News!" the Wererabbit then promptly hands the microphone to the leader of Holstox Island.

"Thank you Bonnie." she says to the Wererabbit before facing the camera. "Good day everyone, I'm Lisa Lockeson and I'll be revealing to you the various changes I'll be implementing. First off, this competition will have groups of four which means there'll be a total of 16 winners! And... well I guess that's about it." Lisa ends her explanation with a smile. "Oh and the reward will be an increase on your digger's rank."

----

"Right now, we're going to be interviewing some of the Diggers who are going to be in the competition." Bonnie says to the camera.
The Wererabbit then looks around in the crowd and spots a blue-chromed Digger, a fiery red Digger and a black Digger, each of whom happens to pass by each other and are now about to be interviewed in something they have nothing to do with.
"Ah Diggers!" she calls for the attention of those three possibly unlucky Diggers. "You will be competing right? Tell us, what do you feel about the competition?" she then turns her head right and left, seem to be looking for someone. "And where's your fourth member?"

"Right here miss Bonnie." announces an 18-year-old Digger with a shaved head and white POW suit. "You were asking what we feel right? Well we feel that we're going to take 1st place and get that rank increase or my name ain't Joshua!" the white Digger answers the question wholeheartedly.
"Wow! What enthusiasm!" Bonnie comments. She then turns to the camera. "There you have it. Looks like the competition's going to be wild with these guys around. Come on let's find more."

After the Wererabbit reporter leaves, the white Digger turns to his newly founded team. "Well, like it or not we're in that competition, unless you wanna be wussies and not join. Let's start with introductions, I'm Joshua Cald. Nice to meet y'all."

[Rezeed]

"I think there must be some kind of mistake. I'm not in the competition nor did am I even eligible to sign up. I'm still in training and don't even have have a license. Heck, I don't even have a crew so I'm not valid to apply for a license yet. Only reason I even have a POW Suit is because I did well on the digger's guild training and I have been doing field training for a while now. I believe you want the digging crew that's overseeing my field training. My "babysitter" can be found with his crew, talking about his battle plans for this competition. Now if you can excuse me, I need to go be a part of the audience.", I questioned as I point over at the general direction of the digger in charge of my field training. After I make it clear where said digger was, I headed to be a part of the audience.

[KillMoves]

"I think there must be some kind of mistake. I'm not in the competition nor did am I even eligible to sign up. I'm still in training and don't even have have a license. Heck, I don't even have a crew so I'm not valid to apply for a license yet. Only reason I even have a POW Suit is because I did well on the digger's guild training and I have been doing field training for a while now. I believe you want the digging crew that's overseeing my field training. My "babysitter" can be found with his crew, talking about his battle plans for this competition. Now if you can excuse me, I need to go be a part of the audience.", I questioned as I point over at the general direction of the digger in charge of my field training. After I make it clear where said digger was, I headed to be a part of the audience.

"W-what? Come on man." Joshua stops you. "There are already four of us so why not? I can get us in. Not a Digger? Not a problem so long as you have a POW suit." he tells you. The way he says those lines suggests that he might have some connections.

"And besides, your 'babysitter' probably has a group now. Also, don't you think it's easier to gain your license by working with somebody?" Joshua continues his temptation.

[Rezeed]

"Yes, it would be easier for me to get a license by working with someone and that would be my future digging crew. All diggers know this, you can't have a license without a clean criminal record, and doing this competition could get me into a lot of trouble. You need a digging crew and a flying machine to even apply for the license. I have a flying machine, but it's waiting for me on the digger's guild island when I have a crew. Also, I haven't taken the field and written tests which I can't until I have my crew. That was the very first thing they tell all new diggers. I am not going to ruin my chances at getting a real licence over a competition in the digger's festival. It's way too easy to get caught and it won't sit well with me. Find yourself an official digger and leave me out of it. If you continue to bother me about it, I'm getting an official or one of the guild branch office staff to put an end to it. Now if you excuse me, I doing what I planned to do, watch the competition from the audience and learn a few things by watching. Good day sir.", I scolded Joshua and stormed away from him as I go straight to the audience.

[Scrapmaster]

Having just arrived at Holtox Island to see the competition, he was wearing his suit like always, he liked it, earning it after the beginner training was amazingly satisfying, all he need was a crew, which he didn't have.

He was walking around, just looking around the place as he passed through two POW suit wearers, he thought they were official diggers, but then he noticed the whererabbit talking to them and then quickly, another man named Joshua approaching them and offering to get them in the tournament,
"Im Dex, nice to meet you Joshua, I belie-" he was about to finish as the man beside him, with white gloves and a blue chromed suit told Joshua exactly what he was going to say
Dex watched as Joshua tried to convince him, to no avail, he remained silent and simply walked away to watch the competition from a nice spot

[Oersted]

After walking around for a while Lloyd ended up getting caught in some misunderstanding, which another digger in a chromed blue POW suit quickly explained it seemed, then another one, this one wearing a white POW suit comes along and starts suggesting something that doesn't sound to be very "legal" to Lloyd's ears, deciding not to even bother he simply let out a "Feh." as he walked away to go find a nice spot to spectate on the contest.

[KillMoves]

"Hello folks! Bonnie here and we're about to see the beginning of the Digger's Competition!" the Wererabbit says to the camera. "We have 8 teams of Diggers who are ready to take the 1st place but... I don't see the first team I interviewed earlier." she says while looking upon the competing Diggers who are busy checking their equipment, huddled together making plans or simply standing around waiting for the games to begin.

"As you can see, there are four big screens and 8 smaller screens for the audience to watch as the competition will take place underground. You might be thinking 'How are 12 screens going to show the entire ruins?', well guess what, the entire Kyun subgate is actually covered by cameras, exceptforafewplaces, and we'll be shifting to where the action is!" Bonnie happily informs everyone watching about the competition while the cameras flashed to all parts of the Kyun subgates. Oddly empty.

Rezeed
You quickly found yourself between a Cyclops, who looked like a Mechanic, and a human woman with short silver hair whom you could feel Digger vibes from.

On the field just in front of the subgate entrance, you could see the Digger who's been guiding you with his team: a yellow Digger, a purple one and a white one but it wasn't that scoundrel Joshua.
Speaking of that man, you could see him but he doesn't seem to be with a team. Either that or he's just not with his group right now. He simply stares at the gate intently.

Scrapmaster
You find a seat between a black-clad man with a gas mask holding a soda can and what seems to be a large-chested Mummy. As soon as you sit down, the gas-masked man blurts out. "Oh man. This is gonna be great! I'm gonna see energy blasts firing around, gonna see parts flying around, gonna hear screams of panic and distress and orders. Makes my blood rush hehe."

He then takes a glance at the Mummy and you deduce he made a surprised expression behind his mask. "Holy..." the man whispers to you. "You see that rack man? They're so large, they could kill somebody. Damn."

On the field in front of the subgate entrance, you could see Joshua staring at the gate intently for some reason.

Oersted
In a struck of luck, you get to land on a front row seat to the competition and between a mature yet still beautiful Inari and a green-haired Elf with pigtails.

Looking at the competing Diggers, you could find that white-suited Digger staring at the subgate door intently.

-------------

"Are the preparations ready, Mathras?"
"Yes Karrus. So long as nobody finds the Cultists."
"Good. This should be enough for me to ascend. Or at least... closer to ascension."
"Still... This plan looks too large for a newly-anointed one like you."

[Rezeed]

I look at the monitors and got a good look at the layout.

"I wonder how far this one stretches. I remember the one in the ballade continent that started within near a port city at the straight portion of a southwestern area and ending near Serenade. Man that was exhausting and aside from the zenny from the reaverbots, all that was really found was a mug with a broken handle having a picture of something odd, a ragged doll, and some weird stick with a metal point. Kinda looked like a giant fork thinking back to that day. Maybe it was for some kind of mechanism or something.", thinking out loud. I cross my arms while I continue to think about both that day, and how the competition was going to turn out.

[Oersted]

Despite the fact he ended up sitting between two ladies Lloyd was much more excited by the competition that would begin soon, although seeing that white-clad digger from earlier made him mutter "That guy again? Just what is he up to?" aside from that Lloyd quickly looked towards the participating diggers, wondering about which team would win.

[Scrapmaster]

(Oh great,I got the weirdo >.>)

Dex was satisfied with his spot, he could see the competition pretty well from that, thankfully, but it seemed he sat beside a weird guy with a gas mask, and a mummy with huge tits, he couldn't help but glance at them for a moment, but he really didn't show any reaction.
As he sat down he heard the man speaking about how exciting the competition would be, "Well thats why this competition is so famous, the sheer chaos is just part of it" he said to the man beside him with a half jokingly tone, as the man quickly looked at the mummy and whispered to him
"I know...Its a weapon in its own way" he whispered chuckling as he did

[KillMoves]

Scrapmaster (weren't you asking for Keith?)
"Hey man, let's make a bet. 500 zennies on that team with an Amazoness in it." the gas-masked man says to you while pointing to a red-suited Amazoness with her team which consists of her, two men and a pig-tailed woman.


The announcement to prepare was made and the Digger teams got into position in front of the subgate entrance. Soon after, Lisa Lockeson positions herself in front of the Diggers and with a megaphone, she explains the rules. "Alright teams, this subgate is not a cake walk so you guys better work together. Inside, you'll have to find a room with three blue flags in them. It's your job to take one and return back here. If you take one more than you should, we'll forfeit you and we'll know that you did. You got all of that?"
The Digger teams all nodded to Lisa's leader voice save for Joshua who was still staring at the subgate entrance.

"And without further ado, let the games... BEGIN!" the leader of Holstox Island declares with a loud voice.
The subgate doors parted from each other while the audience cheered for the teams they were supporting or simply cheered. The Diggers wasted no time in entering the subgate and after the last Digger made it in, the subgate doors slowly came upon each other ending with a loud thud. Lisa couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine after the thud. She wondered why but now wasn't the time for that.

Ten minutes in and the screens show the Diggers making their way through the subgate's halls and tunnels, oddly not encountering any reaverbot.
"Look at them go!" Bonnie says to the camera while also looking at the screens. "But... where are the reaverbots?" she quizzically asks.
Lisa, also watching the screens, sports a worried look. She knew that this subgate might not have many reaverbots but that was no excuse for the complete lack of their presence, especially ten minutes in.

------

Joshua and his team, a purple-suited Lizardman, a brown-haired young boy and a girl with long blonde hair, moved through the tunnels with maximum caution. Joshua had warned them earlier that he had a bad feeling about this place and he was still feeling it. This bugged the white Digger and every fiber of his being wanted to get out of there but he told himself that was too late.
His pace slowed down as he looked around him trying to shake off the feeling. The Lizardman notices this and calls him out. "Hey Joshua! Hurry up else we won't find the flag room."
Joshua looked at the Lizardman and replied. "Right." but the moment after that, sounds of busters and gunfire made their presence which caught their attention.

-------

One of the Digger teams are already firing at something as shown at one of the big screens. Their position also being hammered by bullet shots.
One of the enemy's shots go right through a Digger's head, erasing a good chunk of it. The Digger's body fall to the ground while the teammates look upon it in horror. They weren't the only ones looking at it with horror, much of the audience gasped at this and Lisa also looks upon it with shock. She knew that none of the reaverbots there are capable of killing. What could this be?

Soon, requests for help sounded through the radioes and communicators while the screens flashed to the action or rather, slaughter. The screens showed the Digger teams being hammered by gunfire by what seems to be beings with huge black armor with gold outlines using unique guns. Some Digger teams were ambushed in close combat by the same beings and were ripped apart from the latter's melee weapons. Swords, axes and what seems to be a chainsaw wielded like a sword tore flesh upon flesh of the hapless Diggers.

The audience was silent as they viewed the carnage and the bloodshed that was happening within the Kyun subgate. Blood and body parts stained the floor and the walls and the screams of agony and pain from the Diggers echoed through the tunnels and also through screens. Some injured Diggers trying to crawl away from their doom only for their doom to come up and finish them off while some managed to escape the massacre and are shown running through the tunnels. They seem to be heading back to the subgate entrance.

"Get the subgate doors open now!" Lisa shouts at the staff in her POW suit.
"I-I can't!" the employee controlling the doors reply.
"What!?" the Holstaur asks in disbelief.

[Oersted]

Lloyd looked on finding it odd that none of the teams seemed to have runned into any reaverbots yet, somehow this gave him a bad feeling about this whole thing... When things went to hell and the competition turned to a slaughter Lloyd clenched his fist "Tch, just what are those things? They don't look like any reaverbots I've ever seen..." he muttered under his breath, honestly he was glad he didn't join in that white digger's shenanigans, else he'd probably be caught in this disaster right now.

[Rezeed]

(Ooc Note: Since I can't do anything more than a one sentence response, I thought I'd at least give a canonical explanation on how Ruins and Subgates work.)

As I look at the disturbing scenes play before me, hope that my field "teacher" is going to be alright. From the chaos and things being said from the officials, I think outloud."Of course they can't open it. I remember during the training in the digger's guild island, I remember being told that subgates normally can be open by simply approaching it(ooc note: similar to the automatic doors in a supermarket). She said, it's responds to the life and heat signatures of those who approach it. Ironically, since it's too dangerous to simply walk in there, we need our POW Suits to combat the reaverbots. Be since the POW Suits block such signatures, an special electric signal that's embedded in the POW Suit, and a special card placed attached to the Spotter's console is required. However, with this technology and rank system this allows the diggers guild to ensure no digger is ventures into a ruin or subgate they aren't capable of handling the level of danger. If they want to get out, they'll need to hurry out of the subgate."

[Scrapmaster]

(I was, so im not complaining)

"Hmm, I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this competition, so im not really betting anything, sorry" he said to the man as he watched the competition begin, at first it was like every competition he has seen before, it started with the digger moving deeper into the subgate, he was rather confused by the fact that the digger weren't encountering any reaverbots, he wasn't confused anymore as he then saw the scenes after it, seeing the diggers getting slaughtered brought him a mix of, horror, but also relief for not being there, "Dear lord! they're getting massacred!, just what is that thing..." he said quite troubled, he has never seen anything like that before, It didn't look like the normal reaverbot that was for sure, seeing as the chaos ensued and the horror kept going, he just sat there and watched with an emotionless face (poker face), "well im sorry about the amazoness" he said to the man beside him, in an attempt to try to lighten the mood, but probably to no avail seeing the occurrence.

[Gamergirl64]

Like the rest of the crowd, R.O.S.I.E. and Kaila were shocked at what they saw.

"What the heck is going on?!" R.O.S.I.E. asked.

"Your guess is good as mine, Rosie." Kaila replied to the android girl sitting next to her. She watched the diggers on the screen running for their life, then looked at R.O.S.I.E., who was doing exactly what she was afraid of her doing: Preparing herself to jump in and help. "Wait, Rosie. It's too dangerous for you to go in." She said, grabbing R.O.S.I.E.'s arm as she was trying to get up.

"But those diggers don't stand a chance in there." Replied the android. "Someone needs to help them out of there, if not pummel whatever is in there, causing all the trouble."

"Yeah, but just because they don't stand a chance, doesn't mean you will! Remember, you're still in training, and your buster isn't that strong. Your power and range are at D rank while the rest is at E." Kaila explained. "You may not be human, but that doesn't mean you can get seriously hurt, or worse."

"I'll be fine! If it's too much for me to handle, I'll at least try to rescue as much survivors as I can." R.O.S.I.E. replied, as she tried to escape from Kaila's grip. "Someone needs to help them!"

[KillMoves]

Scrapmaster
Unbeknownst to you, the man was no longer there. In his place were 500 zennies and a note that says "You win (:". The large-chested Mummy on the other hand was looking down and covering her ears in an effort to drown out the wails of the competing Diggers.

Gamergirl (I'll get to Aria once the prologue's over)
The android found herself along with other veteran-looking Diggers right in front of the subgate doors, which weren't opening. Lisa herself was pounding at the subgate doors and yelling "Why the hell are the doors not opening!?"
"It just won't! It may be jammed." one of her comrades answered.
"Then we'll blow it up! Diggers, turn those doors into scrap!" Lisa ordered the Diggers.



While the Diggers were busy trying to bust down the subgate doors, one of the screens shows a certain white-suited Digger and a purple-suited Liardman Digger reaching the subgate entrance, which didn't open for them. The white Digger and the Lizardman then just stand there talking to each other, likely about why the doors aren't opening.

---------

"W-what? Why aren't they opening?" the Liardman worriedly asks.
"I don't know. I guess it's jammed. We need to find another way out." Joshua says to his remaining teammate as he approached the doors and placed his hand on it.
"But this is the only way out!" the Lizardman tells Joshua.
"It better not be. Else, we're smithereens. Come on." Joshua starts to head back inside the subgate.
The Lizardman stops him however. "Wait, can't we blow it open?"
"You got explosives with you?"
The Lizardman stands there unable to answer.
"Didn't think so now come on."

-----------

The two Diggers then head back inside the subgate prompting the crowd to question as to what they're doing. Meanwhile the battle continues and it is evident that whatever that were attacking the Diggers weren't invincible as the screens showed some expert Diggers managing to take down a few of them. Still, they were outnumbered and the things are taking down the fleeing Diggers who were dropping like flies.

Lisa and the other Diggers continue to fire upon and throw bombs at the subgate doors which show no signs of breaking. Not even a single crack.
"Dammit!" the Holstaur yells. Tears flowing from her eyes. Tears that were formed for not being able to do anything. "Keep firing! We've got to save them!"

Meanwhile inside the subgate, Seth's field teacher along with his team reaches the closed entrance and they are soon joined by several other surviving Diggers. They're looking at the closed doors probably wondering why the doors weren't opening. Suddenly, the Digger that was farthest behind was shot in the back. The things were there and have now cornered the Diggers. An intense firefight erupted though everyone in the audience knew who was going to win but still they didn't want to believe it.

------------

Joshua limped to a room alone, panting and covered in blood in some places and excreting the important liquid from his mouth. "Damn... what kind of weapon... disables a Buster?" he mutters to himself. "And I have no special weapons with me... Damn it all."
The white Digger then observes his surroundings. He was in a round room with a pit that was glowing purple and was emitting sounds. This perked Joshua's curiosity and he limped towards it to find out the source of the glow and the sounds. His eyes widened to what he saw: at least six individuals surrounding a symbol on the ground that looked like lines and circles attached to each other and the symbols were the source of the glowing. Joshua deduced the sounds, or rather chanting, came from the individuals.

This confused the Digger but he figured he shouldn't be here and decided to leave the room but he was faced by one of those things but this one looked different. Before Joshua could act, the thing raised a sword as thick as his body and twice as high as him and brought it down the Digger. Joshua's body was cleanly and vertically sliced into two.
"That was a close one."

-------------

The once competing Diggers were being brought down by the enemy. It was hopeless. Some had aimed their Busters at their heads to immediately end the pain, some had tried to surrender but was still gunned down while some, including Seth's 'babysitter' fought to the end. All of them screamed. Screamed in terror or screamed in a blaze of glory. Soon, not one Digger was left standing.

After a few moments, the subgate doors finally opened since what felt like forever. Lisa was the first to enter, trying hard to not accept the bitter tuth, and she was greeted by bodies and bodies of dead and bloody Diggers. She fell to her knees as her Digger comrades went in to try and find survivors and fight the enemy which appears to be not there. The Holstaur placed her hands on her mouth as she sobbed uncontrollably. Numerous thoughts ran through her head. Thoughts about those things and what they wanted to accomplish but more importantly, thoughts about how she wasn't able to save all of the Diggers. It could be said she was good friends with some of them there but whoever were they, they are now lifeless corpses.

Some of the audience, possibly the friends or family of the slain Diggers, came up to try and find the bodies of their fallen. This was a dark day for Holstox Island and for the Digger's Guild.

[Oersted]

After all the carnage was over Lloyd quietly left the area, better to leave and clear his mind than stay there and mope around, sure people died today but don't people die all the time anyway? Okay, this isn't something he'd say out loud to those who just lost friends or family just now but its still true, that's why he decided to try and get it out of his mind, once he judged he was far enough away from the subgate he stopped and sighed, shaking his head slowly.

[Scrapmaster]

Dex kept watching the screens, with a blank expression as he did, but he then looked to the side of him,where the gas mask man was, he saw the note "really?" whispered to himself confused as he picked the zenny and then looked at the mummy,seeing almost everyone like that wasn't exactly nice, there wasn't anyone he knew in the competition, but he was still worried much like the rest of the audience.
He saw Lisa and the others trying to break down the door, he went in to help, but seeing as his buster was no good, he wasn't able to do anything.
he took a quick glance at the scene when the door opened "uugh" he grunted in disgust turning around to not see the massacred diggers, he then decided to stay there before heading out, he just sat down on a seat and just stood there, confused and terrified by all that happened "..." he just kept silent as the atmosphere was filled with dread

[Rezeed]

(A Cookie to anyone that gets the joke/cliché/reference that I plan on making.)

As I witness the disturbing events come to an end, I thought it would be better for my late "teacher" 's crew to tend his remains and do the mourning for all three of us. What makes the whole thing worse is that he was only a few days from retirement. Knowing something like this would be important, I consider traveling back to the digger's guild island to not only give a report of my field training, but also report this tragedy. Thankfully, I have enough money for to either take a sky taxi or sea shuttle.

I think out loud, "Lets see, the sky taxi is faster, but can tends to be an attack target by pirates. Especially, since that's usually used by news diggers and diggers in training. The sea shuttle is slower, but for some reason, pirates don't bring themselves to attacking it. It should be safer overall. Might be worth just going with the sea shuttle. Like they always say, when you are in a hurry, take the long way."

I walk away from the crowd and make my way to the closest eastern port town for the Sea Shuttle.

[Gamergirl64]

R.O.S.I.E. turned around to see the horrible scenery that happened. She was shocked, but more-so annoyed that she couldn't go in there and help the diggers that experienced such a horrible ending.

Kaila, too, was shocked at what she saw. She wanted to go over and try and comfort Lisa, but she knew she had to get R.O.S.I.E. out of there, before she did something crazy like run through the subgates to get her revenge. "Rosie, let's get going." She said. "We must be on our way."

R.O.S.I.E. didn't say a word, as she followed her spotter out of the audience arena.

As the two were walking, Kaila was wondering which way they should take to get to the digger's guild.

"I think the sea shuttle would be a good idea to take." Kaila said.

"Why? The taxi is faster, so we'll get there in a less amount of time." Rosie added.

"Yes, but the sea shuttle is safer, because we won't be attacked by pirates." Kaila explained. "And with what has happened today, the last thing we need is a pirate attack to rub salt on the wound."

"So what? I'm sure a few pirates aren't anything that I can't handle." R.O.S.I.E. said, but then sighed. "Alright, then. We'll take the sea shuttle." She said, then the two of them headed towards the Sea Shuttle.