"Ah, so yet another of our kind has been born..."
"And one of a skeleton too..."
"How exceedingly rare that is nowadays..."
"After the sub-species were wiped out... I had thought no more skeleton monsters could come."
"But once more fate has proved us wrong."
"May your life be one of bliss and love, young skeleton."
"And under the protection and guidance of the ROYAL SCIENTIST..."
"Carry the hopes and dreams of our kind with whatever legacy you will create and leave behind..."
"ALONG WITH THE REST."
...
"Hey... Wake up."
"Y'know we don't get all day, right?"
"Me and bird-mask over here are being put on a leash waitin' for you."
"Hey..."
"WAKE UP!"
"...Hm?" Mono muttered as he awoke lazily from his metal desk, before him he noticed the Plague Doctor and M87 stand before him, as straight as a tree and feet flat on the floor as the two only stared Mono down in a mix of both silent eagerness and disappointment.
Before anything else, even half-tuning out M87 and The Plague Doctor that stood stoically before him, Mono took in his newer surroundings once more, it was an all too familiar green-esque lab, but in the outskirts of it, the laboratory was set in a sedentary dimension, sprawling asteroid belts and strings of orange unraveled around and about, in a dimension watched over by one gargantuan blackhole where everything was completely and utterly wiped out, no life, no mortals, and no hope, it was simply this lab alone floating about what was practically void.
"Falling asleep on the job isn't ideal, I thought that's what we could all agree on, right?" M87 jokingly said, yet in a serious tone as the only thing that could dispel it was a small smirk reaching from his mouth as The Plague Doctor silently and eerily nodded in what could be described as agreement.
"Haha... I suppose you two are right, apologies my friends, the innate laziness catches up to all of us eventually," Mono said as he got up and stretched his arms a bit he felt rather fatigued despite such a relaxing nap, he had thought.
"Sure... So how are the devices going? They're the most important part of whatever scheme you were trying to convey, eh?" M87 asked as he slightly stretched out a hand in a gesture.
"It's in the other room at the moment but if you're wondering primarily about its progress, then it is almost done, I hope you don't mind my constant procrastination," Mono shrugged as he began to stride his way to the right corridor where the other room lied, as M87, his eyes narrowing down, and the Plague Doctor slowly watched him envelop into the darkness.
"It takes a lot of patience and hard work to catch up to... 'Cosmic beings' such as them, you know?" Mono whispered from the shadows as the other two turned their bodies to him and began to follow him into that odd darkness.
"In the end, I believe we were all just part of something we are greatly inferior to."
"But that won't stop anything, will it?"
"Say..."
"I know this well... But I'll ask this only once."
"What truly are your reasons for joining me at this high-risk juncture?"
"Your reasons are not as simple as you let on."
Although, elsewhere, traveling around the second multiverse...
"...So, to be precise, the new strategy is that since it's just you and me, they will be more tempted to attack us, that's when Core will send in the rest to help us and catch them off-guard?" Dust asked Zeph who stood from behind him, Dust piloted the Gaster Blaster speedily yet patiently through the second multiverse as the two's eyes were fully attentive.
"Yep, and if you were wondering, you and I were sent out because they likely believe I'm the strongest in the group, and you're the one he has a vendetta the most on the most so that ups our chance of, rather ironically being targetted..." Zeph confirmed as he let out a small laugh before deciding to sit back down on the Gaster Blaster's head to relax.
"Y'know, it's a little odd... Usually, they all go on an extreme offensive, but this calamity seems to be a lot more... Careful and slow, it's nauseatingly tense," Dust commented as he heaved out a steady sigh.
"Because all the enemies we've faced were mostly Embodiments, so that puts us at their level, these guys no doubt are far from being even an Embodiment, so I could see why they would be playing carefully..." Zeph answered, and for a moment, what followed next was a ghastly silence only accompanied by the whisking winds as they sped past numerous universes...
"So, Error told me that you found your past self, how'd you feel when that happened?" Dust spoke out of the blue, this question caused Zeph's posture to straighten in a surprised response, but nevertheless, he was quick to calm.
"Ah, I suppose it was a bit nostalgic, felt like I fixed something, but I'm not sure what," Zeph shrugged his arms as he spoke rather passionately.
"That's good... Say, you never really told me your past before, could you perhaps give a short story while we're making our way?" Dust suggested as a smirk emerged from his face as he turned to look at Zeph.
"...Heh, uh, now that you ask that... I ain't really sure myself," Zeph said, puzzling Dust just as much as he did himself the two blankly stared at each other for a short moment before Dust turned back to his front.
"Really? Well, what gives? Memory loss or something? Resets maybe?" Dust questioned in a genuinely curious tone.
"Probably the first, sorry I'm just telling this now but when I try to remember the more specific parts of my past I just fall short," Zeph replied in a truthful yet playful tone as he scratched the back of his head before letting out a small yet disappointed sigh.
"Well, that's alright, I think all things come inevitably, so who knows, maybe your memories will just flash into your mind again..." Dust assured as he shrugged his shoulders before speeding up his Gaster Blaster's pace.
"A little idealistic but a thought like that wouldn't hurt-" Zeph spoke but was abruptly cut off as the two were quick to notice a faint glimmer of light above them, it hid behind a universe and flashed into all sorts of colors, like that of a rainbow, before quickly fading away.
"I think that's our jackpot," Zeph remarked before Dust quickly switched direction and went straight up for what they saw above, but before they knew it, Dust's Gaster Blaster reached the peak of its agility...
A large, circular portal of black and glimmers of orange opened up above them, just as they neared the initial location of the light, shocking the two as with the speed the Gaster Blaster was going, they were essentially forced into it, but they did not pay it any heed as they quickly prepared for what was to come, holding their ground just as they fully enveloped into the black, orange-ringed portal which in the end closed after the two were 'captured'...
Weak and dreary, and bones were slightly numb, Dust awoke from his 'slumber' as he shook his head while lifting his body up almost falling, and even when he finally stood on his two legs, he was noticeably struggling to keep his balance for an odd reason, as if gravity was weighing down on him tenfold, adding on to his dizziness as all he could feel was a familiar nauseating feeling as if he was about to combust at any given moment as the skeleton held his skull tightly in discomfort as he grunted.
As he regained his sight, Dust felt a slight oddity in his system as he was met with a completely void-like area, at least that is what he initially thought as there were in fact multiple rings of orange surrounding the void, so big and near yet it ultimately was so far away, the domain was space-like as asteroid belts flocked to one place of the 'world' to another, but above all else, at the very top of the domain rested a large, boasting blackhole of incomprehensible size, to the point, one would tremble at the mere sight of it.
"You puzzled too?" Zeph spoke, his voice coming from the sides as Dust turned to the direction of his voice, he saw that Zeph was looking straight up as well, his eyes noticeably blinking and focusing on the blackhole above as if trying to get a reach of information on the area.
"Yeah... It doesn't seem like this place is a part of the main multiverses, in fact, it seems like a 'pocket dimension' more than anything else... No hope for outside help," Zeph commented as Dust looked on with a concerned expression.
"Well, what do you think of that madman's little cheats?" A sudden yet familiar voice, one Zeph had recognized echoed throughout the domain, prompting Zeph and Dust to dash to each other's side and get into a fighting stance, having each other's backs as they slowly began to observe the area for any possible attacks.
"It's quite interesting that this is the true extent of his creations... To be able to amp my power to such an extreme..."
"I was already the most powerful here, but now..."
"It's as if I were a god! Don't you think? You could tell just from this... Machination!"
Then, from afar yet close enough for the duo to see, a large puff of black smoke emerged out of nowhere, temporarily obscuring the vision in that area, to which when it finally cleared, a bird-masked man in black and with a monstrous silence and the wretched skeleton in that lab-coated attire, stepped into the domain as they, as quietly as they entered, slowly stared down the duo who began to turn their bodies to the demonic-like duo in defense.
"That's him... But why is he fighting? He's incredibly weak... No, there's more to this, from what that voice just said, he's probably made something special for himself," Dust thought as his eyes narrowed down on Mono.
"Take a look back at the deceitful eye that watches over my domain." The voice muttered.
Suddenly feeling a huge burst of magic, without feeling even the need to look up, both Zeph and Dust almost instinctually dashed to the opposite sides, narrowly avoiding M87's attack who slammed their body down and landed on their feet with a force like that of a blackhole as it shook the entire domain to it's very core as Zeph and Dust continued to backpedal further and regroup.
"You're still pretty good..." M87 remarked as he turned around and glared at Zeph specifically, as both The Plague Doctor and Mono walked over to his side, completing their formation as, except for Mono, they all got into an offensive stance, prepared to strike at any moment.
"They are really full of surprises, eh?" Zeph muttered as he and Dust were quick to activate their magical aura, and shortly after their Half-Singularity, they both took a deep breath, taking a step forward as did the trio that stood before them.
"I suppose we've gotten used to that, still," Dust responded as he could feel his fist tightening with purple fire and lightning...
"...Dust, before you drain any further magic," Zeph whispered.
"Take control of this 'domain' with that skill of yours."
"I'll deal with the rest."
In response, Dust took on a shocked expression for a moment, but it quickly turned into a grin...
Without warning, Zeph dashed hastily over to M87 first, catching the black-coated skeleton off-guard as they could only raise their arms up in an attempt to block the attack, which ended up futile as Zeph, with immense strength punched M87 away, a blast of angelic magic filling the path, yet the black-coated skeleton was still able to land albeit with fatigue, while The Plague Doctor attempted to counterattack Zeph, who now seemed to be off-guard, and rather strangely, Mono only began to raise his hand as if beckoning something.
But this was all merely a distraction, a setup as in the distance, Dust got into a stance as his magical aura became more focused and refined, his eyes shimmering with purple and blue as he finished it off with one last hand sign imbued with an immense amount of magic, and before M87 knew it, his domain's other half was beginning to be devoured a blacker void, with hundreds of stars in its background as it began to creep its way into the other half of the domain.
"Not so fast!" M87 shouted with a grin as he too made a hand sign, holding his own as he fought back against Dust's maneuver, the clashing of their domains, fighting for control released enormous wind pressure from the line the two domains met just as Zeph was beginning to deal with The Plague Doctor and Mono, who paid no heed to the environment.
The Plague Doctor was quick to send a fury of rats to Zeph's way but the masked man merely jumped over it with a frontflip, extending out a hand and boosting himself upward with a small blast of angelic magic to propel himself, now in the air, he retracted back his leg as he dropped down on The Plague Doctor, preparing for a dropkick, however, his attack was intercepted as multiple metal spider legs suddenly burst out of Mono's lab coat, encompassed with magic as Zeph was forced to send out another blast of magic from his palm to propel away and avoid the piercing attack.
"That's new..." Zeph thought as he landed on the ground...
"We both share a similar past, right?" Dust muttered, both he and M87 staring at each other dead in the eyes from afar as he, just as the black-coated skeleton felt themselves beginning to strain, but nevertheless, they pushed through it.
"Let's play tug-of-war."