Secret of the Netkings

Secret of the Netkings is the twelfth episode of TOME.
== Summary ==
From the TOME Website:
After winning a contest in celebration of TOME’s 1-Year Anniversary, Gamecrazed has brought our heroes along for more than just a simple sidequest! The heroes who defended the Terrain of Magical Expertise against an unseen threat now have the honor of doing battle with the creators of the game: five gifted programmers who call themselves the “Netkings”…
…Alpha triumphs over the first of their numerous opponents, but as the fight continues on through the Netkings’ realm in the virtual sun, mysteries of our heroes’ previous trials and tribulations may just unravel. The truth hurts, more than ever.
== Plot ==
The episode begins where Episode 11 left off, with the Players encountering Zetto(?). Alpha and Nylocke are originally enraged (due to the incident with Demon Zetto), however, the copy Zetto turns out to merely be Rubirules, Netking Number 4, who proceeds to make fun of Zetto's hairstyle, color scheme, and overpowered gun weapon before laughing and admitting to messing with the players. 
Rubirules changes to his true form, prompting Kirbopher (offended by Rubirules making fun of his alter ego) to challenge him. However, Nylocke steps up instead because he feels he needs to avenge Zetto's honor, unaware of Kirbopher's true identity. Nylocke and Rubirules prepare a battlegrid and Rubirules begins to attack Nylocke using Alpha, Flamegirl, and Kirbopher's powers, some that they aren't even capable of using yet (sucg as Poseidon Wave and Zeus Rage simultaneously). Nylocke notes that Rubirules has no powers of his own (other than shapeshifting), before Rubirules reveals that all characters in the game were approved by him and therefore are his power as well. Rubirules then goes on to reveal that the "Nylocke" character model was created by him as a reward for being the 1,111,111th registered player in the game, and that he never expected Nylocke to take his "Dragon Man" persona so far.
Rubirules then takes Nylocke's form and proceeds to jokingly call Nylocke his son due to creating his character model ("Nylocke, I am your father!" is a reference to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.). Nylocke retorts by stating that his physical body was created by Rubirules, but the Dragon Warrior persona was his own invention, before defeating Rubirules's versions of Gamecrazed, Zetto and himself and "striking Rubirules down" in his default form, in which he has no attacks. Nylocke claims victory over Netking Number 4 and the portal to the next room opens, as Flamegirl comments that Rubirules's snark reminded her a lot of Kirb (which he took offense to).
The players proceed to enter Kindarspirit (Netking #3)'s room, where Alpha remarks that the room looks less threatening and that they may not have to face someone as intimidating this time. Kindarspirit herself then drops down from the heavens and reveals that she is Netking Number 3. Kirb remarks that all the roleplaying from the Netkings is unnecessary and that it's appreciated, but she doesn't have to, causing Kindarspirit to glomp him and show that her true personality is even more bubbly than her false one. Kindarspirit "kidnaps" Kirb, forcing Flamegirl to battle her.
Flamegirl defeats Kindarspirit using her own weather powers against her, by stuffing her inside one of her own clouds (which Kindarspirit used to capture Kirb earlier) and electrocuting her. Kindarspirit admits defeat, and Flamegirl comments that, once again, Kirb's big mouth did everyone a favor. Kirb sarcastically replies that he's glad to be a scapegoat for everybody (leading to a comment from Nylocke about him resembling a scape-sheep instead) and the five enter the next room.
The Five Discuss plans for what they could do should they defeat the Netkings, upon which they decide it might be a good idea to ask them if they could all meet up in real life. Kirbopher remarks that he's sure they'll think of something by the time they reach the end. Suddenly, Netking #2, Bitshrum, appears and tells them all that it IS the end for them, upon which Flamegirl prompts Kirbopher to take him on. Kirbopher defeats Bitshrum by throwing his own boxes back at him (and then jumping on him to score points, a reference to the game Super Mario Bros.) and proclaims himself to be THE KING, upon which the next portal opens and the five enter Webmaster's room for the final Netking Battle.
Webmaster appears and congratulates the gang on being able to reach him. Gamecrazed takes on Webmaster and wins, prompting him to acknowledge that Gamecrazed is indeed a player of incredible skill. Webmaster summons the other four Netkings, upon which they all reveal their jobs - Bitshrum is head of Environmental Design and created all three of TOME's regions, Kindarspirit is head of the sound department, Rubirules is head of graphic and character design, Execk is head of battle system management and development and Webmaster is lead programmer and system administrator of TOME. The Netkings also reveal that Zetto and Kizuna are unofficially considered to be Netkings #6 and #7, much to Kirb and Alpha's discomfort. Realizing that the Netkings likely know about the Forbidden Power if Zetto worked on creating the game with them, Alpha, enraged, asks the Netkings " Which one of you decided to put the Forbidden Power in the game?". The Forbidden Power itself breaks free of the Drain Edge as a result of Alpha's negativity, forcing the Netkings to log the players out of TOME and let them handle it. Kirbopher logs in as Zetto and confronts Kizuna about what to do next, to which she replies "I need to make a few very important calls".
== Trivia ==
* According to Chris Niosi, the Netkings were originally supposed to be fought in reverse order than they were in this episode (and Episode 11); with Webmaster being fought first and Execk being fought last. In addition, the entire Challenge of the Netkings arc was originally going to occur directly after the fight with Demon Zetto when Episode 10 was the Season 2 premiere instead of the Season 1 finale.
* According to Chris Niosi, Kirbopher's loud speech on him being the greatest character is derived from the Cheese character in Nickelodeon's "Rocko's Modern Life's" infamous episode, "Wacky Deli".
==Transcript==
==Gallery==
==Video==
==References==
Category:Season 2
Category:Episodes