TML No BattleMode

## Prologue

Long ago...

The world was at peace. People and their lands flourished, war was a long-forgotten concept, only heard of in stories and legends. Technology was at an all-time high, inventors such as Marty McFarlane, who was able to create robotic creations akin to humankind, being held in high esteem.

Then one day, it all changed when Kaz, son of the god Xeren, employed a long almost forgotten dark magic to wrench the godly soul of Xeren from his body, turning the god into a horrific monster, leaving the world without a god. Xeren quickly laid set out on a path of destruction, with Kaz following behind him. In an attempt to save humanity, an explorer and inventor named Gabriel Alchemilia created an object known as a portal.

Using the portal, he successfully managed to bring higher beings from another timeline to this world to fill the godless void left behind by the departure of Xeren, beings known as angels. But this quickly turned into a mistake. These angels were not like their mythic origins, they were corrupted, power-hungry, and lusted for blood. They destroyed whole cities at a time, trying to make the humans bow to their will. Then something far more sinister followed the angels from the portal, beings even more blood-thirsty and horrid: demons. The demons followed the angels through the portals and began leaving a wake of destruction and death in their paths. The leader of the angels, a brutal force known as Ezekiel, declared war upon the demons. Soon, an all-out struggle began, with both angels and demons trying to claim the world as their own.

Centuries have passed, and now our world lies on the brink of destruction. Most of humanity was wiped out and the survivors living in desolate cities scatted throughout the world, Silivia serving as the capital. Angels and demons still battle, destroying everything they touch. The Demon, once known as Xeren, and his son Kaz vowing to destroy what is left of humanity. Whoever manages to claim Xeren's soul, now known as The Demon's Light, and the most powerful object in the world, can restore order and peace to the world, or destroy what is left of it.

## The Story

Darkness. Darkness was all Atticus Anoethite saw as he lay there. He was slightly uncomfortable and felt hard ground underneath him. He slowly opened his eyes. As he opened them, he saw he was in a barn and that it was night time. Cool fresh air from outside was blowing in. He then turned his head, his neck stiff, and saw three other teens. Two girls and one guy.

The other guy was named Chris. Chris McFarlane. He was not hurt at all, he did not even feel uncomfortable. He just felt a bit bent out of shape as he woke up in the unfamiliar barn. He had a dark secret he wanted nobody to know. He also saw three other human beings beside him, but was not as confused as Atticus.

Over in a corner laid a girl named Melissa Devlin. She shivered from the cold, she could not remember anything from her past no matter how hard she tried. The only time she could remember anything was when she was asleep and she would forget when she woke up. She slowly woke up to see three other people around her and she had no clue who they were.

Atticus leaned up and opened his eyes fully, taking in his surroundings. He was in a barn, it was night time and was also raining outside. He quickly glanced over at the other teens and scooted away. He did not like being around other people that much. He had bad experiences with them.. There was only one person he ever got along with. Her name was.... then it hit him. He did not remember her name or barely anything about her. He then realized he had barely any memory at all of events past. All he could remember was a blinding red flash of light and then utter darkness. "How did I get to this place?" he wondered. "Why can't I remember anything?"

Chris felt his neck. There was a sharp object protruding from it. A microchip, he thought. But he didn't remember why he had a microchip or why there was a plasma sword where his arm should've been. His body began to beep. "Bad weather detected," he said automatically, without realizing it was sure to wake the others up. He was not too fond of humans-as he wasn't one. He remembered that his creator, whose name was like Marvin or something, had always rejected him for his benevolent personality. Chris also remembered a bright red light and an abandoned factory. Then Chris realized that the majority of his database was empty. It was as if he had been left with just a few memories-he had no idea how he had ended up in the barn and could remember nothing else.

Melissa sat up and looked around her, she saw two boys and a girl. Her eyes widened as she looked around and she saw she had broken pieces of a chain around her ankles. "Where am I? What happened?"

Chris looked at the girl who had just spoken. "What is the name you were christened with? Also, we are in some red, dark, animal station filled with horse food."

"Why the heck are you talking like that?" Atticus said, standing up and backing away.

"What do you mean, I am just speaking my traditional normal linguistic pattern. Is it disturbing to your skull walnut?" Chris answered, walking towards Atticus.

"Nothing, dude. Simmer down." Atticus backed off more, as he didn’t like standing close to other people.

"I know not this odd modern choice of words "simmer down." Can you please use a more viable alternative? Also, you may cause immense painful feelings to your noggin if you back up more." says Chris, who begins to examine Atticus' taste in fashion.

Atticus shook his head and backed off to look outside at the rain. "It's raining pretty hard."

"Yes, that extreme downpour of acidic precipitated water vapors is highly noticeable," Chris said, accidentally slicing a hole in the window with his plasma sword.

Atticus glanced over at him as he sliced a hole in the window and shook his head.

"I am not understanding your physical state to be drastically feverish the way you continue shaking your head back and forth as if it were on hinges. Maybe you need a new oil filling." Chris said, becoming concerned about Atticus.

"WTF? WTF did you just say to me?" Atticus asked, confused.

"Ah, your simpleton human skull walnut cannot comprehend my vast intelligent vocabulary. Fine, if you would rather I communicated in your language: "Your repeated shaking of your head is making me really worried for your health." Chris said.

The other girl stood up. Her name was Savannah, like the others, she had no memory of anything before that day either. "Can you two like stop?" She asked. "We need to figure out how we all got here."

"If you insist," said Chris to everyone. "I can easily make an assumption: this experience has to do with a scarlet-colored, marvelous bright electrical current source. That is one of the few things I remember.

"All I remember is a bright flashing red light," Atticus said.

"That's what I proclaimed, although some memories remain in my database," Chris replied.

Melissa slowly stood but slightly shook in fear from the two boys.

"Who are you guys?" Savannah asked. "I mean, what are your names?"

Melissa tried remembering her name. "I-I-I think my name is Melissa. But I'm not 100% sure. I can't remember anything. Who are you people and how did I get here?"

"My name is Cunning Human, R-I forget what the R stands for-, Intelligence Series MKII, creation of Marty McFarlane, but you can just call me Chris. McFarlane should-I mean, is also my, ah, given surname," said Chris, puzzled about what the R meant. He wasn't sure the H word was right either. He was also trying to use the lingo of the lonely-looking boy when he proclaimed and explained details about everything. "It is fantastic to make your acquaintance, Melissa." He added.

"Dang, that made my head hurt," Atticus said, rubbing his head.

"I'm way too confused now. Um, what was it you said and please say it in English this time?" Melissa asked.

"This natural language you call "English" is the traditional linguistic pattern of my superior people. Essentially, I too am coherently communicating in traditional English, as I was programmed for it. I was also programmed to be villainous but unfortunately failed miserably. Again, the name I was given at my creation is Cunning, uh, Human R-something Intelligence Series MKII, also known more simply as Chris McFarlane, after my wonderful creator Martin McFarlane." Chris explained, hoping they would understand.

"Make him stop! All this smart talk is making my head hurt!" Melissa cried.

"Ugh, my phalange is broken," Chris said, as his left finger fell off.

"Ew, what's a phalange?" Atticus asked.

"It's the little limbs connected to your grabbing device on your natural upper-body lever, which make it especially easy to do all sorts of activities," Chris explained.

Melissa started giggling. "You two are sort of funny in a weird way."

"Do you mean fingers?" Atticus asked Chris.

"That is precisely what I mean," Chris said. "But that word is so informal."

Melissa giggled. "You two are sort of funny in a weird way."

Atticus looked over at Chris, not getting what was so funny about either of them. "Eh."

"Why do you utter such odd one-syllable slang, sir?" Chris asks.

"Atticus. My name is Atticus," Atticus said.

"Well, nice to meet you Atticus," Chris said. "Now let's find a way out of this enclosed animal station."

"Dude, it's pouring down raining," Atticus said, pulling his black hoodie over his head and pulling on the strings to make it tight.

"Well, the rain will end eventually," Chris concluded. "I think you guys should get some sleep."

"Get some sleep?" Savannah asked. "Are you crazy?" She did not want to get out of this shelter, even if it was creepy.

"We clearly can't go outside now, since Atticus was correct. Acidic liquid water vapor is in fact falling," Chris said, pointing out the window.

"Eh, I don't really care." Atticus said, starting to doze off.

"Now, who wants to know more about where we are?" Chris asked.

"I do, I guess," Savannah said, crossing her arms. She was still mad at Chris for wanting to get sleep when they were in the middle of nowhere and needed a way home...if they even had homes.

"Well, from what I can gather, all of us just basically woke up here with very few memories, so I guess-" Chris started.

"That's not what basically happened," Atticus interrupted, "That is literally what happened."

"True," Savannah said, shrugging and feeling cold as it was still damp from the rain.

"Also, why are we still just talking?" Chris asked. "Shouldn't we sleep?"

"Enough with the sleep, Chris," Savannah moaned. "But seriously, there's not much more we can do, because, in case you haven't noticed, it IS RAINING REALLY HARD OUTSIDE!"

"Simmer down, all of you. Why can't you just be quiet?" Atticus asked.

"It's Savannah's fault, obviously. She does not understand the impending danger of being in some abandoned hay-filled animal station." Chris said.

"It's called a barn," Savannah said, really annoyed by his "smart talk." "Stop it!" She then grabbed onto Chris' arm.

"Watch it! I have very sensitive controls-" Chris said.

"I don't care," Savannah said, accidentally pressing a button. The button caused Chris' arm to fall off. In its place was a sword entirely made of plasma. The sword accidentally cut Savvah's cheek.

"OWWW!" Savannah screamed,

"How'd you do that?" Atticus asked, confused.

"Just my plasma sword. A benefit of being an android," Chris proclaimed.

"This. Is. Serious!" Savannah yelled. "I need help! This robot is attacking me!"

"Savannah, calm down, okay?" Atticus asked. "It was an accident."

"I assure you it wasn't!" Savannah exclaimed.

"Stop all the bickering!" Melissa exclaimed.

"Hmph," Savannah grunted, heading over to the hayloft.

"What activity do you recommend we do now with the absence of that Savannah girl?" Chris asked Melissa and Atticus.

"Why must you speak like that?" Atticus asked.

"It is probably because my brain is like a microcomputer. A micro is a computer that is tiny enough to be embedded into a person's head. Underneath my false hair is where my microcomputer lies, sending all sorts of information to my android body." Chris explained.

"Your existence makes my head hurt," Atticus said.

"You guys have such walnut-shaped spongy brains," Chris said, sighing.

"Hey, we're not things!" Savannah yelled, noticing the rain had stopped. She looked outside, grabbing Chris and pushing him into a muddy ditch.

"Ow...what happ--" Chris began as the mud came into contact with his metal body and caused him to deactivate. However, Chris' arm was still inside the barn. The wristwatch he had on it began to beep. An electronic voice said "Error, error, circuits disconnected."

"Ummm…," Savannah said, worried.

Atticus looked over. "Eh, he deaded."

Atticus stepped back. "Whoa, we actually broke him."

"We know, Captain Obvious, we know," Savannah said, rolling her eyes.

Chris' wristwatch then projected a holographic image of Chris on it.

"If anyone is viewing this message," Chris said, obviously pre-recorded. "It means that my body has come in contact with mud, and I have had to transfer consciousness to my watch. If this is indeed true, then please reactivate me."

"How??" Savannah asked.

The holographic image of Chris was replaced by a simple message on the watch's screen. "Pull my body out of the mud and dry it."

"Dude, that is freaky as hell," Atticus said.

"Hey Atticus, aren't you gonna help me carry 190 pounds?" Savannah asked.

Atticus sighed.

Chris' first message then gave way to a new one. "After drying me, please open me up and take out any damaged parts, which you will remove all mud from before putting me back together. Then, clear out any excess mud on my insides. After that, reassemble me. Then restart me by pressing the restart button. I will be good as new."

"Please? You know I can't carry this by myself." Savannah said, rolling her eyes.

Atticus walked over and began helping her.

After they dragged Chris back into the barn, Atticus opened him up and cleared out the mud.

"This may take a while," Atticus said.

"That's fine," Melissa said, as she and Savannah went to sleep.

A few hours later, Atticus was finally done fixing Chris.

"Th-thank you for your assistance," Chris said, after Atticus had restarted him.

"Oh good, you fixed him..." Melissa said, jerking awake, only to notice a flash of red light striking outside of the barn, highlighting the already dusk sky in an eerie red glow.