#admin: cluster

[forthedancingandthethriving]

The First Piece

Because I actually want to get this done in a pretty decent time, I will, in fact, NOT be torturing myself and writing a ficlet every time.

Obviously, Dark Meta Knight further explains to everyone what happened. The present and future gang already know that the Abyss being involved is bad news, and it being unaccounted for after the timelines shattering? Even worse news. It's pretty easy for them to deduce that they have to find the pieces of the hourglass.. but of course they then run into the problem of names.

There are three Marios, and two SMG3s and SMG4s.

For my sanity's sake, know I will not be tagging them all like this, this is just for written form;

Mayro (Present Mario)

Mareo (Future Mario)

Mario (Past Mario)

Glitchy (Present SMG4)

Snitchy (Present SMG3)

SMG4 (Past SMG4)

SMG3 (Past SMG3)

Reminder that the past versions are pre-Waluigi arc. Meaning it was still incredibly episodic. Meaning.. basically no character development. The present and future versions known how stubborn, prideful, and many other things the past versions are. So the presents and futures just agree to.. let them have the current names. After introductions, figuring everything out

Wisely, for this first one, its decided to keep the past versions back so the present and futures can assess just how bad this all is. Ofc, it takes Abyssal having to assert her authority as an admin (aka scaring the shit out of the past versions) to make them stay. And even then she gives DMK express permission to hit them upside the head if they follow. And so? They could through the first door.

They appear on, what seems to be.. a beach! They explore for some time, but don't find anyone. Until..

---

"There is so much sand," Welony mumbled as she stared down at her feet, and the sand that had decided to stick itself to her.

"Honestly, sand is very welcome after the hell we've been through," Lily responded, watching Mareo gather sand in his hand and chuck it at Glitchy, who snorted and tossed some back in return.

"How is everything there?" Snitchy raised an eyebrow.

"Shit's fucked."

"Fair enough."

"Ah.. hello?"

Everyone turns their heads to see..

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Lily deadpanned.

---

Yup, the first alternative version they meet? It's Lily!

She, of course, doesn't know them. In fact, she doesn't even recognize them! Why? Because this is Princess Lily Sonata Marianna-Thalassa, Princess-Heir to the throne of Pacific Empire. Though she'd.. prefer it if they just called her Sonata, though, since they clearly have another Lily. After thoroughly explaining their situation to her, it turns out she does have an answer to their troubles, does in fact believe them.

You see, her current guardian, Queen Diana Sinfonia Marianna-Thalassa had captured someone who was a bright color like Abyssal,,, which doesn't bode well, because if an Admin was captured, it meant that Abyssal can't protect them as well as well as she hopes.

Sonata leads them to the castle, thankfully with no incident!! Namely because we have relatively smart people here who understand they probably shouldn't piss off the princess of an Empire. They soon arrive to the underwater castle with only minor difficulty (pirates) and they meet the queen herself!

Queen Diana is understanding but very wary. She tells the group she does have an inkling of an idea about what they may be looking for, and proceeds to pull out two things!

A piece of the Hourglass (specifically the bottom wooden base) and also..

---

"CLUSTER!??!" everyone shouts in shock as the former Admin is dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Everyone steps behind Abyssal out of instinct, who summons her chains. The Admin, however, can't even get a word out before--

"PUT ME BACK IN SOLITARY CONFINMENT. PLEASE."

Everyone stops and stares.

"... What?" Glitchy's eyebrows shoot to his hairline.

"PUT ME! BACK IN! SOLITARY! CONFINMENT!" Cluster scrambled to their knees, looking at the group with wild eyes. "Put me back in their! I am begging you! If I have to spend another day around the Abyss, around Cookie, around DialUp, around Black Doom, I AM GOING TO GO INSANE!!!!"

Queen Diana sighed. "They have been like this since I found them attempting to steal the object."

Abyssal blinked owlishly. "You.. you want to go back in solitary?"

"Anything," Cluster whispered harshly, "is better than having to be around THEM!!!"

The murmurings of surprise came from everyone.

Then Tari's eyes widened. "Hey, did Cluster just mention the Abyss?"

".... awh shit."

---

The first one they meet, indeed, is Cluster. And wisely, they decide not to fight when they are vastly outnumbered, but also because they just really want to get away from the Abyss and their whole entourage.

Our gang gratefully takes both the Hourglass piece and Cluster, thanking both Sonata and Queen Diana before leaving. Only to return to a time room in absolute chaos because Mario decided to charge into one of the doors after the Future and Present groups left, it didn't work, and now everything is on fire.

Yes, Effi did put in a minor failsafe before passing out. No one else can enter any timeline once one group has entered, which does mean everyone has to be sure about their choices, since they have no clue what any timeline is.

Regardless, one piece down! The next six shouldn't be too hard... right?

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Irene: Timmy… do you ever wanna go apeshit?

Timmy: I know it’s a bad day when YOU’RE the one saying that to me.

---

Lily: You either die a cinnamon roll or live long enough to see yourself become “would kill you”.

---

Abyssal: So, what about you? Are you close with your siblings?

Duck: …

Abyssal: ...

Duck: Uneventful.

Abyssal: What?

Duck: What?

Abyssal: I asked if you were close with your siblings and you just stared off into space for 5 minutes and then said “uneventful”.

---

[First meeting]

The Void, appearing: Be not afraid, otherworlders-

Bob: Sir, ma'am, gender neutral entity, this is the sexiest moment of my life.

Void: ...

Void, blushing a bit: ... be a little afraid.

----

Toad, sniffling: Calm down, I’m probably not sick. It might just be allergies.

Root: Okay, tell me this. Are you like, really tired?

Toad: I have depression, what do you think?

----

Bob: Hey, do you know the password to 4's computer?

SMG3: Fuck you, Bob.

Bob: I haven't even done anything today, man!

3: No, the password is "fuckyouBob".

Bob: Oh, no numbers? Not very safe.

----

Domain: When do you usually go to sleep?

Juliano: Whenever I collapse is entirely up to the gods.

----

Ren: Ow..

Dale: Something wrong, bud?

Ren: I have this weird pain right above my eyebrow..

Dale: It’s called a stress headache. I got my first one when I was four. I get them every other day around Tulip, I suggest you start to carry Advil with you.

----

Nimbus: Dolion is covered in blood again. Why is it he's always covered in blood?

Queen Melody: Well, it looks like it's his own blood this time.

----

Plurality: *is visibly upset*

Database: Plurality, what happened? We haven't seen you like this since you found out Candyland wasn't an actual country.

----

Mario: Come on, I'm not that stupid!

Luigi: Mario, I just watched you eat the wax of a babybel.

Mario: MEGGY SAID IT WAS EDIBLE!!

----

Cluster: So..... what do you... do for a living?

Phobos: I exist against my will.

Cluster: .... cool.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

SMG3: I am very handsome. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think to myself "I have committed horrible acts".

----

Vitality: What state would you live in?

Lag: Constant anxiety.

Buffer: Denial

CPU: Perfection

Crash: Florida.

----

Cluster, seeing the Toxic Old Man Yaoi: it's none of my business it's none of my business it's none of my business it's none of my business it's none--

----

Crash: Hey, do you have 2,500 credits?

CPU: What do you need 2,500 credits for?

Crash: An escape room?

CPU: What escape room is that expensive?

Crash: The Containment Zone.

----

Kidnapper: We have Mario.

Luigi: Please, put him on the phone.

Kidnapper: Go ahead, you're on speaker.

Luigi: Again, bro?

----

Lil Coding: I can't ever show my face to my dads ever again.

Cody: It can't be that bad.

LC: No, it was.

Cody: How?

LC: Papa asked me why I was sneaking out to see you, and I said, "Who's sneaking out?"

LC: He's not even mad that I was lying, just disappointed that I was so bad at it.

----

Juliano: The "new year, new me" agenda is going pretty well.

Forum: Have you made any progress?

Juliano: Of course I have. Just one week in and I'm already a lot worse than I was last year.

----

The Abyss: You call them heinous actions. I call them lore. We are not the same.

----

Black Doom, watching Juliano & the Abyss after the NWO takeover: Jeez, talk about down bad.

Phobos: ..

Phobos: I am not even going to comment on the irony of that.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Season depression is kicking my ass. It's not even funny. Anyway, tossing this out because I've got more ideas and this arc has gone on long enough.

How does the Abyss lose? It gets far, far too cocky. When Whirlpool/Shadow arrives, it really does think both of them will rejoin them. They, of course, do not. Adding with the fact that we now know Light is the way it gets defeated.. *gestures to Irene and Sora* (Yes, I finally found a way to make Irene story important. I'm so damn glad.)

The Abyss, of course, still not really understanding how this works.. get goaded by Abyssal into going after there others, wherein Irene uses a spell similar to her Sovereign's Lullaby one, save for the fact that it's moreso just a giant light domain thing, and it helps boost Sora's Keyblade and basically it just renders all the enemies blind and stunned for a while.

Abyssal takes the opportunity to swipe Juliano (and the dolls) and passes them off to Whirlpool. After a few more well-timed attacks, the Abyss gets stunned enough that its grip on the server goes away. With some prompting from Cookie and Cursor, it decides to cut it loses (again) and get out of there. But not before bringing Cookie and Cursor with it, Phobos following, and Black Doom as well. (Oh, and the Escape Squad? They get to, yknow, escape. Surely that won't cause any problems!!!)

With that, all the prisoners (that are alive anyway) are swiftly rounded up. Juliano gets handed to the Hologram Trio, and Abyssal has the very awkward job of telling them what the hell she saw. Meanwhile, Umbra and Ping search for CPU.. but come up empty-handed. Especially since the violent disconnect he had makes his location impossible to track due to his coding trying to unscramble itself.

Meanwhile..

----

"Oh?"

Footsteps stop as eyes land on a struggling figure. Red and pink, male, clearly an Admin. He's struggling to even get up on his feet and..

A sharp grin forms.

Found him, finally.

She approaches from behind, and her eyes spot the flicking box. She reaches out and touches it.

She smirks as he freezes and his breath hitches.

"No-"

She sees the flicking numbers and enters them.

"5188174," Encode mutters with a smile. She hits enter, and he slumps.

She places her hands on her hips. "Well," she mused as she flicked her wrist and let strings of code lift him. "It seems Christmas has come early~"

(In the Adminspace, Vitality grunts as she finally comes to. As she sits up, she turns her head and sighs. At the telltale sounds of panicking, she shakes her head. At least she got rest?)

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Cluster has been here for a... while. They don't get visitors, but honestly, they're.. okay with that. They've been here for a year, and they've had a ton of time to think.

And they know that they're wrong. They know what they did was wrong, and they understand that what they did can't be forgiven. Quite frankly, Cluster expects to never be forgiven.

They expect to rot in this solitary confinement cell for the rest of their life..

Until something grabs them.

They're dragged down, down down down, and then..

"Cluster!"

"Cookie?!"

Cluster stares in shock at Cookie, who is in their face and grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

"I told you," Cookie remarks smugly to.. something that clearly isn't cluster. "What did I say? He's still alive!"

"They're," Cluster corrected.

"Oh, sorry." Cookie shoots him a genuinely apologetic look before correcting herself, "they're still alive!"

"Who are you talking- whaaaaaaaaat the fuck." They look to where she's looking and their jaw drops. Cluster realizes some things in that moment.

One, they're in Computer Hell.

Two, they're a Program again.

Three..... what is absolutely an Eldritch entity is towering over them and Cookie and looking quite smug of itself.

Hello, Cluster, it greets them.

"Ah.... hel-hello?" They greet it nervously.

Cookie informed me that you could help me with a little.. pet project of mine. Whatever this thing is, it places its hands behind its back, looking down at them with purple eyes.

"Pet project..?" Cluster echoes.

"Basically," Cookie interjects, "this is the Abyss! The Beginning, you know."

They do not know, but they wisely decide to keep their mouth shut and nod. They recognize an Eldritch horror when they see one.

"And it wants to ask you some questions!" She clapped her hands together and Cluster sweats a bit.

They and Cookie had been on.. good terms, they supposed, before their whole.. Overwrite ordeal. But there's something about her smile that unsettles her.

Cookie told me that you hold.. access codes? The Abyss tilts its head.

Cluster feels their heart drop. Oh... oh, oh, no no no no.

Access codes. Access codes.

Every Program being had an access code. Since they were beings of pure code, an access code was essentially a way to.. control them. Infiltrate them. Cluster had been entrusted with everyone's access codes back when they were a part of the Adminspace. They don't remember the reason why, but they're pretty sure it's because they always did the whole 'ascending' stuff.

Against their better judgement, though, they nod. "Ah.. yeah. I.. I held the access codes. But not anymore. I got.. demoted to an NPC after an event last year. Even if you've made me a Program again, I don't have Admin authority. And they've no doubt changed my pin to get back into that server."

The Abyss hums. Cookie said the same thing. Your Admin statuses were.. revoked. Then, it smiles a smile that makes Cluster shiver. So we need someone with access, no?

Cluster and Cookie share a look. They both frown. "Do you.. have someone in mind?" Cookie asks with a raised eyebrow.

Cluster was mildly surprised that she actually seemed quite sane. Last he remembered, she was still thirsting over Byte..

The Abyss slowly begins to pace around the two, and Cluster takes a look around. They had never been in Computer Hell before, but they assume that this must be an unused layer, judging by all the open cells. But if they strain to listen, they swear they can hear commotion going on upstairs.

As the Abyss continues to think, they turn their head to murmur to Cookie, "so.. what exactly has been happening?"

"Oh! The Abyss has promised us all freedom if we agree to work with it to kill a bunch of people and all that!" Cookie giggles.

.. yup, still crazy, Cluster thinks.

As the thing finally stops pacing and snaps its fingers, it grins widely. Ah. I know who to use. Someone who is quite the loner, it'd be so easy to fool everyone, it chuckles. And would have access to Computer Hell, and no one would raise an eyebrow about a visit from time to time.

Cluster got the feeling they knew who the Abyss was thinking about. "You.. don't mean..?"

Cookie grins. "CPU? Oh, we're gonna use CPU? Wonderful, I've been meaning to get back at him for what he did to my legs."

They spare a glance to her back, and sure enough, there are nubs where her spider legs used to me. They look back to the Abyss, who is grinning at them.

Do you remember his access code? it asks.

They think. Their memory banks are fuzzy, and they're quite sure the Abyss did something wrong when making them a Program again, but they don't dwell on that. They've done stupid things, but even they know better than to piss of an Eldritch horror.

"5188174," Cluster reluctantly answers. "That's CPU's access code."

Wonderful, it muses. And judging by what I've seen, he's already got a little getaway planned for many people. So I'll give it some time, wait until he's got it aaaall set up. And then.. he's mine.

"What will you do with him afterwards?" Cookie asks as the Abyss turns and begins to walk away.

Well.. I don't particularly like him, he's too close to Abyssal for my liking.

Cluster furrows their brows. What did Abyssal have to do with this?

Sooo..

Cluster feels sick to their stomach as they the Abyss slowly turn its head whilst dragging it's finger.. before it's head snaps to an unnatural angle.

I'll assimilate him. :)

It walks. Come along now, it remarks with a chuckle. Let's introduce you to everyone, Cluster.

Cluster was still trying to regain their bearings as Cookie helped them to their feet and led them. She began to ramble on and on, but Cluster wasn't listening.

.... well, shit.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Okay so I'm making a list of the Admins we have so far,, this'll probably be updated as time goes on and suggestions are always welcome!

Abyssal - mentioned by the anon I was talking with in Proceed to Overwrite asks (actually like everyone BUT Forum&Domain were pulled from that au,,, WHOOPS). Probably handles more clean-up aspects and does damage control

Cluster - handles ascending Guardians to Admins (in basically everything expect for when he gets booted in Proceed to Overwrite)

Umbra - handles the more political affairs, assigns Admims their jobs

Buffer - not sure on a name for this one yet, but it handles more of the communication aspects from the vibe I'm getting, a lot more loose than other Admins

Forum & Domain - ofc not as powerful as other Admins, but definitely being looked at and considered for being promoted at some point (nepotism from the admin who made them when they were prototypes? Maybe!)

Ping - also not sure of a name yet, but it probably does blocking and unblocking commands, maybe even creating them

Lag - (belongs to Duckapus) assigned to doing maintenance because of his lazy attitude, but this due to the fact that he used to be SMG0's and Niles Admin..

Crash - handles demotions, reviewing others and keeping check of their progress

Byte - creator of SMG-1/Domain and SMG-2/Forum, does basic things like looking over the SMG program and helping maintain it (one of the nastiest admins)

CPU - probably does stuff like managing punishments for other Higher-Ups? Getting a very "done with everyone's bullshit" vibe tbh

Manifest - (belong to Duckapus) head desk clerk (? I think?) of the Adminspace

Antivirus - handles dealing with, demoting, punishing and all that stuff with Admins

Cookie - disgraced Admin currently imprisoned in an old office-turned-prison cell. Utterly obsessed with Byte and used to help with organizing code before she was imprisoned

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Adminspace Admins

Chip and Bandwidth (belongs to @duckapus )

Status(es): Active

The Admins of SMG5&6! Duckapus's post talking about them can be found here.

CPU

Status: Retired/Resigned

Introduced here! Retired/resigned here!

He handed out punishments for other Higher-Ups, be it stripping them of their powers or something harsher. He also recommended punishments, which can be carried out by Crash or Antivirus. Often can be seen in his office smoking his cigar because he's 110% with the other Admins most of the time. Following the events of the mini-arc with Encode, he is now a member of the Codespace Train and is helping out at both Hotel Z and the Looker Bureau.

Crash

Status: Active

(Best) Introduced here!

He handles demotions, reviewing other Admin's performances, and keeping check of their progress. He means well, but sometimes he can be a procrastinator.

Antivirus

Status: Active

(Best) Introduced here!

Most likely the strongest of the Admins/Higher-Ups. It shares demoting with Crash and punishing with CPU, but it also handles subduing larger threats and defeating them. If it can't, it then takes them to Computer Hell, where the threat is then stored for the rest of time.

Lag (belongs to duckapus)

Status: Active

He currently manages the Guardian System, and despite tending to procrastinate, he's damn good at his job when he does work. You can find his intro in the same post as Chip&Bandwidth, with a post further explaining him here!

Manifest (belongs to duckapus)

Status: Active

She's the new main desk clerk in the Adminspace. The post introducing her can be found here!

Ping

Status: Active

Introduced here!

He creates, blocks, and deletes commands. He's typically very irritable because of how much effort and power it takes, but he's well-meaning. Him and Umbra have a weird thing going on,, just don't question it for your safety.

Umbra

Status: Active

Introduced here!

He handles the more political affairs of the job, making announcements all he sort. He also gives Admins their jobs when they're created, and also recently took over ascending Guardians to Admins, though he's yet to actually do this.

Abyssal

Status: Active

Introduced here!

She handles doing clean up and damage control after any rogue viruses or threats happen. Despite the fact she really wants a break, considering something happens nearly every other week in the SMG4 universe, she's been doing their job a lot more lately.

Following Unveiled Secrets, it was revealed she was Abyss Born and had the same origins of Database and Duck.

Buffer

Status: Active

Introduced here!

She handles communication aspects and sorting codes into their respective places. She's very particular about her job despite being very loose and not as upkept as the other Higher-Ups.

Cluster

Status: Inactive

Introduced here!

No longer an Admin after the events of Proceed to Overwrite. It abused its power as an Admin and imprisoned afterward. After it was found out that Admins could be demoted after Byte's (first) defeat, it was immediately demoted soon after. Its crimes weren't bad enough to be dragged down to Computer Hell, but trust me, all the Admins were very tempted to let Antivirus try.

Forum and Domain

Status(es): Active

Introduced here! (Please be aware that they were introduced before the lore of Admins started! That's why some things seem different.)

The Admins of SMG4 and SMG3, respectively! They are (at this time) the only known Admins to be ascended after the death of their original universe. After the events of Let The Monsters In, they remembered their pasts as Guardians and were able to reunite with their (former) Avatar, Juliano. They have been through a lot, but they're partners until the end. (Also they are. So gay for each other.)

Byte

Status: Deactived

Introduced here!

He was the creator of the Guardian System and the SMG Program. But don't let that fool you. He was a horrible Admin who only created it so he could have an excuse to mess and destroy other universes. However, his plan was foiled when his creations SMG-1 (Domain) and SMG-2 (Forum) had their universe destroyed, and they were ascended to Admins.

He was also partly responsible for the SMG0 universe tragedy. He purposely didn't tell Lag when the other was making SMG0, that there were meant to be two SMGs.

He was killed permanently after the events of the IRL Arc, where Gohma took over his body and consumed his soul.

Cookie

Status: Inactive

Introduced here!

She's an Admin who is still utterly obsessed with Byte. Following the events of Fractured Memories, she was captured and properly stripped of her Admin title and abilities. She's been locked away in Computer Hell, as no one really believes the Containment Zone would be decent enough to house someone as crazy as her.

Cursor

Status: Active

She is one of the oldest Admins around and is very old-fashioned. She doesn't like how things are changing and how the Adminspace is evolving. In canon, however, she doesn't really do or say much about it, knowing full well she could get dog piled for it.

In non-canon, however.. she's taken a different approach.

Dave

Status: Active

Part of the Archives deparment. Post introducing him can be found here!

Vitality

Status: Active

Introduced here!

She's the head of the Medical Divison, one of the oldest medics/doctors around. Well known not to argue with her when she decides what you need to do to recover. Currently a semi-personal medic to Juliano, as she has a lot of worries about his code.

RNG (belongs to duckapus)

Status: Active

Introduced here!

The current Admin of the Pokémon Universe, it was formerly a part of the Research and Development department. It's morally gray and doesn't seem intent on having the other Admins trust it anytime soon.

Download (belongs to duckapus)

Status: Active

Introduced here!

The Admin of the merged universes Sally's Outstanding Adventure! and Diamind 6: Stars Go Out. The universes, however, weren't meant to merge, and this led to Download getting shocked by the control panel. Unfortunately, the surge has resulted in the damage of her audio outputs, rendering her now unable to speak.

Ztella

Status: Active

Introduced (best) here!

A fully licensed therapist, a Moderator despite being a Virus, and Vitality is DESPRATELY trying to poach her for the Adminspace because good god do they need a therapist.

Admins

Warden

Status: Active

Introduced here!

One of two Admins of the Containment Zone, a prison for Programs and Viruses alike. He's dedicated to his job and quite no-nonsense, but he has a heart of gold underneath the layers of his cold personality. He only shows it around his fellow Admin or whenever one of his Moderators get hurt.

Supervisor

Status: Active!

Introduced here!

One of two Admins of the Containment Zone, a prison for Programs and Viruses alike. She puts up a ditzy and innocent facade to trick anyone she has to bring in, and prisoners of the Containment Zone know just how scary she can be. However, she does have a genuine caring personality under it all.

Roulette

Status: Active! Introduced here! The Admin of the sever called the Snake-Eyes Casino; the biggest, most popular casino and hotel outside of the Dark Web. They've even got a fight pit (legal, that is). However, very few know that she's the leader of a cult dedicated to Ozymandias, and fortunately for her, her god has just so happened to end up coming around.

Wario

Status: Active! Introduced here! Not to be confused with the SMG4 Wario, this Wario is the Admin of Nintendo World Online! A formerly character-level Wario, he ascended to code-level and ended up creating the Sever that is NWO. Despite it all, he's still Wario at heart, but with a lot more successful ventures.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Explaining this!

The idea came from this ask of Mario confronting a higher-higher up Admin. Basically, the code that let's Guardians ascend to Admins once deemed ready and worthy enough.

The idea basically is one of these Admins (who we'll call Cluster for the time being, until I decide on a better name) comes to the Mushroom Kingdom as part of a check-in. To see how the Admins and Guardians of this universe are doing.

Cluster,, is immediately off-put by the fact that not only [575] (Domain) and [686] (Forum) are experiencing emotions, they're actually involved in the lives of their Guardians..

And they remember their past lives.

Cluster isn't exactly happy with this, having been the Admin that ascended them. But unable to accept the fact that it might be the reason why the memories didn't stay locked up, it instead blames it on the sorry state of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's disgusted and repulsed by the fact that characters from different games live in the universe and that there's so many recolors of the Avatar..

And then it stumbles upon the Code that oversees and protects the two Guardians of this universe, and it gets an idea. So what if it's manipulating what's basically a child? It's for the betterment of this universe. After it gets this code stronger, it'll use this code to reign in the Admins and the Guardians and fix everything. And so what if it's hiding its true identity to get closer to the code? It's just helping it get stronger, after all.

Lil Coding, meanwhile, isn't.. feeling the best. He feels like he's weak and his abilities are subpar, and he unfortunately doesn't really have anyone to train with. Even at their weakest, Domain and Forum are too powerful for him to even train with, and his dads have abilities completely different than his, and they still need to train so.. they're a no-go as well.

So when someone he can practically sense has power similar to his and introduces themselves as Cluster? A code similar to him? He's elated! Someone like him, maybe they can even train together! Cluster agrees to, but only if Lil Coding agrees to help it with getting rid of small viruses that are 'running rampant' in the Mushroom Kingdom.

The only caveat being he can't tell anyone about this because they might try and stop him from training with Cluster.

Lil Coding, none the wiser, agrees.

The main plot of the arc would be the gang having all their adventures, with Lil Coding joining less and less, joining Cluster in getting rid of 'small viruses'. Lil Coding unfortunately unaware that Cluster is simply hiding the citizens true forms with some bit of code twisting.

Lil Coding becomes more and more quiet, obedient, and generally a shell of his extrovert self throughout the main plot of the au. Cluster is extremely manipulative and gaslights Lil Coding at even the smallest sign of the Code wanting to stop. It pushes Lil Coding to his limit again and again, all under the guise of getting stronger.

Similar to the 10 Year Anniversary, FM and X both realize something is going on when recolors slowly start disappearing, and they head to the SMG4 gang to let them know. At the same time, everyone notices how different Lil Coding has become (over the plot, it's pointed out and even directly addressed, but Lil Coding always brushes it off).

It all culminates in everyone going to look for Lil Coding and finding him...

Just as Cluster commands him to use Rewrite (the equivalent to Iceshock in Deltarune) on a citizen 'not meant to be in the game'.

Cluster, seeing an opportunity, urges Lil Coding to use Overwrite.

He says he doesn't know how.

Cluster pushes forcefully.

Lil Coding insists he doesn't know how.

Cluster demands it.

Lil Coding snaps and uses the command, overloading his body with way too much energy in the process. In the surrounding area and even further, any character not meant to be in the game is overwritten and 'sent back to their game' (in reality, they're sent to a pocket dimension where Cluster will more than likely turn them into code to empower itself and other Admins).

Thankfully, Forum and Domain get there before Lil Coding uses the command and gets everyone out of the radius. But now it's a race to get Lil Coding away from Cluster before the other Admin makes him stronger and forces him to use Overwrite again,,,