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Mandatory Introduction Sequence3,065 words
The Show Goes On2,816 words

Mandatory Introduction Sequence

Most Gungeoneers agree that the first breath is the best. It’s like swallowing warm tea with honey. It almost made the horrific death they were certain to have down here worth it.

Starlight felt herself come back to the world of the living very quickly. The first breath was more of an aggravated grunt. She fell onto the hard ground of the Breach from the air just a few feet above it. When she landed, all of her guns were stripped from her, and she was rendered mostly powerless. Still, she was upset and wasn’t above choking someone out.

The Breach was particularly empty now, since at midday everyone was off in the Gungeon, each trying their hardest to reach the end and claim it’s glory. The room was large, probably able to hold hundreds of people comfortably, and cool as air passed through it. Starlight stalked over to her corner of the room, making her way to her large tent. It was meant to house four people, none of which were there at the moment.

Starlight pulled back the flaps and entered, planning to sit down for a few minutes before heading back down. Through the small sliver of the tent’s flaps, she could see the vast blackness that led to the bottom of the Gungeon. Hell awaited her down there, and she wasn’t very eager to get back to it.

She got back up, feeling like her break wasn’t helping her any, and headed out. She went to the middle of the chamber, climbed the large set of stairs there, and walked up to the door. Two guards were standing in her way, their spear-guns held strong by their metallic bullet hands.

They didn’t stop Starlight when she walked between them, allowing her to pass down another flight of stairs. Through here was darkness, and despite her and her teammate's attempts to light it, the passage remained that way. She guessed it was to hide exactly when you left the Breach and entered the Gungeon.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found herself in a new chamber illuminated by torchlight. Despite the Breach being lit with bulbs, the Gungeon decided it was going to stay true to its roots and act like a dungeon. On the floor, there was a large circular hole in the floor, which automatically filled itself as Starlight dropped down into it. Before hitting the ground, Starlight felt her weapon reappear on her waist, secured within its holster, as she hit the floor.

“Thank God,” said Sunset, watching as her partner landed on the floor. “I think I might’ve killed her myself if you hadn’t shown up.” Trixie, the person in question, snarled at the Sunset.

“I’m standing right here,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Starlight sighed like a parent having to deal with her two problem children. It was made even more upsetting that one of them was around her age. Starlight noticed her last partner silent in the corner, fiddling with the locket around her neck. Luna stuffed it back into her shirt before turning to Starlight and the rest.

“Are we going?” she said in her monotonous voice. Starlight watched her stalk over to the door and pull out her pistol. “The first room won’t clear itself.”

“She right,” said Starlight. “Let’s not waste time arguing and spend it beating this stupid dungeon.”

“It’s actually pretty intelligent,” said Trixie. “Its walls move around every time someone enters, it has traps that require skill and precision to break through, and it has sentient bullets!”

Starlight never really got over that last part. Even having been here almost six months now, she found the fact that the people who ran this dungeon were basically walking, talking, shooting bullets extremely baffling. Trixie was right. This place was fascinating.

“Shut up, Trixie,” said Starlight, walking over to Luna. She pulled out her pistol, glanced at Luna and pushed the door open with a loud thunk.

The small rectangular room near instantly became a battle zone. Bullets were flying everywhere and making it really hard to not be left holier than a church on Sunday. Starlight, doing the smart thing, tipped over a long table, letting all of her companions duck behind it.

“Well,” said Sunset, pulling her shotgun from its holster. “We’re off to a rollicking good start!”

“Less talking, more shooting,” said Luna, poking her head out as a number of bullets started to diminish. She popped off a few shots past the table before ducking from another wave. Starlight took a deep breath and withdrew her own pistol. She vaulted the table and took aim at her enemies: three Bulletkin and a Hollowpoint. She rattled off her pistol, taking down two of the Bulletkin before rolling out of the way of another volley of bullets. Using her distraction, the other three focused their fire on the other two bullets and eventually took them out.

“Good job, team,” complimented Starlight. She already had her sights set on the other door when a large brown box appeared a few feet above the ground, landing with a thud. Trixie vaulted the table and rushed over to it.

“That’s rare,” she said, flipping it open. “What do we have here?” From the chest bounced a couple of silver shells, both of which made their way within Trixie. Nobody knows just how the currency within the Gungeon works, but then again, nobody was quite sure how the Gungeon’s anything worked.

The other rooms were similar to the first. There were enemies to be shot, tables to be flipped and chests to be opened. After exploring a good bit of the first floor, the four came to an imposing door shaped like a skull that looked as if it was made of gold. Its eyes were vacant and dark until they stepped closer. It caught fire and blazed bright purple.

“What do you think we’ve got?” asked Sunset, approaching the door. It pulled itself upwards, revealing the darkness beyond it. “Maybe it’s the Chain-ge Gunner.” Trixie put her hands to the side of her face and open her mouth dramatically.

“Not the Chaaaaain-G Gunner” she said. Sunset rolled her eyes and walked into the room. The other three followed suit. The walkway was long and thin, only allowing for one of them to go at a time. After reaching a large center rectangle of a platform, the room lit up with flames all around, bathing the room in light.

They were standing in a chamber on a platform surrounded by a void on all sides. The thin walkway they came in on fell into nothingness and left them stranded there. Almost immediately afterward, the screech of a monster rang from above, accompanied by a large creature. It was black, with holes in its skin the size of basketballs. It was beating its large greenish wings like a beetle, and in its hands was a humongous chain gun.

“Oh my god,” said Trixie, her smile dropping. “It actually was the Chain-ge Gunner.” Above it, the name “Chrysalis the Chain-ge Gunner” popped up, and everyone got their weapons ready.

“At least you got your wish,” said Starlight, looking towards Sunset.

“Yeah,” said Sunset. She cocked her pump action shotgun and pointed its barrel at the flying abomination. “Fan-freaking-tastic.”

“Split up and divert its shots!” Luna said, running to a corner of the stage. Seeing the movement as well as the bullets Luna began unloading into it, the Chain-ge Gunner started firing into the arena from above. They all followed Luna’ decision, watching as the Chain-ge Gunner stopped to pick a target. Meanwhile, all four of the girls were unloading into it, causing major damage to its body.

Finally, with a roar, it decided it was done being a bullet sponge. It zipped to the edge of the platforms and flew around in an oval pattern faster then anyone there could really track. Any and all attempts to shoot it didn’t seem to affect it. After a few seconds, it shot out four green balls about the size of a head. The four managed to shoot down three, but the last one landed on the platform. It exploded into a small turret, shooting pink, slow-moving balls of energy.

“Don’t let those hit you!” yelled Trixie. She didn’t need to say anything, but shouting and being generally useless seemed to be her schtick.

Starlight dodge rolled over the bullets before unloading a full clip into the small turret the Chain-ge Gunner had laid down. When it exploded, it broke into another wave of those pink balls.

“Starlight?” called Sunset. When the two made eye contact, Sunset nodded her head. “Do the thing.” Starlight smirked slightly, reaching behind her to her belt. She grabbed a glass bottle with her hand and tossed it into the monster. When the two collided, the monster screeched again, flying erratically as it tried to get the fire off of it. The four loaded bullets into the Chain-ge Gunner, but it started shooting erratically all over the platform. Everyone found a bullet in them somewhere. It flew high up again, disappearing into the darkness.

“Ugh,” said Trixie, lowering her gun for a second. “I hate when they fly.”

“But you’re a trick shot,” said Luna. “Isn’t this easy for you?” Trixie scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I used to be a trick shot,” said Trixie annoyedly. “I don’t know about you, but a Gungeoneer is basically a full-fledged job. My skills might have rusted over time.”

In the span of their conversation, the Chain-ge Gunner had time to get into its wits about it. It was no longer a holey, chain gun-toting abomination. It was three holey, chain gun-toting abominations. Everyone gathered their weapons up again, save for Trixie who groaned in agony.

The act was mostly the same, but with more bullets to watch out for. In her own mindset, Starlight unloaded clip after clip into the monsters without worrying about how much damage she was actually doing. She shot a final bullet into the skull of one and caused it to fall into the void. A wicked smile was painting the corners of her mouth as she continued firing. Soon, all the other bullets in the room seemed to be unable to keep up with hers, as she tapped the trigger quicker than she felt she ever had. She was about to jump into the void after the second body as it fell but caught herself. Sunset ran up to her and pulled her back from a volley of shots that came from the chain gun.

“Don’t go Rambo on me,” she said, launching a few shots of her own. “I’m not going through the next four floors a man down.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Sunset reloaded her shotgun before running back into the fight. Before Starlight could even join, the boss let out a screech and flew up into the sky. This time, it didn’t leave into the darkness. It crashed into the middle of the arena, blanketing it in a thick smoke. Starlight stumbled to her feet, trying to see through to her teammates, but couldn’t see far. “Hey, Sunset? Trixie, Luna?”

“They can’t hear you from here.” The scene changed from a smoky arena to a clear sky at daytime. All around her was ruined buildings, cracked asphalt, and general dilapidation. Starlight looked at who started talking. A little girl smiled back at her, eerily happy for the destruction around her. Starlight frowned and glared at the girl.

“Where are we?” she asked. “Are we still in the Gungeon?” The girl giggled again.

“It’s sad that you don’t remember,” she said, walking over to Starlight. Her clothes basically consisted of a sheet. She wasn’t wearing any shoes, her skin was pale, and her face was dirty, just like her hair. But her ethereal appearance made it seem like she was an angel. Starlight must have looked at her funny because the little girl laughed at her. “But I won’t tell you. Not yet. If you manage to win, then maybe.”

“Who are you?” asked Starlight. It was hopeless, though, since the ghost of a girl had disappeared into the mist before she even finished her sentence The scene was replaced by the arena again. The other three were still fighting and looked much worse than they did in the beginning, but at least the smoke was clearing.

“Good to see you finally decided to join us,” said Sunset, panting heavily and grabbing her knees. The Chain-ge Gunner was flying around above her and the others, seeming to pause to reload. Starlight looked at her fatigued teammates and then back to the Chain-ge Gunner.

Full of vigor, Starlight jumped forward, knelt down, then shot a few bullets into the Chain-ge Gunner. The bullets piercing its skin seemed to be a novelty trick since it seemed to shrug and roll its eyes. It pointed its gun at her and out of its barrel, it shot out six slow-moving balls of energy, which Trixie peppered with shots. She destroyed most of them. When Starlight looked over, she gave a reassuring thumbs-up.

Luna’s laser pistol started ripping through the air, it’s blue streaks searing into the flesh of the Chain-ge Gunner. It looked like it was getting pretty tired of the four trying their hardest to persist against it. It had had enough.

But the four weren’t done. As if everyone was in sync, without a word spoken between them, they started firing on the boss with all they had. Somewhere along the line, the boss’ health decided to stop resisting, and give up. The Chain-ge Gunner was surprised at its lack of health and promptly decided to keel over, sending its body spiraling into the pit. There was an awkward silence, as the boss’ body hit the ground, causing an explosion of Hegemony Credits, shells and a few items here and there. Starlight managed to nab a gun called “The Dub”.

“Woo!” said Trixie, stretching extravagantly. “That was fun! Let’s never do it again.”

“Agreed,” said Luna. Starlight was off to herself, ignoring most of the rest of the post-boss chatter her teammates engaged in. She frowned at how the small girl picked at her head and made her draw a blank. She didn’t like being down a piece in a chess game.

“Yo,” said Sunset, tapping Starlight on the shoulder. She pointed towards the edge of the arena where a path led to a door. The other two were waiting. “You coming or nah?”

“Yeah, I just… needed time to get myself together.” she placed the gun in her hand near her jeans and let it dissipate into the small machine on her thigh. She’d be able to get it later. “Let’s hit this second floor good, hm?”

“Yep,” said Sunset with a small smile. The two jogged over to the elevator room and watched as a bullet shaped elevator dropped down from the ceiling, broke through the floor, and opened expectantly. The four looked at each other before entering the elevator and letting it close.

Starlight felt that this run would be something special.

“It sucked!” Sunset took a swig of whiskey. The other three all looked at her as she ranted. “It was that stupid gun’s fault.”

“The Dub?” asked Starlight, knifing apart a piece of meat from the slab. She picked it up with her fork and started to chew. “I didn’t see anything wrong with it.”

“How could you not!?” she yelled. Starlight sighed and took off another piece of meat. Luna didn’t seem like she was paying much attention, and decided to put her head down on the table. Starlight wished she could withdraw from this conversation like she successfully did.

“Don’t worry,” said Trixie, silently sipping her water. “It won’t be too difficult to get back there. If we don't have to face that boss again, that is.”

“You don’t understand,” said Sunset, forcing her face to basically meet Trixie’s. Starlight could almost feel the uncomfort emanating from Trixie, and somewhere deep inside of her. She felt bad. Not really, though. “It was what it was saying.”

“I do admit,” said Trixie. “Saying ‘dub’ over and over after each shot did get a little tedious.”

“But it was a good gun,” said Starlight.

“It was freaking annoying!”

“But it was a good gun,” repeated Starlight.

“Good to see my patrons are up and at em.” The voice came from behind the counter, where a woman with amazingly tricolored hair, and a pair of light purple eyes walked over and joined their conversation. She placed her hands on the counter and laced her fingers together. Her smile was contagious and made Starlight beam quite a bit. “How’s it going, Glim?”

“Honestly?” said Glimmer, pushing her plate around. “Terrible. This steak is good, though.”

“Don’t lie to Shining like that.” Cadence looked behind her where a large robot was moving about the kitchen, cooking.

“It is good, though,” said Starlight, pulling her plate back and taking a bite to emphasize her point. She chewed slowly as Cadence chuckled.

“How’s it going in the Gungeon?”

“Hey, Trixie,” said Sunset, still groggy from all the liquor. “Let’s get drunk. So drunk we can’t even see anymore.”

“I don’t… drink much.” She sipped her water. “But you do you.”

“It’s going,” said Starlight laughing a bit. “How is the business here in the Breach?”

“Well, running the only tavern in the entire Breach does come with its upsides,” said Cadence. “Like all the customers. But the lack of money is kinda weird. But, I mean, what can you really do?”

The two continued chatting, laughing, and drinking. Sunset and Trixie continued their banter. And Luna continued to think. All the while, the Gungeon was still alive, still breathing. And hundreds upon hundreds of people stumbled into their doom. It made no difference to it.

As long as it had it’s fun, the Gungeon would live on.

Author's Note:

I couldn't believe that there was no Enter The Gungeon fanfic on the site already. S-So I dropped everything and did this...

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