This isn't a mod (yet)
Just gonna throw this out there, plain and simple. This isn't details about an existing mod, just a place on Steam that allows me to keep boss designs and details organised in case I put a team together to make one some day. I know it's not what the guide section was designed for, but I've been doing this for nearly a decade and people still seem to like it, and moving this series elsewhere didn't quite work out... so I'm here to stay I guess :P


Go Check Out Part 1
This is essentially part 2 of Boss Ideas 14, and thus mainly covers sub-bosses rather than the main range of bosses. I'd recommend checking out the main page first for context (and a greater range of designs since this page is almost exclusively robots):
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3179224376


A little further context
Regarding lack of art for individual enemies and the extreme stats of the bosses, just in-case people were gonna ask:
-Enemies aren't getting their own art for the page because they are not the main focus, and because many of them are simply variations of one another
-Boss stats are as high as they are, with million of health, because this takes place in the post-game of the main Boss Ideas 14 page; which continues into Post-Moon Lord content for the majority of its bosses to avoid disturbing the flow of the vanilla game when possible



Other disclaimer-y type stuff is found on the first page, but in order to keep things concise I won't repeat myself here. There's already plenty of stuff to read through below :P

The Lab, in its entirety, takes place within a subworld that can be accessed after the Lumen fight, using a special teleporter that is given to the player upon beating Lumen - the same teleporter used to gain access to the Reality Pillar to access the main final boss.

A code is apparently required to add the Lab as a teleporter destination. This is obtained after returning to the main world after completing the climax of the game at the Reality Pillar, where a drone will fly down and input the code for the player. Selecting the Lab will take the player to the subworld, as expected.



Whilst in the subworld, teleportation mechanics such as the Rod of Discord are disabled. Additionally, wing flight time and speed is reduced and any infinite-flight mechanics such as infinite-flight mounts are disabled also.

Creative Shock is also permanently applied in most of the Lab subworld, making it hard to bypass/cheese any enemy encounters or puzzles.

Appearance:
A fairly bland area, with grey metallic floors and pale blue lighting. The player is initially spawned on a large glowing plate on the floor when they teleport to the Lab subworld, and are then guided to the exit with blue arrows on the walls. Luminous blue pipes act as the main light source for this area, which combined with the light grey walls and floor give a calm, sanitary feel.


Encounters:
As expected, this area starts fairly empty to acclimatise the player to the subworld, but as the player explores they will encounter a few basic enemy types.

Most enemies in this area are scripted encounters; pre-set groups of enemies that do not respawn once defeated. Again, as a tutorial area, the player isn't in much danger here.


Enemies:
This area introduces few enemy types. The main enemy seen is the Scrapbot; a clunky, visibly damaged humanoid robot that has a few design variations, but ultimately acts as a fairly basic (if fast) Fighter AI enemy that is mainly used for cannon fodder.

Aside from Scrapbots, the standard Mech enemies also see some usage; armour robots with bulky armour, with a glowing red visor at the front. The ones encountered here include Soldiers (unarmed melee enemies), Swordsmen (fast sword users that slash at the player when close), Gunslingers (ranged enemies that shoot pistol-esque plasma guns) and Shotgunners (slow, slightly tankier, and use a short-range but high-damage shotgun-like weapon)

Mech enemies usually follow a fairly basic design at this point, seen below:

Appearance: A bulky, 4-legged robot with a mostly plain, grey body. Each of its legs has 3 'toes' on the front and sides for support and open panels near the top of each leg that reveal explosive projectiles, primed and ready to fire. Its main body is more rounded, with a metal band running around above the central eye. The eye itself is composed of a single red ring on a black background, and beneath this more bulky metal plates give the impression of a jaw.

Summon: Found in the final room of the Teleporter Room Area. Before being defeated it will always spawn itself when the player moves ~1/3 into the room, though after its initial defeat it needs to be summoned manually using a control panel in the centre of the room. When spawned, the player will be locked inside the arena for the duration of the fight.

Additionally, 'degraded' variants with simpler attack patterns and lower stats can be encountered in later areas of the game, beginning in Area 3.


Fought: Area 1 (Boss), Areas 3-10 (Mini-Boss)
Attributes: Has Mini Boss Variant



Boss Variant:
Health: 2,000,000 (3,000,000)
Attack:
-250 (382) (Melee)
-240 (370) (Shockwave)
-220 (325) (Grenades, Missiles)
Defence:
-200 +10% Damage Reduction

Mini-Boss Variant:
Health: 425,000 (650,000)
Attack:
-285 (430) (Melee)
-265 (400) (Grenades, Missiles)
Defence:
-225 +15% Damage Reduction


Attacks:
The HEAVY Unit, being the first boss-tier enemy of the subworld, has a fairly basic attack pattern where it will walk briefly either toward or away from the player. Above half health it will always walk toward the player when going for a jump attack and walk away when preparing a projectile attack, but starting at 50% health it may choose to walk a random direction before attacking. The attacks themselves as as follows:
-It may jump above the player, hang in the air briefly, and then drop rapidly from above.
-It may jump straight up into the air and quickly drop down, creating damaging shockwaves that travels outward across the arena
-It may fire a volley of grenades towards the player that are affected by gravity. Upon landing they will briefly 'stick' to the floor before exploding after a short delay
-It may fire a volley of missiles upward. After a short delay they will re-adjust their flight path to aim at the player before accelerating rapidly.


Expert Changes:
-Both jump attacks are noticeably faster
-The delay on the grenade explosions is reduced by ~33%


For The Worthy/GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A


Degraded/Mini-Boss Variant:
Three mini-boss variants of the HEAVY Unit exist, which act as follows:
-Type 1 retains most abilities of the boss variant, but will not perform the 'shockwave' jump attack
-Type 2 will exclusively use the jump attack
-Type 3 will exclusively use the grenade attack



Defeat: Explodes violently, starting with various small explosions around its body before a large explosion encapsulates it. Explodes into gibs as this explosion fades.

Lore: 'Ah, I see you would like further information regarding some of the automatons lurking around my Lab. I am happy to oblige. The HEAVY Unit is exactly as it appears; a bulky machine, armed with powerful explosives and built solely for combat. What does the acronym stand for? I'll let you figure it out.'

Extra Info:
-HEAVY Units are the only mini-boss to have at least one variant appear on each floor after they debut in Area 3, appearing in some form across all Areas beyond their introduction.
-A particularly deadly scripted encounter with HEAVY Units exists in Area 9, where three of the type 2 mini-boss variants will ambush the player on an elevator. Don't let the simplicity of the encounter fool you: they're deceptively mobile, very tanky, and deal a lot of contact damage.
-The HEAVY Unit intentionally bears strong resemblance to the Pokemon Metagross, being a 4-legged robot with 3-clawed legs, metal plates making pseudo eyebrows on its face, and eyes that consist of red rings on black.
[Added: 31/7/24]

Appearance:
A desolate landscape, contrasting heavily from the mostly-hospitable and calm environments in Area 1. The ground is greyish brown and nearly devoid of plantlife; most of which is withered and yellowed. Thunderstorms fill the air above and grey clouds blot out the sun almost completely, shrouding the landscape in a dull light. There are a few small areas similar to Area 1 scattered throughout, though these are small and are only useful as areas of brief respite.


Encounters:
Unlike the previous Area, which was composed entirely of scripted encounters, most of the enemies here are randomly-spawning. A few scripted encounters do exist, usually within the isolated rooms modelled after Area 1, though 2 scripted groups of enemies are found outside; both fairly close to the end of the Area.

Additionally, this is the first area where the player can find Lab Entries; small written extracts seemingly composed by Zazabaan. Two are found within the Area 1-styled rooms, while the third is found in the remains of a damaged campsite where one of the outside scripted encounters occurs.


Enemies:
All enemy types seen in Area 1 make a return, alongside two new enemy types:
Mech Grenadiers are another variant of the Mech enemy that carry grenade launchers. These grenades act similar to Team Fortress 2's Grenade Launcher; launching pill-shaped explosives that bounce and roll while travelling and explode after a short delay.

The other new enemy types are Mech Juggernauts. These are a variant of the Mech enemies that have a significantly bulkier upper body, to the point of having no discernible neck, and a red skull-like visor. They attack the player by firing accelerating missiles from the plating on the top of their body, though they have a long reload time between each missile. They are also completely immune to any sort of knockback and will reduce the pierce of projectiles that hit them by -5, potentially protecting enemies behind them in group fights.



Entries:
001 - The Desolate Land
This world you see before you is a harsh one, where life cannot thrive on its own. When I first arrived here, I attempted to terraform this land and bring a sense of familiar greenery to its soil, but my attempts were in vain. No 'green fingers' or tender nourishment would let life thrive here, and yet I have persevered and made this place a home of sorts.

002 - Riding the Storm
Harnessing the weather to one's benefit is something humanity has been striving toward for many years, and where better to put this into practice than a world facing the perpetual fury of an unending storm?

003 - Weather Master
I wished to do more than just harness the weather for energy, however, I wanted to bend the elements of this arid land to my whim. A prototype was finished, constructed in a shape of an air blimp. Ironic, given such a vehicle would normally struggle in these conditions, but despite its outward appearance this is no balloon.

Appearance: A large red boss styled like a blimp. Its body is mostly red aside from a white stripe down the middle. It has 4 red fins; 2 on its sides, one on top and one on the bottom, and appears to have eyes and teeth painted onto the front.

During the fight, however, it is shown that most of Warhead is actually mechanical; with parts of its body transforming to expose its weapons, and the eyes begin following the player.

Despite seeming to get its propulsion from the rocket on its back, Warhead has full free 360-degree movement.


Summon: Found at the end of Area 2 by the player approaching the edge of a sheer cliff. When the player approaches a gust of wind will push them off and take the player to an area with no platforms and a cloudy background.

The player will appear to fly automatically until they begin pressing the jump/fly key where they will have to begin flying manually, instructed via a visual that indicates for them to do so. The player has infinite flight time in this area (and is given wings if they lack them), however touching the bottom of the area will cause lightning to strike the player; dealing damage and launching them upward.

After a few seconds of manual flight Warhead will appear and the boss fight will begin.

Rematching Warhead after winning requires you to return to the bottom of the cliff that you fall down to after winning the fight, where a console is present that can be interacted with to start the fight manually.


Fought: Area 2
Attributes: Infinite Flight granted



Stats:
Health: 3,500,000 (4,875,000)
Attack:
-335 (518) (Melee, EMP, Mini Warhead)
-220 (325) (Minigun Bullets)
-250 (385) (Cannonballs, Missiles)
Defence: 135


Attacks:
Throughout most of the fight Warhead will stay on the right side of the screen and engage in an aerial dogfight with the player. Whilst not using any of its 'main' attacks a cannon will emerge from beneath, replacing the bottom wing, and Warhead will fire it off frequently while moving up and down in a figure-eight motion. It will retract the cannon and stop firing for about half a second when preparing a 'main' attack:
-It will charge up a powerful electrical pulse and begin moving slowly towards the player for a few seconds. After those few seconds pass it will flash red, let off a warning siren, and release a large damaging electrical pulse. Afterward it returns to the right side of the screen.
-It may swap the cannon for a minigun and begin firing a volley of bullets horizontally across the screen for a few seconds. It takes roughly a second to wind-up before it begins firing and will then fire continually for 3 seconds, with Warhead slowly moving vertically while the minigun is active. The player has to position Warhead properly before the minigun begins firing to avoid damage, as the attack can 'pin' the player on the top or bottom of the screen with poor planning.
-Instead of retracting the cannon, Warhead may reveal a second one in place of the top fin. It will begin performing a continuous barrel-roll while firing off both cannons rapidly for a few seconds.
-It may open its front nozzle and fire 2-3 'mini warheads' at the player in succession. These look like smaller versions of the boss and will fly to the player's position, stop, turn toward the player again, fly to their position a second time, and then explode.
-It may turn off its propulsion system and instead fire a volley of missiles backwards that travel off-screen. Once finished, it will re-initiate its propulsion system before the missiles begin flying across the screen horizontally from right to left. The positions of each missile are random.


Expert Changes:
-Gains a new attack where it will charge at the player and fly off-screen, re-appearing in the background. It will fly left to right, firing cannonballs at the player directly in a constant barrage until it goes off-screen again. Shortly after it will fly back onto the screen from the right.
-As Warhead loses health the cannon it uses to attack between its 'main' attacks fires faster, up to twice as fast at <10% health. This does not affect the 'double cannon' attack.


For The Worthy Changes:
-Projectiles all move slightly faster
-Attack speed increase now affects 'double cannon' attack, but only to 1/4 of the degree it affects the regular cannon attack (e.g. only a 25% attack speed increase at <10% health)


GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A



Defeat: Explodes into a fireball, slowly sinking off-screen diagonally. Once it disappears off-screen the player will be taken back to Area 2, seemingly at the bottom of the cliff they fell from to begin the fight, and very close to the end of the Area.

Should the player want to backtrack, the cliff itself is only 50-60 blocks tall and can be scaled fairly easily.

Lore: 'Warhead, named as such due to the volatile nature of the elements and its own explosive temperament. It seems you have bested the Lab's first security measure, and thus you are mere steps from gaining entry inside. Go forth.'

Extra Info:
-Unlike the HEAVY Unit prior, Warhead does not make any future appearances in the Lab in any regard, and thus to encounter Warhead again after defeating it the fight must be triggered manually from the control panel at the end of Area 2.
-Warhead's design takes inspiration from two primary sources; Kabula from the Kirby series, and several elements from Bloons Tower Defence
--The Kabula inspirations are mainly seen in the face and its use of cannons to attack the player, as well as its defeat animation.
--Its body design is also based off of the MOAB Mauler missiles from BTD, and many of its attacks are based off of BTD6's 'Boss Bloons':
---The EMP attack was based on the boss Vortex's stun attack
---The Mini-Warhead attack was based on Lych's 'Lych Soul' minions, being smaller, temporary versions of the boss that act as both danger and a distraction
---The missile barrage was actually based on Bloonarius' minion spam in an indirect way
---The bosses not referenced at all include Dreadbloon, Blastapopoulos, and Phayze. All of these bosses aren't referenced due to their mechanics potentially being problematic (weapon type immunity messing with class builds, stunning mechanics generally being un-fun, teleportation risking telefragging the player)
[Added: 31/7/24]

Appearance:
The Area actually begins within the Southern Main Floor, but further access is restricted; forcing the player to travel underground in order to make further progress.

The Southern B Floors are mostly dimly-lit hallways, with faint orange bar-shaped lights on the walls and ceiling providing the only light in the Area. Pipes line the walls and crates are haphazardly stacked in piles dotted about the halls. If the player travels down far enough a waterway can be seen that travels further into the Lab, though it cannot be followed.


Encounters:
Scripted encounters once again make up the majority of the combat on this floor, with set groups of enemies appearing in predetermined locations. However, unlike previously, these groups may appear in more unexpected locations to ambush the player.

The first platformer puzzles are located in this floor, which are activated by walking onto a glowing platform. When stepped on, the player will activate and control a small robot using their standard movement keys while the player themselves is stationary. The player camera will follow the robot during this sequence and both the camera and controls return to the player if they either complete or fail the sequence. Platform puzzles cannot be attempted while enemies are nearby for the sake of trying to avoid cheap deaths while the player is unable to move.

At this point, the platformer puzzles are fairly simple and the robots controlled don't have any special abilities. Completing a puzzle will unlock a door to allow for further progression.

Finally, this floor is the first time you will encounter Ellie. She is a mechanical assistant sent by Zazabaan to help guide the player through the Lab via dialogue. She shows up here both to introduce the player to the Lab itself, and as a tutorial on the platformer puzzles.




Enemies:
All enemies seen within Area 1 and 2 are encountered here as well. Additionally, two more enemies are encountered:
-Mech Bombers are the final main variant of the main series of Mech enemies. They use a rocket launcher to attack, comparable to Skeleton Commandoes, though their rockets have a very weak homing property that lets them curve towards the player slightly mid-flight.
-HEAVY Unit's mini-boss variant is first encountered here. However, only one of them is fought in the entirety of Area 3


Entries:
004 - Welcome Inside
If you're seeing this, then it means you've managed to best the Warhead and have been granted access inside the Lab itself. This is quite the accomplishment in and of itself - I don't often invite people to my domain - but don't get comfortable yet; there's still plenty more to be done.

005 - Subterranean Tunnels
Due to the harsh environment surrounding the Lab, upward expansion has been somewhat difficult for the workforce here. Thus, we took to the soil, and created a network of underground tunnels that house much. Admittedly a little dismal but, then again, so is the view outside the windows.

006 - Steady Waters
Not everyone inside the Lab is mechanical, and thus a steady stream of water is needed for them and the internal greenhouse that feeds them. As it turns out, there's actually rather a lot of water buried beneath the surface. It's actually rather surprising that there's no signs of natural life on this planet despite fresh water being present - it's actually rather disappointing.

Appearance: A spindly, spider-like machine. It has 6 legs, each ending on a needle-like point, that all connect to an oval-shaped grey body. Attached to the top of the body is a large silvery gemstone-like structure that appears to glow whenever Vitaphage moves.

Summon: Found near the end of Area 3. Upon entering its respective room the doors will lock and its legs will extend through a vent in the ceiling. Its 'head' will get caught, causing it to hiss and thrash around to free itself, dropping down from the ceiling as the vent seal is destroyed. Once defeated, it can be rematched by activating a console in the centre of the room.

Additionally, two 'degraded' mini-boss variants can be found. They are found naturally in Areas 6 and 10, and a few encounters can occur in Area 3 by backtracking after defeating the boss variant.


Fought: Area 3 (Boss), Areas 3, 6 & Area 10 (Mini-Boss)
Attributes: Has Mini Boss Variants



Boss Variant:
Health: 1,500,000 (2,250,000)
Attack:
-260 (395) (Melee, Plasma Bubbles)
-230 (336) (Acid Bolts, Plasma Spark)
-350 (525) (Self-Destruct)
Defence: 145

Mini-Boss Variant:
Health: 400,000 (555,000)
Attack:
-260 (395) (Melee, Plasma Bubbles)
-230 (336) (Acid Bolts, Plasma Spark)
-350 (525) (Self-Destruct)
Defence: 165


Attacks:
Vitaphage is a highly agile boss that will randomly choose to either be 'passive' or 'aggressive' every few seconds, which determines whether it wants to be far away from the player or close to them, respectively. It mostly moves by scuttling, where it accelerates very quickly, but it can also jump if needed.
When it decides to attack, it will determine which attack it wants to use depending on its distance from the player:
-When close to the player, it will spew dozens of electrified acid bubbles from its crystal that travel a short distance before popping, decelerating as they travel.
-When at 'medium' range its crystal will shudder before releasing a large volley of 'acid bolt' projectiles; slim, crystal-like projectiles that are affected by gravity; aimed slightly above the player to accomadate for gravity.
-When at 'long' range the crystal will spin before firing a beam at the player. This beam acts similar to the Shadowbeam Staff where it creates a solid damaging beam from the crystal to the arena wall rather than a moving projectile. Vitaphage's aim is slightly delayed, allowing the attack to be dodged despite its pseudo-'hitscan' nature.
Vitaphage will gain a slight boost to movement and attack speed as it loses health.
Starting at half health Vitaphage will be able to attach itself to the ceiling, jumping either to or from the ceiling just before it prepares to attack.
Once Vitaphage's health is reduced to 0 its crystal will begin glowing and it will begin chasing the player feverishly. As the intensity of the glow increases its movement speed decreases until, after a few seconds, Vitaphage explodes.


Expert Changes:
After attacking the player, it also has a random chance to charge at them. Stopping only when it hits a wall.


For The Worthy/GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A


Degraded/Mini-Boss Variant:
Two variants of the Vitaphage mini-boss exist, which act as follows:
-Type 1 utilises all of the main boss' abilities, though does not gain movement/attack speed as it loses health. It does, however, retain its ability to cling to ceilings at lower health.
-Type 2 will immediately attempt to self-destruct when awakened, effectively triggering its death sequence immediately.
Both types are usually spotted in an 'idle' state before they awaken and attack the player; immune to damage until their scripted combat encounter is triggered. However, as both share an idle state, it is impossible to tell the variants apart until they activate without prior knowledge.



Defeat: After performing its self-destruct routine, its body will explode into gibs while the crystal explodes, only leaving a cloud of particles.

Lore: 'An unstable program designed only for combat, still in its testing phase. While the crystals they possess are normally trained for use in larger machines, they need to be taught delicately to produce the desired effect. I fear many of them are already lost causes.'

Extra Info:
-The Vitaphage's design is heavily inspired by Bacteriophage; a virus that infects and destroys bacteria, as well as spiders with in terms of the boss' movement and general body layout.
--Vitaphage's ability to hiss and self-destructing capabilities are also somewhat based on Minecraft's Creeper, which the Vitaphage somewhat resembles in shape also with its large, blocky 'head', tall body and various legs kept low to the ground.
-There were plans, in Area 10, to have a room full of Vitaphage. Every few seconds a new one would activate, most of which being the self-destructing type 2s, aside from the second-last one to activate that would be a type 1 in order to throw off the player.
[Added: 31/7/24]

Appearance:
A place similar in appearance to Area 1; consisting of metallic grey rooms illuminated by long strip lights. The lighting is mainly a soft yellow, running along both the floors and ceiling as well as near important signage on the walls. Large piles of crates and boxes labelled in various ways are present throughout, as well as a few sealed containers with transparent windows at the front that seem to contain a wide assortment of strange weapons. Doors and vents can be seen in the background, but they cannot be interacted with.


Encounters:
This area mainly expands upon some of the things seen previously. Scripted encounters still make up most of the enemy fights, but now some of them spawn enemies in 'waves' as opposed to all of them at once.

Platformer puzzles are more complicated in this area than before, and in one of them the robot is granted a double-jump for the puzzle, indicating further movement options in the future.

Ellie will assist the player in this area as well, primarily by activating the teleporter system which allows players to return to previous locations. Currently the player has access to Area 1's main teleporter, a teleporter outside Area 1's boss room, and a teleporter present at the start of Area 3 as well as Area 4's teleporter that Ellie just activated. This makes backtracking significantly faster and less dangerous thankfully.

This is also the first floor to contain an 'arena'; a room that locks the player inside and forces them to defeat a powerful scripted encounter consisting of many waves of enemies. While similar to other scripted encounters aside from length and difficulty, they also have their own unique music planned.

Finally, there is a brief encounter with the boss of this floor prior to the boss fight itself. The bosses will chase the player through a winding corridor, attacking them when possible. The bosses cannot be defeated during the chase, but can be stunned briefly if you damage them while they ready their attacks. After this chase they are not seen again until the boss room directly, but they can be 'heard' via the intercom system calling for backup.


Enemies:
Almost all enemy types from previous Areas are here, aside from the Scrapbots which are entirely absent. However, 4 new enemies can first be encountered here.
-HEAVY Jumpers are a variant of the HEAVY Unit mini-bosses. They only perform the jump attack and no ranged attacks, making them easier to deal with on their own. However, they are usually positioned alongside other enemies that make dodging them harder.
-Mech Superjuggernaut are a variant of the Mech Juggernaut that have even bulkier armour. They fire 3 missiles in succession when attacking. They have even higher health, mild damage reduction, and also remove all pierce from projectiles on-hit, thus preventing attacks from passing through them and hitting enemies behind them.
-Mech Snipers are backline enemies that attack with slow-firing but high-damage sniper rifles. Their position is given away by a faint laser sight pointed at the player when aiming. It takes 2.5 seconds for them to aim and fire, which is reset if line of sight is blocked. The bullets fired are high-velocity and hard to dodge even from longer ranges due to their immense speed.
-Finally, Elite Soldiers are a humanoid robot similar in design to the standard Mechs, but with blue lights and a blue visor, as well as a unique symbol on their chest. They attack with fast-firing laser rifles, but their main strength is their intelligence; being able to dodge-roll out of the way of attacks, attempting to stay a mid-range to the player, and hiding behind Mech Juggetnauts and Superjuggernauts to avoid damage.



Entries:
007 - The Armoury
I assume you probably know what an armoury is, and so I will spare you the details. I do see you eyeing up the containers housing some of my weaponry - it's all ID-locked, I'm afraid. Maybe if you can pass the challenge at hand I'll reward you with something, though.

008 - Mechanical Soldiers
As you can probably guess from the sheer numbers and lack of blood, those soldiers you've been fighting are entirely mechanical. They are share the same training which, while admittedly primitive, still gets the job with sheer numbers when it comes to actual conflicts. You've been putting them to shame, though, so maybe I need to upgrade their programming again.

009 - Special Forces
There are, in fact, special soldiers given more sophisticated programming among my more 'disposable' forces. More sophisticated programming, better use of their environments and the strengths of their colleagues, generally just superior soldiers. However, it's rare their services are ever needed in actual battles, surprisingly.

010 - The G.E.L.
The Gelatinous Excursion League, or the GEL, is a group of humanoid slimes that have gradually come under my employ over the years and have all seemed to bond with each other well. Don't let their association with the generic slimes fool you - each one of them is highly efficient and competent at what they do. In fact, you've probably already encountered a few of them already, correct?

Appearance: Two humanoid slimes with noticeably different designs.
Silver is a large, opaque metallic slime. She wears a set of grey armour seemingly inspired by various historical armours. The helmet's visor obscures her eyes. Additionally, the 'brush' of the helmet is detachable and can be thrown as a spinning blade as it is made entirely of metal.

Gold, meanwhile, is a transparent slime seemingly made of ballistic gel, with a layer or red inside seen in her face and hands. She wears a grey and gold mock military uniform adorned with some sort of medal and wields a strange, makeshift shotgun-type weapon.


Summon: Encountered once as a chase sequence in Area 4 where they use their respective weapons to attack the player with fairly straightforward attacks, though they are invulnerable in this chase.

Once the player enters their boss room and crosses the middle of the room, Silver will emerge from the right door while Gold emerges from the left, the doors close, Gold speaks to the player briefly, and the fight begins. Rematching the fight after winning is done via the panel that appears in the room after the player leaves and re-enters, as with other bosses, though the dialogue is skipped.


Fought: Area 4
Attributes: N/A



Stats:
Health: 3,000,000 (4,650,000) (Silver and Gold (Shared HP Bar))
Attack:
-340 (515) (Silver Melee)
-250 (385) (Gold Melee)
-285 (428) (Silver Cutter, Gold Bullets, Pressure Grenades)
Defence:
-200 +25% DR (Silver)
-185 (Gold)


Attacks:
Gold and Silver both manoeuvre around the arena at high speed, using the arena's platforms for height as needed. Gold has higher horizontal speed but a higher reliance on the platforms for verticality while Silver has strong jumps but fairly slow horizontal speed. Both of them will attack frequently, even while moving around the arena, and have melee attacks if the player gets too close (however they are on a cooldown as to avoid cheese strats):
-Silver will take the 'cutter' brush of her helmet and throw it at the player. It will move in a straight line, hang in the air where the player was, then return to her. If the player gets within melee range she will 'trip' and throw herself on top of them to deal damage.
-Gold, meanwhile, fires her shotgun towards the player, displayed by a brief telegraph in the direction she's aiming. The bullets have a fairly tight spread despite the weapon's shotgun-like appearance. If the player gets in melee range she responds with a roundhouse kick.
Periodically, the two of them will team up to perform some sort of 'combo attack'
-Gold may throw grenades towards Silver, who will bounce them back toward the player. Grenades will explode on contact with the arena or the player.
-Silver may throw her helmet brush 'cutter' toward the player, then Gold throws a grenade at it. The grenade will explode, causing the brush cutter to rapidly ricochet off the arena walls for a few seconds before returning to Silver.
-Silver may throw the brush cutter toward the centre of the room. Gold will then pull out a pistol and fire at it 6 times rapidly, with each bullet ricocheting off the brush cutter and towards the player.
When below 50% health, Gold and Silver enhance their regular attacks slightly. Silver may throw a second brush cutter immediately after the first, while Gold may fire 2 shotgun blasts in rapid succession


Expert Changes:
-The duo gain a new partner attack
-Silver's cutters may move in a curve pattern instead of a straight line when under 50% health
-Gold's shotgun blasts become slightly less accurate under 50% health, but at least one bullet will always have perfect accuracy regardless


For The Worthy Changes:
-All projectiles throughout the fight are faster


GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A



Defeat: If Gold is attacked last, the attack will almost entirely remove her right arm. If Silver is attacked last, stray debris from the attack will ricochet and hit Gold to the same effect. Gold will admit defeat at this, while Silver will pick her up and carry her away. The other arena door then opens.
-A teleporter outside the right door of the room will also become active, granting a 5th teleporter location

Lore: 'Silver and Gold are two of the finest members of the GEL, and highly devoted to their cause. I found Silver astray in the desert, while Gold's origins are somewhat of a mystery even to me. I told them not to exert themselves with their mission, and yet it seems Gold might've still pushed herself too far. I'll... get that patched up.'

Extra Info:
-Gold and Silver are the first NPCs encountered in the subworld that aren't mechanical.
--This is true for Silver as well since, despite her metallic appearance and composure, she isn't actually mechanical.
-While Gold and Silver share a health bar, the only one who seems to sustain any meaningful damage by the end of the fight is Gold, as Silver retreats from the fight for Gold's sake rather than due to any injuries of her own.
-Gold and Silver are the only bosses thus far to have dialogue, with the previous three being entirely mute.
[Added: 31/7/24]

Appearance:
Most rooms in this area have walls painted black, illuminated by interconnecting blue and green lines that cover the walls and various computer screens of varying sizes. While there are few distinct 'lights' in the room, these details keep the floor fairly well-illuminated regardless. Huge data banks and a variety of strange, bulky machines are wired up to one another throughout the Area, creating a faint ambience of beeps and whirrs obscured mostly by the music.


Encounters:
There aren't too many direct combat encounters in this Area, though there are still a small few scattered throughout. Platforming challenges return, seeing the return of double jumps for some and debuting a dash for two of them as well. A few other puzzles are present as well.

One interesting enemy-related encounter is with the Surveyor; a bulky machine wrapped partially in rags, with a head made of old machinery. The Surveyor is intended to be avoided while navigating a small maze, as he is immune to damage and will pursue the player if it spots them. He will never leave his dedicated zones and cannot spawn naturally outside of them, either.

All enemy encounters in the Area are initially scripted, though some areas that used to house scripted encounters may have random enemy spawns after the Area is completed.

Finally, this is the first Area to have a secret route that leads to a chest containing a new weapon. This chest and all future ones state the weapon is missing a reliable power source, obtained after clearing the Lab, but that they can all be used to a limited degree (usually reduced damage).



Enemies:
This is the first floor to remove some enemies from the list of encounters, no longer spawning the Bomber, Grenadier, Superjuggernaut or type 1 HEAVY Unit. All other enemy types still remain; being the Shotgunner, Swordsman, Gunslinger, Soldier, Juggernaut, Sniper, Elite Soldier, and the type 2 HEAVY Unit.

Despite the limited amount of enemy encounters, 4 new enemy types debut.
-Elite Swordsmen are effectively the Elite version of the regular Mech Swordsmen, gaining their enhanced intelligence as well as attempting to dash toward the player for melee attacks.
-Workerbots are a generic enemy type, like the Scrapbots prior. They have superior stats across the board to Scrapbots, but otherwise serve the same purpose.
-Observer Drones are rounded, flying enemies that will orbit the player when detected. Every few seconds they will orbit closer until they get too close, where they begin ramming the player for contact damage. When multiple orbit the player at once they become more 'confident' and will reduce the radius of their orbit faster.
-Surveyors, as discussed prior, are immortal enemies that patrol designated zones of the map. They are intended to be an obstacle for the player to avoid rather than fight.



Entries:
011 - Computational Power
As you can probably imagine, running this Lab takes a rather insane amount of computing power. The systems and machines I use are far more refined and efficient than those you have access to, but even so I've had to dedicate all of this to granting functionality to my creations. In fact, there is even more elsewhere, though it is more fragile and I'd prefer you avoid fighting around it, so it's off-limits.

012 - Puzzle House
You've spent a lot of time fighting your way through countless machines by this point, your muscles need a rest I'm sure. Let those robots do some platforming for you while you unwind from all the hacking and slashing. Trust me, there's plenty more combat to come.

013 - Surveyor
Sometimes things happen in this Lab that even I lack a thorough explanation of. Surveyors are not machines like those around you, but instead some sort of mechanical spectre. Perhaps they were drawn here by something, I am not sure. However, I would advise caution when exploring the places in which they lurk.

014 - A Secret is Revealed!
I understand much of my Lab has been a fairly straightforward path for you thus far, but I felt that a few branching paths might help keep spirits high, especially if I provided some... incentive? Those weapons are operating at moderate capacity, but if you complete my challenges I'll happily restore them to full power for you.

015 - The Halfway Point
I have set aside 10 areas to progress through in order to reach the end of your challenge, and here you are - already making your way through the fifth. I'm impressed by your resilience, though I must warn you that greater danger lies ahead.

Appearance: Humanoid machines with a single line-shaped eye, greyish blue skin and black synthetic hair. Each wears a black cloak with a black and blue uniform underneath. Each one is also seen wielding a plasma sword with a grey handle and guard and a black blade with a blue edge.

Summon: Found in 3 specific rooms in the Computer Rooms, each one acting as a boss. Walking roughly 1/3 of the way into each room will begin the fight initially, though once they are defeated the 2nd and 3rd fights can be rematched by interacting with a console in the middle of their respective rooms. The first fight, however, cannot be rematched.

A mini-boss 'variant' does exist in later areas, though it is functionally identical to the boss variant.


Fought: Area 5 (Boss), Area 10 (Mini-Boss)
Attributes: Has Mini Boss Variant*



Stats:
Health: 750,000 (1,000,000)
Attack:
-320 (515) (Melee, Plasma Sword)
-250 (388) (Plasma Trail)
Defence: 100


Attacks:
Sentinels spend most of the fight invisible and invulnerable, only emerging briefly to attack. While their attack pattern is fundamentally simple, the speed in which they attack makes evading attacks deceptively difficult.
-They may appear somewhere near the player and dash at them, slashing with their sword, before disappearing. This is the most commonly-used attack. Uniquely, if the player does not attack the Sentinel until they begin the dash, the player will 'interrupt' the attack; stopping it prematurely before the slash occurs. However, hitting the Sentinel before they attempt the slash will invalidate the interruption attempt.
--This attack also has a variant where they will fake an attack by moving their sword without attempting a slash. After this, there is a 75% chance they will attempt an actual slash. Attacking during the 'fake-out' also invalidates the interruption attempt.
-They may appear above the player and drop down with their sword pointed downward, disappearing shortly after landing. This attack leaves a lingering plasma trail that persists a little while after it ends.
-They may appear near the player, blade already drawn, and perform a spinning attack that leaves a lingering ring of blue plasma.
-They may appear further away from the player, usually diagonally above them, and throw their blade at them. Once the blade lands the Sentinel will appear beside it, grab it, and disappear again.

Additionally, the three arenas involved in their 3 respective fights merit a mention:
The first arena is a fairly plain box with two platforms, one at either end.
The second has an arena sectioned into 3 platforms, the centre platform slightly lower, and exposed electrical wires that damage the player between the platforms.
The third arena lacks hazards, but the right side of the floor is slightly higher than the left, however two Sentinels are present that attack the player at the same time.


Expert Changes:
-The basic slash attack also creates a short-lived plasma trail
-Attack speed is even faster


For The Worthy/GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A


Degraded/Mini-Boss Variant:
There are no changes or variants between the boss and mini-boss variants of the Sentinels. Be prepared to potentially face a boss-tier enemy alongside other threats later.



Defeat: Will appear somewhere near the player, bow, and disappear. In the room where two of them are present, both need to be defeated before they bow. The mini-boss variant will also bow once the room it is present in is cleared.

Lore: 'Loyal guards for me and my creations. Do not let their small size fool you; they are highly efficient combatants and more than deadly enough for most. They do have a soft side, though, but I don't suppose that's what you're here for.'

Extra Info:
-Sentinels have actually appeared in Boss Ideas previously, originally being seen as the first boss of Boss Ideas 10. Since this time their design has changed slightly, mainly with regard to their uniform and weapon, but their physical appearance remains much the same.
-Technically, it is possible to beat the Sentinels without moving, but doing so is both a test of skill and luck. Luck-wise you need the Sentinel to only attack with its basic slash attack every time she goes to attack, and skill-wise you need to land interruption attacks each time she does so. Thus, this is not really a viable strategy.
-Of the three mini-bosses in the Lab, the Sentinels are the only ones to not have their fight watered down in any way in its mini-boss form compared to its regular boss form.
--It is also the only boss in the Lab that is fought multiple times in the same Area, also in-turn making Area 5 the only place in the Lab to technically have more than one main boss.
[Added: 31/7/24]

Appearance:
Dark and dreary rooms, dimly-lit by fading ceiling lights. The walls are mostly greys and blacks, with most of the decoration coming from cobwebs and moss sparsely dispersed along the walls. Crates and boxes fill the Area; some open, some broken. To coincide with the creepy atmosphere, ambient sounds of movement can be heard occasionally.

However, navigating to the lowest portions of the Area reveals a steady flow of magma, which in-turn acts to illuminate the lower sections, even if the lighting is a little ominous.


Encounters:
While the last two Areas have had a focus on scripted enemies and puzzles, respectively, Area 6 has a large amount of naturally-spawning enemies within its rooms and tunnels. Scripted enemy encounters do still occur, including a single arena encounter late into the Area, though they are much sparser here than the previous Areas.

The only puzzle-like element is a gravity-reversal switch found in a few select areas, most of which intentionally prevent use of mobility tools like grappling hooks and wings. Most of these are fairly tame, however their final usage has the player being chased by a Surveyor in a chase sequence. Enemies are unaffected by the gravity switch, making it similar to a Gravitation Potion.

The standout section in this Area, however, is the blackout labyrinth; a large series of maze-like tunnels that house multiple Surveyors and a few stray enemies. The player has a circular light around them, given by Ellie, but things outside of its range are quickly obscured by darkness - even other potential light sources like player-made projectiles.


Enemies:
As with Area 5, Area 6 does not house all previously-seen enemies. Mech Shotgunners, Gunslingers, Bombers, Grenadiers and Soldiers return. Both the Mech Juggernaut and Superjuggernaut are here, as are Mech Snipers. The Elite Swordsman is here despite the absence of the regular Mech Swordsman. Scrapbots and both HEAVY Unit variants seen previously are also encountered, as well as Observer Drones.

On top of this selection, three new enemies are added; all of which are mini-bosses:
-First, both variations of the Vitaphage mini-boss are added; both the regular and self-destructing variants
-Additionally, the HEAVY Unit receives its third and final variant; the HEAVY Grenadier. This variant only uses the HEAVY Unit's grenade attack when fighting the player; simple but effective.



Entries:
016 - Storage
A place deep beneath the Lab itself, admittedly a little neglected compared to the rest of the places you've seen on your visit. The Computer Rooms were fairly light on combat, so I hope you're refreshed for what lies ahead.

017 - Vitaphage Issues
Admittedly a strange design choice, I know, but as I mentioned back on your first encounter with them these are merely temporary bodies for most of them. Their spider-like design makes manoeuvring easier while the core is still easily accessible. However, this exposure to the world has had some... adverse effects on some of them, especially in the lower levels of the Lab.

018 - Blackout Labyrinth
A strange part of the Lab, as I've noticed strange power fluctuations in that sector specifically. No issues with the power itself, as it reaches areas beyond the labyrinth without issue, but those winding corridors almost seem to crave the darkness. I've opted to leave them alone myself and make a new tunnel around them, but as for you? I'm sure you'd be up for a horror attraction, right?

019 - Dead End
I mean, congrats on finding this message, but this isn't the correct path. Also, there's at least 3 Surveyors heading right for your position now so... have fun with that?

020 - Magma Deep Below
A swirling core of bubbling magma, and so close to the surface as to be easily accessible as a power source. Useful for powering not just the Lab through geothermal energy, but something far deeper that you might find yourself reaching if you persevere onward.

Appearance: A 2-faced robot with a cannon in its mouth. Both its faces are skull-like; one red one green, with glowing eyes representative of their colours. A large gear protrudes from their back, as well as 4 thin legs that end on 2-clawed 'hands' used to manoeuvre around its environment.

Summon: Found at the end of Area 6, where the player will fall into its arena; a seemingly-infinite expanse with lava only a few feet below the floor. After the player walks left or right a few blocks, the Skullker will enter the arena from the left and the fight will begin.

Once Skullker is active, the boss arena becomes an autoscroller; with Skullker normally on the far left of the screen, chasing after the player at a moderate pace. Additionally, as with some of the gravity-flip segments in Area 6, mobility aides like grappling hooks and wings are disabled.

Skullker can be rematched by clicking on the console that appears near the end of Area 6. Clicking the console drops the player into the arena, the same way the fight began the first time.


Fought: Area 6
Attributes: Infinitely-Autoscrolling Arena



Stats:
Health: 3,755,000 (5,125,400)
Attack:
-600 (1000) (Melee)
-265 (400) (Cannonball, Explosive Shell, Spikes)
-330 (500) (Shockwave)
Defence:
-200 +25% DR (Green Active)
-185 +10% DR (Red Active)


Attacks:
Skullker will begin the fight with its green head active and flipped upright, moving at the same speed as the screen. Skullker itself only has three main attacks to use against the player that both heads have access to:
-It may aim its cannon randomly and fire multiple cannonball-like projectiles in the player's general direction. These cannonballs ricochet off of walls and despawn once off-screen or after hitting 5 surfaces.
-It may aim its cannon directly at the player and fire a perpetually-exploding shell towards the player that passes through blocks. It may try to do this up to 3 times in succession.
-It may try to create a shockwave using either pair of its claws, depending on the player's position. The claws near the floor create a wave of magma while the claws near the ceiling create jagged rock spikes. These shockwaves travel toward the right of the screen.

The main gimmick with this fight is that it is both a boss fight and a platformer. The arena is set up as a parkour puzzle that also utilises the gravity flip switches from earlier in the Area. Spikes are present in the arena as well, dealing the same damage as some of Skullker's own attacks on contact.

However, there is a caveat to using the gravity flip mechanic. While the player is upside-down, the red head will become active instead of the green head. While it retains the same attacks it moves noticeably faster when active, causing Skullker to progressively move toward the right of the screen. Flipping gravity back to normal and thus activating the green head will cause it to move back toward the left of the screen again due to its lower speed. Due to Skullker's lethal contact damage, this element of the fight has to be managed while both platforming and directly attacking the boss.


Expert Changes:
-Gains a new attack where the skull faces open up and the cannon folds out, becoming shorter but larger. It then fires a giant beam horizontally across the arena that can only be avoided by being close to the arena ceiling or floor, which may interrupt platforming. The laser does the same damage as the shockwave attack.
-The speed in which the red skull moves is increased slightly, now only taking 20 seconds to move to the far right of the screen (formerly 30 seconds). To compensate, green resets its position slightly faster as well.


For The Worthy Changes:
-Red skull's speed increased even further, now only taking 10 seconds to reach the rightmost point of the arena. To compensate, green resets its position slightly faster as well.


GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A



Defeat: The cannon in its mouth begins malfunctioning and begins sparking before exploding. After the explosion Skullker's mouth is left agape and smoking due to the damage and it moves left until it goes off-screen and disappears.

Once Skullker is defeated the entrance to the arena opens up and a gravity switch appears that lets the player exit through the ceiling. Once outside of the arena the floor will be reinforced and gravity will return to normal, allowing the player to progress to Area 7.
-Additionally, Ellie will unlock both Area 6 teleporters; one outside the Skullker fight, and another near the Blackout Labyrinth.

Lore: 'Originally built as a security measure. Skullker's menacing visage and easy mobility over varying terrain made it quite an effective deterrent for raiders trying to sneak through my teleporter, though it struggled to discern intended visitors. The role of security now belongs to others, while the Skullker... skull-ks around the lower floors of the Lab rather freely, retired from duty.'

Extra Info:
-Skullker's main inspiration is the boss Twin Freaks from the game Dynamite Heddy, having a fundamentally similar boss design and fight concept through the arena.
-Skullker, at this point, deals the highest amount of damage of any enemy encountered in the Lab to this point due to its immense contact damage.
-Skullker is, thus far, the only non-humanoid boss to not be entirely destroyed when defeated; instead receiving significant damage to its weapon before retreating.
[Added: 31/7/24]

Appearance:
A highly-industrialised area, full of active machines and conveyors moving various machine parts back and forth. The walls are a light greyish green, with silver pipes and dark grey cables connecting up to various machines or sticking out the wall only to retreat back into it shortly after. Steam, smoke, sparks and fire can be seen from some of the machines as they continue working on manufacturing whatever is on the conveyors.


Encounters:
A mix of most types of challenge seen in the Lab thus far. Random enemy encounters are fairly plentiful and many scripted enemy encounters appear, most of which spawn more than a single wave of enemies. 'Arena'-style scripted encounters also happen twice on the floor for the first time.

Puzzle-wise, a few pipe redirection puzzles are present that open and close doors, including a larger maze-like version that the player has to navigate while fending off enemies. Platform puzzles return, mostly utilising movement tech such as dashes or double jumps, and one of them also brings back the gravity flip mechanic for the puzzle.

Ellie will introduce the player to the Factory and warns them of the dangers within it, and as usual will activate some of the teleporters once the player reaches them.


Enemies:
All 'Mech' enemy varieties return, including the Juggernaut variants and the Sniper. All three HEAVY Unit variants are present, as are the Workerbots and Observer Drones from before.

In addition, three new enemy types are introduced:
-Security Drones are an enhanced version of the Observer Drone. They have similar functionality, but can also fire lasers toward the player while they orbit them. Security Drones take a second to charge the laser before firing, which can be reset/stalled by attacking them.
-Elite Bombers are the final Elite Soldier variant, utilising the same advanced movement mechanics. Like the Mech Bombers, they are armed with rocket launchers, though theirs fire in spurts of 3 and the rockets have a very mild homing ability.
-Crux Soldiers are powerful, monstrous enemies. Crux are bulky, fatty creatures with jagged teeth with tusks on the side. They have a single yellow eye in the centre of their head. Most of the ones seen are plated in armour on the chest and hands, and are supported by a mechanical lower body with 4 spider-like legs. They are slow-moving and incredibly durable, firing barrages of high-damage rockets from their mechanised hands when the player is in sight. When defeated, they will fire one final rocket toward the player before exploding. Only 3 Crux are found in this Area, all in scripted encounters.


Entries:
021 - The Factory
The place where most of my mass-produced machines are, well, produced. The factory spans quite a large portion of the Lab, with each part dedicated to their own role in the automation process. Of course my more 'special' machines get to be hand-crafted and tailored as I see fit, so the factory here only has to deal with producing smaller robots like those soldiers you've been fighting for a while now. Also, while I am here, you may be wondering why this place is called the 'Lab'; a laboratory is a place to experiment, and much of what I do is experimentation... so what better name to call it, I suppose?

022 - Clientele
Now, it's not often that I invite people to the Lab, and it's also fairly uncommon that I end up having any large-scale battles, so you might be wondering what I do exactly with all those robots being mass-produced? Most of them are effectively mercenaries for hire. Now, I do still have authority over their actions so if, say, the client planned to use them for war crimes or something... they might suddenly find their hired arms turning on them quite suddenly.

023 - Bedrooms?
Admittedly, most of the rooms that have beds in were smaller side-storage areas, however I felt like they would be useful to accommodate you as you make your way through the Lab. They're completely safe, don't worry, and as an added bonus any items you lose will be shipped straight back to the nearest bedroom for your convenience. My machines don't have need for your money, after all.

024 - Portal to Another World
The Lab you see before you, as you likely guessed, is situated on another world to your own. My experiments have gone beyond simple robotics and have delved much into the realm of science fiction. In fact, this is not the only planet I've discovered in my time, as you might be able to tell based on some of the security on this floor.

025 - The Crux
That bulky guards you see before you are the Crux. In my time exploring the stars I encountered a world that housed a powerful warrior race. I managed to befriend them through a show of strength. The Crux are a species of strength and honour, and many of them followed be back to my world with great interest in my machines; offering themselves up for enhancements to be stronger. In exchange, many of them are under my employ, and they are honoured to die in combat to a worthy opponent.

Co-designed by Nicola


Appearance: A somewhat rectangular robot. Its face plate is green and opens to reveal a single red eye with red dots surrounding it. Two silver mandible-like bars are sat either side of the face plate, with glowing red lights on the inside. A metal bar is curved around behind the face plate, and pipes line its back behind this. Two additional 'doors' are present behind the pipes that slide open to reveal housed explosives, and another red light is present on its back. Segmented metal pipes connect beneath it, ending on cylindrical green arms used for movement.

Summon: Found dormant in a room at the end of Area 7, becoming active once the player walks roughly a third of the way into the room. The Combo Cannon will state 'Initiating Attack Pattern Combinations' in the chat when it awakens. It can be rematched after being defeated by interacting with a console in the centre of the room, where it will descend from above the arena to the top-middle of the room, and will retain its brief line of dialogue.


Fought: Area 7
Attributes: N/A



Stats:
Health: 4,650,000 (6,135,500)
Attack:
-325 (480) (Melee)
-220 (325) (Heavy Flare Cannon)
-285 (415) (Bouncy Bombs)
-260 (395) (Laser)
-0 (0) (Gel Blast, Ice Blast, Heat Blast)
Defence: 200


Attacks:
The Combo Cannon moves around the arena in a Plantera-esque motion, using its 4 arms to pull itself toward the player. It has 3 main attacks that it uses against the player initially:
-It may fire a bunch of explosives at the player that bounce. They travel rather slowly horizontally, but their bounces consistently approach the arena ceiling. They explode on contact with either of the arena walls or the player with a fiery explosion.
-It may fire arcs of flares at the player. They are usually fired in arcs of 3, 3 times in succession. These flares ignite the player on hit for an extended duration if they make contact.
-It may move to the left or right of the arena and align with the player. It will then fire lasers at the player that move in a sine wave motion.
At 80% health, the Combo Cannon will begin living up to its name, and will gain 3 'special' attacks. Each of these attacks does no damage but have an arena-wide effect that will persist through the next attack before expiring. The Combo Cannon will use one of these attacks, then one of its original 3 attacks, and repeat this cycle for the rest of the fight.
-'Gel Blast' coats the player in gel, reducing their mobility by ~20%. While active: The bouncing bombs now ignite the player on hit. The flare cannon attack's DoT effect is significantly stronger. The laser attack is the same.
-'Ice Blast' coats the arena floor in slippery ice and prevents the use of wings or mounts. The bouncing bombs and lasers are unchanged, but harder to dodge. The flares, should they hit the player, do 1.5x damage but don't apply the fire debuff.
-'Heat Blast' causes visual distortion on the screen, applying a wavy effect. The bouncing bombs will explode after a 0.5 second delay after getting near the player. The flares' DoT effect has an increased duration. The lasers do not change, but the visual distortion makes them harder to dodge.


Expert Changes:
-All three 'main' attacks are slightly enhanced. The bouncing bomb attack's bombs have varying horizontal speed. The flare attack now fires either arcs of 4,5,4 or 4,5,5 flares instead of just 3,3,3. Finally, the wavy laser attack is faster.
-Combo Cannon will have access to its special attacks since the beginning of the fight.


For The Worthy Changes:
-Increased attack speed for all attacks.


GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A



Defeat: The Combo Cannon will begin sparking, say 'Error! Error!' and slowly stop moving. After this, it will close and open its front plate and release a single paper plane aimed at the player that rapidly loses height as it travels. If it hits the player it deals 1 damage and the Cannon will state 'Lol' and if it misses it will state 'Darn.'. Regardless, the Cannon explodes shortly after.

The final teleporter in Area 7 will also now become active.

Lore: 'A machine I usually use for various weapon tests, given the computational power necessary so that it can attempt to find more efficient uses of the tools it is given. Admittedly, most of the weapons it has been outfitted with recently have had... mixed results.'

Extra Info:
-The Combo Cannon is another recycled boss concept from a previous project, being designed several years ago and going unused since.
--A sprite sheet does exist, though its attacks are entirely different compared to the used version
-The paper plane projectile used by the boss is the same as the projectile the player has access to, dealing the same base damage.
--If the paper plane is, somehow, able to kill the player, the Combo Cannon still explodes and the fight is still considered 'won' by the player.
[Added: 1/8/24]

Appearance:
Similar to Area 7, as expected, though the walls are a silvery blue instead of a pale green. Machines seen in the background seem more complex, often with multiple conveyor belts entering a single machine from varying angles. Mechanical arms can be seen over the conveyor belts as well, which were absent in Area 7. Steam, smoke and fire are also mostly absent, though blue sparks and streams of electricity are briefly seen from some of the machines.


Encounters:
Many of the same things as in Area 7, though often more difficult or unusual variants to push the player even further. Platforming puzzles are generally tougher, more enemy types spawn, etc.

Noticeably, there are cutscenes during this area. First, the Area's boss can be seen, obscured by objects in the foreground, talking to Area 4's boss Gold about the intruder. Gold's damaged arm from her fight is now mechanised, and she talks to Area 8's boss about the player. The second cutscene is shortly before the boss fight itself which reveals Area 8's boss, called the Security Chief, who openly states he respects the player's grit and determination, and says he'll wait for them in the next room for their battle.

There is a secret path that leads to a 'rest room' for some of the other bosses encountered prior where the player will encounter Silver and Gold again, as well as the first Sentinel in Area 5 that couldn't be rematched. All of them are passive and Gold is willing to speak to the player, seemingly not harbouring much ill intent toward the player despite the loss of her original arm.


Enemies:
Most enemies present in Area 7 return, however some are swapped out. HEAVY Jumpers and Elite Bombers do not spawn, however Elite Soldiers and Swordsmen do. Crux Soldiers, which only had 3 appearances in Area 7, also show up much more here.

A new Crux variant, called the Flamespewer, debuts here. Its arm cannons are swapped out for long-range flamethrowers, and on death it releases a fiery explosion that can damage the player.



Entries:
026 - Augmentation
Gold's damaged arm is a lot more problematic than I had previously thought. You see, she was not an intentional creation; she is a ballistic dummy given life through means unknown to even me. Unlike a slime, I cannot simply attack new gel to the area and have the arm reform. I have assured Gold that I will have the arm restored and that the mechanical one is intended to be temporary, but her unique biology means I am not entirely sure I have a solution.

027 - Crux Civilisation
As I mentioned prior, Crux civilisation is noticeably different to our own, especially when it comes to their codes of honour. A race that lacks self-preservation isn't unheard of - individuals of many species are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good - but it is much rarer in larger, more intelligent species due to the time required for an individual to reach maturity. But, alas, the Crux managed to become their homeworld's apex species - with numbers ranging in the millions.

028 - Outlier
I am aware some of my prior notes on the subject may seem negative - I do believe Crux are not stupid creatures. They house cognitive abilities similar to our own and strength far beyond a human's, and thus I believe the lack of self-preservation may be cultural. Alas, I have found a Crux that does not share those beliefs - one that wishes to better itself and to survive in order to grow ever-stronger. I wish to hone this idea of blind survival into mentorship, and thus I have taken him in and given him a respectable position that will further his goals as well as mine.

029 - Desire
The Crux that has become my security chief does not have a name, and has adopted this title in its place. The Chief has shown much promise, though his desire for power and the sacrifices he has made to his physical self are becoming concerning. It is almost as if, despite my prior beliefs, the Crux' inherent willingness to sacrifice themselves for their cause is somehow hereditary - whether for honour or for power.

Appearance: A slightly larger than average member of the Crux species, featuring many of the same mechanical enhancements as his brethren. In addition to these, however, red cables connect from his legs to his body armour. His eye has also been mechanised, as well as a plate on the left of his face. Gold markings are present on his armour as well, though much of it on the shoulder plates and arms has been chipped away by battle damage. His right tusk has also broken, leaving only a stump.

Summon: Can be found in his respective boss room in Area 8. He will speak to the player before the fight, mostly talking about his desire to face a worthy opponent and briefly mentioning his time in the Lab. Afterwards he will slam his hands into the ground, letting out small jets of fire, and the battle will begin.

Once defeated, he can be rematched by interacting with the console in the centre of the room - causing the Chief to drop down from the ceiling. During rematches, his dialogue is different and significantly shorter, mainly stating that he's glad to fight the player again. He performs the hand slam animation to signal the beginning of these fights as well.


Fought: Area 8
Attributes: N/A



Stats:
Health: 4,000,000 (5,850,000)
Attack:
-328 (500) (Melee Attack)
-275 (420) (Missiles, Plasma Grenade, Debris)
-260 (395) (Flames)
Defence: 185 +10% Damage Resistance


Attacks:
Unlike the Crux Soldiers, the Security Chief himself is actually extremely agile; able to cover large horizontal distances through dashes and lunges, and is easily capable of utilising the varying levels of terrain present. Unlike most of the prior bosses, the Chief actually has distinct phases throughout his fight.

Phase 1:
Most of the Chief's attacks in this phase are fairly direct, with little down-time between attacks.
-He may fire missiles towards the player. They have a random degree of offset when initially fired, but will lock onto the player's location and readjust their trajectory mid-flight. They do not have actual homing properties, however.
-He may fire missiles toward the ceiling, causing various smouldering chunks of debris to rain down around the arena, as well as a few stray leftover missiles.
-He may dash toward the player and release streams of flames from his hands, aimed directly toward the player, for around 1.5 seconds.
-He may use his missiles to launch himself into the ceiling, disappearing off-screen for a short time, before dropping down quickly above the player. Additionally, 2 missiles are launched diagonally either side of him at 30 and 60-degree angles.
-He may fire plasma grenades toward the player that explode after a random interval, leaving a damaging sphere of plasma where they explode for a while.
As an additional note, the Chief technically does not deal contact damage. However, he will stomp on the player using his front legs to deal melee damage. This attack is extremely quick and hard to evade if used, and also has a 3 second cooldown before he will attempt it again.
At 70% he will be knocked back by the next attack, using his arms to guard his head, and will roar before entering his second phase. This is additionally accompanied by the text 'A good warrior can always improvise!'

Phase 2:
The Chief's movement patterns remain the same, as do some of the fundamentals of his attacks. However, 70% of the time he will use these new variants of his older attacks instead:
-He may fire missiles, however he will now use both hands. One set of missiles is launched similar to Phase 1, while the others are released in wide arcs of either 7 or 8 missiles each.
-When using the debris attack, he will now punch some of the falling debris; launching it directly towards the player at high speed. At the end of the attack he will also catch a large piece of debris and leap at the player, slamming it down at the end of the leap.
-The flamethrower attack now has him fire a powerful stream of flame from one hand toward the ceiling, creating a damaging cloud of fire that forces the player toward the bottom of the arena. He will then punch the ground with his other arm, cloaked in fire, multiple times; causing pillars of flame to travel across the arena floor. The player has to fly between the flame cloud and flame pillars to avoid the attack.
-The drop-down attack now has the Chief drop columns of plasma grenades from the ceiling before dropping down. 3 columns of these grenades are dropped, each aimed above the player, that block off the player's movement due to the lingering plasma. After the third one he will drop down and create a fiery explosion around himself upon landing.
-The plasma grenade attack now has him launch a huge cluster of grenades aimed randomly throughout the arena, creating a massive amount of plasma clouds that make dodging part of the next attack significantly harder.
Additionally, his melee attack is changed completely. If the player gets too close he will grab them with vice-like pincers on the end of his arm, and 'punch' them with the other; generating a massive explosion that additionally launches the player away. This knockback effect will still work on players with knockback immunity. Additionally, unlike the stomp, this cannot be dodged if initiated.
Once taken down to 25% of his health he will stagger backward from the next attack before laughing. He will then state 'A good warrior muse use strategy to ensure survival!' before, suddenly, shooting out the arena lights.

Phase 3:
The arena is now almost entirely dark without any light sources, forcing the player to illuminate the arena with attacks or light pets, which have their light values dimmed significantly. The Chief himself is visible due to the glowing tubes around his body, his visor, and the cannons on his arms.
Additionally, all of the Chief's attacks produce light, allowing them all to be reasonably visible despite the darkness.
The Chief does not gain any new attacks here, but has a 40% chance to use a Phase 1 attack and a 60% chance to use a Phase 2 attack.


Expert Changes:
-Most of the Chief's projectiles move slightly faster
-Phase 2 will no longer use any Phase 1 attacks
-Phase 3 now begins at 30% health rather than 25%
-During phase 3, the battle is given a red tint that further affects visibility
-During phase 3, the ratio of Phase 1 to Phase 2 attacks is now 30-70


For The Worthy Changes:
-The missile and grenade attacks both utilise more projectiles
-Time taken for Chief to jump into the air is reduced, giving a shorter window to attack him in


GetFixedBoi Changes:
-Phase 2's melee attack radius is slightly increased
-The player's projectiles no longer produce light, instead the only light produced by the player is a small circle of light that follows the player. The Chief is unaffected by this change.

Defeat: The Chief's machinery begins sparking and partially explodes due to the damage he has received, including his mechanical legs which partially collapse under him. Red backup lights now illuminate the room. Chief will finally state 'A warrior... knows when he is bested. Proceed.' before the door at the back of the room opens.

The teleporters in Area 8 will now become active. Additionally, Crux Soldiers and Crux Flamespewers are now allowed to spawn naturally in areas that allow for natural enemy spawns.

Lore: 'A unique member of his species, seemingly holding onto some semblance of a self-preservation instinct that has allowed him to live far longer than his peers. In these years he has honed his abilities and become quite the formidable fighter, even compared to my mechanical forces. A desire to become stronger burns within him, and he is one to recognise an opponent stronger than he.

Extra Info:
-The Security Chief was one of the first bosses on the page to receive art, having his design completed long before most of the other characters encountered.
-At this point, the Security Chief is the only boss to not have actual contact damage, instead using a melee attack on the player.
--While Gold and Silver do use melee attacks, they are still capable of dealing contact damage.
-Despite the standard Crux enemies being slow-moving and sluggish in their attacks, the Security Chief is incredibly agile and attacks rapidly.
-The Chief, alongside the Crux species as a whole, is primarily inspired by DOOM enemies. The Mancubus/Cyber-Mancubus from DOOM (2016) is the most obvious, given the general body type, robotic arm cannons and mechanised visor, but the Arachnotrons were also the main inspiration for their 4-legged mechanical lower body.
-Despite not being robots, and instead being mechanised on-request, certain parts of the Crux are never not seen mechanised. This is mainly the case for their hands and legs, which are always seen mechanised.
-The Crux are the only organic soldiers used throughout the Lab, and the only 'living' enemies to be killed on death. The only exception is the Chief himself, who survives the encounter with the player despite receiving serious damage.
[Added: 2/8/24]

Appearance:
The Forge is one of the more visually intimidating Areas of the Lab. The walls are mostly grey, coated in metal plates, with orange lights to dimly illuminate the Area. Markings on the wall are fairly minimal, mostly consisting of reddish-orange warning stripes, and other background elements are mostly composed of a few conveyors carrying away damaged robots and chutes dropping said scrap onto the conveyors. Additionally, an ominous red glow radiates from below, which intensifies the further down the player progresses.


Encounters:
The Forge is actually the second shortest area of the Lab subworld, only slightly longer than Area 1. In this short space only a couple of platforming puzzles are present, and the remainder is mainly composed of both random and scripted enemy encounters.

This Area is also where the dreaded 'elevator' section occurs; a lengthy arena-style enemy encounter that has many dangerous enemies present, including the fight with two simultaneous HEAVY Units that was mentioned previously.

The floor's boss can be seen a few times before the boss encounter itself, usually obscured in the darkness. On the final appearance before the boss fight itself, they appear to sprout glowing red wings before flying upward and off-screen.

This floor is also Ellie's last appearance, stating that she is uncomfortable around this area and that she won't be able to activate any further teleporters. Despite this, approaching any later teleporters will still activate them, usually stating 'The Teleporter flickers to life in your presence...'. Ellie can be found in the same place as Gold and Silver could back in Area 8; something that is actually important for later...


Enemies:
Almost all enemies seen up until this point make an appearance. All enemies with the 'Mech' classification are present, as are all 3 'Elite' enemies. Crux Flamespewers are present, though the standard Soldiers are absent. All HEAVY Unit variants are present. Scrapbots also make their first appearance since Area 6, and both Security and Observer Drones are present also.

There is also one new enemy that debuts here: Whisp. Whisp is a large, orange ghostly enemy with an appearance akin to a sea angel with a star-like mark in place of its face. Whisp has two attacks; an AoE energy burst around itself, and the ability to create a pillar of orange energy based on the player's location. Whisp is rather tanky and is only seen in scripted enemy encounters; only appearing twice in the entire Area.





Entries:
030 - The Forge
The place where many shells are formed, many bodies created, and where countless ideas have taken physical form. A forge powered by the planet itself, no less. Now that you are here, you are reaching the end of your journey.

031 - Cycles
When my machines are broken, I am one who does not enjoy simply throwing them away. Even if they cease functioning, they are far from useless: they are dismantled, reduced to their component parts, and recycled accordingly. Metallic frames are melted down within the forge and are given new form; a near-endless cycle that has continued for many years, and will continue for many more to come.

032 - Ghosts of the Earth
You have likely encountered the Whisps by the time you find this message. They emerged from the magma beneath the Lab some time ago, though do not appear hostile towards me or my forces. Their composition is not that of natural flame or rock, but of ghostly materials; but a sort of fiery ectoplasm. Their nature is still very alien to me, but I suppose that is not your point of focus when you meet them.

033 - Prototype Shells
My body, as it stands, is now entirely mechanical; everything that by biological body once held has been transported into a form that will not age as humans do. However, many of these mechanical bodies exist: some of them are more specialised variations of my standard body, some of them simply backups in case of damage, and some of them were simply older models that are now outdated. As to avoid wasting some of these older models I opted to install personalities into them to make them into their own individuals... for better or for worse.

034 - In the Image of their Creator
While I am not foolish enough to ever consider myself a godly being, as I am still mortal even with my technology, I believe that some of my more complex machines do not share this sentiment; especially with regard to those that now inhabit some of my old prototype personal shells. Being formed in the literal image of their creator, some of them now house undesirable personality traits, and many of them have had to be... retired... for their own good.

035 - Finality
You are nearing the end of your journey, and I see you have found this message so close to the end of your path, but I have a final favour to ask you. There are 35 of these numbered journal entries scattered around accessible areas of the Lab. Find them all, speak to my assistant, and she will grant you access to something locked away.
(This note will be automatically picked up after Area 8's boss fight and cannot be skipped.)

Appearance: A humanoid robot with black hair wearing a lab coat and black trousers, with the coat pulled open around the chest. Its face, hands and legs are grey, and its head houses no facial features besides a giant red and black eye in the centre. Its chest has two vertical red slits from which steam seems to escape from. Finally, two red wings are attached to its back, both apparently made from plasma in some form.

Summon: After a few fringe encounters back throughout Area 9, the Prototype can finally be properly encountered in its respective boss room near the end of the Area. Before the fight begins, the Prototype postulates a fair amount; seemingly believing himself to be superior to his peers due to inhabiting a body that once belonged to the one who built him, as well as superior to the player due to being 'fine-tuned perfection'.

Notably, Prototype's arena is significantly larger than most other boss areas seen prior. Additionally, there seem to be multiple doors on the sides on the same levels as some of the platforms, though the player cannot interact with them.

Once defeated, the boss can be rematched using a console in the centre of the room. However, the rematched version has a silver eye instead of red, and lacks any dialogue.


Fought: Area 9
Attributes: N/A



Stats:
Health: 5,749,999 (7,849,999)
Attack:
-320 (498) (Melee, Plasma Sword, Plasma Sawblade)
-270 (405) (Eye Laser, Explosives)
-235 (341) (Plasma Trail, Plasma Dart)
Defence: 205 +19% Damage Reduction


Attacks:
Prototype is a very fast-moving boss that attacks very frequently, with minimal downtime between attacks. He has exceptional ground and air speed and so repositions to attack very rapidly. This is true between all phases.

Phase 1:
During this phase, the Prototype will primarily attack using a laser sword, which appears to be a modified version of the one used by the Sentinels. As expected, most of his attacks are melee-oriented:
-He may slam his sword down and drag it through the ground, creating a trail of plasma. This attack will either be used on the arena floor or one of the platforms, depending on where the player is. At the end he will also perform an overhead swing with the sword.
-He may dash at the player and slash at them, then dash at them again and perform a spinning attack with the sword.
-He may appear above the player and slam the sword down. He then spreads his wings and flies upward quickly, creating a large blast that creates a cloud of plasma around where he landed, as well as launching out 2 plasma 'darts' either side of him. The darts are launched at 15 and 50-degree angles compared to the ground.
-He may seemingly disappear for a brief moment, only to appear behind the player and attempt to stab them with the sword.
Once down to 75% health he will scold the player and fly off-screen. Suddenly, the various doors around the arena will open and various enemies will storm the room. The enemies spawned are:
-4 Mech Shotgunners
-2 Mech Juggernauts
-10 Scrapbots
-1 Elite Bomber
Once the enemies are defeated, or after a certain time passes, the Prototype will return to the arena and enter Phase 2.

Phase 2:
The Prototype retains all Phase 1 attacks, but gains a few more that it uses in addition:
-He may fire a laser toward the floor in front of him from his eye before moving his head and aiming it upward until it reaches the ceiling.
-He may release a bunch of floating explosives from his back that will do 1 of 2 things:
--They may all throw themselves towards the player directly in rapid succession
--They may all accelerate, creating a wide arc of projectiles, with the central explosive aimed directly toward the player
At 50% health he will temporarily flee the arena again, spawning a new set of enemies from the doors:
-3 Mech Snipers
-1 Mech Superjuggernaut
-2 Elite Soldiers
-6 Mech Gunslingers
Similar to before, once all of the enemies are defeated or enough time passes, the Prototype will enter Phase 3.

Phase 3:
The Prototype will drop the 'spinning sword' and 'disappearing' attacks from Phase 1, but retains all Phase 1 and 2 attacks. Additionally, he gains two new attacks:
-He may dash to random locations around the arena, swinging his sword. Each swing creates arcs of plasma darts as the sword moves, usually around 11-12 darts per swing.
-He may spin his sword, creating a sawblade-esque projectile made of plasma, and then throw it toward the player. He will do this three times in total, with each sawblade having a different effect: the first moves around the arena walls, the second is affected by gravity and bounces off of the walls and floors, and the third simply ricochets around the room, unaffected by gravity. After a few more seconds, the Prototype will clench a fist, and the three sawblades will shatter.
At 20% health he will shout 'Enough of this!' before fleeing the arena again and spawning a final wave of enemies:
-2 Crux Flamespewers
-2 Mech Superjuggernauts
-3 Security Drones
-4 Elite Soldiers
-2 Mech Bombers
Once these are defeated or enough time passes, the Prototype returns one final time.

Phase 4:
All Phase 1 attacks are absent in favour of his Phase 2 and 3 attacks. He does not gain any new attacks in this phase.


Expert Changes:
-The Phase 1 spinning sword attack also creates a plasma trail
-The Phase 1 disappearing attack is significantly faster
-The Phase 2 laser will also create falling debris as the laser's sweep crosses the ceiling, dealing the same damage as the plasma darts
-The Phase 3 sawblade attack creates larger sawblades that travel faster
-All enemy waves are tougher:
--Phase 1's contains 6 Mech Shotgunners, 4 Mech Juggernauts, and a HEAVY Grenadier
--Phase 2's contains 4 Mech Snipers, 2 Mech Superjuggernauts, 2 Elite Soldiers, and a Crux Soldier
--Phase 3's contains 2 Crux Flamespewers, a HEAVY Unit, 4 Mech Juggernauts, 4 Elite Soldiers, 2 Mech Bombers, 3 Mech Shotgunners, 6 Observer Drones and 4 Mech Snipers


For The Worthy Changes:
-Phase 1 attack speed increased
-Time allotted to defeat the waves of enemies is slightly reduced
-During Phase 4, certain enemies are allowed to spawn naturally depending on the Prototype's remaining health:
--20% - Mech Gunslingers, Mech Soldiers, Observer Drones
--15% - Mech Swordsmen, Mech Gunslingers, Mech Grenadiers
--10% - Mech Soldiers, Mech Shotgunners, Mech Gunslingers
--5% - Elite Soldiers, Elite Swordsmen, Elite Bombers


GetFixedBoi Changes:
-At 10% health a Crux Soldier will spawn in the arena, and at 5% another one will spawn
-Prototype's aggression slightly increased



Defeat: Sparks will fly from his chest and he will begin smoking. With which, he will quickly flee. He does not speak when defeated, despite talking during the start of the fight and every phase transition prior.

During rematches with the silver-eyed variants, defeating them will cause them to explode.

Lore: 'A machine I gave an old, prototype body that I didn't ultimately use for myself. I fear the shell I gave him has caused issues with his cognitive development, and that it is too late to revert those issues. He does not seem to understand that an outward appearance, no matter how perfect you perceive it, does not constitute the self.'

Extra Info:
-The Prototype's body is actually very similar to Zazabaan's redesigned appearance...
-Originally, this boss was called the Mimic Puppet and functioned very differently; instead using weapons based on those available to the player, and gradually creating accessories based on the player's which would grant it further abilities in the fight.
-Despite the arena housing 8 doors in total, 5 of them are unusable by the player. The only three that are consist of the entrance and exit at either side of the bottom of the arena, and third secret door
[Added: 3/8/24]

Appearance:
Akin to the Forge, though the atmosphere is bleaker. Background details like the conveyors are absent; leaving the walls bland aside from various red warning stripes painted near the floor and ceiling, and some other warning patterns painted on some of the wall panels. The red glow from the Forge is still present, stronger than before even, and small red cinders rise up from below. Some more open areas do exist, revealing colossal machines dormant within the background, though their full size and scope cannot be clearly seen through the darkness.


Encounters:
An entirely combat-focused floor. No more puzzles are present, instead the floor is entirely dedicated to various combat encounters; most of which are scripted.

The player spends most of the floor in pursuit of the Prototype, who has a few encounters throughout where he talks to the player before calling in large groups of enemies for the player to fight while he flees further through the Crucible.

Most scripted encounters consist of multiple waves of strong enemies, with weaker enemy types usually being used as cannon fodder to distract the player or draw away fire from the more dangerous enemies.

Some of the more unique encounters present include a room which the Prototype begins filling with smoke by destroying the ventilation that requires the player to complete it quickly to avoid letting the smoke build up, as it applies a DoT effect for the rest of the room if it does so. There's also a room where the Prototype damages the floor, causing it to collapse as the player deals with enemies while trying to escape. Finally, one of the last rooms is simply a swarm of enemies the player is advised to simply flee from as their quantity is too vast to fight; forcing the player to flee while avoiding enemy attacks.

This is also the only area where the magma beneath the Lab is used as a direct hazard to the player, dealing 300 damage and launching them upward. In Expert Mode, this damage is increased to 500.


Enemies:
All enemy types appear here: All Mech variants like the Shotgunner, Swordsman, Gunslinger, Bomber, Grenadier and Soldier; special Mech variants like the Juggernaut, Superjuggernaut and Sniper; all three Elite variants in the Soldier, Swordsman and Bomber; both the Crux Soldier and Flamespewer; Scrapbots, Workerbots, Security and Observer Drones. Even the Whisps, seen on the previous floor, appear in greater numbers.

A Surveyor is also present, seen alongside waves of enemies.

All mini-bosses are present, too, including all three HEAVY Unit variants, both Vitaphage types, and the only instance of Sentinels being seen outside of their boss fights.



Entries:
(No journal entries are present on this floor, for the first time since Area 1)

Appearance: Midori, as seen previously in the main Boss Ideas 14 page. Her outfit is slightly different here, with her lab coat tied around her waist and wearing a pale green shirt and black leggings. She is still initially seen with her glasses, though they are destroyed shortly after her initial reveal.

Summon: Found working on a small device in her boss arena, at which point the Prototype approaches her and demands her to attack the player to give him time to escape. She initially ignores him, which angers him to the point where he draws his sword, exclaims 'You Insolent-!' and goes to attack her. However, he then stops.

As it turns out, Midori is using her telekinesis on him, holding him in-place before crushing the core within his chest. Midori then speaks with the player, mentions 'unfinished business' from her and the player's last fight, discards the device she was working on, and begins levitating.

After defeating her, she can be rematched by interacting with a console in the centre of the room. During rematches, the opening cutscene is mostly absent, with her immediately floating up and levitating a damaged body akin to the Prototype's into the arena.


Fought: Area 10
Attributes: N/A



Stats:
Health: 7,500,000 (10,000,000)
Attack:
-265 (400) (Prototype Attacks)
-300 (475) (Energy Burst)
-345 (520) (Magma Pillars, Magma Bubble, Arena Crush)
-235 (342) (Magma Droplets, Debris)
-242 (350) (Astral Fragment)
Defence: 185 +20% Damage Resistance


Attacks:
Phase 1:
During this Phase, Midori will tend to try to stay away from the player while controlling the Prototype's body and using it to attack.
The Prototype has all of its attacks from Phase 1 of its original fight, though it sometimes has the ability to 'stall' attacks to throw off timings.
The Prototype can distract homing projectiles or minions and can technically be damaged, but it effectively has infinite health and acts primarily as a meatshield. The player has to directly damage Midori to progress the fight.
While Midori does not deal contact damage, getting too close will cause her to release a short-range burst of pink energy that deals high damage. This does not interrupt her other attacks.
At 90% health Midori will become frustrated, shatter the Prototype's body, and enter Phase 2.

Phase 2:
Midori will now attack on her own accord, mainly using her telekinetic abilities to attack the player. She can also now teleport around the arena instead of just levitating like in Phase 1.
-She may create pink orbs that drop from the sky, landing in the magma below. After a short delay huge pillars of swirling magma are created where the orbs fell. After a delay all the pillars disperse and droplets of magma rain from the sky for a few seconds.
-She may create 3-4 balls of magma, aligning them with the player either horizontally or vertically, before launching toward the player at high speed in rapid succession. Additionally, the magma balls explode on contact with the arena, each creating a burst of magma droplets.
-She may pull many chunks of debris from the ceiling. They all start floating at the top of the arena, with small gaps between them, before they are dropped at high speed. This attack is usually used a few times in succession, with different amounts of debris and different spacing between them.
-She may summon many bubbles of magma that rise up from below, each popping on contact with the arena ceiling and releasing a small amount of magma droplets. Additionally, Midori can throw pink dart-like projectiles at them. These do not hurt the player, but can pop bubbles prematurely on-contact.
At 75% health she will appear visibly frustrated and will enter her third phase, shown by her using her powers on the arena floor and causing it to crack and become unstable; partially sinking downward into the magma.

Phase 3:
The arena is roughly broken into three pieces in this phase, indicated by a red glow from the larger cracks present. Midori will use her new set of attacks in this phase:
-She may use her telekinesis to lift two of the pieces of the arena, slamming them into the arena ceiling and attempting to crush the player.
-She may surround herself with a pillar of magma in the centre of the arena, calling large chunks of debris to swirl around within it. The debris is launched out of the magma pillar horizontally at high speeds randomly, telegraphed by the debris visibly dislodging itself from the pillar. Once it ends a dense cloud of magma droplets rain down from the sky, with the only safe place being where the pillar once was.
-She may collapse the arena floor and hold the player up with telekinesis, with the player only able to move left and right. She will then attempt to slam the player downward into the magma a few times. However, small pieces of land will rise from the magma each time that the player can manoeuvre to in order to avoid damage. The magma does the same damage as it does throughout Area 10 itself. After the final attempt to drop the player into the magma the arena's main platforms will rise back out of the magma.
At 60% health she will appear even angrier, causing a strange distortion that warps the arena.

Phase 4:
The area takes on a space-like appearance, with the player becoming a white silhouette while Midori herself becomes a green silhouette. All of the player's projectiles are also entirely white, though have reduced transparency to avoid cluttered projectiles obscuring the player. Midori's attack pool changes once again:
-She may summon star-shaped projectiles called Astral Fragments from all sides of the screen. Each one moves either horizontally or vertically, with each moving at a varying speed.
-She may summon Astral Fragments that fly in from off-screen in a 2-armed spiral, meeting in the centre of the arena and continuing until they go back off the screen at the opposite side they entered from.
-She may create rings of rotating Astral Fragments that fly diagonal across the screen from varying angles.
-She may cause Astral Fragments to fall from the sky diagonally in increasing frequency over the course of a few seconds. The speeds of the falling fragments vary.
At 40% health she will appear a little tired, though still frustrated. The arena returns back to normal.

Phase 5:
Midori will use both her Phase 2 and 3 attacks normally, not gaining any new attacks in this phase. However, every 5th attack, she will warp the arena as she did in Phase 4 and use one of those attacks instead. After using one of the Phase 4 attacks the room returns to normal and Midori has to rest for a brief moment.


Expert Changes:
-During Phase 1, the Prototype will block and destroy projectiles on-contact.
-All Phase 2 attacks utilise more projectiles; more magma droplets for both magma attacks, and more debris chunks for the debris drop attack.
-All Phase 4 attacks use more projectiles
-When reduced to 0% health, Midori will use an extended version of the Phase 3 'magma drop' attack; dropping the player 10 times total. Noticeably, the time taken to drop the player gradually increases after the 6th drop attempt. After the 10th, the fight ends and the arena is reformed.


For The Worthy Changes:
-All attacks are generally faster
-The Phase 3 'magma drop' attack is more difficult; with a shorter time given for the player to adjust their position and a smaller platform to land on.


GetFixedBoi Changes:
-During Phase 1, any attacks that hit the Prototype will be 'deflected'; destroying the original projectile and launching a plasma dart towards the player. Usually this is shown by the Prototype blocking the attack with his sword, but it still occurs even if he is mid-attack at the time.

Defeat: Midori will create a bright burst of light that fills the screen. Once the light fades, Midori will be stood near the arena exit and the floor of the arena will have been (mostly) repaired. She will apologise to the player for losing her temper, though compliments the player's strength and says that she believes the player is ready for their 'final challenge'.

The exit to the arena is then unlocked, leading to a giant elevator that slowly takes the player to the final area of the game, dubbed 'Area 0'.

Midori can be found in the 'rest area' mentioned before, now sat alongside one of the Sentinels, Gold, Silver and Ellie. Additionally, another Sentinel is seen acting as a bartender, and a few random enemies are seen in the room relaxing.

Additionally, the Security Chief can now be found somewhere within the Crucible, and interacting with him will lead to him giving the player a weapon based on the Crux enemies' attacks.

Lore: 'My most trusted ally; highly capable and extremely efficient. She has been a good friend and confidant for many years now, though I fear her position has been too stressful... perhaps another holiday may help...'

Extra Info:
-Midori is the only boss thus far that has had two distinct boss fights in Boss Ideas 14, having one outside the Lab and then another post-game fight within it.
--Additionally, she actually references her original encounter with the player during her dialogue.
-Midori is in fact in charge of the G.E.L. - something the player can learn by interacting with her in the 'rest area' after her boss fight.
-Midori destroying the Prototype may be the reason that his rematch sprite is different during both his own fight and Midori's; something no other bosses have.
--This is also one of the only two times where two bosses are seen to clash and attack each other; the only other time being Storm's participating in the Chaos Doppelganger fight present on the main Boss Ideas 14 page.
-Technically speaking, Midori is the second last fight in the Lab. However, there is another fight that can be accessed between her fight and the Prototype's that can be missed and may have to be fought after her should the player not be aware of its existence prior.
[Added: 4/8/24]

Appearance:
A well-reinforced area with dark grey walls coated in armoured plating, secured by further red beams that connect in a horizontal grid pattern. Red supports also run diagonally between some of these in 'x' shapes, usually across entire rows. No background props are seen.


Encounters:
The Area itself is very minimalist. The player takes a large elevator up to a hall with a room at either side. On the left is a room with beds and storage, and on the right there is a large, empty room. No enemies spawn here.


Enemies:
There is only one 'enemy' that spawns on this floor, found in the back third of the large room. He will introduce himself as Zazabaan, creator of the Lab, and will congratulate the player for making it this far. He will then offer them a challenge; beginning the true final fight of the subworld...

(As for details on this, please check out his entry on the main Boss Ideas 14 page linked at the top of the page, as he is covered there)

Access:
In order to enter this Area, the player has to gather the 35 entries scattered around the Lab, and then talk to Ellie in Area 8's 'rest area'. This requires the player to have progressed until they have at least defeated the Prototype in order to reach the 35th entry. Ellie will congratulate the player and then tell them 'a door has been opened somewhere'. The door can be found in Area 4, near one of the teleporters.

Appearance:
An area composed of a mix of dark grey panels and reinforced glass, revealing the sky. Lower down there are only clouds, but when the player is higher-up they will be able to see space, littered with countless stars.


Encounters:
The area itself is fairly empty, with no puzzles or enemy spawns anywhere; instead consisting of a room with beds and storage, a large winding staircase, and a large room at the top of the stairs from which the player can see the stars.


Enemies:
However, entering the top room and staying there for 30 seconds will cause a single, special enemy to spawn...



Appearance: A giant mechanical worm. Its body is mostly made of metallic black segments with blue lights arranged in 'Y' shapes. Its head features mandibles made to resemble solar panels, with an additional 4 panels able to extend or retract from the sides. Its head also features many more lights than its body segments.

Summon: As mentioned prior, the player simply has to stay in the upper room in Area 11 to spawn the boss; initially 30 seconds, but then reduced to 20 if the player fails to beat the boss. After it has been defeated it stops spawning naturally and has to be summoned using a console in the centre of the room.


Fought: Area 11
Attributes: Secret Boss



Stats:
Health: 12,500,000 (18,000,000)
Attack:
-400 (600) (Head Melee)
-350 (525) ('Electrified' Body Melee)
-285 (430) (Laser Ring)
-320 (488) (Light Beam, Barrier Contact)
Defence:
-200 (Head)
-220 +20% Damage Resistance (Body)

[Piercing weapons lose 30% damage for every segment they pierce through]


Attacks:
Sagittarius chases after the player, attempting to bite them with its mandibles to deal heavy damage, making its head constantly dangerous, while the body segments are mostly harmless. However, various body segments will be 'electrified'; covered by arcs of blue electricity, allowing them to deal damage on contact with the player. The 'electrified' segments randomise every few seconds.
When preparing a non-melee attack, Sagittarius will move downward, lunge upward from beneath the player, and stop while its head is pointed upward. Then, it will use one of the following attacks:
-It may fire a barrage of lasers from its segments, telegraphed to the player through faint lines that show the lasers' trajectory.
-It may fire a constant barrage of lasers that are affected by gravity. This attack is very inaccurate but creates a lot of projectiles, forcing the player to fly upward and away from Sagittarius to reliably avoid it.
-It may perform 5 dashes toward the player in rapid succession, with each dash covering a lot of horizontal ground, but having limited vertical movement. Sagittarius will align with the player before each dash.
When below 60% health, Sagittarius will enter its 2nd phase:

Phase 2:
Sagittarius still moves in a similar way as it did in Phase 1, though is slightly faster and uses its ranged attacks slightly more often. It retains its Phase 1 attacks as well, though only uses them roughly 1/3 of the time.
Sagittarius also gains a new set of attacks. It still dives down before launching upward before using them, but now has additional animations to telegraph them: Its mandibles then open, its solar panels extend outward, and a blue crystal of light is formed above it. After this, it will use one of its new attacks:
-It may release various beams of energy from the light crystal in random directions for a few seconds, each telegraphed by a faint ray of light.
-It may release 'bursts' of beams of light from the crystal, again telegraphed shortly beforehand. It will use up to 6 'bursts' in succession
-It may release a beam of light upward from the crystal, followed by various beams of light raining down around the arena after a short delay. They are launched at slight angles rather than being completely vertical.
In this phase, as Sagittarius loses health, more and more segments have the ability to become 'electrified' at the same time. Initially, this starts at 6, but eventually reaches up to 16 below 10% health.


Expert Changes:
-Sagittarius will gradually increase speed as it loses health across both phases.
-Sagittarius will be able to electrify more of its body segments at a time across both phases. In Phase 1 it will be 8, while Phase 2 ranges from 8-20 depending on health.
-The player is unable to stray too far from Sagittarius' head at any time during the fight, as a starry barrier will damage the player if they get too far away. The barrier becomes gradually visible as the player gets closer.


For The Worthy Changes:
-Sagittarius will fire lasers at the player from its head segment every second that it isn't using one of its main ranged attacks.


GetFixedBoi Changes:
N/A



Defeat: Lets out a pulse of energy that looks vaguely like space, then flees skyward until it despawns.

Lore: 'A machine that exists purely to explore and scout the stars, and something I was interested in showing you. I needed a catalyst to force the energy out of it, as that spacial distortion is not something of my design, and I figured you'd be up for the challenge. Well done.'

Extra Info:
-Sagittarius is, at this point, the only secret boss in Boss Ideas 14, and is also the only boss in the Lab that can actually be entirely skipped or missed by the player.
-Sagittarius is the only boss in the Lab that spawns on a timer on its initial appearance, as most others are based on the player simply entering their arena or walking over a certain trigger point.
--However, it is still rematched in the same way as most bosses in the Lab are; with the player interacting with a console found in its boss room that appears after its defeat.
[Added: 4/8/24]

And with that, the next part of Boss Ideas 14 comes to a close.



Again, this was another part that I had planned to be finished sooner, but hopefully the additional revisions and refinements present will make some of these bosses at least on-par with those on the main Boss Ideas 14 page.

Speaking-of, if you somehow find this page first and didn't check the link at the top, here it is again in case you didn't want to have to scroll back up to it:

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3179224376

(Also Zazabaan, the final boss of the Lab, is on the main page so you kinda need the main page as context for this one or you miss out on the main boss of the subworld :P)



Also, I hope the word count wasn't too daunting on this one with all the additional segments - there were some plans in-place for the subworld itself outside of just the bosses, and I didn't want it to go to waste, so there's a few extra segments describing things aside from the bosses if those are ok. Probably won't be a staple of any Boss Ideas projects in the future, but hopefully it's acceptable here.



I hope you guys enjoyed, and I hope to see you again for whatever my next project ends up being - whether that's on another Boss Ideas page, or maybe even in the Discord if you join those:
https://discord.gg/CMtQEENmTm

Anyways, see you next time 'v'