billy chilly, Kejardon, DamnGlitch and Sword Bearer stand together in one of Sasuke's towers, surveying what little remained of the MDb world. The lone survivors of the battle, save the errant yet preoccupied FireNexus, they had returned to humble Sasuke's machinated home. Having constructed monuments to their opponents and friends, they thought their work done. The only question on everyone's mind was the subject of the Golden Helmet of Samus Aran. To whom would it go?

"My friends, many valiant warriors have fallen in these past weeks." began Sword Bearer. "billy, thou hast lost a friend and an ally in Wave Man; Kejardon, though the relationship was short, our mutual friend the Insane Space Hunter has been lost... my sometime rival Piccolo is dead... the cost has been so great, and the prize still undecided..."

"Perhaps I may alleviate some of your grief." interrupted Sasuke, coming up behind them. The machine master, rebuilt after his recurring destruction, was now his humble and kind self once more.

"What do you mean?" asked billy.

"Yeah. What are you talking about?" Kejardon asked, echoing billy's confusion.

"While I can only do so much to help, I feel that I should do whatever I can to help in the reconstruction of this once beautiful world." Sasuke answered. "For one, it is possible to save those whose bodies were not utterly destroyed..." he trailed off, moving aside and allowing a glimpse of Joeman assisting a familiar figure. It was the Insane Space Hunter himself, somewhat worse for wear with skin grafts still healing over that part of his head that was punctured by dab's tail.

"Hunter?" asked DamnGlitch.

"Yeah... for the most part." responded the Hunter. "Sasuke did a bang-up job of reconstructing what was left of my brain... fortunately, I have a hard head."

"Marry, 'twas not hard enough, my friend." quoth Sword Bearer.

"It's good to see you, my young friend." replied the Hunter. "Who knows? Maybe you'll win the Helmet of Samus Aran."

"But what of the others?" asked billy.

"I'm saddened to say that no one else could be saved, to my knowledge. Piccolo completely disintegrated his own head, making it rather hard to bring him back. If some of his brain were intact, it may have been possible, but that's not the way things turned out. Wave Man and SimBen were utterly destroyed in the explosion that took out SimBen's ship... dab's head is in the possession of Sword Bearer--would you like me to bring him back?"

"That would be unnecessary." replied Sword Bearer.

"I don't know... it might be interesting to take on his tail with my new and improved crack-proof skull..." said the Space Hunter. "Sasuke replaced it with a duranium alloy that... well... it's pretty hard to break."

"Well, that's just fine and dandy, but now what?" asked Kejardon.

"Now what, indeed." replied Sasuke. "Now what, indeed."

-Wait, billy. I am not out to get you anymore. I am not the SimBen you know. I am the 11th cyborg back-up unit, but I prefer to be called the 12th cyborg. Actually I like SimBen 2 better. Well, call me just SimBen if you want. Anyway, when SimBen was re-activated a few years ago, the government chose to make a copy of him before erasing all his cyborg memories. They thought such a wonder of technology should not be lost, so they made me to replace SimBen should he be destroyed. SimBen's memory was periodically sent to Earth so I could use it as soon as he was destroyed. Over there it takes about 3 mainframes to hold it. So when SimBen was destroyed, the last update to his memory was uploaded into me, and I was immediately teleported here to replace him. I have absolutely the same memories as SimBen. But since Durandal doesn't control me anymore, don't worry, I'll never attack you. Actually I can be quite a nice guy once you get to know me. Oh yes, on Earth I received an emotion chip, so now I'm not heartless anymore. There are no more SimBens, that I can guarantee, so if after my destruction someone comes claiming to be me, I suggest you destroy it immediately. It might be the cyborg that survived the slaughter on Mars. He is Rampant now, but he's technologically inferior to me, so if he's dumb enough to come while I'm still here, I will dispatch it in a matter of seconds. Thanks for listening to me.

billy lowered the bow and invited SimBen to come and discuss the matter of the helmet with the rest of the people...