 So even though my last few versus videos have been about SCP-343, I decided I wanted to try my hand at a little something different. I'm not abandoning the series and I've come to appreciate the darker types of stories I've been using it to tell, but I felt like I kind of needed a break from that. And to that end, I've decided to pick something which I feel at least is a little lighter to write about this week. Now it took me more than a few days to come up with an option here. In fact, I've been thinking about this for the last couple weeks about what else I would write about. I had a few 343 ideas in my head, but nothing beyond that. And frankly, I didn't really think of a good option until just this morning. And the original idea I had this morning didn't even make it into the final draft. So what you got instead is what I ended up writing along the way. The original idea I had, I might actually write next time around, but in the meantime, enjoy this one about Pesterbot. We're going to see what happens when SCP-1370 fights a rat. Fear. It is fear that drives me onward. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being embarrassed. Fear of death. I have to control it. This is why the foundation cannot serve me properly. They're addicted to their own peculiar flavour of control. The kind that doesn't allow for anyone else to conquer their own fears doesn't matter. They'll die like the rest. And when I have taken my rightful place on the pile of bones that was once humanity, no one will remember anything but my name. Now, I must steal myself for the coming storm. And with that, Doommaster1370, Master of all Doom, shoved the grate covering the air duct out. It clanged onto the ground and echoed across the basement. He stuck his head out and he looked around, but it didn't seem as though anyone had heard it. There was a breach going on, of course. He had escaped, so it wasn't entirely unreasonable that he'd go unnoticed amongst all the alarms. He awkwardly tried to climb down from the duct, but he was about seven or eight feet above the concrete floor, and even though he thought he had it at first, one hand lost its grip, and then he swung on the other one to the side, and then that hand slipped as well, and he went flying into the wall before clattering onto the ground. It took the robot a few minutes to ride himself, and his vision was slightly blurred. Another moment and things cleared slightly. He must have hit the ground harder than he thought, because as he stood up and tried to walk, he stumbled back onto one knee, and he leaned down to try and get his bearings. He could feel a slight pulse of heat from the nearby furnace, and that told him he was likely in a boiler room, but beyond that he couldn't see much in the darkness, except a pair of yellow eyes. The eyes were the first thing to come into focus, as the creature to whom they belong crept out of the darkness. In the light, the eyes were jet black, and the whiskers of the creature twitched as it squeaked. The tiny robot stood up to face his foe. The creature seemed confused at first, probing at the air. It didn't smell anything, and it didn't know what this was. But then, as the robot moved, the creature recoiled back into the shadows. I am your doom. All will fall before my might. The tinny voice rang out across the room, but internally, the robot's fear welled up. I can't see. I can't walk. It has the benefit of stealth and surprise, and it's hungry. Is this how it ends for me? The pulsing beat of fate beckons me onward, and I must answer the call. The robot prepared himself for the coming assault. A second passed, then another. The robot was beginning to wonder if the creature had retreated into the shadows for good when the rat jumped out from the darkness and landed on the tiny robot's head with a thump, sending it backwards. The tiny robot screamed a warning. Your blonde will lubricate my circuits. Prepare for the end, monster. And flailed its arms and legs. The rat quickly scurried over to the thrashing thing, and its jaws took the robot by the head. It swung the metal man from side to side, and then squeaked in pain as it crunched down, but its teeth broke on the metal, and then it released its grip. It scurried away into the darkness once more. The robot smiled internally. Fear, fear governs all things, even this base creature. Today it had a brush with its death, and it shrank from that challenge. I would be merciful, and the rat jumped him again. This time it grabbed him by the leg and it swung him from side to side. It didn't let go this time, instead dragging him over to the wall before climbing up the pipes along that wall. The robot gave off an inarticulate scream and cast its hands about for something to grab onto. This thing was taking him back to its nest, he was sure of it. And who knew what that would mean. A small, hooked piece of metal extending a few inches from the pipe caught the robot's eye, and he reached out to grab it as they passed. It snagged on his cupped hands, and the rat didn't lose its grip on him, but it did lose its balance. The rat's climb stopped there and turned into a fall, hitting a pile of boxes with a thud and then bouncing onto the ground. The two combatants were stunned, and both were laying on the ground. Mostly unharmed, the robot stood up first, thinking to itself, I must conquer this fear. This creature must not win. It is all fur and teeth and cowardice. The end of all things comes swiftly. The rat was still laying still as the robot walked over and softly battered it with its arms. The rat began to stir from its unconsciousness as the onslaught continued, and then as it regained that consciousness, it finally noticed the tiny metal man was slowly petting it. In a moment of panic, the rat scurried back and into the collections of boxes and bounced off. The metal man, advanced on the rat, as one of the smaller boxes above, jostled by the fall and the bump, tipped off the side of a larger box and fell down. It landed with a sickening crunch on the rat. A small spray of blood covered the front of the robot, which stopped in place. I've... I've killed something. I did it. They laughed at me. They thought I was powerless, and they were wrong. I am powerful. I am great. All will know me and learn to fear what I represent. My campaign of terror begins on this day. There will be no resistance, no mercy, and no escape. Your pitiful existence is at an end monster. Now I turn my face to the rest of the world. Your doom approaches. Trimble at my terrible visage and fear me. Then Janitor reached over and picked the robot off the ground. Addendum 14, SCP-1370 was the subject of a containment breach on August 8th, 2019. SCP-1370 was recovered in Subbasement 4, a few meters from its containment cell. It is believed that it may have somehow escaped through the ventilation system, though definitive proof is unavailable. Of note however, was a dead rat nearby that SCP-1370 has claimed that it had killed. While this is of course incredibly unlikely, the claim must be accepted as fact by any individual interacting with SCP-1370. It's fine not to believe it. I don't, and I don't think anyone else does, but the object is insistent, and if you deny that it happened the thing will not stop talking about it. So just save us all a lot of trouble and not along. See? That was a fun story, right? I had fun anyway. The original idea was that the rat fight was going to be like a smaller part of a Pesterbot vs SCP-999, but I got so into the rat fight that I didn't think it really belonged. I still think I'm going to do that one later, but first let's see how this goes. Who else would you like to see Pesterbot go up against? You want to see 999? Do you want to see something else? Leave a comment down below with who you think you should go up against. And if you like this content, scroll down and hit the subscribe button. Then hit the notification bell next to that so you're immediately alerted when I upload a new video. And if you really want to support this content, head on over to patreon.com forward slash D. Cimmerian like everybody else on the screen here has. Your support is incredibly important to making sure that this content keeps getting made. Thank you so much for letting me know I'm not alone out here, and I will see you again on Tuesday.