Backstory:
We all know and love that one anonymous gre-- er, Nonna and her large Retrode friend. They've finally brought us the pet Love Puppy we've been coveting ever since Bechamel came strolling into town with his. However as it turns out, this big Retrode is not the only one of its kind. In fact, there are several other giant Retrodes that are particularly friendly toward other monsters in the Clockworks, and a large number of Clockworks inhabitants have grown to respect these peaceful giants. Unfortunately, these Retrodes have been reprogrammed by the Darkfang Clan to capture rare monsters for research. The gremlins are exploiting the trust between the giant Retrodes and other monsters in order to find out the secrets of the rare monsters' origins.

As with all things Emberlight, the Emberlight Adoption Agency is made up of outcasts. No doubt a direct result of the Electrolisk perched atop its head, the Petrode that now accompanies Nonna came to a rather shocking realization that its monster-capturing antics were morally unsound. This Petrode gained sentience as a result of this epiphany, as if its original gremlin-made programming was a cage that bound its true intellect as a giant Retrode. This Petrode then sought refuge Emberlight and told its inhabitants of the travesty brought upon the Petrodes by the Darkfang Clan.

Knights, your mission is to try to put an end to the gremlins' unjust usage of Petrodes to capture rare monsters for research in the Pet Production Plant. Do not take this mission lightly. We should assume that the Darkfang Clan knows that we've uncovered their operation, and that they will thus be anticipating your arrival. Only knights with the strongest willpower will be able to carry out this task - the Darkfang Clan will no doubt use the Petrodes and the rare monsters they've captured as a shield. This means you may be forced to strike down monsters akin to those you've grown to love as pets. Do your best.

Note: Pets available from the Emberlight Adoption Agency are certified to be humanely captured. Nonna and her Petrode have gone through a lot to get us these cute critters, so your hefty payment for your pet(s) was the very least you could have done to thank them for their troubles.

Level Structures:
Note: Each of the four levels preceding the boss stage will have an Arsenal Station at its beginning, unlike levels in existing boss strata. This is due to the fact that each of these levels has a different theme than the rest.

=== Mewkat Maze ===
This level will be a custom iteration of the Candlestick Keep theme. It will include the usual enemies (Kats, Zombies, Howlitzers, and Trojans), as well as Grimalkins and candles. As the name implies, the structure of this level will be similar to a maze - expect long passages with plenty of dead ends and intertwining turns. Naturally, this will accentuate the somewhat frantic nature Grimalkin chases.

The maze will be roughly diamond-shaped, and knights will start at its center. The top corner of the diamond will contain the elevator to the next depth, as well as a final room that is only made accessible after lighting certain candles in the other three corners of the maze. For the sake of clarity, these candles can be colored differently from generic ones (perhaps red, green, and purple?). These candles will not go out once they are lit. After lighting each one, a standard group of enemies will spawn and knights must defeat them before exiting whatever corner of the maze they're in.

The final room will house several waves of enemies. The last wave of enemies will consist of a group of Mewkats, whom knights are required to defeat in order to proceed to the elevator. "Only knights with the strongest willpower will be able to carry out this task..."

For the sake of rewards balance, enemies will not spawn anywhere in the level except the four rooms. In addition, candles will only be present in the four rooms and around elevators.

=== Impostocube Invasion ===
Because I am uncreative, this level will play out similar to a generic Lichenous Lair. The only difference is that there will be a room at the end of the level in which knights will fight some Jelly Cubes and Blast Cubes. The final wave of enemies in this room will include a couple of Impostocubes. Hooray.

=== Knockers' Quarters ===
In line with its name, this level will consist of several rooms that contain Knockers and maybe a few Thwackers and Menders. Rooms will be separated by status, and will contain enemies, traps, and Wisps accordingly (the "normal" room will contain spikes and Golden Shankles). Each room will have a key inside, and access to a final room (and the elevator) will require all of the keys. The final wave of enemies in this last room will be made up entirely of Menders, just for kicks.

=== Puppy Love ===
This level will follow the format of the "Assault on Machine Shop 13" missions' final level, but it will not be randomly generated. In addition, upon defeating the Battlepod at the end of the level, knights will be faced with a single Love Puppy. As you may have guessed, knights must defeat it before continuing.

Note: Since this Love Puppy is placed at the final portion of the penultimate level of this boss stratum, it will not affect any of the actual fighting throughout the boss stratum - the final level of the stratum is a boss level, at whose entrance heart generators are always present.

Boss Fight - The Petrode Pack:
Part of the Construct Family (Weak to Elemental, Strong to Piercing, Neutral to Shadow)

There are four Petrodes, one for each type of Retrode (excluding Voltrode, since that one is with the Emberlight Adoption Agency now). They resemble their smaller counterparts, but they have masks that indicate which phase they're in (more on that later) and some accessories that correspond to their respective themes - matching Chromalisks on their heads, a Seerus-like rocket on the regular one, some Ice Cube-like ice crystals on the ice one, Mecha Knight-style "tailpipes" on the fire, and some Lumber branches on the poison.

= Concept Art (made using Spiral-Spy) =
- Front view
- Back view 1
- Back view 2
- Closer look at mask design (inspired by Power Rangers!)
- More mask design

The arena will be perfectly square. In each corner there will be a pedestal similar to those on which golden keys rest in Clockworks Tunnels-style levels, meaning you can walk on/off them, should you need to. One Petrode will reside on each pedestal. The fire will be diagonal to the ice, and neutral diagonal to poison. Just because. The overall aesthetic of the place will be similar to Ironclaw Munitions Factory, with some monsters in stasis capsules lining the walls.

= Level Concepts (made using Spiral-Spy) =
- Level concept 1: Poison Petrode's Pedestal
- Level concept 2: Love Puppy tank
- Level concept 3: Mewkat tank

There will be five phases for this boss.

=== Odd Phases (1, 3, 5) ===
The four Petrodes will attack you as if they were regular T3 Retrodes. The major difference is that they will not let up in their assault (they won't "stop to think" or anything), and they will tend to focus more on their melee attacks. Petrodes can be defeated individually, and all must be defeated before moving on to the next phase (similar to the Roarmulus Twins). Upon defeat, each Petrode will return to its pedestal, turn toward the middle of the arena, and start to shoot a laser that will sweep (like a radar) in a counterclockwise direction. The laser will act similar to the lasers fired during the final phase of the Roarmulus Twins (constant/frequent damage, status-inflicting where appropriate), and will continue sweeping in a counterclockwise circle until all of the Petrodes have been defeated. The length of each beam will be equivalent to the distance between the center one pedestal and that of an adjacent pedestal. When the final Petrode is defeated, the other three will stop firing their lasers as it returns to its pedestal.

In phase 1, the Petrodes' masks will have a circular icon, as shown in the front view that I listed earlier.

In phase 3, the Petrodes will gain the ability to call down status-inflicting mortars similar to the overhead missiles fired by the Roarmulus Twins. The neutral Petrode's mortars will inflict stun. This ability will randomly replace the standard Retrode beam (any time where a given Petrode would use its beam, it might use its mortars instead). In this phase, the Petrodes' masks will have triangular icons.

In phase 5, the Petrodes will gain the ability to force their Chromalisks to attack (this randomly replaces the standard melee attack). Additionally, the Petrodes will each self-detonate upon defeat. The radius of each Petrode's explosion will match that of a Nitronome, and will inflict status. The body of the Petrode will be reduced to a blackened pile of metal, and will remain on the battlefield (similar to a downed Trojan, except it can't be removed). In this phase, the Petrodes' masks will have X-shaped icons.

=== Even Phases (2, 4) ===
Once the Petrodes have all returned to their pedestals, they will begin firing some lasers, as shown in the concept below.

How the lasers will work (animated!)

The laser beams will again sweep like radars, but they might randomly switch directions. All lasers will sweep in the same direction at any given time (all will sweep counterclockwise, or all will sweep clockwise).

In these phases, five enemy generators will appear around each pedestal as demonstrated below.

Spawn points

These generators will each spawn three Chroma Whelps. If one Chroma Whelp is defeated, its generator will generate another one shortly thereafter. The Petrodes' lasers will not damage the spawned enemies.

Knights must fight through the wall of Chroma Whelps and attack the Petrodes. Once a Petrode is defeated, it will stop its laser and its generators will disappear.

In phase 4, the generators will spawn Scuttlebots according to the theme of the Petrode they protect.

Rewards:
Recon Module: Stuff talking about how the Petrodes are seemingly immortal beings who are fated to return to the Clockworks despite having been wrecked by the Alpha Squad and about how history repeats itself on Cradle. I dunno.

=== Token Rewards (Token: Petrode Part) ===
Premature Petrode Protector (4* armor || 35 Petrode Parts):
Still not really thinking/caring about this... Just look at the Perfect Mask of Seerus, lower its Normal/Elemental defense by two bars, and lower its Fire/Shock resistances by one bar each. The Premature Petrode Protector will only provide one bonus - Handgun Charge Time Reduction: Low.

Pristine Petrode Protector (5* armor || crafted using Premature Petrode Protector):
Copy the all stats from the Perfect Mask of Seerus.

3D concept for the Petrode Protector series

Retro Beam (3* gun || 20 Petrode Parts)
(Kentard if you don't like me using your concept without asking prior, feel free to let me know and I'll remove it from this thread)

There you have it, folks. I've gotten tired writing this all up, so please discuss it, hate it, hate me, +/-1 for no reason, whatever.