Dark Side of the Mall
The Dark Side of the Mall is the disused part of the mall. A forbidding and mysterious place, its dimly lit stores stand as abandoned monuments to their now long forgotten purpose, as well as economic downturn.
Such is the sheer creepiness of this place that most, BotBots and humans alike, stay well clear of it if they can. Only the most brave or foolhardy of beings would dare set foot in this place by choice. Or Dave, who actually seems to like it there. Go figure.
Wait, did you hear that? No? Probably the wind. Yeah, it's the wind. It only sounds like it was saying someone's name...
Fiction
[edit]BotBots cartoon
[edit]One of the stores in the Dark Side was a gardening store. Shortly before the energon cloud hit the mall, the store closed down, and one of the bonsai trees contained within wound up at the Lost and Found, where it would become Bonz-Eye. Feeling isolated from her fellow Lost Bots, Bonz-Eye eventually figured she was from a squad of mighty warriors, who naturally resided in the most dangerous of places, such as the dark side of the mall. Determined to find them, and her place in the world, Bonz-Eye planned to journey there to discover them.
At the same time, Dave planned to treat himself to a fancy macaron on his favorite bench, located smack-dab in the middle of the mall's dark side, unaware that his intended snack was another BotBot, Lady Macaron, who wanted some "alone time" in the mall's dark side.
Bonz-Eye's journey of discovery only found an antique store, filled with unbelievably creepy dolls. As she left, she saw Lady Macaron transform and realized she was in peril of being eaten. Running back into the store, Bonz-Eye set off the dolls again, drawing Dave's attention. Investigating, he found himself set upon from all sides by the demonic dummies, triggering his memories of Clown Camp. Just as he recovered, Lady Macaron turned on a disused merry-go-round. Seeing his macaron on the ride's horse, Dave approached only to be knocked flat by some stray marbles, and on righting himself saw the macaron was gone. Realizing this was the work of those tiny robots, he began searching for them. Hiding, Bonz-Eye and Lady Macaron stumbled upon the abandoned gardening store, and Bonz-Eye came to the unfortunate realization she was the only one of her kind.
In order to escape Dave, the two BotBots distracted him with a tray of (surprisingly edible) pastries slid out from underneath a disused cart. Eating them without a second thought, Dave soon took a nap on his bench, allowing Bonz-Eye and Lady to escape. And as he slumbered, the dolls spoke again, telling Dave they'd seen him soon... Lone Bot and Carb
As part of a monumentally petty scheme against Burgertron and the Lost Bots, Spud Muffin cooked up the Goldrush Games, with the end goal of getting his former friend exiled to the Dark Side one way or another. Spud made Brock O'Lonely dress up as the "Gamesmaster", the head of the Goldrush Games, and declare a rule that the Lost Bots could compete on provisional status, with the understanding that if they failed to take first place, they would be exiled. Seeing nothing suspicious or specific about this clause, Burgertron signed the squad up to the games immediately. The Goldrush Games - Part the First Despite the Lost Bots putting up a good showing, Spud Muffin managed to get the final win, putting the Hunger Hubs in first place. Having by that point grown suspicious of Spud's behavior, Burgertron tricked him into revealing the games were a sham, at which point Spud cracked, and said that regardless of what the games' outcome was, or what squad Burgertron was in at the time, he would've had Brock-as-Gamesmaster exile the Burgertron and the Lost Bots anyway.
Karma struck when Spud Muffin, distracted by his crazed ranting, failed to notice everyone else transforming and hiding, thus he was spotted by Dave, breaking the Sacred Rule of the Mall. Between that and his admissions of other past jerky behavior, most of the assembled BotBots were all in favor of shipping his behind out on a truck, never to be heard from again, but it was Burgertron who pleaded for clemency. Instead of permanent exile, Spud Muffin was sentenced to the Dark Side of the Mall, in the hopes he could one day redeem himself....
Some time later, as Spud Muffin entered the darkened halls, the dolls called out a welcome to him. The Goldrush Games - Part the Second