As I see it, the villain is using magic to make the MBL believe they are in another world. Almost like a dream world that keeps shifting. Their home. This arena. With TS's basic powers, I could see him being able to see through the deception (hell he already beat Aurochs once, now he just has to defeat the combined might of Aurochs and Ma K.). The others are trapped fighting for their lives in this dream like world that is ?shifting through their fears and thoughts... memorioes?
Hell I would like to see a little fight between TS and Mr. Smith. With the pure evil he has gathered, the monk would be in trouble
Aslo, I would like to propose a new RULE. NO advancing time without everyone knowing about it before hand on the talk threads. I'm not pointing any fingers, but the month gap at the beginning of this story hurt not only a subplot I was working on, but also jumped right over the introductions of the new recruits, the teammates reaction to Sam's party behind their backs, just where KV is, and the lord of the flies passed out on the floor. Hey maybe we should do a fill in story to show all this stuff, might be fun, sorta like the "One Sunny Day..." story from way back when.