Fr@gm3n+5: Do You Find It Hard To Remember?

[Eternal Dream]

~- Cold Blooded Fake -~

H3ll0, fri3nds

Bastard!

The Fragments had just begun to react, their shock and fear manifesting differently for each of them as the meaning of Blaster's hunting call set in. He'd started thinking that two in particular were going to be his prey this Game; indeed, the girl had piqued his interest, no mean feat. There was something about her that said she wasn't gullible, but could still be taken in by the same tricks if those tricks were played right. And the boy with the cloud on his shirt, though seemingly laid back, also seemed like one that could take charge when necessary.

Both had seemed interesting, but that jerkass R.E.M had to throw an effing wrench in Blaster's plans by removing the Fragments to a different area of Enix? If could almost be believed that the R.E.M was just trying to prevent first encounter tragedies on the small, outside chance that this time might be the one where Blaster lost control of the Rage right at the freaking starting gate.

Never mind that Blaster had gotten control of the damn thing for this one small task, and the R.E.M damn well knew that.

A small chirp from his phone told Blaster he had a new text. Flipping it out of his pocket, Blaster saw the message was from the R.E.M himself, the conniving bastard. Blaster considered, for the thousandth time, telling the guy to go to hell, but he kept his fingers off the keypad. He was already in deep enough shit because he'd mouthed off; he wasn't about to give a repeat performance.

Are you really going to let this go? That's not like you, dear.

"Shut it," he snarled, throwing the Rage back into it's cage. For a second, Blaster considered one of those damn smokes, but then reached into his other pocket instead. Dropping his phone in, he pulled out a couple orange mints and popped those in his mouth before raising his voice to call to Sync. "We're leaving. Get your ass in gear or find your own ride; I'm so damn done with this scene."

Blaster took one last look at where the girl had been standing, and the name on the asphalt. Liv? Interesting...

~- I Know You're Still There -~

"Hard to say what's out here. Everything seems to by black and white here, and I am pretty sure even without my memories that's not natural."

His answer was about what Cheza had expected. But before she had the chance to reply, several things happened in quick succession.

"Though my gut tells me staying there... wasn't such a great idea; especially since we were left there by HOLY FLAMES!"

A man blocked their path, setting Cheza on edge; another landed with quite the pained expression on his face, causing her to flush in sympathetic embarrassment. But just as she was about to react, to defend herself, to find out what these guys wanted...

"H3ll0, fri3nds. You are currently inside of a realm where my fri3nds cannot effectively carry out their jobs. Would you like to see the city?"

A wild tv popped up out of nowhere? With a figure that might or might not be there through all the static? This person talked for a little; something about his friends and their jobs. Did he mean these guys that decided to shoot up a nice little fire wall? Cheza felt a savage anger rising in her, and she was this close to telling the guy what she thought about him.

"Alright, anyone else seeing this or am I going crazy... wow!"

Except that was the exact moment that a million and one tentacles decided to pop out of the tv screen! A squeak of surprise escaped Cheza even as she spun out of the way of one that was reaching for her. She delivered a kick to another one, slamming it to the ground with a dull thud; who knew such a slim, tiny girl had that kind of strength behind her kicks?

Didn't help her much, though. Another tentacle snaked out, wrapping itself around her torso. Cheza screamed, enraged and furious, but unable to get any leverage to free herself. The boy from earlier tried to help, but he just got captured too. Cheza felt her head growing fuzzy, the crackle of static roaring in her ears. Everything was getting hazy, her limbs growing heavy. Was she falling asleep? Stay awake... come on... awake, damn you...

~--~

A rhythmic bouncing was filling her ears, background noise as feet paced across the pavement. She heard soft, friendly jeers as two boys played egging each other with brotherly insults.

"Is that seriously the best you've got anymore? Stick to dancing from now on; you've lost your edge on the court!"

"You wish!" Swish, swish. "How about you try a little dancing? Might help your footwork so you can actually block me!"

"My head..." Slowly, Cheza lifted her body off the floor, the room spinning in slower and slower laps as she regained her bearings. Her pocket chirped, a soft, cool note as a text hit her phone. Pulling it out, she read the text, absolutely stunned. Was this guy serious? Did he really steal their memories and text in that stupid internet talk?

"Well at least I am not alone; you all right?"

Cheza turned to look at the boy, then climbed to her feet. "I think so, she said, dusting off her jeans before meeting his gaze again. "My name's Cheza. Nice to meet you, although the circumstances leave quite a bit to be desired." She kept her hands by her side, even though she knew it was rude; something told her not to touch him, and she couldn't fight the instinct. "Now, another question. How do we get to this hotel? I know this guy gave us a map..." she glanced down at her phone, and the map on the screen, then back up, a wry look on her face. "But the way this going, who says this guy isn't just messing with our minds?"

She didn't really believe that, though. A dozen kids didn't just wake up and have all personal memories go missing; not all in one day, at the same time, and not in real life. But still, what did that leave? The supernatural? Some sort of psychic interference? Yeah, sure.

Not.

 

[Mistearea]

~Kael~

Kael assumes that a "handle" is just some slang term for a name and is about to mention his to the young man when a fourth person shows up to join the party. He freezes where he stands for the moment as he quickly counts out the number of people with himself included. Just as his fears were telling him, the group is growing beyond his mental capacity to withstand. But he deals with this for the moment as he remains silent only to walk until he notices something quite odd happening before him. He ignores the fact that they are being greeted by a television that seems to have appeared from the ground, something that they just don't do, but rather with the fact that they are being attacked by the said TV, something else that they just don't do. But before he can let his mind dwell on this fact any longer he lets his body react on its own to perform a backwards handspring just in time to avoid one tendril, only to be caught by another. As soon as this happens he finds his mind blank as he feels his body falling.

When he finally wakes up he looks around to see that he is once again in a new location. He tries to get a good look of the area, but he finds it difficult with the lack of light. That's when he hears a strange song play from the inside of his pocket. At first he wants to let it finish playing for some reason, but he ignores this impulse and reaches in to pull out a device showing a message from someone. He quickly scans through the words, if you can call them that, before receiving another message from the same person, this one an image. He figures this to be the map that was mentioned, but that's when something else catches his attention. He quickly looks to the voice that mentioned something happening and that's when he sees the creature.

He knows that his body wants to show fear, but something akin to instinct tells it to show nothing except a willingness to fight. With that as his only guide he raises both fists, one slightly further out than the other, to become parallel with his face as his heart slows with his breathing. He feels that he's been through something similar before, but not with this creature. No, it was with someone just like him. At least that's what he feels before he is once again overwhelmed by pain from a major headache.

"Everyone, get to the hotel."

 

[Story Keeper]

~- Forgive My Broken Promise -~

Samara, can we go out and play? You said as soon as I was feeling better, you promised!

That's right, but who did I promise that to? Who did I break my promise to?

Siam bolted up right, trying to figure out what had happened and where she was now. Raising a hand to her head, Siam lowered it and started fishing through her pockets, searching for her cell phone. Flipping her phone open, she read the message and wrinkled her forehead, trying to out if there was a hidden meaning to the message on her phone.

"..... Well at least I am not alone you all right?"

Her head whipped around to look at the one who'd spoken, tilting her head to the side as she tried to figure it out. She could tell the boy wasn't talking to her, so instead of immediately drawing attention to herself, she climbed shakily to her feet. Taking another look at her map, Siam shook her head, closed out of it and dropped the blue and white Nokia into her jeans pocket. Walking over to the other two, she asked cheerfully, "What do you two make of this whole mess?"

~- Puts On A Show -~

"Someone thinks they're cute."

Mirror frowned as the Fragments disappeared, the REM had stepped in and saved them? Why would it matter to him besides they couldn't technically do their job if their prey was still in the safe zone? Curling her hands into fists, the girl glanced at her work partner to see the blank expression on Rika's face while a dark, dangerous fire burned in her eyes. In other words? Rika was pissed at the REM for taking their prey away. Raising her hand in a quiet signal to quiet down, she glanced over at Sync to see the new kid pale from revelations. Laughing at him, Mirror teased, "Blaster, I think you went a little overboard."

That earned her a glare and a one fingered salute from the older boy, deciding to irritate Blaster, Mirror smirked and casually returned the gesture.

"Fine... asshole wants to play that way... we'll play that.... besides it isn't fun if we all take them out at once.... I like to enjoy my prey with smaller number," Rika snarled, effectively drawing Mirror's attention away from the two boys.

She glanced at the wall to investigate the hole in it, and she wasn't surprised by the damage caused; feeling a tugging on her left side, Mirror allowed Rika to pull her along. Looking at the names of the prey this time around, Mirror felt her lips twitch into a calm, sadistic smile. She saw a couple of names that interested her, but it was the (more than likely) boy's name that caught her attention: Jack.

"The museum is closest."

The comment from Rika had Mirror turning her head toward her unstable coworker, tilting her head to the side in silent curiosity; Mirror gently pulled her hand free and followed after her at a decent pace. "The museum sounds nice, and if at all possible, I've got dibs on Jack." She muttered, only giving voice to the comment after she was sure that Blaster wouldn't have been able to overhear her.

Mirror caught up to Rika hastily, and it didn't take them long to get to the destination. Looking around her, she peeked through the window and caught a boy (Jack) talking to a blond haired girl (Cheza). Turning to look at Rika, Mirror asked sweetly, "Ready to get this party started?" While she said that, Mirror watched as another girl approached the two Fragmented, seemingly striking up a conversation with them.

~- Farther Away... -~

The sound of a tiger growling made Anna tense, eyes snapping around to find the source of it. Don't run, don't run, don't run! The mental command did little to calm her nerves, before she could say something though, a giant TV appeared out of the ground. Tensing her muscles even more, she nearly bolted when a curl of static reached for her. Snarling, Anna took a swipe at it as she backed away, she felt the dog move with her.

Hearing a stranger's voice, she focused back on the TV, lips curling back into a snarl, she listened to the message. Memories? Friends? A dry bark of laughter escaping her, she snapped, "Why should we trust you? I think it'd be a pretty safe bet to assume you're lying to us. Why steal our memories than offer us a chance to get them back?"

Instead of answering her question, one of the tendrils whipped out and wrapped around her waist. An enraged hiss escaping her, Anna tried to untangle herself from the coil; which she succeeded in, only to fall into the TV roughly. Closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the ground rushing up, Anna felt herself black out do to the sudden change in pressure.

Liv...what...don't...stay...can't....let...with me....

Wake up!

Bolting up right with a scream clawing up her throat, Anna brought her knees to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she hid her face as she tried to get herself under control. After she was positive she wouldn't fall down, or fall apart, Anna climbed to her feet and felt her canine companion move closer to stand next to her.

Turning her head toward the Arcade, Anna lightly bit her lip at the barest noise; it wasn't the machines that had her attention, instead it was the underlying noise of static and the nauseating feeling she had. They were in trouble. It didn't take long for the sound of static to grow louder, to the point it blocked everything else out. Backing up toward the guys, Anna heard someone talking; but it sounded like they were a million miles above her and she was drowning in deep water.

"Uh...guys? I don't mean to alert anyone...but I don't think those things necessarily want to be our friends..."

A sarcastic retort primed and ready, she shook her head and touched the sticker on her right arm; calling a pair of twin daggers. "Maybe so, but we can't just let these guys win, so are we fighting or running?" She asked at large, ignoring the sense of disaster that was trying to override her senses; and with greater difficulty, she pushed back and ignored the sound of growling from multiple sources.

~- Trying to Find the Reason Why -~

Sync heard the quiet giggling that drifted over from Mirror, throwing the pale girl a glare, he looked away to check out the new text he'd gotten. Reading the message, Sync jumped slightly as Mirror said coolly from next to him, "That's Blaster's game, he uses that tiger's growl to judge who he's going after first."

Leveling her with an icy glare, Blaster snapped, "Shut your damn mouth Albino!"

Sync nearly stepped in to break up the fight when Rika grabbed Mirror's hand and pulled the other girl away. "We're leaving. Get your ass in gear or find your own ride; I'm so damn done with this scene." Blaster ordered curtly, immediately heading back toward the curb to recall his bike.

No matter what, you need to get through this Game or they're finished, deal?

Clenching his fist at the phantom words, Sync ran over to where Blaster stood waiting, the color finally returning to Sync's face. Ignoring the eye roll and snappy comment from the older Collector. "The Arcade," Sync muttered, not daring to meet eye contact while Blaster was in this kind of mood. Why don't you just smoke one of your damn cigarettes? Sync hissed mentally, annoyed with how much of the agitation that hung in the air was getting to him.

He heard the grunt from Blaster as he summoned his bike again, climbing back on, Sync ignored the twinge of jealousy at the sight of the bike. It didn't take long for them to get to the arcade, and even less for the boys to climb off and the bike to disappear. "Hey, one piece of advice. Don't let your fear show or the demons that reside in this hell will devour you."

"Thanks, note made. Shall we get going now?" Sync tossed over his shoulder, already heading toward the doors, he didn't need to look back to know that Blaster was following him, 'cause soon enough Blaster was pulling ahead, muttering angrily, "Stay behind me, kid, unless you want to get hurt."

"Everyone, get to the hotel."

Both boys came to a stop when they heard that order and the crackle of static, alerting them that the Fragments were already under fire from creatures known as Static. Glancing at Blaster for a moment, Sync shook his head and moved closer as a dog growled while a girl asked worriedly, "Are you sure you can manage them by yourself?"

Judging from her voice, Sync wouldn't be surprised if her face had obvious hints of concern and fear for her teammate.

 

[Ðari]

Rien cracked his neck and took it slow.

"I gotta tell ya, that Blaster really fires his mouth like the barrel of a cannon." he said in retrospect naturally.

At ease, these fragments were going to have a tough time keeping their head above water. A soft breath escaped his him as he began his trek even further into the museum. At the luxury of his own, he wasn't around when all hell broke loose, rather he'd chosen to navigate to District One right away. When they'd come into his view, there were a finite number of bodies that were scattered along the floor. Squinting his eyes, they'd looked like they'd been eaten by one of the boss' Live Broadcasts.

The collector's hands furrowed into his pockets and he pressed himself behind a pillar to obscure himself from view. Using his fan, he made the surface reflective, and peered at the players while he lay concealed.

"Lets shake things up with a little static..." he whispered.

From his side, he pulled out a holster with which appeared to be a deck of cards. The cards themselves merely held external stickers of three different breeds of manufactured static. He slipped three cards from his hand, and pasted the stickers to three of his fans. The very same fans slid across the floor as if they were loose change being kicked from one side to the next.

"Sick'em boys."

An ear splitting sound soon hit the museum. From the neatly placed stickers three malevolent, but small creatures spawned in. They were osbidian black in color, sharkheaded, with yellow eyes and over zealously sharpened teeth. About three feet in height overall, they could dive into the surface and appear under blood red sigil to attack the fragments.

 

[Argenteus]

The sound of screeching static. That sound was becoming synonymous with bad things to Courtney, and this time was no exception. She might have heard someone talking to her, but she wasn't paying clear enough attention, and it might have been to someone else. She quickly turned around, and saw a grotesque creature. It had a vicious pointed head and had a short, lean body with obvious muscles. Claws and razor teeth adorned it, and it's eyes gave off a yellow glow. They were shifting around menacingly.

"Keep back unless you have a weapon, this thing looks dangerous. Prepare for combat!"
She spoke loudly and with a tone of command at the others.

More quietly she spoke at the thing "What are you?" with a questioning tone and a hint of malice, not expecting a response.

"You down for a good time?" She heard herself say, with a hint of self mocking in seductive tones. It took a moment to realize that she didn't actually say this out loud, and she somehow knew it was a memory.

A second voice, male, responded with a chuckle. "I'd love one, but I'm afraid I'm here on other business. How do you feel about the government here?"

"Like just about any other streetwalker around these parts would." her voice replied, just about giving up the seduction attempt. There was no need to state that such a view of the government wouldn't be a good one.

"Have you heard of The shzclackmmmpopsizshshpop...popshzzzpopshpop..."

The the man's sentence was left unfinished, interrupted by the sound of static. The static arrived when you arrived, she thought to herself looking at the creature. does that mean you interrupted my memory?

Full of anger, interrupted when she was just starting to remember, she thought to herself: I need a weapon.

She grew increasingly conscious of the sticker planted under her underwear.

 

[Endless Warrior Sora]

"Everyone, get to the hotel."

Well DUH. That was the plan. These...things were standing in the way.


"Maybe so, but we can't just let these guys win, so are we fighting or running?"

The response got closer as Shiro looked in amazement at the brilliant pair of twin blades the girl summoned.

"Whoa....how did you..." He piqued, as the Static drew themselves closer. It was as if a grizzly bear had made its arms larger and circular, gave itself three claws and changed it's entire color scheme. It was mind bending to say the least. He couldn't just stand there and let the girl with the daggers fight by herself! He had to help! He had to be useful! In some way, shape or form!

Shiro broke into a run, and leaped forward giving his best right hook at the closest Static. He was met with a swat sending him backwards and a headache as the sound of Static grew louder.

"Gaaaahhhh!!" He shouted, holding his head.

"What do I do? What do I do? Ive gotta...I've gotta..." The back of his right hand began to burn. It was like someone was carving a picture onto the back of his hand with a laser. He looked at it as the outline of the spray can began to form.

"The...the sticker from earlier?" He muttered as a spray can materialized in his hand. Unprepared for the supernatural, the spray can fell to the floor as Shiro failed to catch it. Muttering to himself, he picked up the s[ray can and examined it.

"...Seriously?" He bemused. "A spray can? What am I supposed to do with this? Vandalize them to death?" He quipped. Taking an irritated deep breath, he once again attacked the same Static -shaking the can while running- this time stopping inches from it and pressing the nozzle on the top of can, which released a clear looking spray. The spray did absolutely nothing, but neutralize that part of the Static he sprayed. However, it regenerated and Shiro was quickly out of paint.

"Come ON." He groaned.

 

[Argenteus]

Courtney was startled as her request for a weapon was granted. She felt a buzzing sensation briefly on the sticker, and from there a sort of ecstatic energy pulsed up all the way to her right arm, where a blade was now present. The blade was a kukri, she knew, and it was of excellent craftsmanship, arabic. A man, Shiro, had joined the fight with no weapon. She was about to reprimand him for it, but he soon had a spray can in his hand like she had a kukri in hers. This seemed useless to her, but it was able to dissolve the creature before it regenerated.

"Nice. Now do you have any more spray left?." she said to the man.

Gripping her blade, she spun at one of the static and chopped at it's arm with precision. She gave a quick grunt as the arm fell to the ground and dissipated into a shower of static.

"Not immortal, huh? Hey, if you have your spray, now would be a good time to use it." he said, first to the creature, then to Shiro.

 

[Kazem]

Kaito stood there, eyes boring into a Static's. His body tensed as he watched the creatures crawl towards the group. Then Anna suddenly summoned daggers. Daggers. Two, from absolutely no where. And then there was Shiro's spray can, which also appeared quite suddenly. What he missed Anna doing, though, was caught when Shiro repeated it. Kaito's own sticker started to become noticeable tingling in his skin. Pressing down on the sticker, a white light like earlier formed around his hands with the tingling sensation with it. I get glowing hands? That can't be it. I need a sword, or a gun! Hell, even brass knuckles or a pipe would be nice.

Sighing and readying himself, he started to run towards the nearest Static, his left hand guarding and his right hand readying for a desperate straight. Closing his eyes, he waited for the hit to connect or his body to be beaten. He felt a solid wall hit his hand, but it was oddly cushioned. Opening his eyes, he saw the creature on the floor, shaking, its shoulder blurring away from it's figure. Did I do that? How did I do that? Are we going to have to beat a hallway into this crowd to get to the hotel? Man, This is going to be a very, very long day.

Kaito's eyes hardened, and his hands were up by his left shoulder and chest, body turned and feet light. A few steps forward brought him next to another, and a round-house punch let Kaito see what was happening. As his fist connected, the light from his hand seemed to spike and shake, faint waves flowing into the creature and blurring the area hit. The Static fell down like the other, twitching, and Kaito looked at his hand. He tried a throwing action, a slicing action, another punch, but nothing was happening. He tried snapping, and got a very loud one that had some oomph behind it before he figured it out.

Vibration? Is that what my sticker does? Another Static went down, its head blurred. I guess it's enough to disrupt whatever their bodies are made of. These things go down like fli-!


The first Static Kaito downed was back up and launched a smack that hit true on Kaito's back. The other Static was up by the time Kaito recovered and looked back. I guess I stand corrected. This time, I'll make sure you don't get back up! The light on Kaito's hands became slightly darker as he knocked one then the other onto the ground and layered punches onto them until their bodies dispersed. "Everyone alright? They aren't harmless, but I think we can take them!"

 

[Kingdomkeylight]

~Helping The Enemy?~

"Your weapon is a two phase sticker, concentrated the paint into a weapon form," A voice suddenly yelled at Shiro from afar just behind the group of teenagers was Ren with his unnatural blue hair, his out of time Victorian clothing, and yellow eyes that gazed calmly at Shiro. He just stared back at a probable surprised Shiro as another static made itself known by growling at Shiro.

"In this world everything is not what it seems, and everything has a use beyond what one would assume, just try again yet this time with feeling," Ren yelled out before walking away from he group towards the stairs that lead down to the first floor of the arcade leaving Shiro to either take his advice or become chow for the wolf like static creatures that slowly started to gain in number the longer the fragments stayed there. Though it wasn't Ren's job or purpose to help the fragments to survive or adjust to this world of static... it didn't hurt to give out friendly advice to those that were doomed to possible survive.... that's how she thought about it.... of course had Ren looked passed the helpless Shiro his eye's would have actually scanned his destinated target with the daggers. Ren would wait down stairs for the fragments to retreat or appear victorious. So far from what he could see before leaving this new batch of fragments were adjusting fast... really fast.... all most as fast as the fragments of the first game. As he headed for the door though in clear sight Ren's eyes came into contact with two Collectors he had never met before well in person... the one know as Blaster he reconized from a certain report file from given to him by R.E.M apparently this guy had ticked the master of them all of pretty bad.

"I see how disappointing... I was hoping to test the one with the spray can. I wont interrupt the more "official" workers though so... enjoy," Ren said to both Sync, and Blaster before openning the door, and walking past them. If the two were to turn around to say something it would be in vain for just as he had appeared Ren had easily disappeared from existance.
.....................................................................................

#And Thus The Team Is Formed#

"My name's Cheza. Nice to meet you, although the circumstances leave quite a bit to be desired."

"No arguement there thats for sure... names Jack.... I believe," he chuckled a bit in doubt as he folded his arms to hide the confusion in that sentence alone. Was that his name, thats what he had been identified as on the parking lot yet just because it was in writing where he had woke up.... didn't mean it was true. The girls body language clearly stated the girl was on edge with him which wasn't a bad thing, but questioning the only people around you at the moment would be a dangerous element for them all at this point.

"But the way this going, who says this guy isn't just messing with our minds?"

"Guy summoned a bunch of tentacles out of a tv.... if he wanted to end us he would have let that pyro guy done us in.... yet what he said.... his guys can't do their job.... I am assuming we have been forced out of the only safe haven we had from those other guys. With that said I guess don't trust everything that looks human," Jack chuckled as he let his arms drop to their respective side as he observed Cheza's reactions. For now it seemed even if they didn't feel comfortable with it they would need to trust each each other and work together.

"What do you two make of this whole mess?"

"Hm..... well all is not dark here looks like we got a team of three.... the more the merrier right," Jack asked with a smile at Cheza, and Samara as he stretched out his arms. After the small moment of tense thoughts Jacks whole perception on the thing had gone to a laid back attitude... interesting for someone in their situation no doubt.

"Well no doubt we have been targetted for some strange set of events, but for now.... I think we are going to have to play along if we want to find a oppertunity to get out of this very bizarre mess, any who I think its better we get out of this building first never tell what insane thing can happen in this place."
......................................................................................
! One Insane Action Desires Another !

"Ready to get this party started?"

"Well of course, I don't think i have ever heard you interested in a boy fragment though.... guess there is a first for everything," Rika chuckled darkly as it seemed a certain deity of luck anwsered Mirrors desires as it was overheard the boy saying his own name. Well what were the odds of that.... apparently pretty good. Without much warning Rika chuckled even louder then she really should have as she lightly touched her left hands sticker summoning her signature hook weapon.

"Well then you wanted Jack.... I'll just grab his attention then," the trio was currently on ground level and near a window so with the addition of another sticker on Rika's Left hip that she had no problem activating the chain to her weapon started to lengthen extremely fast. With a fast twirl, and violent throw the hook went flying shattering the window, and immediately catching the trio's attention as Jack with wide eyes in surprised reacted fast enough to push Cheza, and himself away from the projectile as it dug into the wall with ease. Falling on his back Jacks attention went straight to the shattered window were the weapon had come from. Getting up without much resistance he went straight to the window to immediately come into eye contact with two girls one around the trio's age and the other a little older.

"What the hell you trying to kill someone?"

"Ooohhhhh high their cutey lets get a closer SHALL WE," Rika tugged on the chain which Jack just realized was rubbing against his side. More in react to a strange animalistic sense of awarness Jack grabbed the chair that was right next to him, and used it as a sheild as it shattered under the unrealistic pressure that came from the returning hook... in fact it sent Jack shattering through what was left of the window, and out into the street where Rika, and Mirror seemed to be getting prepped for a interesting hello.

"Well that answered my question," Jack groaned a little as his body was laid out on the street as he got a complete view of his attackers.... wow talk about feminine fatale a day. Jack chuckled at the thought as he quickly pushed himself off the ground to face Mirror, and Rika.

"Well then maybe next time cutey miss snow has requested your attention, and lif3e," Rika said darkly as she ran at Jack before jumping over him, and landing into the Museum. Crap they had just been seperated no they would be fine they had a numbers advantage... they'll be fine. Jack realizing this wasn't exactly the time to worry about others turned to this "snow" girl and oddily found himself raisng his hands in a boxers fighting stance.... did he box? Apparently so.............. i feel comfortable in this position Jack though to himself as he gave his full attention to his opponent.

"Don't mean to be rude, but mind telling me what this is all about?"
...........................................................................................................

"Well high there," Rika said to both the girls in the room she had just catapulted herself into as she spun her hook in her hand expertly. At first glance it looked like the two girls were readying to follow after the boy until she had jumped in their way.

"Oh dont be worrying about him he's already dead in Mirros hands, besides you have me to play with I hope you don't break easily with that pretty face," Rika said with a very distrubing smile as she closed the distance between herself and Cheza Immediately spinning her chain around the womans left hand trapping her to not be able to get that far away from her. With a sudden shove of a open palm Rikas right hand dug into Cheza's stomach as she uplifted her and slammed her into the wall greating a nice size CRACK ON IMPACT.

"OH goodie.... your sturdier then you look.... how about you," Rika said with a wild look directed at Samara.

 

[Endless Warrior Sora]

[OOC: The image is just an idea of how the entrance looks. Just for a visual reference it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like this. The other image is a poorly drawn (by me) idea of how the Graffiti Sword looks like. It's very rough, uncolored, not darkened yet, and badly drawn. So please use your imaginations and imagine it to look as awesome as it really is ]

Of all other things. He was just raggin fragign bored. Other Collectors had begun to file into the Museum and Silver was quite bored of throwing explosives at the building. Actually, he had gotten bored of that quite some time ago. In one leap, Silver ejected himself from the roof he was on, heading toward the ground at a very fast velocity. Landing in a not-so-graceful manner, the Collector's feet created a small crater as he created cracks in the ground beneath him. Walking into the entrance of the building he spotted Rien and skipped (yes, skipped) to his co-worker.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeya buddy. Whatcha dooooin? Messin with Fragments? Havin fun? Bein coooooooool? Not as cool as me of course, but y'know with some real training, refining, excercise, and milkshakes, I think you could really do it. You could pull it off." Silver rambled, a large grin plastered on his face. "Well, here we are at the entrance...I just saw Rika and Mirror go off to greet the little squirts over at the other side of this wonderful wonderful piece of building. Ahhh...we are so effic3n+ aren't we?" He said, before leaning in, awkwardly close to Rien.

"Want some help?" He whispered. He didn't bother to wait for an answer. He wouldn't be stopped now. Nor would anyone really say anything to make him change his mind. Silver sat on the floor and removed his shoes, examining the bottoms of them.

"Ah!" He exhaled in pride. With his nail, he dug out a couple of pebbles from his shoes and held them in his hand. Standing, he forced his shoes back on without using his hands and waved his hand over his closed fist with the pebbles in them. "Aaaaannd....ta-da!" He opened his hand as three small red static appearing balls appeared in his hands. Grabbing one of Rien's Static, his face became uncharacteristically serious. The explosive in his right hand floated and hovered in front of the Static. Where it's chest cavity would be, opened up and the small ball floated inside as the cavity closed once more. The Static's chest began glowing a faint red, and a beating could be seen much like a heart. Silver repeated this process twice before returning to Rien, coupled with a ridiculous grin.

"THERE! BythewaythosethingsintherearentheartsbabyohnonononononotheyremuuuuuuuchmoreFUN!" He said to Rien, exaggerated as ever. "In other case...if your Static are ever ever ever never destroyed....POOF!" He shouted with an excited smile at Rien, raising his arms in the air and waiting for some kind of overwhelming applause or appreciation for his work. His face fell seconds after however. "Waitaminut. I don't think that was the right sound effect. Is it poof? Shazam? Ta-da? No no no...Ah! Got it! Okay let me do that again. In other case...if your Static are ever ever ever never destroyed....BOOM!" He repeated his previous action and then smiled even wider.

"Yeah...Got it right that time..."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Everyone alright? They aren't harmless, but I think we can take them!"

Kaito had just...somehow destroyed two of the weird creatures that were attacking them. His hands like...glowed and he snapped and destroyed them. It was...awesome. And yet...unreal. It seemed...impossible. Yet here he was, and the other girl using swords...how old were they? Was this legal? If only he could get weapons as cool as theirs.

"Ngh...I think I'm fine..just have the most massive headache in the world...like...I feel like my brain is gonna split open.." Shiro mumbled, before looking at his spray can. "Some weapon you are." He quipped with a grin.

"Your weapon is a two phase sticker, concentrate the paint into a weapon form."Called a voice from behind the group. Shiro scrambled to look behind him, making sure he kept his cap adjusted on his head looking at the figure with his periwinkle colored eyes. It was some guy with blue hair, and really...bizarre looking clothing. It definitely wasn't like the clothing he and the others were wearing. He met the figure's eyes, who were staring directly at him with the calmest expression he's ever seen. It was almost unnerving. The stagnant screeching of stagnant broke the trance as it became louder, signifying the teenager that it was getting closer. He quickly tried to press the nozzle again, but to no avail.

"In this world everything is not what it seems, and everything has a use beyond what one would assume, just try again yet this time with feeling,"

Aw crap, well....here goes!" He thought.


"AAAAAHHH!" Shiro turned on his heels, held the can and spinning. As if the can had broke from the bottom, a flourish of colors emerged from the can and formed a blade. The blade looked very complex in nature and stemmed solely from his imagination. He quickly slashed the creature and it instantly dissipated into small black and white specks.

Opening his eyes, Shiro realized that he was unharmed, and held a brilliant blade in his hands. It looked...trippy. Surreal. The tip of the blade was crimson red and looked like paint dripping onto the actual blade, which took a silver color. But even that looked like it was made out of paint, as well as the golden, feiry like pattern that was near the hilt of the blade. There were three arrows in total. An arrow shaped hole at the top, and two light blue ones, on the sides of the can. Shiro felt as if he could change the colors of the blade with just a thought. Now that was more like it. He turned to thank the man, who had helped him, but the was gone. No time for that now anyway. He had to fend off these annoying creatures and get rid of that horrid sound. Brandishing the blade, he turned to the horde of creatures.

"Okay. Let's try this again!" He said with a grin.

 

[Mistearea]

Kael watches as the rest of the group he was sent there with somehow manages to bring out weapons evidently through the stickers that they all found. Taking this into account he just smiles as he lets his fingers slide over where he put his own sticker. It's at that moment that he feels something slide into his grip and push his fingers out just enough to form something that his body will forever know of. But the only problem is that his brain does not know of what is being formed until the blade takes shape and reflects a small amount of light off at him. He looks at the combat knife and thinks about how some of the others got something a bit more useful, and yet he knows that he can do a massive amount of damage with just this short blade.

"Alright, let's see if I can do this like last time."

In one motion he spins the weapon to be held in a reversed position just as one of the creatures appears behind him. But he doesn't move from that spot except to sink the blade into the throat of the creature and freezing it in place. He then lets his body take over and use the point of contact with his movement of leaping over the creature to sling it forward and into another creature that had appeared. Kael just closes his eyes though and lets his mind go blank as he wills his body to move on its own. He allows himself to feel how his body moves only to realize that he is crouching on the ground before springing upwards and shifting his center of gravity to propel him further than he normally would in a single back flip.

When he lands he feels that he lands on something softer and more uneven than the ground while thrusting his knife forward. With only minimal resistance he hears the pained moans of one of the Statics as he opens his eyes and sees that he has managed to sever the head completely off the creature thanks to the floor and the power from his own weight. But when he finally looks to where he's facing he freezes as his face turns bright red and he realizes that he's inches from the face of the girl that ended up coming with the little group of guys. Not good.

 

[Ðari]

Before things escalated any further, before Silver could do any modifications, Rien had other plans. Grappling him briefly into a headlock, and lightly pulling on his neck. "You can be such a pain shhhhhh I'm trying to distract them. Besides, YOU KNOW I DON'T DO any REAL work." he said as low as he possibly could before releasing Silver from his headlock.

Though when Silver does, boy does he, quickly manufacturing new static from scratch. Slight modification was actually made to Rien's own shark type he'd crafted using his fan sticker and brief imprint of Rien's persona. He gave him the most passive-aggressive scowl he could muster, before butting several serrated fan blades from his body, literally taking the image of a spiked hedgehog standing on two legs.

"Wait. I can top that dude, look closely."

Rien pulled out his deck of cards, but infact he'd reduced the size of his personal stick into multiple cards and used it as an instant conduit to summon and create new static. Naturally he could increase and reduce the size of the cards if he so chose to. As one was blank, he lifted it from his deck showcasing it to Silver as blank. His open hand went across it writing simple Kanji for "Fire" or "Hoen". It ignited from the card, and joined the others as a strange kitsune or fox-like animal static that emulated the same noise from before.

"Get this though. They detonate when they aren't defeated in one-hundred and twenty seconds, because I was too lazy to make them stable, so they dispose of themselves." he said to Silver.

They all seemed gathered, huddled around each other. Rien was constantly watching them, then looking up at the glass from the sky light. It was then it hit him, force them to scramble without fail from hostility ushered in above their heads. "How's this for creative Silver." he said, holding his hand up and shooting a three-bladed fan shaped like a revolving arrow to crush the sky light above the fragments. The glass burst into fragmented (pun intended) death and fell with intense speed, and weight, carrying the intention to harm the fragments in the museum.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

Vandiken often despised each and every little thing that their boss often did. It was like his power over them just got used for no reason other than to show he was in fact in complete control. His most recent show of this by removing the fragmented from his barrier was proof of that. "Tch what an asshole, I mean come on!!!" Van's anger had risen quite a bit after this incident but his long stroll over to the arcade had given him enough time to cool down and recompose his thoughts.

The group of fragments that were in the arcade were rather... inefficient at using even the small powers that might have helped them. Sure it was true that the static were dangerous but compared to what the collectors could do; it was nothing special at all. "These idiots, how they managed to last this long is beyond me."

Rather than continue to stand around in the shadows, the collector removed his infrared guise. He'd been invisible to all the fragments in the room up until right then and yet his appearance probably would still go unnoticed. What was the point of just letting these new players not get a taste of the power he as a collector had within??

Absolutely none at all...at least that was how Vandiken felt about it. "You all seem to be struggling a bit, here let me help you."

For a second Van disappeared again, pretty much blurring out of focus just as he had appeared before. He reappeared just as fast and nothing seemed to be different, other than that every single static exploded in a red flash of light. It all happened at the same time and a lingering tingle force was still noticeable in the room.

"Good. Now that those pesky creatures are out of the way, we can play. For the time being, I'm the boss battle of this place." Immediately Van cocked his head to the right and a maniacal grin spread across his face. To the fragments this exposure of his pearly whites was probably more than creepy. His face paint added a disturbing feature to Van's face. "You'll find that at this point escape has become completely impossible." Van shrugged and pointed to the exits. "As you can clearly see...all of the exits are blocked off." A dull gleam ran along the edges of each door. It was the same kind of barrier some of the fragments had already seen Vandiken use before.

A life bar appeared over Vandiken's head, his own reaction to this was just a chuckle. "We do have to play fair right?? All bosses have life bars. You've all played video games before, so no need for an explanation there." Vandiken raised both hands and both of them produced a flare of red light that was intensely bright. The glow ceased but two large red crystal orbs remained. "That's much better." As Vandiken started to walk forward the orbs also gained life bars and began to orbit their master. Van gained speed and started running toward those closest to him, a teen interestingly close to another female fragment.

"Ahahahahaha!!!" Van twisted around and kicked outward at the boy, and thrust his foot into the back of the kid. He vaulted backward from the kick and waited for the kid to crash into the girl, still cackling the entire time.

 

[Argenteus]

With an agility she didn't know she had, Courtney dove backward out of the way of the man's kick. In a sort of retaliation, she leaped upward and arced her kukri downward at one of the orbs with a rather unladylike grunt.

"You've got hell to pay for your monster costing me a memory." she growled at him.

Meanwhile, as her blade struck true on the orb, she aimed a kick at the chin of the man and braced her body to dive backward in case of attack.

How am I so agile? Could this be a hint at who I was before I lost my memory? I had to be in a profession requiring lots of agility. she thought to herself.

Health bars floated above the man's head and the orbs, a very odd sight. She assumed upon successfully landing a hit upon one of the targets it would decrease, and when it was empty the target would die. Just like a video game, but not too much like real life.

A thought occurred to her: Some of the others weapons are a bit more... exceptional than mine. What if mine has a special ability besides it's form?

This seemed an odd conclusion to make just by others having cool weapons, but it had the sound of truth to it.

 

[Kazem]

Kaito landed another strike to a static's head, which instantly made its entire figure blur, then disappear. I think I'm sorta getting used to this. I think we might just survive this sick game. Unfortunately, Kaito thought too soon, as his punch missed the static posed to attack him, the static disappearing in a flash of red light and his punch putting a decent dent in a game behind the static, Pac-man's last dying beeps adding a bit of irony to the event as the screen blacked out. Red light? Like the barrier? Why not blue this time, or white? Some variety would be nice. And I bet if I turn arou- yep. Red. Orbs though. Two of them, with health bars, floating around a dude with a health bar as well.

Kaito raised his hands, mind whirling, eyes glancing at the doorways that were blocked with the same red barrier as before. Mr. Red kicked a new teen Kaito hadn't quite noticed before, and in turn was kicked at by said teen. Video games, boss battles...come on, there has to be something to help. Yes, there! A party, close range, mid range and long range. I think I may be the only one to fit into long range with my "flying punches". Let's see... wait, didn't that girl say something about memories? Is... is he one of the people who took them? But he just killed all of the creatures...why did he help us? Ugh, I'm getting a migraine with all of this memory loss and creatures and the memories I do have, repeating again and again..

Pac-man's death played over and over, tormenting Kaito's mind. His brow furrowed as his head pounded and the glow on his hands turned into a light gray. He open and clenched his right hand, building up power as the others reacted to Red's appearance and attacks. He lashed out with a punch, launching the blast of force at a crystal orb and heard a nice ring when the fast vibration struck true, taking a bit out of the orb's health. Rolling behind the nearest arcade game, Kaito started building up vibration in his right hand for a second assault on the same orb, using the health bar to see the difference in distance attacks and direct punches. Either way, my strikes should be like critical hits on the orbs, like singers breaking glass with their voice.

Coming up from his shelter and rushing the orb, he had an uppercut readied and a prime piece of machinery already chosen as his next shield from whatever may come back from the orb or Red in retaliation. This seems a bit too easy, especially since he was able to kill all of those static at the same time. Is he just playing around with us? Screwing with us? Amusing himself with a test of our powers? I don't like the way he smiles, and I sure don't like the fact he's probably letting us play on "very easy" right now. I also don't like the unhealthy amount I'm talking to myself.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

"Heh, not bad." Vandiken crooked his head back downward after the girl kicked him in the chin, nonchalantly watching as one of the other fragments began to exude multiple attacks on the Alpha Orb. Each time he attacked it a bit of health was removed and each time the health decreased the glow of the orb got brighter. Vandiken hadn't really had much of a reaction to any of this.

Van turned to the girl and grinned at her wickedly before pointing at her, his tone had gotten much darker and less flamboyant than it was previously. Above his head the life bar changed from the color of red and then vanished. "I'm going to have hell to pay?? I'm certainly amused that you think so, normally the players of the game are so cliche."

COUNTER ATTACK TARGET

The health bar reappeared and Van dashed at Courtney. Reaching her in less than a second made sense and upon getting into her vicinity Vandiken snickered. "Red Desecration." His foot came out and the Beta Orb smashed in toward Courtney's left side while at the same time Van's knee rocketed forward to connect with her midsection. The rapid striking combination assault continued, as she moved to react he dropped down low and used his right leg to perform a sweeping kick. Vandiken had immense skill as a martial artist as to where he simultaneously kicked upward directly into a somersault attack.

When Van landed his hand was already pointed out. A thick lump of red energy exploded forth from the center of the collector's palm. Energy and radiated matter swirled around the mass as it flared into shape. Courtney might have thought her reflexes were great but she'd find the the short time in which the red mass violently detonated wasn't in her favor. The explosion easily could have hit other members of the group whom were nearby.

Sooner than later they all would notice the life bars over their heads. "It is always best to try and fully take a situation and one's surroundings into consideration before proceeding without caution. You know that right??"

 

[Argenteus]

This was it. Courtney was lying on the ground, beaten by one who was entirely too fast. Could it really be that she would end this early? Was there really no point in fighting. The explosion came...

No.

Acting on instinct, Courtney gripped the Kukri and found herself about 14 feet to the left, well outside the range of the explosion.

I don't know how I did that, but:
1. The kukri had something to do with it.
2. I doubt I can do it again at will.
3. Is teleportation the only ability?


She was hurt, but not dead just yet. With difficulty, she picked herself up off the ground. She felt the situation was hopeless, but no need to give up just yet. She braced the Kukri in her hand.

 

[Endless Warrior Sora]

"You all seem to be struggling a bit, here let me help you."

Shiro took a wild swing at a Static, slashing it into two as it dissipated into specks of black and white. Turning where he thought the voice came from, it turned out there was actually nothing there. Or so it seemed. As Shiro turned back around, a figure stood before the group and had decimated the horde of Static that was converging upon them.
"Whoa..." He uttered, standing upright. He found that he should probably thank the figure for his help. There sure were a lot of helpful people today. Maybe the group just looked pitiful or something?
"Good. Now that those pesky creatures are out of the way, we can play. For the time being, I'm the boss battle of this place. You'll find that at this point escape has become completely impossible. As you can clearly see...all of the exits are blocked off."

The man was right. The Arcade room's doors had been guarded by that same red barrier that the group had encountered at the parking lot. Shiro adjusted his weight as he tightened his grip on the Graffiti Sword with his band aid covered fingers. It looked like he wouldn't be thanking this guy after all. In fact it appeared as though he was about to fight this man. Just who was he? What did he want with them? Why did he kill all the Static? And why was the boss of a video game arcade following them around? Was this some kind of marketing strategy?

As suddenly as the man had appeared a white box with a red bar in it appeared over his head, much to Shiro's amazement and confusion.

. "We do have to play fair right?? All bosses have life bars. You've all played video games before, so no need for an explanation there."


He has? Shiro entertained the idea, and definitely didn't put it past him. Two Orbs with health bars of their own began to orbit their summoner as the man began his attack against Kael, and another girl he remembered from the parking lot.

"Hey, leave them alone!" Shiro shouted as he ran toward the man and his left side was swiftly met with an attack from Beta Orb, sending him into the side of an arcade station. His vision blurred, he could make out another figure attacking Beta Orb and Kaito busy at work with Alpha Orb. A small explosion detonated, with Shiro being tossed too far away to be affected. Finding his disoriented way to his feet, Shiro realized Courtney had taken some serious blows from the crazy guy and noted that a health bar displayed itself above her as well. And a good portion of it was depleted. Not good. Looking above his own head he discovered he himself had a life bar as well and some of it had been chipped away too. He didn't want to know what would happen if it were to deplete.

"It is always best to try and fully take a situation and one's surroundings into consideration before proceeding without caution. You know that right??"

He had to think. And quickly. It was a good thing the Graffiti Sword was light. It seemed to be a one handed blade, where the spray can acted as the "handle". He ran toward Courtney and slid in front of her holding the blade out with both hands (quite amateur-like) in front of the man.

"Stay behind me. I have more life than you." He looked back at Courtney and his periwinkle eyes looked up as his head tilt followed, a notion to the life bar above his head. He quickly looked back at the maniacal man.

"Who the hell are you? What do you want from us?" He inquired. His heart was racing. He didn't remember danger like this. He's never used a sword before, nor has he ever used one of this...unique shape. He didn't remember getting into any fights....had he? This adrenaline felt familiar. Courtney's life bar was looking pretty bad. In fact....everything was looking pretty bad right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You can be such a pain shhhhhh I'm trying to distract them. Besides, YOU KNOW I DON'T DO any REAL work."

Silver's arms flailed about before the headlock was released. Who knew such a shrimp could be so strong? Or maybe he was weak? Or maybe...maybeeeeeeeeeee. He forgot.

"Wait. I can top that dude, look closely."

Silver spun around and sat crosslegged on the floor, watching his cohort take out a deck of cards. Ahhhh how it was to be able to summon Static. A luxury he no longer had, but it was always fun watching the newbies do it.

"Get this though. They detonate when they aren't defeated in one-hundred and twenty seconds, because I was too lazy to make them stable, so they dispose of themselves.How's this for creative Silver."

His coworker had just shattered all of the glass above the Museum, sending it showering upon any Fragmented unfortunate enough to be inside the Museum. Silver clapped loudly and jumped up and danced around like a four year old watching magic tricks for the first time.

"Ohhhh good show my man, gooooood show! I think you do wayyyyy more work than you give yourself credit for." He said, sticking a pinky finger in his ear and scratching.

"So like...when do we get to the fun stuff? Yknow....screaming, hollering, cuttingdancingbakingcakesplayingvideogameswatchingmoviesandeatingpopcornandtalkingaboutgirlswhilesavingtheworldbeforebedtime?" And maybe painting each other's nails, is it? If we have time of course. Or...yknow..we can just go get some memories."

 

[Argenteus]

Courtney gave a cough as she stood up. A boy had come to help her, protect her. "Thank you. Your name is... Shiro, right? I think I have a way to get us all out of here, if I can figure out how to do it again. That explosion would have killed me, but all of a sudden I was way away from it. I'm certain this knife here did it, and if I can do it again, I can get us past the red barrier and safely away." she said with a bit of weakness. The man who had tried to kill her was strong, and she knew they didn't stand a chance if he really wanted to end them.

Courtney tried to figure out how she had done it. She had tightened her grip on the Kukri, but doing that again had no effect. She remembered that the Kukri hadn't even existed until she needed a weapon, and had seemingly flowed from the sticker. So the sticker had to have something to do with this. But try as she might, she couldn't even conceptualize how teleportation was even possible with just a Kukri, let alone how to activate said ability.

One thing was certain: this guy meant business, and if she couldn't get them all out of here they may very well die.

"Do you feel like you've used a sword before Shiro? Or better still, have a memory of it?" she spoke to him quietly.

She hoped the answer was in the affirmative, she needed to be bought some time.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

Van had become disheartened by his wrong assumption that this group of players would be a much better time than the last batch. The girl Courtney had not been able to do much it seemed. Where before she had been able to leap backward she was unable to defend a single of Vandiken's blows. If the players were going to lose their nerve that fast Van would lose interest completely.

One of the fragments thought he'd play hero. Van actually couldn't tell until the kid started yelling. He asked a duo of questions directed at Vandiken whom chortled at such inquiries. "Oh?? Who am I...that's easy." Vandiken pointed to himself, "I'm Van. The next REM." Before continuing on to answer the next question that he'd been asked hid grin god even wider than before. "I want your memories, each and every one of them that I can take. By the looks of it so far I won't have much of a problem taking them from you either."

The collector then frowned at the group as Courtney got to her feet. Apparently her sticker gave her a weapon with an interesting ability. Some things were harder to notice but not one like hers. She had randomly de-materialized and re-materialized away from the explosive nature of the red luminous energy that Vandiken had produced. She had obviously used the weapon to create a localized wormhole and moved or warped space in some way or other. Vandiken's concerns about such a weapon weren't high on his scale of priorities.

He could tell that the terror the this situation had built up quickly in Courtney and at least the mind of the one whom had stepped up to defend her. Facial expressions often explained a lot about how people were feeling or what they planned to do. From the position that Van was in he saw desperation. Only five minutes or less of being in Vandiken's presence and already they were whispering back and forth to one another.

"Pathetic. I can see that Courtney is obviously the one in the group with the classic low defense. Only five blows and you're nearly broken. And now you plot to run away?? If its that serious maybe I should just cut our game short."