The Carnival

[Piper Juunanagou]

As Piper watched Kaden walk off to find whomever he’d been searching for, she couldn’t help but feel as if she’d made a terrible mistake in letting the man leave. After all, a shockingly large part of her had desperately hoped that the courier wouldn’t leave at the end of the ride. Nevertheless, Piper had mastered her poker face many, many years ago, and thus, she managed to stand there with there with a fake smile on her visage as Kaden vanished around a bend down the pathway.

You are a blithering idiot, Piper. You had a perfect shot, and you just blew it.

Unable to offer a witty rebuttal to her snide, self-deprecating thoughts, Piper let out a heavy sigh as her strength ebbed away and her façade of joy gave way to the sadness welling beneath it. Frowning heavily, the woman diverted her eyes from where Kaden had left, and in doing so, she found herself staring at a large, colorfully decorated stand position just a few paces down the cobblestone walkway. Figuring that anything was a healthier alternative to standing around cursing herself out, Piper trudged down the path and dipped under the two velvet ropes that would have served as a queue in the event that there was suddenly a surge in patrons.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Piper mumbled beneath her breath as she looked up at the convenience stand. The wooden frame that served as the store’s façade was decorated with poorly painted facsimiles of Pikachu. The border of the wooden storefront was dotted with dramatic lightening bolts and several bizarre, foreign characters that Piper had never seen before.

“Welcome, would you care to purchase a Pikachu plush for 5 monies?” The robot inside the relatively small stand inquired as Piper advanced toward his store. Looking into the wooden store, the woman noted that there were several plush recreations of the vengeful rodent who had been converted into a car. Unlike the actual Pikachu, the stuffed toys all had giant smiles and cute, innocent eyes.

“Sure, why not,” the blond responded, figuring she had more than enough monies to spare after managing to edge out the rest of the competition in the previous round.

“I’m sorry,” the robot replied. “You have no monies to spend.”

“What? That’s ridiculous,” Piper shot back as she popped her pager off her belt and glanced down at the screen. Just as the robot had informed her, she had a big whooping zero before the word monies. “Damn it,” the soldier rasped as she clipped the tiny device back onto her belt. If this had been any other situation, she would have simply swallowed her pride and carried on with her business. Unfortunately, the fact that Piper had been kidnapped and trapped in a carnival had served to unhinge a great deal of her inhibitions.

“I have a new form of currency that I’d like to introduce,” Piper said as she lifted her gauntleted hand. With a sparkling hiss, rivulets of energy began to coalesce in front of the woman’s extended arm.

“What currency is that?” The robot inquired, seemingly oblivious to the orb of red energy coalescing just a few inches away from his face.

“I think you’re going to love it, because…” Piper whispered as the energy ball shot forward. The concentration of ki erupted through the robot’s polished, immobile teeth and then promptly exploded. The interior of the stand was subsequently littered with twisted, charred pieces of shrapnel, and then, without a processor to keep its appendages responsive, the robot collapsed into a lifeless heap.

“…Because I know I will,” Piper finished her remark as she leaned over the two planks of wood that constituted the counter of the stand. Reaching up, she yanked one of the plush Pikachus down from the ceiling. With a victorious smile, the woman tucked the three-foot toy under her arm and turned her back to the broken robot. Glancing to her left, the woman noticed a black cat scamper between two nearby tents. Chuckling at the fact that Gamer had coded animals into Kill Town, Piper dipped under one of the velvet queue ropes. When she popped back up on the adjacent side, she caught some movement in the corner of her eye and looked over to see an almost identical cat scamper between the two exact tents.

Wow, that’s some really weird—

“Thank you for your patronage!” The robotic voice from behind the woman startled her enough to nearly cause her to jump out of her skin. Turning sharply, Piper noticed that the machine she’d blown up a few beats earlier was standing and waving at her as if she hadn’t just blown his head apart. Even more bizarre, the empty spot from which she had grabbed her Pikachu had been replaced by another plush toy.

…Déjà vu. The woman finished her thought from earlier as she looked down at her stolen Pikachu. I hate this place. She thought as she looked into the lifeless plastic eyes of the plush toy.

Despite the fact that it was a poor replication, the woman couldn’t help but smirk at the silly, oversized rodent. Even if he was nothing more than a lot of eloquent programming, the actual Pikachu—for all his very violent and deranged ideas—had been a remarkable soldier. And in Piper’s mind, the best way to honor a fallen soldier was to send him plenty of company, and the blonde couldn’t think of any better pal to send to the hereafter than Gamer.

Looking up away from the inanimate toy, Piper noticed a large black building jutting up from the skyline. Apparently, the woman had failed to notice the tall structure whilst meandering around Kill Town. Unlike the vibrant big tops and the neon lights that adorned each and every single water and thrill ride, the large building was relatively inert. Piper could see that it was mainly windows, and the majority of them seemed to be either tinted or sporting rather thick curtains.

Anything’s better than wandering around aimlessly waiting for opportunity to fall into your lap.

And just like that, Piper vanished in a swirl of blues and whites. An instant later, the soldier rematerialized on the roof of the oversized structure. Although she still wasn’t sure where she was, it was obvious she wasn’t close to the amusement park or the adjacent midway. Was this perhaps part of the shopping district?

Or maybe this is some sort of administrative building… Even though the thought was far too optimistic to hold any sort of truth, it succeeded nonetheless in imploring the woman to jog over to the nearby roof access door and bust it down with a swift, sturdy kick. As the door swung inward—its midsection bowed by the impact—Piper couldn’t help but grin. Maybe this was what she needed to keep her mind from dwelling on all the unsettling things that had happened in the last several hours. In the event of a worst-case scenario, at least the senseless destruction would mean a little more busy work for the man-child trying to play God.

With a grin on her face, Piper descended the metal staircase and busted through the steel door at the bottom of the very first landing. The hallway door let out a violent screech as it was ripped off its hinges by the excessive force the woman put behind her boot. Unfortunately, the soldier felt little remorse as she waltzed over the twisted steel corpse and onto the drab carpeting that lined the dimly-lit corridor.

So where am I? With that question still lingering in her head, Piper took a few steps to her left before she ran across a small metal sign mounted on the off-white wall. ‘Kill Town Hotel – Top Floor’ … Son of a bitch, this is just some stupid hotel. With a groan, Piper smacked her palm against the sign, prompting it to bend inward with enough force to splinter the plaster of the wall behind it.

[Belle Hibiki]

The weight of the bike disappeared from beneath her, and a moment later, Belle's entire world was consumed by darkness as she fell. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the inky blackness was replaced by the bright lights of the carnival, warming against her face and skin.

And she was still a girl.

Belle let out a short, violent "Shit!" and grabbed herself to make sure. Although they were heavily strapped down - uncomfortably so, - the ... growths ... were still there. Now that she came to think of it, Wess had never promised that she would be able to reverse her condition once she had done as the robot had asked.

The smell of popcorn teased her nose as she lowered her hands. Her belly rumbled greedily - she had not eaten in quite a while. "Serves me right for trusting someone," she grumbled. There was a trashcan nearby that was vaguely reminiscent of the ones the monster truck had repeatedly pancaked. Belle kicked it over, spilling paper wrapping across the simulated dirt. The release felt good, and she started towards the smell of food with a lighter scowl than before, the burning anger starting to fade.

Of course she had trusted him - that was her way - but even if she hadn't, she still would have helped him. It wasn't in Belle's nature to turn her back on someone who needed help, no matter how she felt about them personally. Most of her fights had ended with her showing mercy to her opponents, even if doing so threatened her life. To her, there was nothing great about killing. Often, victory was enough.

Master Akiha sometimes said she was a ridiculous idealist. Belle didn't know what that meant, but it sounded like something someone had to decide on - to think about. Belle didn't think; she acted. On gut, on instinct, and on heart. Those were the things that Belle counted on, the things that she trusted above all else.

And where had it gotten her?

The tents opened up into a small clearing filled with picnic tables. Belle made her way to one of the nearby stands and ordered a 'ham buhrgair,' a city delicacy that Sayana had introduced her to, and went to sit at one of the unoccupied benches. There were a handfull of people scattered around the others, talking in low tones or else minding their own business. Off in a far corner, a young man and woman were pressed together, their lips locked in a kiss.

Belle had to cover her mouth to keep the gagging to herself. The very idea of kissing a girl was so revolting that she almost lost her appetite on the spot. It was funny, though; the experience had not been what Belle had expected. Menstu Ration had not yet made an appearance, and she had been able to do almost everything she had done before. She was a little more awkward with the extra weight on the front of her chest, to be sure, but nothing crippling. And more importantly: no witchery.

Maybe Menstu Ration wouldn't be able to do anything to her because this was all a simulation? The thought was comforting, especially since she knew that her current form wasn't real. After the game was over, if she understood things right, she would be dumped back into her proper body. However, that knowledge didn't make her current situation any more distracting - or unnerving.

The couple was still going at it. "Could you do that somewhere else?" Belle demanded loudly as a particularly loud smack reached her ears. The couple looked up, then at each other, then giggled as they headed off together. The laughter was not kind, and they glanced several times in Belle's direction before vanishing.

Several of the other patrons had paused in what they were doing to look at her. Some looked annoyed, while others carried what could be called a veiled, passing interest. "What?" Belle demanded gruffly. "They were being loud!"

The customers returned to their meals. Some rolled their eyes before doing so, and Belle had to wonder just what it was about what she had done that had been unusual. It was almost like it didn't bother everyone else - that a boy and a girl kissing in public was perfectly natural and nothing to be afraid of. Belle had always known that her view on women differed from others - Kaden associated with more of them, it seemed, than men - but she had always assumed that a fear of intimacy with them was natural.

Could it be that she was the odd one?

She shook her head.

No; there was nothing normal about women. They were too different. Too mysterious. It was impossible to know what was going on inside their heads or what they were planning. They couldn't be trusted. When you did, the only thing they could do was betray you and let you down. She knew it; she had seen it.

And yet here she was, a girl who thought nothing of extending a hand to help another person in need, the same as she had always been, and always would be. Could it be true that she had been wrong all this time? Could it really be that they weren't all that different?

Belle felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, tensing as if something enormous were rising up behind her. Her half-eaten hamburger stared up at her from the plate, apparently choosing not to offer up a suggestion either way.

She slapped her hands down on the table and stood up, meal forgotten. Bullshit, she thought; it was a stinking lie. The only reason she wasn't having trouble was because she was trying to act like a boy. If she acted naturally, she'd probably start acting like Sayana, or some kind of scarlet woman, or a hangar - that's what Belle thought they were called.

Her stomach was still growling, but Belle didn't care. Stepping away from the tables, she made her way towards the tents. She was just about to round a corner when she abruptly stopped, a tingle at the back of her mind, and a second later a boy rounded the corner ahead.

He had short, black hair that hung down in messy locks, with onyx eyes that seemed perpetually bemused. Belle had a fleeting memory of someone similar being in Central City, but she couldn't place him exactly.

Juno smiled at her. "Hello," the young man said amiably, "something wrong, miss?"

In truth, Juno hadn't really done anything wrong. Like so many that had run afoul of Belle's temper, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Belle knew that he didn't mean it, and knew that he had no way of knowing who Belle really was, but at that moment she didn't care. Instead of answering him, Belle hauled back her fist and drove it as hard as she could into the other half-saiyan's face.

Juno's feet shot out from under him as the force of the blow lifted him off his feet. The ex-fortune teller hit the ground on his back, wheezing and staring up at Belle in shock.

Belle put her bare foot on his chest. "I'm not a miss," she spat out, leaning over his prone figure and glaring holes into his eyes. "You got that?! Say something like that again, and I'll do more than pop you in the nose! I'll beat the shit out of you! I'm not a girl!!!"

[Victoria]

She held the large furry stuffed animal in her arms and walked through the carnival. Despite getting more than a few looks, she felt happy. Victoria wandered the grounds with no purpose, just to keep going. She didn’t want to stop, she didn’t want to think. She absorbed the lights, and the sounds, burying her senses in the world that Gamer had built for them. She knew that if she let go of this moment of elation she would fall into a depression, question her future in this game, and lose faith in her own abilities.

Vicky thought about Orion then, she did not know the Saiyan very well, but from what she did know she liked. He was a tough soldier, befallen by fate. She couldn’t image being in his shoes. He had no idea how important his words had been to her. She would not forget his help, even if he had been oblivious to the aid. Death was not the end, it was just the beginning.

She passed the large ferries wheel and continued onward, turning slightly to look up at the people. She would never admit it, but she secretly hoped to run into the older man again. She had not forgotten about Alura, the lizard princess either, but she had disappeared. Could she be…? Victoria bit on her bottom lip and turned around the nearest attraction. She didn’t want to think about her friends, not if they were gone. The only glimmer of hope would be that they were in a better place, and not in this hell.

Her stormy face softened, and she shook her head slightly. Her lips shifted into a smile, and she closed her eyes. I won FarmVille, how about that? She hugged the sheep, and ran smack-dab right into another carnival attendee.

The hunter nearly toppled over from the impact, but the blonde grabbed her and they remained standing supporting each other. Victoria only found the whole ordeal awkward. Isn’t she the cranky girl from the ship? Vic quickly let go and grabbed her sheep. The girl uttered an apology and recognized Victoria, even knew her name.

“I, um, seem to have forgotten…” she replied and held a hand to the back of her head.

“Sophia,” the young woman answered and held out a hand. “We met on the Titanic.”

Victoria shook her hand and then wrapped her arms around the sheep. “Right, I remembered that. You don’t seem to be as…Upset?” She didn’t want to offend the girl; otherwise she would have outright told her she had been a bitch.

“Yeah, sorry about that, it was…” Sophia furrowed her brow for a moment.

“Hey, no need to explain to me. I saw who you were glaring at; it was pretty obvious, even though he might need a map to see it.” Victoria shrugged.

Sophia smiled, but Victoria was afraid she might have hit a nerve. “Hey, did you know that there’s a dead guy here?” She asked, making conversation.

“Yes, I saw him in my first event,” Sophia replied.

“I didn’t even know that was possible, you know, I thought that when you died…you just, well, died.” She smiled awkwardly. “I guess there are a lot of things I don’t know.”

Sophia looked like she wanted to say something, but looked away. Victoria stared at her and tilted her head slightly. “Well, I died once. I came back to life.” She let out, and smiled again. “It’s not something I’d recommend.”

“Oh, believe me, I don’t want to die. I grew up thinking that my life meant very little. I woke up, did my job, and went to bed. I danced with death, and I knew that once my lights went out, that was it. Now I find out that it isn’t just end game, it’s not even close. Shit, that there is hope in a bottle.” She had set the sheep down and held up her hands slightly. “Orion proved to me that I don’t have to be afraid, but that I also have so much more to learn. I can’t come close to understanding it as well as you, or him, but I know that I don’t have to be afraid of living a meager life.” She explained with a grin.

“What do you mean? What kind of job do you have?” the girl asked.

“I’m a Bounty Hunter,” Victoria beamed. “Although…it’s not as simple as it sounds, I’m more of a slave than anything.” She waved a hand nonchalantly. “I have a feeling things are going to change, I found out that I can leave Earth.”

“You’re going to leave Earth?” Sophia looked incredulous.

“Wouldn’t you?” Victoria frowned.

“I don’t know,” she replied.

“I have no family, or friends. I spent seven years believing that I couldn’t have friends. I don’t have anything left on Earth, so if leaving means I can get away from Zone 5, then hell yeah I’m gonna leave.” She smiled again.

“That makes sense.” Sophia smiled back.

“Are you really okay? I know you seem better than before, but even I know what it’s like to lie for the benefit of others.” Vic asked, catching the girl off guard. Despite their short conversation, something nagged at the hunter.

“I’m fine, really,” she shook her hands at the pink haired fighter.

“Bottling up emotions can make you pop, you don’t have to explain anything to me, but I know what might help.” She grabbed the sheep and held it in her arms.

“But I said I’m fine,” Sophia protested, but Victoria shifted her massive plushy and grabbed the blonde woman by the hand and pulled her along.

“Yep, peachy, got'cha.” Vic led the girl past the flashing rides and shouting carnies. They meandered past concession booths and dodged digital customers. She knew just the place, a perfect haven to forget everything. No more thinking, or talking, just dancing.

“Where are we going?” She asked nervously. Whether compelled by curiosity, or hope, she didn’t fight back.

The hotel doors opened to let them in, and Victoria let go of Sophia’s hand. She dropped her sheep near a large potted plant and motioned for her new acquaintance to follow. A thumping and pounding started to sound, and music drifted down the long corridor they ventured along. “To answer your question,” she turned to look over her shoulder as she walked, “we’re going to dance.” She pushed through the double doors. What lay beyond made the optimistic girl bounce on her feet. “I heard the music before the last event, I had been taken here after our event, but I wasn’t in the mood to explore. Now that Orion has opened my eyes, I’ve come to realize that life shouldn’t be spent worrying or being depressed about, it should be spent in whatever way makes you happy.” She turned to look at Sophia.

“So…you want to dance?” The blonde raised her eyebrows. Just then the music changed, and the room flashed with lights. It made Victoria jump again excitedly.

“Yes, dance, just forget about everything else. You seem like a worrywart, you need to cut loose sometimes.” Victoria waved a hand at the dancing crowed. The club was pumping, and grinding, and she wanted to take the dive.

“But this isn’t…” Sophia looked away, staring down the hall.

Victoria pushed past her and shut the doorway. She turned to the girl and pointed a finger at her. “Haven’t you ever done this? Just think back to a happy moment in your life, and listen to the music. Have fun, even if we are in a game that isn’t real, if we were going to die we would have died already.” The girl stared back and then turned to look at the dance floor. “Forget about him, he probably doesn’t deserve you.” Vic walked past her and stepped down the stairs.

[Alexander Trafford]

“Welcome back George Jetson,” a familiar voice broke the silence and pulled Trafford back from the star-spattered oblivion. His eyelids fluttered several times as he pushed himself onto his elbows; whenever he was transported back from events he always seemed to lying on his back. As he elevated his backside, he scooted back against a wooden barrier and undertook a sitting position.

“Whoa,” Alex stated slowly as his seat began to shift and rock beneath him. His eyes flashed from side to side and he quickly realized that he was not where he had been before – he was sitting in a small rowboat across from the Carnival’s Barkeep. “Where in the hell are we?”

“We are back, Mr. Jetson. Back is here, but back is not where we were,” his companion quickly responded, although his answer did not alleviate the young man’s confusion.

“Wha . . . what in the hell are you talking about?” Trafford retorted after a moment. The Barkeep did not reply, he merely rotated his head and stared out at their surroundings.

The Barkeep was correct. Wherever they were, they had not been before. They occupied a rowboat that was slowly floating down the center of a narrow river, the waters of which were a strange shade of purple. At first Alex was alarmed, for he had never seen rivers colored in this way before, but he quickly reminded himself that prior to this tournament he had never been a pirate in the Queen’s Navy, or a passenger on the ill-fated Titanic, or a pilot in an intergalactic air force. In this alternative reality it seemed that anything was possible.

On the banks of the purple river were golden fields that crawled upwards into cresting hills. Ribbons of vibrantly colored flowers twisted and twirled across the honeyed grass. Every manner of flower existed in unreal shades of their former selves – the colors ranged from crimson and navy blue to lime green and hot pink! What was even stranger, however, was that all the flowers – the roses, tulips, sunflowers and all their friends – seemed to be dancing, quite literally, with one another.

“Have you ever been here before, Barkeep?” Trafford asked nervously, peeling his eyes away from the supernatural scenery and focusing his attention on his companion.

“I have not,” he responded mechanically, although that was to be expected. He paused for a moment as his gaze drifted from the shores and across the narrow river and finally settled on the young psychokinetic. “But I have heard of it.”

This caught the well-dressed boatman by surprise.

“What’ve you heard?” Alex leaned forward as he spoke, his interests piqued by this anonymous partner.

“The carnival folk do not dare speak of this place. It is a forbidden. We should not be here.”

The program’s answer sent a short shiver up Ace’s spine. His partner had an eerie voice that compounded the sense of strangeness and danger. He spoke in short sentences that never flowed. There was no response, the two simply sat in silence for a few minutes. It was not longer, however, that their silence was interrupted.

“Alexander!” a strange voice echoed faintly. It sounded distant.

“What?” Trafford exclaimed, his tone expressed his surprise. The voice had been that of a woman, and so it could not have come from the Barkeep. His gaze, which had been previously fixed on the boat’s base boards, shifted towards the shore and began flashing around in every direction – searching for the source of the one who had called out to him.

“Where did that come from?” he asked, looking to the Barkeep in hope of an answer.

“Perhaps it was her,” his companion stated in his emotionless, monotone voice. He nonchalantly pointed towards the hillcrest that rested a short way from the river’s bank. Trafford followed the man’s finger, which brought his wandering eyes to rest on a strange girl that stood atop the minor slope.

She was standing in a grove of awkwardly colored trees that bore an orange-colored fruit. Tangerines, he believed they were called; she was standing in a grove of tangerine trees. Behind her was the setting sun, which had painted the sky a brilliant and dark shade of orange. Amidst the darker tones were light strips of the same color – almost as if they were ribbons of marmalade set in an orange-flavored jam.

“What bizarre eyes she has,” the Barkeep remarked, interrupting Alex’s transfixion on her surroundings and urging him to renew his focus on the woman who had beckoned him.

“Hmmm, indeed . . .” Trafford agreed, the volume of his voice slowly descending into silence as he spoke. Her eyes were perfect orbs, and they were quite large – so large in fact that one could view upon their details from a reasonable distance. Each eye was comprised of a thousand different sections that varied in structure and were grouped together in a star-shaped pattern that circled the center. They were also a multitude of colors. In fact, he thought (but found it too ridiculous to state aloud) they looked exactly like the inside of a kaleidoscope lens. How odd.

Beside tangerine trees, beneath marmalade skies, there was a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

“Hey, I’m thinking that we should follow her,” Alex stated with authority. He did not like seeming so orderly, but a sense of urgency had welled up inside of him.

“Why?” The robotic Barkeep retorted. Trafford paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Well, uh, you said that we probably shouldn’t be here right?”

“Correct.”

“Maybe she can tell us how to get out of here . . .” He shrugged his shoulders, an action that was matched by his programmed companion. And, almost as soon as they had thought it, the boat changed its own course and made towards the river’s eastern bank. They did not question the boat’s self-induced movements; the pair was past questioning the oddities that occurred in this place.



As the vessel’s bow drove up onto the sandy shore, Alexander and the Barkeep quickly stepped over the ship’s wooden sides and onto the earth’s firm soil.

“Where’d she go?” Trafford questioned. Their only conversation seemed to be based around their situation – idle chatter was difficult with a computer program. But he did not appear ready to give up his hopes of his perceived ‘normalcy’ (apparently useless conversation was normal).

“Over the hill,” his partner responded, short and sweet as always.

“Alright, let’s go that way then, I guess.” He paused awkwardly for a moment, dropping his gaze towards the vibrantly colored flowers that they were walking through. Occasionally, his eyes would shift towards his opponent as he steeled himself against his awkward situation. “So, uh, what should I call you?”

The Barkeep took a few more steps in silence, and then stopped abruptly.

“I do not have a name.” His voice changed as he spoke, dropping from emotionless and mechanical to melancholy. Perhaps his companion was more than digitalized code?

“Oh, hmmm,” Trafford took a step towards his partner before continuing, “would you mind if I gave you a name?”

Silence ensued. Was he making progress? Was this what normal people did? The Barkeep’s eyebrows furrowed and encroached upon his beady, blue irises. He appeared to be deep in thought.

“I guess that would be alright,” he finally broke the silence. And then he did the strangest thing – he smiled. It was not emotionless, or digitalized; it seemed legitimate and real.

“Alright, well then,” Alex continued the conversation as he rolled over possible names in his mind. What would be an awesome name for a programmed bartender?

“How about Mr. Pepper?”

“Can you make it sound more . . . official?” the program responded with a glint in his eye and a smirk that spanned from cheek to cheek.

“Sure . . . how does Sergeant Pepper sound?”

“I like it,” the Barkeep responded after a moment of contemplation.

Following the successful conversation, Alexander and Sgt. Pepper returned to silence and continued their trek up the short hill in pursuit of the girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

As they moved past the flowers they noticed something particularly peculiar. Some of the vegetation that had appeared to be tulips, the ones that were green and yellow, seemed to be made of a strangely thin plastic. Trafford remembered from his youth that such material was called cellophane, but he had never seen cellophane flowers. The further they moved up the hill, the taller the flowers appeared to grow, and at one point he remembered that the cellophane flowers of yellow and green were towering over his head. But, he wondered, perhaps he was just shrinking. It would not have been the strangest thing that happened lately.

Nearing the apex of the small scope, Alex scanned the horizon in search of the girl with the sun in her eyes – the bright gleam of the setting star reflected perfectly against her kaleidoscope orbs. The problem, however, was that he could not find her.

“She’s gone,” Trafford said, “but where in the hell did she go?”

It did seem a bit unlikely that she could have escaped. There was nothing in front of them but open plains, and some small structures – but they were not large enough to hide a full-sized girl.

“There she is!” Sergeant Pepper exclaimed as he shot his finger towards a small bridge that crossed another narrow river at the bottom of the hill.

“I don’t see her, where is she?” Alex questioned. He searched the area that he had indicated, but he simply could not identify her amongst the numerous creatures below.

“She’s by the bridge near the fountain!” He exclaimed with as much excitement as he had displayed a moment ago.

The well-dressed youth nodded. Of course, she had been right in front of him, why had he not seen her when he scanned the area? He had literally looked right over where she stood, and the girl had not been there a moment ago.

Sergeant Pepper took the first step, a long stride towards the bottom of the slope. Trafford followed suit and began to descend the golden-grassed knoll.

“What in the hell are those things?!” Alex shouted, and nearly stumbled down the hill as he did so. His finger shot forward towards a small herd of creatures that were grazing near the fountain. They looked like horses, but there was something distinctively different about them. As a matter of fact, the grass that they grazed upon seemed bizarre as well.

“They look like . . . rocking horses. But they’re . . . alive. Is that possible?” Ace posed the rhetorical question. Of course it was possible, because that was what he was seeing before him.

“Apparently it is,” Sergeant Pepper answered. Trafford rolled his eyes. Of course the meaning of a rhetorical question would not be understood by a digitalized computer program.

“And what in the hell are they eating? Are those . . . pies?” Alex had continued to descend the hill, but at a much slower rate. The strangeness of this place only increased as he ventured further and further into its vast openness.

“I think they are marshmallow pies Mr. Jetson, if there is such a thing.”

“Hmmm?” Trafford eyed his companion curiously for a moment, before remembering that he had told the Barkeep that his name was George Jetson. Pepper appeared to be right though, the pies that the rocking horse creatures were eating seemed to be filled with marshmallow.

They continued in silence for a moment, each man distracted by their fascination with the strange animals. The beasts looked exactly like the children’s toy. They rolled to the front of their arched base, and then would hope forward and land on their rear and then roll again. It appeared that this was how they moved. They were odd beasts.



“There she goes again!” Pepper exclaimed and Alex reeled back from his distraction with the animals and focused on the task at hand. His companion had leapt forward and was sprinting towards the sandy shores of the river. The girl with kaleidoscope eyes was gone, but a mysterious vessel was now sailing downstream and he assumed that she was aboard it. She appeared to be a mischievous little child. “Get in, quickly, or we’ll lose her!”

The Sergeant had leapt in the front seat of a raft that was quite similar to the one that the girl had escaped in.

“What the hell is this thing?” Trafford questioned as he dashed forward and dove into the vehicle’s opened rear door. It appeared to be a taxi cab that had pulled up on the shore. Apparently it had been waiting to take them away.

“Follow the other taxi!” His partner shouted at the boat, for there was no driver. The steering wheel simply turned itself and the automobile-turned-ferry accelerated downstream, and towards an ominous looking tunnel.

Alex took a moment to observe Sergeant Pepper. His ally had transformed as of late; he had gone from a robotic, mechanical humanoid that spoke little and expressed no emotion to an excitable, observant man who shouted and sprinted and had developed a personality. Perhaps giving him a name had also given him ‘life’? If such a word was appropriate when discussing computer programs.

It just goes to show you, Ace thought to himself, that you can find humanity wherever you look for it.

Trafford reclined against the cheap seat in the back of the vehicle. Normally he would have opposed to riding in a driver-less car, especially one that was in water and that was heading towards a perfectly dark tunnel, but, at this point, would it really make any difference?

That reoccurring question once again came to the fore of his thoughts: what was real?



“Hey, Mr. Jetson, hey,” Pepper’s voice filled the darkness and pulled Trafford from the depths of unconsciousness. “We’re here. I think that this is the exit.”

“Hmmm,” Alex grunted, then yawned and shook himself. The taxi had stopped, and the Sergeant had exited the vehicle. He followed.

Apparently, the dark tunnel had brought them into what appeared to be a train station. Beside the river’s edge was a large tiled platform, much like the one that covered the floor of the West City Subway station. On the other side of the platform the floor dropped and a train was parked with its engine running. Were they waiting on Sergeant Pepper and himself?

“May I take your bags, sirs?”

Trafford nearly fell on his ass. He had only taken a few steps onto the platform and he had not seen the servicemen that had moved towards him. Now, as he turned to observe them, he noticed that they were, predictably, just as peculiar as everything else in this section of the Carnival.

For starters, the baggage carriers were not people at all, not even in the sense that Sergeant Pepper was a person. They were made of clay. Yes, the train station attendants were clay people.

“Now I know why I drink . . .” Alex muttered to himself as he chuckled and waved off the plasticine porters. After all, he did not have any baggage. His companion dismissed them more politely.

The pair continued towards the train. Trafford hoped that Pepper had been right when he had stated that this was the exit. God willing this would be the end not only of this section, but of the entire Carnival. Something told him, however, that he would not be so lucky.

“Alexander!” a strangely familiar voice echoed faintly in the small station. It sounded distant. The talented psychokinetic smirked, how had he forgotten about her?

He turned around and, sure enough, there she was. Suddenly she was at the turnstile; surrounded by plasticine porters with looking glass ties, there stood the girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.

Trafford nodded and waved to her, before stepping on the train and taking his seat. He closed his eyes, and hoped that sleep would triumph over time and he would be back to ‘reality’ in only a moment.

~~~*~~~

“Hey, buddy, wake up.” The voice was strangely familiar, but it was not that of Sergeant Pepper.

“I think I recognize him,” a girl remarked, presumably speaking about Alex.

Trafford’s eyes snapped opened and his back recoiled against the hard wood. Looking around, he quickly discerned that he had arrived back inside the Carnival and was sitting on a bench near a series of rides.

“You looked like you were in a coma,” the man joked. He was a strangely dressed fellow, almost as if he had just moved in from the desert and had not adjusted his attire. Alex squinted at him. That damned voice was so familiar.

What had he said about a coma? How long had he been asleep? Where was Sergeant Pepper? Trafford’s head snapped around and searched the area, but there was no sign of his former companion. Had it all just been a terribly imaginative dream? It couldn’t have been, could it?

“The name’s Ander.” The desert fellow put forward his hand; the pink-haired girl standing behind him did not advance. She appeared to be waiting until the ‘man’ deemed him to be safe. It almost made Alex laugh . . . almost.

“I’m, uh, Alex Trafford. People call me Ace sometimes though,” Trafford replied, taking Ander’s hand and slowly rising from the bench. The desert dweller’s casual expression quickly faded and was exchanged with a countenance of surprise that was pockmarked with a trace of humor.

“Of all the people . . .” His statement was followed by a laugh. Alex did not follow what he meant. Ander had never mentioned his own name during their encounter in the previous event, which left Trafford quite clueless.

“Huh?”

“Never mind,” Ander quickly replied, waving it off before scratching his head. The two men, and the girl behind the oddly dressed character, stood there for a moment without speaking, which was quite awkward.

“So, uh, mind if I tag along for a bit?” Alex broke the silence.

He supposed Ander had replied, but Trafford immediately became distracted by something in the near background and could not hear him. Standing immediately behind the pink-haired girl, although he doubted the desert dweller or his companion could see him, was Sergeant Pepper. And, even though neither of the two reacted, he could hear the programmed Barkeep as he spoke.

”All we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream.”

It was the same quote that he had remembered before. What in the hell was going on?!

[Juno]

As if feeling completely drained didn’t tax him enough, he now had a bloody nose.

He had been completely innocent when the incident had occurred as well as during the minutes prior, shambling in an almost zombie-like manner through the many different alleys of the carnival, dragging his body along as he slowly began to regain his energy, and his ability to walk. Within ten minutes or so, the black-haired hybrid found himself almost completely rejuvenated, and smiled broadly at the new feelings of healthiness he had. Whatever relapse had just occurred, he supposed it must’ve been just a break in Gamer’s programming, and the nerdy, maniacal mastermind must’ve fixed the technical deficiency, allowing him to compete at full capacity.

Nevertheless, he remained quite tired, lethargy plaguing his every step. Though he was no longer in pain, and his movements were definitely more fluid, and it was easier to move, he was not quite as aware as he would’ve liked to be of his surroundings. He would take this opportunity of solitude to reevaluate his position in this game, then, while his senses slowly caught up to his physical aptitude. He would have to have fully regained his energy by the next event, he knew, if he wanted to be able to compete at all.

Last time he’d checked, he, Kaden, and Szar—the ‘lizard’ that Orion had mentioned—were the only people who had badges, and to be honest, Juno would’ve preferred to keep it there. A quick buzz on his pager, however, told him otherwise, and he slowly reached down for it, lifting it up to look at the message—“Alexander Trafford has Coveted one of your badges. Sorry!” Well, that just sucked. He had thought, for a moment, that he and Alex might’ve been allies in this hostile environment, but he should’ve known better. In a world like this, where at least twenty super-powered people had been gathered together to fight for survival, you couldn’t trust anyone. He couldn’t trust Alex, he couldn’t trust Kaden, and he couldn’t even trust Sophia. It was just too dangerous.

Hell, he could barely trust himself, with all the pain his body had dealt him recently.

He should’ve been able to tell what happened next, but his Foresight failed him, and he found himself walking blindly around a corner, standing face to face with a young girl with red hair, who stared at him in surprise. He cocked his head a bit to the side, sticking his hands in his pants pockets, and slowly asked her if everything was okay. Something in his sentence ticked her off, however, and seconds later Juno found himself flat on his back, clutching a bleeding nose, on the receiving end of not only the girl’s punch but also the very vulgar string of expletives that accompanied it.

“I’m not a girl!!!” the redhead shouted angrily as a period to her protests. She was rather deep-voiced, though her tone was still noticeably female. The ex-fortuneteller massaged his nose as he considered the possibility that the girl was in denial about her sex; honestly, he’d never met anyone quite that stupid, but perhaps there were some people in the world…

Slowly, he brought himself to his feet, and Belle fumed before him. Her cheeks were glowing a bright pink from fury, and her fists were balled at her side. She wore masculine clothing, another front, he supposed, for her distinct insecurities about that fact that she was, in fact, a female. She breathed heavily, her rather endowed chest—though it was patted down—moving up and down with each individual breath.

“Now that we’ve got that settled,” the young woman muttered, still slightly peeved, “I’m Belle.” The hybrid stifled a laugh—Belle? The facts just kept piling up, all of them quite in opposition to the girl’s arguments.

“I’m Juno,” he said, realizing that he couldn’t really talk about someone having a feminine name, he supposed, who claimed to be a guy. If only they hadn’t made that movie and that Greek goddess had never existed…

“Look, buddy, I’m sorry I punched you,” Belle apologized slowly, almost as if it was kind of difficult for her. She moved over toward a nearby booth, one where you had to toss a ball into a hoop. He picked up the orange ball with one hand, wheeled it back, and shot it at hard as he could at the basket, but it missed horribly. “Dammit,” she mused, grabbing another ball and using a similar method in an attempt to score a goal.

“Let me try,” Juno offered, moving up to the booth and grabbing a basketball. He aimed carefully, and shot it, taking into account the direction with which he’d thrown the ball after applying the force. It sank into the net gracefully, and the hybrid smiled as he turned to Belle. “You just gotta concentrate,” he guided him as Belle picked up another ball, “Oh, and use two hands, man.”

Belle’s eyes flitted over to Juno. “Thanks for that,” she said, “For calling me a man. Not many people understand this… problem, but I guess you get treated like a girl a lot.”

“…what?”

“You know, with your long hair and stuff,” Belle told him, “If you hadn’t been so flirty, I’d have thought you were a girl. Or a Let’s Bee An.”

The black-haired hybrid stayed silent, not sure whether to be touched or offended by Belle’s affirmation of companionship. Belle, however, didn’t seem to catch the social awkwardness at all. “Dammit,” she repeated as she missed yet another shot, “These large-sized dragon balls just won’t go in!”

Juno’s head whipped towards Belle. “Dragon balls?” he asked, “You know what they are?” For once in this futile conversation, the hybrid had hope that he would get somewhere. Belle didn’t seem to mind the questions.

“Yeah, I found ‘em,” he said kind of proudly, “Well, most of ‘em. Made a wish on ‘em, too.” The seer’s eyes perked up. Kaden’s quick reference had been enough to interest him, and Orion had urged him to try an avenue he could. But Belle’s confirmation of their existence—and the fact that they actually worked—was the first real score he’d had on the subject. A wide grin crossed his face as he thought about the possibilities. What would he wish for? What could he wish for? He supposed there was the obvious—to heal himself. But then, there were even better possibilities… Death, it seemed, could be arranged to be temporary, based on Sophia’s experience, so perhaps if he wished for his powers back, then he could then let the sickness take him, and come back to life even more powerful than before…

Why was he even entertaining this idea? He wasn’t going to kill himself.

“So,” Juno continued the conversation, “What exactly happens? When you collect the dragon balls, that is. What types of stuff can you… wish for?”

“Well, I wished for dead people to be alive,” Belle said idly, barely paying attention to the conversation as she attempted, once again, to shoot a basket, with little luck. “This other guy wished for some freaky power. When you gather the balls together—”

But before Belle could spit out the rest of the sentence, she suddenly and vigorously burst into tears, running away from the basketball booth and running over to a bench, which she proceeded to pound until it was scrap metal. Juno watched from afar, slightly concerned for Belle’s well-being but at the same time slightly weirded out and fearing for the boy-girl’s sanity. Cautiously, the black-haired hybrid began to move over to the redhead.

“…it’s okay,” he attempted to comfort the girl, “Lots of people aren’t good at it.”

“IT’S NOT THE FRIGGING GAME!” Belle screamed, turning to face Juno with a fire in her eyes. “You… you got me started talking about balls.”

Juno’s eyes widened slightly. He didn’t know whether or not to be severely creeped out by the girl’s level of denial, or to take this as a confirmation that she was, indeed, a guy who had had some parts flipped. Carefully, he searched for something to say, words to offer to perhaps get Belle to not be quite so… angry anymore. “I’m sorry,” he mustered, “I understand how those could be a… sensitive subject.”

“You’re telling me,” the girl responded, “Now let’s go shoot some circles.”

“Uh, I think you mean shoot some hoops,” Juno suggested.

“I have no frigging idea what the hell a hoop is,” Belle retorted, walking back toward the basketball group. Juno sighed. For the very first time, he halfway hoped that Gamer would pull him into an event sooner than he normally did, as he slowly followed Belle to the booth. The redheaded hybrid resumed her solo-basketball game, and Juno leaned on the booth, looking around the carnival before noticing the tall black building that had hovered over the area they’d explored for the longest time. He’d seen it before, but never paid it much attention, and with the clock ticking on how much time they’d explored here, he guessed that this was a better time than ever to do some extra exploring in the obelisk. Plus, he would do anything to get away from this basketball game.

Not wanting to leave Belle rudely, he turned as he began to walk away, “Hey, Belle,” he said, and the redheaded hybrid turned to face the blackheaded one, “I’m going to check out the hotel.”

“Sounds cool,” Belle approved, and put down the basketball, “Besides, this game’s getting on my nerves.” Juno sighed inwardly, but didn’t protest the young (wo)man’s accompaniment. The pair of demi-Saiyans moved quickly through the alleys between the carnival tents until they had finally come to the large tower, and they stepped into the lobby. Juno wasn’t sure if Belle had been here before—the younger hybrid didn’t look too impressed, as if everything seemed normal, but then he supposed that that could just be the girl’s penchant for things like this hotel, or maybe things in Kill Town in general.

He paid it no mind, and slowly began to look around, finally settling down on a comfortable sofa in a small sitting area, off in one corner of the lobby. Belle sat on the couch opposite, kicking her feet up. Feeling slightly like the rebel, Juno kicked off his shoes as well and laid down on the couch as well, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. “This is nice,” he muttered.

“I’m sure you’re quite comfortable,” a feminine voice said, but Juno didn’t recognize it as Belle’s. It was familiar, so he dared to open his eyes and saw a blonde woman leaning casually against the plaster wall. Though her hair color wasn’t familiar, the hybrid did recognize the face rather quickly—it was another one of Kaden’s many blonde troopers, it seemed.

Piper Juunanagou.

“Well, hello, Piper,” Juno greeted the woman, sitting up after he’d processed her identity. He gestured to the seat next to him, and Piper accepted the invitation, glancing over at Belle as she began to snore. “Let’s just leave him be for the time being.”

“Sounds like an idea,” Piper nodded, putting her feet on the coffee table nestled nicely between the sofas. “So, how’s life treating you… Juno, right?”

[Jesper]

“You want to dance?” Sophia inquired her new acquaintance incredulously. There was a change in the mood of the hotel in which they had just entered, and the music that had been playing changed.

“Yes, dance, just forget about everything else. You seem like a worrywart, you need to cut loose sometimes,” the sudden depth in the woman’s thought process caught Sophia off guard. She definitely needed to let off some steam, but this wasn’t exactly…the right venue to be doing something like that. After all, they were all dormant, thinking into machines rather than living things out. She wanted to focus more on living than having fun. In fact, the possibility that she could die at any point made it almost impossible to have fun of any sort.

Sophia sighed. “But this isn’t…” Her eyes drifted away from the pink-haired woman and down the hallway. Her means of escape was no farther than ten or so feet away. All she had to do was walk away…

Before she could, however, Victoria shoved past her and closed the doorway, halting her dilemma by the sound of the door clicking. If she had really wanted to exit, all she had to do was turn the handle, but instead, she found herself listening to what the girl had to say. “Haven’t you ever done this? Just think back to a happy moment in your life, and listen to the music. Have fun, even if we are in a game that isn’t real, if we were going to die we would have died already. Just forget about him. He probably doesn’t deserve you.”

Although Victoria didn’t use the soundest of logic, Sophia knew that, in some ways, she had been right. The healer wasn’t so sure about the last part of her statement, but just dwelling on her problem wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Sophia was grateful that she and Kaden had made progress in their relationship due to their last conversation, but the result was something that also made the former priestess want to cry. Sure, they had patched things up, but her more…intimate feelings towards the man had been brought to light, twice in fact, and the courier managed to skate past it both times. Sophia had no idea what she would have told Kaden if he had brought it back up, but she needed acknowledgment regardless.

…and like that, she was right back to her old thinking.

“I guess…” Sophia watched Victoria descend the stairs in front of them, “…I guess it couldn’t hurt. I do kind of need a distraction.”

“Then come on,” the woman waved the healer onward without even turning her head. “You never know how long the party’s going to last.”

“…is that some sort of unwritten rule?” Sophia hesitated before she ran to catch up. She sighed as she pulled alongside her friend; she had never felt so lost before. The “party scene” was something that she had missed out on due to a confused, restricted childhood. If she ever wanted to dance, she would do it in the privacy of her own room, with nobody around. The only conversation she had with anyone came when she was healing someone or studying with one of the other priestesses. While her experiences since then bolstered her ability to communicate, she still didn’t function very well inside a crowd.

Victoria glanced back at the healer as she made the comment, but returned her gaze to the dance floor with a shake of her head. The contents of the room were something that Sophia expected to see out of some sort of underground drug cartel. The tiles were occupied by people who seemed to be in some sort of daze, with bulging eyeballs and puffy red noses as they shuffled around, or individuals who seemed to be more interested in how much they appealed to the members of the opposite sex than anything else. Sophia had little respect for those kind of people, but at the same time, her dress made her seem out of place.

She looked around for Victoria, but she was lost amongst the sea of people. Sophia herself had wandered headlong into the crowd, somehow, against her better judgment. Fewer people than she had expected even so much as glanced at her, as she had bumped into several of them as she paced forward. The eyes that did fall upon her belonged either to particularly lusty men or spectacularly envious women, and their stares made her uncomfortable in entirely different ways. The beats of the music banged against her eardrums, slightly ringing due to her inexperience with such loud sounds. She was reminded, as if she had forgotten in the first place, about just how out of place she was—heads bobbed and hips swang and shoulders swayed, and Sophia remained completely motionless. The healer merely kept her head down, and although that worked for a little while, she had failed to stop moving towards the center of the room.

Suddenly, the sea split. Those who had been previously dancing all crowded around her, staring at her with hopeful eyes. The song that had been playing faded into silence, and the DJ replaced it with something different. The beat was slower, almost moving at a snail’s pace, but the pounding actually started to grow on her. She supposed that if she was going to start dancing, something slower would be a good start. After all, she wasn’t exactly used to…that kind of movement.

“We’re all waiting, you know,” Victoria grinned, crossing her arms as she glanced at the healer. “These people want to see you dance.”

“But…” Sophia sighed, whispering to the woman although it was loud enough for everyone around her to hear. “I don’t know…how…”

“Just move to the music,” the bounty hunter smiled. “Move your hips and arms, or something. Just do what feels natural.”

“Nothing about this feels natural,” the blonde woman argued.

“Oh, just do it!” Victoria encouraged her further. “I promise you, you won’t regret it.”

The chorus of the song started in, and Sophia, with her heart seemingly ready to burst out of her chest, began to move. They were subtle movements, nothing spectacular, but enough for her to get started. She felt so awkward, and upon watching her feet slide back and forth as she looked down, she immediately recognized it as so. Regardless, the bystanders began nodding their heads in apparent affirmation, though Sophia took a wild guess and thought that they, with the exception of Victoria, weren’t entirely sure where they were.

As the song progressed, Sophia began to loosen up. She was still conscious of what was happening, somewhere in the back of her mind, but amidst the music and the dancers, none of it seemed to matter quite as much. Things like that didn’t belong in a place like this, she decided. She would have to return to reality at some point, she knew, but for as long as the song was playing, she resolved to be free of every burden that she had shouldered.

The song slowed to a stop, and Sophia hadn’t even realized that she had her eyes closed until she opened them back up. Most of the people went about their business once again, but Victoria stepped in front of her, apparently to talk, and flashed the healer a smile.

[Ashe]

"Do I need a reason to talk to a pretty girl like you?"

Ashe couldn't help as a few of her suspicions were washed away in a crimson wave upon her cheeks. She laughed softly a bit as she shoveled a small spoon of ice cream into her mouth, unsure of how to continue the conversation. She hadn't really thought so at first, but the man was smooth, and the more he talked to her, the more she found herself noticing his eye color. She swallowed after a moment and raised her napkin to wipe her mouth.

"No, but you probably have one," a familiar voice interrupted from beneath a dirty blonde scalp. The chatting pair jumped slightly, turning to look at the man whose face floated directly between them. Ander seemed prepared for a greeting but Kaden waved it away casually. "Don't worry," he warned with a smile. "I'm just passing through."

His hand lowered completely to a rest as his focus shifted to the girl between them. "Unfortunately," he added for her benefit, causing her to take that moment to focus on another bite of ice cream. She'd been worried after Dante's Abyss that she'd scared him off with her aggressiveness, but it seemed he was willing to forgive and forget.

Then again, given their states of mind at the time, maybe he just forgot.

Ever so slightly, Ander twisted in his seat a bit to bring his resting leg up to use as an arm rest. "No, please. Stay," he offered with a smooth smile, prompting Ashe to nearly point out that his change in position was leaving no room on the bench for Kaden.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she heard from her left as she stirred her ice cream in the lingering uneasiness. "No no," he added quickly, clapping both of them on the shoulder and giving a tight squeeze - one a bit rougher than the other. "I'll let you kids have your fun." He shifted his stance a bit as a thought occurred to him. "Odd, though. I figured you'd want Sage hanging all over you," he considered openly, catching the pink haired girl's attention. She looked up in time for him to clear his throat, herself taking no notice of the darker haired companion tensing up at the comment. "Catch ya later, Ashe. We should hop a ride at some point when this is all over."

A smile crossed her features as she nodded at his retreating form. Ander suddenly stood up, stretching a bit as he extended his hand to her. He watched her tilt her head to the side a bit as he helped her up, taking her empty ice cream from her and stacking it neatly within his own bowl in an attempt to cover the fact that he'd barely eaten any himself.

"So..." she began, in thought as he guided her to a trash bin to dispose of their desert.

"Man, we've still got a few more rides left to jump on before we clear the list!" he rushed out before refocusing on her once more. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about the great time I had on the roller coaster with you and thought you'd want to ride a few more with me. Though I do understand if you want to save a ride or two for Kaden..." he trailed off. Taking note of her momentary confusion, he grinned, keeping her words from the tip of her tongue until he could disperse them entirely from her mind. "Great! So what should we ride first? Not the tea cups, I hope..."

She gave him a reassuring shake of her head before remembering one thing from Kaden's conversation. "Sage is here too?" she asked, meaning nothing more by it.

He spread his arms like he'd been shot. "Well, I guess one could say she is. I mean, I hadn't really talked to her much. I barely know the girl myself, and I'm sure she likely doesn't even remember me given her taste in drinks," he spilled defensively.

"Huh, really?" Ashe asked, her brow twisting a bit in a look.

He took a deep breath and placed a hand between her shoulder blades, continuing to guide her in the direction of another set of rides. "Well, I mean, we've talked a bit, but-" he covered.

"No, I mean the drinking thing. Is she still calling it apple juice?" she asked, receiving an odd look from her companion. "Well, I'd given her some wine at some point and told her it was apple juice, and she went on a drinking binge after that. I mean, I felt terrible, but it was so funny that I couldn't really help myself," she found herself clarifying with a laugh.

"Yeah, well..." he began, unsure about following this line of conversation. "Hey!" he suddenly spoke up, deciding on another topic. "Have you bought anything with this PAGER thing yet?" He reached down to his side and lifted up the white device, prompting her to lift her own.

"Well, I grabbed one of those Mystery Capsules earlier from one of the vendors. I love surprises, so I thought I'd give it a go," she added.

"I love surprises too," he responded. "Perhaps we should both give it a go," he continued, whistling in the air as he looked over his device.

"Well, I mean, it's not that hard to figure out how to buy something with it. Just head over to the evil clown faced thing that scares the hell out of you and it should tell you all you need to know," she rambled, completely missing the comment behind his words.

"I just might," he agreed before grabbing her device from her hand with a swift swipe. Against her protests, he held the device up out of reach as he pushed a few buttons in laughter.

"Hey!"

"Calm down! I'm just seeing what was in that Mystery Capsule," he reassured her before bringing it down for them to both look over. "Wow, you got first place in your first event?" he noticed, before scrolling through the others. "Oh man, and then followed up with third place in both the others? Who rigged this thing? I'd give you a perfect ten, myself."

"Heh," she laughed. "Thanks, but you should have seen the car I had to drive in that last one. I loved feeling the power between my legs and all, but... Actually, how'd you do in your events?" she asked curiously.

"I won them," he answered quickly, beaming with pride.

Her eyes opened wide. "Really?" she asked, her voice not so convinced.

"Yep," he continued quickly. "First place in every event. All four of them."

She turned this over in her head a moment. "Huh, wait. There were only three!" she accused, snatching the device back from him.

His fingers grabbed his chin as he looked around in thought. "Odd. I guess they put me into an extra advanced challenge for performing so well," he claimed before quickly returning her attention to her own device. "So what'd you get from the Capsule?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, uh..." she remembered, scrolling down further. "It says... I get to use a 'Mega Theft', but it doesn't say a word about what that is," she whined. Her eyes lifted from her PAGER as a familiar creepy voice echoed across the pavilion.

"WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS OF VALUES!"

Ander's eyes snapped up to the vending machine and he cringed slightly before posturing himself for her. "You aren't scared of clowns are you? I'll take it over there for you and find out what you got if you want," he offered, extending his palm to her.

Shaking her head, she grabbed his hand with a squeeze, not realizing that he'd hoped she'd hand him her device again. "They creep me out, man, but I'll deal." Her words were filled with unhappiness, but she approached the machine and connected the unit to it.

The machine processed a quick series of beeps before the screen lit up with a new item description on it. "Mega Theft..." she read out loud. "For when you need to rob them blind. Does someone have a lot of money while you barely have any? Use MEGA THEFT," she emphasized with the capitals, enticing the attentions of her companion. "Just pick a target and activate, instantly transferring every bit of their account to your own," she finished.

"That is awesome," Ander swooned, staring at the device.

Ashe was unsure, turning it over in her head. "I don't know, I mean..."

He quickly stepped up to the machine before her and hit the use button, loading a list of names and the values of them. "C'mon, Ashe, it's just a game. You aren't leaving anyone hungry in the street," he added sincerely.

"True," she agreed, thinking back to other games she'd played with fun effects such as this. "Alright, let's do it," she finally resolved, looking at the screen. "Who should I pick?"

"I vote Kaden," he recommended, reaching out to hit the button.

"What? Why? He's got pretty much nothing," she added, knocking his hand out of the air. "You actually have the most," she realized, hovering her hand over the button dangerously.

He seemed at a near panic. "Yeah, but I bought you ice cream," he joked nervously.

"With a stolen wallet," she pointed out.

"Borrowed!" he insisted. "From a jerk, I might add. Who probably doesn't even really exist."

"Alright, alright," she agreed with a grin. "I just wanted to make you sweat a minute. Besides, I don't think I could do it so blatantly right here next to you." Skimming over the list of names as she heard him exhale a deep breath, she stopped over Piper's name. "Maybe her," she mused.

"Why not Kaden?" he asked again, frowning as she pressed the button labeled Piper.

"Because," she laughed again. "Kaden's broke like me. There's no reason. Piper has the second highest amount, so I might as well dig deep while I can and poke some fun at General Stuffypants."

"I can think of a few reasons, but... Yeah, Piper's fine," he relented, watching as the machine whirred to life. His grin returned as he saw the number's change on screen. "Grats," he spoke, smoothly throwing his arm around her shoulder and giving her a side hug. "You are now second only to myself in the finance business."

"I think I'll grab a Double as well..." she considered, her mind running through the options. "Might help me bring in more money if I do better than third place this time."

"That sounds fun," he agreed warily, having an idea where this was going. Turning to leave, she grabbed him by the arm and pressured him to wait up for her.

Thirty minutes later, she'd completed her shopping spree and was walking away with her apologetically. "I just... couldn't help myself. I mean, there was a lot of money on there and not really anything to do with it..." she drowned in a fit of buyer's remorse.

He patted her back to comfort her as he practically pushed her away from the machine. "Well... At least you'll get a few mops or maybe even more Mega Thefts from those Capsules..." he hoped.

Her eyes spotted a figure sprawled out on a bench near a stopped train and pointed at him. "This dude looks wasted face," she laughed. "Like a drunk hobo. Think he's real or just a game character?"

Ander shrugged and quickly headed in his direction and giving the wooden bench a swift kick, prompting the man to groan as his arm moved over his eyes in reflex. "Hey, buddy, wake up," he announced, kicking the bench again. He turned back to Ashe and shrugged.

"I think I recognize him," she realized, peering over his shoulder.

[Victoria]

She didn’t go out on her own, that was something free people did. She stole moments, passing moments, but dared to drink them in every chance she could. This was more than a guilty pleasure for Gamer; it was an escape for Victoria. He didn’t know it, he couldn’t, but she had never had so much fun in her life. Bounty Hunting was not exciting, it was mundane. Her life lay at stake, everything could be lost here, but she couldn’t help but allow her heart to flutter. She soaked it all in like a sponge, and tasted the experience like an exotic drink. Life behind a locked door had made her naïve, and she wanted to change that.

Victoria lost herself in the music, and the crowd. The beats pounded into her, right into her soul, and she closed her eyes against the lights. She raised her hands and drifted with the music. People moved around her, dancing with each other, grinding and pumping with each beat. She felt hands touch her, but she did not recoil, she melted into the mob. Her eyes opened half way, and she weaved her body with the rhythm of the music. She parted her lips, breathing steadily, letting her heart throb heavily against her chest. Nothing could compare to this, dancing was better than she had expected.

Targets spanned all across the continent, in any manner of places. She had broken down many doors, run through enough clubs and bars. Every time she stepped through those places, where young bodies sweat and ground against each other, she stole glances. It was in her blood, to delve into the unknown. She had never had a drink, a drug, or a dance. She could care less now; she could do without Jeremy’s reign. Her life was hers today, in Kill Town. This puppeteer gave her more than a room, he gave her a playground. A slave couldn’t argue.

You’re an idiot. Vic raised her hands to the sides of her face and closed her eyes tightly. She let the thought slip through and taint her imaginary freedom. A disgusting lie. She whipped around as the music changed and watched the blonde woman, Sophia let loose for once, and let the music in. The crowed watched the girl, and Vic crossed her arms. She prodded the her onward, provoked her into giving in, and watched her let the music envelope her. “We have to lie…sometimes, it’s all we can do.” She whispered to herself, cloaked by the noise.

“Nice beat,” Vicky commented and observed the girl, and then the rest of the room. Despite the slower pace, it sent a chill down her spine. Victoria reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, she flipped the device open and selected an application. She looked up momentarily, and then snapped a shot of the girl dancing with her eyes closed. She looked down at the picture, amused at how the lights lit up the dancer’s body and made her glow hauntingly. She slipped her phone back into her pocket. Doubt it’ll be there if I ever get out of here, but just in case… She mused, and approached Sophia as the song faded to an end.

“Did you have fun?” She asked, her face lit up with bemusement.

“Sort of, yeah.” The girl replied awkwardly. “You have a strange way of dealing with things here, don’t you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Victoria countered, and looked around quickly. “Hold on, come over here.” She grabbed her by the wrist and they pushed through the crowed towards the bar, the music was not so loud there.

“What I meant was that you don’t seem bothered by what’s going on,” she explained and sidled against the bar. “Our bodies are somewhere else, not here, and we could be killed at any moment. You don’t seem worried.” She eyed Victoria wearily as she spoke.

“I was upset, confused, and angry.” She listed these off her fingers, and then looked up at Sophia. “I realized that if I’m going to be a slave for someone, there’s no use making a fuss until the opportunity arises.” She held up a finger before the blonde could reply. “There’s going to be an opportunity, I told the Lizard Princess that when the time comes, we’ll be able to get our revenge.” She lowered her hand and leaned against the bar.

“So you’re running around having fun, while banking on the assumption that we’re going to get out of here and maybe even get a chance against this Gamer guy? That’s…” Sophia hesitated.

“Silly?” Vic supplied, quirking her head.

“Reckless, maybe.” She almost laughed. “So you just decided to be happy? I don’t see how that would work.” She question Vic, unsure of her strange way.

“Sophia,” Victoria looked away from the confused girl, and leaned both of her arms on the tall bar. She stared down at the counter-top and licked her lips. “I’m not entirely happy, it would be cruel to deny you that information.” She admitted with a somber face. “My thoughts grow dark if I don’t brush them aside, and what good will it do me anyway? If I succumb to my true emotions, can you imagine pushing on in a time like this?” She asked, her face hardened as she looked over at the girl.

“No, but you said bottling up your emotions…” Sophia tried to remember what the hunter had told her exactly.

“You looked like you were going to explode on the Titanic. I imagine you did something, maybe had words with someone, but if you don’t let out some steam you’ll lose your focus. I’m not bottling my emotions, I’m ignoring them. I’m pretending that this is okay, that I’m okay.” Vic hadn’t smiled, but her eyes showed a kindness in them. “I’m a slave here, a puppet in this game. Outside, I’m a slave and a puppet to my masters. My thoughts will only make me give up.” She straightened and rubbed her rose against the back of her hand.

“You said you were going to leave Earth, won’t that make you free?” Sophia countered Victoria’s explanation, and she looked at the pink haired fighter with eager eyes.

“It’s a dream, The Company can track me. I’m going to try, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not going to be naive to the situation.” She shook her head.

“I know what you mean.” Sophia turned to look across the bar, the many bottles against the wall glittered in the flashing lights.

Vic’s hand slapped against the young woman’s back, and startled her. “Cheer up; it’s not the end of the world. This is why we ignore our emotions when on the field. I’m learning so much here, and meeting so many different people. We get out of here, and we make our dreams come true.” She smiled and stuck her thumb up.

“You bounce back quickly.” Sophia let slip a smile, the hunter poked her in the shoulder.

“You should learn to bounce, it’ll do you wonders.” Victoria bobbed her head and winked before bouncing on her feet. “Let’s have a drink, and really, you should tell me your story.” She slapped a hand on the bar and smiled.

[Kaden]

Suddenly on his own, Kaden stopped to take in his surroundings for the first time since finding Sophia. While maybe not an entire park, the courier was standing on a walking path of some kind lined with grass, flowers, the occasional tree, and even some water sculptures. It was actually quite peaceful. There was a fleeting thought of the kinds of beautiful things that could have been done with Gamer’s machine. Instead, he chose to go on a power trip. His loss.

Stepping off the white-concrete path, Kaden set himself down on a wooden bench and watched a fountain, set directly across the path. The relaxing sounds of the water flowing over it were almost enough to put the courier to sleep. Sophia had been right in pointing out how tired he was. In all honesty, he hadn’t even given his state-of-being a second thought. In spite of that, though, a wide smile was spread across his face. Regardless of his circumstances Kaden couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. A sense of… well, if it wasn’t happiness, it was damned close.

“Looks like someone’s in a good mood.”

His eyes closed, and his head reclined as far as the bench would allow, Kaden let his head just barely nod in the direction of the voice. That he remembered it was something of a surprise to the courier. With his eyes still closed and mouth still smiling, Kaden replied.

“Hello, Mixie.”

“Now what could have possibly put that smile on your face?”

“Why, hearing your voice. What else?” Kaden’s eyes opened as he leveled his head at the leath-clad woman standing before him.

“Uh-uh. You were already in a grinning when I showed up. Nice try, though.”

“So how long have you been hanging around?”

“Long enough,” the brunette said with a knowing smile.

“Of course. Well, I guess I can’t blame you. I’m sure it’s not every day you get this many people hanging around… Kill Town, was it?”

“Definitely not,” she couldn’t restrain a giggle. “You guys are like my own personal soap opera.”

“Happy to help,” Kaden gave a mock bow from the bench. With Mixie obstructing his view of the fountain, Kaden’s mind began considering the woman. After a while, he pulled himself to his feet and approached her. “Y’know, Mixie, I feel like I should apologize in advance.”

“Ok,” the woman blinked. “What for?”

“All of the people here,” Kaden waved a hand to their surroundings. “We’re going to get out. I know a lot of the people Gamer’s captured, and I promise you, he’s bitten off more than he can chew.” There was a look of seriousness spread across the courier’s face. He neither bragged nor boasted. “I don’t know how we’ll do it, and I don’t know when we’ll do it, but it will happen. When it does, this place, your home, probably won’t be the same.” He shrugged. “Blowing up the place someone lives just seems like something you should apologize for.”

“Well isn’t the sweet,” the woman replied.

For just a second, there was no smile on her face. There was no light in her voice or bounce in her metaphorical step. It was gone as quickly as it came, but the courier caught it nonetheless. What it could possibly mean, though, he couldn’t guess. Maybe his initial assumption, that Gamer controlled her completely, wasn’t as accurate as he thought it was.

“You seem pretty confident there,” Mixie teased. Her demeanor rebounded almost instantly. “Think you’ll be able to live up to your word?”

Instead of answering, Kaden raised a hand, extending it past the brunette. The air between the two filled with energy as a soft glow gathered in the courier’s palm. In moments, a ball of brilliant cerulean energy burst to life from his extended appendage and exploded outward. His target, the fountain across the path, exploded into a cloud of debris and an eruption of water. As he lowered his hand, his crimson eyes swiveled from the ruined fountain to Mixie’s.

“Apparently I have too many people counting on me to do anything else, Mixie.”

Again, the woman’s happy demeanor gave way to something else, but, unless Kaden was completely misreading her, it seemed more thoughtful than anything else. Regardless, it had not been the reaction he expected. Whatever was going on in her artificial head, the courier could only make wild guesses.

“Then I look forward to seeing it. If you’ll excuse me.”

Giving the girl a nod, Kaden watched her walk away for a few moments before taking in a deep breath and planting himself back on his bench. Watching the walkway in front of him, Kaden’s eyes darted about as water drops landed here and there. The broken fountain was simply spewing water aimlessly into the air.

“What’s with all the property destruction lately?” the courier asked himself rhetorically. “Ah well, I guess it’s not real, anyway.”

With a smile still spread across his face, Kaden closed his eyes, spread his arms out across the back of the bench, and let the soft sounds of a very broken fountain rock him to sleep. It seemed like a nap was just the thing he needed.

[Victoria]

“M-my story?” the girl was shocked at Victoria’s question. She looked across the bar again and seemed to consider what to say.

“We all have a story, something about where we came from or why we’re so messed up.” Victoria hailed one of the bar tenders, a slender man who seemed unimpressed with the whole scene. “Give me some water.” She asked and hopped onto one of the stools.

“You’re going to drink water in a bar?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah, if I’m going to drink alcohol it may as well be real. I haven’t really had it before.” Victoria received her drink and took a sip. “So,” she wiped her lips on the back of her hand, “tell me about yourself.”

“I’m a Priestess.” She replied, and hailed down the bartender herself. He produced a drink, and Victoria considered her response.

“What’s a…Priestess?” She asked, perking a brow upward.

“Well, it has to do with religion, and I have certain abilities,” she tried to explain. Victoria cupped her cold drink and thought about religion. It wasn’t something she knew a lot about, just that it was something a lot of people followed. She smiled suddenly.

“Abilities? I have those.” She held out her hand and lightning arched between her fingers and against her skin. “Some of the others here can do neat stuff as well.”

“I can heal.” Sophia replied and shrugged. “I can’t show you that, though.” She looked at Vic’s hands, and the pink haired fighter ceased her ability.

“Healing sounds impressive. I can regenerate, but you can help people. I wish I could do that.” She nodded her head and drank from her drink. “You must make a lot of friends, you have a gift that would be good in a group, and you aren’t half-bad.”

“Gee, thanks,” Sophia rolled her eyes at the girl.

“That’s my way of saying that I don’t regret meeting you.” Vic quickly explained. “I’m not very good at this.” She motioned back and forth between them. “I don’t make friends where I’m from, at least, not since Joal.” She shifted on her seat and leaned her chin on the palm of her hand. “I miss him.”

“Is he your…?” Sophia let the question linger, unsure of whether the question would be embarrassing for the woman or not.

“Ah ha, no, uh, I don’t think so?” Victoria replied, confused, and smiled. “He’s just another guy, you know, they’re a whole different species.” She laughed.

“They say that about us.” Sophia giggled in response.

Victoria enjoyed the energetic music in the background, and the company beside her. It was a good way to relax, and not take things too seriously. All she needed was a clear head; she kept reminding herself of that. She would retain her focus, and give this Gamer everything she had, but while they were trapped here there was nothing she could do. Vic drank from her water again, and stared into the distance past Sophia. The plan was to make friends, because with friends she could do anything.

[Victoria]

Tears fell from her eyelids, dribbling down her cheeks and falling carelessly onto her arm. She sniffled, and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. More delicate tears joined the wet trail on her face, large drops that splattered upon contact of her hand. She placed her hands on her face and silently sobbed into them, despite the cheerful cries of happiness around her, she let out the sadness she had forbidden herself to embrace only hours before. Victoria lowered her hands, took in a shuddering breath, and pulled out her phone.

The photo album was open, and the first picture remained illuminated upon the screen. It was the woman from earlier, Sophia, dancing in the bright lights. She snapped the phone shut and held it tightly in her hand. With her other hand she began to rub the tears from her eyes. She looked up towards the black sky, and took in a deep breath. “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” She recalled the quote under her breathe, wishing that the sky were not so ominous, but knowing that something would have to give. She wiped her nose again and closed her eyes. "I just wish I had gotten to know him better."

The last moments of the event congealed into one, it had all happened so fast. She thought she had been done for, in all reality, Alexander had been the most compatible with her thus far. Competent gunslingers were hard to come by, and he had been taken out right before her eyes. She couldn’t forget the look on his face as the bullet tore through his chest. The crimson blood was etched into her memories, and it made her sick. It wasn’t just for him that she cried it was for everything.

“I want to go home,” she whispered and slid her phone back into her pocket, “but I can’t give up, not now.” Her fingers formed a fist, and she clenched it tightly. “I have to do better,” she looked down at the ground below her, “the first step is always the hardest.” She released her fist and gripped the edge of the roof she had been sitting on. The rides around her made their noises, the people made their movements, and she watched the world around her for that moment. “If I sulk now, I won’t be able to finish this, so I need to straighten the fuck up.”

The ground rushed towards her and she hit the dusty path in a crouch. She stood up and pushed her coral hair out of her eyes. Her event was over and she was still here, it was good news, despite her companions fall. She couldn’t know for sure if he was dead, or alive, but all she could do was push forward. “Right, I won’t give up!” She reaffirmed and stepped into the throng of people and lights.

First step done, second step…I need to see who’s left. She looked around as she walked, her eyes roaming the grounds for anyone familiar or that stood out. She had made friends here, one of the good things that had been produced from Kill Town. Piper, Alura, Orion, Ander, and Sophia, she hardened her gaze, I won’t stop until I have my fist smashing into his face. She pounded her fist into her palm and continued walking.

[Orion]

"Good show, old bean! I must say, quite a smashing display!"

Orion sat back on the wooden bench at the carnival. It was the same seat where he met Victoria, and the same seat that he led Juno to so that he could recover. For some reason, he gravitated towards it immediately after his escapade in the island jungles. Perhaps he was too dug into his old ways, becoming a creature of habit. The bench was the only thing familiar to him in this simulated earthling carnival, even if it's worth was barely there. In any case, pondering on that one seat helped to settle his thoughts.

"I do hope you'll let me tag along to your next whimsical adventure, what! My my, what excitement!"

"All right, that'll do," Orion said bluntly. "Stop gushing."

"Oh, I do apologise old sport," Sprinkles said, leaning on his diamond encrusted cane. "I've never been part of a daring pirate ship raid before, what! Quite the thrill ride."

"Yes, yes, I could imagine. Now will you just let me think?"

The space hamster wriggled his nose. "What's eating at you, old chap?"

Orion sighed. "I don't feel comfortable about spilling my innermost thoughts and feelings to a talking rodent."

"I say! I take offense at that remark, what!" Sprinkles scolded. "I helped you find the treasure, I did!"

"Don't take it personally," the saiyan returned. "I'm not big on sharing. That's all."

"Oh, one of those tall, dark, silent types, eh? You must be catnip for the ladies, what!" Sprinkles chuckled.

The truth was that Orion was unsure. What Szar attempted to do back on the island still ate at him. Since when do changelings ask for forgiveness? After all those lizards did to his people, he just expected a casual "sorry" would mend his wounded ego? No, that wouldn't happen at all. However, the very idea that a changeling would be brazen enough to apologise to a saiyan's face like that bewildered Orion to the point of agitation. Changelings weren't sympathetic. They were murderous, cold blooded tyrants that stood on anyone and everyone to achieve totalitarianism wherever they journeyed.

So how could there be a changeling that broke the mould? On a logical level, it was perfectly sane. Sentient lifeforms aren't necessarily dictated by their race, but many end up taking up the mantle of their predecessors. That made perfect sense, so why was Orion having so much trouble digesting it?

The puzzled warrior shook the issue from his head. There were more important things happening around here than just a sympathetic changeling. He won the last round, which meant that Gamer’s sick tournament must be close to completion. That assumption was made with no true information or experience at all; the last death competition he participated in, Friend or Foe 3, ended up in his own termination before he saw the game's finale. Still, he thought any reasonable man would be close to barren on new ideas for events. Only time would tell.

"Eh, old boy!" Sprinkles shouted into Orion's ear, tapping his neck with the diamond cane. "Are you still there?"

Orion cringed. "Yes! Don't talk directly into my ear again or I'll flatten you."

"I say, some gratitude," Sprinkles sulked. "I led you to the treasure earlier, what."

"I haven't flattened you yet, so count your blessings," the saiyan said churlishly.

Sprinkles ignored the comment. "So what's on the cards now, old bean?"

Orion stroked his beard. "I don't know. Perhaps a little rest would be good, for now."

[Victoria]

Her fingers pushed against the buttons, shuffling through the pictures one after the other. It wasn’t anything new, it was all the same as before, but she found some kind of solace in looking into his eyes. She smiled slightly, and stared at the last one, losing herself in her thoughts. I’ve never been away for this long, I don’t even know how much time has passed. She stared at her phone, cupped in her hands, as she sat alone on the bench. Her wandering had led her to where this had all begun, back to the water park that was not as ominous as she had first perceived. The water splashed from giant spouts and people ran within the shallow pools. She looked up at them, and her gaze softened. How easy it would be to become digital, have no thoughts, just go about her protocol with a smile. The children laughed, chasing each other. I wonder if Gamer knew how to make them happy, or did he have to read a book? This couldn’t have been easy to program. Every emotion these people convey…it’s like art, it would have to be perfect. She mused.

I’m not strong enough, not yet, I’ve come too close to losing to think that I’m strong enough. She gripped the phone and looked down at Jeremy’s picture again. What have you taught me? Not enough. You had to let me go, just so I would grow, because you didn’t prepare me. She didn’t give into the anger she had felt earlier, instead, she simply questioned her life. She was not human; it hadn’t really sunk in at all. She was the by-product of biological enhancements and experimental drugs. So why do I still feel human? She wondered. All of her life had been human, and mundane. Despite the disappearance of her mother on many occasions, and her father teaching her about his work, she had been a normal kid. There has to be something, anything, her brow furrowed, unless he lied to me. She stared into the picture’s eyes, and debated the possibility.

Jeremy had taken care of her for almost half of her life; he pulled all of the strings. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the events seven years ago, what had been the most pivotal moment in her life. If she couldn’t figure anything else in the present, she would start at the beginning. She couldn’t know anything about her true past until she could understand Jeremy, her mentor, her would-be father. She went through her memories, fighting to remember the details.

”I need more time, you don’t understand,” his voice echoed. Victoria gripped the corner of the corridor, peering down the long hall leading to her father’s study. He always remained in that room, it was like a nightly ritual. He had a strange relationship with her, teaching her small details in his line of work, and then withdrawing for days and weeks while she kept to herself. She knew the company up and down, inside and out. What had been a simple dream to him had become a reality. His company expanded and she gained the knowledge required to help run it, but not until she was old enough. It was her dream, to be his protégé, and take over. Victoria would spend her days at school, when he was absent, waiting for when he would teach her more.

“I can’t give the research up yet, I…care about her,” his voice begged, and he nearly choked on his words, “I didn’t think this would happen, you have to believe me.”

She had to wonder what he was talking about, and to whom. It was rare for her to go near his study. Despite the ice cream, and the teaching, he never let her in. She could only assume it had been mother, she had made him build a wall, keep Victoria at a distance. She didn’t like it, but she was only a child, so she ached for more. She quietly walked down the hall towards his office, listening intently. He didn’t know about her side projects. For a young girl she had impressive investigative skills, she knew he had enemies all over the city. She also knew that her father was not entirely clean. In all these years, however, he had never acted so…scared.

“Look, I have all of the papers…the information; leave her alone, I’ll go with you.” He explained, and a chair scrapped against the floor. “I can make more like her, you just have to give me time.”

Something slammed and she jumped, Victoria wondered, who was he talking about? Who was the girl he referred to? She crept towards the door and looked in on her father standing behind his desk. She looked through the crack and saw the dark clad men in the room, but one of them stood out, he wore a suit.

“You idiot, you really expect us to trust you now? We gave you this, all of this,” he raised his hands to indicate the estate. “You took our research and stole what was ours. Didn’t you know we would come back? Didn’t you think that we would learn the truth?” Another loud noise resounded; the man slammed his fist on her father’s desk. “Your experiments have been evaluated long enough, we know that you succeeded, and you knew you had succeeded within the first week. We were fools to let you elude us for this long. If it weren’t for her…” The man made a disgruntled noise and looked to the side.

“You…you ran into her?” Her father clutched his chest, face stricken. “Did you…” He couldn’t finish.

“No, of course not, but we don’t need her anymore.” He waved a hand casually. “You’re coming with us, and V-

“No, please,” her father ran forward and fell to his knees in front of the Hunter. “Don’t involve her, I cheated her mother…I shouldn’t have done what I did, she shouldn’t have to get involved, besides…if the girl stays, she might return.” He looked up eagerly.

The man raised a hand, it began to glow, and he stared down at her father in contempt. “We don’t need the mother, not yet, not when we can have the girl.”

Victoria’s eyes widened. Who did they mean? Could her father be involved in slavery? She gripped the door, and it creaked. The Hunters turned immediately towards the door and she steeled her nerves. Her father was in trouble, and she couldn’t let it continue. She pushed open the door and ran in, her fist raised.

“I won’t let you take him!” She cried, her long coral hair floating behind her as she charged into the man in the suit. He stared at her, and for a moment, that’s all there was. She had seen something in his eyes that night, and the world had stopped for a moment. He held her fist, and stared into her fiery eyes.

“Hello, Victoria,” he whispered.

Victoria snapped open her eyes and stared into the black distance. He knew my name. She could feel her heart pounding. There’s more to my story, but…I had forgotten. He knew my name, which means… She looked at the phone and at his smiling face. He knew about me before that night. They were talking about me, I was so naive. She closed the phone and put it into her pocket. What am I supposed to feel? If I belonged to him since the beginning, should I be angry? She leaned back against the bench and closed her eyes.

Her years in The Company had sucked away most of her memories, and made her into a ruthless killer. She knew how to show happiness, display some form of humanity, but it was always about the job. She wanted to remember everything, but only select things stuck out for her; the ice cream, the night of her capture, and the useless teachings of her father. Her mother barely stood out, always that shadowed outline kissing her upon the forehead before she disappeared. As far as Victoria was concerned, she had no family.

Thinking about it won’t change it, I have to stop trying to live in the past, she decided and leaned forward again. The only person I can trust is him, regardless of what has happened. He has been there for me more than my father has…and neither of them are my real father. I guess it doesn’t matter. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head. He’ll have to tell me more, I’m tired of being in the dark. She turned away from the water park and ventured into the noisy carnival once more. He did right by telling me those things…now it’s hard to hate him like I used to. She smiled faintly at the thought.

Carnies called to her as she passed by, they all wanted her to play their games. She didn’t feel like indulging again. She hadn’t found any other players yet, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t there. She could only assume now that most of her acquaintances were either dead, or somewhere else. She was tired of the same routine; it had to end sooner or later. How much longer can I last? She pondered.

Victoria grabbed the pager that had been added to her attire since her stay. She hadn’t thought to look at it; it was new technology to her. She just knew that it beeped when a game was about to begin, and that was good enough. She stopped walking and looked at the little device in her hands. “What does this mean…?” She asked aloud and read the digits on the small screen. “200 Monies, is that…currency?[/i] She scratched her head and made a pondering face. She didn’t quite understand what it was, but that was the most logical assumption. She clicked a small button on the side of the pager, and it beeped before some words popped onto the screen. “Confirm…? Okay, why not.” She pushed the button again and the amount of Monies disappeared. “Well, that was silly.” She placed the pager back onto her belt and continued walking.

She had made her way to the food area, the smells made her mouth water. She enjoyed eating when she had the chance, and now was just an opportunity to do so. She strolled up to a hotdog vendor and leaned on the window. A man appeared at the opening and grinned at her.

“You want a hotdog?” He asked, his grin beginning to creep her out.

“Um, yes?” She replied wearily and took half a step back. “With a drink, and uh…ketchup on it.” She nodded slightly.

“Do you like hotdogs? I bet’cha do.” He began preparing the hotdog, looking at her as he did so. “I'll give you a big juicy one; you look like you need it.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down at her and slid a tray across the counter towards her with her meal on it.

Victoria twitched, and clenched her fist. “What do you mean by that?” She said through gritted teeth. “Are you implying…that I…” Her face flushed red.

“Could use a hotdog…?” The guy finished, and grinned at her. He hit the ground in the next instant, and Victoria fumed over him. She held up her fist angrily and stomped his face.

“Damn it! You pervert!” She grabbed her tray and stormed away. It was the last thing she needed, a robot making innuendos in her presence.

She rushed past the other carnival goers and past the bench she had once sat upon earlier. So content on her thoughts, she passed Orion and slumped down at a park bench a few feet away. She grumbled and started to eat the hotdog, it was good, but her mood had made her enjoy it less than she would have liked. She ate quickly, getting ketchup around her lips, and brooded in silence.

“Once again I meet you and you have what closely resembled blood upon your face.” His gruff voice made her look up from the table. She stared at the Saiyan and swallowed hard.

“What! I say, it does look like she’s got blood on her face!” A second voice replied, and she furrowed her brow. Her eyes roamed until falling upon the small creature on Orion’s shoulder.

“Don’t mind the rodent…He likes to talk.” The older warrior remarked and the small creature did a double take before leaning on his miniature cane.

“Ah, um, ok,” she looked away and grabbed a napkin from her tray and wiped at her face. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were around.” She kept her eyes off of Orion, and blushed at her embarrassing situation. For some reason, she didn’t enjoy being seen like that.

“Catnip indeed!” The hamster laughed and Orion placed a palm to his brow as if in irritation.

“I’m sorry?” Victoria glanced up at the hamster.

“It’s nothing, like I said, he likes to talk.” Orion replied before his companion could get a word in. “I take it you did well in your events?” He asked, and she smiled awkwardly at the question.

“If you call this doing well, I suppose so.” She raised a hand to indicate their surroundings. “If you wanted to…chat, or something, my schedule’s open.” She continued, and looked away again. “Nothing else to do, I’ve done pretty much everything else.” She has been looking for him, both times she had returned to the carnival, but she didn’t know if she wanted to tell him that.

[Belle Hibiki]

Belle's feet hit ground with a loud, solid whump, and she staggered, almost falling over.

Her entire body seemed to be sizzling. Waves of steam rose off her skin like fumes from an overheated engine as she looked around, blinking, slightly confused. Was the match over already?

"Figures," she muttered, reaching a hand up and cracking her neck. "Just when I was about to kick some ass."

She pulled one strand of her hair away from her forehead and eyed it, the locks no longer golden. The transformation had been easier than she had expected, given her body, but she didn't want to press her luck by doing it again - at least not so soon. Becoming a Super Saiyan probably wouldn't help her in the Carnival, anyway. Given that this world was operating under Gamer's rules, probably no amount of strength would be enough to shatter the illusion..

Letting her hair fall, Belle started to walk. She only had the vaguest idea of where she was, having been apparently dumped at random within the carnival's confines, but the ferris wheel in the distance acted as a landmark to travel by.

She saw few people as she made her way through the tents. The couples that she passed still talked and laughed as if they didn't have a care in the world. Almost every single one of them had to be a computer fabrication, she realized; the actual players, when they showed up, stood out like sore thumbs.

And there were fewer and fewer of them each round. At the beginning, before the first round had started, Belle had scarcely been able to turn a corner without running into someone that looked out of place. The carnival had been lively and bustling. Now, stalls stood empty, and confectionary treats went uneaten. Plates sat on the tables where their owners had left them, some still steaming hot.

Belle throat tightened unexpectedly as a surge of anger flooded her. There was a good chance that some of those who played would never enjoy another meal. The enigmatic Gamer had claimed from the start that failure to win would mean death, and Belle went over in her mind the several people that had already been eliminated. Most of them were fighters that she didn't know, but their loss angered her, the same way she had felt when Meridian City was wiped out. These people had never made the choice to come here: they had been forced to play along inside someone's sick, twisted version of a video game. Another man trying to play God.

"He has no right," she whispered aloud, her voice just barely audible over a masking growl.

It wasn't just life that Gamer was toying with, either. Belle caught a reflection of herself in a mirror hanging outside the entrance to a large purple-and-white tent and cringed. The tape had done a good job of binding down her fake chest, but it must have started to come loose in the battle against the Reaper. Her breasts pressed out against the front of her loose tank.

Stopping, Belle looked around for a place to discretely fix the problem, and settled for ducking into a narrow gap between two tents. Looking left and right to double-check that she was alone, she started to adjust the wrappings, and suddenly wish Kaden were there to help her. The courier had done the job when she was too nervous to do it herself, and she found that she wasn't quite over the idea of touching herself. Her breasts hurt as she started to rebind them, and every so often she would hiss as she tightened the knots with trembling fingers.

When the tape was resettled she paused, staring down at herself, and let out a slow, deep sigh.

She was confused - more confused, probably, than she had ever been in her life. How was it possible that she could feel so ... normal? Sure, her balance was different than it had been before, and yes, she was missing some very important pieces of anatomy that she would rather not have been, but all in all, the transformation had been absent of the cataclysmic events she would have expected. She would have been distressed, but not surprised, to be be approached by a demon horde beseeching her wishes; to grow hair on her palms; to look at her arms one moment and find scales instead of skin; or to find herself possessed by the desire to deceive and betray her closest allies.

The absence of all that was, somehow, even more frightening.

"It's not true." The words fell from her lips as the glow from the enormous sign overhead spilled over the carnival, bathing everything in a soft, pinkish hue. "This isn't normal."

~+~+~+~

Piper was gone.

Kaden had to face that fact, but doing so was easier said than done. Could he have done anything to save her? Was she was really ... dead?

The courier swallowed and pulled the PDA that he had been given at the start of the contest out of his jacket pocket. The percentage of remaining contestants had dropped sharply after the last round; a check on his pager-like device showed the list of elligible targets for items, and skulls had been plastered across the portraits of the players who were no longer in the game. New among the skulls was Piper. And the others...

He pushed the pager back into his jacket. No; he absolutely refused to believe that they were all dead. The courier had no great love for Ander, to be sure, but he didn't wish him harm. Juno, either. But Sophia...

"So much for being a hero," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring off through the tents. Brooding was something that came naturally to him, and was something that he had spent a great deal of time practicing while on the road, occupying him in the long stretches between pit stops and fast food joints; before he had been wrapped into fighting for his life what seemed like every other week.

No matter how much he brooded, however, he couldn't seem to think of a way out of his situation. He was in the middle of contemplating what the next test might be when a crash from nearby made him stop. The noise seemed to come from a familiar-looking nearby tent. Walking closer, Kaden realized that it was the clothes shop that he and Belle had visited earlier. "Hello?" he called hesitantly, poking his head through the entrance.

Everything seemed normal, save that a single stand had been knocked over. Colorful clothes of every hue lay in scattered layers across the ground, some almost looking like rainbows. "Is everything alright?" Kaden asked, looking up to the woman behind the counter.

The young woman looked shaken. "She just came in and started demanding to know my 'secret,'" she said. "Then when I said I didn't know what she meant, she started tearing things off the racks at random."

"Who did?" Kaden asked, though he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he already knew the answer.

The woman shrugged. "Your friend from before, the girl with the pink hair."

Perfect; that's just what he needed, another Hibiki meltdown. He sighed. "Thank you. Don't worry: I'll take care of it."

The woman nodded. "Please do. She's acting... Well, I'm not sure she's quite right in the head."

"If you only knew," Kaden muttered, then set off through the rows of brightly-colored clothing.

He found Belle, surprisingly, in the women's section. Several pants, shirts, and dresses had been scattered to the floor, and the red-head was in the process of ripping another one off the shelves. She shoved the neck open, looked at the tag, squinted, turned it inside out, and started peering at the stitches. She let out a sound of disgust and threw the shirt on top of a growing pile of garments.

"Bella?"

"Don't call me that," Belle snapped, shooting a look at him before returning to her task. He had thought she hadn't noticed him, but apparently she was instead too preoccupied with whatever it was she was doing to care that he was there. "What does this say?" she demanded, shoving a dress at him, tag extended.

Kaden read. "Size 8?" he offered.

Belle 'tsk'ed and tossed the dress down as well. "I'm trying to find it, but there's nothing here."

"What are you trying to find?"

"The secret!"

"You asked the cashier about that, too," Kaden said, rubbing his temples. "What secret?"

Belle turned to him and brandished a pair of jeans in his direction. "I think I've figured it out: it's not just girls themselves that are weird. It's got to be something else. Something about their clothes, maybe, but I can't find any magic runes. Maybe it's what they eat, or their - " she paused, eyes widening, "Makeup. I didn't think about makeup. That could be magic, too." Another pause, her brows furrowing as her mind worked furiously. "It makes sense! All those perfumes, they're just a distraction, like an ILLUSION!"

"Belle-" he started.

"I'm going to find out whatever it is that makes them like they are!" she cut across him, ripping down another piece of clothing and roughly shoving it open to peer within. "I'm going to! I'm going to! I'm-!"

She stopped, her eyes widening. After a few seconds her expression settled, hardening, as if she had just made a difficult decision. "I need your help again," she said, her voice shaking.

"Oh." Kaden remembered all too well what Belle had forced on him before, and he wasn't eager to jump into another cramped space with the half-naked half-saiyan. Kaden had barely managed to avoid coming out without bruises the last time. "Well, I've got ... I need to use the shop."

"You can do that later," Belle insisted, stepping towards him.

"Belle, no, I'm sorry, but I'm not - "

She threw herself at him - and not in the metaphorical sense. The movement was so quick that Kaden barely had time to register it before Belle's shoulder slammed into his chest, sending him sprawling onto his back. Then she was on him, knees clamping down on either side of his waist as she leaned over, her face less than a half a foot from his as her hands pinned his wrists to the ground.

Her eyes were bright, sky-blue crystals, her face a mask of nervousness and determination. "I'm going to find the answer," she whispered, her warm breath puffing against his lips. "You're going to help me."

Kaden smelled strawberries - faint but distinct. He stared up at her for a long couple seconds, considering his options, then sighed. "Alright," he acquiesced. "Just promise you'll stop throwing everything on the ground? And," he added, almost as an afterthought, "please get off me?"

~+~+~+~

Belle was a fighter, and a pretty good one, she liked to think. However, despite her ability to topple buildings and beat evil into a pulp, she was not, as the city people called it, a fashionista. Consequently, her first attempts at manufacturing a suitable outfit for witchery were complete abortions. It was only when Kaden offered to help - probably trying to end the episode as quickly as humanly possible - that it started to feel like she was making progress.

"Here we are again," Kaden muttered, almost too low to hear.

"What was that?" Belle asked, growling as she pulled off the tank that the courier had handed her and dug around for something else.

"Nothing," the courier assured her, but Belle could see him roll his eyes in the mirror.

"Look," Belle said, slightly testy. "I would ask someone else, but I don't KNOW anyone else. We went over this last time."

"That really doesn't mean you can kidnap me whenever you want."

"It's what friends are for," Belle countered.

"Oh, really?" Kaden asked, picking out a dress in the pile and holding it up against Belle's front. "How would you feel if Sayana forced you to watch her play dress-up?"

Belle shoved his hands away. "I said no dresses." She folded her arms. "I wouldn't do it, because she's a freak. She'd probably try to ... I don't know." She waved her hand as if dismissing it. She knew perfectly well what Sayana would TRY to do, but something stopped her from telling Kaden. Her relationship with Sayana was ... complicated. "She's always acting way more like a girl than she really is."

"But she is a girl," Kaden said.

"No she's not!" Belle suddenly snarled. "She's a kid!"

Kaden raised his hands in silent mea culpa as Belle went to the pile. "Like... Like this shit," Belle recoiled, holding the straps of a black, lacy bra between her index fingers and thumbs as if it might carry some kind of contagious. "She always wants to buy crap like this - all this... Lace stuff. Why do you want it to be see through? Wouldn't that be cold? It doesn't make sense."

"Belle," Kaden said suddenly, interrupting her rant. "Why do you hate women?"

Belle froze, shoulders tensing. "What?"

"Well, it's just..." The courier trailed off, then continued. "You don't give them a chance. Ever. You seem like a nice person around anyone with, well, a penis..."

Belle twitched, her mind floating back to a decade before; to that dark, smoky room. To those loud voices, and staring, uncaring eyes. She opened her mouth, then thought better of what she was going to say. "Isn't it obvious?" she said instead. "Because they're witches. They're... evil. It's just something that they DO. Like snakes. They're different."

"I thought you said that you felt normal?" Kaden gestured at the clothes. "Isn't that what this is about?"

Belle suddenly felt like hitting him. "That - you - Shut up! They are different, I just have to find out how!"

"Do you really believe that?" Kaden continued. "Or is there something else?"

Belle turned around. She didn't hit him, but she did shove him against the wall hard enough to make the booth shake. "SHUT UP! You're just saying that because that Soapy chick is pretending that she likes you! She's going to EAT YOU one of these days, you watch!" She looked down at the crumpled black undergarment in her hands, her fingers closing into fists. "You can't trust them. Any of them."

Thick silence filled the air. Perfect for brooding, Belle thought bitterly, but it wasn't something that she ever did. She preferred to act, to keep moving.

Finally, Kaden spoke. "Can I tell you something, Belle?"

She didn't want to look at him to see if he was hurt, so she kept her eyes trained to the side "What?"

"It's about a girl that I knew," Kaden murmured. "A long time ago."

[Kaden]

Things had become real awkward, real quick for Kaden. He counted himself lucky, though, since awkward was usually preferable to dangerous or violent or… just about anything else that happened in Kill Town. Or so he thought. Despite the apparent break down Bella… Belle was suffering, he hadn’t expected her to all but throw him through a wall. Had he been in a worse mood, he would have simply taken his leave of the situation, not really big on threats of violence and all.

Despite the slump he felt upon seeing that Piper was no longer a participating member of Gamer’s game, the courier was quick to rally. He couldn’t let himself sink back into a funk. He knew people were counting on him, believing in him, and he wasn’t about to abuse that, no matter how misplaced he thought such things were. There were far more trustworthy and capable people within Kill Town, but, like they say, when life gives you lemons…

The only surefire way to help those who had been captured, that Kaden could see, was to free himself from the game and deal with Gamer in-person. Even though he had absolutely no idea how he would go about doing that, the courier was determined to find a way. At the time, the only apparent way to curry any favor with the teenager was to finish his insane events. If that’s what it took, that’s what he would do. In the meantime, though, if he could help other’s get through their own problems, they would collectively stand a better chance of surviving.

“Before I start, though,” Kaden said. “You should know I’m expecting some reciprocity, here. I don’t just bare my soul to everyone, y’know.”

Leaning forward, Kaden strained to discern any of the barely-audible grumblings that escaped Belle’s mouth. He watched, almost with amusement, as the girl’s knuckles went white, her death-hold on the bra in her hand tightening.

“Oh come on,” the courier said, the tone in his voice lightening. “It’s not like you really have any secrets from me anymore.”

Up to that point, Belle had done a remarkable job in ignoring – or perhaps forgetting – the fact that she was, largely, naked. It wasn’t until Kaden emphasized his last point by extending a finger and poking her in the breast. The hybrid’s eyes snapped from his extended hand to his eyes with a mixture of confusion and annoyance plastered across her face.

“Fine…” she finally mumbled.

“Sorry,” Kaden flashed a quick smile and shrugged. “I’m a curious guy. Anyway, like I was saying, there was this girl I knew a long time ago. Well… ok… it was only eight years ago, and I shouldn’t really call her a girl. She’s, like, a hundred. I swear, she looks eighteen. Maybe nineteen,” the courier added after a confused glance from Belle. “You ever seen people who could regenerate? She could do that. According to her, it kept her from aging. I think. She could be pretty hard to understand sometimes.”

As he talked, Kaden had grabbed the first top he saw from the pile of clothes laying between him and Belle. He breathed a quick sigh of relief as the girl pulled the shirt over her head, covering herself mostly up and allowing him to focus on what he was trying to say. It was a light yellow tanktop with pink trim that fell to her hips and actually looked pretty good. Momentarily distracted, Kaden fished for a pair of grey Capri pants Belle had tried on earlier. He continued talking as he pulled the pants from the pile and tossed them to the girl.

“So, anyway, there I am, fourteen years old, thinking that nothing exciting ever happened. You know how… no… you probably don’t. Sitting in the same classroom day after day gets old. Even talking to your idiot friends gets boring after a while. I’ll admit, once or twice I started up some drama just to keep things interesting. They weren’t exactly the toughest group to figure out, and I was… well… fourteen. I never stopped to think about how much I actually gained from being around people until the summer before I turned fifteen.

“See, as a teenager, I started to get… well… sick. You’ve seen me in action, right? I’m told I’m above par when it comes to manipulating ki. Well, long story short, I started draining other people’s energy because mine would just… run out. I couldn’t even control it. Hugging my parents, or petting our dog, even giving a friend a high-five… any contact and I would start sucking people dry. It was not good.

“The reason that matters is because, eventually, I wasn’t able to play with friends, or go to school, or even go outside eventually. I was stuck in my own house, and even then I couldn’t touch anyone. I doubt you know how mind-numbing daytime television can get, but take my word for it, it’s bad news. So things had gone from bad to worse for me, and that’s when I got it in my head that if I could suck people’s energy, I could use it to help people. I started sneaking out of my house at night and looking for… I don’t know… some criminal to stop. Or something. God that sounds dumb when I say it out loud.”

Having buttoned her pants, Belle scrutinized herself in the mirror of the dressing room as Kaden talked. He had to admire the outfit, it actually looked pretty good on the girl. Even if it hadn’t, he would still have insisted that, since she were clothed, they should move their conversation out of the changing room. As they left the clothing store, the clerk looked, quite disapprovingly, at the mass of discarded clothes that littered the store in their wake.

“So that’s where I ran into her,” Kaden continued his story. “We were both out fighting crime, more or less. In the next few months, I would sneak out and meet up with her and we’d go… y’know… do our thing. Not only was it way more exciting than sitting in my room doing nothing, but she was… how do I put it… nothing she did made sense. Like… nothing. The way she talked, the things she did, the decisions she made… I didn’t understand any of it. And, like I said before, I’m a curious guy. Figuring things out is usually pretty entertaining.

“Now I’m running around with this woman, who’s attractive and interesting and completely takes me away from the boredom and monotony of my usual life. I was, like, fifteen. Of course I’m going to start falling for her. So, I start, like… pursuing her, I guess you could say. That all went well and then, one day, bam!” Kaden clapped his hands together for emphasis. “Everything in my life was taken away.”

“Everything?” Belle asked as Kaden took a deep breath and walked to a bench not far from the clothing store.

“The two of us went out, like usual, but when we got back to my house, it wasn’t really there. Instead we found a nice big pile of ashes. Even today, I’m not exactly sure what happened. When I turned to ask what the hell was going on, the woman knocked me out cold. When I woke up, everything was gone. My home, all family, all my possessions. That was a pretty bad day, really.”

Reclining into the bench, took a moment to simply let his mind wander. An understandably awkward silence had fallen over Belle. The same thing happened every time Kaden told that story… all one times he had told it, at least. The thought occurred to Kaden that maybe he didn’t actually care about Belle’s problem. Well… he cared, but maybe that wasn’t why he was actually talking about his past.

“But that’s not really the main point of the story. That woman… for the longest time, I convinced myself she had taken everything from me. I mean, that was mostly just me trying to hide from what happened, but that doesn’t mean I hated her any less. I didn’t just hate her, though. Hell, I didn’t even just hate women. I hated everyone. Anyone who even looked like they had ever been happy in their life… instant hate. That went on for a while. Well… I’m definitely still dealing with some of it, but the point is, I had to let go eventually.

“Yeah, bad things happen. You know that. What’s important, though, is that you grow from them. If I had let what happened in the past turn me into… I don’t know… some kind of maniacal sociopath who hated everyone, I would never have out lived it. I would have been stuck living every day of my life for the past and, well, that’s not really living. I just couldn’t keep hating people.”

Silence fell over the bench as Kaden finished. Belle seemed to be processing the courier’s words. He found it impressive how quiet the girl had stayed during his story, having prepared himself to deal with a handful of interruptions. Regardless of the girl’s thought process, though, Kaden appreciated the silence.

His own story had given him reason to pause. There were aspects of it that he had never really given any weight before. He understood the ramifications of being consumed by hatred for the only person he thought he ever loved, but actually thinking they were things he was actively suffering from was another issue altogether. How he would get past that, or even if he wanted to were issues he would definitely have to confront someday. Largely, he blamed Sophia for that.

Then, of course, there were plenty of things concerning Sophia that ran through his mind. While making sure they were on good terms was important, their last conversation had left plenty of things hanging in the air. Normally, Kaden would have preferred to pursue her and finish their conversation, but the priestess seemed to be in a… fragile state of mind. He had no idea what may or may not push her over the edge. Again, something to be dealt with another day.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Kaden turned to Belle. She seemed to be collecting her thoughts, as her attention turned to straightening out the front of her shirt and letting her finger run along the wood-grain of the bench. Belle hadn’t been the type of person who busied themselves while in deep thought, at least not during the Carnival. Whether or not that was a consistent behavior, Kaden didn’t have enough experience with the girl to say for sure.

“So,” Kaden broke the silence. “I guess that would make it your turn.”

[Ashe]

Takes place after the conversation between Belle and Kaden.

"Next!" the storage clerk called out into the crowd.

Like most theme parks, this one came located with digital capsule lockers to allow the storage of a large number of items. Unlike most theme parks, this one had a pink haired participant that loved shopping - even if it meant it had to be from the vending machines. The moving mass of items slowly shifted its way forward and stopped in front of him. "Hi there!" a cheery voice chirped.

"Uh..." Leaning around the side of the items, the clerk adjusted his glasses to allow for a better look. Somewhere in the center of the stack of items, a pair of green eyes peered back at him as if through a window. "Can I help you?"

"I'd like all of this placed onto my account and mailed to my residence, please! The one on Kajin Rala!" the voice clarified from behind them.

The clerk leaned back a moment and braced himself. "I see... I hate to inform you, but everything here is for digital purposes only."

"Ok!" she replied just as cheerily.

Yeah, she was going to make his job a bit more difficult on him.

"Well, what I mean is that none of it exists outside of this game. It's all digital data within the game itself. So anything you have received is limited to the confinements of the festival," he explained. Leaning around the backside, his brow rose a bit. "Did you... somehow balance more items on your hip bone?"

"Of course, I'm a professional at this kinda' thing," she informed him. "And what do you mean I can't keep any of this stuff? I won all this!" she insisted, dangerously.

A moment of silence passed between them before the man sighed, knowing what this was really about. "Alright," he finally decided. "Place it on the desk before me."

"Place what?" came the innocent response.

"The Twilight book."

Another moment flittered by. "But it's mine," was her answer.

"That's what this really boils down to, isn't it? I told them to remove it from the list," the man complained for a moment, his ramblings falling on deaf ears, "but now legal says that we have to send a physical copy to your residence of this one item. It isn't really worth the fight on our side to not do it," he admitted, extending his hand.

"Oh thank god!" Ashe swelled, dropping everything else around her as if it all was suddenly meaningless. "I really didn't want to have to hurt someone."

"Yeah," the man replied, lifting the digital book copy up with a pair of tongs and setting it into a discarded plastic bag. "We'll be sure to properly dispo-" he began, coughing suddenly. "I mean, deliver it, to your residence for you. Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

Scanning over the large pile for a moment, Ashe finally reached up to the top and snatched a strawberry and cream flavored Creamsickle, quickly returning the unwrapped paper to the top of the pile before popping the treat into her mouth. "Mmm..." she droned, forgetting completely about the book now that she'd been appeased. "I know that when I put this into my mouth, the system tells me its good, and that it doesn't really exist. But something I've learned in these things... Ignorance is bliss," she admitted. Her eyes suddenly snapped to one more thing and she swiped it from the pile while the ice cream bar hung suspended by her lips. "What's this?" she tried to ask, giving out nothing more than a series of muffled noises.

"Err, I'm sorry? Miss, is there anything else I can assist you with?" he asked once more, but she turned and walked off without offering him another glance, her attention split between the frozen treat and the sphere in her hands. What was it? What could it be used for?

Oh the possibilities...

---

"Sigh..."

Kaden ran both hands through his hair, pulling it back a bit before releasing it to cascade back into place. It usually seemed to just do its own thing anyway, he noted. His back popped as he leaned back on the board, listening to the cool sound of the waves moving back and forth beneath the extended board he'd climbed onto in a quieter section of the park.

"Girls..." he muttered under his breath, despite being alone. "Can't live with 'em," he began, changing the old adage up a bit. "And when they die, they just come back to haunt you."

It wasn't that he didn't want to see Sophia, really. But with girls, it seemed like impending doom was guaranteed, regardless of how one responded to the situation. They must've come pre-programmed with Malcontent Mode, he figured. Maybe that's what Belle always insisted was Menstu Ration, though if it was, he'd be surprised how close he actually was.

Still, he wasn't usually one to soak in depression. He held a hand up before him created a small ball of ki within it, rolling it around the palm of his hand with small amusement. His eyes began to shine a bit and he looked to the starlight above, feeling the cool air pass through his lungs as he held up his hands, imagining himself to be lying under a basketball goal, before he shot the ball upwards, the ball on a directionless goalless path to simply escape the current situation - to blast off to the stars. It was almost poetic, in that he was basically releasing his pent up frustration in one movement and expelling it from himself before it bothered him much more.

The ball moved upwards, hurtling towards the stars, intent on bursting at its apex in full symbolic climax... That was when the world gave way, and he suddenly found himself in a freefall before plunging into icy reality.

---

"Man, I love these things," Ashe grinned, cleaning the last bit of the iced delicacy from its stick with her tongue. When nothing was left beyond the stick itself, she spied a nearby trash bin and headed towards it, still studying her red and white shaped ball keenly. It wasn't until she had thrown the trash into its container that she realized she'd wandered a bit off her intended path.

Just across from her, she saw a series of glowing lights in the air on one of the machines, shining like a series of stars before one of the balls of light separated from the others to rise to meet its brethren. She approached the setup quietly, unable to really make out who or what was sitting within its structure. Her eyes scanned across a sign directly beside her that seemed to become better lit as the ball of light rose into the air. "Step right up and throw a ball, hit the spot and the idiot falls!" she read quietly. "Oh, one of these things!" It was hard to not grin mischievously upon reading this. Whoever had climbed up onto that platform was simply begging to be dunked, even if they were out here by themselves in what appeared to be an abandoned section of the park.

The ball of light rose higher, prompting Ashe to forgo her search for an official throwing ball and simply deciding to instead launch the one in her hand. It arced through the air gracefully, cutting directly above the water until it struck the center of the target perfectly, a guilty glee passing through her as the platform immediately gave way. The ball exploded into a small fireworks display at the exact moment that the shrouded figure struck the water, the liquid quickly stifling its surprised screams. She felt a short pang of guilt, but, she reasoned, they were asking for it. A squeal of laughter burst forth from her and she ran to the ladder quickly to figure out how they'd gotten in the cage themselves.

---

The shock of the drop had cut through him far sharper than the cold itself, although neither was very welcome. Whatever had happened, he could either take it as a rather dick move to get him to stop brooding, or he could laugh at the... Nah, dick move all the way. Whenever he got out of there, he was going to have to exchange a stern series of words with the perpetrator. By that, he meant through his fists. And by that, he meant metaphorically. Maybe.

In that moment, the sun appeared to suddenly rise, causing the entire pool of water to turn into a blinding white that forced him to close his eyes quickly before his arms found their way to shield him. A small rounded orb floated through the water just above him, catching his attention only due to its almost terrifying familiarity. What had been awesome before was just... unfortunate now.

His mouth opened, a series of bubbles quickly rising up to meet the sudden release of energy as the ball activated, the enormous beast within escaping.

---

"Ugh, lights ON!" she grunted as she fumbled with the large switch she found next to the cage siding. A sound like a scratched record suddenly began, fumbling on itself before settling into typical carnival music as a series of lights erupted all around the machine. "That's better," she figured, quickly brushing the dust from her hands off on her shorts before looking back at the cage door. A large metal lock on a chain was draped around it, preventing the stairs from being used at all.

It took a moment to sink in. "Oh, yeah, ok, I guess they climbed in there the hard way," she supposed.

"MmglsllSHIT!"

Her ears caught the strangest sound breaking the surface of the water as a massive blue form suddenly appeared inside of it. "Uh oh," she moaned, running around to the front of the machine and quickly jumping onto it. "Is that a shark?" she wondered, holding on to the cage before realizing that, no, the mammoth mammal beneath her had a few too many arms and legs to be an aquatic warhead of certain death. A moment later, her mind recalled the figure that'd been hanging around on the platform.

"No way, this thing is way too fat. I totally didn't dunk this dude," she rationalized.

"MmghELP!"

She was dead, she supposed. Well, unless the dunked person - who she now figured was trapped beneath the monstrosity in the water - died from lack of oxygen first. Thankfully, moments later she found herself suspended within the cage and her hand pulling a familiar figure out from the cold water by the arm, holding on to keep herself out of the water as well.

The student and courier exchanged looks before Ashe sheepishly greeted him. "Hi..." she began.

"Hi."

Shifting her attention to the cooler thing in the water, her head tilted to the side before following up. "That thing... looks asleep. Underwater," she added, incredulously.

"I noticed."

They both quietly made their way to the front of the pool before letting go of the cage to both sit down on the edge of the platform. Ashe's chewed her lip for a moment before her hand reached up to salvation. She grabbed the edge of the large jester hat she'd won, pulling it down until it covered her eyes, helping her pretend that where ever she was, it wasn't here, and it wasn't Kaden that she'd just dunked.

[Orion]

Victoria's sullen body language stood out like the beacon of a lighthouse against a malevolent storm. Upon their initial meeting, her bubbly and child like demeanor seemed terribly out of place for an indoctrinated assassin. Such an uncharacteristic personality of a professional murderer stabbed directly into Orion's memory like a pesky splinter. It irked him slightly that a buoyant, almost innocent young girl could coexist with the no-nonsense practicality of a mercenary, since they were so incongruent. In another way, however, it opened a door that he thought was closed, chained and welded shut; a person's identity wasn't necessarily born of their past. Maybe her cognitive dissonance was at an all time high, for all he knew, but her outward presentation suggested against that. Orion could spot an actor a mile away, and Victoria's performance was anything but rehearsed.

Due to their earlier encounter, Victoria's behavioural shift from perky but somewhat reserved to downright depressed triggered the saiyan's curiosity. Something occurred to sink the candy haired girl's attitude to the introverted depths of sadness. A myriad of possibilities floated in Orion's mind, all retaining feasible points. All of his thoughts were unified in the belief that this misery was caused by Gamer in some indirect fashion. Of course, he wouldn't discover the issue until he investigated.

Orion fell into the bench clumsily, almost knocking Sprinkles from his perch. He growled in a haughty British dialect, siphoning any imitating hostility that the hamster wished to portray. Straightening his top hat, he composed himself and waddled over Orion's shoulder and onto the lip of the bench behind the saiyan's neck, inching closer to Victoria. Orion grunted a warning, and Sprinkles kept his yammering to himself.

"You'd feel better if you talked about what happened," Orion suggested with as little commitment as he felt he could get away with. As much as he identified with Victoria, filling the role of an unofficial counsellor was slightly out of his comfort zone.

Victoria's eyes remained locked to her ankles. "You wouldn't want to hear it."

Orion scrunched his face. He wished she would just accept his offer, dammit. This was embarrassingly unconventional behaviour for the bellicose warrior. "Look, I ... want to know. Just tell me, will you?!"

The gloomy gaze of the youthful bounty hunter lifted to meet Orion's eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I say, look here! He's bloody well offered to be your sympathetic shoulder to cry on, so jolly well listen to-"

A burly hand coiled around Sprinkle's entire body and mouth, leaving only his widened eyes visible above Orion's clenched fist. He shook his head disapprovingly to the space hamster, conveying the point that he should slam his buck toothed pie hole shut. Orion's thoughts were mutually inclusive to the space hamster's, but even the socially awkward warrior recognised times for tact. He gesticulatively ordered Sprinkles to refrain from his extroverted bouts of honesty before loosening his grip on him. Orion watched ominously for the monocle wearing rodent to test the rule for a brief moment, but Sprinkles didn't fancy another mock asphyxiation.

The saiyan cleared his throat, stifling it with a fist to the lips. "I'd like to hear what happened."

Victoria sighed deeply and stared down the pavement before her feet. "I was put in this western place with Alex. He was a really nice guy. We ended up in a shoot out with the enemy, and ... well ..."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to adumbrate the closure of her trailing sentence. "Yeah. I understand now."

"It just wasn't fair," she elucidated, a strengthening of her vocal chords occurring as she relived the moment. "I mean, it all just happened so fast. I tried to help, but-"

Astonishingly to the saiyan, a compassionate instinct springing from the darkest, infrequently visited recesses of his mind compelled him to action. Perhaps even more astonishingly was how he immediately reacted without a single conflicting thought. He patted Victoria reassuringly on her knee in a surprisingly informal gesture of friendship. Rather than simply denounce Gamer and his narcissistically derisive intentions for the caged puppets, Orion opted to focus on his own similar experiences.

"I've lost more than my fair share of companions to wildly unfair circumstances," Orion started, leaving his calloused hand on Victoria's knee for a second longer before withdrawing. "It eats at you like a voracious virus, consuming everything you thought you were before it happened, until one day ..." He paused, sighing in an abrupt, disheartening revelation of his own, "you're merely a shadow of who you used to be."

Victoria suddenly relinquished the vice-like clasp on her sorrow and craned her head at Orion, fascinated by his unintentional confession. "What do you mean?"

"I mean ... revenge, for a start." As soon as the R word left his lips, it was all he could do to avoid an image of Szar stealing the spotlight in his mind's eye. "It distracts you from who you are. Tears down everything you worked for. Your life, your friends, be they old or new, a chance at a fresh start ..." He grizzled a fake cough, swiftly noticing the lowering of his tone in tandem with the vault of scarring memories he hadn't unlocked in the longest time. "You can't let sadness or vengeance steal away who you are. If you let it, it becomes a cancer, eating away all the good things left in you until you're nothing but an empty shell, a dead man shuffling around until the second, less important death claims you."

"Wow," Victoria gasped, sitting upright for the first time since they converged. "I ... guess I didn't think of it that way."

"It's OK to grieve," Orion explained. "Just make sure that you let out the pain, mourn their passing, then let it go. Don't let it fester into something worse."

"So ... I shouldn't want to kill Gamer, then?"

"What? Oh no, of course not! Gamer's still going to die. Just don't let that become your sole motivator. Got it?"

The bubblegum haired android nodded appreciatively. Even Sprinkles managed a wry smile, although his physiological limitations prevented it from being respectable.

"I say, smashing!" he announced, sliding down the curved backing of the bench and onto the seat. "I'm sure that's got you feeling a smidge better, what?"

[Victoria]

His words reverberated through her inner being, and she couldn’t help but reflect on each piece of advice he laid out before her. Victoria didn’t see this man as someone simple, everyday, he was beyond that. She looked up at him, into his remaining eye, face in mild shock at the revelation. She could take his words, absorb them and grow into a better person. She could trust this man, perhaps even more than him, she believed. She didn’t deny the fact that she was naive, Vic knew her limits. However, this seasoned vet had experience, probably more than Jeremy, and this was something she couldn’t just ignore.

Her eyes followed his hand, it left her knee, and she stared as the lingering warmth dissipated. She leaned back against the bench, and felt as if something had surfaced. She couldn’t ignore such advice, and let the seeds of hate consume her. She smiled curtly, knowing that Gamers death was definitely on the agenda. So, then, when is revenge appropriate? She wondered, and looked up again. Her lips parted, and she dared to ask, but no words came out. She leaned forward slightly and looked down at her hands in her lap while her cheeks reddened.

At some point I’ll become a nuisance, that’s how it works. She closed her eyes as a cold breeze drifted past them. Her hair moved against her face, and a few delicate strands remained astray. She opened her eyes and leaned back, a soft smile gracing her lips. “Have you have watched the stars?” She asked suddenly, and the Saiyan looked at her curiously.

“In what way?” He replied, not sure of her question.

“Like this, well, if there were any,” she raised a hand and pointed towards the sky. “Back home, whenever I had a mission that took over twenty-four hours, I would watch the stars.” She kept her eyes on the black sky, imagining the sparking jewels hanging above them in their glory. “I did it more when I was younger, I would reach up,” her fingers grasped at the air, closing slowly, “and I would grab a handful of them. I’d keep them, something to hang onto.” She closed her eyes and grinned, however, she couldn’t stop the small tears that edged between her tightly shut eyelids. “I had nothing to hang onto. I had to think of ways to be happy, it’s hard to be happy inside.” She dropped her hand into her lap suddenly and wiped at the wetness in her eyes with her other hand.

“If you want to catch stars, you should leave Earth,” Orion spoke into the silence, but he didn’t look at her. “You can imagine catching stars, and then you can go and really catch them. I’m probably the worst person to give advice on this, but if you have to imagine happiness, do you want to keep living like that?” He asked.

“No, I don’t, and yet,” she paused and held her hands out in front of her, “I’m not ready for that.” She flexed her fingers carefully in and out. “I have to keep training. They let me get taken, and I get it, because this has made me stronger. So, then, I have to keep training. I can still learn more, and once I do,” her hands snapped shut completely into fists and her face contorted into a scowl.

“Whoa, hey, didn’t I just say something about revenge,” Orion interjected.

“When I was younger I was disciplined to keep my mouth shut. Questions were for children. As I gained respect, became powerful, I found that I could at least speak out against Jeremy. Yet…when I was young,” she shook her head for a moment, “I was a bother. If I was to remain a slave, all I wanted was answers. I wouldn’t get any answers so I would get upset and thrown into isolation. I learned to keep my questions to myself.” She looked up at the veteran and her gaze softened. “Everyone here is different, and yet, I held my question back when I wanted to ask you something. I’m confused, is it because of my training, or because I respect you? I don’t know.” She shrugged lightly

“Victoria,” Orion hesitated and pursed his lips for a moment, “you can ask me questions; you’ve already asked me plenty, nothing’s changed.”

“You’re right, that’s why I’m confused as to why I would hold back. Maybe I like you.” She didn’t look at him, but the silence settled like a fine dust around them. “You know…because you’re nice.” She chuckled lightly and tilted forward. “I’ll ask you anyway, forget all of that,” she held up a hand and shook her head quickly.

“What! She likes you, old boy!” The hamster chimed in and looked up at the two sitting beside him. Victoria looked down and moved her hand; she pressed her index finger against the animal’s top hat, and began to push down.

“I could kill you in one fluid motion, if you’d prefer.” She said this stoically, her face void of emotion.

“Oh my,” the hamster trembled slightly, “my sincerest apologies.” The rodent shuffled and Victoria lifted her finger. He leapt onto Orion’s lap and moved across until he was perched on his knee, far from Vic and her finger. He babbled about something, but she cut his voice out and leaned back against the bench again.

“When is revenge okay,” she asked the silence. Another soft breeze brushed against them, and her hair drifted in front of her wide eyes.

“It depends on the situation I suppose.” Orion replied, all the while he attempted to ignore his small companions mumbling. “Are we still talking about Gamer? We’re definitely going to kill him.”

“I’m wondering.” She rested her hands behind her head and stared into the void of space above them. “You told me about revenge, and…well I’m naturally curious, so I decided just to ask. You say not to give into revenge, and then you say we’re going to kill Gamer. So, what makes that revenge okay?” She asked.

“Well, it’s inevitable. If we want to live we have to kill him, that’s how it works.” He explained.

“So, if I dislike someone…so much so that I’d want revenge for what they’ve done, I should only do it if my life is at stake?” She asked, eerily calm.

“I suppose in a way that would be right.” He responded. “I can only tell you what I told you earlier, it’s not something to dwell on. If you’re going to get revenge, only you can decide if it’s what you really want to do. I’m just warning you.”

“So I either accept it or fight it.” She concluded.

“Not necessarily.” Orion replied. “There are always other options; nothing is ever one or the other. Just because something seems hopeless, doesn’t mean it is.”

“You’re wise.” She tilted her head and looked over at the Saiyan. “I can go and catch stars.” She looked at the ground then closed her eyes.

”Childish things,” his voice was cold and harsh. “You know better, you’ll be molded into the perfect Hunter, which means you must leave those things behind.” He grabbed the item from her, and the tears began to form in her eyes. Even at fourteen, she needed this one thing, the only connection to her father.

“Stop it, James,” a voice snapped, “she’s still a child.”

“What do you care? She’s mine now, and my recruits don’t covet material items. She’s fresh from the butcher shop, and I won’t have her tainted more than she already is.” The man spat.

She gripped the soft item, clinging to it as if her life depended on it. It did, for all she knew, this was all she had left. “G-give it back.” She spoke through clenched teeth, and glared up towards the bright lights and silhouetted man.

“You need to be disciplined, you have no right to speak to me,” intense pain hit her, his hand slammed into her cheek and she flew off of her bed and across the floor. She cried out and held her stinging cheek. The tears trickled down her cheeks and she sobbed. “Nothing but a brat, and to think she made it out of Limbo.” James held the teddy bear in his hand and stared down at her coldly. “You have the power; I’ll make you use it properly.”

“I-I don’t want this…” Victoria muttered and shook upon the ground. “Leave me alone.” She pressed her palms to her face.

James walked over to her and reached down; he gripped her by her shirt and held her in the air. He tossed the teddy bear aside and raised his hand. “I don’t tolerate insolence.” He snarled and flexed his hand to hit her.

“That’s enough.” That voice again, it sliced through the air, and James’ hand was held back by another. Victoria opened her eyes, which had been screwed shut. “I thought this would be the best option, but now I’m starting to see that you’re unfit to train her.” James fought against the hold and he glared at his superior.

“Let me go, Jeremy, you know how I train my recruits.” He argued.

“I thought you would be more lenient, considering…” He looked at Victoria; she gripped at James’ hand gripping the collar of her shirt. She struggled uselessly to get free, and it broke his heart. “No, now I see that I was wrong all along.” He pulled on the trainers arm. “Let her go.”

James dropped Victoria and she snatched up the teddy bear before retreating towards the other side of the bed. “You came to me, don’t you forget that, you could have gone to anyone else.” The man pointed a finger at Jeremy in anger. “You’ve just wasted my time.”

“I wonder,” Jeremy held up a hand, “what happened? I thought I’d do you a favor by giving you such a talented recruit. You never used to be so ruthless.” He asked.

“It’s none of your business, I’m done here.” He pushed past Jeremy and stepped into the hall. “If I were you I’d watch what you do, Jeremy, things have changed and will continue to change whether you like it or not. I don’t want that brat; she’ll be useless in the end.” He left then, leaving behind a veil of silence.

Vic held the bear close, and she nestled her face into the fur. She didn’t want that man, she would have gone back into isolation and Limbo if it meant being away from him. She looked up wearily to the sight of Jeremy kneeling over her with an outstretched hand.

“It was meant to be, anyway,” he spoke and looked into her teary eyes, “I thought it would have been better that way but I was wrong. Well, I can’t always be right, can I, Victoria?” He smiled at her and she looked away. “You don’t remember me?” He withdrew his hand and stared at her.

“No,” she didn’t look at him. She sniffed slightly, no longer sobbing. It was a good sign, regardless.

“I’m not surprised; you probably mentally blocked most of it.” He tapped her on the head. “I’m going to be your friend here, okay?” He then tapped the bear on the head. “You can keep him; too, I know how much he means to you.”

She looked towards Jeremy in awe. “Really?” She asked, clutching the bear.

“As long as you work very hard for me, and do as I say, you can have him.” He nodded but gave her a stern glare. “I expect nothing but the best, okay?” He smiled then and messed her hair.

“You’re much better than that other man.” She concluded and let down her guard.

Jeremy didn’t know if it had been a good idea or not, all he knew was that he cared about Victoria. He couldn’t know for sure as to why, maybe because of her mother, but he couldn’t let her face pain and hopelessness all at once. He would have to train her to be the best, regardless of his title, some exceptions could be made.

“Victoria?” She felt her body shaking, and a poking against her eyelid. She opened her eyes wearily. In front of her was a giant hamster, which made her scream and jump in freight.

“Oh! I think I scared her, what!” The hamster jumped off of Orion’s knee and onto the bench beside him. Victoria held a hand to her brow and looked from the hamster to the Saiyan.

“You fell over, onto my lap,” he looked away awkwardly. “I tried to wake you up, and then the rodent poked you in the eye.”

“And you let him?” She asked in shock.

“You were…on my lap.” He shrugged helplessly. “Did you fall asleep?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I think so, I don’t even know how long we’ve been here.” She sighed and sat down on the bench again. “S-sorry about that.” She muttered and smiled at him in discomfort.

[Belle Hibiki]

"Right." Belle swallowed, her eyes fixed vaguely in the distance. "My turn."

Turn; as if this were some sort of game. Spin the bottle, and see whose turn it was to spill their life story. She detested the idea of exposing herself on principle. She had kept her memories under lock and key for so long that, when she opened her mouth to speak, the words refused to come.

Still, Kaden had held up his end of the bargain. Belle had given him her word as a man that she would follow through, and she was going to be damned if she lost that part of herself to her hateful body.

She played a lock of hair between her fingers, lips pursed, and cast a sidelong look at the blonde. She never would have guessed that Kaden had had something so terrible hidden away behind his facade of indifference. So awful ... and yet, somehow, if he was to be believed, the courier had learned to accept it. In Belle's opinion, the whole episode only confirmed her fears of the opposite - or for now, the same - gender.

Belle took a deep breath, then let it out. "I guess I should start at the beginning. Yeah." She straightened a bit in her seat. "Okay.

"I don't really remember too much about when I was really little. The only thing that's clear to me is that I didn't really have a home - at least, not like you city people do. You guys have walls and bedrooms; I had rivers and branches. You slept on beds. I slept on grass.

"My dad was the one who raised me. Back then, I didn't really think it was weird to have just one parent. I didn't know anything else existed, you know? And I didn't have much time to think about things like that, anyways; we always seemed to be moving somewhere, like my pops was on some kind of mission. Every day we would march, and when we weren't hiking, we were training.

"I've been doing it for so long, I actually don't even remember when I started fighting, but I do remember how much I hated it - at least at first. Every day, when I woke up, my dad would do his best to pound my head into the ground before breakfast, then again at lunch and dinner. I didn't understand why he was doing it - not then - and I would go to bed sometimes unable to sleep because of how bad it got." She grimaced. "Imagine like your entire body was a bruise and it hurt to even move an inch, but not moving just made your entire body ache and throb. Then imagine trying to sleep.

"I managed to get past it, though," she said with some small measure of pride. "The first time I slugged my pops was the greatest feeling ever. Not because I hit him - though that was fun - but because I could tell I had gotten better. It made him happy. He said he was proud of me.

"I started to like fighting a lot more after that. I started to even look forward to it. I'm not sure what changed, really." She paused and stared off before continuing; it was hard to put what she felt when she fought into words. She never seemed to be able to convey it right when talking to Sayana or Akiha. "It was this feeling that started to happen when I fought, like I could see more than I could before. I was excited, and the more excited I got, the better I did. It was like being on one of those roller coaster things, going super fast, just barely hanging on, but still being in total control.

"But I guess that's not what I'm supposed to talk about, is it?" she added, catching Kaden's puzzled look out of the corner of her eye. Flexing her toes, she sighed and pushed off the bench, stepping forward and looking up at the night sky. Few stars glimmered above, most of the night's tapestry washed clean by the bright glow of the town's titular sign. As before, she recognized some of the letters in the giant neon, but the full words eluded her. "I first learned about girls when I was still a brat - maybe six or seven, I think. My dad had a yearly get-together with his old pals in the woods, and they brought their kids. One of them was a girl."

She stopped again, then continued after a moment's hesitation: "When I asked my pops about it, he told me about girls. When I asked him whether he knew any well, he said he knew my mom. It was the first time he had ever mentioned her, and ... Well. I was stupid, you know? I thought that if girls were so different than guys, my mom had to be the total opposite of my dad. She would be nice, would cook me whatever I wanted if I asked, listen to what I said, and tell me stories without needing me to get her a beer first. And on top of everything, she was supposed to be a great fighter.

"So, like, a year later, my dad suddenly tells me that we're going to go see my mom, right? He needed to go on a long trip by himself, and wanted to put me up someplace while he was gone. I was..." Belle's lip twisted at the memory. "Happy. Like, I thought this is going to change everything. I would finally get to see my mom and learn what she was really like. I was so jumpy that I didn't sleep, and I don't think I even cared about how scary the city was, even though I almost got run over by a car a few times.

"I remember it was cloudy," she continued, her voice sounding distant even to herself, "Like right before a storm was going to roll in, dark at noon. We went to a dojo that had a wall around it. I remember thinking it was a pretty fancy place. Then she answered the door when my dad knocked.

"I ... can't really remember her all that well," she admitted. "I remember she had dark hair and dark eyes, but nothing else really solid." Her mind flicked back to the previous round, when she had fought the Collector Harbinger posing as her mother. She had known instinctively who it was, though the actual details that the creature had pulled from her mind had probably been incorrect.

"She wasn't at all what I was expecting." Belle ran a hand through her hair. "So ... stiff. She didn't smile, and didn't say much of anything to my dad or to me. It didn't feel like she even wanted us there at all." She took a breath. "Then my dad tried to talk her into taking me, and... Well..."

Belle swallowed again. Her encounter with the Ancient had brought the memory of what had happened back to the surface, and she could see the scene as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. "She said that I... That I - ..."

"Belle?"

She could hear Kaden's voice, but didn't see him. She could almost feel as her emotional walls went back up. She took a shaky breath and continued, her voice steady even as her mind churned in turmoil: "She said: ' 'Son? I think you are mistaken. True saiyans only give birth to strong children. I understand that you wish you were still with me, Taijime..." Her stomach twisted, but she continued. She knew what came next; she pursed her lips, licked them, then looked back to the courier.

" ' I understand that you wish you were still with me'," she continued in a soft voice. " ' But it wasn't something that could ever truly work. As a warrior I have to be strong. My heirs must be strong. What happened, what we were was... A mistake.' "

Belle trailed off. She felt cold, images and feeling washing over her like icy waves on a dark shore and threatening to drag her out to sea - riptides of memory, eddies of doubt and anger and loneliness. In her mind's eye she saw the two adults standing, and a small, confused little boy staring at the ground, his fingers knotted so tight in his pants that his nails were shredding fresh holes in them. A little boy who had once hoped and dreamed of something other than fighting.

"They kept talking like I wasn't there; they kept shouting, and no one would look at me. And that's when I knew," she said suddenly, "I couldn't trust them; any of them. The one girl that was supposed to matter the most, the one I was supposed to be able to trust above everyone else, and she thought I was ... trash. That I was too weak to be her son. That's when I decided that I would become strong -- strong enough that one day I would find her again, and I would prove her wrong.

"So I ... guess that's my life story." Belle shrugged. "Other than the fighting the Construct and finding the Dragonballs stuff." She started to walk back and sat on the bench. "I know; not exactly as big a deal as yours."

"It's not like it's a competition," Kaden said softly.

Belle colored. "That's not what I meant, dammit. I - " She floundered aimlessly for an excuse. When none was forthcoming, she pressed her lips together. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he assured her. "I'm glad you thought you could tell me."

"You kind of forced me into it."

Kaden's lips twitched. "Sure."

"And, well," Belle continued, "I'm... Glad you told me, too. That's probably not something you like talking about, so like... I guess thanks?"

[Orion]

To be honest, Orion really didn't know how to react when Victoria fell into an inexplicably swift slumber and collapsed on his lap. Humans trundled by, taking darting glances at the pair, making the incorrect supposition that they were an item. Even though they were digital emulations of real people, Orion couldn't repel the stultification that burned hot in his face. He gently nudged the sleeping mercenary to transit from the land of dreams, but she was out like a light. Any greater force would add to his uneasiness, but the current situation wasn't exactly conservative either.

Sparkles ultimately grew weary of the whole scenario and descended down Orion's chest like he was zipping down a muscular slide. He twitched his refined nose as he inspected Victoria, circling her dozing face.

"She's out like a light, what," he commented. "You should wake the jolly madam."

"I tried," Orion murmured, thanking his racial heritage that blushing wasn't physically possible. "It's like she's in a catatonic state."

"I say," Sparkles reprimanded sourly. "I understand chivalry and all that, but we need results here, old bean." The rascally hamster crouched forward, leaning into his cane. His miniature paw grabbed one of Victoria's eyelids and hoisted it up like a fleshy curtain before jamming her iris with his diamond studded walking stick. Her instinctual response was understandable, considering a anthropomorphic guinea pig just poked her in the eye. She shot up right in dazed fear, quickly settling down once the situation was cleared by her mind.

They conversed for a short while until Victoria apologised for her abrupt but unconscious collapse on his groin. She smiled shallowly against her awkwardness. Orion felt the same sensation in an equal helping, but he buried it out of perception.

"Don't worry about it," he waved off, clearing his throat in an attempt to reassemble his composure. It was time to change the subject. "So, what's in your future after this tournament?"

Victoria ruminated for a brief moment. "I ... don't know yet. I've had so many new experiences here. I've met so many new people. I guess I've got a lot to think about."

Orion nodded. "Just remember not to overthink."

"Yeah, I know." A stray interest tugged at the magenta haired bounty hunter. "What are you going to do after this is all over?"

"Me?" the saiyan repeated, ill prepared for the return.

"Yeah. I mean, what will you be doing in Heaven now?"

"Well ..." he hadn't dwelled on that since he was forcibly entered into Gamer's playhouse. "I'm travelling Heaven right now, visiting the four great Masters. They're training me, teaching me the finer points of combat."

"Wow," Victoria answered, her eyes wide, mesmerised. "What are the four great Masters?"

"They're appointed to a temple, commanding the most thorough knowledge and skill in one particular aspect of battle. I've already encountered Anitan, the deity of speed, Kagu, the embodiment of strength, and Maya, the sage of defense."

"Who's the next one?" the youthful assassin pressed, eager to learn more.

"The last master is Benton, although I've yet to reach his temple," Orion relayed. "I just completed my training at Maya's and received my emblem when a swarm of Gamer's lackeys slipped from the shadows and overwhelmed me. Once this is all over, I'll be heading out to Benton."

Victoria's smooth skin on her forehead crinkled with a frown. "Gamer sent hit men into the afterlife to retrieve you? How did he do that?"

"Well, I-" Orion's answer was stunted the moment he realised he had no idea. "Hmm. That's a good question. How does someone alive get access to the next dimension? I really don't know how he did it."

"Maybe he has some special contacts?" Victoria conjectured, riveted by the subject matter.

The eyepatch clad warrior shrugged the care away. "I don't think it's pertinent. Once I feed Gamer's supple body through a sharpened portcullis, it won't matter."

"I guess so." The candy haired mercenary perked up again when she mulled over Orion's last paragraph before the tangent. "You said something about an emblem?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"What are they? Are they some sort of bragging rights in Heaven?"

Orion chuckled. "I think that's an understatement."

"Huh?"

"Certain members are permitted to enter the four Masters' realm to train for the Emblems. If a person can obtain all four seals of approval, they can return to the world of the living."

Victoria couldn't be more shocked. She climbed onto her knees. "You can come back to life after dying?!"

"It's conditional, but yes, that is what I have been promised," Orion confirmed, feeling a wave of smugness.

"Wow," she breathed, squatting back down and staring at her feet while her brain processed the information. "You can have a second chance."

"That's right. I'm only one master's appraisal away from a halo-less existence."

Victoria redirected her gaze to Orion. "Well, what are you going to do when you're alive again?"

"What am I-" Orion breathed in through clenched teeth, unintentionally hissing. He didn't want to continue down this line of conversation.

"Come on!" Victoria provoked. "Tell me."

The saiyan grunted. He knew perfectly well what his motives were upon his resurrection, but after the impromptu ethics lesson on revenge, he couldn't bring himself to explain. It was one thing to say something, and quite another to accept it. Orion was terrible at practicing what he just preached.

"I-I can't say," he finally stammered. Better to keep her in the dark than dash her chances at turning out halfway normal.

Victoria frowned, pursing her lips. "Why not?"

You want a reason now? he complained internally. "Just ... trust me when I say you don't want to know."

"You can't say that!" Victoria argued. "Now I really want to know! Come on, Orion!"

The saiyan sighed. Maybe dipping into Cabbis' old technique of half truths would prove fruitful here. "I'm looking ... for someone. Someone I knew long ago."

"Who?"

Orion groaned. Curse her inquisitiveness. "He owes me ... a ... debt. I plan to collect it."

"Oh," she said, somewhat deflated by the boring revelation after it was taboo only moments ago. "Did you lend him money?"

"I lent him something more precious than money," Orion muttered out of earshot. He raised his voice to an audible level. "Yes. He needs to pay me back."

"Ah, those rapscallions, eh?" Sparkles injected blithely into the discussion. "Take advantage of your good nature and then bugger off, what?"

The saiyan nodded, hoping the topic would fizzle out without his further participation.

"I hope you get it back," Victoria concluded.

"Me too."