Roleplay:Something Wrong in Station Square

 This roleplay is Invite Only! We are no longer accepting new people!

Overview
The group awakes on this night to have no memory of what happened the previous day, only to know that they are in buildings all around Station Square and that there are no people left in the town. There is a moonless night outside with dark beasts known as horrors are lurking about. These animals are trying to get to them, to kill them, and it's only a matter of time before they do. Can they get together, after being seperated and work together to find out who did this, and stop them, or will they simply be thrown to the wolves?

Rules

 * Don't dodge everything in combat, otherwise I'll might have to add a dice system into this somewhere and I don't really want to do that.
 * Swearing isn't allowed. (Crap, Damn, Hell are fine.) if you need to say a swear that isn't any of those three, then censor it out using *'s.
 * Don't kill or take something out with a single move, that's just not cool.
 * Don't kill someone's character without their permission. Not only is that uncool, but I will not stand for it. That being said, no name characters like 'guards' or something, is something I'm okay with you killing.
 * Don't auto hit either, that's still not a cool thing.
 * Do not blatently break the fourth wall, references to things are fine, but doing something like, directly saying your in a roleplay just isn't something you should do.
 * This is not ERP, so no sexual content. Romantic things (Kissing, hugging, etc) are fine, and innuendo is fine, but don't do...you know...
 * I don't like posting orders, so we won't use one. However, if things get too chaotic and I think someone is getting left behind, I will inact a posting order using a randomizer. We're a team, we can't let someone get left behind.
 * Be nice to one another, we're here to have fun, and that's what this is all about. I won't let people who are jerks to other players of the rp be allowed here.
 * "Do try to have fun, dear"
 * For this roleplay only: This is a very confusing roleplay for somebody like me, who is jumping between all of them. As such, sub-plots need to be confirmed by me before they are used, don't just randomly try to jump into a sub-plot, that won't work.

Participants
NeoExlucky

Kojak

Involved Characters
Neo Tranquil the Fox (Neo)

Trinity Moon (Neo)

Fey Wayward (Neo)

Kala the Genie (Neo)

Hunter (Neo)

The dark beasts (Neo)

Saren Arcturias (Saren)

Zapor the Hedgehog (Z888)

Zak the Kirby (Z888)

Argent Hellsing (MHS)

Rose Hellsing (MHS)

Anderson Bowie (MHS)

Jay the Wolfbat (Jay)

Clock-Watch The Clockwork Hedgehog (Kojak)

Part 1 (A): A light in the dark (Zapor's Characters)
Trinity awoke in a very dark shop inside the mall. She shook her head and tried to look around the area. The place looked like an earthquake had hit it, with tons of plastic items strewn across the ground. It was almost a depressing sight to see. "Hello?" Trinity called out.

Zapor popped his head up from some of the plastic items. "Marco." Zak then popped his head out from a nearby pile scattered food items. "Pol-...wait, where are we?" Zak asked.

Zapor looked around, noting that Trinity was here also, but no other sign of the others.

"How...does anybody know how we got here?" Trinity looked around. "I think it's a mall."

"Zak, were we sleep walking again?" Zapor asked, get out of the pile.

"I dunno. I can't remember what happened yesterday..." Zak wondered. "Maybe you could try calling someone on your phone?"

Zapor took out his phone and tried calling someone, but there was no connection.

"Something's wrong..." Trinity pointed out. She created a ball of fire to hover around her, generating a source of light. "Is it just us? Where's Neo or Lexi or Echo?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that if Lexi is here, Leo is with her so she may be safe. I'm sure Neo could handle himself in this type of situation." Zapor said.

"What about the others?" Zak asked.

"Well, we should look for them as soon as we find out what the deuce happened." Zapor answered.

"Then let's go looking." Trinity said, exiting the shop and entering a large plaza with a dried up fountain in the center and several gates blocking the other shops. "That isn't heartwarming." She told them. "Someone put us here."

"Sheesh, did we have an all out war or something?" Zapor asked, looking around.

"Uh, does anyone hear something?" Zak asked, a faint growling noise could be heard.

Trinity's eyes went wide and she quickly put out her flame. "Find an exit." She said hurriedly. "Now!"

Zak quickly looked around and saw an open vent. "We could go through that vent!"

"Do vents even get outside?" Zapor asked, cocking his head.

"You have somewhere else?" Zak responded.

"Get going..." Trinity told them, pulling her daggers out. "There are animals nearby."

Zapor and Zak climbed into the vent. Zapor breathed a small fire from his mouth to make a light as the trio crawled through the vents.

Trinity followed them in, crawling for what felt like hours until they found their way into another shop, this one had a window allowing them to view the outside, but the vent was the only way out as the gate was closed.

Zak got out of the vent and looked around. "It seems clear in here."

Trinity got out of the vent and looked around the area, which also seemed really trashed. She approached the gate and looked out, only for the gate to be tackled by dog-like creatures and that started growling menacingly at the group inside. "Those are what's been around us."

Zapor takes his rifle out and loads some bullets into it. "Zak, you might wanna try breaking open the window so we can get out of here." Zak ran to the window to make sure there were no monsters outside.

The bullets, although they hit the beast didn't seem to have any effect on it.

Although there were no creatures that could be seen yet, the building was fairly high up. It was easy to notice several small buildings nearby.

"I...can't tell where we are..." Trinity pointed out.

"Hm, I could float us down to one of the other buildings." Zak said.

The gate began to creak and moan. "Yeah, the faster the better." Trinity told him.

Zapor hit the window repeatedly with the end of his rifle a few times until it broke. Zak then inhaled some air and puffed up.

Trinity grabbed onto the kirby. "Let's go!"

Zapor grabbed onto Zak's other hand, and as he did so, Zak leaped out the window and floated gently downward to one of the lower buildings.

Which managed to be just in time to, as the gate broke up in the shop. "Well...now what?" Trinity asked.

"Well, we wait until Zak descends onto that one building." Zapor pointed at a building. "And hope Zak holds his breath long enough for us to get there." Zapor then pointed at Zak, who was still inflated, but his face turning slightly red from holding his breath.

"Zak, if you don't hold on till we get somewhere, I'll light you on fire." Trinity warned, while looking throughout the city. "Those...things are everywhere."

"Mmphf." Zak mumbled, still holding his breath. After what seemed like almost half an hour Zak finally approached the roof of a small building,

Trinity dropped onto the top of the building, both daggers in hand and began to look around.

Zapor also dropped onto the building, with two pistols in hand. Zak landed, then let out the air. "Ok, where should we start looking for the others at?" Zapor asked.

Around them, the group could see a bunch of other small buildings, with a couple of taller buildings just at the horizon. "We should look for places where a struggle happened." Trinity suggested. "I doubt anyone is left at Tranquil Manor."

"No ones left...maybe we could check...that park over there." Zapor pointed to a park that was closeby.

"I doubt there's anyone there..." Trinity sighed. "But we could check..."

The trio moved to the park. Zak stayed alert with his sword out in case a creature came out and tried to attack them. Once they got to the park, there were multiple broken toys and other parts everywhere. But there wasn't anyone else there.

"Hm. Still no one..." Zak muttered.

Trinity looked around. "We're pretty close to the Diamond District, we could always check there."

"Alright." Zapor said. The group headed to Diamond District. However, there was an uneasy feeling around.

The Diamond District was full of buildings of very high quality. The place was dark and there didn't look like anyone was around.

"Weird. It's like we're in Station Square but not actually in it." Zapor said.

"Where else is there to look?" Zak asked.

"I...don't know." Trinity admitted. "It's been a while since I've actually been in the city."

"Well, there we could search Tranquil Manor, but I have no clue where it is..." Zapor said. There was a faint lone growl.

Trinity looked around taking notice that the creatures were starting to pop up all over the place. "It's... maybe four miles from here...?"

Zapor and Zak noticed this also, Zak having his hand on his sword ready to bring it out."..Cool.." Zapor muttered.

Trinity looked around. "Those things are really fast." She noticed. "I don't know if we can do this..."

Zak looked around. "Ok, don't know how many bullets Zapor has left, so we kill as much as can, and if we make a good enough opening, we go." Zak pulled his sword out.

"Make a stand, boys." Trinity told them. "If you get the chance to run, go for it, I'll make sure you two get out."

More and more of the creatures started to gather around the group, circling them, over four dozen, possibly more were circling, growling at their soon-to-be-targets.

And then there was a light in the distance, slowly ebbing closer to the group. Inside it was a girl with a human-like appearence dancing towards them.

Zak and Zapor looked at the light that was slowly approaching them. "Um, should we be concerned about the light?" Zapor asked.

"I have no idea..." Trinity told them. She noticed that as the girl danced it seemed to scare the monsters away. "I...think she's friendly."

"Well that's good to know.." Zapor said.

The girl continuted to move towards the group until she was about 10 feet away. "You three are lost?" She asked.

"Um...you can say that..." Zak answered.

"Don't you know this city?" Kala asked, still dancing.

"Um..." Trinity noticed the monsters were backing away from them, like they were scared of Kala. "How are you doing that?"

"It's just something I'm good at!" Kala giggled. "I can help you. I know where you can find the others."

"You do?" Zapor asked.

"Yeah, my master he...wished for this city and for you and your friends to be trapped in it. He says he wants to hunt you down. He's using my appearence to appear to others and trick them, so while he's doing that I'm going around helping you guys." She raised a hand and a smaller version of the city, made out of plastic toys came out of the ground, even including toy versions of all the people with big heads and little bodies. "Neo, Ciel, Anderson, Rose, and Argent are all in Tranquil Manor. Saren and Fey are in Caterbury Apartments. Echo and Jay are at the Bark Museum, and Fate and Clock-Watch are at the Dixie Steak House."

Trinity looked over the toys. "I doubt just getting everyone together is going to be easy."

"It won't." Kala told them. "The monsters here, they're called Horrors. My master unleashed them to attack you, and try to kill you. They can't be fought, and they're bent on destroying all of you. The Horrors aren't dark or light, they're monsters of the mind. They can only be destroyed by powers of the heart, which is what I use. However, I can't help you any further than I already have or else my Master might notice."

"Oh. Well, at least we know where everyone else is." Zak said.

"I nominate we go for Echo first." Zapor replied, raising a hand in the air.

"Echo and Jay are safe." Kala told them. "The pair are very close to Tranquil Manor, they might be heading there soon."

"Ok, then our best bet is to go there too." Zak said.

"Thanks dancing lady!" Zapor said.

"So we should go to Tranquil Manor..." Trinity said while looking at the display of the town. "I imagine that's a lot easier said than done, what with all the horrors. We'd need to find a safer way there."

"We could go through the sewers." Zapor pointed to a manhole. Zak shook his head. "Not doing that, I have a better idea." Zak said.

"And what's that?" Trinity asked. "Hopefully not more flying..."

Zak instantly shot down the idea of him bringing his Formula star and flying it to Tranquil Manor before he said it. ".......You know, lets go with Zapor's idea." Zak said, with Zapor fist pumping.

Zapor walked over to a manhole, lifted up the lid, and jumped down into the hole.

"I suppose that's the best idea we have so far. " Trinity sighed.

"Careful." Kala warned. "Somethings are scarier in the dark."

Trinity smiled. "Don't worry, I'll just burn brighter." She smashed her hands together and her eyes and fur changed to more of a firery red look.

Zak sighed, approaching the manhole. "Might as well." Zak also jumped into the manhole.

The sewers were really dark, with no artifical or nature light it would have been really hard to see if it wasn't for Trinity's flames giving light to the dark tunnels, providing information on the streams of water flowing around the group.

"The sewers should give you a straight path to the mansion." Kala called down to the group.

"Okay!" Zapor called back up and continued in the sewers with the other two.

Trinity took a few steps forward. "Let's get moving."

The group continuted to move underneath the city, luckily not encountering anything within the sewers. At one point Trinity stopped. "Okay, I don't think too good while I'm like this." She admitted. "And we don't have a map. So does anyone know where we are exactly?"

Zapor looked around in the sewers. "I was in this type of situation once when I was skateboarding. I think we just need to...." Zapor holds for a moment, then points. "Go that way."

Zak looked at Zapor, confused. " How do you..?"

Zapor cut off Zak, " Like a Hedgie do." Zak didn't really understand what that was supposed to mean, but just went with it.

Trinity looked up where a man hole cover was. "Someone check out there." She told one of them. "I want to know how far we are."

Zak climbed up a nearby ladder to see how far they were. He lifted the manhole slightly and looked around. He saw the mansion about 3 block away. "Its about 3 blocks away." He noted.

"Keep going." Trinity sighed and the group pressed onwards.

After about 9 minutes of progessing, Zak halted. "Alright, this should be the manhole closest to the mansion..." He then climbed up a ladder leading up to the manhole cover, with Zapor following after.

The outside of the mansion could easily be seen, as could the broken windows in the front room, right next to the main door.

"Well, this isn't the nicest thing you want to see when you get to a friends house...even if this is a replica.." Zapor said, walking carefully to the front door.

"Let's go." Trinity told them, approaching the house.

Zapor has a gun ready, looking behind them as they approached, keeping an eye out for anything from behind.

Part 1 (B): Dark and Light (Saren)
Fey awoke in the middle of a dark apartment building, it felt lifeless and empty inside the building. Fey got to her feet, barely, and made her way to the doors which she tried to knock on, but got no reply. She looked around the area and felt sick in the pit of her stomach. "Is anyone there?"

"I don't know? Is there anyone here?" Saren asked grumpily, having woken up with a bad headache and missing his coat. "Just where the heck am I and why does it feel like that drinking binge I went on as soon as high school prom ended?"

"I don't know." Fey said. "I...I can't remember how we got here..."

"Neither do I.... Just bloody great..." Saren responded in annoyance.

"Well..." Fey looked around and noticed a window. "Hey, let's go see where we are." Upon looking outside she found that there were no big buildings around here, just some small house and business type buildings. "We're in Canterbury apartments." Fey said. "That's like, five miles from Tranquil Manor..." She sighed. "The goes the hope of any back up..."

"Well, we've got bigger issues, something doesn't feel right and my coat with all of my tools and supplies is missing." Saren said. "Besides, what happened to the people?"

"There aren't any. I can't feel anyone else in this building." Fey sighed. "And we don't have a key card, I doubt looking through all of the rooms would help any...maybe we could try the ground floor?"

"I do know how to crack those locks, but the idea of making noise seems like a bad idea no matter if you can sense people or not.. One of my contracts required me to do so in order to kill a small time mayor sticking his nose in where it didn't belong..." Saren said while looking for a way to do so.

"Well anyways," Fey said. "We should find the stairs and head to the ground floor.

"Alright.." Saren said as he began looking for a flight of stairs

Fey began checking the hall looking for the stairs, only to find that there were none to be found. "There aren't any..." Fey noted before there was a ding and an elevator opened in the hall way. "I...I don't trust that..."

"That makes two of us, but we should go investigate.." Saren said.

Fey entered the elevator, which appeared to be fairly normal, with the exception that there was only one button with the number "0" on it. "I guess we press it..." She pressed the button and the elevator took them to what appeared to be the basement of the building, stone floor, in a long kind of dark room, but with no monsters in it, and a door at the end.

"This is... Very freaky..." Saren said, feeling unnerved at the situation.

"I really don't like this..." Fey noted in a scared voice. She formed a ball of light around her, which managed to project into a diameter of five feet. "I...I guess we open the door...?"

"Stand back.. I got this." Saren said before he sparta kicked the door as hard as he could.

Fey took a few steps back. Inside the room was what looked like a creepy temple with moss growing over the walls and roof, and stone bricks on the floor. On an alter in the center sat two candles, a black one and a white one.

Saren looked around, confused. "Um... What is this place?" He asked. "You mind helping me check this place for supplies?"

Fey nodded and began looking, but with the exception of a few very old rugs, there was nothing. That is, until a girl appeared behind the alter watching the two. "You guys are...interesting..."

Saren turned towards the voice. "Who are you?" He asked.

The girl gave a warm smile. "My name is Kala." The girl said. "You two are interesting."

"You've said that already." Fey noted. "Why are we interesting."

The two candles both lit up behind her. "Both of your perceptions of life differ so much..." She looked to Fey. "Light." then to Saren. "and Dark."

"Explain... Personally I think my perception of life matches that of a realist." Saren said in his usual snarky tone.

"Both of you embody the ideals of light and dark." Kala explained. "Fey; besides using the light magic, you're kind, charitable, you always see the good in everyone, and you focus on being there for everyone. You're motivated by the virtues of Temperence and Diligence."

Then she turned to Saren. "And you Saren, despite using Umbramancy, you're powerful, quiet, and always looking for a fight. Your pride is your greatest tool and your influence on others to do dark things is noticable, Fey certainly has noticed it. You are guided by the sins of Greed and Wrath."

"You don't know us." Fey scoffed.

"But I do." Kala told them. "I can see everything, all your memories, all your motivations, I can see every life you've taken and given, I'm staring into your mind right now."

"You might not want to peer to deeply in my head, lest you find something that should never have been found." Saren warned before he turned to look at Fey, a smirk on his face. "Yeah i'm motivated by money, but so what? Money's the true power in this world. Not peace, not love and definately not religion. I just apply my skills to make money, and at the end of day. It's the one with the most money who is the most successful. As for wrath?... Well, I do love my job and not just because it pays well."

"Yes, I've noticed." Kala told him. "But I've noticed...other things as well. You're not as dark as you seem. You like to play the big bad, but I see some...kindness in your heart as well. Which is something that I should have known." She pulls the black candle up. "Darkness cannot exist without light. A powerful darkness requires a powerful light."

Saren blinked. "Alright... Just who are you?" Saren asked, his patience dwindling rapidly.

Kala smiled. "I, am Kala. Both of you should know this; Light begets darkness and darkness cannot exist without light. Both of you, you both share the traits of both." She grabbed the white candle and held it next to the black candle.

Saren sighed, evidently annoyed. "On to more pressing matters... Now, why is this place all barren and just where the heck is my coat?"

"I think the better question is; where are you? Your coat is in Station Square." Kala told him.

"Aren't we in Station Square?" Fey asked.

"Are you?" Kala asked. "Your in a city that looks like Station Square, feels like Station Square and has all of Station Square's buildings, but doesn't have the people. So the question comes down to; are you even in Station Square?"

"I'm...confused." Fey told her.

"By the way, you have a little less than five minutes before he comes to kill the both of you and take his reward." Kala said with a smile.

"So.. All of our powers work here right?..." Saren asked.

"I don't see why they wouldn't." Kala told him.

Saren smiled and walked up to Kala. "Well that's the best news I heard all day." Saren said before he hugged her for a few seconds. He then returned to Fay's side.

Fey turned towards the door. "Who's coming for us?"

Kala smiled. "You can fight, or you can run, but you can't run forever and you can't fight forever. What are you going to do?"

"I'll take secret option C and take you with us. You seem to be the type to enjoy company so why not? Plus information is a valuable commodity that has been known to help or cripple based on what it's used for.." Saren said as he held his hand out.

"Sorry, not an option." Kala told him. "Two minutes."

"Hm... Run or fight? Why not both?... Fight when the opportunity is at it's greatest, run when the tactical advantage is needed.." Saren said, somewhat bored.

Kala nodded. "Your both so...interesting..." And with that she faded away.

"The hell was that?" Fey mumbled under her breath. "Are we sure we can even fight this thing?" Fey asked Saren. "If everyone else is gone, what if this guy fought them? I mean, I think out of everyone we might be the strongest two, but if he took all of them out at the same time, what does that mean for us?"

"It means I get to have a bit of fun with whatever this thing is." Saren said before he stuck the palm of his hand on a shadow and slowly pulled away as the darkness moved with his hand, when it was finished, Saren was holding a simple scythe made entirely of shadows. "May not be what i'm used to... But I can manage... You got anything to defend yourself with?"

"Yeah." Fey said drawing her sword. "Are you sure you can use that? I...have a scythe you can use..."

"I'd prefer a real scythe.. Thanks Fey." Saren said in a truthful manner as he dispelled the shadow scythe.

Fey put her hand over a small opal on her shirt. She focused for a minute and a nearly shining white scythe was pulled out of the stone. It has a white wing over the blade, with a long sturdy handel made out of some unknown material. Power emenated from the thing, at the touch it was easy to tell that this scythe was powerful, almost like it could never be broken.

Saren tried to hold on to the scythe to get acquainted with the proper grip and the weight of the blade and shaft. "Is it bad that I like welll made scythes?"

"Nope." Fey answered, holding her blade really tightly waiting for whatever was too come. There was a dinging sound and the elevator that they came from opened, revealing three wolf-like creatures who all swarmed Saren and Fey in an attempt to attack them.

Saren tried swinging the scythe in a wide arc at the wolf like creatures in the hopes of killing them without too much difficulty.

Fey swung at one of the beasts, but her blade seemed to go straight through the monster. Saren's attack though, caused the beast to dissapate.

"I'm keeping this until we get out of this mess..." Saren said as he hugged the scythe and nuzzled it. Showing a strange display of affection towards the scythe. "I dub this scythe... Misses Scythey. "

Fey swung again at the beast, but again it just went straight through. "How did you hit these things?" She asked.

"Hell if I know.. Here catch." Saren said, tossing the scythe at Fey after swinging it at one of the beasts. "Hand me the sword and we'll see if there's any difference..." Saren spoke, his eyes showing a glint of battle lust.

Fey hands Saren the sword and swings with the scythe, landing a blow on one of the horrors.

Saren tries swinging the sword at one of the creatures, half expecting the sword to be inneffective against the creatures.

The sword goes straight through the creature, not even leaving a mark on it. "The hell?" Fey asked.

"Alright... I'll try another method.." Saren said before he used umbrakinesis to launch spikes at the creatures from their own shadows.

The shadows extended and just like with the sword they went through the beast. Although it was possible to note one thing. The shadow and the beast for just a split second were one and the same.The beast was made of shadows.

Saren took note of this. "Fey! Try using light powers on these things! They're made of shadows!"

Fey took her scythe, and much like a rifle shot light out of the tip, sending it straight for the beast and had a direct hit, sadly, it only seemed to anger the beast more, and Fey finally took it out with a swing of her scythe. "Wait." Fey said. "Light and dark don't work on them. Neither does my sword, but my sctyhe does...?" Just as she finished saying that, the door to the elevator opened again, waiting for the duo to get on.

Saren grabbed Fey and ran towards the Elevator.

Fey was pulled into the elevator which closed and pulled the two up to the first floor.

"Well, at least that elevator music wasn't playing..." Saren said in an attempt to lighten up the mood.

(Saren, look to part 2! -Neo)

Part 1 (C): A stealthy find (MHS's Characters)
Neo opened his eyes to find himself on the couch in Tranquil Manor. His head hurt and he noticed that the lights were all off, which was really weird. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark before moving around the area looking for people in the building. He noted that there should have been some people servants around, but he couldn't find a single one, not ever Miss Heart, a maid and nanny who was his favorite.

As Neo passes by the front window, he would notice a light blue fennec fox in the courtyard. She appeared about as lost as he was, to whatever extent that may be. She was supposed to be here, but for what reason?

Neo noticed the fox and knocked on the window. "Hey!" He called.

The fennec looked over, recognizing Neo's face. She immediately headed towards the front door.

Neo went towards the front of the building, only to notice that there was something patrolling a roughly 22 yards away from the front of the house. Neo checked to make sure his claws were equipped and opened the door.

The fennec slid inside as the door opened, slightly surprised to see that Neo was armed. "Whoa, were you expecting a burglar or something?"

Her name was Ciel, an acquaintance of the Tranquil family. As a paradoxology expert from OmegaCorp, she could be a valuable asset.

Neo scanned the area. "Something's out there." He said in a concerned voice. "Get in." Upon entering, he asked a question. "Now, what the hell happened in the past 24 hours? 'Cause the last thing I remember was you and I talking."

"I think we... actually, no, I don't remember. It's so strange, usually I'd know how my days go like the back of my hand." Ciel said. "I actually tried making an Observation recently. I couldn't see anything about the future. Something really strange is going on..."

Neo looked around outside. "It never gets like this, Station Square gets smog, but not like this." He looked around the room. "And there's never a moment when no one is here. Miss Heart, Sebastion, Lumina, none of them are here, they're always around. Ages went to Noble city, Mom and Dad are meeting with some corporate leaders in Blizzard town, so their supposed to be gone, but...wait a minute..." Neo looked around even more. "We need to go upstairs!" He said in a somewhat worried voice.

"You haven't checked upstairs yet? Or is there something you expect to find up there?" Ciel asked. "...In any case, I should check to see if I still have access to my armor. I get the feeling I'll need it today."

Neo hurried up the stairs, going through several different stories until he came across a fairly long hallway with five doors throughout it. Four of which all had name plates on them. There was "Kari & Markus", "Ages", "Neo", and "Era". Neo burst through the door labeled with Era to find a fairly well kept, simple room with no one inside. "Of all the people in the world, why is she not here...?"

"Era? Was she here the other day?" Ciel asked.

"Era never left. There's no reason for her to be gone..." Neo noted. "So, for some reason, everyone in the house is gone. What the hell could have happened?"

"If you want my opinion, I suspect this isn't actually Station Square... besides the two of us, I don't think there's a single person within a thousand yards of here. This could all be an illusion." Ciel pondered. "Hey, it's the only explanation I've got at the moment. It makes about as much sense as everything else that's happened so far. Although I guess that isn't really saying much since none of this makes any sense according to what we know... "

Neo gave a sigh. "Was anyone else here with us before we lost our memory? I...can't really remember."

"I know about as much as you right now, which isn't saying much. Now that you bring that up though, I guess we could look around." Ciel said.

"I doubt anyone is up here." Neo told her. "Let's look around and see who we can find."

"Right... where do you want me to start?" Ciel asked.

"Check the first floor." Neo told her. "I'll check the second, and then we'll just keep going, I guess."

"Alright." With that, Ciel headed downstairs and began her search.

The first floor was really well kept and had quite a few rooms down there, but it didn't appear that anyone was there. It was what was outside that seemed interesting as there were more creatures circling the building and they were getting closer.

Ciel kept a close eye on the creatures outside, and tried to stay out of their field of vision. After a while, she broke the silence in the house. "Neo! Down here!"

Neo charged down the stairs. "Did you find anyone?" He asked.

In the room Ciel was in, there were two wolves and a jackal, all unconscious. At the very least, Neo should remember what Argent and company looked like.

"Oh crap..." Neo said. "Are they hurt? Better question: Are they alive?"

"They're fine, they're just unconscious. No blunt trauma or any other sort of injuries, as far as I can tell." Ciel said.

"Can we wake them up?" Neo asked. "Maybe they remember what happened." As soon as he said that, the sound of breaking glass reverbated through the house. Neo narrowed his eyes. "Or maybe they can help us fight something off."

"It shouldn't take much. I hope..." Ciel said.

Neo takes a step back, his claws out and ready. "Wake them up, I'll keep whatever is here, out." With that he exited the room.

"We don't know anything about them yet. Don't stay and fight if they're more trouble than you can handle." Ciel said.

(Sorry, been running around, I kept forgetting to reply. -MHS)

Neo walked into the front room where there were several different broken windows. In the room sat three different beasts all circling Neo. "I'm not afraid of the dark." Neo told them with a smirk.

Ciel should have been able to awaken the others by now, but she hasn't arrived to help yet... she could be facing her own set of problems in the meantime.

Neo fought with the creatures in the front room, often taking them all one at a time, but there was something he didnt' think about. The possibility that there was more than three, as in fact, that was the case. Monsters 4, 5, 6, and 7 all four made their way into the room with Ciel.

Ciel didn't have anything to defend herself. She couldn't use her powers, and without her armor she could easily be slain. There was only one way she would survive this, and that's if she's able to connect to OmegaCorp's network and deploy her armor. "Requisition Code Thirteen! Please, God, let this work..."

Something clicked in the room, at first it was difficult to tell what, but soon a large computer came out of the wall in a very flashy manner. With the way it looked and the way it seemed to come out of the wall, it was pretty clear that this computer belonged to Ages, and somehow was already logged in.

"Huh? That wasn't what I was expecting at all... actually I'm not sure what I was expect--" Ciel was cut off as she tried to dodge an attack, and immediately hurried to the computer.

The computer displayed several open files regarding someplace known as Nobbel City as well as many diffferent ways to deal with werewolves.Odd, but that meant that Ages' computer could easily access anything.

Part 1 (E): A ray of Hope (JayJay)
Echo awoke outside, and that was the very first problem she had. She awoke in the middle of a park, with busted up toys and jungle gym pieces all over the place. It was very obvious that a fight had happened here, and apparently someone tried to hide as there was nowhere in the park for anybody to hide. That was the second problem. The third and biggest problem of them all was the growling all around her, like dogs were encircling her, waiting for the right time to strike. The little girl was scared for her life. She reached for her deck of cards and pulled a card out. "Cross Card: Wings!" Fairy-like wings grew on her back, and provided just a touch of light within in the darkness.

3 feet away from her is a brown and red wolfbat laying there on the ground slowly getting up. Jay rubs his head, something didn't feel right, and then, he realized it, he had been here just before, but he doesn't anything on how he actually got to where he is now. Jay tried to move his wings but one of them has a piece cut off and they're very soar so he decided and then he saw Echo over there next to him.

"This isn't good." Echo noted, noticing that he was hurt and that the growling was getting closer. The little girl looked around, trying to find somewhere they could hide, and noticed a museum just across the street of the park. "We need to get over there!" Echo called out. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I can." Jay replied walking over to her.

Echo looked around. "Creep, really slowly towards the door of that museum." She said.

Jay tip-toed over to the museum being very cautious but them tripped and fell on the ground and scrapped his knee. "Ugh." He said getting back up and started to tip-top again.

Echo followed Jay into the museum, very slowly so that she wouldn't disturb the growling around the group.

Jay walked slowly inside the museum and look around, no one else was in there. "Hey, anyone here?" jay called out. Jay started to walk around the building.

The building was empty, although there appeared to be no struggle here, there are no paintings or any other pieces of art that can be found here.

"I don't think anyone else is here..." Echo said in a slightly scared voice.

A growing faint noise was creeping in the background. "Hey, do you hear that?" Jay said to Echo, quietly.

Echo pulled a card and gave a little 'eep'. "Y-yes..." She said in a scared voice.

"We need to leave somewhere or hide someplace, have any ideas?" Jay said with a gulp quietly.

"Uh..." Echo said. "I...think we might be able to get to the roof?"

"Kay." he said, "Can you fly?" he asked.

"Yeah." Echo said, waving her fairy wings. "I can."

"Okay, let's go." Jay said to Echo and he leaped up and flew toward the roof.

Echo followed Jay up to the rooftop, peering out over the a part of the city, and, for the moment, being safe from the shadow creatures.

"Do you think were safe.....for now?" Jay asked Echo.

"I think so." Echo noted. "Those things looked like dogs and they can't climb up here." Looking around, Jay and Echo could clearly see a tall rather rectangular building that looked like a mansion nearby, alongside it were similar buildings, and a few smaller buildings as well.

"Why do you think those things where in here and where everyone is?" Jay asked her.

"I don't know...to either of those..." Echo noted. "I'm not even quite sure where we are, exactly. It looks like Station Square, but..."

Jay looked around the city, he couldn't anyone anywhere. He tried to locate the vibration of echos but he couldn't reach any. "The city looks empty. Maybe we should look for everyone else. What do you think?" Jay said to Echo.

"Yeah, let's do that." Echo nodded and looked around. "A lot of my big sister's friends live over there." She said and pointed to the mansion. "Let's go there."

"Kay then." Jay said jumping down from the building. "Lead the way." Jay looking back at her smiling.

Echo jumped onto the ground and walked towards the manor, as it would seem a lot of the monsters didn't seem to follow them, like they were distracted by something.

Jay followed Echo to the manor. "Do you remember the last time you saw your sister and her friends?" he asked.

"Uh...like, two days ago, I think..." Echo told him.

"Interesting...." re replied. Jay knocked on the door then took a step back.

Part 1 (F): Like Clockwork (Timesmash)
Fate awoke to the sound of rushing water, as if there was a nearby stream, which seemed odd to her, given that she couldn't remember being anywhere near a steam in all of her time while in Station Square. She opened her eyes to find that she was correct it was a stream, it was the busted up pipes of a restauraunt of some kind. There were broken tables, clothes and dishes thrown apart, broken glass was everywhere, but there was no food. Fate stood up and took a minute to judge the situation at hand. She had her weapons, both of which felt warm, as if they had recently been fired. There was clearly a fight here, one that it appeared someone lost. Just what happened her? "If anyone is in here." Fate said with a commanding voice  "I'm gonna need you to stand up and come towards me, slowly."

Clock-Watch slowly edged towards her. "It seems my memory from yesterday has been erased... If there's something that I'm suspicious of, it's not knowing something." He turned to Fate. "The name's Clock-dash-Watch, unknown being!"

Fate sighed. "I'm Fate. I can't remember anything before this either..." She looked around. "Do you know where we are?"

Clock-Watch looked around for a moment. "Clearly, we are near some sort of restaurant. From the trashed nature of this place, it appears that some sort of fight has taken place. The stream tells me that we are near a body of water, or some sort of water purification plant. I believe we are in Station Square, but I could be incorrect. That is all that I can assume for now."

Fate narrowed her eyes at the thing in front of her. "Why's it so dark in here? Is the power cut or something?" She looked out the window to see several, fairly tall dark creatures circling the building. "Oh...that's not good..."

Clock-Watch took a look at the creatures. "What are those? I'm certain that I've seen them before... Perhaps they are the beings that caused this mess. And perhaps WE are their targets."

Fate pulled out her guns. "I have no idea, but those things are not good. We need to find another way out of here." She told the hedgehog.

"Something tells me that might be a good idea." He replied. He looked around the ruins of the restaurant. "Do you see any other ways out?"

Fate looked around. "Maybe a back door?" She asked and checked the kitchen to find a locked door there. "Let's try out here."

Clock-Watch tried to turn the handle. "Yep, it's locked. Don't worry, I can probably pick it. We need to be stealthy, so those things don't attack us." His right hand morphed into a set of lock picks.

Fate held her guns out in front of her. "When your ready, open the door." She told him.

After a moment, the lock was picked. "Here goes nothing..." He whispered, opening the door.

Fate followed Clock-Watch out into a small alley with no monsters in or around them. There were two exits, one to the left, one to the right, and a ladder going to the roof of the building.

"Hmm... Which exit to take? Clearly not the ladder, those... things would notice us immediately." He looked around. "But whether to go left or right? I'm not quite sure."

"We should find out where we are." Fate noted. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"I remember heading towards Station Square the day BEFORE yesterday, so perhaps we're still there." Clock-Watch responded.

"I think so." Fate said. "But in what part of the city?" Fate looked around. "If we get some place high up, I might be able to figure out where exactly we are."

"Is it worth the risk of encountering those beings from before again?" He asked her. "Oh, I wish my assistant was here! If only I had a way to contact my law firm from here..."

"Yes, it is." Fate noted, climbing the ladder. From here it was easy to see a tall building nearby with many windows covering it. "We're...in the commercial district." Fate noted. "Over there is Canterbury Apartments, but we're a little ways away from anywhere I've been."

"Why would I be near Canterbury Apartments? Maybe I was investigating a murder. That's probably it. But still, what happened yesterday?" Clock-Watch wondered, looking around.

"Maybe there are still some people there?" Fate suggested. "We should check it out."

"Good idea. Let's go!" Clock-Watch said. "But try not to attract attention from those weird creatures."

Fate looked around the area. "Let's go." She headed to the left side of the building jumped off the side and started to lurk slowly towards the apartements.

Upon arriving there, the Fate and Clock-Watch found that the doors were locked and seemed rather dark on the inside, but the elevator, which could be seen from the outside, said that it was currently in the basement. It should also be noted that there were a few beasts lurking around the complex, but none approaching it quite yet. "Can you pick locks?" She asked. "The door is made of glass, so it'd be easy to break, but...I don't want the sound to attract any more of those things..."

"Of course I can." He turned his hand into a lock pick and began to pick the lock.

Fate stayed on look out, not long after, the lock clicked, and the door was unlocked.

"Let us see what lies ahead..." Clock walked out the door.

As the group entered nothing seemed to be that out of the ordinary except for the elevator which had red lights shimmering in the darkness that said "B1".

"Oh goody, a shady elevator... Just great." Clock carefully examined the room.

"There aren't any stairs." Fate noted, looking around the room. "The elevator is the only thing that can go up or down."

Part 2: Four torches (Fate, Clock-watch, Fey, Saren)
The elevator doors opened on the first floor and revealed the groups to each other in the dark room. "Fey?" Fate asked.

"Oh thank the light." Fey noted. "There's more of us."

Saren nodded. "Eh, I'm atheist and the light represents evil to me.." He said in an offhand manner.

"More people... I'm sure that I'm getting closer to figuring out what's going on!" Suddenly, a pendant hanging from Clock's neck faintly glowed. "A Psyche-Link?" He gasped. "This place is very suspicious... I hope I can figure this out before it's too late!"

"Light isn't a deity..." Fate inputted.

"What exactly is a psyche-link?" Fey asked Clock-watch.

"Hm? Oh, a Psyche-Link." He replied. "They're things I can see. They help me find connections between things." He patted the pendant. "All thanks to this pendant here!"

"This just sounds way too strange.. Even by my standards.." Saren sighed, exasperated.

"Well, if you two are here, maybe there are more of us somewhere?" Fey asked.

"If that's the case, I'm sure the person who put us here, wants us to meet up." Fate mumbled.

"Well, things are already really strange so why not?" Saren stated.

"But I still wonder how we got here. I still can't remember yesterday. I was in the middle of an investigation for a murder the day before, but yesterday... Nothing." Clock said. He was looking around, trying to find some sort of clue as to what happened. "Wait... Do any of you know where a newspaper stand is? Perhaps if we can find yesterday's newspaper, we might begin to piece together what happened!"

"Sadly most of those were destroyed in a weird plastic mannequin accident almost two months ago." Fate sighed.

"Uh...what now?" Fey asked.

"Point is, you're not gonna find any newspapers in this town." Fate told them.

"Snap, Krackle, and Pop. Why does all the good evidence disappear!? This is a defense attorney's/investigator's worst nightmare!" Clock-Watch said.

Saren looked at Clock-Watch. "Well, why not share what we do know?..  Also, light still represents evil because people cling on to it and use it as a justification for countless atrocities... Though I can't say i'm any better, but at least I don't delude myself into thinking what I do is right?" Saren asked before ranting a tad on his perspective of light and dark.

"Hey, I don't care if it's light or dark, it's whether it makes a difference or not. One of my clients told me that. Anyways, I'm a defense attorney/investigator. All I know from the day before yesterday is that I came here to investigate a murder. I'm still completely clueless about who could have done all this in one day... But I'm sure the answer is here somewhere." Clock-Watch replied to him. He was still looking around, hoping to find anything that could tell him about yesterday.

"Help is what you need, yes?" Said a voice from the elevator as Kala stepped out. "Well, if you want, I can tell you everything that has happened."

"Finally, what a lawyer wants. A decent witness. Please tell what happened to this place! It's been just a day, and now everything's gone!" Clock-Watch said to her.

"Yesterday, Station Square was under the attack of a man named Hunter, who was tasked with the assassination of several individuals who frequent this town." Kala told them. "Hunter is very talented, having the ability to lock people away in a sort of parallel world, and then slowly began to take them out." Kala looked down. "You're...all dead."

"Assassination...?" Clock-Watch had a quick flashback of the day before yesterday.

'You're renowned in the criminal underworld, you know.' His friend Larry had said. 'You should be more careful.'

"Wait, we're WHAT!? HOLD IT! Er, sorry. What exactly do you mean by that!?" Clock-Watch asked her, startled.

Saren shrugged, not really surprised considering the strangeness he's been a part of before. "You're a lawyer are you not?.. You could probably figure out what she meant with little difficulty.."

"You're all no longer alive. This, is purgatory." Kala told them, still looking down. "This is it."

"OBJECTION! Er, sorry again. I'm used to the courtroom. I'm afraid you're wrong. It is a complete impossibility for us to be dead. There is simply NO WAY whatsoever that what you said could be true." Clock-Watch replied.

"Oh? And why is that?" Kala asked, still looking down.

"I have to agree, we can't be dead." Fey said.

"Let's just pretend for a moment that we have all been killed. And that this is whatever comes next. There's one problem with all of that, you see. If that is true, why am I here, hm? I was never alive to begin with! I'm a machine!" Clock-Watch declared, pointing to one of the rotating gears on his head. "So now that that lie has been proven a lie, I demand that you tell me what is really going on here!"

Kala was silent for a moment. "You are correct that you are a machine, however you are sentient, are you not?" She asked. "You think, you have memories, you use logic, you have emotions, that doesn't sound so much different than a person in a metal frame."

"Darn..." Clock muttered to himself. "I can't just bluff my way out of this one... Where's the PROOF that we aren't dead? There more to all of this, I know it." He thought for a moment.

Then it came to him. "AHA! TAKE THAT! Oh, gosh. I really need to stop doing that in public. Anyways, I have undeniable proof that we are not dead!" He announced, a determined look on his face. "And here it is!" He continued, holding up the pendant he wore. "This pendant relies solely on spiritual energy, in other words, energy from the beyond. If we are in that beyond, then why is this still working with the same efficiency that it had on Mobius? It should be brimming with energy! Either way, you have some explaining to do. And if this was filled with as much energy as it should be, then I would know! Besides, it won't even work if I'm dead!" Clock-Watch had a quick flashback.

'Wow! This is amazing!' He had said when he received it. 'I could make this some sort of family heirloom, if I ever get kids!'

'Not really.' The person who gave the pendant to him responded. 'Once you pass away, the magatama will lose its connection to your own spiritual energy, and stop working for good.'

"So you see," Clock-Watch stated, now confident and determined. "There is no way that we could be dead! Now, as I said before, I need you to tell me what is really going on here!"

"You're quiet spirited." Kala told him. "However, you'd be wrong again. The magatama you're holding is working because I am in the vacinity, being a spirit of truth myself, I empower items that beget the truth, which is why that trinket is glowing. I'm sure the priest who gave it to you knew that much."

Fey held a hand up to Clock-Watch. "What priest? He never said anything about a priest..."

There was a sound of glass breaking, soon Clock-Watch might have been able to see a few chains and 3 locks around Kala, although one broke upon Fey's comment. The girl's eyes darted between the locks before she looked down to her scythe and noticed a very tiny part of the handle was glowing green.

Clock-Watch was startled when he saw the locks. "Psyche-Locks!? Something weird is going on here..." He muttered to himself. "Wait a minute, how do you know what a magatama does? I never told you that! I think you know more than you're letting on!" He responded.

Saren looked at Clock-Watch. "Look, before you start another Faux par interrogation use that brain of yours. Yes she may know more, but she's helping us out. Do you really want to potentially alienate the one person who has the slightest clue as to whats going on?.." Saren snarked with a deadpan. It was clear that he's irritated.

'He's right.' Clock-Watch thought. 'But I need to find out what's really going on here! When has playing it safe worked, anyways? Just like in court, it's now or never! If I don't find out now, I'm doomed. If I fail at my attempt, I'm doomed! Before I object, I need to think about the situation. Why this Hunter make us forget yesterday? Maybe I need a different angle. Why would we NOT remember yesterday? Thank goodness for internal monologue...'

"I'm a being of truth itself, of course I know about the magatama." Kala scoffed. "You can't honestly believe that I wouldn't know about an artifact of truth, do you?"

Fey squinted for a minute. "Saren, I don't think she's helping us."

"What do you mean?" Kala asked.

"You're a being of truth, right? So you can tell when people are lying?" Fey questioned.

"Why, of course..." Kala smiled.

"Alright," Fey told her. "I love Saren. Am I lying?"

"Of course you are." Kala smiled wider.

"Saren, hold my scythe for a moment." She said, handing the lynx her weapon.

'I guess... WAIT. Could that be what has happened!?' Clock-Watch continued to internally monologue. 'If she's a being of truth, why is she lying? Anyways, I just need to check that reading. How many ticks is it? It's- IT IS! I'M RIGHT!?' He was standing with a shocked look.

Saren takes Fey's scythe. "Okay...."

"Saren is holding the scythe of my soul." Fey told Kala. "Something only people whom I love could even touch, let alone wield it. You're lying."

Another lock broke, and although Fey could no longer see them, Saren could now. "Okay, so maybe I am lying, maybe I'm not exactly a being of truth, but that doesn't matter! The point is that I'm helping you, you can't disprove that!"

Saren blushed at Fey's proclamation. Evidently not expecting that at all. "Wait... Locks are breaking... Why am I seeing them now?" He mumbled.

"So her scythe acts like a magatama... Interesting. I'll have to ask these people more when we're not in mortal danger." Clock-Watch turned to Saren. "You must be able to see the Psyche-Locks now. They're mental barriers that people set up to keep the truth from you. All we need to do is prove her lie, and break the last lock. Then she'll reveal the truth. In situations like these, it's best to keep pressing them." He turned back to Kala. "So you're helping us? What exactly have you done to help us? All you've told us is that we're dead! That doesn't seem very helpful."

Part 2: The light at the end of the tunnel (Zapor and MHS's characters)
Trinity kicked the door into the Tranquil house to find Neo surrounded by the dark beasts, locked in battle with them. It was pretty easy to also see apart of the room where Ciel was, alongside the unconcious other members of the group.

"Jeez, already with these things!" Zapor said. "Alright, while I go help Ciel with...whatever she's doing, you and Trinity should go help Neo." Zak said, rushing to Ciel.

Trinity stabbed one of the horrors with her flame covered blade, which caused the beast to combust. "Not happening." She told it, putting her back to Neo's.

"How did you hit them?" Neo asked.

"Flames from the heart..." Trinity whispered, going in for another strike on a horror and destroying it.

Ciel was feverishly tapping away at the computer, obviously under a lot of pressure as it was. She was multi-tasking, both trying to manually connect to OmegaCorp's network as well as read some of the files that seemed relevant to the situation.

As it would seem, Ages must have planned on this situation to happen, because he typed a letter to Ciel.

Ciel,

If what I predicted is true, then you are reading this under heavy circumstances. Let me try to answer anything I can. First, you are trapped in a locked world, think of it sort of like a dream-scape. Second, you and everyone else there are being hunted as we speak. I'm sure if you reunite with everyone, then he'll come to you. Third, what happened the day before today does not matter, because today hasn't come yet, time is complicated in this world, it is only a trick of the mind, the day has not changed. Fourth, I'm sure the town has been altered to look like battles took place, they have not. Everyone else is safe, except those in the dream. You need to outsmart the hunter, before he beats all of you. Neo can do it, you just need to get him to a gold lamp. I have faith that you can accomplish this task. If this are still too complicated, look to the Starry Sky Tales.

Zak had his sword out in buster mode, making sure none of the beasts got to her. Zapor was near Neo, firing bullets covered in fire at the horrors.

"So, I was right after all. Sort of... it would've been nice if he told me some workaround to get my armor, though!" Ciel complained, hunkering down as she saw something begin to creep up behind her.

(Should I wake the rest up now, or wait? -MHS)

(I'd wake them up. -Neo)

Trinity hit another horror, causing it to burst, and another for the final one in the room. Both her and Neo entered the other room, where Trinity started going after the other horrors.

Ciel turned around to see a horror lunge toward Trinity. "Look out!"

The Reaper suddenly spring into action, uppercutting the horrors closest to Neo and Trinity. "ORA!"

Oddly enough it didn't seem that Rose was fully conscious... perhaps just enough to activate her Stand. Or she was just being lazy, which was just as likely.

Trinity's flame grew brighter, illuminating the whole house as she lunged at the final horror, destroying it in the process.

"Did you find anything?" Neo asked noticing the computer.

"I'll explain everything that I read in seven seconds." Ciel gloated. "This world we're in isn't real--totally called it--and we never actually advanced a day since yesterday. Someone created this world with the purpose of hunting specific individuals, including--but not limited to--our current group. Ages mentioned something about getting you to a gold lamp, but I haven't the slightest clue how that's supposed to play a role in this." She looked down. "Sorry to say, but I think I'll just be extra weight. I can't use my powers because time doesn't flow normally here, and I haven't figured out a way to retrieve my armor."

"Why would we need a gold lamp? Is it magic?" Zapor asked.

"A gold lamp?" Neo asked. "Doesn't make any sense, but leave it to Ages to know exactly what was going on and not tell us about it..."

"So, do we know where the gold lamp is?" Trinity asked.

"No, but i don't suspect anyone knows where the heck to look." Zak said.

"So...how exactly do we find a gold lamp?" Trinity asked Ciel.

"I wouldn't know. But I get the feeling it might be something that isn't supposed to "belong" in this world. Something out of place, something that'd stand out." Ciel guessed.

Part 3: The Unlit Torch (Zapor, MHS, JayJay)
"That still doesn't help anything..." Trinity grumbled. "We have to search an entire city for one little lamp?"

"Starry Sky Tales?" Neo called out from the computer. "That...that was the book my Mom read to me and Era..." He got up and left the room, searching for the book.

Zapor looked to where Neo was going, cocking his head, wondering where he went. Zak looked at the front door. "Uh, did someone knock?"

"Go check it out." Trinity told Zapor. "Neo, what are you doing?"

Neo came into the room again, opening a large book. "The Starry Sky Tales, a collection of children's stories." Neo flipped through the pages. "I don't really know what can help us but..." He stopped at a chapter titled 'Something Wrong in Hazelnut City.' He stared at it a while before lifting his head. "I don't remember this one..."

"That must be what Ages wanted you to look for. I can't imagine any other reason why he'd mention it." Ciel said.

"Ugh, where was my alarm clock when I needed it?" Argent slumped into the room, finally awake after all this time.

Zapor went to go see who was at the door, having a pistol out even though it had zero bullets in it.

Echo stood on the other side of the door, looking around, making sure there were no other horros going to attack.

Neo started flipping through the pages, he stopped, kept going then stopped again. "It's about us." Neo told them.

"'Neo held his claws a the ready, awaiting with baited breath as the three horros circled around him, not knowing that four others managed to sneak around to Ciel's location.'" He read aloud and flipped a couple more pages ahead. "The book tells us everything!"

"What do you mean everything?" Trinity asked.

"'Neo Tranquil is a young fox from the Tranquil family tree and the flawed leader of the Station Square group. He perfers fighting up close and using dirty tactics. Is betrothed to Trinity Moon and may care about the people around him." Neo called out, flipping the book and revealing small biographies of everyone. "Zero, Fate, Ciel, everyone is here."

"Forget about that, does it tell us where the lamp is?" Trinity asked.

"Yeah...but we're gonna need some help to get it." Neo told them. "Says here we need some psychic power, the only psychic I know that can supply us with that is Ages, but it looks like this robot guy has a rock that does it for us. So, we're gonna need to go find the others."

Zapor opened the door. "Echo!" He then looked at Jay. "And person who I have yet to know!"

"Uh, which robot guy would that be?" Zak asked Neo.

"Says his name is Clock-Watch. He's got gears in his head, or something..." Neo told him.

"Gears in his...head?" Trinity asked. "Sounds painful..."

"Oh thank goodness you're here!" Echo exclaimed. "Is everyone else inside?"

"Yeah!" Zapor turned back inside, pulling Echo and Jay inside also. "Guys, Echo and some other guy is here!"

Rose looked over at Zapor. "You never even learned his name...?"

Zapor looked at Rose. "Um, I didn't think of that..."

"His name is...uh..." She turned to Jay. "What was your name?"

"His name is Jay." Neo called out, reading the book. "He and Echo are the last ones to get here before we head to Canterbury Apartments."

"Should we expect a lot of fighting when we get there? Or on the way, even?" Ciel asked.

"Uh...let me see..." Neo flips through more of the pages. "The book likes to skip that part, but there isn't any combat at the building."

"Cool, because I'm sorta out of bullets." Zapor said.

"There'll probably be some fighting on the way. At least there, we might have a chance to rest after that." Anderson said.

"Then let's go." Neo said, closing the book.

Part 3: Glowing Truth (Saren, Timesmash, Zero)
Zero got into the hotel, finding Kala in the room with everyone else. "Wow, your fast." Zero told her.

Saren looked at the new arrival. "Things are about to get weirder aren't they..." Saren mumbled.

"Oh dear god..." Clock-Watch mumbled to himself. "Why do people always come at the worst times!?" He turned back to Kala. "Anyways, I demand that you tell me how exactly you are helping us!"

Kala stared at Zero. "What does that mean?"

Zero raised an eyebrow, before a flash of understanding swept over her eyes. "You're not Kala..." The final lock broke.

Saren, who held Fey's scythe, saw the final lock break. "The lock broke.. Is that a good thing?"

"Yes. that's a very good thing." Fey said.

Kala looked down, and began to laugh. "Good game everyone, you caught me."

Saren yawned. "Let me guess, your gonna go on some long monologue about how you're going to kill us and how we can't do anything to stop you and that it's better to give in.." Saren said in the most casual manner possible for him, something which indicates just how tired he is.

"You're probably right." Clock-Watch told Saren. "It really does get boring when everyone does that, doesn't it?"

"No, actually, I want to congratulate you on finding the truth, well done!" She laughed. "Sadly though, it's only a matter of time before you starve, or rust, or get eaten, or just end up alone, so my work is already done!" She gave a little wave and then disappeared.

"So...we're still back on square one." Fey sighed. "Nothing changed, so now what do we do?"

"On the contrary, actually." Clock-Watch said to Fey. "We know that the real version of her is here somewhere! If we can find her, or perhaps the others stuck here, we will find our way out!"

"Right." Zero agreed. "Maybe the others have already made some progress."

(I apologize for users having to see that. Let us continute from here. -Neo)

"Yeah, now lets hop to and get stuff done." Saren cheered, holding fey's scythe in a silly pose.

"Alright, then we should go." Fey told them. "Tranquil Manor is a couple miles away, it'll take some time."

Part 4: A golden light
As the two groups traveled together, they snuck by many enemies, normally choosing to avoid battle rather than face it head on. The groupsebbed closer and closer together until they both began to notice each other in the plaza. A tall clock tower stood behind Neo's group, while a large field where kids would normally be playing was behind Zero's group. "There they are!" Echo whispered.

"What?" Neo asked, opening the book up again. "The book said we meet at the apartments...we're not supposed to see them here."

"Kid, the future isn't set in stone.." Saren said. "Take it from me, a few years ago I'd have sooner left you to die then stick around.."

"And now...?" Fey asked with a knowing smile.

"Well..." Clock-Watch said, looking around. "I don't actually know. I was expecting something ridiculous to happen, I guess."

"Now... I'd try my hardest to make sure you guys don't die on me.." Saren said with a smile. "Wow.. I really have changed..."

"I'm gonna take that as a good thing!" Zapor said with his his usual oblivious smile.

Neo looked to Clock-watch. "Do you have the psychic rock?"

"Hm? Oh, this?" Clock-Watch replied. "This is not just some 'psychic rock'! This is the Silver Magatama! I don't actually know what makes it so special, but I'm sure it's something."

"So what's the Silver..whatsimacallsits supposed to do"? Zapor asked.

Saren face palmed. " Magatama you dolt.. It's a prayer bead necklace associated with an old religion..." Saren explained to Zapor, In hindsight Saren figured he was being a bit more mean than usual, but he's tired from the events that he went through recently.

"According to the book they use it to see locks when people are lying." Neo told them. "But for us, it's going to open the building where the gold lamp is." Neo flipped through the books pages a little more. Then turns around. "The clock tower?" He looks down at the book then back up to the building. "Damn it, of course it's the clock tower." He approaches the building, which appeared to have no door, and slid his hand around it, stopping all the way at the left side of the tower. "Clock-watch, bring the magatama here."

"O-okay..." Clock said, walking to the wall. "This is it."

Neo took the magatama and held it to the wall, causing it to shift and rock, slowly to open into a large spiral staircase leading up to the top. He handed the magatama back to Clock-Watch, then looked back to the book. "Up here, we'll find it." He tells everyone.

"Sweet.. Now let's go get us a lamp.." Saren spoke in an offhand manner.

The group climbed to the top of the tower, and found a trapdoor leading up. Once through, it revealed a huge square arena filled with nothing. The walls all showed a face of a clock, making it appear that it was the top of the top tower. On one side, there was a small golden genie lamp, and standing on the other side was a man wearing brown a brown hood, and what appeared to be leather armor. He had a gun in one hand, and a large machete in the other. "Finally, you've arrived."

Neo looked down at the book, then back up. "Not supposed to happen."

"Oh, but it was." Hunter told them. "Genie!" He called, and Kala rose from the ground next to him.

"Y-yes? M-master?" Kala asked.

"For my second wish: I want you to make me the strongest being in the entire universe!" He commanded the girl.

"Master, wouldn't you like to uh..." She looked around frantically. "To...uh...to play with them before you kill them! To, uh, make it fun or something?"

"Do as I command!" He threatened the girl.

Kala gave a sigh, and gave the group a look of sadness before pointing at Hunter and making him glow a cosmic white color.

The floor shook with energy, as the side with the lamp rose and shut, creating a giant wall, blocking access to the lamp. "You are all through!" Hunter told them.

Neo looked around, throwing the book to the side to an open page. He turned to the trap door, going down it, and locking it shut.

"The hell is he doing?" Zero called out.

"Doesn't matter." Trinity smashed her fists together, illuminating in fire again. "Let's take this guy out."

"Yeah, and I have a plan.." Saren said. "I wonder if I have my vials of nitroglycerin?.." he muttered as he checked his coat.

"Hm?.. Nitroglycerin.. White Phosphorus and Mercury... I wonder just what sort of fun I could have with these vials.." Saren spoke, an excited glint in his eyes that might unnerve anyone next to him.

(are they in that weird dreamscape or in the real world? -Saren)

(The dreamscape, but this guy isn't a horror and everyone has everything they had on them before. So go nuts! -Neo)

"Oooh, look. He's all cosmic white-ish and stuff!" Clock-Watch stated, looking at Hunter. "I can work with this..."

(Sorry, been in a driver's education classroom all week. I'll get back into this somehow. -MHS)

Ciel seemed to be analyzing their situation... and didn't appear to be extremely confident about it. "He might still be mortal, but I don't recommend confronting him directly. The magic of a genie is absolute, and they don't really have much of choice in how it's used. We need that lamp, and we need to get out of here alive."

"So what are you saying? Just make sure he doesn't come within arm's reach?" Argent asked.

"Hm.. I have an idea.." Saren said, holding a few vials. "Any of you guys have any method for intraveinous injections?" Saren asked.

"What does intravenous mean?" Zapor asked Zak.

"It has something to do with injecting him in his vein." Zak answered.

"Ok. So holding him down is a no go since we'd be biffed..." Zapor thought.

"... The idea is simple, any of you guys know how blowdarts work?" Saren asked.