This is Jacron. Say ‘hello’, Jacron… Or not. I guess he can’t hear the narrator's voice. Ah, well, I suppose we should get into introductions.

Jacron is an orphan from the 9th District. Being a male Cune and about to graduate top of his class in Cleric's Combat School. It is a most prestigious award, being the most advanced school in the District. His parents died when he was young, and his father left him with a sword. The sword itself doesn't seem to be special at first glance, but it's covered in runes of an ancient language and fires wind shells when swung. He attends his school with his best friend, Masa, a clever and rich Fexen. She grew up with rich parents, allowing her to go to any school she desired and coincidentally, went to the same school as Jacron. The two became best friends fast. Masa is graduating third in her class. Both are in for somewhat of a great adventure in a world much different from our own.

It was a bright day, the beginning of graduation day. The sun shone bright over the horizon and gave the early-risers something to gawk at like usual. Jacron was running late, however. "Crap, crap, crap, crap!" He shouted, frantically, "I'm going to be late... On my graduation no less!" He lept from building to building, dodging old park swings and benches, long since covered in bits of nature. Just as the school came into sight, he heard the bells chime. The students were rushing in, showing most of them were late, too. The day prior had been daylight savings time, so nobody was used to the change yet.

"Hello, students, parents, and students who are also parents," The announcer started off, "today as you may have guessed is our graduation day. You all have put forth your best efforts to achieve greatness. Your knowledge and tactics are now that of a high-ranking officer and be assured that their performance will not disappoint."

Jacron reached the courtyard of town, school wasn't far now. "Some; however, have come to go beyond that of expectation and be capable of much more than what it seems. Our top classman, known not for his one arm, but for his outrageous skill and righteous heart, give it up to, Jacron!"

The crowd applauded for a short moment before people started asking where he was amongst themselves. The announcer started becoming nervous. "Leave it to Jacron to be late on graduation day." Masa yelled. "I'm sure he'll be here any moment." The announcer added, nervous and beginning to sweat. Just as a few were about to get up, a shadow flew over them. Jumping from the building, Jacron landed on stage with a large cloud of smoke. As it cleared, there stood Jacron, back turned to the crowd in a heroic, but ironic stance.

The crowd laughed as Jacron turned around, clearly facing the wrong way on accident. "Our top student!" The announcer stated. The crowd took to another applause before the announcer gave Jacron the microphone for his speech. Jacron didn't know anything about needing speech, so he quickly thought of one off the top of his head.

"Hey, guys. I stand before you today, not as an elite member of society, but as an equal amongst you all. Sure, I didn't make it here without putting forth my best effort every day, but we all do, right? We all put forth our best efforts and some can strive where others cannot, but that is why we are together and work as such. We can't do everything ourselves and it is important that we can rely on one another to put forth our best, because only the best is enough. As we graduate, know that we do not stand above you with our high titles, but stand among you and share your hardships. Welcome, the class of

3240!"

The crowd applauded once more and Jacron bowed. Getting the mic back from Jacron, the announcer began calling everyone else up to the stage, each getting their certificate and a badge of graduation. "Nice speech, tardy pants." Masa mocked. Jacron stuck his tongue out at her in response. "I shouldn't be the one up there, though. Thomas was better than me and he knows it. He was giving me the evil eye the entire speech." Jacron said.

"Even so, you outweigh him in what it actually takes to be a leader. I bet if it were him up there, he would've given a rehearsed speech without any heart... Hah! Look!" Masa pointed to Thomas. "There he is by the food area, throwing his cards away!" Masa began snickering and laughing. Jacron joined just before Thomas gave them another evil glare.

Thomas approached the still snickering pair. "They should've given that speech to me. I'm better than you in every way. My speech would've been professional, rehearsed and conveyed actual meaning to the graduates, unlike that bang-up one you gave. You didn't even dress appropriately!"

Jacron glanced down to see what he was wearing. "Hey! That speech wasn't half bad and at least I dress like I have meaning." "I dress like a professional warrior, showing prowess and obvious integrity." Thomas retorted, brushing some dust off his armor coat. "Well I dress like me. I'm not going to follow some optional warrior-guidelines. Unlike you, I'm comfortable in my own skin." Jacron smirked and Thomas scoffed, walking away.

"Talk about a mood killer." Masa added before turning back to Jacron. "I know, right? That guy needs to learn how to loosen up sometimes." They took to the punch table, Jacron, waving his tail the whole while. As they reached the table, Masa grabbed it tight. "Ow! Hey! Knock it off! I told you, my tail wag isn't on purpose!" "On purpose or not, if it's moving about, it's mine." Masa giggled. Jacron poured a cup of punch and rolled his eyes with a smirk, holding the disposal tube down and using his tail to filling his cup.

Cleric's Combat School is the highest difficulty school in all of District 9. It's the tenth hardest of all 31 Districts. Only the most prestigious of the population can even have a chance of attending it. Its courses are borderline war conditions, only your friends don't die. They still get injured, many times over, but never killed. The Shot-Bots are programmed for non-fatal attacks.

Anyone who is injured is put at a major disadvantage. The lightest injuries were a broken hand that took a full week to heal, putting that sorry recruit to the bottom of the class, near fail. Graduating this school is almost like being awarded a medal of honor for fighting an army of flaming dodgeballs that flew at you over 60mph. During a hurricane. That was also on fire.

Jacron was never able to land a devastating blow, but was able to hold his own by dodging around oncoming attacks. Masa dealt quick, accurate attacks, aiming for weak-points, but couldn't do the best at dodging. Thomas was able to deliver heavy blows, but only because he was built to. He didn't bother to even try to dodge. All attacks were brushed to the side, only burning his clothes.

Before each test, Jacron gave an inspiring speech, making the newbies do better. It raised success rates by at least %12. Jacron and Masa were able to survive this hell and still press forward, keeping a cool head and a steady hand the whole way.

Eventually, people started to go home, leaving with their veteran-status children and saying goodbye to their old instructors, who couldn't help but shed a tear. Jacron's graduating class was the best class the school had seen for at least 30 years, when Lortas, the hero of District 9, still was a young Beox.

Jacron sighed, knowing his parents weren't even alive, but still wanted them to see him graduate. He did, after all, do this for them. Jacron's dad was an ex-military officer who quit to focus on his family. Jacron wanted to follow in his old man's footsteps. His mom was a weaponsmith, making the sword Jacron uses to defeat Shot-Bots and still have time to make dinner.

He left the courtyard to walk Masa home, like always, not only because he wanted to, but he had nothing better to do in his spare time. Now that he graduated, he was going to apply to the military academy and becoming a soldier.

As he waved goodbye to Masa, there was a loud explosion in the distance. Large plumes of smoke rose above the District's surface. Masa and Jacron ran back to the open sidewalk, trying to see what was happening over the shorter buildings. They nodded at each other and ran towards the now-glowing clouds. A riot broke out.

Nintens were outraged at the unfair factory conditions of their company. The police were siding with the company, so it was only a matter of time before everyone was arrested. Several Nintens were storming building after building, setting fire to anything with their factory tools, which were currently in Worker Self Defense Mode (WSDM for short). After about a half hour of constant rioting, a heavy amount of military troops were deployed on location. Jacron and Masa were putting their power into helping the workers, but not by vandalism. They were talking to the main boss of the factory, asking for a reasonable deal for both parties to be happy.

"What are they mad about out there?" Jacron started, Masa looking and nodding along. "They say I'm not paying them enough! I've given them premium pay as far as I know, but I don't handle the money that goes to them. I just deal with the customers, the money is dealt by our team manager, Markey."

"Do you actually make sure HE'S paying them enough?"

"N-not really, I mean- he seemed like a good guy when I hired him, so I guess I trust him."

"Right... Well, let's have a little 'chat' with this 'Markey' and maybe we can get this dimmed down."

"D-don't hurt him, I'm sure he means well, and I think he has quite a few connections if you know what I mean." The boss said, nudging his elbow towards Jacron, who was already out the door.

"So, we know this guy might be the issue here, but haven't much to go on, which means we don't have much dirt on him." Jacron said, mostly to himself. "But he gets to deal with all that money by himself. Should we ask the workers first? Maybe we can get more out of them." Masa added. Jacron nodded and they headed past Markey's office down to the workers below.

Outside, there were a few workers still standing near the road, throwing up rude gestures’ and yelling profanities to nobody. "Excuse me, did you work here?" The workers confirmed with almost a high amount of zealous pride. "Well, do you know why you're rioting?" One of them shook his head and looked at the other. The other looked Jacron and Masa up and down for a second before saying, "Nobody does, really, we just followed the lead of that guy, Markey. He was talking about revolution and enough money from the government to live hearty lives. I don't really care about the money, but I do love to yell and destroy stuff, so I just hopped on the bandwagon." "Where can we find Markey?" Jacron questioned. "Uh... We ain't supposed to say, his orders were to not tell anyone we don't know, and you guys look like a pair of undercover cops to me." "If we were cops, why haven't we arrested you for rioting on public property? Also, why would we remain undercover after this riot even broke out?" Jacron retorted.

"Because you guys could be asking me his whereabouts to arrest him outright and stop the fun." Jacron thought for a second and said, "Listen, we aren't cops and we don't plan to arrest anyone. We just need to know where he is, so we can maybe make a deal before this ends up going further south. You have kids, right? Wife? What would they think if their beloved worker didn't come home? What if, instead they saw your mugshot on the news with all these other people? Is it really worth it?" The workers stood silent for a while and the other answered, "There's a hatch in his room, leading to a secret place in the sewers. He was using the riot as a distraction so, he could escort money from the company to his personal stache." "Thanks... And, get home. Your family is probably worried sick." They nodded and started heading their separate ways.

Jacron and Masa kicked open Markey's office, sending production records everywhere and several chunks of wood on the floor. Blue lights were floating around outside and military officers shouting orders around in all the chaos. They were beginning to arrest rioters with surprising speed. Jacron and Masa didn't have much time if they were going to catch Markey. Trashing his room, Jacron finally found a hatch under Markey's desk. They opened it and started stepping down the metal ladder leading to the sewers. As they reached the bottom, they flipped on their persona-lights, illuminating the area ahead. The smell was awful, so much so, that Jacron and Masa activated their rebreathing apparatus, a gas mask, basically. As they met with the final step, Jacron stepped on a switch, which was followed by a click and the metal hatch closed. It sounded like something heavy was being pushed over it. Jacron looked to Masa, "Must've been the way he got out unnoticed." Masa noted. Jacron nodded in agreement. They looked around the putrid sewer system.

There was a deep, guttural kind of grinding noise far off to the left. The city's sewer grinding system. It was a natural way of quickly turning waste into fertile soil to farm. Using millions of organic and mechanical worms grinding it up and decomposing it in a matter of hours.

Around the corner, there was a dim light. Jacron and Masa turned toward one another and nodded, heading that direction quietly. Lit up by the light on the walls, Jacron and Masa saw several posters, very clean. They're the posters talking about the 31st District's construction. Although clean, they seemed to be soggy with what looked like heavy amounts of glue, keeping them hung up.

They turned the corner; not to find Markey, but some sort of monster. The thing was at least 6 feet tall, almost touching the ceiling of the sewer and was very wide. It had pudgy feet that held up a glowing figure and a single eye that hung from a tentacle-sort of thing. It was licking something off the wall of the sewer. "Is that-?" Masa whispered. "Yeah, the posters are it's food source or something." The monster licked the poster clean and it stayed on the wall.

Masa slipped on some moss on the ground. They looked down at it and it was a pile of green moss, but smelled awful. Masa slipped again and fell in the sewage. She let out a small scream on the way down. The monster turned around slowly, showing it's one eye first before turning. It let out a raspy gargle as it ran towards them, saliva dripping the whole time out of its gaping mouth. It was slow and clumsy, but making good pace as Masa lifted her now-ruined feather dress out of the sludge.

"Ew..." She groaned as Jacron pulled her out of the muck and began running in the opposite direction. Although it was given a head start, the creature couldn't keep up with their speed. After a minute of sprinting, they seemed to have lost the creature. There was a distant groan that echoed throughout the system and more heavy footfalls, more than two at a time.

"Good thing we got away from that one. That could've gotten messy fast. Almost as messy as that butt-absorbed toilet paper you're wearing." Jacron said, giggling while still holding his nose. "Oh, shut up," Masa said, giving him a crap-covered arm bump, "C'mon, give your bestie a hug, why don'tcha?" As she lunged toward Jacron.

"Ah! No! I don't want to be a wad of butt!" But it was no use, Masa tackled him, and they fell into the sludge together. "Now we're equal." Masa said, tossing more crap off her face before helping Jacron up. They were too enveloped in their conversation to notice the several footsteps getting very close. They turned towards the noise and their eyes went wide, "Get down! Lights off!" Jacron shouted before dropping into the crap once more. The sewers were caked in darkness. Just as they shut off their lights, several glowing monsters ran around the corner and down the hall, snarling and panting as they ran. At least thirty of them passed before Jacron and

Masa were finally alone again.

Slowly, they rose out of the sludge, looking into the directions of the collective glow which was still coughing and snarling ferociously down the sewer. "Why are there so many?" Jacron asked, mostly to himself. Masa shrugged and added, "Let's just hope that that's the last we see of them."

They got onto the sidewalk, turning their lights back on and began to walk again, shaking off the feces with every step. They saw another glow around the corner, brighter than what they saw before. Cautious this time, they peered around the corner and saw a desk with several papers scattered around it. It was lit up by a single desk lamp.

Jacron and Masa approached it, a bit more relaxed than before. They reached the desk and looked the papers over. "This isn't currency." Masa whispered. The papers were what looked like the hitman applications, which were the only other thing made of paper other than money. Several of them were scribbled out and one was crumpled up. The scribbled one's were covered in the glue-like slime they saw before. The crumpled paper was still intact, showing a name in clear print. Jacron didn't register the name before they both heard a louder roar just to their left.

There was a large mass rushing towards them, slowly pushing through the sewage. In front of it was a man, running just a little faster to keep his distance, but he was in a heavy panic. "No! You can't kill me! I'm Markey! I'm the one who has been keeping you alive!" Just before he reached ten feet from Jacron, he slipped on the sewage and the monster ate him whole.

It glowed a very bright red, which illuminated the entire hallway before going back to its original luminescence. After a second of satisfaction, the monster belched and turned towards Jacron and Masa. It roared once more before charging the two, a little slower than before. The monster looked like the other ones but had several extra limbs and even a hat.

On the opposite side of them, the monsters from before had caught up to them and were making a beeline for them too. Jacron and Masa looked either way and targeted the biggest. Jacron stuffed the paper into his pocket before they launched the assault.

Masa ran first, cutting it several times and severing tendons with surgeon-like accuracy. The beast fell to its knees before Jacron sliced its eye and it flew off, while it screamed in agony. Jacron and Masa jumped over the stunned enemy, but when they looked back, the hallway started to glow a bright yellow before fading to severely bright red.

They were eating the biggest monster. It was writhing and struggling, but to no avail to the massive amount of others, pinning it down. "What the-" Masa managed to mutter before Jacron pulled her along, "Let's not wait for them to finish that meal. We need to get out of here!"

After turning several corners, they found a ladder. The ladder was in another location than where they began. "This must be where Markey was going to get out." Jacron walked up the ladder and opened the hatch. There was nothing but darkness just before a bunch of Linchens fell out, making a ruckus and throwing feathers the whole way out. They began running in random directions followed by the monster’s roar. "Okay, that was the feeding chamber. Makes sense on how Markey was feeding them." Jacron noted. They went the rest of the way up the ladder and saw a feeding pin and a door. The floor was covered in eggs, most likely from the Linchens. They were careful to avoid them.

They headed out of the door and were greeted with the bright outside, where people gave them a disgusted look. Cytanks rolled through the streets toward the factory. "Seems a bit much for a city riot, don't you?" Masa shrugged. "We could ask those Cytanks, or we could take a shower at my place." She added. Jacron shrugged and they ran towards Masa's mansion.

"Ah, that feels nice." Masa gleefully exclaimed whilst the steamy mist showered her body. Jacron was rather hasty, having to use the second shower, which had no hot water. After only five minutes, Jacron was done, feeling fresh and more than a little chilly. Masa took nearly an hour, clearly enjoying the hot water.

Even when she got out, they still needed to wait another hour for their clothes to get done with cleaning. They both sat in the laundry room, in towels waiting for their apparel to be useable. A noticeably awkward silence followed as they wait, both not knowing what to say to the other because they were both close to nude.

Finally, the drying unit buzzed and their clothes were released. Masa shooed Jacron into the hallway whilst she got dressed. "No peeping, perv." She mocked from the inside. "Oh ha-ha. Like I'm going to do something like that." Jacron sarcastically said while jokingly opening the door a crack. "Hey! What did I just say?" Masa quirked. Jacron let out a devilish giggle and closed the door. After a minute, she walked out and was looking back to normal.

They exchanged glances for a second before she let Jacron in with an awkward side-step, as to not touch the towel. Jacron didn't bother to close the door all the way, leaving enough open for Masa to peek through. After a second of serious, mindful consideration, Masa wanted to peek, if only a quick one. She went towards the door just as Jacron opened it. Their eyes met and Jacron let up a smirk.

Masa's face turned very red as she managed to mutter out, "Y-yes, well... It took you long enough! L-let's get going before it's too late out."

By the time they had it all said and done, it was night. Lights were still going in the distance, but much less than before. "I guess there's no point now." Masa sighed. "Yeah, looks like all the fun is over... Whelp! I'll see you later then!" Jacron said, obviously sad that all those workers had their lives ruined. "Well, since you've no place to stay and my parents are out on vacation, I guess it'd be fine if you stayed here-" Masa was cut short. "No thanks, I don't wanna cause you no trouble and it causes me less stress to worry you with just me. I've got a place just up the street that I sleep."

"You have a place? With what money?"

"Well, it's not really mine, but it's a dumpster unit behind that one restaurant that I've cleaned to my liking and if I leave it be, by morning it'll be covered in trash again. So long as I'm in there, the garbage people just pass me by. I think they're too lazy to tell me to leave and plus it's probly less work for them anyway." "Alright..." Masa groaned, she had feelings for Jacron, but didn't know how to go about them. "But here!" She blurted out, giving Jacron a small package. "Food? For me? Aww, thanks Massy!" Jacron said before giving her a hug and waving goodbye.

Morning came fast, both were sore from all the falling they did the other day. Jacron showed up at Masa's house very early and rang the doorbell. Masa walked down her stairs and opened the door to see nobody standing there. "Real nice place in the day, wouldn't you say?" Jacron said, sipping a cup of tea in a chair around the corner, just out of Masa's sight. She

looked back at the open door and noticed the large stone and glass on the floor of her living room and gave Jacron a dirty look. "...What?" Jacron said, taking another sip. Masa motioned to the wreck in her living room with much exaggeration. "Oh please, it isn't that bad of damage, plus you shouldn't have so many keys to your windows just lying around."

Masa let out a loud groan before pushing the 'In Case of Jacron, Push Button' button. The windows re-aligned themselves and fixed any damage that was previously there. The walls fell and replaced themselves and a replacement ceiling rolled in above them, matching the original layout to the tee. "Sucks that your parents installed that button. I can't get you in trouble anymore, now can I?" "No, you can't, sorry." Masa said angrily, but somehow holding back a small giggle. Jacron motioned with his tea, "Best part is; though, is that if I can't get you in trouble, you look for it anyway." Masa giggled again, but a bit more out loud. "Hey, let’s go see what became of that factory place." She said, showing a sudden flow of seriousness that Jacron followed up with a nod, mid-sip.

They strolled down the road and noticed that several blocks were cut off around the factory. Just then, Jacron remembered the note he had earlier. He ran back to Masa's house and picked it up off the table where he left it. It still reeked of sewage and the edges were frayed from light soakage. Instead of taking the putrid thing along, he unwrinkled it, careful not to get it too close and not rip it. The note was ruined, but the name was still legible. "Floyd Burden...?" Jacron muttered to himself before torching the note and leaving the ashes on Masa's

carpet. She was outside, so she didn't even know. Jacron laughed to himself, even if the Waiter Maids would be around to clean it up before they got back.

He walked outside to meet Masa. "So, I guess we could look for a 'Floyd Burden' if nothing turns up. I mean, why not?"

"He might have something to do with those things in the sewer the other day. Anywho, shouldn't we tell the police about that whole thing? Seems like they have the military right now to kill whatever those things are, but I'm pretty sure they'd like a word or two with the guy who caused the whole thing, don't you?"

"Hey... Do you wonder what Markey was going to do with those things anyway? It looked like he was training them or something. Like, pets or attack animals or what?"

Masa looked puzzled for a second. "Maybe, but he doesn't have access to that kind of lab tech to make these things, does he?" Jacron shook his head. "No... He's not smart enough for that kind of thing. Probably. We could ask the police if they know of any correlation between the two." "Nah," Masa disagreed, "Let's not let the government have all the fun. This can be our little adventure mystery." Masa fantasized, waving her arms in a rhythmic pattern in front of her, like she was laying it out in her mind's eye.

They approached the tape and saw the factory was just outside it. Sharing confused looks, they both looked to the local police officer for an answer. "Area's off limits to the public." He said. "What's happening in there?" Masa questioned. "Found some more of Floyd's Abominations. Police are taking care of the situation, so go home, but before you go take this," He held out a wanted poster to both of them, "That's Floyd Burden. It's a long shot, but he's been on the run for a while, so you might run into him here. He's normally in District 14, which is why, but you never know. If you see anything or know anything, give us a call." He said before nodding them away.

"So, we have a Floyd from the 14th District, who made these guys. Guess he was selling them?" Jacron asked to Masa before they both shrugged. "Well, since we I don't have a job and your Military induction isn't for another five months, let’s go check it out! We got nothing better to do anyway and money for our family is of no issue. We just have to tell my parents we're leaving and where we're going."

"And if they disapprove?"

"Don't worry, I'm using my own cash to get us there and it's not like they can baby me forever, right?"

"I guess." Jacron said before they embarked back to Masa's house.

When they arrived back there, her parents still weren't home. "Oh, right." Masa said, bopping her forehead, clearly remembering something. "They're gone all month, not just that night." As Jacron gave her an all-too-knowing shake of the head with accompanying eye roll. "You're really something." He smirked.

"Here, I'll just write a letter for them." Masa said before going into the house and getting a pen and paper to write it down. She ripped it off and placed it on the table, not noticing the ash which hasn't been cleaned quite just yet. "Now they won't be wondering!" Masa noted before grabbing her purse and heading past Jacron, who was still marveling at the fact she didn't notice the pile of powder remnants of the poopy-paper.

They both arrived at the Tele-Train Station and Masa paid for both to get to 14. "Careful," Warned the conductor, "I hear Floyd's abominations run a little more rampant on that district, you sure you can handle yourselves?" He asked, showing actual concern. "Yeah, we're good." Jacron bragged, brandishing his grad-degree from Cleric's Combat school with the top-class stamp in the top right.

Impressed, the conductor allowed them on the Tele-Train and they found a seat. The entire train was empty, save for some people who were obviously home to the 14th. "Alright," The conductor said over the speakers on the Tele-Train, "The knockout masks are about to be deployed, as standard for every ride. Just put it around your mouth and breathe deeply and close your eyes. If you're wondering why we do this, refer to Tele-Train guide found under each of your seats." After he finished, the masks dropped, and the Tele-Trains doors closed. Jacron grabbed his and put it on, breathing deeply while closing his eyes as instructed. A strap of syringes wrapped around his forearms and injected a fluid Jacron couldn’t feel, but it was making him go under much faster. "Alright, takeoff in five. Four... Three... Two...-"

The Tele-Train's wake up siren sounded in a loud, rhythmic baritone, shaking all the passengers awake. Jacron and Masa stepped off, Masa taking lead and she stopped outside the train. Jacron bumped into her, making her fall off balance and stumble a bit. She turned around, flustered, "Hey! I was trying to act dramatic! You don't even notice a movie-like opportunity." She complained. Jacron rolled his eyes, "Not my fault dramatic stops aren't on my 'Things to do in District 14’ list."

The Tele-Train had stopped at the central city of District 14. The city was partly covered in moss and rust, but still managing to hold some sort of majesty. They gawked at its size and rustic feel. Next to the station was a travel guide. What once showed a helpful map for tourists now was covered in damp moss and foliage. Brushing some of it aside, Masa and Jacron peered at it. "Look, a map... What's, the Bomination Station?" Masa asked, confused. "Don't know, but we could probably follow this path and then hop on this one. It's not too far I guess." He said, pointing to a few points on the map, showing a route to take. "I guess that's a way to go."

They started walking that way and noticed some of the major buildings from the sides were marked with a purple line, trailing from structure to structure, following where they were going. "Wow, I guess they actually marked the paths with the map's colors." Masa quipped. Jacron looked on the other buildings and saw that they were marked with differing colored lines, showing that they were heading in different directions and nodded in agreement. "I wonder what this district spent it's time making...?"

Masa asked, gawking around. "What do you mean by that? I thought all the districts were all the same." Jacron retorted. Masa shook her head, "Nope! Each district instructed its scientists to alter their population, to make it easier to notice foreigners and such. Our district focused on Mammals, which is why we look like this." Jacron looked skeptical for a second, but eventually put it off.

It made sense as far as criminals go, but is it so we can accept difference easier? In our District system, all located on the same rotation pattern as District 1, each District having different people than the last. A different population to originally inhabit it, but still allowing each to travel within one another without need of passport.

All they need is money for the tickets and their government already know of their arrivals. Surprisingly, there isn't a race war. There were many at the start, but people eventually came to accept that we are all

different and that seemed to allow them to get along better. Still, there was the occasional dispute between Districts that wasn’t limited to racial comments and slurs, but weren't too keen on attacking a person for their origin. I mean, who can control that sort of thing?

Everyone understood that each had their own origin and stories, but conflict still could envelope them at a moments notice. That's not saying the Districts didn't have wars, quite the opposite. Several Districts denied access from others from high tensions and they kept their weapons on the prime, but with each District so far from another, conventional warfare was difficult. Spaceships were expensive and were destroyed easily, resulting in losses for both sides as all scrap parts just floated in space.

With no effective way of retrieval, they left the parts out there. That is, until the invention of the Tele-Train, which made the need for military troop training to become a must. Each weapon being equip with a melee and ranged option to suit its person. This made several troops perform better with their weapon of choice and sometimes even of their own making. Sure, it made the wars bloodier, but made them very much less expensive to either side. People didn't seem to mind this way, if they kept their battles outside of cities.

To prevent person loss on a grand scale, each District agreed to make an arena where they send about five hundred of their officers on each side. The best of three matches would be victors of the war, making wars much faster than before and basing the wars upon skills and personal strength instead of numbers and explosives. Although, sometimes a District wanted to overstep the rule boundaries, when this happened, every District sent troops to the violators and even hired mercenaries from the Bounty HQ.

Satisfied with these terms, each District now had a way to keep civilians safe, keep an economy strong, limit lives lost to a max of 3,000 and had force to back it up on all sides. Most drew favor from the military, which now was laxer in their ways of training, allowing troops to keep a sense of humor and have more free time. These changes kept the District system from destruction and they revelled in their new governing. Even with a new governing system, there still was religious wars. Mostly Satanic clashing with Christian and Jewish in holy wars, which were told to keep their battles away from the cities.

Any use of explosives or advanced machinery was met with military intervention. Begrudgingly each agreed to do so, but you'd never know when they fight because they keep their battles away from the media. The constant danger when exploring the wilderness was running into an ongoing war, not to mention the dangerous wildlife, which was now joined, primarily in the 14th District, with Floyd's Abominations.

Jacron noticed a very large building around the corner on the left, which showed a very well-made building, vastly better kept than the surrounding buildings. It shown in bold, lighting letters on a sign outside 'Arena' and had a small sign at the entrance with a ticket taker next to it. The ticket taker seemed to be partially altered with mechanics, having an artificial arm that started after his elbow on his left side. "Guess machines were their thing then." Jacron said, pointing to the ticket taker.

They approached the guy and he said with the utmost enthusiasm, "Welcome to the Merry Arena! You two look new here, so I'll give you the rundown on this place. Starting with our building which used to stand for gladiator fights for public entertainment, but now serves as a way for people from all around to fight off the growing spread of Floyd's Abominations! The door to your left is to the stands, where you can watch other competitors fight for their lives against a random Abomination we bait from our underground holding facility. To your right, that door allows you to participate in the matches, along with getting fighting experience, you can also get some cash for each one you kill. Beware; though, because the creatures are random, there's no telling whether you'll have a small Klipom or the gigantic Frecior. The stronger the Abomination killed, the bigger the payout."

"Meh, I don't want to fight anything right now. Also, would you happen to know where we can find Floyd?" Masa questioned. The ticket taker shook his head. "Nobody does, really. I've heard he lives far off in another district, but that's just rumors." Jacron pulled Masa aside, "We can take this opportunity to ask around, don't you? I can fight in the arena and ask the other contestants if they know anything and you can ask some people in the stands." Masa nodded, and they turned back to the ticket taker, awaiting a reply. "I'll take a spectator ticket and he'll have a participant ticket." Masa said, confident. The taker's eyebrows raised while exchanging glances to Jacron and Masa. "Okay, that'll be five for the seat and participation is half that." He replied. "Great, it's cheaper than I thought." Masa said as she handed the guy some cash for the tickets.

"You be careful. There are shady people all around here and make sure the battle isn't too much to handle. You can tap out by yelling that you give up if it proves too much for you." Masa said while motioning to the rules. "This should be easy, don't worry. Just focus on asking around, okay?" She nodded and they walked to their separate doors.

Jacron walked down a dark staircase, leading past several electronic torches, clearly showing some age, but still able to keep the ground lit up. There was a door that read 'Quarters' in big, wooden letters near the top. There was no sliding mechanism, apparently adding an old feel to it. The door opened by push and led to a large room with benches and training dummies, each with a contestant warming up on them.

A few of them gave Jacron a quick glance before continuing with their warm ups. After a short second, Jacron opened his arms up and bellowed, "Anyone know where I can find a Floyd Burden?" Everyone stopped what they were doing, except a few. The few that remained out were from different districts. The ones who stopped stood and walked over to Jacron, forming a crowd. "And what do you want with Floyd?" The biggest said, trying to sound intimidating. Unfaltering and still sarcastic, Jacron looked him in the eyes and said confidently, "I'm here to kill him." And released a smirk.

The big guy let out a laugh and the others followed. "Well, it's clear you ain't the police." A short Mechan said off to the side. "But seriously I just want to know where all these things came from and why he made 'em." Jacron said. "Teh be honest wit' yeh, we really don't know." A Mechan in the back noted. The crowd agreed, with grunts and small 'yeh's. "I know where he is." A Mechan in the far back corner stood up. The crowd grew nervous and backed off to see a slightly shorter-than-Jacron Mechan stroll towards the front.

He was wearing an all dark cloak, shadowing his face and body, save for his eyes. "First, I gotta know if you're worth taking there." He said scruffily, "Kill a Eucharist and I'll take you." "How? Aren't the matches random?" "Yeah, which is why you will have to keep fighting until you come across one." A short silence came after as Jacron pondered the request. He didn't know what a Eucharist was, so he had no reason to back down.

"Wait, do you have to make him fight THAT thing?" Several shouted in the back of the parted crowd. "Yeah, that's suicide. Can't you make him fight something a little easier? Like maybe a Looznit or an Introul." Another said, more directly to the man. "No. I have to know if he truly is worthy of taking. Floyd doesn't take kindly to weaklings." "Pah," Jacron gloated, "I graduated top of my class in my combat school. This'll be no issue here." The shady person chuckled. "Careful with your words. You don't know the danger these things possess." He managed to get out before Jacron began walking to the waiting station.

Masa traveled up a large array of stairs to come across several concessions, littering the opening hall. Covering ground quickly, Masa pulled out the wanted poster and began asking around to the people if they had seen where Floyd could be. Most shrugged and a select few gave her a mean snarl before walking off.

She made her way to the seating area with a bag of subtlecorn and found an open spot. She asked people from each side, occasionally glancing down at the ongoing match to see the Abominations taking on the competitor.

At first glance Masa noticed something different. The competitor was facing off against three abominations at the same time, each different than the other. She looked up at the stone board on the far-off side of the arena. It had a picture of the competitor with his name and on the right were snapshots of the Abomination's faces.

Masa leaned over to the person sitting next to her and asked, "Why is he fighting three? I thought it would be one on one fights." The person, clearly a Mechan turned to Masa with an expression that read 'are you serious?' and told her with a little abrasion, "Only the first round. Each round adds an Abomination to the list. For example, round one, the competitor will fight one random monster. Round two, they'll face two and so on. The type is governed by that big spinning wheel below the board."

Masa looked at the board and saw that there were almost two-hundred different Abominations on it, differing in color depth. Mostly ranging from pure white to pure black and several grays in between. The colors were placed at random. "Also," The Mechan continued, "The colors on that wheel represent how strong the Abomination is. White is easy pickings and black is the real deal. The strongest by far is the Eucharist. Only one guy managed to kill one and that's a competitor who prefers the name Dain. Nobody has seen the guy's face, but I hear he's hot."

Masa gave the Mechan a quick confused look, him being a man, but disregarded it and put her attention back to the competition. The competitor by this time was in a pile of bloody mush on the ground. The last Abomination ran over and gobbled him up before a buzzer rang and it ran back to the doors where it came. "Aww. That's sad, even on light gray, I guess some people can't last forever." The guy groaned. Masa suddenly grew a little concerned for Jacron.

"Okay, well... He's dead. Cleanup!" The loudspeaker rang before several Mechans wearing all yellow came out of some raised windows and began disposing of the bodies and blood. "Next up is Jacron! He's a Cune from District 9 and a Cleric's Combat School graduate! Give him a warm welcome, won't you folks?"

The crowd roared as Jacron took the field. He gave Masa a nod and she tilted her head to the side. "What the heck is he doing? You weren't supposed to fight! We just needed to get info and get out." She was suddenly cut off by the announcer, "Alright you know the drill people!" He said before the stone wheel began to turn.

It landed on a slightly darker than pure white mark and the crowd booed. "Come now folks, the best always need time to show their greatness. Give the little guy a chance!" The large gate of the arena opened and Jacron turned to face his opponent. A small creature hobbled out. It was no bigger than glass bottle. It was fast for its size, too fast for Jacron. It charged him, head lowered and headbutt Jacron, who fell back a few, kicking up some dust. "Alright, so I guess I gotta try." Jacron said and drew his father's blade from his back.

The creature lowered its head again and began charging once more to Jacron. He held out the sword in a straight point. The small thing's head was lowered so it didn't see that he lowered the sword and accidentally jumped into it, impaling its head. Jacron chuckled and pulled the range trigger on his sword before a rune glowed and the Abomination blew up, sending guts everywhere. Jacron turned to the crowd and bowed. The crowd wasn't impressed and yelled for the next round.

"Round two!" The speaker chimed before the wheel started going. It landed on a pure white and a deep gray. The crowd began to roar. The door opened and out stepped a small cup-sized ball with arms which was quickly smashed by a massive Abomination, resembling an ancient creature called a 'Dinosaur'. It roared and looked down at Jacron with anticipating eyes. Jacron sighed, "Well, they really upped the ante with this one, didn't they?" It charged Jacron, eyes and mouth agape. Jacron didn't move. It scooped him up in one swoop and he was gone.

The crowd roared, and the big creature tried to chew Jacron, but was having issue. Masa cried out, tears forming on her eyes. Just as she was about to rush over to help , Jacron's sword plunged out of the abomination's eye socket, skewering the eye before the thing threw him out. Jacron fell to the ground, covered in saliva. He stood up, sand sticking to his clothes and he tried to wipe it off at least his face.

"That's my sword." Jacron said before walking back towards the abomination. It roared again while blood dripped slowly out of its mouth and eye socket where the blade still sat. It charged again and tried to bite Jacron. He dodged it with ease but didn't see the tail coming from behind it and got hit. He flew back against the arena wall and fell to the ground. Jacron stood, a little slower this time and popped his neck side to side before running to the Abomination.

It went to bite again and Jacron jumped back into its mouth and down it's throat, grabbing his sword on the way down. The Abomination roared once again as several sword holes began appearing around its body. The Abomination faltered in step before exploding, sending guts everywhere once again.

The crowd roared once more, showing favor for their competitor. "Round three!" The announcer spoke, and the wheel began turning once again. It landed on the purest black, which read on it in pure white letters 'Eucharist'. Masa swallowed hard. The wheel spun again and landed on the same spot. The crowd went silent, waiting for Jacron to give up, but he remained quiet. His gaze was fixed on the board, but he was smiling very widely. The wheel spun once more and landed on pure black again. The crowd showed honest concern as Jacron giggled to himself in the middle of the arena. "Oh... How... Unfortunate for you." The announcer added.

"Since the Eucharists are too dangerous to have normally, we will now deploy the Arena shield, ensuring they won't cause any of the spectators harm. Are you sure you don't want to give up? With Eucharists, you can't give up. There's nobody here who can stand up to even one of them."

His voice quivered a bit. Jacron looked at Masa with confidence and nodded. The buzzer rang, and lights began going off as the gate rose up. Out stepped not a giant, but what looked like a man. It was covered in green splotches and limped every step. Two of them followed and each had arm blade attachments, making it seem they were once Mechan. Quicker than normal, the doors closed and Jacron stood before the three, sword raised. "Since you guys are the best, I won't hold back. It's only right." He said before giving them a beckoning nod. He lowered his stance and they charged him, each taking a side to flank.

The one in the middle jumped as the others went in from the sides. Jacron blocked the one on the right and rolled under the jumping one before getting kicked in the ribs by the left one. Jacron skid across the ground, rolling on his sides before getting back up. They were very fast and very strong. Jacron's blade almost fell out of his grip with that one attack. Jacron turned back to them and began clashing swords with them. Jacron was barely able to keep up with all three of them at the same time, each swinging wildly at Jacron's torso and arm. Jacron began taking cuts every so often, slicing his arms and cutting little bits of his chest. Jacron jumped back and they continued their quick charge.

The first kicked Jacron and sent him off balance and knocking the air out of him. The second tripped him, sending him a little up into the air and leaving him completely open. The last used the first two as a step boost and tried to swing its arm swords at Jacron. He barely managed to block it, but still took a heavy kick to the ribs, sending him flying into the back wall and his sword fell out of his hand, spiraling before landing on the ground. Jacron got up, very slowly and shaking as a little bit of blood dripped from his mouth and body into the sand. Jacron spat out a wad of blood and grit his teeth.

The Eucharists ran once more, seemingly faster than before. They swung in unison and Jacron barely evaded them, taking a gash on his back in the process. He returned with a swift roundhouse kick across one of the Abomination's faces. The kick sent it flying and Jacron threw another punch at it, slamming its body to the ground. Jacron suddenly had an idea. The other two swung again from behind him and Jacron jumped forward before pivoting on his hand drop-kicking the other Eucharist. Now that two were on the ground, Jacron smiled.

Jacron’s blood boiled for that level of excitement. He reveled in the thought of having a real challenge. Every enemy that had any chance of beating Jacron, he took that chance to improve himself.

He lunged forward and punched the last Eucharist in the face. It stumbled back and swung at Jacron. He ducked and sent a kick into its guts inflicting some serious damage before running back a few feet and jumped from one of the slowly recovering Eucharists, using it as a launchpad as he flew into a flurry of bicycle kicks into the one still standing. It stumbled backwards, and the splotches that covered it’s torso began to bubble and burst.

The Eucharist hissed and some of the green liquid poured from its body and spat from its mouth. It landed on the ground. The sand began to melt. "Crap... Acid." Jacron muttered. He threw another punch and it landed, sending the Eucharist to the ground, but burning Jacron's hand. He wailed, holding his hand as the others had finally regained their composure and began to run at Jacron.

He turned around just in time to dodge a swipe, clipping a bit of his hair off. The other sliced a deep gash in Jacron's leg, sending blood sputtering out in a stream. The first kicked him, throwing him back to the center of the arena. "This isn't looking good." Jacron said before looking up. His sword was right next to him on the ground. Jacron smirked and stood, putting his weight on one leg.

Masa was crying now, pounding on the glass and the audience sat and watched with anticipation and silence. She couldn’t get in. Her best friend was dying and she couldn’t help out. Her gut sank heavily, feeling that this was the end. She hated the thought of it, but what could she do? The entrance was closed off and the glass was to protect the people. She could do nothing, but watch.

The one covered in acid rushed towards Jacron with it’s sword covered in acid, slowly eating away at it. It was very weak now and Jacron easily parried it, knocking the abomination off balance before slicing at it, pulling the trigger releasing a wind shell and decapitating the creature. It fell to the ground limply. The other two began to snarl and their splotches burst as well, coating them in acid. They began to attack Jacron, swinging wildly and sending acid out of the tips of their blades. Every so often, they would land a cut on Jacron, acid boring into his skin.

Jacron was also landing hits occasionally, cutting them and sending wind shells into their sides. One of them faltered and Jacron took the opportunity to slice it's arms off. The arms spit out a mix of blood and acid, blinding its partner. It began swinging wildly, no longer having direction and cut the other into bits. As it was slicing away Jacron gripped his blade and took two hastey steps before, by no extension nor exaggeration, slicing the last one to ribbons. Afterwards, the shields began to raise. Jacron let out a large breath and fell to his knees. The crowd was silent and Jacron turned to them and yelled, "Okay! I think that's enough for me today!" Masa giggled through tears and was the first to cheer, the crowd following.

She ran out of the stands and onto the sand as the announcer began to say, "Amazing! Not one, but three Eucharists killed at once! That beats the early round difficulty record by a ton!" The announcer yelled, barely able to contain himself. "So, uh, what's the record for furthest gotten?" Jacron yelled, weaker than before. "Two-hundred thirty and he ended the match out of boredom." He said. Jacron chuckled and shook his head. “One day… I’ll beat that.” He said before passing out in the sand.

Jacron awoke in the hospital. Masa was not at his side, unlike what he was thinking when he won. He was about to leave his bed when a doctor came in and pushed him back down onto the bed. "Hey, Jac, we can't have you sneaking around or leaving because we need to keep track of your health." The doctor paused a second and then quickly flipped up his index finger, showing that

he remembered something. He then left the room, door opening and heading left, clearly not seeing the man opposite of the wall.

He pushed off the wall and put his foot in the door right before it closed. The figure strolled in and stood at the end of Jacron's bed, who was keeping an eye on him before recognizing the person. It was the one from the arena, who said he could meet Floyd after completing the task that Jacron did three times over. Jacron smirked, "Well, well, well." The man stared at Jacron before smiling himself. "Nice work, laddie, but I understand you had a companion?" Jacron's face suddenly turned to concern. "Yeah, she was in the crowds, watching me." "Heh, I could tell. She was the only one who looked worried for you."

"Where is she at?"

"Well someone came to pick her up."

"Who?"

"Don't know, looked like someone from the Bounty HQ. Figured they knew each other 'cause she had just left with them."

"We're from District 9. We don't know anyone outside of our own district. What did they look like?" The man's face dropped as he grew wide-eyed.

"If they were from Bounty HQ and you guys only know from your kind... She's in trouble. The one who walked out with her was a rather large Mantu."

"Mantu? And why is she in danger? What's Bounty HQ?" "Calm down and let me answer them in order, now what was the first one?"

"What are the Mantu?" "The Mantu are the race from the 2nd District, the District that crossbred with insects. Don’t ask."

"Why is she in danger?"

"Because Bounty HQ took her, which means someone needs her dead."

Jacron's face suddenly grew serious. "What is Bounty HQ?"

"It's a company located on the 2nd District. They deal with people who want other people dead. All bounties submitted are anonymous and you can send in a request remotely. Just pay, give a name and face and they'll have it done."

Jacron shot out of bed, grabbing the man by the arm and jumping out of the window. They fell a solid three stories before they landed, going into a series of rolls before running into town- towards the Tele-Train Station. After they went out the window, the doctor walked back in the door. "Oh come on! Again!?." He complained,, looking back at the sheet then to the window.

Running through town, weaving around people, Jacron and the shady arena guy approached the Tele-Train. Jacron ran with a slight limp, his leg not being fully healed. He tried to hide it, but the shady fellow was noticing it more and more. They reached the Tele-Train and they taker asked for the boarding cash. Jacron felt his pockets. "Oh, no... I'm broke. I can't-" The shady guy stepped forward and put the money on the counter and shoved a large wad of cash into Jacron's pocket

"These are your winnings from the arena." The taker took the cash and gave them their tickets, thanking them for their business. They got onto the train and Jacron looked at his leg. The wound had reopened and was slowly soaking his pants. "You should've waited 'til they got that all sorted out." Said the resident shader. "I'd rather lose my leg than my best friend." Jacron said, not breaking eye contact. They sat down and put the knockouts on.

Awaking at the receiving station, they both got out and sloppily ran into the Tele-Train's main plaza, exclusive to a few Districts-mostly the rich ones. "The Bounty HQ is on the other side of the District in a large, formal building. You really can't miss it."

"Why is that? All these places look formal."

"Mostly because it's in the shape of a massive H. Oh, and there's banners all around it labeled 'Bounty HQ'."

"Huh." Jacron shrugged as they went onward. "Is there a faster way around? I don't think this leg can handle THAT far of a distance. Plus, at this rate, it's going to take forever."

"Lucky for you, there is. There's a plentiful amount of drivers in the plaza and market that'll take you. They all charge high amounts, but they're at least true to their words to get you there fast. You best let me do the talking, though. They don't take too kindly to... Your kind."

"Well that's racist."

"Not like that. I mean, the combat school grads who carry their weapons in plain sight primarily make the drivers nervous. They tend to think they're cops, but if they see a shady fellow such as myself vouching for you, they'll probably make an exception."

"Ah, there's one!" Jacron said, pointing to a guy on the other side of the plaza, standing next to a rather heavy-looking car. "How can you tell that?"

"Just a hunch, I suppose."

Shades McGee walked up to the driver and they began conversing. Jacron couldn't hear them, but he saw both give him small glances. Shady came back and leaned next to Jacron. "He said you can go, but you gotta keep that sword sheathed and you need to stay quiet. They wiretap the cars and I don't think we need any more attention than we have."

"But we haven't gotten any attention since we've been here."

"You idiot, look around. We-mostly you- have been getting dirty looks off the charts. It's only a matter of time before one of these guys will take some kind of action." "Sure they're not just looking at my really-red leg?" "Nobody sees-nor cares about your leg in this crowd. You look official enough to put their businesses at risk." Jacron looked at his clothes. They were new, fashionable, business-looking attire from the hospital staff. His old ones were torn to shreds and burned, so they tossed them. "I guess you're right. I'll try to stay quiet." "Good, remember, these guys only need a name and face. Some have tech to get a name from your voice. Local records from other Districts and such."

Jacron nodded and they headed to the man. "Hey, you've helped me out quite a bit so far. What's your name?" Jacron questioned shady with genuine curiosity. "I can't tell you now, but I guess you can call me Dain."

They got in the car after a short pay conversation with the driver and Dain. Jacron forked over the large amount of cash and they got in the car to drive off. "So, what's a Cune like yourself going to the Bounty HQ for?" Jacron looked at the man and then to Dain, who sat up. "As I said, my friend here is mute. He won't cause trouble. Those are just clothes from the hospital."

"Yes, as you have said. Say, where did you get that wound on your leg?"

"Arena fight, as I said."

"If that's so, why isn't he at the hospital, getting it treated still?" He said with a suspicious eye. "Apparently his friend got kidnapped and he can't wait for it to heal." "Ah, but they don't hand out those kinds of suits until you are done being treated." Dain looked at Jacron for an answer this time. Jacron pulled out a small note with a single word written on it. 'Stolen'. "Ah, so that explains why you looked so formal in bed. I thought you were about to die." Dain said before handing the paper to the driver, who gave a smirk in amusement. "So, this friend is worth stealing a suit, getting away with using hospital care and meds, and travelling to a criminal side of town to work with wanted convicts, which is, by the way, considered treason?"

Jacron gave a short nod. The driver began to laugh. "Heh, sounds good to me. No cop would go that far outside, right?" They pulled up to the District and got out. "Thank you, sir." Jacron said after giving the driver a short wave. "Wait a minute, you're not mute! You said he was mute! You lied! I'm calling this in. You aren't going anywhere! I got not only your face from my car-cams, but also your voice!"

"So close." Jacron said. "Who knows what else you lied to me about." He scoffed before finalizing the report, which, in total, took about five seconds. "So much for the peaceful viewpoint!" Dain yelled before grabbing Jacron's

arm and heading for the entrance. "I'm sorry! If it makes you feel any better, the rest of that was true!" Jacron yelled back to the angry driver, who was already speeding off in a large puff of smoke.

As soon as they walked through the front door, several alarms began to go off. Guards from every direction started running down the halls. Jacron and Dain stood in the lobby, looking for a way out of sight. Dain noticed an air vent attached to the wall and pointed towards it. Jacron followed his gaze and nodded. The two of them slashed the vent out with ease, causing metal to fly around them. They both managed to get into the air vent just before the guards came around the corner. Jacron moved a nearby potted plant in front of it just in time for the guards to not see their escape route.

Jacron and Dain moved around the air vent's shafts, searching for a trace of Masa. Jacron noticed a door labeled 'Women's Hold'. It was solid green with white, formal text near the top. "That must be where she's at." Jacron whispered as he ripped out the vent with his claws. He poked his head out of the ceiling before going all the way out. They had gone about three stories upward, so the guards must've been on the first still.

Jacron went first, falling and landing face first on the floor. Dain didn't look before he went, causing him to fall on Jacron's back, but landing on his feet. "Ow..." Jacron muttered before Dain jumped off him. "Woops, wasn't looking where to land." He said, scratching the back of his neck.

They walked through the green doors to what looked like an elevator. "What the heck?" Jacron said, examining the elevator's inside. "Must be how they keep so many bounties here." Dain added, "But if they keep the people here, then the rumors were false." "What rumors?"

"The ones that say that the bounties are killed. They're just kidnapped...But why?"

"Who cares? That means Masa’s probably safe. Let’s go free some bounties!" They hit the button for the first room. The elevator went down far before stopping on the designated floor. The doors opened to see what looked like a stage. On the stage was a Cune, almost bare, sitting in the center. She was shaking and visibly crying. She was trapped inside a large glass area and several men and women of all races lined the edges.

They were shouting and throwing cash as they pressed several buttons on what looked like tablets before them. One of them got what seemed like the highest bid. A screen lit up behind the girl on stage. In bold white-on-black letters with even some graphics in the background, it read 'Shrapnel Parade'. Several of the people cheered and booed as several panels opened around the girl, who was now screaming and begging. The walls on the glass became reflective and coated in rubber. The removed panels made a short hum before firing thousands of rusted metal pieces in every direction.

The girl screamed as they ripped her apart. After several agonizing minutes, the shrapnel stopped, but the girl was already dead on the ground. A loud voice came on the speaker, "Next bounty!" as another girl was forced on stage by some very large looking men. Dain looked at Jacron, who matched his face of utter disbelief. They said in almost unison, "We need to find Masa."

Upon closer inspection of the tablets, Jacron noticed the people were voting on the next person by face. While they were scrolling through, Jacron saw one person greyed out and saw Masa's face not too far from the odd one. "Ooo! A new one has been added!" One of the people shouted. Several others shouted in agreement before pressing her face. The crowd thickened around the tablets, so Jacron couldn't see them.

They both heard several buttons being pressed, several dings going off before a timer buzzer went off. A voice came from the overhead, "Next girl is our newest addition! Please give a grave welcome to Masa!" The crowd roared as two large men threw Masa onto the stage before exiting.

Soon, after they left, Masa got up and started pounding on the glass, looking faces to other faces, looking for hope. She saw a familiar face in the back of the crowd and her face lit up with glee. Jacron lowered his stance and unsheathed his sword. One of the people heard it and turned around. Without hesitation, Jacron decapitated him, sending his head rolling to the ground. His body soon followed as all the rest people moved to the walls, opposite of either of Jacron or Dain.

Masa cheered and took a few steps back as Jacron pointed his sword at the glass and pressed the trigger and the blade fired a shell. The glass shattered, and Masa jumped out, cutting her feet on the broken glass. Jacron and Masa embraced each other.

"Did they hurt you?"

"Y-yes. They were fairly brutal with their treatment, except the one who brought me." Jacron scowled at the men as the bodyguards came back into the room. Jacron fired a shot at both their door control panels, making them unable to open once more. He motioned Dain and Masa to the elevator and they walked onboard.

They looked back to Jacron who was going around and pressing one of the buttons and placing a very high cash amount. The buzzer dinged, and several pipes filled the stage. The people began to scramble towards the elevator, which had already closed with Jacron and friends inside. Just as Jacron pressed the next button on the elevator, a voice on the other side chimed, "Great selection! Gas Chamber, here we go!"

They went down another level, each yielding the same result as the last. Unfortunately, they had to watch a few die as they escorted bunches up at a time. Jacron had no problem at setting the entire room on fire. Using the same strategy as the floor before, he selected the same punishment and tossed a match at one of the pipes before leaving. One guy got on the elevator for a second before Masa picked him up with one arm, cut his legs’ tendons and threw him back in the room.

At the last floor, they noticed there were no more girls able to be selected on the tablets. The room was actually empty save for one girl on stage. She gave Jacron a dirty look and spat at him, but landed on the window. "That's no way to say thanks, but I'm not one to judge preferences." He said before tapping his sword on the glass and slowly inserting it.

The glass cracked at the point and the girl leaped back, clearly confused. The glass shattered and Jacron helped her over. She was like all the others, but she was the one greyed out. She was a Mantu, the only one in here as a hostage. She stepped over, hesitantly. "What do you want? You wanna kill me yet? Here to torture? What?" She shouted impatiently. Jacron gently, but forcibly put his hand over her loud mouth.

"Shush it, damsel. We're here to get you out. This place is dumb, so wanna come out alive or just waste away here?" She looked back at the stage and almost excitedly grabbed Jacron's collar and drug him into the elevator with the others. "Hurry up, I got this guy. He's with the bounty squad, but not by choice. I'm their bargaining chip and as soon as he sees that I'm out, he'll going to help out."

"Uh, what's he look like?" Jacron asked. "He's a Mantu, like me, but bigger, slightly bulkier. He's normally gentle with his targets, as I've heard. Instead of taking them in by force, he just drugs them with a special paralysis syringe." "Oh!" Masa intruded, "I know him! He's the guy who actually took me. At least I know he didn't mean it." "Yeah, guess he just wanted you to be safe. For as long as you had left, anyway." Jacron added, looking at the girl.

She blushed a second, showing the slightest smile, but then her expression hardened again, "He’s gotten several people killed because of me... I wish I would've just died to save him from having to do all this." The elevator went quiet for a second before she spoke again, Jacron and Masa not knowing how to respond to her, "It's nice that he cares, though. Anyway, at the top floor, probably the one you guys came in on, there's a door not too far from there. It's the men's holding chambers. They don't care for killing the men in a sadistic game, mostly because they torture them for fun. They keep them alive to entertain. They're not fed or anything. Brendon, my boyfriend I mentioned before, is in there if he wasn't called for a mission yet. Oh, and my name is Lisa. Try to remember that."

The main elevator doors opened and there were fires and sirens going off. Several people rushed by, all men in ragged clothes. "Well, at least some of them got out. Must’ve heard the commotion. C'mon, we gotta find Brendon yet." Lisa added, looking both ways in the hall before stepping out. She motioned everyone else to follow and they did, strolling around the corner just to have Lisa shove them back against the wall as a large platoon of guards ran past the hall.

Lisa leaned out and waited until the men disappeared. Motioning once again to follow, Lisa opened the Male's holding area. The chamber was large and empty. "Crap... Brendon must've been in that crowd." Lisa muttered before Jacron walked in front of her. "Nah, there's someone still here. He's, like, in the corner over there." Jacron pointed to a large sum of chains in a dark corner. There sat Brendon, still chained up and looking at the ground with no expression.

"Brendon!" Lisa shouted as she ran over and almost melted in his arms. Jacron cut the chains off with ease and Brendon happily met her embrace. "How is this possible?" Brendon asked, wiping tears from his eyes. "These guys saved me! They're the reason we're going to get out of here alive!" Lisa cried back with joy. Jacron gave Masa a look and she winked. They shared a giggle before Brendon's face turned serious. "I can't leave yet, though." "Why not?" Lisa said, feeling less sure of herself. "The things these people have done... The things they've made me do... They aren't people. They're monsters. Monsters who can't be left alive." He said, gaining momentum as he stood up. He took one step and fell back to his knee, clearly in pain from hunger. "Here." Masa said as she stepped forward and handed him a bit of scrap food she found on the containment floor. Brendon ate it with clear disgust. "Gross, but thanks." He nodded. "Hey, there's a vending machine out here." Jacron said, leaning into the hallway. "Leave it to Jacron to think about food at a time like this." Masa said, rolling her eyes. He obviously wasn’t tuning in to the conversation Lisa and Brendon were having.

They all approached the machine and Jacron pulled out some prize money. "So, whatcha want?"

"I'll take the Kwazouski."

"You mean that green ball with the candy eye? That's gross, but each to their own, I guess."

"Hey, I like my Kwazouskii, alright? It's an acquired taste." Brendon said. Jacron rolled his eyes as he inserted the cash. It rolled in, slowly then came back out. "Ugh, just take the bill." Jacron said, pushing it back in. It buzzed in then back out. Jacron gave an irritated look to the machine. "Come on, dangit." He grunted as he inserted the cash back in once more. The machine took the cash this time. "Finally." Jacron said, pushing the right buttons for the item. The rotating screws began to go, bringing the Kwazouski towards the front before stopping right before it would've fallen.

"Screw it." Jacron said as he smashed the glass with his hand and manually took it out. "Here you are! One Kwazouski, as you requested." Jacron said triumphantly. After Brendon ate it, he smiled, and they all shared a short laugh before Jacron began feverously taking all the stuff he could and shoving it into his pockets. Masa rolled her eyes again, picking up what she wanted. Afterwards, he picked up the vending machine and threw it out the window. "Now, we are even." Jacron said before they continued.

They rode another elevator up and Lisa turned to Brendon. "Feeling better?" "Yeah, good enough to put a few bruises into Cyprus." Jacron leaned forward between them. "Who's Cyprus?" Lisa turned to him. "Are you dense? He's the leader of Bounty HQ. He created this entire place from scratch." "Oh, right." Jacron responded, feeling stupid.

They reached the top floor without another word and strolled into a lobby-styled room with a receptionist desk, which was empty. There was a door opposite of them where talking could be heard inside. Brendon called over a huddle and the group gathered around him. Masa spoke first, "Okay, the boss is most likely in there, how we should approach this?" They looked at Brendon. "Cyprus is a cruel man. He will no doubt have bodyguards around him, considering the alarms and such going off. We should go through the vents to catch him off guard-"

They all looked up to see Jacron walking through the door. "Well, there goes the plan." Brendon sighed as they ran after Jacron. "Hey, this room is pretty cool." Jacron said while walking in. It gave off a gothic-royalty sense to it. There was a long red rug leading up to an elevated throne that had several screens and computers around it.

A deep voice came from the throne. "Ah, there you are..." Brendon stepped forward, "Cyprus! You will pay for all the pain you have caused! All the people you have killed!" Jacron leaned out from behind him, "Yeah and, uh, someone broke your, uh, entire building." Cyprus gave a short, deep chuckle. "Are you forgetting that I have your Lisa still trapped here? I can kill her any second if I so please. Just because you had a riot doesn’t mean she’s safe. So, unless you want her dead, would you be so kind as to go back to your holding chamber. Actually, You know what? Kill these intruders. Kill them or I'll kill her." He let out another laugh before becoming surprised that Brendon was smiling.

"Do you want her to die? Have you gone mad? Kill them! Kill them or she WILL die!" Cyprus said, sweat beading down his face. Brendon began to laugh as Lisa walked out from behind Jacron and Masa. "Surprised to see me?" Lisa said, pointing a finger into her cheeks. "I should've known you would've been the first target out. To get HIM on your side and fight ME! I'm not surprised at the fact you're here. I'm surprised that even with this little 'strategy' you managed to come up with, you'd come to challenge me!" Cyprus boasted.

Jacron leaned out again, "Yeah, um, that part was a mistake. I just wanted my friend and to go, but Brendon," Jacron looked back at him, "that's his name, right?" Masa was already pinching her forehead and slowly nodded, "Yeah, Brendon just wants you to die because of some personal grudge or something. Me 'n' Masa are just here for the ride, oh and loot the place." Jacron finished, rubbing his hands together and looking around.

Cyprus scowled and motioned his guards to attack. There were about seventeen total and they were all looking like they were fresh out of Steroid Milk. Sadly, they were all Machans and that particular race has never been known to stand up to Cunes or Mantus very well. The bodyguards charged and the group of opposing five branched out. "Everyone take three!" Masa shouted. "What about the last two? Never mind, I'll take 'em." Jacron said, taking on the set. "Everyone stay alive and don't get hurt too bad!" Lisa shouted. Dain scoffed as he went towards the set on the left. "Don't plan to, so that means you gotta make it out too!" Brendon shouted, taking the middle. Lisa stuck with Brendon and Masa with Jacron as they took on the crowd.

Jacron and Masa stood back to back as the few gathered around. The first two charged on both sides. Jacron tackled the one going for him and Masa did the same for the other one. As Masa got up, one of the guards came up behind her, ready to attack. Jacron got up and swung his blade all the way back and fired a shot as a booster to speed up his attack. The shot hit Masa's attacker and he fell to the ground, blood slowly oozing out of his back.

He let out a little grunt and tried pulling himself to the side before passing out short of the wall. Masa giggled a bit before taking on the next one, who swung early and cut Masa's lower calf. She let out a short gasp before cutting the guy up, landing several slashes to the face and making him go blind. Jacron was about to engage the last one before his leg suddenly exploded.

He fell to one knee and looked over to Cyprus, who was laughing and holding a smoking cane. "I saw that little injury you had there, and I just couldn't resist!" Jacron scuffed as he tried to put weight back on his leg, but couldn't get it to move. A bodyguard stood above Jacron, ready to swing. Masa turned around to see the guy swing his augmented arm down towards Jacron. She let out a scream before there was a loud clash.

Jacron managed to block it just in time, but couldn't move from his spot. The bodyguard didn't let up, swinging at Jacron several times. Jacron was barely blocking them as he managed to slowly hop backwards on his good leg. Masa tried to help, but was occupied with her last bodyguard who wasn't about to let her go. "Jacron, NO!!" Masa screamed as the bodyguard disarmed Jacron and moved in for the final strike.

Dain ran towards his group of thugs and took out the first with a solid dropkick to the face, knocking him out instantly. The other two turned around to see their friend flying through an opposing wall and turned back to Dain. He gave them a smug shrug and put his blade for the next round. The two swung in unison, making it hard to block attacks from both of them. Dain took several steps back, making distance while blocking constant attacks. They both lunged for a forward stab in which Dain jumped and landed on their swords.

They both swung up and he used their momentum to propel him high up before coming back down. The guards raised their swords, aiming for an easy kill and kept their form steady. Dain twirled in the air before beginning his decent. He exhaled slowly and two flaps on either side of his sword opened to reveal a syringe on either side. They fired a dark, glowing liquid which began to melt the tip of the guards' blades.

It stopped fast enough to make the swords weld together and he stood atop them. The two guards tried to get the swords unstuck from one another, but before they could get a good pull, Dain kicked one square in the face. As the one let go of his side of the sword, Dain grabbed the top of it and swung it down on the other one, making a clang on the other's head. They both fell to the ground and Dain stood up to see Jacron losing his battle fast. He began to move in.

Lisa and Brendon made it their mission to take out the center group. The guards charged them, and Lisa raised her talons up and Brendon lowered his. Lisa ran towards Brendon who launched her into the air. The guards stopped and looked up at Lisa, preparing their stance. "Don't look at her." Brendon said, closing the distance fast on the ground. The guards looked at Brendon and began to panic. They looked at one another and nodded. The two on the outside raised their swords up to Lisa in unison and the other one pointed his at Brendon. Brendon used his Mantu blades to swipe away theirs, making a path for Lisa. Brendon wrapped his arm around the middle guard and threw him, who was previously looking at Lisa, straight to Cyprus. Lisa parried the two remaining guards and choke slammed them by surprise. The remaining two guards got back up quickly, arcing their blades in unison towards Lisa. Brendon tossed Lisa aside as he blocked both guards.

Lisa looked over to see Cyprus stand up and fire a shot, exploding Jacron's leg. She looked back to Brendon and then to Jacron. She stood up and ran towards Jacron just as Brendon cut off the other two guards' legs. Jacron's sword flew out of his hand and clattered to the ground. He held up his arm in a vain attempt to guard the final strike. Just before it landed, Lisa stepped in front of Jacron.

Brendon woke up suddenly, his dreams still taunting him through the eye of his subconscious. He and Lisa were still in that old cave that they called home. Brendon slowly scooted over to her and gently nudged her. She let one eye open, groggily and looked around before making eye contact with Brendon. "Morning sunshine." Brendon said with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"Morning hun." Lisa replied as she sat up and stretched. "What time is it?" She asked. "'Bout noon, we don't get up soon, the fins'll have to be eaten at night and we still won't have any work."

"Yeah, yeah. Say, do you think we should move our job board into town? I don't think it's doing us any good on top of our house."

"If they want help from the right people, they can ask directly, Lisa."

"But there's two things wrong with that. One; we aren't famous and two; nobody knows where we live." Lisa retorted with a triumphant smirk. "Ugh, fine. We'll move the sign... But you're checking it everyday."

"How bout we do boulder-file-slicer?"

"Okay... Ready?" Brendon said, setting the mind-hollow device on his head. Lisa nodded and they both thought of what they wanted with their eyes closed. They both said in unison, "One... Two... Three!" They both opened their eyes and looked up at each other's projection.

"Ha! I win!" Lisa shouted joyfully. "You go every day, but I'll go with you, because it's boring around here alone." Lisa boasted. Brendon rolled his eyes and then thought of something, causing an exclamation to appear on his mind-hollow.

"Wait, did you cheat?" He said, with an eyebrow raised. "No sir-eye." Lisa said, turning her back and walking cartoonishly to the food prep part of the cave. "You totally did."

"Okay, yeah. I might've." Brendon rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Hurry up and get lunch done so we can get that sign moved and head into the woods for dinner grub. Unless you want to look for a job in town and get paid?" He said, gesturing his hands about. Lisa pondered for a second. "Hmm... I don't feel like going into town today, so forest it is." She said.

They walked outside the cave and looked over to where their sign was. Suddenly, Lisa's eyes lit up. "Hey! We have a job posting!" She quickly ran ahead to see the paper pinned onto the board. "The first one in a while." Brendon said, lagging behind and seeming skeptical.

Lisa took off the paper and read aloud, "To Brendon and Lisa, I've heard of your mercenary group that you had established not long ago. I have this issue with these things that have been roaming around as of recent. I've heard they're called 'abominations' and they've grown to be quite the nuisance around my business. If you could, would you consider getting rid of their population?

They seem to be mindless and so far, annoy the population, so the local enforcement isn't doing anything about it, but it's bad for my business. I will send payment of six-hundred-thousand in cash once the job is done. Head of BHQ, Cyprus..." Lisa stared at the job and Brendon could almost see the greed in her eyes. The greed quickly turned into ambition. "We only gotta kill a few ugly things and we get paid that much?" She said, trying to hide her excitement and failing pretty badly.

"Don't get your hopes up, Li. These business guys don't normally offer so much without a catch.

Look at the back and look for small text." Lisa nodded and looked the paper over very carefully. "I don't see anything. We could ask him when we get there, right?" She reasoned. "Depends if he's even there. I've heard the Bounty HQ boss is rarely around to manage the company. Most of the time he's on private vacations or business trips." Brendon said, showing an inquisitive outlook on the matter.

"Well, money or not, we can probably find some cool trophies off of the creature, thingies." Lisa said, clenching the paper in her arm. Brendon smirked and gave her a nod. "I've also heard about these abomination things. I heard they were only in the 14th District, but they might've spread out somehow. In any case, let's be cautious." Brendon said before they set off.

They strolled down the main road, but heard nothing from the town below. Lisa looked over to Brendon, who seemed to be pondering something. Brendon suddenly spoke, "If the abominations were really annoying this town and Cyprus, why don't I see any people nor creatures? Also, why can't Cyprus just hire someone to do this? I mean, he IS the head of Bounty HQ." Lisa smirked, "Well, he hired us, didn't he?" She retorted with a slight nudge.

"I guess, but that still doesn't explain why there isn't anyone around." Brendon noted, making the conversation quiet. They reached the main opening of town, welcome sign greeting them with a rustic charm and an almost eerie silence. Suddenly a weird humanoid creature jumped from the top of a building and several others followed. "An ambush!?" Lisa shouted, confused. "Mindless, eh?" Brendon said sarcastically. They nodded to each other and took on a massive horde.

The creatures had clothes on. Not just normal clothes, but ones that were specific to that town. As Lisa and Brendon fought, Lisa noticed first. "Brendon... These creatures. They're people!"

"What?"

"Look at their clothes. They're the style of the townspeople!"

"What did Cyprus do to them!?" Brendon yelled as they cleared the crowd. They were finishing the last few before Brendon saw someone walking up the main path of town. Brendon turned to him, "Get out of here! It's not sa-" Brendon was cut short as he heard slow clapping going along with each step. "C-Cyprus!?" He shouted, clearly surprised.

"Yes, yes. It's Cyprus, the head of Bounty Headquarters! He's so cool, so rich, so smart!" Cyprus gloated, "Although; I need more." He said, stopping his clap and walk at the same time. Brendon turned to face him while Lisa held off the corrupt townspeople.

"Di-did you do this?" Brendon said, motioning his hand over towards Lisa and the people. "Well, yes and no. I told a bunch of nerds to do it. It'll bring me in more money this way. Think about it, constructing arenas and new museums to house our abominations. The amount of economic growth! Just let these little guys grow a bit, get some skills and they'll be bringing in cash by the millions- no, trillions!" Cyprus fantasized.

"You're turning people into monsters for profit!?" Brendon yelled back, but Cyprus gave a little chuckle. "Once again, yes and no. You see, I run a specific part of what you would call the 'Dark Web'. A section of our internet separates from the normal with so much worse people doing so much worse things to innocents.

After a month of my Bounty HQ's creation, I instructed some guys to begin building lower floors. I designed them as torture chambers and the such. For lump of cash, we allow these 'Dark Web'-surfers to have some fun with others into the same thing. They get to watch people die, exactly how they want to die. We don't discriminate against people of age, gender nor race, but I will say that females of the Fexn race tend to show up often on the screens. We run out fast, so we must get more often, but the payouts are huge. All our bounties aren't killed,

but instead kidnapped and brought here to be tortured and killed. We have plenty of leftover people from other bounties, but no way to use them, because none of our surfers want to see them killed, yet.

With that encumbrance in mind, I have constructed a way to make more money, satisfy more surfers and even boost an economy's strength. With every new creation, we had to get a test group. The first, of course was this little town. Popular, yes, but not enough for other towns to notice it disappearing. You wanna know the best part, though? Pretty soon these guys will be able to infect others and make different strings of my virus! It's so cool, I could dream all day about it. Anyway, you and Lisa were bound to catch wind eventually, so we'll just take you along with us. Since Brendon, you are the more skilled of the two of you, I'll have you get more victims when we need them."

Brendon's face scowled. "And what makes you think we'll be so willing to do this!?" He growled. Cyprus motioned his cane to Lisa. Brendon turned around to see her, lying unconscious while the creatures began tying her up. "You... You son of a-" "Ah-ah-ah" Cyprus said, waving his finger with one hand and holding his cane cannon to Brendon's temple. "Now. Quiet." He said before slamming a swift blow to Brendon's head, knocking him out.

Brendon awoke slowly, a large bruise on his temple where Cyprus hit was bulging and still a little sore. He was being wheeled down a hall in an old-styled wheelchair. He tried to look around, but his entire body was strapped to the relic, which was surprisingly well kept and sturdy.

They stopped at a door and whoever was pushing the chair walked over and opened the door with a four-digit code. When the lock didn't comply, he sighed and punched the lock, shattering the panel and somehow allowing him entry. He muttered to himself, "Gonna have to get Cyprus to buy a better lock for this. One that only opens from the outside." He wheeled Brendon in and noticed he was awake. "Ugh, you were so close. Why couldn't you just stay asleep? Whatever, listen, maggot, Cyprus told me to tell you that if you do as he says, Lisa won't get hurt. If you run or fail a mission, her name will be placed on the Dark Web Tablets."

He began to undo the straps, starting with the head. As soon as his head was free, Brendon went in for a headbutt. It connected cleanly, sending the guy back a bit. He got very aggressive and landed a square kick to Brendon's cheek, putting him in a daze. The guy took that opportunity to undo the rest of the straps and toss Brendon in the room. He fell to the floor but got up before his face connected and turned around. The guy already had the door shut behind him and Brendon could hear something very heavy being moved behind it.

He pushed against the door, but it didn't even squeak. He turned around to see hundreds of other people, sitting in a large room. Food dispensers lined the walls, but everyone still looked starved. A couple shared

sympathetic glances with Brendon before going back to what they were doing before. Many of the people there were actual criminals, but there were plenty of civilians to even it out.

The criminals shouted and ran around, sometimes hitting the civilians and shouting for a way out. Some schemed and others played cards. Some also cried, and others slept. Before Brendon could react, a paper slid under the door. One of the inmates picked it up and read it carefully. He held it up and yelled, "Brendon! Job!" Brendon strolled over reluctantly and took the paper. "It's your first, right? Don't stress too much, they don't take much outta ya, because most of them are just kidnapping. If you do enough jobs, they'll let ya out! At least, that's what I heard. Good luck rookie, oh and be sure to grab some grub while you're out. They don't give ya much round here. At least half these guys are cannibals and the others just starve or get what they can from the dispensers." Brendon looked down at the paper, reading it over. It was a kidnap job. This was Brendon's life now. He looked down at the ground, paper falling to one side and shed a single tear.

Lisa fell to her knees, a spur of blood exploding from her chest. Brendon looked on in shock as Dain closed distance. Without a second thought, the bodyguard swung towards Jacron again, who was barely able to keep himself upright. Masa lunged forward and gouged the guard's eyes out, causing him to stop and scream.

He began to fall back and to his knees. Masa stood above him as he slowly removed his hands. Without hesitation, Masa tore his throat out, causing massive amounts of blood to slowly pour out onto the floor. The guard hit the floor with a thud and no longer drew breath. Cyprus laughed with utter glee. "How touching! You two barely met and she just GIVES up her life to you! Such a waste, really. Could've used some more test subjects." He mocked.

"You... You..." Brendon began, "Lisa... No... Grrk! CYPRUS!!" He yelled aloud, extending his arms far out. He leaped off the ground toward Cyprus who easily blocked with his cane. Dain quickly made it over to Lisa, who was barely breathing. "Here." He said, offering a pill. "It'll knock you out but accelerate your body's natural healing process for a short time." Lisa nodded and slowly swallowed it before immediately passing out. He then looked to Masa, "I'll keep tabs on these two, you go help Brendon with Cyprus." She nodded and ran towards the fight with newfound focus.

Masa let out a fury of swipes and slashes from the front as Brendon tried from the back. Brendon's slashes were very reckless and fueled by rage. "Pah! What a worthless lot! What good is fighting the head of a company? Especially one such as mine! I keep all my subordinates in line and not one has stepped out, because I kill the ones who do! It's given me some strength and experience, I say!" Cyprus bellowed as he matched both blow for blow.

He let out a chuckle as he sent a firm smack into Brendon's face and fired a shot from the opposite end, shattering Masa's left hand. "At least make it a challenge!" He mocked once more. "Brendon," Masa panted, "You need to calm down. You can't fight like this!" Brendon's eyes suddenly shot red, filling his pupils and the whites of his eyes with blood.

It began to drip from his tear ducts and down his face. He only glared at Cyprus and yelled, "LISA!" as he raced forward once more. Masa ran after him, shouting, but nothing could get through to him.

Cyprus dodged about with ease, throwing in a swing here and there, showing clear dominance over Brendon and Masa. He finished with a back handspring and a flip before landing. He took a bow and looked back at them.

"We can't win..." Masa said, losing confidence. "He's too fast." Brendon ran forth once more, still fueled with rage and yelling. Cyprus turned to him and raised his cane. He threw it, very hard and the hook caught Brendon's neck and he went hurling towards the opposite wall. He sat there, pinned as the cane was stuck into the wall and had imbedded itself on the other side. He was struggling and gasping for air, losing lots of gusto, but still willing to fight. He couldn't make noise, only breathe.

"That’s enough out of that loud mouth of yours." Cyprus smugly noted. Now Masa was at the disadvantage. Dain looked on for a moment before hitting his hand to the ground. Jacron tugged on his side. "Hey, go on, help her. We'll be fine, besides, if she loses, you don't stand a chance alone. I got it over here." After a second of hesitation, Dain stood. He began walking slow towards Cyprus, who joyously mocked the new competitor with a bow and open arms. "No chance alone, eh? Try me."

He ran to Cyprus, who was shocked by Dain's speed. Dain landed a punch square in his face and sent him reeling into the back wall. "No chance?" He said smugly back to Jacron. He stopped when he saw that Jacron was nowhere to be seen. Before he could say anything, Cyprus flew towards Dain, landing a solid punch of his own.

Masa tried to intervene but was quickly knocked out from a clean blow to the chest. Cyprus stood over her, "Time to end this." He said, lowering his stance. Dain switched his augment to hypercharge and several syringes readied themselves on the base. Dain grinned and Cyprus matched it. They both ran towards each other and Dain swung first.

Cyprus ducked and sent an elbow into Dain's chin. Dain was stunned for a second before sending a knee into Cyprus's gut. Cyprus followed with a spinning jump kick into Dain's head, sending him to the floor instantly. Dain quickly got up, grabbing Cyprus's leg and spinning him up, into the air and landed face first. Dain fired a syringe and it punctured Cyprus’s shoulder. Cyprus fell back, pulling the syringe out of his arm while standing back up, "What... What is this?" He said, examining the syringe. "It's a special concoction I made. You're going to be losing this fight now. It drains your stamina, so you won't be able to fight much longer, let alone stand." Dain said, triumphantly.

Cyprus gritted his teeth and shattered the syringe in his hand before tossing the broken glass towards Dain. Some shards cut him, leaking the remains into his bloodstream. This made Dain mad as much as it did Cyprus. Dain swung again at Cyprus, who dodged it at first, but only with luck. He swung a kick, which limply connected with Dain's neck. It let out a pop and sent him to the floor. "You... P-paralyzed me!?" Dain said in astonishment. Cyprus nodded and stood over Dain with a smug look and raised his leg up. Suddenly, a familiar yell roared out and Cyprus's leg was now severed.

He fell to his stub and let out a yell. Holding his bloody leg, he looked to where the slash came from and there was Jacron, panting nearby. "Forget about me, Cy-co?" Jacron laughed weakly. Just then, Brendon broke the cane off the wall, freeing him. As soon as he hit the ground, Cyprus looked Jacron in the eye. "You... You look like the ki-” He didn't get to finish his words before Brendon sliced him in half, sending one half upwards into the air. He looked up and grinned. "You're finished." Brendon said before jumping into the air after Cyprus's top half. In a matter of seconds, Cyprus's yells were cut about as fast as he was, sending little chunks in every direction. Brendon landed on the ground and happily laughed. It was a maniacal laugh. After a few seconds, Brendon’s expression changed. He began waving his hand in front of his face.

"I can't... I can't see!" He said, almost not believing himself. "Of course, you can't see, you're blind," Dain started, "You popped like seven blood vessels in your eyes and probably severed your optic nerves."

"In English, please."

"You got too mad, your eyes blew up from the immense pressure. Just get one of my pills from my satchel. It's under my left side."

"Why can't you get it?"

"Well, if you didn't know, I'm paralyzed."

"But you were moving around a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, BEFORE Cyprus paralyzed me."

"Which side was it again?"

"Left, but I'm on my stomach, so you'll have to reach around me."

"Is this it?"

"No, that's my wallet."

"Hmm, seems like it's the right thing."

"No, I assure you, that is my wallet."

"I don't know, it feels like it's the medicine thing."

"Put my wallet back, Brendon."

"I've got this feeling that it's right."

"Put it back Brendon!"

"Ugh, fine. You ruin all the fun... How about this thingy?" "Hold it up really quick... That's a letter to my wife." "Aww, big man misses his honey-boo?"

"Yeah, but you can't read, so put it back."

"Okay... How about this one?"

"Yes, THAT'S the right one. Now, open it and put it on your tongue."

"Like thith?"

"Ew, and yes. Now chew."

"Oh, hey! I can see again!"

"Yeah, that's the cure for blindness. It's instant action, but now I need to make another one. Look in there again for one labeled 'Paralyzed'"

"Here it is. Kinda pointless if you can't get it. You know, since you're-"

"It's not supposed to be for me, you dolt. Just put it in my mouth."

"Heh, that's what she said."

"There. That's better. Don't worry about Lisa, she's okay." "I know, I heard you guys over there talking."

"How? I thought you were focused on the literal chopped liver over there."

"Well, when you're pinned against a wall without the ability to make sounds, you listen around you."

"Can I get some of that stuff?" Jacron interjected, limping over. They all chuckled and celebrated for a few moments.

Outside, Brendon tossed a flare grenade into the building. It set ablaze fast, spreading throughout the building with intense speed. "I don't think fire is supposed to spread that fast." Dain said. "It does when you use a combination of flare fluid and bug repellant." Jacron said. Brendon slowly looked towards Jacron with mild concern.

Dain holds Lisa while they travel, wounded and weary, but alive. Brendon turns to Dain. "Hey, where are we going exactly?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow. "To see Floyd, and I'm only escorting these two because I know they can help." Dain said, nodding towards Jacron and Masa. "Floyd, eh? I've heard plenty about him in that pit of despair. I'd love to tag along, but as soon as Lisa is awake, we're taking our leave." Brendon said, matter-of-factly.

Jacron caught up to them, "Aw, c'mon. Don'tcha want to stick around for the adventure? The fun? I mean, look at us. We just saved, like, a hundred people from some psychopath money-lover. Not to mention we saved your hides." Brendon spoke up, "Actually, you guys just got Lisa out. I would've gotten out somehow. Besides, Cyprus put us all through the wringer and the only one I saw standing his ground was Dain." Jacron stuck his tongue out.

Brendon looked back towards Lisa. His face suddenly went white. "Dain... Dain, she, isn’t breathing... Lisa is not breathing!" He began to panic. "No... This can't be right. I gave her the right medicine... I'm sure of it." Dain gave Brendon a serious look. "Is she allergic to anything?" He thought for a second, "She complains about pollen a lot." Dain sighed and rolled his eyes, "BESIDES that. Anything special or specific?" Brendon's eyes widened, "Yeah she's allergic to... Uhm... It's uhh... Oh! It's one of those ingredients in chloroform." Now it was Dain's turn to think, "Hm... Oh, I know the one. I can't pronounce it, but it's a key ingredient in the pill I gave her..." They both looked at Lisa with concern. Brendon spoke, "Is she-?" Dain set her down and placed his fingers to her neck. "Yeah... She's gone."

Brendon suddenly grew angry, "You killed her! You monster! Murderer!" He yelled, shoving Dain with every sentence. "Cool it, hotshot. Since I kinda accidentally killed your wife or girlfriend, I'll take you to Floyd as well. He's got a machine to bring people back from death caused by illness or heart attacks. It only works once per person, though. Technically her allergies are considered illness, so I have no doubt it'll work."

Dain said, managing to keep his cool. Brendon stopped his assault and scoffed, “Whatever.” He looked Brendon in the eye, "Don't shove me again." He said giving Brendon a side stare.

Jacron voiced up a bit, "Hey about that Cyprus guy, before you off-ed him, what was he saying? That I looked like someone?" Dain looked back at him, "Started with a 'K' I think. If it's a relative, we can find 'em back at Floyd's." Jacron's ears perked up, "Really? How?" Dain smirked, "He's got some sort of DNA analysis machine there. It's his first invention. He tends to keep his discoveries away from the world."

Jacron gave him a puzzled look, "Why would he do that? Those things would definitely benefit the world as it stands, maybe even all 31 Districts!" Dain shook his head, "Your optimism is refreshing, but Floyd's work is no longer trusted. Nobody would ever step close to anything Floyd made. Not since the start of the Abomination incident." Now Jacron was even more confused, "Abomination incident?" He questioned innocently.

Dain began with a sigh, "Long ago, roughly fifty years or so, Floyd was a respected scientist working for the government of the 14th District. He was trying to make a cure to all diseases with a single pill, a super-pill of sorts. It’s kinda like that SCP legend. His first test up to his last were all fails. Each test resulted in massive patient mutation depending on the ailment. The worse their condition, the more severe the mutation. Floyd kept them in containment, trying to make another invention to possibly turn them back.

His work was beginning to gain ground, but not fast enough for the government's liking. They ordered him to begin tests and the such to the mutated subjects. After much arguing, Floyd had no choice and had to use his unfinished machine to try and alter the patients back to normal. Most of the patients were hysterical, sad or just in shock at what they had become, so they were all more than happy to test this invention. Floyd created the machine to be able to transform an entire room back to normal at once, so he gathered all the patients into that massive room.

He pulled his switch and the room came to life, then something sparked, and a large bolt of lightning came down the in the center of the room. Everyone was electrocuted until presumed dead. Floyd lost his job after that, having two failed inventions and the murder of hundreds of innocents. The government thought that natural decay would just take effect on the bodies, so they dumped them all in a secluded part of the nearby forest. Whether the people were not dead, or the wildlife got infected, nobody knows, but within a few days, Abominations began running about.

They started in the 14th District, their saliva infecting others and causing them to change in the same way. Eventually, the government tried and failed to make a cure, but eventually failed. The world was losing fast, but then Floyd stepped up once more, using a lab he had been living in as a research station, he created what is known as the A-Vaccine. It was made so the virus was no longer effective against any species. That didn't stop some from contracting it by secret and boarding one of the Tele-Trains.

At first it was only in the 14th District, which meant the cure was only in the 14th District. Other Districts quickly became infected and began demanding the cure. The 14th's government saw this as a marketing opportunity and quickly started marketing the cure off at a price that they even wouldn’t even agree to. Floyd saw the injustice of the government and their greed, so he mass produced the cure by himself. Giving the cure away for free, the government was no longer profiting and saw it fit to step in. They didn't confront Floyd about it. They instead hired every known mercenary around to capture or kill. Floyd wasn't only a renowned scientist but was a skilled swordsman of trade. He knew the government was going to try and stop him, so he prepared. He loaded into the special ammo of his weapon a new strain of his virus, one without a cure.

He fired without hesitation and watched as several began changing that very moment. Floyd then easily found a cure and offered it to the government for a high price. When they refused; however, Floyd sent a massive biological grenade into the other Districts, causing their residents to turn, but only the sick ones. The healthy stayed as such but were still attacked by the creatures. Any contact with the virus, given the patient was not ill, would only result in slow, painless death. Floyd then gave the cure away, free once more.

His government since stopped looking for him, because after this incident, he moved his facility to a secluded part of the mountains, so he could continue his research on changing the Abominations back." Jacron thought for a second and then spoke, "If the people were just sad, even as the Abominations, why did they start attacking?" Dain simply looked at Jacron, "Once they were hit with that large shock, their nature changed. They no longer acted humane. They basically went insane, driven by sadness and pain into killing. Little did the original know that their strain was unique to them. Only they would convey any sort of humanity again, the newly changed were just intent on killing. They had no mind to change back. Sadly, I nor Floyd know if any of the originals survived. If we could find only one, we might be able to make a final cure for all of them."

The group walked in silence for some time, taking in the information and sharing sympathetic faces. Dain looked determined, as if this sad past wasn't going to stop him. He knew he could one day help Floyd to make amends.

Masa spoke up, slowly, "That's... Awful. He was doing his best, why couldn't they let him continue?" Dain gave a small, heartless chuckle, "Because, Masa, that last screwup ruined his and the government's reputation. They need to be able to influence the population in order to sustain peace and control. Once they saw that Floyd was the cause of the whole thing, whether by choice or force, the government denied any connection to Floyd and booted him out. The population wanted him dead, killed for what he had done. The government; surprisingly, had a heart and allowed him to live, but he was ‘banished from civilization.’ They claim he escaped from their grasp, so they had wanted posters all around town and in every district to see that he doesn't change location."

Dain suddenly stopped. "And his lab... Is right up there." He pointed to a small, suspicious-looking dibit in the side of the nearby mountain. Jacron gave a confused expression, "Hey, I thought you said he was stuck on District 14. We're still on District 2." Dain chuckled again, but he had some actual amusement in it this time. "I never said he listened to them."

They walked up to a small panel off to the side of the path. Dain lowered his hood to show a decrepit man, with what seemed to be more age and sadness than anything else. His skin was a dark-tinted green, almost rubbery in texture. He pressed a few buttons before a whir made the tablet fire a red line of light into Dain's eyes, scanning them. A small voice emerged from the tablet, "Eye exam complete. Welcome home, Floyd."