Matt knew enough about his jaunt across the Multiverse not to doubt such things. "All right. You know who everyone is, right?"

"Ye--no. No, I don't actually. Um..." he said, expecting introductions to follow. "...I'm X, in case anyone didn't catch that before."

"I'm Matt, your daring leader," Matt remarked.

"I'm Helena." She looked back at him with her very green eyes. "It's nice to meet you."

"And I'm Hugo," the Mettaur said. "The brains of this outfit."

R.D. arrived at the camp at nightfall, spinning across the dirt to stop at its edge and watching as Matt followed in the car. He held up his hand and conjured up a brilliant sphere of light that hung in the air, serving as a beacon for them. With the orb in place, he dismissed his armor, letting it dissolve into particles of light as he awaited their arrival.

The Firebird slowed to a stop just near the orb of light. "Geez, man, would you turn that off?" Matt asked out the window, blocking the light with his hand.

R.D. raised an eyebrow and dimmed the light. "Like you're one to talk," he returned, "You nearly melted our eyes on Khalis with that Shining Justice technique of yours. This wasn't even half as bright as that."

Meta kept walking along the edge of the crater, trying to clear her mind, and consider what courses of action were possible for her to take. When she glanced over her shoulder, she could see the faint light of fires far away in the distance, and knew instantly the others had set up camp. She turned her head and kept walking, going on along the crater. Although she her mind was set on exploring it, she had decided not to do so during the night, and thus she would not do that at the moment, 'less there'd be a given reason to do so right now.

"But mine was incredibly awesome and thus legit," Matt explained.

"Get out of the car," Hugo said.

So they did. As they did so, Matt raised his hand in a sort of greeting as he saw Juno. "Hey, man. What's been goin' on?"

Helena stood a bit behind Matt, from where she could observe safely. "Hello," she offered, not meeting Juno's eyes directly.

"This is Helena." Matt stepped aside so he could move next to Helena, and he gestured with a small smile. "She's been with us for a bit."

"She's not the only new addition," R.D. said, gesturing to X, "We picked up a stray in Japan. That's X."

X sighed. This was going to be a long adventure. "No. No we haven't met. I'm not Megaman X. I'm loosely based off of him."

"You know, like those movies that are loosely based off of a novel, and you're watching it, and it's like, 'What the fuck is this, I thought this was based off of a book,' and they threw in really stupid stuff like upping the difficulty level and making everything cost more and shit like that," Matt said.

Hugo glared at the boy. "Do you even listen to yourself talk?"

"I drift in and out."

"Yeah. Likewise. But seriously, with all of us Megaman type around... you don't think we're going to be redundant characters with a long running gag, do you? God, I hope not."

Matt stepped foward with his hands out. "ANYWAY, we're all pretty beat, so let's set up shop. Or camp, or whatever. We can talk the talk tomorrow."

R.D. watched him go, then turned to his friends and shrugged. "Let's set up camp, then," he said, "I'd like to get some sleep sometime tonight."

The group brought their things over to the fire. Being more cautious around new people such as the others in Juno's group, Matt decided to let them say the first word. He doubted he would be awake long enough for any real conversation anyway. Matt crouched and began digging into his pack for his bedspread.

Matt raised his half-opened eyes to meet Dokuro. This one was a wee bit too close to invading his personal space. "Perhaps," he deadpanned. "You got any money?"

"The hell is that?" Matt asked.

"Don't touch it," Hugo said. "It's probably cursed or something else we don't need right now."

OOC: I'd like to know what special properties that jewel has, if any, Juno. PM me about it.

"I dunno if I should accept such a dangerous artifact," Matt replied. "Unless I can hock it."

Hugo smacked the side of Matt's leg with his pickaxe. "Just give him some damn food!"

"OW! Watch it!"

But Helena had already reached into Matt's pack and pulled out a sandwich-a plain hamburger with cold bun, carefully plastic-wrapped by Matt. She held it in front of Dokuro. "Here you go."

(OOC: How would Reckoning 'lock his eyes onto Meta' if she wasn't in the camp at the moment? >.>)


Meta stopped walking, and, casting a glance back to where she had come from, and there was no light she could see, even with her beyond-human eyesight. A sigh escaped her lungs, and she felt the cool air slip out of her mouth.

Why am I to be surrounded by either morons, egocentric bastards, or liars? She thought to herself. My father couldn't offer me a better life than out here, but now it feels as if I am all alone in this world. I'm not even sure if I can trust Gilgamesh, or anyone who swore allegiance to me when I tore down the Gates of Tartarus.

"Seh," She spat out, "perhaps it'll take a lifetime for me to reach a point where I may live a life that I desired, but I think that would be worth all this." She then turned, and taking her eyes off the crater's darkness, she gazed into the darkness of the sky, towards the east, towards China. "Perhaps, father," She said, talking to the darkness that surrounded her, "that when I will stand in the opening of the gates of your castle, you will finally see what is wrong with yourself, but you would deem yourself unlucky, as it would be too late."

Edited by Morphman on June 27, 2007 at 1:49:45.

"Truly wise words from someone your age," a voice made clear from the darkness. It seemed to come from no immediate source. "Indeed, the journey toward one's desires can be just as important as the end result."