X blinked. He tapped the side of his helmet. "Computer, run diagnostics." He waited for the computer to scan.

ERROR. FRTHWALL.EXE AND METAGAEM.BAT FILES CORRUPTED

"Ah. Well, that's all right then. Anyone have a satellite uplink around here? I need to download some replacement files!"

OOC: Nice save. XD

"I was wonderin' why you were talkin' funny," Matt remarked, with a cautionary glance to X.

R.D. pointed a thumb over at Juno. "He's the one with the fancy lab on Kattelox," he said to X, "Talk to him about that."

"Yeah. See, the technology in me has...side-effects. Temporal displacement and passive divination. Technical terms are "Breaking the Fourth Wall" and "Metagaming". Can drive a man insane. I need a satellite uplink to replace the files. ((built in failsafe in case I do that again. )) Er... anyway, I need a copy of frthwall.exe and Metagaem.bat."

Malvettix's eyes widened. There was a gleam of something within. "If we took the Core from the vessel that holds it, we would have the power to accomplish our goals. Anything would be within our grasp."

Edited by The Helldragon on June 30, 2007 at 22:46:45.

OOC: I wanted Malvettix and Meta alone while me and Morph set this up. This meant that they were to be unheard by anyone, and especially not to have this vital information delivered to the rest of the group. If I didn't make this clear enough before, I'm sorry, but this is how me and Morph wanted it.

(OOC: Juno, if you want us to play nice with your plots, you've got to play nice with ours.)

OOC: Sorry, but I'm not to going to acknowledge it. I made a request that they remain alone and not be interrupted, and I expect it to be honored.

OOC: I didn't acknowledge Reckoning or ZR and neither did Morph because we wanted the characters to be alone. What I can't understand is that you feel the need to interrupt them even though I rather politely asked you not to. I seriously don't get why you don't acknowledge these things, why you refuse to grant such a simple request. It doesn't mess with your plot at all, so what is the REASON? I am INTENSELY curious because I can't find any logical reasoning behind it.

In any case, I'm perfectly content to fast-foward if we can't reach an agreement and I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would be willing to do that.

X copied the files. He patched frthwall.exe, but... he decided to hold on to his copy of metagaem.bat for the moment. He held the replacement in a storage file. His instincts told him to do something, but his corrupted file said that things were on pins and needles and that tensions ran high. He decided to stay uninvolved until he was needed.

Besides, he reasoned. As long as Remnant and his crew were somewhere else that wasn't where he was, life had to be good. He tapped his helmet again.

"Computer, run pong.exe."

EXECUTING PONG.EXE ENDLINE
RUN TAUNT.TXT

HERRO X. I AM THOUGHT YOU HAVE ARE BEEN MORE DIGNITY THAN TO BE LOSE TO COMPUTER FOR VERY MANY TIME PREPARE TO BE LOSE MORER DIGNITY THAN HAVE IN PAST TIEM YESNO?

"Um...yeah. Whatever."

OOC: All right. Basically, me, RD, Morph, and Mega X have decided to fast-foward to the next scene in light of the previous disagreement. Rather than have Malvettix meet Meta by the crater, instead he talked to her in the midst of the night when everyone was asleep. They had the same exchange without being interrupted, and now, Matt's group has set off toward their next destination.

As the Firebird drove away from the campsite, Matt glanced up at his rearview window to the people in the backseat. "All right, kids. Where do we want to go now?"

"Hell if I know," R.D. said, his arm hanging out the window of the passenger side in front. "We've got Alasea back to the Pillar, and if that's all we need to do here, there's a Gateway open somewhere."

He sighed and looked out the window, watching the plains of Sudan roll by in the early morning light. "And Bahamut was the one who told us about the Gateway."

"Well, then, we'll find this gate and get on with our epic mission of epic level epicness," Matt said. He looked up at his rearview mirror to glance at Hugo sitting on Helena's lap. "Did I mention it was epic?"

A sigh. "Yes."

Along the very edges of his field of vision, R.D. spotted a demon running along the lines of their vehicle, attempting to get close. The amnesiac teen turned his head to look at it, and grasped the Third Cipher energy. Before the monster could get anywhere closer to the vehicle, it exploded in a violent shower of blood and gore. R.D. let go of the power and looked back to the front.

His gaze wandered to the rear-view mirror, spotting their newest addition to the team. "Is he still playing that Pong game?" he asked.

"Yes." He replied off-handedly. "I'm here if you need me. Just gimme a call if you need me or if Plot demands me."

"Hi, I am Plot." A litle red, legless, Pacman-like creature that sat on top of X's helmet said, waving at RD.


(OOC: This is a joke. You do not have to take it seriously and may thus just completely ignore this post. :P)

OOC: Done.

"You'd better not be messing with the fourth wall back there," Matt joked, "or I'm gonna turn this car right around and we'll head back home."

As he laughed, something very heavy smashed into the hood of the car. "What the-?!"

Black blades crashed through the front window, and amid the shattered glass, their points launched at the passengers.

Edited by The Helldragon on July 5, 2007 at 22:35:42.

(OOC: Mood of the car? Cars have moods?)

R.D. grunted at the impact, and thinking quickly, thrust a hand out and conjured up a barrier in front of them. The blades pierced it, but were effectively stopped from impaling everyone. His instincts were taking over now, and retracting his arm, he thrust the other out and fired a large beam of flame out the shattered windshield.

The flame burst through the jagged opening in the windshield. The blades suddenly retracted from the barrier and, flowing like water, snapped up and over the roof of the car. Shards of glass lay on the heavily bent hood.

"MY CAR!" Matt shouted. Smacking the steering wheel with his hand, he threw the side door open, stepping out with the most unpleasant frown he could create. "You little piece of SHIT, you'd better be GONE 'cause I'm gonna chase your ass down and I'm gonna-"

He froze.

"What?" a familar voice asked, as denim-clad's wide eyes looked at the black garbed figure on the roof of the Firebird. "What are you going to do?"

His fangs seemed to glisten as he grinned. "If you think you can kill me...you're a fool."

Matt's fists smashed together, drawing his energy blade. With a great leap, he shot up, carving through air. "Malvettix!"

"Shit!" R.D. snarled, "Everyone, out of the car!"

R.D. threw open the door of the car and leapt out, pivoting to face Malvettix. Both of his Phase Blades were drawn and activated, and he too leapt into the air, his blades cleaving the air in a cross slash at Malvettix's back.

X did a backflip out of the car, landing in a kneeling position. He rested his arm on his knee, forming a buster and aiming for the enemy. "Charging..."

Malvettix twisted, and as his coat followed, it extended again, forming blades of darkness that coiled up, blocking both slashes that came at him. The air sang with the impact.

"Right to business it is." Malvettix eased into a simple curved smile. "I suppose you're desperate to make amends for your cowardice."

"Shut the hell up!" Driving his blade down, Matt's left fist shot out, smashing into Malvettix's face. The strike pushed the dark one off of the Firebird's roof, bringing his blades with him.

"Damn it, this is just what I need!" Hugo snapped, jostling about as Helena quickly exited the car with the Mettaur in her hands. "Lemme down, it's time to kick this guy's ass!"

Malvettix landed on his feet evenly, and spread his arms. His shadow extended underneath him, growing in size like a plagueof its own free will. From the inky blackness, nightmarish creatures like snakes rose and launched at R.D. and Matt, brandishing wicked fangs.

Meta was sitting by the side of the crater, her legs swung over the edge, her back bent a little, her arms resting on her knees and her swords sticking out of the sands next to her, outside of the crater. In her hands was an arrowbolt she was playing with a little, or so it seemed. Her gaze was rather blank as she seemed to stare into the air, as if trying to look at the other side of the crater. There was little eagerness within her left to explore the inner contents of the crater at the moment, although that could also be just because she was occupied with other things to mind right then.

R.D. sheathed one of his swords while the other flashed out repeatedly, slicing the shadowy serpents apart as they neared. He pushed his way through, continually slashing at the creatures with the Phase Blade while light energy gathered in his left fist. Erratic rays of light shone from his clenched hand, and the moment he got an opening, he thrust his shining hand out and fired a Lightblast, firing a dozen bolts of white-hot light energy at Matt's dark clone.