Through the streets, alive with the beat of life and thought, Neku runs like a bat from hell with a valediction for the souls of men and gods. He runs for all he's worth, catching up with his partner far faster than he anticipated.
Crashes into her might be a better word. She's staring at the headphones in her hand as if they had bit her, and her hair is hiding her eyes. Neku opens his mouth to begin the attack on what the hell-
But he can't. They are already in his hands again, and the girl is already halfway up the gate like a freakin' spider monkey.
The hell was that about?
She manages to get all the way up and jumps off the top like a crazy person, landing cat like halfway through the yard below. She breaks into a run as soon as she does this, and by the time Neku has climbed up the first gate, she's already scaling the opposite wall. By the time he's climbed down the gate, she's already on top the wall on the other side of the next yard over.
"Hey, come on, I thought you've done this before!"
Her voice only makes him grit his teeth. No he hasn't! The game yes, climbing over people's freaking gates like a burglar? No. He looks about before beating a pace to the wall and scaling it. His crown jewel headphones were already back on, and they jostled some as he moved.
Amnesia was playing. It was a short track he had picked up at the vendors from AMX. Maybe she had tried to listen to his tunes and didn't like them? Ehh. Who cared. They were his tunes for a reason. He felt a bead of sweat drop down his hair and to his neck when he saw that from his vantage point on top of the wall, his partner was...well...
She was already on top of the wall that surrounded the laundry mat. She was looking at him too, a little exasperated.
Hey, not his fault he wasn't a freakin' MONKEY...even though he did like to wear Jupiter of the Monkey threads. Didn't MAKE him one.
Yep, he had a new name for her. She was Monkey. Simple and clean.
Monkey jumped off the wall and into the laundry parking lot. Neku scrambled down his wall and up the next one after almost breaking his face from nearly tripping on a garden gnome. Who in their right minds has those things in their BACK yard?
He glared at the thing with it's creepy eyes. Then he continued on. The music shifted to "Calling" which was perfect for him. It was through that song that he beat his way to the laundry mat backdoor and threw it open.
Or he would have.
It was locked.
Then he noticed Monkey sitting on the side, looking at the sky.
"Door's locked. So I waited."
Duh. I kinda figured that out for myself, thanks.
"Hmm...Another wall then?"
"Tried."
So...there WERE barriers to prevent you breaking the rules...which must mean...
"They expected us to do this...we are on the right track then."
Neku took a look at his hand.
8:31:34
Damn it...if this was the right way...
"Should I break a window?"
"Tried that."
He didn't even realize he had muttered it until his partner tapped a window with her knuckle, and he saw the barrier materialize against it as she struck.
"Of course."
She looked up at him, still sitting on the ground.
"Our only option is to wait. It's a laundry mat, and there is the garbage bin. I can guess in about three hours they will open the door to toss out the trash."
She's smart, I'll give her that much. But three hours?! They gave us ten for that? To sit and wait?
Neku narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but sat down next to the girl. She flipped open her laptop. He rose his eyebrows. She caught the gesture and seemed to interpret it correctly.
"No internet. No connection whatsoever to the outside world 'cept for the information I have on the noise and the game...but I can still at least occupy my time."
She pulled up a game of Freecell and began organizing the suits. Neku, with nothing else to do, watched her play. It was after ten minutes that Neku realized something odd about HOW she played. Sure, she was good at it, but...she had a certain way of placing her cards. The same thing happened a bit later when she got bored of Freecell and pulled up Solitaire. He took a glance at his hand.
7:12:19
"Why do you suit your cards like that every time?"
"Huh?"
Looking up from her current game, another Freecell of Dual-deck Bakers Double, her eyes again looked blank for a split second before morphing again into recognition and then into slight confusion.
It's like she's so focused on what she's doing she forgets everything else, including the fact other people exist.
"You mean Spades, Diamond, Hearts, Club?"
He nodded. She turned back to the screen and blinked.
"I've always done it that way. I don't like to have them any other way...it's a weakness of mine. I guess I'm a bit obsessive compulsive. I get upset if the game tries to force me into suiting them a different way, and I'll go out of my way to organize them..."
She looked at her current game, which was quite a hopeless situation at the moment. She frowned in thought.
"Like now. This game is hard enough as it is, but add my compulsion and I usually lose...ugh. Forget this."
She quit the game and looked up at the sky. Her eyes quickly focused on something and she seemed to zone out. It was really something to watch, like some kind of camera lens pin pointing on something and then just focusing on that. Neku snapped his fingers in front of her face and she shook her head.
"Yes?"
"I need you on the game, not up in the sky. Talk to me here."
She blinked. Then she flipped open the laptop and set to work on a text document. A mere two minutes later, she turned it to him. On it was a picture with a grid of dice, and a set of instructions.
"Okay...try solving this."
What?
He looked it over. It was a grid of one hundred dice, all turned on random faces from one to six. The instructions said for him to pick a direction for each "face" and go through the maze. He had to go through every dice once, he could not repeat a die, and he could not trap himself. If he managed to go through every die on the grid, he'd have solved it. He blinked.
"A puzzle?"
"Yep."
Okay then...1 was left, 2 was right, 3 was up 4 was down, 5 was northwest and 6 was south east...crap. He had trapped himself. He scratched his head. Tried again at another point. Got trapped again. Tried another spot. Decided to change his configuration. Lost again. All the while she watched him, and he was a bit unnerved, for those ultra focused eyes were now on him...and he felt like he was under a microscope. He lost again and sighed.
Try again Neku...
6:26:35
"Argh! Is this thing freaking possible!?"
"Monkey" tilted her head and looked at her drawing. She then wrote down a configuration on the screen for him.
"It's possible with about five different setups of face and direction and from about thirty different points with said set ups. I gave you one, but you'll have to figure out where to start for yourself."
He blinked. Again with that...computer like...
Well she DID fight with a computer...
He looked at the set up she had given him. He chose a dice. Six. That was...north? He went with it. He got to about halfway across the board before he doubled back on himself, but he was starting to see a pattern here. His next try got him about five eighths, and the third time he got it completely.
"Yes! Owned!"
At that point, the door behind them unlocked and a man pushing a garbage bin filed out. Both players turned to one another with the same sentiment.
"The door!"
Abigail slammed down her laptop. Neku beat it to the door and slipped through, the girl a few seconds behind him. Neku glanced at his "watch".
6:12:34
Well it wasn't three hours, but did you hear him complaining? Freakin' close enough though. The two of them beat it to the front and slipped out just as the janitor was coming back in. He paused momentarily as he saw the front door slam. His voice was a little raised as he called out uselessly.
"Uhh...Laundry closes at four!"
~1~
"Center Street. So now we head to AMX then Tipsy Toes according to you?"
You don't have to sound so accusatory. That's the way to go.
"Yeah."
"Neku!"
Neku spun around faster than his body was ready for. He stumbled and almost fell, but instead grabbed unto Monkey, who staggered under his extra weight with a squeak and fell, but he managed to stay upright from that small support.
Shiki.
Only...not Shiki.
How did he know this girl was Shiki again?
She wasn't even looking his way...she was looking around the store fronts in a frantic way, like she had lost her brother or something...then he remembered.
The phone. The girl next to Eri. This was her. This was Shiki...
But she couldn't see him. Which meant...
She was alive. He was dead. Great.
Just...great.
So...why had she called him?
He took a glance around and then back at the laundromat.
It had a skull graffiti decal on it. The typical run of the mill sign that players could become visible in it.
Since when did they get the ability to go to the LAUNDROMAT now?
He couldn't go back in. It was locked.
...Screw it.
He watched as Shiki peeped inside the closed laundry. She was muttering.
"Stupid. What would he be doing in the laundry for?"
…
"You could scan her you know..."
Neku looked around and caught sight of his grounded partner, rubbing her knees where he guessed she had landed. She didn't look to happy at being practically tossed aside, but he didn't care much...
Not at the moment that was...
He did however, grudgingly help her up with a hand.
"She's my friend. I wouldn't want to intrude."
She shrugged and proceeded to dust herself off.
"Okay. Continue to wonder then. I'm going to go look to see if AMX is blocked."
She walked off, leaving Neku with Shiki. She had her pig with her. Well...Mister Mew...God what a name. She now had her head against the glass. She wasn't looking anymore, but was still muttering something nigh incomprehensible.
….
Aww Screw it. Neku focused on his pin, and dove in.
He wouldn't be in here. Why would he?
Except to wash his clothes? ...But it's closed!
Darn it...if this keeps up I'm going to start seeing him everywhere!
That wouldn't be good...would it?
No no no, it wouldn't! If he's alive he's avoiding me...
But he wouldn't avoid me...that makes no sense...
...If there was a way to know for sure...
At this point, Neku realized two things. One; He could actually talk to Shiki, and two...the way to AMX would be blocked.
Why?
Shiki was possessed by the noise.
He watched as his partner zipped back to him.
"The way is blocked, I know."
He had spoken over her, and so she had no choice but to shut her mouth and frown at him.
"Do you know why?"
He smiled and indicated Shiki with his hand.
"She's possessed by the noise. We probably have to clear her of it. But not before we resolve the issue, or she'll just draw more noise to her. We have to imprint on her."
His partner looked over at Shiki and then picked up her pin.
"...I can't scan her."
What?
"That's impossible..."
He had just done it himself! He tried again...and was stumped. Shiki had just magically become un-scan-able. The hell. He looked around the street for a clue...and spotted Beat and Rhyme. They were approaching Shiki; and they didn't look happy. It was Beat who spoke first. As he did, his Monkey of a partner had a comment.
"I can't scan them either."
You don't say...
"Yo this don't make no sense yo."
For once Beat, I agree with you...and yep. Can't scan you.
"No one remembers we was dead yo."
Rhyme spoke up here.
"It must have been the composer's doing Beat, to prevent confusion and suffering for our families."
"What about my pain and suffering tho'? Who's gonna have empathates for me?"
"Empathy Beat. Empathy."
"The only one they remember was dead is 'Phones yo. Brotha's having a free day wit it. Kid shot next to a mural with a whole buncha bullets around him looking like they just was seeded there yo."
Well, that made sense, seeing as how he was still dead.
"You mean planted right Beat?"
"Hey 'Phones ain't no tomato! If anything he a grape!"
Thank you Beat. Thank you.
Shiki turned to face them, leaning against the Laundromat's glass pane front.
"His parents didn't even..."
"Yeah. don't get me even start bout' his folks. It's no good to talk down on a dead guys family man."
Neku looked down at this, and his hair covered his eyes. He...was kinda hoping he wouldn't have to hear any of this. He looked at his watch.
5:56:12
They were wasting time...he was certain that this was the right way now, and he was certain that he had to clear the noise off of-all three of them had it!
Neku's eyes bugged as he saw how the three of them were tugging and pulling at the noise around them, they were freakin' magnets for it. Monkey looked nervous.
"Hey...there are a lot of them gathering here...a few dozen at least...I don't like our chances..."
Neku hmphed. The noise didn't bother him, they were small fry, but in this many numbers, it was the people he was getting concerned about.
"I've been in the game four times counting this one. These noise are nothing. I want to focus on the source here...but I can't freakin' scan them...I could scan Shiki before you came back..."
"So it's my fault?"
He sighed.
"No I think...maybe I'm out of tune?"
She rose an eyebrow, then looked at his back and began pulling at his shirt in different places. He beat her off irritably.
"The hell do you think you're doing?"
"You insist on acting like a radio, so I was looking for your seek dial."
"..."
"Ha ha. Very funny. Got any more bright ideas?"
She looked around at the gathering noise. Then she flipped open her laptop...and then stopped.
"Just...one."
He looked at her as she adopted that same zone out face he had come to recognize. He snapped his fingers at her face again, but she shook her head.
"Quit. I'm thinking."
Neku looked up at the surrounding noise. He wasn't worried for himself but...his partner was probably not very strong. Especially since it was her first time...and the first day...and she could drag him down with her if she died. He didn't think he could smash his way through gates from here to Mr. H in three minutes...if Mr H was even IN his cafe.
"Think a little faster please."
"Can Noise act like actual noise? Distorting a signal? Does a scan even act like a signal?"
"Yeah but Beat, Rhyme and Shiki was the source that is drawing it all. How do we clear out the noise without destroying the source?"
The girl grimly rose her laptop again.
"We don't. We can only clear it out faster than it gathers until it's clean enough to scan again."
Isn't this lovely.
"Great."
The way he said it made her look at him, and he looked down to meet a face that almost plainly could be read as: "You got a better plan?"
Neku looked around at the gathering Noise. He didn't.
"Don't get caught. If you feel overwhelmed, run around. Let me take care of them. Most of these guys can't last a single hit against me...but if you die, I die too...so be careful!"
Neku buckled down, scanned the area and grouped as much noise as he could into one area.
"Come on. This won't take long."
With a snap, Neku was upon them.
Crabs, Wolves, Jellyfish, Kangaroos, Elephants, Rhinos and Vultures went flying in bursts of static as Neku cleaned house and dished out penalties like the pro he was. Burst rounds flew from his hands, lightning danced, chaos reigned.
Neku knew his partner was in trouble. He could feel it through their shared existence in the noise realm. For him, this was easy, but for someone else...
~o~
INAFL, Final.
Grabbing a construction sign, the girl flung it head on at two crabs scuttling her way, using kenesis of course. She drew it back to smack them a second time and then a third, knocking them back. A sound alerted her to look above, and then bite down a yelp before jumping away from a kangaroo landing right where she had been. It instantly jumped again, so she spent some time running around while carting around the sign with her. The crabs scuttled after her and managed to nip her, making her fall. She looked up and paled.
"Ow...oh...uh oh..."
The 'roo landed right on top of her, blasting her back and against a car. She rubbed her head to remove the ringing. She waited. When the 'roo finally landed near her again, she smacked at it, dissolving the sign in a burst of noise. It seemed more or less unfazed by the smack.
Wasn't going to last forever...LESHP...Helps? Thank god...Force rounds!
Grinning, she grabbed the car behind her and threw it at all three noise before holding out a hand.
"Eat this!"
~o~
Neku dissolved a few crab noise and a kangaroo in a single shot, and then felt himself being pulled out of the noise zone. His partner fell down on her behind, looking banged up, but no worse for wear otherwise. Neku spun around.
"Don't drop the ball now. Scan um!"
Neku, following his own advice, focused and jumped in. He was loath to do it, but his target was again Shiki...
His parents almost seemed...happy.
Damn it...now that he was doing it...he remembered a single, crucial, crushing detail.
No, I'm not imagining it. They were.
He had nothing to imprint them WITH! No safe words to use! This wasn't going to be any use, unless if by scanning them all he could get one to imprint them, but that would take time...
Maybe that's why he's still dead.
...and the longer he took...
I'm not sure I'd come back either...
5:34:24
Not a family like that...
The longer he took the more the noise would gather, and his partner didn't look up for another round of that! The more time would be wasted!
"YO! DON'T DROP THE BALL NOW!"
Neku jumped a near mile high in the air. Did Beat have to shout that way NOW?! He had just lost his concentration and dropped the scan!
"I used to be a Reaper yo."
Neku folded his arms and looked on as Beat postured for the other two. What was his point?
"Beat..."
Beat waved his sister off.
"Cool it Rhyme, I ain't done yet."
Beat made a fist and thrust it out into the air in a grandiose gesture of power.
"Reaper Spurt Four! Reaper Creeper!"
Neku Blinked. Oh hell. Leave it to the idiot to do the obvious thing FOR him. God. Neku smiled.
It was times like these that he felt dealing with Beat was all worth it.
Though he still had to remember that RP4 wasn't...actually...Creeper...but who cared?