(A/N): Sorry for the long update time. I kind of thought I'd have this one done after a week or two, but that didn't happen. Writer's blocks suck don't they? A quick warning, I decided to use some stronger language for emphasis. I don't advise repeating certain words you read.

~xXx~

Bruno gazed down from his perch up in a tree, scanning the grounds for anyone that fit the description he got from the wolf girl. It had only been around two hours, not nearly enough time to call it a night, but he was beginning to get frustrated with his fruitless efforts. 'The longer I take the longer Janice has to wait to be freed. Not to mention serve that loathsome person.' Bruno thought to himself. He began to think back on his search.

"Hey, not a problem man. I'll help you keep an eye out for this guy, it's the least I can do for someone that got bit in the ass by the good-old Love Bug." Bruno blushed at this. "Th- there's nothing between us! I just want to help her is all." He stammered back at the rather casual-looking boy he was speaking with. "Really?" The brown haired boy replied. "They way you described her, it sure sounds like love at first sight." Bruno simply glared at him. "Relax, I understand your problem. I'll go to another lobby so we can cover more ground. If I find anything I'll shoot you a message."

There weren't a huge number of people willing to help him search, but Bruno was thankful for the few that wished to help. Although he appreciated the help, that last guy was a bit over the top. 'Can't complain when someone's helping you I suppose.' Bruno mused to himself.

He was suddenly torn from his thoughts at the sound of a scream. He looked off to his left; a young gentleman not much older than him had just tripped over a tree root and was devoured by an undead corpse. The round ended, giving Bruno yet another win. 'If I had as much luck finding this savage as I do with winning I'd be done by now.' He thought to himself.

Back in the waiting lobby, Bruno selected the Traitor class and made his way over to the quiet stream of water. He sat down on the fallen tree resting above the flowing waters, looking down at his reflection. He glanced at his locater on his right wrist to see what map had been chosen this time. "Bedroom, great" he muttered to himself, as the game begun.

Looking around, Bruno found himself on the bed near the large dumbbell left astray. Deciding the best spot to keep an eye out for The Savage would be someone up high, he quickly climbed the Christmas lights to the window. Being up here always put him on edge, there wasn't much room to stand and it was a sure strip to death if he fell off the side. He scanned the desk first, looking at the players scrambling up another set of lights scrambling for the framed chicken picture. Nothing. Looking over to the Television he failed to find his target. Turning back to the left he didn't spot anyone atop the frame. He began to wonder if he should call it a night and get some rest; he could always start early the next morning.

Suddenly his blood ran cold. He realized he forgot to watch his own back while he was searching the map. He sensed someone from behind, with enough blood lust to scare a moderator. Bruno didn't even think, he just turned with his axe in hand to knock the chaser off the edge. To his surprise the head of his axe met another player's skull, sending a loud crack sound throughout the room. Bruno's eyes widened at the sight. Long black hair, red eyes, a teal-plaid jacket, and most noticeably fox ears and a blonde tail. Was that really it, The Savage he was searching for? The boy in question grinned, as time seemed to slow down to a halt. He dropped his bow and said in a low voice, "See you in a minute."

Bruno smiled for a split second; it had to be him! He glanced off the edge as he watched the fox-boy fall down and suddenly stop on the floor, killing him. Realization kicked in at what he had just done, looking down at the new undead chaser. His mouth was agape as he thought to himself. 'I'm fucked.'

The undead quickly sprinted off to the bed and started climbing the lights with surprising agility. Bruno hadn't even looked back, he ran for his life. He haphazardly ran across a dangling string of lights to the picture frame, and shouted ahead to the other players with a clear tone of panic, "Get out of my way!" One traitor simply decided to trip him, "You should cool down a bit." Bruno was sent downwards into a glass of water.

As he rose to the surface he looked up and saw one runner after another scream and thrown off the edge of the picture. Just like a meteorite shower, one by one they slammed into the desk, and one falling all the way to the floor. His eyes widened yet again as he saw the Savage dive down, head first, into Bruno. He gasped for air, but only water filled his lungs as he tried to fight off his previous victim. He felt a sharp pain in his gut as the Savage kneed him hard to immobilize him. The water started turning a nice, deep, crimson red.

After a moment, Bruno realized he was alone in the glass of tainted water. He pulled himself up to the rim and scanned around. He saw the Savage chasing two other players… on the Television? "Was I out that long or is he really that fast?" Bruno questioned aloud. He saw one player push the other back and jump to the shelf nearby. The Savage quickly slashed the player with a near fatal wound and picked him up by the ankle. With a quick spin, the player was flying through the air and crashed into the Traitor that tried to end his life, sending both of them sailing downwards to the cold floor below.

Bruno felt like hiding in his own pool of blood, nothing but pure terror kept his undead instincts from even trying to take control. "He ended the game in just three minutes, and not only got eleven kills, but killed both the final players. No winner." He quietly said as he retreated back into the blood bath.

'Game Over! No Winner!' was displayed on everyone's locater screen. One by one they returned to the waiting lobby. Bruno decided to try and grow a pair and talk to the Savage. Scared as he was, he needed to do this for Janice.

"Um, e-excuse me. You're The Savage, aren't you?" Bruno stuttered as he approached the red-eyed boy. He turned and simply looked at Bruno with a deadpan stare. "Tch, how's you come across that name?" he replied with a hint of annoyance.

Bruno quickly thought about backing out. He didn't seem to be the least bit friendly, but then again he couldn't afford to walk away now. "Some wolf-girl told me about you. I've got a money problem and she said you could help." He replied, nervousness clearly heard in his tone.

"She referred to me as 'The Savage' then?" He replied with the same annoyance. Bruno just nodded. The Savage sighed, "I wish people would stop calling me that. I don't particularly enjoy it, but I honestly can't blame anyone for seeing me as that."

"You hate your name?" Bruno asked with a little surprise. "That isn't my name. How'd you like it if everyone called you ice cream boy?" He growled with a hint of bloodlust. "I'm sorry." Bruno quickly apologized. "I have a proper name, and I liked to be addressed by it. It's Josh, what about you?" The now named fox-boy asked. "Bruno." He replied.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two. After a while Josh spoke up, "You said you've got a money problem, what exactly does that mean?" "I need a large loan, and the sooner the better. I need to buy a friend's freedom." Josh's fox ears twitched at this, as he grinned inwardly.

"Lobby 73, we'll talk there. Unless you feel like doing one last round before we go that is." Josh said as gave Bruno a bloodthirsty look, grinning just enough to show off his razor-sharp fox teeth. "No, no! That's fine! Let's go." Bruno almost shouted from terror. 'Damn, she wasn't kidding when she called him a blood-crazed fox!' He thought to himself as he struggled to look away from the crimson eyes that stared into his very soul.

~xXx~

Bruno scanned the lobby for a few seconds before he caught sight of the fox figure resting atop large floating clay letters. The letters themselves were part of words that described the game portals that lay on the ground below. It was already dark out, and a nighttime festival had started the previous hour. Bruno made his way past the large crowd until he was directly under his meeting spot. With a sharp kick to the ground, he launched himself up to the first set of letters, then the second, and finally the third layer where Josh was seated.

The black haired fox was gazing at the festival crowd below, without even looking over he motioned for Bruno to sit down. Bruno hung his legs over the edge next to Josh, following his eyes down to the festival below. After a moment he spoke up, "I didn't know there was going to be a festival tonight." "Yeah." Josh replied, "Once every few months one lobby is chosen to hold it for a night. I always come here and watch everyone as they mingle."

Bruno thought about this for a moment. "You don't join them?" He asked. Josh replied with a smile, "No, I'm just along for the ride. I'm just content watching instead of participating. Although, I'll occasionally go down for some food before returning here."

After a few minutes passed Josh finally looked towards the ice cream teen sitting near him. "What's your story then?" Bruno looked over at him and began explaining everything that happened over the past few days. How he met the pair, his decision to free Janice, and how he came to know about The Savage.

After he finished Josh returned to looking at the festival. Another moment of silence passed before he spoke again. "Rough story, but your little information source wasn't wrong. I've been loaning to people for a while now, and with the interest I get back it's enough to make a living here. How much does it cost to free her?" Josh asked.

"150,000 Shards and 420,000 Gems." Bruno quietly said. He didn't doubt that Josh has as much money as the wolf-girl said, but he was hesitant to ask for such a large amount. "Give me your locator information, I'll make the transfer." Bruno did as he was told. After a moment a rather large figured appeared on his screen. He gaped in shock as he read the numbers.

"You gave me 172,000 Shards and 530,000 Gems, I can't take that much." He said in shock. "I'm the seventh richest person here, I've stocked up a few million Gems and almost 950,000 Shards. By the time the other debts people owe me are paid off I'll reach the fourth or close to it. Don't worry about the extra, just consider it insurance incase that Orlando person decides to up the amount of cash." Josh said, returning his comment with a genuine smile. "I'll keep in touch. If it all goes well then we can work out a method to pay off your loan. If something happens and you don't get your deal, return it and we're fine."

Bruno couldn't express his thanks enough, he wanted to race off and find Orlando as soon as he could. However, enough common sense kept him still for a while longer. "Thank you, for everything." He said. "Glad I could help." The fox-boy said, still looking over the festival below them. "From the sounds of it, you love her don't you?" He asked Bruno after a minute.

Bruno decided to try and get off this darn subject again, "You look to be two or three years older than me. Have you been in love before?" Bruno could've sworn Josh's smile grew a little wider. "Well." The raven-haired boy spoke up. "You realize that Death Tag is the only game that changes your personality when you die, right?" Bruno nodded. "When someone really loves another, that emotion seems to push the killing intent aside and keeps the dominance of your original mind. Strange as it may sound, I've never given in to my killing intent. I've always managed to keep human self in control, but that doesn't mean I didn't use my killing urge to help when I die." Bruno looked at him with a puzzled look.

Josh continued. "What I mean is that even though I seem to be crazy with bloodlust all the time, I'm still in control. I won't attack close friends, but I won't hold back against anyone I don't know. You could say my undead side is stronger than anyone's, but has also merged with my human side. They're the same, but I can choose which one is a little more dominant."

"All that because you really love someone? You're right. That does sound crazy." Bruno said comically. Josh just closed his eyes and smirked. "But why do you kill like that to begin with?" Bruno asked him.

Josh's smile faded as he looked up to the stars above them, a feeling of seriousness surrounded him. After a few seconds he responded, "Bruno, have you ever been to the top?" "Hmm?" Bruno replied, clearly confused. "Have you ever been known as the best of the best?" "No, never have." Bruno answered him.

"It's incredible. Being up on top of the world, above everyone else. Once you get to the top you never forget the view, what's more is that you never want to give it to another person. As far as wins are concerned, I'm nearing the summit for Death Tag. Recently however, I lost the record for the most kills to another. I want nothing more than to reclaim my title and regain the record I worked so hard to achieve."

"How many do you need until you get the record back?" Bruno inquired. "If I'm lucky… only two thousand more." Bruno watched some children running around below them, playing a friendly game of tag. 'By the time he gets those two thousand kills, the other person will be another one or two thousand ahead of him, or maybe even more than that. He might never even get there again.' Bruno thought to himself, feeling a bit of sympathy for his new friend.

"I'm going to get some rest, I'll tell you how it goes." Bruno said as he stood up and stretched. "Take care of yourself out there." "And you as well Bruno." Josh replied with a friendly smile. Bruno leapt down to the ground and made his way over to a small food booth.

After getting a bowl of stew he teleported back to his house. Tomorrow was going to be the day he'd free Janice. His stomach fluttered at the thought of her gentile face. He couldn't wait, after a stroke of luck he got the money he needed to help Janice start a brand new life, a life of freedom. He slowly drifted off to sleep, still thinking about the next day.

~xXx~

Bruno awoke early the next morning, clearly excited for what was about to happen. He raced through his breakfast, a small bowl of cereal and some Grapefruit, and shot out the door so fast someone would think he was launched from a cannon. 'Not a moment to lose' he thought to himself. He searched for Orlando's location, after a moment his lobby was show on Bruno's locator screen. "Lobby-32. Teleportation." He said aloud. Moments later he was in the same lobby as the orange clad boy.

It didn't take him long to spot Orlando's orange suit from all the other clothing choices in the crowd. He quickly made his way over to Orlando and called out to get his attention. Orlando turned around to see who was calling his name. "Oh, it's you again. Come to tell me in person that you're giving up on Janice?" He said with an expressionless face.

"Nope!" Bruno said with pride. "I've got your money, I'll send it now." "You sure you have enough? I decided to raise it up to 164,000 Shards and 495,000 Gems. Hope that doesn't shatter your hopes too much." As Orlando finished speaking he looked down at his screen, reading the rather large numbers. "172,000 Shards and 530,000 Gems? How'd you come up with that, not to mention the extra?"

"Just consider it a token of my gratitude for giving me this opportunity. Hope you won't miss having a slave around." Bruno retorted, victory clear upon his face. Orlando's eyes narrowed slightly, however Bruno didn't notice. "Hmph. Don't get her killed, I kind of liked her." Orlando scoffed and started walking away. "Make sure to tell her she's free. Wouldn't want her pestering me any further."

Bruno was ready to teleport to her location to give her the great news, but first he had to share the news with Josh. Couldn't keep his business partner waiting longer than he should. After a quick call he made his way to the lobby Janice was in.

Bruno couldn't hold it in any longer, as soon as he saw Janice he shouted for joy. "Janice! Janice!" She looked up to see him running towards her. "Janice I did it! I got the money and you're free now." Janice just looked at him stunned. "How did you get that kind of money in just two short days?" She asked astonished.

"I got a loan from a very wealth person I met. He gave me a lot of extra cash just incase Orlando amped the price… which he did. None of that matters though; I still had extra so I paid him everything to keep him satisfied. You're free now." "A loan? How are you going to pay it back?" She asked with concern. "It's nothing, don't worry. He's a real nice guy. I'll be paying all my monthly bonuses and 80% of any income I make, total interest is 17%. We estimated that it will take around a decade or two, but it's ok. No late fees, and he doesn't mind how long it might take to…" Bruno was cut off when Janice threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you Bruno. I'm so happy. You did all this for me, thank you." She said as a few tears fell down her face.

Bruno returned the hug. "It's ok. Everything will be fine now." "What do I do now though?" Janice asked him. Bruno thought for a moment. "Well, how about we go check out the new game Speed Builders? Who knows, maybe we'll strike some good fortune." Janice just nodded before she tightened her hug once more. "I can't thank you enough." Bruno stroked her soft hair, 'I must be one lucky guy' he thought to himself.

~xXx~

Later that evening, during the dim moonlight, two figures could be seen standing near each other in an empty lobby. "So, looks like it worked." An orange-suited boy remarked. "I'll miss her a little, but no matter. She was a great servant, but all things must come to an end. I was right to call you that night."

"Feh, pure luck is what it was." A mysterious person retorted. "Who knew that I'd run into him so quickly though, much less that he'd be the one searching for me. I must say, Orlando, it's a great thing we met way back then. Our little hobby pays well, don't you think?"

Orlando nodded. "Can't be much happier with this. However now we'll need to find someone to replace her. Any ideas on who we should target next, Josh?"

The familiar raven-haired fox-boy sneered. "Oh? Not even a few hours after losing her, and you're already to move on. How interesting. I thought you were starting to like her, a bit more than the average slave if you know what I mean." Orlando deadpanned. "Did I strike a nerve? My bad."

"It's fine, I'm not about to walk out on you now, especially over a silly remark. People practically pay us to send our own money in a circle, only to end up back in our own pockets." Orlando reassured his partner.

"True, true. Can't get any better, money for free. However, we still need a new slave, someone that another guy will fall for and try to save. What about that one panda girl, the one that's really good at Death Tag? She would make a nice servant, and I know you've had your eye on her a few times now." Josh teased, eagerly awaiting Orlando's response.

"How about we leave her be. She doesn't need to be a part of this." Orlando replied coldly. "Don't you like how her voice caresses your ears? You'd get to spend every day with her if we did." The crimson-eyed boy continued on. Orlando was not amused by his partner's antics. He decided to poke back a little bit. "What about that Hannah girl you've been seeing? She'd make a nice one."

Josh simply smiled towards the dark grey clouds of the night. "Every moment in her presence makes my heart flutter in desire and my mind drown in a pool of happiness. Don't even think about trying anything on her." He said the last part with a hint of bloodlust to show his seriousness.

"How quaint. Hearing such romantic words from you is a bit out of character considering your personality. Regardless, we really should aim a bit higher this time. A simple hypnosis spell to rewrite someone's memories and they think they've been a slave all their life. Perhaps this time we should aim for someone that has connections with a Moderator? They could shift some hefty server funds our way in no time." Orlando mused.

"A nice idea. Not like the Moderator would do anything about it, otherwise our little servant wouldn't be able to return to a normal life. And they'd know it too. I do happen to know of a person that has connections with multiple Moderators. Remember that wolf-girl, the one with the blue jacket and dark skin?" Josh asked, his razor sharp teeth glowing in the moonlight as he put on a wicked smile.

Orlando returned with a grin just as evil. "How could I forget?"

~xXx~

That's the end of the story; I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'm not the most experienced writer, but I think this wasn't half bad for a story. Leave a review to tell me what you thought.

I also ended up writing a one shot to the story, not short enough to include in the story, but not long enough to get its own chapter. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the one shot. See you in the next story! o/

~x One Shot x~

Bruno raced across his platform, trying to place his final blocks down in their proper place. The timer was ticking fast, only five seconds left. Four. Three. Two. Bruno reached his destination and quickly placed down the final fence completed a small dining area with two lamps, chairs, and a table. He looked down at his locator, which went into statistics mode for the game of Speed Builders. A bright 100% was shown on the screen, guaranteeing Bruno's advancement to the next round. One of his two opponents however, weren't so lucky.

In a flash of lightning one of the two's islands exploded into a thousand pieces, a punishment from Gwen the Guardian for not completing her build properly. Bruno wiped the sweat from his brow, as the next build was show. He smiled as he looked at it, a large clay cactus with nine pricks around the sides.

He heard Janice cheering him from the sidelines of the large lake. The lake itself was crystal clear and had a small water temple located at the center. Around the edges of the lake were beautiful flowers that fully bloomed as the day reached its peak.

The timer buzzed and Bruno, along with his last opponent, started placing blocks as quickly as they could. Bruno built his cactus in layers, three blocks wide, three blocks thick, six blocks high. After he finished with the green clay he reached for the black clay and placed one in the center of the top. He leapt down and started placing the remaining eight in a repeating pattern all around the cactus, except for one side. The tricky thing about this build that Bruno enjoyed is one side has its prick slightly lower than the other three.

The other boy searched Bruno's build thoroughly to find the mistake he made, however the lower thorn of the cactus was hidden from view. As the timer hit zero they both were moved into spectator mode as Gwen judged them. After just a few seconds the boy's cactus erupted into a fiery explosion. Janice cheered for joy as Bruno won yet another game of his new favorite game.

Bruno joined Janice in the stands as Gwen called forth the next group of participants. "Wow" the bunny girl remarked. "You've gotten so good at this in just a few days. I can't believe it." Bruno just smiled at her comment, trying to fight back a blush. (Which he failed to do so). Janice noticed this and decided to tease him a bit. "Are your cheeks turning strawberry again or is the heat just getting to you?" She asked with a coy smile.

"Uh… yeah it's the heat. How about we get something for lunch? You must be hungry by now." The ice cream boy said, trying to recover from her previous remark. "Sure, your treat Speed Builder Champion." She answered him before pulling on his arm to get him to follow her. He smiled as he felt her warm hands on his arm.

~xXx~

It was late in the evening when the young couple finally arrived home. Bruno made his way over to the couch and sat down. He was exhausted from his long day, strange as it may seem. He started Speed Builders only recently and was still out of shape compared to his competition. However, he was still nimble and had good stamina to keep pressing forward with full determination.

He closed his eyes in thought, recalling all the builds he completed earlier that day. He thought in great detail about how to recreate them, and how to improve his times with each one. He had already come across nearly one hundred fifty different builds, and there were still countless more for him to discover, he couldn't be caught off guard by any of them. As he opened his eyes he noticed Janice had sat down next to him.

"What're you thinking about?" She asked as she leaned against his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. " "Nothing much." Bruno replied. "Just about Speed Builders. There's still so much I have to learn, it's nothing like Death Tag. I know this much for sure, I will be the best one day." Janice pouted playfully. "You aren't thinking about me then?" Bruno smiled. "If I told you about every time I thought of you, I'd never have time for anything else." Janice blushed a little at his soft words.

"You know." Janice replied. "The night isn't over yet, how about we have a little fun before turning in?" She asked as she gently stroked his cheek. Bruno could feel his cheeks flushing rapidly at her words. "Oh, what did you have in mind?" He asked a little nervously. Janice pulled him into a deep kiss. After Bruno recovered from his shock he returned her kiss, bringing his arms around her.

Janice felt him bringing her into a hug, only to encourage her even more. She enjoyed every moment of their embrace. Bruno silently asked for entrance into her mouth; Janice eagerly granted him this and their tongues started battling for dominance. After a few minutes of this Bruno grew bolder and started reaching down for…

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