Still they ran through the numbers and still the machine ran on and on. Glitch was looking around distractedly for something to smash the cursed thing with, consequences be damned, when Raw cuffed him on the side of his head.
"Again!"
"Something's wrong! It's no use! Cain was right, we have to destroy it!"
"You say no!"
"There's nothing else we can do!"
"Think another way!"
"I can't! They took that part out!"
"Then try again!" Another blow to the head. "Try again!"
"Hey! Careful there! Every time you do that, what's left of my brain sloshes from one side to the other!"
There was a series of barks down the hall.
"Is that Toto?" Glitch turned excitedly. "Maybe he can help us! He might know what Azkadellia changed..."
"Again! Concentrate!"
They began the sequence again and ran through it until they were almost done.
"Last four!" Glitch said desperately, clutching the paws that clutched his head as Toto ran in.
"Try zero-zero-zero-zero," said a tired voice from the doorway.
Glitch spun around. Cain was standing there, slumped against the door jamb, looking like he'd just marched to hell and back. One hand clutched his stomach, his face white, his clothes in tatters. Why had he taken the time to change into a red shirt? Glitch wondered. Didn't he have better things to do?
"Cain?" he asked.
"...last four numbers...Zero changed them..." Cain's voice was getting weaker with every word and he was having trouble catching his breath. "We all know...not exactly blessed...with imagination...four zeroes...hurry."
Without a second thought, Glitch punched the zero key four times.
The machine seemed to tremble and then began to slow down. Slower, slower, slower. It stopped.
The silence seemed muffled, like someone had stuffed cotton in his ears. Raw and Glitch peered at him from the end of a long tunnel.
"Good old...predictable Zero," Cain mumbled and fell over.
And that's when Glitch realized he hadn't changed his shirt after all.