It was around midday and I was asleep. The guild fighters were more on guard than ever before, as Azkadellia's longcoats seemed to be moving deeper and deeper into the forest, snuffing out the lives of guildsmen everywhere. I really didn't care; these were people who tied me to the ceiling of a cage and kept me as a pet. As far as I was concerned, even if I was taken by longcoats, the worse they'd do is take out the other half of my brain and I'd simply be gone. It wasn't as if being in the world was serving me any good. I was stuck between two evils and with no chance of escape.

So, needless to say, when I was awoken by a terrible lurch, I figured the longcoats were lowering my cage and sending me off to my doom. Either that, or it was time to be a plaything again. I sighed and slowly opened my eyes. Well, it was the guildsmen that were letting me down, but it was to put another person inside the cage with me. My eyes widened at that. Company? Did they find another pet? Was I being replaced then? Would they let me go, or simply kill me? My mind was buzzing so loudly I couldn't even manage to open my mouth and ask about it! Then they began to raise the cage back in the air, my new companion banging on the bars the whole time. I winced, still tied up, and very scared by how she was rocking our cage.

Hey there, Missy! I wanted to say, this is my home too, so stop shaking it up!

"Oh, give me a break!" she sighed, sitting on the cage floor and huffing like a small child. I felt a pang inside of me, but I wasn't sure why. She was a cure thing, I had to admit, though she was kind of messy looking, as though she'd fallen from the sky or something.

Or from a tree, I thought, probably needed someone to catch her.

"Will Azkadellia attack from the East?" the guildfighter asked.

"Who?"

She didn't know who Azkadellia was? I bit back a laugh; even with only half my marbles and being far away from any sort of city, I knew what was going on around the Outer Zone! Still, her confusion made me feel all…squishy inside, like she needed help, and I really wanted to help her. I grimaced at the ropes holding me above her and sighed quietly.

"The sorceress Azkadellia, the one for whom you spy!" he sounded angry now, "from which direction will her men come; will they walk or will they fly?"

"How many times do I have to tell you guys that nothing you have said makes any sense to me?"

"Perhaps she is just a girl."

"Yes, I am, I'm just a girl!"

"Azkadellia has raided most all villages searching for the stone…"

I licked my lips. There was a pause, almost as if my fellow captive was trying to remember something. Inwardly, I encouraged her, knowing full well how frustrating forgetting something could be.

"Are we next on her list?"

This made the girl angry, though whether it was because her thoughts were interrupted or because she was still being accused of spying, I had no idea, "Look, I don't know about any list, but if this is how you treat strangers, I'm not surprised you have enemies."

I snorted, grateful that the guild fighters didn't hear me; it would have earned me enough fruit thrown at me to turn me into a walking fruit salad. My contemplating on how exactly fruit salad could walk was cut short, however, when I saw them pull out a locket. I don't know what it was, but the sight of a locket made me feel so angry that I actually bit my tongue to keep from crying out. I hated that little piece of jewelry with an unexplainable passion and I wanted to be free just to be able to throw it away myself.

"You know what, could you please put my locket down? It has sentimental value."

That made me feel even more annoyed; how could she value such a stupid thing? A trinket, that's what it was! A cheap trinket not worthy of being around her neck! I didn't even question my dislike anymore, instead I dug my nails into the wooden bars behind me and glared.

"Our scouts saw these two being pursued my longcoats on the old Brick Route to Central City!"

Central City! That's where I was going before they got to me! I remembered being lost and…the rain…but the road must be close then! If I could only get away…

"Or leading the longcoats there," another guild fighter added suspiciously.

She sounded hopeful at that, "Somebody saw my parents?"

"You say parents, I say spies!" he spat back, "there's only one way to know if she speaks truth or lies. Strap her to the flayer, and she talks or dies!"

"Warm up the blades…"

"Squeal as you peel, until the truth brings a deal!" and with that, they dropped the locket onto the ground and walked off.

"Hey!" she said, watching the locket fall, "You guys are out of your tiny miiiiinds!"

I frowned; I'd half-hoped they'd at least let me down for some food or something. But no, they were only interested in the new girl. Typical. The guildsmen ignored her cries, of course, but I was there and I completely agreed with her judgment. The new prisoner frowned and looked around the cage, and our eyes met. She didn't seem very scared of me, or even surprised, though I knew she hadn't noticed me before. I looked away self consciously. There was something about her eyes…I didn't want her to see me this way…

She rose and clung to the bars as the cage rocked slowly, "What are you doing-"

"-Up here?" I finished nervously, "little…ANKLE BITERS…thought it would be funny to keep me hanging around. Loosen that rope and I might have the last laugh."

The girl hesitated, unsure as to whether she could trust me, which-I'll admit-kind of offended me. After all, we didn't know each other, and I was trusting her to let me go; the least she could do was assume that her fellow prisoner wasn't some sort of…bad person!

"Come on, Doll," I said, "if mom and pop really are on the route to Central City than you're falling further and further behind."

"You know the way?"

"Sure!" (Well, sort of), "But it's kind of hard to give directions like this…unless you have a better offer."

She looked sceptical, but undid the rope anyways. I lurched back, narrowly avoiding the hole in the centre of the cage floor and dusted my hand off.

"What the hell?" she suddenly stared at me in disgust, making me even more self conscious than I was before.

"Hey," I tugged at my coat, "you aren't so hot on first glance either, honey!"

She just continued to stare at me with those big, blue eyes. It gave me the creeps.

"What? I-is there a problem?"

"Oh…um…your uh…" she looked at me nervously now, and the feeling of embarrassment was replaced with genuine curiosity. Did she see something I didn't? Something important?

"What?" I checked behind me just to be sure, and then looked back at her.

"Your um…" she laughed nervously, "your zipper's undone."

"Oh! I didn't mean to offend!" I gasped, embarrassed once more. I zipped my head back up and tapped it nervously. Great, now she was going to think like the people at the inn thought; that I was a half brained idiot who couldn't take care of himself!

"Got to be careful no to lose your marbles!" I joked, hoping to smooth things over a bit better. She responded with a blank look, making me even more anxious, "but…uh…since the Sorceress made her medicos take mine, well…you flick the abacus."

I discarded the rope around my waist.

"Why would they remove your brain?"

That shocked me a little, but it also brought some relief as well. She didn't think I was hopeless! She was actually interested in me!

"Because of what I know," I said seriously. It would have been very inappropriate to suddenly be cheerful, seeing as how we were still locked up and all, "Or used to know…whatever it was…"

I looked away, depressed at the thought of it all, and when I looked back, the sympathy on her face made everything feel…better. It gave enough courage to introduce myself, anyways.

"Name's Glitch, on account of…sometimes my synapses don't fire right…sometimes my synapses don't fire right."

"You just said that."

"Did I?" I asked, faking humour, "there you go! Glitching again!"

"And here I was thinking this nightmare couldn't get any weirder…"

"This isn't a nightmare. This is the O.Z. The Outer Zone. Used to be a piece of heaven too, until Azka-D got her claws into it."

At the mention of Azka-D, the girl got excited, "Azkadellia!"

"Hmmm."

"The sorceress of darkness!"

"Yup."

"Village raider, brain thief!"

I was about to ask how she couldn't know about all this clearly obvious stuff, but was then cut off by a cry of "longcoats!"

We both lurched and looked down at the commotion below. Guild fighters were running this way and that, preparing to defend themselves. It was a perfect distraction for the girl to begin to slowly lower herself out of the hole in the bottom of the cage.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I have an idea!" she said excitedly.

My memory flared: "What was that? Didn't you hear me say not to jump out, and that's exactly what you did! What if I hadn't caught you, DG, had you even thought about that?"

"Hello?" I said, alarmed by the way the cage shook, as well as for her safety, "DG…it's too…it's too high to jump! I really…I really don't think this is a good idea…"

The cage began to swing, and all I could to was hold on and watch helplessly as DG dangled herself above the ground.

"Come back!" I called, "Come back right now!"

It's hopeless when it comes to DG, you know that, my mind told me, but I ignored it. I knew no such thing! How could I? To my horror, she let go with a cry and for a split second, I thought she was going to fall. Instead, she grabbed for the nearby bridge and hoisted herself onto it. She'd made it through…and I had a strange sense that she'd had similar experiences before, though I knew I couldn't have known that for sure.

"Come on, we don't have much time!"

"Wait…wait for me…DG…" I managed to lower myself and get to the bridge with hardly any problems (much to my complete shock-I thought I was a goner, to be honest!).

"Come on!" she called again, and we hurried across the bridge.

"Quick, hurry, before they see us!" I kept whispering as we ran.

"Look, there's a rope!"

She began to lower herself, and I followed, wincing at the rope burn. Climbing…actually physical activity in general…just didn't seem to be my thing. I was grateful when my feet hit the ground, and I wobbled slightly. DG grabbed my arm and we ran, not stopping until we could no longer hear the sound of chainsaws and yelling. We then slowed down, both out of breath.

"That was…" she began, swallowing, "…close…"

"Oh yeah, way, way, way too close. I don't think we should do it again," I leaned against a nearby tree.

"We almost didn't go the first time if we'd taken your advice," she smirked playfully.

"Hey, you could have fallen and cracked your head open!"

"I knew I would make it," she said confidently. I licked my lips and cleared my throat. Her confidence-recklessness would almost be a better word-seemed so…familiar.

"So, you said you knew where Central City is, right?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, "Oh, yeah, of course!"

She looped her arm through mine, and a pleasant shiver went up my spine. I don't know why, but I liked having her close to me.

We walked for…I don't even know how long. At one point, I tripped over a stump and DG giggled.

"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" I glared, dusting off my knees as I got up.

DG looked a little guilty and shook her head, "Sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"Nah, it's not your fault," I sighed sadly, "I'm just…"

"No! I think most people would have tripped over it! I mean…" she waved an arm at the stump, "it's just there!"

"You mean it?" I smiled and she put her arm through mine once more.

"Of course I do. I never lie."

And we were off again. I tried to remember what Marcus told me, but his instructions just weren't coming to me. No surprise there. I was pretty much useless. We continued out walk quietly, but not uncomfortably. Actually, it was really peaceful. Really, really peaceful…until DG spoke again.

"Are you sure you know the was to Central City?"

"The shining city on the hill? Sure!" I said cheerfully, "the shining city on the hill? Sure! The shi-"

"-You're glitching."

"Oh…"

I hoped I didn't sound to sad, because I didn't want to her to think I was completely helpless, "My noggin' wasn't always this way you know," I said, hoping to sound impressive, "in my hay day, I was government advisor numero one! I was the top dog's…right hand man!" I held out what I hope was my right hand before continuing, "it would have all been fine, but for…her…"

I looked around sadly. Her. I meant Azka-D, of course…what other 'her' could I be talking about? But normally talking about Azkadellia made me angry, not…sad...like I'd lost something special.

"But her…?" DG pressed lightly.

"But her…" I repeated, unsure of what to tell her. Of course, one of the best things about being a half-brained idiot is that your mind always comes up with interesting things to keep you occupied, "I would love a fresh ear of corn with some butter right now, wouldn't you-?"

I stumbled over something. How rude! Why would there just be a stump right there where anyone could walk into it?

"You said you knew your way to the old Brick Route," DG said.

"Well of course I do! It's only the main thoroughfare in all of the O.Z.," I turned to DG, dreading that she would tell me what I failure I was, "…why?"

"Because that's the same stump you tripped on hours ago. We've just gone in a big circle."

"A circle…not again!" I threw my hand in the air, "the road is somewhere around here, I-I-I know it!"

DG let out a sigh and I turned to her. I don't know what I intended to do, but suddenly the frustration of the situation and the sadness at the mention of this mysterious 'her' lifted, and I smiled.

"You look familiar; have we met before?"

A/N: OK, so as you may have noticed, I used the dialogue from the extended scenes (and if you didn't notice...that would explain the extra stuff that you didn't see on TV).
Also, just so that you all know, I am not going to rewrite all of Tin Man from Glitch's P.O.V.
Where and when will next chapter take place? Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out, now won't you?
Until next week!