Monday was training day, as it had been for two and a half months. Arthur went for an early-morning jog. Prior to starting to train as a guard that would have been unthinkable, now it was routine to do that every day he could. Next he had a few courses he needed to do on the net.

First aid went smoothly, Arthur didn't have a particular talent for it but it all made sense. Identifying suspicious objects was the course Arthur personally struggled with. How was he supposed to know what he should be looking for from every visitor, when he only had around five seconds to look at each one? Nonetheless, his ability to observe had been improving these last few weeks. Then he went over to the gym across town and spent a few hours getting taught Judo. He would never admit it, but he was secretly getting impatient over when he'd get noticable muscles. Even if his strength had increased.

He was walking out of the gym with sore arms when the PET beeped. Treble opened the message. "Hey, it's Denny. 'Can you come down to the police station? I need to tell you some things.'"

"Oh? That's interesting, he wouldn't call us if it wasn't serious..." Said Arthur. "I bet it's about Blaze and Valerie."

"Heh, watch it be something completely different now you've said it. Let's go!"


"Denny, what can I do for you?" Arthur stepped into the police station's computer room. While it had been nice in summer, as it turned out the winter insulation was useless, leaving the room uncomfortably cold.

Denny spun on a swivel chair. "I have some information to pass on to you. First and foremost, what do you know about the legendary civilization of Mu?"

"...Literally nothing. I've never heard the name before. Treble?"

"Nope."

Denny nodded. "As it should be, really- I've used every last trick at my disposal, and I barely have anything apart from the name. But I believe that Blaze might know something- if you could convince her to share it for me?"

"She takes her secrets seriously... Speaking of which! Why are you spying on her like this? You two trust each other!"

"...Because that's how I protect things- I did the same for you, to make sure Eurasia never took you by surprise. But also because time is of the essence. I don't have the time to convince her."

"...Ethan's presentation, right?"

"Yes. However these FM-ians strike, it only makes sense it would be then, especially since so many historically important figures are attending."

"Woah woah, what?" Said Treble. "FM-ians? Historically important?"

Denny sighed. "The time travellers were referred to as FM-ians by Valerie, when Blaze was questioning her. I also took the liberty of analysing every last word Valerie has said even remotely near a microphone- which took tracking down dozens of navis- and I am absolutely sure that Lan has a world-changing role in the future. If he's stopped from playing that role..."

"Time paradox?"

"Yes. And what would that do?" Said Denny. "It's a question I can't answer. But the risks are too much. So I want you to know everything possible, so you might be able to make sure everything goes as it should."

"Right. What's your plan?"

"The building has three entrances in the physical world and two in the cyber world. MegaMan alone can easily take on a whole army of these enemies, but if they use a wave changer then they could appear in the middle of the room by running from him, So I've got Joe and William's navis already stationed at those entrances, and Zero's cameras monitoring the whole area- they will NOT get in there. Physical world is the problem. Three entrances, but only you and William are physically capable of fighting someone if it comes to that."

"...Are you sure they have any human aid? So far I've only seen navis."

"It's a common tactic not to show your hand until you have an opportunity. It's the same reason why people are taught not to open fights with their strongest attacks- it means that the enemy have a chance to learn how to counter it."

"...That makes sense. Can we just lock and bar an entrance?"

"Good idea, but if that fails then we can't react. I might go and park a car in front of it, since they'd trip the alarm by forcing it."

"You're not old enough to dr- never mind. So what else do I need to know?"

Beta called from the computer. "Gregar's duelling Valor. Should I focus on the duel, or make sure no FM-ians get close?"

"...The duel. Zero will warn us if an attacker gets near." Denny refocused on Arthur. "So, what strategy would you propose? The meeting will last half an hour. Here's a map I printed. Jack-in ports are here, here and here, and the two entrances we could block are here and here. No need to worry about fire exits, it's easy to leave through the main door."

"Hmm..." Arthur studied the map. "Block this exit in the side corridor, because that's out of the way nobody should normally even see it. I should go by the backstage entrance, since then I can be near Ethan to intervene if things go really badly, and I know him better so I can hopefully convince him to stay back from anything dangerous. Leaving William to the front entrance."

Denny smiled. "My thoughts exactly. Let's watch the end of their duel. Maybe we'll learn something."

They turned to see the wave changer sent flying across the field, but not knocked out. Gregar opened his hand and a blue seed appeared. He tossed it in Valor's direction; she instinctively dodged the attack, thinking the projectile was a bomb. To her surprise when the seed hit, ice spread covering the entire field. She tried to move but her bulky armour was not meant for ice skating. Valor slipped and fell face first onto the ice.

"Ice. Why did it have to be ice?" Val groaned.

"Focus." Chroma told her. "I am not letting this dinosaur of a wizard beat me." He growled.

Valor stood up and watched Gregar. The cybeast had yet to move after making the ice field. He unsheathed his buster and aimed it at her. He fired several rounds towards her. Val tried to move, but slipped once again on the ice. To her relief the fall had in fact helped her avoid the buster fire. Gregar sheathed his buster and began skating across the ice.

Val stood up shakily trying to avoid another mouth full of ice. She noticed the rapidly approaching wolf and shot some kind of advanced Thunder at him. Gregar recognized the threat and immediately changed his course. The plasma ball tried to chase him, but the ice had helped improve his speed, so he easily avoided it by skating around the area, not needing aqua element thanks to simply picking straight routes. Gregar easily maneouvered around the area skating behind Valor. The wave changer had nearly regained her balance when Gregar literally jumped on her back; pushing her with his weight; back into the icy floor.

Chroma and Val were really getting tired with the wolf's antics. They huffed as their armour took on a blue colour scheme. Valor spread her wings and lifted of the floor in a single beat, before dispelling them. She tossed up three cards and ate them. The aqua armoured navi sent a powerful wave across the field. Gregar noticed and jumped over the first one, and then became aware of the other two heading his way.

Trying his best, he managed to jump over the second wave, most of his body avoided the attack, with the exception of the tip of his tail. He had avoid freezing his whole body, but his tail was frozen in the ground, preventing him from jumping. He watch the last wave approach and in the last second he slammed his fist down activating Geddon. The field cracked up in an instant, ridding itself of all ice panels. Gregar took the tidal wave head on, getting pushed back only slightly. However seeing his tail get stretched like a rope made Treble wince in pain, even if their equivalent of nervous systems were far less extreme. He looked up seeing his tail still stuck to the ice and Valor charging up another Spectral Scream. He tried teleporting via areasteal but it didn't work. He also considered transforming but his Geddon had broken all his panels, limiting his movement. Hurriedly he moved to try and claw away the ice without damaging himself in the process.

Valor launched the Scream and Gregar could only stare as the the attack approached him. 'Looks like I have no choice." He said simply, as the attack struck him.

Valor pressed on; she wasn't going to make the same mistake as everyone else and underestimate the wolf's power. He had survived attacks before because he fire could match the blast from her normal form. In her aqua form, her attack should deal roughly twice as much damage to his fire breath than before. She focused putting more energy into the attack, completely oblivious the thunder and lighting that flashed alongside a wolf's howl.

The Spectral Scream had completely enveloped Gregar, but the cybeast had used his cybeast legacy to its fullest. He activate beast out and was now running through the attack with full force. He reached the attack source, Val and pushed his arms through the scream grabbing her by her shoulders. Using Val, who still continued the Spectral Scream, as a support he pulled his head right above hers. Both Val and Chroma's eyes opened in horror as the cybeast smirked at them with his jagged face.

Chroma's wizard form appeared above the two of them and attempted to attack Gregar only to be intercepted by Gregar's damage tail, which immediately disappeared in flash of blue pixels as it struck.

"How?" Chroma asked.

Gregar answered with a charge of lightning through his body, before giving Valor an electrically charged headbutt. The wave changer staggered back as she was paralyzed and she reverted into her normal fire form. A frozen blade appeared in the cybeast's arm as he swiped Valor. The blade's aqua element did even more damage and encased her in a block of ice. Gregar looked up at the frozen EM human. "Because I'm Gregar, and I've fought for my life since the day I was born." Gregar announced as he started to concentrate all his remaining power into his last attack.

"Program Advance, Boost!" Gregar yelled, as the aura manifested around his body. Unlike the normal boost aura which was blue, Gregar's aura went a bluish green as he transformed to his true CB form. Gregar charged forwards, amplifying his size and force immensely, focusing all his power into a blunt attack at Val's chest. The king-size headbutt connected and Val was forcefully logged out as Gregar's smash launched her like a kicked ball. If his mouth had been open, she'd have been swallowed whole.

Gregar ground to a halt, and collapsed almost immediately, his armour practically fell apart and disappeared leaving him with huge wounds and data just flowing out of him, turning to blue dust on an artificial wind. His tail had almost completely disintegrated and his right foreleg was badly messed up in several places. Without bothering to even change back, he lay his head down and started losing consciousness, throwing out a haphazard 'I'm fine'.

"He... tries too hard for his own good sometimes." Said Arthur.

"Eh, we can heal from pretty much anything." Reminded Treble. "I think it would hurt Gregar more if he had to concede."

"True. If that wolf has any weakness, then it's not knowing when it's okay to just lose." Said Denny. "Did you make any observations worth having?"

"She can change her element." Said Arthur. "That makes her much, much more dangerous, since any enemy with an element is going to get countered."

"Agreed. Adaptability is a severely underrated tool- just look at MegaMan." Said Denny. "I'll analyse the playback and see if I can get any more information. You just rest up for tomorrow- I want you in peak condition. Beta, what's the status of E-B through E-E?"

"E-B's just left the airport. Home within ten minutes. E-C is unchanged, E-D..."

Arthur waved. "I'll get prepared..." He was about to leave, when he turned. "...Denny, I'm thankful for what you do. I don't think people appreciate the people who pull strings for good enough."

"I don't hear that often." Said Denny. "...But thank you. Now I'm serious. Prepare yourself, while I co-ordinate things with Chaud so you don't clash with his security."


The fateful tuesday was a grey day. Sun was rarer in November, but Arthur didn't mind. Ever since he'd met Treble, his opinion of the colour grey had improved a lot. He stepped onto the train, and looked out of the windows.

"Nervous?" Asked Treble.

"Very. I keep having an irrational fear of a shooter..."

"Only the military have guns. And even they're only handed out when they're needed." Reminded Treble. "Although didn't Wily build some once? I'm sure I read it somewhere..."

"I suppose it would be better to just dwell on the likely. Someone in the audience will probably try something... Although at least I can rule out all the ones that would really hurt people. We're on high alert, they're not getting anything in they shouldn't. And I know most of the audience, from Scilabs. Just a few important city people that I don't... the mayor will be there, you know."

"Hey, isn't the previous Mayor Flare's dad?"

"...No, I don't think so. He's in jail for... a lot of stuff. Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, Flare told me. No wait, the previous mayor's grandfather made Flare. Although she's still not that thankful for it, after how that worked out."

"She wouldn't have met you if she didn't exist."

"Heh, she said that too." Said Treble. "...I really want to spend more time with her. I know I see her a lot anyway, but... well, I miss her pretty quickly. But is that too, um, sticky of me? I know she needs space, but I don't want to be distant and stuff."

"Just a part of love. And it's better to doubt yourself than to just have unlimited confidence and march straight into a terrible mistake."

"True that. So... do you think the official guards are going to be competent?"

"Hey, they're normally pretty good. The problem is that you can't really mass-produce navis strong enough for them not to get stomped in the cyberworld, hence their reputation for needing an 11-year-old to solve most of their problems."

"...Hah, you make it sound like he didn't single-handedly delete pretty much every godlike program on the net. Even Gregar only beats him in practice matches occasionally."

The scenery outside stopped moving and the train hissed as it cooled. "Well. Looks like we're here, so lets get down to the hall."


The build-up to the presentation was simple enough, Arthur walked in through the same door Ethan and Wily were using, onto the side of the stage. "Good luck."

"Luck is for the ill-prepared." Said Wily. "...But given my track record against an eleven year old, perhaps it couldn't hurt."

"Thanks."

Arthur watched as people filed into the hall, quickly filling the fifty-something seats. Everything seemed to be going as planned. Denny had parked a huge car in front of the door they didn't want used, so there would be absolutely no way in there. Arthur couldn't focus on any one person for any kind of suspicious behaviour, but they all seemed good. Chaud's security seemed fairly good too, arranged in such a way that it appeared there weren't many of them, so as not to raise concerns- even if a careful eye would reveal they were ready for anything. The lighting focused onto the stage, and Ethan and Wily walked out to moderate applause.

Ethan took hold of the mic, and turned it on. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I've called you all here to reveal what I believe is the next step in net society- but I know that neither me nor Wily have been the most trustworthy to you people in the past, so I'll explain everything I can about it beforehand- there's nothing to worry about. Before I start, a few words from my mentor and co-worker." He passed the mic to Wily, stepping away from his podium.

Wily cleared his throat. "I... am grateful for the chance you have given me, everybody. It is better than I deserve. I would not have showed myself such mercy. I hope that my effort goes some way towards backing up my promises of a change of heart. Lan Hikari. You have changed my future for the better. That is all." The words were obviously rehearsed, but undoubtedly ones that Wily had written himself. He handed the spotlight back to Ethan, and stepped back, as Ethan launched into an explanation.

A few minutes passed as Ethan talked a little about how the system had been coded on the basic level, before putting Flare onto a screen briefly and explaining how he was translating her power into energy the systems could use.

Arthur stood with his arms behind his back at the very side of the stage. So far Ethan's presentation had been wonderful, going into technical yet understandable details of how the systems worked, stayed ethical, had failsafes against hacking and could run on the cybeasts' power indefinitely. Arthur just did his best to look professional in his security outfit, and to avoid distracting from the show.

The setup was good too, Wily having paid for a second curtain to go around the computer that he could roll back, although the doctor himself had kept out of the spotlight for the most part, still widely distrusted by the public even if Scilabs kept him on a very tight leash.

Ethan finished speaking, Arthur missing the words as he intently scanned the audience for any sign of trouble. Everyone was behaving, and most looked absolutely riveted to Ethan's explanation- even Valerie, who had possibly grown up with this technology. He'd really managed to make the concepts understandable. Arthur couldn't help but think he'd make a good university professor.

"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen!" Ethan sounded brimming with hope, as Wily took hold of a cord on the side of the curtains. "I am proud to present, the Colonel and Iris Systems, mark one!"

Arthur kept looking around, as the curtains opened. Nothing was going wrong. Relief was rising inside him, too, at the display going off without a hitch.

Then he saw Valerie clap her hands over her mouth, and Blaze jumped out of her chair, shouting. "ETHAN, GET BAC-"

Arthur's head snapped around to see Ethan... and the systems. Nothing seemed wrong, until Arthur connected the dots.

Blaze could see the time travel waves, but not through walls.

There had been a curtain in the way of part of the room for several days now, and she hadn't checked under it out of respect for Ethan.

There was likely to be an attack of some kind today.

And as Arthur looked closely, he realised he could actually see some kind of haze in the air next to the systems.

"Oh-" He was cut off. Because in a split second that haze blossomed into a huge, deep blue rift with a sound like a drum the size of a planet getting struck by a meteor. And it enveloped the stage with Ethan on it easily. Arthur was sent stumbling off the stage, and fell onto the floor just in time to see Blaze jump straight in fearlessly, Valerie hot on her heels. He picked himself up, just as Lan too went running after them on impulse.

"Guys! Wait!" Called Lan.

"LAN, NO!" Shouted Arthur, trying to tackle Lan. He collided, but he was already right next to the rift and even if he was physically fit, Lan had momentum and Arthur had just been knocked off a stage. They fell into the rift together.


The first thing Arthur did was throw up. It was like being catapulted through a river of glue, physics clearly having walked in, shaken its head and walked straight back out. He hit a solid surface with a bump, and groaned. "Treble... you here?"

"Yeah, the clip held." Said Treble, still fixed to the outside of the jacket. "No bones broken? What the unholy macaroni just happened...?"

"Gonna be sore." Arthur got up and then took a double take. "Oh my god. I... you're seeing this too, right? I'm not hallucinating?"

Arthur was standing in some kind of surrealist's dream. The floor he was standing on was a pavement, suspended in space. He was breathing just fine. And that was before you considered the random shapes and lines whizzing about. Arthur ducked as a bright yellow octahedron flew overhead, only for an orange- yes, the fruit- to bump into him as if chasing it, while he could hear a faint 'aaaa' calling from it.

"...Space? Weird shapes?" Confirmed Treble.

"What, in the name of Bass, Gregar, MegaMan, and all else that is feared and respected on the net, just happened?" Said Arthur.

"No idea. I... guess we should go explore. Ethan must be around here too. And Lan and Blaze and Valerie."

Arthur started walking. "...This isn't the normal kind of attack of those FM-ians used. This... this is some kind of alternate reality by the looks of it."

"No kidding. Do you think it was like... a time travel bomb? Is this somewhere in the future?"

"Well, if briefly, Blaze did see it coming." Reasoned Arthur. "Oh no..." A fork in the road. "Oh, that's bad. Fifty-fifty chance to get hopelessly lost in this place."

"Well, pick a path and follow it quickly. Standing around won't do anything, after all. Some chance is better than none!"

"...You're right." Arthur went right, looking around at space, and the miscellaneous junk floating through it. He walked for a while, before coming to a crossroads. "This just keeps getting worse..."

"Hey, I can see something over there though." Said Treble. "Look, it's on the left."

Arthur sat down. "Look, I'm... freaking out a bit right now. I wasn't at all prepared for this today. This place is just... it's eerie."

"Yeah, even the net doesn't have anywhere quite like this." Agreed Treble. "...Things might be easier if I was the one in here, and you were operating like normal."

"Oh, that makes me think... you... you don't suppose there are going to be viruses around this place do you?" Said Arthur. "I don't know if I can take them on."

"Well, we'll deal with that when we come to it. I... Arthur, do you think Flare will be okay?"

"I don't know. Ethan was the only person that actually got caught by that blast."

"I'm scared for her."

"...I know. Come on, I'll push on. Hopefully if we just keep exploring then we'll get lucky." Arthur got up, and walked along the left path. "...Hmm... what is that? Some kind of portal?" As he got closer, he could see it was some kind of rift, like the one that had brought him here. Arthur realised the previous one had been a blue like the space that surrounded him now, while this one was a black, glimmering with many multicoloured specks. "Should I jump in?"

"I don't have a better idea. Maybe it's a way out?" Suggested Treble.

Arthur took two steps backwards, then ran and jumped. He hit the rift and phased right through. The world spun and rolled around him for a split second, and he hit the ground.

The area around him had changed drastically. Arthur could see faint, dim crystals embedded into stone walls everywhere, and as Arthur looked up he confirmed he was in a cave network of some kind.

"Just what in the world is going on?" He questioned. "I..." He turned around, and saw a rift behind him. "Okay, phew, at least we can double back if we need to."

"Why are we in a cave now?" Said Treble. "This isn't anything like space."

"And why are all these crystals glowing? I appreciate the light, but..." Arthur started walking. "...This just doesn't make me think of anywhere on earth. But at the same time, these tunnels are well-shaped for a human to walk through."

"I'm gonna start recording a map of this place." Said Treble. "Maybe we can avoid going in circles this way."

"Good thinking." Arthur kept venturing.

Time passed.

"I'm... starting to get a bit thirsty." Said Arthur. "...I hope there's something to drink in this place."

"Back in that crazy space place there were a few food items flying around. You could try catching some of them."

"...Maybe I'll have to." Said Arthur. "...Wait. Do you sense something?"

"Uh... like what?"

"I'm not sure. It's like a tingling of some sort..." Said Arthur.

"Oh, I feel something! It's like that pushing feeling from the other day!" Treble lit up.

'Sssth...'

Arthur looked around. "That... was that...? Hello? Is someone there?"

'Sssth...'

"That's definitely a hissing sound." Said Treble. "Where's it coming from?"

"I don't mean any harm." Called Arthur. "...Hmm."

'Sssth...'

Arthur clicked his fingers. "It's the same feeling I got from Chroma. Chroma? That you?"

'This... way...'

Arthur looked to the side. "I'm not losing my mind?"

"Yeah, I heard it too. Guess we'd better follow the creepy voice."

Arthur set off along a tunnel, walking fast. "Where are you guiding me? Who, or what, are you?"

'Et non nocuerunt...'

"What?" Said Arthur.

'Sssth...'

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't english." Said Treble. "But the translator didn't get it either."

Arthur came out into a small cave. The light was dim, like the rest of this place, but his eyes had long since adjusted, and the PET facing outwards helped illuminate the scene. Arthur was about to walk through when someone caught his eye. Not something, someone.

"Ethan? Is that you?! Are you hurt?!" Arthur knelt, and saw purple hair. "Whew..." He hadn't expected to need his first aid training so soon, and rolled the person over. Steady pulse. Breathing okay. "Treble, I need more light." The PET lit up. Arthur saw the person more clearly. They were a man, to his slight surprise, maybe early twenties or late teens? They had a few scratches on their face, like they'd had it rubbed onto the floor. Their clothing seemed bizarre, a beige sort of cloth cloak, and tough boots and trousers that looked very well-suited to caving or exploring otherwise. Arthur swept all those observations to the side as he noticed a red stain on their left shoulder, and quickly moved the cloak away to see a shard of crystal had gone through his clothing and cut him. "Hey Treble, can I get a second opinion before I do something?"

"You're the guy with the medical knowledge, but okay."

"Right, so normally you shouldn't take out something like this because it'll increase the bleeding, but I can't leave it in for a professional to come and help, because there are no professionals here. So... do I take it out and then bandage, or let it set a bit before I take it out? And I want to clean it out to make sure he doesn't get infected or anything, but we need water or alcohol."

"...Take him back to the space place." Said Treble. "We might be able to snag something from the junk."

"Agreed." Arthur carefully lifted the unconscious man, and slung him over his back. Even with strength training, it was quite a load to bear. "Ungh... Whew." Arthur started trudging back along the path he'd come, careful not to bash the man on any of the sides of the tunnels. He could still feel that tingling, but was too concerned with his unexpected patient to care. He was about halfway back when fatigue really started to hit from carrying the man. "How does he... weigh so much... He's not fat at all..."

"Maybe he's just muscly? They weigh more, remember."

"Must be. Anyway... I can't... give up..." Arthur kept trudging forwards, internally cursing as he came to a slight upwards slope. It felt like an eternity before he finally came back to the cave he'd started in, the rift still open, to his relief. "Okay... here goes!" Arthur took a few heavy steps forwards and jumped through.

He landed with a stagger at the weight, before looking around. Back in the crazy space place. Good. He set down the patient and looked around at the streams of miscellaneous items floating by. Some were abstract, some were blatantly useless, and a very good portion were everyday items. Arthur was looking for something he could use. Strong alcohol or pure water. He jumped up and grabbed a carton of apple juice. Perhaps no good for cleaning a wound, but he was thirsty. Then he dropped it and lunged, firmly catching a bottle of water. He twisted the cap off, and knelt.

"...Let's hope it's not a deep cut. Although it doesn't seem to be..." Said Arthur. He thought for a second, before taking off his jacket, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt and pulling as hard as he could until it tore off. One makeshift bandage. He carefully placed his hand on the crystal, and gave it a very gentle push to the side. It easily shifted, implying it wasn't deep, so Arthur took a breath and stepped outside his realm of training, pulling it out. The wound started bleeding again, but wasn't moving fast, so Arthur poured out some water, rinsing it off, trying to get the dirt he could out. The crystal seemed clean, at least. After he'd done what he could, he pressed the bandage over it, and tied it tightly. "...Well, that's all I can do. I'd better stay with him until he wakes up."

"Gather some food and drink." Suggested Treble.


An hour passed. Arthur had built up a small pile of supplies. He'd even snagged a blanket from the stream of items. "...Maybe I should pour some water on him, see if that revives him?"

"Try it." Said Treble.

Arthur took the half-empty bottle and drizzled it on the man's forehead. "Wake up. Wake uuup."

They stirred. "Hey, it worked!" Said Treble.

"Aegis..." They mumbled. "Attend me."

'Ego adsum'

"Hello there?" Said Arthur. "Are you awake now?"

The man sighed, then coughed and sat up abruptly. "Where did that cur send me?!" They turned, and fixed Arthur with an intense stare. "...Who are you? I- ah!" He clutched the bandage, before letting go quickly, more surprised than pained.

"I found you unconscious, with this stabbed into your arm." Arthur held up the sliver of crystal. "...It's probably going to be sore."

"...Thank you. Where is this place? It's not like the wave roads." Their voice was forceful and commanding.

"Truthfully, I don't know. A rift of some kind appeared and caught me off guard, and it sucked some of my friends in. I'm here looking for them, but no luck so far. What's your name?"

"I am Nobody."

"Like, that's your actual name?"

Nobody nodded once. "And you are?"

"My name is Arthur."

Nobody smiled. "Like the king?"

"...It's been a long time since I heard that legend." Said Arthur. "But, well, I'm no swordfighter. I hope I don't run into any enemies in this place. Treble's a strong navi, but he can't come out and fight for me."

"Navi?" Questioned Nobody. "...That technology is quite outdated, I assure you."

"Oh, are you from 22XX as well? Someone appeared in my time from there, a few days before the rift."

"...I see."

"So, what are you going to do? If we can stick together, then I'd like to. Safety in numbers."

"I will have my revenge." Said Nobody flatly. "Whoever threw me into this world will suffer dearly for their insult."

"Well, as long as it means we can work together. Do you want to wait here and recover, or- Oh, okay." Arthur changed his tune as Nobody stood briskly, and stretched, completely ignoring his injury.

"Let's have a meal and move out. None can stand against me." Declared Nobody.

"...Okay. We'll help each other out from here forwards." Said Arthur. "By the way, who's Aegis?"

"Aegis is my companion." Said Nobody. "My sword and shield as I require."

"Okay. Then... let's prepare and head out. Good to have you, Nobody."

Author's notes: So there's an actual reason he's called Nobody, it's a reference to an old legend. If anybody thinks they know it, feel free to take a guess. And here we have plot. It should advance over the next few chapters.

Reviewer answer!

JaneValentine007: Advanced education is far more tiring than I was led to believe- but I enjoy it a lot more. A pretty good trade, IMO.