Chapter 12: Prison and the Friends You Make There (Even the Despicable Ones)

I let out a sigh as I consider my circumstances, locked away in a jail cell, with little to no chance of actually escaping, and a goddamn swerve in expectations in the form of a Яeversed Raging Form Dragon.

"Oh, will you stop that, you cretin?" A snide voice calls from the cell to the left of my own, where the Gravity Ball Dragon-that was apparently the possessor of the mind and personality of Schwarzschild Dragon-was imprisoned. He was snide, rude, and more than a little bit of a spaz, and he would not shut up. "Really, you don't even need to breathe, so all you're doing is annoying the rest of us."

"Two things, first is that I like breathing as it's something I've been doing for almost twenty two years. Second, your voice is infinitely more annoying than my sighing," I call back, getting a murmur of agreement from the Colony Maker. The Star-vader sputters at that, having no real response to both my assertion and insult.

There's a bark of laughter from a cell across the hall, the sound as harsh and rough as the person who laughed. In the cell across from mine is a man with lupine features, literally chained and fettered to different surfaces. He's grinning, all of his teeth on display as he speaks, "You know, it's kind of great that you guys are locked up in here with me. Usually I'm stuck here with maybe one silent sneering guard. Fucking with them gets old quickly, you know? Only so many ways to get 'em stuck in my cell before it just gets repetitive."

"Glad to know you're enjoying this, Fenrir," I reply, even as I begin pacing my cell. The wolfish man simply chuckles in reply.

"Already heard of me, have you?" he asks. "Can't say I'm too surprised."

I shrug, considering the figure. Fenrir, a member of the Genesis Clan who takes the stage in G as an antagonist, specifically causing problems in the United Sanctuary and making himself an enemy of Altmile of the Royal Paladins. The issue for me is that I don't know whether or not his malignancy is just him, or if he's actually working with anyone. After a few moments, I answer, "Well, you know, even bit characters can be memorable."

Rather than take offense, he starts howling with laughter at that, his various bindings flexing as he shakes within them. "If I'm a character, then what the hell are you?" he asks a grin on his face half menacing and half interested. "Calling me that… It implies that you think there's a difference between you and me. 'Characters' don't refer to themselves as such. So what does that leave you? Actor? Writer? Stagehand? Audience Member? …Or that little brat out front that has to take care of everyone's way home when the show's done?"

"In the case of the 'play' that is the United Sanctuary, I'm the guy that has trawled through the summary online. Not really much of one to try and interfere with it, not until recently, I suppose," I reply blandly.

"Oh ho? Care to tell me the reviews?" Fenrir asks, his eyes alight with mirth. "I figure you might not want to spoil the ending, but I'm insatiably curious how my 'performance' goes over."

"You're a menace to any stage you perform on, as you have a propensity to chew up the scene beyond what you deserve," I answer as I lean against the bars of my cell, meeting his eyes.

The wolfish man burst out laughing again. "If they need a stage to tell their story, then they should get better at acting! I'm doing them a service in that respect!" Then he tilts his head and smirks. "Oh, you like to play, don't you? It's been so long since someone would... I think we're gonna have lots of fun together."

"Eh, you're not really my type though," I shoot back, making sure not to flinch from his gaze. "Too furry for my tastes."

He smiles knowingly. "You're not the first one who's said that, you know? Though we can play in other ways if you're not comfortable…"

"I'd rather not ruin my current shelter, even if you want to have your fun. You can get away with wrecking this place, but I'm legitimately in danger of dying if I get involved." Seriously, this guy probably doesn't even have to worry about a big angry dragon killing him if he tried to get out of his cell. Said dragon's chest rises and falls in rhythm, though I'd have to be an idiot to think that he's actually asleep.

There's the sound of twisting metal and ripping fabric as the various bindings snap off his body. The man spares a second to mournfully tisk at the broken fetters before turning his attention back to me, charging his bars and rattling them in a show of force, "Aw, c'mon! You're gonna talk all this good shit and then not put out? Could you be any more of a tease?!"

"And now you're just being creepy, dude. I ain't here to entertain you, I'm here so my friend and I can give the information we have to someone… of the right priorities and then hide until the Invasion is repelled," I chastise him, stepping away from the bars.

"And how's that going?" Fenrir asks with a chuckle. "They don't stick someone with me if it's 'for their own protection.'"

"What the heck would a derelict, defective piece of scrap know?" the Invader asks, just loud enough that everyone could hear the insult.

I chuckle, "I know that your plan to seal away the Royals, Shadows, and Kagero failed hard enough that Link Joker didn't just leave you to your own devices, but abandoned you."

"Shows what you know!" it howled, voice raising about two pitches involuntarily. "This damnable planet is an Aberration of Aberrations! And for my mission, I accomplished my 100% of my primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives without error! It was only improbability stacked on improbability that this planet didn't fall when I acted!"

"You really believe that? Well, whatever... Seeing as you're still stuck in the lock up with the rest of us. Hell, you're probably worse off than the rest of us, seeing as you aren't even trying to ingratiate yourself to the locals," I answer, smirking at the Gravity Ball's distress.

"I've gotten out of this purposeless hole 38 seperate times on my own. 39 shouldn't even be a mental challenge for scrap like you."

I laugh outright at that, "Well, then go ahead, do it. I bet that they'll love to catch you again, hell, they might just kill you this time."

"38?" Fenrir asks with a chuckle. "Impressive, but that has nothing on my 472!"

The Colony Maker's voice rang out, "Query: Is this a challenge?" I could see the Abyss Dragon's eye open.

"They've tried," Gravity Ball shot back at me.

"How many times, I wonder? Once, twice, three times? Have they tried again since you were reduced to your current state?" I ask, feeling more than a little bit vindictive, "I wonder what'll happen if they kill you again?" After a moment, I continue to Colony Maker, "And no, this is not a challenge. Or, if it is, then you and I aren't a part of it."

"Understood," was her simple response. And the eye, mercifully, closed.

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"You're saying that you believe that we're going to see more people get Яeversed?" Fenrir had already popped his own bars, and when Raging Form didn't react at all, he stopped briefly to shoot the breeze.

"Oh, wow!" the tiny Cyber Dragon squeeks. "Is that your important information? Next are you going to explain to them how a Parent Star's light refracts when it hits a medium of Nitrogen, Oxygen, and other assorted gasses to make a blue sky? Chaos Breaker's toys are obvious, and he never stops wanting more."

"No, my important information is who is on the list to be Яeversed, as well as what their actual use in Chaos Breaker's plan." I shoot back, taking a moment to poke my arm through the bars and flip the bird at the Gravity Ball Dragon.

"The list that I was not supposed to be on, correct?" Raging Form speaks up for almost the first time since we had arrived.

I nod, "Right, you're exactly right. You were never supposed to be Яeversed! Ren never lost until he ended up fighting Kai's Яe-Birth deck, and there was never a Яeverse unit in the Shadow Paladins!"

Raging Form's eyes narrow to slits. "You know our Vanguard. And Kagero's Vanguard. That is dangerous information."

"Yeah, I also know the guy who's both the Royal's and the Gold's Vanguard as well, and the Aqua Force's too!" I can't believe these guys, thinking I'm full of shit.

"And you openly boast this fact," Raging Form growls. "Especially when there is an enemy agent who has proven on multiple occasions to be able to escape, and has made multiple attempts to return to the Invasion Force. One who holds a grudge against such a person. You are either a fool, or so far out of your depth that it might be kinder to kill you now before you drown in things that you do not understand."

"Please, do let him go on," Gravity Ball pleads. "Watching him dig his own grave is the most entertaining thing I've gotten to record since coming to this mudball."

"It's not like the actual leaders of the Link Joker don't already have an idea of who they are, seeing as they plan to use the connection between Vanguards and Avatars to invade the Earth while they go about their main campaign here on Cray," I rant, feeling more than a bit put out from how everyone's just dismissing what I'm saying. "As for the little shit escaping, I say just kill him for good the next time he tries to pull a runner."

"When do you think they killed me?" he chortles. "I might have only escaped here 38 times, but they've tried to kill me at least 60! And it still hasn't stuck! And torturous death doesn't phase me. I just turn off the pain." He pauses, and the next thing out of his mouth is actually thoughtful, "...Makes the whole thing rather boring actually."

"I mean, my main question is how do I turn off my own pain, because that sounds super useful?"

"Scrap!" he shouts back. "If you were anything more, I shouldn't need to tell you how that works!"

"Listen here, you little lawn ornament! I got dunked into this body, I barely know how to run forever and how to sort of force myself into sleep mode. I was a human until I got pushed in here," I shake my head, and then shove both my hands through the bars to give both birds a showing to the Cyber Dragon.

"There's no Sleep Mode, you defective piece of shit," Gravity Ball states flatly. "Infiltration models like you might be able to outwardly mimic sleep, but your mind is still focused on outward stimuli." The bastard gets thoughtful again. "The only thing that is internal is… Not Maintenance. Not even you could be that dumb. You accidentally accessed the Linked Neural Network!? Idiot!"

"Pfft, I've totally slept a bunch since I got here. Though that Neural Network might have been how me and Vowing had our dream powwow, I figured that I was just having a weird dream," I reply, thinking on that whole situation.

"Well, this has been a fun sit-in," Fenrir cut in, ears twitching as they caught something we couldn't hear yet. "But it seems it is my time to bid you all 'Adieu!' Until later!"

"Hey, they basically just toss you back in here whenever they catch you, right?" I ask the wolf man as he stands up.

"389 times so far," he admits.

Considering my words carefully, I ask, "If they decide to do that, would you pick up a pizza for me? They haven't fed me the whole time I've been in here."

"You don't need to eat, Defect," Gravity Ball whines from the next cell over.

"Eh… Pizza's are a bit big," Fenrir waves it off. "And probably going to get wrecked. I might not mind breaking out, but it loses all it's fun if I don't at least put up a token effort to keep them from catching me."

I nod, he's right, "Well, consider this: you've broken out of prison 472 times, but how many times have you broken in?"

"You absolute madman." Even though he's saying that, the grin on his face is a real sight to see.

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"And that's how it happened," I explain to Claret Sword through a slice of pizza, the dragon positively spasming in rage from where he stood outside my cell. "Cost me 50 credits too! Did he make me overpay?"

A long haired person in shinto looking robes took a moment to study the boxes before speaking up. "Nah, he got them from a pretty fancy place." Then he turned to look at Fafnir's cell with a curse. "Hope this will hold him."

"What, why? He could have just gone to a sketchy pizza place and they would have been just as good and cost about half as much!" Even though I was complaining, I still kept eating the slice.

Fenrir sighs from his cell, a slice in hand, "You can't hold me with something so basic. The matrix will barely handle a twitch."

"Wait, seriously?" the… kid, holy shit, he is young, cries. "Agh, now I have to revise the entire array!"

Fenrir makes a whipping sound around his slice of pizza, though he seems to be enjoying himself. "As for your question… Consider it repayment for giving me a slight reprieve from the mediocrity of repetition. Next time, it'll cost more."

"Seriously? Here, I thought we were becoming friends or something," I reply, though I'll admit that I'd be willing to pay the price if I'm going to be stuck in jail for a while.

Clarent Sword's face at being ignored has nothing to do with it.

"'Course! Among other things, next time they'll actually have some poor bastards waiting back here in case I decide to humor you and come back. Keeping it intact is extra."

Then, the Colony Maker spoke from the cell next to mine, "The pizza… It tastes like grease, cheese, tomato paste, and bread. ...I like it."

"Why are you even bothering?! Neither of you need to ingest that biological slop for your continued functioning!" The Gravity Ball raved, having been very against eating and thus not having any of the pie.

Even Raging Form had eaten a few slices! Dragon size is a legitimate thing here. Good to know.

I laugh, "Because, I like eating. I've done it for the past 22 or so years."

"This drivel again," Claret Sword growls. Then he turns to Raging Form. "And why did you not attempt to stop the escape?"

"My orders are only towards the Link Joker invaders," the other Shadow Paladin growls back, refusing to be cowed. "That the normal guards are unable to maintain control of one of their normal inmates is not my concern. My orders are to prevent their escape or things that would facilitate it. Pizza and Pizza boxes… Do not qualify to that end."

Author's Note: WE CONTINUE. AS WE WILL NEVER STOP STOPPING. In other news, I'm one Valeos away from finishing the main part of my Blue Wave Deck.