L: So, Ashley, are we completely clear as to why you aren't allowed to adventure unsupervised?

Ash: *Exasperated sigh* Yes, we are. Really though, who would come with me? I mean, I couldn't exactly tell Riku about this, and everyone else was busy setting everything up.

L: I don't know, just don't do this again. As I said, it can be really dangerous and disturbing.

Ash: If you say so. Anyway, don't you have some of those review thingies to reply to?

L: Yes, I think. Thank you for reminding me.

Feral: Honestly, I probably would have done those references, if not for all of the jokes about it with Shane in The New Champion. Also, what the fuck is a groinsaw and where can I find information on why they are a thing?

Ash: Seriously? Only one? You had, like, four or five last time!

L: Yeah, people only really review at two places, and this isn't one of the more common ones.

Ash: So I see. Shall we continue?

L: Quite

I'm Gonna Fucking Kill You Some Day, Kid

"Y'know, you could still dress up some." Mei pointed out, as the two of us stood in my dorm.

"I see no reason why." I replied. "I mean, I've already got any surprise costume contests in the bag, so I'm good there."

"Still, you could do something."She insisted. "Y'know, dye your fur, or some shit."

"Or I could not." I countered. "I mean, you've already gotten me to go to the party with you in the first place, isn't that enough? And, besides, out of all of us, Axe is the only one that is actually dressing up."

She sighed, and said, "Fine. I just wish that you would participate in school functions more. I mean, we tried to get you to try out for the track team, as well as join a club or something. Hell, even Axe joined the movie club that the rest of us are in."

"Yes, but no one here knows what Axe actually is." I pointed out. "And, besides, what would be the point in participating, anyway? We all know how it would end. They'd see me, hate me even more for trying to act like 'a normal human, and doing normal human things, such as living and breathing' and I would immediately be shunned and bullied even more, all because you wanted me to run in a fucking circle."

She sighed once again, and commented, "Y'know, you can be really stubborn sometimes."

"Yeah, but you know that you love it." I replied, smiling at her.

She shrugged, and muttered, "More of a tolerate, really."

"Oh really?" I inquired. "Tell me, please, what would have happened should my stubbornness had failed, say, when facing the Scyther? How about with the Grumpig?"

She glared at me, a lighthearted look in her eyes, and replied, "Oh, shut up." She sighed, before adding, "Fine, I guess that I do love it."

"Told you." I taunted, smirking.

"Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes. "C'mon, let's go and pick up Axe and head over. Skyler and Mackenzie wanted to speak with us while they set up."

"Alright." I agreed, as we left my room. "So, how exactly did they get the task of DJs?"

"I feel as if 'DJ' is glorifying the role too much." Mei answered. "I mean, all they will be doing is controlling what music is playing. It's not like they are actually making their own music." We started down the stairs, and she continued, "But, really, the role was just thrown at them. I mean, it was decided last week in the music club thing that they are a part of, and I guess that they were alright with it."

"Well, they seem to like it, so it at least isn't really forced." I pointed out.

"True, true." She agreed, as we arrived at Axe's door.

I knocked on the door, awaiting the Absol. The door opened, revealing his roommate, a slightly overweight kid named Tyler. The kid, while a fairly bad introvert, is one of the only other living beings here that actually was alright with me, which caused us to inform him of Axe's status as well. Truthfully, his introverted personality seemed to take a backseat whenever he was around just us, especially when we got onto the topic of the multitude of interesting things that he enjoyed. Such as gaming. And anime. We're all pretty sure hentai is in there, as well, but Axe adamantly refutes that he has never even seen anything like that in his search history, let alone hearing anything, so we have been inclined to believe him. Granted, hentai isn't necessarily a bad thing. Fuck… forget that I said anything.

"Oh, hey guys." He greeted. "Grabbing Axe for the dance?"

"Yep." I replied, nodding.

"He's just finishing up his costume, so I imagine that he'll be out soon." The teen told us. "He's having a few issues with his tail."

"Yeah, these things can be fucking annoying sometimes." I commented, moving my own in front of me. I wrapped it around Mei, and added, "But, they can be entertaining and interesting, as well."

Tyler chuckled, and replied, "I imagine that they could be fun."

"Yes, but Cloud here has a bad tendency to use his to annoy me, on occasion." Mei pointed. "Anyway, I really wish that you'd come to the dance with us. I really feel as if you'd have fun there."

"Yeah." I agreed. "I mean, you've mentioned multiple times that you love cosplaying, and Halloween truthfully isn't much different."

He just shrugged, and said, "Yeah, I guess that it isn't. I suppose that I would most likely go, but I've got something planned for tonight. Myself and a few friends are going to play random horror and zombie games all night. It's been a tradition of mine for a few years now."

"Well, can't argue with that activity." I commented. "I mean, really, who doesn't love a nice night of bathing in zombie blood and painting the town red?"

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." He agreed. "Anyway, I should get back and tell him that you're here. Have a fun night, guys."

"Yeah, you too." Mei replied.

He nodded, before closing the door. I heard his footsteps retreat, followed by a door opening and closing.

"He really is sweet." Mei commented.

"I wouldn't say that, merely due to it possibly sounding odd, but I guess." I agreed.

"I wish that he'd talk to more people." My girlfriend added. "I feel as if he could be an interesting person at a party."

"Well, I don't really blame his for how he is." I said. "I mean, his introverted personality has already caused people to bully him, causing him to sink further in. That, plus that fact that he's not exactly loved around here, due to his friendship with me, as well as his hobbies, I imagine that he isn't too terribly keen on becoming more outgoing."

Mei sighed, before saying, "You go into states like that extremely randomly. You know that, right?"

I shrugged, and replied, "Yeah, it's just how I am. I can't help it, nor would I. I enjoy who I am, and will happily give my favorite one finger salute to any cocksucker who tries to change me."

"You're still doing it." She pointed out.

"Yep, and I am slightly enjoying it." I retorted. "But, as I appear to be annoying you, I shall cease."

"Thanks." She replied.

We stood there, waiting, for a few more minutes, before the door opened, revealing that Axe finally solved his wardrobe malfunction. For the first time since we had met, he had his jacket off, with his entire outfit being completely different. His torso had a long black jacket, reaching down to just above his feet. The jacket was clasped together a few inches above his waist, with two straps crossing over each other just above that, which all resided over a plain black t-shirt. On his shoulders sat silver shoulder pads, with the outfit finished off by a pair of black jeans on his legs. As soon as he stepped into our view, I heard a small snicker coming from Mei.

I glanced at her, and asked, "What?"

Instead of answering, she asked, "Axe, are you dressed as who I think you're dressed as?"

"I don't know." He replied, a slight smirk forming on his face, shrugging. "Who do you think that I'm dressed as?"

"That's a yes." Mei said, bursting out laughing.

"What the fuck are you guys talking about?" I asked, slightly annoyed. "What the hell is so funny?"

"Don't worry about it." Axe reassured me. "How about we just head out?"

Mei nodded, and we started down the hall, as I rolled my eyes. We left the building and went to the main building, and into the gym. We saw that Skyler and Mackenzie were already up on their little perch, setting up the laptop and microphones, while the few other people that were early merely socialized. We went over to them, unnoticed. Axe snuck up behind Skyler, before tapping him on the shoulder, causing the human to jump slightly, whipping around.

He noticed it was us, and sighed, before reprimanding, "Arceus, man, stop fucking doing that. You know that I'm bad with people sneaking up on me."

The Absol half-breed just chuckled, and replied, "Yeah, but that makes it even better."

"I'm gonna fucking kill you someday, kid." Skyler threatened. "I really hope that you know that."

"Yes, but why die, when you can respawn?" Axe countered.

Skyler rolled his eyes, muttering, "What the hell ever."

"Axe, what the hell are you wearing?" Mackenzie spoke up.

"What, you don't like it?" Axe asked, a mock tone of offense in his voice.

"It's not that, it's just the fact that you're dressed as who you are." She explained. "Especially with who you're standing next to."

He chuckled, and replied, "Yeah, fun fact, I never thought about that until today."

I groaned in annoyance, and said, "What the fuck are you guys getting that I just don't understand?"

"Seriously?" Skyler asked, shocked. "You don't see who he is?"

"Now, I don't." I replied. I rolled my eyes, before saying, "Fuck this. If anyone needs me, I'll be in a corner."

With that, I walked off, heading for the far end of the room. I went to a corner on the wall and just stood there, leaning up against the large bricks. I just stood there, silent, as more people began filling up the room. While most of them were students, obviously, I did notice a few teachers, as well as some of the miscellaneous staff, coming in, presumably to be chaperons.

Mei eventually walked up to me, and said, "Oh, stop standing in a corner, being all antisocial and shit."

"Why?" I asked. "What else would I do?"

At this point, the music started up, beginning with Death on the Dance Floor by Kevin Sherwood.

"Well, we could dance?" She offered.

"To this?" I inquired. She nodded, and I pointed out, "This isn't really dance music, y'know."

She sighed, coming over to me and leaning on me, before saying, "Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to get you to do something. I mean, you've been so distant recently. You haven't really been participating in our conversations; you've been wanting to be alone a lot recently. I'm just worried about you."

I pulled her into a hug and replied, "I know, and I'm sorry. I've just been thinking through some things, and I've been pretty distracted. I promise that it'll stop."

"Good." She said, snuggling up to me. "Just as long you uphold that promise; then we don't have to dance."

"Thanks." I answered, kissing the top of her head.

Arceus, I hope that I can keep that promise. I've been having one hell of a time beating my insecurities and self loathing. I have to do it, for her.

"So, how long should we stay here before we can leave without looking like assholes?" I asked.

Mei shrugged, and replied, "Oh, only about an hour or so. Then, we can head back to your room and celebrate in a better way."

I chuckled, and said, "Oh? Have you thought of how we will celebrate?"

"Not really, honestly." She answered. "But, I'm sure that we can find a way."

"Oh, I hope so." I said, smiling. "I really hope so."

After that, we just stood there, listening to the music and paying extremely minute attention to the other people at the dance. After a few minutes, we mildly dozed off, not really paying attention. Eventually, we were snapped out of our doze by a hand grabbing my arm, pulling me to the center of the room. As Mei jolted in shock, I looked to see who the owner of the hand was, only to recognize it as a member of the football team.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing?" I asked, trying to pull my arm away.

Instead of answering, he threw me into a large circle that had formed in the center of the crowd. The music stopped, and I looked around, shocked. The entire crowd had parted, creating the circle, and at the front all around me stood more members of the football team, as well as the wrestling team, the basketball team, the track team, and a certain asshole that can't take a hint about Mei not liking him.

"What the hell do you want, Austin?" I question, anger dripping from my words.

"Well, my friends and I thought that we'd teach you a lesson about being a freak." He answered. "So, this is officially class."

"Oh?" I retorted. "And how exactly do you plan to do this?"

"By beating you until you can't fucking crawl." He responded, cracking his knuckles.

I laughed at this, saying, "Seriously? Where the hell did this jump come from? One minute, it's just normal insults, and the next, you're wanting to fucking kill me? Isn't that rather extreme? And, besides, no teacher would allow that."

"Well, I don't see any teachers in here, do you?" He mocked.

I looked around, my stomach sinking as I realized that he was right. All of the staff members had left the room, for some reason.

"Still, I don't want to fight you." I said. "So, how about we just leave this alone?"

"Oh, I don't think so." He answered, as the circle began to move closer.

I was immediately joined by Axe, as he leapt over the heads of the crowds, who began bouncing on his feet.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm gonna help you fight them." He replied. "I've honestly been waiting for something like this to happen for a while."

"No, Axe." I told him. "No one is fighting."

"But-." He started, but I cut him off

"Listen to me, Axe." I told him, a slight threatening tone to my voice. "No one is fighting, so get out of the circle."

He sighed, before answering, "Fine."

With that, he leapt out of the circle again. As the circle got smaller, I just sighed in annoyance. Whatever, I'll just take whatever the fuck they give me. As soon as this thought shot through my head, a fist shot out, nailing me in the face. I took the hit, stumbling back slightly, and I heard a few gasps of shock. The next hit came immediately after the first, a kick to my stomach, causing me to stagger back to the edge of the circle. I was roughly thrown back, only to have a fist be slammed into my face, causing an immense amount of pain, and sending me flying to the ground. I got to my hands and knees, to see a thick crimson liquid dripping onto the ground. I brought my hand to my face, and felt that my right eye was already swelling, and my nose was pouring blood, most likely being broken. I felt blood coming from my mouth, as well, so I ran my tongue over my teeth. I felt that one all the way in the back was loose, so I easily popped it out, disconnecting the last two or three nerve endings that were on it, causing it to drop from my mouth, followed by a large cough up of blood. I was about to get up, only to be met by a rough kick to my stomach, sending me flying on my side to one of the walls. I tried to move, only to feel a piercing pain in multiple places in my chest. Fuck, those are my ribs. As I just laid there, in pain, fighting to keep my eyes open, I felt another kick meet my stomach. I saw the shape of the person move back, just before a large explosion happened right in front of me. When the smoke cleared, I saw a shape that I recognized as Axe, two large, black claws on his hands.

As I watched this, I felt someone drop down next to me, followed by Mei's voice reassuring me, "Hold on, Cloud. We'll get you out of this." I nodded dimly, followed by her yelling, "Skyler, Mackenzie, get over here!"

I heard more footsteps as I fought to stay conscious. I glanced over to Axe, to see that he was currently slashing at Austin with his weapons, hitting him on the arm, sending a long cut across his forearm.

"Yeah?" Skyler said, upon their arrival.

"Help me carry him." Mei instructed. "Let's take him to either Kynth or Fawkes, whichever one we find first. They'll actually help." I saw him nod, before Mei added, "Mackenzie, can you stay here and make sure that Axe doesn't kill anyone, please?"

"Of course." She replied.

I felt myself being lifted, followed by Mei saying, "We've got you, Cloud. We'll get you some help."

With that sentence still in my head, I felt the blackness overcome me, sending me into a deep sleep.

L: So, that's one more party down.

Ash: More like a gathering for assholes.

*A head pops on screen*

Skyler: We resent that!

Ash: Not you, damn it! The fuckers who beat up Cloud!

Sky: Oh, yeah. They suck ass.

L: *Sigh* Well, that was fun. I guess that Ash and I will see you kids over with whoever the fuck we're visiting next.

Ash: Bye guys!