This Style of text is for when the author wishes to insert their own thoughts into the story.

*Outside game*

*Banzais POV*

I ran to my room after getting home, excited to get onto TOME and play. but first, I thought ruefully, I have to look at Betto's progress. I pulled up the character viewer and pulled up the model labeled "ZETTO_00- in progress." the computer pulled up a partially filled in wireframe image. It built it from bottom to top so i couldn't see the textures for anything above the hands. So far he was wearing what appeared to be black boots and blue pants with the same pale skin as now. I let the builder get back to work and put on my VR headset. I typed in my username, Jarhead587(Don't judge me) and my password. Then I entered my TOME username "Banzai" and repeated my password. Finally I sat back as the world of tome began to load on my screen. Eventually I chose a place in the ;Sanctuary region to login to.

*Oblivions POV*

It was 5 minutes before the Skype call was scheduled to start and I still hadn't heard anything from Rockoon who said he'd let me know when he was ready. At this point I had two options, Start the chat without him or call him. Having been late to these before due to guitar practice I chose to call him. "Heeeeeres Rocky," he said as he picked up his phone. "Rockoon. It's Oblivion. What are you doing that's so important? Because the chat is in 5 minutes!" "I'm buying clothes," he whined "Well hurry up," I shouted. "Well i can't find them," he said. "What do you mean you can't find them?" I asked, annoyed. "I mean I can't find them. there's only soup" he replied. " what do you mean there's only soup?!" i yelled. " i mean there's only soup!" he said. " go into the next aisle!" I shouted again. When he gets to the next aisle he told me there's still only soup and in the next aisle there was also more soup so i did the only reasonable thing i could. "WHAT STORE ARE YOU IN?" i asked, getting incredibly irritated as Kizuna and Zetto were both shooting me messages in Skype. "I'm at soup," he answered. " what do you mean you're at soup?" i questioned confused " i mean i'm at soup." he once again replied. again i asked " what do you mean you're at soup?" "I'm at the soup store!" he said. " WHY ARE YOU BUYING CLOTHES AT THE SOUP STORE!?" i yelled " SCRATCH YOU!" he yelled then hung up. i told Kizuna and Zetto we'd have to reschedule this chat till next week as rockoon wasn't going to be able to make it and it seemed that Snapshot had forgotten about it. Needless to say they were upset but understood. After that fiasco i decided to log in as Draxien for a while and see just what was going on in TOME. Maybe see Banzai's new design he'd been making.

*In Game, Banzais POV*

My eyes opened as I touched down on the ground. I had recently given all my characters a somewhat minor physical change, but Banzai had changed quite a bit from his previous look. he had lost his Link cap, and his long sleeves had been cut off raggedly. in addition he had a shoulder plate on his right side and a patch on his left knee. Other than that he hadn't changed much but for some touch ups. I walked around looking for a nice place to relax before looking for Draxien and Manafreak in ;Lavendera. A PM appeared in front of me, from an unknown user. The font was weird, as if the person had written the message by hand.

From: Unknown

If you want to save your friends you had better get to ;Lavendera now. see you soon, Shorty.

I noticed an ASCII art of a lizard at the bottom. Skin-Changer or Asp was threatening my friends. Either way they were about to experience a new definition of pain. I drew my glaive and ran off towards ;Mechcity. As I ran, a strange thought entered my head. "What if it's a trap," I asked myself. I actually got a reply. Two voices spoke up in my head. "Who cares? We can take on anything!"

"Are you insane, mate? We'll get captured and end up as bait for Oblivion."

"I think you mean Draxien."

"Whatever, mate."

I was freaking out. both voices were mine, one slightly higher, one deeper and with an accent. I started to get a massive headache, but i finally realized what was going on. Something was causing the two sides of my head, and the characters i associated with each side, become more than sides of me, but individual entities. Apparently, i don't get along with myself, I thought bitterly. "Like Deadpool's voices!" both voices said at the same time.

*Draxien's POV*

After waiting in ;Lavendera for a while I started to look through my weapon inventory. The latest update had given me more ethereal blades. While the new ones looked cool I probably wouldn't use them outside of solo quests as I prefered to use the signature black ones, insubordination, for things like tournaments, multiplayer side-quests, and battles against my friends. After trying out a few of the new blades i re-equipped the standard then decided to send a PM to webmaster with some ideas. When i opened up the PM system and entered who to send it to I received a message saying that only admins, mods, and other netkings may PM the netkings and that I would need to enter a code to be able to enter the message. Now i had 2 options, hack my way past it and risk getting yelled at by kizuna and dad or I could use the code. "Hermes message" I typed when prompted as I already knew the password beforehand because of the fact that they never change the password unless a hacker gets their hands on it. But as expected the password hadn't been obtained by a hacker so the message box opened and I began to type up my message but then decided to send the message to dad as well.

To: Webmaster and Execk

Hey its me. i just thought id make a few suggestions for additions to the game... I typed out my message making a few suggestions on things like mini-games, new costumes and equipment as well as a few new side-quests. I sent the message then decided to go looking for banzai.

*Banzai's Player's POV*

I ran through the streets of ;Mechcity, dodging around corners and wincing as my "friendly" voices continued to argue over the wisdom of rushing into a potentially deadly virus trap. "Will you two shut up for 5 minutes," I muttered angrily," Before I get an aneurism from your squabbling." the deeper voice chuckled quietly, and i heard a slight clacking of his canines. the higher voice became adamant, however saying,"If you hadn't created this freakshow, you wouldn't be struggling right now."

"FREAKSHOW? at least I'm taller than a gnome shortstack."

I wanted to scream, tell them to both just get out of my head. A chill came over me as i realized that a familiar buzzing was in the back of my head. A virus was manipulating my different emotions and thoughts to make me think i was going crazy, hearing my own voices struggling. I was about to scan the area for suspicious activity when the virus struck. a searing pain down my skull, a feeling of separation, and i stood staring at an alligator the color of the ocean. A blur and then i was looking at Banzai through Snapshot's eyes. "Augh!" I tried to separate myself, to look from a neutral point. eventually i calmed down enough to see both of them staring at each other in the street. I held up my hands and imagined strings connecting them to the two inert figures. I flexed my hands and they stood up eyes still locked. "Ok," I said to myself," Let's go track down who did this." little did I know that both of them echoed my words.

Now a separate entity in the games code entirely, I commanded my characters to run towards the one spot I knew the Virus would be. "The cliffs," Banzai muttered, which Snapshot responded with, "Aye." I mentally sighed. I never really understood what made my voice filter glitch when Snapshot talked. His accent was even getting on my nerves at this point. "Well that's not my blooming fault, now is it?" "can we please just find this Virus and kill it." Then I ran headlong into a deathtrap. The virus appeared in front of the two of them and released a pulse of energy, knocking them aside. I finally got a good look at it. It looked a bit like Ravenfreak, except that it's feathers were two different colors. one side was boring black and white stripes, while the other was a mess of bright colors and patterns that made me want to hurl just looking at it. "Well well well. I didn't expect you to make it here sane. well done," it said in a sly and arrogant voice. "I'm not sure I'm completely sane, but i think i'll call you Split," Banzai mocked. "For once we agree on something mate," Snapshot added, smirking. They started to battle the virus attacking from different sides, using anything they could to keep him off balance. Snapshot would grapple onto him while banzai used Thunder Blast and Storm Chakram, or Banzai would lunge at one side while Snapshot used arrows to hit weak points. It was when they struck as one that I felt power return to my fingertips. A new awareness came over me. I knew all of his attacks, his weakness', his fears. I had been the prey up until now, fighting for my survival. "Now," I said, both voices in unison. "I'M the hunter."

*Draxien's POV*

I watched as Banzai and Snapshot began their dance of death around the player, the swords flashing. When they spoke together, I froze. That voice was too familiar. "Why are they so similar?" I watched them duel this "Split," When it hit me. Banzai had made a habit of always logging off with me. Every time I mentioned Banzai to Snapshot he brushed it aside as if he didn't care. But what if he did care? Could it be possible that the two sides of my life, were more alike than I thought? Suddenly, with a final overhead slash, paired with a piercing ray of lightning, The player disappeared in an explosion of... virus energy! I saw the two character models fall limply to the ground. Running over I saw both pairs of eyes still alive, but neither of them were moving. "Banzai!" I screamed. "Can you hear me?!" There was no response. I realized that he was still in two pieces, or whatever was going on. "What do I do? should I call Kizuna? or Zetto?" I whined, completely lost. Finally i decided to take a risk. The new program Webmaster had given me might fix this mess, or it might turn them into a weird midget alligator. either way i had to try. "Run: . Protocol: heck if I know." In a flash of green light, I saw the two models transform into raw code, and combine into a wireframe, though I couldn't recognize it. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a fist come swinging into my jaw. "That," Banzai said, grinning wickedly, "was for that one time in ;Sanctuary." I looked over at him, with a quizzical look. "Were you ever going to tell me?" I asked. his smile dropped and he looked unsure. "Do you want honesty or not," he mumbled. In all honesty I myself had, supposedly kept quite a bit from him. "Actually, don't sweat it." I replied hastily trying to stop the awkwardness. "How about we go find some chumps to beat in ;Mechcity?" He snorted. "Whatever."

End Of Chapter 4

So this is the longest chapter yet! Tell us what you think and also can you guess what we're planning with the viruses? I'm willing to bet you can't but hey I could be wrong. Anyway as always Comment and Review Please and...

Thanks for reading!