All characters mentioned from the Bloody Roar series are copyright their respective owners.

The scene opens upon the main character, Scott, sitting in a recliner.

Scott: Hey. I'm the in-story version of the author, give or take the name, physical appearance, a few years of age, mental stability, social skills, and a better car. I'm taking some time before this chapter to tell you about something you will see here that will be a bit different than the other chapters. At random points during the story, the story will break due to the end of a sequence that only took place in the main character's own mind. There won't be any kind of warning as to when this will occur, and there will be no special indicator as to when the scene breaks from reality to imagination, although if you can't look back and figure out when that happens, I think you and your education system have bigger problems. Of course, you could simply skip to the end and see what really happens, but where's the fun in that? Without further ado, let the story continue with the chapter that took three months of constant negotiation to get Shina to do, who I am now simply going to call Jane all the time, because it's easier that way.

Scott then gets up and leaves.

I had no idea how long I was trapped in the basement with Shina/Jane... until I looked at my watch and saw that only three minutes had gone by; three eerily silent minutes. I felt that if I stayed down there much longer, I was going to lose my mind... and just my mind if I was lucky.

"Don't you have a phone down here?" I asked Jane, who was taking out her frustration with my random act of idiocy out on the punching bag. "Maybe we could send a distress call to the living room."

"The nearest phone," She said between punches, "Is in the kitchen. I'd gladly go use it if someone hadn't locked us down here."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that the lock on the door was broken? And besides, I don't see you coming up with any ideas."

Apparently she had had enough as she strode towards me. "Well, I do have one good idea."

"Oh yeah? What?"

The last thing I remember was something hitting me really, really hard in the face before I blacked out.

I was snapped back to reality by the sound of Jane giving one last, hard shot to the punching bag, thankful that I was still in one piece...for the moment. However, three things were annoying me; one I knew, that being the reason why Jane seemed to be living in Alice's basement. The other two were beyond me at the moment. Since we had some time ahead of us, I figured I would get a conversation started to pass the time. At least then every hormone-driven daydream I'd ever had would be out of the picture. "So," I queried, "Why are you living in Alice's basement?"

Jane looked me over with a suspicious eye for a moment as I leaned back against the wall. She strode over to the fold-out bed and took a seat. "I'm just between places right now. It was this or Yugo's place, and I only trust him as far as Uriko can throw him."

"What about Long?"

"Nah, he lives too far away. Going to work would be too much trouble from there."

I was starting to feel a little more at ease as the conversation continued and strode over to the side of the bed. "Mind if I sit down?"

Without looking, she said, "It's a free country."

"So where do you work?" I sat next to her, keeping a couple feet of space between us.

"I'm a bartender at O' Greevey's; late night shift."

O' Greevey's? That's the place that's on the news almost every other day for its angry drunken customers causing huge fights. "Isn't that place dangerous?" In the back of my mind I remembered her profile in Primal Fury saying that she was twenty, and wondered if she was lying about the job, but decided to let it slide for now.

"Hell yes, but I need the work." She held out her right hand, tracing a line across the back of it. "One time I got a huge chunk of glass stuck in the back of my hand from one of the fights, and I had to run myself across town to the hospital, which was where I met Alice."

Yikes. Well, figures that Alice would work at a hospital. "Alice works there?"

Jane smirked and tried to hold back her laughter. "No, she had to take Yugo to the ER when he somehow mixed up the grape juice and the fabric softener."

At that point, both of us burst into laughter. When I started calming down, I said, "This is really nice. I mean, when I first met you I was really intimidated and, I'll admit, a bit frightened, but you're really a great person and-"

"Don't tell Long."

"...Don't tell Long about what?"

I very quickly found out as she leaned in towards me and our lips met. My eyes widened slightly and thousands of different thoughts flew through my head, almost all of them being either "what-the-hell" or "go-with-it." The moment was very quickly interrupted, though, as a loud pounding sound from the basement door drew my attention.

I was startled by the sound of Jane pounding on the basement door. Whether she was trying to get someone's attention on the outside or break the door down, I don't know. After a few minutes, she stopped and came back downstairs, mumbling something that I assumed was more cursing as she walked past me on the bed and moved toward the stereo, snatching a random CD from the table and almost shoving it into the disc slot. Imagine my surprise when, as she approached the bed and sat down on the other end, the stereo started blasting Megadeth so loud the CDs started to shake around the table.

"I didn't know you were a fan!" I yelled over the stereo. I'm not sure if Jane heard me because she shrugged and then started tying one of her shoes that had come undone. It was at that point that I realized the second thing that was bugging me; Jane's clothes. She wasn't in one of the costumes from the game, but rather a plain old white tee shirt, loose blue jeans, and black worn-out tennis shoes. I was actually staring at her for some time, but she wasn't facing me and couldn't see that I was doing so. My thoughts began to race as "Symphony of Destruction" hit its solo.

If she's not in costume, she's no longer just a character, but a real person now! I wonder how long it will be before someone finds us. Man, even though that shirt is pretty loose, I can still see her... wow- Just as the song ended, I inadvertently said, "They're bigger than I thought."

In Alice's basement, no one can hear you scream.

"Hey."

I jumped back on the sofa as Jane spoke. "What?"

"You've been staring into space for the last ten minutes."

"Oh, sorry it's just that-"

I was cut off when I was suddenly tackled onto the fold-out bed. "I'll give you something to stare at." She told me with a smirk.

"...Huh?"

"Hey."

I jumped back on the sofa as Jane spoke. "What?"

"You've been staring into space for the last ten minutes."

"Oh." I rubbed my eyes. "I just need a way to kill some time." I looked around the room for a moment, the treadmill catching my eye. "... Meh, why not?"

Jane sounded like she was suppressing a laugh as I stepped on the treadmill. "I'll bet you can't even make three miles."

"Walking or running?"

"All of the above."

"Is that a bet?" I set the treadmill to a light jogging pace.

"I said, 'I'll bet', so yeah it is."

"I'll bet that I can run it the whole way. What if I do make it?"

"I'll think of something. What if you don't?"

"... I'll think of something."

"Alright." Jane strolled over to the stereo and switched it to the radio, which was currently playing Judas Priest. "Go."

I started jogging as Jane sat down on the fold-out bed. I very quickly realized that three miles is a whole lot longer on foot than by car, and though I wasn't out of shape (I'm actually rather skinny), the most running I had done recently was running from the computer to the fridge and back at my house for drinks. By the time I hit 1.6 miles, I was breathing rather heavily, though still at the same pace I set before. Jane had a rather smug look on her face as I glanced to the sofa-bed. I started to waiver a bit, but around 1.9 miles I got a second wind. All I could think about was making it the last mile... well, that and how my lungs felt like exploding as my heart seemed to sync up with the beat to "Living After Midnight". It felt like an eternity before I finally hit three miles and slowed the treadmill down to a walk. Jane didn't seem too thrilled that I actually made it as she had her arms crossed and was looking to the other side of the room, maybe to find something I could win from the bet.

"So," I asked while I gasped for air, "What do I win?"

Jane stood up and moved to the stereo, trying to shut it off, but instead it switched to a station that was playing Marvin Gaye. "Piece of shit!" She screamed as she pounded the side of it. If this were Bloody Roar, that stereo would have flown across the room and taken out the far wall. It was at this point that I realized what this reminded me of-- the treadmill, Marvin Gaye—they were from my dream. Before I could remember all the things that weren't here that were in the dream Jane turned and started towards me. I tried walking to her, then realized I was still on the treadmill, got off, and made my way to her, still breathing somewhat heavily. Our eyes were locked on each other.

"This never leaves this basement." Jane said.

"What never leaves-"

Before I could ask, Jane pulled me in by the neck of my shirt and kissed me on the lips. It felt like the fourth of July, Christmas, the world's largest ice cream sundae, and the deaths of my enemies all in one, but better. It only lasted a few seconds, but in my mind it just went on and on and on... until Jane pulled away and said, "Now quickly! Into the MegaBot!" And the house turned into a giant leopard-man robot while cheesy heroic music played in the background.

"Hey."

I jumped back on the sofa as Jane spoke. "What?"

"You've been staring into space for the last ten minutes."

"Oh." I got up to stretch my legs as there was a sudden rumbling sound from above that lasted for a minute or so. "What was that?"

"That was a meteor."

"What?"

"I heard it on the radio while you were spaced out. It was large enough to decimate anything on the surface of the planet."

"... So..."

"So, it's up to us to repopulate the Earth."

"Oh, come on, you've got to-" I turned around and nearly had a heart attack as Jane was standing there in nothing but her panties.

"Got to what?" She asked.

"Nothing!"

"Hey kid."

I jumped back on the sofa as Jane spoke. "What?"

"You've been staring into space for the last ten minutes."

"I need to kill time somehow. And don't call me 'kid'. I'm only three years younger than you."

I couldn't stop myself. Jane suddenly turned back to me with a suspicious look in her eye. "... How old am I?"

I tried to think of a way out, but all signs pointed to 'screwed'. "Listen, I was-"

One of Jane's hands tightly gripped me between the shoulder and the neck, making things rather uncomfortable to say the least. Her gaze could have burned a hole through titanium. "How old am I?" She asked much slower.

"...Twenty."

As soon as I spoke the door to the basement swung open and a familiar voice called out to us. "Scoooooooooott!" Uriko shouted. "Are you down there?"

"Y-Yes!" I answered as Jane let go of my shoulder moments before Uriko came charging down the stairs.

"Ooooooooh," Uriko said, grinning as she looked from me to Jane and back, "Were you two having fun while we looked for you-"

"NO!" Jane and I yelled in unison.

"Hey, it was just a question; no need to get worked up about it." Uriko said.

"I'll give you something to get worked up about!" Jane replied angrily.

Oh no, that crappy dialogue can only mean one thing.

Just then an ominous voice from above said, "ROUND ONE! GET READY! FIGHT!"

Uriko waved a hand over my eyes as I slowly returned to reality (or sometihng close to it anyway). "Coming?" She asked, making a gesture to follow her upstairs. I nodded and she started ahead of me. Before I followed, though, I looked back once more at Jane, who was standing by the bench with her arms crossed, staring intently at me. I felt a chill down my spine that wouldn't go away until I eventually left the party, went home, did a full sweep of the house, locked all the doors and windows, made sure all the phone lines worked, turned on every light in the house, and fell asleep with a BB gun and three baseball bats within reach.