So yeah. So let's get DOWN, TO THE FREAKING, BUSINESS. YAAAARG! YAAAAARomg. :D

You know what, disregard that thing I said about the portal-ers, it was a bit too obvious, and I kind of failed epically at mysterious (yes, that is in fact how you spell the common internet adverb "epicly").

Thanx Estron for the review. Yeah, she was talking about the fish. Er, the WCC. Yeah, not the fish. I got the fish right here. *flaps fish* ... *loses fish* NOOOOOOOO. D:

"So, what you're saying," said Dwayne, piecing together what Eric had told him with great difficulty, "is that these holes..." He stopped and tried to put together his sentence to sound smart. It was no use, and so he continued. "Something goes in one... And it comes out the other?" "Yeah, exactly," said Eric, puzzled by Dwayne's lack of intellectual enthusiasm. "That's a rather layman way to describe it, but yes, essentially." As Eric began to decelerate from his sort of "intellectual mode," he realized the true genius of what Dwayne had said. Perhaps the simplest solution was always the best. He finally understood why nobody could ever figure him out. Perhaps "intellectual mode" was a bit overkill for explanations like these.

The electric noise that followed was so loud and screechy that it was nothing short of a shock to hear it. "OH, GOD, MY EARS," screamed Eric in agony as he stumbled backwards... right off of the pillar. Thinking quickly, Dwayne crouched for support and reach, grabbed Eric's feet, and proceeded to pull him up.

Eric was so bewildered as he was pulled up that he had no time to be thankful. The incident had opened his eyes up to the pair's situation: they were standing atop a metal pillar surrounded by a pit of acid that looked none too savory.

And then there was silence.

Lots of silence.

Annoying silence.

Very annoying silence. Very, very annoying silence.

The silence corrupted the two, ate their minds from the inside. At least that's what it felt like. Corrosive, acrid. Sharp and unpleasant. Acidic. About as bad as silence can be. And neither knew why; it was just the most disgusting thing they'd ever felt.

Suddenly, out of the silence came something else. "I'mma do the things that I wanna do," sang Dwayne quietly. "I ain't got a thing to prove to you."

"I'll eat my candy with the pork and beans," chimed in Eric as Dwayne continued to sing. The singing grew louder and louder as their confidence grew to match it. There was something magical about having someone you can burst into song randomly with at any given time. Magical, yes, however weird it may have been.

Then, a third voice, a deadly familiar third voice, chimed in beneath them. "One look in the mirror and I'm tickled pink; I don't give a hoot about what you- Wha?" Apparently the voice hadn't realized the singing had stopped until it was too late such that the voice was singing alone. But around the two teenagers, the corrosive silence had returned, this time self-inflicted. They had been cutting carrots with a sharp knife, and their grandmother had begun to cut carrots with them and make them cut their fingers instead. At least, that's what it felt like. The silence surrounded the voice, and the speakers fell quiet. There was a sound of someone clearing their throat indignantly.

"We're sorry. On accound of a required system protocol, the system was shut down to protect data from the crash. The data has been recovered, and the system is once again operational. You may continue the test. We are sorry that we did not inform you that you could not continue the test while the system was shut down, and we hope you did attempt it." The voice faded to static and faded out of the static again. "And we hope you did not attempt it. Did... not attempt it." The duo could almost feel whatever computer was controlling the test blushing and shaking its head insincerely.

Dwayne thought about the situation. Something didn't seem right. "So, should we keep going?" he asked Eric.

Eric knew that it was only the first test chamber out of who knew how many, but already he'd had enough. He leaped on Dwayne, and, in an act of pure insanity, began to strangle him. "What the crap, man!" Eric yelled. "Are you crazy?! We almost got killed just then!" In panic, Dwayne coughed and struggled. Struggled for air, for freedom. "Hey, man," he managed to spit out. Eric stared down at his hands and saw for a moment what he thought was Dwayne's blood. No, Eric's own blood. No, not even that; his hands were just a bit red from stress. But they looked somehow demonic. He lifted himself up off of his friend. "Sorry," he said quietly. "What do you want to say?"

"I want to say," said Dwayne, who had managed somehow not to be knocked off the pillar and was still laying stunned on its floor, "that you're probably right. There'll probably be plenty of places in this test where we'll almost die. But you know what?" Dwayne motioned for Eric to come closer, and so he did. "I get the feeling that it's not going to happen."

Eric stared at Dwayne amazed, but then came to what he thought was his senses. Who cares if Dwayne "got the feeling it wasn't going to happen?" That's what Eric's mom said before she drove drunk. That's what they all said. "Do you even know what you're talking about?" said Eric. "You don't, do you? You know what? Forget your feelings. I'm not going on some deadly adventure for some who-knows-what prize just because someone's got the slightest inkling that it won't kill us." "Dude, chill out, stop screaming," said Dwayne. His ears hurt. Maybe something else hurt, too, but he couldn't figure out what. Eric wasn't sure what Dwayne meant by that, because he wasn't even screaming. "Okay, I'll stop talking now," he said. "I'll see you after the test if you're still alive. Which I doubt. Screw you, I'm outta here." Eric climbed up into the blue hole in the ceiling and emerged from the orange one. He walked over to the elevator and knocked on its doors, but it wouldn't open.

"Hey, could you open this thing?" he said into the camera. The electronic voice spoke up. "As part of a required test protocol," it began, "exit from the building will not be allowed until the test is over."

Exit from the building will not be allowed until the test was over. The sound of the mechanical voice resounded over and over again in their heads. Eric wondered if his dad would really do that to him, put him in a situation there was no way out of. Or was it all a demonically clever ruse by some soul tortured enough not to care what happens to them? Dwayne didn't quite know what to think, but he knew it wasn't good, and that alone was very unsettling.

Sorry chapter 5 took so long. I've been busy, school and whatnot. And there's a tournament coming up, so I had to make sure I know my form. But I do now, so that leaves room for me to ROCK OUT temporarily.