Chapter 2- Hear me howl

A cornered Box is more dangerous than a Jackal

-Grey Fox

(Quote misheard by Solid Snake in the thick of battle; Immortalised as Fox's last words of wisdom advice to all warriors)

Rookie Harbor - West Exit

Walking towards her apparent next objective in Bergen something-something, Lea walked towards Rookie Harbor's Western Exit. She smiled to herself, having made plans to team up with a nice - if somewhat too energetic - girl called Emilie whom she'd met.

Seeing the wares and boxes of the various shops along the way, a thought suddenly struck her.

I wonder what that cool Box is doing.

She grinned and snickered at the indignant face of that blue maniac, buried under Box and yelling obscenities. Felt real good after having him mock her again and again while she was more or less helpless against his attacks. They had to be game-breaking, Sergey said so too!

A starry-eyed smile appeared on her face.

But did that blatant cheating stop Box?

Nope!

Box just grabbed its sword like it was Tuesday and made mince-meat of its enemies. Like wow for a few moments there it was literally flying in the air before descending with a bang! …Was it an angel? Did Box have wings too?

Lea sighed.

If only she could be as strong as Box…

Then getting her memories back would be a breeze-

Bzzt- Blast!

"H-Hi!"

Lea yelped and threw herself to the ground as something exploded and flew straight over her head, right as she'd ducked.

Bang!

And it slammed into the buildings behind her, before falling to the ground with a thump. Lea slowly opened her eyes and turned back to what exactly it was and- Her eyes widened seeing a crumbled, brown and smoking cube-

I-It's Box!

"Whoa! You okay dude?!" Yelled some of the other Seekers as they rushed to the Cardboard Box and crouched before it. "We told you to wait for the mods! If your avatar's malfunctioning you can't just brute force it!" They glared as Box twitched, "now either log off for the day or give it a rest. The mods will take a look at why you can't pass through the gate even with the key item. Okay?"

A low, male voice grumbled out of Box,

"…yeah, okay."

The other players huffed before leaving the scene, letting Box collect itself.

Watching the whole thing, a few things immediately popped into Lea's head-

One,

OMG! Box can talk! I can talk! We both can talk! Time to abuse that 'Hi! Lea!' which Sergey gave me like anything!

Two,

I wonder if he'd teach me some of his super moves… It's a 'he' right? Sounds like a guy.

Three,

Wait… looks like Box can't pass the gate to Autumn's Rise… If I help him pass the gate… Best! Pretence! For introduction! Ever!

And with that, Lea happily skipped over and smiled at the still twitching and smoking Box, bending a little to look straight at him and saying with a smile, "Hi!"

Hi, Box!

Box shifted,

"Huh? What?" It straightened at its slit narrowed for a moment to focus on her before it relaxed, "oh, it's you… Hi, I guess. …Again." Box said, before muttering something to itself which Lea couldn't hear.

Lea crouched down and pointed at herself, "Lea!"

That's my name!

"Lay a? Lay a what?" Box said, scrunching its slit with confusion.

Lea frowned, shook her head and pointed at herself again,

"Lea! Hi, Lea!"

"Highly a what?" Box growled, making Lea wince, "speak sense or stop wasting my time-"

Beep!

"Raiden, calm down." Lea blinked as a green tinted monitor floated beside Box, displaying a brown-haired, bespectacled man staring back at Box with a frown. "I think she's trying to introduce herself." He glanced at her and Lea nodded. The monitor-man continued, "I… think I've read such cases, where avatars can't speak anything. Tell me, Miss, is your voice module malfunctioning." Lea sighed and nodded. "Hm, that's unfortunate."

Box stayed silent before looking at her with a slitted glare, "I found out that avatars can't send text messages here. You're basically screwed, aren't you?"

Lea blinked, the beginnings of a glare appearing on her face.

This Box is very rude.

Fling!

Bonk!

"H-Hi!"

Lea yelped and grabbed her head as something flew out of the Box and hit her temple.

"Take that. I don't need it. Should be light enough for an avatar to carry," said Box. A pointer stick came out of it and pushed the thing he'd thrown to Lea's feet. "That's a uPod. Use it."

Scowling at Box and deciding to just be done with him, Lea saw what was at her feet with irritation before spotting this 'uPod.' A small rectangular device which looked like a… portable music player? Curious despite herself, she crouched and picked it up, the screen lighting up with hundreds of songs on its selection screen.

Lea pursed her lips in thought,

So if I select the song with the right words… Hmm, this song looks interesting-

Tap! Her fingers pressed one of them called 'The Only Thing I Know for Real'-

And the uPod blared!

"Memories broken!

The truth goes unspoken!

I've even forgotten my name!"

Lea's eyes widened. Whoa! Too close! Way too close to the truth! Her fingers scrambled to change the song-

Click!

[ Snake-Eater ]

"SNAAAAKE-EATER!"

Her jaw dropped as her face fumed red. E-Eat what snake! W-What kind of songs are these?! Next!

Click!

[ Subhuman ]

"I AM OMEGA!

You cannot KILL ME!

I AM SUBHUMAN!

I must EXPLODE!"

Lea gave Box a judging stare.

Box looked away and mumbled, "…what? Those're my jams of justice."

Lea covered her mouth and giggled. J-Jams of justice? That's just cute.

Looking back at her with an annoyed glare, Box continued, "anyway, there you go. Now you don't need to play mime anytime you need to talk." Something buried in his voice like regret, "don't let someone else decide the script for you… use your own words and change the script."

Lea grinned and nodded, before seeing a song with the right words and-

Click!

[ I'm my own master now! ]

"Hear me howl!

Time to leave, them, all, behind

I'm my own MASTER now!"

"Hah, that's right." Box chuckled, a lighter tone in his voice, "anyway, I've got other business so, see you around."

"Lea!" She said, pointing at herself with a pout.

"Fine, see you, Lea." Were Box's parting words before a roll of tape shot out of it to the town's rooftops and it swung away.

Lea waved him bye and then sat down on a bench, going through the uPod's songs with a smile.

What a nice Box.

Beep!

She heard a beep around her and then Sergey's face was hovering above her in a floating screen, as he stared back at her with crossed arms and a curious frown, he wondered,

"Why… Did I not think of this." Sergey palmed his face and sighed, "in hindsight it seems so obvious. If you can't use your own words, use someone else's words for you." Lea smiled back.

It's okay, Sergey. Not everyone can think outside the box like a Cardboard Box.

Sergey then hummed, staring at the uPod, "I see a complication whenever you logout. The device would just fall to the ground and someone might have picked it up by the time you're back." And before Lea's face fell at that info, he smiled and continued, "but I believe I can work around that."

Lea tilted her head at him.

How?

"Elementary, Lea." Sergey's glasses gleamed as he smirked. "Just leave it to me."

Lea laughed weakly and tried not to imagine Sergey as a mad scientist as he began typing code with sinister chuckles.

B-Box, come back!