• A splash and an echo. A murmur, and then a slow jog, which gradually sped up to become a sprint. The sound of water drops, vibrating inside his ears. His breath was heavy, but even. He blinked, his crimson eyes shining in the pale light of the moon and kept sprinting through a world of darkness and rain. Buildings, tall shining buildings ever revealing in their higher glory. Shades of grey and dark passed by him in a quick blur, but nothing seemed to matter towards him. This was his world, a world where silence was the ruler and darkness was its right hand man. He quickly ran his rough tanned fingers through his rained down long black hair, and dusted his fingers on his dark blue shorts, stained and smeared dark from years of use. He squinted, and then spotted a body, sitting with its back against a wall. He slowed down, his feet scattering gleaming water droplets everywhere, and then came to a stop in front of the body.

    “Hey Slash, you never give up do you?” The figure asked, slowly sliding his body up against the wall, placing one rough hand on the wall and then pushing off to come to a tall standing stance. He brushed its medium length brown hair out of its eyes, to reveal kind yet playful crystal blue eyes. He had a small build, but was wittingly strong in any sort of fight, and rough bruises outlining on his knuckles indicated this. However Slash knew that he wouldn’t fight unless it was necessary, as this was his best friend Kaz, short for Kazuki Namiko. “Of course, since when did I ever give up?” Slash replied, roughing up his hair with his hand and brushing it out of his eyes. “I dunno, but I bet you can’t catch me this time!” The figure turned around and laughed playfully, seemingly begging like a happy dog. “I’m sure I’ll get you this time Kaz” Slash whispered to himself, before starting to sprint after him. The duo ran quickly through the dark world, wrecks of dated useless trains everywhere, chasing each other as mice lost in a maze, not knowing where they are going but never caring. Slash gave a short wheeze, his heart beating faster and faster. They had been chasing each other for hours on end. However he saw Kaz up ahead, in exactly the same state, sitting down next to a rail track.
    Slash quickly composed himself, evening his breathing before walking over and taking a seat next to Kaz. “How are things back at your house?” Kaz asked Slash, drawing himself closer to him and pulling out a small bag of candies from his pocket in his small cargo pants, holding it up to Slash. He puffed a small breath out through his lips, and drew out a few candy pieces from the bag. He unraveled one, admiring a swirl of deep colours on the candy, and then placed it in his mouth and savored it. It was extremely sweet, yet had a smooth flavor behind it, exciting the taste buds within his mouth.


    “Oi! What are you kids doing here? Don’t you know that you are dangerously close to train tracks?” A voice commanded, startling the pair. They both glanced to their right; there was a man in a silver overcoat with a dark cap and most noticeably, an electric prod in a holster near his right hip. “Oh damn it; it’s the Axion soldiers! Come on Slash, we got to run” Kaz whispered to Slash, fingering the bag of candies for a second before replacing it in his pocket once again. Kaz leaned to his right, and pulled out a small ball capsule from his left pocket. It pulsed with a blue glow, slightly vibrating when a small droplet of water hit it. “Oi! What do you have there?” The soldier said threateningly, pulling out the prod and cracking it on his left hand without remorse. It buzzed to life, sending blue sparks everywhere. “Nothing officer, but maybe you would like to look behind you, because you missed something quite important” Kaz replied with a sharp smirk, hiding the capsule behind him. The soldier gullibly peered behind himself, seeing nothing except the tracks and a few tall piles of rubble of deteriorated silver buildings surrounding him. “There’s nothing there you punks” he said almost in relief, before turning his head back to the pair and met with a thrown capsule in his face. The capsule exploded, sending a vapor of green gas searing into his eyes and nose. “Gah! My eyes…you punks!” The soldier said to nobody, rubbing his bloodshot eyes and attempting to see through them. But by the time he had recovered, they were already far away…