A.N.T

• Chapter One-Four Walls •

It seemed quiet. It was quiet. Quiet enough to hear yourself breathing even the softest breath.
The silence was soon broken by the sound of metal scraping against itself. Alex was sharpening her dual katanas, as she would normally do before a difficult fight as a coping mechanism.
Tony walked over and knelt down next to Alex, curious as to why she was sharpening her katanas.

“You… Planning for something, Alex?”

“Ledian’s gotta be here somewhere. I can feel his energy. He’s grown even stronger since we were gone.”

“Are you seriously considering that he’s here? We’re in the fourth wall. We only end up here if we’ve been deleted. Ledian didn’t delete himself.” Tony muttered as if he knew everything. It was a common thing for him to do, despite his pure intentions.

“What if he did delete himself? It makes sense.”

“You're delusional.” Tony stood up and pottered around, angry at the thought of his brother being in the fourth wall.

“Stupid Ledian! I knew this was a bad idea… Why didn’t we kill him when we had the chance?” Sushi screamed, steam coming off of her arms.

“Calm down Sushi. We’ll find a solution.” Tony whimpered, remembering the time when Sushi almost burnt him to death.

“You’re telling me to calm down!? How am I meant to do that!?” Sushi’s arms were now covered in flames.

“Take a deep breath or something- I don’t know, I’m not a ... A psychologist, am I?!” Tony growled.

“Guys! Fighting isn’t going to solve anything. I’ve found us a way out of here.” Alex yelled, trying not to be too angry.

“It’s about time!” Sushi crossed her arms and huffed.

“There’s always a save or load option. You can start a new game, or load your previous one. We need to find the game menu files.”

“Genius!” Tony lit up with happiness.

“Genius, for someone who doesn’t have the staff to access the actual files.” Sushi mocked.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. We know someone who does have the staff. Remember? Ledian’s here somewhere. I can sense his magic energy. His aura is so strong that it’s a presence by itself. All we need to do is find him and knock him out for long enough for us to steal his staff and find those files!” Alex paced around in small circles, as if she was concocting a master plan. Because she was.

“You’re mad if you think that we can beat him. He’s had too much energy concealed. He could kill us all for good in just one blow. It’s not worth the risk.” Tony whined.

“Well you two wimps can stay here and rot, but I’m going to find Ledian whether you’re coming with me or not.” Alex drew her magic flintlock and crept off into the dark emptiness.

“Wait! Alexxxxx! Don’t leave me here with this psychopath!” Tony cried and ran after Alex.

“Thanks, Tony. Appreciate it.” Sushi mumbled, annoyed at Tony’s comment. She followed not far behind.

“So, do you plan to… Y’know… wipe the data?” Tony questioned, worried about Alex’s response.

“No way. Too many people have died to get me here. To get us here. I’m not letting Ledian take it, no matter what. Even if that means more people have to die.” Alex gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her katanas, whilst becoming increasingly
annoyed with how slow Tony developed confidence.

“So… you plan to continue in the Arcane world, even though it’s been years in game-time? Nobody will remember us. Everyone we knew was old.” Tony sighed.

“You’re forgetting Oliver. He’ll be about seventeen. Something like, ten years have passed for them. For us it’s only been like a week.”
Alex chuckled.

“And what about the Two-Shot pirates? They’re probably still around.” Sushi mumbled.

“Hopefully they moved on.” Tony muttered.

“Alright then. We’ve got our plan. Let’s go.” Alex tightened her belt, and continued marching off into the darkness, alongside Tony and Sushi.