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"Jerk!" I shouted, powering up my own Electro-Fire and aiming at Shallow's glowing heart.

"Hey now, let's not kill each other in here!" Dylan yelled, lowering the machine's aim away from Shallow.

"Fine, but this isn't over yet Heartless!" I growled. Shallow just shrugged and slung his machine around his uninjured shoulder.

"Whatever," he said quietly. Then, he moved his gaze to Dylan again. "Alright, let's get this over with!"

"Right," Dylan said, walking over to the secret door, unlocking and opening it with the wave of his hand. "Come on, Razor, Paintbrush," he continued, waving me over.

I caught up to Dylan and Shallow, then we started walking through the dark and destroyed basement in search of this machine I accidentally set off. There was a lot more creepiness in the darkened atmosphere than there was earlier, and that didn't help at all, considering now I knew there was a murderous machine on the loose down here.

We kept looking around for the mechanical creature for ages without any sign of its presence nearby. I was starting to wonder if it'd given up on searching for us, but something told me it was still wanting our lives, even if we had disappeared from its sight.

Then, Razor stopped and growled, getting down to a crouch. Dylan stopped and got down next to Razor, activating his scanner to see of there was anyone, or anything, ahead of us. Then, he stood up again and powered up his Electro-Fire.

"Razor, attack mode," Dylan commanded quietly. Some of the mechanical parts on Razor's body, legs, tail, and head started giving off a soft dark red glow, signaling he was ready to attack. He growled and barked threateningly to confirm the fact.

"What, did your little toy robot dog find something?" Shallow asked sarcastically.

"Stop talking..." Dylan ordered Shallow softly.

Shallow didn't listen. "Oh, what'd he find? A stupid squea--"

"Shut up, I mean it!" Dylan shushed more forcefully.

"Seriously, though," I asked, "what is it?"

"Found him," Dylan answered, pointing his Electro-Fire at the shadows. I followed his gaze and saw a massive mechanical creature right ahead of us. There were mechanical parts on its own body, legs, and head that were giving off a deep yellow glow. I saw the red glow of its eye, and I instantly looked away. I didn't want to make the creature charge at us by looking at it.

Razor growled and barked again. The machine ahead of us seemed to reply with a shrill, broken, and glitchy bark. It sounded so glitched up, that it almost sounded pained and pleading. At that moment, I wondered if it were a killing machine, or just a dying machine.

"What is that?" Shallow asked, the blue glow from his stripes dimming out slightly.

"That, is Rift-Breaker's Matryx. A machine I created years ago," Dylan replied.

"So, Matryx then?" I asked.

"Exactly," Dylan said.

"If you created that thing, why is it such a glitchy killer?" Shallow chimed in.

"Matryx wasn't always like this. He used to look, and sound, a lot better than he does now. He also wasn't a malfunction, like he is now." I thought I heard a hint of regret in Dylan's voice as he explained.

"Malfunction?" I echoed.

"Matryx got hit by a big metal filing cabinet a few years back," Dylan explained, "I was able to get hit out from underneath, but his hard drive was damaged beyond repair. I brought him back to my workshop to see if I could take out the damaged hard drive and replace it with a new one. I had to go to the back room to get the newer hard drive, and since Matryx was lying motionless on the floor, I left him alone. When I came back, though, he was standing up straight, but broken. He had a dark aggression I'd never seen before that seemed to give off a menacing radiation. I took a step away from him, and, at first, he didn't flinch. He just tilted his head to the side, then turned around and bolted out the door. When he was about seven feet from the door, he stopped and looked back at me, growling and barking in a glitchy and broken tone, as if he were telling me to stay away unless I wanted to be torn apart. After that, he ran off, and I knew that he wouldn't ever be the same little fox he was before."