Adventures of an Employed Planeswalker

(Matt's PoV)

I woke up in a white room, with a rush of memories invading the forefront of my mind.

I touched the Cube - The Allspark - and the integration that was having trouble was finished in a jiffy. The machines inside me, however, were now more than just machines.

They were alive.

Symby tried to coat them, trying to stop them since they tried to take over my body as soon as they became alive. The good thing is the influence the Allspark had on them was gone. As soon as I touched it, its power flowed through me, but the wrongness disappeared. The machines tried to take over, but now that they were alive, I found an incredible ease in controlling them.

Biokenesis.

Even if it was weird controlling mechanical life, it was still life. I don't know if that's how this power should work, but I don't care. Stalling it out made it so Symby could coat them completely and help me contain them. And then, I was here. I stopped having to suppress them, stopped feeling my body moving without my input.

"Hello!" Spoke a voice in front of me.

A person appears out of nowhere sitting in front of me at a wooden table, in that same classy room from before.

"Hi!! I'm Amanda and I will be your handler for the Omniverse Anomaly Patrol!" She says with a very excited voice.

She has raven black hair that cascades over her right shoulder, strikingly pink eyes, and an excited smile on her face. One that already started to fade. 'Did I do something?'

"I'm sure you're confused. 'Why am I here? Wasn't I just down there, doing my mission?' Well, you see..." She scratches her cheek, somewhat embarrassedly. "We made a mistake, hehe."

"... how so?" I say, slowly testing my voice. It feels weird like I'm speaking through a not-fully-adjusted synthesizer.

The integration was an ambitious plan. It was to be the complete fusion of the Scarab Armor (the Scarab included) with the EVO nanites. Ideally, I wouldn't have the Scarab at my back anymore and Caby would be able to control the EVO nanites directly, enhancing its hacking and technological interfacing abilities. The sheer adaptability of such a fusion - and thus my body - would be off the charts. With that and the Symbiote (and without being locked as a kid), I would firmly rank as not only superhuman but also very hard to defeat and kill.

The thing is, the Allspark fucked with that plan... but it ended up being for the better, even if it almost made me a prisoner of my own body. All that technology inside me got seamlessly integrated, to the point it looks like nothing I've ever seen. It's like having a whole new being... inside every part of me... ok, this is weird, paying attention to the pretty lady now.

"So~, Miss Lisa said we weren't expecting you so soon, right?" She asked, leadingly.

"Yes, she did say something like that." My voice slowly adjusted to be like it was before the change.

"And do you remember the "World Danger" rating?"

I frown, "This one was High-Low to Low-Intermediate, no?"

She beams at me, "Yeah! Well, that wouldn't be a problem for you. That's why the system assigned it to you: for your power level, that World was fine." She's not wrong. Especially so if I had picked the more... aggressively powerful options. But I don't see what's the problem?

"You see, while you were not in any danger, we do have a specific rule not to send new agents into worlds higher than Low in danger rating..." She starts twirling her hair with her fingers, looking embarrassed.

Didn't think these guys could even make mistakes. I guess nobody's perfect.

"Also, because of the nature of the Anomalous Object in your world, your world was encroaching onto a higher level of corruption..." She keeps talking, still acting like a bashful child.

"Amanda, was it? Can you be a bit more specific?" I ask her seriously and she flinches. "I'm trying to understand your explanation, but if you say it like that, it's only going to get me anxious."

"Ok, Mr...?"

She probably already knows my name, but first impressions and everything. "Hello, my name is Matthew but everybody calls me Matt. Nice to meet you, Amanda. I hope we can work well together." I extend my hand for a handshake.

Moving feels weird. I can leave my members everywhere I want to without it falling. It also feels like I need to put more effort into moving, but it's more of a "be sure where you want your arm" rather than "your arm feels like lead".

She smiles at me and shakes my hand very enthusiastically, "Very nice to meet you indeed, Matt! You can call me Amanda or Ama if you want." We both sit back down and she takes a deep breath.

"There's much you don't know, but that is the usual for rookie Agents. We categorize Worlds by two metrics; World Danger and World Corruption." She extends two fingers. "The first, World Danger," She downs one finger, "Measures how difficult it is to survive and thrive in a world. It has to do mostly with how common supernatural or uncommon abilities are; Low usually means either a completely mundane World - Just like your old one, with maybe a thing here or there that distinguishes them - or a mostly mundane world with a few aspects of said uncommon abilities."

"Ok..." Why would Transformers be in low? Or Pacific Rim?

"A good example would be Chronicle. It's a Low-High world; mostly mundane, but with telekinetic teenagers!" She punches the air. I force a smile on my face to encourage her to continue.

"Yeah, I can see that being Low by your estimates... what would the other categories be?" I ask, trying to steer her towards giving me more information.

"Right. Intermediate - or Medium and Mid, as we call it - is where most of the more interesting Worlds reside." Her eyes glint as she rubs her hands, forgetting the finger counting thing already. "They still have normal people, but the "uncommon" abilities are no longer so uncommon. Secret societies of such people with different abilities or constitutions exist, possible conflicts happened or are happening, etc."

"I understand... so, by your description, I'm guessing Transformers and Pacific Rim would be the parts of the Amalgamation that pulled the rating up." I guessed.

"You're right!" She beams again, actual confetti exploding behind her. That's... colorful, but actually not unwelcome. I feel myself smile at her antics.

"That's why the system did not flag it as strange; you had the luck - I don't know if good or bad - to get an Amalgamation World on your first world. Even Miss Lisa let this one pass, busy as she was managing the whole after-catastrophe paperwork." She looks at me with a smirk. "She also sent you her regards and told me to say "Good job surviving, you owe me one." I don't know what she did for you, but you better thank her!" She puffed her cheeks.

Ok... it could either be the freebie I asked for at the end; luck could have played a part in many situations I've been in. Or maybe it's something I didn't see or don't know yet. Anyway, "Thank her for me then. As soon as I can, I'll pay her back twofold." I say with a smile, one which she mirrors not long after.

"Ok! Now, the High category mostly contains Worlds that have these previously uncommon abilities being the norm. That mostly includes worlds where everyone has easy access to energies or powers and ways of manipulating said things. That mostly includes cultivation worlds, worlds with wide-spread highly developed technology and the like." She finishes her sentence and takes a deep breath.

"Whew, that's a lot to say. And there's more!" She says with her pointer finger up as if to stop me from interrupting. I'm all too happy to let her keep explaining and keep smiling as she starts again.

"World Corruption measures how much a World has deviated from its "normal" course due to the anomaly." She says, very seriously now. "This specific metric also measures how corrupting an anomaly is." She leans forward to emphasize her point.

"Low Corruption means the World had minor changes done to it by the Corruption and that the Anomaly has little corruptive power. That usually means it's mostly static in its movements, can corrupt only specific things or people, and is mostly easy to deal with; get the Anomaly into your Sphere of Influence - in your case, touch - and it will be whisked away by us, to be dealt with by professionals." She makes a face, "Or if the Anomaly is a person or in a person, you subdue them and then follow those steps."

I raise my hand, waiting for her to stop so I can ask a question. She smiles at the gesture and nods my way. "What happens to the items or people that had or were the Anomaly when I do that?"

She nods, "Usually, the Agent's Influence works as a "channel" that allows us to suck up the Anomaly/Corruption like a vacuum! So nothing seems to happen, but it's all already gone." She puts a finger to her chin, pondering something. "Sometimes the Corruption runs so~ deep that we really pick it up - item or person - and clean it on our HQ, sending it back barely a few picoseconds later."

Ok, so I touch = it's gone.

"We try not to take things away from Worlds, but you Agents have free reign about that." She looks confused about that and shrugs. "I never understood that rule; it's just how it works."

I raise my hand again and she nods at me, "When I got near the Allspark, I felt compelled to touch it and even initiated a dangerous procedure without my... well, it had my input but wasn't me. It was controlling me, but I should have Protections for that!"

She frowns, looking sad, "Miss Lisa must have said that those Protections are not absolute; this is one of the main things she was referring to." She looks at me seriously, "Corruption is very hard to resist, in general. You shouldn't feel weak or cheated on because your Protections failed; those grow with your Soul and you've just started developing it!"

"I... see". Good to know I was right about the soul theory, at least. That means I'll have to make it a focus of my training. There was also this thing... "I also had this feeling of wrongness coming from it, what was that?"

She perks up at the discussion change, "That's a special sense that Agents have! It feels like that when you approach an Anomaly or Corruption."

"You keep saying Anomaly and Corruption; what distinguishes them?" I ask curiously.

"It's really simple! Anomaly is what you have to strive to get to and Corruption is usually what lies in its wake!" We stare at each other for a while, until she decides to explain more. "Ok, Anomaly is what comes first. It's like a seed of something... more that spreads its corrupting energy - Corruption. Anomalies evolve with time and opportunity, seeking to expand their reach and strength. They mainly do so through conflict and strife, as that is one of the quickest ways of interacting with a significant amount of people and resources."

Ok, I'm following...

"Corruption, as I just said, is the energy produced by Anomalies, the result of their spread. The way Corruption spreads depends on what the Anomaly is, or resides in, as it mostly enhances what already exists. Most kinds of Corruption fade away with time, as it should since it's not from here. But some of them run so deep that an Agent needs to open the Channel," She gestures towards me, "And we deal with it!" And then she makes a pose, showing her biceps.

"Ok. Thanks for the info, that helps a lot." I nod to her, gratefully. "I still have one more question: where do these come from? Lisa said something about some Creatures From Beyond, but not much more." I even lean forward, expecting another explanation.

Amanda's expression turns stony. "That information is classified. But they are not from here." I reeled back. That change was so sudden I almost feel like I was slapped.

"Anyway! Medium Corruption means the World was more significantly changed by the Corruption, and the Anomaly can corrupt in more ways." She goes back to explaining the categories like nothing happened." And High means the Corruption changed the World pretty much completely, with it being the main driving force of almost everything that happens in said world." She finishes with a scowl.

I shake my head, coming back to myself. "Yeah, those seem miserable..." I frown. I guess those would be basically Apocalyptic worlds.

"Yes, they are not good." She stares into nothingness for a while, then snaps back to me with a smile.

"All that to say, the Anomaly in your world was about to Evolve. I don't know how much you know about the World of Transformers," Not much, to be honest. "But if the Allspark was shattered like in the movie, the anomaly would be considered one of Medium Gravity." Oh wow.

"If it would become "Mid" but the time it shattered, then it almost controlled me when it was still Low..." I grimace.

"Well, that was a compatibility problem, hehe!" I look at her, trying to figure out why.

She sees my confusion and decides to explain. "The Allspark is a tool, a container for a Higher Energy. Said Energy gives life to machines, transforming them into lifeforms, containing even their own DNA." She makes a funny face, "The name depends on the species, but Bumblebee, for example, would have CNA, Cyber Nano Algorithms."

I remember seeing all the tech in the facility coming to life in my eyes, all the machines and technological objects being so lit up... I widen my eyes. "So the thing especially corrupted technology?"

She nods her head.

"And I had it all inside me, bonded with and even over me... Damn." I now remember why I chose the Scarab Armor and the EVO Nanites. I thought that using them would give me an easier time dealing with the machines of both Pacific Rim - which it did, to be fair - and Transformers.

To think I laid a trap for myself...

"That was an unfortunate coincidence. But a fortunate coincidence is your Biokenesis!" She exclaims. I guess she is right; it is what made me able to counter this... thing's influence for long enough for it to stabilize.

"So that thing... corrupted me? And that's it? This thing inside me is corrupted now?"

She waves her hand, "No no no! It's clean now, don't worry!"

I sigh in relief. "Ok... what do we do now then?"

She starts twirling her hair with her finger again and I roll my eyes, "What?"

"Well, even with you being a special case with your first package, since it was our mistake that you had to risk your life much more than anticipated - and in a circumstance that breaks one of our only rules - we decided to give you access to a package that usually is only available to Advanced Members!" This time confetti and fireworks appear all around the place, with chimes and congratulatory sounds playing.

"Thank you...?" I mean, sure, why not.

"AND that package is a bonus! Which means you get both it and the next assignment's package!"

Ok, this! Is something. A whole bonus package, that's some good hazard pay.

"Oh, I had this one question about something Lisa said last time. She said something about specific packages and stuff; can I change what I get? Can I ask for specific packages or Worlds to be sent to?"

"No, you can't choose the world you go to. Only Elite Agents can choose that and even their selection is not that big. What you can choose is if you take the Package associated with the World or one of the random World-less packages." She says, much to my disappointment.

"Aw, I actually wanted to interact with the people of Chronicle. Telekinesis is so busted, it's insane..."

"Well, you can still possibly get there. With your level of Strength, you can visit all the Low worlds and the lowest reaches of Intermediate worlds, so you could still get an assignment there." She says consolingly.

I guess... "Well, let me see this bonus package then!" I speak with excitement.

She waves her hand in the air in front of herself and a light pink hologram/ hard-light construct-like thing appeared. It hovered over to me and started showing me the options for this package.

"For this one, you will "only" get up to the "A-rank" in points. Also, this one does not constitute your surprise. I'll show it to you later."

Surprise, huh? One thing at a time though, let's have a good look at this one.

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(Third Person PoV)

It had been so long since Stacker Pentecost went to a Parent's Meeting. He almost didn't know what they were for.

'Who is this grumpy-looking black man?' 'That's young Mako's father? Wow, I would never guess!' 'So she really is adopted, huh...'

"I told you, Dad. You didn't have to come..." Said an embarrassed Mako, much to Stacker's amusement.

He had been away for too long, been fighting for too long, and kept away from his duties as a father for too long. Now he had to make up for the lost time.

Even if it meant his daughter's embarrassment.

'Perhaps especially so.' Was his sly thought.

"It's great to see you here, Mr. Pentecost. We understand you were very... busy with moving, but we are glad you had the time to show up today!" Said the school representative.

"Of course. Now that I have more time, I'll attend such events personally." Said Stacker, a facsimile of a smile on his face. It also had been a while since he had to "smile" and "look normal". Years of commanding a force of soldiers - years being one as well - and especially fighting against those monsters... he did not have many reasons to smile. Besides, a mean mug worked wonders to keep rowdy troublemakers in line.

He looked to the side, seeing his young daughter squirm. His fake smile slowly turned into a genuine one. 'It's all behind me now.'

"That is great news! So, starting our meeting this time, we are here to discuss a concurrent problem in our school: bullying." The representative said. 'Lila is her name, I believe?' Stacker did not know the name of any parents here; he barely remembered the representative's name by her e-mail address.

"We, the staff of Seattle High, take this issue very seriously." She looks around at the parents, trying to convey her point. "There has been an increasingly higher number of reports concerning different types of bullying: from verbal abuse to physical harm. That is a very serious problem, seeing as the students are starting to normalize such behavior, seeing it as a form of joke. We are trying to devise different punishments for such actions, but addressing the core of the issue is preferred to punishing single individuals."

She looks around, looking for someone specific, but frowns when she doesn't find them. She smooths her expressions and continues, "We had some issues concerning xenophobia, as well as some measure of racism." She states and most parents grimace. "As you may well know, those are unacceptable behaviors, both in an educational environment and outside. I will not be revealing the names of the individuals here, but their parents have been called to private meetings."

"Lady, are you sure this is not just some kids' squabble? I'm sure they meant no harm by that! In my time, a wedgie was like a handshake and name-calling was all the buzz!" Said a father. He has a black mustache and a whitening beard. He wore jeans and a lumberjack shirt with a balding hairline to complete the ensemble. The nearby parents were seated away from him, as he smelled faintly of alcohol and an ochre odor.

"Mr. Detmer, I understand that your school years were... different, but the times have changed. I'm sure even in your time, the people who received your form of "handshake" were not happy about it." Said Lila, staring at Richard Detmer for a few seconds. She then turned to look at the other parents. "We must keep the school environment safe from such behavior, and to that end, we ask for your help."

"There will be a campaign later this month to raise awareness of this problem and we would like your support, as well as the participation of interested students." She finishes, walking around the room, giving flyers of some sort of event the school was planning in a few weeks.

Richard received his flyer, looked at it, openly scoffed, and trashed the papel then and there, tossing it to a nearby trash bin and missing it by a large margin.

Some parents chuckled at that, while others openly grimaced at the disrespect. Stacker was firmly in the second half, finding such disrespect for the school unacceptable. So much in fact he made his displeasure heard.

"Is this how you treat the school property? Not only disrespecting the staff but also littering the place?" Stacker said, loud and clear. He also made sure to glare at the disrespectful prick in question.

"Oh, I'm sorry I missed the trash can, sir." Richard put as much sarcasm in his voice as possible, gesticulating exaggeratedly.

"Mr. Detmer, Mr. Pentecost, please, it's ok. Not everyone has to participate, it is voluntary for a reason." Lila finishes her distribution of flyers, picks up the crumbled paper next to the trash can, and tosses it away. She seems oddly used to it. 'Then again, coordinating a public school can't be easy.'

"I encourage you to read the flyer if interested in our event. Onto other subjects: we will be having the election for class presidents and for the sophomore year we have..." The meeting proceeded as usual, onto lighter topics like complaints about school lunch, people asking about the football team, and when they are going to play their games. Normal stuff.

Pentecost stared at Richard for the whole meeting, to the point young Mako had to elbow him to stop.

After the meeting ended, Lila signaled Pentecost to wait for her outside the room and approached Richard Detmer when everyone left.

"Mr. Detmer, I would like to talk to you about a very serious issue," Lila said as she closed the door, moving back through the room and putting the chairs in their right place.

"Yeah?" Richard didn't even get up from his chair, just looking at her like she was wasting his time.

Lila noticed this but decided not to comment on it. "We noticed some bruises and other marks on Andrew this past week." She looked at him for a moment. Not seeing any reaction, she frowned. "Have you noticed it as well?"

"Ah, you know how it is with boys. He probably got up to some roughhousing with the boys near our home. Or maybe he ran into a pole! Andrew can get very distracted sometimes." He says, waving it all off.

"I know that. The situation with your wife must be pretty serious." Lila pokes and this gets a rise out of the man.

"Now listen here, you- You will not talk about her. That's final, you understand me? You understand??" Richard gets up from his chair and advances towards Lila, who only steps back a bit, enduring his onslaught.

"I... I will not talk about it. But your son might be one of the main targets of the bullying that's happening in this school. You, more than most in the meeting, should be concerned." They stare at each other for a while, Lila trying to appeal to Richard's compassion when in reality... he is the one beating his own son.

Richard huffs and goes to leave the room. Lila doesn't try to stop him.

"That goddamn freeloader... he should be thanking me for putting up with his stupid ass..." Richard grunts and murmurs as he leaves the room and the premises.

"sigh Mr. Pentecost?" Stacker got up from his chair, nodding to Mako. "You can wait here, Mako."

"Ok..." Mako still seems a bit shy when her dad is here, but slowly a smile can be seen forming on her face.

As they enter the room, Lila asks Stacker to sit down, but he refuses. "How can I stay sitting down when you are standing up and organizing the chairs? Please, let me help."

"Oh, such a gentleman. Please, do so then, Mr. Pentecost." She smiles politely, putting a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Just Stacker is fine, Mrs. Brahnmer." He also smiles politely and then starts organizing the chairs with her.

A few minutes pass by and they finally finish, with Lila sitting behind her desk and Stacker sitting across from her.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Stacker. I called you privately because the main target of xenophobia here in the school is, unfortunately, your daughter Mako." She has a serious look, one soon mirrored by Stacker. Seeing such a look on his face, Lila nods minutely, relieved that at least one father cared about their child.

"We made sure to suspend the students involved and even called their parents to talk. They seemed appalled by the occurrence, so I would like to believe such things may not come to pass again, however..."

Stacker interrupts her gently. "You wanted to make me aware since I came here." She nods.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll have a talk with Mako and make sure she is alright." Lila smiles.

"I couldn't ask for more. Thank you for your time, Mr. Stacker." She gets up and extends her hand, which Stacker shakes.

"If that is all?" He asks and she nods. They direct themselves to the door.

"Oh, a friend of mine gave me a suggestion, and... is the school perhaps interested in hiring a football coach?" Stacker asks, remembering Yancy's advice to stay active.

Lila evaluates him from top to bottom, frowning in thought. "We already have a coach..." Stacker already prepared his sigh, knowing he would have to ask someplace else. To his surprise, she continued her sentence. "... But he is not exactly reliable, so we'll see. Send your qualifications and we will give you an answer." She finishes with a smile.

"...Thank you. I will."

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(Third Person PoV)

"Come here, Andrew! We gotta get this on tape!"

"Yeah Andrew, come on! You got that sweet camera, let's put it to use!"

"Matt, please! What is that??"

"What are you guys screaming about?"

Steve Montgomery, Matt Garetty, and Andrew Detmer were surrounding a hole, next to an abandoned barn, currently hosting a rave.

A bush nearby shook and they all turned to see an Asian girl, holding one of her arms with the other and looking at them curiously.

"Oh, you're that junior... Mata? Maka... Mako! Yes, Mako, right?" Steve only had to think for a moment to get her name right, surprising her.

"You know me?" She asks, getting closer and looking at the hole in the ground the boys were all around.

"Yeah... I'm sorry those pricks pick on you. I'm sure most students won't be calling you anything like that anymore, ok?" Steve says, going to touch her shoulder but thinking better of it at the last second.

"Anyways! We found this hole here in the middle of nowhere! There were a bunch of people here checking it out, but I guess they got bored." Matt brings the subject back to the bizarre hole.

"Check this out, it's making that sound again!" Steve got closer to the hole. He was super duper excited. He was also super duper high.

He lay on the ground and put his ear next to the hole, with Matt doing the same and beckoning Andrew and Mako to do the same. "Come closer! Listen!"

Andrew was afraid of falling into the hole or getting his expensive camera to drop in, so he approached very slowly. Mako, on the other hand, approached curiously but quickly.

The hole expelled a low hum and a current of air, almost launching Steve up on his feet. "WOAH! See that!? Did you get that??" Steve looked at Andrew and Mako, who nodded hesitantly.

"Ok, we gotta get in there," Steve said, sharing a quick look with Matt and just jumping in the hole.

"STEVE!" Andrew called out in alarm.

"Come on, Andrew! Let's see what's in there. Come, come." Matt slowly made his way down.

"No, Matt. Matt! You're my drive home, you can't... ugh..."

Andrew looked at Mako, thanking God that someone was also sane enough not to enter the- Why was she entering the hole?

Mako turned to Andrew and shrugged. "I want to see what's in there." And vanished from view.

Andrew eventually relented, going down the hole himself.

After twists and turns, going down a cave system that went some 40 feet deeper, they all found a blue glowing crystal.

"Look at this..." Andrew filmed as Steve touched it. The hum intensified, the crystal glowed red, they started bleeding through the nose and everyone was launched up and out of the hole, with Andrew's camera falling off his hand and staying down the hole. Buried, broken and never to be found again.

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(Third Person PoV)

"Ok, Vanessa, you gotta listen to me!" Yancy was pacing back and forth, occasionally dodging shoes or socks thrown at him, trying to appease his girlfriend.

"WHO IS SHE, YANCY!?" Vanessa screeched as she kept throwing whatever she could get her hands on at him.

"I told you! I don't know any Joanna!"

"THEN WHY WAS SHE CALLING YOU, YOU PRICK!?"

"THAT'S NOT MY PHONE!"

Raleigh got into their room, with a towel around his waist and nothing else. It was so unexpected that both of them stood stock still. He walked up to the offending phone, unlocked it, murmured something about a crazy girl, and went to leave.

"Rayley?" Yancy calls out to him, making him turn and raise an eyebrow questioningly. "Little help here?"

"Oh, Joanna is this girl I met a while ago. She's kind of crazy and keeps calling me... I'm actually thinking about changing numbers." Said Raleigh, without much care for his brother's plight.

Yancy looked at Vanessa, hoping that this was enough to appease her. "See, babe? I'm not that kind of guy anymore."

"yeah, when you're sober..." Raleigh murmurs.

"Rayley why-" Just as Vanessa was deflating, she grew red in the face again. 'So close too...'

"WHAT DID YA DO YANCY??"

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"Did you have to say that? And at that time?" Yancy asked Raleigh, nursing an icepack over his forehead.

"I was just being honest, Yancy. If you want to get serious with her, you need to get a hold of yourself." Raleigh said, patting his brother on the shoulder making him wince.

"I guess you're right. It's just... when I drink and blackout... is it that even me? I don't remember anything I did when it happens! And you know I actually like her, man!"

"I know. You wouldn't be here talking to me about it if you didn't..." Raleigh said, looking at his phone and writing some text messages.

"Yeah yeah..." Yancy looks at Raleigh's phone with curiosity. "And who is it that you're texting there?"

"Oh, this? Right now I'm sending an e-mail to Gen- to Stacker." Raleigh smiles with amusement. "He is asking for advice on how to deal with his daughter's first would-be boyfriend or boy-friends."

Yancy widens his eyes. "Little Mako found a boyfriend?? Who's the lucky guy?" Raleigh looks at him funny and he scoffs. "Please, Rayley. I'm just saying it because she is very sweet. Now, who's the guy?"

Raleigh looks at his half-written e-mail and answers, "Stacker didn't say. From what he wrote, he doesn't know who it is himself. He only knows she is hanging out with some seniors from her school and he is getting worried." He goes back to writing the e-mail, Yancy giving pointers here and there.

"Oh, and I know you meant who I'm dating and I'm seeing this other girl but she is too young for me," Raleigh says, getting a sly smile out of Yancy.

"You sly dog! How old is she? Or rather, how young is she?"

Raleigh stares at him for a second, but he breaks down in a smile in the end. "22. She was having her birthday party at the place we met."

"Look at you, player! Got her a birthday present, did you?" Yancy slaps Raleigh on the back, making him wince but laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. But as I said: too young for me."

"You know what, Rayley? It's fine." Yancy smiles and pulls his brother on a half-hug. "It's good to see you relaxing a little."

"I guess... I still want to find someone, but I realized: why the rush? I can still enjoy parties, drinks, and other people on the way... like someone I know." Raleigh says as he looks at Yancy.

"Oh, you make me so proud, little brother!" Yancy swoons, pulling Raleigh this way and that.

"Stop it, dumbass!"

"Oh no, you stop it. Wait wait, not the forehead-youch!"

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(Third Person's PoV)

"My son over here wants to buy his first car." Ron Witwicky patted his son, Sam Witwicky, on the shoulder. A sleazy-looking individual smiled, beckoning them closer to a few of his cars.

They bartered a bit, with Sam finding a pretty good yellow Camaro with racing stripes. The price, however, wasn't good enough for Ron.

"You said the car picks the driver!" Sam really liked this car and he could bet his ass the girls would also love it.

Even though disappointed, Sam could only get out of the car and try not to look too bored as the man tried to sell him a beetle. He closed the door and the car opened the door on the other side on its own.

Just as the man called for his assistant to clean up the mess created, the Camaro started acting weird. Its radio started on its own, making an awful sound that made the windows of all the cars around shatter.

The man turned to Ron and Sam and said, "4 thousand."

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