Not As Alone As You Think

[Kurusu Akira]

Neku went to the clinic that the Stormtrooper had marked on the map for him, realizing that he'd never given the man his name. When he walked in the door, the staff picked him out immediately, and it wasn't hard to see why. Someone with orange hair and purple clothes might not stand out in Shibuya, but Coruscant seemed to operate on a much more subdued color scheme. The doctor's visit was uneventful; a nurse cleaned his cuts and bandaged them properly, and sent him on his way with a brief "That's really all that needs doing, they weren't that deep and you should heal without any complications now. You are a Prime, after all."

Neku didn't quite understand what Prime meant, except that he was one and a lot of residents weren't. He pulled out his phone out of habit, and he almost dropped it when it did something that hadn't happened in weeks.

It rang.

Not the short notification tone of an incoming text message, or the abrupt beep that missions caused. It was ringing. Tentatively, Neku answered the call. "Hello?"

[Kurusu Akira]

Sanae Hanekoma was having a fairly average day, all things considered. There wasn't much for him to do in Coruscant. The authorities knew he was a Prime, and a strong one, but he didn't give anyone trouble and nobody made it for him. No, the angel tended to his coffee shop, WildKat, and if a few fights in the nearby districts turned out different because of a few blue and red feathers finding their way into the right place at the right time, then nobody really paid much attention.

All in all, it was a boring utopia for Hanekoma. Still, it was better than being hunted down for interfering in the Game when it wasn't strictly allowed, teaching Sho the Taboo Refinery Sigil and giving Neku the Harmonizer Pin. So, when a very familiar head of orange hair walked by the front of his store, Hanekoma was pleasantly surprised. He pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number. Neku stopped, nervously picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Phones. Look to your left."

Sanae saw the kid's shocked expression when he noticed the familiar storefront. "Mister H?" Hanekoma waved at Neku, gesturing him inside. "Come on in. I'm guessing you're new to the Omniverse? I'll give you the rundown over a cuppa Joe and something to eat." The angel walked over to the coffee maker, putting on Neku's usual order from his time in the Game. "It's a bit of a long story."

[Medusa]

Medusa had stepped to the gate to find a surprising sight. There was dazzling skyscrapers that towered in the sky underneath a beautiful sun.....one that wasn't laughing. Cars and various other machinery were driving in mid air. Medusa had to acknowledge that this city was indeed a beautiful one. Back in her world they had vehicles that hovered as well, however she didn't see this many skyscrapers in one place back in her world. It made her think how much work went into making this city.

Medusa donned her black hood, and started walking again down the sidewalk. People sent her curious glances indicating to Medusa that they were used to having people dressed in strange attire show up here. People could only see Medusa's braid since her head was tilted downward.

"I wonder what should I do now? It would be good to establish a source of information regarding this world as well as make 'friends'." Medusa thought to herself as she continued to walk down the sidewalk. When Medusa had meant friends she was regarding people that she could simply use. Medusa knew that she had to regain some of her spells. When she had been walking down that blank landscape she had been experimenting with her spells. She had found out that she could only do a few of the spells that she had! Medusa needed allies right now considering her weaken self.

"Where should I even begin then? I don't know my way around this place nor do I know anybody around here. Should I seduce somebody? That might work, I'll consider that option. What other choices do I have?" Medusa thought to herself, however there was something that caught her eyes. A boy with orange hair and a purple outfit. He had stood out among the crowd, well at least that much was obvious to Medusa. She watched as the boy entered the shop and a smirk came onto Medusa's lips. This could be her chance!

After waiting a minute or two Medusa walked into the apparent coffee shop. The shop was fair sized with white round tables spread throughout the room. The chairs had plastic orange chairs going with them. A bookshelf that was stacked with books could be seen in the corner of the room. There was five other people in the pair, two couples sitting separately away from the door. The other person was the orange haired boy that was sitting at the counter on a stool.

Medusa took this chance to spy a little on the boy. She took a seat at the corner as well, sitting on a stool two away to the right of him. Medusa tilted her head down towards the counter, seemingly disinterested in their conversation.

[Kurusu Akira]

"It's a bit of a long story."

Neku hung up and shook his head to dislodge the shock, then walked into the coffee shop with a smile on his fake. Mr. Hanekoma, also known as CAT, was quite possibly the person he liked most from his time in the game. Well, second-most. Shiki had been his entry fee to the second week's Game, which spoke volumes to how he felt about the insecure teen with her stuffed piggy. Even before finding out that the coffee shop owner was his favorite artist, Neku enjoyed talking with Mr. H. It was usually enlightening and actually pretty easy to do.

The orange-haired boy sat down at the counter and was surprised when Hanekoma had his order waiting for him. Usually, the man had him pay up-front. Neku took a sip of the coffee. A nice, dark roast with one sugar. Neku didn't really know much about coffee, but Hanekoma had been the one to offer this particular order to Neku the first time he'd ordered at WildKat, and the man had pegged him exactly. As Neku put down his cup and started speaking, a blonde woman entered the shop, taking a seat just a couple stools away, but she went unnoticed by the kid. "So, Mr. H, what can you tell me about this Game?" The capital letter was audible; both parties knew exactly what Game Neku was talking about.

Hanekoma held up a finger and walked over to the blonde, smiling at her. "Can I get you anything?" After taking her order and starting the coffee, he walked back towards Neku, keeping an eye on the coffee machine. "Well, for starters, Phones, it's not a game, or a Game. You had that vision, same as I did and every other Prime here did, too." The angel looked pensive as he attended to the blonde's coffee and served it to her with a polite smile. "It's the Omniverse. On second thought, it might just be some kind of game, but if it is, nobody knows the rules. Not even me, and knowing the rules of the Game is practically my second job." Hanekoma reached into the display case and grabbed a banana nut muffin for Neku and anything Medusa might have ordered, handing out the pastries. "The long and short of it is, everyone's trying to get that Omnilium stuff because it translates directly to power. Good news is, you ought to be able to fight without a Partner here. There's still planes of existence, but it seems like the UG is completely collapsed into the RG. Of course, that comes with bad news, too. If you can use psychs still..."

Neku could fill in the blanks fairly easily. "I might still be dead." Hanekoma nodded. "But keep in mind, this might not be the case either. I don't actually know. Maybe the collapsed planes just let a living person use psychs." Sanae turned to the blond woman with an apologetic grin. "I'm sorry, miss, we must sound like we're talking complete gibberish. Phones here is just someone I knew back before Omni decided I was 'interesting'." The teen sighed at that; calling him Phones was OK, but introducing him? "Mr. H, it's Neku, not Phones." Of course, the coffee shop owner's customary response followed immediately. "Right, Neku. I got it, Phones."

[Medusa]

Medusa saw somebody step in front of her direct line of vision. She angled her head up to see a man that appeared to be the bartender come and ask her what she wanted. Medusa took a moment to examine him, her vertical pupils growing ever so slightly. The man had short brown hair the front part of his hair styled to raise upward. He had a lean physique with no indication of muscles hinting underneath his caucasian skin. He wore a short-sleeve white collared shirt with a gray vest over that. He had black pants and chose to wear sandals to complete his attire.

"Just a coffee." Medusa replied to the man's question, her vertical pupils going back to normal slightly decreasing in size. Medusa herself being a prime was able to follow the gist of the conversation that were having. To Medusa it seemed as if the orange haired kid was somebody new to the Omniverse just like Medusa. However Omnilium meant gaining power as well? She supposed anything you desire can mean power. Does that mean that Medusa wasn't limited to just certain magics she learned? Could she learn a different type of magic in a matter of seconds with Omnilium?

Medusa turned to see the bartender giving the hooded woman a apologetic grin. Indeed most of the conversation had been confusing for her minus the Omniverse parts that she could follow. It seemed as if the man called Mr. H had came from the same world as the young boy called Neku.

Medusa shook her head and pulled her hood back to reveal her own beautiful, feminine face. Her hair was in it's usual spiked fashion. Another notable feature that she had was odd shaped pupils that were vertical. Medusa spun around in the stool turning to face both Neku and Mr. H. "I could follow a gist of the conversation since I myself am a prime. I do have quite a few questions for you Mr. H regarding this place called the Omniverse. I hope you don't mind if I question you further on the subject." Medusa said giving a slight bow to the bartender. Medusa was only putting up a facade that made her seem like a polite and nice young woman. Medusa was a master at deceiving people to get what she wanted.

After getting a nod of approval from the bartender Medusa started to throw question after question at the man. "How many primes are there in the Omniverse and can you give me some that are dangerous or villainous? I want to make sure that I stay as far away from them as I possibly can. Also tell me exactly how a prime can gain more of this Omnilium. Is there also a way for a prime to become stronger without getting Omnilium as well?" Medusa asked moving her right hand to the counter. She tapped her index finger against the counter, making a rhythm.

"Actually how long have you been in here Mr. H? I myself had just arrived." Medusa said before a sudden thought struck her. "I haven't introduced myself have I? I'm Medusa Gorgon. Pleasure to met you Mr. H and Neku. Or would you rather be called Phones?" Medusa added and gave a slight bow. Medusa saw no need to hide her identity in this place after all she didn't have any reputation in this place. So she keep up the facade that she had put on. After all the boy and the bartender could turn out to be useful allies or servants, especially the bartender he seemed to be rather well-informed about the Omniverse.

[Kurusu Akira]

Mr. Hanekoma shrugged in response to Medusa's question. "The number changes. Sometimes people vanish, but nobody knows where they go. New people show up all the time. There's a bunch of people you don't want to mess with, too many to list, and that group changes quite a bit, too. The standing rules in Coruscant; don't attack Palpatine, don't mess up the library, and don't get on Dredd's bad side. If you go to the dunes, don't antagonize Roland. If you see a turtle smoking a cigar, run. That's the basic survival guide, anyway. Nobody really knows exactly where Omnilium comes from. You can extract it from objects if you take time, but sometimes you just end up with more of it inside you. As for getting stronger, you probably could get a little better, but Omnilium's going to level the playing field with everyone else real fast. Not using it is practically suicide if you plan on getting into trouble, and trouble likes to find Primes here." The end of this little lecture was punctuated by the delivery of a cup of coffee, black, and a bowl of sugars for Medusa to add if she wished.

For Neku's part, he drank his coffee in silence until the woman introduced herself and called him Phones. He choked a bit on his drink and set the paper cup down gently. "Just Neku is fine, really." Mr. Hanekoma chimed in at the worst moment for the boy, as usual. "Aww, is Phones flustered by a pretty face?" He gave Medusa a smile and chuckled a bit. "My name's Sanae Hanekoma, but Mr. H. is fine."

[Medusa]

Medusa returned the smile as Mr. H introduced himself. She turned her attention to her cup of coffee. She poured the sugar into her coffee and reached for the group of small straws that were laying near her. She got a straw and opened the packet that contained it. She then started to stir the sugar in the coffee.

"What do I want to do? It doesn't seem like they hold any aggression towards me. Then again Stein did seem suspicious of me long before there was hints that I was a witch. I mustn't let my guard down, after all they are these beings called 'Primes' as well. They could have powers that much even outmatch my own. That is why I should get stronger. But first thing first. I should get acquainted with this location. It never hurts knowing what kind of places are around you and it's not like I have anything better to do." Medusa thought to herself taking a sip of her now stirred coffee.

"Say, do you perhaps have a map that you could loan me? I've new around here and I don't really have a good grasp on this location's terrain and I was wanting to take a stroll." Medusa asked Mr. H, watching the man as he lightly scratched his hair.

"Sorry Miss. Gorgon, I don't have a map that you can use. But I'm sure our friend, Phones, here will be glad to assist you." He said, casting a glance to Phones and turning his attention back to Medusa. "Sounds great! I'll be happy if Phones could come with me to take a look around the town, that is, if he doesn't mind." Medusa said, turning to look at Neku. Medusa had a faint smile gracing her features, trying to look appealing to sway the boy's decision in her favor if he was hesitant.

"Sure." Neku said with a affirmed nod. Medusa clapped her hands together as a sign of joy and turned her attention back to her coffee. "Give me a minute to finish my coffee please." Medusa said and took a sip of her hot coffee, savoring the taste.

"At least I have somebody to show me the way. I might as well try to pick up on some interesting rumors so I know where to head next. Who knows maybe Erika, Free, or Crona is here. Another thing I would have to see is if this world is interesting. I hated the old world. It was a place that was boring, maybe I don't have to do something so drastic to this world? Well I'll see within due time." Medusa wonders, giving her thoughts a nod of approval and moving to take another drink of her coffee.

After a few more minutes of having some small talk with the two Medusa finished her coffee and stood up, pushing the stool back. "Thank you for the Coffee Mr. H. Are you ready Neku?" Medusa asked looking towards the boy who gave her a nod in return. "Great, let's get going after we pay." Medusa said and turned to pay the bartender. After paying Medusa and Neku left, Mr. H waving as they left the Cafe.

After stepping outside Medusa looked around as if she was trying to spot somebody. "Let's go this way." Medusa said and started to walk left with Neku following behind her. Medusa's tail snake gently swayed to the rhythm of Medusa's walking. Another odd thing about the woman was why was she walking barefoot when everyone else wore shoes? Medusa herself just liked to walk without any shoes, well whenever she wasn't in disguise.

"Do you know of any good places to hear rumors? I'm quite interested in some of the weird rumors going on around here. Actually, do you know of any good ones? Ha, look at me trying to get nosy. Sorry but I am a curious lady." Medusa stated, looking back at Neku with a slight smile still gracing her features.

[Kurusu Akira]

Neku shrugged at Medusa, pulling his map from his pocket and unfurling it. "I really don't know, Medusa. I just got here too." He showed the barefoot woman the map, pointing out a couple plazas that looked to be place similarly to the Scramble and Hachiko back in Shibuya. "I've had... a little bit of practice in finding interesting people. Just from where the roads are and how many meet up here and here, I think we'd better go there first." After orienting himself, Neku folded the map and checked his phone, tapping his foot impatiently. With something this weird, he was just waiting for a mission. Weirdness had been associated with the ticking of a timer on the back of his hand for three weeks. The absence of the sound made him nervous. The orange-haired boy started walking in front of Medusa, leading the way to the first plaza. Relearning Shibuya during that first week had done wonders for his navigation skills.

[Medusa]

Medusa silently clicked her tongue as it seemed like the boy didn't know the way to somewhere where they could hear rumors. "I can't believe this kid is so useless. He's even more useless than that child of mine. Why must I always be around incompetent fools." Medusa thought to herself, her right foot gently tapping against the ground. She narrowed her yellow eyes at the boy.

"Oh? So the boy is actually useful after all?" Medusa thought to herself as the boy started to walk ahead of her. Perhaps the boy did his uses after all, everybody had their own uses. Medusa followed behind Neku observing her surrounds trying to remember the area as best she could. "Things would be so much easier if I had some more of my magic. Can't believe that Omni being left me with so few spells." Medusa mused the idea of why she had been thrown into this world. Why did Omni find her 'interesting'? She desired for the world to stop being so plain and boring. She found the answer on how to not make the world so boring. That was to unleash chaos. Why Chaos? What would people do during a time of crisis? Would they maintain their cool and overcome the ordeal or would they lose hope and end up failing?

Medusa continued to toss around the thought of why Omni chose her until Neku's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Um, Medusa are you okay?" Neku asked, slightly tilting his head to the right. Medusa still maintaing her facade let out a soft giggle. "Yes, I am fine. I was just in deep thought about certain things." Medusa replied, it was an answer that Neku didn't question at least.

"We're here, this is the Saint's Plaza. There are a some stores around here and this place is pretty huge. You are bound to here some rumors or run into some interesting people." Neku stated looking around the Plaza. The plaza was a well kept place. The grass at the entrance of it was neatly trimmed and there seemed to be no signs of trash. Little did Medusa know that it was illegal to litter in the Plaza. Still going with the observation of the place ahead of Medusa and Neku several yards away there was a grand fountain. The exterior of the fountain was made out of marble and beautiful sparkling water could be seen raising from the fountain. There were various benches seated out beside the fountain with what Medusa presumed to be couples sitting on those benches. There was a walkway that led to the fountain and various neatly cut trees decorated the sides of the walkway.

Medusa turned to Neku to only see him still observing the beautifully made Plaza. "Neku, I'll meet you back here in a few hours. I'll go look around and if I see some clothing stores I'll do some shopping. Bye." Medusa said and walk off, giving a casual wave goodbye to Neku. "Okay Medusa. See you later!" Neku replied, giving Medusa a short wave as well.

Medusa walked down the walkway her bare feet pressing against the ground. Medusa was accustomed to walking barefoot, rough terrain posed no problem for Medusa. "I actually wonder if I should look for some clothes? Maybe I could just pass off saying that I couldn't find anything that I liked in a clothing store if I find one. Well I plan to visit some area to get some information, might as well check in a clothing store as well." Medusa thought, giving a nod of approval to her plan.

Medusa walked past the various couples sitting on the benches they glanced up at Medusa. Of course, who wouldn't take a glance at the oddly dressed women? Instead of wearing casual clothing she wore a odd attire, not to mention she had a weird...tail following behind her. They just simply wrote the woman off as a prime, anyone that seemed odd was most likely a prime these days.

Medusa walked past the fountain and followed the walkway. Medusa assumed that the walkway led to various shops and locations. Several minutes past of Medusa walking down the walkway but soon enough she found several shops. Most of the shops rivaled that of the houses in Death City. They may be even bigger than the houses Medusa saw there. Fancy, decorative lights covered the buildings drawing attention from various people. "Quite the spectacle," Medusa commented. The sun was just now setting so the workers had decided to turn the lights on a few minutes before Medusa had arrived. The lights seemed to draw more people and more people meant more customers, which meant more money for the workers.

Medusa pushed open the door hearing a sound echo throughout the clothe filled store. "Hello! Welcome to 'Fashion Girlz'!" A voice shouted out to Medusa. Medusa's yellow eyes narrowed at the woman who was running towards her. The woman wore a short, white pencil skirt that stopped a little above her knees. She had fair skin with glossy black hair pulled back into a pony tail. "Um," the woman's eyes scanned Medusa's odd attire. Medusa was still wearing her suspicious clothing and she had 'Tail Snake' still activated, the tail gently flickering. The woman like the master salesperson she is quickly recovered herself, putting a bright smile on her face.

"Let me guess, you are a prime, correct?" The woman asked lightly tilting her head to the right side. To this Medusa gave a 'yes' confirming the woman's hunch. "So glad I guessed it! Your odd clothing makes you look weird. Most weird looking people are usually primes. Well, that's what most people usually assume." The clerk said and motioned for Medusa to follow her. Soon enough Medusa and the clerk were casually walking down the aisle. "Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Sydney and I'm a clerk here at 'Fashion Girlz'." Sydney said, glancing back at Medusa.

"I'm Medusa Gorgon, as you can already tell I'm a prime. I had recently came here so I'm curious as to whether there are any interesting rumors. I'm quite a curious prime." Medusa stated, letting a small smile grace Medusa's features. Of course Medusa was just interested in hearing some rumors, she didn't have any interest in the clothing that Sydney was offering. "Now that you mention it, there was something odd going around about a girl. It isn't a rumor but I do think what happened was interesting." Sydney said putting down a skirt that she was going to show Medusa. "Let me think for a minute. This was recent to." Sydney said crossing her arms over her ample chest, tapping her foot on the ground while she thought. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate recalling what her friend had told her over the phone.

"I wonder what it was. Perhaps they might even have a bounty for the girl? Then again she might not have done something bad. Would hunting bounties down be beneficial? It would be a serious problem if this Omni being got 'disinterested' in me and I couldn't be revived again. So I still have to be wary of things. That was how I got killed be Stein, I was too conceited. I let my guard down for a second because the Kishin revived. I thought that I had won because I had simply secured the Kishin's revival, that was when Stein turned the tables in a instance." Medusa thought to herself, having a distant look in her eyes. However, the sound of clapping brought her back to reality.

"Ah! I remember. It was about some fight that interrupted out in the middle of the street. Some girl on a moped ran into another girl. So then this demon came out of the girl's back who was hit and there was a robot, a guy who was floating, and some other man who was alongside this demon girl. Anyway, the robot who was with the group suddenly freaked out. So the girl who was on the moped sorta back up and the robot started attacking the demon girl! The man who was with them helped out the girl by fighting he robot. Apparently the girl wields a huge sword but from what I heard she's really scrawny. Anyway, some Stormtroopers came and interrupted the fight before anyone could get serious injuries." Sydney said returning her attention to the skirt she was still holding.

"Oh? A girl with a demon coming out of her back? This.....this sounds oddly like Crona. I doubt that Crona would be in the Omniverse though. Maybe, Omni said he just took an interest in Medusa, he might be interested in several other people." Medusa thought to herself, she turned her attention back to Sydney who was scanning throughout the aisle trying to pick out outfits for Medusa. "Actually Sydney tell me more about Primes here. How many come everyday and about how many are there in this world?" Sydney hearing another question closed her eyes and thought to herself. There was no way that Sydney, the amazing salesclerk, would turn down a question asked from a kind customer.

"Well, there is no actual limit to how many come and how many are in this world. It's weird but Primes appear everyday and some disappear everyday. Some of the Primes who went missing come back as well! This is a really weird place, and not even everything is understood. So I can't really answer your questions, sorry." Sydney said giving a slight bow to Medusa. Inwardly Medusa clicked her tongue. Was everyone just suddenly useless today? Then again, the woman did give Medusa some great information about one rumor. The woman wasn't exactly useless but Medusa just wished she could have been of more use.

"I see. Well thank you for giving me that interesting rumor. Do you know anybody who might have some more information on this rumor? I would actually like to hear the descriptions of the people from the group." Medusa asked the clerk yet another question. The clerk showed no signs of annoyance towards Medusa's many questions in fact she even looked happy to answer them! "I actually think Lizzy from 'Style is our name' was there whenever the fight was breaking out. Just ask for Elizabeth since that's her real name and somebody should be able to find her for you. The store is across the street um, four stores over? I believe that's right. Well if you find the wrong store then just ask somebody to show you where 'Style is our name' is at. You will be fine." Sydney said giving a small smile towards Medusa.

"Thank you very much. Well then I'll be-" Medusa's sentence was interrupted whenever Sydney grabbed Medusa by the wrist. "Um, sorry but can you stay for a little bit? I know I can find you a good outfit so just give me a little bit of time. That weird outfit does't suit you!" Sydney said, determination blazing in her eyes. To this Medusa only let out a sigh, she suppose she could do this to pay the woman back. Then again Medusa wasn't sure she could manage to get away from the woman upon seeing how determined she was to find a outfit for her. "Okay, I'll give you some time." Medusa said weakly, giving the woman a wry smile. To this the woman started to speed walk down the aisle glancing through a variety of skirts of shirts assessing them. Sydney stopped midway and turned back to Medusa giving her a small wave. "Sorry, you can take a seat this might take a while. I want to pick out a great outfit for you! The seats are in front, also can you do something about your tail? I mean...if you can't then don't worry about it!" Sydney said and turned her full attention back to finding Medusa an outfit.

Medusa casually walked back near the front doors where the seats were placed. As Medusa walked back she toyed with her 'Tail Snake'. She tried to figure out how to remove it, was it even possible to turn it off? Medusa stopped where she was standing and concentrated. She wanted the 'Tail Snake' to go away, she wanted it to disappear. She imagined herself without the 'Tail Snake' and tried to concentrate again. Soon enough Medusa felt what had been a third limb somehow vanish. It was as if it had been cut off and she had no more connection to it. Medusa quickly found a body sized mirror and looked into it. She twisted her body around to only see no signs of 'Tail Snake'. "Oh, interesting. I'll toy with this another time though. It's not the best idea to be dematerializing and materializing a tail now is it?" Medusa said to herself letting out a slight chuckle.

Soon enough Medusa was seated in a chair taping her finger against her thigh. "I thought it wouldn't be this long. What the hell is making Sydney take so long? It doesn't take anybody this long to pick out a outfit." Medusa mumbled to herself. Medusa's arms were crossed over her chest with her right foot lightly tapping against the marble ground. Soon enough Sydney came back with a bright smile on her face. "Sorry it took so long, I manage to get you an outfit ready. The outfit is in the changing room come this way and I'll show you the changing room." Sydney said but she didn't wait for Medusa to even respond. She quickly turned back around and started to walk off, it seemed as if Sydney was eager to see Medusa in the outfit she picked for her.

Within a few minutes Medusa was staring at a large brown door. Sydney was waiting behind Medusa wanting to be the first person that saw Medusa in the outfit she choose. It was weird that Sydney was this excited just to see Medusa in a outfit, then again Medusa knew nothing about Sydney. Medusa entered the changing room and looked at the full body mirror in front of her. Once again a sigh escaping past her lips she started to get changed. A few minutes had past and Sydney was still waiting outside for Medusa. Her eyes, that were filled with anticipation, were glued onto that changing room door. Soon enough the door opened and Medusa stepped out.

Medusa stood there with a white blouse for her shirt. The blouse was short sleeved with frills decorating the edge of Medusa's sleeves. There were frills at the bottom end of Medusa's blouse. The blouse hung to Medusa's subtle curves showing off her figure. For pants Medusa wore a simple pair of blue jeans that stopped at her ankle. Instead of going around barefoot Sydney took the liberty of getting Medusa some shoes, she had to guess Medusa's shoe size but looking at how they looked on Medusa Sydney had made the right guess. Medusa wore brown flip-flops on her feet. Even though the outfit was overhyped it was certainly better and more casual looking than Medusa's previous attire.

"So what do you think?" Sydney asked, a bright smile still lingering on her face. Medusa herself thought that the outfit was good. There was one major problem that Medusa disliked about the outfit, it was that it wasn't made to be fought in. Of course this was a problem to be expected however that was the only thing that Medusa disliked about the outfit. "It's great." Medusa replied with something short and sweet. Sydney clapped her hands together in joy. "Great! Let's get you ringed up then you can go!" Sydney said and quickly started to walk towards the checkout center. Medusa followed behind her with her other outfit in hand.

Soon enough Medusa was out the door and on her way to 'Style is our name'. Medusa's flip-flops flopped with each step she took. "Let's see across the street and over? Yeah she said over but how many buildings over? I guess I'll see if I can locate a sign for it. I wonder what I'll do if this 'girl' is who I think they are." Medusa thought as she continued to walk across the street. Medusa wondered how long it was since she came to this world. Had she been forgotten? Had the Kishin successfully caused chaos?

"I wonder what the people will do now that the Kishin is revived. Would they drown in their fear or successfully fight it off? Either way it would certainly be interesting to see. I'm stuck in this world though, maybe even years have passed? Who knows centuries could have past even. Maybe even a few seconds! It would be interesting to see the events of the future. Right now I'll try to figure out more to this world. I'll use that boy until he leaves or until he served his purpose. If I do something to....unspeakable to him then I'll simply kill him. Then again he can revive but I doubt he would come after his killer if they're significantly stronger than them. Ah, look at me. It seems like I'm underestimating human emotions again, either way I have to play this safer." Medusa mused to herself.

Medusa then realized that she was in front of a store. The store sign read 'Oldies'. Medusa opened the door stepping into the store. The store just like the previous store was filled with clothing, but unlike the other store this was filled with clothes that looked....out to date. There was a pair of pants that had huge pants leg that looked like Medusa could fit her entire head inside the pants leg and almost even fit her shoulders in there as well! Medusa disliked the variety of clothing she saw in the store. It just gave her a bad taste in her mouth and she could never she herself wearing any of these clothes.

"Hello?" Medusa asked to seemingly nobody. Medusa hoped that at least somebody would tell her where the store is again. Footsteps echoed throughout the seemingly desolate store. Soon enough a middle-aged woman came into Medusa's view. The woman was wearing a white sundress with a apron over that. She had brown hair put into a hair-bow and tossed over her right shoulder. "Hello, what can I do for you?" The aged woman said a smile coming onto her face. "Yes, I'm looking for a store called 'Style is our name'. Do you know where it is?" Medusa asked, this caused the woman to slightly frown. The store owner had been looking forward to getting a customer only to see somebody wanting directions to another store.

"I actually do. If you go over two buildings you will see a blue building. Then when you go inside there are two sections, the section to the right is 'Style is our name'." The woman said and gave a short bow to Medusa. Medusa seeing no need to stay here any further turned around and opened the door, leaving the store. Medusa walked two buildings over and she saw the blue building. Without a single second's waste Medusa opened the door. She was greeted by a sign that said 'Style is our name' right, 'Feisty Fashion' left. Medusa turned to the left to see a teenager carrying a pile of dresses away. The teenager had neck length hot pink hair. She wore a short-sleeve green, collared shirt with a red apron over that and a simple pair of blue jeans.

Medusa watched as the teen carried the pile of dresses away walking into another room. Medusa entered the store and looked around it. 'Style is our name' was a decent size since the building was occupied by another store on the other side. "Ah!" Medusa turned her head to see a man walking towards her. The man had short brown hair that went to his neck with chestnut colored eyes. He looked to be over six feet tall and had a slim physique. "Sorry for making you wait, did you want anything? Were you interested in browsing some of our outfits?" He asked with a smile like any good salesclerk would do.

"No, I actually just bought this outfit recently. I was wondering if there was anybody named Lizzy," Medusa said.

"Actually Lizzy was just here, I wonder where she went. Lizzy!" He shouted the latter out letting his voice echo throughout the store. "Coming!" A voice replied back. Soon enough the same pink haired girl that Medusa had seen a while ago was walking towards the man. "What is it Lark?" Lizzy asked, lightly tilting her head to the right.

"This woman was asking for you. You know you shouldn't make customers wait." Lark said, a slight frown visible on the man's face. "Ah! Sorry! I promise it won't happen again." Lizzy said giving Lark a slight bow. "What do you need?" Lizzy asked turning her head towards Medusa. "Actually I was interested in a certain thing that had happened. It's going around that a demon girl, a robot, a man, a moped riding girl, and a flying kid was in a fight recently. I asked somebody about this and they told me that you were there when it happened. I was hoping that you could give me more details on their appearance and such." Medusa said with a slight smile starting to grace her features. Medusa knew that it was always good to smile it usually swayed people in her favor. Smiling at somebody wasn't actually doing any harm to Medusa so she didn't see no problem smiling.

"Oh yeah, that did happen. Let me see. So this girl riding a moped out of nowhere trips! The girl is sent flying and lands on top of the demon girl. Then the demon comes out of the demon girl, oddly enough it comes out her back. So the demon gets mad at the girl who slammed into them and then the robot starts to freak out. Out of nowhere the robot launches a beam! Luckily enough the man who was standing next to the demon girl, the demon girl, and the girl who ran into demon girl got out of the way. So then the man and demon girl start to fight the robot. That was whenever I started to run away," Lizzy said.

Medusa inwardly sighed, she didn't want a description of what she saw she wanted to know what the demon girl looked like. She may be reunited with her dear child. Ah, how many experiments she could do on Crona if she finds him. Then again, there were other people who Medusa could experiment on. Though she would be interested to see the capabilities of the Black Blood now that it was in the Omniverse. What was it restricted to, what could it achieve? Could it surpass even Medusa's expectations? Just thinking about what kind of experiments she could do made her heart flutter.

"I'm more interested in hearing their descriptions. I may not look it but I'm a Prime as well. I want to be on the look out for them and even stop them if I see them doing anything to harm innocent people." Medusa said making Lizzy bop herself on the head. "Sorry! I thought you wanted to hear the story. Well then again, you probably heard it if you came to find me," Lizzy said.

"Let's see. The demon girl had on a weird black dress. She was really, really skinny and she had like a really big sword. Um, she had pink hair and the demon was big, black and came from the girl's back. The demon had sphere for eyes with x's on them. That's really it." Lizzy said giving a few nods of her head. This made Medusa inwardly smile. There was no doubt in her mind that Crona was now in the Omniverse. However Medusa wondered if the Kishin revival was successful? Did the time within the world Medusa came form really differ from this world's time? How much time had passed?

"I see. Thank you very much that was all I needed." Medusa said with a bright smile, little do the salesclerk now that they had just done something horrible to the poor demon child. With this Medusa didn't wait for them to reply, she just left the store. Soon enough she was back at the entrance to the Plaza waiting for Neku. Medusa was in a great mood though. She had just discovered that one of her experiments was in the Omniverse. Various thoughts filled Medusa's head. How had Crona developed his powers or what were their powers restricted at? Could Crona manage to evolve their Black Blood into something else with the power of Omnilium? Medusa wondered what could Crona accomplish in the Omniverse with his Black Blood. Medusa looked into the distance until to see Neku's figure starting to enter her sight.

[Kurusu Akira]

If Neku was entirely honest, he didn't know what to do. Though, he doubted making money here would be as simple as it had been in the UG; even if he had a partner to hunt Noise with, it seemed like the city didn't run on yen like Shibuya. Once again Omni had to make his presence known; Omnilium served as currency on top of whatever other functions it performed. Neku was friendly towards Medusa, but he was also a little relieved to be alone again as she vanished into the crowd. She was... a little odd. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something about her was just off. Maybe it was the fact that she was another Prime, but it wasn't something he was going to let drop until he figured out what it was.

Neku took a seat on the bench, examining his pins. Black Jupiter and Black Uranus and Tin Pin Blade all sat there on his armband. Neku had been wearing more pins before he came to the Omniverse, but these were part of the set he'd had on. He could try for the Eden set, but he didn't have a partner to use that psych with anyway, no matter how devastating the effect was. No, the teen would settle on another of the Darklit Planets. He pictured the Black Mars pin in his mind, one of his favorite designs and definitely one of his most effective psychs. The tiny pin was surprisingly hard to recreate with summoning, but thirty minutes later he'd done it; the rough sphere of rainbow-colored Omnilium had refined itself into a pin, and he placed it on his armband along with the others.

Looking up, Neku spotted a couple of soldiers, dressed in white like the ones at the gate, eyeing him warily. "Is there something wrong, Officers?" This was odd; interacting with authority figures hadn't been a problem when he'd been dead. They couldn't see him, after all. One of them stepped forward, shaking his head. "Not a problem, just a precaution. We saw you summoning something, but we couldn't tell what it was." Neku held up his armband to show the man the pins he wore. "It's a pin. They're collectible, back where I'm from. This one's part of a set called Darklit Planets. I know the designer, and I like his work." The stormtrooper nodded. "A keepsake from back home, then? I can understand that. Well, carry on."

The aside hadn't taken long at all, and Neku decided to go off himself, looking for music. He set an alarm on his phone to remind him to meet Medusa, and spent the next couple hours browsing music stores. Much of the music was entirely different from Neku's tastes; some of it was American pop, but a lot of it was in styles he'd never heard before, and in formats completely foreign to him. As his phone reminded him to return to Saint's Plaza, Neku made a commitment to ask Mr. H what he could do about updating his music player to work with the non-MP3 file extensions. From what he'd heard, the audio quality was leaps and bounds past his own files, but none of the hardware was compatible.

Neku walked up to Medusa with a slight wave, but his greeting was forestalled by a familiar screech of static and the stomping of heavy hooves on pavement. To the credit of the stormtroopers in the area, they cleared the plaza in record time, setting up barricades behind the evacuated civilians. In the center, standing over ruined benches and what had once been a hot dog stand, was a strange creature, a rhinoceros made of what appeared to be graffiti.

The laser fire that the ranks of soldiers peppered it with literally phased through the Noise as it simply elevated its Vibe, which was a pity, because any one of those shots would've done severe damage. Their accuracy was flawless, and their tactics sound; even though none of the shots connected, could connect, each one impacted with the ground; proof that the stormtroopers had taken this possibility into account, rather than fire so that their misses could injure an ally.

Neku knew what was happening, and he knew what to do. He flipped his headphones down and turned the volume up on his music so that other people would be able to hear the rhythm. "It's a Noise! They can't hurt it because it can change its Vibe, move to a slightly different plane of existence." Neku hopped the barricade as the Noise made to charge one of the sides, sweeping an arm up and forming a wall of black flames that forced it to change Vibe again and check its rush. "Medusa! Make a Pact with me! If we Pact, we can synchronize our Vibes and match the Noise, cancel out its ability, and kill it. We just have to work together, alternate. Use the music to time your attacks!"

If Medusa accepted, a clear blue light signifying the Pact would appear around both of them before fading out. The connection shared a lot of its characteristics with Resonance Link, not that Neku was aware of the equivalent technique from Medusa's homeworld. Either way, the Rhino had locked its sights on Neku and started to charge. The orange-haired teen cancelled the fire psych, looking back at his partner. "Just try and keep the rhythm. Check its charge!" Cold light gathered around Neku's arm as he prepared to follow up whatever Medusa did with an icicle from the ground.

Enemy: Noise #50 Minimal Rhino
Favors charging attacks. Heavily armored in front, but can still be damaged slightly and fully staggered by frontal attacks. In close quarters, uses its horn in heavy sweeping attacks that can knock an opponent into the air.

Currently playing on Neku's headphones: Tatakai