“…Ok, Who brought the noob?” Enzer tapped his foot impatiently.

The party of 4 was just beside the lift, having just come down from the clockwork terminal, only to find someone new had followed them.

Enzer was wearing a Dusker set, and had a Troika in hand, which he tapped on his other hand to show growing irritation. A Horned Owlite Shield lay on his wrist.

“Don’t look at me.” Drake said defensively. “I don’t know this guy.”

Drake wore the Scary Skelly set, and had a Boosted Plate shield. The Shadowtech Alchemer MKII in his hand glowed brightly.

Enzer sighed. “Did you invite him Ange?”

Ange shook her head. She was the leader of the Party, and was wearing an Ash-tail set. She was holding a Wise Owlite Shield and a Silent Nightblade.

“Wasn’t me.” She said. “Why don’t…”

“If I may,” The newcomer asked. “Your Party was left unlocked. I simply joined an existing party. By chance, it was yours.”

The newcomer was wearing a Spiral Cutlet and a Wolver Cap. A Bristling buckler rested on his wrist, and he casually flicked his Tempered Calibur in circles around his hand.

“Yeah, whatever.” Enzer snapped. “We don’t really care. I just want to know if we can get rid of you.”

“Why would we do that?” Drake asked, puzzled slightly.

“Maybe because we’re going to kill the Royal Jelly, and don’t want to drag some noob with us who’ll trip us up?” Enzer shot back sarcastically.

“Guys, chill. I can take care of myself.” The newcomer held his hand up to stop the argument. “If I can’t, then I can be just left for dead. Doesn’t really matter, you don’t lose anything by me coming along, unless you revive me or something.”

Ange nodded. “We don’t exactly have a reason to kick him out either, nothing that doesn’t just add up to ‘I don’t like his face’.”

Enzer snorted. “Fine. He just better not get in my way.” He stalked off without a further word.

“Oh boy.” Drake scuttled to follow him, leaving just the new guy and Ange.

“Well. Nice to make your acquaintance, I guess.” The new guy mock-bowed to Ange.

“Charmed, I’m sure.” Ange remarked dryly. “Sorry about Enzer, he just doesn’t like people that are weaker than him, no offence.” She added quickly.

“Meh, no worries.” He twirled his sword around until it was resting in a backhand grip, in-line with the back of his forearm. “Let’s go.”

“How are you even in Tier 2? Your gear looks under classed.” Ange puzzled.

“I actually got a Wolver coat under this, but I like the thinner look of my old gear.” He explained. “That coat makes me look like an Eskimo…”

“What’s your name by the way?” Ange asked as they jogged off.

“I’ve been called noob already, but really my name is Max.” He laughed.

Ahead of them, a mix of Retrodes and Scuttlebots were being assaulted by Enzer and Drake. Ange ran over to back Enzer up, leaving Max to his own devices.

Max flipped his sword back to forehand grip. “Let us begin.” He grinned.

* * *

The trio trouped further along the path. It seemed that fiends and constructs were abundant is this realm.

Drake glanced around. Hey, where’d that noob go?” Noticing he was missing.

“Forget about him.” Enzer spat. “I want to be able to kill some monsters without having to listen to some useless noob whine about how hard everything is.”

“Actually…” Ange began. Suddenly, a flock of Greavers appeared from nowhere and dove in to attack.

Enzer cursed and threw up his shield. Ange and Drake followed suit. Unfortunately, the shock haze got through and hit Drake. He dropped to the floor and convulsed spastically.

Ange dropped a Medical capsule down his visor. As he recovered, she shouted above their shields: “We need to get out of here! On my mark!”

Enzer scowled. He would have liked to kill them all right then and there, but when his leader said run, he ran.

“NOW!” All three dropped their shields and ran as fast as they could away from the Greavers. Predictably, they followed them.

“Dammit! We can’t shake ‘em!” Drake yelled as they ran.

“We should just turn around and obliterate them all here and now!” Enzer growled.

“Yeah, as well as ourselves. We can’t take that chance. We have to keep running!” Ange shot back.

CLANK! A gate shot up from the floor just behind them, leaving them separate from the Greavers. The trio spun around.

“What the…?” Drake was shocked.

“My thoughts exactly…” Ange agreed.

Enzer just growled. “Too bad, I would have destroyed them all in another moment.”

“What set off that gate?” Drake asked aloud.

Ange shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we stepped on a hidden button? Just be glad we’re safe.”

“Hear, hear.” Drake finished as they continued on.

Further back, Max leaned lightly on a switch. “Perfect timing. Lucky me.” He grinned.

Spinning his sword around, he set off. “Now for those Greavers…”

* * *

“Does this place ever end?” Drake whined.

The trio had been walking around for a while, but they couldn’t find the lift.

“Drake, shut up.” Enzer growled. “You’re not the only one who’s sick of this. “

“Hey guys.” Max said as he jogged up to them. “What’s up?”

“How are you still alive? Nevermind.” Ange shook her head. “Have you seen the exit?”

Max waved in the direction behind them. “Oh, I saw it over there somewhere a while ago, but I wanted to clear out the area first.” He blinked as everyone stared at him. “What?”

“Did someone say exit? DIBS!” Drake raced past Max, while the others followed quickly behind.

Max raised an eyebrow, but said no-more. He walked in the direction they were walking in earlier, finding not much, but around 8 prize boxes and 2 health capsules.

“Hm. They may need this later…”He considered, before starting back towards the exit.

…

“Oh yeah. He WOULD neglect to mention the monsters.” Drake gritted his teeth as he fired off more dark bullets into some approaching Gremlins.

“Nothing we can’t handle.” Enzer smashed his weapon into a Lumber, just happy he gets to smash something.

Meanwhile, Ange was having a little trouble with one Mender Gremlin. He just wouldn’t sit still.

“HA!” She lunged forward, finally catching the Gremlin before it could evade.

“Took me long enough…” She muttered as she turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw a Retrode, its arm pulled back for a swing straight at her.

“Away, bucket-head.” Max hissed as he decapitated the machine with a powerful backhand swing. “Nobody asked you for a hand.”

The headless Retrode collapsed to the floor in a heap. Having lost all possible threatening-ness it may have had.

“Uh… Thanks.” Ange said. “I owe ya.”

Max shrugged. “Hey, no problem. You didn’t kick me out, I save you from a quick death. Even stevens.”

Max pulled an Ice vial from his belt and tossed it over his shoulder. Suddenly, half the crowd Enzer was fighting was frozen to the spot, while said-knight puzzled as to how.

“Now…” Max grinned. “He owes me.”

Ange laughed. Abruptly, Max yelped as something slammed into him, pinning him to a wall.

“Max?” Ange turned to see what had happened.

Max had been hit in the shoulder with a pink spike. The spike had pierced through his armour and had embedded itself to the wall, effectively immobilising him.

“Lookout!” Max yelled back. Ange quickly ducked as another spike flew over her head. She heard a grunt as it hit something metallic. Spinning around, she saw that the spike had grazed the check of Max’s Wolver cap, leaving a dark scar.

“Stop worrying about me! Just get that Polyp!” Max yelled, his voice concealing the pain he must have felt.

Nodding, Ange darted towards the pink Polyp that had fired the shot. Slicing the next shot that came her way, she ducked into a roll and cut the Polyp from its base as she passed it.

Enzer whistled. “Smooth.”

Max grimaced as he pulled the spike from his shoulder, allowing himself to drop to one knee when he hit the ground.

“Watch out, certain attacks can pierce our energy fields.” Drake warned.

Max grinned lightly. “Yeah, I noticed.”

Ange glanced at the damage done to his armour. It wasn’t very serious, but it probably hurt.

“Are you okay?” She asked him.

“I’ll be fine.” Max reassured her, getting to his feet. “I’ll be able to repair this later. We need to get moving.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?” Ange was worried he was pushing himself.

Max just laughed. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t, but it’s nothing I can’t live through.” He walked towards the lift as if nothing had happened. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Drake watched him go. “He’s an odd one, isn’t he?”

Ange just nodded slowly.

“Anyone other than me even remotely worried?” Drake asked shakily.

“Why would we be?” Max cocked his head questioningly as they walked down the lit path.

“Maybe because we’re at the third stage of the Arena?” Enzer rolled his eyes.

“So? Big deal.” Max casually rested his hands behind his head. “We’ll just destroy that too.”

“This isn’t just any Arena, Max. This is a mixed element and creature Arena. Creatures of any attribute and class dwell here, or hadn’t you noticed earlier. We usually refer to it as the Gauntlet.” Ange supplied from the front.

Max mouthed an ‘ah’ as he showed his understanding. “This’ll be interesting…” He grinned as he rubbed his hands together.

Max had used one of his health capsules to repair his armour a little earlier. Surprisingly, the scar across his Helmet remained.

“Well, here we are.” Ange announced as they walked into the chamber.

The chamber was pretty large, and showed signs of a brutal fight, or fights, having been fought there. There were chunks of unidentifiable metal strewn about the place, broken swords, guns, gears, among others. There were deep gouges cut into the floor, craters from devastating explosions, and a set of spike straps surrounding the Party button.

Max let out a low whistle. “I see why Drake is worried.”

The four knights stood around the Party button. There was some metal on there that could be identified as parts of a knight who was destroyed where he stood.

Ange gulped. “Let’s go.”

The four stood on the button.

…

Nothing happened.

“What-” Max started, when suddenly, 6 Rocket Puppies appeared out from the floor, firing their rockets toward the centre.

“DUCK!” Ange yelled.

Everyone ducked and threw up their shield. The missiles collided with a huge explosion.

“Go, go, go!” Ange ordered.

Everyone dropped their shields and darted away from the centre. The smoke from the explosion obscured their vision, and Max was the first to go down.

“KYAAA!” Max screamed as a missile hit him dead on. He was flung back and skidded into a corner, lying motionless.

Enzer was struggling to smash all the Chromalisks that had suddenly appeared around him, appearing and disappearing too quickly to be traced.

“Drake! Get Max up!” Ange ordered as she parried a cut from a Mecha Knight.

“Roger.” Drake fired a few parting shots to the gremlins that ran after him, then rushed to the corner from where Max lay.

Out of nowhere, a Lumber’s club smashed the ground just ahead of him. Drake yelped as the shockwave threw him back, and crumpled to the floor when a hammer from the other gremlins finished off what remained of his energy field.

Max’s body bounced off the walls and landed closer to the centre of the room, having still not spoken a word.

Enzer gritted his teeth. “Gr. We’re at half strength, and the fight’s barely begun!” He smashed his Troika into the ground, its power amplified by his frustration, scattering his invisible opponents.

He heard an intense growl from directly behind him. His eyes widened. “Oh shi-”

The wolver pack pounced, claws and teeth biting down on his energy field till it shattered.

Enzer cursed. “Ange, we’re all down!” He cursed again as an idling Chromalisk and his friends decided to drag away his weapon.

Ange grimaced angrily, she was fending off three Mecha knights, and had already taken enough damage. Any more and she may collapse as well.

A swift kick in the back sent her flying to the opposite side of the room. Landing heavily, she saw a Rocket Puppy, only a metre or two away, mouth open, ready to fire.

Unconsciously, she reached for the Health capsule Max had slipped into her hand when they stepped on the button. He had said that she would probably need it, but she could never have guessed that she would need it for a time like this.

Time slowed. The Rocket Puppy fired. Ange crushed the capsule in her hand. Her energy field glowed as it received the extra power. The Rocket came closer. The flare subsided as the energy sunk in.

The missile impacted.

Blown off her feet once more, she rolled over a few times after landing, skidding to a stop by the spikes.

Ange staggered to her feet. The Capsule had raised her energy levels just enough to survive the blast, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to do this alone.

“Hang on Ange! I’m getting up!” Enzer yelled out.

“NO!” Ange started running to where Drake lay. “No-one uses energy until everyone is down. We can’t risk wasting it.”

If I can just get to Drake, we may be able to hold them off long enough to get everyone back up. She thought as she drew closer. Just a little further…

All it would take is a quick tap to the centre of the torso to transfer the energy he would need to get back up. Ange reached out as she drew closer…closer…

Suddenly, she tripped over a Thwack hammer that had been left on the ground. She bounced twice, the second time landing on something hard, before a missile impacted on her back in mid-air, sending her flying another few metres, leaving her up propped up against the wall.

Ange cursed. “No! How could I be so careless?” She berated herself.

“Ange, we need to focus less on what we’ve done wrong and instead, focus on actually GETTING OUT OF HERE!?” Drake screamed.

Ange opened a private channel to Enzer, who was on the other side of the room. “Still got that energy ready?”

“Just say the word.” Enzer confirmed.

“Punch it.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Enzer complied.

Ding. [Your revive effort is no longer needed]

Enzer was confused. “What?”

“What’s taking you so long?” Ange demanded.

Before Enzer could reply, there was a shout from Drake. “Wait, look at Max!”

They all focused on the Knight who was slowly getting to his feet. Max flexed his finger, just to make sure he was in working condition.

“How did he…?” Suddenly, Ange remembered that she had hit something solid. That was probably Max, and maybe she had accidentally revived him before her energy had fully drained.

“Don’t worry, I’m going in!” Enzer spoke through the channel.

“No don’t.” Ange replied quickly. “Policy, remember? Besides, if we revive, we’ll need everyone up to full strength at the same time.”

Max turned and smiled at them. “No worries guys, ya’ll just sit tight. I got this.”

He turned back to face the horde of creatures that had assembled themselves in the Gauntlet. They all stared intently at him, waiting for him to make his move.

There were Lumbers, Ironclaw Thwackers, Chromalisks, Rocket Puppies, Devilites, Ice Cubes, Voltrodes, Mecha Knights, Oilers, Wolvers, Super Blast cubes, Firo Knights, Lichens and two Trojans.

All of them just itching to take him down.

“…Let us begin.” Max grinned.

Sprinting towards the mob, Max leapt into the air, his body half turned to the left in preparation for a backhand cut. As he landed, there was a flare of energy and the crowd was dispersed somewhat.

Cycling into a forehand uppercut, he caught a Super Blast Cube and hurled it at a Rocket that was flying towards him. Ignoring the explosion, he ducked a swing from a Mecha knight, before ramming his sword up through its head.

As he pulled out his sword, a Trojan suddenly appeared in front of him, sword raised for a crushing blow. Max dodged it with a backflip, then swiftly darted past it with a quick flourish of his sword. The Trojan groaned and crumpled to the floor as its crystal shattered.

“….what…the…” Drake gaped.

“Power surges, what in The Blazing Core is he?” Ange gasped.

Max flipped his sword and caught it by the tip, then threw it at a Rocket Puppy that had just opened its mouth. The sword stuck in its throat, and it detonated as the missile it was about to fire activated, taking out the Devilites that were around it.

He grabbed the Blade left behind by the fallen Trojan, and proceeded to deliver crushing blows to all who dared venture too closely. A Super Blast jelly was batted away like a Tennis ball, Gremlin Thwackers had their weapons crushed before they were, an Ice Cube was flattened; Nothing could stop him.

Spinning around, he sent the Blade spiralling through the air, only to embed itself in the head of a Lumber. Max dropkicked the Firo Knight that was about to unleash a charge attack at him, then stabbed his hand through the armour of its torso and ripped out some metal parts. Spinning around, he threw them in another Lumber’s face, then leapt onto its back, and tore out the massive gears that lay there.

“I’m just gonna borrow these…” Max hefted them up and spun around, his arm flinging up until they were horizontal. He let one go, and it tore straight through an Ice Cube and crumpled the Voltrode that was behind it.

Max parried the last Trojan’s blade, then pierced the gear on it, weighing the Trojan’s sword so much it could no longer lift it. Leaping over it, he jumped onto a Rocket Puppy that was about to fire and grabbed its head. “Say ‘cheese’.” He said as it fired. The Trojan quickly raised its shield to block it.

Max stared for a second. “…So you DO have a brain…” Max said before he rolled to the side, scooping up his Tempered Calibur from the ground. He ducked as another Lumber took a swing at him, then cut the Lumber’s legs out. Leaping over its head, he stabbed its torso, and threw it overhead at the Trojan. The Trojan quickly swung its sword back, gear and all, and smashed the oncoming projectile. When the debris cleared, Max was nowhere to be seen.

“Don’t look up.” Predictably, the Trojan looked up, just in time to see a flash of Max as he dropped behind him, a smooth cut shearing through the crystal on its back before he even touched the ground.

Quickly springing off the ground after his landing, he narrowly avoided two wolvers who had lunged at him, their skulls knocking together painfully. Max turned and saw an Oiler squirm his way over, then quickly ducked as a Firo knight swung his sword. The sword connected with the Oiler, setting it alight. Within a few seconds, the whole arena was surrounded in flames, the oil patches and the Oilers themselves burning like…well, oil.

The orderly chaos fell apart, and everyone was panicking. Gremlins were running around screaming about how their fur was on fire, Ice Cubes shivered at their nakedness of their non-frozen bodies, Lumbers burned themselves into cinders; wolvers, stared wide eyed into the flames in horror; panic was in the air.

Despite this, Max kept his cool, so to speak. Darting between the flames, using them as cover, he combed through the panicking crowd and cut down all the Oilers with a passing slash. Within 60 seconds, the fires had died down, and the monsters suddenly found themselves very short staffed, with only some Devilites, a Rocket Puppy, and some Gremlins and Lichens left.

The Gremlins charged desperately, their swings falling short of Max as he sidestepped each blow. He seemed to ghost through their small group when he attacked, the result all but transparent. All the Gremlins fell, not one spared.

The Devilites panicked at the display of ruthlessness and flew over the walls, running as fast as their legs could carry them, only one thought running through their mind: ‘ I am SO fired…

Max watched them leave, before a series of “Shloop”s caught his attention. Turning, he saw that the lichens were fusing into one, Giant Lichen Colony.

Max dashed towards it, jumped past it, a spinning slash tearing into its side. The Colony roared, and did a spin attack of its own, sending spikes flying everywhere. Max evaded, then ran around the Colony. An explosion erupted where Max was just seconds earlier, caused by a Rocket Puppy that missed. He continued to assault the colony blocking spikes with his shield and stabbing at it, causing it to grow more and more angry.

Frustrated, it sank its spikes into the ground, resulting in spike eruptions all around it. Max backflipped to avoid it, then threw up his shield as another rocket impacted on it. The explosion propelled him forwards, and Max, sword raised to strike, tore through the Colony’s brain, the jelly around it dissolving, with nothing left to control it.

It was just him and that Rocket Puppy now. It looked around nervously, noting the destruction just one knight had caused.

Max rose to his feet. With a slight pause, he ran towards the Rocket Puppy. As he drew closer, the Puppy opened its mouth to fire. Max dove to the left slightly, evading the missile and dragged himself into a skid that brought him in a neat arc to the Rocket Puppy’s back. As he cycled into a spinning backhand cut to the head, time seemed to slow.

“…End of the line.” He whispered.

“Arf…arf.” The Rocket Puppy barked submissively.

Then it was all over.

Max surveyed the carnage he had wrought on this godforsaken place. Aside from the fresh corpses, mechanical or no, the place looked pretty much the same.

It seems that the others had recovered enough from their shock to speak, because the next thing he knew…

“Um…hey, Max? We still exist you know, and we’re kinda…down?” Ange said awkwardly. ‘You may wanna, you know, help us up?”

The rest of their journey was a blur. All they could remember was yelling for help the moment they set foot in the Arcade. Medics arrived, Max being carted away on a stretcher, panic in the Medical room as they struggled to patch him up.

After the initial drama was over, Ange wanted some answers. The Graviton Vortex had left some residual energy on Max, so that was being tested for the reason it went so wrong.

“His energy field must have deteriorated while he was being flung about.” A Medic explained to Ange sometime later. “The damage he sustained directly to his body must have occurred after the field degenerated, leaving his body vulnerable to damage.”

“I still don’t understand why the Graviton acted the way it did.” Ange puzzled aloud as she sat in the waiting room.

“I may be able to answer that for you.” Feron said as he walked up to her.

“Sir?” Ange was confused, how would he know? She had only just given him the report on what happened ten minutes ago.

“You said that Max had fired an overcharged Shadowtech Alchemer MKII into the Jelly King before he planted the bomb, correct?” Feron started. “A blast that unstable would leave a huge amount of residual energy. I suppose that the residual dark energy left behind from that attack was absorbed into the Graviton Vortex, amplifying its power beyond what it should be able to handle.”

Ange nodded slowly, allowing the information to sink in.

A Medic came into the waiting room. Gesturing to the Medical tent, he told them that she could enter.

Enzer and Drake joined her. There was another nurse in the room, but she was preparing to leave.

“You know,” The Nurse said “He sustained a great deal of damage. We weren’t sure he would make it at all. But it’s not a miracle he survived.” She finished packing up and walked out of the tent.

“It would be a miracle if he wakes up.” Her parting words floated through the gap in the tent.

Ange stared at the bed where Max had been lying for the past 5 days. The Medics had done a good job patching his armour back up, although that scar still remained on the Wolver cap.

“Don’t worry Ange, He’ll pull through.” Drake rested a hand on her shoulder.

There was a loud thump as Enzer punched the ground. “He’s only in this condition because of me.” He growled. “I never spoke to him, I never helped him. There must have been something I did that made this happen.”

“It’s not your fault, Enzer, don’t blame yourself.” Ange reassured him. “He knew what he was doing, and he didn’t mind that you never liked him.”

A third voice suddenly spoke up. “Who am I? What am I? Core’s power, WHERE am I?!”

* * *

“And that leaves us where we are now.” Ange looked over to Max, who had closed his eyes, deep in thought.

“…So you’re trying to say that I’m Max.” He said finally.

“Well, yes.” Ange said a little awkwardly.

“…I need some time to think alone.” Max declared, his eyes still closed.

Ange nodded, and walked outside. “I hope you get your memory back soon Max. I don’t like seeing you like this, incomplete, almost.” She walked outside.

* * *

“So how is he?” Drake asked some minutes later.

Having met up with Enzer and Drake again, they were walking around aimlessly through Bazaar, discussing the extent of Max’s condition.

“Physically, he’s fine. But he seems to remember nothing of what we’ve been through, or what he’s been through.” Ange sighed.

“Let’s just hope he get better.” Enzer said “I have to admit, I kind of want him to teach me how to fight a little. What he was doing I was sure wasn’t possible.”

“Join the guild.” Drake laughed.

* * *

…So, My name is Max. He thought to himself. Looking at the sword and helmet hanging off the rack, he knew what they were, and he knew what they were for, but outside that, nothing else came to mind.

Max sat down on the bed. Her story tells me the ‘what’, but not the ‘who’ He looked up, his eyes blank, thought running through his head like a raging river. Who am I? Why does this question still feel unanswered?

He pulled down the Wolver cap and Tempered Calibur from the wall. “Well ‘Mark’, what do you say we find I who I am?” He said as he held the gear in his hands.

Swinging the sword experimentally around, twirling it around like how Ange had told him he used to do, he caught it backhand and held it by his side.

Max ran his hand over the scar on his Wolver cap. “Yeah, lets.” He pulled the Cap over his head.

His eyes glowed a ferocious neon green through the visor.

* * *

A doctor rushed over to the laughing group in the Bazaar, panting heavily, and hoping they weren’t the type to shoot the messenger.

“Ma’am!” He called out before he reached them. Ange stopped laughing and turned to look at him, seeming to recognise him as the doctor who tended to Max.

“What’s the matter? Is Max okay?” Ange asked urgency heavy in her voice.

“He’s…he…!” The doctor could barely speak from tiredness and shock.

“Spit it out will ya?” Enzer crossed his arms, putting on an annoyed appearance to intimidate the stressed doctor into speaking.

It worked. The doctor took a big gulp or air. “Max has disappeared! His weapons, his armour, Him! He’s gone!” He added as they started, shocked.

“What…?!” Ange began when a messenger suddenly ran up to them.

“Sir! Max was just seen travelling down an elevator leading into the clockworks!” The messenger’s voice was squeaky from behind his Magic hood, emphasizing his hyperactivity and childishness that was shown by his constant hopping around.

Ange stopped, staring blankly ahead. A Knight, her friend, had just walked into the clockworks, full of untapped power and skill, unstable, and worst of all, alone.

“This is bad…” She muttered.

“Ya think?!” The messenger yelled, who was promptly smacked over the head by the doctor.

END

Any feedback? Can you pinpoint what you like about it? What you think could've been done better? What could've been left out?

Part 2 will take a while. I've only just started writing it, and I'm running on raw ideas. The problem is getting them all down on the paper. My ideas constantly evolve the longer they stew though, so they will always change a bit. That's why it may take quite a while.

I try not to just write down whatever comes to mind. I think, I plan in my head, I link the ideas together, then write with a flow.

^How is this style working out so far?

Codename - Part 2: When the great fall is now out! For all those who have read this story, the sequel is now available for viewing!

Feel free to comment as and when you feel like it, and I'll post more chapters as I complete them.

Bump not exactly intended, but updating this with the spelling check I just did on my original copy.

New readers would be appreciated though :D

Expect the same from Codename Part 2.

Actually, there are certain parts I've left out intentionally. I plan Codename to be a very wide story, spanning both back and forward of the 'now' displayed here.

For instance, I plan to write a Prequel to Codename telling the story of Max' past, and why there are some things about him that seem strange, things I have left out to explain later.

I'm not particularly good with POV terms...what I was trying to go for was a mainly third person view but focusing on certain characters at certain times.

The plot IS quite negligible in Part 1; I don't think "Goin on a JK hunt" can really count as a plot XD, but Part 2 has a better plot I THINK, as it's leading on from Part 1.

Backstory on other characters MAY be lightly touched upon, but I think I'd go more for character development in future stories. Max is supposedly the main focus really.

Overall, after writing more and reflecting upon my effort of Part 1, I feel that it was quite a 'noobish' effort. You're right if you're thinking there were areas that seemed somewhat awkward and unnecessary in their explanation and detail...There were too many things I was trying to say, and I was too eager to say them without properly trying to tie them down into the story better.

Overall, it's easy to acknowledge that it could have been done better.

Be warned when you read Part 2, there's probably an area near the beginning of that story that seems to improve, then I think reverts back to my hasty style again.

Regarding the title of Codename...that will become apparent in the sequel when I get around to writing it, not the PREQUEL mind, although the Prequel will probably lead you down the wrong track.

The way I planned the base Codename series was to be like a single story, yet separated into three parts, each their own story. Not quite like the timeline thing, just something you could more or less link into ONE story, while it actually being three.

As for your final statement...Icwutudidthere :3

EDIT: Where are my manners? I forgot to thank you for your comments.

Thank you for your comments ^^