Honest Ed's did not boast a grand Dungeon foyer. A few bulbs hung on for dear life and spilled out gloomy light. Alex immediately entered a long hallway where the yellowed drywall was cracked and bare, with rectangular parts visibly cleaner where delving Adventurers had ripped free hand-drawn and colourful price signs the store had been famous for. He'd seen the prices on the second-hand market. Despite the strange fact that none of the signs held any magic, each one fetched a sky-high price as a collector's item.

He flowed around the empty tables which once held piles of wares. Now they were cracked and flipped, breaking down to time. When [Running] kicked in, he entered the delightful feeling of flow and called out to the dusty dark.

"I got a piping hot pizza here for a one Honest Freeda! One pie for a one Honest Freeda!"

It had become his signature delivery howl, and too bad there weren't any Adventurers to steam past and throw a deadly finger gun to. The Dungeon Boss didn't answer back either. It was just his echo and hammering feet.

Oh, well. Time to zoom. I want to see the whole place!

He fired [Blazing Hot] for the hell of it, and streams of heatless flame shot out from his ankles. Quickly he made his way towards the flung open metal doors and prepped for whatever the Dungeon would throw at him. His Core was decently full, and he wanted to fully utilize all his fancy new combos [Planar Skating] opened. After a ton of testing to make the Skill work, he had realized that there was more than one way to use his new Skill.

Skidding into the sharp right of the next hallway, he saw there was still no wares. Just scattered tables left behind from stolen goods. He reckoned it stretched a good hundred meters of nothing but light obstacles.

The perfect place to work on my new combo!

Reaching, he aimed with his mind and activated [Phantom Step]. The Skill took hold and just as his body began to blink away, he triggered [Planar Skating]. It had taken hours of testing and timing, and just a brutally scrapped knee or two, but he'd finally figured out how to chain the two together.

And when he got it right…

"TELEPORT SKATING!" He howled into the empty hallway of the Dungeon.

Reality sucked him into the unspace and he flashed forward, but instead of simply reappearing, [Planar Skating] kicked in, sliding him farther faster. His body appeared and flowed across the floor like a comet. Landing in the stride, he grinned.

Then he triggered it again.

The combo fired perfectly the second time, propelling him down the hall, and when he reappeared, his feet blazed bright. It caused Essence to drain fast, but the sheer rush and speed was worth it.

Sadly, Alex didn't stick the second teleport skate combo. He appeared slightly off balance and flopped to a crash, landing on his side and skidding into a stack of tables.

He came up unhurt and breathing heavily, pizza box unharmed, as he was a professional. Looking back at the start of the hallway, he measured that with just two combos, one of them not working completely, he'd traveled fifty meters in a second flat.

He jabbed his free thumb at himself. "OH YEAH! Who's basically got super speed with a combo and two thumbs? This guy! This guy is basically THE FLASH! And handsome too? Dang, look at him go."

Unable to help himself, he quickly sprinted back down to the start of the hallway and used [Illusory Copy]. It was time to show Brody he meant business in the speed department. Also, it was a good time to check in on him.

A haggard, but still better-looking version popped next to him. For a moment, Alex was worried at the state of his clone. Brody stood slumped for a moment as he got his bearings before turning his exhausted eyes onto Alex. Thankfully, he smiled and waved in hello.

"I know, buddy." Alex reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "We're getting close. The boys are almost there, but I wanted to show you something."

Brody tilted his head.

"It's going to help me get you into the Unspace."

Brody's eyebrows shot up in surprise, his tired face brightening with a spark of excitement. It pained Alex to see one of his pals, or clones, or whatever Brody technically was, hurting so badly. He had faith the boys would figure out how to reach the Unspace, and with his new Skill shaping up, things were looking better. Now it was just a matter of whether Brody could hold off the cursed bracelet a little longer.

"Mmmm?" Brody asked. Alex understood what he meant.

"You're going to have to race me," he said, then stopped when Brody seemed to sag even more from exhaustion. "Dude, are you okay? Seriously this time. You don't have to race me, I can show you. Then you can just stay here and relax. Leave the Dungeon if you want. Just…sit." He pushed Brody down. "You've helped me so much. I can handle this Dungeon, and you can rest. Okay?"

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Brody nodded sadly. Alex could not read emotions like Brody could, and it hurt the clone to feel the concern flowing through their bond so clearly. He still wanted to help Alex. But even the perfect statue could not last forever under a waterfall. No matter how strong the carving, a constant current wears everything down.

"Sit, sit." Alex guided Brody down until he was resting on the floor. "Just stay here. Nap, relax. Okay?"

The clone sighed and gave Alex a thumbs up. For their entire relationship, Brody had been helping Alex. Now he was simply thankful for a moment of peace. Alex hovered nearby, still radiating concern. Even if Brody felt awful, he had an image to maintain. And what exactly did Alex want to show him that could help?

Brody raised his hands and shook his head, trying to ask, "Well? What did you want to show me?"

Alex grinned, which was good progress in Brody's opinion. "Watch this. It also lets me move through the Unspace." Seeing Brody's excitement, he continued. "It's not perfect yet, but this Skill is the foundation. Just watch, yeah? Then I'll make this delivery while you rest. Cool?"

He held out his fist. It took a second for Brody to understand, but he bumped it back.

"Nice. Just a dude and his clone copy person fist bumping. Gotta be a first, right? Well, probably not. Anyways. Behold!"

Alex spun, and Brody watched him shoot down the hallway in a blur, glide through the air, and then flash away again. He was stunned by how fast Alex could move. After two strange teleport-glide motions, Brody realized that Alex was already much farther down the hall than should have been possible.

"You see that shit?" Alex called from down the hall. Brody was proud to see his clone activate his flaming feet Skill. He had to admit it looked cool as heck. "You see the absolute speed that I have become? I am become speed, bringer of pizza and a delicious rump!"

Brody laughed without noise. It was always fun hanging out with Alex.

"I'm off, OK? Give me a thumbs up if you're good."

Brody gave him a thumbs up.

Alex paused for a moment before turning and called out over his shoulder. "And Brody? Thank you for always being there for me. I'm doing my best to be there for you."

He didn't give Brody a chance to respond, speeding off around a sharp turn deeper in the Dungeon. Brody watched his only friend go, sighed, leaned his head back against the wall, and for first time in his life and after multiple days, fell into a deep nap.

With a heavy heart and flashy feet. Alex sprinted deeper down another hall of empty tables. Without the link he could still tell Brody didn't like being the weak one. Sometimes, it was best to just give people some space to just…do nothing. Acting like it was all OK and only hyping his clone up wasn't going to help. Leveling up his [Planar Skating] however, would.

After several more hallways of nothing and practice, he spotted a doorway up ahead that was different. For one thing, bright light cascaded out. For two, there was noise. Wet, dragging, shuffling, shambling, a hundred different noises of feet lurking about in the Dungeon. Ready to tear the head off Adventurers or perky Delivery boys.

Finally. Time to really put my solo Skills to the test.

He tore into the bright room and shouted at the first Monsters of Honest Ed's.

"I heard Honest Ed's had a lot of good deals, but all I see are EMPTY TABLES!"

Every single Monster in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to face him. Some had been chatting, some had been lurking, most had been just hanging out waiting. Now every face, or what passed as a face, stared in his direction.

Alex gulped. There were a lot of Monsters. Perhaps he had been a touch too confident.

"I…uh…I guess it's clearance season? Haha? Anyone…?"

A Monster made of ratty old t-shirts, bunched and held together in the form of an ant, if ants were two meters long and had a hundred coat hanger spikes on their forehead, rushed him first. Fifty more just like it made of other types of clothing followed fast. There were giant [Itchy Fabric Ants] everywhere in the room, all similar in structure, but made of different material. The denim ones had giant flails made of zippers. The polyester ones oozed melted plastic. Every one of them hurled in his direction.

A sign caught his eye, since it was the only one that hadn't been torn off and taken as far as he'd seen. In curling red handwriting, it dangled on chains from the ceiling.

CLOTHING DEALS – ALL ITEMS $2.50

"Ah," He said. "That would explain all the empty tables."

Then he shot off to the left, just as a pair of pincers made of high heels came to snap him in half. It was time to move or dye by bug. Clothing bugs.

Unfortunately for him, Alex didn't see the blinking evil eye charm on his bracelet from Snu.

He did turn on some bumping tunes on his [Audio Player], though. A little Four Days Bless never hurt anyone, he figured.

Time to go montage mode, he thought as he ducked the first whooshing zipper that came to behead him.

And within the Unspace, Mr. Mystical closed off his [Fanciful Scrying]. The tiny ten-inch CRT TV gave a sharp pop as the screen turned from a view of Alex to static. The set shrank to the size of a deck of cards and floated over to toss itself into his [Magical Bottomless Briefcase].

He jittered on her persian rug to face Harold. "It's…We are doing this?"

"We're doing this," Harold flapped slowly. "I'll alert The Collector. You prepare."

"But the Boss!" Mr. Mystical protested, all nervous energy. "She's friends with Nina. There-there's no way she won't step in."

"On his way out then. Brody is sleeping like a lamb, and he'll be the most alone we can have him. He can't get [Something Broken] from Freeda, or The Collector will…well you know what he will do."

"And the drones? That knife is…terrifying Harold. It can even hurt us."

"Screw the drones," Harold scoffed. "Bunch of bumbling idiots."

If Mr. Mystical had hands, he would be wringing them. Instead, he shook his taxidermized body to face away from his accomplice. Sighing deeply, he spoke. "I-I don't know if I can do it."

Harold snorted. "Do it or he'll break that ring. I'll meet you back here. We need to tell him to order Pushkin to act tonight."

Then Harold was gone, and Mr. Mystical was alone with his thoughts and the whispering bracelet.

Even with the guilt he felt at what was planned, he prepared another one of his Skills. No wonder The Collector targeted him. There were very few people who could create portals. Mr. Mystical only knew of one other undead who could other than him. And she was way scarier than The Collector.

"Damnit. Gary, this is all for you. I'll see you again, in this life or the next, I guess."

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