>> By the Vortex, Ghost Version
>> January 26, 2002 :: 1230 hrs

     Hovering over the terrain below, two people had been fighting. A boy about the age of 13 with wild, silvery hair and showing a sizable gash in the left leg was floating high up, looking down as if trying to spot something so miniscule that seeing it would take a huge effort. Below, a man in a blue robe stood upside down on the underside of a precipice. The boy's eye didnt catch the blue robed man.
     The boy thought he heard a noise, and angrilly whipped out his gleaming sword, but it was only a bird rustling in a nest. He wrenched himself right and left, looking everywhere for his foe. The man in blue held his slashed right arm tenderly, painfully. He wasnt bound to give up anytime soon. But that was the problem...
     To the left of the blue robed man was a small, dwarflike figure dressed all in green. He had a hat pulled low over his head, and in his green outfit he blended right into his surroundings. To the right of the blue robed man was a purple ghostlike figure with a map of the United Kingdom on his forehead. He had made himself barely visible, and was cloaked in a dark shadow over him. But the dark shadow was a person too: a man swathed in a black cloak and face hidden.
     North of the blue robed man crouched a yellow fruit, who insisted that he was a peice of paper. His color would have given him away if not for the fact that he was crouched under a black cloth which convinently happened to be lying there.
    South of the blue robed man was another silver haired boy who looked almost exactly like the other, save for the injury. This boy sat, wiping his brow with a hankercheif and squinting into the sun. He had a sword at his side with an odd symbol made of 11 lines.
     The first boy in the air suddenly spotted the yellow fruit, and flew down.
     "What...Lemon?? What are you doing here?"
     "Shhh..." cautioned Lemon. "Conar is nearby."
     The boy scoffed. "I can handle Conar...He's not nearly as strong as I am."
     Lemon shook his head. "Mike...listen to me. You've got to get OUT of here as soon as possible..."
     Meanwhile, the shadowy figure and the ghost lay low, talking to eachother in whispers. The shadowy figure was shaking his head, upset.
     "No, haunter_uk...I have foreseen it. Two MetalMikes will exist in Blood...Conar must be destroyed. He MUST BE DESTROYED!"
     And with that, Lemon, Leprechan, Haunter, the shadowy figure, and MetalMike from B closed in on the blue robed Conar. Conar was still hanging upside down on the rock, hoping to ambush MetalMike if Mike came from above. But everyone closing in vertically ruined any ideas of an ambush. He hastily leaped down and hid from one direction, but he couldnt stay secret from them all.
     Conar leaped up and threw a ninja star at haunter. It went right through him, hitting a rock behind him and ricocheting up. Conar cursed under his breath as haunter began floating up after him.
     Mike of A watched from the ground, somewhat confused. There was no logical reason that LeMon could have found his way to Ghost, it was HIS character. And who was this other boy? He looked exactly like Mike in every detail, down to the 11 line symbol on his right hand. The terrain of Ghost suddenly seemed alien to MetalMike, and he sensed that something was happening that he had no control over. He hated when that happened.
     Lemon sat on the ground, watching the shadowy figure, Mike of B, and haunter float up and after Conar. Lemon was the only one who didnt possess that mystical ability to defy gravity. He watched, eyes unblinking, as the shadowy figure shot like a bolt and delivered a crushing blow to Conar's jaw. He watched Conar attempt to hit haunter with his sword, but to no avail. He watched Conar take his knife like a javelin and throw it at Mike.
     He saw the blade pierce through Mike's stomach.
     He watched, horrified, as Mike fell straight down and hit the ground with a dull thud. Immediatly, the other Mike from A ran over to his counterpart.
     Mike was struggling to breathe. Mike A wrenched the sword from Mike B's stomach and immediatly checked the wound's damage. There was a very low percentage Mike B would live.
     The shadowy figure lashed out at Conar in a fit of rage, but Conar was prepared for the onslaught. He parried each thrust and hit the figure a few times with the flat of his blade. Finally, Conar just smirked and started to flee east.
     Haunter was going to float after him, but the figure stopped him. "No. It's more important that Mike is safe." Haunter nodded.
     Back at the ground, Mike of B was speaking in a hoarse whisper to Lemon. With all the breath he could muster... "You must...must know....Conar...not chasing me for revenge...he's after the form...the form...for....he's after the formula...my father...genetic discovery...*cough*...the formula showed how to make  people....like my father made Conar...Conar wants the-*hack*-formula...it is worth millions of dollars to any scientist..."
     Mike of A watched silently. This proved it. This boy WAS a copy of him. He had never told anyone about his father's last contribution to science, one that never went any farther then his apprentice. And only he knew where it was hidden. It was in the-
     "the formula....my safe...combination is in my pocket...." Tears suddenly showed in Mike's eyes. "Tell my father...I've finally awoken on time..." he mumbled half deleriously before his eyes rolled up and froze.
     Mike of A stood still. What safe!? Mike didnt have a safe! Was he wrong about this boy being a copy of him? And yet he knew about the formula...
     The shadowy figure looked down on the dead body of Mike stonily, still showing no emotion. It made no sense! The shadowy figure had foreseen two Mikes existing in Blood...now how could that become a reality? Three Mikes existed, two were dead already. Could the vision have been a lie?
     Haunter looked down at MetalMike. It wasn't the Mike he knew, and he knew that, but it was simply another copy. And it was Mike, all the same, dead. And Lemon...lemon just turned his eyes away in despair.
     The living Mike turned to the group and spoke in a clear, consise voice, shattering the silence into shards. " I dont know whats happening, or where this...other me came from...but right now thats not as important.
     "Now listen...in the reality I know, I dont have a safe in which I keep the formula. I used to keep the formula in the last place Conar would expect, and that was buried five feet from the top of an active volcano. Of course, Murphy's Law took effect, and now the paper is buried, not only under dirt, but under solid rock. I thought it was lost forever..but apparently we should-"
     But Mike was cut off by the look on haunter's face. Haunter had just finishing searching Mike B's pockets, and there was no combination at all.

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