The Truth as it Stands (Me and Zero)

[gantzgun74]

It took approximately a half hour drive for the cab-driver to reach Gantz's estate at the church district, which costed approximately $3.00 in cash, which was easily covered with a five dollar bill from Gantz, as the group exited the cab. Walking into the estate, the others noted, just felt like a breath of fresh air. As if they were returning to familiar territory after what felt like months in the unfamiliar.

To better spell it out, the first thing Gantz did when he walked into the mansion, was walk into the reading room, pick a couch and then promptly pass out on it. Really, after everything he was forced to process today, what he needed was some time to just unwind. Rosaline looked down to the unconscious young man, greatly concerned for him, before she walked back out to the living room to join the others.

Red and Climber had quickly readjusted to the house themselves. Climber had been quick to locate his I-pod and turn on some music to play through his ear-phones, while Red found, much to AJ's disbelief since he saw the girl swinging around a buzz-saw sword only an hour earlier, her favorite stuffed animal, a 6 foot tall stuffed moogle and snuggled with the thing as she sat on one of the chairs in the parlor, as if to offer her some sense of comfort.

With that said, Rosaline looked to AJ, with a concerned stare, though she tried to force up a smile. "I... I do hope you find our home comfortable..." There was no honesty in it. Really, she was too concerned with Gantz's and the others well being at the time. Not that she didn't care about AJ, she just had other things on her mind.

[doctorzero]

Under any normal circumstances, A.J. would've been impressed by Gantz's house. But at the moment...
"Thanks, Rosaline. I'm going to...have a look around. If that's all right." He nodded to her and walked past her, stopping to put a hand on her shoulder. "Rose...I'm really sorry about all this." After giving Nina a look, he proceeded to leave the room.

---

A.J. felt conflicted as he climbed up the staircase. The thought of simply staying here while his brother was in God knows what kind of trouble bothered him to no end. Gantz had refused to explain who he had been talking to on the phone earlier, and it was clear that he wanted them all to wait for the time being. Ordinarily, A.J. would've simply just snap in his face and left immediately to find Jaron. Of course, he had been stopped when Rosaline had pointed out that he would't have any idea where to start. He kicked himself mentally; what would the others back home think?
What would Cheryl think?
Knowing her, he mused, she'd probably understand...
God, he missed her so much.

---

The second floor was totally silent. He wasn't entirely sure why he had come up here, but he figured it wouldn't help to look.
As he continued down the hallway, he noticed that one of the doors had light coming from underneath it. He could barely make out voices.
He raised his hand to knock, but hesitated. He didn't know who else lived here, and it would've been rude to just interrupt whatever was happening.
Even so, he was curious. He just hoped that no one would get angry with him.
With some trepidation, he knocked on the door.

---

The helicopter had dropped them off right outside the entrance of the city. Now, Max, Kaitlin, Misty, and Metal stood outside Gantz's estate. Otto, Rin, and Wally had been taken to the Regnum Dei, and Lea had accompanied Kavma's men to fix up the Giruveganus.
Max was surprised at the site of the mansion. "How'd Gantz get a place like this? Did he get rich or something?"
Kaitlin, on the other hand, had no interest on either the building or Gantz's money situation. She promptly walked up to the porch, Max following her. "Kaitlin--"
Kaitlin didn't answer him. With her jaw set, she knocked on the door several times.

[gantzgun74]

Rose watched as AJ traversed up the steps, and let out a sigh... Slowly, she looked to Climber and Red...

My god how she wished that they could go back to the simpler times... Back before the Shadow Bugs tore their world asunder, and forced them to come here. Back then, Red had built up so much sanity that she would actually speak to her and the others as plainly as the moon at night. Rose turned to the girl as she hugged the doll and patted her head of short brown hair gently.

Red looked up to Rosaline and smiled an innocent little smile to her. Rose smiled back.

There came a loud sigh as Nina laid herself down on a nearby couch; she wanted more then anything to question about where she was and what was going on with her life... But really, she was too dead tired to do much of anything at that time. "Rose..."

Rosaline turned to her. "Yes Nina?"

Nina looked down, seemingly in shame of herself... "You... You will look after the house while I sleep will you?"

...... Rosaline nodded to the woman kindly. "Of course Nina. Now get some rest." Nina didn't need to be told twice and passed out, fast asleep in seconds.

Rosaline nodded to the woman, and smiled sweetly to Red...

At that moment, however, there came the knock at the door. Nina was already fully asleep, Red turned her head to the door, and Climber was too into his music to hear it...

Still who could that be, she wondered?

Rose approached the door and opened it after a moment to straighten out her messy and musty hair; it had been an eventful day.

"Hello? Who is there?" She looked to see Kaitlin looking to her with even more confusion. "Oh? Who are you?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

There came a few more voices on the other end of the door, before it was answered a second later.

On the other end, AJ found that a young man standing there... One that looked GREATLY like Gantz. "Huh?" He said with curiosity. "Yana? How are you here? From the way bro was talking I thought you was stuck in the mining tunnels, beneath the island!"

[doctorzero]

Kaitlin and Max blinked.
Max: Please, oh PLEASE don't let this be Gantz's girlfriend.
Kaitlin: Who's this flighty broad?
Kaitlin cut right to the chase. "Is Alex here? We need to talk to him. Now." She put a lot of emphasis on the last word.
Max gave her an admonishing look. "Er, sorry, miss, we're old friends of Gantz. I'm Max, this is Kaitlin. Is he home? And you wouldn't happen to have an Eevee inside, would you?"
He really hoped that Erin was here. He had been worried sick since that phone call earlier.

---

A.J. took a step back. "Gantz?" He thought that he had stayed downstairs--
Wait. This wasn't Gantz. Sure, this guy had the same face and everything, but the clothes were different.
He suddenly realized who he was talking to. "I...I'm Ya--Jaron's brother, A.J. Are you...you're Gene, aren't you?"
His heart was practically hammering his chest. Jaron had told him about Gene before; the cyborg replica of Gantz. He never knew that he would actually meet him here, of all places.

[gantzgun74]

Rosaline looked to the two with a raised eyebrow. "Alex?" It took her a second to remember, given how much she had been through today her mind was a bit scattered. Max helped her out of course. "Oh yes of course! It is a pleasure to meet you."

She brought a hand to her chest and tried her best to smile, even if she seemed a bit tired. "My name is Rosaline. And I welcome you to-

The gria woman couldn't finish that sentence before Kaitlin responded, recognizing that name from over the phone.

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Back upstairs, Gene looked wide-eyed as he looked AJ up and down... Wait...

There was another like him? A man that was made in the image of someone else?...

Gene narrowed his eyes. "I am... How do you know that?"

[doctorzero]

Max winced as Kaitlin responded.
"YOU'RE Rosaline?!" Gantz's girlfriend is a GRIA?!
"Oh, no..." Max muttered. He really had hoped this wouldn't happen. Naturally, it DID happen. Murphy's Law was never really fond of them.
"Wait, wait a minute! You're Gantz's girlfriend?! YOU?!" Kaitlin demanded, looking rather angry...though Rosaline couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

---

A.J. couldn't believe his ears.
It WAS Gene. He just like him, having been copied from someone else. He never though he'd encounter anyone so similar--
Well. Not ENTIRELY similar. For one thing, A.J. could easily see that Gene's hair wasn't any different from Gantz's.
"Jaron told me about you and your brother. He was really fond of Gantz, and he mentioned you a lot."
He suddenly realize he had no idea how else to proceed with this situation.

[gantzgun74]

Rose continued standing at the door as Kaitlin shouted at her in disbelief and anger. Of course, she herself, like AJ, had NOOO idea how to respond to that... "Uh... Yes... I am..." To be honest, Rose was too tired to really try to make any sort of attempt to understand what was happening. "Is that a problem?"

Further back, Misty and Metal were about to approach the door but stopped when they saw Kaitlin start yelling. Both sweatdropped at the sight.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

From inside, Red looked to the front door curiously, wondering what was going on. Erin could be seen along with her nuzzling up to the girl to offer comfort alongside her big stuffed animal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gene meanwhile, took in what he heard from AJ... Well, he supposed that means he wasn't here to be a harm. "Hmmm, well it's a pleasure to meet you AJ." He held out a hand to shake.

If AJ peeked inside, he would've found a young woman looking to the door herself, wearing reading glasses, and dressed in a light blue jacket with jeans. "Gene, who's that at the door?"

Jumping to attention, Gene looked inside to the woman. "Oh, Lilia! Take a look who it is! Apparently Jaron has a twin just like Gantz has with me!"

Lilia took in the man a moment, before sighing. "Pleasure I guess..."

[doctorzero]

"A PROBLEM?! Of COURSE it's a problem, do you have any idea how--"
"KAITLIN!"
Kaitlin and Rosaline jumped in shock. Max was looking rather tense. "Not NOW."
"But--"
Max gave her a look. "I don't think it's a good idea to discuss that one issue, especially since a certain you know who isn't here," he said.
"...Ugh, FINE," Kaitlin grumbled, though she gave Rosaline a glare that clearly said we'll continue this later, puny Ivalician INSECT.
Max quickly took control of the discussion. "We're sorry about that, Rosaline. Is Gantz home? We...we need to talk to him. It's urgent."
He was also wondering what was taking Metal and Misty so long.

---

Meanwhile, Erin heard the voices from the door. Her ears perked up immediately. With a happy yip she jumped from the couch and ran for the door.

---

A.J. nodded in her direction, though he was rather put off by what Gene said to her. He didn't think he would've said something like that so nonchalantly.
He pushed it aside. "Well, nice to meet you, Lilia--"
Wait.
Lilia.
Lilia.
"You're Su--" he snapped his mouth shut. "I...I mean, uh, nevermind. I'm sorry to be a bother, I'll just be going now..."
He turned to leave. He was beginning to regret coming up here.

[gantzgun74]

Rosaline looked at Kaitlin with her own glare. Granted it wasn't as scary as hers, but the fact that she managed a glare was pretty impressive. "Well... Someone obviously has a few issues regarding Temperament..." She then looked to Max. "He is indeed inside... But I believe he is napping presently." She sighs a bit. "I don't blame him... We had a rough time of it earlier today when we had to fight this monster... Now Yana's gone missing..."

"Sounds like you had a rough day." Came Misty as she and Metal walked up to the bunch. She momentarily grinned mischievously to Kaitlin before looking to Rose. "Heya Rose? Mind if we come in? Our day hasn't been so hot either..."

Nodding quickly, Rosaline let the group into the estate. "Oh yes, of course. Please come in."

------------------------------------------------------------------

As the group took in the house downstairs, Gene and Lilia watched as AJ walked off. He could practically FEEL Lilia's glare drill into his back.

"Suh?" Lilia questioned looking curious...

[doctorzero]

A.J. stopped. "It...nevermind. I didn't mean anything. Talk to you later..." He walked down the staircase.
I shouldn't have said anything. She would've snapped if I mentioned...this isn't at all what I expected to happen!

---

Kaitlin flatly ignored Misty as they entered the house, trying hard not to think of the best way to flip Rosaline's sh*t later.
"VEE!"
Max stumbled as a brown fuzzball launched itself at him. "Wha--ERIN!"
Erin purred as Max held her, relieved. "Oh, thank Arceus you're safe. Did you see Jaron?"
Erin nodded vigorously. "Vee!"
"Oh, SPEAKING of Jaron," Kaitlin added, giving Rose a look. "We need to talk to Gantz about that. Right now, as a matter of fact."
"Kaitlin, she said he was sleeping--"
"I don't care."
"Kaitlin--"
"Guys?"
A.J. had descended the staircase, looking at them with a startled expression.
"Oh, A.J.!" said Max, relieved for the change of subject. "It--"
Kaitlin had stomped forward and stared A.J. straight in the eye before he could finish. "A.J., what're you doing here?"
A.J. sweatdropped. "Can't you give a guy a minute before the interrogation?"
"Aubade, I just got kidnapped, assaulted, confused, kicked over a distance of God knows how many miles by a pirate--don't ask--and was just recently a witness to what amounts to a miniature version of my uncle's Monster Mash. I'm a little stressed right now."
A little? everyone though, sweatdropping.
"Uh...well, the band and I were going to this concert and Cheryl wanted to know if you guys wanted to come, so I gave Max's parents a call. Lucas answered and told me what happened, so I went over, he gave me the general gist, then...well, here I am."
"Mmhm. Please tell me that you didn't bring Lucas with you," said Kaitlin.
A.J. looked offended. "What? No! He was sick as a dog when I saw him, there's no way I would've brought him with me like that!"
Kaitlin seemed satisfied...for the moment. "Well, in any case, it's probably a good thing you came. We might need all the help we can get here, considering that it's Kavma we're dealing with. Which reminds--"
"NO," Max said firmly. Kaitlin looked as if she wanted to argue, but then Max reminded her, "Gantz needs to rest, Kaitlin. I know you want to talk to him as much as I want to, but we need to be patient."
"At this point, I've pretty much had it with being patient," Kaitlin complained, "but you have a point. Fine, we can wait."

[gantzgun74]

As this happened, Rosaline looked to the two new visitors, as Misty and Metal made themselves at home. "While we wait for Gantz however..."

Rosaline crossed her arms and looked to the girl with a cross glare. "What exactly is your reasoning for yelling at me earlier? I did nothing to provoke you, I do believe."

From where she sat, Misty held in the urge to laugh. She had long figured it out where Rose was still quite curious. Metal however... "She has a point." Metal said, his emoticon showing as ' -_- ' "All she did was answer the door."

[doctorzero]

"That's none of your business, Batwoman," Kaitlin said flatly. "I've had a bad day. Let's leave it at that."
A.J. and Max looked at each other. Batwoman? A.J. mouthed. Sure, as a gria Rosaline had batlike wings, but Batwoman?
Max shrugged.

---

FLIGHTY BROADS

And their SNARKY HORSESH*TOMETER

Kaitlin +========= Rosaline

---

It was quite clear that an argument was eminent.
"Hey, Max, how about we go check the parlor, huh?" A.J. asked, his tone rather forced.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," Max said quickly.
The two of them left the girls to their shenanigans.
Meanwhile, Kaitlin continued to glare. "May I ask how long you and Gantz have been a 'thing'?"

[gantzgun74]

"Wait for me!!!" Metal quickly followed Max and AJ, not wanting to be part of THIS spectacle.

As for Rose, her eye twitched a bit. "For your information, Gantz and I have been seeing each other for almost a year now." She said this with a tense tone, easily saying that she was starting to lose her patience. "And also, BATWOMAN? Oh hardy har. Like I've never heard that one before."

[doctorzero]

FLIGHTY BROADS

And their SNARKY HORSESH*TOMETER

Kaitlin +========+ Rosaline

---

"A year, you say? Well, glad to see he doesn't shy away from interspecies romance," Kaitlin said snidely. "And be grateful I didn't call you Uma Therman. Then again, you have more than a resemblance Misty stop grinning this instant."

---

Max and A.J. (Not to mention Metal) swiftly barricaded themselves in the parlor. "This is a nightmare, isn't it?" A.J. asked.
"You have NO idea," said Max. "All we can do is wait until the dust settles."
"Can't we just get Gantz and have HIM stop it?" A.J. complained. "It's HIM they're fighting over, he can deal with it."
Max gave him a look. "...What exactly do you mean by that?"

[gantzgun74]

Rose raised an eyebrow... Really she was unsure what to make of the Uma Therman thing... "Well... At least I don't look like someone straight from that one series... What was it called again? Highschool Musical?"

Misty actually started laughing. To be frank, she liked that show about as much as you'd imagine. (Meaning she hated it, and appreciated the jab at the movies.)

----------------------------------------------------------

"Wait..." Metal looked at the two with emoticons like ''. "Their fighting over GANTZ?!?" Metal sounded really surprised at that...

Realization dawned on him. "Wait... You don't mean that, that... Kaitlin girl actually LIKES Gantz, do you?"