A bright heart-shaped moon shone brightly over a newly-renovated portion of the World that Never Was.  These streets were decorated to almost resemble New Orleans at the time of Mardi Gras.  But this celebration was not to mark a time of wasting, oh no, it was made for the celebration of a new creation:  the creation of a new being.  This was the celebration to start the Tournament of Nobodies started by a new affiliation of powerful Nobodies calling themselves Organization Infinity.  The Tournament of Nobodies was the chance for one of them to regain their lost heart through the power of their Superiors, Xhaonroi being the main one in charge of organizing the tournament and enlisting the brawlers.  

However…

Perched on one of the buildings overlooking the party was a black-cloaked figure.  Next to him was one of his two Nobody affiliations under him:  a Ninja.  They both looked out over the crowd, cleverly hidden behind a series of colorful lights.  There were about twenty of them, maybe less, but none of them were pushovers; he had seen the roster and the powers of these guys.  He had befriended one of them personally in his short time in the new Organization, and that was one of the things that troubled him.  

He pulled back his hood, pushed back the blue streaks of hair from his forehead, and scratched it.  He found himself doing this more and more often the longer he was separated from his Somebody, Michael Heilmann.  That’s why he needed the heart; to no longer have to be close to him in order to survive, to be his own person.  Machelix Mexilhann, not just the Nobody of the hero of the old Organization regime, but a person in his own right, his own destiny…  

He couldn’t kill off his Somebody; they shared too close a physical bond.  What happened to one would happen to the other.  But, then again, neither did he want to; He liked Michael, but he hated the inescapable bond they were shackled together with.  It would be like taking down one of your dear friends, maybe even like killing himself.

He took a sitting position in his concealed location and pondered over his plan again.  It was simple enough, just to collect one of those heart-shaped pendants.  Unfortunately, that was only half the game.  The other part would include that which prevented him from entering the contest in the first place:  he hated to show his face.  Sure, he liked to be around his friends, but his slight sense of paranoia disliked him being even at a slight risk of being caught on camera (without his consent).  That other part was to face the ultimate victor in the tournament for the prize.  Of course he wasn’t going to kill him over it; he hated murder.  He just liked the thrill of the fight.  All that was left for Phase 1 was the heart-shaped pendant…

“Alright, let’s go,” he said.  He quickly got up and summoned his staff.  He led the Ninja along as they scaled the building down to the alleyway below.  Completely out of everyone’s line of sight, they could begin business.  Out of one of the garbage cans lining the alley he pulled a secondhand Organization coat.  Luckily this particular can had been cleaned recently.  The Ninja took the cloak, putting it on itself.  The fit was tight, especially since the Ninja’s bulky shoulders poked through the shoulders of the jacket slightly. Still, no one would be able to tell it apart from the Organization Nobodies with both the hood shading its face and the scarf it always wore over its face.  

The only thing that might give it away was the Ninja’s spiked phalanges poking from the sleeves and from the bottom.  Machelix reached farther into the garbage can and pulled out a fresh pair of tailored boots and custom-crafted gloves.  Both went up the Ninja’s limbs halfway but completely covered the tell-tale signs of its lesser-ranking.  He would have to give Clinexora his regards to how well they fit.  

The two of them peeked around the corner.  A group of Nobodies could be seen at the end of the alley, standing at a snack table erected there.  Recollecting his initial analysis of the handbook, he realized that these were Ambrex, Xargas, and Mexiky.  Xargas and Mexiky were two sword wielders, Xargas wielding twin snake swords and Mexiky wearing his claymore on his back.  Xargas was a master of gravity following in Xigbar’s shoes while Mexiky’s element was a wild card.  He claimed that it was the Universe or Absorption or something or other, but a display of that had yet to be seen.  Ambrex was truly a wild card contender in the bout to be, wielding a marker as large as a man’s leg as her weapon and claiming Creativity as her element.

Each one had obtained their hearts by their own “unique” means, but Machelix had yet to see where one could be.  He didn’t want to steal it (at least not from those contending), which made collecting one all the harder.  

Suddenly, he saw her:  tall, red-eyed, raven-haired with blood-red tips and one of the acting Superiors, Xhaonroi.  Dangling from her hand was a small pink object dangling from a string:  the target.  Machelix sent the Ninja around the corner at that moment.  At first it was a little unsteady with its new boots, but it soon corrected itself and continued on after her.  The Ninja had a shuriken concealed within its gloved grasp, just light enough to prevent it from tearing the glove but hard enough to keep it held.  Making its way through the streets, it closed in on her.  

Machelix drew his hood up and sheathed his staff in its usual niche of Twilight.  He liked having it out as a weapon, but it really wasn’t cut out for stealth operations.  Satisfied with the preparations, he slipped unnoticed into the streets as well.  If Xhaonroi decided to draw out her crescent blades, things could get difficult for the mission.

That’s when the call came from across the way.  “Yo, Machelix!”

Machelix at first started walking at a faster pace, but that wasn’t enough.  Xiru was on him now.  To confirm it, his blue bird with the incredibly long tail circled around him.  At this point Machelix froze, not wanting to make any sudden movements.  Even so, Xiru came nearer.  He was a spry young Nobody with feathers as his element (foolish in some respects, dazzling in others) and the bird that could supposedly stiffen into a staff as his weapon.  His hair was mostly green but it did have streaks of yellow at the tips.  The smile on his face confirmed his truly innocent reason for approaching him, but Machelix was on a busy schedule and couldn’t let Xiru’s good name be blemished on his account.

He chanced a look ahead of him.  The Ninja was doing well, the shuriken extended from its hand at precisely the level of the heart string.  It was briskly walking alongside Xhaonroi, who appeared to take no notice of it.   Any second now…

“Machelix, what are you doing here?  I thought that this tournament party was only for members before the cutoff.”

“I’m not here for the party,” Machelix replied, trying to keep his emotions level.  For a Nobody this would appear easy, but even those pretending to have hearts sometimes succumb to their emotions.  

“Get away from me, Xiru,” Machelix hissed.  “I don’t want you involved.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, recalling his bird.  

Snip.  Chink.  

The deed was done; time to escape.  Machelix drew his staff again and backed off from Xiru, firing a blast of black and gray energy at the ground.  The blast sent Machelix skyward, up over the buildings alongside him.  The Ninja Nobody, still in its Organization garb, also bounded upwards, catching Machelix with its free hand and hauling him over the roof of the building.  

They couldn’t stop now.  Keeping their weapons held fast, they escaped over the roofs of the buildings until they came to one with a wide clearing in front of it:  Memory’s Skyscraper.  This building stood out from the others, as it was one of the few that had its own color apart from the black walls and pale yellow windows, mostly the illuminated ramp and stairways and the border to the video billboard screen at the very top.  This screen was usually kept blank except for the big emergencies.  

This hardly mattered to Machelix.  He walked up the neon light-lit staircase leading up to the doors and pushed them open.  Ever since the first fall of the original Organization, his building had been abandoned.  However, Machelix had rediscovered it and used it as a sort of base.  A computer rested at the very end of the first room he came to on the first floor.  The screen was blank, except for the Nobody symbol with a black background acting as the screensaver.  He shook the mouse next to it.  Before him on the screen now was a single list of things to do:
  
– Complete Mission #5   X
– Complete Mission #17   X
– Complete Mission #4   X
– Complete Mission #11
– Manage Documents   
– Complete Operation Skeleton Key
– Complete Operation Phantom
(He liked to put X’s next to completed objectives)  

The Ninja Nobody shed its Organization garb, depositing it in a clean pile on a shelf.  It stowed its shuriken away in one of the pouches lining the belts crossed on its chest.  Finally, it walked up to Machelix, the heart-shaped pendant hanging from its spiked fingers.  Machelix opened his hand below the pendant, and the Ninja Nobody relinquished it.  Holding it tightly in his left hand, he typed an X next to Operation Phantom.  A snigger echoed though the empty halls before a series of maniacal laughs followed them.

“All according to plan.”