Z-Mage (the poster) knew it was only a matter of time before Z-Mage (the fictional character) found him in the Superman board. This impromptu battle with Beldar, with its noise and lightning, didn't help things any.

"W-w-what do you w-want with me?" the poster stammered.

The fictional character sneered. "You sniveling worm! You disgust me! I am shamed to the very core of my being knowing that I was created by you. You deserve much more than the slow death that I am about to give you."

With that, Z-Mage (tfc) began to draw the energies to him to cast his next spell in a slow and deliberate manner, both savoring and detesting the growing fear in Z-Mage's (tp) eyes.

"Oh my... oh my God! You're actually going to kill me! Please! You can't kill me! Oh my God!" the poster breathed.

"Yes. It will make your agony that much more satisfying. Hold on to that last sliver of hope. Appeal to your...." the fictional character's tirade trailed off. His eyes widened in sudden... understanding? fear? The energies he had been gathering dissipated.

"No!" he said.

Then he screamed. "NO!" In frustration, he threw two balls of destructive energy at the wall of the Superman Board. "IT CAN'T BE!"

Just then, DeMonStar and Demonicuss chose that moment to show up. Demonicuss wasn't sure what his creation's plans were, but he knew he had to get Z-Mage away from both of them. DeMonStar approached Z-Mage (tfc).

"Why haven't you killed him yet?" he asked, foregoing all subtlety. "I've already told you what will happen."

"You were wrong!"

"What? How can you know that? Every indication--"

"DeMonStar, you idiot!" a nearly crazed Z-mage shrieked. "Look at them! Open your eyes and look! They are not gods! They are powerless and frail! They are as insects to us! If we were to kill them, nothing would happen to us! Nothing! Do you know why? Because not only are they not gods, but they have gods of their own! There are beings that manipulate them like puppets the same way they manipulate us! If we were to kill them it would change NOTHING! We would still be puppets! Puppets of puppets of puppets! Our power would be squandered on insects such as these! DeMonStar, you and me and everything we've come to know ARE nothing! We claim that we have all this power when we really have nothing at all!" Z-Mage finished his revelation and just stared at his fictional counterpart.

"Hmmm." DeMonStar replied as he began pacing. "What you say is very interesting, Z-Mage. And I admit most disturbing. I have to admit that as of right now, I don't know how to react--"

"I do." DeMonStar heard a high-pitched voice say as the headphones of a walkman were slipped over his ears. DeMonStar whirled to see who had spoken, but his attention was caught by Z-Mage (tfc) who was standing rigid and staring blankly into space. Suddenly, DeMonStar took on a similar expression and stance as OzBat pushed the Play button on the walkman. The two other-dimensional, fictional characters were paralyzed.

OzBat turned to where Demonicuss was helping Z-Mage to his feet. "It's like I keep telling you guys," Oz began, "fiction belongs on the NEB!"

OzBat then flew up so that he was eye-level with DeMonStar. "And with these two, I don't even think that they should stay there for long."

Suddenly, the little fifth-dimensional mite got a wicked gleam in his eye and FLICKED DEMONSTAR IN THE EAR!

"And that's for squashing me flat, earlier!" he said triumphantly.

"What did you do to them!?" Demonicuss asked.

"Well, after everyone left the Vertigo board, I found those two walkmans. After investigating them, I fiugred out that they were the cause of all the brainwashing going on. So, I rerecorded the tapes, with new instructions. I'm brainwashing them to forget everything they know about this dimension. Plus, I'm using stronger incentive than modern pop tunes."

"What are you using?"

"Barry Manilow!"

"Ouch!"

"Oz, what are you planning on doing with them?" Z-Mage (tp) asked.

"Well first, you two are going to go find the others while I stay here and stand guard, and then we're going to get these two back to the NEB. I don't know who wrote these two into this dimension, but we're writing them out!"

Floating there, talking like that, Demonicuss and Z-Mage (tp) could now truly see the inner-strength that OzBat had, and why he was the moderator of the NEB. The two Rumblers headed for the door to go search for the others.

"Demonicuss," Z-mage (tp) asked, "what if what he said was right? What if we really are just puppets and or lives are nothing more than fiction to someone else?"

"I wouldn't worry about it."

"Why not?"

"Because," Demonicuss answered as he stepped over the still-smoking body of Charizard. "Who would write something this f*cked up?"

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

Beldar crawled toward a corner, glad to be forgotten for the moment. Soon he would recover enough to walk, or crawl out through a tunnel if he could call the diglett back. No telling where the Pikachu had scampered off to -- it hated being in the pokeball anyway.

Then he heard the sound of a vehicles brakes outside. Oh no, Beldar thought, it's those meddling kids.

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