Ax and Ace walked into the room; the room, however, was outdoors, under a bright sun, a shoreline. A beach filled with d ahat stretched as far as the eye could see. There was no ceiling; the vibrant shade of blue filled the sky, peppered with fluffy clouds.

  The st of the sery was a fresh, salty aroma, the one only found wheing sail.

  Both Ax and Ace were ihe sea had no end, aher did the ceiling.

  Ax snapped out, and he looked behind him; the bck door slowly vanished.

  "Ace! Where is the other door?" Ax asked Ace, his voice showing .

  Ad Ax looked around; no wall in sight and no door in sight; it's as if they were stranded.

  "Are we stranded?" Ace asked Ax.

  "You're asking me? I have no idea," Ax replied.

  "Should we just wander about?" Ace asked Ax, fused on what to do.

  "Yeah, I guess so. Did y hair bands?" Ax answered, also wanting to tie his hair back.

  Ace gave him a hairband and tied his own hair with a different one.

  Ax took it, aied his hair into a ponytail; Ace tied his into a man bun.

  They both walked about for about half an hour, relishing the vibrant sun, st, and sery of the room.

  "I'm definitely getting a tan, aren't I? Should've brought sunblock," Apined, showing sarcasm."Skill issue," Ax responded, not even looking at him.

  "I ck menin, you dolt," Aswered him, somewhat annoyed.

  "Oh, a menin issue," Ax said without hesitation.

  "I could just shoot you... and you'd just e back..." Ace said sarcastically.

  Ax stopped in his tracks, causing Ace to actally bump into him.

  "Hey, I was kidding, sorry," Ace tried to apologize.

  "No, look," Ax interrupted him, pointing at the ground below.

  Ace looked at the ground to see...

  "Pearls?" Ace asked himself.

  "They are massive, like as big as our fists, and there's four of them...?" Ax added to Ace's question.

  Ax walked up to one of them; they were scattered about.

  As Ax reached to pick up one of the pearls.

  It shook.

  Ax jumped back, bumping into Ace.

  "Ow—," Ace winced, as both of them looked at the pearl.

  The cy around the pearl caved in, surrounding the pearl, f a mound. The mound got bigger... and bigger... till it was 7 feet tall.

  Ad Ax both simultaneously grabbed their revolvers and shot them.

  Crack

  Shatter

  Ace showed his icy bullet as the mound was still taking shape, freezing a portion of it. Ax shot the frozen portion of the cy, causing it to shatter.

  "That was... easy," muttered Ax as he walked up to the mound, which stopped taking shape and slumped over. Aoticed a shiny shard of... cy?

  Ace asked Ax to pick it up.

  "The pearl?" asked Ace.

  "Yeah... I guess so," replied Ax, both curious.

  As they were both iing the shard of the pearl, the three other fully formed pearls grew into mounds... and took shape.

  They were 7 feet tall, massive hulking mounds of cy with arms as thick as their heads. Only twlowing dots on their heads where their eyes should be. As they started to walk towards Ax and Ace, it felt as if they started to block out the sun itself.

  As they sloroached the two. Ax grabbed his sword, and with one swift leap and ssh, he lopped off one of their limbs. Ax jumped bad stared at the monsters.

  "It wasn't... that hard to lop its arm off. We got this, Ace," he said while looking at Ace.

  "Uh..." Ace poi the 'golem.'.

  "Oh...", Ax could only utter while he saw the mound of cy regrowing its lost limb.

  "Is this where we run?" Ace asked Ax.

  "Yep, RUN!" Ax screamed as he pushed Ace to run and ran himself.

  They both ran as fast as they could in the opposite dire.

  "Are they still chasing up?!," Ace asked Ax as the both of them sprinted.

  Ax looked back to see the golems running at them.

  "YEAP, DO SOMETHING!" Ax screamed as he tio run with Ace.

  "WHAT DO YOU MEAN!? YOU ARE THE ONE WHO'S IMMORTAL; YOU DO SOMETHING!" Ace screamed at Ax, bantering with him.

  "WELL, YOU WERE THE ONE SO EAGER TO E WITH, PULL YOUR WEIGHT!" Ax screamed at Ace.

  "What do you mean—" Ace stopped in his tracks to turn around and look at them.

  Ax stopped right after him.

  "Why'd you stop?" Ax asked Ace as the golems were still running at them.

  Ace put his fingers on his ; he had an idea.

  "Ax, the ed around the pearl, right?" he asked Ax. Still thinking.

  "Yeah, I still have the shard—" Ax's eyes wide the realization.

  "See what I'm implying?" Ace said with a smirk, proud of himself.

  "Huh, what do you know? You really are pulling your weight," Ax said as he aimed his gun at the golems, visibly proud of Ace.

  "Aim for the head," Ace said as he shot his icy bullet at one of the heads.

  Crack

  Ax followed his lead.

  Shatter

  One of the golem's heads shattered, causing it to lose shape and fall apart. Making the other two golems tumble.

  "You take the one on the left; I take the one on the right?" Ace asked Ax, feeling fident.

  "Yeah, sure," Ax said as he uhed his swain.

  They both ran straight towards the golems.

  Ax ran towards his golem, causing it to raise its arm as high as it could to hit him.

  Shatter

  Ax shot its elbow, causing it to burst. Making the arm fall down.

  As the golem's arm started to grow back, it raised its other arm ialiation as Ax roag it. Ax slid us legs, causing the golem to miss its opportunity to hit Ax, as he slid past the golem on the ground; he aimed up and—

  *Shatter*

  Causing the bullet to travel up to its torso and explode, making a gaping hole in its torso.

  Ax got up behind his monster and aimed at its head.

  *Shatter*

  The bullet exposed the pearl from behind its head.

  Shatter

  Ax shot the pearl, causing it to shatter into pieces, killing the golem instantly.

  ***

  Ace ran towards the golem.

  *Crack*

  Crack

  Ace aimed towards the heels of the golem. Uhed his katana with his free hand, ran up to it, and waited for the golem to raise its arms to hit him.

  As Ace heard the shatters of Ax's gun, he chopped off the left arm of the golem, causing it to fall. Ace then aimed his gun at the thick amputated stump and—

  Crack

  Ace froze the stump of the golem, not letting it grow back its arm. As it raised its other arm, Ace repeated the process.

  Crack

  The golem was frozen in pce, without arms. But it started to slowly crack the ice around its stumps and almost broke free from its froze.

  Ace raised his gun once more and—click, click.

  He was out of ammo.

  "Shit," Ace muttered to himself as he saw the golem almost break free.

  Shatter

  Ax aimed and shot the neck of the golem, causing it to expose its pearl. In the spur of the moment, Ace dropped his sword and reached for the pearl, grabbing it and pulling it out with as much force as he could muster. He then flicked his revolver open with one hand, airing it out.

  Ace threw the pearl as high up as he could, causing his hair to free itself through the momentum and-

  Crack

  He shot it midair; with perfect aim, he shattered the pearl. The mound is returning to the earth. Ace's heart still thumping as the glittery ice shavings from the shattered pearl slowly desded down as Ace was still aiming his silver revolver upwards. Breathing heavily as his hair drooped over his eyes.

  He looked over to Ax to see Ax g with his ons already put away and not out of breath at all.

  "Thanks for the show," Ax said as he was still g."Oh, shut up," Ace said as he put his gun aicked up his sword, putting both of them away.

  Ax slowly stopped g.

  "I guess... you stay," he said to Ace.

  "Hell yeah," Ace replied to Ax's ent.

  They both brushed off the cy from their clothes.

  Ax looked to his side at the bck door and the blue door. Both appeared right in front of him.

  Ace saw Ax reach for the blue door and... fail to open it.

  "Still locked out?" he asked Ax.

  "Seems so, let's head home for now," Ax replied to Ace, somewhat disappointed.

  They both opehe bck door aurned back to Ax's apartment.

  Ax was still locked out of Nexus.