Welcome to Gaia! ::

While Mort went through the list to choose a song, Alex took the opportunity to warm up a little. Swinging his arms, wiggling his hips, bouncing up and down on his toes. Amped up and ready to kick Mort's patched up zombie a**. There was a little bit of giggling going on, and he glanced behind him only to see the ghouls that had just been playing moments before standing back to watch, joined by a few others who were likely waiting for their own turn at the machine. He just flashed them a large grin before turning back towards the game.

Mort had made his selection, and it was also a song that Alex did not recognize. No matter, really, this was all just for fun and he honestly didn't care whether he won or lost, even if he did have a title to defend and a reputation to uphold.

He made sure he was on the same difficulty setting as Mort before beginning so that they were truly on even ground, his steps not quite getting in place all the time but at least he wasn't failing completely. All and all, it was a bit of a poor game for him, and he glanced up at his score and then over towards Mort's when it was all said and done.

Only to see that they had broken even.

"Pfff, excuses. Wanna go one more time?"

Score: 26+3(combo) = 29

Alex was fine with going again. He figured that first song would have loosened him up sufficiently to be able to get a more decent score this time. So, he waited for Mort to pick a new song, again, one he also did not recognize but, again, was not all that bothered about.

Until it actually came time to the foot stomping action that he could barely keep up with.

Like his zombro, Alex struggled his way through the song, and was it his imagination or had the giggles from earlier turned into outright laughter? Ya, the ghouls probably found the two awkward zombies trying to play DDD highly amusing. That grated on him a tiny bit, his anger, which he seemed to be more prone to recently, flaring up. He tried not to let it show however, and kept smiling even as the song ended and he stopped to rest against one of the bars, giving his score a disappointed glance before looking over towards Mort's.

Yes, apparently they both sucked.

"Hrm well..maybe one more go at it? Try and pick a song we actually know this time, if there are any."

Score: 26

Okay, this was it. Alex was actually going to take the game a little more seriously this time. Not only was his reputation at stake now, but ghouls were laughing at them. He couldn't have that. He prayed to jack that Mort picked a better song this time.

Oh, well, that was much better. He grinned happily to himself as the music started, a song that was actually quite recognizable from past experiences playing on the machine. Alexander was confident this time.

The two zomboils stomped their feet to the beat of the music nearly flawlessly, in sync with each other through the whole song. Alex was even so sure of his steps that he took time to look away from the machine and offer Mort a wide grin, once he got into the groove. Obviously they had just needed those first two songs to warm up with, though even Alex was surprised when the song came to an end and he saw his score.

"Wow that's..almost as high as my record." He admitted, which was pretty decent considering he still had no idea how he had gotten that high what was nearly a year ago now. He glanced at Mort's score and his face lit up even more.

"You did pretty wicked yourself, buddy, but I'm afraid I still reign supreme DDD champion." He shrugged, then turned to finally step off the machine, clearly feeling a little drained of energy from that last round. Some others who had been waiting patiently for them to finish stepped forward to take their turn, but he noted with some satisfaction that nobody was laughing at them anymore.

Score: 33+ 6 (two combos, 4,4,4 & 3,3,3)=39 aka, suck on that, Mort~

"Oh, you are a sucker for punishment." He grinned, though inwardly he knew he could only retain his title for so long. After all, Mei had kicked his a** at DDD when he'd played it with her...though admittedly, at the time neither one of them had come close to his own high score. And you know what? That was fine. It was only a game, after all. An incredibly fun game that he enjoyed playing with his friends.

Alex waited for Mort to join him on the floor, having a glance around at the other arcade games. Playing the dancing game had actually cheered him up quite a lot, to the point of not really caring about games with brutal killing involved anymore.

And of course, his zombro had to go and give him the choice. There was a bench nearby against one wall, probably for parents to sit while they waited for their scarelings to finish playing. He nodded towards it, face suddenly serious and grave. He was still debating with himself inwardly over whether this was the right thing to do, to let Mort in on what was meant to be a secret. Still, he shuffled over towards the bench and sat, waiting for Mort to do so as well before turning towards him. The noise from all the games and machines would likely drown out his words so that nobody else could hear, so he felt relatively safe.

"I--I really don't know if I should be telling you this." He admitted. If Yin found out, he likely wouldn't be very happy with him. "So I need you to promise me, you will not tell anybody else. Not even your ghoulfriend, Mort. This is important. I know I can trust you but, I don't know if I can trust anybody else, and I...I'm hoping you might be able to help." It was probably a foolish notion, but Mort did have a knack for technology. Maybe together they could come up with something to help the others.

Okay, this was it. He sucked in a deep breath (not that he really needed it), held it for a moment to calm his nerves, and then let it out. Playing DDD had been a nice distraction, but now that they were finished, and he was sitting here, replaying what Yin had told him again and again in his mind...he was experiencing a jumble of emotions. Anger, fear, anxiety....but he just needed to say it.

He licked his lips slowly, looked down at his hands which were crossed on his lap, then back up at Mort. "I appreciate that." He murmured, and then, finally, quietly, he continued.

"The hunters did something else as well. They put something inside the students, attached it to their fear cores, making it virtually indestructible. Yin called it...a tracker." He closed his eyes, thinking, trying to remember what little he did actually know.

"It can be used to control them, and the hunters can see what they see, and hear what they hear. Mort, I shouldn't be telling you this, I really shouldn't. Yin would be so upset with me if he knew. Please, don't tell anyone." He opened his eyes, and held his pale grey gaze steady on Mort's.

"But if there is anything you can do to help, anything you can even think of..to disable it, to remove it, to do something to help them without...without permanently killing them...." He stopped, his eyes burning with unshed tears. "..Please, we need to find a way to help them."

Yes maybe some of the others but...but who? The only other one Alexander even really knew was Amrita. And, come to think of it now, hadn't she hinted that there was something else, something that Yin perhaps had a reason to hide from him, to push him away for? She might be willing to talk with them about it, though Jack knew if Alex had been in that position, it would probably be the last thing he wanted his friends to keep bringing up. But if it could help them. If it could potentially save them.

He shrugged at Mort's apology. It did suck, a lot, knowing that they had been just a little bit too late. If they had gotten there perhaps just hours sooner, this might not even be an issue. But the fact was that it had happened, and now they needed to deal with it.

"How were we supposed to know? Their technology must be so much more advanced then our own...but I need to believe that what can be done can be undone." He'd been thinking about this a lot. What could be done, even if the trackers couldn't be removed or destroyed. Somewhere, probably on the hunters island, was the piece of technology used to control the trackers, he was sure. Could it not be destroyed?

The question about Yin was startling, but Alex just shook his head. "Nothing unusual. I mean, like I said earlier, he's been through quite a lot, so he's not going to be the same as he used to be, is he? He's...lethargic, spending more time in bed then is probably healthy for somebody who is normally very active." But other then that..no, nothing that Alex felt like he should be concerned with in relation to the tracker.

"He was pretty drained when we were reunited on the hunter island. They all were, come to think of it. Those who were rescued had to pretty much be carried to the jungle before we were able to leave." Alex pondered this out loud, wondering if the tracker really did have anything to do with it. But then again, depression just seemed more likely, considering that Yin seemed okay once he was up and actually moving around rather then laying in bed. He was going to have to try and do something about that, if the problem persisted.

Anyways, that business was done and out of the way, and Alex felt almost as though a burden had been partially lifted from his shoulders. Mort might not be able to come up with anything to help, but there was always a chance, and Alex was willing to do anything.

His own eyes lifted to the ghouls as they passed, and he offered them a bit of a smile when they glanced towards him and Mort. Inwardly though, he was a little bit paranoid. Were the ghouls following them, trying to overhear any conversation they might have? Hunters in golem form, perhaps? Maybe this wasn't as safe of a place as Alex had first thought.

"Ya, I'll keep an eye on him, when I can. So, what is this 'fun' that I missed, then?"