Only one of the two Dalmatians was at the computer, the other was rumaging in the small kitchin next to the lounge. The computer, sitting on an average pine table, was quite modern, with a CD/DVD burner, and various CD scattered around the table, some labled, some not. Next to the hard drive was a dual turntable, a modern mixing mashine.
	The rest of the small place was not expensive in tastes, but that didn't bother them both: They had rent shared for just under seven months. It had made them good frends.
	"Hey," The dalmatian at the computer half yelled. "Alomst done it. Should have the summer mix done tonight." He announced, leaning back in the office style chair, his CD shaped patten on his shirt creacing as her did so.
	The other Dalmatian stuck his head around the corner. "Hey, great work! Mind if I have a listen when it's done CL?" He asked.
	CL was the Dalmatians DJ name, it stood for Cyber Lucky. He responded without looking up, altering one of the controls minutly. "Yeah, I'll be showing it to a few pals. Won't be too long JAP."
	Jap, as you might very well guess, was the other Dalmatians DJ name. He hadn't really made any mixes yet, but he knew god music when he heard it, and had recently givern thought  to doing a mix of his own. You would be mistaken, however, if you assumed his DJ name was some odd assosiation to the Japenese, for it actually stood for 'Just another Pup'. It was some sort of statement that was easily lost or forgotton. Presently, JAP nodded, showing the spot on his head breifly, before dissapearing back into the kitchin again, with the odd rattle eminating.
	The fith time he dropped something, probably a tin by the clank it made, CL lost concentration. "You making new music?" He asked, jokingly.
	After chuckeling, the call came back. "Nope, I can't find any bread. Do ya know where it is?"
	"Brown or white?"
	"Either. I can't find any."
	CL looked towards the kichin, thinking. "I finished brown last night, but the white still had four slices." He offered.
	JAP had a memory flash. He had an odd habit of forgetting things and remembering them later. "Um... Jyust off to the shops." He said. "Be back in a few."
	CL looked at the disks, doing a quick count. "The burners hungry too..." He said.
	"How many?" Jap threw back.
	"Bout five." Came the answer as CL put the old CD's in a pile.
	JAP sighed. He didn't remember much about himself, and how he met CL was fuzzy as well, but as the months grew on, he found out that at least he could lay down new memories, like chalk on a rubbed out blackboard. Othough he didn't remember it, he seemed to feel like this place, this life, was pleasent, nice. Subsequently his old name, about all he knew for sure, was meaningless. Who cares if he was called 'Ash', here his name was DJ JAP. "Sure thing," He threw over his shouldure as he opened the door, and stepped into the night.
	It wasn't particually dark, about an hour after sunset. It wasn't particually late, either, being October. The Summermix took a while to make. Rush hour had come, and gone, but a few walkers, lovers or joggers came and went.
	After walking a short way to the town center, not a lot had changed. Most of the shops had closed, the 24 hour store being a notable exception. Over the road, there was only  a black, or presumed black, car with a man inside wearing something dark. It could also be back, but in the orange light that the lamps threw upon the street, who could tall? He was, however, talking into some sort of small box, in a similer fashion to talking to a dictaphone. He looked up, noticed JAP, then followed a Black Panther jogger, before continuing his narrative into the box.
	Something bugged JAP about that, but he soon forgot as he walked along, with the various noted he had grabbed on the way out stuffed into his pocket, making a small bulge that he had trouble keeping inconspicious in his jeans.
	The town center itslef had various shops, as mentioned earlyier most closed, and some open. Some were the useual lot, like the 24 hour store, and some were more unuseual, like the tackle shop, and the Army surplus. As he walked up to the brightly lit automatic doors of the 24 hour storem he felt like he was being watched. Brushing this feeling aside, he went shopping.
	As fer useual, the pasteries and breadstuff were at the back of the store, the smell drawing JAP forward, almost screaming with their lovley scent. The bread beackoned him to it, some freshly baked. What he was after was nestled between the Danish pastries and the french sticks.
	JAP picked one up of both brown andf white, before thinking about getting a basket. Walking back, he saw outside that none of the cars had moved, the man in the back car writing something this time.
	'Must be a gripping story he's writing.' He mused.
	Putting the bread in the basket he ghad got, a nice red hole filled basket, he looked for the CD-RW's. Walking around to get to where they useually were, he looked over to the chashier, wonddering if was him who had been watching him when he came in. The Lama didn't look like he was bothered with anything, staring blankly into space. After all, it wasn'texactually crowded, being one Dalmatian customer in total.
	He casually dropped the CD-RW's into the basket, not noticing that he had a ten pack instead of a five. In the back of his mind, something was nagging him.
	Walking to the checkout, he glanced to his right, and saw some cans of diet coke. Stopping, he looked at the coke. Before deciding, he checked how much money he had actually grabbed when he had left. Pulling some of the notes out, he quichly relised he had taken a bit too much. He has three £50 notes, and didn't bother to think how much was in the bundle in his pockets: Enough to be in serious trouble if he was mugged. 
	'Hey, on the plus side, you have more then enough for an extra can of coke.' He concluded, in good humor.
	So he got one
	When he got back to the paying part of the shopping, it took the Lama a few seconds to notice him. Looking up, the first thought JAP had was 'You need sleep, bud.'
	"Oh, hi there." The Lama started, at length. "I guess you'll be wanting those. Lets see," He began muttering and counting, not bothering to use the handy cash desk, before stumbeling across the total.
'At least he didn't need the cash mashine..' JAP Thought.
	"That'll be £9.57." He said, dreamily.
	JAP At first wondered why the lot was that expensive, before spotting the 5 pack was in actyuallity, a 10 pack. Grumbeling, he paid a tenner, collected the change, and walked to the exit, after putting his purshaise in a plastic bag.
	The feeling of being watched returned swiftly, stronger this time. He looked around, the hackles on the back of his neck rising, and only saw the Lama, who was once again looking compleatly exausted due to lack of sleep. He couldn't brush the feeling aside this time. Each time he tried it just came back. It would surprise some to know that dogs can't sweat, but if they could, JAP would have been in a cold sweat. Instead, he felt an itch at the back of his neck, as if something was crawling there, crawling to get into his skin, to get inside him.
	'Stop it' He sternly told himself. 'Stop it or run. Either way this is pointless. Go outside, and go home. Nothing is going to happen, it's just you.'
	Mustering up his courage, he left the brightly lit store, and entered the night streest.
	The second he did so the feeling seemed to be unstoppable.
	'This is stupid! Idiot! Look around!' He mentally shouted at himself. 'Nobody is watching you! Look!'
	He did so, and saw nobody on the streets, and the only person in the three cars was the dark cloathed man, who seemed to have finished what he was writing, and was once again dictating. He glanced at Jap for a second, then looked ahead once more.
	All at once JAP's thoughts were inturrupted by anothers.
	'It's not me you should be worried about, sonny, its him.'
	JAP almost fell over, making a good stagger instead, and made a small gasping noise.
	His shock must have been evident, even if he didn't drop his bag, for the voice continued. 'At the side of the store, to your right, there is an allyway. Take it. Make it look normal, they are watching, and I wan't to see you before they do.'
	Beyond comprehension, JAP blindedly obeyed whoever the voice belonged to. He didn't think, because that would either mean he is hearing voices, or something he could't comprehend fully: Telepathy.
	His steps shook, almost enough to make him trip over, but not wuite. He barley noticed that his paw was gripping the plastic bag's handle hard enough to give him bruses later on. His free hand was shaking more then his legs, which he had little control over.
	If possibal, the allyway was darker then the street outside, and it was certainly more foreboding, with dustbins knocked over on the right, below various graffiti on the wall.
	It was the figure on the left that made JAP's mouth dry. He had a look of sheer knowing, and his black, or what appeared black, cloathing was smartly arranged, almost immaculate. He had what appeared to be fair hair, othough it was hard to tell, and his smile was pleasent.
	"Your unuseual, you know." He started, and JAP also heared the words in his head.
	"I trust you are sutably impressed. You seem to be suffering from amnesia, no? I help people, and my giftsput me at odds with some. This is out common ground. You will meet someone soon, and I dout it'll be a pleasent experence. I, well, I'm at odds with these people, and I'd advise you to be careful with them."
	'I can help you with your memory blanck, but it'll have a price. You will oue me, and I might have to call collect on that someday soon. What do you say?'
	Jap struggled to take it in. At lenght, he replied: "But why, why me?" Simply.
	The answer was "simple. compleatly simple, that. I think your someone who could help me, under the right situation. You'll remember in time anyay, I'll be just speeding it up a bit. It ian't really much."
	He turned around, and began to walk.
	'They are on to me, you know sonney.' Jap heard in his head. 'I don't know how long I have left. They have a way to block me. So I need people that can help me. Like you.'
	It was then the pain started. At first it was a naging pain at the front of his head, but soon JAP relised this was like no other headache.
	Images, memories, and feelings flashed through his head. At first it was manageable, but all to soon they increaced in speed, untill he couldn't even make one flash from the next, untill they moved so fast they were like a vidio, which stopped and started in different places. It kept on untill it hurt. But they were there, all unrelated, except that they were his.
	Then, unexpectidly, they stopped. He relised that he was forcing his eyes closed so much he saw stars. Opening them, he had to concentrate to stop thinking of what was now in his head. Even though, pieces slipped through like a small stream.
	The mans composure his his exaustion well. He looked up, and spoke slowly. "I hope that enlightens you on your unknowing situation. If you would excuse me, I need to see someone else. I don't think any one person can help me. Untill we see, or sence, each other again, I think it best you think over what I restored. I hope your memory will fully come back to you." He continued to walk away, into the darkness.
	JAP called out as best he could. "Wait, who are you?" He croaked.
	"Simple, that be." He almost whispered, and the bold voice in JAP's head was hardley audiable. "My name happens to be Keith Warner. Be seeing you." With that last sentence, he left, moving around a corner.
	JAP stood there, the tiny trickle of infomation passing through his concentration block. Taking the advise offered, he opened up his mind.
	It hit him like a brick wall at mack one. Nothing perfectly joined with anything else, and some of it was terrifing. His brain couldn't keep up with the sheer volume of infomation, and it felt suffocating.
	Something kicked in. Half a thought, half a voice.
	'Survive. You'll survive. Now, get out of this dump!'
	It stopped the flashes compleatly, not getting rid of them, but putting them in cue-recall. He knew what it was, and it had control. Again. The knowlage of what had been, what he had seen, what he had done, it made him fearful, and it kicked it in. He knew that anything could kick another memory in, a sight, a smell.
	He half walked, half stumbled back to the main street. Going past the black car, he heard the man talking into the box.
	"Hold that thought..."
	The car door opened behind him, then closed again.
	Ash, or the thing-
	'-Skarrbag-'
	-turned around.
	Whoever it was, he had cloaths that looked compleatly out of place. He also wore sunglasses. 
	'Who wares sunglasses at night?' Ash thought.
	'They do' Came back Skarrbag, and it supplied him with infomation, brought from the cue.
	"Excuse me," The man began, reaching inside his black jacket. "I have a few questions to ask you. Would you mind..."
	The next thing he saw was a nurse in the local hospital. The blow came fast, and was filled with hatred. Skarrbag did it.
	'And now you run before more come. There are always more. I can't survive them, we can't survive them.' Came the thought as Ash's fist the unsuspecting man's face.
	So he ran. He ran untill he could't run anymore. Then he hid, Ash overcoming Skarrbag, who for a first gave up willingly. He now had to begin to live his new life, his old life, his lose life.
	More did come, and Ash was suddenly a wanted dog.

		*	*	*

	Keith was exausted by that. He didn't expect the dog's brain to be such a mess. Whatever had happened to it, it had choped his mind up like a scalpul. In some parts, he suspected that this might be the literal case. He began to think of who to go for next. Already he had seen Ash, and a few months ago he had met a Doctor James Hooflef. He wouldn't see his old Kitsune frend, he knew that the three tailed was probably waging his own private war with The Technocracy. Mabie the ace hacker, what was his name? Ahh, yes, James Neismith.
	"Better get to work, after some needed sleep." He muttered.
	Then everything went black as he was hit by a Taser gun.
	He woke in a private hell.