Remnant's Time

Chapter One: Nobody's Home

The Rain came down hard. Lightning flashed a crossed the sky revealing two small beings, weary and amazed to still be alive. After all they've been through, they weren't done yet. The red head carried the other one slowly a crossed the side walk, barely making any progress. The blond one was asleep, or more like unconscious. His arm was around his friend's shoulders and his head was limp. The red head let go of the hand around his shoulder to stroke the blonde's head, his other one wrapped around the blonde's waist, as he stopped and whispered into his ear.

"Don't worry, help will come. I'll get us to safety." He gently cooed to his unlistening ears. He looked up at the sky with burning green eyes. "I'll find him. I'll find our Tamer..."

The rain pounded against the world around him as he ran for home. Koji Adams had just finished the school day and it was now a race for his right to live another day. Zeek Wells and his evil minions Chris Graves and Dustin Miller were after him for his weekly pounding. They took great pride in their work and did a good job at tracking people down. Koji just wished they had no clue where he was today. Of course he was wrong, as always.

"Why look at this! Do we have a runner?" Zeek said in a haunting voice. His friends snickered. They both knew Koji was in for it, especially since he had tried to run. The whole student body knew if you ran when you were picked you had it ten times worse.

Koji took a step back. "Oh hello Zeek. How are you today?"

"Better than you're going to be." Zeek laughed. He gave his goons a nod. They grabbed Koji by his arms and lifted him up. They both had a large build and Zeek was tall and tough. Koji looked away from him. Zeek grabbed Koji's head and forced him to look into his eyes. A dull green and empty of emotion. "We'll teach what happens when you run."

The house's door let out a soft creak as it was slowly pushed open. Koji walked in and threw his backpack on the ground and sighed. He held his arm tightly to his side to numb the pain. "Figures..." He breathed as he walked over to the kitchen. He got a soda and before he could open it he heard a noise. Koji put the soda down and picked up the broom. Zeek must've got inside for more. He crept over to the stairs and raised his broom.

It all happened in few seconds. A small animal came running around the corner and Koji decided not to swing. The small defenseless animal then cried "Don't swing!" Koji than smacked it from the shock of being talked to by an animal. It sent the thing skidding a crossed the living room floor.

Koji slowly walked towards it and gasped. This tiny thing looked exactly like a character from a video game him and his best friend Harry played all the time. It probably stood about four inches tall was literally a chibi cartoon character. He let out a groan as he sat up and rubbed his head. His hair spiked unnaturally back and was a vivid red color. He had triangular like markings under his eyes and his eyes were a bright green.

"What was that for?" He said softly.

Koji was shocked. "You're... You are..." Koji shook his head, trying to figure out if it was a dream or not. "...A Nobody?" He decided to ask first. At least he could figure out if this was the same guy or not.

"No." He said and Koji was relieved, until he heard what he said next. "Not anymore. I'm a Remnant. You're my Tamer Koji." He held out his hand to shake his but Koji only backed away.

"A what? I'm what?"

"A Remnant and Your a Tamer. Got it memorized?" He said irritably.

Koji knelt down next to him. "Your Axel... right?"

Axel nodded, looking rather happy that he knew him.

Koji couldn't take it anymore. "What the fro happened!? You like four inches tall! I thought you were at least taller than me!"

Axel took a few steps back as his face grew red. "Wha--!? It's a... minor... problem..."

"Minor!?" Koji pressed.

"Hey, it's not like I'm like this cause I want to be! I would totally go for the taller person I once was but nooo!" He said raising and dropping his tone with the word no. "I have to be this small little guy without his Nobody powers and the only way I can return to normal is with a Tamer. If that wasn't bad enough, I can only stay like that for a short while!"

"Calm down Axel." A new voice soothed. They both looked over and Koji wasn't surprised. Why not.

"Hey Roxas! Explain to this bone head what's going on!" Axel gave motion for him to come over.

He took a step but then backed up a few paces. "I'll come over if you drop that weapon your holding." Roxas said, pointing at Koji.

"I'm what now?" Koji asked.

"Drop the stick of doom nimrod." Axel growled. Koji obediently dropped the stick.

Roxas nodded. Then he walked up to Axel and put a hand on his shoulder. "Axel, I don't think anyone's going to pick up on this very easily." He said with a sigh. Then Roxas looked up at Koji. "A Remnant is basically what's left of a Nobody. What remains, hence the name Remnant, but we did gain our own hearts back so it's not like we're the bad guys anymore. We can change back to our normal selves, like Axel said before but there's a catch..."

"It's only temporary." Koji finished.

Roxas smiled. "Yup. To do that we need a Tamer's help, which would be you."

"Me... right..." Koji expression went blank. "I knew it. A dream. I'm dreaming."

Axel suddenly started laughing which made Koji jump. "Can't wait to see your face tomorrow! Man, I got to get a camera!"

"Wait, so I'm not dreaming?"

"No, your not."

A breath of air escaped Koji's lips. He felt like he should be shocked. Instead he was just numb inside. He didn't know what to think. "So how am I supposed to help you exactly?"

"That," Axel started. "I don't know. We kind of thought you would know. Vexen's reports said it should come naturally for a Tamer."

Koji let himself fall back. "Well I guess we wait till the right time." A knock then came from the door. "Someone's here!" Koji yelled out. "Hide yourselves!"

The two Remnants looked around but didn't move. "Where?"

Koji groaned and picked them up as the person allowed themselves in. Koji threw them in his pockets at the knick of time.

"Why hello Winter." He greeted. The evil neighbor girl was always pranking him.

"Where are your parents, Koji?" She asked.

"Away..."

Winter came over and started measuring Koji. Then she scribbled down a few notes and continued. "Ah... what are you doing?" He asked.

"Shut up." She snapped and wrote down some more notes. Then with a satisfied grin she walked outside. Koji watched the spot where she disappeared until a voice cut through his thoughts.

"Who's that?"

Koji jumped and muttered. "An evil girl who lives next to me, that's all."

Axel's head poked out of his pocket. "And you let her measure you?"

Shrugging, Koji whispered, "Oh well."

Winter soon came back in and took his toaster and walked out. "I'm taking this." She said.

"Hey! Why do you want my toaster!?"

Winter looked over to him and stared at him with a calm glare. "What toaster? You never had one." Without giving Koji a chance to answer back she walked out of the room.

Koji stood there for a second, trying to figure out what her next mastermind plan was. "Jeeze... I have a feeling I'm not going to like this one."

Axel poked his head out of his pocket again. "And I have a feeling I'm not going to enjoy this either."

Just then another face poked through the doorway. His brown hair was plastered down from the rain and his blue eyes looked slightly bigger from his dorky, round glasses. "Koji? Are you okay? When I saw winter with that toaster, I knew something terrible happened."

Koji put his hands out in front of him, palms facing the new kid. "You got it wrong. Winter took it from me. I have no idea what's going to happen."

"Pst! Koji! Who that?" Axel tried to ask discretely. To his dismay, it wasn't as quiet as he thought.

"Whoa? Did your pocket just talk to you?" He jumped back and then walked up to Koji to investigate.

"Hmm?" Koji looked up at him with a blank stare. "Oh, this is Axel!" Koji fished into his pocket and brought a flailing Remnant out by his hood.

He mouthed the word 'wow' and Axel waved his arms around. "You can't just show me to everyone! It's got to be kept secret!"

"Oh, keep things on the down low! Don't worry! I'm Harry, Koji's best friend! There's not one secret I've told about Koji!"

Axel crossed his arms and let himself go limp in Koji's grasp. Roxas took his turn of revealing himself. "Come on Axel, He has a friend. There's not one thing you wouldn't tell me, is there?"

"I guess... He mumbled.

Koji pointed at Harry. "Axel, Roxas, this is Harry. His dad works at a DNA lab and his mom is a researcher in Canada." Then he pointed at Roxas. "This is Roxas. Axel and Roxas are both Remnants."

Harry straightened himself out and looked Koji in the eye. "What... are Remnants?"