Chapter 2: Crimson Hero

Welcome back. Before anyone asks about the timing of things, just know the timeline will be moved around as I see fit. It's easier than trying to work around it.

Despite his rigorous self-study, Subaru had a lot of free time. He naturally worked efficiently on his own, devouring the material easily and found himself having to do several days' worth of work at once if he wanted to finish at the time school let out. He could easily do half a dozen chapters in math in a day without even thinking about it. Once he sat down and started working, well, that was it. He just worked, didn't complain, and looked up anything he didn't understand immediately.

And that was how Subaru found himself so far ahead it was getting a bit ridiculous. Were classes back at school really that slow-paced? He guessed it had something to do with having to go at the class' pace and not his own, and he never realized that he actually could work ahead. Whatever the reason, Subaru found himself with a lot of free time and not much to fill it with. He didn't participate in any clubs before he left, he didn't do any sports, and well, the number of attachments he had had with his school could be counted on one hand. He could keep studying and get even farther ahead, possibly finish the entire curriculum within a month or two and request early testing, and then rinse and repeat. And do that again and again until he got into high school or even college early.

Subaru had a feeling he was becoming a workaholic when he realized the idea wasn't that unappealing to him. Except there were better things he could be doing with his new free time that would be more helpful in the end. Like doing work he could get paid for, so he wouldn't have to ask his mom for money he always felt guilty for taking. But he wasn't even twelve and no one really wanted to hire someone still in elementary school, because he should be out doing 'kid' things, not working.

Subaru sighed, and shuffled away from the most recent store that had rejected him. He wasn't even asking to do a hard job, just to be a general gopher who'd run errands, organize, and maybe clean the place on occasion. But he was too young to work, or even get money under the table with odd jobs and favors consistently.

"You missed school again today, Hoshikawa."

Subaru kept walking. He stopped when a large hand took his shoulder with a grip he knew he wouldn't be breaking, "Listen to the Prez when she's talking to you." Said her ogre of a henchman.

Great, that sheer smugness was going to set him off. Subaru took a deep breath that didn't calm him so much as it tightened the ball of frustration in his gut, "I told you, I won't let you use me just to look better."

Luna strutted up, and her smile set Subaru on edge. Even when she removed Gonta's hand the brunet didn't let himself relax, "Oh let the poor boy go, Gonta, we can all be civilized, right?"

Fake. Everything about her was fake, from her sugary sweet voice to her sudden concern for him. Did she think he'd forgotten how she'd gleefully let her lackey handle him just a couple of days ago? No, Subaru didn't bother to even pretend to be pleasant, "What do you want?"

"Now, now, there's no reason to be so hostile, Hoshikawa! After all, school is over for the week, so it's not like I can drag you anywhere. Not that I'd do something like that again." Luna ignored Subaru's bland look and continued, "No, no, looking back on it now, I see I was being too hasty. Even if I got you to school that day, it's not like you would've stayed. No, I've thought about your situation and realized just how terrible it is! Even I would have trouble going back to school with such a…handicap placed on me. So here, a little something to make your transition back to school easier."

Subaru was too busy gagging on her fake concern to really think about what sort of "handicap" Luna would think he had. But when she handed over a business card with the word 'tutor' it, he realized how little she thought of him.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Hoshikawa," Luna continued, taking his stunned silence for confirmation, "I don't think that you're dumb. In fact, before your…prolonged absence, your grades were some of the highest in the class! But after such a long time out of class, anyone would be afraid of going back and having to catch up. But with your grade performance, I'm sure you'll catch up with only a few sessions. Don't worry- just give him my name and you won't have to pay a dime if that's what's worrying you so much."

Subaru threw the crumpled card back at Luna and stormed away.

The blonde sputtered, "Hey, wait a second! I'm trying to help you out here, why are you being so rude?"

Gonta was reaching for him again, but Subaru smacked away his hand. This was-! "Do you really think I've been out of school so long and done nothing? I've been working from home!"

"You could have just said that from the start! Honestly, there's no reason to get so angry over my reasonable assumption that a student not at school isn't studying! It's not like most students even work while they're at school you know!" Luna huffed, indignant.

Subaru felt himself calm a bit. That was right, not many kids, heck, people in general, had his work ethic. He hated feeling like he was wasting his life so much that working hard came so naturally to him that it was…strange to think other people didn't feel the same way. So, this was all just a misunderstanding, which meant they could all just go their separate ways…

"So that means you'll be able to come back to school immediately then, right? Great, I'll do my best as class president to make your transition back in as smooth as possible!"

Did she not get it? "I'm not going back. I'm doing perfectly fine on my own. I don't have a reason to go back anyway."

"Hoshikawa, Hoshikawa Hoshikawa…" Luna tutted and wagged her finger in disappointment, "No matter how well you study you're sure to miss out on other important things by not going to school. What about clubs, or playing a sport? You're looking a bit scrawny there you know…But you are pretty fast, so I have a feeling you'd do good on our track team! I'll even help pay for any equipment you'll need to try whatever activities you want to try if you come back Monday. Do we have a deal?"

"You're disgusting."

"Huh!?"

"I said you're disgusting." Subaru repeated, and he decided he'd push forward, "You keep acting like you care about me when I know you just want to make me come back to make yourself look good. When brute force didn't work you decide to track me down and try to bribe me! Several times! You're doing it now!"

"I think you're misunderstanding the situation, Hoshikawa. I'm just trying to help you adjust-"

"I'm already six months ahead of you all, why would I even come back?" Subaru shot out and thought that when Luna gaped at him like that she looked like a fish out of water. When had anyone ever told her "no" more than once?

He was sick of talking with her. Sick of putting up with her when she thought he was so dumb he couldn't see what she was doing, "I don't want to go back, what part of that do you not understand? Or do you think that if you throw enough money and promises at me I'll suddenly agree? How dumb do you think I am that I wouldn't notice how you don't care at all about how I actually feel? Huh?" Subaru could see Luna cracking, and knew she'd break apart if he didn't stop. But she was just so annoying-! "Someone like you can't ever understand what it's like."

Luna tried to gather herself and fight back, but really she just rose to his bait, "Someone like me? Hoshikawa, you'd better watch your words carefully-!"

"A spoiled rich brat like you can't ever understand what it'd like to not have things go your way, right? I bet your precious daddy will buy you anything you want! I bet you're buying off the entire school to win this election!"

Luna recoiled as if she'd been struck. She sprang back up violently, with claws bared and heart unprotected, "Well at least I have friends! What sort of person are you to have no friends, to be so mean and nasty no one wants anything to do with you? Hmm?"

Maybe that should have hurt, but Subaru let the words wash over them, never bothering to really listen to them. It was for the best, he thought, and let the bitter taste in the back of his mouth spill forth as venom, "Instead of what? Having lackeys who only put up with you so they can leech off your money? How many people in our class would actually like you if you did this to them? I bet they just put up with you so you'll leave them alone!"

"You take that back right now!" Gonta shouted and loomed over Subaru. But the brunet boy was filled with bravery from anger and indignation and snarled right back at the taller boy. He must've looked really mean for Gonta to step back like that.

"We aren't at all like that!" Kizamaro suddenly piped up, his horrified trance at the direction of things finally broken, "We're Luna's real friends! Not that you'd know what that what those are!"

But the damage was done, and Luna had stormed off, surrounded by an air of bluster and righteous indignation. Except the fat tears in her eyes were peaking and spilling, and he knew she was going to cry as soon as she rounded the corner. Gonta rushed after the blonde, Kizamaro at his heels and neither bothered to look at him. It was obvious they actually cared about Luna if they could forget their own feelings towards him so fast. Subaru could see that from the start, but he hadn't cared and pulled every trick he could think of to hurt her.

Subaru wondered what had to be wrong with him to not feel even the least bit sorry. He didn't really care, didn't really feel any better after what he'd done. But he thought the gap in his heart was a bit annoying.

After that mess, Subaru didn't feel like looking around for some way to make money anymore. But he didn't feel like heading home, defeated, either, so the brunet wandered around the city for a while, aimless.

It was just his luck a closed shop across the street was being robbed.

He had no idea what the idiots there thought they were doing. It was the middle of the day, the middle of the city, and he knew the police had already been called. There was some sort of giant pile up on the other side of the city that had most of the force tied up, so maybe they were trying to capitalize on it? Even then they were doing a pretty poor job at everything in general, to the point plenty of people felt perfectly safe standing around watching, wondering if the idiots stumbling over themselves were actual robbers. A few people were recording while a sizable group of tough-looking guys had worked up the nerve to saunter over and start yelling at the robbers. It looked like the robber's plan was to take the entire machine and hack it for the credits later. Not that that would work: Subaru knew plenty of places had their machines set to delete all the credits on it if it was improperly removed from its stand.

And then one of the idiots pulled a gun.

It was practically a relic of the past, a revolver old enough it could easily be a family heirloom. But it certainly still fired, and the thunderclap of sound sent people into a panic. At the sight of an actual weapon the good Samaritans who'd felt confident with their superior numbers froze. They were talking and yelling, and the guy who'd pulled the gun was waving it dangerously.

Subaru felt his breath hitch. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to do something, to be useful, but there was a gun and he'd probably end up being a hostage or something. He couldn't do anything, even though everything his parents (his father) had taught him told him to help those in need. Except he couldn't-

A glowing green dagger pinned one of the robbers by his hoodie.

The abrupt silence balanced on a knife's edge and everyone looked around, confused. Someone cried out and there, standing atop the safety fence that circled the roof of a building nearly two dozen stories tall, was a dot of red and gold.

Without a doubt, it was Zero Blade.

Subaru couldn't see much from this distance, but he already knew the strange red warrior's appearance by heart. Red armor patterned with gold and white, glowing green gems that decorated the tops of his gauntlet and boots, unbelievably long hair-

The pin dropped, and the robbers panicked.

Zero Blade moved with an unnatural grace and perfect balance. He ran the length of a roof-top fence that was no more than two inches wide without ever stumbling, and fearlessly leapt from the railing. Down, down, down, over twenty stories gravity pulled him; the crack that rang out was heart-stopping. Except it was the pavement that had given way and not his bones, and the red warrior was moving again, down the street before the echo of his own landing had faded, vaulting over the bus stop in his way and over the congested street entirely. Someone screamed as a robber let off a spray of bullets at the teen, but Zero Blade kept running, impossibly fast and with a flash of movement, the gun was sliced horizontally in half, missing the attacker's fingers by an inch and the triangular blade less than that from his chest. And, while the man was frozen with fear for his life, Zero Blade knocked him out easily.

Zero Blade only gave the crowed a cursory glance and nodded absently. The whisperings multiplied. It'd only been a few days, but the red warrior was known by the world twice over. Once was for his superhuman abilities, including (but surely not limited to): super strength, incredible speed, the ability to walk on air, invisibility, the ability to somehow go wherever in the world he darn well pleased, and the strange energy-blade that he could summon freely and change into at least two other forms. Subaru also didn't miss the fact that the strange superhero had started popping up literally all over the world the day after he'd seen him at Vista Point, but he kept that thought to himself.

"I know that." Zero Blade snapped to no one, rolling his eyes and nonchalantly knocking out the other robber with a perfect hit. No one had seen him even cross the ten or so feet.

The second was for the fact that he was almost constantly talking to someone no one else could see. Subaru didn't care for the gossip and ever-growing number of deranged theories out there, but he just couldn't escape them, it seemed. Some thought it was another abnormal ability like telepathy, some thought he was just using coms that were untraceable, and others thought he was just crazy. Personally, Subaru thought Zero Blade was talking to someone. It was the safer option rather than having such a powerful lunatic running around, and well…

"O-One minute!? Are you crazy, there's no way-!" Zero Blade let out a frustrated growl and leapt in the air, disappearing from sight before he was more than a few feet off the ground.

Personally, Subaru thought Zero Blade was pretty cool. He didn't idolize him or anything (really!), but it'd be really disappointing if a real-life hero was actually insane.

"Man, he's really something…People were reporting that they were seeing him in South America just half an hour ago…"

Subaru startled at the unexpectedly familiar voice. The green hair and purple clothes were easy to spot despite the excited and growing crowd. But that was strange because, "Tsukasa? What are you doing here? Aren't you usually busy with plans?"

"Well, I'm free this afternoon and I heard a lot of noise coming from over here and well…" Tsukasa shrugged helplessly.

Tsukasa had always been busy last time Subaru had checked, and he seriously doubted that had changed. The boy wasn't part of any clubs and was thus always free and eager to help anyone who asked, no matter how rude they were. He didn't do any extracurricular activities and yet he practically lived on campus at times with the sheer number of people he hung out with. He bounced from group to group and had never failed to make himself loved and practically an angel to some. For him to have a free afternoon was something Subaru knew had to be rare. He never remembered disliking the oddly green-haired boy either…

"You shouldn't just go wherever you hear the most noise you know. Someone had a gun." Subaru said, feeling awkward and stiff.

Tsukasa laughed, "I could say the same for you and yet you're over here too. I guess we're both hopeless then, huh?"

Subaru didn't think there was anything funny about what he'd said. He thought they were even less alike, actually, "I was already here."

Tsukasa fumbled a bit at the frosty response and tried to save the conversation; "Oh, well I just thought that…Ah, never mind that, I actually managed to get a picture of Zero Blade when he was jumping from the building and it's really…oh."

Subaru had already walked away.

Zero Blade was known for his superhuman strength, durability, grace, and, most of all, speed. Even off Wave Roads, Zero Blade knew he was pretty fast. He figured he could run about three times as fast as a human without getting tired- topping forty miles an hour which could easily become fifty if he needed to sprint. He thought that was pretty impressive.

But it wasn't impressive at all to his self-declared teacher. No, not when Wave Road travel outstripped that speed by a factor of literal millions. But even that wasn't fast enough, and his speed on a Wave Road was declared "sub-par"! Sub-par when he was moving tens if not hundreds of miles an hour! So "sub-par" that he was forced to perform insane exercises on them at his 'teacher's' whims. Just to show him up, he did his absolute best on them all, pushed himself until he was exhausted just from that short time, and then he'd blow that prick's expectations out of the water!

"You failed again."

…One day.

"Shut…up! You're the one…the one who's…expecting way too much!" Zero Blade hissed into his earpiece. No, he wasn't a gasping, exhausted, and probably disgustingly sweaty mess since this stupid skintight suit he was just waiting to start chafing at certain bits and had absolutely no ventilation. He wasn't at all pushed by this arrogant prick's too-tough assignments. Not at all.

The voice, unwavering and near-emotionless as ever was unrelenting with his expected standards, "You're the one who keeps failing to properly utilize Wave Roads. It's slowing you down."

The blond took a moment to think and not at all to get his breathing back under control, "I've been doing this for like three days! What are you expecting from me?"

"Perfection."

Zero Blade let out a frustrated growl and threw his hands up, "You know what? I'm going home, screw this."

He thought that his near slave-driver of a teacher would demand he worked even harder than yesterday, as the pattern seemed to be. Except there was silence for a moment, and then the voice asked, "Are you hungry yet?"

"Well, yeah. It's been a long day and all…"

"Then you should stop. There's no reason to strain your body without need."

Zero Blade wasn't about to question the gift and took off in the direction of home with a shrug. Wave Roads were always an amazing way to travel, near-weightless and off like a shot with barely a thought. Already he'd learned to trust his teacher-partner to guide him through the spider webbing network and on the road and not plummeting hundreds of feet to the ground or water below. In just a minute's time and at a leisurely pace he was already back in his home city- about as far from somewhere north of the Amazon as you could get. And maybe he spent an extra minute or two or ten letting himself circle the city at a comparatively slow pace, but it was fun and easy to disguise it as practice at slicing wave viruses to pieces in increasingly creative drive-bys.

"You enjoy slaughtering viruses, don't you?" It might've been a joke or sarcastic in any other situation, but the voice was as deadpan as usual and it just came out as annoyed and fed-up.

"You're the one who wants me to practice, right? Be glad I'm such a good student that I'm doing independent study or whatever." Zero Blade snarked and then nearly cheered when the whip-like Chain Rod wrapped around and ensnared a virus. One tug and he'd yank it in range to stab…or not, since when he pulled, the glowing serrated edges drew tight and deleted the virus.

The teen stopped and looked at the empty space, "So no rescuing people with this, got it. See? Learning."

There was a vague sound that might have been one of approval, might have been one of disappointment. It was probably some weird impossible combination of both, and Zero Blade pretended the vague response didn't irk him. A little praise at how he had at least snared a moving target while moving himself would've been nice…

Mood sufficiently killed, Zero Blade took off, straight to his home.

"Left! Left now!"

Or not, and the red-clad teen was going left before he could think. There never was any time to think on Wave Roads, just simple reaction to whatever came hurdling, somehow always directly at his face. Blue light barely missed him, and he stumbled, skidded to a stop and turned in one swift movement, hands and feet digging into the energy of the Wave Road before he was whisked too far away.

It was blue, with energy licking around armor and curving into false wings, stretching out as an extended neck and beaked face. A swan, almost, and Zero Blade couldn't believe he'd collided with his enemy.

"Cygnus…?"

"Attack him!"

There never was any time to think on the Wave Roads, and Zero Blade, who had stopped to wonder at the sheer odds of his encounter was already too late when he snapped into motion. The voice actually sounded angry when his sword tore through nothing, Cygnus faster and darting past the teen, and heady heat flooded the teen's body. A spin, a flicking wrist, a second of memory lost, and the blond blinked, watching the thrown glowing triangular sword missed Cygnus by an inch.

He didn't remember throwing his sword, but that was something to worry about later, and he took off after the already-fading trail Cygnus had left. It was useless, hopeless, and the chase was over before it'd started. But Zero Blade tore after the FM, filled with mad anger at his own stupidity for wasting his chance. He was incredibly fast, he could catch up, and then-!

"Stop, you can't catch him!" The voice thought he was weak, was telling him such, but he'd show him! He'd end this here and now!

"Tamotsu, stop already!"

The blond teen didn't jerk to a stop, but instead felt the fiery will leave him so fast in physically pulled him down, out of travel and down to rest on the Wave Road below. Looking out, he knew it was true. There wasn't a trace and the path was as barren as the voice's words except…

"FM life forms are too fast to catch, and I'm not someone who can track his signature. I only knew he was there because he was already nearly on top of you…"

Zero Blade- Tamotsu -spoke, quiet but sure of his words, "That's the first time you've said my name, you know."

Caught, the voice that guided him was unsure, awkward and hesitant, "I…"

He thought he'd just been putting human standards on an alien and had ignored it. Except the logic held up less and less, and the wall between them even as they were now became harder and harder to ignore. But if the alien was going to be strange like that…"Man Zero, you're weird- even for a weird energy-alien. Those years of exile for treason or whatever mess with you, huh?"

Zero didn't reply, and Tamotsu wondered how long it'd been since his cage had been rattled if he couldn't get over someone calling out his obvious issues. The silence made the boy want to scream and throw said cage against a wall.

"Just guide me home already. I'm sure War-Rock is about to go nuts by himself."

War-Rock was bored. When he'd betrayed his team and fled he'd expected his life as a traitor to be more, well, exciting. And it had been, for a little while at least. He'd been thrilled to do what he knew was right after his failure with the satellite months before, and he'd managed to reach the planet- no point in taking the key if King Cepheus just ordered it to be raised the old-fashioned way. Sure, he couldn't do much on his own, but a blaze of glory was a nice way to go out.

War-Rock shuddered and rubbed his shoulder. About half of the blue armor there was missing and his energy flow still wasn't what it should've been, making the normally vibrant and pulsing green energy look dim and sluggish. A blaze of glory he'd nearly been before ever actually being able to put up a real fight; Cygnus was tougher than he thought and if help hadn't come when it had…Well, what were the sheer odds that the legendary exile Zero would be on the exact area of Earth he was?

Probably pretty low, actually. War-Rock wasn't good at subterfuge, but even he knew that things like that didn't happen. Zero, as infamous as he was, had been completely passive in his exile and had fallen off of everyone's radar a while ago. The FM had probably noticed what was going on and had followed War-Rock all the way to Earth, letting him fend off and distract the others and do all the real work. War-Rock had let him know exactly what he thought of being used as a distraction.

The shock and resulting drama had ended surprisingly quickly, probably due to Zero having the emotional capacity of a brick and being immune to War-Rock's rage. And after that…exactly nothing of note had happened. War-Rock was confined to Zero's partner's Transer thing to both heal and not risk detection. He could understand why, sure, but it was just painful to sit alone for hours while he knew Zero was out there, practicing with his Wave Change. You know, doing things. And War-Rock knew who his perfect partner was already, which made it even worse. The kid was scrawny, probably weak, but their sheer compatibility was more than enough to counter that completely. Except…

"Cygnus is still circling this city. It's likely his partner is here and will soon be found, if they haven't already." Zero briefed in place of a greeting and War-Rock nearly jumped right out of the Transer. When did-!

"Why do you keep doing that!?" War-Rock shrieked and fled back from the dark red FM that was far too close to be normal. Zero gave an unwavering and completely flat look and War-Rock glared tightly restrained FM.

Zero wasn't much smaller than War-Rock, and his more elaborate red armor patterned with gold highlights and strips of white lost a lot of its appeal when it sat over his dark red body. The green gems set in his gold bracers, red helmet, and between the layers of his shoulder pads provided for some contrast, but overall he looked really…plain. He really didn't look like much, not at all like the feared monster that would slaughter gleefully for days until he collapsed that War-Rock had heard about all his life. It was…strange to see that the real thing was practically emotionless, and looked dim almost.

The armor on his face was a bit eerie, War-Rock would admit, however. A practically featureless black dome with a dim red mask slipped over it with white side pieces that flared like wings. It was all sharp edges and looked purely predatorily, with green slit eyes that missed nothing.

The Transer hit the covers softly, "Hey, if you're going to yell at each other, mute the Transer first. Everyone should be home right now and I'm sick of repeating the ground rules for here."

Tamotsu grumbled and slipped off his other shoe, carelessly tossing it on his bed (somewhat) near the other. Out of the armor, he looked significantly younger and smaller. Older than his actual thirteen years, but barely a high schooler if anyone was asked. He was fairly tall, already breaking five foot and his red jacket made his shoulders look just a touch broader than they actually were, with the way the sleeves puffed a bit with how he'd rolled them up to his elbows. He was dressed unimpressively, with a green shirt that had a meanings design stitched on it and dark blue shorts and brown boots. His perfectly blond, shoulder length and held back in a ponytail, and strikingly blue eyes drew enough attention, "Also stop ending the Wave Change so quickly, Zero. I feel tingly when you do that."

"That is simply the extra energy leaving your body- there is no way to prevent that." Zero informed, clinically, "Not feeling 'tingly' is actually a bad sign. It is also a necessary measure, to avoid detection by the Wavecaster."

War-Rock growled, "Her name is Harp, you know. And she's actually-."

"Forget it, Zero is allergic to names," Tamotsu interrupted, slipping a headset synced to the Transer on since the FMs (probably Zero) had listened to him and muted the Transer. It was strange, looking at the screen and seeing the FMs dart around it like it was filled with water. "Wavecasters are the ones who do communications right? Between Earth and Planet FM, right?"

"Correct. They are also very frail due to how specialized their abilities are. Invaluable on long-distance missions such as this one would be, but nothing we'd fight. If anything, she'd indirectly aid us since Cygnus will be forced to defend her"

"And like I was trying to say," War-Rock shot a dirty look at Tamotsu, who shrugged, "Leviathan isn't the only Wavecaster who can fight effectively! There's an FM named Harp who'd be tough to fight if she was the one Cygnus picked. And she likely is, since she and Ox know each other fairly well."

"Another offensive Wavecaster exists? What can she do?" Zero sounded actually interested for once, and Tamotsu sat up a little bit straighter when War-Rock began. Just a little bit.

"If it was just down to raw power I'd knock her flat, no problem. But Harp, being a 'female' FM and all, focuses more on technical things anyway. She uses sound wave constructs to fight, and if she's ever able to get a resonance of any kind going you'll be in serious trouble."

Zero, ever-direct, demanded clarification, "So is she stronger than you or not?"

War-Rock grimaced and looked uncomfortable, "Ah, well…She's not as bad as Leviathan, but she's not defenseless like every other Wavecaster."

"That's not an answer." Tamotsu nearly sang out, and oh boy he could feel that embarrassed hate.

"You-!"

Tamotsu would've stuck around to pry the answer out of War-Rock, but he was being called down for dinner and he felt like he was about to starve. So the blond left the two FMs to bicker over how much of a threat this 'Harp' was going to be and was down the steps before the calls for him had even finished. The last three or four he took in one leap and landed in an overly-fancy dramatic crouch just a foot or so from a small blonde girl in a pink dress no older than seven.

Alouette pouted at the crouching teen, and hugged her white stuffed cat closer, "Mommy said to stop jumping down the stairs. You could get hurt."

Tamotsu, still crouched, smirked, though it went unseen by Alouette, "And she also said to not shout up the stairs like that."

He lunged, and Alouette shrieked happily as he scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Her grip slipped and the plush cat fell towards the floor, but Tamotsu snaked an arm back and managed to snatch it midair.

"Let go! I'm not a bag!" Tiny fists beat his back even as she laughed. Tamotsu handed Alouette her doll before she got grabby with his hair again, and strutted into the dining room. The two adults there looked at them, and Tamotsu cleared his throat, "I come bearing a gift. Your adorable but incredibly loud daughter."

His step-mother, a blonde woman who Alouette already looked almost identical to, looked less than amused. "Don't think I didn't hear that massive thud. Are the last few steps really that much of a chore that you can't walk down them like the rest?"

Tamotsu maneuvered Alouette into her chair as slowly as possible to try and buy some time to think. He didn't have a reason or excuse lined up, so hopefully she'd appreciate pure honestly. "It's not like I'm going to break the floor or anything." Kind of.

"No but you keep breaking into your own home." His father said pointedly. His father, a very tall man at 6 foot and a handful of inches, with short brown and looked a bit out of place among considerably shorter blond heads. He didn't sound very angry about it, but he was always so completely calm it was hard to tell, "I didn't see you come in through the front door again. Is the window really a better entrance?"

"I like to challenge myself. I have a lot more reach now."

His father huffed and started serving himself food, "One day I'll lock your window."

Because that would do a whole lot of good when he could walk through walls. Not that his family knew anything about that, "And I'll still get in. Because I'm just that awesome." He'd have said something about accepting that challenge, but it wouldn't be much of a challenge since he was pretty much cheating.

His mother decided that his father actually had a point, "One day you'll get hurt if you keep climbing trees to get in."

Tamotsu shrugged, "Guess you'll just have to cut it down. I'll still get in." It was an ugly and scrawny tree hardly worth climbing anyway.

"The only thing that should get cut is your hair." His father pointed out, and Tamotsu rolled his eyes. Alouette giggled at his discomfort, "How long are you planning to grow it? Don't tell me you want it as long as that Zero Blade character?"

Tamotsu adored his hair when he was Zero Blade. Even if Zero insisted that if the waves surrounding the strands was the only thing keeping his hair from getting caught in anything he came within five feet of, he still thought it was perfect. So…"Yes."

"You'll end up looking like Alouette and not him, you know."

"My hair is prettier!"

"You don't know that. Zero Blade and I have similar body types I think I could make it work."

Tamotsu knew he was playing a dangerous game drawing any similarities to himself and his alter ego, but he couldn't help it, even if Zero was already telling him to cut his hair as short as possible. He'd keep his hair shoulder length or so and that should be enough. A good part of his face was at least slightly blurred by the visor, and the massive increase in hair made a good enough of a disguise. As long as he didn't show off his growing strength too much and was careful with where he changed, he'd be fine.

Tamotsu smirked at his father's grumblings and passive-aggressive chicken stabbing. If his family hadn't figured it out already, then he was pretty safe.

Tamotsu made his way upstairs sometime after dinner and was a bit surprised that Zero and War-Rock weren't still arguing. Instead they seemed to be brooding, and the blond realized it'd probably gotten pretty ugly once he'd left. He didn't really care since all that mattered was that War-Rock didn't do anything too stupid, and it wasn't as if Zero would even let him. So he left them to their silence and pulled up his chair to the computer to investigate a strange story he'd heard skimmed over on TV just a few minutes ago. It was a long shot, but maybe…

He split the screen a few times and flicked a few articles with fewer details off the physical screen and to the side, where they hovered a few inches to the side in case he found nothing better. The one article he'd limited it down to wasn't a great source, but it was pretty in-depth and had the video plugged right there.

"Hey Zero?" Tamotsu ventured, not really sure if he was asking something really childish and dumb or not, "Would you be able to use Battle Cards, anyway?"

"That was actually an issue I was discussing with War-Rock. Once I looked over these 'Battle Cards' I found it would be fairly easy to convert the simple data on them into a copy of the weapon. They'd be more fragile than anything an FM could make on their own, which could pose a problem with melee weapons, but they'd provide a wider range of attacks, and-"

"Seriously? Why did you tell me earlier, I'd love to see how much bang some of the more powerful cards would have in real life! Do you know how much easier it'd make my life if I could shoot something with a Plus Cannon instead of throwing swords at it?"

"Don't get excited, Tamotsu. It is highly unlikely you'll ever be able to use Battle Cards. Your Wave Form has already settled too much, and changing it now would be…difficult."

The blond frowned. What did that even…"Settled? You mean like a house or something?"

Zero sounded like he wanted to sigh, "Well, that's not wrong. It's more like wanting to change the shape of an object after it's been made and finished. Though some changes could theoretically be made, anything extreme threatens the integrity of the item as a whole. Understand?"

"I think."

"When War-Rock Wave Changes for the first time, he'll be able to incorporate a way to use Battle Cards." The red FM directed a pointed look at the other FM in question, almost accusingly. War-Rock turned away and looked uncomfortable.

"Right, when I Wave Change…" War-Rock trailed off, and Tamotsu knew he was thinking of the young boy they'd seen the first night.

It was one heck of a coincidence, and yet War-Rock wasn't vying to capitalize on that incredible luck and drag the boy into this mess. Sure it wasn't bad (or much of anything) yet, but Tamotsu knew he'd eventually be fighting enemies that he'd been warned many times over would be able to go toe to toe with him unless he trained hard and fast. And yet War-Rock wasn't interested in trying to recruit the kid, something close to regret laced his excuses and Tamotsu wasn't about to question his sudden sympathy for the kid. It was strange to think that an alien that used human bodies like weird fleshy exoskeletons would care about their host's wellbeing that much, because Zero really hadn't.

The mood was charged, and Tamotsu knew Zero was about to berate War-Rock over not at least meeting his human yet. Sure someone to watch your back was nice but, well… "So I was asking because, well…Do you two think this might have anything to do with your fellow aliens?" Tamotsu positioned his Transer so the aliens could see his computer screen.

400 Pound Crate Of Battle Cards Abducted By Invisible Force On Camera!

It was a simple and clickbait title, but, "Normally I wouldn't care, but there's a video and everything, and, well…"

Tamotsu played the video on its own screen and looked over the article on a different one. Plenty of people would say it was fake, or that it was some strange cover-up, but not him. It was such an oddly specific thing to suddenly have stolen when they weren't particularly valuable or hard to get. Knowing that there was even a chance the cards could be altered and turned into something a lot more powerful and real, he didn't think it was a coincidence.

The crate was picked up and bobbled a bit back and forth, as if whatever force was stealing was struggling to keep their balance. It stopping moving and then…disappeared. There was no flourish or burst of sparks or smoke. The crate wavered a bit at the edges as if it were underwater, and then simple vanished.

Tamotsu turned back and shrugged, "So what do you think?"

"It is unclear with this information." Zero began and ignored the sighs he got from his audience at such a vague answer. He elaborated. "The only reason I think there is even a chance Battle Cards could be used is because of the flexibility Partnerships provide when the initial Wave Change is formed. An FM forming a Possession would have a difficult time incorporating a way to harness Battle Cards, as their host would be fighting them every step of the way."

War-Rock grumbled a few staticy inhuman things before switching to something Tamotsu could understand, "If there's anyone who'd stubborn enough to get around that, it'd be Cygnus. He's crafty enough to somehow figure something out. I say he's already found his human and took them."

"Then why did we encounter him on the Wave Roads?"

"Because he's planning something! Besides, you know why. It'd be the only way to...uh," War-Rock stopped what was promising to be an impressive rant with a glance at the blond listening in. After a moment he began again with the strange not-words that hurt Tamotsu's ears and Zero responded calmly, again in what the teen assumed was their native language.

Filled with annoyance at being so abruptly cut from the conversation, Tamotsu yanked out the earpiece before he got a headache from the bizarre chatter going on. If they didn't want him listening in they could have told him to leave and not just switch languages on him. A language he had no chance of learning to boot.

They'd tell him what he needed to know, but it'd be nice if they didn't so obviously distrust him.