Whoo, back to updating. Sorry that I've been inactive for so long, folks. I just got a lot of stuff to take care of in real life, leaving me with no time to write at all. Next week I'll have more time to update so expect chapter frequency to increase then. True Heroes is also still on the update list and even Epilogue 3 is getting some love.
Review replies
bajy: "I love this chapter!
it may have been short but otherwise it was great!
I look forward to reading more soon!"
Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.
Krulla Chief: "Just, gonna give you some advice here. If you do review replies, don't actually put the review itself into the story, especially if it's long, because it inflates the word count and that's one of the few things that helps tell if the story is worth reading at times. I, truthfully, really want to see where this story leads. I haven't seen any grammar errors or the like to report to you to fix right now, so nothing to report on there. Honestly, keep on the good work, I really want to see where all of this will lead."
I see your concern. Thing is, with my update schedule there's a big chance people will already have forgotten what they wrote in the first place which is why I'm adding it in for convenience. I'll give it a thought for the next chapter though. It's also reassuring to have an extra pair of eyes on the lookout for the occasional error that manages to slip through, so thank you. I hope this chapter will live up to your expectations.
TheLilyofTheValley: "This is slowly growing on me. I may end up Favoriting this before it hits five chapters...
I'm glad you still remember me Guardian! I was of the mind that people forgot about me (but that's my fault for not publishing any stories). I hate to sound corrective, (please forgive me if I come off as rude) but the thief actually stole three of my RaC stories. I reported two of them before I did anything else, and by early Saturday afternoon, they had been removed. That was also how I found out how the reporting worked and shared it to Amber.
But enough about me, I need to review this story! This second chapter was beautifully written and I am in love with your versions of Kaden's parents (and Ratchet's grandparents). The chapter flowed smoothly and I loved the word choice throughout it. I'm quite surprised that Michael was an artist, mostly because the Lombaxes are a very technology-driven society (or at least, that is how they are mostly represented). I don't really know what I could guess for what Kaden's parents really do, I'm not the best at guessing...
Great second chapter! Keep up the great work! :)"
Thank you! And of course I remember, I got a pretty good memory I dare say! I still know my way around some cities in Switzerland even though I haven't been there in years... And that's okay, I didn't even know more than one story had been stolen, probably because you were that quick to act. And Kaden's father being an artist... you're almost right. You'll see the answer in this chapter. They're pretty tech-savvy indead but I thought it'd be boring if all of them would be engineers or the like, so they have a variety of jobs. Engineer, cook, architect, train conductor... Thank you once again, here's hoping this chapter lives up to your expectations.
Max Chronicle: "Sweet chapter bro. (And emphasis on sweet!)
"To guess or not to guess
that is the question"
Answer: I am is not guessing... at all. Am is horrible at it.
Though do give my congrats to Michael for the one mil.
(Casually sends ten bolts over... SHUT UP AND TAKE MY BOLTS!)
Max out.
P.S. Wow Alexis. Wow."
Thanks! And I'm sure Michael will appreciate that support. You'll also find a little elaboration on Alexis' bold move there in this chapter. Thank you once again, and here's hoping it'll live up to your expectations.
Now, without further ado, let's continue the story!
"Morning." Michael whispered as he watched Alexis' eyes open.
"Good morning." she replied with a yawn. "Did you hear Kaden?"
"Nope, he didn't wake me up either."
She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness his sleeping pattern is getting more regular."
"Yeah, now I don't have to spend all night staring at a computer screen and only send my team members half-finished stuff."
A month had passed since Michael had written that song that went viral almost immediately. By now it had earned him one hundred thousand bolts and although the hype was dying down, he was thankful for every single bolt.
He had used some of the money to upgrade his computer's hardware to make better products, especially a soundcard upgrade was a must. They had saved half of the money on a bank account that they had set up for Kaden for his education, and perhaps to help afford his flying lessons, and the rest they had saved on their own bank account for future use.
Michael had tried making two other songs, but neither had become as popular as that one critically-acclaimed song that went viral.
Michael was awakened from his train of thoughts about the past month when he vaguely heard Alexis ask him something. "Helloooo, Fastoon to Michael, do you copy?"
He laughed. "Sorry, dear. I suppose my mind drifted off for a moment. What did you want to ask me?"
"I was wondering if there's anything you have to do today."
"Well... I was gonna meet up with the boys this afternoon, you know, we meet-"
"Meet in person every month to discuss ideas, I know." she said. "I was asking because I wanted to go do something with you and Kaden."
"Oh? What did you want to do?"
"I don't know yet, I was also wondering if you had any ideas." she said, snuggling up to him.
"Uuh... not right now, maybe something will pop into my head later. How about we go tomorrow? I'll make sure to finish my work for tomorrow today instead."
"That'd be wonderful, just, please don't work too hard, you know? Now that you're finally no longer a zombie during the day, I don't want you being a zombie again tomorrow because you pushed yourself too hard."
"I'll be fine." he replied with a smile. Then his smile faded. "Dear, I've been thinking about something."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Our first kiss... that was probably the boldest thing you could possibly have done, I..."
She smiled. "Michael, are you happy?"
"Yes, of course I am."
"Do you love me?"
"More than anything, dear."
"Do you love our son?"
"I'd give my life for him."
"Then you have nothing to worry about." she said with a laugh. "We've been together for a decade now, and that spark still hasn't vanished. If it has survived this long, then it's not going to die out anytime soon."
"But I still catch myself wondering-"
"Wanna know why I did it?" she asked. Michael nodded.
She sighed. "It actually surprises me that you don't ask me this until well over a decade."
"Why would I? Being in the present with you was much more fun than dwelling in the past, but now... now that we have a son, I feel like it's my responsibility to think of both the past and future. I just can't stop doing it."
"Well... you certainly were surprised by that action of mine, eh?"
Michael nodded.
"Well... so was I, to be honest. I had no idea what washed over me there and then, but it was like as if something deep inside me, some kind of strange energy that I felt surge through my heart, took control. It was as if something deep inside me suddenly screamed 'now'. I just kinda lost control - I liked you so much and still do to this day."
Michael laughed. "I suppose I can now finally say that the ladies threw themselves at me when I was younger, or one did at least."
"You know it." she said, pinching his left cheek. "Come on, let's go eat something."
"Be safe out there." Alexis said before giving her husband a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be fine." Michael said, returning the favor before putting on his coat and wrapping a scarf around his neck. He re-adjusted his glasses and checked himself in the mirror one final time before he stepped out the door. He waved Alexia goodbye over his shoulder until the house got out of sight as he walked to the train station downtown.
He took a detour through the marketplace, the smells of fresh food and various exotic spices flooding the air until it got almost overwhelming. Despite that, it still made him smile.
When he reached the train station, he walked to a ticket dispenser and took place in line. After five minutes it was his turn. Inserting his credit card into the designated slot, Michael typed on the console and a few seconds later his train tickets came rolling out. Taking both his credit card and tickets he hurried to the train platform and stepped into a train wagon just in time before the doors closed behind him. He sat down in a seat near the window on the upper deck of the dual-deck train and stared out the window as the train platform began to move.
Although Grav-Trains were already a reality, they were still rather expensive, thus creating a Grav-Train network was slow. Therefore Michael had to take a normal, dual-railed train instead of the mono-railed Grav-Train, and switch to the more futuristic cousin later.
He stared as the forests of Fastoon zipped past the window before the train entered a long tunnel through a mountain.
Reaching into his brown-leather bag, he pulled out a book and began to read, the lamps built into the wooden ceiling of the train's nostalgia-inducing interior providing enough light for him to make out the words. He only looked up when a brown-furred Lombax in uniform passed by to check his tickets.
After he had read two chapters the train left the tunnel, and he found himself near the shores of Lake Cirrus.
"Next stop: Cirrus City." the speaker system informed. Michael put his book back in his bag and got up, before cautiously making his way to the doors on the lower deck.
As soon as the train had stopped the doors slid open, leaving passengers with two minutes to board and disembark the train. Michael walked into a tunnel leading under the station until he walked back into the light, emerging at the Grav-Train platform. He leaned against a lamppost in the sun as he waited three minutes for the Grav-Train to arrive, and when it did, he boarded the train. He took place in a compartment in the back of the train's third wagon and watched in boyish amazement as the train began to make speed, first slow as the trail passed through the city, winding around the skyscrapers that made up Cirrus City, before leaving the urban environment and heading to the capital of Fastoon – Asfaleia City.
Michael lost himself in the pages of his book again, until he was brought back to reality by a female voice. "Sir? Can I check your train ticket please?"
He looked up. "No way."
He recognized her immediately. Light orange fur with a hint of cream, amber eyes and a smooth voice, along with long brown hair and brown stripes. The woman standing in the entrance of his compartment could not be older than 27, Michael guessed.
"Hello, Michael." Amelia Cross told him with a smile as she readjusted her conductor's hat. Michael smiled when he saw his old classmate. "How have things been for you?" he asked.
"Calm." she replied, leaning against the door frame. "It's a quiet job, train conductor, but it's enough for me for now."
"I always thought you'd become an architect."
"Well, I'm out of money to fund my education, so this is more of a side job to earn some money so I can graduate. So, you're not that far from the truth." she said with a grin. "What about you?"
"Well." Michael said with a proud smile. "Alexis gave birth to a son a month ago."
Amelia gasped and pulled her old classmate into a bear hug with an excited yelp. "Oh, Zoni, I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks." Michael managed to say despite her crushing grip. She let go immediately. "Whoops, sorry, got a bit carried away there."
"Eh, it's no problem." he said, rubbing his now sore upper arms. "You know, you can always come over. I haven't heard from you in a while as well, did something happen?"
"My phone got stolen, and I was dumb enough to not make backups of my contacts. No worries, I kept no personal data on my phone other than numbers, so no big deal. The Guardsmen are already tracking it down."
"Sad to hear that. Can't you send an E-mail?"
"I don't own any other electronic devices beside that phone." she replied, blushing a little. "I had to sell my laptop to fund my study."
Michael bit his lip, then he made the decision. He would talk to Alexis about it later, but he really wanted to help out his old friend. "You know, why don't you come over next weekend?"
"I got the Sunday shift, so that's gonna be hard. Well, at least one of the perks of this job is that the train you work on is free-of-charge for you to travel with... maybe I could come over Saturday? I'd love to meet your son. And catch up with Alexis of course, last time I saw her was during your wedding, I must admit. Man, I really haven't been in touch, have I?"
"Nope, shame if you ask me. Anyhow, I expect you'll have to get back to your job now, so here's my ticket." he said, taking his train tickets out of his pocket. He handed them to Amelia, who took one ticket from the strip of what had been seven tickets, though now only five remained.
"You know what?" Michael said. "I won't be needing all of them, take one for yourself. They should still work this weekend."
"Thanks a bunch." she said, taking him up on his offer. "But why did you buy seven then?"
"Pack discount, remember? Or weren't you informed that there's currently a discount on packs of tickets? Buying a pack of seven was cheaper than six individual tickets, so I just thought 'well, we take those'."
She laughed. "Well, you're right, I should get back to work. I'll be in touch. Good seeing you, Michael." she said before leaving his compartment. She poked her head back into his vision a second later. "Oh, uh... at what time should I arrive Saturday?"
"Eleven o' clock would be the best time I suppose."
"Alright, see you then!" she said before she disappeared again.
Michael laughed, his eyes wandering from where her head had been to the book in his hands, and as soon as the words entered the vision he found himself being pulled right back into the pages.
Not long after the Grav-Train entered the northern half of Asfaleia City. Michael disembarked the Grav-Train before entering another, normal train that was just entering the station, which would lead him to the section of the city that he needed to be in.
Roughly half an hour later Michael walked down the stairs of the station. Crossing the busy streets, he soon found himself in an area known for it's many restaurants.
Soon enough he found the place where he had spent many hours with his friends back when he was a student – restaurant The Golden Bolt.
He stepped through the doors. Immediately he was overwhelmed by a strong sense of nostalgia. How often his eyes had roamed those dark wooden walls, or the fans hanging from the ceiling. He walked to the table where they always sat when they were young. He noticed his group of friends already waiting for him.
"G'day, Mike!" one of them said with a heavy accent, glancing over his shoulder. Michael smiled, it's been a while since anyone had named him by his student nickname.
"Good day to you too, Chris." he said, sitting down across from his friend. "You don't ever change, do you?"
Chris laughed. "Ya know it, man. Good old student nicknames. Congrats on that song of yours by the way."
"You check my profile?"
"Sure do, it's a better way to stay up-to-date than your E-mails." Chris Smith said with a laugh. How's your progress on the skybox by the way?"
"Eh, not good, man. The baby's been wailing my ears off."
Another friend of Michael burst out laughing. "Oh, it'll be much worse later, trust me. I got a three-year-old daughter running around. Let me tell you, catching a few seconds alone so you can work is really hard."
Michael nodded. "Though, in the end, is it that bad? It's your child after all, Alan." he said before turning to the waiter walking up to their table and ordering a drink.
"Yeah, true. Wouldn't want to waste more than a second of it to be honest, but alas, duty calls." Alan Richards said. "I'm making progress with environment objects, though I can't texture them until someone finishes their work."
"Oh, step off." Sander Everest said, putting down his drink. "You're the egghead that asked for 4K, that's a tall order you know?"
Alan laughed. "Relax, Sander. I was just joking. I know you'll do great if you have some extra time." he said, giving Sander a pat on the shoulder. "Gotta give you credit too, Mike. If there's someone who can keep the hype train going it's you with those images or music of yours."
Michael's drink arrived, and he raised it. "Cheers." he said. "It's good to meet with all of you in person again."
"Well, cheers, mates!" Chris replied. "Though, I could use a hand with the character design – I think we could improve the weapon a little. It looks a bit too... meh. I think we can make it more flashy."
"We don't want to alienate anyone either." Michael said. "That's the reason we have the current design."
"Well, then how about we make both a male and female character?"
"You sure? Wouldn't that take an awful amount of time?"
"Not really, all I gotta do is tweak some scripts a little and add a CSS and it's good to go. As soon as I finished the model though."
"I can make the weapon models if you'd like." Michael offered.
"Heh, do me a favor and leave this to me. You're good, Michael, but you got a son to spend time with. I don't want you blaming yourself for not taking your time with him."
"Thanks, man. I'll just keep working on the environmental textures and the skybox then. Speaking of which, I got a cool idea, what if..."
Four hours later Michael boarded the Grav-Train back to Cirrus City, from where he would take another train. He noticed Amelia checking tickets aboard another train heading to the largest airport on the planet. She noticed him too and saluted him with a smile before getting back to work.
When he finally arrived back in his hometown, he was exhausted. He made his way to his house and knocked instead of reaching for his keys. Alexis opened the door. "Huh? Did you forget your keys?"
"Just too tired to grab them." he said, wrapping his arms around her neck. "It's good to be back home."
She smiled. "I kinda knew you'd be here at this time, I checked the train schedule online so dinner's almost ready."
"You're unbelievable." he said with a thankful smile.
"I know." she said with a grin as she closed the door behind him.
Michael slowly leaned forward, but before he could kiss her Alexis pressed her left index finger against his lips. "Nu-uh, finish your dinner before you start on the dessert." she said, making Michael chuckle.
After dinner, Alexis and Michael snuggled up on the couch and watched some TV. Michael was trying to focus but his mind was a blur, and Alexis was already dozing off.
They had set up a camera near Kaden so they could keep an eye on him. Michael's smartphone lay on the coffee table, showing a life feed.
Michael suddenly noticed something. Immediately some of the mist in his head cleared as he picked up the phone and stared at the screen. He focused.
After five more minutes, he again noticed a flickering of motion in the corner of Kaden's room. Kaden himself was asleep.
Michael watched where he had seen something move, only to notice a flickering in a different corner.
Michael watched, frozen, as something formed near Kaden's bed in mid-air. As soon as it had started however, it ended. Michael shook his head.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Alexis sleepily asked.
"No, everything's fine." he replied. "Let's just go upstairs." he said, turning off the TV before picking his wife up bridal-style, making Alexis giggle as she let her head rest against his chest.
Okay, you all might be wondering what in the world just happened there with Kaden. Remember what Michael saw, it'll return later on. Much later on.
I'm kinda running low on ideas for the next chapter, so if anyone has some ideas for some funny/adorable baby Kaden moments don't be afraid to let me know!
Then there's Asfaleia City. Gotta give credit, I didn't come up with the name. It's a nod to a story called 'The Second Great War' by Samanan7 and co-written by me. You'll find it on DeviantArt, or the Tumblr set up for it. Just google it and you'll certianly come across it should you want to give it a read.
Until the next chapter, please leave a review! They really help with keeping my motivation up.
Flamers however, beware.
I devour flamers.
(Hopefully) see you all in the next chapter!